章 28: Dearest
"Hey! Watch it, pal! I'm walkin' here!"
The man didn't even bother to spare a glance at the pedestrian he had struck ever so carelessly with his cart. Mira gave her tunic a matter-of-fact tug, as she tossed a scowl at the retreating wagon. Being knocked around by a heavy object hurt, of course. But, as a veteran of war, she could honestly say that it wasn't the worst thing she ever felt; not by a long shot. In fact, this little detour in Mira's day served as a potent reminder of just how fortunate she really was.
Perhaps some thanks were in order. Gratitude to the gods for the small mercies afforded to her. Because even if she had been pummeled by a passing buggy, things could always be worse; at least she wasn't a human.
A shutter crawled down her spine as she imagined the sorry state her body would be in if she took a hit that jarring as a mere mortal. The she-elf would have no choice, but to drag her battered frame into Simon's shop, moaning pitifully for him to call a doctor. And then, the true horror would begin! Mira would have no choice, but miss out on their drink date night! No alcohol! It was absolutely unthinkable!
She paused for a moment, letting the grotesque nature of her deepest, darkest imaginings wash over her. But, Mira could only hold that image for so long, before breaking down into helpless giggles.
"Pfft! As if! Why, I'd need to be half dead before I missed a night of trying to get Mr. prim and proper drunk off his ass-"
Mira was drawn her out of her thoughts by the sensation of a growing chill down below. The she-elf glanced at her legs before freezing in place, gawking in morbid fascination that quickly devolved into righteous anger. It was true that she would have needed to be more than half dead to miss out on her and Simon's fun time; or embarrassingly half naked.
"I'm a princess, ya know," the pink-haired elf groused with flushed cheeks as she drew her outer coat closer to her body to hide her shame.
When the man turned the corner, steering out of sight without a care in the world, as if he HADN'T just ruined one of her favorite set of trousers, whatever restraint Mira managed to hold onto was destroyed by a red-hot fit of temper. Her hands flew up in air, followed by a shout of sheer frustration.
"I'm thirty-eighth in line to the throne, but I'm STILL a princess! Do you hear me, dammit?! Is this how you treat royalty!? Huh?! Gimme some respect!"
Simon rolled his eyes. The driver of the cart might not have been listening, but the tailor couldn't help, but to overhear his friend throwing an absolute tantrum right outside The Ode to Maria. There wasn't anything he could do about it, though. He knew from experience that she wouldn't come inside, until she was good and ready; like a whirling top, Mira needed to wind down, before she could come to a complete stop.
'She's making quite the scene. Oh well. Perhaps I will be lucky enough that Mira's infamous ranting and raving will draw attention to the shop,' Simon thought with a devious smirk, as he finished letting out a customer's pants that had grown too tight, 'Free advertising, perhaps?'
"Simon!"
"Ah, speak of the devil and she will appear."
"What?!"
"Nothing. How was your trip to Fairly?"
"Oh, I guess you could say it went 'fairly' well!"
Simon groaned, turning from his work to look at the she-elf, who was wearing the most shit-eating grin he had ever seen.
"Mira, come now."
Her smirk only grew, as she shook her head rapidly at his request. A few snorts and snickers followed; it seemed that asking for maturity would be much like asking for a miracle at this point. Something her next words spelled out perfectly.
"I regret nothing."
Simon rolled his eyes, before putting his scissors down. Perhaps it was time to call it quits for the day. With all of the hustle and bustle surrounding the upcoming Festival of Light, his usual flow of customers had slowed down to a trickle. He wasn't going to get much work done now, anyways. If Vilo prided himself on being the town gossip, then his sister had proudly taken up the appointment of the tailor's own, personal, distraction squad. So, why not surrender now and save himself some trouble?
"Alright, I simply must know. How long exactly have you been holding onto that terrible joke?"
"A whole month. Mad?"
Sometimes in moments like these, Simon found it hard to believe that his corny friend was older than him. A hand found his chin, stroking it in deep contemplation.
'Perhaps the old saying rings true, after all. Perhaps you really ARE as old as you feel.'
"Well? Are ya?"
"Not really. It's my own fault for walking straight into your trap."
The she-elf plopped down on a stool and wiggled in self satisfaction.
"Preen if you must, but do make it quick," Simon muttered, as he fished his pocket watch out, checking it absently, "I might be.. expecting someone soon."
Suddenly, it was like a bolt of lightning struck nearby, carrying with it a jolt of pure providence.
'Look, all I'm saying is that I hear a lot of interesting gossip from a lot of interesting people,' Vilo's voice resounded in her head, 'I have eyes and ears, everywhere! And I'm TELLING you that our tailor friend was seen through the windows of his shop, cozying up with some tall, dark, handsome guy. My gut tells me that it's the vampire noble he went to the gala with.'
'Are you sure? Like ABSOLUTELY sure?'
'Better than that. I'm POSITIVE.'
Vilo had crossed his arms smugly, as Mira kicked her legs in excitement, her eyes sparkling like a sea of stars.
'Oh! Vilo, our little Simon is finally growing up!'
"Mira? That look in your eyes is quite disturbing. Should I be worried?"
"Huh?!"
"You were day dreaming," the tailor said with a quirk of an eyebrow, "And come to think of it, you never did say why you made the trip here. The Ode to Maria is rather out of your way, isn't it?"
The she-elf gasped, placing her hands over her heart, dramatically.
"Why, Simon Hart! If I didn't know any better, I would think that you were accusing me of something! I just moseyed my way here to take you out drinking! Like a good friend would! Because that's what I am! Your best friend!"
Simon leaned back with crossed arms, his keen, emerald eyes searching her face for answers; he wasn't convinced. Mira sighed with a slump of defeat.
"And I wanted to see this paramour of yours that I keep hearing so much about-"
"Ah HA!" the tailor shouted as he bolted up straight, "I knew it! I simply KNEW that's what you were after! But, that means-"
Simon gave a long growl of frustration.
"VILO!"
"Yep, that's right. Vilo sold you out."
"Yes, he certainly- Wait a moment. My.. My PARAMOUR?!"
Simon couldn't see it himself, but with the way his cheeks were burning, they were undoubtedly a deep shade of crimson.
"Yeah, you know, the guy that you've been spending all your time with! No. All MY time with! Because we're practically married, you know. That's how long we've known each other. You were MY best friend, long before you were ever HIS love interest! Never forget that!"
The human groaned, before sinking back into his chair, as the shock grew to be too much. Not to mention that he could feel a frightful headache coming on. Still, if Mira considered them to be as good as wed, that explained her choice of words. A paramour implied infidelity was a foot, after all.
"He's not my paramour, Mira."
"Fine, your beefcake, your honey pie, your sugar lips! I don't care what you call em! That's who you keep checking your watch for, right? Where IS that boyfriend of yours?"
"I'm here."
Simon nearly jumped out of his skin, as Alabaster came strolling through the door.
"W-When the devil did you get here!?"
The vampire blinked, before motioning toward the entryway.
"Just now. Were you so distracted that you didn't hear the bell over your door chime? How unusual for you."
Alabaster located the source of said distraction when his blue eyes landed on Mira, who waved with a sassy grin.
"Huh. You're cute and all, but not what I was expecting. You from Estelvala?"
At the mention of the elvish ancestral home, Alabaster glanced down at himself, before chuckling.
"Oh, do forgive me."
A quick flourish and the glamour melted away, revealing the noble underneath in all of his glory. Mira raised her curled fingers to rest against her lips, her daffodil eyes blossoming with excitement.
"I wear the guise of an elf so that I might walk among the locals without scaring them. I would understand if you felt it was rude of me, masquerading as one of your kin. Might I make it up to you-?"
"WOOHOO! Hubba hubba HOOOOOBOY! Simon sure knows how to pick em!"
Simon bit his bottom lip to stifle a wail of inner torment from pouring into the air. The embarrassment was just too much! Didn't Mira have even a HINT of a filter?! He couldn't even bring himself to watch this scene any longer! His face was unceremoniously stuffed into his hands as he willed all of this to be nothing more than a twisted dream.
'Dash it all! I beg of you! If there is any mercy left up there for me, wake me up! WAKE ME UP!'
The funny thing about the tailor of Lenore was that for every ounce of talent he possessed, that was one less ounce of luck for him to work with. The gods had to balance out the books, somehow. That being said, Simon Hart was undoubtedly cursed. Because this was not a dream. It was a nightmare! One that he couldn't even hope to wake up from. It was life, itself! That being said, Mr. Hart would, much to his horror, be forced to endure this cruel and unusual form of punishment.
'I-It matters little, Simon. You can get through it. Just wait it all out a little longer-'
"Oh, what a coincidence! Me and Simon usually go drinking on Fridays! Say, why don't we take him out, together? That way I can get to know you a little bit better!"
"That does sounds perfect. I can treat everyone to dinner to make up for my slights-"
"NO!"
Both guests turned to look at the only human in the room who stood tall and determined to stop this madness at once. Mira blinked twice, before a smooth smile slipped onto her face, the meaning behind which Simon was certain he wasn't going to like.
"What? Don't you want me getting to know your new boyfriend?"
"He's not my blasted boyfriend!"
The stomp he made suddenly caused one of his hatpins to dislodge itself. For a pregnant moment, no one breathed; except perhaps for a vampire who always seemed to come prepared. Elegantly, he swooped it out of the air, before the silver treasure could touch down on the hardwood floor. Standing up straight, Alabaster gently tucked it back into its rightful place.
"But, my dear tailor. I know we haven't discussed such matters, but.. Aren't we in a relationship?"
The mortal made a noise deep in the back of his throat not unlike a wounded animal. His first inclination was to give an resounding no. But, how could he possibly resist those eyes? How could his face not catch a flame when a set of those elegant, snow-white fingers carded soothingly through his hair? It was like trying to resist the pull of gravity: impossible.
"Y-Yes."
"Hm?"
"I suppose.. That title is only fitting," he said, giving in against his better judgement, "Though, I do not care for the crassness of it."
Alabaster couldn't have looked more delighted if he tried. The tailor honestly didn't know whether to push him away or to pull him closer at that point. The vampire's love was downright overwhelming.
"Well, Hell, call him your lover, for all I care!" Mira drawled as she sat forward in her seat, "Good? Great! Now, let's go out there and get some grub! First one out the door gets to choose where we go!"
Simon looked back and forth between them, stuttering and stumbling over his words as he tried to regain control over the situation. Once Mira flew out the door, the bells jangling violently on her way out, the human finally deflated when he realized a fundamental truth; he never had control in the first place.
"You two are ganging up on me, aren't you?" he muttered, feeling helpless and resigned to an inescapable fate, "It's not fair."
"I know. I'm sorry, my dearest."
Green eyes widened in surprise, as that single word rolled around in his head.
'Wait a moment. I'm his.. dearest?'
クリエイターの想い 
YUKANO
YUKANO Hello, dear readers! (^^) Thanks for supporting Crystal Stitches!~ If you enjoyed this fic, please be sure to vote for it to help it reach new heights! Also, adding it to your collections would be greatly appreciated! Comments are loved! <3
_______________
Author's note: Poor Simon. It's pretty bad when your vampire boyfriend ADMITS to double teaming him with his meddlesome best friend. XD
_______________
I hope you all have a lovely day! =D
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット