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David was bouncing around. Another night of too much energy.
Marko had already gotten annoyed with him and was pointedly sprawled upside down in the armchair, a much calmer counterpoint.
Paul, the youngest of the brothers, was unfortunately riling their leader up even more. They were currently tossing around a Nerf football someone had found on the beach.
Star sat low on the couch, making sure her head was out of the direct line of fire. Dwayne was leaning into her side, sharing a joint.
“Heads!” Paul warned as his throw went awry and landed in Dwayne’s lap.
“David!” Star snapped when the platinum blond dove over the couch and onto Dwayne, narrowly missing her with a boot. She was just glad she was holding the weed at the time.
“Fuck, man,” Dwayne complained, now on the floor under the other vampire. He gave David a punch in the ribs and he obligingly rolled off him. Dwayne rejoined Star and she slumped into him with a comforting hand on his thigh.
David lay on his back on the floor and repeatedly tossed the football up for himself to catch.
Star had no idea what to do with David when he was in this kind of mood. He’d just have times when he’d get super restlessness, unable to hold still. He could be at turns playful, but just as often, it was quick to turn sharp, sometimes aggressive.
He seemed fine enough now, but Star was always wary around him like this.
David sat up and scanned the room, likely looking for his next thing, what else he could do that he hadn’t already exhausted.
“David,” Marko rumbled, “Chill the fuck out.”
Star caught the brief tic in David’s jaw, the almost hurt look that flashed across his expression. He then huffed a sigh and got up, maybe deliberately keeping a distance from the rest of them now. There was relative peace for about five minutes.
“Boys,” David then said in that tone that always made his brothers look at him. He broke into a rather sly grin that made Star wonder how concerned she should be. “Field by the cabin?”
“Yeah!” Paul agreed excitedly.
Dwayne sat up straighter with a smirk, frustration already forgotten with the promise of whatever David was proposing. Even Marko was flipping himself upright.
“Am I supposed to know what that means?” Star asked.
Paul was going to say something, but David darted to cover his mouth, utilizing his speed so he was nearly a blur to Star. “Shh, it’s a surprise. It’ll be fun, Star. Trust me,” David said.
Star didn’t know how she felt about his toothy smile, but she did feel more at ease that the guys seemed excited too. She was fairly confident they weren’t about to jump off a bridge or something.
They headed to a wide open field situated not far from a singular cabin. It was only then David revealed they were going flying. This wasn’t quite Star’s idea of a fun time. She had only flown a little on her own, mostly hovering a couple feet off the ground at most. Even that was clumsy.
“I’m fine watching you guys from here,” Star said and crossed her arms over her chest. She was more than happy to sit on the sidelines. Seeing them having fun was genuinely enjoyable for her. As a nice bonus, she hoped David in particular would expend some of his intensity.
“Aw, that’s boring,” Paul said.
The boys’ faces were hard to disappoint. They seemed to coordinate their pouting.
She rolled her eyes and begrudgingly said, “Fine.”
Their excitement helped ease her nerves for a moment. The nerves came right back when she focused enough to hover off the ground. She stayed about a foot above the grass. Then two. She stopped there.
Star found the sensation disorienting. Moving any part of her body made the other parts move and made her feel like she would lose her balance at any moment. She couldn’t square away what losing her balance in the air actually meant, but it made her stomach tighten up anyway.
The others kept zipping around and showing off, performing flips and dramatic dives. They were encouraging her to join in, but it made her more anxious than anything.
David, in contrast, was surprisingly patient. He was floating slightly above her as she tried to discover her footing, letting Star take this at her own speed. She thought she should tell him to go play, but if she was going to do this, then she needed him to stay right where he was.
She spent a while just hovering like that, wobbling a few feet in the air and too afraid to go any further.
“Hey. Do you trust me?” David asked.
The answer to that one depended on the hour at times. But when it really came to it, “Yes.”
“Look at me. You won’t fall,” he said, steady. He held her by the arms and slowly rose. She shifted closer and then closer still until she was fully hugging onto him as he kept going up. His arms were secure around her. He didn’t make her look up from his chest.
When they paused in the air, Star had a disorienting sense that they were still standing on the ground, perfectly normal.
David wasn’t fidgeting or humming with adrenaline right now. He was calm. In control.
Star was able to slow her light panting to match his deliberately measured breathing. She held him even tighter. Not because she was afraid he’d drop her. He wouldn’t.
David kept them still and didn’t say a word. Star felt something loosen when he pressed a kiss to her head. She opened her eyes and forced herself to turn so she could see more than his shirt. They were about twenty feet in the air.
Star readjusted her grip unnecessarily. David’s didn’t change, didn’t need to.
Feeling more secure, she started tracking the others. They performed acrobatics and physically roughhoused and grabbed each other with as much affection as they did on the ground.
“Ready?” David asked.
Star nodded and tensed as he gradually loosened his hold. It took Star a few beats longer to release her death grip on his jacket. When she did, she gasped when he suddenly moved away from her completely.
She was still in the air.
…Now what?
Instinctively, she looked to David. He was smiling at her with a hint of teeth and obviously not about to come scoop her up again. As she floated, it started to settle in her that he didn’t have to.
She began moving her body, trying to adjust to the feeling. It wasn’t completely weightless, but close. Star could feel the mass of herself, and had trouble getting over the worry she’d somehow be kicking the ground whenever she moved her legs.
“Hey, sis. You’re it,” Dwayne said with a light touch on her shoulder before he flew away.
Star was determined to rise to the challenge. It was a decidedly ungraceful swinging of limbs at first before she had some success with trying to swim through the air.
Marko let her catch up to him as she worked at flying in the direction she was aiming for. The brunette graciously accepted being ‘It’ when she grabbed his arm with both hands. She proceeded to ram herself into him, not quite able to stop on a dime like the others.
“Real smooth,” Marko chuckled and disentangled himself.
The boys all looked so easy and graceful in flight. Maybe she could be that beautiful, too.
Marko bolted for Paul, determined to get him next. Paul shrieked and unsuccessfully tried to use David as a shield. He was tagged almost immediately.
She almost panicked when she rolled onto her back unintentionally. She flailed, but Paul was suddenly there to steady her again, hand on her elbow until she regained control of her limbs.
She now partly knew the answer to what happened when one lost their balance in the air. You looked stupid, and a brother righted you.
Then Paul nudged her shoulder and declared, “You’re it!” He flew away before she could complain.
Star made an attempt to fly after David, thinking he’d also take pity on her. He most certainly did not. He did grab Dwayne and literally threw him at her, though. Dwayne rolled his eyes as he was tagged. It was all fair and square, apparently.
She grew in confidence as she kept at it and no longer felt terrified she’d just fall out of the sky at any second. The boys kept up the game and she began to explore for herself. She intentionally twirled, figuring out what muscles to use, and was getting better at remaining stable.
Between dodging tags, David kept fixing her with these pretty smiles, dark eyes sparkling.
She was particularly thrilled when she completed her first flip under Marko’s tutelage. Her cheeks were tight from how widely she was grinning. Another real high was when she helped Paul and Marko block David in just enough so Dwayne could catch him and finally declare him ‘It’, a title he’d managed to evade up until then.
“Got ya!” Dwayne shouted in excitement, wrapping around him in a hug that David nestled into, fully laughing.
When it was time to ground themselves again, Star was proud of herself. She was getting the hang of the flying business.
This whole vampire thing had its perks after all.