Work Text:
It’s currently in the early 1940’s and a young man around the age of 15 is standing at a street corner. What so happens to be the name of this young man?
Jonathan Crocker ==> Proceed.
Proceed to what? Clearly you have no idea where this voice is coming from and can doubt you even hear it. You would also like to point out that only your mother calls you by your full name. Others can call you John. You’re a little busy at the moment, standing near this street corner. It’s around five in the afternoon and you decide to spend your time here. Even you’re not sure why you’re here.
You’ve been having these weird feelings. Okay, saying the word “feelings” is throwing you off. Sure you want to be here but it’s not just your feelings telling you to stand here. There’s something in the pit of your stomach that tells you to stay and wait. Something good will come by.
Before you realize it, the sun has escaped behind the buildings of this town of Seattle in good old Washington. Mother would be very disappointed if you came home after dark, and so you quickly make your way back.
Upon opening your front door, you softly shut it behind you and find a note attached to it. Peeling the note from the door, you examine it, reading that your mother will be home late and there’s food in the fridge if you’re hungry. You also are advised to head to bed early so you could get up early for school tomorrow.
You smile at the note left by your mother as you head off into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat.
When finished with your meal, you head off to do your homework and then off to bed with you.
Before you realize it, everyday at five pm, you’re back at the street corner; waiting for something extraordinary to happen.
The time just seemed to pass right by you and when it’s dusk, you set off for home.
You kept up with your studies and followed your mother in her footsteps into the bakery business.
Your name is John Crocker and you are now 23 years old.
While your mother is still the head president of the Crocker Corporation, you are in a fairly high status as well, owning your own small portion of the company and working as a manager in a Betty Crocker bakery.
Your special job is to make cakes and other baked goods to sell and give people a taste of how great Betty Crocker can taste.
In other words, you’re a baker. You’re pretty damn good at it too! Some people sometimes beg for your secret ingredient and you always reply with ‘Betty Crocker’ of course.
Even though five pm is when you get the most customers, you still hold your little habit of waiting at the street corner. Sometimes you wear your nifty disguise, which contains round glasses, a huge fake nose, and a moustache, so people won’t be able to recognize you.
You’re standing there, waiting. You know something will come by and that will never falter your patience. If you could, you would wait for eternity for this special event to happen.
Time goes by and you go along with it.
You slowly make your way up in the business and along the way; you adopt a son when you turned 33.
You don’t know why, but you weren’t able to fall in love with any of the girls you have dated. Nothing really clicked when you were with them. They just weren’t the one.
You decided to adopt a son to continue this business and because maybe you just want to have a little family of your own.
Since you’re currently not spending the majority of your days in a bakery anymore, you spend your free time with you son. He may not be biologically yours but you love him all the same.
At five in the afternoon, you leave your son with his nanny as you go and wait at that street corner.
You continue this routine until your son is 13. Your son knows you more than you do sometimes and he never disliked it when you would leave him with another person while you wait. He knows that what you’re waiting for is important and so he’s just so proud of you for being persistent and patient.
This warms your heart and makes everything worth it.
One day, it began to rain and you know that you had to at least seek shelter but what if that special event happens when you leave? Why didn’t you bring an umbrella with you? Darn Washington weather. It’s unpredictable sometimes and that makes you frown.
You take your glasses off and tuck them into your jacket pocket to at least keep them dry.
From the distance, you can hear footsteps. You ignore them and close your eyes, wishing that this stupid event would just happen already. You know you’re willing to wait forever if you could but what if it just never happens? What if you’re just dreaming and wasting your time at a street corner for no good reason?
Before you could ask yourself more questions, there was something or someone pulling on your jacket sleeve. You open your eyes and look down to see your son, holding his umbrella with an extra one in his other hand, nudging it for you to hold.
You smile and take the umbrella, opening it to shield yourself from the rain. You thank your son for this and your son smiles brightly at you.
“Dad, I know what whatever you’re waiting for will happen. Please don’t give up! I can read it from your eyes; you just want it to be over already but the best things in life take time to happen. This is why baking the perfect cake takes precious time to make!” Your son took your hand in his, holding it firmly.
Your eyes grew wide for a moment, taking your son’s wise words carefully. You smile warmly and slightly tighten your grip on his hand to ensure that you took his words seriously. He’s young but he’s smart, he’s also very caring and you’re glad to have him.
“Yes, my son. I’ll wait. I’ll continue to wait for it to happen,” You nod and bend down to place a kiss onto his forehead.
He grins and says, “I’m so proud of you, dad!”
You’re just so lucky to have him.
Before you know it, your son has finished college, became a good business man, and off to live with his wife and maybe begin his own family. Where did the time go?
It is now in the mid 1990’s and you are now 67 years old.
With all this new technology, it has made your company fairly popular and a recommended product to use for baking. Along the way, this company has expanded its products to more than just cakes. Mac and cheese and some others are great examples. Who knew that your company would have gotten this far?
Through your busy schedule, you still make time to wait at that certain street corner.
Recently you have been given the nickname of ‘The Man Who Waits’ from the regular passersby. Some like to comment that you’re more like ‘The Man Who Waits for Nothing.’
Though you know that what you’re waiting for is important and ignore them.
They don’t know how important this is to you and they don’t need to understand. Only you and your son can be the only people in the world to understand and you’ll be perfectly fine with it.
Which, your son is a great business man for the Crocker Corporation, but since he’s gotten married, you insisted that he would spend time with his wife instead of wasting it on paper work.
He gladly agreed after much pestering though you would want him to have more happiness than work.
A few years after their marriage, you soon got a granddaughter.
She was the light of your father’s world with all the looks of her mother and a blooming personality of her father.
Jane is her name.
Soon after everything was almost perfect, your daughter in law had gotten into a car accident. A drunk driver took the wrong turn and crashed right into her.
In other words, she died on impact.
You decide to take some time off from your spot as president, giving it to another reliable person before spending most of your time with your son.
Your son needs you right now and you’re willing to give him your time.
You helped him take care of Jane while taking care of him as well. When he wants to have time for himself, you take Jane out with you as you wait at that street corner.
During the years of spending time with her, you played piano, baked cakes and other goods, as you did with your son when he was still growing up.
Sometimes he would join you and make jokes as you two indulge in the past.
He’s starting to smile again and dear god did you miss his warm smile. To you, he will always be your son and you always want to see him smile.
You are just so proud of him for being so strong, even at his weakest times. Sometimes you envy him for his courage and you wish that you were like that when you were his age. Although he says that you’re his inspiration for being so strong. You just smile and kiss his forehead as if he was still 13.
You also kiss Jane on the forehead just like you did to your son.
After many exciting days, Jane turned three and already knows how to walk, use the bathroom, and speak a few words. If you ignore the small mistakes, she can play piano fairly well too.
That was when you finally feel your body start to break down.
You’ve been spending most of your time sleeping and your movements have been slower than it’s ever been.
You know why and you would rather not talk about it; not yet.
It is 1999 and you’re now 72 years old.
By now, your hair has fully grayed and you have a fairly manly moustache that you grew out.
You are currently sitting in your study and writing a letter.
Once you’re finished, you fold the paper up and head off to the street corner than you always have been at. You look at the building that has been there for as long as you could remember and find a crack. It’s not large enough as to where they would need to fix it but it’s almost the perfect size for you to slip the note inside. It’s far enough to be protected from the rain but still sticking out so if it is seen; it can still be taken out. You hid it fairly well, you thought.
You head home when it’s dark and kiss Jane goodnight before lying on your bed.
You close your eyes and slowly drift away from the world.
Another way to say it is that you died peacefully in your sleep.
David Strider ==> Look for that perfect place.
You would like to point out that only your fans call you David Strider. You prefer to just be called Dave.
You are a successful director at the age of 27, especially in the year of 2012 where movies are literally all the rage now.
Well, the good ones at least. Hell, good movies are always great at any time period, what the hell are you talking about?
Currently, you’re looking for the perfect scenery for your next movie and suddenly, your gut feeling has told you to check out Seattle, Washington.
Usually you prefer to check the place out yourself rather than depend on Google images. Because of that, you took a flight to see if Seattle is the place to be.
Right now you’re just walking the streets, looking around at the view of the quiet city.
You decide to cross the street and wait at a street corner to for the sign to flash the walking man, giving you the signal that it was alright to cross. The heavy traffic prevents you from crossing so you take the opportunity to look around a little more around your current area.
While examining the building behind you, you notice a piece of paper sticking out from a crack in the bricks.
Pulling out the paper, you notice that it’s fairly old and it’s been here for a while. Looking closer, the side that was exposed to the outside world is fairly warned down from the rain and such. You know that you shouldn’t be snooping like this but something’s telling you to open it and read it. You do so.
As you open the note, you realize it’s a letter.
"Dear Reader,
If you are reading this, this must mean that we were fated to meet but because of circumstances, were not able to. Something has told me to stay here, waiting. I know this sounds crazy but I just want to say that at least we have this note to connect us.
I'm not sure why but I love you dearly, with all my heart. I'm sorry for not being able to see you but I'm sure we'll meet again someday.
I know this is weird but I truly do love you.
Signed,
Jonathan Crocker."
Something in you starts to ache as you finish reading this letter. Something tells you that it was for you. Something, just something, is saying that this person has waited for you and only you.
Your heart is throbbing in pain and you’re not sure why. You never reacted to letters like this before. Not when you received love letters from your fans or even other stars.
That was when you finally realized that you loved this person as well. You loved them so much.
The walking man came on the sign, telling you to hurry the fuck up and cross because people have places to be.
You couldn’t move though. You stayed in your spot, staring down at the note. Even with your face as stoic as it always is, your eyes began to water.
Before you know it, tears began to stream down your eyes, behind your shades.
“I love you too,” you murmured under your breath. You’re afraid that if you spoke any louder, the whole world would hear.
And now, somewhere in a suburban neighborhood, in a fairly family friendly home, an old man’s stuffed corpse can finally rest in peace without any regrets.