9 - 'I need a date'

Charon was secretely pleased that Hermes found him fascinating, rather than downright creepy, like most people he had encountered. Hell, some of his past flings had ended the morning after, when the morning light gave his eyes their true hue back.
He signed something to Hermes when he backed off, before he paused, realizing that of course, the other man couldn't read his signing. He silently asked him to wait, and grabbed his phone again. "That wasn't rude of you. I have a light form of albinism- my skin is quite sensitive to the sun, and my eyes are red. Most people find it creepy. There aren't many people to appreciate vampires for what they are : )"

Hermes - who had just pretended to be casual and relaxed about his so-called rudeness - relaxed for good and laughed when he read Charon's message. "C'mon- really? No way! Last I checked, vampires were like THE popular thing, all over the place! I bet everyone gave you a very hard time when Twilight came out a few years ago." He grinned cheekily at the other man, and lowered his voice into a stage-whisper. "If we want to call it albinism out in the public it's fine by me - your secret is safe with me, Boss." He straightened up again and cleared his throat. "Well- would you like to ask other questions? Like, what's my favorite sport, my favorite pet, if I have a hobby-" His eyes glinted mischeviously. "Still want to know about my measurements, maybe?" Well, by now he knew why he had been asked about those - but that didn't mean he couldn't have fun at Charon's expense.

Charon couldn't hold back a chuckle. That man really was fun. As said, he wasn't put off by his appearance or his lack of voice, and kept on chatting merrily with him. It got him to forget momentarily that it was all just pretense - and that nothing would come out of it.

"I'll get to know about your measurements in a few, let's keep it a surprise ; ) But I'd love to hear about your favourite sports, pet, and your hobbies."

He was looking at Hermes with actual fondness, to the point that back behind the counter, Alecto was making a face.

Hermes laughed - again. Was it because Charon was fun? Yes. Was it because seeing that winky face, coming from a man that looked so grim and severe, was sincerely hilarious? Also yes. "Alright then! I'll keep my secrets", he retorted with a grin. "Let's see - I'm really into running. I'm fast, and my cardio and breath control are excellent. Almost made it as a professional, but that kind of life is really too prohibitive. They'd try to control everything, from my schedule to my diet! Did you see how much coffee I downed over there? It's like, the third cup today. And with the amount of sugar I usually put into things... no trainer would be happy with me." He tilted his head. "I guess that also partially counts as a hobby. I do run daily, whenever I can - and I really enjoy get-togethers with friends, and parties. I don't really do clubs anymore, but I am that kind of guy." His smile widened. "And I love turtles. Because they are cute, and because I am all for an ironic statement." He leaned towards Charon. "What about you, Boss? Any sport? Hobby? Does your job leave space for those?"

Charon nodded through Hermes' explanations, and finally finished his coffee as well in the meantime. He was quite amused to know that Hermes liked turtles, however, and pleased to learn more about him.

He took a while to answer, however. "I do go to the gym sometimes, to stay in shape. But I'm afraid I'm a workaholic - my job is the stock market, and I spend most of my free time logged on to make sure I don't miss a thing about it. Any fluctuation is good to know of - both for my employer, and myself."

He paused, and smiled to himself. "I enjoy card games, however. I occasionally go to casinos when I feel like it. And I like movies, cafés, pubs, all the like." He loved having noise, and life around him.

Hermes took his time to read Charon's answer - nodding in understanding when he got to the part about being a workaholic. "I get that - you're a very dedicated man, eh? I like it. Careful about not letting it eat you away, though!", he jokingly admonished him. "But I guess it's not too bad, if you also enjoy it." He looked surprised, but not negatively, when he went over the second message. "No way. Casinos?" He grinned. "Are you a gambler, Boss? Like to put your stock-market-statistics magic to good use to empty some poor fellow's pockets? You're more adventurous than I thought!" It surely was nice to hear that the other man, for how peculiar he looked, still enjoyed some mundane past-times!

"I'm a gambler, yes." Charon replied at first, before he looked at Hermes with a glint of mischief in his eye. He then went on. "Then again, if I weren't, we wouldn't be sitting there together. Speaking of which- It'll be time for our tailor appointment. Shall we go?" He fetched his wallet inside of his cloak. Since he came here often, he knew which amount to pay, by now, and always included a generous tip.
It tended to piss Alecto off, who would shout about the fact that she wouldn't take his pity.
She always pocketed the extra, though.

Hermes smirked. "Yeah. I suppose you're right", he answered casually. "Alright though, I'm ready to get going whenever you are." He observed as Charon opened up an elegant-looking wallet. "You don't want to split, Boss?", he asked, leaning towards him. "You're not forced to pay for everything, you know. I mean, you're already going to spend a lot for that suit", he observed. And it wasn't as if this was an actual date, where Charon could tell him that he'd pay next time if he liked.
Right. Not a date. Wow, it was really incredible how he had completely forgotten that this was all a farce!

Charon kindly dismissed Hermes with a gesture of his hand, laid the bills under his cup and pocketed his wallet again, before he could finally grab his phone to reply to him. "The prices here are close to theft. Besides, it's my pleasure to tip our lovely manager lady. It'll leave her sour for the rest of the day. : )"
He pocketed his phone again and got up, gesturing for Hermes to follow him with a grin. Alecto wasn't long to reach their table, groaning a "Get lost" in their general direction. "Go shove your lovey dovey attitude in someone else's face."

Hermes grinned back at Charon. "Always a pleasure to see someone knowing how to use their money in the right way", he commented. The right way being to irritate the already easily irritable manager of a pricey café, of course.
He turned to stick his tongue out at Alecto, making a scene of walking even closer to Charon just to make sure she would get even more pissed off and sour about it. "See you soon, then!", he told her, before shoving his hands back into his pockets and laughing, without explaining himself.

Alecto gave Hermes and Charon the finger once again, and definitely insulted them out loud as they got out.
Charon let out a silent chuckle when he heard her yelling to the previous waitress, as they were getting out, "YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, I'M THE ONLY ONE HERE ENTITLED TO CALL THEM DIGUSTING FREAKS."

He briefly laid his hand on Hermes' shoulder to guide him once outside towards a big, elegant building, that read "Mishra" over the front door.
He had failed to mention that his tailor wasn't working in a small workshop.
People there seemed to know Charon - at the front desk, a woman greeted him warmly and told them that Mr. Mishra was already waiting for them in his office.
Soon enough, he could guide Hermes into the elevator that would bring him there.

Hermes laughed even harder when he heard Alecto going absolutely ballistic as the glass doors of the café closed behind their backs. She was terrible, and bitter and rude.
A bunch of fun carefully packaged, in other words. Hermes thought he would definitely enjoy to come back around here some more just to irritate her to death - but it was a fleeting thought. After all, it's not like this was going anywhere. And how would he be able to get around here without severely embarrassing Charon?

Hermes didn't comment over the hand on his shoulder - just silently welcomed the distraction, and he soon lost himself into eagerly taking in all of his surroundings.
Well, he had imagined that someone like Charon wouldn't exactly shop from some small-name, no-one tailor - but this place was big! He whistled when they got inside the elevator, throwing a glance to the other man. "What a place! I've never been somewhere like this." It was partly true - the only tailor he had ever seen had been someone who worked for big brands, and was only there to adjust a suit he had already bought. "It's like, something like Armani or-?"
OH NO HE HAD SPOKEN THE FORBIDDEN NAME.

Charon's eyes widened, and he chuckled, half hiding his face behind a hand, before he quickly took ihs phone out again. "'Armani' is a forbidden word in there. I haven't caught why especially, but- our designer has quite a feud going on with their brand."

Needless to say that, in his office, Sakrish had instantly sneezed as Hermes mentioned Armani.

"We're at Sakrish Mishra's office - he mostly does haute couture, but he also personally designs outfits for a few customers." He was, of course, one of them. His grandparent Chaos had been the one to help him ascend to the big scene back when he was just a student, showering him in money in exchange for extravagant and classy outfits.
"He's a family friend," Charon concluded, so he wouldn't get too deep into the details.

Hermes instantly bit on his lips and snorted, trying hard to stifle up a laugh. "Sorry", he whispered, while it was clear enough by his expression that he found this feud thing terribly funny. "I'll be well-behaved, I promise. I got it. No mentioning any mainstream big brand name while we're in the presence of Mr. Mishra." He made a gesture as if to zip up his mouth. Charon probably knew him well enough by now to know that it was only metaphorically closed. "Your family sure has a lot of interesting friends", he added, thinking back of Alecto. If she could even be considered a friend.

Charon smirked when Hermes apologized, and hid a smile when he promised not to tease Sakrish about it. He nodded when Hermes mentioned his family's friends.

By they, they arrived on the right floor, so he guided Hermes outside. He greeted Sakrish's secretary with a sign, and they were lead into Sakrish's office.
Sakrish greeted both of them with a wide smile. "Hello, Charon! And sir. It's a pleasure to meet you." He walked towards both of them, to shake Hermes' hand first. "That's a nice ensemble you have there. Much more colorful than what I am used to work with. Orange! Orange, I haven't worked much with orange yet," he thought out loud, a little excitedly. He was a little quirky.

Hermes let Charon guide him to Sakrish's office, where he was greeted by this stylish - and very exciteable - man, the same man who'd get his outfit started he guessed. He shook his hand with a large smile. "Pleasure to meet you too, sir! I'm Hermes", he introduced himself, secretly thinking he might be too young to be called 'sir' himself. "Orange's my favorite color", he observed out loud then, not really knowing if Sakrish was talking with him or not. "Is it too flashy for an engagement party?"

Sakrish grinned. "Oh, so you're going to an engagement party? Friends, relatives? Is there a theme?" He went back towards his desk and grabbed a sketchbook, before he paused. "Ah, would you mind taking the coat off? I need to take a look at your body type. Do you have a specific style in mind?"
In the meantime, Charon quietly got rid of his cloak and suit jacket, and sat down on an armchair near Hermes, while rolling up the sleeves of his shirt with a slight smile.
In doing so, he revealed two fully tattooed arms.

Hermes carelessly shrugged off his oversized coat at Sakrish's request, looking for a spot where to put it. "I don't know if it will help you much - my hoodie is also on the larger side of things", he observed gesturing for his yellow top. "I don't mind if you want me to get rid of this too. And- well, as for this engagement party, it's for-" He turned to gesture for Charon, just to freeze for a second, momentarily speechless. His eyes trailed over the other man's fingers rolling the fabric of his shirt up, and he was unable to hide his appreciation as he glanced over muscular forearms and nice biceps. Well. The man had said he went to the gym, right.
The tattoos, anyway, he wouldn't have guessed in a million years.
Didn't mean he didn't really dig them, though.
He barely held back a smirk after getting over his stun, and a fraction of second later he was back to talking, like nothing had happened. "-for Thanathos' engagement party! I'm Charon's plus-one", he added with a grin. "If there is a theme, I'm sure you'd be the one to know, Mr. Mishra!" He had the feeling he had been requested to ready any clothes that had to do with that event - at least for what regarded the Chtonias.

Sakrish's face lit up. He hadn't failed to notice the way Hermes paused when looking at Charon, nor the way his regular had looked back at the younger man. "Oh! That's wonderful! Does this mean I get to design you matching outfits, then? Charon's outfit is in the making- let me show you, you'll take the hoodie off later. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold!"
He went back to his desk, fetching another sketchbook- he had one per family of customers. The Cthonia had their own, or course. As did the Crowleys and their signifiant others.
He flipped through the pages and went to show Hermes Thanatos' outfit first. "They're all going for a wing theme this time, with additional structure located around the shoulders- but yours aren't quite as square," he wondered out loud. He flipped through the pages again and stopped on Charon's outfit, that was again a long, elegantly decorated black and gold coat, with feather-like ornaments here and there. "I could go with accessories like for Charon, or-" He went on babbling for a bit.

Meanwhile, on his armchair, Charon had rested his chin in the palm of his hand, taken his hat off and was looking at the scene with a small smile. He shushed his reason, that told him it definitely shouldn't feel as pleasant for him to have Sakrish get excited about designing an outfit for Hermes as his plus one.

It was easy for Hermes to let someone else's enthusiasm win him over - and Sakrish was a very enthusiastic person. "Ooh, I like wings! I myself am a wing-theme kind of guy", he observed with an eager smile, peeking at the designer's sketches - and thinking briefly at the little wings he had tattooed on each side of his upper ankles. He certainly wasn't used to this kind of style - very rich, heavy with details - but he could definitely see why someone like Charon would enjoy it. And it wasn't half bad to him either. "Yeah, I don't exactly have very shapely shoulders - my legs are my best asset, to be honest", he commented. Deciding not to mention is butt was definitely a strong point as well, for the sake of decency. "I'll let you do your thing, Mr. Mishra - this is all kind of new for me, so I'll trust your expertise!"

"Alright, alright," Sakrish chuckled. "Why don't you take that hoodie off, then? I'll take your measurements. Oh, and don't worry, you'll be able to tease your boyfriend all you want, he'll have to dress up for us. The coat is almost ready Charon, I'll have Sally come and we'll discuss adjustments." Sakrish was definitely having the time of his life, and he quickly pulled a mesuring tape out of nowhere, ready to take Hermes' size.

"Oh I'm not worrying, I'd have done that even without an invitation", Hermes laughed, throwing another glance at Charon - more mischevious, this time. They were accomplices in this farse since just a day and two people had already bought it.
What a team, right?
He grabbed the hems of his hoodie and swiftly - effortlessly even - pulled it off, remaining half-naked in the middle of the room, with jeans hanging a little low on his hips. He had never been very top-heavy and muscular, unlike his half brothers, but he still had a lean, nicely toned physique. However, as he had stated before, his legs and thighs were definitely a wonder by themselves (he was very modest about it); muscular and shapely, topped by an ass that more than once had gotten him free entrances into exclusive clubs just by being attached to him. Even his sisters envied that. Thank you, years of running in a professional team! "Sorry for the pants. Forgot to put a belt on them", he apologized, gingerly pulling their hem a little up.
The shyness was only partially there - he wasn't overly conscious of his body. He figured that in this case it was a bit like showing yourself to a doctor.

"Oh, don't worry," Sakrish replied with a smile, as he began to take Hermes' measurements. "I have a son who's about your age - he doesn't bother with belts too often either. I've managed to get him to wear suspenders however, whenever he models for me.

Charon had tried to keep his cool when Hermes took his shirt off- but how could he, really? He had already been seduced by the young man's personality, and now he was finding out his whole body was positively gorgeous. Oh, he wished he'd have tried to flirt with him properly. Maybe- just maybe, once this mascarade was over, they could keep on talking, and go out together again.
And maybe this time, someone wouldn't be fooled into calling him his boyfriend.

"Suspenders are way cooler than belts", Hermes hummed absent-mindedly, physically incapable of not talking back to someone. "But I enjoy some freedom in my movements, and belts and suspenders sound kind of equally restrictive."

While Sakrish was busy taking his measurements, he did throw a furtive glance in Charon's direction - just to see if seeing a little more of his body had had some effect. He threw him a quick smirk when he saw that, even though Charon was trying to keep his expression as unreadable as possible, it was quite clear he had been staring. He quickly returned his attention in front of him, feeling satisfaction creeping all over him, making him straighten up a little.

"Restrictive maybe, but suspenders are elegant!" Sakrish protested with a smile.

Charon's gaze had definitely met Hermes', and he was slightly flustered by then, even though it didn't show clearly on his face. He cleared his throat, and straightened up, trying needlessly to hide his fluster.

Sakrish kept on taking Hermes' measurements, asked him a few questions about how he liked his clothes to fit him, and promised him he'd have a design to offer him within a few days, that he'd send him through Charon.

Speaking of his 'boyfriend', Sakrish soon had one of his employees come with a new coat, that was embroidered with a lot of neat golden designs. He also handed a shirt to Charon, and grinned at him. "I'll get out with Sally for a bit, to review your relatives' clothes. Feel free to change in the meantime, alright?" He gave Hermes a thumbs up on his way out, leaving a slightly flustered Charon standing in the middle of the room.
Who looked at Hermes in the eye.