Work Text:
It’s been a long day.
Benzo had me scrub the outside of the shop clean after someone came by early in the workday and argued with him over pricing, he just had to bring up the fact that the shop practically had a layer of dust over everything. He had to be a stupid Piltie, no one who lived in the undercity would ever complain about the physical state of anything down here. My hands are still tinging from the hours of scrubbing, Benzo must’ve never once cleaned the exterior, at least for the years I’ve been working with him.
To make matters worse, I’m lugging around this stupid heavy sack that Benzo told me to give to Vander. In any other situation, I’d love to go over but it’s so late now that I doubt any of the gang would want to go out, Powder’s probably gone to sleep by now too so I only would be able to give Vander the sack and head home.
Kicking a rock as I’m walking, I think of all the possibilities I could’ve spent today. I could have finished my modified clock I’ve been working on; it’s supposed to be spurt out a fragrance every hour. I spent the last few weeks figuring out how to connect the clock's internal mechanism to the dispenser I custom-made for a nice smelling liquid Benzo had in the shop. I think Powder would like it as a gift, if only I could figure out why the clock stops working after the first spray, maybe I could’ve had a breakthrough today. But no, I was too busy scrubbing all day. Stupid Piltie.
Grumbling to my thoughts, I spot The Last Drop come into view. Hopefully, Vander is at the bar probably cleaning up for the night and I don’t have to go looking for him as well. Reaching the door, I push it open and get hit with a tsunami of dust making me enter a coughing fit. Barely being able to breathe with the amount of dust that just assaulted my throat, I cover my mouth with my shirt and hope it’s enough to prevent more dust.
A gentle voice reaches out to me, “Little Man?” Looking up I see none other than Powder with a broom in hand, paused in sweeping the floor. A little surprised she’s up this late I wave and walk drop the sack to the side of the door.
“Hey Powder! What are you doing up this late?”
She squints her eyes and throws me a smile, “I could ask you the same boy savior.” Her using the nickname she tokened to me makes me feel giddy, butterflies jutting around in my stomach.
“Just kidding, Vander’s given me extra chores for the week.” A roll of her eyes and a pout on her face make her look adorable. Giving off a laugh, “Sounds like we’re having the same day at least. Some Piltie came early morning and went off at Benzo about the state of the shop, so he made me scrub the shopfront, it took hours!”
Powder grits her teeth, “Ooo that sucks. Are your hands ok?” She looks at my hands and sees them shaking slightly mainly from the weight of the sack and the trip over.
They’re stinging still but she doesn’t have to know that “Just a little sore but all good here!” I tell her being as cheerful as I muster.
She looks up from my hands, her Azul blue eyes glistening at me from under her lashes. Uh oh, I don’t know what it is but I’m in trouble with whatever feeling is bubbling up inside me.
Suddenly she raises her head and drops the broom, pulling me to the counter, “Come on Little Man, you can’t lie to me! Vander’s got some cream back here for sore muscles.” A sudden flash of blue over the counter and the space next to me where Powder stood left in the dust, then she pops up from the other side of the counter with a container and dust all over her head.
“I got it right here, Vi uses it pretty often. She doesn’t want me to know but I think it’s cool.” She hops up onto the counter and dangles her feet staring at the container with laser focus, narrowing her eyes at it almost like she’s deciding on something.
Her eyes widen to saucers, and it almost looks like she should have a lightbulb over her head, “In fact, I’ll help you put it on!” Rambling over herself, “You know- I mean, like Vi, she always asks me to help her with it and she said it’s imperative that I follow her instructions to the T. I never questioned her, but I think serious stuff might happen if we don’t follow the instructionsyaknow?”
I just stare at her wide eyes and panicked stare, letting out a smile then full-on laughing while her face softens then goes confused.
She cocks her head to the right slightly, “What’s so funny?”
My laughter softens and I look to her, “It sounds like you’re taking care of her instead of the other way around.”
Her mouth turns into an O shape, “Well when she stops getting her ass kicked then she can focus on that!” Sending herself and me into a renewed laughing fit. Knowing Vi, whoever dealt her blows probably is in a much worse state than she comes back in.
The stinging in my hands brings me back to the now, “I think I’ll take you up on the muscle cream, any further with that sack and I’d lose a finger!” She giggles at that and resumes unscrewing the container. I don’t know how the cream works but apparently from what I’ve seen through Vi is it burns but not in a bad way.
Nervously glancing at the container, I ask Powder, “How bad do you think it’ll hurt? Vi says it burns a lot, doesn’t it?” She sees my straight stare at the container and reaches over the counter to take my hand in hers.
“You’ll be ok, it is a burning feeling but it’s soothing. Vi always gets super relaxed so I think it works fairly good.” Giving me one of her reassuring smiles. “Plus, I’m here, I’d never hurt you.” The blue in her eyes looks like the sky but twinkling. Maybe that’s what stars look like in the upper city.
Her words warm me, I feel even heat in my ears. “Alright then doc, how do I apply this stuff?”
She looks away, staring at the counter and fiddling with the container. “It’s – uh- someone else has to rub it in.” Avoiding eye contact, she continues, “It doesn’t work as well if you do it yourself, but I can find Vander or someone else if you want.”
That shouldn’t be too bad then, without thinking much about it I tell her, “That’s fine, we shouldn’t bother them this late. If you’re ok with it then I am.” At this, she looks at me and her eyes search my face for any signs of disapproval, but I just smile at her to relieve her tension. She takes that as the go-ahead, squirting a bit of cream onto one of her hands then putting the container aside to grab my hands in hers. There’s a cold feeling right when the cream in her hand’s brushes against mine, causing me to tense slightly. She pauses and glances to my face where I just nod my head. Hoping that the burning she described isn’t too bad. Once her hands are fully in mine, we hold there for what seems like minutes but lasts seconds. Both of us stared at our hands connected. Taking the initiative, she squishes our hands together and starts to glaze my hands with the cream. At first, all I feel is the coldness of it but once my hand is entirely covered by the cream, I get a tingling sensation.
“Woah, this is weird. It feels like tiny ants are crawling over my hands”
Powder stares at my hands then to her own, “Yeah it does feel weird, it should start feeling a little hotter soon though.”
I hadn’t realized that she would be feeling the same sensations as me since the cream is on her hands too. I guess since she’s done it for Vi before she must be used to it. For me though, the tingling almost tickles.
She resumes her mission to cover my hands in the cream which pretty much covers both our hands at this point. The tingling is still there but it is getting hotter, guess that’s the start then. It evolves from feeling warm to almost like there’s a heater pad against my hands, the tickling feeling is gone and replaced with a little pain. I notice Powder’s hands are slowing, she’s practically massaging my hands at this point. But her face is scrunched up with a neutral expression splayed on it.
Worried that the warm sensation is burning for her I speak up, “Are you ok? Are your hands burning?” Looking at her with worry, hoping she isn’t just pushing through to help me.
She calms her face and gives a small smile, “I’m good, just more burning than I expected.”
“As long as it doesn’t hurt you, if it starts to hurt then please stop.”
After a few minutes of the cream’s burning sensation slowly subsiding, I feel the tingling come back. This time it’s different though like instead of ants it’s more like my hands almost shaking from anticipation. The cream is mostly dried and becoming crusty now, but our hands are still intertwined.
Powder’s stopped massaging the cream in and is instead staring at our hands, “I think you should be good…. We should go wash our hands, so we don’t get this stuff stuck and have crusty hands.” Her hand doesn’t move from mine though, we stay holding each other’s hands. It’s like I’m stuck in a moment where all I can see is Powder in the bar’s subtle lighting. Hair covered in dust but still the most perfect shade of blue I could ever imagine. The only thing rivaling her hair’s blueness is her eyes which twinkle and sparkle under any tiny change of light. Taking one of my hands from her grip, she locks onto that hand and follows it as I bring it up to the side of her face. Barely grazing her cheek, her eyes jump to mine, and we lock into each other. Taking the other in and just staring into the pits of color.
A thud and wood creaking break from the right side of the bar, pulling us both out of our trance. I pull my hand away and look in the direction the noise came from where we see Vander pop out from the basement, stopping as he sees us and flickering his eyes to each of us, to the container of cream, to one of our hands joined still. I realize what he’s staring at and feel heat crawling up my neck, it could rival the cream’s burning sensation but weirdly enough I only got the cream on my hands.
“Ekko! Good to see you boy, what are you doing out so late?”
The sack and Benzo’s request rush back to me, “Benzo asked me to give you this sack, said something about payment for the other night” Which he seems to understand and glances back to Powder. “What are you two up to?”
Powder removes her remaining hand from mine and speaks up, “Ekko needed some muscle cream, so I offered to help him with it cuz Vi always needs help whenever she’s tired.” Her ears are red but she’s not fully meeting Vander’s eyes, but he takes her words as a suitable answer.
“Well alright, you two go wash up and head on to bed. You know the sleeping arrangements so don’t stay up.”
Gracious that I don’t have to trek back to the shop then back home, I thank Vander, but Powder looks to him confused, “But the bar still needs to be dusted.”
Vander’s handling something over the bar and chuckles over his shoulder, “That’s alright, I think you’ve been punished enough with the cream.”
This confuses me but Powder smiles greatly and rushes to hug him with praise of gratitude muffled into his clothing.
“Aye watch the hands, I’m tryna to keep my clothes clean at least!”
They each let out a laugh and Powder returns to me, “Let’s go clean up and we can grab a pillow for you.”
Confused by his words, I ask her on the way to the sink, whispering to Powder, “What did he mean by you being punished enough?”
Powder slows slightly and grimaces, “Yeah… I may have called Milo a dick today and Vander overhead, so he made me pick up extra chores today as punishment.” She says, putting air quotes with her hands to emphasize her insult of choice. Unable to contain my laughter, she rocks my shoulder, “It’s not funny! He was being a dick!”
Reestablishing myself from the feeble push, “You know Milo’s dumb, anything he says to you is just him being jealous against you for your ideas.”
We’ve reached the sink and Powder’s already gotten her hands soaked in water, “I know, I know. But he wasn’t saying things about me, I think he was just trying to get under my skin.” Confused yet again on what Milo could say to Powder that’s not about her but would make her upset nonetheless.
“Did he say something about Vi, no way he’d try that? She would lay him out before he got out of the basement!”
Powder lets out a giggle, she flicks some water towards me, “No silly, it wasn’t about Vi… He was saying, uh.. never mind…”
Not one to push on what seemed to be a sensitive topic, I take her answer without question. Once she finished drying her hands, I go to work washing mine. A noise from behind us has us both look in the mirror where we see Vi lounging against the door frame of the sink area.
She smiles at me, “Hey Little Man, gonna borrow Powder for a minute.” Powder follows her out and they start talking. A minute goes by and I’ve cleaned all the crust from my hands and am drying them now when I hear someone coming to the sink, expecting Powder to be back I don’t look until I hear a male voice around the corner.
“Powderrrr! You still upset over what I said about your little boyfriend?”
Milo rounds the corner and pauses when he sees me, “You’re not Powder, what are you doing here Little Man?”
“Benzo sent me, Vander said I could stay the night.”
Milo’s face pauses again and nods, leaving in the direction of Vi and Powder.
His presence while being in short contact made me think on the words he said, they bounced inside my head; Powder had a boyfriend?! That’s great! She’s happy and found someone that makes her happy. A moment passes through my memory of us promising we’d be together forever, but I shake my head and push that away. She’s my best friend, I should be happy for her. If she’s happy then I’m happy.
So why do I feel this emptiness in my chest?
I make my way back to the group, my head racing with thoughts. I do catch the tail end of Milo saying something… is he apologizing? That puts a pause to my train of thought, I’ve never seen Milo apologize to anyone before.
I hear Powder before I see her, “Sorry for calling you a dick.” Rounding the corner, I see Vander first giving Powder a look as if he’s saying -please try not to curse- but she just responds with a tug of her shoulder and a bright smile to him. Vander can only sigh and smile back.
Vi lets out a clap, “Well looks like everyone’s sorry and happy again so how about we end the night off here before anyone says anything to ruin it.” She gets a few chuckles from everyone, but they’re replaced by tiredness and a yawn from Powder. Vi tells her to go ahead and head down to sleep while she helps Vander at the bar, Milo tries to inch away but Vi grabs him and plants him at the bar for assistance. Before I know it, Powder and I are walking down the steps and into the basement where her new bunk bed is. She pulls a pillow from the side chair and plants it next to hers.
I don’t know how to ask Powder about her boyfriend without it seeming super weird, so I just face the situation, “I heard you have a boyfriend.” She is on top of the bed, midway between pulling her blanket from the end of the bed but stops when she hears my words.
“What? No, why would you think that??”
Flustered by my abrupt conversation topic I reply to her, “Milo came by while you were gone asking if you were still upset about some comment he said about your boyfriend.”
To that she spins around, her entire face is the reddest I’ve ever seen. “I don’t have a boyfriend, he’s just dumb and says dumb things all the time.” Almost like she’s trying to convince herself it seems.
That relieves a big portion of the emptiness I had in my chest though, “Oh, so who was he talking about?” I say before I can stop myself. It’s not in my place to dig into her issues.
Sighing she mumbles something and turns away.
“I have no clue what you just said Powder.” Laughing her mumble.
“I said, he was making fun of us spending time together.” And that doesn’t sound too bad, why would she care about that – oh. Milo wasn’t talking about her boyfriend; he was talking about me. I guess we both could enter a tomato contest with how red we were turning. Putting aside my embarrassment from what I just realized, I go to grab her shoulder.
“He may be dumb but don’t let him get to you, he can say all he wants but at the end of the day you and I will still be on our best terms.” Powder smiles at me and thanks me. We both go to lay down on our respective sides of the bed, she draws the curtain attached to her bedpost and we both lay staring at the underside of Vi’s bed above us.
After a minute, she speaks up, “Do you think we can hold hands like upstairs?” My eyes widen slightly and without thinking I grab her hand and we hold each other. As sleep crawls up to me, I feel her come closer and hug me. I don’t know what to do so I just put my arm around her and stay still.
Her voice comes up again right as I’m about to drift to sleep, “I’ve never cuddled before… this is nice.”
Letting out a soft hmm, my last thoughts consist of this word she’s taught me just now. Cuddling; if this is what we’re doing now then I agree. I could do this forever with her.
-
Vi’s cleaning off the bar counter while Vander’s cleaning a glass. Milo sulks on the side but is wiping his portion of the counter as well.
Vander’s the first to speak up from the silence, “You been teaching Powder how to apply the muscle cream, Vi?”
Vi glances at him slightly confused, “No I’ve only used it myself. I try to keep her away whenever I need to use it.”
Vander lets out a soft chuckle, “Well seems like she’s seen you, she applied it to Ekko’s hands when I stumbled on them here holding hands with the cream.”
Vi smile hearing this, she knows Ekko has developed some feelings for her sister but for Powder to willingly apply medicine that she’s told her would burn and to have herself apply it anyways for him, knowing what the outcome would entail for her own hands makes Vi realize that Powder cares for the kid as well.
Speaking of caring, Vi turns her attention to Milo, “I almost forgot, Milo. You need to back off on teasing Powder about Ekko.” Vander stops his cleaning and gives the two a stern look upon hearing this.
Milo lets out a breath of annoyed air but nods his head knowing he has no other option with the father/daughter duo against him.
She and Vander smile, Vander says, “Good. I think we should let them enjoy their time together, they should have something nice down here and they’ll hopefully have each other when we’re not around.”
Vi looks at him and thinks, Powder may be her sister, but she is growing and will be close to others. All Vi knows now though is that she’ll never leave her sister’s side. No matter what happens.