Disclaimed.
"Natsume, you missed a spot."
He looks up and wipes a bead of sweat off his brow, affixing his tormentor with a glare in the process.
"No, I don't think so."
Said tormentor takes a finger and rubs it against an extremely small corner of the display cabinet. She brings up her finger, inspecting it for dust.
All of a sudden, she jabs him in the chest with her other free hand.
"Really, now? What is this, then?"
She shows him her other hand, index finger stained with grime.
Natsume's features are immediately tinged with annoyance in response.
"Did you really have to be so anal about it? It was just one small spot."
"One small spot," she scoffs, "this 'one small spot' was big enough for me to see without leaning in. Be more thorough, idiot."
She huffs in annoyance, then resignedly gestures to a broom in the corner of the shop.
"Ugh, fine. I'll handle the cabinets. You sweep the floor. Not too much for you to handle I hope, Your Majesty."
He grumbles a little and walks over to the indicated broom.
Sweep, sweep.
He stops for a moment, and exhales in annoyance.
"Jesus. Why the fuck am I doing this, again?"
Sweep, sweep.
"Oh right, her first impossible task."
His eyes focus on a faraway spot, as his mind drifts off to the catalyst for his enslavement a few days prior.
Mikan rests her hands on her hips, and looks at him triumphantly.
'Twelve tasks. Think you're up to it?'
He returns her triumphant gaze with a smug one.
'Like I said, can't be that hard. I don't expect much from you and your limited intelligence, after all.'
He sees Izumi affix him with a nasty look, and he immediately bites his tongue.
'I mean, fine. I'll do whatever you ask me to do.'
'You sure about that, Mozart?'
'...That isn't exactly an insult, you know.'
'Just… Dad!'
Izumi affixes him with another nasty look, this time a little more forced.
He sighs in resignation.
'Yes, yes, Madam.'
She presses her finger to her chin, as if in thought.
'Alright, I've got it. For your first task, help me clean up the shop after you're done with whatever you have to do tomorrow.'
'That isn't impossible, you know.'
'Help clean up my shop for a week then, you asshole. Impossible enough for you?'
'A week?'
She grabs the robot off the shelf and dangles it in front of his face mockingly.
He groans and looks to Izumi for solace. He instead catches the older man trying to hide a smirk out of the corner of his eye.
'...Betrayal.'
Done spacing out, Natsume resumes his sweeping in a random, grumpy fashion.
"Oi! You're just scattering the dust around, you idiot!"
He groans, and finally resigns himself to putting in some effort into sweeping, all while murmuring dissent.
'Christ. Six more days of this? Might actually turn out to be impossible after all.'
"It's been fifteen minutes, and you haven't moved an inch."
Her voice invades his momentary peace once again.
"Are you even sweeping at all?"
"No, I'm trying to use this broom to fly."
She crosses her arms and stares at him with disdain. "Oh my God, Natsume. Are you always a sarcastic jerk?"
"Depends, are you always this irritating?" He retorts, halting mid sweep and returning her sneer.
She throws up her hands in resignation.
"...I give up. Just sweep faster, I want to close this store as soon as possible."
"...Why in the world would you keep a frog sculpture in the cupboard?" He scoffs as he turns away from the cupboard's interior.
"This is a toy shop, Natsume," Mikan emphasizes, motioning to the shop's interior. 'We make toys of all kinds.'
He grimaces. "That doesn't excuse the fact that that is probably the most hideous frog I have ever seen."
"...Don't insult Kero!"
Mikan looks down at the floor.
'FirsttoyIevermade.'
He smirks, to which she looks back up to with an offended expression.
Natsume cannot help but be amused at her composure, or lack thereof. "What?"
"I was nine, okay?" She gasps, crossing her arms and gradually turning red from embarrassment. "And the stupid carving knife was too big for my hands, and I..."
"So, you guys make your own toys and sell them for a living?"
"No, I cut up blocks of wood and paint them for fun."
He raises both his eyebrows, obviously amused at her sudden outburst of sass.
"Sounds easy enough."
Mikan punches him lightly on the shoulder, as he recoils in fake pain.
"I'll have you know I trained for ten years, idiot." She says, completely serious, but almost instantly her composure changes as her eyes light up at that moment. "Oh, I know! Since you're so eager to hone your toy making skills-"
"Let me guess. Your second task is to have me make a toy."
"No. My second task for you will be for you to be my assistant for a day."
He pales a little, but does not back down.
"Think you can stand me invading your workspace?"
"I'll stab you with my carving knife if you try anything stupid," she mutters under her breath.
He pales even more.
"Took you five days, but it looks like you're finally competent at housework."
Natsume runs a hand through his hair, and looks smugly at her.
"I am a fast learner, after all."
She looks at him incredulously.
"That wasn't meant to be a compliment, idiot! You're… You're..."
"Handsome? Suave? Talented?" He suggests, annoying her even further.
"No! How old are you?"
"Twenty."
"Precisely! I mean, you're twenty and you don't even know how to sweep a floor properly! Stupid man-child."
He gives her a dirty look.
"What? That hurt your precious little ego? Well, this might seem like breaking news to you, but your ego is not 'little' at all. Nope. It's the size of Russia. A small jab like that wouldn't do anything to you, now would it?"
He blinks at her, slowly.
She looks back at him and giggles.
"Score!"
"Ah, great. We're done for the day."
Mikan walks to a closet in the back room, and places the cleaning implements in it.
As she shuts the door to the closet and returns to the storefront, she sees and overhears Natsume quietly mumbling to himself.
"Yep, I'll finally be free after tomorrow."
He pumps his fist mockingly.
"Hurrah."
She looks at him, and utterly fails to contain a giggle.
He looks up at the sudden noise, somewhat surprised.
"What, gonna miss me when I'm gone?"
Her cheeks turn a rosy shade of pink, and she huffs in irritance.
"Shut up. You still have eleven tasks left."
She points to the back room, and yawns.
"I'm tired. Go and get me a coffee, will you? Double cream, no sugar. Oh, and draw a smiley face on the foam with chocolate sprinkles too."
He looks at her incredulously.
"Chocolate- Seriously? How old are you?"
"Twenty."
He looks ready to protest, but before he can speak he is once again cut off by Mikan.
"Now, do you want the robot, or not?"
He groans, putting a hand to his forehead.
"Fine."
His smirk then returns to his face, and he bows mockingly. "Do you want white or dark chocolate sprinkles on your coffee, Milady?"
She glares at him exasperatedly.
"There's only one bottle of chocolate sprinkles on the table, idiot. Not that hard to miss."
He clicks his tongue in annoyance as he makes his way to the machine in the back of the room, muttering small profanities.
"Do you even know how to make coffee?" She pipes up once again, unwilling to maintain peace. "Or do you always have quality, foreign coffee beans served to you in fancy Wedgwood tea cups?"
Natsume snorts at her ridiculous question as he presses the buttons on the coffee machine he knows very well how to use. "It's not like I grew up in a freaking cave."
For the first time in a while, the two fall silent. The only noise to be heard the the sound of boiling water being poured into cups, and metal lightly clinking with china. Mikan sighs, realising that she has not been able to relax ever since the first demand had commenced, and strangely, the sound of brewing coffee soothes her.
A few moments later, Natsume returns to the front of the store with two steaming mugs.
"Here. Double cream, no sugar. Smiley face."
She grabs her mug, and chances a small sip, preparing for the worst. Her eyes widen in surprise.
"It's perfect. Who would've known you'd be good at something like this, huh?"
He raises an eyebrow from behind his own mug, as he drains a quarter of it in one long sip.
She looks up at him, and fidgets a little.
"Thank you."
He almost drops his mug.
"What?"
"Don't push it," Mikan warns reluctantly, mumbling into her cup. "Thank you for the coffee."
He settles against the wall, and takes another long sip, before simply replying, "You're welcome."
They are soon done with their coffee, and Natsume sets his empty mug on the countertop.
As he walks out, he hears Mikan calling out after him.
"Guess I'll see you tomorrow, then. And don't forget, you're down as my assistant next Saturday."
He shrugs, pulls his coat tight, and walks into the night.
She returns to the back room with the empty mugs, a small smile on her face.
A/N: And that's another chapter, folks. My thanks goes out to Jess. This chapter would not have been able to begin without her. Like literally. I was screaming my head off. To quote myself: 'HOW DO I LINK THE CHAPTERS OMG'
-Theo
Nah. He got off on the right track eventually. :P And this was actually the most fun chapter to write so far, thanks to Theo's snark.
-Jess
I swear. Wouldn't have been able to start without Jess. Seriously. Also, list of proposed ridiculous professions for Mikan: Demon hunter, exorcist, and Chucky. Yep. That freaky ass doll.
-Theo
From the both of us: Thank you for your continued support. We hope you are enjoying this journey as much as we are.