The Age of Nightfall
Chapter XIII: The Date?
The sounds of the conversation on the telephone drifted into white nothingness as Daisuke floated on the wings of sleep.
Aidan smiled warmly as the young master dozed off on the huge comfy couch in the library.
"Yes. Alright. I'll take note of that. A partner?"
Dark's brows creased. He listened solemnly to the other man on the line.
"Bring a partner for the opera." Dark repeated the words he heard absentmindedly.
"I'll be there. Yes Sire. Goodnight too."
Dark hung up.
He passed the phone over to Aidan, as he retreated to his own bedroom.
"Date." Dark mused as he strolled through the candle-lit hallways back to the master bedroom. "Where will I find a date?"
He ruminated about the past when him and his master, he, will go out on nights like this, him huddled cozily against his thick warm coat as they take casual walks under the glowing moonlight.
He gave out a soft sigh and his eyes welled up slowly with unshed tears at the fond memories. Blinking away the reminiscence tears of his soul, he hastened his footsteps to his room, wiping out any other memories.
Until his hand touched the cool grasp of the doorknob, Dark realized that the problem of finding a date for the opera night was not yet solved. Slightly troubled by this, he entered the room and slide under the covers, falling into a deep restless sleep.
vVv
Two nights passed after the call. (1)
vVv
"Just a moment!" Krad shouted over the shower.
The doorbell of his second-floor apartment had been shrilling nonstop for the past thirty seconds.
Hurriedly, Krad turned on the shower at full blast and wiped the soap bubbles off his eyes. He came out of the shower wet and still soapy from his interrupted shower. Whoever it is that called on him in such an inconvenient time had better have a very good reason to do so. He huffed his annoyance as he draped a bathrobe over himself and strode to the door in quick but graceful steps.
He swung the door open, and taking in the visitor's identity the scowl on his face just darkened.
vVv
Caught with one hand still pressing the doorbell relentlessly, the other grasping a dark red rose, Lucian looked up and grinned boyishly at Krad.
"What do you want?" Krad's glance shifted from the hand that was seemingly fixed on the doorbell in shock and the other holding the rose delicately. His golden eyes lingered a little on the rose.
"I came…"
Krad cut Lucian off, "What it is that called you to pay me a visit? And during my shower moreover!"
Lucian glanced at the bathrobe-clad Krad, and then hastily pushed away any unclean thoughts of Krad in the buff.
"I'm sorry for that inconvenience." Lucian fingered the rose in his hand tastefully, preparing for his next line.
"Would you go on a date with me?" Lucian genuflected and held out the rose, an ever-charming beam fixed on his face.
Lucian was such a romantic it would have drove any women to fall head over heels madly in love with him.
However, Krad still held a face plastered with the earlier felt annoyance and new earned irritation from Lucian's antics.
"No." Krad wanted to shove the door back close and banged it against Lucian's face, though he secretly thought that that face was handsome but would never go against his pride to admit that.
As dead persistent as Lucian can be, like a stubborn little boy going near the dangerous fire hearth, he pushed the door back with equal force as Krad, engaging into a 'push-a-war' with him, wedging the door which was screaming to snap under the powerful exertions from both.
Seeing that Lucian just would not give up, Krad stopped abruptly and stepped back, allowing Lucian to fall through the doorway into the apartment, teetering on the edge of balance before he swept himself up, panting lightly as he held on the side wall.
Krad's scowl had turned into a glare, which was aimed like a fatal lightning bolt at Lucian.
Krad thought that this might not have faltered Lucian as even a real lightning bolt would not have, but he had never thought that Lucian would dared to react so boldly as to clamp his lips on his own.
The flashback from the alley suddenly raced through his mind like a silver bullet and hit him fatally in the heart.
The one-sided kiss, as Krad did not kiss back due to either the stun or simply the unwillingness, much possibly the latter, ended as unexpectedly as it had started.
Lucian tore his lips from the passive Krad and looked upon him with earnest passion in his jaded orbs. "Krad, I love you."
The words sounded pleasantly smoothing to his ears. His desire to react in the same passionate way back to the brunette was increasing every second he lost himself in those lustful hold of his eyes. A part of his heart craved Lucian. But there was a stronger part of it that felt emotionless towards Lucian's advances, plus that small but nagging bit of it, that this was all wrong, cut off affections for the brunette hesitantly.
An awkward silence settled in between as Lucian stared at Krad pleadingly to return his feelings or to just receive his dreaded response from the blonde.
Krad's eyes fell onto the carpeted floor, hidden behind his limp wet lock of golden fringe.
Then, "I can't love you, Lucian." Krad eyes stayed hovering over the floor, refusing to look at the brunette's hurt face as his soft voice penetrated the silence with the harsh words.
vVv
Not a single word came out of Lucian's eloquent mouth. He nodded his head wearily and pushed the red rose gently into Krad's lifeless hand, covering it over the thorn-less stalk. He turned and walked out of the apartment, leaving Krad with half of his heart shattered.
vVv
"Daisuke! I'm at my wits' end!" Dark looked at Daisuke with the formidable "puppy eyes", only that this time it was not formidable after all.
"Dark, you know that it'll not work. Remember that No.1: I'm not your lover, and that look doesn't seduce me or anything. No.2: I also know how to do that look, and I do it better than you do. So it does not have any impact on me, Dark." Daisuke shook his head at Dark and bend down to pick the fluffy white rabbit.
"But.. Dai-chan.." Dark whined and frowned childishly at the bunny, which was fondly named With, for stealing away Daisuke's attention.
"I'll not be your date, Dark. Find some young lady out there, plenty of them will surely rush to your feet at your request." Daisuke answered, stroking With's soft white fur.
"But.." Dark stared at Daisuke and With for a while and ran a hand through his purple locks. "I don't know about this."
In his heart, Dark knew. He knew that he did not want to give that lady false hope that he liked her. He knew that it would be cruel and heartbreaking to raise one's hopes up and then smash them against the jutting rocks by the cliff. And he knew that because he knew no one would replace the space in his heart that was taken and occupied by a permanent tenant by him, no not a tenant but an owner of his heart.
Daisuke looked up and saw that Dark had again went into the abyss of misery, which was his heart. Suddenly, the other blonde came into his mind and before he knew it the words sprouted from his mouth.
"You could ask that blonde."
At the mention of Krad, Dark was hit back to the present. "Yes, I can! Thanks Dai-chan!" He ruffled Daisuke's hair affectionately and smiled with excitement and cheerfulness lighting up his features, differing vastly from the sunken depressing look he had a moment before.
Daisuke could not help but smile as With kyuu-ed with approval at Dark's change of mood.
vVv
Later, after a span of ten minutes, Dark called from the foyer, all dressed and gussied up, "Erm.. Daisuke.. Where does Krad live?"
(1) The call and the incident in the alleyway happened on the same night.