Spring. Flowers. Gifts. III

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“Sera darling, can you pour me some more?”  Hummed Luciel as he raised his glass in the air with a modest swirl.

At his command, a servant opened up a bottle of pink champagne and dutifully followed his command.

With his cup replenished, Luciel brought the glass to his lips— savagely chugging the entire thing in one big gulp the whole thing a moment later. This process went on a couple times, only halting when eventually the bottle dried up, being discarded onto the small hill of other such specimens.

Getting bored of drinking champagne, the somehow still sober Luciel put his glass away as he leaned into the heavy fluff behind him. He opened up his black fan, blowing air onto his face while narrowing his eyes like a Persian cat as he quietly enjoyed the weather like the man beside him.

The two relaxing fools were both leaning on a fluffy creature that was licking its paws— a brown griffin that somehow managed to remain dignified even though it was reduced to a mere pillow.  Laying on the creature, they enjoyed the sun rays from under a large tree while being spoiled rotten by the servants that stood ramrod straight at their sight.

While the warmth of those rays heated his face, Luciel lifted his hand as a servant handed him another glass of liquor— one of a completely different breed than the previous. Iced vodka in his grasp, Luciel gingerly lowered his long serpentine tongue into the liquid as a refreshingly floating feeling spread throughout his body.

As for the other, his state was not very hard to predict— Gabriel completely left this plane of existence and was happily in dreamland, his limb body draped on the griffon reminiscent of that of a wet rag.

While lapping the liquor, Luciel shifted his shoulders to go deeper into the griffon's brown feathery fluff. “Ahhh… Mattress is as fluffy as ever~ I’m so happy, I haven’t seen you two in forever and a half! Ughh…. This mission was so long this time that I even considered quitting…. Not that I can quit with my head on my shoulders haha.”

Of course, Gabriel didn’t respond— he was too busy being dead to the world.

Clicking his tongue at the silence, Luciel grumpily pinched the other’s cheek and pulled the stretchy flesh with no mercy, “Oi, sleep later. I have an important topic to address, a very very important one. I can’t have you sleeping right now.”

In response to the annoyance, Gabriel opened his eyes groggily as massaged his aching cheek. There was a silent questioning in his half lidded eyes, with an anger in them that made Luciel grin.

“Look Gabi, isn’t it charming? The flower I mean, not me.” Said Luciel as he leaned forward to poke the little sapling in front of them, “it finally sprouted after so long, this event is so joyous that even my icy cold heart was moved… oh… I think I will shed a tear.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes to the object of Luciel praise. It was a flower that was blooming at the top of a small sampling that appeared to be weak enough to break even with the smallest of sighs.

But while the sapling looked pathetic, it was still growing strong. Bright green leaves lined it’s branches in a healthy manner, and although thin, it appeared to be very flexible. The most striking thing on this plant was definitely its flower Luciel praised however. It was an odd thing, and was surprisingly big for this small plant.

It was about the size of a palm, it’s color a teal white that was visible bioluminescent under the shade of the tree. It’s petals were covered with an odd pattern, the tips of them all having short hairs that made the flower appear very strange.

Gabriel never has seen such a flower. Though, this was not surprising— this specimen was definitely the first of its kind. Afterall, this plant was an experimental work created using the sap of the tree that held the essence of the fountain of youth….

It was truly a magnificent thing, the tree that grew out of that seed Luciel gave him so many years ago. It impressed him so much that he was now trying to create more of it, a thing that was easier said than done as the tree did not appear to show any means of reproduction.

The plant in front of them was one of his attempts at this.

Sadly, it was a huge failure. it didn’t have anywhere near the mana content of the original tree. 

The only noteworthy thing about it was probably it’s looks.

After admiring the flower— and by extension his work— a bit longer, Gabriel turned his head to Luciel. He nodded in agreement to Luciel's statement about its beauty before tilting his head in confusion, “I don’t…. get the importance of that... though”

Luciels eyes widened when he heard him, shifting a moment later into slits as a complacent grin stretched itself on his lips. “You don’t know?”

Gabriel blinked sleepily in response.

At his lack of reaction, Luciel practically exploded in laughter as he grabbed a poor servant and spoke to them in a crackling voice, “He doesn’t know! Did you hear that, he does not know!”

“……….What?” Murmured Gabriel as he snapped his fingers that dragged Luciel's collar back and yanked him away from the poor servant that froze like a deer in headlights.

Not even flinching at the duke's magic, Luciel turned to him as he confined his giggles.

“Pff, you forgot? I can’t believe this, how can you forget!” Giggled Luciel with his teeth showing in Schadenfreude. “Ah, I know why— is it to pretend that you haven't experienced a big fat loss? Because you lost to me, my dear~”

“???” Gabriel was still groggy after waking up so he didn’t quite follow, however the word ‘lost’ rubbed him the wrong way so he pushed himself up with a displeased atmosphere. 

As he was processing what was going on, Luciel took the liberty of kindly explaining, “you lost the bet, you know…. the one proposed by you, grand duke.”

Gabriel tilted his head, “....no?”

“What do you mean no?” Luciel's eyes rounded into circles for a moment, then flattened back again because of his furrowed brows. “We— and more specifically you— bet that if this sapling blooms and flowers in 5 years, you would owe me a biiiiiig favor and if it doesn’t then visé versa. And lo and behold, this little sweetheart has bloomed in just about two years. And this means that— you. Lost. Dear... Very badly at that!”

Gabriel immediately sobered. 

Gazing at the expressionless man who was now in a state of shock, Luciel grinned as he rubbed the salt into the others wound with pure glee on his face, “I won~ you lost~ now I’m two wins ahead of you as well as having a favor from our great duke~”

Discontent at the other's attitude, Gabriel waved his hand in the direction of the servant. Without missing a beat, the servant opened another bottle and handed Gabriel a glass while he was inspecting the sapling.

Something seemed off—no something was definitely off. It also wasn’t supposed to grow so soon. The seed he used for this experiment was one that took long to grow without alterations, and according to his hypothesis, the addition of the sap from the main tree was supposed to slow down the growth further. Not to mention, he even went to such lengths of planting this sapling under a tree to inhibit its growth to guarantee his win.

So why did it grow?

Is it possible he miscalculated? Although it was unpleasant to admit, he did not have that much information about this plant so he was predicting it’s growth time solely by estimation. It is possible for factors he was unaware of to create deviations in his predictions.

If so… that means he really lost.

With an unhappy air around him, Gabriel was just about to admit his loss this time before he heard a muffled snicker from the guy beside him. 

“!!!” Gabriel snapped his head at Luciel but as soon as Gabriel looked, that damn snake regained a serene smile once more, fanning himself causally.

This small action…… it gave him a huge feeling of suspicion.

Following up on his hunch, Gabriel took off his glasses as he used his now clouded eyes to squint at the sapling. His eyes seemed to linger on the plant for what felt like forever, but once he moved his gaze away, confidence seeped out of his pores, “No.”

Luciel, who was now shoving black colored berries into his mouth at amazing speeds under the servants concerned gaze, almost choked on them as a look of incredulity replaced his smile.

“No again, Gabriel? Are you mad?” Snarled Luciel as he turned his index finger on next to his temple in a circular motion, “did you sleep so much that you damaged your precious brain? It has clearly blossomed, something that clearly is undebatable.”

“…..well.” Gabriel did a little smug scoff as he crossed his fingers together over his laps, “…You cheated.”

“Hmm?” Luciel raised a brow, “that’s ludicrous. What cheating? Gabriel, this is a plant. Please do tell, how the hell does one cheat when growing plants? Magic? Yes. But you couldn’t have forgotten that I can’t use it in the slightest, Could you? Or are you really having issues with your head?”

“L..You don’t need magic….” Gabriel narrowed his eyes, “…supplements. You clearly gave it mana supplements, potent mana ones at that.”

To such assumptions, Luciel gave a heartbroken gasp.

“Gabi… I thought we were closer than this…” Luciel weeped with a face of a man who was betrayed by his closest confidant, “Accusing me of such a thing, how heartless. You know very well that that is not my area— where can I even get such a thing? I know you want to win but is throwing shit in my name really worth it for such a meager thing?”

Ignoring those heartfelt words, Gabriel placed his glasses back onto his nose as he continued his assertion, “I saw it. The mana content of this plant isn’t the level it was before. It’s much higher— a clear use of supplements.”

“What?” Luciels expression turned almost disgusted, “you don’t know anything about this plant, so how is this related to me? Maybe the little thing is a late bloomer.”

“Of course… because late bloomers would have the same type of mana I used in the fertilizer for the main tree...” Stated Gabriel without an expression.

“........... I’m innocent though… Maybe it was one of your servants trying to grow this plant? Or maybe it was transferred from the main tree onto this one and is only showing now. There is no reason to blame me on mere speculation,” murmured Luciel with a dejected expression. “It’s not always my fault…”

Hearing his words, Gabriel lightly exiled from his nose as he snapped his fingers, making a small crystal appear in his hand. “Are you sure?”

Luciel looked at the crystal in curiosity, “Hmm? What’s that?”

“It’s a recording crystal,” Gabriel taunted with narrowed eyes, “One that was stationed at my lab.”

Luciel’s eyes grew alarmed for a fraction of a second, however this did not escape Gabriel as he curled his eyebrows gleefully in response to catching the rat in the act, “so, are you still ‘innocent’?”

Luciel was about to nod and plead his case again, however Gabriel raised his chin, “if you lie to me, I won’t give you any mana potions for the next decade. Choose your words wisely.”

“!!!” Luciel quickly swallowed the words he had in his mouth.

He then remained quiet for a while longer— his expression still but his eyes extremely radiant as many emotions flowed through them. 

Eventually he ended up shrugging his shoulders in surrender. He couldn’t lie here— there was already evidence that would shut down anything he said no matter how much he was at bullshitting. Not to mention, the consequences of lying right now and crossing the great young master were extremely dire, “alright fine, I admit it. I went to your lab and stole your magical fertilizer as I saw it worked on the other tree, okay? Happy now?”

“Very happy.” Said Gabriel smugly as he ‘laughed’ (exhaled lightly from his nose).

“Hmmm, But I’m rather surprised you have footage. Since when do you have magical recorders in your main lab? Since it is hidden and all, didn’t you say not long ago that you couldn’t be bothered to install them? Why did you do it now?” Wondered Luciel as he stroked his chin.

“I didn’t.” Hummed Gabriel as he threw the crystal to Luciel with something that was almost a chuckle.

Catching the gem, Luciel's face went blank as he inspected the gem thoroughly. Confirming that it was not a recording crystal, Luciel hardly glared at Gabriel. “you…. you played me? This is just a normal raw mana crystal you bastard.”

Gabriel raised his brow, “perhaps I indeed should put in recording crystals in my labs….. by your familiarity to it… This is not the first time you stole something….. right? What else did you steal? I did find that some  mana stones and potions were missing, I thought I was going crazy but it was you… right?”

“......” Luciel nervously looked to the side.

Gabriel’s expressionless face became rather dark, “Haaaa…. You little bitch. I knew it.”

Knowing he was busted, Luciel swallowed the crystal as he made a run for it, however with a snap of Gabriel’s fingers he was thrown into the air losing any means of making his way forward.

Watching him flail in the air, Gabriel furrowed his brows slightly. “I never said you can eat it, that was a pretty powerful mana crystal....”

Out of options, Luciel showed him his middle finger. While doing so, he also stuck out his long tongue to show that the crystal had gone into his gullet and was completely stolen by him. 

It was an extremely petty action, one that showed Gabriel that he was cornered yet still wanted to make a show of superiority— a show that didn’t seem very convincing to the other.

At Luciels peeved behavior, Gabriel flopped back into the griffon fluff in a good mood, “Have you…. turned into Maki? What’s with that attitude? … Oh? Is it because you were so... easily fooled by me? Tell me, o mighty self proclaimed…. master of deception.”

The now upside down Luciel crossed his arms as he refused to comment, clearly extremely annoyed as he clicked his tongue.

“Don’t tsk…. Instead congratulate me.” Hummed Gabriel as he made his fingers into a victory sign, “I won.”

“........” Luciel pushed his head into his neck. “Excuse me but what?”

Gabriel kindly clarified, “You cheated, lost by default.” 

The sulking Luciel narrowed his eyes,  “Ehhh, don't be so sure Gabi.”

Gabriel raised a brow.

“Dearest Gabi, we never mentioned we can’t cheat, did we? Thus, this is fair game. All is fair in war, no?” Gloated Luciel as he opened his arms wide with new found vigor, his words overflowing with superiority  “I still win regardless of if you discovered my cheating~”

Digesting his words for a second, the unfazed Gabriel leaned forward and gave a counter of his own— ripping off the flower of the sapling. “Ok then, Look.... It didn’t bloom now.”

Luciel’s face rapidly turned from glee to shit, his expressions feeding more joy to Gabriel.

“I won. I think the word you used is ‘undebatable’?” Said Gabriel with no expression as he put the fingers in a victory sign on his cheek and pushed up the tips of his lips to make it look like he was smiling. “It can't bloom now so let’s cut to the chase….. You owe me a favor. That was the agreement.”

“................. you do realize you did that right in front of my face?” Grumbled Luciel with fingers rubbing his temple.

Gabriel didn’t even take a moment to deny it shamelessly, “No such thing. It never grew” 

“Gabi, although you may be blind without your glasses, I’m not. You ripped it off just now.” Snorted Luciel.

“Even if I did so. It’s still gone so I still win.”

“No Gabriel, with this move you just played yourself, not me. if you ripped it off then you cheated. By your rules that means you lost, otherwise if you change this rule, I win.”

“I think you are mistaken about something.” Harrumphed Gabriel as he raised his chin, “We never specified that ripping the flower counts as cheating.”

 Luciel’s face turned ugly.

“All is fair in war.” Said Gabriel expressionlessly to rub the salt in the wound, sticking out his tongue in a cheeky manner as he did so.

Lcuiel sulked for a while longer before bursting at the mistreatment.

“Waaaaaah! I’m going to cry, Gabi is such a trickster. Deceiving a poor innocent soul such I….” Cried Luciel as he threw himself into the griffon like Gabriel, “Such a scum man, taking advantage of a handsome and beautiful being such as me. Truly a sinful act~”

Gabriel shrugged as he ignored his theatrics, “Well, you cheated first.”

Luciel’s tearful expression disappeared away as he scoffed. “Hah, it seems that we both ended up cheating in the end.”

“A tie.” Said Gabriel as he tilted his head.

“Indeed.”  

At that, the dialogue finally died down as Gabriel let Luciel down. 

After that, The two remained silent as if they had spent all their energy onto that long exchange.  

Quietly, Luciel ate the berries that were sitting in the bowl next to him, lavishing in their taste to try to fill this silence. As he did so, his eyes curved at their delicious taste— they were his favorite fruit that grew the most this time of year, Black Avarice.

In a good mood, Luciel moved a fist full of these berries in front of Gabriel, kindly offering them to him. “Want?”

Waking up at Luciel’s light call, Gabriel groggily shook his head, “ I’m not taking anything poisonous from you.”

Poisonous. Yes, these berries were indeed poisonous if eaten raw, hence why the servants were in shock that Luciel was eating them like candy. The poison in them was quite mild— to an angel like Gabriel at least— but knowing the other, god knows what else he did to the berries. 

As for Luciel, the poison did not even make him flinch, especially because  the berries' poisonous properties came largely from mana.

And Mana was an incredibly delicious thing for him.

Eating his fill, Luciel turned to Gabriel as boredom started to drift in again. He reached for the flower in his hand and tucked it behind his ear on a whim, waking Gabriel up again in the process, “So what do we do about this conundrum? Our usual?” 

 Blinking to gain some soberness, Gabriel stroked his chin and then nodded, “Poker this time.”

 “Poker?” Without missing a beat, Luciel straightened up as he dug a deck of cards out of his clothes, “How brave my Gabriel, you want to settle it this way? You know you as good as lost when you picked this game, my dear duke?”

“Not necessarily.” Murmured Gabriel with a determined face, he was preparing tactics and strategies in order to try to beat Luciel at least once in poker and he felt that it was time to put it into practice. But that was easier said than done, the other was a master of this game after all. But he had to test if what he was working on was a viable strategy. “You can’t win forever.”

“Hoh? Okay then, rules?” Purred Luciel.

“Best of three, discovery of cheating leads to loss, tie break.” Spoke Gabriel as he brought up three fingers in front of his face.

“Okay~” hummed Luciel as he shuffled the cards. 

As Luciel did this, Gabriel quietly turned his face to stare at the smiling Luciel, unknowingly his heart speeding slightly. It was just such a beautiful sight, the man’s white hair flowed under the sun as his eyes curved into bewitching arcs. A usual smile trailed on his lips, showing off his teeth in a manner that Gabriel found both irritating and utterly delightful.

 Staring at the other unblinkingly, unknowingly Gabriel's ears were painted a shade of red under his fluffy hair.

 Not only was the others' appearance captivating, but his presence was utterly soothing to Gabriel. Although they bickered to high heaven, whenever they were together Gabriel felt his entire soul being wrapped in a warmth he could not describe, an intoxicating warmth which he could stay in for forever. He could not imagine being completely without it, it was a presence that accompanied him for years on end after all, ever since he was young.

 It was one of the only familiar presences that still existed in his long long life, and it was the only one which gave him the only thing he could classify as yearning.

Thinking so far, Gabriel dragged his fingers across his smooth and unblemished neck, swallowing  the words he had at the back of his throat. Actually, he had been hoping to gain Luciel's favor with this bet and ask for the other to take a holiday so they could go on an extended vacation together. Luciel has been extremely busy lately and he has not been able to participate in his work due to his status as a duke, thus it was upsetting to him that they did not hang out as much as they used to anymore.

This time, he was hoping to climb the highest mountain in the empire together, watching the sea of stars above the clouds. Gabriel thought that perhaps that would have been a good scene…. a good scene to confess.

To confess that he loved Luciel.

Of course, this was just wishful thinking, he knew very well that once they went, in the end Gabriel would not say anything. This was not the first time he had gone on vacation with such a plan. 

Afterall, how do you say such things? 

Not to mention he is painfully aware that his social skills are somewhere close to zero, thus the chances of him doing something to ruin it were incredibly high.

For him… it was way more frightening to ruin what they have now than to seek for something more.

As such thoughts consumed his mind, Gabriel unconsciously moved his hand to Luciel's face that was fully enthralled in setting up the game— the other was so into it that he even let out a light hum. It was as he was hypnotized, sucked into the bell like laughter that rendered his heart into messy flutters. Sucked into those eyes that even in anger and annoyance, unconsciously viewed him in such warmth that it almost made him choke.

 If only, the other could be enchanted by him as well.

Just as the tips of his fingers were about to make contact with the other cheek mGabriel forced himself to halt. Practically seamlessly, Gabriel switched his target to the flower behind his ear. This action greatly confused Luciel, making him even stop shuffling his cards as he gazed at the other, “Hmm? May I ask what you are doing Duke Avem? Why are you staring at me as if I were an exotic animal?”

 “...” Gabriel froze at being called out as he awkwardly rolled his eyes down at the flower he stole back, shifting it in his palm nervously.

Honestly he just touched the rip of luciel’s ear while he stole the flower, causing his flesh on his hand to burn up from within.

“Hah? Nothing to say for yourself Gabi? Let me guess, I am just too beautiful and handsome to describe in words. Must be too captivating for a short and ugly someone like yourself, you must be jealous, Huh....” Giggled Luciel as he picked up some cards and used it to fan himself. Obviously he sensed the others nervousness but he attributed it to him being caught in the act of doing something mischievous.

 These words made Gabriel’s nervousness and heart flutters disappear in a second.

Or at least almost— his hand still felt like it was on fire. 

“Delusional as usual. I’m better looking than you.” Gabriel said with a tilted chin. 

To that, Luciel snorted as if his words were the greatest bit of idiocy he ever heard. “Pff,  look, this shortie wants to argue about looks? How pitiful dear, I truly feel bad that you think you have a stake in this argument. You have to accept that a mongrel can’t compare to a purebred wolf.”

Gabriel shook his head with a sigh at those words as he picked up his cards, gazing at Luciel down his nose with contempt.

“—eek! Don’t glare at me like that. I’ll have a heart attack Gabi.” Squealed Luciel as he put his spare hand over his chest in panic.

The other didn’t react to his outburst, “Then have a heart attack. It’s your loss for delusion.”  

What came after was a huge bout of laughter Luciel was holding back this conversation, almost dropping his cards as tears formed in his eyes. Gabriel ignored this as he gazed lightly towards the flower, “really, this flower is truly—”

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