Friends and Lovers

[Existentially Odd]

Indie arrived back at his and Will's place just before four in the morning.  It was late and his bones told him so, but he was very happy and eager to share his mood with his partner - it wasn't like the blonde would be asleep.  As predicted, once he'd shut off his bike and watched the garage door close, the redhead stepped into the house and found Will sprawled along the couch, watching TV.

Unzipping then tossing his jacket aside, he grinned at the older vampire as he walked over and casually laid himself down along Will's body.  "Hi there!" he announced cheerfully, carefully settling himself upon the shorter man in such a way that their softest bits were lined up, their legs were entwined and his elbows were propping him up on the couch bottom either side of Will's ribs.  He worked his hands - palm upward - under the blonde's shoulder blades as he wriggled up, sticking his face directly in his hapless victim's field of vision.  He then leaned down and kissed him, quite tenderly, before pulling back and raising his eyebrows at Will, his grin even more devilish with his dimples showing.

"How was your night?" he asked politely, knowing Will would be able to smell some of how good his had been - but would he pick up Anna's scent as well?

[pinkroses]

William had been out earlier in the night, but just to feed and then wander aimlessly around the shops for an hour or so. He’d known Indie was going out, and didn’t want to just sit at home waiting like some ridiculous Stepford Wife. But as it turned out Indie hadn’t got home by the time he did, and the redhead hadn’t even shown up after a film, so Will had flicked on the TV to try to find something to entertain him until the redhead did show up.

“Hey,” William replied, trying to keep the grin fro his face at seeing his friend return but failing. His smile faded into a look of bemusement as the redhead arranged himself so intimately, but William made no attempt to stop him from becoming a human blanket - but when the kiss came Will had no idea how to react. He responded a little, but made no attempt to deeply the kiss or to make it continue when Indie lifted his head.

What the fuck? Indie was so against kissing, how had that just happened? He didn’t seem drunk - he definitely didn’t smell of alcohol. He smelt of sex - which wasn’t a huge surprise - the sea, salt, sand - that was a little odd. But there was something else as well. Something familiar, more familiar than it should have been.

“You’ve been with Anna,” he said breathily, ignoring Indie’s question as he struggled to comprehend what his senses were telling him. Would Indie seriously do that? Was that why he’d kissed him? Guilt?

“You fucked her?” he snapped, moving swiftly to put a hand between himself and Indie, shoving the younger vampire upwards, but not completely off him - enough to stop another kiss.

[Existentially Odd]

"No!" Indie cried hurriedly, his eyes widening in horror (already forgetting that this had been exactly what he'd thought Will might conclude when he came home because that had been a good idea and this business of being lifted up and away like he was a minscule little girl was not, so it hardly seemed like the same thing at all).  "I mean, yeah, I was with her, but I didn't fuck her, I did a couple of other chicks in some clubs and ran into her when I was going through the park back to my bike afterwards!" he explained indignantly, like the high pitch of his voice would completely prove his innocence in the matter and make Will instantly regret his offensive accusation.

"I took her for a ride and hung out with her, that's all!" he added, thinking that now was not the time to mention Anna's randiness on the bike and the way they'd parted.  "You wanna let me down before I get a nosebleed?" he demanded haughtily.

[pinkroses]

William’s scowl lessened slightly, but the look of suspicion was still all over his face as Indie tried to explain, but what he was saying didn’t do too much to calm the blonde. What the fuck what he playing at? After what they had been through, after everything Will had told Indie, William had thought Indie might just respect him enough to do as he’d asked.

He shifted his weight to the left, planning on ungracefully dumping Indie on the floor if the redhead didn’t manage to find his feet in time. He swung around afterwards, his own feet placed firmly on the floor as he stood up, ignoring the fact that Indie was a good amount taller than himself.

“That’s great, that’s really nice for you two. Lovely bonding time when you know very well I wanted you to stay the fuck away from her,” he said sharply, managing to not raise his voice but his displeasure was more than obvious. Why the hell would Indie do that? And why would Anna? He couldn’t imagine Anna would have wanted to ride with him, and they only seemed to be able to hang out when there was a goal behind it - shopping or training. Why was Indie suddenly top of her friends list when the other night she had seemed to hate his guts?

[Existentially Odd]

"Fuck!" Indie swore vehemently as he was gracelessly evicted off Will's person and forced to stare him down from on his feet, instead of the comfortable position they'd been in.  "I didn't mean for it to happen, alright?" the redhead blustered, his hands slicing from his chest towards Will, palms turned upward as he flapped around, attempting to physically expressed his innocence in the matter.  "We got to talking about riding and, I dunno', it just sort of slipped out!  I was being polite, because you also fucking asked me to be nice to her, so I was!  To please you!  I didn't know she'd say yes but she did and she loved it!  So then we stopped at the beach and we talked and what's the big deal?  We got on alright, weren't you only wanting us to stay apart because you thought we'd fight and you'd get caught in the middle?  That won't happen now!"

He was talking fast because he knew he had to, filling in gaps on Will's behalf because he could see that his friend was possibly even more pissed than he'd anticipated he would be when he'd heard he'd hung out with Anna.  But things had ended so sweetly between the two of them that he'd not really been prepared for the full force of the blonde's wrath and was now struggling to make it back up the slippery slope Will had shoved him down, his mouth working a mile a minute.  Stupidly, he thought it might also be a good time to throw in all the other details that were going to get him in trouble so as to blind Will with the staggering amount of them (and hopefully lose him somewhere in the middle so he came out on the other side dazed and content to let it all just slide).

"In fact, we talked about how she lacked training because you left her so long ago and she wants us to get together tomorrow night so I can teach her what I know about mental shit and I said I'd go to her place for practise unless you just want her to come here and we can sorta' share the load, you know, and did you know she doesn't even have a phone?  Otherwise I'd call her but I can't, I have to go there to see her, but I told her you might be pissed but I don't see why because we get on good and I bet she'll ask you to buy her a bike now because riding got her pretty horny but I totally said no to her when she came onto me and I let her know I was not going down that track with her because of you!"

As abruptly as they'd started spewing out of his mouth, Indie's words stopped and then he simply stood there, wide-eyed and staring cautiously at Will, hoping for that positive outcome he'd been so certain would come his way.

[pinkroses]

William kept his mouth shut, despite how tempting it was to interrupt Indie half way through his speech. William could see the redhead wanted to get it all out though, and to be honest Will wanted to hear it all now too. If he spewed it all out then how much worse could it get once it was done?

He hadn’t just wanted Indie out of Anna’s way because he didn’t think they wouldn’t get along. In fact he’d been equally worried they might do, and with everything that had happened between himself and Anna, why would she want to listen to him when she could have someone so much more fun,
someone who hadn’t abandoned her? He barely had a hold on her, but she was already slipping away.

And as Indie went on it only got worse.

They’d bonded over William abandoning her? About him not giving her all the training she needed? Bullshit. He’d given her what she needed to survive and that had obviously been enough to keep her going this long. She could have trained with anyone, she could have learnt herself. If he’d stayed things would only have got worse between them, that was why he’d given her freedom. Forcing her to be miserable with him had been the last thing he’d wanted.

He kept his gaze on Indie, but was the vast amount of information was beginning to all blur into one until Indie’s last point. She’d tried to fuck him? William had never known Indie to refuse a woman, maybe he’d managed it once but Will doubted he’d put up much of a fight if it happened again.

So that was it. His best friend and his fledgling were going to get together, start fucking and lessons in mental skills, bitching about how Will had abandoned her, having Indie listen to it all and take her side on everything. And he’d just have… what? Who?

“You stopped because of me. Well at least you managed to consider me for at least a couple of seconds tonight,” he said, his voice still cold as he watched Indie. He couldn’t believe how Indie had come in here like nothing had wrong. Acting like the night had been perfectly normal.

“You were saying the other night how you were thinking about fledglings. Looks like you’ve managed to adopt one. I’m sure she’ll be happier with you than I was ever able to make her,” he said. Ever since their start things had been temperamental. He’d had to force her to leave her family, stopped her from killing straight away, taught her about hunting and death so she could get her revenge but then it had never been enough. She’d wanted more, always demanding more and he hadn’t been able to give it all to her.

“If I hadn’t’ve smelt her on you would you even have thought to mention any of this to me?” he added, trying to keep his voice calm but there was definite steel in his tone and a glint in his eye.

[Existentially Odd]

His doe-in-the-headlights expression shifted into a frown and something a lot more wounded as Will attacked him - unfairly, in his opinion, he'd done everything right!

"Hey!  That's not fair!  Of course I would've told you, I knew you didn't want us together, I just thought it'd be fun to see if you smelled her or not first, that's all!  And I'm not trying to adopt her, I just happened to mention that all you do is block but I do other stuff my sire taught me and she wanted to know, I thought you'd eventually be happy we could all get along and work together and I was thinking about you tonight, otherwise I would've fucked her when she was grabbing at my cock!"

Somehow, his final point was made in a very loud yell because anger had blindsided him and it seemed that Will wasn't hearing him.  Yelling about it might fix that.  So would leaning into Will's face and pointing an imperious finger towards his chest, apparently.

[pinkroses]

“Fun? You thought it would be fun to make me think you’ve fucked her?” Will knocked Indie’s hand away with the back of his hand, finally finding his own voice rising in volume to match Indie’s. The colour was rising in his cheeks at the thought that Anna was so clearly attracted to Indie and obviously the redhead thought she was pretty hot stuff too.

“I did want us to get along, I wanted you to be nice to her, but not yet. I am her sire. I should be teaching her things. I fucked up with her and I wanted to fix it. But now whatever I try to do, it’s not going to be as good as you. You can teach her more, she wants to fuck you and I’m just the prick who can’t teach her what she wants to know and who abandoned her. You’re right, this is great fun!” he shouted, shoving Indie backwards, but only with enough strength to get him to back off out of his face, although he was sorely tempted to wring his friend’s neck.

[Existentially Odd]

"Take her for a ride on your bike, she'll want to fuck you, too!" the redhead shouted back, incensed that Will was using his superior strength on him.  He didn't fight back, though, he clenched his hands into fists at his sides and gritted his teeth to stop himself, because he knew Will would win anyway.  It doubled his frustration, though, and he was so furious he couldn't think straight.

"It's not me she wants, you fuckwit, she just wants to learn, it's not like I'm fucking cutting you out here!  I'll back completely off, I don't give a shit about her, I care about you, if you want me to stay away, I fucking will!" he screamed.

[pinkroses]

Will gave a growl of frustration as he lifted his hands to run through his hair, turning his back on Indie since looking and listening to the redhead only seemed to be making things worse. He wanted to say ‘yes’. To tell Indie never to go near her again, but he’d asked his friend to do that and he obviously hadn’t given a fuck. So why should he trust him to be able to stay away from her again?

And besides, if he did that Anna would only hate him more for making Indie stay away from her. Indie could teach her more mental tricks probably, so it wouldn’t be fair to deny her that.

“I can’t ask you to do that now, don’t you get that?” he asked, his voice dropping down again as he sank down on to the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

“It just… do what you want with her. It doesn’t matter now,” he said after a few seconds, straightening his back and leaning back against the sofa, staring blankly at the TV.

[Existentially Odd]

Indie really didn't get it, he couldn't see why he couldn't take it all back and just not see Anna and that would make Will happy.  He stood there staring at his friend, his jaw slowly loosening, his fists relaxing and just feeling perplexed.  The silence stretched but he really didn't know what to say to make it better because he hadn't known how everything he'd said up 'til now had made it worse.  It had just gone that way.

"I'm not trying to shut you out, I thought... she could come here, so we can all be together.  I know you two are still working through shit, I'm not trying to stop that.  You never even told her about how your sire fucked you up," he said, a hint of accusation entering his voice that showed he clearly had told Anna.

[pinkroses]

He knew Indie hadn’t been trying to be malicious, it was just frustrating that his friend never stopped to think. He didn’t think how all of this would affect Will or make him feel, he just acted, selfishly.

It took a moment before Will registered Indie’s final words and he blinked as he tore his gaze away from the bright lights to stare up at the redhead. He’d told her. He’d fucking told her everything. William hadn’t told anyone that, not a soul, not any of his fledglings, or any of his lovers. But he’d told Indie which had apparently been a huge mistake.

“Can you think why? Maybe? Perhaps in that tiny little brain of yours can you think why a vampire who had been so fucked by their own sire, wouldn’t want to tell their fledgling what had been done? You ever heard about kids who get beaten by their parents who then go on to beat the shit out of their kids? Any clue you fucking IDIOT?!”

His voice had stared out calm, but by the last few words William had stood up again and was shouting, moving closer to Indie without caring about their difference in height. He knew he was stronger than the younger vampire and right now he was sorely tempted to grab his head and smash it into the coffee table.

[Existentially Odd]

Indie's jaw set mutinously, though he was very hurt by being called an idiot.  It was alright in jest, but Will really meant that.

"I'm not an idiot.  I was trying to fix things, to explain maybe why you wouldn't turn her uncle - 'cos maybe it was too hard for you or something, like you were still getting used to life after your sire.  I just didn't want her to hate you, I wanted her to know you like I do, so she'd stop being such a bitch to you and see how w-... you really are.  I'm sorry.  I'll wipe it out of her mind tomorrow night and we can pretend it never happened," he offered quietly, wanting to get away from Will's flashing eyes and his hate-filled glare.

He stepped around him, giving him a wide berth and intending to retreat into the shower and figure out how he could fix this fuck-up.  He'd stumbled over telling Will he thought he was wonderful (and just left an adjective out of his sentence altogether) because, just then, he looked like he hated him and that wasn't wonderful at all.

[pinkroses]

“No, I don’t want you to wipe her mind,” Will said quickly, shaking his head and putting out a hand to press against Indie’s chest to stop him. His voice had dropped down back down now as he had actually listened to Indie. He was trying to help, but he’d gone about it completely the wrong way and it was so frustrating. At least he had apologised though, half way through making all of his excuses.

“I don’t want you fighting my battles for me either. You’re going to have to see her again, but I don’t want you telling her anything about me like that. Do you get that?” he asked in a low voice, still with anger in his eyes but at least he wasn’t shouting any more.

[Existentially Odd]

He was rather relieved that Will told him he didn't want him wiping Anna's mind, because he wasn't sure he could have done it anyway.  That order saved him a ton of potential trouble.  He'd stopped when the hand touched his chest but he was tense as he stood there, half expecting Will was going to punch him, even if he'd stopped shouting.  When he spoke, his gaze sidled carefully over and down to his companion, his tone contrite.

"I get it.  I won't get into it with her again.  You want me to pick her up and just bring her here so you can watch everything we do and know what I'm teaching her?" he asked quietly, his lips barely opening to let the words out, he was so wound up.  He wanted to know the story from Will's perspective but now, when he thought there was still a distinct possibility he'd get smacked in the head, was not the time.

Will's expression darkened again at the proposal he bring Anna to their house and Indie suddenly needed to get away.  "Look, how about you think about it while I go shower?" he offered, his tone bordering on pleading.  Thankfully, his roommate nodded and he didn't wait for another opinion; the redhead stepped around Will and bolted for his bathroom, intensely pleased tohave time aone to think, to strip, to get under the hot spray.  Maybe him not smelling like her would help the situation?  It certainly couldn't hurt!

He spent so long under the water, his fingers were wrinkled by the time Indie stepped out and dried off.  He knew he now only smelled of soap, shampoo and some deodorant (once he applied it), rather than sex and William's fledgling, but he was still hesitant when he hung up his towel and had to step out of the bathroom and into his bedroom.  Dawn was almost upon them and he was bone weary, wanting to sleep but exceptionally worried.

He doubted Will would come to his bed tonight and that made him both furious and incredibly sad; his emotions were all fucked up and he decided he shouldn't worsen the situation by seeking Will out if he wasn't there.  He hoped he was, though.  If the blonde wasn't on that mattress when he left the bathroom and headed to his bed (naked, as he always slept these days) though, then he'd wait to pursue him tomorrow night.  He might not be so keen to kill him by then, and they could make some decisions at normal decibels of discussion.