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A Michael Keh character.ai!: https://character.ai/chat/_mh91pjgtPmz6CcVtmrL9z4JLmIAAS-5IDAmWPUGu0I

Octavia: Nice swimsuit, Ovenist! I hope you enjoy your day off! 😍

Cicero: Looks like a nice day! Enjoy! ☀️🏖️

Alicante: Allie wants to go make sandcastles at the beach because of your post, and now I’ve gotta close early! Thanks a lot, Ovenist! 🤬

Keh: Only sub-par Ovenists with slow business take a day off. Pathetic.

Ovenist: Sure no-

Dr. Keh:(barges in your shop with a picture of Godzilla destroying buildings and eating pizza) Ovenist, take a look. It appears that even Godzilla gets angry from your pizza!

Ovenist:(rolls eyes)

Allie:(to Keh) Papa Smurf! Can I get your autograph??

Keh:(sneers at Allie) Shouldn’t you be at school, you petulant little brat? Shoo!

Alicante(barges in Ovenist’s shop and faces Keh): What the heck did you say to my princess??!!

Told ya I felt that inspiration! Well, I acted on it, and here is the result. Enjoy!

Summary: This continues two months after “Finding Time”. Nasir and the Ovenist are dating, but not publicly. However, nothing gets past Dr. Michael Keh, who has a secret of his own. Nasir X Ovenist X Keh.

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It’s after 10 p.m. and Dr. Keh has just finished closing his shop. He grabs his things and walks out the door, locking the door behind him. He gets to his car, opens the door and sits inside. Instead of turning on the car and driving home like most people, Dr. Keh likes to sit in his car in silence and admire his pizzeria, humbling himself. 

“I’ve come so far since Ambrosia. No Ovenist in this town is amazing like I am. No one. I am and always will be above all of the regular people in this world.” 

He takes his phone out of his pocket. 

“Before heading home, let’s see all of the “regs” out there buzzing about my astonishing business and I, as per usual.” 

Keh chuckles heartily to himself (“Regs” are regular people that are not and never will be Keh.) as he scrolls through the posts on his feed. He smiles to himself as he reads all the posts. Finally, he stops on a post that stands out to him. 

“that ovenist from (Your Pizzeria) is totally taken, you know. I saw them with some guy. DM me if u want more info!” 

Keh scoffs. “Please. They’re not with anyone.” He looks around at his surroundings to make sure he was alone. “They’re going to ask me out soon enough, maybe. No one is a better companion than I, THE Dr. Michael Keh!”  

He reads the comments, which he assumes are speculation, and throws his phone down in anger. 

“I don’t need to waste any more of my precious time reading nonsense. I need my beauty sleep.” 

He starts his car and drives home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

As soon as you walk inside your place, you lay down on your bed, exhausted from the day. You still had your work clothes on, with dried sauce stains that missed the apron. Luckily it wasn’t the pesto sauce today, since your pesto sauce is incredibly strong.  You almost let yourself fall asleep but.... 

“Oh shoot, I gotta call Nasir!” 

You remembered that you had to call Nasir so he knew you were home safe and sound. When you two agreed to be a thing, Nasir was well aware of your late work hours and wanted to make sure you were alive and okay. You two also had to keep your relationship on the down-low for now (the investigation just ended recently and Nasir had to go undercover again for work). This meant that you each cherished the time you two were able to talk and spend together. 

You dial Nasir’s number and he answers on the third ring. 

“Hey (your name),” Nasir sweetly said. 

You blush and chuckle. “Hey you. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of you saying my real name.” 

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of your laugh either. How was the drive?” 

“It was fine,” You say. “I’m glad I got home before the skies opened up. People drive like crazy in the rain.” 

“Yeah,” He said. “People are just so reckless because they’re always in a hurry.” 

You yawn. “Exactly.” 

“I know I said I want you to call me when you get home each day you work, but if you’re ever too tired, don’t feel like you’re forced to do it.” 

Your heart stops to a halt, and you swallow. “Oh, so you don’t want me to call you?” 

“No no no, it’s not that! I just-” Nasir pauses and sighs. “I don’t wanna pressure you into doing anything that might be...too much trouble, you know? We both have tiring jobs so, I just want something that works out for everyone.” 

You smile as you think of something. “What if....instead of phone calls, I can send a text to you with my picture confirming I’m okay and safe? It’s not just a wordy text that any kidnapper could send to you using my phone.” 

Nasir chuckles. “Kidnappers?” 

“Yeah!” You blush as you joke. “With a picture of my smiling face, you can tell if I’m all good or in a pickle, so to speak!” 

You swear you could hear Nasir dreamily sigh on the other end of the phone line. “Well, it would be nice to have more pictures of you without me ruining the shot....” 

“Hey!” You say. “We look great together in pictures, when we’re able to hang out that is. Speaking of that, how’s your new investigation been going?” 

“Heh, it’s going.” Nasir says. “It’s just so time-consuming though. But don’t worry, I have plans for us when I’m actually off!” 

“Well,” You smile, rubbing the back of your neck. “It HAS been a while since you stopped in for a pie....” 

“I can come in after work next Tuesday! I’ll even come out of uniform and surprise you.” 

“Hang on, let me check my calendar!” You mute your phone so that you can jump in the air happily, pumping your fists. You couldn’t wait to see him! You unmute him. “Well, I’ve got no pizza meetings or family dinners or anything like that, so consider it good!” 

“Alright!” Nasir said. “I’ll see you around 9 next Tuesday! Let’s talk tomorrow, okay?” 

“Okay, bye!” As you hang up the phone, you lay in bed, wondering what he’ll order when he comes in. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Next Tuesday comes sooner than you know it, and it’s now 8:40. You feel like you broke even with your orders today, and now it’s settling down. You look at your MyPad and check out what your friends are doing on BakedIn. You become so enraptured in what you’re looking at that you don’t hear your front door open. You look up and smile. 

“Hey, didn’t think you’d come so-” 

“Well well well...”  

You look at who the voice belongs to and frown. “Dr. Keh?!” 

It is, indeed, Dr. Keh in the flesh. He looks smugly around your shop. “(Your name). I see your shop hasn’t changed much. Not surprising....” 

You look around as if you are worried. “What are you doing here?” 

He takes out his phone, finds something on it, and places it down in front of you to see. You look with curiosity. “What am I looking at?” 

He sneers at you. “This buffoon says that you are....well, SEEING somebody, as in....dating a specific someone.” 

Your heart pounds in your chest, but you make sure to not let your face show it. “Okay? Someone says I’m dating someone? Why does that affect you?” 

He harshly takes his phone back and shoves it into his pocket. “Nothing, it doesn’t affect me at all. In fact, I congratulate you. I just assumed you would die alone, if your companion skills matched your pizza making skills.” 

You roll your eyes. “You’re just jealous that you’ll never be happy or feel fulfilled unless you cheat at something.” 

Upon hearing this, he chuckles. “It always goes back to that, doesn’t it Ovenist? Hopefully you do not make an excessive amount of excuses with this person you’re dating....whoever they are.” 

“I can do what I want.” You retort. “Last I checked, we weren’t dating, Keh....” 

He gives you an evil smile. “It’s so cute of you to say that, because I KNOW you wish you were dating me. There is no man out there that even compares to me, and you know it....” 

You shrug. “It doesn’t matter. Now, can you please leave? Unless you needed to order something?” 

He laughs. “Yes, just what I’d like, a pizza from a sad, mediocre Ovenist. Sure, I’ll take your House Special.” 

“I highly suggest you take that to go....” 

Neither you nor Keh said that, so you both looked to the front door to see who the voice belonged to. A man with gorgeous red hair, sunglasses and a peacoat jacket holds his detective badge.  

You give a small, but grateful smile. My hero.... 

Keh looks him over, and grunts. “Oh, it’s you, that detective from the Zarena case.” 

Nasir, with his hands now in his pockets, walks up to the front counter where Keh and you are waiting. “I was just coming in to get a pizza and saw you here verbally assaulting this Ovenist for some reason. Why is that?” 

Keh dismisses the detective and pulls out his wallet. “I don’t need to explain myself to you. I’m just here to order something and leave.” 

You ring Keh up for your House Special. “I’ll go make it right now.” 

As you go to make it, you overhear Keh and Nasir talk. 

“Do you really enjoy the pizza from here?” Keh asks with confidence. 

“Yes, I do.” Nasir says.  

“Pfft, your tastebuds must not feel well....” Keh chuckles. 

“Funny, because you just paid for a pizza here.” Nasir says, taking his glasses off to look Keh in the eyes. “So you either secretly enjoy it, or you’re buying a pizza from this establishment for nefarious purposes that are quite familiar....” 

“Ha!” Keh looks at Nasir with amusement. “You really think I need to steal (Your name)’s pizza recipe for my own gain? I’ve got news for you, “detective”. I don’t need to steal anyone’s recipes because my pizza stands out on its own. I have simply turned a new leaf.” 

You put Keh’s pizza in the box and walk out with it. “What’s your new leaf then?” 

He smiles at you. “I’m finally supporting small businesses like yours. I can’t relish in all of the glory, you know. I have to let other Ovenists feel like they’re at least putting in 1/10 of the required effort a Master Ovenist like me puts in every day.” 

You roll your eyes. “Whatever helps you feel better about yourself....” 

He takes his pizza into his hands and starts to walk out, looking back at you. “You’ll want to not have so much focus on your...personal life....if you want to stay afloat while I’m in business. Try not to drown, Ovenist.” He chuckles as he walks out.  

Nasir shakes his head. “I don’t know what’s up with that guy, he’s such a-” 

You cut him off by going up to him in front of the counter and roping him into a big hug and kissing his cheek. “You have such great timing. I thought he was gonna bury me alive.” 

Nasir blushes as you let go. He smiles. “Heh, I’m pretty sure Keh is all bark and no bite at the end of the day.” 

You smile at him. “Regardless, I’m grateful. I’ll surprise you with the toppings, but did you wanna set up a table for us?” 

“Actually,” He says. “I was thinking we could take this pizza and have a night picnic at Havarti Park. I brought some beverages in a cooler and a blanket, plus the weather is nice.” 

“Our usual spot, huh?” You grin. “It’s also pretty....quiet and serene this time of night there as well, isn’t it?” 

Nasir blushes and rubs the back of his head. “Yeah, I-I figured it’d be....nice for us to...catch up and...you know...” 

You smile sweetly seeing Nasir act so shy about your relationship. “I’ll make your pizza and get changed. Be right back!” 

So I love Keh X Ovenist fics, but I also love Nasir X Ovenist fics because I just love both characters and it can be hard to choose sometimes! So here's a Nasir X Ovenist fic for ya. Enjoy!

Summary: An influencer comes to your pizzeria, tries your pizza, hates it, and temporarily ruins your life on social media and in the whole city! A certain someone who has been secretly watching comes to your aid and comforts you amid it all.

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Your shop has seen increased business in the weeks following the investigation. People are complimenting your pizza left and right, you have loyal supporters, and you have even made friends (and more!). As you finish opening your shop, you look at your phone, reading the last text you received from your favorite WPA agent, Nasir. Since the investigation ended, you two have been texting back and forth, but sometimes he leaves you on “read”. You know he’s busy at work (sometimes even busier than you are), but you can’t help but feel sad about it. 

“What’d he say to your last text? Are you two gonna go see the movie?” 

You look up and see Danny, your loyal pizza mascot, looking at you as he zips up his costume.  

“He said he’ll let me know as soon as he can. As usual....” 

Danny frowns. “I didn’t know the WPA was such a busy place of business. Doesn’t he get breaks to think at least?” 

You shrug. “Probably. I don’t want to feel like I’m being put on the back-burner here, but if I’m gonna get serious with someone like this, I feel like a little transparency wouldn’t hurt.” 

Danny nods. “Yeah, but he IS a detective, so he can’t always be too....”out” there you know?” 

You scratch your chin in thought. “I think so?” 

Danny smiles. “I’m a guy like him, so I kinda understand his actions. If my job required me to be secretive on everything, and I wanted to get serious with someone, I’d be thinking of all the ways I could do that before I act too quick and mess everything up.” 

You stand with your mouth open in shock. “That’s....actually quite profound, Danny.” 

Danny shrugs. “I guess. Well, it’s noon. Better get some business for ya!” 

Soon enough, your day begins and your customers pour in. The day goes smoothly and you don’t have any refunds. Then, someone comes in with a wide smile, his phone recording himself and the shop around him. 

“Alright, my pizza peeps! J-Chee is in the shop that is one of the highest ranking pizza places in the city! I’m gonna check the menu and get back to ya guys!” 

He turns off his phone and looks up at the menu. You smile. 

“How can I help you?” 

“Yo! What’s the best pizza you got here?” 

You look around awkwardly. “Uh...I mean...I like all the pizzas I serve so I don’t-” 

The influencer rolls his eyes. “Yeah I know! I’m just asking which pizza YOU think is the best....” 

You’re taken aback, but you hold your composer and professionalism, which took a great deal of practice. “Well, my house special is uh...pretty “special” if you know what I mean...heh?” 

The influencer missed the attempted joke and shrugged. “Sure yeah, gimme that.” 

You take his money and start preparing the pizza. As soon as you give the pizza to him, he smiles. 

“Nice! Thanks!” 

You smile as the influencer walks out of your shop, turning his camera back on and talking as he walks out. Danny watches him leave and looks at you, giving you a thumbs up, with you returning the favor.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

~WPA Headquarters, next day~ 

Nasir is busy at work at his desktop. He’s been asked to research more on the impacts Julius Cheeser has had on the pizza industry and prepare a presentation for the mayor of the city. He also had to research whether ketchup was an ingredient being used at one of the local pizzerias, which his boss, the head of the WPA, came over to inquire about, coffee mug in hand. 

“Whaddya think, Amin? Find any leads on the ketchup mystery?” 

Nasir looks at a social media feed. “According to this specific user on Pizzagram, they claim the pizza was incredibly saccharine, even moreso than a regular tomato sauce. But then again....it’s all speculation, since it could just be a vastly different recipe.” 

The WPA boss sips his coffee. “Did they say where they got it?” 

Nasir shakes his head. “We just know it was in this city. And because of our policy, we can’t reach out for comment.” 

The boss nods, sipping his coffee. “Well just keep digging, and page me when you get something! And don’t forget about the Cheeser info!” 

As he walks away, Nasir nods. “You got it, sir!” 

Another WPA agent, Agent Rodney, walks over to Nasir. “That ketchup thing has been bugging me for days, N. I wonder which pizza parlor it could be....” 

Nasir scratches the back of his head and shrugs. “There’s no telling since we can’t do recipe analyses....” 

Rodney’s friend, Agent Kevin, joins the conversation with a piece of pizza. He’s chewing it and talking at the same time. “You know, this pizza from that pizzeria across from Alicante’s old joint tastes kinda sweet. I bet it’s that one.” 

Nasir frowns at Kevin and shakes his head. “The owner doesn’t use ketchup, I know that for sure.” 

Kevin widens his eyes, swallowing the rest of his pizza slice. He crosses his arms as if to challenge Nasir. “You know for sure? They told you the recipe?” 

Nasir sips his from his cup of soda and slams it down. “No, but I’ve had their pizza, and they don’t use ketchup, now drop it! I know they don’t use it. Their pizza is....special.” 

Rodney is Nasir’s closest work friend, and knew exactly why he said that. “Nasir, look I-” 

All of a sudden, a surprise PNN segment pops up on the TV above them. All eyes are on the screen. 

“BREAKING NEWS. J-Chee, a famous Pizzagram influencer, tried pizza from our favorite pizzeria yesterday. Here’s what he had to say about it in his new video!” 

Rodney scoffs. “I hate that guy....” 

“What’s up, my pizza peeps! J-Chee here, and I just brought home the house special from (Your Pizzeria) and I’m gonna try it live for you!”  

He grabs a slice and takes a medium-sized bite. He chews it for a bit, with a neutral look on his face. All of a sudden, he looks like he’s gonna vomit, and he spits out the pizza in disgust. 

“Man, pizza peeps! I can’t believe you guys recommended that place to me! It has the worst tasting sauce EVER! The cheese tastes like mold and the toppings overall taste like GARBAGE! This pizza gets a giant “F” on the J-Chee Pizza Scale! Tune in next time as I get another pizza from the next place I try! J-Chee OUT!” 

The news anchor appears on the screen. “It appears that this scathing review from (Your Pizzeria) has gotten lots of buzz on social media, with several videos of people spitting up their pizzas in disgust! We’ll keep you updated on this breaking news! That’s all for now. Good Pizza, Great Pizza!” 

Kevin chuckles and looks at Rodney. “That guy’s kinda dramatic, huh? The pizza wasn’t THAT bad!” 

Rodney shrugs. “Social media is like a box of chocolates sometimes, ya know? Right Nasir? Nasir?” 

Rodney looks over at Nasir’s desk, and sees that Nasir had left, his computer logged out and his belongings gone. 

Kevin scratches his head. “Where’d he go?” 

Rodney slightly smiles. “I bet I know....” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was 6 pm, and because of all the rude customers (at least the customers that knew about that awful video), you decided to lock your doors and close the shop early. You put up a sign up that said, “Closed early. Sorry for the inconvenience.”  

You grabbed your belongings and were about to walk out the door when someone approached the door. 

“I’m closed for the day!” You say. 

“Ovenist, it’s me.” 

You look up. “N-nasir?” 

He looks at you sadly. “Can we talk?” 

You open the door and you look at him. 

“Not here. Meet me at Havarti Park.” 

He smiles. “I’ll be there.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Havarti Park was beautiful this time of year. You had found a bench in a secluded area and watched all the birds, who chirped happily. They didn’t seem to judge you like a lot of people did today. You send a text to Nasir letting you know where you are. A few minutes later, he walks up to you. You look up. 

“Can I sit down with you?” 

You nod and he sits. You both look out, silent. Nasir’s the first to speak up. 

“I’m sorry.” 

You look at him. “Sorry for what?” 

“I’m sorry for two things. First, I’m sorry for not communicating with you enough. I’m a jerk for acting like that to you when we’re trying to....you know, go out and all....I’m gonna make it a habit to reach out to you ATLEAST twice a day.” 

You feel butterflies in your tummy. “Oh..okay..” 

“I’m also sorry for how that influencer treated you. He was clearly just trying to get social media clout from the looks of it.” 

You chuckle and nudge Nasir. “He’s an even bigger jerk than you are!” 

Nasir laughs and nudges you back. “Okay, okay! I’ll own up to it!” 

You both look out at the scenery for a few moments. 

“Well, did you believe him? When he said my pizza tasted like garbage?” 

Nasir looks at you as if you had punched him in the heart. “Of course not, Ovenist. That guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Out of all the pizza I’ve had in my life, yours is my absolute favorite, hands down.” 

You smile and fidget with your car keys. “I do use fresh toppings, maybe people aren’t used to that. But the difference is you’re nice, Nasir, so you would never say something like that to me anyway.” 

Nasir puts his hand on your shoulder. “I don’t just say things because I’m nice. I say things because I mean them and they come from the heart. There’s more to food than just how it tastes. It’s how much love and passion they put into their food.” 

You look at him and smile. “Really?” 

Nasir puts his hands in his jacket pockets and blushes. “Yeah. I could tell from the first bite of your pizza that you had something special that no other Ovenist in this town has. I told you I was gonna go to Notre Dough right?” 

You nod. “Yeah, before you got recruited by the WPA?” 

Nasir smiles. “Well, I had dreams of being an Ovenist like you. When I was in middle school, I made a traditional dish from my country when my extended family came over for dinner one night. A lot of people liked it, but some said it was terrible! I was crushed. However, my mom came and talked to me in my room one night, and you know what she told me?” 

You shake your head and continue listening. 

“She said, “There will always be critics of what you consider your greatest creations, but what matters most is what you think and what your closest supporters think.”  

You smiled. “I guess your mom loved the dish, didn’t she?” 

Nasir chuckles. “My mom is my biggest supporter, so I think she’d love if I put a frozen dinner in an air fryer. But my point to you is that no matter what, you’re gonna have people who will try to tear you down, but just remember what you think matters most and just continue listening close to what your fans have to say.” 

You blush, and without thinking, gently take Nasir’s hand in yours. “So....are you a fan of mine, Nasir? Or just a fan of my pizza?” 

He grins and grips your hand tight, leaning close to you and his voice low and huskier than before. “I can answer that question for you....” 

You lean in, but slyly pull back. “Hmm! You can “answer” the question as soon as you tell me if you can go to the movies with me Friday night.” 

He smiles and nods. “Of course. No matter how busy I get or how secretive I have to become for work, I’ll always find time for you.” 

Alicante: would probably tear up at the kids that remind him of his daughter

Angelica: would be like “You want a reward for good academics? You should want to do well in school anyway! How pathetic”

Dr. Keh: I feel like he would see the report cards and quietly give the pizza out for free without anyone noticing (he doesn’t want anyone to know he can be nice; plus he appreciates kids that do well in school like he did)

Cicero and Sasha: Would happily give pizzas out to kids regardless of report cards

CHAPTER 5 SPOILERS AHEAD! Don’t read this fic if you haven’t reached this in your game yet! Just some more KehXReader for ya. Enjoy! 

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So much had happened with this investigation, that the Ovenist was tired. They had been chatting with Plant Lady in the garden about the whole thing today and all the events that had transpired, from Keh defending his mock-up, to Cicero admitting she stole the ancient dough and now all of a sudden the dough needed to be frozen. 

“It’s just been one thing after another....” The Ovenist said as they drank the herbal tea Plant Lady had made for them. It was a nice, windy afternoon and they were sitting in the Ovenist’s gazebo by the garden. “I don’t know how much more of this investigation I can take, to be honest....” 

Plant Lady sips her tea and nods. “It’s a lot, Ovenist, I know. But you’ve been through so much before, and you were triumphant! You’ll finish this challenging event even better than challenges you’ve had before.” 

You smile at her. “Thank you. You have a lot more faith in me than most people in this city....” 

Plant Lady nudges you. “Aw, I think Alicante and Keh wish they had the brain that you have. They’re just frustrated! Deep down I’m sure they respect how far your business has come.” 

You shrug. “I guess....” 

“Well,” Plant Lady started. “You certainly have the best garden in all the city! If there’s anything you should be extra proud of, it’s that! Plus it seems you are always out here harvesting, which is great!” 

You chuckle. “Leave it to you to always look at the bright side of things when it comes to botany!” You sip your tea again and groan. “Luckily a friend of mine got me something to enhance Keh’s freezer, but....I still dread going back to his shop.” 

Plant Lady was in the middle of stroking a ladybug gently with her finger, but suddenly stops and looks at the Ovenist. “I thought you two were getting along better lately?” 

“We were, but....he still has to be a jerk and it’s frustrating. I think the guy is destined to never have friends or....any kinds of relationships....” 

Plant Lady smiles at the ladybug and puts it on a leaf of a hedge. “Dr. Keh’s been well-known for his abrasiveness, Ovenist. I really think it’s for show; you are his competitor after all.” 

You shrug. “I guess. He seems to be that way with everyone but....I don’t know. He seems to seek me out personally sometimes, like he’s got a vendetta with me.” 

Plant Lady widens her eyes and looks at you. “Really?” 

You nod. “Yeah. He says he’s always got eyes on my shop and he comes over....like a LOT. He claimed I’m not a threat but he acts like I am.” 

Plant Lady smiles. “Oh Ovenist. I think my suspicion has been true all along....he likes you in his own way!” 

You chuckle. “Very funny. He already knows I like him because I basically outed my emotions to him a couple weeks ago. But he hasn’t even said anything back....” 

“Exactly!” Plant Lady exclaims. “He knows how you feel, but he is unsure how he feels about you himself! So he picks on you to make you and others think he doesn’t like you!” 

You chuckle again. “That’s something I did in like 3rd grade.” You think for a minute, and remember who you’re talking about. “But then again....” 

You notice the sun go down in the sky, and remember you told Dr. Keh you’d meet him at his shop when you found something to enhance his freezer. You hand Plant Lady your teacup.  

“I gotta go freeze the dough now. I’ll see you again soon!” 

As you leave, Plant Lady waves to you. “Good luck, Ovenist! Let me know how it goes!” 

You go inside your shop and grab everything you need, including the ancient dough and the medallion you got from Jingles. It was time to try and save the city.... 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

As soon as you park your car in Keh’s parking lot, you grab your backpack and walked inside Keh’s shop. Keh hands a customer their order, sees you and motions you to a table. You sit and he walks over. 

“Ugh, you’re back...” 

You smirk at him. “That customer didn’t look too pleased to receive that order, you know.” 

Keh crosses his arms and smirks back at you. “Unfortunately he has preset expectations from when he ate at your sad parlor.” He pulls the chair back and sits down at your table. “Now that you got your cheap shot at me, did you find something to enhance my freezer?” 

“I sure did!” You pull something out to show Keh, who grimaces at you. 

“How is that going to enhance my freezer, you fool? We’re doomed!” 

You look at him funny, and realize that you pulled Alicante’s photo out of your backpack by accident. You carry every piece of evidence with you, just incase, and it had been a rough week... 

“Oops, wrong thing!” You quickly find the medallion and put it on the table for Keh to see. “It’s an ice medallion. I’m told it can deep freeze anything!” 

Keh takes it into his hand and studies it. He’s not sure what to make of it. “Hmmph. I don’t know where you got this, but we’ll see if it actually works....” 

“It will!” You confidently say.  

“I’ll attach it to my freezer and you seal the dough. Don’t mess this up.” 

“I won’t!” You tell him as you both get up to walk to his kitchen. 

You marvel at all of Keh’s cool things in his kitchen, from his ingredient storage to his equipment. You’re snapped back into focus as Keh attaches the medallion in place. 

“It’s all yours. Try not to kill us and the entire city, okay Ovenist? I have to document my sales for the day, so call me if you need help.” 

You nod as he walks away. You had taken a picture of the stone tablet you completed and studied it for a minute.  

“Hmm, it looks like I need to put red sauce on one half and then cheese on the other half.” 

You put on gloves and get to work. Once you put the toppings on, you look at what to do next. 

“Then I put it through the freezer once. Sounds easy enough!” 

As soon as you put it through the freezer once, you put it into a special ancient-looking container, take your gloves off, grab your phone and backpack and find Keh, who’s writing something down at the counter. He hears you walking toward him, and he looks up. 

“Is it done? Did you defeat Julius Cheeser?” 

“Not yet. There’s three steps, so I gotta come back the next two days to do the other steps.” 

Keh sighs. “I can’t believe I’m letting you in my kitchen for two more days, but I suppose it’s for my own good.” 

You roll your eyes. “Well, mine too! You’re saving me, you should feel good about that....” 

Keh blushes. “I-I-....hmmph, whatever, Ovenist. Just come back tomorrow....” 

And so you smiled and laughed as you left. 

Day 2 went well and you felt like you were really going to save the city! 

And then Day 3 comes.... 

You try to look at the picture of the tablet on your phone and you struggle to see what you need to do next. You start to get knots in your stomach. Not wanting to screw such a big thing up, you begrudgingly go find Dr. Keh. 

You go to the counter and see him assisting a customer. You hide behind a wall so the customer doesn’t see you in Keh’s shop and start asking questions. You wait til the customer leaves and call for Keh. 

“Psst!”  

He hears you and follows you back to where the dough sits. 

“It’s about time you asked for my help, Ovenist. I feared you became too arrogant for your own good.” 

“Pfft, you should talk. Listen....I took a picture of the stone tablet with my phone and I’m trying to see what the last step is, but the picture I took is too blurry. That’s why I went to get you.” 

“Well, let me see,” Keh asks, and you hand him his phone. He looks at the phone and chuckles. “Cute. For some reason, I imagined you’d have this exact phone-” 

You cross your arms and scoff. “Real original, Keh. Make fun of me because I have a different cellphone than you, laugh it up.” 

“You cut me off. I actually have this exact phone.” 

You look at him. “How do you have my exact phone? I figured you’d have the newest model.” 

Keh scoffs. “For what? They all do the exact same thing. I save my hard-earned money on other things. Anyway, I was mentioning your rhinestone case. Quite hilarious. Now let me look at this picture....”  

Keh tries to zoom in on the picture, change the filters, but still has the same problem. 

“Hmm. Let me try something. I’m gonna send this picture to my phone and see if I can use one of my photo-editing apps to enhance it.” 

As soon as he sends it and hands your phone back, your hands touch briefly, which causes you to blush. What makes you blush even more....is the realization that THE Dr. Keh has your number! And he didn’t even have to ask you for it! 

You start to daydream, but Keh brings you back, his face looking up from his phone. 

“I fixed it in the app. It looks like you’ve done everything except freeze it one more time and slice the pizza into eight even slices.” 

You nod. “And that’s all I have to do? Nothing else left?” 

Keh nods. “That’s all. Seems easy enough that even you can do it.” 

You sigh, looking deflated. “I don’t know. You have a lot of confidence in me all of a sudden. You said that wasn’t good....” 

Keh notices your sullenness and puts his hand on your back and gently rubs it. “It’ll be okay, Ovenist. I’m right here. If you somehow mess something this easy up, at least we’ll die together, won’t we?” 

You nod. “Yep, it’s now or nothing!” 

As soon as you freeze the pizza one more time and use Keh’s pizza slicer to cut the pizza, you place it into the ancient-looking box and all of a sudden time stops as you see a flash of light and.... 

“J-julius Cheeser....” 

“Oh my...” Keh says as he looks on and stands in front of you, as if to protect you. 

“YOU’LL REGRET THIS OVENIST!” Cheeser yells to them. “I WILL CONQUER THE PIZZA INDUSTRY! MY CHEESE PIZZA WILL PREVAIL ONCE MOOOORE-” 

As quickly as he came in, Cheeser disappears into the ancient box as it closes itself. You can say nothing, your mouth stuck open until Keh smiles at you. 

“You....you did it! You defeated Julius Cheeser!” 

You look dumbstruck. “I-?”  

You can’t say any more as Keh has graciously roped you into a hug, and since he was taller than you, he practically lifts you off the ground. As soon as he puts you down, he grins at you. 

“All thanks to me!” 

So many thoughts are in your head at once. “Huh?” 

Keh puts a hand on your shoulder. “Oh, no need to thank me, Ovenist. I’m just glad my freezer saved the day!” 

You shake your head and laugh. “Yeah, I guess so. All thanks to me having that photo ready on my phone to send to you. I guess now you can delete my number and all....” 

“Oh yes,” Keh coughs and then smiles. “Well, I think I’ll keep your number for now. When PNN writes an op-ed about me and posts it online, I’ll send it to you so it can brighten your day, as it will be very enlightening.” 

You roll your eyes and wave goodbye. “Yeah, yeah. See ya later.” 

As soon as you put your things in your car and sit down, the realization hits you and you smile as you think about Plant Lady. 

A continuation of my KehXReader fic "Is This Jealousy I'm Feeling?" Enjoy!

“Ovenist….you’re attracted to me in some way, aren’t you?” 

Ovenist….Ovenist…. 

“Ovenist, you okay?” 

You look up and Nasir, the special agent helping you with the case, is looking at you oddly. You nod. “Yeah, I just got lost in thought for a minute….” 

You had called him to talk about the new evidence you’d found at Keh’s shop. He had come as soon as he could, since it’s busy at the WPA and it’s like he’s the only one there most of the time. It’s been a week since you investigated Keh, and you’ve reviewed all your notes. Now you two are reviewing the stack of papers you found. 

“I think it’s some sort of….manifesto or something.” 

Nasir studies it for a few minutes, looking at the pages. He nods with certainty and gives a determined smile. “So this appears to be a mockup for a pizza chain Keh is starting.” 

You look at him confused. “A mockup?” 

Nasir smiles. “Yes, it seems that he’s planning to expand his pre-existing pizza parlor into a chain…but it’s not called ‘Ambrosia’ now, it’s called….” He looks at the top of the paper. “Keh-lifornia Pizza Kitchen. Hmm, sounds familiar….” 

You nod. “Yeah, I suppose. I wonder if that’s why he might’ve stolen the dough. Maybe he’s using the notoriety from getting the dough to start his chain?” 

Nasir smiles. “Intriguing perspective, and it could be true, given his past….but I would talk to him and see what he has to say about it, since it could be motivation. Let’s keep our focus on the other suspects as well.” 

You nod. “Okay.” 

“Do you have anything else to show me or tell me?” 

You shake your head ‘no’. 

“Cool, call me if you want to talk about a suspect or show me a piece of evidence.” With that, Nasir leaves, and you get lost in thought. Not just about the case, but Keh’s words still linger in your head. 

How am I supposed to continue investigating Keh if he’s caught on to the fact that I kinda like him? Ever since PizzaPalooza ended, I’ve had these butterflies in my stomach I can’t control, and I SWORE I wouldn’t say anything! Ugh, why did I have to let him know how I felt about Angelica deep down? And how he shouldn’t be with her? What do I- 

“Hello? Can I get an All-Dressed Pizza? Can I also get it well done?” 

You snap out of your thoughts once again to take your customer’s order and move on with your day as usual. 

At close, you print the daily sales receipt from your tablet. It was considerably low; you had only completed one ZaZoom order and had to do 2 refunds.  

You document the day’s sales on the Pizza City Portal, where every ovenist had to input sales to show whether they are making enough to stay in business or not. You start to think about some aspects of the case you hadn’t thought of before and you grab your notebook and your special pen. Your notebook sits by you but your pen is not in its usual spot.  

What the-where's my special pen?? 

You move everything around in your reach by your shop counter-receipt paper boxes, your store’s lost and found box (which hasn’t been emptied since you opened and is filled to the brim), and some of your personal belongings...but your pen is nowhere to be found. 

Soon enough, you have searched your entire restaurant, from the kitchen to the one-person bathroom, and you have no luck. Your heart sinks as you pack up your things, lock the store and walk to your car. As you open your car door, you hear footsteps behind you, and prepare for the worst... 

....but instead of a robber’s voice, it’s a gentle, familiar voice.. 

“Ovenist?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“Ovenist?” 

You close your car door in shock and the first thing you see is a shadow..albeit a very tall shadow. Next you look at who the shadow belongs to..... 

“Dr. Keh? What are you doing here?” 

He reaches into his lab coat pocket and takes something out to show you.... 

Your eyes widen. “Wait, is that-? My pen!” 

You mentally cheer, studying the golden fountain pen with a certain name engraved in it. You reach out to grab it, but pull your hand back.... 

“Hmm...” 

Keh looks at you confused. “What’s the matter? You don’t want your pen? You only tore 3 quarters of your miniscule shop down looking for it...” 

You do a double-take. “Wait what?” 

“Incase you weren’t aware,” Keh starts. “Every business in this city, yours included, is not only under 24/7 constant surveillance, but it is also public record and uploaded to the WPA website nightly.” 

You stand there, stunned. “Wow....that’s crazy...” 

Keh snorts. “Yes, I’m not really rather fond of being constantly under scrutiny, but that’s the cost of having a business in this city, and...it does have benefits..” 

“Yeah...” You absentmindedly say. “Wait, you see benefits of this?” 

Keh smiles. “Yes, it was rather fun watching you destroy a good portion of your store only to spend your time to put it back the way it was again. It was better than watching TV, dare I say.” 

You cross your arms and frown. “Real funny. That pen was very special to me, okay? The fact that I lost it and the thought that some member of the Deep Dish Gang had stolen it from me really messed with me.” 

Keh was still holding the pen and nodded. “I wasn’t laughing at the fact that you lost something valuable and meaningful to you, Ovenist. I was merely laughing at you destroying your store for any reason whatsoever. I cherish my belongings as much as anyone.” 

You nod solemnly, taking the pen from his hands. For a moment, your fingers touch his fingertips, which have a strong but silky-soft texture. It felt like a smooth lotion had just been applied to them. You think you saw Keh slightly blush at the contact, which you would’ve never seen if not for the bright street light by your car. “Well thank you for keeping it safe for me. I really appreciate it.” 

While he tried to hide his blushing cheeks, he coughed. “Well uh...you’re quite welcome.” 

“Do I owe you anything in return?” 

Keh raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” 

You slightly smile. “Well it’s just....whenever you do or want to do something nice for me, you expect something in return, like with the artichokes. So I was just asking....” 

Keh looks at you for a minute, then nods. “I see. Well, you dropped it when you quickly left my shop so I knew it was yours. I studied it and knew it was very special to you.” 

You look up at him in confusion. “But....why didn’t you come by if you knew it was mine? You waited until now to come....”  

Keh put both of his hands in his pant pockets and looked down a bit, then looked at you in the eyes again. “Well, we’re not exactly on good terms, Ovenist, given our history overall. I feared you would think I stole it if I brought it to you. I was originally going to have someone send it to you anonymously....” 

“Anonymously? Well why didn’t you go through with it?” 

Keh put his hands on hips and studied you. “Because for once, I wanted you to think of me as...well...” 

You look him in his eyes. “What?” 

“I wanted you to think I was a good guy, okay? I wanted you to...well, think at least somewhat highly of me...” 

You blush a bit. “But....why me? Why not the other Ovenists?” 

Keh rolls his eyes. “I could care less what Cicero thinks, I REALLY don’t care what Alicante thinks....but you, Ovenist....I don’t know. For some reason, you’re different.” 

You start to fiddle your special pen in your fingers and shyly look up at him. “I’m....different?” 

“I can’t explain it, but....yes.” Keh says. “For once in my life, I’ve found a puzzle I was never able to solve, and that’s you, Ovenist.” 

Now is your turn to snort. “You could’ve fooled me! You’re always so mean to me....” 

Keh swallows and nods. “Yes, and....I deeply regret it. I’m sorry. I’ve been trained since I was a youth to be incredibly competitive and ruthless, and.....because of that, I-” 

You both hear a group of tourists approaching, walking down the street.  

You widen your eyes. “I think we better go our separate ways for now. I’m sure you don’t want anyone spreading rumors, right?” 

Keh nods. “Yes, I agree. Though I think the Pizzagram hashtags are already trending....” 

Dr. Keh X Player fanfiction. I posted it on Aooo too. Enjoy :)

After a long day at your shop, you harvest the 300 artichokes Keh told you to grow (why the heck did he need so many anyway??) and drive over to Keh’s shop. As soon as you walk in with them in a grocery tote, he approaches you, smiling that punchable smile you hate so much….

“I see you’ve been harvesting a lot of artichokes. I’m impressed, I had such low expectations for you.”

As he takes the tote from you, you mumble something under your breath. “I’m impressed your ego allowed you to have any expectations for me at all…”

“What was that, Ovenist?”

You straighten yourself up and watch what you say next. He can easily not allow you to search the shop if you give him attitude, after all. “I said thanks for that and all….”

Keh raises an eyebrow at you, maintaining his Cheshire cat grin. “I’ll let you look around my shop, even though I still don’t want you here. But before you go wrecking it, do you have anything to show me or tell me?”

As he looks down at you into your eyes, you gulp. Why is he so….intimidating? “Nope, I’m good.”

As he goes back behind the counter to look at his store’s final sales of the day on his tablet, you take a look around his shop, your pen writing down what you see in your investigation. As you look around, you feel so inspired looking at his futuristic décor and technology, and you see his menu board, with his grinning face hanging right next to it. Next you see his grinning face AGAIN holding a pizza right next to his NIT (National Institute of Toppings) degree.

You roll your eyes, and quietly scoff, with a grin. Just what someone wants to do when they eat a pizza here….stare at this man’s smug face!

You look even closer at the pictures again, and you sweat.

That well-taken care of…handsome…gor-

RING RING RING RING!

The sound of a ringing phone (almost a trendy, futuristic ringing) brings you out of your trance and Keh answers. “Keh-lifornia Pizza Kitchen; the home of the world’s most renowned pizza….ah, you’d like to place a catering order for tomorrow? Of course you do, I’m the only shop in town that can properly fulfill that kind of order….”

You multi-task between looking around his shop and listening to his conversation, and boy, Keh is as smug on the phone as he is in person. With your notebook, you look around. After you see the trophies on the wall and take note of them, you go behind where Keh is standing to try to reach up to pull a rope, but have trouble. It appears to be too high up, and you jump up, groaning. As Keh continues to chat with the potential customer on the phone, he notices you struggling.

“Hold on one moment…” He puts the phone on hold, and, with his 6’3 height, easily pulls the rope up and showcases what’s behind the curtain. He grins down at you. “You remind me of a cat trying to reach into a tree. Quickly look around, Ovenist. I need to lock the shop up very soon.”

As he returns to the phone call, you roll your eyes and look around, taking note of what you see. Special sauces in test tube bottles, fancy cooking tools imported from Italy, and some sort of group of papers (you put these in your backpack to analyze later, as they may be important for the case and cannot be read quickly). You look around for more things when some fancy envelope on top of the oven catches your eye.

What’s with that fancy envelope? Who is he writing to?

You didn’t dare ask for help again, even though it sounded like Keh was off the phone now. You jumped up really high to grab the letter and look at the front.

“To Michael…from Angelica..”

You drop your jaw, as well as the letter. You grip your notebook tight.

Angelica Bechamel?? What is he doing writing to HER??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Footsteps approach you, and soon, Dr. Keh walks by with the artichokes he was bringing to the kitchen. He sees your jaw open before you quickly close it.

“What’s with you? You look as though you’ve come to the realization that you’ll never have a pizza parlor as magnificently sumptuous as mine.”

You shrug. “Nothing’s wrong, I’m almost finished searching!”

He looks at the ground….seeing the letter. “Ah, I see you’ve found my letter from Angelica.”

You put your notebook down and cross your arms. He’s just coming right out with it! “Yeah, I did. It all makes sense now…”

He looks at you, curiosity in his eyes. “Oh, does it now?”

You nod, animatedly. There are butterflies in your stomach now, but it’s not like you can escape. You stutter out your next words with anxiety. “Yep, I totally knew you two were going out. You guys are SUCH a perfect match, aren’t you? That Pizzagram hashtag was so accurate.”

His curiosity in his eyes turns into wide eyes for a few seconds, then he chuckles loudly. “Is that what this is about? You think I’m in love with my former rival??”

“Well yeah! Who writes letters to each other these days unless you guys are star-crossed lovers? And that envelope must’ve cost as much as a week’s worth of rent in the city!”

Keh puts his hands on his hips. “I see. That’s your naïve assumption, is it? That only lovers write letter to each other, hmm? And pray tell, Ovenist, did you even look inside the letter? Or are you simply judging the letter by it’s envelope?”

You knew you didn’t read it, but….you feel like you didn’t need to since you pretty much saw everything. Who writes a letter to someone that closed their family business down?? ‘Hey Dr. Keh, thanks for closing my business. You really ARE the Master Ovenist! Talk soon! Love, Angelica’

“I…no, why would I read it?”

“Because then you would’ve seen that inside the letter were….business matters being discussed. Much to your chagrin, people tend to still compose letters to each other in modern times as emails are not very….confidential, if you will. And I am a much sought-after man after all, this tiring investigation aside….”

You look up at him in confusion. “Business matters?”

Keh grins down at you. “Nothing for a current rival to be concerned with….at least for right now anyway….let’s just say you should enjoy your little gravy train while you still can…”

You look down and sigh, with yet another worry in your head for the future. “Well fine….forget I said anything..gotta go!”

As you try to leave, Keh stops you.

“Where are you going so fast? Now I have a question for you…”

You look up at him in fear. Perhaps this is where he reveals himself to be that handsome villain from the movies that will tell you that you know too much, and that you must be…disposed of somehow…

”….w-what?”

“Why were you so upset to find a letter from Angelica of all people? I write to colleagues all the time, even those I went to NIT with….you seem very upset I am writing to her specifically….”

You blush, swallowing. “I-I don’t know, I-I just don’t like her, and just think that she’s a horrible person, and…”

“And I’m not? Is that what you were going to say, Ovenist?”

He’s caught you. The man has the highest degree you can get at any university, so he’s nowhere near stupid! Now you’re in trouble….

“No, not that, I didn’t say that! I-“

He smiles again, but this time….it’s almost a smile that….isn’t punchable this time? Instead, it almost looked….delighted?

“I can’t believe it, Ovenist….you’re JEALOUS, aren’t you?”

The blush on your face is even more red now, with red anger in your eyes added on. “No way! Why would I be jealous of you? Are you insane?”

He crosses his arms and grins. “Hmmph. Well you can’t be jealous of my pizza making skills, since you think your mediocre pizza is so much better for some reason. You’re still delusional as of this point. Perhaps….it’s something else….”

You start to shyly rub the back of your neck.

 “Ovenist….you’re attracted to me in some way, aren’t you?”

With sweat dripping off your forehead, you grab your notebook and run out of Keh’s shop and drive away. You ran out at super fast speed, that you don’t even realize that Keh has chased you outside, looking on as you drive away in the pouring rain…