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When he read in the brochure "fine wine tasting and appreciation" John had expected it to be more on the tasting side and less on the appreciation. At the rate this party was going, he'd never get as wasted as he had expected to get that night. John sighed as he sat at the only table that seemed free. When John looked at who was at his side, he understood why it was free.
King Shark glanced at the man sitting next to him who looked both a bit confused and terribly bored, handsome in a disheveled way where he would probably look 10 years younger if he got a good night’s sleep. He was wearing a trench coat too. King Shark gave him a warm smile, holding up his glass. “John Constantine, I presume?”
"... Yes?" John jumped out of his skin and looked as if he was expecting to get an earful. King imagined he had snuck on the party uninvited, but then, who was he to judge? It wasn’t as if he was invited to fancy events very often.
“It’s nice to meet you. Most people were too afraid to sit next to me, I’m afraid.”
He stretched his hand and gave John a small smile. John realized he found him rather ... charming. King Shark had sharp blue eyes and ... he was going to regret this so much later. King Shark simply gave him a quick nod.
John took his hand as he gave him a crooked smile, wondering if this was a no smoking area. “Nice to meet ya as well. Hope I’ll prove to be less boring as the old blokes here.”
“Are you interested in wine, or were you just hoping to get a few free drinks and suddenly found yourself at a lecture?”
"I'm interested in drinking wine, so you could say I'm here because I was interested." He smiled more widely now. Was this man... no, fish-man, flirting with him? "I promised Sara I'd do something on my time off that didn't include dead people, and the only thing I could think of was going out and drinking something. It being free just made things better."
“Sara?” King thought a bit about what he knew about this man. People like Constantine weren’t that much on the news as supervillains or heroes. “Ah, right, she’s your team captain. I understand the... me who was from your Earth was... more shark than man mentally as well.” King Shark looked almost embarrassed by it. Little by little news of what the universes were like pre-merging were spreading, and certainly those bits he’d gathered about himself weren’t flattering. “My name is Nanaue, by the way. Any habits besides drinking, John Constantine?”
"Heard you're working with Harley Quinn." He smiled slyly. Two could play that game, and he’d heard plenty of the band Nanaue was in. "Well, I send demons to hell and exorcise people. I also smoke a lot more than I should. You?"
“I’m quite good with technology, and I knit in my free time. I do enjoy sending bad men to hell, though.”
"Those are two things I never learned to do. Can't beat drawing a good ol' sigil in the ground no matter how nice your tech is. So, what are you doing here? Enjoying the speeches or planning a heist?"
John leaned in closer, and was grateful there was no one else at the table, or else they would have felt just how weirdly charged the air was becoming. For once he thanked God that Sara hadn’t come with him, or he’d never hear the end of it.
“Neither. I hoped to enjoy the speeches, but so far they’ve been a bit pretentious for my taste. You must have good hands if you can do that.”
"Same can be said about you, if you can knit.” Yes, definitely there was something charged in the atmosphere, and for once it was not a spirit in need of exorcising. “So, I was thinking about making this night a bit more exciting, what d’you say?" John eyed the unopened bottles at the end of the main table. He was quite sure they could both just steal them and maybe go outside, find a dark alley and then, who knew... again he wondered what he was thinking.
“I wouldn’t be opposed.” Nanaue told him with a wide smile as he carefully made an empty bottle roll toward John, as if daring him. He had always been curious about Constantine.
Now this was a bit more what he had in mind when Sara asked him to go have fun with living people, John thought as he and Nanaue ran as if all the demons in hell were chasing them. They each had a couple crates of wine with them, with a security crew running after them and all sorts of rich people screaming as the alarms went off.
"Having fun yet, King?" John muttered breathlessly as they turned and hid in an alley and waited for their pursuers to run past them.
“More than I thought I would. Do you have some kind of magical hideaway nearby, or would you prefer to go to my apartment?”
Now this was not what John had in mind when his night began. Granted, he’d hoped to seduce someone, but he hadn’t expected to end up with a giant shark that was clearly interested in him. And John hadn’t even expected to actually want to show his place to said shark. Ah, well, for a man who had walked into hell and came back, this wasn’t such an unexpected turn in his life. And at least this one was alive, which couldn’t be said about some of his lovers.
"It depends. Mine is a magic portal jump away, but we may have some ghosts annoying us. Still I imagine it'd be better than having Harley around."
“I can handle a few ghosts.” King shark smiled warmly at him, the rows of sharp teeth oddly charming as they glinted in the light of a lamppost. Definitely, even demons would be better than having Harley and Clayface popping to watch as if it was a free show, or Ivy’s weird buds entering his room without asking.
This would certainly be one of the weirdest of his conquest, John realized, but... why not? Nanaue seemed like a good man, but for a nice change pace, he also seemed able to defend himself. For once it might be a win-win. He smiled and called the portal. "After you, your highness."
“Thank you, Master Warlock.” King Shark did a nerdy little half bow before stepping through the portal into John’s study. He glanced back as he watched the man follow him, half wondering what he was thinking, entering the wizard’s place. He knew the stories about John Constantine and his trail of broken - or worse, dead - hearts.
He took air with marvel as he passed through the portal and saw the old building. The house certainly lived up to his reputation. Victorian, full of statues that seemed to follow him with their eyes, mirrors that didn't quite seem to reflect him, and was that gargoyle showing him its teeth? Also, he was pretty sure the dog headed cane was scratching itself against the stairs.
“These are some of my old friends.” John gestured at the gargoyle with a look of surprising fondness, brushing a hand over the top of it. He gestured for Nanaue to follow him. “Living room’s this way, mate.”
"And those in the mirrors? Old enemies?" Nanaue carried the crates he'd stolen and followed John, wondering once again what he was doing. But on the other hand, it felt so unusual to have someone outside of his gang treat him as if he were just a man, and an attractive one at that. John seemed almost like a kid in a way, excitedly showing him every strange bit of his house.
“Oh, no, those I keep somewhere a bit more... contained. These are just the ghosts tha’ came with the house. Most of them are friendly.”
King smiled and watched as John uncorked the first bottle, grabbing what seemed to be his fine cups and discreetly cleaning them with his sleeve. He didn't get as many visitors as his reputation implied, it seemed, considering the layer of dust.
John smiled warmly as he poured them both a glass of wine, trying to push down the nerves building in his stomach. It’d been awhile since he’d been on a proper date. And this man seemed worthy of his best shot to make it a good one. “Hope you don’t mind red.”
"Only if the red is blood. I have... Problems around it. Downside of being partly shark."
"Oh, no worries mate. I drink blood myself sometimes for magic, real strange taste, innit? I swear I can tell the blood type already just with a sip." He hoped he wasn’t sounding like a monster by confessing that bit. Ava had told him several times that it wasn’t a great habit, even if Sara just let him be most of the time. Not his fault so much magic involved drinking something.
"And you're sure you're completely human? Not even my team does that, and let me tell you they are all … unique."
“Pretty bloody sure. Well, Zed is sure I have some magic in my blood because of my ancestors and all, but really I’m just a petty dabbler.”
"That's not what the rumors say about you." King got closer, and again wondered what he was doing. He knew Constantine had a fame of being a destructive force, but not a cruel one. He wouldn't play with him, invite him to his house, pour him wine, only to reject him. Or would he?
“The rumors are exaggerated, but I am handy when it comes to nature.” John wiggled his eyebrows, leaning up into his space.
"Mm, and what would being handy would mean? You already said you're bad at knitting." If Ivy could see him now... Somehow the idea of telling his friends about it made him feel warm inside. Then again, he had always been friendlier than what people believed. Friendlier than it was healthy.
“But I’m a good artist and skilled with all sorts of canvases.” John knew the line was corny, even for him. And it wasn’t even a lie, exactly. He did draw in his free time when he was sober enough, which was rarely, lately. He could draw Nanaue to his bed maybe...
"I'd really be interested in seeing your art." Nanaue really hoped he was understanding this correctly. He had a bit of pride and didn't want to suffer rejection yet again.
"Oh, I'd be happy to show you, but I'm afraid I keep most of it in the bedroom."
John had expected his terrible line to earn him a dismissive scoff, as he knew it sounded sad, drunk, and a bit desperate. Instead Nanaue smiled widely, and he looked just so damned cute . Not predatory, or menacing, or even sexy. Just cute. John knew he was going to get in trouble when he saw him at that boring party, and clearly he wasn’t wrong. He had just got it wrong about what kind of trouble he was walking into.
John leaned up and pressed his mouth against Nanaue's, deciding he might as well take a guess. The skin was different than he expected, not exactly like a human's - smoother, softer - but not like a fish either.
The... mechanics, clearly worked a bit differently, considering his whole head fit inside the shark's mouth, but all in all, it wasn’t so different than being with any other human, or partly human. And John had been with demons that looked even less human after all, and he knew all it took was a bit of adjustment and a lot of enthusiasm to make it work.
Nanaue grinned against Constantine's face, carefully lifting the man between his arms to deepen the kiss. He was shorter than his attitude gave off, and Nanaue was taller than average.
When they parted, he smiled. "So, you were saying something about a bedroom...?"