Leftover Pieces: An Anthology

Costumes and Dancing (Two Beasts)

 Mikael hadn't thought to observe the fact that it was Halloween, something that astonished Radu. How could one simply not acknowledge the fact that it was All Hallows' Eve? And yet Mikael didn't seem to care in the least. Radu waited the entire day to see if Mikael would say something about it, but he didn't.

 When night fell, Mikael sat alone in the library, reading in front of a lit candle (Radu hadn't quite managed to put electricity in the castle, magical as he was). Radu had disappeared to some other part of the castle a little while earlier; he had seemed a bit strange all day, but Mikael had shrugged it off, given that Radu himself was a bit strange.

 When he heard the library door open, he asked without looking up, "Are you all right? You've been acting a little off today, as if you're waiting for something. It's not some sort of special witches' night, is it?"

 He felt Radu's hands on his shoulders, and looked up. He had changed into what looked like a more formal suit, like something a man would have worn to a ball in the nineteenth century. A long black cape was slung around his shoulders.

 "Good evening, my dear," he said with a smile, his accent sounding heavier than it usually was when he spoke in English. "I have been waiting for you to acknowledge what tonight is."

 Mikael simply stared at him for a few seconds. Then he asked, "Have you been feeding off drug addicts?"

 Radu blinked. "What?"

 "Well, what is this? Oh, it is some witches' night, isn't it? Or it's a full moon."

 "No, no, I don't think you understand," Radu said quickly. "It's October 31st. It's Halloween."

 "Oh. Is that all? But what are you doing?"

 Now it was Radu's turn to stare. "Do you mean you haven't grasped the Halloween of this century? People dress up in costumes and go to parties, and parents let their children go around begging people for candy. How did you not realize it?"

 "Well, I wasn't exactly paying attention to modern culture, was I? What are you supposed to be, anyway?"

 "I'm Count Dracula. Now, come on, you must know who Dracula is. I've found the book out of its place before, so I know you've read it."

 "Yes, I have read it," Mikael answered. "I didn't like it, but I suppose it isn't Bram Stoker's fault that someone gave him the wrong information about vampires. But why are you dressing up for Halloween?"

 "Because it's time we did something fun. It's time you got to do something fun, Mikael. Since you've been back, you've spent too much time sitting around brooding."

 "I don't spend my time sitting around brooding!"

 "Well, you have sometimes. Besides, I already found a costume for you. I thought, since I'm Count Dracula, why don't you be Abraham van Helsing? Now, I imagine the Dr. van Helsing in the novel would have worn ordinary clothes for a Western European man of the late nineteenth century. But not very many years ago, I saw a film called Van Helsing. The good doctor and Dracula were both in it, but it had nothing to do with Stoker's novel, but I tried to use some things I had lying around to recreate Van Helsing's look in the movie." Radu clapped his hands together. "What do you think?"

 Mikael absolutely did not want to dress up in some stupid costume for Halloween, but he wasn't going to say no Radu right away, given the man's excitement over it.

 "But why?" he asked. "Why dress up for Halloween? It's not we're going to any parties."

 "The point was to have one right here, the two of us. We've never celebrated any holidays as a couple, and I think it's time we tried it. I laid the costume out on the bed in your old room if you want it."

 Despite the fact that Mikael was showing no interest in the idea, Radu still seemed to think he might decide he wanted to put on the costume and agree to a party. And it was true that they had never really celebrated anything together; they hadn't even told each other when their birthdays were. 

 "Oh, I'll go get it," Mikael said with a sigh, stalking out of the library.

 He went to the bedroom and pulled off his own clothes, and then pulled the clothes Radu had left laying out for him. It fit him, at least, he thought as he looked at himself in the mirror. It was ironic that Radu would have the idea of him dressing up as a famous vampire hunter when he had basically quit hunting months ago (where Klaus Mikaelson was concerned, at least; if any other vampires came into Radu's territory, that was a different story).

 When he went back to the library, Radu was through the discs for the old gramophone which sat in a corner.

 "You must be able to dance something, yes?" Radu asked. "The waltz, the foxtrot, the tango?"

 "Well, dancing isn't something I've ever put much effort into," Mikael answered. "I doubt I'm a good dancer."

 Radu looked up at him, and smiled. "It suits you somehow. The costume. Well," he placed one of the discs on the gramophone, "A simple waltz, then, to get started."

 He took Mikael's hands and pulled him to the middle of the library floor, where he started up the dance.

 "I know now why you're doing this," Mikael said. "It's not just because you want to celebrate Halloween. I know that...having me around can't be too easy, and I know I must seem distant a lot of the time, but it hasn't been all that easy for me to adjust to something more normal. It feels like a strange dream sometimes."

 "A strange dream?" Radu repeated. "Tell me how."

 "Do I even have to explain? I live in a castle, and I have such an attentive lover who just wants to celebrate and dance with me. It sounds like something out of a fairytale."

 Radu shook his head. "I'm not a fairytale. You know I've had my own problems in the past. But I have you now, and...I think I'm just eager to be around you, eager to do things with you. You were the first person I really tried to have a connection with in a long time. You're not bad at the waltz, by the way."

 "And you excel at it," said Mikael. "Now, somehow I just know you're dying to teach me the tango, so since we've established I can do a simple waltz, I may as well try something harder."

 Radu smiled, and, grabbing him by the waist, kissed him hard and whispered, "God, I love you." He then hurried to change the disc on the gramophone.