Greetings. This is my first ever original fanfic and I hope that you all enjoy it.
I'd also like to thank Crypticz for helping me initiate this and even beta reading along with Smut4fun and Elsa Best Girl.
I hope you enjoy!
A young man with messy black hair roamed through the halls of the mansion. This boy went by the name of Natsuki Subaru. He was in his room and he couldn't sleep quite well so he decided to take a stretch and try to find someone to converse with.
Since it was dark out and a few hours past the time that he'd usually be fast asleep he thought that everyone was asleep as well and he would've wasted his time coming out here, at least that's what he thought.
Wandering about aimlessly in the mansion he had an idea to head over to his longtime companion Audrey, if she was awake that is... He had planned to talk to her about Patrasche's recent behaviour .
Lately she's been acting a bit hostile towards Subaru when he stopped spending time with her directly after the events at the sanctuary, Subaru took notice of this and decided to spend some time with her but she was still adamant about her hostility towards the youth.
Honestly it had dampened his mood knowing that his own ground dragon acted so harshly towards her owner, even if he tried to pacify her uneasiness.
It's been a struggle to even feed or get her in place and geared up with a carriage, so he needed to make sure she gets back to normal soon. If anyone knew anything about ground dragons he'd have to turn to Audrey, she did have her own for years so she should be able to help him out.
The main reason he couldn't ask her earlier was the fact that she wasn't at the mansion yet.
He had forgotten about that earlier when heading to her room and was only reminded when he was presented with the sight of her room vacant of her very presence.
Usually she'd be here either being told off by Ram or conversing with Frederica on a balcony, but now she wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Ahh whatever, surely she can think of something when she gets back." He thought.
After a few minutes he decided to check again to see if she was back and left from the main balcony.
He had finally made it to her room and knocked on her door. He hoped that she'd come out or tell him to enter as soon as possible, his legs here hurting him after he got ganged up on by the village kids along with the fact that they played a little rougher than usual. It also didn't help that he had to walk from his room to the balcony to hers.
"Still no response huh?" He inquired aloud before knocking 3 more times.
Few seconds later, he could hear a bit of shuffling occur behind the door.
"Come in!" He heard her voice respond to him as he opened the door and saw her seated on the edge of the bed with a book in her hands.
"G-Good night Natsuki-san." She said with a small smile and pink dusted cheeks. Seated on her bed and the light reflecting from her figure from the adjacent side of the room.
"Good night Audrey. How are you doing?" Looking to meet her gaze he greeted her with the same familiarity and took notice of what she was wearing.
She wore a dark-gray turtleneck sweater that reached to cover half of her thighs, vertical lines from top to bottom alike and her neck caressed and concealed by its neck piece. Seeing her in something other than her traditional green attire always intrigued Subaru in some way, a way that he couldn't really understand.
Not to mention her gray hair that slightly illuminated from the reflection of the moonlight and that tied her beauty all together.
Subaru hadn't seen her in such attire before and felt a little awkward as he felt like he was staring at her too long.
"Oh me? I've been fine. If you must know, essentially, I was *hic* noting some things down in my j-journal…" She trails off a bit. That hiccup that she had was odd, along with her movements.
Her speech was slightly altered by slurring her words a few times and didn't go unnoticed by the young man, Subaru still decided to shrug that feeling off and call it that she was sleepy so he didn't want to bother her for too long.
Closing the door behind him he went and seated himself a few inches away from her where a lumped thick towel separated them. It had caught his curiosity as to what laid underneath because of its cylinder-like shape but he decided that he was thinking too much into it.
"So can you repeat your reason for visiting me once more, Natsuki-san?" She asked.
"Ahh yes, it's about Patrasche… She's been acting very defensive against me lately and I don't know how to calm her down. I try to spend more time with her because I've seen her get jealous of spending time with other people; but it seems like it isn't enough for her… got any suggestions?" He asked, hoping for meaningful feedback.
He had known Patrasche to be very prideful and heard about her being a top tier ground dragon. In Front of others she'd be formal and behave as any other ground dragon should; but at times where he was alone with her in her stable, she'd act haughty towards the poor boy.
"Hmm… Does she act like that wi- *hic*,sorry, with anyone else?" She held a thoughtful expression before asking.
"No, as far as I can tell, she doesn't act that way with anyone else… She's normal around them; but when it's me it's like she's upset… Even after the first time, I thought she didn't want me around so I left her in her stable and decided to leave and she only got more heated." He stated while he tilted his neck upwards to remember said events.
"Honestly she's so complicated." He uttered with a small smile.
In truth, Subaru thought it was cute the way Patrasche would act, even though she was angry at him it wasn't like she'd bite or scratch him in any way, to him it was like she was starting playful banter, but sometimes it'd get in the way of serious situations.
"Ahh I see where you're coming from, Natsuki-san. From what I've seen; you and her haven't been together for a while and now that you can see her again she's making her anger towards you painfully clear. Of course she doesn't hate you but I've *hic* dealt with this before." There was that hiccup again…
It was starting to get annoying for Subaru but he knew he shouldn't let it bother him as much. Probably it was a random case of the hiccups that everyone endures every now and then… but wouldn't the hiccups like that happen more often? It seems like hers happens every minute or a half, probably a bit more…
Subaru's suspicion rose as time passed, though it was perhaps nothing to worry.
"Hmm It reminds me of when cats are angry or upset, you have to spend a certain amount of time with them and they'll eventually forgive you and act normal… I'm assuming that's what I need to do with Patrasche-" He said with a relieved cheer from reaching a conclusion.
"Haah~ It looks like you took the words right out of my mouth, but that's my suggestion for Patrasche. It's worked for Furufo and I so it's likely *hic* to work for you as well, regardless of the type of ground dragon."
"There's that hiccup again… I wonder if- Eh-?"
Looking over his shoulder he felt a shift and saw the placement of the lumped and weirdly shaped towel being moved. At first it was vertically between their legs; separating them, but now it was behind where she sat.
"Is she trying to smuggle that towel to her other side..?" He asked himself, curious as to why she'd do that instead of moving it normally.
Audrey sees his direction of sight and decides to play it off by quickly placing the towel's contents beside her leg on the opposite side of the boy while bringing the towel to her face to wipe off the miniscule amount of sweat presented on her forehead.
Unfortunately enough for her, Subaru isn't dumb enough to not notice that.
Anyone could, especially when you're hiding someone of that size and shape underneath a mere towel.
"...Audrey. What was that object that you put to the side..? Are you hiding something from me?" Finally, his suspicions had reached its peak. Seeing this as the perfect moment to ask, he took it with no hesitation.
It was weird enough with how she slurred her words at times, even if it wasn't that apparent, and also the fact that she was having frequent hiccups; hiccups that differ from normal ones in frequency.
Knowing that she couldn't play it out anymore, she had to answer.
Audrey was unsure of how he'd react, she mentally assessed all possible outcomes, of course being a bit intoxicated by a new drinker such as herself, she couldn't think all that straight, however she did properly think about her circumstance.
The merchant was certain that the young man's reaction would be along the lines of slight disappointment, surprise or by a small chance, Subaru would indulge with her.
Anxiously pressing her teeth on her tongue softly, she lifted the cylinder shaped object from her left and brought it into the youth's view, it was a bottle.
Not just any bottle, but an authentic wine bottle. It looks strikingly similar to the ones in Roswaal's possession that he saw on the day a certain beastly spirit had a great mana release period that caused a very cold day for the residents of the mansion. There were even a few shot glasses present as well.
"Could Audrey have stolen one of Roswaal's expensive wine bottles? Of course not, that's not like her..." Subaru thought while jumping to shocking conclusions.
"A-Audrey did you even get permission to-" He started as he ripped the bottle from her grip and glued his eyes on the label.
"N-No! It's nothing like that! I d-didn't steal it! This was just the one *hic* that I bought earlier… that's why I came home so late."
"I wish I could've known that earlier..." He said while forming his face into a sad smile.
"These ones are really good and filled with flavour especially with how rare they are *hic*." She quickly tried to remove any confusion that Subaru held.
"Oh… Ah I see that makes much more sense now. I'm sorry for jumping to that kind of conclusion." He shakily forms his mouth into a smile while his hand caresses the back of his head.
"Also… are you drunk? I've noticed your oddly repetitive hiccups and the fact that you're moving a bit more sluggish than usual." He teased her a little at the end of his statement and gave a little chuckle while doing so.
"EH?! "MORE SLUGGISH THAN USUAL"? WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" In absolute childish panic and being alerted to her pride being damaged, she moved herself closer to his face as she exclaimed her words.
"Woah! Hey now, you really can't say that I'm lying can you? I mean even your cheeks are red!" Subaru blurts out his words after Audrey's invasion of his personal space, he didn't dislike it however, but it caught him off guard tremendously.
"Mmmmm…"
"Um… Audrey? Too close..."
"Eh? Oh, I apologize Subaru, my bad..."
Being satisfied with her answer and his main objective of visiting her, he handed her back the bottle before getting ready to make his departure.
Audrey layed eyes on said bottle then back to him and held a confused expression, it wasn't that she didn't want her wine bottle back. In any case, why would anyone refuse such an authentic liquor? It would be a nonsensical decision for anyone to turn down such an item, especially when it was made by a prestigious brand like Roswaal's own wine.
But this wasn't the point; however, the female merchant was confused because she had expected the young man to drink some with her, even if it was just a little. Now that she thought about it…
"Has he ever drank alcohol before..?" she mentally inquired herself.
Even though Subaru was basically an adult in his world and hers, he just doesn't look like the type of individual to consume alcohol, maybe a little every few months but just not as often.
That being said, Audrey herself couldn't really have much of an opinion on him from the mere fact that she didn't drink much alcohol.
"Subaru… have you ever had alcohol before..?"
"Hmm? Well, I've always thought about it and my parents always told me to not have any until I'm old enough, but at this moment I am. Even now, I don't personally like drinking it as I've learnt about the effects it has on the human liver and such, maybe if it was a weaker liquor I'd be more confident to give it a try you know?"
The youth had wondered about trying such beverages but was partly hesitant about it from hearing all the health problems it caused in others, along with the fact that he didn't want it to lead up to him having a slight or ever growing dependence on said substance.
The gray haired merchant held a thoughtful expression once more. Even though the wine that she had in her possession was quite strong, she was against the theory of it being any harm or causing any problems for them both if they only had a little.
"Mmmh, Subaru are you sure that you can't at least enjoy a little?" She began.
"Well I'm s-"
"I won't force you to drink much is what I'm saying. But seeing that I did help you come to the conclusion on how to further pacify your ground-dragon, surely I can have something in return riiiiight~?" A persuading ring was versed on her tone.
"Dammit I sound so desperate!" She cursed herself for sounding so needy.
She knew what she was doing was a tad bit petty but it wasn't really a big deal after all… if he decides to join her or not it's completely his choice.
"I get it if-" She spoke but unintentionally cut off my Subaru.
"Hmm I guess you do make a good point. I don't want to have too much though…"
Her eyes lit up with a spark of delight as she heard his words. Audrey was happy to have someone to get even slightly wasted with. Especially at a once in a blue moon chance like this.
Going to fetch one of the few shot glasses, she immediately poured some for Subaru and handed it to him.
Taking the glass from her, Subaru looked at the wine with a gaze filled with curiosity and waited patiently for the merchant to pour her share of wine as well so they could drink together.
"Are you ready?"
Averting his vision from his own share of wine, his eyes rolled upwards to meet her cyan eyes. Looking down a bit he noticed that something foreign reached out to him; it was her right arm that held the shot glass.
Already knowing what this is through gestures on television, real life and self experience, he reached out his own arm and allowed their shot glasses to meet with a moderate amount of pressure making a "clink" sound.
"Cheers!" They both said with bright smiles, further bonding their friendship.
"Well it's now or never. Here goes nothing." In truth he was probably more hyped up than needed but he was still a bit new to this. Following that he brought the wine to his mouth and took in a little of the sweet scent that it possessed.
Now he knew what to expect and he took a sip of the beverage and quite enjoyed it and went for another.
"You're really enjoying this aren't you Subaru?" She spoke while watching the boy indulge himself in the flavorful wine. She found it cute… perhaps admirable.
Soon after, they could be heard talking about numerous topics and multiple laughs could be heard from the merchant's room.
Hello everyone, I trust that you're having a good night/noon/day! I'm so happy that I got around to writing this fanfic. But before I go on I'd like to thank the following people for helping me and inspiring me to do this. Dyn, EmiliaNatsuki, Shiki, Tatoes, Smut4fun, Elsa Best Girl, Crypticz and Myonaise.
Saw some epic fan art of Fem!Otto and I knew I HAD to lewd so yeah, here you go :)
PART II COMING SOON! (Mature content incoming!)