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The chill air of Strangerville made Caleb shiver as he walked over to Phil's house. He often just flew over, but he found the streets of Strangerville to be so utterly captivating and refreshing that he simply couldn't help taking the time to walk. It fits the name, he supposes. He lived in the dreary, rainy village of Forgotten Hollow, a town founded by vampires for vampires so he can’t quite judge. Still, this town had a weird air to it. Though, comparatively, being not only a daywalker, but a vegan vampire had to be weirder.
The only thing more dizzyingly strange and perfect about this town was his friend, Phil Holloway. They were a strange type of person, at least in his world. When all you know are stuffy old vampires, centuries of years old, a human is always a nice change of pace. They were anything but stuffy, they were everything. He knows it’s unrealistic, but everything about them was an absolute feast for the senses. They way they talked so warmly, their touch that might as well have the power of 10 thousand suns, everything. They were everything.
He walked up to their front door stupidly, knowing that if he could blush he would be, and absolutely furiously. He didn’t have time to grapple with his emotions about them. It was their birthday, and he was here to be for them. 29 years old…he was nearly as old, if not a few years younger when he was turned. 120 years go by so fast, he thinks grimly. He rings the doorbell and takes a deep breath.
They answered the door with a smile, wide and all encompassing. “Oh hi darl!”
He smiled as well, a bit uncomfortably so, “Happy Birthday Phil,” he said simply.
They giggled, “No need to be so formal, Cay! It’ll just be us two fer right now. My ma and pa are at an important co’vention fer farmers ‘n all that shit and my siblins’ work right about now. No idea if or when they’d show up.”
That calmed his nerves an awful lot, he’d be loath to embarrass himself in front of Phil’s family, or anyone else for that matter. He took a deep breath once more and sighed, walking into their tiny trailer. For someone who lived in a mansion, walking into Phil's trailer should feel cramped (especially with all the shit they crammed into it) but it didn’t. It felt welcoming almost. Just like its inhabitants, it was full of personality. Little doodads filled the walls, posters for things Caleb hadn’t even heard of, horse riding gear next to science shit too complicated for him to understand cluttering their bedroom, it was all so much. The way the purple lights glowed on their skin left him astounded. God they were pretty…he supposed it’s wrong to think so highly of his very best friend, but when he was actually with them, he didn’t care. And he certainly wasn’t afraid like how he was when the two were apart. He sighs.
“Apologies, though I am glad that I won't have to interact with too many people. I mean other than you, of course. I’d just wish to not make a fool of myself, is all.”
Phil put their arm around him and smiled wide, “Why would you be embarrassing yerself? I think you worry far too much, dear! My family can be a lot, but they’d certainly love you all the same. Now quit standing there all in the cold, yer gonna freeze yerself to death! I know you vamps are cold blooded.”
Caleb laughs (God, their joy is utterly infectious), and sits down at the table as they run into their room to go look for something. Caleb also sets down the gift they got them, hand wrapped in hand painted paper with little horses on it and tied with a small twine ribbon in the middle. He knows it probably took the extra effort to have Lilith make him some wrapping paper, but going to the store feels disingenuous. Also he doesn’t quite enjoy leaving the house. Phil comes back with two bottles in hand. One of them was a pale yellow, like a rose, and the other was dark purple with a red tint. “A've got wine, brewed and fermented by my ma and pa. White wine for me and plasma fruit wine for yew.”
“Plasma wine?” he asked.
They opened the bottle, and poured both Caleb and themself a glass of their two respective wines. They grinned, “Why, it's my own batch. Ah harvested a ton o’ plasma fruit with the help of yer sister the last time I was over, and shipped em off to my ma and pa. It's not the exact same as wine, but a'm sure it'll be something!”
He laughed, thinking that’s what you were doing last time you came over, “You’d do that for me?”
They took a sip of their wine, “Course! Just ‘cause it’s my birthday doesn’t mean I’d leave you hangin’! Yknow I love you Cay–”
Caleb smiled, putting that comment away in his brain and took a sip of the concoction before him. It had a bittersweet taste, yet it quenched his ever growing thirst. It seemed to have more plasma then juice, and furthermore alcohol content, which was nice. He didn’t quite do too well when tipsy, he got too confident. He brushed it off, though.
“AHEM, So, what were you planning on doing tonight?”
Phil leaned against the counter for a second, in thought, before shrugging and smiling, “Yknow, A’m not quite sure! I was maybe gonna cook something for the two of us. I expected to have more people over, apologies. Yer the only one who came…not that there's anything wrong with that! Dining for two does sound nice.”
The way Phil talked was often a rollercoaster, he could never predict what they were going to say next. Their brain went from topic to topic at a speed that astounded him a bit. It was scary how smart they were yet so scatterbrained. They looked through their cupboards, eventually pulling out a book, er, binder and handed it to Caleb. He looked at the cover to see a handmade binder with numerous recipes from cover to cover, all of it with little notes and scraps covering it. It was so painfully ‘Phil” he wanted to cry as he ran his fingers along the little alien stickers on the pages.
“What are you thinking I should make, I can’t decide?”
Caleb looked at them incredulously, “You can’t seriously be cooking for me on your birthday!”
“Sure I can, there's nothing I’d like to do more than make something we’ll both remember. Cooking’s what I woulda gone into if I weren’t a scientist, o’ course! Plus, I love ya but yer a food snob like Ah am, so whatever yew choose, I’ll probably like it,” they responded with a laugh. Sometimes he wondered how they could be just so darn positive all the time. It was infectious.
He sighed, admitting defeat, “Still, the least you could do is let me help. It’s your birthday. You only have so many.”
They bark out a laugh, “No need to get so philosophical! I know you’re immortal but there’s no need to be such a downer. Also, of course you’re helpin’! You think you’re just going to sit there and watch me? Bless yer heart Darl, but yer porch lights on yet no one’s home. Get yer ass up here.”
“Whatever you say, chef—” he remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
The two got to work quickly, landing on Apple cider cupcakes, a favorite of Phil's. According to them it was a family favorite, one they'd made for their younger siblings when they were young. He was a twin, so he never had that experience, though he was always the baby of the family, especially to Lily and Lilith. It didn't matter though. Phil started on the buttercream while Caleb measured ingredients. Their hands brush against one another a few times, enough for Caleb to become convinced they're doing this on purpose. He knows it's entirely possible that he might just be drunk, but he swears that he sees them blush a bit. Whatever. He can't focus on that right now. He mixes the batter well after he reduces the apple cider (Of course they have apple cider on hand…that’s so them…). He finally starts feeling the crampedness of it all, but he’s in close range to them, so he doesn’t care too much. At least, not until they nearly fall into his arms, him hastily catching them. There isn’t much space to fall, so it scares the two of them. Phil bursts out laughing and apologizes quickly. Caleb has vampiric speed and strength, so it doesn’t matter much.
It matters to Caleb at least. He knows if he was alive he’d be blushing too. Maybe his vampirism isn’t always a curse.
“Yu all good darl? Yew've been staring into space for the past minute.”
He looks back to them, “Oh, apologies de– Phil, I was just a bit lost in thought there,” he bows apologetically, knocking into their hat a bit, causing Phil to giggle a bit.
“Well, whatever yew say then! Those cupcakes aren’t gonna mix themselves, I reckon.”
“Please, I’m no spellcaster,” he giggles.
Phil eyes them, “Prove it, or do I gotta hold yer hand and do it fer yew ya–”
“Alright, alright!!” he pours in the apple cider he reduced earlier and mixes it in with care and intention.
He finishes mixing and the two pour the batter into the pan, and put it in the oven carefully, before Phil wipes the sweat off their brow. God they look so pretty worked up like this…Did he think that out loud? He did. Whatever, he stumbles back a bit as Phil says, “Oh shit! I dun forgot to feed Jackelyn, give me a second!” They run outside.
His foot meets the present he made for them, and he picks it up hoping he didn’t damage it. He really struggled with getting them a gift, nothing seemed good enough. Good enough for them at least, he signed and brushed his fingers over the twine. He thought maybe he could buy them a vcr as well as a dvd box set of one of those horror movie franchises they liked so much, but they could get that elsewhere and he needed this to be important. He took a sip of his wine, letting the alcohol drown out his feelings.
They came back into their trailer panting, having wrangled a horse to eat moments before their eyes landed upon the gift Caleb anxiously held in his hands.
“Why, Caleb, you didn't need to get me anything! I'm made happy just by yer presence!”
He bit his tongue, keeping the words he wanted to say out of his mouth, “Banish the thought, it's tradition. I had to, you mean so much to me so I had to get you something thoughtful. I hope it brings you as much joy as your presence brings me,” he hands off the box and watches them carefully and meticulously peel away the paper to reveal a box with a card on top. They opened the card first,
“For my dearest Phil,
I hope this card finds you well, or better than how you were when we first met. You are the light of my life, in a literal sense. You are but the glittering sun above, who dances along my rotten skin. If you were the reaper, I'd dance with death until we both shall die of laughter that very same day. Your fingers find mine as they intertwine like branches of a tree, pushed together by the howling wind, evermore connected. I'd spend every second with you, trading my life for all of your infinite beauty. Through the sands of time, I'd stay next to you. Through life and death and everything in between, I wish for your hand. If you'll have me of course.
Regards, Caleb Vatore”
They look up at him, their face on fire. They smirk, and hug the other, surprising him with how quick they were to do so. His cold, clawed hands return the hug. They whisper in his ear, “You really like me that much?”
“‘Course…I wrote a full letter about it, I’d think I’d keep my word.”
They giggle, “Oh Caleb, I could just about kiss ya right about now,” they slap a hand over their mouth quickly, before laughing it off again. God how could someone be just so positive and carefree…he craves it almost. He craves them.
“Ah, ah, ah. Someone hasn’t opened their other gift, that can wait,’ he teases.
They leave a small chaste kiss upon his cheek, brushing aside Caleb's long locks, and open the box.
They get absolutely giddy, jumping up and down. They picked up a nice looking tool box, one with custom engraving and stickers—Phil always loved stickers—Covering the thing from head to toe. The held it up and hugged it, “God this was the best gift I could ask fer, thank you so much Cay”
Caleb twirled his hair like a teenage girl, “It's nothing… You mentioned your old tool box broke while at my old mansion. I supposed it would be only fair for me to return a better one to you.”
“Aw, so sentimental of you,” they teased, “Do I get my third gift now?”
“And what would that be?”
They pulled him into a greedy kiss, the two melting into each other. Their lips tasted of the buttercream that they licked off their fingers as well as hints of the wine the two sipped earlier. It was snobbish to put a flavor to their friend’s lips, he knows, but at this moment he couldn’t care less. That didn’t matter. Neither of them did. And yet they both did at the same time. They were everything.
There was a ding behind them, pulling them apart from their kiss. They took a piece of his hair around their finger and played with it with a smile, looking deep in his blue eyes. They pulled away from eachother and Phil put on their oven mitts to pull out the cupcakes. Caleb’s mouth started watering at the look of them, filling him with pride. Caleb looked back to them, piping cool buttercream upon the cupcakes.
“God, you look so pretty like this” he mumbles, making the other nearly choke on their spit and mess up one of the cupcakes. They wipe away the icing on the cupcakes and bap it on Caleb’s nose. He wipes it off and kisses their forehead. They lean over onto him and stare up into his eyes.
“Yknow, I’ve never understood all this romance stuff, but with you…it’s still so much but I’m willing to do it. For you.
“God, you’re cheesy..”
“And you’re mine, darling” they laugh, standing on their toes to kiss his neck. For a second, Caleb’s head is clear. For even a second. This is all he needed, he thinks. This moment was everything. They were everything.