Chapter Text
Daniel and Armand have done nothing but hunt, fuck, cuddle, and watch movies for a week since going out for coffee with Paige. Well, and watch some TV shows that have already ended, because Armand hates waiting and fears the cancellation of his favorites. It’s so comfortingly mundane that Daniel kind of wants this to be their life for the rest of forever. Having Armand happily entertained, gratuitously well fed, and fully rested is worth ignoring the looming nightmare they’ve begun to piece together from the information at their disposal.
Armand buys an industrial espresso machine, makes some horrifying concoctions with it, and then breaks it. Not on purpose, he claims, but Daniel knows better by now. He also fixes it, which in Daniel’s opinion shows some growth. He FaceTimes and narrates the process to Louis and the fledglings as it happens; he’s willing to bet he could livestream Armand’s misadventures and they’d do serious numbers.
Afterward, Armand takes Daniel’s phone out of his hand, peers into the camera, tells them all to fuck off with a hint of fondness in his voice, and hangs up. He loosens the belt of his robe and settles on top of Daniel, straddling him. This next part is for Daniel’s eyes only.
“Great show today, babe,” Daniel congratulates Armand as he nuzzles his cheek. “They loved it.”
“They gleefully mocked me.”
“They also cheered you on.”
“Don’t even think about broadcasting to a wider audience. It’s bad enough Lestat might have been watching, too,” Armand chastises against Daniel’s jaw, and then lowers his lips to Daniel’s neck. “I want to touch you,” he adds, palming the front of Daniel’s boxers.
“The sarcasm does it for you?” Daniel asks, shivering as Armand works a hand inside his boxers and starts to play with his half-hard dick. “Listening to me run my mouth about the latest iteration of your unhinged tech hobby? Not that we didn’t know that years ago.”
Armand nods, stroking Daniel with light fingertips, squeezing and swiping his thumb over Daniel’s slit every thirty seconds or so. It’s a delicious tease; Daniel loves it when Armand decides he’s done something that merits mild punishment. Fifty years ago it would’ve been psychically pinning Daniel’s hands to the headboard, lying next to him, and whispering hotly in his ear without touching him. Daniel shifts beneath Armand, watching Armand’s eyelids flutter as that gives him some friction where his dick is trapped between his own thigh and Daniel’s.
“I just bought these for you,” Armand chides, withdrawing his hand. He rubs his thumb over the bloody spot Daniel has leaked into the expensive Pima cotton, and Daniel’s dick twitches. He mustn’t have the heart to pretend he’s angry, because he leans in for a kiss.
Daniel gladly indulges Armand, licking into his mouth, running his own thumb along the length of his erection beneath the fine fabric of his pajama pants. He rubs Armand’s lower back with his unoccupied hand when Armand whimpers into his mouth and squirms in his lap. It’s always surprising that Armand doesn’t leak as much, doesn’t ejaculate as much. Daniel doesn’t know if it’s a thing that happens to vampires as they age or if it’s something tied to the unusual features of Armand’s physiology that Armand can recall from when he was human.
Armand breaks the kiss, pressing his forehead to Daniel’s temple with a gasping moan when Daniel puts increased pressure on the head of Armand’s dick, rubbing tight circles over it. He’s proud of himself for turning Armand’s tease back on himself, and then some. He feels fluid gather beneath the fabric, finally, smearing it against Armand’s sensitive flesh with each movement of his fingertips. He knows he could have Armand coming inside a minute from this point forward, which is kind of mean given how hypersensitive Armand always is, has always been. Except they’ve been eagerly leaning into that, haven’t they, with only rare efforts to draw out climax past the point of discomfort. Daniel will always hate that Armand’s history has demanded that of him at every turn, his pleasure deferred at the cost of someone else’s. And there’s always been a desperate, needy edge to Armand’s desire for Daniel that, frankly, Daniel would be a fool not to encourage. It’s hot as fuck.
“Wanna come like this, princess?” Daniel asks, sliding his hand beneath Armand’s robe to run over his back unhindered. “So pretty for me when you can’t wait,” he whispers in Armand’s ear, covering Armand’s dick with his whole hand now, petting with slow, firm pressure. “Bet you were hard behind the kitchen counter where your audience couldn’t see. How long were you listening to me like that?”
“For at least the last twenty minutes, you insufferable prick,” Armand whines, fumbling Daniel’s dick out of his boxers. He huffs when Daniel smacks his hand away, but doesn’t do anything to stop Daniel from tugging his pajama pants down his hips and dipping his hand inside to pull out his dick, too. “Daniel,” he whines, and then sinks his fangs in Daniel’s neck so hard that Daniel forgets he should be jerking him off.
“Feels nice?” Daniel asks as Armand laves over the wounds after biting his tongue, healing them. He’s stroking Armand at a leisurely pace, but his grip is demanding. He counts down the seconds until Armand starts fucking into his fist, until he’s a whimpering wreck.
“Understatement,” Armand sobs against Daniel’s neck, going still except for the violent tremors down his spine and in his limbs as he spills over Daniel’s knuckles. He clings to Daniel’s neck as Daniel strokes him through the aftershocks. “Please, just keep—ah, ah!”
Daniel knows that if he keeps up the momentum, this happens almost every time: following his first orgasm, Armand succumbs to a second within seconds. When it happens, Armand reacts as if he’s surprised, and maybe this is something he’d never felt uninhibited enough even decades ago to find out. He’s slumped against Daniel’s chest now, hanging tearfully oversensitive on Daniel’s neck.
“Fuck,” Daniel sighs as Armand maneuvers one shaky arm out of position, folding it down between their chests. He takes Daniel’s dick in his hand, biting Daniel’s neck. He drinks in earnest this time as he swipes his thumb over the head, working it into Daniel’s slit.
“There, my darling,” Armand murmurs against Daniel’s closing wounds, kissing the spot as Daniel groans and jerks under him. That’s the part some vampires wouldn’t believe if Daniel told them, Armand’s tenderness when he’s holding Daniel through his own climax. “Better?”
“Much,” Daniel agrees when he can form thoughts again. “Amazing, sweetheart.”
Armand tucks a laugh into the hollow of Daniel’s throat, licking there. “You, too.”
“Sure you’re not…” Daniel sighs, stroking Armand’s curls. “I dunno, bored yet?”
Lifting his head, Armand fixes Daniel with hazy, but fiercely earnest eyes. “Never.”
“Just making sure,” Daniel sighs, tracing from Armand’s temple down to the line of his jaw, “because like, you know, we used to…”
Armand shakes his head, touching Daniel’s lips with fervent fingertips. “I don’t feel like I have to overthink this anymore. A relief.”
“I didn’t mean to make you feel like that the first time around. Did I?”
“No. I made myself. Past precedent and…wanting to impress you.”
“You never had to do anything except look me in the eyes and tell me you’d hold me while I died,” Daniel tells him. “That, that was you.”
“What do you mean by that?” Armand asks, replacing his fingertips with his lips. “I was being selfish in those moments, so selfish, and—”
“I couldn’t see what was at the heart of you until everything was quiet,” Daniel clarifies, returning Armand’s chaste kiss. “Until then.”
Armand wipes his other hand on Daniel’s t-shirt, and then slides his arms back around Daniel’s neck, hanging on him again. “I love you.”
“Love you, too,” Daniel agrees, resting his cheek against Armand’s. “Wanna go back to bed?”
“Yes,” Armand says. “As long as you’ll carry me. As long as you don’t mind that I need to call the fledglings. I’ve put off asking about London.”
“That’s okay,” Daniel replies, on his feet with Armand wrapped around him in an instant. “I’ve put off telling Paige, too. Hate to leave her.”
“Invite her,” Armand says as Daniel carries him back the hall. “Has she ever been there?”
“Not since college,” Daniel says. “She did two semesters abroad, in Japan and England.”
Armand is quiet as Daniel carries him into the bedroom. “Her mother was Japanese?”
“Yep. Thanks for inferring that based on the mention of Grandma Atsuko instead of…”
“The only thing I pulled from your girls’ heads were their favorite hot drinks, beloved.”
“Her mother died at the beginning of the pandemic,” Daniel tells him. “Kate. Maybe you knew about that. Cancer treatment left her fragile.”
“Alice, Kate…” Armand glances hesitantly up at him as Daniel lowers him onto the mattress. “There was another name in your interview notes.”
“It’s kind of cute that you didn’t go fishing for Lenora,” Daniel admits. “She’s my assistant. Writing names down where you could read them, but without any context, was an experiment on my part. I have to say, aside from the Alice thing, the results were uninteresting.”
“I had thought as much, but…” Armand watches Daniel change into clean pajamas before tossing him a clean pair of his own. “After Louis and I went digging through your thoughts for details about Alice, I made sure we stopped. I told Louis that we should steer clear of using your past against you, lest we cross from having lost your goodwill into losing your trust. But we had already lost it, of course.” He finishes changing, and then settles in the curve of Daniel’s arm as Daniel joins him on the bed. “It was the precipice I needed for everything else to topple.”
“How about you call the kids while I text Paige,” Daniel suggests. Realizing his phone is still in the living room, he reaches for it with his thoughts and ends up smacking himself in the hand with the force of its arrival. “Ow. We’d have a full house, but it could be fun.”
“It would take far more people to fill the Holme, Daniel,” Armand points out, scrolling through his address book on the iPad. “It’s a mansion.”
“I’m aware,” Daniel says, smiling as he hears Jesse answer FaceTime. He opens a text to Paige and types, Hey, can you still work from anywhere?