AN: Just don't ask about this one... Yet another piece based on a chat conversation. I enjoyed making it, though.
Guten Morgen -Good Morning
Entschuldigung -Excuse me
Guten Abend -Good Evening
Gewiss -Of course
They'd just made his birthday something small –just the two of them. With being so far away from home, and being with children who already were convinced that 33 was unbelievably old, gaining another year was hardly something you'd benefit from talking about.
A quiet dinner across town, a gift or two –but mainly just sneaking away from the group to have some much-needed time alone.
Eliza sat against him, smiling lightly as she passed the last gift. Faust returned the grin, and slowly opened it.
The smile slowly diminished as he blinked and looked more closely at what was in the clear, plastic bag. "Eliza… what… Is this…?"
She nodded with a grin, "Yes. It was hard to match it to your skin tone without you around…" She held the bag closer to his face, "It's perfect."
His eyes darted, "…But… why did you?"
She unzipped the bag and took one of the pieces out, "Don't fidget and I'll show you." She pushed him to lean against the tree trunk, and began to work.
Faust sat quietly, confused but compliant.
Finally, she pulled a mirror from the bag and let him see himself.
Slowly, a smile spread across his face, "Eliza… this is incredible…! I… I can't believe…"
Eliza grinned, "I told you you'd like it…" She moved closer, "You look wonderful right now, by the way."
He raised an eyebrow, "Do I?"
She nodded and moved up to kiss him. He moved down to join her, slowly bringing his hand up to run through her hair. When she responded, he continued on and let the night progress as it did.
!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!
Yoh trudged into the diner, eyes half-open due to exhaustion. After he was finally able to raise his head, he was forced to pause.
Someone he didn't know was sitting at the table the Funbari Onsen had claimed basically on the first day –eyes struggling to stay open as he slouched over his coffee and too-forcefully buttered toast.
The man stifled a yawn before inhaling the smell of the coffee and then taking a sip. He winced and mixed in more sugar before drinking again. Longer this time –so apparently it was finally right.
Yoh stared at him for a moment –he hadn't even seen this guy before, he didn't think. Maybe this was one of the many people who'd come to simply watch the matches. There were more of them coming nearly every day at this point, so it wouldn't be all that unusual.
But… he was wearing an oracle pager…
How, after so long in Patch, had Yoh not seen him? And why wouldn't he be with his team? Patch wasn't exactly the safest place in the world –and it wasn't advisable to simply walk around alone… Maybe this guy was strong enough not to care that he was by himself and infringing on another team…
But if he was so strong, why wouldn't Yoh have heard of him before?
He paused and looked closer. He couldn't be positive… but the skin under the guy's shirt seemed to be darker than it should have been… Almost gray…
Yoh blinked… it couldn't be.
"…Faust?" he asked hesitantly as he slowly came closer, "… Is that you?"
The man looked up and smiled exhaustedly. "Guten Morgen, Yoh-kun," he said as he motioned with a wave of his hand to the empty chair beside him, "How was your evening?"
"Faust, what happened to you?" Yoh asked, staying firmly where he was.
Faust blinked in confusion, "What on Earth are you talking about?" He thought for a moment before smiling, "Oh… you mean my being tired? It doesn't happen often, but after a long enough night I can become exhausted…" He raised his cup of coffee with a grin, "The caffeine should get me back to normal soon enough, though."
Yoh raised an eyebrow and shook his head, "That's not what I'm talking about, Faust."
The necromancer paused, eyes darting around the room for a second before he looked back at Yoh, "… Then… what is it?"
Yoh's mouth twitched into a nervous smile, "Well… you look like a normal person…"
Faust matched his expression, "…What?"
He tilted his head just slightly and pointed to his own face, "The bags under your eyes are gone, your lips are normal… You don't look like you."
Faust paused for a moment as he tried to sort out what was being told to him. "I… um…" As he finally realized what was going on, he blushed slightly and shook his head. "This is really nothing… It was just one of Eliza's ideas…"
Yoh moved closer, leaning in to get a good look at Faust's face. "Are you… are you wearing make-up?"
Faust blushed and shook his head, "No, of course not. I would not…"
Yoh grinned a bit as he took a seat, "Well, you look completely different from every other time I've seen you –no bags and no purple lips. So… I guess there are two options." His smile grew as he put his chin in his hand, "Either you were wearing make-up then, or you're wearing it now."
Faust frowned deeply and turned his head away, "Honestly, this is ridiculous. I do not wear make-up."
"Not even because it was Eliza's idea?" Yoh pressed, grinning more.
Faust narrowed his eyes and returned to his breakfast –eating the toast with more ferocity than he usually would. Yoh grinned a bit, but then slowly let it fade. This was hilarious… but…
There was always joking between the group –but Faust had always been so distant. Always too serious, always too quiet, always way too far mentally to ever really be one of them.
But, finally, there was something that could potentially bring him in. If it was going to, though, he needed to handle this very carefully.
"That's what you looked like before, huh?" Yoh asked, leaning back in the chair as he looked over Faust.
The necromancer paused as he drank his coffee. After a long while, he placed the cup back on the table and nodded. "More or less, yes." He looked down for a moment, "Eliza missed seeing me like this... I… I was just trying to…"
Yoh nodded and smiled lightly. "You look great, Faust," he said, "Don't worry about it."
Faust glanced over and smiled back after a moment, "Danke, Yoh-kun." He looked down, "Have you eaten yet…? You really should before Anna decides to start your training session for the day…"
"Oh my god…"
The two paused before looking over to see The Ren had sat themselves at the next table –and probably had been watching them for quite a while now.
Faust frowned slightly, shifting his weight uncomfortably, at the grins the three were sporting.
As Horo Horo's smirk grew, Yoh shot him a look and shook his head to signal the Ainu to drop it. Horo shook his head in return as he left the table and strolled over to the pair.
"So… trying to pick up a date, eh Faust?" he asked smoothly.
The necromancer looked him over for a long while before his eyes slowly began to narrow. "Entschuldigung?" he asked coldly.
"I bet ya' found a real nice guy with all that lipstick on…"
"I would never do that against Eliza," he hissed, his gloved fingers were slowly starting to clench around his coffee cup, "That you would even suggest it is an insult."
Yoh saw this, and tried his best to signal to Horo to just quit while he was still alive. But, with his team mates sniggering, he wasn't open to listen.
He leaned against the table smugly, "Did you…"
Whatever he was going to say was cut short as, in one smooth movement, Faust pounced, pinned Horo to the ground, and put a scalpel to his throat.
A wide, bitter smile spread across Faust's face, "Say it again." When Horo Horo gulped, Faust leaned down a bit more to whisper silkily in his ear, "Go on, I dare you."
"Faust…" Yoh said, standing up and putting his hand firmly on the table, "Don't hurt him…"
Faust shot a look back at him and held it there. After a long while, he nodded and stood –sticking the scalpel back into whatever pocket it had come from. "Fine." He obediently returned to the table and began to eat once again.
Horo rubbed his throat and sheepishly slunk back to his table –keeping a very careful eye on the necromancer who was apparently just ignoring him once again.
As his teammates snickered, Horo glared at them, "Shut up. Both of you, just shut up."
"I can't," Ren told him, a smirk spreading across his face, "You were just nearly killed by a transvestite."
Faust's eyes narrowed again. It was not the insult to him which was so bad… It was the insinuation that something Eliza had thought would be wonderful should be taken like this…
That her intentions were less than pure…. It couldn't be stood for.
As he began to reach for his scalpel again, Yoh put a firm hand on his arm.
When Faust looked over, Yoh shook his head.
"Just leave it alone," he said flatly. When Faust gritted his teeth and glared back at them, Yoh squeezed his arm and gave him a look, "Don't, Faust. Come on, let's just leave."
Faust glared back at The Ren, but finally nodded and followed Yoh out of the diner.
!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!
When it occurred to him that, yes, he had heard something, Chocolov's eyes creaked open. As he realized that someone was sitting across the room, watching them sleep, he shot awake and cried out to alert his team mates.
After the initial shock, the three stared firmly at the intruder.
Faust sat in a chair across the room, grinning bitterly. With the shadows of the night casting across him, and without the makeup which had made him look so innocent that morning, he'd become a far more threatening a figure than he'd ever seemed to be before.
"Guten Abend," he said, silkily, the grin spreading just slightly, "I was wondering when you'd wake up."
"Get out!" Ren snapped, reaching a hand over quickly and grabbing his Kwan Dao. He paused and glanced over in confusion when he found he couldn't lift it.
Someone had planted their foot on it. Ren slowly let his eyes drift up to find it was Eliza –staring down at him with a corner of her mouth lifted. After a moment she shook her head that no, the weapon wasn't going anywhere.
Ren bared his teeth and roared, "Let it go you…"
"You what?"
He froze and looked back at Faust, who's eyes had narrowed fiercely –though the smile was still on his face.
He frowned deeply in return, but loosened his grip, "Nothing."
"Yes, I thought so." Faust laced his fingers in his lap, "You three were very rude little brats this morning."
The boys looked at each other and sunk down a bit. When Chocolov grinned and opened his mouth to make a joke to lighten the mood, he was stopped by a back-handed slap on the shoulder from Ren.
Horo's eyes darted to find his snowboard. It was across the room –with Eliza standing between. His mouth twitched into a nervous smile, "Well, we…"
"You don't believe you can actually defend yourselves, do you?" He asked flatly, and then chuckled for a moment, "I'll have you know, I have heard all the little jokes at my expense. From as far back as I've been with the group, I believe." He shrugged, "Well… it's my turn, now."
"But the two idiots on your team…" Ren began forcefully.
"Are not part of this," Faust said flatly, fingers clenching the backs of his hands. His smile began to reveal teeth –the white a startling contrast against his dark lips. "This is just you and me."
"What are you going to do…?" Horo Horo asked, trying to appear as threatening as he could.
Faust shook his head, "Oh, don't worry. You'll see. Are you ready, Eliza?"
With a sweep of her foot, the Kwan Dao was sent sliding across the room until it hit the far wall. "Gewiss," she said with a nod.
Ren dove for the weapon, but she soon had him pinned painfully to the floor.
Faust looked fiercely at the other two, "Anyone else want to be brave?"
They looked at each other, then shook their heads.
"Good." Slowly, he stood from his chair, "Let's begin the operation, Eliza."
!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!
Faust looked over from his chair facing the window and smiled as his roommates began to wake.
"How was your night?" Yoh asked exhaustedly as he went for his bag to retrieve fresh clothing.
Faust shrugged as he averted his gaze and waited patiently for them to prepare for the day, "Nothing out of the ordinary, really." After a few minutes, he turned his head back, "Shall we go…? Breakfast won't be for much longer…"
The group nodded, and then filed out of the hotel room. As they left the hotel, though, their attention was drawn to the large crowd formed by the far wall.
Though Faust tried to lead them away, he reluctantly followed behind as they head toward it and worked their way to the front. As they got there, however, they stopped dead.
The Ren had been duct-taped to the wall –their faced covered in thick amounts of makeup. They were looking around the crowd with wild, furious eyes –and probably would have been yelling if their mouths had not been taped, as well.
Tilting back in a chair next to them and tapping the Kwan Dao idly against her foot was Eliza. When she spotted her teammates, she smiled and waved her fingers in a quick greeting.
The boys stared for a long time.
"…Faust…" Manta said hesitantly after a period, "What did you guys do to them…?"
Faust smiled lightly and shrugged, "We didn't do anything. They must have made the wrong people very angry, and they got themselves into trouble. But my Eliza is so wonderful that she would stand watch over them all night so that they wouldn't get hurt…"
The boys paused, exchanging nervous glances with each other.
"Well then…" Ryu said, glancing over, "Shouldn't we get them dow…"
"Nein!" Faust told him flatly. When he realized the tone, he put on a nervous smile, "I mean… no. They're fine for right now. Come along –breakfast is very important."
Quickly he ushered his team away.
The Ren tried, as best they could, to yell after them for help –but with their mouths covered it was of no use.
Eliza looked back at them and chuckled silently to herself –settling in to stand guard for the several more hours that she would need to.