Double the trouble

[Aldon Huang]

He couldn't do it.

In the end, faced with the thought of Gregg leaving him FOR GOOD, Aldon didn't tell him a thing about Ryland. Instead, he blabbered something about running into an ex-boyfriend before they left town (though this was actually quite true) and then suddenly had to go to the bathroom, where he hid for nearly twenty minutes, running the taps and dinking his head against the bathroom mirror.

Afterwards, quiet and ashamed of himself, Aldon found ways to hide from Gregg—until the big Double Date. Even now, as he waited by the entrance of the fairgrounds holding Gregg's hand, Aldon couldn't even look at him.

He felt like such a betrayer. A traitor. A skunk and a rat and a snake and every animal under the sun that was sneaky, deceitful, cheating, lying, scummy, low-down good for nothing—

Well, that was how his thoughts were running. He hated himself. Hated his heart for being split, hated that he hadn't been honest with Gregg from the start. Aldon hated that he was taking advantage of Gregg's kindness and love and support, that Gregg had told him his secrets, but Aldon still kept his.

He shuffled a foot awkwardly along the grass, then looked up. Left. Down again. Left. Anywhere but at Gregg, who had to know that something was wrong by now! But Aldon refused to say anything and miserably he wondered if he ever could tell Gregg the truth. Or would his secret consume him? Would it split them apart quicker than the secret itself?

"AH! There they are!"

Relief was never more evident in Aldon's voice as he pointed to the tall blond-haired man coming their way. He was holding hands with someone equally tall with a lot of curly hair and, even at a distance, very bright eyes. Aldon stared at his outfit. Then he looked down at his own outfit, which was similarly bright, colorful, attention-grabbing. But Aldon dressed like this so that they would be conspicuous, and therefore harder to secretly murder!

Despite his inner turmoil, he grinned as widely as he could when Ken's date grinned at him, finding his smile infectious even from a distance.

Trash Bat

[Greggory Lennox]

Lately...

Lately, Gregg found himself watching Aldon out of the corner of his eye. Not suspicious, per se, but observant. One wouldn't call a man like Gregg jealous but he did feel as if there was a big secret that was being kept from him. Normally, Aldon was quite the talker but now between manic fragmented sentences where Aldon conspicuously seemed to be sweating something out, there were strange stretches of silence in which Aldon couldn't be found. Or he could be but he had excuses, like being in the shower or the bathroom or he had somewhere to be. Somewhere important but vague.

Gregg didn't like it; he didn't have to be ex-hunter nor werewolf to suss out that something was up. Gregg was waiting. Waiting for Aldon to come clean but every moment between them seemed to pass without a confession. There was that oh-so-important confession that Aldon claimed to need to slough off his chest but when Gregg arrived. Nothing. Nothing.

It was getting to Gregg.

Even now, for this date that Aldon insisted on going on, Aldon was acting strange. He wouldn't even look Gregg in the eyes and Gregg only had so much to go off. But it was looking a lot like this: Aldon had somehow dated Ken before. There was talk of an ex. And now Ken was back in his life and... And they were going on a double date with him. It didn't actually make much sense but Gregg had to be honest: sometimes he had a hard time making sense of Aldon.

Gregg remained stoic as he was wont to, watching with impassive eyes as a familiar blond form made his way toward them, through the throng of people milling about the fairgrounds. Right by Ken's side was an unfamiliar man with a mop of curls and a smile so big that it actually rivaled Aldon's. Gregg never thought he'd live to see it.

He looked nothing like a person that Ken would date. But then, so did Aldon. And... that only made things make that much more sense. Gregg slightly narrowed his eyes, not nearly as friendly as Aldon and the newcomer were being.

"Look!" the dark haired man said, revealing something he'd been hiding behind his back. Gregg slightly raised his brow. It was a balloon twisted into the shape of... something.

"It's a sheep!" the man said, and there was a definite Irish lilt in his voice. Not... surprising, actually, given where Ken was from. "Would you believe they don't use black balloons here?" The man let out a snort. Well. That explained why the animal's wool was pink and purple.

[Aldon Huang]

"They have BALLOON ANIMALS?" Aldon jabbered excitedly as he leaned in to look at the colorful sheep, momentarily forgetting his discomfort with Gregg. He loved balloon animals! It was like... like magic, taking a long wiggly balloon and twisting it into a giraffe or a poodle dog.

"You think they can make a wolf? Or a dog? I'll settle for a dog, they're pretty much just sissy wolves anyway right?"

He looked up to see Ken smiling slightly. It wasn't a big smile, nor a very noticeable one, but having glanced at him at just the right moment, Aldon saw his lips twitch. "Hi Gregg," Ken said, extending a hand to Gregg. The smile was gone, leading Aldon to wonder if he was seeing things, but Ken remained genial and friendly. That hard, determined light in his eyes that Aldon saw at the bus depot was gone. "This is my—boyfriend, Niall Gallagher. Niall, this is Gregg and Aldon."

Aldon thought he heard the briefest of pauses before Ken said boyfriend but maybe he was imagining it. "Hi Niall!" He said brightly to Niall, holding out his own hand to shake. In Niall, he sensed a kindred spirit. He didn't know how he knew but he knew. All he had to do was look at Niall and he knew. Maybe it was a wolf thing!

Aldon turned to look at Gregg and the guilt returned, but he had to remind himself that they were here to make friends with Ken and Niall. They weren't here for Aldon to act like he had a body hidden in the trunk of their car. Gently, he squeezed Gregg's hand, grateful for his presence.

"Let's go get one before they run out, Gregg!"

[Greggory Lennox]

"Why a wolf, eh?" the dark haired one asked as he inspected his overly colorful so-called sheep. "Are you going to try and eat my new sheep fella?"

Gregg continued to watch Aldon and the weird guy. They seemed to be getting along pretty well. Two peas in a pod, actually. They both seemed like they didn't run out of things to talk about, although Gregg was glad that Aldon wasn't quite so... wild in the appearance department. That wasn't his cup of tea and he was somehow surprised to see that it was Ken's. Or was it? His gaze swept over to Ken as he extended his hand. Despite the desire to pointedly ignore it, Gregg eventually lifted his to shake it. No more smile, it seemed. What was that about?

And why the hesitation when he spoke of his boyfriend? Was he ashamed of him? Or was he just trying to assure Aldon in code that he wasn't actually important to him?

Gregg didn't take his eyes off Ken as he said, "Actually, maybe you should have Niall take you. I'm sure he doesn't mind. Does he?"

"Ah huh what?" Niall said, then shrugged. "Sure, why not? I thought I saw a stand of caramel corn. Nobody goes to an American festival and leaves without a thick coating of sticky caramel all over their teeth!"

[Aldon Huang]

"Oh but--okay..."

Aldon was a little perplexed; why didn't Gregg want to go with him? It was a date and that was kind of a date thing to do, wasn't it? He was sorta trying to make up for acting squirrely, too. But Niall agreed and caramel corn was mentioned and Aldon really did want a little balloon wolf of his own. (He thought it symbolized them--him and Gregg--but he didn't say as much, and only grinned and nodded at Niall's question of the wolf eating the sheep.)

"We'll be back soon!" Maybe if he got Gregg one of those balloon animals, he'd cheer up. Gregg seemed tense and Aldon couldn't really be sure, but he thought Gregg sorta shook Ken's hand hard. Like he saw the squeeze and it seemed like one of those alpha wolf things Rae would've done.

He turned to follow Niall, but gave Gregg a big smile over his shoulder. "Don't get in any trouble while we're gone!" Aldon looped an arm through Niall's purely out of habit as he turned back. He paused, shrugged and decided to go with it. If he got friendly with Niall, maybe Ken would follow!

"SO! How did you guys meet? I think they could be twins or something. Gregg and Ken I mean. Look at them! All... not-smiley! Is Ken like that all the time? Gregg is. Well, not ALL the time, but most of the time he has that srs bidness look on his face, like he's thinking lots of deep thoughts."

[Kenneth Branagh]

(I thought in hindsight it made more sense to post as Ken to advance the scene; feel free to reply to either one.)

"...it's like seeing double," Ken muttered as he watched Niall and Aldon picking their way through the throng of people, eventually getting swallowed by the crowd. Aldon looked nothing like Niall but their energy, the twinkle in their eyes, even their smiles drew definite similarities and in all honesty, it was novel and alien and a little tiny bit eerie. Personally, Ken preferred his... boyfriend. Even saying the word had given him a childish thrill; he felt empowered by it. There was no need to hide and he could say it proudly, with his head held high. It felt good. It felt right.

However, Gregg's handshake was surprisingly and unexpectedly... firm.

He tried not to read too much into the long pause before Gregg shook his outstretched hand either. What reason did Gregg have to act hostile? They were friends—or so Ken thought. They had never disagreed and certainly they had never been at odds with one another. Ken respected Gregg; he thought that Gregg reciprocated those sentiments as well.

"Is everything all right? Why did you send Niall away?" Maybe it had to do with hunting; something Gregg didn't want either of their partners to hear. That made sense considering the obvious way that Gregg separated them. Ken turned to him, grave and concerned. Gregg always had a good reason for doing anything; he wasn't the frivolous type.

[Niall Gallagher]

"Who? Me and Ken?" Niall asked, looking down at their looped arms with amusement. He didn't mind people getting close, it was just usually HE was the one getting too close too fast. Being on the other side threw him for a loop. In a good way, though! He grinned outright when he saw corndogs. God, Americans. They really ate some of the weirdest shit. Then again, don't get him started on motherfucking haggis. Americans couldn't even stomach the idea, let alone actually putting it in their stomachs! But that was the Scots and they were like... cousins.

Don't get him started on Scots, either. Niall had a lot of thoughts on them.

Niall reflected a moment on what Aldon was saying--because he had a lot to say and Niall wasn't sure which parts he actually expected answers to and what parts were okay to just... gloss over and get back to later. Like the comparisons--Niall did think Ken could stand to smile more but he wasn't like... all serious ALL the time. Oh wait, how they met.

"We've known each other since we were wee lads," Niall said. "He stuck out with his dandelion fluff hair. I don't think he was so serious then, either. I mean, he WAS but like..." Niall made a motion with his hand. "He was definitely more fun. Ooh, let's get the candy floss!"

He tugged Aldon in the direction of the sweet confection. Even better than caramel corn. As he lined up behind an uncanny number of parents with kids--who cared? He was an adult with a sweet tooth!--he turned the question back on Aldon: "How'd you and Greggory meet? Hunting? You're an apprentice or something, right?"

[Aldon Huang]

"Oooh... that's so cute!" Aldon really liked the idea of them being childhood friends. They did make a very unlikely pair, Aldon had to say, but he sorta liked that about them already. It was a breath of fresh air to the usual boring couples that he saw on a daily basis.

He smiled at Niall's description of Ken and his dandelion fluff hair. Ken was very blond, but now his hair seemed sleek and professional—even on a double date! But if Aldon tried hard enough, he could sorta see a younger version of him with fluffy soft hair. If he tried harder, he could also see some version of Gregg, skinny and lanky, with sticky-out dark hair and a frown that would intensify into adulthood.

"I'm a uh..." He shuffled his foot against the grass. Aldon was always terrible at lying. He wasn't sly or clever with words the way other people could be; he was unfailingly honest and he said what was on his mind all the time.

"Yeah. I'm his partner," he said at last, which at least was true—in the life partner sense. "We met in the woods! Um. Hiking. And stuff. And when I found out he was new... to town, I offered to show him around and... it went from there."

They moved up a few places in line and Aldon's eye snagged on the booth next to theirs, which was selling strawberry funnel cakes. Aldon's lower lip wibbled before he could get a hold of himself and he pretended to cough to hide it.

"No nono that's not how you eat it Ry!" Aldon said knowledgeably, taking possession of the strawberry funnel cake. It was slathered in sweet glossy strawberry sauce and whipped cream, a real queen of a confection—almost too pretty to eat. But Ryland was trying to get his mouth around it delicately, and Aldon was of the opinion that one simply did not eat funnel cakes delicately. Not even on a first date.

He worked his jaw for a few seconds. "Watch this!" Aldon made an exaggeration of opening his mouth WIDE and dove into it, smearing cream and strawberry sauce all over his face. He came up, grinning, decorated in all of the toppings. "This is how you do it!" He declared, watching as Ryland doubled over laughing.

"Ahem! Sorry... something in my throat." He laughed a little too loudly as he stopped coughing. "Hey, let me get this. Two of the rainbow ones please!" Aldon pointed to the most colorful ones he saw and then handed over some money to the vendor.

[Niall Gallagher]

"A little, isn't it?" He thought so, though. Childhood friends. Turned to playful lovers. Turned to... um. Well, they were something, all right. This was a date, though. Their first date. His mouth turned downward and he looked to see what the two serious blokes were doing without them. This was their first date and they were already separated. He wondered what it was they were talking about. Greggory looked as serious as a bulldog, with his arms crossed and his brow lowered. Niall smiled at him when he glanced over but no smile was returned. Yikes.

Although Niall was somewhat distracted, he got the feeling that Aldon was, too. Or that he was hiding something. The way he talked had completely changed. First he was fast talking and enthusiastic and now he was tucking his words carefully away, like he didn't want to say the wrong thing. There was definitely something STRANGE going on here. Hmm... Niall slid his gaze toward the candy floss booth.

When Aldon coughed, Niall reached out and gave his back a couple of helpful whacks. But it looked more like he had something stuck in his heart than in his throat. Niall knew that Look. Turning away, he blew out a long breath. When he was handed a bright, sticky mess of candy, he thanked Aldon. But as they walked away from the stall, he edged closer to Aldon.

"Something's wrong. I can tell. Is it the hunting thing?" Niall asked. "You love Gregg but you can't deal with the hunting life? Is that what they're talking about? Because... I don't hunt. So if Gregg's trying to get advice, Ken's not going to have any. You should just tell him. If he loves you, he'll get it."

[Aldon Huang]

Candy. In his mouth. Patching over the hurt in his heart with sugary sweetness, choking him on the way down. Aldon didn't want to be a downer on a double date with a hunter but he didn't think that vendor would be here. Usually he saw the guy's tent at the strawberry festival.

Gregg was allergic (slightly) to strawberries, though, so that festival remained his and Ryland's despite the one time Aldon took Gregg there. Aldon never took Gregg up to the point, either, the small hidden place overlooking the lake and the forest. He didn't ask Gregg for tummy rubs. Some things were exclusively his and Ryland's but now, everything that reminded him of Ryland hurt. All of the things that used to make him smile, that he thought back on fondly once, became shards of glass in his heart.

When he looked back, Gregg looked stern and Ken looked stern. They were talking but it looked like Serious Business. That surely wasn't normal on a double date... no more than being completely miserable on what was meant to be a festive and special occasion! Aldon turned back to Niall, to see him drawing closer.

"Oh! You-you don't hunt?" His eyes widened. It was a good excuse, ready-made and offered by Niall. Anyone would've been glad to use it but Aldon, he couldn't tell lies. He was shit at them. Just look at how badly he messed up with Gregg, hiding Ryland from him!

"...no," he said at last, slowly. "It's not about the hunting thing. Although I definitely don't like that! And I'm glad you don't either!" He squeezed Niall's arm anxiously. Hunting was dangerous for everybody involved; Aldon didn't want Niall to get in the middle of all that!

"It's just... that tent over there. It reminded me of my ex. We had strawberry funnel cakes on our first date." Aldon picked off a rainbow strand and stuffed it into his mouth. "Sorry," he said dully. "It's not really... don't worry about it. We're on a double date, we're supposed to be having fun! We're gonna have fun!" He stuffed in another long strand. "Let's get that balloon animal, I think I see the guy. We shouldn't leave Gregg and Ken for too long. Look at them! They look like they're gonna start fighting or something!" There was a lot of intense staring going on now; Aldon hastened his steps, cutting off at least three kids and their disapproving mothers.

[Niall Gallagher]

"So surprised," Niall commented. "Do I look like the hunting type?"

Maybe it was a born and bred in trait, to look like a hunter. Niall didn't think so, though. Before Ken came around, Niall had managed to stay away from the whole hunter presence in the area. Good thing, too, since he was so active in the ah, the supernatural part of the community. He didn't want to be used to lure them out--most of them were his buddies by now. That or business partners.

"Oh, exes," Niall said with a knowing smile. This time his back pats were gentle. Poor, poor Aldon. Exes. When Ken was an ex, he was a mess but luckily, nothing around here reminded him of Ken. It was easier to forget him when he was in some pacific northwest tiny american town that bore no resemblance to his old hometown. Ah, Dingle.

"Yeah, let's hurry back," he said, bounding toward the balloon bender while he caught some of the sweet floss on his tongue. "This is our first date, you know. Me and Ken. We never got to go on a proper date so I mighta jumped all over your offer when Ken said your guy asked 'cause of you. What made you ask, anyway?"

He extracted some more candy and gave Aldon a look over. "Is it the ex?"

[Aldon Huang]

"No! You don't! I was hoping you wouldn't be one!" Aldon protested earnestly, though he imagined that the point of a hunter was to not look like a hunter. If they all went around with giant signs on their backs--why, the supernaturals' problems would mostly be solved!

Aldon requested a wolf (or dog) balloon animal and suffered to be looked at askance by the clown doing them, but he ignored the guy. Who looked sillier!? The man asking for a balloon animal or the one with a big red nose and garish freaky clown makeup, dressed in baggy rainbow overalls??

"No way! Your FIRST date?!" He put a hand to his mouth. Ken introduced Niall as his boyfriend but this was only their FIRST date?! (Aldon assumed that they agreed to be 'together' first, as some of his friends did.) And he was going to ruin Niall and Ken's FIRST DATE by moping about Ryland! Aldon was horrified. Nobody's first date should be ruined by someone else's relationship problems!

Although... a double date for a first date didn't sound ideal to him, given that he was the type of person to like... ah... intimacy. And it was hard to be... ah... affectionate with two other people around. Not that that stopped Aldon on any occasion, but if Ken was anything like Gregg, he wouldn't want an audience. And if Niall was anything like Aldon...

"I asked because... I was hoping Ken would be my friend. And maybe I could get him to stop hunting. It's... well I think it's wrong. Some of them--" he lowered his voice to a whisper. "The supernaturals. They're just trying to live life, and not bother people. Like I wouldn't want to be shot while going to the gym or buying corn at the store, you know? Anyway."

Aldon looked over his shoulder again at Gregg and Ken. First date huh? When he turned back, there was a little tiny mischievous smile on his face. "Maybe... you and Ken should um. Become separated from us. Accidentally. For a while. You know? First dates are kinda more fun and special if it's just you and your partner, aren't they? We can always meet up again later!"

[Niall Gallagher]

Huh. Weird. Weird reaction. Aldon didn't want him to be a hunter. But... wasn't he a hunter? He must really like Greggory if he was hanging around him and hunting just to be close to him. Huh. Hm. Niall stuffed more candy into his mouth, mulling that information over, not quite sure how to grasp at what he was learning in Aldon's presence. He watched while Aldon got his much desired balloon wolf-dog. He shook his little sheep.

"Oh no!" he said in a high voice. "He's gonna eat meeee!"

After all, that's what wolves and sheep were known for. Wolves, hiding in sheep's clothing and then eating the poor, hapless sheep! Actually, no, that wasn't quite how it went... was it? The wolf hid in the sheep's wool... to... do something. Hide himself. From what? It made Niall more than curious now, since it seemed like this was all very... telling.

"First official one."

Aldon didn't have to look at him like that. Sheesh. It wasn't like they were all chaste. Well, okay. Actually, Ken was. Especially NOW. GODDDDDDDDD he was chaste. It didn't even make sense. Niall knew he wanted him. And Ken said with his own mouth hole that he loved him, so what was the hold up? Did he want to get a bloody marriage certificate first?! Really, Niall didn't understand it. And then he took him on this date thing but what did he expect to happen?

Nothing, because immediately upon coming on this date, he decided to spend it with Greggory and leave Niall with Aldon. What did THAT mean? Agggh.

His own racing thoughts almost ran over what Aldon was saying to him, up until the part where Aldon drew up close and practically whispered that he was against hunters. What. Niall raised a hand up, slowly, pointer finger up. What. They actually held similar views. But hold up. Wasn't this a hunter? What the hell was going on? And without giving him ANY time to process what was going on, Aldon moved right onto the date thing again.

"No, no." Niall shook his head and grabbed onto Aldon, hands on either shoulder. He stared at him, then tilted his head slightly, suspiciously. "You're not a hunter. And me, I'm fine with that. If you're a vampire or a witch or whatever, I'm fine with that. But that's me. You might wanna keep your mouth quiet about that around Ken, though."

[Aldon Huang]

"Rawr rawr rawr a yummy SHEEP!" Aldon shook his dog-wolf aggressively at the sheepy sheep. "I love SHEEP!" But actually he'd never eaten a sheep before. Not a live one. Lamb, sure. Then again, he couldn't speak to the moments when he was under the influence of the virus, but consciously he never went after livestock if it could be helped.

Balloon sheep notwithstanding, of course.

Sadly, trying to gloss over the hunter business with date business didn't work on Niall. He was sharper than he looked! Not that Aldon thought he looked dumb, but colorful people often tended to be overlooked as 'the artsy type' and left at that.

Sighing, he tried to weigh the consequences of telling Niall about himself. What he really was. Aldon wasn't good at thinking things through, though. Look at that disastrous exchange with Ryland, leading up to their break-up...

"I'm... one of these," he said at last, relying on honesty. Niall said he didn't care and Aldon believed him. He wiggled the dog-wolf to show Niall what he was. "I thought... if I could be friends with a hunter, he'd see that we're not all bad and maybe change his mind. Like how Gregg changed his mind."

It worked with Gregg so why not with Ken?! Aldon looked back at them, standing there conversing in low voices, looking grim. "Gregg said the other hunters wouldn't change their mind but Ken seemed... nice. It was worth a shot. You really think he'd... kill me if he knew?"

[Niall Gallagher]

"A balloon dog?" Niall asked in amusement. Then he realized he meant the wolf thing. Ah. Werewolf, then. Hum. Niall knew there was something up with this guy! It was like he had a sense for it! A lopsided grin appeared as he crossed his arms and let his little bubbly sheep hang over his side. Then he realized that although this was fun and games for Niall, this was actually Aldon's life they were talking about. He turned his gaze downward and his grin faded away.

"I don't know," he said after a moment of silence. "He hasn't killed JC or Jordan yet." He looked up, realizing those names might not mean anything to Aldon. It wasn't as if every super in the vicinity knew one another. "They're my neighbors. A vampire and a witch. He knows about them and he's met at least JC that I know of. But... he..."

Niall's gaze grew far away as he recalled how grim and determined Ken seemed about getting rid of them. Plus, he was still with Jem and the group, doing things like trying to infiltrate brothels. Niall held the balloon sheep close to his chest and lowered his head.

"I don't know," he echoed himself. "But I don't think he'd do it here, if that's what you're thinking."