Pushing Daisies: But I Never Heard Them Ringing
Title: But I Never Heard Them Ringing
Fandom: Pushing Daisies
Author: kawaiispinel
Feedback: ...Is loverly.
Word Count: 727
Rating: G
Prompt: 37. See (Multifandom 100 Challenge)
Characters: Olive, Alfredo
Pairings: Olive/Alfredo
Summary: But that would come at another time, right now she was just marveling at how someone could make her feel more alive than she'd ever felt with just a single touch.
Disclaimer: It's still not mine. Really.
Author's Note: Written primarily for the pd_fichallenge prompt "Back to Life."
A woman less blind might have found Alfredo’s willingness to help her close down the shop on nights when Ned left her with a careless demand tossed over his shoulder as he ran off to do one thing or another to be a little more than just friendly courtesy, but Olive was too distracted by the fact that she had been left alone again and that she still wasn’t the girl who had become such a permanent fixture at Ned’s side that barely anyone could imagine him complete without her. Usually when those dark, depressing thoughts crept into her mind, it felt good to have someone there with her to talk to, and Alfredo was better than no one.
"Did you know you have a radio up here?" he asked from somewhere in the corner. He was pointing to a high shelf where an old-fashioned radio was perched unobtrusively.
"It doesn’t work," Olive replied, barely giving it a second look as she wiped down the counter with such ferocity that it seemed she was in danger of rubbing a hole in it.
"Just sits there looking pretty and no one touches it," Alfredo murmured.
Olive nodded vaguely. "Exactly."
"Seems like that sentiment can be shared by several things in this place."
Olive looked up from her work, caught off-guard by that statement. "What?"
Alfredo was in the process of taking the radio down to tinker with it. "Things looking pretty with no one to touch them. They’re common around here. Like the espresso machine." Like you, he added in his head.
Like me, Olive added in hers, and then spoke aloud, "It’s sort of a miracle that the espresso machine got fixed. I never really thought about it before now."
Alfredo chuckled as he continued to toy with the radio, which suddenly sparked back to life, filling the room with beautiful music. "I have a gift for bringing things back to life, I guess."
Olive dropped her rag in shock and walked over to the radio, amazed that it was playing. "You fixed it?"
"And the espresso machine."
"Yeah, I kinda got that." She ran her fingers across the once lifeless radio, now filled with the most beautiful music she’d ever heard pouring forth from it, amazed at how someone’s tender fingers could make it come alive so magnificently.
And then something miraculous happened. Alfredo, whether inadvertently or because he just couldn’t help it, brushed his hand against hers and she shuddered with something that went deeper than the cold in the pie shop. She looked at the radio and then to the espresso machine and then back to the man standing beside her, his hand lingering on top of hers, and wondered if maybe she had been hoping for the wrong man to touch her and bring her back to life all this time.
"Do you want to dance?" She suddenly found herself asking.
He stared, somewhat taken aback and shifted uneasily as if he thought that perhaps he was falling victim to some spectacular joke. "With me?"
"With you. Right now." She wrapped her fingers around his and shuddered again at how oddly perfect they fit together. Had she really been so blind? Was it really possible to pine for the wrong man for so long when the one who was always meant to make you whole and alive again was right there, staring you in the face?
She led him to the middle of the shop and soon they were dancing, swaying and twirling to the beat of the newly fixed radio, and Olive found herself answering her own questions with a solid "yes." And as the radio played on and they found their faces dangerously close together, she dared to reach out and kiss him, and the orchestra in her heart filled her head with such beauty that she almost felt like singing to the heavens about how blind she had been and how she had never heard music such as this before even though it had been right there this entire time.
But that would come another time, for right now she was too busy enjoying the thrill of how someone could make her feel more alive than she had felt in a very long time with just a single touch.
Fandom: Pushing Daisies
Author: kawaiispinel
Feedback: ...Is loverly.
Word Count: 727
Rating: G
Prompt: 37. See (Multifandom 100 Challenge)
Characters: Olive, Alfredo
Pairings: Olive/Alfredo
Summary: But that would come at another time, right now she was just marveling at how someone could make her feel more alive than she'd ever felt with just a single touch.
Disclaimer: It's still not mine. Really.
Author's Note: Written primarily for the pd_fichallenge prompt "Back to Life."
A woman less blind might have found Alfredo’s willingness to help her close down the shop on nights when Ned left her with a careless demand tossed over his shoulder as he ran off to do one thing or another to be a little more than just friendly courtesy, but Olive was too distracted by the fact that she had been left alone again and that she still wasn’t the girl who had become such a permanent fixture at Ned’s side that barely anyone could imagine him complete without her. Usually when those dark, depressing thoughts crept into her mind, it felt good to have someone there with her to talk to, and Alfredo was better than no one.
"Did you know you have a radio up here?" he asked from somewhere in the corner. He was pointing to a high shelf where an old-fashioned radio was perched unobtrusively.
"It doesn’t work," Olive replied, barely giving it a second look as she wiped down the counter with such ferocity that it seemed she was in danger of rubbing a hole in it.
"Just sits there looking pretty and no one touches it," Alfredo murmured.
Olive nodded vaguely. "Exactly."
"Seems like that sentiment can be shared by several things in this place."
Olive looked up from her work, caught off-guard by that statement. "What?"
Alfredo was in the process of taking the radio down to tinker with it. "Things looking pretty with no one to touch them. They’re common around here. Like the espresso machine." Like you, he added in his head.
Like me, Olive added in hers, and then spoke aloud, "It’s sort of a miracle that the espresso machine got fixed. I never really thought about it before now."
Alfredo chuckled as he continued to toy with the radio, which suddenly sparked back to life, filling the room with beautiful music. "I have a gift for bringing things back to life, I guess."
Olive dropped her rag in shock and walked over to the radio, amazed that it was playing. "You fixed it?"
"And the espresso machine."
"Yeah, I kinda got that." She ran her fingers across the once lifeless radio, now filled with the most beautiful music she’d ever heard pouring forth from it, amazed at how someone’s tender fingers could make it come alive so magnificently.
And then something miraculous happened. Alfredo, whether inadvertently or because he just couldn’t help it, brushed his hand against hers and she shuddered with something that went deeper than the cold in the pie shop. She looked at the radio and then to the espresso machine and then back to the man standing beside her, his hand lingering on top of hers, and wondered if maybe she had been hoping for the wrong man to touch her and bring her back to life all this time.
"Do you want to dance?" She suddenly found herself asking.
He stared, somewhat taken aback and shifted uneasily as if he thought that perhaps he was falling victim to some spectacular joke. "With me?"
"With you. Right now." She wrapped her fingers around his and shuddered again at how oddly perfect they fit together. Had she really been so blind? Was it really possible to pine for the wrong man for so long when the one who was always meant to make you whole and alive again was right there, staring you in the face?
She led him to the middle of the shop and soon they were dancing, swaying and twirling to the beat of the newly fixed radio, and Olive found herself answering her own questions with a solid "yes." And as the radio played on and they found their faces dangerously close together, she dared to reach out and kiss him, and the orchestra in her heart filled her head with such beauty that she almost felt like singing to the heavens about how blind she had been and how she had never heard music such as this before even though it had been right there this entire time.
But that would come another time, for right now she was too busy enjoying the thrill of how someone could make her feel more alive than she had felt in a very long time with just a single touch.