A witchcraft loather's unexpected friendship [Belos x M! Vampire! Reader]

4. Holding Hands

CW: 1152

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[Name] and Philip walked through the forest path in the area where Evelyn and Caleb had wandered, hand in hand.

"How come you can walk in the sun if you're a vampire?" Philip asks.

"There's a lot of shade from the trees here, so I'm fine... It takes a bit of time for the sun to affect me. Especially in the forest here." He explains.

"Oh... How long would it take in an unshaded area? Like in the town?"

"Well... It depends on the sun as well, I think. Sometimes it takes only a few minutes and sometimes it could even take 20 minutes!" [Name] exclaims.

"That's... A lot shorter than I expected." Philip wonders. "I thought it would take at least an hour."

"I said a bit of time. Not a lot of time."

"Right, right. Still, do you ever go into town?"

"During night, sometimes."

"What if you need to buy groceries?" Philip asks, looking up to the sky with a finger on his chin.

"I don't need groceries! I'm a vampire. I can just buy blood off the night market if it's an emergency."

"Really? You don't need anything else other than blood?"

"Nope."

"Does any blood do? Do you only drink human blood?"

"I've never had human blood! And, I'm pretty sure any type of blood is fine, at least for me... Vampires are an endangered species, or that's what I heard from mom and dad, so sometimes kind witches donate blood to us too. Witch blood is my favorite!"

Philip listens to each word and processes everything. He was interested- very interested in [Name] and his species.

"Endangered? How many of you are there?" He asks.

"Hmmm... I don't know. I've never met any other vampires apart from my parents. But I do know there are other family lines than mine. Not sure how many." [Name] shrugs. "Oh! But I have heard of..."

He rambles on and Philip listens, purely curious about [Name]. He asks more questions and the world around them seems to blur and the only thing Philip could focus on was [Name] and his voice.

It felt like he could finally let his guard down with [Name]. He didn't want to, nor did he feel comfortable with that idea. It's like he kept forgetting about [Name]'s origin!

"Philip? Are you listening?"

"Huh? Sorry, I was... Lost in thought. What did you say? Something about rats?"

"No, that was ages ago! But look." He points to the overgrown path that Philip remembers leading to [Name]'s house. "Someone passed through here recently!"

"How can you be so sure?" Philip looks at [Name].

"You can see from the bushes. You have to move them in order to get through, especially if you're a grown-up." [Name] pulls Philip along and goes on the path.

"You think they went to your house?"

"They couldn't have gotten there. There's a loop mechanism here, so they're just going this path in circles."

"I didn't get stuck in a loop when I walked through... This is the way to your house right?"

"Because you're so tiny! It doesn't work on witchlings... Or humanlings! That's how benevolent my parents are."

"I am not tiny!"

"Suree~" [Name] ruffles Philip's hair with his free hand.

"Stop that."

After a bit of walking, they hear distressed conversing between Caleb and Evelyn. The boys share a look and run forward, determined to save the two adults.

"Caleb!" Philip lets go of [Name]'s hand and hugs his older brother tightly.

"Hey! You broke the promise!" [Name] complains.

"Did you two get stuck here too?" Evelyn sighs, meanwhile Caleb happily squishes Philip's face, glad that he's safe and sound.

"Nope! We came to save you." [Name] answers, placing his hands on his hips heroically. "This is the way to my house. You got caught in the fly trap system."

"Oh! I didn't know you lived so near, [Name]." Evelyn smiles. "I'll make sure to come over sometime! If you teach me how to avoid this... Flytrap. System."

"Sure! But let's go back to your home for now. I'm gonna get sunburnt soon, I fear..."

[Name] leads everyone safely out of the path (after a bit of fighting to hold Philip's hand again) and leads them back to Evelyn's residence.

"Mission success." Caleb smiles. "And you two are friends again, I suppose?" He mentions hand-holding.

Philip wanted to scream 'no!' and that it was just a dumb promise [Name] forced him to make, but he didn't feel like angering anyone today. He's had enough of running around alone for at least the rest of the week.

"I think so..." [Name] says after not getting a response from Philip, who nods slightly in return and pulls his hand away.

It was already midday by the time they had all settled down at Evelyn's house once again. Philip was sitting on the floor, watching a picture book, while [Name] was sneaking around the house, scaring the residents.

"Whatcha doing?" He jumps off the table behind Philip and sits down beside him, peering over his shoulder.

"When are you going home?" He looks at [Name].

"You always dodge my questions!" [Name] pouts. "But, uhm... I haven't thought about it. I kind of forgot... My parents aren't coming back home for a while, so..."

"Where are your parents?" Philip asks.

"I'm not sure." He shrugs. "They're just gone sometimes. Usually they take at least a week to come back."

"Oh... You're all alone then?"

"Mhm! I'm so glad we're friends, Philip." [Name] hugs Philip tightly.

Philip timidly wraps his arms around [Name] as well. "I guess... You could stay for a bit more. As long as Caleb doesn't mind... Or Evelyn."

"Hooray! Thank you, thank you!" He squeezes Philip for a few seconds before letting go. "We're gonna have so much fun."

"I hope so." Philip goes back to his book.

[Name] continues peering over his shoulder. "Isn't that a bit boring?" He asks.

"What?" He looks over, confused. "... Reading?"

"But you aren't reading. You're just looking at pictures. That leaves a bit too much up to the imagination, in my opinion... Wouldn't you much rather at least have a few lines of text?"

"I can't read. I told you before." He glares.

"How about I teach you how to read?" [Name] smiles.

Philip was a bit skeptical, but after a bit of persuasion, he agreed. The two started with a blank piece of paper on which [Name] wrote the alphabet, making the sound for every letter with Philip imitating it.

A bit later, Caleb walks into the living room to announce that it's time to come eat lunch, however he stops in place and smiles at the sight. Philip was slowly pronouncing different words, with a bit of help from [Name].

He leans against the door frame and watches for a few more seconds before calling the two for lunch.