Author's notes: You know what? I'm not a huge fan of ice cream. I mean yeah, I like it...but I never understood why people get 2 or 3 scoops. It's just a bit too rich for me, personally.
"Eternal life. Incredible strength. Flight. Telepathy. We own the city...so, please Dwayne, tell me...why is it that every time you win some kind of bet, you always pick stupid things like ice cream?" Marko shook his head in disbelief as he forked over the cash for a double scoop of rum raisin and passed the cone over to Dwayne, who silently took it as he glanced back over the crowd. Everyone was in pairs tonight. It looked like they were stuck with each other for the hunt, while David and Paul played around.
"I like ice cream." Dwayne replied simply. He won their bets so frequently, the fun of playing them up for a bit of torment had long run out unless he was in a bad mood. Plus, this pissed Marko and Paul off anyway, so it didn't really make too much of a difference.
"You could...you could have us eat rats for a week, or...or wear fiberglass jock straps! Hell, you could even make Pauley shave half of his head and paint it green...you could do anything...and you're just wasting it!" Marko was really getting warmed up now, mentally cataloging his list of future possibilities for bet winnings, provided he got a few. The last time he'd won, David wouldn't admit it. He was still pretty pissed off about that, actually...
"I. Like. Ice. Cream." Dwayne walked ahead of Marko, ruffling his hair in passing while the shorter vampire batted his hand away and smoothed his curls back. He hated when they did that.
"So, whaddya want tonight? Chinese? Mexican? I think I heard some Aussies back by the Ferris wheel..." Marko skipped behind Dwayne, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets and making a kissy face at a girl selling snow cones. She pointedly avoided eye contact, squirting some strawberry syrup over a cup of chipped ice and flinching at the way he licked his lips while he watched. Yeah, she knew what he was.
"I'm happy with anything but Sushi," Dwayne replied, glancing over at the girl in question and then back to his libidinous companion. "...Marko. No locals."
"Hey, man, I know. 'Look, don't touch'..." Marko replied, though they both knew very well how much he hated that rule. But if they didn't stick to it, they risked a pretty nasty domino effect. You kill one, another comes running for revenge, then another after that one, then another after that one. Hell, it was how Dwayne and Paul had ended up joining the pack. They just didn't need the extra headache, and especially not now. Things were already changing way too much, and it would be a good few years before they had a comfortable routine again. Change. Nothing sucked more for a vampire than change. In the figurative sense, at least. Obviously there were other things that 'sucked' more.
The snow cone girl let out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when Dwayne and Marko disappeared into a throng of people. Nobody had seen the Lost Boys in the last couple of years. They'd almost begun to get comfortable with it. Should've known that wouldn't last. But on the bright side, whatever had been making the boardwalk smell so bad seemed to have dissipated. So you win some, you lose some. Still...those guys were scary. She wondered if the stories were true, as she passed out yet another snow cone. Probably best not to think about it too much.
Funny thing was, though, she didn't remember there being so many of them back when she was in middle school. But she could distinctly recall seeing an extra bike sitting alongside theirs when she'd come in for her evening shift. Hopefully they weren't multiplying.
"Miss, my change?"
"Oh, right...Sorry." The girl shook her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts.
"Do it."
"I did!"
"No you didn't."
"...I'm trying, okay? It's not that fucking easy!" Michael snapped, ignoring the funny looks sent in their direction as they walked around the cycling carousel. Some of them looked indignant, angry, until they noticed David behind him and the earring dangling from Michael's ear. Then they just sort of...quickly found reasons to end their ride early.
David threw an arm around Michael's shoulder as they drew to a halt, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he leaned in to whisper in his mate's ear, "the sooner you figure it out, the sooner you'll stop sticking out so much. Locals are used to us giving them the silent treatment," he nodded his head towards a bickering couple on the carousel bench ahead of them.
"Just look and listen. If it makes it any easier, pretend there's a volume button in your head."
"...How the hell did you learn how to do this shit before electronics were invented?" Michael replied snippily. They'd been at this for an hour now, and so far nothing...all he'd managed to do was give several small children intensely focused looks before their parents caught sight of him and quickly drug them away. He was definitely still human enough to be embarrassed how awkward that had looked. Having David tailing him everywhere didn't help much. Bastard thought it was hilarious.
David shrugged, "I wasn't this slow to pick it up." He pulled his arm away from Michael's shoulder before the brunette could react and tell him where he could shove his stupid volume button.
Michael took a deep breath and stepped away from the blonde in favor of climbing on top of a bobbing pink rabbit, leaning forward to stare at the couple on the bench. He focused on the girl, and imagined the volume button...then amped it up to max. He nearly fell off of the rabbit with a yelp, blocking his ears to try and defend himself from the sudden assault of a thousand minds chattering at once.
David crossed around to the front of him and mouthed a few words Michael couldn't hear. He couldn't hear anything above the din of an old man bemoaning how awful music was these days, or a little girl learning the pain of her first heartbreak over a lost balloon, a feisty hot dog salesman imagining his next offensive pick-up line to sling out at a pretty customer, a woman making the sudden realization her husband wasn't just working late...so on an so forth. It was painful. It was dizzying. He wanted to throw up...and he could just imagine how that would look, a guy sitting on a pink rabbit while he spewed blood all over the carousel...
"Michael."
The brunette closed his eyes, unable to decipher anything David was saying beyond just his name, when David reached forward to nudge his shoulder and get his attention. He reluctantly opened his eyes again, and watched David make a few pantomimed gestures. He was either telling Michael about nipple twisting...or...oh...
He focused on turning the volume button down. And suddenly, it was gone. Now, all he could hear beside his own immensely relieved mind was the girl on the bench, as she debated whether or not she'd tell her boyfriend about a bun in the oven, or toss it out with tomorrow's stale bread. And that wasn't a euphemism. She actually forgot she'd left something baking at home, and her boyfriend really liked pastries...
"Good boy," David's whisper brushed across Michael's mind, condescending and somehow soothing at the same time. After all the noise, a somber tone was much more welcome.
"I'm not a dog, dick-head," Michael replied, sliding off of the pink rabbit and nearly getting his foot caught in the process. David caught him before he fell, patting the brunette on the back. If they weren't in public right now, somehow Michael just knew he'd try and pull something. But as it was, he only helped him steady himself on his feet, and very gently brushed fingers across the back of Michael's neck on pretense of brushing away a bit of dirt.
"I don't fuck animals, Michael. I'm well aware you're not a dog."
"You always have to sling that shit right in my face, don't you?"
David grinned, walking towards the edge of the carousel and hopping off. He glanced back at Michael, who quickly followed.
"You wanna visit your mommy after dinner?" He inquired almost sweetly. Michael wondered if he knew how much he'd wanted to avoid that tonight. Probably did...snoopy, mind-reading mother fucker.
"I'm hurt. Really."
"SO now you're going to have a running commentary on all my thoughts, too?!"
"Only when you're pining for me, sweetheart," David's drawling voice was laced with sarcasm in Michael's mind. And if he wasn't so excited about finally learning this new trick, he might have tried to drum up a bit of anger. He was hungry, too. Oh! Maybe he could use it to get a meal? A world of possibilities laid themselves out in front of them in Michael's mind, and David just silently watched him. Only a few weeks ago, his mate would have balked at the idea of going on a hunt with them. He was almost proud of his creation. He'd be a lot more satisfied, though, when Michael got excited over other things David had given him...and fully intended to give a lot more of.
Patience was not one of David's virtues. But he was finding that where Michael was concerned, and even Star, there were a lot of things he was going to have to learn. Not that he'd ever admit it, though.
