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Abolish hated parties.
They were loud, always too crowded, and he felt like he was stuck standing in a corner for hours anytime he went to one. Not to mention they were truly incredibly boring. Why anyone enjoyed them, he had no idea.
Scott had dragged him out to one "just this once". The vampire had practically begged it to go with him, telling it that he wanted it to have some fun since it was so close to Christmas and Abolish had done pretty much nothing to celebrate so far. It'd tried to tell him that it simply preferred to stay home and maybe visit friends or family if it felt up to that, but he'd refuse that answer.
Now Abolish felt like his head was going to explode from how loud and chaotic and crowded everything was. He didn't know anyone there besides Scott, Shelby, and Drift, and he'd entirely lost where the three of them were. He didn't even have the energy to go find them, although that wasn't particularly unusual considering he rarely ever did.
He pulled his knees to his chest and took out his phone, squeezing its eyes shut for a moment. Everything would be fine. It needed to stop acting stupid and whining in its head like a child, it was already… only 10:31 pm, apparently. Its heart sank. It knew how long the parties Scott went to always lasted - there were at least a few more hours until it'd be able to ask Scott to drive it home.
He looked up from his phone, squinting a bit through the crowd of people to try and spot any of his friends. It was difficult to see from where he was sitting in the corner. Letting out a sigh, he pulled up his messages with Scott.
When do you plan on leaving?
He stared at his screen, waiting for a response. It really wished it'd brought its headphones. It'd give anything to not have to hear everyone in here talking loudly over the blaring poppy Christmas music coming from the speakers. How could anyone at all enjoy this?
It only took maybe thirty seconds before Abolish got a text back. He couldn't help but wince a bit when he realized he'd probably messed up.
In a couple hours, why? Are you alright?
Did it feel alright? No, definitely not. It wanted to be home more than anything right now. But it wasn't going to say that to Scott, not when he clearly wanted it to be having fun right now. It hoped he wouldn't see it sitting here in a corner.
I'm fine, just wondering. Do you have headphones?
It was hesitant as it typed out that message, and it regretted it the second it hit enter. It knew that'd immediately give away that it was lying - sure enough, only seconds later Scott had already responded, clearly worried. It didn't want him to be worried. Worry meant upsetness, either at himself or Abolish, and the last thing it wanted was to deal with that on top of all this.
Yeah, do you need them? Or do you want to go home?
He had no idea how Scott had caught on that quickly. He supposed the other had probably guessed he wouldn't enjoy this, although why he would've brought him here at all knowing that, Abolish had zero idea.
He found himself staring at his screen motionlessly as someone talked particularly loudly next to him. He couldn't exactly catch what they were even saying, not with how grating the sound was in his ears. Everything was already loud enough, he didn't need people making it even worse. He just wanted it to be quiet.
I'm not angry at you, if you're worried about that, darling. I'm just worried :(
Abolish blinked a couple times at the second message. It hadn't thought Scott was angry, not seriously at least, but for some reason the statement was still reassuring. It took a deep breath and forced itself to reply.
If you can take me home, I'd appreciate it.
Scott had drived it here, or it would've already left within five minutes of arriving. It wished it'd driven itself, but there was no use beating itself up over that, even if it was tempted to do that as a distraction from everything else going on.
Of course, I'll meet you outside 🩵
It took a few seconds for Abolish to get up, slipping its phone back in the pocket of its jeans as it hurried towards the door. Every time it bumped into someone, it wanted to scream, which was not a good sign given that it rarely ever felt that bad. It'd probably need to go home and lay in bed for a while to feel well enough to go to work in the morning.
Scott had just left when he opened the door, nearly running into him. The second Scott turned and looked at him, he felt something in him melt a bit, relaxing just barely once he met those warm, ruby red eyes. The vampire frowned a bit and offered him a hand.
"I'm sorry if you felt like you had to stay," fae murmured as he rested his hand in faers. "I just wanted you to come with me to see if you'd like it, you didn't have to stay so long. Was it too crowded or…?"
Abolish paused for a moment as Scott pulled him over to the car, opening the door for him. He sat down in his seat and practically went limp, folding his arms over his chest and leaning his head back.
"Loud, mostly," it said finally, although it struggled to get the words out. Talking was a lot more difficult than texting, especially when that added to the noise - although it was certainly feeling much better now that it wasn't listening to a ton of other people talk.
"I see." Scott closed the door, then got in the driver's seat. He looked over at Abolish, glancing it up and down for a few seconds before turning on the car. "Sorry if this is a rude question, but… have you ever looked into autism? Not trying to insult you or anything, just…" Fae trailed off as Abolish stared at faer in silence for a moment.
"You're not the first person to suggest that," it said finally, looking away. "I don't know, I've been busy with work for the past several hundred years, and I have no idea how the organization would react to that. If they haven't already guessed, I mean Morcant's brought it up to me before so…"
He trailed off with a sigh. Letting his eyes flutter closed, he brought his legs up to curl into himself a bit more. After maybe five seconds or so, he mumbled, "I don't know, I'm tired."
"That's alright." Scott's voice was softer now, and fae reached over to gently run a hand through its hair. "I'm just saying, maybe you should look into that. Might help explain some things."
Abolish was unfortunately well aware of that. It'd looked into the symptoms a few times when it was feeling particularly bad, all of the sensory issues and struggles with communication. It never got far before it got upset at itself and closed out of all its tabs and pretended nothing had happened. Even now, it could only feel frustrated at the fact that it couldn't even go to a party Scott wanted it to go to without running off after an hour.
"Darlin', look," Scott said suddenly, his voice still a bit quiet. Abolish slowly blinked open its eyes. "It's snowing."
Shifting a bit, Abolish pushed itself up, pulling its knees to its chest and leaning its head against the freezing cold window. Snow had started to collect on the glass already, making it a little difficult to see. He felt himself relaxing as he watched the snowflakes fall, settling on the ground and the cars they passed by, the sky cloudy and gray and pretty.
He'd always loved winter. It was cold, which he hated, since he was already naturally colder because of the vampire blood in him. But that could be easily solved by sweaters, hoodies, warm blankets, hot chocolate - all things he loved. With work and all, he didn't have a ton of time to curl up in bed and read like he enjoyed doing, but he tried to as often as possible. It was relaxing to take a break for just a couple hours when it was snowing hard enough that he had an excuse.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" Scott whispered. His voice was so much sweeter and warmer than anyone else's, far easier on its ears.
"Yeah," Abolish sighed, watching the wind rustle the leaves of a tree, sending clumps of snow falling to the ground. It loved when the snow was just starting to fall, not having covered everything yet. The dusting of white over every plant and object and building was so pretty before a few days passed and everything was just gray and muddy.
"Why don't we go home and watch a movie?" Scott suggested, which admittedly did send butterflies fluttering through Abolish's stomach. "We can go to your house or mine."
"Mine works," he said after a moment. He didn't have Scott over often, and he knew his house wasn't the most clean right now, but he needed to be at home wrapped up in blankets with faer right now.
"Alright." A moment later, he felt Scott ruffle his hair again. "You're cute, you know that right?"
It felt a bit of heat rise to its face. "I disagree, but…"
"Mm, disagree all you want, darlin', but it's true." Scott pulled into its driveway, turning off the car. "Let me make you some hot chocolate while you go pick out a movie."