Angel of Music

The post-opera reception lasted long into the night, and it was ten o'clock before Shigure managed to pull Ayame aside and speak to him in something resembling privacy. But contrary to his expectations, the man required no promptings.

"Shigure, my love!" he exclaimed. "Why, wherever have you been all night? I've been waiting for you!"

"I was trying to - " Shigure began, but before he could continue Ayame pursed his lips and frowned.

"Shigure, you haven't been cheating on me, have you?" he asked.

Shigure blinked. "Ayame, how could you ever think such a thing? You know I would never do that!"

The instantaneous, blindingly white grin was his only warning, and then he was staggering back as Ayame quite literally leaped to hug him. There was a period of much bowing and apologizing for spilled drinks before Ayame looped his arm possessively through Shigure's, announced somewhat loudly that he and his love were leaving, and proceeded to do just that.

Leaning against the wood-panelled wall outside of Ayame's room, Shigure couldn't help but smile. There would be questions to answer in the morning, yes, but for now he could simply enjoy the fact that they were about to have dinner. Besides being ravenously hungry - Akito had rushed him out of the house that morning with some excuse about a business associate requesting a private meeting, and he hadn't had a chance to eat since - it would give them a chance to catch up on the last decade and a half. One thing, at least, hadn't changed a bit: Ayame still felt the need to switch outfits every three hours.

Shigure chuckled, and waited.

The Paris Opera House was huge, and employed an entire host of people that would have otherwise been beggars to simply roam the lower levels and keep doors that should be shut, shut. However, they had a way of getting into the wine cellars from time to time - often on premiere nights, such as this - and had been known to fall down on the job occasionally. So when Ayame walked into his rooms and was greeted with the sight of his seven-foot-tall mirror standing open to reveal a long dark passageway that turned almost immediately out of view behind a forest of think supports, he was more intrigued than unnerved.