Author's Note: Explicit version on my AO3 here at archiveofourown dot org/works/33983341
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1.
"I need you to be at least a little more aware of me. You're just too defenseless. Didn't I tell you to be more careful?" He leaned over her, his hair falling in loose curls around his face as he spoke softly, his eyes staring intensely into hers.
"If you walk into a man's room in your sleep clothes at night, you can't complain, no matter what he does to you."
"Eh? EH?! Keith, what are you-" Katarina pushed herself upright, shoving him off. Keith stumbled.
"Nee-san-"
Katarina clutched her pajama top and pointed. "You're acting like a playboy, Keith! Just like you did in the game!"
"Game?" Keith blinked. Crap.
"N-n-n-nothing!" Katarina said. She spread her arms, twirling. "Just, just forget I said anything! Stop being weird, Keith!"
"Nee-san, I'm not the one being weird-"
"You're the one who pushed me on the bed and started acting like a Casanova bad boy character, Keith!"
"What is a 'Casanova'?! And why are you pointing at me like that-"
"Ah crap, forget it, just forget it!" Katarina said, and she ran out of the room.
xXx
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She frantically dug up her old journals, old Fortune Love notes she had scrawled out when she was a kid.
Keith Claes. She flipped through the pages furiously. An unrepentant playboy. Total womanizer and all-around skeevy guy. "You can't have my heart," he'd tell whatever blushing noblewoman was on his arm, "but my hands and lips will more than make up for it."
HIS HANDS AND LIPS! WHAT?!
Katarina slammed the book shut, her face turning bright red. Was that really one of his dialogue options?! And did people really fall for that crap?!
Katarina peered around the corner of the hallway, just outside her bedroom. Servants were chatting, walking in front of her.
No sign of Keith. Katarina sighed, relieved, then made her way to the kitchen. Anne was cooking pancakes and she was convinced once her tummy was full she could make better sense of this whole situation.
"Anne." Katarina pushed open the door. "Are the pancakes ready, Anne-"
Keith was standing in front of her.
Katarina's eyes widened. He was still in his sleep clothes, the top buttons of his shirt unbuttoned, showing the line of his collarbones. She gaped wordlessly at him as his long, tapered fingers wrapped around a glass of milk, then watched transfixed as he tilted his head back and drank. As if staring at a cut scene in an RPG, she couldn't help but watch him as he put the glass to his lips, her eyes tracing the line of his neck all the way down to the slight shadow above a lightly muscled chest, his adam's apple bobbing with each swallow.
"Nee-san."
"Eh?!" Katarina stiffened. "U-uh, good morning, Keith!"
Keith smirked. He started to walk toward her, moving impossibly close.
Katarina froze. He leaned forward, as if to sniff her neck, but instead reached his arm around and set down the glass on the countertop behind her.
"Good morning to you too, Nee-san."
And he gave her a slow, seductive smile.
(The gavel in her mind came crashing down with an authoritative thud.
"We call an emergency meeting regarding Keith's sudden personality change. He is now acting as he did in the game!"
"He's acting like a playboy now!" Shy Katarina said. Studious Katarina nodded.
"Indeed. Instead of our sweet little brother, he's acting like a flirtatious womanizer."
"Is it our fault? Did we do something to him?" Scared Katarina said. Chairwoman shook her head.
"He always had the potential to be a playboy womanizer. We are not to blame. This has always been something inside of him."
"But maybe he just wants Katarina to love him and flirt with him?" Happy Katarina said. The others glanced at each other.)
Katarina shook herself. "Uh, Keith," Katarina said. Keith turned.
"Yes, Nee-san?"
"You wouldn't, uh. You wouldn't be flirting with me or anything...right?"
Keith gave her a seductive look. "Do you want me to, Nee-san?"
"Eh?"
He stepped closer. "Do you want me to...flirt...with you?" He leaned close again, blocking her path with his body with one hand propped up against the wall.
His face was close. If she tilted her head upward, their lips would touch. "Um. Eto..."
He leaned into her shoulder, speaking against her ear. "If you'll let me, Nee-san. We can do more than just simply 'flirt.'"
"Pochi!" Katarina said. Pochi popped up from the shadows. "There, Pochi! What a good boy, Pochi! Keith I'm going to walk the dog!" and she grabbed Pochi and ran out of the room.
xXx
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"I'm going to kill him!" Mary said.
"Say the word, Katarina, and I will turn him to so much ash," Geordo said. Katarina held up her hands.
"Guys, guys, Keith's not being mean or anything. I think getting kidnapped just messed with his head."
"He was tortured for a long time," Maria said. Sora nodded.
"That kind of pain he was subjected to," Sora said. "It's simply unimaginable."
Maybe the torture had something to do with it. Katarina furrowed her brow. Yes, that made sense - poor Keith was tortured out of his mind while they were looking for him, who knows how that dark magic could have affected him?
"Keith." Katarina waved at him in the garden. "I think I know what's going on!"
"What's going on, Nee-san?"
"Why you're acting that way," Katarina said. Anne stepped behind her to offer her a glass of iced tea, which Katarina took and gulped loudly. "You know. Being all weird and flirty."
"'Weird and flirty'?" Keith took another glass of iced tea from Anne, frowning. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you say this stuff, like you're the devilish count and..." and here her eyes widened as Keith palmed an ice cube from his empty glass, then slowly sucked the last dregs of tea from the ice cube, his lips closing suggestively around it. She saw the tip of his tongue lick the center. "...uh. Stuff. Like that!" Katarina said, pointing. Keith plucked the ice cube from his mouth.
"Like what?" He proceeded to rub the ice cube on his forehead before unbuttoning the collar of his shirt, loosening his tie before rubbing the melting cube onto the skin of his chest.
"Like that," Katarina said, and she snatched the ice cube. Keith smirked.
"Nee-san. It's just too hot out here. Maybe we should take off our clothes-"
All the Katarinas in the council passed out from nosebleeds. Katarina stuttered.
"I meant just our outer clothes, Nee-san. Though," and he leaned close, "if you were thinking of something more private, I'd be more than happy to join you."
"KEITH!" Katarina said. "What's wrong with you?! Is it dark magic?! It's like you're possessed!"
"I told you, Nee-san. I want you to be aware of me. Not as your brother, but as a man."
She smacked her hand over her eyes. "I'm already aware of you, Keith! Stop rubbing ice cubes on yourself, please!"
(Behind them, Anne sighed and shook her head.)
xXx
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She started avoiding Keith.
She turned the corridor. Keith was standing there. She spun on her heel and turned the opposite direction.
She went to dinner with her parents. Keith was sitting next to her. She ate quickly, shoveling her food and ignoring how her mother yelled at her to eat more ladylike, so she could get up and leave before Keith started making sexy faces while putting things in his mouth.
Bedtime. She stepped out of the bath, fully clothed with a towel wrapped up around her head, when Keith came by, caught her eyes, the proceeded to take his shirt off in the middle of the hallway.
Katarina screeched. "Anne! Help Keith, he's naked in the hallway!" and ran into her room, slamming the door.
xXx
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2.
This is what happened after they brought Keith back home.
His body was covered in cuts and bruises. Katarina winced thinking of all the pain Keith must have endured, how Thomas brutally punched him while he was chained, how he'd scream in pain while the black fires of dark magic engulfed him.
"Does it hurt?" She pressed a warm cloth to Keith's forehead. Keith smiled.
"It's not so bad now, Nee-san. It feels good."
"Good." Katarina wrung out the washcloth in a basin of warm water, then began to wipe the sweat from his brow.
He slept. She sat by his bedside, reading next to him. Sometimes she'd switch off the light and curl up next to him, shifting under the covers and wrapping her arms around him. They often slept next together like this when they were children, when Keith still had nightmares almost every night. He'd wake up crying and Katarina would crawl into bed next to him, holding him.
He kissed her in his sleep. Soft, gentle presses of his lips against hers. She figured he was probably dreaming about Maria, but she didn't pull away, holding him was too much of a comfort. He shifted her close and let out a contented sigh.
It wasn't until a few days later, after Keith woke up fully and Katarina visited him again, crawling into his lap and hugging him, that Keith finally confessed that he wasn't dreaming, he loved her not as a sister but as the girl she is, and after Katarina freaked and spazzed and after he kissed her again, she felt grateful but confused when the rest of her friends burst in, yelling at Keith to take a step back and stop kissing her.
Did she want him to stop kissing her? She thought about that night, the night he pushed her against the bed and hovered over her, and her face reddened when she realized she wished things had gone just a bit more further.
xXx
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She walked into the courtyard. Keith was chatting with a few noblewomen, who were giggling softly and hanging off his arms.
Oh boy. Keith really was living up to his playboy persona. Katarina sagged, then kept walking past him. Keith raised his head.
"Nee-san?"
"O-oh! Hi Keith! Don't let me keep you, I know you're busy."
"I'm not-" he glanced at the three women, who giggled at him. "-I'm not too busy."
"No no, don't worry, Keith, I'll see you later!"
"See you later," Keith echoed. Katarina smiled and walked away from him.
xXx
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The Department of Magic kept her busy. She started sleeping in one of the dormitories with Maria; she didn't have time to hang out with her old friends, she was too busy with her new job helping Lady Larna. "At least you still get to see us," Sora said. Raphael and Maria smiled and nodded. Katarina sighed, exhausted.
"I like you guys, I do! But it's been a few months since I last saw Keith. I wonder what he's up to?"
"Keith-sama is getting very popular," Anne said. "I think a few of the girls at the Academy have developed crushes on him."
"He'd better treat 'em right! If I hear he's stringing them along I'm gonna go and smack some sense into him."
"Katarina!" Anne and Raphael looked aghast while Maria blushed. Sora chuckled.
"I never thought he'd be more of a ladykiller than I am," Sora said. "Well. I suppose that's what they say about appearances. Judging a book by its cover and all the rest of it. I wonder what prompted the change?"
Katarina remembered the night after he was kidnapped, the sleepover at the palace and Keith pinning her to the bed, and reddened.
Sora blinked. "Katarina?"
"Stupid Keith! He's not supposed to be a playboy now! He's supposed to be my cute little brother!"
"You look flustered," Sora said. Katarina wailed.
"Maybe you should just talk to him," Maria said.
"Talk to him?" Katarina said. Maria nodded.
"It may be that Keith-sama is overcompensating. Remember what happened with Geordo-sama? It could be the same sort of thing."
"I don't even get why they're interested in me! I'm just a normal girl - I'm boring!"
"Well are you interested in him?" Maria asked. Katarina lowered her arms.
"Me?"
"Well. We already know you don't want to get married to Geordo-sama. And Alan and Nicol are already engaged-"
"Raphael and I are single," Sora said. Raphael shot him a mortified look. "Just sayin'," Sora said. Maria smiled and shrugged.
xXx
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3.
"Ladies, ladies. It's alright - there's more of me to go around."
Keith held up his arms, looking over the tops of the ladies' heads and giving Geordo a frantic help me look. Geordo sighed, shook his head, then swooped in.
"Ladies," Geordo said. The ladies squealed. Ever since Geordo's engagement had been formally rescinded, he had become increasingly popular with the noblewomen.
Keith sighed, relieved. "Thank you, Geordo-sama."
"Not a problem, Keith."
The two former rivals sat heavily next to each other.
"So," Geordo said. He plucked a rose from a bush. "How's it going with Katarina?"
"Terribly. I think I drove her away!"
"Really?" Geordo said. Keith buried his face in his hands.
"I shouldn't have listened to you!" Keith said. "What was I thinking? Listening to my rival - my sister dumped you, why did I ever listen to you?!"
"Hey now, Keith. If you weren't so pathetic I'd be offended. I already told you, as your friend and former rival, if I had to lose, of all the others, I'd rather lose to you. We knew her the longest," Geordo said. He looked up at the sky, thoughtfully. "Of all the rest of us, the only one besides me who knows Katarina well enough to love her properly is you."
"Thank you, Geordo-sama. But at this rate, I've already lost. I'm pretty sure my sister hates me."
"Did you flirt with her?" Geordo asked. "Give her the bedroom eyes? Unbutton your shirt?"
"I did! I even tried hanging out with other girls to make her jealous, but she just squeezed her eyes and ran away from me."
"Hm." Geordo leaned back, crossing his arms. "I suppose this is what happens when you're too direct with her."
Keith sagged. Walking through the compound, he overheard the maidstaff giggling behind him, a throng of blushing ladies swooning whenever he'd so much as glance at them.
I overdid it. I pushed my luck. Now Nee-san is afraid of me. I've never felt so lonely...
"Keith?"
Keith looked up. Katarina was standing at the hallway. Keith's eyes widened.
"Nee-san?"
Katarina jumped back. "O-oh! Um..."
"How are you?" He resisted the urge to run into her arms.
Katarina forced a smile. A drop of sweat hovered by her temple. "Oh, um. I'm fine, I'm fine. You know. Just...working. Heh heh. Doing lots of...ya know. Work and...uh, stuff. How are you, Keith?"
"I miss you." Keith's voice was quiet. Katarina stiffened.
"Nee-san?"
"Um!" Katarina forced a laugh. "Sorry, sorry! Oh, I'm being weird, aren't I? I miss you too, Keith! Gotta go!"
"Nee-san-" Keith started forward, but Katarina ran down the corridor.
xXx
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"You were born unwanted. No one will ever love you..."
Keith's eyes opened. He was lying in his bedroom, a pillow clutched to his chest and looking up at the dark shadows on the wall.
The night was quiet. He could hear the soft sounds of insects outside, the slight shifting of the bedsheets beneath him.
If he and Katarina were still kids, Katarina would pop up from nowhere and crawl into his bed, tucking her little body against his and hug him. "Don't cry, Keith," she would say, and he would hug her tight and bury his face in her hair.
I miss you, Nee-san. Tears filled his eyes. He curled up on his side, hugging a pillow.
He felt something bop him on the nose.
Alexander the bear was pointing at him. Keith frowned.
"I'm not lost, Alexander. You don't need to come here."
Alexander made a face, then pointed at him again. Keith furrowed his brow.
"Alexander, I'm too tired and sad to deal with you right now."
Alexander bopped him on the face again, and kept pointing.
"Okay..." Keith picked up Alexander by the armpits and set him on the ground.
The little bear squeaked. It sat up and crawled back on the bed again.
"Ugh, Alexander." Keith picked up the bear again, standing up from the bed. "I told you, I don't want to deal with you-"
He looked up. Katarina was standing at the door.
Keith jumped back. "Nee-san!"
"Keith."
Keith clutched the bear. "What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for Alexander. Pochi lead me here."
The little dog barked, then jumped into a shadow puddle.
"Oh, um. Here." Keith held out the bear, which Katarina took from him. She was also only wearing her night clothes. "Um. Ano, Nee-san-"
"Oh! Is it about us being alone in your room with me in my night clothes?! Because I know you already warned me, I'm going to go-"
"No, Nee-san, don't...don't go."
"Eh?"
Katarina tilted her head. Keith's eyes filled with tears.
"Keith?!" Katarina rushed toward him. Keith sniffed, pathetically.
"I missed you," Keith said, and he let out a little sob as Katarina pulled him into her arms.
The room felt bigger than it was, just the two of them in the grayscale of dark. Keith sniffed miserably as Katarina patted his hair.
They climbed into bed. Keith let Katarina pull him to her chest, one arm resting across his shoulder as the other arm hitched him close, stroking his head. "There, there," Katarina said.
"Nee-san?"
"Hm?"
"You're not afraid of me?"
"What do you mean?" Katarina said. Keith propped himself up on his arm, looking at her.
"After what happened that night. You're not frightened of me?"
"That you'd push me down again? Mm. No Keith, I trust you. I know you were just warning me."
"I wasn't, though." A shadow fell over his eyes. He looked away from her. "I wanted to do things. I wanted more than you were willing to give me."
"Like a kiss?"
"Like a kiss. Or more."
"Oh," Katarina said. Keith sighed, miserably. "Should I not be holding you like this?"
"Would you hold me like this if I weren't your little brother?" Keith asked.
"Eh?" Katarina said. Keith gripped her tighter.
"Would you hold me like this if I were just a man?"
"Um." Katarina licked her lips. "I think...maybe?"
"Nee-san?"
"I trust you," Katarina said. "And you look so sad."
Keith's eyes filled with tears again. Katarina hugged him.
"Oh, Keith, Keith, don't cry, Keith." Katarina hugged him. "You're just a good-looking Casanova playboy, Keith! You can't help it - you were designed that way."
"Eh?"
"I mean, I thought we had bypassed that whole thing, what with all the changes and everything, but you always had it in you, Keith! It shouldn't have been so surprising."
They shifted so that she was now settled against his chest. She nuzzled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his torso while hooking one leg across his hip. She tilted her head upward and he leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers. He closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh.
"Nee-san."
"Hm?"
"Didn't I tell you, Nee-san?" His voice was soft. "If you walk into a man's room in your sleep clothes at night, you can't complain, no matter what he does to you."
"That's really creepy, Keith." She looked up at him in the darkness, searching his eyes. "Are you going to kiss me again?"
"Do you want me to?" he asked.
"Do you want to?" she asked.
"I want you to love me," he said, quietly. He felt her fingers twining through his hair in the darkness, her fingertips brushing lightly over the skin of his chest. He found her hand and laced her fingers with his.
A soft kiss. He wasn't sure which one of them had moved - who tilted whose head, whose lips first brushed against whose. Quietly he kissed her deeply, rolling her onto her back and letting his thumb caress the side of her cheek.
"Um, ano. I don't...I don't know what I'm doing." Katarina's eyes fluttered. Keith sighed.
"Neither do I. Should I stop?" His lips brushed the side of her neck. She sighed and clutched at his back.
"Don't stop."
xXx
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"So does this mean we're getting married?" she asked. They lay curled up against each other, the blankets pulled around them both. Keith laughed softly against her neck.
"If you'll have me, Nee-san." He brushed his lips against her collarbone. "I want us to get married."
He smiled and she felt tired and happy. She giggled and smiled against his lips.
"Mother and Father are going to have a fit."