tampered | Log; Complete

Log; Complete

When; Jan. 12 (evening)
Rating; PG-13 (for languages)
Characters; Lee Nicholas

killerdimples, the Corinthian

bitingnightmare
Summary; One word too many puts the nightmare into silent thought... until he runs across a ~~starlet~~ friend on a food run.
Log;

He was going nowhere, literally. Cori had done circles, eights, and round-a-bout zig zags through the City on foot, a cigarette ever dangling from his lips. He couldn't wrap his mind around what Blue had said, despite their civil parting from the hospital. He saw how the blond had smiled when he finally went home, appreciative of their time together, followed by an undercurrent of sadness that too much might have passed between them in so little time. There hadn't been enough time, and Cori had single-handedly destroyed the gift Blue meant to give him. It was an accident.

Smoke drifted from what remained of the stub in his mouth. He flicked it to the sidewalk and stopped in front of a market to light another. A thought had occurred to Cori, to perhaps venture in and pick up another brand. Camels or Marlboros. Something different for a change.

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"Okay," he muttered to himself. "Three gallons of milk, a bag of potatoes, beef, a pack of chicken cutlets, those new high protein shakes and assorted vegeta...bles...?" He trailed off when he saw the line of smoke emerging from the white silhouette.

Only one person in the City had that look, the one of, I'm a scary motherfucker with a nugget of pure unsure mush in the center, and that was Cori. Lee could see the nightmare's troubles from half a block away.

"Hey, Cori," he called out, jogging over to meet the nightmare. "What's up?"

The trick was to not let him run away.

Aw fuck.

He knew that voice anywhere; fucking Lee Nicholas. The actor-gone-civilian had a knack for trapping the Corinthian and weaseling information out of him. It wasn't fair, Lee was the only other man in the City who was both a motorcycle enthusiast and likable. Cori didn't pull out another cancer stick just yet.

"Lee," replied the nightmare in a cool greeting, "nothing."

Lee nodded and smiled. "Good, then you can come with me to the store to get food."

He started walking, not giving Cori an option but to walk with him. "How are things? Blue's better?"

"What."

He stared at Lee, unamused by this proposition, but to refuse it was to draw attention to himself... As if he didn't do that already. Cori sounded a low grumble to himself as he followed the brunette into the market. "I need to pick up smokes anyway," the nightmare added, to justify his participation.

At the mention of Blue he glanced aside briefly, then nodded. "Yeah, he's fine. He went home today."

Lee looked over briefly, detecting the hint of avoidance. Can't hide it too long, can you, he thought. "Tony's pretty good," he said, aimlessly. "He's eating like a horse, though."

He took the Corinthian into the store, getting a shopping cart and starting in the vegetable section. "You know, magic addiction. Gets to the best of them." He smirked again.

"Glad to hear about Blue, though. He's a good kid."

"He could use it," said the nightmare, regarding Tony's eating habits, though he wasn't one to talk. Weight was hardly an issue for things that didn't need to eat. "I hear alphabet soup's a magician's friend, they scry shit with the letters," Cori quipped.

The cart between them made the excursion too domestic for Cori's taste. He kept his distance from Lee, needing it more to conceal his trouble rather than as a gesture of testosterone-infused masculinity.

"The cloak's spoiling him," he remarked casually.

Lee picked up a bag of potatoes. "Tony doesn't need the encouragement to use magic," he said, eying them for rot. He chose a particularly nice bag and put it in the cart. "Really, he's better of with regular chicken noodle."

Lee had a sixth sense for when people were feeling lousy - it was one of the things that made me a good actor - and he could feel it coming from Cori in waves. He kept quiet for another minute, though, picking his way through tomatoes. "Why is it spoiling him?" He looked over at Cori, "Isn't that your job, really?"

"No, I guess he doesn't," Cori replied absently, remembering how his last room mate used magic: for booze and to shaft daft twats.

"That batch took a bite from the frost," said the nightmare as Lee picked through tomatoes. He tossed a smaller and brighter red one from the bucket on his side to the Canadian, "take these." Despite his lousy and somewhat morose demeanor, Cori still had his excellent culinary prowess.

"You get cocky in a fight, that's all," he shrugged. For that very reason the Corinthian tried to not rely on his nightmare vision to win battles.

Lee took the tomato in his hand, nodded and started bagging them up. "Do you ever wonder where this stuff comes from," he asked. "I mean, when we buy a bag of Oreos, or whatever, does the money really go back to Nabisco?"

He plowed through the dairy section, getting several gallons of milk. "Anyway," he said casually, "Blue's not the only one cocky in a fight. So far he's been pretty good about that sort of thing." He turned. "We're supposed to have their back, aren't we? I don't know why they push us away."

He realized that it was about Blue, whatever the problem was. "Hand me one of those cartons of eggs, the 24 packs."

"There's a Starbucks and McDonald's and everyone's got a wireless hook up. If they're not running this show then our City Superiors are excellent corporate thieves."

That was a shitload of milk, Cori thought to himself as Lee hefted the gallons into his cart. He concluded that it was a mindless indulgence in a culture without milk bags. Teeth eyes glanced aside when the brunette spoke again. He knew Lee was trying to pull the information out of him. He figured Lee also knew that Cori knew.

"Yeah, that whole human mortality thing is overrated," the nightmare smirked as he handed a pack of Grade A eggs to Lee. "Blue doesn't push me away," he added.

There it was, that familiar hint that the Corinthian was finally in on the conversation. "I think I've stopped seeing food for it's value and I'm starting to see the caloric intake. Tony will drink all that milk by tomorrow afternoon. I'm feeding a machine." He didn't mention how Tony had lost almost fifty pounds in the last week using magic. No one needed to see Tony that skinny, no matter what the wizard said.

He pushed the cart towards the bread isle, maneuvering it past an old lady and a kid who didn't understand the concept of excuse me. "No?" he said, more a question than a statement. "Then what is he doing?"

"You know chugging that shit only makes you lose everything you ate before it," he reminded Lee of the milk gallons. He assumed the other man knew and possibly even participated in those sorts of young adult (stupid) male rituals. It was worse than chugging beer.

"Nothing," Cori said as he pushed his glasses closer to his face while passing the old woman and child. For all the strange creatures in the City, he still held on to a few habits he developed in the Waking World. Nightmares didn't bare their teeth like a badge of honor in public. It didn't work that way back home. "He likes keeping me close, excluding that time in the hospital," he smirked.

That smirk quickly faded. "He's moving fast for only a month," nodded the Corinthian, maintaining his 'cool' manner.

Lee nodded and put a bucket of the high-calorie powder he mixed in with the milk. "Yep, but he takes it pretty easy. He's just always putting something in his mouth," he said, then moved on to juice, getting only a large carton of orange juice. "His body burns the calories faster than we can get them in him."

Lee turned into the baking section, pulling cake flour into his cart. "Nothing?" he said, then heard the rest. "Did he tell you that he loved you?" It was something that Lee could see the younger man doing - he seemed a romantic, something like how Tony was a romantic, but more naive than Tony.

If that was the case, he recognized the problem right away.

"Why don't you smuggle an IV drip while you're at it," he suggested to Lee, if they ever wanted a way to get the proper fluids back into Tony quicker... "The needle doesn't pop out during sex, if you're careful." Cori tipped his shades down briefly, giving the other a brief glimpse of his equally smirky eyes. He pushed his shades back up afterward.

"Oh fuck you, Nicholas," muttered the Corinthian as he averted his gaze, hands tucked into his pockets. How usual of the Canadian to hit the nail on the head. His teeth eyes fell on those whipped cream tubes for cakes and pie. Cori imagined Lee's purple face as he choked him with a set. "Yeah, he did," he finally admitted.

Lee rolled his eyes. "He's not allowed sex until he reaches a good and healthy 110 pounds." He turned and pulled some pre-made frosting. Tony had been attached to an IV, but leave it to Cori to think of it in a sexual way.

Lee turned away a bit when Cori admitted that Blue had said he did. Of course Blue had said it - it was written all over the kid's face every time he looked or talked about the nightmare.

Lee pushed onwards, away from the weaponry isle and into the bagged chips and junk food isle. "What did you say?" he asked, grabbing a bag of oreo cookies and another box of pre-made brownies.

"110 pounds? Jesus, Blue weighs more than that," he quirked a brow at Lee.

"I didn't say anything," Cori stopped walking and shook his head, giving Lee a look that asked if he was stupid. "What am I supposed to say? He was honest with me, I'd like to return that honesty but I don't want to make him any promises I can't keep," he shook his head.

"He used to weight 135," Lee said with a slight frown. He needed that other wizard to teach Tony something, anything that would keep him from wasting himself into nothing.

At the admission, Lee nodded a bit then turned. "You realize, right, that you're full of crap?" he pulled a box of snackwells and turned into the cold foods isle.

He knew Cori was going to argue, so he headed the argument off by explaining. "You think the sun shines out his ass. You want him safe and happy and real and you want to be honest with him. That says a fuckload more than anything else, Cori. He loves you even though you're a nightmare and sort of fucked up in the head. And you know what? He knows that. And he loves you anyway." Lee paused and took a soda from the rack. "You don't want to promise him anything you can't keep. But you love him back, you stupid idiot."

He turned to look Cori straight in the ray-bans. "But I doubt you can admit it to yourself, let alone to him."

"Excuse me," asked the Corinthian in that particular tone, flat and full of careful disdain even though he really wanted an explanation. Fortunately Lee was willing to give it before he had to pursue any further course of action.

Funny that they should turn into the cold foods aisle then.

The pale hairs on the back of his neck bristled when Lee said those words, that he loved Blue back (truth), that he was a stupid idiot (false?), and that he couldn't admit it to himself let alone Blue (double truth). His white teeth narrowed sharply when they came eye to eye.

"..."

The Corinthian's hand shot out, straight for the brunette's collar, and pulled him in for a kiss. It was wet and heavy, but bland and base. It lacked everything he'd been enjoying since early December. Of course Cori was still a good kisser, but that was besides the point. His palate craved only one mouth, with its blue skies and sunshine.

He was sort of fucked up in the head (truth).

Lee waited the kiss out.

And waited.

And when the Corinthian pulled away he wiped his mouth and stated, matter-of-factly, "I've had more passionate and meaningful kisses on stage, Cori." He turned and picked up a roll of pre-made, unbaked biscuits. "Are the buttery ones better or the flakey ones? I'll just get both."

He kept pushing. "You don't need to kiss me to know that you love the boy," he said. "You just did it because you're a fucking weirdo." He grabbed a box of cream cheese. "Try not to do it again?"

He wiped his mouth too, on the back of his palm. It wasn't a statement on Lee's taste at all; it was a testament to how far Cori had come in a matter of a month. He readjusted his glasses, regaining composure when the other man asked a random question about canned rolls. "Buttery," he recommended.

The nightmare was at a loss. He expected something out of it, that usual feeling that was the definition of his very name, a licentious rake. He didn't feel stirred by the kiss though he expected otherwise. Cori had to admit that he just... wasn't... fucking... interested... in anyone else now. He didn't associate the feeling of stubble against his own skin with memories.

"... Okay."

He was dumbfounded by his own reaction.

It was like watching the sun rise, really. Or something equally monumental. He put another roll of the buttery rolls into the cart, then added a pack of the easy-bake cookies. "I think you're getting it," he said with a smirk.

"Not lets hope that none of Tony's numerous spy friends saw that."

Monumental wasn't quite the word he would use, but the gesture only seconds ago and his epiphany thereafter lent proof that Cori indeed was an emotional idiot.

Both of them were over a thousand years old, but it was Blue who was strongest in this department, Blue who had always had friends and something to fight for. Cori still felt reluctant about his lack of sexual attachments, curious that if it wasn't naivété or prudishness then what? It didn't help that he didn't talk to Blue as much. The boy had called it before; he knew more about him than he did Cori. He needed to talk.

"I could just kill them," the Corinthian suggested in jest, the weirdo he was.

Lee laughed. "Are you sure you don't see Alucard around here? I could swear..."

He took his items to the checkout. Cori could realize it all he wanted, he could know it up and down, but unless he told Blue, it would be pointless. "Are you going to tell him? I mean, I wouldn't suggest right now, considering it's one in the morning, but he should know."

Lee smiled softly. "I think it would make him happy."

"This isn't a blood bank," he countered.

Cori followed Lee to the checkout, already forgetting that he had mentioned picking up cigarettes earlier. He decided to stick with his Mild Sevens after all, a slim white cigarette with a single blue band around the filter. The nightmare appeared thoughtful for a moment, conflicted, but then he nodded.

"I will... and it's not just to make him happy," Cori shook his head, "it's the truth."

Lee clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm as proud as a mom whose kid brought home an ugly painting for the refrigerator. Good job."

He paid and bagged up his groceries, then carried juggled them, handing a couple of the bags to Cori. "Here," he commanded. "My doctor's fees."

"Don't push it, Lee," the Corinthian warned, but it was an empty threat. His parallel brought up a memory, of roses and a young woman's prince. "I was an abstract painter," he said with a nod, and he hoped the Lord Destruction never found out.

Cori accepted the rest of the bags, careful to keep the tomatoes from bruising and the eggs from cracking. "Did you ever play a therapist on TV," he asked while readjusting the couples' groceries for comfort. In their kitchen it was booze, steak, and whatever the white horror felt like making.

Lee snorted. "No, never a therapist, but once I played a therapy patient. Does that count?" The truth was that his father was a therapist-turned-mountain man, as unbelievable as that sounded. It had taken the Yukon only three months to make his father lower his practice to what they could survive on and become a part-time therapist and full time hiker.

"Tomorrow I make another run," he said. "If you feel like coming over and cooking? Now is a good time. A really good time."

"No," he said in a matter of fact manner. However, Cori was also the type to say he knew how to fly a B-2 Spirit all because he spent some time in the dreams of an Air Force pilot.

"Maybe. Neither of you two know shit about cooking, and magic is the cheapest shortcut you can take," the nightmare smirked, then raised his chin. He didn't really think the brunette was already trying to test him, but if that were the case he wanted Lee to know he was on to his Canadian bacon ass. "I have to talk to Blue first."

Lee led Cori up to his new apartment and opened the door, setting the bags down and taking the others from Cori. "Thanks for the help," he said with a smile. "Take care of things with Blue. And take a bath before you do it," he suggested with a grin.

He unloaded the groceries to Lee then reached into his own pocket for those cigarettes. He stuck an unlit Mild Seven between his teeth. "Yeah no problem," Cori said casually.

The nightmare quirked a brow at the advice. He was only emotionally lame, anything remotely sexual was his field of expertise. But if Lee was referring to something else then it only proved he was as hormonal as the teenager Blue was meant to represent.

"Okay, Doctor Goodlove."

He had meant that Cori smelled like he hadn't bathed in a couple of days.

"Goodnight, emotional retard," he quipped, closing the door and turning back to unpack his groceries.

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