Getting this PI project off the ground had been a shining light for Bo over the past few weeks. Over a year into her time in Vallo, the appeal of the comparative calm was starting to wear off. She could do anything here. She could be anyone. Her fucked up origins meant less than nothing. The fae were nothing like they were back home – as far as she knew, anyway, because she’d been warned early on not to venture too close and she’d stuck to that.
But with that good behavior inevitably came boredom. She was used to a life on the run, and when that passed, a life of chaos at the hands of a world she’d never known she’d come from. She needed a little more spice in her life, outside of the occasional influxes of acid mushrooms or whatever this place could randomly throw at them and jaunts into the most horrifying future she could ever imagine.
Defense had been a consideration. She wasn’t officially a member, not even Reserves, but she helped out occasionally. The idea of joining such a structured department made her itch, though, and she knew Kenzi wouldn’t do it. The PI idea hadn’t come to her until she sat down with Wanda one night and watched six episodes of Columbo (apparently, her love of the oldies wasn’t restricted to just I Love Lucy), and it was like the lightbulb had turned on over her head.
So, back into the PI game they went.
She knew Kenzi would agree without hesitation – partners in crime, through it all – but she hadn’t expected much interest past that. Getting a good handful was a nice surprise, and from there, it was making sure they went about this the right way. This wasn’t the same covert operation they ran to skirt between the dark and the light. She was determined to get a legitimate business off the ground.
Which meant finding legitimate office space, especially if they were housing four other employees.
It wasn’t the simplest task. They had the money, that was nothing, even considering the extra hands they were taking on. She was paid handsomely for her work at Lux and the tips were a fantastic bonus. Living in Morningside meant there were no bills to worry about, and she’d done pretty good at saving, considering their take-out and shopping budgets were constantly blown. But finding an office in the right place, one with some character, one that wasn’t too sleek but wasn’t a rundown pit (beloved as the memory of the Crack Shack may be) was harder than it seemed.
They were nowhere near fancy enough for a realtor; instead, Bo had gone through online ads herself and assembled a list. Currently, they were on the third for the day, a storefront in the not-the-worst part of the city. There was an apartment space upstairs that came with it, and the lease was pretty affordable, but work was definitely needed.
“What do you think, Kenz?” Bo asked, nudging her bestie’s shoulder as they returned to the front of the store. There was a big display window in the front looking out onto the street and she made a face. “I don’t know if I like the idea of being on display here.” She waved a finger at the offending window.
“Oh but why noooooooooot,” Kenzi drawled with a flair of drama, pressing the whole front of her body (and extra cleavage, thanks to the extra support of a corset) against the glass. Someone passed by with children, covered their eyes and gave the glare of someone most offended. She snorted. “We can ask someone to, like, tint the windows – or do some magic voodoo to let us be able to look out but not let someone look in?”
It was a thought. The price on this one wasn’t too shabby, and she was trying to find solutions to make some of their options work out. Some weren’t worth the trouble.
She peeled herself from the glass, hands on her hips as she re-entered Bo’s personal bubble. “The little space up above might be too convenient for you,” Kenzi leered. “Perfect for a succubus snack break.”
“Pretty sure the magic voodoo that does that is tinting,” was Bo’s reply, with a very fond roll of her eyes at her bestie’s antics. She even ended up having to stifle a laugh into her hand at the absolutely scandalized reaction it elicited. Kenzi had a point; it was a decent location for a decent price, and getting the front windows tinted wouldn’t be such an insane solution to something that was not-really-a-problem.
She quickly shifted to a smirk and a hand clapping playfully against Kenzi’s cheek to pull her closer. “Well, now that you mention it… that does hold some appeal. Could also free up some space at the apartment for you.”
“Shut up, he’s got his own,” Kenzi gumbled, and pulled Bo in for a fat, wet kiss to the cheek before pushing her platonic soulmate away with another theatrical dash. “Plus the whole dream realm thing – don’t judge me.”
Back to assess the space. She breathed in the air, and thought with her big weird brain, and then gestured towards the glass that had stolen their focus.
“We could print our agency name on there too,” she suggested. “Big lettering to catch people’s attention. And then you with the boobs, and me with the charm? That’s how we seal the deal.” Kenzi paused before adding some more pragmatic details out of necessity. “And with, you know, competence and actual, tangible results that make us worth giving money to. All that important stuff. I see it, though.”
Bo very nearly started teasing Kenzi – not once had she mentioned Dream’s name, yet she’d known exactly what was being insinuated. But she decided not to push it. Kenzi had to go about this relationship with Dream her own way, and Bo had no desire to really get rid of her or be apart. Kenzi lended her own brand of normalcy to their life, and Bo craved that.
“So, speaking of agency names,” she chimed in. “We kind of need one still. And no, Succubusters is not back on the table.”
Kenzi brought clenched fists against her chest as if she were wounded by those very words. “Succbusters is so good,” she sighed, throwing her head back in despair. “But fine, fine. We can do something lame and basic like BK Investigations, except BK reminds me too much of Burger King. We’d always be Burger King Investigations in my head.”
Bo wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “No Burger King Investigations,” she agreed. “We’ll think of something. There has to be something that doesn’t sound ridiculously cheesy.”
In the meantime, she turned around to take another look around the office. It was empty now, save for an old, rundown couch, but maybe it had some potential.
“This is probably the best one we’ve seen today,” she admitted, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked back at Kenzi. “What’s your vote?”
Right. Time to be serious and make a practical decision. Kenzi’s arms moved to cross over her chest. “Better than the rest,” she supplied, surveying one corner of the front room before dragging her eyes towards the next. “It’s in a busy area, so there’s a lot of foot traffic to see us. And there’s a taco place down the block that doesn’t look like it’d ruin our insides.”
Bomb looking margaritas, too. But she wouldn’t let herself get seduced by the idea of a cocktail right now.
“I think it needs a dire paint job, but all the little nitpicks I have about it are fixable,” Kenzi added. “And the listing assured us it wasn’t haunted? So that’s a huge selling point right there.”
“Point,” Bo agreed, nodding as she surveyed the space again. That hadn’t been true of the one prior to this, which had some very dark vibes. Bo could deal with a little darkness – it was inherent in her – but the creep factor in that listing had been too off the wall even for her.
This one, they could jam in some desks, some filing cabinets, get all the proper fancy technology hooked up, replace that ugly couch, and they stood a good chance of getting a good business going here. Something that might actually help people, might make some sort of meaningful difference.
Or she might be catching cheaters day in and day out, but hey. It was a new level of excitement.
“Alright, let’s do it,” she decided. She stepped up to wrap her arm around Kenzi’s neck and drag her close to kiss the side of her head. “We’ll call the guy up for a lease, and we can celebrate with tacos.”
“Non-euphemistic tacos,” Kenzi teased with a smirk, squeezing her best friend’s waist like a teddy bear. “Not gonna lie, though, I never thought we’d – be here. This long.”
They were getting the hell out of dodge back home, just her and Bo to be far, far away from the clusterfuck of the Light and Dark, to reel from the grenades of truth Trick had dropped about Bo’s origins. Vallo was a nice escape for that, but for a while she thought the escape would be temporary.
That’s how shit rolled for most people.
It could still roll that way.
“We’ve never looked for housing outside of Morningside,” she thought out loud. Why would they, anyway? Free rent. Kenzi enjoyed paying bills as little as possible. “So this whole thing is like – a commitment. A huge one.” Funny how she spoke like getting involved with a cosmic being of dreams and one day having his baby wasn’t a commitment. It was. But that future with Kylie felt far away, and this was them putting roots down now. “We just gotta make sure the lease has a clause in case one of us poofs, you know?”
Bo nodded, looking over at Kenzi with a knowing gaze. She had never expected to be here this long either. It was a weird reprieve, an escape from being on the run, but she hadn’t expected to settle here. She hadn’t expected to form connections, and the last thing she’d expected was to see some kind of future. It was a lot to wrap their heads around, but they were relatively happy here, she thought. Kenzi had this whole (literal) dream man thing going on and a kid at some nebulous time in the future.
Putting down roots was scary. Last time she’d done it, shit had gone bad, and she’d been trying to escape it before ending up here. This time, at least, she wasn’t so in over her head with the fae that it was impossible to be a person, too.
“I bet there’s some Outlander lawyer who can help us out with that,” she suggested. “But if you think it’s too much, it’s not too late to back out. We’re still on the hypothetical end of things.”
“Balls to the walls, baby,” Kenzi smirked at her, reaching up to grab her bestie’s chin and squish her cheeks. “We gotta start acting like we’re stuck here for good. That’s a good thing for us, isn’t it? I’ve done the whole hopping around and living in weird places. So have you. It’s been fun.”
Maybe settling down more comfortably could be fun, too.
Maybe.
Thinking about it sometimes gave her hives. It also sometimes gave her butterflies. They had it good here. Would it last? She wasn’t a blind optimist to think it would. But it might, and that might was worth trying it out.
“Yeah, it’s been fun,” Bo agreed with a grin. She liked Vallo. She liked how apart it was from their world, that she got to just be around here and nobody batted an eye. There were things – people – she missed back home, but she had the most important one here. That was all that mattered to her.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. Non-euphemistic tacos await.”