CHOCOLATE ROSES

Another Invidia Short by AMI MEITSU

A/N: This story takes place in 2211; Akira and Ryou are 8 and Setsuna’s 9.

“Invidia! Is that done yet?” Nova asked.

“Don’t rush me!” Invidia snapped, as she slowly stirred a pot of half-melted chocolate over the stove in an attempt to get the heat spread around so it would melt faster. She, Nova, Trelania and Wendy were at Nova’s working on chocolate for Valentine’s Day, which was only a couple days away.

“She wouldn’t rush you if you wouldn’t take so long.” Trelania pointed out.

“Don’t start with me! Besides I do not control the rate at which chocolate melts.”

“Maybe if you turned the stove up?” Wendy suggested.

“No! Then it would burn!” Invidia snapped. “Idiot…” She muttered, meaning for only her to hear it.

“I heard that!”

“So? It’s fitting. You married an idiot and therefore, you are one.”

“Invidia!” Nova snapped. “Don’t start! You are my guest and I won’t hesitate to kick you out if you cause trouble!”

“Fine…” Invidia muttered as she turned off the stove and pulled the pot off of it. She set it on the counter, pulled the stirring spoon out, and licked it.

“Invidia, that’s supposed to be for the guys, not you.” Trelania said in a teasing way.

“Who said they get to have it all?”

“Good point.” Nova said as she ran her finger along the edge of the pot and licked it.

They laughed and Nova set out the small plastic spoons they were planning to use for the molds, which were a bunch of different shapes: hearts, teddy bears, and flowers, they sat in the middle of the counter by different colors and flavors of chocolate, they had regular chocolate, vanilla that was actually red, and even white mint chocolate.

“Nova, why did you make so much? You know we’re not going to use all of this.” Trelania said.

“Some of this is for Setsuna, her class is having a party and she wanted me to make her some chocolates. She told me that she wants to bring in more than the cards or lollipops the other girls bring in.”

“Don’t the guys bring anything?” Wendy asked.

“Of course, just because it’s tradition for girls to give a guy presents on Valentine’s day that doesn’t mean the guys aren’t. Besides, they’re just little kids; tradition doesn’t really matter to them anyway.”

“That reminds me, I have to ask Misako about her class too,” Trelania muttered. “What about you, Invidia?” She looked around. “Invidia? Where’d she go?”

Nova and Wendy shrugged just as Invidia came back in. “Why are you all standing around like idiots? Do you want the chocolate to harden?” She asked.

“Where’d you go?” Nova asked.

“Out to my car. I had to get something.” Invidia held up three molding trays…for roses!

“Where did you get those?” Trelania asked.

“They’re cute and I guess that explains why we have green-colored chocolate.” Wendy took one and looked at it.

“I got them when I was out yesterday, and lollipop sticks. Oh and no you can’t use them! They’re mine for Arty!”

“Wait, I thought you said Valentine’s Day was stupid.” Nova said.

“No, I said it was a holiday stores endorsed to sell us junk, I didn’t say I didn’t like it, and I always give Arty chocolate, ever since he requested so on our first Valentine’s Day together. A bunch of girls used to give him chocolate but he never ate it, he ate mine though, and as you pointed out, Nova, it just had to be love…”

“Sounds romantic, but I’m sure Nova here can top it.” Wendy said.

“Really? Well, what was the best present you ever gave Derek?”

“Setsuna.”

“That’s right; Setsuna was born on Valentine’s Day…” Invidia mused. ‘I know she told me that once…but, how come I never remember? Maybe ‘cause she’s not my kid…’ “Never mind, let’s just get this done!”

The women nodded and carefully filled the molds with chocolate, some of them regular, others multicolored, they talked while they worked too.

“So, Nova, what are your plans this year?” Trelania asked as she put a couple trays in the fridge to harden.

“Well, Derek and I are taking Setsuna out for dinner; she said she wanted to go to a fancy restaurant for her birthday instead of having a party. Then after she goes to bed we can get romantic…”

“Sounds fun, I’ve decided that I just want to spend a romantic evening at home.” Wendy said.

“Sounds nice,” Trelania told her. “Mark and I haven’t decided yet, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something, what about you Invidia? You’ve been kind of quiet…”

Invidia didn’t say anything.

“Invidia?” Trelania asked.

“Shush!” Invidia snapped, she was working on carefully putting the green into place for the rose’s leaves. Roses were NOT supposed to be green, so she had co carefully put it in place only at the leaves. After which she put a lollipop stick down and filled it in with another color of chocolate over the stick.

“Did she just shush me?” Trelania asked.

“Yes I did.” Invidia said as she finished off her roses, then, she put them in the fridge with the other molds. “And to answer your question Arty and I are going out for dinner, after dropping the kids off at his parents’ house of course, then after we come home; well…let’s just say I have plans.”

“Why Arty’s parents?” Wendy gave Invidia a strange look.

“Two reasons. One, we trust them a lot and know they’ll take care of Akira and Ryou. They know our rules and won’t let them slip on anything. Two, we want the house to ourselves, it’s a Friday night so we won’t have to worry about the kids going to school, and we can stay up all night together…”

“Why can’t Zordar watch them?” Nova asked.

“Because, even though I love my Father, I don’t really want him watching them. I know he’s responsible but there’s not enough room in his apartment and besides, who said I had to share him?”

They all laughed just as Derek came in with Setsuna behind him. “Hey, what’s all the laughing about?” He asked.

“I smell chocolate!” Setsuna said. She then moved passed Derek and ran into the kitchen. “What are you making?” She asked.

“Setsuna, you know you’re not supposed to wear shoes in the house.” Nova said, not bothering to answer her question.

Setsuna sighed and went into her room to take off her uniform and shoes and put on regular clothes. Derek came in the kitchen after she left.

“Hey…” Nova said as she went over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “How was your day?” She asked.

“Long, you?”

“Okay.”

“That’s probably because you go to leave early.” Invidia pointed out.

“Yeah.” Nova admitted as Setsuna came back into the kitchen, she now wore a black skirt and a pink shirt with the words ‘No Average Angel’ printed across it with a black halo looped around some of the words.

“No average angel, huh?” Wendy said when she looked at Setsuna.

“Nope! Mom, can I have some chocolate?”

“No, this is for your class; you’re just going to have to wait.”

“But I want it now!”

“Don’t whine.” Trelania said. “Whiners don’t get anywhere in life.”

“Or they just get slapped for being a baby.” Invidia said.

Everyone looked at Invidia.

“It happened to me once.” She said, then she looked at the clock. “And I gotta go…” She pulled her chocolate out of the fridge and threw it in a box she had brought. “Thanks for letting me come over, bye.” She then left and got in the car to head on home, where, Arty was waiting with Akira and Ryou.

“Invidia-Mama!” Akira jumped up from her place at the table and ran to hug her.

“Hi… what are you so happy about?” She asked.

Akira held up a paper. “Well, my class is having a party! See?”

“And…”

“And I told them you’d make us some chocolate roses.”

“You did vhat?!”

Akira nodded. “And I told them you’d make bouquets! With a lot of roses!”

“Akira! How could you?! And without my permission too!” Invidia snapped. “What the hell makes you think I have time to make all those roses?!”

“Invidia, language…” Arty said, he didn’t like her cursing at the children.

“Shut up.” She said, then she turned to Akira. “But I guess you can’t break a promise… that would be rude.” She mused. “How many kids are in your class?”

“Twenty-four, including me.”

Invidia sighed. “I hate to do this but, I’ll make you your roses, but I’m not making huge bouquets!”

“That’s fine!” Akira said. “Oh, I know! How about a bouquet of three?”

“Fine…” Invidia muttered. She sighed, then she realized something. ‘I have to make 72 roses?! Where are we gonna put them all?! Oh, Akira, I hate you right now…’ She sighed, seventy-two chocolate roses was a lot to deal with…But she knew she had to do them, and she did, right after dinner.

“Okay…” Arty said as he came into the kitchen while Invidia was busy melting chocolate. “Does it really make sense to clean the kitchen and then mess it up again?”

“Shut up.” Invidia stated flatly. “And if you’re just going to stand around then leave, or you can help me and put my spoons, brushes and molds out, please.”

Arty nodded and put the stuff on the counter, just as Invidia came over with a bowl of green-colored chocolate.

“Why do you only have one?” He asked.

“You do the green first.” Invidia said in a ‘duh’ tone. “Now, watch the rest of it, would you? The red should be done first, then the white, and then I want you to take another bowl and mix them together, okay?” She then stirred the green, picked up her paintbrush and slowly began to paint the very first layer of green, then she took a plastic spoon and carefully filled it in.

“Here.” Arty set another bowl next to her, this one contained red-colored vanilla, not chocolate. “Can I go now? I have work to do for General Stone.”

“Fine.” Invidia muttered, not really paying attention. He left and Invidia moved to get the other bowl with white chocolate, but as soon as she picked it up, Akira and Ryou came running through the kitchen.

“Give it back!” Akira snapped and she chased him, Ryou held a DVD in hand.

“No! You stole mine and I’m stealing yours!” He snapped back.

“You know, two wrongs don’t make a right!”

“But two rights make a left!”

Akira growled and chased him around Invidia. “Give it back!”

“Watch it!” Invidia snapped, she didn’t like them under her feet; she turned around in an attempt to get out of the way. At that moment Akira jumped at Ryou, Invidia tripped, and the bowl tipped, she succeeded in getting most of the chocolate on herself and the floor before dropping the bowl, she couldn’t stand the hot chocolate on her hands. It fell with a ‘clang’ and she glared at Akira and Ryou.

“Look what you did! Get out of my kitchen!” She snapped.

They just looked at each other.

“You heard me! Get out! Now!”

Akira and Ryou gulped and backed up, Invidia hardly ever snapped at them like that, they ran and she sighed.

‘I’m doing this for Akira and she has the nerve to interrupt me! And my dress, now I have to stop just to clean this up!’ She thought as she picked up the bowl. “‘Have kids, they’re a joy…’ Nina says. ‘It’ll be fun!’ Nova says. I say it’s a load of crap!” Invidia muttered to herself, and only to herself. She was clearly angry, how could Akira just tell her to make seventy-two chocolate roses and then ruin it?! It was then that Invidia realized something…it was going to be a long three days…

And it was. Invidia could only work in the late afternoon and evenings after dinner, since she had other things to do, like clean, and go out for things. It made making roses difficult…very difficult…

“All right, I have forty-eight, and still need to make one more set after the one in the fridge hardens…I’ve done up some of them in bouquet format already…” Invidia said to herself as she busily put her bouquets together, to do this she first had to cover the roses in plastic and then tie the lollipop sticks together with a red ribbon, the good part was, she was almost done, the bad part was…it was midnight, on the night before Valentine’s Day. She sighed and took another sip of her tea, then, she went over and checked the roses in the fridge, she found that they were perfect and took them out. ‘Great…sixty done, twelve to go, and now I have to re-melt my chocolate! God I hate this! After this I don’t wanna see another chocolate rose again! Well…except for the ones I made Arty of course.’

She then sighed again and put the chocolate in the microwave to re-melt while putting her bouquets together…and by the time she was done with everything, including cleaning, it was three AM and all Invidia wanted to do was collapse on the couch, but she knew she had to shower first, then go to bed. She layed her head on her arms on the counter just as Arty came out, he had gotten up to go to the bathroom, but came out when he found that Invidia wasn’t in bed.

“Are you still up, Princess?” He asked in a sleepy voice.

“I just finished.” Invidia told him.

“Then come to bed, you need to rest.”

Invidia nodded and looked at Arty. “Carry me…” She said, holding her arms out to him.

Arty gave her a weak smile and picked her up, then he carried her down the hall and into the bedroom, he put her down on the floor. “Now, I want you to take a warm shower, put on your pajamas and go to sleep, all right?”

Invidia nodded to him again and headed into the bathroom. After she came out, she had to admit, she felt a lot better, and wasn’t all run down like before.

“Feel better?” Arty asked when she came out.

“You’re still up?” Invidia asked as she went over and climbed into bed with him.

“Of course, I wanted to make sure you actually went to sleep and that you were comfortable. You look so cute!” He hugged her, to him she was just adorable in the dark blue pajama set Zordar had gotten her for her birthday. This was the first time he’d seen her wear it, it was made of this soft, satiny material, and included a long-sleeved top and pants.

“Arty, can I lay down now?”

“Oh, sorry.” He let her go, and she lay down next to him, Arty then put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

She smiled and slowly drifted off into a deep sleep…

But, it didn’t last very long, at six-thirty she was awakened by Akira, who got on the bed and jumped on top of her.

“Invidia-Mama! Invidia-Mama wake up!” She said.

“What?” Invidia whined in a sleepy voice.

“Did you finish my bouquets? Huh? Did ya?”

“Yes! I’ll bring them in later, okay? Just go away!” Invidia snapped before lying back down again.

“Okay…” Akira mumbled, she sat for a second and Arty came in.

“Akira, get out of here, and leave Invidia alone, she needs to rest, okay?” Arty told her.

Akira nodded and got down, she figured she would just have to wait and see if Invidia finished…

And she did, the whole day until her class’ party, when, right before it, all the parents started coming in with food, including Invidia. She carried a small box and put it on Akira’s desk.

“Here,” She said.

Akira looked at her; she still looked a little tired, and quite annoyed. “Thank you Invidia-Mama.” She said.

Invidia waved her hand. “Thank your Father; he’s the one who got me up in time to get ready.” With that, she left, she just couldn’t take being in a room with that many children, and she had things to attend to. Like working on her plans for that night…which started after she and Arty dropped the kids off with Nina and Takachi.

“Now, remember, it’s Friday so they don’t have to go to bed until eleven, and here.” Invidia handed Nina a bouquet with four chocolate roses. “They can have one each; the other two are for you, and they’ll eat basically anything, just don’t load them up on sugar.”

“Okay, okay, we get it. And it’s not like we haven’t watched them before. Don’t worry about it! Just have fun and enjoy your evening. By the way you look beautiful, no wonder Arty looks at you the way he does.”

Invidia blushed a little and looked down at herself. Currently, she wore a long, dark red spaghetti strap dress that had had a slit running up the side of her leg. With it, she wore black sandals and a small rose barrette in her hair.

“Don’t be embarrassed, it’s a good thing he’s attracted to you, now go have fun.”

Invidia gave a small nod and headed back down to the car, Akira and Ryou waved her off.

“Bye, Mom!” Ryou said.

“Have fun! And no floor shows!” Akira teased.

Invidia ignored them and just got in the car. “So where are we going?” She asked.

“You’ll see.” Arty said as he drove. Eventually, they ended up a familiar place.

“Arty…” Invidia breathed. “I haven’t been here in so long this…this is where you proposed to me!”

“I thought it would be perfect for Valentine’s Day…”

“But I’m supposed to give you presents!”

“So? No one said that I couldn’t turn around and give one back.”

“I guess, that’s true.” Invidia said as Arty took her hand and led her inside. As soon as they were seated she looked up at him with shy eyes.

“I know that look…what’s up?” Arty asked.

“Well, since it’s Valentine’s Day I also…uh, I wanted to hold up our tradition…”

“And…?”

Invidia dug through her purse and pulled out a small black bag, it had a red ribbon tied around it. “I wanted to give this to you, it’s just some chocolate but I made it special.”

Arty smiled and took it from her, he opened and found four chocolate roses tied together, including a special red and white one, it was accompanied by a couple chocolate hearts and a card, which said, simply.

To my one true love…

Your Little Princess, Invidia.

“Oh, you’re so sweet, thank you, Princess.”

“You’re welcome…” ‘But that’s not all I have in store for you…’ She thought, and when they went home she initiated the rest of her plan. While Arty was in the bedroom she set up the living room.

“Princess? Are you coming in here or not?” He called.

“Why don’t you come out here and find out?” Invidia called back.

He sighed, but he did come and got his answer, she was obviously not coming into the bedroom. “Invidia, what did you…? You look…wow…” He just kept staring at her; she lay on a black blanket, not her ‘blankie’, but a bigger one almost like it, on the blanket she had spread out a couple of rose petals and around the room were several candles, but that wasn’t what drew his eye. It was her, Invidia laid sideways in a short, dark red, satiny nightgown; she had purposely knocked one of her straps down in an attempt to show off more.

“What does it look like? I’m giving you the other half of your present. Now get over here and undress me.”

“Of course…” Arty then went over and sat with her, she got up, moved closer, and kissed him. As she did, he ran his hands along her sides… “You feel nice…you’re not wearing anything under this are you?”

“Why don’t you find out? But only after I get you undressed.” Invidia whispered as she pulled at the buttons on his shirt, it soon came off and he pulled her closer. Arty pulled her strap down more and started to caress her, confirming that she definitely wasn’t wearing anything under her nightgown, as, he could clearly feel her bare breasts underneath it.

Invidia moaned softly as he played with her and quickly went after his belt, it took awhile but it soon came undone as Arty kissed her again, ran his hands along the end of her nightgown and slowly pulled it off.

Not only did she not complain, but she gasped when he finally got it off and grabbed her again.

“You know, we haven’t done this in so long, I almost forgot how you felt…it’s nice…” He said as he ran his hands down her again and just started touching her.

“Not yet…not until you’re naked…” Invidia knocked him over and quickly got his pants off, making then both naked. “Good, now I know this is a dumb question, but…do you like what you see?” She laid in front of him in a position that was quite sexy to him…

“Of course, you’re beautiful when you’re naked, I want you…” He pulled her over, and they kissed, as they did Arty ran his hand down her back to her bottom, then he found her center, finding that not only was she hot all over, but she obviously wanted him too much for her own good.

Invidia moaned in a low, sexy way as he teased her, but she soon snapped out of it, only for a second.“Oh, stop teasing me!” She pushed him down and got on top. “Just take me, now…”

“Well…I…” Arty stuttered, but he was stopped by Invidia’s kiss, to which he rolled her over so that he was on top, and kissed her again as their night began…A night of nothing but hot passion and love…