Let Sleeping Pianists Lie (Servamp, Licht)

[EmeraldThread]

Coming out of lurking/absence to post a thing! I got into this reallyreally awesome manga a couple months ago called Servamp and it's AMAZING GUYS GO CHECK IT OUT. Anyway, the premise is that there are these vampires called Servamps, who, if they are named by a human, can become bonded to that human, who then becomes their Eve. All of the Servamps have animal forms (which is how the Eves end up naming them, since they find them as animals).

Hyde is the Servamp bonded to Licht, and they generally have a pretty violent relationship, despite that they actually do care a lot about each other and have a very strong bond. Also, Licht is a pianist, hence the title. ^^;

This one is Licht:

And this is Hyde:

Also, Hyde's animal form is a hedgehog (the one on Licht's shoulder...and with Hyde on his cover, too).

Note: 'kuzudezubi'= kuzunezumi (translates roughly from Japanese to English as 'shit rat')

Anyway, enjoy this short thing? I'm really curious to know if anyone else knows the fandom...

For the first time in a long time, Hyde was concerned about his Eve. Licht hadn't moved for hours, buried under a mountain of blankets. Hyde had seen the cold coming a mile away, but he thought it would be like Licht's other colds, where he would just ignore them until someone made him take care of himself or else collapse and be forced to. But this morning, he hadn't even bothered getting out of bed, and remained curled up, sleeping most of the time and sneezing the rest. Now, Hyde sat perched on the edge of his own bed, staring across at Licht like he would never move again.

"huh'IkgTSSHu!"

The congested sound snapped Hyde back to attention. He hadn't realized Licht was awake.

Rising from his spot, he cautiously padded over to his Eve's bed and peered into his face, half-hidden under a quilt. Licht's eyes were closed, though his nose was all scrunched up, a deep scowl over his brow. An angry red flush burned across his cheeks, and Hyde reached out automatically to touch it, to feel its heat for himself...and then stopped. What if Licht somehow summoned the energy to leap out of bed and kick him in the head again? He wouldn't be surprised.

"hh'UhDSCHh! hh-h'IgSzCHu!"

Even though Hyde watched the entire buildup - the slackening of Licht's jaw, the light shuddering of his nostrils, the crinkle at the corner of his eye, and the sharp hitching in his breath - the double still startled him. And yet, Licht made no move to cover or duck, only shivering hard when his muscles relaxed enough for him to release a long, steady exhale.

Was he sneezing in his sleep?

Hyde sat gingerly on the edge of Licht's bed, careful not to jar him. Resting a hand on where he thought Licht's arm was, Hyde whispered, "Lichtan?"

No answer. No movement. Nothing.

Hyde spoke again, still softly, unsure of whether or not he actually meant to wake Licht or get any kind of response. "Oi~ Angel-chan~ Are you awake?"

This time, Licht stirred, groaning - though it sounded more to Hyde like a whimper - deep in his throat and angling himself to bury his face a little deeper into the pillow and shivering again. How could he possibly be cold with - Hyde counted - four blankets? Though he waited for a response, even a "quit bothering me, shit rat," none came.

Hyde bit his lip. If Licht didn't wake up from that, he was probably sleeping rather heavily. Hyde extended his hand once again and, brushing aside a few damp strands of Licht's hair, slipped it under his Eve's bangs. The heat was even greater than Hyde anticipated. It may not have been anything terribly serious, but Licht's fevers were generally pretty low grade, and this most certainly was not. Licht trembled again, huddling in on himself, his fingertips poking out of the blanket in front of his violently pink nose.

Hyde considered getting him another blanket, but at this point, if he was still cold under so many, one more probably wouldn't solve his problem. He could, conceivably, just leave him to suffer...but that didn't feel right, even if Licht did kick him when he woke up. He did have one other solution...

After a moment of contemplation, Hyde pulled his legs up onto the bed and transformed into a hedgehog. He tiptoed up to Licht's face and, burrowing into a space beneath the blankets, nestled himself between Licht's arms, against his chest. From the moment he did, Hyde was almost overheating, and was reconsidering his plan after all. That is, until Licht shivered again, and curled up to clutch Hyde closer to himself.

Hyde sighed. Apparently Licht didn't sense it was him, but Hyde was content that way. He inched forward a couple of steps, so he was barely a centimeter from Licht's face, before touching the tip of his tiny nose to Licht's, chapped and rather moist. It, too, was warm, the feverish heat emanating off of him like a radiator. Hyde was wishing he could turn it down when Licht went still. Even his shivering died down. For a moment, Hyde was petrified that Licht had woken up and realized what was going on. Then, Licht's chest jumped against him, and Hyde felt him take a sharp inhale, and another, and another, nostrils flaring, exp<b></b>ression crumpling - what Hyde could see of it from his current vantage point, anyway - until finally-

"huUHh'UhGKtzSsCH!"

Hyde resisted the urge to curl into a ball, afraid he might poke Licht with his spines, and instead buried his face into Licht's shirt, shielding himself from most of the resulting spray raining on him.

"Lichtan could be a little more careful," he muttered, only half serious, glancing up to make sure his Eve was still asleep. He nearly darted out from Licht's arms at his muttered, barely audible, "kuzudezubi..." but stayed when his breathing turned shallow and even once again. Hyde stayed still for a few minutes longer, just to be sure, but when no other sound or movement came, he snuggled again into Licht's shirt.

The two stayed that way for a while, until Licht's shivering became even more intense. The vibrations extended to Hyde's small body, jostling him continuously. He tried to bear with it, but there was only so much he could take. He considered waking Licht, and almost immediately shut down the idea. Aside from it being a generally terrible one to begin with, Licht was obviously exhausted and needed the sleep. But this couldn't be comfortable for either of them, even if one was unconscious. Hyde thought then about getting up, and just finding another blanket.

Though there was one other thing he could try...

He weighed the consequences, wondering just how much he was willing to risk. If anything he could do would cost him his life, it was this. But Licht was weak enough that Hyde could fight him and win easily, and maybe if he found out, he'd be grateful. Okay, that might be a stretch, but still.

With a soft sigh, Hyde turned onto his side, facing Licht, and changed back into his human form. He worked Licht's arm out from under his side where it pressed painfully against his ribs, and folded them both between himself and his Eve. He wrapped his own around Licht, drawing him closer to his chest and resting his own chin on top of Licht's head.

"That better?" he asked, and was surprised when Licht nuzzled deeper into him.

"hh'heh'AhKtSZShu!...hmmh..." Licht hummed a sigh, and Hyde figured, whether he was awake now or not, as long as Licht was still burrowed under the blankets, he couldn't be that opposed to it.

Edited April 17, 2015 by ElementsofGray

[Akahana]

This looks really cute~ I might have to check this out!!

[Natto]

What a lovely fic! I'm not familiar with the fandom, but I'm an admirer of your writing, so I had to check it out.

I love that you were able to draw out this small moment between them, while still avoiding extraneous detail. Honestly, I don't know how you do it. I would have probably written this scene in 100-200 words and missed out on a lot of great, telling, interesting detail. Anyway, so stylistically it was very impressive. I also love the relationship between the two characters! I don't know much about the characters, but you gave a really clear sense of Hyde's love/animosity for Licht. I like that he wanted to help him even though he was potentially risking injury. It was sweet. Also, the description of the illness was delightful as always. You spell sneezes in a really interesting way--most of them are not what would come intuitively to me, but when I sound them out in my head it's like "yeah that sounds exactly like a sneeze!" It can be really hard to figure out how best to write them, so it's cool that you can do that.

Anyway, yes, glad to see some more writing of yours! It was a pleasure to read it.

[Kshu]

Never heard of the manga but this was cute!