|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:29 am
Ever since joining the legions of the undead, Aleksy hadn't really had a desire to leave his house. He went to work; he went home; he answered text messages and painted; but he didn't go to spend time with Thorne or visit Finn at the ranger desks, and he certainly avoided Jeremiah. In fact, the only person he regularly kept contact with was his dog, and that only after discovering his "powers" didn't work on animals. It was inevitable that someone would interrupt Aleksy's very Gothic self-loathing, and it was also inevitable that that someone would be Finn. Aleksy might be cut out to play the loner vampire type, but his boyfriend was a literal golden retriever, with all the attachment and interpersonal loyalty that implied. That said, he didn't look up when Finn came in the door. He just said, "Hi," like he hadn't been making excuses to avoid Finn all week.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:00 am
"Hi," replied Finn, a little bit awkwardly - Aleksy had spent all week turning down his suggestions of dinner and cuddling with vagaries about it not being a good time, and Finn, being Finn, had internalized that as a reaction to something he had done. The rather apathetic greeting wasn't helping. Needless to say he didn't go right for a kiss - or even bother taking his shoes off. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be here for. It kind of felt like Aleksy was trying to ghost him or something. "Whatever it was I did," volunteered Finn, "I'm sorry. By the way. But like, you're gonna have to help me out because I've been trying to figure out what it was and... I'm sorta grasping at straws here." Maybe there hadn't been anything. Maybe Aleksy had just woken up one morning and realized he could do better. Finn wouldn't blame him if he had. Finn wasn't a very good catch - he had dumb, fluffy hair and dumb freckles and came with too much baggage. Multiple exes. A kid. An insatiable need for validation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 1:06 pm
"Finn," said Aleksy, "you didn't do anything wrong. It's just not a good time." He still had Finn's class ring on his thumb, the blue stone glinting in the odd half-light. "If you come in here with shoes on I will sla--" He paused, a weird expression on his face. "I will yell at you," he said, lamely. "I'm avoiding you because I'm a ******** vampire and if I touch you I will literally eat your life force."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:45 pm
Finn paused, started to take off his shoes, then paused again. He considered this new information for a long moment. "Wait, really?" he asked. The otherworld was a weird place. He didn't doubt it was possible. "How..." Finn kicked off his boots, brow wrinkling in concern. "How did you become a vampire?" He took a careful seat on the other end of the couch, hands folded in his lap. He wanted to get closer, but... he didn't know the rules of this, and Aleksy was obviously shaken up enough to spend a week avoiding him. "No touching?" he asked, looking Aleksy over. "Really?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 8:52 pm
"I died, and it didn't catch," said Aleksy. He extended one be-socked foot to nudge Finn's thigh. "It's okay if you touch me where I'm clothed, but nowhere else." There were a hundred snippy comments he could make, but instead of saying any of those he said: "I made Mercer pass the ******** out. Like a little girl." Aleksy set his phone aside and folded his hands in his lap. What else was there to say? "I don't know how it feels, but I have no desire to do that to you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:06 pm
Finn nodded subduedly and took hold of Aleksy's foot, rubbing his thumb in a small circle. "Okay," he said, and tried to imagine a future in which he never got to make skin-to-skin contact with Aleksy ever again. Like, sure, it would be doable if they were careful enough? But it seemed like it would MAJORLY SUCK. "Okay," he said, trying to catch Aleksy's eyes with his. "I mean. You died?" How much had he ******** missed? "I mean," he said, "I guess it's not important if you're, like, not dead. But. Sorry - go on."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:50 pm
Aleksy curled up on one side, hands beneath his head. It was hard to get comfortable when he couldn't risk coming into skin-to-skin contact with his hot boyfriend. "Finnsha," he said, "I don't want to inconvenience you." He meant it, like he meant anything he said when it was just Finn, or just one person, things he could deny later if he had to. "And I feel that life with me is about to become incredibly inconvenient. I thought I'd try to figure it out before doing anything rash."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 10:13 pm
At Aleksy's use of his pet name, Finn relaxed. Nothing could be too bad when his name was still sweet and soft in Aleksy's mouth. "I'll, um, feel it out with you," he said, and smiled at his own pun. He set his hand down on the couch between the two of them. "You know me," said Finn, and forced a laugh. "I'm brave. And dumb."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 10:24 pm
"Brave and good-hearted, and stupid," said Aleksy. "I'll take it." He nudged Finn with his toes. He didn't feel like laughing, didn't feel like smiling; he was ******** dead, wasn't he? No pulse when he was hungry, barely needed to sleep or breathe... He said, "I love you," and trusted his boyfriend wasn't going to hold that against him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 11:00 pm
Finn pulled Aleksy's feet into his lap, messed idly with his toes. "I love you, too," he said, because he wasn't going to let something like that out of Aleksy's mouth go unremarked upon. When Aleksy said he loved Finn, it was because he wanted to hear it repeated back. "So, like," he ventured, after a moment, "what do you eat now?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 12:34 am
Aleksy sighed. "I don't know exactly?" He pushed himself up on an elbow, turned to look at Finn. "I don't want to experiment with other people as my lab rats." He frowned mightily at Finn, and then flopped backwards again to frown even harder at the ceiling. "I can eat real food, but not a lot. Otherwise I get sick."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 9:08 am
Finn nodded, and he thought that, given the circumstances, he was reacting to all this rather well. Your boyfriend didn't come out as a creature of the night every day, after all. It was not something his college education had prepared him for. "But, like, not blood," he ventured, pressing his thumb to the underside of Aleksy's toes. "Sorry. Was that... Vampirist?" Fantasy Discourse was not something he was well versed in. "You've gotta, like, figure it out somehow," he added. "And I'm a consenting adult." He'd rather not spend the rest of his life afraid of cuddling.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 5:10 pm
"Not your blood," said Aleksy. "And I don't consent. So there." That wasn't so much passive aggression as a threat display: ******** drop it or I'll ******** drop you. "I'm working on it. Don't ******** push the issue." He didn't know how to explain it better. He wanted to, more than anything; but to do so he'd have to show the raw, beating heart of him, permit someone to see what he was afraid of. That stupid fear of dependence... "If I need help, I'll ask you," he said. "But I want to handle this on my own."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 9:48 pm
Finn nodded and fought the urge to shove Aleksy's feet away and turn away. He'd pissed Aleksy off, but he didn't want to make it seem like he was rejecting him or anything like that. "Okay," he said softly. "But like, just so you know, I'm here."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
