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𝐂 𝐇 𝐈 𝐋 𝐃 𝐇 𝐎 𝐎 𝐃
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Freya invited Brett in. The two boys walked inside. Freya hugged Dax tightly, and Brett made sure to keep his distance. Dax returned to Brett's side once they let go of one another.
"Your mother and Ray are on their way. They were out of town when we got your message," Freya said, "Everyone else is asleep."
"I'm going to take him upstairs to get him settled in," Dax smiled a bit, "It's good to see you, Aunt Freya."
Freya smiled and nodded at him, "I will be getting to know you later, Brett."
Dax took Brett's hand and lead him upstairs while Brett looked around at the house in awe of how large it was. Dax chuckled a bit as he looked back at his adorable boyfriend. Dax pulled Brett into his room. He took a deep breath as he looked around. He hadn't been in there since the night he turned.
A wave of nostalgia hit him that he hadn't been expecting. A small smile formed on his face as he picked up an old picture of him, his mom, and his dad. He looked over to Brett who was exploring the small room. Brett walked to the desk that was on the opposite wall from his bed. He looked at the desk before his eyes made their way to the bulletin board filled with pictures. Brett pulled a picture off of it.
"We used to be the nice popular people. Calliope, Jack, Alex, and me," Dax said softly as he placed his hand on the small of Brett's back. He looked at the picture. A small smile formed as Dax thought about the picture, "That picture was taken while we were celebrating almost beating Riverfield. We were winning at halftime, and that was one of the best feelings in the world. They, uh, they ended up coming back and beating us by a few points, but that didn't matter. We were the underdogs back then, and Riverfield was number three in the state," Dax frowned a bit.
Brett put the picture back. He circled to the other side of the room. He looked through the balcony door into the streets below, "I knew you guys had money, but this place is huge," Brett sighed as he fell back onto Dax's bed.
"You've been here before," Dax chuckled a little as he laid down next to Brett.
"We stayed out there in your fancy rich person courtyard," Brett reminded him before beginning to laugh, "I think I get lost in your childhood home."
"I guess it is pretty big."
"You guess?"
"Fine. You win. It's huge," Dax rolled his eyes. Silence coated the room. Dax interlocked his fingers with Brett's and took a deep breath, "Are you alright?"
"No," Brett answered honestly, "I'm terrified of hurting someone again... I hate that I don't care as I should. I should be absolutely torn up about that woman, but it feels like that is a distant memory now, and it doesn't matter."
"That's vampirism for you," Dax sighed as he rubbed Brett's knuckles, "You feel things more intensely, but a death of a person you didn't know just means... less."
"I don't like it," Brett muttered. Dax scooted closer to Brett and put his head on the boy's chest, "I haven't talked to Lori or Satomi."
"I know. Lori called me."
"What?" Brett sat up a bit as he locked eyes with Dax, "What did she say?"
"She told me she misses you and they're trying to figure out a way for you to stay in the pack, but some of the betas aren't happy about it," Dax said knowing good and damn well that if he were Satomi he would have settled it already.
"I'm going to be packless," Brett muttered as he ran a hand down his face. Dax sat up and took Brett's hands in his own.
"You may not have a place with Satomi, but you will always have a place with me," Dax kissed Brett's hands, "And I know Scott, he'll take you in."
Brett stayed silent after that, and Dax didn't push any further as they climbed under the blankets. The two boys cuddled close as they drifted off into sleep.
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Brett was on his side next to Dax with his arm wrapped around Dax loosly. He was sound asleep. Dax, on the other hand, was lying on his back and staring at the ceiling while his mind threw out every doubt, fear, and self-hate comment it could come up with. His head was spinning and it wouldn't stop.
Tears were going down his cheeks, but he was silent. He wouldn't dream of waking Brett. Brett needed his rest, and Dax needed a moment to be in his own head. He needed to acknowledge his own thoughts for a minute without blocking them out.
Dax heard his mother coming up the stairs. He wiped his eyes and closed them as he pretended to sleep. His door creaked open. He grimaced when it stayed that way. He cracked his eyes open to see his mother standing in the doorway. She waved him out of the room before walking off.
Dax sighed. He carefully and slowly pulled Brett's arm off of him and untangled their legs. Dax cautiously got up from the bed and checked to see if Brett was still asleep. Thankfully, all the younger boy did was roll onto his stomach. Dax frowned a bit as he stared at Brett for a moment.
Dax tried to remove any sign of tears as he made his way outside of his room. He spotted his mom sitting on the staircase on the end of the hall furthest away from his room. He sat down next to her and rested his head on her shoulder. She wrapped her arm around him and held him in a side hug.
"Are you going to tell me what is wrong, or am I going to have to ask?" Erika asked softly. Her British accent was still just as thick as it was when Dax was born.
"I did this to him," Dax said quietly, "I could have left him alone. I could have let him have a normal life and live it out, but I got involved. Alex fucking killed him. The kid who couldn't stomach cutting down a tree or killing a spider killed my uncle and my boyfriend, and that's my fault too," Dax admitted as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Nothing Alex has done is your fault," Erika said before she kissed Dax's hair.
"Yeah, mom, it is," Dax sighed, "I've been a part of this family long enough to know what we do to people who aren't a part of it... Alex would have lived and grown-up. He would have become a doctor as he wanted, but I took that from him by stepping into his life. I was a confused kid and I wanted to figure things out... And I did the same thing with Brett."
"Dax, you can't think like that," Erika said softly, "You'll never get close to anyone if you blame yourself for everything that goes wrong."
"Maybe that's for the best," Dax muttered as he stared at his and his mother's feet.
"Look at me, buddy," Erika said as she pulled away from their side hug. She kept her hands placed on Dax's arms, "Thinking like this does nothing for you. It isolates you, and without good people around you to keep you grounded, you won't like the person you become. Dax, please don't do that to yourself. And if you feel like this about Brett, then you should talk to him. Really talk to him."
Dax stayed silent for a moment, "I don't know how."
"I don't know Brett very well, dear, I'm afraid I will not be of much assistance there," Erika sighed, "You cannot carry this yourself forever, Dax."
"I can try."
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"Kol is going to bring in some tourists, and we're going to see how you handle it," Dax said as he rubbed the back of Brett's hand with his thumb, "Bigger groups are usually harder to control yourself around."
"What if I hurt them?" Brett asked quietly.
"You can do this, B," Dax assured him as he picked something out of Brett's hair, "And if you can't, which you can, I won't let you hurt anyone."
"What happens after?" Brett asked.
"Once you can handle being in the same room as humans. We teach you snatch, eat, erase," Dax said, "After all, blood is better from the vein."
"Sorry to interrupt," Kol said as he walked in with about twenty tourists, "But I brought some friends," Most of the tourists looked to be college students on a weekend out.
Brett's eyes darted to the tourists. The veins under his eyes pulsed as he stared at them, "Hey, you can do this," Dax said as he caught Brett's eye, "You've been controlling your shift for years. This is the same thing."
Brett nodded. He took a deep breath as he stared at the floor, "The sun, the moon, and the truth," Brett muttered quietly. He continued to repeat himself as the veins under his eyes faded to normal. Dax smiled. Brett nodded, "I'm good," Dax pecked Brett on the cheek.
"I told you, you could do it."
"Astounding control, I must admit!" Kol said as he looked Brett up and down.
"He is quite interesting. Most new vampires take a lot longer to suppress the hunger," Erika commented.
"He's unique," Dax answered, "Choose one of them to feed on," Brett looked at all of the tourists. His eyes landed on a small girl with blonde hair. She was wearing nice clothes, and she had long acrylic nails. She just had a bitchy look about her.
"Don't worry. I've compelled them all to forget coming here," Kol assured the two boys.
Brett walked up to her. He smiled as he tucked her hair behind her ear and off her neck. She smiled up at him and winked. Dax glared, but he knew what Brett was doing, "Don't scream. This isn't going to hurt," Brett compelled. Brett slowly pulled her closer before tearing into her neck.
Dax worried for a moment as he watched Brett tear into the girl. He seemed like he was losing it, but Dax's worries were shut out once Brett pulled away from her. Brett grabbed her hand and Dax recognized the black veins travel up his arm.
"Go clean yourself up. You hooked up with someone who got a little too kinky," Brett compelled. The girl held a hand to her neck and nodded.
"The rest of you lot, go back to your touring of our wonderful city," Kol said loudly as he clapped his hands together and ushered the large group of tourists. Dax walked up to Brett and used his thumb to wipe some of the blood from Brett's mouth. He placed his thumb in his mouth as he licked the blood off of it.
"Let's get you cleaned up," Dax smiled up at Brett.
"I always knew you were the dramatic one," Hope smirked as she set her bag in the doorway. Dax smiled. He used his speed to get in front of Hope. He pulled the girl into a big hug and spun her around.
"Yeah, right, Mrs. Aborition of Nature," Dax muttered, "What are you doing here?"
"Christmas break."
"Jeez, we've been here that long?"
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Dax was picking up his room. He was in his own head, blaming himself for the situation they were in. Brett was getting better. He was learning. He was learning incredibly fast, and Dax assumed it was due to controlling his wolf side his entire life.
"You're frowning, witch boy," Hope said as she walked into his room.
"And you're prodding, wolf girl," Dax answered as he threw some clothes into a laundry hamper.
"Oh come on," Hope sighed as she sat down on his bed, "You haven't talked to me since I came home."
"Maybe that's because I have nothing to talk about."
"Your boyfriend is a vampire for crying out loud, Dax," Hope threw her hands in the air. Dax crushed the glass cup he had picked up in his hand. He closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side as he closed his hand. He pulled a large piece of glass from his hand and then began picking up the glass pieces on the floor and throwing them away, "So much for nothing to talk about."
"Shut the hell up, Hope. I'm not in the mood to talk about anything," Dax let out a low growl. His face fell, "I'm sorry, Hope. I just... I don't want to talk about it," Dax said as he pushed the garbage can next to its spot on the wall, "Can we leave it at that?"
"Yeah, Dax, we can," Hope sighed before leaving. Dax sighed. He walked over to his bed and began to make it.
He didn't want to push Hope away, but he didn't want to talk about it. Talking about it made it even more real, and Dax wasn't sure if he could breathe if it became any more real. He wanted to kill Alex for what he had done, but he had no clue where Alex was. If his urge to kill the boy got any stronger, he wouldn't be in New Orleans with Brett for much longer.
Dax's attention snapped to his phone when it buzzed. He walked over to the nightstand where it was charging and picked it up. It was yet another update from Stiles. Dax chuckled. The human boy was very keen on keeping him in the loop as well as finding something wrong in the small town of Beacon Hills.
"Hey," Brett whispered in Dax's ear as he grabbed Dax's hips.
Dax smiled as he turned to face Brett, "Hey."
"I brought you alcohol," Brett whispered as he kissed Dax's cheek. Dax waved his hand, and his bedroom door shut and locked.
"I'll drink it later," Dax smirked as he used his speed to pin Brett to the wall. Dax smiled as Brett used his speed to pin Dax to the bed.
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Dax was lying in his bed surrounded by his own thoughts yet again. Brett was in the shower. It had gone unspoken, but they both knew things had changed. They had been ignoring it. It wasn't exactly healthy, but it was easy to do at first. Sure, they were together all of the time, but they were also very involved in getting Brett's bloodlust under control. The more under control it had gotten, the more difficult ignoring the elephant in the room had become.
"You have your thinking face on," Brett smirked as he walked out of the bathroom joined to Dax's room with just a towel on. Dax's eyes wandered over Brett. He waved his hand and the door shut. Dax stood up and walked up to Brett. He traced his fingers along Brett's shoulder. Brett grabbed Dax's hands, "I wanted to talk."
"You do not get to walk out dripping in water in just a towel, and then just talk," Dax said as he crossed his arms.
"Well, I left my clothes in here," Brett shrugged as he walked by Dax to the dresser. Dax turned Brett around and pressed him into the dresser before he began kissing Brett's neck. His arms circled Brett's waist as he pressed Dax into the dresser. Brett grabbed Dax's shoulders and pushed him back, "Seriously, Dax. Can we stop pretending to be okay for five minutes and have a real talk?" Brett snapped.
Dax released Brett and walked over to the bed to sit down. Brett put on his boxers and a shirt before taking a seat next to Dax, "Where would you like to begin?" Dax asked hesitantly.
"What's been eating at you since we got here?" Brett asked as he turned to face Dax. He held onto Dax's hand, "And don't try to play it off as nothing this time, please."
Dax looked down at his and Brett's hands which were joined on his thigh. Dax tried to fight the tears, but it didn't work. The second Brett saw a tear roll down Dax's cheek, he scooted closer to him. He brought Dax into his chest and kissed his boyfriend's hair. Brett hummed quietly as he ran a hand through Dax's hair.
"I did this to you," Dax said quietly.
"I'll be the first to admit, this hasn't exactly been easy or... or wonderful, but I'm okay with this, D. I want to spend eternity with you."
"Until your tired of living for an eternity."
"Dax, I am in love you," Brett said as he cupped Dax's cheeks, "Nothing will ever change that. Not now, not in three hundred years, not ever. I swear," Dax pulled Brett into a tight hug.
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