“Charlie, your sixth form called me yesterday.”
“I know, you told me. I’ll call them back.”
“Good, and don’t forget Michael’s birthday present,” Jane said as she readied for work. She made a quick lap of the kitchen and lounge for her things. “Don’t let Belle near it. She’ll muck up the box. Disinfect that surface when you’re done.”
Belle sat on the countertop, watchful but calm within Charlie’s resonance. He droned, “I know. Drive safe.”
“Thank you,” she rescinded in a tone, but added sincerely, “I love you.”
“Love you,” he replied, otherwise going about the task of mixing Belle’s morning medicine into her food. The front door shut and he heard the rumble of his mother’s car before he carried the cat and her food upstairs. Placing the dish on the food mat he’d arranged, he loosened his resonance over her so she launched herself into breakfast. Charlie left her enclosed in his bedroom to take a shower. Afterwards, he stood in front of the mirror with a towel around his waist as he patted his curls dry…
The doorbell rang.
Charlie stood frozen for a long second, old rules of adults answer doors stalling his brain from remembering that he was the adult and alone in the house. His next habit, as he ran across the hall into his bedroom, was to send out a pulse of resonance to see who waited at the door.
Human.
More, familiar.
Nick. Nick was at his house.
Charlie jumped into his underwear and black trousers, nearly toppling over with a judgmental cat for an audience. He ripped a cardigan off his washing pile and pulled it on as he trotted down the stairs. He opened the door to see Nick standing in his coat with his bags hanging diagonally from his shoulders. Charlie panted, “Hey!” as he crossed his cardigan over his bare torso.
“Hey,” Nick breathed, his eyes flitting up to Charlie’s loose, shiny curls. “Is this a bad time?”
“I-Y-Uh,” he stumbled, “You caught me getting dressed for work, is all.”
Nick extended his arm, something on the end of it making Charlie let go of his cardigan, as if he might drop it. His hands sandwiched Nick’s before taking the beanie out of it. “You left this at my house.”
“Oh,” he chirped. “Thank you.”
Their eyes met. Neither knew what to say. They didn’t have to, since before an uncomfortable silence could take hold, a heavy weight rumbled overhead. Charlie’s head whipped around the same time a yowl split the air. He took off up the stairs, Nick shutting the door and dropping his bags at the base of the stairs. They ran up and into Charlie’s room, where Charlie ordered, “Belle,” the same time he threw his resonance over the wrestling bundle of fabric on the floor.
Nick mumbled, “Ugh,” as his head swam. He caught himself on the desk beside the door, his other hand on his forehead to hold himself steady.
“Sorry,” Charlie uttered, sitting on the floor and untangling Belle from his washing that had fallen over. The floor was a mess of cardigans and other apparel, but the knits and her claws were a disastrous pairing.
“For what?” Nick asked as he sank to the floor, in case he should pass out. Which was odd…because he felt…fine? Wide awake yet, if he held his eyes closed too long, he was certain he could go to sleep.
“It’s me. I’m the reason you feel like that.”
The cat made a weak, pathetic sound. Charlie cooed over her, “You’re stuck, honey, hang on,” while Nick’s brain tried to process this.
“What are you doing, exactly?”
“It’s called a nest. Some vampires call it a den. It’s like a resonance cape or blanket I put over Belle to calm her down. I overdid it on you, I’m sorry.”
Nick leaned against the desk, blinking through it. With the security of the floor and furniture around him, he knew he was completely fine. It did not feel like being medically drowsy, what few times he’d needed the help for his immune system. It rather felt like pulling his hood up, and having a personal, warm cave to enshroud his thoughts. A gentle, unimposing darkness in the corners of his vision.
“I think I’ve been in this before…with my aunt.”
Charlie glanced up at him. “Was that okay?”
Nick shrugged. “Yeah, it was fine. Cozy. She visited us more before she had kids of her own. I’m sorry.”
Charlie was on the last paw as he exclaimed, “What? Why?”
“I came in without being invited.”
Nick watched him extract each claw before releasing the cat and answering, “I don’t blame you for wanting to know who dropped a cannon ball in my house.”
He smirked. “How does she make so much noise when she’s so small?”
“She’s a generational talent,” Charlie remarked as the cat started to inspect the damage she had done by punching a jumper on the floor. It punched back due to getting caught on her claws. Charlie promptly scooped her up and stepped around Nick out of the room. “Nope. Go be crazy in there.”
Nick heard the next-door bedroom door shut before Charlie returned and made haste putting his washing away. While he bent for the errant pieces, Nick surveyed Charlie’s room. He liked it immediately, from light aqua colour of the walls, to the neon MUSIC sign above the bed, and the miscellaneous art and books all over the desk, walls, and shelves. “I love your room.”
Charlie paused and scanned the room. “It’s a bit dated.”
“Is your flat in London much different?”
“Most of my things are in storage since we have our eyes on a different place this summer. Tori’s watching it like a hawk, so our chances are good.”
Nick tried to help by handing him things on his way up to standing. He ventured over to the corner of the room, where Belle’s food station sat alongside a scratch pad that spilled cardboard confetti all over the place. The cat, however, was a recent addition to Charlie’s life, so Nick asked, “Did something used to live here that’s in storage now?”
“Yeah, my electric drum set. It’s at Tori and Michael’s, though, so I can practice when I visit.”
“Electric drum set,” Nick repeated wistfully. “That’s so cool.”
“Not for the neighbors,” Charlie teased, before he shoved his overflowing hangers deeper into his closet. He closed the doors, more or less, and turned around to face Nick. His cardigan hung open, his full torso on display. Nick visibly breathed heavier, his chest filling and stretching his shirt within his coat.
Nick didn’t have words for what he saw in Charlie’s eyes. Or what must have emanated from his own or his resonance, but they closed the distance to each other. Nick grasped Charlie’s head, his fingers plunging into his curls the same time their lips crushed together. Charlie’s hands slid inside his jacket and up his back, seeking skin despite his shirt being in the way. Nick liked that idea a lot, not to mention his temperature going up. He let go only to make his jacket fall to the floor.
For all of yesterday’s restraint in a single kiss, they launched at each other tenfold. Charlie pushed Nick’s back against the door, clumsily shutting it despite no one being around to interrupt them. Nick’s hands went into Charlie’s cardigan, the feel of his skin the only thing slowing him down. Nick wanted to take his time. He wanted to see and to feel, to have the time to be lost in Charlie’s kiss as well as to explore him with his eyes open.
Charlie’s tongue slid into his mouth, one brief plunge before it slid out and he pulled on Nick’s tie. Nick went down to the floor with him. He thought about the slim bed against the window for but a second, since they had more space on the floor. Charlie let go of his tie to palm his chest and torso, like he wanted to get the shirt off. Nick wanted it off, but Charlie didn’t go for any buttons.
Charlie had no idea what he was doing. This is exactly why he held off on telling Nick where he lived. It wasn’t for Nick’s safety. Nick wanted him so loudly, so sweetly, Charlie didn’t have the fortitude to be presented something handcrafted by the universe for him and to say no to it. If this was some sort of test, he was failing. It was all he could manage to keep his fangs in check and not prick Nick’s lips.
He drew Nick down to their knees. There, his hands found Nick’s thighs and he crawled into Nick’s space. Nick slumped back onto his seat, and further still. He went onto his back with Charlie between his legs—he could barely process how willingly his legs fell open for him in the wave of sensations washing over his body and brain. Charlie’s weight on him was such a surprising comfort. His hand on Nick’s nape pulling him up and tipping his head back for his lips and tongue made Nick giddy and so unimaginably satisfied that he’d been brave enough to come over. Charlie’s erection pressing into his own through their trousers made Nick insane.
He gasped a wanton sound at the ceiling, followed by a punched out, “Do that again.”
Charlie’s nose pressed into his hair, breathing him in as he thrust against him. Nick’s jaw went slack. His hands held onto Charlie’s waist as they rocked together. His body both melted into the floor and stiffened the further and further his orgasm climbed. When Charlie kissed him again, he was doomed. He slammed into his climax all at once, whimpering on Charlie’s tongue.
Instead of relaxing into the after-shocks, Nick rolled them over. Charlie flopped in the most endearingly surprised ragdoll way possible. Nick hovered over him, his eyes drunk as a hand dragged down Charlie’s sternum, the swoop from his ribs over his belly, and further. Charlie let him, his arms above his head as his cardigan hung open for Nick to explore. For Nick to bow over him and taste his skin; his chest at first, and then boldly over to a nipple. Nick felt Charlie’s hand on the back of his head before he panted, “Nick…kiss my neck.”
Nick climbed over him and did so with relish. Only when Charlie hiked a knee up to fold his leg out from underneath him did Nick realize what he wanted. Their pelvises slotted together again, and Nick wanted to carve the sound of Charlie’s moan inside his skull. The way his upper lip rested over his fangs that hung low out of his gums. Nick raked a hand over his hair, pulling Charlie’s head back as his hand went underneath it. This opened Charlie’s throat to Nick’s mouth as Nick tried not to overthink. He just let himself do what they had been doing. He didn’t want to worry about doing this right. He didn’t want to think about his lack of experience. He wanted to hear more of Charlie’s pleasure, to know what his orgasm looked and sounded like.
Charlie’s hands started to wander frantically. Nick started to lift up but Charlie urged, “Don’t stop! ”
Nick went back to his neck and Charlie’s hands found a place to hold on. He panted, “Faster,” only moments before he shivered beneath Nick. The shivers broke his rhythm against Nick and halted all at once as he came.
Nick propped himself up on his elbows, giving Charlie the room to gulp down air. When his eyes opened, the light through the sheer curtains gleamed over his irises. He gazed at Nick, who felt a split second of fear. Like maybe, Nick wasn’t the person Charlie wanted to see in that moment. The fear fell out of the window as Charlie sat up and fitted his hands under and behind Nick’s ears, bringing their mouths together. Charlie kissed him like Nick were water on a summer’s day. He only stopped when Nick started to feel the slightest tease of fangs drag over his bottom lip.
They didn’t rush to get up. Charlie’s fingers moved through Nick’s hair, his ear safe within the curve of Charlie’s thumb and palm. Eventually, though, he murmured, “I have to go to school.”
Charlie smiled. “I have to get dressed. I’ll take you, if you want.”
More time with Charlie? Of course he wanted.
Nick went to the bathroom across the corridor to clean up what little he could in his pants. By the time he emerged, Belle had been reinstated to Charlie’s room and Charlie wore a black turtle neck underneath his white button-up. He used a lint roller over himself to collect cat hair and Nick giggled as he received the same treatment. Ready and together, they left Charlie’s house in his car and Nick couldn’t believe it. He felt drunk. He felt more awake than he’d ever been. It didn’t feel like a school day at all.
But at school, Charlie parked, and he set his hands between his thighs to look at Nick in his customary way. Nick, who smirked mischievously. Charlie mirrored it with curiosity, but had his answer for it as Nick leaned across the cabin and kissed him goodbye. Just a chaste kiss, but he murmured huskily, “Can I see you later?”
“I’m working late,” Charlie apologized, “but the weekend is soon.”
“Message me.”
A smile like Charlie couldn’t believe his morning made him shake his head bashfully. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Nick agreed warmly. He left the car and walked in languid, long strides. His spine felt a little higher, the world around him coloured slightly differently. Like a lens had been removed from his eyes, and he felt the better for it. As better as he could be with the electrifying secret that he’d had sex that morning.
* * *
Nick smiled over the sink as he did the dishes after dinner. A message on Instagram waited for him from Charlie. How was your day?
Nick finished and dried his hands before rotating to lean back against the counter. Honestly? Terrible. I couldn’t focus on anything and I got absolutely mauled in rugby. But I wouldn’t change a thing.
Omg Nick. Are you okay?
I’m great I promise. Are you okay? Did I…do anything wrong?
He glanced up at his mother on the couch in the living room and swallowed as he waited through the ellipsis. Charlie replied, You did nothing wrong. I enjoyed it. A lot.
Nick licked his lips, thumbs moving across the screen. Tomorrow’s Friday :) I have rugby but can I visit you at the hotel?
I have meetings so I won’t be able to visit. What about Saturday?
That works! I just have a rugby game in the morning.
Don’t die.
I won’t die.
* * *
Charlie unlatched from the hotel guest’s neck. He plucked a tissue from a nearby box, and wiped his saliva from the woman’s throat. As they both reinstated their personal space, he asked in his hospitality voice, “Are you alright?”
She exhaled a long, deep breath. “Perfectly refreshed, thank you.”
He stood up from her suite’s couch and glanced at the room service trolley he’d brought with him. Via his instructions, she’d genuinely ordered some food to make his time in her room justifiable, but he took the covered dishes off the shelf and set them on the small dining table. “Mind the plates. They’re hot.”
“I shall. For you,” she said.
He paused and observed her outstretched hand. He softly captured it on both of his and accepted the folded money in it. “Thank you very much. Have a good night.”
“And you,” she rescinded, before he rolled the trolley out and shut her door. He pocketed the money, feeling, not for the first time, the ambivalence of taking cash for his bites. Some people paid. Some people didn’t. Oftentimes, people considered it a balanced transaction on its own: they get his venom and he gets their blood. Tips were more socially acceptable for his transfusion services, but money for his venom…
Charlie knew it could be adjacent to sex work. Or drug dealing. He never asked for the people’s motives for inviting him to their throats. Sometimes people were obvious about wanting the sex out of it, but more often than not, if an orgasm was their goal, they were subtle about it. And there were other benefits to vampire venom than just the effortless orgasm during the bite, but he had a rule. He never bit the same person twice, and he kept up with the guests’ reservations to know when they were leaving.
Charlie decided he didn’t want to think about it. He had a flat he was saving up for, a cat to look after now, fresh blood to keep him topped up for the next few days, and a beautiful boy who had next to no idea what he was getting into with a vampire. Charlie didn’t want any pressure on Nick to bare his throat to him. It was easier keeping his fangs up if he wasn’t hungry on top of horny.
He returned the cart to its place and descended downstairs to escape to the clubhouse out in the garden. The concierge smoked outside of it, where she greeted, “How was she?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“That one wears too much patchouli for my taste.”
Charlie didn’t have a response to that, so he continued inside and opened a bottle of water to rinse his mouth. He fell in a heap onto the couch and oscillated between the book Isaac had gifted him for his birthday or his phone. He went with his phone this time and spent a few lovely minutes messaging Nick.
When the concierge strolled in for a seat, she asked, “How was your meeting at the school?”
“It went fine. Not the most ideal way to spend my break, but today’s hardly busy.”
She grunted an agreeable sound. “Another week, another gala.”
He put his phone away and reached for his book. “Yeah? The debrief today didn’t sound like it would be anything we can’t handle.”
She circled around to the real question she wanted to ask, “Are you going to invite your puppy to work with us again?”
Charlie closed his eyes in a long blink. “Don’t call him that.”
“Okay, but when he calls, do you want him on your team this time or not? You can keep an eye on him instead of older plagues trying to catch him.”
Charlie’s eyes moved, but not over the pages in his hands. “Am I not one of those older plagues?”
He didn’t really like being the target of her amusement, but he weathered through it as she laughed, “Charlie, darling, I think you’re the one being hunted. Is he the reason you’re wearing a turtleneck two days in a row?”
“I’m always cold.”
“Oh? Give us a look, then.”
“I’m not showing my neck to you, pervert.”
She laughed again, seeing right through him.
* * *
Nick smiled when the stained-glass front door opened—and it promptly fell off his face. “Oh my god.”
Charlie, however, squinted up at the sky and reached out to pull Nick indoors by the lapels of his raincoat. “I can’t believe you play a sport in this.”
“D-Did I do that?” Nick contradicted, eyes on Charlie’s neck and the maroon hickey there. More like two hickeys creating a patchwork along the side of Charlie’s throat. Who was the vampire here?
He pulled his hood down, revealing his hair to be wet from a shower, never mind the downpour. Charlie shut the door, otherwise dressed in plaid pajama bottoms and a jumper. Nick rambled, “I didn’t even know how to do that—”
“Nick,” Charlie hushed with a smile. “It’s fine. I enjoyed it. And the one who’s about to be embarrassed is me.”
Nick’s brows furrowed and he unzipped his coat. “Why? Where can I put this to drip?”
Charlie pointed, “The hook over the umbrella bin.”
Nick hung his coat up and quickly pulled on his laces to remove his shoes. He followed Charlie into the kitchen, and along the way realized he’d never properly seen Charlie’s house aside from his bedroom and bathroom. His head swiveled, taking it all in, before he honed in on the source of Charlie’s concerns: three skillets and a bowl on the stove and countertop. Nick asked, “Is someone else here?”
“No,” Charlie droned.
Nick looked at him, trying to read his expression. “I don’t understand.”
Charlie sighed away from him. “I didn’t know how much you would want or what you would want. You don’t have to have any of it, but I need to put it away.”
“Hang on, hang on,” Nick quickly caught up. His brows drifted up like the inflation in his chest pushed them there. “You made me lunch?”
“You said you had a rugby game,” Charlie defended. “I should have expected you would already have eaten.”
Charlie’s attention caught on the top of Nick’s head, and then dropped down to his socked feet. Meanwhile, Nick said, “No, no, I can eat… What?”
“You’re growing,” Charlie accused.
Nick grinned. “I told you I’m taller than you.”
“No, we were the same. You’re definitely growing. Stop it,” Charlie pointed at him, but he looked more flustered and excited than insulted.
“Mmno, don’t think I will. Especially when you blush about it.”
Charlie bowed his head with a shake, but Nick could see his smile. He couldn’t help himself, he reached a hand for Charlie’s cheek. Charlie lifted his face into his palm, and then higher to catch Nick’s lips. Nick’s heart twirled. He didn’t know if he’d get used to being able to kiss Charlie, but he loved the freedom of being able to do so. Charlie pivoted a little to better face him, and Nick’s other hand came up to cradle the side of his head. Nick loved the way Charlie’s hands slid down his back do rest in on his waist. He loved the sound of their lips parting.
Charlie asked quietly between them, “How did your game go?”
Nick opened his eyes and eased back with his sigh. He combed his hair to the side as he said, “We lost.”
“Oh,” Charlie realized with a slight laugh. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’re not exactly a serious team. May I see what you made?”
Charlie rolled his lips and took him through his morning spent cooking. Nick had his pick of salad from the bowl on the counter, and practically three separate meals in the covered skillets. Nick marveled at it all, voicing, “So, you can cook.”
“Only sometimes,” he evaded, pricking Nick’s memory of his mother telling him how vampires could not taste if they needed blood. Did this mean Charlie had fed recently? How long did it take for someone’s sense of taste to fade? Wouldn’t it be logical to feed regularly so that taste never vanished?
Nick had several questions but he didn’t know if it would be rude to ask them here. Instead, he accepted the plate Charlie handed him and collected a little of everything on offer. Charlie sat with him at the kitchen table, just with smaller portions. Further down the table, Nick observed a box and wrapping supplies. “What’s this?”
Charlie covered his mouth but said around his food, “Michael’s birthday is this month.”
Nick consumed a couple of bites before he asked, “Are you doing another day trip to the city with it soon?”
Charlie shook his head. “He and my sister will be in town next week, so we’ll celebrate his birthday then.”
“Does this mean you’re free tomorrow?”
Charlie gave him a knowing smirk but said, “No, the hotel has a gala this week, so preparations start strong tomorrow. Sundays are usually quiet, so the manager is hoping to get a good headstart.”
“A gala?” Nick repeated with intrigue. “How’s that different from the convention we had?”
“It’s a step up. Everyone was sort of business posh at the last one, but this one is white tie for the guests. The staff stays in black, but I have to find my bow tie.”
Nick chewed while he contemplated this. “Wouldn’t a gala be better when the garden is open?”
Charlie agreed but explained, “Summers book up really fast with school balls and stuff.”
“How often is the hotel just a normal hotel?” he asked with a mirthful tone.
“We still have regular guests, but I think it has to do with the fact that it’s a renovated house. If people want a normal hotel, they go for a modern one. And they stay closer to the city or the beach.”
“Mm,” Nick ruminated to himself. Indeed, there wasn’t really anything touristy right where they lived, which made him ask, “It’s so busy, though. It just seems an odd location to be so bustling. Charlie, this is really good.”
“Is it?” Charlie brightened, not minding the topic switch at all. “I’m glad. We actually already have a Higgs girl in the volunteer list for the event.”
Nick accepted the volley with gusto. “Do you? Then I wouldn’t be imposing this time?”
Charlie laughed but warned, “Friday will be harder than the symposium. Especially if you’re on my team this time.”
Charlie’s team? Nick could be working with Charlie? All night? It sounded too good to be true, so he challenged, “Are you trying to scare me away?”
“I don’t want you to start regretting being involved with me once the manual labour becomes too much.”
Nick frowned. “What is your job? I don’t actually know. You’re not just a blood donor or transfusion…person.”
Charlie smiled but said flatly, “I’m a glorified waiter. I work with the kitchen, I do room deliveries, that sort of thing.”
Nick stopped chewing and swallowed thickly. Charlie noticed and asked, “What?”
Nick shook his head and looked down at the task of stacking things on his fork. “Harry’s a dick, that’s all.”
“Who’s that?”
“The birthday boy who told the manager to get you away from the food at his party.”
Charlie’s features wilted. Subtle, but Nick noticed. He hid it well as he said, “I forgot you eavesdropped on that conversation.”
Nick’s eyes flicked up at him, guilty but unabashed. He rerouted to, “What do you mean too much manual labour? We were moving chairs at that party.”
Charlie’s shoulders rose and fell. “Well, my team has to be there the majority of the time. With parking, you only had to be there for half the event. You’ll be on your feet the whole time, carrying precious things like trays of food and drinks.”
“I can do that,” he said with a slightly miffed tone.
“I don’t want you to feel like you have to. You can just do parking again. It’s completely fine.”
“Are you worried I’ll mess something up?”
“You can’t be worse than me,” Charlie swerved and consoled, “and I haven’t been sacked yet.”
Nick didn’t buy it for a second. “I highly doubt you’re bad at your job.”
“I guess you’ll find out Friday?”
He smiled, “I already know. I’ve been to the hotel multiple times. But yes, I will.”
“You don’t have a rugby game?”
“Only practice, and I can miss it. I haven’t missed any all term, so my coach will be fine with it. I’ll go straight home to shower and be at the hotel. This means I need a bow tie, doesn’t it?”
Charlie smiled at him, endeared. “It does.”
Nick’s jaw slid to the side in thought before he resigned, “I’ll sort that out later.”
He learned something new about Charlie: Charlie ate slowly. Not that Nick minded. He’d come over for anything. Whether they hung out with Belle, kissed, or more, Nick just wanted to be in Charlie’s orbit. The fact that Charlie had turned this into a date made Nick want to do something for him, but he had no idea what. He’d never been on a date!
Charlie peeked up at him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Nick answered and then backpedaled. “Do I not seem okay?”
“You seem restless,” Charlie said like an apology, and then, “Sorry, I know I eat slowly.”
“You don’t need to be sorry,” Nick urged, while internally scolding himself, Get a grip! “I just, um,” he took a breath for courage, “can I think of this as a date?”
Charlie blinked, clearly not expecting that, but just as quickly melted into a grin. “Yeah…is that okay?”
Nick felt like his cheeks were huge as he smiled. “Yeah, better than okay. Thank you for making me lunch.”
Charlie’s fork hovered in the air while his own excitement and nerves settled. “You’re welcome.”