Disclaimer: I’m just borrowing Malice Mizer for my own sick, twisted amusement. ^_^
Gackt: Um, well, you see….
Puff: *sharpening knives*
Mana: Gackt, are you okay?
Gackt: I’m fine…yes, just fine.
Puff: *shows fangs*
Gackt: I’ll have some soup after all.
Puff: Great! *skips off*
Playing House
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Hold this and pin that,” Mana ordered, shoving a plethora of items at his friend, “And trim this piece of lace, if you don’t mind.” Gackt nodded in a blatantly over-dramatized manner, hurriedly figuring out how to perform his tasks with the only two hands at his disposal. As he rushed to keep up with the frenetic pace, the vocalist didn’t even notice that Mana had fallen silent. It was only when soft giggles reached his ears did Gackt pause and look up.
“Why are you laughing at me?” Gackt asked, a twinge of hurt tinting his voice and dancing in his clear blue eyes. The blue-haired man sitting by him smiled widely and reached over to pat his hand softly.
“I wasn’t laughing at you. I just didn’t expect you to be so serious about doing what I told you to do,” Mana explained brightly, brushing a shimmering lock of hair off of his face as he spoke, “You took me by surprise; that’s all. And that look of sheer determination on your face was priceless. You looked like a young child, desperate to make a parent happy.” Gackt flushed a pale pink and set down most of the items he had been holding. He absentmindedly arranged them in order that he thought they’d need to be done before he let his attention return to his lovely friend.
“Mana, did I really look like a little kid?” Gackt questioned in a mock serious tone, barely able to keep the smile from forming on his lips as he watched the guitarist try to figure out if he was truly worried.
“Yes. You looked like a very odd child with that expression on your face,” Mana chirped, his eyes intently focused on the black material that he was measuring.
“You’re supposed to be telling me evil plans so we can torture Adam,” Gackt prompted, poking his friend in the shoulder with the handle of a pair of elegant silver scissors, “I won’t start another task until I hear all of your evil plans for butler-boy.” Mana looked up languidly, his eyes void of emotion, and grabbed a small pile of pins from the middle of the table. He meticulously gathered the cloth he had just cut and slowly pinned it into place.
“Was that the deal? I thought you were just helping me to be useful to me,” Mana said offhandedly, watching Gackt’s vaguely shocked reaction out of the corners of his sapphire eyes for a moment before he smiled softly and continued to speak, “I didn’t forget, Gackt, so you can stop looking at me like I’m insane. Pin the trim on to this and we can begin the discussion.” He dangled the cloth in front of the vocalist, who carefully grabbed it and did as he was told.
“Just so you know, we’re going to be gentle with Adam this time around. We don’t want to damage him too badly. Just a little mental torture,” Mana said calmly, acting like he was talking about the weather, “We want to be able to have amusement for a long while yet.”
*The next day*
“My fingers still hurt,” Gackt whimpered, staring at the red tips of his digits, “Isn’t there anything I can put on them?” He stared at Mana from across the kitchen table, glaring when he saw the guitarist was smirking at his obvious discomfort.
“It’s amazing how many times one person can stab their own fingers with pins in the span of two hours,” Mana teased, walking over to the refrigerator to get ice for Gackt, “I’m still amazed that you didn’t draw more blood.” Gackt rolled his eyes with annoyance and carefully crossed his arms, making sure not to put too much pressure on his fingers. His unfocused eyes were directed at the tabletop, as he got lost in thought.
Mana quietly sat down on the chair next to the auburn-haired man and placed the small bowl of ice in front of him. He tugged at Gackt’s sleeve until the vocalist relented and gave his hand over to Mana for treatment. The blue-haired beauty was gently pressing a chip of the clear ice against a particularly inflamed spot when the first of their trio of servants cheerfully arrived and noisily walked into the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Allison asked worriedly, noticing that one of her employers was wincing slightly every few seconds. She hadn’t seen the bowl of ice nor had she noticed the fact that Mana was soothingly tending to Gackt; the chef simply jumped to conclusions and was preparing herself to make a quick getaway, in case it became necessary to run.
“The question is what do you think I’m doing?” Mana replied instantly, as if he had been waiting for somebody to prompt him. He didn’t bother to turn around to face the now highly nervous red-haired woman. The vocalist was the only one who was able to see the soft smile on his friend’s dark blue lips and the sadistic happiness light radiating from his bright eyes.
“I…. I’m going to start breakfast,” Allison muttered uneasily, scurrying to the far end of the kitchen and attempting to make herself as small as was humanly possible. A silence, which was swirling with a mixture of fear and amusement, filled the room. However, it didn’t last long. The energetic and highly clumsy maid skipped in and was, just like her co-worker, curious about what was happening at the table.
“Good morning!” Britney chirped, smiling weakly at Gackt and eyeing Mana with unease, “Is everybody okay today?” She waited for a second before she shrugged and snatched a piece of fresh fruit off of the countertop near Allison.
“Do you take energy pills or something, Britney?” Adam asked tiredly as he stumbled in and threw himself into a chair at the table, rubbing at his bloodshot eyes with his fists, “It just isn’t normal to wake up and bounce off walls. There’s something wrong about it. People are supposed to drag themselves out of bed, break every fragile item on the way to the bathroom, and spend the next two hours trying to focus their eyes.”
“I guess I’m just lucky,” Britney stated brightly, pouring a cup of coffee for her drowsy co-worker, “And, no, I don’t take energy pills.” Adam smiled gratefully when he was handed the cup of the hot, strong liquid. He sipped at it and let his eyes drift toward the pair of musicians. The butler blinked a few times, to be sure that he wasn’t seeing things, and attempted to process the scene before him.
“Did you hurt yourself, Gackt?” Adam questioned, wondering what in the world the vocalist could have been doing to damage his fingers. The corners of Mana’s dark lips curled up almost imperceptibly as the two women at the other side of the kitchen could be heard shifting around to be able to hear the conversation better. If it had been any other day, Britney and Allison would have heard what they had wanted to hear immediately without having to speak up themselves; it was on this day that Mana and Gackt were implementing the ‘nice’ version of mental torture for their butler.
As the Japanese musicians sat quietly, both watching Adam unnoticeably out of the corners of their blue eyes, he looked around for assistance from his co-workers. They, as well, were trying to figure out what was going on. The suspense finally made the energetic Britney lose her ability to maintain silence.
“Gackt, not to be rude or anything, but aren’t you going to answer Adam’s question?” Britney asked in a voice that held semblances of politeness, warmly smiling at the auburn-haired man when he looked up from his fingers.
“I didn’t hear him say anything,” Gackt said simply, drawing in his breath sharply when Mana found a spot that had been severely stabbed at, “I didn’t even hear him walk in.” The three servants relaxed; once again forming their own conclusions about why their employers were ignoring just one of them.
“I’m right, here,” Adam piped up loudly, waving his hand around and grinning broadly for added effect. Once again, it seemed that he was nonexistent to two people that he wanted to keep extremely happy with him. His face was painted with confusion as his still-dazed mind tried to grasp onto the facts before him and process them into something useful. Mana was blank-faced, except for his bright eyes if you could see his features clearly, and Gackt was amused as well, despite the plethora of tiny stab wounds to his fingers. They knew the day was going to prove to be a highly entertaining one, for them at least, if they could rope the butler into their meticulously planned trap.
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