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 Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:56 pm
Getting closer to the holidays made the Shop owner just a bit paranoid concerning the number of customers she was absolutely sure the store would get on a given day. She was normally off base, it wasn't till a handful of days before a given holiday that there was anything that might be considered an 'alarming' number of customers. That much made it rather a calm day and everything was well stocked, cleaned, dusted and quiet enough that they were putting chocolates into the tiny paper 'cups' in advance just to have something to do.
Sadly, the lack of 'alarming numbers' of customers didn't mean a lack of 'alarming customers', case in point, an all too familiar lanky figure striding casually towards the front door.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:18 pm
He'd never swung by Zac's work before -- mostly because he didn't actually know where it was. That had probably been intentional, and Zac probably also hadn't meant to let slip the mall that it was in. Now, of course, he had an Ever slipping through his door and playing innocent, looking meaningfully down at the candy as if he hadn't even recognized the young man standing behind the counter, conscientiously lining up candies and preparing for the rush.
No. He was just browsing, of course, even if he looked entirely out of place in this setting. Too-skinny meant that he probably didn't eat a lot. Too-worn meant he couldn't really afford to be splurging on luxury candy and would probably be better off with a big bag from the supermarket. Too-rumpled meant he was still freshly out of bed, still working on waking up, nevermind the hour.
Too-sly meant he did a bad job of playing innocent when he approached the counter. "...do you sell chocolate body paint?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:53 pm
Daphne's sharp eyes took the punky-looking young man in the moment he walked in the door. It wasn't that she was convinced he was a shoplifter but sometimes you never knew, and if someone wasn't looking too keen on buying well, she'd just have to give them a nudge? But that slow, wicked smile was directed at her slightly-grumpy male co-worker instead, causing her just a little bit of interest. She'd never actually seen someone zero in on Zac before; usually they went for the perky bluenette with the large smile more than the slightly curmudgeonly young man.
There was half of an eye out just to see what happened which turned into two eyes as he turned a most alarming shade of red. Daphne started to march on over and clap him on the back but decided that perhaps something more sedate was in order. Sauntering over she did lightly pat the poor boy on the back soothingly before smiling with exuberant charm in the face of Ever's sly smile and wicked eyes.
"What in the world did you say? I can't say I've ever seen that color on you Zac, it's not that flattering." It was her way of giving the boy a chance to scurry away, get away from whatever was causing him to fluster so much.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:02 pm
“Whatareyoudoinghere?!” It came out as a single strangled word, the next sound he made didn’t even qualify as the start of a word, probably have shattered the case glass if he’d maintained it. It was more or less a ‘squawk’ if a high pitched one of alarm at the realization that his friend and co-worker was not part of the embarrassing exchange.
“Nothing! I have it covered! It’s fine!” He said gripping the edge of the counter as he tried to collect himself. Surely with enough self discipline he’d stop blushing.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:46 pm
Daphne was good-natured, at least; it showed in her body language, in the easy way she held herself, in the physical contact and her joking tone of voice. Had she come across sharp, or angry, Ever would have watched his mouth. As it was, though, the combination of Zac's blushing and high-pitched frustration was simply irresistible.
So he bit down on his smile and feigned innocence [still badly] as he turned his attention onto Daphne instead. Ever folded his arms over the counter and leaned forward. "He's being a little rude, actually."
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:30 pm
Mimicking Ever's position, Daphne's blue eyebrows shot up into the choppy bangs that habitually fell over her face no matter how long the rest of it was. "You've got to be kidding me! Zac? Rude? I find myself in a state of shock that I may never recover from. Maybe I can help you instead, is there something particular you're after or are you set?" The wicked gleam had hopped from Ever's eyes to her own, growing there with alarming rate. The question was clear enough: was he done or was there going to be more fun to be had?
Tilting her body slightly the girl's hip bumped up against her co-worker's, nudging him with just a little bit more familiarity than she'd probably ever shown him in their weeks of working side by side. "You should pay attention to good customer service."
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:51 pm
“I am NOT being rude! What are you talking about!?” He stared aghast between them “I’m not rude!...wait…NO…No-no-don’t Help him he’s FINE. He doesn’t need anything! He was just leaving” He whipped back to face Ever “You WERE just leaving you do NOT seriously want that.” If his face turned any redder he was likely to have an aneurism on the spot, the hip bump helped nothing he looked somewhere between shocked and focalized.
“Oh god…” He said almost a whimper at the wicked look that was all to clearly growing in both sets of eyes.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:08 pm
"I was enquiring..." He all but batted his eyelashes, goddamnit, hips cocked to one side as he ignored Zac's stammering and complaining, the orders. They were out of uniform at the moment, so Zac couldn't order him about. Ever settled his chin in his hand and focused on Daphne, instead.
"I was enquiring after chocolate body paint." And there, goddamnit, went his poker face. His mouth split into a much too-wide grin, despite the lingering sore spot from senshi assault to the face. Dark eyes had gone narrowed and amused.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:51 am
Daphne's peal of laughter echoed through the store a moment before she caught herself and clapped a hand over her mouth. Her body continued to shake with the efforts to control herself for a good thirty seconds before the teen blew out a long breath and beamed enthusiastically. "Unfortunately we're not that kind of a candy store. However we do have a nice caramel that if melted doesn't burn the skin, sticks very well, and comes off fairly clean." It took all that she had not to snatch this young man by the sleeve and drag him off to see.
"There's also a nice chocolate syrup if you want something that will get...everywhere." Her waggling eyebrows were incredibly obvious, an arm linking through Zac's to keep him nearby. "You know where that is don't you? And yes, you are sometimes just a little rude." And the sun was just a little hot sometimes. "But that's okay that's why you hired me isn't it?" It was really hard to say no to her sunny smile and suggestive eyes.
Daphne was having the best day ever.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:38 am
Worst, day… ever, no holds barred this had to be the worst day in his civilian life to date, at least that he could –remember. At the very least it was the most embarrassing.
The sound he made was something like a strangled humiliated scream, high in his throat and it turned into a deep groan as his head came to rest against the counter.
“Not thinking about it, not thinking about it oh goddddddd…” He groaned, clearly he was thinking about a few things. “I’ll just go to the back room, clearly you have this co…hand…clearly you got this!” He said smothering anything that might be turned into any kind of play words, well at least he hoped he’d avoided it.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:48 am
Ever was grinning helplessly now, unable to even pretend that he wasn't digging at Zac, that he wasn't working to make him turn that charming shade of purple. He straightened, struggling to look thoughtful but really only succeeding at holding back his own bubble of laughter. Zac fought against the embarrassment, against the fun of it: he needed to learn how to surrender a little bit better.
"You want to, maybe, check it out and pick whichever one appeals more?" Oh. There it was, laughter catching on the back of the word 'appeals', making it rumbly and more suggestive than entirely necessary. "Since you seem so eager to go looking in the back room..."
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Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:05 am
Daphne would have agreed with the assessment of Zac needing to learn surrender but mostly she would have just said he needed to learn to go with the flow. You couldn't plan everything, couldn't predict everything, and to try and keep a handle on everything around you just made you...well...grumpy. Which Zac was. Often. His struggles towards the back room were also futile as her slim arm was linked through his own, holding tightly.
"Oh if you're going to take our customer back there be careful Zac! I mean you know how tight space can be in the back room! You might have to squeeze and that would just be awkward." Because what they were doing right now was totally not even the slightest bit of that. Oh no not at all! Ever did have greater control than she did though; the giggles were snorting out almost between every other word.
If this didn't find some kind of serious ground anytime soon she would probably lose composure altogether in rolling laughter to shake the store down.
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Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:17 pm
“I hate you both so much right now SO much…” He said emphatically. He didn’t think he could possibly turn any more of an embarrassing shade of red or purple in the face unless he just flat out passed out of humiliation. He wondered if that was possible…he almost hoped so. Probably he’d just get a nosebleed and hate life and then they’d make fun of that.
Since he couldn’t escape he opted instead for the age old ‘if they can’t see me then they’ll go away’ option, resting one arm on the counter he buried his face in the crook of his elbow to try and hide his embarrassment in the folds of his shirt sleeve.
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Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:12 pm
It halfway worked, halfway succeeded. At least it got Ever, to stop; laughing, he curled fingers into Zac's hair and tipped his head down to kiss the top of his head, eyes still bright and amused. It was definitely affectionate, most likely more PDA than Zac would be comfortable with, but it lacked that mocking edge, at least. It was thoughtless.
"Sorry, sugar. I just like you in beet red." His grin, though, was still sharp -- especially when he looked back up at Daphne. Tone questioning and amused. "Who are you? I think I like you, too."
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Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:54 pm
The kiss had her attention sharpening, the giggles dying off as Daphne got control of herself and released Zac. Playtime was over and it was time to grow up just a little bit and stop being a bully. Of course she was an adorable, playful bully, but a bully nonetheless. "I'm Daphne. Zac hired me a few months back to take some of the load off so he wasn't chained to the candy counter, ending up in jail after murdering a pair of grimy-handed children." Arms came down with an almost disastrous clatter onto the counter, her smile wide and welcoming.
"And you are? I mean I would go so far as to say the mysterious Boyfriend but Zac doesn't talk much about that sort of thing. Or any thing." Her hip bumped against the boy again, admonishing at the same time it was meant to be slightly reassuring. The girl was obviously, totally, contradictory as a summer snowstorm. And she liked it that way.
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