Disclaimer: I want to meet Malice Mizer!!! *collapses*
Mana: *squirming* Puff, that looks dangerous. I don’t think that I need this…
Gackt: I’ll be waiting in that corner. It looks safe. *points to corner*
Puff: *glares*
Mana: Please, don’t hurt me.
Puff: *clings to Mana* I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to make sure you aren’t sick.
Mana: It’s just a headache!
Chapter Twelve
“I wonder where Mana and Gackt are. They’re usually awake before we get here,” Britney said, swirling her coffee around in the painted ceramic cup, “I don’t even want to go upstairs to see if they’re there because I might disturb them if they are.” She wound the ends of her brown hair around her finger, twisting the strands tightly.
“Yeah, who knows what they would do,” Adam said grumpily, biting into a cream cheese covered bagel, “But, if they are still asleep, I might be able to see what Mana wears to bed.” He quickly set down his early morning snack and began to hurry towards the door.
“Hold it,” Allison snapped, grabbing the back of Adam’s shirt collar and dragging him backwards, “You so quickly forget about her husband. Don’t you think Gackt might get a little upset about you walking into their bedroom, even if Mana didn’t get mad?” She yanked on the material, pulling it tight around her fingers.
“Britney said that they sleep in different rooms and I’d be really quiet,” Adam begged, trying to free his shirt before be began to asphyxiate. He was surreptitiously prying Allison’s fingers out of their death grip while acting as innocent as he could.
“There is so many things wrong in that sentence I don’t even know where to start,” Allison chastised, shoving Adam into his chair, “To start off, they don’t sleep in separate rooms. I got here first and went upstairs to see where they were. The door to the guest room was open and nobody was in there. Their door was shut, so I left it alone. And next, that’s horrible you’d walk in on a sleeping woman just to see what she wears to bed.” The biting lecture continued while life began to stir upstairs.
Mana sighed softly as his eyelashes began to flutter and he slowly slid back into wakefulness. He stretched to wake himself up, only to have his fingers immediately come into contact with something warm. Without pausing to think, Mana let out a bloodcurdling scream and scrambled away as fast as he could. In his haste, he got his legs tangled in the soft sheets and tumbled head first over the edge of the bed.
Gackt was rudely jolted into consciousness by Mana’s continued screaming. Crawling, so he wouldn’t also get tangled, Gackt hurried over to where Mana lay slightly twisted on the floor.
“What happened?” Gackt asked worriedly, snatching one of Mana’s hands and pulling him back up to the bed. The guitarist’s sapphire eyes were still wide with shock as he stared blankly at his friend.
“You scared me!” Mana exclaimed, pushing Gackt back softly, “Why did you have to be so close to me when I woke up? I told you to stay on your side last night! I’m not used to waking up with someone in my bed.” He pouted, pushing his long hair off of his lovely face.
“I’ll try to be less scary while unconscious and completely helpless from now on,” Gackt said blandly, glancing over to where Mana sat glaring, “I swear, I went to sleep thinking that I wouldn’t move but I guess my subconscious had other plans for me.” Mana smiled brightly, trying not to giggle.
“Stop teasing me,” Mana said calmly, jokingly hitting Gackt across the back of his skull.
“I’ll stop teasing you when you stop causing me pain this early in the morning,” Gackt muttered, yawning as he poked at his head, “I hope that this method of waking me up won’t be continued in the future, Mana.” Gackt let himself fall back against his pillows, groaning when the freshly cooled cloth met his warm skin.
“I’m sure it won’t happen anymore. I just forgot about you,” Mana chirped, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He leaned over and slid his slippers onto his feet, straightening out his nightgown as he stood up.
“Thanks, Mana. You forgot me. We’ve been friends for years and you manage to forget about me,” Gackt said sarcastically as he sat back up, his slight grin offsetting the nature of the tone.
“I didn’t forget about you personally, I forgot you were in my bed,” Mana explained, snatching his short dark blue dressing gown off of the footboard where it had been artfully draped. Carefully making sure that the long sleeves on his nightgown wouldn’t bunch up, he shrugged into the loosely flowing robe and tied the sash into a small bow.
“Our bed,” Gackt corrected playfully, climbing out and gently winding his fingers around of Mana’s arms. He began to lead the guitarist to the door, only to have Mana struggle against him slightly. Gackt, of course, quickly let go with a very confused look plastered across his handsome face.
“I am not going out into the house right after I woke up. I know my hair is all messed up and I don’t want people to see me like this,” Mana stated coolly, self-consciously smoothing his long black-blue hair with the tips of his fingers. Gackt sighed with slight annoyance, snatching Mana’s free hand from his side and continued to pull his friend along.
“You shouldn’t worry so much. You look gorgeous, just like you always do,” Gackt complimented, making eye contact to show he was being truthful, “It’s actually a little scary that you didn’t even smudge the eye shadow you left on.” He quietly opened the bedroom door and pushed Mana out into the almost pitch-black hallway.
“Thank you, that’s really nice of you to say so. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, what are we doing sneaking around our own house?” Mana questioned in a whisper, stepping lightly on the soft carpet as he followed Gackt. Sighing, the vocalist stopped, turned around, and tried to see Mana in the darkness that cloaked the entire corridor.
“Because we’re going to see what those servants of ours do when they think we won’t catch them,” Gackt explained quickly, uselessly gesturing for Mana to follow him. The guitarist rolled his azure eyes and waited until he heard Gackt’s soft footfall resume before he continued along as well.
“Gackt, they’re probably waiting for us to come downstairs,” Mana murmured, tugging on one of his delicate slippers as it threatened to fall off his foot, “I think they know we’re awake.” His friend paused in his steps and glared over his shoulder, a sliver of light falling on his blue eyes. He pushed a few locks of auburn hair off of his face and sped down the stairwell, not waiting to see if a certain guitarist was going to follow him.
Sneaking as quietly as was humanly possible, Mana and Gackt crept down the hall to stand just off to the side of the kitchen door. They stood silently so they could attempt to hear what was being discussed inside the room.
“I really think that we should go see what happened up there,” Britney said forcefully, slamming her now empty coffee cup against the tabletop, “Something horrible could have happened and we’ll be to blame if we don’t do anything to help.”
“I agree, but it could have just been nothing as well. I don’t know how well Mana and Gackt would take to us storming into their bedroom unannounced this early,” Allison countered immediately, leaning forward with her head resting on her hand. Her flame colored hair shimmering in the light was only matched in luminosity by the fierce glares that she was receiving from Adam and Britney.
“Nothing? Mana wouldn’t have screamed like that if nothing happened. It’s our jobs to make sure that they’re safe and happy. We should go check on them,” Adam said loudly, his voice tinted with a trace of hopefulness, “Something could have happened to Gackt.” Both women’s eyes darkened noticeably at his words and the butler quickly moved away from the table.
“We know what you want, Adam,” Allison said scathingly, letting her eyes soften so it wouldn’t seem as harsh, “You’re just lucky that we don’t tell our employers how you feel about each of them.”
“Hey, I think Gackt is a great guy. I like him. I just happen to like Mana a lot more and in a different way,” Adam explained quickly, smiling boyishly at his coworkers. Allison and Britney shook their heads with resignation, returning to their dispute without another word. Gackt amusedly looked over at Mana, who was obviously pleased with the comment.
“Do you think that they realize we could have died in the time they’ve wasted?” Gackt asked quietly, his voice barely carrying to where Mana stood less than a foot away. The guitarist shook his head, his long midnight blue rippling softly with each movement. Gackt motioned for Mana to go through the doorway first, to which Mana responded by instantaneously shoving Gackt forward.
The three servants stared at their employers blankly for a few seconds as if they didn’t quite recognize them. Adam was the first to recover, though his gaze didn’t stray very far from Mana and his rather short nightgown.
“Good morning,” Britney chirped, smiling awkwardly, “If you don’t mind me asking, why was there screaming earlier? We were really worried about you both.”
“Screaming? Oh, that,” Mana said casually, pausing momentarily as he thought of something to say, “I thought I saw a somebody in the room, but it was just my mind playing tricks on me.”
“That makes sense,” Allison said uncertainly, warily watching the pair of musicians as she switched to a different topic, “Since I’ve got you both here, do you want anything for breakfast?” Adam’s ears seemed to perk up as his eyes cheerfully shot to where the chef stood waiting. Mana and Gackt looked at each other, both nodding slightly.
“Just make something you’d normally make and we’ll try a little bit,” Gackt stated blankly, smiling in such a way it was nearly impossible to tell if he was being sarcastic. Allison smiled brightly back, hurrying over to the spotless white counters where she began organizing all the ingredients she’d need.
“I better get to work now,” Britney said suddenly, dashing from the table, “Send Adam to get me when breakfast is ready.” She darted out of the kitchen, almost running straight into a decorative mirror hung on the wall. Adam watched her leave and then let his attention to return to Mana.
“Mana, I have to say you look lovely. Angels themselves are in awe,” Adam purred, his green eyes lazily wandering over the guitarist’s thin body. Clandestinely, the butler looked over at Gackt to make sure he wasn’t going to get into trouble.
“Thank you,” Mana responded calmly, though he unconsciously moved closer to his band mate. Gackt raised an eyebrow, coolly waiting to see what would happen next.