Just a random little thing. Spoilers for all the way up to 4x06. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine.
Bertrand pushed Vlad into the centre of the room and ditched his cloak – on closer inspection, he seemed to realise it was Ramanga's and hung it back in the proper place accordingly – while Jonno watched him carefully. He didn't understand the way his face twisted with annoyance the moment the Count's attention was diverted, and he didn't understand why he'd gone to get Vlad in from the sun when, surely, that was the job of the best man. And he would have worked out how urgent that was eventually, honest – he'd just had a lot to drink and it was easy to forget, sometimes, that the rest of the people he was hanging out these days were vampires.
Truth be told, he wasn't really sure why he was Vlad's best man anyway. He got that they'd known each other at school, and they were the same age, and Vlad's choices were limited, but they didn't really know each other that well. He'd more or less forgotten Vlad existed for half the time since he'd met him, and they'd spent most of the rest of their acquaintance trying to kill each other. Well, he'd spent it trying to kill Vlad. He was forced to concede that, barring the accident involving his father, Vlad had never harmed him at all. But surely there was an obvious alternative to Jonno staring Vlad in the face?
He supposed he reminded Vlad of Robin; that was why he'd been chosen as best man, that was why Vlad was so keen to hang out. To Vlad, Jonno meant Stokely and Stokely meant Robin. He was sure if Robin had been here, he would have been doing a much better job of taking Vlad's mind off his problems than Jonno was. Robin would have realised straight away how much danger Vlad was in; Robin wouldn't have laughed and tossed the Count the key. And all this time, the only reason Vlad was still getting by was the man who'd swept him under his cloak as if sharing an outer garment was completely natural, had tucked him under his arm as if he belonged there.
The tutor turned and met his eye and for a moment he knew they were both thinking exactly the same thing.
Bertrand should have been Vlad's best man.
