The Hottest Harem // Blush Blush x Anxious! Reader

Chapter 12: Eli's Hunger

[Your POV]

"Well, that is quite the situation you have yourself in." The pegasus said, scarfing down a tray of cupcakes Bonnibel had brought out. "Straight out of an anime, if you ask me, darling!"

"You're right..." I muttered under my breath.

"But, I'd be happy to move in with you, as long as Bonnibel still agrees to feed me her sweet treats!" He said. Bonnibel nodded and hugged the pegasus.

"(Y/N)." Volks said to me. "Why should we allow some random unicorn to live with us!?"

"He's a pegasus, Volks." I said.

"Yeah!" The pegasus said. "But don't worry, I like your attitude, wolfy~" Volks just frowned and growled.

"What even is your name!?" Volks yelled.

The pegasi's eyes widened at how angry Volks seemed. "Jeez, I like your attitude, but not that much. My name is Eli, the Karaoke Champion!" My eyes widened and my heart stopped. Bonnibel suddenly stopped hugging Eli and slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Quick! Someone call Iro!" Bonnibel cried. I remembered that time when Iro gave me her number, telling me I could call anytime. I whipped out my phone and called Iro. I bit my lip as I put it on speaker. The ringing began. I had started sweating and I could tell Bonnibel was too. The phone rang for a couple seconds when Iro's voice came over the phone. "Iro! We found Eli-"

"Yo, this is Iro, except it's not cause I lost my phone again. Leave a message after the beep!" A beep...

"Iro, we have Eli." I said. "We found him! You can come back here and see him! Please come back..." I ended it and stuffed my phone in my pocket, giving a sad sigh. 

"Is there something wrong? Where did Iro go?" Eli asked, his voice slightly concerned. 

"She left on her motorcycle to go and look for you, sugar." Bonnibel explained.

"Oh. It's gonna be awhile before she gets back, then." Eli said. I cocked my head to the side, confused. "When Iro is looking for something on her motorcycle, she'll go to extreme speeds. She's probably already really far out of town, if that's what she did."

"How long do you think she'll be?" I asked him.

Eli looked up at the ceiling, rubbing his horse chin with his hoof in thought. "Well, she doesn't check her phone all that often and she's super fast in, like, any mode of transportation. So I'd say, a week or maybe even more."

"A week!?" I cried.

"Eli's right." Bonnibel said. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you earlier, Eli."

"It's all good, Bonnie~" Eli said. "As long as you know me now and can feed me all our sweets!" He grinned and I couldn't help but feel happy when I was around him. Quite the contrast from Volks, who was still snarling at the idea of having Eli move in.

I rubbed Volks' head, scratching behind his ear. "It's just for the time being." I whispered. "He'll probably wanna be with his sister when she gets back."

"Don't pet me." Volks said. "And I don't wanna live with him at all."

"Why are you being so moody about this, Volks?" Kelby asked. "When you think about it, he's just like us."

"What?" Volks asked through gritted teeth.

"H-He's been turned into a-an animal too, V-Volks." Nimh said, hoping to calm down the wolf. "It only m-makes sense to s-stick together a-and find some k-kinda cure, right?" I nodded. Nimh and Kelby were right.

"Just open your heart, Volks." I said.

"What heart?" Kelby asked, followed by some clucky giggles. Volks just growled again and stared at Eli. It would forever confuse me why he didn't like Eli. Did he get a mad vibe? Was his gut telling him something? My gut was telling me to take Eli in.

After packing us some food, Bonnibel saw us off, sending us back home that night. Eli was quite eager to eat the food right away, but Kelby insisted that we save it. When we got home, I put the food in the fridge, with all the other groceries. I entered the main room and grabbed some blankets when I saw Eli wandering around. "You know, this place looks super familiar." He said, carefully observing each nook and cranny. 

"What do you mean?" I asked. That's when his wings and ears perked up in recognition.

"This used to be the Bean Queen Coffee House!" Eli said. "Hehe! Iro and I used to come here all the time. She's good friends with someone who used to work here."

"Really?" I wondered, looking around. "It did seem like some sort of establishment when we moved in here. What happened to the coffee house?"

"It heard it got shut down when some of their best baristas went missing." Eli said. "I don't know where they are now, but I hope they're okay."

"Any idea who went missing?" I asked.

"A guy named Dmitri and his younger sister, Lotus." Eli said. "Iro was good friends with the both of them. I always prefered Bonnibel's Bakery and hanging out with her and her sisters, but it was still nice to come here."

"Bonnibel has sisters?" I asked. She never told me about them. Then again, it never came up in conversation.

"Two of 'em." Eli explained. "Peanut goes to college somewhere and Babybelle's a gardner downtown. I'd love to meet up with them sometime. Peanut's a bit shy, but Babybelle's got the best fruit!"

"Yeah...maybe we could meet up with them sometime..." I said, giving an internal sigh. When Bonnibel asked about inviting people to our pastry party, could she have possibly be referring to her sisters? I suddenly felt sick in the stomach. I'm so awful... She probably wanted to introduce me to her sisters... My sigh became external and Eli looked over at me.

"What's up with you?" Eli asked. "Tired?"

"Yeah, sure." I said, avoiding eye contact with him. "Um, here's some blankets. I gotta get some work done."

"Work?" He asked.

"(Y/N)'s a writer." Volks said, curling up on the couch. My eyes widened slightly. I had thought Volks looked at me like some horny fanfic writer who writes sex stories on Wattpad. But...he called me a writer...like it was my profession. 

"Wow! That sounds mighty neat, sweetheart~" Eli said. "Do you have any NSFW works?"

"...H-Huh?" I stuttered.

"You know...'Not Safe For Work'." He said, glancing at Volks, who began growling. "What? I have a love for something." Eli looked back at me and winked, only making my cheeks hotter.