Hawk sat on the grass, his arms around his knees, holding his wrist, staring off into the distance. He must have been there for an hour, trying to get the feeling of being invaded out of his mind. At least, that’s how he had felt, like he had been invaded by some creeping force that was trying to get inside him and find something he wasn’t willing to give up. By now, he’d realized Hero wasn’t trying to get into his head, but was unconsciously searching his actual soul, something he never even believed he had until now.

Demons weren’t supposed to have souls, that’s why they were demons. They existed to serve and destroy, it didn’t matter who. They had no empathy, no capacity to feel anything outside of a desire to destroy and control something weaker than themselves. To become a Devil, you had to be damn good at doing both. Hawk was well on his way to becoming one and he had known that. He had been the strongest and the most powerful of all demons, highly evolved and intelligent, dangerous, feared, and respected.

He had been chaos incarnate. For all the lives he took, the blood he spilled and consumed, the powers and magic he had acquired through his insatiable appetite, he was the one above all that could have conquered and controlled both Heaven and Hell. Something like that couldn’t have a soul.

He toyed with the idea that it wasn’t his soul, or lack thereof, that had connected with Hero Grace, but his core. It was the power within that had reached out and found Hero, that had drawn in his energy to heal itself.

He snorted softly and shook his head. He knew that wasn’t what happened. His core had nothing to do with it, it had been way too unstable to do anything so drastic. Hero’s energy filled him of its own accord whether Hero knew it or not. In a thousand years, he had never felt more in control of himself, of his own mind. He didn’t fear the inevitable madness everyone expected he’d fall into one day. He even felt more in control of his own power. 

While he had been sitting there, stewing in his own confusion and racing thoughts, he had tried out a few small things to see how his body would react. To his surprise, he never felt the desire to go further and let himself sink into his power. Drawing it back was even easier, less strenuous on his body and mind. Usually he would feel tense, as though he were having to fight himself, like he did earlier standing right here with Hero.

He ran his fingers into his hair, letting his head hang, his eyes closed. He had told Hero flat out he needed him. Two days into knowing this man and he needed him to stick around, to keep him stable and sane. At the very least, he knew Hero hadn’t run off. Hawk knew this because he could still feel him, feel his energy and his presence. It wasn’t just mental knowledge, but physical as well. Hero’s soul energy was linked to his so no matter what, he would always know where he was.

Fantastic…supernatural stalking. Just what he needs from someone like me.

He felt Hero’s energy grow closer, knew it when he was standing behind him, could feel his doubt and confusion, his internal chaos like a swirling ball bouncing around his chest.

“Can you calm down, please?” he asked, his voice muffled between his knees. “You’re giving me heartburn.”

“I could say the same thing about you,” Hero replied. “I feel like I’m getting tossed around in a tornado with all your anxiety.”

Of course Hero had felt him; the connection went both ways, not just toward him. Self-centered prick, he chided himself.

“Not really, just confused.”

Hawk raised his head, whipping it around as Hero came to sit next to him. “So you can read my mind, then. Awesome.”

Hero shook his head. “Not really, it’s more of a feeling than words.” He leaned back on his hands and sighed. “So now what?”

“Beats me,” Hawk said, facing forward again. “This is all new to me, too, remember? In my entire life, this is the first time I’ve made some kind of connection that lasts longer than an hour or so.”

“What about Jordan?”

“That’s different. If I left tomorrow, he’d get over it eventually and so would I. If you and I got separated, I think it would physically hurt more. I really don’t know.” Except, he did know. His core could become unstable again and probably explode. He’d lose to his madness and go on a rampage.

No…he’d be in chains in Sumi’s basement forced to watch as other demons consumed humans in front of him, completely out of control, and not be able to share in the spoils himself.

“I didn’t mean to look into you. I’m sorry.”

Hawk shook his head. “I know. Neither of us know how this really works just yet so controlling it is going to take some time.”

Hero sighed and turned his face skyward, his eyes closed. Out of the corner of his eye, Hawk could see his blonde hair flowing around him in the gentle wind that was blowing. Even in the darkness, with his more acute vision, Hero’s beauty was not hidden to him. With him so close, the urge to reach out to him began to swell and grow. He took in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, the effort it was taking to restrain himself was painful.

Hero’s body tensed and Hawk could feel him begin to tremble. He was fighting himself, too.

“This is what I mean,” Hero said. “How do I stop myself from wanting you without it hurting?” His gaze slid over to Hawk. “Not only that, I don’t know what it even means. Do I just want to touch you, kiss you, or fuck you? Or is it just the need to be near you? None of it is clear to me and I feel like I want to do all of it and it wouldn’t be enough.”

He sat forward and sighed, the time for things to sound crazy long gone. “I feel like I need you to invade me, to fill my entire being in order for me to feel complete. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t sleep last night when I got home because I felt like there was something missing. I felt more alone and lost than I’ve ever felt in my life. Even more than after me and my ex broke up, which was still pretty bad. Not only that, for a good solid hour or two, I felt sort of gone from myself, almost like I had disconnected from reality and wasn’t even there. I wound up going for a long walk before I actually felt like I had to sleep, and even then I was up and down.”

He turned to Hawk. “It wasn’t until I saw you at work that I realized the reason I was so fucked up was because it was you I needed. That storm that had been going on in my head and in my soul, had been because you were suffering, too, and you weren’t with me to help you. Not only that, whether it’s distance or whatever, you were just way too far away. I could still feel you, even though I wasn’t aware of it, but you were just not close enough.” He swallowed the lump that was growing in his throat. “Now I know why.”

Hawk sat there, his heart pounding as he realized the reason Hero had felt disconnected was because Hawk had been in full demon form, eating. For some reason, the fact of being separate from Hero bothered him immensely. What if something had happened and Hawk couldn’t be there to help him? To save him?

“Tell me…” Hero said after a minute. “What does this actually mean for us?”

“I don’t know, not really. The only thing we can say is that we’re destined to stay together in some way.”

“Like, romantically?”

“No.” The reply came way too fast and far sharper than he had intended. He saw Hero flinch and he inwardly apologized. “No, I don’t mean like that. Let’s just focus on how to control all this back and forth and how it works. If we’re able to figure it all out, we may be able to control exactly what we can feel and see within each other.”

“You mean, keep secrets.”

Hawk nodded. “There’s some things that don’t need to be shared. Ever.” I don’t want to scare you… Hawk knew damn well the feeling attached to that thought ran through their link, if not the thought itself.

Hero gazed off into the distance, weighing this request. Their connection was deep and strong and they both knew it. But if they were to survive it without hurting the other, they had to also protect one another along with themselves.

“Okay,” he said. “I can agree to that.” He folded his arms around his knees and rested his chin upon them. “Here’s the thing though,” he said after a moment. “You said you’ve never had anything like this before, right? Somehow I have a feeling you’re unique in why that is but I don’t know how and I’m not about to go snooping around to find out. That’s your business, your secret.”

“Thank you…”

“What if, because of that reason, this is more than just a normal soul connection, whatever that could be?”

Hawk tensed. He hadn’t considered that idea at all. Demons weren’t supposed to have souls, therefore this connection shouldn’t even be possible. Yet, here he was, formally the most formidable of all demons, and he had managed to form one with a mortal. There really did have to be something more to it than what Toji had told him and he needed to know what. In the meantime, he could only do what he had to with what they were both given.

“You may be right,” Hawk said quietly. “I’m definitely unique in this sort of phenomenon so the same rules may not apply.”

“So, how do we do this?”

Hawk thought a moment before he said, “For starters, we can’t touch each other.”

Hero stared at him. His disappointment causing an ache in Hawk’s chest. 

“Not until we have this thing locked down.”

“We’ll need to practice it anyway,” Hero argued. “At some point, we’ll have to at least try to give each other a high five or whatever just to make sure we don’t slip into that space again. Plus, we weren’t even touching those last two times. It only happened once.”

“Proximity, maybe? Our energies just got too close and we got roped into it by accident. The last time when your energy went into me, you were completely unaware of it. But it knew what it needed to do, which is something we need to understand pretty quickly.” He fidgeted with his hands, eyes averted. “I don’t know how I’ll be when you leave, but I do know I need you now.” He could feel his neck begin to warm and hoped the darkness concealed it from Hero.

“Well, we know distance doesn’t weaken the link in any way,” Hero said, thoughtfully. “It was just as strong, if not disorienting, when we were at our own homes.”

Hawk nodded. He hadn’t been paying much attention to it, though, since his thoughts were completely focused on his reward.

“If…if we can control it better,” Hero said, somewhat nervously, “there’s a chance we might be able to do that again on purpose. So if for some reason we have to be apart, we can still be together…if that makes sense.” His own face began to flush. Unfortunately for him, Hawk could see it.

He grinned. “Yeah, I get it.” He sighed and leaned back on his hands. “So then…where do we start? You made a great point that we barely know each other. This soul connection thing is going to force us to bond in ways neither of us expected, but it’s going to be awkward as fuck in some ways. I don’t exactly think sharing our favorite foods that way is what it’s meant for.”

Hero had to laugh. “Yeah, that’s true.” He turned to Hawk and smiled. “So let’s try and do that sort of thing like normal people and go from there.” 

“I like that idea.” Hawk extended his hand. “I’m Hawk and I’m twenty-eight years old, working as a freezer stocker at a grocery store.”

Hero extended his own hand, being sure not to touch Hawk’s own. “I’m Hero. I’m twenty six and I just moved back to town. Wanna be friends?”

“Sure,” Hawk said with a grin. At the same time, they both pulled their hands away and put them on their own shoulders, chuckling as they did so.