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The cafe is nothing out of the ordinary. Quaint, quiet, with plenty of seats for private conversations. Abolish has been inside a few times before, to scout out the place, but he knows Scott has been coming here for the last few months.
He’s there now, his legs leisurely stretched out in front him, his back towards the door. Scott looks perfectly at ease from behind, almost distractedly so as he flips to the next page of his book, but Abolish won’t pretend, he knows Scott noticed him walking in the moment he entered.
Abolish slips into the seat right across from him, and as Scott’s red eyes flick up to meet his brown ones, his expression brightens. “Scott,” he greets quietly.
“Oh hello, Abolish,” Scott replies without even a hint of surprise, slipping a marker between the pages of his book before he puts it to the side. “Got a day off?”
He holds back a snort. Funny. “Yeah,” Abolish answers. “How have you been?”
“Recently, or since we last spoke?” Scott questions with a chuckle, tilting his head to the side slightly. “After all, it’s been a century, give or take.”
Abolish lets out a soft hm hmm. “Recently.”
“Shelby signed me up for cooking classes,” he instantly complains, a small pout on his mouth. “Cooking classes, Abolish! She framed it as a gift, but we both know that’s not a thing to give to a vampire! I think she just wanted me out of the apartment on Thursday evenings.”
He’s not wrong. Abolish is pretty sure that’s Shelby and Drift’s semi-regular date night. “Have you been enjoying them?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s been a lot of fun, she knows me well,” Scott replies flippantly, glancing over his shoulder to wave down a waiter. “Alas, I cannot eat any of it, so I’ve been giving it to our downstairs neighbours. Susan says my steaks are to die for!”
Abolish chuckles. “Not literally, I hope.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t want to upset you,” Scott says with an amused roll of his eyes. Or Shelby and Drift, Abolish imagines.
A young woman with a notepad approaches them, and Abolish orders a black coffee. Scott asks for some hot water, which Abolish knows is mostly for show, but he’s watched Scott drink tea of some sort before.
“And a slice of your delicious chocolate cake for my date,” Scott adds in a soft purr, giving the waitress a winning smile.
Her cheeks flush slightly as she returns the smile, and Abolish shakes his head when she turns away from them. “You know this isn’t a date, right?” Abolish questions skeptically.
Scott waves his hand dismissively. “Sure, but that’s the fun part.”
“Of course you’d think that.’
Before the conversation can continue, the waitress returns with two steaming mugs, which she places right in front of them, and a fancy little plate with the cake and an extra fork, which she not-so-subtly places in between them. “I hope you two enjoy it!”
“Thank you,” Abolish says politely, waiting for her to walk away before turning back to Scott, who’s cackling. “She’s going to think we’re actually together.”
“Exactly,” Scott drawls, looking absolutely delighted. “Come now, Abolish, you have to admit that it’s funny.”
Abolish sighs. “Maybe a little,” he admits.
Scott gives him a smug smile. “See? Just some harmless fun!”
“Of course,” he indulges. “As long as it stays that way.”
He gasps dramatically. “It’s as if you don’t know me at all! I’ve been on my best behaviour for years now,” he stresses.
“Hm. That’s fair,” Abolish glances over Scott’s face, the faux harmless smile, the wide, innocent red eyes. “You’ve been on your best behaviour since the 1910s.”
Scott presses his hand over his heart. “You know that ship sinking wasn’t my fault!” he insists.
“Sure it wasn’t,” Abolish says, just to watch the pout on his lips grow. “You also didn’t throw that rich lady’s luggage overboard.”
The pout turns into a sly smirk. “Aha! I knew you saw that,” Scott says, sounding self-satisfied. “No one else noticed I did it anyway. Besides, she wouldn’t have been allowed to take it with her.”
Abolish blinks, slightly surprised. Maybe he shouldn’t be. “I didn’t know you’d seen me.”
Scott huffs out a laugh. “We were in the same liferaft, Abolish, I’m not that unobservant. Your hair makes you stand out, though I’ll admit you hid yourself quite well,” Scott admits reluctantly. Hm. At least Drift and Shelby hadn’t noticed him. “You can’t hide your heartbeat from me, though.”
“My… heartbeat?” Abolish questions with a small frown.
He hums. “I can always tell you’re around by the sound of your heart.”
“Ah.” Of course Scott can do that. “Like, is it because my heartbeat is so different from others?”
“No, but it’s yours,” Scott says earnestly.
Oh. Abolish wraps his hands around the mug of hot coffee and takes a sip. Warm, strong, and bitter, perfect for a cold day in New York. “You’ve always known when I was watching you guys,” he states. Abolish had known Scott was aware of him sometimes, as if Scott winking at the scope of Abolish’s rifle hadn’t given it away a few times, but he never knew to what extent.
A smile forms on Scott’s mouth. “When you’re watching me,” he corrects, amusement clear in his eyes. “I like to know when my personal stalker is around.”
He sighs, which only makes Scott’s smile widen until he’s showing off a hint of fangs. “It’s part of my job, Scott, I’m not an actual stalker.”
“Hm, sure, if you say so, darling,” he says without an ounce of faith, red eyes gleaming with mirth. “Obsessively following me around for centuries is just pure dedication to your job.”
“It’s not an obsession,” Abolish protests with a roll of his eyes.
Scott chuckles and he pushes the little plate with raspberry chocolate cake closer towards him. “Devotion, then, I’m not picky,” he purrs, “It’s not every day a pretty guy becomes immortal for you.”
Abolish snatches the fork from the table and stabs it through the cake. It’s soft and rich on his tongue, and it’s a wonderful distraction from the heat rising to his face. “I can see you haven’t changed much,” he comments after swallowing the first bite.
“Oh, I’ve changed plenty,” Scott dismisses. The smugness of his expression doesn’t quite disappear, but it softens into something kinder, more fond. “Shelby and Drift have helped me a lot.”
“I know,” he replies simply, and he does. While there isn’t much information about the vampire Scott used to be eight centuries ago, most of the information either lost to time, or to bloodshed, Abolish knows enough to be well aware of how much of a threat Scott is capable of posing.
Yet, the worst that he’s done since leaving Oakhurst is killing criminals that Abolish would have disposed of himself, had Scott not gotten to them first.
Abolish won’t fool himself and think Scott won’t need to work to keep from slipping back in his old ways for the rest of his life, but Abolish has had no reason to be worried. Not when Scott has reasons to be a good person, a coven he cares more about than he does about his previous lifestyle, and if he does stumble, Abolish will be there to help him if the girls can’t.
Hm. Maybe he is a little too dedicated to his job.
Scott brushes a strand of white hair out of his hair and tilts his head to the side slightly, watching Abolish with curiosity. “They would love to hear you’re still alive, you know,” he comments lightly.
“You never told them?” Abolish questions. He knows the answers, of course, but he wants to hear it coming from Scott.
He shakes his head. “It wasn’t my secret to tell,” Scott says with a shrug, trying to be casual about it, but his normally steady gaze falters for a split second as he glances down at the table, then back up again.
A smirk tugs on the corner of his mouth, but Abolish quickly forces his expression back into something more neutral. “I appreciate that a lot,” he replies, dipping his head down into a nod. As much as it would be fun to tease an elder vampire, Scott looks somewhat uncomfortable with his admission. “Thank you.”
The slight tension in Scott’s shoulders disappears. “Oh it was nothing,” he dismisses quickly, his confidence returning as if nothing happened. “Drift’s coming over for a movie night on a Saturday, if you want to join us.”
“Maybe next time,” Abolish says with a shake of his head. “Like, I wanted to talk to you first, before I fly out to Arizona tonight.”
Scott hums. “To check up on Sausage?”
“Yeah,” Abolish says easily. There’s periods where Sausage stays in the same location for a few decades, but right now he’s been travelling around a lot.
“And—” Scott presses his lips in a thin line as he considers his question. “Did you watch over Apo, before, well, you know.”
Before she got the ending she wanted. “I did, yeah,” he confirms. “She was happy.”
“Good.” Scott gives him a curt nod. She was still his fledgeling, in the end, no matter how much bad blood there was between them. Of course Scott would have felt it when she passed, perhaps he’d even felt it had been her choice, yet he still wanted to know. Abolish considers that growth. “Well, either way if you can’t join us for movie night, I do expect you to join me for another slice of your favourite cake next month.”
Abolish raises an eyebrow, amused. At this point it isn’t a surprise that Scott knows some of his preferences. “Do you, now?”
“Of course! This was fun, and it’s been a century, Abolish, we have a lot to catch up on,” Scott grins, batting his eyelashes. “Besidesssss, how else will you get to learn all about my progress?”
“Alright, fine, but you’re paying,” Abolish concedes with a soft sigh, as if it was a difficult decision to make. It really wasn’t, not when it had been kinda fun.
Scott laughs, the sound a delight. “Perfect. It’s a date!”
Hm. Abolish doesn’t mind the sound of that.