Title: Second Verse, Not Exactly The Same As The First by Julad
Fandom: Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse (Clerks)
Pairing: Dante/Randal
Categories: Humour
Length: Medium (5317 words)
Warning: Jay's potty mouth; some boy kissing
Rating: Not rated by the author. I'd give it a PG-13.


Author on LJ: she has an aversion to conviction
Website: ambivalent pleasures


Summary: Just another day at the QuickStop in Red Bank. Or is it?

Review:

"Dante walks through the busted door, finds yesterday's sheet and lays it out on the floor, other side up. He gets a squeeze bottle of raspberry icecream topping. Using it as a writing implement is kind of like peeing his name into a snowdrift. It's messy, but he manages to write FUCK OFF in large hot pink letters. When he hangs it up, it starts dripping downwards like a horror movie."

The action of this story takes place immediately after Clerks, while the manager is still away. Dante - who isn’t supposed to be here today - is woken by a call from Randal who had to break the door off its hinges to get in. From that moment forward, Dante's life just continues to spiral out of control; customers parade in and out asking stupid questions, ants die, the cat wanders by and licks up the raspberry sauce, and eventually Randal reappears from wherever the hell he's been with a picnic, champagne and Star Wars, and creates an oasis of calm for him right there in the store.

That's when it becomes obvious even to Dante that Randal wants him, and despite mayhem all around - intrusions by friendly neighbourhood drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob and the antics of the world's most surreal customer base - Dante just about manages to work out that yes, he wants Randal, too. At least he needs to give it a chance, because Randal may not exactly be Mr Right but he's certainly Mr Right There.

Julad tackles the difficult task of writing Kevin Smith's eccentric characters with great aplomb, and manages to keep them not only in character but also in their proper setting. It is very easy indeed to imagine these events taking place in the aftermath of Clerks, and since they are not negated by the events of Clerks 2 I, for one, choose to believe that this is what really happened the very next time Dante and Randal showed up for work.

Link: Second Verse, Not Exactly The Same As The First