#ofcages

“What did I do wrong that time?” He asks moodily, managing to get up onto his knees, and staying there as if he’s sending subliminal messages. He peers up at him with dark, almost black eyes, batting his lashes in a manner that he hopes is enticing. 

The sounds of fair-goers and various rides fade out as she steps into the building, the grips on her boots keeping her footing steady enough that she doesn’t worry about it. There’s nothing in her hands tonight, and she runs her hands down over her body as if making sure everything is in place. She’s following somebody, somebody familiar, and she makes sure as she goes that she doesn’t pick up any scent besides Dante’s and her own. Inside the house of mirrors, all is quiet besides them, and she sees both herself and the vampire reflected back a hundred times as she turns a corner to find him. “Dante.” Chunhwa feigns surprise, like she hadn’t followed him in there to begin with. “The only man I can sometimes stomach — how are you, darling? It’s been months.” Her voice is practically a purr, attractive as she moves in behind him and places one hand on a broad shoulder.

“Kwang, I think that we should go out somewhere. Together.” It’s the closest Casey has come to asking someone out on a date in a very long time, and he leaves the suggestion a loose one, like it can be interpreted either way. “Maybe to dinner? If you wanted.” A little fluttery sort of nervousness makes his heart patter in his chest, and he tries to ignore it, keeping a cool composure while he looks over at the other person. Even after five hundred years, he’s still awful at this sort of thing.

“We need to talk.” The words just burst out of him on a sudden rush of bravery, and Sejin almost immediately wishes that he could take them back. This isn’t something he’s wanted to discuss --- in fact, he’s been avoiding it --- but it’s something they need to discuss, if only to clear the air between them for his own part. “I just... need to know what’s going to happen between us, Dante. And I know I’m the one who’s kept you waiting, but I’m ready to figure it out now.”

Sweat glistens across how bow, and he’s wiping his hands off of the excess grease that stains them, the dirty rag clutched in his fingers needing a replacement sorely. Someone stands in the garage with him, and he’s about to finish up, offering them a bright smile that doesn’t quite befit the amount of exhaustion he’s feeling at the moment. “I need a shower before we go anywhere, I think. I have a place only a couple blocks from here. Mind stopping in?”

Seeing Minjae passing her in one of the hallways isn’t abnormal, but her managing to trip and stumble directly into him is. A flush immediately alights on her cheeks, warming them until her face goes rosy pink, and she has to take a breath or two as she looks up at him before she manages to right herself again. “I’m sorry. I, uh --- wanted to talk to you actually? If you don’t mind, or you’re not busy, or whatever.”

“I met a couple earlier who have been engaged for six years. Can you imagine? I mean, I’ve heard of long engagements before, but humans usually don’t wait that long.” Gushing about his clients is something that he does all too often, and he knows that most people don’t want to hear about it, but he doesn’t really care. After being alive for just over five hundred years, he talks just to hear himself talk at this point. “I’ve never been engaged before, though, so maybe I just don’t understand.”