PSOH, DifD, This Is Not A Test...
Title: This Is Not A Test
Pairing: Leon X D
Rating: G
I lost a friend last night, a very beautiful woman who fought the good fight against ovarian cancer for more than a year. The world is not the same without her - she is, was and will be always an indescribibly fascinating and charming person, one who touched many. As I was in the midst of this when it happened and had just reached that final door, I transformed her into a unicorn, for in the truest sense she is a magical creature, to be valued above rubies. I hope that I see her again, some day, if not in this life or this sphere, than another. With love, to Judy.
This Is Not A Test…
“Are you ready, Detective?”
“As I’ll ever be, D.”
“Then follow me, please.”
He stopped at the next door down from his - their - bedroom. The door was a red lacquered masterpiece, like all the many doors in this Shop.
A silent rush of rarified air as he pulled it open and then Leon peered around him, blue eyes wide. It struck D then that he looked a great deal like his little brother, although Chris had been much more blasé when it came to the Shop. The Count turned away quickly, biting his already red lips.
The Detective most likely wouldn’t be quite as accepting, given that he’d always had an irritating, skeptical way of disbelieving the Count right off. Or he had…that was years ago, and he had seen Pon-chan and Tetsu quite clearly when he first arrived at D’s new Tokyo location, several days ago.
Perhaps this little tour of the premises wasn’t truly necessary - they could get to it gradually, over the course of days and months. Years even; the Shop was much larger inside than it appeared on the outside. Not even D always knew how many doors there would be beyond the known ones.
But Leon was to live here now, with him. He deserved to know exactly what he’d signed up for, D thought. It might make him afraid, or perhaps he would reject it, confine himself only to seeing the kitchen, the Parlor, their bedroom for the rest of his days.
D sincerely hoped that wouldn’t happen. Leon was his now, to keep and to care for. He could not bear to keep him confined like the poor beasts at other pet shops. He could not bear to have Leon terrified or, worse yet, itching to escape from the weirdness within. And this wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he was required to - the Shop wouldn’t allow Leon any peace at all if he kept his stubborn mind closed and refused it.
“Wow! That’s a really nice library, D! I’ve never seen one so big inside somebody’s house!”
D opened his eyes - he had closed them, avoiding the detective’s expression like some foolish coward - and realized they’d found the Study, which had conveniently relocated itself several doors down. Relief flooded his veins and then shame, for it was indeed cowardly of him to put off the inevitable.
“Yes, you may have it, if you like. It was my Father’s obsession when he lived here. No doubt you’ll find a great deal of scientific material, as well as the records of the previous Counts. Grandfather is a great reader of histories, especially World War II, and I have contributed some books on botany and aquatic life as well.”
“Great. Do you have any Grisham or Automotive Quarterly, you think?” Leon’s enthusiasm waned rapidly, though he eyed the burled walnut desk with fondness in passing.
“Most likely not. Are you ready for the next one?”
“Yeah, I guess. That wasn’t too painful.”
Another red door, this one with a nameplate above it, the letters inscribed in the gleaming brass in Chinese and so of no help to his detective.
He opened the door and this time kept his eyes on Leon’s face, hopeful.
“Shit! D, that’s a savannah! Those are fucking lions, aren’t they?”
Leon stepped forward, eager to taste the fecund air, look around like a tourist on safari at the group of elephants a little ways away, the big cats dozing in the sun under the shade of the baobob tree.
“No! Detective!” The Count grasped Leon’s arm firmly, hauling him back. “They don’t know you - they’ll think it’s dinnertime, Leon. Stay right here, please. Look with your eyes, not your whole entire body.” By the time the Count finished, the urgency in his voice had trailed away to reproof. Leon, struck by the wisdom of not being eaten by large carnivores, stepped back behind his lover again, sighing lightly in disappointment.
“Yeah, yeah, okay. I got it, D.” He shrugged off D’s talons on his arm and sighed, heavily this time, turning to the next door. “Let’s get on with it, then.”
“…I’m sorry. I just didn’t want you to-“ Purple-and-gold stared searchingly, pleadingly up at Leon’s profile. He hadn’t meant to treat this man as a child, hadn’t meant to offend. He was only - only worried.
“Look, I know, I understand. It’s alright, D. Don’t worry about it.”
Leon looked at the nameplate above the next door, a few yards farther down. The walls had begun a slow, eye-defying curve now and D knew the next door would be even less understandable. He joined his lover, unwilling.
A turn of an ornate brass knob and they stood on the shores of a beach, a wicker table-and-chairs under a gaily striped sailcloth umbrella in the distance. There were shorebirds standing on the rocks and farther out Leon caught sight of a lithe young man in a wetsuit, his dark hair slicked down on his well-shaped head.
“Now, this looks good. Anything here I should worry about?”
Leon turned to D, who laughed, a rolling tenor chuckle that was very unlike his ‘company titter’ - the high, girlish sound that made other men look not just twice, but three times when they were out in public.
The Shop was being kind, D realized with relief. It was easing his detective gradually into the flow of things. He thanked it silently before reassuring Leon, smiling widely.
“No. It is as it appears, Leon - a beautiful beach on a clean, shining sea. As long as you don’t venture too far from shore, you’ll be fine.”
“Well, that’s a good thing. I’m going to need a place to run in the morning and this looks like a nice spot. By the way, who’s that guy out there in the wetsuit? Another Pet?”
“Y-yes, yes, Leon!”
D was laughing again, his whole body trembling a little with joy. His lover was able to see Pierre clearly -- and that was wonderful, far more wonderful than his earlier reaction to Pon and T-chan. Leon was used to those two, and perhaps that had given him an edge, but he’d never met Chris’s young friend. That Leon could see Pierre now was simply a miracle, hoped for but unexpected.
When D stopped giggling - and after Leon had finished kissing him, because Leon always ended up kissing him whenever the Count laughed like that, wholeheartedly - he gathered his breath and leaned fully into his detective’s enfolding arms.
‘That, my love, is young Chris’s friend Pierre. He is a seal, perfectly at home in the water.”
“And he’s a Pet? Who would buy him?” Leon looked back at the young man, who was now cheerfully waving, his dark eyes glittering below his face mask.
“Oh, I don’t know. He’s very shy, you see, and doesn’t like company. He was treated roughly, I believe, before I found him and brought him here.”
“Then I’m sure he’s a lot happier now, D. You said he’s Chris’s friend? How did they meet if he never comes out of the water?” Leon grinned at him, curious.
“Your little brother, Detective, was simply everywhere. Thank the heavens I had T-chan to keep up with him - he’s quite a handful, that little boy.” D smiled at the remembrance, his eyes soft and hazy.
“Not so little anymore. He’s ten now, D, nearly eleven.”
The Count sighed again, and rubbed his face against the grain of Leon’s cotton T-shirt. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to actually know that, that little Chris was exiting childhood quickly, on his way to becoming a teen…and eventually, a man. Would he still believe then, would he still remember, when he was as old as his older brother?
“We should do the next one and then be done for today, Leon. I'm quite sure I’ve had all the excitement I care to take.”
“Okay. Whatever.” D stepped out of the muscled arms that had held him loosely and squared his shoulders under the silk.
They paced down another few yards till they came to the next red door. This one was a shade larger than the others, it’s high, wide frame made of ebony. Little curlicues of wood wandered across the scarlet background, forming a nearly 3D image of equines, horned equines that were not horses at all.
When D opened the door, the light nearly blinded them. It was a sunlit meadow in the midst of a deep forest that coalesced before Leon’s dazzled eyes, the massive trunk of the fallen tree - whose death had allowed those dappled beams to reach the undergrowth - lying diagonally across it, marking the grassy area near the door and the mossy, shade-loving growth farther back in the shade of the ancient trees. Gathered there in a small herd were the rarest of all creatures - unicorns.
They were an incandescent, bare-bone white, so white that the absence of color could not begin to describe the purity of rippling flanks and soft muzzles, long tangled manes and graceful legs. Their hooves were cloven, blacker than soot, so black that they shone a polished, iridescent purple as they reflected the sun.
It was the eyes that enchanted Leon: great liquid orbs of royal purple, the pupils surrounded by a fiery ring of gold. And so sweet and shy were they, like the blush of a virgin, the hand of a tiny child, love’s first kiss.
When he blinked, his own eyes watery from the brightness, he saw women and men of incomparable beauty gathered casually, long-limbed, milk-pale and with flowing silvery locks that swirled around them as they moved.
One in particular looked up and caught his attention, her face smiling, jubilant, fascinating. It made Leon feel good merely to gaze at her, drink in the warmth of her smile, the high, sweet sound of her voice as she spoke to the others, gesturing with bare arms and mobile hands.
“She is beautiful, is she not, Leon?” D spoke softly, his expression one of contentment and peace. “I used to come here and watch her when I needed to remember why I should continue, why I needed to fulfill my purpose in life. When the world seemed very dark and lonely.”
“Yes. I wish I-“ Leon grinned back at the Lady, feeling better about life, though he’d nothing to complain of before - he just felt better, brighter, full to the brim and overflowing with all that was strong and good and vital. He turned to D, gazing now with wonder at the one he had sought for such a long time.
He’d nearly given hope a few times…more than a few, if he’d admitted it. He’d nearly called it quits, had almost walked away, when D had been lonely, when D had been waiting. It didn’t bear thinking of - that he could have given up.
“I wish I had gotten here sooner, D. I wish I could have held you when you were sad and tired.”
“Leon.”
The unicorns wandered away, fading from the light like will ‘o wisps, as if they had never been. The last one, the Lady, turned back to watch fondly the couple on the edge of the grove. She knew love when she saw it - she was made of it, the essence of that indescribable feeling - and it pleased her that those two creatures there, clinging to one another as if never to be separated, should know love, too.
Pairing: Leon X D
Rating: G
I lost a friend last night, a very beautiful woman who fought the good fight against ovarian cancer for more than a year. The world is not the same without her - she is, was and will be always an indescribibly fascinating and charming person, one who touched many. As I was in the midst of this when it happened and had just reached that final door, I transformed her into a unicorn, for in the truest sense she is a magical creature, to be valued above rubies. I hope that I see her again, some day, if not in this life or this sphere, than another. With love, to Judy.
This Is Not A Test…
“Are you ready, Detective?”
“As I’ll ever be, D.”
“Then follow me, please.”
He stopped at the next door down from his - their - bedroom. The door was a red lacquered masterpiece, like all the many doors in this Shop.
A silent rush of rarified air as he pulled it open and then Leon peered around him, blue eyes wide. It struck D then that he looked a great deal like his little brother, although Chris had been much more blasé when it came to the Shop. The Count turned away quickly, biting his already red lips.
The Detective most likely wouldn’t be quite as accepting, given that he’d always had an irritating, skeptical way of disbelieving the Count right off. Or he had…that was years ago, and he had seen Pon-chan and Tetsu quite clearly when he first arrived at D’s new Tokyo location, several days ago.
Perhaps this little tour of the premises wasn’t truly necessary - they could get to it gradually, over the course of days and months. Years even; the Shop was much larger inside than it appeared on the outside. Not even D always knew how many doors there would be beyond the known ones.
But Leon was to live here now, with him. He deserved to know exactly what he’d signed up for, D thought. It might make him afraid, or perhaps he would reject it, confine himself only to seeing the kitchen, the Parlor, their bedroom for the rest of his days.
D sincerely hoped that wouldn’t happen. Leon was his now, to keep and to care for. He could not bear to keep him confined like the poor beasts at other pet shops. He could not bear to have Leon terrified or, worse yet, itching to escape from the weirdness within. And this wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he was required to - the Shop wouldn’t allow Leon any peace at all if he kept his stubborn mind closed and refused it.
“Wow! That’s a really nice library, D! I’ve never seen one so big inside somebody’s house!”
D opened his eyes - he had closed them, avoiding the detective’s expression like some foolish coward - and realized they’d found the Study, which had conveniently relocated itself several doors down. Relief flooded his veins and then shame, for it was indeed cowardly of him to put off the inevitable.
“Yes, you may have it, if you like. It was my Father’s obsession when he lived here. No doubt you’ll find a great deal of scientific material, as well as the records of the previous Counts. Grandfather is a great reader of histories, especially World War II, and I have contributed some books on botany and aquatic life as well.”
“Great. Do you have any Grisham or Automotive Quarterly, you think?” Leon’s enthusiasm waned rapidly, though he eyed the burled walnut desk with fondness in passing.
“Most likely not. Are you ready for the next one?”
“Yeah, I guess. That wasn’t too painful.”
Another red door, this one with a nameplate above it, the letters inscribed in the gleaming brass in Chinese and so of no help to his detective.
He opened the door and this time kept his eyes on Leon’s face, hopeful.
“Shit! D, that’s a savannah! Those are fucking lions, aren’t they?”
Leon stepped forward, eager to taste the fecund air, look around like a tourist on safari at the group of elephants a little ways away, the big cats dozing in the sun under the shade of the baobob tree.
“No! Detective!” The Count grasped Leon’s arm firmly, hauling him back. “They don’t know you - they’ll think it’s dinnertime, Leon. Stay right here, please. Look with your eyes, not your whole entire body.” By the time the Count finished, the urgency in his voice had trailed away to reproof. Leon, struck by the wisdom of not being eaten by large carnivores, stepped back behind his lover again, sighing lightly in disappointment.
“Yeah, yeah, okay. I got it, D.” He shrugged off D’s talons on his arm and sighed, heavily this time, turning to the next door. “Let’s get on with it, then.”
“…I’m sorry. I just didn’t want you to-“ Purple-and-gold stared searchingly, pleadingly up at Leon’s profile. He hadn’t meant to treat this man as a child, hadn’t meant to offend. He was only - only worried.
“Look, I know, I understand. It’s alright, D. Don’t worry about it.”
Leon looked at the nameplate above the next door, a few yards farther down. The walls had begun a slow, eye-defying curve now and D knew the next door would be even less understandable. He joined his lover, unwilling.
A turn of an ornate brass knob and they stood on the shores of a beach, a wicker table-and-chairs under a gaily striped sailcloth umbrella in the distance. There were shorebirds standing on the rocks and farther out Leon caught sight of a lithe young man in a wetsuit, his dark hair slicked down on his well-shaped head.
“Now, this looks good. Anything here I should worry about?”
Leon turned to D, who laughed, a rolling tenor chuckle that was very unlike his ‘company titter’ - the high, girlish sound that made other men look not just twice, but three times when they were out in public.
The Shop was being kind, D realized with relief. It was easing his detective gradually into the flow of things. He thanked it silently before reassuring Leon, smiling widely.
“No. It is as it appears, Leon - a beautiful beach on a clean, shining sea. As long as you don’t venture too far from shore, you’ll be fine.”
“Well, that’s a good thing. I’m going to need a place to run in the morning and this looks like a nice spot. By the way, who’s that guy out there in the wetsuit? Another Pet?”
“Y-yes, yes, Leon!”
D was laughing again, his whole body trembling a little with joy. His lover was able to see Pierre clearly -- and that was wonderful, far more wonderful than his earlier reaction to Pon and T-chan. Leon was used to those two, and perhaps that had given him an edge, but he’d never met Chris’s young friend. That Leon could see Pierre now was simply a miracle, hoped for but unexpected.
When D stopped giggling - and after Leon had finished kissing him, because Leon always ended up kissing him whenever the Count laughed like that, wholeheartedly - he gathered his breath and leaned fully into his detective’s enfolding arms.
‘That, my love, is young Chris’s friend Pierre. He is a seal, perfectly at home in the water.”
“And he’s a Pet? Who would buy him?” Leon looked back at the young man, who was now cheerfully waving, his dark eyes glittering below his face mask.
“Oh, I don’t know. He’s very shy, you see, and doesn’t like company. He was treated roughly, I believe, before I found him and brought him here.”
“Then I’m sure he’s a lot happier now, D. You said he’s Chris’s friend? How did they meet if he never comes out of the water?” Leon grinned at him, curious.
“Your little brother, Detective, was simply everywhere. Thank the heavens I had T-chan to keep up with him - he’s quite a handful, that little boy.” D smiled at the remembrance, his eyes soft and hazy.
“Not so little anymore. He’s ten now, D, nearly eleven.”
The Count sighed again, and rubbed his face against the grain of Leon’s cotton T-shirt. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to actually know that, that little Chris was exiting childhood quickly, on his way to becoming a teen…and eventually, a man. Would he still believe then, would he still remember, when he was as old as his older brother?
“We should do the next one and then be done for today, Leon. I'm quite sure I’ve had all the excitement I care to take.”
“Okay. Whatever.” D stepped out of the muscled arms that had held him loosely and squared his shoulders under the silk.
They paced down another few yards till they came to the next red door. This one was a shade larger than the others, it’s high, wide frame made of ebony. Little curlicues of wood wandered across the scarlet background, forming a nearly 3D image of equines, horned equines that were not horses at all.
When D opened the door, the light nearly blinded them. It was a sunlit meadow in the midst of a deep forest that coalesced before Leon’s dazzled eyes, the massive trunk of the fallen tree - whose death had allowed those dappled beams to reach the undergrowth - lying diagonally across it, marking the grassy area near the door and the mossy, shade-loving growth farther back in the shade of the ancient trees. Gathered there in a small herd were the rarest of all creatures - unicorns.
They were an incandescent, bare-bone white, so white that the absence of color could not begin to describe the purity of rippling flanks and soft muzzles, long tangled manes and graceful legs. Their hooves were cloven, blacker than soot, so black that they shone a polished, iridescent purple as they reflected the sun.
It was the eyes that enchanted Leon: great liquid orbs of royal purple, the pupils surrounded by a fiery ring of gold. And so sweet and shy were they, like the blush of a virgin, the hand of a tiny child, love’s first kiss.
When he blinked, his own eyes watery from the brightness, he saw women and men of incomparable beauty gathered casually, long-limbed, milk-pale and with flowing silvery locks that swirled around them as they moved.
One in particular looked up and caught his attention, her face smiling, jubilant, fascinating. It made Leon feel good merely to gaze at her, drink in the warmth of her smile, the high, sweet sound of her voice as she spoke to the others, gesturing with bare arms and mobile hands.
“She is beautiful, is she not, Leon?” D spoke softly, his expression one of contentment and peace. “I used to come here and watch her when I needed to remember why I should continue, why I needed to fulfill my purpose in life. When the world seemed very dark and lonely.”
“Yes. I wish I-“ Leon grinned back at the Lady, feeling better about life, though he’d nothing to complain of before - he just felt better, brighter, full to the brim and overflowing with all that was strong and good and vital. He turned to D, gazing now with wonder at the one he had sought for such a long time.
He’d nearly given hope a few times…more than a few, if he’d admitted it. He’d nearly called it quits, had almost walked away, when D had been lonely, when D had been waiting. It didn’t bear thinking of - that he could have given up.
“I wish I had gotten here sooner, D. I wish I could have held you when you were sad and tired.”
“Leon.”
The unicorns wandered away, fading from the light like will ‘o wisps, as if they had never been. The last one, the Lady, turned back to watch fondly the couple on the edge of the grove. She knew love when she saw it - she was made of it, the essence of that indescribable feeling - and it pleased her that those two creatures there, clinging to one another as if never to be separated, should know love, too.