Chapter Text
Lestat tolerated Daniel and he was sure that Daniel was aware of this information. It was the way he never took anything Lestat seriously. Less seriously than he took anyone seriously when he met them for the first time. When they had met he had not known Daniel Molloy but Daniel Molloy had known Lestat. In the most intimate way someone could know Lestat...
Through Louis.
It was a paradox. His dislike and like for the boy that ended between a nice balanced feeling of tolerance but on occasion swung both ways.
Daniel was a selfish creature. Louis said Lestat was being unreasonably mean when he said this especially when Lestat said it to Daniel's face. The creature had caught on that if he ignored Lestat instead of sniping back he wouldn't get the same condemn from Louis. It made Lestat so angry it made his gum itch.
What he also hated about Daniel was that he was always with that gremlin of his – that had bug eyes and looked like a stick with legs, the two of them constantly worked on Lestat's nerves.
Louis had once turned to him after a particularly harrowing study session - Armand had left a scathing remark about Lestat's performance in bed before floating out the door, pathetic Danny-boy trailing after him like a dog - and said that Lestat need not to be so unkind to them just because he was jealous.
A ridiculous notion. He had looked at Louis, rolling his tongue so that he could keep from replying to Louis that he was naive if he didn't see the clear crush Daniel had on Louis. And the candle Armand held for him.
Also Lestat wasn't jealous. He was making sure everyone knew where they stood.
If it were a harmless crush he would have not tormented Daniel but a harmless crush meant that they kept their distance. Daniel had – not just once but twice – made a move on Louis. Both times ended with his tongue shoved down Louis' throat during him and Louis' 'break'. And Armand had quite literally stolen Louis from Lestat when Louis had moved to Europe and broke it off with Lestat because of the long distance.
So of course he didn't trust them. No one just 'got over' Louis de Pointe du Lac.
Lestat was living proof of that.
But Lestat had won Louis back again - as he knew he would, they belonged together, two halves of a whole - and Lestat was once again in Louis' good graces.
So when he was lounging on the head of the coach of their apartment with Daniel on the floor. He had been thinking about what Louis would cook today considering the groceries were almost finished and Lestat still hadn't put up a list of what they need and wanted. During this thought as his hands moved in the air tracing a melody on an imaginary piano he had been playing a few days ago, Daniel's phone on the seat lit up with Louis on the profile picture and it made him pause.
Lestat didn't hesitate on making a grab at it but Daniel got to it first.
"Dude." Daniel shot him a look, inching away as Lestat swung his legs to sit up, ready to lunge for the phone again.
"Why is Louis texting you?" Lestat blamed the fact he had been thinking about Daniel in relation to Louis for his annoyance. He remembers the college party seeing them in the moonlight by the shade of the trees. Daniel's voice begging softly
Give me a chance.
"Fuck off," Daniel muttered as he frowned down at his phone.
"What? What's wrong?" Daniel didn't answer and once again inches away on his ass to get away from Lestat. Lestat bounces slightly on the seat before landing on the ground. "Listen you incompetent creatur-"
Daniel scrambled up and away from him. Finally looking at Lestat, angry. "I said: fuck off."
"What did he text you?" Lestat tried to restrain himself from shouting. Louis hated when he shouted. It was one of the reasons Louis left in the fucking first place.
"He told me to tell you to fuck off." Daniel snapped.
The air in the room cut for a whole second.
Daniel watched him as Lestat processed the words. His eyes slowly widening. Lestat could hear the words overlap with the memory four years ago.
It was like being engulfed by a wave. For a moment the world was simplified to the rush of his blood in his ears.
Daniel bolted towards the door and Lestat lunged at his foot and caught it. Daniel went tumbling down and felt with a dull thread a howl of pain. Lestat didn't hesitate to climb on top of him, straddling his torso, he wrapped his hands around his stupid throat.
He said to fuck off.
"Tu veux répéter ça?" He hissed, applying pressure and finding a sick thrill in how red his face was growing. "Tu penses qu'il t'emmènerait?" He scoffed. "Tu penses qu'il se contenterait de toi?"
Daniel kicked at his back, his knees landing but Lestat was in frenzy. He could hear the same words now from Armand, thousands of kilometres away on from flimsy phone line in Paris. He said to fuck off.
God the rage he had felt then. To hear it from that gremlin didn't make matters any better. At his lowest moment. The memories painful to revisit. He never thought someone's absence to have such a painful presence until Louis left. Cruel streak a mile wide, that fucking gremlin.
Louis. Louis a message from your first love.
Repeating word for word what Lestat said. Except the part that mattered. Tell him I love him Armand.
Daniel was scratching his face. Pushing. Limbs weakening. The dull rush was cleared now. He felt the smile like a sharp knife on his skin. He was so fucking tired of them. Their presence in his and Louis' life. Daniel's constant disregard of Lestat in Louis' life.
Armand's presence. His whole existence near his own was grating. The fact he could exist after what he did to Louis...
He knew Daniel saw Lestat as unworthy of Louis. Fed Louis words of doubt. Daniel was good at that. Saying words that cut. All blunt and rough. Ragged pieces that made Louis glance at Lestat sideways. The strained smile when Lestat's phone rang or when he went for his walks his therapist had told him would help.
"Luh, puhk- uh." Daniel said, tears streaming down his face. Lestat laughed. It was involuntary. His whole life came to this moment. Watching the veins pop around Daniels temple. The rushing of his own blood in his ears. The strain his hands and arms as he pushed and squeezed.
It felt so good. It felt-
The door opened and hurried footsteps approached them. If it was Armand he'd let him watch as he drained the life out-
"What in the Lord's name! Get off him Lestat!" It was like a whip. It electrified him.
The world came back, overwhelmingly so, as he looked up at the source of the voice.
Louis was walking towards them, in one hand was a small white cardboard box. And the world disappeared again as he took in Louis.
He was slightly wet, little droplets clung to his hair, sparkling like stars in the fluorescent lights. He was still in his khakis and Lestat's brown jacket that was only a little bit bigger by the hands. He wore a frown and a small scowl. A little bit of disbelief in his expression.
"What the fuck is wrong with your head?" He said in that steely voice of it, restrained. Never raising his voice.
Lestat cocked his head, watch Louis reach out and grab Lestat with his one free hand on his shoulder and lift. It was more of suggestion really. But the touch...
Something shook from underneath him. Lestat watched Louis turn his head away from him and say to the ground: "Are you alright?" Louis turned back to Lestat. "Why the fuck are you trying to kill Daniel?"
Louis pulled at his shoulder again and so Lestat stood. Took Louis into his arms, putting his hands on his waist, where they belonged. Felt his shoulder relax at the contact, the heat coming through Louis clothes. He took a breath and felt his head clear at the scent of their mixed colognes. Louis on his skin and Lestat's on his jacket.
"Why were you texting Daniel?" He shot back, his head finally clearing. Right. He was still angry about that. Louis looked at him like he was crazy. Lestat clenched his jaw to flex some tension out instead of flexing his hands. The hands that were on Louis waist.
"That's not an answer to my questio-"
"Neither is that. What are you messaging him that you can't say to me?" Daniel continued to hackle on the ground.
Louis stepped out of his hold. He turned around in a circle, one hand on his temple and the other still holding the small white package. For a few moments he opened his mouth a few times but shutting it. Licking his lips and looking away for a few moments. Louis breathed in and then stared at Lestat. "Okay," he said, tone flat. It raised the hairs on Lestat's nape. Louis shut his eyes hard, sucked his cheeks then opened them again. "Okay." Warmer now.
He handed the packages to Lestat and Lestat took it after a moment of hesitation. Heart rate skyrocketing by the second. "Lestat." He stared into his eyes. "The reason I texted Daniel was because your phone is off. It's dead most likely. I told you to charge it when I left but- you know what? I ain't gonna address that. Second. I can text my friends if I want to without it warranting a near death experience via your hands."
"Gigantic fucking paws is more like," Daniel rasped from the floor.
Lestat ignored him. He took a step towards Louis, then another when Louis didn't step back. "What did you say?"
Louis shut his eyes, bumping his nose against Lestat's. Warmth spread through Lestat despite Louis being cold from the sleeting rain outside. "I told him I'm on my way back home."
It disarmed Lestat immediately. All the tension left his body at those simple words.
He let out a breath and then leaned in. He kissed Louis.
Many gentle peck made into one kiss.
Home.
Their apartment. Shared together. Shared rent. Shared space. How many years did it take for Lestat to get Louis to say it? To get here with him? From young, naive kids to college boys to now.
Sometimes it didn't feel like enough. Sometimes it gnawed on Lestat at night when they don't sleep in the same bed. On days he doesn't see Louis at all.
He had promised himself and Louis to take things slow. They had went from friends to fiancées so fast. Half of the blame was his. Half was Louis'. This time they'd learn.
This time it would be different. This time it would hurt less to love each other.
But it was so fucking difficult.
It was so hard. An uphill battle. Every day Louis went somewhere without him. Every time Lestat couldn't hold his hand when he went into the studio. The multitude of songs collecting dust and more and more piled up. None of them the right one. The therapy sessions every week.
It was so hard. So fucking hard.
The greatest of torture. The worst of pleasures. All in one.
"Keep your dog on a fucking leash," Daniel spat, voice horse. Lestat revelled in it a little. Just a little. Louis shifted away and Lestat lamented the loss of his lips against his.
Lestat turned to Daniel finally and felt a bit of sympathy of how red he looked. But then again he knows Daniel knew what he was doing when he snapped that way. Cruelty streak that almost matched Armand's. How Louis didn't see it is a wonder.
Daniel was always so fragile in Louis eyes. He held a tender spot in Louis' heart that Lestat could never ignore. A soft spot he could never understand.
"Daniel, I'm so sorry." Louis said. Sincere. Heartbroken. Lestat grimaced as Daniel shot Lestat a dirty look. He pocketed his phone as he stood up. Lestat hoped he fell on his stupid face.
"You shouldn't apologise for him," He spat.
Lestat sneered at him. "How about you make like the pest you are and scatter. Master's waiting to kiss your bruises better."
Daniel raised his middle finger and turned around and got out the door. Lestat watched him and came to conclusion that he'd get over it. Sure they never got physical, Daniel always came back to the apartment. Nothing Lestat would do could remove Daniel from Louis' life.
Lestat would find it charming, redeeming even when most of Louis' friends in the past had left Louis because they couldn't handle Lestat. But Lestat couldn't find it anything but annoying because how irritating Daniel was.
The door banged shut. "You should have let me kill him." He said airly. Louis shifted to stand in front of him. He ducked as Lestat went in for kiss. Lestat ignored the small anxious twist of his heart.
Louis gave him a stern look before turning away, taking the package out of his hands. "Don't joke about that. He could sue." Lestat rolled his eyes at that, following Louis into the kitchen. "And if you didn't want to stop you wouldn't have. That means you like him."
And if you didn't want to stop you wouldn't have.
It cuts Lestat sharply. He flinches. The action unsee by Louis who was opening the white package. Inside were...cupcakes. Two cupcakes.
Louis turned, one in each hand and handed Lestat the green one. "If it was Armand, I doubt he'd still be breathing."
"You could pull me off." He said back without thinking.
Louis smiled but it was strained. He was staring at Lestat's throat. "You have a one track mind." He said, put his hand on Lestat's chest. Lestat's beating heart under the hand it belonged to.
A tune formed in the back of his head. Tense, fast, a melody with a bridge that jarred the listener. He watched Louis smiled the crinkle at the side of his cheeks. Lestat wanted to devour him. Lestat wanted to never touch him again. Incase him in glass.
Louis was a great muse. One that never stopped giving.
Lestat sometimes wished he did. He thinks of how he could put one melody for them. One melody for Louis. Just the singular one. It would be so much easier between them. To understand what he needed to be. What Louis needed from Lestat. One tune to follow so all was always right.
But with Louis the bridge was always going to something new. A new tone. A new pitch. A new melody. A new rhythm. Arching and weaving and growing. A challenge at every sunrise.
Louis kissed his cheek. Soft. Warm. Lingering. Hand still on his heart.
"It's what I like about you." He say, teasingly as he passes. Lestat listens to him retreat and watches the sleeting rain outside the kitchen window.
For a moment he listens to his heartbeat. Waits for it to calm to its base rhythm. He waits. He waits. He looks down to the green cupcake. It has a little flower shaped heart. A shade darker to stand out.
Funny.
He'd thought he'd gotten his happy ending when Louis had returned.
Then why did the future look so uncertain?