Let's try this again...
Jan. 4th, 2005 06:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chibi_trillianHopefully, my Valentine's day fluffage will post this go around, as it is the ass-crack of dawn. Again, Magic Knights, rated PG-13, has shonen-ai/yaoi, and in case you're curious, yes, Nelon is eighteen. He just usually acts like a five-year-old with ADD on a sugar rush.
Not Like Last Year
Nelon was filled with the burning fires of determination. He was going to get this right, and impress everyone. Everyone would have a good Valentine’s Day. Aere wouldn’t cry like last year, Imiel wouldn’t lock himself in his room like last year, and Bastien wouldn’t forget entirely like last year. No, Nelon was going to make sure that each and every one of his friends knew that he loved them very much this Valentine’s Day.
Nelon went over his mental timeline for the day. He was going to have to get Aere early in the morning, before he had a chance to get properly depressed. Breakfast in bed was the current plan. Fortunately,
Aere’s breakfast was going to be easy. Frozen crème puffs, shaved ice, and soft-frozen fruit doused in thick sweet cream (he’d found that in a recipe book), with watermelon juice to drink. Fortunately, most of Aere’s breakfast had been secretly prepared last night and put in either the refrigerator or the freezer to get cold. The shaved ice was the only thing he needed to prepare fresh. After that, everything was presentation.
Imiel was also going to have to be tackled early, but not with breakfast in bed. Imiel was paranoid about his personal space when he was sleeping, so anyone coming into his bedroom that wasn’t expected would likely be set on fire. That meant fixing breakfast for Imiel and waiting for him to get up. That meant steak and eggs and coffee. That was going to require way more cooking than Nelon was usually allowed to do. He was going to have to make sure to play super extra close attention to make sure that nothing got messed up or burnt.
After he’d fed Aere and Imiel, it was Bastien’s turn. Nelon was going to clean his whole library and dust all the books. That way Bastien’s allergies wouldn’t act up anymore and he wouldn’t have to go around sneezing because he’d had to do research in some of his less frequently used books. Nelon was going to make extra sure not to throw out any of his papers, because last time he’d tried to be helpful and clean he’d thrown out a bunch of important notes. He would make Bastien some lunch (he wasn’t sure what yet) and then leave him to his research.
When he was all done in Bastien’s library, he was going to draw a nice hot bath for Dean. Dean liked baths, but never found time to take them. Azure liked baths too, and she’d been looking a little sad lately. Nelon had found some nice bath salts that actually had sea salt in them last time he’d gone to market, so he’d put those in, and he’d make sure than no one bothered Dean until he was ready to get out.
Finally, at the end of the day, he’d give everyone chocolate. He was proud of how hard he’d worked on finding out everyone’s favorite chocolate. A rare form of chocolate called “MeltyKiss” that could only be found in the winter for Aere. Hot chocolate liqueur for Imiel. A dark, rich, bittersweet chocolate with more than 60% cocoa for Bastien. Last but not least, white chocolate seashells for Dean.
Yes, Nelon was absolutely determined that nothing would go wrong today. That was why he was up well before dawn and chipping away at a big block of ice. To drive off his own nervousness, he started humming a love tune absentmindedly.
Nelon didn’t notice the frosty fog coming off the chipped ice forming into a little heart before resuming its normal drifting pattern.
****
Nelon walked confidently into Aere’s room carrying the breakfast tray. Nothing had gotten messed up at all! The little frozen puffs were arranged on a plate with strawberries frozen into a heart shape by a layer of ice. The fruit thingy had come out looking like the book said it was supposed to, the cream had poured correctly, and the shaved ice was neither too solid nor too liquid. To top it off, he hadn’t spilled a drop of watermelon juice on his way here.
Aere blinked sleepily at him from the big bed. “Whuzzat?”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Aere! I made you breakfast so you’d know how much I love you and so that you wouldn’t be all sad like last year!” Nelon chirped. He sat down on the bed, careful not to upset anything on the tray. The watermelon juice didn’t even slosh.
Aere looked at the tray, then at Nelon, then at the tray again. He rubbed his eyes, sat up, and said, “Thank you, Nelon. That was very, very thoughtful of you.”
Nelon grinned, and handed Aere the tray. Aere set it down on his lap, looked again at Nelon’s huge puppy-dog eyes, and determinedly picked up a spoon. He took a small, cautious spoonful of the fruit-and-cream preparation, and tasted it. And smiled.
If Nelon could have seen inside of Aere’s head, he’d have known that smile was one of relief, because if the most complicated-looking food on the tray tasted delicious, the rest of the tray was likely to be safe. But fortunately for Nelon, thought reading was not among his abilities and he remained ignorant and happy.
Aere tried a crème puff next, and commented on the thoughtfulness of the presentation. Nelon was glad, because those strawberries had been really hard to get to stay on the plate before they froze into place. Aere seemed to be genuinely enjoying the food, and didn’t look sad at all. The meal was a success!
Aere scooped up a generous spoonful of the shaved ice and ate it without even bothering to ask what flavor it was. He smiled again, opened his mouth to thank Nelon again…and hiccupped. Hiccupped again. Then abruptly flushed pink.
Nelon wondered what he had somehow put into the shaved ice that had poisoned Aere, because Aere was starting to look at him funny. Had he accidentally poured some of Imiel’s booze onto the ice instead of juice?
Just as Nelon was starting to seriously panic and opened his mouth to ask what he’d screwed up now, Aere leaned forward and put a fingertip on Nelon’s lips.
“Breakfast was delicious and very sweet, Nelon. But do you know what I think would be sweeter?” Aere murmured breathily.
Nelon shook his head, thinking of several things he thought would be sweeter than the stuff he’d given to Aere, but not knowing what Aere had in mind. Honey candy, maybe?
“You, Nelon-love,” Aere purred. “I want you for dessert.”
Nelon blinked, wondering how Aere was supposed to have him for dessert…and then figured it out as Aere crawled over the breakfast tray and started kissing and licking him.
“Eeeek! Aere! You’re not supposed to do that!”
Aere had started tickling him as a distraction while he worked Nelon’s shirt up and off. Nelon had also just figured out that Aere slept in the nude and thus had a considerable head start on whatever he had in mind. At Nelon’s squeal, he lifted his head up from where he was nibbling on Nelon’s neck.
“Why am I not supposed to do that?” Aere sighed, sending a soft breath of cool air across Nelon’s cheek.
“Because…because Imiel’s steak is burning and I have to go get it!” Nelon squirmed out from under Aere and ran for the door.
Behind him, Aere pouted.
****
Nelon prodded the still-sizzling steak onto a plate and wondered what had come over Aere. That had been so weird that Nelon wasn’t sure it had really happened. He shrugged, and started whistling a cheerful love song to take his mind off things.
While Nelon was distracted, the steam rising off of the hot cup of coffee formed into a little heart.
****
Imiel stomped downstairs to get breakfast, and was halted in his tracks by Nelon’s joyful carol of “Happy Valentine’s Day, Imiel! I made you breakfast, because I love you very much and hope you won’t lock yourself in your room again!”
Imiel made a blinky face (well, as well as a man with only one eye can make a blinky face) and glanced at the table. Nelon hoped he’d eat it, because Nelon had tried really hard and managed to not get distracted by anything until the food was all done, so none of it was burnt. Imiel looked at Nelon, looked at the plate, and then looked at Nelon. Nelon was starting to notice a pattern with this looking stuff. Imiel sighed, and sat down. He impaled his steak on a fork, took a bite off of it, and gulped a big swig of coffee to wash it down. He swallowed it, and said, “Not bad, little one. Thank you.”
And then Imiel hiccupped. Twice. And blushed.
Uh oh, thought Nelon.
A slow smile spread across Imiel’s face. “No, not bad at all…but do you know what I think would be better?”
Nelon squeaked out a very small, “No,” dreading the answer he was going to get.
“You!” Imiel growled, and pounced. There was no other word for it. It was a distinctly feline motion, and it took him up and over the kitchen table. Imiel’s far-greater weight slammed into Nelon’s slight frame like a ton of bricks. As Nelon’s back hit the kitchen counter with enough force to leave bruises, he yelped involuntarily. His yelp was enough to knock Imiel back a foot or two, and give Nelon enough time to scramble out the door.
Imiel smiled calculatingly at Nelon’s retreating form. “Playing hard-to-get, eh little one?” he purred, and licked his lips.
****
Nelon sighed in relief as he made it to the door of Bastien’s sanctum. He rubbed his aching back. Today was just getting weirder and weirder. Oh well, at least no one was sad, even if they did keep grabbing him and trying to do bad things to him. Nelon stretched and winced. He was going to be sore tomorrow. What on earth had possessed Imiel to do that to him? Oh well. Bastien, at least, wouldn’t be a problem. Bastien, to the best of Nelon’s knowledge, had no desire for anything other than more books.
Nelon had stopped off at his room on the way here, and was equipped and prepared to clean. He didn’t like cleaning very much, but he was determined to do a good job of it for Bastien. He tied on his black apron with the little piyo-piyo on the top of it, put a black matching kerchief over his hair, picked up his feather duster, squared his shoulders, and opened the door.
****
Nelon sneezed, and the other three feather dusters that he’d been controlling with his voice dropped to the floor. He sneezed so hard that he nearly dropped the feather duster he was holding as well. Nelon sniffled, and wondered how anyone could live with this much dust and so many cobwebs around them. Nelon had already had to evict a few spiders from their comfortable winter homes in Bastien’s bookshelves. Nelon wished for a window to open, but there were none in here—sunlight damaged books. Opening the door and using his voice to drive out the worst of the dust had been all he could do. He hadn’t seen or heard Bastien at all while he was in here, so Bastien was either still asleep or out for the day.
Nelon rubbed his nose on the back of his hand and sniffled, and decided to give up on controlling the other dusters for a bit. He was sneezing too often now for anything other than singing for fun. If he wasn’t careful now, he was going to break something fragile and expensive if a duster went flying as he sneezed. So all dusting from now on would have to be done by hand.
As he flicked dust off the spine of A History of the Alerian-Kzeki Conflicts, Volume XIII, Nelon started singing a happy little love song between sneezes.
The dancing dust motes between the bookshelves swirled into a large heart before resuming their aimless drifting.
****
Nelon was almost finished the very last bookshelf when he heard an inquiring noise followed by a loud sneeze. Bastien must be home. Nelon jumped off the stepstool and ran to the open area that comprised the bedroom/reading room part of Bastien’s room. Bastien was sniffling into a handkerchief and blinking owlishly at him.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Bastien! I wanted to do something nice for you because I love you very much, so I dusted your bookshelves and was very careful not to disorganize anything!” Nelon sang.
Bastien took the handkerchief away from his mouth and nose with a smile, and managed to get out, “Thank y-“ before he sneezed twice in very rapid succession. Then he hiccupped once, and flushed red.
Nelon jumped a bit at those rather explosive sneezes, and wondered if maybe he should shoo Bastien outside until he was all done cleaning. But Bastien had stopped sneezing, and seemed okay now. He was smiling, which was almost rarer for him than it was for Aere. Nelon smiled back.
Bastien meandered over to the bookshelves, still smiling. Actually, it was closer to a slow swagger with his hands clasped behind his back. That was kind of odd—Nelon had never seen Bastien walk like that before. Bastien glanced at the shelves, performing a perfunctory inspection. His smile got bigger.
“You did a good job, Nelon,” Bastien said. He was getting a familiar glint in his eye, one that was making Nelon distinctly uncomfortable. Nelon’s feelings went from “uncomfortable” to “Danger, Will Robinson!” when Bastien padded over and hooked the strap of his apron with one long bookkeeper’s finger, still smiling.
“You did such a good job, I think you deserve a reward,” Bastien whispered. “A very…special…sort of reward…”
Nelon stuck his feather duster into Bastien’s face and fled while Bastien was still coughing and sneezing.
“Dammit,” Bastien coughed as his door slammed shut.
****
If it weren’t for the fact that he’d already done something nice for the other three, Nelon would’ve just locked himself into his room and not bothered with Dean’s bath. But Dean was kind, and smart, and deserved something nice on Valentine’s Day, even if he said he didn’t care about a holiday that was just an excuse for men to make up for being assholes the rest of the year.
So Nelon changed out of his grimy apron and kerchief, washed his face, and padded into the bathroom with the biggest bath carrying a jar of bath salts, several candles, a bottle of sparkling cider (since Dean couldn’t have wine unless he wanted to be seeing it again shortly after he drank it), and a book from the List of Books That Dean Swore He Was Going to Get Around to Reading One of These Days. He carefully drew a very hot bath, dumped the salts in, and swished the water around until it was one uniform color. Nelon hummed happily as he stirred, the hot, sweet-smelling water almost managing to put the weirdnesses of the rest of the day out of his head.
As Nelon turned to open up the cider and light the candles, the steam rising off the tub wafted into the shape of a heart.
****
Nelon had to look for Dean, and found him in the kitchen. He’d been hesitant to go down there for fear that Imiel would still be prowling around, but such was not the case. Dean was eating an apple and chatting with Azure. He turned when Nelon came in, long blue braids swaying as he cocked his head lazily.
“Hey, chibilet. You’re a popular person today. I’ve been asked no less than three times by the others where you were. They had lechery and mischief in their eyes, so I finally told them you were out in the woods looking for snow roses,” Dean yawned. Nelon glomped him.
“Oi, what did I miss?” Dean patted the blonde head that had buried itself in his chest.
“Dean, everyone’s been acting WEIRD! I’ve been trying to do something nice for everyone for Valentine’s Day so that they wouldn’t be unhappy like last year, and they said thank you, then looked really funny for a moment and then they tried to do, um, stuff to me,” Nelon babbled, looking up at him.
Dean blinked. “Not an enemy spell, I don’t think. Shows too much of a sense of humor. Maybe it’s just something in the air. I don’t think any of them meant to scare you, chibilet,” Dean murmured reassuringly. Nelon felt better.
“Oh! I almost forgot! Because I love you and Azure very much, I drew you a nice hot bath!” Nelon peeped.
Dean smiled. “That was very kind of you, chibilet. I think I’ll go take advantage of it. When I’m done, we’ll try to figure out how to reverse this whatever-it-is that’s making the others eye you like a chunk of meat.”
Nelon felt reassured. With Dean helping him, there was no doubt they’d fix the others. Nelon started setting out the chocolate for that evening, writing little nametags for each bundle. He set Aere’s chocolate on a cold pack, because it would melt at room temperature. Imiel’s “chocolate” stayed in the bottle until he was going to serve it, so Nelon just attached the tag to the bottle. He smiled. He and Dean would fix the others, and then they’d have a nice evening, and it would be a good Valentine’s Day for everyone.
Nelon heard Dean calling his name from upstairs. Maybe he wanted something to eat? Nelon padded upstairs to go see.
Nelon poked his head inside the bathroom. Azure was nowhere to be seen (probably immersed in the tub), but Dean was leaning over the edge of it. This was the first time Nelon had ever seen him with his hair unbraided. It was all wet, and strands of it were drifting on top of the water. Nelon thought that he looked like a merman…and that he looked very handsome. Nelon blushed a little at that flickering thought, and managed to get out, “Can I get you something?”
Dean smiled expansively. “You know, Nelon, this bath is perfect. But it’s missing one thing.”
“What?” Nelon asked, genuinely concerned.
“You, chibi-love,” Dean murmured, reaching out a beckoning hand. “It’s missing you.”
Nelon blinked at him. Blinked again. Smiled slowly. Closed the door behind him.
The look in Dean’s eyes was worth everything he’d had to put up with earlier.
****
Outside the bathroom, Azure burbled out a little laugh. Dean had finally gotten the cute little blonde one to come to him. Azure had detected a rudimentary love spell in the water, and had pointed it out to Dean before undoing it. It would have fallen apart soon, anyway—it looked like it was going to collapse at about sunset.
Dean had laughed as he had realized what had happened to the others. Nelon had—consciously or unconsciously—been looking for love on this most romantic of days, and had accidentally cast love spells on all the others. He’d decided to play along with the spell’s intent (not that it was hard for him, as he was more than a bit fond of Nelon) and see if he’d been the one that Nelon had been fishing for.
From the splashes and increasingly passionate moans coming from the bathroom, it sounded like Dean had guessed correctly. Azure let out another gurgling giggle as she heard the other Knights coming inside stomping snow off their shoes and wondering aloud how they’d wound up out in the woods at sunset.
No, this Valentine’s Day had definitely not been like last year.
Not Like Last Year
Nelon was filled with the burning fires of determination. He was going to get this right, and impress everyone. Everyone would have a good Valentine’s Day. Aere wouldn’t cry like last year, Imiel wouldn’t lock himself in his room like last year, and Bastien wouldn’t forget entirely like last year. No, Nelon was going to make sure that each and every one of his friends knew that he loved them very much this Valentine’s Day.
Nelon went over his mental timeline for the day. He was going to have to get Aere early in the morning, before he had a chance to get properly depressed. Breakfast in bed was the current plan. Fortunately,
Aere’s breakfast was going to be easy. Frozen crème puffs, shaved ice, and soft-frozen fruit doused in thick sweet cream (he’d found that in a recipe book), with watermelon juice to drink. Fortunately, most of Aere’s breakfast had been secretly prepared last night and put in either the refrigerator or the freezer to get cold. The shaved ice was the only thing he needed to prepare fresh. After that, everything was presentation.
Imiel was also going to have to be tackled early, but not with breakfast in bed. Imiel was paranoid about his personal space when he was sleeping, so anyone coming into his bedroom that wasn’t expected would likely be set on fire. That meant fixing breakfast for Imiel and waiting for him to get up. That meant steak and eggs and coffee. That was going to require way more cooking than Nelon was usually allowed to do. He was going to have to make sure to play super extra close attention to make sure that nothing got messed up or burnt.
After he’d fed Aere and Imiel, it was Bastien’s turn. Nelon was going to clean his whole library and dust all the books. That way Bastien’s allergies wouldn’t act up anymore and he wouldn’t have to go around sneezing because he’d had to do research in some of his less frequently used books. Nelon was going to make extra sure not to throw out any of his papers, because last time he’d tried to be helpful and clean he’d thrown out a bunch of important notes. He would make Bastien some lunch (he wasn’t sure what yet) and then leave him to his research.
When he was all done in Bastien’s library, he was going to draw a nice hot bath for Dean. Dean liked baths, but never found time to take them. Azure liked baths too, and she’d been looking a little sad lately. Nelon had found some nice bath salts that actually had sea salt in them last time he’d gone to market, so he’d put those in, and he’d make sure than no one bothered Dean until he was ready to get out.
Finally, at the end of the day, he’d give everyone chocolate. He was proud of how hard he’d worked on finding out everyone’s favorite chocolate. A rare form of chocolate called “MeltyKiss” that could only be found in the winter for Aere. Hot chocolate liqueur for Imiel. A dark, rich, bittersweet chocolate with more than 60% cocoa for Bastien. Last but not least, white chocolate seashells for Dean.
Yes, Nelon was absolutely determined that nothing would go wrong today. That was why he was up well before dawn and chipping away at a big block of ice. To drive off his own nervousness, he started humming a love tune absentmindedly.
Nelon didn’t notice the frosty fog coming off the chipped ice forming into a little heart before resuming its normal drifting pattern.
****
Nelon walked confidently into Aere’s room carrying the breakfast tray. Nothing had gotten messed up at all! The little frozen puffs were arranged on a plate with strawberries frozen into a heart shape by a layer of ice. The fruit thingy had come out looking like the book said it was supposed to, the cream had poured correctly, and the shaved ice was neither too solid nor too liquid. To top it off, he hadn’t spilled a drop of watermelon juice on his way here.
Aere blinked sleepily at him from the big bed. “Whuzzat?”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Aere! I made you breakfast so you’d know how much I love you and so that you wouldn’t be all sad like last year!” Nelon chirped. He sat down on the bed, careful not to upset anything on the tray. The watermelon juice didn’t even slosh.
Aere looked at the tray, then at Nelon, then at the tray again. He rubbed his eyes, sat up, and said, “Thank you, Nelon. That was very, very thoughtful of you.”
Nelon grinned, and handed Aere the tray. Aere set it down on his lap, looked again at Nelon’s huge puppy-dog eyes, and determinedly picked up a spoon. He took a small, cautious spoonful of the fruit-and-cream preparation, and tasted it. And smiled.
If Nelon could have seen inside of Aere’s head, he’d have known that smile was one of relief, because if the most complicated-looking food on the tray tasted delicious, the rest of the tray was likely to be safe. But fortunately for Nelon, thought reading was not among his abilities and he remained ignorant and happy.
Aere tried a crème puff next, and commented on the thoughtfulness of the presentation. Nelon was glad, because those strawberries had been really hard to get to stay on the plate before they froze into place. Aere seemed to be genuinely enjoying the food, and didn’t look sad at all. The meal was a success!
Aere scooped up a generous spoonful of the shaved ice and ate it without even bothering to ask what flavor it was. He smiled again, opened his mouth to thank Nelon again…and hiccupped. Hiccupped again. Then abruptly flushed pink.
Nelon wondered what he had somehow put into the shaved ice that had poisoned Aere, because Aere was starting to look at him funny. Had he accidentally poured some of Imiel’s booze onto the ice instead of juice?
Just as Nelon was starting to seriously panic and opened his mouth to ask what he’d screwed up now, Aere leaned forward and put a fingertip on Nelon’s lips.
“Breakfast was delicious and very sweet, Nelon. But do you know what I think would be sweeter?” Aere murmured breathily.
Nelon shook his head, thinking of several things he thought would be sweeter than the stuff he’d given to Aere, but not knowing what Aere had in mind. Honey candy, maybe?
“You, Nelon-love,” Aere purred. “I want you for dessert.”
Nelon blinked, wondering how Aere was supposed to have him for dessert…and then figured it out as Aere crawled over the breakfast tray and started kissing and licking him.
“Eeeek! Aere! You’re not supposed to do that!”
Aere had started tickling him as a distraction while he worked Nelon’s shirt up and off. Nelon had also just figured out that Aere slept in the nude and thus had a considerable head start on whatever he had in mind. At Nelon’s squeal, he lifted his head up from where he was nibbling on Nelon’s neck.
“Why am I not supposed to do that?” Aere sighed, sending a soft breath of cool air across Nelon’s cheek.
“Because…because Imiel’s steak is burning and I have to go get it!” Nelon squirmed out from under Aere and ran for the door.
Behind him, Aere pouted.
****
Nelon prodded the still-sizzling steak onto a plate and wondered what had come over Aere. That had been so weird that Nelon wasn’t sure it had really happened. He shrugged, and started whistling a cheerful love song to take his mind off things.
While Nelon was distracted, the steam rising off of the hot cup of coffee formed into a little heart.
****
Imiel stomped downstairs to get breakfast, and was halted in his tracks by Nelon’s joyful carol of “Happy Valentine’s Day, Imiel! I made you breakfast, because I love you very much and hope you won’t lock yourself in your room again!”
Imiel made a blinky face (well, as well as a man with only one eye can make a blinky face) and glanced at the table. Nelon hoped he’d eat it, because Nelon had tried really hard and managed to not get distracted by anything until the food was all done, so none of it was burnt. Imiel looked at Nelon, looked at the plate, and then looked at Nelon. Nelon was starting to notice a pattern with this looking stuff. Imiel sighed, and sat down. He impaled his steak on a fork, took a bite off of it, and gulped a big swig of coffee to wash it down. He swallowed it, and said, “Not bad, little one. Thank you.”
And then Imiel hiccupped. Twice. And blushed.
Uh oh, thought Nelon.
A slow smile spread across Imiel’s face. “No, not bad at all…but do you know what I think would be better?”
Nelon squeaked out a very small, “No,” dreading the answer he was going to get.
“You!” Imiel growled, and pounced. There was no other word for it. It was a distinctly feline motion, and it took him up and over the kitchen table. Imiel’s far-greater weight slammed into Nelon’s slight frame like a ton of bricks. As Nelon’s back hit the kitchen counter with enough force to leave bruises, he yelped involuntarily. His yelp was enough to knock Imiel back a foot or two, and give Nelon enough time to scramble out the door.
Imiel smiled calculatingly at Nelon’s retreating form. “Playing hard-to-get, eh little one?” he purred, and licked his lips.
****
Nelon sighed in relief as he made it to the door of Bastien’s sanctum. He rubbed his aching back. Today was just getting weirder and weirder. Oh well, at least no one was sad, even if they did keep grabbing him and trying to do bad things to him. Nelon stretched and winced. He was going to be sore tomorrow. What on earth had possessed Imiel to do that to him? Oh well. Bastien, at least, wouldn’t be a problem. Bastien, to the best of Nelon’s knowledge, had no desire for anything other than more books.
Nelon had stopped off at his room on the way here, and was equipped and prepared to clean. He didn’t like cleaning very much, but he was determined to do a good job of it for Bastien. He tied on his black apron with the little piyo-piyo on the top of it, put a black matching kerchief over his hair, picked up his feather duster, squared his shoulders, and opened the door.
****
Nelon sneezed, and the other three feather dusters that he’d been controlling with his voice dropped to the floor. He sneezed so hard that he nearly dropped the feather duster he was holding as well. Nelon sniffled, and wondered how anyone could live with this much dust and so many cobwebs around them. Nelon had already had to evict a few spiders from their comfortable winter homes in Bastien’s bookshelves. Nelon wished for a window to open, but there were none in here—sunlight damaged books. Opening the door and using his voice to drive out the worst of the dust had been all he could do. He hadn’t seen or heard Bastien at all while he was in here, so Bastien was either still asleep or out for the day.
Nelon rubbed his nose on the back of his hand and sniffled, and decided to give up on controlling the other dusters for a bit. He was sneezing too often now for anything other than singing for fun. If he wasn’t careful now, he was going to break something fragile and expensive if a duster went flying as he sneezed. So all dusting from now on would have to be done by hand.
As he flicked dust off the spine of A History of the Alerian-Kzeki Conflicts, Volume XIII, Nelon started singing a happy little love song between sneezes.
The dancing dust motes between the bookshelves swirled into a large heart before resuming their aimless drifting.
****
Nelon was almost finished the very last bookshelf when he heard an inquiring noise followed by a loud sneeze. Bastien must be home. Nelon jumped off the stepstool and ran to the open area that comprised the bedroom/reading room part of Bastien’s room. Bastien was sniffling into a handkerchief and blinking owlishly at him.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Bastien! I wanted to do something nice for you because I love you very much, so I dusted your bookshelves and was very careful not to disorganize anything!” Nelon sang.
Bastien took the handkerchief away from his mouth and nose with a smile, and managed to get out, “Thank y-“ before he sneezed twice in very rapid succession. Then he hiccupped once, and flushed red.
Nelon jumped a bit at those rather explosive sneezes, and wondered if maybe he should shoo Bastien outside until he was all done cleaning. But Bastien had stopped sneezing, and seemed okay now. He was smiling, which was almost rarer for him than it was for Aere. Nelon smiled back.
Bastien meandered over to the bookshelves, still smiling. Actually, it was closer to a slow swagger with his hands clasped behind his back. That was kind of odd—Nelon had never seen Bastien walk like that before. Bastien glanced at the shelves, performing a perfunctory inspection. His smile got bigger.
“You did a good job, Nelon,” Bastien said. He was getting a familiar glint in his eye, one that was making Nelon distinctly uncomfortable. Nelon’s feelings went from “uncomfortable” to “Danger, Will Robinson!” when Bastien padded over and hooked the strap of his apron with one long bookkeeper’s finger, still smiling.
“You did such a good job, I think you deserve a reward,” Bastien whispered. “A very…special…sort of reward…”
Nelon stuck his feather duster into Bastien’s face and fled while Bastien was still coughing and sneezing.
“Dammit,” Bastien coughed as his door slammed shut.
****
If it weren’t for the fact that he’d already done something nice for the other three, Nelon would’ve just locked himself into his room and not bothered with Dean’s bath. But Dean was kind, and smart, and deserved something nice on Valentine’s Day, even if he said he didn’t care about a holiday that was just an excuse for men to make up for being assholes the rest of the year.
So Nelon changed out of his grimy apron and kerchief, washed his face, and padded into the bathroom with the biggest bath carrying a jar of bath salts, several candles, a bottle of sparkling cider (since Dean couldn’t have wine unless he wanted to be seeing it again shortly after he drank it), and a book from the List of Books That Dean Swore He Was Going to Get Around to Reading One of These Days. He carefully drew a very hot bath, dumped the salts in, and swished the water around until it was one uniform color. Nelon hummed happily as he stirred, the hot, sweet-smelling water almost managing to put the weirdnesses of the rest of the day out of his head.
As Nelon turned to open up the cider and light the candles, the steam rising off the tub wafted into the shape of a heart.
****
Nelon had to look for Dean, and found him in the kitchen. He’d been hesitant to go down there for fear that Imiel would still be prowling around, but such was not the case. Dean was eating an apple and chatting with Azure. He turned when Nelon came in, long blue braids swaying as he cocked his head lazily.
“Hey, chibilet. You’re a popular person today. I’ve been asked no less than three times by the others where you were. They had lechery and mischief in their eyes, so I finally told them you were out in the woods looking for snow roses,” Dean yawned. Nelon glomped him.
“Oi, what did I miss?” Dean patted the blonde head that had buried itself in his chest.
“Dean, everyone’s been acting WEIRD! I’ve been trying to do something nice for everyone for Valentine’s Day so that they wouldn’t be unhappy like last year, and they said thank you, then looked really funny for a moment and then they tried to do, um, stuff to me,” Nelon babbled, looking up at him.
Dean blinked. “Not an enemy spell, I don’t think. Shows too much of a sense of humor. Maybe it’s just something in the air. I don’t think any of them meant to scare you, chibilet,” Dean murmured reassuringly. Nelon felt better.
“Oh! I almost forgot! Because I love you and Azure very much, I drew you a nice hot bath!” Nelon peeped.
Dean smiled. “That was very kind of you, chibilet. I think I’ll go take advantage of it. When I’m done, we’ll try to figure out how to reverse this whatever-it-is that’s making the others eye you like a chunk of meat.”
Nelon felt reassured. With Dean helping him, there was no doubt they’d fix the others. Nelon started setting out the chocolate for that evening, writing little nametags for each bundle. He set Aere’s chocolate on a cold pack, because it would melt at room temperature. Imiel’s “chocolate” stayed in the bottle until he was going to serve it, so Nelon just attached the tag to the bottle. He smiled. He and Dean would fix the others, and then they’d have a nice evening, and it would be a good Valentine’s Day for everyone.
Nelon heard Dean calling his name from upstairs. Maybe he wanted something to eat? Nelon padded upstairs to go see.
Nelon poked his head inside the bathroom. Azure was nowhere to be seen (probably immersed in the tub), but Dean was leaning over the edge of it. This was the first time Nelon had ever seen him with his hair unbraided. It was all wet, and strands of it were drifting on top of the water. Nelon thought that he looked like a merman…and that he looked very handsome. Nelon blushed a little at that flickering thought, and managed to get out, “Can I get you something?”
Dean smiled expansively. “You know, Nelon, this bath is perfect. But it’s missing one thing.”
“What?” Nelon asked, genuinely concerned.
“You, chibi-love,” Dean murmured, reaching out a beckoning hand. “It’s missing you.”
Nelon blinked at him. Blinked again. Smiled slowly. Closed the door behind him.
The look in Dean’s eyes was worth everything he’d had to put up with earlier.
****
Outside the bathroom, Azure burbled out a little laugh. Dean had finally gotten the cute little blonde one to come to him. Azure had detected a rudimentary love spell in the water, and had pointed it out to Dean before undoing it. It would have fallen apart soon, anyway—it looked like it was going to collapse at about sunset.
Dean had laughed as he had realized what had happened to the others. Nelon had—consciously or unconsciously—been looking for love on this most romantic of days, and had accidentally cast love spells on all the others. He’d decided to play along with the spell’s intent (not that it was hard for him, as he was more than a bit fond of Nelon) and see if he’d been the one that Nelon had been fishing for.
From the splashes and increasingly passionate moans coming from the bathroom, it sounded like Dean had guessed correctly. Azure let out another gurgling giggle as she heard the other Knights coming inside stomping snow off their shoes and wondering aloud how they’d wound up out in the woods at sunset.
No, this Valentine’s Day had definitely not been like last year.
