Disclaimer: Don't own Ragnarok Online. But I adore the romance that endured with the game, past all the bugs, bots, hacked items, game imbalances and what-not. I own my character though, my 3 year old character (as old as our game servers).
Warning: My stories have a tendency to lean on the yaoi bit of side. Although at the moment, I am not pretentious in adding any love interests on my story, as I'm basing it on my gaming. My poor professor needs some boy-loving…and dang-it, this place really needs a few good more yaoi fan fictions.
Beware of yaoi, a bit of cussing and the likes. I did not place this in M rating for no reason.
Second attempt at a Ragnarok Online fiction. I am attempting to update every single fic I missed out during the last five months.
In Prontera, it was altogether expected that people will find an assortment of people, an assortment of jobs, and an assortment of items being sold in an assortment of shops.
Knights, Priests, Merchants and Blacksmiths, a pack of Novices scampering around. Such was the population of Prontera, Rune-Midgard. Maybe a smattering of a few Alchemists and Creators, Wizards, and barely one or two Soul Linkers around would be seen, such was the density of the people's preferences over jobs.
Which goes to say why people eyed the lone Professor, sitting by the cobblestone streets of South Prontera, face dug deep into a book of sorts, altogether weirdly.
Chapter 1: Entry
There was nothing strangely weird about him, or even special. Brown hair that ended in unruly locks, disrespectful ebony eyes, and a mini glass classily perched on the bridge of his nose. A Staff of Souls tucked in his belt, and a Romantic Leaf perched lazily on his lips…yep, nothing quite out of the ordinary for this professor.
" 'Scuse me?"
A beautiful pink-haired female knight and a young, somewhat-bashful crusader stopped on their tracks, as the professor spared them a glance from the book he was enthralled earlier.
His eyes took a while of staring, before he returned to his book. "Shame you're already in quite an "enchanting" relationship. Your looks don't hurt my eyes…I'm quite jealous, really."
A rose-tinted hue blossomed from both the knight and the crusader's face, just in time as the professor stood up, brushed off some dirt from his pants and headed to the direction of the Prontera fountain.
The female knight, seeing a chance to make her boyfriend jealous, striked a fancy pose at the retreating professor.
"Aiyaa" She made herself all the more sound sexy, like one would hear from those undulating movies and games. "At least you sound more romantic than what my boyfriend can be…maybe a night with me would sound inviting to you?"
She winked, an almost-comic heart drifting from her to the Professor that stilled in an instant.
The professor turned around, an angelic and so-innocent face greeting her.
Kyaa…maybe I did hook up a better fish today than that mommy's boy beside me…
"Ah…miss…"
"Call me, Sakura…" she giggled.
"Ah…Miss Sakura then…" He let out a soft smile.
Damnit, how can a guy be cute and sexy at the same time?!? Panties, don't drop on me now, please!
The next words spoken by the kindly, young man put her in an immediate state of shock.
"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding…"
"Eh?" Her eyes reflected momentary panic.
"I was talking to him, that beautiful thing beside you." He smiled innocently, almost too innocent. The professor's lips curved into a sadistic smile seeing the distraught face of his target.
Walking past a stricken Sakura, the professor sauntered towards the furiously blushing crusader who seemed to have frozen in his place. A few bystanders slid glances at the trio.
"Would the strapping young lad deprive a humble scholar like me of his name?" He silkily delivered his sentence in an all too-practiced manner of asking, a finger running across the crusader's smooth chin.
"A…ah…r-Randal…s-sir."
The Professor gazed at his eyes, looks of longing reflected in his dark orbs. A naughty smile appeared before he settled his whole body against the crusader's thick armor.
"You reek too much of that woman's perfume." The professor's nose wrinkled in all honesty at the observation. "Really, she was ready to give you up the next moment a better looking guy comes along. Damnit…and you're such a cute one, Randal…"
To the shock of everyone, the professor immediately lunged for the crusader's lips, cheeks evident of the battle of tongues that took place. A few seconds past and the crusader found something new perched on his mouth. It was the other guy's Romantic Leaf.
He walked off, tongue licking his lips. Meeting the shocked and disgusted expression of the knight, he just seemingly paid no attention to her, a bit dazed by the stolen kiss earlier.
"Y…you…FAG!"
Ow.
"You spawn of Satan!!!" She sputtered, her face red and her voice indignant.
She looked back and forth the two of them, her boyfriend and the seemingly quiet professor.
"Tch."
A momentary wave of hurt traveled the professor's face, before it went back to a cocky smile.
"I may be what you call me, but I'm no lover of pedophilia, Miss Sakura."
She saw red immediately.
"WHAT?!? WHAT the fucking seven pits of Hell are you – "
"Honestly, the boy doesn't even have his hormones yet. His height may fool you, but my guts tell me he's just fourteen years old. Am I right, boy?" He looked back, smiling gently at the teen.
"A…ah, yes…but how did you know sir?" The crusader embarrassingly tucked the leaf away, noticing the stares they were receiving from the slowly growing crowd.
"If I were to give you an analogy, let's just say your tongue tasted like that of a newly blossomed rose. Ah…I'm terribly sorry, was that your first kiss?" The professor looked abashed, although one cannot say if it was genuine or fake.
Everybody who had the interest to listen to the conversation jaw dropped as the crusader slowly nodded his head.
"Warui… (bad…) sorry about that." He genuinely looked apologetic.
Randal absently nodded; still a bit dazed from everything that happened.
"But I'd rather steal it than give it to somebody like her…" He jabbed a thumb at the knight like she was just an 'it'.
The knight was about to retort when she met with the professor's steely gaze. Something along the lines like 'I know you're just gonna use him as a trophy for your friends' and 'You just picked him up from a corner and forced yourself on him."
She immediately stomped off, running to the general direction of the Prontera Chivalry. The professor gave a sigh of relief, and then turned back to the crusader, still unsure of what just happened.
"Well, it's good she's gone. Sometimes, we, men, have to look out for each other, you know?"
The crusader nodded, albeit hesitantly.
"Now don't fret, it's a wide world out there, and you're still young. More girls to meet, eh?" He tried cheering the distraught crusader up.
"Thank you…uhm…sir?"
The professor lit up, glad the youngster wished to know his name.
"Katze. Just call me Katze. I'm only twenty years old, you know, so you can lay off with the honorifics." He smiled warmly at the young lad.
(Prontera Fountain)
"Hyuuu…so you just turned crusader three days ago?" The professor whistled, taking another bite from his slab of chocolate. The crusader was too pre occupied at the moment, assessing the other man, to answer the question.
Brown hair, dark haughty eyes, lean (very lean to be exact) body, with slightly a hint of muscle in the forearms and the abdomen. The customary fox shawl, part of every professor's attire, had a blue tint to it, its eyes eternally fixed to look like that of a mischief master. His shirt, well…wasn't too conservative for some standards. While most professors opted to at least show little skin as much as possible, Katze's uniform had a prominent slit that exposed the creamy skin of his waist. Not to mention the prominent cleavage leading to the…err…pelvic area.
"Oi…"
The guy had a weird character too…almost like dualistic. He can be suave, mysterious and dark…just like their first encounter a few minutes ago. But after relaxing quite a bit, the seemingly anti-social bookworm changes to a childish, boy that always speaks of weird things and random stuff…like right now.
"Hnnn…" Katze's eyes narrowed, noticing that the crusader was staring at him. Not sneakily as one would do, but blatantly.
"Don't tell me you've fallen for me, kid." He smirked, snorting at the same time.
The crusader shook up, attention immediately back to where they were now. The words took a few seconds to register before he pouted red, and puffed up in indignance.
"I'm not a kid! I'm already a crusader!" He defended, albeit too childishly.
"And yet you're still fourteen years old." The professor countered, salvaging his melting chocolate slab by eating as fast as he could. "You aren't even legally old enough to vote."
"I can take care of myself, you know!" He warranted, wanting to prove his manhood.
Katze just finished licking his finger of the chocolate slab's remnants, before he turned a curious eye at the crusader. Grudgingly, he avoided his glance, slid his mini glasses back up the bridge of his nose, and left off reading from where he left the book.
"There's a difference between being able to take care of yourself, and knowing how to take care of yourself." He spoke softly, a bit hoarse from eating too many sweets.
"You could have avoided the problem in the first place if you simply said no to her advances, you know." The professor stretched his palm a bit, concentrating until cold winds whirled around them. An ice crystal slowly formed in his hand. Katze took said crystal and began licking at it to quench his thirst.
"You're a man. You should know how to assert yourself."
Randal sputtered, apparently taken aback by such a comment. "I DO know how to assert myself!"
Katze raised an eyebrow.
"I…uh…just didn't do it last time."
Katze shrugged, giving the situation up. He snorted at him, although the snort came out to the sound of something like 'uke!'.
A moment of silence passed by.
"Uhm…can I ask you something?"
Katze merely slid a glance towards the kid, offering his permission.
"Are you really gay? Erm, just like Sakura said?"
A corner of the professor's lip tensed, but only just a bit. He closed the book at hand, losing interest at what he was reading. The mini glasses were put away, and the book was returned to its holster.
"I don't seem to quite get where the plot is headed towards to." He jokingly replied, a couple of laughs following the statement.
Randal wasn't amused having his question left unanswered.
Katze sighed, unnerved by the consternated stare the crusader emanated. "Should I say no? So that your first kiss wouldn't have mattered if it was with a straight guy?"
Randal concluded, a bit pacified and somewhat horrified. Although just a small part of him anyways.
"So you are gay."
A shiver ran down the professor's spine. Fists started to clench and unclench nervously. It took a larger amount of time before he calmed down again.
"…gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay…"
"KNOCK IT OFF!" Katze growled jokingly, and playfully tossed his book at the grinning crusader.
Too bad for him though…
Receiving a book attack from a professor who mastered Advanced Book. Not to mention the book in question was a +7 Stun Cursing Silence Book.
The crusader was pretty much knocked out.
(Prontera Tavern)
Both were seen lounging in the bartender's area. A triple banana split for the crusader, and iced tea with apples for the professor.
"Are you really that sensitive being called gay?"
A backhanded book slap was all the answer Katze gave, effectively pile driving the crusader's face into the banana split.
"Hyuu…for a kid, you're really quite disrespectful to people older than you are."
Katze made a 'tch' sound, leaning his head onto one arm, and thoughtfully sipping from his iced apple-tea drink.
A bard sang a soft ballad in the stage nearby, a dancer going with the slow rhythm of the song. The ornaments on her body made soft, tinkling sounds.
Randal looked up from cleaning his face of chocolate syrup, ice cream, and a bit of nuts and sprinkles. Lucky him it was a Memory Book this time, and not some other status-afflicting book the professor backslapped him with.
A bit of sniffling came from his side, and true enough, Katze was a bit misty-eyed, sniffling now and so often, and failing at trying to sip his now-warming apple-tea.
"Whaddya know? Music gets to me." Katze miffed, apparently noticing the worried look of the crusader beside him. It was so stupid…'crying' (for lack of better words) while having a companion he just met.
"Are you all right?" Randal asked, worriedly.
Katze smiled weakly, not facing him. He mustered up his guts and was able to sip a good amount of the tea, calming his nerves.
"I never did want to become like this…you know."
Randal's eyes perked up, albeit not too much to look like a gossiper of some sorts. He too, was a man, and he knew a revelation of some sorts was upcoming. Gay or not, the guy just helped him a few hours ago, and he was willing to at least spare a bit of his attention…only if it'd help.
"Become what? Katze…kun?"
Mild surprise crept in the professor's eyes, a bit of mirth forming in them. Misty eyes threatening to shed tears gazed neutrally at the curious look the crusader sported.
"Nihonjin…desu ka?" (Are you Japanese?)
Randal looked away, embarrassed at the question. "Ah…no. I just heard you say a couple of Japanese words earlier…and well…I figured things out."
Katze looked away, an amused smile etched on his lips.
"Really, if you were…well, not straight, I would have courted you six ways till Sunday." Katze grinned; inwardly surprised that Randal did no amount of refuting at the suggestion of being…not straight.
Randal visibly backed away…just a few inches though.
"Relax." Katze disregarded the idea, turning back to frowning. "I'm sure homosexuality is not contagious. Last time I heard anyway…"
The crusader just realized Katze might have been offended by the involuntary action earlier. Which he was.
"Sorry." He mumbled, just a bit loud enough for the other to hear. "Can't help it you know. Last time, I'm walking with a girl down the street, next thing, I'm in a tavern, invited by…"
"A seemingly distrustworthy gay guy." Katze finished for him, downing the drink in one go. The tears that threatened to fall followed suit, but the professor immediately wiped his face clean of the salty liquid.
"…you." Randal now felt bad, even the professor thought he was that spiteful of a person.
Katze wearily spared him a glance, before asking the bartender another round of the drink.
"Innocent little brat." He slurred, gratefully receiving the drink and downing half of the contents. "You're a rare specie, you and your kind."
"Huh?" The crusader decided to let the 'brat' part off for the meanwhile. He really wanted to coax a story out of the guy.
"It's rare seeing straight people go easy with homosexual guys like me." Katze slowed down on the drink this time. "You're actually the third guy I met that dealt well with me."
"I don't get your point…"
"All they see of us are either people with mental abnormalities that needs to be treated, a source of income for prostitutes, or Satan's hell spawn…sent to Earth to do his bidding of preventing procreation through sex."
Katze narrowed his vision at the empty glass beside him, which housed his first drink. His reflection stared back innocently, as if mocking him.
"Mental abnormalities, my ass. I've seen gay guys do a lot more than what other people can do. And when they're great, nobody seems to complain about it." A red tint was blossoming across his cheeks.
"Great gay guys, huh?" Randal was unbelieving. "Care to name a few?"
Katze eyed him in irritation, as if the boy's very presence mocked his point of view.
"Alexander-the-Great comes to mind, Mr. Smarty Pants." Katze was now starting to grow hot, eyes droopy from suddenly becoming lethargic.
"He was bisexual, from what I heard, he got himself a wife." Randal stopped for a minute. "Holy…are you drunk? From tea?!?"
"Blame my genes." The professor was now moving dizzily. "I…uh…get drunk because of…uhm, what was that? Caf…caffeine or something."
The crusader sweatdropped. Who the heck got drunk from drinking caffeine?
"And besides!" The professor refused to stand back. "There's no such thing as bisexual! Once you get a kick out of pleasuring a man, either you're a homo…or a homo in denial!"
Point taken.
"It's that bitch's fault named society! Dang it! Ancient Rome was far better than what we are today! Boys were allowed to have fun with other boys…and that was legal, damnit!" Katze slammed his drink down onto the table. "Now, just having you beside me is earning me an eyeful from the people at my back!"
Randal stared around to where Katze indicated, and true enough, a lot were staring at them weirdly…before they looked away when they noticed the crusader watching them.
"I think they were staring at you because you're…uhm, a bit noisy?" Randal tried to make a joke out of the situation.
"And then there are some guys who just make a profit out of homosexual guys. Goddamn, that's the evil side of being a homo. Sometimes, you're just too desperate to find somebody to accept you…too blind to notice he'd be just after your hard-earned money! Unacceptable…just…fuck…damn all of them!"
Randal managed to shut his trap until the commotion is over. Eventually, a lot more of the audience behind them were listening. Even the bard and dancer stopped their performance, interests piqued at the rantings of the caffeine-drunk Professor.
"And who gives a fuck about procreation nowadays, eh? I've seen the better part of youth going at it using contraceptives and stuff! What's the difference with them and people like me! At least I have plans of adopting a child someday! Somebody I can shower my love and…and…time, and affection…somebody I promise I'll give a better life than what their irresponsible parents deprived them of!"
Randal began to shake the professor, who was fast falling into a stupor-induced sleep.
"Hey…are you sure you're drunk? For my life, some of it…well, a lot of it made sense."
The professor remained quiet, a bit of sobbing and gentle breathing indicated by the rise and fall of his back.
"A lot of the stuff you said…well, I know some people would still have a hard time understanding it…less accepting it anyway. But if you don't agree with society's norms…why bind yourself with it?"
A small shifting, and Katze faced the troubled crusader, an amused smile etched on his serene countenance.
"Life is just like Math, kid. It's full of never-ending problems, some simple and some complicated. It can be also called the greatest legacy of history." The professor began to give one of his cryptic analogies again.
"Take ancient times, for example. Ancient Amatsu believed that men were 'positives' and women were 'negatives'. Now, say a man's soul mate is his retroactive numeral in the number line. Negative three's soul mate is positive three. Law of addition between those two numbers would result to zero, or the state of equilibrium." Katze ran his fingers on the table, creating figures of digits and lines.
"Now say…two positives, that means two guys, go at each other. Positive three and positive three…law of addition would result to positive six, far from the state of equilibrium. The balance is disrupted, and chaos is sure to ensue." Katze frowned at his own musings. "This is probably one of those ancient reasons homosexuality is taboo."
Randal took little interest in the analogy, already indifferent when he heard the word 'Math'. Blech, wasn't one of the reasons he became a Crusader was to stay away from those infernal numbers that haunted him during his novice days?
"But…" Randal, in his innocence, mildly countered. "I mean, balance is boring right?"
The kid picks up easily…he's not as dumb as he looks.
"I heard from a lot of couples looking for divorce that their relationships have grown boring…at least that's what they say. No excitement, always seeing the same face…isn't following a daily routine almost the same as being in equilibrium?"
"That's right." Katze pointed out. "Because in equilibrium, everything is perceived to be perfect. A happy ending of sorts. As if their lives are spun off from fairy tales."
" 'Nothing can go wrong now…I have a house, two kids, a loving wife, our pet Poring…yadda yadda yadda…life is perfect.' And then from that point, everything goes downhill. You find your wife snogging another man, your daughter runs off because you shouted at her for some trivial issue, and you disown your son for being gay."
"You can blame fate…but fate is something made by you." Katze stood up, stretching a bit to wake his sleeping legs up. He winced, when blood rushed eagerly to his lower extremities.
"Couldn't it be that your wife is with another man because you cannot fuifill your duties as a husband to her? You who is buried in work to support your so-called' perfect life'. Couldn't it be that your daughter ran off because of you, no matter how grave her mistake can be? It could be her fault, but when it all comes to down to it, the one who caused her to run away points to you."
"And by disowning his son, because the father was too busy to know his son better…too busy to understand how his son could have felt with the confusion and panic brought about by the discovery of his sexuality…"
Katze dared not to continue. Memories were still hard to part with.
"Well, isn't it fate that could have determined your…I mean…that son's sexuality?" Randal asked.
Katze nursed his glass lovingly.
"True."
He shut his eyes.
"But it isn't fate for a father to choose rejecting or accepting his son."
Book 1
Entry 1 Prontera 10 Day 02 Month X007 Year
I met a funny crusader during my first day in Prontera.
I had just recently been from Juno, finishing my papers to finally become a Professor. Juno is high up above the clouds, people barely came to this city, so I barely got news from the outside world. I was resolute that once I finished my training, I'd immediately go to Prontera to catch up with the times.
Anyway, this guy was like chained to that girl knight. I know I shouldn't be saying this, but I really loathed girls. I had bad experiences with them in the past, and this feeling slowly grew into a deep dislike for the opposite sex.
That particular b was like holding the crusader in a leash! (Figuratively of course, not literally). Oh, how I hated her attitude.
You know?
That I-have-the-power-to-get-any-guy-I-want-with-a-flick-of-my-finger type attitude.
After a few minutes, I was able to drive the offending 'thing' off with a bit of misplaced confessions, stealing kisses, and bslapping. Boy, I can tell the guy was relieved to have been freed from that witch's clutches!
His name was Randal, crusader, 14 years of age. Blunette (that means blue hair, illiterate journal!). brown eyes, and stands five feet nine inches tall! (I would have never guessed his age even after I had a taste of his tongue!) We sat by the fountain, me eating a wide slab of Valentine's chocolates I got from Yiseryn. (I wonder if that guy knew I'm gay?)
I was asking him a few questions, out of curiosity, but he kept staring at me. I was hoping he was smitten by my looks (not really handsome, but I can be proud of it anyways). But still…he felt more like brother material instead of lover material. I teased him a bit, calling him a brat which earned me his attention back.
Our mindless drabble about random things seemingly started at the fountain, him asking me about my sexuality. Of course, me, being the sensitive type of guy, withdrew the inane urge to Double Cast a level ten Fire Bolt at him when he teased me non-stop about being gay. I instead walloped him with my Stun Cursing Book.
Damnit, the kid was way too soft to resist the effects of my book and ended up being knocked out for a few minutes; stars, a hooded figure, and three dots looming over his head.
Just kidding. The last part was my imagination.
As consolation, after he recovered, I decided to treat him to a banana split (the biggest one on the house) whilst I retired myself to drinking apple-tea.
Really, the guy was more of a pain in the ass than trouble. He kept asking really sensitive, hard stuff: I was forced to resort to metaphors, analogies and euphemisms to shut his curiosity up.
Even if I liked the boy a bit, he was a bit insensitive about my feelings…ah, but what can I expect? I myself wasn't that chatty enough when I was still a Sage. It's better to ask now or forever hold your peace, is what my teacher would say.
I was really prepared to clam up about my past. Our talks ranged from homosexuality, bisexuals, mathematics, ancient civilizations and other stuff. It was all planned to knock him off from asking too many stuff.
Did I mention I get drunk from caffeine intake? And do you remember that drink I was drinking? Yep, TEA. As in, T-E-A. Caffeine-laced TEA.
A part of my life was divulged to the general public, or at least to the people who were present inside the tavern anyway. Being disowned by your father, that was an event everybody thought would generally suck.
I pretended to collapse, making sure I looked like I was dead asleep. A lot of people were affected by my story (really sounded pathetic to me), and a few came forward to offer their condolences.
Sigh…
Valentines is coming up.
I don't need their condolences.
I need…
…the condolences of a lover.
Oyasumi nasai...Journal-kun.
So terribly steep...sorry if there isn't much action at the moment. And no probable pair as of the moment. This fanfiction is based upon my game life...so nya!
Updates come in three or four days, depending upon the demand. Reviews are welcomed. You may share your comments as well about the things they talked about. :D