Don't own anything except original characters. All material (c) to respective owners. I write these for fun and make no profit. They're just random plot bunnies that live within my strange mind A/N
Chapter 10: Something Stupid
The night a month since I had come back to work though had been bemusing to say the least. It seemed that contrary to Willy's attempt at keeping it secret the whole family had figured it out about the same time Charlie had. It had slipped both our attention that I had the ring on my finger and that we had been spending a good deal of time cleaning up the renewed mess the three candied enemies had been piling out into the news media.
That night I had gone into work like usual letting Tucker drive me per Willy's request in one of the more discreet cars that didn't announce I was engaged to a rich candy maker. However it didn't end as well as the others had.
I had brought a good deal of interest into Galen's small bar and it had become fairly busy since the announcement of our engagement. That night I was serving the regulars finding a new fact that I could deflect questions about personal life by saying I didn't bring personal life to work. That night my personal life had come to my work of her own free choosing and it clearly wasn't going to end all that great for me.
"Never slept with him or been his? I think the ring states contrary to our discussion all those weeks ago." I stop what I'm doing handing off the drink to one of the patrons and look ahead into seething dark brown eyes. "I always thought lying beneath you Arctura."
"Oh brother, I knew that this was coming." Looking up I smile handing her the drink she ordered and signal to Galen I'm off for the night. "I didn't lie Lena and I didn't expect to be asked to marry him. He's my dearest friend and it was he who asked me. He didn't slip a ring out of his shirt implying we were engaged, he did so freely without me even thing he would." I purposely throw in the barb that he asked me instead of me tricking him into it.
"So you love Willy and chose to manipulate all of us out of the picture. The ones who truly care," I looked at her in bafflement finding her tone so convincing I would have believed it if it had come from anyone other than a Prodnose, Ficklegruper or Slugworth relation.
"Yes I do love him; I care for him and not everything he stands for. All you care about is what he has, not him." Lena looked surprised by the way I threw that in her face. "He is a good person which all of your families ruined."
"You care for that freak?" If I could have done hit her legally without any repercussions I would have. "Do you have any idea what he was like back when he wasn't a candy genius? A huge joke with headgear that held braces for his father's prefect little boy? A smile forced to be that perfect and bright although fake like you accuse me of being. He was so easy to taunt and so much fun to be mean to and then he got the largest company in the world at his command. He became good looking and chose to remain a freak but no one sees that. They see a rich man in desperate need of a woman, you are not even that. You're a mousy girl that got lucky by waltzing into his first shop, by offering a too sweet smile that made him think you could really like him and now you're blindly walking into an engagement without knowing that he's using you!" she hissed so low I drew back from the fine pointed nail nearly pushing my nose askew.
"Out!" I look to my side seeing Galen there his almond shaped brown eyes hard and filled with rage, his dark shoulder length hair pulled neatly out of his face despite a few desperate strands sneaking out of the holder. "Get out of my bar and stop harassing my workers." He rasped his tan skin red with rage and black clothing making him look much like a raging tomato.
Lena looks up at my boss with a sort of amused look before taking her purse and walking out her red heels clicking loudly indicating her triumph. I look to the side seeing my bosses dark eyes focused on me for a reaction before I smile meekly.
"Are you alright Arctura?" He calmed down giving his natural tan a little less red in tint. "Arty?"
His nickname which I had come to tolerate for me shook me out of my stunned state. I look up finding a large thin hand gently shaking my shoulder and nod. Relaxing he studies me before reaching for my phone and texting my ride. He hands it back over before reaching behind him and snatching a shot.
"Arty drink," I take the shot and throw it back coughing surprised by the strength. "Whiskey and you needed it. What the hell was that girl doing bringing you down over your fiancé?"
"Lena Prodnose." I rasp recovering from shot. "She's mad that I care for him instead of wish to use him but," I trail off remembering the part that got to me. "Do you think he's using me Galen?" he was the wrong person to ask, no one knew Willy better than his factory friends and his father.
"I don't know anything about the man Arty, but I do know that she was trying very hard to split you two up and that you wanted to rearrange her pretty face for it. You have some serious willpower and if I had been in your shoes she would have been eating a bottle of liquor just to be able to speak again." I smile still unconvinced but find myself eased despite the miserable fact I had been tricked into a fight with Lena once again. "Go home, go to your fiancé and show him how much you love him." I flush pink forgetting that when engaged people assumed many things and that had been one thing yet to happen.
"Right, thanks Galen." I wave making my way through the crowded bar and out seeing the small black car waiting for me before I slide in and see Tucker offer me a worried sort of look. "Home, I'll be ok." I can only guess he saw Lena at some point leave the bar or that Galen had mentioned a crazy brunette where I was ready to knock her out.
I get to the front of the factory and look up startled to see Willy lingering outside the doors twirling his cane in a fashion that indicates curiosity. I roll my eyes looking over my shoulder seeing the car speed around behind the factory to the garage area and then look seeing a wry sort of expression before Willy offers me his hand, a gesture that was common and also another thing I had gotten strangely used to was the idea he left the gloves behind more often when I came home.
"What happened at the bar?" I didn't want to talk about it, Lena's lecture still echoed in my head and surprisingly it hurt each time I ran through those spiteful words.
"The Raven," I inform him that I'm tired of it just being called the bar, his smirks though I see there are no changes immediately from him waiting on an answer. "Lena showed up and was less than kind. Green is ugly on her I can see why Slugworth stands no chance." His lips lift at my brag toward her before it fades.
"She said something you obviously didn't like. Galen texted my personal number as well as Tucker." I flinched reaching into my pocket and find my phone, glancing at the sent messages I see it's true. "What did she say Arctura?"
I snap my phone shut before shaking my head. "I don't want to talk about the grumpy old bitch." I surprise him by moving forward and reach my arms around him.
I hug him seeking a little more leeway in our growing relationship despite pushing his comfort bubble. I feel him stiffen in alarm before feeling him relax, hesitantly I feel his warm velvet clad arms come around me, realizing storming out of the bar in black jeans and my t-shirt wasn't the wisest of moves on a fall day. I snuggle in his arms seeking out warmth wondering why it had been so easy so long ago and now it felt so forced.
Willy Wonka's POV
He didn't expect her to hold him, feeling her arms come around him had been considerably new. He hesitated before lowering his arms around her feeling her move closer to him feeling her actually cuddle in his arms. He closed his eyes wondering why she would even want to be close, he had manipulated her into this and she had most likely had her doubts, yet she hadn't fled and was seeking comfort from the idiots that had turned his world upside down.
He looked down gently brushing a hand along her blond hair finding the strands felt strangely silky compared to what it was like when he wore his gloves. He marveled at the soft feeling finding her clinging to him strangely reassuring despite his lack of what he deemed feelings. Blinking he looked up memories of pleasantries coming to mind and found himself needing to know what Lena had said to her.
"What did she say Arctura?"
Original POV
I felt his hand lace gently along my hair before hearing his voice clear the quiet; I felt his chest rumble with the soft sound finding the smells of sweets and the factory much more relaxing than I once had. I look up seeing those lavender eyes searching mine before making a face at the moment being disrupted.
"She said some nasty things about you when you were a kid and said I was blindly letting you use me. She's self-diluted and mean." The staggered look on his face said more than I wanted seeing his eyes lower thoughtfully told me more than I wanted to know. "What is it?"
"She's tactless but never diluted. Life in childhood isn't' always kind to someone different regardless of the reasons they were made to be an outcast." I know testing boundaries weren't good when it came to him, I had learned that when things began to change but now I had to do so if he truly meant what he said when he asked me to marry him.
I reach my hand gently up touching his cheek seeing his eyes snap to mine seeing just s brief moment of fright before he relaxes studying me. It was like he doubted everything, even the simplest of things seemed to scare him.
Willy Wonka's POV
Feeling her fingers touch his cheek shook him from his whirlwind of thoughts; Lena was desperate to drive a wedge into his world despite making it clear he would never let her near him. He had never had anyone voluntarily touch him without a catch behind the act. Feeling her fingers rest against his cheek for once he felt strangely confused but didn't shy away. Arctura was his friend and never ever wished to hurt him; he had invited something more just because he was doing well in his life again.
Lena had been right he was using her to comfort himself even he wasn't dumb enough to deny it as a fact. Using her is what he was in fact doing, because of Arctura being back he had been working again, he had been pretending that all was right and had even began to believe it. One wrong word from Lena and he would see it all go so very wrong, he wondered if there was a place someplace that his heart was trying to find a way to work again.
"I was an ugly child, Lena and all of the others knew this. Perhaps I am fake like them but it wasn't of my choosing, it drove me to be what I am today." She had seen the pictures despite his attempts at keeping them from her; she had said nothing about the braces or the unhappy sort of look she saw in his eyes. "You don't agree?"
"No one is ugly Willy, you need to have the courage to look behind the mask to see a real person. A real friend is the one that stays there despite the worst." He looked at her feeling strangely knotted inside.
Original POV
"What if their worst hurts their friend?" I look at him seeing he looked astonished with his own question.
"A real friend will understand." I find him reaching up touching my hand with his own and feel a strange reeling sensation before he smiles.
"I want to show you the inventing room. It's changed a bit." I eye him suspiciously, the last memory I had of the inventing room was a tiny square room with some candies that had gone terribly awry leaving us walking out covered in a sour smelling sticky candy. "It's bigger," he added unconvincingly.
Bigger meant in my opinion bigger issues. I walk inside grateful for the familiar stifling heat before finding myself tugged to the far left of the familiar hall and finding a hidden elevator shaft. He explained he had ventured out further when it came to the fact the necessity for elevators outweighed simplicity. It meant he got tired of the stairs that led everywhere his elevator didn't for emergencies. Walking into the machine I find his hands locking with mine before his impeccable balance become part of my own. I realize he's preventing me from falling down like a crash test dummy and look up inquisitive to the changes, all I see is that same cocky smirk indicating he's amused to let me guess.
Shaking my head I watch the rich swirl of colors and rooms pass us. The elevator stops before dropping and jerking off to the right, it then twirls and spins before coming to another halt. I wonder if this is how people feel at the end of a very bad ride at a fair. Looking up I watch the doors open and find myself feeling strangely unsteady on my feet before closing my eyes trying to inform my stomach to catch up to my body, spinning unnecessarily is very nauseating.
Seeing I am not focused on the wonders of the inventing room he pauses looking down. In his excitement he had forgotten I had yet to get used to the machine and finds the paleness in my face worrisome. Gently he reaches his hands up cupping my face making me reflexively hold his hands looking upward.
"Breathe Arctura, very slowly." I do so taking slow breathes finding my world finally catching up with my body. "I forget that vertigo is a side effect if you're not used to the elevator. You did always prefer the stairs." Swallowing hard I nod in agreement finding the warmth of his hands soothing and reflecting on the aspect of his missing gloves, it appeared barriers were getting easier to lower.
"I'll be alright in a minute, just don't want you wearing my lunch." I smile seeing him make an awful face before leaning forward finding his arms wrapping around me. "Thanks." I look up seeing him flush faintly before nodding.
I listen hearing an assortment of whistles, pops and machines going. What catches my attention most is a steady annoying ping sound, like something bouncing off of metallic that is harder than metal or at the very least making a try at it with each steady sound. Glancing up I look around the room we're in getting the impression of a science lab gone tye died. The room is huge several stories more than I remember with machines shaped in every way possible and some so small I assumed they were parts to the bigger ones.
The room ranged about from tubes of rich colored streams, smoke and even mists of different colors followed by tubes and huge barrels that seemed to fill up with sugary riches and smells. It was a dream from some sci-fi movie with things that went in ways I couldn't even describe. It was a whirlwind of colors, pipes and metallic gizmos that stretched miles around above and below.
"What on earth is that noise?" I question awed by the intricate world around me and noting we were in only a very small portion of it.
"Everlasting gumdrops…they never dissolve creating an intriguing sort of sound." He indicates a large tank in the middle of the room where I kneel down peering into the glass.
An Oompa Loompa waves from inside the tank before ducking one of the many colored balls hitting against the interior of the tank. I smile watching them collect the candies for the testing phase and see Willy kneel down beside me tapping the glass and signing to one of the workers. They exchange a few words before I see his smile fade and watch him sigh with a sort of deflated look about him.
I reach down finding his hand and lace his fingers with mine, things aren't always perfect but I know he will get the process perfected eventually. I feel him squeeze my hand gently before he looks up watching some of his more interesting candies being prepared. Tugging me to my feet I find myself led down a circular path that leads to more rooms with doors labeled and warnings abundant at each one.
I read 'candy boat repairs' and move a finger across the metallic door finding the letters engraved in a fine cursive. I recognize it to belong to him and see him watch me with that strange mirth in his eyes, a twinkle that I hadn't seen in an age.
Pushing on the doors I'm pulled into a brilliant yellow room where a giant pink candied seahorse boat is present. It's massive taking up a lot of space with thousands of workers working away at it. I see among the workers is a very sticky looking Morris who waves down with a candied spatula fixing a small crack along the side. It's nice to see them hard at work once again.
Hearing a strange catchy tune I knew from a long time ago I watch Willy lift up a purple cellphone reading over a text before his lips turn down into an unpleasant sort of scowl. Finding myself concerned I gently lean on his shoulder watching him look down before seeing him hesitate. He knew he had to let me in sometime or this whole attempt at a better world would fall apart but he didn't know if trusting me was favorable.
"Someone is in your office with a stack of papers and an unpleasant family member of one of my nemesis." The only one I hadn't faced off with yet other than the seniors of each family had been Lyrical Slugworth and Astra Ficklegruper.
"Either Astra or Lyrical." I say seeing him text something back before getting his answer. "You're not serious." I see 'Lena' is the answer and shake my head. "I really don't want to face Lena after the fiasco at the Raven." He sends a quick text before slapping the phone shut and pulling me toward the massive boat.
"Delphine can handle her as well as Charlie." He leads the way around the massive boat describing its construction and the details as we walk.
"Why pink?" I ask softly seeing him pause before looking around and then up at the giant ship.
"Because my best friend was always fond of rose?" He answered sounding confused by his own answer, he hadn't even thought about it until I asked. "I made it the day that you left, it was specifically for the tour and your part before everything went wrong." I feel guilty for what happened back then but I knew that I couldn't change the past.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, I truly didn't mean to and-"
"You came back, you're here for me and I asked you to marry me. The past can stay there." He cuts me off quickly looking up to the tallest part of the seahorse ship and flinching. "Percy!"
Looking up I watch and Oompa Loompa lose his footing and dart from Willy's side. I run quickly to the end of the ship and grab at the small man who just barely lands in my arms. Both of us slide across the well-polished yellow tiles before coming to a stop at the wall. I look up before seeing him uncover his eyes and look around wondering if he was alright. He smiles in relief before signing his gratitude and getting off of me.
I am relieved I moved so quickly to his aid and look up finding violet eyes worriedly staring down at me. He reaches his hands out gently tugging me to my feet and puts a hand gently to my chin making me look up all the while examining me for signs of injury. I catch his wrist freeing myself and meet his gaze.
"I'm alright…is he?" I indicate the Oompa Loompa who still looks shaken despite the rescue.
Willy nods turning to his worker before having a quick conversation which I take as a good sign. He stands before seeing his worker led off someplace out of sight and looks up at the top of the sea horse where the safety line dangled as an unpleasant reminder. Signing he excused the workers until the safety workers could inspect everything and stood there his finger thoughtfully against his chin before he shook his head.
"Thank you." Willy turned still feeling strangely guilty for more than one thing now that he thought over it.
"It's part of my job to help you now." I walk over seeing him start when I put an arm cautiously around his waist and lean into his side. "I'm just glad we were here to help."
"I am too." He breathed again astounded by my openness. "I don't think I deserve you." He said softly, I found it odd to hear him say that.
re.