i'm in charge!

“C-Careful!” He called, having a hand reached out when she almost tripped. But when she didn’t, a smile reverted back onto Hoagie’s face as she neared. “If it’s a secret, shouldn’t you be all y’know, hush hush, need a code word, and wear black sun shades like the secret service about it instead?” He questioned, both amusement yet interest very evident on his face. “You’re so cute, and you know how much I like me a woman in a uniform.” He winked.

Candace raised an eyebrow. “You’re right. How silly of me to forget the sunglasses. It’s a good thing the sun isn’t out or this would be even more embarrassing.” She giggled at him. “But....I can sneak you in the back. I can even give you a disguise. There are plenty of extra uniforms since we are hiring...” She gently nudged him with her shoulder. “Oh please. I smell like cheese and salsa.”

“Hey Hoagie!” Candace called out to the guy, almost tripping on her own feet as she tried to make her way over to him. “I just got news at work about a new secret menu and I just had to tell you about it right away! It sounds insane. A super naco, quadruple cheese tower.....” Once she was in front of him she blushed a bit. “I’m still in uniform I really just left work and went to look for you....”

“But you can’t tell me you haven’t thought of buying some.” He commented with a goofy smile. Knowing she wrote fan made stories about the norse god and hammer wielding hero was enough to consider her a major fan, which by the way, he’ll still needs to remember to asks her if he could read any of them as Hoagie was mighty curious on exactly what kind of stories Candace wrote. His already red cheeks brighten as the techie shrugged. “It might be due to all the puns. Not many are wild about hearing them all the time….and I wasn’t always this cute.” The latter was mumbled out, Hoagie not wanting to mention that he hadn’t always looked this way despite never caring how he looked even when he was, well, bigger. “Nope! My schedule’s all clear for the rest of the day.”

“Oh, of course I have. But knowing my brothers it will somehow end up online and I just...do not wanna deal with that. I write with a fake name for a reason.” And that was so her brothers didn’t find out and tease her forever about it. At his comments she frowned at him. “What do you mean?I’m sure that’s not true, Hoagie.Cute doesn’t just suddenly appear!” Only in movies and stuff like that. People were normally born with  that it-factor. There was no way baby pictures of Hoagie weren’t the most precious thing out there. She would have dwelled on it a little longer too, but him having zero plans made her having zero plans much more exciting. “Oh really? That’s..pretty cool. Because I don’t have any either....so like...maybe we could make more plans...together?”

At first, his interest in Candace was because he thought she was babe and he had an easy excuse to talk to her thanks to her job. But then they began to hung out with each other more and every single time she laughs at his jokes and puns, Hoagie’s interest in her started to change into into a full blown crush. Again. It was never that hard for him to fall for someone, but at least it’s not as bad as the one he use to have on Abby’s older sister. With Candace, he knew his attention was wanted. “She’s says I’m better than Thor!” Hoagie mumbled, with another laugh. His name, but still! “Coming from an almighty Thor fanatic like you, that’s has to be the best compliment I’ve been given, and there’s not a lot of them but still.”

Candace blushed, laughing awkwardly. “I wouldn’t say fanatic..My bed sheets are not Thor.” They were Duckie Momo and that was probably worse than having Thor sheets. But she wasn’t going to tell him any of that. “I don’t see how people don’t compliment you. You’re funny and cute and easy to talk to...” she trailed off, looking at her feet. “People should be telling you that. It’s just facts. And I am a factual person I seek facts.” She really couldn’t sound stupider. “Ahem. Anyways. Hoagie. Do you have any plans for the rest of the night?”

Sharing nachos outside of work with Hoagie was always fun, but the more she got to know about him, the more she found herself blushing at his words and laughing loudly at his jokes. She thought he was the funniest, smartest, guy out there. But she was trying to not come on too strong and mess stuff up. That’s what she always did. She was too intense and too aggressive and she just came off crazy and obsessive. But right now things were going good. And she wanted things to stay good. “Hogarth is ten times cuter, but say what you want,” she said,giggling. “You sound like a superhero. Like Thor, but...better!”

“I feel like we haven’t done anything like this in a while,” Candace said, sitting across from Vanessa at one of their favorite places to eat out. Candace didn’t really care where they went as long as she could sneak a grilled cheese in, but she tried to make it enjoyable for them both, especially since Candace felt like she was a lot to handle sometimes and she was grateful Vanessa still put up with some of her antics. But today was good so far, she was calm, it was all good. “Are you gonna switch it up today or are you thinking the usual? I don’t know if I’m feeling risky.”

Hoagie barely refrained his glee at Candace’s confirmation. So much so, he ended up knocking over the small container of coins left on the counter for tips and donations. It clattered onto the floor and he heard an annoyed sigh behind him, most likely from the same woman from before. “Let me just—” Without even finishing, he shot down and swoop the container right off from the floor before placing it back onto the counter. He then was about to try and say something witty or cool, when the number ‘two’ stood out to him. Hoagie could scarf down two nacos in ten minutes if he wanted but he only ordered one…then it clicked and it now took a lot for him not to grin at that. “That depends. Am I going to be sharing them?”

Candace found herself blushing. She wasn’t the smoothest when it came to surprising people or trying to make plans with others and whenever Hoagie is involved she is about ten times worse at it. “I....I mean if you want me to be the one you share them with. If I was who you meant that is.....I could eat...if invited to eat.” Stupid, stupid. “Erm. Whatever you want, um, Hoagie. I am adaptable to any and all potential plans. You can have them both if you want too! I don’t want you to think that you can’t.” She stopped herself before she just rambled even more. “I am gonna finish up now.....”

If being shushed for being loud didn’t already had him feeling kinda sheepish, seeing Candace almost hit her head would’ve done it as he close to wincing at the sight of that nearly happening. Note to self, say her name after finally making it to the counter, he thought with a small nervous laugh. But Hoagie could make it up to her as he had another reason outside of the usual to why he was here. Getting to see Candace at her place of work was just a bonus as his smile widened. “You know it.” He replied, winking at her and shooting his finger at her. He tried everything in the menu by now but he gotta admit that naco idea was genius! “You weren’t scheduled to close up tonight, right?”

Candace giggled before turning around to start prepping his order. She made nacos more than anything else and that was partially because the inventor resided on the island and came in every single day. But making them for Hoagie was fine. She always gave him extra cheese. “I am not, actually,” she said, turning around with his finished order. “I get off in...ten minutes.” She almost sighed in relief. It wasn’t that she hated it here or anything like that; she just wanted to know why Hoagie wanted to know if she closed or not. “You’re not gonna take ten minutes to eat two nacos....right?”