One Plus One
by Lethe Seraph
Chapter Three: In which much gratuitous fanservice is inserted, and our protagonist dances like a maniac
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Many thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! Hmmmm, should I try to reply? ::sweatdrop:: Probably. In no particular order, here it goes:
DarkangelWings – Thank you! ^_^ Chris and Erutis are always very fun to write, although they don't show up much in this chapter. ::sweatdrop:: Ah, well. I'll just have to make it up to them later.
birdy317 – Oh! Don't cry! ::hands tissue:: I'm really glad you like it, though. ^^;
Chibi Assassin – O-hohohoho. ^^; I think I wrote that Eclipse sees Raenef every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – while Raenef's detention was on a Thursday. But it wasn't very clear, not to mention my memory isn't that great. ::sweatdrop:: But, you know what? ^___^ I think I should make Raenef late to one of their sessions in the near future… make Eclipse 'think'…. ::evil laughter:: …Yeah, school is the Evil. But hey! ^_^ Friends are good. And fights with Erutis and Chris are even better…
Unable To Cry - ^_^ Aw, thanks. ::hug:: I'm glad it makes sense…….
Baka Gothic Kitsune - :3 I like your name… Yay! You're enjoying the fic! ::big grin:: All riiiiight!
SundayDreamer - ^_^ Thank you! I'm trying.
LoneWolfStar7 – I wonder where my Yami went? I was just eating a piece of chocolate and then…
And *because* of your reviews, and the fact that Erutis and Chris are so well liked ^_~, I decided to put them in this chapter. (I wasn't planning to originally…)
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Raenef twirled, humming, and stopped. He watched his apron flutter back into place and grinned. He twirled again, making his way across the room; some might describe it as 'dancing through the kitchen like a maniac'.
"…Far from the sunny days that lie in sleep! Waiting with patience for the spring, for the flowers to bloom renewed again!" he sang cheerfully. "Knowing there's more beyond the pain of today…"
A knock.
Raenef gasped, and within thirty seconds had turned off the oven, taken out the cookies (slightly crispier than would be preferred, mayhaps, but excellent cuisine compared to Raenef's usual style of baking), and placed the pan on the stovetop. He blew on his fingers – he knew he had forgotten something! The oven mitts were laughing at him! – and made his way to the door. "Coming!" he called brightly.
This was going to be great!
-
Eclipse tapped a foot. Not impatiently, though – he was calm, cool, and collected. He would not stoop to tapping his foot in impatience. Rather, he was keeping himself occupied.
The door opened.
Clink.
A thud from the other side of the door.
"Sorry!" said the boy, closing the door and opening it again.
Eclipse couldn't help but stare at the sight that met him.
Raenef beamed. "Hi, Eclipse! Come on in!" When Eclipse was silent, he blinked and looked at the man confusedly. "Are you all right?"
Who wouldn't have been surprised? If he hadn't already been assured that his student was a boy…
He examined
Raenef.
Hair tied back into a
ponytail, much like his in that stray strands seemed to find their way onto his
face with ease and relative maliciousness.
Wide, smiling, sparkling emerald eyes.
Long eyelashes that served to accent his innocence and femininity.
Soft, slightly pink lips that did the same.
Eclipse berated himself. Where had that thought come from?
He could forgive himself that one, he decided after a moment. After all, Raenef was wearing a frilly yellow-
"Oh! My apron! I forgot to take it off!" Raenef laughed sheepishly and ran back to the kitchen. No wonder he was staring! thought Raenef.
After a moment, Eclipse snapped back into awareness and entered the apartment. He closed the door. "Raenef?"
"In here! I hope you're hungry, because I made cookies!"
Eclipse blinked. Yes, he did say he would, didn't he? How very… thoughtful. "Actually, I didn't have a chance to eat lunch today-" he began, and found himself subject to a hurricane of cookies, all aimed directly toward his mouth.
"Then eat up! You're pale enough as it is!" exclaimed Raenef, cause of said hurricane.
"What…" choked Eclipse, caught off guard, "…does that have to do with my complexion?"
"Eat! Eat!"
And so he did.
And it was good.
-
"Idiot!"
"Am not!" Chris stuck out his tongue childishly. "You're the idiot."
"Who forgot to actually bring money, Chris?"
"…me?" said Chris, almost intimidated by Erutis' ranting.
"Yes. You. Now, what do you usually need in a movie theater?"
Chris snapped his fingers. "Money!" he said. "Ha! I'm not that stupid."
She leaned closer to him, dark and dangerous. "Now, what did you forget?"
"….money."
Erutis smirked. "I'll pay this time, but you're going to have to clean up after me and the kendo club for a week!"
"Again?!" groaned Chris.
"What would you rather do, then?" she said.
Chris changed the subject quickly – with Erutis, chances were if you were interesting enough she would forget all grudges. "Too bad Raenef is busy with his tutor, huh?"
Erutis nodded. "He probably would have liked this movie, too."
Chris grinned at his good fortune. She actually forgot? "Yeah. I hope he's having fun, though."
"Heh. Learning? Raenef? Nah, his head is probably bursting already."
Chris and Erutis laughed at the image. Chris then shook his head. "He did seem to be happy with the lessons, though. What was the guy's name again?"
"Hmm… Eclipse something."
"So he's a good tutor?"
"Yeah, we did some checks on him before offering him the job. Top grades, no problems with the police or anything." Her grin grew mischievous. "And his picture was really hot, to boot!"
"Erutis!" admonished Chris. "Don't tell me you're hoping Raenef will introduce you."
"Oh, nothing of the sort." She gave a small, evil chuckle.
Chris rolled his eyes. "And I suppose I mean nothing to you?"
"Right on, Chris! Now buy our movie tickets!"
…Damn. She really did forget. "Uh, Erutis…"
-
"You are quite the cook, Raenef," commented Eclipse, touching a napkin whisked from who-knows-where to his already-flawless lips. "The cookies were excellent."
Raenef burst into a huge, friendly grin. "Really? They were good? I did something right?"
Eclipse was once again caught off guard, and couldn't help but return Raenef's smile. "Yes, you did. You can, you know, if you just put your mind to it." Might as well make it into a sermon. "Just concentrate – like you most likely were when you were making those cookies – and you shall do brilliantly."
"But… it's just making cookies," protested Raenef. "It's not like school."
Eclipse sat up a little bit straighter, and a gleam that said "I'm going to lecture you!" came to his eye. Raenef groaned and slumped back into his chair, recognizing the gleam immediately. "What do you do, when you make cookies?"
"Er…" said Raenef. "Mix the dough and bake it?"
"How do you mix the dough?"
"I put the stuff together and stir," said Raenef. Okay… where is he going with this?
"And how do you know what to put together?" continued Eclipse.
"Um… I look at the recipe book?"
"Precisely. And after that, you have to measure it all into the proper amounts, and bake it for the correct amount of time. If you double the recipe, you double the amounts of ingredients. If you forget something, then the cookies don't turn out nearly as well." All the words were swirling around Raenef's head. But they kind of made sense… kind of.
"So…" Raenef brightened as the thought came to him. "I'm using math!"
"Albeit elementary math," agreed Eclipse. "You have to do the same sort of thing in Chemistry, though."
"You're right!" gasped Raenef.
Eclipse gave Raenef another of those strange smiles and stood. "What do you say we get to studying, then?"
Raenef hopped off of the couch. "Yeah!" On impulse, he jumped into Eclipse's arms and gave him an enthusiastic hug. "Thanks, Eclipse!"
Unfortunately, his hug was just a bit too enthusiastic: the two of them tumbled back down to the couch.
Raenef blinked down at Eclipse. Ack! Ack! I am such an idiot… He scrambled off of Eclipse – which was hard to do when his arms were tangled around the elder's waist – and reached for Eclipse's hand. "I'm sorry! Are you all right?"
-
Before he knew what had happened, Eclipse had found himself sprawled on the couch.
What would this look like? he thought, carefully keeping his face impassive as Raenef blinked in shock. What would this appear to be, to any casual observer? Here the two of us are, alone. Lying on a couch. …I really must stop thinking like that. Eclipse had never had any girlfriends, even though it certainly hadn't been for lack of their interest; he had even had his own fanclub, embarrassing as it was to admit. However, his own lack of interest certainly did not mean that he was interested in his student. Raenef was nice and all, but Eclipse did have a semblance of decency: he liked to think that he was straight, not to mention that he was quite a few years older than-
"I'm sorry! Are you all right?" said Raenef worriedly, bringing Eclipse out of that chain of thought. Raenef extended his hand, and Eclipse took it after a moment.
"It's all right," said Eclipse lightly. He got to his feet.
Another long silence.
"Are you going to let go of my hand, Raenef?"
"Oh! Oh! …Um, yeah! Yeah, I am! I am so sorry! I don't know what's gotten into-"
Eclipse sighed. "It's all right, Raenef."
"Oh! Okay. You must really think I'm an idiot, huh?" Raenef laughed awkwardly. "I keep on screwing up…"
"Raenef?"
"Yeah?"
"Hand."