"It's way too early for this shit..." complained Kristopherson with a loud yawn. He busily carried boxes to the rented moving van that was sitting in the parking garage with a certain incubus, who aided him.
"Yeah, but it makes it easier to carry this stuff out if nobody's awake, so there's that." Logan added, setting his box down so that he could open the back of the vehicle. The pair had gotten up early so that no one would be able to see Kristopherson carrying a ridiculous amount of boxes on his own. No ordinary human could do that, but then again, the faux-blonde wasn't. The idea was that they would keep people from getting suspicious this way.
"Hopefully it's worth it." With a grunt, Kristopherson put the boxes in the truck and pushed them toward the back of the compartment. "This is going to take us forever, though."
"Wasn't Alois supposed to be here?"
"Yeah, but I haven't heard from him in a couple days. I hope nothing happened to him..."
"Why don't you call him?" asked the incubus. "I'll go back up and grab more stuff."
"Thanks." Kristopherson hoisted himself up so that he was sitting on the edge of the van before pulling out his cellphone. He took a moment to watch after the other man before dialing. It was quite the dial tone as well. It hardly ever took the menace this long to pick up, but eventually, he did.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Alois," Kristopherson began, "Where are you? We've already started to load the car."
Furrowing his brow, the Miles listened intently to the momentary silence he was met with until he heard the demon gasp. "That was today?!"
"Yeah, you forgot?"
"Yeah… Shit… Sorry..." apologised the menace, sounding sincere as can be. "Some stuff came up, and I guess I just lost track of time."
"What happened? Are you okay?" It was common knowledge amoung their friend group that Alois hadn't been himself lately. In fact, he hadn't been feeling well at all, so Kristopherson was naturally worried.
"It's kind of a long story." Alois said. "We got attacked yesterday and Ciel and I kind of got into a spat."
"Shit, are you alright?"
"Yeah! We're all perfectly fine. Bad guys are dead, even if they took a few windows with them. Everything's been fixed."
"What about Ciel?"
"We're okay, too." The Phantomhive could be heard chuckling on the other end. "I actually thought about calling you, seeing as you love to gossip."
"Did you ask him out?" Kristopherson asked, now deeply interested in the conversation.
"Better. We're married." proudly declared the menace, prompting the other to grin.
"You cheeky bastard!" laughed the Miles. "Did you get your memory back?"
"Yeah. Ciel and I have been kind of catching up since then." Alois said. On the other end of the phone, he looked down at the man he was currently laying on top of, fiddling with the fabric of his shirt before finding a lock of blueish black hair to play with. Winking at his beau, he caused the man to chuckle. "I can get up and come by, if you still need me."
"No, you spend time with your man. Lord knows the pitiful thing needs it." Kristopherson retorted, earning a laugh from his friend. His eyes were distracted as well as he saw the incubus walking up to the van at a snail's pace, trying not to drop the precariously stacked boxes in his arms. "I can see if Travis or Dan can come."
"Okay. Tell me if you change your mind, though."
"I won't. I don't want you getting your gross cooties all over my stuff." He bid his friend farewell before hanging up the phone and putting it in his pocket. It was a small set back, but Kristopherson didn't regret it. In fact, he knew that his friend desperately needed this for his emotional well-being, so it was hardly a "sacrifice" at all. It was just something that needed to happen. Following this, his attention immediately turned to Logan as the poor man struggled.
"Need help?" the faux-blonde asked.
"Nah, I got it." Logan huffed, keeping his eyes trained on the very top box.
"I can go get the next batch." offered the wolfman.
"Won't it be better if we go at the same time?" Setting down the boxes, the incubus stopped to catch his breath while the other hopped down from his seat and began to pile them in.
"Yeah, but I don't want anybody breaking into the car and stealing something. We would have to lock up for every trip."
"People do that?"
"Welcome to London." said Kristopherson offering his friend a pair of jazzhands. "I need to make some calls, though. I want to see if we can get some more hands, here."
"I have some brothers and sisters we could call. They might get too curious and break something, though. They're good people, but most of them haven't been out of Gehenna before..."
"It's fine. We're not in any hurry, so we can probably do it ourselves, if we need to. You can take a break and load stuff I bring down, if you want."
"You sure?" the incubus questioned. "Won't you get tired?"
"Nope. The full moon is a couple days away, so I've got lots of energy to spare." Kristopherson said. "I can run up and down places all day."
"If you say so." Logan said with a somewhat skeptical smile. "Tell me if you ever want to trade."
"Will do. I didn't get my morning run in, today, so this should work out nicely!"
True to his word, Kristopherson got in the elevator and went all the way back to his floor. The number of boxes he was able to carry was ridiculous. Balancing them was the only difficult part. By the time half of the boxes were down by the truck, he wasn't even tired. Being a werewolf had it's perks, although normally this excess of energy was a nuisance. It always happened before the full moon and often required Kristopherson to do ridiculous things to burn it off. Needless to say, his exercise routine had become ridiculous.
This was also the reason why Kristopherson wanted to get this task done on this specific day, however. He had the energy for it now, but after the full moon, he would "crash" and feel extremely tired and sore. It was important to him that he got this done today and ideally, get started at the very least on his next task before the sun set.
"That's everything." Kristopherson said to his accomplice, finally panting a bit as he set the last box down on the ground.
"Alright. I can load them. You can sit in the car and wait, if you want." offered the incubus. "Did you lock up?"
"Yeah. I'm fine helping you out, here, though." spoke the wolfman while picking up a lighter box and handing it to Logan while the other man stood up inside the van. "It'll go faster this way."
"Alright." Logan grunted while shifting his position. He bent over to grab the box before putting it away. Kristopherson was right, it did go faster this way, despite all of the times when the incubus had to recover from being flustered at his hands accidentally brushing Kristopherson's. The poor man almost dropped the box on more than one occasion.
In actuality, Logan was rather nervous around Kristopherson on occasion. The Miles was an attractive man with a good personality. Logan would be lying if he said he didn't have at least a small crush on the wolfman, but he would never unless pressed by the man himself. Really, as an incubus, it felt incredibly inappropriate for him to have such thoughts about a virgin. His people had a strict code of conduct when it came to relationships, so naturally Logan felt some pressure.
There have been incubi and succubi who were disowned by their community for breaking the code. One such rule was that they were not allowed to engage in physical relations with virgins unless they were in a relationship with them. The idea behind it is that one's first time should be meaningful, and while Logan understood that humans sometimes didn't mind, he did. Even the idea of flirting with Kristopherson seemed inappropriate, which made him worry about seeming "predatory" at times. Kristopherson knew the rule, but he didn't know about how exactly the incubus felt about it. It was quite the mess to be in.
Although being in close proximity to the wolfman made him nervous, he got in the van with his friend after shutting the back doors and locking them. Once seatbelts were buckled, they took off toward Gehenna. Fortunately, the ride wasn't awkward in any way as the two talked about this, that, and the other. Primarily, they talked about the city around it and how different it was from Gehenna. Kristopherson told Logan what he liked about Gehenna and what he liked about London while the other would do the same.
Arriving at the gate was somewhat of an ordeal, as the van needed to be searched. Every single box was opened and rummaged through, not only taking up time, but possibly damaging the goods. Kristopherson was practically biting his nails by the time they got halfway through the first box. It took a lot of reassurance from his accomplice to make it through the ordeal. He had to be reminded that things could be fixed. Eventually, it was over.
The van was allowed to pass and the two supernaturals were on their way, driving down the street. Eventually, they stopped in front of a building with large glass windows in the front. Getting out of the car, Kristopherson peered through to see shelves of all shapes and sizes, all seeming to meet his specifications, from where he was standing, at the very least. A heavy sigh escaped him as it was then time to unload everything. At least this time, there was no long trip and they could leave the doors open.
"Time to do some more heavy lifting." the wolfman said. "I might need a break eventually, though. That bakery down the street looks tempting."
"I know what you mean." Logan thoughtlessly replied, followed by a moment of silence. During this time, the implications sank in and a blush appeared on his face. "Not like that!"
"I didn't say anything." Kristopherson said with a chuckle. "You see something you like and you want it, especially if you're hungry. I get it."
Arching his eyebrow, Logan watched Kristopherson, trying to decipher him as he second-guessed his friend. Oblivious to this, the wolfman simply unlocked the front door of the building before turning around to do the same to the van. He stopped, however, when he turned around really took a look at the incubus, however, causing the other man to freeze.
"Why are you still in that form?" the wolfman finally asked, referring to his friend's "human" appearance. Blinking, the other was alerted to the problem.
"Oh!" he said before fiddling with the back of his pants. As he shapeshifted back, he helped guide his tail through the adjustable compartment in the back of his pants that could be changed according to the occasion. Once he was blue and horned again, Kristopherson nodded.
"Much better." the faux-blonde said with satisfaction. "You look better in your normal state."
"Do I?"
"Yeah. It's cute." casually replied Kristopherson while grabbing a box. "It suits you better."
To that, Logan had nothing to say. He was unable to fabricate a response, so he simply grabbed a box and dropped the subject, focusing his attention instead on the task at hand. Both of them carried boxes inside, drawing the attention of a few people on the street and from the neighbouring shop owners. All of them wondered what this place was, but were slightly intimidated by the sight of the large van. It was enough to keep them at bay until the two were finished with bringing boxes in and started putting things up and away. The first thing Kristopherson did was open a tube that was used to carry posters in before rolling them out and flattening them on the floor.
"So that's how they turned out, huh?" asked Logan while looking over the other's shoulder. "They look like something you'd see in the city."
"Probably because I'm from London." Kristopherson replied before turning his attention back to the images. "Not bad for a couple of friends and a camera standing on a backdrop made from extra fabric."
"It looks professional. Audrey can really use a camera."
"Yup. Shame he had to leave before he could see them up."
With that, he decided to hang one up, grabbing the tape and ignoring those looking in the windows as he placed it on the inside of the clear barrier with the image side facing out. Their eyes immediately turned to the poster, which had the name of the store along with some rather surprising images. Supernaturals were acting as clothing models. He had even used supernatural "celebrities" like the Lion and Watchdog, who shared a poster wearing some rather stylish suits. In the other was a werewolf in a fully transformed state, wearing clothes that actually fit despite his large frame.
Even though the store didn't have a sign yet, this served as enough information for the onlookers to figure out what it was going to be once it opened. The store was called "Andrea's" and it was a clothing store for supernaturals. It was a novel idea that excited the murmuring crowd, despite there being some skepticism.
There has never been a store such as this for supernaturals before and it was obviously made by someone emulating stores in London, where the people of Gehenna seldom dare to tread. They could see one of their own inside, however, assisting this rather strange man with hair that didn't match the colour of his bizarre goatee.
"This is gonna be good." spoke one of the onlookers. "Must be new to town."
"I've never seen him before." said another. "How did he get the permission to use this building?"
"Well, obviously, he knows important people." answered the first, gesturing to the poster with the Phantomhives on it. Then, the tide shifted when another spoke up.
"What is he doing now?" they asked. "Is that fabric?"
"Hey, yeah… He's selling fabric!"
"Fabric and clothes? Do you think he has thread, too?"
"From the looks of him, I bet." nodded another. "I would quite like a sewing store, actually."
Others mumbled and nodded along in agreement. This changes things for them. Quite a few residents make adjustments to clothing they can find or already have, while others use what they can find to make something new. Readily available sewing supplies and fabric meant that clothes would be more available and less of a problem. Without a doubt in anyone's mind, this was going to be a strange store, but it also looked to be a useful one. From this realisation alone, it changed the mood of the crowd and made them excited about what was about to come.
They were thrown off when Kristopherson gave in and looked back at them, unable to ignore the eyes burning into the back of his head any longer. Smiling, he offered them a friendly wave before getting back to work, opening another box that had buttons and ribbons inside. He continued to stock shelves and get far more done than he anticipated that he and Logan would in one day. Most of the boxes were empty and in a pile, leaving them to wonder what could be done with them.
"It would be a shame to just get rid of them all." the wolfman questioned with his hands on his hips. "Any ideas?"
"I dunno… I'm sure you could use them for something..." pondered Logan. "Do we need any storage space?"
"Yeah… Maybe upstairs where the sewing studio will be…"
"Then let's take a couple up there. The rest can go to the crafting place down the street. I'm sure somebody there can turn them into something."
"Sounds good." answered the faux-blonde with a shrug. "We've been carrying boxes all day, so might as well."
"It never ends." chuckled his friend, putting smaller boxes in larger boxes in hopes of carrying them all up at once. Logan did what he could, and the other followed after, ascending the stairs that led into a vast room with many tables and chairs.
"Whoa..." Logan said aloud, being somewhat stunned by the space.
"It'll be more impressive once it's stocked and up and running." Kristopherson chimed in, setting his items down. "I'll probably come in and finish all that up tomorrow while you're at work."
"Is there where everyone is going to be sewing?"
"Yep. It's best if we have people designing what's premade to suit the style of Gehenna, not London, or Paris, or New York, but Gehenna."
"Does a lot of fashion happen in those places?"
"So much fashion."
"I believe you."
"Not much fashion will be happening here until we get started." the wolfman said, placing his hands on his hips and looking around the room with a sigh. "Thanks for the help. Sorry you to put you to work on your day off."
"No problem. I had fun." Logan replied. "I didn't have much else going on, anyway." Turning around, the incubus saw the other man staring at him intently before tearing his gaze away. Logan found it odd, but didn't know what to say about it. Needless to say, he had caught people staring at him in a similar way before and he knew what it meant.
"See something you like?" he teased, only to internally scold himself immediately.
"Oh, shut up." huffed Miles. "You just happened to be where I was staring into space."
"Don't lie to incubi about this stuff. We know, Kris..."
"Fine…" Kristopherson groaned, his face heating up. He hadn't meant to. Part of him couldn't help but feel impressed by how well the pants he designed fit, but that wasn't the entire picture. Indeed, he did look for the sake of looking, as one does when they find someone attractive. "You're not going to gouge my eyes out or anything."
"What? No. What the fuck?" Logan blinked with confusion.
"Sorry, I spend too much time with Alois, I guess." confessed the Miles with a shrug. "He's a mercenary, essentially. What can you do? Though I will say that it is fun to hear you swear."
"I can swear. It just doesn't come out as often."
"What makes you swear?"
Pausing, the incubus stopped to think. "Stuff, I guess." Looking up, he saw the other staring at him in an odd way. "What's that look for?"
"Logan, can I be real with you for a sec?" asked Kristopherson.
"What?"
"Are you secretly a kinky?"
"Do you always ask your friends stuff like this?" deadpanned the other with the most unamused of expressions.
"The ones who won't kill me for it." stated the wolfman. "I know more about the sex life of the Watchdog and Lion than anybody other than the Watchdog and Lion."
"So you like to gossip..."
"I never divulge details. I just hang onto them."
"So you're just a pervert, then?" Logan teased while cocking a slight smile. Now it was the other's turn to be defensive once again.
"Sounds like you want me to be."
"Please," scoffed the incubus, gesturing to himself. "You couldn't handle all of this."
"Maybe with instruction. Is there like, a manual, or something?" Kristopherson asked with ambiguous amounts of seriousness, causing the other to laugh. "That's how I imagine my first time. Just sitting on a bed with a book like: 'hang on a second, I think I've got this figured out this time.'"
"'This time?'" Logan snickered.
"Well, yeah, why do you think I stopped in the middle to read the manual? I probably missed something on the preparatory read-through."
"You're so fucking weird..."
"Or I could just, y'know, listen to my partner because he probably knows a thing or two."
"Wait, are we still talking about me?" asked the incubus with an arched eyebrow, causing the other's face to flush as he became quiet.
"Well..." began Kristopherson before pausing in order to think of what to say. "I mean… Hypothetically."
"I don't mind. I'm flattered."
"Humans would find it creepy..."
"Well, a different incubus might, too..." Logan admitted. "I wouldn't do that to anybody else."
For a while, Kristopherson stayed quiet. He walked over to one of the tables and sat on it's surface, rather than opting to sit on one of the chairs. There was hesitance written on his face. It was accompanied by embarrassment that showed no signs of going away.
"Logan..." he began. "Is it… Is it possible that you…?" As he stared at the incubus, he could see the dread building on his face as he continued. "...Might fancy me?"
Opening his mouth, Logan tried to speak, but no words came out. Instead, he looked away and rubbed his chin momentarily. "Don't tell anyone..."
"Why?" questioned the faux-blonde. Now it was his turn to be confused.
"Because… I'm afraid of what could happen." the incubus said. "Remember how I said that we aren't allowed get with virgins unless we're dating them?"
"Yeah?"
"What I'm afraid of is that even being known to fancy one and be… attracted to one without being in a relationship might give people the wrong idea." No matter how the incubus tried to explain it, he couldn't make it sound palatable, much to his regret. "It's a really big deal to us."
Listening to his friend, Kristopherson wore an almost unreadable expression. With a sigh, the man stood up. "So in other words, you've got too many sexual hangups to date me?" he asked.
It was a bit of a shock to Logan, as he didn't think of it that way. In his mind, the incubi and succubi were the most sexually liberated people in the world, despite their rules. These rules were put in place to protect people and keep them from becoming the "predators" that humans told stories about. All of it made sense, yet Kristopherson questioned it.
"What?"
"You've got some really good rules," the faux-blonde began, "but you're fixated on them. It's like you're so worried about breaking the rules, that you forgot to actually consider the possibility that you might not be. After all, it takes two to do the horizontal tango."
"I don't follow..."
"Jesus Christ..." Kristopherson mumbled before walking over to the other man. Grabbing Logan's shoulders, he looked him straight in the face. "I like you, you adorable blue idiot."
In the following seconds, Kendrick looked at his friend like he had grown two heads. "H-huh?"
"You're killing me here, man..."
"No, I mean, like, why?" Logan questioned. "Don't humans think people who look like… this are weird?" he attempted to clarify while gesturing to himself. "And isn't the 'incubus' thing kind of off-putting?"
"Logan, I turn into a giant wolfman once a month, and have been around demons, grim reapers, angels, and all of that business for about five years. Every time I hang out with you, this is how you look. This doesn't phase me." the Miles said. "I have seen far, far worse. And besides, I think you're brilliant."
"Are you sure?" the other pressed further with remaining skepticisim. "You know that I have a few 'biological requirements', right?"
"We-well, yes…" bashfully stated Kristopherson, removing a hand from the other in order to cough into his fist. His face burned brightly, but knew that he needed to have this conversation with the other. "That's kinda why I held off on talking about this… I didn't want to leave you hanging or string you along, so I was waiting until I thought I was ready to commit to that."
"Are you?"
"Nervously, but yes."
"Why are you so nervous?" chuckled Logan, finally cracking a bit of a smile.
"Because I look like a right prick right now by human standards..."
"Well, humans are weird about this stuff, so I don't blame you."
"We're not as… open." Kristopherson said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.
"That won't do. You'll need to be much more open than that to date an incubus."
"I can learn..."
"I hope so, because I'd actually very much like to see you properly..." the other replied, his blue cheeks adopting a soft lavender tint as blood rushed to his face. He smiled softly, causing the wolfman to temporarily forget what he was going to say.
"Has anyone ever told you that it's cute when you blush?" asked the faux-blonde instead.
"What kind of answer is that?"
"Answer to what?"
"Do you want to go out with me?" Logan asked, this time being very direct. Now it was the blonde's turn to change in hue.
"Y-yeah..." he answered, embarrassment written all over his face.
"You're very pink… It's cute."
"Thanks?" Despite his clarity in voice, Kristopherson's gestures came across as very uneasy.
"Don't be so nervous. I'm not asking you to pull down your pants right here..."
"I know, but you're going to need it, eventually, aren't you?"
"Not within the week, no." the incubus stated. "After that, though, I'll probably start to get a little weak."
"We should probably do it within the next few days, though. After the full moon, I kind of crash and have no energy for anything."
"H-huh?!" That surprised Kendrick, blinking as worry suddenly started to sink in.
"Well, if I can be honest and open, here, it kinda… peeks at the full moon and increases as it gets close, but then my libido kind of disappears for the next few days..."
"That could be a problem..."
"Just… give me a few days to kinda… prepare a bit." requested the wolfman. "Ask my married friends for advice and all that..."
"That's fine." Logan nodded along. "When the time comes, though, all you really need to do is relax. I'll walk you through it."
Pausing, Kristopherson narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at his new boyfriend's face, causing the incubus to worry a bit. Nervously, Logan asked: "What?"
"You sure you're not secretly kinky?" inquired the faux-blonde, causing the other to furrow his brow. "Ow!"
A/N: Nyello.
Ah... This was kind of painful...
This was late not only because it was long, but because I actually reread it! In the end, I still feel like it didn't make much sense.
Just know that Kris and Logan talk to each other like this because Logan is an incubus, and this is how they do. They are very open about almost everything. They have to be. And this conversation isn't going to be normal because Kris needs to be told straight up what he's getting into.
I worry about them, though... They have a LOT to work on and talk about if this is going to stay stable...
I just don't like this chapter. It's so atypical, and I'm not sure if that's an okay thing, yet. I guess we'll see...
Kristopherson has had the most boyfriends in the entire series, I swear... Everybody kind of ships him with everybody, so it's not really surprising. Just try 'em until one fits.
But, in other news, Kris got a clothing store! Whoo-hoo, and all that. The store is named "Andrea's" because of Andrea Miles, Kristopherson's mom, who also helped him design the patterns for the clothes he's selling. Neat.
I accidentally deleted a whole other paragraph here while writing this author's note, and I don't remember what it said. I am sorry.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
CHARACTER SHET
Question: "Alois and Ciel; can you two sing? i feel like Alois would be good at it..." by inuyashamunkey
Ciel: "Alois sings in the car and around the house, sometimes. I think he's good."
Alois: "Kind of makes sense for demons to have voices that can carry kind of a note, yeah? I've never heard Ciel sing, though. I want to. I need to. I'm going to pester him about it now."
