Two weeks later, Shirayuki found herself sitting at the bar, bored out of her mind on her day off. The bar was pretty busy, but not as busy as it usually was. That was because there was another bar down the street that had a very popular band playing. She wanted to go, but she wasn't sure if she had the energy. Honestly, she wasn't even sure why she was at the bar during her off hours. She was just that bored.

Obi had gone to the grocery store a couple of streets over to pick up more fruit, as they hadn't anticipated the overabundance of tequila requests they'd had the previous night. Lots of tequila meant they burned through a lot of limes. They were also running low on cherries and salt, which is what finally pushed Obi to go to the store. He hadn't been gone long, maybe five minutes or so.

She could practically hear the music from the band down the street, and it made her itch badly to go.

'Maybe just a quick peek at one of their sets won't hurt.'

"Hey, Lucy," a gruff voice said, snapping Shirayuki to attention. Swiveling her head, she was met with the familiar face of one of their semi-regular customers, Justin. He was accompanied by his brother, Ronald, and a friend of theirs she didn't seem to recognize. The three of them were dressed in their usual bar-hopping clothes, which only consisted of novelty t-shirts and jeans. "Night off?"

She couldn't say she was friends with the guys, but they had been frequenting enough in the past month and they'd been pleasant so far. Taking a sip from her glass of Coke, she gave him a friendly nod. "Yeah. Just really bored."

"You're bored so you came to work? That sounds depressing," Ronald said, giving her a joking smile.

Smiling a bit, she tugged on her hood, making sure it was in place. She didn't let the customers know she lived upstairs, for obvious reasons. Replying with a sigh, she said, "Just decided to stop by for a bit. Was thinking about going to the show down the street but I'm pretty tired." From the corner of her eye, she saw the curtain of the photo booth flutter, indicating that there were people in there. And from what she could tell, there was a real possibility that those people were doing something naughty. Oh well, not her problem.

"Oh, the Slersatz show? We were just talking about going!" their friend blurted out, accidentally spilling a small bit of his drink. Ignoring it, he said, "Come with us!"

She wasn't sure how comfortable she was with that. "Um, I'm not sure. I'm pretty tired."

"By the way, Lucy, this is our buddy Ken," Justin said, indicating to his friend with a light back-handed smack to the chest. "And he's right! Come with us. You don't even have to stay for the whole show, just come sneak a peek with us. It's not even a far walk from here."

Well, he certainly made a good point. She didn't have to watch the entire thing, and it wasn't a long walk away at all. All-in-all, that kind of convincing is what finally teetered her will over the edge.

"Okay. I won't stay long but I'll come check it out."

The three guys did a small cheer as she turned to Jazzy, who had been standing behind the bar listening, and said, "I won't be gone long."

Jazzy gave Shirayuki a look but waved her off. "Go have fun."

Following the guys out the door and down the street, the three men joked and laughed as they polished off their beers from Juke's. It was late in the day, late enough that the sun was starting to go down, but the summer heat still made her uncomfortable in her hoodie. It didn't matter to her, though. Whenever she left Obi's building, she always made sure to keep her hair covered with her hood. After briefly swiping her hand over her forehead to wipe away the small amount of sweat that had already started accumulating, Ronald commented, "You look a little warm with that hoodie. You should probably take it off."

Laughing nervously, Shirayuki responded, "It's okay. I don't want to have to carry it or tie it around my waist."

"Suit yourself," he replied with a shrug, stepping aside so she could enter the venue first. The music became louder instantly as the four of them walked through the doors of the bar, the loud sound basically vibrating through her bones.

"What do you want to drink?" Justin yelled over the music at her.

"Coke is fine," she yelled back, already swaying to the music. As the three guys walked off to the bar, she turned to face the stage, bobbing her head lightly to the beat. There was quite a crowd, and one or two people did end up bumping into her by accident. The band on stage had clearly been playing for a while, judging by the sweat and running makeup covering the members.

Only a moment later, the guys showed back up, Ken handing Shirayuki her drink. He yelled over the music, "They only had diet! I hope that's okay!"

'Eh, not really,' she thought, trying not to grimace. She was never a fan of diet-anything, and the aspartame in Diet Coke was found to be kinda harmful. However, never one to cause a fuss, she nodded and yelled back, "That's fine! Thanks!" as she pulled out a couple bucks from her pocket and tried to hand it to him. He waved her off as men always tended to do. After trying a couple more times, she finally gave up and shoved the money back in her pocket.

The band moved into another set as she brought the drink to her lips and chugged half the cup in one go, still thirsty but not wanting to sip on something gross. She did her best not to make a face as she returned her attention to the stage, ignoring the gross, unfamiliar tang of her drink. It tasted even worse than she remembered.

As the beat rumbled through the bar, Shirayuki found herself swaying and bouncing to the music more than she usually did. The crowd around her was going wild, everyone trying to inch closer to the stage. Lights flashed around her, pulsing along with the musicians' words. Ronald, Justin, and Ken whooped and yelled, spilling their beers and honestly looking a bit drunk already. She didn't mind, though. She worked in a bar - it came with the territory.

After about ten minutes, she was feeling very warm in the crowd of sweaty people, so she chugged the rest of her drink and tried waving a hand at the guys. She caught Justin's attention, pointing a thumb towards the restroom. He seemed to catch her meaning and gave her a thumbs up before going back to hollering at the stage. She was starting to feel lightheaded from the heat and needed to cool down, so as soon as she managed to squeeze inside the restroom, she took over the one open sink. Turning on the tap, she filled her hands with water and splashed her face, sighing at the cool sensation. It obviously wasn't just her burning up, as a couple other girls were dabbing water around their necks and wrists, unwilling to sacrifice their makeup.

Shirayuki couldn't say she understood. She never really wore makeup, and had never been too concerned about it.

'Maybe I should start?'

It was an interesting idea. She'd seen girls turn themselves into completely different people with a skilled makeup brush. If she watched enough videos…

Wait, what was she thinking about again?

Though the cold water was refreshing, she still felt lightheaded and the world was slightly wobbly and the feeling was getting progressively worse. It was almost as if she was drunk, and it was becoming much more difficult to think. In a bit of a daze, she made her way out of the bathroom and back out to the floor. Trying to keep from tripping on her own feet as well as the crowd's, she looked around for the guys, spotting them not far away.

Squeezing through the people, she made her way to them, trying unsuccessfully to gracefully dodge arms and elbows and drinks. Finally stumbling up to the three of them, she grabbed Justin by the arm, startling him slightly.

"Hey, I'm not feeling well!" she yelled at him over the increasingly irritating noise. "I think I'm gonna head back to Juke's!"

Justin gave her an odd look with a smirk as he got Ronald and Ken's attention. He yelled something at them but she couldn't seem to understand what he was saying. The crowd seemed to be heaving… or maybe it was her. Everything felt weird, and she was worried she would be too out of it to get back to Obi's place. Her mind had apparently wandered because she realized Ronald had been trying to get her attention for a long moment.

Giving him an off-kilter look, she hardly managed to make out that he was saying they'd take her back. The three of them guided her through the throngs of people to the exit, and it just barely registered in Shirayuki's mind that they were escorting her to the back alley.

She was beginning to feel blackout drunk now, everything around her pulsing with loud music and nothing seemed stable. She couldn't really see well, but she could feel hands on her, supporting her and keeping her from falling as they exited the building. After several minutes, she vaguely realized they were no longer walking. Instead, her back was to the wall, and she could hear the guys talking to her.

"We thought you might want to have a little fun…"

"Maybe you should come back to our place…"

"We'll take care of you…"

She wasn't really understanding them, but she could feel one of them touching her around her waist, tugging at the hem of her hoodie. Shirayuki tried to move away, but someone had a firm grip on her shoulders, holding her against the wall. Another hand reached out and tugged her hood down, exposing her hair and letting it tumble freely around her. That vulnerable feeling instantly made her cringe, but all she could do was weakly attempt to pull the hood back up.

"That's some sexy red hair you have there," she heard one of them say as a hand pushed hers away and swept through her ruby locks. A flash of light streaked through the alley, and Shirayuki barely managed to look up in time to see Ken taking her picture with his phone.

"N-no..." she groaned out, turning her face away from the camera as she feebly tried to hide her hair. Feeling another hand brush over her breast, she heard screaming in the back of her mind to do something, but her thoughts were now a jumbled mess and she was barely able to stand. Right as she pushed her arm out to put some distance between her and whoever it was touching her, everything suddenly came sharply into focus for the briefest moment.

The person touching her turned out to be Justin, who was ripped away from her and spun around. As his back slammed into the wall, an arm struck out, sticking a large bowie knife deeply into the wooden post mere centimeters from his face. Standing before them was Obi, looking downright murderous. Justin was giving Obi a terrified look as Ken and Ronald stood back in shock. Glowering around at the three of them, Obi looked absolutely lethal and ready to kill. Nobody moved for a long moment, the area around them seeming impossibly still.

With a predatory glare, Obi leaned down to the much-shorter man's face and said dangerously, "When I say to never show your face on this side of town again, just know that I mean if I see it, I will carve it off."

Those words seemed to strike a chord with the men. While Shirayuki briefly expected them to fight, instead, they all took off down the alley, looking back to make sure they weren't being pursued.

"O… Obi?" Shirayuki managed to mumble, her brain failing to make sense of what was happening. Obi was there, the guys left, someone had been touching her in a way she was extremely uncomfortable with, and all she could think was how much she wanted her bed.

Obi was still staring at the same place where Justin had been, digging the knife in the wood even more tightly with white knuckles. "Just… give me a sec," he said roughly, his voice nearly cracking with fury. Closing his eyes, he hung his head as he scrunched his brow. As Shirayuki watched him, she felt a wave of dizziness, causing her to sway slightly before her knees began to buckle. Obi seemed to sense this as his eyes shot open and he lunged to the side, grabbing Shirayuki before she could hit the ground.

As he held her up, he looked down at her face to see her bleary expression and Obi knew that she had been drugged. As that realization washed over him, it took every ounce of willpower for him to not go after those guys and do inexplicable things to them. They deserved to have the worst done to them. However, he had a woman clearly in distress in his arms, so he knew where his priorities lay. "We need to get you home."

Shirayuki looked up at him with confusion lacing her features. "Home?"

Nodding, he swooped an arm beneath her knees and supported her back with the other, taking the alleyway back to Juke's and not caring about the stares he received from the people around the corners. It wasn't a very unusual sight to see people carrying their drunk friends around the city. Shirayuki was still awake, but definitely not seeming alert. She looked around as they walked as if in a daze, as if she didn't know where she was. However, when she looked up at Obi's face, her eyes lit up in recognition as her mouth twisted into a pout. "Obi…" she said with a bit of a whine in her voice. "They only had diet, Obi. It was awful."

Obi wasn't sure what she was talking about. The only thing he knew for sure at that moment was that those guys had drugged her, and clearly had full intention of taking advantage of her as well. It still made his blood boil, and it was difficult for him to stay on task because of it. However, he knew Shirayuki needed him at that moment. Actually, what she really needed was a bed, a big glass of water, and some ibuprofen. Date rape drugs tended to leave a helluva hangover. He hoped the guys at least used normal shit instead of the cut kind. He really didn't want to call an ambulance and deal with the police if he didn't have to. It would have made things much harder to explain to Shirayuki when she finally sobered up.

Shirayuki was mumbling nonsense every now and then, but seemed cooperative thus far. He was hoping that that was a good sign that she would be fine.

Once they were outside of the bar, instead of going through the front door of the building, Obi took the back stairwell, climbing it with ease despite the woman that was ragdolled in his arms. Taking the steps two at a time, he ascended the two flights quickly, pulling out his keys while balancing Shirayuki precariously in his arms. Jamming the key into the keyhole of the door, he turned it sharply and shoved the door open. Once inside, he used his foot to kick the door closed behind him as he tossed his keys onto the mail table by the entryway. Shirayuki had started wiggling a bit in his grip, so rather than risk dropping her going up another flight of stairs, he walked into the living room and laid her down on the couch instead.

Immediately, she attempted to get to her feet, though her motor skills had definitely been affected judging by the way she moved so sloppily.

"Whoa, there. Hold up," Obi said, grabbing her arms and forcing her to settle back into a sitting position. "Just stay right where you are, Miss. Don't need some drugged-up barkeep going downstairs to surprise my patrons."

Immediately, Shirayuki's expression turned to horror. "I've been… drugged?"

"Uh…" Obi was thrown off. He had assumed she had figured it out, however he supposed it really depended on what type of drug she'd had. "Yeah. But you'll be okay. I'm going to take care of you."

She looked down at her hands in confusion. When she looked back up, her eyes widened and she looked at Obi as if stunned for a moment. "Hi, boss," she finally said with a breathless grin.

"Oh my god," Obi groaned, covering his face with his hand. She was pretty far gone. Looking back down at her, he said sternly, "Stay here." Walking away to the kitchen, Obi fixed a large glass of water and snagged the ibuprofen from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom before returning to the living room. When he looked around and noticed Shirayuki missing, a small spark of fear zapped him.

"Miss?" he called out, checking around the corners and different rooms on the main floor. After coming up empty-handed, he feared that she may have gone out the front door, but he decided to check the upper floor first. Going up the stairs, he only made it halfway before seeing her on the floor almost at the top. She was trying her best to crawl her way up. "Miss, please," Obi said with slight exasperation. Setting the water and medicine on the corner table of the stairwell, he walked the rest of the way up the stairs and leaned down to grab Shirayuki by the arms, doing his best to help her up and keep her vertical using his grip on her shoulders. When they finally got into a standing position, Shirayuki almost dropped again, forcing Obi to wrap an arm around her waist to support her. Using his other arm to grip her shoulder, he helped her walk the rest of the way up before guiding her to her room.

The moment they entered the room, she began grabbing at the hem of her hoodie, pulling it up but having difficulty getting it over her head. Obi was doing his best to keep her upright, but was worried with her flailing limbs she would hurt herself. Guiding her the best he could to her bed, he sat her down and helped her pull the hoodie over her head, actively avoiding looking at where her tank top underneath rode up her abdomen.

Straightening, Obi looked her in her emerald eyes again and said even more firmly than the first time. "Stay. Here."

Leaving in a flash to grab the water and medicine, he bounded back into the room only to nearly fall on his face. Shirayuki was now trying her best to pull her tank top over her head, leaving her torso exposed and her bra peeking out.

"Whoa! Hold- Hold on!" Obi said in a panic. He was torn between leaving the room to give her some privacy and knowing he needed to stay because she was high out of her mind. He had half a mind to call Geneva for help, but it was her day off and she lived across the river. He couldn't ask her to get on the ferry to come take care of his roommate. With an inward cringe, Obi darted forward, grabbing the hem of Shirayuki's shirt and tugging it back down. "What are you doing, Miss?"

"M'hot," she mumbled with a slight whine, trying very weakly to fight against him and pull her shirt up.

When her eyes locked with Obi's briefly, he gave her a small smirk to try and hide his concern. "Indeed. However, there is such a thing as central A/C. How about I turn the air down and you keep your clothes on?"

With an air of disappointment, Shirayuki looked at him in an unfocused manner as she mumbled, "O…Kay…"

"Okay, here," he said, handing her the glass of water and two pills from the bottle. "Take this. I'll be right back."

Of course, things were never that easy. After running back to the hallway to adjust the thermostat, he came back to the room just in time to see Shirayuki spill the glass of water all over herself. His only consolation was that the ibuprofen was missing, which he took to mean she'd at least taken them. Based on the way she was acting, he hoped she would conk out soon and sleep it off.

"Come on, Miss," he said with a sigh, grabbing the corner of her bedsheets and lifting them. "Let's get you under the blankets so you can sleep this off."

Shirayuki's eyes were already half-lidded, and it seemed like she hadn't heard him. She was focused on looking out the window.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, he guided her to the proper positioning, though it was awkward trying to accomplish that feat without any inappropriate touching. With a hand on her shoulder, he gently guided her to lay back on the bed, purposely avoiding looking at her directly. With the water that was spilled on her white shirt, it had turned the fabric almost completely transparent, much to his frustration. He briefly considered helping her change into a dry shirt, but thought better of it. He was a gentleman, and she had just been assaulted. He wouldn't dare place her or himself in that precarious situation. With the warmth of a southern summer, it was unlikely that she would get sick or anything like that.

"Obi…" Shirayuki mumbled his name. He chanced a glance down at her and immediately wished he hadn't. She had sat up again, those watery, sage colored eyes looking up at him half-lidded and unfocused as the remnants of spilled water trickled down her neck, across her clavicle and into her cleavage. Lower, her white tank top was thoroughly drenched, brightly displaying the scarlet bra underneath over a heaving chest. Cherry colored tendrils of hair stuck up in a couple of odd angles from her head as the rest flowed around her body almost in a tangle. Obi swallowed hard as she reached out and placed her hand on his forearm, giving him the most peculiar look. She studied him with bleary eyes as her fingers flexed gently over his skin, and Obi suddenly found it very difficult to breathe.

Ever since Obi had taken Shirayuki in, he had been quite conflicted with his thoughts. When he initially convinced her to stay with him, he had no intentions of developing any kind of feelings towards the strange girl with the red hair. Yes, he was instantly attracted to her, and her story intrigued him to no end. But all in all, he was mostly concerned about her safety. He didn't typically make it a habit to feed, clothe, shelter, and employ drifters, but after she had risked herself to save him, he reconsidered his usual actions.

And he also just couldn't bring himself to leave such a beautiful and fascinating woman to the streets.

His morals conflicted with his feelings from there. He was ecstatic when she told him she used to run a bar. It made it easy to find a way to keep her around. He could tell from the moment he met Shirayuki that she was a very self-reliant person, so having a job to offer her seemed like his best chance to convince her to stay. He had no intention of developing anything with her, but after learning she was on the run all alone, his gut told him that she would be in much more danger if he let her go on her way. The Big Easy was the perfect place for her to lay low, and he had more than enough space to accommodate her without putting them in too close of quarters. Obi tried his best to keep their relationship platonic, despite the way his breath would catch at the sight of her.

As time went on, he felt himself more and more enraptured by Shirayuki. The more he learned about her, the more he wanted to know. In addition to her beauty, she was insanely smart, stubborn as the day is long, and more caring than he remembered even his own mother being. She wasn't lying about her proficiency in running a bar, either. He'd seen a noticeable increase in his profits, and there were definitely more patrons becoming regulars. Her kindness knew no bounds, and as time went on, Obi found himself more and more enchanted by her. It was honestly starting to drive him a little crazy, though he definitely never let it be known. He refused to try and approach her romantically. It just seemed wrong to him, and he didn't want her to ever think that his help was contingent upon a romantic relationship developing. He could never do that to her.

She was also way too good and pure for him. His black soul would taint her. He didn't deserve her.

"Yes, Miss?" he finally responded, swallowing thickly.

Shirayuki looked up at him for another moment before flumping back onto the pillows. Closing her eyes, she smiled dreamily as she said, "You're amazing."

"Uh…" He wasn't sure how to respond to that. He was pretty certain he was far from amazing. Luck seemed to be in his favor, however, as he noticed the smile on her face fade and replaced with soft snores.

With a smirk, he said, "If only you knew…"

...

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