Two

Kuro

Yamamoto Kuro sat on a bench with a boba tea in hand, enjoying the sun as it burned away the morning mist hanging over the city. People were going to start emerging from the high-rises around him soon, off to early lunches. This was as good a place as any to people watch, especially the employees emerging from the shiny new Socrates Industries building.

"Why is it that I get the rooftop view and you get the boba tea?" His lover's tenor voice sounded in his earbud.

No one in this part of town would glance twice at Kuro having a conversation with air. There were so many people wearing various types of audio devices, stationary or on the move, he was just another person immersed in technology.

"I can pick up a boba tea for you later," Kuro murmured, amused.

"But I have to watch you suck balls into your mouth now, and I can't do anything fun about it," Joe responded, laughter in his voice.

Kuro sighed. "You've got the intellectual maturity of a twelve-year-old."

Joe laughed. "Only when I'm hungry."

Kuro sobered slightly. "You should have gone hunting, then."

Kuro scowled. Neither of them should go too long without feeding. The moon would be waning over the next week or so as well. Neither of them would be at their strongest, and they didn't usually hunt together. It got too complicated. But he could make an exception if it kept Joe in good health.

"We can go barhopping or clubbing tonight. I don't mind playing wingman," he offered.

They worked well as a team, and shared many things in their lives, even lovers, but they never shared prey. Their means for gaining sustenance was one of the major differences in their natures. But he could support his partner in a hunt, then go off in search of his own prey a different night.

"It's not something to worry about." Joe still sounded unconcerned. "I'd rather not miss anything important and waste the time we've invested in this project. It'd be a shame for this many hours of boredom to be for nothing."

They'd been taking note of the coming and going of several employees, systematically learning routines and habits. It was tedious at best. They didn't have to be so thorough in their research for a quick job, but they had no information about what went on inside Socrates Industries's latest R I can tell." Joe sounded delighted by the prospect.

Kuro frowned, even as he watched her ponytail sway with her steps as she continued onward. A pair of young people walking in the opposite direction openly stared at her for a few beats, until they both blundered into a pack of tiny dogs leashed to an equally distracted dog walker. Kuro snorted.

Joe's unrestrained laughter filled his ears. "Enjoy your boba tea and keep eyes on the building, will you? I'll be right back."

"What? Wait." Kuro sat forward, glancing up at the glass building and searching the reflection for Joe's vantage point.

It probably wouldn't have mattered if Kuro had given away Joe's perch because his lover was gone. Scowling, Kuro shifted in his seat and sucked on his straw, drawing up a few boba and chewing them in frustration.

"If I'm going to be the responsible one and stay to maintain surveillance on our target," Kuro muttered over their connection, "you had better—"

"Woo the witch," Joe interjected gleefully. "I'm on it."

Kuro sighed. There was no way this could end badly.