Lace Wars (Faerie Style) Episode III
Title: Lace Wars (Faerie Style) - Episode III
Author: elebridith
Fandom: Kane RPS (Not A Firefly 'verse)
Pairing: Chris/Steve
Rating: PG13
Words: About 1700
A/N: Some time has passed since Chris and Steve discovered the two faeries living in their guitar case. Although Elphie speaks in tinkles, by now both Chris and Steve are able to understand her if she talks slowly - think how Luke Skywalker understands R2-D2. If it gets too complicated, Lomy still translates.
Episode Three - Revenge of the Pink Laces
Steve groaned as the annoying buzzing sound of his alarm clock slowly crept into his consciousness. He pulled the pillow over his head, hoping that it would stop if he just ignored it, but it didn't work. The fucking thing buzzed. And buzzed. And buzzed. Steve opened his eyes a tiny bit and shot a glare at the offending gadget, honestly considering throwing it against the wall, but then he remembered. Plane. Portland. So that I don't have to leave Chris again so soon. Right. He squinted again at the clock, sighed heavily and stretched out his hand, finally switching it off.
He sat up, rubbed his eyes and groaned. The writing bug had bitten him last night, so despite needing to get up at ass o'clock in the morning, he had sat and played and written down lyrics until way after midnight. The result had been two and a half finished songs and about three hours of sleep. After a week and a half where he hadn't caught more than five hours a night anyway and was already exhausted to the bone. He groaned again and swung his legs out of the bed, exhaling sharply and rubbing his face as a small wave of dizziness hit him. Fuckin' antibiotics. Stopped takin' them two days ago, this should've really worn off by now... gotta sleep on the plane or I'll just collapse. The faint smell of coffee suddenly wafting into the room told him that Christian was already up and running. He grinned fondly, his mood slightly lifting. One week in Portland. Sleeping, watching Chris film, hang out with Aldis... oh yeah. Should be fun. If I can only get myself awake enough to actually catch that goddamn plane.
Eyes half-closed, he reached around until he found his jeans, managed to put them on and fell back sitting on the bed. He slipped into a T-Shirt, reached for the water bottle on the nightstand and took a sip. Still half-asleep, he reached down to his feet and fumbled around to get into his converses. Very hesitantly his brain told him that it was slightly more difficult than usual, but unfortunately he didn't interpret this as a warning. Deciding that a coffee would be a really good idea right now, he pushed himself up and away from the bed with a little more force than necessary. And as he tried to take a step forward to keep his balance, his feet just didn't move like he expected. In fact, his feet didn't move at all - it was like they were glued to the ground. With the rest of his body still moving forward. He let out a surprised yelp, arms wildly flailing. He could actually see the edge of the wardrobe getting bigger like in slow motion - Fuck. Gonna crack my head - but all of a sudden he felt a sharp tug at the back of his shirt and simultaneously a small blue flurry figure slammed heavily into his chest. The combined actions managed to break his fall so far that he was able to grab the bedpost and pulled himself back on the bed.
Dazed, he just sat there for a while, head swimming. He absently rubbed his chest where the blue figure had hit him. It took another few seconds until he finally realized that the tiny purple blot in front of him was in fact Elphie and not some flickering behind his eyes caused by the dizziness. The little faerie gestured wildly and produced a stream of tinkling noises that sounded very worried. Before he could open his mouth to say something, the door flew open and Chris busted in.
"Steve? I heard you..." Chris rushed over to the bed, frowning and looking worriedly at Steve who now blinked and tried to get a grip on everything. "What's wrong, darlin'? You okay?" He searched Steve's pale face and Steve gave him a reassuring albeit a little crooked smile.
"Everything's all right, Chris, don't worry." Steve turned his head to look at Elphie. "Whoa, whoa, Elphie, slow down, okay? I can't understand a thing!"
The purple faerie sighed and turned to Lomy who by now hovered next to her. Christian frowned and looked from Steve to the faeries and back. He shook his head. "What the fuck happened? Can I just get the short version of why you look like shit warmed over, Steve?"
Steve sighed and rubbed his eyes, slowly returning to his normal skin color. "Not sure." He paused and frowned. "I tried to stand up and... just fell forward. Couldn't move my feet." He tried to lift his right foot and and made a surprised sound when he couldn't move it, but felt a tug on his other foot instead. He looked down his legs and caught sight of his feet. The small lingering rest of dizziness was gone in a split second, replaced by fury. "What the fuck is this??" he yelled, immediately regretting his loud tone when he saw Elphie and Lomy flinching and retreating a bit. He lowered his voice and threw them an apologetic look. "Uh, sorry. But what the hell... where... " He struggled to get his converses off, not an easy task since they were laced. Again. This time together. Steve made an angry sound deep in his throat as he frantically tried to get rid of the shoes. "Fuckin' laces! I hate laces, damnit!" He managed to get one shoe off, but stopped in his tracks as he looked closer at the laces. The angry noise was now a roar. "And as if that's not enough, they are fucking pink again! What am I? My Little Pony?"
Elphie started to giggle. Lomy grinned and Christian laughed out loud at the image that came up in his head. At Steve's death glare he bit back any comments, but grabbed the remaining converse instead and pulled it completely off Steve's foot with a triumphant sound. "Hah. There you go. I'll de-lace them for ya, darlin'. Get yourself a coffee."
Steve huffed, but decided that he liked the idea. Still grumbling, he padded out of the room and headed for the kitchen. Chris looked after him with a half-fond, half-amused smile, which disappeared as he looked down on the shoes again. He sighed and sat down on Steve's bed, but smiled as the faeries reluctantly came closer again. "Hi you two. Now, can someone tell me what's going on?"
Lomy opened his mouth, but Elphie was faster. Clearly agitated, she tinkled off a few lines, accompanied by flailing hand gestures. Chris blinked. "What?" He shook his head. "Got only half of it, sorry Elphie. You pulled at his shirt?"
Lomy chimed in. A few tinkles to Elphie, which Chris assumed meant "let me do the talking, okay" and the blue faerie landed on the bed next to Chris and sighed. "We were just leaving our guitar case." He pointed to the bigger case that could hold multiple guitars. "We are going to live in that one for the week when you are gone. And then the alarm clock went off and Elphie..." He coughed and squirmed a bit uncomfortably. "We wanted to make sure that Mister Steve really got up so he wouldn't miss the plane."
Chris looked from him to Elphie who had sat down next to Lomy in the meantime. A tiny knowing smile curled his lips as Elphie's color darkened a bit. Well, I always thought that she had a soft spot for Steve... makes two of us, Elphie. He said nothing and looked back at Lomy, motioning at him to go on. Lomy huffed and looked a bit gruffy, obviously annoyed at his slip of tongue. He continued hastily.
"Well, and then Mister Steve tried to stand up and we saw him fall and..." He lost track of his words and trailed off. Elphie had returned to her normal color and now shyly tinkled a few lines, adding to Lomy's story. Chris nodded slowly.
"I see. Thanks a bunch, you two. We owe you." His tone was sincerely grateful and Elphie blushed again. Lomy shifted on his feet.
"Don't mention it. We are glad we could help." He grumbled out the words, Chris assumed to cover up the fact that he was proud of that fact. Christian grinned.
"When we're back, I'll make your favorite food, okay?" He lost his grin as he stared down on the still tied-together converses. "I better get this fixed. He won't leave without them." He started picking on the knots, cursing softly under his breath as his fingers slipped on the tight nylon knots which escaped his grip again and again. Lomy tilted his head and looked curious.
"Do you need those laces in one piece, Mister Christian?"
Chris looked up and made a mental note to remind the faeries again later to drop the 'mister'. He shook his head. "Absolutely not. In fact, I'm just about to get a knife."
Lomy grinned a little wickedly. "Allow me." He jumped on the left shoe and snicked his claws out. With an almost gleeful grin he began to saw off the obstinate knots, managing to get them off the shoes in seconds. Steve returned with a half-full coffee mug in his his hands and started to laugh at the sight of the shredded pink nylon.
"Lomy, you rock. Remind me to make you your favorite food when we're back, okay?" He looked confused when Chris and both faeries started to laugh. "What? What did I say?"
Chris chuckled. "Said the same thing a minute ago. They're gonna have a five-course-meal." He carefully moved himself around the faeries who picked up the shredded remains of the pink laces. He stood up and pressed a quick kiss on Steve's lips. "Feeling better?"
Steve snorted. "Come on Chris, it's not like I did crack my head." His expression softened at the worried look on Chris' face and he leaned in to kiss him back. "I'm good." He pulled back and gave his now lace-free again converses a satisfied grin. "And will be even better once I wear those again."