2Who's ready for round 2?
I did bump the rating up from K+ to T because there's a bit of sexy time towards the end. But nothing explicit because even though I'm a grown-ass adult I can't write smut with a straight face. Idk, brains are weird. Either way, nothing scandalous to see here. Just enough syrupy fluff to rot the teeth right outta your head.
Ho, ho, ho, Dirty Chai stans. This one's for you. Actually, it's for me. But I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I do!
Mika had left the Hall of Princes for literally one hour. He had to go down to give his input on some renovations that were currently progressing in the Aquatic Maze. Once he'd done that, he wandered back to pick up where he'd left off. Which had been a casual sort of think-tank session that had included himself, Arrow, and a handful of higher-ranking Generals. One of them being his relatively new significant other; Kurda Smahlt. They'd been properly together for almost half a year now, and everything was perfectly lovely.
Although that particular day wasn't great. When Mika got back, the first thing he saw was Kurda sitting in his (Mika's) throne, crying quietly with his face in his hands. Arrow was standing over him, looking highly inconvenienced. Arrow was patting Kurda's back with no small degree of awkwardness (while standing as far away from him as physically possible), and as Mika approached he shot him a grimace.
"I was gone for one hour! What the fuck happened?!"
He made a beeline to Kurda and wrapped his arms tightly around his distraught form, while glaring suspiciously up at Arrow. It was widely known that Kurda and Arrow didn't see eye-to-eye on just about anything. Perhaps Arrow had said something more rude than usual. But Mika knew for a fact Kurda could hold his own in a war of words. So this was strange.
"I didn't do anything!" Arrow grumbled reproachfully. It's your daughter, she just called -"
"She's not coming home for Christmas!" Kurda interrupted, barely coherent. Mika frowned in confusion.
"She's twelve. Where else would she go?" He asked gently.
Just to recap this point in their lives: Gracie attends a very nice boarding school for most of the year. She spends summers and Christmas break in Vampire Mountain. Mika and Kurda flit her back and forth as needed. It'a a win for everyone. Gracie gets to spend time with her unconventional but loving family. She also gets to be properly socialized and educated in the human world. Most importantly, she gets to have friends her own age. Lots of friends. And as it turned out, her friend Lola had invited her on a tropical cruise. Lola's older sister had decided to spend the holiday with her boyfriend instead, so the family had one extra non-refundable ticket. They told Lola she could invite a friend, and Gracie was the very enthusiastic first choice.
(Oh, and every human in Gracie's life is under the impression that her dads work top-secret government jobs that have them inaccessible for long periods of time. Luckily, that cover story doesn't seem all that odd against the backdrop of a fancy boarding school, so nobody really questions it).
"We don't have to let her go..." Mika apprehensively told a still-sniffling Kurda. They were now sitting side-by-side on one of the pews at the front of the room while Arrow carried on with the meeting.
"Of course we do. She's so excited, and when is she going to get an opportunity like that again?" Said Kurda, wiping his nose.
"Exactly. I want her to go." Said Mika calmly, relieved that they were ultimately on the same page with this. "I'll miss her too, but this is a good thing. She's normal, Kurda. She has friends. She's going to see parts of the world we couldn't show her. Imagine us on a cruise ship. We'd only be able to go out at night."
"Who even goes on a cruise over Christmas?" Kurda mumbled dispassionately as he rubbed at his eye with a sleeve.
"Rich people. Honestly, if I was human I wouldn't hesitate. It sounds like a great time." Said Mika. He was gently running his fingers through Kurda's hair as they sat together. Those trademark platium locks were always so bafflingly soft and shiny. Mika could've admired them all day.
"Assuming you'd be rich if you were a human." Kurda muttered.
"Come on, Kurda. If we were human I'd be CEO of a corporate law firm. I'd own two houses, three cars, and one boat. And you'd be a full-time social justice protestor or something. We've been over this." Said Mika seriously. That comment had the exact effect he desired - it made Kurda laugh.
"How are you handling this so well? You're making me feel like I'm overreacting." Kurda asked after a brief chuckle.
"You're not overreacting. It's hard losing one of the few weeks a year we get to spend with her." Said Mika as calmly as ever.
"I'm just happy she gets to do this... But I can cry if you want. Would that make you feel better?"
"You know what? Yeah. It would." Said Kurda balefully.
"Alright, give me a second."
Mika closed his eyes and assumed an expression of pure concentration, but after a minute or so he opened them again, and smiled apologetically back at Kurda.
"I got nothing - totally dry. Sorry, babe. Maybe later."
Kurda pressed his lips together and Mika could tell he was trying not to laugh.
"I'll put a note on your schedule then, shall I? Can you fit in an emotional breakdown at 6:00?" Said Kurda stiffly.
"6:00 will be tight. I have to meet with Vanez about amendments to trial preparation protocols later. How about 6:30?" Mika replied earnestly.
"Alright. I'll pencil that in." Said Kurda. "By the way, Gracie said one of us has to phone Lola's parents to give our permission. I call not it."
"Fine." Said Mika breezily. He dialled the number Gracie had given Kurda.
"Hi! Is this Mr. Smahlt-Ver Leth?" Lola's mom asked cheerily when she picked up.
"Sure." Said Mika. He barely managed to contain a snort of laughter at hearing someone address him that way. It was Gracie's proper last name on all her school documents so there was no reason for an oblivious fellow parent to assume he went by anything else. Still funny to him, though.
It was a quick conversation. Lola's parents assured him Gracie would be in excellent hands, and thanked him for allowing her to take the non-refundable ticket despite it being a holiday. Mika politely thanked them for their generosity, and that was that. Then they called Gracie back and gave her their blessing to have the time of her life on the cruise, and her shrieks of preteen glee were enough to ease the pain of missing her. She'd go home with Lola for Christmas break when classes ended the following day, and would depart on the cruise the day after that.
So no Gracie meant no Christmas in the mountain.
Vampires really don't care for holidays. Once you've been around for a few hundred years, it gets old. Plus, nobody wants to look "soft" next to all their peers. Although Mika and Kurda enjoyed the holiday traditions they curated over the years, they only really celebrated for Gracie's sake.
They'd always wanted her to have as many normal experiences as possible, to ease her eventual transition into the human world. So they started her on Christmas at age three. Their traditions were simple: haul a tree in from the forest, decorate, exchange a few presents, spend the day together, and eat some great food. But they both reluctantly agreed there was no point doing all of that if Gracie wasn't going to be there. When they did those things for Gracie, they looked like devoted dads. If they did it without Gracie, they'd look like festive idiots. So that settled it, Christmas wouldn't come to Vampire Mountain this year.
Hours passed since the phone call. Kurda was now in the other end of the mountain going over blueprints for a meeting room expansion with Seba. Blueprints are similar to maps in that Kurda is the only vampire in this place who can draw a half-decent one. And Mika was still in the Hall of Princes, the small meeting room behind the thrones to be specific, when the truth of the matter finally dawned on him, and he couldn't believe it took him that long to figure out why Kurda had taken the news so hard: Although co-parents for over a decade at this point, it was the first time they would have been celebrating the holiday as a legitimate couple. They'd always been Gracie's dads, but the recent shift in their relationship status added an entirely new, wonderful layer to their unconventional family.
But now... their daughter, their baby girl, the catalyst that brought them together, wouldn't be there. And that meant there wouldn't be a tree, or presents, or decorations... the things that had felt like such an inconvenience that first year. The things they knew they had no business getting excited about, yet had grown to love despite themselves. The things that had become a beloved piece of their life.
And THAT was why Kurda was so upset.
"Fuck." Said Mika loudly to himself, looking up from the meeting notes he'd been studying.
"Anything in particular?" Arrow asked, barely taking his eyes off his own paperwork.
"Are you good with finishing up here?" Mika asked, already out of his chair and heading for the door. "I have to go."
Mika really only had one option at this point. He cleared his entire schedule for the evening (cringing internally as he did so) and asked Paris to make up some special assignment for Kurda that would keep him busy til 6:30. Paris obliged, and Mika snuck out to chop down a Christmas tree.
It would be hard to top Gracie's reaction that year when she was three and woke up to a surprise Christmas tree, but if Mika went and did the same thing for Kurda when he was least expecting it... well, that might just come close. Mika would do all the work setting it up. That way, all Kurda needed to do was make himself comfortable and enjoy the view. Just another flawless battle strategy from the legendary mind of Mika Ver Leth.
Procuring the tree and hauling it up his room (which was now his and Kurda's room) was the easy part. He did that every year. But when it came to decorating it, Mika was always content to sit back and follow Kurda's lead. Mika wasn't a total write-off where finer details were concerned. He was better at decorating than say, Arrow or Vancha would have been. But he wasn't on Kurda's level. Kurda just had an eye for that kind of thing that Mika couldn't compete with. And it was one of the few competitions he didn't care to win.
On that first Christmas when they had to plan the entire thing with only hours notice, they decorated with whatever they could find lying around. Over the years they'd expanded their collection; picking up a few things here and there whenever they happened to pass through a human village. Now they had actual garland, tinsel, ornaments for the tree, velvet stockings, and even... battery-operated string lights.
And now all Mika had to do was organize it in a way that looked cozy and festive and visually appealing. But how?
He was used to knowing exactly what to do. Whether conducting a meeting, commanding a battle, or negotiating with a dangerous enemy - there was a good reason Mika Ver Leth held such an elite position at such a young age. He was the best at what he did.
Yet here he was, sitting on the floor in his room, amidst a sea of half-unpacked boxes containing sparkling objects that looked like they had no business being in Vampire Mountain - and really, they didn't - having not the slightest inkling of how to proceed. It wasn't that he thought he was too tough, or too cool, or too macho for this. He'd abandoned those pretences years ago. He simply didn't know where the fuck to start.
He did recall a few tree-trimming pointers Kurda had laid out a few years ago; when they'd first stepped their decor game up.
"Ornaments go on first. Then garland. Lights last." Kurda had said. At least, Mika was fairly confident that's what he said. So that was where he started.
Finally, it was 6:30. Kurda wandered into their room right on schedule. Mika had made sure to light the candles and added wood to the fireplace. All there was left to do was watch Kurda's face light up when he realized Mika had pulled off a surprise Christmas after all.
Mika had been sitting at his desk, and he stood up eagerly as he heard the door open. Finally, the energy and patience he'd put into all that decorating would be worth it.
Kurda stepped into the room and immediately stopped dead in his tracks, gawking at the decorations with his jaw hanging halfway to the floor.
"What's going on here?" Kurda asked tonelessly. Clearly it was taking him longer to process this than Mika thought it would. Any second now, that familiar smile would light his face.
"You get Christmas after all! I did all the work for you!" Said Mika triumphantly. "It's pre-decorated! Now you can sit back and enjoy the tree, and you don't even have to do anything. What do you think? I'm not as creative as you, but I think I did okay."
Kurda's face was frozen in such an intense mask of pure shock, Mika started to wonder if he was going into cardiac arrest. His confidence in this plan was faltering rapidly.
"Kurda, say something."
Kurda slowly rotated on the spot til he was facing Mika. And then, without warning, his shock morphed into such overpowering rage that Mika started to back away from him. Keep in mind, Mika has almost a foot of height and more than a few pounds of advantage over Kurda. Not to mention overall combat skills if it came to that. But the murderous anger in those usually angelic blue eyes was so blazing that Mika would have sooner grappled with a mad vampaneze or two in that moment.
"YOU GOT A TREE AND DECORATED IT WITHOUT ME?!" Kurda roared, his face turning redder than the ruby-coloured baubles that adorned the spruce branches. Mika raised his hands slowly, as though preparing to be arrested. But Kurda was having none of it. "MIKA VER LETH, I COULD STRANGLE YOU WITH THAT TINSEL!"
And with that, Kurda lost whatever little bit remained of his self-restraint and he charged at Mika, whacking him repeatedly with the rolled-up set of blueprints he'd been carrying.
"Hey! Ow! Fuck! Kurda, what are you- OW! Stop that!" Mika yelped as he attempted to dodge Kurda's determined assault. " Charna's Fucking Guts! OW! Would you just - OUCH - listen?!"
After several laps around the room, Mika finally managed to get a firm but gentle grip on both Kurda's forearms and halt the attack.
"Don't get me wrong, babe. I love when you get feisty. But this isn't very pacifist of you." Mika panted.
"I can't believe you! How could you do all this without me?" Kurda gasped, immobilized but glaring daggers back at Mika who was still trying to figure out what was going on.
"I'm starting to think I might have misjudged this a little bit." Said Mika as frankly as though he was commenting on the weather.
"Mika, I've spent this entire day being bitter because I was under the impression we WEREN'T doing Christmas!" Kurda shouted, still spitting mad. "We only ever did this for Gracie! So no Gracie meant no Christmas for us! We agreed, remember? And I made peace with that, because like you said, it would be stupid of us to do it without her, right? And then I come up here... only to find out you've gone and done all our traditions anyway - without even bothering to include me! Even though we're FINALLY together after all those years! What is WRONG with you?!"
Mika frowned while his brain worked furiously to process all that. He let go of Kurda's arms. Kurda turned away and slowly sunk down to the floor, with his back against the wall and his head in his hands. He wasn't crying but his overall aura of dejection was just as hard to look at.
Mika observed quietly for a moment, then cautiously joined Kurda on the floor. He sat shoulder-to-shoulder with his other half, then slid his arm around him. He knew Kurda wasn't truly angry at him - he could tell by the way the blond General leaned into the embrace rather than away from it.
"Okay. I think I see where I went wrong here. Took me a minute, but I got there in the end." Said Mika, his fingers tracing lazily around Kurda's upper arm. "It was never about the finished product, was it? The tree itself, and all the sparkly shit isn't as important to you. You were missing the time we spent on it together?" It was more of a question than a statement.
Kurda slowly tilted his head towards Mika so their foreheads were almost touching. Mika closed the sliver of distance between them by brushing his lips against Kurda's cheekbone. When he drew back, Kurda was looking up at him much more benignly than before. Although he still looked a touch expectant, like he was waiting for Mika to work through the last step of the equation.
"...And I blew a chance to make new memories because I didn't stop to think about it?" Mika added hopefully, as though making a last-ditch guess on a pass-or-fail exam.
Kurda sighed, and reached over to lace his fingers through Mika's, to run his thumb across the back of Mika's battle-scarred hand. He could feel Mika exhale contentedly as he did so. Gods, he was so fucking in love with this man.
"Well? Did I get it right?" Mika asked.
Kurda looked up at him again, and pressed a long, slow kiss against his lips which Mika wholeheartedly leaned into.
"Oh, baby. You're so smart when you think." Kurda murmured when their lips drew apart, just far enough to say those words before going back for more. The kiss was deep, sensual - conveying a million unsaid words. The fight was over - if it had even been a fight in the first place.
"I'm sorry, Kurda." Said Mika quietly when they paused for breath again. "I'm still figuring out the rules here."
"No, I'm sorry." Said Kurda, grimacing. "I acted ridiculously. I was just so upset, and I took it out on you. You were just trying to make me happy, you didn't deserve that."
"Well, you're not wrong. And people think I'M mean when I'm mad." Mika remarked, shooting Kurda a wayward smile.
"It's just so stupid. We shouldn't be this invested in a human holiday." Kurda groaned. "It's one thing to put on a show for Gracie... but..."
"It's not stupid if it makes you happy." Said Mika with a shrug. He leaned over and planted a quick kiss on Kurda's temple. "Well, maybe it is. But who cares? All I know is I'm down for anything as long as you're there with me."
Kurda stared balefully up at Mika out of those forlorn, turquoise eyes.
"When did you get so nice?" Kurda huffed at last.
"Since you corrupted my brain." Mika replied, straight-faced. "Anyway, here's the new deal: you pour me a drink, and I'll take everything off the tree so we can start from scratch. Together."
Kurda looked up at the glimmering tree, the metallic tinsel strands and battery-powered string lights looking gloriously awkward against the rest of the antiquated room. Then he looked back at Mika, eyes gleaming with amusement and trace amounts of exasperation.
"I was going to re-do the whole thing anyway." Said Kurda with a crisp smile. "While I acknowledge your intentions were pure, it's clear you had no idea what you were doing. You put the ornaments on first, didn't you?"
Mika frowned suddenly.
"I... yeah? Isn't that what you're supposed-"
"Lights, then garland, then ornaments! I tell you this every year!" Kurda chided him, trying to keep a straight face even as his body shook with barely suppressed laughter. "Come on, Mika! Gracie had a handle on it by the time she was six!"
"Must be the Smahlt side. Sorry I can't be as high-functioning as you two." Mika replied sardonically. "I've never claimed to be an interior designer. I'm just a dumb Vampire Prince, so you'll have to be patient with me."
Kurda rolled his eyes and slowly shifted his body so he was straddling Mika. He ran his hands over Mika's shoulders, up his neck, until they came to rest on either side of his face. And Mika just stared up at him with an expression so profound that Kurda didn't quite know what to make of it.
"What are you looking at?" Kurda asked, tilting his head to the side curiously. Mika smiled and shrugged, and slid one of his hands up to settle on Kurda's hipbone. But with his other hand, he reached up and brushed a strand of platinum out of Kurda's eyes.
"My whole fucking world."
Kurda had no choice but to kiss Mika with reckless abandon, otherwise he would've started crying all over again. It was reciprocated lustfully and Kurda answered back by grinding his hips against Mika's - slowly at first, a tease. Both Mika's hands were on Kurda's waist now, grip tightening as the friction increased. That was how he knew he was driving Mika absolutely crazy. But that was fine because Kurda wanted him just as badly.
His body felt electric with anticipation when Mika finally picked him up off the floor. He carried Kurda over to the thick bearskin rug near the Christmas tree, in front of the crackling fireplace and slowly laid him down there - because if that's not the textbook definition of romantic, what is?
One thing about Mika is that he always knows exactly when Kurda wants him the most. When Kurda feels like he can't possibly wait another moment, that's when the dark Prince makes a conscious decision to slow down and take his sweet fucking time, to the blond General's endless frustration. It's not that Mika can't perform well under pressure - they're both well-versed in the art of the quickie. With schedules as demanding as theirs, sometimes it's that or nothing. They had time on their side tonight, but Kurda still wished Mika would move it along.
Mika was the one straddling Kurda now, so Kurda could do nothing but watch as Mika carefully removed his signature black t-shirt and proceeded to waste about ten seconds folding the gods damned thing neatly before he set it down on the floor.
"You do this on purpose!" Kurda practically whined. Mika ignored him, and slowly unbuckled his belt and pulled it off. He then held it up and carefully examined it.
"Ugh. The leather is cracking. Look at this! I think I need a new one." Said Mika casually as he continued to gaze critically at the belt.
"Write a letter to Santa, then." Kurda growled up at him. "Just take your pants off and love me."
Mika tossed the belt aside and observed Kurda for a few seconds, his face alight with amusement as he tried not to laugh.
"You're so needy." Mika murmured, in that low, sensual way he surely knew would be the last straw for Kurda. Then Mika leaned down and kissed him again, letting his fingers get tangled up in that golden hair he loved so much.
"Christmas is a time to take care of the the needy." Kurda replied impatiently, taking matters into his own hands and fumbling with the button on Mika's pants.
Once the pants had finally been shed, Mika returned the favour by peeling off Kurda's shirt. Mika kissed him on the lips again again but didn't linger there for long. He meandered downwards at a glacial pace , leaving a trail of kisses down Kurda's neck, his chest, his stomach, then finally paused at his slender hips as Mika gently unbuttoned Kurda's pants. And then at last, those were also pulled off and discarded on the floor. Not folded.
They melted into each other's love until at long last, the only sound in the room was the crackle of the fire and the steady stream of whimpers and moans. Punctuated occasionally by breathless cuss words, or each other's names, or a combination of both.
It ended as it always did, with shuddering gasps, trembling limbs and tensing muscles. Kurda could've sworn his vision momentarily went black from the intensity of the final, mind-bending moment.
They stayed wrapped up in each other as they caught their breath. Kurda laying on his side with Mika's arms locked around him. And there was no better place in the world. Kurda didn't quite fall asleep but it was a near miss. His body was completely relaxed, limp and worn out in the best possible way. And Mika generated enough heat that he didn't even think of grabbing a blanket.
It was all too easy for Kurda to close his eyes and tune out everything except for the way Mika's hands slowly ran up and down his body, as if memorizing every curve, every rib, every muscle. Those hands that commanded the power of the vampire clan itself, those hands that could shatter an enemy's bone, or drive a a heavy, razor-sharp sword through their heart without flinching.
Those same hands that learned to swiftly braid Gracie's wisps of toddler hair without hesitation. Those hands that held onto hers, delicately as a baby bird, when they wandered around the mountain together in those early years, letting her little feet set the pace.
Those hands that could have Kurda practically crying in ecstasy and seeing stars one minute, and be lulling him to sleep the next. Just like now.
Kurda frequently gave Mika a hard time about having an ego; after all it was notorious how closely he walked the line between confidence and arrogance. But then there were moments like this, in which Kurda couldn't help but wonder if all that was just a front, if Mika had any idea how incredible he really was.
"Ready to go round two with that tree?" Kurda ventured after a while. When he didn't get a response, he rolled half-over so he could see Mika's face. Post-climatic euphoria quickly turned to alarm when he saw that Mika was brushing tears from his eyes.
"Hey, hey... what's wrong?!" Kurda asked. He rolled the rest of the way over so he could gently run his thumb beneath Mika's eye, one after the other, swiping away the tiny droplets. "You know I'm not actually that upset about the tree, right? I'm over it, I promise!" He added.
"I know." Mika replied. Although there was a hitch in his throat, his voice remained calm and even. "Fuck, I'm sorry. Nothing's wrong. The complete opposite, honestly."
"Then what's on your mind?" Kurda inquired patiently.
"At the end there, when you were squeezing my hand and saying my name as I... you know... it all just hit me." Mika's voice trailed off as he gazed back at Kurda in a way that almost seemed urgent.
"What did?"
"I just love you, Kurda. That's all. I love you so fucking much. I don't think you even know how much. I'm trying to put it into words so you understand... but I don't know how. So you're going to have to trust me when I say it's a lot."
"Babe..." Kurda exhaled the word as if it carried the weight of the entire universe.
He let out a weak laugh of relief and laid his head to rest on Mika's chest. "Of course I know. How could I not?"
"You sure?" Mika asked. Kurda frowned, and continued to stroke Mika's cheekbone with his thumb. This sudden need for reassurance was a stark contrast to Mika's default setting of cool detachment.
"You left work early - the most important job in the world - to cut AND decorate a gods-damned Christmas tree for me, on an impulse! Just because I was having a bad day and you thought it would make me happy! And that's just from today!" Kurda exclaimed. "Mika, I know you love me, and I know it's a lot. You don't need to explain it - you prove it every day."
Mika smiled wearily, and his entire body relaxed as he did so. They both slowly sat upright. Mika reached for his discarded shirt but once again he didn't move quickly enough and Kurda grabbed it and pulled it on. He flashed Mika a smug grin as his face emerged through the neck hole. Mika nodded approvingly, flickering torchlight illuminating the pure awe in his eyes.
"I've always said you look good in black." Said Mika softly.
"That's why I don't wear black." Kurda grinned, running his hand through his white-gold mane. "You'd never get anything done - you'd be too busy drooling. It'd be bad for the clan."
"Honestly? They can suck my-"
"Mika!" Kurda yelped.
"What? I don't mean literally." Said Mika, arching an eyebrow.
"I would hope not! You still shouldn't say things like-"
"I was trying to compliment you. Guess I fucked that up too." Said Mika, hitting Kurda with his most reproachful side-eye.
"My gods. You're what they call 'incorrigible'." Kurda groaned in exasperation.
"You are the only person who's ever called me that!"
"Everyone thinks it. But only I can say it."
"Know what, Smahlt? I take it back. I like my Christmas tree. If you want to decorate one, go outside and find your own."
Kurda began to laugh hopelessly. He couldn't help himself. Mika rolled his eyes, but quickly joined in. They didn't stop laughing until their ribs ached so much it became impossible to continue.
They slowly collected themselves and re-dressed. Mika tried to put on Kurda's light blue shirt, just for fun. He just managed to force his head through the neck hole before Kurda chastised him about stretching the fabric. So Mika aborted that mission and instead plucked a shirt from his own dresser.
"Alright, run this by me one more time. You get to wear mine... but I don't get to wear yours? Is that how this works?" Mika puzzled as they began un-decorating the tree.
"What's yours is mine, babe. And what's mine is also mine. Those are the rules." Said Kurda lightly as he worked to untangle a knot Mika had left in the string of garland.
"Wait. That sounds familiar." Said Mika sharply. Kurda raised his eyebrows but said nothing as Mika's mental gears turned. "...I said that to you. That time you went and opened the bottle of aged whiskey in the back of my cabinet! The one I'd been saving for my 300th birthday."
"I just wanted to try it! I let you drink my wine all the time!" Kurda protested.
"Because I like wine! You hate whiskey! You took one sip and spit it out!"
"Well, there was a note on it that said 'Arrow - if you touch this I'll break your arms' so I had to see what was so special about it. And it was disgusting." Said Kurda conversationally. "See? Two can play this game."
"Charna's Fucking Guts. Fine, I won't wear your stupid shirts." Mika grunted.
"And I won't drink your disgusting brown liquor." Kurda replied with an affirmative grin.
"I guess I should stop using your good map parchment as note paper for my meetings, then." Said Mika, not looking up from the ornaments he was collecting. Kurda went almost as red as before and rounded on Mika.
"You use my WHAT for your WHAT?"
"... And the pens."
"Mika, I swear to every god, vampire or otherwise: if I find my missing fountain pen has been sitting in the Hall of Princes this whole time, I'll poke your eyes out with it."
Mika cringed while Kurda's eyes flashed murderously.
"Is it blue?" Mika asked apprehensively.
"It is." Said Kurda.
"Silver tip?"
"Yes."
Mika looked thoughtful for a moment, then mildly concerned.
"This feels like a good time to remind you of your commitment to pacifism-"
"Mika..." Kurda growled warningly.
"Okay. I'm not saying I gave your pen to Arrow... but I am saying I gave him a pen that looked like your pen."
"MIKA!"
"What? We were in a meeting last week and he broke his pen halfway through... I wasn't NOT going to lend him one!" Said Mika defensively. "Your pen should be honoured to serve the clan."
"If that pen isn't back on my desk by tomorrow..."
"Do you really want it back? I've seen Arrow use writing utensils as toothpicks on multiple occasions."
Kurda made a wry face, and winced. But Mika wasn't fooled, the laughter from earlier still hadn't fully died from his eyes.
"I can't believe this is what my life has become." Kurda sighed. "Next time someone asks me what it's like dating a Vampire Prince, this is what I'm going to tell them about."
"Don't tell me you thought it'd be nothing but power and glory and hot sex, all day every day?" Said Mika offhandedly as he fumbled with the light strands.
"That's exactly what I was expecting." Kurda replied sardonically.
"Hey, I check all of those boxes. If the only drawback is that my coworkers chew on your fancy pens every now and then, I'd say you're still winning." Mika smirked. He dropped the lights so he could kiss Kurda again.
"Incorrigible." Kurda murmured, before getting tangled up in his other half. The tree could wait.
I think this might have been the fluffiest thing I've written yet. And at this point in 2020 I don't have an ounce of shame.
See you soon for part 3!
- Roxy