[April's Fool] - Chapter Three - Mildred
Chapter Two
April's Fool
Chapter Three - Mildred
“Oi, mage, they told me you were in…” Kurogane trailed off as he noticed what he had just stepped into, “…here…”
The Doctor’s head popped up from under the gratings, his hair messier and a smudge of oil across his brow, “Hello big fella! Didn’t think I’d see you in here anytime soon-“ the Doctor continued nattering on, but experience with the mage had given Kurogane the ability to tune it out.
He backed out from the TARDIS and onto the street, staring at the blue box from every angle, and then slowly went back through the wooden doors, shock evident on his face.
He shook his expression off and stalked around to where he saw a blonde mop of hair. Fay looked like he had fallen asleep on the chair next to him but had rolled off, and was now face-down on the gratings.
Kurogane nudged him with his foot.
“Oi, mage.”
Fay suppressed a groan and pushed himself up onto his elbows.
“Good morning, Kuro-tan~!”
“Don’t give me that shit,” Kurogane hissed, scowling, “The princess and the kid are set on finding that damn feather of hers, so get your lazy ass off the floor and we can get the hell on with it.”
“Small problem, Kuro-pie,” Fay murmured tiredly, the infuriating smile still on his face, “I can’t leave this ship.”
“And why the hell not?”
Fay shrugged as best he could.
“You lazy bastard,” Kurogane growled, reaching to hoist Fay over his shoulder and force him to help. If the ninja had to, he’d be damned if the mage was getting out of it!
“DON’T TOUCH-“
Something sparked as soon as Kurogane’s palms came into contact with the blonde’s upper arms and he yelped, dropping Fay as if he was a hot potato.
“What the FUCK was that?!”
Fay groaned and pressed his forehead back to the floor, his nausea having increased tenfold.
“Mage! Give me a fucking answer!” Kurogane barked, trying to shake the tingling from his hands.
“My Magic’s unstable.” Came the muffled reply, “It keeps fluctuating and it shot right into you as soon as you touched me.”
Kurogane felt the need to lie down overwhelming. No wonder the mage looked so crap; he felt like he could feel the earth moving around them. He stood Souhi on the floor and leant heavily against her.
“Why the hell would it do that?” he growled out, his voice only betraying a hint of unease.
“You’re an empty vessel, as far as magic goes,” Fay sighed, turning his head to the side so that he could be heard clearer, “It shot through you and then back into me, so what was left of my original magic is now trying to reunite with the volatile magic and it’ll keep trying until the unstable stuff either reacts or diffuses.”
“Meaning you’ll implode if it’s not sorted out?” the Doctor asked, now definitely worried about his ship’s interior.
“Worst thing this could result in is more illness..” Fay mumbled, “My magic still recognises me; it's why it's giving me trouble to begin with. It won't explode me or anything, I'll just be ill for a little longer...”
The Doctor’s eyes flicked between them worriedly, “BOTH of you?”
Fay made a disagreeing noise, “Kuro-sama should be fine. The exposure to my magic to him was like a virus, and because it bounced back to me means he’s immune to it now,” his unfocused eyes glanced up at the ninja, “You should feel tingly for a few hours, but it’ll wear off…” Fay trailed off, slipping back into an exhausted sleep.
When his eyes next fluttered open, he was in a different room but assumed he was still inside the TARDIS, if not from the omnipresent breathing from the ship, but for the organic decoration. He shifted a little and sensed someone resting next to him, who was no doubt his favourite ninja.
“Kuro-warm?” he ventured, his voice quiet.
A grunt in affirmation.
“Cuddle me, Kuro-pon…”
“Th’ell’d I do tha’ for?” he slurred in response.
“M’cold…” Fay wriggled closer to the ninja, who tensed but otherwise didn’t move, “All I want is for you to cuddle me, Kuro-sleepy…”
Begrudgingly, Kurogane slung his arm across the wizard’s practically nonexistent waist and the blonde gave a light hum in appreciation.
“G’night, Kuro-cuddle.”
“Mmm.”
X o X o X
Fay sat up suddenly and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Oh god please not over the bed-
Thankfully, a bucket was shoved into his lap in the nick of time as he couldn’t hold back any more and he coughed up bile and whatever was left in his stomach.
“I feel like I drank ten bottles of Reki wine and then got run over by a Minotaur…” Fay groaned between retches, not mentioning that whoever was rubbing his back was doing an excellent job of it.
“Just shut up and get it over with if you need to puke,” Kurogane grumbled, now no doubt the person rubbing his back, “And what the hell’s a Minotaur?”
Fay waited a while, concentrating on the soothing circles being massaged into his back.
“I think I’m done…” he said shakily, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with this bucket, but-“
“That guy said that this Tar-thing will sort itself out if you just leave the bucket somewhere.”
“Right,” Fay put the bucket under the bed, grabbed Kurogane’s hand and pulled him out into the hallway, “Let’s get outta here.”
“I thought you couldn’t leave.” Kurogane growled, a vein in his head popping in annoyance. He tried to wriggle his hand out of the mage’s grasp, but the wiry bastard was stronger than he looked.
“I couldn’t, but if you remember earlier, I couldn’t be translated either. I threw up for no reason, and then it was all fixed.”
Somehow, Fay managed to navigate them back to the main control room, where the Doctor was replacing a light in the wall, having run out of other things to tinker with. Fay waved as they walked past, and though the Doctor obviously saw their linked hands, he still waved back as if everything was normal.
Upon hitting the pavement outside the TARDIS doors, Fay started doing a little victory dance, though was annoyingly still holding onto Kurogane’s hand.
X o X o X
“I didn’t think I’d see someone as attractive as you get thrown out from the Rift.” Jack said to Fay the next morning. Fay was making some super-sugary tea for himself and wasn’t too surprised at seeing the captain up so early.
“I bet you’d say that to anyone if you thought it increased your chances.” Fay replied, his tone playful and teasing as always.
“You look like a guy who can appreciate a good drink,” Jack complimented, “I should take you out later.”
“So sure of yourself?” Fay asked, a flirty grin on his lips and his eyebrow raised in a way that nobody could describe as anything but seductive. Fay’s grin increased at confident the look on Jack’s face, “You think you’re in, don’t you?”
“No reason not to.” Jack shrugged. Fay held his gaze, until a rustle of movement came from the corner and they both turned to see Sakura walking in, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
“Come help me make breakfast, Sakura-chan!”
“Y-yes, Fay-san…” she murmured through a yawn. Fay guided her to the kitchen with a hand at her back, catching Jack’s eye and winking as they brushed past.
Fay felt the odd urge to skip, but pushed it down, not arriving at the kitchen quick enough.
“So, what should we make, Sakura-chan?” he rubbed his eye
“I think maybe eggs and-“
Fay suddenly burst into tears.
“Eggs… Fay-san, what’s-“
“I don’t know!” he wept, “I just can’t stop c-crying!!”
Sakura hugged him a little awkwardly, each sob shaking her entire frame. As soon as it started, it was over, and Fay was dabbing his eyes dry and searching for the eggs.
“Uh… Are you alright Fay-san?” she asked warily, confused.
“Yes, I’m fine, Mildred,” he stopped his bustling, “…Mildred?” he ran a hand through his hair, “My, this one’s odd…”
“F-fay-san?”
“Sakura-chan…” Fay crouched to her level, “I know I’m behaving strangely now, and it makes sense that you’re afraid,” he ran a hand through his hair again, “My magic isn’t working properly, so this will carry on until we retrieve your feather and separate my magic from Mokona’s.”
She didn’t understand all of that completely, but she smiled and nodded,
“So, you have nothing to be worried about,” he finished, smiling too, until he ended the sentence with ‘Mildred’ again.
She giggled good-naturedly, “Let’s just hope we find my feather soon,”
X o X o X
“Oi… is he okay?” Kurogane rumbled as the Doctor awkwardly patted Fay’s back as the blonde burbled and whined something unintelligible through the tears, tuning him out to listen to Sakura’s explanation.
“All of these ‘phases’ are going to be embarrassing, aren’t they…” Fay mumbled only a few seconds later, fully recovered, “Well, at least we have Torchwood and Mildre- the Doctor to help us~!”
Tosh stared before clearing her throat to remind them of the reason they’d gathered.
“I’ve had my eye on your feather for a few weeks, so knowing who has it isn’t a problem,” she paused for good measure, “However, stealing from Torchwood Two is going to be nearly impossible; it looks like even hacking the system will take me a while.”
It was a lie, and the entire team, maybe even the Doctor, knew it. But that didn’t matter; Jack had asked them all to not give the group reasons to leave so soon, so pushing their goal away from them was the best option at the moment.
Though currently, Tosh wasn’t sure if Jack wanted to spend the time testing and scanning the newcomers or to spend it swapping bodily fluids with the blonde. Her thoughts were soon interrupted.
“SAY THAT AGAIN, BASTARD!” Kurogane yelled, chasing after Fay, who was grinning and laughing. They had confiscated Souhi and Hien, so at least nobody had to worry about things being broken.
Fay laughed louder, keeping just past Kurogane’s reach, cartwheeling and blowing raspberries and generally trying to goad the ninja on further.
Finally, after a few sets of descending stairs, Kurogane caught Fay in a dead end and pushed him against the wall,
“Now, bastard,” Kurogane smirked, “It’s payback ti-“
Fay sniffed, his head lowered
“…What?”
“K-kuro-w-wan’s s-so m-mean!” Fay sobbed, “A-all I w-was trying t-to do w-was m-make him s-smile!”
Kurogane was frozen and awkward, absolutely clueless as to what to do.
“Call me by my name…” he grumbled uselessly.
“D-daddy doesn’t l-love meee!!” Fay wailed, burying his face in his hands and crying loudly.
“…Uh…” Kurogane let Fay go and stepped back a little, but the mage kept up his bawling.
Finally, Kurogane grew agitated and stormed away, leaving Fay in the dark, empty room.
Fay sniffed and rubbed his eyes. All of these unresolved sudden bouts of crying were leaving him feeling weak and vulnerable, two things he hated most of all. He was forced to lower his boundaries when the sickness made him cry, and because of the premature ending to the tears, he was always left feeling highly strung and unsatisfied. It was as if he had only been allowed a teaspoon of a delicious sundae, or only a sip of the finest wine.
He sighed, scrubbing his face in the heel of his palm, fixing his smile back into place before venturing back up, guided by the conversation that echoed through the whole hub.
.
April's Fool
Chapter Three - Mildred
“Oi, mage, they told me you were in…” Kurogane trailed off as he noticed what he had just stepped into, “…here…”
The Doctor’s head popped up from under the gratings, his hair messier and a smudge of oil across his brow, “Hello big fella! Didn’t think I’d see you in here anytime soon-“ the Doctor continued nattering on, but experience with the mage had given Kurogane the ability to tune it out.
He backed out from the TARDIS and onto the street, staring at the blue box from every angle, and then slowly went back through the wooden doors, shock evident on his face.
He shook his expression off and stalked around to where he saw a blonde mop of hair. Fay looked like he had fallen asleep on the chair next to him but had rolled off, and was now face-down on the gratings.
Kurogane nudged him with his foot.
“Oi, mage.”
Fay suppressed a groan and pushed himself up onto his elbows.
“Good morning, Kuro-tan~!”
“Don’t give me that shit,” Kurogane hissed, scowling, “The princess and the kid are set on finding that damn feather of hers, so get your lazy ass off the floor and we can get the hell on with it.”
“Small problem, Kuro-pie,” Fay murmured tiredly, the infuriating smile still on his face, “I can’t leave this ship.”
“And why the hell not?”
Fay shrugged as best he could.
“You lazy bastard,” Kurogane growled, reaching to hoist Fay over his shoulder and force him to help. If the ninja had to, he’d be damned if the mage was getting out of it!
“DON’T TOUCH-“
Something sparked as soon as Kurogane’s palms came into contact with the blonde’s upper arms and he yelped, dropping Fay as if he was a hot potato.
“What the FUCK was that?!”
Fay groaned and pressed his forehead back to the floor, his nausea having increased tenfold.
“Mage! Give me a fucking answer!” Kurogane barked, trying to shake the tingling from his hands.
“My Magic’s unstable.” Came the muffled reply, “It keeps fluctuating and it shot right into you as soon as you touched me.”
Kurogane felt the need to lie down overwhelming. No wonder the mage looked so crap; he felt like he could feel the earth moving around them. He stood Souhi on the floor and leant heavily against her.
“Why the hell would it do that?” he growled out, his voice only betraying a hint of unease.
“You’re an empty vessel, as far as magic goes,” Fay sighed, turning his head to the side so that he could be heard clearer, “It shot through you and then back into me, so what was left of my original magic is now trying to reunite with the volatile magic and it’ll keep trying until the unstable stuff either reacts or diffuses.”
“Meaning you’ll implode if it’s not sorted out?” the Doctor asked, now definitely worried about his ship’s interior.
“Worst thing this could result in is more illness..” Fay mumbled, “My magic still recognises me; it's why it's giving me trouble to begin with. It won't explode me or anything, I'll just be ill for a little longer...”
The Doctor’s eyes flicked between them worriedly, “BOTH of you?”
Fay made a disagreeing noise, “Kuro-sama should be fine. The exposure to my magic to him was like a virus, and because it bounced back to me means he’s immune to it now,” his unfocused eyes glanced up at the ninja, “You should feel tingly for a few hours, but it’ll wear off…” Fay trailed off, slipping back into an exhausted sleep.
When his eyes next fluttered open, he was in a different room but assumed he was still inside the TARDIS, if not from the omnipresent breathing from the ship, but for the organic decoration. He shifted a little and sensed someone resting next to him, who was no doubt his favourite ninja.
“Kuro-warm?” he ventured, his voice quiet.
A grunt in affirmation.
“Cuddle me, Kuro-pon…”
“Th’ell’d I do tha’ for?” he slurred in response.
“M’cold…” Fay wriggled closer to the ninja, who tensed but otherwise didn’t move, “All I want is for you to cuddle me, Kuro-sleepy…”
Begrudgingly, Kurogane slung his arm across the wizard’s practically nonexistent waist and the blonde gave a light hum in appreciation.
“G’night, Kuro-cuddle.”
“Mmm.”
X o X o X
Fay sat up suddenly and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Oh god please not over the bed-
Thankfully, a bucket was shoved into his lap in the nick of time as he couldn’t hold back any more and he coughed up bile and whatever was left in his stomach.
“I feel like I drank ten bottles of Reki wine and then got run over by a Minotaur…” Fay groaned between retches, not mentioning that whoever was rubbing his back was doing an excellent job of it.
“Just shut up and get it over with if you need to puke,” Kurogane grumbled, now no doubt the person rubbing his back, “And what the hell’s a Minotaur?”
Fay waited a while, concentrating on the soothing circles being massaged into his back.
“I think I’m done…” he said shakily, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with this bucket, but-“
“That guy said that this Tar-thing will sort itself out if you just leave the bucket somewhere.”
“Right,” Fay put the bucket under the bed, grabbed Kurogane’s hand and pulled him out into the hallway, “Let’s get outta here.”
“I thought you couldn’t leave.” Kurogane growled, a vein in his head popping in annoyance. He tried to wriggle his hand out of the mage’s grasp, but the wiry bastard was stronger than he looked.
“I couldn’t, but if you remember earlier, I couldn’t be translated either. I threw up for no reason, and then it was all fixed.”
Somehow, Fay managed to navigate them back to the main control room, where the Doctor was replacing a light in the wall, having run out of other things to tinker with. Fay waved as they walked past, and though the Doctor obviously saw their linked hands, he still waved back as if everything was normal.
Upon hitting the pavement outside the TARDIS doors, Fay started doing a little victory dance, though was annoyingly still holding onto Kurogane’s hand.
X o X o X
“I didn’t think I’d see someone as attractive as you get thrown out from the Rift.” Jack said to Fay the next morning. Fay was making some super-sugary tea for himself and wasn’t too surprised at seeing the captain up so early.
“I bet you’d say that to anyone if you thought it increased your chances.” Fay replied, his tone playful and teasing as always.
“You look like a guy who can appreciate a good drink,” Jack complimented, “I should take you out later.”
“So sure of yourself?” Fay asked, a flirty grin on his lips and his eyebrow raised in a way that nobody could describe as anything but seductive. Fay’s grin increased at confident the look on Jack’s face, “You think you’re in, don’t you?”
“No reason not to.” Jack shrugged. Fay held his gaze, until a rustle of movement came from the corner and they both turned to see Sakura walking in, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
“Come help me make breakfast, Sakura-chan!”
“Y-yes, Fay-san…” she murmured through a yawn. Fay guided her to the kitchen with a hand at her back, catching Jack’s eye and winking as they brushed past.
Fay felt the odd urge to skip, but pushed it down, not arriving at the kitchen quick enough.
“So, what should we make, Sakura-chan?” he rubbed his eye
“I think maybe eggs and-“
Fay suddenly burst into tears.
“Eggs… Fay-san, what’s-“
“I don’t know!” he wept, “I just can’t stop c-crying!!”
Sakura hugged him a little awkwardly, each sob shaking her entire frame. As soon as it started, it was over, and Fay was dabbing his eyes dry and searching for the eggs.
“Uh… Are you alright Fay-san?” she asked warily, confused.
“Yes, I’m fine, Mildred,” he stopped his bustling, “…Mildred?” he ran a hand through his hair, “My, this one’s odd…”
“F-fay-san?”
“Sakura-chan…” Fay crouched to her level, “I know I’m behaving strangely now, and it makes sense that you’re afraid,” he ran a hand through his hair again, “My magic isn’t working properly, so this will carry on until we retrieve your feather and separate my magic from Mokona’s.”
She didn’t understand all of that completely, but she smiled and nodded,
“So, you have nothing to be worried about,” he finished, smiling too, until he ended the sentence with ‘Mildred’ again.
She giggled good-naturedly, “Let’s just hope we find my feather soon,”
X o X o X
“Oi… is he okay?” Kurogane rumbled as the Doctor awkwardly patted Fay’s back as the blonde burbled and whined something unintelligible through the tears, tuning him out to listen to Sakura’s explanation.
“All of these ‘phases’ are going to be embarrassing, aren’t they…” Fay mumbled only a few seconds later, fully recovered, “Well, at least we have Torchwood and Mildre- the Doctor to help us~!”
Tosh stared before clearing her throat to remind them of the reason they’d gathered.
“I’ve had my eye on your feather for a few weeks, so knowing who has it isn’t a problem,” she paused for good measure, “However, stealing from Torchwood Two is going to be nearly impossible; it looks like even hacking the system will take me a while.”
It was a lie, and the entire team, maybe even the Doctor, knew it. But that didn’t matter; Jack had asked them all to not give the group reasons to leave so soon, so pushing their goal away from them was the best option at the moment.
Though currently, Tosh wasn’t sure if Jack wanted to spend the time testing and scanning the newcomers or to spend it swapping bodily fluids with the blonde. Her thoughts were soon interrupted.
“SAY THAT AGAIN, BASTARD!” Kurogane yelled, chasing after Fay, who was grinning and laughing. They had confiscated Souhi and Hien, so at least nobody had to worry about things being broken.
Fay laughed louder, keeping just past Kurogane’s reach, cartwheeling and blowing raspberries and generally trying to goad the ninja on further.
Finally, after a few sets of descending stairs, Kurogane caught Fay in a dead end and pushed him against the wall,
“Now, bastard,” Kurogane smirked, “It’s payback ti-“
Fay sniffed, his head lowered
“…What?”
“K-kuro-w-wan’s s-so m-mean!” Fay sobbed, “A-all I w-was trying t-to do w-was m-make him s-smile!”
Kurogane was frozen and awkward, absolutely clueless as to what to do.
“Call me by my name…” he grumbled uselessly.
“D-daddy doesn’t l-love meee!!” Fay wailed, burying his face in his hands and crying loudly.
“…Uh…” Kurogane let Fay go and stepped back a little, but the mage kept up his bawling.
Finally, Kurogane grew agitated and stormed away, leaving Fay in the dark, empty room.
Fay sniffed and rubbed his eyes. All of these unresolved sudden bouts of crying were leaving him feeling weak and vulnerable, two things he hated most of all. He was forced to lower his boundaries when the sickness made him cry, and because of the premature ending to the tears, he was always left feeling highly strung and unsatisfied. It was as if he had only been allowed a teaspoon of a delicious sundae, or only a sip of the finest wine.
He sighed, scrubbing his face in the heel of his palm, fixing his smile back into place before venturing back up, guided by the conversation that echoed through the whole hub.
.