We Are Bulletproof

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

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.

"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!"

"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!"

"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."

(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.

"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?"

"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.

"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."

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.

"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?"

"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!"

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."

"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?"

"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."

"Uh uh." Aldon waggled the dog-wolf again and Niall seemed to get the point. Werewolf. Yeah. One of the feared ones because their bite and claws passed along the infection so easily and so quickly. A single bite or scratch was all it took—just look at Gregg, and how little it took to turn him into a werewolf.

Sighing, he stroked the head of his balloon animal a few times but the sharp screech of fingers against plastic balloon made him wince. Aldon blinked uncomprehendingly at Niall's mention of names—Jordan, JC. Oh... neighbors.

It was just so odd how similar they were. They weren't hunters but they loved hunters. In Aldon's case, ex-hunter. Neither of them believed in killing and Aldon couldn't place his thumb on what it was about Niall, but he sensed that there was a bit of magic in him. It was like nothing Aldon had ever encountered, but he knew that there were still many, many types of supernaturals roaming the big wide world, that he in his isolated little community had never begun to dream of.

"Well," he said at last, after a moment's pause, "maybe it'll be a work in progress. I won't tell him what I am just yet." Aldon offered Niall a smile, genuine in its gratefulness. "Thanks Niall. You're awesome. Here. Let's exchange numbers and maybe we can hang out together! Just us!" He whipped out his phone to enter Niall's number.

"Should we go back? I feel like... oh... oh... somebody's looking at you!" A little playful smile curled at the corners of Aldon's mouth as he saw Ken looking their way. "Oh man. Does Ken know he looks like that when he looks at you? Hehe..."

Oh, it would definitely be a work in progress but Niall liked to think that there was enough love inside of Ken to realize that people were people. Whether the person was a balloon dog or a werewolf or a vampire or a witch or anything else that existed out there. Ken would understand. He just needed more time here in Hazleton, not hunting. And the fact that he was currently in a wounded condition meant he would be out of commission for a while.

While they exchanged numbers, Niall nodded.

"I'd keep it hush hush for now but once he gets to know you more, he won't be able to do anything to you." At least, that's what he liked to think. Ken was a hunter, this was true, but he wasn't without a heart. And he could think for himself. He fell in love with Niall, after all! (Which gave him the warm fuzzies just thinking about it.)

"Oh, yeah," Niall said as if it was just NATURAL that they stop hanging out and get back to what they had come here for: which was the double date. Yeah. He half smiled in response to Aldon's smile, then he followed his gaze and found himself catching Ken's gaze. He didn't do anything spastic like start waving like a five year old but he definitely smiled wider. Still watching Ken, he added, "I doubt it. I don't think he likes being that obvious in front of other people."

But it was okay now. Even if years of hiding in the shadows marked him, Ken was trying. That was the important thing.

"Let's go," he said to Aldon with a light clap on Aldon's shoulder. Then he was heading over himself, striding over like Mr. Confidence, despite the rainbow sheep tucked under his arm and the remnants of a stick of candy floss in his other hand. He tossed the latter into a bin as he passed by. Then he slipped himself right beside Ken, barely sparing Greggory a look.

"I was starting to think you wanted to date Greggory here instead of me."

Something was wrong with Gregg.

The atmosphere was decidedly somber and tense between them after Gregg asked him the most absurd question--was he involved with Aldon? Where Gregg thought he had the time to reunite with Niall and get together with someone else's partner was beyond Ken. Besides... where was the comparison? There was no comparison. Niall was the only one who slotted perfectly into his heart and into his life.

Naturally he answered with the firm truth--that he was in no way, shape or form involved with Aldon. He had only met Aldon one time previous to this, at the bus depot. That wasn't nearly enough time to get to know someone, much less fall in love with them. It seemed that Gregg didn't believe him, but that wasn't Ken's problem. The jealousy of another man was in no way a reflection of his actions. It was just... that it was Gregg. Ken didn't think Gregg would feel this way without cause.

He didn't say it, but he thought that Gregg's suspicions were misplaced. If Aldon was cheating, it wasn't with Ken--it may have been another man.

Their partners, however, seemed to be having a much better time. Ken saw rainbow cotton candy disappearing at alarming rates, and balloon animals and secretive whispering. He was relieved--though he didn't say it--when they returned and immediately he curled his fingers through Niall's.

"No." Ken's response was as firm as his reply to Gregg earlier. "The only person I want to date is you." Which was why he agreed to this, only to have his own date be sent away. "Did you bring me a sheep too?"

"Nope! Still just the one. Why? I didn't know you wanted one." He placed the balloon sheep on Ken's head like a crown to make him feel better. He pecked Ken on the cheek. "Now you're king of the gay rainbow sheep!"

And didn't he look adorable? He smiled and preened as if he were the one with the gay rainbow sheep on his head, then looked over at the other two. When his gaze met Greggory's, he noticed that he wasn't smiling but he didn't seem like a real friendly type from the start. How did he and Aldon ever find one another? Oh. Right.

"Weirrrrd energy," Niall said, looking from Gregg to Ken to Aldon, wondering if he sensed it, too. "What's with this funeral atmosphere? We're at a festival! Let's try to have a gay old time, hm? Shall we?"

He urged Ken to come with him. "We need to find a good seat for the fireworks."

"This is... not the sort of hat I'm accustomed to wearing," said Ken dryly as he nonetheless adjusted the sheep to sit more securely on top of his head. Serious, stable, dependable or cautious, those were his usual hats. Gay rainbow sheep king... not so much.

But as the warmth unfurled in his chest from Niall's peck on the cheek, he relented and smiled, too. Niall was acting happier than he had in days and it was good to see him being energetic and irreverent and playful again.

Which was decidedly not the atmosphere between Gregg and Aldon. Ken was concerned for Gregg as a friend. He wished that he could have more time to talk to Gregg, one on one, without the noise and hustle and bustle of the festival around them. Perhaps he could arrange to meet with Gregg privately, later on...

"I think I saw a nice grassy hill over that way." Ken had a particular fondness for grassy hills (given what went on in their youth on top of them). He exchanged a little Look with Niall and walked closer to him. "Gay old time, Poodles?" Ken murmured into his ear, half-chastising and half-amused. "You're terrible."

"Look Gregg... it's a little wolf-dog." Aldon could be heard to say behind them, sounding subdued. "Look! Woof woof!"

Jealousy was not typically in Gregg's emotional repertoire. Then again, falling head over heels for somebody else also wasn't typically in there, either. He was learning all kinds of new things about himself since he'd fallen for Aldon; some of them less pleasant than others.

When he confronted Ken, quite bare and open about it--he wasn't the type to mince words--Ken was adamant that he wasn't in a relationship with Aldon. Gregg wanted to believe him. His instincts also leaned that way. Ken didn't seem to have eyes for anybody else, other than the mop headed man he had brought along. There was something about the way they both looked at each other that made Gregg doubt his own jealousy.

There was nothing there to worry about. It was Aldon he was worried about. Aldon seemed to immediately latch himself onto Ken's date. Should he be nervous? He didn't know. He honestly... he didn't know. It wasn't as if he liked the way he felt. Why should he be so insecure? There was no reason to doubt in Aldon. Aldon, he was just friendly. Naturally friendly. That never seemed like a threat before. So why now?

He watched the other pair for a moment, then looked down at the balloon animal that Aldon had apparently had made. It felt oddly like Aldon was holding himself back, or some part of himself. Even with the playful woofing sounds, it seemed like he was apologizing without so much as saying it. It was the equivalent of approaching him with a lowered head and tail in wolf form. But... he hadn't done anything wrong... had he?

It was just Gregg. Being weird. He didn't understand it, either. Slowly, he lifted his hand and stroked the top of Aldon's head before he slipped an arm around his shoulders to draw him close. Not possessively but... maybe a bit in apology, too.

"I think... I'm afraid," he said, without prompting and without explanation, either. But if that other guy could sense the weird mood, Aldon most assuredly did, too. "...I'm losing you."

Oh man.

Looking at Niall and Ken being cozy, holding hands and whispering into each other's ears made Aldon's heart hurt. He used to do stuff like that with Ry. They didn't even have to try; being close came naturally to them. Flirting, laughing, making eyes at one another, slipping away behind a tent... natural. As easy as breathing.

With Gregg, Aldon had to learn that not everything flew. Gregg was reticent and more reserved than Ryland. Even when Ryland protested, it was easy to see that he was only playing the game—he didn't mind if Aldon's hand slipped low or if he leaned in to nuzzle him, silently begging to be spoiled with kisses.

With Gregg, Aldon learned to read the signs. He had to pay attention. Some looks were meaningful. A brush of the hand over his was significant. Gregg wasn't the type of person to indulge in public displays of affection, though when they were alone, Aldon could do as he pleased.

As someone who was used to expressing himself physically, it was hard on Aldon to have to curb his impulses. It was also hard to keep secrets and even now, trying to apologize subtly, it wasn't working. He wanted to blurt it out. Rip off the band-aid in one quick tug instead of slowly peeling it away, revealing the wound underneath.

Even Gregg was acting weird now. The hand on his head was normal; the arm around him wasn't. Being pulled in wasn't and Gregg saying THAT out loud was definitely signalling the apocalypse. For a long second, Aldon gaped at him.

"Awha?" Even his surprise was exaggerated—not on purpose, but with his ever-present penchant for the dramatics. Aldon let Niall and Ken walk on ahead a little; they seemed wrapped up in one another anyway. "B-but—we broke up because I was trying to stay with you!" Well... he did blurt that out. Not that he expected it to make sense to Gregg.

"No Gregg! No!" He cried out in dismay, throwing himself onto Gregg so fast and so hard that the balloon which was squashed between them popped with a loud BANG right in his ears. "OW!" Aldon flinched. "S-sorry!!"

That made little sense to Gregg. They broke up so that Aldon could stay with him? When did they break up? Sometimes, it amazed Gregg that they were even a couple at all. Even thinking that he was one half of a couple amazed him. As a teenager, the idea of romance seemed to avoid his grasp. He was awkward and shy as a child and it only grew worse when he hit puberty. How did he talk to girls? How did he talk to boys? He didn't know; he didn't have close friends. His family... well.

Natural instincts took over. The only thing to do was pay for time with others to relieve that natural instinct. But having a dedicated girlfriend or boyfriend never looked to be in the cards for him. Truthfully, Gregg didn't care. He just focused on his work. He focused on the big picture in front of him--ridding the world of supernatural creatures. He was a tool, an asset in the fight, nothing more. In time, emotions became more and more suppressed until he was almost robotic in nature. The shyness became stoicism. The awkward rubbed away into emotional distance. There could be no awkward moments when he felt next to nothing about everything.

So that made him emotionally stunted now, when he was ill equipped to deal with all of this between himself and Aldon. Aldon opened him back up to emotion and it brought back the shy side and the awkwardness that he had all but forgotten over the years of self-imposed exile.

Aldon, though, he was the opposite. Everything he thought and felt was on display right there on his face. He said everything and when he fell quiet, that was when things became worrisome. Of course Gregg was going to find it off that Aldon stopped telling him everything. Aldon was TMI all over. He told Gregg things he didn't even need or maybe even WANT to know sometimes. But he could count on Aldon to be Aldon and do that. It only made it more obvious when he was holding something back.

Still, while Gregg could predict the sudden lunge at him, he wasn't prepared for the loud pop of the balloon animal between them. His heart beat faster, first because of the sudden loud sound but then because of Aldon's obvious distress.

No? No what? Gregg shook his head, clearly way behind Aldon on whatever was going on.

"I don't understand," he said, because he didn't and he didn't know what else to say to Aldon's sudden outburst.

"It's my fault."

And there was nothing more serious, more grave, than Aldon admitting that he was in the wrong. Even when he bumped into other people, he claimed that they jostled him! It was sort of his thing. He played the victim card far too much in life and other people let him get away with it far too often and easily.

But there was no defense here. He could never claim that it was Gregg's fault! Did that mean he loved Gregg more than he loved himself? ...maybe? Or maybe he'd been stewing in this secret for so long that it broke him.

Aldon dragged Gregg off to the side, flicking a brief glance at Niall and Ken who were off and away now. Ken paused to pull Niall over to a tent, where he began to pick at the merchandise, buying Aldon some time to explain. In his usual rushed way.

"Before you came, I was seeing somebody else, somebody I loved but I couldn't say it to him because I didn't know what I wanted and you know, it scared me to think about locking myself down with one person. And he plays so many games that I was sorta afraid he'd leave one day and—that's not really important. I did tell him I loved him, but by then you were here and at first you were helping us find the hunters responsible for killing Andrew, our old alpha, remember him? So I told him I needed to stay with you but part of me really WANTED to stay with you and then he got mad cause I think he was worried he was losing me, but I still loved him, only I started loving you too. Then this other stuff happened with the hunters and our pack and we had to leave, right, except nobody ever came after us—what's up with that?!"

Aldon paused for breath. He clutched Gregg's arm. "I guess what I'm trying to say is... I'm in love with you and I'm also in love with him. Ryland. I thought we could work something out between all three of us, but he didn't want anything to do with that. And he told me I didn't love him enough, or my love wasn't enough for him, and he said he didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I've been wanting to tell you from the start only I didn't want to lose you too! You guys are like... like two halves of my heart! I don't love anybody else, I swear! I don't LOVE love people like that, it's just you... and Ry."

"What?"

What on earth did he mean by that? What was his fault? The way Gregg felt? Feelings weren't really the fault of anybody. Feelings were there, no matter how a person thought or wanted to think. It didn't make sense, for Aldon to claim it was his fault. Gregg tried to formulate a response but he didn't know what to say to that other than what? If he wanted clarification, Aldon was game. A moment later, Gregg allowed himself to be pulled aside and then a surge of words came out of Aldon so fast  that Gregg really had to listen to keep up.

Even afterward, he wanted to utter the word what again but instead, he remained silent, thoughtful, ruminating over what Aldon just said.

There was somebody else. Gregg understood that. They had lives before they met one another and it would be too much to ask Aldon not to have a past with others. That didn't bother him. There was more to it, though. Apparently, Aldon was with both of them at the same time at some point. That also didn't bother Gregg--he was never a part of the traditional dating pool in the first place.

The losing part, though. That was important. Aldon's other boyfriend--previous boyfriend--was afraid he was losing Aldon. And then he did. But he did it to himself by breaking up with Aldon... did he not? And then there was Aldon himself, afraid of losing the other because of his games. Everybody was worried about losing somebody. Even Gregg was worried. He said it himself. He felt like he was losing Aldon because of the strange preoccupied mood he had been in.

So... Gregg let out a small breath of relief. He wasn't losing Aldon. And he wasn't going crazy or becoming a psycho who needed Aldon all to himself, either. It was the feeling of losing Aldon that bothered him more so than the thought of Aldon with somebody else, it seemed. Because... he really didn't feel any bodily claim. Just that sense of Aldon acting strangely. Distant. He didn't like that and it... triggered something. The odd emotions. The strangeness between them.

The important part of all of Aldon's word vomit to Gregg was this: he wasn't losing Aldon.

Slowly, he cupped Aldon's face in his hand.

"So I'm not losing you," he said it aloud, because the silence was stretching on far too long and he knew that it was going to make Aldon antsy. The longer they just stood there, the longer Gregg said nothing, the longer Aldon had time to start imagining the worst. The same way Gregg did when Aldon didn't tell him what was on his mind.

"That's all I needed to know." Still... while Gregg was relieved... what about Aldon? He didn't fully understand loving two people because Gregg barely learned to love one. But it really seemed to be eating at Aldon. What did one say in the face of that? He had no clue. How did he soothe whatever bothered Aldon? He couldn't speak for somebody else. He could speak for himself, though.

"You... you're not in danger of losing me."

"What?" Aldon stared as Gregg's hand slid over his face. "Lose me? No! No never! Not once!"

He expected Gregg to be angry. He thought that Gregg would hate him for going behind his back and seeing someone else at the same time. Most people would. Most people would be livid, feeling betrayed and used.

Then again... Gregg wasn't most people...

Aldon's gaze dropped. He still felt guilty that he had been keeping this from Gregg the entire time. Gregg didn't deserve secrecy and lies. And if Aldon had only been honest from the beginning, Gregg wouldn't have had to wonder about losing him.

"...I'm sorry," he said at last, even as Gregg was trying to reassure him, trying to make him feel better when Gregg was the one who had been wronged by Aldon. In his usual fashion he launched himself at Gregg and clutched at him.

"You'll never lose me either! I'd do anything to stay with you Gregg!" He turned to press a swift, fierce kiss to Gregg's lips. "Are you sure you're not mad though? Not even a little?"

Now it seemed almost silly that Gregg had been so worried about losing Aldon. The way he stared downward, contrite, his voice sincere, Gregg had no reason to believe that there was anything more going on than what Aldon had finally spilled out. Actually, it was hard to imagine that Aldon held onto a secret for as long as he did; he never struck Gregg as the secret keeping type. He wasn't very good at it, which wasn't surprising. Holding that secret had made Aldon act strange. But he'd been holding onto the secret for as long as he knew him and Gregg had been none the wiser until now.

They were the same, it seemed. They both planned to use one another and instead, fell in love along the way. Funny how that worked. Gregg thought he could do it; use Aldon and his pack. Aldon probably thought he could do it, too. Use Gregg. Yet here they were. Gregg regarded Aldon for a long moment, then closed his eyes after Aldon threw himself at him. Their bodies made a solid sound as they collided and Gregg's arms instinctively came up around Aldon's body to hold him close.

Should he be more worried about the other person, though? Ryland? The one that Aldon used to be with? It was hard to really feel threatened when he was the one holding Aldon and Aldon was promising he would do anything to stay--with him. Gregg smiled as he started to lower his head. He didn't expect Aldon to suddenly turn and kiss him. Gregg blinked, then his fingers wound around the cloth of Aldon's shirt. Was he mad? He licked the lips that Aldon just kissed.

"Maybe a little," he said. "But... you're here with me. And you admitted to everything."

He felt like he should be more angry about all this but in the moment, he was just so relieved that it was hard to give focus to something like anger. Aldon was with him. He loved him. And he admitted everything to him. How much more could a person ask from another person?

"I... really thought you were hiding a relationship with Ken."

"Don't be mad," Aldon gasped in dismay while imploring Gregg with his eyes. And... with his words but the kicked puppy look was one of the most potent weapons in his arsenal and so what if Gregg was also a kicked puppy (in the sense that he was horribly wronged by Aldon)? The point was, Aldon apologized and even admitted—yes, with his own mouth—that he was wrong.

He didn't want to go through life with Gregg being slightly angry at him. Aldon hated it when people disliked him, without quite knowing why. Maybe it was the part of him that was so eager to be accepted, to please others and to be praised for being good even when he was objectively no good at all. Aldon liked to be in the spotlight, there was no doubt about that, and negative attention was horribly upsetting.

Who wanted to be the bad guy, though? Did anyone enjoy being a villain? Aldon didn't!

"I'll buy you a car, don't be mad." Offer them the world and then give them peanuts—that was Aldon in a nutshell. He could say the most outrageous things in the moment; he had no shame in that regard. Right now, though, he was still feeling guilty and he nuzzled the tip of his nose against Gregg's, since Gregg was conveniently close. Aldon's voice had lowered too, several volumes below his usual exuberant holler. He just couldn't seem to do anything quietly but Gregg had a calming effect on him.

Until he confessed that he thought Ken was the object of Aldon's secret affections.

"WHAT?!" He laughed—cackled—and looked over his shoulder at the ultra-blond man who was showing Niall something small and round. "HIM?" Ken looked over his shoulder at them with a questioning glance and Aldon hastily turned back to Gregg. He lowered his voice as if Ken had superhuman hearing. "Ken?! No way, he's totally not even—well, okay, he's pretty good looking," Aldon conceded, honest to a fault and always at the wrong times, "but... I have you! I mean not that I'd date him if I didn't have you or-or that I want to date him anyway, that's not really the—"

Aldon stopped and took a breath. "No," he said finally, ending his spastic flow of words abruptly. "I don't want to be with anybody except you. Period. I'm in love with you and... and that's it. That's the end of the story." Aldon didn't think he could love anyone except Gregg... and Ryland. Even loving two people was exhausting; he couldn't imagine adding yet another person to that messy love affair!

Hah... don't be mad, he said. As if that were something he could control. There was a small ember of anger in there, he supposed. Maybe he wasn't acknowledging it properly but it just didn't seem that important to stoke the fires. Aldon's confession was what it was. It was like telling him not to be angry. How could he tell Aldon not to be in love with another person? And how could he tell him it didn't work that way? Gregg might not love multiple people--and he certainly couldn't envision it--but somehow, it seemed pretty natural for Aldon to say it. Aldon was an expressive person with an abundant amount of emotions to display. In that vein, it wasn't hard to see Aldon loving multiple people. There was just so much love in there that maybe it couldn't be contained to a single entity.

Somehow, that really just made Aldon all the more lovable in Gregg's eyes. His heart felt full, warm, full of affection. He watched Aldon, eyes on his imploring gaze, on his puppy dog eyes and his nose against his nose. And... he watched as Aldon suddenly cracked up. His gaze followed Aldon's to the pair that wasn't that far away, at Ken, who looked over at them as Aldon exclaimed the word HIM loud enough for the entire festival to hear. Gregg never would have said he embarrassed easily but in the moment, he almost blushed. Almost. Ken didn't hear his name--thankfully--but he still looked quizzical as he glanced back at them. Gregg's expression didn't change and he had no idea what Aldon's expression said but even if Aldon did feel something for Ken, it didn't seem like there was much to worry about. Ken looked smitten with the Irishman beside him, who seemed to be yammering on about something. His mouth never seemed to stop moving.

Nothing to worry about.

Now he felt stupid. Why did he jump to such conclusions in the first place? He was an idiot. Gregg turned back to Aldon, raising his brows slightly as Aldon proceeded to talk himself into a new hole. Rambling about how Ken was good looking and he might have dated him or something to that effect. Well, no. Also, Gregg was starting to realize that Ken's guy might be a motormouth but he was nothing compared to Aldon. Aldon, who just kept talking in circles and then tried to stop himself and started another tidal wave of words.

"You can stop," he said finally, stroking Aldon's face gently. "I believe you."

"Oh GOOD, because--"

Because of what, Ken didn't hear as a small gaggle of giggling teenaged girls passed through and their laughter drowned out Aldon's babble. Between him and Niall, Ken couldn't rightly say who could pack more words into a single second. When he heard Aldon's sudden laughter moments before, he was alarmed and looked back to see them looking at him. Gregg was passive--classic Gregg--and Aldon was amused but also guilty. For what? Sod if Ken knew.

He only knew that they were talking about him, because he heard his name drifting on the wind earlier. Ken didn't need to be a genius to know that Aldon was probably reassuring Gregg that he and Ken were, in fact, not romantically involved. At all. And furthermore, Ken had no interest in Aldon. He seemed like a talker. More of a talker than Niall. Not a thoughtful talker, either, whereas Niall's sharp humor hinted at his intelligence. Aldon... wasn't stupid, but to Ken, he appeared naive and anyone involved with him would perhaps have to go to great lengths to protect that. Gregg seemed up to the task; Ken already had his hands full.

When the teenagers passed, Ken found out why Aldon's voice suddenly stopped. He was embracing Gregg in a passionate and enthusiastic manner, to which Ken was unaccustomed. At least, in public. But it was sweet, he thought, and he was glad that they had sorted their troubles out. Ken's gaze slid to Niall, wondering if he caught sight of the lovers, wondering if he expected something like that. If he was comparing Ken's severe prudence and prudish behavior in general to Aldon's overwhelmingly affectionate displays towards Gregg.

Ken wasn't about to leap on him the way Aldon leapt on Gregg...

But...

He leaned in and kissed Niall softly on the corner of the mouth.

Trinkets and toys and strange little baubles were right up Niall's alley, so he found himself enjoying the odd shops that littered the festival grounds. There were pretty little marbles, jewelry made of shells and crystals, and other odds and ends. Niall was loose with the purse strings. Whatever money he had flew out the window within an instant of getting his hands on it. Mostly it covered his habits but every now and then, it meant coming to places like this and... well, actually. Now that he thought about it, Niall often didn't pay at these things. They were easy enough to rob from. All he had to do was chatter on about something and smile and flash his hazel eyes at the vendor and then whoop! Slip that baby into his pocket. And then it ended up in his apartment, destined to either join his collection or end up sold for more money to support his bad habits.

Niall leaned slightly against Ken as he picked up what appeared to be a glass unicorn. Not quite a sheep but he liked things like this, too. The glass was crafted so gently, too. He almost felt like his big clumsy hands were going to break the thing--and he normally didn't think of his hands as clumsy. Slowly, he set the unicorn down and rested his head against Ken's shoulder. A soft breeze filtered through his hair and tickled his nose. He blinked slowly, letting the contentment of the moment envelope him. Moments like this felt so rare, when he actually felt fully at peace with himself, especially when he wasn't high on something to mask the flood of unwanted feelings that typically welled up when he was left to his own devices.

He didn't like to be alone. And now he wasn't.

Niall didn't even know what he was talking about but he could hear his own voice, saying something about the practicality of keeping crystal objects around, there was a sort of magic in them. And there were magic properties to crystals. That was the honest truth. But he was distracted by the way Ken was looking at the other couple on this double date thing. Their first date and they were spending it talking about magic crystals and watching another couple being soft with one another. Niall was kinda jealous. He started to look up, fully intending to express his complaints about such a turn of events but... he found himself on the receiving end of a kiss. Not... really a real kiss, mind. But a kiss, nonetheless. And in public, at that!

Turning into Ken and winding his arms around his shoulders, Niall turned the soft kiss against the corner of his mouth into a real kiss. The kind of kiss that made his toes curl and his head tingle and the butterflies in his stomach come alive. The kind of kiss he kept expecting and Ken kept dodging. The kind of kiss that meant something and they both knew it, even if Ken was the king of mixed messages.

He would have said something--Niall, that was--about the way that Gregg and Aldon were wrapped up in each other. Ken could practically hear it in Niall's voice. "HINT HINT, Kenny boy!" It really wasn't a competition but at the same time, Ken didn't want to be found lacking. He didn't want Niall to look at another couple and be wistful, wishing that it could be them.

It could be them now.

They were so repressed as teenagers, so afraid to express their love. Their feelings were looked upon as being unnatural, but they were pure. Well... Ken's feelings were pure. Niall's were not-so-pure in practice, but Ken knew that what Niall felt for him was genuine and rooted in affection. It only took one glance at him to know that he still felt the love and the tenderness. The way he spoke about magic crystals and tiny glass beads strung up into pretty bracelets and delicate wooden carvings were meaningless chatter, but it meant that Niall was comfortable enough with him to let his mind (and mouth) wander.

His mouth, however.

His mouth was on Ken's, lips on lips. Comfort was a relative term. Ken was uncomfortable with kissing him in public; there was a part of him that remembered the scorn and the derision of their parents and peers. A part of him cared if people saw them and thought that they were being lewd or disgusting. But a much, much larger part of him cared about Niall and instead of pulling away--surely an action that would have hurt Niall, given that Ken initiated the kiss--he leaned in.

His hands slid tentatively to Niall's sides, brushing them gently as if unsure that they were supposed to go there. He was hesitant, tentative, apprehensive, but at the same time also thrilled and exhilarated. Gregg and Aldon kissed and no one mocked them or threw them dirty looks. This wasn't Dingle, a small town rooted in mysticism and religion. Here in Hazleton, sleepy and small though it was, the Americans were still more open-minded and accepting. If anything, he thought that the teenagers who milled past were giggling because they liked the sight of the other couple kissing. Ken heard them squealing about it being cute and adorable.

He didn't want to be cute or adorable, though. Those could belong to Gregg and Aldon. He wanted to be Ken. And he wanted Niall to be Niall. They deserved more than labels, as if they could be narrowed down to a handful of words. Slowly, Ken's hands moved around and his arms slid around Niall's waist, pulling him gently closer as the kiss held. And when it finally broke out of necessity, Ken lowered his head against Niall's shoulder and let out a breath that he'd been holding since Niall left Dingle.

For once, Ken wasn't the King of Mixed Messages. Although Niall feared it, Ken didn't pull away or break off the kiss before it was properly over. In fact... his hands were at his sides. He was pulling Niall closer. Niall smiled as he tilted his head downward, the kiss still warm on his lips. The butterflies were still throwing a party in his stomach and in his chest but that was fine--Niall loved that feeling, so akin to the same one that he felt when he did those reckless, foolhardy things as a child. Like jumping into freezing cold water and rolling down Irish hills and pulling Ken behind the church to sneak in a long-overdue first kiss.

Ken was so afraid to show his true feelings. Even when they were young. Niall should have been, too. But where Ken was belittled and beaten down to keep everything bottled inside, Niall rebelled. Nobody was going to keep him quiet or tell him to relax when he was antsy. And if they did, it didn't matter. There was something about Niall's energy that didn't allow it to bottle itself down. It had to be known. Keeping it tamped down just made it explode later.

"We should..." he started to say, voice a low murmur but they were joined by the second half of the double date. Niall didn't move away but he did look up to meet their gazes. Gregg was hard to read but he seemed a lot less... er, tense? Than he had been before. Niall smiled, then lightly touched one of the colorful stone bead bracelets.

"Obsidian blocks curses," he said. "Kinda goes with my aesthetic, too, don't you think?"

Whatever it was that they should do, Ken was fated never to find out. Before Niall could continue, the other two rejoined their small party and Ken was both pleased and slightly disappointed to see them. He was pleased that Gregg no longer had that strange look about him and that Aldon appeared sunny, as though he had suddenly discovered rainbows, puppies and lollipops all at the same time. He was equally disappointed that he couldn't have had another moment or two alone with Niall... but then again, they were hardly alone earlier with such a crowd about them.

"Ooh, that looks good on you!" Aldon was quick to agree, nodding as if he agreed so wholeheartedly with Niall's comment that he could hardly contain himself. Ken had the distinct impression of an overly eager puppy, which he wondered about as he glanced at Gregg. Was this Gregg's type? They seemed like such a mismatched couple.

Then again... Looking at himself and Niall, he supposed that they were an unlikely pair too. Niall was dark where Ken was fair, eager and expressive where Ken was withdrawn and reserved. The only thing that they had in common was each other—belonging to each other, that was. Ken briefly smiled at Gregg to show that there were no hard feelings about the earlier 'conversation' and gently tugged Niall away from the table once he had paid for the small trinket.

"If we don't leave now, he'll have bracelets up to his elbows," Ken said with a little teasing smile at Niall. "It looks like the fireworks are about to start. Let's go and find a good viewpoint." It was growing a little darker too; the sky was a dim and dusky velvet hue, as the sun began its descent.

All right, so obsidian wasn't colorful like some of the other stones but it was true--it carried strong protection and they both knew that they could use that. Ken, too, he thought. Ken especially, actually. Niall stared thoughtfully at the jewelry but the bracelet was bought and he was being ushered onward before he could even start considering what might be a good fit for Ken. He turned around and twisted his head about but Ken was still guiding him away with some comment about him buying up all the jewelry if they weren't careful.

"But..." he thought he saw something, a glint of a pretty gemstone he'd never seen before. It caught his eye and he wanted it. So... when nobody was looking... he might have... sorta... swiped it and slid it into the pocket of his coat. Looking around, he saw that nobody had noticed his action and he smiled to himself. Well then. He would just... give his present to Ken later.

"They always have the best out here," Niall said wistfully as he spoke of the fireworks. And they did, from everywhere Niall had been. He loved to sit under the sky and watch it explode above him in an array of pretty colors. If he closed his eyes as they came raining down on them, he could imagine how it might feel to be kissed by the rainbow.

Sidling closer to Ken, he said, practically into Ken's ear, "Look, they're getting along a lot better now. I was starting to think they were going to ruin our date!"

"The strawberry festival fireworks are green and pink," Aldon said with a touch of longing in his own voice, mirroring the wistfulness that Ken detected in Niall's tone. Ken half-turned to look at him and saw a fleeting, strange look pass across his expression. What was that all about? He thought that Gregg and Aldon had already made up their differences...

Surprisingly, Niall's thoughts ran across similar lines. Ken turned back to his voice in his ear, so close that he swore he felt Niall's lips moving against the shell of it. Was that on purpose? To get a rise out of him? A pleasant shiver did cascade down his spine. The topic was innocent enough but... hm... Ken had to wonder. (And with Niall, it was good practice to wonder.) While Ken didn't shift away, he did ease his head ever so gently away from the whispering lips. His ears were sensitive.

"I think they'll be all right," he said in a low mutter, leaning in so that his voice couldn't be overheard by the other couple. Aldon had moved on from the strawberry festival now; Ken heard him brightly talking about something called a social committee. "Gregg thought that Aldon and I were having an affair. But I think Aldon convinced him that that is completely not true." Not to mention ridiculous. Ken hadn't taken his eyes off of Niall since he got to Hazleton, practically; there was clearly no room for anyone else to steal a fraction of his attention.

The best. That wasn't the whole truth, though. It wasn't the fireworks themselves that Niall spoke of. When he was little, he remembered marveling over fireworks the first time he saw them. It was during a summer festival not unlike this one, back home in Dingle. And he remembered stretching his hands upward, smile big and wide while Paddy laughed at him. What're you doing? Paddy had asked. And Niall had replied, Trying to catch them! As if they were lightning bugs. Paddy even laughed and said something along the same lines. Niall was like five or six at the time.

Niall noticed that Ken was moving subtly away from him and he didn't notice Aldon or Gregg anymore at all. He was too busy spending all of his attention on Ken. Although he had moved away, Ken was back, leaning inward to mutter something about Gregg being worried about Aldon and Ken having an affair. Niall laughed aloud despite himself. He tried to hide the big grin on his face with his fist but when Gregg looked over at him, he had a feeling he knew he was laughing at him. Niall quickly wormed his way behind and around Ken so that he was on his other side, putting Ken neatly and conveniently between himself and Gregg. Hey, he might go for Niall but he wouldn't go for Ken! They were old friends! Or comrades. Something like that.

"I'd be more worried it was you and that Gregg guy," Niall said, even though Gregg was nothing like him. Aldon, he thought, was kind of a kindred spirit but he couldn't imagine Ken with anybody other than himself. And if he had to, well, why not a guy he worked with. Did they ever work personally together, though? Ah, Niall didn't even care. Ken was with him. Niall grinned and wrapped both arms around Ken's waist, cheek to cheek with him. His voice was hushed like a secret when next he spoke.

"But I'm not. I think you're all mine."

With a rustle and a ruffle, Niall was off and away, circling around, behind, off to the other side of Ken where he was safe from Gregg's deadpan stare. That was a look that Ken had gotten used to even in the brief time that he and Gregg had worked together. He thought he knew Gregg but he'd been so wrong. Nothing explained Aldon or the way that Gregg had taken to him so obviously, and become so smitten wth him.

Nothing explained Niall, either.

Ken smiled placatingly at Gregg, a flash of humor showing through, before Niall reintroduced himself into the center of Ken's attention. His arms, his warmth, his smile and the scent that he used all seemed designed to pull at Ken's senses. He took over. There was never any competition, both when they were young and most especially now, after such a lengthy time apart.

"You only think, Wooly?" Ken murmured, a hand landing on Niall's forearm, one of the ones curled around him. "Don't you know?"

Trick question! Niall thought he knew. Ken said it. Niall said it. But then Ken kept edging backwards, shying away from intimate contact or anything resembling it. But not always. Sometimes he leaned in, too. Sometimes he kissed back. Sometimes he initiated the kiss! Yet, he still insisted on playing this weird game with Niall and Niall couldn't tell. Was it meant to be a game? Or did Ken just really harbor so much distrust in him?

Niall leaned in a little closer, if that was at all possible. Lazily, he left a little kiss on Ken's cheek and he smiled as a warm, masculine hand curled around his arm. He closed his eyes, enjoying it, the fell of an adult Ken's hand on his bare skin. He kissed Ken again, a little twin of the kiss that came before it.

"Then why do you keep running away?" he whispered. "You keep saying it's not the time. What are you waiting for...?"

"I'm not running."

He was waiting--for the right moment, the right occasion to present itself. Meanwhile, other opportunities were flitting past and he was too scared to seize upon them. Moments like these were wasted; kisses that could have led somewhere were terminated under the guise of having some chore to tend to. A lingering look, a fond glance, a warm touch, he skirted around them and away from them--away from Niall, fearing the downfall of their carefully constructed, lovingly crafted relationship.

But even Ken realized that he couldn't make Niall wait forever. Let me have you, Niall had murmured to him in impassioned tones, a plea. Ken felt a molten spike of heat surging through his very core every time he recalled Niall's voice in that moment, the purpose in his eyes. He had been so tempted then. So tempted to open himself up to Niall, to be vulnerable and laid bare. But as with every other moment, it passed and Ken was left to struggle with the lingering regret.

"I'm..." He turned to look at Niall, lips twitching to form the words. "I..." If he waited too long, would Niall still want him? Would he grow tired of waiting? Niall was notoriously short on patience but Ken always thought that he was the exception. Yet, he was frightened all the same that Niall would leave again, that one morning he would open his eyes to find the bed empty and Niall gone, tired of Ken's skittishness and shyness. Niall wanted it. Ken wanted it. Maybe it didn't have to be as complicated as Ken made it out to be in his head.

His feelings were a jumbled mess. His thoughts were disturbed.

Slowly, he curled his hand around Niall's arm. "Tonight."

Niall made a face. Yeah, okay, so Ken wasn't physically running but he had to know that wasn't what Niall meant when he said it. Ken was emotionally running. He was keeping some distance between them and every time something threatened that distance, Ken ran again. What frustrated Niall was that often, Ken himself was the one closing the space between them. And then when Niall thought it was okay to keep moving in that direction--toward him--Ken shied away. Again and again! It was enough to make a man crazy! It was enough to make a man turn back to drugs! Was that what he wanted? Niall back on drugs?!

Watching Ken now, he wondered what was going through his mind. There seemed to be some kind of internal conflict that he struggled with. Niall couldn't really imagine what was going on in there. Niall didn't mean to be, but he was usually wrapped up in his own internal battles that he maybe forgot that others were suffering, battling it out, too. Similar demons. Maybe totally different ones. Demons, all the same.

He wanted to apologize but at the same time, didn't feel like he had anything to apologize for. All he did was ask what Ken was waiting for. It seemed like a fair question, not one that should be taken back. Or was he pushing Ken? Niall bit his lower lip, trying to think while at the same time searching Ken's gaze for some kind of unspoken answer. To his surprise, Ken didn't answer his question but he did say the word tonight. Niall blinked. What? What did that even mean? Niall's mouth formed a question but then he shut it, looking down at the hand on his arm. Tonight. The word alone sounded like a promise. The kind of promise that hiked his temperature up and made him feel a little... frisky. So he couldn't help that he broke out in a smile. His smile grew as he leaned in closer and nuzzled Ken.

"Tonight what?" he asked in a low voice, even though he already thought he knew.

"You know," Ken said in the driest tone that he could muster up, given that he was spoken to in a certain Tone, and that he was being smiled at by Niall and being smiled at was his Kryptonite. There wasn't anything that Ken wouldn't do for his smile--except declare in the presence of their friends that he planned to be intimate with his lover that night (or any other night).

This was something entirely between them, and it was going to stay that way.

It didn't mean, though, that he didn't smile back slightly, or that he didn't lean into Niall. Ken even nuzzled him in return, enjoying their closeness and the fact that after so long, they could finally relax. There were no monsters here and even if there were, they were none of Ken's business. Tonight he was Ken the man, not Ken the hunter. And Niall was Niall, as usual, but somehow even brighter, more alive in Ken's eyes without the influence of drugs. This was the Niall that he remembered.

"Hey, there are some benches over there!" Aldon was pointing to a row of benches that were only partly occupied. Most were up on the hill behind the benches, hoping for a better glimpse of the fireworks, but Ken personally disliked being jostled and crowded. He sat himself down on one of them and pulled Niall with him, cozying up to him under the guise of shifting over for their friends.

Aldon sat on his other side and Ken was relieved to see him cuddling up to Gregg; it looked like Aldon only had eyes for Gregg. Well, good. That would reassure Gregg once and for all that Aldon had no designs on him--or vice versa.

Oho, he knew. Or thought he knew. It made him want to skip along home just to be alone with Ken. Even without sex, he admittedly wanted the time alone with him. Now that they were on the same page for once, why couldn't they be alone?! Or was Ken just that cruel, to bring it up while they were on this date with somebody else? Niall wouldn't care if they brought it up in front of them and doubted they would even be noticed or heard at this point. But Ken, Ken, Ken. Tsk, tsk.

Niall curled up against Ken, though his eyes were on the other couple. They were definitely into each other, which was kinda funny since there was that brief rear-up of drama. That guy didn't even seem like the drama stirring kind of guy but love did weird things to people. Niall's gaze slipped back toward Ken, all smiles now.

He didn't care who saw that his arm was now up around Ken's shoulder, the other sliding over his waist. The crack of fireworks startled him out of his reverie--just staring at Ken in awe, as if he were the god of the sun and he was some lowly worshiper. Niall snapped to attention, watching as the first spray of color painted the sky.

"Ahhh, it's so cool~" he sang. "Makes me feel like I'm 14 again."

Niall knew. Ken knew. Hell, Aldon and Gregg probably knew by now. Ken wasn't declaring it to the world but he wasn't making an effort to hide anymore, either. Perhaps seeing Gregg with Aldon bolstered his spirits, seeing their relationship being accepted. Hell, if Gregg could do it, why couldn't he? He'd been all over the world searching for Niall and once he found him... Ken ran. Even a child could have pointed out that that made no sense—and Ken was all about making sense, wasn't he?

He was sure that he didn't deserve to be looked at the way Niall looked at him, though. Ken had admirable qualities that his peers and his elders praised him for but he knew that he had just as many deficits. Niall doted on him, adored him he was sure, but he could just as easily have hated Ken for what he did in the past. Those magical eyes could be filled just as easily with loathing and contempt.

Ken wondered what Niall saw just then. Did he see the perfection? Or the flaws that made up the real Ken? He watched the light of the fireworks suddenly reflecting in Niall's eyes, saw the green change to blue, brown, a flash of yellow then back again. There was something magical about him that was exclusively his—a quality ascribed to Niall and only Niall. Even while the fireworks shot into the air in a spectacular display of color and light, and while Niall and Aldon both exclaimed and gushed about them, Ken watched Niall. He'd seen fireworks before. He would probably see many more fireworks in the future.

But if his time was to be well-spent, he wanted to use it admiring the only permanent light in his life—the fireworks faded after a while but he had to make sure Niall was here to stay. His memories were filled with young Niall and here was his chance to memorize the adult Niall. The tilt of his nose, the soft curve of his lips in awe of the colored lights that popped in the sky, the shape of his face and his profile, Ken etched them all out, carved them into his memories to keep.

Gently Ken's arms slid around his waist, a bit belated—he was always two steps behind the times, it seemed. Better late than never though, right? He tipped his head forward until their cheeks just touched and finally lent his gaze to the skies. "Let's... go to a rock concert next time," he smiled, recalling the simple desires of their fourteen year-old selves. "And let's get tattoos."

Fireworks were their own kind of magic, Niall decided. It wasn't the kind of magic that witches packed into a drug, the kind that made the whole world sing and every brush of skin against skin feel like the most ecstatic sensation he'd ever felt. It wasn't even the kind of magic that happened when a person locked eyes with somebody they were very, very fond of and it set off a whole set of fluttery butterflies and stupid smiles. It was, really, a mundane kind of magic. The kind of magic even those without knowledge of real magic could appreciate. Somehow, humans came up with that on their own. In the absence of real magic in their lives, they created it. There was something inherently magical about that.

So he watched in near childish delight as the colors were sent up into the heavens to mingle in different color schemes and shapes, battering the night sky with a slew of brand new stars, each doomed to be extinguished before they could be fully appreciated individually. It was pretty, in an existential kind of way, too. Niall thought that this was what he was; a firework, a spark in the night sky that flashed brightly and then dimmed out as quickly as it had come alive. His life was that way; a flash in the pan.

But he thought it was beautiful, nonetheless. Life might have been one slow burn or one shove too many for all of his life but that just meant when things were this way--when they were calm and lovely--it only burned more ferociously in his memories. It was just like his childhood. He remembered the bad: being bullied, shunned, and ignored. But when the drugs kicked in, he also remembered lazy nights at the lake and stolen kisses behind the church and softly spoken words of dreams.

Everything was just plain chaos until Ken was there. Somehow, he held him steady when he was stumbling. He tilted the world back into one that made sense. It was near impossible to put to words how he felt, so he showed instead of told. His smile grew unconsciously as a cheek pressed against his cheek, cool from the night air but warming to his touch.

"You mean it?" Niall asked, turning to look at Ken now. "Because now we have to! No take-backsies!"

In a strange sort of way, Ken thought that they were like those fireworks. Niall was the light, showy and distinct and colorful and Ken was the shadow, preferring to be in the background, drawing no attention to himself. But when they came together—fireworks. Magic. Without the shadows, the colors couldn't be highlighted as brightly. Without light, the shadows became indistinct. Without each other, they were incomplete.

"No take-backsies." He wouldn't mind going anywhere if Niall was there to hold his hand, to guide him through the experience. Sometimes even Ken needed a helping hand, capable though he was in most aspects of life. He wouldn't have said that he lived much without Niall however. He existed, but he didn't come alive until Niall was holding him, warming him with his body and his presence and his smile.

Ken turned to look at Niall too, then leaned in and gently kissed him. "No take-backsies... ever again."

"Don't say something you're going to regret," Niall warned him, because with how wishy-washy Ken had been lately, it would probably kill Niall. It wasn't as if Niall was some kind of pillar of steadfastness, either. He went back and forth between things. He could be as flighty as the next guy. And he certainly had trouble making up his mind on things that really, in the end, had little consequence.

This, however, was not one of those things. Niall had been confusing Ken's signals for a while now but Ken saying that: no take-backsies? That meant something. Because Ken couldn't claim he meant anything else. He knew what Niall thought and not only did he not correct him with some new excuse, he said he wouldn't take it back!

Content with where things were going between them, Niall smiled and leaned his head against Ken's, licking his lips.

"What do you think of it?" he asked the sky. "About our first date?" He turned to look at Ken again because it was difficult to stop looking in his direction for too long. He lightly touched Ken's chin. "Hm?"

The way that Niall licked his lips--intentionally or not--reminded Ken not so much of a wooly sheep as it did a sly wolf. Maybe a wolf in sheep's clothing? They all told him that that Gallagher boy was up to no good, that there was devilry dancing in his veins and mischief in his blood. He didn't believe them and was enticed by the magic in Niall's smiles, and now it was all too late.

"It's been... interesting," he said with guarded reticence, despite the warmth that crept over him as Niall's eyes found their way on to him. Ken's gaze never left Niall. He smiled, but wryly, as he reached up to catch Niall's hand and pulled it down into his lap to hold. Between being accused of carrying on an affair with his friend's new lover and the inevitable confrontation between the other two, Ken felt as if he was living through a daytime serial.

Ken wouldn't have said that he wanted this particular experience for his first date; however, not having a choice, he was content to accept it. At least they had a first date. And it was every bit as quirky and strange as their union so perhaps in a way, it was only fitting. They weren't a conventional couple anyway; their love story never did go along the same lines as other couples'.

Lowering his voice, he leaned in even closer--not that there was much room to be closer, but Ken found a way. "I think it would've been better if it had been just you and me." He didn't say it, but he thought it very sincerely: He couldn't wait to get home, so that they could finally be alone. Ken wasn't people-shy but there had been so many opportunities for intimacy that had been ruined because they were out in public.

"Oh my gawd, me too!" Niall immediately agreed, latching onto one of Ken's arms to drive his point home. "And it's not like I don't like your friends, because I don't but I always thought our first date would just be the two of us."

Who's idea was this double date again? Niall conveniently forgot, didn't care, whatever. They were here, that was the part that really mattered. Whether they were invaded by another couple or not, they were kinda alone now. Not alone-alone, but they were sort of in their own little bubble. Niall felt like that was always the case for him, only this time he had pulled Ken inside it with him. And Ken was somewhat more receptive to him than he had been in... since they'd met again, really.

Drawing closer, Niall planted a soft kiss against the curve of Ken's jaw and then another on his throat. "Do you think they'll notice if we dip early?" he murmured, eyes fluttering half closed.

In fairness to Niall, this had very little to do with liking Gregg or Aldon. Ken liked them both reasonably well; one might even go so far as to say that he enjoyed Gregg's company. But this night was supposed to be about them, and a celebration of their relationship. In many ways, there was more on the line than any normal date.

Distracted by Niall's lips and Niall's eyes and Niall's proximity... and Niall in general, Ken took a while longer to formulate a response. "I don't think they'd even know we were gone," he murmured, sparing the other couple a glance. Seemed like he wasn't the only one preoccupied with his lover. Aldon was doing quite a good job on Gregg, from what Ken could see.

Grasping Niall's hand, he slowly began to rise. "Come on, if we leave now, we can beat the crowd." After the festival and the fireworks ended, everyone would be rushing for the parking lot; if they left mid-way, they were assured a clear path out. Ken could make his apologies to Gregg later. He was almost certain that Gregg would understand, given their similar situations. (And perhaps Gregg would even be glad to be left alone with his amorous, if jittery, partner.)


[I'm going to close this thread and we can start a new one if you want to continue it later.]