Disclaimer: No, no, no! I don’t own them! I’m just using the people from Malice Mizer for my own amusement.
Puff: *sticks head through doorway* Mana, feeling better?
Mana: Yes, of course. The nap did wonders.
Puff: *dances* That’s great! I’ll go get you some soup to make you feel even better.
Mana: *smiles* That would be great. *watches Puff leave* Gackt, get me an aspirin. My head is killing me.
Gackt: I’d love to, but Puff keeps all the medicine locked up in several boxes.
Mana: This is going to be a long day…*sigh*
Playing House
Chapter Fourteen
“It looks like there’s a lot more because I have most everything spaced loosely so there isn’t the risk of any wrinkles forming,” Mana explained innocently, toying with a wavy lock of his hair, “We could condense it a fair amount and there wouldn’t be any damage done.”
“We’d best get to work then. It’s already after ten,” Gackt said, gesturing for Mana to come and help him. The guitarist hurried over and began to carefully compact the rows of clothing, meticulously adjusting pieces as he went. Gackt, as soon as his friend had cleared a spot, pulled a pile of dresses out and went to go hang them back up where there was space.
“No!” Mana screeched, nearly tackling the vocalist in his haste, “You can’t put those there!” With a good reason, Gackt blinked confusedly and looked to see if he had been about to smash something. Finding no particular explanation to why he had been rudely stopped, the auburn haired man decided to find out why by using the simplest method.
“Would you mind telling me why I can’t put these clothes away?” Gackt asked quickly, readjusting the heavy pile in his arms. Mana shook his head, smiling in the way one would smile at a child who didn’t have a clue to what was going on.
“You can put them away. Just not there because that spot is for shirts, not dresses,” Mana explained pleasantly, pointing to the row of shirts that was already there, “The dresses will just have to wait for a little while.” He started to work on the next row of clothing while Gackt went to go set the dresses down.
“Don’t you dare do that,” Mana warned, confounding his friend once again, “Hang them back up. They’ll get smashed if you lay them out like that.”
“I don’t think they’d get damaged or even wrinkled in the little bit of time they’d be laid out,” Gackt countered, indignant that Mana would talk to him in that seemingly condescending way.
“All of my clothes are delicate,” Mana said simply, pouting when Gackt rolled his eyes, “I take all sorts of precautions to prevent anything happening to them.”
“Well, Mana, I don’t know those precautions. I’ll just leave you to adjust your clothes the way you want,” Gackt said with a hint of annoyance, making himself comfortable on the bed, “Tell me when you’re done so I can move my clothes.” Mana stared in shock as the vocalist turned to watch him work.
“Fine, go ahead and do that,” Mana snapped, recovering very quickly. He huffily returned to rearranging his clothes, muttering darkly about stupid vocalists and how they have such horrible behavior. After a few minutes, watching Mana talk about him lost its appeal to Gackt.
He settled back against his pillows, not bothering to turn down the layers of blankets. Gackt let his blue eyes close softly while he waited for Mana to finish with his clothes. He amused himself by trying his very hardest to catch all that Mana was muttering about him, getting very worried when the room fell silent after about ten minutes.
Staying perfectly still, Gackt listened for Mana’s footsteps. He was cursing the thick white carpet that covered the floor, muting any noise generated by walking across it.
“I know you aren’t asleep,” Mana said softly, sitting down next to where Gackt lay. The vocalist decided not to respond, trying to figure out if Mana wasn’t upset anymore or if he was going to kill him.
“You don’t fall asleep this fast unless you’re dead tired, Gackt, so it’s no use pretending,” Mana continued, sighing when Gackt didn’t respond in the slightest, “Ok, you’re going to ignore me. I might as well say it anyway. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like I did. I’m sorry.” He stood up and walked off, slightly hurt by how he had just been disregarded.
“You’re just not saying that, are you?” Gackt asked, waiting to move until he got a proper answer.
“No, I really shouldn’t have gotten upset. You wouldn’t know how fussy I am when it comes to my clothes,” Mana said, fiddling with the bottom of his sleeve.
“I knew you were fussy. I just didn’t know how fussy,” Gackt teased, though he tried to sound serious. He got back up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed so he could sit comfortably. Mana was smiling softly to himself, his blue eyes lit with a lovely glow.
“Now get over here and help me. Moving this stuff gets tiring very quickly and I don’t want to do it all myself,” Mana said happily, the tone of his voice completely offsetting his words.
“I knew you just wanted me to work,” Gackt said, stretching as he walked over to where Mana was waiting for him.
“Well, I did feel badly about getting mad at you so easily,” Mana began cautiously, letting his gaze dart all over the room, “But I figured it would be a waste not to use you.” He smiled lightly, pointing to the dresses that Gackt had abandoned earlier and to the place where they were now supposed to go.
“I feel so cared for,” Gackt commented sardonically, picking up the dresses and carefully hanging them in the closet. Mana strolled back over with a small pile of long skirts. He put them away and patted the vocalist on the shoulder.
“That’s good to know,” Mana said, trying not to laugh, “I’m being serious, despite the fact I’m giggling, so don’t think I’m being sarcastic. I really wouldn’t want you to think that I didn’t care. You’re such a good friend.” As he finished speaking, his laughter spilled forth and the doll nearly doubled over as he tried to stop.
“I suppose you’re laughing because of how odd this entire conversation has sounded, right?” Gackt asked calmly, staring as Mana regained his composure enough to nod quickly, “I thought so. Would you hurry up and stop laughing? I’d hate to be moving clothing all night.” Mana took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes briefly, and was back to his normal self.
They resumed their work, hurriedly but carefully moving the piles of beautiful clothes from one spot in the closet to another. Things went swimmingly until Gackt found a bunch of very small and fragile-looking clothing articles that fell out of box he accidentally dropped.
“Mana, would you mind telling me what in the world these things are?” Gackt asked, cautiously plucking one from the pile. The guitarist, who had his back to his friend, turned around. His sapphire eyes first spotted the painted box on the floor and he turned a vivid crimson. He bounded over, pulled the cloth from Gackt’s hands, shoved it unceremoniously back into the box, and frantically checked to see if all the other boxes lined up along the closet floor were still safe.
“Be very careful not to drop any of those boxes, Gackt,” Mana ordered uncomfortably, carefully putting the lid back onto the one that opened.
“I promise I’ll be careful,” Gackt said honestly, thinking if he really wanted to risk upsetting Mana any further, “If you don’t want to answer me, you don’t have to but I’m still kind of curious to know what’s in that box.” Pausing before he did so, the guitarist carefully opened the lid and looked inside.
“Some of my summer slips are in here,” Mana said, obviously not as embarrassed as before. Some of the scarlet faded away from the doll’s face as he relaxed.
“I’m not going to even ask,” Gackt stated, “No, wait, I still have one more question. Why did you get so upset when you saw that one of those boxes was open? I mean if you just have slips in there I don’t see why you got so.” Mana put up a small hand, silencing Gackt before he continued any further.
“In those different boxes, there’s more than just slips,” Mana explained, gently setting the box he held into its new spot, “Things that are more…personal.” Gackt thought for a second before he realized what his friend was talking about. Immediately, he flushed a pretty shade of pink.
“I’m sorry,” Gackt said hurriedly, mortified at the chance he could have dropped a different box.
“It’s fine,” Mana soothed, smiling to show that he wasn’t angry, “Let’s just get this all finished. At this rate, we’ll finish around sunrise.”
“I was thinking a little before then,” Gackt said as he very carefully moved the other painted boxes, “Because, if we got done before, we could go out on that nice balcony with some hot tea to watch the sunrise. That would be pleasant.”
“Like we’d have the energy,” Mana said, finally getting tired of pushing his hair out his eyes. He found a ribbon and tied the long locks back with a small bow.
*The wee hours of the morning*
“We finished moving everything. I’m surprised we got everything so organized,” Mana said tiredly, pulling the half undone bow out of his hair, “We managed it and now we don’t have to worry. And we still have time to watch that sunrise you wanted to see, if you still want to.”
“It’ll have to wait. There’s plenty of sunrises but I need my sleep now,” Gackt muttered, letting himself fall onto the black silk bedspread.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Mana said, yawning as he went to go get into a nightgown. Gackt tried to get up to go find his pajamas but decided it would be much easier after a little nap.
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