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Of all the ways Ryan could’ve found out about him, Shane would’ve never placed his bets on this.“You’re a demon,” Ryan claimed calmly, definitively, one night in Shane’s living room.He had invited himself over unexpectedly, which wasn’t too out of character, Shane would say. They’d had keys for each other’s apartments for a couple years now and although they rarely actually used them, Ryan probably knew Shane would grumble about having to get up to answer the door at one in the morning, so he opted to use his key—something Shane was initially glad for, having been comfortably snuggled up under a blanket on his couch at the time of Ryan’s arrival. When he heard the door open, he had been on alert for an intruder, but he quickly relaxed into a state of happy surprise when he saw his best friend’s face walk through the threshold. His relief was short lived, however, as the stench Ryan carried into his house was nearly suffocating.He emanated so many emotions at once that Shane had to focus deeply to identify them. Fear. Exhaustion. Anger. And the scent Shane had come to associate with Ryan was stronger than he’d ever experienced: Bravery.Shane knew Ryan was the bravest soul he had ever met, and he had met plenty during his early years as a soul reaper, but the heavy air of bravery filling every inch of his apartment had Shane immediately on edge. Something was about to happen, and he really hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was.“Uh, hey,” Shane started awkwardly, “Everything okay, buddy?”Ryan didn’t give him an answer right away. Instead, he closed the door slowly behind him and slipped his shoes off by the door. The longer the silence stretched on, the more nervous Shane grew. His eyes followed his friend’s relaxed movements as the man came to stand in the middle of Shane’s living room, arms folded over his chest, the coffee table being the only thing standing between them.“You’re a demon,” Ryan accused as if he had been practicing saying it all night until he sounded confident enough. Knowing him, Shane bet he probably had.But now Shane was the nervous one. No, no, no. His thoughts screamed. Not like this. I’m not ready yet. But he couldn’t let that show, “Uh, what? Ryan, have you been drinking? You’re speaking nonsense.”Ryan wasn’t swayed by Shane’s attempt at shifting the conversation. He stated again, “You’re a demon, and you’ve been hiding it from me for years.”Shane opened his mouth to deny it again but the sure look on Ryan’s face was enough for him to cave. It was bound to come out eventually, he supposed. He sighed defeatedly and stared down at his own hands, “How did you figure it out?”“You’re not very subtle, y’know?” Ryan exhaled and let his stone-like face drop. He looked tired. “For years I have been deleting footage of you with black eyes and fangs. I don’t think you ever cared to check if I left a camera behind before you start chanting things in ancient languages, that took me way too long to identify, by the way.”Shane, overcome by shock at this new revelation, could only let out a simple, dumb, “Oh.”The huff he received from Ryan in response was enough to make him look up and make eye contact with the smaller man before softly asking, “Why are you telling me now?”Ryan rolled his eyes, “Because I’m tired of pretending that I don’t know. And I have been building up a long list of questions that I expect answers to.”Shane nodded absentmindedly, barely registering Ryan’s words, “And you’re not afraid of me?”“I have literally watched you cry at the same ASPCA commercial at least five times so no, I am not afraid of you.” Ryan answered like it was obvious. He unfolded his arms and came around the coffee table to sit on the couch with Shane. He pretended not to notice the way Shane flinched away from him as if he would douse him with holy water any second. “Plus, I’ve seen what you do on locations. Everytime you reveal something demonic about yourself it’s to protect me. You told one demon, and I quote, to ‘keep his claws away from claimed property’ in reference to me.”Shane looked away and blushed, “Uh, I didn’t really mean for you to see that.”Ryan scooted closer and grabbed one of Shane’s hands. It was cold but the ends of the fingers were burning hot, as if Shane literally had fire at his fingertips. “I’m not mad, y’know? At least, I’m not mad about you being a demon. I’m a little mad about you being so reckless about hiding it, though. I mean, not everyone would be as accepting as I am if they found out,” He grinned in an attempt to make Shane smile. It worked, just barely.“But, you hate demons.” Shane held onto Ryan’s hand tighter. He tried not to think about how perfectly Ryan’s fingers felt intertwined with his.“I thought I did,” he started, “But then I saw that you were a demon, and I couldn’t hate you even if I tried. You mean a lot to me, Shane.”Seeing the sincerity in Ryan’s eyes was almost enough to bring him to tears but Shane persisted, “You mean a lot to me, too. I hope you know that I would never, ever hurt you or take advantage of you. I might be a demon but I only ever use my power to protect you. You’re too precious for me to lose.”“I know,” Ryan grinned reassuringly, “and I appreciate it. Truly.”Shane was too bashful to respond to that, so he tried to start a new conversation instead, “Uh, you said you had questions?”Ryan nodded excitedly, “Of course!”Shane started to relax. Ryan was actually okay with this. Never in a million years would he have expected a reaction this calm from his anxiety riddled demon-hunter friend, but he felt like he was drifting from his worst nightmare into a dream come true.
He was also very much aware of the weight against his palm where Ryan’s skin met his. He tried to ignore the way his stomach was doing flips and the possessive demon part of his brain that kept saying Mine, mine, mine.“Well, um, ask away, I guess. I’ll try to answer everything as best as I can.” And he felt himself relax as Ryan’s initial overwhelming scent began to dissipate from the room. He was left now with the scent of relief, contentment, and strangely enough, love.“Can I see?” Was, of course, the first question to fall from Ryan’s mouth. He had seen a few of Shane’s demon features over the years but only through their crappy night-vision cameras, and never all at once. He was intrigued, and a little nervous, to see what his friend’s full form looked like.Shane nodded and he stood up, letting Ryan’s hand fall free from his grasp. He removed his shirt in one swift motion before shooting a nervous wink in Ryan’s direction. Before the latter could even process his friend’s shirtless state, Shane had shifted into a slightly different form.Firstly, Ryan noticed how tall Shane was. As a human, he already towered over Ryan’s average frame, but his true height, a full seven feet and two inches, left the human feeling smaller than he had since he was a child.The next thing Ryan noticed was the appearance of two shiny obsidian horns that curved up from Shane’s hairline. They were around six inches long and visibly sharp. If he focused his eyes he could notice a slight pattern etched into each horn, vine shaped grooves wrapping around the appendages like ivy crawling up stone pillars.The very tips of Shane’s fingernails were pointy and appeared to be a gradient from inky black to deep crimson red. Ryan thought it looked like blood dripping from the demon’s hands.From Shane’s back there sprouted two large wings with shiny black feathers. They stood almost floor-to-ceiling tall and they cast an aura of grace around the demon’s form. Ryan tried to erase the thought that he’d like to run his fingers through the soft feathers that covered the wings.
Lastly, were the features Ryan had become most accustomed to seeing. Shane’s pitch black eyes stared into his as he gave him a lop-sided smile, complete with two sharp canine teeth that could only be described as fangs. He looked glorious.Ryan’s mouth hung open in awe as his eyes raked over Shane’s true form. Before he could stop himself, he whispered, “Gorgeous.”The deep red blush that crept onto Shane’s face and chest made the red in his fingernails stand out. No one had ever called him gorgeous before. He tried to convince himself that the smell of arousal was certainly not coming from Ryan, but the hungry look in the little man’s eyes revealed his attraction.Slowly, he watched as Ryan stood from the couch and took a couple short strides to stand before him, in all his demon glory. Ryan reached a hand up to gently touch the side of Shane’s face. The demon let his eyes switch to their normal brown, eager to look the human in the eye as he whispered, “Ryan.”The human, as if pulled out of a trance, widened his eyes before softly replying, “Yeah?”“Can I kiss you?”“Definitely yes.”With that, he placed one hand in the center of Ryan’s back and the other under his chin to gently tip his head back before bringing their mouths together.Ryan’s hands found their way to Shane’s hips and he pulled their bodies impossibly closer, forcing the demon to stoop even further to capture his mouth in a heated kiss. It was unlike anything Ryan had ever experienced before.He had kissed plenty of people in his life, men included, but kissing Shane felt like kissing someone for the first and last time all at once. There was power but gentleness to the kiss, like Shane was holding back how he truly wanted to kiss him. Ryan found himself eager to find out more.As Shane pulled away, Ryan whined, unable to chase his mouth due to their height difference. The demon chuckled slightly at the response before asking, “Was that okay?”Ryan nodded, “More than okay. I’ve been wanting to do that forever.”“Be kissed by a demon? Oh my, what a naughty human you are, Ryan Bergara.” Shane teased. The way Ryan responded to his demon form had fueled his ego a little too much and it made him want to watch Ryan fall apart under his touch. The smell of want let him know Ryan was fantasizing about the same thing.“Shut up and kiss me again,” Ryan demanded, pupils wide and filled with lust.“As you wish,” Shane smirked and began kissing the human again, stronger this time. The small noise that Ryan made at one particularly skilled move of his tongue had Shane nearly dizzy with arousal.He pulled just centimeters away from the kiss and whispered, “Bedroom?”Ryan’s small nod was all Shane needed before hoisting him up by the back of his thighs. The human squeaked in surprise as he tightly wrapped his legs around Shane’s torso, feeling himself being carried in the direction of Shane’s bedroom. He hid his eyes in Shane’s neck as he said, “I’m gonna pretend that wasn’t the hottest thing anyone has ever done to me.”Shane tilted his head back and laughed, “Oh, that was nothing, babydoll. We’re just getting started.”