3 - It's pronounced 'quiche'. 'Kee-sh'

Theseus got up. Asterius had agreed for his help to clean them, right? He showed him his hand, palm up, standing right in front of him. "What did you paint them with? Nail polish, perhaps? That would make sense." He actually brushed his thumb against one of his horns. Sure, he had already grabbed them when they had been sparring against one another, but he hadn't paid much attention to their texture before.

Asterius pushed the sponge in Theseus' waiting hand. "Nail polish", he confirmed, folding his arms and lowering his head to offer a better angle to his friend. "Getting it off is a nightmare. The solvent stinks, and usually it's too strong and ends up ruining the horns." Aria had bought an extremely delicate one in hope that it would be better, but it had been in vane. Maybe because they were still sensitive for growing though. Maybe now it would have been different? Who knows.

Theseus hummed quietly. "It all depends on the nail polish and remover you're using," he told Asterius, while curiously rubbing the sponge against his horns, cleaning them carefully. For someone with a limited attention span, he was quite focused on his task. He found it... oddly soothing. And he usually hated to do anything meticulous like this. "My nails used to get damaged a lot at first, before we found a brand that doesn't weaken them. Same for the remover." He didn't specify it, but he had been putting some on for some of his father's shows, of course. And Carleen occasionally painted his nails when they were kids, or teens and she felt like it.

Asterius found all of this quite soothing too. He wasn't really used to have someone's hands on his horns anymore, but the feeling was still pleasant, and relaxing. "You paint your nails often?", he asked in a low voice, eyes closing a little as he leaned further into Theseus' touch. He had never painted his nails. Mostly because Aria really preferred to paint his horns, and he liked it better that way too. But his tone wasn't judgemental in the slightest.

Theseus shrugged. "I happen to do it on my own, yes. Most of the time it's my make-up artist doing it for me. For shows, I mean. But it's usually the same colors if they're the one doing it. Black, gold, and so on. Anything that fits what I'm wearing." He hummed a little while working on Asterius' horns, moving on to the next one.

Asterius didn't nod - he'd poke Theseus' eye if he did from that position - but hummed in understanding. "Right, you model for your father and sister", he recalled, his voice a little lower. He felt kind of sleepy now, no lie. "What colors do you prefer? I do like magenta the best." If it was on his horns, at least. As an actual favorite color, he'd definitely pick blue.

"Magenta would look wonderful on your horns," Theseus approved with a grin. "Maybe a deep burgundy at the top, getting lighter the more it goes down." He finally took a step back. "I go with anything as long as it supports a look," he said with a shrug. "I like shades of brown fine. Gold has to be my favourite, though." He looked down at his nails. "Mh. Magenta or burgundy might look fine there too."

"Magenta would suit you fine", Asterius agreed, He didn't know much about how colors worked off of each other, but he thought it would make a nice contrast with Theseus' blue eyes and light hair. He passed a finger over his horns, one per time, and he threw him a little smile. "You did a vretty good hìjob. Thank you for offering your help."

Theseus smiled to himself. "Well! You're welcome, friend," he told Asterius, who he gave back his sponge to. "You're free to ask for my help anytime- I suppose it must be quite troublesome to stretch your arms so much after practice, just to clean them." He took his towel off his waist again to rub at his hair, since it was the only thing he hadn't dried much yet, and walked back towards his own locker.

"Alright." Asterius' eyes lingered on Theseus' back as he walked away - a little longer than it would have been polite to do, probably - before he grabbed his towel as well to get to his locker too, and start getting dressed. "I will text you for Saturday, if you don't mind", he said then as he stuffed his dirty team uniform in his bag. "To let you know at what time I'll be there."

"Of course," Theseus replied with a grin as he got dressed. He waved at one of his teammates that walked by. "Feel free to text me at anytime! I always reply to texts. Except when I need to change my phone number in an emergency because it leaked on social media." It had happened to him twice already. Both times he had been hammered and posted his own number on his Instagram, going "Dena winchstre, wher is my sis i ned to slepe call me". Events that had lead him to him waking up with a massive hangover either on his own couch or in Dean's bed in the Winchesters' family home, which had given birth to many of John Winchester's fears regarding his son's preferences in men.

I need to let you know that I am wheezing because of your answer thank you


Asterius snorted. "If you use any app for chatting, let me know. I prefer it to regular texting." It was less expensive, namely. He raised a brow at him though as he pulled up his pants, nodding to a couple of his own teammates who were passing by. "Your number got leaked? That sounds bad. Did you receive unpleasant calls?" He couldn't know the occasions in which that had happened, of course. He was a very sleepy kind of drunk - any time Dionysus had convinced him to come to one of his 'party of the year' things and he had drunk too much, he always ended up passing out somewhere and just straight up going to dreamland. There were no chances of waking him up.

:DDD

Theseus nodded and actually gave Asterius his discord account - he also had an official channel where he chatted with some of his fans, too. "Honestly? I don't know. My phone was flooded with text and vocal messages I never really read or listened to each time," he replied with a shrug. "I've got quite the following on Instagram anyway- a bit on Carleen's Tiktok too. If anyone on there gets my number, it's bound to spread quite fast." He grinned. "That's the price of fame, I suppose."

Asterius huffed again, holding back a smile. He really did find Theseus' vanity to be kind of endearing, to be honest. "I suppose", he answered back. "Not that I would know. I'll take your word for it." He shrugged on a t-shirt and grabbed his bag, ready to walk back home. Horknath had told him already he'd probably get back later, since he needed to meet up with Castiel to chek on some notes for a common class they had.

"You'd probably get quite the following in no time, you know," Theseus told him, while shouldering his bag as well. He ran a hand through his hair to mess it up a bit when he walked in front of a mirror on their way out. "I mean you're a strong, handsome guy." The compliment fell off his lips quite naturally. Asterius was definitely handsome to him, objectively speaking.

Asterius raised a brow at Theseus, even if he couldn't probably see him. Handsome? Theseus thought he was handsome? "I'm quite strong", he agreed, deciding to ignore the rest of the comment. "But I think I like my privacy better. At least my phone number isn't being leaked", he added joking lightly.

Theseus scoffed. "Well. To each their own, I suppose! He paused at some crossroad. Where they would have to part, and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket while looking at his friend. "Well! My dear Asterius, it is sadly time for us to part ways. If we don't cross path in the locker rooms again this week, I'll see you on Saturday, then!"

Asterius hummed, nodding at Theseus. "Sure. I will text you", he reminded him before bidding him goodbye and walking away to reach for Horknath, who was waiting for him just a little further on the road.

(And if there isn't anything specific you'd want to play before we can skip over to Saturday maybe?)

(Yus! I'm going ahead and jumping on to Saturday!)

Theseus and Carleen were both excited about that Saturday, and for different reasons. For Carleen, it was her third date with Horknath and she had gotten up early that morning to get a shower, do her make-up and choose a cute outfit - a dress once more, since she had been wearing normal-ish clothes on their second date. She had of course reassured Dean and Carleen; she wasn't letting go of her standards. After having one too many asshole as her ex, going as far as being assaulted the last time she hit the 3-dates mark, she had assured them that no, she wouldn't make an exception for Horknath and she'd rather wait and make sure he was perfect for her before they moved on. And yes, Theseus would be staying home, and he was still on her speed dial so she wasn't risking anything.

Unaware of his sister's giddiness and nervousness, Theseus had gotten up even earlier for his morning routine - a few jogs around the park, then coming back home to lift some weights before he took a well-deserved shower, almost getting yelled at by his sister because she needed the spot too. He just shrugged it off. After all, as soon as she was done with her own shower they could stand side by side in front of their huge mirror to tend to their hair each - he even helped her fix the curls in her ponytail just a bit. She was still a little nervous before Horknath was due to arrive, which got Theseus to smile. Ah! He too understood all too well how it felt like when you began a new, exciting friendship and wanted everything to go smoothly.

To help his sister cool down, he had her sit on their couch with him, and offered her to paint his nails, knowing that focusing on a precise task like this one would get her to relax.
And if she arched a brow when he showed her a magenta that had never been part of his collection or habitual colors, she was polite enough not to mention it. Her brother had his little whims, after all- and he'd probably remove the nail polish by Monday.

On the Laurkinson's side of things, Horknath was definitely just as nervous as Carleen, if not more. After all, this was their third date already - and she would come to his rugby match the day after too, making him feel fidgety about a game for the first time in years. Maybe that would only push him to do better. He sure hoped so - he would've loved to impress her with his ability as a player! He had woken up early, unable to sleep for another second  because of his agitated state, had gone on his usual morning jog with Asterius, taken a good shower. Hesitated about trimming his beard a little and then decided against it, because what if he trimmed it too much? He looked like a baby with too little hair on his face! His clothes showed that he had definitely payed attention to what Carleen had said she liked - a leather jacket (the only one he owned), his rugby t-shirt underneath, and a simple pair of jeans. He hadn't thought of buying flowers this time - but had decided to bring the last book he had suggested on his blog with him so that he could lend it, hoping Carleen might like to read it.

Asterius, on his side, was the calmest individual in existence. He had done everything just as per his usual, without agitation - had dressed up simply, grabbed his Sociology books and notes, and patiently waited for Horknath to stop running from one side of the apartment to the other looking for this and that.

When they arrived in front of Carleen and Theseus' apartment, it was Horknath who nervously knocked on the door, Asterius just waiting at his side.

Theseus went to open the door, and he grinned when he saw both of them there, inviting them inside. "Gentlemen! Fist bump today, just got my nails done," he said, offering his fist instead of his hand to greet them.

Carleen snorted behind him. "Thee, that's weird if you say it like that."

"You spent literally twenty minutes on it and you dare minimizing the effort? I'm not wasting your hard work!" Theseus protested as his sister walked by his side with a smile, and elbowed him, greeting both Horknath and Asterius.
Her shy was a little more shy to Horknath, though. "Hey. Nice jacket," she told him a little awkwardly. She was wearing a cute black dress with golden patterns on it, that fitted her perfectly. Because it was handmade, once again. It hung low on her shoulders, and its skirt was a little puffed out. The heels she wore on that day too weren't too tall - she suspected they might walk a bit.

Horknath awkwardly fist-bumped Theseus when he offered his closed hand to them, smiling a little at him. He did evidently get back all of his nervousness when Carleen shuffled in the front to greet them too. "Hey", he answered, smiling at her. "Thank you. Nice dress - it fits very well. Did you make it yourself?", he complimented her back, half-cursing the fact that she looked like she was out of a professional Hollywood studio while he just slapped on some random clothes and called it a day. "Oh - I have something for you", he added, quickly fishing the book he had taken from his library to offer it to her. "I thought I could lend it to you, if you'd like."

Asterius politely greeted Carleen and fist-bumped Theseus as well. "Hi Theseus. How are you?", he asked, looking around their apartment for the first time. It was much more orderly than his own and Horknath's - but then again, it seemed bigger. Maybe some other places were messier.

Carleen nodded when Horknath asked her about her dress, and her face lit up when she saw the book! Of course she had already read the article that went with it! She grinned at Horknath while she took it, and gently took his hand in hers. "Oh, thank you! I'll put it in my room- come, follow me. I actually haven't shown you our place yet!"

"Fine, my friend, how about you?" Theseus was grinning, and since he heard Carleen offering Horknath a tour, his face lit up as well. "Oh, how about we tag along? I could show you the sports room!" Great! That was Asterius might be hyped about it and they could exercise together in the afternoon! It would be awesome.

Horknath felt a little flustered about holding Carleen's hand in front of their brothers, but he was a little too giddy to care. "Oh - alright!", he answered, actually kind of curious to see the place. Indeed he hadn't had the time when he had come to pick her up for their previous dates, and - alright, he was also hoping to get a glance at Carleen's bookshelves to see what books she was keeping around.

Asterius hummed. "Sure, I'd like to", he answered lowly - he didn't see anything wrong with touring the place a little before getting to study. After all it was the first time he was around. He was oblivious to Theseus' ploy to have them just spend the afternoon exercising instead - but his focus was steel-made anyway, and he would have not allowed distractions of any kind. he had promised to help, after all!

Carleen smiled at Horknath, but had to briefly glance at her brother when she heard they wouldn't be alone on their tour. Well- She'd end it with her room last, guessing that Asterius would get the hint instead of her brother and leave them a bit of privacy by then. She began with showing them the kitchen area, and then moved on towards a door, where she paused. "Please don't mind the mess," she warned Horknath to reveal a workshop, with sewing gears everywhere and two dummies - one of them empty for now, and the other wearing a work-in-progress of a shirt "That's where I work."

"No need to fret, Carleen, this place has always been a mess," Theseus teased her, before he opened the door opposite to this room. "While this always look tidy and inviting!" He proudly showed his sports room to Asterius specifically. He had several appliances there - a bike, a workout bench with weights, a bar to work on pull-ups, dumbells, and other kind of accessories he was bound to use sometimes. He was looking expectantly at his friend, waiting for his reaction.