Starched Collar
Requested by: AmidstTheDarkness
Author's Note:
This is was bittersweet for me to write, bordering more on bitter than anything else. The young woman who requested this was a dear friend of mine and she sadly passed away almost a year ago. I was never able to complete it for her, even though she read a few rough drafts of it. She really just wanted a bit of a character study and I hope this is good enough. To anyone who might be dealing with suicidal thoughts, I encourage you to reach out. It may not seem like anyone cares, but they do and they would miss you terribly if you were gone. I care about you all and I want you to get better, with people who love you at your side. I care about you and others do too.
Suoh Mikoto was a sleeper by nature; he'd always had the ability to fall asleep anywhere at any time. So it was a given assumption that after any physically intimate experience he would fall into a deep slumber. Somewhat contrary to this belief, he could only sleep heavily if his partner was willing to drift off at his side. But unfortunately for him, his current squeeze had to arise from bed at 5:00 a.m.; and due to their usually lust filled evenings together, that was only about 3 hours after they managed to wear themselves out.
Another unfortunate part of their embraces was that Munakata Reisi was not a woman who enjoyed, or participated in, the act of 'cuddling'. In fact, she avoided contact of any sort after the initial romance. This results in a very patchy slumber for the fire wielding red-head.
And that, somewhat inevitably, leads to a watchful Red King keeping a protective eye on the one who he had grown to consider 'his' Blue Queen as she began to awaken and get ready for her day.
He watched her as the last ounce of sleep left her body to the high-pitched buzzing of her alarm clock, a slender arm drifting out from beneath many layers of fabric to seek out the one 'off' button. Her slim body would then lift from the soiled sheets, cobalt hair tumbling around her shoulders and burgundy marks of passion, filled with both pride and shame, adorning her pale skin.
His golden gaze would follow her as she stood fully from the bed, revealing both the entirety of her bare body and the every detail of their previous lust. She would walk gracefully to her closet and choose a bland set of nude undergarments.
Mikoto rubbed his eyes and grumbled, clearly disapproving. If there was one thing he found unappealing about Reisi, it was her choice of clothing; simple and boring, no sense of excitement at all. Somewhat begrudgingly, he had to admit that the extra excitement colorful lingerie would bring him was completely unnecessary, for despite her conservative nature, she was a fairly kinky woman in bed; which ultimately made it a waste of effort for her to dress up fancily.
After the underwear, she reached into her closet again and pulled out her uniform. As the Queen of the Blue clan, she wore a more intricately designed uniform than her Clansmen, setting her apart from them while still keeping her among her throngs of blue-clad swordsmen. She didn't put the full uniform on right away, though. She never did.
No, first of all she slipped her white button-up on. It hung off of her shoulders loosely when the buttons were unfastened, leaving the rest of her body still exposed under the fabric. Hanging the rest of the uniform over the back of her desk chair (she has a goddamn desk in her apartment even though she has one at work, Mikoto will never understand this woman) and sauntered her way into the bathroom.
The faucet ran and Mikoto knew she was brushing her teeth. Stretching his arms over his head, the Red King worked out the kinks in his muscles before untangling his legs from the blankets and stumbling out and onto the floor; definitely less dignified than Reisi was, but it was morning and the only time the Red King was a bumbling idiot was the waking hours of the day.
Butt naked, in all his muscled glory, Mikoto didn't even bother dressing yet. Instead, he took a long, searching look of the room and scouted out his pants, crumpled up in the corner. He fished out the packet of cigarettes in his left pocket and took a look around to make sure Reisi wasn't looking.
She was. Staring at him from behind the bathroom doorframe, a toothbrush in her mouth and a frown in her eyes.
She clearly wasn't willing to let him smoke in her apartment.
He grunted in disapproval and hid the packet again, knowing there was no way to argue with Reisi over this. He stood up only to pull on his boxers and pants, covering up his dignity; whatever percentage he had left around Reisi that is.
By the time Mikoto looked back around, Reisi was already dressed completely. She was wrapped up in her uniform, tiny blue skirt around her thighs and gold buttons on her jacket. Her starched white collar stood proudly against her pale neck, covering up any of the hickeys that might have been visible beforehand. Ah. Right. The outside Reisi, the one that everyone else saw. Sometimes Mikoto forgot she was two different people.
Reisi turned around and her deep cobalt eyes searched out the amber gaze of the Red King. She smiled, really, heartily smiled and suddenly Mikoto was stuck looking at both of Reisi's forms at once. Reisi, the smiling, kindhearted woman and the Blue Queen, calculating and withdrawn. Mikoto may spend more time with the former, but he would be lying if he said he had no care for the latter.
"Hey there. You'll head out with me, right?" Her voice was soft and flirtatious and Mikoto smiled at the invitation. She only asked him if she was in a good mood, happy about the night before and excited about the day ahead. He liked the idea of spending the rest of the morning with her before they parted ways and went back to being Kings and Queens again.
When they were together they were themselves, layers of appearance and standing peeled away to leave the mortal people behind, who they really were. When they parted they'd be the Royalty, Kings and Queens with starched collars and fists full of flames.
Mikoto reached out and touched her cheek, feeling the softness of her skin beneath his rugged fingertips. "Love to, sweetheart."