More Than a Friend - TemporaryAltars (2024)

New York was nothing like Louisiana. It didn’t take Louis longer than a few hours to figure that out. It wasn’t so much that the buildings were bigger or the city was louder, it was just... everything. People weren’t friendly up north. No one even made eye contact with each other, let alone said hi. Back home, he wouldn’t have been able to make it from one side of town to the other without getting a lagniappe to snack on from the sweet shop, or a friendly smile from a stranger.

Louis had tried making small-talk with the owner of the Bodega around the corner one night when he was feeling particularly lonely, but the guy just scowled at him and told Louis to stop wasting his time and order something before he kicked him out. Louis got a ham sandwich and an Arnold Palmer with his last eight dollars, and made it about three blocks before dropping his half-eaten sandwich on the sidewalk in pure terror after crossing paths with a rat the size of his head. It took him another week before he got up the courage to go out at night again.

So yeah, New York wasn’t anything like New Orleans.

Worst of all, it felt impossible to make friends. The people on his floor seemed nice enough, but everyone seemed lost in their own world-always in too much of a hurry to stand around making small talk. Consequently, Louis’ free time was mostly spent studying in the library and trying to convince Kermit, the school’s emotional support dog, to like him more than everyone else.

It went on like this for a few weeks, but Louis finally got invited to his first college party by a junior named Madeleine before his first month at NYU was over.

Louis had only heard about Madeleine in passing through his older sister Grace. They had been roommates during their freshman years before Grace decided she hated New York and transferred back home to Tulane. As soon as Louis had gotten his acceptance letter, Grace had insisted on introducing him to Madeleine so he wouldn’t end up having to navigate the city alone like she had. Their schedules were completely different, so they still hadn’t gotten much of a chance to hang out yet, but Louis was more than grateful for the words of encouragement she would text him whenever she had a few minutes off from class and work.

Madeleine was stunning, sarcastic, and effortlessly cool, but she was also hilarious and endearingly protective of Grace-and Louis, by extension-so when he was given a cursory invite to her party, he couldn’t have been more excited.

Unfortunately, the excitement immediately wore off the second he stepped into the overcrowded room. Louis had never felt so out of place. He was already the sheltered small town fish out of water in New York City, but it never felt as obvious as it did now. There were strobe lights coming from somewhere Louis couldn’t place, a ping pong table that someone was doing lines off of, and even a fog machine.

As for the guests themselves, they were the kinds of people Louis had only seen on CW shows growing up. There was a guy in the corner wearing mismatched sneakers spray painting his tag on the walls, a girl with neon green hair and steel-toed boots giving out stick and poke tattoos on a dilapidated couch in the corner, and some guy who looked like he was in a grunge band scooping up tuna out of a can with a drumstick and feeding it to an orange cat in the kitchen.

Louis had been standing next to the keg, pretending to look through Madeleine’s record collection so it wasn’t so obvious that he was at the party alone, when a girl in a black ‘CRYPTO IS FOR VIRGINS’ shirt and yellow converse smiled at him. “Let me guess, NYU?” Louis looked down at his NYU sweater and cringed, thinking she was making fun of him, but she just grinned and said, “I’m Claudia.”

Louis returned her smile with a relieved one of his own. He’d been at the party for over an hour and the closest thing he’d had to a conversation with someone was when a drunk girl apologized for throwing up on his shoes before her friends hauled her away. He’d actually been grateful for the excuse to lock himself in the bathroom for the next 20 minutes while he cleaned off his sneakers.

“Louis. I’m a dork. This is humiliating. I should just take this off.” He set his cup down, tugged at the hem, and started pulling it off.

Claudia laughed and put her hand on Louis’ arm to stop him, “Nah, leave it on, it’s ironic.”

Louis sighed and picked his drink up again. “I’m from New Orleans, where people still think it’s cool to wear school sweaters.”

Claudia clinked her red plastic cup against his. “I’m from Brooklyn, where people think it’s cool to have man-buns and charge eight dollars for a cup of coffee made by a guy with a handlebar mustache.”

“That sounds...really specific,” Louis laughed. “Unfortunately, it’s not.”

“So who do you know here?” Louis asks as he scans the room full of aggressively cool people with piercings Louis didn’t even know were legal.

Claudia shrugged. “Not a single person. I met Madeleine at Epicurean the other day and convinced her to invite me.”

“Madeleine is a friend of my sisters' so she invited me out of total pity. I don’t know anyone either, you’re like the first person to talk to me all night.”

Claudia smiled sympathetically. “Well, now that you’ve got me here, tell me about yourself, Louis. Did you come here to hook up with someone or do you have a girl back home?”

“I’m with someone, actually,” Louis pulled out his phone to show Claudia a picture. “Lily. We're high school sweethearts. She’s still back in New Orleans.”

“She’s gorgeous. And totally out of your league,” Claudia teased. “You must be serious if you’re doing the long distance thing.”

​​Louis had to think hard for a moment. Were they serious? “I guess. I mean, we've been together since tenth grade."

“You guess?” Claudia laughed, “That’s good for me, then. I won’t have to compete with you for Madeleine’s affections.”

Louis’ eyebrows shot up. “You and Madeleine?”

Claudia sighed frustratedly. “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”

About an hour later Louis was rudely knocked into by a group of three moody looking guys that were probably models or actors who lived in the building and decided to crash the party. They were way too good looking to just be students. No one that beautiful would bother with midterms and student loan debt when they could just walk into IMG and get a contract. Claudia tried to say hi to them as they filled up their cups at the keg. All three tilted their heads up and gave a quick nod, but didn’t bother with actual words. They even didn’t look at Louis-his school hoodie had apparently made him invisible-but that didn’t stop him from looking at them .

All three were unfairly, preternaturally good looking, and he kind of hated them for it on principle. He hated the way they were dressed like they’d just finished shooting for the Zadig & Voltaire fall catalog and the way they looked down their noses at all the people at the party that Louis had been too intimidated to talk to all evening. He hated how they all had perfect bone structure and the kind of effortless bedhead that Louis had never been able to achieve with an entire shelf full of products. Most of all, Louis hated how a small, sick part of him was secretly hoping that they’d be impressed and intrigued by him. He didn’t usually judge people at first sight, but he thinks he hates the one in the leather pants most. He just seemed co*cky and pretentious.

Claudia immediately straightened up when Madeleine walked over to where they all stood and greeted the guys, “Hey, fellas.”

“Hi Madeleine,” Claudia smiled. Louis tried not to cringe at the fact her greeting had clearly been intended for the guys standing next to them. Leather pants guy looked at Claudia like she was a bug in his soup, and Louis felt completely justified in his hatred.

“Hey, Claudia. I see you’ve met Louis,” she smiled. “Louis, I’m so glad you came! Have you met Lestat, Wren and Oliver?”

Louis shook his head and offered them a tight smile and a nod. They barely responded to his introduction, apart from a couple distracted nods, which immediately put him off. His mother would’ve had his hide if he’d greeted anyone like that back home.

The guy in the leather pants, who Louis now knew as Lestat, leaned forward and whispered something in Madeleine’s ear that he couldn’t make out over the music. She just nodded and smiled at him before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “It was so great seeing you all tonight!”

The three guys finished their drinks as they walked out the door, tossing them into the trash can haphazardly. Louis frowned.

“Wow. Those guys are like-”

“So amazing,” Madeleine finished with a blinding grin.

Claudia and Louis shared a look of disagreement.

“What’s that Lestat guy’s deal anyway?” Louis asked.

“He was in my 17th Century European Philosophy class last year and I basically fell in love with him.”

“You guys dated?” Claudia sounded a little like a kicked puppy.

Madeleine laughed loudly, like it was a ridiculous question. “No. Lestat de Lioncourt is gay. You have no idea how many girls wish he was bisexual, though."

“So he never dates girls?” Louis asked, not knowing why he even cared.

Madeleine shook her head as she swallowed a mouthful of her wine cooler. “Nope. Only like, closeted movie stars and model types. It’s a huge source of sexual frustration for the girls at NYU.”

Claudia beamed. “So I don’t have to compete with him for your affection then?”

Madeleine laughed. “Not with Lestat. Oliver and Wren on the other hand...” Claudia’s face fell.

Louis hadn't known Claudia all of twenty minutes, but he liked what he'd seen so far, and he figured he owed her one for saving him from a night of awkward lurking.

“Couldn’t you at least give Claudia your number?” He said to Madeleine. “Give her some hope?”

Claudia perked up, eyes widening, and grinned, nodding like a bobblehead. Madeleine looked between the two of them suspiciously before rolling her eyes and sticking her hand out. “Fine. Give me your phone, Claudia. You can have my number, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

Claudia handed her phone over eagerly and grinned widely at Louis, waiting until Madeleine looked away to mouth ‘I love you.’

Claudia and Louis became pretty inseparable over the next few weeks. Madeleine still hadn’t agreed to go on a date with Claudia, but Louis had to admit that it seemed like she was making progress. Claudia wasn’t like any of his friends back home. She was boisterous and confident, and easily the most spontaneous person Louis had ever met. Oftentimes, she’d invite Louis to hang out for a quiet night in and they’d somehow end up drunkenly dancing on the tables of a bar on the other side of town. She also had a sketchy neighbor that sold her weed at a discount, so they’d hang out and get stoned whenever they weren’t in class.

Louis had also become a little cooler by this point as well. He learned the proper way to order his breakfast sandwich from the bodega, managed to successfully sneak into a couple of sh*tty bars on his own with the fake ID Claudia made him, and even got invited to a handful of parties without Madeleine’s help.

It turned out that Wren worked at one of the on-campus Starbucks' as a barista and Louis finally got up the confidence to introduce himself when Wren was operating the register one day.

Louis figured he could listen to the voice in his head that was telling him Wren would end up looking at him like he was crazy if he started talking to him, or he could channel his inner Claudia and take a risk.

“Hey, I’m Louis. I met you at Madeleine’s about a month ago?” he said nervously. Part of him was convinced he was about to get a facefull of iced coffee thrown at him.

To Louis’ surprise, Wren actually grinned widely and reached out to clasp his hand, “Yeah! That night was a disaster but I remember you, you’re friends with Claudia right?”

Louis smiled proudly and nodded, “I can’t believe you remember. You guys kinda seemed like you hated us.”

He looked a little confused before he laughed and shook his head. “Nah, man, bad timing is all. My friend Lestat is a great guy but he has some boundaries that he doesn’t always do the best job of communicating. He likes to keep things casual, but he’s also just naturally affectionate and he has this... way about him. He’s like a magnet.” Louis kind of knew what he meant. Even though he wasn’t Lestat’s biggest fan, he had to admit the guy just effortlessly pulled focus. “And these guys, they just think they can change him or something, I don’t know. But they always end up heartbroken and Lestat always ends up feeling like sh*t over it. Anyway, I’m rambling. The night of the party, his most recent ex was across the room staring him down, and Lestat was really adamant about getting out of there. It was nothing personal, I swear.”

“No worries, man,” Louis said. He still thought Lestat seemed like kind of a jerk, but he didn’t hate him anymore after Wren’s explanation. Just strongly disliked him. “So your friend’s a heartbreaker, huh?”

“I love the guy like a brother, but any time a guy asks me if Lestat is single I’m like, ‘ f*ck no , stay away!’ Lestat has a way of making everyone he talks to feel like the most important person in the world and, from what I’ve had to hear through the walls, he f*cks like a p*rn star, but he ain’t ever gonna fall in love with you,” Wren shook his head as he wrote what looked like gibberish to Louis on a plastic cup before handing it off to one of the baristas. “I told Nicki all of this- several times -but he still went after Lestat hoping he’d make it past the two month mark. It’s hard to feel sorry for these guys when they get a fair warning.”

“Yeah, I guess I can see that.”

“So anyway, consider yourself warned.”

Louis’ mouth fell open. “Wha- No! I’m not interested. I’m the opposite of interested in Lestat.” Wren grinned and raised his eyebrows, clearly unconvinced.

“I’ve got a girlfriend!” Louis tacked on, hoping that would at least convince him.

Wren flashed him a relieved smile, “Good for you, man. I don’t think I can lose any more friends to Lestat’s dickmatizing.”

Louis laughed. “Trust me. I’m the last person you have to worry about falling in love with Lestat.”

Louis figures a few weeks later that they had finally become real friends when Wren started making his coffee order ahead of time so he wouldn’t be late for class, sometimes even sneaking him an egg bite or two, depending on which manager was on shift that day.

One day when Louis was hanging out with Claudia, Wren called asking if he could hook him up with some weed. It was the first time Wren had ever called him and Louis figured he owed him one for all the free food so he said yes, even though he didn't have any connections in the city. Fortunately, Claudia’s Carl Gallagher look-a-like neighbor was home and she finally convinced him to agree to sell to someone he’d never met before. When Wren pulled up outside Claudia’s apartment half an hour later in his car, Lestat was in the passenger seat, smoking a cigarette. He held his hand out, wordlessly offering Wren a drag. Wren leaned forward and wrapped his lips around the filter, taking a long pull and breathing out a cloud of gray smoke, before thanking Louis for the weed and asking him if he wanted to go to Central Park with them.

Lestat actually looked at Louis this time and said hello in a thick accent that took Louis’ by surprise, but that’s all he said. Louis still thought Lestat was a pretentious f*ckbag, but he really liked Wren and wasn’t going to let one bitchy little French guy stop him from making friends, so he hopped in the car and did his best to ignore Lestat.

He didn’t even know how it had happened exactly, but a few weeks after they had first smoked together in the park, Louis realized he had actually become friends with Lestat de Lioncourt. He knew that he’d been seeing a lot more of Wren at the coffee shop, and when they’d get stoned together on the few days a week they had breaks from classes at the same time, but Louis never remembered inviting Lestat along even once. He was always just... there. Louis supposed it made sense, considering he was Wren’s best friend and roommate, now that he thought about it, but he still couldn’t remember just how they had actually gotten to the point of being actual friends, outside of their mutual connection with Wren.

Maybe it was the time when Louis stopped by their apartment to wait for Wren to finish class so they could get dinner after and Lestat had been watching TV on the couch. He’d asked Louis for help because he’d accidentally changed his Netflix language to Japanese instead of French and couldn’t figure out how to change it back. Louis was useless with technology, but the two of them ended up picking something to watch anyway, and Lestat spent the entire movie trying to make Louis laugh by poorly dubbing all the dialogue. Or maybe it was the time they’d gone out to some grimy dive bar after midterms and Lestat almost got arrested for breaking some drunk guy’s nose with a single punch after he called Louis the f slur. It could’ve even been the day Louis successfully figured out how to unlock a door with his credit card, and snuck them into the aquatics center to go swimming at two in the morning after they got back from another one of Madeleine’s parties and hadn’t been ready to turn in yet.

The only thing Louis knew for sure was the exact moment it hit him that, not only did Louis not hate Lestat anymore, he actually kind of loved hanging out with him. A lot.

Lily had been visiting from New Orleans. It was her first time staying for an entire weekend. Louis had taken her to the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Katz’s Deli, and every other touristy place she’d wanted to see. They bought novelty postcards and I ❤️ NY shirts, and took cheesy tourist pictures all over town, but he wanted her to actually meet some of his friends before she left so, the night before she left, he took her over to meet Lestat, Oliver, and Wren’s at their apartment.

“Ok, ok-best vampire show of all time?” Wren asked.

“True Blood,” Louis and Lestat said at the same time, turning to each other with matching surprised grins.

“Ugh, you guys are such girls,” Lily yawned exaggeratedly into her hand and pulled out her phone to start texting, ignoring them completely.

“Have you ever seen The Vampire Diaries?” Lestat asked.

Louis’ grin grew wider, “I binged the whole thing the summer before tenth grade.”

“My sister thinks the Salvatores are f*cking,” Lestat smirked.

Louis laughed a little too loudly and enthusiastically. “That’s crazy.” And really f*cking hot, he thought.

“Yes,” Lestat agreed. “Crazy.”

Louis didn’t miss how Lestat’s eyes lingered on his lips before their eyes ultimately locked. Lily rolled her eyes at them, groaning loudly. “That’s f*cking gross.”

“I know, right?” Oliver chimed in. “Clearly Klaus and Caroline are the ones f*cking.”

Neither Louis nor Lestat had anything to say in response, continuing to look at each other with amused smiles. Oliver leaned in to Lily and tilted his head towards Lestat. “Looks like you have some competition. Better watch your boy.”

Lestat finally looked away from Louis and threw a handful of cheddar popcorn at Oliver’s head. Pretty soon, there was orange popcorn dust all over their clothes and floor from the mini food fight that had broken out between the four guys. At one point, Lestat reached over and rubbed a thumb at Louis’ cheek where he had gotten some popcorn dust, and held eye contact as he bright his hand back to his face and sucked the cheese off his thumb.

Louis felt like he couldn’t breathe. His eyes lingered on Lestat’s lips like they were magnetized. He didn’t know how long they stayed staring at each other like that, pupils blown, lips parted, before Wren dumped the remainder of the bag on Oliver’s head, finally breaking through the tension enough to bring Louis back to reality.

Louis threw his head back and laughed at his now orange friend, but Lily was not impressed.

“Can we go now, please?” Lily whispered.

“Already? It’s so early.” His heart sank at the thought of leaving in that moment.

“It’s past one,” Lily said, not even bothering to hide her irritation this time. “We’ve been here for like six hours,”

“Please, baby. Just a little longer?” Louis pleaded, feeling a bit like a child asking their mom to stay up past curfew.

“I’m leaving,” she snapped. “You gonna make me walk back to yours alone?” Louis shook his head. “Of course not.”

He reluctantly turned to the others, who were still in the middle of their snack battle. “Hey guys, Lily needs to catch her flight in the morning, so we’re going to take off.”

Louis didn’t miss the disappointment that flashed across Lestat’s face, and was surprised about just how much he shared the sentiment.

They shared a lingering look. A look that Louis would explain away later with the shots they’d been taking when he thinks about what it meant. But in that moment he knew exactly what Lestat was saying, his gaze heated and wanting. Louis didn’t think that anyone else noticed the silent conversation happening between the two of them but, even if they did, they wouldn’t have been able to decipher what was being said between the two of them. They wouldn’t understand that Louis was saying, I don’t want to leave and Lestat responding with, I wish you could stay. I want to kiss you. Louis nodded because he wanted that too.

Lily tugged on his arm, pulling him out the door, and Louis’ world slowly began to unravel.

Just like how Louis couldn’t remember how he'd become friends with Lestat, he also couldn’t recall when they'd stopped being just friends and became best friends instead. He just knew that after that night with Lily, they hadn’t gone a single day without seeing each other. Hell, they barely went more than a few hours without some form of contact. Sometimes it felt like they literally couldn't breathe without each other.

They don’t ever acknowledge about or revisit the eye f*cking from that night, but the burning, tear-your-hair-out, crawling out of your skin, need they had for each other only seemed to grow stronger by the day. It was almost unbearable sometimes. Lestat would joke that Louis was his boyfriend because they spent so much time together and Louis would always laugh, and then feel pathetic about how much he wished it were true. It’s not that wanting a guy freaked Louis out-he had always known he had that need inside of him-but wanting Lestat, in particular, completely f*cked with his head. God knows it didn't help that, with their new closeness, Lestat had also started calling him various pet names in French that were so sweet and so goddamn devastating that Louis wanted to tear his f*cking hair out.

My angel, my sun, my heart. Louis wanted to scream.

He felt an unbearable guilt every time he caught himself looking at Lestat with want and longing, because he had a girlfriend who loved and trusted him and, instead of dreaming about her when he went to bed at night, he would think about how all he wants to do is crawl inside of Lestat’s skin and make a home for himself there. It was a rare occasion if Louis ever made it through a full day without taking himself in his hand and imagining what it would feel like to have Lestat’s weight on top of him.

Luckily for both his relationship and his friendship, however, Louis’ inconvenient infatuation was strictly one-sided. Sure, Lestat would find reasons to touch Louis more than Louis’ other friends-would rest his hand on Louis’ thigh in the car or interlock their fingers on the walk to class-but that's just who Lestat was. He was naturally tactile and affectionate. He was French , for god’s sake. They were practically famous for being overly-affectionate. Louis wasn’t special. Lestat was just a flirt and Louis was the convenient lightning rod who was always around to absorb it. It didn’t actually mean anything. Besides, it’s not like Louis’ inconvenient little crush would last. These kinds of things always ran their course. Louis would be back to fantasizing about Lily in no time.

“Where’s Lestat?” Madeleine smiled, walking up behind Louis as he looked for a clean cup in the kitchen of the party they were at. Louis shrugged a bit sadly because he was already insanely drunk and he’d lost Lestat about fifteen minutes ago. “I barely even recognized you without him standing next to you.”

“Isn’t it funny how he’s my best friend but I’ve only known him for two weeks?” Louis said way too loudly.

Lestat came up behind him with a laugh, wrapping his arm around Louis' shoulder and whispering into his neck. “You say that every time we go out, mon bonheur. You do know that we’ve been best friends for at least three months now, right?”

“No way!” Louis said, genuinely surprised. He had serious problems with linear time when he drank this much. “Still my best friend though.”

Lestat slung an arm around Louis' neck and pulled him in closer to kiss his cheek, “Whatever you say, mon cher.”

Madeleine cooed and pulled out her camera, “You guys are just too adorable. Lestat, kiss him again so I can take a polaroid.”

Lestat didn’t hesitate and grabbed Louis by the face, planting a big, soft kiss on Louis' lips. Madeleine showed them the photo as it developed in her hand and if Louis hadn’t been part of the kiss, he would have thought, from looking at the photo, that they were actually making out.

Lestat smiled broadly and somewhat proudly. “This is amazing. Can I keep this?”

Madeleine gave him a knowing look and grinned at him like mad as she handed him the photo. Louis watched as Lestat tucked it carefully in his chest pocket and patted it twice to make sure it was secure.

Once the photo was safely tucked away, Lestat slung an arm around him and started leading them towards the dance floor.

“Alright, ma beauté, let’s go dance off some of that alcohol.”

Louis stumbled alongside him with a goofy grin, letting Lestat herd him to the middle of the dance floor like a sheep-a thought so ridiculous it made him burst into hysterics.

“What’s so funny, mon cher?” Lestat grinned, twirling him by the hand before pulling him in close by the hips.

“I’m a sheep!” Louis exclaimed, still laughing, as he looped his arm’s over Lestat’s shoulders.

“Well, mon amour, if you’re a sheep then I must be one as well,” Lestat said, not even questioning what Louis had meant, just accepting his words as their new reality. “Come on, my sheep, let us dance the night away.”

An hour or so later they were lying together in the back garden, away from the others, drinking their beers and staring up at the stars. Lestat’s head was resting on Louis' stomach, giving Louis free reign to run his hands indulgently through Lestat’s hair.

“I’m so glad you’re straight,” Lestat said, breaking their comfortable silence.

“Hmm?” Louis hummed softly, gently working out a blonde tangle with his fingers.

“What we have-I know in the grand scheme of our lives we haven’t known each other long- but what we have is the most real connection that I have ever had with someone, and I just don’t think we would have been able to get this close if you were gay.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Louis laughed.

“No, it does,” Lestat insisted. “It’s like, you’re better than sex,” he said seriously, which only cracked Louis up more.

“I’m better than sex,” Louis smiled lazily, trying to rub some of the drunkenness out of his eyes. “Thanks?”

“You know what I mean. If you were gay, we would have f*cked-probably a lot-and then that would have been it. We would never have really gotten to know each other.”

“Lestat, I-” Louis started, and he really meant to tell Lestat that small detail about how he really does like boys, much more than girls even, but Lestat kept talking.

“Relationships end, couples break up, but friendships like ours-it’s for life.” Louis closed his eyes and thought, well I sure as hell can’t tell him now, can I?

“I’m totally dateable, you would have dated me,” Louis joked after a few seconds, trying to get his mind off of thinking about all the f*cking he and Lestat could have had if he’d been one of those guys that Lestat dated, even if it was just for a few months. Who knows, maybe Louis could have been the exception. Maybe Lestat wouldn't have gotten sick of him after a few months. Maybe they would've even shown up at the party tonight as a couple. That was a thought too painful to linger on.

“Just how drunk are you, mon cher? You’ve already forgotten that I don’t date,” Lestat murmured, turning his head to place a kiss on Louis’ stomach.

“You do too date,” Louis insisted. “What about Nicki?”

“Ah, yes, and look how that turned out. I still cannot be in the same room with him without feeling terribly guilty.” Lestat ran a hand down his face and shook his head at the memory. “I am just so glad that I will never have to worry about hurting you like that, mon coeur. We should save ourselves any future heartbreak and just get married immediately after we graduate.”

“You think Lily would mind?”

“Lily does not exist in my mind, so non.”

This was the same night that Louis felt, for the first time, irrationally intense pangs of jealousy when he saw Lestat making out with a guy and disappearing into a bedroom with him. Louis knew it was a waste of his energy to feel jealous of some random drunk douchebag that Lestat picked up out of pure boredom and a need to get off, but that didn’t stop him from drinking himself into a stupor over it.

Lestat found him throwing up in the back garden a few hours later and walked him home, letting Louis lean on him the whole way. Louis doesn’t remember telling him that he didn’t want Lestat to fall in love with anyone and he doesn’t remember Lestat telling him that he had nothing to worry about. That he never would. He doesn’t remember, but it was still true, and for a long time, things didn’t change. It stays Louis and Lestat versus the world for more than a year.

Louis still sees Lily every few months. Lestat would always disappear for those weekends, coming back Sunday night covered in hickeys and reeking of cigarettes and whiskey. There are other guys throughout the year as well, but Louis does his best to ignore the jealousy without completely destroying his liver, because it’s never serious.

And then one day it is.

Lestat meets a guy he likes, and suddenly things change. Lestat was usually so confident and together, but this guy brought out a different side of his personality that Louis had never seen before. It was a less swaggering, less campy, more flustered side of Lestat that Louis didn’t really like all that much. Lestat had been pointing out some guy on campus, calling him ‘Skinny Jeans’ for a few weeks, but Lestat did that with a lot of guys. There was Tongue Piercing Guy, Tramp Stamp Guy, and Metrosexual-90s-Christian-Slater-Guy. It didn’t mean anything. But then one night they were at Magenta, this divey club and concert venue in Brooklyn, and there was Skinny Jeans playing guitar with the band on stage.

That night, Louis hung around the parking lot waiting for Lestat to come out and pretended this was like any other night that Lestat hooked up, but he knew it wasn’t. When Lestat burst through the doors a few minutes later, arm wrapped tightly around Skinny Jeans’ waist, Louis felt like he was going to empty his stomach contents on the asphalt.

Lestat laughed loudly, pulling the guy in close to kiss goodbye. Unfortunately, Skinny Jeans had allowed his eyes to wander and caught Louis trying to burn holes into his stupid f*cking face with his brain from the other side of the parking lot. He looked amused and just smirked at Louis, like I don’t know who you are, but I won.

Louis didn’t think he could hate Skinny Jeans any more than he already did until the day that Lestat takes him out for coffee and tells him they are officially a couple. The coffee just tastes like sludge after that. Louis takes a small amount of satisfaction when Skinny Jeans cuts his hair short because Louis could tell that Lestat had liked the guy better with his long curls. Eventually, after Skinny Jeans had snorted a Herculean amount of cocaine, that if Louis didn’t start calling him Armand, he was going to punch him.

Louis smirked at that and called him Skinny Jeans one last time before quickly running from the room. Lestat had laughed because he had thought Armand was joking about punching Louis, but Louis knew better. Louis knew that Armand knew how much Louis hated him, because Armand hated him back with an equal passion. They both loved Lestat too much to ever tell him this, though.

Or maybe they were just equally terrified to find out who Lestat would pick if he was forced to choose between them.

Armand wasn’t actually a bad guy. Louis probably would have hated Tom Hanks if he had stolen Lestat from him. But Armand wasn’t all that great either. In fact, he was kind of boring and monotone. He would go on tangents about which grapes made the best wine and collected special edition copies of Atlas Shrugged. Not to mention, his friends were annoyingly pretentious and condescending. They spent all their free time playing backgammon in parks and cafés in the most crowded parts of the city, where everyone could bear witness to the geniuses who had somehow mastered such a complicated game. The only thing Louis hated more than Armand was his douchebag friends.

He was complaining about this very thing to Lily on a call one night, when she yelled down the phone in frustration.

“God damn it, Louis! Just stop ok? I’ve been listening to you complain about this Armand guy for three months now. If I didn’t know better I’d think you were in love with Lestat the way you obsess over his boyfriend.”

“I-” Louis started but found that he couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Oh my god,” she said, and there was silence on both ends of the phone for several minutes as they both processed what just happened. She didn’t hang up though. Louis could hear her breathing. Finally, she took a deep breath, “I should have seen this earlier, huh? I mean of course you’re gay.”

“I’m not gay,” Louis insisted, a little panicky, but she just laughed.

“Louis, you’re forgetting that I’ve had sex with you,” she laughed humorlessly, before making a sound of relief. “I thought it was me-that I just wasn’t sexy enough because you never really seemed that into it.”

“I’m so sorry I ever made you feel that way. You’re so beautiful, Lily,” he didn’t really know how else to respond to her accusations, but he wanted to make sure she knew not to internalize any distance she’d felt from him. “You’re one of the best people I know.”

“You know I’m breaking up with you now, right?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, holding the phone to his ear long after she’d hung up. He didn’t even know how he felt about his break up. He wasn’t relieved, but he wasn’t sad either. Lily had been such a big part of his life for so long and now he just felt...lost.

An hour later, when Louis was still trying to get his thoughts in order, Lestat sent him a text.

Sorry I won’t be able to make breakfast tomorrow, mon amour. Armand is taking me to his family’s house in The Hamptons for the long weekend!

It was then that Louis remembered the word he was looking for. Empty.

Louis never told Lestat why Lily broke up with him. It’s just not a conversation they could have without it being weird so, as far as everyone knew, it had just been a mutual decision based on the fact that they had been living in different cities for two years.

At the end of Louis' sophom*ore year, he decided not to go home for the summer, choosing to stay and find work in the city instead. He was planning on renting an apartment for junior year anyway and he and Lestat had talked about moving in together so many times that he had just assumed that it was going to happen. As it got closer to summer vacation, Louis suggested that they should start looking for a place soon. Lestat had looked up at him from where he was reading another one of Armand’s sh*tty book recommendations with a guilty expression and told him that Armand had asked him to move in with him and that he had agreed.

Louis wanted to vomit. He settled for storming out and ignoring Lestat’s texts for the next three days until he showed up at Louis’ door with bags under his eyes and an apology pizza from their favorite shop in Midtown. Louis forgave him. Of course he forgave him. It was biologically impossible to say no to Lestat. Besides, he knew he was being childish and petty and that deep down it wasn’t even Lestat, who had every right to move in with his boyfriend, that he was mad at. It was himself.

Louis got a place with Claudia instead, but because Claudia was basically always busy making out with Madeleine, Louis still spent most of his summer hanging out at Lestat and Armand’s. Armand would get annoyed when Louis, Oliver and Wren would hang out at his place too much, which usually just made Louis want to spend even more time over there. He said that Lestat acted too immature around them, so Louis and Oliver always made a point of wrestling Lestat and watching cartoons whenever Armand was around.

Lestat started reading Ayn Rand because Armand thought he needed to expand his mind, but Louis just wanted to snatch the book out of his hands and tell him to snap out of it.

When school got back in September Louis met a friend of Claudia’s named Nicki. They’d been hanging out for a few weeks before Louis realized that his new friend Nicki was the same Nicki that Lestat had dated a few years earlier. It wasn’t all that weird, though. It actually kind of made him feel closer to Nicki because of it. Louis knew exactly how it felt to have your heart broken by Lestat.

Louis decided he liked Nicki a lot. He didn’t really talk too much or go to that many parties, but everyone loved Nicki. He was like this artsy quiet guy who somehow got a seat at the cool kids’ table but didn’t know how he got there. That was something Louis could relate to.

One night, they were at a party at Madeleine’s. Lestat wasn’t there, but he never really showed up to parties anymore-not since Armand started dragging him along to the wine bar on 7th where he and his friends performed their sh*tty slam poetry every weekend. Louis had tagged along once and ended up drinking an entire bottle of wine in an effort to get through it. It was probably a good thing Lestat wasn’t there though because, by about two in the morning, everyone still left at the party was sitting in a giant circle in the living room playing spin the bottle. Louis knew he would never have been able to kiss Lestat and come out of it alive but with his luck that’s probably exactly what would’ve happened. What he didn’t know was that kissing Nicki during the game was going to have a similarly destructive effect.

Louis ended up kissing five girls and three other guys as part of the game, but Nicki’s kiss was the only one that had burned him-the only kiss that he really felt long after it was over. Nicki walked him home that night and because Claudia was still at Madeleine’s, Louis had asked him to come in.

He pressed Nicki against the door and kissed him again and, at that moment, everything made sense. Louis had thought about almost nothing but being with another guy since he’d broken up with Lily. He’d imagined kissing a man, wanted to touch, taste, lick, but he’d been way too scared to do anything about it. It didn’t help that he was convinced that he was so in love with Lestat that he wouldn’t even be able to even make good on any opportunity with another guy but, as the opportunity was unbuttoning his shirt in his bedroom, his dick felt pretty certain he could make more than good.

This was the moment when Louis knew for sure-not just in theory, but in practice-that this was who he was. He kissed Nicki until his head was dizzy, until all the blood in his head had moved down from his brain and into his pants. He let Nicki undress him, kiss his chest, rub his hands down Louis’ abs, watching with heavy lidded as Nicki followed suit with his own clothes after. Nicki was built lean, but muscular enough that he must spend almost as much time in the gym every day as Lestat. His hair was about the same length too, but slightly darker, and-. No. Louis shook away all thoughts or comparisons of Nicki’s body to Lestat’s . He needed to be present in this moment. It wouldn’t do him any good to spend his first gay hookup thinking about a man who would never love him back.

Nicki’s skin was soft and smooth but his body felt hard, and Louis wanted it, wanted the mouth that was moving down his neck to keep going down, down, down until it reached his co*ck. He was drunk and impatient, so after a few more seconds, he finally pushed Nicki’s head down towards his crotch.

“Easy, tiger,” Nicki chuckled before he pushed Louis back against the bed and kneeled between his legs. He pulled Louis’ boxer briefs down and took his entire dick in his mouth in one go.

“Holy f*ck,” Louis yelled. He was beyond turned on, panting, clenching his fists until his knuckles were white. Even with all the jello shots he’d done running through his veins, he was still perilously close to coming before the minute was even up. It had never felt like this with Lily. Louis had convinced himself that all his friends had just been exaggerating when they would share stories of their one night stands, but everything they had ever said suddenly rang true now that he was with another man.

He grabbed Nicki’s head, ran his hands roughly through his long, dirty-blonde hair, and refused to let the sight remind him of Lestat. As Louis guided Nicki’s head up and down on his co*ck he had the sudden thought in the back of his mind that Nicki's mouth was on Lestat’s dick once too, and it was almost too much for his brain to handle in that moment. Nicki took him all the way down his throat again, looked up into Louis’ eyes, and moaned long and loud. Louis was hit with such a sudden force of arousal that , almost out of surprise, he pulled himself out from Nicki’s mouth and shot all over Nicki’s chest.

He was immediately embarrassed about the mess he’d made with no warning, and tried to wipe it with his balled up t-shirt, but Nicki swiped his hand away and moved up the bed to kiss him.

“It’s ok, I like it,” he whispered into Louis’ mouth, then licked inside of it.

Louis could feel Nicki’s erection pressed against his leg and moved his hand down to pull it free from his boxers and decided to just take him into his hand like he would himself. He jerked him off while Nicki kissed him, moaning into his mouth. It didn’t take long before Louis felt Nicki’s release on his hand and wrist, both of them continuing to make out while Louis finished him off.

Lying with Nicki in a post-sex haze, Louis was surprised that it didn’t feel as weird as he thought it would. He didn’t regret anything. In fact, it felt weirdly normal, so when Nicki sat up to get dressed Louis pulled him back down.

“Just stay. Claudia won’t be back all weekend,” Louis said sleepily.

Nicki shrugged then laid back in bed, tugging the covers over both of them and laying an arm over Louis’ bare chest. Louis closed his eyes and tried not to imagine what tonight would’ve felt like if he had been with Lestat and fell asleep soon after.

The next morning, Louis was once again surprised to realize how perfectly... normal he felt about what had happened when he woke up still naked, wrapped around Nicki. He was, however, struck with the desperate urge to pee and possibly vomit from all the vodka he’d had, so he detangled his body from Nicki’s and slipped out of the bed trying not to wake him. After emptying his bladder, brushing the taste of death and stale alcohol out of his mouth, and splashing some water on his face, he tiptoed back into the bedroom as quietly as possible for someone who was still slightly seeing double. The effort turned out to be useless, however, because Nicki was already sitting up in bed, scrolling through his phone, when Louis came back.

Nicki laughed. “So, uh, that happened,” he said, gesturing between them.

Louis gave him a small smile and nodded, trying not to throw up from even the slight movement. “Guess so...” He ran his hand through his hair and tried not to let it show when his fingers got caught in a tangle. “We cool?”

Nicki sat up, body still covered by the sheet, and looked at Louis curiously. “You tell me. I thought you were straight.”

“Huh,” Louis shrugged, then looked down at his still-naked body, “guess not?" Nicki laughed and threw his pillow at him.

“So. Coffee?”

An hour later Louis and Nicki were sitting across from one another at Starbucks, where Wren thankfully wasn’t working that morning.

“About last night...have you done that before?” Nicki asked, sounding slightly nervous. Louis felt his cheeks grow hot and shook his head. “Was is that obvious?”

“No, not at all,” He insisted, covering Louis’ hand on the table with his own. “I didn’t mean it like that, I just had no idea that you were- I mean, if I’d known that you-”

Louis couldn’t help but laugh at Nicki’s nervous stuttering. “You would’ve tapped this ass sooner?”

Nicki nearly choked on the sip of coffee he was taking and put his cup down all together, before leaning in closely across the table “Well, technically speaking, I haven’t actually tapped it...yet.”

“Are you flirting with me, Nicki?” Louis raised his eyebrows in pleasant surprise, smirking over the rim of his cup.

Nicki seemed to search his face for a moment, trying to read his eyes. “You letting me?”

Louis nodded and stretched back in his seat, exposing a sliver of skin between his jeans and t- shirt in the process, and watched as Nicki’s gaze went to it like a magnet. “After last night? Definitely.”

Nicki broke out in a grin that Louis matched, when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the screen. It was two back to back texts from Lestat.

Guess what

Armand just bought us tickets to go to Italy for my birthday! We’re leaving on Monday!

Louis’ first reaction was jealousy, but it was soon overpowered by guilt because, for the first time all morning, he remembered that his best friend was Nicki’s ex. Nicki didn't need to ask Louis who the text was from, with Louis it was a pretty safe bet to just assume it was Lestat, seeing how Claudia preferred to just call him and, well, he didn’t talk to anyone quite as much as he talked to Lestat.

“You know it was never serious,” Nicki started, avoiding Louis’ eyes. “He never really liked me enough to let it get to that point. But I’d understand if-”

Louis reached out tentatively and brushed his fingers over Nicki’s knuckles. “I want to. It’s ok. He was just letting me know that he...here.” Louis passed his phone to Nicki so he could read the message.

Nicki laughed and shook his head. “Just another day in the life of Lestat de Lioncourt, I guess.”

“When we’re out together people just stare at him, like they don’t think he’s real or something.”

“He’s f*cking stunning,” Nicki agreed. “But so are you. The two of you walking around town together probably just blows people’s minds.”

Louis rubbed at the back of his neck, slightly uncomfortable with the flattery. “Nicki, it’s alright, I’m gonna put out, you don’t need to-” He stopped when he noticed that Nicki was looking at him with a confused frown, eyes searching for something Louis didn’t know.

“Hold up. You’re actually not kidding, are you? Holy sh*t. There is no f*cking way you don’t know how hot you are, Louis.”

“Being cute and being in Lestat’s league are two totally different things,” Louis rolled his eyes. Lestat was a god amongst men and he was- well, he was just Louis.

“You are a f*cking piece , and you are definitely in Lestat’s league. Hotter, even. Lestat is almost too pretty.”

Louis shook his head and laughed at Nicki. “No one is hotter than Lestat,” he blurted out without thinking. It was true, though. Lestat was like the sun-his beauty pulling everyone into his orbit and burning so brightly that it was almost painful to bear witness to.

Nicki raised his brows. “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just say that,” he laughed, cutting through the tension. “I like you, ok? And despite what you think of yourself, I think you’re hot. Just- come to the movies with me tonight. We can grab dinner first.”

“I’d like that,” Louis smiled.

Louis walked over to Lestat’s place a few blocks over from the coffee shop after saying goodbye to Nicki. Lestat was sitting on the front step smoking, so Louis just sat down next to him and laid his head down on his shoulder. Lestat instinctually pressed a kiss to his hair before taking a long drag of his cigarette.

“I have no idea what to pack. Is it weird that we’re going to Italy?” Lestat blurted out without a greeting.

“I don’t think Armand will care what you pack, to be honest. You guys can both afford to just buy whatever you need once you get there. And no. It’s not weird, by the way. Going to Italy with him.”

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever and now I’m going to be away,” Lestat rested his head on top of Louis’ and Louis put his arm around him, like he always did, and pulled his body in even closer.

“It’s ok. We’ll see each other plenty when you get back,” Louis could feel the tension leaving Lestat’s body as he held him. They sat in a comfortable silence while Lestat finished his cigarette before Louis finally blurted out what he’d come over to talk about.

“Um. So, I hung out with Nicki last night.”

“That’s weird. I hope he’s not trying to steal you from me,” Lestat said, clearly trying to sound light-hearted, but Louis didn’t miss how he stubbed out his cigarette a little more aggressively than necessary.

“It’s not that weird though, right? I mean, you guys broke up before I even met either of you.” Louis fished, lifting his head up, which forced Lestat to do the same.

“He didn’t take it well.”

“He’s cool with it, I promise. He doesn’t hate you.”

“No, he just wants to steal my best friend,” Lestat huffed out.

“No one will ever steal me away from you. You and me, we’re like...just... It’s different. You know it’s different. It’ll always be us against the world, ok? No one will ever get in the way of that. It’s not even a possibility.”

Lestat laid his head back down on Louis’ shoulder and sighed. “We belong to each other. You’re mine, ok?”

Louis closed his eyes and tried not to cry at how true it felt. “Yeah, man. I’m yours, forever.”

Lestat nodded against his shoulder.

Armand walked up the path with a bag of groceries and looked at how they were sitting as if he'd just walked up to find Lestat cuddling with a pile of black mold. Louis let go of Lestat's hand and stood to leave. Even after the coffee, he was still way too hungover to deal with Armand's dirty looks and thinly-veiled shots at Louis’ ‘lowbrow' taste in art.

“Wait, let’s go do something,” Lestat grabbed Louis’ arm and pulled himself up. “Armand’s kicking me out so he can have a philosophy meeting with his friends.”

“We’re discussing Aristotle,” Armand corrected haughtily. “You are both welcome to stick around and join in.”

Louis and Lestat, shared a knowing look and laughed. “I’ll pass,” Louis said to Armand.

Louis stood to the side, intently studying the shrubbery outside the building as Lestat and Armand kissed goodbye. No matter how much time had passed, how many times Louis would hook up with someone else, watching Lestat and Armand together would probably always make him want to punch a wall.

When he was in Lestat’s passenger seat, watching him as he smoked another cigarette, windows rolled down and radio blasting, Louis could pretend that Armand didn’t exist-that it was still just the two of them.

“Where we going?” Louis asked, watching the city blur by.
“Look in the glovebox. I thought we could go to Hudson River Park.”

Louis opened the glovebox and found the little vintage jewelry box that Lestat stored his stash in. “Won’t you get in trouble with Armand?” he teased.

“Just because Armand is a recovering co*kehead doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be allowed to occasionally get stoned with my best friend. I would never do it in front of him.”

“Lestat. Do you guys have anything in common?” “Of course,” Lestat grinned back at him.
“Other than hot gay sex?” Louis rolled his eyes.

“Well, there is a lot of hot gay sex,” Lestat smirked before getting serious. “He’s really smart. And he thinks I’m smart too, and it’s...I like it.”

“I think you’re smart,” Louis reminded him gently.

“Which is why I’m going to marry you. Armand will just provide me with all the sex that I need since you’re never going to put out.”

Louis felt his cheeks get hot. He couldn't help it sometimes around Lestat. He turned his head to look back out the window and willed away the urge to say something stupid like I'm in love with you. I want to be with you. I could make you so much happier than Armand if you just gave me a chance.

“Sounds like a plan,” he tried to sound casual. “You're a f*cking dick though, leaving me here while you go drink co*cktails and lie in the sun in Italy.”

Lestat laughed and pulled into the parking lot that looked over the water, turning off his engine and reaching over to unlock the glovebox. He lit up the small pipe from the jewelry box, before passing it to Louis. Hours went by, but they never noticed things like time when they were together. They were always too engrossed in each other and their conversation. It wasn't until Lestat’s stomach rumbled that it occurred to them to leave.

“I need Shake Shack,” Lestat said, already with the key in the ignition.

“Oh my god, yes . I want to try that new burger with the fried pickles,” Louis groaned, then his phone buzzed. It was a message from Nicki.

Pick you up in an hour?

“f*ck, I can’t.”

“Hot date?” Lestat joked.

“Yeah,” Louis said distractedly, before realizing he probably shouldn’t just spring it on Lestat that he was about to go on a date with his sort-of ex. “I mean, I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Thanks for telling me you were seeing someone. Who is she?” Lestat said, suddenly sounding annoyed.

“It’s not a-” Louis said then shut his mouth. He still hadn’t had the I-like-guys conversation with him yet and he was still a little afraid. Afraid that Lestat would think he’d lied about their whole friendship because he was in love with him. He also didn’t know how Lestat would react to him and Nicki on top of it all. It seemed like a line he wasn’t supposed to be crossing, dating his best friend's ex.

“Jesus, mon rêve, give me a heart attack, why don't you? Just give me a warning when you are ready to start dating again, I need to mentally prepare myself.”

Louis laughed, but Lestat wasn’t smiling. “Wait, seriously?”

Lestat shot a possessive look at Louis. “I don’t like having to share you. Lily didn’t count, she was too far away.”

“Ok, dad.” Louis rolled his eyes, but couldn’t ignore the swell of his heart and the sharp jolt that he could feel in his stomach. “I don’t like to share you either, but I deal with it.”

Lestat grabbed Louis' hand and held it down on top of his leg as he drove with the other. “You will always come first, Louis. You should know that by now.”

Louis squeezed his eyes shut and tried to breathe normally. “And you wonder why Armand hates me,” he teased, hoping his voice didn’t shake too much.

“He just doesn’t understand us,” Lestat brushed off with a wave of his hand. “He thinks we’re codependent.”

“Nah, we’re not codependent, we just need to do everything together and like each other more than every other person in the world.”

Lestat squeezed his hand. “He’s just jealous because he knows that I like you more than him.”

They drove in silence for the next five minutes. Lestat didn’t loosen his grip on his hand and Louis didn’t try to take it back. He stared at Lestat’s profile, the smooth line of his nose, the curve of his lips, and started to feel overwhelmingly guilty for lying to Lestat about Nicki.

“I am going on a date tonight,” Louis blurted out, nervous for no easily explainable reason. “I’m not dating, this is still new. Really new. Our first date, actually. You know I would tell you if it was anything serious.”

Lestat didn’t hide his angry pout. “You are going to sit there and watch me eat Shake Shack as punishment.”

“Hey, until you formally ask me to elope with you, you’re just gonna have to deal with me dating.”

“Can we get married by an Elvis impersonator?” Lestat tilted his head towards him and smiled broadly. Louis laughed in earnest at how, even after living in America for almost three years now, Lestat was still genuinely obsessed with all the corny stereotypes he had seen on TV shows from back home. It was so endearing it took all of Louis’ willpower not to kiss him.

“Of course,” he nodded. “But only if we get to honeymoon at Disneyland.”

“I could take you to Disneyland whenever you wanted,” Lestat said, literally waving off the idea. “Shouldn’t we do something a bit more grand for the honeymoon?”

“Well, I would have said Italy, but you’ve ruined it now.”

Lestat pursed his lips together. Clearly Louis’ tone wasn’t as playful as he’d thought. They drove in silence for a few minutes before either of them spoke again.

“What about France?” Lestat asked, seeming to be thinking about it seriously all of a sudden. “We could spend the majority of our time in Paris, then I’ll take you to the country to show you where I grew up.”

Louis forced himself not to imagine it. “As long as you don’t make me eat snails.”

Lestat laughed and offered out his pinky for Louis to hook his onto. “I promise, mon amour.”

“Yeah, you say that now.”

“Who are you going on a date with?” Lestat asked suddenly, catching Louis off guard.

“Does it matter?” Louis pulse started racing, he wasn’t ready to have this conversation yet. “It’s nothing.”

“But you’ll f*ck her?” Lestat spat out, and immediately winced, rubbing his free hand down his face while they were stuck behind a red light. “ Putain . My apologies, mon coeur, I’m being a jealous gremlin right now. You deserve to be happy.”

“Thanks,” Louis laughed, rubbing his thumb over Lestat’s knuckles. “Gremlin.” “Shut up. You love me.”

“Yeah,” Louis said. “I do.” He squeezed Lestat’s hand a final time before taking his own back and digging his nails into his thigh. He was going to be sick.

Louis and Nicki’s date went well. It was easy and casual and pretty much like every other time they’d hung out before but with ninety percent more making out. There was some hand holding during the movie, and Louis had to admit it felt pretty good to be allowed to stroke the wrist of the guy whose hand you were holding as opposed to the constant sexual frustration that came with Lestat’s constant affectionate physical touches and obsessive tactility. As they walked out of the movies Louis switched his phone back on and was bombarded with text messages from Lestat:

6:07 pm: Good luck tonight, mon cher.

6:20 pm: Sait-elle qu'elle devra te partager avec moi?

7:00 pm: Hot date, huh?

8:17 pm: Use protection. I’m not ready to raise kids, Louis.

8:22 pm: Actually, we’d be the cutest family. You’d cook and I’d teach them how to speak French.

9:10 pm: Armand’s horrible friends are still here. Leave your date. Come save me.

10:02 pm: I cannot take this anymore. I’ve decided to make my escape. Meet me for drinks in 20?

“Is everything ok?” Nicki asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Louis realized he had stopped talking a few minutes ago and looked up at Nicki, embarrassed. “Yeah, sorry, Lestat was bored I guess,” he said, switching his phone on silent again and slipping it back in his pocket. “You wanna go grab a drink somewhere?”

Nicki nodded and pulled him in by the waist, pressing a kiss to his hairline. Louis did his best not to let it remind him of anyone on the way back to the car.

They stood in the parking lot at the Down the Hatch, the local dive bar where everyone they knew hung out, but Nicki was clearly hesitant to go in.

“Don’t look so nervous. How many times have we come here together before? Chill,” Louis said, knocking their shoulders together playfully and trying to reassure him that it wasn't going to ruin his life to be seen on a date with Nicki.

“Alright. I wasn’t sure. I mean. We’ll see people and- are you sure? You’ve been gay for what, a day?”

Louis laughed and pulled Nicki into a headlock, “You’re kind of cute when you freak out.”

They walked in and took a seat at the bar where Oliver was working. Louis ordered them both a beer, his nonchalance settling Nicki’s nerves only slightly.

“You motherf*cker,” Lestat’s voice came from behind him before he pulled Louis into a tight hug and slid into the seat on the other side of him, completely ignoring Nicki. “I thought you were on a date.”

Nicki gripped his beer bottle too tightly and it slipped out of his hand, beer spilling on the counter, momentarily distracting both Louis and Lestat. Oliver just laughed at him and wiped it up. “Hey, Lestat,” Nicki stuttered out.

Lestat nodded, “Nicki.” He immediately turned his attention back to Louis, who had remained silent thus far. “I had to get out of the house. They were actually debating whether 1984, Brave New World, or Fahrenheit 451 was the most effectively cautionary dystopian novel. Didn’t you get my messages?”

Louis laughed, “Yeah, man, you sent me like eighty.”

“You ignored them,” Lestat sounded like a child as he frowned unseeingly at one of the shelves behind the bar.

“No, I just got them. I’m on a date, remember?”

Lestat looked up and raised his eyebrows, like he didn’t believe Louis. “Come outside with me while I smoke?”

Louis hesitated, “I can’t...”

Nicki leaned in and whispered to him, “It’s ok, I’m gonna go say hi to Madeleine. See you in a minute, alright?”

Louis furrowed his brow, asking silently if Nicki was sure. Nicki just smiled back and nodded. Lestat was watching the interaction between them with a growing expression of concern and curiosity, and as soon as Nicki stood up to leave he grabbed Louis’ arm pulling him toward the back door of the bar.

There were too many people in the outside courtyard area for Lestat’s taste so he ushered Louis toward the back parking lot where it was empty and quiet.

“What’s going on, Louis? Did I do something?” Lestat asked, searching Louis’ eyes for the answer. “Are you mad at me for going to Italy with Armand?”

“What?” Louis was shocked at the suggestion. “Of course not. I didn’t ignore your texts, Lestat. I swear, I just got them.”

Lestat lit a cigarette and leaned against the brick wall of the bar. “Why are you with Nicki?”

“I’m sorry. It’s- I should have told you he’s the one I was going out with tonight. I didn’t know if it was ok- god, I suck don’t I? I guess if I really believed you didn’t care about him I would have just told you,” Louis blurted out.

“I don’t understand,” Lestat had never sounded more lost, and Louis wanted to throw himself into traffic.

“Please don’t hate me. I like Nicki but I will end it now if you aren’t ok with it.”

Lestat pulled Louis into a hug, and spoke into the back of his neck instead of letting go or pulling away. “I don’t, Louis. I will never. I couldn’t.”

They clung to each other in silence for a few moments before Lestat spoke softly. “You never told me you liked men.”

Louis moved back from the hug and took a puff from Lestat’s cigarette, which Lestat let happen without protest. “I figured you would be ok with it, being a big hom*o and all,” he lied.

Lestat laughed, “You asshole. Kind of a glaring oversight not telling your gay best friend...” he took his cigarette back and nudged Louis’ shoulder lightly with his own. “sh*t, so what- you’re bi?”

Louis leaned his head back against the brick wall, shoulders touching Lestat’s, eyes at his feet. “I don’t know. I never really had the opportunity to test it out until recently.”

Lestat laughed in a way Louis had never heard from him before. “Louis, your mere existence is opportunity.”

“I don’t know. I always figured I was bisexual, but I’d never been with a guy, just Lily.”

“And now?” Lestat said, not hiding his irritation.

“I don’t know. I guess I’m gay.”

“Gay,” Lestat stubbed his cigarette out with his boot. “Mother. f*cker.” Each word was punched with anger. “You and Nicki? You’ve slept with him?”

“No. I- kind of. Last night. There was drinking and spin the bottle and then some naked guy stuff, but we didn’t have sex,” Louis said defensively. Louis watched as Lestat slammed his head back against the wall. “I’m sorry. It was sh*tty of me to hook up with your ex without even asking you first.”

“I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at him. I’m just-” Lestat kicked his heel against the wall and ground his jaw. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’ll see you later.”

Before Louis could stop him, Lestat was already getting into a cab. Louis slumped down against the wall, feeling sick to his stomach. Nicki found him still sitting there, ten minutes later.

“Louis,” Nicki asked tentatively. “Everything ok? Where’s Lestat?”

Louis looked up at Nicki, before pulling himself up to stand. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m like the worst date ever, huh?”

Nicki twisted his mouth, “I wouldn’t say that. But, is everything ok?”

“Yeah, no, I don’t know. Lestat is mad. I’m an asshole. I was selfish. I knew this would hurt him but I wanted you so I didn’t care,” Louis said, staring at Nicki’s feet.

“That’s a lot of past tense there. Is this...but Lestat didn’t even like me?”

“I’m sorry, man. I like you. I really like you, but it’s Lestat, and I have to fix this.”

“Yeah. Sure. Of course. So I guess this is it then? We’re putting a pin in it?”

“I hope not. He’ll come around,” Louis says but Nicki scoffed loudly. “You don’t have to wait for me, but maybe we could revisit this in the future?”

“Did Lestat even know you liked guys before he saw you with me tonight Louis?” Nicki said skeptically.

Louis shook his head, “It’s a lot for him to take in, but it’s still new. I’m sure he’ll come around eventually.”

Nicki let out a solemn laugh. “I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. But I hope we’ll stay friends?”

Louis frowned slightly, confusedly. He couldn’t help but think Nicki was being a little bit dramatic. “Man, of course.”

“Alright, well on that note, I think I’m going to call it a night. Need a ride?”

“Thanks, but Lestat’s is on the next block. I’ll probably just walk over and try to talk to him.”

Louis waved goodbye before he took off sprinting towards Lestat’s place. He could feel the guilt seeping out of every pore of his skin. What the f*ck were you thinking?

He ran all the way to Lestat’s door, Pop Culture by Madeon blasting on the stereo drowned the sound of his knocking so he let himself in with the key Lestat gave him two weeks into hanging out. Armand’s friends had clearly given up on the cheese and intellectual discussion and were dancing around the living room, but Armand and Lestat weren’t anywhere to be seen. Their bedroom was empty, so Louis decided to sit and wait.

While he was studying Armand’s stupid geode collection he heard noises coming from the room next door. A moment later the bathroom door opened and Armand and a blue-haired girl came spilling out, giggling and sniffing. Guess Armand didn’t stop doing co*ke after all.

Armand stopped walking suddenly when he noticed the movement in the bedroom. “Oh sh*t. I thought you were Lestat,” he said, startled, and clearly relieved.

“I’m looking for him.”

“Of course you are,” Armand replied rudely.

“You’re the guy in the kissing polaroid!” Blue-haired girl exclaimed to Louis obliviously. “Are you actually straight?”

Louis looked between Armand and the girl, not really sure where the conversation was headed. Armand looked like he was waiting on his answer, as well.

“I- look, is Lestat here?” Louis wasn’t really in the mood to deal with a drunk and co*ked-up Armand.

“Haven’t seen him. Figured he was with you.”

“This is boring, let’s f*cking dance!” The girl said as she pulled Armand’s arm, and then they were gone, lost in the crowd of writhing bodies.

Louis tried calling Lestat again but his phone was still switched off. He tried to wait for him, but when Armand stood in the doorway and glared at him he decided to walk the three blocks back to his apartment.

A morose looking Lestat was at his doorstep waiting for him when he got home. Louis opened his door and Lestat followed behind him silently.

“Vodka shots?” Louis said, pathetically, as he turned on the lights and walked toward the kitchen.

Lestat nodded before walking into the bathroom. Louis could hear him running the taps, so he poured a shot each for them and waited.

“I’m sorry. It was... unbecoming of me to take off earlier,” Lestat said emerging from the bathroom, face slightly wet from splashing water on it, but he still refused eye contact with Louis.

“No,” Louis shook his head as he walked toward Lestat. “This is all my fault.”

Lestat just sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Where’s Nicki?”

“His apartment, I guess. I don’t know. I came after you but you weren’t at home. Armand was kind of f*cked up.”

Lestat let out a cynical laugh. “Ah yes, well, what else is new?”

“I thought he was clean.”

Lestat scoffed and picked up his shot glass to toast before he drank. “To boyfriends.”

Louis gave him a pained look but drank anyway. “Nicki isn’t my boyfriend. I told him tonight that I couldn’t...that it probably wouldn’t work.”

Lestat clenched his jaw. “But you like him?”

“I like you more. It’s not worth it.”

“You don’t like me enough, though,” Lestat smiled joylessly, sounding defeated.

“Hey,” Louis put a hand on Lestat’s jaw and lifted his head up firmly so their eyes met for the first time since they had walked into the apartment. “I would do anything for you, you know that.”

“Except be honest with me,” Lestat spat out and yeah, that was fair. It would have been one thing if Louis had just kept his sexuality from Lestat, but for Lestat to have found out about it because he saw Louis on a date with his ex must have felt like getting hit by a truck. Louis deserved the anger that was directed at him.

“I just- You said it was lucky I wasn’t gay, that we wouldn’t be such good friends otherwise because we’d end up hurting each other. I just didn’t want to ruin it, to make you think I was only your friend because I wanted to sleep with you or something.”

“You didn’t tell me you were gay because of the thing I said to you when I was drunk and trying to convince myself it was a good thing that my soulmate was straight?”

Louis raised his brows, “Soulmate?”

Lestat glared. “f*ck you, you know we are f*cking soul mates, Louis.”

Louis held Lestat’s gaze then nodded his head, conceding with a sigh, “Yeah. f*ck it, we are."

“Then why can’t I have you?” Lestat asked sadly.

“You want me?” He asked tentatively.

“Of course I want you,” Lestat said it like it was the most obvious statement in the world.

“What about Armand?” Louis asked slowly. He was lost.

Lestat looked puzzled, like he was momentarily unable to match the name with a face, “Armand.”

“Aren’t you in love with him?”

“No. I’m in love with you,” Lestat replied matter-of-factly.

“Jesus, Lestat, I-” Louis started as he cornered Lestat against the counter, but the closer he got to him the faster he lost his ability to think reasonably. He slammed his body against Lestat’s, took his face in both hands and captured his mouth with his own.

Lestat kissed him back without hesitation, with everything he had. He kissed like he was starving, gasping, drowning, and Louis was his only source of oxygen. It was the best kiss Louis had ever had. Of course Lestat kisses like he should win an award for it , he thought as he explored Lestat’s mouth with his tongue. Lestat grabbed Louis around his waist and pulled him closer so he could feel the hard length of Lestat’s co*ck through his jeans against his leg.

He pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss for a moment, and groaning as Lestat’s hips ground against his own. “sh*t, what are we doing?” He breathed against Lestat’s lips.

“Please, mon cher, I need you,” Lestat moaned, leaning in for another kiss, and Louis couldn't help but kiss him back. He almost let himself forget who they were so they could live forever in that moment, lost in the heady feeling of being on the receiving end of Lestat’s love, his affection, his lust. But reality, as always, was hard to ignore. He pulled away again and stroked his hand over Lestat’s hair, awed by how soft it was.

“I love you,” Louis said slowly, causing Lestat to beam at the admission, “I’m so f*cking in love with you, baby, but I can’t have an affair with you.”

Lestat trailed the tips of his blunt nails along the hard muscles of Louis’ arms, making him shiver involuntarily. “I don’t want to have an affair with you either, mon cher. I want to show you off, kiss your beautiful lips in front of all our friends. I’ll move out of Armand’s tonight. I don’t want anyone else, only you.”

Before Louis could respond, Lestat slipped down to his knees and unzipped Louis’ jeans before he had time to comprehend what was going on.

“f*ck! ” Louis moaned, as Lestat engulfed his co*ck with the wetness of his mouth. “Lestat, we can’t.”

Lestat sucked on the head of his co*ck like it was all he ever wanted and Louis couldn’t find any more words of protest. Lestat licked along the length of him before he started bobbing up and down on it. Louis was unable to resist grabbing Lestat’s head and holding it as he f*cked into Lestat’s mouth.

He was so close to coming when he heard a banging on his door. “Open up, you motherf*cker,” Armand’s voice boomed through Louis’ front door.

Louis let go of Lestat’s head, but Lestat continued to suck Louis’ co*ck like a pro, taking him all the way down.

“Lestat. Maybe we should-?” Louis panted out with what little focus he could muster.

Lestat briefly pulled off to look at Louis with wild, lustful eyes, shaking his head before taking Louis back in his mouth.

“I can see the lights on you f*cking asshole, open up. Lestat! I know you’re in there, you f*ck,” Armand shouted again, but Lestat only sucked more enthusiastically.

He was torn but Lestat’s mouth on his dick won over dealing with Lestat's co*kehead boyfriend who’d made Louis’ life a living hell for nearly a year. He put a hand back on Lestat’s head, unable to think about anything other than Lestat’s perfect mouth. Before Armand could say anything else, Louis was coming down Lestat’s throat. Lestat didn’t take his mouth away from his co*ck until he’d swallowed every last drop. Louis nearly collapsed in a heap of watery limbs, but Lestat caught him by the hips and laid him down gently, rolling on top of him and Louis into the floor.

“Don’t you think we should answer the door?” Louis asked between kisses.

“So Armand can take his co*ke rage out on you?” Lestat asked, raising his eyebrows. “You make a good point,” Louis laughed. “But how did he even-”

“I called him. Told him it was over while I was waiting for you to come home.” “You did? Wow. But, that...still, why would he come here?”

“Louis, the only photo I have framed is the polaroid of us kissing. I call you names I never use with any of my other friends, let alone Armand. You’re saved in my phone as ‘ Mon Coeur.’You’ve met my mother, Louis. Everyone I’ve ever met, even in passing, knows that I’m psychotically in love with you, except for you.”

Louis’ head felt like it was spinning. It was hard to tell if this was real or just a dream. “How long have you-”

“Do you remember our first Thanksgiving break together when I had the flu? Wren and Oliver had both gone back home and I was quarantining in my room alone.” Louis nodded, dazedly. That was almost three years ago. “You found out and showed up at my apartment an hour later with an overnight bag and an arm full of groceries so you could make me a pot of your mother’s gumbo,” Lestat smiled wistfully at the memory.

“She always used to make it for us when we were sick,” Louis remembered, still caught in the daze of those memories. It felt like yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time. He could hardly believe that Lestat had loved him for so long.

Lestat looked at him softly, like he could tell exactly what Louis was thinking, and reached over to cup Louis’ face in his hand, stroking a thumb over his bottom lip. “I have waited lifetimes for you, chéri.”

“Open up, du Lac!” Armand boomed through the door, effectively snapping Louis out of his fog.

“Don’t worry, mon coeur,” Lestat stood up and reached out to take Louis’ hand. “He’ll go away. I promise I will talk to him tomorrow when he’s sober and can process information without resorting to violence. I fear that if we let him in now he’ll try to hurt you, in which case I will be forced to kill him.”

Louis almost laughed, but he knew Lestat was being dead serious. He’d told Louis countless stories of how he’d learned how to fight on the streets of Neuf Trois and, even though he’d calmed down since, Lestat had made it clear on multiple occasions that he wouldn’t hesitate to get physical when it came to Louis’ safety.

He let Lestat pull him up onto his feet, but he still felt kind of strange about how everything had happened. “Baby, I want to rip off all of your clothes and do every dirty thing I’ve been thinking about for the past two years,” Louis started, putting a hand on Lestat’s chest to keep him grounded after he’d started looking distracted by Louis’ words. “ But , you need to properly end things with Armand. A phone call to a guy who’s co*ked up out of his mind doesn’t really count.”

Lestat started walking to the bedroom and pulled Louis along behind him. He wasn’t sure what he had expected Lestat to do when they got into his bedroom, but it wasn't for Lestat to sit on his bed while he took his shoes off and say, “We can just hold each other tonight. I want you to feel like we’re starting this right, mon cher. Your comfort is my top priority. Can I borrow some pajama bottoms? I’m going to need at least two layers of clothing if I'm going to keep my hands off of you.”

“You really want to just cuddle?” Louis asked disbelievingly as he searched through his top drawer and pulled out two pairs of pajama pants.

Lestat looked up at him like he had two heads. “Of course I don’t want to just cuddle ,” he said, standing up and dropping his trousers to the floor. Louis couldn’t take his gaze away from Lestat’s co*ck straining in his tight boxer briefs. Louis handed the pajama pants over without looking away from Lestat's dick. Lestat stepped into the pants and pulled them up, taking Louis’ view of the outline of his co*ck with them. “I want to make love to you. I want to be inside of you. I want to mark your skin with my teeth and make you mine forever. I want to kiss you while we f*ck and watch your face while I make you come and then I want to do it again, and again, and again. All night. Forever. I want to keep f*cking you until you can’t remember your name. Until I know your body as well as I know my own. Until the only thing you know for sure anymore is that I love you and you’re mine.”

“Oh my god,” Louis said, his brain had short circuited. Any coherent thought he’d had was immediately replaced by a string of cusses that would make his mama slap him six ways to Sunday if she’d heard them. He wasn’t even in control anymore when he surged forward and kissed Lestat. He pulled away for a moment, whispering against Lestat's lips. “This is not a good way for us to start.”

Lestat manhandled Louis down onto the bed and leaned over him, “You’re right. To think we could have started this two years ago. Putain . I didn’t think I could ever have you.” He kissed along his neck, making Louis shiver as he trailed his hand down his side. “Louis, mon coeur, does it really matter how we start if we know we’re never going to end?”

Lestat’s mouth was back on his and Louis was officially done with trying to be the better person. They nipped and kissed at each other's lips, taking their time, ignoring the urgency they both felt to come.

“I want to see you naked,” Louis said as Lestat’s mouth made its way back down along his neck.

Lestat looked up and rubbed his hand along Louis’ erection. “Have you thought about me naked, ma beauté?”

Louis groaned at the thought, “It’s hard not to when you refuse to wear a shirt around me eighty percent of the time.”

Lestat sat back on his heels and co*ckily raised an eyebrow. “Hard, huh?” He pulled off his t- shirt giving Louis an eyeful of Lestat’s unfairly chiseled chest.

Louis didn’t even try to tease him back, just nodded wide eyed. “You are so f*cking beautiful I can’t stand to be around you most of the time.”

“I know the feeling, mon cher,” Lestat said softly, adoringly, leaning down to kiss him again.

Louis took the opportunity to run his hands down Lestat’s perfectly sculpted body. He’d seen Lestat shirtless more times than he could count, had spent countless showers stroking himself off to thought of scratching his nails down the Qui vivra verra tattoo on Lestat’s back, but he’d never been able to feel him like this before; there was just so much to touch. Louis sat up, urging Lestat to lie down. He was desperate to trace every line of muscle on Lestat's body with his tongue.

“You know what makes me crazy though?” Louis stroked his hand along Lestat’s chest hair. “When I think about your chest hair and your tattoo it always makes me come.”

Lestat groaned and flipped Louis so he was now underneath him again. “You’ve thought about me when you jerk off?”

“Almost exclusively, I thought we established that with the thinking about you naked thi—“ he lost his train of thought as Lestat unbuttoned Louis’ jeans and slid his hand inside his pants. He stroked up and down the length of Louis co*ck as he leaned in to kiss him again. Louis shook his head and pulled back. “Get naked.”

Lestat raised both eyebrows then shrugged. “As you wish, mon soleil. I live to serve you.” He stepped off the bed and, with a grace that Louis could never even hope to achieve, dropped his pants to his feet. He smirked at Louis’ dumbstruck expression before he hooked his fingers into his boxer briefs and pulled them down, setting his erection free. Lestat wasn’t able to make it back to the bed because Louis had already moved down onto his knees in front of Lestat lightning fast. He grabbed his co*ck then licked up the length of it. Lestat moaned and ran his fingers through Louis' hair but didn’t pull, just rested his hand there softly.

Louis was bobbing his head up and down on Lestat’s dick before pulling down to reach into the desk drawer and grabbing a bottle of lube and a box of condoms. Lestat raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you were going to f*ck me,” Louis said as he took off the last of his clothes.

Lestat made a hungry noise and guided him to the end of the bed, pulling one leg up onto the mattress, leaving the other hanging over the edge.

“You are going to be the death of me, my Saint Louis,” he whispered reverently, kissing Louis’ inner thigh softly.

Lestat leaned over him, balancing the heavy weight of his muscles on his forearms so as not to crush Louis underneath him.

“I have to get you ready, mon cher,” he said, cupping Louis’ face in one of his large hands. “I promise to be gentle, mon ange, you won’t feel a moment of discomfort.”

Louis heard the familiar sound of the cap to the lube bottle clicking open. Lestat poured some on his fingers and circled around Louis’ ass before he carefully slipped in a finger. He stopped for a moment to check Louis’ face for any microexpressions of pain, but Louis just nodded, trusting Lestat to keep going. Lestat leaned in closer and kissed him again and again as he gently added more fingers into his ass, using them to f*ck Louis with until he they were both panting with impatience and desire. “Are you ready, Saint Louis?”

Louis smiled softly and surged up to place a long, dirty kiss on Lestat’s lips. “I’ve been ready for years.”

Lestat grinned and ripped open the condom and started rolling it on. Louis watched in awe as his hands shook slightly. He had never seen Lestat this nervous before. It was almost hard to believe that Louis was the one making him that way. Lestat leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lips as he lined his dick up with Louis’ ass. “I’ve never done this with someone I was in love with before."

He didn’t give Louis time to process his words before he started sliding his co*ck inside of him. Lestat kissed him again as he slowly built up to a proper rhythm that had both of them clinging on to each other and gasping curse words into each other’s skin. With each thrust he went a little harder, a little faster, until he was gripping Louis’ knees and pounding into him, hitting Louis’ prostate with almost every thrust. Louis suddenly understood what Lily meant about him not really being into sex, because he was more turned on than he’d ever been in his life. He’d thought he’d reached the height of sexual pleasure the night he’d finally let go and experimented with Nicki but it was nothing compared to this. Not even close. Every thrust just brought him closer and closer to nirvana until he could hardly stand it, and he started jerking himself off as Lestat f*cked him.

Lestat looked down at Louis’ hand, and groaned, before replacing it with his own. “Non, baby, let me. I will handle every aspect of your pleasure, just let go.”

Louis grunted at the duel sensations and threw his head back, letting the pleasure wash over him, grateful to just lie there and take whatever Lestat saw fit to give him. Lestat hiked them further up the bed and wrapped Louis’ legs around his hips so he could focus on thrusting even harder.

Louis was close, so f*cking close , and the sight of Lestat’s perfect face screwed up in ecstasy and concentration above him was almost too much to bear. He let his eyes fall closed and just concentrated on the feel of Lestat’s body sliding against his own. Lestat’s smooth chest, Lestat’s hair brushing against his shoulders, Lestat’s slightly chapped lips sucking marks on his neck. Lestat, Lestat, Lestat . Louis wanted to be swallowed whole and become one with the impossibly beautiful man above him.

Lestat opened his mouth with his tongue and whispered a command against his lips. “Look at me, Saint Louis.”

Louis opened his eyes and immediately came harder than he’d ever come before in his life. Harder than he’d ever thought possible. Lestat bit down on Louis' lip and kept their eyes locked together as he sped up his thrusts. He groaned long and loud and buried his face in Louis’ neck as his body stiffened with his org*sm.

Lestat pulled his face back up as soon as he came back to himself and kissed him lazily as he rode out the waves of his org*sm, before collapsing on top of Louis in a heap of sweat- covered limbs and hickey-stained skin.

They lay in each other’s arms for what felt like hours, both a little brain dead from the sex, before they both started laughing. Louis leaned up and kissed Lestat, “That was probably the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Lestat rolled off of Louis to lie alongside him and smiled, “That was definitely the best thing I have ever done.”

Louis studied Lestat’s happy face, “You really love me, don’t you? I mean, you really are in love with me, aren’t you?"

“Louis, mon coeur, that is like asking if the sky is truly blue.” Louis bit down a smile. “But now that I know you love me too, I think we’re going to have to call off the whole Elvis impersonator in Vegas."

“Oh? I'm not marriage material now that you got me to put out?”

“Oh no, I’m still marrying you. We’re just not going to elope. We’re going to do it properly.” Louis looked at him dubiously, but Lestat just laughed. “Don’t worry, mon cher, I’ll ask you again when we’re not naked. Though, that might not be for at least another few days, if I can help it."

Louis rolled his eyes as he leaned forward and pulled Lestat on top of him for another kiss. “Hey, nothing wrong with being naked.” He pulled back and studied Lestat’s face for a moment. “I love you so much.”

Lestat’s face split into a huge grin that seemed to brighten the whole room. “Oh, Louis. You have no idea.”