"Why is it that you always wish to interrupt my studies?" The young man looked away from his books and flipped the cover of the dictionary closed.
Alucard blinked his large red eyes at Walter and smiled. "Because it's boring to watch you look at books. There must be something more interesting we could be doing."
Walter stood up and looked down at the tiny vampire. In the year since the end of the war, he had grown taller, although no less wiry, but Alucard, of course, had not changed at all.
Walter, of all people, knew better than to allow Alucard's current physical appearance lull him into a false sense of security. That small body contained an almost incomprehensible amount of power.
At sixteen, Hellsing's young butler had seen far more than most men twice his age. He knew that Alucard knew that Walter found the tiny, rather feminine guise attractive. For several years he had rebuffed the vampire's subtle and not-so-subtle advances, but it seemed to get more difficult to do so with each passing year. There were times when he wondered why he bothered saying no – Alucard could not make him a vampire, was constrained by the seals against making ghouls, and honestly, Walter had more in common with him than he did with anyone remotely close to his own age.
"Right, then, if you're bored, I'm studying French vocabulary. You may help me with the list that Arthur gave me. I'm having some trouble finding translations for some of them."
Alucard picked up the page and looked at the blank spaces. Walter rolled his eyes at the grin that slowly spread on the vampire's face. "I remember this list," he looked away from the page and smirked at the young man, "and Arthur's very interesting word choices. And now he has you moving on to French?"
Alucard looked up at the tall youth and smirked even more broadly, "I thought he'd have you learning Greek by now."
"Can you help me with this or not? You've eaten enough Frenchmen by now to have a fairly comprehensive vocabulary."
"Rodomontade." Alucard's tongue, kitten pink, flicked out over his lower lip for a moment. "We haven't seen a good rodomontade since Poland, have we?"
"I don't think there is such a thing as a good rodomontade. Do you know the French for it or not?"
"Tsh. So impatient. I know you're better at waiting than that." He handed the page back to Walter and gestured toward his pencil. "The word is 'fanfaronnade.' With two Ns."
Walter scanned the page, "Only two more." He didn't look away from the neatly written words when Alucard hopped onto the desk, placing his bum inches away from the paper.
"And then you will do something more interesting with me."
Walter met the vampire's glowing red eyes and shook his head. "No, and then I have work to do. Unlike you, I have other things to do in between hunting trips." He ignored the answering pout. "The next word is 'lubricious.'"
"'Salace,'" Alucard answered with ill grace, kicking his feet against the desk while Walter wrote.
Walter glanced up from the page and smiled. "Here's your favorite word," and also the one that he was having the most trouble with, "'epicene.'"
"Epicene?" Walter didn't buy Alucard's innocent smile for a moment. "I don't seem to remember that word. Refresh my memory?"
"Effeminate."
"No, there was something more to it than that, wasn't there?" The vampire leaned down, bringing his face closer to Walter's.
"It also means having an ambiguous sexual identity."
"Now why do you suppose that Arthur wanted you to learn that word?"
"I don't honestly care; I just want to get this done. I have real work to do." He tapped the end of his pencil gently on the tip of Alucard's nose. "Do you know the word or not?"
Alucard casually snatched the pencil out of Walter's fingers and tapped the young man's nose in return. "Why should I tell you? You're just going to go back to work and I'll go back to sitting around waiting for something interesting to do."
"Because you want to be helpful?" Walter held out his hand for the pencil, knowing that being helpful really wasn't on Alucard's list of priorities, which was confirmed by the vampire's headshake.
"Not good enough. I want payment this time."
Payment? "I'm not donating blood for a vocabulary word."
"No, your blood is definitely worth more than one word." Alucard pushed the page away and shifted over on the desk until he sat directly in front of Walter. "But it is a French word, so a kiss in payment seems only fitting."
Walter closed his eyes in a slow blink and tried not to look as surprised as he felt.
One kiss, and then Walter could get back to work. He'd been unable to find a fitting word in French for epicene. Efféminé just wasn't quite right and he hadn't found anything better. There were few things Walter Dornez hated more than leaving work unfinished.
One kiss for one word.
"Alright." He glanced over his shoulder at the open library door, which slammed abruptly closed.
"You wanted privacy, didn't you?"
Walter could hear the satisfaction in the vampire's question and pressed his lips together in suppressed irritation. "Yes." The last thing he needed was for some maid to wander by and tell the entire household that she'd seen the butler kissing the vampire.
"That's hardly the right attitude for approaching a first kiss, is it?" Alucard slid off the desk and into Walter's lap, straddling him on the chair.
A first kiss. That presupposed that there would be kisses to follow. Walter tried to ignore Alucard's slight weight on his legs and the sudden way his heart sped up at the thought of kissing his companion.
Alucard leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Kisses involve lips pressed together, Angel."
"One kiss for one word and then you leave me alone to get my work done."
"That's what we agreed." Walter shivered at the voice in his ear and shuddered when the vampire drew his cold tongue over his neck. "One kiss." He pulled back and smiled at Walter.
Well, how many people could say that their first kiss was with a five hundred year old vampire? Walter swallowed, suddenly much more aware of the weight on his lap, and slowly leaned forward to press his lips gently against Alucard's.
His first impression was that they were cool and soft, but then Alucard twined his arms around Walter's neck and pulled himself against the young man's body. Without thinking about it, Walter put his arms around Alucard to hold him there. When the vampire parted his lips, Walter took the invitation to taste him, tentatively drawing his tongue over Alucard's and stiffening in his seat when Alucard moaned quietly against his mouth.
Walter pulled back, trying not to pant or give Alucard any outward sign of how stirred he was by the kiss. He took a slow breath before saying, "There. One kiss," in a slightly choked voice.
Alucard gave him a quick peck on the lips and slid off his lap. "One kiss," he agreed with a smug grin, walking away.
The door opened for Alucard as he approached it. He called over his shoulder as he flounced out, "The word you are looking for is bisexué."