Young Writers Society

The Son of Sathanus, King of Hell, Sovereign of the Shadow Realm, Emperor of the Seven Circles, Prince of Wrath, and Dragon Lord of Ice, Cornyx Blackthorne, is definitely straight. This, of course, has never been verified by any sort of relationship even though he's almost thirty-six years old, but he couldn't be anything but straight. What would be the appeal of men?

Enter: Darunia Vain, the eccentric purple-haired demoness who first met Cornyx when he was nothing more than a confused "human." She's watched him go from a pure-hearted, stuttering young man to a tyrannical dictator ready to start a war for the sole purpose of greatening his empire. He's done terrible things, but she still sees the good in him, and, moreover, she sees the gay.

And this "straightness" of his is unacceptable.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and it was all in all a perfect June day. Runi had been counting down the days until this moment - which had been a year's worth, since she always started the countdown immediately after the incredibly important day ended. Today was none other than her area's pride celebration, and she was absolutely giddy with excitement. She had the perfect outfit for the occasion, too. Most of it was just her regular summer clothing: denim shorts, a tank top, sneakers and a nice baseball cap. But then there were the little details. There were the words "I'm so gay I can't even think straight" on her white tank top in rainbow letters, the lesbian pin on her plain purple baseball hat, and how she was wearing rainbow socks.

She was singing and humming as she readied her bag, and only came to a stop at the door when she realized she had forgotten to bring a jacket. There was always the chance that things would get a little chilly, so it didn't hurt to chuck her denim one into her duffel bag.

But then she opened her closet and discovered that she wasn't alone.

Cornyx gazed at the selection of ties somewhat absently, poking through them. They were all similar hues of light blue with a few royal blues and azures to match the silvers and whites of his suit. He'd selected a cream jacket today with matching pants and black leather shoes, the splashes of color coming in the form of his tie and pocket silk. He hummed under his breath as he selected a couple and turned to the mirror, debating it. The darker blue went better with his eyes, but the lighter one went better with the rest of his attire. Of course, both things were changeable...

His eyes flickered and paled, going from their deep cobalt hue that was indicative of his human form to the pale grayish-blue that portrayed the dragon within and he promptly tied the tie around his neck. He straightened out his jacket a final time and then turned to go back to the main room of his chambers--

--and when he stepped through the doorway, he found himself standing face-to-face with Darunia Vain herself.

"Cornyx?" she managed to get out, eyes wide as she stared at the man she certainly hadn't expected to see on today of all days. Technically, she never expected to see him - their meetings never failed to be random - but pride definitely the first thing that she would associate with Cornyx Blackthorne.

(Well, she did have her suspicions. But they were just suspicions, and there were some things you just didn't bring up with Cornyx Blackthorne. Him not being straight was one of them - she had never tried and currently didn't intend to, but something told her she wouldn't be able to keep that up.)

"...Why are you in my closet?" she hesitantly asked.

Cornyx's eyes widened a little as he realized where he was and who he was talking to. It was anything but his chambers in the Realm of Shadow. He blinked and glanced at the hangers he was standing among.

"Miss Runi, it's a pleasure to see you," he greeted, unable to keep the confusion out of his voice. "Uh...I'm not...entirely sure, but you're no unwelcome surprise." He glanced down at her rainbow shirt, the rainbow socks, and the purple hat with the lesbian(?) pin on it. Where was she even going...?

It was right about that moment that everything fell into place. It really should've been obvious from the start, but for whatever reason, he'd never really put together that Darunia herself might be gay--lesbian? He was never sure--but here she was, wearing nothing but rainbows with the exception of her cap, and he was in her closet. He ducked to fit through the doorway with his tall frame and ran his fingers through his hair to neaten it up again, trying to keep the bafflement off his face.

As Cornyx stared at her outfit, Runi came to the sudden realization that she had never told him that she wasn't straight. It was probably implied at some point - she'd like to think that she made it pretty clear - but there never really was a good time to bring up her sexuality between all the reality hopping and craziness that accompanied their previous encounters. Even though he was probably trying his best to hide it, it was obvious that her sexuality had come as a surprise.

...The outfit probably didn't help.

"I'm gay," she blurted out, hoping to get the awkwardness over with. "And today's pride, so I'm, er, trying to look a little more gay than usual..."

She hesitated, then gestured down at her outfit.

(This was getting really uncomfortable fast.)

She leaned into the closet and quickly snatched up her denim jacket, stuffing it into her duffel bag as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do. Obviously she wanted to spend time with Cornyx, but today was also pride.

...Then again, the two didn't have to be mutually exclusive.

"Want to come with me?" she asked, nodding her head in the direction of the door as she tightened the duffel bag. She threw it back over a shoulder. "I, uh, don't know how much you know about pride, but you don't have to be queer to go. Most people are, but allies are, too. And, uh, you're one, right? You don't seem homophobic. And I'm your friend, too, so if you are, this is kind of awkward..."

"I, uh, could guess," he replied with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, though it didn't seem to be anything personal--it'd just been a long time since anything had been genuine with him now that he lived behind the draconian mask that ruled Heaven and Hell alike.

"Uh...yeah, I mean, I fully support people being able to, uh, love who they want to," he agreed somewhat awkwardly. He had no problem with the LGBTQ community--as far as he was concerned, people should be able to be with who they wanted to be--but his conservative upbringing and staunch religious beliefs through his young adulthood made the entire thing uncomfortable for him. "Uh..." he glanced at the closet that he'd been in, then back at Runi. He couldn't exactly just...go home. "Sure, I'll...come. With you. To the pride festival."

She let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good," she said. "I wasn't sure what I was going to do if you said no."

After a moment passed, she grabbed onto his wrist and eagerly started to lead him to the door. But just as she placed her hand on the door handle, she came to an awkward realization: Cornyx would stand out like a sore thumb at pride. Not because he wasn't wearing any pride things - allies, like she had said, were welcome, especially when they were going with a queer friend. But some LGBTQ+ people disliked any sort of authority presence there, and Cornyx, though she doubted anyone would guess what he was in charge of, definitely looked like he was in charge of something.

...And the majority of that came from the suit.

She let go of his hand and turned back to face him.

"I don't think you're going to like this much," she said, "but, er, I don't think the suit's the best choice for pride - even though it does look wonderful on you! You just look so...important in it, and I think that might worry some people there."

She glanced back at her closet and dresser. "I, uh, dress a lot more masculine than most, and tend to get clothes that are too large, so maybe we could find something in here that you could wear instead? The pants could probably stay, but I think you need different shoes and a different top, and maybe something on your head..."

Cornyx blinked. Not wear...his suit? He hadn't worn anything else in...well, years, aside from the more medieval formal wear required for the current time period in Ethnu.

He'd probably stick out no matter what he did simply because of his height, but that didn't mean he had to make himself completely and utterly conspicuous due to his attire, and Runi had a point: no reason to make people uncomfortable. He shrugged off his jacket and unbuttoned the first button his collar. This made his attire go from business-formal to a more casual formal, like a schoolteacher, and he poked his head inside her closet to see if he could find what he was looking for.

Hanging on a hanger in the back of the closet was a rainbow tie. Perfect.

He grabbed it and quickly tied it, keeping it somewhat loose around his neck, and then snatched a dark violet-blue baseball cap from the closet and popped it backwards on his head, turning to Runi as his eyes darkened to a more human hue. It was still somewhat unnatural, for the dark blue was almost purple, but though it was rare, some humans had such eyes. None had the almost metallic shade of silvery blue that he naturally did.

"How's this, Miss Runi?" he asked, spreading his arms like a magician who'd just finished his set.

Runi looked him over.

Cornyx had always been stylish for as long as she had known him, and typically had worn suits. Which, of course, are some of the most stylish things around. But she was quickly realizing that Cornyx was so detached from the modern day that he didn't know how to blend in - and didn't know how to be anything else than the ruler of whatever places he had managed to add to his long list of demonic accomplishments.

She cautiously lifted the hat from his head and placed it back where it was before.

"Maybe the hat wasn't the best idea," she carefully said. She looked him over again. "And, um, putting a rainbow tie on might make other guys think you're available, so you might just want to take it off."

She awkwardly untied it and pulled it over his head, then turned to the rest of his outfit. It really was a nice try - honest - but it still didn't look all that casual.

"Maybe I should do this part," Runi suggested, digging through her closet for the clothes she was thinking of. She threw a leather jacket - one that had always been too big for her - onto her bed, and grabbed a pair of shoes that looked like they could be Cornyx's size. Then she made a beeline for her dresser, digging through it until she found a shirt that went with his black pants and the rest of the planned outfit.

Before he could even have a chance to protest, Runi had managed to unbutton his shirt, slip on its replacement, and make all the other minor changes to his wardrobe.

As a final touch, she dug into her closet and pulled out a black fedora.

"I don't think you need the fedora," Runi said, holding it out to him, "but it definitely would add more to the look, and I think most of the people there would be cool with that. In fact..."

She ducked back into her closet again, grabbing a fedora of her own and switching it out with her baseball cap - though she made sure to move the lesbian pride pin as well.

She plopped it onto her head with her free hand. "There!" she said. "All fedora-ed up."

Cornyx wasn't sure which was more surprising: the fact that Runi had clothes that actually fit him, or that he wasn't wearing a suit or anything remotely resembling a suit for the first time in, well, years.

He took the fedora, turning it over in his fingers as he debated whether or not to wear it before popping it on his head and glancing in the mirror. Runi was right--it was classy. He grabbed his jacket and pulled his pocketwatch out of it, then tucked it into the leather one that she'd lent him.

Cornyx proceeded to go to the door and open it for her, bowing and gesturing grandly for her to pass with a dip of his new hat. "Ladies first, Madame Vain," he said with the smallest ghost of a sharp-toothed smile. The lack of confidence that had been his most evident quality back when they'd first met--the sort of absence of it that made his humor disappear entirely and his words difficult to understand through his stutter--seemed to be a thing of the past.

She tipped her own hat as well, giving him a grin as she passed by. "Why thank you, Sir Blackthorne," she replied. It took all of her concentration not to laugh - but, even despite her best efforts, a giggle or two managed to escape her.

As she slipped out into the hallway, she looked around to see if anyone else was there. It wasn't like she was afraid of their opinions, necessarily. She had just moved to the area, so her interests weren't exactly apparent yet. But no one was there, so she gladly led Cornyx down the hallway to the elevator.

Cornyx fell in beside her and offered his arm, an action of habit, and strode beside her to the elevator in silence. He wasn't a man of many words: why speak when there was nothing to speak of? That wasn't to say he was beyond small talk, he just avoided it unless it was necessary, and with Runi, it wasn't.

It felt strange, doing this with her. It was so...normal. A small voice in the back of his head yammered on about how dangerous this was. About how he had an empire to rule, and how he needed to go home to prevent unrest in his people and having to quell another anarchist rebellion.

Yet, somehow, Runi's presence made that voice quiet. He'd missed her more than he'd realized.

It felt good to be with someone again. Runi hadn't told Cornyx the entire story behind why she was planning on going to pride - he was her only real friend, and they didn't even live in the same reality.

She had been hoping to make friends there. It would be awesome if she could meet a future girlfriend, too, but she just wanted people to hang out from the local area. And it wasn't that she wanted friends from pride because she was worried what other people would think of her sexuality - she really wasn't. There was just something comforting about being friends with people that weren't straight or cis. They got each other.

So Runi was happy to take the offered arm, and was happy to leave the elevator and building with Cornyx in tow. They were still a short distance away from the event, but that was what the subway was for.

She glanced over at Cornyx.

"We just have to take a quick ride on the subway, and then we'll be there," Runi said, giving him a grin.

The subway. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken one of those. Probably back when his shoes still had holes in them and when most mornings he got up with a hangover. Almost twenty years back, now. A long time indeed.

"Sounds like a plan," he smiled. "So, Runi...what's been going on with you? Anything new? It's been too long since we've caught up."