Work Text:
Chapter 1:
As much as he enjoyed his job at the Phoenix Park, it often left Logs tired by the end of the day. He could feel his eyelids getting heavy as he worked on getting the Log Flume powered down and closed for the night.
He looked up to see the night sky dark with hues of dark purple and its twinkling stars. It was a pretty sight to see whenever the park closed at night. He finished with powering down the Log Flume and started walking in the direction of the entrance to Camelot Creek.
He wanted to at least talk to Barney for one final time and say goodbye before he headed home, but his feet ached beneath him as he was walking.
Too tired to walk to the Dead End attraction, he opted for a different way to see his boyfriend. He took out his phone to video call Barney as he kept walking.
It rang once, then twice. Until Barney picked up and he could see his bright cute eyes looking back at him from a chair inside Dead End.
“Hey Logs, have a good day at the park today,” he said practically beaming.
He smiled. “Yeah, I did. Although there were some safety issues that I had to handle at Luna Lookout and the Log Flume. There was a lot of back and forth between the areas.”
“Sounds like you had a long day,” Barney said on the other end of the phone.
“It’s fine. Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to meet up tomorrow before the park opens up and I have to work. We could talk and get some quick cotton candy.”
He watched as Barney's smile faded to frown. “That's sweet, but I was kinda planning on going to the Demon Gym before so I can practice some wrestling.”
Disappointed, Logs looked down and away from his phone as he exited through the entrance of Camelot Creek. “That’s…okay, I wouldn’t want to keep you away from doing what you like.”
His eyes came back to Barney's through the phone and he saw a slight smile on his face.
“What if you come to the Demon Gym with me? Maybe I could teach you some wrestling moves, we can hang out that way,” he said as his eyes practically lit up in excitement.
He stopped in his tracks. He had mixed feelings about that. He did want to spend some time with Barney, but he wasn't as familiar with the Demons and their world, let alone wrestling. He didn't even know a thing about it despite going to the Demon Wrestling Federation to cheer him on.
“I don't know, I'd like to, but I've never wrestled before,” he said as he began walking towards Main Street.
“Well, we could start with the basics if that's more your speed, I mean if you want to go.”
He blushed and smiled in response to Barney's thoughtfulness. He figured that it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. “Okay I'll go, what time would you want to meet?”
“Well the park doesn't open until 9 so we could meet up at the gym at 6:00 so we have enough time, but you'd still have to wake up early.”
“That's fine, I'm used to waking up early by now.”
“Alright, well I'll text you the directions to the Gym after the call okay?”
“Alright got it, thanks, Barney.”
“No problem, bye Logs.”
“Bye babe, see you tomorrow,” he said with a tender smile and waved goodbye as he ended the call.
He put his phone in his pocket and found himself in the middle of Main Street. He ran down the street as he saw Josh waiting for him with a few other employees so he could officially lock up and place the closed sign out at the front.
He quickly took out his card and scanned it to clock out for the night, with Josh following suit. Josh then placed down the closed sign and waved bye to him, taking his eyes off his phone for once, before going back and in the direction of his car.
He unlocked and entered his car. He started it up until he heard the ring of his phone. He took it out, looked down at the screen, and saw Barney's directions coming up, which ended with a pair of red hearts.
He felt his face flare up and replied with a string of three red hearts.
He proceeded to drive home and he felt his heart flutter as he anticipated the following day. However, he felt the swirl of butterflies in his stomach crashing against the small pit of dread in it as well.
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A short drive and an excruciatingly bumpy elevator ride later, Logs followed the directions to the Demon Gym. If it weren't for Barney's clear directions, he would've been lost.
He didn't know what exactly to wear, so he improvised with some sports shoes, gray shorts, and a pink tank top.
He grasped onto his bag with his park uniform in it as he traversed through Plane 10, aptly called Necropolis judging from a nearby billboard.
He weaved his way through the various demons, trying to avoid the ones that looked more intimidating until he found the Gym to his right.
Through the doors he entered, and he was greeted with the sight of Barney wrestling the red demon he fought at the Demon Wrestling Federation, Asmodeus. He crossed his arms, and his eyes immediately narrowed and fixated on the demon.
As he walked closer, he watched Barney dodge his fire breath, use the ropes to ricochet off them quickly and take him down on the floor of the ring.
“Hey Barney,” he uncrossed his arms and alerted them to his presence.
“Logs, you're here,” he said as his head perked up. He climbed out of the ring and gave him a big warm hug and the two shared a soft kiss.
The red demon saw the two and got up from inside the ring.
“So this is the boyfriend you wouldn't stop talking about,” he said as he eyed him down as he leaned on the corner of the ring's ropes.
“Don't think we ever properly met, you can call me Az,” he said as he held up a fist for a fist bump. Logs felt Barney's eyes on him, so he walked over and reluctantly returned the gesture.
“Ah come here,” he said as he felt himself being pulled by his shirt and onto the ropes. He felt the burly demon ruffle his hair. He felt smothered against both the rope and the demon's warm body.
“What's your name, human?”
Suddenly, he let go and Logs had to fix his hair to its natural condition, not before getting away from the demon.
“Logan, but my friends call me-”
“Brogan,” he interrupted. “It fits right in the bro-cabulary. You want to learn some moves right, so let's see what you got, you against me what do you say?”
Log's body froze in place. Barney was beaten by him and he regularly practiced wrestling. How was he supposed to go up against this demon?
“Az, I told you he's new to wrestling,” he said as he put a hand on Log's shoulder. “Besides, we were planning on going over the basics,” Barney said as Log's heart rate tried to slow to its normal pace.
“I know, I was just kidding. But the dude's going to need to learn from a pro, and who else but you?”
“Really,” he said teasingly, “what about you?”
“I’d love to stay, but I know you two want some alone time. I also have some Demon King stuff I need to do anyway.”
He looked Log's way, came out of the ring, and came up to him.
“Hey, from bro to bro, you’ll be learning from the best wrestler I've seen. Well, the best human wrestler I've seen, but still. Good luck Brogan!” He gave a small playful punch to his shoulder. “You'll need it,” he said as he teleported out of the gym.
He looked down, he wanted to spend time with Barney, but what Az said was true. He didn't know what he was getting into and was completely out of his element. He then felt a small fire burning inside him. Of all people or demons to say that, it was Az.
“Hey, don't listen to him”, Barney said, which snapped him out of his head. “You'll do great, I know it. We're also here for fun, remember?”
He forced a small smile. “Yeah, of course.” As much as he wanted to enjoy their time together, he couldn’t help but feel a small fluttery sensation in his stomach growing from the pressure he felt building up while getting in the ring with Barney.