The wicked world above your head (Chapter 6)
Title: The wicked world above your head
Pairings: Novak Djokovic/Ernests Gulbis, Andy Murray/Tim Henman
Other character: Fabrice Santoro
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 3,461
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and this is a fiction.
Summary: Ernests chooses the dinner menu for Novak and Andy comes back home to find the flat in an interesting state.
Author’s note: It has been a while since I have posted this story so I’m linking the previous parts in case someone needs them :)
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5
From the previous chapter:
Andy’s headache had gotten worse and pills had stopped working. Tim had invited him to his store and had performed a healing spell while Andy had found Tim’s hand on his face impossibly warm. Novak had been overwhelmed by his feelings towards Ernests and had decided to make a move on the elf after the evening flying lesson. Fabrice, the witch that Ernests had asked for help to change the weather so that Novak could prepare for his flying license test, had teased the two for having a crush on each other.
Chapter 6
“And I~~ will always love you~”
Ernests frowned as Fabrice produced yet another love song from wherever he was hiding. After Novak’s flying lesson had finished, the crazy witch had stayed, insisting that the two needed some nice background music while they ate.
“Ahaha, it’s been a while that I’ve listened to that song.”
Novak chuckled as Whitney Houston’s voice rang in his ears. They were sitting on a huge branch of an old, tall tree, waiting for the food delivery to arrive.
“I bet he doesn’t even know any of the latest songs. Sorry about him, Nole. Usually, he’s pretty nice. I don’t know why he’s being so mean today.”
Ernests kicked one of the lower branches under his feet and frowned deeper as Fabrice switched to a song that had recently come out.
“And of course he’s eavesdropping.” The elf whispered in Novak’s ears and a loud ‘mwahaha’ roared in the air.
“He probably thinks that I whispered some dirty words to you.”
Ernests whispered again as he covered his pointy left ear with his hand. He wasn’t going to embarrass himself by letting Novak know that he might like that kind of situation.
A huge smile spread across Novak’s face. He was pleased to know that the elf felt close enough to him to whisper near his ears without hesitation. His breath was tickly yet soft around his right ear.
“It’s nice up here.”
Novak started some small talk. If Fabrice was really listening in, he didn’t want to make a move on Ernests just yet. They had already had their first kiss but after that, things had been a little awkward and he had felt the need to sort out some of their feelings.
“Yeah. This is one of my favorite spots actually. I’m glad that you like it.”
Ernests’ left ear moved and the background music changed. A male vocalist was moaning the lyrics.
“Cut it out, Fabrice!! Go home and leave us alone! Aren’t you hungry? Go eat!”
Ernests hissed angrily but both Fabrice and Novak rather found him cute.
“Mr. Gulbis?” A voice came from under the tree.
“Oh, Mr. Food?” Ernests jumped to the ground before Novak could yelp or help him.
‘How on earth did he jump like that? It’s too high!’
Apparently, Ernests was fine. He was busy checking the amount of food and Novak saw him tipping the delivery boy.
“Stay up there. I’ll climb back.”
“You have food in your hands, Ernie.” Novak couldn’t imagine how the elf could come up without his help.
“Catch these then.”
Ernests threw two boxes of pizza in the air and Novak was relieved that he was a professional athlete.
“Ho… not bad!” The elf giggled.
“Haha… You tested me?” The human being was amused.
“I was just curious if human athletes were really strong.”
Ernests skipped from branch to branch while Novak watched with wide eyes, wondering how such a tall creature with big bones could possibly skip so lightly with food in his hands.
“I’m an elf. Sorry to remind you…” He had seen the curiosity wandering in Novak’s eyes.
“I don’t have a problem with you being an elf, Ernie. I’ve told you before. Please don’t think that way.”
Novak helped Ernests arrange the food on the floating table that Fabrice had given them and held the elf’s hand under it.
“But I find it hard to believe. How can you not find me weird or be afraid of me when you’ve never met an elf before?”
Novak shrugged. “I think it’s precisely because I haven’t met one before. You’re the first elf I got to know and you’re nothing but smart and lovely.”
That earned Novak a bright smile and Fabrice didn’t miss his cue to play another love song.
“Fabrice! Go away! I’m serious!!”
Ernests had reached his limit and the French witch showed up from behind a thick branch.
“I was trying to help, my dear.”
“Thanks for the songs and the weather change but I really think we’re good here.” Novak pleaded with his eyes, afraid that the witch would ruin Ernests’ mood.
“Bah… all right. I’m leaving. If you don’t need that table any more, just tap the four edges with the back of a fork. And, Ernie, don’t forget to use protection! Safe sex, lovebirds!”
Fabrice disappeared with a disturbing sound which reminded Novak of a toilet getting flushed while Ernests took deep breaths to calm down.
“Not a bad advice.” Novak grinned as Ernests turned his head and blushed.
“Uh… let’s eat already. Pizza should be eaten while it’s hot.”
Ernests changed the subject only to realize that the floating table was generating heat on the surface.
“Aww, magic is awesome!” Novak opened the pizza box and handed a slice over to his flying instructor.
“Thanks. I hope you like it.”
Ernests was the one who had picked today’s menu and he had thought hard about it for almost ten minutes.
“Ooh, it’s spicy but I do like it. This is with dragon’s fire breath sauce, you said?”
“Yes.” Ernests smiled and watched Novak finish off a slice in glee.
“This is really good, yum.”
The Serb drowned himself in the pizza while Ernests focused on the salad for a while. He was pleased to see his guest eat so well.
Novak talked about how special it was to play on Wimbledon center court and how unreal it still felt to drive a flying carpet. Ernests talked about how varied his customers were and how wonderful it was to have delicious food with a delightful person on a beautiful evening.
Novak couldn’t resist placing a kiss on the corner of the elf’s mouth. He liked the shape of Ernests’ pink lips and it seemed like only sweet words came out of them - well, as long as he wasn’t talking to Fabrice.
“Om nom nom…”
The first box of pizza had already disappeared into Novak’s stomach. The size of the pizza was only about two thirds of a pizza from the human world and Ernests had told him that it wouldn’t add extra fat on his body.
“If I had known that there was such a pizza back then, I would’ve been such a happy kid.”
Novak kissed Ernests’ pointy left ear, thanking him for the opportunity to learn about such marvelous food.
Ernests laughed and thought to himself, ‘Well, you’ll soon get to know how the pizza works and burns all the fat…’
Twenty minutes later, Novak was pouring coke into his mouth and panting at the same time if it was physically possible.
“Oh, wow. I feel really hot. Perhaps I had too much of that dragon sauce.”
He used his left hand as a fan but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t just his tongue or face burning, it was as if his whole body was set on fire.
“Um… It would help if you let your skin be exposed in cool air, I think.”
Ernests gave him a tip while he picked up a napkin to wipe the sweat off Novak’s forehead.
“You mean like… I have to take my shirt off?” Novak felt like he literally had the dragon’s fire breath on him.
Ernests curled a finger in his own hair and answered quietly, “Sort of…”
It only took a split second for Novak to lose his T-shirt and his hands were unbuttoning his jeans when he realized what he was doing; he was more aware of how he was getting undressed in front of Ernests than of how he had been trying to take off his jeans on a branch.
“Uh… Sorry. I’m just too hot.”
Novak felt horrible. He had wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with the elf, not to stun him with his strip show.
“It’s okay. It’s my fault actually. I didn’t know that human beings would have this much trouble with the sauce…” Ernests let his words trail off, acting perfectly.
‘I’ll try not to forget to do stuff with you on my carpet.’
Ernests had not been able to forget what Novak had said right before Fabrice had appeared; he had just told the human about the perv traps on his own carpet. Novak had probably brushed it out of his mind and perhaps it had been some kind of a joke but his gut had told him that it was a sign from the Serb that he was willing to take the next step after their first kiss.
Usually, Ernests wouldn't even think about sharing a bed with a guy this early in a relationship but he considered this case an exception. He had read hundreds of articles on the world-class tennis player whenever he got a break at work; he had wiped off a tear at his war-torn stories and had giggled at his funny interviews until Tim checked if something was wrong with his tea. Despite the fact that he had known him for less than a week, he felt extremely close to the tennis player as if he had signed up for a “Get to know everything about Novak in 48 hours” package.
When the elf snapped out of his dreamland, he noticed that Novak had climbed down the tree and was unrolling his magic carpet.
“What are you doing?” The Latvian jumped to the ground.
“Sorry. I can’t stand it anymore. I’ll have to fly home and take a cold shower…”
Novak was breathing roughly and Ernests bit back a moan. The sight of the athlete bent over his carpet, remaining shirtless, was better than he had imagined.
“But it’s too dangerous! You’re still a beginner and you’re obviously not in a shape to fly!”
“But I don’t know what to do, Ernie. Help me then.”
Novak had never experienced such chaos inside his system. To be honest, he didn’t want to take a cold shower. All he really wanted was to throw the elf on his carpet and eat him alive, including the curls. Somehow he thought that would make him feel better.
Feeling guilty that he probably had fed Novak a little too much pizza by miscalculating the amount of sauce needed, Ernests jumped on his victim’s carpet and put his hands on the wheel.
“I’ll take you back home and well… help you feel better.”
Even in the middle of all the burning, Novak noticed that Ernests’ face was wearing a worried expression.
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” He had never called him that but it seemed appropriate now.
“Nothing. Let me fly you home.”
Novak put a hand on Ernests’ shoulder as the carpet started to rise into the air. “Tell me what’s on your mind… will you?”
The Serb’s hot breath was close to his cheek and the elf felt a shiver vibrate through his body.
“I… I…”
Ernests took a sharp breath as he turned his head, realizing how close their faces were.
“Yes?” All Novak could see was the shiny, pink lips that were slightly parted.
“I want to kiss you…”
It wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t exactly what Ernests had wanted to say either. But as Novak’s lips covered his own and strong hands held his shoulders, he knew that it was good enough.
The kiss was different; very different from their first kiss. If the latter had been like eating a fresh plum, this kiss was more like being inside the blender with giant plums. In fact, it removed every sense of the two creatures that they didn’t even hear the last love song that Fabrice had to offer.
Andy inserted his key in the keyhole of the flat’s door, wondering if Novak would start asking questions about Tim again. He had planned to stay in the carpet store until tea time was over but had only just left the place.
Tim had put his hand on his forehead while reciting spells and had made him drink some very strong tea of which he had refused to share the ingredients. While Tim and Ernests had been dealing with customers, he had been napping for a couple of hours on a healing carpet and when Ernests had run off to the forest after work, he had kept Tim company by having dinner with him in a nearby restaurant.
His head was definitely lighter on his shoulders and he had nodded when Tim had told him to come back tomorrow for a follow-up.
‘Who knew I’d believe in all that magic mojo… Well, whatever it takes to get rid of the headache.’
He closed the door, put the keys on the shelf and stepped inside the flat.
‘What the hell…?’
Scattered pieces of clothes and two magic carpets were leading a trail to his best friend’s bedroom.
“Oh my god…”
He automatically headed to the closed bedroom and before he could even put his ear on the door, two voices flew out, panting and moaning.
‘Oh god…’
Andy rushed to his own bedroom and locked the door. He was not going to get out until the coast was clear. It wouldn’t be good for his mental health and it could make his head hurt once more.
‘Shit! I forgot to bring the kettle and some tea with me!’
The Scot thought about going out. He would need only a few seconds.
‘Yeah, I just need three seconds. What could possibly happen?’
He opened the door and put a foot outside before he had to slam the door shut. A voice that didn’t seem to belong to his friend had just screamed in ecstasy.
‘Okay. There’s no way I’m going out of this room. No way!’
He opened his phone in a frantic manner and pressed the ‘SEND’ button. Perhaps Tim would know some spells to make him feel as if he had had his good-night tea.
The next morning, when Novak opened his eyes, he felt much better than ‘better’. He propped himself up on an elbow and laid on his side to take a good look at the beautiful elf. Ernests was bundled up in bedcovers except for his head and feet, not exactly how Novak had expected and wished him to be.
‘So he took all of the covers and I slept naked? How come I didn’t feel cold? Oh right. I had that dragon’s fire breath sauce. How could I forget that…’
He recalled that the pizza was from heaven but its after-effect was from hell. At first, he had thought that it was pretty similar to having poured three bottles of vodka in him. But it had been quite different; alcohol would have stirred his mind and he would have blacked out but he remembered how clearly he had thought, especially about how much he wanted to devour Ernests.
“Mmm…”
Novak let out a moan as images of last night appeared in front of his eyes. As he had kissed Ernests, the burning inside his body had slowly gotten into control while his mind had become hypnotized by the elf’s scent.
‘Great. So after all that, I never got to talk to him seriously.’
Novak ruffled the top of his hair and leaned towards the sleeping elf.
“Love you…”
He hoped that his whisper would get into Ernests’ heart and find a nice place in it.
“Haam…”
Ernests rubbed his eyes and Novak’s heart started beating fast. ‘Could he have heard it?’
“Nole…? You’re up already?”
The Latvian tried to stretch his arms and legs but found himself rolled up in covers.
“Yeah, I just woke up. Good morning, beautiful.”
Novak relaxed as Ernests appeared to have woken up just now.
“Morning. Um… could you…”
“Yeah. I’ll help you out of there.”
The Serb carefully unrolled the ‘Ernests roll’ and let his eyes wander over the body in plain sight.
“Nice view.”
“Ooh…”
Ernests covered his lower parts with his hands while he looked down at his own body. He was covered with love bites. The sight of them made blood rush to his face but he couldn’t say that he didn’t like them. Judging by how Novak’s eyes were showing a sense of satisfaction and awe, it seemed that the Serb also liked what he saw.
“Oh, how careless of me…”
Novak spotted a kiss mark on Ernests’ neck which didn’t look like it could be covered with a round necked T-shirt. Suddenly, his mind was filled with a huge face of Tim pointing his wand at him. He pictured himself dying in many different ways; suffocating while being rolled up in his own carpet, suffering a violent death on Ernests’ carpet which had numerous traps for perverts, and even getting struck by a deadly shot of lightening produced from Fabrice.
“Aww, you’re cold!”
Ernests interpreted Novak’s shudder in the wrong way and handed out the covers. It was then that he noticed the time on Novak’s alarm clock.
“Heek! Is that clock right?” Ernests looked at the two hands that told him that it was half past nine.
“It was, until yesterday…”
Ernests jumped out of bed and looked at the floor. “Where are my clothes?”
Novak looked at the floor as well and couldn’t see a single piece of clothing. “They must be outside the room, Ernie.”
“Oh no… You mean, Andy would’ve seen all that mess?” Ernests put his hands against his cheeks. He was embarrassed.
“Uh… He probably hasn’t woken up yet. Stay here. I’ll fetch your clothes.” Novak grabbed a fresh pair of briefs and jeans before opening the bedroom door.
While Novak was gathering the remains of last night’s insanity, Ernests wrapped himself up in the bed sheets and opened Novak’s drawers.
‘Hmm… Let’s see…’
“Looking for something?”
The Serb had returned with a pile of clothes.
“Oh, sorry for going through your stuff. I was wondering if you had any new pair of boxers.”
“Sorry, Ernie. I stopped wearing boxers. Magazines told me that I should stick to briefs.”
Novak handed over a pair of briefs but Ernests was reluctant to put them on.
“I have larger hip bones than you.”
“I know. I’ve noticed that for a while.” A naughty smile had quickly found its place on Novak’s face.
“But I don’t think you have any other choice, Ernie. I mean, you don’t have enough time to go back to your place and you obviously can’t go to work without wearing anything under your clothes.”
Ernests nodded. Novak was right. He picked up the briefs that the human had left on the bed and put his hands on the sheets that were tightly around his waist.
“Turn around! I’m late!”
He thought that it was funny to be so shy after what had happened last night, but the room was too bright and he was naturally a shy guy.
“Fine. I will look.” Novak put his hands over his eyes.
Ernests turned around and was about to drop the sheets when his head shot back up. “What? You mean ‘won’t’!”
“Haha, okay. I’ll go outside and get you a cup of milk. Hurry up. I don’t want Tim to file a missing person’s report and see my face in a WANTED poster!”
Novak ran out of the bedroom and Ernests tugged on the super tight briefs and his clothes.
‘Oh Jesus…’
He checked himself in the mirror and the kiss mark on his neck was too clear for his liking.
‘I need to cover this…’
The elf went through Novak’s things again and found a band-aid. He didn’t have time to be more subtle. He could only hope that Tim wouldn’t find it strange.