Ironic Demons (closed)

[HisPureLust]

"I'm fine," He spat into the smartphone, acrid resentment on his voice and directed as his brother Tristam. "Now isn't the best time... I told you I'd get back to you... you sound like mom..."

There was a long pause on Rune's end as his brother defended himself and grew hostile at the mention of being similar to their notoriously over baring mother. She wasn't always that way, in truth she had raised them with what could only be called neglect... but in her older age she had pivoted, as many do when they have fewer days ahead than they do behind.

"Fine, fine, your not mom... I just mean, stop blowing up my fucken phone. I told you I was thinking about making a change... and I texted you I'd be in touch. Its not like I vanish-"

He was cut off, but more than that his attention was no longer on the defensive converstion with his sibling but elsewhere.

"Look! This isn't why I called! I need a favor and I need it now... can you do it or not?" He yelled in that way you do while your whispering at the same time. A passerby entered the bathroom, he had thought it was a very attractive goth woman until she pulled out her dick and started pissing in the stall adjacent to him.

Rune shook his head and turned around walking into one of the stalls and giving the phone call his attention once more.

"Just do it!"

His brother argued that this was one of the most childish, pathetic things Rune had ever asked him for and while Rune agreed, even nodding as Tristam mentioned it, he still needed the favor.

"Just call her, I don't give a fuck what you say, I just need a distraction... for fucks sakes... this is important. You asked if i ever needed any-"

Silence.

Rune shut his eyes...

"Thank you."

He hung up and let the thin phone slide into his tight pants pocket before walking up to the men's bathroom door tentatively. No doubt looking like some kind of psycho to the feminine man relieving himself nearby.

"You ok?" The goth asked.

"Oh we are just peachy!"

"I'm good." He said slowly while simultaneously telling his voices to shut the fuck up. He cracked the door open and aligned his view on her...

Olivia.

She was headed for the dark hallway leading to the stairs up that eventually led to the exit and suddenly he felt as moronic as he looked. Realizing her phone would ring momentarily he uncharacteristically panicked and began fumbling with his pants, damning his choice in wearing a pair to show off his ass this well, and compromising ease of use as his fingers touched the plastic casing....

"Fuck!" He yelled as he let the door shut completely, removing his sight line.

 

[Jenn1982]

Olivia pushed her way through the throng of people waiting to order drinks at the bar, growing more and more irritated as she went. The fact that she was now rushing out of here in an attempt to avoid an awkward confrontation hurt whatever pride she had left. The fact that her evening of drinking to numb her feelings was now wasted pissed her off. Yeah he’d left her a note that had some hard truths before disappearing and yeah she had hurt him when they were together forever ago but still…he could’ve at least told her to her face…or had the decency to make sure he didn’t show up at the same clubs she was at. Before she got herself too worked up she pushed the anger down and tried to remind herself that this was the best way to handle the situation, for both of them.

She finally made it past the bar crowd and felt some of her anger leave her body. Okay so the night was ruined and she would likely be lying in bed the rest of the night thinking about Rune and questioning everything. She’d get through it and tomorrow she could go back to her routine of work, sitting at home alone, and going out to the clubs to drink until she didn’t feel as bad as she did when she walked in. She pushed away any thoughts about what a pathetic mess her life had become and was almost at the stairs when her phone went off. The music was still loud even in the dark hallway but not so loud that she couldn’t hear the ringtone of her phone. She pulled it out of her clutch and glanced at the screen. She didn’t answer for a moment as she realized it was Tristam calling. She answered and put the phone up to her as she tried to keep walking to the stairs so she’d be able to hear him over the fading music.

“Hello, Tristam?”

“Oh hey, Olivia! Sorry to call so late, I just wanted to, uh, see how you were doing?”

By the time he finished speaking Olivia had gone from surprised at his call to wary. Not only did he sound…off, nervous or something, it didn’t make any sense. She had only met Tristam a handful of times and while the interactions had all been pleasant they were not close by any means. When she and Rune had been together she would’ve been very surprised if he’d called her to see how she was. Him doing it when she hadn’t even seen Rune for months was beyond surprising and firmly rooted in weird territory.

“That’s nice of you…I’m alright. How are you?”

She paused at the top of the steps, the music barely audible by now, the wheels in her mind turning.

“Glad to hear it. I”m doing fine, just been focusing on diff”

“That’s great, Tristam. I’m sorry to cut you off, but I’m getting a call from work that I really need to answer. Thanks for calling, have a great night!”

Olivia hung up and glared down the stairs. That motherfucker had seen her and not only that he must have asked Tristam to call her, for some reason. Maybe Tristam was going to ask her to meet him for coffee or something. The point was that clearly Rune thought he was too good to have to possibly run into her and have to acknowledge her existence.

“Fuck that,” she muttered as she walked out of the club. She walked a few feet from the door and stopped. The bouncer glanced at her once he realized she hadn’t just stopped to light a cigarette or order an uber but she just gave him a smile and turned her gaze towards the door to the club.

 

[HisPureLust]

"Your pathetic... you KNOW that right?"

Tristam was quiet for a moment, perhaps hurt, angry... or both. But for whatever reason he took the high road and didn't make matters worse by arguing too much.

"You realize of course as you say that, you're the one who just had me call someone so you wouldn't have to talk to them like a big boy right?"

Touché. He wasn't wrong but Rune was in no mood to face his own shortcomings at this particular moment.

"Anyway, I tried... so your stuck in a bathroom? Why not just crawl out the window?" The laughter his brother could no longer keep at bay, burst through the receiver and might have actually made Rune laugh if he wasn't still trying to think of way he could successfully avoid Olivia. Tristam's laugh was infectious. Like a small child's. Genuine and without the weight of sarcasm or malevolence, despite how much of a dick he was being.

"You'll burn in hell for this Tristam."

"But I didn't DO anything! She might be gone. Just leave you big baby, or here's a thought, tell her you-"

Rune hung up the phone and looked around. Taking inventory of his life and how much of a pussy he felt like. Only this bitch... only her. Only SHE would cause him to behave in such a way. He stopped the train of thought... realizing...

"No, there is another... remember?"

The voices in his mind corrected him, and he shook his head, hoping they would spill out and fall down the nearby sink.

"Fuck... maybe he's right. She's probably gone."

He peered out the door, once again like a coward... and saw no sight of her. He considered making a break for it. If she had dismissed Tristam, she was more than likely busy and was obviously on her way out. He hadn't really even NEEDED to get his brother to make the damn call... so why was he still so apprehensive? Something wasn't right. They knew each other well... and the fact that the hair's on the back of his neck were up... told him that some was amiss. He felt as one would before something terrible was about to happen, when you had all the forewarning of such an event.

"This is stupid... fuck her."

He washed his hands one final time, affixed his hair into place. Slicking back his dark tresses and redoing the small elastic scrunchie he used to hold his ponytail together. When satisfied he looked presentable he stomped out of the bathroom, his dark boots making heavy footfalls on the linoleum floor.

After walking up several steps he stopped short of the heavy iron door that led to the street outside. The music fading behind him but still audible. Bass... always base. Like a distant heartbeat, the soundtrack for most of the life he had now grown tired of.

The door felt like a mistake. Again like most of his life. Solitude was a choice... time alone had been good to him, and without the constant parade of sycophants and affirmation vampires, the flood of flesh and orgasms he had learned to numb those questions he couldn't answer... he had grown content.

Why the fuck could he not be rid of her? Was this some cosmic ironic joke. Was this just his shitty luck... a reminder that you can run from everything but yourself.

The months had been kind to him... he didn't need to do this anymore.

"Open the door." They cheered and smiled toothless void less grins.

And he did.

The air felt nice, he shut his eyes and sighed before opening them. Immediately after he felt her presence. It could of been anyone, that feeling you have when the space around you is occupied by more than just air. He turned his head to left and saw her leaning against the wall, a cigarette gingerly dangling from her Lucious lips as she took a drag and shot him a look that was less than pleasant. She was dressed to kill, her usual knockout, fuck-bait outfit... leaving little need to undress her as the outfit showed off most of her curves. Her legs caught his eye first... they usually did. Olivia was gorgeous but her legs were the thing of legend... he followed them up to her hips, her waist, her tits and then back to the scowl of her angelic face... 'fuck my life' he thought. She did not look happy to see him.

That makes two of us, bitch.

"Hey... Olivia."

 

[Jenn1982]

Olivia had only smoked half of her cigarette when Rune walked out of the club. He stood there for a moment and she wondered if he was going to notice her or continue his bullshit charade and act like he had no idea she was there. She heard him sigh before he turned his head to look at her. If she hadn’t been 100% sure before that he’d already seen her in the club she was now, he didn’t look surprised to see her in the least.

"Hey... Olivia."

Even though it had been months and even through the anger she still felt her heart speed up as he greeted her. She couldn’t say it was unexpected, she had always felt something deeper with Rune, but she still chided herself for it in this moment. She smiled at him though it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Hey Rune! It’s funny, I swore I saw you in the club earlier but then I told myself, Rune wouldn’t hide in a bathroom just to avoid someone,” she said as she dropped her cigarette and ground it out with her high heel.

“But then Tristam called me, out of the blue, just to see how I was doing and I realized you absolutely were hiding in the bathroom. You probably should have just gone out the back.”

She’d thought confronting him and calling him out on this childish shit would have been more satisfying but she just felt…empty.

“Whatever. Look I’m not going to try to make you talk to me or anything. You clearly wanted to avoid running into me…you’re just pretty shitty at doing the avoiding. I’m sure we won’t run into each other again but if we do just act like I’m not there or tell me to fuck off. That way you don’t have to get poor Tristam involved.”

She stood and watched him for a moment, she couldn’t help it. He still looked good…maybe even better than when she’d last seen him. She knew she should be happy he was doing well and a part of her was but it still galled her to know he had been right to leave, it had clearly been an improvement to his life.

“Night, Rune,” she said before turning and walking down the sidewalk, ready to go home and wallow in her misery.

 

[HisPureLust]

“Hey Rune! It’s funny, I swore I saw you in the club earlier but then I told myself, Rune wouldn’t hide in a bathroom just to avoid someone."

His eyes narrowed predatorily as her words stung, confirming that even she realized he was behaving uncharacteristically for him.

"Yes, well, I think we've proven that you don't know me half as well as we thought you did..." He looked up towards the sky and shut his eyes momentarily as he continued "...not all of which make a whole lot of sense."

“But then Tristam called me, out of the blue, just to see how I was doing and I realized you absolutely were hiding in the bathroom. You probably should have just gone out the back.”

"If that were possible I would have. I've only frequented this place a few times," He made a gesture towards the building behind them "I didn't wanna risk running into you, that may have happened if I spent time searching for another..."

Why was he defending himself, to least of all her?

“Whatever. Look I’m not going to try to make you talk to me or anything. You clearly wanted to avoid running into me…you’re just pretty shitty at doing the avoiding. I’m sure we won’t run into each other again but if we do just act like I’m not there or tell me to fuck off. That way you don’t have to get poor Tristam involved.”

"Shitty?" He was getting pissed now. Her condescending, 'holier than thou' nature irritating him. "I would never have come here... It was..." He stopped himself. Too much information. "...It was something I couldn't have avoided." He turned to face the street stuffing his hands in his pockets as a car drove by, he watched it disappear down the street before continuing... "I think I did a pretty decent fucking job of avoiding you. Didn't see me for a bit did you? I only involved my idiot brother because I wanted to avoid...." He turned and waved a hand in front of him violently, "THIS!" His face full of anger and mild resentment. He walked towards her without realizing it, as if his legs were acting of their own volition. Soon he was close to her. Very close. He could smell the perfume she always wore. The sweet one... not flower sweet, but candy sweet. It was his favorite and he hated it now as much as he hated the memory of what it meant to him. He leaned over to glare at her but she turned and began to walk away.... she had won this time. Another uncharacteristic event, he thought.

"Night Rune."

He spat on the sidewalk besides himself as she got further and further away, his eyes thin slits by the time she was nearing the nearby corner where an intersection of bumper to bumper cars were situated waiting for the light to turn green. Silent rage built up in him. He wanted to say many things... to shout down the street at her... but he wouldn't do something as cliche' as that. He hadn't fallen that far from his previous pride.

And what would have been the point? That was the old Rune. He had won, at least in one regard, by not loosing his shit. By staying calm for the most part... something he had always struggled with. They say the best revenge was to live well, they didn't say the best revenge was to shout in public at how much better you are than someone...

But what did they know.

"She's going... this might be it... you were lucky to get another chance... you don't' REALLY want her gone? Do you?!" They were loud this time. Louder than the sound of cars honking, people chatting, the birds chirping... louder than the entire city in his ears.

He knew where she was going. To her hovel... to her home, her refuge. He could drop by any time he wanted. She on the other hand had no idea where he lived... he took comfort in the fact that if he really REALLY wanted to. He could always pick this up later...

And walked down the street the opposite way. His impending favor to an old enemy bubbling to the surface of his mind.

 

[Jenn1982]

Rune’s feeble justifications of his actions were laughable. Or at least they would have been if it had been a less painful situation. Still she at least made herself roll her eyes at the appropriate times to demonstrate her disbelief. While neither of them probably believed it she couldn’t help but continue to put on the disinterested performance. Even as he moved close enough to touch her she fought to come across as indifferent.

Her resolve hit its breaking point though and she did her best to not run down the sidewalk but rather walk casually. She could feel the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks and she picked up her pace slightly. If she was going to breakdown she wanted to do it well out of sight of Rune.

The walk to her apartment was a blur. As she walked inside she felt immense relief wash over her, she had gotten through it with whatever pride she had left and not made a fool of herself. Even as the relief filled her she felt the tears begin to slide down her cheeks. In a matter of minutes she was sitting against the wall a crying mess, her breath catching with each sob.

She berated herself for crying, it was her own fault she was where she was…and if she were stronger Rune wouldn’t be able to have this kind of control over her emotions. She knew she would eventually be able to calm down enough to work on repairing whatever emotional pit of despair this encounter had opened up but at the moment she couldn’t do anything but ride it out.