Rainy Days
By Ashford2ashford
Pairing(s): None
Disclaimers: I
don't own Yugioh! WHY MUST YOU PEOPLE BOTHER ME!?!
Other
Notes: A nice relaxing one off. Just Pandora, Seeker, and Strings in
their apartment on a rainy day.
#'/? #'/?
It was
raining again.
Coming down in huge heavy droplets, each one
forming a puddle of it's own, turning light colours into dark damp
shadows of their former selves...and making a certain magician's
open top car wet...
"No! Oh nooooooooo!"
Ah. Speak
of the devil.
Alec Pandora Hallworth, AKA The Master of
Magician's Pandora, ran out of the house quickly, feebly turning
off the car alarm with cold freezing hands. He leaned into the car,
started the engine, and then allowed himself to relax just a little
as the roof of the car unlocked; allowing him to snap it back into
place over the car itself.
He stared at the inside, frowning a
little, trying to assure himself that the rain would dry inside the
car soon. Today, he decided staring up at the darkened sky, trying to
wring water out of his jacket, was definitely a good day to stay in
the house.
Entering the house, kicking off his soaking black
shoes, and walking into the sitting room completely dripping wet, his
trousers soaked through and through, and his jacket and shirt
clinging to his skin, making him shiver, Pandora started to undress
himself.
There was a rustle of a newspaper.
Seeker, AKA
The Rare Hunter, raised one eyebrow in silent delight at the sight of
the Magician stripping, and then continued to read his paper.
"It's
raining." Seeker always had a terrible habit of stating the
obvious, just to annoy anyone within hearing distance.
Pandora
looked up, his wet shirt and trousers still clinging to him, his
soaked jacket in one hand. A frown crossed his face and then his eyes
narrowed.
"No...shit..."
Smiling in more secret
delight at having annoyed the afore mentioned Mage, Seeker looked at
him from behind the newspaper again, a sinister smirk playing on his
lips.
"No, seriously," He chortled, "It is!"
Pandora
growled and walked into the bathroom, returning moments later with a
towel and wearing nothing but his black Dark Magician boxer
shorts.
"Where's Strings?" He asked, his voice muffled from
behind the towel that was drying his tangled blue hair and his
freezing clod face.
This time, Seeker didn't look
up.
"Pass. Ask me another one." He murmured, losing
interest in the topic of the silent one. Turning the pages of the
newspaper, he asked, "Do you want a cup of tea?"
Pandora
looked up.
"Oh. Yes please."
Seeker nodded.
"Great.
Make me one whilst you're at it."
Another frown appeared
on the blue-haired man's face, but he said nothing. Arguing with
Seeker was like trying to get Strings to talk...impossible!
Reluctantly, he padded into the kitchen, the towel around his neck,
and then filled up the kettle.
"It wouldn't kill you to help
around the house, you know." He said, turning the power on for the
water to boil.
The eyebrow was raised again. Seeker's face
appeared from behind the newspaper once more.
"Yes it would.
I've got a doctor's letter for that."
Shaking his head,
Pandora replied, "That was against eating too many fatty
foods."
"Same thing." Argument over. That was how it
always ended.
Idly, waiting for the kettle to boil, Pandora
leaned on the counter facing the sitting room and pulled over an
ashtray, lighting up a cigarette and holding it loosely between two
fingers.
"You may be old, but I wouldn't argue to giving
you a good arse kicking for your laziness." He murmured, blowing
out smoke.
The paper went down again, this time Seeker's
face bore a sick kind of amusement.
"What's that boy? You want
to kick my ass?"
Pandora shook his head. "No! I said if
it would make you work then I wasn't against it! Why do you always
turn my words around?"
"I consider it a job." Seeker
replied, this time speaking from behind the paper, "I see it as me
being the older force trying to teach a younger one the tricks of the
trade, because you are my budding student and must endure the harsh
realities of the world someday, or so help me, you may become, and
dare I say it, insane?"
Staring, dumbstruck, vaguely aware
of the kettle boiling, the cigarette now hanging from his lips,
Pandora spat out, "You sarcastic bastard." And then he was gone
into the kitchen, placing tea bags into two small mugs and pouring
hot water into them.
Laughing at the comment, Seeker put down
his paper, stood up from his armchair, and then stretched. Scratching
his shoulder, he paced into the kitchen, and leaned on the counter,
grabbing a cigarette of his own from Pandora's packet of Marlboro.
"You should learn to enjoy a joke." He lit the cigarette
and blew smoke into the air, his thin gangly figure leaning heavily,
"I hear laughing is good for your health, Pan-Pan."
"Coming
from you, why doesn't that reassure me?" Pandora forced Seeker's
mug of tea over to him and then leaned on the opposite side of the
counter, this time sitting in one of the bar stools that were there,
his own mug in one hand, and the other softly reaching for his
half-smoked cigarette.
Shrugging, Seeker blew into his mug and
took a sip of tea.
The two sat in silence for a moment,
Pandora sitting there, one foot playing on the stool in front of him,
staring at the garden through the glass of the French windows, and
Seeker stood in a slouched way, leaning against the counter, one arm
folded, the other dangling a cigarette lazily in front of himself,
staring at Pandora, and then the Rare Hunter decided to break the
silence.
"Lumis and Umbra are caught up at work." It was
hard forcing conversation with the Magician. He sighed, "They're
not coming home for a while yet. Said they're caught in a flood. No
wonder with this weather. Look's like you'll be making tea for
only three tonight, Pan-Pan."
Pandora sighed and then took a
drag of his cigarette, staring in questioning.
"Come to think of
it, what are we having for tea? I haven't really thought of making
anything too much today. I guess I'm just feeling under the
weather."
"I know how that feels." Seeker stubbed out
the cigarette and then growled softly, "But I also know that you're
not skipping out of making tea again! I can't stand that take away
crap you always try to force down us!"
Defeated, Pandora
sighed.
"Alright! What do you want then?"
Seeker
grinned.
"So glad you asked, boy! How's about knocking us some
of that nice steak you like to cook?"
Pandora winced,
"Seeker! I don't like cooking! I just do it because if I don't
you'll shoot me!"
The older male stared for a few seconds
and then laughed, making Pandora frown more so. Sighing in defeat,
Pandora placed his cigarette in the ash tray and then walked over to
the freezer, getting out three juicy steaks, before stopping and
turning around to face the blue/grey-haired male behind him.
"Do
you think Strings wants one?" He asked. It was a comment that
Seeker hadn't expected, but had the answer for as soon as it was
asked.
"Why don't you ask him? Hey, Nin! D'ya want one?"
Seeker turned and looked in the doorway behind Pandora.
The
Magician nearly jumped out of his skin. Just how long had the mime
been standing there? The silent doll regarded Pandora with cold dead
blue eyes and then cocked his head almost cutely – a sure sign that
he was confused.
Pandora offered the steak to him and then
allowed a soft smile to creep onto his face. Strings stared at the
steak, and then at Pandora, then at the steak again and then his head
moved in what was an unmistakable nod.
Seeker rolled his eyes,
leaning against the doorframe and picking his teeth with the
fingernail on the little finger of his left hand.
"Wouldn't
kill you to speak, Nin." He growled.
Truth to tell, the hunter
was a little jealous of the silent doll. Despite his silence and
despite his given past, Strings was the only one in the household who
made Pandora smile that beautiful genuine smile that made Seeker
feel...happy? The hunter despised the way it was Strings' silence
and not his own words that made the scarred mage smile; yet he adored
Strings' company so that Pandora would at least make that
smile.
In short, both doll and hunter were at war whether they
were in or out of each other's company!
Pandora had turned
away again and was pottering about the kitchen when Seeker finally
came out of the thought that Strings' head would look much more
cuter on a spike, and was already preparing dinner with the said doll
watching him like an eager puppy.
"A puppy waiting to be
kicked." Seeker murmured, turning away from the door and looking
out of the window at the still pouring rain.
Strings'
presence annoyed the hell out of him...that was a fact...
"Can't
you ever stop staring at me?"
Seeker turned around to see
Pandora looking at the silent one with that ever happy smile
plastered on his face. His hands tightened. "Damn that doll."
In
response, Strings closed his eyes and kept them closed, which made
Pandora laugh even more.
"You know what I mean! Stop mocking
me!"
Seeker felt his resolve snap.
"HEY! Scar face!
When's that dinner ready?"
Pandora turned to look at him
from the kitchen. "Um. Not long now...why?"
Seeker felt
like taking the mage's head and slamming it in the oven door.
"No
reason. Just hungry." How pathetic did that sound?
Strings
turned to look at Seeker and then smiled softly. Seeker fought the
urge to throw something sharp or heavy. Pandora was none the
wiser.
After much tension and the ever growing madness of
Seeker, the dinner was finally ready, which was a good thing too as
Seeker was already eyeing the gun over the fireplace with an evil
gleam in his eyes, and Strings was looking as though he would like to
bite Seeker's ankles off.
All three sat down to eat, in
silence at first, and then Seeker fought out a conversation.
"Take
it your car's gonna need cleaning when this stops." He spoke to
Pandora, looking out at the drops of water falling upon the
streets.
Pandora sighed.
"She was cleaned yesterday...I
can't believe I left the roof off it!" He shook his head in
embarrassment, "Now I'm going to have to dry it out
again!"
Strings stared at the mage whilst he ate, saying
nothing.
Seeker sighed and then leaned back on the couch.
"I
think it's about time the author of this fic started her graphics
work, don't you Pan?"
Pandora stared at the author. "Yeah.
She doesn't do much work in graphics. She's actually writing this
in graphics."
Ashford2ashford frowned. "Hey guys! That's
not fair! This was supposed to be a one off! Why are you spoiling
it?"
Strings stared.
Pandora shoved a piece of steak in
his mouth and then laughed. "You never do a one off! You always
have to do more chapters! Why don't you write what we do tomorrow?
That can be another chapter. Then you can build up the
SeekerxPandoraxStrings triangle you always insist on forcing upon
us."
Ashford2ashford sighed and banged her head on the
keyboard. "But Knupfel'll kill me if I leave it at another 'To
be continued!' I'll get hit or something!"
Seeker
grinned manically and cackled, "I think you should build up the
storyline of how I'm gonna get Pan-Pan off that Silent Doll! It's
too late, girl, you've started a plot line! Might as well continue
it!"
The author sighed, defeated by the characters in her
own mind. "Okay! Fine! It will be continued then!"
Pandora,
Seeker, and Strings made preparations for the next chapter...
