Hello, I'm back! This particular one is dedicated to the lovely Mrs. Jayy Von Monroe! I do hope this is up to your expectations. I enjoyed writing this, and exploring Jiggy's character a bit more, bc he is a very secretive, mysterious character.


You either called him "Jiggy Pepper" or you didn't call him anything at all. There wasn't such a thing as calling the man merely "Jiggy" or "Pepper" – that would be considered downright rude, especially towards a Bee of his standard, a standard so high that even Zazie, the Bee who held minimal respect – meaning none – for any other Bee, was putty at the mention of his name.

Jiggy Pepper was no less than a celebrity in the Hive. His name was certainly as widespread as Lag's, but whoever spoke of him had at least heard of his outstanding maturity and his undeniable charisma, and, of course, his magnificent Iron Horse; it ran on Jiggy Pepper's "Heart" strength, and was rumoured to be the finest in all of Amberground. This feat was what propelled Jiggy Pepper into complete stardom – surely someone with that much stamina (enough to power an Iron Horse and still fire a shindanjuu!) wouldn't be able to remain a wallflower for long.

Jiggy Pepper had many who looked up to him, though he considered none of them to be lesser than him despite them putting themselves at that rate. Zazie, the Letter Bee with a vicious bite in his words, was not spared either, and his admiration for Jiggy Pepper was unlike any other. He was almost envious of the Iron Horse's splendour and sheen, but as for Jiggy Pepper himself, Zazie was only taken aback by the man's radiating charisma and sage-ly words (advice so profound you couldn't understand it, yet it was so cool you just had to agree). Heck, even that scar of his just piled on loads more charisma onto Jiggy Pepper's practically glimmering, completely out-of-reach existence. Zazie looked up to it all, perhaps wanting to one day have some of that for himself, or perhaps just because Jiggy Pepper was, to put it simply, extremely cool. It had to do with his demeanor and the way he carried himself, Zazie decided one day as his eyes trained onto Jiggy Pepper whenever he strode through the halls of the Hive after a long delivery, looking completely stoic. Empress, he's cool.

However as time went by Zazie didn't take too long to realise that besides his already slightly obsessive admiration for Jiggy Pepper, he had also, quite unceremoniously, fallen into a complete ditch for the Express Bee. The epiphany had hit him square in the face one day when he was having a milkshake and thinking about Jiggy Pepper's utter awesomeness. Oh my Empress, he thought even more unceremoniously, I'm a faggot, and then Zazie proceeded to spit out his drink back into the cup and dump it into the nearest trash can, before going home and hiding under the blankets. He'd heard of things like that before, where guys fell for other guys. Apparently it was some sort of mental ailment, because the natural order of things was that you fell in love with a girl, not a guy, and especially not with the best Express Bee in town.

Zazie thought about it more under the covers while sweating like a pig, and questioned whether or not he was completely and absolutely infatuated with him or not. He couldn't deny it in the end; surely it meant something when Zazie caught Jiggy Pepper's gaze (that didn't happen often) and he got the wind knocked out of him while simultaneously forgetting how to walk, or when every accidental touch – even if it was just a bump of the shoulder – would end with the feeling of that shoulder or elbow or whatever random appendage Zazie collided with staying imprinted in his skin for days on end. Surely, if this wasn't infatuation then what else could it be?

Oh my Empress, Zazie thought. I'm insane.

He also couldn't deny the fact that if Jiggy Pepper even acknowledged his existence, or agree to "see" him, in that sense, that would be the best thing since sliced bread, but if the latter were the case then the both of them would be classified as absolutely barmy, and Zazie honestly didn't want to compromise Jiggy Pepper's position, neither did he want to be locked away in an asylum, or a Correction and Rehabilitation Facility, or wherever else they put these sorts of people.

"Oh screw this," Zazie breathed, oddly embarrassed by his recent "discovery", and yelped and sat up when Wasiolka nosed his back, worried about Zazie's disappearance under the covers. "I'm in deep shit..." He murmured, closing his eyes and put his hands, as if praying, at the bridge of his nose.


Just a week later Lag and Niche barged in front of Zazie as he was clearing up paperwork, and exclaimed, "Zazie, quick! Jiggy Pepper's back!" Zazie seized up briefly, and stared wide-eyed at Lag. He hadn't told anyone about it so far, but his friends really weren't helping him with this. He didn't want to act all weird in front of Jiggy Pepper, but at the same time...

"Let's go," Zazie placed his camp on top of his papers and pushed back his chair, standing up. "Let's go see Jiggy Pepper."

The people in the foyer were milling around, pretending to pay no mind to Jiggy Pepper's presence but still watching out of the corners of their eyes. Jiggy Pepper himself did not notice them, but tilted his head in a manner that suggested his searching for someone. He turned a corner after giving a tip of the hat to the receptionists who had briefly stopped in their registering of packages, and made a turn, presumable towards the Director's office to retrieve Harry, his hawk dingo. Zazie, Wasiolka, Lag and Niche, along with Connor who had caught up with them, were standing by a corridor looking at him not-so-discreetly. At that moment Jiggy Pepper turned, caught Zazie's eye, curved his lips into a slight smile and tipped his cap. Zazie then forgot how to stand and grasped Connor's shoulder in an attempt to steady himself. He looked down, unable to keep eye contact, as a warm flush rose from his neck to his cheeks.

"You okay?" Connor asked, concerned for his friend who couldn't keep his back straight.

"I-I'm good," Zazie muttered as Wasiolka nosed the back of his pants. He smiled at me! Holy Empress, holy holy holy—!

"Maybe you need sleep...?" Lag offered. "Let's go to the relaxation place!" Zazie nodded weakly, deciding that he needed time to cool off before returning to the mundane task that was paperwork.


Another week had passed. One crisp evening, when Zazie looked out of the window of his small flat he found someone squatting at the bottom, feeding the cats. As far as Zazie knew, he was the only one who even bothered to feed his cats and shield them from unscrupulous beings in his neighbourhood who would jump at any chance to rid their frustrations by taking it out on those cats if not for Zazie's presence. Fearing that the unknown person was one of those unscrupulous people, Zazie bolted out the door, shindanjuu in hand.

He stepped out the door, shindanjuu cocked and ready. Slowly stepping down the metal stairs that led to the door of his apartment, Zazie was about to let out a string of curses when the shady person at the foot of the flight of steps looked up, causing Zazie to almost drop his gun in utter surprise.

"J-Jiggy Pepper?!" Zazie exclaimed, a bit too loudly. Where was his Iron Horse? Wait, what? Here was Jiggy Pepper, sitting right in front of his apartment! His apartment! Zazie stood, frozen in shock until Jiggy Pepper cleared his throat and stood up, the fickle-hearted cats rubbing themselves on the legs of his jeans.

"I came to deliver a message to you, until these cats led me astray," Jiggy Pepper began. "...And then your residence number slipped from my mind."

...He was a bigger ditz then his image put forward.

"Ah, yes. The Director wanted me to tell you that you have a delivery assignment with me in a days' time, after your leave. We'll be delivering a box of sacred instruments to a chapel, so be sure to keep it safe. It won't be too draining – a simple trip from here to a small town north, then we return home. It'll last about three days without delays, or at most, four. Don't bring your dingo – I can't carry that many people. Anyhow, you'll be safe with me," Jiggy Pepper continued, casting all proverbs and strange speech patterns aside.

'Not too draining'?! That's far as hell! Zazie thought, while trying to assess the fact that Jiggy Pepper was at his doorstep, and that they were actually going on a delivery together. And that he just told Zazie "you'll be safe with me".

"...That's all," Jiggy said, looking slightly worried at Zazie's lack of a response.

"...Okay," Zazie replied lamely. No, not okay, you fool! Invite him inside! He's at your doorstep! It's Jiggy Pepper, Empress, let him in!

Jiggy glanced into the entrance of Zazie's apartment building for a brief second or two, before nodding. "I'll take my leave now. May the winds always carry you in your stride," he spoke, turned and ambled away, out of Zazie's view. Zazie raised his right hand in an awful mockery of a wave, and almost fell over when he say Jiggy turn his head slightly to glance back at him. The boy then ran back up to his floor two steps at a time, flung the door open, fiddled with the lock as he tried to close it, ran to his room and dove face-first into his bed.

"I'm going on a delivery with Jiggy Pepper!" He screamed into the covers, as his fists grasped the corners of his pillow desperately and his face turned redder than ever.


"I'm a faggot." And I'm too busy laughing my ass off.

I'll spread these out – this is turning out to be longer than I expected! Hohoho... And as always, reviews are welcome!

And I promise I'll write other things next time – namely things that aren't romance-oriented because friendship is »§~*magic*~§«