Peony enters the boxcar as swiftly as a gust of wind. She takes off her zori and sets them right by the door, then quickly walks to the closet. She dashes in and leans against the back of the door, trying to put the thought of being seen out of her mind. She unties her obi, then folds the belt and puts it on a shelf. She holds her kimono shut with her hands as she paces the closet to look for pajamas. When at last she finds them, she slowly takes off her kimono and puts on the pajamas.
The pajamas aren’t built for comfort. Sure, they’re soft, and perhaps if she wore them for longer they’d be warm, but they don’t cover her nearly enough. The girlish cartoons only hide what needs to be hidden, and even then, only barely. She doesn’t fear the sight of her own skin, far from it, but someone else seeing it?
She slumps down to sit against the door, and the pit within her stomach opens. She tosses her kimono over her shoulders as though it were a blanket.
There is a knock on the closet door.
“Peony? It’s just me. Let me know when you’re done in there so I can change.”
“Alright,” She mumbles.
“Are you alright in there?”
“Yeah, just these pajamas. They don’t hide much, that’s all.”
“Ah. That’s the rub.”
The two sit in silence for a moment or two.
“Peony, how about you wear my pajamas instead? I’m sure they’ll be a little more comfortable than what you have.”
“Yeah, can I do that?”
“Yes. I’ll have to come in the closet, though. I won’t look, I promise.”
Peony steps back from the door, tucking herself in one of the wardrobes as Sebastian opens the door. He covers his eyes with one hand and feels around with the other.
“Marco?” He asks.
Peony smiles. “Polo!”
Sebastian quickly turns away from Peony before uncovering his eyes. Thankfully, he’s facing his side of the closet. He starts to browse his wardrobe, looking for any sort of color or texture that would hint at pajamas. He starts to turn towards the back wall of the closet, covering his eyes once again.
“Marco?” He asks.
“Polo!” Peony replies, her voice now behind him.
Sebastian uncovers his eyes and looks again. He quickly comes to find that the back wall is mostly just accessories and costume jewelry. He takes a minute to look at the glimmering of fake rubies and emeralds, trying to distract himself from the dawning realization that he’ll have to turn to face Peony.
He covers his eyes again. “I’m gonna have to turn to where you are, is that ok?”
He gets no response. Only the light creaking of floorboards behind him.
“Marco?” He asks.
Peony’s voice is now to his right. “Polo!”
Sebastian turns to his left and uncovers his eyes. Right before him are his pajamas, neatly folded atop the shelf. He picks them up and drapes them over one arm before he covers his eyes and turns around again.
“I’ve found them,” he smiles, reaching his arm out to Peony. “These should work better.”
“Thank you, Seb,” Peony says, taking the clothes from him.
“Now, I’ll get out of here so you can change.”
Sebastian turns to leave, but immediately walks face first into the door. He reels back, then fumbles around the door for the handle. Peony reaches over and opens the door for him, and Sebastian awkwardly leaves.
Peony quickly tosses off her old top and shorts, replacing it with Sebastian’s pajamas. For a moment she reels relieved, safely hidden behind baggier clothes, but then slowly realizes that the curse of the pajamas will have to befall Sebastian.
She hangs up her kimono in the wardrobe. She wonders if she should’ve complained at all. She turns around back to the discarded pajamas on the ground with contempt.
“Hey, Seb?” She asks, slowly picking up the set, “Could you come in here for a minute?”
“Are you dressed?” He asks.
“Yeah,”
“Comfortably?”
“Yeah,”
Sebastian opens the door again, now with his eyes revealed.
“Oh,” he says, looking down at Peony, “They look nice on you.”
“Thanks, just,” she starts, “I don’t want you to have to wear mine, that’s all.”
“How bad could it be?” He asks.
“Bad. Terrible. Awful. I should just give you back your pajamas.”
“Let me see them. I don’t think it could be that bad.”
Peony grimaces, then turns around to pick the pajamas off the floor.
“If you don’t want them, I’ll wear them,” She says, handing the set to Sebastian.
Sebastian looks at the set. The top is hardly more than a bra, and the shorts are ever so slightly longer than the palm of his hand. They’re terribly fuzzy, though, and they’re decorated with the face of a particular cartoon character.
“Oh, wow, they gave you Kuromi PJs?” Sebastian grins.
That’s what you’re worried about? Peony thinks.
“Yeah,” she replies.
“That’s so cool!” Sebastian says, “I mean, you’re right though, they are a little small, aren’t they?”
“Yeah.”
Sebastian looks back at Peony, and Peony stares right back at him.
Sebastian holds the top in his other hand. “Say, I’ve got an idea. How about we each take one part from each set and wear it? That way neither of us is exposed.”
“I like that,” Peony replies, “Which one do you want?”
“You pick first,” Sebastian says.
“Well, you don’t need a shirt, do you?”
Sebastian stares at her.
“To sleep in, Sebastian, to sleep in. I could take the top from that set and wear these pants, and then you can take this shirt and wear the shorts.”
“I wouldn’t mind doing that.”
Sebastian hands the top of the other pajamas to her, and at once turns away from her. He puts his hand over his eyes once more, and just for good measure, opens his wings to shield her. Peony quickly tosses off the shirt, then puts on the other top.
“You can turn around now, Sebastian.”
Sebastian folds in his wings and turns back, eagerly taking his hand off of his eyes. Peony stoops over to pick up the shirt, then rises again to hand him the shirt.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Thank you,” She sighs, “I’m sorry to make such a big fuss over everything.”
It takes everything in Sebastian to not look so much as a single glance away from her face. “Oh, you’re welcome. Don’t worry about it.”
“I’ll leave so you can change. Do you want me to make tea?”
“Yeah, sure. Hey, maybe we can alternate that between days like we used to.”
“We could, couldn’t we?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright then, I guess I’d better get started on that.”
Sebastian steps away from the closet door and watches Peony leave. Her hair is a waterfall against her bare back.
By Freja, she’s beautiful, Sebastian thinks, nearly frozen where he stands.
He is still for a moment. A hundred wordless thoughts buzz round and round, and as soon as they come, they vanish. He ponders for a moment what they might want from him. He shakes his head, then starts to change.
Meanwhile, Peony sits at the table, examining her tea bowl while she waits on the water. Patterns of flying crows round the mouth of the bowl, and drippings of violet and blue spring up from its base. It is fine. Not particularly elegant or masterful, but fine.
Sebastian emerges from the closet, clad in the mismatched set. Peony steals a second’s worth of a glance at his legs, but quickly refuses to look away from his eyes.
“Do the shorts fit alright?” She asks.
“Yeah, they do,” Sebastian replies.
He walks over to the table and sits in the chair across from her. He looks at his own tea bowl for a minute or so while he waits for the tea to finish. It’s a very sickly sort of blue, marked at the rim with the almost illegible names of herbs and spells. He looks away from his bowl and looks at Peony’s. He finds it’s rather fitting for her.
When the smell of vanilla and cloves finally weaves its way through the air, Peony picks up the pot and pours some for Sebastian and her. Sebastian nods to her as thanks, and the two begin to drink.
“It’s awfully nice of Mr. Sunshine to leave us a welcoming tea,” Peony remarks.
“He even sweetened it, didn’t he?” Sebastian says, “I don’t think I’ve had oak syrup in this before.”
“He sure did,” she nods, “He ain’t much for being a warm face, but he sure knows how to treat a guest.”
“Yeah. Then again, he’s a skeleton. I’m sure if he had some skin on him, he wouldn’t give you the willies.”
“I suppose so.”
The two continue their drinking in silence for a few moments.
“So I guess we’ve got a show to do for tomorrow, huh?” Sebastian says.
“Yeah,” Peony replies. “I’m not too much worried about it, though.”
“Why? I mean, we’ll be down on the stage, and there’ll probably be a million eyes watching us.”
“Seb, there wasn’t anybody in the stands aside from us. I think we’ll be fine.”
The little voice in Peony’s head suddenly whispers to her. Just because there’s no eyes watching doesn’t mean you can’t feel watched.
She slaps it away. “And besides, I know a couple tricks that will make it seem like no one’s even there.”
“Tricks?”
“You know, like what I did back there with Mr. Sunshine, tricking his mind.”
Sebastian looks on in mild terror.
“Except I’ll just trick you into going a little bit blind. I won’t give you any nightmares, I promise.”
He lets out a nervous laugh. “Good, good.”
“Oh, come on, Seb,” she says in sarcastic disappointment, “You know I’d never give you a nightmare.”
The two refill their bowls of tea. The smell from the pot is beginning to die away, and with it, their might to stay awake.
“Say, Peony,” Sebastian begins, “I’m gonna let you take the bed.”
“Really? You know we can share, right?”
“I mean, it’s a little small. And besides, I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable.”
Peony pauses. “Uncomfortable? I’d sooner worry about you rolling out of bed in the dead of night than making me uncomfortable.”
And besides, she thinks, You’d make an awfully good cuddler.
“Alright then, I’ll roll out of bed. I don’t want you dealing with that.”
“You are not sleeping on the floor. You and I both know you don’t do well when you sleep on the floor.”
“No, I’ll be alright. I have some blankets and pillows I can lay out for support, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Peony wants to fight him, but obliges. “Just be careful, ok? And if you get you can’t sleep, crawl on up and join me, ok? I’ll be fine.”
“Thank you, but I think the floor will work alright for me.”
They sit for a little longer and finish off their tea. When they finish, Sebastian walks over to the basket and starts pulling out blanket after blanket of the softest fabric. He gently lays them out on the floor, then sets a few pillows atop them for his makeshift bed. Peony walks over to her bed and crawls under the covers.
“Oh, they’re heavy,” she says to herself.
“They’re weighted?” Sebastian asks.
“Do you want to sleep up here?”
“No, no. I just mean that you’ll like them, that’s all.”
Peony starts to lay down. Sebastian is right, they are very nice.
“How do you think we turn off the lights?” Sebastian asks.
“Did you see a light switch?”
“No.”
“Huh. That’s weird.”
“Maybe if we close our eyes, they’ll go out?”
All of a sudden, the lights go out on their own.
“Magic words!” Sebastian says.
Peony grins to herself. “Even better!”
“So we’re good to sleep now?”
“I am if you are.”
“Alright. Goodnight!”
“Goodnight, Seb.”
And with that, the two close their eyes and slowly drift off to sleep.
…
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night. I can’t quite say why. I think maybe it’s from spending a few too many late nights in the boat looking for souls. That, or from how the roof leaks when it rains back at the schoolhouse. Either way, the cicadas are nice. If there’s anything good to wake up to in the middle of the night, it’s cicadas.
I don’t suppose it would hurt anything to go over and see what’s out the window. As long as I’m quiet on the floor, I’ll be ok. Seb doesn’t wake easily, either. Alright, here we go. Up and out, silent as a church mouse. That’s good, that’s good.
The neurons are dim. I suppose there’s a few hundred, maybe thousand little cicadas out there singing. You’d think it’s summer out here. It’s not hot enough to be summer, though. I wish it was. Could you imagine summer in a place like this? Of course, you’ve got all the circus stuff, but I bet Mr. Sunshine’s got a few water guns lying around somewhere. Or balloons. Maybe I’ll ask Ikimono about it tomorrow.
I hope Sebastian’s sleeping alright. Maybe I ought to go and check on him. It’s not like there’s anything else to do. Just gotta step around the bed here, yep. God, I hope the floors don’t creak like they do back at the schoolhouse. I swear, you can’t even tip-toe without making it sound like the walls are caving in.
He’s still asleep. Huh, he usually doesn’t sleep like this on the floor. I mean, yeah, he sleeps, but not so comfortably. I figured he’d hear me breathing and wake up, but man, he’s out. Good for him, though. At least someone’s asleep here.
You know, he’s awfully cute when he’s asleep. I know I shouldn’t say that, it’s weird, but like, god. He’s like a lump of cotton with wings. I wanna get down there and lay next to him, but that’d be an awkward conversation to have tomorrow dusk. That, and my back would hurt. Lucky guy, not having back pain.
I wonder if he knows just how much I think about him. I mean, I know we have the star and the tea and the rhyme and all, but I wonder if he knows about the little spot in the back of my head for him. I’m a show-not-tell person, though. I bet he wouldn’t even guess I like him like that.
Oh, what am I kidding? He probably thinks of me like a sister or something. If I told him I liked him, he’d laugh at me. Or he’d tell me no. Or he’d stay as far away from me as possible. I don’t know which one is worse. Maybe if I gave him a bushel’s worth of lilies and roses he’d think it a friendly gesture and I wouldn’t feel so bad.
Then again, would I even be satisfied if he was just a friend?
…
I’d kiss the hands of the angel that sculpted you if I couldn’t kiss you. You know that, don’t you?
…
No, you don’t, don’t you?
…
Ah, well, at least we’re together now, and I won’t have to leave on Sunday to go out reaping again. Look, Seb, we’ve gotten just what we’ve wanted. We have our own little home to ourselves, we have a closet with a few things, we have tea, we have our friends right by us, and we actually have a bed. And we’re together, right? If there’s nothing else to say about this, we’re together. And we’re gonna perform together tomorrow. I mean, I know you’re scared, but we’ll do it together. You were scared when we fought that leviathan once, but we did it, didn’t we?
Well, you do have that scar on your stomach for a reason. Looking back, I don’t blame you for being scared. Do you think of me when you see it?
You know what? Maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m sure I’ll just shrug it off somehow.
Should I kiss him on the hand? Since he sat and listened to me ramble?
…
I’ll just wake him up. And I’ve got to get back to sleep, anyway. Goodnight, sweet prince.
I’m glad the floorboards don’t creak when I stand up. Maybe some night I’ll make tea at an unreasonable hour just to say I’ve done that.
Hey, when did the cicadas stop?
Oh god, what the hell is that thing?
...
Centipedes of hundred legs creep through the midway
Calling on roly-polies to come on out and play
Fireflies with lanterns gold come out to light the path
Cicadas trail behind them with an eerie song and dance
Twixt moths and maggots, neither shares the same tune
But share a look forlorn at the dragonfly’s near doom