"Have you heard about it, my Dear?"
The dark-haired teen with stoic amethyst eyes just shot her a questioning look. His mouth still munching on his lunch; his own handmade fried rice accompanied by a glass of iced tea, his favorite menu since he came here.
The woman in purple dress giggled amusedly. Ea's way of eating was always fun to be seen. His cold surface disappeared instantly when he was eating, no matter what time it was. Be it at breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even when he woke up at midnight to watch TV alone, he always looked like a child. /No wonder Landkarte never wanted to miss this scene every day,/ Profe thought with gentle smile plastered on her lips.
But, well, this wasn't the topic she wanted to discuss about with the younger teen, anyway.
"Have you heard the rumor about Landkarte falling in love with someone in your school?"
Ea choked immediately after he heard that shocking question.
Oo—O—oO
Their Daily Lives
Oo—O—oO
Genre: Family – General
Rate: T
Warning(s): AU, lame ending, hints of shonen ai everywhere, and grammar mistakes—need beta reader now, I think… *sulk*
Disclaimer: 07-Ghost belongs to Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara.
A/N: Birthday fic for Ea. Thank you for reminding me in your PM, YanaNeko! #hug
Oo—O—oO
Story 2
~Badinage and Birthday~
Oo—O—oO
"Eh? What's wrong, Ea?"
Ea was still trying to control himself when he arrived at Vertrag's place; panting heavily after running around the manor just to find 'The One Who Know Everything' after Profe.
It's not that he actually cared about that loafer—he's just curious about the truth of that rumor.
It's just that and nothing else.
…or was there…?
"Well, control your breath first—inhale, exhale. Good, keep it up. Now, sit down and drink this. You must be tired from running, am I right?" The blond man said while offering a glass of cold water to him. Ea muttered 'thank you' and drank it all immediately after he received the glass. After regained his strength to ask, he opened his mouth to speak—
"IS THAT TRUE THAT LANDKARTE IS FALLING IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE, VERTRAG?!"
- only to be cut by a hysterical blond man whom they knew the most who he was.
If that man wasn't the one who've babysit him when he's still a child, Ea would like to send him to the North Pole with his kick immediately.
"…thank you for voicing my question, Relikt. Now, would you please calm down and let Vertrag answers that?"
Realizing that he had made the teen's gloomy aura appeared in seconds, Relikt quickly shut his mouth and sat calmly beside Ea to listen to another blond man in front of him.
Meanwhile, in other place, a certain teen with long bangs on the left side of his face was hugging a photo with wide, happy smile on his face.
#
The next day, Ea appeared at school with panda eyes and messy bed hair that made his classmates shocked.
Landkarte, who went to school first because he couldn't wake Ea up like usual that morning, rubbed his eyes twice to make sure he didn't get the wrong person in his sight. But even after his eyes became rather sore because he rubbed it hard, the one that appeared in his eyes with that unusual panda eyes and messy hair was still the same person.
Simply put, it really was Ea who sat with grimace look on his face.
And, just like what usually happened when something strange happened in front of him, Landkarte screamed frightfully and ran to his comrade instantly.
"What's wrong, Ea? Did you get some nasty nightmares last night? Or did Zehel do some terrible pranks on you again today? Uwaaah! Sorry for not waiting for you today! I really am sorry~!" he screamed hysterically while hugging the poor, almost breathless dark-haired teen in his arms. If he didn't notice that his best friend almost died by his own hand, he wouldn't let him go and became more worried than now. "Sorry for that. Would you like to tell me the reason, Ea?"
Ea looked at him with frown on his face, and then turned his head away.
Again, their classmates had to try to resist the urge to shut Landkarte's mouth with glue when the said teen screamed again. But it wasn't a matter for Ea, anyway, since he had lived with the hysterical teen since more than a decade and heard the noise he made every day in his life.
But still, the thought of Landkarte having a girlfriend (or something like that, just in case if he preferred the same gender and not the opposite one) made Ea worried. Had a lover mean that Landkarte would leave him to be with that person, and if Landkarte left him to be with the person he loved so much mean that he'd be all alone again, like when he's still living with his original family.
And Ea didn't want to be alone again.
He realized that Profe and the others were still there for him, but the thought of not being able to hear Landkarte's noisy voice and not being able to see his bright smile…
"…hey, Landkarte."
Landkarte blinked. Did Ea just speak to him just now…?
"May I ask something to you?" Ea asked with dull tone on his voice. Landkarte nodded immediately, hoping that Ea's condition would be better after he spoke about the heavy weight on his mind. He had thought that Ea would ask something serious like the homework he hadn't done yesterday, but he didn't ever thought that Ea would ask something that made him laughed out loud like that—a question like, "Are you really falling in love with someone now?" wasn't something that Landkarte thought would come out from Ea's mouth. Especially with those panda eyes which signed that the questioner couldn't sleep because of that.
"You—you—"
"Don't laugh, you moron!" Oh my. Those red blushes on Ea's cheeks made him hungry now.
After a minute full of laughter and Ea's incoherent cursing, Landkarte calmed down slowly and smiled amusedly. "Where did you hear that, hmm? From Profe? Or maybe Vertrag?"
"…knew it from Profe for the first time and I asked about the truth from Vertrag."
Landkarte chuckled again. "So curiosity really killed the Cat."
"I'm not a cat."
"But, honestly, your eyes look like those that cats have."
"Shut up."
"And you don't want to hear the answer?"
"…speak it up, then."
"Honestly again, Ea, it's true that I'm falling in love."
Ea's amethyst eyes widened. "Do I know her?"
Landkarte puffed his cheek to restrain his laughter.
Ea frowned again. "…not 'she'?"
Landkarte shook his head with amused smirk on his face.
"Then it's 'he'…?"
"Maybe yes, maybe no~"
"…you're not falling in love with Teddy Bear again, are you?"
"Do I look like a kindergartener now, Ea?"
"If someone sees it from personality side, then the answer is 'yes'."
"How mean. But I'm really a 16-years old High School student, you know?"
"Aah. I'm not a moron to forget such things."
"Then guess it again—you do know him very well."
"Very well?"
"Too well, actually."
"Is it—"
"—even if you mentioned my acquaintances' names one by one, I would answer 'no' for my own safety."
"Then tell me."
"Never. Guess it yourself."
"Land—"
"Ah, the bell is ringing. Gotta go back to my chair now~! Ja, Ea!"
For the first time in his life as a student, Ea felt like he was going to murder the one who rang the bell just now.
#
"—a."
Ea frowned, but he hadn't opened his eyes yet.
"Oi, Ea—"
His frown deepened. /Is that Zehel's voice?/
"WAKE UP, EA! THERE'S FROGS SITTING ON YOUR PILLOW!"
The dark-haired teen immediately woke up and hid behind the caller's back. His frightful expression became stoic again when he realized that it's just a part of Zehel's cruel prank—again. "What a moron I am, falling for the same trick twice today…" he mumbled softly, ignoring Zehel's laughter which filled the once quiet room. The older man immediately asked for an apology when he realized that Ea's gloomy aura has started to appear again, and again ignored by the rather-ignorant teen behind him.
"So, what's your problem again? It's like… what..." Ea stared at the clock on his table, "…almost twelve o'clock in the midnight? What kind of illness you're getting now, Zehel?"
"I'm not getting any illness currently, dear Ea—"
"Stop mimicking Profe's way of saying my name, Old Man. You're not a gentle woman like she is."
"—I'm not an old man, Brat. I'm just turned 26 last month."
"Whatever. Now, do you mind telling me about your motives of waking me up in the middle of the night?"
"Well, Landkarte's getting some fever again and—"
"Why didn't you tell me about it earlier, you Geezer?!"
When the youngest residence ran from his room, Zehel picked up his cellphone and dialed the only female residence of this manor's number. "He's coming to the other Brat's bedroom. Be prepared, Profe."
.
Ea was running carelessly on the stairways when he suddenly saw a silhouette in front of windows.
He sighed loudly and tried to follow that silhouette while mentally cursing Landkarte's habit of sleep-walking when he's getting fever. "That Jerk really pissed me off!"
Unknown by him, a certain long-haired woman who was standing behind the wall giggled cutely. Now she knew another reason of Landkarte's hobby to do pranks on Ea. "And yet, you do care about him even if you yelled like that, don't you?"
.
"Landkarte!"
No response. The 'sleep-walking' teen was still running to God only knew where, ignoring Ea's shouts and heavily panting sound far behind him.
It's when he reached to the backyard; he suddenly stopped and made the ignorant Ea bumped into his back. The sudden lamp lights made Ea's eyes blinded by the light for a moment. And when he regained his ability to see everything clearly, the first thing that came to his sight was Landkarte's trademark playful smirk.
And he noticed that loafer's eyes were opened.
In other words, he didn't sleep-walking like what Zehel told him before.
Before his gloomy aura appeared again, Landkarte grabbed his arm to support him to stand by himself. While the other giggling happily, Ea mumbled something incoherently—cursing Zehel and his mind that full of tricks to do pranks, maybe?
"Happy birthday, Ea~!"
Right after Landkarte said it, confetti suddenly popped out on top of his head and made him winced slightly. Trumpets sound could be heard from his surrounding too at the same time. He didn't try to push Landkarte when he hugged him like usual; he just stood still and bent his head, trying to hide the tears that falling from his eyes. He didn't try to run too when Zehel's hand ruffled his already messed up hairs. He accepted those gestures gratefully, biting his mouth so that nobody would realize he's crying now.
"Ah. It seems like he's crying, Brother."
…scratch that. He had failed on his task to keep it as secret when Vertrag's younger brother said it out loud.
/Damn Krowell,/ he cursed mentally. The grey-haired teen ignored his death glare and kept reading his book, ignoring the fact that the light was rather dim.
"Eeh? Ea's crying? There, there—no need to cry again, Ea! Everyone's here to celebrate your birthday now!" Landkarte said happily. He pulled the still crying Ea to the place where Fest was standing. He gave the dark-haired teen knife to cut the big, two layered birthday cake with 16-shaped candles on it. Ea rubbed his eyes with his pajama sleeves, and accepted the knife with blush on his cheeks.
Again, Landkarte had to resist his urge to do the 'usual thing' when he saw those blushes on Ea's cheeks.
"Come on, Ea, cut them and give the first piece to your best friend!" Krom said cheerfully. Despite his age that had reached thirty—he's the older brother of Vertrag, anyway—, he didn't look old. His rather childish demeanor made him looked younger than his real age.
And he did like what Krom told him to do. But he's rather hesitant when he had to give it, and fortunately Fest realized it. "You can save it for later, you know?"
Ea mentally thanked him for this.
.
"Don't you want to do it now, Landkarte?"
The light-haired teen turned around to see the owner of that voice. He smiled when he realized that it's Krowell, not a ghost or something like that which was rumored to live in this manor just like what Zehel had told him in his childhood. "What do you mean, Krowell?"
Krowell sighed slightly. He closed his book and stared blankly at his schoolmate's face before saying, "Don't you want to tell him about the answer of his question this morning?"
"Ah. So that's what you're talking about."
"Quit playing fool and be serious already."
"You're speaking like him now."
"At least, I'm not a kuudere or yandere type."
Landkarte chuckled amusedly. "And why did you want me to do it so badly, Krowell?"
"No particular reason. Just want to see his reaction when he knew the answer."
"Curiosity kills the Cat, people said."
"No matter how you look at me, Landkarte, I'm not a cat or have cat-like eyes like that guy."
"Well, that's true…" Landkarte scratched the back of his head and hummed childishly. "But, you know, I think it's not the time to tell him the answer; I don't want to see him shocked again like before, when I lied to him about being fall in love with Teddy Bear."
Krowell inhaled deeply, and Landkarte frowned when he saw it.
"You're laughing."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"Not."
"Yes you are."
"I'm not laughing."
"Then why did you inhale deeply like that?"
"…I'm a human who need to breathe so I wouldn't die in young age, my friend."
"Liar."
"You're saying it like you've never done it before."
"So you admit that you're lying."
"…forgot to do my homework. Need to go home now."
"Don't run away, you liar!"
.
.
The End.