Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.


Bedtime Stories

"Can it be about anything?" Takeo removed his shoes and aligned them perpendicular to the wall. Frankenstein was as peculiar about the placement of their shoes as he was about anything else in the house. If they were even a millimeter out of place, that man would know.

"I don't know." Regis already stood in the living room but waited for Rai to take his usual place before he sat down himself. "The teacher did not specify whether it focused on the time of reading or the subject matter."

"Heh."

"What?" Regis frowned, glaring back at M-21.

"You really think it would be called that because of the time that it's read? You've never heard of a morning story, have you? A lunchtime story? What a joke."

"You never heard about bedtime stories until today, either."

M-21 carelessly threw his shoes down. "I—"

"But there are post-apocalyptic novels or historical novels." Tao interrupted before the argument could take off. "Maybe it has to do with the setting? Although bedtime is a narrow time frame. Must be a short book."

"Even you don't know?" Takeo slid over to make room for him on the couch.

"Why would I?" Tao asked but then shrugged. "I was interested in e-books and e-readers for awhile, but that was because of their computer aspects, not their content. Give me a sec. I'll look it up."

"I don't think looking it up is allowed for the assignment." Regis pulled a neatly folded paper from his pocket. "This says I must write a short essay about my own experience with bedtime stories as a child."

"But you don't have any experience." Takeo took the paper from him and read it over. "I suppose you could just create the experience now. You're technically still a child."

"Am I able to do that?"

"What do you think, Tao?"

"Hmm?" Tao glanced up.

"Did you find anything?"

"Bedtime Stories is a movie. I was just watching it."

"It's not a book?" M-21 shot a grin at Regis and mouthed the words a second time. "It's not even a book."

"Maybe the movie was based on the book?" Regis walked behind Tao to see the screen.

"There are also books. Some are about bedtime, but others are about different subjects. That doesn't clarify whether subject matter or the time of reading is the main point, though. I'll run a quick analysis of a few thousand titles and tell you which one will be the most—"

Takeo set a hand on Regis' shoulder. "Maybe you should ask the teacher?"

"You could ask Frankenstein."

They all looked at M-21.

"What? You think he doesn't know?"

"Yeah, he'd know." Tao shut his laptop, suspending his research. "Go ask him."

"Why should I?" M-21 leaned back into his seat and met Regis' eyes. "If a noble can't even complete an assignment made for human children—"

"Alright, I'll ask him." Tao shoved the laptop into Takeo's hands and jumped to his feet. "I'm sure he'd love to know you said that about his master."

"What?"

"We're in the same class." Regis proudly straightened in his chair. "And you said a noble—"

"Fine." M-21 grumbled and stomped down the hallway. His steps lightened as he approached Frankenstein's office. No need to let that man see how miserably he was asking. "Hey." He knocked once as a formality and let himself in before anyone invited him. "Regis needs some help with his homework. Doesn't know what a bedtime story is."

"If it is Regis' assignment, why are you asking me?"

"I'm just a nice guy."

"How suspicious." Frankenstein looked up, unamused. "Care to tell me the real reason?"

"If you don't want to help, don't. I'm just asking since it's a class assignment."

"I see." Frankenstein rose from his chair and immediately left the room. "I will address the issue presently."

"Yeah, alright." M-21 returned to the living room and sat down next to Takeo so that he acted as a barrier between him and Tao. "He's coming," he announced to everyone and no one. They could see Frankenstein for themselves.

"I understand you have a question on an assignment." Frankenstein stood next to his master with his arm slanted over his stomach, but he addressed the question to Regis.

"I have to write a short paper." Regis smoothed out the creases from the assignment sheet and offered it to Frankenstein hesitantly. "It's about my experience with bedtime stories. I believe this is something all human children are expected to have."

"I can explain the concept." Frankenstein returned the paper after reading it over. "A bedtime story is typically a short story read to a child before sleep. This is often read from a picture book. The reader will read a line and display the corresponding picture to the listener or listeners. The central themes vary vastly. These can include fairy tales—"

"Like Little Red Riding Hood?" Tao was suddenly on his feet. "Is that a bedtime story?"

"Yes, that is a good example."

"Could you read one to us?" Tao looked at Regis and smiled too brightly not to be planning something. "That's part of the assignment, right? The experience."

"I do not have any on hand," Frankenstein said slowly, unwillingly.

"I do!" He ran from the room and returned moments later with a book.

"Why do you have this?" Frankenstein frowned.

"I was going to use it on M-21, but I like this better. It works, right?"

M-21 sunk back into his chair, using Takeo to hide him from Tao's sight. "Read something else."

"It's the only one I have," Tao replied, undeterred, "and I'm not even using it on you. But I could if you—"

"Fine, just read it."

"Little Red Riding Hood." Frankenstein read the title and held up the cover to his master before turning it to face the others. "Once upon a time..." He repeated the process as he flipped through the pages. Pictures of a little girl in a red cape flashed by. A wolf swallowed her grandmother before donning her clothes and hiding in her bed. The little girl walked in and said, "What big eyes you have, Grandmother."

"I don't think M-21's eyes are that big," Regis said, absentmindedly.

Tao leaned forward to see around Takeo. "That's because he glares so much."

"It's not me." M-21 sunk lower. "Knock it off."

"What big hands you have," Frankenstein continued, ignoring the others as much as possible just to get this over with.

"When he transforms..." Takeo whispered, trailing his own hands with his fingertips. "His nails..."

M-21 squeezed his hands into fists. "It's not me."

"What a big mouth you have."

M-21 pressed his lips.

"All the better to eat you with!" Frankenstein turned the page to show the big bad wolf trying to gobble down the little girl.

"You ate her?" Regis cringed then shot a look at M-21. "Eating her grandmother wasn't vile enough? You had to eat a child as well?"

Frankenstein cleared his throat and turned the page. A man with an ax found the little girl's cottage and the wolf inside. He raised his ax and—

"What!" M-21 screamed, his fists slamming against the tabletop. He lifted one hand to his stomach as if feeling for the wounds the other wolf had suffered. No one said anything.

Frankenstein shut the book. "Perhaps we have had enough of this story for tonight."

-Vapor

A/N: This was a request that I wrote some time ago.