Zack went to walk forward only to be tugged away, sighing softly as they hid under an undercover in the alley next to the restaurant. He dipped his head a little to accept the kiss, sighing softly.
“Nothing, I’m just stressed. You know how I am when I’m stressed.”
Bryn frowned, pushing up onto his tipy toes so Zack wouldn't have to lean over. His arms were loose around Zack's waist so he wouldn't crinkle his shirt. "This was supposed to be fun, Zack. I thought it would be cute and romantic and shit, I never meant to wig you out."
He didn’t mind dipping his head, so he pushed Bryn back down onto his feet before kissing him gently again. “I know it was. And I was having fun. I just get stressed over stupid stuff. This is gonna be fun and cute, I know it.” He kept his arms at his sides so he didn’t mess up Bryn’s look.
Bryn leaned into the kiss for a few seconds before he finally pulled away, glancing nervously at the door to the restaurant. "You get stressed over things everyone gets stressed over, babe. But… I'm glad I didn't mess up our anniversary. And I'm glad you'll have a good time." He slowly started walking them over to the door, keeping up a layer of quiet chatter and they meandered inside.
“You didn’t mess anything up, it was getting this stupid reservation.” He straightened up and allowed his mate to talk into the silence and walk him in. They got checked in once they were inside. It was a relatively normal-looking restaurant but the decor was a light, velvet red color, that was very pleasing to the eye. They were given a comfy booth in the far back away from any prying eyes, and Zack ordered their drinks in Demonish.
Bryn wasn't really sure what was on the menu, everything was printed in Zack's demon language, but he trusted his mate to pick out drinks. Even if he was a little nervous about them drinking together and doing something they'd regret in the morning. "What'd you get for us, babe?" he asked, leaning up against Zack's side as he made himself comfortable.
“I just got us some water and juice. There isn’t a lot of alcohol served because Savori banned it for violence reasons. A lot of people were upset but they got dealt with.” He stuck his feet up on the opposite cushion and threw his arm around Bryn, relaxing as if he hadn’t just talked about Demon culture in such a relaxed way.
Bryn relaxed when he heard they weren't getting anything alcoholic, pecking Zack on the cheek as thanks for ordering. He took a few seconds to process the new information, mentally lining it up with everything else he knew about Demons. Admittedly, there wasn't much. "Savori is your name for Satan, right? How'd he manage to get rid of all alcohol? They tried that back in the USA and it just led to a bunch of underground smuggling."
Zack himself wasn’t so keen on drinking anymore, too, for he was more inclined towards being sober the rest of the night.
“Yeah. Well, we have trading with Humans sometimes and they bring down the alcohol. Certain breeds of Demon can have it for medical reasons but Savori just completely cut us off. It wasn’t too hard, when someone tried to rebel he was taken down by other Demons. We’re very loyal to Savori, here.”
Bryn nodded as he took in the information, perking up when something caught his attention. "Wait, did you say breeds? There are different kinds of demons?" He hadn't been out of the house much and on the rare occasions when he did for errands or to have fun Zack and his friends, he'd only ever seen one kind of demon. Humanish and pointy-toothed with occasional wings and surly smiles.
“Well ya. There’s my breed which is the most common down here, which is the Dark Demon. That’s what you guys call us because most of our wings are dark colors, and it has nothing to do with anything else. But we call ourselves the Uvi. There are also the Woq and the Quis. They’re a bit different. Their magic is different so they use more of certain things and require more things to function. But those types of a Demon aren’t as common anymore because Savori was forced to snuff them out.”
Bryn frowned a bit when he heard about how the leader had to 'snuff them out', but he leaned into Zack a little more and quickly got over it. Savorti seemed to be a benevolent ruler, if he did something like that, it was for a good reason. Probably. Hopefully. The waiter got back with their drinks, setting them down alongside two incomprehensible menus. Bryn really needed to figure out how to read demonish, if only it were a course on duolingo or something.
"So that's why I didn't know about anyone else," he said, reaching over to take a sip of his juice. "I was worried I was just being an unobservant idiot."
It was. If he had asked, Zack would have explained that the breed was one of the more violent and antagonistic Demons, the most accurate to what Humans thought they were like. Zack was going to protect his leader whether Bryn cared or not. Zack lifted up his menu and read through it.
“Hm… so what’s your favorite Human food?”
Bryn shrugged, taking another sip of his juice. "I ever really had a favorite food, just order whatever you think I'll like. Just not anything spicy, you know I can't deal with spicy shit. And I can't do bitter foods either. Oh! Do they have anything sugary? Like maybe a cake or pie or something?"
“I think we should get dinner first,” Zack huffed quietly to his Human. “I think I’ll order you a soup. It’s a less-terrible chicken soup with a potato stock and it’s really nice. I think you’ll like it, it’s the least spicy but still good thing here.” He closed the menu and sat back again.
Bryn rolled his eyes, considering the offered food with a soft frown before it melted into a smile and he nodded. "Spicy doesn't automatically mean good, Zack. But… yeah, that sounds really nice. Thanks." He pecked him on the cheek with a soft smile. "Almost makes me wish I could read your wacky hell language."
“It mostly does because the spices we use are so good. I liked India a lot because of it. They have good taste in food.” He wriggled a little to get comfortable, but paused at his second comment. Zack huffed loudly and glanced at him.
“You think my language is wonky? It took me twenty years to master English while your other stupid Human languages took me five to seven.”
Bryn snorted, looking over at him with a smirk. "Oh, I never said English was any better. If English were anything, it would be a garbage fire burning random magazine clippings. I'm just saying Demonish writing is a mess. How many languages can you speak, anyways?"
“I was forced to learn most of the main languages. But I’m probably super rusty in all of them except Indian. I spent a lot of time there and their writing is sort of like ours, so I recognized and learned it easiest. It reminded me of home.” He shrugged a little. “Not that it’s a bad thing.”
"Babe, you're trilingual! At least! That's so cool!" Bryn smiled up at him, sunny and enthusiastic. "What was it like in India? Did you go see the taj mahal? Oh! Did you get to see any elephants- I heard there are reserves over there where they'll walk right up to you."
“Yea, I guess it is. Oh, yes, and a lot of people I met there were very nice, too. It’s a pleasant country to live temporarily in.” He nodded frankly and a waiter walked up. He ordered their food and the person walked off again, and Zack stretched. “Anyway… so what should we talk about now? Anything you wanna know?”
Bryn hummed consideringly, handing his menu over to the waiter. "Um… well, to start, how old are you? Because I know you've got to have been around for, like, at least a hundred years. Probably more. And also, do you ever wanna get kids or a pet or something? Um… maybe in the opposite order?"
“Hm… maybe you don’t want to know.” A slight, wry smile crossed his lips. “I haven’t told someone my age in a very long time. I’m pretty sure the only people who remember are my parents. But maybe I’ll find the time to tell you… quite later. Pets are nice, especially down here. A kid? Eh. Maybe. Depends on what you want.” He shrugged a little.
Bryn laughed to hide his worry. Zack was clearly immortal or close enough to it that it didn't matter. Bryn wasn't. Bryn was soft and human and he was going to age like a peach in the sun in front of Zack. Would he still be loved 20 or 30 years down the line when his hair was grey and his bones popped and ached and his face was wrinkled and gaunt? "I think I wanna raise a family. Like… not now, obviously, but I've always wanted the whole dog, husband, 2.5 kids type deal, y'know?"
Zack glanced at his mate’s profile and noted his worry that was deep in his eyes. “You don’t age, you know. Aging’s different down here. Savori has set a spell over this place so you’re allowed to just count time and allow age to be a number. At a certain point if you go up to the Human world you’ll die a most violent death, though. Sooo… and hey, if that’s what you want. We’d definitely have to adopt, though.”
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