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A tiny plastic ball goes whizzing by his feet, and Licht nearly trips over it. He catches himself at the last moment and only stumbles forward a few steps instead of falling flat on his face. He looks up just in time to see the ball round the corner of the hall, spinning off in the direction that he knows Hyde’s room is in.
Already, he has a bad feeling about this. With growing dread every step, he heads down the hall in the direction that the ball took off. He’s greeted by exactly what he expects to see; a clear hamster ball sitting in the middle of the hallway, with his grinning Servamp inside in his hedgehog form.
“What the fuck, shit rat?” He hisses, reaching down to pick up the ball. Hyde lets out a fierce squeak and charges Licht, ramming into his feet. Unfortunately, Licht’s foot is much stronger than a cheap plastic hamster ball is and he pins the other beneath his foot. Hyde shoves himself against the edge of the ball in a desperate attempt to break free, but it’s all in vain.
Licht bends down and picks the ball up, carefully unscrewing the lid. “And what the hell are you doing with this?”
“Kranz gave it to me!” Hyde says shrilly, and Licht can imagine the stupid smirk on his Servamp’s face even though his hedgehog form isn’t very expressive. “He said it was important for me to be able to get exercise when I was cooped up in the hotel with you.”
“Bullshit!” Licht growls out as Hyde squeaks again. “I would bet anything this is about that stupid blog of his.”
“My blog isn’t stupid, Lich-tan!” Hyde says, quills pricking up in irritation. “The people of the world think I’m adorable!”
“The people of the world haven’t heard you sing in the shower at 8 o’clock in the morning,” Licht tells him bluntly, and Hyde pokes his head out of the ball to bare his teeth at his Eve. “Just try and bite me shit rat; I’ll lob you down the hall so fast, it’ll make your head spin.” He pauses for a brief moment. “Well, technically, all of you would be spinning.” That particular image is highly appealing, if Licht’s being honest with himself.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Hyde says, beady eyes blinking rapidly. Licht raises an eyebrow, pulling the arm holding the ball back. “No Angel-chan, that’s animal abuse!”
“You’re not an animal,” Licht says, eyes narrowing at the other. “You’re a demon.”
“Then why do you always call me a shit rat?” Hyde asks smugly, and all of Licht’s patience evaporates as Hyde’s nose twitches in satisfaction. The vampire gets about five seconds to gloat over his retort-and then the lid is being jammed back onto the ball before Licht drops it unceremoniously back onto the floor. Hyde bounces with the impact and has a split second to squeak in terror just as Licht’s foot pulls back and then shoots forward, kicking the ball down the hall of the hotel.
There’s something immensely satisfying about watching Hyde spin rapidly about in the ball as it ricochets down the hall, Licht thinks.
*
The next day, Licht is watching glumly as Hyde zips around their shared room, still in his stupid fucking ball. Purposefully, he rolls right over Licht’s bare feet, beady eyes trained on his Eve. “Stop that,” Licht snaps, nudging the ball away from him.
Kranz had already given him a stern lecture for kicking Hyde’s ball once, and Licht isn’t eager for a repeat quite so soon. Hyde, who is well aware of this, seems hell bent and determined to push every button of Licht’s while he has temporary safety.
“But your feet are like a road bump, Lich-tan, and it’s really fun to run over them!” Hyde has to shout to get his voice heard through the plastic and Licht finds himself hoping that the other will lose his voice. The vampire would still be annoying, but at least then he would be quiet.
“I hope you smash your head against the top of that stupid ball and concuss yourself,” he tells his Servamp petulantly.
“Then I’d be bedridden and you’d be heartbroken~” Hyde chirps, stopping his ball right in front of Licht. He stands up on his hind paws, nose twitching, and claws at the top of the ball right where the latch is for the lid. It takes him a few moments and some careful maneuvering, but eventually he manages to catch his tiny claws against the lid and push it off. “Haha! Bet no ordinary hedgehog could do that!”
“Considering the ball is made for hamsters, I’m sure they didn’t have hedgehogs in mind when they built it,” Licht points out and Hyde lets out a squeal of displeasure. “And you sure as hell aren’t a hedgehog.”
“Don’t mean to burst your bubble, Angel-chan, but what would I be right now if I’m not a hedgehog?”
“An asshole!” Licht snaps as Hyde clambers out of the ball. “A demon who is the biggest asshole on the planet!”
“And I’m all yours,” Hyde points out, waddling over to stand on Licht’s feet. His quills catch slightly against Licht’s pants, and the pianist has to fight the urge to jerk his feet abruptly and send Hyde toppling off. Irritated, Licht bends down to scoop Hyde up off the floor, dropping him onto the bed carelessly.
“Why couldn’t you just have been a normal hedgehog?” Licht groans, flopping back against the mattress. “I liked you so much more when you were just a cute hedgehog.”
“So you admit I’m cute?” Hyde’s voice is much closer all of a sudden, and Licht shoots back up in surprise-or tries to, anyway. Hyde is leaning over him, arms forming a makeshift cage on either side of Licht, and he almost knocks his head against his Servamps when he sits up.
“Hedgehogs are cute, not you,” Licht manages to get out, still trying to get over the shock of Hyde invading his personal bubble abruptly.
“You’re hurting my feelings, Lich-tan,” Hyde croons, and now Licht is desperately wishing the other was still in the ball and ramming his feet, because that would have been so much easier to deal with. “If I’m only hedgehogs are cute, than what are vampire hedgehogs?”
“I already told you,” Licht breaths out. “They’re demons.”
Hyde smiles and it’s all fang and for a brief moment Licht swears that his Servamp is going to bite him and tenses up. Then he’s pulling away with a laugh and there’s a ripple in the air as he shifts back into his hedgehog form, and there’s a tiny ball of spikes sitting on Licht’s lap. Without saying a word, Hyde nudges Licht’s hand and the pianists shifts to let it rest on top of the hedgehog's back. Hyde’s quills are flat and he lets out a quiet chirp of contentment as Licht strokes carefully down his spines before he rolls over and presents the pianist with his belly.
Vampire hedgehogs are still demons, but they’re a lot more tolerable when they at least pretend to be cute, Licht decides as he indulges his Servamp and scratches his tummy.
*
Later, when Hyde’s tiny hamster ball rolls by his feet while Licht practices on the piano, he finds that he has no desire to knock it across the room. He doesn’t stop playing when the ball comes to a halt between his feet, nor does he falter when he hears Hyde messing with the lid of the ball.
Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a tiny black and white blob scurry about five feet from the piano bench before it charges forward, taking a flying leap up onto the seat of the bench. Hyde settles against Licht’s side, pressing close and tucking his paws neatly underneath him.
Only then does Licht’s hand leave the piano to briefly pat the small hedgehog on the head; Hyde chitters quietly and affectionately twists his head around to nibble gently on the pianist's fingers. “Kranz updated your stupid blog,” he says offhandedly. “I checked it a few hours ago; there’s a whole page dedicated to you running around in that fucking ball.”
Hyde blinks up at him in silent question, and Licht scowls at his piano, unwilling and unable to face the other.
“You’re still not cute,” he finally says, though the blush that creeps up the back of his neck is a direct contrast to his statement. Licht learns then and there that hedgehogs are capable of laughing; there’s simply.no other way to describe the series of squeaks and squeals that come out of Hyde.