The Venus Fly Trap

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Ryshar stated seriously from across the room as he kicked off his boots. Yami looked at the white-haired man and then looked to Mathais who he would be sharing a bed with. Yami returned his gaze, questioningly, to the golden-eyed man. “You’ll regret it,” Ryshar continued in a sing-song voice.

“Shut up, Ryshar. It’s not like you’ll share with anyone anyways.” Mathais huffed as he climbed into the bed he was going to be sharing with his crimson-eyed friend.

There were only two beds and three men. It seemed obvious where they’d end up.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Ryshar said falling backwards into the bed with his arms outstretched. He let out a greedy sigh, admiring how much room he had to sleep in. It sure beat the hell out of sleeping on the ground. They had suffered camping out for the last two week at their way to bloody secluded city. It was good to finally have beds under them and a roof over their head. Ryshar was going to cherish this—which was why he was claiming a bed all to himself.  

Yami looked to the redhead already snuggled up under the blankets. Mathais blinked up at him with wide-innocent blue eyes. What could you possibly ‘regret’? With a mental shrug and a slight grin Yami hopped into the bed. Mathais let out a little squeal of joy and to Yami’s surprise he found the other pulling him into a tight hug. Mathais snuggled against the demon almost like it was something he had done a million times.

“…” Yami stared down at the blazing red hair obscuring his view and then grinned to Ryshar, “This? This is what you warned me about? A nice warm snuggly elf? Oh, dear me, Ryshar. Thank you so much for the warning. You’re so noble.” His tone was laced with obvious sarcasm.

Ryshar snorted, “Just you wait…” he said menacingly, rolling away.

“Ryshar’s so mean…” Mathais sniffed, pushing Yami onto his back and then crawling onto of him, blinking widely. “He’s always saying things like that about me… but you know that deep down that big blockhead actually likes me—“

“—shut up, go to bed—“ Ryshar grumbled from across the room.

“—and nothing he says or does can ever push me away.” Mathais finished. The redhead reached over to push the demon’s long black hair from his face. “Your hair is so pretty, Yami…”

“I hate it,” Yami said offhandedly, frowning as he reached up to take a lock between his fingers. He eyed it intently, as if genuinely disgusted by it.

Mathais tilted his head curiously, “Then why don’t you cut it?” It was an innocent question… and yet it sparked a sudden mobilization in the demon that Yami couldn’t quite suppress.

“Excuse me,” the ex-Prince said. He urgently pushed Mathais aside, slide out of the bed and marched himself over to the kitchen table.

“He’s lost it. He’s going to kill himself,” Ryshar commented disinterestedly, turning his head slightly to watch the crimson-eyed man unsheathe Ryshar’s a dagger that had been sitting on the table.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Mathais cried, leaping after the other man.

There was nothing he could do. Before Mathais even came near Yami the damage had already been done.

Yami turned to his friend’s disinterestedly. In his right hand he held fifteen inches of his severed black hair and in the other the serrated dagger. Yami frowned at the hair, dropped it to the floor and then raised the knife up, cutting away a few stray locks in the front. Mathais let out another noise of disbelief before snatching the knife away.

“Hey, I’m not done…” Yami protested.

“Holy Hells, Yami. Sit down. I’ll do this properly. You damn nutcase.” Mathais elbowed the other down into one of the chairs and then hovered over the varied length of locks that was now Yami’s new hairstyle. “H-How long do you want it?”

Yami shrugged, “Whatever you want.”

Mathais sighed harshly and glared at Ryshar who was laughing quite hysterically. The white-haired man rolled onto his side, not at all trying to stifle his loud and obnoxious laughter. Ryshar was beginning to enjoy the insanity that was Yami. They hadn’t traveled together for more than five years, but the little demon had grown on him. It was moments like these that Ryshar was thankful the idiot was around. He was good for a laugh or two. Especially when they were all quite drunk—it made the morning all the harder to wait for.

When Mathais finally finished evening out Yami’s hair as best he could it was barely three inches at the longest. The redhead was pleased to say that his handiwork looked rather enticing on the demon. In fact, the new hair style made Yami actually look like a man for once. It would be most improbable if he were to be mistaken as a damsel any time soon.

“Bed time. Now.” Mathais sighed, pulling Yami to his feet. The demon yawned, running his fingers through his short hair. He couldn’t help but smirk… The two climbed back into bed and Ryshar’s laughter finally died away. There was a long silence until Mathais spoke and he sounded incredibly confused, “If you hated your hair so long, why did you keep it like that? I mean, if your former master liked I like that, you’ve had years to cut it since then…”

“It’s… not that.” Yami hesitated. It was true…why hadn’t he cut it? It was something… something was tucked back in the corners of his mind. Someone at some time that he had truly loved had reached out touched his hair and… Yami made a face. The memory was foggy. He couldn’t even put a face to the words Your hair is getting long. It’s pretty. Who had said it…Ankei? His mother? Maybe Professor Klaus…

“Yami?” Mathais ventured, worming his way back to the demons side. He seemed to enclose his body around the other and Yami suddenly felt like a cocoon. The three layers of blankets Mathais had hauled onto them were tangled around them. Yami found himself not minding. He rather enjoyed having a cuddle-buddy. Mathais was a good one at that.

“Go to sleep, idiots. It’s late.” Ryshar grumbled.

Mathais and Yami giggled despite the others sharp warning, but eventually they allowed sleep to capture them and rock them into a dreamless slumber…

…Yami awoke from the sound of a tea pot screaming its lungs out. He jerked awake, blinking and craned his neck so he could see over Mathais into the kitchen. Ryshar was moving about, seemingly fixing himself some hot water for his coffee. The thought of hot fresh coffee suddenly promoted the sleepy-eyed demon to get out of bed.

However, when he tried to move, he found himself anchored down by his cuddle buddy. Yami tried to wiggle free, but it seemed the more he moved the less room he seemed to be getting.

“He’s like a Venus fly trap.” Ryshar commented, sitting down and sipping his coffee. ”The more you struggle, the tighter his grip gets.”

Yami frowned at the other, ”What? That’s stupid.” Yami glanced back at the sleeping redhead and made a face, ”Ah…man, Mathais. You’re drooling… all over me…” He moved his hand as if he were going to push the other off but Ryshar clicked his tongue loudly. Curiously, Yami looked to him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“And why is that?”

“He’ll kill you.”

“…” Yami gave the other a deadpan stare. “What?”

“If you wake him up, he will make your life a living hell for weeks.” Ryshar smiled over the rim of his coffee cup before taking a long  savoring sip.

“Well fine. Bring me some of that coffee then.” Yami said, sighing. He shifted to try and make himself more comfortable… He had seen Mathais angry once before... It was most unpleasant. He’d rather not risk seeing Mathais’ dangerously evil and conniving behavior ever again.

“Nope.”

Yami looked back at the half-Angel slowly, mouth tightening with aggravation. The smirk Ryshar was giving was nothing short of devilish. Yami found himself hating the other quite intensely. “Why not?” Yami asked slowly, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

“Because I warned you.”

“…What? What kind of warning is ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you?’” Yami retorted, scowling. “Besides, he really wouldn’t kill me or harm me in any way shape or form. Mathais, you see, actually likes me.”

“I have sex with him. He likes me more.” Ryshar countered shortly, sipping his coffee again. “Aaaaah.” He took in a deep breath and smelled the drink. ”This stuff is great, you know that? All locally grown… fresh. Very good.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Thank you,” came the cheerful reply.

“Wouldn’t suppose you’d bring me anything to read?”

“Nope.”

“Great.” Yami grumbled, annoyed. “Not like you can read anyways. You just like looking at all the pretty shapes.”

Ryshar’s gaze narrowed. It was true—he wasn’t very good at reading and couldn’t write anything but his own name. It was the price of becoming a slave as a child and not finding relief from his captives for years. Mathais had started to teach him, but when Yami had come along most of the lessons had ceased. For the most part, Ryshar didn’t mind. He enjoyed hot debates and sarcastic conversations with the demon over the embarrassing picture books geared towards children.

“What time does he usually get up?” Yami sighed after a long and uncomfortable span of silence. He was beginning to realize why the three had their own rooms. Ryshar was awake at the crack of dawn (and had this awful habit of picking up prostitutes), Yami rather enjoyed his privacy… and Mathais—

“Noon.” Yep. That was the reason. Mathais was never seen until the sun was a blazing hot ball of fire directly ahead. The reasons for spending all that extra gold on three rooms was making sense now.

Yami squinted out the window. The sun was out, but it was far from noon. It was probably not even nine in the morning. Yami shifted and eyed the redhead latched to his side. If only… he could… wiggle just right. Yami tried to inch his body away but it seemed that the elf would only shift with him and seem to worm himself closer. After several minutes of trying to escape, Yami sighed. At least it was nearly impossible to wake the elf up.

In fact, three months ago an inn they had been staying in had caught on fire. Since the three usually stayed in their own room they did their best to find each other in the chaos. Ryshar and Yami had realized that their crimson-haired friend was still in his room, and so beating furiously on the door the two attempted to alert their companion. Much to their dismay he seemed not to be answering. Fearing that smoke inhalation had already taken him Yami used a fierce spell (much to the locals dismay) to break down the door. They found the elf sound asleep in his bed. Ryshar had carried the sleeping man out of the burning building. At the very least, it had brought some humor to an otherwise humorless night, but also enlightened Ryshar and Yami on how freakishly well Mathais slept.

After realizing he wasn’t going to be getting up any time soon, Yami attempted to doze off but every time Mathais shifted it jarred him back into a hopeful awareness.  Unable to take it any louder Yami let out a harsh sigh, “I’m going to do it. I’m going to move him out of the way.”

Ryshar did something then that was nothing short of a miracle. He stood, walked to the side of the bed Mathais was on, leaned over and very gentle whispered, “the elves name into his ear. Mathais made a soft noise of appreciation, rolled away from the demon and his arms reached out towards the golden-eyed man. Ryshar promptly stuffed a pillow into the elves arms and without knowing the difference, the redhead curled onto the pillow and continued to sleep soundlessly.

Yami rolled out of the bed sharply and onto his feet, looking like he was ready to sprint out of the room at any time if Mathais so much as began to stir before his usual noon awakening. Ryshar stood proudly, giving the other a sudden full-body eye sweep.

“What?” Yami asked, straightening and suddenly feeling very violated.

“Your hair… I almost forgot you went and cut it off.”

Surprised himself, Yami reached out to touch it. He had forgotten too. The consequences of alcohol. The crimson-eyed demon shrugged after running his fingers several times over the shortly cropped it. It was just hair… and besides, he didn’t like it long anyways. And yet… for some reason he couldn’t push away that memory that gently bubbled at the edges of his mind… It made him suddenly very sad.

“Hey. Stop it with that look.” Ryshar said, glaring. Yami looked up, lips pursed together and his face looking rather dreary. “Let’s go explore the city.  I’ve heard good things about Asamine. Besides, your hair will grow back.”

“I like it short.” Yami said defensively, though inwardly he was beginning to realize that might not be the case.

“Fifty gald says you’ll grow it out again.”

Yami glared but did not accept the bet. Instead he stomped past the white-haired man to his boots and shoved them inside. He glared over his shoulder at the other, “Well, are you coming or not?”

Ryshar was right behind him as Yami left the room and the two made their way out into Asamine’s bustling streets—leaving a still very much asleep and undisturbed Mathais to cling to a pillow and sleep the day away.