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Scott followed the blubbery noises that echoed through the castle, hoping to find the source of the insufferable sound.
He had finally narrowed down the location when the noise sounded like it was just a wall over, coming from the mouth of the crypt.
“Avid! What happened?” Scott heard Shelbly’s voice as he took in the scene in front of him. Everyone was surrounding a crying Avid, all of there expressions holding a different amount of concern and amusement.
While Scott watched as Avid vaguely explained how he had been killed, he felt a pang of sympathy wash over him. He remembers when he was a new fledgling, when he had first died and had no one to feel sympathy for him.
He also felt something else, but tried his best to ignore paid no attention to it.
“Oh Avid. What did you do?” Scott sighed as he walked over to Avid, the fledgling’s and everyone else's eyes turning to the elder vampire, all feeling the power radiating off him, a perk that came with age.
“Scott! I don’t know what happened! I was converting a beacon, and then Apo and Legs appeared and- and-” Avid dissolved closer to the floor, a sobbing mess.
Before his knees could hit the stone, Scott caught the fledgling by his shoulders. Avid looked up at him, pain and confusion painted over his face.
It was then that Scott noticed Avid’s eyes. They were returned to their odd violet color, though they were rimmed red around the edges. His hair was also back to brown-ish grey, and his skin was a warmer tone than it should have been.
Avid was low-level, and he didn’t have any spare bottles of crimson. Avid was not safe.
He grabbed Avid’s wrist, earning a tiny jump from the latter. But before he could drag Avid down into the catacombs, he was reminded of the crowd around him when Shelby spoke back up.
“What are you doing?” Her tone was defensive, likely worried what Scott was going to do to her fledgling.
“I’m taking him to his room to rest. He is weak.” Logical answers. They needed the numbers right now, what with the townspeople becoming more aggressive to the coven.
Something sparked in Shelby’s eyes, a small smirk wisping at the corners of her mouth. “Fine. Don’t hurt him.”
She backed up, leaving Scott confused for a moment before he remembered his quest. He turned back to the staircase, taking his time to walk over so as to not freak out Avid.
The journey down was mostly silent aside from the occasional sniffle from the younger vampire, very quiet compared to the loud cries.
When they started nearing Avid’s bedroom, Avid slowed down a very noticeable amount. Scott let go of his wrist to fully stand in front of him.
“Avid?”
“It was so dumb,” Avid started. “It was stupid. I tried to take the town beacon alone.”
“You did what.”
“I was underneath it and tried to take it on my own. But, someone must have heard me. Abolish walked in and I had to think fast. I escaped.
“I should have just returned to the castle after that scare, but then I felt the lake beacon turn neutral." His voice started wavering, his hands shaking from what Scott assumed to be trauma Avid was thinking back to.
“Avid-”
“I flew over and didn’t see anyone.” His whole body was shaking now.
“Avid yo-”
“It was obviously a trap.”
“Avid, stop I-”
“I was so dumb.” His legs bucked underneath him, Scott jumping forward having to catch him for the second time that day. “And then- and then they- they-”
Sobs wracked Avid’s body, loud and uncontrollable. He leaned against Scott, the elder wrapping his arms around him.
“I was so, so dumb…” Avid curled in on himself, trying his best to make himself as small as possible. When that wasn't enough, Scott felt the trembling fledgling’s bones shift under his hands, the vampire now replaced with a small, grey fuzzball.
“Avid?” No response. Just crying. “Avid, can you hear me?” He looked down at the small bat on the floor, tiny wings covering Avid’s tiny scrunched face. Scott leaned down and scooped up the small thing, holding it in front of his face.
“Avid, please say something?” Actual worry slipped through his voice, dripping off the words he desperately wanted Avid to respond to. Still, nothing came from him. The stress must have triggered instincts vampires rarely had to fight against, the ones that blocked all outside influences so they could get rest.
Scott stared at the bat now sitting in his hands, the odd feeling from earlier swirling in his chest and flipping his stomach.
Avid’s breathing - a human habit the fledgling was too young to stop yet - was erratic and struggled, and his crying became a steady stream of silent tears.
Scott knew that Avid would be too deep into instincts for the elder’s words to reach him, and he wouldn’t be able to just leave Avid on his own. An unnamed emotion pulled the hands holding Avid closer to him, his memory reminding him how to take care of a human, and took in deep breaths. It hurt a bit, with him not breathing since he had woken up from his 600 year slumber, but he ignored the pain for Avid.
The bat didn’t react to the motion, but instead pressed itself closer to the up and down motion of Scott's chest. The one thing Scott always forgets - well, the closest thing to forgetting as a vampire - is that fledglings still run a bit warm when they are a bat. It was rare for Scott to re-experience this realization, maybe the first time ever since being told about it from his own sire as a fledgling himself.
But the warm ball of fuzz couldn’t explain the hotter warmth that bloomed from his hands and legs, spreading across his body before reaching his heart.
He felt a phantom beat come from the long-dead organ.
The bat’s breathing slowed as Scott held him, the frantic movements that ruffled the soft fur stopping to allow the fuzz to flatten back out.
Suddenly he had the impulse idea to pet the bat, and allowed his hand to follow through with it. The small thing flinched at the first touch before settling again as his fingers combed through Avid’s fur.
Scott walked further into the room to the bed, running a free hand atop the stiff mattress. This will not do, was his only thought before leaving the room, closing the door behind him, and walking up the stairs to reach the castle above.
________
Avid awoke up to a subtle up and down motion rocking his body. He was wrapped in an odd blanket, lacking any sort of normal “fuzziness” as he put it, and no warmth a normal sheet would provide. Also, he had no idea where he was, and nothing explained why he was moving.
He squinted his eyes open, and the first thing he noticed was how big everything was. The stone walls seemed massive, making him feel like he was as big as a bat. Wait a minute. Avid shifted just a bit to look at himself, and sure enough, he recognized the dark gray fur of his vampire-bat form. But more importantly, he noticed a pale skinned hand. The skin was perfectly smooth, cold and soft. And not Avid’s.
He let out a bat squeak, eyes fully opening to dart around the moving room. The hand that held Avid pulled him closer to what he would assume to be the person that was holding Avid, and a second one came up to wrap and cover more of his unusually small bat form.
“Hey.” Oh no. “You’re okay.” OH NO. The hand holding him pulled away from the vampire’s chest, turning Avid to look at Scott’s face. OHH NNOO. A warmth flooded Avid’s small body, his non-human form the only thing hiding what would be the heaviest blush probably anyone has ever seen.
He was being carried – AS A BAT – by SCOTT.
“You’re safe. Nothing can get you.” oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god “I have you. You’re safe.”
Oblivious to Avid’s inner turmoil, Scott held Avid back to his chest. “Breath.”
And Avid did. He tried to control his breathing he hadn’t noticed had become erratic, trusting Scott’s voice and following the order.
“You’re safe.” He felt safe.
“Just breathe.” Deep breath in, deep breath out.
“You can rest. I've got you.” And Avid closed his eyes, and let a sleepless unconsciousness take over his mind, thoughts becoming fuzzy around the edges, breathing finally stopping at his last coherent thought; Scott's really pretty…
________
On the walk to his room, Avid awoke with a start in Scott’s hold. He thought the small instinct driven bat had finally fallen asleep, but apparently something was still scaring Avid. Scott knew that Avid wouldn’t be able to come back to his senses until he was comfortable and safe.
After a couple of coaxing words, he finally got the panicking fledgling to fall back asleep, and continued his journey to the top room that contains Scott’s own bed. He can’t leave Avid before he can control his own actions, but he wasn’t about to spend over an hour sitting on the stiffest mattress in the castle.
No other reason.
He made it to the door of his room, reaching into his pocket for an old key for the rusty lock. Turning the door handle, it swung inward to reveal a comfortable sized room, covered in a velvety red carpet. He closed the door behind him and walked over to his desk, putting down the key.
He looked down to his shoes, and realized he wouldn’t be about to take off the intricate boots without both hands. The problem is, he didn’t have both of his hands. He didn’t want to put Avid down, but he can’t get dirt in the carpet unless he wanted to rip it up to take it down to the river, but the river is probably dirtier than his shoes.
After a moment of deliberation, he had an odd idea. He adjusted his grip on Avid from holding him to grabbing him, lifting the bat as gently as possible. Slowly, he lifted him above his head before resting the bat in his hair. It would be a pain to take care of later, but it was easier than fixing the carpet or putting Avid down.
Avid unconsciously shifted on Scott’s head, using his small paws to scruff Scott’s hair and bury his small body into the now unkempt scruff on his head. His stomach did a little flip as he took off his shoes, feeling every tiny movement Avid made. He took even more extreme care to walk steadily when he realized he wouldn't be able grab Avid again without waking him up, deciding to leave the bat in his hair.
He sat on his un-used bed - vampires don’t need sleep and Scott doesn't really rest - and propped up a couple of pillows, expecting to be stuck here for a while.
He was confused a couple minutes later, when Avid started shifting but didn’t stop. He felt the bat’s weight shift to one side, his hair tugging in an odd way, before a small paw fell on his ear, and a small boop on his cheek, before he shifted back to comfortably sit in Scott’s hair.
What? Was that…? No.. It couldn’t have been…? Did Avid just…try to… just… kiss him?
No. No? Avid just leaned down and poked his cheek, nothing more. Just… yeah. Yeah!
Oh, who was he kidding?! A heavy blush covered his face, creeping up his neck and covering his ears.
Oh.
Oh no.
________
What had Avid just done?!
One minute he’s looking around what he assumed to be Scott’s room, sitting in Scott’s hair, and the next he’s leaning over and pecking Scott on his cheek! He tried settling back in Scott’s hair and pretended like nothing had happened, succeeding for a couple minutes before Scott reached up and grabbed him.
Avid was too startled to struggle against Scott’s grip, simply looking at the elder as he was set down on Scott’s crisscrossed legs. If Avid looked closer, he could see a light dust of pink on the tips of his pointy ears.
“Avid.” Avid looked up and met Scott’s eyes, making contact before looking away. “I know you can hear me now. Dear, look at me.” He jumped at the name, invisible red painting his face.
“I need you to turn back. It’s unhealthy to stay in that form for very long, and I would like to… talk to you.” Scott hesitated at the last part, seeming to rethink a plan.
Avid didn’t turn back immediately, remembering what happened a few moments earlier, embarrassed by his rash move.
“Please?” His voice sounded a bit strained, like he was holding something back. Avid knew that turning back would mean a scolding, but holding himself as a bat was beginning to become exhausting.
He closed his eyes and felt his bones crinkle and crack, skin stretching to fit comfortably over his body, holding it all together and keeping what little blood he had in his body.
Once everything felt right, he opened his eyes again and his stomach did a flip, going completely upside down and not quite setting back down to normal.
He was sitting on Scott’s lap.
Now that he was back to his human form, the blush that flushed his face was very visible.
“Oh my god I am so sorry I didn’t realize I would still be sitting here please this was an accident I am so sor-” His attempt to apologize and squirm backwards was cut short when Scott caught his wrist, effectively trapping Avid while he was still on Scott. Oh my god oh my god-
“Avid?” Avid looked up to Scott.
What was he supposed to do in this situation? None of his vampire-hunting life as a human prepared him for what he should do if he ever ended up on a hot vampire's lap, and said hot vampire grabbing his wrist to prevent Avid from getting off the hot vampire's lap.
“Avid, what was that poke I felt on the side of my face a minute ago? I couldn’t see you.” Scott's face was one of innocence. Too innocent.
“Wha– I– I don’t remember doing anything!” Avid blustered out, voice pitched too high and cracking halfway through the sentence.
“Too me,” a famous Scott-dramatic-pause as he leaned forward, “It kinda felt like a tiny kiss. Odd, huh, Avid?”
HE KNOWS OH GOD IM GOING TO DIE TONIGHT AREN’T I OH GOD-
His internal rambling was cut off when Scott leaned even more impossibly closer, short-circuiting Avid’s brain. Avid rapidly studied Scott’s face, seeing his perfect, porcelain skin reflect a soft golden light from the sunrise peeking through a window. His red eyes held a million shades, making his normal human blue seem like he was comparing a pond to an ocean. An uncontrollable urge caused his vision to flick down, glancing at the soft pink lips he had pressed his own against only days earlier, too caught up in his own excitement to realize what he did later that night.
“It was so fast I couldn’t really tell. Kind of like what happened at the beacon.”
“Scott- Scott I’m so sorry I don’t know what I was doing I don’t know why I did that something just happened and-” Once again, Avid was cut off when Scott rested his forehead against Avid worried brows.
“You know what?” Avid eyes were wide, confusion swirling with the warmth of his very mushy brain. “I think I decided I liked the kiss at the beacon.”
That was the only warning before Scott closed the impossibly small gap between the elder and fledgling, the smoldering warmth becoming a raging fire in his chest. He only startled for a moment before instinct took over, Avid pressing his own body against the cold sensation of Scott’s lips against his own. He felt Scott’s hands wrap around Avid's waist, pulling him closer as Avid tangled his own hands in Scott’s hair.
They were like this for an inexplicable long amount of time while also being the shortest moment of his life.
Scott pulled back, a heavy dusting of pink across his cheeks and on the tips of his ears, Avid being sure that his face was probably a much, much darker shade of red.
“Mmmmwa! That's how you do it.” Scott joked, resting his forehead against Avid's.
Avid tried to respond, but with the mix of being a flustered mess and unable to control his unnecessary heavy breathing, all he got out was a tiny squeak. Scott burst out in a fit of giggles, a very unusual sight to anyone who had ever met the centuries old vampire.
“Eeeeek! Yes yes yes!” A squeal sounded from the corner of the room, Scott and Avid both turning to see Shelby appear out of thin air.