After an hour of making out on Cronus's bed, Kankri had finally managed to get them out of the house. He carried his bag over his shoulders, ever wary of the sounds around him. He hadn't been out tagging like he normally would, but he'd been looking at spots. And tonight he knew just where he wanted to put things up. He had smaller works that he was going to put up in the club tonight. And Cronus was going to help him.
They made it into town after a ten minute walk and Kankri lead them down back streets and alleys to get to the club. The bouncer was a tall man with long hair; cracked shades covered his face, but the tank top he wore showed that, were they to fight him, they would lose. He just waved at him. "Centaur."
"Sufferer." He nodded once but then turned his head to Cronus. "And who is this?"
Cronus grinned and opened his mouth to give his name, but Kankri cut him off. "Dualscar. He's a friend."
Centaur nodded and let him in, eying Cronus suspiciously. Once they were inside the bass hit them. Cronus looked around as Kankri led him to a back room. A blond man was sitting in a sound booth, bobbing his head to the beat of the song in his headphones. Kankri tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up at him. It was hard to tell what was on his mind with the triangle shades he was wearing, but he raised an eyebrow. "Who's this?"
"Timaeus this is Dualscar."
He quirked the corner of his mouth in what looked like a smirk. "He the nerd you wanna fuck?" Kankri frowned.
"Straight to the point as always, Timaeus."
"No point in beating around the bush." His eyes didn't leave Cronus. "Is he?"
"Not anymore." Timaeus raised his eyebrows just above his shade. "Yes we did." It had gotten easier for him to read his expressions in the years he'd been letting him in here. "So I can put up the tags around here, right?"
"Yeah. Just wait till Turntech takes over. His music gets people going more than my mixes have lately." A slight scrunch of the nose.
"Ooh, looks like someone's upset with their twin." Kankri sat down in a chair behind him, pulling Cronus down with him. "Care to share?"
"Nope." The was nothing more to be said on the matter.
Kankri draped his legs over Cronus's lap and gave him a look. He looked more than a little uncomfortable. It was obvious that he'd never been in a club before. He smirked. "You wanna go down on the floor?"
Cronus's face flushed an incriminating shade of red. "Um, sure. I've never done anything like this, so..."
"It's fine. You don't have to."
"No let's go. Are we gonna like... Dance?"
"Sure." He leaned forward and took off his bag. "Timaeus I'm leaving this here."
"No guarantees that Turntech won't take anything."
"Fair enough." He got up. "We're going down to the floor."
"Don't fuck too hard down there." He slid his headphones back on as they left.
Kankri led Cronus to the bar and got two beers. He wasn't sure if Cronus had ever had anything to drink, or what he'd even be like drunk, but he was throwing caution to the wind anyway. He gave him the bottle and they wandered to a booth. Cronus slid in on one side and Kankri did the same, sliding in next to him as he took a drink. "Having fun yet?"
He laughed. "Uh, not really." He rolled the bottle in his hands as Kankri took another drink. "Should I be?"
"I don't usually come here. I just like putting things where people can see. And since Timaeus and Turntech's brother bought this place they've been letting me do my thing in here." He took another drink. "We have an anonymity agreement, though. They don't know my name and I don't know anyone's who could get in trouble for this." He frowned. "They're the only people that can spot me for who I am on sight." He narrowed his eyes at Cronus. "So how did you know it was me?"
"Like I said, your pin..."
"No. Lots of people are wearing that pin in the city. How did you know it was me."
He chewed at his lip. "Well, uh, I guess you could say that I might have been watching you with a little more sensitivity than anyone else."
"Were you stalking me?" He laughed as he took another drink.
"What? No!" Cronus glanced at him nervously as he held onto his beer. "I just... I guess it was more hyper-aware of you than others would be."
Kankri could barely hear him over the music, but he did his best. "And why would you be so hyper aware of this little chink?" He laughed bitterly at himself.
"Don't call yourself that!" Cronus looked appalled.
"I can call myself whatever I want." He shook his head. "Are you going to stop me?"
"I'll do anything to stop you from calling yourself that."
"Like what?"
Cronus leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. "Like that." He smiled.
Kankri smirked. "Well if you're just going to kiss me every time I'm self deprecating then I'm going to call myself horrible things all the time."
"No don't!" He leaned over and kissed him again, his lips moving softly.
When they pulled apart Kankri took another drink and smirked. "You haven't even had a drink yet, Cronus. And you're kissing me in public like this?"
His eyes darted away and he took a long drink, making a face as the bitter taste hit him. He pulled away and stuck out his tongue. "Why would anyone even drink this?" He lapped at nothing, like he was trying to get peanut butter off the roof of his mouth.
Kankri laughed. "To ease the pain and bitterness of life."
He swallowed. "Is there a lot of pain and bitterness in your life?"
This earned a sneer. Eyes narrowed and nosed scrunched, his voice bit through the air. "Life is pain. Living is bitterness. You can't go through life without scars." He took a long drink. "Just look at yourself."
Cronus frowned and put a hand to his forehead, feeling at the raised scars from a childhood fight. He looked at Kankri. "So what if we get scars? Isn't that what makes us unique?"
He snorted. "I guess, Dualscar."
"You called me that!"
"You're damn right I did." He finished off his beer with a long draw, then slammed it on the table. "Now let's go meet Turntech." He grabbed Cronus's hand and pulled him through the crowd, leaving the half finished beer on the table. They pushed through the crowd, Cronus's stature giving them just enough leverage to get to the booth without any trouble.
Kankri opened the door and was unsurprised to see Turntech with his feet kicked up on a table as he dug through his bag. "Turntech."
"Sufflekins." He looked at Cronus. "Oh wow hot nerd alert."
Timaeus shot him a look. "I knew you liked nerds too much, Turntech."
"Yeah, well, at least I don't have a thing for bucktoothed, oblivious tomb-raider types in skin tight short shorts."
"Really? We're doing this now?" He frowned. "Don't make me tell them your middle name."
"You wouldn't."
"Watch me."
Turntech frowned exaggeratedly. "Yeah, well, bitches don't know about the way you suck cock."
He rolled his eyes. "You know that lost what little funny it still had when I came out. It wasn't even really funny before then."
"No fuck you that's hilarious. The fact that I've said it so much just shoots the irony levels though the roof."
"Your irony schtick has become completely unironic, bro."
"Nah, twinny-bro, you just don't get it. You're too busy sucking off that green-eyed pretty boy."
"You're just jealous that I'm getting some."
Kankri watched as the twins argued. It was fun to listen to them as their voices meshed into a cacophony of what sounded like a single person arguing with himself. But finally it was time for Turntech to take over the board.
He jumped from his seat and pushed his brother out of the way. "Get out the way, gay twin!" Timaeus moved so quickly out of his way that Kankri could have sworn that he'd imagined it. But Turntech sat at the booth with the headphones on. He cleared his throat then turned on the microphone. He spoke into it, his voice low and smooth. "Hey ladies and gentlemen, you've just finished listenin' to the musical styles of Timaeus Testified! Give it up for him!" The cheers could be heard even in the booth. "Glad to hear you love it. But are you ready for the real show?" More cheering. "That's right, bitches, it's time for Turntech Godhead to take the stage!"
Without another word he brought up his music, mixing and mastering as he went to match the energy of the crowd. He bobbed his head to the beat but his movements were all small, precise.
Timaeus looked at Kankri. "You should get out there now. He's only going to hold their attention for another couple hours."
"Thanks. We'll be out of here by one." He grabbed his bag and lead Cronus back out into the now energized throng. He brought him to the back wall and pulled out a few of the things he wanted to post. He handed a dozen to Cronus. "Put these up on the walls. Don't let anyone catch you."
"What?"
"Just. Don't get caught."
"Okay?"
He leaned up and gave him a deep kiss. "Welcome to my world, love." he patted his cheek and went off to where he knew there was a way to get up to the edges and the catwalk.
He had big plans for this club.
