Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 47th cycle. Now cycle 48!


Cycle 48/Day 1000 special: So, yes, in this cycle, a milestone I had to do something special for.
In this cycle I'm passing my 1000th consecutive day of gleekathon! So for this, the cycle will feature:
* 21-day/chapter story for the Sunshine Girls series (This Little Light of Mine)
* 14-day/chapter story special for day 1000 (Let Me Tell You A Story)
* One-shot installments from 12 series + 2 non-series
* And for this cycle and this cycle alone (I swear), 7 'triple shift' days, with 3 chapters/stories going up in the day!


This is a triple shift day. There will be two more uploads today: This Little Light of Mine, chapter 1 and Let Me Tell You A Story, chapter 1.


"Sugar So Sweet"
(Beiste &) Ewan/Sugar
Ewan & Beiste series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

(A/N: Please read the info above the line! Thanks!)

His first weekend at the shoe store had been mostly for training, but he picked things up so fast that by the end of his second day he just came off like he'd been there for ages. Rich was very pleased with him and with how things worked out. Ewan would get money to put aside for his trip home, and the store had gained a model employee.

When his first paycheck had come in, his aunt had convinced him that, while the bulk of it would go into his trip fund, he should get to keep some of it for himself, and a little of it just to have fun, too. With that in mind, he had texted Sugar, asking if she would like to go to the mall with him to 'spend some wild money,' to which she had replied it was one of her favorite things to do. She would meet him there in one hour.

He arrived before her, so he sat and waited, reading a book he had to finish for English. He was alerted to her presence when he heard his name called out from across the way. He looked up – as many others did – and saw her coming toward him with a grin; she was either really happy to see him, or really happy for the spending she was about to do.

"Do you know where you want to go first?" she asked him and, before he could answer, she had scampered off, tugging him along. He gave no resistance whatsoever; with her, he wouldn't have known how. He had not needed much of a push to understand just in which direction his feelings for her were evolving. But this was all still fairly new to him, so knowing about and knowing what to do with it were two different and unrelated beasts.

So, for now, he followed. She was excited, which just made her spill over with energy he found impossible not to smile about. If he listened to his teachers half as much as he hung on to her words, he might actually struggle less in his classes. It wasn't that he was failing at this point, but he was close in a couple subjects.

He knew others found her odd, and maybe she was, but he liked it. For all he knew, this was all part of his feelings for her giving him eyes that didn't see faults but charms. He knew he was never as happy as he was when he was with her. He didn't know how she felt about him, or if she felt anything about him, but as long as she would have him, he would be there.

After a few shops, she had declared herself hungry. He was getting there himself, so he decided some of his 'mad money' should be spent buying them both lunch. As they were bound to, they ended up at Breadstix, sitting across from one another in a booth. They ordered their food and as they waited, she got a look on her face like there was something she really wanted to know. This being her, there was little to no chance she wouldn't ask it. And as he'd figured…

"What was it like back in Ireland?" She had never really asked him about it, never spoke about his parents or what had happened to them, which he could definitely appreciate, especially in the beginning. Now that he was working to go back there over the summer there was a much more nostalgic feeling to it, a need to see it again, if only for a little while.

"It's beautiful," were the first words he could think of, and he knew them to be true. "Where I lived, my house was small and old, but it was… home. My father would say the house had character, and my mother would ask if that character was terribly depressed."

"Why?" Sugar asked, curious.

"Things broke a lot. I think the best part was the yard, around the house… It was wide open and green and flowered, which was why they bought it in the first place. It was peaceful… most of the time," he smirked with a memory teasing at his lips. Sugar just planted her elbow on the table, chin in her palms as she dreamed away.

"Wow…" she found herself saying, which made her laugh and sit back up. "Ever seen a leprechaun?"

"Oh, sure, all the time," he shrugged.

"Really?" she blinked.

"No," he laughed, and she frowned. "But when I was four my mother dressed me up as one," he admitted, and the frown disappeared immediately, replaced again by curiosity.

"She did? Why?"

"She said she thought I would look adorable. I remember more like… confused. I look it, too, in the photos."

"There's pictures?" she asked.

"Not here, but back there," he explained.

"Well when you go, you need to bring them back," she declared.

"I'll do my best," he promised.

As they ate, she continued to ask questions, and he dutifully answered. That she was so curious about him was just more than he would ever have expected. But by the end of the day it would not even be the biggest surprise anymore.

When they had finished their lunch, dessert and all, they had gotten up and he had pulled some of the money he'd put in his pocket that morning, looking at the bill and hoping that was a big enough tip. He was just looking back to ask her that very question when she kissed him.

He hadn't seen it coming, only he'd looked back and then her lips were on his, and her body was so close to his that he could feel her warmth… He had only just gotten over the shock and understood what was happening when she had pulled back and it was done. She was looking at him, and he just wanted to remember how to go about making words.

"Ewan?" she asked, and it woke him up.

"Hello…" he breathed.

"You look a little shocked," she brushed at his shoulder with an amused smile.

"Do I?" he asked, and she nodded. "Well… I…" he tried to think of what he should say, and then she pointed at him in realization.

"Was that the first one? Like ever?" she asked and he knew his face would betray him; his cheeks already felt warm. She gasped, and he closed his eyes. "No, it's okay," she promised, tapping at him. "For a guy who had no idea, you did very well," she nodded along, and he opened his eyes. "I'll prove it to you. Kiss me," she invited, and now his ears were burning.

"K… You…" She just stood there, smiling. "Can't just do it like that, I…"

"Why not? I did," she shrugged. "I wanted to, so I did," she explained simply. "You want to, I can tell," she pointed at his face, and he gulped. He was not Casanova. He generally forgot how to function around girls, and how he managed to get about with Sugar was a miracle in and of itself, but all this time he had never addressed the way he felt for her, and here the floodgates had been blown wide open, with Sugar as the trigger puller. Now she was standing right there, literally telling him he could kiss her, and he was burning.

"You're right. I do want to," he told her, and she came nearer, making his breath catch. "And when I do, I want it to be… because I need to, because in that moment there is nothing I want to do more," he hoped it made sense to her, and that she wouldn't refuse to let it happen.

But then she smiled, the way she would, to him, and he knew she was agreeing. So they left Breadstix and they continued on their day. He got a new sketchbook, new pencils, and she got him to buy a hat, saying it looked good on him.

THE END