I gotta bad feeling about this

[Finley Coldwell]

Oho, there he was again. He sounded like he was hitting on Finn again but he wasn't despite earlier saying that he was. Call him crazy but Finn didn't think the answer meant what Toby thought it meant. Especially after hearing about old men and skinny dipping. At the bar! Who even did that?!

"The woods," he said, looking at their surrounding area, "are an excellent place to make friends with either magical creatures or hippies, take your pick."

And he paused to bow elegantly, like a posh magical creature, knowing full well he was really more a mix of the two. Even if he was a witch with demon blood in him, he wasn't human. But he could be a hippie. He liked a little weed and a little hiking and communing with nature. And he wasn't hyped about the government, that much was for damn sure.

[Tobias Keene]

Aha, a positive response! Toby studied Finn's hips, since he mentioned them. Hippy? His hips looked fine to Toby! (More than fine, actually. Very much more than fine.) "I would get along better with magical creatures, since I'm one too," he laughed as Finn bowed in a very gentlemanly, courtly manner. "That's the kind of thing a Prince would do! Bow like that! Have you been to our realm, Finn?"

Most likely not, or he might not be standing here today, but also Toby didn't know for sure. Safer to ask—it was always safer to ask and be sure than to leap to conclusions on his own. He learned that most humans were easy to talk to here and lots of them didn't hesitate to leap in with their opinions and advice. In fact, some even offered without being asked! What a friendly race!

Not that the fae were unfriendly—far from it—but Toby was kind of kept at the fringes of royalty, so it was difficult to make friends. Those of the actual court didn't pay him much mind; those who were not royalty had mixed feelings about the ones who were. Trapped in an uncomfortable middle ground, Toby was actually glad to be here where nobody knew who or what he was.

[Finley Coldwell]

Haha, whooooa now. Toby was eyeing him in a sensitive area. Could be he was wrong about the hitting on him business. Not that he minded. One magical creature to another, Toby was probably the most naive he'd ever met. Most of them were pretty... well, vampires and incubi, they weren't all alike but the ones he hung with were definitely nothing like Toby.

Fae, he thought, must be softer. Toby, at least, looked soft. Soft hearted. Maybe a little soft in the head, too. Finn let out a laugh. There was a whole realm of them?

"Nope," he said, shedding the princely act. "Never been, but I've watched Disney. And I'm betting you haven't but you'd fit right in as a Disney princess. You know..." He watched Atlas happily chase a squirrel up a tree. "There's never really been a movie based around the Disney prince. What's up with that?"

[Tobias Keene]

Toby gasped—Disney!

He despised Disney. All of the films he watched had the women completely helpless, waiting for 'Prince Charming' to come along and rescue them, which was completely untrue to the reality of Fae Princesses. Because the Princesses of his realm... they were... um... not like that. Several of the Houses used to be matriarchal (before they fell to Fallen attacks); Toby in fact lived in fear of his mother, a stern, no-nonsense woman who ran the house like she ran the military forces she commanded.

"I have watched several films," Toby sniffed, reaching up immediately to tie his hair back so that he looked less like a... a helpless waif. To be compared to a Princess was an honor but a Disney Princess! No! "I am a Prince, I'll have you know!" A real one, but he didn't say that because it made him sound like a braggart. (Ooh look at Toby—a real prince, wasn't that an accomplishment? Only he had no choice in that so it was actually just luck-based.)

He side-eyed Finn afterwards, not really offended to the core (or at all) but unhappy with his portrayal. Did he look like he was waiting to be rescued? Maybe Finn thought he was pretty...? He liked the thought of that but still! Still. "Disney Princes are nothing like Princes in real life anyway. They're always so... bland and uninteresting. Our Princes are much better. I'm hoping to meet one soon, in fact!"

[Finley Coldwell]

"All right, all right, chill~"

He didn't mean to offend anybody with the whole Disney Prince thing. But some people didn't like them... Toby here included. Personally, Finn had grown up with Disney and there weren't a lot of awesome dude role models. It was like Disney was catering just to the little girls in the audience. At least, until there was Simba (not even human but hey, neither was he), and Shang and Flynn/Eugene. What about Maui? None... none of these were princes, except Simba. Well, shit, maybe Toby had a good point.

"Didn't know you were one," he said, another point taken. "And you're hoping to meet one in... what capacity, exactly? Like to kiss and have a happily ever after thing or..."

[Tobias Keene]

"Oh! Oh no! Goodness no, never!" Toby laughed--easy to rile up, easy to appease--and lightly, playfully shoved Finn in the shoulder for his outrageous guesses. 'To kiss and have a happily ever after thing' would imply that his soul mate was a proper royal and that was just an impossible thought! Most often the royal houses were tied in with one another. Toby wasn't part of that elite crowd, unfortunately.

"I'm here to serve and protect one of them, as his fixer. Every high-born Prince has a fixer, just in case something happens. Only by the time I got here, somebody else had already been assigned. But I'll get an audience eventually because I really want to meet him in person." And so here he was, roaming the town and taking in the sights--an otherworldly tourist. Toby was thoroughly enjoying himself out here, no doubt about that!

He grinned over at Finn, almost a little embarrassed still at the thought of being with a proper Prince. "Besides... I'm more interested in meeting other types of beings." He looked away, still grinning. Finn was much much much more interesting than any of the Fae he knew back home!

"Like the type I find in the woods maybe..."

[Finley Coldwell]

An audience? Did they have those even here? In Hazleton? It was a strange concept to wrap his head around. Finn loved fantasy everything but he couldn't imagine the world of Hazleton with bowing princes (but apparently they did) and audiences with royals. In his head, it was like something out of a fantasy, what with the extravagant throne room and guards and servants and everything. Where did they hold them in Hazleton? In somebody's apartment?

Oho. There he was again! Finn took a page out of Toby's book and veered toward him, shouldering him rather than shoving at him but grinning nonetheless.

"You're such a flirt! I take back everything I said about princesses, all right? You're nothing like them."

[Tobias Keene]

Toby grinned at the shoulder-check and although he twisted to get away, he still caught the brunt of it. (Or was he only pretending to, because he wanted Finn to get in close? The world may never know.)

"I told you, I'm a prince! Not a princess, and definitely not a Disney princess!" As for being a flirt... Some might call him that. Some might already have. In both realms. He sidled in close but this time there was no physical touching. Toby just walked beside him, hands in pockets, grinning away. There was something rather exhilarating about flirting with danger—in the form of a half-demon.

"Unless you're offering to be my prince." And he said that with a straight face because he didn't know better. Or he did—and he said it anyway, which might have been worse.

[Finley Coldwell]

What?

Finn laughed; he couldn't help himself. Did Toby just say he wasn't a Disney princess unless Finn was offering to be his prince? The very idea of Finn as a prince was laughable. People never, ever equated him to that. He was the furthest thing from royalty that a person could be! Unless royalty liked smoking a joint while walking his dog through the mountains. Personally, Finn likened himself more to a mountain hippie than a prince.

Merriment remained in his eyes as he eyed Toby. He had been so wrong when he called him a Disney princess. Toby was something else entirely. A prince, he said. But a lower prince on the rung or something. Hell if Finn understood the whole deal.

"I would," he said, "but Disney is too PG for my tastes." He winked mischievously but he still took hold of one of Toby's hands and lowered his head as if to kiss his hand before glancing up, lips a hair's breadth from making contact. "Is it time for a musical number to interrupt us?"

[Tobias Keene]

Ahaa... he laughed! It was such a cute laugh! Toby laughed too, drawn in by the sound of Finn's amusement, the sparkle of mischief in his eyes—even if it was at his expense. He didn't mind that though. Finn wasn't laughing at him in a mean way, Toby could tell.

"Ahh... You would prefer to be... rated R..." Hopefully that was what Finn was talking about, because Toby didn't know any other PG. He paused when his hand was taken and—okay he expected it to be kissed. True royal princes had their hands kissed; Toby saw it being done! Not him though, he wasn't high up enough so this whole thing was... maybe a little strange. But also it made his heart skip a beat, especially when Finn looked up at him and their eyes met.

"I don't see a band around..." Toby stepped in closer. His fingers curled around Finn's, a little tighter, then he pulled Finn's hand to his own lips like a little tug-of-war—also not quite kissing it. He was uniquely poised to be Finn's prince, actually... because he was a prince (if only in name). "So we can't be interrupted, can we?"

[Finley Coldwell]

He only smiled, amusement still dancing in his gaze. So Toby knew things. He knew more than he let on. Such a strange mixture of things he knew about: Disney and movie ratings but not how to smoke a cigarette. If he'd ever seen anything rated R, Finn thought he must have seen somebody smoke, at the very least. But maybe he knew the rating in name only. After all, he'd only admitted to watching a few Disney films and he seemed less than impressed by what he saw.

His blue eyes flicked from one side then to the other side, half expecting a band to come bursting from the tree line to come and sing at them. But thankfully, this wasn't a Disney film and the only animal companion around was Atlas, who was thankfully running around like the young dog he was. He'd barely cleared the first puppy year and it showed in his still overly big ears.

Those blue eyes flicked back to meet Toby's gaze when his hand was tugged toward Toby's lips instead. Interesting; he hadn't expected Toby to try and turn the tables on him. Slowly straightening up, he watched Toby.

"I don't suppose we would..."

They just met but Finn was a YOLO type of person and he was attracted to Toby. It seemed to be mutual so... He used his free hand to slide up over the side of Toby's throat and then the back of his head, drawing him in closer. Their noses brushed first and then... a kiss. But not a brush of lips. A genuine kiss, a real kiss.

[Tobias Keene]

Some things could be read about and some things needed to be experienced. Toby had access to their information network—he found the library early on—so he knew bits and pieces of odd trivia. But his knowledge had definite gaps in it and it probably showed at various moments.

For example—how humans courted one another. Was it so different from the ways of his people? A coy glance, a meaningful smile, easy banter, all of those things were universal. Toby knew when he was being flirted with; he knew that Finn found him pleasing. Finn hadn't run off on him yet, right? That meant he enjoyed Toby's company, at least in some part.

And Toby thoroughly enjoyed Finn's company, too. It went without saying that he thought Finn was madly attractive, although he wasn't entirely sure that didn't have a little something to do with the fact that he was part-demon. The thrill of danger appealed to Toby; he wouldn't be out here otherwise.

But. Ah. Other things were universal too. A hand to the back of the neck, that irresistible pull. Toby was surprised he moved so quickly; they were kissing before he knew it, before his mind had time to organize all of this new information. His own hand slid up too, fully intending to gently ease Finn off of him because this... was not a good idea. If Finn wasn't his soul mate, he shouldn't be doing this.

All that hand did was slide up and keep sliding up, to Finn's shoulder and up the side of his neck, around to the back of his head too, mirroring his movements. Toby kissed back; he knew how to kiss. Just because he shouldn't do something didn't mean he hadn't experimented before... "Ah... ahah..." His laugh was breathy and soft as he leaned his forehead down against Finn's, eyes still closed. "Oh they won't like this back home..."

[Finley Coldwell]

"They don't like men kissing men there too?"

Finn wasn't going to say gay people. He wasn't gay. He was bisexual. Or pansexual. Or whatever the new lingo was for he didn't give a fuck about what the sex organs were as long as there was an attraction, it was what it was. Finn didn't go in for "types." He liked what he liked.

But there was still controversy over that, even in this day and age for whatever reason. Finn had no idea why it mattered so much to people who had literally zero stake in what they were doing. Like, cool, you don't like dick. But don't tell him what to like. But maybe Toby had other reasons, like being a prince. Maybe there was pressure to bring on the babies. But... kissing a random man in the woods wasn't a marriage proposal. It wasn't like they were locked into anything.

[Tobias Keene]

"No kissing other men is okay! We're not that strict, thank goodness. But..." Toby eased back, although he kept a hand on Finn's shoulder and lightly stroked it as he spoke. "My people are at war with the Fallen. Dark Fae, you might call them here. They cause what happened back there—the corruption. Lately they've teamed up with Demons... and you're half-Demon, Finn, sooo..."

Oh he'd be in so much trouble if they knew! But Toby couldn't deny that there was some kind of spark between them. Mutual attraction, definitely. He smiled ruefully as his fingertips drifted down the length of Finn's dreads, toying with them.

"We're supposed to be enemies. I think this was in a story once, wasn't it? Romeo and somebody?"

[Finley Coldwell]

Huh. So that corruption stain was made by the Fallen, were they? Finn looked over in the direction of the stain they'd left behind. It did look pretty nasty and demons liked nasty. But... Finn looked back at Toby as he began playing with his dreads with idle fingers.

"Juliet?" he supplied with a slight quirk of a smile. His fingertips played, too, with the back of Toby's neck, since his hand was still there and he could feel wisps of Toby's dark hair, fine little baby hairs that hadn't made it into the ponytail.

"But I'm not teamed up with anyone. I do what I want. I don't take orders from some dark fae corruption crew."