Disclaimer: Do you really think that I could own real people? Well, I don’t.
Puff: I brought you a nice, warm bowl of chicken soup! *noisily sets down tray*
Mana: *trying not to wince* Thank you.
Puff: Are you sure you feel better?
Mana: Yes, of course I’m sure.
Puff: I’ll just let in some sunlight to brighten things up. *throws open drapes*
Mana: >_<
Gackt: *quietly watching from corner*
Playing House
Chapter Fifteen
“Gackt, get up,” Mana said tiredly, weakly shaking the vocalist’s shoulder, “It’s a little after nine. You need to wake up.” The doll like man sighed when Gackt swatted away his small hand.
“No, I don’t. It’s not like I have to get ready for an interview or something,” Gackt muttered, covering his head more thoroughly with one of his pillows, “I can sleep all I want.” Mana rolled his blue eyes and yanked the pillow away, staring straight at a very groggy Gackt who was desperately trying to figure out what was going on.
“If you sleep now, you’ll be awake all night again,” Mana said gently, brushing a piece of auburn hair away from Gackt’s face. The vocalist opened his eyes further and nodded slowly, forcing himself to sit up.
“Fine, I’ll get up now,” Gackt said, rubbing at his eyes.
“Good boy,” Mana teased, trying not to yawn, “The bathroom is all yours, just so you know. I’m going to go see what our servants are up to.” Gackt instantly noticed that his friend was dressed in day clothes and had done his hair and make-up already. The guitarist quickly walked out of the bedroom, leaving Gackt to finish waking up.
“Isn’t today a lovely day?” Britney chirped when she spotted Mana entering the kitchen, hurrying over to her employer. Adam found it easier to openly stare from where he was seated, instead of trying to talk.
“I suppose so,” Mana responded dryly, looking around the room, “Allison, do you think that you could get some tea made?”
“What kind?” Allison asked immediately, pulling a teapot out of a cabinet as she spoke.
“It doesn’t matter. Just anything to wake me up,” Mana said, letting himself slump down into a chair. Allison selected a strong tea and began to heat water, walking over to where Mana was. She set a hand on top of one of Mana’s, worriedly watching him.
“Are you alright? I know a very good doctor who could probably find an opening in his schedule for you, if you’re sick,” Allison said softly, smiling warmly at Mana.
“I don’t think that the doctor would be of much help,” Mana responded, lightly squeezing Allison’s hand before removing it, “I’m just tired, that’s all. None of you should worry in the slightest.” Adam and Britney looked slightly confused at the exchanged; they hadn’t noticed anything wrong with Mana. The butler sat forward, clearing his throat to get attention as he prepared to speak.
“Mana, why would you be tired?” Adam asked bluntly, lacing his fingers together. Allison rolled her eyes and went to pour the now boiling water into the teapot, snuggly closing the porcelain lid so fragrant steam wouldn’t escape.
“Gackt and I were up almost the entire night,” Mana said, not stopping to think before he spoke. He pushed a long lock of black-blue hair away from his eyes, not bothering to look up to see the responses of the others in the room. They were looking around at each other, varying degrees of shock and amusement plastered across their three faces.
Adam, obviously even more curious at this point, was about to open his mouth to ask why they were up so late when Britney slapped him across the top of his skull. A fierce glare from the fire-haired chef further silenced the butler. Mana’s blue eyes flicked up, immediately spotting a sulking Adam. The guitarist shook his head, standing up slowly.
“I’m going to go make sure that Gackt is awake,” Mana said, striding towards the hallway, “He’ll keep me up again if he fell back asleep. I don’t think that two nights, in a row, of almost no sleep would be good for a person. I’ll be back in a little while for my tea.” The servants watched him leave; quietly listening to make sure that he was walking up the stairs.
“And you two thought they were having problems,” Allison scoffed, smirking at her coworkers, “If they keep that up, the only problem they’ll have is trying to think of a name for the baby. We’ll probably be helping to decorate a nursery in no time at all.” Britney nodded, trying to show that Allison was right without having to admit that she was wrong.
“Does this mean that Mana isn’t interested in me?” Adam asked, genuinely curious.
“Mana was never interested in you,” Allison and Britney snapped at the same time, the annoyance in their eyes matching exactly, “She never will be.” Adam looked slightly hurt at their sharp tone, but didn’t seem too disappointed.
“I can always fantasize,” Adam said cheerfully, making himself even more comfortable in his chair, “I do have plenty of time and she’s always around somewhere in this house.” He was about to settle back to daydream when a light knocking on the front door forced him to get up. Adam walked off grumbling about stupid people interrupting his free time, conveniently forgetting that he was finally doing his job.
“Gackt?” Mana called out inquiringly, slowly opening the door to the bedroom, “Did you fall back asleep?” When the guitarist was quite sure he wasn’t going to accidentally embarrass his friend, he walked in the rest of the way and sat down on the corner of the rumpled bed. While he waited in silence for Gackt, Mana let himself rest against the ebony bedpost with the back of his head cushioned on the ornate bow tied to hold the curtains in place.
After a few minutes passed, Mana slipped into a semi-conscious state. His glazed azure eyes closed as he drifted close to sleep. He didn’t hear the vocalist walk out of the bathroom and begin to search for a shirt. Unfortunately, Gackt wasn’t much more aware of his surroundings and didn’t notice Mana sitting on the bed. Gackt was simply pulling articles of clothing out of the closet and throwing them on to the bed so he could better match things to the pants he had previously selected.
“Do you mind?” Mana snapped after he was jolted back into consciousness by getting hit on the head with at least three shirts. Gackt, completely stunned, whirled around to face the guitarist who was quietly running his fingers over his dark hair.
“I thought you were downstairs,” Gackt said with a hint of confusion, before his tired mind grasped on to logic and he waved off an answer while gesturing at the shirts he had thrown at Mana, “Since you’re here, which one do you think matches theses pants best?” Mana’s eyes flicked from the pile of fabric in front of him, to Gackt, and back again before he shook his head.
“Why don’t you try that white one with the pale blue pattern,” Mana said helpfully, pointing to a shirt half-hidden in a corner, “It would look very nice with the dark gray pants you have on.” Gackt nodded and pulled the shirt from the closet, quickly slipping into it. He made sure all the small white buttons were done up before hurriedly putting the other shirts back where they belonged.
“I want to know how you saw this shirt,” Gackt said as he strode back into the bathroom to finish his hair, “It was practically buried.” Mana followed him, leaning lightly against the doorframe.
“I remembered it from when we were moving around clothes last night,” Mana explained, smoothing a few small wrinkles out of his black dress while his eyes were flicking over Gackt, “I was right. It does look good.” The vocalist smiled at his friend, carefully moving an auburn lock of hair to where it was supposed to be.
“Those three are being awfully loud,” Gackt stated, walking out of the bathroom and into the hallway, “I wonder what they’re up to.”
“Let’s go see. I want to get my tea anyway,” Mana said, prancing down the dim staircase with Gackt only a few steps behind him. They were greeted by the sight of their butler talking loudly to three of the neighbors in the corridor right outside the living room.
“Oh, Gackt, there you are!” Adam exclaimed, gesturing for the vocalist to join the group, “John, Scott, and Anthony came over to visit you.” Mana, fully entranced by the sweet aroma of the hot tea, wandered into the kitchen.
“So, what can I do for you?” Gackt asked, looking at each of the three guests in turn.
“Nothing in particular. We just thought it would be nice if we came over to get to know you better,” Scott explained cheerfully, smiling at Gackt. His two companions nodded in agreement.
“You know, take you out and show you some of the best places to hang out,” John said, leaning closer to Gackt before he continued, “For when you need to get away from your wife.”
“I don’t have any reasons to try and get away from Mana,” Gackt said truthfully, thinking about what a good friend Mana was. The three married men looked at each other with shocked faces, genuinely surprised at the honest ring his tone of voice held.
“You two are still newlyweds; in a few months, you’ll be glad we showed you these places,” Anthony said forebodingly, lightly patting Gackt’s shoulder. The vocalist, realizing that he wasn’t going to win, decided to concede.
“While I don’t think that I’ll want to escape, I will allow you to show me around the town. But not today,” Gackt said, fiddling absentmindedly with the silver band around his ring finger, “We’ll have to go some other time.” The trio was crestfallen; their means of escape for the day had been shattered.
“Why don’t you want to go today?” John asked, his voice on the verge of pleading while his green eyes were already begging. His two friends wore matching expressions.
“I’m really tired. I barely got a wink of sleep,” Gackt explained quickly, thinking back to the long hours spent having Mana meticulously detail out how things had to be arranged, “It’s at times like these, that I wish that Mana wasn’t such a perfectionist.” He smiled apologetically at the men, who were glancing around at each other.
“We’ll come back another time,” Anthony said, a splash of admiration creeping into his voice, “We know the way out.” He, with his friend right on his heels, hurriedly left the house. Gackt turned to look at Adam, not quite sure what had caused the men to leave so suddenly.
“Was it something I said?” Gackt inquired, shrugging when Adam didn’t seem apt to answer him.
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