When Buck came to Canterlot, he was a teenager, and he had the vain hope that the summers here would be breezy and fun, unlike the suffocating humidity of his home. He was half right. The summers in Canterlot City were humid and stuffy, and as time wore on, they grew blisteringly hot.

Buck thanked all his lucky stars that he worked in a nice air-conditioned building as he rode the bus to work. And then summarily cursed those stars when he realized that the AC was out at Sugar Cube Corner. For fuck's sake, today was already bad enough, but now it seemed he would have to spend the first few hours of his shift living in sweaty buttcrack city while he waited for the sun to go down. Another day in paradise. At least there were ceiling fans.

A lot of people said that Sugar Cube Corner had made the neighborhood nicer over time, and to Buck, that made a lot of sense. Sugar Cube Corner was a stubby little reprieve from the hustle and bustle of uptown Canterlot. It was a mom-and-pop shop that refused to be bought out or defeated by the towers of glass and steel around it, and by now it had become an enduring local flavor. In a way, Buck was proud to work here. Most of the time, though, he'd prefer to be at home slaving away over a hot word document.

Today, Buck was out of sorts. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about Adagio, so he did his best to put the events of last night out of his mind and focus on the cold monotony of working the front desk. He was good at slinging candy and snatching tips. To his left stood Scootaloo, who after trying to poke some answers out of him, was content to speculate about the previous night's events, to Buck's chagrin.

"So she ripped off her face, and surprise! She's a bog witch come to suck out your soul, and you spent the whole night running and saying prayers until the sunlight melted her down into sand, or something?" Scoots said. She was casually rolling a pen across the front counter.

"No, Scoots. That's not what happened. What happened ain't for work, okay? I'm not talkin' about this."

"Why are you being so cagey? Did you score or not? You can tell me!"

"Scoots, I promise I'll tell you. Just not at work. Not with Mrs. Cake and Pumpkin right there in the kitchen...you know I'm on thin ice already. I don't wanna screw this up; I still need this job. "

"Aww, you're no fun!" Scoots said, pouting. This was an all-time classic Scoots maneuver. She'd pull this on the rare times when a GM said "No", or when someone told her to ease up on the Mountain Dew.

"No fun is fine by me. No fun is simple." Buck said, yawning. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather put it from my mind. S'easier that way."

"C'mon, Buck, it couldn't be that bad! Are you gonna see her again, at least?"

"Doubt it, Scoots. I severely doubt it."

*DING DONG*

"Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner!" They said in cheery unison.

The front door chimed with a song that Buck was pretty sure Pinkie Pie had written herself a while back. She didn't work here anymore, she had left a few years ago to properly get into the event planning business. Still, her fun and fancy-free influence could be felt everywhere in Sugar Cube corner, from the pink and white tiled floor to the silly names of most of the treats to the bubblegum pop that played over the speakers, to the pinkish paint that lined the front door. Standing in that threshold was a terribly familiar and curvy form.

"Fuck no, fuck no..." Buck muttered. It was like a prayer. He knew that prayer wouldn't save him, of course. Adagio Dazzle had just entered Sugar Cube Corner. She was wearing a white business shirt with poofy sleeves and a black skirt. Her hair was up in a professional-looking beehive style. That white shirt looked like it was having a hard time with the heat; it was lightly soaked with sweat and Buck could almost clearly see the outline of something lacy beneath it. She was wearing a pair of mirrorshades, and a spaghetti strap purse. She sighed in contentment as she stepped under the ceiling fan.

Adagio startled for a moment when she noticed who was standing at the counter. Then Buck watched as a smile crept across her face. It was slow, like watching blood spread over the surface of a lake, and it made Buck's stomach feel heavy and low. Her heels clacked with purpose as she strode up to the counter.

"Well, well, well. If this isn't a spot of serendipidty?" She placed her hands on her wide hips and grinned. Her hoop earrings wiggled as she tilted her head. "This is the job that you mentioned?" Adagio said.

At first, Buck's eyes shifted to Scootaloo, whose own eyes were a mask of sheer terror. She was also blushing.

Buck was going to say something sarcastic, but then he found he couldn't look away from Adagio. It seemed like her gaze would find him no matter where he went, even from behind sunglasses. "Uh, yeah. This is, uh, this is where I work."

"I knew you were sweet, Buck, but I didn't know you worked as a confectioner. How...appropriate." Adagio said, without a hint of irony.

Buck let out the breath he was holding. He couldn't help himself. He started chuckling, then laughing hard like Adagio was a stand-up comedian. He laughed straight at her face, and once he wiped the tears from his eyes, it became clear to him that Adagio hadn't been expecting that response. She had an eyebrow raised, and she was lowering her shades. The tension in the room shattered like sugar glass.

"Puns! You bring puns into my place of work!? Have you no shame!?" Buck said, giggling.

"Word play! Honestly, you're infuriating." Adagio said. Her tone was testy, but there was a smile on her face.

"Well, since you just bulldozed through the ice, uh, what can I get for you? Please say something in the display case." Buck said, adopting his customer service voice. Adagio looked a little befuddled at his code-switching. She seemed to play along.

"Ah, well, I happen to have business in this district today, and I thought I would tuck in and have a snack, maybe a cup of tea? Anything to get out of the heat." Adagio said.

"Alright, well, are you looking for something savory or sweet?" Buck asked, cheerily.

Adagio leaned forward. Just enough it seemed for Buck to get a glimpse of her cleavage through the open top buttons of her shirt, but not so much that it looked all that suspicious. To Buck, it seemed measured, strategic.

"It looks like there's a sweet and savory snack standing right in front of me~." She purred.

"ohmygodshe'slikesupercorny" mumbled Scoots from the spot in the corner where she was trying to meld with the wall.

"Do you have a preference? I could give you like a sampler, or-"

"Oh, I've already sampled you plenty, but I wouldn't be opposed to another serving, Buck." Adagio said.

Buck could FEEL Mrs. Cake's hackles rising behind him. It was a sort of heat rising up and radiating from the kitchen nook, bleeding into his cheeks. He thought to himself that this must be exactly what Adagio wants. He couldn't run from her here, so she was toying with him. He didn't want to play this game. He leaned forward and whispered.

"Listen...can you not do this here? You could get me in a lot of trouble, so please. Dial it back, okay?" He said it urgently, almost pleading.

Adagio seemed genuinely surprised at this. Her face cycled through a few emotions at once. The only one Buck picked up on was a little smile behind a hand covering her mouth. It was the face of someone who almost walked in on someone else having sex. Impish. That was the word.

"Understood, Buck. I'll be on my best behavior, then." Adagio stood up. She smiled. It was sweet and threatening like a sheet of cookies straight out of the oven. Buck did his best to handle it with care.

"Do you have any preference on sweets?" Buck said.

Adagio tapped her chin innocently, her eyes wandering in thought. "Blood Orange Tart. My absolute favorite." She said.

"Got it. Scoots!" Buck said, and Scootaloo scrambled to grab a pastry out of the display case in much the same way a raccoon would scramble for the same pastry if it was in the garbage.

"And a nice black tea, please." Adagio said. Her eyes were searching Buck's face. He found that he wasn't nearly as nervous as he probably should be. It was like seeing a great white shark at the aquarium.

A thin veil separated them, and were it not there, Buck would be in danger. Well, then, sharks weren't all that deadly unless provoked, but the look in Adagio's eyes said that blood was in the water. Buck felt a lump in his throat as he rang up her order.

"That'll be five bucks even, ma'am." Buck said. His voice cracked, just the slightest bit. Adagio breathed in as if sampling a rose. "You didn't follow me here, did you?" Buck said, low and quiet. Adagio slid a fiver into his hand, letting her long, sharp nails linger in Buck's palm before pulling them away. She smirked and maintained eye contact for a few silent seconds. Buck felt like he was being surrounded.

"As a matter of fact, Buck, I actually am here on business. It's not all about you; I intend to be a copy typist for the firm a few doors down by day's end." She was wearing a darker shade of red on her lips today, Buck noticed. She looked as if she had been drinking blood. "I'm well beyond qualified for the position."

"Oh, well, that's cool. Do you do computers?"

"Pardon?"

"Computers. You said you were going for copy typist?"

"Yes, I've got a decade's worth of experience with typwriters, and I've taken two relevant courses."

"Typewriters?"

"Did I stutter, Buck?"

"Huh. Well...uh, good luck!" Bucks said.

"I won't be needing it. But thank you." Adagio said. Buck passed her the little bag with her tart inside. "Excellent. And my tea?"

"Right here!" Scoots squeaked. And then a chair squeaked loudly as Scoots pulled it away from one of the tables near the front window. The steaming cup of tea was on that table.

"Ah, she's a sweet thing as well. I'm going to go ahead and enjoy this little delicacy and I will have my tea and that will be that, Buck." Adagio said. Her voice was almost tender.

"Well, thank you for your patronage." Buck said.

"But! The customer service here is just divine. I think I may have to make this my usual lunch spot. After all, I'll be nearby during the week. Almost right next door." She said. She grinned that shark grin at Buck. He felt his heart skip a beat. That smile was sadistic. He'd seen it last night.

Adagio turned slowly, then sashayed to her table. This would be so much easier if she was a horrifying monster, Buck thought to himself. No one could blame me for running for my life, then. Instead, he was being stalked by a monster woman who could hypnotize him with her ass. Just his fucking luck.

"Oh, Buck, dear? Could you come back here for a moment?" It was Mrs. Cake, from the kitchen. Her tone of voice brooked no argument. Buck sighed very quietly to himself.

"Scoots. Could you man the counter?" Buck said. Scoots for her part was very focused on keeping her head down and her eyes focused on the end of the broom that she was pushing. She quickly stepped over to the counter, gave a thumbs-up, and tried to escape Adagio's eyes and grin while standing still. It looked very difficult.

Buck made his way to the back kitchen, where Mrs. Cake was working. She was rolling some dough, doing a bit of prep ahead of time. Mrs. Cake was a gorgeous, corpulent woman. She was thick in just about every way, and she seemed almost incapable of showing her age. Aside from the crow's feet around her eyes, Mrs. Cakes' professionally coifed swirly pink hair and her smooth blue skin marked her as the woman of the house and this establishment. Her voice bespoke motherly authority. She was used to having things her way, and her way was usually the Right way. Her sweet little daughter Pumpkin Cake, who had been working hard lately at climbing over the age of 5, was helping her mother in the kitchen.

What this meant was working on her coloring book in the corner of the kitchen, for the most part, and otherwise fetching things from low cupboards when Mrs. Cake needed. "Hi, Buck!" Pumpkin said, waving her hand rapidly, without looking up from her coloring. Her straight orange hair was a little all over the place today. "Hiya, Pumpkin." Buck said, smiling. His smile cut off as Mrs. Cake addressed him.

"Buck, do you know That One out there?"

"...only somewhat, Mrs. Cake." Buck knew better than to lie. Mrs. Cake's hands moved to her aggressively wide hips.

"But you're acquainted. May I ask how, Buck?"

"We...we met at speed dating."

"...I see."

"Yeah...I don't know her all that well. She's here by coincidence; got a job interview nearby." Buck said. He was beginning to sweat. This was exactly the kind of conversation he wanted to avoid today.

"Buck, you can relax. You aren't in trouble. Yet. Is this going to be another Berry Punch situation?"

"No ma'am, absolutely not, ma'am." Buck was in no way capable of relaxing. He was on thin ice. He'd been on thin ice for something like 6 months. "I don't even know if she took a car here-" Mrs. Cake narrowed her eyes.

"And, and even if I did, I wouldn't be getting into that car, and certainly not right after my shift."

"Yes. Because you were told expressly that there was to be no canoodling on these premises, which includes the parking lot."

"Yes, ma'am." It had been Berry Punch, a while ago, shortly before she and Buck's 'not-a-real-relationship' had become 'not-much-of-fucking-anything'. Mrs. Cake had wanted to fire Buck, but he was a friend of the family, and Mr. Cake was very fond of him. He was friends with Pinkie, anyway, and Pinkie had never steered them wrong. She had vouched for him.

"Because we have a reputation to uphold, you understand." Mrs. Cake said. Buck nodded. There were several things that he would have said in alternate versions of this conversation. He thought of a few of them on the spot. Something to the tune of twice as many high school girls coming to the store when he was working, the tips he managed to squeeze out of people every shift, or how neither of Mrs. Cake's two children looked anything like Mr. Cake, but the stores' reputation was on the line, and Buck didn't want to impugn on that at all, no siree.

"Yes, ma'am. No funny business, here." Buck said, simply. Mrs. Cake wasn't one for arguments; she was one for lectures, and Buck was desperately hoping that this one would end soon. Another part of him, though, felt safer in here with the stern woman and her daughter as opposed to swimming in the shark tank outside.

"Very good, then. Are you alright, dear? Ditzy Doo said earlier that you were feeling out of sorts." There was genuine concern in her voice. The bad cop fell away, and the matronly owner of Sugar Cube Corner took her place once more.

"I'm fine now, ma'am." Buck lied.

"Well, alright then, Buck. That's all I wanted to ask." Mrs. Cake said. She smiled and gave Buck a nod before returning to her prep work. Buck turned to head back out onto the floor. His gaze happened to peek out the kitchen nook and onto Adagio, who somehow was already looking in his direction with a devious smirk. Buck shuddered. "And Buck?" Mrs. Cake said.

"Ma'am?"

"...You're a fine man, Buck." Here it comes, Buck thought. "You've just been unlucky, is all. You seem to attract bad girls. Be careful, dear. That axe has a bit of a cold edge, as my mother used to say."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you ma'am." Buck said as he stepped out of the kitchen.

"I think you're smelly!" Pumpkin Cake said.

"She doesn't mean that, dear."

"Yes I do!" Pumpkin said, smiling and waving as Buck left the kitchen.

Buck stepped back out front just in time for Scootaloo to start elbowing him in the ribs. "Buck! Buck, holy shit, you slept with her, didn't you, you totally did didn't you!?" She whispered. Adagio was sitting on the other side of the room, sipping her tea and looking out the window. She checked her watch.

"Scoots, don't. Chill the fuck out." Buck said, wondering who the fuck still wore a wristwatch in the current era. Adagio didn't seem to be paying any attention. Her gaze was looking out onto another world. Or maybe she was watching the finches in the tree across the street, Buck wasn't sure. But he felt something in him stir as he looked at her. She wasn't smiling. Her eyes were wide, and she was framed in the light coming through the window in this moment of gentle repose. She was like an oil painting; a living embodiment of the classicism that Buck had had to study in school. Buck put a hand to his chest. His heart was racing. She was gorgeous.

At that moment, Adagio sniffed the air and turned to look at Buck. A look of honest bewilderment crossed her face as she looked him over. Then, as if emerging from an abyssal cove, that shark grin came back. Scootaloo went silent again, whereas Buck tried and failed to act casual. Adagio got up from her table and sauntered over to the counter. There was a brief flash of remorse in her eyes as they slid down from Buck's face and onto his bandaged hand.

"Buck...is your offer from this morning still valid?" She said. Her grin was fading. There wasn't any edge in her voice. If anything, it was breezy and timid.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You said that..." Adagio stopped for a moment. Buck counted the seconds as she drew in a breath and held it. "You said that you 'Really like me and you'd like to get to know me.' Is that still the case?" Adagio said. Buck couldn't tell if this was an act, or a scheme or something. Adagio's hand rose slowly and touched her heart, as Buck had just done. She didn't seem to notice it happening.

"...Can I level with you?" Buck said. He leaned forward, almost conspiratorial in his approach. He made the eye contact, this time.

"Yes, Buck?" Adagio said.

"I'm terrified of you." Buck said. Adagio's eyes darted away.

"Ah. Well, you certainly should be." Adagio said. No shark's grin, this time. Just a statement of fact.

"But yeah. I do, genuinely still feel the same way I did this morning."

"Ah."

"And I'm way more scared of that fact than anything else." Buck thought for a moment to try subterfuge, but he knew that being painfully honest was more his style. Why pretend, with her? She'd seen so much of him already.

"Afraid that you still like me?" She had paused for a moment to emphasize the end, there. Scootaloo would later tell Buck that Adagio was bouncing on her heels at that time, only a little bit, like a nervous school girl.

"Afraid of getting in over my head with a girl like you."

"Oh, trust me, there are no girls like Me, Buck." A flash of teeth.

"Would you believe me if I told you that you're not the first one to say that to me?" Buck said it flatly. It wasn't a challenge. He could see his reflection in the windows of Sugar Cube Corner. He looked so sad when he said that, he had to check himself. That look was bad for business.

"Would you like to see me after work, Buck? I could come and pick you up if you'd like."

"I'd rather wait for another day. We should sit somewhere in the sun and chat, I think."

"Somewhere where other people can see you, you mean?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"Fair enough. Well then, I'm going to go and get that job. How about you meet me under that tree when you get off work?" Adagio said, pointing. The tree had a park bench beneath it. Sugar Cube Corner was on the edge of Canterlot's Center Park, which was a sprawling four-mile stretch of greenery that took up most of the core of the city. Buck thought to himself that it wouldn't be long until they'd have to start serving ice cream cake again; summer was coming and that meant park goers on the north side of Center would be coming here to cool off.

Adagio raised an eyebrow at Buck. He'd zoned out for a second there. "That won't be until after the sun goes down. I'm off around 9:30." Buck said, dragging himself back into the conversation.

"That's fine."

"No, it's not. I'm not meeting you in the park after dark."

"Ah, right."

"How about you come around in about two hours? That'll be my lunch break."

"That will do, Buck." Adagio said. She looked him up and down very slowly, and then without another word, she turned and her clacking heels carried her out of Sugar Cube Corner.

"Okay, but Buck, what the heck is going on?" Scootaloo said. She had returned from wherever she had managed to hide in this open and brightly colored dining area to stand next to Buck.

"Are you going to freak out if I tell you?" Buck said. He glimpsed himself in the window once more. He looked exhausted.

"Yeah, probably." Scootaloo said. Scoots was honest. Buck liked that about her, usually, but today her glibness made him pinch the bridge of his nose and groan.

"D'ya remember the...dy'a remember the Battle of the Bands, Scoots? Remember, you and the girls did that sick glam rock jam that you wrote?"

"Woof...that was a million years ago, but yeah. So what?"

"You remember the Dazzlings?"

"...sorta, yeah. They were like magic pop divas, right? Hypnotized everyone, or something."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah, what about them?"

"Scoots."

"Yeah?"

"Scoots, that was their leader." Buck had to move fast. Scootaloo was vibrating like a damn dryer on max settings and her fists were shaking. She had tried to scream "YOU'RE DATING A SIREN!?" but Buck managed to clap his hand over her mouth before she could get it out.

"Shhhh! Keep it down! No I'm not dating her, we're just going to talk...!" Buck said, taking his hands away.

"OhmigodohmigodohmigodBuck! Buck, you're crazy! She's going to eat you alive!" Scootaloo whisper yelled.

"No she's not, Scoots. I think we have an understanding."

"Oh, okay...wait but that means....YOU HAD-" Buck covered her mouth again. She had meant to finish "-SEX WITH A SIREN!?".

"Scoots, I am begging you to be cool about this. Don't yell. Don't tell nobody about this. I mean, Sunburst already knows, probably, but don't tell no one else, alright?" After Scoots nodded, Buck let her speak.

"I mean, who else do you even know in town, Buck? The Cakes? Donut Joe?" Scootaloo said. Buck's eyes squeezed shut. He really was exhausted.

"Just don't tell Quibble. He'll start being an asshole about it."

"What do you mean start?" Scoots said.

"Hah, got 'em. Naw, but seriously, can I ask you to just...like, just watch out for me? We're going to be at that bench over there, and could you just keep an eye on us, so she doesn't try nothin'?"

"Sure Buck. I've got your back!" Scoots said. She raised a respectful if insistent fist to bump. Buck acquiesced. Scoots was a bro at the end of the day.

"Thanks, Scoots. I appreciate you."

"Yeah, yeah, but...what was she like?"

"Huh?"

"You know, like last night? What was she like?"

"For fuck's sake, Scoots!"

"What!? What's wrong with asking!?"

*DING DING*

"Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner!" They said in unison.

Two hours passed like that. Buck refused to go into detail about his night with Adagio, half out of bashfulness and the other half out of fear for his job. Mrs. Cake had always held the rule that smut talk should be reserved for outside spaces and after hours, and Buck respected that. Mostly. His break came along and within moments of him sitting down on that bench, Adagio was on the other side of it. A short bar of metal and a huge pile of anxiety separated the two.

"Buck?" He heard her say. "Why aren't you looking at me?"

"It's hard to focus when I'm looking at you."

"Why is that, Buck?"

"Because I'm afraid of you. And because you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Buck said. He was watching the birds in the tree overhead.

"I'm not going to bite, Buck, unless you ask me very nicely." Adagio said. Buck snorted at that.

"Your teeth were like daggers this morning. Be honest; were you going to try and eat me?"

"...No, Buck. I told you already that the worst I would do is-"

"Lobotomize me and suck the emotions out of my comatose body." Buck said. His hands trembled.

"Well, I'm not going to do that either." She said.

"You're not in disguise today." Buck said. He was trying to steady his breathing. He was failing.

"There's no point in hiding, now. You and that Starlight creature have properly blown my cover. I assume the Rainbooms have been informed?"

"I haven't called them, No. But Starlight might have." Buck's leg was twitching. He couldn't seem to sit still. That was nothing new, of course, but he was trying to come off as cool. He was failing at that as well. The Rainbooms were a card he could play if everything went wrong, sure, but he didn't want to call them for his own reasons.

"Then I'm on probation, is that it?"

"Never said that. S'not my job to watch you and make sure you don't do what Sirens do, whatever that is."

"We sing, Buck."

"You chased me around a hotel."

"I did that because you ran."

"I ran because I recognized you. I know what you can do." Buck remembered the beating he got in the pit at the battle of the bands. If the Dazzlings hadn't been stopped, he'd have been beaten to death. He was sure of it. He looked across the street, through the window of Sugar Cube Corner.

In the art of subtlety, Scoots was a dadaist. She was sweeping the floors or trying to look like she was. She was mostly pacing back and forth in front of the window, waving a broom.

This was comforting to Buck; if things went south, he knew that Scoots could make enough noise to bring the whole block over here.

Adagio was quiet. Buck imagined a great lake, the kind that always had waves on it, and how scared he would be if the waves suddenly stopped. He snuck a glance at Adagio, expecting her to already have her eyes locked on him with that thirsty look from before. But that's not what he saw.

Adagio was sitting with her hands in her lap, and she was looking off in the distance. Buck knew that look.

For just a moment, past her curly orange locks, Buck could see Adagio's lip quivering. She closed her eyes and held a breath. She spoke without looking at him.

"Buck. I'm not going to hypnotize you, or put you in a coma. I'm not here to hurt you, Buck, I swear. I didn't come to intimidate you, or to silence you." She said.

Buck leaned forward on the bench, trying to catch Adagio's eyes. She looked away quickly.
"Then why did you come here?" He said.

"...I was wrong, this morning. I reacted...well I reacted in a drastic way, and I'm sorry for scaring you." She said. Her hands grasped at her skirt.

"Ah. Well, apology accepted." Buck said. He smiled as Adagio turned to him in bewilderment. He sat up, and looked at the sky. "I get it. I do. You're incognito here, and I caught you. You panicked." He reasoned. He wanted to hate her, to be scared of her, to run for his life. But now he knew he couldn't.

"Well...yes, maybe at first I did chase you because I panicked. But."

"But?" Buck said. He looked down at Adagio and saw that she looked away when he did so. She seemed so small.

"But that's not the whole reason. I...I chased you, Buck because I didn't want you to go away."

"Huh?" Buck said. Adagio was quiet again. Buck saw her grit her teeth.

"I hate this." She mumbled.

"What d'ya mean?"

"I hate this! I'm supposed to be...this isn't how I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be in control. And I'm here, falling apart on a park bench...! Do you have any idea how hard this is?"

"Uh...no?" Buck said. Adagio looked up at him sharply then. There was a twinkle of tears in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm alone up there, Buck! I'm tired of this horrible town and I'm tired of being alone! And I found you, Buck, I found you and I took you home and you...you...!" Adagio began to ramble. Buck didn't shrink away from her, this time. He just listened. "And you were so good, Buck! You're just this...this good thing that I found, Buck and the way you taste is just...well. I...I chased you Buck, because I knew that when you saw me for what I am you would run, and I'd never see you again, and I can't accept that, Buck, do you understand?" She said. In between that tirade, she had begun to reach out to him, then planted her hand back in her lap. She seemed afraid to touch him, now.

"You chased me because you were lonely?" Buck said. It was barely above a whisper.

"YES!" Adagio screamed it.

The birds in the tree above them flew away. Pedestrians on the other side of the street looked askance at them. Buck smiled and waved at them, then looked back at Adagio. She was breathing heavily. She looked terrified. "I'm not going to hurt you, so please, don't run from me! I really, genuinely want to get to know you and...and spend some time with you." She said. She was blushing, now.

"Oh. Huh...uh, wow, I uh...are, are you asking me on a second date?" Buck said, scratching his chin. Adagio put her head in her hands and groaned. Then, slowly, she started giggling. It took her a few moments to respond.

"Yes, Buck. I'm asking you out on a second date. Do you have a preference on where we go?" She said, wiping a tear from her eye. She had managed to scoot a little closer to Buck. Adagio's hip was against the metal bar. She was smiling, now, the sun filtering through the leaves was dancing in her orange hair.

"Uh, hell, uh, I dunno, how 'bout karaoke?" Buck stammered.

"You want to hear me sing, knowing that I'm a Siren?" Adagio said.

"Fuck yes, I do." Buck smirked. "And I bet you want to hear me sing, too."

"Ooooh, confident are we?"

"I ought to be. I'm pretty damn good at it." Buck said.

"Buck."

"Yeah?"

"I mean it, Buck. I want to get to know you. We should date, at some point."

"Isn't that what we're doing?"

"I know how sudden this is, but I mean we should Date date Buck. I want you in my life."

"Oh. Ohhh! Oh, wow!" Buck's hand flew to his forehead.

"I won't ask you twice, Buck."

"...I...I'm not saying yes, to that. But, we can go on a couple of dates and see how it works out, okay?"

"...fair enough."

"And I have some ground rules."

"Oh, good. So do I."

"No causing me harm, alright? No breaking into my house, no more crazy murder chasing, no hurting the people I care about. And 'No' means 'No', understand? If you or I says 'No', that's it."

"Is that all?"

"We can come up with more as we go. But boundaries matter."

"Understood. As for my rules...no spilling your seed inside another woman."

"Uh...is uh, is that it?"

"That's it, Buck."

"...Okay. Well, if we hit up Donut Joe's on Wednesday night, we can catch Open Mic night. Then we can show off."

"Mmm, I've seen you show off already, Buck. I can't wait to see what you have in store for me tomorrow. Entirely coincidentally, would you like to come back to my place and...spend the night?" Adagio said. The predator was creeping back into her smile. She reached out with intentional slowness, placing a gentle hand on Buck's chest. She squeezed his pectoral muscle slightly.

Buck full-on blushed. Her hands were so small and delicate, he realized. "If...uh, if it's all the same to you, I think I'd rather take things a little slower." He said.

"Buck, you literally came inside me last night." Adagio pouted.

"Yeah, well, I'm still kind of freaking out about that, a little bit. I'm not saying we won't do it again, I'm just saying I want to take it easier, okay? Baby steps."

"...Fine." Adagio said.

"Hey. Earlier, you said, uh...you said you could smell my fear. Is that true?"

"Smell is not entirely accurate. I can taste the emotions of others with a high amount of accuracy." Adagio said

"Huh. Well, what do I, uh, taste like now?" Buck said.

Adagio slid a hand around the nape of Buck's neck and pulled him closer. She leaned in and took a deep sniff at his neck, then shuddered. When had she crossed over the bar in the middle of the bench? Buck hadn't seen that.

"Mmm...You taste like so many things...affection, fear, lust...so much lust! And greed. You know what you want, and it isn't just one thing. I guess that makes you a bit different from the men in this city. You taste goooood, Buck...." Adagio groaned.

Buck had gone red from the attention. Adagio's eyes were smoldering. They darted down to Buck's hand in his lap and saw it was still shaking.

"I'm not going to hurt you..." She whispered. Buck stood up.

"I'll meet you at Donut Joes tomorrow night. I gotta get back to work." Buck said. Adagio stood and placed her hands on his. A light, surface-level touch. Her hands were soft.

"Thank you for hearing me out, Buck. It was very brave of you."

"Same to you, Adagio." Buck said. It wasn't bravery, he thought to himself. You're way too interesting and sexy and scary to let go. He wanted to say that. He didn't. He just smiled and nodded to her.

"I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow!" He said.

Buck's hand slid out of Adagio's as he moved to cross the street. He could feel her eyes on him as he walked away. She didn't say anything, and when Buck re-entered Sugar Cube Corner, she was gone.

Buck wasn't sure just what in the name of Jupiter's balls he'd just signed up for, but he realized as he clocked back in from his break that he was far more excited than scared now. A part of him thought he ought to be worried about that.

The rest of him just kept thinking about Adagio, her eyes cast demurely down as she bit her lip, sun dappling in her curly orange locks. Now the day was difficult for a different reason. He truly could not get her off his mind.

Author's Note

Song Review: 9 to 5 is the anthem of every poor sod stuck in a daily grind that overworks and underpays. Everyone in the workforce has dreams, and no one wants to work at the poverty line, but folks like Buck and Scoots don't have much choice in the matter. 9 to 5 runs at a bouncy rhythm, almost like Dolly Parton is skipping merrily through the motions with a put-upon smile. This mirrors the front counter experience of working retail.
It's a performance so commanding that you can get lost in it, but in its own sick way, it braces you for the abuses of the position. After all, people treat cashiers like garbage, and so in my head, it makes sense for Buck to react to a sexy nightmare in purple heels rolling up to his counter with the same grin he gives to everyone. She can't be any worse than the usual customer.
The song is also a bit of a portent of how Adagio has to make an effort to connect with Buck.