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Tony put on a fresh button up. “I don’t even know why I have to be there. They are just discussing the new product launch and our marketing campaign. It’s not like I pay people to handle these kinds of things.”
There was a board meeting in half an hour he had to attend. Begrudgingly.
Stephen had followed him into the walk-in closet and watched him change. The vampire would go meditating after Tony left, since the sun was up and he had no duties in the Sanctum or Kamar-Taj today.
Meditating and sending his mind far away was the closest thing vampires had to sleep.
He wished he could accompany Tony. That he could just leave the house during the hours of daylight and share that part of Tony’s life with him.
But Stephen was a creature of the night; damned to live in the shadows of darkness.
At least with the UV filtering windows Tony had installed in the tower Stephen could pretend he was human.
He was good at pretending, fooled a lot of people. Sometimes he fooled himself, when he stood at one of the windows, watching the streets and pretended to be part of the living.
“… and stocks dropped a bit. But that’s not unusual for this phase. I really don’t know what they’re complaining about.” Tony didn’t really expect an answer from him. He just liked to fill the silence and Stephen might be biased but in his opinion Tony’s voice was the best background noise.
Until he addressed the vampire with an actual request: “Can you hand me a pair of cufflinks?”
Stephen nodded, pulling his mind out of his head to focus on the task instead. He could dwell in self-pity later when Tony was gone.
Stephen opened the drawer he knew contained accessories like cufflinks and watches. Tony had a ridiculous collection of both of them. Although there was still space for more, judging on the empty spaces between the boxes.
“Which one?” he asked, looking at the selection.
“The one you like best,” Tony shrugged, not really caring but trusting Stephen’s sense of fashion.
The sorcerer pondered for a few moments, before deciding on a gray metallic pair. They were round and had Tony’s initials engraved.
It was a classic.
He took the box out and turned to Tony, showing them to him. Tony nodded his approval, while he tucked his shirt into his dress pants and zipped them up. Afterwards he held out his arm to the vampire.
“Put them on me?”
There was something intimate about the request; a special kind of trust – even though it was a simple task.
Stephen took one of the cuff links out with his scarred fingers – and dropped it along with the box under a cry of pain.
Alarmed, Tony widened his eyes. “What happened?”
“They’re silver!”
Stephen cradled his burned fingers to his chest. The pain would be gone in a few moments. It was stupid, and he had probably over-reacted. As a vampire he possessed fast healing and he had touched the metal only briefly.
But his hands were his sore point. The phantom pain of needles had been back as soon as he had been burned, and Stephen knew it would linger way longer.
Tony cursed softly. “I thought I got rid of all of them.”
His words made Stephen pause and his eyes wandered back to the still open drawer. The gaps between the boxes suddenly made way more sense. They weren’t random.
Tony had sorted out the cuff links that were made of silver – because he knew they would hurt Stephen.
And his precious watches as well.
Suddenly, Stephen’s throat was tight for another reason than pain.
“I’m so sorry.” Tony reached for the Vamp’s hand but stopped halfway, looking at him to ask for permission to touch him.
Stephen didn’t hesitate to give his hands to Tony.
Tony’s touch was gentle, when he inspected his fingers. There was only a small dark spot left where the vampire had come in contact with the metal. It was getting lighter by the second.
Tony pressed a soft kiss on it.
“It’s fine,” Stephen muttered.
With Tony at his side, he could endure living in the night. As long as Tony kept looking at him with these gentle brown eyes, Stephen felt loved. And that was enough.