Sunrise sunrise
Looks like morning in your eyes
But clock's held
9:15 for hours.

Humming along to the song blasting near his ear, twenty-five year old Damien Reis walked away from the dark alley containing smelly garbage cans and groaning werewolves. The blond grunted as he ran a hand through his windswept hair and let his emerald green eyes roam around the streets lit with yellow light from the street lamps. Slowly, with the lyrics from the song accompanying him, he walked towards the more crowded part of town. He passed by a pair of old ladies who not so subtly stared at him before hurrying away. Being a man that valued his mystery, Damien frowned displeasure at the unwanted attention before he stopped in front of a shop's window. He turned his head and blinked, finally getting an idea as to what those ladies were staring at.

"Hmm...should have guessed that," he murmured as he wiped the blood from his cheek with a handkerchief he fished from his pocket. He also had a busted lip, having taken a solid punch earlier. Nothing he could do to disguise that unless he placed his handkerchief in front of his mouth. Fortunately, he wasn't insecure enough to do something silly like that. Dabbing a bit more at it, Damien placed his now bloody kerchief back in his pocket before continuing on his way to the shopping district.

Clearing his throat, Damien tried his best to make himself presentable by swiping away invisible dust from his shoulders and straightening his blue rose petaled tie. When he saw that there was a bit of blood on the side of his dress shirt, he slid in to his black suit jacket (which had been hanging on his arm earlier) and successfully hid the damning evidence that he had just been in a fight. Running a hand through his hair again, the lone werewolf entered the human's shopping district, his MP3 player still singing Norah Jone's different songs to him.

It was only a couple of seconds after he'd stepped on to the busy street that he was swept away with the crowd, all heading in the same direction as he was. He towered above most of them with his height of almost six feet but he was by no means the tallest. A couple of times he was bumped and three times he'd had to slap away a hand that either attempted to slip in to his pocket for his wallet or to cop a feel. His phone rang in the chaos but he chose not to answer it as usual. It rang a couple more times, hoping that he would get irritated enough that he would answer it but the caller gave up after the third try.

When he reached the small cafe that he had scheduled a meeting in, Damien veered away from the crowd, subtly groping a cute passing girl in the process. Smirking at the squeak of protest that reached his ear, the werewolf calmly entered the shop and seated himself at the far corner where he could see everything. It was a couple of seconds later that a waitress came to him and took his order of hot chocolate, a plate of flan (he had quite the sweet tooth), and this morning's early paper. The waitress, pretty thing that she was, smiled politely at him and turned to pass his order to the kitchen.

Leaning back on his very comfortable chair, Damien smiled as he stared out the shop window and calmly waited for his order and his 'date'. Calling it a date was little bit of an exaggeration though seeing as he hadn't been the one to ask the guy out. It had actually been a friend at the office who did and then had to back out at the last minute. He was here, meeting the guy (who had supposedly agreed to the switch as well) as a favor and if they hit it off...well. Come what may, he supposed and took out his phone. There were three miss calls from said friend. It was most likely an update on the research he had asked her to do. Flipping to his text message, he typed it 'Something happened?' and sent it to her. The blue phone alerted him a few seconds later that a text message arrived but the front doors opening took his attention more and he looked up, wanting to know if it was his 'date'.

He blinked as there were three people who entered. One of them had to be him...hopefully. He was momentarily distracted when the waitress placed his paper and drink in front of him, quietly informing him that the flan was going to take a few more minutes. Nodding to her, Damien placed away his MP3 player and simply listened to the cafe's music...which was still Norah Jones. She was singing to one of his favorite songs (Shoot the Moon). Humming a bit, he calmly looked back at the door, trying to see if his date was amongst the new comers.

The summer days are gone too soon
You shoot the moon
And miss completely.

Zake groaned sleepily and rolled over as he heard his alarm clock go off. It took several slaps to silence the annoying thing, and quite a few more to turn the radio on and switch it to his favorite station. A grungy voice floated out of the speakers, and Zake opened one eye. He stared at the clock, wondering why it had woken him up this early… He wasn’t working… Well, he was sure he would be reminded eventually. Maybe it was on his calendar…

A shrug and a sigh later, Zake hauled himself out of bed and flicked on his light, squinting unhappily as the artificial rays hit him. He yawned hugely, revealing his triple set of overlong canines, and slowly dragged himself into the bathroom. Without pausing to look at his reflection, Zake pulled a comb through his shoulder length silver hair and yanked up the nearest pair of pants, then stuck a toothbrush in his mouth and walked out to the kitchen, peering intently at the tiny calendar pinned beside his fridge. He almost choked.

“Why teh fell an I doin’ fhis!” Zake didn’t bother to remove his toothbrush as he yelled at himself; he had completely forgotten the…appointment he had that morning, and he was not pleased to find that he had to be at his destination in fifteen minutes. He quickly finished taking care of his hygiene and threw off his pants, rummaging hurriedly through his closet for something a little more suitable. After only a few seconds, he had on his nicest pair of jeans and a grey button-down, which matched his eyes perfectly. He checked himself in the mirror one more time before grabbing his phone and jacket and near running out the door.

It took a few minutes for Zake to get from his top floor apartment to the street below, and by then he was really hurrying. He didn’t know who he was supposed to see that day, but, according to his friend, this was an important meeting, and Zake didn’t want to be late. Apparently he was supposed to go to some café…? He didn’t quite know where it was, so he pulled out his phone and punched the address into his GPS. He couldn’t hear the cool voice of the device as it directed him, but he knew how to read a map, and had no trouble finding his way.

Several irritating minutes later, Zake arrived in front of his destination. He took a quick look up at the name before walking inside with a few other people, and glanced around for someone that fit the description of the man he was supposed to meet with. He soon found a man that fit and walked over to the table, a little unsure of what to say.

“Umm… Hi there. I’m Zake. We were supposed to be meeting today, I think…” He held out his hand for the other to shake. "Your name is...Damien, correct?" Zake smiled slightly, though he was quite embarrassed, and felt a slow blush begin to creep up his neck. He ignored it and brushed a few stray strands of hair out of his face. “May I sit down?”

Meeting? Damien blinked as he shook hands with who he assumed was Zake. Well that was certainly one way of putting it. Nodding in answer to both the man's query, Damien gestured to the empty seat in front of him. He took a sip of his hot cocoa, eyes subtly examining the other man's features. Silver hair and gray eyes. It was an interesting combination, Damien thought. He took his time with his drink before finally, after a few moments of awkward silence, he put it down.

"Very nice to meet you Zake," he said finally, his low velvety voice almost caressing skin, "I do apologize about Miang suddenly backing out. As she explained, she's dealing with a certain project that I unfortunately, heaped on her shoulders." He didn't exactly tell Zake that he was actually Miang's boss and childhood friend and that he was having Miang hack in to police records in order to gain a few more clues as to the murder of his sister.

He waved his hand, ordering the earlier waitress to come to him and his guest. The girl smiled at both of them and placed the menu on the table, right in front of Zake. She felt her pockets and pulled out a small pad paper and a pen, instruments used to take down their orders.

"I already took the liberty of ordering a small meal for myself. Go ahead and take your pick. It's my treat," Damien said again as he relaxed on his cushioned seat, greatly enjoying the atmosphere. Lips forming in to a small smile, the refined werewolf blatantly stared at Zake in an effort to read the other man. Deciding that silence and staring wasn't exactly the best way to know the other man, Damien opened his mouth and started a bit of idle chatter, "Is it safe to assume that you work in the same company as I do? Odd that I haven't seen you before though...I usually make it a point to get to know my coworkers. "

He was certain that this was the first time he and Zake were meeting. He would never forget the kind of features Zake had after all. Silver hair and gray eyes were quite a rare trait and if they were natural, they were even rarer.

Zake slowly surveyed the man in front of him, wondering what he was like. One could tell a lot about someone from his or her appearance, and this man…looked quite a bit different that anyone Zake had seen before. He noted the busted lip and the smell of blood around the man, but didn’t make any comment; it was obvious that Damien didn’t really want attention drawn to the fact that he had been in a fight before this little meeting. After a few seconds, he sat down awkwardly and bit the inside of his cheek, extremely uncomfortable with the whole situation.

This man smelled of wolf. Werewolf. Zake knew the smell all to well; he woke up to it every morning. He had never met another of his kind before, and he didn’t know if this man could be trusted… He now began to wonder what this meeting might really be for… Did Damien know his secret? No…that couldn’t be. Zake made it a priority to cover up his scent well after every shower. This must just be a complete coincidence, that’s all. This thought was comforting, and he relaxed just slightly.

“Oh no, it’s no trouble at all. I enjoy helping my friends when they’re in tight spots…” Zake bowed his head to the man, looking up with wide eyes, though it was only a few seconds before he straightened himself up again, a light flush rising in his cheeks. He could tell this wolf was of a much higher rank than himself, and he couldn’t help but show a little bit of submissive behavior. It was in his blood, and he couldn’t change that. Though it was rather annoying…he didn’t want Damien to know what he was, and signs of submission would surely give him away.

Zake glanced at the menu for only a few seconds before looking up to the waitress and ordering an iced mocha. “Thank you, but I can pay, I really don’t mind.” He smiled slightly, cursing himself for being so subservient. He usually didn’t act like this, and he didn’t like it at all. He was rather relieved as the man struck up a conversation; sitting there in silence would have killed him.

“Umm…no, I don’t believe I work with you… I highly doubt that you would work where I do, for some reason…” Zake failed to mention that he worked at a bookstore a few blocks away, not wanting to appear to terribly lame in front of this well put together and obviously successful man. He glanced to his right quickly as the waitress came back, and took a sip of his drink. He then yawned widely, revealing his triple set of wickedly sharp canines for all the world to see. It took a few seconds for Zake to realize what he had done; those teeth weren’t a human trait, and he knew it. He could only hope that the other man hadn’t noticed.

"I see. That makes more sense," the werewolf nodded and glanced at the waitress as she placed his flan in front of him. He gave her an acknowledging nod and a thank you before focusing on Zake once again. He was careful to meet the other man's eyes for only a couple of seconds out of habit more than knowledge that Zake was a werewolf as well. In his world, if he met the other man's eyes longer, he would be inciting a challenge that would no doubt end in them having a brawl right in the middle of the cafe. And while a battle for dominance was usually quite enjoyable, Damien had just gotten out of one and didn't want another fight so soon.

"My that's certainly a rare combination of traits," Damien said as he saw the canines. Dogs generally yawned when they were feeling stressed. It was why there were several yawning dogs in a veterinary clinic. Now that Damien had a definite clue that Zake was a werewolf, he didn't feel insulted that his presence was 'boring enough to make someone feel sleepy' as it would translate in human language. With Zake's hair, eyes, and canines, it made Damien wonder what the other looked like as a werewolf instead of a human. Would his fur be silver as well? Would his eyes be of the same color? More and more this male was catching the refined werewolf's attention.

"Wolves are rare in this city because of the lack of governance from our kin," Damien said in an off-handed manner while also subtly admitting to Zake that he was wolf as well. He cut in to his flan and scooped a bit in to his mouth, revealing one sharp fang to the other man not to further emphasize that he was an alpha male but in order to give another hint that he was wolf as well. "And most wolves who do stay in the city aren't exactly the friendly sorts," he said again after he swallowed. He'd been dealing with the unfriendly sorts just a couple of minutes ago. They were foolish pups who dared to challenge him, the northern side's alpha male. And they were in his territory as well. Foolish foolish pups.

Damien tilted his head to the side and took a deep smell before his lips curved up in to an amused smile. He let out a low chuckle. "Clever," he said as he finally realized why he couldn't catch a whiff of the male's scent. The scent of soap, shampoo, and conditioners were heavily intertwined, masking the wolf scent. Damien could only detect a hint of it. It wasn't enough to get a solid lock on the other male but it was enough to make others of their kind think that Zake was in contact with another wolf.

"Do you not belong to a pack? Your method of hiding your scent leaves me with the impression that you do not have a pack of your own." If the male was a loner and didn't want to be a part of a pack, Damien would back off on those kinds of questions. But if Zake didn't know that he could be a part of a pack (specifically Damien's), then he would do his best to explain the responsibilities of being in one as well as the protection it could provide.

Zake felt his heart begin to beat faster as he listened to the man speak. His shoulders slumped and his eyes widened; he really didn’t like where this ‘date’ was going. He had kept himself a secret for so long, and now, to have one man figure him out in a matter of minutes… It was quite scary for him. He resisted the urge to growl, though he felt the vibrations rising up from his chest. Any little bit of aggressive behavior right now could send this civilized meeting into a whirling clash, and Zake knew exactly who would win. Damien was obviously an alpha, and Zake had almost no fighting experience with his own kind. Fighting this man would be suicide; that had dawned on Zake a while ago.

“Umm… Wolves… Are they rare? I…” Zake trailed off lamely and instinctively glanced from side to side, trying to find some way out of this situation. His nostrils flared and, if he had been in his wolf form, his ears would have been flattened against his head. He was really frightened now; did Miang know this man was a werewolf? Why had she set them up together? Did she know his secret? Hundreds of thoughts and questions swirled around his mind, and he began to feel the affects in his stomach.

“Umm… Excuse me…for just a minute, please…” Zake almost jumped out of his seat and bowed slightly, then hurried off to the bathroom. It took a minute or two for him to finish emptying his stomach; the bitter taste of the coffee he had just drank filled his mouth, along with bile and other nasties, forcing him to continue to gag for a few seconds. When he was quite finished, he stood and washed his mouth in the sink, glad that no one had come in to witness his embarrassment.

After several minutes of deep breaths and calming words, Zake made his way back out to his table. He felt a little better now, though the prospect of continuing to talk with this man made him very nervous. He managed to keep himself calm, and responded to the man’s questions with as much dignity as he could muster while his voice was shaking.

“I… No, I’m not in a pack… I prefer living alone, and I don’t like people knowing what I am, sir…” Zake hunched his shoulders again; if had had been a wolf at the moment, his stomach would have been scraping the ground in submission. He hated this. Zake didn’t like people knowing what he was, but knowing that you were able to fight and defeat almost anyone you saw was a nice thought. Now everything that Zake had come to know in this world was shattered, and he was terrified. He felt like a little puppy, unable to do anything against those of a higher rank than him. Quite frankly, it pissed him off, but fear came before anger in this particular situation.

Damien stared at where Zake had gone before looking at his newspaper and opening it to read the headlines. He couldn't figure out why the other man was so agitated to be in his presence. Certainly he could be intimidating but he wasn't about to go play the 'who's more dominant game' at the moment. It was difficult to reign in his werewolf instinct when someone challenged him but all the signs that Zake was displaying made him imagine a pup, whimpering with its belly up. Sighing, Damien took a sip of his hot cocoa before narrowing his eyes on the headline.

Julia Reis dies in a car accident - Mila Johnson

He was halfway through the article when Zake returned. Vowing silently to read all of it later, the refined werewolf folded the paper and placed it beside his flan. He smiled slightly, though it was a little strained. The article plagued him with thoughts of how Julia truly died and as usual, it was difficult for him to put a leash on his anger. Everything inside of him was telling him to find who had killed the alpha female of his pack and to make an example out of the bastard. Tell every pack and wolf in existence that messing with his pack was a big folly. If he had been in his werewolf form, he would be pacing around, snorting and growling.

“I… No, I’m not in a pack… I prefer living alone, and I don’t like people knowing what I am, sir…”

"I understand," Damien responded quickly before putting another piece of his flan in to his mouth. He savored the sweet taste for a few moments, letting it distract his mind from his sister's murder before facing Zake again. "I won't bother you about it but I feel that I should warn you." His green eyes traveled to his newspaper, lingering on the article that told the cover up story for his sister's murder before meeting Zake's once more, "There have been reports that a new pack has entered the town. They're quite rowdy and they're picking up rogue wolves such as yourself. Please be careful."

It wasn't like him truly, to warn others who were not of his pack of such dangers but he couldn't ignore the situation anymore. That unknown pack was building its strength, slowly making its move to destroy the fragile truce the four districts had with each other. So far, only the Northern and the Eastern districts had experienced a decrease in registered rogue wolves but he couldn't count on those figures. The West and the South could be experiencing the same thing. They might just be hiding it better.

"Well...I can see that this type of conversation doesn't bring you any comfort," Damien said before ordering some water to wash down the sweetness in his mouth, "There's no need to be afraid of me. I didn't come here with the intention to bring up werewolf matters. I came here only to meet you since we have a mutual friend. Please relax and just be yourself. I promise I won't attack you."

Zake listened carefully to the other man’s warning, and growled quietly in his throat. He wasn’t about to let some random old rouge pack get him. Zake prided himself on not being in a pack, and certainly wasn’t going to be roped into one by some indiscriminate wolf he didn’t know. His eyes became a little brighter, a strange fire kindled inside them. His brows laced together, and he rested his elbows on the table, to think this over really well.

“Thank you for the warning… But I don’t think they will be a problem.” Zake’s voice was low and dangerous now; all fear was gone from it. His face was hard as flint, and it seemed the temperature around him dropped a few degrees. He knew the hardships and benefits of being a rouge wolf, and he really didn’t like the idea of someone recruiting them into one big pack. Rouges could be gentle, but more often then not they were vicious, and this was bad news for the fragile bond between the already existing packs. Even someone as uneducated as Zake knew this, so there was almost no chance this was a coincidence.

“And… I think I’m more than capable of handling anyone that comes my way.” Zake didn’t know what made him say this. He had never fought someone of his own kind before, but, for some strange reason, he felt he could defeat a werewolf easily, right now. He slowly became fidgety, and began biting his lip as the minutes wore on. He snapped out of his trance as Damien began to talk again, but still didn’t feel quite right.

“Yes… I believe you.” Zake began to relax gradually, and smiled just a little. Now that this alpha male obviously was not trying to kill him and had no real interest in his being a werewolf, Zake found it quite easy to lighten up in his presence. He stopped wiggling and flicked a little bit of hair out of his face, the usual mischievous glint returning to his grey eyes.

“Excuse me sir… But I can’t help but wonder why Miang couldn’t show up today instead of me… Do you think you could shed some light on the subject?” Zake rested his head on his hands, watching the other man carefully. This didn’t exactly matter to him too much, but he was a little curious, and Zake was one to always satisfy his inquisitiveness. Curiosity killed the cat? Well, no one said anything about a wolf. A slow, impish smile crept over his lips as he thought this, and he almost began to giggle. He was glad to act more like himself; if this really was just a ‘date’ kind of thing, then he definitely didn’t want Damien to think he acted like a scared pup all the time. The presence of another wolf had just…startled him, that’s all.

Damien smirked. He had to give the other wolf some credit. It took some balls to say something like that in front of an alpha male even if one was a rogue. He had to admit that he liked Zake much better this way. It was...refreshing so to speak. His pack members were quite friendly and normal on his good days but when he was in a bad mood and he tended to growl at anything that moved, they stayed away from him. Without meaning to, his shoulders relaxed a tad and his gaze became slightly unguarded.

“Yes… I believe you.”

Good. Maybe now Damien could finally enjoy this 'date'. He nodded to the waitress as she placed a glass of water in front of him. Raising the glass to his lips, Damien couldn't help but mimic the move with his left brow as Zake donned on a mischievous expression. Just what was on his mind?

“Excuse me sir… But I can’t help but wonder why Miang couldn’t show up today instead of me… Do you think you could shed some light on the subject?”

"My name is Damien," he said first and foremost before he smirked and took a drink of his water, "From this point on, I will ignore any and all questions or attempts to grab my attention if you happen to call me sir. I'll make an excuse this time since it is your first however. And her official excuse was that I piled up a bunch of things on her shoulders on such short notice. I am not certain what she is on about. I only gave her a couple of papers to look over and a small project that could be accomplished in two hours time." He let out a low chuckle as he relaxed further on his seat and lazily eyed his companion and spoke again, "This is Miang however and nothing is ever simple with her. I am quite certain that she has an ulterior motive for bringing the two of us together." It wasn't the first time that Damien had been the butt of his friend's joke after all. He'd been her victim so many times already that he had begun to fear the first of April every year.

It said something fierce about the human woman when an alpha werewolf got antsy whenever she had that deadly glint in her blue eyes.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you and Miang meet?" he tilted his head to the side, bringing a bit of his blond hair to the side. He raised his left elbow and rested it on the armrest of his chair. "I truly hope that ketchup, breakfast, and eggs are not involved like when we met." His right eye twitched at the reminder of what had happened on that one fateful morning he woke up late and had to dine with Miang.

Zake chuckled and raised an eyebrow slightly. “Breakfast? No… We met at a nightclub a long time ago. I was only fifteen.” He didn’t bother to elaborate any further; his childhood was not something he wanted to discuss with this wolf. Life had only recently been getting better for Zake, and he did not want to jinx his luck.

“But yes… I do know what you mean. She’s always blowing things all out of proportion…” Zake smiled wistfully, thinking fondly of the woman. “But you can’t help but like her.” He smiled in Damien’s direction, suddenly feeling much better being here. He waved the waitress over and ordered a stack of pancakes. It wasn’t long before they came out of the kitchen, and he began demolishing them. He had forgot for a little bit that he hadn’t had breakfast this morning… But now that thought was foremost in his head.

Once his eating had slowed down a tad, Zake looked up at Damien and swallowed, taking a sip of coffee before he spoke. “So, s- Damien… Umm… Are you married?” He immediately felt awkward again… He had no idea if werewolves even used that term, let alone if this was an appropriate question. His cheeks slowly began to turn pink again, and he looked down to his food, not wanting to look the man in the eyes. He murmured something inaudible, and shook his head, then continued shoveling pancakes into his mouth.

((A little short, sorry...))

((Lulz. It's fine. It happens. xD))

Fifteen eh? It made Damien wonder just how old Zake was now and how old had been then when the two first met. It was a night club though. Miang couldn't have been old enough to enter such an establishment unless she had presented a fake ID...which in Miang's case was quite the possibility. As for Zake...well Damien could think of a couple of reasons as to why the werewolf had been there. He choked it up to a hard life and didn't blame the man for what he had possibly done in his past. Damien was hardly one to preach after all.

If anything, he might be the more tainted of the two.

His green eyes softened even more when Zake begun to eat in earnest. That was a good sign. Imitating the other man, Damien ate half of his flan. He was enjoying the silence of simple dining when Zake disturbed it. Damien looked up from his half demolished meal, blinking at the question that suddenly popped up.

“So, s- Damien… Umm… Are you married?”

"No. I'm quite single. I never felt the need to take up a mate despite what others keep telling me," he answered truthfully with a shake of his head. There had been several arguments with his betas and from his sister about him getting a mate and subsequently an heir in order to keep the pack as established as possible. He'd countered it all by saying that Julia could simply get married or involved and have a pup. Then all of their problems would be solved. Now though, with Julia dead, Damien would be the one to provide an heir.

He wasn't particularly worried about it. There were several ways to get a child without getting married or involved with someone he didn't want.

Damien tilted his head, watching in bewilderment as Zake shoved some more of his breakfast down his throat. What did he do to make the other man uncomfortable now? "Are you? Married I mean." he asked, deciding to turn the question to the other man. Zake didn't look like he was old enough to want to live a married life but appearances could be deceiving.

Zake looked up from his food momentarily as the werewolf answered his question, but looked back down almost as quickly. He was now embarrassed that he was embarrassed, and subsequently his humiliation was only getting worse. This was the worst possible situation for him to be in; not only was he making a fool of himself, but he was making a fool of himself in front of an alpha male of very high esteem.

Zake almost choked as Damien asked his question. Getting married seemed so preposterous to him that simply being asked that question made him laugh. He swallowed and a took a quick sip of coffee to quiet his coughs, then glanced up at Damien once again.

“No, I’m not married. I’ve only just turned twenty last week.” Zake smiled and brushed some hair out of his face. “I haven’t even had a girlfriend before. Girls think I’m too childish; you should have seen how many times Miang pounded me for making dirty jokes about her.” He grinned sheepishly, though he was asking himself exactly why he was sharing this with this practical stranger. He supposed it was because the man was being so open about everything he was saying. It certainly lightened up the mood, and Zake really wasn’t in a depressed state of mind right now anyway.

((Oh my god, bad. Hopefully my writing will get a little better this weekend...))

((So long as you don't dissolve in to one-liners, you're still okay in my book. ^-^))

Damien had to work to visibly control his amusement as Zake almost choked on his coffee. Obviously, all males reacted the same when the topic of married life was thrown on to the table and they weren't prepared for it. "If you ask me, Miang deserves every joke placed on her. You can't imagine how many jokes she's placed on others and I whenever the whim takes her," Damien said, remembering a couple of the pranks that he had gotten himself in to, "That woman can instill a phobia on jokes on someone."

He wasn't exaggerating either. Look at him after all. He literally became a paranoid wreck whenever April Fool's drew near. And on the day itself? He opted to disappear somewhere, leaving his betas to handle all the pranks, until the day had passed. He should feel more guilty really but seeing as it got him out of sticky situations (both literally and figuratively), he couldn't quite muster up the appropriate feelings of self-depreciation.

"Odd that you've never had a lover though. From what I've seen so far, you're quite desirable," he said and waved the waitress over. He gave her a credit card for the bill and she retreated back to the counter with the shiny plastic card. He was aware that Zake had said earlier that he would pay for his own breakfast but Damien didn't have any cash on him. Besides, he had been the one to take Miang away from this meeting in the first place thus causing them both to have a 'date'.

Keep making excuses in your head but the truth is that you really just wanted to treat him.

Damien resolutely ignored his own thoughts (although he did hope that Zake wouldn't notice that he was paying for he whole meal already) and focused on the other male. "Miang had a set schedule for today. I'm not sure she told you or not but she bought tickets for the amusement park and a movie for later in the evening. I'm not sure which movie it is though..." Damien said and frowned as he pulled out the two pairs of tickets from his pocket and placed them on the table for Zake to examine. The blue ones were for the amusement park and the red ones were for the movie house. Like Damien said however, it was impossible to know which movie Miang picked since all that was written was 'Cinema Number 1'.

"Have you two talked about a movie you wanted to watch lately?"

((If I ever went to one-liners, I would jump off a bridge. xP ))

Zake smiled slightly as Damien commented on Miang’s prank pulling, but otherwise didn’t respond; a thought had just popped into his head, and it was now pulling at his attention. This wasn’t really something he wanted to think about, so he tried to push the thoughts to the back of his head, with little success. He was glad to be distracted by the arrival of the waitress, and pulled out his wallet, albeit a bit too slowly.

“Hey, I said I would pay for mine… You really don’t have too.” Zake furrowed his eyebrows just a little and took out enough money to pay for his meal. “Reimbursement. Take it.” He plopped the money on the table, then rested his head on his hands once more, gazing lazily at the man in front of him.

Zake raised one eyebrow as he heard the comment on his desirability. “You really think so? Ehh… I don’t know…” He supposed what Damien said was true, but he had never really stopped to think about it. He wasn’t interested in romance, so none of that mattered to him. It was rather enjoyable to be…not ugly, however, and he would prefer it that way.

“Amusement park passes?” Zake sat up straight and his mouth curled into a small smile. “And movie tickets? No way… I told Miang I had never been to a theme park, and she thought it was preposterous. So I guess she was going to take me…” He laughed out loud; for some reason Zake found this thought extremely entertaining. “And as a matter of fact, we were talking about movies just the other day… We wanted to go see that new zombie movie that came out last week. Zombies are awesome.” Zake grinned and began to bounce on his seat, but stopped almost as soon as he had starting, looking slightly put out. “But she’s busy… I guess we’ll go another day…”

((I'll help tie you up if you'll do the same for me if ever I find myself in same situation. xD))

Damien had to smirk as he accepted the reimbursement money and stuffed it in his pocket. He could always call in a favor to Miang and have the girl sneakily put it back in Zake's wallet in the future. "Very definitely," Damien answered to that comment about Zake's desirability. If the other male had a stable life and a stable job, the alpha wolf was certain that females were going to flock towards him whether he liked it or not.

Damien felt the sides of his lips quirk up when he heard Zake laugh but he tilted his head to the side the moment that his companion's mood soured. "Don't be silly," he said and stood up before walking to where Zake was sitting and offering his hand, "That's one of the reasons as to why I am here. I'll be accompanying you to the amusement park and the movie in place of Miang." He didn't know why the thought that Zake might not want to spend some time with him annoyed him but he hid it and ignored it. He would examine the cause of it later but not now.

He snatched up the tickets on the table with his free hand and gave them to Zake for safe-keeping. If ever the other werewolf lost them, Damien would simply buy another pair of tickets for them. He was quite determined to let Zake enjoy the day. Anything less would stain the older male's pride.

"I'm not one to watch movies but I'll give this one a try."

It was true. Damien preferred to read books and spend time in the gym rather than watching a movie either at home or at a movie house. Miang asked him once as to how he lived with himself. He almost rolled his eyes at the memory. She treated it like not watching movies was the crime of the century. Since then she had never stopped trying to get him to sit still and watch a movie from start to finish. She still hadn't succeeded since Damien's attention would always wander somewhere else and he would be lost in thought for the whole film.

For this particular movie though, he would try his best to pay attention.

((Blarg. I don't think I did well with this one. Dx))

Zake tilted his head slightly when he thought of the alpha male on a roller coaster, but smiled nonetheless. He hadn’t actually considered that Damien would be the one to take him to these places, but now that he thought about it, that had been rather obvious from the beginning. Miang was obviously a good friend to do something like this; she was determined to give Zake a good time, even it she wasn’t there. He knew why, and he supposed he should now tell the man he would be spending the rest of his day with.

“Okay, that’ll be fun. You don’t seem like the type to go to amusement parks, so it’ll be a first for both of us. I bet we’ll have fun, huh?” Zake grinned widely, showing off his white teeth and perfectly sharp canines. Now that he was more on the same level as this man, he was returning to his normal, cocky self. Zake was normally extremely sarcastic and self-confident, so being so submissive like he was before was certainly not his style. But now that he had a whole day with Damien, he was absolutely sure to show the man what he was like on a day-to-day basis.

Zake’s eyes widened when he heard Damien’s pronouncement about movies. He was somewhat shocked; obviously, he and Miang were of the same mindset when it came to cinema. “How can you not like movies? That’s crazy.” Zake had grown up going to the theater every weekend with his parents; movies were a big part of his life. He smiled once again, though he didn’t bother showing off with it this time. “I don’t know if you’ll like this one or not… You don’t look like you would watch dead people eating brains very often…” This thought was very funny to Zake for some reason; he dissolved into a fit of manly giggles that took several minutes to resolve.

After Zake’s episode was taken care of, he took a deep breath and shoved the tickets in his jeans pocket. He then glanced at his watch and stood up. “Well, I guess we should get going. These are all day tickets, and the movie is at ten o’clock, so we want to get as much fun time as possible. Miang says this place is really cool.” He began to walk towards the door, but stopped after only a few steps, his cheeks slightly pink. “Umm… I don’t have a car… Do you think you could…?” He didn’t finish his sentence, sure that Damien would get the gist of what he was saying.

"I never truly had the time to go to amusement parks," Damien remarked as he stepped out of the shop before smirking at Zake showing off his teeth. He would have done the same but he'd already established that he was an alpha male. Doing so again would mean telling Zake in werewolf tongue that he 'needed to be put in his place'. And since Damien wasn't aiming for a fight for dominance, he refrained from barring his fangs.

"Hmm..." Damien started before pausing and smiling at Zake dissolving in to laughter. He was starting to grow very fond of the other werewolf's laugh he realized. "As with amusement parks, I never had the time to watch a movie so I never truly got in to the mindset. And well...whenever Miang would force me to watch with her, I'm either thinking of something other than the movie or I fall asleep." It was difficult to admit something the fact that he was hopeless at things that people liked to call entertainment but since Zake had shared a lot about himself during breakfast, Damien had to let go of some of his own secrets. "But I'll give this one a try...and won't analyze it too much...unless it is the kind of movie that must be analyzed to be understood?"

He was mentally beating himself up. God was he hopeless at this...

"Umm… I don’t have a car… Do you think you could…?”

Thank whatever spirits are out there for the change of subjects....though he wasn't too certain as to what Zake's problem was. Damien could of course, have his car brought here or actually pick up the car he had been planning on picking up today from the automobile shop across the street. Then again, they could just take the bus all the way to the amusement park. Which one would Zake like the best though?

Damien gazed across the street to the shop that contained one of his cars before looking back at Zake and smiling, "I have a car at the shop across the street. We take it with us...unless you want to take the bus?"

There. That was safe. Let the other man decide what he wanted since the day was about Zake's enjoyment after all.

Zake sighed and placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed the werewolf in front of him. “Well… Maybe you need to spend less time working and more time playing, if you get my drift.” He shrugged and scratched his ear, revealing the strange piercings poking their way through his cartilage. They hadn’t been very visible before, but now that his hair was behind his ears, they were visible in all their spiky glory. There were three on each ear, bright, polished silver spikes driven through to protrude from the other side like the spikes on a dragon’s back. Aside from these, Zake had an eyebrow piercing, and a stud on his lower lip.

“And I can’t picture you falling asleep during a movie… Unless you snore really loud or something. That would be funny.” Zake snorted, but straightened out his face rather quickly; he didn’t really know where the line was between friendly and disrespectful. Damien was an alpha male after all, and Zake certainly didn’t want to get on his bad side. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t think that would be very good for his image. “No, you don’t want to analyze this… It’ll seem really stupid if you do.”

Zake glanced around as they exited the café, just to make sure no one was going to smash into him on a bike or anything. When he was satisfied the coast was clear, he looked back at Damien. “I think… Would you mind if we used your car? Buses scare the crap out of me.” He did a good job at covering the real fear in these words, and he definitely would not be relating that particular story to Damien today. Though this fear of buses was sound, he didn’t want to ruin his first meeting with this alpha male.

The more Zake was around Damien, the more he came to realize how awkward the man really was. If you just saw him briefly, just at a glance, you would think he was a very suave, smooth man, and he was, but he also seemed like he didn’t know much about everyday people’s lives. And, the more Zake thought about this, the more he thought that this was very cute, and incredibly attractive, for some strange reason. He shoved these thoughts to the back of his head and looked back at the man, determined to keep his cool.

“Oh, by the way, today is my birthday. Just so you know.” Zake had meant to tell Damien this earlier, but it had slipped his mind. This worried him a little; Zake normally really enjoyed his birthdays, and certainly didn’t forget them. But he supposed the shock of meeting a random alpha male werewolf like this was enough to shake a birthday out of anyone’s mind, so he wasn’t worried about it.

Truth be told, Damien never truly understood the deal with piercings. He could understand the ones by the ears but why would people want to take away the attention from their faces with metal they've embedded upon themselves. Now, meeting Zake, he still didn't understand it. The boy was handsome. He didn't need to hide anything and he didn't need more attention. He didn't mind it. Hell he was even wondering how Zake would look in his werewolf form with the piercings on. He still wanted to ask though. Not understanding something grated on his nerves but he refrained himself. He didn't want to make even more of a fool of himself as he had already.

"I don't snore," Damien said and then frowned in thought, "But if I ever do no one has ever bothered to tell me or to wake me." That was probably largely due to the fact that he was an alpha male and would most likely bite the hand off of the first one to interrupt his rest for something as mundane as snoring. Besides, he never truly slept with anyone. Certainly his nightly gallants with the opposite sex (and sometimes the same sex) made him want to sleep with them - and by that he meant resting after the vigorous activity - but he never did. He didn't trust those people enough to be caught in such a vulnerable state. The person you sleep next to determined if you will wake up or not after all.

"I don't mind. I needed to pick it up anyway," he answered as he waited for the cross light to turn green before indeed crossing the street. There were several other pedestrians whom crossed with him but his attention was on Zake. Damien didn't ask about the other man's phobia with the bus. It didn't seem like a topic the other werewolf was inclined to discuss and so, he left it at that. He smirked however, when the other man informed him it was his birthday.

"I know. Miang informed me. I was simply wondering when you would say something about it." he answered, amused, and rummaged through his pocket for that small package as he reached the other end of the street. "Here. Happy Birthday." He placed the small box on Zake's hand and gave the younger man a wink as he pushed the auto shop's door open and entered the store, keeping the door open for Zake.

The present was a titanium ring with Damien's crest as the design. Basically, the symbol allowed Zake to visit Miang and his company whenever he wanted provided of course that either Miang or Damien himself were available for a little chat.

"Miang thought of it. If you ever need to see either of us and we're at work, just present that to the guards in the company building and they'll let you in. No questions asked," he explained as he approached the counter and gave the owner a receipt to verify that he was indeed the owner of one of the cars under their care.

Zake almost nodded when Damien made the comment about waking him… Zake wouldn’t wake the alpha male for money, and he worked in a bookstore. Still, the thought of someone as handsome and refined as Damien snoring as he slept made him smile broadly, no matter how many times he told himself he was being stupid. Zake wasn’t an extremely deep thinker most of the time; his mind was usually set on a joke he had heard somewhere, or the newest video game in stores, things of that nature. But when he did delve deep, he could be very insightful.

“Oh, alright.” Zake nodded and glanced at Damien as they were crossing the street, then tripped and cursed rather loudly. “Eh… Sorry…” His face went slightly pink, but the blush didn’t stay there long. Zake did not like to be thought of as a klutz, or someone who was embarrassed easily, but, unfortunately, both of these were very good descriptions of him. So, he had almost mastered the act of forcing his face to stay flush free when in a situation that blushing might be an issue. He knew this was a little strange, but he didn’t really care; not much bothered him when his pride was at stake.

Zake furrowed his eyebrows as the alpha male passed him the little box; he certainly wasn’t expecting a present or anything, though he did assume it was from Miang. He stepped into the building with Damien, then opened the little box and tilted his head slightly. He picked up the ring that was the box’s contents and examined it while listening to Damien’s explanation of it. “Okay, I get it. I was a little confused for a second…” He smiled and gently pushed the ring onto his third finger. “It fits perfectly… That’s a little creepy.” He chuckled and scratched his head, then leaned against a wall as he waited for Damien to finish getting his car stuff worked out.

((Short, sorry... I'm having a brain fart today.))

((-head desk- I need a hair cut. My long hair is giving me all sorts of headaches. Ugh...I can't concentrate on making my posts! Dx))

Damien sent a small smirk on Zake's way before signing a couple of papers and presenting an ID just to make sure that he the car belonged to him. Once all the formalities had been dealt with, the owner of the shop gave him his car keys. "Zake, go on and wait outside. I'll bring the car out," the alpha called out as he waved and pushed open a door to the garage. The smell of motor oil and paint automatically made its way to Damien's nose. He cringed and covered his mouth in order to hide a sneeze before quickly locating his car, a dark blue mustang.

Damien didn't waste any time and immediately got inside, quickly sealing the car once more. Wrinkling his nose at the foul and powerful smell of the various oils and paints, the werewolf turned his car on. He tested it for a moment, listening to the sound of engine to see if it had indeed been fixed. Nodding as the engine roared to life, Damien checked a couple of the blinkers, wipers, and the other accessories just to see if they were functioning and hadn't been adjusted.

Once he was done checking to see if there was nothing wrong with his car, Damien started to carefully drive out of the automobile repair shop and stopped right in front of the side walk. He pulled the tinted windows down so that the rest of the oil smell would be released and that Zake would be able to see that it was him on the driver's seat. He glanced outside the window and smiled at the other werewolf. He tilted his head to the side, signaling the other to get in before adjusting the rear view mirror and turning on the air conditioning unit.

Zake nodded to Damien and watched for a few more seconds before walking out to the sidewalk. He leaned against the building and pulled his hood up, sheltering himself from the cool breeze blowing through the city. This fall had been much colder than usual, though that hadn’t really affected Zake; he loved the cold and definitely wasn’t one to complain about something he couldn’t help. That, and the fact that werewolves were extremely hot blooded.

A small smiled flit across Zake’s face as he saw Damien in his car. The alpha male looked extremely cool, and was certainly casting a daunting air around the others who saw him. Zake, on the other hand, wasn’t’ intimidated at all, and hopped in the car beside the man. He frowned and pulled his jacket tighter around himself; air conditioning in the fall? He didn’t question, but soon began to shiver, though he tried his best not to.

((FAIL. D: ))

Damien waited till the last trace of the paint and oil smell were filtered by the air conditioner unit before turning it off and rolling up the windows. Honestly? He had wanted to have the air conditioner on for the rest of the drive but since Zake seemed to be a little cold, he opted for a bit of a small sacrifice. This day was about the other werewolf and as such, he would ignore the way that his instincts were telling him that he was the alpha and as such, could do anything he damned well pleased.

"Seat belt if you would Zake," Damien reminded as he checked the back to see if he would be able to insert his car in to the traffic. At his own reminder, he himself had put on his seat belt. He really should have done that back in the garage but the intense and foul smell had made him want to flee the place as soon as possible.

"I hope you don't mind a bit of jazz...I find that it is the only type of music I can listen to without complaining." He said and smirked as he ruffled his hair. He always found something wrong with most types of music and he never stopped complaining about it whenever he was forced to listen to something he didn't like. It got so bad that whenever Miang was with him, she always let him have the radio control even if it was her car they were using.

Seeing his chance, Damien checked Zake's seat belt first before driving in to the traffic. Quietly, he turned the radio on to a slow jazz. As the music filtered in to the car, the alpha male tapped his finger on the steering wheel and activated the air conditioning unit again. This time he didn't activate the cold temperature and instead, let the air circle through so that the two of them wouldn't die of asphyxiation.

He hummed underneath his breath, following the song as he drove through the free traffic.

It was exactly forty-five minutes later that they reached their destination. Damien pulled up on their parking space and released his seat belt, letting it slide back in place by the car's ceiling. He turned the radio off first and the air conditioner unit second before cutting off the life of the engine.

"Shall we?" he asked and sent a fast wink at the other man before getting out of his car and waiting for Zake to do the same so that he would be able to lock it.

Zake sighed as Damien turned the air conditioning off, pleased that he wouldn’t have to be freezing the whole way to the theme park. He buckled his seat belt hurriedly as the man told him to; though this was his birthday and this was his present, Zake was most certainly not about to disobey an alpha male. Though Damien was very composed and put together now, Zake knew wolves could become savage at any minute. He might be able to hold his own for a little bit…but, in the long run, he knew he had no chance against an alpha like Damien.

A small smile played on Zake’s lips as he heard the music begin to play; he wasn’t really into jazz, but it fit Damien so nicely. It was kind of hard for Zake to picture the man as a werewolf; he just didn’t really fit the mold. Damien was kind, polite, a businessman; really not what the movies were portraying werewolves as. Of course, not all werewolves were savage, but they did have that…look, like they were just not quite human. You have to look very hard to see that in Damien, and Zake now found himself staring intently, trying to pick out what made the man look so…different. His cheeks went slightly pink and he looked away, cursing his brain that always seemed to lead him off on tangents.

Zake’s eyebrows furrowed as Damien turned the AC back on, but he didn’t complain; it wasn’t too terribly cold, and he could see that the man preferred it on. His ears pricked up a little as he heard the man humming; it was quiet and low, and strangely relaxing in Zake’s ears. He eventually closed his eyes and drifted off, his knees curling up to his chest as they always did when he was sleeping, even though he was sitting up in a car. He looked peaceful, and much cuter than he did when he was awake.

After what seemed like no time at all, Zake opened one eye slightly and yawned. He was a little confused at first but soon remembered where he was and began to scramble out of the car, not wanting to make Damien wait. After fixing his hair a little in the side mirror, he stood straight, a wide grin on his face. He grabbed Damien’s hand and set off running towards the amusement park gate, laughing and dragging the man behind him. The place was relatively empty; it was a slightly chilly day, and a Monday on top of that. About halfway across the parking lot, Zake realized what he was doing and stopped, then let go of Damien’s hand and began to walk, feeling rather awkward.

“Umm… Sorry about that… I get a little…carried away.” Zake grinned lopsidedly and laughed a little, then focused his attention on the gate they were fast approaching. He reached into his pocket and handed the attendant their tickets, then thanked the man and walked into the park, smiling back at Damien as he did so. “This is gonna be awesome. Where should we go first?”

((There, it was longer this time. xD I feel better about myself.))

((I think it's time to get a little bit of the plot going. > = 3))

"It isn't a problem. And like I said, just be yourself." Damien replied smoothly. Inside however, he was a bundle of confusion and curiosity. As Zake's attention was captured by the man at the ticket booth, lifted his hand and stared at it like it he had just discovered that it belonged to him. No one had ever done that before. Everyone he knew, even humans with the firm exception of Miang, all treated him with distant respect. They did not hold his hand or touch his person unless he initiated it. He brought it back down quickly before Zake could notice him doing something so awkward. He smiled back at the other werewolf and walked with him in to the park. "This day is about you Zake. We'll go wherever you want to go...I wouldn't suggest the Ferris Wheel however. It is a little chilly and the wind from such a high place will no doubt be quite cold. But if you'd like to try it, then we will." He'd simply buy them both some souvenir jackets.

They passed by an attendant and Damien grabbed one of the maps she was giving away. Nodding to her in thanks, the alpha opened the decorative paper and held it out for Zake to look at as well. He stared blankly at it for a few seconds, mind wandering back to Zake taking his hand, before pulling himself together and looking at the roller coaster. Roller coasters, he heard from Miang, were a must see attraction in the amusement park. She instructed him to not leave the place until he and Zake got on it at least once. Personally though, Damien would rather just row around the lake he could see was in the middle of the park but he didn't think Zake would like such a slow ride.

Perhaps they could try the arcades first. There seemed to be quite a variety of them since there were three arcade houses.

Decisions decisions...hmn?

Damien subtly glanced to the side, noticing two people - a man and a woman - enjoying their time in the park. In one glance, they looked rather normal. Jeans, sneakers, sweaters and jackets...they were all normal clothes for a chilly day in the park. Damien saw another thing though. He saw clothes that could be chucked off easily so that they would be able to disguise themselves as other people. Their footwear was for running and they could have hidden a number of things underneath that jacket the man wore. Currently, the two were holding hands and chatting by the entrance, letting Damien know that the couple had come in a couple of minutes right after Damien and Zake had.

The alpha didn't want to assume anything and so, ignored them for the time being. He would be keeping an eye on the couple however. If he saw them twice in the same place as he and Zake were, Damien was going to have to pull some drastic maneuvers to lose them. He didn't want to cut this 'date' short since it was an important day for Zake so he forced down his instincts that were telling him to confront the couple just to give them a warning to back away.

"Hmn...the Swings seems interesting..." he mumbled as he scanned the map, half of his attention directed on the couple that had yet to leave. Unbidden, Damien's eyes wandered over to Zake's hand before he looked back at the map. For some reason, he wanted Zake to hold his hand again. He didn't want to initiate the touch this time around. He smiled slightly, a bit disappointed. It probably wasn't going to happen.

Lifting his head, Damien looked around for any booths that the two of them could try out. If Zake didn't know which ride to try out first, Damien was going to suggest they try a couple of the games.