Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Daniel told his sister jokingly that he was going to live fast and die young in her response to him speeding this… Isn’t what he meant. Mostly because he was joking at the time but also, who the fuck would’ve guessed supernatural creatures aren’t just scary sleepover stories. 

“What the fuck,” he stares into the mirror, he is fully able to see himself which is reason numero uno that he thought this whole massive headache and pain through his chest and ribcage was just a late response to the way he tumbled through his table getting home from his hook up behind the bar last night… A very late response but a bodily trauma response nevertheless.

“What. The. FUCK.” he hisses at himself and flinches in fear seeing his own teeth elongate into fangs, fucking fangs! Oh my god. 

He takes a deep breath and frowns when nothing changes, like- nothing. Okay whatever, he’ll do it the other way. Dramatically pinching his nose and covering his mouth he holds his breath like he used to back when he and Blake used to compete about who could go the longest without breathing when they were kids. Nothing. Happens.

Daniel lets up when it gets truly just boring and finds he doesn’t need to inhale, no exhale no nothing.

“ What the fuck!” he cries and leans heavily on the counter. He glances up again, looking at himself as close as he dares lest he scare himself, he would be the fucking vampire living in fear of his own reflection. What a loser. 

“Ah geez,” turning his face at all angles, his face looks sharper somehow, a hint of danger underlying his normal soft-ish features. His eyebags are more pronounced but honestly not more than when he pulled all-nighters finishing his exams in college. 

His skin color is the same tan shade he’s had since- well ever, which is a good surprise at least. At the very fucking least he doesn’t look sickly pale and fragile. Now that the initial pain that made him scream so loud he was enormously thankful he decided to rent out a house in the middle of nowhere – the rent was cheap okay and he doesn’t mind driving– has faded, he is coming back to his senses somewhat, maybe. 

Running a hand through his hair he tenses again when that weird feeling comes back, like he can feel every fucking strain of hair in his curls, it’s soft but unnerving. He frowns at himself and rubs his face purposefully, the stubble is prickly but not painful like it usually is. Huh. He eyes his razor and idly wonders if it’ll grow back if he shaves, he doesn’t need to breathe so that must mean his body is frozen or some shit right? So he’s stuck with what he has right now and if he makes any changes-

“Shit,” he bites his lip hard and is annoyed when that doesn’t hurt even a little bit. God he’s so fucked. 

-

After he’s had some time to process the current situation and has gotten himself sorted on his favorite spot with his warmest hoodie – no he doesn’t feel cold or warm, no he doesn’t give a fuck he’ll wear it anyway. The fabric is soft and that’s a comfort he definitely needs right now. 

He pulls up his laptop and tries to do some research about his predicament without accidentally getting his name on a list somewhere. He knows how the government in the USA works okay, he doesn’t know if they know about shit like this but he doesn’t want to risk that shit either.

“Fuck if you’re gonna area 51 me dickeads-” he mumbles while flicking through websites trying to find a trail he can enter that’ll lead him down to what he needs to know without explicitly writing the words. He misclicks and enters a werewolf thing that looks more like porn than factual, if he files it away for a later peak it’s nobody’s business. He lives alone and he can do what he wants. 

At the very bottom – hah– of the page he sees it; “natural enemies” well that’s a way to put it. 

The following proves to be a highly detailed website with all things vampire apparently, some things are off – Daniel sees his reflection and silver doesn’t burn or his neck would be charred by now – but there’s some helpful notes here. 

Turns out he’ll never have to worry about injuries and temperature again which is nice given his clumsy nature. However he will have to make a conscious effort to breathe if he wants to keep talking, less fun. He scrolls past most of it just reading the highlights – if it’s important he’ll figure it out eventually– when he sees it.

“Must consume human blood at least once a week to survive, will starve to death and turn to dust without doing so.” 

“WHAT THE FUCK,” he physically recoils and flinches when the sound of his laptop hitting the wooden floor fills his eardrums. 

-

Once he’s regained his composure after the initial recoil with the help of some self soothing, Daniel picks up his laptop again and forces himself to re-read it, to be sure of course. Unfortunately for him the text hasn’t changed. Which means he will have to drink some poor sucker's blood by the end of this week or he’s a goner for real. 

To say he doesn’t seriously contemplate letting himself turn to dust in the most literal sense is an understatement. He’s actually a bit peaceful with that solution. He doesn’t need to harm anyone else for this, he’s 28 he’s had a good run. Sure he would’ve liked to grow up properly – everyone knows you’re not an adult™ until you’re in your mid thirties– but still. It’s okay. 

Rather it was okay until he got a text from Michelle with a video of his niece and nephew waving and shouting how much they miss him. How much they’re looking forward to seeing him in three months for Christmas. 

“ FUCK,” It’s very satisfying living in the middle of nowhere when nobody can hear you scream. 

Alright back to square one. He texts back a happy confirmation that he’ll be back in Perth by mid-december and goes back to his laptop. Is googling “bad people”, “painless death” and “mid-life crisis,” a bad combination? 

-

It takes Daniel a few days to figure out a proper plan, and to get used to his new status. Day one he spends about half an hour psyching himself up before even trying to step out in the daylight which he successfully manages with only a slight burn after about five minutes of enjoying the sunlight, alright so maybe he shouldn’t gamble on doing that too often. 

Day two he goes back to doing some research and decides that maybe he can get someone the way he himself got got. Flashbacks of the handsome stranger that lured him into the back alley after his shift comes to mind, he did get a good bj out of the whole ordeal until the whole biting neck blood everywhere thing. Apparently the guy hadn’t been prepared for Daniel fighting back post orgasm, adrenaline is a hell of a drug though. 

Day three he calls his job and apologizes profusely for having been MIA, Jenson is thankfully very understanding once Daniel explains he got a horrible stomach bug that knocked him out for a few days. He is surprised at how easily he lies, the advantage of not having a pulse that can pick up maybe. Jenson tells him to take one more day and come back tomorrow which luckily is a regular Thursday which means he gets to ease back in and not get ambushed by the weekend crowd just yet. 

He was contemplating quitting altogether given the new predicament but then remembered that money is still a necessity and he actually likes his bartending gig quite a lot, also it should actually work quite well with his newly implemented sleep schedule. Does he need to sleep? Not sure, but he is still able to somehow so he holds on to it for now. Something to make him feel a smidge normal at least. 

Thursday rolls around and Daniel has spent the entire build up, aka the two hours he was awake before deciding to run to work which holy shit that used to take half an hour at best and now only took like ten minutes –which might have been because he tripped but that’s not for anyone else to know– trying to prepare himself for what’s to come.

The prep doesn’t really come in handy once he opens the door to a flood of noise and smells, the noise he adjusts to easily, probably since the one thing he loves is playing music loud constantly. His hearing having improved a bit more than he thought will have to be looked at as a bonus, if he can manage to control it at least. 

It’s the onslaught of scents that gets to him most, the mix of a dozen perfumes with the variety of drinks and food from the bar is enough to make him gag and he hurries into the small locker room to dry heave into the trash can. 

“Oi, you still sick?” One of the cooks, Yuki, eyes him from the corner of the room and Daniel curses himself for not having checked the perimeter.

“Nah nah just missed the bus so I had to run it,” he smiles and Yuki frowns.

“Don’t you have a dirtbike?” Dammit. 

“Daniel?” Jenson’s voice bleeds through the door and Daniel thanks his lucky stars and gets back up and out the door quickly leaving Yuki with a wave. 

“Right here boss,” Jenson looks him up and down and Daniel briefly panics when he remembers he doesn’t actually look sickly pale like he keeps expecting to look. (He checks the mirror every morning and night to make sure.) 

“You sure you’re up for tonight?” 

“Yeppers, put me to work,” Jenson’s eyes crinkle and Daniel knows if his heart was beating it would be going a bit faster from that alone. He’s always had a thing for his boss, so what? 

“Alright great, you’ll start off with a six hour shift tonight, don’t give me that look we’ll see how it goes and go back to the ten hour one by the end of the weekend if things go smoothly.” Daniel nods gravely and Jenson smiles and pats his shoulder before heading to the back office. After feeling every miniscule part of Jenson’s hand on his shoulder and the warmth that came with it Daniel starts to feel like this might not be so bad after all. Wait, if his heart isn’t beating can he still get a boner? How does that work? 

“Good to see you mate,” Valtteri nods at him as Daniel makes his way to join him behind the counter. 

“How did Edward get a boner?” 

“Well when a man get’s aroused generally blood floods-” 

“No no I mean Edward like, the vampire dude, twilight?” Daniel cringes at himself for bringing this up at all but he has never been known to have a good or functioning filter. Valtteri is the only one who doesn’t seem to mind that at all, nothing ever seems to phase him; it must be a Finnish thing. 

True to his character Valtteri only pauses his movement for a second before he shrugs.

“Not sure, maybe sexual urges are just that powerful.” 

“Right, right,” Daniel nods thoughtfully, naturally this means he has to test this theory. He can deal with a lot of things but never having another orgasm isn’t one of them. He might actually lay himself on the asphalt in the middle of the day to combust if that is the case, family and Christmas be damned. 

“You take left, I take right?” shaking back into the presence Daniel moves on automatic to fill the request, already warming up – hah – to his old routine. The scents are still frustratingly noticeable but Daniel does his very best to ignore them for the time being, 6 hours isn’t too bad he can manage. 

-

Getting back into the groove of working turns out to be a wonderful turn of events, after a few incidents – he broke a few glasses and may have sent the bottles a bit too hard– the first night he quickly got back into things. 

In fact he manages to forget all about his inner conflict until he shows up Saturday night to a concerned looking Valtteri. 

“What?” 

“Are you feeling okay? You look very pale, when was the last time you ate?” Fuck, right.

“Oh uh, I slept like shit it’s nothing.” The mental countdown in his head is blaring that he is pushing his limit before the dusting™ happens.

Valtteri doesn’t look convinced but blessedly lets it go in favor of them getting off to a quick start on the rapidly growing crowd. Daniel tries to subtly scout out who is being a dick and who might not deserve to live till tomorrow in the crowd whenever the opportunity arises and fights the nausea that follows him having to make that decision at all. What is he, a god? Actually that might’ve been fun, this just sucks. 

-

Having been unsuccessful in his quest Daniel sighs as he makes his way out the backdoor at the end of his shift, he cracks his neck and tenses when he hears a girl squeak suddenly. Whipping his head around he notices a couple figures in the back end of the alleyway and squints.

“Please stop,” she begs and Daniel is moving before he can make a conscious decision to. 

“Hey she told you to stop,” the guy shoving her up against the wall pauses his movement to look at Daniel with a snarl. Jeepers this fucker is ugly. No wonder she doesn’t want him. Okay he shouldn’t judge based on looks but shit-

“Fuck off,” he spits and Daniel raises his eyebrows.

“How about you fuck off huh?” The guy fully turns around which allows the girl to slip through his grip and make a run for it. She gives Daniel a grateful look in passing and he nods and doesn’t move an inch while the guy steps closer. Trying to look intimidating no doubt and pissed as hell. Please. 

“You fucked up man, should’ve left us alone.” 

“Right because she seemed like she was enjoying your company so much,” his tone drips of sarcasm and the guy lunges. He gets in a solid hit but it barely hurts, more like when Daniel’s nephew punches him accidentally in the arm or something which is really funny.

“What the fuck are you laughing at?” 

“You,” Daniel snorts and ducks when the guy throws another punch. He doesn’t enjoy fighting, not particularly. But he does have some training in it still, personal safety and all that. 

Just as the guy tries to grab his shirt Daniel gets an idea and sweeps his feet making him land hard on the ground. Before he can get up Daniel punches him square in the face knocking him out while blood pours out of his nose. Right, increased strength. 

The scent of blood fills Daniel’s nostrils immediately taking over all his senses, he feels himself start to shake as his fangs come out involuntarily and then everything goes dark. 

-

“Wha-” fighting the haze in his mind Daniel forces his eyes open, he squints at his surroundings and it’s still dark as night thankfully. What just happened? 

Wiping his mouth on instinct he glances down at his hand and freezes once the darker shade on his hand is visible. His stomach sinks and he licks his lips to taste iron masked by a rather delicious flavor he can’t quite put his finger on. Almost like when his mom would make his favorite lemonade as a child. Weird.

He’s about to lick the liquid of his hand when he bumps into something large and unmoving, suddenly what happened moments before comes back to him all at once and he flinches so hard he lands on his ass a few feet away from the- oh god that’s a corpse. That is fully a dead grown man. Oh god. 

“Shit shit shit shit,” frantically getting up and looking around for witnesses – there are none thank fuck – Daniel thinks quickly what to do with the body – god just thinking about it makes him shiver in disgust. 

He glances at the dumpster and decides against it just as quickly, stupid he’ll be discovered by morning. He runs through possible scenarios and remembers an episode he watched about true crimes a while back which said something about cremation and scattering ashes to not get caught. Genius! Except- 

“You don’t have a fucking crematorium dumbass,” he slaps himself and hears movement at the edge of the alley opening. Alright fuck time to move. 

At least the body – eugh– isn’t heavy, probably because it’s essentially drained of blood, now that is something Daniel refuses to think about lest he undo what he just did and end up dusting™ after all. 

He starts running, first considering going home but what the hell is he gonna do with him there? 

The smell of smoke fills his nostrils and he pauses briefly, carefully hidden in the dark corner of a street as he tries to locate the source of it.

“Man this is so much cooler than the pussy fire Matt wanted to build,” 

“I know right, toss some more tyres on there man we gotta get it big!” 

This might just be Daniel’s lucky night. He quickly follows the voices of no doubt a couple of teenage boys fucking around and feels a wave of relief when he spots the rather large tyre fire they’ve built. This will do.

Stashing the body underneath a nearby dumpster – see he is smart sometimes – he makes sure to wipe his face on his victim’s clothes before slowly approaching the boys.

“Ey!” The two stop their cheering as sparks light up the sky with the addition of another tyre. 

“Don’t worry I’m not a cop or anything, but I heard them like two blocks away from here, something about missing tyres,” he raises an eyebrow and fights the urge to laugh at the pair of caught in the headlights looks. 

“Tell you what, you get out of here right now I won’t tell them I saw you.” 

“Why would you do that?” one of them challenges but his voice is wavering.

Daniel shrugs, “we’ve all had rebellious phases haven’t we.” he winks and the two exchange a look with each other before giving him a quick nod and high tailing down the road towards another parking lot no doubt. 

Alright that’s one thing taken care of, scouting the area Daniel quickly hauls the body back from under the dumpster and towards the big fire. Right before he tosses it onto it to hopefully disintegrate as fast as fucking possible he gets the idea to check his pockets and finds the guy’s phone with a wallet case of all things. 

“Fucking douchebag.” Daniel wrinkles his nose at the faux leather and tosses the man unceremoniously at the fire, he pockets the phone and grabs the lighter fluid and kerosene the kids left in their hurry and pours all of it on the body watching it ignite with a loud almost explosive sound. Fuck.

Daniel looks around again frantically and trains his ears for any sirens, when ten minutes pass without any he relaxes just a tad and focuses on watching the guy burn. As much as he feels like a disgusting creature for having done what he did, he can’t say he feels bad about this particular man’s death, for all he knows he was gonna be a murderer by the end of the night. Might as well be Daniel instead buying himself another week. 

-

By the break of sunlight Daniel scours the dumpster nearby for a bag or something to gather up the leftovers and cheers once he finds a slightly ratty– but still whole enough – burlap sack for him to stuff everything into and take off. He doesn’t really think, just goes to the nearest cliff facing the ocean, forces as many big rocks as he can in the sack and throws with all his might. It’s quite satisfying to watch it shrink until the sack is barely a dot as it crashes into the ocean that’s glistening with the hint of the morning sun. Right. 

-

First thing Daniel does when he gets home is crash, he definitely still needs sleep. Thank whoever. He doesn’t bother changing, just flops onto his bed over the covers and is out like a light in a few seconds– he’ll deal with everything else later. 

-

Waking up after his crash out Daniel stretches and marvels at just how fucking good he feels, his entire body feels renewed or someshit like someone just went in cleaned all the internal and external grime and left him brand spanking new. Does that make sense? Maybe not but it doesn’t really have to now, does it.

He bounces into work that evening after having spent the day cleaning his house properly. When he realized he’d only been out for a couple of hours instead of the twelve he was sure it was, he’d figured why not. Not like he could’ve gone for a run or anything. That still sucks in its own way but he’ll manage, how creepy is it running alone at night when you’re a dude? Last thing he needs is that kind of attention.

“Hey Dan!” Valtteri nods from the bar, early as always and Daniel smiles back with all his teeth. 

“Daniel! You look great did you do something with-” Jenson gestures to seemingly all of him and Daniel is so fucking grateful he is not able to flush or he’d be a shiny red right now. 

“Uh yeah nah I just got a really good night's rest last night.” 

“With who?” Valtteri, the asshole, teases from where he was eavesdropping and Daniel stutters. 

“What?! No one! Just me, me and myself- oh fuck off not like that.” he scoffs at Valtteri’s obvious enjoyment and sees Jenson’s face do one of those complicated things once he thinks Daniel isn’t looking. Hmm.

Before he can address it Yuki hollers from the kitchen and Jenson follows the call with an apologetic smile, Daniel brushes it off along with the hint of tingling in his gut and goes to shove Valtteri to the left. 

“That’s what you get.” he huffs and pretends not to hear Valtteri chuckle at his dramatics, whatever, he knows the finn hates that side so as much as he’s enjoying himself now it won’t last too long, hah. 

-

Granted, Daniel being Daniel means that it takes him a couple of days before he makes the connection but once he does…

“Motherfucker!” he whines into the carpet after falling to the floor in his distress and hugs the slightly stained old thing for comfort. How it took him this long to realize the whole blood drinking thing caused his sudden burst of, well, everything, he isn't sure. Okay that’s a lie he totally knows, he’s always been easily distracted and once he figured he wasn’t dusting™ he kind of maybe put it out of his mind entirely and focused on his life again. Clearly a big mistake.  

Gathering himself reluctantly he opens his laptop again, he’s growing to hate the fucking thing now that it’s only used as a source for this fuckery. God does he miss endless mindless youtube rabbit holes and netflix binges. He just hasn’t had the time with all the sudden energy and work he’s put himself on. Dumbass. 

“Alright, what to do, what to do,” clicking through some of his previous sources they say essentially the same thing, big wooohoooo after feeding that tapers off in the span of five days or so leading to an energy loss and well that pale sickly look before POOF, dust. Wonderful.

So that was rather unhelpful given that Daniel has made no effort to even think of how to get his fix – not thinking about it he can’t fucking puke but the motion still hurts somehow – when it’s needed. So much for making it to Christmas.

There’s a link to a reddit thread that leads him down a bit of a rabbit hole, my god there’s a lot of assholes in the world before one of the posts catches his eye. 

“ Am I the asshole for catfishing a guy I met on craigslist ,” 

“Who the fuck uses craigslist that’s only for criminals and mur-der-ers…” Daniel trails off and stares at the screen for a few moments. Holy shit that is genius. GENIUS.

If there’s one thing he’s learned over and over again it’s to never trust a guy – or girl for that matter– on craigslist. It literally never ends well. Who’d’ve thought that’d be something he could use to his advantage. Clearly if whoever they are is stupid enough to click on his ad, they kind of deserve what’s coming. To be sure he makes an extra effort to make his ad look a bit more shady than the others though, he isn’t a monster after all. Don’t- comment on that. 

-

The rest of the week passes in a blur, he’s able to continue his work and even manages to be a bit social after his shifts a couple times. Val is a hell of a drinker and Daniel has found that if he drinks straight up liquor it may make him tipsy… for a few minutes. Also it needs to be at least a full pint not a shot glass so, something to file away for later, probably. 

He forgets to check the ad until friday when he wakes up and feels significantly worse than yesterday, an eternity of this- what a fucking bliss. Is this how women feel when they get their periods? Like absolute shit and unwilling to be perceived by the world? If so Daniel has a whole new sense of sympathy for them now. Not that he didn’t before, he has sisters, but still. 

“Let’s see what we got,” There’s a surprising amount of answers to the ad, people are fucking crazy in America apparently. 

Going through them Daniel decides that yeah no these are fucking psychos and he isn’t sure he’d be able to take them with the passion they write about wanting to fuck him into the fucking basement from the top floor, jeez. 

Right as he’s about to give up entirely he gets a new response, it’s demure and polite. A slightly older man who would like to come over in the middle of the night – Daniel had to fit it to his work schedule okay – and nothing really seems off about him at all. Alright, cool, he sends his address and tries his best to muster up the energy to not get accused of being sick, again, and heads out. 

-

The Friday crowd is heavier than expected, forcing Daniel to face his exhaustion sooner than he’d like as he half stumbles out the backdoor after closing, forcing his eyes to stay open. He wonders if he has enough energy to make a run for it home or if he needs to actually wait for the bus like the humans do. Would you look at that, he doesn’t consider himself human anymore. Nice. 

His phone pings in his pocket, not for the first time but Daniel hasn’t had time to check it and he fumbles it for a second before squinting at the overly bright screen. A reminder for the meeting he has scheduled in– thirty minutes.

“Fuck,” He groans and shakes out his limbs, sucking in a deep breath and willing himself to make it home quick. He may stumble a bit more than usual on the way but he’s in his house in less than ten minutes so he considers that a win.

With barely any time to spare Daniel speeds through a shower – highly uncomfortable when you don’t have time for the water to heat up, he might not get cold or warm but he can still feel the temps hitting his skin its really fucking weird okay– and puts on his nicest… okay, his cleanest clothes. 

Just as he’s considering the razor once more – he could’ve sworn his beard has grown a little – there’s a knock on the door and he tenses. Show time. 

-

“Hi!” 

“Hi!” The slightly shorter man smiles at him and Daniel does a quick scan. He’s really quite cute with his cropped hair and brilliantly blue eyes. He’s dressed nicely too, a black shirt and slacks with shoes too match. Huh- actually. 

The man clears his throat pointedly and Daniel’s eyes widen, right, shit.

“S-sorry, come in!” He gestures broadly and closes the door behind his visitor. Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with his own plan. This guy seems like a good bloke, what’s he done to deserve to die tonight other than well, falling for a stupid ad. 

“Nice place!” 

“Thanks err I haven’t really had time to clean up, just got off work like an hour ago.” he lies just a bit to not be too suspicious and then realizes there’s no point to that. Dumb ass. Okay Daniel keep cool don’t engage further don’t get to know him properly this is- 

“What do you do?” 

“Bartender actually, I like the schedule.” Well… as long as you stop here- 

“Cool! I have a friend who makes whiskey actually, I should introduce you.” 

“That’d be awesome. I love a good whiskey.” Stop it, STOP IT.

“I’m so sorry I’m being impolite, my name is Sebastian.” The other guy- Sebastian moves closer and sticks out his hand for a handshake. 

“Daniel.” Right. Fuck. So much for the plan.

“So do you just wanna-?” Sebastian does a gesture with his hands that makes Daniel snort and he nods, maybe a hook up will help. Like satiate him and then he’ll be too tired to care that he’s essentially killing someone and robbing them of their entire future just because he was stupid and went with the wrong guy and now everything is fucked and- 

“If you’d excuse me, I just need to use the bathroom. The bedroom is down the hall, just make yourself comfortable.” Sebastian nods and winks at him before heading towards the bedroom and Daniel hurries into the bathroom, careful not to slam the door. He’s already taken it off its hinges once this week, a nightmare to fix. 

“Oookay, breathe Daniel you can do this, you have to do this. Think about Michelle and the kids. Mum and Dad and everyone who wants to see you. They wouldn’t want a dust pile to show up for Christmas now would they.” For a brief delirious moment Daniel imagines preparing an urn to dust in to be sent to his family. That would be fucked up. A little bit funny but like, fucked up overall. 

Splashing some water on his face to try to regain some sense of control Daniel exhales unnecessarily and rips the door back open, flinching a bit when it creaks alarmingly. Right. Easy.

Sebastian is laid out on his bed like a beautiful present, still in his clothes but tantalizing all the same. It appears Daniel will get to test out his orgasm abilities tonight at least. 

“Are you okay?” Sebastian frowns and Daniel realizes he’s stopped completely at the end of the bed, frozen in a new panic now. What if he can’t get it up, oh dear god what if he can’t fucking get hard and then they have to struggle with that for an eternity, and then Daniel has to kill him without even having made him cum which would just be rude. 

“Uh huh,” he manages through gritted teeth and relaxes a bit when Sebastian leans up to grab his hands and pull him down on top of him. Okay familiar enough ground. 

He relaxes into Sebastian’s hold which moves to the back of his head and forgets himself for a second and leans into the crook of his neck. What, he likes cuddles.

There’s a beat of silence and then a dramatic sigh. 

“Daniel,” Sebastian deadpans and Daniel mumbles something into his neck, god he’s so tired. Maybe they can nap before the whole- 

“Daniel,” Daniel lifts himself up and raises his brows looking down at the exasperated Sebastian underneath him.

“You’re a vampire.” It’s not a question and Daniel knows he looks as panicked as he feels.

“How’d you know? I mean noooooo pfft those aren’t real.” Daniel heaves himself out of bed and Sebastian snorts sarcastically where he sits up.

“Right, so I am fictional then?” 

“Y-you’re a vampire?” Sebastian smirks and shows his fangs effortlessly and Daniel swallows, somehow a smidge of arousal is stuck in his gut along with a new sense of fear because- wait why is he scared he’s also a vampire. Furthermore-

“You were gonna kill me!” he’s not hysterical he isn’t , Sebastian rolls his eyes and gets out of bed. Daniel stomps his way back to the living room and turns to aggressively point at him.

“I let you into my house!” 

“That’s your own fault, who trusts people they meet on craigslist?” Alright fuck, fair. 

“So what, you were gonna bleed me dry in my own bed and just leave me to rot until someone came to look for me!?” 

“No, I was gonna let you fuck me first.” Sebastian shrugs and Daniel fully ignores the mental image of that in favor of staying offended.

“I’ll have you know I’m a great fuck. You wouldn’t want to kill me after, that’s how good I am.” Why the fuck is this the hill he’s dying on?! 

Sebastian’s eyes crinkles and he starts giggling, a soft low sound that first pisses Daniel off even more until his mind fully wraps around the situation at hand and he starts laughing too. 

“Ah geez, well so much for surviving my second week.” he sighs once they both quiet down, they’re sitting on the floor across from each other and Sebastian’s face turns very serious very fast.

“Your second week?”

“Yeah, had a bad hookup like thirteen days ago that did all this,” he gestures to himself and Sebastian’s frown deepens.

“Who did this?” 

“I didn’t get his real name I’m sure, I’m also certain I’m not supposed to be alive right now. I just have more strength in me than he thought I did.” Daniel shrugs and fights the uneasiness in his stomach recalling that night.

“How many times have you fed since then?” Daniel frowns at the hint of concern in Sebastian’s voice.

“Uh once, but in my defence I’m pretty sure he would’ve killed someone if I didn’t kill him first. Also I, like, burned the body and threw it into the ocean with a bunch of rocks so-” Wow, so much for keeping his murder a secret. Jeepers.

“Only once?” Daniel can’t decipher the complicated expression running across Sebastian’s face so he nods.

“Yeah, I wasn’t going to at all but I found this website that said once a week or else the dusting™ happens and listen I’m all for turning myself into a pile of dust but like, after I get to see my family again. I deserve a proper goodbye here.”  

“Dusting™?” Sebastian’s eyes crinkle again and Daniel suddenly feels embarrassed.

“I mean it’s nicer than saying my entire self will disintegrate into a pile of disgusting non-human ashes.” 

“Fair point.” Daniel nods happy with that and then frowns again. 

“Are you gonna like.. Kill me?” Sebastian barks out a laugh and shakes his head. 

“No! Why would I?” 

“I mean I did kill someone.” Sebastian looks at him deadpan. 

“And I’ve killed over 4000 men, I won’t judge your singular one. I’m actually quite impressed with your self control. Most new vampires start their lives with quite a sizable killing spree whether they intend to or not.” 

“Huh… Alright so I’m just- wait did you say four thousand?” 

Fully ignoring the question Sebastian gets up from the floor, he reaches out a hand and Daniel takes it even though the feeling of unease is still very much present in his gut. 

“Listen, I don’t usually do this but given the circumstances I think you should come with me.” 

“So you can kill me and hide the body easier?” Sebastian snorts and slaps Daniel’s arm, fuck that actually hurt okay.

“No you idiot, why would I kill you? I can’t drink your blood, that's cannibalism, and disgusting.” Daniel has more than a few comments about that but the look he’s given silences all of them rather quickly. 

“Also because it’s not pumping anymore right? Like it’s just there still being all murky and gross,” Daniel wrinkles his nose at his own created mental image and Sebastian openly fights a smile.

“It’s still pumping,” he says and walks towards the door. 

“What now?” 

“Your blood. It’s still pumping. So is your heart. It’s just so slow that for any human they would assume you were dead.” He shrugs and walks out just like that. Like that didn’t just fuck with Daniel’s entire worldview for the second time in two weeks. 

“Are you coming?” Without a second thought Daniel runs out the door and slams it shut, fuck it, he’d rather take a risk with this guy than die alone in a sad little pile. 

-

Daniel uses all his strength to follow Sebastian to a big abandoned warehouse where he suddenly halts and Daniel really, really wishes he wasn’t such a naive fucking idiot. 

“You’re a real asshole you know that,” he sneers as Sebastian stops at the heavy fucking iron or some shit door. 

“You make me believe you’re gonna help me, trick me into thinking maybe there’s hope after all in this god forsaken shit situation and then what?! You drag me out here in the middle of fucking nowhere- ” the door opens with a loud creak and a rather gorgeous man sticks his head out squinting at the two. 

“Uh, am I interrupting?” His voice is almost melodic and Daniel swallows down the rest of his rant immediately.  

“I don’t know, is he?” Sebastian asks, looking at Daniel like he’s amusing. Dickhead. 

“No, I'm done, thank you.” He sniffs and Sebastian chuckles and shakes his head, the other guy opens the door wider for Sebastian to enter and Daniel hesitantly steps closer. Unsure if he just burned the crappy wooden bridge he’d started to make here.

“Come in Daniel don’t stand out there like a psychopath.” Sebastian shouts teasingly from somewhere inside and Daniel ignores the pang of relief he feels stepping over the threshold.

“I’ll show you psychopath-” he mutters darkly and pauses once inside and the door closes heavily behind him. It doesn’t look like a warehouse at all. It’s heavily draped in furniture and fabrics making it look actually quite homey. There’s walls built separating the big space into sections and a staircase draped in gorgeous dark olive fabric leading to what he guesses used to be an office but now looks more like a master bedroom of sorts. At least from what the little glimpse through the open door allows, the window is covered by some kind of golden silk or something. 

“Whoa,” he breathes, fully entranced by the place.

“I know right, took a while but it’s not too shabby.” The melodic voice startles him hard and he flinches, turning to be faced with the gorgeous man again. He’s got a beautiful set of braids hanging loosely around his face, dark brown almost hypnotizing eyes and a mouth that looks perfect for- 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you mate, I forget sometimes.” he chuckles and Daniel smiles automatically at the sound. He’d really like to hear that again.

“No worries I uh- I’m still adjusting to the whole, err, everything.” he trails off a little helplessly and the guy smiles at him in understanding. Seriously, is he a fucking model or something? 

“I guessed as much, Sebastian doesn’t really bring those who are uh, adjusted , back here.” He winks and Daniel suddenly gets what Sebastian meant about his heart beating still because he is absolutely one hundred percent sure it just skipped a couple. 

“Right, lucky me.” The guy giggles and Daniel is actively falling in love at this point, oh christ- or uh, satan? Whoever is relevant here. Dracula maybe.

“I’m Lewis by the way,” Daniel grabs the hand held out and shivers at the warm firm handshake. Another myth dispelled, although Sebastian wasn’t cold either, Daniel was just a little bit too gone in his head to focus on that at that time. 

“Daniel,” he grins, hoping his dimples have the effect here that his mother always claimed they would have on his potential partners. 

“Nice to meet you,” 

“You too,” 

Their hands are still touching, like neither wants to let go just yet and Daniel once again feels the abnormalness in his chest. 

“Are you done yet or are you gonna steal him away before I even get to teach him to survive?” Sebastian has the tone of someone who has been through this before, Daniel refuses to think about that too hard and instead mourns the loss as Lewis reluctantly pulls away.

“He’s all yours mate,” Lewis holds his hands up and Daniel bites his lip.

“For now,” is whispered as Lewis walks behind Daniel to get to one of the closed sections and Daniel closes his eyes tightly. FUCK.  

“I heard that!” Sebastian narrows his eyes in Lewis’ direction, the other merely laughs as he disappears behind a wall.

“Sorry about that,” 

“Don’t be I mean I uh, I don’t mind,” Daniel rubs his neck sheepishly and Sebastian cuts him a look.

“Trust me kid, don’t get involved.” 

“Wha- who? Me? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Uh huh, sure. Now, follow me and we’ll get you fixed up from looking like you’re about to well.. dust™” there’s a sparkle of playfulness in those blue eyes, and Daniel wants to be proud that it’s catching on until he realizes the state he’s in. The state he just met Lewis in. 

“Oh fuck me,” he whines pathetically and Sebastian pats his back sympathetically before unceremoniously shoving him to the far back of the frankly enormous space. 

“You’ll recover.” 

-

Sebastian guides him with a firm hand to an almost hidden corner with another mystery door, this one has an keypad on it.

“Can’t be too safe.” Is all he says and Daniel deliberately turns away so he can type in what sounds like at least 8 numbers. Geez.

The door opens and Daniel doesn’t get the chance to turn around before he is rather roughly yanked into a dark room. 

“This better not be-“ he starts and then the lights turn on, must be sensor activated, huh.

Looking around it looks like an incredibly sterile kitchen. Daniel frowns.

“Why is this so important to keep locked?” He questions before he can help himself and Sebastian smirks at him.

“ This isn't.” He goes to another door that Daniel missed and opens it to reveal a walk in fridge filled with-

“Oh my god.”

“ This is,” Sebastian finishes, ignoring Daniel’s outburst and instead walking inside the cold room filled to the brim with blood bags.

“It’s like your personal blood bank,” Daniel breathes, somehow disgusted and amazed all at once.

“Something like that,” 

“How’d you get all this?” 

“I know a guy,” Sebastian shrugs and opens a bag, puts in a straw —where did he get that??— and hands it to Daniel who looks at it dubiously.

“This isn’t like… poisoned or something right?” 

“Mate at some point you’re going to have to trust me.” 

“I know that, but we didn’t have the most trustworthy first meeting now did we.” 

“That goes both ways doesn’t it?” 

Daniel blinks and blows out his cheeks.

“Okayfinewhateverwe’regood,” he mumbles as the hunger that took control last weekend builds up fast when the smell of blood fills the air.

He feels his fangs slowly come out and looks at Sebastian.

“Drink, we have plenty.” He smiles encouragingly and something settles in Daniel. Okay. 

Daniel takes a long sip, expecting the iron flavor to hit and make him gag. Instead it’s like a thick lemonade type taste, the iron is there but so faint it’s easy to ignore. Like drinking syrup which he was never allowed to do as a kid so part of him now almost feels a bit giddy.

He hears faint noise from his side but closes his eyes and focuses solely on the amazing flavors. Sucking on the straw until there’s nothing left to get. 

“Let me-“ Sebastian’s voice breaks his reverie and Daniel snarls and clutches the empty bag to his chest.

“Shhh it’s okay, I’m giving you a new one yeah?” Sebastian holds one hand up in surrender and the other outstretched with another opened bag, so full it’s almost bursting.

Daniel isn’t even aware of moving, just that one second he’s desperate to keep his bag and the next he’s drinking from the new one. 

Everything blurs from there, he comes to sitting next to one of the shelves with Sebastian sitting across from him with another bag in his lap.

Looking around there’s at least 8 empty ones around Daniel and he immediately feels horrible and appalled at himself.

“I’m so sorry I don’t know-“ 

“Shhh it’s fine, you’re new, you need the strength.” Sebastian throws him another one and Daniel looks down at it, heavy in his hands and he’s filled with guilt once more.

“Is it always like this?” He whispers, playing with the tap opening, trying to stall for some reason. To prove something to himself maybe.

“No, I live off of about one bag every three days or so. Lewis too.” Daniel bites his lip.

“How long did that take?” 

“A few years,” Daniel squeezes his eyes shut in defeat, years god.

“But we had no self control when we got bitten. The first week alone I killed an entire village. Lewis- well he did his fair share of damage as well. You have shown extraordinary strength and self control already. I doubt it will even take a full year for you to find your balance.” 

“Can you help me?” It’s as pitiful as he’s ever sounded but Sebastian nudges his foot with his own making him look up to see nothing but empathy.

“I can, and I will, now drink.” He gestures to Daniel’s lap and he swallows thickly.

“I know how much you need the first few times, trust me. Nobody died for these.” 

“What, you know someone at a hospital or something?” 

“I do, actually.” 

“Oh.” Well that helps a little. Looking around Daniel finds his straw in the pile of plastic and gently picks it up to put in the little opening he tore.

This time he is able to take his time, to fully enjoy it and the incredible sensations and strength that flows through his entire body as everything gets ingested.

“Good boy,” it’s with Herculean effort that Daniel doesn’t choke on the little bit that’s left at the praise. He’s never been so grateful for being unable to blush. The glint in Sebastian’s eyes tells him that gratefulness is moot though.

“Now, let me show you your room.” 

“My room?” Completely bewildered Daniel doesn’t fight it when Sebastian grabs his hand and pulls him up and out, he has half a mind to turn around and clean up after himself but the door slams shut and the alarm beeps in lock before he can utter the sentiment.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it after.” 

They enter a new room in the middle of all the other ones, Daniel didn’t realize how many there are.

“How many pe-uh, live here?” 

Sebastian just gives him that teasing smile again and shows him the room that’s apparently his.

“You can decorate however you want, just give a noise warning if you want to hang things like pictures and such.” 

It’s surprisingly big, and despite it being open to the ceiling — logically Daniel understands the layout although it leaves no privacy if you’re on top of the stairs, that’s probably intentional— it’s spacious and cozy. 

There’s a queen sized bed, a nightstand, a tv mounted to the wall and even a desk. 

“Like a luxurious version of my college dorm.” He comments unthinkingly and Sebastian snorts.

“In a good way I hope,” he teases and Daniel nods.

“Yeah nah, it’s great.” He smiles over his shoulder and goes to sit on the pillowy bed. Oh he could really knock out right now. His body is slowing everything down and his mind is going with it leaving him trying all he may to fight to stay upright. He forgot about the aftermath of… feeding. In his defense he’s only done it once before though, should earn him some leeway.

“Get some rest Daniel, you need it.” 

“What about-“

“We’ll talk about everything else later okay? Just now you need rest, let your body fully absorb the blood. Trust me I know what I’m talking about,” he flicks a switch and suddenly a tent-like top that Daniel didn’t notice falls to cover his room, like a makeshift ceiling.

“Thazza cool lightswitch,” feeling the effects of his… food… hit Daniel slowly crawls under the covers, he feels drunk, and high and like he could sleep for weeks. He should do that.

“Good night Daniel,” he thinks he makes a noise, isn’t sure, just hears the light click of the door before everything fades away to nothingness.

-

It takes him longer to wake up that it usually does, possibly because instead of his beloved slightly worn and lumpy mattress he’s laying on a fucking cloud. A comfortable see warm cloud, in a big room that’s all his thanks to-

“What the fuck?!” Daniel shoots out of the bed like burned and looks around frantically. Oh god oh god oh god. He doesn’t even know where he is! He followed some stranger into a fucking warehouse in the middle of nowhere. His mom is gonna be so pissed. Sorry ma I can’t make it this year I’m being held hostage in a fucking warehouse.

-

“I think he’s up,” he recognises the voice vaguely and doesn’t know whether to panic further or not. He can’t even sneak out of here because they have fucking superhearing- 

Didn’t Sebastian tell him he’s killed thousands of people? What’s one measly guy against that .

“Stay cool, stay. Cool.” Daniel forces himself to breathe and shakes out his limbs to force out the excess energy so he doesn’t accidentally lash out. No, he needs to do that on purpose. 

“Daniel?” Sebastian’s voice floats through the door and Daniel swallows, he vaguely remembers pieces from last night. It’s slowly coming back to him. After the failed hook up he was brought here and and- oh.

“Yeah,” he squeaks and the door handle clicks open carefully.

“May I come in?” Daniel snorts despite the tendrils of anxiety and paranoia and makes a noise in affirmative. 

The door slowly opens to reveal Sebastian, he looks soft almost. Comfortable in a hoodie and some sweatpants and the knot in Daniel’s stomach starts to undo itself. He said he would help him.

“Do you remember last night?” He’s even speaking softly and Daniel kind of wants to cry. Instead he nods and Sebastian smiles at him fondly and gestures for him to come.

“Let me introduce you to the others,” 

“The others?” 

“Well yes it’s good manners to know who you’re living with isn’t it?” 

“What about my house?” 

“You can keep it if you want to, and this will be yours for when you want to be here.” 

“My job?”

“As long as you wish to work and feel able to, you should.” Daniel squints.

“It’s that easy?” 

“Nothing is easy Daniel, but these two things are. Your life is hard enough, trust me I know.” Daniel wants to ask him further about that but Sebastian walks off before he can, leaving Daniel to scramble to follow.

“Thank you, I- I don’t think I said that last night,” he pulls on Sebastian’s sleeve and Sebastian pauses and his eyes crinkle.

“You’re welcome.” 

“Why are you doing this?” 

“Let’s just say I don’t want anyone to go through what I did.” Daniel thankfully knows when to drop a subject, so he does and instead dutifully follows Sebastian into a big open space filled with a couple of big sofas creating a horseshoe essentially. There’s a table holding all sorts of knick knacks and a few gaming consoles Daniel recognizes. There’s also a big TV set up that makes the whole thing look like the most comfortable place to spend your lazy days in Daniel’s opinion.

“I thought you said meet the-“

“INCOMING!” Daniel barely has time to move out of the way as a curly haired boy dives — yes dives— between him and Sebastian landing heavily on one of the sofas.

“No fair you started before you said go!” Another boy follows, completely bypassing Daniel as he lunges at the other boy starting a makeshift wrestling match.

It reminds Daniel of his old friend group back home, one of the biggest drawbacks of leaving was leaving them. He wonders what they’re up to now.

“Can we keep things civill for one day please,” a thick Spanish accent fills Daniel’s ears as another guy, definitely older than the rest —at least looks wise— sits down on the other end of the ongoing play fight.

“Oh please, like you are any kind of civil,” Lewis . Daniel tenses and practically feels when Lewis enters his space, a bit too close for it to be accidental and their hands brush together but otherwise nothing happens. Daniel isn’t entirely sure if he’s disappointed or relieved. 

“Pssh, I am plenty civil. You are all alive aren’t you?” The older man smiles looking every bit as dangerous as he probably is and Daniel reaches out to hold onto the edge of Sebastian’s hoodie. What- he needs comfort. 

“Everyone!” Sebastian’s voice echoes through the open space and everyone stops what they’re doing to look at him. Guess that answers who the leader is, not that Daniel actually questioned it. It’s still nice to get the confirmation.

“Where is the rest?” 

“Kimi is pulling a double, Alex is scouting for this year's event and I’m pretty sure Jack and George got lost somewhere trying to find the spot we were at last year.” Lewis rattles off and Sebastian nods.

“Oscar? Has anyone heard from him?”

“Oh yeah he just got back, I think he’s crashed out in his room.” 

“I’ll check on him later.” The older guy offers and Sebastian nods gratefully.

“Great thank you, now I want to introduce our newest member!” He smiles big and Daniel doesn't realize he’s tried to hide behind him until he takes a rather large step to the side uncovering him fully, crap.

“Uh, hi,” he half waves and covertly removes his hand from Sebastian’s sweater, he sees Lewis eyeing the gesture and his chest feels a bit tight suddenly. 

“Don’t be shy, introduce yourself!” Sebastian eggs him on and Daniel glares at him. If it didn’t make him look like an utter child he’d totally stick his tongue out at him right now.

“I’m Daniel, I’m supposed to be dead but the guy who tried to kill me didn’t try hard enough so here we are.” He gestures to himself and the curly haired boy giggles.

“Hi Daniel,” they all respond, what is this? A fucking AA meeting?? 

“I’m Lewis, nobody tried to kill me rather they didn’t want me to die so,” Lewis shrugs and Daniel files that away for later.

“I’m Fernando, I kill people, nobody kills me.” The older Spanish man smiles serenely and Daniel feels the hair on his neck rise. Yeah let’s not fuck with that guy.

“I’m Lando, I was about to die and Kimi saved my life,” curly he- Lando says lightly and Daniel shoots a glance towards Sebastian.

“Kimi is a doctor, a surgeon actually, well, at least for the time being,” what is with the whole mystical shit, god, can nobody just answer things clearly. Is that a vampire requirement?? 

That’s not gonna work out well. Daniel is nothing if not a chronic oversharer. He’s surprised he hasn’t accidentally outed himself at work yet.

“Right,” he nods along like that makes any sort of sense and feels that annoyed feeling again when Sebastian leaves it at that. 

“I’m Charles! I uh, sort of fell into this,” Daniel blinks and Lando cackles which earns him a solid punch to the arm.

“Fuck! We said no actual hitting!”

“We also said no bullying!”

“That wasn’t bullying that was-“

“Boys!” Sebastian quiets the noise again and Daniel really admires how quickly he reigns it all in. He’s gotta figure out how old this man is.

“You fell?” Daniel asks without thinking and Charles’ face crumples and then he sighs dramatically.

“Yes I fell! I fell on top of a stupid idiot who was passed out on the floor with his mouth open and tadaa,” he gestures to himself with little flair and Daniel feels the corner of his mouth twitch up.

“Ah great another bully eh,” 

“No no! I- sorry I, I got bit after a guy blew me and shoved him off and ran home with my pants around my ankles.” He confesses and there’s a baited breath before laughter fills the room. 

He rubs the back of his neck and lets them have their fun, less embarrassed and more happy at the possibility of being part of this whatever it is.

“You’ll fit right in,” Fernando grins and pats his shoulder heading back out. That’s comforting at least.

“He’s right, we should try to get everyone together tonight for a full introduction.” 

“Great tonight is- oh shit i have work! What time is it??” Daniel whips around to find a clock on a wall that tells him he has exactly one hour until his shift. 

“Shit! I gotta go!”

“Wait- Daniel!” Sebastian calls after him but he’s out the door before he can reach him. Only then does he realize he’s in another pickle.

“Oh fuck me where the fuck am I,” he groans and looks around for any signs and comes up empty.

“Daniel,” he flinches hard at Sebastian’s sudden appearance and glares right after.

“Will you stop doing that?!” 

“Well if you stop leaving without any direction to go I might,” Sebastian hands him a phone and Daniel stares at it unblinkingly.

“I already have a phone.”

“Yes but this has all of our information and locations on it. Besides, it's heavily protected and much more secure than yours.” Daniel taps the screen and it asks for a fingerprint.

“I don’t-“ Sebastian shushes him and forces Daniel’s thumb onto the surface which unlocks the phone.

“Sick, wait how did you-“

“Didn’t you have work?” Right, you win for now. Daniel opens the map and finds his bar quickly, about an hour away. Great, that should take twenty or so minutes… maybe thirty given the terrain…

“Will you come back after work?” It’s more unsure than Daniel expected to hear and he nods.

“Yeah, I’ll- I’ll come back.” It feels a lot heavier than it sounds and Daniel isn’t dumb enough not to get the underlying meaning here. 

“Good, good luck.” He really fucking needs it right now that’s for sure. Okay, one step at a time.

-

It becomes a new routine of sorts. Daniel goes to work, goes back to the warehouse and crashes. Spends the hours between sleep and work with the rest of the group and so it goes. Rinse and repeat and all. 

Sebastian helps him still every seventh day —Daniel needs to try for as long as he can to hold on to that— locking them both in the kitchen and letting Daniel drink until he’s full or until Sebastian thinks he should be. Often the latter since Daniel tends to stop before he’s supposed to. He has a guilt complex okay.

Lewis usually finds him after, first claiming it was to double check Sebastian’s feeding routine. The second time though he admits he just wants to see him, spend a bit of time with Daniel when no one else is around. Daniel swoons but doesn’t show it, just lifts the covers to make room for him even though he’s gone again long before Daniel wakes. 

-

He’s met Kimi in passing offloading a van filled with blood bags; the guy is the definition of calm and collected, Daniel gets why he’s a good doctor/surgeon.

Lewis also fills him in on some of Kimi’s past, why he’s so severe and all the people he lost that made him realize he wanted to be the one to stop that from happening. Daniel has a lot of respect for him and he can tell the rest do too. 

Alex is kind and the first one who Daniel really bonds with over their shared love of human food. Alex actually teaches Daniel how to still taste it without trying to eat it and make himself sick — Daniel might have tried to eat a pint of ice cream and might have also spent the next three hours puking— which is a true blessing. It doesn’t taste the same exactly but it’s still delicious.

He asks Lewis if he ever eats for the fun of it one morning when everyone is out by some miracle. They’re sitting a bit too close to be just friends but neither of them acknowledge it, Daniel doesn’t wanna jinx it. Lewis smiles that sweet half sleepy smile that makes Daniel realize he isn’t the only one who was up all night. He forces the uncomfortable knot in his stomach away when Lewis opens his mouth to answer.

“Sometimes, usually it’s when I desperately need something solid or just textured differently y’know?” he scrunches his nose adorably and Daniel bites down a giggle and nods. 

“Yeah that’s how I feel too,” The corner of Lewis’ lips twitch and then the loud creak of the door is heard and he’s out of the sofa the second Lando’s voice breaks through.

“See you later,” he winks with a small wave and Daniel is left waving to no one, chest hurting a bit from the sudden departure but overall just happy he got something .

-

Daniel meets George when the guy is folded in half over a giant textbook that makes Daniel tired just looking at it. Turns out he’s a law student, which will be his second masters degree given that he first became a professor but found it hard to keep a job for too long without raising suspicion and the kids to be more and more unruly. Hence the  career change. 

He offers to help Daniel should he ever want to go back to college which Daniel thanks him for but doesn’t think will be anytime soon, he’s content with how things are for now.

Daniel runs into Lewis when exiting George’s room one afternoon and the other nods towards the door.

“He alright?” Daniel turns to look before the door completely closes and George is in deep focus, carefully making notes while reading. 

“Yeah I think so,” Lewis nods to himself and then grins at Daniel.

“Good,” He pats Daniel’s shoulder in his passing and Daniel soaks it up as best as he can. Suddenly antsy for tomorrow when it’s feeding time again.

-

Jack is the little brother Daniel never had, truly. From the second they meet they get along like a house on fire and Oscar is much the same, the three of them may form a little aussie club separate from the others just because. It pisses Lando off to no end while Charles claims he’s also part of it since Oscar is his adoptive son — long story apparently, Daniel will get it out of them someday.

 Sebastian is clearly happy with how well Daniel is meshing with the rest. Regularly checking in on them all and joining in on movie nights and impromptu games whenever the opportunity arises, Fernando does too.

They play hide and seek with Kimi once and retire the game for the time being after — Daniel has never been so scared and high on adrenaline is his life , and he (almost) died .

-

His new vamp™ routine works up until his sister calls him after one of his shifts to ask him about when he’s coming. Turns out it’s only a week left until he’s expected home and that, well that fucks him up a just a little bit.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck ,” 

“Ey mate what’s got you in a tailspin?” Lando plops down on the sofa while Daniel keeps pacing, he’d made record time home – he’s not sure when he stopped calling his house home but oh well– only to continue his stressed movements there. 

“Nothing! Nothing… absolutely-”

“Nothing?” Lando raises an eyebrow and Daniel pauses with a deep sigh. Out of all of them he supposes Lando would be the most understandable to his situation. Him having family in the UK and all. 

“My family is expecting me for Christmas.” 

“So?” 

“Sooo, they’re expecting me home, in Perth.” He gnaws his bottom lip and sees the understanding break on Lando’s face. 

“Oh,” 

“Yeah oh,” Daniel lets himself be pulled down into a little spoon as Lando does his best to comfort him in the best way he knows how. He was the first one to latch onto Daniel’s biggest love language. 

“Do you want help coming up with an excuse?” he whispers and Daniel swallows a sob. He doesn’t, he doesn’t at all, because he wants to go home. He’s aching to see his mom and dad to see how big his nieces and nephews have gotten… To get relentlessly bullied by his sisters. 

“I know you do,” Oh, he wasn’t aware he was saying it out loud.

“This fucking sucks.” Lando hums in agreement and then starts humming one of his ridiculous songs that he came up with on a whim one Saturday, Daniel may have played it a few too many times in his own room following being sent the file. They’re music buddies, it’s their little thing.

-

Sebastian finds them spooned together a while later, Daniel didn’t realize he fell asleep but it makes sense given he’d just gotten off work. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Daniel tenses and slowly moves himself to a sitting position, eyes on the floor so he doesn’t start crying – something he recently found out he’s still capable of by the way. Unless it’s like… right before feeding time and he’s almost at the point of dusting™.

Lando groans awake at the sound of Sebastian’s voice and pats Daniel gently, ruffling his curls as he gets up and gives Sebastian a small wave in passing as he heads to his room probably for more sleep. 

“Daniel?” Daniel sighs and feels the sofa shift as Sebastian sits next to him, he’s a bit embarrassed to be this vulnerable but then again nobody has seen him as vulnerable as Sebastian has in the last weeks -months - who knows. Daniel has really grown to love him, like family in a way which hurts to think about now. 

“Christmas.” he mumbles, eyes still trained on the floor as he works hard to control his breathing. 

“Chris- oh,” 

“Yeah,” 

“Your family isn’t in America either, are they.” Daniel shakes his head even though it wasn’t really a question and he breaks when Sebastian wraps an arm around his shoulders.

“I miss them so much, I’ve been looking forward to it all year and now- I, I mean I can’t fucking go anywhere for more than six days tops without coming to you for- and the plane ride alone would take like a day and there’s constant sun and everyone is always outside because of course we are and-” The floodgates open and Daniel can’t speak through his own stilted breathing while he sobs. 

“Shhhh,” Sebastian rubs his back and pulls him in so he can at least hide his tears from anyone who could walk in. 

“You don’t have any contacts in Australia do you?” he asks weakly once he’s calmed back down and Sebastian makes a sad noise.

“I wish I did bub I really do, hopefully soon but not yet.” 

“Wouldn’t really help anyways, I’d be fucking cooked just leaving the airport.” Daniel mutters and Sebastian doesn’t say anything. Daniel has tried to experiment with the sun as much as possible but he’s nowhere near being able to go for a jog even, at most a speedy run for like ten minutes and then he starts itching and blisters and just bleugh. 

“You could wear a nun costume, say you’re born again or something,” Sebastian says idly and Daniel snorts.

“Right, mum, dad, I have decided to give myself to our lord and saviour, also I want to be a nun because the monk’s outfits aren’t really doing it for me.” Sebastian shakes a bit under where he’s resting his head and Daniel feels a small smile creep up. 

“I don’t know what to tell them, I hung up on Michelle with a lame excuse of catching the bus so she’s expecting a call back.” 

“We’ll come up with something, after you’ve gotten a bit more sleep and possibly a blood bag.” Daniel pulls away with a confused frown.

“There’s still two more days until-” 

“Yes I know but I want to test something.” Daniel bites his lip but nods and stays put when Sebastian goes to get it. 

“You okay?” He jolts when Lewis appears in the doorway and a flood of embarrassment takes over his system.

“Uh yeah yeah, sorry I didn’t-” 

“No no, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have eavesdropped. I just- well I couldn’t help myself.” Lewis smiles sheepishly and pauses once he’s standing next to where Daniel is sitting.

“May I?” 

“Yeah of course.” They haven’t done anything inappropriate yet other than flirting heavily since Daniel’s presence became more permanent. First it was testing the waters for probably both Daniel guesses and then it sort of evolved but that’s all it’s been. Flirting remarks, teasing touches in passing but nothing tangible, real. 

Well, other than the makeshift cuddle sessions that Daniel buries deep in his chest and looks forward to every weekend, almost more than he’s looking forward to feeding. 

Charles says it’s because Lewis is an idiot and has offered multiple times to help Daniel out if he wants, which– flattering and amusing but not what Daniel is looking for right now. 

George snuck by one day and informed Daniel that apparently Lewis doesn’t really do relationships, hasn’t in quite a while for some reason he didn’t further elaborate on. Daniel appreciated the heads up, especially given how Lewis has a tendency to smell like other people constantly. At least he’s not like Dating Daniel and cheating, he’s more just leading him on– wait is that better or worse? 

“I’m sorry about your family,” Lewis pulls him out of his thoughts and Daniel smiles at him sadly, he knows he is completely genuine, his eyes give him away as much as Daniel is distracted by their beauty. The sympathy is impossible to ignore. 

“Yeah me too... Do you think I’ll ever be able to see them again?” He curses himself for asking, wrong person. He got too comfortable again.

“I do. It’ll take some time, but I’m sure you will, Daniel.” Lewis smiles at him gently and Daniel wants to cry for a different reason. What on earth has he done right to earn this guy’s attention, however fleeting. 

“Thanks,” Lewis looks at him, just looks and Daniel feels something shift. There’s a tension that wasn’t there before and he knows his heart is definitely trying to beat faster as Lewis’ eyes go from his eyes to his lips that Daniel licks subconsciously. 

“I uh,” 

“Can I kiss you?” Lewis catches him off guard but Daniel doesn’t hesitate to nod, probably a bit too fast. 

His lips taste just like he smells when he isn’t covered in someone else’s scent, divine. Daniel struggles to keep himself in check, clenching his hands on his thighs while Lewis takes his time with him, moving his lips against Daniel’s like they have all the time in the world while his hands frame his face sweetly. 

“Sorry, Oscar just got back but I got the-” Sebastian interrupts and Lewis pulls away quickly leaving Daniel in a daze. He’s standing before Daniel registers the lack of contact and Daniel watches as Sebastian straight up glares at Lewis, he’s never seen the other so angry.

“Seb-” 

“Leave.” Lewis bows his head and doesn’t turn back to look at Daniel as he makes his way out of the common space, Daniel can only watch on utterly confused as to what just happened.

“Wha-” 

“Later. Now, I want to try this.” Sebastian brushes him off and sits down on the coffee table in front of him like he didn’t just look like he was about to tear Lewis' head off with his teeth. What the fuck? 

“Not until you tell me-” Sebastian shuts him up with a look and Daniel dutifully takes the bag with his favorite straw and takes a sip.

“How does it taste?” Daniel hums and closes his eyes, it’s not as good as it usually is but that’s probably because he isn’t on the verge of dying. 

“Good,” 

“But less, yes?” Daniel nods and Sebastian grins.

“Good, drink up please.” Daniel once again follows instructions and hands him the empty bag once he’s finished, he feels a little weird but in a good way kind of.

“Do you want another?” He shakes his head.

“I’m good,”

“You sure?” 

“Yeah I’m- I dunno, full kind of? Like, not I’ve eaten a turkey by myself stuffed but like I’d rather not eat anything else for a while if that makes sense.” Sebastian nods thoughtfully and then breaks into a big smile.

“This is great news.” 

“It is?” 

“In the long run, yes.” Daniel doesn’t ask further, just lets Sebastian take the baggie with a comforting pat on his shoulder and head back out. He’s itching to find Lewis and ask what the hell just happened but something tells him he shouldn’t, not right now at least. First he needs to wrap his head around the onslaught of emotions he’s been through in the last few hours.

-

“Hey mate, you’re early,” Valtteri comments as Daniel drags himself behind the counter. He’d had the difficult call before his shift with his family, without saying too much he had come up with an excuse of being the sole responsible bartender for Christmas and if he didn’t do it he’d lose his job. Add that on to him being the only one in the collective he moved into a few weeks ago – boy did that raise a lot of questions – who knew how to cook properly he felt obligated to them to show them what a proper Christmas meal would be since none of them we’re seeing their families either for their own reasons. 

It wasn’t his best lie, but his family believed him and Charles and Alex sat next to him out of frame the entire time, keeping him grounded with comforting touches here and there. 

“Yeah I uh, figured it could be useful with the holiday and all coming up, get a head start on the chaos and all that.” he waves off and Valtteri pauses where he’s cleaning the counter.

“Uh huh. Okay. So when are you leaving?” Right, in the three years they’ve known each other Daniel has never missed a Christmas at home. 

“I’m not, something came up so we all decided it was best for me to stay here,” His voice barely wavers and he knows Valtteri is about three seconds from calling him on his bullshit when Jenson pops out from the kitchen. Yuki is yelling incoherently in the background in Japanese and Pierre is shouting back in French, business as usual then. 

“Daniel! Early bird today ey?” Jenson grins and nudges him teasingly leaning over to grab one of their notepads. His cologne takes up all the air surrounding them and Daniel is surprised to realize it doesn’t have the effect it used to on him. He didn’t even realize in the past few weeks that his simmering crush on his boss had faded to be replaced by a very loud, very frustrating crush on someone else unattainable instead.

Or maybe not unattainable but sure as hell not easy to talk to or get a hold of if he didn’t want to see you so, yeah unattainable fits the bill here actually. Just his luck really. 

“Yeah figured with the oncoming holiday rush and all, early worm all that,” Jenson narrows his eyes and exchanges a look with Valtteri. 

“You sure you’re not trying to get your bonus early so you can head out? I know you must be leaving in a few days right?” 

“Uh no actually I wanted to talk to you about that, feel free to you know, pencil me in for the full holiday if you need someone. I’m staying put this year.” he tries his best to smile, knows he does a half decent job at best but Jenson doesn’t push. He’s nice like that. 

Instead he hums thoughtfully and eventually nods glancing back at Valtteri. What, do they have a secret eye contact language or some shit now? When did that happen?? 

“Alright then, well as you know we already made the holiday schedule a while back assuming you were going home since you didn’t say anything-” 

“I know I know, that’s on me I just- there was a recent change in plans is all so- yeah.” 

“Right, well I’m sure we’re gonna need your backup at some point, I’ll try to let you know a day or so in advance when it comes to that yeah?”

“Sounds great.” Jenson winks at him and heads back to his office leaving Daniel with a very suspicious Valtteri. He checks the clock behind the bar and sees they still have a few minutes before things start off and braces himself for a brief interrogation.

“You can come here if you want,” Okay not what he expected.

“What?” Valtteri clears his throat and restocks a couple of glasses.

“I have arranged this thing for Christmas Eve, since we close early I thought if people were interested we could have a dinner together, nothing big just a meal with coworkers or something.” It’s the most nervous Daniel has ever heard Valtteri and he’s unsure how to deal with it, if it had been one of his friends back home- or hell one of the guys he lives with he’d go in for a hug immediately but Valtteri isn’t like that. Or more like they’ve never really been like that, hence his flailing.

“That sounds great actually,” Daniel emphasises his gratefulness as much as possible and Valtteri untenses. 

“Good, good. I will ask the others and see if I can-” 

“Wait, you haven’t asked anyone else?” 

“Err, no not really. Usually I spend Christmas Eve alone. I have family members that I meet up with every Christmas morning but we never make much out of well, the whole thing. I thought it would be nice though for you and everyone else who doesn’t go home or have someone to spend it with. Since we see each other all the time anyways.” he trails off half joking and Daniel wants to cry, this sweet sweet man. 

“I know you’re not a big hugger but I am going to hug you now.” Daniel warns and practically throws himself on Valtteri, squeezing him as tight as he safely can, much to the other’s amusement.

It takes a couple of seconds but Valtteri only a bit reluctantly puts his arms around Daniel in return and Daniel feels like he just won a big game of sorts. Only took him three years to get some actual physical contact out of his friend. Arguably one of his best friends which is only a bit sad since they don’t really meet outside of work but anyways. 

“Okay that’s-” Daniel quickly pulls away, unable to hide his big smile and Valtteri smiles back like he can’t help himself.

“Thank you,” Daniel whispers when the door opens for a group of college kids to burst through the door. The only response he gets is a quick nod and then it’s full work mode. After a rough few days he feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest.

-

Daniel walks into the living room area with a big sigh. Jack only gives him a glance as he is intensely focused on the game he’s playing, it looks like a racing game of sorts but Daniel doesn’t really care at the moment. He’ll sneak a peek later.

Instead he sighs, loudly, once more and Jack rolls his eyes and pauses the game.

“What.” he prompts and turns towards where Daniel has slumped down into the corner closest to him on the sofa.

“I think Lewis is avoiding me.” Daniel pouts and Jack frowns.

“What do you mean? Why would he do that?” 

“Well it’s been like a week since I saw him last. When was the last time you saw him?” 

“I dunno like an hour ago? Said he was going out right as I heard you wake up… huh.” 

“See! Avoiding me!”

“That doesn’t make any sense, why would he avoid you?” Daniel purses his lips, damn this was a terrible idea. Well he’s got plenty of experience with those he’s just gonna have to fib a bit.

“I dunno mate, maybe I’m too hot or something.” He fans himself dramatically and Jack laughs and throws a nearby pillow at him.

“Sure hottest one around here, I don’t think that matters though since Lewis has a boyfriend and all.” Wait what?

“What did you just say?” Jack looks a bit alarmed at the shift in Daniel’s mood but continues.

“Lewis has a boyfriend? I thought you knew, they’ve been on and off for like years now but recently got back on from what I heard.” 

“How recently?” Daniel feels a sinking pit in his stomach and does his fucking best not to show any signs of the distress that is practically screaming to get out.

“Well according to Oscar he saw them out together like three days ago? Why do you care so much?” Daniel makes a noise and gets out of the sofa, suddenly desperate to be anywhere else.

“I don’t! I mean why would I? It’s not- I- I gotta go.” he speeds out of the living room and takes down Oscar in the process. 

“Shit sorry,” Daniel hisses and helps the other up quickly, they’re in the hall and Daniel hears Jack yelling in frustration at the screen from the living room. 

“No worries ma- are you okay?” Oscar’s serious concern breaks Daniel open like a bleeding wound and he shakes his head, he knows his lip is wobbling but he’s doing his best not to cry. He’s embarrassed himself enough for a lifetime already.

“Come on-” Oscar gently guides him to his room which is closer than Daniel’s own and shuts the door. Daniel looks up at the open space and without saying anything Oscar flips the roof switch as Daniel has taken to calling it and they’re embraced by darkness. 

There’s another click and suddenly the room lights up with a faint orange color, it takes Daniel a moment to see the LED strips carefully placed around the corners and along the edges of the walls making them near invisible to the naked eye. 

“That’s really cool,” he whispers and Oscar shrugs and ushers Daniel to properly get onto the bed before following suit.

“I guess, Lando made a brag about how he put up some lights so I wanted to show him I could do it better.” He smirks and Daniel chuckles.

“Serves him right, his ego does get out of hand sometimes.” 

“You don’t say.” Oscar deadpans and Daniel snorts, comfortable in the little bubble they’re in as Oscar welcomes him to lean against his shoulder while he wraps it around Daniel’s to rub it with his thumb in a soothing motion.

Oscar lets him settle in for a few minutes before making a small sound to get his attention. 

“Wanna tell me what that was about earlier? You know, when you tried to take me out?” he teases lightly and Daniel tenses, the pit in his stomach growing exponentially along with a sense of guilt.

“Sorry,” he mumbles and swallows. Oscar doesn’t say anything, just waits him out. He’s annoyingly good at that.

“Lewis has a boyfriend.” Daniel eventually confesses, of course given Oscar being the source he just makes a confused noise and Daniel forces himself to sit up enough to look at him.

“Lewis has a boyfriend.” He says again and Oscar searches his face still confused until he suddenly gets it. 

“Oh,” 

“Yeah oh.” Daniel sags back down, suddenly irrationally angry that Sebastian hadn’t hurt Lewis a bit when he caught them last weekend. Of course he doesn’t really want Lewis to get hurt at all, but when you’re hurting yourself rationale and shit goes out the window. Besides his boyfriend would’ve put him back together all nice and lovey dovey and- 

“Danny,” Daniel takes a deep breath not having realized he started hyperventilating. God somethings don’t ever go away do they, what the fuck is the point of being immortal when you still have panic attacks and anxiety and all that bullshit. 

“Daniel,” Right, Oscar.

“Yeah,” he says into Oscar’s shirt who twitches at the vibrations but doesn’t move further.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel sits back up with a frown.

“Why are you sorry? It’s not your fault.” 

“No but I saw him with Nico and-” 

“Nico?” 

“The guy he’s been seeing.” Daniel vaguely remembers George mentioning the name Nico when he came in to inform Daniel about Lewis in general but for all his might he can’t remember the context of it now properly.

“The guy he’s been on and off with for years now?” Oscar blinks and shakes his head.

“No, I mean yes kind of but not really. It’s complicated.” he sigs and Daniel raises his eyebrows. 

“I have time.” 

“Look I’m not really the best one to explain all of this to you, can I phone a friend?” Daniel snorts unintentionally at the attempt at a joke and nods. 

“Sure.” he concedes and Oscar disappears as fast as the word is out of his mouth leaving Daniel to try to remember what the fuck George said about Nico. 

Of course back then he’d been more interested in Lewis himself rather than his previous lovers and such but christ he should remember something.

He doesn’t get to bury himself in it at all though as Oscar returns almost as fast as he left.

“I brought backup,” he says gravely and everyone except Kimi, Fernando and Lewis filter into the room. 

“I’ll say,” Daniel breathes, feeling very exposed right now. Sebastian gives him a soft smile and pushes through the lot to sit next to him, immediately pulling him in for a cuddle like they usually do whenever Daniel is feeling particularly full or hungry. He hasn’t brought up the one bag thing again yet but Daniel knows Sebastian is calculating so he’s probably picking his timing carefully. 

“Who hurt you?” Charles demands and crawls to sit crisscrossed in front of Daniel with a stern expression that looks entirely out of place on the rather innocent face. 

“Oscar didn’t say?” 

“No he just told us we had to- ey you copied my room!” Lando accuses and Oscar smirks.

“Does it count as copying when I did it so much better though?” he tilts his head and George has to step in front of Lando to prevent a physical altercation.

“He is right this is cooler,” Jack teases in passing and lays down next to Charles, staring at the lights flickering without a care in the world, he needs to teach Daniel that. 

“We are not here to judge lights, are we?” George asks and glances up too, fully ignoring Lando’s pouting as he’s held firmly in place. 

“We could be,” Daniel does his best to distract but Oscar glares at him.

“No, we will do that another day.” he adds just to piss Lando off more and ignores the other in favor of getting back on the bed. How they all fit is a miracle in its own really but they manage somehow. Alex squeezes in between Sebastian and Jack while George drops Lando unceremoniously in favor of sitting next to Oscar, leaving only the spot between Charles available. 

“We need bigger beds.” Jack huffs as he has tried his best to sit up without falling off and there’s a chorus of agreement that makes Sebastian roll his eyes.

“You are all too spoiled already. If Kimi was here-” 

“Let’s not-” George interrupts pointedly to steer them back to the guy they’re all looking at. Daniel thinks it's really stupid that vampires can’t turn into bats at the moment, for once can’t he be like the cliches in movies. 

“I think we should continue, if Kimi was here…?” He tries and no one lets him get away with it. Bastards.

“Tell them,” Oscar nudges him and Daniel bites his lip. 

“I don’t want to push my shit onto everyone…” 

“You’re not!”

“We want to know!” 

“Yeah we care about you!”

“You’re family.” Daniel looks up into George’s unwavering blue eyes and pauses. He has been feeling more and more like that himself since he moved in, it took him a while to notice but after the call with Michelle he’d found he feels like he has two families now. One by blood and one by choice, technically they both involve blood but in vastly different ways. 

“Yeah?” He asks weakly and everyone nods around him, if he wasn’t so honed in on the Lewis of it all he’s sure he’d be floating on cloud nine right now. He’s felt so lonely since he came to the US… it only took (technically almost) dying to find real company.

Sebastian ruffles his hair breaking the heaviness of the moment and Daniel fights the twitch of his lips. 

“Now, what’s wrong?” Charles is far too intense but it gets results. 

“I may be in love with Lewis,” Okay so maybe Daniel has been lying to himself and downplaying the whole thing with a crush. 

Maybe he has tried to ignore the way he always follows the sound of Lewis’ voice if only to hear him talk to someone else or if he’s lucky even laugh. Maybe he’s tried his best to fight the way he feels like he’s had like three blood bags everytime Lewis looks at him, every time their eyes meet and that weak heartbeat increases just a little. 

Maybe he has pretended that going around and asking everyone as subtly as he’s been able to about Lewis and made sure he’s always in the common areas whenever Lewis is in the building to in his own way show his availability, being too afraid to do anything more than that. 

Maybe he’s done all that because he’s never felt like this before, he’s never wanted to spend every minute getting to know someone and just look at them. He’s never missed anyone’s smile and scent , not the cologne just Lewis’ own. He’s overwhelmed and a bit lost and scared and now– well now he’s heartbroken and it’s all his own fault isn’t it? 

He musters up his courage to look around for the others’ reactions once the silence is too deafening to sit in any longer and sees various expressions of understanding and sympathy. It’s only Sebastian who can’t fully mask his feelings and Daniel stays on him urging him to explain.

“I’m not upset with you Daniel,” He eases and Daniel is immediately relieved though he didn’t realize he was that worried about the possibility of that. 

“I am upset at Lewis, I told him not to-” Sebastian sighs and runs a hand through his hair. 

“To what?” Daniel asks softly and Sebastian gently brushes his cheek.

“I told him not to get involved with you, not when he is still- when Nico is still in the picture.” his hand drops to take one of Daniel’s and squeeze and Daniel swallows. 

“Nico is back?” Alex sounds genuinely surprised and Oscar confirms.

“Yeah I saw them together the other night… Looks like they’ve been back in touch for a few months.”

“Months?!” Lando’s outrage is almost palpable and Daniel is suddenly keenly aware he’s missing something here.

“Most likely, Fernando saw them early this summer and Lewis has been out more than he used to.” There’s a collective silence as everyone seems to process the news that Daniel desperately needs to be filled in on further, but first things first.

“They’ve been together since summer?” he chokes out and Jack makes a face.

“Then why did he kiss me eight days ago.” He rubs his eyes with his palms, willing away the oncoming phantom headache – or real, he isn’t sure if he can get them anymore, one way to find out. 

“HE KISSED YOU?!” Charles jumps out of the bed startling all of them and Sebastian is up and blocking the door immediately.

“Charles-” 

“No! He cannot do this! First we have to deal with the fucking shit with Nico all those years ago and now he goes and finds him again, AND hurts Daniel in the process! It’s not right.” He sneers and Daniel shrinks in on himself. The pure anger in Charles’ entire posture is comforting in some way but only serves as a reminder of the pain Daniel has now caused everyone else. He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

“I’m sorry,” he squeaks and Charles spins around going from angry to sad in a heartbeat. 

“No no no don’t be sorry Daniel,” 

“Yeah don’t be it’s good you told us.”

“Please don’t leave us.” Lando’s plea comes as a surprise.

“Leave you? Why would I?” 

“Because of Lewis, we understand if you want distance from him but just- if you can.” George adds trailing off, big sad eyes breaking Daniel’s heart even more. 

“I would never leave, you’re my family.” 

“Promise?” Daniel melts at the soft tone from Alex and nods.

“Pinky promise,” he grins and holds out a pinky for Alex to hurriedly take with his own, which naturally turns to Alex  hauling Daniel over making them both topple onto the floor with a muted thump. At least there’s carpet floors.

-

Daniel is in the middle of a makeshift cuddle pile with Alex and Charles when the loud creak of the door alerts them of Lewis’ return. Daniel tenses when he sees the way Charles’ eyes narrow and his focus leaves the stupid comedy Daniel had convinced them to watch, and goes to the entryway of their shared space. 

Lewis passes briefly but somehow Daniel catches his eyes and something in his chest twinges. God he’s so stupid. Lewis briefly pauses but then probably catches Charles’ eyes and moves on quickly. 

“Ow!” Charles’ hisses after Daniel smacks his shoulder which is difficult from this angle but he managed.

“I told you to be normal! He hasn’t done anything to either of you and I don’t want to ruin everything.”

“You’re not! I’ll stop. I just…” Charles pauses to find his words and Alex squeezes both of theirs shoulders.

“I am protective over the people I care about. I care about Lewis but we don’t- we don’t see each other much. I see you more.” Charles reasons and Daniel frowns.

“But he’s been here so much longer?” 

“Sure but that doesn’t mean he’s closer to any of us.” Alex interjects.

“Look he and Sebastian have a special friendship and mutual respect, and he has the same with Fernando and Kimi and for some reason George but the rest of us? He’s like the cool uncle we see here and there. When he’s here he’s part of us like he’s been here forever but- he’s gone alot. Especially since the whole Ni-” Alex cuts himself off and Daniel smiles weakly.

“It’s okay, I’m not a teenager anymore, I can handle being rejected.” Charles bristles and Daniel rolls his eyes.

“You’re like a guard dog you know that?” he teases trying to lighten the mood and Charles glares at him.

“I am not… which dog?” Daniel gives Alex a look and opportunity to move to the other end of the couch while Charles waits for the answer.

“Oh you know those ferocious ones,” Charles smiles and Daniel slides a bit away knowing it’s moot.

“I like that, I am feroch-fersh- that thing you said,” he huffs and Daniel giggles.

“Yeah? So you agree that’s the dog you are?” Charles nods and Daniel grins big.

“See I always knew you were a chihuahua!” Charles takes a split second to process and Daniel screams once he pounces, shoving Daniel into the pillows and hitting him with a pillow. 

“You know you’d do more damage with tickling,” Alex mutters and Daniel lets out every curseword he’s ever learned when the pillow is thrown and he sees Charles smirk.

“Sharl don-” the rest is cut off by high pitched laughter and he can’t breathe, suddenly grateful that he won’t die from that at least- no he’ll die from fucking laughing too hard surely he’ll break a rib. 

“Please please please,” he begs after what feels like an eternity, fuck vampire stamina honestly. Charles twitches his fingers just enough for Daniel’s oversensitive body to flinch hard and then he sits back on his haunches seemingly extremely pleased with himself. 

“You have learned your lesson, yes?” he gloats and Daniel begrudgingly nods. 

“Okay good, we are late Alex let’s go!” Daniel lets them both hug him before they leave to do who knows what – that’s on Daniel he zoned out a bit when they told him – and ponders his next move, ultimately deciding he’ll watch some netflix in his bed. The knowledge of Lewis being home makes him a bit nervous. 

-

“Knock knock,” Daniel tenses as the door opens slowly, revealing Lewis in all his dumb gorgeous glory. Can’t he look like shit just once , Daniel does! Multiple times a week! 

“Oh uh- hi,” he shrinks in on himself a bit and Lewis frowns.

“Is it a bad time?” 

“No! I just- I uh,” Daniel flails and pauses when it makes Lewis smile that tiny smile that he loves so much. God dammit heart. 

“Mind if I join you? I know it’s not feeding night but I just wanted some Daniel time,” See now how the hell is Daniel not supposed to fall hopelessly in love when he says things like that.

“Sure,” he lifts the blanket in familiar fashion, much more nervous though given that he’s not in the drunk high sleepy mental space he is whenever this usually happens.

Lewis climbs in carefully, assesses Daniel’s position and gently lays down on his back leaving his arm out like an invitation and listen, Daniel is just a man okay. He may be immortal but he is a man in love too which at the moment trumps all reason. 

“I missed you,” Lewis confesses once Daniel lets himself fall into his little nook – that’s not really his, it's Nico’s , but Daniel is doing his very best to ignore that for the moment and the dirty feeling that comes with it.

“Yea? I thought you were avoiding me,” He jokes and Lewis tenses.

“I- wasn’t really, I just, I had some stuff to take care of.” Okay the tummy ache is back and Daniel is starting to feel a bit sick. 

“Right… stuff…” he bites his lip and is thankful for the noise of the stupid reality show he put on in the background as he tries his best to find his words. 

“What kind of stuff?” 

“Well I had to sort through a contractual issue and met up with a couple of old friends,  that kind of thing.” 

“Contract?” Lewis exhales deeply and dismisses his question completely, instead focusing on the screen ahead making Daniel’s stomach sink. 

The room is quiet for a bit too long and he really can’t help himself, he might actually be sick at this rate.

“Are you seeing Nico?” He sits up and fights the urge to stare at his lap, needing to see the way Lewis’ face explodes in different emotions, shock, confusion and finally resignation which all but sentiments his fear. Fuck. 

“Right so this- this is just what? A game for you? The flirting, the getting to know each other, making me think you like me.” Daniel’s breath hitches and he looks up at his dark ceiling at the singular glow in the dark star Jack had put up a few weeks ago for some unknown reason. It’s a decent distraction from crying.

“Daniel it’s not like that, I do like you,” Daniel scoffs and gets out of his bed, unsure where he’s going but knowing he can’t stay here any longer.

“Right yes sure we’re roommates or whatever- look this is all my fault, my mistake. In my experience kissing someone means something but whatever I- whatever.” he waves his arms around like a madman feeling every bit as one while Lewis’ face crumples in front of him. Somehow that makes him angrier. 

“It does mean something.” Lewis tries and Daniel rolls his eyes.

“Uh huh and that’s why Oscar saw you hooking up with Nico five days ago. What? I was a placeholder for you?? A nice little plaything until the real deal came back? I don’t- I don’t deserve this.” feeling his anger subside quickly Daniel knows himself enough to know what’s coming and without another word he storms out of the room all the way out of the building. 

He sees George in passing with Fernando, hears his name being called but ignores it he needs to get the fuck outta here. 

Slamming the door open Daniel is greeted by pure darkness, so he does what he does best- runs. 

-

Daniel spends the following few days at his old house, at least he didn’t give up his lease yet. Good job past Daniel. 

His vamp phone™  – patent pending – has been blowing up since the night he left, everyone is asking where he is and what happened. The only one who hasn’t tried to get a hold of him is Lewis, somehow that just makes it worse. 

Saturday rolls around and he’s about to sneak to the bar to see if he can maybe help out – he’ll even do it for free. He is tired of moping around and crying over his own mess – when there’s a knock on the door. 

He fights the urge to yell at whoever to get the fuck away, maybe it’s a poor idiot needing directions or something, and goes to open it.

“Seb,” 

Sebastian is standing there with a huge backpack on almost looking like he’s about to go on a one month camping trip alone if it weren’t for the casual clothes and Daniel lets him in quickly.

“I’m not going to try and drag you back, even though everyone wants me too.” He pauses with a look and Daniel slumps down on his sofa. 

“They’ll get over it.” he mutters and Sebastian frowns at him and sits down, placing the backpack carefully on the ground beside them.

“They really won’t.” 

“Sure they will, we’re immortal! My time there will be like- a second in some ten twenty years!” Sebastian frowns at him.

“Do you really not want to come back?” Daniel swallows and looks at the man he considers a big brother, a best friend even, and he can’t lie to him.

“I do, but I can’t.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because I- because I fucked it all up didn’t I? I went ahead and fell in love with Lewis, got played in the process and now I’m sitting with my fucking dead- sorry almost dead heart in my hands miserable because nobody wants it.” 

There’s silence for a while and then Sebastian opens his backpack to reveal too many blood bags for Daniel to count. 

“I can’t undo the pain he’s caused you, and I won’t try to tell you how long it will take you to move on from it. However, I will say this.” Sebastian pauses and gently takes one blood bag, opens it and puts in Daniel’s favorite straw before handing it to him.

“You have a group full of people who would love the chance to hold just a piece of your almost dead heart.” Daniel snorts through a sip and Sebastian quirks a smile.

“I know it’s not the same, and it’s not what you want, probably, but you are loved Daniel. You are so loved by so many, all of us actually. I have had a gaggle of boys trailing after me like ducklings since you left, asking me non stop for your address trying to trick it out of me so they could come see you. Fernando and Kimi even tried to pull your medical records which worked except you haven’t updated your address since you lived in your dorm.” Right, he knew he’d forgotten something important. 

“The point is- I’m not sure what the hell is going on with Lewis, I haven’t been able to talk to him since- well for a while. All I know is that I’m sure whatever happened his intentions were never evil, that isn’t who he is. I’m not going to defend him hurting you and leading you on if he’s back with Nico but just- he’s still just a man. Like you, like me.” Sebastian shrugs and Daniel squeezes his eyes shut and focuses on getting the bag down as quickly as possible.

“I hate when you’re making so much sense.” he mutters, handing him the empty plastic and Sebastian laughs.

“I know- everyone does. It’s a curse I’m forced to bear.” He winks and Daniel sighs. 

“I’m scared to go back.” He confesses and Sebastian hums.

“Take your time. We’ll wait, we have time.” He gets up towards the door and Daniel watches him leave feeling very torn up about it. 

“That should be enough for another week, if you need more time I’ll come by with a refill.” 

“Thank- you…” Daniel says as the door closes and looks at it. Brain working overtime to process everything that was said. 

“Ah fuck .” he moans and puts his face in his hands. What a fucking mess.

-

Daniel does make it to the bar in the end, lounging around the area until Valtteri is annoyed enough to put him to work – don’t tell Jenson – which he happily does. It does the trick of taking his mind off of the chaos that is his personal life and he fully makes the most of every minute, paying attention to detail like never before.

“You’ve missed it this much? It’s only been a week mate,” Valtteri teases when he sees Daniel scrub at a stubborn spot with his rag when it quiets down between waves of customers and he shrugs.

“I like being of service.” It’s true, he does. All the other stuff doesn’t need to be brought up now, decidedly not because he is not thinking about it .

“Careful or I’ll ask you to come in and work off the clock every night,” Daniel grins. 

“You know I’d do anything for you Val,” he flutters his eyelashes and laughs when it earns him a playful shove. 

“You missed a spot.”

-

“The others want to come too for Christmas Eve,” Valtteri says once they’re closing up. It takes Daniel a few seconds to remember their conversation from over a week ago and something in him hurts as much as it fills him with warmth that he at least won't be alone in his house this holiday. 

He ignores the little voice in his head telling him he won’t have to ever be alone if he just goes back . 

“I can’t,” he mumbles to himself and Valtteri pauses.

“You can’t?” fuck, he has to stop talking to himself out loud.

“I caaan’t wait ! I’m very excited to come, what should I bring?” Valtteri looks at him in that eerie Finnish way he does and abruptly goes back to normal, creepy. 

“I will text you once we figure that out, right now it’s a bit messy with Pierre and Yuki arguing over who gets to make dinner.” 

“Why can’t they do it together?” 

“Oh you know, Jenson is worried the kitchen will explode if they’re trying to do the same thing in the same space and not at separate stations.” he shrugs and Daniel laughs, he’d forgotten how chaotic the pair was. Ironic since they’re also married, their sex life must be crazy. 

“What?” Daniel realizes he’d made a face imagining his coworkers – who he prefers to view as genderless barbies for the most part – having sex and scratches his neck. 

“Nothing I just- I thought about how Yuki and Pierre y’know… Get it on,” Valtteri makes the same face Daniel just did and then they both laugh.

“I’m sure it’s pretty explosive.” Valtteri says trying to stop his own laughter and that just sets Daniel off harder. 

-

Daniel loses track of time in his impromptu new routine, he goes to work and hangs around until they let him be useful and sleeps all day. Rinse and repeat. 

He ignores everyones texts and calls, only sending Sebastian a thumbs up when asked if he is still good on blood. He has a week left of supplies in his fridge if he divides it up correctly which allows him to live in his own mind for a bit longer. Pretending none of anything ever happened he just happens to need blood instead of food to survive! Shit happens!

There is a text from Lewis that’s been there since the night Sebastian came, Daniel has forced himself to leave it unopened. Principle, or something. It hurts too much to think about, besides Daniel is sure he’s somewhere happy with Nico so…

A knock on the door startles him and Daniel squints at his door, he’s a little late to leaving tonight on the count of staring at all the messages on his phone and letting the guilt eat at him. Probably shouldn’t have done that. 

“Seb?” he tries standing a few feet away still.

There’s another knock, harder and Daniel jumps and glances at the phone. Call the police? Maybe? 

 “Daniel!” Sighing in relief and a bit of frustration he throws open the door.

Lewis is standing there, hand up to knock again and he looks surprised. 

“You’re home.” he breathes and Daniel frowns. 

“Yes? What are you doing here Lewis?” Lewis chews on his lip, suddenly uncharacteristically shy and it sends Daniel for a loop. 

“Can I come in?” That throws him off even more but he nods and steps aside to give room.

Lewis stays outside, pointedly looking at the threshold and then at Daniel and- oh right.

“Yes Lewis you can come into my house,” Lewis half chuckles and passes him quickly, he still smells amazing, dammit.

“That’s awfully formal,” 

“Yeah well, you’re only the second vampire to come in here so…” 

They stand opposing each other in the living room and Daniel fights the urge to fidget, it’s too quiet, too heavy, too much.

“I-” 

“I’m sorry,” Daniel blinks and Lewis takes a small step closer, carefully like he’s approaching a scared animal, it’s not all wrong.

“O-kay? I don’t-” 

“No I-” He sighs and rubs a hand across his face.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Nico,” Right.

“Would’ve been nice to know you had a boyfriend before I did something stupid and fall in love with you.” oh fucking- god dammit Daniel! 

“You-you’re in love with me?” Lewis looks openly hopeful and something churns in Daniel’s gut as he backs himself up against the door. 

“That is irrelevant!”

“It’s really not.” Lewis steps closer and Daniel tenses.

“It is, you already- Nico.” Daniel trails off with a handwave and Lewis’ face does that complicated thing again. 

“I- no okay so, that’s why I’m here. There’s no Nico,” Daniel raises an eyebrow.

“I mean he exists, but I- me and him we’re not together anymore. We haven’t been for many years.” 

“But Fernando and Oscar saw-” Lewis groans, shaking his head.

“They saw you! You and him out together in early summer and again after you kissed me!” Daniel barrels on, stopping on a sharp inhale when he runs out of steam.

“I can explain that,” 

“Okay, then explain,” Daniel crosses his arms and Lewis takes a step forward again. 

The distance between them is shrinking incrementally like he thinks Daniel won’t notice, he doesn’t know Daniel is only pretending not to. So there. 

“I met Nico early summer, for the first time in over a decade by the way. Because he finally agreed to a divorce.” 

“A divorce? Wait, you were married ?” Lewis blows out air and scrunches his face adorably. Which is annoying because this is a major fucking deal that he didn’t tell Daniel about .

“I was going to tell you, after it was official I wanted to tell you the full story. I just- I just wanted to get it sorted first and know it was over with. The day Oscar saw us was the day we signed the official papers having finally negotiated everything, the night you left I- I was waiting for the confirmation so I didn’t want to drag you into it yet but that- that just made everything worse.” he looks so defeated and just sad , it’s taking all of Daniel’s willpower not to wrap him in a hug. 

He takes a few moments to process everything, letting the emotional mess run through him properly instead of accidentally saying something he doesn’t really mean. Lewis, to his credit, lets him be. 

“So… you weren’t leading me on?” Lewis looks at him, hopeful.

“No, never. It was shitty timing truly but I never lied to you. I meant everything I said and did.” Daniel nods deep in thought and watches as Lewis takes a few steps closer, suddenly just a couple feet away and the pit in Daniel’s stomach fades, slowly being replaced by that tingly feeling he usually gets around him. 

“All of it?” Lewis eyes sparkle in the dim light, he nods slowly and moves until there’s no space left. He watches for Daniel’s reaction as he so so carefully cups his face, tilting it so they’re barely a breath away.

“All of it,” he exhales and then their lips collide. It’s just as sweet as the first time, but much more intense. 

“Is this okay?” Daniel forces his eyes back open, to take in the sight. Even up close like this Lewis still takes his breath away. Easily.

“Yea, yeah it’s okay.” he answers, fighting a smile to lean in for another kiss, internally screaming of joy and relief. 

-

“Will you tell me the story now?” Lewis makes a noise in question and Daniel noses his cheek. They’ve moved to the half broken couch, Daniel back in his nook and Lewis turns to capture his lips briefly.

“I’ll tell you anything my love,” Daniel bites his lip and hides his face quickly making Lewis laugh. 

“You can’t just say shit like that,” he mumbles against the fabric of Lewis’ sweater and Lewis kisses his temple. 

“What? Love? But I love you.” Daniel shoots up so quickly he’s sure he would’ve pulled something if he was able to. 

“You do?” Lewis rolls his eyes like Daniel is being dense on purpose. Rude.

“I do, why else would I pester Sebastian, who wanted to kill me, for your address until I got it and then visit you every night in hopes that you’d answer the door-” 

“Every night? You- you were here before?” Daniel’s eyes widen and he crawls into Lewis’ lap properly much to the other’s confusion and amusement.

“Yes I, every night since Sebastian was here I came to- you didn’t hear me? I waited for like three hours every night…” Daniel’s stomach somersaults and he knows his heart is beating harder, vampirism be damned.

“I- I was at work, I’ve been at work every night to distract myself. I- you were here every night?” He grabs Lewis’ face, forcing himself to be gentle and Lewis smiles and tries his best to nod. 

“From the day I met you Daniel, I knew you were special. When you flirted back, kissed back I knew you’re the one. I would spend every night outside of your door for the rest of time in hopes that you’d open it one day.” Daniel feels the tears build and doesn’t try to hold them back for once. 

“The rest of time is a really long time,” he chokes out trying to not fall apart completely and Lewis rubs the wetness off of his cheeks. 

“I’ve got nothing but time my love,” 

-

It takes a couple of days alone in the house before Daniel and Lewis decide to go back home. Lewis tells him of how he and Nico met when they were both still new to the whole vampire thing, how it started out like an explosion of passion that crashed and burned everything around them. A beautiful disaster so to speak. 

Within a couple decades their love had turned to disdain and they fought more than anything else, everyone around them knew better than to intervene or even join them whenever they were in the room together which isolated them both more than they realised. 

Still Lewis persisted, thinking he somehow magically could make it work despite Sebastian urging him to let go. He refused again and again and at the end the decision was made for him when he woke up alone with all of Nico’s stuff gone. Every hint that he’d ever been part of Lewis’ life at all evaporated. Not even a note goodbye.

It had taken Lewis years to process, to get over. Despite the pain and anger it was his first big love after all. For a while he thought it was his only one so he settled on just using others and letting others use him for pleasure. 

“But then I met you, with your charm and sarcasm, your beautiful eyes and enticing lips… I felt something I hadn’t felt in years. Something I never thought I’d feel again.” Daniel turns to lay on his side in bed, letting the sheet pool against his waist and enjoying the way Lewis’ eyes follow the trail. 

“Yeah?” he prompts and Lewis’ lips twitch into a smile, he lifts the hand closest to Daniel up to swipe his thumb against his cheek, Daniel turns to kiss his palm slowly. Savoring the moment. 

“Yeah, the more I saw you, the more I got to know you, and saw how you got along with the others… The more I fell… I’d forgotten about the whole divorce, the divorce Nico found me to ask for so he could marry his boyfriend properly. I didn’t ask for it but I am grateful for it. I got closure. So I can start over, try again…” he trails off and leans up on his elbow to pull Daniel close by his neck for a kiss, following Daniel back down onto the mattress. Their naked bodies moving together in sweetly. 

“Mmmm, that sounds good to me,” Daniel pants and Lewis hums in agreement as he kisses his way down Daniel’s chest. 

-

 Lewis helps Daniel pack up all of his stuff that he wants to bring with him and holds his hand the entire walk there, it’s a pretty long walk and probably one of Daniel’s favorites so far. 

“Wait-” Daniel stops once they’re a few feet from the door and Lewis halts.

“What’s wrong?” 

“Uh, have you talked to the others?” Daniel knows his anxiety is obvious and Lewis snorts. 

“Why don’t you go see for yourself.” he winks and that’s just a bit annoying honestly.

Daniel opens the door slowly, there’s complete darkness in the whole building which Daniel has actually never seen, he didn’t think that was possible. 

“Uhmmm,” He walks in, unsure if something is horribly wrong when light floods the space but it’s- it’s all christmas lights strung along impossible places giving everything a cozy glow. 

“SURPRISE!” Lando, Charles and Jack jump out from who knows where and Daniel laughs in disbelief.

“You did this for me? When?” 

“Eh, it’s been a slow day.” Alex pats him on the shoulder teasingly –where did he come from?-- accompanied by George. 

“You guys,” Daniel’s lip wobbles.

“IF YOU CRY I’M GONNA CRY!” Lando covers his eyes dramatically, and Jack shoves him into the other room muttering about diva behavior. 

“Just a forewarning, next time you try to leave we will tie you to your bed.” Fernando pops up and pinches Daniel’s cheek, Daniel knows that he is a hundred percent serious, that just makes him happier. 

“I will keep you asleep for a week,” Kimi adds on and Daniel really hasn’t taken stock of everyone present has he. 

“Good to know,” he smiles and feels someone ruffle his hair.

“About time kiddo,” Sebastian teases and Daniel watches him move to Lewis for a one armed hug. Oh thank god. 

“Incoming!” Someone shouts and Daniel is floored – no, literally.

“Ow,” he moans, Oscar just squeezes him tighter.

“Don’t leave me again,” He whispers, sounding more vulnerable than he ever has before and Daniel swallows thickly.

“Promise.” Oscar relaxes but doesn’t move and then there’s another body on top of them.

“Charles!” 

“Cuddle pile!” 

Daniel squeaks as Jack and Lando add to the pile. 

“I know I don’t have to breathe but I’d like to.” He comments to a chorus of laughs.

“Alright get up people we want him ali-well errr, not dead yeah?” George stumbles and Daniel gratefully takes his hand to help himself up when the others have rolled off. 

His things get taken from him to who knows where – is his bedroom still there?-- and Daniel is happily shuffled towards the common room where Lewis sneaks in to pull Daniel into one of the corners conveniently also in his lap.

“Hey there,” Lewis grins down at him and Daniel smiles dazedly back. 

“Hi yourself,” His chest tingles when Lewis kisses him softly despite the awkward position, he pouts his lips for more when someone coughs awkwardly.

“Glad to see you finally made up but err, mind going easy on the pda?” George makes a face and Daniel hides his giggle in Lewis’ shirt. Once more grateful for being unable to blush. 

“Yeah stop rubbing it in our single faces,” Lando sniffs and Oscar rolls his eyes and shoves him down on the other side of the sofa before effortlessly jumping over the table and landing by Daniel’s legs.

“Mind if I lay here for a bit,” he asks, making himself comfortable and Daniel snorts and runs his hand through his hair as he lays down properly.

“Not at all,” 

“Great!” Jack replies from the doorway and copies Oscar, Daniel watches the others and braces himself to lose his breathing ability again. 

Charles, Alex and George stand fidgeting and staring at them and Daniel laughs at their struggle to remain still. 

“Come on in, plenty of room!” 

“Wha- no,” Lewis is drowned out by the increasing cuddle pile and Daniel closes his eyes and lays down on his chest letting himself feel the love that is surrounding him so obviously, so loudly. It’s the closest to home he’s ever felt. 

-

“Are you sure you’re okay with me leaving?” Daniel fixes the shirt Lewis had lent him, looking himself up and down in the mirror to check for surprise stains of something. He looks good if he may say so himself.

It’s Christmas Eve and Val texted Daniel to double check if he was coming when he didn’t show up for work on his off time for that week or so – December is a long month huh– and Daniel had enthusiastically answered despite being in his own emotional hell at the time. Hence the current situation. 

Lewis comes up behind him and smiles at his reflection, hands on his hips to squeeze a bit teasingly and Daniel doesn’t need that distraction right now. Although he isn’t complaining. 

“If I say no will you stay?” is whispered against his neck followed by a soft press of lips and Daniel’s eyes slip shut at the sensation. 

“I-” he stutters and feels the beginning of a hard on in his slacks, at least he knows he’s still very much capable of orgasms. Very much.

“I’m fucking with you sweetheart. I know how much these people mean to you, besides, I’m gonna kick Sebastian’s ass in that new Formula Something game Jack got us.” Lewis winks and steps back letting Daniel collect himself for a moment. 

“Aw I wanna see him beat you.” Daniel teases and Lewis glares playfully. 

“It’s fine I’ll get Alex to film it for me.” he continues and spins around, going to pick up the two bottles of Whiskey Sebastian had gotten him to bring to the dinner. He really did know a guy. 

“I’m sure he will. Just have fun yeah? And we’ll all celebrate our own Christmas tomorrow.” Lewis smiles and Daniel feels his own grin widen. Apparently all the talk about Christmas had made them all realise they missed the holiday they’d lost with the lack of biological family to remind them, Daniel had brought back the urge to celebrate it together. Something he will be proud of for the rest of his days he’s sure. 

“Yeah okay,” Lewis walks him to the door and Daniel makes sure to hug Alex and George as they’re heading to the common area. He hears the increased volume from over competitive boys talking shit and feels a sense of contentment he tries to hold onto for as long as possible.

“See you later, love you.” Lewis kisses him sweetly and Daniel has to force himself to move his feet towards the bar, how did he ever get so lucky. 

-

The dinner turns into quite possibly one of Daniel’s favorite dinners so far, Val comes fully prepared with a lovely mustard crusted Christmas ham and something called a Rosolli salad –both taste delicious and Daniel is only sad he can’t fully digest it. 

Yuki comes in with some fried chicken that tastes suspiciously like KFC, and a lovely strawberry shortcake along with a bottle of some very potent shochu that knocks even Val on his ass as the night goes on. 

Pierre has something he calls Bûche de Noël, mumbling something about not being allowed to bring dinner foods for some reason. Daniel, despite his current lack of ability to fully eat has always had a sweet tooth so he manages to “eat” all he can of the delicious desserts while making sure they all get shitfaced of his whiskey contribution.

All in all it’s an incredibly successful night filled with food, booze and loud music from every country they can think of to find a Christmas song to. Nothing quite beats Yuki and Pierre’s rendition of “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” but Daniel’s biased self thinks his and Val’s version of “Holly Jolly Christmas” comes pretty close. 

-

“You’re sure you’re gonna get home safely?” Daniel had let the trio take their time getting dressed and gather their left overs while he did a quick sweep to clean up the bar. They were all to drunk to realize how fast he was moving thankfully and he watched as they slowly made their way towards the exit. 

“Yeap, ubr is hre soon,” Pierre slurs and Yuki nods. Val blinks slowly and frowns.

“Ubr?” 

“We’ll gut-get you home Val, come,” Yuki grabs his sleeve and pulls him along and Daniel chuckles.

“Wha abut Danil?” Pierre shouts suddenly from outside and they all look at Daniel like they thought he was with them.

“My ride is on his way, don't worry,” he winks and fights a laugh as they all deflate and continue out the door.

“Merry Christmas!” Val shouts as it’s closing and Daniel smiles to himself. Merry Christmas indeed. 

He hears the trio outside getting into a car –enhanced hearing coming in clutch– and sits down in a corner booth finding his sister’s number on his phone. 

“UNCLE DANNY!” Isaac grins wide far too close to the phone and Daniel ignores the twinge in his chest. Him and Sebastian are trying to work out a way to let him visit them in the next year or so, if everything goes according to plan (fingers crossed). 

“Hi kiddo! Merry Christmas!” 

“Is that Daniel?” his mom’s voice rings in the background and suddenly the phone is lifted and tilted and they’re all there, Daniel can see his dad’s arm in the corner undoubtedly stretching as far as he can to fit them all in the picture and he fights the tears. He really misses them.

“Hi guys,” he smiles and there’s a chorus of replies.

They talk for a while, telling him all about what he’s missed; apparently Michelle managed to twist her ankle trying to do that plane thing Daniel does with the kids when he’s home, making everyone come to the conclusion that Daniel simply has to come home soon to do it the right way – kids’ voices not the adults which makes Daniel giggle. 

He let’s them know about his family here, how he’s never alone anymore and they don’t have to worry about him turning into a hermit – they never said it explicitly but he knows the thought was there. He even tells them about Lewis – short version– and his mum insists he comes with Daniel on the next visit.

“You know, when you have time for us again,” Michelle sniffs dramatically and Daniel snorts.

“Ah well I am the most important bartender on this side of America so-” Michelle sticks her tongue out making her kids laugh in the background and their mom rolls her eyes.

“As long as you're, happy baby that’s all we want.” She smiles and dad nods.

“I am.” Daniel finds that he isn’t even a little bit lying. Despite missing them as much as he does – he always does – he is genuinely happy here, he has a family here too, a boyfriend, a good job and wonderful coworkers. Without even realizing it he found his own happiness, who’d’ve thought it took (almost) dying to get there.

-

“Danny!! Come beat Oscar’s ass please he’s too annoying!” Daniel has barely made it inside before Alex’ voice reaches him and he laughs heading to the living room. 

They’re all gathered around the screen watching intensely as Oscar and Lando face off against each other on the race track. 

“Not my fault you’re sore losers,” Oscar quips and cheers when he crosses the finish line just before Lando can, the other cursing up a storm and throwing the controller onto a pillow on the floor in defeat.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Daniel winks leaning down to give Lewis a kiss where he is seated on the edge of the sofa. 

“Did you have fun?” Lewis whispers against his lips and Daniel nods.

“Good,” the beautiful brown eyes sparkle in the dim light and Daniel forces himself to pull away and move to the floor instead of grabbing Lewis and dragging him to his room instead, he’ll do that after he’s won. 

“Let’s see what you got!” He quips and grins choosing his car and driver. The content feeling from earlier is still sitting firmly in his chest. If going through hell meant ending up here he would choose to do it every time, he’s finally found the place he truly belongs.