I needed something to do in my free time. This will (eventually) be 100 AxI ficlets themed after whatever song is playing on my iPod while I'm writing, with no duplicates. The story will either be themed after the song, have the song's lyrics interposed in the story, or have the characters quoting the lyrics, or any combination of the three. I am not doing this as a part of an "official" challenge. This is a personal challenge. There will be touches of AU and OOC-ness throughout the ficlets.

That said, I own nothing. No songs, no Hellsing, no nothing.

Uwaaa, this one took forever to write. Mostly because every time I would start writing, my roommate would complain about the fact that I put Fall Out Boy on repeat... and she's not a fan. -cough-Butshedoesthesametome.-cough-

Enjoy!

04. "Pretty In Punk" – Fall Out Boy

"He stands alone because he's high on himself," said Integra dryly when asked by Seras why Alucard always stood alone when in the presence of others.

Alucard, who was doing his usual standing-off-in-the-shadows in Integra's office while Seras gave a report, was staring off into space, his mind obviously elsewhere.

"But if you only knew…" thought Alucard as he heard Integra's words. His mind quickly retreated back into reliving memories once he was no longer the object of discussion.

There had been yet another formal event held only a few weeks ago. Alucard, as usual, stood away from the crowd, lurking in the shadows, always watching his master. He watched her laugh and talk with one of the men at the event. He only wished he could make her smile and laugh like that, but flaws in his personality prohibited that. He couldn't act like the man he once was—the man that still lived somewhere inside of him—around Integra. He was always the monster.

Slowly, he walked over to his smiling master. The man had gone away to get more punch. "Would you mind if I sat next to you?" he asked. Not waiting for a reply, he plopped himself into the nearest chair. He enjoyed seeing her smile. He wished he could make her smile.

Integra simply gave him a confused and slightly irritated look as her beau came back with drinks.

"Shall I get another drink?" inquired the man, looking at Alucard.

"That won't be necessary," said Integra as she gave Alucard a look that clearly said "go back to your corner, I'm busy".

Alucard vacated the chair next to Integra and walked swiftly back to 'his corner' and watched Integra. Of all of the people there, he saw only her. He wished she'd notice him, or at least see him as something other than a monster. He was, after all, still a man. A man with the traits of a monster, but a man nonetheless.

Integra's beau from the formal event had visited quite a few times. Usually with flowers and overly flashy gifts. Alucard snorted to himself each time. Integra was not the kind of woman who would enjoy things such as that. She accepted them politely enough, and displayed the flowers until they wilted, but he knew that she didn't truly like the gifts. Especially the pendant that looked like a gilded, jewel-encrusted kidney. Alucard wondered what had possessed the man to give her that.

During these visits, Alucard confined himself to his dungeon. It pained the vampire to see his master with such an imperfect match. Sometimes, he would talk to his fledgling if he got bored enough. In the middle of one of such talks with Seras, he blurted out, suddenly—when his fledgling was going on about her new kitten familiar, of all things—"I don't like the way that man treats Master. He doesn't seem to know anything about her at all, always giving her fancy gifts…" he trailed off.

Seras stared at her master. That was a sudden change of subject.

"But it's none of my business, is it?" Alucard said softly.

Seras continued to stare at her master. He rarely showed any human emotion, and to suddenly show one of infatuation—maybe even… love? — was startling, to say the least. Once she managed to collect herself, she asked her master, "Well, why don't you court her as well? Become an even better suitor than Mr. Bryant?" It was a brilliant idea, if the police girl did say so herself.

Alucard said nothing, but Seras could swear that she saw her master's eyes light up. Just as the draculina was about to speak again, her master stood and vanished, presumably into his own chambers.

The next day, upon Integra's desk was a small box with a note attached. The note, penned in red ink and fancy handwriting, stated cryptically "I'm not the way you think I am." Inside the box was an old ornate silver cross strung on a new silver chain.

Integra smiled.