#zelkivy

[skelezomperman]

Flashfic #10: Zelkov drinks coffee, to Ivy's dismay

After an hour of prayer and one or two of lying in bed ruminating on her thoughts, Ivy was finally on the edge of falling asleep. This was interrupted, though, when there was a knock on her door. She took her pillow and held it over her chest out of fright until she realized whose knock it was. Neither of them said a word to each other after he opened the door perhaps because they had already said good night to each other earlier. Ivy found herself intrigued by Zelkov finding all of the pillows in her room and meticulously examining each one of them before putting it back. He did this even with the pillows on her bed.

“Zelkov, why is it that you are rearranging every pillow in my room?" she asked after he had done this three or four times.

"This buzzing feeling in my head gives me extraordinary energy," he responded. 

Ivy groaned. "Must you do this now?"

"Yes."

She reluctantly let him test out all of the pillows in her room until he was content. Eventually he picked one of the pillows and gave it to his princess. She was delighted to discover when she lay her head upon the pillow that it was fluffed perfectly – neither too hard nor too soft, it was perfect for her to go to sleep with a smile on her face.

Alas.

She had to cover her head with another pillow as she kept getting distracted by the sounds of Zelkov walking up and down the halls. It was too bad that she couldn't fall asleep with noise in the background like how she could fall asleep with the light of a candle in her face.

Eventually, Ivy had enough. When she got out of bed, her mood was so sour that she did not even bother to slip her feet into her slippers despite the cold floor. Instead she stomped over to her door, slammed it open, and shouted in Zelkov's direction: "What is the problem?! Can you not leave me alone?"

"I assure you, Your Majesty, all of the work I am doing right now is constructive. You will be pleased to see the end result when you wake up."

Ivy put her head in between her hands. "Wake up...like I'm even going to go to sleep with you doing this..." she trailed off.

"I regret to inform you that I had two full cups of this coffee drink that was imported from Solm," Zelkov stated. "I was not aware that its stimulating properties were so potent."

She could do nothing else but shake her head. "Just go outside at this point. Run around fifty times in the snow. I want to go to sleep,” she commanded.

“Indeed I will do so,” Zelkov stated. “Good night, Ivy.”

“Good night,” she brusquely replied as she closed the door on him.

“How did I fall in love with him of all people…” she said to herself as she tried to go back to sleep.

-+-

Ivy did eventually get to sleep although it was only for two or three hours. She was surprised that Zelkov was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, she asked Kagetsu what happened when their paths crossed between meetings. He told him that Zelkov seemed to be sick. When she had a moment alone after lunch, she took it upon herself to enter Zelkov's sanctum in the basement of the castle. She found him reclining on his side on one of the sofas with one of his hands over his head. He barely reacted when she opened the door.

"Urghhhh...." he groaned.

Ivy gasped. "Zelkov, what happened to you?" she asked as she rushed to his side. 

"Head...hurts..."

She had been in the sanctum enough times to know where everything was. Zelkov kept his medicines in one of the cabinets. She opened it and found a blue-colored container: that was his pain/headache medication. For once she was giving to him rather than the other way around. Ivy practically forced Zelkov to swallow a pill and then drink some water from a jug that she found. Then she stayed with him for the next twenty minutes and gently stroked his hair until the medication took effect and he finally came to his senses. (They both loved playing with each other’s hair though it was usually in more serene circumstances.)

“Thank you,” Zelkov said when he sat up. “Never in my life have I felt so fatigued.” 

"Zelkov, promise me that you never drink this coffee again," she sternly ordered him. 

"If you forbid me then I have little choice in the matter," he replied with a slight smile. "But it was quite tasty. I recommend that you try coffee," he said.

Once again Ivy found herself shaking her head. “No, no, no, Zelkov…If that drink did that to you, then I must never try it. I am certain that you prefer seeing me fully conscious just as I prefer that you are fully conscious.”

“I felt your fingers in my hair earlier,” he replied.

In a past time Ivy would have abruptly denied that she had done such a thing. But now that they were both more comfortable with each other, she had the strength to admit the truth. “Yes, I did do that. I would have enjoyed it more had you been awake.”

And she simply put a hand over his mouth before he could respond further…being with each other was good enough.