Chapter Text
In a luxurious Victorian-style mansion, silent, spiderweb, and dust coated, an extravagant bed surrounded by bookshelves, a lanky man sleeps, hardly moving for weeks.
Iris writhes in his bed, the tangled nest of raven hair spread across off-white silk bedsheets. When he shifts around, just waking up, his thin crimson shirt rises with the movement of his arm, showing his ribs through paper-white skin. Iris groans, finally opening his eyes, and yawning, his elongated canines catch the light of the candles that lit the room. His stomach growls, and he groans and sits up.
‘I’m so hungry…’ He considers laying back down, sleeping the day away again. ‘I haven't been this hungry since she…’
He felt so hungry he thought he might throw up. He pushed himself out of bed and dragged his feet as he got dressed in proper clothes. He picked up his red-tinted glasses and laced up his boots. ‘I need only make it to the butchers before I throw up or pass out. Simple.’
He walked down the elegant staircase and followed the intricate designs of the railing with long, sharp, black nails as the back of his coat lined behind on a higher step. He stopped at the oversized door, taking deep breaths, getting ready to walk down the busy streets. ‘Don't hurt anyone. Don’t hurt anyone.’ he repeated in his mind like a mantra, and he pushed open the door.
Once the doors slam shut, he locks them behind him and starts to walk where he's walked a hundred times. He stuffs the keys in his pockets, keeps his hands in his pockets, and watches his black boots walk down the street. The loud, crowded street. Iris finally lifts his head to be a part of the world and he sees a young man crossing the road he's on. He dreads when this person makes it over, he notes they look like they might try to talk to him, and he looks at the person again, just to survey them again.
‘A nervous expression, odd robe-like clothing, long auburn hair. Vehicle.’ Iris curses under his breath and tries to look away. ‘What a fool, can't they see that flashing light? It doesn't matter. I want to get the blood and go home. Let me go home. Let me go home. Where it's safe and quiet. Let me go home.’
Iris tries his hardest to ignore the sound of the car honking, but he turns to look at it, and his eyes meet the eyes of the man who just now realizes what may happen to him.
‘That look…’ Iris hates how familiar the look is to him. ‘Just like her,’ he thinks. He then realizes he can't let this happen. If even just because of a fleeting memory of her. He has to. He takes a deep breath and summons what strength his malnourished body still wields.
And he runs.
‘Foolish, foolish, foolish,’ he repeats as he grabs the man's arm, pulling him away from the speeding vehicle, into the opposite side of the road. Now he had to wait to cross again. More time to wait. His stomach felt uneasy, like he might throw up nothing onto the asphalt beside him.
“Um, sir?” a soft voice fills Iris’s ears, feminine and light, and unfortunately pleasant to his ears. “Thank you so much, um-” Iris tries not to roll his eyes or make a rude comment. By the time the other man is through, the road is clear and he starts to cross. The man speaks up again,
“Sir? Uh… it's a little awkward to call you sir… What’s your name?” Iris ignores him and continues walking, if it weren't for the dizziness creeping in he would quicken his pace to get away. “Excuse me? Do you know where-” Iris’s pale shaky hands push open the door and it slams right in the younger-looking man's face.
Iris sighs in relief. The octopod man behind the counter is writing orders, cutting some meat, and mopping when the vampire walks in. “Ah!, Iris, it's been longer than you usually come to get something to eat,” the butcher speaks casually to Iris as a few tentacles go off to collect the blood from the freezer. He asks Iris many mundane questions, and to him, it feels like a million. The man hands Iris a large box but sits another on the counter. Iris doubts he’ll be able to carry both all the way home.
“Your friend over there can help you take these back, right? Evvie isn't here today to help you out.” Iris turns around, as he most definitely did not bring a friend with him. The man with auburn hair scoops the box up in his hands. “Yes, of course, I wouldn't mind helping you at all, Iris.” He smiles and Iris sees the pinkish skin around the man's eyes crumpled at the corners. ‘grand. Now the strange man following me knows my name.’ Iris decides he needs not to starve to death more than he needs quiet. But it's a close match.
The man behind the counter laughs heartily, “When were you going to introduce me to your friend, Iri,” Iris had known the man for years, they'd been classmates what felt like ages ago, and although the butcher looked perhaps a decade older than Iris, he was a full year younger. “Iri?” The stranger asked, and Iris glared at him.
“Ah well, I'm Noe de la Cruz-” Iris winced at the pain in his ears and head that went away in a matter of seconds, “Nice to meet you.” Noe smiled genuinely, and Iris felt a little pulled in by his olive-colored eyes the way the lights flickered in them when he smiled. ‘Disgusting’ Iris thought soon after as if worried a mind reader would reveal his true thoughts to the open air. He thanked the butcher for the blood and he walked out the door. Iris wished he hadn't had a conscience and hadn't tried to save this strange man. He considers trying to lose the stranger but, he can feel himself getting weaker, it's a horrible idea to run.
When he comes to the otherworldly doors, he pulls the keys from his coat pockets and attempts to balance the box in his arm, but it slips, and he panics, he tries to reach for it and he misses, and he curses loudly, knowing his only sustenance would splatter all over his doorstep except for when it's caught. “Careful,” Noe says, and it's not condescending nor patronizing, but genuine. Iris unlocks the door, and pushes it, then goes to grab the box, he expects to see Noe holding the other but when he absentmindedly picks up the box there's no hand under the box, only three eyes—staring straight at him.
“What in the-” He drops the box. ‘What is that? What is… what is he?’ Worry spreads across Noe’s face, and Iris thinks about Noe’s features. Olive eyes, but there are little flecks of gold, and they catch the light and twist it back, throwing the shining light into Iris’s crimson eyes. His nose and his cheeks are such a bright pink. His eyelashes are light-colored and his eyebrows are thin and…
“Iris.” Noe sounded too serious, and Iris’s attention shifted to the shorter man. “Don’t freak out…” Noe pushes his hair up, away from his forehead as it had been before. A third green eye looked slightly up at Iris. Iris reached out to touch Noe’s face, thinking maybe his lack of nourishment was making him hallucinate. When Iris’s paper-white fingertips brushed against Noe’s blushed skin, it burned. Terribly, like no other physical pain Iris had ever felt. Noe flinched at Iris’s pained reaction, and Noe started to reach out, wanting to help, but he knew he couldn't.
“Iris…” Noe watched the man almost collapse in pain, and he wished he could help, but he knew he only hurt the man worse. “Why… what…” Iris groaned.
“I- 'm sorry I've never been down here I didn't know I could hurt humans, I'm so sorry I didn't know-”
“Not a,” Iris takes a deep breath, “Not a human, vampire."
Noe realized. A vampire. And Noe is-
“An angel.”
“Oh.” Then they both realized it. An angel, a holy creature. Iris looked at his fingers, they were bright red. ‘It hurts so bad’ Iris thought, but he decided to ignore the pain, and continue.
“Why are you following me, angel, has someone sent you for me? Is my immortality over?” Iris’s tone had changed, he sounded cold and cruel. He looked Noe in the eyes, Noe would have been scared of him, if not for the fact he could see the pain in Iris’s eyes.
“I got sent here to look around, but you helped me, so I'm indebted to you. At least… until you need my help.” Iris sighed. ‘Did carrying my things home not do it for you?’
“And… to be honest, I don't have anywhere to go…” ‘Ah, I see,’ Iris’s skepticism of Noe grew and grew.
“So I ask that you let me stay, and I will remain in your debt.” Iris sighed. He couldn't help but see her in Noe’s eyes, and he couldn't say no. Iris collected the blood packs that fell out of the box he had dropped, and he pushed open the door, held it open, and motioned for Noe to come inside.
When Noe entered, he was taken aback by everything, the countless books on what seemed like never-ending shelves, blacked-out windows, elegant dark-red silk curtains, and every room lit by priceless-looking chandeliers or soft yellow candlelight. Iris said nothing, but he set the box he carried on a plush red couch, with intricate floral details.
“That looks comfy,” Noe said, trying to break the tense silence. Iris resisted the urge to glare at Noe and waited for him to sit the other box down on the ‘comfy’ couch. Iris noted the odd way Noe spoke, like someone who knew exactly what to say, but none of how to say it sort of like an older teacher talking to their students. It annoyed Iris.
Iris walked up the large staircase, that fanned out at the bottom and had gorgeous, twisting dark wood rails. They looked like they were made of marble, the golden light reflected off them beautifully. At least that's what Noe thought, as he followed behind Iris quickly. Noe admired the strange layout of the rooms. There was the first floor that looked more like a library than someone's home, and then up the marble staircase, the second floor was open, only more elegant railing separating it from the floor below.
“It's like a balcony but, inside,” Noe had remarked, much to more of Iris’s annoyance. On the top floor, there were two massive doors, almost as big as the ones they had entered from, but on completely opposite sides of the top floor, in between the two doors, it was just a hallway with three regular doors in-between. Iris opened the door on one end of the hallway and didn't go in. Iris sighed before looking at Noe.
“Until you repay whatever this debt is, you may stay here. No matter the situation, you are not to enter the room on the left. Do you understand, angel?” The way he said it was as if Noe was something dirty, something he wanted far, far away from him. It made Noe a little sad but he understood. He had hurt Iris. Noe knew nothing of the world, so he assumed that this was fair.
Noe started to thank him, but Iris started to walk away before he got the chance, to the room he explicitly told the angel to stay away from. Noe instead entered the room and looked around. There was a large window, taking up at least a third of the back wall, and he could see the sunset spreading across the sky. Aside from that, there was nothing remarkable about the room, it was plain. There was a thick layer of dust on what little furniture was in the room, a bed, a nightstand, and a mirror. As well as another door in the back of the room. Noe dusted off the mirror with the white cloth he was draped in.
He looked at himself. It was uncomfortable to keep such a human form, even with things like his eyes unchanged. He allowed himself to get a little more comfortable. White wings sprouted from his back, and six eyes, like the three of them that caught Iris’s box before, appeared and followed the motion of Noe’s eyes as he examined himself. He had gotten weird looks out on the street before, but he hadn't realized why. But when he thinks about it, no one else had such different clothes. Noe decided he would ask Iris about clothing, disregarding what he told Iris about bothering him.
He walked straight across the hallway to the door and looked at the walls, there was a table with long dead plants in a sad beige pot, it looked like it hadn't been watered in years. He touched his fingertips to the soil, and life almost immediately returned to the plant, from roots to leaves. He looked at the waxy leaves and wondered what kind of plant it was, and what had happened to it.
Noe knocked on the door but got no answer. He cracked open the door, not yet understanding the ‘human’ concept of privacy. Iris stood there, changing his clothes to sleep, Noe looked at the other man, at his pale shoulders and collarbone poking through his skin, his pitch black hair coming down far past his neck, contrasted by ghostly skin, his limbs were long and skinny, and his hands, with shiny black nails, clearly painted, held a wine glass, but Noe knew it wasn't wine, it was blood, Iris took a long drink, and set the glass down with a sigh.
Noe pushed open the door, starting to feel guilty about what he’d been doing.
“Iris, could I ask you about clothes-”
“Noe! Christ, you terrified me! Not only did I straightforwardly express that you were not to come in here, but you just allowed yourself in! What in the world is wrong with you, angel!” Noe was petrified. Iris was so… loud.
Noe started to shake, and ran off to the room, scared of upsetting the man further. He curled up in the bed and didn't even move,not until sunrise.
Noe was glad he didn't need sleep. Because he slept none, at least he’d thought so. When he woke up and looked in the room, everything had been dusted off, and it smelled nicer in the room. The door in the back was cracked open and light spilled through, though it was hardly noticeable since sunlight filled the room from the window. There was a paper on the nightstand, with words written in thin cursive that almost blurred together.
“Dear Noe,
I'm sorry for my behavior last night, I will not excuse it in any way, I should have considered the things you don't understand yet. I understand how I scared you, and I sincerely apologize, I hope you may come to forgive me, not because of a debt. As far as I understand, you were only trying to ask about clothing, am I right? You can wear anything you please in that closet. I don't know if your kind eats, but I can make breakfast if you so desire.
My deepest apologies,
Iris Michels.
Noe did feel a little better about it. But he was still bothered. He set the paper down and went into the closet. He looked and it was all feminine clothes, which didn't bother Noe, but he was confused, none of this looked like anything Iris would ever wear, not just because of the style, but it was all surely too small for him. He wondered who it had belonged to and about the state of the room. He thought about the window, based on the blacked-out windows and the way Iris dressed, the man seemed to avoid sunlight at all costs, but this room had such a large window, without any curtains. This did not seem like a room Iris would have in his home. But Noe pushed the thoughts from his mind as he found something to wear.
As Noe descended the staircase, the smell of something being cooked filled his senses, Iris looked up at him, holding a pan in his hand and a wooden utensil in the other. Iris just stared.
“Rhea…” Iris watched the figure walking down his stairs, they wore a soft, light-blue shirt, that exposed their shoulders and came down almost too low at their chest, it was tucked into a long flowy white skirt. The fabric flowed with their movements. Then Iris came to his senses. ‘This is Noe, the angel. Stop this.’ he tried to convince himself to look away but it was nearly impossible.
“Iris?” Noe’s voice was soft, it reminded him of her in no way, yet he found himself wanting to drown in every syllable. Iris quickly looked back down, as if he hadn't been staring, and tried to shift his focus back to the food. Noe came up behind him and looked around, mostly at the kitchen. Just like the rest of the main floor, it was dark, only lit by faint yellow light. There was a window right in front of the sink, not blacked out, but instead taped over messily. Just like the room Noe was staying in, there was a layer of dust on everything, except for what Iris was using now to cook. Iris looked up at Noe and set down the pan.
“I apologize for last night,” Iris did his best to only look the angel in the eyes, and to keep in his mind that he was an angel, and he was not her. “I didn’t mean to raise my voice nor did I mean to scare you.”
Iris was truly sorry, but he felt uncomfortable being honest; he felt odd, apologizing to a creature like that. ‘Is it unfair to treat him like this for being an angel… It isn't like it was any choice of his.’ Iris sighed and reached for the pan.
“The dining room is,” Iris motioned at the door with the wooden utensil, “right there, you may wait.”
Noe nodded and went in, and he was surprised by the size of the long elegant table in the middle. At each end, there were two large chairs, with plush crimson cushions on the seat and the back, and intricate dark wood details, almost like the railing of the staircase. Noe took a seat in the chair closest to the door and waited. He tried to figure out why Iris was looking at him as he did. He assumed it was more of his apparent grudge against angels. Noe sat and waited, he put his head down and let a little more of his true form out. A set of small wings outstretched from where his ears would be.
Iris came into the dining room, carrying a plate with unidentifiable food on it. Noe assumed he didn't recognize it because he hadn't spent much time on Earth. Iris looked down at the angel and mumbled something about a chair. ‘You're not meant to sit there…’
“Here,” Iris said, setting the plate and silverware down in front of Noe, and then he pulled out the chair to Noe’s left and sat down. Noe picked up the fork and got some of the… something. He ate it with little hesitation, feeling a little hungry, despite not needing to eat.
Immediately he regretted that decision. Noe thought it would be rude to spit it out in front of Iris, so he did his best to swallow the charred breakfast. Maybe it had been some type of bread before, but now there was no taste other than ash. Noe-trying to ignore the taste left in his mouth- smiled at Iris, trying his hardest to be nice. Iris looked at him confused, and Noe started laughing.
“Whatever could be so funny to you?” He said defensively,
“N-Nothing it's just,” Noe suppressed his laughter more, “It's… pretty terrible…”
Iris looked offended for a moment, but then he only laughed[h]; Noe was right, he’d burned what was meant to be pancakes to the point of unrecognizability, and the face Noe had made at him when he tried to smile was even funnier to him.
Noe looked shocked, watching Iris laugh. The way the corners of his eyes wrinkled, and how he started to cover his mouth when he laughed but it never made it there to muffle the sound. And how Noe could see Iris’s long sharp teeth shine like the fork in his hand. Noe couldn't help but laugh, too; Iris’s laugh was contagious.
“That was… to be expected, I have never been a good cook, not even in my mortality.” Noe wondered why he’d had a kitchen that had been used once before, even if it had clearly been many years since then. But Noe decided against asking, he only laughed.
“It's a good thing I don't need to eat because I think living with you I’d go hungry.”
And that sentence, the way that Noe phrased that. Iris was perplexed by it. He said, ‘Living with you.’ He didn't say for now, he didn't say living in the house, the thing he put emphasis on was that he was with Iris.
Iris was sure he was overthinking it, but he couldn't help it, he hadn't felt close to anyone in this way for so many years. Why did Noe say it that way? Iris then realized how foolish he must seem.
This man he sat by was not someone he should desire. Not that he desired him. Iris swore at himself for thinking he ever could. But.
Noe was like the golden rays of sun Iris could no longer enjoy. Having him around was like he could- for the first time in years- watch the way the leaves created shadows on the grass. And the bugs whipped past only visible by that golden light, signs of life in a dead-quiet, empty, lonely field. A sign that not all was lost.