Pairings: MidKino, ex-Yujeel (Yukino/Gajeel {someone needs to write this}), BixLu.
Summary: She was in there every day for three weeks, with the oddest purchases, until one day she stopped coming. Two months and a broken heart later, she was in his life to stay.
She was here again, her white hair standing out against the more…normal hair colors of the other people who came in to Walmart. In the interest of full disclosure, he had mistaken her for an old lady the first time he'd seen her. That was one of the most embarrassing moments of his life when he realized that no, actually, she was a lovely young lady with soft, pretty hair.
Though he really had no room to talk when it came to hair. His own black-and-white hair, combined with his taste in makeup, had his supervisor assigning him the night shift. Besides, he'd be up this late anyway. His insomnia was actually serving him for once.
What did she have this time?
Every day for the past three weeks without fail, the white haired girl had shown up at the oddest hours. Sometimes she'd be in and out by midnight, other times her shuffling feet would stagger through the checkout line around five in the morning, still in her pajamas and glasses with tiny pigtails sticking out randomly.
And yet… She always had a smile for him, despite the odd hours and her obvious exhaustion. And her odd selection of purchases. It had become a sort of game for him, wondering what she would buy today.
She smiled at him as she set her basket down and began emptying it onto the conveyer belt.
A head of lettuce. Popcorn. Pickled okra. Grape jelly. Rice. Beets.
He couldn't resist. "A head of lettuce at 3 am?" He lifted it and looked at her curiously. She sighed. Leaning against the counter, she nodded, eyes drooping slightly. "It's a long story."
Midnight shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere and you look like you could use a breather."
The girl smiled and stretched her arms above her head, the bones in her back making awful cracking sounds as she did. She slumped back down in relief. "Thanks for the offer. I could really use it right now. My best friend is staying in my apartment right now while her husband is gone and they're in the middle of moving. On top of my home being sort of invaded by Lucy and her son, she's also pregnant." The white haired girl pointed at the odd selection of items on the belt. She rolled her eyes. "And since her darling husband isn't here, it's up to me to run out and get what she's craving right that moment." Her brown eyes slid shut for a heartbeat longer than normal. For a moment, he thought she had fallen asleep on her feet. "And I have a 7:30 test tomorrow," she blurted out, her eyes opening and focusing back on him. She frowned slightly. "Today. Tomorrow. Something. I was up anyway, so Lucy sent me out."
"Is that why you've bought corn, steak sauce, and vanilla ice cream all in one day?" Her deadpan look changed to one of confusion. Midnight cursed to himself. He hadn't meant to say that. It made him seem like a stalker. Which he wasn't. She was just so memorable with her hair and weird shopping list. She wrinkled her nose, then shrugged it off and continued talking. She didn't seem inclined to walk away, either. Was that a good sign? He really hoped so.
Because with every passing moment, Midnight was falling harder and harder for his mysterious late night shopper.
"Pregnant women are very hard to say no to even at 3am, especially ones with big, sad brown eyes." She paused. "Tear filled brown eyes," she clarified, shivering at the memory. He hid a smirk and returned to actually doing his job. Thankfully, the manager was nowhere nearby. Midnight really didn't want to lose his job.
"You two must be really close then."
"We've been best friends since grade school. Lucy and Yukino, best friends and cousins forever." She smiled softly.
So, her name is Yukino. Snow…It suits her.
Before he could open his mouth and introduce himself, a phone began buzzing. The girl, who he now knew as Yukino, groaned and fished it out of her pajama pants pocket. She answered it with a grumpy look on her face. "Yes? Hi, Lucy. Yes, I'm at the store." She rolled her eyes, shooting him a look that clearly said 'can you believe this?' and went back to her conversation. "Yes, I'll be back soon and I got everything you asked for." The hysterical voice of a woman was clearly heard on the other end of the phone. Yukino groaned again. "Don't worry, Lucy, Bix'll be fine. Yes. Oh for the love of- Woman, go to sleep! I'll be back in a few. Cool your jets and go to bed or I'll save all this stuff for myself! Thank you. Goodnight."
Midnight finished ringing up her odd purchases as she ended the call and shoved her phone back in her pocket. "Here you are." She smiled and paid, gathering up her groceries.
"Thank you…?" Yukino trailed off letting her sentence end in a question.
"Midnight. My name is Midnight." Yukino's gentle face spread into a smile.
"It's nice to meet you, Midnight," she said as she began walking away. "I guess I'll see you around."
"Yeah," he whispered, watching her slim body disappear through the doors. "See you around."
He didn't see Yukino his mystery shopper for two months. And…it made him pretty sad. He'd only really spoken to her once but she'd somehow captured his heart with that one conversation.
It felt as if innumerable days had passed when she finally stepped back into his life.
And boy, did she look like a mess. He'd seen her at her less than best before, but Midnight knew she'd never looked like this. Her white hair was mussed and tangled. Her pretty brown eyes were swollen, red rimmed, and black smudges were under her eyes and brushing her cheekbones. She wore a ratty old hoodie and cutoff shorts. And she was silently crying and holding a basket with ice cream.
From what little he knew of women, these were usual indicators of either extreme stress, the natural monthly visitor, or heartbreak. His money was on heartbreak.
"Hi," he said quietly as Yukino emptied her basket.
"Hi," she sniffled back. Her head bowed and her slippered feet shuffled slightly.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Okay." He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She simply stared off into space until her phone made an annoyingly cheerful chirping sound. Yukino's jaw clenched, her brown eyes hardening, as she resolutely ignored it. The sound repeated at least fifteen times, and every time, she ignored it. It took a toll on her, he noted, because her eyes grew more and more desolate.
His mental bet shifted from heartbreak to nasty breakup. The way she held herself and ignorance of her phone all pointed big, red arrows toward that theory. "Hey."
Yukino's head jerked toward from her study of the far wall. Midnight shifted awkwardly, cursing himself for every saying a word. She was quite obviously heartbroken. Why did he have to open his big mouth? "I…"
"I broke up with my boyfriend." Yukino blurted out. Her white face turned bright red as she realized what she'd just said. But she was committed now and plowed on. "He…he was kind of an arse and wasn't very nice at times and I'm trying to focus on my studies and he was flirting with another girl when I wasn't looking and…" she gulped in a breath and ended kind of weakly, not meeting Midnight's stunned wide eyes. "And I think Gajeel and I are better off separate."
"Well, good for you. If you guys weren't working out, then he wasn't the guy for you." Midnight shrugged easily. "You'll find the right one someday."
"The gothic cashier is a believer in true love?" The question sounded rude but the genuine smile on her face took the sting out of her words.
He smiled back. "As you wish."
"What he meant was 'I love you,'" she replied and let out a happy little sigh, her previous heartbreak forgotten for the moment. "I…uh, I was actually planning on going home and watching that and eating way too much ice cream and crying and not talking to my sister about what happened." Yukino hesitated for a moment then plunged on. "I know you don't really know me very well and you could be some psychopathic serial killer and I just broke up with my boyfriend and shouldn't really be doing this and it's like 4am, but do you want to watch the Princess Bride with me?" She was looking at him with big pleading eyes he wasn't really registering, seeing as he was still trying to process her sudden burst of words.
"You think I could be a psychopathic serial killer?"
She stared at him blankly. "That was all you got out of that?" She asked slowly, a blue toned eyebrow ratcheting up.
"Yeah, pretty much." Midnight handed her her receipt and grinned. "And to answer your question, I get off about now and I'd love to watch the Princess Bride with you, Yukino." Her white eyelashes fluttered rapidly.
"You…remember my name?"
Midnight nodded, feeling his heart swell. He could already tell this was going to be one heck of a ride. "Yeah, how could I forget my late night mystery shopper?"