Hero Vs Villain (BoyxBoy)

An Awkward Trip Home

Vandel

Ridley and I had been riding for nearly an hour when I suddenly stopped the horse, leaping gracefully from it.

Ridley stared down at me, a confused expression drifting over his features. "What are you doing?"

I moved towards a bush near the edge of the trail. "Well you wouldn't stop complaining about me being naked this entire fucking ride so I decided to stop by one of my clothing checkpoints to put something on."

Ridley eyed me, the confused expression still plastered to his face. "Clothing checkpoints?"

I rolled my eyes. "I know I've told you about them before. When I turn into bird form I leave clothes in different areas so I'm not walking around with my dick out 24/7 when I transform back." I began to dig around around within the bush, finally removing a small trunk I had placed there a few months ago. I quickly opened it with a click, starting to sift through the pile of neatly folded outfits inside. I glanced to Ridley now who was still dressed in little more than his leather straps. "You wanna borrow something? You probably don't want to turn back up in Alteria wearing..." my gaze drifted downwards, "that."

Ridley's entire face went pink. "You're right. Is it really okay if I borrow your clothes?"

I offered him a small nod. "Yeah!" I gave the trunk a little pat. "These bad boys are obviously not my favorite batch of clothes since I was willing to part with them and leave them in a trunk for months. They're from a few seasons ago so they're a little out of style, still chic enough for me to not be too ashamed to wear them in public though." I offered him a tight lipped smile. "Out of style or not, if you do anything to ruin my clothes I will go all the way back to Alteria and smother you in your sleep."

"Understood." Ridley dismounted the horse now, tying her reins to a tree before coming to stand beside me. I handed a small bundle of clothes to him and he cautiously took it. The moment the clothes were in his hands he immediately turned away from me to put them on.

I let out a little huff. "What are you being so modest for? We're both men and you've seen me naked plenty of times. What's there to be embarrassed about?"

I could see the tips of Ridley's ears go completely red. "Don't you think...we should talk about it," he said softly, beginning to pull his shirt up over his head (if you could even consider the straps a shirt).

I blinked. "Talk about what?"

"The k-kiss," he practically stammered the word, his voice trembling when he said it. I stiffened almost immediately. Shit. I had forgotten about that. I silently cursed myself for always being so goddamn impulsive.

I took a deep breath, trying my best to play it off. "For God's sake, don't make it weird Ridley."

"You kissed me. How am I supposed to not make it weird? We were going to need to talk about it eventually."

"We've kissed before. Why was that one any different?"

"Because...well...because..." Ridley seemed unable to put together a single cohesive sentence, all while attempting to pull the shirt I had given him over his head. I decided to use this as an opportunity to quickly smooth over any remaining awkwardness kissing my worst enemy may have caused.

"No need to get so flustered," I said. "I was simply giving you a goodbye present."

"A...goodbye present?"

"Yes. I knew that deep down you secretly wanted to kiss a demon, all humans do. Thus I decided to gift you a kiss in what I thought was to be your last remaining moments alive. That's all it was."

Ridley let out a low sigh now. "Don't you think it was a little narcissistic of you to try and gift me with a kiss as a going away to die present?"

"Yeah well don't you think it was a little stupid of you to try and risk your life without taking the time to formulate a proper plan? If it wasn't for that bone monster you'd be dead."

"That may be true but I don't regret doing it...and I don't think you regret it either." He swallowed hard, his back still to me. "Vandel...you've realized you've changed, right?"

I nearly gagged. "What...what the shit are you talking about? I have NOT," I scoffed, crossing my arms. "I haven't changed a bit, I'm still the exact same demon prince of darkness that I was when we first met. Anything I do for anyone else is purely in self interest. That's it."

"Then why are you here?"

I furrowed my brow. "What do you mean?"

"I said, then why are you here? You could have just sent me on a horse to go back to Alteria alone. There was no reason for you to come with me. So if everything you do is really only in self interest then why did you come with me?"

I nearly choked. He was right! Why the fuck had I decided to go with him?

My mind started racing as I attempted to figure out some kind of explanation...including to myself.

"I just...err...we're a duo and I couldn't risk you getting caught because they might get information out of you and uh...that would have made me look super bad-" and that's when Ridley suddenly turned around and I completely lost my shit. Maybe it was from the stress of the situation or just due to the fact that I was exhausted both mentally and physically but the second I saw him I practically buckled over laughing.

Ridley sighed heavily. "The clothes are a little tight? Aren't they?"

"A LITTLE?!?!" I practically howled.

The clothes Ridley had put on were waaaaaay too small. The shirt rode up his broad chest, revealing almost his entire navel. The buttons looked like they were practically clinging on for their lives. The pants were so tight it appeared he wasn't even able to button it all the way down.

Ridley's mouth pressed into a thin line. "Why are you laughing? These were the clothes you gave me. It's not like I had any other option." I was laughing so hard I couldn't even respond. "Is it really that bad?" Ridley turned towards me when he said that causing one of the buttons to pop off, striking me directly in the face.

Now Ridley was the one that suddenly let out a snort of laughter.

I spun around to glare at him. "Okay...maybe I deserved that." Ridley was straight up giggling now. I let out a little huff. "Oh haha, very funny. I wouldn't be laughing so hard if I were you!!! Didn't I say I would smother you if you ruined my clothes!"

Ridley shrugged. "Yes, but you said even earlier that I was an asset to your plan and if something happened to me it would be a waste of your time. I assume that means I'm safe for the time being."

I supposed I had played myself on that one.

I opened my mouth to say something snarky back when suddenly I froze. Ridley immediately stopped laughing as well, his expression turning serious the moment he noticed my change in demeanor.

He approached me, worry flooding his gaze when he spoke. "Hey...is something wrong?"

"I...I don't know..." I said softly. "But I can sense it...she was here. Judging from how faint the trace of her magic was I'd say she passed this way a few hours ago while the party was still taking place."

I could feel Ridley tense beside me. "Who?"

"My mother."

Ridley's eyes widened. "Wait...but if she was here that means..."

"Yeah..." my gaze fell to the ground. "My mother must be in Alteria."

So...my mother had her own agenda during the Blood Masquerade. Just what the hell was she planning? And more importantly...why the hell hadn't she told me?