As Plain As Day : Series

I attempted to raise the mug of alcohol to my lips to take a swig, but found that, just as him having his arms wrapped low around my arms and torso made it impossible to take a bite of my meal, it also made it impossible to take a swig of my drink. I sighed to myself, setting the mug carefully back down and sliding it away from me just as I had done with my bowl a few minutes ago. "Why is it that you won't allow me to eat or drink?" I asked.

"Because you shouldn't be eating jajangmyeon or drinking spirits today," he said simply. There was a pause now as I slid him an expectant look from the corner of my eyes—his head resting upon my right shoulder—and he, in return, slid me a expectant look from the corner of his eyes.

When he did not say anything to explain himself further after many minutes, I again sighed as I slid my gaze back to my food and drink on the table. "Okay, I'll bite. Why is it that I shouldn't be eating or drinking the same exact and only things that I ever eat or drink?" I asked.

"Because it's my day today," he said.

"I am aware that it is White Day," I stated flatly, "I am unaware as to how that means that I cannot eat or drink."

"You can eat and drink. Just not jajangmyeon and not any form of alcohol other than white wine," he said. Again I slid him a look from the corner of my eyes to silently await further explanation. And, again, he gave my no explanation, but merely an expectant look in returned.

"And why is that so on this White Day, when, every White Day of the past, you have allowed me to eat and drink in peace as I always do?" I asked with another sigh. I really wished he would just explain himself upfront, rather than beat around the bush to annoy me until I asked the right questions of him.

"Because I'm here with you on this White Day, whereas I was away from you due to work all of the White Days of the past," he said, smiling brightly at me now. God, his smile was as creepy as ever. He only ever smiled like this on this one day of the year, and he never failed to creep me out with it. That was actually the real reason that we were never together on this day—on his day; I avoided him whenever I saw him on White Day. He just didn't notice, since he was too busy with his work.

I worked to keep from cringing, turning my head to the far left so that I wouldn't see his creepily bright smile even in my peripheral vision. “And why are you not away on work on this White Day?” I asked.

“I took the day off work,” he said simply. I about fell out of my seat at that. As a matter of fact, the only thing that kept me from falling over out of my chair was that he still had his arms wrapped around me.

Once I got over the burst of shock, my head whipped back around so that I could look at him again—or, rather, so that I could give him a dumbfounded stare now. “Ha… You…you’re joking, right?” I barely breathed out, hoping to God that he was just screwing with me.

“Nope. I called Good Friday and asked him to cover for me. He said he would be delighted to,” he said.

“WHAT?! Are you mad?!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, paying no mind to the fact that we were in a pub in public.

“Well, I was a little upset that Cupid said he couldn’t cover for me, when I always help him out on his day, but I can understand—he just wants to spend the day with Souls Dey, since they couldn’t spend time together on Valentine’s Day. So, no, I’m not mad that I had to ask Friday,” he replied.

“I’m not asking if you’re mad that you had to ask Friday! I’m saying you must have gone mad to ask Friday! No, wait, that’s not right—you must have gone mad to ask anyone to cover for you on your own holiday! It’s the one day a year that you have to be completely committed to, and you decided to take it off! What in the world would make you do something so completely mad and maddening?!” I screamed both furiously and curiously. I really wanted to know what excuse he had for doing something as inexcusable as this.

“Well, as I was saying, I can understand that Cupid doesn’t want to work today so that he can spend time with Souls, because I don’t want to work today so that I can spend time with you, Noodle Black,” he said, his smile going from bright to…something else. It was still a creepy as Hell smile, though.

I stared at him for a silent moment now, trying very hard to comprehend what he had just said. I just couldn‘t, though. Skipping out on his own holiday…it was incomprehensible. It was insane and inexcusable and asinine and just so many separate but similarly stupid things that I couldn’t understand it. “…You’re fucking nuts. I’m going to call the holidays together and submit to them the fact that you have lost your mind and that White Day has to be cancelled this year,” I stated flatly. I stood up abruptly now and moved to leave, but discovered that he wouldn’t release me.

Swiftly tightening his arms around me, he dragged me right down into his lap now. “I have not lost my mind, Black. I am completely sane and completely serious. I want to spend White Day with you, for once in my life,” he said. The smile gone from his face, his mouth now drawn in a tight line as he stared at me with determined eyes. “I know that Black Day—your holiday—is based around not receiving any affections on Valentine’s Day or White Day,” he said, “But I don’t believe that that means that you can not or should not be allowed to receive affections on those days—or any other day of the year, for that matter.”

“I’m sick and tired of seeing you sitting around on Valentine’s Day and White Day and Black Day and every other holiday and every other day, eating your noodles and drinking your alcohol and actively keeping yourself from forming any actual relationships with others,” he went on, “You by no means need to be without a relationship just because you happen to represent Black Day. I am therefore taking it upon myself to force you into an intimate relationship with me. So, really, I’m not taking my own holiday off so much as I’m focusing my work on this holiday of mine on this relationship of mine.”

I continued to stare at Ribbon, half trying to comprehend his babbling just now and half waiting for him to babble on. Neither of those things happened, of course; he had explained his entire excuse for his inexcusable insanity, and I wasn’t likely going to be able to understand what the Hell he was trying to say in a million years. “…You have lost your fucking mind, Ribbon White. I am unaware of why it is or where it is that you have lost your mind, but I am aware that you have most definitely lost your mind,” I stated firmly once I finally spoke.

“No, I haven’t! Okay, let me try to explain it another way—” he started to say, but I swiftly held up a hand to silence him.

“No more explaining. There is no explanation acceptable for this. I am taking this to the other holida—” I started to say now, but he knocked aside my hand and cut me off.

“Black, please, just listen to me—” he attempted to say. This time I cut him off by jumping forward and putting my finger in his face all at once, narrowing my eyes and drawing my mouth into a tight line at the same time.

“No, you listen to me, White! I am taking this straight to Valentine straight away! And you are coming with me, whether you like it or not!” I snapped. He pulled back a little with surprise, shocked that I would jump in his face and order him around like that. Seeing that he didn’t seem to be about to argue, I swiftly shoved him out of the pub and then dragged him off towards Cupid Valentine’s house. If anyone could set Ribbon straight, it would the representative of Valentine’s Day. After all, White Day had only been spawned due to Valentine’s Day, just as Black Day had only been spawned due to White Day.



“Well? Are you going to say something, or what?” I asked, staring hard at the other holiday. In normal circumstances, I wouldn’t dare to take such a tone with or give such a look to him—or any of the other more popular holidays, really—but these circumstances were far from normal. After all, it wasn’t every day that one of the representatives of the holidays lost their damn mind and decided they didn’t want to run their own holiday.

“…I really don’t see the problem, Noodle. I mean, Goody is covering for him, so it’s alright, don’t you think?” Cupid said, looking at me with innocent curiosity. Had he gone mad, too?!

“No, I don’t think! There is nothing alright about this!” I exploded, losing my cool completely now. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to be driven mad by this madness that seemed to have my fellow holidays in its grip.

The pink-pupiled holiday turned his gaze back to Ribbon, whom had just been standing there by my side, listening to and watching all of this conversation in silence. When he still made no move to say anything in his own defense, Cupid turned his eyes over to his lover, whom also had been listening and watching in silence from his seat at the bottom of the stairwell. “I don’t see what the problem is with Good Friday helping Ribbon White out with his holiday,” he immediately spoke up, “The Claus brothers all focus on Santa’s holiday; even Satan, who has a holiday all his own.”

I immediately spoke up as well now. “That’s different! There is a big difference between receiving a helping hand from another and handing over your holiday to another entirely! If Friday was merely giving Ribbon help, then I wouldn’t give a good goddamn! But Ribbon has given his day over to Friday entirely!” I exclaimed.

“Didn’t you say he said it’s only just this once?” Cupid asked curiously. I couldn’t believe this! How in the world could these guys be taking Ribbon’s side?!

“That it’s only this one time is not the point! That it’s at all is the point here! We only exist to reside over and represent our given holidays! They are our purpose for being alive! It is entirely inexcusable and unacceptable to hand our holiday over to someone else—even another holiday and even just once!” I shouted. I may not be going mad like everyone else seemed to be, but I was seriously getting mad right now.

“Wasn’t his reasoning for this being that he was focusing his work this holiday, and that Friday was just keeping watch over the work on the rest of the world, or something?” Souls asked, sliding his gaze to the person in question, even though his question had been directed at me.

A furious blush coated my face now. “That’s an unreasonable excuse for not running his own holiday,” I stated flatly. I was not about to repeat the fact that Ribbon, in his insanity, had decided to focus his work on me this White Day. Especially not when I had purposely been vague about that fact when mentioning it the first time.

“It doesn’t sound unreasonable to me,” he said.

“Oh, so then you’re saying that you would hand your holiday over to another!?” I snapped, fixing him with a sharp glare.

He frowned softly as he slid his gaze back over to me. “I’m saying that I would entrust my holiday plans to another holiday to enact in my place, so that I could personally and fully focus my work on someone,” he stated flatly.

I opened my mouth to snap at him again, but Cupid swiftly intervened and interjected. “As a matter of fact, I’ve done just that before,” he said. I lost my sharp glare and the sharp words poised on the tip of my tongue. What was that he just said? “It’s far harder to spread your holiday through this world than it is to do so through the human world. It takes a lot more work, focus, effort, and determination,” he said, “There have been several times now when I have had Ribbon keep watch over my Valentine’s Day plans for the human world, while I myself focused on my plans for this world.”

I stared at him for a beat, utterly shocked at this information. I had always known that Ribbon helped Cupid out come Valentine’s Day, but I had never known that he actually ran the holiday as it was on Earth while Cupid ran the holiday as it was here. My shocked stare turned to the holiday in question now. He really had run Cupid’s day before? How could he manage to handle such a large holiday? Admittedly, White Day was fairly popular and gaining popularity every year, but it was nowhere near as widespread as Valentine‘s Day. I could hardly handle my own little holiday. How could Ribbon handle both his and Cupid’s?

“Oh, yes, speaking of my work in this realm—” Cupid said. Before I could turn my gaze back to him—Hell, before I could even bat an eyelash, a piercing pinpoint of pain hit me in the back and went straight through me to stop at my heart. Knowing immediately what had happened, I swiftly shut my eyes as tightly as I could. Had I been too slow? Had the shot taken effect before I could close my eyes? “There we go,” Cupid said, “How’s that feel?”

“He closed his eyes,” Ribbon said simply.

“He has to open them again eventually,” Souls replied just as simply.

“That’s alright. I purposely took the shot when he was already looking at you, so it’s just a little nudge in the right direction,” Cupid said lightly.

“Like you did with Satan when he was looking at my brother?” Souls asked curiously.

“Exactly,” he chirped in reply.

“You’re pretty devious, Cupid,” Ribbon said, lightly sighing and softly chuckling simultaneously.

“Well, love isn’t always straightforward, you know. A lot of times it sneaks up on you and hits you when you least expect it,” he said, sounding deeply pleased with himself now. I really wanted to glare the Hell out of the lot of them for doing this to me and acting so casually about it. However, I could do nothing of the sort, as I was not going to be stupid enough to open my eyes and look at any of them so that Cupid’s little shot could take effect. Yes, I was working on the assumption that he had slipped up and I hadn’t yet fallen.

I jolted as one of them suddenly grabbed me by the arm. Before I could even begin to freak out, I had been firmly pulled and held to his chest. “Since I don’t doubt you’ll be able to keep your eyes closed for a very long time and I‘m spending the day with you anyway, I’ll guide you around so that you don’t hurt yourself,” Ribbon said. I would have argued, except I was working very hard to keep from blushing and I needed to fully focus to be successful.



I had failed. Miserably. It was not my fault that I was blushing madly, though. It was entirely the fault of the bastard that was sitting directly next to me and staring at me so intently that I knew he was staring even when I had my eyes closed and was facing the other way. “I’m never going to stop blushing if you don’t stop staring!” I blurted out, again losing my cool.

“How can you tell I’m staring?” he asked.

“Aside from the fact that you have a gaze more intense than the heat of Hell, you’re breathing all over my neck!” I exclaimed. Again, I really wanted to glare at him. But, as that’s probably exactly what he wanted, I was not about to give in and glare at him. I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for his little trick, even if I had been stupid enough to fall for Cupid’s trick.

As though to test if I could actually feel him breathing on me, he blew out an extremely heavy breath across my neck, drawing a soft shudder from me. “Well…I’m waiting for you to give up and just look at me already,” he said now.

“Don’t hold your breath,” I grunted. Again he blew an extra heavy breath across my neck, causing me to shudder. “Would you stop that?!” I snapped, finally facing him again—though I still did not open my eyes—as I rubbed my neck roughly to remove the feel of his breath on me.

“You want me to stop breathing?” he asked with surprise. Was he trying to piss me off?

“I want you to stop breathing on me! And stop staring at me! And just leave me alone already!” I exclaimed.

“You want me to stop doing my work?” he asked, still sounding surprised. He was seriously trying to piss me off.

“I want you to stop trying to work your magic on me! I’m the representative of Black Day! It’s only natural for me to be alone! That’s what my holiday is about! So stop trying to work your holiday magic on me, and leave me alone to work on my own holiday as I like!” I said, attempting to glare at him without opening my eyes.

There was a pause, and then all at once he leaned in, now breathing heavily on my ear rather than my neck. “Do you really like it?” he breathed, his words soft and light even while his breath was hot and heavy, “Do you really like being alone?”

“I do! If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t be alone all the time!” I said, blushing even more now that he was even closer than before.

He released another heavy breath to steal another shudder from me. He got not only a shudder out of me, but also a soft little sound of something like uneasiness. “If you really like being alone, why do you never push me away when I try to get close to you? Why are you not pushing me away right now?” he asked only after taking a moment to absorb my reactions to him.

“I just…my holiday is about those who don’t receive affections, not those who deny affections given to them. It would be hypocritical of me to push you away,” I said, blushing still more.

Again he first purposely let out a heavy breath to make me shudder before speaking. “Then are you not being hypocritical now, telling me to go away?” he asked. I could not stop myself from pulling back and opening my eyes to stare at him with shock. The instant he saw my eyes were open, he swooped in for a kiss, his own eyes falling swiftly shut as our lips met. I returned the kiss despite myself, much thanks to the shot I’d taken earlier from Cupid. That’s what I was going to blame it on, anyway.

When my reaction was to return the kiss rather than reject him, Ribbon seemed to gain only more confidence and courage. He swiftly started pushing me down and pressing his tongue into my mouth, being edged on by the fact that I only continued to respond to his actions pleasantly, even if it was reluctantly so. Before we could do anything that I would regret—or, rather, before we could do anything that would make me regret ever being brought into existence in the first place, we were interrupted. “Are you two going to just have sex here, or what?” came the voice of the representative of Halloween, Hallow Eve.

Ribbon immediately broke off the kiss as we both turned our eyes to the interrupter. “As though Drake and you don’t do the same thing in here almost every weekend,” he said flatly. Yes, we were in the same pub we’d been making a scene in earlier, and we still weren’t paying any mind to the fact that there were numerous other persons present. Or, well, we hadn’t been, until we had been interrupted just now.

“Shut up and move your ass. I want to sit there,” Hallow snapped.

“Move your own ass. We’re here already, so you need to sit somewhere else,” Ribbon replied, being unusually not nice. He wasn’t the most courteous guy in the world, but he never had been outright rude to anyone before.

“Hey, you fucking owe me for helping my brother to find that stupid angelass and get their stupid love straightened out. And now you’re going to pay me back by getting out of my favorite seat and going to fuck somewhere in private, because no-damn-body wants to see you two getting it on,” Hallow snarled, being his usual rude self.

“We’re not getting it on, here or anywhere else!” I exclaimed. My blush was, by now, spreading from one ear all the way across my face and around to the other ear.

“Yeah. Sure. That’s why you have more colour on your face now than you ever had on your entire person in your entire existence,” Hallow said with a sneer and a cruel bark of laughter.

“Sh-Shut up! Like you’re a freaking rainbow yourself, or something?! The only colour you’ve ever had is the blood red of your eyes and the red of any blood you get spattered with when beating others up!” I returned. As I shouted this I scrambled to shove Ribbon off of me and stand up to get in Hallow’s face and face off with him. This was really a stupid thing to do, since I myself had just said that the majority of the colour he had came from other peoples’ blood.

“You’re right! I should add a little more colour to myself! Say, what colour is your blood, you little pansy!? Is it red like everyone else’s, or is it as black as the rest of you?!” he shouted, rearing back for a punch even as he grabbed me by the shirt. Before the notion even crossed my mind that he was about to hit me, the arm rearing back for the punch all at once fell to his side as he dragged me in closer with the hand he held my shirt by. “Hey, your eyes are kind of reddish now, too,” he said.

It only now dawned on me that he had just been about to hit me. Naturally, I about died from the shock of both that notion and that he had suddenly stopped just to say my eyes weren‘t black anymore. …Wait, my eyes weren’t black anymore? “B-Beg your pardon?” I asked weakly.

“Your eyes. They’re, like, pinkish-red or something. Are you wearing contacts or something?” he asked. Why did he even care what colour my eyes were?!

I had no idea what was going on here, but I was not stupid enough to remind him that he had wanted to beat the living daylights out of me just a second ago. If I was stupid enough to make him want to punch me twice, then I deserved to die. “I’m not wearing anything I don’t always wear,” I said weakly.

“I know that colour from somewhere. I’ve seen someone with eyes like that before,” he said, scowling now as he thought hard. Ah, that explained it. He was wondering why there were familiar eyes on an unfamiliar face.

Ribbon suddenly stood up now, drawing the gaze of both myself and the other holiday to himself. “You’ve seen it in Satan Claus’s eyes before. He had eyes like that every time he talked to or of and looked at your brother for five years after Cupid shot him and before those two got together finally,” Ribbon informed Hallow. With that he swiftly plucked me from the other’s grasp before it could be recalled that I had been cruising for a bruising.

All at once a wicked smile broke out across Hallow’s face. “Oh my unholy Hell. Are you saying what I think you're saying? Holy fucking shit, this is classic! The embodiment of Valentine’s Day shot the embodiments of White Day and Black Day full of love! I love it! That is just so damn good! No, it’s not just good—it’s perfect! That couldn’t be better if you had tried!” he exclaimed as he howled with laughter.

I had thought I was already as embarrassed as I could get before. I had been wrong, though. I was now embarrassed endlessly and entirely. I could very well die from embarrassment on the spot. “I-It is not funny!” I exclaimed.

“It is so fucking funny! It’s funnier than that damn Santa getting together with that child-like bug of a fairie! And I used to think that nothing could be funnier than that!” Hallow howled, clutching at his side and slapping his knee as he doubled over with his laughter.

“It’s not that funny! Stop laughing!” I exclaimed. I might have tried to shut him up physically, but Ribbon had restrained me after taking me away from Hallow and was not about to release me so that I could get myself killed.

“I’m telling you, it is!” Hallow exclaimed back at me past his laughter, “That this happened on White Day, of all the day—Oh! Yes! I just thought of the one and only way it could be funnier! If Cupid had waited until Black Day to do this, that’s the only way that it could possibly get any funnier than it already is!”

There was no way I was going to be able to stop him from being such an asshole. However, there was also no way I was going to just stand here while he laughed his ass off at me. Shutting my eyes tightly as I tried very hard to hold back the frustrated tears forming in my no longer black eyes, I wrapped both of my arms around one of Ribbon’s, both hugging myself to his arm and hugging his arm to me. “I want to go home,” I mumbled almost inaudibly. He said nothing, but complied with my wish, swiftly leading me out of the pub and towards home.



While just earlier this afternoon Ribbon had been sitting directly behind me and with his arms around me, as the afternoon grew late I found myself sitting directly back against him and with his legs wrapped around me. However, both earlier and now he had his head resting upon my shoulder. “Would you like something to eat?” he asked, holding up a platter of white chocolates in front of me.

“I’m not hungry,” I stated flatly.

He swiftly withdrew the platter from in front of me and set it off to the side of us, where it had been sitting since he had first fetched it from the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink?” he asked as he now held up a glass of white wine in front of me.

“I’m not thirsty,” I stated flatly.

He swiftly withdrew the offered wine, setting that back with the bottle and other glass of wine by the recently rejected platter of chocolate. “Would you like something else?” he asked as he now wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back against him.

“…I want you to say that this isn’t funny, even if it‘s a lie,” I said softly after several seconds.

“This isn’t funny,” he said without hesitation, “And that is not a lie.”

“I want you to say that I’m not laughable, even if it’s a lie,” I said, this time not hesitating with my request.

“You’re not laughable,” he said, still without hesitation, “And that is not a lie.”

“…..I want you to say that you don’t love me, even if it‘s a lie,” I said, hesitating once more and even more this time around. Now it was he who was silent for several seconds. After those few seconds, he lifted his head off my shoulder and pulled his arms from around me, leaning back. He still didn’t say anything to me, though. Swallowing hard and gathering my courage, I peered over my shoulder uncertainly. Much to my surprise, he didn’t look furious like I thought he would. He didn’t even look the least little bit upset. Honestly, his look could only be described as a loving one.

Seeing me peeking at him, he finally spoke. “I cannot say that, because it would be a lie, and I cannot bring myself to lie to you—because I do you love you,” he stated softly, “And that is not a lie.” He then grew silent again, continuing to just stare at me in that loving way.

I tore my eyes away from his after many moments, unable to continue to meet his eyes when he had such a look on his face. “That….Why does it have to be that way? Why do you feel that way? Did Cupid shoot you, too, or what?” I asked with no small amount of embarrassment, “And don‘t lie to me.”

“I’m not sorry to say that he never shot me. I knew I liked you from the instant you were created. And I was sure I loved you when I got to know you. And the more I got to know you, the more I grew to love you,” he answered without hesitating, “And that is the truth.”

“How the Hell do you say such embarrassing things with a straight face?” I mumbled. I had begun peering over my shoulder at him again when he had answered me right away. That he wasn’t blushing like crazy when saying such embarrassing shit proved that he had already been mad in the first place. Yes, I had decided that he had been crazy from the beginning, rather than just having recently gone crazy.

“It’s not hard to keep a straight face when you’re telling the truth,” he said simply.

I looked away once more, again swallowing hard as I worked to gather my courage. Once I had enough courage, I focused to keep said courage as I swiftly shifted in his arms until I was fully turned around and facing him. I then tightly clamped my eyes shut, finding that it took far less focus and work to keep my courage when I wasn’t looking at him. Now came the truly hard part—for the first time in my life, I had to not lie. I had never before told anyone how I truly felt about anything. “The same to you, too…. I’ve always liked you!” I exclaimed, “And that’s not a lie!” …But it wasn’t totally the truth, either.

“You have?” he asked, not really sounding surprised.

Oh, Hell, I might as well tell him the entire truth, if I was going to go ahead and stop lying. It was probably better that way, anyway. Slowly I opened my eyes and turned them up to him now, swallowing my fear and gathering my courage one final time. “….Actually, that’s not exactly and entirely correct—love….loved. It’s “loved”. I’ve always loved you,” I mumbled bashfully, “And that is the truth.”

“Thank you for not lying to me,” he said softly as he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine, “And thank you even more for telling me the truth,” he murmured against my lips.

Though my face was absolutely burning up with a blush, I didn’t close my eyes or pull away. “The same to you, too,” I mumbled past the kiss. He just chuckled softly, deepening the kiss as he wrapped me in his arms again.