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After the first successful month of the tour, Lestat wanted to treat the band and their staff to dinner, make a celebration of it. Louis didn’t hesitate to make a call and buy out Hyun for a night, inviting Daniel to join them if he was in New York.
“You know the owner?” Daniel had scoffed.
“I own his building.”
There was some ranting about capitalist evil something-something, but he agreed anyway. And Louis was actually excited to go.
Lestat was very close to the band, and growing very attached to his staff. They were all aware that both he and Lestat were not human and just rolled with the punches. Louis still wasn't comfortable being around so many white humans at once, they tended to get twitchy when it came to queer black men. But..It was nice, having a group again.
The night was warm, the food smelled good, and they were all laughing and enjoying themselves.
“Hey Lou,” Tough Cookie asked, cutting into their steak, “exactly how rich are you?”
A couple people booed, a couple looked uncomfortable, but Daniel laughed. That seemed to settle any discomfort.
“What? Place like this probably makes thirty/forty grand in a night and he just clears it for us?”
“It’s a special occasion,” Lestat drawled facetiously. He smirked at Louis, tongue between his teeth. Louis just reached for his glass of blood and considered them for a moment. It was a high quality bovine, procured especially for them that night. The cattle for their steaks had been given beer to supplement the meat. The alcohol in the blood gave it a nice flavor too.
“It is,” Louis agreed slowly. “And…I am… rich enough to not show up on any goddamn list,” he finished slyly, had them cracking up.
“Louis’ the kinda rich that inspired the guillotine,” Daniel chimed in.
“Hey now, it ain’t that bad. I had a few extra decades on them to build up. Didn’t happen overnight.”
Lestat patted his cheek like he was an adorable child.
“Yes mon cher , you’re so brilliant.”
Tease.
“Says the man who used to make fun of me for wanting to do something useful with my time.”
Lestat rolled his eyes. “I did not make fun . I did not understand, but I did not make fun .”
“Whoa! Boss, you’re rich too?” Timothy, the PA, demanded, pointing a fork at him. Lestat used his gift to drop that fork to the table. Jane, the sound engineer, just stared at the fork in confusion but no one else seemed to notice.
“Not like Louis.”
“So did you used to work when you were…alive?” Becca’s voice dropped to a whisper and Lestat leaned forward, mocking it.
“ No ,” he whispered back, making them all laugh. “I came by my wealth honestly.”
“Some white guy died,” Louis filled in snidely. Everyone around the table groaned except Daniel, who was laughing.
“ Some guy , he says,” Lestat shot back with an eye roll.
“Oh my bad,” Louis answered, tipping his head. “Monsieur maître Coven Leader, heir apparent, le petite prince , who never did the damn job.”
“They were boring .”
The table erupted in laughter at their banter, probably thoroughly enjoying someone getting one over on Lestat for a change. Lestat was enthusiastically defending himself, insisting that vampires were petty and impossible to tolerate in groups. Louis just remembered the mansion in Paris and wondered if Lestat had ever partook in that chaos. Probably started it, truth be told.
While Lestat recounted some of his funnier Paris stories, Louis stretched an arm along the back of his chair, fingers playing with the ends of his hair. He was trying not to seem too soppy, too obvious, but he was. Being back together with Lestat, no limits, no doubts, was as invigorating as it was overwhelming. He hadn’t felt this light in a truly, truly long time. Not even when they first got together. This new world, a new him with a made-over Lestat, was a revelation. And for once his happiness wasn’t gnarled with grief, the voices in his head were quiet.
“Lou?” Christine prompted with some concern from across the table, pulling Louis from his thoughts.
Staring like a fuck drunk kid, there, man.
Thanks Daniel .
“Sorry,” he shook his head, adjusting in his seat while still keeping his fingers draped along Lestat’s shoulder blade. “It’s nice to relax for a night, is all.”
“Tour schedules are a bitch,” Alex agreed, raising his beer. Lestat’s hand came to Louis’ knee, tapping twice. A small check in. Louis tapped back twice. It made him think of Armand, how he would wilt into some kind of oversolicitous, pandering nursemaid the second Louis checked out. Usually caused a scene. Something that could have been easily avoided. Embarrassed the shit out of him, and it was usually for the games. He’d been reflecting on those moments more often recently. He rubbed Lestat’s back, fingers sliding to his neck. Maybe it was much more than just games Armand had been playing.
“You have to be used to it, though,” Christine continued, interrupting his morbid ruminating. “The way you travel so often.”
“A little. I’m adjusting.”
“Are you heading back to Dubai soon?” Kasey asked, spearing at her roasted vegetables. Kasey was Lestat’s stylist and honestly didn’t get paid enough for the bullshit she endured. “Your house is there, right?”
He caught Lestat’s side glance and smiled, knowing he probably looked like a damn fool. He just lifted his brows at Lestat, giving him permission to say it how he liked. Lestat’s hand came up to the arm that rested behind him, stroking as he turned to his human friends.
“Louis will be traveling with us for the tour.”
Louis chuckled when Larry did a sign of a cross and kissed his fingers, Alex and Cookie high fived, and the girls got excited, asking him questions about how involved he was going to be. Becca was still trying to get him to be the primary tour photographer, which Kasey was in full support of. He had gotten closer to Jane, asking a lot about the equipment for the house Lestat still didn’t know about, so she was smitten. Timothy was the only neutral reaction, but that was because he had a heartbreaking crush on Lestat.
Whole tour huh?
Shut up Daniel.
How long before you caved? 30 seconds?
“I, for one, am glad to have you around regardless of whether or not Lestat behaves,” Christine insisted.
“He won’t,” Daniel chimed in, unhelpfully.
“What kinda magical vampire powers do you have to use on him?” Tough Cookie asked gleefully. “Hypnosis or some shit? Mind control?”
“Or having a tight–” Daniel’s face clenched when Louis felt Lestat’s leg swing out sharply. “ Hold on his heart.” The humans around them jeered and booed that..
“It has to be mind control!” Tough Cookie insisted.
“Not this again,” Lestat complained.
“Cookie, you’re being ridiculous,” Timothy scowled. They tossed an accusing finger at Lestat.
“He acts like he can’t do mind shit! I know he can do mind shit!”
Louis pulled his lips in, nodding and flashing a glance at a dangerously delighted Daniel.
“ Don’t ,” Lestat begged with a slight pout.
“I’m offended none of you read my book.”
“I don’t read.”
“Les said not to.”
“There’s a book?”
Louis was just smiling at Lestat who was silently pleading with him not to ruin his fun. Who knew how he’d been tormenting his band mates all this time? Louis leaned forward and lightly kissed his lips.
“Don’t worry, your secrets are safe with me, baby.”
Lestat hummed, smiling wide and leaning into another short kiss.
“ Eugh , sick,” Tough Cookie grimaced. “It’s like watching my parents make out.”
“You parents are dead, Cookie.”
“And they are way older than your parents,” Daniel chuckled.
“I think they’re sweet,” Becca sighed, chin on her hand like she was looking at a pile of puppies.
“And perfect ,” Kasey intoned. “I can’t even get a guy to commit to a hookup let alone him renting out a Michelin rated restaurant for me.” There were a few placating responses to that, but Tough Cookie looked a little put out. Louis decided to leave that one alone, they liked their privacy.
“Well his secrets aren’t safe with me,” Daniel informed them. “Twenty bucks and I’ll tell you everything.”
“Whore!” Lestat accused playfully.
“Deal!” Tough Cookie beamed, reaching across to shake Daniel’s hand.
“Louis, make them stop being mean to me.”
“Didn’t you break a mirror this week?”
“Two!” Kacey corrected.
“One and a half,” Timothy tried, weakly.
“Not on purpose !”
“What do you think happens when you throw a hair dryer at glass, then?” Alex openly mocked him. It was nice, actually, that these humans felt so safe teasing him. That Lestat was allowing it.
“Louis!”
“I ain’t defending you,” he argued. Lestat reached over and sliced one of the buttons off of his shirt, making Louis gasp. Lestat just spat out his tongue. “ Childish .”
“Aw, be sweet to him, Lou,” Becca tried.
“I get too sweet and he gets too big for those britches.” He used his hands and mouth to feign a small explosion. They all chuckled but Lestat swatted at him.
“How dare you, my body is perfect,” Lestat drawled with no heat. Louis pretended to stomp, making quiet boom noises as he rocked his head and kept eye contact with Lestat. He clicked his tongue.
“Belt pops right off.”
Lestat squinted, eyes bright and mouth working as he tried not to laugh at Louis’ antics.
“Gotta squish into that coffin–”
“ Wow !” Lestat barked
“Can’t even shut the lid, it’s a whole mess. Nah, you gotta make ‘im work for it. He’s gotta earn it or the floor just gives out.”
The table was laughing uncontrollably, Alex even sloshed his beer onto Larry. Lestat was actually blushing, probably not at all used to being teased in front of these people so unrepentantly. But he was smiling, hands on Louis’ thigh and shoulder, squeezing.
“Maligning my character!”
“If I’m too sweet, he gets the zoomies,” another two feigned explosions, “there goes the neighborhood.”
“I actually kinda wanna see that,” Tough Cookie muttered between giggles.
The table erupted again and Lestat shook Louis off, even making to get up to move seats. Tongue between his teeth, Louis snagged the waistband of his pants to tug him back down even as Lestat batted at his hand.
“No, no, don’t want you to get too sweet and ruin the party.” Louis ignored that and wrangled Lestat into his lap, both of them using a little of their vampiric strength to grapple. It looked like play fighting to the humans, but Daniel was rolling his eyes. Louis finally had him subdued and dully bit at the side of his neck, no fangs involved. Lestat relaxed into his hold, tipping his head in that pretty submission he didn’t give very often. Louis kissed the spot he bit in praise.
Louis wrapped his arms around Lestat’s waist, hugging him close as the laughter dwindled and the chatter resumed. He let his eyes shut, buried his nose in Lestat’s shoulder. He absorbed the ambient noise, the rumble of Lestat’s voice against his chest, the ever-present warmth between them. Lestat’s hand moved restlessly over his forearm, lightly scratching at skin, tapping out melodies he subconsciously played in his head. He only rose to alertness when Lestat turned in his hold and wrapped an arm around his neck, presenting his blood glass.
Louis didn’t need prompting to drink as Lestat tipped it back for him. It had become a more frequent ritual, this position. Lestat feeding Louis, both of them sated by the gluttonous intimacy of it. Not as intimate as feeding from each other, which was Lestat’s preferred method, but this was a public space after all.
“...a love like that,” Becca was saying with a sigh in her young voice.
“No, you really fucking don’t,” Daniel lobbed back gruffly. “You all really did not read the book, did you?”
“Meh,” Alex dismissed him with a wave of his knife, “we’ll watch the movie.”
Lestat was trying to suppress his laugh in response to that as he wiped a drip of blood from Louis’ lip, licking it from his own finger. It was hard to miss the fondness in his eyes, not just for Louis, but for everyone at the table. Louis really hadn’t been sure Lestat had it in him to care for humans anymore. He was glad to be proven wrong.
“Okay, okay,” Larry broke up the small bickering amongst them. “What I really want to know is…” he took a dramatically long pause that had both Louis and Lestat looking over in concern. “What the fuck are we doing about that fucking transition in the second act? It’s too goddamn short. I can’t reset that fast!”
And a whole new round of bickering broke out as Alex and Lestat teamed up against Larry and Tough Cookie about the timing of the show. Even Daniel weighed in, considering he’d seen the show a few times already, but Jane vehemently disagreed with him. Louis was content to hold Lestat and took back his glass to cheers with the others.
After Lestat had officially stirred the pot, he turned back closer to Louis, circling his arms around his neck. Louis tipped his head back, watching Lestat’s face as he settled.
“Have I thanked you tonight?” Lestat murmured, eyes locked on Louis’ mouth. Louis shook his head slightly. “Mm, I hate to be in debt.”
“The bank’ll hear offers.”
“I–”
“Don’t you dare start!” Daniel interrupted, wagging a finger between the two of them. “I don’t wanna hear your goopy, sappy shit!”
“I will blow him at this table right now if I want!” Lestat really hated when people interrupted his flirting.
“ Please , please don’t,” Larry begged.
“I ain’t goopy . What the fuck does that even mean?” Ok, maybe Louis didn’t like when Lestat’s flirting got interrupted either.
“He’s jealous, mon cher .”
“All twisted up. Look at him. Twisted himself into knots.”
“Seething.”
“You need to calm down is what you need to do.”
“I will talk to Louis however I want!”
“You weren’t even this bad with Armand, and you were trying. And that shit was weird.” Louis pulled a face. “Fake Rashid was weird !”
Louis leaned to whisper in Lestat’s ear, who tipped his head back closer. “That’s because he had a hard on for Armand.” Lestat snorted. “Always flirting, trying to make him laugh.”
Lestat gasped in outrage. “Daniel! You never flirt with me!”
“I did not flirt with Armand,” Daniel answered snidely. Louis just chuckled.
“He absolutely did.”
“Kasey, what was it you called that charming strategy the young men use these days? Make you feel like shit?”
“Negging?”
“Yes, this. Negging .” Lestat tapped on Louis. “He is good at this, lots of insults.”
“Armand does like to be smacked around a bit.”
“Like catnip to the gremlin, mon cher .”
“Okay shut up!”
“Who is Armand?” Christine asked them eagerly.
“Yeah Dan, who’s Armand? ” Louis ticked his voice up an octave and mockingly imitated her inflection. Daniel jabbed a finger in his direction.
“All right. Fuck you. And fuck you.”
“C’mon! I want to know! I smell a juicy story there.”
“He’s their ex.”
“Ooh–!”
The whole table erupted with questions that each of them batted down as the other shot back at Daniel.
“You see he leaves himself out of it–”
“Try me Louis! Go ahead!”
“I was never with him, we did not sleep together, he’s a liar –”
“Were you some kind of throuple, or–?”
“Only if you count cheating as a throuple, huh Dan?”
“Really Louis? Really ?”
“Cheating does not count as a throuple,” Lestat muttered to Alex. “Trust me, I’ve tried–” Louis backhanded him in the chest. “I still think it would have been fine!”
“Shut up.”
“So wait Daniel also hooked up with this Armand guy?”
“Who hasn’t?” Louis grumbled, making Lestat pout at him.
"I just said not me!"
“I think that technically makes you my step-dad, Louis–”
“Ew, don’t say that–”
“For the millionth time! The maker-fledgling relationship is not incestuous!”
Apparently the group skipped right over that implication.
“Maker? Like vampire maker?”
“Wait, then who is your maker?”
They all looked at Louis who pointed at Lestat.
“What? My maker is dead.” He caught Larry’s eye roll. “Oh, I turned Louis, oui .”
“So that means…” They turned to Daniel who downed his cup of blood.
“My ex turned Daniel,” Louis supplied with feigned cheerfulness. The humans looked around at each other. And then back at the vampires before launching into more questions.
It was Jane who stood and whistled sharply, getting everyone’s attention so they would quiet down. Jane was not usually very loud, never drew attention to herself, so it was surprising enough to stop everything. She lowered her hands.
“Good. Now. Guys? Maybe let’s not pry into what sounds like a very complicated, possibly painful, backstory. Yeah?”
There was a murmur of reluctant agreement. Becca looked particularly sheepish about her excitement, and even Daniel seemed cowed.
“That is very…kind of you, Jane,” he said slowly as Jane sat back down. She nodded at him.
Naturally it was Lestat who broke first by snorting and laughing. They all complained that he was a dick, but Louis was having a hard time not laughing with him. If he couldn’t laugh about it, he’d do something way worse.
“Fine, fine,” Lestat conceded, lifting a hand to wave them off. “No more talk of the gremlin.”
Have you heard from him? Daniel asked, drinking his cup of blood.
Of course not, Louis lied easily. He didn’t count Armand’s snooping and prying as “hearing from him” anyway. Bastard.
I didn’t want to say anything but I have.
Louis tipped his head and even Lestat tensed. (Daniel was still too loud and not particularly accurate with his telepathy.)
It was nothing , Daniel assured him. Just left some quality hash and an article about cannabis helping with tremors.
There was little harm in that. He was keeping tabs on Daniel, which wasn’t unexpected, and doing some caretaking. Not completely out of character for him. Lestat tipped his head against Louis’, one arm still heavy around his neck as he talked to his friends.
You okay with that?
Do I have a choice? Daniel’s brows furrowed. He could have at least stayed for a minute. Talked to me.
But he’s showing up, maybe that’s all he can do.
You don’t even want him to show up!
No…but I know you do. Daniel finally turned his head to make eye contact with Louis, a little dimmer in energy now. How I feel about it doesn’t matter and I never wanted you to concern yourself with that anyway.
You were together for 77 years, Lou–
Stuck together. Obligated to each other. I was one foot out the door long before I met you the first time.
Yeah, maybe–
No maybes. I was. All I want is to keep you safe, but if you want him, I won’t stand in your way.
I don’t know what I want.
Probably doesn’t help that he’s playing Invisible Man with you right now.
I do want to punch his stupid face in.
Don’t blame you.
They nodded at each other, both a little more subdued.
“See!” Cookie squealed, pointing at them in turn. “Mind shit! It’s happening!”
“Give it a rest, Cookie!”
They stayed at the restaurant far past usual closing hours. Louis could tell the girls were getting tired, but no one wanted to call it quits. Not until Kasey nearly nodded off and Tough Cookie decided they should wrap it up. Lestat turned to Louis to wag his eyebrows at that interaction, and Louis knew right then he was going to spend a good deal of energy preventing Lestat from interfering.
Larry, Alex, and Timothy dipped out with some of the girls while Lestat put Christine safely in a car home. (He was very protective of Christine in a way that Louis was mildly concerned about, but actively ignoring until he could sort out the reasons why.) Daniel offered to escort a very mournful-looking Tough Cookie home. He slung an arm around their shoulders, gesticulating emphatically as they walked. Probably the worst pep talk in history. Which left just Louis, Lestat, and a couple of hours until sunrise.
Lestat wrinkled his nose as Louis pulled his arm around himself and slid his own to the small of Lestat’s back.
“I will never get over the stench of this place,” he complained.
“Do you not remember the wharf after a Sunday broil in July?”
Lestat scoffed. “That was natural . Signs of life. This is…” he kicked at something Louis didn’t care to identify, “trash and decay.”
“Okay, King NOLA,” Louis teased, kissing his cheek. Lestat pushed into it.
“I appreciate everything you did tonight,” Lestat said quietly, thoughtful in a way he so rarely was around others. Louis felt his heart kick in his chest. “I know you don’t approve of the tour–”
“That is not true.”
“But it’s very good for them. For their careers. And even if the music dries up, this is good experience for them.”
“You care about them,” Louis added, eyes locked on Lestat’s profile. He let Lestat handle the navigating, let himself do the staring for a change.
“Very much. It was hard to care about anything for a long time. They made me want to.”
He seemed sheepish, almost ashamed to admit it. The Old Louis would have called bullshit and quoted back every disparaging word he’d screeched against humans. The Old Louis would have mocked him for getting so attached after those speeches. That Louis was dead. That Louis died in San Francisco and was buried in Dubai.
“That’s a good thing, Les,” he answered gently. “It’s so easy to stand outside and above it. But that’s not you.”
Lestat made a face, obviously skeptical, and urged them across a street. Cars blared their horns as they crossed, unconcerned.
“You love the act of creation more than anybody I know. You didn’t just watch plays, you performed. You don’t just consume music, you write it. You say we’re just killers and incapable of maintaining our humanity, but you’re more human than anyone I’ve ever met.”
Lestat paused, stopped in his tracks completely. His arm slipped from Louis’ neck and Louis caught his hand. His expression was almost wounded
“You don’t think that’s why we fit? Vampirism grappling with its humanity, humanity struggling with its monstrosity?”
“We fit together because I spend a good deal of time opening you properly–”
Louis rolled his eyes as he stepped into Lestat’s space, cupping his cheek to lift his eyes, and kissing him. Louis could feel Lestat’s tension under his fingers, his wariness. It was such an echo of their old life, their old fights. And this, for them now, was still new. Still fragile. Louis kept it sweet and soft, forcing Lestat to follow pace or else risk losing his mouth. Lestat sighed and relaxed into it. He was much easier to persuade than his bandmates assumed. Louis offered his bottom lip in reward, satisfied only when he heard Lestat’s throaty appreciation. He slowed them to a stop, nuzzling against Lestat’s mouth.
“I wish I was you. With the joy and enthusiasm for life and being in the middle of it. Us monsters have to lurk at the edges, wait for an opening.”
“You’re not a monster,” Lestat argued in a hushed voice. Sincere, too. Louis smiled and kissed him again, short and chaste and still able to shake the earth under his feet. Didn’t matter how many times.
“You’re the only one who thinks that, mwen titid . And I do love you for it.”
Lestat kissed him sharply. “No more of this morbid talk, I won’t stand for it.” He sidled in close, arms raising to Louis’ shoulders. Natural as anything for Louis to link his arms around his waist. “It was a good night. You were good with them and very generous and I won’t let you prevent me from showing my appreciation.”
Louis hummed, accepting Lestat’s light kisses. He tugged him closer by the waist, their hips pressed together.
“Does this appreciation require us to be clothed?”
“Strictly prohibited actually.”
“Strictly. I see.”
“I take rules very seriously.”
“When? After you’ve broken them all or when you get caught for it?”
“Louis! You wound me!”
“I love you.”
“ Fait chier , same fucking thing,” he complained.