Title: White Oleander
Author: ForestGlenny
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: mild language, Raenef/Eclipse, light shonen ai (but come on, it's DD)
Summary: Raenef, in that plot so loved by DD authors, screws up yet another spell. Eclipse gets grumpy. Rae has a confession to make.
Disclaimer: I don't own Demon Diary, because if I did, they would have managed to kiss at least once in the series.
Author's Notes: Well, this is technically my second DD fanfic, but the first one wasn't long enough to merit an actual author's note. This plot might seem rather familiar, because I am not the first one on FF.N to write it, and I will probably not be the last, but I hope that I have put an amusing twist on it. This is dedicated to a few people, Lucky444, who introduced me to Demon Diary, DarkSilicon and GlacierTako, who helped me through my forty days of separation anxiety, and mon petit frère, SparkPlug, who has had to put up with me and my fanfiction obsession.
---When the dust finally settled and various chunks of mortar had stopped falling off the castle structure and into the now rather destroyed courtyard, Eclipse blinked, ver-ry slowly. Then he winced as one more piece of plaster slammed into the accumulated debris.
"Lord Raenef," he said evenly. "I do believe that the name of this spell is 'White Oleander.' As in the poisonous plant, oleander, which I am slightly more than a little tempted to put in your supper tonight SO I DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THIS ANYMORE! Now," Eclipse smiled sweetly. "What exactly did you just say?"
Eclipse, demon of the Third Order, had to wait a moment while the pile of mortar next to him separated its arm from the rocks and wiped some grayish dust off its face. What peered out was actually Lord Raenef the Fifth. Though he was far from recognizable, so we'll forgive you for not prostrating yourself before him.
The pile of mortar looked sheepish. "Um, well you see, I..."
"Sire?"
Raenef looked at what passed for his feet. "I said mgrpghtrng..."
"I'm sorry sire, I couldn't quite hear you."
"I said 'White Elephant.' Actually." Raenef scratched his head in embarrassment, dislodging a cloud of tiny particles of marble.
Eclipse sighed in dismay. "Were you even paying the slightest bit of attention, or am I just background noise? You can be honest, my liege." He even managed a small, encouraging-looking smile.
Raenef hemmed and hawed a bit, trying to not answer the question while at the same time trying to inconspicuously spit out the dust that coated his mouth. He gagged on a bit of it. Eclipse wasn't background noise, really. He was just... well, Raenef occasionally found more interesting things to think about. Occasionally being most of the time.
"Well, sire?"
Raenef's shoulders sagged, and he kicked disconsolately at some little pebbles sitting at his feet. "I do pay attention to you, Eclipse." I pay attention to you all the time, and that's the problem. "Just... oh forget it."
Eclipse sighed again, his eyes flashing in barely restrained irritation. "Go take a bath, Lord Raenef, and then I'll take a look at your wounds. Class dismissed. We will review this again tomorrow. Until you get it right."
Raenef nodded and then disappeared with a very quiet "Go," leaving Eclipse to wonder vaguely why seeing his lord so put out felt so much like a stab to the heart.
After you teach for a long time, Eclipse reflected, you kind of forget that you had once been the one learning. He was cleaning up the books that Raenef had been studying from that morning, until the brilliant sunlight coming through the windows had begun to tax his ability to pay attention. Why was it that they never got more than halfway through a lesson before Eclipse gave in to Raenef's pleas to be released?
Eclipse growled, unconsciously tightening his grip on "Daily Drills for the Spelling-Impaired Demon, Level 1." And where had his lord gone? Probably to play with those good-for-nothing so-called pages of his. Stupid mortals. He realized abruptly that he had pierced "Daily Drills" with his claws and guiltily yanked them out, wishing he knew how to heal books. This particular one was cheaper, considering it was a paperback, but still, the budget was awfully tight this month what with having to feed that gender-impaired knight and her ditzy cleric sidekick.
He crammed the books back onto the shelf marked "Raenef's Books" in Raenef's messy handwriting, restraining himself from growling again. How, exactly, was he going to pay for the castle repairs? After that damned fiasco half of the East Wing was demolished. Pity it didn't kill the mortals, he mused, toying with the idea for a moment before getting back to the task of Being Mad At Raenef.
Following an extensive discussion in the morning concerning Demonic Lore of the Early --th Century (during which Raenef did surprisingly well), Eclipse had allowed his liege to go gallivant around the grounds with his accursed friends, first forcing him to promise to be in the front courtyard by two o'clock to learn a new spell, the White Oleander. It required little power and should have created a cloud of milk-white, toxic gas that would kill plants and fuzzy little creatures and such. But in Raenef's bumbling hands it became the White Elephant, which apparently dealt an elephantine amount of damage to any surrounding buildings.
Eclipse rubbed frantically at his temples. Raenef was in the bath, quite possibly bawling his eyes out because he thought that his tutor was mad at him, and said demon was rapidly getting a headache.
Eclipse retired in despair to his bathroom, where he ran the water very hot, secretly adding just a little bit of strawberry bubble bath before getting in. None of the dust had gotten on his impeccably neat self, of course (it wouldn't dare), but he was feeling stress like only the Golden Gate Bridge would know, and was hoping that a nice, calming, soothing, Raenef-less bath might do the trick. He stretched out and was frustrated when he realized that the bath was too short for his lanky form, and so his knees were sticking a mile out of the water.
"Note to self: buy a bigger bathtub." He amended this to "Steal a bigger bathtub" seeing as they hardly had the money at that moment to waste on a tub, of all things.
He grabbed at the soap and barely refrained from Death Drilling it when it leaped out of his hands in that endearing way that all soaps have. He gouged at it with his claws and thought that gouging someone's eyes out would be very cathartic right about now, but figured that he'd have to settle for blowing at the little bubbles that surrounded him. He washed with jerky movements, muttering murderously to himself the entire time.
In a few moments he had finished the business part of his bath, and settled back into the water, intent on staying there until his fingers were all pruny and white, or until the water went cold.
CLUNK. said his potted oleander bush as it was knocked off its stand. Or, until Raenef reared his head again, ready for round two. Eclipse rose from his bath and pulled on a robe, tying it tight and wishing he had some underwear with him. Curse his brain for not planning for every eventuality.
He strolled out into his main bedroom, hoping he looked casual, aloof and a tad pissed off, but knowing, somehow, that he just looked like a demon whose bath had been interrupted.
"Sorry," Raenef said, and Eclipse almost replied until he realized that Raenef was talking to the plant. Not him.
"You said you'd fix my injuries for me," Raenef mumbled, not able to look Eclipse in the eye. Eclipse nodded, but Raenef didn't see this motion, so he responded positively through pursed lips.
Raenef walked towards him, having righted the plant. Eclipse motioned to a wooden stool that sat next to his desk, and Raenef flopped into it. Note to self: thought Eclipse, Demon lords do not flop. He soaked a cotton swab in iodine that had just appeared and gently tilted Raenef's face into the light. Little scratches covered much of his face, but the worst was an inch-long gash on his left cheek. Eclipse poked at it with the cotton, his master trying not to flinch at the sting but failing miserably. He put a little Band-Aid over the wound, one with blue and red dinosaurs marching all over it.
"Where else were you injured, my liege?" he inquired.
Raenef blushed lightly. "I have to take my shirt off, then."
Eclipse nodded his permission, so Raenef stood and started to pull his shirt over his head.
It got stuck. Just below his ears. Eclipse hit himself in the head.
"Just a minute," Raenef called, voice muffled. "I can't seem to get it - OWIE!"
In his frenzied tugging at his shirt, Raenef had forgotten that there was a stool behind him, waiting very patiently for him to sit back down. One energetic tug too many found him on the floor, shirt half-off, the poor stool knocked over backwards, and Eclipse giving up and walking out on the whole perishing scene.
Eclipse looked off to the side in the dying light, his eyes tracing the ridges of the mountains. His idiotic little demon lord eventually followed him onto the porch, looking much like a kitten who had been dragged backwards through a bush of some sort. Possibly an oleander, he mused before turning around to face Raenef, bathed in the sun's last red rays. Eclipse didn't speak, seeing that his lord was trying to get something off his chest and into the open, but was finding it dashed difficult.
"I'm sorry Eclipse. I really am. You don't have to finish bandaging me up now, if you don't want to." Eclipse remained silent.
"Eclipse," Raenef said, moving closer until he could rest his elbows against the railing that edged the balcony. "Eclipse, do you remember when you promised me forever?"
The elder demon nodded mutely.
"Well," he rubbed his hands nervously, "I got to thinking about that while I was taking my bath..." He motioned towards the interior of the castle, reddening as he did so. "And well, that's not exactly... fair, is it?"
Eclipse raised one perfect eye brow.
Raenef stumbled on. "I mean, well, um..."
This is getting repetitive, thought Eclipse. Then, Raenef spoke again, his voice determined. "Eclipse, I want to promise you forever, too. Eclipse, if it takes me forever to become a demon lord worthy of you, then I will give you forever. I will stay with you forever."
Eclipse had the good grace to look stunned. Raenef in all his cluelessness, interpreted the thunder-struck look incorrectly and started murmuring apologies.
"I understand though, if you're mad at me. I mean, who'm I kidding? Who would want to spend forever with- Eclipse? Why are you laughing?"
Indeed, the ruby eyes that had once struck fear into the souls of gods were closed and tearing up in mirth. Raenef was just so damn cute, and really, how could Eclipse even pretend to be mad when that beautiful face looked at him so beseechingly, so trustingly? How could Eclipse be mad?
"Mad? Mad? I'm furious! I'm crazy too, to put up with you! You have me at my wits' end!" Eclipse fought to get ahold of himself and stem his very unusual and out of character litany. "But..." He had to admit that that was the closest he'd ever gotten to a real love confession. He had to admit that he loved it. "But, Raenef."
The demon lord jumped at the sound of his name sans title. He smiled slightly.
"Raenef, Lord Raenef, if you are really promising so much to me, then I... I accept your offer. All I can offer in return is my everlasting-" dare he say it? "-devotion." Eclipse watched a beautiful smile dawn on his master's face.
Then they turned and in an unexpected moment of silence watched the sun set. Well, Raenef watched the sun set, Eclipse watched Raenef watching the sun set, but it was still a beautiful moment. Eclipse wondered if he dared to put his arm around his liege's shoulders. Deciding he had been awfully out of character so far today, and that a few more minutes of it couldn't hurt, he did, very slowly and cautiously, and was only mildly surprised when Raenef leaned into the embrace.
Yes, Lord Raenef, I'll give you all of me.
And I might even refrain from putting oleander in the pasta tonight.
-fin-
A/N: Reviews are ever appreciated, constructive criticism is welcomed. Constructive, mind you.