~ Merlin's Pet Story~
"Where the hell have you been?"
Merlin walked slowly into the bishounen pet closet as if he didn't have
a care
in the world.
"Out casting spells for my Nikki-chan and the AYML
members, my friends. Why
do you all look so upset?"
"Baka mouse! You knew we had the pet parade
today!" Operative A's face was a
mask of sheer anger. "Do you ever think about anything but yourself?"
He got
up from where he was laying and walked away from the group, turning
his back
to them as he stared at the wall silently.
"Calm down, A," Merlin replied soothingly.
"I'm only thirty minutes late.
Surely they won't mind if we're running a little behind schedule?"
"Ha! Easy for you to say! The only thing
YOU'RE ever on time for is a
fuck!" Heero-Ferret sprung out of his chair and lunged at Merlin.
"I ought
to kill you now!"
The Lemur of Justice nodded his furry head.
"You have dishonored all of us,
mousie-kun. We must demonstrate dignified and respectable behavior
at all
times when in presence of the hentais. And you appear late, your
clothing in
a state of disarray. Also, you smell like old cheese."
The lemur nodded its
head ruefully; it seemed that he was confirming his own opinion.
For the first time in his short mousie life, Merlin
appeared unsure of
himself. "All of you becoming upset for nothing! If you'd
just let me
explain - "
"No! You're probably gonna feed us some bullshit
story about being needed by
the hentais. When all the time, you've been out having sex with
some other
rodent," Duo-Ferret said loudly. Normally, the creature was an
overly
talkative, cheerful ferret; but Merlin had angered Heero-Ferret beyond
all
hope of wanting to make love with him later, so Duo-Ferret was trying
to be
loyal to his lover in order to get Heero-Ferret's almost jovial mood
back.
"And on top of that, you ate all the lunch meat! And you left
the toilet seat
down, so I almost missed. And you pulled my braid when you walked
over me on
the floor! And you laughed at Heero yesterday when he was wearing
his green
tank top! And you- " Duo-Ferret's rant was ended abruptly when
Heero-Ferret
shushed him with a paw over his mouth.
"That's enough, Duo," Heero-Ferret said gruffly.
Duo-Ferret shut up quickly,
because Heero-Ferret's remark wasn't stated unkindly.
The chastisement went on and on until all the animals
present in the pet
closet had their turn to criticize Merlin. Only the Quatre-Ferret,
the
Trowa-Ferret, and the Magic Penguin were quiet. (The Trowa-Ferret
never
spoke, and the Magic Penguin displayed its wrath by flopping around
furiously.) Quatre-Ferret waited until a lull had come over the
closet before
he spoke.
"I'm not mad at you, Merlin," he stated quietly.
"I just think that you
should have made an effort to be on time this once. Normally
it's okay for
you to be late - no one really minds. But I think what the others
are trying
to say is that the parade is really important to them, and that they
want to
impress the list members. It's hard to do that if we show up
late, don't you
think?" Quatre-Ferret turned to Trowa-Ferret for confirmation.
Trowa-Ferret
only stared at Merlin with the one eye that could be seen.
"You're lying!" Merlin yelled. "All of
you are just pissed off that I help
the hentais spy on all the screwing that takes place around here.
Nobody ever
asks any of you to help them! You wouldn't begin to have even
a tenth of my
knowledge and power! All you can do is lay around sleeping or
fucking each
other!"
"That's not true!" screamed Operative A. "We
do plenty for our senseis! We
keep them company, we help them keep the ML in line, we dispense justice
when
it's needed - "
"Don't speak to ME about justice!" Merlin shrieked
back. He narrow his eyes
and focused his glare at Wufei the Lemur. "You...I thought you
were my
lover! You know what you can do with your justice!" The
angry mouse zapped
Wufei the Lemur, and Wufei, yelped in pain. He had a big purple
chicken
imprinted on the flesh of his backside!
"GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I DO KILL YOU!" Heero-Ferret
threatened. He was
restrained only by Duo-Ferret and Quatre-Ferret's small arms pinning
him
against the wall.
"Fine! All of you can go to the stupid parade
without me!" Merlin spun
around and stomped out of the pet closet, grabbing the Thermos of coffee
he
had prepared to take along to the parade.
Once he got to the ML door, he stopped and sagged
against the wall. <I
can't believe how they all feel about me,> he thought. <Is there
no one but my
Nikki-chan to love me? And as much as I know she cares, it's
not enough.> A
tear slipped out and rolled down his furry cheek. Sighing, he
stood and
opened the door.
Outside, he came to a stop in the field across from
the ML headquarters.
It was a beautifully sunny day, so he decided to walk. He meandered
aimlessly, stopping only to rest his feet and sip from the Thermos;
all the
while he was deep in thought.
<Is it possible that they see me for what I truly
am?> he mused silently.
<A brash young wizard mouse whose air of arrogance is only a disguise
for his
insecurity? ... No. That can't be. If it were true,
they would have given
me a chance to explain. Zillah caught Nothing trying to seduce
St. Clair, and
Laiyven and Vizzail were egging him on. When the argument became
really
violent, the admins called me in to cast a spell of lassitude on Zillah
before
the bishounen closet and all inside were destroyed. I don't understand
why no
one believes that Zillah can be so vindictive. If they did, they
would never
have blamed me for being late. Well, I'll show them! I'll
make them all
worry about where I've gone until they decide to come looking for me.>
And
then Merlin's blood ran cold. "But what will I do if they don't?"
he wondered
aloud. "Then where will I go?" His eyes filled with tears,
and blindly, he
began walking again.
"Merlin!"
He stopped. Was he imagining it? Or was Quatre-Ferret calling his name?
"MERLIN!!! Wait for me!"
Merlin turned around to see Quatre-Ferret running
towards him as fast as his
four little legs would carry him. He turned and began walking
again, but
slowly.
"Am - I - ever - glad - I - found - you!" Quatre-Ferret
panted. "The parade
- was canceled - . I guess that - Zillah caused a war - in the
bishounen
closet - a little while ago. Is that why you were late today?"
Merlin nodded.
"Well, the ML members had to step in and carry him
out of there,"
Quatre-Ferret said. "He was so sleepy, he couldn't even walk!
And Nothing
was crying so loud, they heard it in California. Laiyven, Vizzail,
and St.
Clair are taking care of him until Zillah wakes up."
"Good," Merlin replied. "I doubted that
the parade would take place after
all that." He was silent for a moment, remembering his the thoughts
he had
had such a short time ago. "May I ask you a question, Quatre?"
"Sure." Quatre-Ferret gazed at Merlin, his blue eyes wide and attentive.
"Did you come looking for me just to tell me about
the parade being
postponed?"
"Gosh, no! That's not the reason at all!" Quatre exclaimed.
"Then why are you here?" Merlin asked sadly.
"We were all worried about you," Quatre-Ferret replied
quizzically. "You've
never left before. Not even when all the other pets were threatening
to put
your - " here Quatre blushed - "in a mousetrap. You always just
laughed it
off. So today when you fought back, everyone was really surprised.
If only
you could have seen their faces! They feel terrible about the
whole thing!
Especially Operati - " Quatre stopped abruptly and covered his
mouth with his
paw.
Puzzled, Merlin looked askance at Quatre-Ferret.
"Operative A? Why is he so
upset? He was the first one to yell at me!"
"Um, I can't tell you why. He just is," Quatre-Ferret
mumbled, and looked
down at the sidewalk. His little face was bright red. "I've
told you too
much already. Can we go back now?" He turned and started
waddling back
towards the ML headquarters.
Merlin shrugged. "Okay," he said. "But
I wish you would tell me what he
said. At least I would have some idea what to expect when we
got back."
Quatre-Ferret looked over his shoulder at Merlin,
an uncertain expression on
his face. "I really can't, Merlin. I've said too much already."
He turned
forward and kept walking.
Merlin shook his head and followed silently.
He figured that it might be
better to deal with things as they happened, anyway.
When they got back to the closet, he followed Quatre-Ferret
inside without
saying a word. No sooner had he walked through the doors when
all the pets
jumped on him. They began hugging him and kissing him, and everyone
was
talking at once. Even the Magic Penguin waved happily.
It was nice to see
Wufei the Lemur, Trowa-Ferret, and even Heero-Ferret smiling for a
change.
Duo-Ferret was giggling joyfully as he opened bag after bag of chips
and
stacked chocolate bars. All of the pets except one were welcoming
Merlin
back. When everyone finally let go of him, he turned and looked
into
Operative A's sorrowful black eyes.
"Did you miss me, a?" Merlin couldn't stop looking at the other
pet.
Something about his expression...
The closet became very quiet as all eyes turned to
look at the pair.
Operative A looked into Merlin's eyes for what seemed like hours; at
last, he
broke the stare and opened his mouth to speak.