Angel In His Pocket

[Existentially Odd]

(Continued after An Angel Walks Into A Bar)

Remi's feet touched down lightly on Samuel's balcony outside his room at The Luminary. After they'd left the White Rabbit, Sam had had misgivings about the meeting; in particular, the part where Remi had walked into it without telling him it was going to happen. Now he'd been given the cold shoulder by a District Leader that clearly favoured his friend but had been told to assist Remi with the transfer of his bribe into the angel's name. Nothing was sitting right, so he'd asked Remi if he'd be willing to go to his place to talk.

The rooftop garden at the Capital had turned into a prison the last time he was there. He wouldn’t be stuck in place, relying on Remi to help him leave, at The Luminary. The restlessness that'd been stirring in him since he'd received the text to help his friend and the way they’d ended their last interaction told him that he'd prefer an exit strategy for this 'talk'.

Remi had agreed and activated his new ring. Then had come the awkward moment where they'd both been forced to agree that holding Sam as Remi always had when they'd flown might not guarantee him protection with the ring. Since neither of them could tell for sure, they played it safe and Sam grabbed Remi by the shoulders, jumped up and wrapped his legs around Remi's waist. It was insanely intimate and impossible not to think about kissing Remi (and more... so much more) in this position... but Samuel had managed. The thought that Remi was about to tell him that he never wanted to see him again helped douse any desire stirred.

Thankfully, the flight was short. When Remi touched down on his balcony, Sam listened to ten of the angel's rapid heart beats before he reluctantly unwound himself from Remi. He made no comment about where his hands had fallen to support him during the flight. Sam then walked over to the sliding glass door. "I've been leaving it unlocked. In case you needed somewhere to shelter," he mumbled, casting surreptitious looks over his shoulder as he opened the door.  "I guess that won't be needed soon," he sighed and shrugged. "Come in and let's sit."

He led the way in and perched on his couch, sitting close to the chaise part so Remi could choose to sit perpendicular to him (and give his wings room to spread towards the carpet behind him). His knees were spread, his forearms resting on them and his hands fiddling in the lee between. A frown danced around his brow while he waited to see if Remi would say something or not.

[Ehcorn]

If Sam had taken his hand like he had at The White Rabbit and led him in, he would’ve been right on his heels, but Remi stopped short of crossing the door’s threshold and grimaced. The first time he’d visited Sam’s apartment, he’d come through the front door and made a beeline for the balcony because he hadn’t been able to handle how suffocating the combination of walls and ceilings and closed doors could be. Now he was expected to do the opposite. He wanted to ask Sam if they could have their talk outside like they had the last time, but when he next put eyes on Sam, the vampire had already taken a seat inside on the couch.

Remi huffed, cast one last look over his shoulder at the night sky, and made himself step into Sam’s apartment. He left the door open behind him, and after he sat down where Sam had expected, folding his wings carefully behind him, every breeze he felt on his skin and on his feathers was a reminder that he was free to go if he wanted. He wasn't trapped. He'd be fine. It would have to do for now, since he wasn’t sure Sam would appreciate it if he crawled over to his spot on the couch and curled up next to him looking for comfort.

The help he’d received at Jake's club — the hand-holding, reassurances, and reminders to breathe — had stopped the moment they’d stepped outside. Since then it’d been nothing but pained looks and extended silences. Seeing Sam’s frown, Remi realized it was only going to be more of the same. He sighed and stared down at his hands as he twisted his fingers together. Maybe he should say something. But what? What could he say to lift the oppressive weight in the room?

"Thank you," he said, looking furtively at the vampire. "For ah… For showing up when I needed it. I thought I'd be fine, but I didn’t know what it’d be like inside." 

[Existentially Odd]

The uncertainty of not knowing how Remi felt about him collided with his resentment and fear for Remi in Jake McCloud’s presence, bubbling angrily to the surface as he glared at the angel.

“And the reason you didn’t bother telling me the District Leader had cornered you into a meeting was...?” Samuel prompted coldly, his voice tight in an attempt to hide his pain.

It was a stupid question. He knew exactly why Remi hadn’t contacted him over the past two nights, hadn’t warned him about the meeting. He was distancing himself. He couldn’t forgive him for how he’d treated Gene and he just hadn’t got around to telling him yet.

Remi clearly had better things to do, like score penthouses from sleazy district leaders looking to pimp him out for their own nefarious purposes. He’d been too busy to let Sam down.

[Ehcorn]

Remi recoiled from Sam, taken aback by both the vampire's angry stare and his tone. Vretil had looked at and spoken to him in the same way moments before he'd stormed off, apparently too frustrated with him to stop and explain why he'd tossed him a box with a ring in it. 

You can read Enochian, can’t you? Figure it out.

But unlike Vretil, Sam had given him some context to his anger; it didn't mean Remi understood why Sam would've wanted to know about his meeting before he attended it, but he'd made his frustration that he'd been left in the dark abundantly clear.

"I didn't think it'd be a big deal," he explained. "Lisa-Joe told me it was for introductions, nothing more. Maybe if I'd known the meeting was going to be in a— a cave I would've asked, but..." He trailed off and shrugged, his wings rising and falling along with his shoulders. On the way down, several of his feathers caught and bent on the back of the cushion he sat on, but he didn't try to fix them. He was too focused on Sam. "It all turned out okay, didn't it? I don't understand why you're upset."

[Trillian]

Footsteps running up the fire stairs, bare feet on concrete sounding like the applause of one. Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap! Digital climbed up to the half landing and turned. He ran up the next one and turned. Next landing. Turn. Next landing. Turn. Shake one to the left, hi de hi.

"Dizzy!" he brayed, "my head is spin-ning, like a whirlpool, it's never en-ding!" He liked the title word because it was fun to yell out loud. Each time he reached the landing he cried the word out, rejoicing in his victory of yet another half-landing defeated during his ascension. "DIZZY! Nah, nah, nah... nah, nah, nah. DIZZY! Nah, nah, nah... nah, nah, nah."

Wait, wait, wait. Was he supposed to be Batman? He stopped halfway between the twelth and thirteenth floors and thought it over. He was an anti-hero but he didn't wear a cape. After a moment's thought he decided he would definitely wear a cape if he was offered one.

The voices started to whisper frantically again, urging him to get moving.

"Dizzy, mmm, mmm, mmm," he said, slapping the rest of the way upstairs. "Fifteen, fifteen, fifteen, fifteen," he said, but that was too many fifteens. He erupted out of the stairwell into the corridor of the fifteenth floor, alarming a woman walking nearby enough that they leapt and turned mid-air, staring at him with big eyes.

"Catwoman!" he announced to her as he ran past. She boggled at him as he raced past. "Can't stay for pats, I have a date with a dove!" he told her before counting doors all the way up to fifteen. Ah, yes, the voices hushed a little. He was doing as he was told. This was good, very good. He could relax a little now. The urgency released its hold on him. It was like being unchained.

He plucked his master keycard out of his pocket and inserted it into the slot. He'd inserted his card into Sam's slot many times. His favourite was when he inserted himself into Sam's personal slot. The familiar action of letting himself into Sam's room for some foreplay and sex fattened and lifted his penis beneath the skirt of his sexy nurse outfit. It made quite a lump.

He let himself into the room, where Sam was talking to the dove. A giant, peace-loving dove. Pretty bird. Digital and his raging hard-on found the place where the two of them were talking. They both looked to see who'd invaded his space.

"Sam!" he beamed. Then he looked at Remi. "Coo, coo!" he greeted.

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel gritted his teeth, wondering how Remi could be so obtuse. He knew he wasn't lying, which completely boggled Sam. Did that mean he'd viewed the last two nights as... what? Some sort of casual break, rather than an exercise in stamina and pain? He really hadn't contacted Sam because he'd just been busy? Doing what? Sam felt an overwhelming urge to swear at him.

"First of all, going to see your District Leader is always a big deal and not the sort of thing you take lightly," Samuel argued hotly, his face dominated by a scowl. "Especially when it's Jake McCloud. I'm not even sure I trust his motives with giving you the penthouse. Secondly, you told him absolutely everything about you and didn't even think twice about it! You even talked about the ring!"

And thirdly, I'm upset because I've been giving you space to figure out if you can stand ever being near me again and you're being an absolute ass about it and pretending it's not right there between us!

Perhaps he was being a little bit opaque himself in not voicing his true concerns but it was humiliating enough to be waiting for a verdict concerning his heart to fall. He wasn't going to draw attention to it and hasten the guillotine's blade.

Before he could contemplate adding anything else or alluding to his rapid thoughts, his door opened. Samuel's eyes widened and Remi might see his expression changing from one of anger to one of horror as he whirled to his feet, spinning to face the only visitor it could be. He gaped at Digital's handsome face, his gaze lowering to take in the sexy uniform stretched across his muscular frame. He looked at the telltale bulge straining beneath it. And then he really did swear.

"Oh shit. Digital."

[Ehcorn]

Remi held his feathers close against his body and stared wide-eyed at Sam. He’d hoped his explanation would douse the flames of Sam's anger, but all he managed to do was fan them higher and higher until he wondered if it’d be better if he escaped out the open door and flew home. He cast a longing look through the tops of his wings outside, sighed deeply, and faced Sam again.

The last time he’d given into his instinct to outfly his troubles, he’d discovered that as soon as he landed, his troubles came rushing back. It was no different now. He wouldn’t find out why Sam hadn’t left the meeting with Jake feeling as reassured as he had unless he stayed and asked. There was a moment he might’ve found out, but between inhaling and opening his mouth to speak, a man wearing an impossibly tight outfit interrupted their conversation to… make bird noises at him?

Remi cocked his head to the side and blinked at him, eyes naturally falling to the clear outline of arousal that made a tight skirt even tighter. He jerked his head back and eyes up when Sam stood, interrupting his line-of-sight, and greeted the man — Digital — with what sounded a lot like dismay.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, frowning.

[Trillian]

Digital ignored Sam in favour of the dove, goggled stare fixed on his angelic face. Digital worked his way around to him while repeating all the things he'd seen and been told. The whispers grew louder and louder until he finally shouted his way out, breaking through the barrier of sound they made in his head.

"There will be a whirlwind of coal and fire!" Digital needed height to help contain the voices. He leapt onto the end table beside the chaise lounge. "He loves! He loves, he loves, but he isn't loved back. He might be clumsy if he's given the time of night."

Digital crouched, giving Remi an eyeful he likely wasn't ready for. "Do I have to translate that into Bird, or do you understand English?"

[Existentially Odd]

"Digital hears voices," Samuel explained weakly, feeling rather helpless as he watched the other vampire interact with Remi.

He was relieved, really, because if Digital had come for him, it would've got out of hand quickly. At least this way, Remi could gain an understanding of the stranger without prejudice. Well, as much without prejudice as one could get with a view like the one Remi was getting.

"Sometimes they're predictions and they come true. Do... did that mean anything to you?" he asked the angel, having been unable to make sense of Digital's babble.

[Ehcorn]

After discovering that Digital wasn’t wearing anything under his skirt, Remi was careful to keep his eyes on his yellow-tinged goggles. Unfortunately, the vantage point Digital had taken made it impossible not to catch glimpses of how well-endowed the vampire really was.

"Excuse me," he said, and pushed himself to his feet to navigate past Sam to the open sliding glass door, shaking his head as he went. His feet didn’t cross the threshold. He placed a hand on either side of the doorframe and leaned forward until his head hung outside and he could grab two lungfuls of fresh night air, then pushed himself back inside.

"I don’t understand, no," he admitted on his exhale. "I understand English fine, but everything you said? It’s like reading a bunch of words out of context. I recognize them, but I don’t know what they mean." He dropped his hands and turned to face the two vampires fully, but remained close to the door. A frown flitted across his face. "Who is 'he'? That seems like the most important piece, but you’ve left it out. Do you know? Do your… voices tell you everything? Or just what they think you need to know?"

If it was the latter, then the voices would get along swimmingly with his mentor, Vretil.

[Trillian]

Digital straightened and turned on the end table, watching the dove head for the balcony like he was going to fly. Alarm rose in him and the voices screeched until the angel stopped... and then they stopped, too.

Relief once again. Silence. He was free to answer questions.

Digital chanted in a schoolyard manner: "He wants to make you his snowball." He grinned, looking from Sam to Remi, hands on hips. His hard on was calming down now, but hadn't fully dissipated. "That's why he gave you a freezer. In case the whirlwind comes his way, he wants to throw his special snowball at them. Silly prince. He should open up his own set of black wings! But he needs so much blood for that. Special blood. The blood that keeps getting attacked! Rainbow blood or tricky blood or," Digital gasped. "Uh oh. He shouldn't have shaken things up, he's going to get his throat cut." He made a gesture with his finger across his neck. He turned and pointed at Sam, his voice shifting to something conversational. "Ben is keeping his eye on you."

[Existentially Odd]

Samuel's expression - which had been perplexed as he put effort into trying to figure out who the 'he' in Digital's scenario was this time (it sounded like Jake, to him, though Jake didn't shake things up, that had been Ben's doing) - shifted into one of petulant indignation when he was told Ben was watching him. His chin jutted forward, his jaw hardening.

"What? Why? What does he think I've done now?" he sighed the final word out, expelling all his air in consternation. He hadn't done anything wrong. Well, apart from being a little distracted lately. He looked across the room at Remi by the open doorway and his heart squeezed against his will. He fought down the urge to stride over to him, take his hand, bring him back inside and sit up against him. Or kiss him fiercely. Anyone looking at Remi could hardly blame Sam for his recent distracted state of mind.

Of course, the longer he looked at his beautiful face, the more conflicted Sam felt. He wanted Digital to go - not just because he'd mortifyingly turned up for sex but also because he needed to resolve things with Remi. Maybe he'd be seeking Digital out right after to make himself feel better about Remi's verdict but that would be dealt with later. He needed to know Remi's thoughts first. Still, he hung off in case Digital had as lucid an answer for him as he'd had when he'd made the comment about Ben.

He turned back to look at the Malkavian, hoping to all that was holy that Digital's voices were also whispering to him that he should not expect sex from Sam tonight (or in the future, if said voices could also see a positive outcome for he and Remi).

[Trillian]

The message to Sam delivered, Digital spun around to face the dove once again. Pirate dove. Something beginning with...

"Arrrrr!" he said. "Like Rapunzel's boyfriend, it's Eugene!" Digital did a little dance on the end table, boogying on down with an arm rotation that teen Kylie would've been proud of. "Not-Ben slashed his throat. Just like Not-Ben had his throat slashed! Ha-ha! Full circle!" The table wobbled dangerously beneath Digital's motions, enough for the vampire to jump off it, heading for Eugene.

"Remiel," he said, the name bursting out of him. His tone for the next prediction had shifted to a matter-of-fact delivery. The hilarity was gone from his voice. "It should be her," Digital said, slinking over to the dove and leaning against the window beside the doorframe that Remi was catching his breath in. "When that moment comes that you decide between the two of them." Digital's goggled gaze moved to Sam. "I'll miss you when you and he are..." he made a bunch of gestures with his hands, all of them implying sex, and then he gestured between Sam and Remi. His grin was wolfish as he stepped around behind Remiel and started thrusting his hips back and forth behind the angel. His grunting potentially gave him away.

[Ehcorn]

Remi’s forehead crinkled and his mouth went askew as fingers thrust into created holes and became swords in a duel. Digital’s hand motions made about as much sense as all his predictions, at least until Remi turned to see what all the commotion was behind him.

"Oh," he said, realization dawning on him as he combined what he’d seen with all of Digital’s hip thrusting and grunting. Sex. Digital meant sex. Remi wasn’t sure what him having sex with Sam had to do with Digital missing the other vampire, but what he did know was that the open doorway was no longer a sanctuary. Not with Digital humping the air nearby. He let out an uncomfortable chuckle and moved farther into Sam’s apartment, only stopping when he stood a healthy distance away from both vampires.

Remi crossed his arms over his chest and tried not too think about ceilings or walls or their tendency to crush him when he paid them too much attention.

"What does any of that have to do with you seeing Sam?" he asked, shaking his head. "He’ll still be here, won’t he? You don’t have to stop visiting."

[Existentially Odd]

It was very difficult to focus on all of the words spewing out of Digital's mouth when Samuel's fear that he'd reveal the exact nature of their relationship to Remi was yammering louder and louder in his head with every passing second. He ran a hand down his face in sheer embarrassment when Digital started mimicking sex. Although he was touched by his next message - and buoyed by it, quite frankly, because Digital said when he and Remi were having sex, not 'if' - he was mortified, too.

That horrified sensation only increased when Remi innocently invited Digital to keep visiting, proving he hadn't understood Digital's insinuations, at least. There was still time to tell him himself. Sam had enough blood running freely in his system to blush at Remi's inadvertent invitation to keep visiting him for sex. He cleared his throat as he startled and leapt in Digital's direction, planning to slide his hand into his and lead him towards his door.

"Uh, well, yes he does," Samuel told Remi adamantly but then smiled at Digital as he reached him. "I'm sorry,"  he said sincerely, because he couldn't tell Digital he'd miss him if he had Remi (well, he could've physically said the words but he wouldn't have meant them so he resisted saying them because he was trying to be honest). "It's been fun, though. Thanks for everything," he smiled, opening the door to his suite to let Digital out.

He released his hand and gave a non-committal shrug of farewell, hoping Digital would take the hint and leave.