Love Frankly
Author's Note: The Strawberry Princess video game appeared in episode 14 of Axess; Yaito enlisted Netto, Meiru, Mariko, and Rush to recover the game's protagonist data, which had been stolen by a virus on the eve of the game's release date. Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Rockman EXE series.
Pairing: Established Netto x Tohru.
Summary:
Hikari Netto loses a bet and has to dress up as a character from Yaito's Strawberry Princess video game for Halloween, much to the amusement of his boyfriend, who he ropes into doing his makeup.
"Ouch! Watch where you're putting that thing!"
"It's not my fault you can't sit still!"
How did it come to this? Hikari Netto wondered. Here he was, just a few hours before Halloween night, utterly miserable on what should have been the most fun and scare-filled evening of the year. While everyone else was excitedly gearing up and party-bound, he was at home sitting cross-legged on his bed in what might as well have passed for a prison shirt, torn jeans, a tattered bandana, manacles around his wrists, and clunky mismatched shoes. His face was covered in all manner of disgusting chemicals and powders, and was periodically being poked and prodded to his overwhelming discomfort. The only consolation he took from this travesty against him was that it was his boyfriend of two years, Hikawa Tohru, at the helm doing the poking and prodding.
"And there." Tohru shuffled back on his knees with eyelash curler in one hand and brush in the other, admiring his work. It was a sloppy job, he'd admit, but his lack of familiarity in this department added to the gruesome effect the older boy's features now gave off.
"I probably look like a sewer mutant," Netto whined. "Nobody's gonna want to kiss a face like this."
Tohru ignored his partner's discourteous but innocently oblivious jab at the results of his hard labour. "Netto-kun, it's Halloween. Nobody's out kissing the nearest werewolf or gremlin they see. Besides, I'm the only one who gets to kiss you anyways, so quit complaining."
"You'd seriously still kiss me looking like this?" The brunette pointed at himself for emphasis. Nowhere specific, mind you, as he had yet to observe his reflection in the mirror. Oh, how the very notion terrified him.
"I waited since we were eleven just to get the chance. Don't think that a little spirit gum and grey eyeshadow is going to frighten me off."
His frown went unaltered. "This is awful! It's twisted that I have to do this!"
"Hey, who lost the bet, again?" Tohru chuckled at how hopelessly melodramatic he was being.
Netto groaned in defeat. He foolishly believed the bet with Dekao last week would play to his favour. The terms were simple: Meiru-chan would decide what their challenge would be. If Netto won the challenge, Dekao would be obligated to attend Yaito-chan's glitzy Halloween gala in the most embarrassing costume of the girls' choosing; if Dekao won, the same fate befell Netto instead.
He should have known better than to trust Meiru-chan to make it a fair competition. He sure wouldn't be in this predicament, forced to be Netto Franken – an oafish Frankensteinian enemy based on his likeness, appearing in Yaito-chan's Strawberry Princess video game – for Halloween.
"I don't understand why you agreed to the bet in the first place. You're bad at math. It's your worst subject."
"How was I supposed to know the fraction's denominator doesn't change?"
Tohru laughed, and was joined by Rockman and Iceman in their PETs.
"I did warn you, Netto-kun," Rockman needled. Usually, Halloween put him on edge due to his fear of ghosts, but his operator had bats in his belfry and needed a good talking to, so he risked leaving his shell.
Iceman clutched his gloves around his mouth. "Tohru-kun, did you do anything at all, desu? He's no different than how he normally looks, desu!"
"Oh, shut up, both of you." Netto quickly flipped over the PETs, so the Navis' views were obscured by his bedspread, to their muffled protests.
Finally calming down from his fit of giggles, Tohru grabbed his equipment, and returned to the task of making over his distraught beau. "Just two more finishing touches, 'kay?"
"Ugh!"
"I promise."
Leaning closer, Tohru unpacked a set of fake stitches. He peeled the edges, and pressed the adhesive to Netto's face. Applying pressure with his fingers end to end, he traced a line from below Netto's eye down his right cheek. Then, he repeated the process for the left cheek. He could tell Netto was starting to fidget, so once the stitches stuck firm, he moved a hand to cup Netto's jaw and another to rub his leg.
The tactic succeeded: Netto purred in approval. With the kitten momentarily subdued, Tohru loaded up a brush, and began fusing the stitches into the colour of Netto's skin. As he did, it dawned on him how intimately entwined their lives had become. Netto's mother, Haruka, had lent Tohru her beauty supplies, while they bought the remaining hardware they needed at a thrift store in Densan Shopping District. The fact that his boyfriend's mother was letting him doll up her son with her own makeup spoke to the level of confidence she had in the boys' love for each other, and for that he was grateful.
If only Netto-kun could stay put, he thought, I would be really grateful for that.
Lo and behold, it did not take long before the youngster was fussing again. No amount of pleasurable physical contact could keep him stationary indefinitely. He had the attention span of a chimp, the obedience of a dog doomed for the bath, and the self-control of a sugar-addicted third-grader in a candy store. An unstable combination worthy of a witch's brew, and a recipe for disaster if not for his numbskull gallantry and boundlessly energetic personality, which Tohru lauded him for.
"Are we done yet?"
"Almost."
Tohru fished through his schoolbag for the last piece necessary to complete the outfit, a plastic novelty headband they picked up during a half-off sale. Finding it squished between two books, he jiggled it loose and held the accessory out in front of Netto. He crowned his undead prince, affixing the semilunar apparatus above his ears, thereby creating the illusion of a bolt piercing his head. It was a screw upon entry and a nail spiking out a false wound upon exit.
"There we go. Try it out."
Netto tested each side, acclimating to the band's tightness.
Tohru opened and showed him a compact. "Ta-da! What's the verdict?"
The teen took in the image of himself as Netto Franken. He flexed his arms and grunted into the pocket mirror, and then capped off his performance with the creature's distinctive three-beat whooping cry. Not as stomach-churning or hair-raisingly ugly as expected. Still not kissable, in his opinion. Fortunately, his boyfriend wasn't so inclined, and gifted a tender peck on the lips to prove him wrong.
Despite the less than ideal circumstance of essentially being coerced into this debacle by the girls, he appreciated Tohru's help. It would have been impossible to do this on his own, and he shuddered to imagine anybody else all up in his personal space. Pleased, he shrank in on himself, and gave the most gracious smile he could muster.
"Thank you, Tohru-kun! How about I do your makeup next?"
"It's nice of you to offer. To be honest with you, I already have my costume prepped at home."
"What are you going as?"
"As Keroro."
Spectacular. A cartoon space amphibian. Tohru had the squeaky voice down pat, no question. Those unsettling bulbous eyes, though. Couldn't he have chosen a cuter animal role? A baby fox, perhaps? Or a polar bear cub? Was Klonoa taken? Tohru would look great with floppy ears.
"Oh no, I can't be caught dancing with a giant frog at Yaito-chan's party! We have to be matching! It's your duty as my date!"
"But Yaito-chan didn't include a caricature of me in her game," Tohru retorted, secretly glad that was the case.
At that, Netto grinned mischievously. There was a wicked streak behind the grimace that sent shivers up Tohru's spine, more harrowing than any scary story he'd ever been told. Grimmer than the time Densan City was frozen solid by possessed robot penguins. Even more unnerving than when the Radical Projector Yaito-chan's company built ran amok, spitting out a whale/squid/giraffe/anteater chimera that threatened to eat them.
"Netto-kun?"
"I made a special request. Yaito-chan is including you in the sequel, Strawberry Princess 2, as the magical princess' new best friend."
That didn't sound too severe. At least he wouldn't be a monster like the rest of the gang. No Mariko Onibaba, Rush Keroberos, or Meiru Medusa for him!
Netto sensed the younger one's relief, and narrowed his gaze in glee. He was all snickers. "I'm sorry, did I forget to mention the magical princess' new best friend is another princess from the neighbouring kingdom?"
Tohru didn't know whether to turn red in anger or to be mortified beyond belief and go paler than he already was. Why did things like this always happen to him? Gosh, the antics he put up with in their relationship.
"Now, time to get ready for that ball of yours, Ohime-sama!" Netto teasingly flicked a brush across his sweetheart's nose.
"Jeez! Netto-kun, you jerk!"