Kaleidoscope
Rating: T / PG-13
Genre: Romance/Humor
Warnings: Shonen-ai, fluff, language, fluff, some violence, did I mention fluff?
Pairings: Matthew x Guy, Raven x Lucius, Hector x Eliwood, Rath x Wil and whatever else my brain tells me to write.
Notes: First: If you don't know what shonen-ai is: It's boy x boy love, so don't like, don't read! As easy as that.
So what is this? Each chapter will be a more or less long one-shot based off of a word that my sister picks randomly from her dictionary. Pairings are depending on the ideas I have. For this chapter, my sister picked the word "ropedancer". No comment.
The usual babble: Being a non-native speaker, my English is far from perfect and no matter how often I spellcheck and proofread, some mistakes are nearly bound to happen. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. I try my best.
Chapter One: Ropedancers (Matthew x Guy, Rath x Wil)
Finally calming down, Guy sighed. Glancing wistfully at his Killing Edge below him, he decided that this had to be one of the worst days in his life. How did Matthew manage to trick him like that? And no, hanging upside down in a tree wasn't his favourite way to spend his free time.
He had been so sure to beat Matthew this time! When the thief had announced to take a walk after breakfast, Guy had followed him to the edge of the nearby woods where he had lost his track. But then the swordmaster had suddenly spotted a familiar looking paper under a secluded fir.
Why, oh why hadn't he recognised the blatantly obvious trap!
Yes, it had been his oathpaper (as if Matthew would simply lose it! Thieves normally were the last people to just lose things!) and without thinking, Guy had rushed towards the tree before Matthew found out about his 'loss'.
Sadly, aforementioned thief had been sitting high above him on a branch, watching how Guy never spotted the well-hidden rope and stepped into its loop. He then threw the other end of the rope - and with it the rock it was tied to - off towards the earth and the shrieking Guy had found himself dangling upside down five meters above the ground. (The swordmaster had yet to figure out how a puny thief had gotten a 200-pound-rock into a tree, but he suspected that Matthew had asked Legault who had asked Heath.)
Of course, Matthew had have his fun, ignoring every curse, plea and threat Guy had yelped into his general direction and instead opted for laughing at him. After a while, the thief had waved goodbye and left, whistling a song. Guy had yelled and shouted, but so far no one had come to rescue him.
Giving up the yelling, he finally opted to think about a possible solution. His sword had naturally followed the law of gravitation, becoming unreachable. After unsuccessfully trying to swing towards the tree - with only one leg in the loop and (as Lowen often claimed) way too thin for his own good, this also was an impossible task - he got a better look at the knot of the loop. As untempting as a crash from this height sounded, waiting for Matthew to let him down (and maybe owing him another favour) was way worse. But the knots of a thief weren't made to be opened easily...
Ready to go into the phase of sulking now, the swordmaster stopped his struggles. 'Right. Can't get any worse now', he thought. But as always, this sentence was enough to ensure an even more terrible fate...
This fate just came skipping down towards the dangling-point of Guy. Having heard some distant screams, Guy's second worst nightmare (Matthew being the first, of course!) spotted him and rushed towards the tree.
Guy groaned. Why, why him, of all people? It was -
"Oh my god, Guy, what are you doing up there? Is this some part of your training? Looks neat, but I doubt that would be something for me...well, do you need help with something? Because I think I heard someone shout and maybe it was you..."
- Wil, the chatty archer.
Guy slowly took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Right, Wil. You see, this is not part of my training, because hanging in trees does nothing for my fighting skill so far. Now, would you be nice enough to let me down?" He pointed towards the evil rock. "There, untie the knot and then try to get me back to earth slowly, alright?"
"Alright!" Wil rushed over and pulled at the knot, obviously as unsuccessful as Guy had been with the other end. "Argh, it's stuck! Who made that stupid thing? Wait, maybe I can cut the rope with your sword? But then you'd most likely end up hurt or something because if I use the sword I can't hold you and that'd be bad..."
"Yes, Wil", Guy sighed, just wishing to get down to stuff something into Wil's mouth.
"So, maybe if I just try to get the loop off..." Wil started to pull at the rope and indeed, after some initial trouble, the archer managed to slip it off the stone. But...
"Gyaaah!" Guy shrieked and closed his eyes as he felt himself plummet towards the ground, but his freefall was stopped rather abruptly after a meter. Carefully, he cracked one eye open, to see -
"Whoops. I guess that didn't work." Wil grinned cheerfully, dangling now at the other end of the rope, both feet trapped in the loop and seemingly unimpressed by the deathglare Guy tried to send him. "Hey, but don't worry, Rath will come looking for me soon, since we wanted to train and if I don't show up he'll be worried."
Well, that was at least something. Rath would get him down in one piece for sure, but until that, Guy was stuck with Wil. He only hoped that hanging upside down would make the archer shut up. He himself was sporting a rather severe headache by now - but maybe that also was Wil's doing?
An uncomfortable silence followed, but Wil wouldn't have been Wil if his mouth stayed closed for more than a minute. "Well, and how exactly did you end up here? I mean, if you aren't training."
"Well..." Great, telling Wil would result in everyone knowing about his little...mishap...by the end of the day. Then again, the archer never meant to do harm and had only wanted to help... "It was Matthew's fault. He's annoying me all the time, but I hadn't thought that he'd go that far."
Wil looked at him with wide eyes - which suddenly began to sparkle with joy. "Oh wow, you're such a cute couple!"
Thanks to the fact that his brain wasn't actually working in his position, it took a few seconds until the full portent of the words hit Guy.
"W-what!" he stuttered and felt his face flushing bright red (but only from hanging there, he told himself). "We're most certainly not a couple! Are you nuts!"
Wil seemed rather taken aback. "You're not? But I was so sure! I mean, you're always together, teasing each other so lovingly..."
"L-l-lovingly! I'm hanging in a tree because of him!" Guy tried a feeble attempt to swing towards Wil to strangle him.
"Yeah, because you're his obsession!" Wil beamed. "I've seen him following you! And when you talked to Lady Lyndis a few days ago, he looked so jealous! I'm not kidding! He was all tense; sitting behind a tent and watching." The archer giggled. "And I remember those two days Hector sent him away to spy on those bandit guys...you looked so bored! You missed him, didn't you? And wow, you're blushing now! I knew it!"
Guy was too shocked to answer, but he certainly felt how the little blood that was still in other regions than his head decided to join the rest. Yes, he had to admit he had been kind of bored without Matthew...but that didn't mean he was in love with him! However, Wil seemed oblivious to all logic... Remembering a few important facts, Guy decided that attack always was the best defence.
"W-well...but what about you and Rath then?"
Now it was Wil's turn to look taken aback and...bashful? Guy would have attributed a lot of characteristics to Wil, but bashful wasn't one of them. "There's nothing between Rath and me!" he squealed, sounding rather desperate all of sudden.
After everything that had happened to him, one couldn't blame Guy for feeling quite evil now. He smiled sweetly at the archer. "And what is this 'riding' practice I hear about?"
Wil was so stunned that he - he! - needed a few seconds to regain his voice. "Waitwaitwait! It's not like that! Really!" Wil was shaking his head frantically, but had obviously decided to take the lead in the unofficial 'resembling-a-tomato'-contest the two were having. "Rath's only teaching me to ride...on a horse, you know?"
Guy tried to suppress a grin, but found himself unable to do so. Still, he feigned innocence. "And what else did I say? My, what are you thinking?"
Wil 'eep'ed embarrassed and hastily decided to change the topic back. "Well...but...you're just trying to stop me from asking about Matthew! And you two are just the mushiest couple ever!"
"W-what! We're not! That title goes to you and Rath!"
"But you admit that you're a couple!" Wil grinned in victory.
"N-no! I-I never said that!"
"Oh, you did!"
"Did not!"
"Oh yes..."
"What is going on here?"
Both stopped in their rather squeaky yelling to look down at Rath, who was watching them from the top of his horse with his usual, expressionless face.
"Oh, Rath!" Wil beamed, although rather embarrassed. "You didn't listen, did you?"
Looking at the two now rather concerned warriors above him, Rath raised an eyebrow. "No, I did not. But what are you doing up there? I was looking for you."
That were most likely the longest complete sentences Guy had ever heard from Rath. Wil, however, seemed not surprised at all. "Well, Matthew kinda trapped Guy up here and I heard him scream and wanted to help him but somehow the rope won and now I'm also here and could you please help us down?" Well, Wil was back to his babbling self.
Rath eyed the rope for a second before taking out his bow and aiming at it just above Wil's feet. It hit and two (rather girly) shrieks could be heard when nature's law took effect on Wil and Guy. But somehow, the nomad managed to haul Wil onto his horse while grabbing the now loose end of the rope and stopping Guy's fall before the ground could.
Wil, suddenly finding himself sitting sidewards onto the horse and that rather close to Rath, looked rather flustered and abashed. Rath however had more trouble to hold the poor Guy and it was only thanks to his horse that he managed to get the swordmaster close enough to the ground before he had to let the rope go.
Guy landed in a rather ungraceful heap, but since he was back down he actually didn't care about that. "Thanks a lot, Rath!" Gathering his lost belongings back, he smiled at the nomad, who gave him a curtly nod.
Then, Guy grinned at Wil and - when Rath shortly looked away - mouthed 'mushy' to him. Wil grinned and flushed once more.
Rath - obviously in no hurry to let Wil down - looked at his friend. "Wil, are you ready?"
"Huh?" Wil blinked.
"The riding practice."
Guy quickly covered his mouth with his hands to hide his snort. Wil shot him a half-rebuking, half-amused glare, but when suddenly another laughter was heard from the edge of the forest, the swordmaster had already forgotten about that.
"You!" Guy shouted at Matthew, who was looking very amused. "How long have you been there!"
The thief shrugged. "The whole time. Watching you and Wil was rather funny, you know?"
Guys face turned brilliant red - this time not only from embarrassment. "You...you...! You will pay for that!" Drawing his Killing Edge, the swordmaster leaped forward.
Matthew grinned at the advancing Guy. "Bring it on! We have to get the crown of mushiness back, don't we?"
Rath and Wil watched how Matthew took off towards the forest, Guy at his heels.
"...What was that about?" Rath asked.
Wil grinned. "Oh, nothing important, really. But aren't they such the cutest couple?"
Rath blinked.
Well, that was...strange, not to mention illogical. And I have the feeling that my English sucks bad. Really, really bad.
Still, if you find it in your heart to sacrifice a few seconds of your precious time to write a review with praise or constructive criticism, I'd be very grateful!
Thanks for reading!
Sheba
