Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The University of Robin Dunes was a fairly new med uni on the south part of Dahlia. 

Taking into account that it was built recently the buildings looked modern. Sterile with sharp corners, all white and metal with wide gaping halls, elivators and vending machines at every corner. 

The academy itself could've passed off as a slightly more lively hospital, but a hospital is a pretty low bar for lively and cozy. The buildings still looked big and cold, like a place you'd like to visit but never stay more than a day at. 

If you were to ask student Vincent Montgomery he'd tell you that he'd much rather stay at a school with chipped wall paint and rotting wooden floors. Then at least he'd feel like he was somewhere and not just in some sort of vague interpretation of a school you'd have in a dream.

And the students there weren't any better. He wondered if there was anyone there that didn't just enroll because they were pressured by their family. 

They were all seen as some sort of angels of society and they all knew that mutually.

But as much as outsiders thought they were, they weren't any different than your average collage student. 

Rowdy parties every other night leading in hangovers that made it almost impossible for Vincent to study, sketchy rumors and scandals, all that good stuff.

It was actually the students making a havoc in the halls of the dormitories that put Vincent here in this situation. 

He was already in a bad mood so a group argument in the hallways didn't help him. 

Without thinking much of it he went out and ended up at the front door.

The night was cold and the overhang blocked any moonlight and replaced it with a warm yellow glow of the lamp poles. It smelled of cigarettes somehow.

He sat at the stairs with his head between his knees, looking at the phone that was resting in his hanging hand. 

He couldn't even remember what he was looking at on it.

"Vincent?"

Above him towered Seth. An acquaintance, a classmate and what you could call a friend.

"Is everything alright?" 

"Oh yean no-"

Vincent looked at Seth, back in front of himself and then back at Seth and then rubbed his eye.

"I-I just wanted to get some fresh air... that's all." He scratched his head and dropped it back down as Seth slowly stepped down and sat besides him.

"Yeah I get it it's just..."

"When I imagine someone going for some fresh air I imagine going for a walk - not - sitting curled up on the stairs at the front door.

Vincent's nose twitched. 

"I was...curled up?" He asked for confirmation, not necessarily to question his choice of words. 

"Yeah." 

Seth laughed.

"I thought you were passed out drunk before you raised your head dude." 

Vincent tried to find the words to say.

"Well uh-" is all that came out while his brain was debating whether to defend himself or to laugh it off.

Seth did laugh it off, he had a pretty infectious laugh so Vincent laughed along. 

"I guess it did look like that."

So they just sat in silence for a bit.

It was October so not only was it dark at 6 p.m. but it was pretty chilly, Vincent shivered and cursed at his past self for not remembering to bring a warmer jacket.

"So um..." 

Seth tried to start up a conversation again.

"AJ is taking us out for drinking at eight." 

He immediately began stammering once he saw Vincent's face drop into an unintentional annoyed scowl.

"And well um!- you're invited too you know, he likes you and all..."

Vincent rolled his eyes, only mentally this time since he didn't want to seem too much like a dick.

AJ? Likes him? In what universe does that happen? 

"Yeah I know, I know. I'll think about it." 

They continued staring off in silence for a minute more.

"So what's the reason you came here? Really."

Vincent looked at him with a bashful expression.

"I was telling the truth. I just wanted some fresh air."

"Some freshmen were arguing in the halls and being really loud so I just wanted to get out of that mess." Vincent rested his head on one of his knees. 

"Yeah I get that."

Silence for a few more seconds.

"Or maybe it's just all of this or something..." 

He smoothed his hair back, resting his whole arm over his head when he was done.

He said it like he planned to elaborate but the words died on his tongue.

Did he want to elaborate?

Seth turned to look at him, intrigued, confused, worried maybe, with the glimmer of the light coming off the light pole bouncing off his eyes.

"Ugh, I can feel my leg getting pins and needles."

Vincent stood up, trying to escape the situation. 

"I think I'm just gonna go for a walk." He began descending down the stairs. 

"Well then- see you at eight- that's if- if you decide to show up!" 

Vincent smiled and gave a quick nod before he continued walking. 

"It's the bar at the center! I think the name is Cherry Bomb or something like that- you know what I'm talking about right?" Seth was at this point increasingly talking louder so he could hear him.

Vincent laughed to himself before giving another nod and walking away.

...

By this point it had been more than an hour of walking on the street with no particular direction. 

Normally Vincent hated walking really anywhere but when he did he'd walk for miles and miles. The bad side of that is that he wouldn't account for the trip back so by the time he was tired of walking he still had to walk all the way back, which as stated would be miles upon miles. 

Well that's what was happening now, but it wasn't just the lack of energy, but the fact that it was nearing eight. 

Vincent walked into a seven eleven with the two dollars he found in his pocket.

Should he even go? It's going to be full of people he doesn't like. 

He took the cup and brought it up to the slurpee machine.

Seth isn't a close friend at all so he doesn't really owe him anything, right?

He pours in half cherry, half coca-cola.

But he's a nice guy, there's no real reason to disappoint him, maybe it could be fun?

He puts the lid on and stirs with the straw. 

But could it be really? What if he's just going to be stuck looking after everyone making sure they don't get too drunk? 

He walked out the door and sat at the curb of the seven eleven by the parking lot. He needed to talk to someone.

Scrolling through his contacts, he stopped at the one he was looking for.

"Sam" 

Just "Sam"

Vincent tried to save the name as "Samuel" as a joke the first time but Sam lectured him how he'd rather die than be called "Samuel".

Vincent then replied that it was just a phone contact but Sam told him that that was just as bad. 

It had been a while since he called Sam, not for any particular reason, just that he didn't really have reason to often, and when he did Sam wouldn't pick up half of the time. 

God only knows why Sam had gotten more distant over the years, maybe Vincent got distant too, but he hoped they'd get to spend more time in person than over video chat now that Vincent moved to Dahlia for university.

He didn't know why out of all people he wanted to call Sam, he didn't even know what he would say.

"Hey, I want to hear your input on whether or not I should go to this meet up?" 

Sam's a nurse, he's busy. He doesn't have time for anything that stupid.

But on the other hand he didn't know anyone else he could call.

By the time he descided to call him the slurpee cup was already empty. 

"Descided to call" not "called" because just as his finger was about the press the button a booming roaring of an engine made him flinch. 

He watched as a motorcyclist drove into the empty parking lot, taking a sharp turn that left skid marks on the pavement before ending up a short distance in front of Vincent on its side. 

Vincent put the phone back in his pocket 

"Vinnie! My man!" 

Ugh.

AJ. 

He got off of the motorcycle and took his biker helmet off, shaking his head like a wet dog.

AJ

Aka

Adam Jessup. 

"Oh, why the long face?" 

He said in an awfully mocking tone.

"Adam." 

It was no secret Vincent didn't like him. He was selfish, uncaring and fucking creepy. 

The worst he does though is acting like the two of them are besties even through Vincent knows he talks bad about him behind his back. He can't tell him off because he doesn't outright act like the asshole he is so he would just spin it into Vincent being "aggro". 

"Whatcha doing here? Don't you know that it's almost eight? Seth did tell you that you're invited right?" 

Adam talked in that weird tone, like a snake incarnate, weirdly sultry but overly mocking at the same time.

Vincent took out his phone again.

"7:48 pm." 

Well he didn't realize it was that close to eight, he spent a lot more time debating whether or not to call Sam than he thought.

"Don't tell me you were planning to skip out! You're the life of the party." 

To anyone else this sentiment would've been fine but Vincent knew he was saying it sarcastically.

Either way, he went along with it, pretending he didn't catch the tone.

"Well uh, I was just out for a walk and didn't notice how late it had gotten." 

"And the Cherry Bomb is pretty far away and it just so happens that I don't really have money for an Uber so..."

"I don't think I'll make it honestly."

He mirrored Adam's almost sarcastic tone. 

But his snarky expression didn't budge at Vincent's blatant excuse.

"Good thing this motorcycle of mine has a place for two then."

Wait, what?

Is what he wanted to say but stopped himself.

"Wait- you don't mean-" he laughed nervously, very nervously.

"Why not?"

"Unless there's a reason you don't want to go to the bar with us, or don't want to ride on the back seat?" 

Ugh

He said it in that way again, like he knew what he was doing. That's what Vincent means when he says that Adam is creepy, other people just either don't acknowledge it or just write it off and that infuriates him. 

Vincent stands up, leaving the empty slurpee cup behind.

Whatever, man.

...

The motorcycle finally stops and Vincent immediately gets off before Adam even has a chance to put the bike in park, glad that he doesn't need to have his arms wrapped around his waist anymore.

He feels gross, like he needs to shower. 

"Eager to go in, are we?"

Vincent ignores this comment and hurries into the bar.

He immediately spots Adam's group of bandits by the pub. Seth is the only one that spots him back.

It isn't untill Adam walks in and beelines to them that they all burst into exaggeratedly loud greetings.

Vincent very hesitantly walks up, with the intention to only really start conversation with Seth. 

"So, you did come." 

A weirdly expected response.

"Yeah, didn't really have a hand in it." 

They both took a second to look at the loud mess of chatter the rest of the group was making.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked while still looking at them.

"Well, Adam saw me on my walk and insisted I come with him."

"How far did you walk?" He laughed.

"Far." 

Seth stared at the others, seemingly lost in thought before turning back to Vincent.

"Wait did you say you two came here together?"

"Yup." 

"On the motorcycle?" 

"Yup." 

Seth snorted to himself and took a sip of his drink.

The reason him and Vincent weren't close friends, or could barely be considered friends at all, was because of Seth's blatant ignoring of Adam's creepy behavior. 

The both of them seemed to be pretty good friends so it's not like Vincent could convince him to ditch him.

They weren't close, Vincent doesn't know if there is any person that could be called Adam's close friend. Yes he had plenty of his minions and party people but he never saw him have a meaningful conversation with any of them.

The other reason Vincent and Seth could barely be called friends is that every conversation died out faster than the last.

So Vincent got himself a drink.

The bar itself was more of a half-bar half-cafe, like the type of bar that serves food. The music wasn't too loud, the colorful lights weren't that bright and the number of drunken yelling was decreased. 

The drink in question was a coca-cola, since Vincent was only 20, one year shy away from the legal age of drinking. The other way this bar was different was that it let underage people in, just didn't let them order alcoholic drinks.

Adam was also 20, but thanks to his buddies being 21 or a year or two older, he'd sneak sips of their drinks when the bartenders weren't looking. 

So he sat at a small table a bit away from where the others were without even an alcoholic drink to keep him sane.

He just sat there motionless, just sipping a sip of his coca-cola every minute or so. 

At one point he saw Adam look back at him, turn back to his friends and burst out laughing. 

It made Vincent sink into his chair even more, made his cheeks burn with embarrassment.

He didn't even know whether to be mad at him, if he saw himself right now he too would probably be on the verge of laughter at the pitiful sight of himself.

But he was mad at him. Because he brought him here seemingly only to make him miserable. 

Just as he was about to accept his fate a gentle whisper rattled out from behind him.

"Your friends suck."

Chapter Text

Vincent flinched at the foreign voice and turned in his chair to the source of the sound.

A person was sitting in the chair he could've sworn was empty just a second ago.

He didn't even hear them sit down.

The person sat with their head resting in their palm with a luscious stare, watching him intently. 

The first thing he noticed about them was how utterly attractive they were. It made him shrink into himself when wondering why they were even talking to him in the first place.

Besides their devilishly gorgeous appearance, their eyes were what really struck him.

They were a cool gray, the way the light hit them made it look as if they were glowing. 

The best way Vincent could describe it was when an actor in a movie has blue eyes so the filming crew decide to shine a bright light into their eyes in every close up to remind you they had blue eyes. The light highlighted the natural transparency in their eye, making them look beautiful.

He looked around at what sort of light source could be making that effect before remembering that he was supposed to respond to their comment.

Vincent laughed.

"How could you tell?" 

It was meant to come off as casual but came off terribly sheepish instead. 

They didn't mind though, seeing that the response made their intrigued smile even wider.

"Well,-" they uncrossed their legs.

"I assume that was supposed to be a rhetorical question but, you sitting here looking like you want to die while your friends are being carefree nuisances might be a hint."

"And because saying 'whatcha doing here all by yourself?' seemed a little too clishé, don't you think?"

That made his heart skip a beat and a chuckle escaped his lips.

"Want a drink?" 

Vincent looked back at the glass he was resting a few of his fingers on, seeing that it was empty aside for a thin ring of reddish-brown at the bottom of it.

"I appreciate the offer but I'm not of drinking age." 

His tone was getting less awkward as the conversation went on and he warmed up to this pretty stranger.

They clicked their tongue and trapped their fingers on the table.

"Shucks." 

Shucks?

How old are they?

"I'm surprised you even knew they were my friends." After a second of silence Vincent returned to the previous topic.

"Well, I can't even really call them my friends. I barely know any of them." He swished the empty glass in his hands, imagining it was full and making clicking sounds from the ice cubes hitting the sides of the glass.

"Is it that bad?" 

"Yeah...I don't even know what I'm doing here."

"I mean, I might as well have been dragged here at gunpoint." 

"Then it seems like I came just at the right time."

They looked at him through their eyelashes, eyes still shining through them, and lightly bumped his foot with theirs under the table.

Blood rushed to both of his heads. 

"It seems like you did." His cheeks reddened and he laughed. They laughed too. 

"Well what can I say..."

They leaned in, pushed their face deeper into their palm.

"It seemed a shame to see such a pretty face frowning."

In that moment a shock surged through Vincent's body. Butterflies, or something else, it didn't matter. 

He immediately called the waiter he saw at the corner of his eyes with a raise of a hand.

"You wanna leave this place? Like go for a walk?" Vincent says, clearly more nervous than he was a moment ago.

They laugh to themself softly before standing up and handing the waiter that came over in quick succession their own dollar bill.

"The names Lovely, by the way." They say before he could object to them paying for the drink.

"Solaire, that is." 

Vincent's embarrassment quickly faded and got replaced by a smile as he stood up to follow them.

"And um...my name's Vincent." 

"How quaint." They say through their smile, voice smooth as velvet. 

...

Vincent was intrigued how almost anywhere they walked the glow in their eyes followed them. 

In the moment's when they'd walk into almost complete darkness their eyes would reflect the light completely, making them look like ones of a creature lurking in the darkness, a bit scary. 

But a hauntingly beautiful scary. The good kind of scary.

"Whatcha looking at lover boy?" Lovely's statement caught Vincent off guard.

He could only laugh at his own shock. They laughed along too.

"Nothing nothing, just... looking at you." 

"Well take a picture then, it'll make me last forever."

They both laughed for a second again. 

Both of them had made it to a playground by a lonesome apartment complex. 

They were sitting on swings besides eachother. Vincent's jacket was sitting in his lap. Since Lovely was dressed so nicely he figured he should at least take the ugly thing off.

It made him happy that they seemed to like what they see. 

"So tell me Vincent." They started to swing ever so slightly, well, less swinging and more pushing themselves back with their feet and letting them swing back into position.

"Are you an adrenaline junkie?" 

Vincent took a second to respond as the question was pretty out of left field. 

"Well..."

"I like rollercoasters."

"And scary movies." 

"I guess I am." 

Lovely's mischievous smile made their eyes thin. 

They stood up and got close to him, pulling at the chain of the swing farthest from them, pressing Vincent's side against their torso. 

They lean down a bit and whisper in his ear.

"Do I scare you Vinny?" 

There is nothing about that situation that should've made him scared, but for some reason in that moment it felt like someone injected a litre of cold water directly into his gut. But at the same time, their breath on his ears and their chest pressed to him made his whole body burn.

How is it that he feels so hot and so cold at the same time?

Both of these things gave him goosebumps and he trembled just a bit.

"Your pulse sped up." 

They say with their tone flat, before bursting into laugher.

"I didn't mean to freak ya out that hard!"

As soon as they pulled away he just wanted to grab them and press them against himself even tighter.

"I'll tell you what." 

They took his chin at the tips of their fingers and lifted his face up to look at them. 

"Why don't we go somewhere just a lil more private, hm?" 

"Yeah... of course." 

That's all he wanted.

He stared at them with puppy eyes and stood up, putting his hand in theirs and letting them drag him to behind one of the buildings of the apartment complex.

They were strong. 

He noted in his head, feeling it as they dragged him like a ragdoll.

Did they say that his pulse sped up?

His pulse definitely did speed up at that moment, he could feel his heart drumming in his chest loud and clear.

They weren't touching any of his pulse points so how did they know?

...

Vincent noticed that the windows of the first floor of the building were really high up, all the way above his head.

This distraction was cleared out of his mind almost as fast as it entered when Lovely pushed and pinned him against the wall of the building. 

"May I?" 

Their chest pressed to his, their knee in between his legs, their breath on him god he wanted this so bad. 

He couldn't even let out a word, being too scared a pathetic whine would come out instead, so he just bit the inside of his lip and nodded. 

Suddenly, so suddenly, their lips crashed into eachother, warm and zealous.

Vincent immediately wrapped his hands around Lovely. He tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss, leaning into their touch desperately.

The anticipation of when this moment would come sent butterflies from his chest to his stomach and down his legs like an electric shock.

The hasty needy kisses drew whiny moans out of him, and he could feel Lovely smile against him in response. 

They kissed at the corner of his mouth and then his jaw, their lips firm but soft at the same time.

At that moment he just wanted those lips back on his but he took back that thought once he felt them land on his neck.

He just gasps and bites his tongue, letting them suck at his pulse point. 

They were definitely gonna leave hickeys but he didn't even care anymore. He felt like he didn't care about anything anymore. Just them. Just them and their lips and their hands and their chest pushing him harder against the wall.

Just this intoxicating moment.

"You don't mind this don't you?" They whisper against his neck, their breath trembling and heavy. They don't wait for an answer as they move to kiss him on the lips again.

He kisses them back before they even get to kiss him first. Desperate and needy.

"I guess not." They say out of the corner of their mouth as they curve their spine into him.

They kiss and kiss and kiss and they grab his waist and he trembles.

Vincent laughed against their lips at his own reaction and presses into them harder. 

When Lovely pulls away he just wants to follow them but he lets them breathe, God only knows he needs the air too. 

"Can I bite you?" 

They say very suddenly. 

It makes Vincent momentarily snap out of his lustful haze.

He takes a few more deep hasty breaths before responding. 

"Don't you think that's a bit too soon?"

The corner of his lip curls at the strange request.

Something fills Lovely's glowy eyes, worry, sadness maybe? 

"No you don't understand...I need this." 

"Look"

They open their mouth and pull back their upper lip.

He watches their teeth intently, trying to figure out what he's supposed be seeing when-

Suddenly, so suddenly, their canine grows sharp and long within a second, like extending a blade on a box cutter.

Vincent flinched, but stayed still against them.

They let go of their lip and continued talking.

"I swear on all that I am that I won't hurt you, you'll be completely alright once I'm done."

They looked a bit different now that he could see fangs when they talked.

"But... I'm not human."

All of this was going way too fast.

Vincent stammered, trying to get a word out.

"You don't have to."

They say.

"If you want to I can take you back to the bar and you could forget you ever met me."

"No!...No I don't want to I..."

He looked into their eyes. Their silver eyes. For the first time in the night their expression was serious.

Even though they said they wouldn't hurt him, his head was telling him he was in danger, that he shouldn't do this.

But his heart was telling them that he might be in love with this person, as foolish as that was.

"Bite me. Do it." 

"Are you 100% sure?"

"Yes, please." 

They hesitantly brought themselves up to his neck and he pressed his chin against his shoulder, letting them have all the space that they would need. 

Lovely's breath ghosted over his neck and their grip at his hips tightens ever so slightly. 

"It will only hurt for a second I promise." 

Vincent held his breath until he felt their fangs pierce him.

And it was just as they said, it hurt for just a second and then it was all pure, stinging pleasure. 

He moaned, out loud, gripping at their back and his feet shifting and shuffling to find friction on the ground.

The pleasure spread from his neck into his head, making his eyes roll back and his mind burn. 

They moaned against him too, drinking his blood in loud swallows, the vibrations of their moans sending waves of pleasure through his body that somehow go directly to his thighs.

He presses his mouth against the side of their head and squeezes them tightly, the lightheadedness that followed the pleasure making him feel like he's going to fall over, despite being held against a wall. 

Eventually, they pulled their fangs out and licked the wound. 

As the fog over his head faded out, he became increasingly aware of blood gushing out of his neck onto his shirt.

He groaned, putting his hand over the wound instinctually. Now that their fangs were out of him it started to sting like a regular injury would.

"Wait-wait, don't worry I'll heal it!" Lovely pulled his fingers off his neck and placed their own ones instead.

"Heal-wha-" the sound that came out of his mouth was ungodly.

Some kind of force came out of their fingers and into the wound. It was cold and hot at the came time-kinda how it felt like when they pressed themselves again him at the swings- and he felt the puncture wounds stitch themselves together until no more pain was left.

"There."

After they removed their fingers, Vincent brushed his hand against his neck frantically. Nothing. No wound no anything.

They stared at eachother, breathing heavily.

Lovely smiled.

"God... I can still taste you on my tongue..." They nuzzled into his shoulder, Vincent pressing into them instinctually. 

They just stayed like that for a few seconds.

"That was incredible." 

Vincent said, breathless. 

"I'm glad you think that."

Lovely laughs.

"But fucking terrifying." 

After a few seconds more, Lovely pulls away and looks at him, and smiles.

"Well... you're stuck with me now." 

"Really?" 

"Well yeah, I showed you my secret, now I gotta show you all my other secrets."

"Let's go to my place."

"Yeah...yeah... let's go." 

Lovely with no warning backs away, pulling Vincent with them and throws him over their shoulder, causing him to yelp at the sudden shift. He felt like he was gonna slip right over them before their strong arm pressed him to their shoulder.

 "Hold on tight!"

Half a disbelieved laugh escapes Vincent as his hands shuffle to find what on earth he is expected to hold on, but before he figures it out the both of them zoom off at high speeds.

It was fast, nothing like the rollercoasters he liked to ride. Like the scenes in movies where a character is going through time, everything around them blurred until it all came to a stop.

They were standing still now, he knew that, but in the same way you feel like your body is turning before it snaps back and turns again after spinning in a circle for a while, his body felt like it was slipping off of Lovely's shoulder before snapping back and slipping off again. His vision zoomed in the same way it does when he'd stare out the window in a moving car for too long. 

Lovely must've noticed, or at least expected it would happen, because they sit him on the ground gently and let him hold onto their shoulders. 

As soon as his world stopped spinning, Lovely handed him his jacket.

Where did they get his jacket? They weren't holding it when they...

"Sorry if I went a bit too fast, I just wanted to get here quick."

Vincent looked around to take in his surroundings. 

They were in a small alley parking lot and he could see the Cherry Bomb building peeking out from another.

Lovely walked towards a very fancy very expensive looking white car and unlocked it with a set of car keys. 

Vincent couldn't help but stare at it. 

This is their car? 

It was a nice model and in perfect shape, looked like something Vincent would've fantasized about riding if he had the money for it. 

"You wanna go for a ride?" They said, opening the passenger door.

Vincent smiled.

This was going to be a long night.