A story requested by lovely Lola93091. This is only part 1, part 2 will be uploaded soon :) Enjoy it, my good friend! :D Warning: Lots of love and fluff in chapter 1. Lots of love and smut in chapter 2 :3
Chapter 1: Happy Birthday, dear Oswald!
„Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Oswald! Happy birthday to you!" Claudette sang for her beloved boyfriend.
Happily he blew out the candles on the birthday cake she made for him. Heart-shaped, with a dark chocolate icing, decorated with three roses made of marzipan and a text `Happy Birthday, my Love` written with white chocolate on it. Too beautiful to be eaten!
Cutting a piece from the cake revealed the tasty inside. Strawberries covered in delicious whipped cream. You could feel with how much love she made this cake for him.
The taste was as good as its looks.
Truly touched he tugged his beautiful girlfriend onto his lap and kissed her dearly. As they stopped kissing she could see a faint watery shimmer in his eyes.
„Does the cake really taste so bad or why are you about to cry?" she teased him. He chuckled while wiping away his tears. „No, no. It is the best cake I ever ate. I am just… I am still not used to experience all this affection. Even from a girl like you. I never thought I will get any… I mean… I never thought I will catch the attention from a beauty like you and and that you actually will be able to," Oswald whispered the last words, "to love me." She kissed his cheek and tasted his salty tears.
Oswald snuggled into her neck and placed a soft kiss on her sensitive skin before his yearning mouth found hers. With fingers entwined they got lost in their kiss.
„Hey, Oz!" she blurted out suddenly. „You blew out the candles. Make a wish!"
„Only one? Not three?" Claudette chuckles. „This is a birthday cake and no genie!"
„Oh, well. You are here with me. What more could I wish for?"
Blinking sneakily at him, Claudette conjured up two tickets. „Maybe going to an opera with me?"
„An opera?" Oswald took a closer look. „Carmen?!" he was pleasantly surprised.
Claudette knew how much her boyfriend loved the opera and how much he wanted to show her one. „You are in a complete different world. You're becoming one with this world, it's simply ostentatious and majestic and…" He always got so carried away when he was talking about it.
She smirked. She had to admit her gift for him was slightly selfish since she wanted to see an opera for quite a long time too.
Her boyfriend knew many masterpieces already, such as Puccini's `La Boheme`, Wagner's `Ring der Nibelungen` (Ring Cycle) or Verdi's `La Traviata`. But strangely he never had the opportunity to enjoy Bizet's `Carmen`. The more happy he was to be able to watch it with his beloved.
„You are too good to be true, Claudette! Beautiful, smart", he looked at the cake, "a great cook and baker." He kissed her again and murmured in her ear, „But I have to say you are the sweetest and most delicious temptation I ever was allowed to taste." Gently he bit her neck. „Oswald, it's only morning! I am not your breakfast!" Claudette giggled. „Rather your dinner," she winked once more. „Or my dessert," he countered. „I reserved two seats at the `Cupid And Psyche`."
This restaurant was known for being one of the most romantic restaurants in whole Gotham. „A dinner?" „Yes," he said. „Perfect timing even. The opera starts at 6pm and the seats are reserved for 9:30pm. You know, I wanted to give myself a gift," he smiled.
Looking deeply into her eyes, Oswald told her the story of Cupid And Psyche.
Psyche was the most beautiful of three sisters. It was said she was the daughter of Venus and the real Venus felt offended by it, because she was only a mortal woman. That's why she commissioned Cupid to use his dart, so she would fall in love with a bad and filthy man. But Cupid was overwhelmed by her beauty and that's why he used his dart against himself and fell deeply in love with her.
Psyche's father sent her, wearing a wedding dress, to a mountaintop where she should marry a demon. The oracle, Apollon, told him to do so. Saving her from the demon, Zephyr, the god of winds, brought her to a beautiful castle. It was Cupid who ordered Zephyr to do so.
In a darkened bedroom Cupid made her his wife and visited her every night, but always he was gone before the sun rose and he always forbid her to look at him. Many things happened, but in the end, she got ambrosia - the food of the gods -, became a goddess and bore him a beautiful daughter.
„I always thought it's quite romantic," he told her with a dreamful expression on his face. „You know, I thought you are like Psyche when I met you for the first time." His voice was a bit shaky and his cheeks became red. „Then you are my Cupid."
He snorts. „Yes, cause I absolutely look like the son of Venus." „You do, for me," she said seriously. As proof, she kissed Oswald long and lovingly.
Afternoon:
Time to get ready!
The evening gown Claudette bought for this occasion was simply mind-blowing. The floor length red mermaid dress, made of chiffon, hugged every of her curves from her chest to her knee and spread into a sea of red flames. The high side split, showing her beautiful right leg, up to her thigh, made the dress glamorous and sexy. Floral patterns decorated the long lace sleeves.
Her Make Up was a Mod Smokey Eye one. Small beautiful roses were inwrought in her headband braided hair, exposing the soft skin of her neck. Her whole appearance was sensual, sophisticated and seductive. Even `Carmen` would go green with envy.
She felt Oswald's hands on her waist as she was about to put red lipstick on her lips. He was mesmerized. „You look absolutely stunning," he told her, planting a kiss between her shoulder blades, going up to her neck. "You better stop it, Oz, or we come too late," she said teasingly.
Linking arms with Oswalds they were ready to go.
It was almost dark when they arrived, the first stars brightened the sky. „It's rare to have such a clear night in Gotham," Oswald noticed. „It's for your birthday," Claudette responded, earning a sincere smile from her boyfriend.
The theater square alone was incredible. A big monument with a king riding a horse upraised from the ground. A mosaicked way led to the impressive iron entrance. On each side of the way was a fountain and a pretty big garden, filled with the the most beautiful flowers. Bright lights illumined the square and the opera house. The opera house itself was a mix of Renaissance and Baroque style, with Greek style pillars. It was as if you were in old Rome or Greek.
The interior was even more impressive. Even the air smelled different; kingly, magical.
„Wow," was all Claudette could say after seeing the lavish Neo-Renaissance decoration. The imposing chandelier hanged high, all around a glorious fresco, showing different scenes of antique myth, such as Daphne, who fled from Apollon, who loved her deeply and how she became a laurel, so he wasn't able to follow her anymore. Or a painting in which Zeus, in form of a bull, abducted Europe.
„Look, there is even Cupid and Psyche," Oswald said to Claudette, pointing at a scene in which a handsome winged young man is about to kiss a beautiful young woman, her body covered in a transparent gown.
These wonderful paintings could have been drawn by Michelangelo himself. They were really that outstanding.
Never before she saw something so ostentatious and marvelous. The dominating colors were red and gold, characteristic for an opera house. Around 2,500 people would watch `Carmen`tonight.
Taking their seats, the both of them waited with anticipation for the opera to begin.
Finally! The choral and orchestra appeared and took their seats. Applause. The light darkened and died fully as the conductor showed up, followed by clapping hands.
Everyone was in position. The Overture echoed through the whole space with it's violins, violoncello and altos, grande and petite flutes, the hautboys , clarinets and trombones.
The conductor was totally in his element, swinging and twirling his baton around. The red velvet curtain opened and showed an ordinary place in Sevilla (Spain).
Very soon the gipsy woman Carmen, who worked in a cigarette factory, entered and got surrounded by men and started to sing her famous song `Habanera`.
„L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Love is a rebellious bird)
Que nul ne peut apprivoiser (that nobody can tame)
Et c'est bien in vain qu'on l'appellethat (and you call him quite in vain)…"
The men wanted her to choose a lover. She threw a flower at Don José, a soldier, who ignored her so far. Later on, Carmen got held for attacking another woman with a knife.
Zuniga, a officer, ordered José to tie Carmen's hands up and wait until he was back with a prison warrant. Left alone with Carmen she infatuated him with singing „Seguidilla", singing about a night full of dancing and passion. Don José gave in and freed her, for which he got arrested.
After becoming lovers for a short time in act two, Carmen became bored of José very quickly. His attempts to win her back failed. Instead, she found another man, Escamillo, a torero.
The feisty dances and movements, the fiery music and powerful and tempting voices - mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass-baritone -, just everything of this opera was enchanting. Oswald was right. Claudette was really abducted into another world. Even without understanding everything, they sang in French after all, she could understood all the feelings in her heart, in her soul. She could feel it. The teasing, the lust, the love, the passion, the pride, the jealousy.
The final act.
José, blind with jealousy, wanted to speak with Carmen. Franticly he pleaded and begged her to return to him. He failed.
With entangled fingers, Claudette and Oswald watched the last scene. She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back. Touched and equally terrified by this deep desperation, this unspeakable pain of rejection José was experiencing, Claudette wasn't able to stop her tears anymore.
What she couldn't see was that Oswald had also tears in his eyes.
The opera reached it's climax, the music raised, got threatening. Claudette got goosebumps, nestled up to Oswald. He tried to comfort her by fondling her shoulders and kissing her cheeks. „Hey, don't cry. It's not real." „You cry too!" she could tell by the sound of his voice. „You got me," he chuckled and sniffed right afterwards.
The audience stood up and gave the cast a hurricane of applause. For minutes the applause didn't stop. The lovers looked at each other smiling. „Did you like it?" he wanted to know.
„It was fabulous." Oswald pulled Claudette to him and kissed her all of a sudden. She closed her eyes. It was as if the audience applauded only for her and Oswald. They were in their own world...
As touched as Claudette was, she was very excited to go to a dinner with her boyfriend at `Amor And Psyche". And she wasn't disappointed. Oswald, being a gentleman, opened the door for his beloved Claudette. Feeling his hands rubbing her naked back, and his mouth on her neck caused the beauty to shiver. The waiter guided them to their table beside the big window. The restaurant was high up on a building, so the view was absolutely breathtaking. Everything seemed so small from up there.
The reputation for being the most romantic restaurant in Gotham wasn't exaggerated. Soft piano tones, the room were lit in candle light only, roses on the table…
Many amorous couples enjoyed their time together. Claudette's cheeks got slightly pink.
„This is… oh my god. I love it!" „May I?", he said while he pulled the chair out for her.
„Is this my birthday or yours?" she asked, her lips curled up into a smile.
Oswald limped to his seat. The waiter appeared with a expensive french red wine and poured some in their glasses. Oswald ordered seafood with pasta, while his darling wanted steak with seasonal vegetables. They raised their glasses. „To Claudette." He took her hand and kissed the back of her hands. „To my beautiful Venus. You are always gorgeous, but today you look like a true queen." „To my king then," she replied. The taste of the wine was exquisite.
They had a wonderful time. The food was extraordinary delicious, the ambience was overall loving and carnal equally, you could see how the sparks sprayed everywhere. The first bottle got empty and a second one was brought.
„Should we really drink that much?" Claudette asked puzzled. „We're celebrating. I am celebrating. I am celebrating being with the prettiest and loveliest girl in this world."
Claudette and Oswald exchanged affectionate glances, fondly words. Watching Claudette in the warm light of the candle made his heart flutter. She was really his Venus, his goddess of love, sent from above. How could a stunning woman like her just love him?
His face became serious. „Do you know how much I love you, Claudette?" He seemed to be far away, his eyes didn't blink even once. „Just like Cupid loves his Psyche. Like Josè loves his Carmen?"
At once the fear of loosing her someday crawled into his skin and found it's way to his heart, his mind, and caused him great pain. „Don't leave me, Claudette. Please never leave me. I just started to-", he paused, catching his breathe. „You held my hand in rough times, you accepted me for who I am. You could give love to… to someone like me. You can have anyone, but you choose me. Because of you I feel alive. Warm." He gave her a weak smile. Oswald's voice shook uncontrollable, he tried to suppress his tears.
What was he talking about? She took his hands again. „What are you saying? You know I could never leave you. Hey, I love you, silly! Stop thinking like this." Claudette placed soft kisses on his knuckles and placed his hands on her face. „I belong to you, Oswald. Nothing will ever change this." A bit soothed by her words he said, "Maybe I really shouldn't drink anything anymore." „I agree," Claudette added with a chuckle. „Can I still have my dessert at home?" he asked grinning. She replied, „Dessert is served anytime for you, my dear!"
The moon stood high when they left. He encompassed her waist as they walked to his car. It was a bit chilly, that's why Oswald put his coat over her shoulder. „I am fine," he said as she was about to refuse. After they were in the car, Oswald touched her uncovered knee, slid up and squeezed her thigh. „Ready to go home?" Claudette nodded. „More than ready."
The mood was electric, both were eager to arrive home. They talked, laughed. It was a perfect night.
Until…
Partway the mood changed. Oswald's gaze got different, drifted off, became indefinable. Claudette wanted to know what was wrong. She got no answer. After few more unsuccessful questions she gave up. „For sure he was just tired. It was a long day and he drank a lot." She had to admit it was a bit disappointing. She hoped for a passionate and unbridled night with him.
Oh well, she had to give him this present the next day then.
No words were spoken until they entered the apartment. What a relief to pull off the high-heels! She tried to start a conversation again. „What a lovely night it was. I really had a good time, thank you." She gave him her loveliest smile and pushed her lips softly against his. No reaction.
Okay, now she was definitely worried. „What's wrong, honey? Did I offend you in any way?"
Still nothing.
Claudette wanted to touch his cheek, but he pushed her hand away and looked furious at her.
„Oswald?" she asked in fear.
Uh-Oh! Why is he suddenly so pissed? You will get to know in chapter 2! :3 (which will be rated M... of course!)