DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vandread or any of its characters. This plot is a product of my imagination. Any similarities to other fan fictions are unintentional.
PANIC ROOMBy bishounen lovah
Chapter 3: Subzero
Barnette stifled another yawn. She was bored beyond comparison and it seems like her companions were bored as well. Paiwei was playing (and yes talking) to her frog puppet, making 'kero-kero' sounds all the time. The keyboard on Ezra's bloated belly was replaced by a plate of Tabasco dripping chocolate cake (yech!), which she conjured from out of nowhere. Meia, on the other hand, resorted to polishing that bizarre face accessory of hers.
Why does she wear that anyway? It doesn't look like it serves any purpose. But I have to admit it looks good on her, the green haired woman thought.
As for Jura…well, the annoying blond was busy buffing her nails (again!). It just goes to show how little bearing this experiment has even to their acting 'leader'.
Barnette reverted her attention back to the holographic screen. Almost thirty minutes had already passed since they locked Parfet and Duero in that room. After their slightly interesting conversation about Parfet's insecurities earlier, the two became quiet with occasional sighs (coming from Parfet) and 'daijoubus' (coming from Duero) breaking the silence. There were times when that man-doctor would quit taking inconspicuous peeks at Parfet and would open his mouth as if to start a conversation but would quickly change his mind and eventually goes back to sneaking peeks.
Parfet was no better. This was the first time Barnette ever saw her at a loss for words. The pigtailed engineer always had something to say even if it was something about how to fix a clogged bathroom. Watching her now as she traced circles on the floor, the Dread pilot can't help but wonder where Parfet's wit has gone to.
Perhaps I had been too judgmental of this experiment, Barnette told herself. There must be something about being locked in a room with a man. Perhaps his dumbness is rubbing onto Parfet. Oh my god!
An involuntary shiver ran through her body. She knew that men carried contagious diseases. Had they unwittingly caused the contamination of one of their friends?
Barnette was about to demand that Parfet be released when someone appeared behind her.
"Has anything happened yet?"
"BC!" Barnette screeched their superior's name in surprise. A large sweatdrop appeared on her head as she tried to calm her racing heart. "Don't scare me like that. How did you know where to find us?"
The other woman just shrugged her answer and nodded her greeting to the others.
"Is everything in order?" BC asked again.
"Everything is going as planned," Jura beamed back.
"Unfortunately, her brilliant plan consists of just locking those two in. This is as dull as watching Dita chase Hibiki," Meia said.
"Ohohohohoho. Is that jealousy I smell?" Jura teased. The lead Dread pilot responded by pointing her ring at the blond. "Ayah! Can't you take a joke?"
"That's enough," BC intercepted the fight that was starting to brew and focused their attention back to the project at hand. "What we need here is to add a variant factor. See if the environmental change would affect their behavior."
"How would you do that," Barnette asked, her unsaid protest instantly forgotten.
"Ezra," BC automatically reverted to her sub-okashira mode, "isolate the thermal system of that room and gradually decrease the temperature."
"Hai, hai!" Ezra muffled, her mouth half full of muffins and pickles.
~Scene Change~
"What was that?" Duero asked as a loud hum was heard from the small vent.
"It sounds like the AC was turned on," Parfet replied. Sure enough, the room started to cool down. "What the heck are they up to? If I didn't know better I'd say they're performing a sick experiment on us. That or an April Fool's Day trick."
"April Fool's Day?"
"Yare yare. Don't tell me you haven't heard of April Fool's Day too."
The blank look on Duero's face was all the answer she needed. Men! Don't they have any fun on that planet of theirs, Parfet sighed a bubble (anime style).
"April Fool's Day is a holiday held on the first day of April. It's the day when people trick each other and play practical jokes."
"I see," he replied with his curled fingers cupping his chin in that thoughtful manner of his. "In that case I don't think this is an April Fool's Day trick."
"How can you tell?"
"It's February."
"Oh," she sweatdropped. "Hehehe. That's right. I forgot."
They fell into silence again, neither one of them knew what to say. There was also this charged tension among them that tempts them to look at each other even if they try hard to refrain from doing so. Had the others manipulated the magnetic field or any other physical properties of this room too, they both thought.
Parfet was starting to shiver. The room temperature was dropping fast. She was starting to see her breath in front of her. Her jumpsuit was not designed to withstand cold temperature.
Another violent shiver shook her body. She was too busy trying to rub some heat to her body that she did not notice Duero moving beside her.
"Nani?" She exclaimed in surprise when she realized he was sitting close to her.
Duero shrugged his right arm from the sleeve of his trench coat then moved closer to the blushing woman. "Put your arm in the sleeve."
When Parfet just stared at him, he proceeded to explain. "You're shivering. You might get hypothermic. For that matter, so might I. The only logical thing to do is to share our body heat. It's best if we sit close together to do that."
She did as he told and slid her right arm in the long sleeve even though her blush was already warming her face. The warmth spread throughout her entire body when his free arm went around her waist and pulled her closer to him. His other hand reached for the edge of his coat and tried to close it around their bodies.
It's an impossible task since the coat was not wide enough to close around them. So Parfet did the unexpected. She moved closer to Duero (if it was still possible) and wrapped her left arm around his waist. She was sitting on her side with her head slightly resting on his chest.
And so the coat was buttoned, enclosing the flushed faced couple with comfortable warmth.
"Don't you have any holidays on your planet?" Parfet decided that a conversation is what she needed in order to distract herself from their closeness.
"None that could compare to yours. The holidays that we have back there are usually the birthdays of our leaders. There's just an assembly to salute the leader and if we get lucky we get to have free drinks afterwards."
"Sounds boring."
"Aa," he replied as he rubbed his hand up and down the woman's back to facilitate blood flow for more warmth.
An involuntary shiver shook Parfet's body once again but this time it had nothing to do with the cold temperature. His touch seems to be the perpetrator. But he didn't know that so he moved her closer again, deciding against placing her on his lap.
Maybe it was the chilly air. Maybe it was the comfortable warmth. Maybe it was because of the mesmerizing rise and fall of his chest against the side of her face. Or maybe it was the combination of all of those that's making Parfet very drowsy. She was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
Duero shook her shoulder with his left hand to keep her awake. "Don't go to sleep. It's dangerous."
"I know. But I can't help it," she replied with a big yawn.
"Then talk to me."
"About what?"
"Anything."
"Hmm. Let's see…do you have any friends back home?"
"We don't have friends. We have comrades. Besides, I don't think of it as home anymore."
"Nani?" She lifted her head from his chest to look at his serious face. "Doushite?"
"For some reason, Nirvana seems more like home to me than my planet has ever been. It is here that I have friends."
"Honto? To whom are you referring to?"
"Well, of course, Hibiki and Bart. Then there's Dita, Pai and Ezra. I also consider BC as a friend. Even Jura and Barnette although I might kill them when we get out of here. There's something about fighting together against a common enemy that brings people, may it be a man or a woman, together. And last but definitely not the least there's you, Parfet-chan."
"Me?" she said in an almost breathless voice.
"Aa. I consider you as my best friend because you were the first one who befriended me and accepted me for who I really am." He had the grace of blushing at his confession although he kept her eyes on her face. His right brow rose when she giggled. "You find my confession funny?"
"Iya! Gomen ne. I wasn't laughing at you. It's just that my glasses are fogging up."
"Then why don't you take them off?"
"But if I did I wouldn't be able to see your face clearly," she said with another blush. To hide her embarrassment she reached out to brush his bangs away from the side of his face. "Why do you hide your face?"
"For no reason at all."
"You shouldn't, you know. You have a beautiful face," the words slipped out of her lips before she could stop them.
"And you shouldn't wear those glasses. They hide your beautiful eyes," Duero quickly removed the frames and was instantly drawn to her eyes.
"A-arigatou demo I don't have any choice but to wear them."
"You could wear contact lenses or if you want I could do some corrective eye surgery."
"Iie. It would be too troublesome," she took the glasses from him and slid them on her face again. "Besides, my glasses are part of who I am. A sort of artificial body part."
"Aa. I guess you are right." Duero noticed that she was shivering again (and this time it's because of the temperature) so he gave in to his initial intuition and lifted her to place her on his lap. This brought their bodies closer. He wrapped his arms around her with his right arm on her waist inside the coat and the left one outside. He placed his chin over her head and savored what was left of their body heat.
Parfet was initially shocked but then let her body relax against his. The temperature was still going down and it was only logical to share their body heat as best as they could. They fell into silence again but this time it was a comfortable one.
It was several minutes before she spoke again.
"Duero."
"Hai."
"You're my best friend too."
To be continued…
BISHLOV NOTES:
[1] I blabbed in the last part didn't I? Sorry but I am so sleepy. God, I need a toma session just so I could rehydrate my dried brain with something.
[2] Arigatou to all of those who reviewed chapter 2. I was expecting at least 30 reviews in total since I got 15 in the first one. You know, multiply it by two if the reviewers in chapter 1 reviewed in chapter 2 too. Oh well…ganyan talaga ang buhay (that's life).
[3] Mushy stuff (and probably some mild hentai ones too) will be in chapter 4 so watch out for it.
[4] Did anyone notice that I forgot the name of the men's planet? My hat is off (if ever I'm wearing one right now) to those who did. But then I also forgot what the women's planet is called too ^_^0. Someone please refresh my memory. I'm too lazy to search the net.
[5] Please click that button down there and drop me a review. PLEASE!!!
