Title: Worlds Apart
Author: Kalika
Summary:
A collection of short stories based in the Gorgeous Carat
universe.
General Warning Codes: Yaoi, H/C, Language,
Angst
Pairings: None
Disclaimer: Characters owned
by You Higuri. I wrote this simply for my own
entertainment.
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VaseNoir stepped into his study and froze. Someone had been in here. He could feel it. He ran through a mental checklist of everything valuable or incriminating in the room, checking each one to see if it had been tampered with. None of them had.
It was of course possible that one of the cleaning staff had simply bumped something out of place while they were dusting. But it didn't feel that simple to Noir. Something had been changed, he just needed to figure out what it was.
Frowning in frustration, the man seated himself in his chair and gazed about the room once more. Everything seemed to be fine, there was nothing to worry about. Even if someone had snuck in, they hadn't taken anything of value, or touched anything that could potentially unmask Noir himself. But for some reason he just could shake the feeling that something was off.
Leaning back, Noir pulled out and lit a cigar, puffing at it distractedly while he tried to place what exactly was making him so nervous. Waving it off as a lack of sleep, due to a rather strenuous night of thievery, he pulled out his ledgers and began his work.
After an hour of simply flipping pages and not being able to concentrate on what he was doing, Noir had finally had enough. He rang the service bell on the corner of his desk and waited for the hired help to show up. Not long after, he had sent the mousy young woman who had answered his summons off to collect Florian.
Perhaps the other man's presence would help him to identify what was off. Monsieur du Rochefort could be rather dense at times, but he tended to notice things that Noir himself generally considered not worth his time. And if it helped to get this nagging worry off of his mind, all the better.
There was a soft knock at the study door, but before the thief could speak, Florian had already slipped inside. "You called for me, Noir?"
The dark haired man nodded and exhaled another cloud of smoke before speaking. "Do you notice anything off about this room, Florian?" It was unlikely that he would, but Noir figured that it was worth a try.
Florian glanced around the room curiously. He was quiet serious about it of course. If Noir had asked, then there must be something that he would be able to see.
After a few long minutes of looking, he had not noticed anything out of place. "I'm sorry, Noir. I just don't see anything strange."
Noir nodded, stubbing out the end of his cigar in the ashtray as he did so. It must just be his imagination then. "Thank you, Florian. That's all I wanted."
The shorter man gave him a quizzical look before turning to leave. He was almost to the door when he stopped. "By the way Noir, did you like the flowers?" The blond pointed toward the window.
"Flowers?" Noir turned to look where his Amethyst was pointing. There was in fact a vase filled with wild flowers sitting on the sill. The thief stared at it, feeling a headache starting just behind his eyes.
"Yes, Noel picked them for me this morning. I thought that they might brighten up the room."
Florian barely managed to make it out into the hall before the ledger book slammed against the doorjamb.
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Fin
