Chase startled awake to the sound of his alarm, groaning into the silence of his bedroom. Right. School. He forgot he had to go today, courtesy of last night's... events.
He begrudgingly got out of bed and stripped off the clothes he'd fallen asleep in, currently uncaring of the mess he made as he did so. He trudged into the shower with a yawn and winced as he started the water, shivering as it gradually began to warm up.
As he went through the mechanical movements that came standard with most of his showers, his mind wandered back to the woods and he found himself blushing at the recollection. Like it or not, he had to admit that objectively Blake was attractive.
He shook his head and let the thoughts filter down the drain with the steaming water, rinsing his hair of his conditioner.
He stepped out of the shower and stretched, dressing quickly and heading down the stairs to the kitchen where his mother had just returned from a long and stressful night of work. She was leaning against the counter making oatmeal for him, like she usually did when she had the energy to spare despite him telling her she didn't have to.
Adelaide looked over at her son and smiled softly, watching as he quietly made his way to the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of orange juice. She'd gone shopping before she went home like she normally does on Wednesday's. She tried to keep routine as much as she could even with their hectic lifestyle.
"Morning." Chase said in an exhausted tone of voice, sipping his drink and leaning against the counter. She set the bowl of oatmeal in front of him and gave him a side hug, smiling at him.
"Morning, sweetie. How was your night?" She asked, making her way to the pantry and grabbing the coffee maker from the bottom shelf. She plugged it in on the counter next to the stove and set a box of coffee pods next to it, knowing her son's tendency to fumble for things early in the morning.
"It was fine." He replied easily, though his brain was really on autopilot since he hadn't had his daily dose of caffeine yet. He finished off his orange juice and started eating his breakfast with an appreciative sigh. "When did you get home?" He asked, looking back up at his mother. She frowned at the bags under his eyes but chose to hold her tongue.
"A few minutes ago." She answered, yawning mid sentence. "I'm gonna hit the hay, kiddo, remember to be ready when the bus gets here." Chase nodded silently and crossed the room toward the coffee maker and his mother went to her bedroom for some much needed sleep.
Chase sipped his coffee slowly and let the caffeine work its way through his system, scrolling through an app on his phone as he slowly drained his mug. When he finished he did his dishes and went back upstairs to get his things together, digging through his closet for the brown leather backpack he'd had since he was twelve. The inside was lined with cotton and blue silk to better protect its contents. It was waterproof as well, and it held together nicely despite it being nearly six years old. It was his go to for any new school on the occasions he did end up going. Since he transferred mid-year, he'd probably have to take a few extra classes, but they wouldn't be too difficult considering he knew most of the material anyway.
He stood and popped his shoulders, glancing briefly out his window toward the treeline and then doing a double take when he realized someone was standing right outside his house, leaning against one of the larger trees.
He was made even more alert when he realized it was a certain red-eyed someone he'd met last night.
He went downstairs as quickly and quietly as he could manage, throwing the back door open and feeling a pang of disappointment when he found his backyard to be empty. Maybe he'd imagined it?
He shrugged it off and shook his head to dispel the feeling, silently climbing the stairs back to his room. He pushed open the door, entirely expecting his room to be just as empty as he'd left it.
Which is why he let out an accidental yelp when he realized Blake was standing right in front of his window in all his vampiric glory. Chase gave him a bewildered expression, looking between the door and the window three times before shaking his head.
"How did you- when did- What?" He sputtered, truly and utterly confused in every sense of the word. How had he gotten up there so quickly? How had he gotten up there at all?
Blake chuckled and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, glancing off to the side with an embarrassed sigh.
"Sorry." He mumbled, looking up but past Chase instead of at him. "I um... wanted to see you again." He said, grateful that he no longer had the ability to turn red when he was embarrassed about something. Chase stared at him for a second and then crossed his arms, eyeing him skeptically.
"And why's that?" He asked, staring the slightly taller male down with a gaze that wasn't angry, but rather contemplative.
"I was afraid I scared you last night. Y'know, with the whole vampire thing." He said. And to his surprise, Chase laughed. Genuinely laughed, like Blake had just said something incredibly funny.
"Scare me? Please." He chuckled, slipping past him to grab his phone and his bag. He checked the time and felt Blake's eyes drilling into the back of his skull, turning around to give him an inquisitive look. "What?" Blake looked at him, then the floor, then back at him as if trying to decide something. Eventually they ended up in something strangely akin to a staring contest, neither of them looking away, neither of them blinking. A familiar tension started to build in the room, similar to how they'd been in the forest. Chase didn't know how to describe it, exactly. Like electricity, almost, a buzzing that made Chase's fingers tingle, made him want to reach out and touch him as stupid as the conscious part of his brain was screaming it was.
The moment was cut short by the blaring of a bus horn and Chase groaned in annoyance. Right. He had school today. He looked toward the noise, then at Blake and back again a few times before resigning himself to his first day of school. As much as he'd rather stay here and learn more about Blake, he didn't want them to call his mother asking why he wasn't there and turn it into a whole problem it really didn't need to be. He sighed and picked up his bag, heading for the door.
"That's my bus." He grumbled, already regretting asking his mother to enroll him already. "You can stay or leave just don't mess up my stuff or wake up my mom. He said, shutting the door behind him and rushing out the front door.
Blake watched him leave and let himself flop down on the floor, landing on his back with a soft thud. What in the hell had just happened? It was the same feeling as the previous night in the forest, but it was stronger this time. More deliberate. He'd never felt that so strongly before, even with the dozens of partners he'd had previously.
And why was Chase going to school, anyway? Even from their limited interactions, he seemed smart enough to handle any class they threw at him. It just seemed like a waste of time in his opinion. On the occasional year when he did sign himself up out of sheer boredom and curiosity, he found he ended up dropping out after a year or two. It was all so boring and dully repetitive he didn't know how anyone could stand it. Then again, he was basically a walking history book. He was six-hundred and sixteen years old after all.
What had his mother told him all those centuries ago? Something about soulmates?
-------------------
"Momma, when do you know you met your soulmate?" The woman was sewing a hole in her husband's shirt when he asked. She took a moment to ponder the question and watched as her son sat on the dirt floor of their small home, his wings furling into their resting position to sit comfortably against his back.
"Well, my little dove, meeting her is sort of like... clarity. You feel a spark. Like a strange sort of buzzing. How the air feels just before lightning strikes. It's unmistakable." She explained. She noticed the light blush on her child's face and smiled that knowing smile that all mothers have. "Why do you ask, Aghavni? Is there someone special on your mind?" She used his given name with distinct fondness. It was Armenian, a family name she had given him on her father's insistence after the boy had been born with a small pair of delicate wings as white as winter's first snow.
He looked up at her, innocent eyes ever curious.
"What if my soulmate isn't a girl, momma?" He asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. She was a bit startled by the question, but answered it with acceptance all the same.
"Well... don't tell your father I said this, but that would be alright too." Her husband didn't value the same things she did. She was finding it harder and harder to say she 'loved' him. But for the sake of their children, she stayed with him, even if his mind was decidedly backwards.
The small boy got up, thanked her, and went back outside to play.
She smiled at his retreating form. Her angel was going to make someone very happy one day.
-------------------
Blake smiled at the memory. He was only eight at the time. A boy in his village had caught his attention while they were playing. He remembered him being pretty, but the little crush was short lived and he was once again left questioning what love truly felt like.
He chuckled, wondering what his father would think if he knew he'd fallen for yet another boy. Fallen for...
His smile faltered and he groaned, deciding it would probably be a good idea to leave. He found a sticky note and wrote out a note to Chase, then set it carefully on his nightstand and made his way quietly from the house.
...
Chase collapsed on his bed with a tired sigh. The day had barely been difficult of course, but it was exceedingly boring, and given the school had three floors it wasn't exactly easy navigating where his classes were. He'd been as silent as possible when he'd come home so he didn't wake his mother. It was barely the first day and he was already entirely done with school.
He'd felt a pang of disappointment when he opened his door and found that Blake had decided to leave. Damned if he knew why, though. It wasn't like they were friends. Besides, some time alone never hurt. He wanted a nap anyways.
He kicked off his boots, preparing wholly to face plant into his pillow and sleep away the rest of the day, when he spotted the note on his nightstand. He sighed and lazily unfolded it to read the frankly ridiculously perfect handwriting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forest at midnight. Don't be late :)
-Blake
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chase sat up and read over the little note three more times, blinking away his exhaustion just to make sure he wasn't imagining the words on the page. But no, the handwriting was clear and eloquent as ever, and he was obnoxiously not as exhausted as he previously thought. He got up with a sigh, pinned the note to his cork board, and went to the kitchen to make himself an iced coffee. He set another alarm for eleven thirty and sipped his drink while scrolling on his phone.
He figured he might as well get started on homework seeing as he wouldn't be getting any sleep anytime soon, but he found himself annoyingly unable to focus, his thoughts wandering back to the vampire boy again and again as much as he tried to reign them in and complete his schoolwork. He gave up halfway through his history assignment with an annoyed sigh and got up, pacing his room as he let his thoughts wander.
Not that he could stop them if he wanted to anyways.
After an hour of fluttering between pacing, attempting homework, and muttering to himself, his mother called up the stairs to tell him she was headed to work. He yelled back an acknowledgement and went back to staring down at his math assignment, annoyed that his best subject was proving to be difficult for him at the moment.
After a few more minutes of staring and grumbling and attempting to fix his mistakes, he gave up and decided maybe a quick nap might be a good idea considering he still had school the next day and he still preferred his usual four hours of sleep, thank you very much.
He double checked his alarm, set his phone on the bedside table and curled up under his blanket, welcoming the feeling of sweet unconsciousness.