Requested by DJ_remixes
Word Count: 5,045 words.
Background: Set in early Season 8, Vampire!Tango Au.

»»———✧✦———««

When Tango first came to Hermitcraft... he panicked for more than reason. He was more or less well... what they called a vampire. Now don't get him wrong, he wasn't ashamed of that but he did get quite worried that they would kick him out or not like him.

But eventually, he found a way to hide most of the details. Tango didn't even actually drink blood. He didn't even know what it tasted like! Well, to be fair he didn't even know he was a vampire until somewhat recently (For context: somewhat recently is just before he first came into Hermitcraft), when he accidentally stumbled into a few books about them and realised that 'Hey! A good couple of these do sound a lot like me.' and a friend, who also happened to be a vampire, started pestering him about it.

And the more he looked into things, the more he started to realise things. It had never occurred to him that those details, like the fact he had no mirror reflection (he never liked mirrors in the first place anyway), he was usually avoiding the sun, plus he hated garlic!

He mostly slept during the day, always preferring the night. He always just thought that, ahem, he had a horrible sleep schedule. He wouldn't be surprised if in part it was his horrible sleep schedule to be at blame as well...

His preferred food was always berries (the deep red ones specifically)... and surprising beetroot juice. Tango had no clue when he had developed a passion for beet juice. He supposed it was because his previous place of residence grew a lot of beetroots, so there was always an abundance of beetroot juice and beetroot. It was probably a habit that formed there. But then again, who knows? After all, beetroot was a colour similar to... well, y'know.

He also happened to have barely visible fangs. They looked almost like his normal teeth, with just a little more point. Tango had learned that it depended on the species.

Thinking about it, there were quite a few signs that did lead to that, weren't they?

Eventually, he decided to dig deeper into this, and after plenty of moments of no luck, he did it—he found someone willing to prove and confirm his suspicions privately. And it was at that moment that he discovered that he was a vampire; all the little details and signs meant something in the end—it's always the little things, isn't it?

Over the seasons, he did manage to hide things quite well if you ask him. Quickly inventing excuses for whenever a Hermit did question something specific about him. His excuses were usually enough - they would soon brush it off and move on.

And so Tango hoped they wouldn't find out the full details any time soon. He did hope that they wouldn't.

But eventually, the truth just had to come out, didn't it?

-----

Tango was just minding his own business, peacefully mining when he heard a ding come from his communicator. Setting his pickaxe down, he grabbed his communicator and opened it.

He swiped down to the most recent message, raising an eyebrow when he realised it was for him. And surprisingly it wasn't from his Impulse or Zed either, his neighbours or random messages from the Hermits.

It was a private message from Scar, asking if he could meet Grian and him somewhere. They wanted to sell him an 'offer'. Tango let out a soft sigh, that didn't sound good. He never knew what shenanigans would suddenly pop up.

Either way, he quickly typed out a string of words that meant the reply of 'yes'. He received an almost immediate message: this time it was some cords.

Packing his stuff away, he headed out of the cave he was mining in. Taking a deep breath, he breathed in the fresh air. It was starting to turn night, this was perfect.

This meant he didn't need to suffer the weakness of the day (he could stay a small amount of time in the sun before he would get weak and tired, eventually going on to more severe consequences depending on how long he stayed in the sun).

"Strange though, wonder why Scar and Grian want to sell me an 'offer' at this time of hour?" Tango wondered in his mind. He shrugged, he would find out soon.

He decided to make a quick stop at his base to drop off some of his resources and valuables that he had mined - just in case, you never know.

After doing that and keeping a couple of diamonds on him (in case, there was something good and he wanted to buy something), he began his way to the cords they had sent. Spamming some rockets, he launched himself in the air and flew towards the direction of the cords.

It was a short distance away. Once reaching the location, he slowly began to descend downwards, landing somewhat decently this time. Pacing a hand over his clothes to dust himself off, he looked around him.

It was a pleasant area, the coords had led him to an area that was right next to the ocean but not quite. There was a forest around him and a couple of torches had been scattered around. Hearing some voices, he walked towards them.

Spotting Scar and Grian, he semi-yelled out a 'Hello!'.

"Tango!" Scar greeted.

"Hey Tango!"

He walked towards them. Tango gave a small smile, "Soo couldn't help but notice that the word 'offer' was used in the message?"

"Yep," Grian replied. "For obvious reasons, both Scar and I are not in the mood of wanting to become even richer and having more diamonds, oh no definitely not."

Scar let out a light laugh, "So today, luck is on your side! You're one of our first customers, well maybe not the first exactly but one of them... one of the first!"

"Remember Third Life, Tango?"

Tango nodded, "I do."

"Great! So I presume you'll remember our coffin business then and our great success with that?"

"Yeah," Tango replied, tensing up a little. Coffins were an interesting subject for him. He could count the number of times he'd seen and even been inside one, it was mostly for pranks or dares or something along those lines.

He'd read that sleeping in coffins improved a vampire's sleep, however, he didn't know if that was true. Besides, where would he get a coffin anyway...

"Well, you'd never guess what! We're now selling comfy coffins, in case you ever die and need to respawn in a very fitting place."

And of course, they would be selling one of those... of course, they would. Only they would think of selling that.

"Sounds interesting... Just one quick question, why'd you choose me to be one of your first customers?" Tango asked, hesitantly. He was curious and slightly scared, though mostly curious. He hoped they didn't know.

Grian shrugged, "No specific reason, we just put a bunch of Hermit's names inside a hat and picked the one that we chose."

Tango relaxed a little, it seemed like they didn't know. "Ah yeah, makes sense. So for whatever reason imagine I did buy one, how much are they-?"

"15 Diamonds!" Scar chirped.

"I- 15 diamonds!? ...what's wrong with beds-?"

"Well, they're not very fitting y'know.."

"Hmm," Tango wasn't very convinced paying 15 diamonds was the best choice for a coffin... 15 diamonds seemed quite pricey.

"Wait here Tango! We'll be right back," Grian unexpectedly said. Looking at Scar, Grian motioned him to come to a corner. It was far enough that Tango wouldn't hear.

"Grian?" Scar questioned, once there.

"Shh! Whisper Scar, whisper. We're business planning."

"Ah, yes. Alright, what's wrong?" Scar asked, whispering this time.

"I don't think we're selling-"

"You think so?" Scar threw Tango a glance.

"Yeah."

"Hmm... well I've got an idea. What if we show Tango a demonstration of our amazing coffins?"

"That could work? Alright, let's try that."

"Great! ...we should probably go back now."

"True," Grian nodded. Both Grian and Scar started walking back to Tango.

"Tango, good to see you again! So both me and Scarcan see your hesitation to buy our products, so you'll get to see a demonstration first. Right, Scar?"

"Yep! They even come in a variety of woods too," Placing a couple of beds down, Scar then proceeded to surround them with different types of wooden trapdoors, to form the coffins. There were oak, birch, spruce and dark oak.

Tango gazed at them with both amusement and curiosity. They wanted to sell.

"And as you can see, a very nice selection."

"I see. So supposedly if I did buy one, which type would you recommend?"

"Spruce," They both chirped. Both Grian and Scar threw each other a look, seeing as they had both said at the same time.

Tango chuckled, shaking his head.

"I mean yeah-" Grian stuttered. "Yeah, spruce." He let out a soft sigh when Scar moved to softly pat his head.

"Mmm, I mean it's nice and all that but-" Tango hesitated.

"But?" Scar tilted his bed. "We could always come back y'know! That's a great idea!" Grian nodded in agreement.

"That's not necessary," Tango quickly said, he didn't feel like having them come back to him with offers. "I'll just uh, buy a coffin."

"Wait- You will?"

"I- you're going to buy a coffin!?"

"I mean, it's also fine if you don't want me to buy one-?"

"No!" Grian hurriedly shouted. "Which type do you want?"

"Spruce will be fine."

"Yes! He picked our suggestion," Scar cheered.

"That will be 15 diamonds please."

Tango sighed, he slowly counted 15 diamonds before handing them over to him. "What am I doing?" He questioned in his mind. "Paying 15 diamonds... for a 'coffin'. Who would've thought-!"

"Thank you for your service," Scar smiled.

"Now as a free bonus, we'll deliver it to your house, right Scar?"

Scar packed away the demonstration of the coffins. "Yep, we will! Care to lead the way, Tango?"

"Uh, sure," Tango nodded. Spamming some rockets, he headed his way back to his base.

Once reaching there, both Grian and Scar quickly built a coffin that was tucked away in one of the corners, before bidding their goodbyes. Tango waved goodbye, as they both flew away.

Well... he had a coffin now it seemed.

----

So far, Tango had avoided looking at the coffin that had been tucked away.

His neighbours had come to visit a couple of days afterwards.

"Hey Tango, what's with the coffin?" Bdubs asked, spotting the coffin that was in the corner, his voice had hints of confusion laced into it.

Keralis chucked, "I'm going to guess they both came along and 'offered' something to you?"

"Yeah," Tango replied. His eyes flickered with surprise.

Bdubs both looked at them with more confusion and a hint of light annoyance at Keralis's anonymity. "Who is 'they'? And what offer? I haven't gotten any offers!"

Tango let out a light laugh, "Scar and Grian!"

"They're selling coffins now. It's inspired by something they did in 3rd Life," Keralis finished.

Bdubs peered at the coffin, "Hmm... it does remind me of the ones they were selling back then. I'm going to guess they've both offered them to you?"

Tango nodded, "Yep!"

"You know it!" Keralis replied. "What do they charge you, by the way, Tango?"

"...15 diamonds," Tango let out a sigh.

"Wow, a bit pricey," Bdubs said.

"Yeah.. but then again, it's them. And after all, it is the Hermitcraft server! ...I also didn't want them coming back."

"Very true," Bdubs agreed.

"When they offered me the coffin, they gave me the same price. I simply just gave them enchanted books, until they were satisfied!" Keralis mentioned.

Tango softly shook his head, and he smiled. "Of course, you did."

After that, they continued chatting about random topics and moved on from the coffin's conversation.

Impulse and Zed had also come to visit him a couple of days later. But by then, Grian's and Scar's offer had already spread around the server, so it was quickly brushed off.

----

After researching quite a bit, Tango decided to experiment with sleeping in the coffin. Most of what he had learned had promised him a better sleep and perhaps the slightest more tolerance for the sun.

Tango was pretty sceptical about the more tolerance of the sun claim but for the better sleep claim? He had more faith in that one since even the old, old books said that.

It was one of those days where the Hermitcraft server was fairly quiet, surprisingly. Most of the Hermits were busy with their projects and the ones that weren't were off helping their fellow Hermits. So all in all, it was fairly quiet... which was perfect for Tango.

Throwing a blanket in the coffin, Tango laid down and made himself comfortable. He was quite tired, so he hoped the claims were true. After some time, he ended up falling into a deep sleep.

Some time later, Tango started stirring in his sleep before his eyes fluttered open. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up. Surprisingly, he hadn't slept that bad!

Getting out of the coffin, Tango made his way to his bathroom and showered. He threw on a new spare change of clothes before heading outside, ready to continue his projects.

He was fairly energetic...so maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

This trend, if you will call it, continued for Tango. If he could, he would sleep there and if he couldn't, well that was completely fine too. He had thought of moving it but decided against it since it seemed to be working out for now.

And for some time, it worked out quite well...

----

Zed was well bored... yep, he was bored. And it wasn't that he didn't have any projects in mind, he did have projects! They just weren't the most interesting for him at the current time.

Zed sighed, he grabbed his communicator and pulled up the online tab. It seems like most of the Hermits were busy, except for a few.

He let out a small hum, as he contemplated on who to visit. Deciding to go visit Tango, Zed got up and started to head towards Tango's base.

However, if Zed had waited a few more minutes, he would have noticed that Tango's online status would've changed from online to offline: sleeping...

The trip to Tango's went well, and with a bounce in his step, Zed walked up to the front door and gently knocked on it.

He waited a couple of minutes but heard no response. Deciding to still check on him (they were used to just walking in, knocking on the door was mostly for practice and politeness by now), Zed quietly opened the door, taking care to not make much noise.

"Tango?" He softly said. He glanced around the room, before freezing. "Ah," Zed felt as if he wasn't supposed to be here.

For in the corner, there was Tango, sleeping peacefully in his coffin. "He looks peaceful," Zed commented in his mind. "Ah well...best to leave him be then."

"I wonder...? Probably not?" Deciding to not question anything (at least for now he wasn't going to), Zed took one last look, making sure that he wasn't dead or anything. He left the room and closed the front door behind him, quietly.

"Next Hermit, I guess!" And like that, Zed started making his way to the next available Hermit he was off to visit.

(And when Tango woke after his sleep, he still hadn't realised that someone else knew about that. And it would stay like that for a little longer. But Zed may or may not have also started paying a hint more attention to Tango after that.)

----

It was a couple of weeks later that someone else found Tango sleeping in a coffin, this time it was Impulse.

See Impulse was just visiting, well more of dropping off some items that he had promised Tango he would deliver quite a while ago... However, he had gotten distracted by a sudden Boatem meeting.

He had sent Tango a quick message after the meeting, saying he would pass by his place soon. However, he hadn't received a reply so Impulse had just assumed that Tango was busy. It didn't occur to him that perhaps he should check the online tab to see if Tango was sleeping or afk. "Surely," Impulse thought, "it wouldn't hurt to just quietly drop them off, would it?"

Similarly to Zed, Impulse travelled to Tango's place and walked up the stairs, except he stopped just outside the front door. He contemplated whether to leave the items in a chest outside or to put them inside. Deciding to put them inside, just to be on the safe side, Impulse gently opened the door and stepped inside.

He placed a chest next to the door and placed the items inside, as well as a sign on top. He glanced around the room distractedly and was about to leave, when his mind stumbled on something that seemed, well, off. He looked around once more, and like Zed, he froze. Because in the corner, completely oblivious to his visitor, was a sleeping Tango.

"Ah... so that's why he didn't reply," Impulse thought to himself. He had a feeling that he was not supposed to know about this. After all, when both Scar and Grian had been selling the coffins, they hadn't expected someone to sleep in it, let alone Tango. "Right, well, I might as well just leave him be."

Making his way outside, Impulse quietly closed the front door. Deciding not to dwell too much on it, Impulse went on his way to continue the rest of the things he had to do. And when Tango woke up later on, he still had no idea that he'd now had two visitors visit him while he'd been sleeping.

----

Luckily for Tango, there were no visitors. A good few days had passed by now.

After spamming some rockets, Impulse soared through the sky heading to some cords that Zed had sent him. He was supposed to be meeting up with both Zed and Tango for a day out together—a picnic! However, Tango had to do some last-minute errands so it seemed like it would be only Zed and Impulse today... well, hopefully, Zed would show up and Impulse wouldn't just have to have a picnic alone.

As he came closer to where the cords had led him, he started heading downwards and managed to land decently.

"Impulse!" Zed waved, spotting him. "You made it!"

Impulse grinned and waved back, "Hello!" He could see that Zed had already started to lay out the picnic. There was a classic chequered red and white blanket on the ground, and some pastries and savoury dishes placed on top. The picnic blanket had been laid under a tree to provide some shelter from the sun.

"Have a seat," Zed offered. Taking a seat, Impulse grabbed a pastry, seeing that Zed had grabbed one himself.

"So," Zed started. "Do you think vampires sleep in coffins?"

Impulse blinked in confusion at the sudden question. "Er, Zed, that's a bit of a random question."

"I know! But it's relevant."

"Uh, I guess they would-?"

Zed nodded. "That's what I thought too!"

"Tell me though, how is this relevant?"

"Visited Tango lately?" Zed asked, randomly once again (at least for Impulse it was).

"Hm-? Yes?"

"Noticed anything that seemed, well, different?"

"Not that I can think of?" Zed's shoulder dropped a little upon hearing that and he looked a bit crestfallen. "OH! Wait a second," Impulse straightened up, as he remembered. "I did!"

"And did it happen to involve a sleeping Tango?"

"Yeah. Wait, wait, you're telling me that Tango might be..."

"A vampire!" Zed finished. "That's my hypothesis. And it makes a bit of sense if you think about it." Impulse listened intently as he listened to Zed listing off all the points on why Tango might be a vampire.

"And that reminds me, we need to go shopping!" Zed abruptly exclaimed once he had finished.

"Shopping-" Impulse repeated. "Why shopping?" But the question fell on distracted ears, as Zed had already got up and was hurriedly packing the picnic away. Impulse grabbed Zed's arm to catch his attention, "Why do we need to go shopping?"

"To buy some blankets of course! Or at least one blanket. Impulse, what type of people are we if we let him sleep with that old, worn-out blanket!? Have you seen the state of the blanket he sleeps in..."

"... I don't think a vampire, let alone Tango, minds much."

"But I do," Zed insisted. "Besides, right now is the perfect opportunity! I've been meaning to do it, and now we're both on the right page."

Impulse's eyes flickered with mirth and he let out a soft sigh, "Alright, let's go." Of course, Zed would be more concerned with the state of the blanket, than the fact that Tango could be a vampire. Though, thinking about it, Impulse found that he didn't find any difference in his opinion if Tango was a vampire—after all, he was still Tango!

----

The shopping went successfully enough.

A few choices had to be declined since Zed would've gone and bought the entire store if he had to, but all in all, they came back with a few pieces of bedding. Zed had even gone the extra mile to have them both washed and dried.

They were idly walking back now, the shopping split between the two - they were not really in a rush to head to any specific location.

"Do you think Tango's still busy?" Zed asked after a while, breaking the silence.

"Uh, I could ask," Impulse offered.

"Mm, do that then."

Grabbing his communicator, Impulse typed in a quick message and sent it. The reply was almost instant: 'Yep! I just finished now, you can visit :)'

"He's free now," Impulse confirmed.

"Great! Come on!" Zed exclaimed.

"And the shopping?"

Zed shrugged, "Well it is for him." And just like that, Zed had already spammed a few rockets and had taken to the skies. Up, up and away! Impulse followed behind him.

----

Tango had just come back when he received the message from Impulse. After sending a reply, Tango decided to tidy up his base a bit while he waited.

While tidying, he felt himself feeling, well, strange. And it only slowly intensified. Tango frowned in confusion, he hadn't felt this way since... ah. He'd been out in the sun for too long and was now paying the price for it.

At that moment Tango decided he should probably lie down and wait for it to calm down. He just wanted the feeling to go away—no one was lying when they said it was agony, because it was.

Having accustomed himself to sleeping in the coffin, Tango automatically made his way towards it. In his clouded mind, he completely forgot that he was supposed to receive two guests. He was far more focused on trying to make the feelings go away. Lying down in the coffin, he pulled the blanket over him, leaving just a slight gap. And before he knew it, he dozed off to sleep.

----

Both Impulse and Zed ended up racing each other to see who would land first, with Zed winning of course (after all, he had taken off first).

"Well, that was fun!" Zed commented.

"Mmm, it was still a foul win."

Zed giggled, "Sure. I still won though."

Impulse let out a soft sigh. A smile, however, was on his face.

They were standing outside Tango's base. Making their way to the front door, Zed knocked and waited a few seconds, before grabbing the handle and opening it. "Tango?" He softly asked. Something seemed off: there were things scattered around like Tango had been tidying up before dropping the task for some unseen reason.

A rustle caught their attention, and both their eyes wandered to the corner where the coffin was. They both stood still, realising that Tango was asleep.

Tango suddenly jolted and made the notion to get up but halfway through laid back down, mumbling rather sadly "It hasn't gone away yet." He fell asleep once again.

Impulse frowned, while Zed's face turned to confusion. Walking closer, Impulse laid a hand on his forehead. "How does he feel?" Zed quietly asked.

"Burning, yet freezing," Impulse replied. "It's like a mixture of the two."

"Huh," Zed murmured. "I doubt it's a fever?" He paused for a brief minute. "I wonder..."

"Hm?"

"He could've stayed out in the sun for too long... if my theory is right."

"Wouldn't he just be burning?"

"Not exactly. From what I've read, it depends on the species. There are numerous variations."

"It's possible then," Impulse gave a small hum. "I guess we let him sleep."

"... I'm not leaving him alone though, but yes."

Impulse's eyes flickered with mirth, "I didn't say you had to. After all, someone needs to finish tidying up."

After quietly tidying up the area and neatly arranging the shopping near the front door, Impulse managed to convince Zed to wait outside. They were sitting outside watching the sky. Sunset was approaching now and soon night would be rapidly showing.

They watched the sky glamour in its usual, but gorgeous, colours that stretched across the whole sky. And the sun (which had dutifully shined all day), slowly lowered down and gave its final glow for the day, for it was now time for it to rest while another (the moon) took over.

Before long, the first stars had appeared. They were dim at first, but as the moments passed, some of them would soon illuminate brighter while others would remain the same - each of them bringing their hope, regardless of their size or how brightly they shined.

It was around this time that Tango woke up. He felt... a bit better actually, the sleep had done some effect thankfully. He looked around puzzled, noticing the tidied room. Suddenly, his eyes flickered in realisation at hearing two familiar voices outside. Zed and Impulse.

Tango swallowed, dread forming in the pit of his stomach. He contemplated just going back to sleep, but he figured that he had to face them eventually. Getting up, he made his way to the door and peeked out. It appeared that they were sitting on the ground watching the stars.

While he was wondering how to approach them, Zed looked behind him and caught sight of Tango. "Tango!" He chirped, immediately getting up and making his way to him, bringing Tango into a sort of tight hu. He gave him a kiss (Zed felt so happy to see him).

Impulse chuckled, "Please don't suffocate him." He hugged Tango as well, but with less tightness as Zed was already doing that for him.

"Don't be silly! Of course, I won't," Zed declared.

"You haven't been waiting long, have you?" Tango questioned.

Both Impulse and Zed shook their heads. "Nope!" Impulse replied.

Somehow Tango felt some relief at hearing that.

"Do you feel any better?" Zed asked.

"A bit, yeah."

"I'm glad."

"So uh, suppose I have some explaining to do-?" Tango began hesitantly.

"There's no pressure, it's only if you want to," Impulse reassured. "We just want to make sure you're okay."

"Oh! By the way, thanks for helping me finish tidying up," Tango softly smiled. "So...to get to the point," He paused before quickly mumbling. "I'm what you call a vampire-"

He braced himself for their response, but out of all the things, he did not expect Zed's excited response. "I knew it!" Zed examined, clapping his hands.

"I- huh, you did?!"

A sheepish look came on Zed's face, "I mean it was more a theory."

Tango laughed, and here he was worrying for no reason - in fact, he almost felt a bit silly. "Well, I'm glad you're not, I don't know, something negative."

"Nonsense, you're still Tango," Impulse said, placing a kiss on his hand and gently squeezing it comfortingly. 

"So do tell me, what's with the bags?" Tango felt lighter now that he witnessed their reaction. You could say he felt some relief.

"Oh! Wait, I almost forgot! It's all yours," Zed beamed.

"That can't be all mine!?"

Impulse chuckled, "It is!"

"Why-"

"Tango have you ever seen the state of that bedding of yours? It's terrible."

"It's not that bad," Tango protested. He had a feeling he was not going to win this battle.

"Yes, it is," Zed insisted. "Come on!" He grabbed both Tango and Impulse and gently pulled them inside by the arm. After exploring and replacing the bedding, both Impulse and Zed stayed over for the rest of the night and perhaps the next few days as well, but that's just a detail. And just like that, after far too much thought, Tango told two people a little detail about him while also managing to get himself some new bedding.

The next day, early in the morning, a thought came to Zed: "I guess Vampires do sleep in coffins." Both Impulse and Zed reassured Tango that they would keep this detail to themselves until, if he wanted of course, he was ready to tell someone else - for both of them were fully prepared to keep it to themselves to the end of time.

They only asked for Tango to be more careful and take care of himself a little better, so he wouldn't suffer as much. Tango giggled at that and said teasingly, "Well, you'll just have to keep an eye on me then!" Somehow, that immediately resulted in a game of playful tag.

After some time had passed, with the help of both Impulse and Zed, Tango also managed to muster up enough courage to tell the rest of the server as well. Each of them was incredibly kind about it—he'd been so worried about keeping it to himself that he'd underestimated how kind and supportive the server could be. He felt lucky, he truly did.

-♡