-Crow's POV-

It had been around a month since the whole ordeal in the hospital, with the superhumans, and my transformation into one of the most emotional teenagers ever to exist. I honestly think I cried at least six times a day, I felt like I had lost all the emotional stability I had before being injected with that mixture. We still hadn't come up with a name for it, which makes sense, considering all the evidence had been destroyed. We had been correct to assume that Scott would bulldoze the old hospital, but he had waited for everyone to get out of there first.

"Maybe we could build a massive cabin there?" Noah suggested as we sat in the coffee shop where he used to work. It was surprisingly still running, after both of its employees had suspiciously gone missing. Sadie had returned to work, but she hadn't a clue who Noah was. It caused some tension between her and her boss, at least from what I heard when I was eavesdropping on them in the staffroom.

"That will cost thousands," I informed. "We should do it and tell my parents it's a business venture." I took a sip of my tea and bit into my scone, a very British afternoon tea tradition which I liked to partake in.

"We should, and then not rent it out." Noah chuckled as he leaned back in his seat and sipped at his coffee. "Did you get Geppetto's email? I really should've asked earlier, but I was distracted."

I snorted. Noah had been able to go back home after a few days of surveillance telling us that there was no other vampire in the city who was after our heads, or our blood. "I did, it was hilarious." I got out my phone and showed him the screenshot I had made of the email we were sent, because I'd be using it as blackmail in the future.

"To: Boys

The woman has been delta with accordingly.

She doesn't remember any thing about what happened in hospital. You are safe

Caio would like to send his swear words to you. I look forward to having Sawyer as a future adopted son in law.

Hope to never see you again. You were brave, I give you that. I'm going to be spending the next two years re-buidling my castle.

Love, Geppetto"

"I don't know what's worse, his emailing etiquette, or his saltiness for us destroying the castle that they, and we, were trapped in." I couldn't help but laugh at the email. I didn't feel at all bad that he needed to rebuild, he shouldn't' have made a castle like that in the first place.

"I think he's a changed man." Noah commented, but then he looked at something behind me. "Haven's here, who's that?" He leaned forward across the table.

I turned my head to see Haven approaching the cafe with someone else. The person was about half a foot taller than her, with long-ish ginger hair and pale skin. I didn't recognise them at all.

"Must be from her university class?" I asked unsurely. "Hope I'm not being replaced already." I didn't even know if I was joking about that or not. Haven and I's relationship had still been as strong as ever after she found out about vampires. We spent at least a week trying to help her come to terms with her new strength. From what I had seen, she absolutely adored being able to carry twelve hardback books without any issue.

The two of them walked through the doors, Haven giving us a quick wave as the two of them went to the counter. The stranger got some kind of Frappuccino, whilst Haven did the sensible thing and got tea, which I'm totally not biassed about.

"Hey guys," Haven greeted as the two of them sat down. "Noah, Crow, this is Maple." She gestured to her new friend. "They're from the University group chat I'm in." Her eyes sparkled as she spoke. "Maple, these are my friends Crow and Noah." She gestured to us, and then put her hands in her lap.

"Nice to meet you," I said with a nod towards them. "Guess you fell for her tricks too." I smirked slightly as Haven nudged me.

"Yeah, good to meet you." Noah waved in Maple's direction.

Maple hadn't quite managed to stay still the entire time, but they had a grin on their face as they waved excitedly. "Hi, yes, hello. I've heard a lot about you guys." I noticed that their voice was quite feminine, and they talked a lot with their hands. "You're the two gay artists who are basically opposites, and found a mutual connection through art."

I glanced at Noah and snorted. "I can see that," I admitted, taking a sip of my tea. "I'm not sure how opposite we are, but very queer, very arty, very much boyfriends." I nudged Noah with my shoulder, leaning into him.

"Best not think about that before I start referencing Taylor Swift," Noah joked, reaching up and ruffling my hair. "But yeah, I don't think I mind being described as any of that. So, what are you guys up to?"

Haven huffed and glanced at me. "You didn't tell him?" She tilted her head to the side playfully. "Crow, that's rude."

Noah glanced over at me with a curious glint in his eye, but also a slight good-natured fear. "Yes, Crow, you didn't tell me?" It wouldn't be the first time I had done something like this. The moment he was able to go back to his own house, he commented on how he wouldn't know my secrets anymore, so I took that as a challenge to have more secrets.

"No, I didn't." I shrugged. "I know, how terrible of me." I shifted in my seat to add to the mischievous act I was trying to put on. "You're just going to have to wait and see."

Maple and Haven had a little silent conversation, which was very amusing to watch, as it seemed that Maple now understood what was happening.

"I hate you all." Noah raised his hands and leaned back in his seat. "Not you. Maple. I don't blame you yet." He flashed a small smile in maple's direction, but the addition of the word 'yet', didn't seem to fill the person with confidence.

"Yeah, I'm just here as the muscle." Maple began to flex muscles which were almost non-existent, they weren't exactly a bodybuilder, but I could safely assume that they were the weakest person at the table.

"So, what is this plan?" Noah looked around the table as he asked, trying to catch any kind of hint from our facial expressions, and making an extremely good show of it. It was like I was watching someone in a television show.

"You'll find out in about two hours," I told him, a sly smirk on my face. "We're going to the beach first."

Noah and Haven groaned. I had been slightly obsessed with the beach as of late. I liked searching for glass for my latest art project, and I generally enjoyed taking photos of the landscape.

"I love the beach," Maple said excitedly, tipping their head back a little. "I like searching for little seashells for my jar." They seemed to struggle keeping still, rocking back and forth on the seat ever-so slightly.

I gestured towards them. "Haven, you might need to be careful, I'm going to steal them from you." I told her playfully, but I kept my facial expression and tone as neutral as I could.

"Or they both need to be careful, or I'll steal you from them," Maple added, causing us all to laugh. "But really, I do like the beach. But is it a good idea to go there before our plan?" They had a smirk on their face as they glanced towards Noah.

"I see how it is," Noah said with an exasperated sigh. "You're all against me. It's adorable to see honestly, but I'm a little insulted." He slumped back in his seat and made an exaggerated gesture of finishing his coffee with another sigh.

"Awe, we're adorable," Maple commented and moved their hands to frame their face. "Are we ready for the beach?"

The beach was a pretty successful trip, I had a small pouch full of sea glass and Maple had a small pouch full of seashells. I understood now why Maple and Haven were such good friends, even though I was also sure that they would be more than friends in the future. I didn't mention anything to Haven or Maple, but Noah and I shared sneaky glances to each other every now and again, it was like Sawyer and Caio all over again, but this relationship was far more wholesome.

The four of us walked down the street, Haven and Maple skipping ahead of Noah and I as we neared our destination. "The gallery?" Noah asked with a raised eyebrow. "What are we doing here?" He glanced at me suspiciously.

I grinned at him and put my hands on his shoulders. "Well, we are going inside." That's all I told him before turning to Haven and whistling.

Haven reached into her bag and pulled out a thin piece of purple cloth. "I seriously question our sanity." She handed me the cloth and then backed away into the gallery, Maple following close behind.

"We've been setting this up for weeks," I informed Noah as I held up the piece of cloth. "Close your eyes." I didn't mean to sound as stern as I did, but I was excited. I was eagerly anticipating Noah's reaction to our surprise.

Noah looked at me with even more suspicion and caution. "You want to blindfold me?" He asked. "You really want to blindfold me? In the middle of the street?"

"I'm holding a cloth up to cover your eyes and we're in a street, yes." I nodded my head. "Now, are you going to let me blindfold you? Or do I need to use my hands to cover your eyes? The second one will be more hazardous for the both of us."

Noah sighed and gestured for me to continue. He stayed very still as I wrapped the cloth around his eyes. "I don't like this idea, and I hope you don't have it very often." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"You haven't seen the entire idea," I pointed out. "You're going to love it." I hoped so at least. I began leading him through the gallery, getting many strange looks as we passed through the entrance and hallway. I just sent the onlookers a glare, warning them not to make any kind of complaint as we moved to a door.

"Are you ready?" I asked him, I couldn't help but grin. I could see everyone through the window of the door, and they were all moving around like headless chickens trying to get everything ready for the grand reveal. "I know you must really be hating me right now."

"Yes, you're the worst boyfriend ever," Noah replied with a laugh. "I don't think I trust you and Haven enough for this." He put a light smirk on his face.

"So, if I tell you that Aldrich and Sawyer were also involved, you would trust me even more?" I questioned, a smirk on my own lips. "Because they helped a lot, along with my parents."

"As long as Caio wasn't involved in it." He snorted. After everything which had happened, the two of them seemed to be pretty good friends, or about as close as two people could get in their situation. It had surprised me to see the two of them, along with Sawyer, laughing away one day in the past month, they were almost in tears. Which meant that Caio had a smile on his lips whilst Noah and Sawyer laughed their heads off.

"He didn't have that much involvement." I shrugged. It was true, Caio had been very busy over the past few days, he had been trying to figure out where he would be staying. He would follow Geppetto anywhere, but he didn't really want to leave Sawyer, which I thought was adorable.

He took a deep breath and nodded, gesturing for me to go ahead and do what I liked. I moved and opened the door; hearing people hush others as the final touches were being put in place. I moved back around Noah and pushed him into the room.

We were all silent for a moment, until everyone began to clap. The sound was irritatingly loud for my sensitive ears, but it was worth seeing Noah's shocked expression as he removed the blindfold and looked around at all the art the two of us had made. "What did you do?" Noah asked, mouth agape with shock.

I chuckled. "It wasn't too hard to rent out the room for our exhibition." I explained, but I was then immediately pulled into a deep kiss, which took all my breath away. "I take it that I did well?" I asked with a slightly dazed smile, I hadn't been expecting such an action in front of this many people.

"Yeah, you did well." Noah nodded. "I admit that the kiss shocked even myself, but I was surprised, okay?" He addressed the crowd. He had a warm expression, cheeks flushed a dark red. "I have no understanding of the social protocol here."

I rolled my eyes. "Noah Trison everyone!" I spoke loudly and began clapping. "Welcome to the exhibition of Trison's artwork, along with a few key masterpieces of my own." I bowed a little. "Because I couldn't steal any more of Noah's paintings and I needed to fill up space. So, I invite you all to enjoy, mingle, and gawk at the art which you wish you could create." I gave a wink to show that I was joking. Most of the people here were either used to my antics or came with someone who is used to my antics.

"Why did you invite so many people?" Noah whispered to me as soon as the guests started to disperse, even though my parents were on their way over here with open arms. "That was the most humiliating thing I've ever had to endure."

"Oh, get used to it," mother replied, brushing it off. "You're going to have to, having Crow as a boyfriend is the start of many surprises." She wrapped her arms around Noah in a very brief but loving hug.

"We raised him right," my mam added, pulling Noah into the biggest hug imaginable. It was one of those moments where I realised just how different my two parents are, in personality, style, and appearance. And yet, they are both the most loving people I had ever had the honour to be around. I had to admit that I had a lump in my throat at that moment.

"Yeah, you did," Noah agreed as my parents began to walk away. Noah took my hand, and we began walking around.

The event lasted a few hours, and we talked to far too many people for my comfort. Unfortunately for me, I didn't hire a cleaner, because I could do it myself, and I didn't really trust anyone with the artworks. Noah sat in a lone chair in the middle of the room and watched me with a smirk on his face.

"You could help, you know?" I joked lightly as I took another painting down and put it in a small case with the rest of them. "I'm pretty sure two vampires would get this done quicker than one would."

"I think you're doing very well," Noah commented with a shrug as he stood. "Why'd you do this?" he whispered quietly, walking over to me and standing just behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Because I wanted people to appreciate your art." I smiled up at him, even though being trapped meant I couldn't clean. "You've been to hell and back, you deserve to be recognised for your talent."

"So have you." Noah turned me around in his arms so that we were facing each other. "You deserve this just as much as I do, but I don't think that my bank account would agree."

I laughed and shook my head. "What's mine is yours." I knew that might've been something stupid for someone in my position to say, but we had been in too many life-threatening situations for me to doubt either of our feelings.

"Only after marriage," Noah retorted with a laugh and a shake of his head. "Until then, what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours."

"Would you marry me?" I raised an eyebrow at him. The atmosphere of the room became still and serious, but the flicker of love was still bright between us.

"Is that a proposal?" Noah whispered, lips twitching upwards even more.

"Oh gosh no." I laughed. "You, my friend., would know when I propose to you."

Noah's eyebrows shot up and his smile turned teasing. "So, you're going to be the one to propose? What if I want to propose?" He had a challenging twinkle in his eye as he pulled me against him by my waist.

"I suppose it's going to be a constant competition then, isn't it?" I replied, hand moving to his chin to bring him closer to me. "But you never answered my question." I grinned.

"Of course." Noah ducked his head and kissed me passionately. His grip on my waist was tight and we were pressed against each other in an empty gallery room. It was very late at night, but who cared? We didn't need to sleep, we were creatures of the night, and we could stay in that position forever.

The End