[neil]

[brightyoungreporter]

Right now, Daniel really appreciates that Louis and Lestat were dropped into this city from a time well before his. It's a great reason not to talk to them about this.

Would it hold up in vampire court? Not at all, especially when vampire court also means Lestat digging through his head and laughing.

Daniel's prepared to be grilled or roasted or cooked any number of ways, and just because he's patiently stalking Neil right now doesn't mean he expects anything less from his new mortal friend. Added to the newly renewed expectation that Armand could be and probably is watching everything he does (something he should be pissed about but isn't, how sad is that), a non-affiliated party seems like the best bet.

It's absolutely not because he wants to gossip like a teenage girl. This is not that.

Still, he waits outside Neil's house. Waves at some curly-haired kid on his way out. Thinks about smoking. Thinks about Armand, because he's truly, deeply fucked.

Comments

[myfavoritedream]

Car pulling up into the driveway, I could see the shape of someone lurking on the porch. Someone who might've been familiar, even without the cat-eye shine flashing briefly orange in my headlights.

"Jesus," I laughed, already knowing what this was gonna be about. Turning off the car, I climbed out, knocking the car door shut with my hip, my cane clicking along the walk.

"Guess he found you," I said wryly, fishing out my keys as I climbed the steps.

[brightyoungreporter]

"I'm glad this is funny for you," Daniel says.

It's kind of funny, he'll admit. He'd been prepared for a long wait, or even more likely, to just deal with never seeing Armand again. Christ, probably he was going to have to watch Lestat and Louis and-- well. Not the point. Nothing he needs to think about in his weird, sad little vampire bathtub next that Armand can't find out about.

"I maybe forced his hand a little," he confesses, and then blanches. "Yeah, I came here to, ugh. Maybe you put me out of my misery before I say more stupid shit."

[myfavoritedream]

"It's hilarious," I said, cutting him a smirk that was, admittedly, a little sympathetic, as I unlocked the door.

"Just get inside, you fuckin' freak," I said, getting the door open and ushering him in. Dumping out my pockets on the table by the door, I leaned my cane against the wall and stepped out of my shoes, keeping them tucked neatly under the table where Stan wouldn't freak out about them.

"Sit down, stay here. I'll be right back," I said to him, then made my way upstairs, hand on the rail, to see if Gwen was okay, if she'd eaten, if she needed anything, and to ask her just to stay upstairs for the night. It was nearly her bedtime, anyway. I trusted Daniel about as much as I could any man-eating monster, but I didn't want to encourage the two of them to get to know each other just yet.

The jog back down was just a little stiff, and I stopped in the kitchen to grab a beer, taking a second with me, even though I knew it wouldn't do a damn thing for him.

"He pretended to trip and spill coffee on me, you know," I said, as I reentered the living room, limping just a little. "Knocked me on my ass. All wide-eyed and lost." Setting one of the beers down on the coffee table within his reach, I sank down onto the sofa. "You know, when you told me about him, I didn't imagine evil Bambi."

[brightyoungreporter]

Any other time, he would have pretended he couldn't get inside without an invitation.

Now, Daniel skulks in after Neil, slightly comforted by the normality of watching him go through the coming home routine. The signs of kids, teenage and not, would surprise him if he hadn't watched one head out for the night. It still does surprise him a little bit.

He slouches into a chair, sprawling out in a way that would probably make his hip hurt if he were still alive, and waits.

It's not too long, and he picks up the beer for something to have in his hands, if nothing else.

"Well, let me know if I need to compensate you for any of that," he says, looking down to try to hide the smirk. "He's, well. Evil Bambi isn't a bad description. He can also really pull off wet cat, if you give him a chance."

[myfavoritedream]

Settling back into the corner of the couch, my feet kicked up onto the coffee table, I snorted a laugh through a swallow of beer, catching that little smile on his face.

"He's pretty," I said pointedly, watching his face– those weird, jewel-toned eyes. "And really strange. He kept asking me what he's supposed to do here. What's expected."

Picking at the label on my beer, I observed, "He wants somebody to tell him what to do."

[brightyoungreporter]

"Yeah, he's pretty," Daniel agrees, because there's absolutely no contesting it. Neither is there any contesting that his feelings run considerably fucking higher than that. "And really strange doesn't begin to cover it, I promise."

He wonders vaguely if Neil would ever consider some editing.

"It's different here," he says, in a voice that's more throwing ideas against the wall than certain. "None of the usual vampire bullshit really applies." He waves a hand. "Socially speaking. It wasn't as clear then, but I think you're right."

[myfavoritedream]

"And that person's gonna be you?" I asked, some of the humor draining out of the moment. Still, I said it without any judgement. I didn't know all the details of their relationship, and apparently Daniel didn't either, but I could understand the appeal.

I knew what it could feel like to give yourself over to a monster, and the inherent power you felt when that monster let its guard down around you and only you. And how two people, fucked up in very specific ways, could fit all their broken pieces together in a way that made them both better and worse.

[brightyoungreporter]

"Yeah," Daniel says, passing a hand over his mouth. "I'm gonna, looks like. I want to, which, believe me, I'm aware of the fucked up nature of things."

He'd liked it in a way that would surprise him if he had a lower threshold for it. Or maybe that's not right, maybe he'd always liked it.

But he can hear the softness of his own tone.

"There was-- I met him the same night I met Louis. The first interview. They were together, and Louis was the one I was aiming for that night. And thanks to my complete lack of self-preservation, it was Armand I was with afterward. Years. I don't have all the memories. I didn't even know who he was, the second time. Thought I was just having some end of life crisis and lusting after one of Louis's people."

[myfavoritedream]

"And you forgot all this, 'cause he wanted you to?" I said, just to clear the fucking air. It was such a fucking tangle of a mess. I thought my love life was fucked up.

"Trust me, man, I get it. I mean, not this level of fucked up, but." I gestured vaguely. I didn't ask about how Louis fit into it all, or Lestat. I didn't know either of them, and frankly, I didn't really give a shit, as long as Daniel knew what he was getting into.

I hardly knew him, but I gave a shit. There was just something about him, and not just 'cause I had a thing for monsters. Something... else.

Upstairs, I could hear Gwen's voice, her muffled laughter, which meant she was probably on the phone. I glanced towards the ceiling, my smile briefly softening.

"Just... if you're gonna lose yourself in him, try and save a little on the side for your friends, okay?" I said, one corner of my mouth twitching into a faint smirk.

[brightyoungreporter]

Daniel laughs.

"I don't know. My best guess is yeah, this was some kind of let's have Daniel forget to make it easier on everyone but turns out that you don't need the actual memories."

He regards Neil with open, if slightly baffled, fondness. Guessing that part of the reason he's drawn to Neil has to do with similarities to Armand is easy work. But there's enough of himself there too, isn't there?

"I'm here, aren't I," he says. "Sorry about stalking you. Runs in the blood, I guess."

[myfavoritedream]

"I don't make myself hard to find," I said, with a shrug, meeting his smile with one of my own. I didn't know if it was because he could see into my head, but it seemed like we had a rare understanding.

"Your body remembers," I said, about the memories. It made me think of Brian. About the things I hadn't wanted to face about my own memories. About Bill and Stan, whose lives were shaped by a childhood they'd forgotten.

"Would've been easier if he hadn't been such a fuckin' freak about it," I observed, barely stifling an amused smirk. "But I figure you don't really like easy."

[brightyoungreporter]

"I thought I did, but turns out I was wrong. I'm having that experience a lot, actually." He leans back in the chair, relaxing rather than slumping in exasperated confusion. The beer bottle stays in his hands as something to fidget with, but he's not going to waste the drink.

"I think it could be good. I think it could be better than what we had. You know there's a considerable age gap. He's got a few centuries on me." If he's not careful, he's going really going to turn this into slumber party chatter.

"Jesus, I'm fucked," he sighs, but without any actual irritation.

[myfavoritedream]

Barking out a laugh, I said, "I always get bored with guys my own age." Setting my empty down on the coffee table, I reached towards him, making grabbing motions at the beer he wasn't drinking.

"So, I take it you're not a gentleman anymore." I grinned at him, thinking back on the way he'd hedged questions about their sex life. Now, it was just too much fun to goad him.

[brightyoungreporter]

Daniel has enough presence of mind to waggle his eyebrows at the mention of older guys. In a different world, he thinks, Neil would be a problem, but the kind worth having.

"I've never been a gentleman," he admits. "But you know that. It's just a strange fucking situation, one I thought was probably going to have to stay theoretical."

[myfavoritedream]

When he didn't immediately hand over his beer, I leaned closer with a grunt of annoyance and snatched the bottle out of his hand, putting my empty in its place.

"And you trust him now? Not to fuck with your head."

Unfortunately, I felt like the answer was maybe that he just didn't care. Which was also something I could understand.

[brightyoungreporter]

"More than I thought I would," Daniel says, the admission surprising him. "Who knows, maybe it turns out he's playing me like a fiddle. Back in Dubai, I took his life apart, broke up his, uh, marriage, I guess, of seventy-plus years. He let me. The fact that he sit there and let me means he wanted it, just like--"

Cutting himself off, he taps his fingernails on the empty bottle.

"We're beyond fucked up, but we're each other's fucked up."

[myfavoritedream]

"Okay," I said, tipping the beer against my lips. I couldn't know what any of that was like. Not really. They weren't even human, and I had a feeling that it might be an insult to imply that they didn't have super special vampire feelings that us humans couldn't comprehend.

But it sounded familiar. Not the part about tearing down a seventy-year marriage, but two fucked up people finding they only fit with each other. That made sense.

Glancing at my cane, leaning against the wall across the room, I said, "I almost tore up my life for someone who isn't even here anymore. I can't even say it wasn't worth it, so. I get it, is all I'm sayin'."