Hello everyone. I am new here in TAPV fanfiction page. I have been a fan for a year plus, but never write anything, as I'm not confident in capturing the characters accurately (I still am…).

However, since Inkblazers suddenly announced they are closing last December. I got an inspiration to write this. Originally was going to be a Christmas/Winter special, but things got in the way. Quite a number of things were changed from the original.

Cut to the point, I had tried my best but please pardon any OOC and mistakes regarding of my grammar and writing skills. I am trying to improve.

Hope you would enjoy this short fic.

Under One's Wing

"This is the worst…"

It was a clear, warm day in Melbourne, Australia. A sunny day for a picnic in the park, a stroll around town or a swim in the pool. It was a perfect day for such simple relaxation, yet a certain pink-haired young woman's brain couldn't rest for a single moment.

Petunia Elkwood frowned and crossed out another job from the job advertisement section in the newspaper, which was slowly covering in big, red X's. Another job had declined to hire her; they said it was due to her age, but Petunia knew the real reason was something else.

Petunia sighed and glanced up to the sky. The sun was no longer hanging high, so she presumed it could be around 2 to 3 in the afternoon. Petunia frowned even more; she is losing sunlight, thus losing time in finding a job again.

It had been more than a month since she had lost her previous job, and her savings were running dangerously low. She had even failed in paying her apartment rent for the current month. The landlady had agreed to give her another week to pay up, but that given week is ending soon. If she doesn't get a job ASAP, she would have no choice but to move out.

Petunia stopped in her track as a question popped into mind: Where will she go if she could not pay up?

The woman softly cursed. When she had agreed to the landlady, she didn't thoroughly plan out what she should do if she couldn't gather enough money for her rent. And from the look of her job hunting progress, Petunia has a high chance to lose the only place she can stay in the whole city.

Frustrated, mentally tired and annoyed by all the stupid job rejection reasons, Petunia can only growled out from all the emotion. "Can it get any worse…?"

~* Under One's Wing*~

"I'm sorry, Ms. Elkwood. But you have to move out by tomorrow morning."

Petunia could only stare at the middle-aged woman in front of her in shocked and disbelief. Did she hear it right? "Move out? By tomorrow? Are you joking with me?!"

The brown-haired landlady put on a slight scowl and placed her hands onto her hips. "I would watch my tone to an older woman if I were you."

Petunia flushed in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, madam. I-It's just… It's so sudden."

The landlady sighed. "I understand, Ms. Elkwood. But I have given you a chance, and since you're still unable to give me the money, I have no choice. Letting you stay here free for half of this month is the best I can do for you. You should be grateful that it wasn't my husband that comes to break this news to you."

Petunia nodded in understanding. It was very generous of the landlady for allowing her to live the past two weeks for free, but still… "Where should I go after I left?"

"I'm afraid I can help you no more. Call up some friends and ask them. I believe a pretty thing like you have many friends around here. How about your boyfriend?" The landlady asked innocently, but her question had the young woman standing before her blushed a bright pink.

"I-I have none, madam. Ah. Boyfriend, I mean."

The landlady raised an eyebrow at the young woman's answer. "Really? I see. Well, you should still ask around your friends. It is getting late, Ms. Elkwood. I should be heading home now. I'll see you in the morning."

"A-Ah. Thank you and have a good evening, madam." With that, Petunia watched the landlady strolled away and disappeared down the stairs.

Great… Where should she go tomorrow? With boxes of her stuff too, even though there weren't much. Friends, the landlady had told her. But she only got a small handful of them here, excluding her two brothers that had not bothered to let her know where they lived or even give phone numbers for her to contact them.

Hmm… How about Marcus and Roll's place? No. Dylan would most likely be there and she really doesn't feel like listening to him teasing about her losing the apartment. Plus, she had burdened them when she first got to Melbourne, she wouldn't want to bother them again. The same applied to Norah.

How about Hana? She was her best friend after all. But she had never been to Hana's place, what if her home doesn't have enough space for her to move in? Then again, there's nobody else she knew.

Well, there's Cyril. But there's no way she would move to his place. Meeting him has been terrifying enough; don't even think of living with him.

Alright then. Who else…? There's no one else except-

"Oh, Petunia. Why are you standing outside alone?"

A small blush crept up to Petunia's face as she turned to meet the one who spoke. "Todd Allison…"

The orange-haired man gave her a puzzled look then asked, "Will you be alright?"

That was enough to snap Petunia out of her gaze. "H-Huh?"

"I heard the conversation you had with the landlady. Do you have anywhere to move to?"

"Oh! Um… Not really, to be honest." Petunia answered, absent-mindedly pushing a strand of hair to the back of her ear, only to be stopped halfway when Todd Allison spoke.

"How about my place then?"

Once again, Petunia found herself staring at someone in complete shock. "P-Pardon me? D-Did you just s-said your place?"

Todd gave her a small frown like the landlady did and repeated himself, "Yes. My place. You have been in my apartment for two times. I believe you have noticed there is space for your things and you had slept in my bed before too. So there's nothing to be worried about for you to move in temporarily. Once you have enough money to pay back the rent, moving back would be a piece of cake too."

Petunia was still flabbergasted by Todd's sudden generous offer. "B-But, I can't take your bed! Where would you sleep then? I remembered you only have one bedroom."

"My couch can be converted into a sofa-bed. Like I said, nothing to worry about." Todd replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "So?"

Petunia didn't know what to say. Everything happened so quick and sudden. She just found out she had been kicked out from her apartment, then Todd just offered her to move in with him with no hesitation. Moving in with him, a guy -and not just any guy-, but a guy she had admiration for since they properly introduced themselves outside the back door of Rainbird Café.

However, if she ignores her affection, what Todd said was true. She doesn't have to fuss about moving to a new place and she can quickly jump back into her job hunting. To be honest, Todd's apartment had been comfortable. All the plants he planted in his house had given her a sense of homeyness.

"Are you really okay with it? Won't I just be a burden to you?" Petunia asked, her fingers twirling the hem of her cardigan.

"If it would bother me, would I offer you in the first place?" Todd simply said and gave Petunia a small reassuring smile, causing the woman to blush pink.

Petunia quickly shook her mind clear then answered. "Then I accept your kind offer, Todd Allison. Thank you."

"No problem. I don't remember repaying you for retrieving back my purse so long ago. So, take this as a 'thank you' for that time." Todd kept the smile on his face as he watched Petunia gave him a small nod and an 'Oh'. "Are you still unemployed, Petunia?"

"Ah. Yes…"

"I met a customer in the café yesterday. She's going to open a specialized store for honey down the block from the café, and asked if I know anyone who would be interested to work for her. Are you interested?" Todd asked, pulling a yellow name card from his coat's inner pocket before handing it over to the stunned pink-haired woman.

Petunia looked down at the name card, feeling excitement building up inside her. Another chance to get a job! "I do! Thank you so much, Todd Allison! Thank you!"

"It's nothing. It's late now, Petunia. Go get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning to help you with the packaging and moving. Good night."

"Oh. Yes. Of course. Good night, Todd Allison. See you tomorrow." With smiles on their faces, both of them retreated back into their respective apartment.

That night, Petunia found herself unable to sleep. She should be sad that she is losing her apartment, but surprisingly, she wasn't. Instead, she was looking forwards to the morning and move into Todd's place. Then maybe give the number on the name card a call, she had a feeling the lady boss is a nice person.

Ever since she got to Melbourne, she didn't like how Dylan and the others treated her so nicely because she was the sister of Elijah and Meredith. It was like Elijah had specifically instructed them to look after her. However, Todd Allison is different. He doesn't know her brothers and her relation to them. He is helping her because they are friends. The first friend she had made all by herself here in Melbourne to boot.

Petunia smiled and snuggled deeper into her bed, glad that Todd Allison had taken her under his wing.

The End

That's the end. If you noticed, I mentioned a new honey store is opening in the story. That is hinting the new place where the webcomic would be in the future according to Nozmo's tweet: Hiveworks. See what I did there? Hiveworks = bees = honey? Okay, I'll stop. The founder of Hiveworks Comics is Joseph "Jojo" Stillwell. I changed the gender to a woman to tackle the sexism problem in that timeline. If the boss is a lady, she wouldn't mind having female staffs, right? Just like Rainbird Cafe.

This is extra, but Todd is Petunia first friend she made herself in Melbourne right? She might have met Norah, Marcus, Roland and Dylan but kinda because they know her brothers. Thus, I considered Todd Allison as the first friend she made without her brothers in the picture. Hana is second, since Petunia know Todd's name first. XD

Welp. That's all to this story. Thank you for reading.

I am currently slowly working in a multi-chapter TAPV story. You can find out more of it in my profile, if you're interested. Thank you once again!