I know where beauty lives

[Julio de la Rosa]

Okay, neither of them were perfect then. Julio couldn't help grinning at Steven Seagull being perfect; but he was. They both determined that now. The perfect superhero the world didn't need but they were certainly getting. He watched Angel draw himself beside the drawing Julio had made of himself and his grin grew wider at the compliment.

He signed thank you. He wasn't as good as Angel by far--he saw what he had drawn of Logan and he'd never drawn anything as good as Steven Seagull. But when it came to small little doodles, he was all right.

Picking up his phone, he wrote, "You're an artist. Is that what you want to do? Artwork? Animation? Comic books?" He tilted his phone toward Angel, looking from the sketchpad up to Angel's face, at his blue eyes.

[Angel Miguel Albares]

Thank you? Was that what it meant? Angel thought he was picking up a few things here and there, although he could never be sure. It helped when Julio wrote out what he wanted to say though, and Angel could match the motions of his hand to the text on the screen. Somehow communicating with him wasn't difficult. It was like... whatever couldn't be signed or said, they communicated silently through glances. Or smiles. Or lack of smiles.

"Si. I do freelance work. Painting usually, some mixed media art, sculpting. Wait a minute." He set the sketchpad down briefly so that he could rummage through the bag, through the crumpled pages, searching for a particular one. Luckily it hadn't been torn too badly; most of it was intact. Angel smoothed it out on top of the doodles on the pad, the comic that he was working on. It was a full-figure sketch of a muscled superhero with a cape and tights and all, and a face that actually resembled Julio somewhat.

With something of a mischievous smile he took the pen and drew in a small gap in the superhero's brilliant toothy smile, and added dark hair, a goatee and a bun. "What do you think? Could this be the main character in my comic?"

[Julio de la Rosa]

See? An artist. An artist with talent. Angel, he was sure, would go places. Julio tilted his head as Angel began to look through his sketchbook. There were a few more of Logan, definitely Logan. Julio's lips twitched in amusement. His crush was cute.

The page skipping stopped on a superhero. Julio rested his chin in his hand as he leaned in closer--close enough to brush shoulder to shoulder--and watched as Angel worked on adding details to his superhero. Some familiar details. The resemblance once the gap was added and the hair and the goatee--it was uncanny. Julio stroked his goatee after the one on the superhero was drawn in. His eyes lit up with amusement.

He lifted a finger--wait--and picked up his phone. "What will you call this one? What are his powers?"

[Angel Miguel Albares]

Julio seemed to like the modifications he made because his eyes lit up. Angel always heard of it happening (like in those fanfiction stories he read online) but he had never seen it in real life up until now. But it was true. When Julio smiled, it was like a little light turned on behind his eyes.

And their shoulders were touching, too. Very slowly and very gently he eased away from Julio to put a small bit of distance between them. He didn't feel comfortable being touched—or touching. It was nothing against Julio because he was an obviously kind person who had no intentions of harming Angel, but Angel wasn't like everyone else in the way he reacted to simple things.

He was weird. He acknowledged that. He was very weird.

"Ah... hm." Luckily Julio asked him about the superhero and his tilting away coincided with him looking Julio up and down. What would Julio's name be if he was a superhero? Angel thought for a while as he took him in. There was something about Julio that made it hard to look away from him, if he had to be honest.

"I think his name would be... Señor Milagro." Mister Miracle. Kind of a dumb name but most superhero names were dumb, weren't they? That was half the fun of them. Nonetheless, Angel smiled shyly and tried to hide behind his hood as he turned his head away, breaking their gazes. "His power would be to save people by performing miracles and making people happy. With a smile."

It felt like Julio could have that power—the power to change lives. To transform horrid nights into pleasant ones with almost no effort at all.

[Julio de la Rosa]

Ah. Julio saw the way Angel eased away from him when they touched. Was it because of the thugs that beat him up? Julio's gaze swept over his shoulder, looking for a hole or tear. But he might have bruised it. Somehow, though... Julio got the feeling it didn't have to do with what happened tonight. Angel did the same thing when their hands brushed, too. Maybe he had an aversion to touch.

"I'm sorry," he signed again. He wasn't aware that being close was a problem as they sort of started to become friends. But it was clear that there was a problem so he moved back and away, too. But he gave him a thumbs up sign to show that the name was a good one and that Angel didn't need to hide his face over it.

Trying to lighten the mood since it felt like awkward tension was starting to creep in, he typed quickly, "I should use Señor Milagro as my stripper name."

[Angel Miguel Albares]

Ah, the universal sign of approval: thumbs up. Angel nodded as he felt the same measure of awkwardness beginning to slip over them, but then one message dispelled all of that and he laughed out loud before he could stop himself. Then it was his turn to give the thumbs up, rather discreetly at mid-chest height.

"If you do that, you need to dress like this." The tip of the pen tapped on Señor Milagro's cape and tights—very tight tights that left little to the imagination. Good thing Angel hadn't drawn him naked, or in any sort of erotic pose. Sometimes he did, as a creative outlet for certain urges but... He didn't think Julio would be very impressed by smutty pictures, when this was their first time meeting.

"So you work there, at the club?" Awkwardness again—Angel wondered if Julio had ever seen him there before. He hadn't seen Julio but then again he only came for Logan's shows and he left promptly after they ended, too embarrassed to be caught there. And too afraid that he would somehow tarnish his father's name if he was caught.

[Julio de la Rosa]

He grinned. The laughter dispelled the awkwardness and the very idea of dressing like Señor Milagro onstage was both hilarious and compelling. He wrote, "I don't choose the costumes but I'm sure a superhero theme would interest them."

Julio could imagine it working and there were plenty of songs about superheroes that they could choreograph a number to. Look at Angel, accidentally assisting the strip club with his ideas. But then the awkward tension seemed to come back. Julio couldn't tell by Angel's tone whether he asked that question out of curiosity alone or if it maybe bothered him that Julio was a stripper. It seemed everybody else had been outshone by Logan's light. But if Angel had a crush on Logan--a stripper--then he couldn't be judging Julio.

Slowly, he tapped out his reply before sliding the phone over the sketchbook, his eyes on Angel. "I've worked there for five years. You come to see Logan, yes? We don't usually work the same nights."

[Angel Miguel Albares]

Was it that obvious? That he came to see Logan? Or was it a good guess? Angel was aware that Julio was looking at him, and he stared at the TV mutely for a few long moments before he nodded once.

It was pointless lying anyway--he knew that Julio must have seen the pictures of Logan in his sketchbook. There were a number of them, in various poses, with various emotions being poured into them. Longing, admiration, shyness, hesitation. They ran the gamut, depending on how Angel felt at any given time while watching him dance.

"Please don't tell him," he said in a tiny voice. If Logan knew there was a creepy kid watching him and... drawing him, even from afar, he would surely be disgusted. Or he might change his shifts to get away from Angel and the whole... fantasy would be ruined. While Logan didn't know he existed, he could imagine anything. Once he saw the disgust or loathing in Logan's eyes, it would all be over.

[Julio de la Rosa]

Julio dropped his gaze from Angel after he nodded, looking down at the phone resting on the sketchbook. It was still on that image of Señor Milagro. But Julio remembered the images of Logan that he had spied earlier. Were they only the tip of the iceberg? Logan didn't even know that somebody was watching him from afar, that he had a secret admirer. Most of his admirers were a lot less discreet, though, this was true.

Gently, he touched Angel's face, turning it toward him, away from the action on the TV screen. He shook his head, signing I won't. Angel didn't have to tell him not to inform Logan. Julio never planned to. It wasn't really his business and he regretted now bringing it up at all.

It seemed like the time to simply drop it. So he slid his phone back off the sketchbook and typed, "Are you hungry? I can make my mama's paella. Food for the soul. :)"

[Angel Miguel Albares]

Eye contact seemed important to Julio. Angel was surprised when he felt a hand slide under his chin to guide his face--his eyes--towards Julio. For some reason it was harder to breathe when he looked into those gentle, dark eyes. It felt like the movie playing in the background was fading out and everything became muted and soft--colors, sounds, everything.

Hesitantly, he smiled. His secret was safe... Julio wouldn't sell him out. There was no reason to do it--there was no reason not to do it. Really to Logan it probably didn't matter because he had so many admirers. He had so many women--and a smattering of men--attending his shows that he must have been used to the attention.

But Logan never looked at them back the same way they looked at him. To Logan they were probably just clients. Angel would be too, if he'd ever worked up enough courage to get up close and personal. He was too shy, though. Too shy to go to the stage and tuck a bill under Logan's G-string.

And yet... somehow... he wasn't too shy to look Julio in the eyes. Not for long, but he made eye-contact. He felt comfortable laughing with him and joking around about Steven Seagull and Senor Milagros. Weird how that worked; how he didn't see Julio as a stripper as such. He didn't purely see Logan that way either--they were all just people in the end--but there was a difference between how he saw Julio and Logan.

He was glad when the conversation steered away though. To food. "You know how to make it?" Color him surprised! "Can I help?"

[Julio de la Rosa]

Julio smiled back. See, all was well in the world. Angel's secret was safe with him. Even if he hadn't been asked not to say anything, Julio wouldn't have told him. He didn't want to say it to Angel but Logan seemed mostly straight. He had his moments, especially with one person in particular but he seemed to mostly be interested in women. But Julio wouldn't spit on his dreams. Maybe one day, Julio could introduce the two and who knew? He just didn't... he didn't want to disappoint Angel.

So the topic was put away. Nobody was telling anybody anything. Maybe one day, something would come of that crush, maybe not. One day, Angel would see. Julio wondered how long he had been harboring this crush, though. But he didn't ask. Food for the soul; this was more important. Normally after work, Julio came home to cook dinner and take a shower and relax with some music or TV. His schedule was a little out of whack but that was okay. He liked the change in pace.

But he was hungry and he was happy to see that Angel also seemed agreeable to eating. He nodded while making the sign for yes, grinning at Angel's surprise. Most people were surprised he cooked for himself, but he'd learned to do it for his mama, because of his mama. There were recipes she passed down to him, her only son. And when she was too weak to cook, he cooked for her. It would be nice to cook for somebody else again.

Again, he nodded and got up, indicating for Angel to come with him into the kitchen, then turned around and grabbed his phone real quick, sticking it in his back pocket. Grinning, he led Angel into his modest kitchen and started bringing out ingredients and cookware.

With his phone, he told Angel how to prep the ingredients. "Chopping or seasoning?"

[Angel Miguel Albares]

Was there anything Julio was bad at? First aid, getting people to open up to him, that smile, cooking--he had it all. And he was a performer so obviously the aesthetics were... nothing to complain about. Angel was used to looking for beauty in everything but here, he didn't have to try hard at all. Not at all.

He was glad to have something to do. Sitting there on the couch together was nice but he might have been hungry too. And, well, if they sat there, they'd talk and Angel didn't know how many more secrets he wanted exposed. One was enough--his crush on Logan was already pretty big, for him, to have to admit to.

The kitchen was small but it looked like one that had been in use. Not that it was grimy or crusty, just that everything looked like it had a proper place, and all the necessary pots and pans and jars and bottles were there. In comparison, Angel's kitchen at home was spotless and never used. He only had some cereal and milk in stock, and snacks. Terrible.

"I can chop." He hesitated and then added--a corny joke. "If you trust me with a knife."

[Julio de la Rosa]

I trust you, he signed with a smile, then reached out--then thought better of it. He only meant to give him a friendly squeeze but he felt like he had pushed Angel a lot more than intended tonight so far. All he really wanted to do was help; not scare him or get him to admit to having a crush on one of Julio's co-workers.

He touched the chopping knife nearby and nodded at Angel to let him know that he could do the chopping. Then he got to work on seasoning.

It had been... he couldn't even count how long it had been since he cooked with somebody else in the kitchen. Once upon a time, Julio had a live-in boyfriend but things hadn't worked out between them. There was a lot that got in the way of that relationship and things ended bitterly on both ends. It was nice to paint over those memories with new ones. Nice ones.

He kept smiling at Angel as they worked together, showing Angel how to make the paella as his mama had taught him. By the time it was finished, he felt quite proud of Angel for his participation. When he asked to help, he meant it.

Finished! he signed with a flourish, which was two hands up, palms toward the body and then a flick of the wrist, turning the hands out so the palm was away from the body. He grinned. Let's eat, he signed, bringing the pan over to the small table in the kitchen. It was made for two; Julio didn't exactly throw dinner parties. As he put the utensils out, he turned back to the fridge and opened it, pointing inside at the various drinks inside. There was mineral water, orange juice, a gallon of milk, and a couple of beers.

[Angel Miguel Albares]

Oh... wow... Julio really took him up on the offer of help! Angel liked that, actually. So many people treated him like glass because of his... condition but he wasn't a helpless baby. He could do things on his own. Did it help to have Julio guiding him though? Absolutely.

Know what didn't help? Julio smiling at him so often. So distracting...! Somehow he managed to avoid slicing off all his fingers, although he did nick himself a little, which he hid immediately. And it helped that he was kind of banged up so he could pass it off as a preexisting injury. But strangely even in his current state, he felt pretty good. Sore, yeah, but having something to do took the focus off of his bruises and cuts.

It was mostly the face that got the brunt of the beating; his body was bruised up but nothing was broken. Ever since he was a kid, his injuries always healed faster than other kids'. He used to be a scrappy little thing and he climbed everything that could be climbed, which meant tons of scraped knees and busted palms. But within a couple of hours he could be back out there again, good as new!

Eventually the meal was cooked and— "Finished?" That was what it meant right? Angel just had a feeling. He grinned too and followed Julio to the table, proud of his accomplishment. Their accomplishment. They made this meal together and it looked really good! Chicken, sausage, seafood, all on a bed of rice and peppers and onions. Angel sniffed the air appreciatively.

"It smells amazing! Oh... water." He didn't drink. Actually he... never got asked to drink. And drinking alone was pointless so he never tried his hand at it but he wasn't strictly opposed to it, actually. For now though, water was good. He sat himself down and picked up a fork, then set it down. Better wait for the host to come back before he started eating—etiquette and all.

[Julio de la Rosa]

His grin only grew as he nodded. Yes! Finished! He made the sign again just for kicks. It was a fun one to do and he thought Angel might appreciate it.

As for water, he nodded and reached for the container of water. Julio kept a lot of water because nothing quite quenched his thirst after work or time at the gym than a bottle of chilled water. He brought one for Angel and a bottle of beer for himself. Paella was best with a margarita but he didn't currently have anything to make them with. Tequila would have worked well, too, but also out of that, too.

Beer would work, though. It was a lite beer--the kind the guys would have teased him about if they saw it in his fridge. After opening his bottle, he lifted it for a cheers to their dinner. Then he picked up his fork but he looked over at Angel expectantly, nodding toward the food.