I can't feel a thing

[Niall Gallagher]

With no face to put to the name, Niall just assumed they were talking about some butt ugly dude who had no chance at a date. After all, who didn't go on dates? Ugly people, that was who. Ugly hunters. Like Jem. (Which he knew wasn't fair or true but... he still didn't much care for Jem, especially after the bastard went and broke his wrist. Jerk.)

"Aw, he found love and he wants to share it with you," Niall said. "I think it's sweet. Maybe they're planning on getting married and he wants your opinion. Also, the fact that you've never been on a double date is pretty sweet too."

He smiled and gently pinched Ken's cheek like he was an adorable child and not his... whatever he was. Boyfriend? Ken just said they were a couple, even though he wouldn't let him sex him up. (Side eye on that one.) But maybe going on a double date with his friend would open up his eyes. Maybe it would get romantic.

"WELL," Niall declared, "I'M all for it! We were starting to fall into an old people rut, anyway."

[Kenneth Branagh]

Ken had been on dates before, just not double dates. There didn't seem to be a need and honestly, he didn't try that hard with the people that he claimed as lovers. He was always moving, too. Always searching for Niall, his one love.

Having found Niall, however, the idea of a date began to grow on him. Ken was traditional; he wanted to do things the right way. One step at a time. Holding hands, then kisses, then intimacy. There was a blueprint for such things, he thought. Not so for Niall, who jumped around wildly, but wasn't that what Ken was here for? To ground him?

"I think I can understand that." He smiled at Niall, then scowled at Niall when his cheek was pinched. Ken was about to say that he, too, wanted to share his love with someone but now he was keeping that all to himself!

"All right then, let's go on a double date." Gregg suggested the art fair, which was another surprising revelation. Did Gregg like art? Or was it his partner? "Tomorrow at noon, he says... The art fair. That should be right up your alley, Poodles."

[Niall Gallagher]

"Aw, don't make that face. Your smile is so pretty."

What, he didn't like the cheek pinching? But he was so precious. Nobody could resist the cheek pinch when somebody was so precious. Niall kept his smile on, despite the scowl he was given by Ken. Besides, it didn't last forever and they were going on a double date with some friend of Ken's. Niall wondered if he was an old lover. Nah. Probably not. Or maybe? No, not if he was ugly. Or maybe? Niall wasn't honestly aware of what Ken went for when Niall wasn't around. Hm. He liked to think that he'd left a string of curly haired irishmen in his wake, looking for a replacement Niall. But ha-HAH! Nobody could replace Niall! Except NIALL.

He twirled his finger around the vague area of Ken's nipple without even thinking about it.

"Art! It's like they're reading my mind!" he said, as if blew his own. "This is going to be fun. We never got to go on a real date. Do you realize that?"

[Kenneth Branagh]

Nobody could replace Niall at all, not in looks and certainly not in overabundance of personality. There was just too much that was uniquely Niall that couldn't be replicated in another person, man or woman. Ken wasn't seeking to replace him, either. He appreciated his lovers as they were, but knew deep down that he could never love them. Some of them were okay with it; others left him when they realized that his heart belonged to someone else.

But that was all in the past, and none of his past lovers were coming to the door knocking, demanding answers. Ken found Niall and he was keeping to his side like glue. But. He wasn't having any shenanigans. Ken drew the naughty hand down. The problem downstairs was just beginning to diminish and he wasn't about to let Niall tease and torment him again.

"What about that time... hm..." He thought hard about dates but it was true—they never went formally on a date. They were caught before they could do anything about their feelings. "You're right. This is our first date." Which made it a shame that they had to share it with another couple; Ken selfishly wanted that magical moment to have all to themselves. But having promised Gregg, he couldn't refuse.

Tossing the phone away after the time and date were set, he wound his arm back around Niall again and snuggled close. Nothing seemed problematic when he was together with Niall. "I wonder what Gregg's partner is like. Last time I met him, he was all nerves. I can't imagine Gregg going for someone so high-strung, when he's so much like me." Ken eyed Niall and pecked the tip of his nose lightly. "Then again... he probably won't expect you, either..."

[Niall Gallagher]

"See? Our first date! Aww."

Really, though, there was no real date when they were younger. There was a lot of... just being young. Sneaking a hand hold here, a kiss there, a shag there. And then before they could even do anything the proper way, they were found in the worst possible way and it just snowballed downhill from there. Still... Niall sighed and tipped his head forward. Weirdly, it was just occurring to him that he shouldn't have left. The pain had been about enough to kill him, compounded with all the other problems in his life. But... he was a coward and he knew it, running away instead of standing his ground like he should have done.

Before he could dig himself into the rumination spiral, however, Ken was back, arm around him, secure and safe. He was here now, despite whatever happened back then. He smiled to himself as his nose was kissed, then wrinkled it briefly. Yes, there was no point in obsessing over what could have been when there was now.

"Nobody expects me," Niall assured Ken with a pat on the chest. "And were you giving him that face from earlier? Because that could be why he was all nerves."

[Kenneth Branagh]

"No! I was—"

Ken stopped short. Thinking back on it, he had been quite intensely absorbed in the task at hand, which was to get to Hazleton to help Jem fight off supernaturals hunting down hunters. And that was also before he found Niall, so his outlook was quite grim and severe, and so was his expression at any given time.

"...yes," he admitted a little sheepishly. "I was still searching for you then, and I was getting desperate that I might never find you. Maybe I did scare him."

Well that was unfortunate, but also—baffling. What did Gregg's partner see in him that he wanted to double date with him even after Ken went and frightened him all to pieces? It really did look like he was going to fall apart, the way that his nerves seemed to seize him.

"Good thing you'll be there," he sighed as he rested his cheek against Niall's. "Otherwise it'll be dead awkward. Gregg's not a talker." Neither was Ken, when it came down to it, unless he was talking to Niall. Niall had some magical ability to draw out his words and feelings and expressions that no one else had.

"Just don't tell them embarrassing stories about me, all right?" He made a mock-serious glare at Niall. "I know you've got all of them, but keep them to yourself, Poodles!"

[Niall Gallagher]

Niall laughed in delight.

"Ahaha! I knew it! You scared the poor fella!"

Ken could be pretty damn intimidating when he wanted to be. Tall and handsome, he might be, but he was also intense when he was in that mode. Hunting mode. Hunting Niall Mode. He must have been quite the vision. Nuzzling Ken's cheek, he drew closer, as if he could somehow meld their bodies into one, a leg looping around a leg, his arm resting against Ken's waist, again with the little circles, only this time on the bedding beneath Ken.

"So you guys are alike, you said. Not talkers." Wow, this was going to be... a thing. And the nervous scared guy, too. Niall was imagining this pair as a big ugly brute and a nervous, timid little mouse. Interesting.

"But!" he protested. "What if it gets boring and there's a lull in the conversation?! What else do I bring up?!"

[Kenneth Branagh]

This was so cozy, just them alone in bed, talking and chatting like old times. It reminded Ken of the nights that they'd spend out on the hills, looking at the stars with their arms and legs wound around each other. This was what Ken loved, moments like these that allowed him to be himself. Not a hunter, not a dutiful teammate, but Ken—Kenny.

And Niall was Niall. Ken felt the comfortable weight of his arm, the little movements of his hand. He watched the light in Niall's lashes—they were so long, so beautiful—and the way that light radiated from his eyes and face. Niall was entrancing. He was so vibrant, so alive in every aspect of his being. Was there any wonder how Ken could become so enamoured with him?

"You've got millions of stories." He did, too. Niall never stopped talking when they were together. And Ken loved that about him, because he loved to listen and he liked watching Niall flail around as he illustrated key points with his arms and legs. "If it gets too awkward, we'll go and eat. Then we can talk about the food."

[Niall Gallagher]

"I know, I was being facetious." He kissed Ken. Cute Ken. Did he really think he'd let things get awkward? Niall? Awkward? Ahaha! Not this guy! There was a lack of dignity in his life that made it impossible for things to be awkward--at least, on his end. He wasn't worried about that. But he did kinda want to tell stories about Ken. He wondered what Gregg would think of the Ken of his youth versus Hunter Ken, the side of Ken that most people knew.

"I kinda don't want to tell those stories," he told Ken after some thought. "I want that Ken to be just mine and nobody else's."

Nobody else could have that Ken, not even in story form.

"We'll be at an art show, Kenny! We'll have plenty to talk about. At least, I will. So don't worry. I've got this."

[Kenneth Branagh]

"You—oh, you wanker," Ken exclaimed in exasperation. Niall was being Niall—again. He should have known that he was only being teased. He should have really known that Niall and awkwardness didn't go hand-in-hand. Actually, Niall was sometimes—generally?—the source of awkwardness because of his inability to keep his words in.

Even when they were young, Niall was unfailingly honest. About everything. And he had a sharp wit and a sharper tongue, which meant that wars of words against him were losing battles. Ken never tried. He let Niall have victories, knowing that later on when they were all alone... Well, he was a little sneaky himself, Ken was.

"That Ken is only yours," he smiled as he kissed Niall. "This Ken... is also only yours, you know."

[Niall Gallagher]

"Oh, I know." Niall smiled into the kiss.

He would have to be stupid to think otherwise. Ken said he looked for him. He said nobody compared to his deity-like beauty (okay he didn't put it that way but that's what Niall chose to hear). And he most definitely said there was only Niall. No matter what else happened, there was only Niall slotted into his heart, in that place where romance went. Niall honestly couldn't say otherwise. Nobody ever came even slightly close to Ken and Niall supposed he wasn't searching for that. Like he said about having Ken all to himself, he didn't want some pale copy. The people he associated with now couldn't be more different.

Look at JC, a sultry redhead. And Jordan, a handsome black man. Those were the regulars but they weren't in any way what he'd call a girlfriend or a boyfriend. There were also the incubi and succubi at the place where Ken--Niall took in a short breath, remembering the arm with a sudden startling clarity.

"Can I see it?" he asked, sliding a hand gingerly over Ken's arm. "Your... the wound. Does it still hurt?"

[Kenneth Branagh]

Was it obvious? Ken wondered sometimes if his feelings showed. If, during the brief moments when they were out buying groceries or doing errands, that other people could see just how much he cared about Niall. Sometimes he thought that the feelings of love and tenderness would overflow.

Ken was good at hiding things, though. He echoed Niall's sentiments about keeping their past selves to themselves; that part of him would never belong to anyone else and that part of Niall belonged only to him. Those were sacred memories, held dear and close to his heart, tiding him over when he hit those bumps in the road. Telling them to just anyone would make those memories common and they certainly were anything but that.

"It does hurt," he said truthfully because it did and Niall would see through his lies. "But I can take it. You don't have to worry. I won't turn." If he did, he would feel it and he felt perfectly normal. Ken did look at his injured arm, however, and ran his fingers along the bandages.

"I've fought something like that before. The shadow creature. It was in Italy, in a small town like this one. Someone summoned them, all across town, and it... wasn't pretty."

[Niall Gallagher]

Look at them, seriously a pair of blokes with arm wounds. Niall's was on its way to healing, though. The worst of the pain had finally passed and now it was mostly just sore and itchy. Really itchy. Sometimes he just wanted to pound the cast against the wall and see if it would help. (It didn't, he tried once.)

Niall watched Ken's fingertips running over the bandage and he could see the blood that had seeped out, a stark red stain against the white of the bandaging. Niall settled his hand over Ken's, fingers over his fingers, palm sliding over the back of Ken's hand.

"I wasn't thinking you were going to turn," he murmured. That wouldn't even matter to Niall. He spent his time in the company of so-called monsters all the time. But... he had to admit, he didn't want it to happen, not to his pure Ken. Somehow, he was afraid that it WOULD end up mattering, if Ken turned into something else and it actually changed him from this Ken into something else. But if it didn't, well, as long as he had HIS Ken, nothing else mattered.

"I'm sure if you were going to, your tools would've gone hay-whacky." Or... were the tools still here? He furrowed his brow and looked up, over where they usually were. Jem's lackeys were pretty adamant about Ken not coming back when they swept the place for Ken's things.

Settling back, he cocked his head.

"Shadow creatures? That doesn't sound right. I've been to that place loads of... I've been to that place. I don't remember there being anything like that. Just... you know. Sex demons." He frowned. "Why would there be something like that here...?"

[Kenneth Branagh]

"It's okay, it's okay. It'll heal on its own, don't worry," Ken said quietly and reassuringly, turning his hand so that he could clasp Niall's. He drew it down, away from the blood-stained bandages. There was no need for Niall to feel badly about the injury. It wasn't his fault, despite how angry Jem and the others were about the failed raid, and how ready they were to lay all of the blame onto Niall.

His detectors were mostly gone, though. Ken supposed that the others had come to take them; he'd vaguely heard Jem telling someone to get his things back in the car. It was a shame but he could get them back later. Jem couldn't use them, he was sure; they were family heirlooms that only Ken knew how to tune and manipulate.

"I don't know what that thing was doing there, but it's not good." Ken sighed. He'd thought about it too, why a creature that he'd fought all the way in Italy wound up here. But barring further investigation around town, he couldn't say for sure—and he wasn't one for idle speculations.

"Don't bother yourself about it, Poodles. I'll get to the bottom of things once this arm heals up a little. We should get some rest... We've an important double date tomorrow don't we?" He smiled, and it was a touch impish. "We have to be at our best. The best couple."