Appearances
It was cold - almost below freezing - and Danny was seriously starting to regret leaving the house. Oh, don't get him wrong. He would've stayed home but he left his sister's birthday present back at the general store Materia. He would've waited until work hours to get it too, but he didn't want Rosetta mistaking the doll for some of her merchandise.
Heaven knows how much that girl loved her money.
He sighed as he stepped to the store's front door and knocked on it. When there was no answer, he knocked again. He was getting colder and colder by the minute and he desperately wanted to go home. After one more knock without an answer, he groaned.
"Ugh. What is she doing? She must not be home - guess I'll just come back tomorrow." As he turned to leave, he heard the familiar squeak of a wooden door and turned back to see Rosetta, glaring at him.
"What is it?" She asked irritably. "You know Materia is closed today, right?"
He rolled his eyes. Everytime he talked to her she always had some bad attitude - it was only around him, too. She seemed to act civil with the other villagers.
Maybe she was just one of those people he'd never be able to get along with. Hmph. Not that it was a big loss.
"Well, boss," He said, stuffing his frostbitten hands into his coat pockets. He really needed a pair of gloves. "I just came to get something I forgot here yesterday."
Rosetta looked him over once and sighed. "Why couldn't you wait until tomorrow when the store is open?"
"I didn't want you mistaking my stuff for merchandise and putting it up for sale."
"Please," She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not stupid. I wouldn't sale anything I didn't recognize."
It was freezing! He just wanted to get in, get the doll, and go home. "That's good. Can I, uh, come in now? It's cold out here."
She sighed exasperatedly and backed away from the door to let him in. Once he was inside, she closed the door behind him and walked toward the stairs. "...You want some hot chocolate or something? You look pretty cold."
"...Nah," Well, that was weird. She was showing hospitality towards him? What had the world come to? "I'm just gonna find my stuff and leave. There's no need."
He could've been wrong, but he almost swore that he saw the smallest frown on her face before she turned her head away. "Oh, I see. Well, hurry up then. Can't have you in here all day." And with that, she walked upstairs and out of sight.
If he didn't know any better, he'd say that she seemed almost... sad that he refused her offer. But that couldn't be. The girl hated him, so why would she want him to stay? He gave her so much trouble those first few weeks after she moved here, but then... she was nice enough to give him a job after his own store went down under. That didn't mean anything, though. She still treated him with disdain, so...
He just didn't get it.
Shrugging it off, he started to look through the shelves. It was no use in thinking about it if he couldn't come up with a definite answer.
After a few minutes of searching, he found the small rag doll in one of the drawers on the front counter.
"Oh yeah... I put in here because I didn't want to lose it." He shrugged, laughing to himself a little. "Guess that didn't work out."
He slipped the small doll into his coat pocket and was getting ready to leave when he heard a loud crash come from upstairs. Confused, he walked up to the foot of the stairs and yelled out,
"Boss! You alright?"
There was no answer.
He would've walked up there, but that was her room. He couldn't waltz in there however he pleased. For all he knew, she could've just dropped some dishes or something... but it was a little worrying that she wasn't answering him.
He tried again. "Can you hear me? Is everything alright up there?"
No answer.
Okay, this was ridiculous. There had to be something wrong up there if she wasn't answering him. He knew he wasn't on very good terms with her, but he wasn't gonna let her die or hurt herself while he was there. Sighing, he walked up the stairs to her room. Once he made it up there, he saw Rosetta, kneeling on the ground with broken dishes scattered around her. Her head was lowered to the ground and her body was shaking. All of a sudden, he could feel a rush of worry come over him.
There was clearly something up with her.
"B-boss?" He walked closer to her kneeling form. "What happened? You didn't answer me, so I came up-"
"It's not fair..." He heard her mutter to herself. "I-it's not fair..."
He knew she was talking to herself, but he couldn't help but answer. "What's... not fair?"
At the sound of his voice, she jerked her head up in his direction, eyes wide with shock. Her eyes were red and moist with tears. She gasped as if she was only just now realizing he was here. "N-nothing. What are..." She wiped her eyes furiously. "What are you doing here? Who said you could come in my room?"
This was really starting to unsettle him. Why was Rosetta, of all people, crying? And what was she mumbling about?
He extended a hand to help her up. "I did. Now get up, you're gonna cut yourself sitting in all that broken glass."
She stared at his outstreched hand for a while before shaking her head in refusal. "I-I can get up by myself." Shakily, the blonde stood up off of the ground and looked at him strangely before starting to pick up the broken pieces of glass.
"Why were you crying?" He found himself asking before he could stop himself. But who could blame him? Seeing Rosetta crying was like seeing Erik actually get a girlfriend. It was just one of those things that he never thought would happen.
She turned to him and glared; although, it wasn't as fierce as the glares she usually gave him. "I can't say I like nosy people... it's none of your business."
Danny gritted his teeth, trying to hold back a scowl. She was always so difficult. The girl obviously had some kind of problem, so why couldn't she accept help when it was being offered to her?
"Hey. I was just worried about you, you know?" He scoffed angrily. "What I am supposed to do when I find my tough-as-nails boss on the floor crying and shaking? Just leave? I'm not heartless." She opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off. "I know you hate me and I don't blame you. I gave you hell when you first moved here, but here I am now trying to help you and you just brush me off! I don't hate you. Sure, I used to but I've moved on from all that, so why can't you?"
She stopped cleaning up the glass and stood up straight, looking him in the eye. She stared up at him intensely and he stared back down at her with the same intensity - almost like some kind of weird staring contest. After what seemed like an eternity, she relented and looked down to the floor.
"I... I don't get you."
He scoffed again. The feeling was mutual.
"I can't really understand myself, either." She continued. "Some days... I don't feel like myself. I feel tired, like I'm some completely different person and not 'Rosetta'."
He didn't understand where that came from, but he let her continue.
"It's just that..." She walked over to her bed and sat on it. "I don't know who I am anymore. At times I feel strong, like nothing can bring me down. But at other times... like now... I feel so useless. Hopeless. Like I can't do everything at once and life is just too much for me."
"But isn't that normal?" He asked her, walking closer. "Everyone feels like that once in a while. It's called 'stress'."
"It isn't stress!" She yelled - he could see her gripping the sheets of her bed. "It's just me failing. Me being useless. Everyone has always had this image of me. They always saw me as reliable, strong, and on top of things. If I become useless... if I don't keep up that image then I feel like I'm betraying the people that trust me. I won't feel right."
"Don't be stupid." He said, sitting down next to her on the bed. "It's not good when you try to keep up false appearances. It doesn't help anyone out in the long run, least of all you."
She turned her head away from him. "What do you know? Have you ever had multiple people rely on you to provide them with goods, clothes, and food? Have you ever dealt with being perfect because everyone believes you are?"
"No, can't say I have. But... that's just it. You don't have to do all that - it'll make things a lot easier for you and the people around you if you would just be yourself."
"But... I have to be strong for my dad." She looked back up to him, a frown on her face. "That's why I was crying... because he's sick. A few months ago, he was diagnosed with this uncurable illness. My... mom died from illness, too. He's my only family, so if I lost him... I don't know what I would do. When I found out, I wanted to move back in with him but he told me not to. He said that I was... an adult now and that I needed to find my own worth in life. Dad wanted me to marry, have kids, to start my own family. He said that he didn't want to hold me back from living my own life."
Danny was, for a lack of better words, surprised. There was more than meets the eye to the woman he came to know as Rosetta. Under that rough exterior was a girl who was insecure about herself. A truly caring girl that held the things and people that were dear to her close to her heart, and would be utterly torn if any were taken away from her. She wasn't as hateful and mean as he originally thought she was.
"...I understand. You know, you aren't such a bad person, I guess." He shrugged, standing up from the bed. "I've seen the real you, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I'm sure everyone else would feel the same."
The slightest blush appeared on her face and she huffed, crossing her arms. "What do you know... you're not everybody else."
He laughed. Yes, this Rosetta was much better than the other one - he could get used to her. "Why so red, Rosetta? You embarrassed?"
"N-no! It's just that... ugh, never mind." She stood up from the bed and brushed off her skirt. "...Thanks."
"What for?"
She walked over to the kitchen and got a broom, sweeping up the last of the glass shards. "For making me feel better, okay? You're... you're not so bad, either."
He waved his hand lazily. "Don't worry about it. I feel like we're on common ground now. You love your dad, and I love my sister. You have someone you work hard for and... I really repsect that."
"Sister?" She stopped sweeping. "You have a sister?"
"Yeah. She lives far away from here with the rest of my family. I moved away because I wanted to see more of the world. One day, I found this town and decided to... stay here, I guess." He took the rag doll out of his pocket. "This is what I left in your store. I was going to send this to my sister for her birthday. She's been writing me letters, telling me that she's been wanting one for a long time now."
Rosetta smiled. "Well, that's nice. Having a family like that."
"Yeah..." He put the doll back in his pocket. "Well, since you seem to be fine now, I guess I'll be heading on home."
"Alright," She continued to sweep. "I'll be seeing you at work tomorrow. 9AM sharp."
He laughed. "Not like I'll be late. I live next door."
"I've been working with you for almost a year now. You've been late a lot." She smirked. "Probably because you stand by your mailbox everyday, waiting for-"
"Hey!" Now he could feel his face getting red. If this new Rosetta meant that she would start teasing him, he'd rather have the old one back. "I get it, okay? I've been late a couple of times. I won't be late tomorrow, okay?"
She laughed. The first, genuine laugh that he had ever heard from her. Well, at least the first laugh she directed at him, anyway.
"Right. See you tomorrow."
He waved and turned towards the stairs. As he started to descend, Rosetta called out to him. "Hey!"
He looked back at her, wondering what else she needed. "Yeah? What is it?"
"Do you think you can tell me more about your family sometime?" Seeing his confused face, she frowned. "I mean, I just want to know what it was like, is all. Having a mom and dad, brothers and sisters..."
"Sure, okay. I wouldn't mind that."
She smiled, clearly satisified with his answer. "...Thanks. See you tomorrow, then."
"See ya." He raised his hand in a halfhearted wave and walked down the stairs.
Sure, they had their problems with each other. She annoyed him and he probably annoyed her too. But after breaking through her outward appearance, he saw that they weren't that different after all. He felt that he could understand her better now - not that they become the best of friends, or anything. They were just... more comfortable with each other now. They would probably still disagree on things and have their arguments with each other, but... he didn't think of it as a bad thing.
As he walked back out into the cold winter air and headed back home, he smiled.
He didn't really mind this strange turn of events. No... he didn't think it would be that bad, after all.
Not really satisfied with this, but whatever! Wanted to do a Danny/Rosetta friendship fic. Love these two interactions, it needs to be more developed.
Man, I am in a oneshot mood! Expect to see more from me eventually.