Chapter Text
ray felt completely out of place at the party.
-
he had attended belleville high since he was a freshman. he wasn’t bullied, but he was just kind of rejected. he had never fit into the popular kids stereotype, and neither in the weird kids one, so he just sat alone at lunch (and basically, always). he didn’t bother much about it, since he had friends outside school.
next year, when he was a sophomore, he met frank. he was shorter than him, with black hair (that stayed flat at the front but spiked up at the bottom), he had piercings and a cute face.
ray remembers meeting him quite well: he was on the yard, sitting on some steps, when he saw frank (the new kid) sit down a few meters away from him, and few meters from the popular kids table. frank looked like an easy target, so the kids started throwing their food to him, and laughed. frank stormed up, threw the sandwiches back and yelled curses at them, but they thought ‘he was too short to be taken seriously’, so they left.
ray stood up and walked towards frank. he talked a bit with him, introduced himself and told him to ask him anything about the school, since he was new.
some hours later, ray found frank getting shoved into a locker, being called ‘pansy’ and other adjectives. ray’s blood boiled. he was a kind man at heart and disliked seeing injustices, so he punched the other kids and then frank and him had to run away. since that day they became friends, even more after finding out they liked similar things, such as playing guitar, and they were seemed as outcasts, being highly targeted by bullies and jocks, and they (mostly frank) would end up in fights, even to this day, on their senior year.
that summarizes how they met and how their high school life had been.
-
that’s why ray felt so out of place. he still didn’t know how frank could have possibly been invited to ariel’s icebreaker party, even more, why he dragged ray along with him. the only good part, was that almost the whole school was there, so he didn’t have to worry about him and frank getting kicked or something. or maybe frank would, since minutes later after they arrived, he had told ray ‘im going to search some food, wait for me here’ and he hadn’t come back.
the room’s lightning was dim, there were lamps here and there (due to ariel’s house being big) and there were lots of noise. not only the loud music booming from the speakers (which ray was sure it was britney spears), but also from all the teens making noise, chatting, laughing, drinking, eating, playing. ray was quiet, almost drowning in all the noise. that made him feel even more out of place.
ray was standing awkwardly, near to a table with a punch bowl. he had nothing to do except wait for frank, so he served himself a cup. then, he saw him.
another boy leaned against the wall, besides the table. he looked the same age and height as ray. he was slim and long, his factions and joints looked sharp. he was pale (really pale), and had glasses, his eyes were sort of green-ish, with eyeshadow (or eyebags) underneath them. he also had thick and defined eyebrows, and his brown hair (which looked outgrown) was slightly spiked at the back and his bangs fell flat over his forehead, a little swept to the right side. he wore some flared black jeans, a black coat with faux-fur on the hood, and some misfits shoes (fitting, since they were in new jersey)
ray thought the boy’s fashion sense was cool, and then he felt embarrassed over himself wearing a just a black shirt, jeans and sneakers. he tried to look around, but his eyes fell on the boy’s face again, and then, they did eye contact, so ray dropped his gaze to the floor again.
seriously, why was frank taking so long?
he saw the boy staring at his punch cup before drinking from it, and slightly biting the edge of it. ray found it cute. he was handsome, to say the least. he figured that if frank wasn’t coming back, he would try to make a small talk with the boy, since he also seemed really out of place.
five minutes passed by, and frank still wasn’t back, so ray peeled himself off the wall, and shifted towards the other boy.
”…hi”, ray said.
”uh… hi”
”what’s your name?”
the boy looked around, as if he was surprised ray decided to talk to him.
”eh, im mikey. mikey mcmillin. what about you?”
”im ray. ray toro. nice to meet you, mikey.” ray smiled.
mikey nodded, awkwardly. it seemed like social interactions weren’t his thing. ray didnt wanted to push further, but he really wanted to talk with him.
”i like your misfits shoes”
mikey’s face lighted up, a slight smile decorating his poker face.
”thanks… theyre one of my favorite bands.”
ray nodded.
”so, uh,” ray started, not wanting to sound rude. “what are you doing here? like, you look kind of, out of place in this party.” he said, glancing around, making mikey notice they were surrounded by popular kids, jocks, mean girls, etc…
mikey chuckled, but there was a hint of nervousness in his voice, that wasn’t ignored by ray, who was a really observant person.
”i, uh… my sister and i just joined belleville, and we heard about the party, so we figured we should come and meet the other kids. like an icebreaker, y’know…”
“oh, you have a sister?”
”yeah. her name is illi. we’re twins”
”twins? that’s so cool!” ray smiled. mikey smiled back, and then, they went quiet again, a kind of awkward silence washing over them.
ray noticed many things about mikey. his pale appearance, which was kind of concerning. his nervous demeanor, which consisted of him bending his knees in an awkward angle, and rocking back and forth on his heels.
now, mikey was fidgeting with the empty cup on his hand, his fingers flexing and un-flexing unconsciously against the cardboard material. his fingers were long and slender, just like him, and were slightly calloused. ray thought it was attractive.
”wow, your fingers are long…” ray blurted out, and blushed a little.
”what?”
”you- eh, do you play any instrument?” ray tried to fix it. “i mean, since your fingers look calloused…”
ray cringed at his attempt of fixing the situation/flirting (he didn’t have any experience). but his preoccupations went away after seeing mikey smile at the mention of playing an instrument. ray thought it was cute, but then, his eyes fixated on mikey fangs. they were slightly longer and pointier than an average human’s. weird, but cool.
"yeah," mikey smiled. "i play bass. and illi sings. she wants to form a band someday..."
"seriously? that'd be so cool! if you decide to make it, you already have two guitarists."
"thanks..." mikey smiled and blushed.
ray was so mesmerized by his fangs, so much, that he couldnt stop his words from slipping out.
"i like your fangs..."
mikey almost choked on his saliva, his eyes widening slightly.
"i- i mean!" ray scrambled. "theyre- uh- theyre cool. and cute. you look cute with them..."
mikey blushed faintly again and smiled.
"ah... thanks. you- youre cute too."
ray giggled at the compliment.
"you know? you kinda look like a vampire. y'know, the vibes, and fangs..."
mikey's eyes widened and he somehow got paler than he already was. he gulped and looked scared, like a child who had got caught lying. of course, that didnt went missing by ray, but he just assumed the guy had something for vampires.
"y-yeah?" mikey asked, his voice shaky. "you think so?"
"yeah. there's something about you that-"
there was a loud crash on the living room's center, where everyone was dancing. it was surrounded by people, and since ray and mikey were at the edges of the room, they couldnt see what was going on.
a punch sounded, and through everyones gasps, a male grunt (in a voice too familiar to ray) was heard too.
mikey sniffed the air, gulping and wetting his lips. weird.
another pair of grunts and hits were heard. ray was about to offer to go check what was going on, when they heard a girl choke out a sound between a cry and a gasp. mikey stiffened up immediately.
"illi."
"your sister?-"
mikey quickly took ray's hand, with more force than he had expected, since mikey looked too thin. after noticing so many weird things about mikey (the paleness, the smudged eyeshadow that looked like eyebags, a slight red glow to his eyes, and most importantly, the fangs and how nervous he had gotten when he pointed them out), ray was starting to suspect things about him. but he shoved them away. he was more worried about the hits and grunts he had heard, because they sounded awfully familiar...
'it feels like he has supernatural force...' ray thought while mikey dragged him through the crowd, quickly arriving at the room's center. 'whatever. must be the adrenaline.'
indeed, there was a fight. with one of the big jocks that used to shove frank into lockers years ago. his name was jimmy, or something.
ray wasnt surprised at all to see frank into the fight, his face starting to bruise and swole, his lower lip splitten and bleeding dangerously close to his lip ring. however, he was suprised to see a girl (with shoulder lenght black hair, a band tee, a skirt, stockings and sneakers, a little taller than frank) behind him. her cheek was slightly bruised and she was crying, clutching her hands to her chest, her eyeliner smudged. ray quickly looked over to mikey.
"illi!" mikey yelled. he was concerned and scared. illi (the girl, mikey's sister) and frank looked over at ray and mikey, the jock using the moment to punch frank in the face again. frank fell onto the ground, the taller guy towering over him, illi breathing in and out fastly, on the verge of a crisis.
now, frank's nose was bleeding too. ray saw mikey staring at the blood, wetting his lips and gulping nervously. ray shoved his thoughs aside- his friend was getting beaten up and illi looked like an emotional time bomb.
"shit." ray muttered, and before he could say more, mikey lunged forward on the floor, crawling towards frank and dragging him out. the jock just looked down at them and spat in their direction before walking away to his group of friends. then, everyone started walking away from the fight and starting talking between themselves, the party going on as if nothing had happened.
'fucking hypocrites.' ray thought, and then, all the gears and cogs started turning into his head. mikey didnt just look like a vampire. he was one. that explained not only his demeanor and appareance, but also his fangs and the supernatural strenght and speed he seemed to possess. ray was sure he hadnt imagined how fast mikey had lunged at frank and dragged him back. he was torn out of his thoughts when he heard a choked sob.
illi. she was still standing on the same place, frozen. she was silently sobbing, her arms crossed around her torso so tightly, like if she was hugging herself. her fingernails were digging onto the flesh of her arms. it was clear she was having a panic attack, and ray was so glad no one had seen her. he walked over to her and extended his hand.
"hey, illi?" illi looked at him with a really sad face, her green eyes making ray remember a puppy stranded in the middle of a storm. "im ray, mikey's, uh... friend." ray thought it was kind of egoistical to call himself mikey's friend even though they had just met, but it was clear illi wasnt going to trust him if he didnt say it. but illi didnt move. she seemed to be analyzing him.
"im also frank's friend. you know, the short one-" illi took ray's hand, and ray figured the least he could do was to hug her. "dont worry, its okay. lets go to wherever your brother and frank are, eh..."
ray looked around the dimly-lit living room. there were lots of kids, but he couldnt point out frank and mikey anywhere. illi just pointed towards a restroom right infront the main entrance of ariel's house, and ray took her there.
the restroom door was open, and it was kind of big. inside, frank was sitting over the closed toilet seat and mikey was gripping the sink with one hand. illi entered the restroom, but she hid behind the door, sniffing the air. ray suspected of her too, it wouldnt be weird if the twins were both vampires. ray just stood besides mikey.
"im going to clean his wounds.", the brown haired boy informed, his hands trembling. ray nodded, suppressing his needs of quirking a brow. he saw mikey open his coat, fumble a little with the inner pockets, finally taking out two small clothes, of the size of his hand. one was pastel pink and had an 'I' embroidered in cursive and a darker shade of pink. the other was pastel blue and the embroidery was the same, except it was a darker blue and the letter was a 'M'. 'cute', ray thought.
with trembling hands, mikey dabbed the pink cloth on franks nose, the fabric quickly absorbing the blood. he could see mikey licking his lips in an embarrassed manner, his hands trembling more. ray looked over to illi. she was calming down from her attack, but she was sniffing the air too. ray knew the siblings wouldnt hurt them (at least that was what he expected), but the clear possibility of them being vampires was making ray be so excited and scared at the same time. he had always had a kind of fixation for vampires, he thought they were so cool...
he looked back at mikey, and now the pink cloth was nowhere to be seen. he was cleaning frank's lip with the blue one. frank just looked at ray like a scared dog. ray shrugged. frank glared at him, his gaze flicking between mikey and his face, and then he smirked. mikey was too focused on frank's blood and chewing on his own lips that he didnt notice ray blushing darkly.
"i- i think thats it." said mikey, looking at his hands, a little smeared with frank's blood, and he gulped thickly again.
"wow, seriously, thanks dude. im frank, by the way. ray's friend. and you are...?"
"mikey. and she is illi."
both ray and frank nodded. illi tugged on mikey's sleeve and whispered something to his ear, mikey nodding instantly.
"we are gonna get going now." mikey informed. "we- uh, we think its late and the fight really creeped us so, bye." he sounded scared, like if he was lying. illi just nodded.
the siblings just thanked the friends, waved goodbye to them and walked straight to the main entrance.
"poor things. they just joined belleville and this is the first impression they get?" frank thought out loud, as ray saw mikey open the door for illi. she stepped outside, with the pink cloth on her hand, and disappeared behind the wall.
the outside porch was lit by a lightbulb and the moonlight. ray clearly saw how mikey looked around, anxiously, and pressed the blood-soaked blue cloth to his lips, sucking from it before closing the door. ray felt his jaw hanging. it all made sense now. it wasnt a possibility. he was sure. illi and mikey mcmillin were vampires.
he turned back to frank, and got scared for a second at seeing his bruised face.
"frank."
"hm?"
"i- wow. i think i just- sorry, we just met two real vampires..."
"what?"
"yes. illi and mikey. you didnt see their fangs? and how fast mikey dragged you on the floor? and the way they both sniffed your blood? and how hungry mikey looked when he cleaned you up? you didnt saw how he pressed the bloody cloth to his mouth?"
"eh, no. not really. sorry ray, but i just literally got my shit beaten. i dont think if i want to talk about how the new kids are vampires."
ray just sighed and rolled his eyes. he already wanted it to be monday, so he could talk to mikey…
"wait. why were you in a fight this time?"
frank just sighed, sadly, and began explaining.