Work Text:
When Apo gets home, Pyro is sprawled across their couch like some kind of dramatic sickly victorian maiden.
She suppresses the sigh that immediately tries to escape their throat and settles for an internal one—it'll be a long night. Pyro is staring intently at the ceiling, chewing on their lip, as if he is considering the dust that has built up and accumulated itself all gross-like over the last twenty something years that this decrepit apartment has stood.
No, seriously. Apo's pretty sure that no one has dusted this roof since it was built.
She unceremoniously plops her bag on the table, careful that none of her art supplies spill out. Pyro finally glances their way, dusty blue eyes only marginally hazy, lost to his daydream. The part of Apo's brain that is little more than sire friend colony coven preens - fledgling, it croons. Friend, childe, protect!
Apo pushes the warm fuzzy feelings down for later, when they can ambush them in the night as she prefers for them to, not when she's half-tempted to jump on top of their fledgling and cuddle until he shuts up about his crush because it's annoying.
"Are you being dumb about Abolish again?" She pesters lightly, swatting him across the head. "That guy from your classics class?"
Pyro sighs, practically dreamily, warranting him another well-deserved swat. They open their mouth to reveal fangs sharper than Apo's, but shorter, and reply, "Scott and Shelby conspired against me to have me 'bump into him' at a party. He's so pretty when he talks about seemingly the only thing that can get him to be enthusiastic."
"I'm surprised it's not you." Apo shrugs. They forcefully push his legs further down the couch, even though she is fully aware that they could have just asked and Pyro might have moved, and deposit themselves squarely next to him with no other preamble.
Pyro sticks their tongue out, but immediately draws it back in at the presumable poke of his fangs. "That's the other thing," They say, running an absent hand through their rough brown hair. "My instincts have been all over the place today! It's a nightmare! You told me it could get pretty bad, but I didn't know you meant this."
Apo smiles, only a little bit okay about making jokes about their friend's turning after the year they've had. "Unfortunately, saving your soul did come with a cost," She says woefully, making a big show of it by batting their eyelashes and swooning like a maiden in love. It draws a sharp cackle out of Pyro, and soon, she's laughing too.
Apo had nearly said 'saving your life', but that's just lying, and Apo Kuna is no liar!
The levity of their situation draws on in silence for a few more precious minutes, just basking in the light of their warm-tinted lamps and bookstore-smelling candles, though Apo can never tell if the overwhelming scent of old books is actually from the candles or from Pyro's eternally growing collection. His to-be-read list is a monster they will never brave.
"We can fix the instinct thing, you know?" She eventually breaks the hush that has settled over them. "It's natural for a fledgling to want to be near their sire—I imagine being around Scott is what set you off, by the way. He's my sire, and Shelby's, so I guess he's technically our elder by virtue of being the eldest in our colony."
Pyro wrinkles his nose in confusion, or perhaps concentration, like they're trying to figure something out. "So how does that help us solve the instinct problem?"
Apo perks up, grinning wickedly, and the realization of the fate he has condemned himself to seems to dawn on their face. "I'm so glad you asked!" Apo accents the words with various chirps, to which some of Pyro's own spill out in response. "You need your sire. Lucky for you, I'm right here!"
They stand up and promptly flop right back down on top of him.
Yeah. Long night, indeed.