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misqnon · 11 months

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Masquerade

CHAPTER 3: A Meeting

“On the final Friday of each month, towns and cities around the country hold their monthly masquerade. Although the humans don’t know it, this is the only time supernatural beings come out of their hiding places to dance amongst the mortals.”

(Mystery, adventure, eventual human/vampire romance)

*warning for very slight nsfwish scenario in this chapter

Previous Chapters

They headed out of the kitchen and back into the main hall, where Lilli pointed out the paintings of their ancestors.

"Priya painted these more recent ones! Isn't she talented?"

"Wow, these are amazing. How old is she?

..Actually, how old are any of you?" Marnie asked.

Carter mock gasped. "Ah! Asking my age? Haven't you heard you should never ask a vampire such a thing?"

Marnie laughed, and Carter smiled back.

Well, maybe he wasn't all bad.

"Priya's 23." Lilli said. "Ace and I just turned 24, Carter's 25, and Harley is 28. Oh, and Maki is 26."

"23? She's so talented for her age…"

"Marnie and I are 21." Leo said. "It's crazy that you guys are mostly all around our age."

"Yea, I was a little worried you were gonna be like, 800 or something, not gonna lie." Marnie said. Carter dramatically gasped at her again.

"Do I look-"

Lilli playfully shoved him. He shoved her back.

Then they walked through the downstairs waiting room- just a collection of chairs and tables in a sunny red room full of windows and bookshelves. There was a bathroom, a laundry area, another, smaller kitchen, and the entrance to a basement. Upstairs housed another 2 bathrooms, a dressing room, a modest ballroom, a study, a library, and a few other doors they walked right past. Leo and Marnie were flabbergasted at just how much room there was. At how expensive it must be. Did any of them have…actual jobs?

"And here's my bedroom!" Lilli said, opening a door with a pink crocheted 'L' hanging on it.

Inside was a large bedroom with a canopy bed, a desk, a vanity, a dresser, and plenty of flowers and plants put on the windowsills. Although the wallpaper was a classical red and brown, bits of her classic pink filled the room in the bedspread, the decor, and her clothes. Marnie walked in and expressed her love for the room- the pink, the plants, the clothes- all the bits of Lilli- and Lilli started showing her around excitedly.

Carter and Leo, left at the door, stared awkwardly. The girls seemed preoccupied, and made no effort to include them- caught up in their own little world.

Carter, not one to wait, figured he'd take things into his own hands.

He turned to leave the room on his heel, grabbing Leo's hand as he did so, and took a few confident steps down the hall.

"Hup-! Hey!" He said, though he didn't make an attempt to pull away.

"What, don't you want to see my room?"

"Uh…I…guess? Shouldn't we wait on…"

"Lilli loves to show off her things. They're going to be in there at least an hour. Come on, don't you want your sister to have some quality bonding time with her new friend?"

Well the first half sounded innocent (if not flamboyant) enough, but now he was convinced this was (another?) attempt to steal his blood.

Nonetheless, at the end of the hall, away from most the other doors, was a dark wooden door with dried roses pinned to it. A rabbit's foot hung from the doorknob, which Carter turned and opened to a dark, black-toned room.

This whole family seemed color coded. If Lilli's room was classical with a dash of pink, this was dark academia with a dash of…dark.

Dark brown oak wooden furniture lined the room, though his bed was much more modern, with no canopy and a minimalist black frame. Unlike Lilli's, his was unmade, which might not be an indicator of his character considering he might have quite literally been sleeping when they showed up. He was still in his nightgown.

Much like his robe, the bedspread and sheets were black, as was much of the posters, frames, and paraphernalia on the wall. It was mostly sketches, art, maps, musical groups. Some of the sketches looked similar to the style he had been told downstairs were Priya's, which he found sweet.

Then he heard Carter shut the door behind them.

Now wait a minute.

Carter was walking away from the door, stretching, his face a blissful grin. He walked right up to Leo- too close- and spoke with lidded eyes and a sly voice.

"You know, they probably won't notice we're gone for a while."

Leo immediately felt all the blood in his body rush up into his face. Was he flirting with him? Well, past that step really- was he trying to hook up? Like, right now? With Leo?

Breathless, Leo just fumbled over his words with many 'uh's and 'um's.

"You're really cute, Glasses."

Carter put his hand to Leo's chest, gently, and Leo somehow blushed again.

He had never, never been intimate with a man- hell, the poor repressed bastard had never even kissed a man. Well, to be fair, he'd never been intimate with a woman either. But at least he'd kissed one of those.

Carter was slowly pushing Leo to his bed, and Leo was cooperating. His mind was far away. Well, actually, it was right here, and quite active, but it was operating somewhere outside his body right now.

If he wasn't a poor repressed bastard, desperate and touch-starved and maybe a bit aroused right now, then he'd be 20 feet down the hall right now telling Lilli that her scary big brother was trying to seduce him.

Especially because her scary big brother was a vampire. And especially especially because he knew this one specifically wasn't above eating him.

But he was a poor repressed bastard, and he did want to experience what it was like to be with a man, and Carter, admittedly, was kinda hot, and it appeared that in the span of time he was thinking all of this he had ended up laid down on Carter's bed, and Carter had climbed on top of him, straddling his hips.

Wait, what.

Oh God, He was Straddling His Hips.

"You know, I won't lie, I wasn't expecting you to actually go along with this." Carter said, leaning down.

'Well, neither was I!' Leo thought.

Then Carter bypassed Leo's face and hovered his breath, and his fangs, right above Leo's collarbone.

"So is this something I'll be allowed to do, too…?" He whispered, inching dangerously closer to Leo's pulse- upon which, the utter realization of being bitten pulled Leo right out of his gay little fantasy and back into the real world.

His heart rate- already accelerated for other reasons- shot through the top and began racing. Unfortunately, that only seemed to make Carter more interested.

"Come on, Leo, give me an answer…" Carter cooed.

But Leo was frozen. Frozen and fucking terrified-

WHACK.

One pair of brown eyes and one pair of red eyes both shot to the door as it slammed open, despite having previously been locked. One equally as shocked, utterly pissed pair of green eyes shone in the doorway, its owner brandishing a small brass key.

"Carter. Get off of him."

The Guardian Crain was already scrambling off the bed by the time Ace said his name.

The taller man walked over to the bed and held a hand out to Leo, but he wasn't looking at him. He was just glaring daggers at his brother, who had his arms crossed and was averting eye contact with a grimace on the other side of the bed.

Leo took his hand and was gently, but firmly, pulled to his feet. He was embarrassed- really embarrassed- but hopefully most of the blame would be put on Carter. Rightfully so.

Sorry, Carter.

Ace led him out of the room, and upon leaving, locked the door from the outside. He heard Carter protest something from inside, but he was too preoccupied to figure out exactly what he said.

As soon as they were alone, Ace leaned down and looked him in the eyes.

"Are you okay?" Ace put a hand on his neck and turned it over, this way and that, checking for bite marks. "He didn't do anything to you, right?"

"N-No, nothing happened." It sent chills down his spine to have yet another vampire touching his neck, even gently. And right in his face, up close like this, he realized he did indeed still have a crush on Ace. Unless this was the residual arousal talking.

"Good. God, I'm sorry. Maybe bringing you here was a bad idea." He stood up again, rubbing the back of his neck in that absentminded way he did when he was nervous.

"No, no! It's not your fault. And I'm not hurt at all, remember?"

"Yea, no thanks to him." He scoffed, looking back at the door.

"I won't tell if you don't want me to." Ace said, putting a finger to his lips. "I'm very good at keeping secrets." He winked.

Leo blushed. "I'd appreciate that."

Maybe he would tell Marnie later, but. For now. He was going to try to. Move on. Somehow.

"Come on, I have some news."

And with that, Ace led him back down the hallway towards the study room they had passed earlier, where Lilli, Marnie, and Harley waited around a large wood table. Priya and Maki sat on the other end as well, though they seemed less interested.

"Where's Carter?" Harley asked.

"Not here." Ace lied.

Harley sighed. "We can't have a Coven Meeting without him-"

"I'M HERE!"

Carter breathlessly entered the room, looking flustered. There were a few leaves stuck to his robe. "Sorry. I got held up." He glared pointedly at Ace.

Ace glared back just as ruefully. "Oh, something was getting up alright." He mumbled under his breath.

They were glaring daggers at each other without any subtlety. Leo felt shame and embarrassment welling up inside him, knowing this related to him, but luckily he was saved by the bell. Harley dismissed them both to their seats, clearly catching on that something had gone on.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll find out later. Just sit down, please." He sounded tired. But after everyone had sat, Ace next to Lilli, Leo next to Ace, and Carter next to…Leo, the meeting began.

Harley perked up a bit when he spoke. "Ace has brought to my attention a new plan regarding something that's been a mystery within our family for decades. I don't think most of you know about it- maybe Maki, if anyone- but there is one key on Ace's belt that we don't know the lock to."

The whole Crain family shuffled at that. It seemed that Ace was very good at this whole "Key" thing, and he seemed to know his stuff.

"When the Keeper of the Keys title was passed on to him, he was told that every keeper has tried to find what it unlocks. But whatever it is, the one thing we do know about it is that it's in the human realm."

Marnie looked at Leo. Things were starting to make sense.

"Ace and I have talked about finding what this key unlocks before, but only briefly. We didn't get much farther after finding out it was in the human realm, for obvious reasons. But he has proposed that perhaps with human guides," Harley nodded to Marnie, and then Leo,

"This could become possible."

Whispers spread across the table. Leo and Marnie tried to take inventory of the reactions. Lilli looked confused, if anything- she didn't seem to know anything about this beforehand. Carter was the same, although he looked like he was thinking hard about something.

They heard Priya speak for the first time, whispering something unintelligible to Maki. But Maki wasn't paying attention to her. She was looking down, intently, and she looked almost…angry.

"Thoughts?" Asked Harley.

Carter raised his hand. "Why weren't we told about this special little key before? And, most importantly, what do we even think it unlocks? I mean, is it even worth it?"

Ace stepped in for that one. "When I became Keeper of the Keys, I was told that this information was only to be shared between myself and the Coven Head. Considering I can't really up and leave without telling you all why, let alone bring humans home, I elected to ignore that rule. However, I can't tell you what we think it is. That, I was told, was more confidential than anything. But I can tell you that it's…insane. Something that all of us would kill for."

"Convenient." Said Carter.

"I mean it. You guys know I wouldn't abuse your trust."

"I know what it is."

Everyone turned their heads to the new voice; Maki's. Her face was flat, purple eyes devoid of any light.

Ace and Harley looked at each other, but she spoke again before they could say anything.

"And it's not worth it. It's stupid. It probably isn't even real, anyway."

Leo watched Ace fumble a bit, deflating. "How…How do you know what it is?"

"I read it in one of the books in the library. An old journal I found in the archives. It belonged to one of our great uncles, one of the previous Key Keepers. And it's not worth it. What do you even plan on doing? Just because you have two humans with you doesn't mean you can walk around openly. And it's not like you can wear your masquerade gear every day; people will think you're crazy. Do you even know where you're going? There's an entire globe out there, the human realm isn't just Blighton- if that were the case, you would have been searching every masquerade night. It could be in another country for all we know. And whether this lock is on a box, a door, a lock- we don't even know what we're looking for. Have you thought this through at all?"

By the end her gaze had left the table and turned directly to the blonde Crain, her voice and eyes cutting the room with malice. The twins felt they shouldn't be there, that this wasn't their place at all- in fact, even Carter and Lilli looked shocked. Ace just blinked, overwhelmed- if not a little hurt.

Harley cleared his throat.

"Maki's right. We don't have any leads. Whether her idea of what the key unlocks is correct or not, it'd be stupid to head out on a journey to the human realm with nothing but the key and a couple mortals."

He looked to the two mortals in question. "No offense."

"None taken!" They said quickly, in unison. They were just happy to have something to input.

"I'm well aware of that." Ace said. "But where else to get more information than the human realm itself? Its libraries, its people, its local legends. This wouldn't just be a prop hunt, the first phase of it would be gathering information."

Maki was silent. She still looked angry, displeased, and she didn't seem to agree with what Ace had just put forward, either, but she had said her piece.

Harley looked to the group.

"I'll open it up to a vote. Lilli, Maki, Priya, Carter. And you two," Harley said, nodding to the twins.

Marnie blinked. "Wait, us?" The other vamps seemed surprised as well.

He shrugged. "You're involved, so you might as well get a vote."

Maki looked ready to jump out of her seat, but Priya placed a quiet hand on her shoulder.

Harley opened it up to the table.

"All in favor of allowing Ace to move forward with his plan, in phases."

Leo and Marnie looked at each other before slowly raising their hands, just above their head lines. Lilli raised her hand next. Then Carter, and surprisingly, Priya.

Maki said nothing.

Harley shrugged again. "That's majority."

Ace jumped up, pumping his fist in the air. "Yes!"

"Ace, sit down."

"Yessir!" Plop.

"Let me lay down some ground rules. You guys can give feedback if they don't sound good to you. First of all, we need to figure out to what extent you'll be involving these two." He gestured to the twins again. "I'm sure they have their own lives they need to get back to."

Leo and Marnie looked at each other. Marnie worked at the local market, and Leo had gotten a job editing papers at the local printing press. Other than that, they really only had each other and their humble little house. They'd only lived here a year or so, anyway.

Marnie hesitantly explained. "Well, we both have jobs, but they're not…the most important things in the world to us. Other than that there isn't much holding us here, but obviously we need the money to keep our house, and get food."

Priya spoke. "We could always pay for them."

"Priya!" Maki hissed.

She shrugged. "We have so much of it. Sometimes I go into the vault and fold the bills into little boats."

Oh. Alright.

Harley nodded. "Uh, okay. Priya, don't…do that anymore. But she's right." He turned back to them. "Our family has quite a bit of money. It could be our way of paying you, considering your help."

That…didn't sound too bad, actually. Leo was starting to like these guys more and more.

"That…sounds alright to me." He said.

Harley nodded. "Information, then. I'm not approving any trip outside of the immediate area until you bring me a lead."

Ace brightened. "Does that mean I'm allowed in the human realm for research?"

Harley sighed. "I suppose."

"Haha!" Ace grinned.

"And are you planning on doing this alone, aside from your two guides?"

Lilli looked over at him and Ace smiled.

"I was planning on taking Lilli, actually."

"That sounds like a good idea. She's more responsible than you anyway." Harley smirked.

Ace pretended to be bothered and Lilli giggled.

Leo and Marnie, though they hadn't said it to each other out loud, were actually starting to feel…excited.

Their life here wasn't bad by any means, but it was definitely simple, and temporary. They had escaped home but they couldn't live their greatest dreams right away. They had to settle for a small, cheap town near the forest, getting day jobs while they saved up for whatever was next.

And both of them would be lying if they said they hadn't daydreamed of situations like this. Of adventure. Of getting out there. Of seeing the world. Of escaping.

"I'm coming too."

The sound of mirrors breaking filled Leo's head as he looked over to the voice that had come from right beside him, from Carter.

Harley quirked a brow, while Lilli and Ace made…some faces.

"And why would you need to go, Carter?" Harley asked.

"Because, I sneak off to the human realm all the time. Oh, don't look surprised, you knew I wasn't disappearing to the moor."

Harley had his eyes shut, face tight with frustration. He just waved it off to the little team they had formed of human/vampire duos.

Lilli and Ace both looked at their brother with…Apprehension. Lilli tried to let him down gently.

"Carter, we know that you'd be a valuable asset to the human realm, but we kind of have…guides, for that. Uh, besides! The more vampires in the human realm, the more complicated things get. Ace and I are pushing it as it is."

"Yea, and you eat people, dude." Ace added.

"I can control myself!" Carter protested.

Ace inflamed. "20 MINUTES AGO I HAD TO PEEL YOU OFF-"

Leo panicked. "I THINK WE'LL BE FINE WITH FOUR." He interjected.

Marnie gave him a suspicious glance.

Carter just huffed. "Alright, Fine. Head to the human realm without your humble guard dog. It's not like there was a hunter out for your necks just last night."

Harley nearly sat bolt upright.

"A hunter?"

"Oh, yea." Ace scratched his head, chuckling sheepishly. "I forgot about that."

Carter smirked.

Harley sighed for probably the millionth time that day. "It's getting late. We should let the humans get home. We can continue this conversation later."

Leo suddenly realized just how late it was. Looking to the clock on the wall, he watched the dial approach four. He did not look forward to the walk home at this hour. Besides that, he was now realizing just how tired he was.

Ace looked at Leo sympathetically. "It is getting late. Sorry we ended up keeping you so long. I'm sure you two are exhausted after everything that's happened."

Leo chuckled. "Yea, a bit."

Lilli popped her head into the conversation. "It is late- much too late to make the walk home. Why don't we let them sleep here? We have guest rooms."

Harley, among others, looked hesitant. "I'm..not sure if that's a good idea," He began.

"Aw, c'mon Harls! They're harmless." Ace winked.

Harley frowned at him. "I know they're harmless, Ace. It's their comfort I'm worried about." Carter's name did not have to be said.

Marnie peeped up. "I don't mean to impose, but I don't really want to walk home at this hour either. And I wouldn't mind having a sleepover in Lilli's room, personally. " She smiled, and Lilli smiled back.

Harley made a face. Then he looked at Leo. "What about you?"

What about Leo. He wasn't sure he knew himself. He looked to Ace, at his left, and then Carter, to his right.

It was like an angel and a devil on his shoulders.

But he, too, really didn't want to walk home tonight. Dangerous or not, he mostly didn't wanna have to wait that long before being able to get the fuck to sleep.

"...Just for tonight, I don't think I'd mind."

Harley huffed. "Well, if you're comfortable with it, then you're free to. Ace, Lilli, please take good care of your guests. And Carter,"

"Alright, alright! I got it! Not like you've said it a thousand times tonight…"

"For you, it bears repeating." Ace mumbled.

Marnie and Lilli, predictably, did end up having a mock-sleepover. Lilli grabbed some extra pillows and bedsheets from the guest bedroom and insisted on sleeping on the floor so that Marnie could have her bed. Marnie protested, of course, but couldn't win against Lilli's diplomat arguments. Her bed was unbelievably fancy- the kind you could tell was actually high quality, not just expensive- and it smelled good, too, like flowers and linen.

Leo, however, spent the entire walk upstairs trying to decide which would be more safe from possible vampiric attacks: a guest bedroom, all to himself and vampire free, but open to attacks from Carter or any other thirsty home member who walked by.

The alternative, however, was sharing a room with Ace, which was intimidating for multiple reasons. And also meant sleeping in the same room as a vampire, as much as he had come to like Ace.

It was still only Day 1. He had a while to go before he would fully trust him.

Once they were upstairs, and everyone else had departed, Ace put a hand on his hip and asked Leo his plan. Leo had decided that he'd ask for a guest bedroom if Ace didn't outright offer him to room with him. Besides, he didn't wanna overstep his boundaries. It was like inviting yourself over to someone else's house.

"You sure?" Ace asked, upon hearing Leo's decision. "I wouldn't mind if you slept with me. Besides, how else am I supposed to protect you from Carter?" He grinned a quirky grin.

Leo blushed. "Well…when you put it that way,"

Ace cackled, throwing an arm around Leo's shoulders. "C'mon, I'll show you my room. There's a futon in there you can crash on."

He guided Leo there with his arm perched on Leo the whole time. Leo would not admit to himself that he thoroughly enjoyed the other's touch.

When they reached Ace's door, a dark blue with a pair of aviator glasses hanging from it, Leo realized this was the first time he'd spent the night at someone else's house. He'd never really gotten to do it as a kid.

Inside, Ace's room was much like Lilli's. Classic wallpaper and furniture but Ace-isms all over the room. A guitar sat in the back corner, a few clothes messily hung on chair backs, some old tools sat on his desk. Surprisingly, it was relatively free of key motifs. There were quite a few airplanes, though.

His bed was a canopy, like Lilli's, but the sheets were a navy blue. He pulled them back and grabbed an extra blanket from the mess of comforters, handing one to Leo.

"Let me go grab you a pillow."

Leo put his blanket down on the futon and sat.

What a weird day this had been. If you told him 12 hours ago that his first masquerade night would end with a sleepover at the home of his new vampire friends, he would have told you that that was an extremely strange, specific scenario. And also that you were crazy.

But here he was.

He heard footsteps come back in the room and expected to see Ace, but instead-

Well, take one guess.

Surprisingly, though, the raven-haired visitor didn't look sly, or mischievous, or even amused. He seemed relatively even-faced, if not worried.

Leo made a face despite that, preparing for the worst. Carter avoided eye-contact, but spoke.

"Hey. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier."

…Oh?

"I mean, some of it was on purpose, but I don't want to genuinely make someone uncomfortable. If I was, coming onto you, that is, and-"

Leo interrupted him after getting the gist of what he was saying.

"It's alright. Thanks…for apologizing. And…Sorry."

Carter looked at him strangely. "What are you sorry for?"

"I don't know. Making you look bad?"

Carter just stared at him for a moment, then cackled, his fangs out and proud. Then he crossed his arms and shook his head.

"You need to raise your self-esteem. You're cute, you should have some more of it."

Leo blinked.

"I would say I won't flirt with you anymore, and I won't, if you don't want me to. But I don't mean anything by it, really. It just really pisses Ace off." He said, grinning.

Speaking of, the blonde appeared in the doorway shortly afterwards with some pillows. The moment he saw Carter he nearly flipped a lid, going on about how he can't leave him alone for a second- but Carter ignored him, spinning his finger around at his temple to indicate that he was crazy to Leo. As much as he loved Ace, he had to admit, it made him laugh a bit. Carter and Ace's relationship was…entertaining, to say the least.

"Alright, alright, I'll get out of your room. I just couldn't keep myself away from our visitor. And not for the reason you think!"

Ace squinted at him. "Uh huh. And what would that be?"

"I just thought I'd ask him if he was single."

"GET OUT!"

Eventually, Ace got him out of the room. Carter managed to wave goodbye to Leo, who halfheartedly waved back. Any romantic inkling that had briefly appeared between him and Carter earlier in the day had been ruled out by now, but he didn't mind the other's presence as much as he thought he did.

Still made him dreadfully nervous, though.

By the time they got settled, it was practically 5 am. Ace said goodnight, climbed into bed, and assured Leo that all the doors and windows were locked, and that he had the key.

Leo layed on the futon with his gaze to the ceiling, considering what he had gotten himself into, but it didn't last long. Within minutes he'd fallen into a peaceful sleep himself, completely forgetting to worry about his vampiric roommate for the night.

—

Sub-Chapter: Girls

"...Hey, Marnie?"

Marnie blearily blinked her eyes open, having almost completely fallen asleep. They laid down just minutes ago.

"Yea?"

"Sorry, were you asleep?"

"No, no, what's up?" She slurred.

"...Do you guys really want to help us? I mean, you didn't get a lot of time to think about it. And I know it's…a lot. No one will be mad if you decide against it."

"..." Marnie lay still for a moment, then sat up in bed and pushed the covers from her legs. She put her bare feet to the cold, hardwood floor and shuffled over to where Lilli was. She gestured for Lilli to scoot over even though it was completely dark in the room. Luckily, Lilli could see anyway. She complied.

Marnie sat down with her and pulled the blankets over her cold toes.

"Lilli, you seem so…insecure, about humans. About what we think of you. Did something happen…? I mean, you don't have to tell me, but….We don't have anything against you. Leo- I know he acts scared of you all, and I'm sorry, he's just-"

"No, no! Leo is fine, he hasn't hurt my feelings. I understand. Nothing has happened to me, actually, but…I've heard stories, and I know family who…have had to deal with things. I don't know, I guess I'm just scared humans will think I'm…disgusting. Or a monster."

Marnie was quiet a moment. "...I like monsters. I think they're misunderstood."

Lilli looked at her. She'd never heard a response quite like that before.

"And besides. Isn't it cool having a friend that could totally kick your ass? Especially knowing that they totally could, but they won't. ‘Cause they like you. And you like them."

"...I've never thought of it that way. But, with us, it's like…We could beat you up, and sometimes we really want to beat you up. Our whole lives were designed around beating you up. It's not like we can just pretend that isn't true."

"Well, then, doesn't that make the fact you choose not to even more meaningful? And whether you think your lives were 'designed' that way or not, you and your family are doing just fine as you are right now, aren't you? Getting food from blood banks? That's like saying humans were designed to eat fruit, but how many people do you know that actually go looking for fruit trees when they want an apple? We don't, we go to a store to buy it prepared, just like you. And I don't think the apple tree holds it against us."

Lilli thought for a long time. "Marnie, I don't know if I fully agree with your metaphor yet, but…It's very thoughtful. I appreciate that you care so much, even though we've really only just met."

Marnie smiled a sad smile. "I should be thanking you. I'm just happy to have a friend. A girl friend. I've just…had trouble…in the past. Feeling comfortable with other girls accepting me, I guess. It isn't, like, a competition thing or anything. Just…personal stuff. But, so, it means a lot to me to finally make a friend who's a girl and who also isn't Leo." She said, chuckling. Lilli laughed too.

"Well I like you a lot already. And I'm excited to talk about anything and everything with you. My sisters were nice to have around, and I love them both dearly, but they weren't much like me. So this is nice for me too."

Marnie snorted. "We sound like we just started dating."

Lilli laughed at that. "I don't think I could have romance in my life right now."

"I don't think I could have romance in my life, like, ever. For some reason, it's just not my thing. I think platonic relationships are just as important and special. Have I hammered that home too much tonight?" She yawned. "I feel like I'm repeating myself."

Lilli smiled. "Nah, it's nice to be reassured. You should get to bed. You need more rest than me."

Marnie stood, yawning again. "Yea, yea, rub it in."

"Hehe, maybe I will. You keep saying I should get more comfortable with who I am!"

"Is who you are relevant to me going to sleep right now?"

"I don't think so."

"Then I care not. G'night." She said, flopping back down into her nest of blankets. Lilli rolled her eyes, smiling, and went back to bed herself.

#masquerade story #masquerade update #oc #original story #vampires #vampire x human #lgbt writing #lgbt #supernatural #aroace character #asexual characters #woohoo lets goooo marnie moment #my writing

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