By Chustang
Chapter 1
"Of Lemons and Lists"
"Pudding?? All of this happened
because Raphael-sama decided to taste some…pudding?"
Mikael turned eyes as wide
and gold as coins at the angelic face sitting down at his feet, adopted
squeaky guitar toy still lost in stubby puppy teeth. The halo perched above
its head shined brighter than usual. All too familiar dark red eyes, which
caught the lights even under the table and shone a vivid violet, stared
sadly yet blissfully gazed up into his own. They cried, "Play with me!"
just as he had before said in those angel eyes, only smothered with the
mystery they possessed. Now there was nothing held back. He wanted
Mikael to pay attention to him, not to talk about important things, just
play tug-a-war or scratch his ears, and it was blurted in those eyes.
Mikael shuddered. It felt
like that little red puppy was hypnotizing him. From behind, the clumsy
yellow pup gave the red one a puppy-style glomp and he replied by yipping,
and engaging in a bit of playful roughhousing.
He looked back up to the demon
family around him, gazing confusedly at the green-haired Ruka as she explained,
"Yep. It has to be, from what evidence we have. Mama sent Noelle out of
the kitchen for a moment to clean up her mess, and she went out to the
yard, holding her bowl of vanilla pudding. Next thing we knew, we had a
puppy and so did you. Besides, we found this." Leaning down to the floor
beside the long dining table, the young mecha genius squeaked in effort
and placed a bowl, about sloppy vanilla cream spitting over the edge, onto
the table, causing it to quake with the weight. And, poking like
driftwood out of the pudding sea, was a flat, toy-like animal with an embarrassed
face and closed eyes. It looked like a toy a child would pull behind them,
string in hand. With sad cat face, and stick legs, it was apparently another
minion.
Yuusuke, who sat between Gabriel
and Ruka, instantly rose from his chair, face a bit red. He had been reluctant
to allow Noelle to call him her husband, not to mention those messy glomps,
but clearly he must return some of the feelings, as he had been upset since
the whole ordeal had started. Brown eyes sharp and narrowed, he said urgently
to the flushed minion, who could probably fit in the palm of his hand,
"Alright, did you do this?"
2-D face still blurred with
crimson embarrassment, the cat toy nodded, giving a squeak.
"Well turn them back!"
It shook its head, still decorated
in Noelle's white pudding.
Mama's hand went to her mouth,
ruby-colored eyes misty and confused through her gold bangs, while Papa
let his jaw drop, anger bubbling slowly as his fist tightened. The entire
family kind of paused, jaws loosening, then all them gave slightly hostile
eyes to the minion solidified with intransigence, which, at the Technicolor
array staring it down, seemed to falter a bit.
Yuusuke, appalled almost,
crawled up on the table and snatched the toy minion from the vanilla slop
and held it up to his face. Fear apparent through the things pudding-splashed
face, it squeaked as he asked, "Why not?"
It squeaked once again, shaking
its head, and the family responded with groans, boiling tempers, and impatience.
Yuusuke clutched the thing
tighter, pleading now, just anything to reverse that damn spell. "Why…
why won't you just do it…"
** Previous **
"Jasmine jelly…" he mused to
himself in his sleep, still in the slurred limbo between dreams and consciousness.
Still wrapped in sheets, he rolled sleepily to find a void where warmth
had recently been. Struggling from the black ink of unconsciousness, he
murmured something and leisurely fanned his feathers out to catch the peach
morning sunlight.
"Raphael-sama?"
"Hmm… yes, Mikael?" Raphael
hummed, still half-asleep.
"Uh… why are lemons on the
grocery list?"
Suddenly, he was fully awake,
just as his arm found nothing in the sleek white sheets. He blinked open
his eyes, welcomed by the room painted in pastels by the sunrise, and found
those vibrant amber eyes in an instant, surprised to be confronted with
a fully dressed and awake Mikael. The angel, lying on his stomach, with
pillow clutched to chest, locked eyes with his koibito and cocked his head
curiously. "Come back to bed. It's too early to leave, Kael-san…" Raphael
said, as his lone wing fluttered welcomingly, delicately lifting the sheets.
"Don't call me Kael-san, please
Raphael-sama," Mikael replied, standing beside the futon in the peach-lit
room. The slip of paper still in his hand was filled with the groceries,
mostly in his own handwriting. But at the very bottom, in very fancy writing,
was 'lemons.'
Violet eyes still misty and
drowsy, he said seductively, barely raising his voice, "Should I call you
what I did last night, hmm?"
Mikael blushed instantly.
"No!"
Raphael just shot back a smile.
He reached lazily to the side, recovering the small purple flower from
where he'd abandoned it and smelling it. In true seductive fashion, he
brought it to his lips. "You sure? I quite vividly remember you had a name
for me."
Heat flushed his face and
Mikael just returned to the original topic, before the conversation led
back down into bed. "The fridge is empty, Raphael-sama. I'm going to go
to the store, okay?"
A bit of disappointment fluttered
in the one-winged angel's expression, but it was short-lived and the same
good-natured light came to his eyes. Raphael drew in a deep breath, smiling
at the cute face his partner held as the dawn light danced on his skin,
and succumbed to Mikael to tone down the flirt and allow him from his side
for a minute. "Alright."
The aqua-haired boy just sighed
and smiled back. With gorgeous amber eyes turned toward the list again,
Mikael pursed his lips for a moment and looked down to the futon again.
"What are the lemons for anyway, Raphael-sama?"
He gave that smile back, reserved
for midnight and him, spiced with mischievousness. Mikael knew what that
meant.
"I guess I'll find out later…"
he remarked to himself, that discreet pink tint returning to his cheeks
and he turned from his koibito and first checked his pockets for money.
"I'll be back in a bit."
Raphael just pursed his lips,
watching Mikael walk out, and then looked at the clock.
7:12.
The store opens at 9…
TBC