Heartbreak Stop Pawn Shop wip
So! I haven't posted a wip in a while. Seems like it should be about time for one, y/y? :D
Being a demon was a bit of a dodgy business. Oh, it was always fun in the beginning. All sorts of power at the fingertips, a thought wasn’t too far from becoming an action and reality was something to be manipulated like a toy.
It was the control, or really the lack thereof, that got a demon in the end.
As a human, he’d wished for things. Silly things like love and lots of hot gratuitous sex with strangers. Well, more the latter than the former, but he’d been young and horny. He’d fallen for the wrong guy, who’d inevitably managed to break his heart, and then it had been all about feeling sad and pathetic.
Until he’d stumbled on a book, woken some latent wish granting demon and wham!
Instant power, instant vengeance. On the whole, it’d been quite heady stuff for a once scrawny guy who’d never managed to do more than squeak by in life.
He’d gotten away with it for a few centuries. Cheerfully, he’d torn apart happy couples, finding soul mates and wrenching them away from each other and laughing as they fluttered alone and lost in the wind. Chaos, pain, suffering. It was his gig. Really, he was doing them all a favor, because love only led to heartache which in turn made a person homicidal. Truly, he’d been saving the poor little lambs from themselves.
It didn’t hurt either, that the job came with benefits.
Instead of being the one that shuffled uncertainly and unhappily amongst people unnoticed, he got the cute little horns and leather pants. His bod looked all buff and he’d been badass. No one ignored him then. No one walked by someone like him without doing a double take.
Sighing wistfully, he threw down the towel he’d been using to clean off the glass display cases. His ass had looked quite hot in the leather pants.
Course, then he’d gone and screwed up the gig. Apparently cupids could wreak a little vengeance themselves when an extremely hot love demon tried to get between them and their One Trues.
With a snap of one really pissed off cupid’s fingers, he’d gone from Neostvarene Ljubavi the kickass demon to Bavi, the storekeeper charged with redeeming himself by hooking up a thousand broken up souls.
Actually, the shopkeeper part had been his idea.
Surprisingly, it was hard to find the broken hearted and depressed. They tended to hole up and wallow in their misery, or they went stomping around angry and unwilling to listen to anyone or anything. So, he’d bought a little shop on the pier of one of the more romantic destination spots he knew of, and turned it into a pawn shop. With a twist.
Heartbreak Stop
A Pawn Shop for the Newly Single
What better way to bring the broken hearted to him then to offer them a place to unload their heartbreak? Plus, it was a good gimmick. Good business. Or, at least, it paid the bills. The scorned, or the ex-lovers of the scorned, brought him things that their exes had given them in happier times, he bought them and then sold then at a higher price to their soon-to-be One Trues. It had taken two years for the first ten couples to get together before he realized that sometimes the recently broken hearted also happened to need a recent foot to the ass to get on the right path.
So now he meddled as well as turned a profit. Truly, there were days when he wished he’d never met that damned cupid. Touchy bastard.
Today, unfortunately, was slow as hell. The normal let down from a holiday weekend, he figured. Most people were scrambling to go back to their normal nine to five lives. Holidays were big business as nothing drew the lonely to his humble store like a day dedicated to spending time with loved ones.
Groaning, he ran a frustrated hand through his short, corkscrew curly hair. Disaster areas had more organization than his poor store in the aftermath of the flood of people he’d had through here yesterday. Customers thought that there was no rhyme or reason to how items were arranged in the store. The rings in the cases were not arranged by size or metal or stone. The clothes defied arrangement by size, style or color. Keepsakes were littered in various places, sitting on whatever space was available.
However, Bavi had a system. Sure, opposites attracted, but like also gravitated towards like.
Items retained traces of the beings that bought them or owned them. Depending on the strength of emotion, some items were blinding reminders of their previous owners or the power behind the one who had given the item to a supposed loved one.
After a holiday, the angel items were mixed up with the elven items. Demonic possessions had wiggled their way into the human section. Shapeshifter pieces bled into the psionics section. And the brownie items?
They were all over the damned store.
Grumbling, Bavi started picking up things and moving them back around. The problem with brownies was that they had excellent taste in material things. Customers were forever grabbing their stuff and moving it around as they browsed.
Unfortunately, brownies also had abysmal taste in romantic partners. So, not only were they difficult to match appropriately, but their items populated more of the store than any other category of being.
His bell jingled, and it wasn’t just relief that made him smile brightly.
His customer du jour was a wreck. With stained, mismatched clothes and sloppy shoes, it looked as if the poor man dressed himself in the dark. His messenger bag, slung easily over his shoulder, displayed mystery spots and ragged dog-eared edges. Even as Bavi was watching, the guy lost a pen and two paper clips from a hole in the bottom. His sneakers, which truly should not be worn with dress slacks like that, were untied and the laces were muddy and unraveled at the ends.
The man needed a keeper. No one that ill put together should be unleashed on the world that unguarded.
“Hello and how are you today?” he greeted politely, noting the interest the man showed in giving him the quick look over. So, this was definitely a case of single male seeking single male. If Bavi was his type, then he was into the rougher, scruffier type of guy. Certainly, Bavi didn’t dress in the laid back t-shirts and board shorts like the surfers. He didn’t do the button up shirt and crisp tie thing, either.
He was, or had once been, a badass demon. He wore jeans and leather. His stylized biker boots and his tattoos were displayed with pride.
The customer’s eyes dilated and Bavi watched as he licked his lips before visibly shaking himself and turning his attention to the rest of the store. The customer thought he was hot. Bavi grinned big, which in turn made the customer nervous.
“I, uh, I was looking for, um, a jacket.” Oh, and how adorable was that? Mr. Dressed in the Dark was turning a brilliant shade of red and scuffed a hole-ridden sneaker on the carpeted floor.
“Well, we have some very nice jackets over here,” he tried to pull the poor guy towards the human section, but Geek man’s eyes were already glued to the opposite side of the room. Following his gaze, Bavi almost groaned out loud.
Of course. Geek man’s eyes would be drawn to the brownie section. Even worse, as he watched, the man was drawn to that brownie. Bavi squinted, hoping that he was wrong, but no, there was the thread of connection there. Bright blue and pinging with promise.
Damn, but matching brownies was a bitch. It was even worse when humans were involved.
The thing about brownies was that they had a knack for getting themselves into abusive relationships. Came with that whole ‘not being thanked’ business. The only partners who wouldn’t appropriately express gratitude for deeds done for them were usually self involved, arrogant and narcissistic assholes. Humans, bless their oblivious souls, had no idea how to deal with the rules and regulations involved when dating a brownie.
This human though, was not going to be deterred. In fact, as Bavi watched with eyebrow raised, Geek man all but made love to the leather jacket he’d put in the middle of the clothing display of brownie items.
The jacket in particular had not been brought in by the brownie, but by the asshole ex-lover of the brownie who had obviously not seen the good thing he had in dating a brownie when he’d had it. In fact, this particular brownie had a couple of items on display here in the store, but it was the jacket that his presence was most prominent. Probably, he’d been pretty close to having more than just a fling with the asshole ex-lover.
So, he was a brownie just coming off of a bad relationship seeing as how the jacket had come in last week. Bavi was sure that a new relationship, no matter how right and potentially amazing, was the last thing on this brownie’s mind.
“This is perfect,” Geek man turned to him, astonishment and awe in every line and plane of his face. “I’ll take it.”
“Wonderful,” Bavi deadpanned. It just figured. Working on the side of good was a total bitch.
Being a demon was a bit of a dodgy business. Oh, it was always fun in the beginning. All sorts of power at the fingertips, a thought wasn’t too far from becoming an action and reality was something to be manipulated like a toy.
It was the control, or really the lack thereof, that got a demon in the end.
As a human, he’d wished for things. Silly things like love and lots of hot gratuitous sex with strangers. Well, more the latter than the former, but he’d been young and horny. He’d fallen for the wrong guy, who’d inevitably managed to break his heart, and then it had been all about feeling sad and pathetic.
Until he’d stumbled on a book, woken some latent wish granting demon and wham!
Instant power, instant vengeance. On the whole, it’d been quite heady stuff for a once scrawny guy who’d never managed to do more than squeak by in life.
He’d gotten away with it for a few centuries. Cheerfully, he’d torn apart happy couples, finding soul mates and wrenching them away from each other and laughing as they fluttered alone and lost in the wind. Chaos, pain, suffering. It was his gig. Really, he was doing them all a favor, because love only led to heartache which in turn made a person homicidal. Truly, he’d been saving the poor little lambs from themselves.
It didn’t hurt either, that the job came with benefits.
Instead of being the one that shuffled uncertainly and unhappily amongst people unnoticed, he got the cute little horns and leather pants. His bod looked all buff and he’d been badass. No one ignored him then. No one walked by someone like him without doing a double take.
Sighing wistfully, he threw down the towel he’d been using to clean off the glass display cases. His ass had looked quite hot in the leather pants.
Course, then he’d gone and screwed up the gig. Apparently cupids could wreak a little vengeance themselves when an extremely hot love demon tried to get between them and their One Trues.
With a snap of one really pissed off cupid’s fingers, he’d gone from Neostvarene Ljubavi the kickass demon to Bavi, the storekeeper charged with redeeming himself by hooking up a thousand broken up souls.
Actually, the shopkeeper part had been his idea.
Surprisingly, it was hard to find the broken hearted and depressed. They tended to hole up and wallow in their misery, or they went stomping around angry and unwilling to listen to anyone or anything. So, he’d bought a little shop on the pier of one of the more romantic destination spots he knew of, and turned it into a pawn shop. With a twist.
Heartbreak Stop
A Pawn Shop for the Newly Single
What better way to bring the broken hearted to him then to offer them a place to unload their heartbreak? Plus, it was a good gimmick. Good business. Or, at least, it paid the bills. The scorned, or the ex-lovers of the scorned, brought him things that their exes had given them in happier times, he bought them and then sold then at a higher price to their soon-to-be One Trues. It had taken two years for the first ten couples to get together before he realized that sometimes the recently broken hearted also happened to need a recent foot to the ass to get on the right path.
So now he meddled as well as turned a profit. Truly, there were days when he wished he’d never met that damned cupid. Touchy bastard.
Today, unfortunately, was slow as hell. The normal let down from a holiday weekend, he figured. Most people were scrambling to go back to their normal nine to five lives. Holidays were big business as nothing drew the lonely to his humble store like a day dedicated to spending time with loved ones.
Groaning, he ran a frustrated hand through his short, corkscrew curly hair. Disaster areas had more organization than his poor store in the aftermath of the flood of people he’d had through here yesterday. Customers thought that there was no rhyme or reason to how items were arranged in the store. The rings in the cases were not arranged by size or metal or stone. The clothes defied arrangement by size, style or color. Keepsakes were littered in various places, sitting on whatever space was available.
However, Bavi had a system. Sure, opposites attracted, but like also gravitated towards like.
Items retained traces of the beings that bought them or owned them. Depending on the strength of emotion, some items were blinding reminders of their previous owners or the power behind the one who had given the item to a supposed loved one.
After a holiday, the angel items were mixed up with the elven items. Demonic possessions had wiggled their way into the human section. Shapeshifter pieces bled into the psionics section. And the brownie items?
They were all over the damned store.
Grumbling, Bavi started picking up things and moving them back around. The problem with brownies was that they had excellent taste in material things. Customers were forever grabbing their stuff and moving it around as they browsed.
Unfortunately, brownies also had abysmal taste in romantic partners. So, not only were they difficult to match appropriately, but their items populated more of the store than any other category of being.
His bell jingled, and it wasn’t just relief that made him smile brightly.
His customer du jour was a wreck. With stained, mismatched clothes and sloppy shoes, it looked as if the poor man dressed himself in the dark. His messenger bag, slung easily over his shoulder, displayed mystery spots and ragged dog-eared edges. Even as Bavi was watching, the guy lost a pen and two paper clips from a hole in the bottom. His sneakers, which truly should not be worn with dress slacks like that, were untied and the laces were muddy and unraveled at the ends.
The man needed a keeper. No one that ill put together should be unleashed on the world that unguarded.
“Hello and how are you today?” he greeted politely, noting the interest the man showed in giving him the quick look over. So, this was definitely a case of single male seeking single male. If Bavi was his type, then he was into the rougher, scruffier type of guy. Certainly, Bavi didn’t dress in the laid back t-shirts and board shorts like the surfers. He didn’t do the button up shirt and crisp tie thing, either.
He was, or had once been, a badass demon. He wore jeans and leather. His stylized biker boots and his tattoos were displayed with pride.
The customer’s eyes dilated and Bavi watched as he licked his lips before visibly shaking himself and turning his attention to the rest of the store. The customer thought he was hot. Bavi grinned big, which in turn made the customer nervous.
“I, uh, I was looking for, um, a jacket.” Oh, and how adorable was that? Mr. Dressed in the Dark was turning a brilliant shade of red and scuffed a hole-ridden sneaker on the carpeted floor.
“Well, we have some very nice jackets over here,” he tried to pull the poor guy towards the human section, but Geek man’s eyes were already glued to the opposite side of the room. Following his gaze, Bavi almost groaned out loud.
Of course. Geek man’s eyes would be drawn to the brownie section. Even worse, as he watched, the man was drawn to that brownie. Bavi squinted, hoping that he was wrong, but no, there was the thread of connection there. Bright blue and pinging with promise.
Damn, but matching brownies was a bitch. It was even worse when humans were involved.
The thing about brownies was that they had a knack for getting themselves into abusive relationships. Came with that whole ‘not being thanked’ business. The only partners who wouldn’t appropriately express gratitude for deeds done for them were usually self involved, arrogant and narcissistic assholes. Humans, bless their oblivious souls, had no idea how to deal with the rules and regulations involved when dating a brownie.
This human though, was not going to be deterred. In fact, as Bavi watched with eyebrow raised, Geek man all but made love to the leather jacket he’d put in the middle of the clothing display of brownie items.
The jacket in particular had not been brought in by the brownie, but by the asshole ex-lover of the brownie who had obviously not seen the good thing he had in dating a brownie when he’d had it. In fact, this particular brownie had a couple of items on display here in the store, but it was the jacket that his presence was most prominent. Probably, he’d been pretty close to having more than just a fling with the asshole ex-lover.
So, he was a brownie just coming off of a bad relationship seeing as how the jacket had come in last week. Bavi was sure that a new relationship, no matter how right and potentially amazing, was the last thing on this brownie’s mind.
“This is perfect,” Geek man turned to him, astonishment and awe in every line and plane of his face. “I’ll take it.”
“Wonderful,” Bavi deadpanned. It just figured. Working on the side of good was a total bitch.