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Daniel has literally not worn a suit since his father’s funeral, he hasn’t worn anything fancier than a cheap button up and one pair of thrifted slacks when Tyson took him out for his 18th birthday a few years ago.
“Does this look okay?” Daniel asked Shak who was sitting in a pretty little orange, gold and white saree playing on a tablet.
“Yeah you look fine. Why are you so worried?” Shak teased. “Because you don’t want Lucy mad at you if you look trashy?”
“I thought having a little sister was supposed to be nice?” Daniel rolled his eyes at her.
“I’m a delight.” She batted her eyes.
“Whatever.” Daniel flicked her head. “I’ll be ready in a minute.”
“Kinda sucks our first lead didn’t lead us to my cure.” Hoagie trotted over. “I would have liked to look like how I feel inside for today.”
“I know Hoagie.” Shak put a hand on his back. “Don’t worry. We’re going to work super hard to get you turned back.”
“I know. Burden just had to interrupt with the whole revenge thing.” Hoagie rolled his eyes. “I mean yeah we found out afterwards that the dark mage wasn’t Albright and even though we ended up not letting Albright have it the egg would have been safe.” he held up a foot. “Buuut, he also didn’t give a crap who he was actually selling it to and put everyone in danger and therefore deserved to have to fight a gryphon.”
“Good point.” Daniel pointed as he came back out of his room again. “Thankfully the black eye he gave me has healed up in time for tonight. Let’s head out.”
“Yaaay!” Hoagie cheered. “Lucy told me what’s on the catering menu and I’m going to have a field day.”
Tonight was Lucy’s official Primus induction ceremony. It was a formality to have her portrait taken this week, introduce herself to the magic world and inform everyone on her policies. Lucy had so much put on her lap in the span of a month and a half, Daniel didn’t know how she did it.
Of course they were put on her VIP list and she told them they could eat as much as they wanted with their own private server at their table. If it wasn’t for them she wouldn’t have gotten the position while helping Daniel save the world, again. Lucy even had Daniel fitted for a suit, a nice one for him to keep for any future events.
“Wow this place is Fa-An-Cy!” Hoagie whistled as they exited the newly repainted former ice cream truck, still had ice cream but a new look.
“Is Lucy sure she wants us around her fancy bureau friends?” Shak asked Daniel with a frown on her face. "Or her fancy family?"
“Lucy loves us.” Daniel reassured her. “And she doesn’t really like a lot of these people after realizing what they just sit and let happen the past 35 years. She’s set to reform that though. As for her family, she said only her mom, an older brother and two of her cousins were able to make it."
“If you say so.” Shak scooted a little closer to him and Daniel gave her a warm smile and a little head pat. Shak looked to Daniel for guidance as her new surrogate older brother. He thought it was really sweet, but it was a big responsibility to take her in.
After ascending the rest of the steps they finally made it inside and Daniel proudly told the distrustful Dowser bouncer his name to be let through. He knew they were all still salty at him especially now that he has such exclusive access to the Primus as her good friend.
“Look at this spread!” Hoagie drooled as they walked to their vip table.
“It looks amazing in here!” Shak looked around in awe.
“You guys can stay here, but I'm going to go find Lucy and see how our lady of the hour is doing.” Daniel winked and walked off to find her. She was keeping her dress a secret from everyone, some big secretly magic designer wanted to work with her. In short, he didn’t know what she’d be wearing and there were a lot of people here tonight.
He was starting to think she was late to her own welcoming gala when he saw a sparkling flash out in the back garden area. Something told him to investigate the pop of color going in between the shrubbery. Daniel easily made his way from the balcony to the garden area, skipping the stairs, to follow the dress.
Daniel looked around the trimmed hedges and didn’t see Lucy yet, but he heard weird shallow breaths. “Luce? Lucy you in here?”
“D-Daniel?” Lucy asked between quick shallow breaths. Daniel heard her and followed her voice around another corner of hedges.
“Lucy, hey.” he greeted and then his face fell into a bit of awe.
“Um, how do I look? Do I look okay?” she asked nervously.
“Lucy you look gorgeous.” Daniel said taking in her dress. Lucy was dressed in a shiny gold champagne colored one shoulder caped dress that reminded him of an ancient Grecian look. It hugged nicely at her hips showing off her naturally cinched waist with lace trim at the top and beautiful gold moons. The dress showed off one leg under a layer of lace with the same moon pattern. Lucy’s hair growth was magicked into a bob length, still retaining its curls with gold leaf hair accessories and gold thin strapped heels.
“i just...” Lucy didn’t finished as she sat down on a bench and practically had her head in her lap.
“Woah.” Daniel finally realized that Lucy was having a panic attack and came to sit next to her, putting a hand on her back. “Breathe, inhale slowly and exhale slowly.”
“I can’t.” she panted.
“Yes you can.” he reassured her. “Breathe, come on. Inhale slowly, hold it, breathe out slowly. Repeat.” Daniel made her repeat the action at least 10 more times before she seemed okay enough to talk.
“Is my make up ruined?” she frowned.
“No, you look beautiful. Its okay.” he nodded. “Lucy what’s wrong? Stage fright?”
“Yeah except it feels like I’ll be chained to the stage.” Lucy hugged herself. “Daniel, I can’t do this.”
“Lucy, you can do this. You’re the only person who can.” Daniel hugged her close into his side.
“You know the secret I told Haruspex is that I didn’t even want to be Primus?” she murmured.
“What?” Daniel blinked. “You didn’t tell me after.”
“Hoagie knew.” she sniffed. “I’m surprised he didn’t blab it.”
“No.” Daniel shook his head.
“I never had a desire to be Primus, I just knew if I didn’t get it someone horrible would. I couldn’t let that happen, not after what we’ve been through together. I couldn’t let another psycho get it, then in the process battling Jayce and Elyse solidified it.” she confessed some more. “Now I just feel all of it finally hitting. It was exhilarating at first, it felt like I was on cloud 9.” she shrugged. “I felt like I could do it with my friends by my side.”
“You can, Luce.” Daniel
“Daniel, I can’t rely on you guys for everything.” Lucy shook her head. “I don’t want to use you like the bureau did you dad.”
Daniel’s brows lifted in surprise at that and he gently took one of her hands in his. “Lucy, the bureau didn’t care about my dad. In fact after your search for his old records in the archives and his old journals, I believe he was murdered.” Daniel swallowed thickly. “But Lucy, you care about me. I care about you.”
Lucy looked up at him and offered a weak tight lip grin and squeezed his hand back. She felt so bad that her search yielded nothing on Duncan Spellbound’s disappearance. Daniel was so disappointed that he stayed inside his room for a day mulling over his father’s notebooks.
“I do care about you. I care about Hoagie and Shak too.” she finally replied.
“I know, Luce. You care period, that’s why you’ll do great.” he nodded. “Come on, we should get back up there. You’ve gotta deliver a speech soon.” and helped her to stand up, he was about to lead her inside when she stopped him by tugging on his arm.
“Daniel?” she asked in a soft voice.
“Yeah, Lucy?”
“Thank you.” she gave him a genuine small smile. “And you look great too.”
Daniel shot back a smile at her. “Thanks, you know the Primus got this for me.” he joked and she let out a little chuckle. Sometimes she swears Daniel is magic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A day after Lucy’s Primus Introduction night, Daniel was happy to see her in better spirits. In fact she looked a little excited coming into the hideout with a big smile. “Morning you guys.” she greeted.
“Hey Luce.” Daniel got up to hug her.
“Hi Lucy!” Shak greeted her and went to give her a hug as well as Lucy looked fondly down at her and hugged her back.
“Hey Lucy, great party the other night. You should totally throw one again and serve nothing but those stuffed crabs and the lemon pasta.” Hoagie greeted.
Lucy chuckled at Hoagie and shook her head. “Duly noted, if you like we can have dinner with just us I'll hire the same chef. Actually I have some news a proposition to share with you guys.”
“What’s up?” Daniel asked. “Is it a job?”
“We’re still on the search for a cure for me, but also we have bills to pay so we’re doing jobs in between searching for my cure.” Hoagie told her as he hopped on the couch.
“Good to know, but no it's not a job.” Lucy laughed. “So I have some good news, well bad for Camilla. As you know she’s never getting out as a reward for also helping to save magic twice, the bureau sold her biggest assets and they’re letting me choose a new home out of the money. The rest of the proceeds I get to choose what to do with in a year, but I think you guys deserve it."
“Woah! Lucy’s gonna get a mansion!” Hoagie’s tail wiggled in excitement. "And we're gonna be rich!!"
“Slow down Hoagie!” Lucy held up a hand and the other covered her mouth as she laughed. “I have a lot of stuff to do first.”
“That’s great Lucy, be prepared for us to make frequent visits.” Daniel joked.
“You have to pick some place cool.” Shak added in. “What’s the proposition?”
“Well I’m not entirely sure why my new assistant, stylist and pr guy picked Ancient Greece as a rollout theme but, they’ve arranged for a three day trip to Greece. They want me to take multiple photos there so the painter can pick the best one. They’re putting me up in my own villa and it’ll be really lonely in there aaaaallll by myself.” Lucy grinned at them. “Would you guys come with me?”
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? YES!!!” Hoagie stood to his hooves again. “When do we leave???”
“In an hour?” Lucy checked her watched. “Daniel?”
“Well, I guess we can take a little vacation as long as it’s short.” Daniel relented. Good thing they hadn’t picked up a job yet even though they were a little low on cash. “Is this uh? All expenses paid?” he gave her a sheepish grin.
“Yes. They gave me a stipend, but its kind of a lot for one person anyway and I don't need much of it, my dad gives me money whenever I ask.” Lucy shrugged. “Come partake and let’s pretend like we don’t have to save the world every other week.”
Daniel gave Lucy a grin. “Fine, yeah let’s go guys.”
“I GOTTA PACK!” Hoagie sped off the couch. “SHAK I DON’T HAVE THUMBS, I NEED YOURS TO PACK!”
Shak scoffed. “I have to pack too, Hoagie!” she ran after him.
Lucy and Daniel laughed at the two younger friends scrambling in excitement. Lucy turned her attention back to Daniel who was shaking his head. “You’ve done it now.”
Lucy folded her arms. “Yeah.” she scoffed. “Don’t you need to pack Spellbound? Clock’s ticking.”
“Well I don’t have many things to pack. I have I guess enough clothes for 3 days, if I stay in the pool area I can just pack my trunks.” he shrugged with a smile.
Lucy’s smiled faltered a little, sometimes she forgets how spoiled she is. Bragging about how her dad gives her money whenever she asks, when Daniel lost his. He lost everything and didn’t have too many possessions to his name. Most of the money he earned he probably had to keep his tracker gear up to date.
“Well go pack.” she fixed her face back to a smile. “Don’t worry about it if you don’t have something.”
“Okay.” Daniel shrugged and went to his room to go pack the little bit that he had.
Lucy watched him go and texted her stylist to make a little magic happen, Daniel would enjoy himself without worry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Oh its so beautiful I could cry!” Hoagie zipped out of Lucy’s new telecar. “I’ve never been to a place like this!”
“It is really pretty, the photos don’t do it justice!” Shak looked around in awe and breathed in the air.
“Nice to be some place that we’re not in the clutches of doom.” Daniel commented as he hauled their few bags out.
“Lucy darling!” A voice called from the villa which was a little down the way. They could all see a man with shimmering purple skin run towards them, a half Canadian Cave orc. “Looking radiant as always. Oooh and these must be your friends.”
“Hi Tawnbil.” Lucy greeted the tall half orc. “Thanks for arranging this.”
“No problem honey. Something told me I could believe in you and I do. I mean besides helping to save the world twice thing and already taking steps to reform the dowsers.” he chuckled. “I am going to make sure the magic world sees you as the Princess I envision you as. A warrior Princess that is.”
“Thank you Tawnbil.” Lucy smiled graciously.
“Now come on, you’re younger friends seem to be vibrating with excitement.” Tawnbil pointed at an anxious Hoagie and Daniel rolled his eyes with a head shake. Tawnbil walked them down to the Villa and the group were in awe of how beautiful everything looked.
“This is what Heaven looks like!” Hoagie nearly fainted.
“What part of Greece are we in?” Daniel asked.
“Santorini.” Tawnbil answered. “You each have your own room and a full wardrobe to keep. I can’t have you all walking around not dressed by me.”
“Wardrobes to keep?” Shak asked. “This really is all inclusive.”
"Hoagie my dear, Lucy explained your predicament and I don't think you'd want just a wardrobe full of build-a-bear clothes so I got you that chef you liked from the Gala to come tonight." Tawnbil shrugged.
"I love this guy already!" Hoagie hugged Tawnbil around his ankles.
“Lucy this isn’t costing you is it?” Daniel looked over at her and Lucy quickly shook her head. It was, Lucy fronted the money from her money that her father gives her. Since when did Daniel care about anyone else losing some money....
“I had no idea.” she lied. “Danny its fine, just enjoy yourself.” Lucy waved him off. She had asked Tawnbil how fast he could stock a few wardrobes of exactly 15 shirts, 15 pairs pants, 15 pairs of shoes etc. She gave him a budget and he did a little magical shopping within 30 minutes.
“Okay.” Daniel shrugged. “If you say so.” he gave her another look and then went in search of his room.
Lucy and Tawnbil watched him walk away down the hall before letting out a breath of relief. “He’s cute, but a little bit of a cynic.” Tawnbil commented. “Still, I think I can work with that.”
“Tawny, don’t get any ideas.” Lucy put her hands on her hips.
“Girl you need to get an idea.” Tawnbil poked her shoulder. “He’s a little skinny, but that boy is a cute one. I didn’t get introduce myself at the gala, but from the way he looked at you, he has to be into you.”
Lucy gave Tawnbil a shy look and shook her head. “We haven’t been very close for very long.”
“You can gain a crush on someone after a few minutes.” Tawnbil shrugged. “Plus you’re gorgeous girl, the only excuse he better have for not being all up on you is if he wants me.” The half orc teased.
“You are fabulously beautiful, Tawny.” Lucy laughed.
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This sun, sea breezed air and fresh food spread was making Daniel start to relax from his initial suspicion. There was no way the bureau was just letting them have all this stuff for free. Unless this way their indirect way of saying “Thanks for saving the magic world twice, sorry for arresting you a ton of times, and sorry your dad disappeared while working for us then never helping you.” Well it wasn’t really enough if it was, but Lucy seemed so excited to share things with them he couldn’t tell her no.
He hadn’t been on an actual vacation in years. The last time he went was when he was 16 and got his first best big break tracking for Tyson. All he did was catch a bus down to Jersey City, rent a cheap motel for 2 nights, and caught their city bus around to the beach and trying cheap eats. Other than that, Daniel didn’t often take rest days, if he wasn’t out tracking he was in whatever makeshift shelter he holed up in and studying up on magic.
Shak and Hoagie deserved a vacation though, they’ve all had it rough, Hoagie having it the worst. He knew Shak was still grieving the permanent loss of her brother, there was no known way to pull him out. Hoagie was sad when he didn’t think anyone was looking, but remained optimistic to be changed back. And Daniel felt kind of bad for them because he feels like his life was actually going to be turning out for the better. The circumstances were unfortunate, but he now has a family again and he’s feeling stress free. Well not completely but the bureau wasn’t on his ass anymore, Burden came back for revenge, got beat and now he has a stable home to live in.
Then there was Lucy. When he met her a couple years ago he never thought their little cops and robbers routine would lead to this. She lightened up a ton and seemed to love getting a hug from Daniel whenever she saw him. Lucy was just surprisingly great all around, sure she was a little spoiled, but she could be so sweet. She could really be the change the magic world needed.
“Hey big head.” Lucy patted his head from behind and Daniel came back to Earth from his thoughts, turning his head slightly to give Lucy a small smile. “Feeling relaxed?”
“Yeah I am.” Daniel inhaled. “Fresh air that doesn’t smell like months old back alley piss, an ocean so pretty I didn’t know water could be that blue, this fresh food platter and more in the fridge... This is enough to heal me.” he joked.
“I’m glad you’re liking it.” Lucy said genuinely and came around to sit on the edge of his pool chair.
“How did your photoshoot go?” he asked her.
“Pretty good. I know I look good, but I was a little shy at first.” Lucy chuckled. “Tawny used this amazing brush on me though when he was getting me ready and I almost fell asleep. It was massaging my scalp.”
“I’ve never had a scalp massage maybe when my mom was alive she probably did give me one. Never had any massage actually, unless it counted when I went to Dr. Yarka and he popped my shoulder back into place. He rubbed the area lightly after but I cried like a fucking baby.”
Lucy stared at Daniel open mouthed. “Dr. Yarka the back alley magic doctor??”
“Ohhh..... oops.” he grimaced. “I don’t think I should have told you that. Don’t arrest him, so many people use him.”
Lucy sighed, closing her eyes and inhaled slowly then exhaled. “I will leave him be.” she said through tight lips.
“Wait, really?” Daniel looked at her again in surprise. “For real?”
“Yes.” she sighed. “For real.”
“Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why?” he asked her. Lucy was promising reform but it was still a struggle for her to sort through what needed to be regulated and what didn’t.
Lucy looked and Daniel with a frown and shook her head lightly. “Because some of the Dowser law’s were way too oppressive. I can’t be completely upset at Dr. Yarka’s back alley clinic when the reason he has a market is because of Dowser oppression. Good magical doctors are reserved for the so called up righteous of the magical community. People who feel like they can’t trust a lot of these bureau funded doctors turn elsewhere.”
“Wow Lucy.” A sense of pride and warmth engulfed Daniel briefly. He knows Lucy has already made steps to change, but she really is changing and understanding why. “I’m very proud of you.”
“Yeah well.” she shrugged it off. “I struck a deal with Tyson too since he helped when we needed him, especially against Jayce.”
“You did?” Daniel grinned at her. “You really are changing. What’s the deal?”
“He has to sanitize those damn ogre poo mushrooms.” Lucy shuddered. “Ew! He has to clean them off first and thoroughly. He can use the dupe spell, but he has to activate the spell INSIDE,” she pointed at Daniel. “Away from prying eyes. He's the ONLY one I’m letting go with it so far. He only sells hotdogs and only has interest in making money, at least its sort of in an honest way.”
“Even if it is kinda gross?” Daniel grinned slowly at her.
“Yeah.... and... he’s nice for keeping you employed. I’m glad some people took a chance on you.” Lucy tucked a lock behind her ear. “I should’ve.”
Daniel leaned forward a put a hand over hers. “Lucy, I know you’re beating yourself up for how the bureau operated, but you can’t put that all on yourself.”
“I want to feel it until I can make it feel better.” she said a little darkly. Daniel squeezed her hand in support, but he felt very concerned. Over time he’s become a little jaded on top of his good guy layers, but his friends are emotional. He can tell all three are hurting in some sort of way and trying to hide it, he’s done the same.
“You don’t have to do that.” he told her softly. “Remember to take it easy, you can’t change and upheave all this shit in two months.”
Lucy huffed softly, looking down at her sandaled feet. “You’re right. I should chill out.”
“That’s the spirit.” Daniel said leaning back. “Come on we’re in Greece, it's only 4 in the afternoon. Let’s go have fun. Hoagie and Shak already ditched us anyway.”
“I would like to....go to the Museum?” she gave a sheepish smile.
“That sounds amazing actually.” He grinned over at her and when she smiled back he felt warmth again from more than just the sun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the first time in in a decade Daniel felt relaxed, worry free and was actually enjoying himself in a new change of scenery. Not that he didn’t enjoy his Treasure finding, studying and fighting for his life. The most enjoyable part of the vacation wasn’t even the luxury pool, the first voluntary nap he took in a long time, or even the drinks. It was spending time with Lucy.
Daniel had always shrugged off friendship until he met his new core group, but he was a fool. Being able to talk to someone about your problems, hopes, fears and dreams worked wonders for his mental health. It was even better talking to someone his age that just understood some things he was feeling. Lucy came from another world than him in terms of childhood, but both shouldered a world of responsibility. The whole experience recently has been broadening his world view.
He doesn’t quite know how enriching the current tipsy conversation they were having at 10 at night outside of a Greek bar was though.
“No no no... You two were fighting over me, technically.” Daniel pointed out while swirling his drink around.
“Please, a princess like Lucy would not fight over a man.” Tawnbil scoffed into his own drink.
“I asked for your help and then didn’t want it after you betrayed me. So in ancient Greece you and Jayce would be like weird frienemies sometimes lovers and fight over me.” Lucy pointed out, smirking over he glass.
“Sometimes lovers??? With Jayce??” Daniel asked disgusted. “Hell no. Plus he was older than me!”
"You were both adults when you met." Lucy laughed.
“Hey in ancient Greece banging your bro was common.” Tawnbil shrugged. “I wish time travel was real.” he sat his cheek on his palm. “I’d thrive in ancient Greece with all those Apollos...”
“You’d be the prettiest damsel they’d ever launch ships for.” Lucy complimented.
“Thank you!” Tawnbil touched his chest, genuinely smiling. “I’d like to think Poseidon and Zeus would fight over me.”
“Didn’t they use to practice pederasty in their stories?” Daniel deadpanned at the two who then looked at him in silence for a beat.
“....... Dammit, I forgot about that. Gross.” Tawnbil folded his arms. “Oh well I can always thirst over the Norse gods.”
Daniel and Lucy laughed at Tawnbil’s quick change of pace, if anything he was a go getter. “Anyway to finish winning this argument, I hate Jayce. Hate is a strong word and I’ve only reserved it for a few things and people. Dude killed his own little sister.” Daniel fumed a bit.
“I believe you. He definitely should burn for what he did to Shak.” Lucy nodded in agreement.
Daniel bit his lip and swirled his drink again. “I used to want to be like him, but not like that. I didn’t like myself too much inside when I left you to fend with Kel.” Daniel admitted again. “I thought money would make me feel better. Turns out in a very ironic Care Bears sort of way, friendship was beginning to matter the most.”
“Awww Danny.” Lucy rubbed his arm. “Although money is nice.”
“Yes it is.” he nodded while sipping his drink again, good thing this trip was all paid for.
“What a man.” Tawnbil shimmied his elbows in contrast to his deadpan. “Handsome and Empathetic.”
“Thank you, Tawnbil.” Daniel held up his drink.
“Ahem, speaking of handsome, I need to go get my beauty sleep babe.” Tawnbil stood up and kissed Lucy on the forehead. “Catch you tomorrow morning.”
“Night.” the two friends bid him and before leaving completely Tawnbil mouthed to Lucy to ‘tell him’
Daniel furrowed his brows at this, watching Tawnbil walk away quickly and turned to look at Lucy. “Tell me what?”
“Ah, dammit Tawny.” she scoffed.
“Lucy?” He turned fully towards her. “Is everything okay?”
Lucy sighed heavily. “Yes....” she shook her head and looked him in the eyes. “Daniel, there was a bit of alternative motive for why I thought to take you guys on this trip at the last minute.”
“Okay?” he replied in a questioning tone, trying to ready himself for whatever new threat or world changing news she was going to deliver.
“I am...” she sighed again softly. “I’m going away for a while and I don’t know how long, but I know it’ll be longer than 5-6 months.” she confessed.
Daniel’s face contorted in confusion. “What? What do you mean? You can’t just... leave!” he gestured. “You’re the primus now. You did all that work to get the scepter, what are you shirking it off?”
“No!” she shook her head. “That’s not me, despite what I said, I'm sticking to it! That’s why I’ll be gone.”
“Gone where??” he asked her.
“In a secret location or something to train myself better.” she replied in a tone that wished him to understand. “I got beat easily by Bixby and Burden and almost got killed by Kel.” she pointed out and a Daniel felt a sting to his chest when Kel was mentioned.
“Lucy, Burden beat me too, like twice.” he reasoned. “You’re also tiny, of course Bixby got the upperhand.”
“But that can’t be the case too much. I know I can’t win every fight, but you didn’t even have magic and you beat Bixby almost every time!” Lucy argued.
Daniel shook his head to get back on track. “Wha-what is this training?”
“I’m just going to hone my combat skills and get more in touch with magic. I’m not too shabby on my magic, but its very clear that the dowser academy did me no favors about how a lot of things actually work. You even know more history about it than me. I’ll be a poor Primus if I don’t shape up.” she explained. “They found someone for me to train under and when I am free I’ll be touring the world to meet different magic communities. I’ll be running things with the help of another trusted assistant and Tawnbil.”
Daniel was no longer meeting her eyes and had a sad and angry look on his face. “Lucy, I don’t like this.” he confessed. “I can’t try to make you stay either. I get it, I just.... It sucks.”
“I know.” she frowned. “It does suck. I won’t be allowed a lot of personal communication either.”
Daniel looked up at her at that, he was just getting used to communicating regularly with her. He was beginning to see her as a best friend, he doesn’t know if you’re allowed more than one, but she is.
“Fuck.” he sat back with his arms folded.
“I know.” she said again apologetically. “Hey but...” she tried to brighten. “I trust Tawnbil and I told him to strictly employ you guys for a majority of missions. Plus the Dowsers will be hands off you.”
“Thanks.” He was still frowning. Any other time the promise of steady money would make him gleeful, right now it wasn’t making him happy. He wanted Lucy to stay, but he didn’t have a good enough reason to make her stay.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Lucy, you can’t leave!” Hoagie ran up into her arms.
Lucy brought him up for a hug. “I have to Hoags, i don’t really want to leave you guys, but I need to.”
Hoagie sniffled. “I understand, I just hate it! Who’s gonna make us La Bandera when Danny’s malnutritional diet and horrible cooking catches up to us???”
“Hoags.” Daniel deadpanned. “Come on. Lucy will be back before you know it.” which is what he’d been telling himself.
“Aw man, this kinda sucks.” Shaks rubbed her arm shyly. “I always thought about having a big sister too.” she looked up at Lucy with a small smile, this was her admission that she was warming up to Lucy a lot.
Lucy’s eyebrows raised in surprise then her face softened with a fond smile. ”When I come back, me and you are going to have the sister’s day out you deserve.” Shak offered a big smile at that and hugged Lucy tightly, he was glad that Lucy accepted her offer of friendship.
“All this is making me faint.” Hoagie whined. “Please, I need my emergency deli order, STAT!”
“Ugh, I’ll take the drama king to the real bodega.” Shak rolled her eyes. “Bye Lucy, please come back soon and safe.”
“By Shak, I will.” Lucy put a hand on her hip.
“Bye Lucy! Bring me back exotic snacks! And come back by next week, young lady!” Hoagie stuck out a hoof.
“Bye, Hoagie. The snacks part is probably doable.” Lucy pointed. “I don’t know about next week.” The two younger friends exited as if Hoagie wanted to drag Shak along to give Daniel time to say bye. “And then there was one.”
Lucy moved forward arms up and Daniel pulled her gently into a tight hug. He didn’t even notice how he moved his face to be tucked into her neck and inhaled that perfume he loves. “You suck for this.”
“Yeah yeah.” she smirked pulling away from him. “I’m going to miss you.” she confessed. “I know we haven’t been actual friends that long, but I am. I wish I had a little longer, but I have to go hit up my family to say bye too.”
“I’m going to miss you too.” he shook his head, it wasn’t ridiculous for her to think that. “Look, um.” he rubbed the back of his head, something he always did when nervous. “I know you’re going to have limited time to talk to the outside, but shoot us a text or something.”
“I was planning on it.” she smiled gently. Lucy moved in for another hug and he swayed her a little trying to hold on. Lucy pulled away again with only their hands touching as she gave him a sad smile. “Bye Daniel, please stay out of trouble and be good.”
“Why Lucy, I’ve never been in trouble or bad.” he grinned. “Bye Lucy. Don’t be too long.”
“I’ll try.” she nodded and waved good bye as she magicked away. As soon as she faded his smile turned into a big frown. He hated this already and he didn’t know why he hated this immensely.
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A/N:
This is a story on getting a huge crush, not falling in love. I like to think he can be romantic when he wants because he learned how to be a smooth talker and tell people what they want to hear even if its genuine.