Palette held his breath as he gently eased the cards into place on his tower, smiling when it held without issue. He was currently two rows high and wanted to see how far he could get the tower before Goth arrived home. After that, they could take turns adding to the tower until it was either complete or toppled.
Reaching for the stack, he caught the curved handle of the front door jiggling in his peripheral vision. As Goth slipped through the doorway and shut it behind him, the servant rose to his feet the greet the smaller, "Welcome home; I asked around about what we can do and one of the other servants let me borrow his cards. I thought we could use them to make a card tower."
Goth turned toward the tower in question, "Oh, I didn't know you could do that with cards. I always played memory games with them."
"Memory games?" Palette questioned, cocking his skull to the side, "How does that work? Can you show me after we complete the tower?"
"Alright, though there's something I'd like to discuss with you first," the vampire stated.
"Sure thing, we can talk while we work on the tower," Palette agreed, hopping onto the couch and patting the cushion next to him. As Goth took a seat, the taller picked up two cards from the top of the deck and asked, "So what did you want to talk about?" Seconds ticked by with no response, prompting the servant to look up, seeing a thoughtful expression on the smaller's face, "Goth?"
"Oh," the vampire perked up, his face flushing a bit as he replied, "I want to ask... do you like being a monster?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Palette answered in confusion. Sitting back from placing his cards, he caught the vampire fussing with the hem of their cloak sleeve as he stated, "Your turn."
Goth picked up two cards and pressed on, "If you had the option to become a vampire, is that something you would want?"
The servant thought it over as his companion gently leaned one card against the other. He had never thought about it since he was content with the way things were, but he wasn't averse to the idea, "Vampires can still work as blood servants, so it would take some getting used to but I wouldn't mind."
Goth took a deep breath as Palette pulled and placed his cards on the tower, "If... if someone said they l... liked you, but you had to become a vampire to be with them... what would you tell them?"
"Like me? You mean love?" Palette clarified, getting a nod in return. He watched the smaller pick up the next two cards, thinking the idea over. While he would be flattered, being someone's boyfriend would definitely interfere with his servant duties. He already had a commitment and held no interest in abandoning Goth. He said as much, "In that case, I'd have to tell them no thanks. I already have other priorities and a relationship would-"
The card tower collapsed as the smaller's hand bumped against it. Palette sighed, "That's the end of that, I guess. At least we can play that memory game now, right?" Looking up at Goth, he was surprised to find his companion staring at the heap of fallen cards with a sullen expression. Assuming he was upset about knocking the tower over, the taller tried to cheer him up, "Hey, it's okay; the tower probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. We can make a new one if you'd rather do that."
Goth shook his skull, his voice sounding strained, "Actually, we should probably get our clothes for tomorrow sorted out and head to bed early. Today was very busy and we'll need to be well-rested for our guests tomorrow."
"Oh... yeah, that's true," Palette wilted, watching Goth stand from the couch and gather up the cards while feeling like he made a mistake without knowing what he did. He tried not to let it show as he accepted the deck and returned it to the box, "Why do we need to get everything together tonight?"
The vampire explained in a worn tone as they headed for the stairs, "One of our guests is supposed to be the coven leader of a neighboring area and they're the traditional sort, so formal wear's required. Even Father will be in formal dress tomorrow."
"Another coven leader...," Palette murmured, recalling something about a lord being mentioned earlier. They must be important if even Reaper was dressing up. The thought of the older vampire in frilly clothing made him chuckle; having never seen the older vampire in anything other than their tattered black cloak and sandals, though his amusement quickly died when Goth didn't react.
He followed the vampire into their bedroom, moving toward the closet where he began sifting through the smaller's clothing options. Luckily, most of his companion's clothes were casual and it wasn't long before they had an outfit ready for the morning. After getting Goth's pajamas together, Palette went to make his exit but paused at the doorway to look back, "Hey, are you okay? You seem upset; did I do something wrong?"
The vampire stood by his bed where his nightclothes had been laid out, wearing a smile that didn't seem to reach his eye light. He was pointedly looking down as he said, "No... it's been a long day, I'm feeling tired is all. I'll be fine in the morning; goodnight, Palette."
The servant didn't feel satisfied with the answer, but decided to let it go with a smile, "Okay then, have a good rest."
Closing the door behind himself, he crossed over to his room and searched his wardrobe for his own formal clothes. Much like Goth, Palette's clothing was primarily casual with one or two nice outfits. Since his master had mentioned one of the guests being a coven leader, he decided he would go all-out to make a good impression. Setting aside the ensemble, he pulled his notepad from his bag.
Despite Goth's recommendation to turn in early, the servant wasn't near tired enough to think of bed yet. Instead, he could use this time to make sure he was refreshed on proper etiquette. Leaving his room, Palette decided to grab something to eat while he made his checklist.
Sparing a glance at Goth's door as he made his way to the stairs, he hoped that the problem really was just fatigue and that things would be better in the morning.
---
Goth crawled onto the bed, burying his face in the pillow as silent tears began leaking from his sockets. He curled into a ball, clutching at the pillowcase and muffling his shaky breaths in the crimson fabric while berating his heartbroken soul for hoping anything would have changed; that his companion would feel anything more than friendship or obligation toward him.
The vampire resolved to quietly release all his sorrow tonight, in the privacy of his room... because tomorrow, he would need to go back to pretending he only considered Palette his loyal servant and nothing more.
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Word Count: 1,193