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Valentine’s. The season of love.
Vampire never liked or really understood what was so special about the occasion. After all, it was just another month, another week, another day. Why do people need an excuse to buy flowers and gifts for their significant others? Why can’t they just do it on any other day? What makes gifts on February 14th so special?
Vampire never really understood the significance of the event or why everyone finds it so necessary that they must spend it with their significant other. Not until he met Rockstar.
It was safe to say Vampire fell head over heels for the man. He was charming, cool, handsome, fun, and great company overall. When he played the guitar, the room filled with electricity, and it felt like it was just the two of them.
For a while, he didn’t completely understand his feelings. Vampire found the nauseating excitement and strange fuzzy feeling unnatural and repulsive. It has been a while since he felt attracted to anyone, and even then it was never like this, never this intense.
Sparkling burst out laughing when Vampire told him about his concerns about something being wrong with him. "It sounds like you have a crush on him, man." He replied once his giggles died down, a dumbfounded smile still present on his face. Vampire, of course, denied that as hard as he could. He couldn’t fall in love now; he had already learned his lesson. When he developed feelings for anyone, it never ended well.
Despite that, he still found himself putting more effort into his appearance when he knew the other man would come along to their hangouts. Rockstar became an unofficial member of their friend group, almost always tagging along when they planned to meet up to do anything.
It was frustrating at first. He tried to avoid him, but all that earned him was concern from all of his friends. It was very unlike him to cancel on them so often, so of course they all assumed something was wrong. Well, something was wrong! He could not get Rockstar out of his head!
Every night he lay in bed, either thinking about the other man or unable to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, his smiling face would come to the forefront of his mind, the sound of his laughter filling the room.
If he did manage to sleep, he was plagued with dreams where they were together. Dreams of Rockstar holding him tenderly and kissing him on the forehead, cheeks, temple, nose, and anywhere else he could reach.Dreams in which they were both happy and carefree He began trying to avoid sleeping.
"You need to do something about this." Sparkling told him eventually. When his dark circles got too prominent and his attention began to falter too often for his liking. Vampire sighed and laid his head on the bar counter.
"What do I even say?" he mumbled, glaring at the wood like it was the sole cause of his problems. "‘Hey, Rockstar, I am madly in love with you and cannot get you out of my head for a single second. Wanna go out?’"
Sparkling put a hand on his hip, giving him a flat stare.
"You are three hundred years old, and that is the best you can come up with?"
"Low blow." Vampire sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position. "I just don’t want to ruin our friendship." Sparkling gave him a sympathetic smile.
"The worst he can say is no." Vampire rolled his eyes at that. There were absolutely worse things he could say than ‘no’ but he wasn’t about to argue.
He braced his head on his elbow, glancing across the bar.
"What’s with all this decor anyway?" he asked, eyeing the pink balloons that were hung from the walls.
"Valentine’s Day is next week." Sparkling informed him. "Don’t tell me you forgot."
"You know I don’t celebrate these kinds of things, Spark." he groaned.
"You could write him a card."
"What?"
"A card." Sparkling repeated himself, gesturing slightly. "You know, for Valentine’s. It doesn’t have to be signed or anything; people leave anonymous cards for the people they like all the time."
Vampire looked down at the table and scratched at the wood for a moment. An unsigned card sounds safe enough.
"I’ll think about it."
And think he did. For the rest of the week, Vampire spent every moment of his free time planning that card. He looked up what other people wrote in theirs, how they decorated and shaped the paper, and even some rock history to use as a reference or a cheeky pun that the other might enjoy.
He got some colourful pens from Strawberry, lying about the reason he needs them. He asked Alchemist if she had any nice perfumes she thinks smells romantic to which she asked if Vampire hit his head. In hindsight, ‘smelling romantic’ may have been a bit of a weird phrase, even for him.
He bought some flowers from Herb and got some heart-shaped chocolate, something he had seen other couples do before. It was a potted plant, Vampire hated flowers that are destined to die, they were such a grim gift, definitely not fitting the occasion.
He nervously stood over his small pack of gifts the day before Valentine’s. The group had already agreed to meet at Sparkling’s bar, and Rockstar even offered to play a song or two, so it was safe to say Vampire was more than anxious.
He paced around his room for hours, trying and failing to pick an outfit that would fit the occasion. Alchemist came in a few times to tell him to be quiet, but she eventually gave up and decided to help him pick out his clothes so they could both sleep. They ended up with a pink and white colour scheme with some golden patterns.
When morning came, Vampire, of course, overslept. He dashed out of bed and got ready in record time, carefully shoving his gifts in his bag before he hurried off to the bar.
"There he is!" Mint Choco exclaimed as soon as he stepped through the door. He walked over to them, still panting, and flopped down on a stool.
"You look charming, Vampire." Cocoa greeted him softly. She wore matching clothes with Mint Choco, both of them opting to dress in reds rather than pink.
"Thanks. So do you." he replied breathlessly. He let his head fall onto the counter with a light thud, taking a moment to catch his breath.
"Don’t worry, you are not the last person to arrive." Sparkling reassured him. He wore the same outfit every year on Valentine’s day but still looked good in it. "Rockstar is yet to arrive."
Vampire perked up slightly at the other’s name, sitting up straight and looking around the room. Rockstar was indeed not here yet, which meant Vampire had time to check on the gifts he treated so poorly.
He carefully picked up his bag from the floor and put it on his lap, peeking into it closely so no one around him could see inside. Mint Choco raised an eyebrow at his actions, but Sparkling just shook his head, telling him to let him be.
Vampire let out a sigh of relief when he saw nothing was damaged. He reached in and pulled out the card a bit so it was on top to avoid it getting crumpled by the other items.
"Rockstar! There you are!" Mint Choco abruptly yelled, causing Vampire to flinch and slam his bag shut.
"Yeah, sorry ‘bout that guys. I forgot my guitar, so we had to turn around halfway there." Rockstar replied sheepishly.
"Don’t even worry about it." Sparkling smiled warmly at him. Vampire turned around to face Rockstar when he heard him approaching behind him, but his face fell as soon as he saw him.
Rockstar was dressed in red and black, which was not all that unusual for him. What was unusual was the green-haired cookie that he had his arm wrapped around as they stood, with said cookie having matching red clothes with him.
"Who’s your friend?" Mint Choco asked with a grin. Rockstar and the Mystery Cookie shared a smile.
"Guys, this is Kiwi, my boyfriend. Kiwi, these are the guys: Vampire, Sparkling, and Mint Choco." He gestured toward each of them as he introduced them, everyone giving a smile or a nod as a form of greeting.
Vampire tensed his jaw, keeping the smile on his face and hoping it looked convincing.
"I didn’t know you had a boyfriend." Sparkling spoke with a hint of nervousness in his tone.
"We just got together a little ago," Rockstar explained. "I figured what better time to introduce him than Valentine's Day, am I right?"
"Right." Vampire mumbled and dropped his bag on the floor before turning around to face Sparkling.
Vampire wasn’t sure what the rest of the conversation was about, the ringing in his ears was too loud for him to hear. He was vaguely aware of Rockstar playing a song or two, but the sound of his guitar filled the room with a kind of electricity that made Vampire nauseous.
He wasn’t sure why he was so upset over the news. Rockstar seemed genuinely happy, and it wasn’t like they ever dated. It felt a bit dramatic to feel like his heart was being squeezed and like his veins were filled with ice.
He was aware Sparkling was staring at him as he ran his finger across the rim of his cup, but he couldn’t care. He downed almost any drink that was put in front of him, not even bothering to ask if they were alcoholic or not.
It felt oddly fitting that no matter how sweet the drink tasted, it always left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. Vampire hated celebrations like these.
He stayed well after closing, well after everyone else left, well after their friends said their goodbyes. Sparkling put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a look that seemed to be a mix of guilt and pity. Honestly, Vampire couldn’t quite tell which.
He stalked across the kingdom, somehow finding every single abandoned piece of rose, every single thrown-out bouquet, every destroyed box of chocolate, and torn-up letters and notes. He has a talent for finding shattered feelings.
He’s never going to understand what’s so special about spending this day with your significant other. It was just another month of feeling hopeless, another week of worrying about nothing, another day of being rejected.
Valentine’s. The season of heartbreak.