Ink Slinger Chapter 3- I Just Really Want Your Number
Alright, so I got it done! Chapter 3 of Ink Slinger. It’s not really beta’d but I hope you enjoy it regardless! Also on AO3 here.
At the tone of the alarm clock, Akko had reluctantly woken up at an early 11 o’clock. She had managed to get the majority of her paper done the night before, which meant today was a day for slacking off. She hadn’t moved from bed at all. Instead, she was lying on her stomach and lazily scrolling through her phone. Stopping her thumb on a particularly attractive blonde model in her twitter feed, Akko was reminded of Diana. Just the mere thought of Diana pulled Akko into the memories of yesterday. Diana really had helped her out, despite Akko’s attitude during their first meeting. The blonde had helped Akko find the book she had needed, and had even purchased a book to help Akko better her writing. The amount of favors she owed was piling up, so Akko figured she really owed Diana something.
Akko combed her behead back with a hand and wracked her brain. She had to have something to offer to Diana in return for all the help. Akko smiled and propped herself up onto her elbows and smiled as an idea began to form in her brain. Professor Finnelan had mentioned a Creative Writing event being held at the school where several authors and publishers would attend a Q&A style panel about writing. Diana might be interested in going. After all, if she liked books, maybe she’d also like meeting authors. Bonus if Akko could score Diana a book signed by one of the authors themselves.
All she had to do now was call Diana and invite her. There was no way that Diana would decline, there were too many positives. Akko squirmed in excitement. Unable to hold in the full force of her emotions, she kicked her feet and quickly rolled off the bed. Unfortunately, she didn’t quite land on her feet. Akko let out a quiet hiss of pain as her elbow slammed into the floor. She quickly sat up and began to scroll through her contacts, only to pause. Akko stared dumbly down at her phone. She didn’t have Diana’s number. Damn it.
Getting up, Akko began to pace the bedroom. How could she get Diana’s number? The blonde clearly worked frequent hours at the bookstore, so visiting in person was a possibility, but actually asking Diana out to her face? That was less than ideal. The threat of a face to face rejection was much too daunting. Texting or calling was safer.
Akko ceased her pacing and smiled as another idea hit her. Jasminka worked with Diana; maybe she would have her number. Akko’s smile dropped as her brain dragged up another possibility. Getting Diana’s number through Jasminka could end in Akko getting labeled as a creep. Getting a number through a third party was always weird. Besides, Diana wouldn’t have Akko as a contact, and might ignore her because of that. Who picks up calls from unknown numbers in this day and age?
Akko chewed her lip and thought some more. Logically, the best course of action would be to steal Diana’s phone and get her number that way. Then she could just enter in her own contact information and pass it off as something that happened earlier. After all, who remembered anything past three hours? Akko personally made it a policy not to, so why would Diana?
Plan firmly secured in her mind, Akko threw on an orange jacket over her pajama shirt. She would eat breakfast and then head to the bookstore. There wasn’t a point in getting dressed up since Diana wouldn’t be seeing her. Akko would be in and out, with Diana none the wiser. Akko left her room with a smile on her face and headed towards the door.
As she pranced through the kitchen, Akko grabbed an apple from the nearly empty fruit bowl. She took a huge bite and gave a garbled hello to Lotte and Sucy. Lotte gave a small wave back, not even looking up from her crossword puzzle. Sucy merely flipped her off from the stovetop where she stirred away at something that looked quite dubious. Akko shrugged and opened the fridge for some milk.
“Akko, if you pass the store, can you grab some popcorn? Movie night with Amanda is next weekend and I want to be prepared.” Lotte’s piped up, still working away at her puzzle.
“Yeah, anything else?” Akko asked as she closed the door with her hip, milk in hand.
“Mmmm, no. Sucy?” Lotte looked up and over her shoulder at Sucy.
“Blood sausage.” Sucy said flatly as she removed her pot from the heat. “And for you to stop pacing so early in the morning.”
“Yes to sausage, and its eleven thirty, Sucy.” Akko said, taking a swig from the carton.
“Irrelevant and that is disgusting.”
Akko merely nodded and wiped away her milk moustache. Nothing was better than drinking milk from the carton, and you could pry this privilege from her cold, dead hands. Besides, she didn’t have backwash, so no problem. She put the milk away and quickly demolished the rest of her apple. Akko made sure to carefully pry the seeds out of the core before throwing it away, and carefully tucked them into her coat pocket. Sucy had mentioned something about cyanide and needing apple seeds earlier. Hopefully it’d make up for drinking out of the carton later, and deter Sucy from experimenting on Akko while she slept.
With everything from her quick breakfast put away, Akko left their shared apartment. The sky looked slightly overcast, and it was chillier than yesterday. It would probably rain later; her choice to wear a jacket had been a good call. Akko shoved her hands in her pockets and fiddled with the apple seeds in one hand. Whistling cheerfully, she began to walk down the street, carefully avoiding the areas on the sidewalk that had gotten cracked from a large tree root.
Once she had gotten on the same block as the bookstore, her cheerful walk slowed to a creep. She didn’t want Diana or Jasminka to realize that she was in the area today. Stealth was a key factor. Akko looked around the area, eyes scanning for the familiar blonde hair. She was so caught up in looking for the blonde; she failed to notice the garbage can on the curb. She clipped it with her foot and stumbled. Akko hopped around, flailing her arms and trying to regain her balance. She managed to avoid falling, and her palms only slightly skimmed the concrete as she stopped her wiggling.
Looking up, Akko found that she was in front of the bookstore. The front of it was as welcoming as ever. Akko straightened up and began to walk slowly towards the porch. If she was remembering right, the steps were creaky, so it was best to skip them entirely. She planted one foot at the bottom and stretched her leg over the three steps, holding onto the rail to keep her balance. She pointedly ignored the burning in her thighs and hoisted herself over the stairs. The porch only slightly creaked as her weight settled on it. Glancing furtively at the windows, Akko let out the breath she had been holding. No one had seen her approach.
The next hazard she had to conquer was the door. She couldn’t remember if there was a little bell that would give away her position. She’d rather go through an open window to avoid the risk of detection, but all of them seemed locked tight at a glance. She took a deep breath to conquer the squirmy feeling of excitement in her chest. This reminded Akko of the time she had broken into the art professor’s classroom with Amanda after hours to recover her phone. Hopefully this time, she wouldn’t end up being chased from the building by a police officer.
Akko steeled her nerves and reached for the doorknob cautiously. She turned the handle carefully, and slowly opened the door; being mindful of a possible bell that would give away her position. Luckily, it seemed like there was no bell, and she stepped into the building. Akko closed the door behind her and cocked her head as she listened for noises. The building was silent, save for the hum of the air circulating through the vents. She stepped past the entryway and entered the maze of books.
As she stealthily walked through the shelves, Akko remembered an old article she once read. She quickly ducked down to crawl on all fours. It had said that people were more likely to catch something at eye level; therefore crawling was the way to go. Akko let out a quiet prayer that Diana wouldn’t catch her, ass in the air, as she roamed about the bookstore.
Hearing a quiet hum, Akko quickly ducked into an alcove. Peeking around a corner, she watched as the two Roombas that patrolled the store came into view. They beeped nonsensically to each other as they passed, and Akko let out a quiet breath of relief. She felt a little stupid hiding from Roombas, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She looked around again carefully. The two Roombas always followed Diana around, so she had to be close by. Seeing nothing that indicated that Diana was close, Akko resumed her crawl.
Humming a little spy tune of her own, she headed to the back of the store. As she neared her destination, she finally spotted a door that marked the jackpot. The staff room. Akko quickly scuttled over on hands and knees, stopping at the door. She barely paused to look around before mushing her face into the hardwood floor, straining her eyes in an attempt to peek under the doorframe. A light was on, and she didn’t see any shadows or feet. Aside from the shadows of a chair off to the side, it appeared to be all clear. Akko balanced on her knees, reaching for the door knob. Akko pushed her nervousness down and her hand closed her hand around the door knob.
There was something taboo about opening the door; as if she was entering a realm not made for mere mortals.
Akko inhaled, steeling her nerves, and jerked the door open. Unfortunately, she miscalculated the force she had used and ended up rolling in after. Recovering quickly, she hunched over like a feral animal, glancing around frantically. A small desk area was packed away in a corner, papers scattered all over the dark wood. To the right, a small row of dented lockers stood. “All right!” Akko muttered to herself. The employee’s belongings were probably stored there. Akko briefly looked up, checking for a security camera. Nothing. There probably was never a need for tight security in a small bookshop, and that worked in her favor.
She quickly closed the door and crawled towards the lockers, analyzing them for any indication of one of them being Diana’s. There were faded marks from where masking tape had been worn away, probably from previous employees whose names had been scrubbed away after resigning. Akko couldn’t see any tape that bore Diana’s name. She would have to wing it and check every locker. Her heart beat in her chest as she began to open up several lockers at once. Each one was empty. As her fingers brushed one of the lockers on the top row, Akko let out a tiny grunt of frustration. This one better have at least something worth her time.
“Finally!” Akko whispered in triumph when she saw that this one contained a dark blue lunchbox and a gray notepad. As she reached inside to see if a phone was hiding behind the lunchbox, she heard a small click. Akko turned, all senses straining to the door. She felt a sense of dread creep through her heart as the door slowly swung open. She was about to be caught stealing something from an employee locker. She had to do something. Getting caught was not an option.
Akko quickly slipped off her shoe. She could throw it as a distraction and make a break for the door. Hopefully whoever it was wouldn’t see her face and Akko could make a clean getaway. Cocking her arm back, Akko prepared to throw the ragged sneaker, only to drop it as Diana herself walked through the door. The blonde made eye contact with Akko as the sneaker hit the floor with a resounding thud. Akko flinched as Diana’s eyes darted to it for a split second before returning to Akko’s face.
“You were going to throw that at me, weren’t you?”
Akko paused for a moment. “No.”
“Akko, you had the shoe in your hand. You were going to throw it.”
“No, I was just,” Akko’s eyes darted down to the shoe as she thought up an excuse “shaking a stone out of it. Now that it’s gone, I guess I’ll get going!” She bent down and scooped up the shoe. Hastily jamming it on her foot, she attempted to push past Diana and escape this embarrassing situation. Diana quickly blocked her path with an arm.
“Akko, what are you doing in the employee’s room and why was your hand in my locker?” Diana asked with a sigh. She had begun to squeeze the bridge of her nose with her free hand. Akko fiddled with her coat’s sleeve nervously. Diana looked frustrated, and that probably wasn’t a good sign.
“Uh,” Akko said with all the eloquence she could muster.
Diana sighed again and reached into her back pocket and pulled out a slim wallet. “How much?” She asked as she opened it.
“Excuse me?”
“How much do you need? Clearly you wouldn’t be rifling through my belongings if you didn’t need cash,” Diana looked at Akko evenly “The register up front would have been a better option, but I can’t fault you for avoiding possible confrontation.”
Akko felt her jaw drop. The way Diana seemed resigned to giving Akko money made her think maybe the blonde had gone through all this before. Akko tried to gather her wits to tell Diana she wasn’t a thief. This was not how she wanted it to go. She had to explain that this was a misunderstanding.
“I didn’t come here for money, I wanted your phone.” God dammit, that was not what she wanted to say.
“My phone?” Diana gave a blink in surprise. “What could you possibly need my phone for?”
Akko clenched her teeth. It took all of her strength not to let out a miserable whine. She might as well come clean now. The whole plan had failed. Worst of all, Akko probably was going to be kicked out of the store for thievery. She would never get to see Diana ever again, and would never be able to repay Diana for her kindness.
“I wanted to get your number.”
“And you thought the best way to do that was to steal my phone.”
“Well-”
“Akko, did you even consider the possibility that you might not be able to guess my password?”
“I just assumed that you’d have one of those old ones,” Akko looked down at the floor guiltily “Like a Noika or something.”
“A Noi-” Diana let out a huff of exasperation. She crossed her arms and looked at Akko with a small glare. “Why would I have a Noika?”
“You seem like the type to have one of those old lady phones?”
“Atsuko,” Akko felt a shiver run down her spine at the use of her first name “I am the same age as you. Obviously I would have a phone befitting my age.”
Akko didn’t say anything back; she just looked down and shuffled her feet. Why did she think this was some sort of grand plan? It was obviously doomed to fail. Her eyes burned and she felt a lump grow in her throat.
“Akko,” Diana said in a gentle tone. Akko felt Diana’s cool hand on her cheek and allowed the blonde to guide her face away from the floor. “All you had to do was ask. I would have been happy to give it to you. You didn’t need to come up with a scatterbrained plan like this.” Akko felt her tears dry when she noticed that Diana’s eyes glittered with merriment, and her lip was twitching in an attempt to restrain a smile.
“Here.”
Akko held her breath as she watched Diana slip her phone out of a pocket and unlock it with a series of deft finger swipes. She hesitantly took it from Diana’s hands and looked at the blonde. Diana gave a small nod of encouragement, and Akko quickly typed in the digits to her phone number.
“Thank you, Diana.” Akko said as she handed the phone back. She felt all warm and gooey, like she was radiating sunshine. She stood there star struck, looking at Diana.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Diana asked with a raised brow. Her hand was held out in expectation. For a brief moment, Akko thought Diana wanted to hold hands, until she remembered that they were exchanging phone numbers. Akko felt a squeak of embarrassment escape her throat. She shakily handed her phone to Diana, almost forgetting to unlock it.
She watched as Diana entered her number in. Akko couldn’t believe this was happening. It looks like the plan had been a success after all. Akko slipped her phone back into her pocket once Diana had finished filling out the contact information. She was hyper aware of the weight of her phone. She still couldn’t believe it. She had gotten Diana’s number.
“So,” Diana said with a smirk “What did you need my phone number for?”
“I wanted to see if you wanted to come with me to that creative writing panel thing.” Akko blurted out. “Y’know, because you seemed interested in books.”
“I wonder what gave that away.” Diana said with a giggle. Her hand was covering her mouth, and Akko briefly wished she could see Diana’s full face when she laughed. Akko could tell Diana had a smile full of sunshine, and she wanted to see it. “I was going to come anyway. Ursula, my boss, is on the panel. I was going to help set up.” Diana continued as her giggles faded. “But, I’d much rather go with you, as long as you don’t mind arriving early.”
“Not at all! I like helping and stuff. I’m super strong!” Akko couldn’t help but give a little jump and playfully flex her arms. This had exceeded her expectations. She’d be able to pay Diana back for all her help.
“You should probably get going,” Diana gave a little glance at the clock ticking away on the wall. “It’s getting rather late, and you really shouldn’t be here. I’ll escort you to the door.”
Once more Akko found herself being led through the shelves at a quick pace, her hand entwined with Diana’s. It was almost like a dream. Akko was pleased to find that Diana still used whatever shampoo that made her smell like wildflowers. All too soon they were on the porch.
“So I’ll see you, for the panel thing on Thursday?” Akko asked. She was still holding Diana’s hand, and she was a bit hesitant to let go. She gave a small squeeze, and felt a trill run through her when Diana squeezed back.
“Of course. I shall text you the time later this evening. Please don’t let me catch you in our staff room again.” Diana said as she almost hesitantly untangled her fingers from Akko’s and walked towards the door. Akko’s hand almost felt lonely after the blonde had let go. “And Akko,” Diana said with a smile over her shoulder “I look forward to our date.”
Akko stood there dazed as Diana quickly shut the door, still looking at her hand. As the words slowly sunk in, she felt her body give a jerk. “You too!” She yelped at the door belatedly. With a red face, Akko quickly dashed off the porch and back towards the dorm. She could buy groceries later. Right now she needed a safe place to scream her joy. Her roommates wouldn’t be safe from the hugs that were to follow Akko’s triumphant entrance. Akko had a feeling that Lotte would definitely have a field day when she told her this story.
