Chasing Butterflies

I do not own Gorgeous Carat.

A/N: I was looking out of the window watching the children play in the front yard and thought if I had a garden and children would they run after butterflies in this day and age?

Florian is sitting on the terrace alone, having tea. He looks out over the garden watching Noel, as he chases a butterfly. The boy is throwing his arms out laughing, chasing it from one rose bush to another.

The blonde haired man smiles, as he watches the boy play in the garden alone, and thinks about making friends with some of the people he knows with small children, and then maybe, Noel can have some playmates. The only thing wrong with this plan is Ray; he will never allow strangers in his home.

Noel continues to play with the butterfly, with no thought as to other children his age. He is 10 years old and has been living with Florian and Ray for five years. Noel is a happy child and wants for nothing. Florian makes sure his tutors are the best and his manners are impeccable. He can go anywhere in society and not be an embarrassment to either Ray or Florian. Whenever the two men went on a trip or large party Noel would accompany them, since Florian did not like him to be alone.

Florian knows, in his present circumstances, he will never have anyone call him father, and that is fine with him, but sometimes when he looks out at Noel and sees how much he has grown, he longs for the days when he was a small child. The days when he would run to him, if he were hurt or if he were afraid from a nightmare, were long over. Florian missed those times with the boy. The times now were great, but somehow, they were not the same. He no longer comes to the blonde haired man for spontaneous hugs or drags him off to read a story, from his favorite book of fairy tales. This is what Florian misses most of all.

He shades his eyes as he looks in the garden at Noel. The boy is lying down in the grass on his stomach, easing up slowly to the butterfly. It has landed on one of the flowers, unaware of the danger of him being so close to a human. The best thing about this human is he does not want to catch him; he just wants to chase him, and watch, as he flutters around on his new wings.

Florian sits back and sighs. He picks up his cup and sips his tea, turning his eyes away from Noel. He sets the cup down, picks the book back up and continues to read the poems Ray has marked, especially for him. They were some very explicit love poems, some he would have never thought would interest the man he has come to adore, but then Ray loves the written word. All books in his eyes were to be treasured, even the cheap novelettes, which were all the rage in Paris, right now.

He smiles and blushes as he comes across a rather racy line and closes his eyes.

"Is the sun getting to you my love?" Ray bends down, kisses Florian on the neck, and raises his head as he looks out at Noel. "Is he chasing butterflies again?"

Ray's hand is resting on Florian's shoulder and he reaches up and covers it with his own.

"He loves chasing them, but for the life of me I can't understand why. If it were I, I would be exhausted.

Ray looks down at Florian and chuckles, "Maybe he sees something in that butterfly, you aren't meant to see. Not just children, chase them you know. I always thought I was chasing a butterfly, when I met you."

Florian looks up at him, amethyst eyes sparkling with the love he feels for Ray and says, "I don't see how you can compare me to a butterfly, when I allowed myself to be captured, so easily. You have never had to chase me that hard, Ray."

"I suppose you're right and I do have you now, so it doesn't matter." He sits besides the man he has been with, for the past five years and takes his hand, bringing it to his lips. "I would chase you to the ends of the earth, if I have too Florian. Just to have you smile at me the way you do, I will do anything."

Florian nods at him, "You're just like Noel. Once you get what you want, all you do is sit back and admire it. One day Ray, you have to show me just what it is you feel, but until then, I can wait. I know how the both of you like chasing butterflies."

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