Yugen opened the front door, entering the dark apartment—dark tapestry depicting the lovers tarot hung over the large window, effectively blocking out the sun. Yugen left the door open so she could see well enough to turn on the lights—she walked over to her couch, leaning over it to turn on the trendy black and white lamps behind it. She set the keys on the glass table, then closed the front door. Yugens long pony tail whipped around with her brisk movement, splashing droplets of sweat randomly on the light gray carpet. Her black, cropped pullover and her purple, x-ray skeleton leggings were drenched; sending chills over her body. Yugen spent the last hour in a half jogging with a two year old Boxer, she was hungry and ready for a shower. She kicked off her black and white Nikes between the front door and the large window, then walked towards her kitchen. Her ladder desk sat against the wall, next to the kitchen island; piles of books and CD's stacked in between.

The brass light fixtures above the island hung in dark still silence, the sun cast a glow through the window behind the kitchen sink. A couple of pentagrams made of willow and oak hung from fake, gold plated light fixtures; bundles of herbs drooped from the five pointed star, making reedy shadows dance upon the granite counter tops and white linoleum floor. Yugen threw her socks on the floor, next to the laundry basket full of clothes—specifically set at the entry way of the small laundry room as a reminder. She opened up one of the slate colored cabinets and pulled out a glass, filling it up from her stainless steel fridge. She opened it up, pulling out a pre made salad. She sat at one of the wooden bar stools, took off her arm band, and pulled out her phone to check the time.

4:02…

Upon noticing she only had 3 hours to get ready, she ate quickly and got ready to shower.

It was after 5, and the zoo was closing. After all the employees left, Barry locked the gates and headed towards his home. He walked the pathway towards his dark, underground dwelling—he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the door. He ran down the steps, briskly walked down the hallway and through the locker room, finally making it to his isolated abode. He immediately went to the bathroom and turned on the shower—he pulled off his boots, then slipped out of his beige work suit, leaving him in his blue boxer briefs; the cotton spandex fabric complimented his firm, masculine contours.

Barry felt light and his chest felt warm, he smiled as he thought of Yugen; his loins fluttered and he became erect with excitement. Barry stepped in the shower, anticipating the evening ahead. He let out a contented sign as he let the warm water run over him—he splashed his face with water, then rubbed his neck and muscular shoulders. Barry felt rather lucky to be in Kevin's body, even at 37, he was still a very good looking man. Barry's right hand rested against the wall, his left hand made his way down his pelvis. Water cascaded down his back as he gently stroked his member, caressing the tip with his thumb. He thought of Yugens face, her beautiful lips, and her exotic features. He imagined her beautiful mouth wrapped around him, stroking her soft hair as he looked down in to her beautiful brown eyes. His breathing became more rapid and his strokes more fervent, his breath hitched and he let out a groan as he finally climaxed.

It was after 5 and Yugen stood in front of her large closet naked, contemplating what to wear. She rubbed the welts on her bicep, deciding it would be best to wait to show Barry her scars. Yugen knew she was confident and she felt comfortable in her own skin, however, sometimes her scars drew unwanted attention. Recently, an old man approached her while she was walking a couple of Yorkie's, he asked to pray over her with the hope that God will cure her satanic blood lust. Yugen, of course, bursts at the seams with laughter as she walked away, but that wasn't the kind of interplay she wanted with Barry tonight.

Yugen reached in her closet and pulled out a classy, black dress. It was lacey, skin tight, and modestly cut—it was sexy without being too revealing. She placed the dress on her unmade bed—her silk crème colored sheets still ruffled from this morning, a slate colored quilt hung halfway off the bed, and her off white comforter with tassels hung gracefully from their stitching. A light gray blanket with sequins sparkled like the string lights that hung from sheer, black and white tapestry. Yugen placed her pumps at the foot of the bed, then walked over to her vanity. It was a simple black desk with a gothic style mirror hanging above it—a white, pink, and purple taper candle towered in ruby red candle holders and a withered white rose lay in front of them. A white and gold statue of Aphrodite sat to the right, along with rose quartz varying in size.

Yugen sat in her black chair, then carefully applied a moderate amount of black eyeliner. She finished her make up with mascara and a little bit of blush, then applied sheer pink lipstick. She already had in her diamond labret stud, so she put in her diamond nose stud, adding a fair amount of facial bling. Yugen reached over to a book shelf made of wood and tree branches—she grabbed a hair dryer out of one of the wicker baskets, then proceeded to do her hair. It took about 20 minutes to put her hair in to a braided faux hawk, an off beat addition to what Yugen felt was an already conservative outfit; she then slipped in her dress and put on her shoes. Next to her tree branch bookshelf was an all black dresser—on top of it sat a pink and black upside down pentagram shelf with various hello kitty trinkets, horror memorabilia, and a cat candle in the center. On the dresser sat a couple of white candles, random pieces of jewelry, and a pink vase with a couple of wilted roses inside. Next to a tiny, glass skull jar sat an onyx black heart necklace and her black rose plugs with a dangling skull and rhinestone. She sat back down at her vanity then put on her jewelry; her gauges gave her outfit a bit of gothic glam, her necklace laid precisely just under her collar bone—the delicate simplicity of her necklace balanced out some of the showiness. Yugen walked over to her closet and slid the doors shut, revealing an attached mirror. Strangely enough, most of the room was made of mirror, but it stirred up an extreme amount of paranoia; so much that Yugen couldn't tolerate sleeping in the room—which is why she bought the tapestry. She looked herself over before grabbing her spiked clutch, feeling satisfied with her appearance, yet anxious for the date.

Barry stood patiently at the entrance, leaning on the black railing; he had gotten to the restaurant a bit early to ensure he met up with Yugen when she got there. A brown camper van slowly rolled by, completely out of place. He stared at it skeptically, before it was parked in front of the restaurant. Barry felt a pull in his chest—a familiar indicator that some, if not all of the others were paying close attention. He noticed Yugen emerge and his jaw dropped, despite the murmuring in his head and the captivating woman walking towards him, he still reacted with social poise.

"Wowza!" Barry exclaimed teasingly.

Yugen laughed at him, "hey, Barry!" She stated happily as she hugged him, which Barry greedily accepted. "How are you?" Yugen breathed into his neck, sending chills down his spine.

"Mmm...I'm doing fantastic, love." Barry breathed in Yugens scent—she smelled like coffee and cookies, sugary and sweet. Barry felt as if a bomb dropped in his gut, sending sparks flying in to his chest.

Barry felt Yugens arms break from around his neck, he unwrapped his arms from around her waist and rested his hands on her hips; he rubbed his thumbs on her hip bones as he got a closer look at her. She had shapely legs, toned meaty hips and thighs, she appeared to have some muscle definition underneath her lace sleeves, her chest was a bit small—but Barry was an ass man anyway.

Yugen rested her palms on Barry's chest as she looked him over—he wore dark shoes and dark jeans, his shirt was gray with thin black stripes across his chest, his hoodie was drapey and asymmetrical, and he wore what Yugen assumed to be his signature gray hat. He was definitely the hottest guy Yugen had ever been with!

Eventually, they locked eyes and Yugen asked barely above a whisper, "Are you ready to go in?"

"Yeah, yeah lets go in," Barry replied shaking his head, ripping himself out of his trance.

Upon entering the restaurant, Yugen and Barry were greeted by a short, lanky man in his early 20's. He seated them at a dimly lit booth, "Your waiter will be with you in just a moment." The host reassured before walking away.

"So, that brown van you drove here in, do you live in that?" Barry asked, making Yugen giggle with amusement.

"No, I travel a lot and I occasionally like to go camping," Yugen replied and Barry nods in understanding.

A plump, pale red headed waitress approaches them and introduces herself, before asking about their drinks.

"Are you a fan of red wine?" Barry asks Yugen.

"Yes, of course!"

"Well, then I would suggest the Pinot Noir. Are you okay with that?" Barry considerately inquired.

"Yeah, lets go for it!" Yugen exclaimed enthusiastically, making Barry and the waitress chuckle.

"So, what do you do at the zoo?" Yugen asks as she opens up the menu, glancing at the dinner section.

Barry noticed from the last time he saw Yugen that she was a bit absent-minded, in a way that probably made her seem rude to some. He didn't mind the quirk of hers, especially because of his own—however, it still threw him off. "I'm a maintenance manager, basically I'm the main fix it guy and I assign work to other fix it guys."

Yugen had her eyes fixated on Barry as he spoke—one hand rested on the menu, the other hand rested underneath her chin. "Oh yeah..." Yugen stated with a flirtatious smirk. She changed the position of her hands, interlacing her fingers and resting her chin on them before continuing, "so how do you like being the bossy fix it guy?" Yugen questions light heartedly, flashing her pearly whites at Barry making him blush and titter.

"That's cute, Yugen!" They both laughed vivaciously as the waitress walked over with bread and wine.

After the waitress poured the wine, she asked if they were ready to order. Barry sat back in the booth displaying his usual effeminate presentation—his legs were crossed as one hand rested on the table, the other hand rested on his knee. He smiled up at the waitress and said, "we'll need a couple of more minutes, miss."

"Sure," then she strode off.

"Well uh...I do like being the boss, mostly because I get annoyed very quickly when taking orders," Yugen chortles as Barry continues, "but it pays pretty decently and provides us a place to stay." Barry finishes, hoping that Yugen didn't notice that he referred to himself as a plurality.

She did notice, however, instead of mentioning it she made a mental note of it. "So, does your job provide you an apartment?" Yugen asked a bit confused.

Barry smiles nervously, "not exactly, when they promoted me to management they said I could have the maintenance barracks, so I fixed it up and made it my own."

"Oh, so your that handy of a man! That's pretty cool!" Yugen beams coquettishly as Barry smiles and shrugs a shoulder, trying not to blush. "And you live there rent free?"

"Yes, I do!" Barry spoke, trying his best to appear confident and relaxed when discussing his unorthodox living space.

"Sweet...so what do you do in your spare time?" Yugen asked as she clasped her hands on the table, leaning a bit closer.

Barry did the same—with their middle fingers barely touching, the small gesture felt as if high voltage had shot through them, igniting an electrical flame; one in which both of them were willing to be consumed by.

"I have a lot of different interests, but I really enjoy drawing—my main passion is designing and making women's clothing."

"Hmmm..." Yugen taps her chin with her index finger. "Why women's clothing?" She wonders aloud.

"I...appreciate the female form," Barry replies smoothly, yet honestly. "I think women's bodies are works of art, and with the right fabric and the right cut you guys are...even more tantalizing." Barry stared intently at Yugen, making her cheeks flush and her heart race. He grabbed one of her loosely clasped hands and asked, "so Yugen, would you consider yourself a leader or a follower?"

Yugen thought about it for a couple of seconds before replying, "Um...neither! I'm actually the type that goes to my own little dark corner and rocks back and forth...picking the paint off the walls." Yugen makes a scratching motion with her index finger, then smiled exuberantly at Barry, puzzling him and amusing him at the same time.

"You kill me, girl!" Barry says as he kisses Yugens fingers.

'Okay, so she's a little crazy, this is good!' A comment obviously from Jade.

Barry smirks at Yugen as he gazed at her before saying, "we should look at our menus before the waitress comes back." Barry lets go of Yugens hand and opens up his menu before continuing, "she might have the cooks spit in our food for taking too long."

Yugen giggled then said, "fair enough!" A smile lingered on her pretty face as she looked at the menu.

"And don't worry about the prices. I got this one," Barry stated.

Yugen looked at him wide eyed, "are you sure? They're pretty pricey!"

"Of course, doll! I don't pay any rent, remember?" Barry winked and blew a kiss at Yugen, which made her look down at her menu and blush.

"Okay Barry, I'm going to be completely forward, I'm not putting out. I am not a hungry prostitute!" Yugen stated her boundaries clearly, but not without her inventive wordplay.

Barry raised his eyebrows, suppressing his laughter then retorted, "baby, if you were a prostitute, I would not bring you here!"

Yugen busted out laughing as Barry chuckled along with her. "Good point!" She says still smiling.

"Yeah, don't give me that sass, honey!" Barry playfully commanded.

"Just for that, I'm ordering the most expensive thing on the menu!"

"Now you have to come back to my place!" Barry and Yugen laughed and flirted, enjoying good food and good wine, before deciding to head out.

Yugen and Barry stood on the drivers side of Yugens van, "so, if you don't stay in this van, where do you stay?"

"I stay at the Spruce Avenue Apartments, right between ghettoville and boujieville."

Barry smiled at Yugen and said, "yeah, I know where that's at."

Yugen smirked at Barry as he gazed into her eyes captivated, mesmerized by her intense dark orbs.

Barry finally broke the silence, "you look extravagant this evening. I really love the hair!" Barry said vibrantly.

Yugen smiled and said, "thank you."

"So uh, I better go catch my bus."

"You take the bus? Barry, let me give you a ride!" Yugen asserted before he turned to leave.

Barry smiled at this, having other thoughts in mind. "Oh honey, you don't need to do that!"

Yugen caught his eyes and tugged at the sleeve on his coat, "Barry, you paid for the meal and it's cold out, don't make me be creepy and tell you to get in the van."

Barry laughed with heartfelt hilarity, "yes ma'am." He complied with Yugens demands and they both got in the vehicle, then drove away.

The drive to the zoo was quiet and calm, Die Antwood played in the background as Yugen focused on the road, and Barry stared wistfully out the window.

Yugen slowly came to a stop in front of the zoo, then put her van in park. "Home sweet home," she says.

Barry grins at Yugen and says, "Thank you."

"Oh! Before I forget!" Yugen pulled out a couple of tickets and orange bracelets from her clutch, "the bracelets are so you can get backstage. I hope to see you there!"

"You will definitely see me there!" Barry grinned and winked at Yugen. "Have a great night gorgeous." He blew a kiss at Yugen then hopped out of the van, leaving her feeling quite flattered and delighted.

RECOMMENDED SONG: I Fink U Freeky

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