Hello, folks! Now, if you've read my stories before, or know anything about me, you may be in shock right now. "Lizz? She's…actually writing? What is this unheard of event!" I know I've been almost non-working for a loooong time now, but, I'm back with a new piece. The idea for this pairing first came to me while looking at an author's DeviantART profile on this site. That author was SamCyberCat, who drew a few LukeXCrow pictures that I absolutely loved. So, Sam, if you read this, thanks, and if you know Sam or her work, that's who inspired me. I don't think characters from Last Specter are used that much, and it surprises me. This pairing, while I've never actually written a boyXboy fic, was a new experience for me, and I loved writing Crow. I always imagined him as a cool, collected type, and putting him in this situation seemed interesting. Before we start, this is a slightly AU fic, so Luke never left Misthallery like at the end of the fourth game. I hope whoever reads it enjoys it, and please, feel free to give me feedback on what I can improve on! For now, please enjoy a rare bit of writing from me, to you.
"Our final piece up for bid is an ancient chalice made of pure silver. Items like these were a symbol of royalty back in the days of palaces and knights. Notice its shine when held up to the light." A black clad arm rose up in the air, displaying a lovely chalice that, just as the speaker had said, gave off an impressive sparkle as it was held up to the artificial lights hanging above the stage.
The audience gave a series of "Ooooh" and "Aaahhh" sounds as the item was shown before them. This chalice was exactly the sort of item they came down to the black market to possibly win. Something so elegant, so rare, it could only be found in secret. And besides, with a chalice like that on the table, any dinner party guest would blush with envy.
The speaker, invisible behind the raven mask he wore, smirked. Right now, these people sitting in front of the stage were under his control, or rather, the Black Raven's control. Dressed as the Black Raven, the speaker could present any item, spin any ridiculous tale, pose any outrageous price, and the audience would jump on it like a pack of wolves. It wasn't that these people were incredibly gullible. No, the chalice the speaker held in his hand was obviously not pure silver; no one would be foolish enough to believe him without some sort of proof. But the type of people who came down to the black market were people who were willing to believe anything, as long as it would help them escape their current lives. No one came to the black market to simply do a little browsing and shopping. You came to the black market to find yourself if you were lost, to gaze upon something you wanted so much, that when you stood up to bid, you felt no guilt. For the brief moments of the bidding rush, you could feel on top of the world, trusting that this artifact would bring you happiness. Of course this feeling became like a drug, and some people got so addicted that the process became a cycle for them.
The speaker often wondered what made these people think a most likely fake object would bring meaning to their life, but he wasn't one to judge. He had been called heartless before, but he had trained himself to look at each person who walked into the auction room as a source of income. Even when he saw an especially bad case; the mother who had lost her child, the man who had no where to go at night, he did not bat an eye.
Anything he did was solely in the name of business
The crowd was on the edge of their seats, the speaker could tell, and after a moment of thought, he announced, "Let's start the bidding at around fifty one pounds, shall we?" And now the fun began. Quick as a flash, people sprang up out of their seats, and the speaker pointed to the first person he had seen stand up and shouted "Yes, fifty one pounds!"
"Sixty pounds," A man shouted, his eyes wide with anticipation.
"Ninety Pounds," The first man
"One hundred!"
On this went for another few minutes, and the speaker drank in every moment of it. He loved when biddings heated up over seemingly small items such as the chalice. He glanced around the audience, but no one else seemed to be willing to butt in and name a price while these men were in such a heated rivalry. That or they were too entertained by the frantic voices of the men.
Finally, the man who had stood up first bellowed, "One hundred twenty pounds!" and the room fell silent. The second man stood there, staring at him.
"One hundred twenty pounds, going once," The speaker began cautiously, giving the second man a chance. He did nothing but slowly turn away and sink into his seat. "Going twice, three times…and sold! To the man in the third row! One hundred twenty pounds!" There was a small, polite round of applause to congratulate the man on his prize, and the speaker watched as the man walked up to his competitor to shake hands, but was rejected. Shrugging, the man returned to his seat, grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, folks, it seems we've run out of items for today, but we're always auctioning off new and exciting pieces down her in the market. We hope you'll find us again. Winners, please wait outside the auction room, and an assistant will be with you shortly to give you your prize." With that, the speaker turned, pushed aside the curtains, and disappeared from the stage into the back room where most of the auctioning items were kept. He could hear the crowd, now that the Black Raven had left, slowly rising from their seats and filtering out the auction room.
The first thing the speaker did was whip off the mask he had been wearing for the past hour. "Damn thing makes me sweat like a pig," he muttered under his breath, picking up a dark blue cap at placing it atop his dark blonde hair. He slipped out of the overlong black cloak he had also been wearing, and breathed a sigh of relief as he was left in his normal sweater, vest and jeans. After taking a minute to collect his thoughts, he called out, "Tony, are you around?"
There was a small rustling sound, and the speaker saw a pile of boxes to his right begin to move. Chuckling, he waited for a few to fall, and when they did, they revealed the auburn head of a young boy. "You're lucky those boxes were for silks, or else the damage would be coming out of your pay."
The boy yawned and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "What's to take, Crow? You only pay us in candy."
"And buying that much candy for everyone is expensive, so you should be grateful."
Tony gave another large yawn, "So did you wake me up to give me a payment lecture?"
Crow smiled, "No, but we did just finish up an auction, and the won items are on the stage. You know the drill, I assume?"
The young boy nodded, and recited almost mechanically, "Collect the items, bring them out to the people waiting in front of the room, offer a hearty congratulations, hand off the items, collect the cash and then go back to bed."
Crow gave an approving nod, and Tony slowly rose from the piles of boxes. "Oh, and by the way, you left your scarf back here again. I must say, it's a great pillow."
"Give me that," Crow snapped, yanking the yellow scarf from his hand and tossing it around his neck, "A clean appearance is never complete without a dashing accessory such as this scarf."
"Although it's summer, and boiling hot outside." Tony said mischievously. The boy was lucky he was young.
Crow gave Tony a small push in the directions of the curtains, and with a salute to his boss, the boy ran off onto the stage to collect the items and distribute them to their new owners.
Crow picked up the mess Tony had made in his awakening, and upon finding a small pocket watch, along with several other non-silk items in the silk boxes (he'd have to re-organize things later), saw that it was almost four in the evening. After an auction, not much was left to do in the black market other than give out the prizes and clean up, but other than that, Crow saw no other reason for him to stay. After locating a pen and paper and scrawling out a quick note to Tony asking him to tell the other Black Ravens to go home for the day, he adjusted his scarf and headed outside to catch a bus back to his flat.
"Luke?" Crow called through the door after giving it a knock or two, "Luke, are you there?" Through the looking hole, Crow could see an eye appear, then disappear, followed by a small laugh. "Luke, it's not clever to pretend you're not home when your roommate has left his key inside, and already knows you're home because of your eye appearing in the door."
The door opened and there stood a grinning young man dressed in all blue, except for the white polo shirt he wore under his blue sweater. "Ah, c'mon Crow, have a bit of fun!"
"I run a secret group of unruly youths and am the head of a black market where I get to dress up in a raven costume and auction off precious artifacts to people who get into rather amusing fights now and then when bidding for said artifacts. I have fun all day."
"Crow, when are you going to realize your Black Ravens are hardly youths anymore, save for Tony. You've never been much older than them anyway."
"I feel as though I am," Crow replied, waving his hand dismissively, "And besides, they've always looked up to me, and that ages a person when you're nominated as a leader."
Luke shook his head, "Perhaps I should just forget about my courses and study something other than teaching. I'd hate to become as old as you are so soon!"
Crow snapped his fingers and pointed at Luke, "Speaking of classes, you had that exam today, correct?"
"Luke's eyes grew wide, "Ah, so you do listen when I speak!" Chuckling at the blank expression he received from Crow, he continued, "Yes, and not to brag or jinx myself, but I think I did a damn good job on it. Either way, it was my last test, and I won't be going back for the next few months."
"Good to hear. As for the black market, we had a silver chalice sell for One hundred and twenty pounds today."
"You're kidding, right? The people who come to these auctions fascinate me some time."
Crow sighed, "They do the same to me as well. Speaking of the market, I'll be needing some help organizing a box or two. Seeing as you've finished your exam and don't have class tomorrow, are you free to stop by for a bit and help?"
Luke shrugged, "No problem, I just hope I won't have to get up early in the morning, these last few nights of studying have left me pretty sleep deprived."
Crow raised an eyebrow at Luke as he stood up and headed towards the kitchen of their flat, "You've probably been skipping breakfast these last few days as well. Maybe you shouldn't come in after all. You realize that eventually your body won't be able to help itself and will crash, right?" Crow knew from a first-hand experience what sleep deprivation could do to a person. He had gone to many auctions only half awake and had fallen asleep on the floor of the artifact room the second they had finished.
Luke rolled his eyes, "You make me sound like a machine. Relax, Crow. I'll go in for a few hours, and then come right back to the flat and rest. On my honor." He held up his hand as though he was taking an oath for emphasis.
Crow wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. While Luke was an excellent friend and business partner—the latter was when he had time to come to the market and hold an auction or arrange some items—he tended to fill his daily schedule as much as possible, and sometimes it became too much. He was especially stubborn when it came to his studies. Luke hoped to be a professor some day, which resulted in him taking many college courses (something crow had never had time for) and staying up until ungodly hours of the morning cramming for multiple tests. .This busy lifestyle sometimes had its downfalls, of course, and Luke tended to fall ill from over exhaustion, much like Crow. However, unlike his friend, Luke liked to keep going, despite being close to delirious with lack of sleep. He seemed fine at the moment though, and Crow found no reason to nag him any further about resting, an argument that would no doubt be meaningless.
"Alright. But if you wake up sick tomorrow, you're not going anywhere. And that, my unruly youth friend," Crow said with a smirk, "Is an order."
Crow heard the first cough while reading his morning paper at the breakfast table. "Sleep well, Luke?" He called out, trying to keep his voice as monotone as possible.
"Yes," Luke said, his voice so scratchy it was almost a whisper. "Do, um…do you suppose I could have a cup of tea, Crow?"
"Well, my friend, I know for a fact you're aware of the teapot's location as well as where the teabags are, so why should I make you a cup?" Crow allowed his voice to rise to a slightly taunting tone as he smiled behind his paper.
Luke let out a small grumble, "Never mind, I'll just get some water." He shuffled slowly over to the cabinet.
Crow hardly hid his amusement when he said, "Luke, you realize of course that's where we keep the dishtowels. Where you hoping to absorb the water into the cloth and use it?"
Luke coughed and gave an aggravated groan, "Fine, Crow, I'm sick. Congratulations, you have obtained some sort of psychic power which helped you predict this a day in advance."
"You're more than sick, my friend. You're overtired, dissoriented, and I must admit it's rather funny." Crow folded his paper and got up to unfold the sofa in their living room, which turned into a bed. After setting up the bed, Crow took Luke by the shoulder and lead the stumbling man to it. "Now, you're going to lay down and sleep, no studying, no coming to help at the market, you need to rest. And, just to make sure you don't just pretend to fall asleep and get up after I leave," Crow said, sitting down in a cushioned chair next to the sofa-bed, "I'm going to watch and make sure you actually rest."
"Good to know I've got my mum here with me," Luke mumbled, ending his sentence with a hard cough. "Besides, how will you know I'm not faking even if you watch me?"
"Trust me, I'll know. Your snoring could probably raise the dead."
"I do not snore!" Luke said defensively.
Crow threw his hands up, "Alright, whatever you say. Now, no more talking, or I'll sing you to sleep."
Crow knew Luke was finally starting to succumb to his drowsiness when he began rambling. At first it was about pointless things like the weather and dreams he'd had on different nights, and Crow did nothing but nod and make an occasional "Mmm" sound. Then Luke started to ramble about something completely different.
"Croooow," Luke called out sleepily, drawing out the "O" as he yawned, "D'ya remember when we first met?"
"Mmm," Crow said, flipping the pages of the book he had gotten to pass the time while Luke fell asleep.
"Well, I remember. I was eight and you were um…thirteen I believe, and uh…" He giggled then yawned again, burrowing a little deeper into his covers and snuggling into his pillow, " I don't remember exactly how we became close, probably through Tony and Arianna, and I remember first meeting you and thinking, 'Sheesh, he's so boring,' but not anymore. You're fun now."
"A barrel of laughs, I bet," Crow replied.
"I think I know why we got along so well, I think I do. It's…it's because you're so handsome. Handsome and cool and…yea. That's why. I like you, Crow."
"Well, if we didn't like each other we probably wouldn't be rooming together," Crow said, wishing that Luke would stop babbling and fall asleep. The Black Ravens were probably wondering where he was at the moment, and Tony no doubt was sleeping somewhere. If only Luke had the ability to fall asleep as quickly as Tony…
"Nah, Crow, I reeaaally like you," Luke said, his words starting to become slurred and heavy. He yawned, and closed his eyes, "I bet you think I'm crazy, you with your cold heart and all." He laughed a little at this, "Hehe, cold heart. But I'm happy that you stayed here with me, Crow, I'm glad it was you. I feel safe, y'know?"
Crow didn't make a sound, he simply stared at his friend. His friend who possibly thought of him as more than a friend.
No, Crow, you're being ridiculous, he thought. Luke's half asleep, he doesn't know what he's saying. Or did he?
Crow hadn't had much time for relationships in his life, and that never bothered him. With running the Ravens and the black market, he always found himself busy. He had taken a small interest in his fellow Black Raven member Marilyn for a while, but that hadn't lasted long. Their relationship was strictly business related, and Crow quickly forgot about his crush and moved on. Other than that small period of time, Crow had never taken up a love interest, despite the fact he was now 25.
He glanced over at Luke, now breathing evenly, snoring every few breaths. Luke was an attractive man, Crow would admit, but…not attractive in that-sort-of-way. At least not in Crow's eyes. But, then again, he was the one staring at his friend while he slept…
No, it was simply because he cared for Luke's health. Wouldn't a normal friend do the same? Crow glanced at Luke's face, and his heart gave a small flutter. Luke's face was left in a content expression, and he remembered the last words he'd spoken before drifting: "I feel safe, y'know?" He trusted Crow, and Crow…didn't know how he felt back.
Slowly, Crow got up from his chair, and walked over to the bedside. He knelt down on the floor so he was eye level with Luke, and gazed at his friend's sleeping face. Luke looked so innocent when he slept, almost like he was a child again. This made Crow smile and he slowly reached a hand out to brush away a stray lock of hair from Luke's face, causing his fingertips to erupt with a tingling sensation. Crow stayed there, staring at his friends face for another or minute or two. Then, before he realized what was happening, he found himself doing something he'd never dreamed of: leaning in to place a kiss on Luke's lips.
It was like he had been drawn to Luke at that moment, couldn't resist the thought of having his friend for his own, if just for that brief moment, and it cause him to shoot back from Luke's bedside in shock. He had never felt this way about anyone before, not even when he had liked Marilyn.
Adjusting himself, Crow cleared his throat and began to walk towards his room. He needed to get ready for work.
After coming back into the living room and seeing Luke still asleep, Crow shook his head, and headed for the door. Before leaving, he allowed himself one more glance at Luke before stepping outside.
"It was merely a business experiment." He muttered to himself, nodding as he approached the bus stop. "We'll see what it results in."
I'm not sure, exactly what I want to do. Should I keep it as a cliff-hanging one shot, or expand it into a story? Maybe you, dear reader, could tell me in a review? That review button down there is fun to poke, I promise! And hey, you might just get a cookie :)
Well, good bye for now!
~Lizz