#tell me if y'all prefer it this way and I'll keep drawing my doodles this way

[dashflashy-arts]

...uhhh yeah they'd be good friends me thinks

thanks to @kooki914 and @meowchela for sharing funnie ideas when I talked about these two!!!

How they met in my purgatory AU is under the cut! [WARNING: slight gore and body horror but pretty bloody, at least in the last image. You've been WARNED]

First thing Arthur does waking up in the realm, he literally went and unintentionally saved some guy™'s butt lol

(I actually drew the last image last year. Just thought of reusing it here bc it fits.)

[vera-king-hrfl]

Heat of the Night part 3 (thank you @crowwolf for the title, it fits!)

This is still going to be sweet and cute for a while, but y'all know me, I'm a fiend for drama, so there's some foreshadowing in this one. 😈

Also, we're not doing the typical BG everyone is pansexual thing here. Don't get me wrong, I love that and most of my stories are that, but this one is written with more of a 1980s Earth mentality toward homosexuality, so some of the upcoming drama will surround that attitude. It's not in this one, and I will include warnings in the future when it does come up. ❤️

Cal hangs around the house the next day, making breakfast, doing laundry, and cleaning up the place a little. Living with his sister is nice, but they are both rather messy people, so there's always a lot to clean up on their days off. He’s sitting at their little dining table with Lia, eating while she giggles over Baldur’s Mouth, the local tabloid rag, telling him all the juiciest gossip about rich people they'll never meet.

"Oh, now this is interesting." She sips her coffee, eyeing Cal and waiting for him to ask her about it. But her brother knows Lia's game; the little tiefling loves chattering on about anything and everything, and can’t hold back for long, so he just smirks and finishes his toast before resting his chin on his hand and staring at her.

The standoff doesn't last long, as he'd expected, and Lia finally hmphs. "Oh alright, fine. Do you remember Lucretious?"

Cal nods. "Mhm. She used to run the extraplaner circus..."

"Yeah, that's her. Well, apparently she's opening an art gallery not too far from here next week. We should go and support her." She perks up and grins. "Hey! You should show her your stuff. Maybe she'd like to give you a bit of wall there."

Her brother snorts. "Pffft. I'm not good enough for that. We can go, Lucretious is a sweetheart, but keep your trap shut. I'd just embarrass myself."

Lia rolls her eyes. "You are so good enough. Your drawings are beautiful, Cal. But fine." She gets to her feet and grabs her bag, and Cal entertains a brief hope that maybe she'd forgotten about the previous evening. He's not that lucky though, and she continues as she roots for a trolley token. "I'll leave you alone about the gallery, if you promise to call that guy today." She grins at Cal's flinch. "And don't think you can avoid it. I memorized that number last night."

Cal huffs. "Meddling brat. Fine. I said I would call him, and I will. Just don't be a pest about it."

"Alright. I look forward to hearing how it went. Just remember, we have dinner at the tower with Rolan tonight. Then you can tell us both." Her grin widens as Cal groans. He loves his brother, but the older Arch Mage and professor is skeptical about anyone trying to date his siblings, and has a tendency to cause scenes. He'd been fine when Cal declared his preference for men, but the young tiefling hadn’t really dated anyone in a few years, and he expects the third degree about anyone he goes out with. So he just waves his sister off and goes to do the washing up while she leaves for work.

Later, he's sitting at the table with a sketch pad in front of him, doodling and stressing. The pink napkin is on the table too, and his eyes keep drifting to it, breaking his dubious concentration. Finally, he sits back and scrubs at his face with both hands before looking at the thick, charcoal decorated paper. All the anatomy studies he'd been working on that morning were quite a bit darker than he was accustomed to doing. It was a challenge to leave enough white space to really define the lean muscles on the tight, limber torso... but the way the light hits that nearly black skin... he looks at the napkin again. There is no way that man will ever let me see him like this.

Finally, after annoying himself to the point of courage, he picks up his communicator and slowly enters the number on the pink paper. He stares at the thing as if it's about to attack him for a second, then sighs and hits send, standing up to pace as the tone plays in his ear.

"Vendui?" The soft voice is familiar, but Cal doesn’t recognize the greeting.

"Uh... sorry, I'm looking for Ryldinn."

He hears the smile, while causes his own lips to twitch in answer. "You have found him. Is this Cal?"

"Yeah it is... we met last night at the White Swallow." He winces. Obviously Ryldinn knows that, you idiot; he was there. But the rather sexy accent is more noticeable now than in the noisy club, and it's throwing him off. As does the pretty little laugh that follows.

"How could I forget? How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks. And you?"

"Bwael, yes, wonderful, now that I hear you. Have you had chance to decide whether to see me? May I think that is why you call?"

Cal has to sit down at that. It’s like a dream, the lovely man seeming so eager to see him again. He holds the device away from his face to clear his throat before answering. "Yeah, it is, um... if you want to. Where would you like to go?"

"There is a café near to my home. Evae Aloun. Do you know it? Right near the Upper City gate. What time would you like to meet? I am not busy today."

"Uh... today? I mean, yeah I know the place. I have dinner with my brother around eighth bell, but anytime before that would be great."

He hears the adorable smiling sound in the soft words again. "Very well. I shall be there at the third. I am happy for this, Cal. Will see you there."

They say their goodbyes and Cal ends the call, staring at the comm for a moment before tossing it next to him on the sofa and sitting back, pushing his hair behind his horns. He glances at the clock. Just after first. He has time to get ready, but he’s not sure if he's prepared to see the beautiful man again. Some part of him still thinks this must be a mistake, or a joke of some kind. Maybe Ryldinn had been dazzled by the flashing lights in the club, or something...

He groans and stands, going into his room to spend an inordinate amount of time agonizing over his appearance. He settles on a short sleeved shirt and some decent jeans, then stands in front of the mirror to fuss with his hair and tug at the shirt to try and hide the little belly that he'd grown in the last few years of single life. Finally he sighs and rakes the dark locks into a ponytail, grabs his keys and money, and leaves the house to catch the trolley.

The time he left at should have brought him to the cute little café a bit early, but a delay in the trolley service makes him several minutes late instead, and he hurries down the sidewalk, hoping that Ryldinn won't be upset. He doesn’t see the man at first, when he reaches the place, and his stomach sinks for a minute as he considers that perhaps Ryldinn had grown tired of waiting and left. Or maybe he'd never meant to come here in the first place. Cal sighs, looking around for a minute.

"Hi."

At the soft sound, Cal spins to see his date standing behind him, smiling. "Oh... hi Ryldinn. Im sorry I'm late, the trolley..."

The drow chuckles and takes Cal's hand to lead him to a table outdoors, near a corner. They sit, and Cal wracks his brain for something to say. "You look nice," is all he can come up with. It's true, too. The pretty little man is wearing loose soft pants that cling precariously to his narrow hips and an expensive looking vee neck t-shirt with some modern art piece printed on it, cropped just enough to skim his waistband. Delectable little peeks of his silky grey skin show when he moves to wave the smiling dwarven waitress over, and it's all Cal can do not to stare at him. Ryldinn is even more gorgeous in the sunlight, his hands, arms and face gleaming, though his big eyes are hidden behind dark sunglasses. He'd left his shimmering hair down too, and he sweeps it back after the lady takes their order, resting his chin on his hands to look at Cal.

"Thank you. You look quite good yourself." Ryldinn isn’t lying about that, and he's thankful for the glasses that let him inspect the handsome tiefling without seeming like a creep. He can sense Cal's apprehension, and doesn’t want to scare the man away. But he looks anyway, appreciating the way his chest and strong arms push at the fabric of Cal’s button down shirt. Astarion was right, the beefy young man is undeniably Ryldinn’s type, and he'd been captivated by him the moment he'd walked into the bar the previous night. Said tiefling is possibly blushing now, though its hard to tell with the reddish shade of his skin. Ryldinn can’t see very well anyway, in the bright afternoon sun, but it's impossible to miss the shy grin and the way his burning eyes flicker over Ryldinn in a similar appraisal, and then dart away nervously. The drow smiles, pleased that Cal seems to like the way he looks.

Their drinks arrive, and Cal adds milk and sugar to his coffee while Ryldinn blows on his own decalf espresso. "Do you take sugar?" The tiefling offers Ryldinn the container, but the dark elf shakes his head.

"No thank you, Cal. You sweet enough for the both of us." He's rewarded with another cute little flush, more obvious this time, and decides to make small talk to put the man at ease. "So," he says, sipping carefully at the hot cup. "What was wrong with the trolley?"

Cal shrugs. "Just the usual mess. I guess some rich politician got murdered early this morning and they're doing an investigation. They rerouted all of the cars to another street."

A thin white eyebrow raises above the rim of the glasses. "How shameful. What is the city coming to?" There’s a dash of irony in his voice that Cal can't quite place, but he puts it down to the accent, or perhaps the rumored violence of his former society made the man more immune to things like that. "Do not worry though, I would have waited longer."

"Uh... heh, alright." Cal is actually enjoying the company now, relaxing a little now that they're here and Ryldinn seems to be openly flirting with him. He thinks maybe there's a possibility that the drow does actually like him. He certainly seems to. "So, um... what do you do? For work, I mean."

Ryldinn leans back in his chair and runs a hand through his hair. "I am a procurator at a specialty book shop in the Upper City. It's not that interesting, really. I just find books for people who want them, but the owner is kind to me, and I get to meet interesting people. What about you?"

"Nothing that posh, I'm afraid." Cal chuckles a little. "I'm a mechanic. I work for a friend of the family fixing whatever needs fixed. Including these rickety trolleys, when the company decides they're on the verge of falling apart. But if you do rare books or whatever, maybe you know my brother, Rolan."

Ryldinn sips his coffee again. "Mm, I've never met him; the boss usually entertains the more important clients. But I do believe I have found some things for him. It must be interesting having an Arch Mage for a brother."

Cal grins. "It’s stressful, actually. He's... well. He's a bit cranky and pompous, and very protective of me and our sister. Do you have family here?"

"Oh my. I hope he's alright with us seeing each other. I wouldn't want a wizard mad at me. But no, I don’t have any family." The last sentence seems to cool Ryldinn’s expression a little, and Cal hurriedly moves on, thinking that may be a sensitive subject for the man.

"Oh, he'll disapprove at first, I'm sure, but he'd disapprove if I was dating a Grand Duke. It's fine. Besides. I'm enjoying this. I haven't been on a date in a few years, and certainly not with someone so..." he blushes and buries his face in his cup, hoping he didn’t go too far.

But Ryldinn just smiles, sets his cup down, and lays his hand on the table, palm up. "So what?"

Cal swallows, looking at the offered hand for a second before gently taking it, curling his rough fingers around the slender dark ones. "I'm going to be honest with you, Ryldinn. When I first saw you I didn't think... well I thought you were just being nice, or teasing me because I'm new. I've only really been "out" for about a year and I've never dated a man before. I don’t really know how all of that works. But I do like you and... I think you're very beautiful. I just couldn't imagine what you saw in me. Astarion did say I was your type, but he was being kind of... I don't know. I'm just really nervous."

Ryldinn nods, squeezing his fingers a bit and seeming to consider. Finally he smiles. "Don’t worry about him. We've known each other for about fifteen years, and though he can be a jerk sometimes, he's the closest thing I'll ever have to a brother. So he's a little... protective as well, I suppose. But, Cal... I'm not... I have not dated anyone in... well I've never actually had a boyfriend or anything like that. But life gets lonely, you know? So, if you are willing to give this a chance and see where it goes... I do find you very attractive as well, I will admit that, but there’s something else about you. I cannot really express. I am more good at reading your language than speaking it. I am getting better at it, but my boss speaks drow, as well as Astarion, so I don't practice as much as I should."

"I understand you perfectly, Ryldinn, it's alright." He looks at the soft hand in his for a minute, digesting Ryldinn’s statement. He thinks Cal is attractive, along with whatever else he's noticed that seems to please him. "Yeah, I'm willing to give it a chance. Not only because you're good-looking. You were just really nice to me. You're the first guy who's really shown any interest. I just... I want to get to know you better."

Ryldinn smiles, and they chat for quite a while, about their work, local events, casual things, until the shadows start to lengthen over the café and it's time for Cal to go get ready to spend the evening with his siblings. Ryldinn stands when he does, and Cal hesitates for a minute before gently taking his arm and leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. The drow dimples, pleased. "I am busy tomorrow, but perhaps I could see you the next evening? The view of the sunset from the bluff outside the city is lovely."

Cal grins. "It’s a date. I'll call you later to work out exactly where and when. Um... this was nice. Thank you."