title – honey feathers
summary – things are suddenly awkward and storkos is blunt as a child.
pairing – storkos x bart
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Bart looked up from his mug of milk, startled when the doorbell to his shop chimed, signaling that someone had entered. Backhanding the white refreshment from his mouth, Bart's gaze met that of Storkos. She was usually high in the cliffs of Pinata Island, too preoccupied with eggs to come that often to the village. She had, probably, been in his shop only twice since he opened so long ago.
"Hiya, Bart!" the girl chirped, sounding particularly happy, "the new gardener in town wants a few of your fancy gold tickets!"
She rocked on her heels, searching for the piles of coated paper stamped with the face of the aforementioned shop keeper with her gaze. Bart grunted, the sound of it grumpy and annoyed. "To busy to make it down here is she, I suppose?" he growled as he rung up three gold tickets on his register.
Storkos hummed a soft tune of reply. She pulled a handful of chocolate coins from her the satchel at her hip before counting out the payment. She held out the money to the Tinker. "Aw," she cooed, taking in the disgruntled look behind his mask, "she took your love interest, huh?"
Fannie, the post office keep, had an obvious crush on the newest gardener on the island. She was always giving her soft looks down her snout, metal cheeks pinking. The thought of it made Bart want to grind his teeth, stomp his hat into the dirt.
She was fat, the new gardener was. She was all soft curves and rolls. Her thick figure was obvious when she stood with Leafos or Fannie, the former leaning on a soft arm, giggling cheerfully. The gardener was bigger than Storkos, Bart mused, eying the self-proclaimed champion from underneath the brim of his hat. She was babbling, eyes expressive and bright underneath her mask. "Pretty enough . . . ," Bartholomew murmured to himself, watching her full lips pull tight over the shiny white wall of her teeth when she grinned.
"So lots of superheros have multiple love interests and arcs!" finished Storkos. Bart jumped. Her voice was loud. "Don't ya see?"
"I'm a superhero?" that was a surprising statement. Usually, her delusions of grandeur were only excluded to herself and her siblings; Leafos, Seedos, and the former Stardos.
Storkos hummed a reply, taking a few gold tickets from a pile. "You have to be!" she remarked, grinning, again. "You're the only one who can change non-pinata things into other things and that is pretty cool!"
Bart stared at her.
He could see the pale white skin underneath her mask turn rosy, contrasting with soft blue paint of her facial accessories. "Um," Storkos murmured, "I think she wants a few bottles of medicine." Bart watched her finger inside her bag, feeling for the cool glass of honey jars.
"Easy enough . . . ," Bart mumbled, the teeth of his own clicking together noisily. The tinker scratched at some exposed skin at the underside of his chin. The heavy cloth of his gloves felt rough.
The air in his store was thick.
After a few heartbeats, Storkos tucked a chocolate strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, I better get going!" she chirped. Her smile was soft. Bart swallowed down a lump of sudden awkwardness. "A couple of Ponocky are in heat! And you know what that means!"
The man blinked, suddenly itchy underneath his mask
". . . 'couple 'o eggs every 'couple 'o days!" giggled Storkos, finishing with a exaggerated wave of her feathered arms. She darted for the door, tickets in-hand.
Bart shook his head. Clearing it, he supposed later. "Remind her to probably mark everything so that there is no confusion!" he called after her.
Storkos turned back to him with a grin, face still pink with heat. "See!" she laughed, "you're the 'People's Champion' of making things better!"
She took off down the village street and into the sunlight and warmth of the outside. Bart watched her go, chocolate coins melting in his palm.
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a/n -
my sister and I have playing a lot of viva pinata, and I really like storkos and bart.
constrictive criticisms welcomed and appreciated.
- kati.