A Seed Guy

Phase: Day Two

“Okay. Just cause you asked,” they said. It occurred to them that he hadn’t actually used their name in this whole conversation. “Yes, my name is very unique. My name, which is…” This was a blatant test and they hoped he passed it. Which twin were you talking to? Wilfion or Brody? A lot of people got it wrong.

Brody laughed. “Good sport,” they repeated, turning back to the shelf to study what was going on. “Maybe if you put them somewhere they wouldn’t normally belong. I don’t know how strict you are about organising…” Okay that was kind of a lie. “But putting them next to like… Miralax, for example, would confuse people enough that they wouldn’t want to take too many. Do you have any of that in here?” Brody had never noticed. “Or maybe group it with intense health foods. I don’t know.”

The brush of his arm and the assurance that they were indeed friends made Brody want to fall to the ground. Just sit there for a while. “I’m sorry,” Brody said. “That’s a lot for one person.” Maybe Brody could find Polly for him? They could cover a lot of ground on their board.

It was nice having them here. That’s what he said. “I’d love to help,” they agreed readily. Even though that twinge in their back was starting to turn into more of a deep ache situation, the stabbing pain would come next. “Put me to work boss.”

"Did you forget your own name Brody?" He narrowed his eyes, studying their pupils. "It doesn't look like you have a concussion but I'm not a doctor. Actually we don't really have doctors here." That was something that someone should probably figure out, but he already had his hands full with the food supply.

As much as he hated the idea of tearing up the stocking map, Brody did have a point here. "We don't have Miralax but we do have some health food." If he stocked it closer to the tempeh, there was less of a chance for people to find what they were looking for. It would be more work for him, but he could handle it. "Okay, let's do it. Help me move some of this over to aisle 8."

He jogged off for some shopping baskets and handed one to them. Nico meticulously stacked the candy into the basket. "Yeah, I can probably handle it, but it sucks that it's happening. Then again, it sucks for everyone." He had it better than most, his father was gone and that was a relief. He didn't have to deal with the choking stench of forced masculinity, he could just be himself.

"You have your orders," He said it with a smile. Nico led them over to the smaller and slightly more cramped aisle 8. "I don't think there's a ton of people who come here very often. We stock it at a different rate than the rest of the store. Not enough vegans, I guess."

Phase: Day Two

“I like your name too,” they agreed, even if they were trying real hard not to use it. Nico was a cool name, it suited him.

Brody watched Nico practically jump away from them and wondered if they had miscalculated. Why was he breathing like that? They were about to apologise, but he was suddenly in there, stacking those KitKats like it was a competition and he wanted to be #1.

When he came back for more, they quickly ducked down and tried to grab for the same ones at the same time he did. “I’ll help!” But he was too fast or maybe they were too slow, and by the time there were no bars left on the ground Nico hadn’t bumped hands with them once. They stood slowly with a measly 5 bars clutched tightly in their hands.

“Honestly?” Brody asked, wary of upsetting him. “Probably too much. It’s chocolate. People want to eat that, especially when they need comforting.” And they needed a lot of comforting right now. “But obviously my morals would stop me and I’d only take exactly the right amount to be fair to my community.”

“Yeah you’re right. We need to be careful.” A pang of guilt hit them for adding to Nico’s stress.

He didn’t notice. He didn’t notice. Brody wanted to melt into the floor. “Oh. Um. You’re my friend… right? So I just wanted to make sure you were good.” This was embarrassing. Why were they even trying? It was obvious Nico didn’t feel anything for Brody. Maybe not even friendship, which they had assumed was the bare minimum. “I can go if I’m bothering you. It’s no big.”

"Cool. You should use it more." He smiled so they would know that he was being genuine, not a dick. "It's pretty unique for this area. So is yours." The only thing he could think about when he heard Brody was that guy in the Kardashian family and that was only because he saw them in the checkout area of other grocery stores when he was scoping out the competition.

They made a lot of good points. Damn. "Hmmm." Nico studied the shelves. "What would make them look more like a treat that you want to limit yourself on?" Was that even possible? Maybe he was asking the wrong person. He nodded his head very slowly, not wanting to contradict them. They had literally been carrying so many that they fell. That wasn't really a moderate amount. But they were helping now, so he would be nice. "Of course. You're a good..." He was going to say egg, but that would be inappropriate since they were genderfluid and he didn't know a lot but he knew some of the terminology, "Sport." God, that was somehow weirder than referencing their pre-genderfluid stage.

He fussed with the display, before taking a minute to stand back. Their arm brushed against Brody's. "Of course, we are. Friends." He wasn't always sure he had those, but they definitely fit the description. "I have not been good at all. It's been pandemonium here and Polly is who knows where and Elena has suddenly decided she wants to be a sister to me and I don't have time to do everything that needs to be done." Although it was nice to be away from his father. That was a small win. "You don't have to go. It's actually nice having you here, but if it gets hectic I might ask for your help." That was only fair given how much was being asked of him with no pay.

Phase: Day Two

Brody slumped, disappointed. “Okay. If that’s what you want.” They thought it could be some cute inside joke they had together, something they could laugh at when everyone else went “Sneako???” It was too bad.

“They’re definitely not the best candy. Weird that you’d have a shortage of those so fast.” Brody stood with their armful of KitKats and then looked at Nico. An idea occurred to them, and they followed it without thought. They took a step forward, catching the toe of their shoe on an invisible lip in the floor, and let the chocolate scatter across the tiles again.

They threw their head back in fake frustration, like they were talking to the grocery store god in the ceiling. “Are you serious?” This time Nico would have to help, and maybe they could accidentally touch hands. They’d seen that work in movies. The spark.

“I’ll tell Kaia, she’ll talk to Dante about it. We can get you some help and rules.” There were perks to being the younger sibling of the most brilliant girl in the whole school. Maybe it’d give her points with Nico. “Everything is extra locked up at our place. Kaia pretty much put us in lockdown until we had a little more information. That’s why I haven’t been to see you yet.” Brody tucked a braid behind their ear.

"It is. I like my name." More accurately, he didn't like other names. This was the only one that sounded correct to him and he had no interest in training himself to respond to something else. He was too busy responding to "hey you," and "excuse me" and the dreaded "boy."

He shrugged his shoulders, eyeing their ever-growing pile with suspicion. "I can't explain it." As their pile fell, he took two quick steps backwards and breathed as deeply as he could. This was the other reason he wanted people to limit themselves. He was the only one on the floor to clean up the messes.

"I got it." He bent down carefully and picked up as much as he could in one go before neatly arranging them on the shelves. When he was happy with his display work he picked up more. Again, he rearranged them to be perfect. The corners were a little crinkly, but it still looked enticing. Maybe too enticing. "If you saw this display, would you feel compelled to take too much or just the right amount?"

He didn't need help. He also didn't want it. Nor did he trust Dante. But he respected Brody's urge to help. He hoped it was Brody. He couldn't always tell them apart. "Clear rules would be good. I wouldn't mind some authority against rule breakers. Polly is much more forgiving than we should be and we'll be out of food in no time if things stay this way."

He paused. Hadn't been to see him? Was he someone people wanted to see? Well, that was novel. "I...uh... I didn't notice. Don't take it personally. Things have been crazy here, but you're here now so... was there a particular reason you wanted to see me?"

Phase: Day Two

“I know you work here, that’s why I’m here,” Brody said, pressing a hand to their chest to calm their racing heart. “You didn’t make a sound. Maybe we should be calling you Sneako.” Brody barked a laugh.

“I only wanted one, I promise. Kaia probably wouldn’t be happy if I came home with all these, and we’re trying to avoid unhappy Kaia.” Brody bent down and started picking up the KitKats. “What do you mean a twizzlers situation?” They asked, looking up at him from where they were crouched. He was looking at them in that intense way he always did. Brody had tried so many times to figure out if it meant anything, but they hadn’t managed to yet. Part of them wondered if that was just how he looked at people.

“I promise to be respectful. I know this is your place of work. Don’t want to get you fired.” Actually, Brody wasn’t sure about that. Why was he working here when he wasn’t getting paid anymore? “Have people been like, taking stuff? That’s rude if they have.”

Nico was still reeling from the concept of Neeks and they rolled out another one. He stretched his customer smile to its absolute limit. "Nico is fine. I'm not really a nickname person."

He shivered picturing having to deal with Kaia. She was almost too direct and somehow, still hard for him to read. He always walked away from their interactions feeling like he hadn't lived up to the Bottle standards, even if she never said a single negative word.

"Thanks for only taking one. And it's uh," he scratched the back of his head. "We have some hoarders. I think. There's no way that many people have all wanted one pack of twizzlers."

Could he be fired? Polly could certainly try but he'd still show up here. And with no police available, she wouldn't be able to make him leave. He needed this, probably more than she did. "I tried to start a system, but the people have spoken. Apparently we live with a bunch of pirates. I'd lock your doors, because I don't think anything's sacred to them." Who was them? He wasn't quite sure. He'd been stampeded earlier by hungry teens and the security cameras had been little help.

Phase: Day Two

A resolution. A breakup, or two. Alliances rising and falling. It all seemed too much for one day. But most societies weren’t built in a day either.

The day begins at sunrise, as our intrepid band of foolhardy teens head into the woods. One would think its no-brainer to decide where the danger lies. But with tensions running high back home, there’s more than a few snakes in the grass.

So press play, and go.

Brody was finally freeee. Well, free as they could be in the situation they were in. Kaia was letting the twins out of her sight again (Brody promised they’d check in regularly). So they had taken their chance, dumped their stupid back brace in the back of the closet, and skated as quickly as they could from the house before Kaia changed her mind.

They rolled up to the automatic doors of The Dairy, about to cup their hand to look inside when the doors opened. Their heart thumped faster in their chest, and Brody crossed their fingers behind their back before they stepped inside.

Brody stopped, skateboard in hand, and looked around the store. They couldn’t see anyone yet, but that didn’t mean nobody was here. The door would have been locked. “Neeks!” Neeks??? Brody had never called Nico that a day in their life. “Uh, Nico, I mean, sorry.” Shaking their head at themself, Brody shuffled over to the candy aisle. Being unsupervised for this was the best. They reached out to grab a kitkat and spotted someone at the edge of their vision. Brody swung around, sending the kitkats flying, a squeak of surprise leaving their mouth.

“Oh my god Nico. You scared me. How did you do that? I didn’t even hear your footsteps.”

@nicolippijimenez

Nico had been calculating all the overtime in his head that would never be paid. He respected that the Bottles had small profit margins, but this was a lot to keep up with practically by himself. People with no manners were acting like it was some kind of free for all. The vendors would still have to be paid eventually or there would be no more food. What was so hard to understand about that?

He heard someone call him Neeks and hesitated to investigate. No one called him that. He didn't even know that was a possible nickname for himself. He slunk back towards the security camera until he caught sight of the offender. Oh, it was Brody.

On soft feet, he walked towards the candy aisle and crossed his arms. Eventually, they seemed to notice him. "I work here." He felt like people kept forgetting that for some reason. "You need to pace yourself. We're going to run out soon. There's already a developing twizzlers situation." Nico did not like violence, but he was also aware that Brody would probably kick his ass in a fight. They were a lot tougher than him. All he had was his attitude. "So, be respectful. Please. We all need candy these days."

Polly’s cheeks were flushed so much they hurt. “I don’t think anyone actually knows my company, Nico. Except my family and you. I should work on that, I know. Now that I have more hours free.”

“Doesn’t matter whose bad it is but thank you for saying so.” She could be magnanimous like that now that he was more manageable. But not actually manageable because she wasn’t a manager.

She laughed, nodding. “Duh. But it’s West Ham. Almost no one has taste. You have to lower your expectations.” But then she paused. “Actually, don’t lower them too far. I need to up mine.”

The Sugar to Nico’s Vinegar. Why did she suddenly envision that on her tombstone? Her cheeks really, really hurt. “Well, the yelling hurts my voice so I need to either learn how to do it better or not do it. Maybe I can ask Rumi or Claude for some tips. And I trust you, Nico, I do. I think that’s part of why i was mad at you.”

Were her cheeks going to explode? They were probably going to explode. “Maybe… Maybe we don’t have to define things in terms of the store anymore. Just as, you know, an experiment. We can value the Dairy while also, you know, figuring out who we might want to be without it. Without losing it.” She added quickly to reassure him. “No risk of that.”

"Okay, well, I love your company." He could feel his ears turning beet red. It didn't sound the way he wanted it to, it sounded so much more personal. It was personal, but not personal personal. This was a mess. But as long as she didn't make a big deal of it, he wouldn't either.

"Yeah." Another head nod. He really needed to find something more interesting to do. He felt like a robot. All this nodding and half bows. He just wanted to be respectful. Her feelings really mattered.

He would have argued with her, but she beat him to it. Damn, she was crafty these days. "I agree with that. High standards are good."

She trusted him? He had not earned that, not even a little bit. All he'd done was protect the store at the cost of her needs. He should be grovelling at her feet, but she was twenty steps ahead of him and his knees hurt after a long shift earlier. "I trust you with my life, for whatever that's worth." Her anger was something he hadn't taken truly personally until tonight, he could shrug the rest off.

But who they were without the store? That was, well, really complicated. He knew how he felt but he never wanted to assume on her side. "Do you have an idea of what direction you want us to lean in outside of the store?" He would NOT be the one to confess how he felt first.

“Yes, but the way to stop hurting me isn’t to leave. Leaving hurts too. It’s very silly to think that it wouldn’t. And very unkind to you, since you’re presumably assuming that your company isn’t valued.” Polly looked down at his hands. “Because it is. Very much.”

She supposed she understood his reasoning now, after a fashion anyway. “I get it. But the store and I don’t always agree so that’s not the best tack to take, you know?” It may have been odd to say that the dairy was a living thing with its own thoughts and feelings. But it wouldn’t have been odd to Nico, and it comforted her so much to know that.

“Um.” She swallowed. Something natural that they also didn’t say a lot was a bit of a tricky ask. “Maybe ‘Are we out of guava?’ ” Nico knew that it was her favorite gelato to make, but it didn’t seem to appeal to many as it sat between so many more understandable and ultimately more aggressive flavors. “I know you would never say that normally as you wouldn’t want to mock my pain but I give you permission.” She felt her cheeks growing hot. “Unless you have something you like better?”

Polly was growing to realize that she liked when Nico touched her. She generally didn’t like when other people did. Cricket and Lou had made some overtures. As had Trip and Heli. She’d said she was flattered because it was what you were supposed to say, but really all she’d ever felt was confused. How had they attached those signals to her, she always wondered. What part of her apron or her braid with butterfly barrettes had at any point said that? But as Nico ran his fingers over hers, she felt safe to know nothing was going to be asked. Nothing was expected. It was simply a gentle reminder that he was there. “I will try to think of some direction. Or, rather, I will try to voice some direction before I’m yelling at you. Or squeaking. My yelling sounds a lot like squeaking, I now realize.”

He was going to interrupt, but he'd done enough of that lately and it kept getting him into trouble. Polly saying she valued him was more than he felt like he could handle. He didn't deserve her trust or her kindness but he ached for it. "You're the real prize, Polly. Not that you're like an object, but everyone loves your company. Trust me."

Nico nodded his head. Her observation made sense. The store wanted laws and Polly wanted a different system. He could handle that for now, as long as there was some regularity to what they were doing. "My bad."

Wow. She must be really excited to keep him around if she was going to pull out the guava card. Although why people were so indifferent to one of life's greatest fruit and cheese combinations was beyond him. "Yeah, that's a good one that sounds natural to everyone else. Although if someone asks what guava is, you have to take the question. I can't answer without judging people. Not when it comes to guava."

He squeezed her hand softly. "Listen, my family is Puerto Rican and Italian. I can handle yelling. Really. It's not so bad, it's the disappointing you part that kills me." Nico hadn't meant to be that honest but he really didn't want her getting confused here. "The trust and the hope, that's what's most important about our relationship...store relationship, y'know." He'd bungled that one. "You need to be optimistic, you're the sugar to my vinegar. I want to hold onto that."

“The world doesn’t bend to me.” She said, sniffling. “It ignores me. That’s not the same thing.”

Her heart hurt for him. What he was asking was impossible, and they both knew that. He just had to stop taking it out on people. And himself.

“Nico.” She said softly, grabbing both his hands. “You’re not in a position to harm me. No more than any other person raised as a boy.” She leveled with him as best she could considering the height difference. “Not raised as a Lippi-Jimenez. Raised as a boy. I’m trying to tell you why I’m scared in general. Not why I’m scared of you. Because I’m not. It sounds like we’ve both been hurting each other because we’re hurting and I don’t want to do that anymore. Do you?”

“Maybe we need like… a code word? Something that says ‘Hey. I’m getting revved up, can you take over or can we just take a break?’ I feel like…” She looked down at his hands, embarrassed to be holding them but also not wanting to let go. “I think when you deal with customers all the time it can be difficult to remember you can just say 'I’m not doing that right now’ in your actual life. If you get mad, or irritated, or tired, it’s okay to take a break. We have all the time in the world.” Wow she missed island time. So much.

“If you want to quit, that’s okay. I have no right to ask you to stay. But please don’t do it because of me. I’m okay, I mean.” She paused. She needed to model good behavior, didn’t she? “I mean. I’m extra not okay but that’s not because of you. You help, really, like 85% of the time. Which is a good percentage. a solid B. And I think if we figure out a code word, it’ll be even better. Not easy. But better. And I want to try. If you want to try. But we have to give each other the benefit of the doubt, alright?”

#tl: day eleven #with: polly #p: fix you

Nico's feet stilled as Polly touched him. They didn't touch very often. It wasn't appropriate in most circumstances. But underneath the shock, there was a comfort to her touch that was different than what he was used to. He tried to talk her words in as carefully as he could. She didn't look at him as a monster. That was a relief, but it didn't entirely fix the situation. "I don't want to hurt you at all. But you just said that I treat you horribly and I never wanted that. I thought that..." he was more outspoken than he meant to be most times, but now his throat felt thick, "If I defended the store from harm, that's like keeping you safe. It's stupid. I get that. That was just my thought process."

The rest of what she said made sense. He'd never really had an off switch, but by embodying his job he had sort of been able to delay the rising panic. It did also mean that he didn't feel entitled to take a break. "Okay, I can try that. It needs to be something natural but not something we say a lot. I really want less confusion between us."

There had been a gap between them since this whole thing started. He felt it. Not only were they not always working in the same areas, but they had completely different ideas on how to handle things. The gap was finally, thankfully, starting to shrink. He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. "I don't want to quit. I want to be the...store clerk you want me to be. And I can try to be that if you give me a bit more direction. Promise."

“Because–” Well, she didn’t really want to get into a theological discussion right now, especially when she’d been thinking about death far more often in the last two weeks than she had in her whole life. “Some people think ghosts are real. Or get scared at the thought that they might be. Maybe it’s less frightening than the idea of a home invasion for them. I don’t know.”

Polly’s cheeks flushed so quickly and so fiercely that she felt like her face was burning. “I didn’t mean… I didn’t say that!” He was so good at finishing her thoughts before she did. Often she found it comforting, but now it just left her wondering if she really had been thinking it in the first place.

She felt like he was miles down the road and yelling at her for being too close to him. She’d said she was scared, and his response had been to tell her to stop and/or be offended that she was at all. She wished Annabelle was here. Ani always helped her understand her frustration even when it verge to anger that frightened her, but she was alone. She was standing right next to someone who was supposed to be her friend and she felt so utterly alone. “It’s not about what I think you’re capable of, Nico. It’s about the privilege you have. I’m not insulting you. I’m trying to explain… I…”

“I don’t want you to find Cricket. What I want is my friend. My friend who understands that I care about him and that’s why I’m angry. Because I thought you cared about me. Because I thought you’d care that I was hurt. Because I care that you’re hurt.” Her voice hurt. “But you care more about the store than me. Or you, for that matter. You’re more than this. I’m more than this. But sure. You want the Dairy? Take it. Hope you treat it better than you do me.” She put her keys on the checkout counter.

#p: fix you #tl: day eleven #with: polly

Nico took several steps away from Polly so he could pace. He needed some space to figure out how he felt or he was going to do something stupid. Something else stupid. He'd already messed this up way more than he intended. It wasn't entirely his fault, though, pretty much everything he said lately seemed to be the wrong when it came to Polly.

"I don't care more about the store than you. I just wanted my delusion in peace." Not everyone could handle losing the one bit of stability that kept them sane in an increasingly dangerous household. He sighed. This still wasn't coming out right. "I don't want the stupid dairy. I want my life back. I want rules. I want a plan to escape my family. I want to know what to expect each and every day. That's what I want."

He was walking faster, but it allowed him to think a little bit slower. "I'm sorry you're hurting. I wish I could help, but as you've reminded me I am bad at people. I antagonize them without meaning to. I want to be your friend, but I genuinely don't know if that's possible right now." His feet stilled. "Because of me. Not because of you. You are a very kind gentle person and the world will bend whichever way you need it to. I am none of those things, but I made a promise to myself that if it ever turned out I was in a position to harm someone I would remove myself from that. So...I guess I quit."

No part of this felt like the right thing to do. Polly was his closest friend. The store was his second home. He didn't want to leave any of it behind. But if they couldn't talk to each other without arguing, it was just going to morph into his actual home all over again. And he wouldn't do that to them. She deserved so much better. "I will call Cricket though, you shouldn't lose this place to the smell of sour milk."

So the brightest minds in New Ham are bickering about guinea pigs, the government can’t decide how long they should take to read things, and some people want to know where Noah is. Others want to know why the fuck they should care.

But hatchets can be buried, peaces made. Secrets forgotten, people disappeared. Nothing helps like a party.

It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it.

So press play and go.

#with: polly #tl: day eleven #p: break the ice

Murder on the dance floor, murder on the dance floor, murder in the dark on the dance floor I really hope there isn’t a murder on the dance floor. (continued from here and here)

Keep reading

But hatchets can be buried, peaces made. Secrets forgotten, people disappeared. Nothing helps like a party.

It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it.

So press play and go.

#with: polly #tl: day eleven #p: gimme more

The party begins, but the fun doesn’t last long. Tell me. Where were you when the lights went out in New Ham? (continued from here, continues here)

Keep reading

But hatchets can be buried, peaces made. Secrets forgotten, people disappeared. Nothing helps like a party.

It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it.

So press play and go.

#with: polly #tl: day eleven #p: lights out

Jacks’ skate party is about to begin, and really we’re all shivering with anticipation. (continued here and here)

Keep reading

#with: polly #tl: day eleven #p: fix you

pollybottle:

Polly was still trying to figure out how to communicate to him that he wasn’t trying to control him. If anything, he was trying to control her. But then she paused, staring at Nico, unbelieving at his accidental confession. “Wait. That was… that was you?” She nearly smacked him on the shoulder before she remembered that was only a thing she and Annabelle were supposed to do to each other. She’d gotten her arms under control but she couldn’t control her voice, sputtering “I THOUGHT THE DAIRY WAS HAUNTED YOU ASS!” She really had. Every time she went up into the small attic of the 18th century building, curled up on the camping mattress, she was sure she’d heard something, downstairs. Something horrible. A ghost or an animal or a teenage boy who wasn’t Nico or Blair. “You could have just come upstairs. There’s…” she trailed off. There really wasn’t room. There was only one air mattress. “You should have told me at least. I was this close to calling Geli.”

She had just finished unlocking the door when her hands flew to mouth. “Ohmygod. I cursed. Ohmygod. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Dad’s gonna be so mad.” Ani would be pleased at least though. She cussed like a sailor.

“I care about your opinion. That’s why…” her voice cracked a little. “That’s why it hurts when you don’t listen. Or you try to tell me how much I should like people. Because I would like to be the person you want me to be, I think. I’m just… not. I’m soft or sensitive or naive or whatever. I don’t know. I’m not Heli Fusco or whatever. Maybe I’m just the human equivalent of a cow.” She could be proud of that at least. Cows trusted people. They were innocent and sweet and social. Honestly, her cows probably had closer ties between each other than she did with anybody.

“If you don’t think I’m a doormat stop stepping on me.” She had to hold herself back from telling him to stop calling her ‘boss.’ She had technically said it was fine, hadn’t she? “I don’t hold your job in my hands! We’re in the apocalypse. Nothing means anything! Everything’s breaking down. Literally!” She gestured vaguely to the pitch dark store. “The generator isn’t working. Cricket said the generator would work no matter what. He could have broken it when he was fixing it. Maybe whatever psychotic person put us in this snow globe shook it or whatever! But I’m pretty sure that means no one has to accept any part of what came before.”

Maybe it was the darkness. Maybe it was her disappointment or her fear or any number of the mess of feelings that was welling up inside her. All she knew was she had to keep talking or she would burst. “Which is why I’m even trying to intervene with you. Because you’re a boy, Nico. You’re a foot taller than me. Do you know what it’s been like, low key panicking whenever someone who’s bigger than me comes into the store? They can take anything they want. And you, technically, can take whatever you want. So stop acting like you don’t have power here. You do. My dad’s not gonna come in and fire you and save me. I’ve been living in the freaking loss prevention video for almost two weeks. How am I supposed to prioritize my safety when the people who take things are literally hurting everyone else? Meanwhile, you keep antagonizing people!”

Nico flinched, but Polly didn’t hit him. She did call him an ass though, which was almost worse. His family’s love language was violence, that made a lot more sense to him than this level of disappointment. “Why would the grocery store be haunted? Ghosts aren’t real.”

And then his brain broke. Polly suggesting that he should be up there, in the area with the bed...where she was...was almost certainly sexual harassment. He was pretty sure there was a Bottle video somewhere about the topic. “I would never do that. That’s a breach of the employee-employer relationship.”

When Polly compared herself to a cow, he hide a laugh behind his fist. It was almost too apt of a comparison. He didn’t know what to do with that level of frankness. “You can be whatever you want. Also, I’m pretty sure that Heli is also pretty uh...soft was the word you used, but I feel weird saying it that way. I’m not asking anything of you. I am just trying to do my job. Mine. Not yours. You do yours however you want.”

But she just kept pushing. He wanted to roll his eyes or maybe tear out his hair, but neither felt appropriate or affirming. Why did she have to make everything so freaking complicated? It was supposed to be simple. “Yes, I’m very aware that the world has ended, but I would like to pretend it hasn’t. I don’t know why this is such a sticking point for you. Like I said, you do whatever you want. Just let me have my delusions.”

There was a lot to unpack in her next charge against him and he wasn’t sure he liked where things were going. “I would never hurt you. I’m not a violent person, I’m a bag boy. It’s like you don’t even know the first thing about me.” He staggered backwards. Nothing could have hurt him more. “I...I’m going to take a leave of absence.”

He couldn’t work with her if she thought that was possible with him. He had done so much to escape the ties that bound his family to the Alessis. The grocery store was supposed to be his one truly safe place to escape that. Polly had just brought it all crumbling down. “I can find out where Cricket is and tell him to come over, but then I’ll stop bothering you.”

rinremyyaguchi:

Phase: Day Six

“I do. Mostly.” Sometimes she ate astronaut ice cream for funzies. It was her stash who cared. “You shouldn’t care. Because you’re not going anywhere near it.” She was really sick of not being listened to. This is why she didn’t use voice chat. Or talk to people.

Rin barely managed to quiet her yelp of surprise when the boy followed her, nearly crashing into her legs. “How can you help? Why would you help? Are you friends with them or something?” Tony and Finn certainly acted like they had a lot of friends. Which was weird, because it felt like Charlie didn’t have any except for the weird blondes. Popular kids made zero sense, but she was really struggling trying to picture this mushroom boy as a popular kid. “Explain yourself. Or I’ll scream and bring your friends over here.” It was an empty threat, but maybe he wouldn’t know that. Things couldn’t get much worse.

“I never asked. I only care about the mushrooms.” And inventory, but he was not going to broach that yet. Mostly was good, he could work with that. Whatever discrepancies she found, he could use to go through his own inventories (the store’s technically) and see what could be made of everything.

“Or something.” The idea of her screaming at them did not seem like the best way to handle things. Depending on Tony’s mood he might have to hit her or something. He didn’t want to do that. “We’re Family,” he offered, knowing she wouldn’t hear the difference between the little f and the big F. “That’s better than friends. I can reason with them in a way that you can’t. But if you really want to handle them on their own,” he glanced down at their hands, “Just now they ask questions later not first.”

#p: fated to pretend #with: rin #tl: day six

pollybottle:

“No. You will explain or you’re not coming back into my store.” Polly had never felt her voice drop this deep. It kind of hurt.

But then he answered. Sort of. It was a lot. All of it. It was emotional and vulnerable and then he was saying sorry in a way that she actually believed him. Polly took a slow, deep breath.

“No one’s giving in to your family, Nico. My parents wouldn’t allow it, and I wouldn’t either.” The Lippi-Jimenezes always gave Polly the heebie-jeebies. She never had a full picture of what they did, just a general icky feeling that didn’t carry over to Nico at all. She’d have thought he was a cousin or adopted or something, but his older brothers looked so much like him it was uncanny. “I know you care about the store. I know what it means to you. It means a lot to me too. You have Elena. I have no one. I don’t have friends. I have customers who like me because I remember their favorite flavors. They might invite me to things once or twice but then I have to work and I can’t go so they don’t invite me the next time. Those aren’t friends. And all my ‘hobbies’ involve taking care of my animals who are gone. I don’t even have a house, Nico. And I’m not acting like an…” She sort of had to force the words out. “Asshole.” She swallowed. Her throat still hurt. “ And no one knows I don’t have a house because no one noticed. Aside from Blair, since he doesn’t have a house either.” Really, Blair was the closest thing she had to a friend, but that had always felt like a matter of proximity as well as shared experience. “I understand needing the store. But that’s why I can’t let you behave this way. You don’t get to take away the one thing I have because you don’t like the way I’m running it.”

“You weren’t communicating because you weren’t listening. You don’t have to agree with me. You just have to hear me first. Discuss it like I’m your equal. Please. We talked about this already.” She’d never thought of Nico as one of those toxic masculinity people. She got enough stoicism from Blair and peacocking from Cricket or whatever other nonsense strolled up to the counter. “I’m not a doormat just because I’m nice, and I know a lot of stuff people don’t give me credit for. So if it takes me being the boss for you to respect me, you know what? Fine, I’m your boss. But don’t talk to me that way. It’s not the way you should talk to anyone let alone a— a friend. And that’s what I prefer you be. A friend.”

“You’re not the boss of me.” Well, she kinda was. “I mean,” he kicked the ground softly with his shoe, “You’re the boss of me at the store, but if you take that away I don’t have a lot of options. It’s not really up to you to decide where I land.” That was between him and Elena, if she could ever take the time to be around and talk to him.

He didn’t know what to say as she kept going. She’d always seemed friendly with people so he assumed they were friends. And hobbies related to a job were still hobbies. But if it mattered to her that those things were the same then he could treat them like that.

“That’s not true,” his voice came out way too loud, “It’s...sorry. I noticed, I just figured you were staying with a friend because when I was slee...doing my nightly rounds outside the store, I never saw any signs of life.” He’d nearly screwed himself with that one, but he hoped he saved it. He saved part of it, at least.

“I can’t take away something that isn’t mine, Polly. You have the keys. You make the decisions. You get to decide everything. Literally no one cares about my opinion and that’s fine,” It bothered him a lot but for the sake of argument it could be fine for right now, “because at the end of the day it is yours. Immutably.”

“We can’t be equals because you hold my job in your hands.” He could have sworn the Bottles made him watch a video about this. Had they skipped the video for Polly? “I don’t think you’re a doormat, I think you like people more than they deserve that’s not the same thing.” She was talking herself in circles again and he just couldn’t handle it anymore. “Whatever you say, boss.”

He waited patiently at the door of Bottle’s Dairy for her to unlock it, underscoring the point that it was hers. He had a sister that resented him when she could bother being around and a home full of his family’s oppressive ideology. This was supposed to be his sanctuary, but she was right. It wasn’t his to take.

#p: fated to pretend #with: rin #tl: day nine

rinremyyaguchi:

Phase: Day Six

“I am not telling you what’s in there.” Rin wasn’t sure she fully remembered what was in there. Of all her special interests, her bunker time always came in fits and starts. “It will never be ‘the time.’ I don’t know you, you random seed… guy. Spore guy. Whatever.”

Rin sighed. People were exhausting. “You can respect and stay away from this land. Which, to be clear, is my dad’s, and is therefore mine. Once I figure out how to tell Finn and Tony that, they’re gonna be out of here too.”

She paused. Had she mentioned them before? She probably hadn’t mentioned them before. Fuck. “I need to go.” She started to turn around on her stomach, doing her best to not rustle the leaves.

“So you know what’s in there? You have the full inventory of the place.” That was good to know. If he could ever find this girl again, he could figure out if someone was truly hoarding things from the store. Although now didn’t seem like the perfect time to check. She was a bit on edge.

At the mention of Tony, Nico’s ears perked up. “If they’re involved you’re going to want my help. Not as a backup, as something better. Much better.” Tony could be reasoned with. He knew that but a lot of people didn’t because you had to go about it the right way.

Didn’t seem to matter to Rin who was already crawling away. Nico lunged after her. “I’m serious. You’ll want my help.”

pollybottle:

wewerechildrenwerenotnow:

But hatchets can be buried, peaces made. Secrets forgotten, people disappeared. Nothing helps like a party.

It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it.

So press play and go.

(continued from link)

Polly slid backwards, barely sidestepping Nico as he stumbled, her large eyes wide. “You need to explain to me what’s going on right now.” Nico was always weird. It was part of his charm. But he was scaring her. (If she was honest the whole situation was scaring her, but she felt like every time she admitted an inch of nervousness, he took a mile.)

“You’ve been acting so…so… freaking weird and I don’t know if you would tell Dad and Mom or Ani, but you should tell me. Because we’re supposed to be friends. I don’t want to be your boss, I’m not trained to do that. It’s not ethical.” She sniffed, drawing a lock of hair away from her sweaty cheek. She’d been so excited to skate. But now she was just sweaty, tired, and mad. Usually if she was that she at least had gotten the calves back in their pen. “You know, if I was your boss, I’d fire you. You don’t do what I say. You don’t communicate, you don’t listen to me. Friends talk that stuff out. Bosses don’t. So if you don’t want to explain, fine. I’ll call Cricket and he’ll listen to me. And he’ll help me. I can take care of myself, and I can take care of the Dairy. And I don’t want you there if you don’t believe that!”

@nicolippijimenez

“I don’t need to explain anything.” Nico took the deepest breath he could manage. Why did she need him to talk everything out? The store was in danger and she didn’t even think about the repercussions of that. It was infuriating.

He realized almost immediately that admitting that had been the wrong choice. Even he could acknowledge that he wasn’t the easiest person to get along with lately. But he never expected Polly to go on a tirade about that.

A shiver of panic raced through him at the idea of losing the store. He’d already lost most of his family. Elena was a ghost in his house. He couldn’t lose more. Not right now. He really couldn’t. He might get desperate for purpose and go to...no, he couldn’t talk to Polly about that. He didn’t have anyone to talk to, did he?

“I thought I was communicating.” He licked his cracked lips, “You probably won’t get Cricket right now because he runs the full grid. I’ll help you and then if you really want me to leave, I will.” It would kill him inside, but he’d do it. She was right. It wasn’t his store.

“I’d like to come back to work at some point. I have a very simple life, okay? I go to the store, I go home. I sit in the dark and wait for Elena to make an appearance. It is literally the only thing I have right now. And I don’t expect you to get it because you have friends and hobbies and stuff. But the store was like the one rebellion I had from my family’s whole way of life and if I lose it, I might have to give into their ways. And I don’t want to.”

He felt like he was saying too much. His dad would be so upset with him for giving this much away. “You’re unhappy, though, so I’ll fix it. The fridges.” He couldn’t fix the rest. “And I’m sorry. About everything else.”