Lace Wars (Faerie Style) Episode VI
Title: Lace Wars (Faerie Style) - Episode VI
Author: elebridith
Fandom: Kane RPS (Not A Firefly 'verse)
Pairing: Chris/Steve
Rating: PG13
Words: About 2500
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 VI - Return of the Laces
Neliot sat on the edge of the nightstand, head tilted, watching the sleeping couple in the bed with a wicked grin on his face. It had been three months since he had moved in. After a few basic ... arguments with Elphie and Lomy they had built a kind of friendship, especially after he had rescued Lomy from being slobbered on by the puppy again. He had behaved exceptionally well - well, for him - in the last weeks, and the trickster side of him itched to do something.
The living room was a dangerous prank playground, he decided. The dog basket was in there, and while Wa-ya certainly didn't mean any harm, he was still a puppy. Which meant that every time he caught sight of a faerie he was totally overexcited and tried to play with it, resulting in sometimes furniture-breaking events. And of course Steve's shoes were entirely out of the question, but that didn't mean... His eyes lit up as an idea popped up in his head. He looked at the bed, narrowing his eyes and pondering his next move. Then he made a jump that brought him on the pillow next to Steve's face. He tiptoed a few steps towards the sheet that covered Steve's body and slowly began climbing his way upwards to Steve's shoulder. Steve didn't even twitch - he was so fast asleep that the small weight of the moving faerie didn't register.
Finally Neliot reached Steve's sheet-covered upper arm and paused a little to scan the area. He grinned broadly. Perfect. Steve was lying on his right side, with Christian spooned to his back, his arm wrapped around Steve's hips, chin tucked on Steve's shoulder, nuzzling his neck. And his long brown locks falling almost over Steve's face, mixing with Steve's slightly shorter blond ones. Neliot snickered to himself and climbed further up even more carefully until he could reach the mass of tangled hair.
Now, maybe I don't have wings, but I can surely move as light as a fly. Hah. He carefully selected a strand of brown hair and very very slowly pulled at it, inch by inch, until he had freed it from the other curls. Chris' nose twitched and he mumbled something in his sleep before he snuggled even closer to Steve. Neliot held on until Chris stopped moving and then selected another strand of hair, repeating the action. The third strand he slowly pulled free was one of Steve's blond ones. He almost bounced with delight. Oh, this is gonna be good.
For him, each strand was almost an armful, and it was hard work to move them, but Neliot was determined to get it done. He dragged the strands around, right... middle... left... middle..., stopping every time one of the men moved or made sounds. It took over ten minutes, but finally he looked at a neatly done braid. He tilted his head and examined his work with a satisfied smile. Yup, looks good. One more little touch... He heard the fluttering of wings only a split second before a stern female voice behind him said: "What do you think you're doing, Neliot?"
He almost jumped out of his skin and let out a surprised yelp. He turned around to find Elphie behind him, standing or better hovering in the air, frowning and tiny fists on her hips. He gave her a wide innocent grin. "Hello Elphie. It's... nothing, really. Just a bit of fun. Not hurting anyone. If they don't move too fast, that is..." Elphie frowned and fluttered a little sideways to get a look on Neliot's work. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh. That's actually..." Against her will, she started to grin. "Kind of... cute..."
Neliot beamed. "Wait 'til you see this." He produced a small string of neon pink shoelace from a small bag hanging on his belt. It took a little effort, but he managed to wrap it around the end of the braid and tied it neatly in a bow. Then he stepped back and admired his work. Elphie looked over his shoulder and started to giggle. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth, muffling the small sound. As she caught her breath again, she swatted Neliot's arm.
"That's just mean, you know?" The accusing words would have been far more effective if Elphie hadn't been still giggling.
Neliot chuckled. "I know. And I'm gonna sit on that bookshelf over there now, can't be long until they wake up. Wanna watch the show?"
Elphie still giggled, but shook her head. " I have to go. I promised Mister Steve a few guitar strings for today."
Neliot smiled. "Well, then this will buy you a little more time... but I guess you'll hear it when they wake up." His smile changed into a smirk and Elphie laughed.
"I guess I will." She waved goodbye and flew back in direction of the guitar case. Neliot settled himself on the bookshelf and propped his chin on his hands, waiting patiently.
It didn't take long. Steve began to move under the sheet a bit, his eyes fluttered open slowly and he stretched his legs with a yawn. Neliot felt an expecting grin form on his face and he bounced a bit in his place. Aaand... two... one...
"OW!"
"Ouch - oof!"
Steve had pushed himself upright, or had at least tried. Not knowing that the length of the braid wouldn't leave him much room to move, and the sharp tug on his scalp made him cry out. He fell back against Christian who was woken up very rudely by the tug on his own hair. The weight of Steve collapsing on his chest cut off his yelp of pain. Steve tried carefully to get back up again, automatically reaching for the hurting spot on his head. He froze as his fingers felt something strange.
"What the..." He got distracted by the muffled noises Christian made against his shoulder, sounding quite breathless and more than a little annoyed. "Oh. Don't move, Chris, we have a problem..." Steve grinned involuntarily as he got a growly answer that sounded like "No shit, Sherlock!" and twisted himself around a bit. He wrapped his fingers around the braided strands to avoid more tugging and finally got his body away from Chris.
"What the fuck is going on?" Chris finally managed to breathe out. His hand flew up to his hair and his eyes widened. The braid was long enough to get its end in eyesight, and they both noticed the bow simultaneously. Chris' eyes narrowed. "I don't believe it." His voice was low and threatening.
Steve frowned. He tried to disentangle their hair, but the bow was tied expertly. He made a few unsuccessful attempts at carefully pulling and twisting it, but after a few yelps of pain from Chris he gave up on that. Instead he concentrated on getting his own hair free since his shorter strand of blond didn't quite reach the end of the braid. Finally he managed to get free without noticeable hair loss. He shook his head with a relieved sigh and looked back at Chris who was still fidgeting with his curls. Steve's lips twitched. The murderous look Chris wore was slightly marred by the pink bow still dangling in his hair, and Steve had to suppress his laughter. "Let me help you," he said, voice dangerously close to cracking. He slowly ran his fingers through Chris' hair, plucking the pink ribbon out and holding it up. "Nice. Pink's definitely your color. Brings out your eyes."
Chris' eyes flew wide open and his jaw dropped. He sputtered. "The fuck? Remember your bitchin' 'bout pink laces, an' now it's my fucking color?" He leaned back and crossed his arms, trying to keep an outraged expression but failing completely as he looked at the goofy grin Steve was sporting now. He playfully swatted at Steve's hand as he tried to wrap the pink bow into Chris' hair again. "Don't get that near me, okay? An' besides..." He took the string out of Steve's hand, examined it closely and looked back at Steve, raising his eyebrows. "This looks familiar, huh? You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
Steve nodded in agreement. "Yup. Totally. Looks like prank-free time is over..." They both now heard a small giggling sound coming from the top of the bookshelf. Steve grinned and signaled Chris with his eyes to stand up. On a nod from Chris both men jumped from the bed and to the bookshelf in one swift move.
Neliot was still sitting on top of it. He had curled up to a ball and tried to muffle his laughter by pressing his fingers over his mouth, but a small sound had slipped through, giving away his presence. He let out a little yelp at the sudden appearance of his human hosts. Not completely able to stop laughing, he gave them a wave and a big grin. Which faded at the sight of two very bitchy faces. He suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
"Uh... hi guys?" He waved again and began to feel very nervous as Chris and Steve only exchanged a glance and then looked back at him, not saying a word and eyebrows raised. Neliot gulped nervously. "Am I... in trouble?" His gaze shifted away and he noticed that Lomy and Elphie had come out of their hiding and were hovering behind Chris and Steve now. But before he could react to their presence, Chris tilted his head and held up the pink string, voice sounding very serious.
"Pink shoelaces. Does that ring a bell, Neliot?"
Neliot straightened a bit and managed to look like Chris' implied accusation was completely unjustified. He even let a hint of offense slip into his voice. "No, it does not. What do you mean, Mister Christian?"
Chris narrowed his eyes. "Don't act like that. I think we made it very clear that we ain't a fan of pink laces at all. And I can remember the word 'promise'. So what's this, then?"
Neliot huffed, but sounded apologetic now. "Excuse me, Mister Christian, but that's not what we agreed about."
Chris did a double take. "Huh?" He gave Steve an incredulous look and received a confused shrug in return. He looked back at Neliot. "What the f... what exactly do you mean?"
"Um... Mister Christian?"
Chris turned his head, surprised to see Lomy hovering next to him. He frowned. "Hello Lomy. What's the deal here?"
Lomy looked a little uncomfortable, but nevertheless determined. "The promise that was made, it was about Mister Steve's shoes and about not hurting anyone. It never mentioned shoe laces in any form."
Chris' jaw dropped. "Say... that again." He threw a glance at Steve who looked as dumbfounded as himself at this moment.
"Well... we faeries take our promises very literally. It's not that I endorse those pranks..." Lomy threw a glaring look at Neliot who just grinned back cheekily. "But you must admit that Mister Steve's shoes were not involved in this one. And therefore he didn't break any promise." Lomy nodded to emphasize his words, and Elphie, who had by now landed next to Neliot, tinkled an agreement.
Chris was speechless for a moment, as was Steve. They both looked at each other, completely thrown off track. Finally Steve blinked and scratched his head.
"Um, Chris, I hate to say it, but Lomy is right. I only said my shoes were taboo." He crinkled his nose and eyed Neliot suspiciously who now totally failed at the attempt to hide his satisfied smirk.
Chris shook his head. "Wait." He fixated his gaze on Lomy again. "Are you sayin' that, that, he could've wrapped up my shoes with sparkly laces all around an' not doing anything wrong?"
Lomy sighed and nodded, clearly a little unhappy about it. "Yes. That is true, Mister Christian."
Chris narrowed his eyes. He glared at Neliot again, trying to re-establish his serious no-bullshit expression. "Okay, that makes sense. In a very twisted way, but it does. But." He paused dramatically for a moment, and Neliot actually lost his grin. Chris smirked. "What about the 'no hurt' thing? I'm tellin' ya, waking up by someone tearing at your hair? Hurts." With a satisfied smile, he expectantly looked at Neliot. And was totally taken aback by the sound of a sudden laughing fit that came from Steve, of all people. He turned around to find his partner doubled over with laughter, face red and tears already running down his cheeks. Chris felt his jaw drop again. "Steve? Breathe, man!" He patted Steve's back, but couldn't help to sound growly again. "What's so fuckin' funny? It did hurt!"
Steve slowly caught his breath again and wiped his face, still giggling. "Oh Chris..." Another laughing fit threatened to come up, but with a lot of effort he managed to suppress it. He took a few slow deep breaths before he was able to answer coherently. "Chris, that's really not his fault. I think by now every faerie in this house knows just how much you sometimes enjoy a little hairpulling." He grinned broadly. "How's he supposed to know that you only like it when I do it?"
Chris felt a faint blush creeping up his face. "Uhh..." He had the very distinctive feeling that his expression was quite sheepish now, but he couldn't help it. He stared at Steve whose lips were still twitching with suppressed laughter. He didn't even have to look at the bookshelf to know that Neliot would look very smug by now and that the other two faeries would be trying to hide their grins. Finally he shook off his stupor and coughed. "Well... that's a... um, pretty good point you have there." He huffed and couldn't help laughing. He also couldn't help himself tangling his fingers into Steve's hair and pulling softly, tugging Steve towards him. He brushed his lips over Steve's ear and let his voice drop to a seductive purr. "Same goes for you, darlin'. We'll get to that later." He pulled back, enjoying the slightly flushed look he got as a reward. He winked at Steve and then turned to the faeries. He looked from one to the others and back, shaking his head in amazement.
"Right. Y'all win this one, I guess." His lips twitched. "Lesson learned. Be prepared for a new definition of some house rules, though. Got that?" He pointedly looked at Neliot who nodded happily and took a bow that was only slightly mocking. Chris sighed dramatically and finally grinned, shaking his head again. "Shit, who'd have thought that faeries are so complicated. Boy, am I glad that there's only three of you."