DIS: If anyone has read Anne Bishop's third book series, the Ephemera trilogy, with Sebastian and Belladonna, then you won't be confused with this. I can't believe that there isn't a category for this! Grr...
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Title: Friendship
Rating: T just because of the Den of Iniquity, lol
Genre: General
Summary: Teaser watches his best friend and his life and feels a sadness that is most unlike him. Thankfully, Michael and Lee come to the rescue to help him escape the familiar melancholy. Drabble.
Disclaimer: I do not own Anne Bishop's Ephemera trilogy
Notes/Warnings: Drabble one shot; Teaser-centered fic; rated because of the settings and mild language; set after Belladonna
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Friendship
Teaser blinked his eyes open blearily, his light eyes taking in his surroundings immediately. He was at the bordello, he noted, and was alone in the four-poster bed with the masculine, maroon coloured sheets in the matching black-and-maroon room. He settled back into the comfortable bed, listening to see if anyone was in the bathroom. Hearing nothing, Teaser concluded that the human woman he had gone to bed with last night was gone. It was better that she was, he supposed, seeing as how he always got grumpy when they lingered. Even an incubus had better things to do than entertain a woman first thing in the morning.
After bathing and dressing in a purposely alluring outfit of silk and denim that Sebastian had acquired for him, he left the bordello, not bothering to lock his door. The Den was alive this morning, full of activity as was usual. After living in the Den all his life, Teaser was one of the many citizens of this particular landscape who knew the different between morning and night. As the Den of Iniquity was always dark with carnival-like lights gleaming and the different, sinister creatures crawling around, the visiting human never could tell what time of day it was.
Hmm, Teaser thought in boredom. He glanced around, considering over whether he should go to Philo's place or find some other place to eat. Shrugging, he decided that since Lynnea would be at Philo's now, cooking her special breakfasts, he would go hound down on something to eat there instead of going to Nadia's (where he was told by the woman herself that he was always welcome to eat at.) With an idle look about himself, he wound through the incubi and succubae and humans of the Den, dodging the demon cycles that roared through the streets cheerfully unaware of those they nearly or did hit. When at last he arrived at Philo's restaurant, he spotted Sebastian at the doorway with an unhappy expression on his face. At first, he thought it might be because of him, but when he analyzed the way his best friend's eyebrows were brought down and the swirling, aggravated jade depths, he decided it must be something Sebastian's wife had done.
"Good morning," Teaser brightly greeted despite his less-than-happy mood. "What did our Lynnea do to piss you off, hmm?" Sebastian's mouth tautened further and he pushed off from the pillar he was leaning on. Back when Sebastian and Lynnea had only begun their relationship, Sebastian had discovered the wizard powers inside of him and after using them, the people of the Den had concluded he be the Justice Maker of the Den. Although the actual Justice Makers no longer existed, having been Dark Guides and trapped in Wizard City, Sebastian was what the people believed Justice Makers should have been.
Sebastian, Teaser reflected, had a hard life in the beginning. He was raised in shame by his father, unable to escape the pain that Koltak inflicted on him as being an incu-bastard. But now...Now he has all the luck in the world. He is cousin to the most powerful Landscaper and Bridge, married to a wonderful woman, and has the powers of both an incubus and a wizard. What more could one man ask for?
"She's going to have every damned bull demon after me," Sebastian snapped out. Teaser blinked, a puzzled expression on his face. He couldn't see how that possible since the bull-demons respected Sebastian over all other men, human or otherwise. Besides that, they adored Lynnea and would never hurt her husband because it would crush her.
"Umm..." Teaser mumbled, raising his eyebrows to his light hair.
"She's created another meal for them," he explained in sharp tones, "saying that I inspired her to do it, just like that first meal that I supposedly inspired." His eyes flashed as he straightened and threw his hands up. "They're going to be coming after me, asking personal questions that I don't need bull demons asking!" Teaser's dull mood lifted as his mouth sprung up in a wide, amused grin. "This isn't funny."
"Oh, but it is," he piped, his eyes twinkling. "In fact, it's extremely funny. I can't wait for the day when you blush in front of a whole pack of bull demons!" Sebastian's expression suggested that he was about to lunge on him, but a new voice called to them. Teaser turned slightly just as Sebastian's attention was diverted to the two males that approached them.
Teaser shivered a bit. Michael and Lee both were connected to Glorianna Belladonna and even though she was still recovering from her arduous, nearly life-ending battle against the Eater of the World, the great power that Teaser so feared was still present in her. Despite her kindness towards him, he had never fully been able to relax around her. Odd though it was, he could talk easily with Michael, her husband and lover, but not Lee or Glorianna herself. Michael is pure gentleness compared to her, though, he reminded himself as the two stopped in front of them.
Sebastian glowered at the two, clearly irritated with their interruption. Lee chortled, querying, "Sorry, did we interrupt a thoroughly deserved beating?"
"A thoroughly deserved beating," Sebastian agreed. One of Michael's eyebrows rose in mild disbelief. He often chose the opposing side of Sebastian's simply to aggravate him when it came to minor manners such as these. Even though they had accepted each other and were friends, there was a quiet agreement that they didn't completely agree or like each other.
"I laughed at him," Teaser explained to Michael.
"I suppose that does wound an incubus Justice Maker's pride," Michael remarked, dragging a wryly amused to Sebastian who narrowed his eyes in warning towards the male. The glare loudly stated, I'm not in the mood for your shit this morning, so shut the hell up before I castrate you. As humorous as it was to Teaser and Michael to irritate Sebastian, they were both hungry and eager for Lynnea's excellent culinary skills. Lee seemed to feel the same, too, because he didn't rile things up like he usually would.
"Instead of standing out here starving," Lee cheerfully suggested, clapping a hand on Sebastian's shoulder in a calming gesture. "Michael and I are in dire need of food. Mother refused to feed us and since Glorianna was visiting, she kicked us out of the house, saying we were pestering them both." He sighed dramatically and looked to Michael for support.
"If we were pestering," Michael faithfully put in, "she would have blasted us to oblivion for it." Lee nodded and after a pause, Sebastian gave a reluctant nod of his own head, as though he didn't want to let go of his bad mood. Being among friends and family and bashing other family members seemed to cheer him up, though, even if he didn't want it.
"Shall we, then?" Teaser asked, sliding past Sebastian without losing a limb in the process. The other three males followed, Sebastian leaving them to tell Lynnea that there were three hungry men in dire need of nourishment. As they sat down, Teaser kept his eyes from his companions, looking around at those that in the establishment. Philo flitted from place to place, bearing food and refreshments.
Teaser's eyes paused on Sebastian and Lynnea talking. She was holding a tray, but that seemed to be forgotten as a smile lit her features. Teaser noticed that her husband seemed to be more relaxed in speaking with her and had a mischievous look on his face. His heart gave a pang as he caught the adoring look in their eyes and he turned away guiltily, deciding he would prefer to look at Lee or Michael than that.
Besides Sebastian's great reputation, Teaser often found himself admiring his best friend's love life. There had been a desperate restlessness in Sebastian before he met Lynnea that Teaser couldn't help him with. It wasn't until he claimed Lynnea as his, saying that the country mouse was not to be touched by any other male, that Teaser realized what Sebastian was yearning for. Not until recently did Teaser realize how much the yearning hurt. It was rare for an incubus to fall in love, but not impossible. That Sebastian had desired such a thing and found it was luck enough. Teaser only wished that he could have the same kind of luck. The endless days of playing with humans and succubae both had become almost boring to him. There were days when it wasn't so dull, but he wanted someone like Sebastian and Michael had. He wanted to laugh with a woman, but with no false pretense.
I want to be in love, he bitterly thought.
"Anything bothering you, Teaser?" Lee's quiet voice questioned. Blinking in surprise at the subtle concern in the Bridge's voice, Teaser jerked his gaze to Lee's and saw the sadness he felt reflected in the latter's eyes. He had thought selfishly and hadn't recalled that he wasn't the only one without a wife. Lee, too, had no woman to share special feelings with because of his position.
"No," Teaser lied, giving one of his usual smiles. Apparently it was unconvincing, because Michael's gaze turned speculative as he pierced the incubus with his dark eyes. Sighing, and seeing that he was defeated, he glanced back to make sure that Sebastian wasn't returning any time soon – which it appeared he wasn't – he confessed, "I've been feeling a bit out of it, as though I'm missing...something...in my life." Lee darted a look from him and nodded slowly, comprehending immediately what it was that Teaser felt he was missing.
"Everyone feels that way," Michael said in a soft tone, his smile brittle. "I assure you, Teaser, that nearly every person has felt that way at one point in their life." He hesitated and then shrugged. "Before I met Glorianna, I was a vagabond, wandering the same landscapes, talking to the same people..." He let out a breath, reaching behind his thick hair and rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't think I had any real purpose before then."
"My sister was the same way," Lee agreed, "and although I take a woman to bed every once in awhile, it would be nice to wake up to someone cuddled up to me..." He flinched slightly, shadows covering his eyes. "But that's how things are...Being a Belladonna isn't ever easy, I suppose..."
Teaser gazed across at the two in some bemusement, surprised that Lee felt so lonely and that Michael had once felt worthless. It didn't sound anything like them. They had both been so carefree and strong-willed that it was strange to hear these words from them. After having realized that Lee had no special woman, he had flirted with the idea of him being as desolate as Teaser, but had dismissed it almost as quickly. He considered over Lee's statement, Being a Belladonna isn't ever easy, and found that he agreed with it. From what Sebastian and Michael had told him, it had taken a horribly long time before Glorianna allowed herself to be coaxed into loving Michael. It wasn't necessarily nice to hear that other people other than him were miserable, but it did comfort Teaser to some extent.
"What are you three talking about?" Lynnea's curious voice questioned from above. The three males that had been absorbed in their solemn thoughts jerked as though by some invisible string and exchanged embarrassed looks. Sebastian, beside Lynnea, raised his eyebrows in mild interest.
"Uh, it's personal," Michael awkwardly responded, a dull, red staining his cheeks. Sebastian looked to Lee in question, but even he gave them no idea of what they had been speaking of. Teaser, the first to recover, gave a beaming look to Lynnea.
"Is that breakfast?" He asked her, rising slightly in his chair to peer at it. Sebastian scowled and pushed him back down, settling in a chair himself. Lynnea set the plates and wine in front of each of them and lingered, watching as Michael and Lee engaged themselves in putting all their attention to their food. After Sebastian thanked her, she left to serve the other customers.
Well, Teaser mused as he raised his eyes from his breakfast to see Michael and Lee looking to him with slight smiles on their lips, I suppose that, even if I don't have a woman, I have my friends. That's good enough for me. He returned the smile with his own, ignoring Sebastian's suspicious look. And even if Sebastian is my closest friend, that doesn't mean he has to know about this particular conversation...Yet.
Finis
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DIS: I could always see the subtle hints in the books that Teaser secretly felt envious of Sebastian and wanted to make a fic of it. I think I did fairly well with keeping them in character, but that's up to the readers. Please leave a review on your way out; it'd be much appreciated. Ciao!