Would you love a Monsterman? (Avdol x Polnareff)

Country roads, take me home

The next night, they set off to Windknight's Lot. The sun had set at 6pm, meaning that they'd arrive in the small town by about 11pm at the latest, provided that Iggy didn't get them pulled over by the cops or something. It had rained all day, but it had stopped at around twilight, leaving the night air crisp with cool fog. Illuminated only by the moon, the world was hued in shades of forest green, black and deepest blue, permeated by the fog lights on the car. The country roads were quiet at night, the only non-lunar light coming from the headlights, the occasional light attached to emergency SOS phone boxes, and the sparkling glint of deer's eyes in the forest that surrounded them, the docile creatures raising their heads as the car passed by. Although they were just animals, they knew that what was in the car was an apex predator, only killed by sunlight, and thus even the tweeting birds fell silent out of a fearful respect.

Inside the car, Polnareff was filling Avdol in on the nature of his roommates.
"So there's Joseph, he owns the house, and he's a werewolf. He's pretty chill usually, just when it gets to the full moon he goes a bit hyper. Oh, and he loves chicken."
"Chicken, got it." Avdol replied. Red rolled his eyes at this.
"Then there's Caesar, Joseph's boyfriend. He's a ghost. He was killed in the 1980s, so he's 69 forever. He also goes walking through walls, so don't be too freaked out by that." Polnareff changed the station on the radio, as the Portland stations were starting to crackle out and be replaced by static.
"I've got no reason to freak. After all, one of my favourite people is undead." Avdol said. Polnareff grinned at this, yet internally his mind was racing. He knew that they were good friends, but he wanted more from Avdol. He wanted love, tenderness, the feel of a lover's hand in his. Did Avdol feel the same way too? Or was he too ancient to love again? Despite his internal turmoil of "Should I/Shouldn't I" Polnareff kept a calm composure, never betraying his emotions.

"What about the other roommates?" Avdol asked. Polnareff realised that he'd fallen silent, and jolted back into talking.
"Other roommates! Well, then there's Jotaro. He's Joseph's grandson, but he's not a werewolf, he's an Oni. Y'see, Joseph's daughter married an Oni, and when two different compatible monsters have kids it's a 50/50 chance of what the kid will be. Anyway, Jotaro ended up as an Oni. He's about 3 metres tall, and he's even scary in his human form- it's this buff Japanese marine biologist guy. His coat even matches his purple skin!"
"I didn't know monsters could be academics!" Avdol said, marvelling with wide eyes.
"He took an Open University degree. Also, don't ask questions about why he wears his hat indoors, that's just what he does." Polnareff reached into the cup holder for a box of tic tacs, only to see that they had disappeared.
"Where's my snacks?" He asked. Iggy grinned, and gave a minty-smelling yap. With a sigh, Polnareff went back to describing his friends.

"And last but not least, there's Noriaki. He's a Kitsune, and he's got a shrine in the forest. Sometimes the locals leave cherries there, as it's all decorated with sakura details. He's probably the "smart" one of the group, as the rest of us are idiots."
"And what about me? Which "one" will I be?" Avdol asked, fixing Polnareff with those enthralling eyes of his.
"The hot one... B-because you have a bennu bird! I mean, not the hot one, the wise one! Smarts and wisdom are two different things, after all. I learnt that playing Dungeons and Dragons back in '84." Polnareff had gone from suave vampire to gabbling nerd in the space of two minutes, which was exactly why Avdol liked him so much. Just knowing that this seductive creature of the night was really a big doofus was oddly comforting, as if Polnareff still retained his humanity after so many years as one of the bloodsucking Children of the Night. Avdol hoped that he retained some humanity too, and that others didn't just see him as a dried up walking corpse. Although it was still, he still retained his heart- which was important, as what else would he love Polnareff with?

The car skirted around the Native American reservation and along an ocean road, the huge, grey waves to their left and the tall pines to their right. The air smelt of pine needles, salt, and that scent that only appears in gardens when the rain's been falling. As the clock struck half past ten, most humans were settling in for the night. Phone screens glowed in dark rooms, most businesses closed their shutters, and a little car with an embarrassing bumper sticker pulled into Windknight's Lot. It was a typical American small town- a main street of a few stores and restaurants, a church, an elementary, middle and high school on the outskirts of town, all surrounded by a few lines of houses. The population consisted of 2,000 humans, one ghost, one kitsune, one Oni, one werewolf, one vampire, and now also one mummy, and a Chupacabra. There was a used car lot in town, and Polnareff simply left the car there with a note to apologise for the embarrassing bumper sticker. Windknight's Lot was a sleepy place- the humans kept to themselves, and lived their dull little lives as usual. They didn't ask questions about the weird house on the hill, and they never went up unless absolutely necessary. According to some teens there was "a really freaky Japanese fox statue" in the woods, and some of the girls even left cherries on it, but nobody took it too seriously.
After all, monsters didn't exist. At least not to them.