Anthology of Love
By: CrystallicSky
Disclaimer: I don't own Xiaolin Showdown, or any of the characters in it, so...don't say I didn't tell you that they weren't.
Warning(s):Ok, cursing, malexmale relationship, strong references to sex, but no actual sex scenes, and...probably general stupidity, corniness, or idiocy aside from that.
Notes: Well, lately I've been seeing a good deal of those one-word prompts for short/one-sentence stories, and so I figured I'd give it a try. I did a few, and found something out about myself: I really like them! XD So this would be the result.
--
241. Touché-
"Aw, come on, Chase, you've got to admit, you're at least a little bit weird: you live by yourself with a bunch of cats."
The warlord huffed, countering, "This coming from the boy who owns a collection of metal scraps that look like famous scientists?"
Jack 'hm'-ed thoughtfully, fingering the cool steel of 'Albert Einstein' in his pocket. "Touché..."
242. Gentleman-
Jack flushed as Chase helped him down from the carriage, impressedly cooing, "My, what a gentleman you are, Mister Young!"
The wealthy young bachelor grinned sharply as he countered, "Only to those I find attractive, Spicer, and you are a particularly lovely young thing, as I see it."
"Why I never!" Jack gasped, surprised at the straightforwardness. "What a catty thing to say to a newly-widowed young man!"
Chase smirked wickedly, boldly curling an arm around the younger's waist. "If I had my way, you wouldn't long be a widow."
"Oh," the smaller male playfully smacked the man's arm away with a smile, "you are a cheeky one, aren't you?"
243. Egos-
"I wish you had legs like a human."
Jacquiel gasped at the wish, feeling his manacles emitting the familiar pressure on his magic that forced him to obey, and as his smoky tail split in two and solidified, he quickly latched onto the bedpost, supporting himself with his arms as his knees buckled unsteadily under his weight.
"Ngh, master?" he inquired, tone deceptively sweet. "Uh, yeah, y'see, the last time I had legs was, oh, about three centuries ago! I can't exactly stand on them very well, FYI!"
Chase looked at the genie for less than even a full second before assuring, "You won't be standing on them very much," before roughly tackling the creature to the bed and sitting in between the newly-formed, black-clothed legs, entirely heedless of the entity's startled squeak as he began to undo the ornamented sash around his stark-white waist.
`~`~`~`
Chase growled at the avoidance, pressing the genie further into the bed. "I wish you'd get over your damned ego, and admit the truth!"
Red eyes widened, and Jack desperately tried to keep his lips clamped firmly shut, but his own magic betrayed his will once more, tingling through his mouth, forcing it to open and blurt out, "I love you!"
His hand clapped over his mouth just after it was said, and the pale creature whimpered softly, his head turning away in shame.
Carefully, gently, Chase tugged the limb away from the smaller creature's face, softly gripping his chin and forcing eye contact.
The genie's master said nothing and instead dipped down to tenderly capture Jack's lips with his own.
`~`~`~`
Tears streamed down Jack's pale, white cheeks as the entity sobbed brokenly against his master's strong chest, his body quivering with every uneven intake of breath.
The man had been drilling the genie about his past, his previous masters, and he had finally broken down and told him everything: every master that had violently abused him for being so freakish and demonic-looking, every master that had deemed his body as useful as his magic and had abused him sexually at every opportunity, and of course, all of the masters that were kind to him and respectful of his wishes, every last one of those existing only in his dreams.
Despair having so thoroughly taken hold of him, Jack didn't even notice his master's grip on him tighten, and the mouth that had moved just next to his ear went equally as ignored.
Ignored, that is, until the genie heard the soft whisper of Chase's final wish.
"I wish you were free."
Jack's entire body jolted slightly as the wish was recognized, and the pale creature arched his back with a quiet cry of release, the pressure he had felt constantly restricting his magic for the past four millennium disippating into nothing as the physical representation of his oppression, his thick, golden manacles, symbolically did the same.
Almost immediately, a strong pulse of magic rippled through the room, and yet Jack's physical body remained motionless. Red eyes were opened wide, but saw next to nothing, even as he slowly raised a hand to his throat.
Upon feeling his own flesh where he had once felt only cold metal, the genie seemed to return, at least a little bit, to the world of the living.
"This...this is real..." he spoke, dazed. "I'm really free, aren't I, master?"
Realizing that the elder creature (though still only about fifteen physically and mentally) was in a state of mild shock, Chase ran his fingers through his soft, white hair.
"Yes, Jack," he assured, "you're really free. I'm no longer your master, and I will be the last: no one will ever own you again."
Jack processed this for a few moments and with a start, realized...
"Chase?" he squeaked, voice barely a whisper as a pink flush stained his cheeks. "I...I've wanted freedom for so long...now that I actually have it...I don't know what to do with myself." The blush burned just a bit hotter. "I've spent so much time as a slave that I don't know what I'm supposed to do now..."
Chase smirked as he slid his hands down to lightly grip the smaller being's slim hips. "You could always stay with me..." he offered slyly.
A feeling something like a cross between happiness and possessive pride swept through the man as the genie cuddled up against him, declaring, "Then I'll stay here! I love you, Chase."
The man grinned, repeating the phrase as he thought about just what this meant: Jack was immortal, forever young, and chock-full of now-unbridled power, just as Chase himself was, and the genie's loyalty belonged strictly to him.
By Chase's figuring, the world was pretty much fucked.
244. Unleashed-
An angry growl met Jack's ears, and the albino sighed helplessly, gently petting the large, dark-furred dog in an attempt to soothe the animal.
"Look," he breathed, "I'm sorry Chase, but the only one who might be able to reverse this with the Shen Gong Wu that did it destroyed is totally on the other side of town, and...well, the leash laws here are pretty strict. I'm not getting fined or something just 'cause you're a stubborn bitch. Now, let's just try and make this as quick and painless as possible, okay?"
The abnormally large canine huffed in resignation, his temper slightly appeased upon seeing that Spicer had been kind enough to at least make the choice of collar tasteful (nearly identical to the sash he wore with his armor), and reluctantly bared his throat for the boy to put it on him.
245. Vertigo-
"Do you get Vertigo?"
Chase quirked an eyebrow at the peculiar question. "No..." he answered warily.
The goth sighed in relief, "Oh, thank god, it's not just me! I saw it three times, and I still didn't get it."
246. Witnessed-
"Mr. Spicer, you are a vital witness in a global terrorist plot. You are in a great deal of danger now that your testimony has been announced. You realize that these people will do anything to keep you from talking, yes?"
Jack swallowed hard and nodded, his hands wringing instinctively in his lap from anxiety.
"Naturally, as a result, we've provided you with the best protection available, our top agent." The suit nodded a man over, and introduced, "This is Chase Young, the best of the best, the cream of the crop. He's been given orders to protect you with his life until the date of the trial."
The FBI agent nodded stiffly, addressing, "I'll be at your service for the next week, Mr. Spicer."
Admiring the agent's masculine physique, blatantly apparent even under the starch-stiff black suit, Jack distractedly replied, "Pleased to meet you..."
247. Punishment-
"You've been a very bad boy, Jack, you know that?"
The albino panted helplessly beneath his elder lover, his wrists tied above his head and shallow claw marks now cut into his soft, white belly. "Oh, you vicious brute!" Jack moaned out, closing his eyes and turning his head away.
Chase grinned sharply, licking some of his lover's blood off of his claws. "You know you love it; now lie back and take your punishment like the bitch you are."
The goth practically purred at the rough, commanding tone and did as he was told.
248. Tail-
Chase didn't completely know what to do with himself now.
The gypsy woman had said that this disgusting canine form would wear off on it's own at about seven AM of the next day, and it was currently about two, meaning he had approximately five hours left of being like this.
Jack was in a deep sleep on the sofa (as Chase had long ago claimed the bed as his and refused to allow Jack anywhere near it) of the cheap apartment he had rented here so that they could get information on the afflicted's condition, and simply could not be awakened for the purpose of entertaining him.
Hesitantly, uncertainly, the warlord turned man's best friend approached the slumbering goth, climbing up onto the couch next to the boy and curling up by his side.
As he drifted off into sleep, though he didn't realize it, his fluffy tail was wagging.
249. Requiem-
Chase was stunned.
Jack...couldn't be dead...there was no possible way he...or at least he couldn't have died from something so insignificant as pneumonia! It was...unfathomable!
The feeling of something precious having been taken permanently away from him hit hard, and suddenly, the mighty Chase Young's knees could no longer support him.
He now knelt in front of the cold grey tombstone that was so cruelly impersonal as to read only, 'JACKSON SPICER' and nothing more, the funeral, too, being so uncaring as to not include a requiem.
"...Chase?...what are you doing here?"
Looking up to find the source of the voice, the warlord's eyes widened at what he saw, and he all but breathed, "Jack..."
The transparent image of the youth accurately depicted what he had looked like in his final moments: sleep-tousled white hair, dark circles of exhaustion under bloodshot red eyes, and an overall frailty to the snow-white youth that he never truly seemed to have when he was alive.
He looked so weak and tired, even now that he was dead.
"...Chase, why are you here?"
The man stood, approaching the ghostly figure with determination. He knew that his arms would pass through Jack's not-truly-there body should he try to hold him, but this didn't stop Chase from pantomiming it to get his point across.
"I swear, Spicer," he promised, "I will not rest until I can do this for real, until you are among the living once again."
Though the deceased boy was confused and didn't understand why the assurance was being made (Chase hated him, didn't he?), he decided he rather liked the warmth the man's living body provided through the close proximity, and simply relaxed, enjoying the moment.
Chase would explain this on his own terms later.
For now? This felt really nice...
250. Resort-
Chase sighed contentedly at the feel of the sun's warmth on his skin. He hated to admit it, but Jack had the right idea with going to this vacation resort.
His golden eyes darting further down the beach, he caught sight of said lover, dressed only in a pair of black swim trunks, emerging from the water.
His white skin sparkled and glowed as the sun reflected his water-damp body, and Chase nearly moaned aloud as Jack's hand slicked back soaked, fiery red hair, his eyes of a similar shade falling shut instinctively as he did so.
Oh, yes, Chase thought to himself, coming here had been a very good idea...
--
A/N: Okay, what's to say?
Touché- I pretty much co-wrote this one with Matt, and we thought it was funny, so, if you don't think it's amusing...well, first of all, you're wrong, but if you don't find it funny, then w/e, at least we got a laugh out of it. XD
Gentleman- Um...yeah, I was bored when I wrote this, and I thought it'd be funny for there to be chack in a "Pride and Prejudice" kind of setting, and it's written assuming that in whatever imaginary world it is, that men marrying men was okay with people back then (which it wasn't, because people still aren't okay with it now). And yes, Jack was previously married, but his husband died early in the marriage, so that's why he's a widow.
Egos- Ok, this was really long, but I wanted to fit all three of Chase's wishes into it and get it to a good conclusion point, which I think I did pretty well; maybe not perfect, but acceptable at least. This is the continuation of Dough, because I honestly couldn't have left it there even if I wanted to: I was far too attracted to the concept to do that.
Unleashed- Uh...I honestly don't know how to excuse this one, but...I figure if Chase were turned into a dog, he'd be pretty pissed off considering his general love for felines, and he'd be even further pissed at being forced to be led around on a collar and leash by anyone, much less Jack, but hey, the mysterious, unnamed city they're in looking for a cure to the dog-ness is strict with the leash laws, and even though he's a rich-bitch, Jack doesn't want to pay a fine. Probably just cheap. XD
Vertigo- If you've ever seen the movie, you'll know I blatantly ripped off a joke from the Animaniacs movie, Wakko's Wish; if you haven't seen it, forget I said it, and hail my creativity in the joke. XD Seriously, I don't really get Vertigo, either, and apparently, neither does Matt, but maybe I just don't have an eye for creative theater. Meh, w/e.
Witnessed- Just another one of those ideas I think would be interesting, not much else to say about that one.
Punishment- Alright, now, I know Jack's probably too much of a wuss to be into S&M, but Chase probably would be to some extent, and could conceivably force Jack to play along, and who knows? He might decide he likes it after all! :D
Tail- Follow-up to Unleashed, 'cause I was bored; I think it's cute, so...w/e.
Requiem- This was written under the assumption the Jack had died before Chase had a chance to get over his ego and admit his feelings. I may or may not write a follow-up to this one, but in case I don't, rest assured knowing that Chase will eventually find a way to bring his beloved back amongst the living, and all will be well.
Resort- Okay, assuming Jack is an albino, he probably wouldn't be very pleased about spending time in the sun, and would probably vehemently oppose going to a beach resort under any circumstances, but let's just say he doesn't mind and wanted to do something fun with Chase, if just for the sake of the story. XD
And that's about it, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D