The game goes on…
Chapter XIX II: Yeah, it's the new improved latest version of me.
"Before we begin, let me clear a point: bluff is not a sin, am I right?" the blond asks for confirmation, while he gazes at his cards, pretty satisfied.
Tom bursts out laughing.
"Nope, Morgy, it's not a sin, it's just one of the main rules of this game. So make your best… or your worst, whatever you angels usually do!"
"We angels usually win!" Morgan strikes back almost unconsciously, maybe he's already way too involved in the game.
Tom displays a kinky sneer.
"Cocky. Mm, that's the way I like you!" he murmurs with a silky voice.
"Let's play, it's better!" his counterpart urges him.
"Morgy, but… did you really call me 'beauty' before?" the brunet makes him notice with a sly smile.
"Let's play!" the other insists.
"But… before, when you said that you wore only your tunic, does it mean that you angels usually don't wear anything else under…"
"Thomas, please!" the archangel practically begs him, feeling as awkward as never before.
"Okay, okay, let's play!" Tom gives in.
Maybe it's due to the momentary distraction Thomas caused to Morgan and to all his awkwardness, but it's the archdevil who wins the first hand.
"Easy one!" Morgan shrugs, undoing his tie and taking it off, acting like nothing happened.
"Oh, well, I'm going to win so many other times!" the brunet sneers, cheekily. "Or even to lose, why not?" he adds, evilly.
"Huh? Why should you ever want to lose?" Morgan asks him, puzzled.
He definitely ignores what Tom's real plan is.
The archdevil is more than ready to make things a bit clearer for him.
"Think about it. If I win, you take your clothes off; if you win, I take my clothes off. The game will go on and on this way; until, unavoidably, one of us will see the other utterly naked. No matter how the game ends, I've already won anyway!" he laughs amused.
"Oh, blissful, holy Heaven!" Morgan shrikes, shaking his wings. "I hadn't thought about that." he whines, torturing his lower lip with his teeth.
"My beautiful archangel, I can't really blame you for that. The closeness with me must cloud your mind." the brunet devilishly smirks.
"It' not so bad," the blond mumbles, ignoring him. "So far I'm still wearing a lot of clothes, just like you. I can keep playing, winning or losing a lot of hands… and then I'll deal with the consequences when it's time to do that." the archangel cheers up, asking for more cards.
"That's the spirit, One-Thousand-Feathers! What about keeping an eye on the guys while we play? Tonight they have that show in… I don't even remember where." Tom suggests, ready to make the magic globe appear, but Morgan shakes his hand.
"No, they would make us lose our concentration. Besides, to be honest, I don't feel like watching them making moon eyes at each other, and then resorting to pathetic and useless charades to make us believe they truly hate each other!" the blond grumbles, while he stares at his cards.
"Yep, we would just lose time and energies… although it's fun to see how they are sure that they are fooling us!" Tom chuckles, while he takes action with a lot of self-confidence.
But Morgan is not scared by that, he accepts to check, he even raises and… it is a good move, because he has better cards than Tom.
"Well, you're not a newbie, are you?" Tom stares at him, while he takes off his baseball cap.
His listener confines himself to shrugging, waiting for the new cards.
"However, it's praiseful the fact that Dominic came back to his sober and minimalist style of clothing, it fits him much more than that disinhibited and misleading look that he has used during the last months." Morgan states proudly, while he studies his cards.
His concentration is abruptly stopped by Thomas' noisy laughter.
"No, wait. Please, Morgan, make me understand… what the hell do you find minimalist in super tights and bright pants, t-shirts with a way too generous neckline and shirts that are so damn see-through that it would be easier if he went around naked?" he wonders, between laughter.
"But, no, that was his previous look. Didn't you see how pretty he looked with his turtleneck sweater and his large pants…" Morgan grumbles, confused.
"The only praiseful thing here is how damn easily that blondie made a fool of you! Well, I wouldn't be so surprised if my little bastard had got something to do with that!" the brunet grins proudly.
"Oh! So Dom cheated with me! He made me see things that aren't real…" the archangel mumbles, disheartened, staring at the ground.
"Look at him, just a few months with my Matt… and now what did your pet turn into?" his counterpart laughs of him, without restraint.
Morgan raises his head, challenging Tom with his look.
"What about your pet? Making all those good deeds?" he asks him, clearly amused.
"Argh! That horrible day when that idiot helped an old geezer cross the road? Don't remind me of that!" Tom nervously growls.
"Nope, dear Tommy, you don't know that there was much more than that. Something we didn't see because when it happened, Chris wasn't with them. But when we paid visit to them, at the costume party, Dominic told me about it." the blond informs him.
"What… what else did that dimwit do?" Tom is almost afraid to ask.
"I didn't mean to arrive to this point, but… well, you should know that your favorite devil made a kid smile again, because after losing his balloon, Matt gave him a new one… and, nope, I don't mean that he used magic to create it, he honestly bought it!" Morgan have fun giving him all those precious details.
"Dammit! When it's about kids, Matt should only steal candies from them or push the children into punching other children. What did he turn into? What the fuck does his brain telling him? If he goes on this way I'll have to strike him off the devil register!" the brunet snaps.
"Why? Do you have a register?" Morgan wonders curiously.
"No, but I don't know what I'm saying anymore!" Tom grumbles, desperate.
He does not cheer up not even when he wins that hand and stares at Morgan while he takes off that hateful duster.
Time goes on and hand after hand Morgan only wears a T-shirts and his pants, while Thomas wears the shirt, with boxers and his shoes.
Out of the blue, maybe in order to have a break, Thomas draws out his mobile phone and approaches to Morgan, to make him watch a gallery of images that the archdevil is particularly fond of.
"Here Assassin is on my desk, here he's having breakfast, here he's drinking, here he's reading the contract of a soul…" he gives info about every pic, while Morgan grows more and more disgusted, staring at the pics of that big insect.
"Really, Tommy, I appreciated your passion for the art of Photography, but Assassin is not among my favorite subjects to stare at." Morgan patiently explains to him, but Thomas is too engrossed in his activity to even barely listen to him.
"You know what? I've found out he's even poisonous. Isn't it wonderful?" the archdevil grins happily.
"Err.. you know, Tom, I have a definitely different concept of 'wonderful!'" the blond grumbles, silently grateful to Thomas when he puts the mobile phone back in his pocket.
"Guess what? Showbiz is so damn jealous of him! He immediately tried to eat him and Assassins almost stung him for that! They truly hate each other, isn't that wonderful, too?" Tom beams.
He's so excited that even Morgan can't help smiling at him.
Their game comes to a crucial point that is what Morgan feared the most: both of them now wear only their boxers.
The archangel is panic-stricken: after all, if he wins, Tom will be naked, if he loses, he'll have to take his boxers off, exposing his utterly naked body to the archdevil's hungry eyes.
Morgan craves an equal draw.
Out of the blue, maybe thanks to his silent prayers, Tom's I-phone 666 rings.
"Anderson, what the fuck do you want?" Tom snaps annoyed, accepting his colleague's call.
"An overtime meeting? Now?" he repeats what Anderson tells him, in order to make also Morgan hear that.
"What I'm doing now is not your fucking business, your damn nosy parker. However, you can only dream about stuff like that!" he adds, gazing at Morgan as it was a radiography.
Morgan feels very awkward but he doesn't say anything.
"What's the bloody matter? Oh, yeah, I got it. There's an overcrowd of new damned souls and you don't know where to place them. It's always such a delight hearing news like that!" he declares pleased, even more when he sees Morgan growing upset after that info.
"Okay, I'll reach you as soon as I can, just start without me!" he informs his friend, hanging up.
"Well, dear Tommy, work is work. It has been a very interesting night…" Morgan mumbles, relieved, getting up and recollecting his clothes.
"Stop it!" Tom commands.
"But… aren't you going to your essential meeting?" the blond frowns.
"I guess there's time for the last hand." Tom smiles evilly.
"Well.. I think we shouldn't do that. You'll be late and…"
"Morgan, I wouldn't stop this poker game not even if there was the Apocalypse!" the brunet strikes back, vociferous.
The poor archangel has no choice but sitting again at the table and resuming the game. His hands are trembling and his soul is devoured by anguish. He doesn't even know what to wish for.
"Well done, it seems you are the winner. Congrats!" Tom says, getting up in order to take his boxers off.
Morgan covers his eyes with his hand, to avoid seeing too compromising things.
"Are you done?" he wonders, wavering.
"Yes, my fussy dude, I'm already wearing my pants. You can watch now!" Tom informs him.
Morgan follows his advice and, once more, he realizes how naïve is to trust in an archdevil's word.
As a matter of fact, Tom stares in front of him, magnificently naked and he's liking that situation a lot.
"Bu-bu-bu-but y-you t-to-told meee y-you were d-done and already dressed! That's so unfair!" the bond protests shocked, barely managing to get up.
"And you even bought it! You should only blame yourself, Morgy, unless… at the very end you wanted to watch! " Tom giggles, wearing his clothes, this time for real.
"Odd date, strip-poker, wicked game, too few clothes, too much privacy, too much… everything!"
Morgan grumbles, incoherent, wearing his tunic again with a magic snap and disappearing as fast as he can, leaving only a bunch of floating feathers.
Feathers that Tom decides to collect and treasure, in memory of such a special moment.
Morgan lands in the office, too bad that it's not his office.
"Dear Morgan, I'm so glad you paid such a nice visit to me!" his colleague warmly welcomes him, with a big beam. "Do you need anything, my dear?" he wonders.
"Huh! No, thanks, Glenn… it's just that I was such in a rush that I went in the wrong office. I have a certain age, after all, I have to deal with the consequences!" Morgan laughs it off, heading towards the right office this time, with a clear plan to set in action.
- Two hours of packs with holy water on my eyes should be enough! –
Promotion time is over, but before coming back home, Chris, Dom and Matt have to meet Emma in Manchester at the Hyper Music, to take stock of the situation.
"These are the sale charts of all the towns where you have performed in." she explains, austere and unsmiling, throwing a bunch of sheets on the oval table where they are sitting around
"I know, maybe it's not going very well, but, you know, these are our first performances, we need more time, just give us another chance and…" Chris pleads, fearing the worst.
"It' not going very well?! Christopher, it couldn't have been any better! The stores where you have played were overcrowded and your EP disappeared from every shelf!" she replies, grinning.
"Sorry, Emma, but with you it's never clear if we did something good or not!" Dominic grumbles, relieved by that good news.
"That's even better. It's part of my job to be inscrutable!" she grins.
"So, we are going to do more than that, aren't we?" Matthew figures out, pleased.
"You can say it! You're going to do more than that, I want your first album in stores by next December, in time for Winter Holidays!" the music-industry executive declares.
"Alright! So our very first album will be in stores in the most beautiful time of the year!" Dominic rejoices.
"Nope, my dear, it means that your album will be in stores in the most profitable time of the year! At Christmas time people is so full of stupid sentimentalism and keep buying stuff and gifts. What's better than a CD to give to someone dear?" the venal woman explains.
"Oh, Emma, I couldn't agree more than that!" Matthew approves, clapping his hands, while Dominic grumbles his deep disappointment.
"Fine, so we'll really work hard for that! We'll create tons of new songs, one more beautiful than the other!" Chris announces, very excited. "And I can tell you for sure that this is not the only thing that will arrive by the end of the year!" he adds, with a knowing smile.
Emma immediately assaults him, almost throwing herself on the table.
"What? Are you working for another record label, behind my back? Who is? How did they approach you during your promotional mini-tour? Tell me!" she growls.
Chris jumps on his chair.
"No way, Emma, you misunderstood everything. We're not working for another record label and now I'm sure I'll never do it, judging by your scary reaction!" Chris assures, terrified.
"Oh, Emma, how could you ever think such a horrible thing about us? To cheat is such a shameful deed. Besides, you have done so much for us and we'll be eternally thankful to you for that!" Dominic states.
"Good guys, this is a wise decision. If you cheat on me, not only I will expel you from all the music industries, but from the whole Earth, too!" she swore, with a glacial expression.
"However, what Chris meant to say before is that he and his girlfriend are expecting a sprog and the little thing will debut by the end of the year!" Matt explains.
"Oh, if this is the truth, congrats, Chris!" she shows him a brilliant smile, before changing expression once more. "But, remember, first of all, you are a rockstar, my rockstar! Then, if there's still time for that, you can also be a father!" she summons him.
"Yes siree!" the bassist jabbers, almost losing his balance on his chair.
"That woman scares the shit out of me!" the human whispers to Matthew.
"Instead, I adore her. And I'm sure that my friend Billie Joe would be glad to have her as his employee … and concubine, too!" the devil sneers maliciously.
It's been a couple of weeks since the meeting with Emma, but Chris didn't waste time and immediately worked hard for the album, which means that he also made Dom and Matt work with him, almost enslaving them.
That's why, as soon as Chris must go out of town for a commission, the two guardians don't follow him – as their job, their real job, would require – but they prefer stay at home, enjoying a bit of relax.
"If he asks me one more time to create a melody for him, I swear I'm going to turn him into a piano! No, wait, that's even better, I'll turn him into drums, so you can beat him good and proper!" Matt grumbles, as worn out as Dom.
The angel tries to relax with some zapping on the TV, until he finds something rather interesting.
"Matt, I think you could like it…" he says, pointing to the screen where there's an horror movie about demonic possession, which is already started.
"Oh, please, do you have the slightest idea about how many movies like that I've already watched? Do you know how much misinformation there is about that stuff? The biggest part of my colleagues just want to have fun with the girls, no one is so obsessed with the conception of a baby demon!" the devil grumbles. "Just like human men, they are scared by such responsibilities and run away!" he makes fun of it.
"Well, our dear Chris is not scared by responsibilities and doesn't run away!" the angel points out.
"But it's undeniable the fact that all my friends have lots of fun terrorizing their victims!" Matt adds, watching the movie.
"Poor, dear girls. Geez, your friends make them do horrible things. Just like the green vomit. It's so disgusting. Why can't they puke… I don't know, rainbows?" Dominic wonders, while he watches the described scene with a disgusted face.
"I'll try my best to spread your precious advice!" Matt rolls his eyes, pleasing him.
"Another thing that is totally wrong it's the naming. Why all those ridiculous and unpronounceable names? My friends are called Brian, Jared, Gerard, Benji, Joel, Jesse…" Matt grumbles. "Without mentioning that this is such a pathetic imitation. Brian would do something ten thousand times better!" he adds.
"Billie Boh, Adam, now even this Brian. I'm losing count of all our special friends!" Dom hisses, annoyed.
Matthew is delighted by his jealousy.
"Huh? No, you're wrong. Between Brian and me there's only a cold scorn." he points out.
"That's even worse!" the blond protests.
"Why?" the brunet frowns.
"At the beginning, there was a cold scorn even between you and me." Dom mumbles.
Matthew bursts out laughing.
"You are wrong. Whatever there was between you and me at the beginning, it has always been very hot!" he empathises the last word, while he caresses the angel's face with the back of his hand.
Dominic melts down.
"Well, Matthew, explain this to me, why all the possessed people have to commit such horrible murders? Why can't they make just some phone jokes?" Dominic grumbles, holding his devil tight and hiding his head under Matt's jacket, while there's a particularly gory scene of the movie.
"Phone jokes?" Matt repeats in disbelief.
"Well, I mean very, very, very cruel phone jokes, of course!" Dominic corrects himself, raising his head, but without looking at the screen.
"Well, of course, now it's something totally different!" the brunet comments sarcastically. "I'll spread the word among my friends, so my little angel will not be so scared anymore!"
"Little angel, you can watch it now, the ugly scene is over." he informs the other.
Dom turns his head trustfully, but ends up watching the scene in its goriest moment.
"Maaaaaaaaatt!" the angel shrieks, shocked.
"Devil here. Evil. Never forget that!" the hellish creature giggles.
Dominic makes his wings appear to cover his eyes with them.
Time goes on, the movie is about the end of the second half, when they hear a car parking and after a few minutes Chris gets in.
"You two, time-waster, go back working on the songs, now! C'mon!" he exhorts them, turning the TV off.
"I don't mind. I've already watched that movie." Matt shrugs, getting up from the sofa.
"I haven't. It ends well, doesn't it?" the angel stares at him with demanding eyes.
"Of course. No one dies, the priests manages to convince the demon who repents and promises he won't do stuff like that anymore. He goes back to Hell and, for thankfulness, the freed girl becomes a nun… and everyone will live happily ever after!" Matt pleases him, because he can't resist to those pleading eyes.
"Huh, that's so nice. I love happy endings!" the blond smiles relieved.
"You know, little angel, you should become the director of that kind of movie!" the gorgeous devil makes fun of him.
TBC
Notes:So, did you notice the two new background characters? Oh, c'mon, I just had to do that, Glenn is always so good and kind … while Dom Anderson has '666' in his twitter account, lol! XD
I just hope this story won't tire you, because this devil and this angel still have so many things to face… Thanks for reading!