I'll Catch You When You Fall
This takes place about 7 yrs prior to the "present", before Oz and Alice showed up. I mostly wanted to explore a bit about Break and Liam's friendship, and couldn't resist inserting some warm fuzzies.
Mostly fluff, Break x Liam, Sharon x Gilbert, a bit of foul language. I tried to keep the characters "in character" but I see no harm in imagining and portraying them in a way that might seem slightly OOC, since characters like Break especially are complex enough to have sides to them that we might not expect.
Reviews welcome.
Chapter 1
In his dream, Liam heard a crinkle and felt something lumpy underneath him. I must be on the ground again, on top of some leaves and acorns, he thought. How did I end up here? Did I drink too much?
He opened his eyes to the morning light, and was surprised to find himself in his own bed. He felt underneath his shoulder for the crinkly lump that had been disturbing his sleep for most of the morning. Even without his glasses, he could see that it was a piece of wrapped candy.
What the heck?
He reached for his glasses and put them on, and then noticed there was a trail of similar candies leading toward his bedroom door.
Xerxes, what are you up to now?
He quickly washed and dressed, then headed out the door, following the trail of candies to a patio where Xerxes Break was having tea by himself.
"Good morning, Liam!" Break sing-songed.
Liam dropped the collected candies on the plate in front of him.
"Are you ready for your next assignment?" Break asked, grinning.
Liam sighed and pushed up his glasses.
"Do I have a choice about it?" he muttered.
"Well you do have a choice, since it's not Pandora business, but I think you'll like this one," said Break. "We are going to set up a treasure hunt for Ojou-sama's birthday!"
Liam's brow furrowed.
"Isn't she a little... old for that?"
"Hmmm…" Break put his finger up to his lips. "I don't think so. The only one too old is me. You see, I can't hide the clues where I want to because it's hard for me to do things like climb trees and that's where I could use your help."
"Why do we need to climb a tree?" queried Liam. "Do you think Miss Sharon, with her long dress, will be able to climb a tree to find a clue?"
"Ah, she doesn't need to. You just need to climb the tree outside her bedroom window and put the first clue there. That way she'll see it when she wakes tomorrow. Then you need to add a date with Cheryl to Rufus's schedule so that the Duchess be away from Rainsworth manor…" he leaned forward conspiratorially, "…when I sneak in the giant cake with the half-naked shota boy inside it."
"What the hell?" Liam exclaimed. "D-did you hire someone to…be in the cake?"
"Ah, no," Break said, smiling, "I plan to get Gilbert Nightray to do it. I could use your help with that as well. You've got a key to the wine cellar, don't you?"
"Agg," Liam put his hands up to his blushing face. "You're crazy, Xerxes."
"Mmm, hmm…but I know what Milady likes," Break laughed and danced a circle around his cane. "We are going to have soooo much fun tomorrow!"
"You truly have no shame," Liam muttered. How did Xerxes gain so much self-assured confidence so fast? He was such a fearful man just a few years back.
"No shame!" screeched Emily, from her perch on Break's shoulder.
Ah Liam, I like it when you're annoyed with me, thought Break. That's how it should be. A murderer like me doesn't deserve any better.
