A big thank you to those of you that reviewed; all your comments made me grin like an idiot. XD
Sorry about the lame-o section breaks. Originally I had something that looked like a glass, but they got eaten during the upload. Stupid ff is being a butt.
And enter the alcohol….
"Alcohol Does Wonders for the Tongue"
Part 2 of 2
If Eclipse had thought it impossible for his young master to act any less demon-like, he was gravely mistaken. For here at the table sat said demon lord, happily creating a snowman on the table out of whipped cream. The whipped cream, along with many other miscellaneous foods, had been conveniently lying out on the table—perhaps a little too conveniently.
Presently the successor to the most feared demon lord in the war between demons and heaven's creatures was adding eyes (peas) to his giant pile of whipped cream—er, snowman, with two sticks of Pocky protruding from his tuft of blonde hair (which he had seized happily squealing, "Schopshtischs!" and thrust into his hair like Chinese hair pins), and singing a song he was making up on the spot in a very slurred voice.
Eclipse, needless to say, was sitting in traumatized horror as he observed this display. Chris was looking like he was trying to decide whether to be amused or disturbed, and Erutis was wearing a strange and very suspicious expression of dreamy placidity with an undercurrent of smug satisfaction.
"Tish ish vewy good watsher," Raenef commented suddenly, interrupting his own rendition of "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Nococuffs" and taking a long drink from his cup. Then Eclipse noticed that Raenef had been drinking quite a bit of water tonight… and suddenly it clicked.
Raenef was drunk.
Someone must have spiked his drink with some sort of liquor. And judging from Raenef's falling-off-the-log state, it was likely an extremely strong liquor. (Unless of course, poor Raenef just can't hold his drink, which is quite possible considering he is a minor.) Eclipse suddenly found himself to be exceedingly vexed.
Meanwhile, Erutis, completely oblivious to the rapidly darkening aura of the demon, was basking in the triumph of her little scheme. She was just mentally congratulating herself on a job well done when her plate suddenly burst into flame. Shrieking, she jumped out of her chair and stumbled back a few paces, and found herself staring into the face of a very terrifying Eclipse surrounded by black fire.
"If I find out you did something…" Eclipse growled, allowing his threat speak for itself as he sent a tongue of flame licking up the knight's sleeve. Erutis felt her blood run cold even as scorching heat enveloped her shoulder.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" she yelped nervously, and then fled from the room with black flames gleefully nipping at her heels. Suddenly Chris felt very isolated and vulnerable, left alone with an enraged Eclipse literally blazing with fury, and a very smashed Raenef, who was enthusiastically creating bubbles magically and popping them with his fork. So he turned tail and fled after the flaming knight, panic written clearly all over his countenance and without so much as a pathetic excuse.
Sighing wearily, Eclipse despondently allowed his lovely black fire to retreat back into his aura at the absence of a victim to vent his ire upon. He turned to look desolately at his giggling liege, who had migrated to the floor and was making smiley faces on the marble with his noodles, and turned away briefly to spontaneously combust a rather elegant priceless porcelain vase. And thus mentally prepared for the task at hand, he strode deliberately over to his lord.
"Lord Raenef, it is getting late. Perhaps you should turn in."
Raenef looked up at him, but in the precarious effort to make his gaze to reach Eclipse's face (which seemed remarkably higher than usual) he overbalanced and flopped over onto his back. His normally clear green eyes were hazy and unfocused, and he found himself wondering whether Eclipse actually had four eyes or eight.
"It's not that late," he protested, struggling in vain to roll back over onto his stomach, but when it didn't work he decided on his back was altogether a better position anyway. Eclipse noted with mild interest that his speech wasn't slurred anymore.
"You have been here nearly four hours." This was a downright lie, but Eclipse didn't think the young demon lord wouldn't be able to figure it out in his current state.
"Really? Felt like only half an hour…"
Eclipse sweatdropped nervously, but Raenef didn't pursue it.
"Okay then." Valiantly he staggered to his feet, but when he tried to take a step forward he ended up back on the floor on his butt. Hard.
"Ow…" he complained, rubbing his backside and giggling hysterically. Eclipse watched him in exasperation for a moment, and then picked up the youth's forgotten cup and took a tiny sip. He wrinkled his nose and sighed.
"As I suspected… Elven ale."
"D'ja say somethin', Eclipse?" Raenef asked, half-distracted by a fly buzzing around his blonde head.
"Yes, my liege, I suggested you turn in," answered Eclipse.
"Oh. Yeah, okay. G—"
"Wait!" Raenef stopped mid-incantation, and looked up at Eclipse, mouth still half-open.
"I will take you." Eclipse did not trust a tipsy Raenef with even this simple spell.
"Okey-dokey," said Raenef amiably, and held his arms up to him. After a moment's hesitation, Eclipse scooped him up obligingly, and Raenef wrapped his arms around his neck, snuggling into his chest.
"Go," Eclipse muttered, teleporting them to his lord's room. As he headed for the gargantuan bed dripping with silk, Raenef's hand tangled in his long hair and his warm, moist breath feathered against the bared skin of his chest, all of which he tried desperately to ignore.
"Master Raenef—"
"Mmm… Eclipse…" The low, sultry vibrations from Raenef's voice sent wonderful shivers down his spine. "You smell delicious…" Velvet lips ghosted over his chest, almost causing him to drop his charge. The tipsy, carefree Raenef of earlier was gone, replaced by an almost vulpine, seductive Raenef. Eclipse gritted his teeth, fighting the enticing imagery his lord's tepid, liquid tone brought to mind.
Damn that ale. Damn that knight.
"Do you have any idea…" the blonde in his arms murmured huskily, lapping lightly at Eclipse's skin, "…how incredibly sexy you are?"
This time, Eclipse did drop him. Fortunately he had reached the bed by this time (a journey that had seemed to take ten times as long as it should have), so Raenef landed will a dull fwump amid the silken sheets. Giggling, he smirked coyly up at his mentor.
"Come, sit with me," Raenef insisted, tugging at the dark robe. Eclipse sat, even as every rational voice in his head screamed and waved colorful flags at him telling him to stop. His young lord tucked his slender legs beneath him and ran a finger down the taller demon's chest, looking far too sexy for his own good, and making every other voice Eclipse's head cheer gleefully (though Eclipse would rather dress in pink frills in front of Lord Krayon than admit any part of him was ever gleeful). Swallowing hard and rapidly loosing control of his hormones, Eclipse found his mouth strangely dry.
"My lord… I should go, you need to sleep."
Raenef pouted, one small hot hand splayed on Eclips's bare chest. "Stay with me," he beseeched. "…Please?" he purred in the other demon's ear, and Eclipse's breath caught in his throat. Then he closed his eyes and counted slowly to ten, bringing his pulse back down to normal with great effort.
"You are intoxicated," he said finally, to himself as well as Raenef. "You do not know what you are doing."
"Ah…" Raenef smirked, "…but you know what they say… 'Alcohol speaks only the truth'…" He curled himself around Eclipse from behind, pressing himself against his back and draping his slim arms around the other's broad shoulders. Eclipse's dark eyes slid shut again as he battled the nearly overpowering urge to pin his lord to the bed and ravage his coy little mouth until his thirst was satisfied, the urge intensifying as Raenef skimmed his fingertips over Eclipse's chest and reduced the demon's insides to shivering jelly with a soft brush of his lips along the shell of his ear.
"Alcohol… does wonders for the tongue…" Raenef continued silkily, "…and now that it has liberated mine, I wish to tell you a secret…" Eclipse forgot to breathe as the lips turned to sultry tongue tracing his ear.
"My lord…" The small part of his mind that was still functioning and rational briefly considered teleporting away, but since Raenef was still draped all over him he would end up bringing him with him. The blonde drew his attention back to the matter at hand, or rather in his lap at present. Small hands on his shoulders pushed him down on the bed, and Eclipse raised questioning eyes to meet hot, smoky green. With a truly wicked smirk, Raenef straddled the other's narrow hips, and slowly, deliberately pressed his lips to his. A delicious jolt surged through Eclipse, and for a moment his mind simply melted in bliss, drowning in the petal soft lips, the subtly sweet taste of Raenef, the intoxicating heat.
Then Raenef pulled back, the smirk returning to his rose lips at the dazed look in Eclipse's eyes, and he rolled off his mentor and sprawled on the liquid silk sheets, his gaze burning and cryptic. Slowly Eclipse sat up as he regained control of his limbs; a darkness in his eyes hinted at an internal pained turmoil.
"I've been wanting to tell you for so long," Raenef murmured. "I… am in love…" He pressed his finger to Eclipse's chest. "… with you."
Eclipse tore his eyes away. "You do not know what you are saying. It is the alcohol that speaks." He surprised himself with the frigidity of his tone, but the coldness masked the pain of knowing that Raenef would not be saying this, would not be doing this, if he was not under the influence of the ale.
Raenef flinched as if Eclipse had stabbed him with a blade of ice. "You're wrong. I know exactly what I'm saying. There's nothing you, or I, can do about it. I don't know how to prove it to you, but I do. I can't help it. So… how… how dare you… mock me…" Voice heavy with emotion, he trailed of, fists clenched in Eclipse's robe, head lowered, unable to finish. Gradually his grip loosened, and he turned away, refusing to look at the other demon. Eclipse sat immobile, torn, as the silence stretched miles between them. Finally, Raenef spoke.
"It is alright if you do not love me in return," he said quietly. "Go then, if you do not, and we shall forget this incident."
For a full minute, Eclipse didn't move. Then, all his hard learned rationality went out the window, and lay beside his lord and wrapped his arms around his slender form, pulling him close. He felt Raenef smile and sigh softly, leaning into his warmth.
---
"What did you do to Raenef!" Chris demanded of a severely singed knight.
"Um, that." Erutis wore a look half-way between a grin of triumph and a grimace. "I spiked his drink."
"Yes, Captain Obvious," said Chris dryly. "With what?"
"With this." Erutis pulled the bottle she had found earlier out of her hammerspace—er, pocket. "Elven ale."
"WHAT!" The cleric's jaw hit the floor. "Ow…" He rubbed his chin. "Doesn't that stuff—um—"
"Er, well, just what it says in fine print." Erutis squinted at the label. "I didn't really read it… 'extreme intoxication, causes intermittent severe bouts of hyperactivity, high distraction levels, and sexual tendencies'—oh. Hm. Fancy that."
Chris went to bang his head against the nearest wall.
---
Eclipse woke the next morning still wrapped around Raenef, who, unsurprisingly, was still entwined in Sleep's embrace. Idly he toyed with the boy's soft locks, mulling over the night before and hesitantly peeking through the doors of opportunity this turn of events had opened, with the air of a child poking around where he knew he shouldn't be, but curiosity getting the better of him anyway.
He had certainly never even glimpsed that side of his young master before, and, familiar the properties of Elven ale from past a experience (one which no one would ever be able to make him recount, not even on threat of bewitching his beloved hair neon green), he wondered exactly how much of the Raenef of last night was the ale, and how much was actually him. The Raenef he knew was a far cry from the seductive blonde he had encountered last night, but surely even the ale, powerful as it is, couldn't create a new personality. There must have been some part of that Raenef that is real.
The intensity of his feelings certainly had been real.
He shivered, recalling the smoky ardency in the blonde's jade gaze, the coy feathering touches, that soft, sweet mouth press against him—
Damn Erutis, he thought, not really meaning it. After all, it certainly hadn't been an entirely unpleasant experience, and here he was in his master's bed with Opportunity barreling down his door on an African bull elephant.
Raenef stirred in his arms and moaned softly; then turned to blink at him with a purblind gaze, still hazy with sleep.
"Eclipse?"
Eclipse observed the sun of comprehension dawning in his green eyes. They widened in shock and Raenef sat up abruptly.
"Eclipse! Ow…" he groaned, holding his head and wincing, swaying like seaweed in the tides. His mentor helped him lie down again.
"It is best if you do not move, my lord," Eclipse advised him gently. Once the universe stopped pretending it was a gleeful dolphin and settled down, he looked at Eclipse and registered confusion.
"Eclipse…? What are you… here… I… what happened?"
Eclipse felt a massive sweat drop forming. "Do you remember anything?"
"Um… I fell asleep in the study, and then we went to dinner… and that's it."
Eclipse sighed in mild exasperation. It figures…
He noticed Raenef's eyes were shut tightly, as if opening them was too painful. Considering the strength and the amount of alcohol he had consumed, that was a likely explanation, thought Eclipse. He waved two fingers at the heavy window drapes and the lighter curtains around the bed and they snapped shut, leaving them in lighting equivalent to twilight. Raenef seemed to relax a little and chanced to open his eyes.
"Thank you."
Eclipse nodded in acknowledgement and bid his lord wait here (it was unlikely that he would go anywhere in this state, but Eclipse had learned long ago, that when dealing with Raenef, it was better to be safe than sorry), and teleported to his equivalent of a medicine closet, except it was more of a medicine mansion, with fifteen and a quarter wings and a thick directory at every juncture. He picked out a little indigo flask on the fourth shelf; there was a whole shelf of these indigo bottles of varying sizes, as if this was a remedy oft needed, but they were all layered with at least a half-year's coat of dust. Then he teleported back to Raenef's bed and helped him sit up.
"Drink this." He pressed the small flask into the boy's slender hand. Obediently Raenef took it and downed it. A moment later the drum corps rehearsing on his brain receded, and the world shifted back into focus.
"Better?" inquired Eclipse, taking the empty flask and setting it on the bedside table through a slit in the curtains. Raenef nodded.
"Much… what was it?"
"Hangover cure."
"Hang over…" the youth puzzled, "Wait… was I drunk?"
Eclipse nodded. "Your drink… had been tampered with."
"But still, how did you end up… I didn't do anything I should know about… did I?" His cheeks colored, a blush rising against his will. Eclipse hesitated, and then decided a little turnabout was fair play, even if there had been alcohol involved the first time.
"Well…" he began, lowering his voice nearly to a purr and invading Raenef's personal space, "I took you back to your room… and I tried to leave, but you insisted that I stay. You said you had a secret to tell me…" His dark eyes turned liquid hot and his hand began to slide up Raenef's arm, which was bare as he had not changed out of yesterday's summer clothes. Raenef felt heat rising in his face, as well as in other places, and his brain suddenly forgot how to breathe.
"Th-then what?" he gasped, as Eclipse drew one long finger along his jawline.
"Then…" Eclipse husked into his ear, eliciting a shiver, and then he placed one arm through the space between Raenef's elbow and hip and leaned on it so he was leaning over the blonde, and then brazenly pressed Raenef down onto the bed with the other hand. The young lord squeaked in surprise, staring up with wide eyes at the demon looming above him.
"…you did this…" Eclipse pressed his lips gently to Raenef's in a brief but lingering kiss. Then he withdrew, amused at the youth's dazed expression which he was sure was identical to the one he had worn after the kiss from the previous night.
Raenef brought a hand to his tingling lips, feeling as if his entire being was singing with electricity and fighting to regain coherency.
"And then what?" he asked breathlessly.
"Then…" murmured Eclipse, his eyes dark with intensity, "You told me that you loved me."
Raenef found he was paralyzed beneath that gaze.
"Was it the truth?" His tone was unreadable.
Raenef's heart skipped a beat. "Yes…" he whispered, "I do love you." Eclipse smirked, as if he had known the answer all along, but the blonde caught the flicker of relief that flashed across his eyes.
"Good," Eclipse replied, and kissed him again.
---
Chris ambled down the hallway, positively lost once more, when he spotted Erutis with her ear pressed against a door he recognized as the one to Raenef's room. He stopped.
"What're you—"
Erutis pounced on him, clapping a hand over his mouth.
"Shut up! They'll hear you!" She keeled over unexpectedly, a dreamy look plastered all over her face. "They finally admitted it! All thanks to me!" She squealed happily. "Oh, the cuteness… Eclipse can't possibly be mad at me now!"
"So it was you…." A dangerously quiet voice issued from behind her. Terror seized her, and she went SD, turning slowly to face a terrifying Eclipse with a handful of fire once more. A chibi Raenef poked his head curiously from behind Eclipse's robes, billowing with ire.
"Eep!" Erutis held a desperately flailing Chris in front of her as a shield.
"So you spiked my drink, Erutis?" Raenef inquired.
"Eh… well, all's well that ends well, right?" she laughed nervously. When Eclipse continued to glare death and flaming arrows at her, she began to back away slowly. "Uh… well, gotta go!" She fled rapidly with Chris scrambling after her, Eclipse's Black Fire of Painful Doom hot on her heels.
"Was that… really necessary?" Raenef asked tentatively as Eclipse continued to glower darkly after the knight, even as his magical fire dissipated.
"She must learn her place, my lord."
"Well…" Raenef dropped his gaze, blushing slightly. "Something good came out of it, right?"
Eclipse sighed. "Indeed, however, I believe this was her intention."
"Are you complaining?" Raenef asked shyly. Eclips tilted the youth's chin up so Raenef would meet his gaze, and then kissed him softly.
"Not at all," he murmured, and Raenef smiled. The young lord slipped his arms around his mentor, pressing close against him and burying his face in his chest.
"Will you stay with me forever, Eclipse?" he whispered, echoing his request from what seemed so long ago.
"As long as you wish, my love," Eclipse replied, embracing him warmly, and had no doubt that forever was in his arms.
---
Owari
---
Hmm… what did you think? I'm vaguely dissatisfied with it… but after two years it's time this thing got posted. Feedback, please!
Btw, I'm still offering a beta-service—e-mail me if you're interested!
PhoenixPhyre