It had been an uncomfortable day at best. Corbin had spent some time in the office just because he'd gotten such an uncomfortable feeling while he was out on the floor. He needed to hide, everything in his being told him that being 'gone' that day would be a good thing. When the time came, he didn't want to go home either, because he felt as if he would be leading this strange feeling right back to Colby. He didn't know what to do. It had been so long since he'd felt so afraid of anything and it was particularly disturbing because he didn't even know what the fuck it was. He called home, hoping Colby would pick up.

Colby had felt off all morning, but it was just one of those things. It happened so often and on so many varying levels of intensity that he wasn't entirely certain it wasn't just another of his little episodes. So he laid down on the couch and he put a pillow over his eyes and crossed his arms over his head to try and make the feeling go away so that when Corbin got home they would be normal. Sleep came to him eventually but when the phone rang he woke, the feeling of dread still centered inside of him. Lifting the pillow away, he reached for the phone and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

There was a long silence on Corbin's end of the line as he searched for something to say that sounded right. It was stupid to have even called Colby, he thought to himself. What was his brother going to do against some invisible force of--well he didn't know what. "Come pick me up? Walk me home? Or somewhere else, I don't care." He had the strong urge not to go home, as if that place was just not safe anymore.

"All right." Colby's voice remained quiet and he hung up the phone before getting up to put on his shoes. He took his time getting them on and he pulled on his scarf and his jacket before heading out into the brisk air. It wasn't cold, but he still wanted to be warm. The walk wasn't long, but his pace was slow, sluggish from sleep and from the weight on his shoulders, pressing him down.

Corbin stayed in the office for a little while, looking down at the grocery store below through the two-way mirrored window in front of the desk. From up there, he could see most of the customers and what they were doing. It was the small town version of security cameras. Nothing was entirely out of the ordinary until he caught the gaze of a man standing in the produce department. It startled Corbin because even if a customer did decide to look up there, they shouldn't have been able to see into the office and they certainly should not have been able to make actual eye contact with him. The gaze was brief, but intense and Corbin thrust himself away from the desk and ran downstairs and out the back to wait for Colby outside.

Colby walked down the sidewalk in the direction of the grocery store and when he got there he looked in through the large windows at the front, hoping to spot his brother. He didn't know he was meeting him out back, so he just decided to go in. The doors chimed the familiar sound as he walked through them and down the first aisle that would take him to the back and up to the office.

Corbin's fear of leading Ash to their home was unfounded. Of course the demon already knew where his boys lived, he'd just taken today to observe them separately. Earlier that day, he'd been inside of the house, invisible and looming close to Colby. That evening had been Corbin's turn and only near the end did he decide to outright reveal himself in visible human form. As a demon, he was fairly well informed, having the powers to slip around the human realm. But he hadn't heard the call Corbin had made so when he saw Colby walking in the front door, he mistook him for Corbin having come all the way around to the front. "Corbin?" He said with the slightest of frowns, annoyed that the boy had managed to flank him somehow.

Colby slowed to a stop and he glanced over his shoulder at Ash, not entirely certain of who he was. At first he thought maybe he was a fellow employee but this was certainly not someone that he knew. But the familiar feeling that loomed around him was enough to make him second guess the stranger. He turned just a little but kept his distance as he took another step back towards the office. "No." He wasn't Corbin.

Ash looked out of place in Coldwater Flats. He always wore suits, finding that it accentuated the right parts of his human form and appealed to his unending vanity. If one wasn't going to dress sharply, then they shouldn't dress at all. When Colby denied Ash's first guess, he smiled, the curl of his mouth wicked but pleased. "You really are identical." He took a step forward as Colby took a step in the other direction. "It's remarkable."

Ash looked out of place in Coldwater Flats. He always wore suits, finding that it accentuated the right parts of his human form and appealed to his unending vanity. If one wasn't going to dress sharply, then they shouldn't dress at all. When Colby denied Ash's first guess, he smiled, the curl of his mouth wicked but pleased. "You really are identical." He took a step forward as Colby took a step in the other direction. "It's remarkable."

Colby's brow furrowed and he took another step back away from Ash because he didn't like that the man was trying to get closer to him. He wanted to tell him that Corbin wasn't here but instead he just took another step, hoping that he'd hit the door to the back office and then he could go upstairs.

When Colby didn't show up and didn't show up, Corbin had time to gather some courage and come back inside. Maybe his brother was looking for him upstairs. When he saw the stranger talking to Colby, Corbin's protective nature flared and he found a well of bravery as he strod up behind Colby and slipped in between his brother and the peculiar man. Ash's face lit up to see them together. He wished he had rights to the set--but unfortunately he could only take one. "Oh, there you are, Corbin. I saw you staring through the glass up there."

Reaching out, Colby wrapped his arm around Corbin and he pulled him back so that they were pressed against one another and he could look over Corbin's shoulder at the man. He kept backing up, taking Corbin with him until he hit the door. He didn't understand why this man knew who they were but he wanted to get away from them.

Corbin let Colby tug. He wanted to get out of there. With a flash of fear slicing through his heart, he turned finally and urged Colby out the door. It was all he could do not to break out into a run. Ash could fool a lot of people about his nature, but the horror his sons felt was based on the fact that he could barely hide his true self from them. He watched the boys go and didn't seem to follow.

When they hit the hallway that led to the back door Colby just started running. He had his hand laced tightly with Corbin's and he just took off, needing to get the hell out of there and away from that man. "Who was that?" he asked, his voice breathier than it should have been for someone who hadn't run that far or that long.

It wasn't far to their house, but bolting full out made the distance drag on and on. He'd held onto Colby's hand so tight his fingers hurt. "I don't know, but it feels like--I think he's been in the store since this afternoon." He shuddered and locked the door behind him, leaning back against it.

Colby just sank down against the door so that he was sitting and he put his hand on Corbin's ankle so that he was still touching him. His legs were stretched out in front of him and he tried to catch his breath. "What do you think he wants?"

Corbin leaned his head back against the door, searching for the breath he'd lost on the way home. His heart refused to stop pounding. "I don't know. I've felt like shit all day. I'm scared." He didn't like admitting that, but he couldn't keep it locked in his stomach. That's when the knock on the door came and Corbin let out a pathetic yelp as he lept forward away from it and onto the couch.

Colby jumped and he got up moving back from the door. He stood there for a second and then got closer to it so that he could look through the peep hole. He was a touch too short to see out of it but he pushed up on hos toes and rested his hands on the door to keep himself from tipping over as he tried to see who was in the hall.

It was, indeed, the man from the store. He looked right at Colby through the peep hole, smiling slyly. He didn't wait to be invited in though. Appearing in the living room, he started to remove his suit jacket for a more casual look. The white shirt beneath it was impossibly wrinkle-free. He was fucking perfect. "I'm surprised you boys don't recognize me. I thought you'd be able to feel it in your bones. But I guess I wouldn't know. You two were my first."

Colby whirled around when he heard the voice in the living room and he opened his mouth to say something but he didn't even know what to say right then. What was he going to do? What could he do. He went for Corbin, moving to get closer to his brother. "Who are you?"

"Your father," he answered simply. Corbin's stomach turned upside down and ice ran up his spine. Ash glanced at his fingernails and buffed them against his shirt before looking back up at the boys with a laugh. The sound of it seemed to fill the space without being too loud. "Our father is back in Tennessee," Corbin said quietly and Ash shook his head. "You never really believed he was your father."

"What do you want?" he asked, instead of starting into a back and forth about whether or not Ash was actually their father. Colby sat down on the couch next to Corbin. It was obvious that they weren't going to be able to just run from him.

"What would any father want?" He said smoothly. "I want to get to know the two of you." He looked around the apartment as if it was the first time he'd been here. Corbin didn't quite believe him, but he had to admit the prospect was slightly appealing.

"Well we aren't interested." Colby didn't want there to be anyone that would come between himself and Corbin. The idea of losing his brother was so horrifying that he was starting to get really aggitated.

Corbin reached out and touched Colby's arm. "We aren't?" he asked. "I mean--" he flicked his eyes at Ash, then back. "He feels familiar." That made Ash's smile grow even wider. "Don't you want to know more about the darker half of yourselves? I can show you things."

"No!" Colby looked over at Corbin and glared at him. He looked back at Ash. "No!" he said again, moving to get up off of the sofa and away from Corbin. "Get out of here, you need to leave right now." He stalked towards Ash with the intention of pushing him out of the apartment.

Ash couldn't pretend to look surprised or hurt. Instead, he stood his ground and let his face take on a passive, blank expression. Corbin frowned and stood up, not sure whether he was doing so to stop Colby or back him up. Ash very much wanted to see what the boys would do.

Colby planted his hands on Ash's chest and he shoved him, trying to push him towards the front door so that he could push him out of the apartment. "You are leaving, you need to go." When he couldn't budge him he started getting angrier and he called up his power to try and hurt Ash, to surprise him.

No memories of wounds plagued this form. But his skin grew hot to the touch until it was scalding. "You do realize I gave you those powers, right?" He said with mock sweetness. "Yours are much like mine." With the flick of his hand, he pulled to the surface and old bruise, skin going purple as the blood vessels shattered beneath it.

The feeling of the bruise coming up on his skin made him feel almost nauseous. The bruise was one he'd gotten from another boy at school when they had still gone to public school. The boy had taken a bat to him and hit him in the side with it. He dropped his hand away from his father and he tugged up his shirt to look at it.

Ash looked at it too, then smirked over at Corbin who was glaring at the man now. Before the bruise had even fully formed, he'd started to heal it, taking it away. "Leave him alone," he said dangerously, tugging Colby back toward him. Ash frowned as the bruise disappeared. "You don't have the same gifts?" He was clearly surprised.

Once the bruise was healed Colby whimpered and he leaned back against Corbin. Now he was really scared and he didn't know what to do. They couldn't run, he didn't even know how to get away from this man now so he just clung to Corbin.

It was pretty, the way Colby's tough exteriors broke down so quickly. The boy was raw and volatile. He liked that. But Corbin's powers were interesting to him. Something not exactly common--though probably not all that useful to him. "That's quite peculiar," he mused to himself. Walking to sit down on the couch, he made himself comfortable. Ash was a demon of destruction, disease. He lorded over human illness, destructive biological forces. To have Corbin come out restorative was twisted. Corbin kept his arms around Colby. "How can you show us things if you didn't even know that."

Colby wrapped his arms around Corbin's waist and he tucked his head down against his shoulder. He was so nervous and frightened. "I don't like this." he whispered softly to him. The idea of losing Corbin was still there, hovering around him.

The closeness was obvious, but Ash didn't understand love or loyalty. He saw it as a weakness and didn't hide the mild amount of contempt their embrace invoked in him. "You're living in squalor," he noted and reached into his pocket, pulling out a credit card. "You shouldn't be. Your mother is fucking rich and your father is--well I'm pretty goddamn powerful." He wanted them to be impressed. "Use this for whatever you want, and don't worry about the bill." Corbin looked at the card, ever so tempted. Didn't they deserve something from him?

Colby just tried to pull Corbin back so that he wouldn't take the card. "Just leave, please just leave." Because this was going to mess everything up. Their lives had finally started getting on track. They started going how he wanted them to go. They had a place and jobs and they had each other and that was all that mattered. But this was going to mess it all up.

The card was black and whispered possibilities. Despite Colby's urgings, Corbin stepped forward and took the card. Ash crossed one leg over the other. "You're getting worked up over nothing, Colby. You and your brother work so hard. You deserve this." Corbin examined the card as if he could see the fine print that might go with it.

Colby said nothing to that, he just let go of Corbin and he went off to their bedroom. He was terrified but having Corbin side with their father over him was enough to make him pull away. He slammed the door and moved to lay down in the bed.

Corbin grit his teeth when Colby left. It frustrated him when his brother checked out, but he was committed to taking care of him. Glancing back at Ash, he frowned. "Are you staying here?" he asked shortly. The demon didn't answer the question right away. "Have you ever thought that you would be better off without him?" Came the question instead. Corbin shook his head. No, of course not. Ash used the door this time, and his abrupt exit was the answer to Corbin's question. The boy went into their room and sat on the edge of the bed next to Colby. "He's gone."

"Why didn't you just go with him?" Colby didn't turn over to look at him, he just stayed on his side with his arm under his head so that he wasn't looking at his brother. He didn't want to deal with any of this because he was convinced that no matter what happened Corbin was going to leave him. It happened when someone new and interesting came around and their father was the most interesting person they had met by a long shot.

"Stop it," he said, laying a hand on Colby's back. "He didn't want me to go with him. He just wants to find out about us, that's all. And won't it be nice to have some damn money for a change?"

"He's going to want something in return. No one ever gives us money without wanting something back." he shook his head a little bit and just curled up even tighter. "Maybe you can go with him and get a matching tattoo or something.'

Corbin sighed and laid down next to Colby. "What's money to him? He's a demon. He's not going to want anything." Corbin was trying to convince himself as much as Colby, and he knew he wouldn't be able to hide that from his twin. He draped his arm over Colby's waist and pressed his front to the other's back.

Colby just laid there, feeling worse about this than before just because he knew that there had to be a catch. There had to be something that the man wanted from them and he didn't know what it was. "He just got really hot, I couldn't even hurt him."

That was indeed disturbing. Corbin had always believed that if worst came to worse, Colby could protect them on the offensive and he could protect them on the defensive. "I get the feeling I could only heal you because he wasn't expecting it. I'm scared too, but he is our father and I want to find out more about him." He missed their parents sometimes and maybe this was a second chance with someone who could understand them.

"All right." Colby just knew that it was going to be bad no matter what and if he kept fighting Corbin on it he would only want it more. "You can get to know him then." But he wasn't going to try, he didn't want anything to do with him.

"He's yours too." He didn't want this to pull them apart. He didn't want Colby to think he was choosing. "He's one of us." He pushed his face into the crook of Colby's neck and kissed him.

"I don't care. If you want to spend time with him then you can spend time with him, but I not going to get invested in someone who is just going to leave me like everyone else has."

"Like everybody else has?" Corbin said, mood flickering toward foul. "Fuck you, I haven't left you. And everyone who's left you has left me too." He shoved Colby in the back and rolled away from him.

"Maybe I will just leave you. And then you won't have the chance to leave me. And you can be with our dad without worrying about me." He was thinking darkly now, his voice taking on that tone as he laid there.

Corbin laid on his back, silent and staring hard up at the ceiling. The view started to go blurry as his eyes went teary. The idea of Colby leaving him was unbearable and he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. It was hard to cry quietly, but he managed. He could picture Colby leaving in a huff, not really thinking it through.

When he started crying, Colby turned over onto his back and then onto the other side so he could hook his arm around Corbin's waist. He pulled him in closer and just laid his head down on his shoulder. "I don't want you to leave me."

"You're the one who said you might leave me," he said angrily and he pushed Colby away again. But seconds later he was pulling him back, narrow fingers clutching. There was a lot of pent up energy inside of him from being afraid and uncomfortable all day. It made the crying worse and he buried his face against Colby's chest and started to sob pathetically.

Colby just wrapped his arms tightly around Corbin and he held onto him as best he could. When Corbin cried like this he didn't know what to do, he wasn't used to being the brother that provided the comfort, but he was going to try. "i'm not going to leave, I wouldn't really leave."

Deep down, Corbin knew that. But there was always the looming worry that one day, Colby would simply go off the deep end. "I don't want to run. I like this place. For the first time in a long time, I like our life." So he wasn't going to let their father chase them away. His next option was to just accept the man and pray for the best.

"I dont' think that we could run even if we wanted to. he found us once, what makes you think he wouldn't just find us again?" Because in that moment he knew that if they tried to run they would end up in the same trouble they were in now.

"Then I'm just going to play along." The problem would be when Corbin stopped playing and started believing. It had already started, because he was thinking about that card in his pocket, and the idea of having a family, having someone to take care of both of them so he could go to school and be a kid for once. "And maybe you should be nice."

"I'm not going to be anything, I'm just going to be me." And he wasn't going to talk to their father if he could help it and he wasn't going to take any of the money he offered, even if Corbin wanted to use it for things.

"Which isn't nice at all," he said and although he was still sniffling a little, his tone had taken on some humor. He sighed, body relaxing a little now that he'd gotten some of the energy out.

"I nice." He frowned a little bit and just clung a little tighter to Corbin, his fingers tangled tightly in his shirt. "I don't want you to like him better than me."

"I'm sure he won't fuck me like you can." He was finished crying and he pulled back to grin at him. It might have been the wrong time to joke, but Corbin was stellar at picking bad times for jokes.

"What if he does?" Colby asked, the concept of being fucked by their father not something that seemed wrong to him on account of the fact that he and Corbin had been sleeping together since they hit puberty. "What if he's better than me and you like him more?"

Corbin let out a frustrated, but used sigh. "Don't be stupid. That guy fucked mom." And that made him shudder. Still, it didn't seem so wrong to talk about it, or think about what it might be like. But it would never compare to what Colby could do to him.

"What if though? What will I do if that happens?" because to him there was a chance that it could and he was horrified to think that he was going to end up alone.

"Then I'll make you fuck him too, and then I can be jealous as well." That sounded like a pretty good solution. "Or you can fuck Paul." The curly haired boy from the grocery store.

Now that was something he hadnt' even considered. Paul was sweet, and Colby liked listening to him talk, but he didn't really do much talking in return. "Why would I want to do that?"

This was all hypothetical. Corbin didn't really expect it to happen. "To get back at me for fucking our dad." Only Corbin could utter a sentence like that and not flinch at how ridiculous it sounded. "I told you you should kiss him. Have you?"

"No, I forgot." Mostly because it wasn't really a high priority to him. "We talked about music yesterday when we worked together, i didn't think about kissing at all."

"Music?" He frowned. Somehow, kissing because Corbin had instructed it was less angering than the two of them chatting like friends. "Why? Because I told you he liked you?"

"I don't know. We were stocking in the same aisle and he asked me if I was going to go to the She & Him show this weekend and I said I didn't know what that was. So he said he would burn me their cd and so I asked him if that would ruin it because wouldn't burning it make it unplayable? And then he laughed and said he would make me a copy of it and he asked if I wanted to go but I said I'd think about it."

Corbin didn't know what to think about that. He tried to picture Colby and Paul chit chatting and he didn't like it. "You should go," he said, but his tone was clipped.

"I don't want to go, I don't even listen to music." So he really had no idea why he would want to see a show if he didn't have to. "Why do you want me to kiss him?"

Corbin shrugged, shutting down emotionally as soon as he ran into a feeling he couldn't control. "I don't know," his voice going hollow. He rolled onto his side, and then got up, peeling his shirt off. I'm going to go take a bath," he announced as he shucked his pants off and headed to the bathroom.

Colby just stayed where he was, not moving. He wasn't sure what he had said wrong, he just didn't understand it. After a few minutes he got up and followed Corbin into the bathroom. He undressed and moved to climb into the tub with him.

Corbin didn't tell him no, watching him crawl into the tub. He loved watching him move, musing over the fact that even though they were twins, he was sure Colby was far more beautiful than he was.

Colby slid between his brothers thighs and sank down, leaned back against his chest as he let the water come up over his skin. He didn't like baths, really, but he didn't want Corbin to be so far away when he was already feeling so vulnerable.

He knew how Colby felt about baths, which was why he'd decided to take one. It was all different levels of control, the desire to have power over Colby to guard against the possibility of his brother leaving him. "I love you," he sighed.

"I love you too." Colby said softly as he tugged his knees up and just wrapped his arms around them. He closed his eyes and sank lower in the water so he could lay his head back against Corbin's shoulder. He was tired now, this had taken a lot out of him.

"Don't fall asleep and drown." Not that he'd mind giving Colby mouth to mouth. The water felt good against his skin and he sat there for a long while, until he was pruney. He wondered when the man would come back, or if they'd scared him away. Teenage boys could be pretty goddamn scary.

When Corbin was ready to get out he got out of the bath and brushed his teeth. he didn't like sleeping naked so he went to find a pair of underwear and some pajama pants. He had a bunch of pairs of them, just because he liked to have a clean pair every time he slept. Crawling into the bed, he scooted over to the edge by the wall and tugged the quilts up over himself.

As put together as Colby was in his bedtime routine, Corbin was the opposite. When he got out, he dried himself off and crawled into bed, sprawling out under the covers like a starfish. He was worn out as well. "I still say you should go to that concert."

"I don't want to go to that concert." he very nearly said, you can't make me, but he knew full and well that if anyone could make him do anything it was Corbin. "I would rather just kiss him like you said and not do anything else.'

"You should do both, and then get married and have babies." He laughed a little, but it sounded like Ash's laugh, more cruel than used. He turned his head so that his face was in the pillow and fell silent.

When he laughed like that Colby tensed up and he stayed tense as he laid on his side, back to his brother. He didn't like hearing the cruelty in his laugh and now that he had their father's laugh to compare it to he was instantly uncomfortable and upset again.

Corbin could sense it and instead of comforting, he just left him there as he drifted off to sleep.