Hidden In Plain Sight (MxM)✔

Chapter 3 - Getting Close

Over the next month, Luke felt like his life was becoming more interesting.

    He continued to receive invitations via the servants that Nicholas sent to his neighborhood, and each time the human had to find a way to meet them without rousing his Master's suspicion. Quite frankly, he felt like he had become an expert in shimmying down the side of their two story suburban home and ducking behind the neighbor's bushes.

    Once or twice he noticed the neighbors giving him strange looks from their windows, and every time he prayed that they never ratted him out to his Master.

    Luke couldn't deny that he wanted to impress his new friend. Despite smelling like hardcore peppermint and dressing like your friendly neighborhood bum, the Archduke didn't seem to mind and was always so generous towards the human. So, after the second visit, Luke started trying to dress up a bit more.

    First he insisted on getting a better haircut, and opted for an undercut that looked more stylish. After doing his own hair, it took a good couple of days to convince his Master not to shave his head. He did receive a slap for making himself look more decent. Frederick's logic was that if he looked nice, then more people would notice him. Luke found that logic ridiculous though since he wasn't even allowed outside, making it a moot point.

    The next thing he did was sneak out and make a run to the dumpsters behind one of the local clothing stores. He'd then hide his new clothes under his mattress so his Master wouldn't find them. He only had about two nice sets now, but it was more than he had before. One set had a red satin vest, similar to the kind that Nicholas wore, only with a few moth holes. He also got some new, less worn out trousers and a silk shirt. 

    "What kind of books do you like?" Nicholas asked one day as they wandered his gardens under the overcast sky.

    This was Luke's sixth visit, and the Archduke had started requesting that he stay later each day. It wasn't until today that Luke gave in and agreed to an outdoor stroll.

    The mansion was enormous to say the least. The various balconies, pillars and hallways made the entire thing feel like some sort of indoor village all on it's own. As for the gardens, they expanded for acres behind the mansion. There was a manmade pond large enough to take a small boat on, with carefully grown lilies decorating the surface. There were also shrubs cut into the shapes of various animals, most of which were horses, and then there were angel statues along every pathway.

    "Whatever I can get my hands on." Luke replied distractedly as he examined one particular cherub with crystal wings.

    "So you don't have a preference?" The Vampire pushed. "I know you said your Master was rather strict. Does he not allow you to read certain things?"

In one of his previous visits, Luke had gotten comfortable enough to bring up his Master and even went so far as to complain about how overprotective the man was.

    "No he-" Luke paused, wondering how he was going to explain that he wasn't usually allowed to read anything.

    He recalled finding an old children's book during one of their relocations. Luke wanted to keep it so badly because it featured humans as some sort of fantastical creature, but Frederick immediately threw it out, insisting that he would not like the way humans were portrayed.

    This had only served to make Luke even more curious, and thus he secretly began visiting libraries and book stores to see if he could find out more. As it turns out, he really didn't like how society viewed his kind. Most of the stories made humans out to be no better than cattle, and he ultimately agreed with his Master.