I wrote this a few months ago for a "drinking buddies" theme on the Cephiro forums and forgot about it. I just rediscovered it. There needs to be more platonic fic here, I say! Flashfic, no editing. Enjoy anyway.
Guilty by Association
"Sssssshh!"
Ferio stopped mid-step, almost tripping over himself. Twisting to look over his shoulder, he didn't see the source of the whispers. He squinted his eyes, shook his head, and continued walking.
Only to hear hushed giggling and more whispers.
He stopped, sighing, curiosity finally getting the best of him. Fuu could wait five minutes while he figured out what was going on. He turned around and headed back for the last door he passed: Clef's office.
The door was ever so slightly ajar and he peeked in through the crack. "Sssssshh, shut up! Y'wanna wake the whole damn castle, ya moron?" He couldn't see anyone, though this close he could now hear papers rustling under the increasingly loud whispers. He poked his face in through the crack, trying to peer around the door. "See! You woke the prince up with yer silly gigglin'!"
He jumped back out into the corridor, useless since he'd obviously been seen. Before he could make a run for it, the door whipped open and he was pinned under the intense gaze of Caldina. His eyes darted left, right, then back to Caldina, who was smirking down at him, one hand on her hip, the other leaning against the doorframe. He could see past her into the office, where Presea was leaning over the desk, papers everywhere, and winking at him over Caldina's shoulder.
"What the hell?" he hissed, the only thing he could think of to say.
Caldina laughed. "C'mon in, Prince. Have a drink." And before he could protest, Caldina whisked him into Clef's office. She shoved a glass in his hand and filled it a bit too full with wine – it almost overflowed onto the very, very exquisite Fahren rug on the floor.
"What are you two doing in here?" He was trying to keep the wine from spilling while Caldina draped an arm over his shoulder, leaning on him a bit more than was comfortable. "Clef will kill you for... Whatever you're doing in here."
Presea laughed – a bit too loudly. "Shut up!" Caldina hissed again.
Presea pretended to look sheepish. Really she just looked drunk. "We're just helping the Guru with some of his notes," she replied, grinning that sadistically wicked grin of hers. "He's so stuffy and uptight so we thought we could help him loosen up."
Reluctantly, Ferio leaned over the desk, looking at the papers and notes and books scattered across it. "Those are dicks!" This time he did drop his drink, followed by a long string of curse words.
Presea burst into hysterical laughter and Caldina clapped Ferio on the back. "Good job, Prince. We weren't sure we were drawing the right thing. Maybe you can make some corrections for us?"
Presea's laughter gave way to coughs which gave way to throwing up on the desk, all over the already defaced documents. Ferio buried his face in his hands, trying to figure out a way to keep his name out of this disaster but knew that as soon as he had peeked into the room, he was already considered an accomplice.
End