#no more elusive jumping indoors real after this

[crystallineconflict]

bijou elusive jump misadventures.png (tysm to my friend oli for the art hehe)

[itsthemoofacewriting]

Black Cat

Welcome to the beast! I did toy with splitting this into chapters, but I like a long one shot and hopefully you all do too.

So, I voted for the superhero prompt and was psyched when it was picked but then drew a blank about how I wanted to approach it. Then I listened to ‘To die for’ by Sam Smith and that was it. It was supposed to be a short little fluffy story… then this thing called plot came marching in, knocked me off my chair and took over. So now there’s fluff AND plot AND a lot of words.

Summary: Sanji’s pretty sure he’s found the love of his life, shame it’s the elusive criminal he’s supposed to be catching. Superhero AU Rating: M for Language, brief mention of violence and a limey moment that can be skipped (Do we still use the terms lemon and lime for sexy times?) Words: 18k, buckle in kids.

@sannamiweek

This can also be found on FFN and AO3

Enjoy

“Ah, Mademoiselle, what a pleasant surprise.”

The lady before him gave a short laugh as she turned, jewellery still in hands, as she gave him a once over.

“Pleasant indeed, have you been working out?” She said in a sultry tone. He knew she was trying to get under his skin, and whilst it was working, he didn’t miss the way her eyes drank him in.  

He tried to keep his cool, he wouldn’t be had this time. “I have, there’s a certain Black Cat that I have to keep up with after all.” He said as he began to walk closer, something that her keen eyes instantly picked up on and tensed, ready for whatever move he made.

“Well, I’m flattered, of course.” Her casual words betrayed by the way she took a step back, eyes assessing the room for an exit.

There was a tense moment as they both watched each other, trying to anticipate the others move.

“As ravishing as you would look in them, you know I can’t let you leave with them.”

“That’s such a shame, I really like them.” She pouted and started to play with the gems. “I feel like these would really suit me, especially this one.” She held the diamond necklace up to her neck and laid it across her bust, smirking. Although his eyes were covered by black glasses, she knew he couldn’t keep his eyes on her face.

“Is it hot in here or is it just me?” She looped the jewels through her arms and let them slide down as she pulled at the black leather away from her body with one hand and fanned with her other.

He was frozen at this point and she used it to her advantage. With him like this, she walked towards him, making sure to swing her hips and start playing with the zip hiding her cleavage.

Once she was in front of him, she ran her hands along his shoulders, moving them up to cup his face and move it to one side. She leaned in closer, so her body was pressed against his. At this point his face was bright red, extending further than his mask.

She sighed in his ear before whispering, “Thanks for the jewels.” And then kissed his cheek, leaving a red lipstick mark. “See you next time.”

She shoved him down in his stupor and he watched in a haze as she suddenly took off running across the store. She climbed up the wall, giving him a lovely view of her behind, and out of the open window, which she’d clearly used to break in.

She was breath taking.

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Black Cat once again succeeds in stealing jewels, leaving Stealth Black in the dark.

Sanji sighed.

He was in his favourite café as he read the newspaper and although it was frustrating, he couldn’t bring himself to be angry at the headline. They weren’t wrong after all. She was successful and he was still in the dark as to how to capture her. She was smart, beautiful, sneaky, gorgeous, tactical and did he mention she was an absolute bombshell?

He rubbed his hands across his face. He definitely shouldn’t be thinking about her like that. He should be thinking about how to capture her. Yet, he didn’t really want to. She was a petty thief more than anything, she’d never hurt anyone and left the place with minimal damage. Plus, she brightened his day with her wit and sunny smile when she saw him.

His thoughts were interrupted by another voice, “Would you like another refill?”

His head shot up from the newspaper and was met with a young waitress holding a coffee pot. He gave a grateful smile, nodding and going back to his newspaper.

“Black Cat, huh? I don’t mind her; she seems harmless enough.”

Sanji chocked out a fake laugh, hiding his chagrin, “Yet powerful enough to take on Black Stealth, she must be something alright.”

She shrugged. “Black Stealth is something himself, I’m sure he’ll snag her someday.” There was something in her tone that made him look back up at her. She was giving him a funny look, like he was missing an inside joke that he wasn’t privy too.

And with that, she took a step back and turned around. He wouldn’t think anything of it, but her tone was odd, and did she wink at him before turning? He felt a blush rising on his cheeks at the thought but shook his head. Yes, he had a weakness for women but there was only a certain woman on his mind right now. The one who was suddenly leaving lipstick marks on his cheek.

It had been almost 5 months since she’d come into his city. No one knew anything about the Black Cat, she came out of thin air one day when she’d picked a lock to get into a high-end jeweller. He’d been stupefied back then; she was bent over looking at something and gave him the greatest look at her lovely behind in her tight leather cat suit. Then she’d turned to look at him (her suit really was tight, ahem). Her mask covered the middle of her face, starting below her eyes brows and stopping at her nose but revealing big amber eyes with eyelashes fluttering against flushing cheeks and scarlet red lipstick adorning her lips. Adorable cat ears donning her head.

He’d been frozen just looking at her, but then she’d breathily said his superhero name, almost like a moan, and he completely shut down after that. She’d winked at him, gave him a flirty wave and had taken off. He was in euphoria for a couple of minutes after, until he’d realised that he’d just let a robber escape his clutches.

Since then, they’d faced off quite frequently. Every time she used her charms against him, becoming bolder each time. They’d never actually clashed like other villains he’d faced up against, then again, he wasn’t so besotted with the others. He’d faced off against women villains before, he took greater care with them than he did to men, but he always got them in the end. But her. She was something else. It was love at first sight and whilst he’d hoped it’d pass… it didn’t. Every time he saw her, he fell a bit harder. It put him in quite a pickle.

The worst thing though, was that they actually got along. Considering their opposing sides, they had banter and over time, he was feeling like he was getting to know her. She was just intoxicating. As the days went on, he moved further and further away from catching her, simply because he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to capture her. But he had an obligation to. He was a superhero and whilst she was a very smart, crafty thief, she shouldn’t be a match for him. But she was.

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It was one of Sanji’s days off and normally, he kept superhero work for night-time only but liked to keep an eye on the news during the day, just in case. It was incredibly rare that the police couldn’t deal with criminals during the day, the night-time was when the real low lives showed their faces in this city.

When the radio was suddenly interrupted by a special report, he felt his ears prick. It was telling civilians to stay indoors and avoid the city centre because a shoot-out had broken out. So far, no lives were lost but a few injured.

No more had to be said and Sanji was abandoning his relaxing day off. He’d never forgive himself if someone innocent got shot.

Stealth was a big part of his image and his suit was black for a reason, to blend in during the night. Right now, the only thing that fit in was his blond hair and tiny bit of yellow on his suit. Normally he would activate the invisibility feature on his suit, but he wanted the attention on him when he arrived. This way the shooting would be aimed at him and not civilians.

He landed with a thump on the police officers’ car just outside of city centre and all heads whipped towards him. He could see the relief on a few of their faces when they recognised him. It must be worse than he thought.

“Focus on civilian safety, get them out and I’ll deal with the gang.” Stealth Black said, launching himself back into the sky.

From above, Stealth Black could see carnage. A car was alight with two officers trapped behind it, surrounded by the gang who were slowly spreading themselves out and strategically using abandoned cars to move forward. His eyes narrowed at their organisation. So it looked like this might have been planned and they weren’t normal thugs.

Over the past few weeks, he’d heard rumours about a gang that had moved into the city. They were apparently recruiting members but nothing other than word of mouth had surfaced. He couldn’t do much else than keep his ear to the ground. Maybe this was the start of it.

He swiftly dropped behind the burning car to retrieve the stranded officers. “Are you injured?” His eyes scanned and found no more than a couple scrapes and a lot of dirt.

They both shook their heads.

“Keep still and brace yourselves.” Without another word, he wrapped his arm around each of them, stood up and activated the boosters in his boots as he kicked the flaming vehicle in front of him towards the gang. This gave him the opening he needed as gang members jumped out the way and shouted to each other about his arrival. He left the officers just outside the shooting zone, where an ambulance was on hand and took off again without a word.

He ran through the shooting zone, bullets flying past him or ricocheting off his suit as their attacks were now focused on him and started taking them down one by one. They were smart thugs, but they were still human, he laid off the boosters that helped increase his kicking power and that seemed to be enough.

He ducked as a thug swung their gun, attempting to hit him in the face and Stealth Black swept his leg out to knock the guy off his feet. Once the thug was down, he brought his foot down sharply onto his chest and heard a few ribs break. He shouldn’t be getting up quickly.

The gang, sensing they were losing to one person, all swarmed him in an attempt to overwhelm him. He backflipped into a handstand, bringing his legs out vertical and spun, hitting some of the thugs that were close enough and stunning a few before they got too close.

“Ben, no!” A scream tore through the air.

Stealth Black’s head whipped in the direction of the voice, only to find a child running across the shooting zone. The child had escaped the grasp of his mother as they were being moved to safety and now the police were having a hard time holding the mother back too.

He knew that no thugs took sympathy, regardless of whether it was a child or not and that if he didn’t get to the child quick enough, one of the thugs would shoot.

Whilst he was distracted, a thug saw an opening and hit Stealth Black on the back of the head. He was dazed for a moment and the world went silent as he desperately tried to catch up. A thug wrapped their arms around him to hold him in place as more gathered. He snapped out of it when he heard the mother screaming again for her child and his senses came back to him.

Stamping his foot down, he created a shockwave of power that launched him, and the thug wrapped around him, into the air whilst the other thugs went sprawling. He sharply dug his elbow into the thug behind him and watched as he fell to the ground below.

Looking again for the child, he was met with a sight that chilled his blood and made time stop moving. One of the gang members had seen the child and was raising his gun ready to shoot. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through him, as he took off charging with everything he had towards the child. Whilst he prayed for a miracle, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to reach the child in time and his brain was working through every possible option to overcome the inevitable.

The bullet was already flying towards the child, who was stood still, paralysed by fear.

He could feel his heart pounding in his ear as his stomach plummeted.

He wasn’t going to make it.

Suddenly the sky turned dark and electric crackled through the air.

“Thunder tempo!”

And then there she was. God, she was so overwhelmingly beautiful. Wind whipped around her face, making her hair fly through the air as a ferocious lightening bolt hit the gun wielding thug. She swooped in and picked the, now crying, child up in her arms and used her baton to deflect the bullet. Interesting, he’d never seen her the baton before, maybe it was new?

When he would look back on this moment in the future, he would this as the tipping point of when he started to fall in love with her and confirm that she wasn’t a villain.

Any tension suddenly left, as the last crispy thug fell to the floor and the crowd around them cheered.

Black Cat looked completely bewildered as people came closer to start congratulating them both. The mother of the child came weeping towards her, thanking her profusely again and again. She managed to stutter out a quiet you’re welcome, as she handed over the child in her arms to the mother.

However, as the camera crews started to come over, he could see her starting to panic. Her eyes darting around the area for the easiest escape route in all the mayhem. To his delight, she’d never had that look around him. She always seemed at ease… probably because she had the upper hand, but he still liked that she was relaxed around him- even if he was a hero.

She jumped when he strolled up to her, his arm resting on the small of her back to get her attention. He murmured in her ear, “You want to get out of here?”

Whilst his words were supposed to be overly flirtatious, she gave him a relieved smile regardless. “Please.”

“Hold on then.” The arm on her back snaking around her waist and they were airborne. Her screaming into his ear as she strangled him in a chokehold and him laughing.

He soon regretted laughing when they landed on the top of a roof building because she soon hit him over the head and was lecturing him about warning someone first before doing that.

She was still angry when he suddenly wrapped her up in a hug and all the anger bled out of her when she heard his heavy breathing.

“Are you okay?” She asked, as she tentatively wrapped her arms around him, unsure what to do.

“I thought he was going to die,” his voice small.

Suddenly Black Cat understood, the moment had passed and now he was forced to deal with the emotions. Her arms wrapped around him surely now and rubbed up and down his back in a soothing manner. He couldn’t see it, but she smiled. He really cared, huh.

“But he didn’t.”

“All thanks to you- I can’t thank you enough, I don’t know how to show my appreciation.”

“You don’t have to. I don’t want to see a child die, or anyone innocent for that matter.”

Stealth Black pulled away but clasped her hands in his and blinded her as if face lit up behind his mask and glasses. “I knew you were good. Join me! We’d make a great team.”

“We’d make a fantastic team. But no. I’m not made for that right now.” She hated that his face dropped. “But you’re great at it. It’s fun to watch you in action when I’m not the one trying to escape.”

“You were watching…?”

She cursed herself for getting too comfortable. She’d been sitting there before he even arrived, ready to step in should she need to. He was impressive, it wasn’t something she had seen him do before, commanding officers and skilfully fighting off thugs. “Well, it’s- uh, yeah.” Her shoulders dropped. “But you know, you can show you appreciation by not telling anyone! I have a reputation to upkeep.”

He felt warm inside. She was rough around the edges but a good person at heart and had his back when he wasn’t enough.

She extracted her hands from his grip as he just stared at her. It was of course flattering but she could only deal with his adoring look for so long without feeling… things… for him.

She really needed to go.

But she couldn’t leave without teasing him a bit, butterflies in her stomach or not. The hand on his arm got his attention as she leaned in to leave him with the trademark lipstick mark on his cheek.

What she wasn’t expecting, was for him to use his other hand to pull his mask down enough to reveal his lips and to turn his head.

To kiss her.

On the lips.

The wasn’t part of the plan at all, she frantically thought. He was hesitant for a second, giving her a chance to break the kiss and kept still. When she didn’t pull away, he applied pressure and moved his lips. She found herself melting into the long overdue kiss.

Black Stealth felt like he’d died and gone to heaven, something he would not be upset about right now. The woman he was pretty sure he was in love with was kissing him back and if he heard right, she just sighed into the kiss. He tightened his arms around her, pressing them together as tightly as possible and she reciprocated by angling her head and running her hands through his hair.

As intoxicating as she was, he needed to breath. When he pulled away and looked at her, she was dazed. Eyes glassy, cheeks flushed and smeared red lipstick, most of it was probably on his lips right now but he didn’t care. She was still in his arms, not hitting him for kissing her.

“That probably wasn’t a good idea,” she whispered against his lips, but made no move to pull away.

“Probably not, but I just don’t care. Do you?” He whispered back.

She smiled at the confession. “I like this, it suits you.” Rubbing her fingers against the scruff on his chin. “I have to go.” She said, leaning back in for a quick peck on his lips before she was pulling the mask on his face back up.

He could only nod, not expecting the second kiss. As she began to pull away, he came to his senses and grabbed her hand before she could go. She turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“I have a feeling this wasn’t a one off and might be part of a gang operation that’s slowly growing. I haven’t heard much, no one has, do you know anything?”

Black Cat considered him for a moment before answering, “Not really. Same as you, only hear say. I hear they’re dangerous and expanding at a fast rate. That’s it.”

Stealth Black couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face, he’d wanted more information. He nodded anyway, thankful that she’d at least been comfortable telling him something, they weren’t exactly on the same side. Him on the ‘good side’ and her sitting in a weird grey area. “Hm, okay, thanks anyway,” he hesitated a moment before continuing, “Just… be careful okay? I don’t want anything happening to you, especially if they get wind that you helped me.”

She squeezed his hand, smiled and turned around. Just as she was about to leap from the roof she stopped, turning her head and said, “Those were on the house, the next kiss will cost you.”

And just like that she was gone.

But he still smiled in triumph. There was going to be a next time.

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The gang had finally made their appearance, the shoot-out in city centre had only been their introduction. It was no longer vague rumours.

He’d seen his fair share of petty gangs, but this was nothing like that, they were the real deal. Highly organised and from the few vans he’d busted they were transporting drugs but none of the lower ranking thugs in the gang didn’t know the identity of the boss. Seemed he was pulling the strings behind the scenes, clever. They’d also committed bank robberies and he’d noticed the police were becoming less effective. There was less urgency in their movements, and he got the impression higher ups were being paid off by the gang.

Newspapers were unaffected, though they didn’t pose much of a threat and didn’t know any more than him. They did, however, keep him up to date with what villains were currently on the loose and supposedly they were linked with the new gang starting up. Yet he never bumped into any of these villains.

Things were starting to get out of control, and he got the impression this is what they wanted. Cause chaos, meanwhile, gain the upper hand in underground dealings and they’d be running the city.

Normally he would listen in to the police scanner on his days off or during the night for anything major going on. Now it was eerily silent, apart from the odd drunk driver. Instead he’d now taken to doing nightly patrols to see if he could gain any leads. He did this in his stealth mode so that no one could see him and catch on to what he was doing. Yet he’d found nothing. Not a thing. They weren’t sloppy and it was starting to irritate him.

Just as he was about to turn in for the night, he saw something jump past him on his left. What was someone doing jumping about on the rooftops? He followed the direction they went and what he saw made him feel like he’d finally hit the jackpot.

Kalifa.

She was part of an organisation that he’d captured a couple of years ago. They ran their own form of justice, which included killing people if they saw it fit. They made themselves judge, jury and executioner.

He landed on the roof, several feet away to observe her before he took any action.

“My, my, Stealth Black, long time no see. What can I do for you?”

He stayed silent; she shouldn’t be able to see him in stealth mode.

“I know you’re there. You thought I wouldn’t learn your tricks after last time?”

He sighed and became visible. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m not doing anything illegal, so that’s not any of your business.” She smirked and adjusted her glasses.

“You did escape prison though. How?” He demanded.

Many years ago he’d struggled to capture Kalfia, he was raised not to hit woman which is hilarious for a superhero. He’d always used his Stealth mode to capture them, it’d been a handy feature. However, that mode didn’t prevent blushing and stumbling around on his part. He knew women would always be a weakness and he had to factor that in when he went up against one. Then Black Cat strolled into his life and raised the bar. It’d been a blessing and a curse. He was somewhat immune to other villains’ charms, becoming more effective at catching them… but then he couldn’t catch Black Cat. Not that he really wanted to. But that was a different matter.

“It helps when you have connections,” she drawled coyly. “Enough chit chat though, I have appointments to get to.”

He just managed to throw up his leg and block the kick meant for his abdomen, what he hadn’t expected was for her other leg to come up and clock him around the face.

“You’ve gotten faster, that’s a pain.” He grits out as his head throbbed. Maybe he needed a helmet, everyone liked to hit him there. He backflipped into a handstand to avoid the foot coming down on his head and when he looked, the concrete had cracked from the impact. Okay, he needed to get serious. Except she didn’t let up and he spent his time dodging or blocking her attacks as they came hurtling towards him. “Appointments, huh? I heard you joined the gang that came into the city.”

She gave a short laugh. “Nosey journalists, how do they find this information out? Maybe there’s a rat… or feline, on the loose.”

He blocked the last kick, shoved his foot out and sent her falling to the ground. He was exhausted and in trouble. Whilst his stealth mode seemed to be useless around her, he used it anyway, just in case he could throw her off and took out the cuffs from in belt. As she started to pick herself up, he used the boosters on his boots to send a shockwave through the ground and succeeded in throwing off her footing. Using this to his advantage, he flew forward and locked one of her hands in the cuffs but just missed the second hand as her foot came out to trip him.

Stumbling back, he managed to keep himself upright but now had to come up with something else. At least one part of the cuffs was on.

Kalifa started laughing and Stealth Black couldn’t be more confused. “You thought that cheap trick would work again?” She boasted. And he watched in disbelief as the cuff slid straight off of her, falling to the floor with a loud clang. Stealth Black could only gape. What the hell was he going to do? He grit his teeth, he couldn’t hit her but he really needed to. It was the only time in his life that he cursed his father for instilling this belief in him.

“It appears I’ve had an upgrade, whilst you’re still left in the dark. Let’s see if you can keep up now.” She said. Her body became slick and shiny as she surged forward.

He threw his knee up again to block the hit and watched as her leg slipped straight off of his to the side and came back around to hit him in the kidneys. He fell sideways as pain erupted in his side. He couldn’t even block her now.

She was now charging towards him, but his body wasn’t responding. He was fatigued. He managed to lift both his legs and hit them against the roof top, creating an even bigger shock wave to send her flying backwards. It would do nothing but buy him some time.

It started to rain, and he groaned. It’d been clear skies just a few moments earlier but as he looked up, he could see clouds starting to form. He really didn’t need this right now. He was getting his arse kicked and he was going to be rained on. It felt like his luck was running out.

Oh god, she was getting up again. He heaved himself to sit upright whilst his mind whirled for solutions.

“You look like you could use a hand.”

Relief rushed through Stealth Black at the sound of her voice and he turned to see her standing there in all her glory, baton extended at the ready. Black Cat. His knotted stomach calmed, and his heartbeat picked up. Oh thank god.

“You really should learn how to deal with women… apart from me, of course,” she said, winking as she walked past him.

Kalfia looked at Black Cat in disdain. “What a surprise to see you here Black Cat, seems you’re quite the accessory to Stealth Black. I’m sure people would be interested to know that.”

Stealth Black had no idea what was going on, but Black Cat’s face screwed up and she went straight on the attack. She whipped her baton for Kalfia’s face, but the woman dodged it. Kalfia started a flurry attack, much like she did with Stealth Black, except Black Cat would allow herself to actually hit the woman. The hits were actually landing this time, did the rain affect Kalifa’s abilities? Black Cat managed to hit Kalifa in the face once and then in the stomach, before sending out a harsh wind from the baton.

Black Cat didn’t give the woman a chance to recover before she was sending a thunder bolt straight through the woman’s chest.

Kalfia’s eyes lost their focus and she opened her mouth to let out a puff of smoke before falling to the floor in a steaming pile.

Stealth Black was speechless. He was in awe of the woman in front of him… and if he was honest, a little turned on. She was a powerhouse. Another quality to add to the list of things he loved about the woman in front of him.

Black Cat turned to him, “Do you still have handcuffs?”

His head filled with images of the lady in front of him in handcuffs… or her using them on in, but he snapped out of it when she coughed and gave him a hard stare.

“Focus, we don’t have time for your daydreams.”

He passed her the handcuffs and she clicked one part around Kalfia’s wrist and the other to the drainpipe up on the roof.

“That should be enough to hold her, she’ll be woozy when she wakes up but make sure to keep her wet and take her to the police as soon as possible.”

“You’ve never been like that with me before.” Black Stealth said.

Nami’s head tilted in confusion before she understood what he meant. “Luckily you’ve never given me a reason to. I used to just bat my eyelashes at you, and you were putty.” She laughed.

“I’m glad, that looks like it hurt.” He walked closer to her and his hands itched to wrap them around her waist, but he wasn’t sure whether he was allowed to. They’d kissed but what if that was too familiar? “What are you doing here by the way? Not that I’m not thankful.”

“Luckily for you, I was passing by and saw she was about to kick your handsome face in. I’m the only one allowed to best you.”

His heart soared at the handsome comment and that she wrapped her arms around his neck, his own hands now making their way around her waist to settle there. The only thing that was odd, was the look on her face. He couldn’t read it. She’d never looked like that before. Normally she was an open book, but he didn’t question it as she pulled his mask down and leaned in to kiss him on the lips.

She sighed into the kiss and tilted her head. Her tongue touched his lips and before he knew it, he’d let her in, and she was playing with his tongue. When they parted, he squeezed her sides, he was just so happy he couldn’t resist. Even though he couldn’t see it, he knew there was a dazed expression on his face, he just couldn’t get enough of this woman.

“What’s the price for that kiss then?” He’d expected her to smile or laugh but he felt his stomach twist when she frowned, eyebrows pinched together in worry.

“Forgive me for what’s going to happen.”

His stomach plummeted but he didn’t get the chance to question what that was meant to mean, she extracted herself quickly from his embrace and was gone.

He felt empty.

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Black Cat is the newest member of underground gang

Sanji was at the restaurant on break when he saw the news. He felt like he could be sick.

He went back to work in a daze, and it was only as he was cooking and flipping ingredients in the pan that his mind began to wonder. The puzzle started to piece together. She said she’d been watching him take down the gang… because she was already one of them? That’s why she was there? But why would be intervene and take down some of her own guys? Then again, when she ran into him facing up against Kalfia. Kalfia said she had appointments, was Black Cat her appointment? She was meeting her to join the gang? Or was she already in and they were going to do something? But why stop Kalfia?

‘-quite the accessory to Stealth Black. I’m sure people would be interested to know that.’ That sentence Kalfia had said kept going around in his head. He hadn’t thought anything of it, was she threatening Black Cat? With him? His thoughts were going around in circles and he had no answers coming to mind. He didn’t believe for a second she was a villain, there must be an angle he was missing.

The thing haunting him the most, was her expression as she told him to forgive her. A villain didn’t ask for that. A villain didn’t kiss the hero either.

He had no solid answers to the majority of his questions, but he believed in her and his gut was telling him she needed his help.

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It turned out following her was incredibly hard. Normally he was too… overwhelmed after meeting with her to actually pursue her after a robbery. He doubted she’d ever give him the information, but he was curious about her baton. It turned out she could also turn herself invisible using it. It’s like they were made for each other~

He shook his head, now wasn’t the time for fantasies of the two of them but he was seriously thankful that she didn’t use all those moves on him or he’d actually have a hard time with her. He did feel a tiny bit guilty for underestimating her. It did give him an opportunity to use the new feature in his glasses though, the heat signature that Franky had just put in.

Even with that though, he still had difficulty keeping up with her without being caught. She certainly earned the title of cat, she was agile, ducking and diving through alley ways and above rooftops. Where on earth was she going? They were starting to get close to the docks in the rough side of the city. He certainly hoped she didn’t live around here, she could clearly handle herself, but he’d still be worried. Anything could happen in this city.

Since the news broke a week ago, he’d heard absolutely nothing from her. He didn’t exactly know what they were right now, but they’d kissed twice (her initiating the second) and she normally made sure to make an appearance at some point during his week, even if it was fleeting. Something wasn’t quite right.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as she came to a standstill in front of the pier, she appeared to be just gazing out at nothing and for a split second he considered going over to her. But then she was deactivating her invisibility and looking around. He stiffened when she looked straight at him, he thought if might just be chance until she waved and winked at him… she knew he was there? Had she let him follow her? How did she-? Stealth Black smiled to himself, reminded once again how amazing she was. This was planned. Any hesitation he had regarding her allegiance vanished and he kicked himself to doubting her. He knew Black Cat. He should be trusting her.  

Ten minutes later and he was in their hideout. Considering it was underground, it had high ceilings, supported by multiple beams or scaffolding where it wasn’t quite complete yet. It did make him wonder how long this took to build and why no one noticed, but then if his information was correct and they were paying off people in high places then it’s really no surprise at all. Nevertheless, the high beams and scaffolding will be handy for him to navigate around here undetected alongside his invisibility.

The voices started to get louder as he made his way further into the hideout. As he entered the large room where the voices were coming from, he saw four men. Three of them were visible and standing in front of the fourth man who was sitting in an even bigger, imposing chair covered in shadows.  The three visible men were huge… inhumanly huge.

In front of the group of men was Black Cat, she looked tiny compared to them.

“-and here she comes, crawling back after ruining our gang operation the other week and taking down Kalifa, for no good reason. We should kill you right now for being a rat.” One of the large men walked closer, leaning down over Black Cat.

Stealth Black felt his leg twitch and had to resist the urge to go down there to beat the shit out of him. To speak to her like that and threaten her. He could feel heat working its way up his body, as his anger spiked. Any thoughts were interrupted by her harsh tone.

“Oh cut the shit Kuroobi, if you believe any of that then you’re a fool.” She replied frostily. He’d never heard her voice so sharp and stinging, normally it was smooth and soothing like honey. “Have you not seen the newspaper? You think I want the police to take me as a serious threat? I’m a petty thief, like I want all of the city after me.”

Kuroobi snorted, “Don’t try and make me think that wasn’t you just so you can clear your name with us. You need us now to protect you.”

“And the coincidence that the news broke after Kalifa’s arrest? I told you all along she was the rat and you didn’t believe me. I had to step in, she was having a meeting with Stealth Black-”

“Funny that you mention him. We’ve heard news that you’re involved with him, kissing up on rooftops? You’ve been feeding-”

Stealth Black froze and his body tensed, ready to step in at a moment’s notice, this sounded like it could get ugly.

“Don’t interrupt me!” Kuroobi’s face darkened but stopped talking, “I’ve been keeping tabs on them both. Stealth Black is getting suspicious, I’ve been keeping him entertained- you’re welcome by the way- and he has no leads about what you guys are up to, thanks to me!” She paused and looked at all of them. “So don’t you dare accuse me!”

There was a tense moment as the four men stopped to consider her words, the three men turning to look at the man in the chair.

She was what? Keeping him entertained? His initial reaction was betrayal and hurt before he reminded himself that she knew he was here. She was lying to them to save face.

Kuroobi looked like he was about to argue some more but was interrupted when the deep voice from the shadows interrupted. “Calm down, Kuroobi. We have no reason to accuse her like this, for the time being what she says checks out. She’s our ally after all.” The man’s voice from the chair was calm.

“But boss-” Kuroobi was silenced as the man in the chair got up and made his way from the shadows, slowly walking down the steps in front of him to reach Black Cat.

He was bigger than the other three men, he made them look tiny in comparison. Much taller and vile looking. His calming voice didn’t match the twisted smile on his face. He had shaggy black hair, a long-pointed nose and razor-sharp teeth. He leaned over Black Cat and tilted her chin up so she couldn’t look anywhere else but at him.

“Because allies don’t betray each other and I’m sure Black Cat is smart enough to figure out what would happen if she did. I didn’t get this reputation for nothing.” His voice was still calm but there was an edge to it now, one that was threatening.

Black Cat shoved his hand off of her chin but maintained eye contact. “Well now you know. So stop sending people after me.” She turned to leave and just before she left the room, she called over her shoulder, “Also, I never agreed to killing innocent people when I joined.”  

“Shahahaha, but you’ve teamed up with a gang that has no problems with it? You have no moral compass, so don’t get high and mighty on us.” The men continued to laugh as she left without another word.

Stealth Black didn’t miss the way her face screwed up as they laughed.

.

.

.

Sanji was tired. It’d been a long week. Between his day job as a chef and spending his nights and days off patrolling, he’d had no time to relax. Since the hideout he’d heard nothing from Black Cat, or the gang, and he was starting to get nervous. His previous conclusion was correct, Black Cat had let him follow because since then he couldn’t find her, no matter how much he wanted to. That meant it would be another night patrolling to try and find her or see if the gang is doing anything around the docks where they were based.

He’d contacted his friend in the police force to try and get details on the gang. He had a name of one key member and description for the illusive boss, but his friend couldn’t tell him anything. Apparently, things were tense within the precinct at the moment, anyone digging too deep into gang activity were moved onto different tasks or sent on a goose chase that led nowhere. He left his friend with what little details he had and told him to let him know if he hears anything else.

When he’d booted up his own computer to do some research, he’d only found snippets of activity from eight years ago. The name Kuroobi popped up in the article and pictures of him and another man that looked similar to the guys from the hideout, but they looked so much smaller. Nothing compared to the huge bulky men from the other night. The article briefly discussed gang activity in villages before they suddenly disappeared.

It was so frustrating, considering the major events that were going on, no one knew anything. He’d never seen anything like it in his time of being a superhero.

Rubbing his face, Sanji walked to his apartment door and prepared himself for a night of more researching and patrolling. Entering his apartment, he took off his shoes and put his bag down on the table next to the door. He took one step in and knew something wasn’t right. There was a breeze. He always made sure windows were locked before he left. He stilled and waited, no noise. But that didn’t mean the place was empty.

He started to migrate through the apartment, back pressed against the wall and tentatively looking around corners to clear rooms. He’d cleared the kitchen and office, by the looks of it nothing had been touched. Odd.

Even though the apartment so far looked untouched, he didn’t let his guard down. Someone might not be after possessions, after all. He breathed out slowly, to calm himself as he stood next to the opening for the living room. Quickly whipping his head round to look in, he met a pair of amber eyes looking back at him.

“Took you long enough, do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”

Sanji had moved away from the wall and was now standing in the doorway, mouth ajar in disbelief at what he was seeing. There Black Cat was in all her glory, seductively stretched out across his sofa, one arm supporting her head and the other propped on her hip. It was like one of his fantasies come true, he had to remind himself not to faint. But then he realised, he wasn’t currently Stealth Black… he was Sanji.

“Uhhhh...” Damn him. He couldn’t think of a single thing to say, he was too shocked.

She stood up, walking to him and rested her hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to sit down?” She asked comfortingly. Black Cat did find it funny, honestly, he looks like he’s seen a ghost, all the colour in his face was gone and he couldn’t string together a single sentence. Almost like when they met, ah good times.

When he sat down, she sat down next to him as well… a bit too closely, which certainly didn’t help his brain with thinking. He ended up blurting out, “I don’t have anything worth stealing!” It was almost worth looking like a fool when she started pealing with laughter. It did cause a blush to appear on his face

“For once, I’m not here for that,” she said once she’d calmed down.  She leaned in closer all of a sudden and Sanji had to not think about the breasts pressing against his arm or the hot breath on his ear as she whispered, “I know who you are, Stealth Black.”

His stomach dropped. “How- how do you… when did you- what?!” He couldn’t articulate anything, there was too many questions and his brain couldn’t organise them, they just came flooding out all at the same time.

At least she moved back so she could give him a second to breath, but somehow the hand she put on his knee in a comforting gesture made him even dizzier. “I’ve known since the beginning. All those months ago, just after my first theft I found out. I like to know what I’m up against.”

“Why did you never say anything?”

“There was never a need to and I never told anyone either. That information was just for me.”

He’d calmed down by now and rested his hand over hers on his knee and squeezed it. “Thank you. So, why are you telling me now?”

“Things have changed, my plan is now in tatters. I wasn’t exactly planning on your competence, you have a very handy weakness to women, and then there’s us- ah well, I mean-” Her eyes were as big as saucers as she looked at him, she hadn’t planned on having a discussion about their relationship right now, it’d just slipped out.

“That we’re a couple?”

“Well you’re bold all of a sudden, you couldn’t even form a coherent sentence just a few minutes ago!”

“You wouldn’t have kissed me if you didn’t want to be.” Sanji smirked at her.

“And how are you so sure?”

“Because from what I’ve heard, you use your feminine appeal if the situation calls for it, but you’ve never kissed someone.”

“You’ve been keeping tabs on me?”

“I have a friend in the force, and I ask him about you. I worry about you.” He finished before smirking, “You sure give them a run for their money though.” He remembered his friend begrudgingly admitting how difficult she was when they occasionally encountered her. It appeared she kept her criminal activity according to his schedule.

She snorted, pleased with herself.

He flipped the hand still on his knee so he could tangle his fingers with hers. “I want to be a couple, if you want…” His voice trailing off, unsure.

Black Cat could feel a blush forming on her face and she felt flustered, she nodded and choked out, “After all of this is done.” Normally his face was covered with a mask and glasses but to be at the brunt of such a radiant smile was almost too much, did he even realise how handsome he was? “We still have a gang to deal with and it won’t be easy.”

They were interrupted from any further discussion as her stomach grumbled, Sanji raised an eyebrow looking at her. “When was the last time you ate?”

“I’ve eaten today,” she said flippantly.

Sanji’s eyes narrowed at her vague answer and recalled earlier that she’d been waiting for ages. He looked at his watch, it was almost 8pm. “Come on, let’s go to the kitchen. I’m a chef, I don’t like people going hungry.”

“Oh no really, it’s fine!”

Except he wasn’t listening anymore and left the living room to go to the kitchen down the hall, leaving her to trail behind him, insisting that she didn’t need to be fussed over.

“Don’t you at least want to change first?” She asked. He was still in his suit from work at the restaurant.

“Not right now, I can change later once we’re both fed.” His jacket was now hung-over a bar stool at the kitchen bar, and he was rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he started getting ingredients out. “Take a seat.” He gestured for her to sit on the other bar stool.

She sighed. No matter what she said he was intent on feeding her and hadn’t listened to a word she said in protest. Giving up, she took a seat and settled on watching him cook. At least from this vantage point she could give him a once over without him catching her, admiring the way his suit fitted him. He turned to ask her something and raised an eyebrow when he caught her red-handed checking him out, or more accurately, his behind. He didn’t need to say anything when she jumped and suddenly averted her eyes to the side, pretending to take in the kitchen.

When he’d finishing plating up the food, he turned and this time she was actually looking around his kitchen. This was almost surreal, having Black Cat in his kitchen eating dinner with him. He felt like he should pinch himself.

This was one of the best things about being a chef. He’d placed the food in front of her and whilst she’d politely waited for him, he didn’t miss the delight on her face when she’d started eating. He enjoyed people enjoying his food.

Whilst they were eating, he started telling her about his day. They’d held conversations in the past and they did actually get along quite well, but it struck him that he knew very little personal details about her. It wasn’t much of a surprise, she was a wanted person after all, and he wasn’t sure whether she’d even tell him.

He stopped talking midstream, interrupting himself, “What about you? Apart from breaking into my apartment, not that I mind, what have you been up to? Actually, I haven’t seen you for a week, have you been okay?”

She considered him for a moment, deciding on what information to give him, “Well, I circled around the city for a bit today before breaking in, to make sure no one was following me. As for my week, I’ve been at work. I’ve being putting Black Cat away, until I could come here. I think there’s people looking for me.”

That was a lot of information to take in, Sanji thought. “There’s people looking for you?” He asked with concern.

“I think I’m being kept tabs on by the gang, I may have cleared some of my name but they’re suspicious. Maybe let’s get into this after we’ve eaten. I have a lot to discuss with you.”

“So, you also work? Similar to myself then. What do you do?”

She smiled coyly, “Trying to find me?”

It hadn’t even occurred to him before, until this very moment, “Wait, have we met? When I’m me and you’re not Black Cat?”

She laughed and looked amused when she replied, “Yes we have, and you barely looked at me. It was both incredibly flattering and a bit rude. You were too hung up over Black Cat in the newspaper.”

Wracking his brain he couldn’t even think of when this may have happened. To be fair, he was always hung up over her… but to ignore her over Black Cat… but then she was Black Cat, so his attention was on her. His head was starting to hurt.

“You know I am actually interested in you behind the mask, right?” He had to clarify this, whilst they were skirting around the topic.

She nodded and smiled, “I kind of guessed when you showed no interest in any women at all, apart from Black Cat.”

It was now his turn to smile, “So, you’ve been keeping track of civilian me and my personal relationships?”

She couldn’t make eye contact as she replied, “You’ve shown a great amount of interest, I wanted to see whether it was genuine or not.”

It was true. At first, she had been curious when he’d ignored her. She knew she was attractive and knew about his weakness to women, but when she’d started to develop feelings for him in return, she was checking to make sure he wouldn’t break her heart.

“Because you like me?” Sanji couldn’t keep the joy out of his voice.

“Well I think we’ve already covered this, why else would I have kissed you?” She rolled her eyes, trying to stamp down the blush.

“I know, I just can’t believe it.” He paused as he considered her words and the meaning running deeper underneath. “I know I have a certain reputation around the city as being weak to women, but that just came from be inability to hit them.” He ran a hand through his hair, trying to pick his words carefully. “I was raised not to hit women; it was ingrained in me and I’ve never been able to shake it off. But please don’t misconstrue it. I’m a one-woman man.”

Next to him, she smiled. She already suspected as much, but it did put her at ease hearing it from him. It appeared she’d picked a good one. She leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Thanks for dinner, let me help wash up.” He didn’t even see her pick up his empty plate as she made her way over to the sink.

They continued discussing their weeks, her hedging around any personal details she wasn’t willing to share yet, as Sanji washed and Black Cat dried.

It was nice, Sanji thought. Having her like this, not on opposing sides and just being domestic. Even if she was still is her costume. It was as close as he could have her for the time being.

It was almost 9.30pm by the time they’d finished, and he made them both a coffee. There was still a lot to discuss. They both settled back on the sofa in the living room, leaving their mugs on the coffee table in front of it.

Before Sanji could say anything, Black Cat put her hand on his arm to stop him. “There’s a lot to go through, so I’m going to go from the beginning and stop me if you have any questions.” She said.

“You’ve now seen the most prominent gang members, they run everything but never go out in the field, so that’s why you’ve never seen them. They pull the strings from behind the scenes. They’re incredibly dangerous and if you go against them, they will ruin your life. They either know everything about you or have enough connections to find out.” She paused. “I’ve never been Black Cat before moving to this city, I’m only here because I want to take them down and this suit provides the people close to me safety. Also, it gave me the opportunity to build a reputation so they’d invite me into their gang, and I could find out what their plan was.”

So he had been right, he’d never been able to find out any information about her prior to her appearance here.

She continued. “The gang is run under Arlong. He’s the boss. Without my mask he’d know who I was instantly. Eight years ago, he ran my village into the ground. We were thriving and happy, but he came in to use it as a test run. He brought criminals into our village and imposed a tax on all of us to ensure our safety from them. The police in our village stood up to them. The woman leading them was my adoptive mother Bell-mère,” she paused for a moment to compose herself (‘Bell-mère, no, Bell-mèrrrrrre’), it still stung. “He beat her and publicly killed her in front of the village to make a point.” A tear escaped and ran down her cheek.

Sanji ground his teeth, not only hearing of how they treated women but for Black Cat. For her to go through all of that… and then to be working for them. His hand reached out to hold hers, his thumb rubbing along the back of her hand to rub along it in a soothing gesture.

She paused, gathering herself, before continuing. “The village agreed afterwards no one else should have to die like that and we obeyed his rules, waiting for the day he’d leave. He finally did and took all the resources with him. I swore to myself I would make it right. For Bell-mère and for my village. I later found out he was producing drugs. There’s a reason why they’re all so big. They’re manufacturing drugs that alter human abilities. They’re unstable and have adverse effects, I refused to take them, but Kalifa did and so have they. They’re inhumanly strong and quick. He thinks with a big enough army, no one will be able to stand in his way, so he can start taking over the region.”

“Shit, this isn’t good.” Okay, so they were in deep trouble. He exhaled loudly and started thinking about what they were going to do.

“I can feel you thinking. I already have a plan in motion. I had one from the very start, but someone came into the picture and I’ve had to alter it. I now need your help.”

He shouldn’t be happy about this situation, but he couldn’t stop himself. She wasn’t a bad guy at all, and she hadn’t planned on using him, she genuinely liked him. She’d made it pretty clear by now that this was the case, but it was just so nice to hear. He cupped her face and brought her into a swift kiss. “I’m all ears, m’dear. The floor is yours.”

She coughed to compose herself from the sudden kiss, “Well, ah, yes. The plan. It turns out I actually am the leak; my friend works in the newspaper and I’ve been leaking information to put pressure on Arlong and his men. I was always going to pin it on Kalifa, I’d mentioned her to Hatchan, Arlong’s right hand man, and he fell for the bait and recommended her to Arlong. He’s not the sharpest tool.” She laughed to herself. “Obviously, I had to move up the schedule once I’d taken her down, with her new abilities you wouldn’t have been able to take her down without exerting force, and I outed myself to the papers myself to try and win myself more time with Arlong. I know where the drugs are and where they’re storing their money. They don’t know about my clima-tact; I’ve worked hard to keep that a secret. It’s the only thing I have against them that they won’t be expecting-”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I was curious about the baton, will you tell me about it?” It wasn’t relevant at all, but there had been so many questions going round in Sanji’s head for weeks and seeing most of them were slowly being checked off, he might as well go for this one too.

Black Cat considered him for a moment, before answering. “I have a friend who’s quite handy and he made it for me, as well as some other gadgets. It’s a weather weapon, I have a degree in climatology and with that knowledge I can control the clima-tact.” She finished proudly.

“So you work in weather?” Sanji considered her for a second, she’d make a beautiful weather lady.

“That’s the first thing you think of after I tell you about a magic weather weapon?” She laughed. “But no, hopefully after all of this is done, I’d like to get into the field.”

“You’re amazing, you know. Doing all of this.” Sanji could feel himself falling deeper into the rabbit hole after talking to her. They’d spoken before during the 6 months he’d known her but not like this. She was a beautiful person, through and through.

Moving closer, Black Cat tucked her head in the crook of his neck. She’d never felt so comfortable around someone before. She could hear his heartbeat picking up and she smiled. He was still so nervous around her, it made her like him even more that he technically had her at the point but still had this kind of reaction around her. She moved her hand to twine with his and his free hand came to rest over their joined ones. “Hmmm, this is nice.”

He didn’t say anything in return, just rested his head on top of hers.

Jolting awake, Sanji woke to a pitch-black room, only the streetlights outside giving a dim glow. He could feel a weight in his hand and looked down to see their hands still loosely joined. She’d stayed. And fallen asleep with him. He wanted to squeeze her, he was so content right now, but he didn’t want to wake her.

Looking at his watch it was only 12am, they hadn’t nodded off for long, but he did feel self-conscious, it’d been a long day and he was pretty sure he smelled. The inner gentleman in him refused to leave her to sleep on the sofa, he’d move her to his bed, and he’d sleep on the sofa after taking a shower.

As he picked her up, she stirred and tucked herself in closer to him, mumbling incoherently. How cute. He laid her down, using a spare blanket to lay over her and moved over to his draws to pull out sleeping bottoms before going to the adjoining bathroom to shower.

It was a quick shower, only about ten minutes and he was walking back into his bedroom with a towel wrapped around his shoulders trying to get the moisture out of his hair. He was careful not to shine the light from the bathroom onto her face, only using it so he could make it out the room without stubbing his toe.

There was a sense of déjà vu as he looked at the bed to see her laying before him, amber eyes meeting shocked blue ones. “Oh, you’re awake, did I wake you? Sorry.”

She completely ignored what he said, “You really weren’t joking about working out, you’re ripped.” Except her tone wasn’t joking or coy like usual, she sounded in awe. She’d always known he had a good body; it was hard to miss in his suit but seeing him without a top on. He was lean but muscular. Defined arms, even though he didn’t use his hands to fight, broad shoulders that tapered down to a trim waist and six pack. What a view.

And just like that, the room was flooded with tension as they took each other in. Their eyes moving along the others body before resting on the other’s face. For once, not in a dangerous situation or where they’re trying to read the other’s movements. Sanji could feel his heart pounding and in the quiet room, he wondered if she could hear it too. Her eyes were huge, and they were slowly drawing him in. He’d never seen her look at him like that and he had to convince himself to swallow and breath to keep a level head.

He didn’t realise he’d moved until his legs hit the bed. She was looking up at him now, pushing herself to sit up and her arms slid along his arms to grab the towel around his neck to pull him down, so his face was a hairsbreadth away from hers. His arms came down on either side of her face to support himself as he leaned over her. They slowly drew in closer to each other until they met in the middle to kiss. This wasn’t like any of their other kisses. It started slowly, lips brushing against each other until their kisses became longer as more pressure was applied. They started to become hot, needy and desperate as Sanji slipped his tongue into her mouth. Perhaps it was because it was so long overdue, the time of night or because they were about to tread dangerous waters with this gang takedown.

None of those thoughts mattered though as Black Cat tugged the towel down closer to her, becoming frustrated by the distance still between them and pulled back to nip at his bottom lip. It didn’t take much more than that for him to change his position, his hand sliding along the thigh furthest away from him to part them and make space for himself. She had no issue with this, parting her legs in invitation as he settled his body in between them, no longer leaning over her. She gasped as his body settled against hers and he used the opportunity to slip his tongue back into her mouth. Her hands moved from the towel and pushed it away so she could thread her fingers through his hair, their mouths moving together in rhythm. She earned a groan of approval from him.

They broke apart for a brief second to catch their breaths, before meeting again for another hurried kissing, the bodies slowly starting to move against each other’s. His hands moved along the leather of her suit and groaned when his hand pressed up against the side of her breast. Her body was something else. He nibbled her lip in parting before he moved down to the side of her neck, leaving a trail of blazing hot kisses. She made the sexiest little noises and the way she was wiggling her hips was driving his crazy. He could feel himself hard and ready, only getting worse with each of her gasps, did she know how much he turned her on?

She did in that moment as she ground her hips fully against him. He could feel the heat through her suit and could only imagine how wet she was. Hotly against her neck, he said, “You’re so sexy,” and squeezed her breast over her suit. The moan he received in response was almost dizzying and she slowly started a rhythm of moving her hips to rub against him, her legs tight against his waist, locking him in place. Not that he was going anywhere, his hips moving along with hers and pulling back to thrust against her.  

He pulled away to look down at her face. She was breath-taking and he couldn’t believe that he was in this moment with her. His hand moved from her breast up to the zip to slowly pull it down but hesitated. He looked at her face again and was met with smouldering amber eyes, they hazily looked back at him in question as to why he’d stopped. Amber eyes filled with lust… behind a black mask.

He sighed and pulled away to sit up on the back of his heels, trying to reason with himself and resist the urge to ravish her. His hands running through his hair in frustration.

“Sanji, what’s wrong?” She asked, sitting up in concern. Moments ago they were filled with lust, now they reflected nothing but worry.

“I can’t do it like this,” he said despairingly. One of her hands moved to his shoulders to comfortingly rub along them and encourage him to continue speaking. “I don’t want our first time to be like this. You deserve more. I want to wine and dine you first, know everything about you and not have a gang looming over us. And I completely understand you might be uncomfortable taking your mask off right now, but I want to see you properly when we do this. You. Not Black Cat.”

Oh, she’d picked a good one alright. “You’re right. It’s okay.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to offend you. I want you; I really do but, I want everything.” He couldn’t bring himself to look at her yet.

Hands moved to cup his jaw, bringing him up to face her. “You’re the sweetest man I’ve ever met. You’re right though, now’s not a good time for this. Come here.” She removed her hand from his shoulder and opened her arms to hug him.

He returned the hug eagerly, bringing her up to him, squeezing her to him and making her laugh. “Please stay the night here though, I’ll take the sofa, I’d worry if you went out this late.”

“Just stay here,” she said matter-of-factly, and he had to ignore the way he twitched in his trousers, he was trying not to think about her in bed with him right now. Pure thoughts, pure thoughts, he chanted to himself in his head.

He nodded, composed. “If you want me to. I have a spare change of clothes; you can keep the mask on. No pressure.”

She went to change, coming back to join him, mask still on but cat ears off. He was laying on his back and to her delight, he hadn’t put a shirt on. They wouldn’t be doing anything tonight, but the eye candy wasn’t something she’d turn down. He lifted his arm for her when she entered the room and she accepted the silent invitation to cuddle into his chest, her hand resting over his heart.

.

.

.

He woke up alone, the light peeking through the curtains and the spot cold where she’d slept last night. He almost groaned in disappointment, he really wanted to wake up to her, but his eye caught the brightly coloured note on his chest.

Went home to shower. I’ll be back shortly.

We still have a lot of planning to do.

xxx

This time his groan was for another reason, the thought of showering with her and his mind running through last night. He’d done the right thing… but still. Shaking away any further thoughts, he went to have his own shower and prepare for when Black Cat got back. What should they have for lunch? Or would she be back in time for breakfast?

She wouldn’t be back in time for breakfast. She’d been gone for hours and he was starting to worry. Sanji couldn’t help but fret, her note had said shortly. He’d begun pacing around the apartment, he didn’t want to be clingy and go looking for her, but he made a deal with himself, if she wasn’t back in 30 minutes, he’d put his Stealth suit on and go out.

Ten minutes later, he could hear the windowsill in his bedroom opening. He sprung up from the sofa in the living room (in vain he’d been trying to distract himself) and was met with a very dishevelled Black Cat. Her normally immaculate hair was all over the place, she was heavily breathing and… was that a rip in her suit? “Holy shit, are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” He was in front of her, arms roaming across her body to look for any cuts. When it ran along her waist, she cringed, and his fingers came back with blood on them. “You’re bleeding?!” He said almost hysterically.

“Sanji, calm down. It’s not as bad as it looks. I was caught off guard. It’s a flesh wound really.” She tried to reassure him. “There was no point in showering though, I’m a mess again,” she tried to joke to lighten the mood, but it fell flat. He was too concerned.

He could kick himself. Here he was, in his comfortable apartment, whilst something happened to her. “Tell me what happened.”

She’d borrowed another of his shirts, so she could peel down her uniform whilst preserving her modesty and he could deal with the cut on her waist. It was just a flesh wound, but it didn’t make him feel better. As he cleaned her up, she was telling him about what had happened. She’d been right, Arlong had not been convinced and instead sent someone to just dispose of her. The thug had caught her by surprise on the way back and they’d scuffled, she’d struggled to get the upper hand but when she did, there hadn’t been any more issues.

“So, where is he now?”

“…Well, that’s the thing.” She paused, as if thinking about how to phrase this. “He’s passed out outside in the alley way, with zip ties around his hands and feet. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon but it does mean we need to strike tonight. I wanted to do it in a few days’ time, but we don’t have that luxury anymore. Arlong won’t like him not returning, he’ll know something’s wrong.”

Sanji rubbed his forehead, this was a nightmare, but he agreed with her. “Any plans for the body? We can’t leave him in my apartment, nor can we hand him into the police because they’re being paid off.”

“Well, I do have one idea… you said you have a friend in the police?”

.

.

.

“What did you say to get him to come here?” Black Cat had already shared her concerns with texting him outright, in case someone saw, or their messages were being monitored.

“I asked him if he wanted to come over for lunch,” he replied casually.

Her eyebrows shot up, “Seriously?! I told you to be discreet but where’s the urgency, we can’t leave an unconscious body outside?!”

“I never invite him for lunch.” He told her, deadly serious. “He’ll know something’s wrong.”

She cocked her head in confusion, they were friends, right? Anything else she had to say was cut off as there was a knock on the door.

Sanji looked through the peephole and opened the door. The other guy looked at Sanji, a bored expression on his face but changed to one of alarm as he saw Black Cat peering over Sanji’s shoulder. His hand went to the gun on his hip and hissed out, “What the hell is she doing here?”

Sanji’s face turned dark as he put himself fully between the man at the door and Black Cat. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, shitty bastard?”

“I’m obeying the law! She’s a criminal, I don’t forget that when a woman bats her eyes at me, unlike you, pervert.”

“What did you call me?”

“Per-vert.”

“Moss head!”

Black Cat could feel her temper thinning as the two grown men in front of her descended into childish bickering. It was the last straw as they both grabbed each other’s collars, tugging at each other. She walked over to them, hitting them both on the back of the head. “Would you two focus! We’re against the clock.”

It turned out Sanji’s police friend was actually a childhood friend named Zoro. They had an… interesting friendship, they were like brothers; easily descending into arguing and fighting, but clearly had each other’s backs like family. Sanji had reassured her that Zoro’s nicknames for him were way behind him. He’d admitted when he was younger, his soft spot for women was a bit more than just refusing to hit them, but he’d grown up since then and the moss head now used it to get on his nerves. She understood he was still a bit perverted; she’d seen that many times during their encounters, but it appeared to be with just her, he wasn’t the least bit interested in Kalifa and she was a stunning woman.

But regardless of their relationship, it was quite clear that Zoro didn’t trust her, no matter how much Sanji waved him off.

That didn’t stop her teasing him though, “Are you just annoyed you’ve never been able to catch me?” She smirked at him.

His face went red in annoyance and he huffed, turning his face to the side and refusing to look at her. It didn’t help that Sanji was next to her, throwing him looks too.

Before anything could start up again, she started talking about her plan. She wanted Zoro to take the guy from the alleyway into the police station but under the guise of public intoxication to get him out of the way for the time being and without anyone being paid off by Arlong to tip him off. She and Sanji would sneak into the hideout tonight.

Zoro wasn’t pleased about being left out of taking down the gang and it took some explaining from Black Cat to make him understand. They were dangerous and he had no disguise, even if Arlong was behind bars, anyone in his life wouldn’t be safe. Arlong had all kind of connections. She would be calling him in, with the rest of the police force, when they were down, and the drugs would be with them. Reluctantly he agreed but told them to contact him in case things went pear shaped.

After their planning, Sanji went down with Zoro to get the guy and make him look drunk. In other words, pouring alcohol on his clothes so he reeked. He’d be disorientated enough when he finally woke up to pass for drunk.

“You sure about her?” Zoro nodded up to Sanji’s apartment, referencing Black Cat.

Hands in his pockets, Sanji nodded. “Absolutely. She’s not a bad person.”

“She’s a criminal.”

“She’s a petty thief- and she’s only doing it to take down Arlong.”

Zoro considered his words and examined Sanji’s face. Not a hint of doubt.

“Worried about me?” Sanji said, smirking at the other man.

“Tch, no.” He responded in agitation.

They loaded to man into Zoro’s police car. Zoro was about to go but stopped as he opened the door, “Good luck tonight, call if you need me.” He got into the car but before he closed the door he called out, “You make a disgusting couple,” and slammed the door, not giving Sanji a chance to respond.

In his own weird way, Zoro had just given his approval.

Sanji smiled before making his way back up to his apartment and Black Cat. They still had to flesh out more details.

.

.

.

“You’re sure about this?” Stealth Black whispered to Black Cat, as they stood in front of a secret entrance she’d made for when this day came. “If you want a few more days to plan, you’re welcome to stay at my place.”

She rolled her eyes. “My plan’s always been the same, only now I have an accomplice. So this way it’s not impossible. Do you trust me?” She looked at him, holding eye contact.

“With my life.” Was his blunt response.

“Then we can do it. Let’s go.”

They’d gone down to the pier cloaked in invisibility. Black Cat had used that very moment to show a handy feature, she also had heat tracking so they could keep up with one another. The ears of her costume came down to become glasses when she needed them. He mentioned the similarity of her glasses with his and she waggled her eyebrows at him cheekily, casually mentioning her tech guy knew his, Franky. Where did he think his guy suddenly got the idea from?

“Right, so we first locate the drugs and money, then we pick them off one by one, that’s our only chance. It’ll only be Arlong and the other three right now, maybe a few strays that aren’t out and about but they’re easy to deal with. It’s those four we have to keep separate.” Stealth Black nodded, taking in the information she gave him.

Black Cat lead them, both masked in invisibility as they navigated through the hideout via the beaming and scaffolding near the ceiling. They were close to the main room where Arlong generally stayed and overheard him, his voice commanding. “What do you mean he hasn’t returned? Where the hell is she now?”

Another voice responded but was too quiet to make out, almost as if they didn’t want to be heard.

“You don’t know where Black Cat is? Did I not make my instructions clear? Don’t return without her body.” Arlong shouted and the body came crashing through the opening. “What the hell are you looking at? Go with him.”

Other bodies scurried out, picking up the man crumpled against the wall.

Stealth Black frowned and looked at the woman in front of him in worry. He wanted her dead and he couldn’t stop imagining it, his heart constricting. Over his dead body. She’d make it through this alive, she’s scarified enough.

Amber eyes turned to him, whispering, “Don’t worry, if they think I’m still out there, they won’t suspect I’m in here and-” she grinned, “-Arlong’s emptied out the place for us.”

Continuing forward, Black Cat did an exceptional job navigating their base and within minutes of entering they were dropping down from the ceiling to land in front of the door. It’d taken her a week to find this room, they’d kept it well hidden and by the looks of it only Arlong and his three most trusted men knew about it, as following lower ranking gang members had led to nothing. She’d had to follow Kuroobi, which was a risk, but it’d paid off and then opening it had been a cinch. They kept their loot in this room, both the money and merchandise. They appeared smart but clearly weren’t, why would you keep two valuable parts of the business together?

But she’d gotten cocky. Hearing Arlong send people out looking for her gave her confidence and she’d entered the room with very little precaution, Stealth Black following in after her, his back to her as he checked to make sure no one was coming.  

That’s how they now found themselves face to face with Hatchan and Chew. Chew had been talking to Hatchan before they both heard the door open. Black Cat stilled as the other two men looked just as surprised to see her suddenly appear, Stealth Black still none the wiser as he inspected the hallway. He did turn when she suddenly started tapping his back to get his attention.

“It looks like we’re in undetec…ted,” Stealth Black finished slowly as he turned to see the situation in the room. “Shit.”

Chew looked unimpressed, raising an eyebrow at their carelessness. Hatchan laughed, “Word got to us what actually happened with Kalifa, so Arlong took action.”

Of course it did, Black Cat bit her cheek. There was too many threads dangling in her plan, trust one of them to trip her over so close to the end. Oh well, they’d planned to take them down anyway, this section would just be harder than the rest. At least Arlong and Kuroobi didn’t know they were here yet.

“Hatchan, you take care of them, I’ll let Arlong and Kuroobi know.” Chew said.

“Stealth, you’re in charge of Hatchan, I’ll take Chew.” Black Cat said and Stealth Black nodded back to her. Chew snorted in derision, but still tensed, ready for her attack. They both moved at the same time towards their targets.

“It’s ridiculous to think you can take me on. You’re inferior to me.” Chew spat out at Black Cat.

Her clima-tact out, Black Cat suddenly extended it, so it shot out to hit Chew in the face and he stumbled back, not expecting it. He recovered quickly, seemingly taking her seriously now and shooting forward to punch her. She jumped to the side barely missing it. Right, increased strength and speed, she reminded herself.

Across the room, Hatchan had drawn his sword to use against Stealth Black, something he wasn’t worried about as Zoro had used his kendo sticks against him when they were younger. Stealth Black did glance over to Black Cat to make sure she was okay and watched as he butted Chew in the stomach with her clima-tact.

“You should keep your eyes on your opponent,” Hatchan said and swung his sword towards Stealth Black’s head, but he managed to bend backwards at the last minute to dodge it. He was a few hairs shorter now though. He launched himself into the air to avoid any more sword attacks and came flying down to deliver a swift kick to Hatchan’s face.

So far, Chew had only managed to nick Black Cat with a hit on her shoulder and trip her twice. He was getting more and more frustrated; she was quick on her feet and he couldn’t land a hit. He tried to rush her, throwing constant punches and not allowing her to respond, until he finally cornered her against the wall. She ducked when his fist came flying towards her, his fist colliding with the wall and going through it. Whilst he was stuck, she moved around him but wasn’t expecting him to rip out part of the cement wall and throw it at her. She went down with a scream and just as he was about to kick in her face, Hatchan came flying towards Chew, crashing into him and through the other still intact wall.

Stealth Black was at her side, helping her sit up. He’d seen Chew about to hit her in the face and recklessly kicked Hatchan towards the pair. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I just wasn’t expecting it. It’s my own fault.” She said, now standing. “Contact Zoro and let him know there’s gang members on the streets, they can easily be handled. They’ll be downtown, the industrial estate, tell him to grab some trusted police officers too.”

They both paused as they could hear footsteps moving towards the room they were in, they nervously looked towards Chew and Hatchan, who still hadn’t gotten back up since being launched into the adjoining room. They looked at each other and nodded, both instantly understanding the other.

Kuroobi entered the room and looked furious as he saw his fallen comrades. He appeared to just stand there a second, before he called out. “Come out here you little rat, I know you’re here.” He turned around, scanning the room and locked onto something in the corner of the room. He launched himself across the room, his punch being blocked but what he wasn’t expecting was someone to come from the other corner and smack him across the head.

From the floor, he watched as the person in front of him revealed themselves to be Stealth Black and the one who had the audacity to knock himself to the floor was none other than Black Cat herself, smirking down at his stupefied face, clima-tact resting on her shoulder.

He picked himself up as Black Cat and Stealth Black tensed. “I’m stronger and faster, if you think you can beat me, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Black Cat, move the money and drugs to another location, I can deal with this.” Stealth Black said, not taking his eyes off of Kuroobi. She nodded to moved towards the money and just as Kuroobi was about to move to stop her, he had to block off Stealth Black who had come running towards him.

Kuroobi and Stealth Black were then locked in flurry attacks. Punches and kicks being thrown from the both of them and they only just about managed to block them. However, Kuroobi found an opening and punched Stealth Black in the abdomen, sending him to the floor winded and proceeded to kick him in the side. Stealth Black laid there, pain shooting through his body, those guys hit hard. He’d have to be careful; he wasn’t sure how many more of those he could take.

Whilst Stealth Black was trying to recover, Kuroobi locked his eyes on the traitor that had her grubby hands on their money. He grabbed her shoulder and threw her back, causing her to drop the bag on money and groan as she felt the rubble from broken walls cutting through her suit. She detached the clima-tact from her belt and twirled it through her fingers as she considered the man in front of him, both of them circling each other.

“What, no whip?” Kuroobi sneered at her, jabbing his arm out, she managed to dodge the first but the second connected with her shoulder.

“Oh, I’ve got something that’ll sting alright.” She responded as electricity crackled through her clima-tact and the confidence melted off his face, not expecting the device to do anything. She stormed forward, whipping the clima-tact round to connect with his face and send electricity coursing through him. She then launched a gust of wind at him and he stumbled back, still standing but just barely.

“Now Stealth Black!” She shouted.

Kuroobi could barely turn before Stealth Black was before him and roundhouse kicking him, sending him stumbling to the floor. Stealth flipped forward, activating the boosters, to send his foot careening into the back of Kuroobi’s head and then kick him in the side to send him towards Black Cat. At her feet, Kuroobi looked up and the last thing he saw before blacking out was her clima-tact coming down to make contact with his face.

It was Black Cat’s turn to move towards Stealth Black. Her hands cupped his face but all she could see on him was a few scratches from being thrown around. She imagined she didn’t look much better. “Well, not exactly how I planned it, but we’ve still got 3 out of 4.”

“Shame he’s the hardest one.” His side was screaming at him not to move but he got to his feet regardless, trying to mask the grimace. He noticed she did something similar, but she was walking towards the door before he could say anything else. She peered into the hallways and found it empty. She gestured with her hand for him to follow.

They were jogging down the hall, discussing what their next move would be when they both heard a rumbling sound. Stopping, they looked around to see nothing and it was only too late that they realised something was running towards them. But not down the hallway, Arlong was running through rooms, tearing down walls to reach them. With all the walls coming down, the hideout would collapse at this rate. He burst through with an enraged cry, and before they could move, they were being lifted by their necks and slammed into the wall behind them.

“I’m going to kill you both to make an example, how dare you do that to my comrades.” He leaned over them, looking animalistic with his nostrils flared and teeth bared at them. They both struggled against him, his grip like iron and Stealth tried to knee him in the abdomen but Arlong barely flinched. “You’ll be first,” he said, eyes boring into Black Cat’s face.

Arlong’s head reared back to head butt Stealth Black and then proceeded to throw him away like a dirty tissue down the hall. With his hand now free he tore the wall down behind Black Cat and threw her through it. She rolled once she’d made impact with the floor.

“I invited you in, trusted you with vital information and you betray me.” He walked towards her as she tried to crawl away from him. She couldn’t keep up and his foot came down on her free hand, she cried out in pain as he started to put his weight on it. “Tell me, tell me why you did it.”

Despite her situation, she looked at him with nothing but hatred in her eyes, “Because you’re a monster and I won’t let you get ruin this city and these people’s lives like you did my village.”

His face twisted into a cruel smirk. “Those people were pathetic and once I’m done with you, I’ll kill everyone in that puny village. You’ll have brought that fate on them. You can’t save shit.”

The clima-tact in her free hand came around to hit him in the face and she used that momentum to kick him in the chest, freeing her hand when he took a step back. When she got to her feet, he looked bored, like she’d barely done anything. It didn’t stop her though and she swung it again, hitting his chest, legs, head, anything she could to get him to the ground.

All the hits were for nothing as he levelled her with a questioning stare, “Finished?”

She smirked, looking past him, “Not quite.”

Arlong was thrown to the side from behind when Stealth Black joined the fight, his foot making contact with the side of his face. They both nodded at each other and moved in harmony. Both of them relentless, he would kick, and she would be ready with her clima-tact, either hitting him or sending him back to Stealth with a strong gust of wind. The man before them both wasn’t given a chance to get a hit in before the other was attacking.

But it seemed Arlong had grown bored, as his hand came out to catch Black Cat’s foot when she attempted to kick him and picked up her before sending her flying into Stealth Black. The impact sent them both flying back and rolling across the floor.

“Stealth, Stealth, are you okay?” Her hand came out to touch his, shaking it.

He looked up slowly and nodded but his face said otherwise. His eyebrow had split from where Arlong had headbutted him and a massive lump was forming under it, the blood trailing down the side of his eye. There was rips in his suit and she didn’t have to see it, but she knew there’d be some nasty bruises underneath that suit. They’d both taken a lot of damage. He attempted to get up, Arlong was slowly walking towards them but Stealth Black slumped back down. “Shit, we might be in trouble here.”

Black Cat frowned, she hadn’t taken as many hits as him, she needed to get up and buy some time. “Mirage tempo.”

Maybe he had a concussion, maybe he was already dead, and this was heaven. But his body hurt too much for that. There was multiple Black Cat’s standing in front of him. They all had a great behind though, he thought deliriously.

“Cheap tricks won’t work on me,” Arlong said, unamused at her antics.

She didn’t reply, instead all the versions of her split apart to run around him, openly mocking him, to stall him. It worked. His temper thinned dangerously, and he lunged one by one at the different versions, swiping his hands out and watching as one by one they disappeared at his touch. Until he was left with one.

But it was too late. Thunder crackled angrily from above him and a second later it came hurtling down. He screamed in pain as he was absorbed by white light.

When the light show receded, black smoke was coming off of his body and his mouth gaped open. He wheezed, but when he wheezed again, it wasn’t it pain. He was laughing. Laughing at her.

Her face paled. That was her strongest move.

“That’s it? Don’t tell me that’s your best move? Pathetic.” He advanced on her. When she brought her clima-tact up to hit him, he grabbed it and ripped it from her grip, throwing it behind him. He swatted the hands away that came to punch him and he painfully grabbed her hair, tugging it to make her stand on tip toes to try and alleviate the pressure. She was forced to look at him in the face as he snarled. “I’m better than you-” he kicked the feet supporting herself from under her, leaving her to dangle from her hair, “-I’m faster than you-” he slammed her into the wall, “-and that’s why you’re going to die.”

Stealth Black blearily looked up to see the love of his life being slammed against the wall. Arlong’s hands moving from her hair to around her neck, slowly choking the life out of her, as her hands clawed at him to no avail. Her face scrunched up and legs desperately kicking when she couldn’t intake air. His hands balled up, he gathered up whatever energy he had left, and he ran towards Arlong. He hooked his foot against the side of Arlong’s head and kicked with all his might, sending the both of them flying in different directions and successfully dislodging Black Cat from Arlong’s grip.

“Diable jambe.”

And Stealth Black was in the air plummeting towards Arlong’s head. The kick sent Arlong’s head into the concrete below him and Stealth spun, flipping over to send a kick into his side. He was in front of Arlong by the time he’d finished rolling from the kick, his foot coming under Arlong’s back to send him into the air and smacking back down into his chest to send Arlong crashing into the floor. Stealth fought to stand on his feet afterwards, his energy depleted and the injuries he’d sustained taking their toll.

It wasn’t enough though. Arlong twitched from the floor and rolled to his side to start getting back up again. What was this man made of? Perhaps if they both hadn’t fought others before hand, they wouldn’t have such a problem.

At least when Arlong got up, he looked a bit battered. The man still had more in him than the both of them combined but their hits were still taking a toll. But his stomach clenched. It wouldn’t be enough.

Stealth Black tried to block the punch but the force of it was too much and he was sent flying back. Looking next to him, Black Cat was laying on her side hunched over, hacking, and trying to intake air that she’d been denied.

Arlong was advancing on them and all Stealth Black could do was crawl towards the woman in front of him, insistent on trying to protect her and take whatever hit Arlong was about to deliver. Stealth was protectively in front of her, hand on her thigh to keep her behind him. She didn’t have the strength to argue this, she merely squeezed the hand on her thigh.

This would be it.

Arlong loomed in front of them, manic grin in place.

A gunshot sounded. Stealth Black opened previously clenched eyes to see Arlong standing there, eyes blown wide with a hole in his shoulder, blood saturating his shirt. Arlong stumbled around in disbelief.

“Get on the floor with your hands behind your head.” Came a rough voice. Black Cat’s arms came to wrap around Stealth’s shoulders as she rested her head against his back, her relieved laugh in his hear.

The moment was interrupted by another voice screaming at the top of their lungs and running into the room. Without hesitation the newcomer ran to Arlong and hit him square in the face, breaking his nose and causing him to fall to the floor in front of Stealth Black and Black Cat. The combination of all the attacks, current and previous, being enough to finally take him down.

“Luffy, I told you to round up the others!” Zoro grouchily said, lowering his gun.

The boy just grinned, sticking his finger up his nose, “Did you?”

“You know he can’t stick to a plan, why did you even bring him?” Black Stealth said from the floor, no malice in his voice, just amusement. Since Arlong was no longer a threat, he’d turned around to face Black Cat and cup her face, bringing their foreheads together. It was over. They’d done it… with help, but still.

“Couldn’t trust anyone at the precinct and at least Luffy has a fighting background, even if he is a firefighter- they aren’t being paid off.” Zoro rubbed a hand across his face. “I’ve called this in, police should be on their way. The news will be having a field day tomorrow.”

It was only then that Zoro looked closely at the two on the floor. “You two look like shit, by the way,” he said bluntly.

Pulling away from Stealth Black to face Zoro, Black cat beat him to responding, laughing despite the state of the pair of them. “How about we throw you around for a bit, then we’ll talk.”

“Right, Luffy you take Black Cat, I’ll take the idiot. We need to get you both looked at.” Zoro said, eyeing the nasty cut on Stealth’s eyebrow. Stealth looked like he was about to protest but couldn’t say anything when his ribs screamed at him to not move.

It didn’t stop Stealth from looking over his shoulder when Luffy went to pick her up, just to check on her. “Calm down would you, Luffy might be energetic but he knows when to dial it down,” Zoro said. Behind them, they could hear Luffy nattering away and Black Cat laughed at something he said, before groaning as she’d jolted something.

Knowing she was okay, he focused on not leaning too much of his weight on the marimo and tried walking himself. “How did you know where we were?”

Zoro shifted his grip on Stealth. “Got in contact with Franky when we’d rounded everyone up, he put a tracking device in your suit for emergency’s. Good thing he did otherwise you two would be in trouble.”

“What will happen now?” Stealth Black asked.

“Leave it to the police, for now. Shit’ll hit the fan at work,” Zoro groaned at the thought. “But Arlong and his gang will be dealt with, they’re no longer paying them.”

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.

.

Black Cat and Stealth Black join forces to take down the malignant Arlong gang.

Police are currently under investigation after allegations they were being paid off…

Sanji was currently sitting in his favourite café, reading the latest newspaper and eyes skimming for any new information. He’d spoke to Zoro about the headlines, asking him if he was really okay that he received no credit. The other man had just shrugged him off, saying he didn’t need that kind of attention, especially considering the scrutiny they would now be under.

His eyes locked onto the information he was looking for.

Black Cat has not been seen since the gang takedown and the question still looms about whether she is still considered a criminal or not. Police are refusing to comment on the matter and Stealth Black has been unreachable. Can her past crimes be forgiven?

He shook his head, what trash and they call themselves to news. If only they knew what she’d done and everything she’d sacrificed, they’d be begging for forgiveness for even thinking about writing this. To even cast doubt on her was beyond him.

Once they’d made it out of the hideout, Black Cat had directed them towards a clinic her friend, Chopper, owned. The young doctor had looked aghast when he’d seen them and had treated them straight away. Sanji hadn’t managed to stay awake for much longer once they were in the clinic, his body finally succumbing to exhaustion now they were safe.

He’d woken a little later to find Black Cat in the chair next to his bed, dark marks covering her neck but a sunny smile on her face despite it. Sanji had tiredly smiled at her, his eyes fighting to stay awake so he could be in her presence for longer, but it was a battle he was losing. It was just as he was drifting off again then he felt lips pressing into the corner of his mouth and a whisper in his ear.

‘Come and find me.’

The words had been ringing around in his head ever since he’d woken back up to an empty room. Chopper had been angry that Black Cat hadn’t waited to be discharged by him.

Since then, he’d looked for her, he really had. He even had Zoro keeping an eye out on his patrols, but Black Cat had disappeared completely. He’d realised soon after exactly what she meant by what she’d whispered to him in the clinic and his brain was sifting through their conversation they’d had that night in his apartment, ‘‘Wait, have we met? When I’m me and you’re not Black Cat?’ ‘Yes, we have...’’.

She’d wanted him to find her, not Black Cat, but her civilian identity. And he’d kept her waiting so long already.

That’s how he’d found himself currently in the café. He’d spent the day walking around the city, going into his local bank, supermarket, petrol station, anywhere he frequented to try and find her. Every woman that he walked past made him feel paranoid.

But nothing.

He put his head in his hands, running them through his hair. She was a little minx, making him search for her like this with little clues. He wasn’t annoyed though; it was so her that it made him fond if anything.

“Would you like a refill on your coffee?” The waitresses voice interrupted turmoil but he didn’t move his head from his hands.

“Yes please.” He nodded.

‘and you barely looked at me…’ Whispered in the back of his mind.

He whipped his head up from his hands to look at the waitress next to him. Amber eyes filled with mirth, uncovered by a black mask and red lips twisting into a coy smirk. He’d imagined this moment so many moments and, in his daydreams, he was suave, sweeping her off her feet.

A stark contrast to the fool gaping at her, eyes moving frantically around her face, taking all of her in.

She laughed and sat down in front of him uninvited, although he would have invited her to sit if he could get his brain to work and pull her chair out like the goddamn gentleman he was supposed to be, but he couldn’t get his legs to move.

‘You’ve been here for 30 minutes and I’ve walked past multiple times, you’re very unobservant for a superhero,’ she lowered her voice towards the end. “I decided to put you out of your misery when my shift ended. You were looking despondent, so I decided to come save you.” She finished, winking at him.

He laughed at her pun, eyes still sweeping across her face, in fear of missing anything. His face lost all signs of amusement as his hand moved her long ginger hair away from her neck to see fading bruise marks. His mind replaying the moment when he’d looked up as Stealth Black to see her dangling by her neck, legs desperately kicking against Arlong. His eyes snapped open when the woman in front of him moved his hand from her neck to her cheek and resting against his hand.

“Are you okay?” Sanji asked, his thumb brushing against her cheek, looking for any signs of distress on her face.

“Better than okay.” Was her simple reply, her face showing nothing but happiness. He figured any other emotions would probably present themselves over the next few weeks. She was probably too overwhelmed with relief for the time being, a massive burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

It wouldn’t matter anyway; he’d be there to help her through it all.

“I suppose introductions are long overdue, at least on my behalf.” She pulled his hand away from her cheek and held it in front of them both, shaking it in introduction.

“I’m Nami.”

Am I an absolute tease for ending it like this? You bet your arse I am. But am I also writing an epilogue? Yes, I am. So I’m not completely horrible.

I’d had the ending written out roughly in my head since the start, with some changes along the way; the epilogue is completely new though. This has honestly been such a such a wonderful challenge. I’ve only written small little fluff pieces before, so to write something like this has been a pure joy. And a bit of a nightmare. I’ve spent all of February plotting and writing.

Also, forgive me for any errors, I’ve eyed this story multiple times and done the best I could.

Thank you for letting me share my imagination with you.

[newstfionline]

The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

Bloomberg, November 20, 2018

It was just after 10 p.m. on an overcast September night in Los Angeles, and L. was tired from a long day of class prep, teaching, and grading papers. So the 57-year-old anthropology professor fed her Chihuahua-dachshund mix a freeze-dried chicken strip, swapped her cigarette trousers for stretchy black yoga pants, and began to unfold a set of white sheets and a beige cotton blanket to make up her bed.

But first she had to recline the passenger seat of her 2015 Nissan Leaf as far as it would go--that being her bed in the parking lot she’d called home for almost three months. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was playing on her iPad as she drifted off for another night. “Like sleeping on an airplane--but not in first class,” she said. That was in part by design. “I don’t want to get more comfortable. I want to get out of here.”

L., who asked to go by her middle initial for fear of losing her job, couldn’t afford her apartment earlier this year after failing to cobble together enough teaching assignments at two community colleges. By July she’d exhausted her savings and turned to a local nonprofit called Safe Parking L.A., which outfits a handful of lots around the city with security guards, port-a-potties, Wi-Fi, and solar-powered electrical chargers. Sleeping in her car would allow her to save for a deposit on an apartment. On that night in late September, under basketball hoops owned by an Episcopal church in Koreatown, she was one of 16 people in 12 vehicles. Ten of them were female, two were children, and half were employed.

The headline of the press release announcing the results of the county’s latest homeless census strikes a note of progress: “2018 Homeless Count Shows First Decrease in Four Years.” In some ways that’s true. The figure for people experiencing homelessness dropped 4 percent, a record number got placed in housing, and chronic and veteran homelessness fell by double digits. But troubling figures lurk. The homeless population is still high, at 52,765--up 47 percent from 2012. Those who’d become homeless for the first time jumped 16 percent from last year, to 9,322 people, and the county provided shelter for roughly 5,000 fewer people than in 2011.

All this in a year when the economy in L.A., as in the rest of California and the U.S., is booming. That’s part of the problem. Federal statistics show homelessness overall has been trending down over the past decade as the U.S. climbed back from the Great Recession, the stock market reached all-time highs, and unemployment sank to a generational low. Yet in many cities, homelessness has spiked.

It’s most stark and visible out West, where shortages of shelter beds force people to sleep in their vehicles or on the street. In Seattle, the number of “unsheltered” homeless counted on a single night in January jumped 15 percent this year from 2017--a period when the value of Amazon.com Inc., one of the city’s dominant employers, rose 68 percent, to $675 billion. In California, home to Apple, Facebook, and Google, some 134,000 people were homeless during the annual census for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in January last year, a 14 percent jump from 2016. About two-thirds of them were unsheltered, the highest rate in the nation.

At least 10 cities on the West Coast have declared states of emergency in recent years. San Diego and Tacoma, Wash., recently responded by erecting tents fit for disaster relief areas to provide shelter for their homeless. Seattle and Sacramento may be next.

The reason the situation has gotten worse is simple enough to understand, even if it defies easy solution: A toxic combo of slow wage growth and skyrocketing rents has put housing out of reach for a greater number of people. According to Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored housing giant, the portion of rental units affordable to low earners plummeted 62 percent from 2010 to 2016.

Rising housing costs don’t predestine people to homelessness. But without the right interventions, the connection can become malignant. Research by Zillow Group Inc. last year found that a 5 percent increase in rents in L.A. translates into about 2,000 more homeless people, among the highest correlations in the U.S. The median rent for a one-bedroom in the city was $2,371 in September, up 43 percent from 2010. Similarly, consultant McKinsey & Co. recently concluded that the runup in housing costs was 96 percent correlated with Seattle’s soaring homeless population. Even skeptics have come around to accepting the relationship. “I argued for a long time that the homelessness issue wasn’t due to rents,” says Joel Singer, chief executive officer of the California Association of Realtors. “I can’t argue that anymore.”

Homelessness first gained national attention in the 1980s, when declining incomes, cutbacks to social safety net programs, and a shrinking pool of affordable housing began tipping people into crisis. President Ronald Reagan dubiously argued that homelessness was a lifestyle choice. By the mid-2000s, though, the federal government was taking a more productive approach. George W. Bush’s administration pushed for a “housing first” model that prioritized getting people permanent shelter before helping them with drug addiction or mental illness. Barack Obama furthered the effort in his first term and, in 2010, vowed to end chronic and veteran homelessness in five years and child and family homelessness by 2020.

Rising housing costs are part of the reason some of those deadlines were missed. The Trump administration’s proposal to hike rents on people receiving federal housing vouchers, and require they work, would only make the goals more elusive. Demand for rental assistance has long outstripped supply, leading to yearslong waits for people who want help. But even folks who are lucky enough to have vouchers are increasingly struggling to use them in hot housing markets. A survey by the Urban Institute this year found that more than three-quarters of L.A. landlords rejected tenants receiving rental assistance.

It’s not bad everywhere. Houston, the fourth-most-populous city in the nation, has cut its homeless population in half since 2011, in part by creating more housing for them. That’s dampened the effect of rising rents, Zillow found. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Community Solutions has worked with Chicago, Phoenix, and other cities to gather quality, real-time data about their homeless populations so they can better coordinate their interventions and prioritize spending. The approach has effectively ended veterans’ homelessness in eight communities, including Riverside County in California.

Efficiency can go only so far. More resources are needed in the places struggling the most with homelessness. McKinsey calculated that to shelter people adequately, Seattle would have to increase its outlay to as much as $410 million a year, double what it spends now. Still, that’s less than the $1.1 billion the consultants estimate it costs “as a result of extra policing, lost tourism and business, and the frequent hospitalization of those living on the streets.” Study after study, from California to New York, has drawn similar conclusions. “Doing nothing isn’t doing nothing,” says Sara Rankin, a professor at Seattle University’s School of Law and the director of the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project. “Doing nothing costs more money.”

Then there’s the moral argument for action. “It’s outrageous to me that in a country with so much wealth--and certainly enough for everybody--that there are people who lack even the basics for survival,” says Maria Foscarinis, founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. Appeals to humanity were part of the strategy in the 1980s, when she and other activists helped push through the first major federal legislation to fight homelessness. Her organization has led a charge against laws that make it a crime to sleep outside in public places, one of the more insidious ways politicians have addressed the crisis. In July the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the unconstitutionality of such bans in a case that Foscarinis’s group--along with Idaho Legal Aid Services and Latham & Watkins--brought against two such ordinances in Boise. “As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter,” the court wrote. The ruling has led cities, including Portland, Ore., and Berkeley, Calif., to change their policies.

To placate angry constituents, officials too often settle for temporary solutions, such as sweeps of tent encampments and street cleaning. San Francisco Mayor London Breed recently scored some publicity, carrying a broom out to the “dirtiest” block in the city for a photo op with the New York Times. In other places, there’s simply a vacuum of leadership coordinating the patchwork of agencies, nonprofits, and religious organizations trying to help. After reporting intensively for a year on homelessness in the Puget Sound region, the Seattle Times put it bluntly: “No one is in charge.”

Meanwhile, the businesses responsible for much of the area’s economic fortunes, as well as rising housing costs, have been slow to throw their weight behind solutions. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently earmarked a portion of his $2 billion philanthropic pledge for homeless services--only months after his company fought aggressively to beat back a modest tax on large employers in Seattle that would have raised less than $50 million a year for the same.

Blaming people who are trying to get back on their feet is probably the least productive way to solve the crisis. Consider Mindy Woods, a single mother and U.S. Navy veteran who lives in a Seattle suburb. In 2010 she developed autoimmune diseases that made her chronically tired and caused so much pain she struggled to work at the insurance company where she’d been selling disability policies. “I was just a mess,” she says. “I had to quit my job.” To help pay rent for the apartment where she lived with her son, she babysat, watched neighbors’ pets, and led a Camp Fire youth group. Still, she and her son ended up having to leave the apartment because of a serious mold infestation, kicking off an eight-month period when they couch-surfed and spent time in a motel and shelter. It was a challenge just to refrigerate her son’s diabetes medicine.

They eventually were accepted into a transitional apartment, where they stayed for 3½ years. But in 2015 her landlord stopped accepting vouchers. Woods had to race to find another apartment owner who’d take her voucher before it lapsed. Application after application got rejected. “The discrimination was alive and well,” she says. Another eight months passed. When she finally found an apartment, there wasn’t room for her son. They had no choice but to separate, and he now lives nearby. Woods bristles when people blame the homeless for their predicament. “This is not about drugs, this is not about mental illness, this is not about lazy people,” she says. “We were doing everything we could to stay in houses.”

[sirwaddlesesquire]

Ch. 5 - Observations and Comparisons: A Nature Documentary (Love is Not Time’s Fool, Part I)

Looking in through the glass of the car window from the outside, Pacifica Northwest observed the nerd.

The wild nerd can be an elusive creature. The documentary style narration played in her head in a decidedly British accent. Its natural habitats are indoor locations, such as the library or the game store. Rarely does the nerd leave them. When it does, it will often bring various objects reminiscent of those places in order to feel more at home in the outside world. We see an example of this before us, as this particular nerd has his nose buried in a book and has papers strewn about him. While an odd thing for me or you, this is perfectly natural for the nerd as a defense mechanism. Fascinating!

A shake of the head stopped that train of thought. She had met David Attenborough once at a charity event in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. It had been an entire evening spent listening to him describe the various animals in the exhibits, the man waxing poetic about the incredible features of the Eastern Gray Squirrel. After hearing him in real life, it felt odd to hear him in her head. His voice was … much too erotic.

Pacifica knocked on the car window, and was rewarded by the choked off yell of Dipper Pines as he jumped and threw his books and papers everywhere, much to her amusement.

The young man glanced up at her laugh and gave a sheepish look. He quickly gathered up the materials; pages and tomes shuffled together and stuffed in a shoulder bag. After placing the bag carefully in the back seat, he exited the vehicle (an older model VW Beetle) and walked around it to Pacifica. They shared a hug of greeting before stepping back.

“Sorry about that!” She said, though she couldn’t keep the touch of humor from being audible. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I guess I didn’t realize you were concentrating that hard.”

“No, no. No need to apologize.” Dipper responded. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I tend to get pretty distracted sometimes. Bad habit, you know?” He flashed her an embarrassed smile. It made him look young and she found it to be charming.

“I think it’s cute.” She informed him. And she meant it. In many ways, Dipper was an adorable dork. Rather, he was still an adorable dork. She could remember him from their rare and varied encounters in their youth. He had always been excited over a new mystery or puzzle, and would become completely absorbed, eager to get to the bottom of it. She could tell that his youthful exuberance had become a deep intelligence and demanding curiosity. The male Pines twin liked to understand how things worked. As someone who employed similar desires in work and in life, Pacifica respected that.

His smile, if anything, became more embarrassed, and he turned to the passenger side car door.  It took a couple of tries for him to realize it was still locked. He shot a look over his shoulder to see if she had noticed. She kept a cheerfully blank look on her face, pretending that she hadn’t. After using the key, he finally got the door open. He took a step back, and held it open, indicating that she was free to take a seat.

“Such a gentleman,” she teased. “You must do this for all the ladies.”

“Just Mabel.” He replied. “And now you.” Pacifica didn’t have a response for that, and when she met his gaze, his eyes were a touch serious. Fortunately, she was spared by the closing of the car door. As Dipper walked around to the driver’s side, she worried she had already set a bad tone for their date, and she felt guilty.

However, when the young man sat down behind the wheel, he was smiling and had a genial air about him. He started the car, immediately turning off the radio before any music could play. With a slight suspicion of exactly which artist he had been previously listening to, Pacifica took the opportunity to glance around the interior. It certainly showed its age in terms of equipment and style, but it was clean and comfortable.

Dipper must have noticed her inspection, because he shrugged. “Mabel wanted cute and cozy. I wanted good gas mileage and no car payment. This checked all the boxes.”

“Smart,” she replied. “I like it.”

“Thanks.” The male Pines then pitched his voice to convey irony. “Now, are you ready for an evening of whimsy and enchantment?”

She chuckled at his terminology and at the slight self-deprecation. “I most certainly am. What exactly do you have planned for us?”

“Oh, I pulled out all the stops. Just you wait!” He pulled away from the curb. “So, how was work?”

They discussed work during the drive. Pacifica talked about her day, trying to gloss over the boring details like meetings or some new ordinances passed by the Gravity Falls mayor. But every time she attempted to spare Dipper from something he would find to be dull, he would ask questions and prompt her to keep taking. Before she knew it, she was ranting about the ridiculous legislative decision making of Mayor Cutebiker and the inane restructuring she would now need to do for several of her businesses. Dipper nodded through all of it, adding a relevant comment here and there. As her rant came to an end, she stared at him questioningly.

“You can’t actually be interested in this stuff.” She stated. “It’s seriously just silly things I have to deal with. You shouldn’t have to listen to it.”

The male Pines kept his eyes on the road, though the corner of his mouth turned up. “I wouldn’t say non-interested. I just don’t know much about it.” He said. “But it’s clearly important to you, and so I like listening.” His tone was very matter-of-fact.

“Oh,” was all she could think to say in response to that.

Something must have been present in her voice, because he spared a glance at her. She waved him away, attempting to dismiss any concerns. She didn’t want to reveal the response his statement had touched off in her.

“Tell me about your day. What’s it like working in the library?” She asked, both wanting to change the subject and keep the conversation going.

“Impossibly banal.” Dipper answered sardonically. “Now, I’m not saying I got into library sciences for the sex appeal… but I thought surely there would be a little more to the day-to-day at least.”

“Pretty routine then?”

“Yeah, and the routine is also pretty simple.” He explained. “It seems like a lot of people take after a certain deputy-sheriff and don’t do much reading. Which, in what is certainly an ironic statement coming from a librarian, may actually be a good thing.”

His sheepish look returned, and he pulled a little at his collar. “It’s just that, uh, I’ve started writing a book. Hopefully a book series, really. And slow days at the library give me more time to work on it.” He jerked his thumb at the back seat. “I was doing a little work before…”

“Before I scared the heck out of you?” Pacifica offered.

“… before our date started.” He finished sternly. Though the twinkle in his eye removed any potential for venom from the words.

“Well, that sounds really neat.” She said. “What are they going to be about?”

“It’s mystery slash adventure.” Dipper answered, becoming animated. “The two kids are in the woods one day when they discover…”

His synopsis continued. Pacifica listened fondly, recalling her earlier thoughts about a certain dorky quality of her date. Eventually, they pulled into a parking lot. The car came to a stop and she took stock of the scene as Dipper got out. They were in a strip mall in a part of town she didn’t think she’d been to before. A hardware store and a vape shop occupied the spaces on either side of the restaurant they had parked in front of, a place bearing the name ‘Hellas Good Food’. She reached for the door latch, to find the door already open and Dipper holding a hand out. She took it and allowed him to help her exit the Bug.

“Greek?” She asked.

“You mentioned you liked it,” was his answer. “I did some investigating, and this spot, for all that it’s a hole-in-the-wall, is supposed to be the best. Apparently precisely because it is a hole-in-the-wall.”

Pacifica blinked. She had mentioned she liked Greek food. She had mentioned it several weeks ago. Had he really remembered?

Dipper gestured to the restaurant. “Shall we?”

Pacifica beamed. “We shall.”

Dinner was, in a word, excellent. The friendly owner of the place, a boisterous man named Zorba, attended to them personally. He told them the story of his emigration from Greece and regaled them with all he had seen. Dishes were recommended and subsequently consumed. And even if it wasn’t the best Greek food she had ever had (largely due to her vacation to the country a few years back), it was a close second. Mostly, she was impressed and appreciative of the effort Dipper had made. It was touching.

After he picked up the tab, they returned to the car, with Dipper once again exhibiting chivalry. He maneuvered out of the lot and drove in the direction of downtown.

“So, where are we off to next?” She asked. “I mean, assuming there is a next, of course.”

He chuckled. “That was stop one of three, actually. Now, I’m not going to claim that stop two will blow you away, but I do believe it will leave quite the impression.”

She attempted to pry more information from him throughout the drive, but he remained tightlipped. The trip was light-hearted and full of banter, and she was almost sorry as they parked once again.

That was until she noticed where they were: The Gravity Falls Theatre Time Theater. She had only to catch a glimpse of the name “BABBA” displayed on the marquee for her to understand exactly what was going on. As she accepted Dipper’s assistance out of the car, she raised an incredulous eyebrow at him. His grinned in response.

“I never said what kind of impression…”

Afterwards, they were in agreement in only one aspect: Gravity Falls’ adaption of the musical had been terrible.

“Unforgivable, really.” Dipper said. “It’s simply beyond the pale to take what is already awful source material and somehow make it worse.”

“Utterly abominable.” Pacifica said. “I cannot believe they could have what was already basically a modern masterpiece and completely fail to land any jokes or emotion with it.”

They debated on what had ultimately been the dooming feature and when they had known of the impending failure. She claimed it was right at the beginning, when the emcee had announced that the part of the lead would be played that evening by Toby Determined. He claimed it was when the audience had collectively realized the script had been altered to cause the story to take place in lumber country Oregon. Both admitted that the fact that the very first note of the evening had been off-pitch had also been a bad sign.

The playful back and forth continued along their next car ride, though this one was shorter, and up until they were seated in what Pacifica discovered was the town’s newest whiskey bar.

“Let me guess,” she said knowingly, looking at Dipper over the top of the drink menu. “You remembered that I said I was more of a whiskey girl.”

Her date said nothing, studying his own menu pointedly. But she could almost feel the pleased grin on his face. She dropped her gaze back down to the selection, trying to decide what appealed most. She also wondered what the extent of Dipper’s whiskey knowledge was, and what he would order. When the waiter appeared and asked what they would like, Dipper gave the ‘ladies first’ gesture.

“It’s an Irish whiskey kind of night, I think. I’ll take two fingers of the Jameson 12. Neat, of course.” She stated, folding her menu and fixing a look on Dipper, curious.

The young man took a couple more glances around the page, then spoke in a firm voice. “Your selection of the smoky blends is a little lacking, but I do agree with the lady that it is an Irish kind of night. I’ll have two fingers of the Connemara, the single malt. And go ahead and dash some water in. I’d like that peat to open up.” He calmly handed the menu over and met Pacifica’s gaze as the waiter retreated. They looked at each other across the table.

She had only to hold the eye contact for a couple of seconds more before Dipper flushed and glanced to the side. “I, um, may have been doing some research.” He admitted, his voice uncertain. “You know, to make sure I didn’t embarrass myself.”

As cute as it was to see him flustered, Pacifica felt bad for making him uncomfortable. She reached out and placed her hand on his, both now resting on the table top. She gave his a squeeze.

“It was very sweet of you. And rather impressive as well. You looked good, ordering like that. Thank you.” She smiled in gratitude, and she returned it. They stayed like that for a bit, waiting for their orders. When the drinks arrived and the waiter had left again, they each raised their glass, clinked them together, and took a sip. She hummed her approval and he nodded in agreement.

“So,” Pacifica said casually as they each lowered their glass. “Just how hard would you say you’ve been trying tonight?”

To his credit, Dipper didn’t flinch or ask her what she meant. He did give a small grimace before taking another drink. This one was a little bigger than the first. After setting it back down, he met her eyes.

“Honestly? Decently hard, I would say.” His answer was careful, but had the ring of candor to it. He looked contemplative, though his eye contact was steady. “I felt really bad about that other night. We both did, Mabel and me. We were both pretty worried after you ran out like that. It was… sudden.”

He absentmindedly rotated the napkin under his glass so that it was perpendicular to the table edge, doing so without looking away from her. “And then Mabel told me about your conversation. About how you felt with the whole ‘us’ thing. About the vibe we gave off. And…” He sighed. “And I’m sorry about that. So, yes, I guess I tried pretty hard on this date, to try and help move you away from some of those bad feelings.”

Pacifica smiled at this, hopeful that he couldn’t read the touch of pretense in it. Dipper was impossibly caring, and she could feel her reaction to that in her gut. However, he was also somewhat naïve and seemed to have more than a touch of self-doubt. She imagined that the combination must sometimes prevent him from taking proper credit when it was due.

“I really appreciate that.” She told him. “But I am afraid I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you when you say you are trying pretty hard on this date.” She rushed the last sentence to prevent his obviously forthcoming objection, and he settled back down.

She gestured around her. “We’re at a whiskey bar right now. Because I said I enjoyed whiskey. Before that, we went to a musical. A bad musical. And one that you don’t even like in the first place. But one that I like. And for dinner, you tracked down a Greek restaurant, due to a single line from me ages ago. Honestly, I forgot I even said that.” She shook her head, still somewhat unbelieving that all of this could have occurred. Let alone occurred to her. “I’m going to go out on a limb, and guess that you also do this for Mabel. I’m going to guess that you do this for her all the time.”

Dipper frowned, seemingly caught off-guard by the sudden twist in the conversation. “I mean, I guess so?” He didn’t sound certain.

Pacifica rolled her eyes affectionately. “Ok, how about this. Tell me what the two of you did on your first official date as a couple. Did you take her out?”

“Um, yeah, actually. I took her to a county fair.” The male twin scratched his head, and she could see the remembrance in his eyes. “She had seen something about it in the school paper, and mentioned having a craving for corn dogs. So when the weekend came, I took her there as a surprise. She was so excited!” He chuckled fondly.

“We must have crisscrossed those fair grounds half-a-dozen times. And we definitely went on every ride in the place. But only after we ate far too many corn dogs. She kept insisting on putting powdered sugar from the funnel cake stand on them.” He groaned suddenly. “That’s right! She made me go on the tilt-a-whirl. God I hate that ride. I, uh, I threw up most of those corn dogs afterwards.” He shot her a bashful smile before taking gulp of his whiskey. “It was not dignified. At all.”

She covered her mouth with a hand, attempting to hide just how amusing she found that. As well as just how incredibly sweet. When she had it back under control, she fixed him with a piercing look. “Exactly my point. You went out of your way to show Mabel a great time, precisely because you knew it was something she wanted to do. You even sacrificed dignity for it.” She raised her glass in a gesture of acknowledgment, and then polished off the remaining whiskey. “Don’t sell yourself short, Dipper. You aren’t trying very hard. You’re just being yourself.”

Dipper attempted to grab the attention of the waiter, looking past Pacifica and holding up a single finger to indicate the need for a second round. “Well, maybe. But it isn’t anything special, right? It’s just the normal way to treat someone you love.”

Pacifica quickly looked down at the table, schooling her face into a blank and neutral slate. She did not want to reveal the emotional flat line his words had caused within her. In her experience, Dipper’s attitude was indeed something special. She couldn’t recall that last time someone had done as much for her as he did for Mabel. Or as much as he had done for her today. And for him to just casually comment on it like that? She wasn’t angry. Just astonished. And maybe a little sad.

Her silence must have tipped him off though, because she could feel his eyes return to her. She glanced up briefly to see him staring at her, his features concerned and sincere. She swiftly returned to studying the table, uncertain beneath the intensity of such a gaze.

He seemed to understand, however. “Shit,” he breathed. “Mabel mentioned something about this. I’m so sorry Pacifica, I should have remembered.” She was vaguely aware of him adding a second finger in his signal to the waitress.

“Maximillian.” She stated flatly. Feeling his impending question, she continued. “I’ve really only had one serious relationship. Some flings here and there, that awkward whatever that is in high school. But in terms of mature, adult relationships? There’s only been one. Maximillian Hensley Schmidt.”

“Heck of name,” came a cautious comment from across the table.

She smirked wryly. “It gets worse. Technically I should be adding ‘the fourth’ to it.” She glanced up in time to see Dipper pull a face, and she chuckled. The laugh felt good. She barely acknowledged the placement of two new drinks in front of her, instead just picking one up and holding it against her forehead. The chill from the glass spread across her skin, and she figured she must be more flushed than she had realized. Dipper remained silent, for which she was grateful. It gave her a chance to collect her thoughts.

“We met at a fancy fundraiser downtown. He was a young lawyer, I was a young businesswoman. I didn’t think much of that first meeting, besides the fact that he was handsome and probably pretty well-off.” She sneered, displeased with her past self. “But apparently he thought something of me. He began courting me. And I mean the traditional courting, like from the movies and whatnot. He sent flowers, made formal visits, arranged for us to appear at events together. It was all pretty flattering. Especially when there was the sense of expectation, a sense that this was what you’ve been waiting for. A sense that this was what it was supposed to look like.”

Pacifica gave a bitter chuckle and tossed back the whiskey, downing the entire glass in one go. “It seemed like a pretty solid match. One of those power couples you are always hearing about, you know? Lawyer and businesswoman, two young professionals. It’s the dream, what more could you want? The town certainly seemed to agree, what with the attention we attracted. My parents definitely were on board, which maybe should have been a clue.” The second drink disappeared in another gulp and she returned the glass to her forehead.

“It took me awhile, but I finally realized that there wasn’t any emotion behind his gestures or his words or behind his anything, really. Everything looked good from the outside, and in hindsight, that was probably the point. But from within the relationship? The ‘tokens of affection’ were basically bribes, the ‘sweet nothings’ were empty of any heart, and the ‘sex’ was passable at best.” She caught Dipper’s little fidget at the mention of sex, and she gave a half-hearted grin at how adorable he was. The grin twisted into a frown at the irony of her next thought, which she articulated. “He was essentially completing a series of tasks that he was required to input in order to create a result. They were steps in a mating dance, and he was performing them like we were on some nature documentary.”

It took a moment to work up the courage, but she finally put the glass back down, placing both of her hands flat on the table, and looking Dipper in the eye. “Despite all of that, we still ‘courted’ for a long time before I ended it. Another year, at least. A year! Even after I realized what a mockery the whole thing was and what a fake he was. What a sham I was. It’s pretty disappointing, really.”

She rolled her neck, attempting to steady herself for her next words. “That ended about half a year ago? I’ve been pretty freaking single since, and had planned on staying that way for a while. At least, right up until you two came along.” She tried to give him as meaningful a smile as she could, hoping to convey some sense of what she felt. “It was difficult, to see the two of you in comparison to all of that stuff with him. But it’s better now. Time spent with Mabel the other day and time spent with you tonight has shown me how different it can be. How different it should be.”

Her voice became soft, and she blinked rapidly to ensure she wouldn’t embarrass herself with any watery eyes. “Regardless of what happens here or where this goes, I’ll forever be grateful for that. So thank you.” The next words came out a whisper and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Thank you.”

The sudden warmth on her hands as Dipper clasped them in his own startled her, and her eyes shot back open. His face was tender and he spoke softly but empathetically. “Hey. That guy was a total jerk. Fuck him.” She gave a surprised snort and he grinned somberly. “Seriously. You don’t need people like that in your life, and you should never have to question yourself or your own worth. And not because I say so or because Mabel says so, but because you do. Because it’s the truth. You’re something else, Pacifica. I see it, Mabel sees it, and I know so many other people do as well. One guy didn’t and that’s his loss. He chose to be an ass about it, and that eliminates him from any further consideration from you. Forget him. You don’t have to deal with him ever again. You understand?”

The emotion choked her, and she could only offer a nod in response, not trusting herself to speak.

“Good,” he said, giving her hands a squeeze. “Now what do you say I drive you home? That Jameson is pretty strong stuff. At least, that’s what I understand from my reading…”

Pacifica laughed. She couldn’t help it. Even at his most serious, he was still such a dork. He helped her down from the chair and put an arm around her to help escort her. She leaned over and kissed his cheek and as she did so, the savory sounds of Mr. Attenborough once again danced through her head.

The nerd stumbles through his own mating ritual, seemingly at a complete loss on what the steps are. He is perhaps unaware that he is even performing it in the first place. It is truly a sight to behold, unlike any other in the animal kingdom. And yet, when it comes to an end and when all is said and done, it has resulted in a complete and rousing success. Fascinating!

[nancypullen]

Moving Experience

We pointed the car north and disappeared for about a week. We spent the bulk of that time playing with, spoiling, and soaking up the magic of our sweet grandgirl. She's three years old and has a lot to say, most of it highly entertaining. We celebrated Tyler's birthday during our visit and enjoyed the family time that we miss so much. It was a string of delightful days that filled my heart up just right. We left their house on Friday morning and took a day to explore the Eastern Shore. We've been talking about making that area our retirement spot and had narrowed our search down to a few towns that we felt might suit us, mostly leaning toward a place called Ocean Pines. It's about 8 miles from the beaches of Ocean City and the community of Ocean Pines offers amazing amenities - five pools (one indoor for year round activities), tennis courts, walking trails, pickle ball courts, a golf course, a marina, etc. It's a two hour drive from the grandgirl's house, but they could enjoy the beach all summer - worth it, right? We toured three homes there and prepared to put an offer on one. We already have a buyer for our home in Mt. Juliet, she's just waiting for a green light from us. Because the market is bonkers we knew there'd be multiple offers on the Ocean Pines home and that we'd have to enter an escalating offer. The realtor suggested a few other ways to sweeten our pitch and that included a letter to the seller. We agreed that we'd finish our day and submit everything from the hotel that night. So we carried on. We stopped here and there, but we both kept mentioning that we'd like to take another look at the first town we'd seen that morning - Chestertown. We'd toured a townhouse that the mister loooooooved. He would have married it and lived happily ever after. I know that townhouses are increasingly popular for retirees, I'm just not 100% sure that I'm ready to give up having a little garden patch. I think what he really loved was the gorgeous office space. It really was perfect for him. The kitchen was an HGTV dream, I could spend all day admiring it. As far as amenities, just down the street from the townhouse a huge, new YMCA is under construction. There'll be an indoor pool, plenty of classes and equipment etc. Here's why I hit the brakes on the townhouse...it had three stories. Lots and lots of stairs. There were a dozen steps just to get to the front door, when we entered the front door there were four more steps up to the living room. So just to bring groceries in you'd go up and down those steps. It's fine now, but I wanted this to be our last home. I can't imagine growing old in that townhome. All of the bedrooms were upstairs, but at least the laundry room was too - I wouldn't have to haul laundry baskets up and down. We passed on that property but I think it broke Mickey's heart a little bit. Even though we didn't bite on the townhouse, we did fall in love with the town. It's beautiful, it's quaint, it's charming, it's got a wonderful art scene, a farmers market, festivals (a Harry Potter festival in October!), and the citizens seem to take great pride in preserving the maritime history and architecture of their town. Chestertown has been featured in Southern Living twice and will pop up in just about any article about must-see locations on the Chesapeake Bay. My friends will know what I mean when I say it felt like an NPR crowd and that I was pleased to find that Kent County went blue in the 2020 presidential election. My people. Huge bonus - it's only an hour from the grandgirl's house! It's not on the beach like Ocean Pines, but I think it felt more like home. Because it's quite a small town, the real estate offerings are slim. We drove by a house in the perfect neighborhood (Byford) that had a realtor's sign in the yard - we immediately looked it up online, loved the pics, loved the price, and made the call. The realtor told us that it had just gone under contract. Ugh! I felt like Mickey did over the townhouse. So, the hunt continues. By the time we checked

into our hotel we were both leaning strongly toward Chestertown, so we chose not to submit the offer on the Ocean Pines house. The community had dozens of reasons to move there, but it didn't feel like a fit for us. Maybe we just needed more time to roam around? Maybe we need a second look? I doubt it. We feel like we've picked our town but the right house may be elusive. It will happen when it's supposed to happen, right? Our original plan was to put our house on the market Feb/Mar of 2022. Part of me thinks we should stick to that timeline , another part knows that we have to be ready to jump in this crazy market. Housing prices have probably peaked and I think I read that they're expected to start declining in June. That means we'll get less for our house, but that also means we'll pay less on the other end. It will also mean that some people may be upside down in homes that are no longer worth what they paid for them. I don't want to be one of them. We may have ulcers by the time the dust settles on all of this - Mickey is an impulsive, "act now!" kind of guy and I'm a "wait, I have to overthink every possible outcome" kind of girl. That's a recipe for frustration - thank goodness we recognize that and haven't been featured on an episode of Dateline yet. So that's where we were and what we were doing. We looked at additional houses in Chestertown - some new construction out in the Boonies (no paved roads, no thank you), some fixer-uppers in town, and a couple that would be perfect if we were lottery winners. We have more than one realtor sending us daily updates. We may be here today and gone tomorrow, or we may here through Christmas. Uncertainty is not my friend, I like having a plan. The flip side of that is that I do not want to settle, this will be our last move and I don't want to end up hating the house. Light a candle, rub some beads, send some positive vibes into the universe for us & hope that everything works out just right. I'll keep you posted. Stay safe, stay well, and get some sunshine. XOXO, Nancy

[jillmckenzie1]

Top 10 Best Things About Denver

Top 10 Best Things About Denver

#1 The Weather in Denver

The first time I visited Denver it rained for 3 days straight and all the mountain views were shrouded in clouds!  Somehow I still fell in love.  After living here for 2 years I don’t think I have ever seen consecutive full days of rain.

When news got around that I was leaving New York for Denver, the reactions were heavily riddled with concern for the fierce weather.  But, the 1870’s claim that Denver receives 300 days of sunshine was attractive to me!  When we moved in during the first week of January, I remember thinking what a great stretch of weather for moving in!  The weeks went on the same exact way and I was taking selfies in tank tops with disbelief.  Truly, the weather here is refreshing!  Denver gets more clear days than Miami and more hours of sunshine than San Diego and Tampa…raising the question, what really is “The Sunshine State”?  Sunglasses are a must!

On the other hand we are the 6th driest city in America.  I have found that no normal lotion, no regular lip balm, no hydrating shampoo will do the trick!  I am talking about a dryness that when simply walking around and breathing the air makes you parched.  I actually don’t mind it.  It means being conscientious about drinking water and protecting your skin, nails, and hair.  But honestly, the dryness is so much more comfortable and tolerable in the heat and in the cold.

Denver also has an incredibly dramatic and ever changing skyscape!  The sky in Colorado actually is bluer because ofthe low humidity.  But apart from the blue sunny skies, the mountains create their own weather, it is ever changing.   Some patterns we see here in Denver are wave clouds, virga, and Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds, which are known to exist at the boundaries of Earth’s magnetic environment and also within the atmospheres of Saturn & Jupiter.  The sunsets are like no others I have ever seen. I have even witnessed a lightning storm at sunset.  This is big sky country and out on the flat plains there are no trees to speak of and therefore 180 degree views of stars and planets.

And of course, there is the altitude.  At a mile high, the air is thinner, which translates to less oxygen, more fatigue, dehydration, sun-exposure, magnified effects of alcohol, and being prepared for four seasons on any given day.  You may need a coat in the morning, a raincoat around noon, a tank-top in the evening, and once the sun goes down the temperature drops quickly because of the low humidity.  For example, 3 hours ago I walked to the store in shorts and flip-flops.  An hour ago it was thunder and lightning.  At this very moment, as I write, it is snowing!  CRAZY!  It’s best to dress in layers!  Mountain weather is unpredictable, and storms pop up and move through quickly…almost every afternoon in mid-summer.  As the saying goes, “If you don’t like the weather in Colorado, wait 5 minutes”!

For more on this topic see my personal blogpost “Storms”

#2 Denver is Walkable

I have never lived in a city before!  The first few months learning my way around was an adventure!  There is so much to do and see in downtown Denver.

Museums

Shopping

Art galleries

Opera

Live music shows

Classical music concerts

Comedy clubs

Performing arts center

City parks

Recreation centers

Zoo

Aquarium

Larimer Square

Hip RINO District (full of hipster types with outrageous mustaches)

The National Western Stock Show

REI flagship store complete with indoor climbing wall and tons of classes (it’s worth a visit if you’re in town for a short trip…it’s that cool)

…need I say more?

For the first year my husband and I often were troubled by our feet from all the walking until we became accustomed to it (and yes, we are those weird people who wear the shoe inserts.  They save my life!) But there is something very satisfying to be able to leave my wheels behind and reduce my carbon footprint in exchange for health, well-being, and convenience!  And whenever the destination is just a little too far, there is always public transportation or Uber!

#3 The Rocky Mountains

Though I have now adapted to being a city girl, the ONLY way that I can remain such is that Denver is so closely situated to the Rocky mountains.  In 30 minutes I can be in a sparsely populated wilderness area and enjoy all the peace and quiet I could ever want.  The mountains are home to big horn sheep, mountain goats, mountain lions, black bears, rattle snakes, raptors, foxes, moose, elk, coyotes, record-breaking trout, black widows, and rodents of all sorts.  Colorado has close to 60 fourteeners, which means peaks of at least 14,000 feet.  Daytrips could include:

Rocky Mountain National Park

hiking

cycling

climbing

fishing

snow-tubing

snow skiing

snow shoeing

camping

snowmobiling

dog-sledding,

zip-lining

ice-climbing

ice-fishing

rafting, canoeing

4-wheeling

Having greenspace close by is essential for city life in my opinion!  People here embrace the outdoors and are active in all seasons.  No wonder the facts say Colorado is the least obese state!  It’s a contagious attitude!  Meanwhile, everywhere you look from downtown Denver, the buildings frame a beautiful scene of snowcapped mountains and blue sky!  It takes my breath away every day!

#4 The Denver Food Scene

Within 5 blocks of my house, there are two major grocery stores!  That has been a game changer and I no longer stock up my freezer…instead I shop every day or two, picking whatever looks fresh.  Every Saturday May-October there is a wonderful farmer’s market at Union Station featuring the best just-picked fruits and vegetables, eggs, local meats, cheeses, colorful flower bouquets, honey, coffee, and fermented goods.  They also offer many enticing ready to eat delights such as hand held burritos and a porchetta sandwich made from slow-cooked garlic and herb pork belly served with blanched broccoli rabe and a tangy dressing, all on a delicious grilled ciabatta roll.  The market has a great vibe, families come out with their dogs and children.  It can be hot and busy…so I enjoy it most early in the mornings but it lasts until 2 pm.

Denver Union Station Farmer’s Market

Denver has a dense community of restaurants!  Yelp says there are 202 restaurants within one mile from my home!  202!!!  There are 377 Pho shops, and 1698 Mexican restaurants in Denver.  With the population explosion of 77,000 new residents last year in Colorado, the pressure is on for competing restaurants to please the elevated pallets of foodie-type millennials moving in from out-of-state.

5280 Magazine reports: “Restaurants are closing that were good enough for a while, but now there are too many options”…says Symensma…”without innovation, relevance, and uniqueness it’s tough to stand out and survive.”

Thankfully, for connoisseurs, this means the bar is raised and we get better service, cooler atmospheres, and tastier food.  One thing that is lacking in my opinion is that small-town feel…places where you can belly up to the bar and everybody knows your name and drink of choice to the point that we become friends and exchange numbers.  I have found that elusive in Denver, and something I highly prize in my eating and drinking experience…I’m not sure Denver will ever be able to create that.

Another great thing about Denver is the food truck scene!  Three times a week May-October almost seventy local food trucks gather to Civic Center Park creating a festive mid-week lunching experience!  It is a unique phenomenon that I have never witnessed anywhere else.  You can join in on a free workout with a professional trainer in the shade of the trees and walk a few meters into an eating frenzy like no other!

Last but not least there is kitschy Casa Bonita, as seen on a South Park episode and said to be the “Disneyland of Mexican restaurants”!  You can dine on the worst Mexican food while surrounded by tacky décor and watch really bad acting shows and cliff divers that jump into the indoor waterfall.  There is also fire, magic, puppets, and a pirate cave!  It is so bad that it is good…and a must-see for Denver visitors with kids.

#5 Denver Communal Spaces

There is a wonderful trend in Denver for shared spaces.

Union Station

Avanti Food & Beverage

The Source

Denver Central Market

Avanti Food & Beverage

Stanley Marketplace

Zeppelin Station.

From train station to shipping containers, former airplane hangars, and warehouses…a mix of part food hall, drinkery, retail shopping, and shared office space…I love these places!  If you feel lonely or isolated, hanging out in one of these lively buzzing market halls will give you the shot in the arm of belonging that you crave.  And though many will be shocked with disbelief that I have left legalized pot off of this top 10 list…an equally gripping habit of coffee culture as a social lubricant and a widely consumed stimulant is very real here in Denver.  All of these moving parts provide great networking opportunities and everything you need for an alternative work place, including beverages, like-minded people, and USB outlets…so if you work from home and are tired of the same old four walls…get out there and communalize!

#6 The Beer

A good friend planning a visit from the east coast said she wanted to check the breweries in the area and wanted to know if they were close by.  My response was there is one on every street corner…google says around 20 within a mile and 643 in Denver!

Some of my faves:

Great Divide

Ratio

Black Shirt

Our Mutual Friend

Denver Beer Co

New Belgium

Lefthand out of Longmont

Every Saturday evening and also the first Friday evening of every month Drink RINO sponsors free eTuks to this neighborhood offering ease of access to many of the top area breweries without having to drive…WIN-WIN!  And of course there is the quintessential Coors, the largest single brewery facility in the world which offers a 30-minute self-paced tour and free tasting.

#7 Red Rocks

Red Rocks Amphitheater

I have never been to so many concerts in my life.  I don’t know if it’s the ease of access to them, or the beautiful venues available in Denver like Red Rocks, or if there are just more good bands passing through town.  There is nothing that quite compares with driving 30 minutes out of downtown Denver, passing through the suburbs, and driving within sight range of this beautiful, natural landscape of protected lands, open fields, and this gorgeous red-orange angled rock formation jutting out, forming an open-air amphitheater with ideal, natural-occurring acoustics.  In the back drop you can see the Denver city skyline.  It’s just an awe inspiring place to experience artists like no other.  If you haven’t been…you need to try it.

The climb up to the amphitheater from the parking areas is not for the faint of heart.  It can be a trek!  There are some convenient shuttle services from a couple of locations in Denver that provide a safe and stress-free alternative to driving.  They usually include some sort of pre-concert special offering from a local restaurant and they permit you to bring your own beverages to tailgate with as long as it’s not glass.

Besides concerts, there are many other fun things to do at Red Rocks including miles of hiking trails, picnicking, yoga & exercise for fitness, fossil exploration, and full length movies projected onto the rock.

# 8 Green Chile

Why are so many of my favorite things about Denver food related?  I moved to Denver from New York.  When we eat chili it’s usually while camping or tailgating…it’s fall weather food.  Our east-coast chili is rich and beefy and red.  It’s spicy, has beans, tomatoes, jalapenos, ground beef, lots and lots of chili powder, cumin, and we top it with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and green onion.  When you say chile in Colorado, it means “green chile”!  We even spell it differently here in the west!  These chiles come from New Mexico in many varieties but one of my favorites is the Hatch variety, grown in the Hatch Valley.  Chile stands pop up beside the streets of Denver during late summer and into fall.   You typically order them by the bushel and wait as they are freshly fire-roasted right in front of you, releasing a smoky, earthy flavor that permeates the air!  From this state they are frequently eaten as-is, frozen for year-round use, or commonly we make pork based green chile which is used as a tasty dipping sauce, over eggs, mac-n-cheese, and to smother burritos or french fries.  YUM!

#9 Team Loyalty

Whether it’s professional football, baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, or rugby…Denverites love to support their sports teams.  On any given game day they come out in droves!  After moving here two years ago and already having my own favorite team, I felt the pressure to convert to become a Denver fan…or I might as well move back to New York.  I became a Denver resident in January 2016, the year the Broncos won the superbowl.  The homecoming parade was INSANE!  I think every business closed down…because the streets were a sea of over a million fans decked out in orange flooded the city to show their loyalty to their beloved team.  It’s an infectious zeal, one that makes a united community…and you just want to be a part of it.  And though, I am not quite to that level yet, I respect and admire the Denver fans.

#10 DOGS DOGS DOGS

Last but not least, I happen to love dogs and so does everyone else here in Denver.  It’s a very dog-friendly town.  Everywhere you look people are out and about with man’s best friend.  Dogs are eagerly welcomed most places that humans are.  For example, one night we met up with friends at a local brewery and when we stepped inside there were no less than 20 dogs inside laying at their owners feet, making new friends, lapping up spilled beer while everyone around benefits from that “zen” factor that dogs can be the source of.  It’s no secret that dogs decrease stress, promote relaxation, influence social and emotional development, and encourage an active lifestyle.  What’s not to love about that!

I hope you have enjoyed my long-winded storytelling journey and slice of life from here in Denver…now come visit!

from Blog https://ondenver.com/top-10-best-things-about-denver/