#dyw

Charlie’s pout only made her smile wider. Except it wasn’t just a smile. It was the warmth it was born from and amplified within her, a lightness that even her wings could never hope to muster. It had always been easy for Vaggie to refrain from smiling, as she hardly even felt the urge to smile at all. But with Charlie, it was uncontrollable. It was natural. It was as easy as breathing, and twice as crucial.

Aki didn't get the wrong tea. He found the massive jar of banana bread pu-erh in less than a minute. It was the third jar to the left on the fourth shelf on the left wall. He'd already known where it was, just like he knew where every coffee blend was stored, which teas were popular enough to need regular replacement, and where to look for bodies when the suicide rates dropped unusually low.

Thank you <3 Asks like this seriously mean so much, and I honestly really need them after this past year.

Here, have a quick snippet of what I've been working on this past your. ;)

He was prepared to lie when Makima asked how he had gotten what little information he offered. Instead, he was treated to a serene smile.

Re-read some of DYW's Yoru moments and the mental image filled my head of Yoru in a disguise to make herself less threatening, in a theater supplies store, buying theatrical-makeup-grade concealer. (The whole "ghoul with a threatening and violent outer persona out in disguise, doing something comparatively mundane" idea is just tickling my brain right now.)

*

Asa was theoretically aware of the passage of time. She didn’t realize just how much had passed until the back door clicked open. In a flustered rush of movement, she closed out of tumblr, jammed her phone in her pocket, and stood up so quickly that the chair she had been sitting in was sent skittering a few inches across the floor.

Angel stared at her blankly. A few feet behind her, Aki peered at her with a brand of concern sincere enough that it made him look like Denji. Asa had only seen it a few times so far and already knew that she would never get used to it. It made her want to look away. She should have looked away. Instead, she found herself frozen in place, the warming of her face informing her of the shameful blush taking hold. Her voice was a strangled croak as she began, “I—”

“Is someone dying?” Angel interrupted, tired and irritated.

Asa suddenly regained the ability to move. She looked down at her feet. “No,” she murmured.

“Then I don’t care.”

“I care!” Aki exclaimed. “Asa, what are you still doing here?”

Asa didn’t want to look up. She didn’t want to have this conversation. But for all that Aki may have been Denji’s brother, even though he had done the impossible and changed enough to earn Anteiku’s trust, the fact remained that he was a dove first and foremost. That meant that she didn’t have a choice.

Asa looked up. Her neck ached. “I was closing up and lost track of time.”

Aki’s frown deepened. He moved to hand the duffle bag slung over his shoulder to Angel, only to pull it back toward himself with an annoyed glance at the red-haired ghoul when he stepped back with a low, irritated mutter. Asa was starting to wonder if she might be able to sneak back into the cafe when Aki turned his attention back to her. “It’s one in the morning,” he gently pointed out.

Asa couldn’t help it any longer. She looked away, praying that Aki wouldn’t mind too much. “I lost track of time badly,” she murmured.

“I see,” Aki said, slow and soft in the way that she couldn’t get used to hearing him speak. At least, not when he was speaking to her. The sense of surreality was driven in deeper by a gentle, “Can you wait a little while longer?”

“Seriously?” Angel sighed.

“You can go to bed after we put the bodies away,” Aki said.

“I wasn’t asking for your permission, Aki.”

“And I wasn’t asking you to do anything.”