Yukiou & Peter — Sew Job

“Really, thank you both so much for stopping by. O-ho, this is really quite the occasion… I ought to have prepared more than just tea and crackers if I knew you were coming by at the same time…”

Peter slid his chair back and stood just in time for Velveteen to slide their shades off and unwrap the scarf that had been so dutifully tied around their head… and they motioned for the other idol—who was busy looking all around—to do the same. Yukiou was too dumbstruck to act in a timeframe that Velveteen found acceptable… so they simply just yanked Yuki’s hat off, slid the glasses off his face, and deposited both of their “disguises” onto a nearby chair.

“Think nothing of it, Peter. I wanted to come by and confirm a couple extra details, and this… airhead… got sparkly-eyed and wanted to accompany me. I—” Velveteen had walked forward to greet their ‘business partner’ but was quickly overshadowed—no literally, this stupidly tall bun cast a shadow over Velveteen’s form in the harsh studio lighting—by Yukiou as he came up behind the two, practically jumping over Velveteen to get his hand stuck out in Peter’s direction.
“Mister Peter! Ooooh, mister Peter! I think this is the first time we’ve met… right? At least like, face to face… or formally, or one of those things. Ehehe. My name is…”
“Oh—ohoh!” Peter visibly jumped back just a tad when faced with this idol’s enthusiasm, but quickly rocketed his hand forward—obviously trying to match the way Yukiou threw his hand out—and gave him a firm shake. “Yukiou Larimara, of course I know your name! Yes, I do think that’s the case though — ‘tis truly a shame we have not done this prior! Most certainly you strike a different sort of… energy in your off hours.”
“Yeah that’s what a lot of people tell me.” As Yuki agreed, he lifted his hand upward a bit… making an archway for Velveteen to quickly duck out of the awkward spot that was the ravine between those two tall sloth buns. 

“Ahem. Yukiou… you do remember what you promised to do if I were to bring you to Peter’s studio… correct?” Velveteen crossed their arms with a stern tone in their voice; the power of their pointed stare was all but lost on Yuki though.
“Oh! Yeah yeah — don’t go messing things up, and don’t go bothering you and Peter as you guys work!” Releasing Peter’s grip, Yuki gave a brisk salute to Velveteen who simply sighed… and Peter couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Oh come now, there’s no need to be that rigid. We’re all off hours here; you can look around the place as you please, and if you have questions about anything you can let me know, Yuki. Is… is it alright if I call you Yuki?” Yukiou nodded in response, and Peter smiled back.
“… haah. You say that like you aren’t still working on something or other in this place. Is that piece there what we were discussing before?” Velveteen clicked their tongue in a ‘tsk-tsk-tsk’ manner, and Peter’s resultant chuckle was tinged with a slight bit of embarrassment.
“Well you got me there, Velveteen… I just had a spot of inspiration and I was staying in to make some adjustments to the test case…”

And as their conversation quickly turned to one of business—talking about the details of a new line of shirts or something like that—Yukiou quietly began to wander about the studio. Large tables piled neatly with test pieces and fabric swatches, rolls of material on racks for easy access, at least three different sewing machines, bookshelves full of magazines and a little seating area to read them… man, this place had everything. There were even computers connected to a whole corner of 3D printers and their accompanying machines, all toiling away with a moderate amount of noise on bits and baubles that were no doubt going to be used in some sort of fashion mock-up. Was that a shoulder plate or a mask of sorts? Who knows — Yuki promised he wouldn’t touch, and he didn’t… he’s being such a good bun right now!

Despite Velveteen’s earlier snippiness, Yukiou took Peter’s kindness as an invitation to pop over to the two of them to ask a random question every now and then. Of course the all-business Velveteen pouted at every interruption but… their expression softened every single time as they watched Peter enthusiastically explain different fabric types or why inseams exist or what happens if some fabric piece just doesn’t work… This normally-reserved bun was always so enthusiastic about his craft in that wholly unique way that Velveteen just had to let each and every one of Yukiou’s question play out. In the end it just meant they got to spend more time with him… though they’d never come around to admitting that.

However… one of Yukiou’s questions just so happened to be one that’d put the brakes on all prior operations.

“Hey… hey Peter, what’s this?” With a purely innocent facial expression, Yuki wandered back to Peter and Velveteen’s side as the two talked over a pile of fabric and a pile of cotton.
“—and I was thinking that we could possibly use some cotton material like this on the lining for… oh, Yukiou! Let me see, what’s that you have th — oh, oh my…” As soon as Peter recognized what was in Yuki’s hands, his face turned bright red and one of his ears flopped into his face as he let out a long string of embarrassed noises.
“I—ah! Yukiou! What did I say about… actually, what is it that you have there? Give it here. Come now, you should know not to dig around in other peoples’ stuff without permission, you’re decent enough when we’re on the clock… hmm?” Velveteen made an exaggerated hand motion—give it to me, cloud-for-brains—and had raised their voice as Yukiou handed the object over (perhaps to cover up Peter’s embarrassment in a way) but had gone oddly quiet when they further examined what they had in their hand. Ah… and the noises of Peter’s embarrassing agony peaked with a crack as he realized that Velveteen—THE VELVETEEN—was looking at THAT… THAT…!!!

“What is this… is this a loafki? A plushie? It’s… oddly lumpy.” Velveteen turned the makeshift plushie over in their hands, giving it a firm squish or two. “… soft, too.”
“Ahhh~ Velvet, and you tell me not to mess with people’s stuff! I think that’s Peter’s loafki!” Yukiou pointed in Peter’s direction, and the two turned to look as Peter started to mumble something.

“…s …laram…”
“???” Both Yukiou and Velveteen made confused noises, leaning in further to attempt to hear Peter as his ear muffled his voice… but finally the red-faced bun pulled his ear down and announced—
“It is a stellaram! It’s… I… one day I had extra material, and… well since it’s made from scrap fabric, I couldn’t get around to texturing it properly… and I made a miscalculation on the amount of fabric I’d need for the horns, aaah… Overall it’s a bit of a bust, and I’m wondering where in my studio you happened to find it!” Peter gingerly held out a hand as he stumbled over his words, and Velveteen didn’t think twice about handing the crudely-made stellaram plush over to its rightful owner.
“Ohhh… yeah now that you say it, I can see its little wings—OOF!” Yuki leaned in with sparkles in his eyes as he tried to examine the plush further… but was quickly met with an elbow in the chest from a very stern-faced Velveteen.
“Now Yukiou… it’s quite obvious that you’ve invaded Peter’s privacy and didn’t ask to touch his things before embarrassing him outright. Where’s his apology?”
“Oh… oh no. I’m sorry… I won’t do it again.” Yukiou’s expression turned dour and he bowed his head — Peter’s eyes widened in alarm, and he waved his hands around frantically.
“Oh — oh no no no, none of that is necessary! I—” A flustered Peter received a look from Velveteen—one that most obviously read ‘oh no, you are not letting him off the hook like that’—which caused him to clear his throat and begin again, “—ahem. I mean… Thank you very much for understanding, Yukiou. I take no offense and I’m very happy that you’re aware of what you’ve done. But…”

“Well… I have been working on projects for others nonstop… I haven’t had much time to get around to fixing this little guy. Perhaps…” Wandering over to the table they’d had cotton and fabric laid out on prior, Peter sat his crude stellaram on it and waved at the materials with a flourish… despite Velveteen’s “oh here we go again” eyeroll. “Perhaps the both of you would like to join me in the art of creation? Making plush is an activity that predated my current clothing-line job, so I’d be very welcome to passing down a pointer or two. It’ll make this whole situation a little less… awkward, I’d like to think.”
“You’d… you’d really do that?! Even though I embarrassed you?! P-chan, you’re so nice! I’ve never done anything like this before, I’d love to!” Before Velveteen could say anything in retaliation, Yukiou had jumped forward to grab Peter’s hands for an earnest shake yet again… and Velveteen couldn’t help but sigh.
“If you’re alright with it… sure. I’m also interested in seeing how you spend your time outside all your regular sewing…” As they strutted over, Peter’s face was brushed with pink for just a small moment before he puffed out his chest… Now was his time to shine and impress two idols at once, after all!

“Of course. Now, let’s start with the basics…”

…

Finally, after a couple of well-spent hours ‘teaching’ two vastly different idols that learned in vastly different ways… there was a product to show for each bun’s hard work. Peter had spent his time reworking that lumpy stellaram bun into one that more accurately represented what it was trying to depict… he’d even used plush wooly fabric to give it an extra-huggable feel. Velveteen’s was rough—no one was an expert right off the bat, of course—but it was evident just by looking at their lunell plush that the time they’ve spent in the fashion business has rubbed off on them in more ways than one. A gold star for Velveteen’s banana-lunell! And alas… even though Yukiou was the one who sustained the most injuries of the three, his bonezo plush was shaped more like a tofu nugget than any imp out there.

“Aww… I’m not sure mine looks as good as y—” Yukiou held his creation gingerly and had originally adopted a tone of try-to-keep-bright sadness… but Peter quickly stepped forward and clapped both his hands onto Yuki’s shoulders.
“Yuki!” The force of his voice was much more prevalent than at any other point during the night, “We don’t say that sort of self-doubtful thing in my studio! You’ve just started, so of course things aren’t always going to turn out exactly how you’ve envisioned it. Starting is the most important thing, and finishing is the next… because now you can say that you know how to make a plushie, and you can improve and make your next one even better. Here—” After wiping away the warm tears in Yuki’s eyes, Peter quickly piled some supplies into a bag and set it into Yuki’s hands. “—some fabric, some patterns, some cotton, and… yarn. I have a feeling that you’ll really enjoy knitting — if you want to learn more, promise me you won’t give up because you see others doing their own business.”
“It’s… sorta like being an idol, kinda?” Yuki sniffed, holding the bag—and his creation—with a smile… and he looked down as he felt a light jab in the stomach from Velveteen.
“I couldn’t have said that any better myself, Peter. Now… it’s quite late; shall we all go out for a drink before we need to return to work?” They looked to Peter, then Yukiou.
“Oh that sounds delightful! Yes, let me close up the studio and I’ll be right along!” With a flustered motion Peter hurried off to wind up materials, organize scrap pieces and turn off all the lights… and Velveteen and Yukiou shared a look.

“… you won’t get mad if I ask to come with you again, right?”
“Maybe, maybe not. If you ask kindly, perhaps… and if you make sure to bring along an improved plush. I don’t want to see that pep talk go to waste, you understand?”
“Heheh, of course. Deal!”