Sollemnitas

How? How could he have forgotten his own birthday? The thought raced through Constantine’s mind as he looked around the room in total shock. Maybe he had just been so busy, so distracted that he had forgotten what day it was and when his birthday was coming up. Then again, that just sounded like a poor excuse to him. He gave a small groan, pushing his palms against his eyes, which were shut tightly in his exasperation at forgetting the big day. The big day that he finally turned 26 and could finally register as a full-fledged hunter. 

    Abel walked over to the couch, having heard Constantine. “Hey, you alright?” Abel asked softly as he watched the man in front of him. 

    “No. I forgot it was my birthday.” Came Tine’s mumbled reply. He glanced up at the priest, a small sigh leaving his lips. “How could I forget?” He asked him, his voice holding a tone he really hadn’t had before. 

    “Well, you’ve been busy, and distracted.” 

    “But I forgot.” 

    “I’ve forgotten that it was my birthday before, too.” 

    “Well, your birthday was on a Sunday. You seem to forget everything but the Lord and church on Sundays.” Constantine muttered the last part as he looked away from the black haired man. 

    “It’s the same thing. You forgot because you’ve been working so hard. It’s why I left you a note and hoped you would stay home today. So you could finally relax just a little bit on your birthday.” Abel’s voice held a softness to it as he looked at the man who was only two years younger than him now. 

    He let out a small sigh and looked up at Abel, disbelief evident in Constantine’s eyes. “How do you always know what to say?” 

    “I don’t. I just know what to say to you.” Abel replied. He gave Constantine a warm smile before sat down next to him. He looked over at Maria, watching her. “I must thank you for helping my mother last night.” 

    An amused look blossomed over Maria’s face, having heard the two talking. “It was nothing. Just doing my job as a citizen.” She responded, though she was clearly taking the praise generously. 

    “Would you like to stay for dinner? It’s the least I could do to thank you.” Abel told her, the usual smile of warmth on his face. That smile… it just made Constantine want to melt. It was a smile that could make anyone feel accepted. It was a smile that made everyone feel happy whenever it was directed towards them. 

    He would never admit it to himself, or to anyone else, but Constantine wanted that smile to be only for him. He was jealous and he knew it, he just didn’t want to accept it. So, instead, he watched the priest, enjoying every moment that he was even in the vicinity. Most people would have compared him to a high-schooler who had just met their first boyfriend or girlfriend. Head over heels for the person they were crushing on, always making moon-eyes, and just enjoying being near the person. His thoughts were quickly broken apart when Maria responded to Abel, an overjoyed tone filled her voice. 

    “I would absolutely love to stay!”

    Abels’ deep, rich laughter filled the room at Maria’s response, the same smile still there. “That’s great. It’s always nice to have someone new at the dinner table.” 

    “It sure is,” Maria said as she moved closer to the priest. “I must say, your apartment smells absolutely amazing.” 

    “Thank you. I try my best to make it smell nice for the guests.” 

    After what felt like a few more minutes of what Constantine took as Maria flirting with Abel, he got up and excused himself to the bathroom. He left the room quickly and shut the bathroom door tightly, locking it behind himself. He noticed the traces of jealousy in his system, and he tried to push that away. What he didn’t notice, however, was the soft shakes that racked his body. 

    God, how he wanted Abel to notice him. To take an interest in him, to love him the same way. But he still wasn’t sure. He wanted it so badly, yet it seemed impossible to achieve. This was even worse than the first time he had encountered a demon. That was physical pain, this was so, so much worse in Tine’s opinion. This wasn’t something he could just down painkillers for and forget. This pain was something deep in his soul. Something that lurked and made him upset every time he thought about it. His heart ached and he felt tears prick as his eyes like little needles. 

    He took a deep, shaky breath and wiped away the beginnings of the tears, trying his best not to get too upset or overwhelmed. He had to accept that Abel may never love him romantically. It was a thing that happened, and would more likely than not, happen over and over again. Shaking his head, he looked in the mirror. Only one word came to his mind when he saw himself. 

    “Pathetic.” He voiced aloud, his voice only above a murmur. He knew he was supposed to be strong. To force back emotions like love, sadness, and jealousy. All he was supposed to feel was calmness, almost borderline boredom. When he was on patrol, that’s how it was. That’s how he felt, and for some reason, he thought he should feel that way in his personal life. That his emotions when he was working, when he was fighting, when he was watching, should just translate over. That he shouldn’t get upset over these small things. It wasn’t like Abel was flirting back, or that there was any flirting at all. For all he knew, Maria was just complimenting Abel. After all, he had doctored up her arm. 

    He took a deep breath and shut his eyes tightly. Constantine attempted to shove the emotions away, but no matter what he tried, he couldn’t do it. As long as Abel’s face was in his head, he couldn’t forget his love for the man. He couldn’t forget how much the man meant to him, and how much it hurt to not feel his love returned. Shaking his head, he decided that he would march out of the bathroom, and tell Abel just how he felt. There was no point in hiding it. It was only hurting him to keep his emotions hidden away, and he needed to be able to focus. He needed to tell Abel just how he felt and see if Abel reciprocated his feelings or not. 

    He built up some courage before opening up the bathroom door. Leaving the room behind, he walked right over to Abel, grabbed the priest's’ collar, and smashed his lips against the other man's’ lips. 

    Okay, so that wasn’t the plan. The plan was to pull Abel aside and tell him quietly. However, it seemed his body had other ideas, as at the moment, he was just acting purely on autopilot. His body moved, but his mind raced. While this was nowhere close to the original plan, Constantine decided that this was a good plan too. It was definitely more direct, but it was still working. 

    He pulled away from Abel, his face burning a bright red as he looked at the man in front of him. Abel’s face held a shocked expression and it was slowly getting redder and redder. Constantine’s face burned a dark crimson color as he waited for a reaction.

    “It’s about time!” Rose called out from the kitchen, giving a small whoop. She waved her cooking spoon in the air as she gave a small cheer. This only caused both Abel and Constantine’s faces to turn a darker shade of red. 

    Maria only stared at the two of them, a small smirk on her face. “I knew it. I knew it from where I first saw you two interact!” She said as she leaned back on the couch, clearly proud of herself. 

    Abel opened his mouth to respond to Tine’s actions when he was suddenly interrupted. A loud, inhuman screech sounded out and the door to Abel’s apartment was ripped off of its hinges. In the doorway stood a demon larger in both size and bulk than Tine had ever seen before. In the blink of an eye, Constantine had his sword out, watching the demon. The mix of emotions he was experiencing before was gone like magic, replaced with a serious demeanor. 

    The demon's tongue lolled out of its mouth as a soft but loud hissing sound came from the back of its throat. It twisted its head and neck around as though it were looking for something when it finally seemed to land on its target. The monster began to drag itself towards the couch, looking as if it were making a direct bee-line for Abel. Its claws clicked together and the hissing sound started to become louder and louder. 

    Abel stared at the demon wide-eyed, unable to move. It was the first time that Abel had come directly face to face with a demon before. Tine knew exactly why it was here and that terrified him. The demon had come to kill Abel. It had been all over the news as of recent. Demons had killed different religious leaders all over the world, because one by one, it destroyed the holy grounds and gave the demon more territory. The only question he had, was how did it get inside? There was wolfsbane on every door that leads outside. 

    Constantine looked at Abel and saw that the man wasn’t going to move anytime soon out of fear. He hurdled over the couch and stepped in between the demon and the priest, his sword brandished. This action caused the demon to stop moving and c**k its head in what appeared like confusion. Constantine lowered his sword down slightly and clicked it against the metal leg of a table nearby, causing the demon to be thrown off. It worked mostly off of hearing, which was incredibly sensitive and accurate. By making a small clicking noise somewhere else in the room, it would cause the demon to become disoriented, hopefully long enough to kill it. 

    As the demon looked to the side, attempting to understand where the noise was originating from, Constantine stopped and struck out. He slashed his sword against the demon's torso, and what would normally end with a deep cut, ended with only a small gash on the demon's’ skin. Tine’s eyes went wide as he stared at the cut before he realized that the demon was swinging at him. He ducked just in the nick of time and swiped again, making the gash slightly deeper. Out of the gash leaked a thick dark purple liquid, different from any demon before. It was different from whatever liquid oozed its way out of the sores on the demon's skin, and that deeply concerned him. Whatever this way, it wasn’t an ordinary demon.

    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maria and Abel’s mother rush out of the apartment, and was secretly glad that they were getting out of this now, hopefully, to go get help. He turned his attention back to the demon just a little too late and soon felt a searing pain throughout his side. It was almost like the nerves had been lit on fire, and that fire was racing throughout his entire body. He didn’t bother looking down at his side, his eyes focusing back on the demon as he tried to push away the pain. The fresh blood dripping from the demon's claws said enough about what had happened. 

    Constantine knew that he needed to end this now or never. Never was not an option he was willing to accept. With lighting fast speed, he took the only option he had left as the slashing that normally killed a demon wasn’t working anymore. He pushed his sword straight through where the heart of the demon should be and watched as it dropped down to the floor. Its body still wriggled around, though it was more sluggish and less accurate. 

    “Sit Dominus elige sors tua.” He mumbled softly, watching as the demon turned to dust. He left out a small sigh of relief and finally looked at his side. Three large gashes covered his side, each of them about three inches apart from each other. Judging by how much blood there already was, he figured that they were deep, but not deep enough that they damaged any organs. That part was a relief. 

    Constantine let out a small groan of pain as it finally caught up with him, his work not there anymore to keep him distracted. It was only a few moments later that he felt someone at his side, helping him over to the couch. 

    “Are you okay?” Abel’s voice parted the wave of pain that his brain seemed to be filled with, and Constantine chose to focus on that. 

    “That is a very stupid question.” Was all Constantine replied with, shutting his eyes tightly and Abel helped to lay him down on the couch so the priest could get a better look at the injuries. 

    “You’re right.” A small nervous laugh followed afterward. “I’m sorry.” Came a solemn reply afterward. It hurt Constantine’s heart just to even hear Abel apologizing for something he didn’t even do. Something he didn’t even have control over. 

    “No need. Not your fault.” Constantine’s words were slightly slurred now as he opened up his eyes, a tiredness overcoming him. That had been one of the harder battles he has ever had with a demon before. Not necessarily in fighting technique, but more in the shock that had come from the demons thick skin. 

    “I suppose you’re right.” Came Abel’s soft reply as he gave Constantine a small smile. He started to disinfect the cuts without giving Tine a warning. This caused the birthday boy to let out a small cry of pain and shut his eyes tightly. 

    “Next time… a little warning.” 

    “Right, right.” Abel gave a small laugh at Constantine’s reply, although when the younger opened his eyes again, Constantine could see that Abel was clearly upset by the situation, so he decided to change this subject while Abel stitched up his side. 

    “In case you didn’t get the message earlier, I love you. I’ve had a huge crush on you ever since we first met.” Constantine said, not really sure why he was saying the last part, but he let it come anyways. 

    “I got the message,” Abel said, giving a small laugh. It was clear that he was glad for a subject change as well. “And I have one for you,” Abel said softly before he moved a little closer to Constantine’s face and kissed the younger male gently. 

    A small smile twitched at Constantine’s lips as he kissed back, absolutely overjoyed that Abel felt the same way. After Abel pulled away, he could only think of a few words, so he decided to share those words with the priest in front of him. 

    “Best. Birthday. Ever.” 

    Abel let out a loud, and happy laugh at Constantine’s reply before shaking his head. He kissed the younger male’s forehead before he went back to stitching up the wounds, a small smile on both of their faces.