Title: Chains

Author: Royal blueKitsune

Pairing: Lantis/Hikaru

Rating: Let's just say that Santa can bring me presents this year if I keep it up this way. xD

Genre: Pointless fluff/romance

Disblaimer: Hikaru, Lantis aren't mine...no witty extras to be added for now.

Author's notes: Reposted separately because I've decided that I have too many drabble collections - no more Dulcetly. From now on, drabbles in this fandom will be posted separately.

"Are you sure you don't want to pick up your coat and leave? There's still time you know. Primera, your family, your position as a CEO, all that wealth and fame..."

"Can just do me the favor of leaving me in my peace and solitude." Lantis drawled out, coming out of the bathroom with his shirt half unbuttoned and the black tie hanging loosely around his neck.

Hikaru smiled prettily at him - not really having meant anything serious by her question and ready to cry and break down if he actually listened to her - and briefly entertained the thought of raising herself on tiptoes to kiss his newly shaved cheek and smell the lingering aroma of aftershave and soap.

She flipped the pancakes and sighed almost petulantly, giving the ring on her finger a slight touch...just to make sure she hadn't dreamt her marriage ceremony. "So you would leave all that glamour just for a little peasant girl with no class, virtually no money and more than ordinary looks to boot?"

There was a short moment in which the air around them seemed to stand still and the world stopped revolving. Then Lantis turned to her with steel in his eyes and Hikaru knew that she had said the wrong thing. The really, really wrong thing.

"Don't look at me like that...I'm just quoting your elders. Is it my fault that they don't hold any respect for those they believe to be beneath them?"

Those presumptuous fools. He wrenched his cuff-links open and moved forward to wrap his arms around her waist from behind, "I feel nothing but gratitude for having justified reasons to break off the engagement."

"Oh, so now I'm a justified reason?" She craned her head upwards to wrinkle her nose at him. "Here I thought you took me out of love."

He smiled indulgently at the way her mouth curved downwards in a frown - such a tempting mouth too; with that bow shaped upper lip that made him want to sample - and fondly stroked her hair in a calming gesture. "If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. My father and the elders of the family will just have to accustom themselves with the idea that the once proud heir of Moonlight.inc has abandoned his privileges for a less fortunate position..."

The barely-there sarcasm lacing his voice made her laugh. "Your mother seemed to like me that first time we met - ignoring the fact that I was only the friend your cousin had invited to the cocktail party; your brother was cordial too...circumstances are a little different now but I hope that nothing has changed. Did they call to disown you yet?"

Sarcasm was catchy sometimes.

"Not yet. They wouldn't dare, especially considering that my mother was once in your position. My brother doesn't care as long as he has his wife." Lantis stated simply, covering her hand with his to lift the pan from the fire...before the pancakes took a too healthy tan for his tastes.

Hikaru was too fascinated by the newly discovered facts to care. "Are you serious? Really? Really?" What a strange family she had married into.

Lantis shrugged. "My father suffers from selective memory when it suits him. The elders are too annoyed that the son was like the father in so many aspects."

His wife grinned and snatched the pancakes from him, skipping to the table to - unceremoniously - deposit them on the plates. "In that case I don't have anything to worry about...other than your fiancée who is sure to appear one of these days to have a 'woman to woman' talk with me and Umi who is bound to try to strangle us for not announcing her that we eloped beforehand."

Hikaru waved the spatula at him playfully and unconsciously chose to pour less syrup on his batch than she did on hers. She knew his selective displeasure for overly sweet foods too well. "She is your cousin after all and from what I've seen stubborn tempers run in the family. Sooooo...pancakes?"

Lantis nodded and covered the distance to the table in two long strides, sitting down and casually pulling his little wife in his lap for a promising first breakfast together.

It seemed hard to believe - knowing his relatives- but Lantis had finally come to the conclusion that he'd spent half of the previous night - between watching his wife sleep and threading his fingers thought her hair - pondering the matter of a possible family reunion in vain. It was obvious that he had nothing to worry about when it came to introducing Hikaru into the family. Easy as that.

If anything, Lantis mused, his elders wouldn't know what hit them. He suppressed a faint smile at the thought.

Now that was something to actually look forward to.

I was beginning to think that my muses had died a horrible and slow death.