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This was a bad idea.

In fact, Gabrian was well aware that this was a terrible, terrible idea, and yet, once he'd thought of it, he'd been unable to rid of it. The possibilities of success were not nearly as great as the possibilities of having this whole charade backfire on him, and yet the notion that if he succeeded he'd do so big time... made him decide to go with it anyhow. All he had to do was keep a calm, straight face and maybe, just maybe, he'd get away with all of it and turn the tables on that damn gryphon. Who said revenge couldn't be horribly fun? Oh, if only this would work, he was sure Ren would think it over before ever trying something like what he'd done; both signing him up in the scarentine auction and then having the audacity of winning him.

He lifted his arm up to regard his outfit sleeve, tugging slightly at some wrinkles he could see before lowering it down when he entered the monster dorms. Gabrian was, by now, quite used to the strange place and knew his way through it well enough that he didn't have to bother slithering through it in his serpent form. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was paying him much mind today; most of the students were getting ready for the scarentine party that would take place later that day. Surely a lone demon walking through the monster dorm halls was nowhere near as interesting as the notion of the party.

As he neared the gryphon's dorm room door, the demon in question made inventory of everything; scamera? Check, it was in his pocket, ready to be used if he was lucky enough to succeed. Formal wear for the party? double check on that. Calm facade? Er... okay, check. There, he was calm. Now all he needed was to manage to remain calm throughout this whole charade and then maybe he'd have something to hold over Ren's head in the future. With that thought in mind, he ran a hand through his hair and then pushed his friend's door open, stepping into the by now... extremely familiar room, "Ren, are you ready yet?" he took a moment to close the door behind him, his voice sounding absolutely devoid of anger or frustration. In fact, he managed to make it sound... slightly eager. Those few hours practicing in front of the mirror had paid off, "We're going to be late."

If only he'd had a touch more time to prepare!

Okay, okay... deep breath in, deep breath out; he could do this. It all probably depended on just how convincing he was in his performance, and in order to do a good job, he had to keep a straight face. Which was easier said than done. Gabrian was idly thankful for the time he'd gone around masquerading a cold hearted jerk, because in a way, the technique was the same, or.. well, similar at least.

Ren's voice called out from the bathroom, and by the time the gryphon had stepped out, Gabrian had schooled himself into that familiar... calm indifference, "Thank you," The only strange thing about it (Aside from the clear lack of insults) was that he looked concerned, or rather, unnerved by something or other; it wasn't annoyance, and it wasn't anger. It was almost as if the nix were uncertain about something or other, "Ahh... yes, well..." he frowned slightly, his brows knitting together, "I think we should talk first," his usual drawl was missing, replaced by a certain amount of hesitation in his words. Granted, he wasn't stuttering, but it almost appeared like he didn't particularly want to be having this conversation.

Either that, or perhaps the demon was embarrassed. It was hard to tell, really.

He allowed his gaze to fall on the other boil, noting how he seemed to still only be half ready. A small, soft sigh escaped his lips, and the nix turned away from the bed to which he'd been heading (likely to sit on), instead making his way to his friend, "Your bow tie is crocked, Ren, and your hair's a mess," stepping forward, never once asking for permission, he reached out and too hold of the lapels of his jacket, sorting out the clothes quite calmly. He paused to look down into Ren's eyes just briefly before turning his head away, "Would you like some help then?" he made a show out of glancing over to him without turning his head, his hands leaving the clothes to rest by his sides.

"In a moment," he lifted his hands again and gave his friend a light push, directing him towards the bathroom. All the while, he was trying extremely hard to keep contact as soft brushes, something that wasn't exactly over the top but that would, no doubt, be noticed. After all... he didn't usually touch Ren; at least not like this. Usually, it was a grip of the arm, or a smack on the head; the difference while small, was there, and Gabrian hoped it was just barely enough to make the gryphon self conscious. He was not used to these games of seduction, having kept away from other for so long, but he'd red a thing or two and while it was true that he was out of his depths... he hoped he was doing a good job at keeping this all relatively believable.

It would be worth it in the end. Specially if the slight stutter from just a moment ago was any indication, "I'll explain in a moment... but first, I think your hair looks terrible, Ren. What have you done to it? Turn around," he reached for the brush with one hand and used his free one to turn the other boil around so he he was facing the mirror. Once Ren was facing away from him, Gabrian turned his head and had to take a deep calming breath, because dear Jack, he was having a hard time keeping on a straight face. Devolving into peals of laughter right about now just wouldn't do. He made sure to make the calming breath sound almost like an anguished breath of air, as if he were holding back on something, and then... reached for the ribbon on the side of the sink, "I'll do it..." he lowered his voice just a notch and then began to brush the other boil's hair.

Of course, after a couple of sweeps of thee brush, Gabrian had an idea and he placed the ribbon in his mouth, holding it in place with with teeth before reaching up with his free hand. It ran through Ren's hair and the nix made sure to mirror the movements of the brush with his fingers, brushing his skull every so often, "Almost done," setting the brush aside, he reached up with one hand and slowly tied up the gryphon's hair in neat, yet lose pony tail. Now, he had no idea if any of that had worked or not; Gabrian personally enjoyed having his hair toyed with, but he wasn't entirely sure what effect it would have on the other boil.

At least this was all mildly entertaining.

It was working.

At first, Gabrian honestly couldn't believe that this whole charade was working, but one look at Ren's reflection in the mirror dispelled any doubts the nix might've had. Apparently, his friend wasn't entirely immune, which was, needless to say, rather amusing in and of itself. Now, if he'd been a particularly sadistic person, he would have dragged this out and possibly made sure his friend never forgot the experience, but... that wasn't what he was after. Oh, no, he wasn't trying to hurt Ren, just tease him a little bit; after all, wasn't that what revenge between friends was all about? It wasn't so much about hurting people, in his mind, as much as teaching them a lesson; doing something that the other person would look back on and be unable to forget, yet still possibly look back on without entirely negative feelings.

By the time the demon noticed the gryphon's blush, he was having entirely too much fun (not to mention having an extremely hard time not giving himself away through laughter). He was horribly glad he'd learned to school his features, otherwise he wouldn't even have made it this far. He was also well aware that part of the fact he was being able to hold his act together was because of that kiss they'd shared during spin the bottle. Yeah, this was also part revenge for that too (even though he'd already pulled off the bathroom stunt in retaliation for that particular experience).

"My sister never did mine," he told his friend honestly, his hand running through the strands one last time before his gaze tore away from the golden eyes reflected upon the mirror. Instead, he settled his attention on the gryphon's ears and an idea surfaced in his mind; he distinctly recalled the reactions he'd gotten from both Natalia and LW when he'd gone for their ears. Were all monsters the same? He knew from experience that birds enjoyed their heads and necks being preened, since they couldn't reach those places themselves... but did that apply to Gryphons? There was also the fact his friend's tail flicking nervously about had caught his attention and he wanted to figure out if he was quite as sensitive there as he was on his head.

After a few beats, Gabrian decided that clearly, he had to find out. In the name of science. And revenge. But mostly science, "You're welcome," he took the time to offer his friend's reflection a small, hooded eye smile; the type he usually reserved just for LW and then made sure that before retreating his hand away from the gryphon's head, he brushed his ear, scratching the base. That done, he pulled away a step or two, still facing his friend's back but... allowing him to regain his personal space back; he was hoping the other boil would spin around to face him on instinct, "Ah yes... the talk," he allowed himself to frown slightly, looking concerned before leaning forward, no matter if his friend had spun around or not, "Where do I start?" due to their pose, he was forced to lean forward, his hands finding the sink for support as he effectively trapped the other boil, "I was wondering. What do you think of me?"

Apparently, the ear thing worked wonders with gryphons and... dear jack, was that a purr? Gabrian was actually unable to conceal the way both his brows shot up to hide under his bangs, and he was forced to lower his head. thankfully, the bowing of his head allowed his long hair to obscure his features just long enough for him to school his features back into the expression he'd been using till now, and to boot... it probably looked like he was having a hard time controlling himself (which he was - albeit for entirely different reasons than the situation might have suggested). His tail had settled into a light sway behind him; it was nothing like the usual irritated twitch, but rather... almost seemed to radiate contentment (of course, still for entirely different reasons than Ren might've figured).

He was going to have to store all this knowledge away fro later, in that little drawer he kept in the back of his mind marked as 'Renaissance', "I was hoping..." a pause and he made a show of swallowing saliva down before lifting his gaze back up to meet the gryphon's, "I was thinking that the whole auction charade might have been your extremely awkward, callous attempt to tell me something else," oh, but Ren was making this entirely too easy for him, and honestly? Gabrian was enjoying himself. It was all quite amusing and though he had little doubt at he was going to have a book smashed into his face (or at the very least a pillow) before they left for the scarentine ball... it would have all been worth it.

He took the chance to lean into Ren, effectively throwing any remaining shreds of personal space out the proverbial window as his face reached the other boils. Instead of going for the mouth though, he turned his head so he could talk into the gryphon's ear, "Was it?" and finally, for the killing move, he thought to himself as he felt Ren's tail flick around. Slowly, he uncurled one of his hands from the sink and waited until he felt the tail brush up once more. This time, he caught it and run his finger through the tail tip, where it ended in hair.

Gabrian wasn't sure how much time had transcurred since he'd entered the gryphon's room, but he felt he'd made his friend suffer enough; he'd gotten more than he'd expected out of this little ordeal and he decided it was about time to end poor Ren's torment. Specially since he was by now, a brilliant red that seemed match his dorm room curtains quite nicely.

When the other boil's hands came to rest feebly against his chest, the nix pulled away just enough to allow himself to lower his gaze to them. This pretty much left them forehead to forehead for one long, dragged out moment, "I'm sure the dance can wait," he murmured softly, and the hand that had dipped down to stroke through his tail lifted up to curl around one of the hands pressed against his chest. He picked said hand up and off his chest, taking the moment to lean into the other boil again; this time though, he didn't go for his ear, aiming straight for Ren's lips. He stayed there, hovering, his own ghosting over the gryphon's, "I love you, Ren," he whispered before the facade came crashing down and the familiar smirk spread across his features, "I really do. Just not that way," and with that, he released his friend's hand and finally pulled away.

He took several steps back and stood there, looking very much like he'd just completed a particularly hard yet extremely rewarding task. His right hand dipped into his coat pocket and he pulled out his scamera, taking a fast picture of Ren's expression while the other was still blushing and looking struck dumb, "And that, my dear, dear friend..." he drawled out, the slight teasing tone was back in his voice, "Is why you do not ******** with me," he then took the chance to bow before his still clearly flustered friend, "So, about that dance? Do you want to come with me then? Or have you thought things over? I'm not against going with you. It'll probably be endlessly amusing - I bet we could win the dance competition," a pause as he lifted his head, still in that mock-bow position, "By the way... I didn't know you could purr," he straightened up and brushed his clothes off slightly, "That's adorable. Does LW know? Heck, does Alessa know?

See, now... was the time to bolt away and out of Ren's reach. Except, well, the gryphon reacted just a touch faster than Gabrian had anticipated; by the time Ren had begun to catch his breath (face still hilariously bright red), the nix had only just straightened himself up, "Ah, ah, ah, Ren!" he tries to wag a finger in his friend's direction as he spoke, "Remember, violence never solved any-JACKING HELL!" the last couple of words were screeched as the demon tried to side step his friend's tackle. Unfortunately (for both of them - and the bookcase actually), he only just managed to get out of the bathroom and not entirely out of the way.

His hand shot out instinctively and grabbed onto the nearest thing, which... just so happened to be the damned bookcase; it came toppling down, though thankfully, it missed both boils. They crashed to the side, on the pile of pillows that Ren kept in a corner of his room, "Ren!" taking into account he'd been lucky in that he'd landed against plush pillows, Gabrian decided to redirect his attention to the fact that Ren was effectively straddling him and seemed intent on throttling him, "Good grief I just hope no one walks in on this, because this could be read as so many levels of wrong," he narrowed his eyes and propped himself up off the ground with his elbows, his face once more inches away from Ren's, "Before you decide to kill me horribly, Ren, I'd like to point out that oi, if all you wanted was to top, all you had to do was say so! There was no need to tackle me to the floor on top of a bunch of pillows," that said he allowed himself to flop back down and raised a hand to push softly against the other boil's chest.

He knew he was pushing his luck, but he was counting on the fact that his still highly flustered friend would jump off of him as if burned by fire after hearing those words. That way they might be able to avoid a repeat of the bathroom mirror incident, though... honestly, after taking a glance at the toppled bookcase, Gabrian wasn't sure if he should consider the damage done worse than said former bathroom incident. Of course, then again, the nix hadn't really counted on the fact that rather than bolt, the gryphon might freeze up like he'd done so earlier, "Are you going to get off? Or are we going to miss the ball?"

"Soooo.... you're not getting off?" he blinked, slightly surprised when Ren grabbed first one wrist and then the other before pushing them back against the mountain of pillows. For a moment, he considered reacting like he usually did, if only but to shift things back to normal, but in all honesty, he just didn't feel like doing that. Instead, the nix allowed the mild surprise to slowly dissipate and his eyes to hood over calmly, "You know, if we keep this up, by the time we get to the dance room, it's going to look like we just jumped out of bed. All my hard work on your hair, down the drain," he let out a sigh which actually wasn't dishonest in it's weariness, "It's all messed up again!"

Seeing as how he was pinned to the ground (Ren was, in fact, heavier than he looked, and Gabrian, himself, wasn't the most physically strong boil on campus), the nix decided to relax. Best case scenario his friend would eventually get off of him all in due time, and... worst case scenario he'd try (and fail) to throttle him before getting off. Either way, keeping calm was the key here. Alas, the calmness did not extend to the smug sense of acomplishment he felt, and when the gryphon spoke up again (face still aflame no less), Gabrian couldn't help but smirk, "Yes, well, I wasn't the one that put you up for auction and then proceeded to win you," he allowed his tongue to click over his teeth softly, "I could have misinterpreted that as advances, you know... specially seeing as how you had absolutely no problem kissing me or nipping my lip."

The smirk turned into a grin that seemed almost childishly proud and almost entirely out of place on the otherwise... usually serious demon's face, "And now look at you. Here you are, blushing a thousand pretty shades of red while to straddle me and won't get off," he paused and made a show of pondering something or other before looking up into his friend's eyes, "Whose the screwed up one again?" the grin was still there, boyish in nature, his tail twitching on the ground, "Of course you will. And then I'll just think of something worse and we'll come around, full circle again. Now isn't that nice?" he considered something before deciding, ah, to hell with it, and pushed himself up as best he could despite being pinned, "Also? Serpent," he drawled out, his long tail coming up to brush the tip gently down Ren's spine, "I don't do that tongue thing."