Devil May Love

Jullien groaned loudly, rubbing his eyes roughly with both fists. He could feel the old makeup crumble off his eyelashes and smear on his cheeks and hands. Yawning loudly, he opened his eyes finally, glancing over at the clock.

"FUCK!"

Jumping up, he rushed into his bedroom, checking the clock there. Ten thirty just like the one in the living room said. He’d slept the entire day. He must have been really hung over...

Not bothering to change out of his club wear from last night, Jullien hurriedly freshened up. Washing his face, he re-applied a light layer of eyeliner, ran a brush though his hair and dashed out of the house. He would have to run to work. Judy still had his car and a cab take too long. He was already late enough.

Out of breath and more than a little wind swept, Jullien dashed into his manager’s office, apologizing before anything could be said. The manager eyed him angrily.

"Calm down, Landau. Have a seat."

Jullien did so, trying to catch his breath. "Ma'am, I'm so sorry... I... slept all day... must be... coming down with... something..."

“From where I'm sitting you look healthy enough to me." The manager did not sound amused and she definitely wasn't buying the sick story. "I'm not going to fire you so calm down. This is the first time you’ve missed work or even been late. So I'm going to overlook it, this time. Don't do it again. You better watch how hard you party before it costs you your job, understand?"

Jullien nodded, suddenly aware of how much stomach his high cut top showed.. "Yes, Ma'am. Thank you. Should I stay tonight and work late?"

She shook her head. "No, we're full at the moment. I will see you tomorrow on regular schedule. Now get out of here before I get annoyed." Her voice was stern, but she was smiling.

Returning the smile, Jullien thanked her again and left. He was lucky... He'd seen her fire people before and she was none too gentle about it. But he certainly couldn't afford to fuck up again. He felt like kicking himself for getting so drunk the night before. Judy was right; it was completely unlike him in every way. Even when he was feeling down and he had certainly felt worse than this before, he never did anything like that.

His thoughts were interrupted by one of the saddest sounds in the world, at least in Jullien's opinion. A boy was crying. He stopped and looked around, confused. Was someone lost? Hurt? Standing on the sidewalk, Jullien’s eyes swept quickly around him. Had the swing not creaked, he would never have noticed the small black lump sitting on one of the swings. The figure was too big to be a child and too small to be grown. Jullien started walking towards him. "Hey, are you lost," he called out, not wanting to sneak up on the person.

The figure sat up straighter, sniffing once loudly and brushing his face off. "No," came the choked answer, but the voice was surprisingly steady. Jullien knew this ability well... whoever this kid was, he was used to crying. Having reached the swing set, Jullien moved so he was standing in front of the boy and knelt down in front of him.

There was just enough light coming from the street lamp to illuminate the boy's face. Jullien blinked. He was very pretty. And very young. His dark eyes were slightly puffy and rimmed in red. This didn't take away from him at all. His long dark hair, which could be either brown or black, Jullien couldn't tell in the faint light, was long with a slight wave and it covered most of his face. "Why are you out so late? You can't be more than, what... Sixteen?"

The boy frowned. "I'm seventeen, thank you and it’s none of your business. I don’t have any money or anything so just leave me alone."

Jullien almost laughed. Smiling, he said, "Hon, I'm not out to rob you. I hate to tell you this but its an odd sight to see a kid sitting on a swing set in the middle of the night crying. I thought you were lost or hurt so I came to check on you."

"I'm not a kid."

Jullien rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. But this is not the safest place in the world. You should go back home before someone does try to rob you. And last time I checked, no cash would earn you a slit throat."

The boy looked up at him finally. "Why do you care," he asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Jullien put on his most charming smile. "Cute little thing like you all alone? How could I pass it up?" He winked, and nudged the boy a little with his elbow. "Just kidding. It's just not safe, okay? You should get home."

"I don't want to go home."

Jullien did laugh this time. "Well, neither do I, but sometimes you don’t have a choice."

The boy muttered something Jullien couldn’t hear. Frowning, Jullien eyed the boy closer. His clothes were not old or tattered, but they were stretched out around the collar like someone had been pulling on him. For whatever reason, this kid wasn't going to move anytime soon. Fighting himself, Jullien looked away for a minute.

Gaibriel looked up at Jullien, taking the moment to study his face. Had he not heard the man speak, he would not have believed him to actually be a man at all. He was... well, he was beautiful like a woman. Though Gaibriel had to admit, he'd never seen a woman this beautiful. The man’s long hair shone even in the dull light. His lips were full and pouty and his cheek bones high and smooth. His father was likely to kill him for thinking such things. Gaibriel looked down again.

Jullien sighed loudly, his breath forming a cloud in front of him. "Ok, listen. It's too dangerous for you to sit out here this late at night. But you're not ready to go back home. Fine. But you can’t stay here. So please, walk with me? You can call your parents from my apartment building. And don't look like that, I'm not telling you to come to my room. There's a pay phone downstairs you can use."

The boy shook his head. "I can't do that."

Jullien sighed again, dropping his head in the palm of his hand. "Ok, ok... Just walk with me then? I'll stay outside with you. But not here. We can sit outside on the steps or something." He looked up. The boy was giving him an inquisitive look. "What?"

"You're not out to hurt me, are you?" His voice wasn't accusatory.

Jullien shook his head. "No. I just don't think my conscious could handle it if something happened to you out here."

It was Gaibriel’s turn to fight with himself. There were no dangerous feelings coming from the man in front of him, but he had always been taught all his life to never go with strangers anywhere. Especially not in a different town... Then again, it wasn't like anyone actually cared about his safety anyway. Gaibriel looked back up at the man in front of him.

“My place is about a 10 minute walk from here," Jullien said.

Gaibriel stared at him, his mind racing. He felt drawn to Jullien somehow... like a moth to his porch-light. Jullien seemed to be so free... Free to dress like that, to have long hair, to come and go as he pleased. Maybe... Maybe he could help Gaibriel feel a little freedom. No one was here to stop him from following Jullien home. Or from being Jullien's friend. The thought almost made Gaibriel smile and he felt strangely happy at the thought of being friends with some one like Jullien. He was something outside of his own pitiful existence... And maybe just for tonight, Gaibriel could be a part of that as well. Deciding it was worth the risk, Gaibriel nodded. "Okay, sure." It wasn’t like he had anything to loose, right? "I'm Gaibriel."

The man smiled and offered his hand. “Name’s Jullien."