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.

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251. Fangirl-

"So, anyways, you can really see how-" Jack stopped abruptly, with no warning, and just stared into space. "Something's...not...right..."

"I'll say," Chase scoffed, "there's no way a hippopotamus of any species would willingly wear noodles upon its back-"

"No, Chase, really!" the goth insisted, "You can mock my inner-thoughts later! This is serious!" There was silence for a moment before Jack's eyes widened and he inhaled sharply. "...fangirls..."

Chase blinked. "What?"

"FANGIRLS!" the goth shrieked, and just as he did so, a veritable ocean of girls burst into the room, screeching joyfully at the sight of the two males in the room.

"OMG, Chase isn't wearing a shirt!"

"Jack's clothes are all ruffled, too!"

"Squee, they're sooo cute!" The females then proceeded to rush them all at once.

Upon seeing the hundreds of girls charging him, Jack's self-preservation instinct kicked in, and the teen quickly activated his heli-pack and flew towards the window and freedom/safety.

"Spicer!" Chase called, half-buried under the women already, "You don't intend to leave me with these harpies, do you?!" The man's long, dark hair was yanked on, jerking his head back with a snarl before he was completely consumed by the human sea.

"Chase!" Jack exclaimed, concerned, and he turned back to save his lover, or at least he was going to until a brunette girl, about his age and not quite five feet tall, jumped onto him clinging adoringly to his trench coat.

"Hey, Jack, will you marry me?" she asked with a smile.

"What?!" the albino gasped, "No! I'm with Chase!"

The girl nodded slowly in understanding. "Yeah, I totally get that. It's cool; I'll just take a souvenir, instead!"

Before he was fully-aware of what was happening, Jack's goggles were torn off and the female leapt off of him, forcing the goth towards the pile of doom as she did so...

Later, Jack quivered in his lover's lap, completely naked and slightly bruised.

Chase had gotten off a bit better, seeing as fangirls don't have the patience to figure out all the clasps and ties on armor skirting, shin-guards, and the like, but his sash had been pilfered, and a few overeager women had torn out several strands of hair and left him with a ruffled look he'd never really had before that moment.

"...Chase?" Jack asked, breaking the tense slience. "I...I think I lost my virginity."

The man scoffed quietly, still a bit shaken by the experience, as he pointed out, "You lost that to me long ago, Spicer."

"I meant my woman-virginity!" the goth snapped before going still again and moaning in terror.

Knowing better now than to dismiss the boy's premonitions, Chase asked, "What is it?"

The soft edge of a sob worked its way into his tone as Jack trembled out, "Fanboys..."

252. Abomination-

Jack shook, groaning aloud as the witch's curse took its hold on his body, twisting and changing him inside and out.

The only thing that made it hurt worse was the fact that Chase was watching, was about to fully see the monster he was to become.

His teeth sharpened into fangs, his hair began dripping poison from the very tips, and his hands elongated and became pointed into three-fingered claws. His back arched and his body convulsed with a scream as a long, thick tail tore itself from his body, thrashing wildly as bat-like wings followed it, ripping through the flesh of his back.

As the pain of the transformation very slowly subsided, leaving a dull ache in his bones, Jack sluggishly pulled himself to his knees, softly rasping out, "Don't look at me, Chase, please...I'm an abomination..."

The warlord approached the poor, miserable creature, kneeling to his level and tilting his head up by the chin (careful of the toxin he scented at the ends of the fiery-red strands). "I will continue to look at you so long as it pleases me, Spicer," he said, his voice suddenly roughening as he shifted his own form to match his lover's in beastliness, "and it does please me..."

The rest of the evening was spent proving that Chase was anything but shallow when it came to his mate's appearance and that even monstrous beasts have the capacity for passionate love-making on the hard, stone floor of a witch's lair.

253. Application-

"Well, Mr. Spicer, I've reviewed your job application, and I must say: I'm impressed."

Jack smiled gratefully. "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, you haven't had much work experience, but your actual intelligence is higher than any employee I've ever seen, much less had working for me, and despite your inexperience, I believe you will do quite well here. Congratulations, Mr. Spicer: you're hired."

The albino's eyes lit up and he stood from his seat, excitedly shaking one of his new boss's hands with both of his own. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Young," he squealed, "you won't regret this, I promise! I'll start first thing in the morning!"

And with that, the ecstatic young man took his leave.

Chase watched him go, a quiet growl of want escaping his throat at the teasing sway of the youth's backside as he walked. Jack Spicer would go very far in this company, but Chase was certain for a few favors, he could get him to the top quicker, like...in-the-storage-closet favors, on-the-photocopier favors, and bent-over-his-desk favors.

Oh, yes, especially those ones...

254. Guardian-

Jack coughed quietly, his weak, sickly body quivering with every rapid contraction of his small chest.

By the gods, he was only six! Why did he have to be so damned sick all the time?

Moaning softly and turning on his side underneath the covers of his bed, Jack sorely wished he'd been born with better resistance to disease, because maybe then he could go outside and play like other kids did...

The bed dipped slightly at the edge as a gentle hand carded through his hair, and Jack's eyes opened to see the guardian dragon his parents had provided for him while he was left alone in this big, empty castle.

The reptile was in human form now, the handsome, elegant form that made the poor boy's chest hurt from knowing he'd never be that strong or beautiful, even should he live to be 1,000 years old. "What do you want, Chase?" Jack's sore throat croaked bitterly as he turned away and shut his eyes in a kind of contempt that seemed nearly obscene in a child his age.

"Foolish little boy," the dragon scoffed, "I have been bound to you as a guardian; I cannot stray from your side for very long."

The sickly youth turned half-lifeless red eyes to his protector, scathingly challenging, "Even if I don't want you here?"

Golden eyes blankly looked Jack over for a long moment before Chase leaned down to gift the boy with a human gesture of affection, a kiss on the forehead, before he assured, "Even if you don't want me here. I am yours forever, little Spicer."

255. Publications-

Jack froze upon seeing one of his novels (written by him and published under a pen name for secrecy) in his lover's hand.

"Ah...Chase...what's that?" he inquired, trying to feign innocence through his nervousness.

The man looked up at him, marking his place in the book. "Merely a publication I found in your room, my love," he replied. "It is...interesting, to say the least."

Jack flushed lightly remembering exactly what he had written in that particular book, and prompted, "O-oh, yeah?"

Chase smirked as he answered, "Yes. I had expected it to be just a trashy pornographic novel, but the subtext and the plot are truly captivating; although, the sex scenes are very artfully written, also, very full of passion, particularly the scene in the hot spring where Ryuu and Shiro declare their undying affection for each other and make love under the stars."

Though highly embarrassed and still on edge wondering if Chase knew or not, Jack nonetheless recognized the positive reaction to his work, and smiled lightly. "Yeah," he said, "I guess it's kinda okay..."

"I know you wrote this, Spicer."

The albino squeaked and tensed, but his lover came up behind him, gently rubbing his shoulders.

"Easy now, love," Chase purred, a chuckle in his voice, "relax...I had no idea you were so kinky, Jack, but if you'd allow me to be the Ryuu to your Shiro, I'd gladly try out a few of the things you've written in that book of yours..."

Jack shivered, relaxing against his lover as he groaned with a slight hint of need, "Oh, would you?"

Chase did not need to be told twice.

256. Echo-

"You know, Chase, we were kinda like Echo and Narcissus before we started being together."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Jack said, "you were the totally gorgeous man, and I was like the lovesick nymph that followed you around even though you didn't really acknowledge me."

Chase gave a thoughtful 'hmm', realizing that he did have a point, but still..."Save for one thing, Spicer..."

Red eyes blinked owlishly at this. "And what's that?" the youth wondered.

Chase tugged the albino closer, pointing out, "I wasn't so blinded by my own beauty that I missed yours."

257. Television-

Chase wasn't all that big on watching television, but by necessity, he knew a few key things about it.

A boring show would send his lover off to dreamland within ten minutes, leaving the goth snoring lightly with his head on his elder lover's stomach. Something tragic would depress the boy, and without fail, he would soon be clinging to Chase and sobbing like a hormonal woman, and of course, a romantic flick could instantly put his Jack in the mood.

It was particularly handy for the warlord that he knew a channel that played romance movies 24/7.

Sure, Chase was effectively manipulating his lover into shutting up, coming to him for comfort, and wanting sex respectively, but he was evil: Jack probably expected him to be in cahoots with TV anyways.

258. Invincible-

Magical power coursed through Chase's very veins, making him feel somewhat invincible as the archaic spell went into effect, separating himself from the soul that he had given residence to within his own.

Jack's spirit was dragged (not quite kicking and screaming) to the center of the alchemic circle, and the boy's essence gave a wordless cry as the magic worked on and through him, a blinding flash of light enveloping the room.

When both the light and smoke cleared, a freed, airy feeling took hold in the warlord's chest upon seeing Jack, his Jack, lying on the floor in a half-fetal position, barely conscious.

Going quickly to his side, Chase scooped the boy up in his arms, relief flooding him as he both saw and heard the slow but steady rise and fall of the albino's chest, and there was no small measure of happiness found in the fact that Jack could actually be held, now. "Jack," he coaxed the youth into partial awareness with the statement of his name, "I love you."

His tone an exhausted slur, Jack murmured back, "Love you, too..." before slipping into a blissful slumber.

Chase stood, holding the tired goth firmly against his chest as he began walking towards his bedroom.

So, his weak, little mate wanted to sleep for now: that was fine with him. At least this time, the sleep had no chance of permanence.

259. Amputate-

Chase slowly hazed back into consciousness, thoughts sluggish with what was probably anesthesia.

His legs, which had burned with a fiery pain before he had passed out, now seemed oddly numb, but since he wasn't exactly up to movement just yet, he didn't attempt to investigate.

Now, where the hell...?

"Oh, Chase, are you awake?"

The wounded soldier almost instantly recognized the voice, and his golden eyes shot open. "Spicer?"

The albino who had seemed on the battlefield to him as only a child now look to be a young man, a high-standing one at that, if the general's uniform he wore was any indication. Jack smiled good-naturedly, his red eye (the other was shaded by his white hair) glinting almost mischievously as he answered, "Yeah, it's me; but more importantly, how do you feel? Physically?"

Chase blinked slowly. "Tired, I suppose," he concluded, "but I'll live."

This seemed to please the general, and he nodded in acceptation before querying, "And your legs? Any pain? How do they feel?"

"They don't," the soldier answered bluntly.

"Hm," Jack sighed, "well, that's to be expected, since they were too damaged and had to be amputated."

"What?!" the elder of the two gasped, eyes wide in shock.

"Hey, easy, Chase," the general soothed, "don't worry about it; lucky for you, I've been dabbling in the cybernetic body part field. I managed to hook you up with mechanical legs. They're connected to your nerve endings, so they should respond just as your natural legs did, only...you don't really have any feeling in them."

"Isn't that kind of technology untested and potentially risky?" the soldier warily inquired.

Jack gave a saturnine smile, almost bitter-looking as he rolled up his sleeve and brushed his hair aside, revealing his own cybernetic appendages while assuring, "I tested it quite thoroughly on my own body, and don't worry: I haven't run into any complications yet."

Chase blinked in surprise at the cold, steel arm and the artificially glowing red light that served as Jack's replacement eye, and then referred his gaze back to the albino's older, more defined features and imperial-looking uniform.

Eventually, he muttered, "I see we've much to catch up on with each other..."

260. Gods-

Chase shoved Jack to the ground as a gunshot rang out, covering the young man with his body and getting in a good position to return fire.

"So...yeah, Chase...this probably seems a little presumptuous, but...do you wanna, maybe, I don't know, do something sometime?"

The agent would have balked at the question if not for his intensive training, and instead answered, "Now is not the time for this, Mr. Spicer!" The assassin's shots were getting more frequent, more accurate, and Chase dragged the albino to his feet, tugging him by the arm as they scrambled for cover.

Upon finding said cover in a nearby crowed bazaar, specifically by a Persian rug salesman's stand, Jack smiled coyly as he realized that his bodyguard held him tightly against his broad, muscular chest in addition to something else...

"Are you sure now's not the time, Mr. Young? You seem pretty eager yourself, with your hand up my shirt and all..."

Chase fazed out of his concentration slightly to realize that, yes, his hand was in the indicated place, though only barely: it was just higher than the young man's hip, intended to hold him still, and had accidentally slid under the loose black cloth of his t-shirt.

The man, uncharacteristically embarrassed, flushed the faintest of pinks and tore his hand away. "I-I apologize, sir, I...it won't happen again, I assure you. Now, be quiet, unless, of course, you want to die!"

Jack lay his hands on the man's shoulders, coaxing, "Come on, one date: dinner and a movie; it'll be fun...!"

It was then that the assassin found them again, and his gun pointed dutifully at the albino's head.

Fortunately, through a combination of eagle eyes, perfect aim, and tiger reflexes, Chase managed to spot him and disarm him with a single shot to his hand.

Unfortunately, however, before the wounded hit man disappeared into the crowd, his gun had still gone off, firing a bullet that tore through Jack's calf, causing the albino to scream in pain, before collapsing to the ground, clutching his leg.

As a crowd began gathering, hovering in concern, Chase knelt to his charge's level, questioning, "Are you alright, sir?"

A bead of sweat dripped from the gunshot-victim's forehead, and as he panted through the possibly soul-rending pain, he forced a cheeky smile. "Yuh-you s-sure you don't wanna go to that movie?"

The agent's jaw went slack, totally stunned before growling, "By the gods, are you insane?! You were shot, you could have been killed! And you're still hung up on a date?!"

The albino was silent for a moment, forcing down the pain before dejectedly hissing out, "So, no date, then?"

Chase gave an exasperated sigh, combing back his long, dark hair. "Will it shut you up if I do this?"

Excitement masked most of Jack's pain again, and he smiled as brightly as he was able. "Well, that depends, really," he admitted, "but I'll stop bugging you about it."

The agent sighed again before gathering the albino into his arms bridal style (careful of the leg wound). "Fine then," he conceded, "after you get out of the hospital."

Jack 'squee'-ed happily despite the vicious throbbing in his leg, and began thinking of what good movies were out currently and would be out within the next month or so.

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A/N: Ok, so what's the scoop on this chapter?

Fangirl- This was actually Matt's idea, but I put my own spin on it, and it became what it is now. Oh, yeah, and that girl who stole Jack's goggles and shoved him into the pile o' doom? Despicable, truly despicable behavior, there. :realizes she's still wearing Jack's goggles and quickly hides them: o.o Um...you saw nothing!

Abomination- Ok, so this is basic fairy-tale premise stuff: Jack gets cursed by a witch to turn into an unidentifiable beast every night, Chase finds out and thinks it's sexy, they make sex on the floor. Classic fairy tale stuff, right? XD

Application- ...I don't know, I always thought it'd be kinda interesting if Chase were Jack's boss at some company or other, probably 'cause of the control he'd have over him, i.e, ":censored for dialogue too explicit for even you guys: or you're fired." "o.o OMG, ok, Mr. Young, anything you say!" "BWAHAHAHA!" ...Ignore me, please, I'm insane, sometimes.

Guardian- Not explicit because, obviously, Jack's still a kid, and I'm not all that big on pedophilia unless ages are close enough to be negligible, not like here, where it's probably something like 6 years old to over 100 years old, but in human years, about 20-ish. That's just a little too far for me. But, this is just fluff, so it's not meant to be sexy or something, it's meant to be cute, which I think was accomplished. :D

Publications- I don't know why, but the idea of Jack writing erotic novels is amusing to my brain. XD And could he be anymore obvious? Ryuu means 'dragon' and Shiro as a name means 'fourth son', but as a noun/adjective means 'white': think about it. Really. Come on, Jack, be creative! XD

Echo- Not much to say about this one, actually...

Television- Hm, not much to say about this one, either...

Invincible- Sequel to Requiem, because it needed one; Jack'll be okay, he's just tired and needs a nap...badly.

Amputate- This is a sequel to M.I.A. from, like, a million chapters ago, I can no longer remember which.

Gods- Because knowing me, I just couldn't leave Witnessed as it was and wrote another sequel. -.-"

And, that's about it, so...thanks for reading! :D