Chapter Text
"Aren't you putting too much effort into this?" Sparkling asks, sudden and unprompted.
Vampire looks up from his plate with a mouthful of bite-sized cheese squares stuffed into his mouth, and realizes that this might be the worst possible time to look stupid.
"Into what?" Vampire replies, trying his best to push food down his throat that he probably wasn't able to chew properly. Sparkling passes him a glass of water from who-knows-where, but the offer is still appreciated, and Vampire gulps it down like a thirsty man going on his third day without a drink in a desert.
Sparkling doesn't elaborate until Vampire downs the whole cup, and he takes it away from his hands with gentle touches.
"This," his friend explains, eyes downcast and fingers dancing around each other in a nervous fidget. "Me."
Vampire's eyes widen, brows creased in confusion. Sparkling does not turn to meet the shock of his gaze.
"Why…why would you say that?" he asks, even though he knows exactly why.
Sparkling doesn’t give a response. Maybe he knows that Vampire’s question is almost rhetoric, or maybe he just does not want to say. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t know, or maybe it’s because he thinks the reason is stupid.
Vampire knows he’s thought that about himself, many, many times.
“Sorry, nevermind,” Sparkling speaks up again, an apologetic smile at the ready on his face, and he doesn’t give Vampire the time to give a proper response before he continues: “do you need… more water?” He holds up the cup, almost as an example, and Vampire scratches the back of his head.
“...Nah,” he says, after a beat, “I mean, I wasn’t really invited here, so I don’t wanna hog all the drinks.” The laugh he receives after that is lighthearted, enough for Vampire to grin back at Sparkling, despite the previous tension.
“It’s just water, Vampire. No one comes to a party to drink water. You’re not hogging up anything.”
“Well, I’m hogging up your attention,” Vampire points out, “like I came here to do. You know, I smuggled myself in through the window, to hog up your attention?”
Sparkling rolls his eyes, exasperated, but fond. “You always are.”
“So stay here,” Vampire says, “I’m going wherever you are.”
He gets a smile in return, though it’s an unsure one. An amused one. A nervous one. “I think that’s going too far, don’t you think?” Sparkling asks, and Vampire shrugs.
Maybe so. Maybe not.
Instead, Vampire picks up one of the fancy little cheeses on his plate and holds it in front of Sparkling’s lips, and when he opens his mouth to ask what for, Vampire takes the opportunity to shove his mouth full of cheese. Sparkling makes a small sound of shock and grabs Vampire’s wrists softly, and while he takes his time to chew, Vampire opens his mouth to begin the speech that’s been stewing in his mind since Sparkling’s earlier question.
“My sister likes to say that there’s always a definite number to how much is ‘too much’ and ‘too little,’” Vampire explains, “I don't really share the sentiment, though. I think that ‘too much’ is relative.”
Sparkling makes a small choking sound, almost like a sob, and Vampire lets him tighten his hold on his wrists.
“So, no, I’m not putting too much effort into this, because putting effort into my friends is something that helps me relax, and makes you relax. That’s what I think,” he finishes.
The space between them after that is silent, and it would be dead silent if not for the sounds of the party from the inside of the building. It makes Vampire nervous. Silence means tension, usually. Silence means that people might not be listening. Silence means he's alone, again. Silence could mean Sparkling isn’t here with him, right now, that they’re both suffering two different worlds, not together, but still suffering, alone.
Sparkling chokes, coughs, loud and dry, and Vampire hadn’t even realized he wasn’t looking down. When he does, he finds one of Sparkling’s hands has made its way from his wrist to in front of his mouth.
Maybe he should’ve let Sparkling get that water for them earlier.
“You—” Sparkling begins, and though he pauses to let out another cough, it doesn’t stop him. “You just… shoved all your cheese in my mouth. It tastes bad.”
“Oh,” Vampire exclaims. He thought Sparkling liked cheese. He never seems to mind them in his food. “Sorry? I meant what I said though.”
Sparkling looks up at him, eyes watery from coughing, and the smile he offers up makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. “You… you sure do have a way with words, don’t you?” Vampire grins back down at him, a little bit of heat rising to his face.
“Of course I do. Maybe it’s not a particularly good way, but it’s still a way, right?”
Sparkling fixes his posture, enough that Vampire can properly see his smile as he gives a hearty laugh. “Yes, perhaps… you have a knack for getting a laugh out of me when I’m at my lowest, too, you know?” His eyes soften at that, and the hand he has on Vampire’s wrist moves to gently lace their fingers together. “I like that about you. I appreciate that.”
And, oh, is he glad for the lack of light where they are. He wonders if Sparkling can still see the way his ears have turned red in the dark.
At least he isn’t the only one who’s red, right now. The pink tint to Sparkling’s cheeks make it a little less embarrassing, a little more comforting.
The space between them is as comfortable as the night is long, and maybe those two things are also relative to different people, but Vampire’s almost sure that at least tonight, he and Sparkling’s definitions of ‘too much’ and ‘too long’ are exactly the same.