Arranged

Joshua woke up first and looked over at the clock. It read eleven a.m., but he couldn't find it in himself to care that he'd slept so late. Smiling, he pulled Sade closer, snuggling him as close as he could get without smothering him.
Last night had been amazing. Sade had been so cute. He'd cried most of the time, but Joshua could tell how happy he had been. Hell, he'd been just as happy, though he had to admit he was cursing his moral integrity for not going all the way with Sade. He just couldn't do that to a minor. Not yet, anyway. He had to get used to the idea of actually dating one first.
But today - just for today - he was going to forget his worries and be perfectly happy hanging out and snuggling with Sade. His lover.
Sade stirred a little and opened his eyes, peering up at Joshua sleepily. "Hey, Joshy," he greeted him with a smile.
Damn. Joshua hadn't realized how much he'd missed that nickname until he heard it again. In fact, he had missed nearly everything about Sade. He'd been a constant presence in his life ever since Nessa had come. He was important to him and, unfortunately, it had taken losing him to realize that.
He pulled him closer, breathing in his scent. "I love you, Sade."
Sade froze for a minute, still half-asleep, then bolted straight. Suddenly wide awake, he covered his face with his hands and groaned, his mind racing in a panic.
"Oh, little pink elephants," he swore. "It's all been a dream."
Joshua looked at him in surprise, his brows rising as he levered himself up on an elbow. "What are you talking about?"
"You," Sade groaned, dropping his hands and rolling his eyes in despair. "You're one big, sappy dream that I'm having because you undoubtedly rejected me again. It's all a hallucination. I'll wake up soon, I know it."
Joshua smiled, amused. "Oh, really? And what happened in reality, then?"
Sade stopped and thought back. Funny, all he could remember was the dream. "I don't know," he said slowly, then rushed to throw in, "B-But I know I'll remember! I will!"
Joshua laughed and grabbed him. "Come here, you idiot." He pinned Sade to the bed, looming over him. "It's not a dream, so stop freaking out. I love you, we're dating, get over it already and be happy."
Sade stared at him, suspicious. He felt real. But then, so did masturbating. "You're really here?"
"Yup."
"In my bed?"
"In your bed."
"without a shirt?"
Joshua looked down at himself, then grinned at Sade. "Completely topless."
Sade's lips twitched then grew into an enormous smile before he threw his arms around Joshua. "Whoopee!" he exclaimed. "I can die happy now."
Joshua frowned, holding him close. "You'd better not. I'm not letting you go when I finally have you."
"Promise?" Sade whispered.
Joshua smiled again. There was no way he was going to regret this. Not ever.
"Promise."



"Nessa!" Rhone called, pounding on her door for the umpteenth time. He really needed to cool his jets. "Come on. Aren't you ready yet?!"
Nessa grumbled out an insult. "I told you to give me a minute!"
"You said that a minute ago!"
Nessa rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the smile. Even if Rhone was irritated by her slowness, she wasn't going to let it get to her. Not tonight. Because tonight - just for tonight - she was going to forget everything and have some fun.
She pulled on the costume's jacket and twirled in front of her mirror, checking everything. After Rhone had left with the clerk yesterday, she had checked the bag again to see if she'd missed something and, low and behold, shoved into the bottom of it had been a custom-made jacket. It save them a lot of trouble, that was for sure, since the long-tailed valero was perfect.
Nessa fixed the pins holding her hair back and squinted at her reflection. Annie had helped her with her hair and makeup earlier before rushing off to consult with Terrance on Rhone's own makeup. She was kind of regretting the choice now.
She had done Nessa's hair up in a fancy Chinese-style with braids and loops and pins, fancy chopsticks sticking out here and there and a great big comb in the middle. It looked cool, sure, but it didn't exactly fit the style Nessa had been going for, though the little rust-colored flowers worked nicely. The makeup, too, looked great.
Annie had totally glitter-fied her up so she sparkled from head to toe in fine dust. Around her eyes, she'd used bigger glitter in an iridescent gold after outlining her eyes in some sort of dusty, brown and black powder. ON her eyelashes, she'd added thin feathers to the corners with little tips of gold glitter on them. her lips were left unpainted, thankfully, but Annie had somehow managed to find clip-on, extravagant ear-guards to wear.
Even with the weird hairstyle, the overall effect was amazing. If there was a costume contest, she was so joining.
"Alright!" Rhone exclaimed, unable to stand it anymore. "I'm coming in, so you'd better be ready!"
Nessa spun as the door opened, ready to spit fire at him for coming in without her permission - that, and to ask how the hell he'd unlocked her door - but she stopped, her mouth dropping open. She was stunned, absolutely stunned by him. He was beautiful. Frighteningly and sexily so.
He wasn't wearing a shirt. Well, not anything that passed for one, anyway. Instead, he had on a sleeveless, unbutton-able jacket made of some type of black, drapey material that fell to his knees in folds. His pants were black, as well, and made of the same material, tucked into knee-high boots that made the legs puff around their tops. A string of bells was around one ankle and another at the opposite wrist, a large, fake tattoo crawling up the opposing arm to offset the balance.
But it was his face that had stopped her. Terrance had given him extensions and then parted his hair so it fell in one long, black sheet over his shoulder, the end tied loosely with a startling red ribbon. His eyes were heavily outlined in black and black shadow was applied to the corners of his eyes, making them seem bigger and narrower. He had on red contacts and large, black horns spiraled out of his forehead along with large, black-feathered wings from his back.
Nessa wanted to drool. He was so nummy.
Rhone grinned, revealing sharp canines that were obviously temporary caps. "You like?" he asked, turning so she could see him.
Nessa cleared her throat, schooling her features. "You're a devil," she commented evenly.
"Yup," Rhone agreed. Holy fuck. What had Annie done to Nessa? She looked phenomenal; way better than that angel costume had been. "It is Halloween, after all."
"Well, sure," Nessa said, crossing her arms. "What I want to know is where's your costume?" Nessa grinned in mischief. "If you were gonna be a devil, you could've just worn casual clothes; it would've gotten the point across."
Rhone frowned, then smiled back at her. "And here I thought you were going to be a nice fairy."
Nessa gave a small laugh, walking past him out her door. "Shows what you know about fairies."
Grinning and anticipating the evening, Rhone followed Nessa out of her room, closing the door behind them. Tonight was going to be spectacular. He would make sure of it.



"Shade, for crying out loud," Sade called, dragging him through the house. Joshua was leaning against the front door, waiting with an amused grin in a set of clean clothes he'd run home to get. "Let's go already."
"Easy for you to say," Shade grumbled, clicking his phone shut. he could get a hold of Nessa no matter how hard he tried. "You have your date right here."
Sade rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the little bubble of happiness that surrounded his heart at the truth of those words. "Her phone probably just died. Don't worry so much and let's go. The carnival is best at night."
Shade sighed and followed his twin. "Yeah." After all, what could possibly go wrong in one measly day?



"Damn it," Nessa cursed, patting herself down for the third time.
"What is it?" Rhone asked. Nessa had been distracted since a while ago,but he couldn't pinpoint why.
"Oh, I think I lost my phone," she grumbled, praying she'd just left it at home or in the car instead. There were a lot of numbers she couldn't get back in there. And, besides, Shade might have called.
"Don't worry<" Rhone reassured her. "Knowing you, it's probably in your bathroom on the counter."
Nessa raised a brow. "Oh, you know me now?" she asked teasingly.
"What kind of husband would I be if I didn't know my wife?" Before she could gripe at him for stepping over the friendship line, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the fun-house. "Come on, Nessa. Stop worrying already and have some fun!"
Nessa had no choice in the matter, really. Rhone had taken her over and, though at first she'd resented being pulled around by him, she wasn't able to stop herself from enjoying every minute of it. And Rhone himself.
They did fun-houses, mazes, games and rides. They'd lost and won and laughed. They had even gone and watched the small circus act that was put on and the puppet show for children. Nessa had also gotten her revenge by entering them in the costume contest - which they'd come in second at.
But now Rhone was dragging her, kicking and screaming - metaphorically, because that would draw unwanted attention otherwise - to the Ferris wheel as the last ride of the night. He knew she didn't like heights, but Rhone absolutely wanted to finish the night off here. Something in his gut told him it would change things between them. And, right now, change was what he needed if he wanted to get anywhere with her at all.
"I really can't do this, Rhone," Nessa told him, tugging at her arm. He had her wrist in a vice grip. "Really not joking here! Afraid of heights. It's on my resume. Let's go somewhere else."
Rhone frowned as he pulled her towards the cab. "How can you be fine with roller-coasters but not a Ferris wheel? Don't be such a wimp." He backed towards the car, grabbing her other hand to pull her along. "Besides, I'm right here. Nothing will happen to you."
She scowled at him, stepping towards what was sure to shave twenty years off her life. "Does that confidence work with every girl?"
He cocked a grin at her. "Not the stubborn ones."
She snorted out a laugh and followed him the rest of way into the cab, cursing him for being so damn charming. But, as she sat across from him, trying not to think about the millions of ways they could die by Ferris wheel, she wondered how she hadn't noticed it before. Seriously, Rhone was really charming once you got to know him. There was something worthwhile underneath the pompous attitude and superiority complex. Something Nessa was finding increasingly hard to dislike.
"Look," Rhone said softly, nodding towards the window. "We're almost to the top."
"No, thank you," Nessa refused bluntly, staring studiously at the floor. There was no way in hell she was going to look out the window.
Rhone rolled his eyes and sighed. "For the love of God," he muttered. "Just look. It's really nice."
Nessa shook her head. "Nope. Not gonna happen. You couldn't get me to look even if you forced me."
Rhone jerked straight at the challenge, his pride forcing him to rise and meet it. "Oh. yeah?" he mocked.
In a swift move, he planted himself next to Nessa, rocking the cab a little and making her reach out to grab the sides. He used her distraction to snake his arms around her, careful of her wings, and grab her chin, tilting her head up and towards the window quickly.
"Rhone! You damn ass-" Her eyes widened as she took in the scenery. "Woah~" she sang and Rhone let go of her, smug, crossing back to his bench so he could watch her expression. She had her hands against the glass and was looking out over the city, her eyes sparkling nearly as brightly as the lights below. There was no scenery on Heaven or Earth that could compare to Nessa right then, though. And Rhone would kill anyone who disagreed.
"Wow," Nessa exclaimed. "This is amazing." She couldn't soak up enough of it. What had she been so afraid of? It was gorgeous up here, seeing all the lights and trees down below. the care swung to a stop, placing them at the top of the Ferris wheel. "Rhone," Nessa smiled. "Are you seeing th-" She stopped, jumping back. "Woah! Hey, don't get so close all of the sudden. You scared me."
Rhone braced a hand behind her on the back of the bench and the other on one of the handles inside the car. He loomed over her, placing his knee on the eat next to her leg, his black wings spreading out behind him. From this angle, Nessa thought he really looked like a devil.
"R-Rhone?" she asked, pressing herself against the back of the car. the glass was cold where it touched her back and neck. "W-What are you doing?"
Rhone leaned in closer. He really couldn't take it anymore. He'd played nice long enough. It was time he stopped fooling himself and Nessa. There was no way they could just be friends - and he was going to show her that. Right now.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he whispered a breath away from her lips. "I'm going to kiss my wife."
Nessa sucked in a breath when there lips touched. It was another soft, sweet kiss and Rhone's hand found its way to the back of her head somehow as she drowned in him.
What was this? It wasn't normal, Nessa knew. It wasn't like the kisses she'd shared with Shade that were forgotten almost as quickly as they happened. And it wasn't like the painful ones she'd shared with Jay, nor the platonic peck she'd had with Joshua. This was. . more. So very much more that it almost hurt.
Rhone pulled away and watched Nessa's eyes open, staring up at him dreamily, and nearly lost the grip he had on his sanity. But he held firm, not wanting to freak her out and fuck things up by jumping her. Instead, he satisfied himself by levering himself on his knees on either side of her, cupping her face between his hands and kissing her again. And again. And again.
With every kiss, he gave a little more and took a little more, careful not to flood her with everything all at once. But, God, he wanted to. He wanted to take everything right now and steal her away forever. He wanted to kiss every other man out of her head so she only though of him. And, dammit it, he wanted her to want to do the same.
Someone clearing their throat made them pull away.
"Welcome back," the man said stiffly.
But it wasn't just any man. Nessa's eyes widened in shock and she felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown in her face. Had she really just been making out with Rhone? Again? And enjoying it?
But that wasn't the worst part. Not by a long shot. The worst part was that, when she'd looked over, instead of seeing an uncomfortable but amused employee, she was face-to-face with Shade, her boyfriend. And he'd just caught her playing tonsil-hockey with her husband.