It's irritating but no big deal; if he was hell bent on literally never ever running into territory any other vampires had ever occupied he'd probably just starve and that would be such a hassle.

He follows the scent; not by walking, but by jumping. It's coming from that direction, so now he disappears and reappears fifty feet over that way. And again. And again. Making sure no one's watching, which is way enough, and he jumps.

Hmmmm well it's really localized to this one little cul-de-sac—

—but the pretty young woman who's repotting some plants might take precedence. She's humming a little to herself, soil almost up to her elbows and hair pulled back in a careless bundle of red.

—he freezes.

And then very definitely does not freeze, because that woman is the most important person in the universe and the universe contained zero important people prior to this which means she must be his mate which means she must be protected at ALL COSTS and she is HUMAN which means she will DIE. Especially because there is ANOTHER VAMPIRE AROUND.

Not if he has any say in it.

He—looks around, if the Volturi kill both of them because he revealed too much then she would be DEAD and that would be the worst thing int he world—no one's looking, good—he teleports right behind her, sweeps her into a bridal carry, then leaps onto a rooftop and starts leaping away—can't teleport, can't bring others with him when he does, has to do it the long way.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry please don't hate me I'm sorry," he starts repeating under his breath, not looking at her, only at his destination (which is AS FAR AWAY FROM THERE AS POSSIBLE).

The most important woman in the world makes an affronted squeaking sound, then realizes the situation and shrinks in on herself, eyes wide. Fortunately for them both, she does not scream or struggle at all.

What she does do is speak, all at once in a rush.

“Mybrotherisplanningtoturnmehe’satrackerpleaseputmeback!”

At that he freezes again, on a rooftop, and, "You know about vampires," he breathes.

“YesbutIhavetoldnooneandhavenoplansto! I’mcooperatingwithbeingturnedandhelpingmakemyfuturedisappearancebelievable!”

Oh god, if she’s going to be eaten she hopes she’s not getting Blair killed too, she just doesn’t want to die.

He—humans don't look up, vampires do, leaping is normal, but humans don't, he can set her down—carefully, so careful, so so careful, she is so fragile and breakable—he jumps a couple of feet away from her and starts—vibrating—teleporting in place, a milimiter-or-less to the left, to the right, it happens often enough and fast enough that it looks like he's actually blurred.

She stays right where he puts her and quivers with fear.

“ThankyouIwillnotholdanyofthisagainstyouI’mverysorryfortheinconvenience.”

Why is he flickering? Is he mad? Is this how strange vampires express anger?? She’s so confused and terrified.

"Please don't hate me," he says in a small voice that is definitely within human hearing range. "What—has your brother told you—about vampires—?"

Asking her not to hate him throws her for a complete loop. This is a very strange request to make of a meal? That doesn’t make sense.

“Most… things? Everything that he knew, so I could be ready? … why are you worried that I’ll hate you.”

"...has he told you about—mating—"

“Oh,” she breathes, and it all makes perfect sense now. He was not whisking her away in a bridal carry without impinging her ability to scream when she was already alone to eat her. That would be dumb. He was going to turn her, because…

“I’m your mate.”

Most of her tension bleeds away near immediately, and she brings a hand to her lips.

He nods too fast for the eye to track and then slows down to a nod a human can see.

And if he was blurring before now he's teleporting fast enough to go all the way back to almost looking solid.

“Oh,” she repeats, a little inanely. “… well. Hi. I’m Yvette.”

The vampire looks up at her again and says, "I'm Alexei." And yeah now that he says it he does have a very faint accent that could be Russian? "You're... you don't hate me?"

"... no? I was terrified that I was about to die, but you were, um. Doing the exact opposite of killing me. So."

"Okay."

...what now.

"... Are you safe to hug, because if you're just already in love with me I'd appreciate getting to fling myself at you to finish freaking out."

"Yes," he says immediately and then flinches at his own reaction what if he scares her what if he sounds too eager what if what if what if—

"Great," she says anyway, and then he has a human mate clinging to him, burying her face in his shoulder and trembling a little.

oh

He stops vibrating the moment she touches him and he slowly, carefully, she's human so fragile so breakable, wraps his arms around her to return the hug, so carefully.

She leans on him and steadies her breathing and tries not to be distracted by how nice he smells and how he's actually very pretty and attractive. Adrenaline does weird things to her libido, apparently.

"So for the record I feel very dumb for sending my brother away on an errand for what in retrospect is really inconsequential in comparison to my very valuable life," she mumbles.

He nods very quickly again but now he remembers that she's human so it is only very quickly for a human and also it is not so close to her that he would accidentally hit her with his chin and break her because she is SO breakable.

"I need to figure out how to disappear to almost everyone I know and love very very quickly and get to becoming a vampire as soon as possible because I think we are both very terrified for my mortality right now!"

She has a clingy nodding vampire right here who cannot words right this second.

"I realize faking my death is faster but I do not want everyone I know and love to mourn me and also it might literally kill my father from grief."

...oh no she has people who would miss her so much if she disappeared this is terrible.

(It is not as terrible as her DYING because she is HUMAN and humans DIE but it is very bad.)

Cliiiiiing.

"... Um. How convincingly can you pretend to be human?"

"...uh. I don't. Know. I haven't tried."

"Oh. Damn. Because my idea was 'you show up and we have a whirlwind romance that ends in a marriage and us leaving the country,' which would neatly and concisely explain everything and not concern anyone."

He almost vibrates but that might hurt her so he doesn't.

"I'm so sorry," and he sounds horribly broken up about it, like failing Yvette's simple request is a deep irredeemable moral failure.

"Oh honey no," she murmurs, reaching up to touch his hair and pet him. She nestles closer. "Plans are for people not the other way around, if it doesn't work we make another one, it's fine."

oh this is even nicer than just hugs yes he leans closer and purrs, nestling his face into her neck.

Awwww he's cute. Pet pet pet pet.

"I bet I can also just have my brother forge a, a once in a lifetime employment opportunity somewhere abroad, that does not require any acting skills whatsoever and is in retrospect quite plausible."

Purr purr purr no brain only pets and purring.

Petpetpetpet.

"You poor thing," she murmurs gently. It's pretty obvious that he's also recovering, here. "It's okay. I'm here."

The best and most important person in the world is hugging him and petting him he's sure this disproves karma he does not deserve something as nice as this AND YET.

She lets out a little laugh, then leans back a little to look at his face.

"Oh," she says, when she sees his eyes, smile falling. "Your eyes are. Um. Almost black."

And also tinged red, they are also tinged very red.

They indeed are.

"Oh. Yes."

"Uh." How does she tell the vampire mind controlled to be in eternal vampire love with her to please not kill any more people. "Did you um, know you could live off of animals?"

"...really? They smell toxic."

Oh good it's a surprise not a conscious choice.

"Carlisle Cullen has survived off of animals for hundreds of years safely," she says, like she's discussing trivia. "They apparently taste terrible, and you lose some strength, but. It's perfectly safe."

"And you... would prefer that?"

Yvette does not want to leverage the vulnerable vampire, but on the other hand he could kill people, but he's so vulnerable and so sad, and also people would die so it kind of doesn't matter except it does because if her brother being traumatized didn't make vampires being victims obvious this poor man in front of her sure does.

She doesn't say anything, just looks down and opens her mouth to try and fail to make words come out. It's obvious that the answer is 'yes,' anyway.

"Okay."

"I," wow that was very easy but also she feels horrible except no she doesn't because this means less people die? "... I'm sorry. I know it's. A lot."

Nodnod but he's still hugging her so that's fine.

"Thank you," she adds, resuming petting him. Pet pet pet.

Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

He is a very cute accidental(?) serial murderer.

"So, um. Do you. Have any hobbies," she asks, because she would like to know more facts about him than his dietary habits.

"No."

???!!?!?

This is an alarming sentence to hear from someone that is supposed to be her mate, too.

"Uh." She peers at him, her brow furrowed. "..... are you. Okay?"

He opens his mouth, then shuts it, then opens it again to say, "No?"

Yvette raises her eyebrows. She is deeply concerned.

... It is, upon reflection, very plausible that being a creature who needed to stay alive via murder is the sort of thing that would fuck someone she could fall in love with right up.

"... How um. Old are you?"

He furrows his brows, now. "A bit over two hundred and fifty years old, I think."

Hoooooly shit that is a long time.

"Have you, um. Done things in that time?"

Alexei opens his mouth again but then thinks about what she probably really means by that question and... shakes his head. "Not really."

"Oh darling," she murmurs, and clings to him, petting his hair. "Okay, um. It sounds like you have had a very bad time."

Purr purr purr—

—wait serious conversation. "It... wasn't so bad?"

Incredibly lonely, no one and nothing mattered, only barely not suicidal and mostly because killing himself would have been such a hassle, all vampires are terrible, all humans are fragile and breakable and could get the Volturi to kill him...

His mate is unconvinced.

"Bullshit," she says, flatly.

That startles a laugh out of him.

This earns him a little smile.

Then:

"When I think about someone I could fall in love with, and then imagine that someone, what. Completely separated from humanity on account of the secrecy, forced to eat them to stay alive, surrounded by peers who spend all their time hissing at each other and fighting over territory and lying low so the all powerful mindreaders in charge don't notice them and take offense, I do not imagine they have had a good time. That sounds horrible, you poor thing???"

Well she didn't have to peel his skin off and expose him to the world quite like that. He is having trouble disagreeing, but also agreeing because who cares about people.

(Maybe he did? He doesn't... remember.)

"Sorry, that was probably too blunt, I just. You don't seem okay. You seem like you're sleepwalking through your own life, and have for over two hundred years, and, and. You deserve better than that?"

"...do I?" he asks, sort of inanely.

"Yes! Everyone deserves better than that. No one deserves that, it's horrible!"

She is so good it's no wonder she is the best person in the world. He nuzzles her because words.

She smiles a little and pets him.

"So I'm so, so sorry you had to go through that? I want you to enjoy your own life?? Um. What do you remember of being human, has it all just been rudely shoved out of the way by your vampire experiences?"

"...most of it. I was in... Moscow. When I turned. There were riots. I don't know what I was doing there. I think I almost died and someone turned me. Russia still had a czar."

"I don't know nearly enough history to know the significance of that. Uh. Do you know what the riots were about?"

"Something about corrupt military commanders? I'm sorry, I can only piece together some things I remember hearing from then, my sire and I left Moscow not too long after."

"It's fine," she assures. "I'm just. I want..." She sighs and leans into him some more. "... I want you to have all of the pieces of yourself that you can."

........he wonders if he can pet her. Carefully so so carefully like he's stroking a soap bubble.

That earns another smile and a little huff of laughter, and she leans into his hand.

"Regardless, I do want to help you have fun."

He has an idea of how to have fun wait no bad she's human and very breakable.

She spots his expression, and colors a little and ducks her head.

"Um!" She lets out a tiny giggle. "Not that I'm, not, uh. Willing, but, but. Breakable human, you know."

He disappears from her arms.

For only less than a second and then he's back, managing to not vibrate at all even though the way he's doing it is by holding very still.

She blinks very quickly, then huffs a laugh.

"Wait, are you—I thought that was vampire speed, are you teleporting?"

Nodnodnod. "Did your brother tell you about, uh, witches?"

"He did! He is one, I mentioned he was a tracker, I meant with literal magic, not just perfectly ordinary tracking skills." She blinks, then squints at him. "Was the vibrating... you teleporting in place? Back and forth, very rapidly?"

"Oh. Yes."

“Why? I mean, it’s adorable and I’m charmed, but.”

"I... don't know. I never used to do that before."

"Did you only start after meeting me?"

She sounds delighted.

He vibrates a bit then stops imself. "Yes."

Yvette cackles.

"I'm sorry I give you teleportation incontinence, love. But it's very cute."

She called him love he disappears for a whole second and when he's back he's away from her so he can vibrate in place without hurting her while he hugs himself.

His mate giggles into her fingers.

"I'm sorry, this is hard enough for you already, I'll try to stop unsettling you while I'm squishy and delicate. But you're extremely cute. Do you um. Want to help me finish repotting my plants?"

"I'm not unsettled," he says immediately, "and yes."

“Fine. I’ll try to stop embarrassing you so much that you have to teleport away so you can avoid hurting me,” she snorts. “Okay, uh. Return me to my pots without anyone spotting us, and I’ll move them inside where you can be obviously a vampire without worries.”

He can do that, carefully oh so carefully scooping her and—and—and this is so much better than when he was trying to kidnap her and terrified for her life, he doesn't vibrate but he does grin like a child at Christmas.

She grins back, because he’s so cute, and obligingly nestles into his arms for transport.

Pots get moved indoors! And then they can resume what she had been doing alone before, with her patiently walking him through the steps.

And he can teleport stuff with him so he is much quicker at moving things about than she is. ...not that the vampire speed wouldn't have already by itself done that, from her perspective, but, you know, this way there's no inertial effects.

She finds hyper efficient plant repotting terribly charming, and giggles accordingly.

... Somewhat complicating this is that there is another human in the house. From upstairs, her father calls, "Do you have company, sweetheart?"

"... Yes, Papa!" calls Yvette, who looks like she just remembered her father exists and is having herself a brief panic over it. "Don't worry, it's fine!"

  "Oh. Okay," he says, and leaves it at that.

"I probably could just say 'Papa this is my sweetheart Alexei' and it'd be fine," she sighs, sounding vaguely unhappy about how... unengaged he clearly is.

Alexei teleports close to her and vibrates in place a little bit. "Should I..."

He's not sure what he should.

She raises her eyebrows, then offers, "Hug?"

Oh hugs are so good he stops vibrating to hug.

Hug!!! Hugs are so good, even apparently when one is a squishy human hugging a vampire!

And then something occurs to her.

"Oh, um." She pulls away to look at him, looking serious. "You have my permission to turn me early in any kind of emergency situation. I'd like to get all of my affairs sorted, but if the alternative to fake death is actual death I'll obviously pass. Do you think you can pull it off at the drop of the hat, or do we need, uh. I don't know, a vial of spare venom and a syringe?"

"...syringe? Doesn't venom... melt things?"

"That's true. I don't know how actionable this idea even is. How quickly does it melt things? Are there vials that can contain it safely? I just want some way to emergency turn me in a pinch, since, uh. Squishy human."

"I can turn you. I'm pretty sure. I can be around... open wounds... just fine. I can turn you."

"Okay," she says, nodding. "Then I guess just hover around me and be prepared to teleport in and save me. Do you want to borrow some books for when I'm sleeping?"

"I... can't... read. I never learnt how."

This is the most tragic and depressing thing she's ever heard. He has lived for over 250 years, and apparently he never bothered to learn to read.

"..... Well, I'm fixing that," she sniffs, offended. "Hold on, I'll get paper and a pencil, we'll go through the Latin alphabet. If you um, want to learn."

"Yes," he says, and it's only 80% because this seems important to his mate and she seems like she will be happy with him for it.

"Okay," she says, nodding firmly.

Paper! Pencil! Careful explanation of the alphabet, with color commentary! (With such examples as: "It's not clear to me why capital and lower case letters exist when they're essentially the same thing, it just seems weird and inefficient," and "So 'T' and 'H' make a 'TH' sound because my ancestors were cruel and terrible," and "Why do vowels make so many different sounds? Because English hates you and the French ruined everything.")

He still has perfect, eidetic memory, so memorising those is pretty easy. The main thing he'll need practice at is... staring at letters enough to make words click in his head as a flow thing in themselves, if that makes sense?

It does! When he gets the entire alphabet (and numbers, she also shows him numbers just in case) and it's clear he just needs to practice:

"I propose we practice via cuddling on the couch and me reading to you while you look over my shoulder."

....he vibrates a bit for a second before nodding very very quickly.

She giggles, then picks out a book that she's still fond of, and cuddles up with him and quietly reads to him.

Alexei should... definitely actually pay attention to what she's reading rather than just to the feeling of her skin against his. He can mostly do that.

It's a pretty good book! And she's a good reader, even if she might feel a bit too slow for vampire sensibilities.

But she does eventually interrupt herself with a yawn. It was already evening when she was doing her repotting, now it's gotten quite dark outside.

Oh right humans sleep. "Are you going to bed?"

...can he come with?

"Yeah, I should. I have work in the morning." Yaaaaawn. "Um. Do you want a couple books to go? Or? I don't know what you plan to do while I sleep."

.......he vibrates in place again.

She blinks at him.

"Are you going to be okay, do you want to be around me while I'm sleeping and vulnerable?" Pause. "... We could cuddle?"

Nodnodnodnodnod—

Yvette giggles a little.

"Okay. Uh. Go out the front door and then meet me in my room with teleportation once I'm done changing? You'll be able to hear me even if I call you very quietly, yeah?"

"Yeah. I... need to have visited a place before teleporting there. Or at least seen it. Open a window?"

also can he watch her change

"Oh, I see. Yeah, can do."

"Okay."

He should... unsnuggle and leave. Probably.

She kisses him on the cheek first, but she does assist with this unsnuggling endeavor! And then going out the door is easier, she'll walk him to the exit and everything.

Aaaaaaaaah she kissed him

His glee at any kind of bestowed affection is adorable, and also deeply concerning!

She goes upstairs, changes into a nightgown, then opens a window and pokes her head out. "Alexei," she says, very quietly.

And now he's inside!

...oh she looks pretty.

Yvette smiles at him, then looks away bashfully. She feels, uh, a bit more exposed than normal, but. It's fine. She closes the window, and then heads over to a nearby bookshelf.

"Do you want some books to practice reading?" she murmurs, index finger already on a book that looks promising. "I can't imagine it's very interesting to watch me sleep."

"You are the most interesting thing in the world," he says immediately.

"... Even when I'm sleeping?" she whispers, raising her eyebrows.

"...yes."

"Oh. Uh. Okay."

That's a bit creepy? Not enough to be worth turning down secret cuddles with the pretty sad vampire, but. Kind of creepy.

"Well, I'll get a couple if you change your mind, just in case," she says, retrieving a couple. Is this probably mostly for her benefit, so she can pretend he did something other than stare at her while she slept? ... Yes. Definitely.

He nods and peers at the books she picked and matches the symbols on the cover to the letters he memorised to figure out what the books are.

They’re all fiction! This says it’s a collection of fairy tales, that one’s called Pride and Prejudice, and this one is called The Keeper of the Bees.

Yvette lifts the covers and slides into bed, and then carefully scoots to the edge of her bed so he’ll have room to join her.

He moves to join her, then pauses. "Um. You'll get cold."

“… you can stay on top of the covers and drape an arm over me?” she offers, thoughtfully.

"Okay, that works."

She gives a little pleased hum.

“And you can pet my hair,” she adds, curling up on her side and getting properly comfortable.

......eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee he does that

She nestles against him and gives a little contented hum. The absurdly mismatched power dynamics and screwed up mind control complicate things, but they also simplify some other things. She has his heart and soul in her hands and he would probably die for her. He could pick her up and take her away and bite her and she’d be his in every sense of the word, and everyone would just be fine with that. So cuddling and hairpets are just kind of minuscule in comparison. She is not any more vulnerable when asleep than she is when awake. If anything, she’s safer than normal, because no one would possibly come steal her away in the night to drain of blood with a teleporting vampire, right there, wanting her alive more than anything he’s wanted in centuries.

Plus, it’s been a long day, so. Sleep comes very easy regardless.

When she wakes up, the books do show sign of having been read, not being where she left them, but he's still there, snuggling her.

Or... maybe not "still" there?

An alarm is what wakes her up. She gives a little yawn and turns it off on pure reflex, then stretches and looks at him with a sleepy sort of confusion, blinking.

".... Hi," she mumbles. "Oh." And then she smiles and reaches up to touch his cheek. "You look better with gold eyes. Thank you."

Eeeeee wait what. "Gold eyes?"

"Mmm? Oh. Diet does eye color. Gold for critters." Nestle nestle into the nice vampire does she have to get up yet she doesn't want to.

"Oh. Huh. Okay." Pause. "It tasted rancid but did work. For the thirst."

"Yay." Nuzzle nuzzle she's apparently snuggly in the morning. "Sorry 'bout the taste. But yay."

Snuggling is great.

"...I love you."

She makes a little fond hum.

"I can see myself loving you," she murmurs back. "You're a sweetie."

Eeeeeeeeeeeee he nuzzles her to hide his face.

He's so cute.

"Mmokay, need to get up. I've got work." She leans over and kisses his forehead. Then, something occurs to her. "... um. I'm a nurse, I don't work in the trauma ward but be careful?"

"...hm? Oh. I've... been around battlefields. I'm fine with blood."

"Oh. Okay." She gives him another forehead kiss, then disentangles herself to get up, stretching a little.

He sits up and keeps watching her with an enraptured look on his face.

Yvette starts sorting through drawers to figure out what she's going to wear for the day, already falling into a familiar routine. In fact, she moves to start taking off her nightgown, before she abruptly remembers that she's not alone and turns a little pink.

"Um. I'm sorry, could you, um."

"—oh." He disappears for a second and when he reappears he's turned around and blurred in place again.

Yvette was expecting him to go hang out on the roof or something but, uh, this works too. She guesses. She'll just uh, get changed quickly.

"Okay, done," she says, when she's out of the nightgown and in something more decent. "Uh, I'm just going to go about my morning routine. You can borrow any of my books that you like, and. I suppose you're probably going to be sneakily following me around all day, aren't you."

"...I could stay away..."

"It's fine," she sighs. "The part that makes me uncomfortable is how the vampire mating's affected you and made you very single minded? I won't pretend to be thrilled at being stalked, but when I think about someone ghosting through life for two hundred and fifty years finally meeting someone they care about and not wanting to let them out of their sight for fear that they'll disappear..." She looks away, and gives a little shrug. "I'll take being stalked over you wringing your hands the entire time I'm doing anything else, worried that I'll evaporate into smoke the instant I'm out of your sight."

"...I don't think humans turn to smoke very often," he offers.

... This earns a little giggle.

"Not that I know of, no!" she agrees, amused.

"So that is not one of the things I'm worried about," he concludes.

"I was using artful metaphor to demonstrate my point instead of listing things that are actually plausible and that you might find upsetting."

He laughs and shrugs.

She's so pleased he displayed a personality though!!!! That was a sense of humor, she saw it!

Yvette expresses her excitement by giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Anyway, yes. Morning routine. You can borrow any of my books, and I wholeheartedly support you trying anything that seems like it might be remotely enjoyable."

Eeeeeee "Getting kissed is enjoyable," he tries.

"Unfortunately I cannot cuddle you all day and kiss you," she snorts. "I have things to do. But if you see anyone else you'd enjoy kisses from, please feel free to indulge!"

"I don't think that's how it works."

"No?" She knew perfectly well that this isn't how that works. "Well, regardless. I will be happy if you do things to make yourself happy. Okay?"

"...okay."

“It’s okay if you can’t immediately figure anything out, don’t beat yourself up about it. Just. You deserve to be happy.” And then he gets another cheek kiss and okay now it’s morning routine time, she has lots of things to do and breakfast to make and makeup to put on and whatnot!

He... doesn't. Have much to do, that is.

...maybe he could try reading those books again.

The books are right where he left them, available for reading!

Yeah no he'll. Stare at them for a bit from a distance and try to figure it out don't mind him.

His mate doesn't. Breakfast is made and delivered to her father, who she wakes up at the same time.

She finishes her morning routine, then calls, "Okay, I'm heading out. Take care of yourself!"

This is plausibly to her father, but also definitely to Alexei, too.

He takes a book and follows her along the rooftops.

Then he can see her walk to her day job! Nothing accosts her on the way there.

And then she's at work. Being a nurse, with a bedside manner that displays a lot of her typical humor and charm. Also doing various boring menial tasks involving cleaning up the various disgusting fluids the human body makes, but. Probably when she's aggressively being herself will be his favorite part.

Alexei finds listening in on Yvette being herself intensely pleasant, and he can multitask reading at the parts where she is doing other things.

Work proceeds! Someone asks Yvette to organize the new equipment delivery! She is happy to do so. Lunchtime arrives! Yvette is lunch delivery person for everyone in this ward and then scarfs her own meal down in five minutes in the break room. A patient hits on her!

"Taken, sorry," she says absently, already back to work.

  "Really?" says one of her fellow nurses, delighted at the chance to gossip. "Since when? Is he cute? What's his name?"

"... Uh, it's recent. I am contractually obligated by the standards of dating to say yes, but fortunately it's also true. And. Alexei. I'll... let you know more as it develops, it's still new."

  "Aww! Well, congratulations, I hope you work out!"

"Thanks. Don't worry, he's already swept me off my feet."

And then work resumes without conversations nearly so interesting!

eeeeeeeeeeeee

Work continues to proceed! It feels like it goes on for ages.

But then it does end, and sometime in the late evening, his mate heads home. She gives a little yawn as she walks.

When no one's looking he appears by her side.

She jumps a little at his sudden entrance, but relaxes and smiles.

“Hey. I hope you weren’t too bored?”

He lifts the book he's holding to show it to her.

“Awww! Good. I hope you liked it, then!”

"I... think I did." How do you tell if you liked a book?

Well, it probably helps that Yvette reaches out to take his hand over it. Her (very delicate, very breakable, very human) hand is quite warm. She can hold his hand while walking (at painfully slow human speed) home.

"I imagine it's hard to decide that without anything to compare it to! My library is yours if there's anything else you'd like to try."

"...I think I would."

"Okay! And I was thinking about other hobbies you might like to try, for variety. Music's fairly obvious, either singing directly or learning an instrument. I couldn't actually teach you any of that, but I promise to be delighted if you pull it off. Oh, and what was that other one I thought of, um... ah! Drawing or painting. I also couldn't help much with those, but I've been trying to think of suitably introverted things for you."

"In...troverted?"

"Oh, uh. An introvert is someone who enjoys spending time alone. I'm one, and I think you are too. I don't expect you'd want to take up hobbies that involve a lot of socializing, it seems like that'd be really overwhelming and unpleasant?"

Alexei immediately makes a face at the idea and lets out a low hiss under his breath. "Mmhm," he says.

What a cute hissing vampire. His hand gets a squeeze.

"Right. So. Things you can do entirely by yourself. No people involved."

Nodnodnodnod she is so good and thoughtful and amazing and he loves her so much.

"Now there are things you can just do with one person, which I expect you'll be okay with if that person is me, but hopefully still like if the person isn't me. Board games come to mind, you might like chess or checkers."

"Board games," he repeats. "Okay."

"That one's entirely selfishly motivated, by the way. My brother Blair loves to play chess, and I want someone else to distract him because I get sick of only losing."

"...so you want me to lose instead."

"Well if you can beat him please do, but. Yes!"

"That's not very nice."

"It's not! I never said I was very nice, who told you that."

He gives her puppy dog eyes.

She notices the puppy dog eyes. They are distracting, and she is briefly distracted. He has such pretty eyes now, gold is so much nicer on him. Then she remembers herself and looks away bashfully, smiling and inspecting the road.

"Hey now, careful where you point that. The gold eyes make that expression weapons-grade."

"Not sorry," he says, grinning.

“That,” she teases, “is not very nice.”

"I never said I was very nice, who told you that."

She giggles, then stops walking to turn and hug him. Because he has a personality and is bantering with her and it's great.

"No one, I suppose! Silly me for presuming."

Oh no he's being hugged he must NOT blur right now and must instead try to... hug back....... EXTREMELY GENTLY she is so breakable.

Hug!!

"You're very cute," she informs him, reaching up to boop his very cute nose with a finger.

"You're very cute," he accuses, blurring only for a tenth of a second before he can stop himself.

Yvette gives a little giggle.

"Why thank you." She tightens the hug just a little, then releases him. From the hug. She finds his hand again, for holding. "I need to make dinner, but after we can cuddle?"

"Yes!"

He sounds like he just won the lottery.

"Then it's a plan."

She leads him home, holding his hand all the while, content with companionable silence and smiling to herself.

Alexei is, also, content with companionable silence, and he is definitely grinning like a goof.

Eeeeee he is holding his mate's hand!!!!!