Writing oneshots #2 and some art

Larry the Lamp x Unemployed Brendon fic (Abandoned)

Brendon was walking through the snow one specific day in November as he wondered what to do since no store would be open today. He looked at one of the only places with its lights on, Cracker Barrel. Unsurprising, seeing as though there would be many families having dinner there today. Despite having family, Brendon was never welcomed at any dinner because he was still considered a failure, unemployed, since he was writing a stupid novel, and was still an unpublished author. All those things considered weren't exactly the most compelling argument to his parents that he should be allowed on the premises, nor to his own brother. His brother, Brendan, was still a kiss-ass to their parents even all these years down the line, and inviting Brendon would ruin that. Or, at least that's what Brendon told himself.

He continued walking down the streets of Clayhill, desperately trying to get his mind off of his crippling loneliness. He saw a bright yellow hue shine itself on him. It was coming from the local cafe. He smiled, maybe this day wouldn't be terrible after all, even if he couldn't spend it with his family, he could at least work on his novel. He clutched his rough draft in one hand and held the other around his waist to keep himself warm. It didn't help that he didn't have much clothing or body fat to warm him up, but the smell of coffee motivated him to keep going.

He pressed onward through the crunching of snow toward the cafe. The inviting smell and somber music warmed up his heart as he entered through the door with a bell ringing behind him. He went up to order, unsurprisingly he was the only one in line.

Colin was washing a cup with a washrag until he turned around after a few moments and saw the vertically-challenged briefcase. He looked down at him. "Will it be the usual?"

He nodded as Colin got to work making a black coffee with 12 pumps of espresso. Technically, it was too much for anybody to drink at one given time, nonetheless a person of his stature, but Colin compiled because he vaguely knew what was going on with him and his brother.

As Colin got to work, Brendon looked around the cafe to sit precisely where he could just sit and write in peace. Where he usually liked to work was the table nearest to the window. He liked to look at the cars passing in the moonlight as their headlights beamed out, which sparkled up the usually dull evening view. It was a certain ordinary beauty he didn't notice very often. However, the only real problem with his preference was there was precisely one table next to the window, well directly anyways.

That preference had came back to bite him since there was an unidentifiable object passed out on the table. He huffed a little and thought of some mild swear words in his consciousness, but he could still get some work done anywhere in the cafe, right? Though, as he looked in the direction of his-the table-he soon started to recognize who it was by his lampshade. Despite never really being introduced to any of the teachers-other than Colin, since Brendan didn't know the fellow, so he had no expectations on what the briefcase family could achieve, so for Brendon it meant that there was no standards to fail to come to, which was comforting-, for Brendan's fear of embarrassing himself by introducing Brendon as his brother mostly and being seen with him and associating with him, he had seen the lamp on occasion here and there. Usually passed out with a strong smell of alcohol, drugs, or both. Despite this commonplace behavior, there was no scent of that originating from him, not a particularly noticeable one at least.

Brendon kept gazing off into his consciousness before being snapped into reality by the ding of a dinner bell, to alert him he had gotten his coffee. He smiled and held it in one of his hands. It had already brightened his mood and warmed him up a meager amount.

He put his money on the table for Colin to collect, but he pushed it back to him. "It's on the house."

"Oh! Thanks, Colin!"

"Don't mention it." He continued working in the back for the rest of his shift.

He decided, despite somebody already occupying one of the chairs, it wouldn't hurt to sit across from him. He could still get his work done and on the rare chance that he does awaken from his slumber, it might be nice to have somebody to talk to, despite how little he talks to anybody other than his brother.