Archive of Our Own

Before her alarm clock had even rung, Y/N was out of bed, brushing her teeth and combing her hair. She thought a long while over which dress she wanted to wear that day. Sure, they all looked the same to the untrained eye, but picking out the right one for the occasion was an important matter! And today was very important, because it was Y/N’s first day in her very own coffee shop! Ever since she was a little girl, she’d wanted to own her very own coffee shop, and that dream was finally going to come true today! Y/N picked out a red dress that was just a little brighter than the rest, and she walked over to her living room. It was time for breakfast. Out of thin air, Y/N conjured up her favorite food: a ham sandwich and a glass of milk. After she was done eating (which was pretty quickly), Y/N rushed downstairs, where she had the counter and the tables set up for a coffee shop. On the sign by her shop, it said that the opening time was 8 A.M. It was only 7:45 A.M. right now, but Y/N figured, what the heck, and switched the sign from ‘closed’ to ‘open’ anyway. As she waited for customers to arrive, Y/N walked all over her shop, dusting off any nooks and crannies she’d missed, and fixing some of the paintings which hung crooked. Not too long after the official opening time, the first customer walked into the coffee shop, and after that, many more followed. It was quite busy that day, actually. Probably because people were curious about that new coffee shop that had opened and they wanted to see what it was all about. Y/N was rushing around from table to table, conjuring up food for all the customers. It made her a little sad to think that she had no time to sit at a table with one of the customers to talk to them and get to know them. Well, maybe she wouldn’t be able to do that today, but there was always tomorrow and the day after, so she’d probably get a lot of time to sit and talk with people later on. She just had to be patient.

It was during the afternoon that someone odd walked into her coffee shop. Actually, four people walked into her shop together, but only one of them was odd. They were probably farmers or gardeners, judging from the dirt stains on the knees of their trousers. The three non-odd ones appeared to belong together, as if they were friends or something. Y/N could tell by the way they smiled at each other, how they clustered together a little closer than to the fourth person. A ginger man with buck teeth seemed to be the leader, or at least the most extraverted, considering his shoulders were squared and he was looking around proudly. Another man with brown hair and an Irish hat seemed a little more laid-back, but not unfriendly. The third man had blonde hair and wore a dirty, white blouse. He was quite jittery, wringing his hands and glancing around rapidly. However, when his eyes fell on Y/N, he flashed her a quick smile. The fourth man was the odd one. Not necessarily in his looks- although he did have wild, curly ginger hair- but more in his attitude. He was certainly smiling, but Y/N could tell from a mile away that that was a fake smile, and he also had his body turned away from everyone else, and his arms were crossed, as to protect himself from the rest of the world.

Y/N decided not to comment on the odd man’s demeanor, and instead, greeted the group with a smile. ‘’Hello, welcome to my coffee shop. My name is Y/N Coffee, it’s a pleasure to meet you!’’

The front man nodded. ‘’Nice to meet you, too. I’m Chauncey Chantenay. This is Sal Spudder,’’ he motioned to the man with the brown hair, who tipped his hat, ‘’and that’s Ollie Bulb.’’ The blonde man waved at her. ‘’But you can call us the Root Pack, because we’re always together.’’

Y/N looked over at the odd man out. ‘’And what’s your name?’’ She asked. The guy clearly didn’t like her asking, and she felt bad about putting him on the spot like that, but it could prove difficult to interact with him if she didn’t even know his name.

He smiled at her, even though there was a hidden coldness in his gaze. ‘’Cagney Carnation. I’m a gardener.’’

‘’It’s very nice to meet you, Cagney,’’ Y/N said as she showed the men to a table. ‘’Would you like to be seated here?’’

For the rest of the men’s visit, Y/N kept an eye on the gardener, but he didn’t seem to drop the act or let even slip a hint of his true feelings. It was strange. Y/N was sure the gardener disliked being here, but he didn’t seem to want to show it. Either this was the world’s most determined man, or Y/N’s people reading skills weren’t as great as she thought they were. No, perish the thought! Y/N’s people reading skills were amazing! There was just something Cagney was hiding, and Y/N really, really wanted to figure out what it was.

So, she went to visit him a few days later. Her working day was done, and it was sunset as she walked over to his house. The upsides to living in the countryside rather than the city was that you knew exactly where everyone lived and that everyone knew each other. Y/N had always wanted to live in a community like that, where everyone was really close with each other, but that didn’t happen in the big city where she was born. She just hoped that she could integrate well with the people in the forest. As she walked up to Cagney’s house, she saw him working in the garden. It was quite a beautiful garden, with bushes full of red roses, plants that had pink, heart-shaped leaves, and carnations and daisies everywhere. Cagney looked up. Although he had a smile on his face, Y/N could tell by the twitch of his eyebrows that he was annoyed.

‘’Hello, Y/N. It’s Y/N, right?’’ He asked.

The coffee shop owner nodded. ‘’I was just taking a walk through the forest,’’ she lied, ‘’when I saw you working in your garden. I wanted to strike up a conversation.’’

Cagney went back to weeding, probably because he didn’t want to crane his neck up to look at her all the time. ‘’Sure. What do you want to talk about?’’

Y/N leaned on his fence. ‘’Let’s start with this: how was your day?’’

He glanced up at her. ‘’Good. Goopy LeGrande asked me to trim his hedges… which were shaped like him.’’

Y/N gasped. ‘’You did the garden of Goopy LeGrande?! The famous boxer?!’’

‘’...Yeah, I do everyone’s garden here.’’ He stood up and walked over to another patch of his garden. ‘’It’s kinda my job.’’ He squatted down and continued weeding.

‘’Cool. I haven’t seen him around yet, though. Do you think he’ll come visit my coffee shop?’’

Cagney chuckled. ‘’If you’re lucky.’’

‘’Hm, maybe.’’ Y/N looked up at the clouds. It was summer, so it was still warm and light outside, even though it was late. ‘’The Root Pack told me about all their shenanigans today. I didn’t think they’d be such troublemakers. Did you get up to many shenanigans when you were younger?’’

‘’Oh, you couldn’t imagine.’’ Cagney shook his head. ‘’But we don’t have time for those stories right now.’’

Y/N hummed in agreement. She wondered if she should be more direct with him? Ask him what she wanted to know? ‘’Do you like people, Cagney?’’

He looked up. Although he was still smiling, his brows were furrowed a bit. ‘’What kinda question is that?’’ He chuckled. Y/N wondered if he was chuckling because he was genuinely confused, or because the coffee shop owner had gotten him nervous with that question.

‘’Oh, no, I’m just wondering,’’ Y/N tried to play it off. ‘’You seem like an introvert.’’

The gardener shrugged. ‘’I like being alone, but it’s not like I hate people or anything.’’

Y/N wished she’d known Cagney for a little longer, because a change in voice or mannerisms was often a good tell to know if someone was lying. She didn’t feel like she knew him enough yet to determine when his mannerisms changed significantly. It seemed like, for now, he was still a closed book. That was fine, Y/N could find out some other way. ‘’Well, then I shouldn’t keep you trapped in this conversation. It’s getting late, anyway. Take care!’’ She waved him goodbye, and walked away.

‘’Goodbye!’’ Cagney called after her.

Who was it you went to when you had a question? Your best friend, of course! Well, she wasn’t Y/N’s best friend yet… as they hadn’t known each other for very long, but out of everyone in the forest, Y/N considered her her best friend. Sadly, she was nocturnal, so Y/N could only visit her at night. When nighttime had finally struck, Y/N walked over to Hilda’s observatory, and rang the doorbell.

Hilda opened the door, yawning and holding a cup of coffee. ‘’Y/N, you gotta stop visiting me so early in the evening,’’ she grumbled as she held the door open for her friend to come inside.

Y/N walked in after her friend, and as they arrived in the living room, the coffee shop owner sat down on the red couch and conjured up a glass of warm milk for herself. She was probably going to bed immediately after this visit, anyway. Hilda sat down on the couch across from her, and took a big gulp of coffee.

‘’So, how’s the business?’’ She asked. ‘’Was it everything you hoped for?’’

Y/N nodded excitedly. ‘’Yes! Running the shop is so fun, I get to talk to many different people, and I finally get to use my powers a lot more!’’

Hilda nodded sleepily. ‘’That’s good, that’s good. No problems in the financial department?’’

‘’No, finances are actually not that difficult if you take some time to understand them.’’ Y/N drank from her warm milk. ‘’So, what about you? Made any new space discoveries?’’

Hilda shook her head. ‘’I think I’m gonna have to wait until winter, because that’s when you can see Auriga best. There were a few stars in there that caught my attention…’’

‘’Man, what you’re doing must be very difficult…’’ Y/N muttered. ‘’I’m glad I don’t need to do all those difficult calculations.’’

The astronomer smiled. ‘’Well, I’m glad I don’t need to sit in a dusty old shop and deal with people all day.’’

‘’I guess we both have our dream jobs, don’t we?’’ Y/N chuckled. ‘’I’m glad.’’ She took another drink of her milk. ‘’Now, I actually wanted to talk to you about something today.’’

Hilda raised a brow. ‘’Oh, really? About what?’’

‘’Cagney Carnation.’’

Hilda’s face immediately contorted into a mix of confusion and disgust. And she didn’t even try to hide any of it. ‘’Carnation? You’re not in love with him, are you?’’

Y/N chuckled. ‘’No, no, it’s too early for that. I’m just confused as to what’s going on with him.’’ She waved her hands around. ‘’The guy is putting on a clearly fake smile while in my coffee shop, he doesn’t enjoy it there at all! I’m pretty sure he’s hiding something or not being completely honest, but I don’t really know what he’s hiding, if anything!’’

Hilda smiled at her. ‘’Honestly? You probably know him better than I do. I didn’t see him around much, considering I’m nocturnal.’’

Y/N sighed disappointedly. ‘’I was hoping you wouldn’t say that. You’ve lived here your entire life, right? There must be something you know about him that I don’t.’’

‘’Most of what I know, I heard from others.’’ Hilda shrugged. ‘’Mom didn’t want me to play with him, because he got into fights a lot. I actually got a bouquet of flowers delivered to me from a secret admirer, and I always suspected that it was him, but I was never sure. And… uh, that’s about it.’’

Y/N put an index finger to her chin in thought. ‘’Fights, huh? That’s pretty interesting. I’m starting to think that he’s not the kinda guy who likes people much…’’

‘’Hey, can I ask you something?’’ Hilda asked as she stirred her coffee. ‘’How come you’re so sure about all these things you think you know about him? You can’t just point at someone and ascribe them feelings and personality traits without ever having met them.’’

Y/N nodded. ‘’I know, but I’ve been doing this for such a long time. I’ve been people watching ever since I was a little girl, so when I look at people’s behaviors, I’m usually correct about a lot of things about them. Like, you’ve never told me this, but I can tell you’re looking for a lover right now.’’

Hilda’s brows furrowed. ‘’Huh? How do you know that?’’

‘’It’s easy, really.’’ Y/N shrugged. ‘’Remember last week? You told me your perfect date was going stargazing with someone. And just now, when I mentioned a guy, the first thing your mind jumped to was romance, asking me if I was in love. It kinda makes sense, as well, considering you’re nocturnal, which makes it difficult for you to meet new people. It’s probably really difficult to date people, considering your sleep schedule.’’

Hilda stared at her for a moment. ‘’...Have you ever thought about using this skill to make money?’’

Y/N laughed. ‘’What, like as a clairvoyant or something? Why would I do that? That’s lame! I’d rather use it to make sure my friends are okay.’’ She looked at Hilda. ‘’Hey, I hope you find that lover. I’m sure there are other people out there who are nocturnal like you.’’

Hilda raised a brow. ‘’There better be! I wasn’t created to be this awesome just to stay single for my entire life!’’

Hilda couldn’t tell Y/N much about Cagney, but she figured the Root Pack probably knew a little more. After all, they were with Cagney as they walked into Y/N’s coffee shop, and the four of them sat together while they drank coffee, so they were probably friends. A few days after her visit to Hilda, in the evening, Y/N closed her coffee shop and walked over to the farms by the edge of the forest, where the Root Pack lived. Due to the nature of her powers, Y/N never actually needed to consult the farmers for their produce: after all, if she wanted to make mashed potatoes, or steamed carrots, she could just conjure up the meal herself. She’d heard from other people that each member of the Root Pack farmed their own produce: Chauncey farmed carrots, Sal farmed potatoes, and Ollie farmed onions. Strangely enough, they even lived on the same farm, even though they all farmed different vegetables. When she’d arrived at their farmhouse, Y/N knocked on their door, and Ollie opened up for her.

He looked surprised. ‘’Y/N? What’re you doing here?’’ He started visibly shaking, and asked: ‘’Did something happen?’’ Ollie seemed easily startled.

Y/N chuckled and shook her head. ‘’No, nothing bad happened. I just came to visit, is that alright?’’

Ollie glanced over his shoulder. ‘’Uhm- yeah- lemme ask the others…’’ He walked into the living room, and conversed with Sal and Chauncey.

‘’What?! Of course she can come visit! Why did you even ask?’’ Y/N heard Chauncey say.

Ollie scuttled back over to the front door. ‘’They said that you could come visit.’’ He let her inside.

The living room was decorated a lot differently than how Y/N would decorate her house. The walls were partly tiled and some of the tiles had funny sayings on them, like: ‘’As long as I pretend to work hard, my employer pretends to pay me a lot.’’ The wooden panels creaked beneath Y/N’s feet as she walked, and the tablecloth on the table Sal and Chauncey were sitting at was white with red squares on it. Y/N invited herself to sit on one of the wooden chairs at the table, and Ollie sat down next to her, filling out the entire repertoire of vacant seats. The farmers were drinking from steaming mugs, so Y/N conjured up a mug of hot chocolate for herself.

Sal’s eyebrows briefly shot up. ‘’Woah, I didn’t know you had powers.’’

Chauncey grinned smugly. ‘’You save a lot of costs with those powers, don’t you?’’ He asked. ‘’Probably time as well. I guess for someone like you, opening a coffee shop was the best business decision!’’

Y/N smiled bashfully. ‘’You’re right, it completely makes sense, so I always wondered why my parents never opened a coffee shop, or a restaurant. They had the same powers as me, so why didn’t they make use of them, y’know?’’

‘’But, why a coffee shop?’’ Sal asked. ‘’Why not a restaurant? You could’ve opened a five star restaurant and gotten rich!’’

Y/N smiled. ‘’It’s not always about the money, Sal. If I were to open a restaurant, it’d be strange of me to go and talk to the customers. You don’t really… do that at a restaurant. I feel like it’s much more intuitive for the waitress to come talk with you if you’re in a coffee shop rather than a restaurant.’’

‘’Wait, you… enjoy talking with your customers?’’ Ollie asked. ‘’By Sally Onions, that’s so sweet!’’ He started tearing up, and Y/N was suddenly hit by a wave of soft and warm feelings of love.

‘’Ugh, he’s doing it again,’’ Chauncey sighed. ‘’Ollie’s got this thing where he impacts everyone around him when he gets emotional. Those are his powers.’’

Y/N looked over at the carrot farmer. ‘’He’s got powers? That’s pretty cool. What about you?’’

Chauncey grinned proudly. ‘’I’ve got telekinesis. Look!’’ He lifted his ginger bangs to reveal a third eye on his forehead. ‘’I can make things float and stuff! I just hide it, because it disturbs the kids.’’ He wiped his bangs down. ‘’Sal’s got powers, too, but they’re not that impressive.’’

Sal crossed his arms and pouted. ‘’I vomit worms and potatoes,’’ he huffed.

‘’Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,’’ Y/N said. ‘’I can understand why your potatoes wouldn’t sell, but have you tried selling your worms to fishermen?’’

Sal nodded. ‘’Used to do it as my day job, but I got tired of all the vomiting after a while.’’

Y/N empathically nodded as well. ‘’I can understand.’’

There was a lull in the conversation. Y/N decided that this was the right time to ask. ‘’Hey… I was wondering about Cagney, the gardener you were with…’’

Chauncey raised a brow. ‘’Cagney Carnation? What about him?’’

‘’I mean, he just struck me as a bit of an oddball,’’ the coffee shop owner explained, ‘’so I just wanted to ask about him. Learn a little bit about him, you know?’’

Ollie smiled fondly. ‘’Yes, Cagney has been friends with us for a really long time. Ever since we were children!’’

That meant that Y/N had struck gold! ‘’So, you could tell me a lot about him?’’ She asked. ‘’What was he like?’’

‘’We would always go to the county fair with the four of us,’’ Sal reminisced. He took a drink from his mug, and continued: ‘’He was so competitive back then. He always wanted to win with all of the games, like ring tossing and skeeball. He used to get so angry when he couldn’t win the baghopping game.’’ Sal chuckled softly to himself.

‘’He was a violent, sarcastic bastard,’’ Chauncey said with a smile. ‘’He’d somehow managed to make enemies with everyone in town.’’ Y/N’s smile faded a bit. He didn’t sound very pleasant, actually. Was this really the guy Y/N wanted to get to know? Chauncey leaned forward on the table as he continued: ‘’But that’s the beauty with guys like him. If they consider you their friend, if they even tolerate you, it’s such an honor. He hated everyone , except for us.’’ Chauncey sat back in his chair. ‘’I don’t know what happened to him. He used to get into fights with Ribby and Croaks almost every other day, and he’d get so angry if he lost, too. And one day, he just… stopped being that bastard we loved. He became a goody two-shoes.’’

Y/N furrowed her brows. ‘’But… isn’t that a good thing? Being mean to everyone just makes everyone around you feel worse, so I can’t imagine he was very happy back then.’’

Chauncey shrugged. ‘’You’re right, it’s not up to you or me to tell him how to act. That’s only up to him to decide. However, at times, I feel like that he’s not being himself, that that’s not the real Cagney smiling at me. Call me cynical, but I don’t think he’s happy like this, either.’’

Y/N looked down at her chocolate milk as she warmed her hands on her cup. ‘’No, living a life pretending to be someone you’re not also can’t make you happy,’’ she muttered.

Ollie looked around the table. ‘’...Could it be that he stopped fighting because he fainted that one time?’’ He asked.

The rest of the company around the table looked at him. ‘’Whaddaya mean?’’ Sal asked.

‘’Well, you know the last time he fought with Ribby and Croaks?’’ Ollie hesitantly scratched his head. ‘’He fainted. He said he went to the doctor about it.’’

‘’And what did the doctor say?’’ Chauncey asked.

Ollie shrugged. ‘’I dunno, he never told me. But that was when he started changing. He started being nice to people. I’ve always wondered if it did something to his brain, like that Phineas Gage guy.’’

Y/N sat with her index finger to her chin as she thought. She made up a timeline in her mind: first, Cagney was a jerk who was mean to everyone, then he fainted and went to a doctor, his personality changed and he became the friendly, down-to-earth gardener Y/N met in the coffee shop. She’d almost believe Ollie’s explanation, if it wasn’t for- ‘’No, I don’t think he damaged his brain,’’ she said and looked up at the rest of the Root Pack. ‘’I noticed something strange about him when he walked into the coffee shop with the rest of you. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. I went to talk to him later on, and he looked so annoyed with me, even though he didn’t show it. I think he’s still the same guy you guys grew up with, he’s just not showing it now.’’

‘’But… why?’’ Chauncey asked. ‘’The Cagney I know never would put in so much effort just to be liked by someone. He wouldn’t think anyone was worth it.’’

Y/N shrugged. ‘’I don’t know, either. You’re his friends, right? Maybe you should go and ask him, I think he’s much more inclined to tell you guys than to tell me, considering you’ve been friends for a long time.’’

The Root Pack glanced around at each other. Sal put a five dollar bill on the table. ‘’Five dollars says he’s gonna beat us up if we ask him.’’

‘’Don’t be so mean! Cagney would never beat us up!’’ Ollie exclaimed. ‘’...Except for that time at the nail-pooping contest. And that time when Sal lost his daisies. And that time Chauncey broke his flower pot. And that time Chauncey broke his other flower pot…’’

Her conversation with the Root Pack had given Y/N a lot to think about over the course of the next few days. It was definitely a very interesting situation, and Y/N wanted to know all there was to know about everything. She hummed to herself as she closed up shop, and as she switched the sign on her door from ‘open’ to ‘closed’, she noticed a silhouette walking towards her. It was Cagney. He smiled at her and greeted her.

‘’Good evening,’’ Y/N returned the greeting. ‘’I’d love to have you over, but I’m sorry to say that we’re closed right now.’’

‘’Oh, that’s okay,’’ the gardener said as he wrung his hands. ‘’Actually, I’m not here to drink anything, I wanted to speak to you personally.’’

Y/N flashed him a quick smile as she closed the door behind her. ‘’Sure, what is it?’’

He looked away, his brows furrowed for a split second. ‘’The Root Pack came by the other day and started asking odd questions about me. They said you came by them and asked about me…’’

Although Y/N could tell by his body language that he was a bit angry, she could also see a hint of embarrassment. She started feeling guilty about talking about Cagney behind his back. ‘’I’m… sorry. I can tell you’re angry and embarrassed, and honestly, you have every right to be.’’

‘’Oh, no, I’m not-’’ He cleared his throat. ‘’You guys just have such strange ideas about me, you know?’’ His vocal pitch noticeably went up. ‘’I’m not hiding anything.’’ That was a lie, Y/N could tell from a mile away.

She smiled. Y/N noticed that her own vocal pitch went down as she lied: ‘’Well, when you say that, I should take your word for it.’’ There was no use antagonizing him now. ‘’Again, I’m sorry about saying such weird stuff about you behind your back. Hey, maybe I can make it up to you. Would you like to go on a picnic together?’’

Cagney lost his entire facade for a second as his brows furrowed in confusion. ‘’...Excuse me?’’

‘’I can understand if you don’t want to,’’ Y/N clarified. ‘’I just thought that it’d be a nice idea to maybe hang out together and talk. That way, we can get to know each other better. Don’t worry about the food and the drinks, I’ll provide those.’’

‘’A picnic… are you serious?’’ The gardener asked.

Y/N shrugged. ‘’If you don’t like picnics, we can go do something else.’’

‘’No, no, that’s not-’’ He scratched the back of his head and chuckled. ‘’If you really want to- then sure, yeah, why not?’’ He looked at her with a sort of embarrassed disbelief.

After a bit of an awkward back-and-forth, the two settled on a date and time, and said their goodbyes. Y/N went inside her coffee shop, excited, unable to wait for the day to come. She was going to read that man like a book, and after they were done with their picnic, she’d finally understand him in his entirety!

On the agreed upon time, Y/N went to the grassy field by the observatory. Cagney was already there, looking at the clouds with his hands in his pockets. As he had his back turned to her, he couldn’t see Y/N, so she observed him for a moment. He sighed, almost dejectedly, and turned around. He looked down at the grass for a moment, before his eyes went up to meet Y/N’s, and surprise flashed across his face.

‘’Oh, you came!’’ He said.

Y/N smirked and nodded. ‘’Of course I came. What, you didn’t think I was going to keep my word or something?’’

Cagney embarrassedly looked away. ‘’Of course I expected you to come.’’ No, he clearly didn’t. Strange, had he been stood up like this before? Well, it could be. If the Root Pack’s account was true, he probably wasn’t very popular. Y/N didn’t pursue the thought and laid down a blanket instead. Cagney helped her stretch out the blanket, and as he sat down, asked: ‘’So, where’s the food?’’

Y/N smiled at him, and with her powers, conjured up a bowl of fruit salad, a strawberry milkshake, and a cherry pie. For herself, she conjured up a plate of ham sandwiches and a latte.

Cagney looked at her with eyes like saucers. ‘’You’ve… always been able to do that?’’

‘’Yeah, ever since I was little.’’ She took a drink of her latte. ‘’Do you have powers, Cagney?’’

He scratched his head. ‘’I can grow plants.’’

‘’The perfect powers for a gardener,’’ Y/N said and smiled at him over her cup.

Cagney took the bowl and started eating the fruit salad. ‘’Yeah, I guess that’s why my whole family consists of gardeners.’’ He chuckled. ‘’I’m glad. I’m really lucky that I like gardening so much.’’

Y/N smiled. She could tell that he was genuinely happy talking about his work, which was really nice to see. She wondered if this was the first time she’d seen the gardener being genuinely happy. ‘’I’m glad for you, too. Is there anything else you like to do, besides gardening?’’

His eyes looked away, up at the sky for a second, as if he was thinking about something. ‘’Yes, I do. I’ve been getting into pottery lately.’’

‘’Pottery? Tell me all about it.’’ Y/N smiled as to encourage him to continue. It was nice to see him talking about things he enjoyed.

‘’Oh, well, it’s really difficult.’’ The gardener chuckled. ‘’I’m a bit impatient, you see. But I’ve been getting better. It’s very calming.’’

Y/N sat a little closer to him. ‘’Do you make your own plant pots?’’ She asked.

The gardener nodded. ‘’Yeah, I started with more basic plant pots, but now that I’ve gotten a little better, I sculpt them, too.’’ He smiled fondly. ‘’I’m working on an elephant pot right now.’’

Y/N wiped a stray hair out of her face. ‘’Show me when you’re done with it, okay?’’ She gently touched his arm with her hand. ‘’Hey, maybe you should teach me how to do it sometime.’’

Cagney’s face clearly went a little red, and beneath his hand grew a small rose. He adjusted his position, probably hoping that Y/N didn’t see it. He was clearly embarrassed about it, so Y/N decided to ignore it and pretend she didn’t notice anything. Although, it was an odd reaction. Perhaps Cagney wasn’t used to affection, or maybe he was developing feelings for her.

‘’Oh, if I’ve got time…’’ His voice trailed off.

Y/N smiled at him. ‘’Don’t feel pressured into it. If I really want to learn pottery, I should just teach myself how to do it. Sadly, I never really got into the arts because I was always too busy watching other people.’’ Y/N shrugged. ‘’Although, watching other people is kind of an art as well, wouldn’t you say?’’

Cagney raised a brow. ‘’Watching other people?’’ He asked. ‘’What’s so fun about that?’’

‘’It’s just interesting, I guess.’’ Y/N smiled down at her ham sandwich. ‘’Everyone is different. Every person has a different story, a different life, different hobbies, different ways of doing things… People are so amazing, I love talking to them, hearing their stories. I love slowly figuring out stuff about them, and I love it when they finally open up and trust me enough to tell me what’s on their mind.’’

Cagney looked away for a second, thoughtfully chewing his salad. Y/N got the feeling that he wanted to ask a question, but that he was hesitant to do so. Eventually, he bit the metaphorical bullet and asked: ‘’Aren’t you afraid they won’t like you?’’

Interesting question, especially considering what happened at the beginning of their picnic. ‘’Ah, well, you can’t be liked by everyone, now can you?’’ Y/N shrugged. ‘’Some people won’t like you, that’s just the way it is. Not everyone can like everyone. There are also a lot of people that I don’t like, just because of something arbitrary like the aura they give off. So, when someone doesn’t like me, it doesn’t bother me very much.’’ She looked up at him, and wondered if he was often bothered if people didn’t like him. ‘’Trust me, if someone doesn’t like me, I’ll be the first to know.’’

Cagney furrowed his brows. ‘’Even if they hide it from you?’’

‘’ Especially if they hide it from me!’’ Y/N enunciated. ‘’You may not believe it, but I’m really, really good at observing people!’’ She said it in more of a carefree tone, because she didn’t want to intimidate him. She wanted to say ‘I know what you’re up to, and I don’t mind,’ rather than ‘I know what you’re up to, and I’ll make you pay for your crimes’. She smirked. ‘’Hey, I made your favorite foods appear, didn’t I?’’

Cagney was about to put a piece of apple in his mouth when he froze. ‘’How did you know?’’

‘’Oh, it’s got more to do with my powers than with my people reading skills,’’ Y/N admitted, ‘’but I know everyone’s favorite food and drink! Cool, right?’’

Cagney smiled. ‘’Yeah, pretty cool.’’

The picnic was a big success. Y/N felt like she knew a lot more about Cagney, and Cagney looked like he was genuinely having a good time. Hopefully, this would mend their relationship a little bit, they’d gotten off to a bad start because of Y/N’s curiosity. That night, Y/N laid in bed, exhausted, but unable to sleep. The excitement of the day kept her awake as she stared at the ceiling in the dark and wondered if she should just visit Hilda. No, perish the thought! She was going to have to get up early tomorrow, and even if she didn’t sleep a wink, just laying in bed would help her body recover. Still, whenever she closed her eyes, she’d see Cagney’s face in her imagination. She kept replaying things that were said during their picnic in her head, over and over again, like a broken record. But the broken record kept replaying the best part of the song, over and over again. She remembered those inhibited, yet clearly amused smiles. Certain hand gestures he’d do while he explained something. The look in his eyes when he told her about something he cared about. These memories were all so nice, and part of Y/N was afraid she’d lose them if she didn’t hang onto them tightly enough. As if they’d slip through her fingers if she didn’t pay attention to them for a single moment. She rolled onto her side. What was going on with her today? Although she could get excited about the prospect of working in her own coffee shop, of seeing her friend again, of getting to know people, she was never this worked up. She didn’t want to look inside, though. There shouldn’t be anything interesting about her, because she already knew everything about her! She was Y/N Coffee, why would she need to investigate Y/N Coffee? She slowly breathed as her mind hung on that question for a moment, and she eventually came up with an answer: she needed to investigate herself exactly because she was Y/N Coffee. If she didn’t know herself well, who would? So, like a swimmer facing a tall cliff with cold, black water at the bottom, she took a deep breath, and took the plunge. Y/N promised herself that, no matter what she’d find, she’d still love herself.

She was in love with him, of course! Y/N felt almost embarrassed that she had to wrestle with herself so much to figure that out. For most people, she could easily tell when they were in love, why not with herself? Well, it didn’t matter. Y/N knew she was in love now and there was no changing that. Hilda had been right. Y/N wondered if the astronomer was a clairvoyant. It could’ve been one in her set of many powers. Y/N was quietly thinking to herself as she cleaned off the tables in her coffee shop. It was a dark, rainy day, so there hadn’t been many visitors, and it was also a time when not many people went for coffee, so the shop was empty. Y/N hadn’t really accounted for these types of days happening, but oh, there was nothing to be done. Besides, she was willing to trade in boring days like this so she could get awesome days during which she could talk to the customers. It was a give-and-take scenario, and Y/N was willing to give a little bit back to Fate, because she’d already gotten so much from it.

With the ring of the doorbell, someone walked inside the coffee shop. Y/N looked up to see Cagney. Considering that he was more introverted, she hadn’t expected him to visit, and this took her by surprise. ‘’Good afternoon, Cagney. It’s really nice to see you again,’’ she said with a smile.

He smiled back at her. Y/N noticed he had dimples. ‘’Thanks. It’s good to see you, too.’’

She showed him to a table, and sat down with him. ‘’What would you like to drink?’’ She asked.

He smiled, a little mischievously. ‘’A strawberry milkshake, please.’’

Y/N conjured up a strawberry milkshake for him. She was about to slide it over to his side of the table when she noticed that it had two straws and heart-shaped sprinkles on the side. ‘’Oh- oh, my…’’ She muttered embarrassedly as she applied her powers again to fix the unnecessary additions. This was odd, her powers had never malfunctioned like that before. Well, they had when she was younger, because she was still learning how to use them, but it’d been about fifteen years since then, so it was certainly strange. After the milkshake had been fixed, she slid it over to Cagney’s side of the table. He looked at her with a puzzled expression, but didn’t pursue the issue. Y/N decided to test her powers again, and conjured up a latte for herself, too. This one had a heart-shaped cup, not as she’d intended. Twice in a row? Ouch, that was embarrassing. Y/N changed the cup shape to be a normal circle, and chuckled. ‘’My powers get a little wacky when I’m not paying attention,’’ she lied, ‘’I’ve been bored today, because there was no-one around, so I’m glad you’re here.’’ Her lies probably weren’t even making sense, this was terrible! Being in love sucked.

Cagney smiled empathically. ‘’It’s fine. My powers act up sometimes, too.’’ Like when he accidentally grew that flower under his hand. Y/N found herself wondering if he was really in love with her, too. She wondered if she could even accurately assess that, now that she was looking at the world through colored lenses. ‘’You know, I-’’ He looked away for a second, probably hesitating about what he was going to say next. ‘’I used to use them a lot back when I was a child. The Root Pack must’ve told you, right? About how I used to… you know. Fight a lot.’’

Y/N nodded as she warmed her hands on her cup. ‘’Yeah, they did. They said you fainted one time, and then changed dramatically.’’

He nodded. ‘’Yeah, I went to the doctor about it. I don’t remember what the condition was called, but it basically meant that I faint when I get too angry.’’ He stirred his milkshake as he talked. ‘’That’s why I do pottery now, because it calms me down. Although I used to get a little frustrated with it at first.’’ He chuckled while admitting that last part.

Y/N smiled at him. Cagney was showing her more and more of his true self. It meant that he felt comfortable enough to open up to her, which was one of the best complements Y/N could ever receive from someone. She looked down at his hand, which was laying on the table, and decided to put her hand over his. He looked at her, as she did so, clearly surprised. He was blushing again. ‘’Thanks for opening up to me,’’ Y/N said as she looked him in the eyes, ‘’It’s really the biggest honor you could bestow upon me.’’

‘’O- Oh, you’re welcome.’’ He looked down at the table, holding his breath and biting his lip. No way, he totally was in love with her!

Y/N decided to show mercy to Cagney’s poor soul, and removed her hand from his. ‘’You know,’’ she said, ‘’I sometimes feel a little guilty about moving here.’’ Cagney had opened up to her, she felt comfortable enough to open up to him, so why not return the favor?

‘’...Why?’’ He asked. ‘’It’s really nice to have you here.’’

Y/N smiled. ‘’It’s not because I think you guys don’t like me,’’ she clarified, ‘’it’s because my family still lives back in the big city. I feel kinda bad about leaving them behind.’’

‘’...But you can just go visit them, so what’s the problem?’’

Y/N looked away. ‘’Well, you’re right, I can , but…’’ She sighed. ‘’We used to be very close, and my parents were having trouble accepting that I was going to have to move out eventually. We arranged to have me moved into a closer-by building in the city at first, but there were complications with the purchase of the venue, and then this venue opened up…’’ She glanced up at him. ‘’Mom and dad didn’t want me moving so far away, especially not at first, considering it’s a big step. I… felt bad about it, but this may have been the only way to properly realize my dream.’’

Cagney crossed his arms. ‘’Hey, your parents have just gotta realize that kids grow up and move away. If you’re not ready for that reality, don’t have children.’’ He chuckled. ‘’My parents were more than happy to be rid of me, I was a little brat.’’

Y/N smiled at him. ‘’Aw, don’t say that. I’m sure they missed you, too.’’

‘’...Maybe,’’ he said with a shrug. ‘’But it would’ve been nice if they showed at least a little sadness, you know?’’ He looked at her. ‘’Don’t worry about your parents, after you moved out, they were probably sad for a couple of days and then realized that they could fuck anytime they wanted without you hearing it, which was probably really nice.’’

Y/N stared at him for a moment. ‘’I… I don’t think I like that mental picture,’’ she confessed, and wondered if this was something the real Cagney would say.

Cagney embarrassedly scratched his cheek. ‘’Ah, sorry. That was kinda inappropriate, wasn’t it? I wasn’t really thinking about what I was saying, I’m sorry.’’ He smiled empathically. ‘’The point is: they’re probably less sad about you leaving than they thought they would be.’’

Yeah, maybe he actually showed her a flash of his true self in that moment, and now that Y/N had voiced her concern, he changed back. ‘’Thanks for saying that,’’ she said. ‘’It helps.’’ It was still really nice that he was starting to show his true self around her, though.

Okay, the status of her relationship with Cagney was pretty good. She considered him her friend, and maybe the feeling was even mutual. It was time to consider taking the next step. Y/N wasn’t totally sure if Cagney felt the same way about her, but life could never be completely certain! As of now, she had feelings for him, and where there were feelings, there needed to be a confession… or at least, a date. Y/N wiped her hands on her dress as she walked over to Cagney’s house. It was pretty late, so he wasn’t working in his garden anymore, but maybe he’d still let her talk to him. She took a deep breath to calm her aching nerves, and rang the doorbell.

Cagney opened after a few moments, and his facial expression became surprised as he saw who it was. ‘’Y/N? What’re you doing here at this time?’’

Y/N smiled. ‘’I got off from work a little late, but I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the Carnevil with me.’’

‘’The Carn- what, right now?’’ He glanced around anxiously.

Y/N waved her hand around. ‘’I mean, it doesn’t need to be right now, it could be tomorrow evening or whenever you want, really. Just as long as we’re both free, it should be fine, right?’’

‘’I, uh- hold on.’’ He scratched the doorframe a little with his finger as he thought. He then took a coat from the coatrack in his hallway. ‘’Uh, yeah, let’s go.’’

Y/N showed him a gentle smile, and together, they walked over to the Carnevil. She’d never actually gone to the Carnevil before, mostly because she didn’t really have the time and because it was probably a lot more fun with other people. There were beautiful lamps that lit up the dark, and carnival music filled the air.

They stopped at the entrance sign. ‘’Carn… evil?’’ Cagney muttered, ‘’Should we be worried about that?’’

Y/N psh’d and took Cagney’s arm. He was actually rather small, almost as tall as her. ‘’They just spell it like that to look fancy. Carneville sounds very French, no?’’

‘’...I guess,’’ the gardener said as he let Y/N drag him along.

The Carnevil wasn’t very busy, probably because it was a weeknight. The place was probably packed full of people during the weekends! It was nice that they went tonight, though, because there wouldn’t be a line for any of the games or rides.

‘’...It’s very empty here,’’ Cagney muttered. ‘’I’m getting a bad feeling.’’

Y/N looked over at him. ‘’A bad feeling?’’ She wanted to take him seriously if he felt in danger, but at the same time, she couldn’t relate much to his anxiety. ‘’Would you like to go back home?’’

He glanced at her, then back at the rest of the Carnevil. ‘’No… not really. I guess it’s just because the place is deserted, it’s kinda giving me the creeps.’’

‘’Think about it like this,’’ Y/N said in an attempt to make him feel better, ‘’if there was really something shady going on here, why would the Carnevil still be open?’’ She spotted one of the game booths up ahead. ‘’Oh! I know! Let’s play one of the games, that’ll make you feel better!’’

Arm-in-arm, the coffee shop owner and the gardener walked over to the game booth. There were milk bottles stalled out, stacked on top of each other to form a pyramid, and the goal of the game was to knock them over with a ball.

Y/N put six dollars on the counter. ‘’Six balls, please!’’

The man behind the counter smiled at them as he counted the money. ‘’Three for each of you, right?’’ He put six balls on the counter- three for Cagney, and three for Y/N. Y/N grabbed one of the balls, and with the tongue peeking out of her mouth, she threw it at the milk bottles. The stall operator almost got hit, but he ducked away at the last second. ‘’Hey, watch out with that!’’ He yelled.

‘’Oh, sorry!’’ Y/N exclaimed. ‘’Why don’t you try?’’ She asked Cagney.

Cagney grabbed one of the balls, and completely missed the milk bottle pyramid. Y/N grabbed another ball, and threw it at the milk bottles. It hit one of the bottles in the middle, but not hard enough to knock over the pyramid. Cagney grabbed a ball, and threw it, completely missing the milk bottles again.

‘’Ah, for fuck’s sake-!’’ He exclaimed, then glanced over at Y/N. His cheeks went a bit red, and he muttered: ‘’I mean… oh, poop.’’

He was showing a bit more of himself around her, good. Y/N smiled at him, and grabbed another ball, chucking it at the milk bottles. It somehow bounced off of one of the beams supporting the tent, and it flew off into nowhere. Cagney grabbed the last ball, and while squeezing one of his eyes shut, he threw it at the milk bottles. It hit one of the milk bottles at the bottom of the pyramid, but the pyramid didn’t fall.

‘’This game is rigged, I’m tellin’ ya,’’ he muttered grumpily.

‘’I can assure you: the game is not rigged,’’ the stand operator said, smiling menacingly. ‘’You’re simply bad at the game. Look, I hate to break up young couples like this, but if you lose the game, you lose your soul.’’ Snakes came out of his collar and sleeves. He hissed. ‘’Don’t run, I’ll make it quick.’’

Y/N watched in horror as the man’s pupils narrowed into slits, and his teeth grew into fangs. This guy was a demon, wasn’t he? How couldn’t she’ve seen it before? Maybe it was because she’d never actually met a demon before, or maybe it was because she’d let her guard down. She’d never been this scared before in her life, it was as if her whole body was frozen. It didn’t want to move.

Cagney roughly pulled on her arm, which finally set her in motion. ‘’Run!’’ He shouted, ‘’C’mon, run!’’

He held onto her wrist as they ran through the Carnevil together. Y/N barely registered what was going on, she was so afraid that she felt like her brain had stopped working. She glanced behind herself and saw that the demon was in hot pursuit, and he was getting closer, too. Y/N’s foot got caught behind something, and she almost tripped. Cagney made sure she didn’t fall, and dragged her along.

‘’Don’t look behind you, just run!’’

He dragged her into the mirror maze. Y/N looked at the many reflections of Cagney and her as they finally slowed down and stood around, panting.

‘’Shit,’’ he cussed under his breath, ‘’Shit, shit! We’re really in for it now!’’

‘’I’m… sorry,’’ Y/N panted. ‘’I should’ve listened to you.’’

‘’It’s fine, if my bad feeling was really that bad, I should’ve just left.’’ He glanced down. ‘’Actually, I’m glad that you-’’ He looked back up, and gasped. ‘’Watch out!’’

Something that felt like a vine grabbed Y/N’s wrist, and she was pulled to the side. She looked around and saw the demon right where she’d been standing just moments before, with snakes wrapped around his arms, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. ‘’Didn’t I tell you not to run?’’ The demon hissed.

Cagney stumbled backwards and ran off, so Y/N decided to do the same. She felt, ran and stumbled her way through tunnels lined with her own reflection. When her body ached so much that she couldn’t run anymore, she glanced behind herself. The demon wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Y/N leaned with her back against one of the mirrors, and grabbed her stomach, which was hurting from the exercise.

‘’...Y/N?’’ Cagney’s hesitant voice echoed from somewhere inside the maze. ‘’Look, I… If we’re gonna lose our souls here, I want to come clean to you about a couple of things.’’ Y/N looked around as Cagney paused. Still no sign of the demon. She wondered if she could sneak out without the demon knowing? But if the demon caught Cagney and stole his soul, she’d never forgive herself for leaving. ‘’You were right. I don’t like people very much. No, actually, I’ll just be honest. I hate being around people. I’m a grumpy, profane asshole who always wants to be alone and who had barely any friends growing up. If I really expected to be your friend, I should’ve told you sooner.’’

‘’...It’s okay, I already knew, anyway.’’ Y/N sighed. ‘’Listen, I’m sorry about prying into your life the way I did. I went behind your back, and no amount of curiosity can excuse that.’’

‘’But… you were right.’’

‘’Of course I was right!’’ Y/N exclaimed, a bit annoyed. ‘’But I wasn’t morally right.’’

‘’Is there anything you still want to know about me?’’ The gardener asked. ‘’I mean, we’re probably gonna die here, anyway, so you might as well ask.’’

‘’Uhm, you don’t have to answer, if you don’t want to,’’ The coffee shop owner said, ‘’but… why did you stop being an asshole after you fainted that one time?’’

‘’ That’s what you want to know?!’’ He asked. ‘’I was expecting something a little more personal.’’ He audibly sighed. ‘’Look, I always got super angry when I lost to Ribby and Croaks… or even if I won, actually. I couldn’t start fights anymore, not if I didn’t want to faint every day.’’ He paused for a moment. ‘’...You know, after I stopped behaving like that, I realized that I didn’t want to be that guy everyone hated. I started pretending to be nice, but… I guess my track record still stuck with a lot of people, so even though I’m trying, no-one really likes me. I guess I’ll always just be that jerk I’ve always been.’’

‘’Hey, are you happy like this?’’ Y/N asked. ‘’Pretending to be someone you’re not?’’ She slowly started walking through the maze again, hoping to find the gardener.

‘’No, of course not! It’s so tedious!’’ He groaned. ‘’But, what’s the alternative?’’

Y/N stopped to think. ‘’Well, it’s obviously not ideal to pretend to be a completely different person, but I think your former self is a bit… too authentic, if you know what I mean. Maybe it’s best to strike a balance. Find a way to live in a way that allows you to be yourself, but without hurting others.’’

‘’...Can I even do that?’’

‘’If we get out of here alive,’’ Y/N said, ‘’I’ll help you with it. I promise.’’

The gardener chuckled. ‘’Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Y/N.’’

Y/N walked around for a bit, searching for Cagney, but all she could see were her own reflections. ‘’Hey, have you seen that demon?’’ She asked, ‘’I haven’t seen him in a while. Do you think he left?’’

‘’I wouldn’t count on it,’’ Cagney huffed.

Suddenly, she saw Cagney. He had his back turned to her, but there he was! ‘’There you are!’’ She exclaimed happily, and ran over to him.

In her excitement, she ran into something hard. Y/N smacked with her body on the ground. She craned her head to see what it was, and her heart seemed to stop beating as she realized that it was the demon. She backed off, crawling away as the demon walked up to her. ‘’Again, I hate to break up couples like this,’’ he admitted, ‘’I stayed quiet the whole time because I was actually really interested in your conversation. I think I’m gonna ask the Devil if I’m allowed to keep your souls, I think I wanna keep you in a jar together and just watch you as you talk.’’

Y/N jumped up from the ground, turned around and bolted away. Although the thought of spending eternity with Cagney was very romantic, she preferred not to spend that time in a jar. Using the last strength in her exhausted body, she turned the corner in the maze. She was greeted by her own reflection, and she realized too late what that meant. She smacked into the hard, cold, glass, and fell to the ground. As she crawled up, she saw that the demon was approaching her. This was the end of the line, wasn’t it? He had her cornered. Y/N leaned with her hand against the cold mirror as he stopped in front of her. A last resort appeared in her head. Y/N popped a cup of hot coffee into existence, and threw it on the demon. He flinched a bit as she threw it on him, but seemed unbothered by the steaming beverage.

He raised a brow. ‘’Seriously?’’ He asked. ‘’I’m a demon from Hell. You… do know that it’s hot down there, right?’’

Y/N grinned nervously. She popped a glass of ice cold water into existence, and threw that onto the demon. It affected him just as much as the coffee. She shrugged. ‘’...It was worth a shot.’’

‘’I pity you if that’s all you’re willing to do to defend your soul.’’ He approached her, one of his snakes already had its mouth open, ready to strike on command. ‘’Now, don’t struggle. It’s much worse if you struggle.’’

Y/N was about to take the demon’s advice and give up as she spotted Cagney behind him. The gardener’s entire face was red, and he was visibly angry.

‘’Hey, that’s my lady, you bastard!’’ He bellowed. Thick vines grew around the mirror maze and tore the roof off of the building. The vines wrapped around the demon, and raised him up, above what used to be the roof. With a swing of his arms, Cagney ‘instructed’ the vines to throw the demon off to somewhere far… far away. ‘’And don’t ever come to bother us again, ya hear me?!’’ He yelled after the demon, shaking his fist. ‘’Because I’ll throw you away as often as I- as I- oh-’’ His face suddenly turned pale, and he collapsed.

Sadly, Y/N couldn’t reach him to catch him in time, but he didn’t seem to have sustained any injuries from the fall. Y/N didn’t have the strength to drag him out of the Carnevil (she’d tried her best), so she sat by his side, waiting for him to wake up. After what felt like an eternity, he finally cracked open his eyes.

Cagney groaned. ‘’I fainted, didn’t I?’’

Y/N nodded. The gardener tried to get up, but she pushed him back down. ‘’Don’t sit up too quickly, make sure you actually feel better, first.’’

‘’For fuck’s sake,’’ he hissed as he rubbed his eyes. ‘’I guess it’s still doing that, huh?’’

Y/N reached out, and slowly ran her hand through his fluffy hair. ‘’Yeah. It must suck to suddenly faint like that.’’

Cagney gave her a wry smile, and carefully sat up. ‘’Well, it’s not as bad as long as you’re with me,’’ he bashfully admitted. That was the truth, too. Y/N was flattered.

‘’Do you want something to drink?’’ She asked. He nodded. She popped a glass of water into existence for him.

Cagney eagerly drank from it, and when he was done, he looked at her for a moment. ‘’...Are you scared of me?’’ He asked.

Y/N furrowed her brows. ‘’What? No. Why do you ask?’’

‘’Because of what I did to that demon.’’ He nodded towards the vines. ‘’I could do that to you, too, you know.’’

‘’But, you wouldn’t.’’

‘’How would you know that?’’

Y/N smirked at him. ‘’I just have a way of knowing.’’

He raised a brow. ‘’Honestly, sometimes I think you might know me better than I know myself. Either that, or you’re crazy.’’

She laughed. ‘’Nope! I definitely know you better than you know yourself!’’ She stopped smiling to be a little more serious for a moment. ‘’I’m sorry tonight turned out like this.’’

‘’Don’t apologize, there’s no way you could’ve known.’’ He gave another quick smile. ‘’Actually, I was really glad that you asked me to come here today. It’s still kinda difficult for me to comprehend that someone would voluntarily spend time with me, so it was really flattering.’’

Y/N returned his smile. ‘’I’m glad I made you feel that way.’’

Cagney stretched his legs. ‘’Okay… I think I’m ready to stand up.’’

Slowly and steadily, Y/N helped him up, and they walked to his house together. Y/N didn’t really have the strength to walk back to her own house, so she just slept on Cagney’s couch that night.

A few months passed by. Y/N was sitting in Cagney’s house one day, trying her best to throw a decent pot as Cagney’s prying eyes watched her intently. As she finished spinning the… spinny disk, she looked over her handiwork.

‘’...What do you think?’’ She asked the gardener.

He crossed his arms. ‘’I hate to be honest with you, but it looks like ass.’’

Y/N sighed. ‘’I know.’’

‘’Don’t worry, my pots were also this bad when I first started out.’’ Cagney put a bit of water on his hands, and pressed his chest against her back as he put his hands over hers to guide her. ‘’You see, the most important part is when you center the clay,’’ he murmured. Y/N suddenly didn’t really care about her pot anymore, and she watched as Cagney’s hands guided hers to properly center the clay. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and feel him behind her. He was warm and smelled like dirt and roses. Cagney probably realized what he was doing, because he suddenly backed off and started drying his hands. ‘’Uhm- you do it like that, basically.’’ Y/N smiled at him, and continued centering the clay. He needed some time to learn how to show affection, but he was definitely getting better at it.

‘’Hey, what about that demon from the Carnevil?’’ He asked, probably to change the subject. ‘’Have you seen him around anywhere?’’

‘’No. I haven’t seen any other demons, either.’’ Y/N huffed. ‘’Or, well, not as far as I know.’’ She was still upset with herself for not being able to tell that the stand operator had bad intentions for them. Usually, she quickly picked up on it when someone had a bad aura.

‘’Me neither. It sucks that your powers are virtually useless against demons, I’m always so worried that that guy from the Carnevil is just gonna show up and take your soul when I’m not there to protect you.’’

Y/N looked over at him. ‘’Maybe they’re not virtually useless, I’ve been thinking about ways to defend myself.’’ Cagney glanced over at her with a raised brow, and she smirked. ‘’What? I can get anxious, too, you know.’’ She shrugged. ‘’I… like to stay optimistic most of the time, but I think it’s better if I stay a realist for now. That demon was right: this is about our souls. In a way, it’s more important than protecting our life. Even though I like the idea of spending eternity with you, I’m not too keen on doing that in a jar.’’

Cagney smiled at her. ‘’Sadly, when the time comes, I don’t think I’ll be floating up to the sky, unlike you.’’

‘’Who knows? Maybe you’re not completely irredeemable.’’ Y/N shrugged. ‘’We don’t know what the future will hold, but it’s highly likely we’ll have to separate sometime or another, so why not enjoy the time we’ve got together?’’

‘’Yeah, I guess that’s a good way to think about it.’’ He furrowed his brows. ‘’Actually, I’d prefer not to think about it at all.’’

‘’Then let’s stop talking about it. Can you show me how to throw this pot again? Like you did before, with your hands on mine…’’