Chapter Text
PROMPT: TIME
Anton woke to the sound of a large vampire bat flying into his mirror, bouncing off it with a squeak and crashing to the floor.
He didn’t know, of course, what that sounded like until it actually happened, and it took him a second or two for his barely awake brain to register what had transpired. By the time he had, and had tumbled out of bed to check on the bat, it wasn’t a bat anymore.
It was Viago, flat on his back on the bedroom floor, blinking hard.
“Ah, hello, Anton”, he grinned weakly, and then promptly passed out.
“Shit!” Anton said, falling to his knees at Viago’s side. Then he got up again, straight away, because he realised it was light outside. Not quite sunrise, but close enough that Viago would soon be a little pile of ashes on the floor.
“Fucking hell,” he muttered under his breath, leaping across the room to close the windows and pull the curtains.
“Fucking hell,” he grunted, when he realised that of course that wouldn’t save Viago at all.
“Fucking hell,” he said out loud as he battled to manoeuvre Viago off the floor and over his shoulder. The wolf was strong, but Anton was tired and barely awake, and for a dangerous moment he stumbled and almost dropped Viago on his head.
He hurried out of his bedroom and pulled open the door to the hall closet. It wasn’t the most comfortable looking place, but it would be dark where the rest of his flat soon wouldn’t be, and he began to toss things out of it with one hand whilst balancing Viago with the other.
Perhaps the noise stirred Viago, because soon enough there was a voice in his ear.
“Anton? Vat happened?”
“Just wait a minute,” Anton said. “I’ve got you. you’re safe.”
“Knew I vould be,” Viago murmured, and Anton shivered when he felt a cool hand trace over his ear. “I thought I had time. Before the daytime. Vas too busy night dreaming.”
“Uh huh,” Anton said, pulling his vacuum cleaner out of the cupboard and shoving it to one side. The closet was never going to look like a five-star hotel, but it would do for a day. Especially if the alternative was being barbecued.
“Can you stand?” he asked.
“I think so.”
Carefully he lowered Viago to the floor. He swayed on his feet but held on tight to Anton’s arm, and grinned.
“What got you so distracted you almost missed the dawn?” Anton asked, as Viago stepped into the cupboard and sat down on a pile of canvas tote bags. “That’s not like you.”
“If you must know, I vas thinking about you, Wölfchen.”
Anton blushed and ducked his head.
“Well, don’t! What if you got cooked out in the middle of nowhere by yourself and we never found you?”
“Maybe I vill just have to come over more,” Viago said, his teeth peeking over his lower lip. “Or you could come to my house more. Then I vill not have to be imagining spending time vith you.”
Before Anton could answer, Viago closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall, looking perfectly comfortable in a space the size of – well, a hall closet.
Then one eye popped open.
“Are you going to stand there all day? Close the door. It’s bedtime.”
“You’re something else, Viago. Good night.”
“Nighty night. Liebling.”