"Josh…" Sally said softly, leaning against the fridge with her arms clasped around her middle, frowning at the stove. "Far be it from me to judge your cooking, but I don't think eggs should be that color."
"Fuck," Josh said, snapping out of his standing-up nap and killing the heat on the front burner. Sure enough, the edges of the sunny-side eggs were looking farther into the dark end of the color spectrum than was strictly desired, and he sighed and moved them over to a cool burner while he prodded them with a spatula, trying to salvage the dish. He glanced up at Sally, who looked like she'd gotten about as much sleep as he had. "You'll still eat these, right? Since you're always hungry now?"
It was mostly a joke, but he hadn't expected the wan, slightly sick look that crossed over her face. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and tossed up a shrug. "What can I say? Even I don't find that appetizing."
"Burn," Josh muttered, giving her a small smirk as he moved over to toss the eggs.
"Yeah, my point exactly," Sally quipped back, but a moment later a jaw-cracking yawn stole over her and she buried her face in both hands to suppress it. Josh turned to face her better, putting the pan back on the stove and groping out on the countertop for the butter to re-grease it for take two at breakfast.
"You alright?" he asked, not taking his eyes off her.
Sally lifted an eyebrow at him, the expression exasperated but unspeakably fond. "You idiot. You're asking me that, after the night you and Aidan had?"
Josh didn't respond, just lowering his chin more to give her a very serious stare. It was one he always thought he'd use on his future kids—the "don't try to change the subject, missy" look. Sally squirmed under it and gave him a half-hearted shrug.
"Just… reeling, you know? Same as you. Aidan still sleeping?"
"Oh, I think he'll be sleeping until at least tonight," Josh said, peering at his right arm to look at his watch. Only a watch-tan greeted him and he frowned before remembering he'd moved the watch to his left, since his right was still feeling a little tender from the wolf scratches.
"Or," Aidan said from the entryway to the kitchen, causing Josh to jump, "Aidan was roused by the irresistible aroma of burning protein." He nodded to Sally. "Morning, sunshine."
Josh rolled his eyes at Aidan, but was pleased to see the bandage over his swollen eye was gone, and the bruising and misshapen flesh that had squeezed it all but shut last night had gone down enough that Aidan merely looked like he was giving them a perpetual evil eye.
"I was trying to perfect my vertical napping technique. Unfortunately I haven't mastered the finer points of multitasking, yet."
"Nora back yet?" Aidan asked, the subject change giving Josh whiplash.
A curl of familiar dread settled low in his gut at the thought of his fiance, who would indeed be home from her own night of shifting any moment now. "Not… yet," he said, clearing his throat and trying to be inconspicuous.
Of course this only meant he was riotously conspicuous to both Aidan and Sally, who turned to face him at once in an eerily synchronized manner. Josh glanced at them uncomfortably from the corner of his eye while he melted the new slab of butter in the pan. "She doesn't know?" Sally asked, at the same time Aidan said, "You told her, right?"
"I—" Josh began, giving up on cooking and killing the heat under the butter before turning to face his supernatural roommates. "If I'd told her what I was really doing last night, don't you think she'd be here by now?" He shook his head. "No way. I didn't need her to know about Liam's last night and—and it's not like she could have even come with me, anyway. Not when she was shifting herself."
Aidan frowned. "But—I thought you said, on the ride back, you knew where to find me because Nora told you."
"Yeah, she did," Josh said, running his good hand across his considerable stubble, fighting down the new bubble of panic that was edging its way up his throat. "I called and asked her where Liam changes… of course, she thought that was suspicious, but I told her it was just so we could avoid the area. I sort of said I was out for a walk and thought I saw him, so I was just… double-checking."
"And she bought that?" Sally asked, aghast. "But… you're terrible at lying."
"And until last night, Josh was also human," Aidan said, his voice flat and dull. He pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat down in it, rubbing his temple. "Nora probably figured he'd have no reason to be crazy enough to take on a wolf on the night of the change."
"Oh my God, Josh," Sally said, his name coming out in a whine that was a mix of exasperation and deep pity. "You're so dead. You didn't even call or text her to say what happened last night when you got back?"
"Why bother?" Josh asked, tossing up a helpless shrug. "Shifting is bad enough as it is without waking up the next morning to a voicemail or a text about—about this. And freaking her out won't make either of us any less infected. The news is still the same whether I tell her now or later."
The door opened just then, and all three roommates froze and whipped their heads towards the sound. A rush of city noise and wind was audible for just a moment before the door shut again, muffling all but the loudest sirens and honking. Nora appeared in the doorway, windswept and dishevelled, looking exhausted and—Josh's heart sank through his sneakers into the floor—extremely wary.
"What news are we talking about?" Nora asked, and Josh could have kicked himself. Of course, he thought bitterly. Pre-and-post-shift hearing was as good as it got for their kind, so it was laughable to think a flimsy wooden structure would muffle their conversation to her keen ears.
"Ah-hem," Aidan said, standing up painfully slowly and jerking his head toward Sally. Sally pushed herself upright from the fridge, wringing her fingers to the point that it looked painful, and both tried to make a hasty retreat from the kitchen to give the two wolves time to talk.
"Aidan—what the—" Nora said, reaching out and stopping him, turning his shoulder so she could better see his savaged, bruised face. In spite of everything that had happened between them, it was plain to see Nora was shaken, worried by the damage he'd taken. She looked between him and Josh, going slowly pale.
"Nora—um, why don't we—I need to talk to you," Josh said, putting his hands out in as non-threatening a way as he could manage, recognizing the hard-edged, wild look that was slowly coming over his fiance's face. So soon after her shift her wolf was still brimming near the surface, so much more a part of her than his ever was, and he knew they were dealing with a powder keg now.
Unfortunately Nora's eyes latched onto the bandages wrapped around Josh's right arm, the blood slowly leaking through to stain them slightly pink. Nora released Aidan's shoulder, taking half a step back, and Josh knew she had jumped to the worst—and the right—conclusion at once.
"That's where you—Josh," Nora said, her voice giving out entirely on his name. Josh's heart twisted painfully in his chest as she turned to look at him, a thousand kinds of despair battling for dominance in her eyes. "No."
"Nora—" Josh said, wanting to bring her in close and hold her, but she put her hand up to stop him.
"It was because of you. Wasn't it?" she said, turning her eyes to Aidan, their blue crackling over into the color of a chemical flame. "Wasn't it?!"
"Nora, please—" Josh said, skirting around the table to try to put himself between his fiance and his best friend. Nora was too quick, though, and Aidan, who was offering no words in his own defence, was condemned by his silence.
"You fucker!" Nora screamed, shoving Aidan hard with both hands. The combination of her post-shift, lingering power and Aidan's own compromised state made it an almost laughable mis-match of strength. Aidan careened backwards, sliding clear across the entire length of the kitchen table, taking salt shakers, napkin dispensers, and a half-empty coffee mug with him as he crashed down to the floor on the other side. Sally shrieked and leapt back from the shattering ceramic, but Nora was already after him, diving over the table, hands out to grab at the front of Aidan's shirt.
Josh tackled her. For all his trouble he got his knee slammed into the corner of the table and an armful of flailing, frantic Nora. He clasped his arms around her, trying to restrain her, while Aidan remained exactly where he was, on his back, propped up by his elbows in the debris of their kitchen. He looked up at them, his face settled into the look Josh hated most—the "I deserve this, it's all my fault" face that meant he was not going to fight back in his own defense any time soon.
"Nora! Please, just listen—" Josh begged, realizing belatedly that his fiancé was growling and snarling in his arms, still desperate to tear into Aidan. Josh's mind went into overdrive, struggling to call up the words he needed to explain to her and get her to calm down. The only thing that jumped to his mind, and out of his mouth, was, "He's dying, Nora!"
"Good," she snarled with such savage, unrepentant venom that Josh's arms faltered around her and she was able to throw him off. Stunned, Josh took half a step back and tensed to intervene if she was going to make another move for Aidan, but she seemed done with round one of her assault. Josh swallowed hard, his throat impossibly dry, and God bless Sally, because he could not find his words.
"Nora," Sally said gently, cautiously approaching the bereft woman and reaching a hand out the way one would to a wounded, cornered animal. "You don't—mean that."
"Like hell I don't," Nora snapped, and though Sally jerked her arm back, nervous, Nora only had eyes for Aidan. "After everything he's done for you, this is what he gets? After how—how hard he tried to be free of the wolf, it's always—it's always you, Aidan. Every heartbreak and misery always leads back to you."
"Nora," Josh said again, wishing fervently he could do more than just repeat her name over and over like an invocation. "You don't... you don't understand. Let me—"
"Explain?" Nora asked, turning to Josh now. "The truth, you mean?" Her throat bobbed around what sounded like a cut-off sob. "Josh... Why would you—what, what in the world would possess you to—" She reached out suddenly to grasp at the table and Josh's heart leapt into his throat as what color had remained seemed to drain from her face, leaving her a deathly gray. He moved forward to steady her but she put her hand up again to stave him off. "I should have known," she said in a broken whisper.
"No," Josh said, clenching and unclenching his hands, wanting nothing more than to go to her and being denied it. "Please. Liam had him in his… his dungeon where he shifts..." she seemed to be letting him talk, and Josh capitalized on the opportunity. "We got out, but he—" Josh shook his head, trying to get the most pertinent information out first. "Nora, Aidan took the blame for Brynn. He told Liam that he did it. Liam—he won't suspect you anymore." And you said you were glad Aidan was dying, a despairing, wounded part of him wanted to add, but he knew Nora was hurting and would never have said anything that cruel if she had known.
Nora's face was a blank mask, still largely colorless. Sally had moved over to crouch at Aidan's side sometime during the talk, though her eyes were still trained on Josh and Nora while she gnawed her lip nervously. Aidan was staring expressionlessly at the table leg, eyes seeing through it to some unknown place.
"Liam, is he dead?" Nora asked hopefully, eyes raking over Josh's wound again, a hard desperation in her eyes and the baring of her teeth that always looked almost like a smile to Josh.
"He… no," Josh said, burying his face in his hands and focusing on breathing. "I shot him, a bunch of times, but he was already mid-shift by then and… I'm sure he's lying low right now. Recovering. We don't have to worry about him coming for us… just yet."
"This is so…" Nora said, lifting one hand to press it, shaking, above her eyes. "Josh. How could you go there? You could have been killed."
Josh opened his mouth to say something—a weak stab at a joke, maybe a fond reassurance that he was indestructible—but he knew nothing would help right now. He cleared his throat and tried to get closer to her, feeling out the waters before he did anything drastic. "You're… you're probably freezing, and hungry, and tired. Why don't you—why don't you head upstairs, I'll meet you there with some breakfast. Okay?"
Nora let out a choked sob and finally looked at him in the face, eyes glassy with tears that he knew she would never let fall. She was visibly trembling, and Josh could tell it was teetering between devastation and fury. "I—I need to," she said, gesturing ineffectually before pulling her coat around her with a twitchy jerk of her pale hands. "I need—some air. I'll be back," she said, hissing in a breath through her teeth and hunching down over herself, heading straight for the door. Josh reached out after her, but her name died in his throat. A second later the door closed and the three of them were left in the wake of her departure, the silence deafening.
"She didn't—" Josh said, walking jerkily over to the chair where Nora had dropped her overnight bag after she came in. "She doesn't have her wallet, or her phone…"
Sally got up noiselessly from the ground and drifted over to Josh, ghostlike. "I'll go bring them to her," she said, her voice a little hoarse. She cleared her throat and gave Josh a timid smile before rummaging in the bag and pulling out Nora's credentials. She stuffed them in the pockets of her hoodie and went to the pegs on the wall where their jackets hung, pulling her magenta windbreaker down and slipping into it.
Josh felt like he was recovering from an explosion. His ears were ringing and even the smallest of reactions seemed delayed. He barely managed to make it over to Sally before she left, grabbing onto her free hand while the other was clasped around the door handle. He gave it a squeeze. "Thank you," he said softly, and she squeezed it back and gave him a look of indescribable affection. Then she slipped out into the brisk morning air and was gone.
Aidan remained where he was, dimly aware of Josh and Sally talking in the living room. The door opened and shut and the slightest dip in temperature registered to his skin before the room regulated once more. Absently, Aidan picked a shard of ceramic out of his palm, where it had slightly dented but not broken through the skin. He rolled it between his thumb and forefinger before tossing it aside, and then Josh was in front of him.
"Aidan," Josh said, blinking rapidly the way he did when he was unspeakably ashamed. "Are you alright?"
Aidan huffed out a humorless laugh through his nose. "I'm fine, Josh. Your fiance is tough, and I'm diseased, but I am still a vampire."
"I'm so sorry," Josh said, standing up and extending a hand to help Aidan up. Aidan didn't need it, but knew it was the gesture that counted. Taking his friend's outstretched hand, he got to his feet and brushed some wood shards from his shirt. "I should have—God, you and Sally were right, I should have called her this morning. I could have headed this off at the pass."
"No," Aidan said, unspeakably tired. "You couldn't have, Josh. Nora is furious, and she has every right to be. You were re-infected saving me. There's no getting around that."
Josh let out a frustrated, suddenly fervent breath of air and threw his hands up. "Will you just—you goaded on a rage-hopped, ready-to-shift werewolf so Nora and I would be off the hook. He was going to kill you. You took the rap for murder. In no twisted version of reality is me getting scratched your fault. It just—it just happened, okay? She's got to understand that eventually."
Aidan shook his head, but managed to stop himself before he further incensed Josh by sticking to the version of reality that he knew to be true. "I understand what you mean, Josh," he said simply. "But you've got to remember… you're her mate. You come first, always. I never expected anything different from her. She loves you."
Josh grimaced at the words, though Aidan could not for the life of him understand why. He knew it was a terrible position to be in, his best friend and his mate being so constantly at odds, but it seemed a little deeper than that. "I can't believe she'd still feel that way about you now," Josh said simply. "Once it sinks in, what you've done for her… she'll calm down."
"Okay," Aidan said, unable to say anything else. Josh gave him a look that said what? but Aidan just shook his head again. "Just, 'okay.' I'll take your word for it."
Josh let out a slow sigh, closed his eyes for a moment, and like clockwork, the compulsive cleaning began. Aidan moved out of the way so Josh could get to the broom and dustpan, leaning against the fridge to watch his friend go through the familiar motions of picking up after a supernatural fit.
The cough took him completely by surprise. All night he'd practiced carefully working his throat so the worst of the itch would be contained, and he'd thought he had it down to a pretty particular science. Instead it burst out of him in an explosive, wet bark and some sort of dark fluid that wasn't quite blood spattered out abruptly against the floor and part of a chair. Aidan clapped his hand to his face and backed up, eyes watering, and he snorted painfully through his nose to try to swallow back the rest of the stuff before he was bathing in it.
Josh was at his side in an instant. "Shit, Aidan—sit, I'll get you a—" Whatever Josh was going to get him was not revealed as the wolf bustled off to the other side of the kitchen while Aidan did as he was told and took a seat on the blood-spattered chair. How delightful.
Josh returned with a wet towel, which Aidan took and pressed to his face, using part of the rest of it to wipe his hand down. Josh was staring at his face with an unparalleled intensity, like he was waiting on tenterhooks for Aidan to deliver some sort of life-changing prophecy. Instead Aidan sniffed heavily, cleared his throat, and said, "Well, that sucks."
He'd hoped for a laugh, but Josh was still looking at him like Aidan was a kicked shelter puppy. Aidan rolled his eyes, mopped his face one more time with the defiled towel, and set it on the table. "It's gonna happen from now on, man," Aidan said, giving him a shrug. "Don't know what to tell you."
Josh let out a sigh and shook his head. "Sorry. I don't mean to make you feel—"
"Like an invalid?"
"Yeah." Josh quirked a sad smile at him, then abruptly pulled up the arm of his long-sleeved flannel sleep shirt. "So, breakfast?" he offered, sticking his arm out to Aidan with no preamble. Aidan made a face, not of disgust—because Josh still smelled like quite possibly the best thing on the planet—but awkward discomfort.
"I don't know," Aidan said, clearing his throat and running his tongue over his teeth. They were still the blunted form of his human canines, but if Josh didn't move his arm soon that would be a thing of the past. "Do you really think it's a great idea for me to snack on you with Nora already wanting my head on a pike?"
"Nora—" Josh said, the name coming out on a sigh. "She'll just have to deal with it. This is an arrangement you and I have, and honestly? At this point, nothing's gonna make her any less upset."
"So you're just going for the gold then?" Aidan asked, trying to distract Josh, perhaps long enough for the girls to come home. His throat was aching and Josh still hadn't moved his goddamn arm.
"That's what husbands are supposed to do, right? Get their bachelor's, master's and PhD in pissing off their wives?" Josh asked. He offered him a smile, but after a moment it was back to business. "Come on, man. It's gonna get cold," he joked.
"Josh—" Aidan began, but Josh shook his head and lifted his hand.
"No. You are absolutely not backing out on me. Don't make me have another panic attack on you. Since apparently that works when I want my way."
"Not cool," Aidan groaned. "Look, if we're going to… do this, can we at least not do it here? I'd kind of rather not have Nora and Sally walk in on this. It would be a shame to get staked in the kitchen you're trying to clean up."
Josh seemed to give that some thought, then nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. So uh… your… room?" he asked, putting his hands up in a lost gesture while fighting back a chuckle.
"I'd say you should buy me dinner first, but…" Aidan said, gesturing at Josh's arm. That finally got Josh to laugh and some of the tension broke between them. Aidan got gingerly to his feet and lead the way down to the basement, hoping he'd do a better job hearing approaching household members if any decided to come down the stairs this time.
"So, I figure, I'll wait for Nora to get home, talk to her a bit, get her set up and put to bed and then I'll head down to the hospital," Josh was saying, talking a little too fast and narrating entirely too much for Aidan's needs. "I'll get a general mockup of the usual stuff—and if I think there's any suspicion about the missing drugs—well, maybe you could compel some of them? Or are you still off that? If you are, no big, I'll work something else out—"
"Josh," Aidan said, turning to face him and reaching out. Josh jumped, but Aidan was just going to close the door behind him. He gave him a half-amused, half-pained look. "You're rambling something mighty. If you don't want to go through with this—"
"No!" Josh insisted, then clapped his hands and rubbed them together very fast. "No, absolutely, this is happening. I'm just…"
"Nervous?" Aidan tried. "I won't drain you, I promise. I've been on… like, a Soviet prison diet since I was dug up, and I'm not even close to starving anymore since I've been able to selectively feed from Kenny a few times."
"I know," Josh assured him. "I just, can't help but remember what happened the last time you tried to feed from me. Hoping… we won't have a repeat of that."
"Hah," Aidan said, moving over to sit on the edge of the bed. He wished he had a few chairs down here or something. "You and me both."
For an uncomfortable moment Josh just stood at the door, but then he seemed to realize he should move. "Oh," he said quietly, starting over uncertainly until he was standing in front of Aidan. He moved to his left, then his right, then scratched the back of his neck. "Do you… want me standing? Or should I…?"
"Whatever's comfortable," Aidan said, putting his hands out, palms up. "Though you might want to sit, just in case you get… I don't know, woozy."
"Woozy?" Josh asked, lifting his eyebrows. "Like a swooning damsel?"
"Hey, it's like donating blood. Tougher guys than you've gone pale and passed out on my watch before."
Josh rolled his eyes at that but took a seat on Aidan's right side so he would have access to his unwounded left arm. Josh twisted his arm up and at an odd angle so the underside would be available to Aidan, but Aidan shook his head.
"That's going to be wickedly uncomfortable. Just—" He looked at him for permission, got a small nod, and lifted Josh's arm up so he was leaning his chin over his upper arm, gaining access to the top of Josh's forearm. He had to stoop his head a little to reach, but this way Josh wasn't contorting himself. "Good?"
"Yup!" Josh said, a little too gung-ho and strained for the situation. "Don't mind me, I'm just being my usual, incredibly awkward self. Have at." Josh was determinedly looking away from Aidan, the way someone would before getting a booster shot, and Aidan rolled his eyes affectionately before taking an experimental sniff of the expanse of flesh before him.
And, oh. Wow. Aidan felt the almost ticklish sensation of his eyes dilating, then going their step beyond that into the black voids of feeding mode. His fangs sprang free and every inch of his skin began to tingle. Josh definitely did not smell like dog right now. He smelled the way he had tasted at first, the "too good" buzz of energetic, different blood that was flowing rapidly through his veins. We're trying this out first, Aidan had to remind himself, breathing hard through his mouth and watching the little hairs on Josh's forearm ghost back and forth with his panting. Josh had goosebumps absolutely everywhere. Just a sip for now, just in case.
Aidan leaned forward and gently, painstakingly broke skin with just the tips of his fangs, eliciting a slight, sharp inhale from Josh but nothing more. Blood welled at the surface of the wounds and without thinking how it would feel to his friend, Aidan languishly lapped them up with his tongue. Josh hissed a little at the sensation but remained perfectly still, the model patient.
Aidan wanted to cry, or sing, or something else completely over-the-top and melodramatic. This was blood, warm, living, moving blood, not stolen and hastily sipped in lukewarm shots out of hospital vials in the men's room or sucked out of a cold IV bag. This wasn't drinking recklessly, taking his life in his hands and pushing Sally to straddle him with a stake, yelling at him to stop risking his life with possibly tainted specimen. He had nothing to lose, and this blood—he wasn't sure if it was the fifteen months underground, the yawning, aching hunger he had felt trying to find clean sources in the months after that, the sheer relief of not having to give a fuck anymore, or some combination of it all, but Aidan could scarcely recall anything ever tasting so good in his life.
"So…" Josh said, snapping him out of his spell. Aidan had no idea how long it had been, and he blinked rapidly, turning dazed eyes over to look at his friend. Josh was looking a little flushed, his throat bobbing nervously as he glanced in his direction. "No, um… pukey...ness?"
Aidan tried to remember how speech worked. He cleared his throat, ran his tongue over his teeth, and said, "Nope. Not yet. Maybe…" He swallowed hard and wondered if his stomach could still growl. "Maybe we'll give it another minute or so. Takes… a little while for it to kick in, if it's gonna hurt."
"Right," Josh said, nodding and clenching and unclenching his fist. That caused new spots of blood to well up and, without meaning to, Aidan leaned forward to lap them up. Josh stared at the side of his face. "Or, you could lick me again. You having, um… control issues, there?"
"Hmm," Aidan said, a noncommittal noise designed to get Josh to be quiet. It was so, so unbelievably good. Like licking an electrical socket without the pain. It burned a little as it went down, like a smooth shot of smoky brandy. Aidan dimly hoped that wasn't the were toxins wreaking havoc on his esophagus, but honestly? At this point he was willing to go through the foaming and vomiting just to get more of this amazing flavor.
Aidan managed to resist for what felt like hours, but Josh was glancing at the watch he'd taken off and was holding in his right hand. Aidan trusted him to keep time. Aidan stared hungrily at the little beads of dark red—Josh must be slightly dehydrated to get that color—and felt on the verge of expiring when Josh finally said, "Well, it's been about a minute, how do you—"
That was all the cue Aidan needed. In an instant he snarled low in his throat and sank his teeth back in, perfectly matching the marks he'd made earlier, and Josh yelped a little in shock, but then went perfectly still again. Aidan's eyes rolled back in his head as he clutched Josh's arm with both hands, struggling not to tear into him or make the wounds any messier.
It was sheer bliss, pure ecstasy. This was the kind of high-out-of-his-mind bender he would normally only achieve after draining at least a few victims completely dry. Maybe it was because he'd been virtually anorexic for months now, but he was starting to suspect it was just Josh. Had other vampires discovered the blinding, unbridled crack that was a pre-shift, brand new were? Probably not. Well, none of them were getting their fangs into Josh, Josh was his. Aidan pulled back and gave a slow, lascivious lick to Josh's arm, smearing the blood farther up towards his wrist, and Josh shuddered from head to toe.
"Whoooa kay," Josh breathed, not really a request for him to stop. It more sounded like he just needed to verbalize something, anything. "Alrighty. Okay."
Aidan groaned in response and drank him down, only just able to recognize the little flag that popped up in his mind when he instinctively knew it was time to stop feeding from a victim. It was hard, impossibly hard, to pull himself back, and he was peripherally shocked he had even retained the muscle memory needed to understand he had taken the proper amount for most blood donations—one pint, almost exactly. It felt woefully inadequate, and yet it was the most food Aidan had had in months.
Josh tried to tug his arm back, but Aidan was still holding onto it. Instead of freaking out, Josh just waited patiently until Aidan clued in and managed to pry himself loose. Josh stood up, but then Aidan's nurse instincts kicked in and he gently tugged him back down.
"Mm-mm," he said, shaking his head and licking his lips. "No walking for at least five minutes after you donate blood. Just sit."
"Kay," Josh said, tapping his right hand nervously on his jeans. He cleared his throat and addressed Aidan's wall. "So, you feel…?"
"Fucking fantastic," Aidan said, leaning back and flopping out over the bed, spread-eagle. "You're pretty tasty."
"Pleasant change from before!" Josh said, in a strained, overly chipper voice. "Better than puke. No one likes puke."
Aidan managed to emerge slightly from his blood haze and looked up at Josh, propping himself up on one arm to look at the back of his head. "You… you alright?" Aidan shook his head, trying to get his fangs to dial back and his eyes to go back to normal. He knew it was hard to talk to him when he was like this. "I didn't…" a frown came to his face and his stomach plummeted. "Did I hurt you?"
"Psssht," Josh said, waving his arm at him. "You were gentle, I'll cherish the memory of our first—uh, second, time always," Josh joked, turning to look at him over his shoulder. "It was just sort of… really intense. I'd forgotten."
"Sorry about that," Aidan said, feeling a bit abashed now. "I won't be as… um. Snarly and vampire-like next time. I think I was just hungry."
"Totally understandable," Josh said, but there was something else bugging him. Aidan frowned at him, finally feeling his facial features going back to normal, and he pushed himself back upright so he could look at Josh's profile better.
"... You sure there's nothing else?" Aidan asked, kicking up the burner under his simmering pot of worry.
"Yup," Josh said, actually going the extra mile to give Aidan a real smile and more than a few seconds of faltering eye contact. "Just sorta… nervous about talking to Nora."
Aidan nodded. "Yeah… I don't blame you. If you need me to…" he frowned, then shook his head. "No, I think the best thing I could do for this situation is to stay as far away as possible, huh?"
"I think that's a safe assumption," Josh agreed, giving him a wry smile. "Well…" he checked his watch. "It's been close enough to five minutes and I need a shower. I'll drop by when I'm done at the hospital and done talking to Nora. Okay?"
Aidan gave him a half-smile that bordered on slightly sad, but nodded. If it made Josh feel better to give him a sampling of various vaccines, it was the least he could do. After all, he'd just given him quite possibly the best meal of his life. "You know where to find me," he said, and shifted over to take up the whole bed as Josh took his leave.