(Heh.  This story is so close to the end that it’s practically forcing me to finish it.  How fun!)

Just Another Supernatural Support Group

I just have to thank you again for listening to me.  This is our last little talk, you know.  Thanks for sticking around for so long.

I’d give you a hug, but even if Ryan doesn’t get jealous, Kyaj will.

I knew I shouldn’t have expected any help from the people who I had begun to call my friends, but I was still extremely irritated and embarrassed to hear Pleriel’s response to my plight.

“Dravin!” the angel yelled, sounding affronted.  “What the hell is going on?  I thought you were supposed to be doing the man-slaving!”

He was never going to get over that phrase.

“Man-slaving?” Kyaj repeated, looking down at me with a mildly curious expression playing over the very amused and lustful expression that seemed to have become part of his face.

“I don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about,” I denied immediately.

“I’m sure,” Kyaj purred, leaning down so that his face was very close to mine.  “I can show you what the fuck he’s talking about.”

He started to nibble on my earlobe.

“I think I left the oven on,” I blurted out in a high, nervous voice.  Kyaj went very still for a moment and then started laughing again, collapsing on top of me and burying his face in my neck.

“You’re an incubus, aren’t you?” he demanded through his laughter.  “What is your problem?”

Now I was upset.  I sat up, relieved when Kyaj didn’t try to wrestle me into submission again.  “Listen, all right?  I am an incubus, and while I’m pretty much over the hang-up about not being able to have sex with guys-“

“Meaning that you will have sex with guys,” Kyaj interrupted, finally serious again.

I glared and answered, “Yes.  But not with pushy sons of bitches who don’t understand that a demon is always on top!”

Now Kyaj was smiling darkly.  “Then that’s just another hang-up Ryan and I will have to help you get over.”

He and Ryan?  What?  I stared at him blankly, taken completely aback.  He couldn’t be saying what I thought he was…

“It’s been a fairly long time,” Kyaj said innocently, looking down at his nails and trying, without much success, to hide his grin.  “Ryan could have taken control again.  I usually can’t stay around for more than ten minutes at a time- fifteen if I’ve been saving up energy.”

“Then why isn’t Ryan in control?” I demanded.  From somewhere in the distance, I could hear Pleriel demanding to know what we were stopping for.  I would have to punch him later.

“Because he’s shy,” Kyaj said, shrugging eloquently.  He peered up at me and his eyes were gleaming.  “I don’t have any inhibitions.”

“You don’t have any shame,” I accused, but my heart was beating a thousand miles a minute even though my brain wasn’t as quick on the uptake.

“That too,” the little snot said, laughing at the look on my face.  It was at that point, with him laughing and totally honest and frighteningly beautiful even if he was wearing Ryan’s body like a suit, when I gave in, leaned close, and kissed him.

Closed mouth.

“You should get some,” I whispered, ignoring the cheers and catcalls from the far end of the beach, and Angela’s warning that Rijian and Robert were on their way to back to the party.  “It makes playing a lot more fun.”

There was a flash of light and Ryan was staring back at me with wide, shocked eyes and a terrific blush.  “Um…”

I sat back again, looking at him with a cold, distant expression.  “Did you get what you wanted, then?”

If anything, the blush increased in intensity.  He said, in a heartbreakingly small voice, “Dravin, I’m sorry.”

“Leave the games to those equipped for them,” I said softly, tilting my head in the direction of a still whistling angel.  “If you had just said something-“

“And why the hell didn’t you?” he suddenly yelled.  It’s cliché, but he was damn beautiful when he got angry.  “It wasn’t like you were helping out any!  I tried flirting, but you were always paying attention to Angela or Pleriel!”

“Whoah, hey, unless there’s going to be a threesome, leave me out of this!” Pleriel yelled back.  “And wrap this up, guys!  The adults are looking mighty guilty!”

Ryan and I both spared a quick look; it seemed Angela had gone to cut the group leader and her secretary off before they could stop what appeared to be street theater for everyone else- including the three or four groups of regular people watching avidly.  A blush started to creep up on my face and Ryan was getting red, too.

“So this is my fault?” I asked, trying not to sound hurt and failing miserably.  Ryan didn’t help; he smacked me upside my head.

“You’re an idiot,” he informed me haughtily.  “It’s no one’s fault.  I don’t even know why the hell we’re fighting.”

I blinked.  “Because I’m supposed to be the demon?”

“Then be the demon!” Ryan yelled, gesturing wildly for me to do something.  So I mentally licked my chops, shrugged innocently, and leapt on the boy.  He fell over backwards and I followed, which earned us a lot of applause from almost everyone on the beach.

I wondered briefly if Angela was going to go insane, since there had to be quite a few people thinking naughty things right about now, but I had better things to do.  Forget thinking.

So half an hour later, Ryan and I were sitting on the pier.  He had his shirt on again.  I was mildly depressed about that.

“We’re not- well, we are separate, you know, but we are sharing a body,” Ryan was explaining, blushing a little.  “And we share a mind, almost.  When I’m in control, he’s just a voice in my head, and I’m the voice when he’s in control.”

“So you can have conversations with yourself?” I asked, glaring at Pest, who was trying to spy on us again.  When the bird didn’t take a hint, I kicked sand at him.  He flew off, squawking indignantly.  I watched him land over by Pleriel and Angela, both looking displeased when the crow had nothing to report.

“Yeah,” Ryan said absently, glaring at the rest of our group as well.  “But usually it would be him demanding that I go do something stupid, like light a fire or beat the shit out of someone.  When we met you, though, things… changed.”

I was silent, trying to pretend that I wasn’t blushing deeply and feeling like the cat that got the cream and the canary.

“It’s not like Kyaj is going away any time soon, I know that,” Ryan continued softly, looking down at his feet.  “We’re getting better at learning how to live with each other.  And, well-“

“You’re getting better at sharing?” I asked, keeping my eyes averted to my own feet.  I could still feel the air get warmer when he smiled, though.

“Yeah, pretty much.”  Ryan put his hand on mine.  I grinned and turned my hand over, lacing our fingers together.  Somewhere down the beach, another loud conversation about man-slaving was beginning, and a slightly worried group leader was wondering if it wouldn’t be more polite to give Ryan and me some privacy.

Life was good.

“I’m still on top,” I muttered, kicking a little more sand.

Ryan laughed.  “Don’t count on it, Dravin.”

We still go to our group meetings, though now they’re more like a weekly party than a therapy session.  Ryan and I have had to put up with intrusive questions about our relationship and if we want to join Pleriel and his charge- yes, he’s back guarding Elliot, the boy he saved from danger through sex- in an orgy.  Elliot has started going to sessions with Pleriel and no one really minds.  He’s a nice kid.  Kind of shameless, but what can you expect from someone who’s trying to have a relationship with Pleriel?

Angela has developed a better sense of humor about her own affliction, which is good- it has to be the only way she stays sane around the four of us.  She still calls people up during the week to gripe about people, but that’s all right.  It’s always amusing to listen to.  You can’t imagine what people fantasize about- well, actually, you probably can.

Pest has decided that as long as he’s got people to give him food, he doesn’t mind talking.  If only everyone’s problems could be solved by food.

So, see?  I never actually solved my own problem.  I just got more of ‘em: a boyfriend who shares his body with a megalomaniacal spirit that insists he should be on top and a bunch of friends who either harass me about my relationship or bitch at me about how much I imagine a certain person to be wearing absolutely nothing or show up out of nowhere demanding food and board.  Tell me how I’m supposed to fix those, hey?

And if you do know how to fix them, do me a favor: keep it to yourself.

(The end.  ^_~)