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This time of year had always fucking sucked. Not only was the weather ruthless and blistering hot, the moon only capable of soothing so much of the sunlight’s heat, but between the recklessly intoxicated people on the roads, overly-packed grocery stores, consistently blaring radios, and obnoxious fireworks- god, the fireworks- it only made the mid-summer months all the more unbearable.
Vincent was especially not a fan of the fireworks from up close, not even before he had Turned. They were jarring and dangerous and so loud. His skin would crawl upon feeling the booming vibrations reverberate within his chest, and the awful sensation was drastically amplified once he became a Vampire. Newly intensified and heightened hearing, oftentimes a curse more than a gift, had allowed the pyrotechnics to shake throughout his entire core. That’s what it felt like, at least.
It took a handful of years for Vincent to even get near the sparkly displays again without walking away with an ear-splitting headache and anxious chest pains, as he’d then often find himself either shoved into a dark closet, buried under a number of pillows, or seeking refuge in a small and quiet bathroom— anything to get away from the all the noise. Dogs and Shifters alike have earned a whole new level of respect.
As the years stretched on, he had forgotten about the countless hours he’d spent waiting out the gunpowdery night, tucked away into a hushed space to ease his ears and mind. It became easier. Nowadays, he even enjoyed the holiday’s distant display alongside his Lovely some twenty years later, having grown accustomed to his enhanced senses as time had healed Vincent’s firework-loathing wound.
(And coincidentally, he learned that his favorite firework effect was given the name “Dahlia”, the kind that of firework that explodes into larger stars that radiate out far beyond those of your average firework. Hundreds of sparks of teals and limes and magentas, all of which he was overjoyed to share with his Lovely… just from afar.)
Well, that used to be the case, anyway. All up until the older Vampire had returned home early one night from accomplishing a set of quick tasks his King had sent him out to handle, he and his Lovely’s shared living space void of any warm greetings at the front door or any shouting of locations of where his partner had occupied at that moment.
“I’m home, Lovely! That actually took much shorter than we had planned for it to,” he announced, locking the front door and scanning the living room for his other half. Only a soft, grey sofa with no other Vampire sprawled out across it filled the room.
“Lovely?”
Silence. Huh.
No newborn was propped up on top of the kitchen counter, and no body sat hunched over the desk to work on their next research paper, either.
“Are… are you home?”
They were; Vincent could feel them through the bond they now eternally shared, their core’s presence as soft as a whisper beneath his skin. He ventured into their bedroom, but a body was conspicuously absent from the bed’s red, silk sheets (as well as anywhere else in the house, for that matter).
“Helloooo? Where did—,” Vincent began, his sentence interrupted with a high-pitched whistle followed by a resonating BANG!
Then another, and then yet another.
Oh… oh, fuck.
It had entirely slipped his mind. The realization clicked— more-so exploded , really— of exactly what day it was. The neighbors a mile or so down the road could so easily be heard lighting up their overkill batches of celebratory pyrotechnics, and they seemed to be more than happy to serve as Vincent’s not-so-gentle reminder.
Of course Lovely had run off, he had done the same after he had Turned. A stifled groan emanating from the shut bathroom door had Vincent moving quicker than any human possibly could towards the sound.
“… Lovely?” he called, voice coated in sympathy. Vincent put his hand against the knob, twisted, and gently cracked the door open. Any courteous knocking would’ve seamlessly blended in with the night’s resounding, noisy air.
And there they were, the poor thing. His Lovely, tucked tightly into themselves with their head buried into their knees, lights off, and trembling hands covering their ears as if their life had depended on it. For a newborn, it very well may have felt like it did, and the sight sent a pang of guilt through their Maker as he knelt down next to the little ball of Vampire. They lifted their head upon feeling his concern glaze over their cowering figure, peeking out from between their knees with a grimace and teary eyes.
“I-I forgot. So stupid. I don’t… I’m sorry,” they whispered, their jaw set with discomfort and anxious nerves.
Vincent went to reach out to them, his hand hovering above the back of their neck and wanting nothing more but to sooth the tension away, but he unsurely withdrew his hand to his side. He figured that touch could very well be… a lot… right now, too much going on.
“Wh— stupid? No, none of that,” Vincent affirmed, “You have nothing to apologize for. It didn’t even register as to what day it was in my mind, either.” His whispers were kept quiet, so hushed that only the senses of their Moonbound race would be able to pick up on it. And after a moment of thought, it clicked. Vincent began to pull himself away to retrieve the tool that had helped him endure his bouts of sensory woes, moving as quietly as one man could.
Lovely slightly lurched forward as an attempt to get the message across that they had wanted him to keep them company, though they resigned and regretfully slumped backwards to their original, scrunched position as their skull-splitting headache twisted behind their eyes in furious retaliation of the sudden movement.
“Shh, it’s okay, I-hold on. I’m going to go get something that will help, alright? I’ll be right back, and then I’ll stay with you,” he promised. Lovely hummed a breathy sigh as a response.
It only took about seven seconds for Vincent to scavenge through a few old boxes that were housed in the attic to find what he had been looking for: a (rather dusty) pair of noise-cancelling headphones. With a sharp exhale to blow any dust away from the treasured item, he huffed a satisfied noise and folded the attic ladder back into itself. Fetching his partner’s beloved lounging hoodie from their dresser drawer and a tall glass of water, the Vampire donned his own foam earplugs for good measure and returned to his Lovely’s curled-up side.
Mindfully, he shut the bathroom door with his foot to keep any form of light from invading their makeshift hideout before fully seating himself next to his partner on the darkened, cool tile floor.
“Okay, baby… here, look up at me for just a second,” he cooed.
Lovely complied with furrowed eyebrows and a nose crinkled in distaste upon the request. Vincent might have found the expression cute if it hadn’t been one made from great discomfort. He offered them a sweet smile and ever-so gently nudged their hands away from each ear as he replaced their palms with the headphone’s foam ear pads.
“Is that… is this any better?” He asked a touch louder than before. Lovely’s eyes opened wider to look up at their lover as the tension prevalent in their eyebrows eased away, curious fingers tracing the oval outline of the plastic shell on one of their covered ear’s muff.
“Mmm,” they weakly hummed in approval, “Better. Thank you, Vinny… ’s really loud. I don’t like it.”
His heart broke all over again, wanting so desperately to soothe that ache by pulling Lovely close to his own chest. Briefly, he wonders if this was how William had felt when it was Vincent’s eyes that welled with frustration and hatred. Though as fleeting as the memory flashed though his mind, Vincent shook it away and instead held out his progeny’s coveted hoodie, the one that smelled like him, and Lovely chose to wrap their body with it as if it were a shield to protect them from the crackling and booming and smokey night that lay beyond those bathroom walls.
“I know, believe me. I’m so sorry we didn’t realize the date sooner. I remember this feeling well.”
“You do?” they asked. Vincent nodded.
“Sure. It’s like you can’t catch your breath…or… or focus on anything but the noises crashing though your skull, right? Everything looks too bright, and everything sounds too loud?”
Lovely answered by tucking their face into his bicep to hide away further from the holiday’s commotion. Vincent took their affectionate gesture as permission to thread his arm underneath the newborn’s knees, still keeping their intentionally small, self-preserving position, and scoop their legs to rest overtop of his own. He pulled his Lovely closer into his chest to serve as an unspoken warning sign towards the fireworks to leave the pair be. Or else, he thought.
Just as their breathing began to even out, a particularly loud explosion detonated, causing the windows of the house to vibrate in its wake. Both of the Vampires jumped this time, and Lovely’s hands flew back up to cover their headphone clad ears in a panic, screwing their eyes shut as if the action would help block out the intrusive sound. No fucking way those are even legal in these parts of California… I’m so going over there to give these assholes a piece of my mind later.
“Shh, shh- I’ve got you, Lovely,” Vincent hummed, moving their grasp off from their ears so his hands could instead take their place. He applied more pressure to the headphones too ground them. They twisted their body further into Vincent’s figure, pulling the hoodie that served as a blanket across them both as one of their hands then found its way to his chest, resting over his heart to feel it beat beneath their touch.
“There you go— just pace your breathing evenly to every few counts of my heartbeat. I’ve got you, it’s okay. Breathe along with me.” He kissed the top of their head, his nose lightly bumping against the plastic band of their cherished, saving grace of a headset.
Vincent hadn’t realized that he’d subconsciously began to rock them both back and forth until he felt his Lovely’s breathing slow again, their heart rate following suit. Just rocking, and breathing, and holding onto each other as they honed in on one another’s thrumming cores. His hands over Lovely’s muffled ears, their hand over Vincent’s heart— the one that beat only for them.
Such kind, sweet hands. Lovely’s hands, he would think. Such careful, gentle hands. Vincent’s hands, they would think.
As the midnight hours crawled to those of the early morning, the blaring sound of the inconsiderate pyrotechnics crawled to a slow with it. Between the darkness enveloping the room, the comforting weight of entangled arms and legs, and the muffled sounds of the hushed, outside world, the Vampires had rocked and soothed themselves to a light sleep, safe from the assaulting entertainment that the fourth of July had always brought with it.
New ears were something Lovely had accepted the challenge of overcoming and conquering, just as they had with any other road block that life had thrown their direction so far, as long as they had Vincent’s perfectly loving hands to hold along the way. And Vincent had liked that plan very much.