Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss, dudes. I mean, let's face it: if I did, I'd be mashing all the chicks against each other like Barbie dolls. :Ua
AUTHOR'S NOTES, EDIT: 1/28/2011
Wow. Mara here again~. It's been ages, but I've finally decided to come back to this. For the longest time, this reminded me of stuff that I wanted to forget, but I'm really super excited about continuing this story! It was always my darling baby bear, and I hated having to shove it to the back of my mind—but enough of that. :3
I've gone back and improved upon this chapter for now while I'm working on the next part. As a warning, I'm not the fastest writer in the world, but hopefully you guys dig the changes! If nothing else, it makes me feel better. Ahaha, perfectionism. /cry
Fifty Gald
Chapter 1
Peony doubled over as he gave in to a bout of particularly raucous laughter. The blond had always been a loud drunk. Despite his nearing middle age, he'd never exactly learned his limit—or at least, that's how it appeared to most others. Mere indifference was the explanation closest to the truth, though the man himself had never given a precise explanation any thought. He didn't see the need. Alcohol was revered as liquid courage, the social lubricant, and Peony saw no reason to hold back when drinking on his own time or in the company of the people—if few and far between—that he trusted.
Jade, on the other hand, was fully in control of himself even through the haze of intoxication. That's what he told others, in any case, an insistence that had become nigh rhetoric. Reality was that even the Necromancer couldn't fully resist the ways—neither the subtle nor the overt—in which a few drinks could wear down his restraint. He couldn't resist them at all. The fact that, after enough alcohol, he lost all control entirely remained a closely guarded secret of his—even from Peony.
Especially from Peony.
It was his reserve when sober that kept him from putting himself in situations where his responses to Peony were anything but carefully measured. Indeed, he'd long since resigned himself to the position of best friend. The passage of time only made the resolve to actively pursue anything else weaker, his internal resistance to the notion of settling quieter. With age—and Jade was quite the old man, or so he insisted—came a growing degree of unselfishness, despite Jade's best efforts to the contrary, and an understanding that any possibility of reciprocation was... Objective analysis of circumstances might call for appropriation of a term such as "nil". The cards were stacked against him, and he could accept hearing 'my Jade' instead of undertaking the monumental effort it would require to become 'my Jade' when the chances of success were, quite frankly, nonexistent.
The Emperor never could completely recall the events of the nights when he'd imbibed just a bit too much, and it hadn't escaped Jade's notice. As Emperors had the privilege to drink without abandon, so did the Colonel to scheme at least eleven different ways he could turn the scenario to his advantage. Military strategy required inevitable field testing, after all. Even then, Jade wrote it off on the grounds that it was terribly dishonest. It wasn't unlike him to use such tactics, but he knew that he cared about Peony far too much for anything to happen under those pretenses. At least, Jade knew it somewhere far in the back of his mind; a subconscious knowledge, something the forefront of his mind would never pull into words—perhaps... a feeling.
He'd spent so much time counting the reasons why suggesting a transition from best friends to... something else was a terrible idea. Jade could live with the status quo, so why go through the trouble? A relationship wasn't something he required in order to be happy. If needed, he'd never had any moral objections to bedding a nameless—though regrettably not faceless—partner of his choosing.
In theory.
It was only natural, as a human, that he would have and seek relief for sexual feelings, just as it was natural that he'd continue to wish that his partners were someone else entirely. Suffice to say, beyond the initial experimentations and urges of youth, he didn't intend on revisiting those days, though the option was always there. He was expected to have needs, after all.
What it came down to was that the companionship he had with Peony was far more valuable than any reciprocation of any, dare he think the word, romantic or sexual inclinations could be. So, there wasn't anything wrong with their arrangement.
In theory.
Yes, Jade could rationalize. And rationalize, he did. After all, the Emperor would be expected to marry and to produce an heir. A fetus could technically develop after being implanted in a male abdominal cavity, but Jade couldn't confess to being up to the task.
And yet, for all his careful calculation, Peony had managed ambush Jade at a time when he'd already taken the initiative to drink himself into a solitary stupor. The Emperor was supposed to have been away on official business for another week, so Jade had considered himself free to indulge in liquor as he so pleased over the span of Peony's absence. It was so, so rare for things to go against Jade's predictions, even rarer when something happened that genuinely surprised him.
The blond—who had indeed returned a week earlier than originally planned—was content to work on his bottle of vodka, leaving Jade with his very own bottle of whiskey, straight from Engeve; another part of growing older: hard liquor. Jade just nodded and looked past the bottle he'd raised to his lips as Peony rambled on. At that point, getting him inebriated and vulnerable didn't seem like such a bad idea.
Jade echoed the blond's laughter with a slightly undignified display of his own, the wheels in his head turning in a way that was entirely shakier and far more haphazard than a sober Jade would have allowed. Pushing back from his desk, he relocated to the couch next to where Peony sloppily drank off his lingering giggles. A hand on the shoulder, a friendly squeeze, a satisfied mental smirk behind his cordial mask. Jade couldn't seem to recall why he hadn't tried this sooner.
"Might I suggest taking this to your quarters? You know how I like to keep business and pleasure separate." Jade removed his hand and cocked his head, a sweet smile on his face. Of course, someone could walk right into his office, but the chances of that were slim with it being so late in the evening. Not that he cared either way.
"Don't you give me that," Peony replied sternly as he swatted at his friend, intending to land a hit but missing each time. "I'm not evacuating my babies for you." A petulant look punctuated by a furrowed brow. "And don't look at me like that, it's creepy."
"Oh, I think I can suffer them just this once. Though, in all honesty, they're really not that bad." It was then that Jade conjured a shameless smirk to replace the smile. It was the truth, but he didn't expect or want Peony to believe him.
The edges of Peony's mouth twitched upwards in contrast to their very recent dissatisfaction. Again, he lapsed into explosive laughter, slapping a hand on his forehead before exhaling roughly and motioning towards the trap door.
"You'd better not try anything funny, man. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to my cute little Jade," he started, hobbling over to the pile of junk in the corner of the office. "Who would I hug and squeeze in your absence? After all, I'm so lonely when we're apart."
Lifting the trap door, Peony grinned brightly. Almost innocently, Jade couldn't help noting. When not lapsing into perversion (if only playfully), the Emperor often did give the appearance of innocence to those who didn't know him well enough to pick up on the undercurrent of irony—one that hinted that Peony didn't have any illusions regarding your intentions; one that could be coupled easily with malice were it the choice of the wielder. But then, that variance in choice was the difference between Peony and Jade, or so the latter noted. That should have made Peony Jade's better half—but the Colonel certainly didn't mind making jabs at the expense of others, thus asserting his undoubted superiority.
"What a candid admission, Your Majesty. I commend your honesty." Jade took the first step down into the underground passage after locking the door to his office, heaving a mock sigh as the sarcasm in his tone shifted from dry in nature to decidedly overt. "But why settle when you can have the real thing almost any time you'd like?"
Jade switched on the flashlight he'd taken with him and shone it in Peony's eyes as he posed provocatively, to which the blond responded by making a series of disgruntled noises as he shielded his eyes with his forearm.
"Bah! Don't make me puke." Peony scoffed and descended after Jade, placing his precious bottle on the stairs before closing the door behind them. Jade just hummed, catching the pause that held in the air as he waited for Peony to continue.
The blond more or less tripped the entire way down, letting out a loud belch as he reached the bottom.
Better half indeed.
"...Well, maybe if you wore something cute once in a while."
And there it was! Clearly, Peony had not had quite enough to drink, or so Jade thought behind the trademark smug, his facade. He would most certainly have to remedy this.
"I wouldn't classify anything you've requested I wear as cute, Your Majesty. Just lewd."
"Hey!" The blond protested as he nudged his bottle of vodka roughly into Jade's arm. The light from the flashlight bounced around the walls momentarily as Jade regained his balance and Peony draped an arm across the other man's shoulders."That maid uniform was totally modest. I even went through the trouble of making it myself."
"I simply can't allow the objectification of the hired help—or, more importantly, of myself."
"Ha! I don't believe you for a second."
Peony helped himself to a lengthy swig of vodka, leaning towards the right into Jade as he did so. "Alright, let's make a deal," he began as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve, grabbing the flashlight from Jade with that same arm. "What will it take to get you into that uniform?"
Wrapping his arm around Peony's waist merely in order to help steady him, Jade took advantage of the darkness, his face contorting into a rather maniacal smile for just a split second.
"Oh, I'll have to think about that. For the record, Your Majesty, I'll warn you in advance: I don't give it up cheap," Jade offered with an ominous undertone that was clearly lost on the other man. His fingers curled around Peony's middle on a possessive impulse, a subtlety which also went entirely over Peony's head.
"Come up with something by midnight. I want to see you in it," Peony deliberated with just the slightest hint of a slur. "There's no way I'm going to let all that work go to waste."
"You can't honestly expect me to decide my terms under such short notice." A purposely poor attempt at feigning shock.
"I do."
Jade gave up responding in favor of sipping his whiskey, eyeing the slivers of light creeping closer from around the upcoming door. Peony rushed ahead to undo the locks and push the entrance open. Without thinking, Jade flexed his fingers at the sudden loss of Peony beneath them before following the Emperor into his room, where the blond promptly sprawled himself across his bed next to "cute little" Aslan. He didn't even bother apologizing for the mess, and even if he had, Jade known him long enough to know that any apology related to the neatness of his quarters would have been quite a bit less than sincere. The rappig nuzzled Peony's hand, softly oinking for a bit of attention, which the man happily provided in the form of an acknowledging chuckle and a few pats on the head.
The Colonel watched as Peony rubbed Aslan's belly in unruly circles, the corpulent little animal squealing joyously as he slowly rolled over to allow better access. Jade couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It was so... sickeningly paternal, and it might have been endearing even to his own charred, blackened heart if Peony hadn't named them all after real people. Really, it would have been hilarious to Jade had Peony not named a rappig after him. With a wry smile, Jade emptied his bottle of whiskey just a bit more before approaching the bed, shuffling—wading, if you will—through the piles of junk between the closet and the bed. Peony had decided to scale them instead of clearing floor space on which to walk, but Jade wasn't so drunk that he was willing to make a martyr of his dignity.
"Well, I do hope I'm not intruding," he interjected dryly, reclining back beside Peony. Of course, he had no objections to interrupting man/rappig bonding moments, but it seemed like the right thing to say seeing as how Peony strictly adhered to the philosophy that one should never get between a man and his rappig.
Peony glanced over his shoulder, appraising Jade curtly with a solemn expression.
"Not really," he started in a tone that clearly contradicted his answer, "but-"
With that, he wrapped his arms around Aslan and heaved him on top of Jade, who inhaled sharply at the added weight of the rappig.
"Much better!"
Peony grinned victoriously as he leaned over to retrieve his bottle of vodka from the floor, during which Jade wasted no time in shoving Aslan off himself and over to the other side. The blond just grunted, splayed himself across Jade's stomach, and snuggled the animal closely. Oh, he just has to go and make it so easy, Jade thought as he rested a hand on the small of Peony's back, tracing idle ellipses with his gloved fingertips. It wasn't exactly unusual for them to end up in these sorts of positions when drunk; nonetheless, his gaze shot to Peony's face to ensure he wasn't making the blond uncomfortable. Peony just continued nuzzling the rappig without skipping so much as a beat, and Jade's expression slipped into one of smug satisfaction yet again.
"Perhaps you should name one of your rappigs as heir to the throne." Jade leaned back a little farther as he took a swig of whiskey.
"That's exactly what I was planning on doing. Emperor Cute Jade the Ninth has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"No, actually. I don't."
"See, that's why you're my uncute Jade."
"If that's meant to be insulting, I can't admit to feeling hurt. At all."
"Great, great. You'll have no problem putting on the maid uniform, then."
"Oh, I do, not that I see what that has to do with anything."
"C'mon, man," Peony began, reaching over to flick Jade's bottle of whiskey, "are you really sober enough to refuse?"
"So it would seem, Your Majesty."
"Mm. I see."
Peony sat up suddenly and shoved his bottle of vodka to Jade's mouth.
"Ha! Drink, drink, drink!"
Jade could have easily pushed Peony away and refused, but he decided to oblige until he'd drunken enough to satisfy the other man, who just laughed infectiously after pulling the bottle away again. Wiping the edges of his mouth with the inside of his wrist, Jade couldn't help but giggle in response.
"And now?"
Jade mumbled something incomprehensible as he slowly managed to sit up. Hadn't the plan been to get Peony trashed?
"...I suppose I could, but it'll cost you."
"Ha! I knew I could count on you!" Peony swung his bottle at the closet in a sweeping gesture. "You can go ahead and get it out of the closet. It's in front of all the others."
Jade tried his best to make his way over to the closet while retaining some form of composure, but the alcohol and the piles of junk that covered the floor made it impossible as he stumbled forward, Peony looking on and laughing all the while. Howling, even. Upon entering the closet, Jade did indeed see the maid uniform "in front of all the others"—that is to say, in front of all the other outfits Peony had crafted both for himself and for Jade, who liked to let Peony think that he had the ability to blackmail the colonel into wearing them. For all his insight in the realm of politics, the fact that Jade could've solved the issue with a Flame Burst if he'd been truly opposed to wearing them seemed to elude Peony.
"And now you won't even let me see the best part!" Jade heard Peony call out as he shut the door behind him, flipping the light switch before making his way across the closet.
"You'll have to pay extra if you want to see that," Jade shouted back, already setting his coat on a hanger. "Are you sure you can afford me, Peony?"
"You drive a hard bargain, but I'll accept your terms. Open the door."
"Well, I've changed my mind. You see, I'm not entirely sure that my magical girl transformation sequence censors out the naughty bits."
Peony groaned loudly enough to penetrate into the closet, which only prompted a dark laugh out of Jade as he placed his neatly folded uniform atop his boots; he may or may not have choked at the thud resulting from Peony throwing some object at the door.
Was that... a cat call?
Despite Peony not being the least bit inclined towards a more traditional system of organization for his other belongings, his closet and the clothes contained therein were nothing short of pristine. At least the Emperor had his priorities in order, Jade noted with a smirk as he rolled the stockings up his unshaven legs. Naturally, the hair poked through the opaque black fabric, and Jade let out a giggle despite himself as his drunken mind drew comparisons to a kiwi. It didn't take him long to slip into the rest of the uniform, which, as per usual, fit perfectly—almost too perfectly, he mused as he adjusted the bow in the back. Peony had the advantage of decades with which to perfect and adjust Jade's measurements, after all, and yet it still seemed uncanny to Jade just how well these costumes always seemed to fit.
He tugged on the bottom of the skirt to assure that it sat just right and smoothed out any wrinkles before raking a hand through his hair and reaching for the doorknob. The image reflected in the mirror on the back of the door prompted Jade to pause momentarily and raise an eyebrow. Striking a coquettish pose, he laughed at the ridiculous image reflected back at him before flipping the light switch once again and jerking the door open.
"Alright-"
He stopped as soon as his eyes came to rest on the bed. There Peony laid passed out, his bottle of vodka still gripped in his hand. Jade couldn't help but smile down at the Emperor with the closest thing to affection that he could muster as he approached the bed—slowly, due again to the heaps of junk strewn across the floor.
"Well, so much for my payment."
Crawling over Peony, Jade set himself down beside his prone friend, hesitating a moment before brushing away the stray hair that obscured his face. Even when asleep, the upturned corners of Peony's mouth gave off an air of mischief, something trademark to the man. In all the time they'd been friends, each time Jade would study Peony's sleeping face, he always noted that it was one of the features that had remained constant over the span of those past thirty years even as they'd started out awed by—and now succumbed to—age.
The silence and stillness always lent themselves so readily to the nagging ebb of nostalgia. Had they really known each other so long? Jade had to wonder—of course, a sober Jade Curtiss wouldn't have presented such a question to himself, and yet a drunken one could only look past the obvious answer. They were like brothers, really. Perhaps having been orphaned made it even easier to consider the biologically unrelated man as a sibling. And perhaps that was why the inevitability of the admittance, if only to himself, of how he felt brought upon such a pang of guilt, such guilt that made him want to wordlessly bury, avoid, and deny.
Not to mention Nephry. One of the things he doubted he could ever forgive himself for was being torn over feeling livid at how his sister and his best friend, the only people dear to his heart, had been ripped apart for something as trivial as social class and feeling...
Oh, he wouldn't even allow himself to think that, not even in his current state.
Guilt... oh, Jade knew all about guilt. And yet, at that moment, he found he was able to push it aside, intoxication no doubt making it easier than he would've normally found. Giving into the appeal of an impulse seemed far more pressing.
"I suppose this will have to do," Jade uttered softly, his tone surprisingly devoid—even to himself—of its usual sarcasm as he leaned over and touched his lips to Peony's, hand slipping thoughtlessly to the back of the Emperor's neck despite the measured brevity of what could hardly even be considered a kiss.
So... this is what it feels like.
Jade counted it amongst a curiosity he could now cross off the list as his fingers tentatively dipped upward towards the nape of Peony's neck, the indented skin seeming strangely charming to the drunk man. He should have changed out of the uniform, or so Jade thought as he pulled away and guided his arm around Peony's waist, his gaze darting across the other features of the other man's face. Then again, Jade much preferred staying in the position he was in now. The alcohol made it almost too easy to enjoy Peony's scent, his body heat, the feeling of being close and of just being as Jade scooted even closer, tucking his forehead against Peony's chest. He didn't need to rack himself with guilt when Peony's warmth was so inviting, something he knew on some level that he'd regret in the morning. Pity that he didn't have the capacity to care, not after so much whiskey—or vodka, for that matter.
No, he hadn't taken advantage of his friend like he thought he'd intended to; he was just inebriated enough to acknowledge—from the corners of the mind that had never really been sure how to express it—that he never would have been able to in the first place.
Aslan nudged at his back, the rappig's nose drippings soaking through the back of the dress. Jade absently noted that they would stain before drifting to sleep. He hadn't been in a position where he could have noticed that Peony's eyes had shot open, confusion written across his face as he laid there in silence before eventually falling back asleep himself.
The maid opened the door upon not receiving any response to her knock. She hadn't expected to wake the Emperor—or even that she'd be able to wade through his piles of garbage—but one of them always checked in every morning. Upon looking at the bed, on which Peony had managed to roll on top of Jade in his sleep, she grinned wildly and took extra care to close the door quietly. After it clicked into place, she rushed to the maid's quarters back to where a friend and fellow maid stood folding laundry.
"Kate. You owe me fifty gald."
Kate gave her a look over her shoulder before sighing dejectedly, emptying her pockets and shoving the contents in the other girl's direction.
"I had a feeling I'd lose that bet," Kate confessed, pushing a stack of folded sheets off to the side. When she looked back at the other girl, her lips had curled into a wicked smile. "You'd better tell me all the details, Henrietta. I do hope this is worth the fifty gald."
"They both had their clothes on, but the Colonel was in a maid uniform, and I know I saw some bottles around so I'm assuming they boozed it up." Henrietta could barely contain her excitement, fidgeting as she reached down to halfheartedly help with folding sheets.
"Ooh, that's better than I expected, though I know you were hoping to catch them with their clothes off," Kate quipped conspiratorially, playfully poking at Henrietta, who dodged easily.
"Trust me, this was so much better."