fragile*

“Oooh you think? We could make like thai flavored pizza’s. Like with curry sauce on it or something. That might be good.” He nodded. In all actuality he was not sure if it would be at all but he figured that what was the harm in trying right? “Yeah it’s probably the latter to be honest. I get a little crazy when I’m hungry since you know I’m always cranky it’s gotta be something else.” 

She giggled lightly. “I think we could, sugar. You know, it doesn’t sound that bad...” Maybe she was also losing her mind, or at least was just desperately hungry, but the idea did actually make her mouth begin to water. Maybe it was a winning combo. Maybe. “Problem is I don’t think we could be business partners without murdering each other.” After all, they couldn’t agree on seemingly anything. “Ah, yes, that explains it,” she teased. “At least you’re cute when you’re crazy.” She softly pressed her lips to his cheek. “Thai sounds good now,” she said happily. “Wanna just order delivery?” 

“Of course honey bee you’re the only one I can tell if ya lyin’ to me or not.” Mellie laughed. “And i gotta make sure these are perfect I won’t settle for nothin’ less than that.” Mellie grinned as she cut another slice for herself taking a bite. It was damn good. “Well I sure hope so we gotta get more people in here.” She admitted with a shrug. Less people now they’re all out and about everywhere.” Mellie blushed. “Well thank you, that’s might kind of ya.” 

Daisy let out a genuine laugh. “Is that what qualifies me for the position? Not your love for me, just your in-depth knowledge of my “I’m lyin’” face?” Daisy playfully shook her head. “I’m real hurt, Mel.” She rolled her eyed as Mellie said she would refuse to settle. “Well, that’s nothing new, missy. You ain’t never settled on anythin’ in your life I doubt ya ever will.” She nodded. “Makes sense. Summertime, and all. People are livin’ it up, I reckon. Speakin’ of, when you aren’t in here workin’ yourself to death, we should have a beach day or somethin’. We could even let Pluto splash ‘round in the ocean. I’m sure he’d love that.” Daisy smiled. “Of course, sugar. And I mean it, too.” She took another bite of the pie. “Mmm, a slice of Heaven, Miss. Maus.” 

Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, John grinned at her. “I think that is a compliment, so I will take it as one.” Chuckling a bit, John shook his head. “You did. But I think we ruled that your taste is much better than you thought. You’ve yet to lead me astray. Though it does explain your love of confrontation,” he teased. John grinned again at the mention of Gemma, nodding his head. “She’s pretty great, I gotta admit,” he agreed before he moved to catch the baseball again after she threw it. It still wasn’t right at him, but the lunge he needed to get the ball in his glove was not nearly as extreme as it was before. “They are going to be blown away, just you wait. I’m telling you, you should try and get a bet going. Really hustle ‘em.” He let out another little laugh, nodding his head. “Alright, alright. You’re getting better, so let’s throw a few more before we move on to batting, which shouldn’t be too hard, considering we going to start you with a tee,” he teased before tossing the ball at her again, just a bit harder than he had before. 

She giggled. “It was, yes.” Something about him was so sweet and pure, almost innocent. He was good. Daisy once again wished there were more like him. “Give it some time, Mr. John. I’m sure I will lead you towards some questionable decisions.” She chuckled, although she was really only half-joking. “It does, doesn’t it? Truth be told it’s a miracle I ain’t been arrested for fightin’ or somethin’ like that. I’m not real strong but I am scrappy.” There had certainly been times when she’d thought about it, especially back in Tennessee where her reputation was already not the best. “Ain’t she just? I’m glad y’all know each other. We should all hang out sometime,” she said with a smile. After a moment her eyebrow raised. “Unless I’d be third-wheeling?” Her words sounded more like a question than a statement. “In which case, I can make other plans,” she teased. “It’s not a bad idea, Mr. John. But I have to get them to bet something really good. Like if I win I get two nights in a row of picking which movie we all watch together. Or I get to use the purple lightsaber and not the green one.” She smiled widely. They were small things, sure. But talking about or even thinking of the three little rascals always brightened her day. “You say that now until you see how actually terrible I am,” she warned. The ball once more landed in her glove, this time harder than it had before. “Are you trying to kill me?” She teased, laughing as she threw it back once more. 

“Well I don’t know so much about enjoy it but it has become rather important to me so that’s something I suppose.” Hades shrugged his shoulders. He was not sure what it was but the Underworld had become home to him somehow and maybe that was the whole problem. “Well I do think Ice cream could be rather important if you make it to be. I’d like to buy you your ice cream just to make uo for interrupting your day.” He offered to her. It was the least he could do after all. 

“Hmm... I think so. Means your passionate about what you do, right? Which is...?” She turned her eyes to him inquisitively. He seemed hard to read. Daisy was sure he could say something incredibly mundane or wildly bizarre and neither would shock her much. “Well, it is a staple of my diet. So you could say it’s important to me.” She wished she could say she only ate as much ice cream as she did because she was a nanny, but here she was without the boys, still on a mission to get some. “Wait really?” She asked with a grin before remembering her manners. “Well, aren’t you sweet, but I can’t accept that. You really didn’t disturb me at all. Pinkie promise.” 

“Hell yeah you are!” Gemma exclaimed with a laugh. “Honestly I don’t know how it’s taken until now to do a reading for you.” She shook her head with a smile as she led her friend over to her set up at the front of the store. She quickly removed the sign that had the actual prices on it. Daisy was a friend and while it wasn’t probably the best business model especially so soon after opening but she would have done it for free before Hidden Gem opened up so that’s what she was going to do today. “It’s on the house. So sit, relax, and think of a question you’d like to ask the cards.” Besides if people saw a demonstration then maybe she’d get some bookings and all will be right again.

“I am neither confirming nor denying that.” Levi pointed out. He loved this just them together bickering about nothing already like an old married couple. When she asked what he wanted for dinner Levi bit his lip. What did he want? Hmmm. “I don’t know… thai food sounds good. Or maybe pizza. I know totally random but that’s what sounds good.” He admitted with a shrug running a hand through her hair. 

“Uh-huh,” she said dryly. “That means I’m right.” To be fair, Daisy was always right in her own mind. But this time she was convinced Levi was just being stubborn for the sake of driving her wild. And it was working. She giggled. “Thai or pizza. Hmm. Strange at first thought, buuuuut maybe you’re onto something. Maybe we should open a Thai-Italian fusion restaurant.” She smiled, feeling his hand in her hair. “Or maybe you’re just insane. Who’s to say?” 

“I know I know sugar but ya gotta understand that I need to do somethin’ to spice things up or people will get bored and I don’t want no one gettin’ bored of my pies.” Mellie pointed out to her. SHe waited until she saw the familiar smile of approval from Daisy and Mellie grinned widely. “Perfect now I know they’re good I’ll put ‘em out for everyone to enjoy.” She was beaming with pride and at the question she shrugged. “I reckon so I don’t know I’ve been thinking about mama a lot lately.” 

“How could anyone ever get bored of your pies? No one gets tired of the classics,” she said. “Although I can’t deny, you’ve really hit a home run with this one, sugar.” She let out a laugh. “Thank for lettin’ me be your lab rat,” she teased, although she was always more than happy to try Mellie’s baking. “People are gonna go crazy over it, I can already tell.” She took another large bite, her face reflecting the satisfaction it brought her. It really was amazing how food could change a person’s entire mood. “Well, honey bee, your mama was one hell of a baker but she never made anythin’ quite like this. I’m sure she’s proud as can be.” 

“I really wish I could take a page out of your book. I think that’s why i hide at work so often.” Hades admitted. Usually he wasn’t a fan of most people but she seemed to be genuine and wanted to actually converse not just get some sort of favor out of him. “The pleasure is all mine Miss Daisy. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything important.” He offered to her. 

“Well, that does work too, I imagine. Although it sounds not as fun. Unless you really love your job, I reckon.” Family matters were always complicated. She couldn’t blame him for hiding away from it as much as possible. She couldn’t help but let out a light laugh. “Oh goodness, no. Not at all. I was just goin’ for a walk. Well, I was gon’ get some ice cream actually, which I guess could be argued as bein’ super important but,” she said with a smirk. “I suppose I can forgive ya for interrupting that.” 

“Don’t we all.” He agreed with her a nod of his head. Unfortunately for Hades there was no end in sight when it came to his family drama. The beauty of being an immortal being although if Zeus and Hera didn’t figure their shit out before this mortal life cycle maybe the world would be rid of the Olympians. Hades was thinking that might not be a bad thing. “It is indeed.” Hades agreed the simple pleasures were usually what kept people going. “Pardon my manners. I’m Hades by the way.” 

Daisy nodded. It was true, everyone had some level of family drama. "One of the advantages of moving away from the rest of my family,” she teased lightly. “Don’t have to be dragged into stuff like that anymore.” She grinned. “No, pardon mine for eavesdropping a bit. But it’s a pleasure to meet ya. I’m Daisy.” 

John laughed, shaking his head. “Baseball players don’t go around punching other players in the face… most of the time. You ever seen a baseball fight? They all just storm the field and yell at each other. Very seldom are any blows actually exchanged.” he said, continuing to chuckle. He raised his eyebrows at her, smiling. “Miss Daisy, I’d hire you to be my lawyer in a heartbeat,” he agreed with a grin. He watched her as he threw the ball, and as soon as it made contact with her glove and she shut it around it, John threw his arms up in the air, smiling widely, and let out a victorious little holler. “Wooo! Yeah! You did it! I told you, you could do it!” He shook his head at the question, his wide smile still firmly on his face. “Not a fortune teller that I know of, though maybe I’m picking up a few tricks from being around Gemma,” he laughed. “But I knew you had it in you. See? Not so hard. The boys aren’t going to know what hit ‘em.” He clapped one hand against his gloved on. “You wanna catch a few more, or you wanna try your hand at batting?” he asked with an excited little wiggle of his eyebrows. 

His laugh was contagious, and soon Daisy was chuckling along. “Explains why you’re the baseball type, then. Seems like they’re all ‘nice guys’.” She shook her head momentarily before adding, “I guess that explains a lot about my life, actually. But I did warn ya right away that I have questionable tastes.” She grinned. “Really, sugar? Well, if you ever get in legal trouble you just give me a call. I’ve seen enough TV courtroom dramas, I reckon I could get ya off of just about anything.” His excitement and encouragement drew her lips into a wide smile. “Ah, yes, that would explain it,” she agreed with a nod. Gemma was a good friend of Daisy’s and she knew how gifted the brunette was with predicting the future. “But, if that’s the case, then you’re learning from the best. I wouldn’t trust a reading from anyone else but Gem hasn’t led me astray yet.” She chuckled. “The poor things are about to be amazed... in the worst way,” she teased with a smirk and a wiggle of her eyebrows. She once more attempted to return the ball to him. Her throw as still significantly off target, but marginally less so than before. “Oh jeez,” she said with a giggle. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that. Haven’t really mastered the hand-eye coordination thing. But I mean, I can try, I reckon.”