Maybe you should. Shall I pretend that we haven't spoken? I've recently awoken and I'm anticipating your call. I'm tempted to call you instead, but I'm holding back for the sake of letting you make the first move.
[ Teen romance movie vibes. Lying on a bed, kicking his feet in the air, waiting for the phone to ring. ]
[ voice deepened by sleep, the product of one nap or another. phone clutched between his cheek and his shoulder, so he can fix his hair in the nearest mirror. as if armand can see him. ]
I was hoping you’d pick up. [ smile audible, the game buoying his confidence and spirits both. softer, then — ] Are you busy?
[ Totally unfeigned: the pleasure of hearing from him, being able to imagine him rumpled and sleep-softened around the edges. There's some chatter and laughter in the background, a group enjoying themselves by one of the fireplaces downstairs, but it fades as he moves away from them, heading inside from walking through the fair in the grounds. Not so much lying on his bed, but the script remains. ]
I'm not busy. [ Also smiling. ] I'm glad to hear from you. How are you feeling?
[ better, for the sound of armand’s voice. an up day, after a series of down ones, too often swinging from one extreme to the furthest reaches of the other — but this is a gentler high. ]
I heard Portia’s hosting a special dinner. For Christmas.
[ the kind he’s never partaken in and feels inherently nervous about, despite the fact that every dinner here is more extravagant than anything he knew before. ]
[ Time for Bob to learn it's possible for a five hundred year old vampire to giggle like a teenage girl when he's delighted by his own teasing. He gets softer and quieter at the second part, lowing his voice as well. ]
You haven't been to the right dances. [ A beat of silence that's all but humming with Armand's affection. ] I'm happy to be your first.
[ bob isn’t confident enough to assume he makes armand uniquely happy — but he thinks armand laughs a little more with him, maybe. that the line of tension in his shoulders eases.
and that feels pretty good. ]
You’re my first in a lot of ways.
[ the first person he’s seen with any regularity — that he’s spent more hours sober with than not — who hasn’t tried to hide his existence or swiftly tired of his company. his first date to a wedding, to dinner. the first person to see the whole of who he is now and not balk at his strangeness or the depths of his monstrous power. ]
[ Happy about that. There aren't many firsts left for a vampire half a millennium old. It's nice to experience it like this, to see himself through Bob's eyes -- as rose-tinted as that view might be. ]
I hope I continue to be. I hope that -- that you won't regret any of this.
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Maybe you should. Shall I pretend that we haven't spoken? I've recently awoken and I'm anticipating your call. I'm tempted to call you instead, but I'm holding back for the sake of letting you make the first move.
[ Teen romance movie vibes. Lying on a bed, kicking his feet in the air, waiting for the phone to ring. ]
📞 — ring, ring.
Hey, Armand.
[ voice deepened by sleep, the product of one nap or another. phone clutched between his cheek and his shoulder, so he can fix his hair in the nearest mirror. as if armand can see him. ]
I was hoping you’d pick up. [ smile audible, the game buoying his confidence and spirits both. softer, then — ] Are you busy?
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I'm not busy. [ Also smiling. ] I'm glad to hear from you. How are you feeling?
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[ better, for the sound of armand’s voice. an up day, after a series of down ones, too often swinging from one extreme to the furthest reaches of the other — but this is a gentler high. ]
I heard Portia’s hosting a special dinner. For Christmas.
[ the kind he’s never partaken in and feels inherently nervous about, despite the fact that every dinner here is more extravagant than anything he knew before. ]
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Will you be going?
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I’d like to. I would. [ slow on the wind up, hitting every consonant. ] But only if I can go with you.
[ a beat. ]
Will you be my date?
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And get to see you on my doorstep, blushing, clutching your flowers? How could I possibly refuse? Of course I'll be your date.
[ A pause, then a little softer, more sincere: ]
I'm already looking forward to it.
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[ helpless, flustered by the teasing and armand’s quick agreement. of course, as if bob is an easy thing to want and have. ]
Me too. [ he adjusts the phone, words hushed into the receiver. ] I’ve never asked somebody to the dance before.
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You haven't been to the right dances. [ A beat of silence that's all but humming with Armand's affection. ] I'm happy to be your first.
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and that feels pretty good. ]
You’re my first in a lot of ways.
[ the first person he’s seen with any regularity — that he’s spent more hours sober with than not — who hasn’t tried to hide his existence or swiftly tired of his company. his first date to a wedding, to dinner. the first person to see the whole of who he is now and not balk at his strangeness or the depths of his monstrous power. ]
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[ Happy about that. There aren't many firsts left for a vampire half a millennium old. It's nice to experience it like this, to see himself through Bob's eyes -- as rose-tinted as that view might be. ]
I hope I continue to be. I hope that -- that you won't regret any of this.
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I won’t.
[ perhaps naively, it doesn’t occur to him to ask why armand might think that, only to assure him it seems impossible. ]
Can I see you today?
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Armand takes a shallow breath he doesn't actually need, settling the smile back into his voice. ]
Yes. Would you like to go bowling?
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[ amused, as always, by armand’s interests and quirks. ]
It’s a date.