Stuck - a Tenshi Ni Narumon fic by Leviathan

11.04.01

Notes: I'm not going to use Japanese in this fic with two exceptions: Raphael will always be "Raphael-sama" when Mikael talks to him--at least until my next fic, which, if all goes well, well be called "Sama". ^_~ And I'm keeping the Japanese suffixes on other names, because there really isn't an English equivalent to some of them.

This is set during the series, but after the time when Raphael failed to wake Mikael up for school.

Italics without quotation marks around them are thoughts.

Stuck by Leviathan

The beeping of the alarm clock woke Mikael almost immediately, dragging him from the depths of warm slumber, though immediately upon waking Mikael found himself just as warm and comfortable as he had been in sleep. Then...he realized why.

"Raphael-sama."

"Hmmm?"

"Raphael-sama."

"Yes, Mikael?"

"Must you--"

"Well, no."

Mikael sighed, his head dropping back onto the pillow right next to the red-haired angel's. "Doesn't lying on your wing like that get uncomfortable?"

"We could switch sides of the futon," Raphael offered hopefully.

"Or you could let go of me."

"If that's really want you want, just say so."

Mikael fell silent, and Raphael grinned beside him, tightening his arms around his student.

"I have to go to school," Mikael tried.

The angel seemed to consider his plea for a moment, then said, "Why do you insist upon going to school here when you've been attending classes at the Angel School?"

"Because--" There's nothing else to do. "I have to look after Noelle."

"Mmm." Raphael nuzzled the side of Mikael's neck and rubbed their cheeks together, his halo glowing a bit more brightly. Mikael's face turned a bright shade of pink and he stuttered, "R-Raphael-sama, I have to go to school!"

"Hmph." Suddenly Raphael's warm, solid presence was gone, and Mikael fell over onto his back, successfully banging his elbow on the floor.

Wincing, he called, "Raphael-sama?"

No answer.

"Raphael-sama? Raphael-sama!"

"Yes?" As abruptly as he had disappeared, Raphael reappeared--with Mikael's head resting in his lap. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the one-winged angel had gotten halfway dressed. Even so, Mikael sat up with a somewhat shrill exclamation of "Raphael-samaaa! Stop it!"

Raphael disappeared again, but this time instantaneously reappeared perched on the clothesline. "Do you or don't you want me here?" he wondered aloud, casting an imploring glance at the ceiling.

The aqua-haired boy's eyebrow began to twitch. "You'd still be here no matter what I want."

Again the red-haired angel flickered out of and back into sight, this time with a packed bag and his guitar. "That's where you're wrong. If you want me to leave, I'll leave. Just say the word."

Drawing the sheet up around his naked torso, the golden-eyed angel student stared at his teacher. "Raphael-sama, I..." he trailed off, his gaze dropping to the floor. "I...I..."

Raphael nodded once, slowly. "I see. I'll give you twenty-four hours to think about it." And he vanished once again, but his disembodied floated throughout the room. "Hurry or you'll be late for school." Then it was silent.

Mikael swore rather fluently as he got up, dressed, grabbed his schoolbooks and the Book of Chaos, and ran out the door. As he dashed down the street, he thought he heard Sara calling him--he ran faster.

From his perch on the clock tower, Raphael saw Mikael run into the school. He sighed. His guitar appeared in his hands, and he began singing under his breath about closed hearts and stubborn idiots.

During classes, Mikael found his attention--and his hand--wandering. He frowned down at the paper he was supposed to be taking notes on and started at an almost perfect likeness of Raphael. With a slightly shaking hand, he ripped the page out of his notebook and started to crumple it, then stopped and smoothed the drawing back out.

"Mikael-kun, is something wrong?" Erika, one of his classmates, stood in front of his desk. With a start, Mikael realized class was over--the room was completely empty save for himself and Erika. "What's that?" she asked, indicating the slightly crumpled picture.

"Um, ah, it's nothing," he hurriedly folded it and shoved it in his pocket, smiling nervously up at Erika. "I'm fine, just a little...distracted."

"If you're sure, Mikael-kun."

He nodded and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Erika-san."

"All right. Goodbye then, Mikael-kun."

"Goodbye." Mikael groaned and stretched, ready to go home-- Home? As much as he didn't want to admit it, the cheap little apartment had become his home--because of Raphael-sama. And tonight, Raphael wouldn't be there to tease him about his readings of the Book of Chaos, to say "Hey, Mikael," and ask an odd question, or to "secretly" intertwine their fingers during the night. He knew he wanted his teacher to stay, he just didn't know if he could admit it out loud--and to Raphael-sama himself!

"Why me?" he whispered to himself as he walked down the street, yellow eyes focused on the sidewalk. He climbed up the stairs to their empty apartment and wearily entered the small room.

If I were an angel, would he still be able to hide himself from me? He's probably been tailing me all day. The thought comforted him, but in the back of his mind he knew Raphael hadn't followed him, for he had been deadly serious in asking whether or not Mikael wanted to live with him. The aqua-haired boy had known that the angel professor wanted him to give him a completely honest and unbiased answer.

Quickly, he fixed himself dinner and did his (incredibly boring) homework. Mikael sighed, wishing he was still at Angel School with Raphael-sama teaching him--as his teacher who seemed determined to drive Mikael insane with his blatant flirting--instead of on Earth looking after an altogether too energetic almost-angel-girl. What Mikael didn't understand was why the angel professor had chosen him, out of all the students at Angel School, to...attach himself to. There were plenty of other angel-hopefuls who had made it perfectly clear that they were interested in Raphael-sama as more than a teacher.

Yet Mikael--a quiet, clam, and reserved student--had been the one Raphael found excuses to spend time with out of school. It had progressed to the point where the red-haired angel popped into Mikael's dorm room to wake him every morning for class, and then would eat breakfast with him and walk with him to the classroom--which earned Mikael plenty of jealous and angry glares from his peers and other teachers.

The golden-eyed boy was startled out of his thoughts as the Book of Chaos rose from the table and its pages flipped open. He could almost hear Raphael-sama's standard "Hey, Mikael," interruption of the ritual. He looked at the window, half expecting to see Raphael appear there with his guitar. But he didn't.

Hastily, Mikael stood up and exited the apartment, running down the steps and onto the empty street. Noelle's house was completely dark. After a moment's pause, Mikael took off down the road in the direction of the church and clock tower, seeming to fly through the crisp night air. It smelled like snow.

The barely audible sounds of his own footsteps and harsh breathing were the only things he could hear as he raced towards his destination. Once the clock tower came into view, he easily spotted Raphael's singular, pristinely white wing gleaming from the top. Mikael paused at the foot of the tower to catch his breath, then opened the door and ran up the stairs two at a time.

"Raphael-sama!"

Raphael's head jerked up and vivid violet eyes blinked at Mikael, confused but trying not to show it. "You shouldn't be able to see me."
One corner of Mikael's mouth twitched upwards as he offered, "I could close my eyes if it will make you feel better."

"I don't think that's necessary." Raphael smiled, then asked, "But why are you here? Afraid I'm helping Noelle behind your back?"

"No, I..." his hand slipped into his pocked at touched his drawing. "I though you would like to know my decision."

"Oh?" Suddenly Raphael was directly in front of him instead of perched on the rail, looking down at the aqua-haired boy intently. "The twenty-four hours aren't up, you know."

"I know." Mikael's gaze dropped and rested on Raphael's wingtip for a moment, then he looked up and met the angel's eyes. "You stay."

Raphael's face was split by a wide grin, and he moved behind Mikael and draped his arms around him. "I knew you wouldn't kick me out," he whispered cheerfully in Mikael's ear, hugging the angel student to him tightly.

Mikael squirmed a little, but only halfheartedly. "Let's go home."

An instant later the solid floor under Mikael's feet was a memory, and they were airborne.

"Raphael-samaaa!" He frantically wrapped his arms around the red-haired angel's neck and held on for dear life as they rose higher into the sky; the sound of Raphael's laughter filled his ears.

"You're stuck with me now," Raphael informed him happily.

It began to snow.

-end-

Errr. So, that was my first Tennimon fic. Kind of on the short side... How horrible and plotless was it? ^^;;