You Make Me Melt

By Team GEMIINI

雛森.Y: Lol… I forgot to update. :D

Hope you guys enjoyed the Team GEMINI spam... I might do another one later on, but idk...

メルト

Fate's POV

Can You Feel My Heart Beat? Part 2 of 7

I sat there momentarily stunned. What just happened? What the hell just happened?

One moment I was bracing myself for another one of Carim's ridiculously long lectures about how I spent my wealth, next I was sitting in bed naked thinking about how great her ass looked as she walked away from me, and now I was just confused about her attitude this morning.

I know there isn't much to worry about; Carim was always such an inscriptive speaker. Her words always holding some strange hidden message that I always—at least most of the time—had to decipher myself.

Though during the few times, when I do figure out what she meant, it was often always too late.

I was in the middle of a dirty thought involving Carim when my cell phone started to ring, effectively snapping me out of my little… fantasy.

Just be friends. All we gotta do is just be friends. It's time to say goodbye and just be friends. All we gotta do is just be friends. Just be friends.

This personalized ringer could belong to no one else but… hers.

Looking at the cherry red MotoKrzr sitting on the nightstand (it matched Carim's phone), I felt hesitation grab hold of me. I was tempted to reach out and shut it up, but on the other hang… I couldn't help but sympathize with the upbeat tone of my ringer. It summed up my imminent feelings, but I wasn't too sure if I was willing to voice them out just yet.

"That's right… I'm meeting up with Nanoha today." I stared at the phone again and decided to pick it up. Reading the caller ID I couldn't help but chuckle. I held it against my ear and greeted the person on the other line, relieved that it wasn't who I thought it was. "Hello Vivio, calling me to make sure I didn't forget about my meeting with your mom? Or are you just calling me because you missed me?"

The teenager stuttered some incoherent words before shouting at me. "Mou! Fate-san, stop teasing me!"

"I know, I know, but it's just so much fun." I replied with a grin.

"Anyways, how'd you know it was me?" she asked me, her face probably redder than a tomato.

Brushing aside my bangs, I laid back in bed, wincing when I crushed one of Carim's stuffed animals beneath me. "Your mom never calls me from the home phone, only you do." I said as I reached for the stuffed animal under me and yanked it out, growling at it as the edge of the blasted thing's nose jabbed me in the side. "Damnit, Carim and her stupid anteater teddy…"

"Jeez, you really know how to talk to a girl…" Vivio muttered obviously entertained. "And I never knew Carim-san liked… anteaters was it?"

"She's got a thing for weird looking animals."

"That explains why she's dating you."

I was shocked, if not slightly amused, at Vivio's tone of voice with me. "You should respect your elders kid, do you really want me to tell your mommy about this phone call?" I said in a threatening manner. I was jesting of course; I knew that Nanoha would just die of embarrassment if she knew her daughter was double checking her appointments for her. "And what was that about being a weird looking animal?"

"Oh nothing…"

"Vivio…"

"Fate-san…"

"Vi…"

"Fate-chan~"

"Buttercup~"

"Okay, that was weird." Vivio deadpanned. A loud 'thud' was heard in the background and what sounded like a television being turned on to the weather channel. "Hold on Fate-san, I think my mom's up."

Vivio shifted the phone from one hand to the other, and I distinctly heard the sound of a mug being lifted off the surface of the counter. The heavy 'clinking' sound it made told me that the beverage container was still full.

"Mn, I'll be right here." I replied, my voice softening as I relaxed in bed.

Keeping the phone pressed against my ear I heard the quiet padding of Vivio's feet, and judging by the sound she was either dressed up and ready for school… or she was wearing her pink bunny slippers. I couldn't help but chuckle at the fond memory of visiting Nanoha around 7am one day. Vivio had just woken up and she was leaning on the kitchen counter with a hot cup of coffee. The look of surprise and terror made my day that day.

Vivio was actually pretty cute when she scurried away into her room.

"Morning, Mom." I heard her say.

"Morning, Vivio." Nanoha replied. I pictured her wearing her pyjamas with a fair amount of exposed skin… probably in the chest and shoulder area, her hair a complete mess, and one of her trademark smiles. "You shouldn't be drinking coffee; you're too young for that! Plus, you'll stunt your growth." she continued in a motherly tone.

Vivio scoffed and took a rather exaggerated sip of the previously mentioned coffee. "I'm not Asian; I don't have to worry about being short. I haven't hit my growth spurt," another emphasizing sip. "And I was busy studying last night so I didn't get much sleep."

"Mou, did you at least leave me some?" Nanoha asked her with a dejected sigh.

I didn't hear anything after that, just the sound of the weathercaster's voice drifting farther and farther away until all I could hear was the quiet ruffling of Vivio's skirt.

"Still there, Fate-san?"

I pretended to yawn and replied, "Unfortunately… yes."

"Oh, did you really fall asleep?" she asked me.

"No, not really. Anyways, why the phone call?" I heard a small murmur and figured Vivio was being shy again. "Can you repeat that?"

"I… just wanted to hear your voice is all…" I opened my mouth to reply, but Vivio quickly cut me off. "Not that it means anything!"

Beep Beep Beep Beep

And then she hung up… I wonder where she got that habit from?

Nanoha.

Closing the phone I lazily tossed it to the side, not caring about where it landed, but I think it landed in the garbage.

"Oh well, I can just get another one…" I said in a nonchalant tone.

Getting out of bed, I stretched my limbs out as far as I could, only to wince in pain when I arched my back. Carim had a… strange habit of scratching and biting me in bed, and I can't really think of a reason why. But that's okay because it's hot.

I looked at the alarm clock and sighed, time was flying by; my meeting with Nanoha was in three hours at Central.

"Shower," I stated flatly. "I need a shower."

Walking over to my closet, I grabbed some clean under things and the outfit I prepared the night before and double checked it. It was a simple grey jacket (my favourite to be honest), some loose fitting jeans, and an ironed white button up shirt. Nothing too extravagant, just some regular clothes for an average person. Yep, nothing out of the ordinary here… minus the fact this outfit cost me close to $600 US. I have a bad habit of buying designer clothes.

The good thing about being abnormally wealthy was that I had a fully equipped bathroom in every room. Every room. I tried my best to keep my mind off of things and just think of the day ahead of me. I was really excited; I haven't seen Nanoha in who knows how long… I really missed her. I missed her laugh, I missed her not so funny jokes, I miss her strange little ponytail, and most of all I missed the way she would blush at the littlest of things.

My shower was brief, I just needed to wash away the sweat and rinse off Carim's scent—not that I didn't like how my lover smelled, because I love the way Carim smells… I just don't like smelling like Carim. Yeah, that's the reason why… I think?

I quickly dried myself off and got changed into my "date" attire. I stood in front of the mirror and glared at my reflection. I was deciding how I should have my hair today and if I should wear glasses or contacts.

"Hm… I don't think Nanoha's seen me in my glasses yet, and she seems to be a ponytail kinda girl—there wasn't a choice was there?" I said out loud with a light chuckle.

I opened the cabinet and reached for a brush and started up the ponytail. I personally didn't like having my hair up, it messed with my "rebel" look. Okay, not exactly, but I always feel so restrained when I have my hair up, but since it's for Nanoha… I can put up with it for a little while.

One thing I love about Carim is that she never really cares about how I look. Of course there have been times when she lectures me about how I present myself while she buttoned up my shirt properly and straightened out my tie. She always kept a smile on her face as she tries to correct my laziness, but even though I know how I should present myself, I slack off every now and then just to see that special little smile. And when it came to my hair, instead of forcing me to tie it up like some worker drone, she ties it at the base of my shoulder blades with her favourite purple ribbon. I guess it was her way of saying I belonged to her, and if anyone dares to try and steal me away, they'd have to deal with her personally.

I actually remember a time when Carim threatened to throw a Venus flytrap one of my (extremely annoying) fans. I didn't doubt her of course… she had received a new shipment of the darn things just the other day, and Carim is a woman of her word. If she says she'll do something, she'll do it no matter what.

Another thing I love about Carim is that she trusts me. She isn't one of those women who will get mad at their significant other just because they take a quick glance at somebody else. I have a bit of a wandering eye when it comes to women, and Carim understands that, but she doesn't care. Just because I look, doesn't mean I'll touch. Of course this rule doesn't apply to Carim. If I look, I will most likely touch. It wasn't like this with my ex-wife. If I took even the tiniest of glances at another woman, I would find myself drenched in water or coffee…

Oh well. All that matters now is that I have got somebody who truly trusts me with all of her heart… which is why I feel slightly guilty for seeing Nanoha today, I guess that's why Carim acted so strangely—she was jealous!

"Wow, come to think of it, I've never seen Carim jealous before." I said with a goofy grin on my face.

With my ponytail in place, I headed out of the bathroom and down to the living room where I saw my best friend passed out on the couch with a can of Mountain Dew in her hand. I laughed at her and pondered if I should wake her up. Arf looked so content on the couch, I decided to let her rest some more. Knowing Arf, she probably stressed herself out being Alicia's manager. Poor girl, I really don't wish her job on anybody else. Poor sap would probably kill them self after the first day.

I walked over to the front door as I contemplated which car I should take. I've always had a hard time to choose which car to take, but today I felt that a good old muscle car would suit my mood best. My glasses where on the little table next to the front door, alongside my many car keys… oh and a Twix bar!

I reached for my glasses and fished around for my Mustang's key. Before I just kind of reached for a random pair of keys and spend about fifteen minutes looking for the car that made the beeping noise. But now that I have Carim by my side, I found how nice it is to have everything all neat and organized. She bought a small hanging rack and labelled each hook with the name of the car and placed the keys in their respected place… of course putting all the keys on the rack took forever because we didn't know which key belonged were.

Turning to face the mirror beside me, I flashed myself grin and fixed my bangs. "Today, I'll definitely be cool!"

グレーのジャケット　ドクロのシルバーリング つけて

Wearing my favourite grey jacket and a silver skull ring

出かけるよ

I set out

今日の僕は　かっこいいんだ！

Because today I'll definitely be really cool!