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The warm and comforting light of yellow was dullingly welcomed into the overnight bar. It was one of the only buildings that were yet to darken: it waited for someone.
From the inside, a soft jazz played from the speakers, acting as a white noise for the quiet tension that passed the two that still stood in the closed bar.
Sparkling continuously wiped the dirty counters, equipped with a rag in hand. He had given occasional glances towards Vampire's limp body, which lay in the center of the room. He had let him drink too much again, which had now turned out to be a common mistake nowadays.
The blonde usually would have sent the other back home by now, but having known that he had let such a slip-up happen on such notice, he did not have the heart to do so—not tonight.
Shaking his head, Sparkling had noticed he finished with the after-closed cleaning, which he had presumed to be finished from his autopilot yet again. Lifting his head up to look at the vampire who was still completely knocked.
The red-head softly snored whilst drool consistently lept from the comforts of his mouth and onto the stained-wood flooring. It caused the other to chuckle, knowing that would have to be cleaned at a later hour.
The bartender could possibly never complain about the view, however, taking quick notice to the calm expression of the immortal who rested. Though it had seemed too calm for someone who was currently napping on a hard surface. How many times had he done this before? Too many, probably...
Now at the other side of the counter, the shorter leaned down to gently shake the other in an attempt to wake him.
"Vampire...?" He called quietly, not wanting to scare the poor guy. When he got no response, he shook him harder as he called once again. "Vampire... you need to wake up, my friend."
A long groan from the immortal told the other that he had now awoken from his beauty rest,
"Nnghn...? Let me sleeppp, Al." Vampire mumbled quietly before lazily rolling himself over so he would not have to be bothered by Sparkling, who breathlessly chuckled at the confusion.
"How about you tell her that once we get you home, hm?" He suggested, pushing a stray hair behind the red-head's ear before quickly stopping once the other slowly turned so he could see his face.
"Whaaattt...?" Vampire scanned his face for a few seconds before realizing who it was, which had immediately raised a drunken smile onto the immortal. "Heyyy SSparky!! Heh heh heh hic...!"
Sparkling grumbled loudly as he pressed a button on his cellphone. He had been trying to call Alchemist for the past ten minutes, but unfortunately, they had all gone straight into voice-mail.
Usually, he would not bother to call her whenever Vampire was drunk, but it worried him with how much he had truly let him drink, along with how dark it was tonight. Sparkling knew he would never forgive himself if he let something happen to the redhead, even if he was immortal.
Turning off his phone and placing it into his back pocket for the moment, he peered over to the said red-head, who sat quietly on his regular stool whilst staring deeply into the wall and causing the blonde to bite his lip on order to not let out a giggle.
And though he looked oblivious to what was happening around him, he looked quite calmer than the usual as his eyelids closed and opened back up slowly as the seconds passed.
The bartender let his shoulders relax and his expression soften as he then took a seat right next to the patron, who took a few extra seconds to realize that he was there, slowly looking over to the blonde and meeting with his emerald green eyes.
The slightly less tipsy vampire then let out a quick hiccup before finally speaking up to end the long silence. "Guessin' she's not pickin' up...?" It was barely above a whisper but thankfully Sparkling was able to hear him well due to their close distance to which he sighed and shook his head as a response.
"Do you know what must be keeping Alchemist up?" He asked, twiddling with his thumbs in thought as Vampire shrugged. "Sh– hic! She said sumthin' this mornin', but heh– I didn't hear her... I think sumthn abouutt Cream Pufff?... dunno! HIC— Heheh!" He laughed huskily, nearly falling out of his stool until the collar of his long cape was grasped.
"Or wwaaittt..! Was it Wizard?? Yeauhh! It was him, they've been workin' on sumthn but won't tell me what it iss! It's not fairrr...!" the immortal pouted as he sprawled his arms onto the cleaned countertop.
Sparkling nodded in understandment before standing from his seat. "Well, that's alright, I am sure that I will be able to bring you myself!"
Vampire peeked from over his arm to stare straight into those warm sage eyes, quickly causing him to offer a fanged grin.
Bright hair tickled Sparkling's nose as he worked his keys into the keyhole, locking the building successfully. Vampire was currently leaning against the blonde, not paying much attention to anything besides the fact he was beginning to feel tired once again.
Said blonde, had noticed the red-head's eyes beginning to shut out of fatigue to which, he lightly rocked him awake. "You shouldn't go to bed just yet, Vamps. Please wait a little longer, okay?..." He spoke softly as if he were talking to a scared creature.
Vampire whined in response, barely pushing himself away from the other as he kept his head mounted on the supporting shoulder.
Sparkling sighed as he stared down at a now-resting Vampire. He wished he was able to stay awake a short while longer since carrying a person taller than you is rather awkward, but he was rather thankful for him not being heavy.
He currently held the other in bridal style, being gentle with his hold so he would not injure the resting alcoholic. The more he stared at him, the more he realized just how pretty he really was: always so carefree when accompanied by his friends. Sparkling truly did love him.
The blonde then shook his head out of thought before lifting it up to look at the dimly lit trees. He could just faintly hear the many lone crickets making their calls throughout the night.
He really did love nights like this. Their perfect temperatures, alongside their nostalgic and calming environments, got him so happy to be alive.
A soft snore from the one he held is what had gotten his attention back, realizing he still had yet to drop Vampire back to his house and get him to bed. Once he turned his eyes back in front of him, he ventured his way there.
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The large goth had begun to enter the blonde's view, which had relieved his stress. He had no idea how long he had been out walking for, but he was thankful for the fact he remembered the way.
He hadn't been to Vampire's house as much as he would like to, only casually dropping him at the house whenever it was last like this.
Once he was a few extra feet away from the front door, he lightly rocked the immortal on his arms in order to awaken him. "Vampire, I need you to wake up. We have arrived, and I'm uncertain of where your resting quarters are..." He muttered just loud enough for him to hear, effectively getting his attention.
Vampire groaned as he slowly opened his eyelids to take the sight of what was happening around him. He looked up at Sparkling's awaiting face and then back over to the manor that stood high in front of the two.
"Well, I would be able to show you if you actually walked into the house..." He suggested in a tired and husk voice, wrapping his arms around the bartender's neck to secure his hold further.
And to those words, Sparkling's eyes widened whilst he tried to ignore the heat that was rising to his face from embarrassment. "B-But, of course! I apologize for my ignorance..." He stuttered out in a panic, to which Vampire started laughing.
"Hah!— You're funny when you talk like that, y'know that?"
Sparkling's eyebrow raised in confusion to that casual sentence as he walked through the large entrance doors.
"So, are you going to tell me where this sleeping beauty takes his naps?" He teased, slowly padding away once the red-haired man had pointed forward.
Once following the complicated directions of the immortal for a while after getting lost a few times, Sparkling opened the entrance door to their bedroom.
He had never really seen the insides of the bedroom, let alone the entire manor, but he could easily see minor details through the dark room. The window curtains had seen sheathed to protect him from the burning sun, and there were various decorations to match the dark aesthetic of the entire castle.
Trotting to the large canopy bed, the blonde placed Vampire down on top of the blood red covers, which matched his hair. It made Sparkling giggle at the thought of it, but quickly once he had yawned, easily beginning to fall asleep once more.
The mortal then sighed of relief, started to turn away to start his long walk back home, until a clawed hand grasped his wrist and effectively stopped him. He quickly turned back to look deep into Vampire's pleading glass eyes, which caused him to raise an eyebrow.
"Don't leavvee just yet, Sparkyyy!!" He whined annoyingly, tugging on the other's wrists again to bring him closer.
Sparkling rolled his eyes but did not mean any harm to it as he tried to get the red-head to let him go. "Vampire, I need t—" "Don't you dare go out there! It's late anyways so I'm giving you somewhere to stay in the meantime...!" Said red-head panicked as he quickly blurted out the sentence. Sparkling said nothing as the hold on his wrist tightened.
The bartender sighed in defeat before walking closer to the taller, crawling onto the nest of blankets once he had kicked off his shoes. He then buried himself under the silk comforter as he pretended not to notice the immortal staring at him.
"I'm guessing this is what you wanted, hm?" He smirked at said immortal who immediately nodded.
A pregnant pause passed through the two before Vampire began to fidget with the soft felt of the blanket and turned over to the blonde who had been attempting to get rest.
"Sparkling...?" He whispered, getting a hum of acknowledged in response before continuing, "Do ya wanna... y'know..." He began to scratch at his wrists to calm his nerves, which gave an indication that his drunken state had begun to fade.
The shorter stared to the side, trying to process exactly what the immortal meant by 'y'know' as he then let out a quick 'oh!' in realization.
This only cause Vampire to become more nervous as Sparkling's cheeks flushed a rose pink.
He hesitated for a moment before opening his arms from where he laid to which the other had immediately flung himself into. He squished his head into the blonde's chest whilst he tightened his arms around their waist, causing them to give out a squeeze at the sudden pressure.
Once they both got used to the newfound weight on their bodies, they easily fell into a deep, comforting sleep next to each other.
"I love you." Vampire whispered one last time before sinking into unconsciousness.