In The Green Room
At first Romeo was okay with this new guy, Arashi. He was a pretty good singer and clearly was very attractive for a male idol. Then Chelia joined on stage and all his attention was on her as her voice filled the room.
Even if he ever got over his fear of crowds, some small part of Romeo would always wish she would just sing for him alone.
Then things were quickly getting out of hand. When Chelia started walking across the stage and singing those words to Arashi, he may have been a little affected. Romeo's grip on the jewelry box tightened every time Arashi sung to Chelia about him being better than any other guy for her.
Sure, maybe it kind of hurt him a little when Chelia seemed to genuinely enjoying herself and singing with passion about waking up with him. Which obviously wasn't true, pssshh. Romeo's hold on the box loosened as he watched the two danced together and that kind of hurt in a way Velveno never could.
He took a good look at himself at the mirror in the room and then back at the guy on stage with his girlfriend.
This Arashi guy clothes look like they were made from pure silk while Romeo looked down at his and noticed all the cuts and tears that Mrs. Mine had to sew up over the years because money was tight between him, his father, and the guild, thus he couldn't afford new clothes.
The guy was looking down into Chelia's eyes while Romeo remembers all the times got tease by everyone whenever Chelia place her head on top of his whenever they hugged.
Romeo never heard of this Arashi fellow before, but then again more people probably knew of him than they did Romeo.
"Chelia I'd treat you like the princess you are..."
"...What the fuck?" Romeo cursed suddenly and got off the couch when he heard those words. All that hurt he had a second ago turn to jealousy as Arashi had his hands on his girl! He saw that this bastard was going to try to kiss his girlfriend in front of thousands of people!
Fuck that.
The runes on the magic suppression bracelet glowed violently before the light green band was engulfed in flames from Romeo's magic spiking in anger. He raced out of the green room and shoved the guard in the hallway out of the way as he charged backstage.
Romeo didn't know how fast he was moving but before he knew it he was already there pushing staff and expensive equipment out of his way. In the distance he saw Chelia and Arashi already talking to each other off stage.
Perfect.
"Romeo wait! It's not what you-" He blew past Sherry who was trying to warn him but he wasn't listening. "You can't approach Arashi-sama now. He isn't signing autographs now-" A large bodyguard who was must have been as big as Elfman stuck out his hand in an attempt to stop Romeo from walking to them.
"Out of the way," He didn't stop walking as his right fist ignited in fire and swatted the guard like a bug into the side wall, (He takes on a Vulcan at least once a week when he's in the forest). "When I get my hands on this bastard he'll wish he was never born."
"AND ANOTHER THING IF YOU EVER EVEN THINK OF COMING IN TEN FEET OF ME I WILL SEND YOU FLYING ACROSS FIORE!" Romeo snapped out of thoughts as he finally heard what Chelia was saying (shouting/cursing).
Romeo then briefly notices a magic forklift was backing up pass them, its warning sound blaring, blocking anyone else from hearing the conversation.
"AND ONE MORE THING, YOU CAN (BEEP) YOUR (BEEP) WITH A (BEEP)(BEEP) YOU (BEEP)(BEEP)! AND THEN YOU CAN (BEEP)(BEEP)(BEEP) WITH ALL THE (BEEP)(BEEP) YOU CAN HANDLE AND ONCE YOU'RE DONE WITH ALL THAT YOU CAN (BEEP)(BEEP)(BEEP)(BEEP) WITH A RUSTY FORK AND LASTLY YOU CAN (BEEP)(BEEP) A (BEEP)(BEEP)(BEEP) WITH A GODDAMN PIG!", Chelia finishes tearing into him as the forklift finally drives off, but Romeo heard every word, clear as day.
"Wow", was all Romeo could say about that, "That's almost as bad as the insults we used to throw around at each other."
Arashi looked like he was about to shit himself as Chelia was a raging typhoon of anger from what just happened. "If Sherry didn't turn the lights off before you actually kissed me then I would have knocked you flat on your ass in front of everyone. Consider yourself lucky that you're still breathing and you can tell everyone that we had a power outage!"
"Chelia..." Her breath caught as she heard Romeo's voice behind her. She turned around to see Romeo standing there confused with a trail of destruction behind him. "You didn't kiss him right...Chelia?" She was shocked but quickly walked up to him.
"Never! I would never, not in a million years' little fire- Romeo." Chelia caught herself from saying her nickname for him and it was so hard for her not to just break all pretenses. "Who is this guy?" Arashi walked over to the two and he made himself the center of attention.
"I can see why you call him little Romeo. Where are your parents little guy?" Romeo looked over at him and the half a foot height difference was dwarfed by the look in Romeo's eyes as his charcoal eyes clashed with Arashi's sky blues.
"What a scary look. Yes, it is a shame that tonight Chelia's sweet, sweet lips were not mine but in the future they will be!" He closed his eyes for a moment and reveled in that great thought ignoring Romeo all together. "I thought surely my private dance lessons would sweep my pink angel off her feet and into my arms but it wasn't enough."
"I knew it! You never danced at your shows before and then all of a sudden you're trying to frisk me!" Chelia spoke up as she was connecting the dots while Arashi took that as a complement. "I had my people look into who your choreographer was and found her. Did my moves strike a familiar spark in your heart?"
She crossed her arms before speaking again. "I can't believe she would teach you." Arashi grimaced a little at that. "It cost...more than the usual amount. BUT! I would pay 100 times that to share another intimate dance with you my love-"
Suddenly a fist came within an inch of his face and the gust of wind that flew off it scared him enough to fall on his butt.
It wasn't Chelia but Romeo standing over him.
"Listen here. If I ever hear from Chelia, her friends, or anyone else for that matter, that you made a move on her or forced her to do something she didn't want to do..." He leaned down and loomed over him with his right hand in a fist in front of his face. "You will personally experience every fire spell I know." His fist lit with his usual orange fire before it quickly flickered through all the colors close enough to Arashi's face for him to know that they each had a unique ability that he did not want to find out.
Chelia had to keep herself from swooning at the prospect of Romeo defending her honor so romantically.
"Tch. You don't scare me. You're just an ant to me." He got up off the ground and dusted himself off. "How dare you try to embarrass me when my Sensei came all the way out here to see her pupils perform?!" Chelia was surprised at that.
"Wait you mean she's here? Oh god I hope she wasn't trying to set us up." Arashi's mood did not falter at that but before he could respond he saw his choreographer far behind Romeo and Chelia. "There she is. Oh Sensei I'm so glad you came did you see me? I was so great- where is she going?"
Romeo and Chelia turned around to see a woman with long dark purple hair quickly walking in the opposite direction of them but what caught Romeo's eye was the flower wreath around her head.
His eyes shut for a moment as a rush of something went through him. A feeling he hadn't had in years but he couldn't figure out what.
But he knew he had to stop her or talk to or at least see her face.
"Romeo, where are you going?" Chelia called out to him as she noticed that he was leaving. Romeo kept walking but it seemed that the woman knew he was following her. She rushed around the corners of the corridors until she raced out the VIP entrance and out on to the side street.
While all this was going on, Sherry, who witness the entire confrontation, including Chelia rant, walks over to Arashi who was still on the ground and glare down at him.
"Your music agency will be hearing from me about this incident, and you'll be lucky if we don't press sexual harassment charges. And I also suggest you stay away from Chelia in the near future or next time it won't be words she throwing at you, but spells", she threaten the boy who was still on the ground, "Now beat it before I squash you like the ant you are."
Arashi didn't need to be told twice as he scrambled out of there.
Back to Romeo
"Hey wait! I want to talk to you!" Romeo slammed open the glassed door and rushed down the steps to the side street only to have lost sight of her. Where did she go? Why am I following her in the first place?
A bright light to the right of him surprised him and he shielded his eyes. A luxury magic transport drove past him and in the split second as it passed by he looked into the back seat. The woman briefly came into view but she was covering her face so he wouldn't see.
"WAIT!" A small hand stretched out for her dress...
A small Romeo raced after a shadowed womanly figure until he was lost in a sea of people and he desperately tried finding her but no one looked like her. They all just watched and stared-
Romeo clutched his chest as his heart raced at the broken vision that suddenly flooded into his mind. His eyes flickered back up the street but soon lost sight of the car as it quickly picked up speed and raced off with a screech.
W-What was that? He took deep breaths to collect himself before reaching behind his back and grabbing the jewelry box he hid underneath his clothes. I can't believe I just left Chelia to chase after some stranger. I have to give her this.
Romeo turned away from the street after giving one last look and started to head back on the red carpet and up the steps to the entrance. He grabbed the handle to the glass door and pulled on it only for it to be locked again.
"Hey can you open this up again?" The guard that was in the booth did not open the door and the reason was simple. "I can't open that door we are in lockdown."
"What?"
"We just had a blackout and it looks like a rogue mage has infiltrated because our magic radars caught a significant amount of magic spike just as the blackout occurred." He connected the dots and quickly figured out he was the rouge mage. "In this case for the safety of everyone the concert has been cancelled but thankfully there was no one else scheduled after Arashi so everyone got their money's worth."
"But I have to get back in!" The guard said nothing before shaking his head. "Your pass is only for the concert and even if you were inside in the first place you would have been escorted out."
"What about the performers?"
"They and the staff will be protected until the threat is cleared. I can't talk about this anymore please leave on your own or I'm sure a pair of guards would love to see you again." A metal shield covered the glass booth and blocked Romeo's view of the guard.
"Are you kidding me?! The one time I try to be a good boyfriend I screw it up! ARGH!" Romeo was going to pull his hair out and was thinking of what he could do until a stray light from a flashlight caught his eye. It came from across the street, right in the alley Romeo landed in with his phoenix.
He looked around before the light began to randomly turn on and off as if to say "yes I'm talking to you idiot, come over here." Romeo quickly walked across the street and into the dark alley to see who was trying to bring him over.
"Password?"
"I'm not in the mood for passwords." His fist ignited and lit up the alley to show a man wearing a black shirt with the word "Security" on the front of it. "Gods, Sherry didn't tell me Chelia's secret boyfriend had a temper issue and could please not let every guard nearby know we're here?"
"Oh great, does everyone know about it now?" Romeo groaned as he let his flame die down.
"Sherry kind of had to tell me about the guy that I'm supposed to sneak into the concert if something happened. That would be the smart thing to do. But don't worry I won't tell a soul", as he stretches out a hand to Romeo, "Paul Grion or to you Plan B."
"Romeo Conbolt", as he shakes the hand.
"Got to say Romeo, you're a lot different than I expected."
"What were you expecting?" he asked.
"Not you", Paul merely said.
Romeo didn't know what to make of the remark so he decided to change the subject, "Tell me Paul, how exactly do you know Chelia and Sherry? They must trust you a lot to tell you about me."
"My family lost everything a few years back after a Dark Guild attacked our village. We were living off the streets of Margaret Town when Sherry found us and gave me and my wife jobs as Chelia's bouncer and make-up artist. Now me, my wife, and our two kids live under a good roof and get to eat real foods again, not the scraps people would throw out", Paul told him.
"Wow, Sherry did that?" Romeo was amazed.
"Yep, not if you don't mind, I believe you have somewhere to be right now" Paul stated as he pulled out a large sack from behind him.
"What's that for?" Romeo asked.
"This is your ticket back inside the concert without arousing suspicion. Because if you haven't noticed, everyone is at DEFCON 1 with so many celebrities 'at risk' and they won't let some random kid in." Paul tells him.
Romeo looks at the bag which said "Mail Bag" on it then back to Paul.
"This was Sherry's idea, wasn't it?"
"Oh you better fucking believe it", Paul laughs as Romeo shakes his head in frustration and climbs into the bag, "Now don't make any sudden movements and keep quiet. By the way, what's in the box, something nice?"
Romeo looks up to glare at the man who only smiles back down at him before closing up the bag.
"Best get comfortable kid, this could take a while", as Paul starts walking back across the street.
Paul continued until he reached the shielded glass booth and knocked on the metal. "Arima! Arima open up! This bag is starting to get heavy!" The metal protection slid up like a garage door to reveal the guard that refused to let Romeo in.
"That's just like you Paul to get fan mail while everyone else is on high alert." He looked at the large sack that he was holding over his shoulder and let out a long whistle. "Damn that looks heavy from here. Gods how can anyone read all those letters?" Paul shrugged and didn't come up with an answer.
"As much as I love catching up with you buddy. I kind of need you to let me in before I end up pulling a muscle." Arima quickly released the runes around the door and let him in. "Thanks I'll let Yuna know that I saw you." The guard waved before sealing up the booth again.
While Paul was walking through the private back-stage area Romeo was plotting his revenge against Sherry. "I swear to Obad-Hai, I'm going to stink bomb Sherry's wedding...wait a minute, what's an Obad-Hai?" Romeo thought as he was bundle up in the sack that Paul was carrying over his shoulder.
"Hey Paul, what you got there?" Romeo hears a voice ring out as he felt him suddenly stop.
"Just some late fan mail, that's all! You know how Chelia loves to personally read every letter!" Paul shouts back.
"Ain't that the truth?" was the reply back.
"Chelia reads every letter personally? That must take quite a while", Romeo thinks as he feels Paul walk up a short flight of stairs and opening a door.
"Hey Honey", Romeo hears from a feminine voice right before he hears kissing sounds.
"Hi dear", Paul responds.
"Is this him in the bag?" the voice asks as Romeo was place on the ground and the bag was opened up. Romeo finds himself staring into the brown eyes of a woman in her later thirties with dark blonde hair.
"Hi! I'm Yuna, Paul's wife and Chelia's make-up artist." She extended her hand and Romeo responded with a slow handshake. "So you know about..."
"Oh yes! It's always so cute when she's gushing over you and telling me about your dates from the day before while I fix her hair." Romeo mentally chalked up yet another person that he shouldn't talk to if he wants to keep his pride because he's feeling pretty embarrassed again.
"Anyways I don't think you want to talk with silly old me. Chelia is in room down the hall. You should be able to recognize it right away!"
"Thanks!" Romeo rushed away and quickly looked for the room. Paul wrapped his arm around Yuna as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Aren't they so cute together?" He did say anything until Romeo was out of earshot. "I thought he was gay when I first saw him- OW!" She slapped him on the chest and chastised him for that comment.
"Not it. Not it. Not it. Here it is!" Romeo said out loud as he found a door with "Chelia Blendy" on it in bold letters. He quickly checked to make sure he still had the necklace. He let out a sigh of relief and hid it again before slowly opening the door.
"Stupid Arashi. Stupid concert. Stupid little firefly." Chelia mumbles to herself. She was resting her head on her legs as she balled up on her high chair for make-up. The room looked even better than the green room, there were flowers everywhere, and a large mirror in front of the chair she was sitting in, all the amenities someone could want, and lastly a very expensive red loveseat for two.
"Is now a bad time?"
"My love! You've come back to me!" Chelia seemed to teleport from the chair to Romeo before wrapping him up in a hug. He blushed a little at the sudden contact but slowly wrapped his arms around her gently. "I'm so sorry about Arashi. I had no idea that he would try something like that. I should have known-"
"It's okay. He's a real asshole anyways. Let's sit down you must be tired after doing so much tonight." He let her go before pulling her hand and leading them to the loveseat. "I was only able to see a little bit of the concert but I could tell you were awesome."
"Aww was my little firefly captivated by my performance?"
"Like you were the only one there," Chelia was stunned by the quick response that he would normally be too shy to say. But on the other hand Romeo had a playful smile on his face. "Don't play with my heart like that little firefly!"
"Sorry, sorry. Ugh." Romeo leaned back into the loveseat as a wave of exhaustion hits him. Now I get tired? "Are you okay?" Chelia immediately reacts and her hands glow with a greenish light. She hovered them over his chest with her eyes closed.
"You over-exhausted your magic. Don't tell me..." Romeo looked away but could imagine the look on her face. "I may have used my dragon-slayer mode on my mission..." He briefly looked over to see Chelia with a mad look on her face but it was clear he needed to continue. "I then may have eaten fire for a quick boost to create and hold a large fire construct for over an hour..."
"Is that it?"
"No." Romeo let out it a small voice afraid for his life and with his eyes closed he finished. "I then may have drunk a magic potion to suddenly refill my magic supply and again fly for another hour to get here. Where I may or may not have used enough magic in a single burst to break anti-magic runes."
He slowly opened his eyes to see Chelia not mad but instead really sad. "Chelia I just-" She stood up from the loveseat and walked up to the high chair. Chelia gripped the back of the chair and tried to hide her emotions but the mirror in front of the chair clearly showed him.
"Why? I tell you again and again not to push yourself. It hurts me to see you like this." Romeo slowly stood up and hugged her from behind. "I know. I'm sorry but you can't ask me to do that." He reached behind his back with one of his arms to pull out the jewelry box and he slowly got the necklace out.
"I will always go out of my way for you...my Dark Sky Angel." Romeo gently put the new necklace around her as she gasped at the expensive gift. "It looks great on you." Chelia lightly touched the pink diamond in the center and saw it was engraved with the words "Dark Sky Angel"
She brought up her gloved hand to her eyes and wiped away the tears that were forming. "Oh my little firefly...I love you so much." She turned back around and quickly kissed him before he could even think. Slowly the two moved backwards without stopping until Romeo's legs hit the loveseat and he fell onto it.
Chelia was still on top and kept kissing him until she suddenly put both of her hands on his chest and pushed herself up for a moment. "Promise me." They were both a little out of breath but Romeo was trying his best to stay focused. "What?"
"You won't use magic for a while until you recover." Romeo nodded before trying to kiss her but she lightly held him down. "And that you'll listen to me in the future."
"Okay. I promise."
"Good. Now kiss me." Romeo pulls her back in and kisses her lightly. "If you talk like that all the time I would listen a lot more." He smiles a little before the kiss becomes much slower and deeper. With one hand he holds the back of her head, running his fingers through her soft pink hair while Chelia mimics him and runs her hands through his dark purple hair. After a while she grows bold and lightly runs her tongue over his lips. Romeo opens his mouth slightly, meeting his tongue with hers, he almost wants to back away at the foreign feeling but Chelia's hands in his hair lightly reassure him that this feeling is okay. This intimacy was on a whole other level as it was kindling an intense fire in him.
And that fire slowly burned all night long.
But luckily both teens were semi-responsible, so it didn't go any further than kissing. It also helped that both of them knew in the back of their minds that Sherry was most likely on the other side of the door listening in to make sure no funny business happens, and she was.
"Ah ~LOVE~", she tells herself before remembering what she saw when Romeo pass her on his way to kill Arashi.
"He completely destroyed his magic suppression bracelet. I can see high-level mages like Natsu and Lyon doing that, but Romeo?"