Blessed by Night

It hadn't even been a full week since the family had gotten dressed up for their wedding day, but they found themselves wearing fancy clothes once again.

Though this time, the mood was noticeably more downtrodden.

With Celeste still out and down for the count, no one was quite willing to leave her at home in misery while they ran out and played games of politics.

Joanne and Malachi had to go for certain. The Prime Minister would no doubt be expecting them, and they couldn't very well ignore his summons so soon after he had permitted them to stay in Japan.

It was everyone else who was questionable.

In the end, it was decided that Bianca and Luna would come with them to help mitigate some of the potential small talk they might run into.

Luna was an expertly charming conversationalist, and Bianca was a natural people person.

They were good partners for the always broody Joanne and the slightly stand-offish Malachi.

"Mr Saint, please let me pour you a drink!"

"Nah, I'm cool."

Luna and Joanne kicked Mal under the table.

"I mean... I would like to pour you a drink instead, Mr. Prime Minister." He corrected.

"Oh? I would be honored!"

Joanne and Luna let out small breaths of relief.

After receiving his drink, the Prime Minister gestured for someone to the side to come over, and a young woman skipped up to them.

She was apparently the same age as Malachi, with short silver hair and a curiously pale complexion.

Her bright purple eyes sparkled in a way that made Luna and Joanne violently angry.

"This is my daughter Harumi." The Prime Minister introduced. "I told you she was a big fan, yes?"

Malachi began to feel like a cornered animal. "I think you mentioned something like that, yes sir..."

Harumi took Malachi's hand and shook it firmly.

"I-It's very nice to meet you... I-I used to follow you on Insta for the longest time!"

Malachi almost forgot he had social media. He kind of dropped it when he got blessed and he and Sei got together.

Most pictures of him on the internet came from strangers or Serana.

"O-Oh, I..."

"C-Could I get a picture with you? My friends are all going to lose their minds!"

"Well-"

Harumi didn't wait for Malachi to give a response, and quickly pressed herself against him.

Luna almost cracked the glass in her hand. Joanne could hear the distant sound of gunshots from her past.

At first, the act of photography was harmless. Harumi simply took a variety of photos while posing and making different faces.

The most Malachi could do was smile awkwardly while pretending he didn't feel two heated gazes boring into his back.

Out of the corner of his eye, he looked around for Bianca to see why she wasn't coming over to snap heads

He found her still sitting at the table- gorging herself on isobeage while on video chat with her father back home.

'Probably for the best...' Mal thought to himself.

"Oh, last one!"

Harumi stunned all three of them when she planted a kiss on Malachi's cheek.

He ripped himself away from her before Jo and Luna could do it.

"No disrespect, but I don't know if I'm comfortable with that much familiarity..." Malachi put some well-needed space between himself and Harumi while trying not to divulge just how annoyed he was.

"Hahaha! Your bad Japanese is so cute!" Harumi giggled.

Fur was beginning to bristle out of Malachi's pores.

The Prime Minister took his daughter under his arm. "He's married, Harumi. To them, specifically."

When Harumi's eyes settled on the older women lingering behind Malachi, it was clear that her mind needed a moment to catch up.

"Oh! My bad, I didn't see you there! You two are so beautiful, you remind me of my mother!"

Joanne's knuckles cracked from how tightly she clenched her fists. Luna started taking off her earrings.

Malachi quickly placed his hands on the girls' backs and started guiding them away before something irreparable happened. "A-Alright, well, we have to go check on our wife now..!"

He left before the Prime Minister, or his overly friendly daughter, could voice any objections.

When Bianca saw the faces of her lovers coming closer, she immediately noticed the combined looks of agitation across them.

"Dad, I think I'm gonna have to call you back..."

"Wipe your face first, princess."

"Oh shit.."

Bianca scrubbed her lips with a napkin as Luna came back to their table in a huff.

"Get your purse, love, we're leaving."

"You said we should stay for at least an hour." Bianca checked her watch. They had only been there for thirty minutes.

"Yeah, well, that was before some air-headed little bitch put her greasy lips on my husband and told me I was old enough to be his mother."

"She didn't say that second part." Joanne corrected.

"It sure as shit felt like she did!"

Bianca looked at Malachi's cheek and saw a shade of lipstick that didn't belong to anyone in their family.

Her perfectly styled blonde hair started to catch on fire as she smiled.

"Point that bitch out."

Malachi caught Luna's finger just before she could point it in a specific direction and make this entire evening significantly more explosive.

"For the sanctity of the mission, we're not going anywhere." Joanne sighed. "And as much as it ticks me off, we can't afford to look rude and peel out early just because the prime minister's bitch daughter can't keep her bitch face to herself."

Luna and Bianca didn't look happy to hear that. If he was honest, Malachi wasn't overly thrilled about the idea either.

"We'll just be like a group of wallflowers over here, minding our own business..." Joanne sat down at the table and pulled Malachi and Luna into chairs on either side of her. "No one's going to come bother a bunch of newlyweds when they clearly want to be alone."

"How sure are you about that logic?" Malachi raised a brow.

Joanne boldly grabbed Malachi's hand.

He let out an impressed whistle.

"Whoa... I thought we were supposed to be avoiding PDA in front of these people."

Joanne's cheeks were already turning red, but she was trying her best to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, well... if some airheaded little twenty-year-old can put her goddamn lips on you then I should be able to hold your hand whenever I feel like it." She said firmly.

Smiling, Malachi leaned in closer. The scent of Joanne's perfume was so familiar and inviting that it made his whole body feel warm.

"You know you can do a lot more than just hold my hand if you want."

Joanne ordinarily would have flicked her husband's head and told him to keep his mind out of the gutter while they were on business.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the image of that young girl throwing herself at her husband, and then mocking her age.

Perhaps she wanted people to see them together. Their reputation be damned.

"...Just for a few seconds." She whispered.

"No promises." Malachi leaned in.

"And no tongue.'

"Definitely no promises."

Their lips met and Bianca took the opportunity to take a picture or twelve for the rest of the family.

"Oh my..."

"Americans are so open."

"So their relationship wasn't just for play after all..."

Luna was the first to hear the hushed whispers from other banquet goers.

Joanne and Malachi's kiss hadn't attracted the attention of the entire party, but there were enough eyes on the duo for them to be quite the topic of conversation.

Suddenly, the two of them pulled away.

Joanne was staring at Malachi with a look of deep concern.

"Hon... You're burning up."

Malachi brought a hand to his head only to realize that she was right. He did feel warm, and it wasn't just because of the heated kiss the two had just shared.

He, like Joanne, was immediately concerned.

Part of being his mother's avatar meant that he never got hot. Not unless someone like Bianca was intentionally trying to burn him.

"Here, drink this." Joanne passed him a glass of water and helped him remove his suit jacket.

Malachi downed the glass relatively quickly, but the relief was only momentary.

"I'm gonna head to the bathroom for a minute..." He stood up and left too quickly for the girls to follow. He was almost positive that his walking was slightly wobbly.

Malachi burst into the bathroom, and by the time he got there, he was barely upright.

Malachi cut the lights off in the bathroom, hoping the comforting darkness would make the burning in his body subside. It didn't.

He collapsed on the ground while holding his pounding head. Gradually, he stopped being able to hear everything that was going on outside.

With his last bit of consciousness, he was vaguely aware of his things tearing themselves free from his back, and he blacked out from the pain.