Dae bounded out of his room grinning like an idiot. Raphael looked up at him from where he sat reading a book. He raised a pale eyebrow, peering at the boy who came to sit on the arm of his chair.

“Raphael!” the Korean boy chimed, wrapping his arms around the blonde vampire as he sat down.

Raphael blinked, staring at him incredulously. “What are you doing, Dae?”

“I just watched an awesome movie!” the young man exclaimed.

“And that is reason to be hugging me?”

A rush of color suddenly came to Dae’s lightly tanned skin. He released the vampire and grinned at him. “Sorry, it was just a really good movie.”

Pale blue eyes simply rolled at Dae, drawing a giggle from the boy. He got up and sat down on the sofa next to Raphael’s chair and continued grinning at him. The vampire, on the other hand, just shook his head and turned his attention back to his book.

“Watcha readin’?” Dae cooed after a moment, trying to look at the front cover of the book that Raphael held in his right hand.

“One of Aren’s medical handbooks,” the blonde answered without looking up. He only raised his eyes when Dae groaned and scampered off to his room again. He shook his head and then went back to reading. He enjoyed learning and so far, he had learned a great deal about medicine that may come in handy in the future.

Raphael managed to get about twenty seconds worth of reading done before Dae returned with a thick book in hand. The boy practically ran across to the vampire’s chair and thrust the book in front of Raphael’s face.

“Read this instead!” he ordered, trying to keep a straight, authoritative face. It broke down into a fit of giggles when Raphael pushed the book down and looked up at him with only his eyes.

“Twilight?” the vampire asked, a baleful tone to his voice. He had heard no end of criticism and obsessive fangirl-ism about the book and it was one of the few books he had decided not to ever read.

Dae nodded. “It’s good!”

“What’s so good about it?” Raphael put down his own book and took the black and red paperback from Dae’s hands to hold in his lap. He read the blurb on the back while waiting for an answer from the excited young man standing in front of him.

“The story is really good and it’s really cute and Edward is awesome!”

Raphael sighed. It seemed like his youngest housemate was a Twilight-fanboy. The vampire tended to avoid vampire fiction, finding it ridiculous most of the time. Necatus had a habit of forcing it on him in movie form, though, and he wondered if the dark-haired vampire had gotten to his younger lover and put him up to this.

“So, will you read it?”

“I suppose,” the vampire said, defeated. He was rewarded by a sudden glomp as the young Korean jumped on him and hugged him. At least it made Dae happy, so it wasn’t all bad that he had agreed to read the book.


- - - - -


“So he got you to read it, huh?” Necatus asked with a smirk as he entered the room some hours later and saw his fellow vampire reading. He had been out taking care of some things earlier in the day, leaving Dae and Raphael alone while Aren was at work. He lounged out on the couch, watching the blonde read. He received only a nod in response. It seemed that the blonde was absorbed by the book. The look on his face, though, was priceless. It looked to be an expression of utter disbelief. A sigh escaped the pale man’s lips as he turned the page.

“This was your idea, wasn’t it?” Raphael asked suddenly, his voice soft and his eyes still on the page.

Necatus laughed. It was a telling laugh, one that he used whenever his plans came to fruition. That laugh alone confirmed Raphael’s suspicion.

“He made me read it first. I just thought you’d enjoy it,” the dark-haired vampire answered, trying and failing to sound innocent. Raphael had the feeling that his tone was on purpose. Necatus could hide his intentions well enough if he truly wanted to. The man was just teasing his friend on purpose at this point.

“Just how did you manage to get past this drivel?”

“It gets better at the end, trust me. Dae wouldn’t leave me alone until I finished the book, so I forced myself past the boring parts at the start.”

“Half the book is a ‘boring part at the start,’” the blonde complained with a soft sigh as he continued to read. He had only been reading an hour but he had managed to get through the book quickly and was, indeed, about halfway through.

“You read too fast,” Necatus commented, resting his head back on the arm of the sofa and closing his eyes.

“Whatever,” was the only reply he received as Raphael continued forcing himself to read the book in his hands.


- - - - -


It was about a week later when Raphael finally put down Twilight after reading the last page. He had given up for a while, until Dae got on his case about it and made him finish. He read it slower after that first day, having given up hope of getting to an interesting part when the first half of the book had nothing of interest in it. True to Necatus’ words, though, it did get better at the end; marginally.

“I am not reading the sequel,” he declared outright, quelling Dae’s request before the boy sitting beside him could even speak.

The boy pouted, petting the grey tabby cat in his lap. Gabi looked up at the vampire, mimicking Dae’s expression. She was truly Dae’s cat, even though she still insisted that Raphael be the one to feed her at 2:30 in the morning every day.

“Not gonna work. I read the first one and I didn’t like it. I’m not reading more.”

“Then watch the movie with me!”

Raphael groaned and was about to tell Dae ‘no’ but the boy got up off the couch and ran to his room, cat in arms, before he could say anything. He was in for the long haul now, with no way out. At least Necatus was sleeping still.

“Watching a movie, eh?” the dark-haired vampire’s sleepy voice called from the bedroom doorway. He and Dae shared a room and it was evident that Dae had woken him up and dragged him out to watch the movie too.

Raphael looked over his shoulder and his friend, noting that he only wore sweatpants and his hair was mussed. Necatus rubbed his eyes and yawned but then smirked at his fellow vampire, eliciting a sigh from the blonde man.

“Go sit down, Ne!” Dae ordered from behind him, his voice slightly whiny as he pushed gently against Necatus’ bare back to get him out of the doorway.

“Pushy, pushy,” Necatus teased, laughing as he went to sit beside Raphael. He brought his left leg up to his chest and hugged it as he got settled on the couch facing the television. When he looked at the blonde beside him, though, there was a smirk on his lips and in his dark eyes.

“You have no idea how much I hate you right now, Necatus,” Raphael told him, speaking so quietly that only the vampire would hear him. Necatus only laughed again.

“Quiet, Ne, the movie’s gonna start!” Dae told his lover, punching his arm gently as he sat down beside him. He had already put the DVD into the player and set it going.

Necatus pouted at the young man, making out as if he was in agony. “That hurt,” he said dramatically, putting a hand over his heart. He leaned over onto Raphael, seeking comfort. His fellow vampire just groaned, ignoring him otherwise, and Dae just punched his arm again. Necatus yelped and pouted more, latching onto Raphael’s arm and snuggling his side. None of them said anything more though, as the television was playing the opening credits of the movie, Twilight.


- - - - -


Nothing was said of Twilight for a few days after the movie. Aren had found the whole thing amusing and was disappointed that he had missed it. It was his day off now, though, and he had planned on just spending time relaxing at home with his lover and his friends. He sat on the couch with Raphael, his arm around the vampire’s shoulders while they watched a movie. Dae had gone out to get ice cream and Necatus was doing something in his room, so the couple was alone.

Raphael smiled when he felt Aren’s lips on his cheek. The ending credits were rolling, so he turned his head, confident he wasn’t missing anything. Aren kissed him when he got the opportunity and then smiled at him.

“It’s nice being home after a hard week,” the redhead murmured before kissing the vampire again.

Raphael returned the kiss this time, bringing his arms up out of his lap to hold the young doctor close while they kissed. He said nothing, not one for words, normally. Instead, he let his fingers run through Aren’s hair to show how much he enjoyed having the redhead home again at last. The soft moan of pleasure he received in return was enough to tell him that Aren had missed him as much as he had missed the younger man.

“Perhaps we should go to the bedroom, Rael,” Aren cooed softly, moving his own arms to wrap around his vampiric lover. His hands traced patterns on Raphael’s back, making him shudder slightly.

“Maybe we should,” Raphael answered, his voice low and sensual. He kissed Aren again, hugging him and letting his hands wander. He coaxed another moan from his lover when he dipped a hand lower to cup the redhead’s butt.

Breaking the kiss, Aren smiled at Raphael. He shifted his position, running one hand up the vampire’s back to rest on his shoulder while running the other down his side and thighs before slipping underneath his knees. He kissed the man again before moving to get up.

Raphael was forced to put his arms around Aren’s neck when the redhead stood. Their lips were still locked, but being suddenly picked up had made him stop exploring the doctor’s body in favor of holding on so as not to fall.

Just as they reached the door to their room, Necatus’ door opened. He stood in the doorway, a small bag in his hand. He watched the two lovebirds heading to their room and smirked.

“Just a moment,” he called, his voice clearly exposing that he had a plot of some kind working in his head.

Raphael looked over Aren’s shoulder at the dark-haired vampire, raising an eyebrow and looking slightly baleful. He smiled, his eyes glazing over a little, when Aren nuzzled his neck. The redhead, though he had stopped walking to accommodate their housemate, obviously had no intention of stopping what they were doing.

“You’re forgetting something,” Necatus singsonged, walking over to the pair. He grinned at Raphael, reveling at the bewildered look on the blonde’s face as he watched Necatus approaching. It was an expression torn between pleasure, due to Aren’s ministrations, and confused curiosity at what Necatus was doing.

“Sparkles!” Necatus suddenly yelled, laughing as he tossed the contents of the bag onto Raphael, showering the blonde in glitter.

“Necatus!” Raphael yelped, spitting out glitter that had gotten into his mouth. Aren just laughed softly, hugging the vampire in his arms.

“You’re in the sun,” Necatus explained, gesturing the shaft of sunlight shining on both Raphael and Aren from their bedroom window. “Vampires sparkle in the sun, don’t you remember?”

Raphael was about to make a retort when Aren caught his lips in another searing kiss. When he broke it, he left the vampire breathless and answered Necatus’ explanation. “Sparkles or not, that’s not going to stop what is about to happen.”

Necatus laughed, going over to the couch and starting to channel surf. “I hadn’t planned on stopping you.”

“Good. We’ll see you later then.” With that, Aren took the now glittery vampire into the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him.