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[also on AO3] Blue Poison/Exusiai

“*sniff sniff* I’d know that smell anywhere!” Exusiai stopped dead in her tracks as she and Texas stepped out of Penguin Logistics’ Rhodes Island office. “I’ve gotta know who’s baking apple pie right now! See ya later, Tex!”

“Sure. Don’t eat too much.”

The Sankta didn’t reply to that, barely having heard it as thoughts of brown sugar and cinnamon swirled through her mind. It wasn’t an obsession, or some kind of addiction, it just reminded her of home and was probably the best-tasting thing ever made by anyone ever, so of course she was going to go track down the source. She dashed through the door of the nearest kitchen, following her noise for the fruity taste that- Oh! A familiar face, even. “How’s it going, Beepy? Is that an apple pie I smell, hmm?”

“It certainly is.” Blue Poison smiled as she turned her attention from the oven’s timer. “I just put it back in for the full bake, though, so it’ll be about an hour before it’s ready.”

“Awesome! You’re not making it for someone else, right?” Hopefully not.

The Anura shook her head. “I’ve never baked a pie before, so it’s a bit experimental, but I’d appreciate your opinion on it.”

“Can’t say no to that~” Exu leaned over the kitchen counter. “We haven’t gone on a mission together in a while, have we?”

“Seven months,” the toxicologist replied, blushing when she realized how quickly she remembered the exact number.

The other Sniper cocked her head. “That long, huh?”

“Y-yes.” Blue looked off to the side. “And yet we never exchanged contact information.”

“Wait, for real? I thought you had my number. Well, that’s a quick fix.” The Sankta flipped her a business card.

The Anura caught it, but she didn’t look at it. “I already have your number… but I didn’t think you would accept messages from one you wouldn’t recognize.”

“Oh, gotcha!” She shrugged. “I mean, you could have just said it was you?”

“…I could have.”

There was an awkward silence. “You thought I might leave you on read?”

“Yes,” Blue breathlessly admitted. “The rumors about me-”

“Even if they were true, it’s not like you could poison me over the phone.” Exusiai stood up and walked into the kitchen proper.

Was it getting hotter? The other Sniper looked at the oven, but no, the temperature hadn’t risen above what she’d set it to. “That’s true…”

“Besides, I know you don’t want to hurt me.” She smiled softly. “You’re too sweet for that, Blue.”

“I’m-” The Anura stopped mid-sentence, lungs caught in a gasp.

The Sankta had slid the oven mitt off the toxicologist’s hand and set her hand there in its place. “I know you are. You’re also pretty slippery - every time I wanted to see you, you weren’t anywhere I could find you.”

“You looked for me?” Her eyes sparkled. “I thought you were avoiding me; every time I went to your office, you were out on a delivery or another er- did we miss each other every time?”

“For a couple of crackshots like us, that’s kind of embarrassing.”

Blue giggled. “Perhaps. I think it’s rather cute, honestly.”

“Oh, really?” The courier squeezed the Anura’s hand. “Speaking of cute, are you busy after this?”

“Hmm? Oh, um, uh, no, I’m sing- I mean free, yes, free this afternoon, evening, night, mhmm.” What composure she’d maintained completely collapsed around her.

Exu chuckled. “Don’t fall to pieces on me before I finish asking you out, now. Normally, I’d be having a Girls’ Night Out with Penguin, but everyone else is busy tonight. Wanna be my plus-one at the bar tonight?”

“Sure!… You drink alcohol regularly?” It wasn’t a complete surprise, but it was hard for the toxicologist to envision somehow. “I can’t remember the last time someone asked me to drink with them.”

“Hopefully you’ll remember tonight, then. ‘Sides, since Cross and the Emperor aren’t gonna be there, I’ll be taking it easy. Wow, that still smells so good~” Standing so close to the oven was practically intoxicating in its own way for the Sankta.

Much more praise like this, and Blue was going to overheat. “Exusiai-”

“You can call me El, Beepy.” She booped the Anura’s nose with a snicker, but she couldn’t have expected her friend’s response. “Eh? Uh, Beepy?”

“Sorry.” The toxicologist attempted a retreat, backing into the kitchen island behind her and steadying herself against it so she didn’t trip over herself.

The Sankta gave her a knowing smile. “So Beepy has a blep button? That’s pretty cute~”

“It was entirely on reflex,” she swore. “My tongue-”

“You don’t have to apologize for wanting a taste, Beeps.” Exu stepped forward to put herself back in Blue’s reach.

The Anura was seriously starting to feel feverish now. “El… Why are you acting like this?”

“Eh?” The mood of the moment shattered to pieces. “What-”

“Are you trying to seduce me so you can use me to get free apple pie?”

The courier gasped. “What?! No! I would never-”

“I knew this would happen,” Blue was already mumbling to herself. “Making anything but a cake was a mistake…”

“Beeps-” But ‘Beeps’ had already tossed her remaining oven mitt onto the island behind her and started walking towards the exit.

Which left Exusiai alone in the kitchen with a baking pie, a pair of oven mitts on opposite counters, a timer for when the pie would be ready… and a mess she knew she had to clean up.

The next day, when Blue Poison went to use the oven again, she found a message for her, written on a sticky note attached to a glass dome set atop half an apple pie. ‘She didn’t even eat the whole thing… I hope she mentioned what was wrong with it.’

“Beeps,

I left you half the pie - it was too good not to share. Seriously, I don’t even think the pies back in Laterano were this good. Obviously it’s yours, so if you wanna have the rest, go ahead, ‘kay?

Sorry if I was too pushy earlier, I… I just really like you. Like, really REALLY like you. Hope we can still be friends if you don’t feel like giving me another chance (but like I’d really appreciate that >.<).

xoxo,

El (or Exu, or ‘that girl,’ whatever you wanna call me’s fine)

“El…” The Anura sighed, folding the piece of paper and pocketing it before lifting the glass. “I shouldn’t have accused her like that.”

“I don’t blame you,” a voice said from behind her, making Blue jump.

She at least had the presence of mind not to drop the glass, but it was a narrow miss. “El! When did you- You weren’t waiting here for me all night, were you?”

“Not that long,” the Sankta replied, slinking into the kitchen proper. The toxicologist couldn’t remember ever seeing her so gloomy. “Only a couple hours.”

“El…”

The courier smiled. “You’re calling me that instead of Exusiai, at least. That’s something.”

“I-” Blue wished she’d come up with something to say beforehand. “I…”

“I’m sorry about yesterday - picked a real bad time to try and pull a move on you. Lord knows I’ve never been good at that. Could we try again from the beginning, maybe?” Exu’s smile was thin, barely reaching the corners of her mouth.

It made the Anura’s heart ache. She held up the pie tin. “Do you want the rest of this?”

“I’ll finish it off,” the Sankta shrugged, “but you should really try some, too. Like I said, it’s too good to keep to myself… Actually, I took some to Sora and Texas, too. They wanted to know where I bought it, so I told them you made it, and they gave me a couple hundred LMD for me to give to you.”

“Th-that won’t be necessary,” she managed.

Nonetheless, the courier pulled the bills out of her wallet. “I can’t keep this - it’s yours.”

“And I can’t eat this pie because I made it for you,” Blue finally admitted. “I thought if I made you a pie, you’d want to spend more time with me, but when it worked, it all felt so hollow and… I didn’t want to be right about that after all.”

“Well, you were half right: I do want to spend more time with you. That was true before I ever tried your baking, though - hell, I think it was that first mission together I gave you my number.”

The Anura shook her head. “I got your number from the directory.”

“Wait, so you never got my note?” The toxicologist as El stamped her foot. “You’re kidding, right? I slid a note in your coat while we were driving back. You didn’t get it?”

“I washed my clothes as soon as we got back,” she sheepishly admitted.

Exusiai stared at the ceiling. “Lord, why’d ya have to go and make this so hard, huh? Got something against this cutie and I trying to go on a date?”

“S-speaking of which,” Blue swallowed before continuing, “um… Could you please take another bite of pie for me?”

“Beeps, I’m not-” But there was already a spoonful hovering in front of her.

Beeps looked her in the eye. “Please, it’ll make sense in a moment.”

“Alright, but only because you asked nicely.” She dutifully took the bite without taking the spoon, accidentally leaving some of the sugary-sweet syrup on her lips… Exactly like the Anura hoped she would. “Seriously, though, you should- mmm~”

“…Hmm.” There was a twinkle in her eye as the toxicologist pulled back, though her brow was furrowed.

The Sankta took a shaky breath. That’d been more of a rush than any sweet she’d ever had. “Well, chef, what’s the verdict?”

“I’m not sure.” Blue set down the pie tin. “It might be a little too sweet for me.”

“Maybe that’s-” Before the courier could finish the thought, she’d been ambushed for another kiss.

The Anura gave herself just enough space to whisper, “-because you make life sweet enough?”

“Y-yeah, that’s where I was going with that,” Exu admitted, face brighter red than her hair. “So, uh, we’re good, right?”

“You’re forgiven, certainly… but we’ve kept each other waiting long enough, haven’t we?”

She gulped. “I kinda thought I was going too fast yesterday.”

“If anything,” Beeps smiled, “you were a little slow.”

“I’ll try to keep up, then.” Which the Sankta immediately acted on by going for the third kiss-ambush of the conversation.

Of course, her target was more than prepared for it this time…

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