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Marko liked Santa Carla, specifically the boardwalk.
He’d walked the boardwalk to ride the carousel and to get funnel cake with the boys.
He walked it with Max before David offed his sorry ass.
He liked the neon lights, the stark contrast of the red hues against the night sky.
Marko knew he was different and that he’d never be human again. There was never anything that made him wish he was human anymore. He had the best of both worlds now.
At least nothing made him wish he was human before Paul.
As a vampire, it was hard to form connections of any nature, and especially with humans.
Paul was kind of funny as a human. He came to town already dressed like them. In fact, Marko’s pretty sure Paul flew into town already on a motorcycle, looking like a damn rockstar.
Marko hated him at first.
0-0-0-0-0-0
His motorcycle hummed beneath him as he leaned forward trying to hear what David and the new blond guy were saying to each other.
“I’m gonna level with you man,” Blondie sighed, “I’m not gonna be able to beat you.”
David laughed in a clear and giddy tone.
“You don’t have to beat me, Paul, you just have to keep up.”
David used the line so often that Marko had re-analyze it to find out the new guy’s name.
Paul.
Marko grimaced a little. Paul was such a religious name.
He hoped Paul didn’t pass the tests, because it would suck to have to hear the name Paul over and over again.
David was suddenly inside Marko’s head.
Will you shut up?
Marko was perfectly content to stop before, but now that David had said something, he thought back spitefully,
Terrible mouthfeel.
It was one of his weaker retorts, but still, he saw David’s mouth twitch downward with annoyance for a second, and that was absolutely what he was looking for.
Marko sat back against the thrumming vehicle, cocky and confident.
“The usual route?” He asked David aloud, trying to be obnoxious.
David smiled in a way that made even Marko uneasy.
“Yeah we can take that one,” He responded, sounding neutral.
Blondie looked slightly confused, but he revved the engine.
Without warning, David took off like a shot, leaving him startled.
Marko edged forward and patted a hand on the guy’s shoulder.
“Good luck catching that suave motherfucker,” He said slyly, before giving a cackle and taking off himself.
---
He thought for sure Paul was fish-food. With all the sharp turns they kept taking, even Marko almost went flying off the edge into the surf. He must have pissed off David more than he thought. He gave himself a silent high-five, before drawing his motorcycle back to bring up the rear. It would probably give him the best view of Paul flying off the road anyway.
When they reached the cliff-face, Paul jerked the bike to the side and stopped the thing smoothly, sending gravel off of the edge. It was like he already knew what was gonna happen.
Marko sighed disappointedly. He was really hoping for a show. Paul turned, breathing heavily.
“That was almost really fucking bad,” He huffed.
Marko leaned down on his handlebars.
“Yeah,” He sighed, resting his head on his open hands.
“Aren’t you just a sadistic little brat?” Paul looked over at Marko, eyes a little wide with disbelief.
Dwayne made a choking sound trying to hide a laugh.
Marko smiled a little venomously and the moonlight glinted off of his teeth.
“Sure am, Rockstar,” He let his grin fall a little, but kept his gaze on Paul.
Paul shook his head a little in awe, jacket jangling.
“How about we get something to eat? Then we can get to know Paul a bit better.”
David said like it was a question.
Marko knew this game too well. It was a statement.
He shook his head hard.
“I’m not going to get it this time,” he spat specifically at David’s smug grin.
David looked in his direction.
“Yes, you will.” Marko could feel his body threatening to give into submission, but he tried to push on anyway. He hated it when David used that on him.
“No, I-” His voice died embarrassingly on the way out of his throat.
“Fine,” He scrunched up his face and tried to shake the David off of him like it was a heavy blanket.
He turned the bike around and raced back the way they came, back into civilization.
Now he wished Paul had fucking flown off the edge. Or maybe he wishes that he’d pounced on the damn guy. Paul smelled really good, and of course, he was hungry. Marko was pretty much always hungry.
Sure, he would’ve gotten shit from David since they only hunted as a pack, but still. Marko’s mouth watered as he imagined it, and he had to remind himself that he was driving.
David sent him to get food, and Marko was gonna be damned if he didn’t just get his favorite.
---
Chinese takeout was always the best tasting. Plus, it provided unconventional pranking opportunities, and if there was one thing Marko liked, it was fucking with people’s heads.
He hoped Paul was a screamer.
Not in that way. Stop thinking about that .
---
Paul was not a screamer. Which was disappointing on a lot of levels, and Marko was finding he was liking Paul less and less as the night went on.
He tried as hard as he could to get this notion across to Paul, who seemed to be ignoring this in favor of trying to get Marko to like him. He just seemed to gravitate toward him, which was turning out more and more annoying.
He kept saying things that were making it hard for Marko to hate him, like asking where he got the patches on his jacket or complimenting his boots.
Marko ignored him or spat something about how he should just fuck off and leave him be, but Paul was insistent.
Marko was getting pissed off and hungry. He looked at David across the room, a silent question about Paul.
Are we really gonna take this dipshit in?
David gave him a stern look.
Yeah, Marko, we are.
Marko huffed a little and curled up a little smaller on the couch.
Why?
David rolled his eyes this time.
This ‘dipshit’ doesn’t have anywhere to go back to. He’s…
It’s pretty hard to trail off when you’re thinking something at someone, so either David seriously didn’t know the word, or he pulled his mind away from Marko’s.
It was like grasping at wisps of smoke trying to catch it, the more Marko tried to understand, the more it floated away until he couldn’t understand a bit of it.
He hated being the youngest. No one ever told him anything.
---
It was after a long day that David finally let Paul drink from the bottle. He’d been hanging around them enough and Marko was pretty much ready to keel over from hunger.
He actually had been isolating himself from Paul because being in the same room as him was making him weak.
He hated feeling like this. He felt weak and shaky, and like there was something ravenous pulling at his seams. Like he knew that now he wasn’t anything, but he could be. His brain kept trying to shut out his body telling him, you’re a predator. You can kill him whenever you want.
But then David was right on its heels telling him no again. Chinese food wasn’t cutting it. He made eye contact with Paul and felt his stomach jump and his fangs pricked his gums, threatening to expose themselves.
He stood shakily. “I’m gonna go for a drive.”
David shook his head.
“Marko, sit back down.”
Marko was too tired to argue, and Paul turned his head at his lack of a retort.
He looked concerned but didn’t voice it.
Paul looked him up and down and Marko was too far gone to break eye contact. He just stared at Paul, feeling like thousands of little teeth were gnawing on his insides.
“You look pale,” Paul settled on saying finally and Marko hissed out a laugh.
“‘S my natural complexion,” He responded cockily, turning on his side, away from Paul’s face.
It was kind of blurry, the whole bit where Paul drank from the bottle, and Marko’s pretty sure he sat out the bridge excursion. He would be the first to fall from the damn bars and he didn’t feel like looking David in the eyes and telling him, so, home it was.
He slept on the couch for a while.
The next thing he knew, there was blood running down his front and he was somewhere that wasn’t the hotel.
He blinked, bleary-eyed.
“What the fuck?” He licked his lips and found he was laying on something hard and cold. The ground. There was a dead guy a few feet away, throat was torn out, and standing to his right was Paul.
Marko groaned. This fucker again.
“No. Go away.”
He shut his eyes so he didn’t have to look at Paul’s stupid fucking biker boots.
He felt a hand on his arm, calloused fingers and sharp nails.
“I brought you out here, dipshit,” Paul huffed, “The least you could do is thank me.”
“I almost fucking starved because David was so enamored with you. Get over yourself,” Marko shot back, opening his eyes again to stare up at Paul.
Paul yanked Marko up with superhuman strength.
“Yeah, and I was the one to notice you passed out on the couch nearly fucking dead, Brat.”
Marko felt something at ‘Brat’. It was a weird feeling, probably having to do with the fact that Paul sounded so worried.
“Thanks,” He mumbled, looking down at his ruined shirt, before realizing his jacket was missing.
“Where’s my-” He started, looking up accusingly at Paul.
Paul patted the bike. “It’s at home,” He said softly, “I didn’t think you wanted to ruin it when you went full beast on that guy’s throat.”
Marko felt another pang in his chest at how much Paul seemed to notice.
“Why are you so nice to me?” Marko asked, feeling a bit more than guilty. “I’ve been nothing but a total shit-biscuit to you,” He looked Paul over like that would explain it.
“Maybe it’ll be more justified if I tell you you’re riding bitch again on the way back.” Paul dodged the question.
Marko pretended he didn’t notice and instead yelped indignantly, “Again?”
“How do you think I got you here?” Paul’s mouth quirked up at the corner.
Marko sighed and started to walk over.
“No, take off the shirt first.”
Marko stared at him, steely-eyed.
“I am not riding bitch on your motorcycle without a shirt on.”
Marko began to tug the white tank over his head anyway. He tossed the thing to the ground and huffed a little.
“You’re not riding shirtless,” Paul snorted in response, sliding his leather jacket off of his shoulders and holding it out to Marko.
Marko stared at it like it was an alien.
“Ew.”
He took in all of its fancy metal baubles in morbid fascination.
“That thing is so tacky,” He continued after a moment.
Paul drew his arm back in. “Shirtless bitch it is then,” He said with a satisfactory grin.
“No,” Marko argued, reaching for the thing and pulling it over his shoulders as aggressively as one could do so. It rattled the whole way on.
The jacket was still warm and it smelled like Paul. His chest did that funny leap thing, and he felt disoriented.
He’s felt that somewhere before, a long time ago. It was hard to keep track of human emotions and feelings that weren’t purely ‘live recklessly and have fun’.
He had no idea what it was.
Paul climbed onto the motorcycle and Marko clambered on after him.
He took in the wonderful sensation of not being hungry.
He scooted closer to Paul and wrapped an arm around his middle.
“Thanks for letting me live,” He mumbled lowly into Paul’s ear.
Paul gave a little snort-laugh but didn’t respond verbally. He revved the engine before taking off and Marko smiled against Paul’s back.
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
---
They were kind of friends after that.
There was someone new David was looking at, a guy named something stupid. Stupider than Paul. He didn’t care enough to try to remember.
He had longish black hair like Dwayne did, but that’s where the resemblance stopped. The guy was on the paler side and had a jacket with patches covering it. Marko thought reasonably that his jacket was better, mainly because it was so colorful. The new guy’s jacket lacked strongly in the color department, all patches being in black and white.
It was kind of unsettling for some reason.
When David had told Marko to go get food, Paul went with him. They raced down to the pier, and he’s pretty sure they were both laughing. It was almost nice to have an actual friend.
David had to be getting tired of Chinese takeout, but if Paul wasn’t totally obsessed with the idea of pissing David off, Marko didn’t know what else drove him to start shit with him.
If Marko was doing it, so was Paul.
They were sitting on the couch together, and Marko shifted and set his legs up in Paul’s lap.
Paul froze for a second and then laughed quietly.
Neither of them were paying attention to the new guy, mainly because David was talking, and they were trying to look respectful.
As respectful as one can look while setting your legs on your friend’s lap while said friend is trying to shove a noodle into your boot.
Marko’s eyes widened and he held back a laugh as Paul finally succeeded. Marko felt that funny feeling he’d felt back when Paul handed him his leather jacket and he choked back a laugh.
That’s when it happened.
“What the fuck?” The new guy spoke up.
Marko looked over, confused, only to find the guy staring at him and Paul.
“Noodle,” Paul said as if that explained everything.
Marko laughed a little.
David raised an eyebrow.
“He put a noodle in my boot,” Marko giggled, trying to shift his foot around to avoid the noodle.
The new guy looked at them, a weird look on his face like he was trying to figure something out.
He clearly realized something before standing up really fast.
“Oh gross!” He backed up, almost tripping over himself.
Marko looked over, expecting David to be doing something stupid again.
David looked surprised, if not angry.
“You’re a bunch of fucking fairies!” The guy yelled, reaching for something in his pocket.
David’s eyes widened as the guy pulled out a gun.
The guy might have been fast, but David was always faster. Marko learned that lesson the hard way.
David had his nails in the guy's neck before the guy could do anything.
He leaned in close to the guy's ear.
“We’re not fairies. We’re vampires.”
That was the end of the new guy.
Paul tried to shove another noodle in Marko’s boot like nothing had just happened.
Marko looked over, intending on telling him to quit it, but instead found Paul looked different. He was paler than normal and looked like he was trying to pretend nothing was happening.
“Dude, you look pale,” Marko said, pulling his feet off of Paul in favor of scooting closer to him on the couch.
“It’s my natural complexion,” Paul muttered, trying to eat his noodles.
“Where have I heard that before?” Marko asked, trying to ignore the sounds of the dying man at the other end of the room.
Paul sighed, and let himself move closer to Marko.
“I’m sorry about that guy,” Marko said softly, sensing that might be the problem.
Paul gave a small laugh before looking at Marko.
“Do you think it was the mesh shirt?”
Marko cracked a grin, feeling Paul’s unease melting away.
“Nah, I think it’s the skin-tight pants,” He said, motioning to his own jeans.
Marko shifted so their arms were touching.
“Can I have some noodles?” He tried to grab one off of the top.
Paul slapped his hand away playfully.
“I gave you two already,” He laughed.
Marko threw his head back on the couch.
“Uh, yeah! In my boot!” He yanked his boot off and dumped the two noodles back into Paul’s lap.
“Ew!” Paul shoved him away and Marko cackled as Paul chucked one of the noodles over his head.
Everything was better when Paul was there.
Yeah, Marko was happy to consider Paul his friend.
---
They tested a lot of guys after that. Marko always liked it when they were at the bridge.
He couldn’t give less of a shit about the guys that they were testing, because it meant he could fuck around with Paul.
They would always try to knock each other off of the bridge. They could both fly obviously, so it wasn’t that big of a deal, and honestly, Marko liked making Paul laugh.
Paul liked to go off script when they were testing people, especially if David wasn’t particularly attached to the guys they brought in. He really liked to make people nervous, and Marko could get behind that.
“What are we doing here?” Asked David’s newest obsession, peering over the edge of the bridge.
“Dwayne, Rich wants to know what we’re doing here,” David laughed.
Dwayne snorted in response, “I don’t know David, maybe Marko knows?” He looked over at Marko, who gave a little giggle and shook his head. He looked over at Paul.
“I don’t know, David, what are we doing here?”
David chucked and started his little speech, and Paul looked over at Marko in that way that he always did. Paul wanted to fuck this up, and Marko was 100% on board.
He nodded and his mouth quirked up at the corner.
Paul stalked toward him a little smile in his eyes, and Marko took a couple of steps backward, stumbling over his own feet.
“Whoa, Paul,” He said like they hadn’t done this a million times before.
He could feel David, exasperated on the edges of his mind, like a fraying piece of fabric. Paul kept on towards him, and Marko shoved David out of his head and forced himself to focus on Paul’s face, Paul’s eyes, Paul .
Marko felt his back hit the metal support beam, which wasn’t actually supposed to happen. He was supposed to stumble over the edge, and he felt Paul’s surprise edge into his own.
Paul kept going anyway and boxed him in against the beam.
Marko’s face felt like it was on fire. There wasn’t anywhere to go, and the thought made him a little lightheaded.
“Do you trust me?” Paul’s breath was on his cheek, and Marko inhaled sharply.
“Yeah,” He whispered back.
Paul cupped Marko’s face in his hand and leaned in closer.
Marko couldn’t read Paul’s thoughts nearly as well as he could read Davids, and it was like being far-sighted, each word a little fuzzy and blurred. That being said, it was pretty clear what Paul wanted him to do.
Marko stood up a little taller and let his lips meet Pauls, his hands fisting in his leather jacket, catching on all of the metal rings and hoops.
Everything was a little red and neon around the edges, and Paul’s lips were cold, cold enough to shock him. He tried to look like this was normal.
He caught one word.
Now.
He braced himself as Paul pulled back and shoved Marko over the side of the bridge.
Marko felt his stomach drop like it always did and he screamed like he was human again.
With a stab of panic, he realized he couldn’t stop himself, it was like that stupid kiss short-circuited him.
He fell through the layer of thick fog and managed to catch himself a few inches before the ground.
He lowered himself down with a heaving sigh, shaky and feeling like his face was on fire.
That wasn’t the plan, but by the muffled yelling from up on the bridge, he figured Paul did a pretty good job.
He giggled, giddy with that feeling again. He stopped, suddenly icy and cold.
Marko remembered what the feeling was.
It shouldn’t be possible for so many reasons, and yet it was there. For Paul.
He stared up at the bridge from where he was laying. It was shrouded by the fog but he could hear Paul laughing as David and the guy screamed at each other, dangling from the bridge.
He could hear the train coming, and Paul was the first one down, dropping off before the train even arrived. He landed a little awkwardly, looking around for Marko.
“Marko?” He asked hesitantly.
“Down here,” Marko said, not trusting himself enough to get up on his feet.
“Why are you down there?” Paul asked, sitting down next to Marko.
“Shaky,” Marko settled for another short answer. Paul seemed to study Marko’s face. Marko stared back, not one to be bested.
“I’m sorry I sprung that on you,” Paul sighed finally, looking away from Marko.
Marko stayed silent for a moment.
“Did we fuck that guy up?” Marko asked.
Paul burst into a big grin.
“He started screaming at me all, ‘why would you shove your boyfriend off of a bridge,”
Marko laughed a little, ignoring the way that ‘boyfriend’ made him feel.
“No, seriously,” Paul said, suddenly animated and turning himself toward Marko, “he was in hysterics. David had to calm the guy down with his, you know?” Paul motioned to his head kind of unsurely.
Marko shouted something but the sound was lost as the train rumbled overhead.
His face was stretched into a big grin, and he finally sat up and scooted over to Paul. Paul placed a hand behind Marko, almost protectively and they looked up and watched the other guys try to hold on.
Rich didn’t make it, but Marko couldn’t find it in him to care, and Paul didn’t look too bothered either.
---
Marko sighed from where he was sitting next to Paul, or more accurately against Paul.
“I’m hungry,” He said, nudging Paul’s shoulder with his cheek.
Paul laughed and sent a glance over to David.
David didn’t answer, choosing instead to settle further into the wheelchair.
“Marko’s hungry,” Paul repeated for clarification.
“We have leftovers,” David motioned to the Chinese takeout strewn about the room.
Marko huffed impatiently. “Not that kind of hungry.”
David sat forward.
“You mean sexually? Because that whole thing with Paul last night was kind of out there, even for you guys.”
Marko flushed.
“It didn’t go like we wanted it to,” He defended himself.
Paul nodded. “We couldn’t let a theatrical performance go to waste,” He agreed.
David studied Paul.
“Whatever you say,” He sighed finally, “we’ll go hunting in an hour.”
Dwayne made a noise of appreciation from where he was sitting across the room. Dwayne wasn’t always as verbal as the rest of them were, but hey, even he could appreciate it when David finally got the stick out of his ass.
“Thanks,” Marko said, feeling a little strung out.
He was thinking about the way David looked at Paul after they explained. It was the same face he made that first day talking about how Paul didn’t have anywhere to go back to.
He scooted closer to Paul, to where he could play with the shiny things on his jacket. It was kind of a comfort thing now.
Paul ruffled his hair and sighed contentedly.
Marko wondered why he ever hated Paul.
---
David and Dwayne were still chasing people around, but Paul and Marko were sitting down together away from them.
Marko looked at Paul’s face, and he wasn’t sure how much of the distortion was caused by the firelight or how much was caused by going, vampire.
Paul’s face was slowly easing toward human again, but his iris’s were still pale gold and intense, and he had blood smeared down his face.
“You’re such a messy eater,” Marko commented, reaching for Paul’s face, trying to wipe some of it off.
Paul made an affronted noise, turning to face him.
“You’re not any better than I am, Brat,” He muttered, fidgeting with his wild hair. He swatted away one of Marko’s taloned hands.
Marko set them down and started to mess with the rip in his own shirt. Humans liked to fight back sometimes, and damn, if they weren’t dangerous in their own right.
He looked over at Paul and for a second, he wished he was human.
“Have you ever wanted to be human again?” Marko found himself asking out loud.
Paul gave him a wistful look.
“I don’t know,” He looked down at his bloody hands. “I guess I wish I could make connections with people. I miss romance,” He laughed a little, meeting Marko’s eyes again.
“But also,” He continued, “I wouldn’t have met you,” He softly tapped his shoulder against Marko’s.
Marko took a deep breath, feeling something stirring in his gut. “I don’t think those have to be mutually exclusive,” He said apprehensively.
Paul looked at him strangely.
“You mean…” Paul trailed off, searching his eyes for something.
Marko tried as hard as he could to think it at Paul.
I like you. I shouldn’t, especially not like this.
Paul’s eyes widened.
“You heard that,” Marko whispered, less of a question.
Paul reached for Marko and tugged him closer.
“Tell me what you mean.” He instructed, running his hands desperately down Marko’s jacket lapels.
Everything was kind of swimming now, it was probably the hunt high, but Marko yanked Paul close to his face.
“I want you to kiss me,” He demanded breathlessly.
“Brat,” Paul whispered. He didn’t waste any time, surging forward.
Paul’s fingers climbed into Marko’s hair and tugged and Marko gasped and wrapped an arm around Paul’s neck.
He felt Paul bite his lip and his breath hitched as he felt his fangs prick his gums again.
Paul crept forward to straddle Marko, basically sitting in his lap now.
He cursed and Paul laughed into his mouth, pulling back to pull Marko’s jacket down to his elbows.
“Wh-” Marko gasped as Paul slid his nails gently down Marko’s back. Marko arched his back and gave a little yelp, feeling the sharp tips graze his back like little whispers.
He shuddered and squeezed Pauls's jacket in one hand.
“Please-” He gasped as Paul’s cold hand slid upward to cup his face.
“Wow,” David’s voice echoed across the beach, which was now startlingly silent save for the crackling of the fire.
Paul pulled back smoothly, flipping his hair.
“What?” He asked like he wasn’t sitting on Marko’s lap and as if they hadn’t been furiously making out for about three or four minutes.
“I knew the high you get from feeding was a lot but I didn’t think it would make you do that,” David teased.
“Oh, shut up,” Marko huffed from where he was pinned on the ground.
“You could at least have been decent enough to let us know you were standing there,” He continued, meeting David’s painfully golden eyes.
“This wasn’t the hunt high,” Paul said, tugging Marko’s jacket back over his shoulders.
David rolled his eyes.
“Clean yourselves back up, we’re going home. Dwayne’s already taken off.”
David stalked off toward the bikes without another word.
Paul began to slide off of Marko’s lap but Marko tugged him back down into a bruising kiss.
“I don’t think David would mind if we stayed here a little longer,” He breathed against Paul’s lips.
In reality, he very much would, but Paul found himself sighing, “I think you’re right,” before kissing Marko again.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Paul wrapped an arm tightly around Marko’s middle and Marko set his head on Paul’s shoulder.
They looked down from the Ferris wheel to the pier, where they saw David stalking after some guy again.
“I like it here,” Marko murmured against Paul’s neck.
“Yeah,” Sighed Paul back, rubbing his thumb along Marko’s ribcage.
“I’m glad we’re not human,” Marko said after a long silence.
He looked over at Paul, who’s eyes shone gold in the reflection of the carnival lights.
“Me too,” Paul agreed, pressing a kiss far too gentle for a predator to Marko’s curls.
Marko liked Santa Carla, especially now that Paul was here.