"Treat~" The voice that comes out the other side of the door is not Andres'. The face that welcomes Onyx into the nerd's home is not Andres'. The clothing they wear underneath a zip up hoodie that's clearly 2 sizes to big for them is not appropriate for strangers. But the brunette doesn't care, smiling with mischief twinkling in deep green eyes. Further inside, Andres would call out, "Is it DoorDash?!" as he stumbled into one of his bedroom walls.
[break][break]

Chuchi would be turned towards the door, perched on the very top of the sofa. Beady black brown eyes locking onto to familiar face and scent. She does not growl, does not bare her teeth, does not even move. But she doesn't blink either. The fluffiest hell spawn this side of Hoenn. It doesn't go unnoticed by the stranger who sees the typically languid Eevee alert and menacing desptie her small size. "What'd a handsome boy like you even do to Andres?" he asked, his thoguhts more salaciosu than the sad truth.
[break][break]

But he lets the question linger as he zipped up his hoodie and grabbed a bag. "I'm heading out! Try not to ruin your costume before the party!" the brunette shouted before waving at Chuchi who gave a small, cute yip before going back to glaring at Onyx. An unfamiliar hand slides down Onyx's ass and gives a light smack to propel the criminal further in. "Same goes you you, stranger." Then he's gone.
[break][break]

And for a brief moment Onyx is left with only the rat before the sound of heels makes itself heard. "Hey- Hey Fletcher these heels are NOT good-" he began holding onto the wall wearing nothing but a matching red and black cheerleader costume. Though larger in size, still tight, still barely covering the vitals. Make up swatches, mainly glitters and highlighters, dotter one of his forearms. Undeniable fresh hickeys dotted his collarbone. There's music going in the background, a couple of SPIRIT HALLOWEEN shopping bags on the floor.
[break][break]

Chuchi barks to draw her trainer's attention to the guest as he's taking off said heels. The shoe flops to the ground in mild surprise. "Oh- Uh- Hi Onyx!" he greeted, light blush rising to his cheeks despite a quick grin that manifests on his features. Hazel eyes dart to the mess that was the whirlwind of errands and take out containers, and receipts from today. "Sorry- it's messy. Uh- how've you been? How's Jules?" he asked as he gestured at Chuchi to come closer to him. She begrudgingly obliged.

[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The person that opens the door is not Andres.

Onyx is practiced enough that he doesn’t let his malcontent show. His face remains emotionless, even while his brain (still miles behind this whole expedition because it doesn’t know what they fuck they’re doing here in the first place) is whirring and his stomach is busy tying itself into knots. His eyes don’t pan downwards across the salacious clothing (or lack thereof) and he resists the urge to clock the stranger in the face as a kneejerk reaction, like a bear being poked.

It shouldn’t bother him, for a number of reasons:

Andres is not his. They are, essentially, nothing to each other. There are no ties that bind.

He knows Andres has proclivities. This had been confirmed by the scattering of lacy underwear uncovered during his first foray into Andres’ living space.

But it does bother him.

In what is quite possibly the biggest twist of the century, Onyx seeks solace in Chuchi’s hard glare. Here, at least, is something he knows. Animosity is his lifeblood. It is comfort, however cold. He locks his own eyes on the Eevee’s and pointedly looks past the stranger in the doorway, because if he doesn’t, he’ll kill the guy, for no fucking reason other than Andres makes him a little more unhinged than he’s prone to at normal conditions.

There’s a tension that ripples through him-- strangles through him-- when the other man touches him and it takes literally every fiber of self-control in his being to not turn around and dismember him right there in the hallway of Andres’ apartment.

He doesn’t do anything more than step inside. His brain catches up. Andres will see this man again, certainly, which means Onyx has an in to finding out where he lives and what he does and he can dismember him at a later date.

His eyes continue to stay locked with Chuchi’s. The standoff is a comfort. It’s something he knows.

Compared to what he feels when Andres finally makes an appearance, his rivalry with Chuchi is like coming home.

He doesn’t know where to look first. He doesn’t know if he’s allowed to look. No one is, no one should be.

But someone has, as is made evident by the dotting of darkened, bruised flesh, the occasionally mark of teeth in Andres’ skin. Onyx thinks on the man who just left and how he’s going to break those teeth when they next meet.

The costume should be embarrassing but Andres doesn’t seem to do embarrassment. Talk about personal growth. Onyx wrests control back from his simian reproductive instincts and stops the drag of his eyes down Andres’ body, redirecting them to his known variable, to Chuchi.

“You can walk in those?” is what he asks, tossing the bags of candy on the coffee table, face still stoic, otherwise unmoving in Andres’ living room.

andres buenaventura
local disaster feels too much

☉

He leaned on the wall taking off the other heel and letting it fall unceremoniously onto the ground. "Barely, they're cheap and not well made." he grumbled. "I told him sneakers cause at least it'd be more comfortable, and on theme." he said a hand quickly gesturing at his outfit. [break][break]

"What'd you bring?" he asked, now that his feet are free and moving to flop onto his own couch next to Onyx. He's quick to clean up empty take out, shoving it all in a bag and tying it off to the side. Chuchi followed, her nose detecting the sweets near instantly. She's on the hunt for it. But she's also wary of Onyx. He cannot know her weakness. [break][break]

So she waited for Andres to distract, as he always did. Scurryiong clsoer and clsoer to them every time Onyx looked away.


[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Onyx’s eyes followed the motion of Andres stripping off the shoe, watched it fall to the ground. He barely-- barely-- managed not to follow Andres’ hand as he gestured to his ridiculous (sexy) (wait, what?) getup.

“Uh-huh,” he said, drawing out the last syllable, one eyebrow arching skyward. “And what is that costume… supposed to be?”

He stepped forward, then, coming around the coffee table to the couch. He hooked one finger through the larger bag and swung it towards Chuchi. A peace offering. A way of thanking her for getting him through those very tense few moments.

“I went trick-or-treating,” he says, fishing out a bag of watermelon sour patch kids and tearing open the corner. He didn’t always indulge in candy but it couldn’t be as bad for him as cocaine, right? “You going out tonight?”

There. That was casual. Genial. Back and forth conversation. He could do this… being a person thing. As long as he didn't look at the marks on Andres' neck, his collarbones, his shoulders.

andres buenaventura
local disaster feels too much

☉

"Sexy cheerleader twins. Fletcher's the angel, I'm goin' as a devil." he turned around to show off the 666 on his back. Chuchi isn't paying attention, inching ever closer before freezing as Onyx tosses something at her. She lets it plop, waiting begrudgingly before scooting in and sniffing around for goodies. Chocolate. The obese Eevee locks in on a full sized bar and pulls it under the coffee table to tear open. [break][break]

Andres meanwhile laughs, reaching over to pluck a piece of watermelon from Onyx's hand before looking through his loot. "By yourself? Aren't you too old for it?" he asked pawing through the treasure for something to take for himself. He settles for a blueberry blow pop, the gum center. [break][break]

The blonde shook his head as he pulled a wrapper off. "Not really. This was just a test run." he said as he reached behind his head to carefully unbutton the collar before sliding off the black and red top. Idly he scratched his pecs before following the shirt on his lap. "Why? Wanna hang out?" he asked, grinning playfully at Onyx. Why else would he have shown up with candy? Maybe he was being overly hopeful but...he wanted to be.


[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

There’s a wry smile that crawls across his face at the inclination of sexy cheerleader twins.

"Clearly.”

It was a sexy costume-- and it made him angry in multiple facets, the first being that he agreed it was sexy and the second being Andres was wearing it in the first place.

It was a lot to unpack. He’d come to terms that he was, unfortunately, attracted to the man; it was obvious in the way he reacted to his presence, visceral like chewing on a live wire. Andres affected him in a way nobody ever had before. It was disappointing.

The part he could not wrap his head around was where this bone-deep desire to possess came from. He’d lived his whole life without earthly attachments. He didn’t know where he got off feeling brutally affronted by Andres clearly being marked by other people and he couldn’t explain it away, either.

"Some of us don’t grow up,” he says, tone light as air, and his resolve wavers ever so slightly, eyes dropping down the length of Andres’ mostly bare upper body before snapping away, back to the packet of candy.

He finds Chuchi again-- or her line of escape under the table-- as Andres strips, giving him what he feels is enough time to do his costume change and afford him some modesty. But when he looks back up he’s still not wearing a fucking shirt.

His nipples are pierced. Excuse me, what the fuck?

He looks down again because it’s the only thing he can do aside from staring like an idiot. Secretly, he's greatful for the many years of practice he has steeling his expressions to not be a direct reflection of his moods. He has a horrible all-consuming thought of wondering what they’d feel like in his mouth--

"I have nothing better to do,” he says, casual. He points at the fat rat of an Eevee. "Is she going to get sick from that?”

andres buenaventura
local disaster feels too much

☉

"Yeah, I wasn't sure it'd fit me." In multiple ways. But it was cute enough, and the club they were goign to was sleazy enough. "Yeah, well, I guess that'd fine too." he said with a laugh, letting the blue blow pop settled into one of his cheeks while he leaned down to look at Chuchi as she devoured her treasure. [break][break]

She had avoided nipping at Onyx....for now. She watched him as she ate, tail wagging lazily behind her as he turned back to her trainer. "Well, I'm down for entertaining." he said, his tongue and lips already starting to turn blue. He seemed to have no issue sitting aorund half naked. Onyx was one of the bros after all. Then again, Andres never really cares to be topless in anyone's presence. Plus, its kind of a flex. Literally. There's a part of him that wanted to show off. To show Onyx just how much stronger he'd gotten. Not for vengeance but jsut...to seem competent. [break][break]

There's a part of his subconscious mind that believed in he showed off, maybe Onyx would think more of him. Want to be his actual friend and not just mooch off of it. Not that he minded if Onyx mooched. Not that he cared... "She'll be fine. She's like a roomba." he said with a laugh as the silver Eevee licked her paws. "She can have a little but...that's it for tonight." he warned, earning him a glare. "Hey, since you already brought the candy why not just want a movie? I'll order take over, we can stay in-" he began excitedly turning to his kitchen. "I've got drinks in the fridge." He seemed giddy, grinning at teh thought.


[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Onyx wants to say he doesn’t think it does. He wants to say it’s entirely too revealing and that Andres shouldn’t wear it. He wants to have him put it back on so he can rip it off with his teeth and bear him down into the couch and--

--the noise of Chuchi ripping into a package of candy distracts him from that thought just in time to see a smear of blue on Andres’ tongue and the pop of his cheek as he hollows it to rest the sucker in his mouth.

Fuck.

This is going to be another one of those where he walks out with no explanation, huh?

If he asks him to put on a shirt that means he’s staring. If he doesn’t, that means he’s staring. Fucking fuck. Why was he always so off-balance with this man? Sure, he thought Andres was stupidly attractive, but that didn’t have to directly translate to feeling like he was trying to moonwalk backward in a diving airplane!

“Movie sounds fine,” he says, instead, toeing his shoes off and stretching his legs out to rest his heels on the coffee table-- as a show of strength, of staying-power, of dominance. “Something scary, I hope.”

His grin is knifelike in the living-room potlights.

andres buenaventura
local disaster feels too much

☉

He's already reaching for the remote, switching over to Netflix and leaning over to drop it in Onyx's lap. "Sure, sure, but don't expect anybody to jump into your arms." he said with a snort. Chuchi peeked out under the coffee table eyeing the pair. Mainly anything to swipe unseen during the movie. [break][break]

Andres swallowed, moving the sucker to his other cheek as he stood up, moving the Rocket's shoes under the table and eyeing Chuchi as moutherd a firm 'NO'. "Tis the season or whatever, there's a bunch of new and old shit on." he commented offhand as he got up, already rifling through his pantry for movie popcorn and a bowl to hold it in. "Beer, soda, Capri Sun?" he called out as he looked over semi organized space in the fridge. He grabbed a Pacific Cooler pouch for himself for later, gently lobbing it towards the couch. It plopped on his seat and fell off. [break][break]

He was entirely too prepared to host. "Got any Halloween plans?"

[break][break]

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Andres clearly knows what he’s doing and if he doesn’t he’s an idiot. Onyx pointedly looks away when the undercut blonde leans over to plop the remote in his lap. To his credit, he doesn’t twitch when the device hits against his thigh, but instead is stock-still, knees locked and legs straight, a sentiment of stone on Andres’ couch.

He doesn’t look down the line of his body at the way his pecs move with the motion, and doesn’t look across the expanse of his shoulders.

He keeps his eyes locked on the red N on the screen until it fades, wherein he promptly starts clicking through options.

He’s focused, he’s in the zone, he’s not fucking relenting on his well-honed zoned out until Andres says--

--his eyes hop to the kitchen, incredulous. “Capri sun?”

He can’t remember the last time he had one of those things. The abomination of foil in Andres’ hands reflects in the kitchen lights.

He hurriedly follows with, “I’ll have a beer.”

Instinctively he reaches down and grabs the drink pouch off the floor and place it on the table.

“This,” he says, gesturing vaguely at Andres’ spot on the couch, as he finds a movie called The Ritual.

“One of my favorites,” he remarks, despite not remembering the last time he’d sat down to watch a movie, and presses play.

andres buenaventura
local disaster feels too much

☉

Andres is an idiot. Or perhaps this is just behavior he's developed for more...flirtatious occasions. Perhaps he's been like this for so long, he doesn't know when he is or isn't doing this? Or maybe. Maybe Andres is just stupid. All those protein shakes had shrunk his brain a bit. There's a soft clinking as he grabbed a bottle and twisted the top off before bringing it over and leaning over the couch for Onyx to grab. "Well, guess I'm honored you're here then." he said with a laugh. [break][break]

His eyes are on the screen as he nodded along. "Don't think I've seen this one. Looks cool." he said, noncommittally. Horror wasn't his favorite genre after all. He was more of either a space info movie or romcom kind of guy. He moved to his room to grab a blanket, and swap itchy polyester for boxer briefs and a sweatshirt. He flicked off the lights as he moved back in. The ambience changed as the movie began playing, and he noted Chuchi curling up under the coffee table in the same way Churra curls up under the bed before a thunderstorm. [break][break]

Sliding onto the couch next to Onyx, he poked at his partner with his foot. Her fat form shaking slightly. "Oye, I left your snack on your bed for you. Nini chiquilla." he said, shooing off the Eevee. She poked her head out slowly, eyeing him before glancing at Onyx and huffing. Though, that's the only protest the normal type had before scurrying back into Andres' room, door slamming behind her. [break][break]

He reached out to grab his juice pouch, messing with the wrapper before speaking up again. "Hey, you're smaller than me so if you wanna borrow something more comfortable I can grab you something?" He stabs his Capri Sun successfully before taking a long sip, eyes on the tv screen.

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Onyx doesn’t realize that Andres’ behavior has been honed and learned over his young-adult lifetime, just as Onyx’s has. The killer instinct he’s slowly but surely crocheted into the fabric of his own being is mirrored in the party-boy, knock-’em-dead salaciousness that Andres exudes from every pore. It isn’t always a conscious decision.

Onyx doesn’t realize that. He doesn’t realize a lot of things.

He takes the cold beer from Andres and again pointedly avoids looking at him in any fashion. He smothers his request to ask him to put a shirt on by taking a long drink and squeezing his eyes shut for a half-second longer than a standard blink. He can do this.

But it raises the question of when was the last time he had-- done this, that was. Sat on a couch and watched a movie. A memory blinks into his head of him and his sister at opposite ends of a couch, Jett eating popcorn and throwing all the half-popped kernel-y bits at him. They bounce off his chest and crunch against the back of the couch before he loses his patience and kicks the bowl out of her hands, sending popcorn everywhere.

Andres returning to the living room, blessedly clothed (Onyx isn’t sad about that, he’s not, go away) drags him from his thoughts. He watches the other man sit down and wonders what’s worse: his strange ferality when it comes to Andres or the sickening nostalgia that pinches through him when he gets lost in recollections of his old life.

The latter, he thinks, as Andres urges Chuchi to rush off to bed, the sound of the door shutting cutting off the last line of defense he had to keep his mind out of the gutter.

You’re smaller than me rattles through him in a way he thinks it should not. He looks down at himself: jeans, leather jacket, t-shirt, and his face goes sort of confused for a moment because he doesn’t understand--

“Is this… not comfortable?” the question rises unbidden as he looks back down the couch at Andres.

He lives in his work clothes, after all.

The movie opens on a group of friends sitting in a bar-- they’re shooting the shit, discussing a boy’s trip. One friend throws out the idea of backpacking through scenic country.

andres buenaventura
he doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'comfort'

☉

He grabbed a handful of candy before leaning back on his side of the couch, casually dropping pieces of Onyx's loot over his chest, so they wouldn't get lost under his ass on the couch. He focused on the movie, tilting his head at the opening before looking back at Onyx. He seemed just as confused as his companion. "Bro...you're in jeans." he said, like it was obvious. [break][break]

"I mean- if you're comfy...then whatever." he added quickly, eyes flickering to the screen and back, multi tasking with his attention. "But like, if you want a crewneck or some joggers?" he shrugged at the guy trailing off as he watched the movie present them scenic shots of beautiful but slightly eerie, between the bushes angles of the group of guys. [break][break]

The pats the blanket, which he had draped over the back of the couch. "S'why I brought this out too." The thing is plush, and shaggy. Perhaps modeled after Furfrou, a pokemon Andres had an abundance of.

+ onyx straub [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]