Chapter Text
If today continued to go the way it had been going Crystal was going to lose her shit. She was going to absolutely go off the deep end, magical fucking pirouette and all. It had been just an awful, no-good day full of unfortunate situations.
First, she had to deal with way too many entitled pricks at the little mom-and-pop diner she worked at.
Then it was raining all day, which wasn't improving anyone's mood, and despite her raincoat and umbrella, she was soaked to the bone. Because the people driving past her found great pleasure in splashing her with no fucking remorse as they speed past.
When she had finally returned to the Tongue and Tail butcher shop her plans to take a nice, long, hot shower were ruined by a straight-faced Jenny informing her that the water heater was being worked on.
With her hot shower dream on the back burner (ha!) for now, Crystal had made her way up to her room to at the very least change into the warm pajamas Niko had let her borrow a week ago.
Just as she was going to turn the doorknob and finally enter her sanctuary she was grabbed by the shoulders and dragged across the hall into Niko's room before she even had a chance to think of protesting.
This leads her to her current unfortunate situation, number four if her count is right. There were magazines and manga all over Niko's floor, the sweater over the sprites jar was off so she could hear their faint insults, and in the center of the room looking exceptionally pissy today was Edwin.
Pacing, back and forth, gesturing now and then as he bitched about something she was sure she wanted no part of.
Crystal glanced behind her at Niko, her current captor considering her hands had yet to leave their spots on her shoulders. Niko was watching Edwin with wide eyes, following his form as he tried his best to wear a hole in her floor.
When Niko noticed Crystal's attention on her she grinned, leaning forward so she could speak into her ear.
"Edwin has a big date with the Cat King tonight so I've been trying to help him but it's not going well, I was hoping that maybe you could help us?"
Normally Crystal would delight in Edwin's flustered and unorderly state, but she just wanted to change and sleep. Niko kept staring at her with that earnest expression and her closeness wasn't helping Crystal's willpower at all.
She blamed the shudder that went through her on the cold. At some point Edwin had stopped his relentless pacing, staring at Crystal with a raised brow.
That smug bastard. Crystal glared back at him for a minute before turning to Niko with a small smile.
"Give me like fifteen minutes to dry off and change, then I'll be delighted to help Edwin with his date dilemma", she gave Edwin a sharp grin and flipped him the bird as she turned to leave the room.
"We're gonna have a blast!"
Magical fucking pirouette off the deep end it was, at least she got to take Edwin down with her.
ONE WEEK AGO
When Edwin had told Niko his plan last night after their movie he really should have expected her to request to accompany him on his journey to the warehouse. She had looked positively ecstatic, clasping her hands to her heart and practically blinding him with her smile.
Edwin agreed almost immediately, weak as he was to her. This is how he found himself walking beside her to the Cat King's palace, their gloved hands clasped and swinging between them while she hummed a song to herself.
A few feet in front of them their guide, a rather snippy calico named Annie, stopped long enough to rub her head against Niko's boots, earning a delighted giggle from the girl and a quick scratch behind the ear.
Okay so maybe it was just Edwin Annie was snippy with, for reasons he couldn't understand.
By the time they finally reached the entrance to the warehouse, Niko had released Edwin's hand to hold a small kitten that had climbed on her pants to her chest. The tiny thing was purring louder than its small form should be capable.
An older cat met them at the entrance, watching their approach from its perch on an old barrel. Annie abandoned them at the entrance, getting one last head scratch from Niko and glaring at Edwin with a rather aggressive tail flick.
On little spell and all the cats in Port Townsend had it out for him. Edwin cleared his and stepped forward. "We are here to seek an audience with His Majesty." The cat just continued to stare at them.
They stared back, the silence only broken by the still-purring kitten in Niko's arms. Edwin opened his mouth to address the cat again when it leaped down from its perch and began to lead them further inside.
Edwin watched as Niko turned her head this way and that, taking in their surroundings with unfiltered curiosity. It was the same scenery from his first visit, derelict boxes, and dry-rotted rope along the walls and floors, the same pallet throne in the center noticeably missing its usual occupant.
It was rather odd to not see him lavishly draped across the pallets. Edwin walked closer to the throne while Niko continued to look around behind him, fidgeting with the bracelet around his wrist.
When the Cat King had told him to tap the bracelet to be escorted her with his answer Edwin had assumed that he would be here, waiting for him. He wasn't sure what to do with this disappointment building in his chest.
Perhaps this was just another game to the Cat King, that he was just another fun new toy.
They waited for five minutes, each one adding more built-up disappointment, and Edwin tried to swallow back the rising ire threatening to overcome him.
Niko had abandoned her wandering about the room and now stood next to her friend with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Another five minutes passed, then ten more, before Edwin had had enough, turning away from the throne abruptly and startling Niko.
He muttered a small apology under his breath before grabbing his friend's hand as he made to leave. Just as he reached the main entrance he heard the gentle whoosh of flames, the Cat King's preferred method of entrance.
He stood there in the entrance, back straight with tension, and waited for some kind of acknowledgment, for another three minutes.
After receiving no greeting Edwin's patience finally gave out. He huffed, irritation licking hot up his throat, and made to leave with Niko's hand still in his.
She pulled against him, gaze drawn behind them, remaining firm despite numerous tugs on her arm from Edwin.
A growl of irritation escaped despite Edwin's best attempts at keeping himself from taking any of his frustration out on Niko, and he turned to face her. The somber look on her face cooled off his anger to some degree, her brows drawn in concern, lip bitten between her teeth as she continued to look toward the center of the room.
Edwin let out a soft sigh, releasing Niko's hand so he could sort out his jacket, tugging the sleeves down, and brushing imaginary dust from his front to help relieve some of the prickly feeling from his body. He closed his eyes while taking a deep breath, allowing a little tension to bleed from his shoulders before he opened them again.
What he expected to see was a confident man sitting on the throne, smiling smugly like he already knew he'd won whatever game he was playing this time.
The figure sitting on that throne right at this moment was not the same King he'd encountered before. He was sitting with his head in his hands, arms pressed to his knees, and hair caught between his fists as he rocked side to side slowly.
There was dirt across his forehead and a rip in the mesh top he was wearing.
Edwin couldn't look away, somehow the Cat King seemed so small at this moment. Engrossed in his own little world, Edwin didn't even notice Niko as she made her way to the throne, intent on making whatever mood the Cat King found himself in better.
She was halfway there when he gasped and seemed to finally notice two other presences in the vicinity. His head flew up, and Edwin's heart broke a little at the exhaustion plain on his face.
It was only a small glimpse, a fraction of a second honestly, before the usual mask was firmly back in place.
A smirk drew across his lips, and he rose from the throne just as Niko arrived at the base of the makeshift dais.
"Oh my, had I known there were guests I would have dressed in something more.. formal. Please forgive me." It was practically purred, and in another plume of flame, he stood wearing a black turtleneck with batwing sleeves and a knee-length deep purple skirt.
Niko gasped at the display, entranced by the show of magic. The Cat King preened at her reaction, looking very pleased with himself as he made his way the short distance to her.
They stared at each other before the Cat King reached out and grabbed her hand, lifting it to his lips and pressing a small kiss to her knuckles.
She let out an endearing little giggle, and the smile on the Cat King's face was a little more sincere this time.
Edwin tried to ignore the memory of those same lips on his knuckles.
"So are you going to introduce me to this lovely little kitten, Edwin? Or have you forgotten your manners this time around, hm?" His head was turned toward Edwin now as he addressed him, finally, and he released Niko's hand.
"Oh, I can introduce myself, Your Majesty! My name is Niko Sasaki; Edwin, Charles, and Crystal saved me from these dandelion sprites that were trying to make me explode! It's nice to finally meet you." She ended with a little curtsy, and Edwin could not have been more fond of her if he tried.
Going by the delighted look on the Cat King's face, Edwin could deduce that something of a similar feeling was happening to him as well. Niko really was too powerful.
"Oh ho ho, you are a delight! Niko huh, what a lovely name," Niko smiled big and bright, turning to win at Edwin. "What brings you and Edwin to my little corner of Port Townsend?"
Edwin rolled his eyes, finally making his way to the two of them. He cleared his throat, more than a little peeved at the seemingly forgotten arrangement they had agreed upon in their last encounter. The Cat King turned to face Edwin fully, looking over him appraisingly with a smug grin.
Upon reaching the two Edwin stood toe to toe with the Cat King, back straight as a pole and arms crossed in front of him in a forward show of agitation. Arching his brow he glowered down at him, which caused a confused furrow between the Cat King's brows.
"We are here because I have the answer to your question. I tapped the bracelet twice and we were guided here by one of your cats, but you were not her. Now Niko and I have waited here long enough and we really must be leaving soon."
Each sentence was said with an impressive amount of bitchiness, and he only just managed to keep himself from poking a thin, glove-clad finger, into the chest of the man in front of him.
The stunned silence stretched between the three of them, and if Edwin was less polite he would probably have a little laugh at the shocked visage that currently was The Cat King.
He was staring at Edwin with his mouth slightly parted, eyebrows raised towards his hairline eyes almost as wide as Niko's, and a blush blooming across stubble-covered cheeks. Edwin felt almost empowered by the reaction, finding himself swept up in a current of confidence that was very unlike himself.
He glanced over to Niko, who was standing off to the side with her fists pressed close to her mouth, body positively thrumming with excitement at the scene before her. She caught his gaze and gave him a huge grin and two thumbs up, which helped encourage him to finish this encounter while he still had the upper hand.
Pulling out his notebook, Edwin quickly wrote down a time and location before carefully tearing out the page and folding it in half. He grabbed one of the Cat King's hands, gingerly pressing the paper to his palm, then closing his fingers around it.
In a move that shocked himself, he lifted the hand to his lips and pressed a feather-light kiss to his knuckles, earning a gasp from the still-stunned king.
Edwin dropped the hand and turned swiftly on his heel, grabbing Niko as he bid a hasty retreat, thanking his inability to blush for the hundredth time since his first meeting with the Cat King.
When he reached the entrance he stopped and turned back to look at him, "In one week you will meet me at the specified time and location, you may bring whomever you wish as your chaperone, Crystal shall be accompanying me as mine.
During our outing I will be expecting you to finally give me your name, it is quite tedious calling you Cat King in my head at all times."
The Cat King looked up at him from where he had previously been staring at his hand in shock, the flush across his face having extended to his ears. Edwin allowed himself a smug smile, still riding the high of reducing the usually forward man to silence.
It was quite adorable, and he could imagine himself becoming addicted quite easily. With a final goodbye he and Niko finally began making their way back to The Tongue and Tail Butcher shop.
The Cat King looked down at the paper in his hand, then down to the cats that surrounded him once Edwin and Niko left.
"What the fuck just happened?"
FIFTEEN MINUTES AND ONE OUTFIT CHANGE LATER
In the past fifteen minutes, Crystal could officially say that her day had completely turned around. She was warm now, clad in the panda onesie Niko let her borrow last week. She was sitting in a chair she pulled in front of the fireplace and Edwin was now sitting at the end of Niko's bed.
Which was great news because if he continued pacing Crystal would've probably tripped him. He was trying his best to not look embarrassed while Niko filled her in on what happened the day after their movie night.
He only succeeded in looking like he had sucked on a lemon, and Crystal let a sharp grin form on her face. Oh, this was gonna be fun.
"So," Her grin grew further. "You actually have game, never would have seen that coming, Y'know with all your-" She gestured toward him, and there it was, the signature pissy Edwin glare.
Okay maybe she was enjoying this just a little too much, sue her. Niko nodded in agreement with her, placing a soothing hand on Edwin's back as he (she was totally using this later for blackmail) whined and put his head in his hands.
"Are either of you going to help me before the deadline comes for me to leave, or are you going to continue to mock me?" Oh, he was honest-to-god's pouting now, "I still have no clue what I am to wear, or what one is supposed to do on an outing of this...nature."
It was like a switch flipped, and Crystal watched as his body language went from moderately relaxed to wound up like a top. His shoulders tensed up toward his ears, and his hands grabbed at his hair tight enough that she was sure he'd pull it out if it wasn't for him being a ghost.
Niko immediately wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he began to mutter to himself, most likely something self-deprecating judging by the somber look on Niko's face.
Crystal got up from her spot and knelt on the floor in front of Edwin, reaching up and removing his hands from his hair, before placing their joined hands on his knees. She smiled gently at him when he looked down at her, apprehension mulling his usual put-together expression.
He opened his mouth to speak but she shushed him, taking one of her hands to cup his cheek and soothingly run her thumb over him. "None of that bullshit Edwin, we're gonna help you so relax." He wrinkled his nose at her, probably because of her language but at least the tension was leaving his body.
"That is easy for you to say, Crystal, I have nowhere near the experience that you have in these affairs. I will probably make an utter fool of myself." She tried to hold back an undignified snort at that, but judging by the grin she received from Niko and the smug little twitch from Edwin's lips it failed.
She shook her head in fond exasperation. "That's what you do on first dates, you get to know each other, make a fool of yourself, and find out if you wanna pursue something more." He looked at her doubtfully, and okay yeah that kinda sounded a little after-school special, but whatever. It's not like she'd ever had a little brother before.
"How did people go on dates when you were alive? Maybe if we knew that we could help, like, translate it to modern times?" It made a lot of sense to Crystal so Niko had a point, but Edwin just looked like she just asked him to put a frog down his pants.
"We did not date when I was alive, Niko, we courted. You only courted someone with the express intent to marry." Oh fun, the sucking-on-a-lemon face was back, at least he wasn't as tense anymore.
"Oh," Niko spoke softly, almost to herself. Then she looked Edwin directly in the eyes, "Do you have the 'express intent to marry' the Cat King?"
Crystal immediately folded to the floor with how hard she was laughing, clutching at her stomach while Edwin looked at Niko in horror. Niko, bless her really, looked confused by their reactions.
Once they were able to calm down, they made progress in helping Edwin. After a very intense stare-down between Crystal and Edwin, she finally convinced him to ditch his usual look for tonight. Instead, he was wearing a simple pair of black slacks and a light blue button-up that Niko convinced him to wear with the top buttons undone and sleeves rolled up his forearms.
Crystal had to practically sit on him to get him to let her fix his hair, now he was sporting a more windswept look. While they helped him with his outfit Crystal tried her best to coach him through what to do, the usual 'be yourself, be respectful, make sure he's respectful' speech.
She was a little miffed that he waited until it was almost time to leave to tell her that she was his 'chaperone' (what the fuck) but she begrudgingly agreed to go change while she sent Niko to the closest place to get a small bouquet.
Niko agreed while pulling up a list of cat-safe- flowers on her phone, practically bouncing from the room.
Crystal had just finished changing and fixing the wreck the earlier rain left her hair in when Niko made her way back with two (?) bouquets. The one she handed Edwin was made up of pink gerbera daisies, yellow snapdragons, and orange zinnias.
The filler was catnip, but the overall message from the bouquet spoke of hopefulness and a desire for more, whether romantic or platonic. Niko chose well.
Crystal wondered to herself why she knew what the flowers meant, it probably had to do with her missing memories.
Edwin looked a little bit in awe at the bouquet, cradling it to her person carefully. After giving him his bouquet Niko turned to Crystal with a little self-satisfied grin, holding out the second bouquet proudly.
She took it gingerly, words caught in her suddenly very dry throat. She managed to look down at the bouquet and a small gasp left her without her permission. The bouquet in her arms consisted of sunflowers, ivy, purple gladiolus, and white carnations.
Nope, she wasn't thinking about the meaning behind those flowers, her sanity depended on it. She looked up at Niko and smiled, thanking her, and hastily retreated to go put them in her room before she did something stupid.
Niko gave them both hugs when they and Crystal had to be imagining the way she nuzzled into her shoulder.
When they reached the sidewalk outside the butcher shop she gently punched Edwin in the arm. His subsequent bitching made her feel a lot better, and they headed off into the night.