Chapter Text
Arlan and Asta were busy. Due to the Legion’s invasion a while ago, the station has been in absolute chaos. Asta was sorting some official things out whilst Arlan and his team have been busy fighting the Legion off.
You held Peppy’s leash tightly, not wanting to lose him. You also, unfortunately, had some of your own work to do.
So, you set off to your work desk, simply holding Peppy’s leash as there was nothing else you could do with it.
You had a few papers to read through, you needed to send a few emails to colleagues and write a report about some research you were doing.
Naturally, you started with the emails, they were the easiest. Soon, you moved on to the papers.
Mid-reading, you noticed the Astral Express Crew had come by to visit. They probably had some business with Asta or Herta. Honestly, you wish you could be like them, travelling the galaxy, exploring new planets, meeting new people.
Of course, you were happy to have the opportunity of being on the space station but… it felt lonely, always staying in one place. No matter. You continued reading, just moments later noticing that your hand felt… empty.
You looked to where you had his leash, now realising it, and Peppy, was gone!
You freaked out! Asta would not be happy about you losing her pet. You shot up out of your seat, frantically looking around the area, hoping Peppy would be somewhere in the vicinity. However, the area was so busy you couldn’t see anything!
You pushed through the small crowd shouting Peppy’s name, listening out for his barks. At one point, you thought you heard him, causing you to look around, still seeing no results.
After a while of searching you ended up in the Supply Zone, where the Express was standing.
You looked around, surprisingly, it was empty. Only one or two engineers, the Express Crew and Peppy. You quickly glanced back at them. Peppy? How did Peppy get here?? You ran up to them.
“Oh my Aeons!” You exclaimed, glad to finally have found Peppy. You crouched down and pet his head, sighing in relief. Perhaps Asta won’t be mad. Don’t tell her you nearly lost Peppy!
“I apologise if he got in the way!” You said, looking up at the few people in front of you.
“Don’t worry about it!” Replied Himeko, you believed she enjoyed Peppy’s company. To be fair, he is very fun to be around. Cute but… sneaky…
“If you don’t mind, I really must take Peppy and be on my way, I have some work to finish” you took Peppy’s lead and stood up, quickly waving at the group and leaving back to your work area.
Once you arrived, you saw a very familiar pink-haired lady. She was at your desk, seemingly waiting for you!
You walked up to her, slightly nervous that she found out you almost lost her puppy.
“Oh, you’re here! Wonderful! Did you take Peppy for a walk? That’s lovely, I should entrust you with Peppy more often, you’re a good caretaker! I’ll have Arlan bring him over every once in a while.” Asta, very quickly, said crouching down to pet Peppy.
You gave her the leash, assuming she wanted to take him back now.
“Oh?” She questioned, looking at you confused.
“You don’t want to keep him for longer?” She almost seemed… hurt.
“As much as I’d love to, I have quite a bit of work of my own to complete, I do apologise Lady Asta” you said, sincerely… mostly. You also didn’t want to risk losing Peppy and getting in trouble this time.
“Oh I see! I suppose I’ll hand him over to Arlan then, thank you for taking care of him!” And with that… she left, probably to go find Arlan.
The following week, Arlan came to give you Peppy 3 out of 6 days… shared custody… but hey! At least you didn’t lose Peppy anymore, this time you made time to go on walks with him! And Asta never found out about that one time… let’s hope to keep it that way…