"Why did you stop frequenting the club?"

Seven in the morning and Chris was thinking about the club instead of enjoying the chirping, singing birds outside. To him, the sound was like a lullaby, pushing Dima right back to the path of sleep; Dima was astounded at his mate's train of thought.

"How do you know?"

"Well, because I made it a point to visit the place more."

"And you were saying you weren't stalking me."

"Guilty. Now, why did you?"

Dima abided his time to ponder over the reason. Expressing himself in words was not something he did daily. Was he honest? Yes. But was he a heart-to-heart type of person? Not at all.

And words would slip anyone if their partner was hell-bent on distracting them. They were lying on Dima's bed perpendicularly to each other. Chris' head was towards the headboard while Dima's head rested on his stomach. Chris was using his index finger to trace an invisible path from Dima's ear to his neck and back. Sparks were erupting at every place where they were making skin-to-skin contact.

A wet willy from Chris made Dima jolt back to his senses. "Chris!!!!"

"What? You went off to the la la land."

"It was the first time someone made me lose my composure. It was always dealing with vampires or hard-headed egoistic werewolves, no one was calm and confident like you were. You didn't get riled up or run away. I was stumped. Mix this panic with my hatred for werewolves and you get a Dima who didn't want to face you again."

"In short, finally the biter is bitten." To emphasize the importance of bites in the sentence, Chris leaned forward and bit Dima's earlobe with a growl.

"Ow! You are such a dog for real."

Chris laughed but then whined. "Dima, no. Don't do that."

"What?" Dima batted his eyelashes, the universal action of trying to sarcastically act innocent.

"Don't mask your scent, it unsettles me."

"Then you better watch those doggy canines or else I'll mask my scent again," Dima warned, unmasking his scent.

"That's blasphemy."

"Let me be the sinner. My sins are mine to bear," Dima announced dramatically while keeping his right hand on his heart.

"Let me help you atone your sins, baby." Chris shouted the last word at the top of his lungs in a sing-song voice, his hand slowly venturing inside Dima's tee.

Dima got up before they started something they were not ready for.

More like what I am not ready for, he wondered but kept it to himself. To diffuse the tension, he clapped his hands loudly and uttered a firm "Okay," stretching the letter O. "Come on, I'll make you some breakfast."

"You eat a lot for a vampire," came the comment from Chris.

"What does that mean?" Dima asked, looking over his shoulder.

"I thought blood was enough for you."

"It is, but since we have evolved long since stone age and not actually barbarians, we adapted to human food too. Also, I grew up among humans."

Chris couldn't grasp the words to say, but eventually, he let out an unintelligent "What?"

"Sit," Dima ordered, pointing towards the bar stool when they entered the kitchen. "I grew up in an orphanage for the first few years of my life. Three, to be exact."

"Oh! I didn't know you were adopted."

"Sometimes even I forget that because it doesn't feel like I am adopted. Anyway, most of the people do not know that."

Dima did not stop doing his working hands in the kitchen while talking with Chris. The initial years did not matter to him because they were not traumatizing and he got a loving family sooner than many others. All is well that end is well.

Chris noticed that his mate decided to make French toast, the ingredients lying on the kitchen counter said so, but his interest was more into knowing his mate's life than the food. "What's the story?" he enquired after giving it a lot of thought.

Turning on the stove and keeping the grill on it, Dima turned towards Chris who picked an apple from the fruit basket to munch on. "Are you looking for a sob story?" Chris shrugged. "Asshole. There is no story. The orphanage was fine. Mom and Dad adopted me, and the life was better."

"I am relieved to hear that."

"Talking about adoption, I remember a question I want to ask you." Dima turned back towards the stove, started cracking and beating the eggs in a bowl.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Is your brother adopted?"

"No, he is a hundred percent original byproduct of my parents."

"I doubt it because I am very sure that he is adopted and is a spawn of a goblin. It does make sense after all - small, annoying, and mischievous."

"Oh come on, don't be mean to him. You call us dogs, right? Then consider him a chihuahua - cute, small, and naughty."

"I can bet my ass that the cute Elio will insult you right at your face after saying 'thanks' for that compliment you just gave him."

"Ooh! I wanna bet. I wanna bet. I want that ass. Can I bet my dick in return?"

The reply Chris received was far from what he expected. The gooey insides of the broken egg over his head continued flowing down his hair and on the floor as Chris tried to comprehend what his mate just did. Once he registered the reality, it did not take him more than two seconds to remove the albumen from his eyes and look up. His glare met Dima's back. The man was calmly cooking the toast.

"Really?"

"What? Did you say something, Chris?"

"No, I just wanted to compliment you on your vampire speed."

At the sarcastic tone, Dima turned towards Chris and feigned shock. "Who did that? It must be Feliks."

"Whoever that is, I don't see him here."

"Feliks is my brother. He is super fast and right now using his vampire speed, so you can't see him. I can see him clearly. Stop running in circles around Chris."

"Hardy-har-har. I am sure he does not know how to run in circles better than you. Jalebi."

"Jela...what?"

"Jaa-lay-bee. I learned that from an Indian friend in high school. It is an Indian dessert and looks like a spiral. They have a phrase 'Straight like a Jalebi,' which intends to call a sly person innocent. Holds sarcasm, ofcourse."

"You and your never-ending phrases. Now, shut up and eat." Dima sat down the plate filled with French toast in front of Chris.

Eating breakfast together and engaging in playful banter; this time, they both felt it - their hearts calling, the feeling of falling.

Sometimes I think of the future,
I think of us cooking side by side.
I think of spending Sunday mornings with you in bed,
Many times I think of the kids, together we would nurture.
I imagine a house,
I can see it atop a hill,
Surrounded by only a few houses,
From where a human standing down looks like a mouse.
One day, we would have that -
Waking next to each other,
Feeding each other small bites of breakfast,
Waiting for the other for dinner when one of us is running late.
Every evening, we'd take a stroll down the hill,
Hand in hand, with a bounce in our steps,
Saturday evenings will be our date night,
How happy would we be when there are no fights about who would pay the bill?
Living together doesn't guarantee anything, there will be fights nonetheless,
But I promise there will be no giving up,
I promise there will be no uncomfortable silence,
Just us, love, and happiness.

*******