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“You’re here so often, I should make you pay for rent.” Tebaldi chuckled, earning an amused scoff from his regular. It was true, Dante passed by the antique store multiple times a week. It wasn’t his fault that the Italian seemed to have the best deals when it came to old books.
“Don’t act like I’m not good for your business.”
“Quite the opposite. I’d be worried if you didn’t show up.”
Dante spent most of his time in the book section, as usual. Before going up to the register with his bounty for the day, he decided to look around at what else was in the store. Celebrity memorabilia, artisanal antiques, full cutlery sets. His eyes fell on a small display of jewellery.
There was a piece that stood out to him more than the rest: it was an antique-looking silver ring, with two bats at the sides, and at the centre an emerald. The stone seemed to shine with its own light.
“Quite the pretty thing, isn’t it?” Tebaldi commented after a while when he saw Dante stare at the ring. “Came in just last week. It’s an unusual design, but I think it’s nice.”
“Yeah, very pretty,” Dante mumbled back, his eyes still glued to the ring. An idea crossed his mind, but he was quick to shake it away. He didn’t even know if Afrem would like something like that. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself. And yet…his gut told him it would look perfect on him. It even seemed to be the right size…
Dante continued this tug-of-war with himself for a while before calling for the shopkeeper.
“Tebaldi, can you wrap it up for me?”
“You’re buying jewellery all of a sudden? You’re back with your missus?” The Italian man asked, walking over to the display and taking out the ring. His eyes held a mischievous playfulness; he was clearly eager to hear more of Dante’s private life, and the other man had to suppress a groan, both at his eagerness and at the mention of his ex-wife.
“No, no, we aren’t back together, but…I’ve kind of started seeing someone. Birthday coming up and all, you know?” It was a lie. Afrem’s birthday was in six months. But Dante wasn’t a fan of sharing his private details. He respected Tebaldi, but he wasn’t going to share details of his love life so freely.
“Ahh, a new relationship! You must feel like a teenager again.” Tebaldi joked, and Dante hated how right he was. The whole situation really made him feel like a teenager. Like a stupid teenager. Dante still couldn’t understand how Afrem could have seen anything in him. Their ten-year age gap made him feel like a weirdo, even if Afrem was almost thirty. Other than that, he really couldn’t understand how someone like the younger man could enjoy his company. He knew he was rough around the edges, a grouch, and probably a little boring. Not to mention the…difference in nature. Vampires like Afrem were supposed to be natural enemies of Werewolves like him. Dante had never cared much for old grudges between their races, though. And his luck had been that Afrem had been turned and then abandoned, so his contact with vampire society had been limited enough that he, too, cared very little about this ancient rivalry.
He was egoistically glad that among the…immense pool of options, Afrem had chosen him. But he still expected to wake up any day now and discover it had been a dream.
Dante paid for the ring and his book and walked out of the store into the warm, spring afternoon. He walked back to his apartment, staring at the bag with the little box, his brows furrowed as he ruminated. They had been dating for three months, was this too serious for a gift? Afrem had mentioned in passing that he wanted to buy himself some new jewellery and experiment with his style, but they never really talked in detail about what kind of jewellery he wanted. It could have been earrings or a necklace, but why did Dante go for a ring so suddenly? He halted in his tracks, feeling a wave of nausea wash over him. Why had he bought a ring, of all things? He had been so out of the loop of dating that he forgot how serious a ring could look as a gift.
Three months in, and you bought him a ring. It doesn’t mean anything, but what if he’s going to think you’re rushing it? Dante scolded himself. He clenched his fist around the handle of the paper bag, suppressing a growl of frustration. His free hand rubbed against his face, sneaking under his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose as he squeezed his eyes shut. Shit. He had never been a casual person; he took things seriously, but he didn’t want Afrem to think he was roping him into marriage so early on. He hadn’t thought about it at all!
Although he didn’t mind the idea…
Dante physically slapped himself before his eyes shot open. An old lady holding hands with her grandson was staring at him, both of their faces puzzled and concerned. Dante swore he could have died right then and there. Luckily, the old lady didn’t say anything and walked away with the baffled kid. He sighed, cursing himself. It was too late to bring the ring back, and he didn’t really want to. He just had to be as nonchalant as possible when giving it to Afrem, and hope the other wouldn’t take things the wrong way…
“I’m so glad this medicine exists…I’m not excited about the limited options of food it allows me to stomach, but it’s better than nothing.”
Afrem was raving about a new medicine developed for vampires. Apparently, it allowed them to stomach human food for half a day, but it only worked with animal-based products and water. No carbs, no vegetables, no fruit, and no wine. Which Afrem seemed most upset about. Before turning, he had been quite the connoisseur, but he clearly had to say goodbye to that.
“I’m glad you at least won’t be ending the night hunched over the restaurant’s bathroom like the first time. I still think you should’ve spoken up, I would’ve taken you to the vampire pub.” Dante teased, watching as Afrem’s composed face burned up and turned crimson. He stiffly grabbed his napkin and put it over his lap, giving Dante a strained, embarrassed smile.
“I didn’t…want to make you waste the reservation. Besides, what would you have eaten there? They don’t really serve meat, just blood…”
Dante shrugged, toying with his fork.
“You shouldn’t worry too much, I can fend for myself, really."
“Me too, you know,” Afrem replied, smiling at the older man. Dante felt his heart skip a beat. He really was no better than a stupid teenager. The last time he had felt like this was when he had been fifteen. And it hadn’t been with his ex-wife. After his first true love had died, he had only ever been with his wife. He thought that feeling would never graced his existence again. And yet there he was.
“Lost in thought?"
Dante was shaken back to reality by Afrem’s voice. He blinked a few times, looking at the younger man, then he coughed awkwardly and adjusted his glasses. He was getting too distracted lately.
“Yes, sorry, just…remembering some things.”
“Good things? Bad things? Do you want to talk about it?” Afrem offered, but Dante pressed his lips together. He didn’t know if he was ready to unload all of…that. What would have Afrem even thought of him? Actually, sometimes he wondered what Afrem really thought of him. He knew of his failed marriage, but not any other grand details about his life. Dante had never really opened up to anyone, and he was allowing himself to live only now, at the ripe old age of forty. He must’ve seemed pathetic, especially to someone as young and brilliant as Afrem.
“Maybe…another day, alright? I just want to enjoy our evening.” Dante finally said.
Afrem’s eyes studied him, slowly. Dante felt naked under that gaze. If Afrem wanted, he had the power to command him to do anything he wanted, he could even have forced Dante to spill the beans. But it wasn’t like Afrem to do something like that. He had his moral code, and Dante knew well that Afrem wasn’t one to waver on that. He was glad. Most vampires weren’t as humane.
“Okay, but stop worrying so much then. You’re going to get double the wrinkles if you keep scowling like that.” He chuckled, covering his mouth with his right hand. Dante rolled his eyes, and a smile spread across his lips, although he tried to suppress it.
It was a wonderful evening. It was nice to see Afrem eat real food for once. Dante actually admired how composed he was, but that was a given. One of the things that really fascinated him about Afrem was how composed and elegant he was in every single thing he did. Was it just an Afrem thing? Was it a family thing? Or was it a wealthy European thing? Either way, if Dante had been forced to only drink blood for months and suddenly got the chance to eat whole meat, he definitely wouldn’t have been as proper.
“God, I really missed steaks. Never had one this rare, but it was delicious.” Afrem commented after cleaning his plate, dabbing at his mouth with his napkin. Now that they were done eating, Dante suddenly remembered the box in his pocket. He felt his heart rate pick top again, and his palms grew sweaty. His eyes darted down to his pants, looking at the box peeking through his pocket.
“Afrem, I…have something for you.”
He looked back to see Afrem scan him, his grey eyes moving up and down with curiosity.
“What did you do?”
Dante hesitated a bit before pulling out the little black box and sliding it over the table.
Afrem’s eyes widened a little in surprise, and he looked at the box, then at Dante, then back at the box.
Dante turned away, sure that his face was as red as the wine he’d just drunk. Afrem gingerly took the box in his hands and opened it, looking inside.
“Saw it today at Tebaldi’s…I…remembered how you were saying you wanted new jewellery and to experiment a little…Don’t know, I thought this looked nice and kinda reminded me of you, so…” Dante trailed off, feeling dumber and dumber as he continued. Afrem was quiet, holding the ring close as he inspected it, his face unreadable.
“Listen, I…After I bought it, I realised it could seem like a…really serious gift with really serious implications, I just want to say I’m not trying to rush anything, so if it makes you uncomfortable or you don’t like it, I understand, I can take it back.”
Dante’s word vomit seemed to shake Afrem back to reality, because he hurriedly stopped the older man.
“No, no, wait, wait up.”
Dante looked at Afrem as he dug in his bag, pulling out a black box. He slid it over to Dante with a sheepish smile.
“I actually went to Tebaldi’s too, yesterday…I did basically the same thing. I saw something that reminded me of you, and I bought it almost on impulse, then I worried it would come off as…me trying to rush things. I was afraid of looking like a young, dumb, obsessed lover, so I almost didn’t bring it tonight. But I ended up thinking that it was worth a shot.”
Dante slowly opened the box: it was a gold ring with two small wolves and a ruby in the middle. Dante was quiet for a bit before he chuckled and shook his head. Somehow, they had ended up getting each other similar gifts and had the exact same worries.
“Well, it’s really beautiful. And fits my nature.” Dante said, smiling.
“As does your gift.” Afrem smiled back, visibly relieved.
The rings might not have meant “anything”, but neither Dante nor Afrem ever took their rings off after that night.