Chapter 9: An Old Friend Pt. 2

At Pip's exit, Aerin looked around a bit awkwardly. "So…"

"If you say anything about me needing furniture too, I'll kick your ass," Damien said out of the blue. Pip had mentioned that morning that Damien needed more furniture since the apartment was extremely bare. He just didn't want to hear it again.

Confused, Aerin just said, "W-What?"

"Uh," Damien turned his head away with a light blush; he'd forgotten Aerin didn't know anything about him and Pip's conversation, "nothing."

Silence settled in between the two friends. Damien could see the emotions of jealousy and worry Pip tried to mask, and it concerned him. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have let the blonde leave alone with that look on his face, but he knew he would've just gotten a quick lecture on being a good host and ended up staying at the apartment anyway. Confronting him about it would've been a waste of time.

"We're alone...in your apartment…" Aerin said quietly, breaking the endearing silence.

"Yeah." Damien looked back over at the redhead. "And?" He didn't think it was as weird as Aerin's tone suggested.

"It's...kind of weird…"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you think about what happened the last time we were alone in an apartment, then I guess it kinda is."

"Oh yeah, you actually did force yourself on me. It was my...freshman year, I think," Aerin said as he tapped one finger absently against his bottom lip. Freshman year…or was it sophomore year?

A look of horror crossed the anti-Christ's face as his mouth dropped open. "Don't make it sound like I raped you!"

"You almost did, if you remember correctly." Aerin tapped his bottom lip again.

The memory came back, and Damien glanced to the side and blushed again. "Hey, you were willing after a point," he said defensively.

"After you tied me to my own bed with black tendrils made out of energy, I had no choice," Aerin pointed out.

"I apologized for that."

"Yeah," Aerin rolled his eyes, "after you gave me several 'love bites' on one side of my neck, and licked the other side a few times."

Damien thought for a moment. There had to be an excuse. Let's see…he was young, very horny. He had the perfect thing to say! "Uh...raging teenage hormones...?"

Aerin sighed, "If you call stripping off my shirt 'raging hormones,' I call making incisions on my stomach and licking the blood off 'puberty.'"

Damien smiled contentedly and patted his friend's shoulder. "Okay then! Let's go with that!"

The redhead looked at the noirette with a raised eyebrow. "You have no grasp on the word 'sarcasm,' do you?"

"No, I do, but I liked the way you worded it," he laughed.

Though he didn't believe Damien for a second, Aerin chuckled and pecked his friend's cheek. "Of course you did."

Damien smiled slightly and wrapped his arms around Aerin's torso as the redhead leaned against him. This position should've been awkward, it should've been something they, as ex-lovers, should've avoided even if just for Pip's sake, but they didn't. It wasn't even awkward. As the best of friends, they could stay like that and not worry about it being awkward.

Aerin chuckled. "What are you planning, good sir?"

Damien wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and jokingly said, "If I told you, we'd have to…repeat history." As soon as those last two words left his mouth, he knew he'd said the wrong thing. This was confirmed as Aerin said:

"And if I wanted to repeat history?"

He sighed, "…I…I…" He hesitated, not wanting to hurt his friend's feelings, but not wanting to seem willing to hurt Pip. When Aerin didn't make a move or sound, the noirette continued, "I couldn't."

"You already have me in your arms Damien," the redhead muttered, "but I'll respect your wishes…"

Damien's eyes went to the front door, mentally begging Pip to come back so he could avoid this moment continuing. When his blonde angel didn't come through the door, he muttered in response, "We're just friends though…"

"Are we? Or," Aerin looked up at Damien and sat up just a bit closer to his face, "just a bit closer?"

"We used to be lovers, but we haven't been for a while." He looked down at his friend. "I consider you my best friend, but I would honestly never do anything to hurt Pip."

After a moment more to be sure Damien was telling the truth, Aerin chuckled, "That's just what I wanted to hear. I wanted to know if you really loved him or not. Now I know, and I hope that everything prospers."

Damien's mouth dropped open. Really? Sometimes he wondered about Aerin's methods, they could be just, well… "You're mean."

"I know," Aerin laughed as he pecked Damien on the cheek again.

The anti-Christ sighed and patted the redhead on the head. Considering their past, Aerin seemed completely content with being so close to Damien and holding onto him. And regardless of his fears about the look on Pip's face earlier, Damien was relaxed with his arms around his best friend. The feeling of love he was feeling toward Aerin wasn't anything he was even worried about because he knew in his heart it was nothing romantic. He loved him like he was his brother, nothing more.

"Pip's been gone for a long time," Aerin said out of the blue. Where was the Brit?

Damien looked at the clock. Pip had been gone for nearly an hour; Damien was starting to get concerned. "He has…" He looked over at the front door.

As if on cue, the door swung open to show a smiling Pip holding two bags in each hand. "Hello there! Sorry if I worried you, but the store was dreadfully busy." He didn't mention the fact that he'd also run into Stan at the store and stopped to talk for a bit.

Damien smiled softly at Pip and released Aerin as his friend wriggled from his arms. "Speak of an angel and he shall appear. And don't worry about it babe. It's okay."

Aerin stood and took a step towards Pip to take one of the bags. "Here, let me help you."

Pip smiled and shook his head. "Oh, thank you very much, but I can carry it." He really is a nice guy…I don't know why I was so concerned earlier.

"Are you sure?"

Pip nodded. "Yes, please don't worry about it."

Aerin nodded and sat back down next to Damien on the couch. He wanted to help, wanted to prove to Pip that he wasn't going to do anything to Damien - his thoughts were apparent to the redhead, and he particularly didn't care to be thought of as a bad person - that would hurt the blonde. Regardless of Pip brushing him off though, Aerin knew that his attempted gesture had cleared the air with the smaller teen.

"I'm gonna go ahead and start supper," Pip said as he walked into the kitchen.

Still smiling, Damien looked back into the kitchen at the back of the Brit's head. "Okay babe. You want any help?"

"No."

Aerin raised an eyebrow at Pip's monosyllabic response. His voice sounded strange just saying "no."

Damien saw his friend's raised eyebrow and raised one of his own. "What is it?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." He looked down at the two guns in the holsters attached to his belt as they began to glow and shake violently. "Don't tell me you two are hungry as well," he murmured to the guns.

"Uh… What the hell?"

Aerin ignored his friend and continued talking to his guns, "Oh, come you two…" He sighed deeply as they began to glow brightly, one blue and purple. "Fine." He pulled both guns from their holsters and tossed them into the air. "Shiro, Kuro, show yourselves."

Both guns glowed brighter for a few seconds before a blonde teen in a white t-shirt and matching pants, and a raven-haired teen in a black t-shirt and matching pants appeared and landed on the ground in front of Damien and Aerin. The two looked similar, they could've been brothers, hell, better yet, twins if it wasn't for their hair colors.

Damien blinked for a moment. "Huh…" He looked back into the kitchen again. "Pip, you're gonna wanna make enough for two more!"

"Why?" Pip poked his head out of the kitchen and saw the blonde and the noirette standing there. "Oh! Hello?"

The blonde boy pushed a few strands of his hair that had fallen in front of his face behind his ear. "H-Hello," he said bashfully.

The raven-haired boy sighed and rolled his eyes. "There's no need to stutter, brother."

"This is Shiro," Aerin said as he gestured to the blonde, "and his older brother Kuro." He gestured to the noirette.

"I see." Pip stepped out of the kitchen and bowed formally and politely to the two brothers. "Nice to meet you." He straight back up and smiled. "I do hope you enjoy leek and miso soup."

"I…I love l-leek and miso soup," Shiro mumbled with a small smile on his face.

"Meh. It's okay." Kuro shrugged and sat down on the couch between Damien and Aerin. "Nice digs." He kicked his feet, clad in black combat boots, onto the coffee table Pip had transferred from the inside of Damien's closet where it was being used as a shoe rack.

Aerin smacked the noirette's leg. "You've better manners than that."

Kuro grumbled and moved his feet to rest on the ground. He was just relaxing, he didn't see what the big deal was. With a quiet sigh, Shiro sat down between Aerin and his brother. Sometimes Kuro could be a pain, it was always best to keep him separated from Aerin in case he pissed him off.

Damien glared at a small pile of dirt on the coffee table from Kuro's boots. "You're cleaning that up."

"Oh," Pip moved to get a rag, "I'll get it."

"No, he," Damien jabbed a finger at Kuro, "will. Besides, shouldn't you be watching the soup?" He glanced back at Pip.

"Of course!" The blonde turned back into the kitchen and walked over to the pot on the stove.

Kuro grumbled curses and swept the dirt into his hand. It wasn't his fault that there was dirt on the bottom of his shoes. He stood and dropped the dirt into the trash before walking back over to the couch and sat back down.

"Thank you," Damien said with a smirk at the sight of Kuro's annoyed face.

Aerin chuckled. He probably shouldn't let Damien get Kuro mad, but it funny so he'd just let what would happen, happen.

The four teenagers sat in silence in the living room, staring at the blank TV screen. Maybe they should turn it on. Damien reached forward for the remote but stopped when he heard Pip's voice softly wafting in from the kitchen:

"Break this bittersweet spell on me… Lost in the arms of destiny…"

The anti-Christ looked back into the kitchen once again and smiled. His lover had such a beautiful voice, it made him happy to hear it. His eyes traveled over to Aerin as he began humming t.A.t.U's "White Robe," then to Shiro and Kuro as they began to quietly sing, "Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi." Not wanting to feel left out, Damien began to softly sing, "I'm Not Jesus" by Apocalyptica.

The four songs echoed just slightly through the two rooms of the apartment, accompanied by the smell of the finished leek and miso soup. Damien couldn't help but smile, there hadn't been much liveliness in his apartment in such a long time. It did him good to have his friend–err, friends and beloved around him. How could things possibly get any better for him?

Aerin, Shiro, and Kuro belong to DeviantTyger on DA.