Work Text:
PARTIALLY NSFW CONTENT WILL BE IN THIS CHAPTER
Subaru opens his eyes to the sunlit room he has grew quite accustomed to for a long time now. He feels a sensation on his hand as a voice speaks. “Barusu, have you awoken?” Subaru turns to his right to see Ram, his hand in hers. His hand was over hers, so Subaru reluctantly loosened his grip.
“Was I the one who did this? I grabbed your hand and never let go?” Ram then pouts a little, tightening her grip on his hand. “I did this because it looked like you were having a nightmare. Stupid Barusu.” Ram scoffed at him, as usual.
Subaru sits up and stretches his arms. He looks out of the window of the room, seeing the clouds tinting the sky dark. The sun slowly rises, lighting up the dark atmosphere slightly. Subaru smiles and exhales in relief. “I’ve always loved days like these.” He stared out of the window, gazing out at the cloudy but bright sky.
Subaru looks away from the scenery, feeling a chill down his spine. “By the way, don’t you think it’s a little bit cold today?” Ram looked down, taking a small pause before continuing in a serious tone. “Now that you mention it, it does seem unusually cold today...”
There was a small moment of silence in between the two. Subaru looked up at Ram, who still had a firm grip on his hand. Suddenly, she let go of his hand, getting up from the seat that was pulled up by the bed. “So, are you ready to get started on today’s work, Barusu?” Subaru put his face into his hand, grumbling. “Jeez, I just woke up…”
Ram scoffed and smiled. “You truly are useless, Barusu.” Hearing this brought a small blush to Subaru’s face. Out of embarrassment, he yelled, “Fine!”. He hopped out of bed and quickly began to change into his butler uniform. Ram hid a soft smile, exiting the bedroom.
The dust in his face caused him to let out a small cough. Ram rolled her eyes at Subaru’s clumsiness while he was dusting. As he brushed away at the dust in the dull-looking storage room, when suddenly he tripped over a raised floorboard, crashing onto the floor face first. For whatever reason, Subaru felt a certain hollowness on the floor when his head landed. Recollecting himself from the fall and Ram’s scoffs and insults, Subaru finds a trap door, where he landed.
“Ram, look, I think I might have found something. Have any idea what’s in it?” Subaru looked up at Ram while pointing down at the discovery he made. Ram peered down at the trapdoor, which looked unnoticeable, matching along with the pattern of the floorboards. She shrugged with her eyes closed. “Not at all. Go ahead and open it Barusu. If a swarm of bugs fly out, don’t blame me.”
Subaru looked down at the trap door with a sudden feeling of menace. Hoping for no spiders to launch out of the door, he opened it with a swing. In relief and confusion, Subaru opened the door only to find bottles of what looked like alcohol.
“This is quite the collection, so is all of it alcohol?” Subaru looked back up at Ram with an astonished look on his face. Ram, also looking intrigued, responded. “Come to think of it, I did hear stories about Master Roswaal’s grandmother being a heavy drinker.” Subaru’s eyebrows raise a little at the information. “Since Ros’ granny was around... It’s hard to even picture that. If this stuff really is that old it’s gotta be worth a fortune by now, right?”
Ram set her gaze on Subaru. With a sigh, she continued. “Barusu, no matter how much you struggle, alcohol is never the answer.” He looked up at her and responded loudly. “I wasn’t gonna drink it!” Suddenly, they heard footsteps behind them. Turning his head around, Subaru’s face fell grim.
“Subaru, Ram! So that’s what those rummaging noises were. So, what are you both doing in here, huh? Emilia stood at the doorway of the storage room that Subaru was dusting. “I was warning Barusu that no matter how painful your life is, alcohol is never the right answer.” Subaru rolled his eyes and groaned. Emilia put her finger over her mouth, bending down slightly to match Subaru’s crouching level.
“Really? If you were struggling that much, then you should’ve talked to me about it.” Subaru grabbed his head and turned away in embarrassment. “Jeez, I wasn’t planning on drinking it, I’m too young to do that anyways! I still have trouble getting on adult websites!”
“That’s strange, I don’t think I’ve heard of one of those before. Anyway, legal drinking age here in Lugnica is 15. If getting on these adult ‘websites’ is something you desire, I’ll do everything I can to help you with it!” Subaru blushed lightly, as he thought, “Emilia’s so innocent...” He also knew that websites, nor computers existed in the world he is in, so he knew Emilia would be confused.
Subaru got up and observed Emilia. She seemed to be wearing the same dress he met her in. It was cold in the mansion, so this attire was questionable. “By the way Mili, don’t you feel cold in that outfit?” Emilia’s eyes widened upon hearing the question. She blushed slightly and made a cute squeak-like sound. This made Subaru raise an eyebrow, along with being able to feel Ram’s eyes on him.
“No, I don’t feel cold in the slightest!” Emilia spoke in a frantic tone, as if she was flushed or embarrassed. “Are you all right Mili? You’re acting kind of strange.” Subaru’s eyes squinted slightly, as Emilia grew more frantic along with her red face. “I have some things I have to take care of, this came up really suddenly!” Emilia then turned around and ran out of the room. Subaru was left dumbfounded, standing in the cold storage room. Ram scoffed, walking by Subaru.
“Hah. This just shows how insignificant you are to Miss Emilia.” Ram said with a smug face. Subaru looked at Ram, turning his head slightly in order to. “She’s probably just really cold and changing her outfit!” Ram shrugged and told Subaru to get back to work. With a sigh, he crouched down to get any finishing touches left on the floorboards.
Subaru sighed, jumping onto the soft bed. “How relieving, I can finally get some shuteye....” Subaru groaned, as he crawled underneath the silk-soft sheets of the bed. Entering it, the bed felt colder than the mansion itself, meaning the temperature must be traveling at a quick pace. “Why’s it so cold? Yesterday I was sweating like crazy.” Thinking to himself, he let go of the question in his mind. Since it was comfortably chilly, he thought it would be a help to get him to rest quicker. “I hope it’s warmer tomorrow...” Subaru’s vision began to get blurry, as he closed his eyes. He breathed in the cool air, and exhaled, losing consciousness.
“Huh...?”
He woke up to a feeling, as if someone was with him. Moving his body slightly, he felt a sensation wrapping around his body. Looking down to his chest, Ram was asleep on top of him, hugging him. Subaru tensed slightly at the surprise. “H-huh?! What’s Ram doing in my room?!” Seeing a small cloud in front of his face, Subaru realized that his breath was fogging up the air slightly. After taking his hand out of the warm sheets, he realized the air felt cooler than before, sending a shiver down his spine.
“W-wait, did Ram decide to sleep with me since it was too cold?” He blushed at the kind thought, when he felt a small tug on his robe. Ram slipped over to his left, as she began to open her eyes. “Wh-what are you doing in my bed Ram?!” Subaru asked in a quiet but surprised tone. She smiled, sitting up in a sluggish way. “I was only keeping you warm since you looked cold, stupid Barusu.”
Ram answers him in a tired scoffing tone. Subaru blushed as he relaxed his head back onto the pillow. “Thank you...” Subaru said smiling. Feeling the warmth underneath the sheets, battling in comparison to the strange chill the air gave, Subaru decided to pull Ram down to him, his arms wrapped around her waist. Ram looked away for a small second with a blush, as Subaru posed a question.
“H-how did it get this cold?” Subaru asked. Ram shrugged. “Don’t ask me.” Subaru decided to shrug it off along with Ram and held her tighter for her warmth. Holding each other, they doze off into the oddly chilly night in the mansion.
Subaru and Ram awaken the next morning with full comfy rest. Although feeling slightly awkward after the events of the previous night, it was easy to shake off for them. Subaru got up and felt the strange coldness lingering in the mansion once again. Shaking the question out of his mind, knowing he would not get an answer, he went toward the door and turned the knob. On the other side, he found the slightly repaired library that was destroyed a week prior.
“Beatrice? Why are you up this early in the morning?” Subaru asked, then followed Ram. “Miss Beatrice?” Beatrice took a second until she noticed the two’s presence. Her eyes widened, showing her odd and interesting butterfly-shaped pupils. “---No reason at all! Stop snooping I suppose!” Subaru put off her demand, putting his hand across his chin. “Anyway, it’s insanely cold. Do you have any idea how it got this bad?”
Beatrice pouted, squinting her eyes. “Hmph! I wouldn’t know anything about that. And besides, I’m exceptionally busy so I have no time to play around, I suppose.” She flicked her hand toward the two, saying “shoo, shoo!” Subaru brushed his shoulders with a smug look on his face. “Well, it’s not as if I was asking you to play with me. Regardless, it’s easy to catch a cold when the seasons change, so be carefu-”
Beatrice abruptly cut him off with a quick response “I can handle the cold just fine. I don’t need someone like you worrying about me, I suppose.” Subaru replied to Beatrice’s words with a scenario that is unlikely to happen “No, no, it’s not you, it’s Rem I’d feel bad for if you If you were to catch a cold, she’d have to make you porridge and then she might not be able to find you at all. So, if you come down with something, try and behave, ok?” Subaru was trying to look after Beatrice, but it seemed she didn’t care. Suddenly, her mood took a drastic change. “Now why should I be criticized over a hypothetical story with a hypothetical ending I suppose? In any case I’m very busy so don’t make me repeat myself I suppose!”.
And with that, he was flung out of the window into a bush, where he could feel fertilizer the entire front of his body.. Bewildered, Subaru heard his name being called in worry. “Barusu!” Subaru knew it was Ram, with her voice and the nickname she always gave him. “Stop worrying me so much, stupid Barusu.” Subaru slugged his shoulders at her words. “Th-that was something out of my control.”
Subaru then inhaled, and remembered something. “Damn I’m filthy. I should really go take a bath now” Subaru looked at Ram. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a bath now.” With a smile, he proceeded to walk toward their room to grab everything he needed. “Don’t expect me to come with you, Barusu. You’re such a pervert.” Subaru froze in his tracks and whipped around with a red face. “Now how did you jump to that conclusion?!” Ram once again scoffed at his reaction, and walked in the opposite direction.
Subaru grabbed everything he needed. A towel, some soap, and a fresh change of clothes. “I can’t wait to get into the hot water!” Subaru thought to himself. It has been strangely cold, so this hot bath would surely do wonders for him. He decided not to waste any time, as he made his way to the large and luxurious. Opening the doors, he felt steam hit his face. “It seems like someone was here before me…” Subaru looked around to confirm no one else was using the bath, threw off his robe, and fell into the hot bath water.
“Ahhhhh..” Subaru let out a pleasured exhale, feeling relieved and relaxed at the hot spring like water he was in. He laid against the wall, relaxing. He controlled his breathing, when suddenly, he felt another presence near him. Subaru opened his eyes and peaked around. It did not seem like anyone was near him as far as he could tell. Suddenly, his suspicions were confirmed when he heard footsteps approaching him from behind.
“I swear, if this is Roswaal…” Subaru froze, as he slowly turned around to see who was behind him. Behold, he saw a familiar pink-haired maid standing behind him.
“I suppose I need a bath too. Stupid Barusu.”
Subaru looked up at Ram, now feeling like his entire body was on fire. His face quickly turned red. “EH?! What are you doing here Ram?!" Ram shrugged and smirked. “I'd rather get your stench off me first.* Subaru groaned a bit at her words, turning back around. "Just go in the little bath!”
Ram appeared with a bikini on, obviously a silent tease toward Subaru. Without hesitation, she joined the bath with him. She laid back in pleasure as well, sitting next to Subaru. Subaru felt slightly tense, as there was a small silence in between them. Ram broke the silence.
“So anyways Barusu, have your reading and writing skills improved yet?” Subaru remembers Ram teaching him how to read and write since the day they first met. All through the many events that have happened, Subaru had not had the time to study too much apart from the past couple of days, where they finally got some silence. “I’m able to read simple fairy tales now, but I still have a lot to learn.”
“That’s good to hear. Finally, Barusu can be of some use.” Subaru grabbed his head and groaned. “Would you stop making fun of me for just a minute?!” Ram smiled. “Hah.” With that, the two enjoyed a few moments of silence, relaxing themselves in the hot-warm water rustling against their skin.
Without thought, Ram scooted closer to Subaru. They were practically an inch apart from each other at this point. Subaru turned his head to see Ram’s face very close to his. He took this as a sign that she wanted a kiss. He could already feel himself grow anxious when she got a bit closer to him, he gained a red blush that spread across his face, so he looked downward as an attempt to hide it.
Knowing that they were alone, Ram wanted to take this opportunity to squeeze a kiss out of the scary eyed boy, since sometimes she struggles to hold her composure around him at times. She began to slowly reach closer to Subaru felt as if, for the first time, all of his senses went into overdrive. The combination of the water, steam, and body heat generated from both himself and Ram threw his sensitivity off the charts. It is as if everything he heard, tasted, felt, touch, seen, would forever be engraved in his mind. With this, he accepted Ram with everything in him. He closed his eyes slightly, awaiting the kiss.
Eventually their lips met, and it caused him to loosen up his body; freeing his mind to indulge in this partly foreign experience, since he still was new to this form of love. Now that he thought about it, the warm water really did calm his nerves and soothed his mind so he love the pink Oni properly.
“Mmh~” Subaru’s eyes widened a little at the sudden small-lived moan of pleasure that came out of her mouth. The kiss that they shared started as few pecks here and there, then soon transformed into longer kisses. Soon enough, Subaru became so at peace with this feeling that he started to get a little greedy and started to lean in for more, pulling Ram closer to him, grabbing her waist.
Ram was then greeted by an unusual feeling against her teeth and gums, it was like something was trying to drill its way into her mouth. “M-Mmh?!” She whimpered once again, but a little bit louder this time due to her surprise.
She understood that it was his tongue that was trying to make contact with hers to create a more intimate feeling. Pulling her jaws apart, she allowed his tongue to slip into her mouth. Their tongues began hugging each other, playing a game at dominance. Ram put her hands on his chest, as her face slowly became redder and redder.
She could call this the most intimate moment she ever had with her Barusu, with the fact that she could feel his heartbeat. Subaru’s arms acted like snakes and coiled around her slender torso. Her hands slithered from his chest to around his neck and pulled him lower into the kiss.
After a few more seconds of making out, Ram decided to pull back for a moment to take a quick breather. With most of her face died in scarlet and panting softly she herself began to feel a deep fire within her rise in her nether region. “No matter who heated we get or how much our hearts grow for one another, we must never cross that line just yet, or else there may be serious consequences.”
Now that she thought about it, she never really evaluated her love between Subaru and Roswaal. She obviously loved Subaru more because of recent events but that doesn’t mean that her heart didn’t yearn for Roswaal anymore.
But that didn’t matter at this moment; she’ll have time to further think about it later. She always has conflicting thoughts like these from time to time which only filled her in guilt but she didn’t want to ruin the mood now.
“Lord Roswaal... Barusu..” She frowned. “I’ll find a way to continue, a way that wont hurt me. I just won’t rush it.”
With those words, she mentally reminded herself not to get too carried away with current events. Her eyes rolled to Subaru and she could see carnal desires written all over his face; but he too knew how bad things could get if they took it over that line of kissing. “Jeez Barusu, we just had a wonderful moment, and you ruin it with that frustrated look of perversion? Honestly, I don’t know what I expected instead.”
Subaru, his face still dyed red, responded with a soft voice. “Eh? Oh, sorry if I made you uncomfortable Ram but... the way that kiss felt, it was like you and I were trying to become one. I honestly lost myself in that moment.”
Putting his hand over his chest, it felt like his heart would burst out of him at any moment. He smiled, looking at Ram. He took a moment to admire Ram’s stupefied expression and continued “...you’re just so breath-taking Ram.” He sincerely concluded.
Ram’s face was on fire after hearing how fondly Subaru spoke to her. It was like his words were threatening to shatter her pride. Not wanting that to happen, she decided to mask her ever increasing smile with a scowl and retorted by saying. “Ugh! Frankly I don’t think I can stay in this bath any longer with the likes of you around; you were probably going to go end up harassing me anyways. You truly are a pervert, Barusu.”
Subaru was surprised at her sudden outlash of pride, but teased back. “Oh come on Ram! You know that were leaning into it~ I could tell by how you were being submiss-” The pervert was cut off. “-Hk! Ugh!” She got up and left the bath after she shuffled away from him. Subaru quickly tried saving the situation. “Ram! I’m just joking!”
He pleaded but however, he was met with no response. “...Hah. Well I guess it’s time for me to leave as well huh?” Subaru quickly looked at the soap that he left next to his stuff. “Crap, that's right, Ram distracted me!” Subaru quickly grabbed the soap and washed himself, quickly jumping into the water to wash it all off. He then grabbed his bathrobe and exited the bathing room, making his way back to his room.
Entering the room, he was met with an oblivious Ram, who was changing in a blind spot. Subaru sneaked into the room, trying his hardest to look away from her. “Damn, I’m a bit dizzy from that bath.” Subaru was drying himself off and from a distance, looked at Ram getting back into her normal clothes. He saw her naked for just a moment but decided not to say anything about it, so she would not beat him up.
What he did see however caused his mind to be thrown into the gutter at lightning speed. Her well defined hips were something he noticed was his favorite part of Ram’s body. Followed by that would be her boastful rear which he thought seemed to be bigger than Rem’s. Not wanting to let Ram see him staring into space and think about her and her sister’s features, he shook his head and continued changing. He was still a hormonal teen after all.
He could tell Ram was too busy changing to notice him looking at her. But he decided not to test his luck and just went back to his room to change back into his normal attire. Subaru quickly made his way out of the room without her noticing once again.
Once out in the hall, Subaru could not shake his mind of the scene he saw earlier, and their make out session. Subaru had a large blush on his face, along with a priceless expression. Needing to clear his mind, he decided to try helping Rem with lunch.
“Subaru?” Rem looked at Subaru’s appearance with a confused expression on her face. Subaru stared at Rem with a red face, remembering the scene him and Felix witnessed the week prior. “I-I just took a bath, do you need any help Rem?” Subaru asked. Rem gave a soft smile. “Sure! If you insist.” Rem pointed at the potatoes laid out on the counter. Of course, Subaru was yet again assigned the job of skinning potatoes. Without complaining, he began to work.
Making a dumb mistake while skinning the potatoes, he sliced his finger open. He held it in slight pain. Rem turned her head to face Subaru. “Subaru? Are you alright?” He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Rem then walked up to Subaru and started to heal his small wound with healing magic. Just like that, the finger stopped bleeding. It’s as if the accidental cut never happened in the first place.
Rem then went back to preparing lunch, as Subaru aggressively cut potatoes in an attempt to forget about what just happened for the time being.
The day went on like any other. Subaru and Ram were silent in between each other for the rest of the afternoon. Beatrice was huddled up in her forbidden library. Rem did chores along with Ram and Subaru, and Emilia took to being in her room all day, studying.
“Ok, something’s obviously going on here!”
Subaru got out of bed in anger, seeing as the mansion began to freeze, generating ice on the floor and walls. "Is Roswaal responsible for all of this?” Subaru thought to himself. Dressing quickly, he tried to do his daily work. However, it was far too cold for him to do so. Even with a blanket wrapped around him, he was shivering.
Both Rem and Ram had frowns on their faces as they looked at the shivering Subaru. Oddly, Rem didn’t seem to be affected much by the cold, but Ram was also wrapped up in a blanket, like Subaru. However, she was shivering more than Subaru was.
“I should’ve come to help warm you up, but there was no way I could leave my sister behind.” Rem told Subaru. “W-were you keeping each other warm? J-just imagining that has b-brought my body temperature up by a-about t-three degrees.” Subaru made a small, painful smile. Ram rolled her eyes and Rem blushed slightly.
“Oh my Subaru, you don’t seem to be very well, whatever is the maaatter?”
Subaru looked up at the tall man before them. Roswaal entered the room with a fluffy coat with his favored color palette. Subaru quickly responded. “Well, what do you think?! It’s super freakin’ cold! This goes beyond natural climate extremes!” Roswaal clapped his hands together. “Goodness, I didn’t think you had such a faaaaint heart. If you keep your mind and body in optimal condition, you can find calm no matter how cold-”
Subaru cut his words in anger. “That’s not very convincing coming from somebody dressed in as many layers as you! I’ll develop homicidal tendencies at this rate!” Subaru sneezes into a tissue that Rem had in her hand. Roswaal put his hand across his chin. “Yes I see, we may indeed be reaching our liiiimit.”
Subaru raised an eyebrow at the words Roswaal spoke. “The way you just said that, do you know more than you’re letting on?” Subaru once again sneezed into the tissue. “Do you have a rather difficult time handling the cold weather then?” Roswaal asked. “I complain in the summer when it gets too hot, and in the winter when it gets too cold, like any ordinary human would, alright?” Subaru groaned, shivering.
“Anyway, you can rest easy. This chill is not affecting anyone else, it is only occurring around the mansion.” Roswaal tried reassuring Subaru, but to no avail. “Hang on, how the hell is that even possible?!” Subaru yelled.
“We have two beings here who are working hard to ensure that it doesn’t spread beyond this domain.” Roswaal told Subaru. With a confused expression, he pointed to Ram and Rem. “Does he mean you two?” Subaru asked the twins. Ram had a confused look on her face, while Rem replied to Subaru’s body language. “It certainly isn’t my sister and me.”
Subaru looked back up at Roswaal. “I guess that narrows it down then, doesn’t it?” Roswaal once again clapped his hands together. “It would seem you don’t need further explanaaation!” Roswaal leads Subaru and Rem to the door of Emilia’s room. Ram was unable to join along, due to the cold being too intense for her to handle.
“Miss Emilia? Forgive me for the early disturbance, doooo you have a moment to spare?” After a short moment of silence, Emilia responded from the other side. “Roswaal? I um, just a moment, okay?” Roswaal nodded. “Goooo ahead then.”
Subaru walks up to the door to her room, grabbing the doorknob to turn. He quickly released however, realizing the doorknob was freezing cold. “What the hell, it’s freezing! What’s going on?” Emilia then frantically spoke from the other side once again. “Huh? Wait, Subaru’s there too?!” Subaru responded. “Yeah, I am, but that isn’t the issue! Don’t you have something else to say!”
Emilia hesitated a response, but quickly did in order to try to not raise suspicion. “Let’s see, um, right, good morning!” That blatant response confirmed Subaru’s suspicions. Emilia was obviously trying to hide something.
“I’m walking in!” Subaru grabbed the doorknob quickly and turned it. “No wai-” In an instant, the door flew open. A gust of freezing air blew into everyone’s faces. Emilia’s room was completely frozen, along with the fact that it appeared there was a blizzard occuring in the room.
The air that hit Subaru face first made his face numb. “It’s freezing! What the hell is going on in here?!” Subaru exclaimed in question. The wind blows away the blanket from Subaru and sends it flying the other direction. He started to feel his hands and arms go numb from the freezing temperature.
“Y-you shouldn’t barge into someone’s room before they have given you permission to do so! You are being very rude, yes, incredibly rude! You know, you should just start over, okay?!” Emilia yelled in frustration and embarrassment. Emilia was deceived that Subaru found out about what she was hiding.
“All right then, that would be Mili’s suggestion, but does the mansion’s owner have anything else to say?” Subaru turned to Roswaal, looking up at him. Roswaal smiled. “You may enter if you wish.” Emilia yelled back. “Hey! Roswaal!” She pouted at his words.
Subaru had his arms wrapping around his body as he shivered. “Now, what’s the cause of this intense weather?!” Yelling at Emilia, she hesitated to respond. “Cause of it, what do you mean by cause? It’s not like it’s a-, no, it’s not-, no, not quite not, I don’t know!” She clenched her fists and looked downard in slight shame.
“It’s okay Lia, at this point, I don’t think it’d be possible for us to hide this anyways. Hah” Puck emerged from her hair, greeting Subaru and the others.
“Puck! You aren’t any help at all, and right when I almost had him convinced!” Emilia also complained to Puck, who rubbed the back of his head in return with an awkward smile. “Yeah, another hundred years wouldn’t have gotten you closer to that.” Subaru called out Emilia. “Huh?” Emilia was convinced she had Subaru clean of any suspicion of her.
Puck then sighed. “I’m really sorry, cause I’m the one who’s causing the trouble. Don’t be upset at Lia or Betty, ok? I mean, after all those two have just been trying to look after me.” Subaru looked at Puck with a confused look on his face. “Puck caused this?...”
To be continued