#Mishter Manager

[kon-kon-kon-kon]

[hongism]

risky - p.jimin 18+

➻ pairing: jimin x reader

➻ wc: 2.3k im so sorry

➻ genre: fluffy crackhead flirting n smut

➻ rating: nsfw

➻ warnings: public fingering, fingering with rings on, risque~, alcohol involved

➻ summary: you meet jimin in a bar and try to hit on him. it doesn’t end how you thought it would.

➻ @yolokoo​ asked:

“HEOLO CALYSPOA I WOULD LIKE JIMIN AND COCK(tail) AND HOT COCHOLCATE PLEASE MISS”

+

➻ @jintobean​ asked:

“hewwo mIGHT I HAVE SOME WINE AND VODKA FOR mishter jimin where y/n is hitting on him but he’s clueless and thinks y/n is a waiter or something absurd and somehow he ends up liking her and complains that she never made a move. ILY THANK YOU”

➻ a/n: y’all im so sorry idek what happened i have nothing to say for myself tbh

☽     ☾

“Hey, come here often?” You greet with a surprising amount of confidence exuding from your figure. You place one hand on the table, leaning over to look at the man with peach-colored hair. His features are even more stunning up close like this, and you cannot believe that your friend convinced you to do this. You blame the alcohol current running through your system; liquid confidence as some would call it. You have to agree with that statement now, because if you were one hundred percent sober you never would have walked over to this table in the first place.

“O-Oh, not really,” the man stutters in response. A pretty blush paints his round cheeks, a rosy hue that glimmers under the bar’s yellow lights. A wave of arousal rushes to your core just from the sight of the man blushing, and you again blame the damn alcohol in your system.

“That’s such a shame. I was hoping you could show me around some.” You pout and pull your arm off the table to glance at his tablemates. There are two other men with him, although they are far too preoccupied with the drinks in front of them to notice you. The pretty boy laughs, a nervous sound that dies in the din of the bar within moments.

“Co-Could I get some water?” He inquires. “Maybe?”

You don’t know what you’re doing when you say yes. You don’t work here. Hell, you’ve never even been here before. You aren’t wearing any sort of uniform either, but the man must be too tipsy himself to realize that fact. So, in your tipsy state, you agree and spin on your heel to head back to the bar for his requested water.

“Two waters please, bartender,” you request once you reach the wood. Part of you hopes that the man is watching your backside as you move. A one-night stand with the likes of a man that attractive is far too tantalizing for you to pass up, and you can only hope that he feels the same way about you. The bartender passes the drinks your way, and you snatch them up with a bright smile. As you walk back over to the peach haired man, you shoot a wink over to where your friends sit, watching from a distance as you shoot your shot.

“T-Thank you,” the man says as you place one of the waters in front of him.

“Can I join you?” You ask all of a sudden, motioning towards the empty space beside him. The man blinks up at you, and confusion shines clearly on his features. You don’t give him much opportunity to stay confused because you slide across the booth to be beside him. “I’m Y/N, and you are?”

“Oh, uh, Jimin. Park Jimin. Do you – I-I’m sorry, but do you work here?”

“Do I…” You trail off. It’s your turn to be confused and you aren’t sure how this miscommunication started when all you did was try to flirt with the man. “What? No. Uh, it’s my first time ever coming here.”

“Oh! Damn, I-I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, no! It’s totally okay. I’ve been mistaken for worse things than waitress.” You wink as you say the words, and Jimin’s eyes widen as your implications shine through.

“Ah, well, I understand that feeling. Sometimes they aren’t far from the truth though.” Jimin’s words slur a little as he guzzles some water. You watch his Adam’s Apple bop as he swallows, almost wanting to reach out and drag your fingers over the small bulge. You resist thankfully; it would be a terribly strange thing to do especially when he has two friends sitting directly across the table.

“What do you mean?” You ask instead, trying to divert the conversation so that you don’t have to think about touching his milky white skin.

“I’m a male stripper,” Jimin says as though it’s the most casual thing in the world. You choke on air at first then try to recover by gulping down some water, only to choke on that as well. Jimin glances over at you, concern shining clearly in his eyes. “A-Are you okay?” He reaches out to touch your shoulder, fingers meeting bare skin, and it’s like a thousand little jolts of electricity shoot through your whole body. You recover from the coughing fit to stare at him in wonder.

“You – you’re a stripper? I…wow, I never would’ve guessed.”

Jimin all but cackles upon hearing your words. “What on earth makes you say that?”

You flush as his gaze falls over you, a sudden heat to his eyes that has you melting already.

“Y-You just seem… you seem a bit shy.” All the confidence you had earlier dissipates, blown away in the wind by Jimin’s newly revealed nature. His full lips curl into a smirk. It’s almost like he’s treating your interaction like a game, a predator hunting its prey and toying with it before the final meal. Jimin drops a hand to the table and lets it linger near his glass of water. His fingers drum against the wood in no particular rhythm but it feels like your heart is racing along to the same beat.

“Shy, huh? I get that a lot. Many people think that of me prior to seeing me in action.”

“Se-Seeing you in action? Yea, yea, stripping. Yea. In action.” You struggle to get the words out, clothes feeling ten times tighter now, and you press your thighs together at the thought of seeing Jimin in action.

“You’re so cute. Girls like you are so easy to read.” Jimin chuckles and brings a finger under your chin. He lifts it ever so slightly yet you follow the motion like a dog being given a treat. Hot breath ghosts over your lips as he leans closer to you. Just when you think his lips are going to brush over yours, he ducks past your mouth and touches the shell of your ear with his lips instead. “So easy to get hot and bothered with only the slightest glance. It’s adorable.”

You swallow roughly, unable to formulate any proper words. Jimin continues to mouth at your ear. His breath cascades over your skin and causes chills to run down your spine.

“You were so confident when you came to the table, baby girl.” A wave of heat rushes to your core. You clench your thighs together so hard that it hurts but Jimin doesn’t relent. “Where did all that confidence go?” His tongue darts out and drags across your ear. You feel the ball of a piercing running over your skin and have to suppress a moan at the idea of Jimin having a tongue piercing.

One of Jimin’s hands snakes down from the table and hesitates over your thigh.

“Is this okay?” He asks, voice almost husky. You give a subtle nod. You’re far too wary of the two men sitting across the table. While they don’t seem interested in what you and Jimin are doing, you know that could change in the blink of an eye, and you don’t want to risk them seeing you in this state. Still, you have to admit that there is a certain rush to being caught with Jimin’s hand rushing up your thigh. “Words, baby girl. I can’t read your mind.”

“Yes,” you whisper as quietly as you can. Jimin’s fingers clench around your thigh once you mutter the word, cold metal from his rings a sharp contrast to the warmth of his fingers. You whimper ever so slightly. Jimin picks up on it, a low chuckle passing through his lips as he watches you squirm under his touch.

“God, you’re so adorable when flustered like this,” he hisses against your ear. As he speaks, his hand travels further up your thigh, slipping under the material of your dress to find the source of your arousal. His fingers brush over the damp spot on your underwear, and you release another small noise. “I want to see you unravel under my touch.”

Your teeth sink into your quivering lip, trying to keep any further sounds at bay. Embarrassment burns at your skin, and Jimin’s touch persists, dragging over the damp spot with the lightest pressure. It’s enough to be teasing and cause small shocks of pleasure to radiate from your core every once in a while.

All of a sudden Jimin sits back and reaches for his water with his free hand. The other one pushes your panties to the side, revealing your sopping core. He doesn’t hesitate in dipping his fingers into your heat and pushes past the thick strands of arousal to reach your hole. All the while, he sips at his water as though nothing else is going on. Once he takes a large gulp, he faces you again, this time with a teasing smirk to his lips.

“So, Y/N, what do you do for a living?” He asks. Your eyes widen in shock at the question, baffled that he even wants to attempt conversation while his fingers are in your pussy like this. You neglect to respond for a few moments. Jimin’s lips curve down ever so slightly, and his fingers pull away from your heat. You desperately try to keep them in place with your own but he swats your hand away before you can. A high-pitched whine escapes you. Jimin’s eyes grow darker as lust washes over him.

“I-I, uh, I’m–” You can barely speak because as soon as you begin to, Jimin’s fingers push back against your core, one finger dipping into you while his ringed thumb toys at your clit. “I work at a clothing store. Retail. I’m in graduate school full-time.”

“Ah, a smart woman.” Jimin smiles. He turns to the men sitting across the table as he drags his ring over your clit in small circular motions. “Guys, this is Y/N. I think you both were too preoccupied with your drinks to meet her.”

You can’t believe that he’s introducing you while he is knuckle deep in your pussy, but it’s painfully obvious that he intends to carry out an entire conversation while like this just based upon the persistence of his touch.

“H-Hi,” you manage to stutter out. You cannot bear to look the two men in the eye, the burning shame of what’s going on under the table too much to handle.

“What did you say you were studying at graduate school, Y/N?” Jimin asks. He tilts his head in your direction. A playful gleam flashes across his eyes as he pushes a second finger into your core. The curve of his rings drags against your walls, and you instinctively clench around him.

“U-Uh, biology. I’m doing – studying biology.”

“Oh wow! That sounds super neat!” One of Jimin’s companions says, a broad smile stretching across his lips. You mean to respond with a smile of your own but the moment your lips part, Jimin curls his fingers in you and draws out a faint whine. You bite down on your tongue so hard that you think you might bleed. Neither man across the table comments, leading you to believe that they either didn’t notice or are choosing not to embarrass you in the open like this.

You can see Jimin’s lips curling into another devilish smirk as he hears your small noise. He curls his fingers even more, brushing against your sweet spot. He knows that he’s hit it by the way your breath hitches.

“So what do you wanna do with biology? Do you have any plans yet?” The same man persists in talking to you yet you want to do anything except talking at the moment because Jimin is bringing you closer and closer to the edge with his ministrations.

“I, uh, just you know…” You trail off to swallow roughly. Jimin’s fingers continue to fuck into you. “I w-wanna do something in the marine biology field! But if that doesn’t work out I’m u-using biology as a safety – ah, a safety net.” You nearly squeal as you conclude your sentence. Jimin brings you closer and closer to an orgasm, and you can almost taste it. It’s dangling in front of you. You zone out as the man across from you continues speaking, focused solely on chasing your orgasm. Then –

Nothing. Jimin’s touch disappears. He pulls his fingers out of you, flicks your underwear back in place, and acts as though he didn’t just finger you to near completion in the booth at some dingy bar. You whip your head in his direction, and he’s staring back at you with equal tenacity. A moment of silence passes. You can feel the heated stares of the men across the table but pay them no mind in favor of looking at Jimin.

“If you’ll excuse us both, I promised to take Y/N home tonight. She needs to go to bed early tonight, what with school and work.” Jimin nudges you out of the booth with his fingers that are still coated in the juices of your arousal. The look in his eyes tells you that you won’t be sleeping early at all tonight.

☽     ☾

[all-archived-out]

Rex gives Molly a Lego set. It's a castle with a princess and knight.

                      Woah.. it was almost like a puzzle! Molly LOVED puzzles!                                                   “Thank you, Mishter Manager!” 

[xxxdragonfucker69xxx]

happy birthday lydia @heedra surname

"And that should be the last one," Phoenix said, setting down the bag on the floor. "Get that in the cooler, don't want it to go bad. I'll be back tomorrow to start grilling." He clapped Des on the back, and she stumbled slightly under the force of the blow. "We're gonna have the best grill-up this side of Great Forks. Get some meat on your bones."

The "meat" Phoenix was referring to sat scattered around the Sanctuary, in bags on the ground and the table. Seal was ferrying bags into the kitchen, normally Harv's territory but lent to the greater cause for the span of a night. The greater cause, in this instance, was the cookout Phoenix intended to host for the Sanctuary's regular residents. Everyone was invited, and the Solar had made it clear to everyone who didn't have apocalyptically pressing business that attendance was not optional. As a result the Sanctuary was near empty, with all the Deathknaves trying to sort their affairs out before tomorrow. Only Seal, Des and Star remained in the Sanctuary, as well as Hours who had been snoring on the nap sofa for the past fourteen hours. Phoenix had therefore left the Shitheads in charge of preparing for the next day.

Star saluted. "You can count on ush, Mishter Phoenixsh," he said eagerly. Privately, Des thought that the responsibility might be going to his head a little bit. "It'sh gonna be great!"

Phoenix high-fived him and opened the Sanctuary door onto a misty river, whistling as he left. The door fell closed behind him and Seal stuck his head out of the kitchen. "So are you fuckers gonna actually help or just jack yourselves off all night?" he asked. Star made an offended noise, though Des didn't know if it was at the lewd comment or the idea that he might be irresponsible, and immediately hoisted multiple bags in each hand.

"Uh, Star," Des said slowly. "Maybe be careful with those."

"Why?" Star asked, marching towards the kitchen. "You jealoush of my muschles? My shick puppiesh?" He tried to flex, but couldn't lift the bags much higher, so settled for sort of tensing his biceps in Seal's vague direction.

"No," Des said, ignoring Seal's sudden coughing fit. "Because there's a baby in that bag."

Star nearly dropped all the bags he was holding, but recovered at the last second. He peered under his arm to one of the bags where a tiny head had popped out and was looking around the room with an expression like a cat who just broke into a creamery.

"Oh, schit," Star said.

+++

The three of them sat in a circle around the baby -- not a baby, a kid, who could walk and talk and get into bags -- and thought about how fucked they were.

"We are so, so, so profoundly fucked," Seal said. "Sho incredibly fucking fucked," Star agreed. "Phoenixsh ish gonna kill ush."

Des shhed them loudly. "Don't swear in front of the kid," she said, then turned back to the phone she was holding. "Hang on, hang on. Shadow? Hello? Are you there?"

"I'm here," Shadow's voice said from the receiver of the rotary phone on Des' lap. "This had better be good."

"Oh, it's good," Des said. "I mean, it's bad. Um, hypothetically."

"Get on with it," Shadow snapped. There was a sudden crackle in the background, though it died down quickly. "I'm in the middle of work."

"Um, hypothetically, we uh maybe foundababyintheSanctuarywhatdowedo?" Des rushed, hoping Shadow would be too distracted to fully hear her.

It didn't work. "You what? Who? How?" Shadow demanded, and Des quailed a little. She wondered distantly if he could use his Evil Eye through the telephone.

Seal leaned over. "It's not our fucking fault," he shouted to Shadow. "Pho left her here and now we can't get hold of him. I think he's in fucking Halta or something."

Des could practically imagine Shadow rubbing his temples. "Danaa'd take you, I'm on top of a mountain right now. I can't get back until tomorrow. I knew this was a mistake."

"One of many!" a voice cawed, much closer to the phone. "Shut up, Valravn," Shadow snapped again. "Whatever. Alright. You're just going to have to take care of her for a while. I know!" he shouted over the sudden clamor of the Shitheads. "I know. Phoenix should be back in a few hours and he can shout at you then. What is she doing now?"

Star leaned in to the phone, so that they were all huddled over the mouthpiece. "I gave her shome paper and shome pensh to draw with. She'sh drawing, uh....."

In the center of their circle, there was paper, and there were pens, but there was no baby.

"We're gonna have to call you back," Des said, and hung up.

+++

After ten minutes of panic and five minutes of wrestling the little girl away from the Artifact closet, they had her safely seated on the sofa on Des' lap. Seal was sitting in Shadow's armchair and holding his head in his hands, and Star was pacing back and forth.

"So, kid," Des said, attempting to coach her voice into something suitable to kids. "What's your name? How'd you get here?"

"Um, my name is Sachi and I'm five years old," the kid said, proudly holding out four fingers. "I heard Daddy say he was gonna go take the meat out so I hid in the bag to come with him. I like meat. I wanna get out!" she said to Des, who was desperately trying to keep her from wriggling out of her grasp.

"Can one of you idiots take her for a minute?" Des hissed at them. "I gotta, I don't know, do something!"

"Don't look at me," Star said, alarmed. "I'm made of shpikesh and pointy bitsh. I'll perforate her."

"Yeah, yeah!" Sachi clapped. "I wanna climb the pointy bird man!" She started wriggling even harder in Star's direction.

Star bristled. "Hey, don't call me a fu- a shtupid bird! I'm a pershon! I got feelingsh!"

Sachi seemed to find this hilarious. "Bird man! Bird man!" she chanted, pointing at Star. Des thought she saw his eyes getting teary and hastily stood up. "Okay," she declared. "Activity time." Activity time? Seal mouthed at her. Des shrugged. She was aware that her childhood was atypical, but children needed structure in their lives, right? "Yeah, activity time. Uh, let's start with.... poetry!"

"Boring!" Sachi shouted, finally squirming out of Des' grasp and making an immediate beeline for the kitchen. "I wanna see Daddy's cool stuff!" Seal lunged at her, but the five-year old evaded him deftly. Only Star's Wing-assisted charge managed to outpace her, and he crashed headfirst to the ground in front of her, cutting her off.

"Haha, bird man sucks at flying! Wow, you're really pointy," Sachi said, crouching to poke at his soulsteel spikes. "How come you have a cool mask? I want a cool mask! Ooh, your teeth are pointy too!" She made to poke at his teeth, but Star slapped her hand away with his flesh hand before rolling over onto his back and groaning.

"Shtupid Wingsh," he muttered. "No, I'm not gonna kill the baby. I don't care about your shtupid bloodthirsht. Wait," he said, lifting his head up to peer at Sachi. "Aren't you shcared of me?"

Sachi giggled. "Nope!" she declared. "I know all about scary looking people! Daddy used to look like a scary monster too and he wears his spiky armor a lot but I know he's really nice and happy!"

Star let his head fall back to the ground. "Well, I'm not," he grumbled, but he let Sachi keep prodding his spikes and oohing and aahing.

Seal sidled over to Des. "Great fuckin activity," he murmured. "She's gonna fucking cut herself or something and then Pho's gonna eviscerate us. Also I feel like Star probably has a concussion or some shit."

"He doesn't have a concussion," Des replied dismissively. "Probably. He has like three Ox-Bodies. Star, you have Ox-Body Technique, right?" Star didn't respond, or was too busy talking to Sachi. "He's fine. Besides," and Des smiled, "I have a plan."

+++

"Hah!" Hours exclaimed. "She is like little monkey!"

Sachi laughed. She was clambering all across the enormous Dusk, his soulsteel tattoos providing obliging handholds and footholds. "You're fun!" she exclaimed.

"I am fun!" Hours agreed. "Watch this!" He reached around his back and picked her up by the midsection (giving Des, Seal and Star all heart attacks at the same time) so he could plop her on his shoulders. "Now you are varstrider pilot!" he boomed. "In charge of big var machine! Make buildings go boom!"

"Horsey!" Sachi shouted, ignoring him. "Go forwards!" Hours stepped forward, purposefully jostling Sachi. She shrieked with laughter. "Faster! Faster!" she shouted, and Hours obliged her by jogging around the Sanctuary slowly. Sachi laughed and hollered the whole time, and Des had to admit she felt something loosening deep inside her -- something she had never had. She had known intellectually that most children didn't have to dodge thrown projectiles as soon as they could walk, but it was another thing entirely to see a child who had probably never had to dodge anything in her life. Next to her, Seal was staring at them with open and unguarded envy. Des nudged him.

Seal jumped and looked at her, then looked away scowling -- probably equal parts because she'd caught him having an emotion and caught him off-guard. "She's so fucking -- defenseless," he said. "Probably couldn't fight a fucking dog."

"Not even a really weak one," Des agreed. "Hopefully she never has to."

Seal swiveled back to face her and took her by the arm. "Desecration," he said, unexpectedly serious. "I will die before I let a dog attack her."

Des stared at him for a minute before he let go and looked away. But she knew what he meant. "Yeah," she said. "Me too."

Hours came to a stop in front of them and Sachi pointed at them imperiously. "You two do horsey," she decided. "We can play chicken."

Des raised an eyebrow. "Are we horses or chickens?" she asked.

Sachi frowned. "No, dummy," she said. "You get on him and then you try to push me over and I try to push you over."

Des raised the other eyebrow, looking at the nine-foot tall Hours and the two-foot tall Sachi. "That seems... unsafe," she said.

Sachi smirked, an alarmingly precocious expression on the five-year old's face. "That means you're chicken!" she taunted. "You're a scaredy chicken!"

Des scoffed, but next to her, Seal looked determined. "Get on my fucking shoulders," he said. "Let's play some fucking chicken."

+++

They spent the next hour teetering around the Sanctuary. Des was used to fighting in strange situations, but this was not an environment she was used to. More than once, the Sachi-Hours combo team managed to almost push Des and Seal over so that only magic kept Des' balance. Every time this happened, Seal grew progressively more heated, and Des could feel his anima beginning to flare.

Just then, Star poked his head out of the kitchen. "Dinnersh ready!" he called cheerfully.

Sachi banged her little fists on Hours' shoulders. "Dinner! Dinner!" she ordered, and Hours toppled her down onto the sofa gently.

Des frowned. Did Star even know how to cook? Her question was swiftly answered as Star exited the kitchen bearing two platters of what appeared to be pinkish-grey ooze. "You're in luck," he said. "Mosht of the shtuff in the fridge ish for tomorrow but I found shome shtuff that looksh jusht like the old cave shlime from back home. Thish ish a family reschipe!"

Sachi took one look at the slime and started to cry.

Seal took over comforting Sachi while Des massaged Star's bruised ego and Hours cheerfully tipped the entire mess into his mouth. "Slimy!" he announced, which seemed to mollify Star a little.

"Well, when you're at home, what do you usually eat for dinner?" Seal asked Sachi. Instantly she brightened up and a devious light crept into her eyes. "Well, Daddy lets me have five sugar for every dinner," she said, holding up one hand splayed out for five fingers.

"Five sugar," Des repeated doubtfully. Sachi nodded. "Uh-huh, and ten juice!" she said, holding out the other fingers.

Hours frowned. "I don't think that --" he began, but Seal cut him off. "You heard the lady," he said, not breaking eye contact with Sachi, who giggled. "Five sugar and ten juice."

Star scratched his head. "Uh, I dunno about the juice, but I think I shaw shome candy maybe in one of Harv'sh drawersh --" He was interrupted by Sachi pumping her fists in the air and chanting "Candy! Candy! Candy!" Seal took up the chant, and then Hours joined in, and at that point Des felt that she might as well.

+++

The candy was a mistake.

Sachi had managed to get ahold of Des' daiklave and was now sprinting around the Sanctuary dragging it behind her and laughing maniacally. Thoughts of what Phoenix would do if he knew they'd given his daughter a weapon collided in her head with thoughts of what would happen if anything happened to Bloodthorn and joined forces with terror of anything happening to Sachi herself. "Sachi," she said, putting all her will and Essence into her voice, "put that down and come here."

"Gotta catch me!" the little girl shouted, apparently impervious to Des' efforts. She dodged around Hours' legs and nimbly avoided Seal's attempts to catch her. Star launched himself at her, Wings flaring akimbo behind him, but Sachi changed tack at the last moment and Star ended up crashing into Seal instead. Hours tottered backwards and crashed onto the pile, resulting in two Dusk Castes entangled with a very sharp and disgruntled Star. Sachi stood on the couch, waving at them and attempting to hoist Bloodthorn up with her. "Na na, can't catch me," she taunted, sticking her tongue out and making a funny face.

As the three boys untangled themselves and sprang to their feet, a plan entered Des' head. She let them run around for a while longer while she set up the TV, reasoning that they might as well burn off some more of Sachi's energy, then turned around. "Sachi," she said, baiting her words with magic. "Wanna see Ma-Ri-Oh Kart?"

"Mario!" the television screen declared, and Sachi's attention was immediately captured. She exclaimed wordlessly as she scrambled over the back of the sofa to where Des was holding the controller, and Des let out an internal sigh of relief as she dropped Bloodthorn. Star, Seal and Hours looked at each other a little sheepishly, then took their own controllers.

The Abyssals had gotten used to the strange demands of Mario Kart, and even thought they had gotten pretty good, but Sachi completely trounced them all. It turned out that the combination of hyperactive and hyperattentive five-year-old was unstoppable when applied to video games. She giggled triumphantly whenever she won, but after a few games Seal surrendered bad-temperedly and stormed off to sulk and polish Glorious First Light. Des lasted a little longer, but in truth the excitement of the day had gotten to her -- and worse, she felt something stirring at the bottom of her soul, a little voice that whispered you are not alive, you do not belong with living things, no matter how much you pretend to like them -- but she swallowed the Resonance and made sure none of it showed. It was another hour before Hours tapped out, claiming he was still hungry and Star's slime was "delicious but not very fillink". In the end it was just Star and Sachi, sitting next to each other on the couch, concentrating so hard their tongues stuck out, staring intently at the screen.

Des watched them, and felt -- good.

+++

It was past midnight when the door swung open again.

The lights were off, but the TV screen still cast animated patterns on the sleeping faces of Star and Sachi (Des had made sure to put cushions between Sachi and any spikes). Phoenix stared around the Sanctuary, at the controlled mess from their earlier battles, and caught Des' eye.

Uh-oh. Time to face the music.

Des motioned to him to be quiet and pointed to where Sachi lay on the couch. Phoenix crept forward, and a look of puzzlement mixed with relief washed over his face. "I thought she was just playing with her friends somewhere," he whispered loudly to Des. "How'd she get in here?"

Des shrugged. "Snuck in with your bags," she whispered back. "We gotta get Shadow to change the locks or something.

Phoenix nodded thoughtfully. "Well," he said, "I'm glad you got her to eat. She's a picky eater sometimes." Des glanced down at the candy wrapper by his feet. "Is everyone okay?" Phoenix asked, misinterpreting her silence.

"Yeah," Des said. "Everyone's happy."

[kon-kon-kon-kon]