I'm trying to NaNo and my mind refuses to get off this Noblesse kick.

The OVA trailer is up on Youtube: if you haven't seen it go look. Wow! I hope it gets localized so I can give them my money and they'll hopefully make more.

Loosely based on an OTPprompts prompt from tumblr: Imagine Person A meets Person B for the first time and can't help thinking dirty thoughts and off handedly apologizes to all the mind-readers that can hear them… not knowing that Person B practices telepathy and can hear everything.

Well, the Noblesse version. Franken (Rai's nickname for him, shows up in text messages) is a troll.

When he arrived at the manor he was too exhausted and focused on finding refuge to check to see if anyone was reading his mind. Gejutel and Ragar clearly hadn't been: he'd verified that quickly without needing to distract himself from their battle.

If they were reading his mind, they wouldn't have fallen for 'look behind you.'

A manor should have contained weaker nobles. It would have been easy to control their minds and make them think that he was one of them. Their auras would have helped to conceal him from the searching clan leaders.

Instead of servant quarters, he found a single young-looking noble who could send away clan leaders. He had to investigate that, and then there was what that noble did to his clothing. How had he known what it looked like? He must have gotten the image from Frankenstein's mind. He could forgive the noble reading his mind once, especially when he'd repaid the debt by sending the clan leaders away. It was understandable for someone living alone to be concerned about an intruder in the middle of the night, but if Cadis Etrama di Raizel was still reading his mind…

Most nobles were very prim and proper, and by law they were supposed to be prohibited from reading human minds. Shocking a reaction out of them was the best way to find out if they'd gotten past his mental defenses. It was decades since a Central Order Knight managed to read him, but this was Lukedonia and if he wasn't mistaken his host was stronger than the clan leaders.

Normally, the thought of humiliating the arrogant nobles appealed, but this one had given him refuge and behind his reserve he looked too young to be subjected to anything harsh, even in fantasy. Even if he was a noble, and had to be at least several centuries old.

Sitting down on the couch to look at this Cadis Etrama di Raizel's back and focusing quite deliberately on provocative scenes got the noble to turn his head enough to glance at Frankenstein, then look back at the window. Another glance, and was that color on those cheeks?

Instead of calling him out on it immediately, Frankenstein decided to see how far he could push the noble until he stopped mind-reading on his own in order to preserve his precious dignity. It wasn't hard, when he was a handsome creature. There was something… innocent about his startlement. He almost seemed more boggled than embarrassed. There was something in that glance around the room, the element of, 'Who, me?'

Most nobles were arrogant, knowing that of course they were better than humans and humans couldn't help finding them attractive. This one's embarrassment was… incredulous flattery? Like a bashful maiden who had never thought that anyone would give them flowers.

…Cute.

That thought was what broke the noble's composure and sent him hurriedly turning back towards the window.

…Frankenstein was very familiar with the symptoms of someone falling for him, or at least hoping for his advances, but he hadn't expected to see them in a noble. "You shouldn't just go around reading humans' minds," he chided him, more gently than he would have one of the others.

"My power fills this house."

Oh. "That's why you don't have any servants." He couldn't help it, then. "My apologies for my intrusion." Frankenstein had enough mishaps with his enhanced strength to feel sympathy for someone with difficulty controlling great power.

The noble shook his head. "I am sorry that you will not be able to stay here until you are well."

"Oh? Whyever not? Are you withdrawing your offer of hospitality?"

Red eyes blinked at him.

"It would be foolish of me to pass up the opportunity to improve my mental defenses." Frankenstein smiled. "I'll try not to tease you too much."

"Do as you will," the noble said, fighting to hang on to their composure in the face of his smile, and turned determinedly back towards the window.

"I wouldn't mind repaying you for your hospitality by giving you an incentive to learn how not to read minds." If the inability to control his powers was the reason he was so alone here, in a house that should have held dozens.

The noble turned and blinked at him, frowning now. "There is no need."

To give hospitality to travelers in need of it was an ancient obligation, but "Generosity should be rewarded."

The world was so rarely fair that Frankenstein preferred to make it be a little fairer, when he could.

Pleasantly tired after a productive spar with Ragar, Frankenstein draped himself over the couch in Raizel's room. He was recovering, so there was time to fit a little more training into the day.

Even if he didn't really want to bother Raizel (despite the novelty of a noble who was cute when they blushed), it was the best way to see how the black-haired younger noble's attempts at shielding were coming along.

Fantasies aside, how would he go about actually sleeping with a noble? Purely hypothetically, of course. It simply wasn't safe.

A gag constituted a necessary precaution, to keep one of those creatures from getting at his blood while he was distracted.

The treacherous part of him thought of that mouth and what a pity it would be to miss the sounds that might be coaxed from it, but he had a duty to humanity. He couldn't let himself end up a noble's vampire slave.

A cloth gag could be easily ripped away by noble strength. Even ordinary metal. He could infuse it with power, like he did the chains that were enough to bind the Central Order Knights, but Raizel was more powerful than the clan leaders.

That, and the energy in those chains hurt the prisoner when they struggled. If Raizel didn't writhe, Frankenstein would hardly be doing his job, now would he? It was one thing to indulge in fantasies of arrogant nobles tied up, subdued, put in their place, experiencing the helplessness they forced on innocent humans, but Raizel was a gentle hermit. A blushing virgin should have a soft bed and clean sheets for their first time, and some semblance of tenderness. To handle poor Raizel like he was a vicious beast that needed to be chained and caged for the safety of others would hurt him.

Something about that thought… why was Raizel living like he was trapped in this manor?

It wasn't like Frankenstein to trust a noble, and to just so casually accept that one of them would be reading his mind? Even if he had a certain amount of fellow-feeling for Raizel, when Frankenstein often had difficulties controlling his new power. It humanized the noble for one of them to not be perfect at everything.

Honestly, there was a perfectly innocent explanation for Raizel seeming trapped here. Nobles were private and didn't want anyone peering into their minds, even if the criminals had no hesitation to do it to mere humans. Then there was the shame Raizel experienced at the thought of making others uncomfortable. It must be so embarrassing for him, to have reached his majority and not have the perfect control expected of a noble.

Because he was too powerful?

Others being afraid of you because of how powerful you were… Frankenstein could understand that very well.

His heart went out to Cadis Etrama di Raizel, and even though he was aware it could be mind-control… Perhaps he could… just begin testing. To see if the noble could be trusted at close range without going for his blood. Touching him somewhere innocent seemed an obvious place to start. Of course Raizel could read his mind and would know the instant Frankenstein's guard went down, if he was an enemy he wouldn't strike until then, but Frankenstein had slept in this house for months now.

He could just stand up, walk over to where Raizel stood by the window and stroke that sable hair. See if it was as sleek as it looked, without tangle or flaw to trap his hands. It might make up for thinking such insulting and distressing things with Raizel right there, although it felt better than thinking about them behind his back, or elsewhere in the house. This way gave Raizel a chance to defend himself.

It bothered him that Raizel hadn't moved or shown any signs of reaction when Frankenstein was doubting his honor. Was he really so used to people fearing him? Wishing they could restrain him for their own safety?

Poor, dear creature. The Central Order Knights who went into the human world were apparently ordered some time ago to take deliberately drab forms so they didn't attract as much human attention. Or as many humans. A pity that they could still seduce with their power, even as they claimed when he interrogated them that that it was an insult to them to think they might want humans pawing all over them, or that they couldn't mind control the humans into ignoring their superior beauty.

Raizel was handsome at first glance, but the more Frankenstein examined him, the more he found that delicate frame elegantly beautiful. He knew that nobles were shapeshifters, but Raizel was the first time he had seen one so, so...

"Is this alright?" Frankenstein asked carefully, going to stand between Raizel and the window, a hand reaching out almost enough to touch a lock of Raizel's hair.

"Do as you wish," Raizel said.

And closed his eyes.

Eye contact wasn't required for mind control, but it still strengthened techniques and most nobles trained it that way. In the Central Order Knights, at least. This way, Frankenstein could admire Raizel's well-carved face, could trace it with his fingers and watch the slight color in those cheeks, the slight changes of expression, without hesitation.

It was considerate of Raizel. Even if those red eyes were beautiful when they were soft and hopeful instead of arrogant and predatory.

When they were Raizel's eyes.

Once he had conducted these tests, he told himself, cupping Raizel's cheek. Once he had evidence that he could trust Raizel. Not just with himself and his own life, but it was one thing to endanger his ability to protect humanity when it was already in danger from two clan leaders, another to take risks just to satisfy his lusts.

"Your strong will to protect is admirable," Raizel told him, his soft breath warming Frankenstein's wrist. "It is not the same thing as fear and mistrust. It is not unpleasant to know that you seek to find a way to stay with me without compromising your duty."

How, how perfect, he thought, eyes softening. A noble with the humility to admit that he couldn't control his powers, the modesty to feel flattered by a human's attentions instead of entitled to them, the selflessness to understand duty… So many beings that considered themselves superior, that once were considered gods, and even the best among them, like Ragar and Gejutel, were merely decent.

Cadis Etrama di Raziel was exquisite.

Instead of remaining composed as though he was merely looking out the window, trying to seem unaffected so Frankenstein could do as he wished without worrying he was intruding, Raizel's head tilted up towards where Frankenstein looked down at him. The noble still didn't open his eyes, but Frankenstein might have ignored them in favor of his lips.

Lips that held teeth that could become fangs at any moment. If he caught those lips with his own, if he drowned himself in the kiss, he would not be able to prevent a swipe of fangs against his tongue, a drop of blood going down that pale throat.

The thought should not excite him, even if it was only human to find spice in danger. He ran his thumb across those lips, telling himself only after he did it that it was entirely practical, just to see if Raizel would bite.

"You may bind my mouth, if that is what you want," the noble told him, and Frankenstein watched every movement of those parted lips.

"It is not what I want," Frankenstein said, passing his thumb over Raizel's lips again to quiet those words. "I do not want to bind or imprison you because of my own cowardice. You have suffered that enough."

"It is not cowardice." The quickness of those words: had Raizel leaped to Frankenstein's defense? With his normal deliberation, he went on to say, "You have a duty. I am the Noblesse; I understand the importance of duty."

Oh.

Oh. He felt himself melt, and lean forward, pressing a kiss to Raizel's cheek as his hand caressed that other cheek. Such human warmth he felt. "I haven't let myself feel like this in a long time," he whispered into the noble's ear.

No.

He didn't think he'd felt like this ever.

Those cheeks were warming, the color deepening, and he wanted to kiss him so much.

He brought his other hand up to set it on the other side of Raizel's head, and carefully, gently, bent that neck to press their foreheads together.

Frankenstein knew he must not imagine Raizel reaching out to tilt Frankenstein's own head back, to place those lips on his neck. It was an insult to Raizel to think that he would bite down, steal Frankenstein's breath away, take his blood and will so he had no choice but to give in to Raizel's desires.

To his own desires.

Much safer to imagine Raizel chained to a wall, no, to a bedframe made of the same energized metal, there in white silk sheets while Frankenstein introduced him to unspeakable things, making the virginal noble gasp and moan.

To worship a god on an altar clad with samite…

It sent a rush of pleasure through him to feel Raizel tremble, barely restraining the desire to move not away from him, but towards. His own body longed to press forward, to pull Raizel to him. His breaths grew heavy and fast, ragged with the want that affected the noble so.

To kiss him, to taste him, to feel every inch of him, even to rub his tongue against one of those fangs and have Raizel inside his very soul…

He felt the merest crack in the noble's shields, a soft flicker of love and distress. What was wrong? What was wrong with his dear one?

Raizel reached up to stroke the back of Frankenstein's hand apologetically, consolingly, before he gently removed it from his cheek, still holding it. "Your duty." Apology for the temptation, as though it was Raizel's fault that he was gentle, and warm, and Frankenstein had been so alone.

Even in the grip of desire Frankenstein's need to protect the innocent, his own principles, choices, determination still mattered to Raizel, instead of being something to toss aside in the heat of the moment as less important than Raziel's own desires?

Oh.

So this was falling for someone. This utter, boneless relief that nearly sent him to his knees not from weakness but from certainty. "My heart is yours," he said, letting out a breath. "But my mind…"

"We must not let personal feelings interfere with our duties," Raizel agreed, nodding seriously. He understood.

It was only right, and he believed that of course Frankenstein would do the right thing. Humans lost faith in him, believing the Union's lies, yet a noble saw into his heart and knew him.

"What is your duty?" Frankenstein asked him, reaching a hand out again to stroke his cheek.

"I am the protector of the nobles."

His breath caught in his throat. "I see." A noble as powerful as the Lord was a potential threat to humanity. A human who could escape from two clan leaders was a threat to the nobles. "Then… it is our duty for us to… observe each other."

"The honorable clan leaders do not have to visit me more than once every few centuries," Raizel said, puzzled. "You do not have to remain."

"Won't Ragar and Gejutel bring me to the Lord once I am clearly recovered enough to leave?"

Raizel frowned. "...I forgot. No, they will not. The Lord summoned you to answer for accusations that you had harmed innocent humans and nobles. The fact you remained under my roof for a night and were there to greet Ragar when he made that inquiry about training proved your innocence."

Frankenstein blinked, and looked at Raizel more closely. "What did it mean, when I claimed to be your servant? The clan leaders' reactions… was there more to it than their shock at my audacity, or you going along with it?" Or the idea of the dangerous rogue human 'looking after the house' of the Noblesse.

…He'd claimed to be the human caretaker of the House of a God? He'd been dead on his feet and he'd yet to write out a dictionary of the vocabulary he'd drained from the minds of nobles, but how on earth had he missed that he'd declared himself a priest?

Raizel nodded. "To be a servant of the Noblesse is to be a servant of justice. It is a release from one's obligations to one's clan leader."

"To give evidence, or to expose corruption in the clan…"

"You stated that you were my high priest, my paladin, and I told them of this. They could see that you were lying, but I was not."

"I told the truth unknowingly, is that how Ragar and Gejutel saw it?" He'd already known how hilarious it must be to the nobles like Roctis, to have a human who defied nobles declare he now served a noble, but a servant was a servant. What he'd claimed to be, the reason for the respect Ragar and Gejutel gave him; that was something else. "I suppose that… if you serve justice…"

"To protect the innocent and to punish the guilty is to protect the nobles. Is it different, to be the protector of humans?" Raizel asked, tilting his head to the side.

He sounded… hopeful. Was he hopeful that Frankenstein's existence was like his… or that it was better than his own?

At least Raizel had a house and no one burnt it down around his ears or raided it for information they could use to experiment on nobles… but at least Frankenstein had kept busy.

Or was he hoping that he wasn't alone anymore, in his duty?

"It is hard to believe that you are real, when you are so perfect," he said softly, curling a lock of Raizel's dark hair around one of his fingers. "I think this requires extensive testing." He smiled at the noble. "I hope you don't mind me staying long enough to conduct proper long-term trials."

The Lord stared at him from his throne. "You have been shamelessly flirting with him for ten years in front of all the clan leaders, and you're seriously telling me you haven't seduced him yet? You tease! And I thought Raizel not executing you meant you couldn't be evil!"

He leaned forward to demand, "How could you toy with the heart of my adorable little Raizel like that! Are you saying he's not good enough for you?"

"How dare you assume I was the kind of cur who would take advantage of my master's innocence to dishonor him?" Frankenstein reached into his coat to draw the envelope into view. Ripping it in half, he let the pieces fall into the floor in front of the Lord's dais and spun on his heel, turning to go.

The Lord gestured and the pieces flew through the air into his hands as Frankenstein neared the door.

The castle shook around him, and if it weren't for Frankenstein's enhancements, he couldn't have remained on his feet. This much power? The Lord hadn't even gotten to his feet, much less drawn his soul weapon! "Defiance is cute in a human, but I am the Lord! How dare you uninvite me from Raizel's wedding!"

"Lord or not, you think that you can disrespect Raizel's choices in front of me without consequences?"

The Lord's powerful aura saturated the entire palace so strongly that when he smiled Frankenstein had to blink to dispel the mirage of a field of delighted flowers blossoming all around them. "You have my permission to live. Now," he said, moving forward seriously, on to more important matters, "As for Raskreia's maid of honor dress… Oh, and you need to send me the drafts of your vows for my approval as the Lord, and since I'll be officiating as well, let me know what changes you want to make to the ceremony to accommodate you being a human."

"What makes you think we'll be letting you officiate?" Frankenstein said, still deeply annoyed. The Lord could perform marriage ceremonies, but they were traditionally performed by the clan leader of the… Wait.

"Well, your alternative is Krasis Bluster," the Lord said, smiling in a way that wasn't apologetic at all. Really, Frankenstein had no choice.

"…True." He'd met that clan leader.

"I love weddings! You humans come up with so many interesting things, but love is right up there with language, clothing and refined sugar!"

Twitching, Frankenstein wondered just how much refined sugar the Lord had consumed that day.

"Oh, and opposable thumbs! Gejutel tells me they're very convenient for the nobles who aren't telekinetic," the Lord chattered. "By the way, as the closest thing Raizel has to a relative, I should probably tell you at this point that if you ever hurt Raizel, I will be withdrawing both your permission to live and your permission to die."

The Lord's smile changed from shallow and pleasant to terrifying, and Frankenstein considered himself a connoisseur of such things.

Well. "I never thought I'd say this to a noble, but I like the way you think."

It amuses me that since nobles were worshipped as gods (and technically are gods by original definitions of god, which'd make sense in-universe when those definitions were based on nobles), Frankenstein is technically a paladin in the service of the god of justice.

The Bluster clan's (there are two different spellings I've seen, going with this as a compromise) soul weapon is Amore, and given other clans' mythos it's very possible they have something to do with the myths of Kama and/or Cupid, so Karias comes by his 'give everyone flowers' tendencies honestly.

There's a header image (from the forums?) with Raizel vs. the Previous Lord. Even compared to Frankenstein's smiles, it looks like there's a reason most people in universe have a NO JUST NO reaction to the idea of fighting the noble Lord despite having had five hundred years to convince themselves Raskreia's got to be weaker than he was.

Fortunately for us he's a benevolent despot, although the traitor clan leaders would beg to differ.