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S tephan rocked on his feet. His body buzzed with unreleased energy as he waited for Jayden outside the movie theater.

He was going on a date! They were going on a date! Together!

Stephan couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. It was his first date, ever. On top of that, his mind kept wandering to what they had done in the bathroom.

Would it happen again? Was that where their date would end? More importantly, would Stephan be able to build up the courage to…to suck Jayden, as well?

He was sure they would do something when it was over. It was a date after all… Isn’t that what people did?

Stephan’s brow pinched—was it what people did? Maybe it was only for one-night stands… Wait, that wasn’t right. One-night stands were just about sex, right? But hadn’t first dates turned into one-night stands for some? Maybe…

But that wasn’t what they were doing. Did that mean they weren’t going to do anything? Were multiple dates required? If so, they had messed up the order.

Oh, hell, he didn’t know. Stephan was completely unprepared. His heart began to drum in his chest as he worked himself into a panic.

Ugh, why did he always do this to himself? It seemed being nervous was never enough for him—why be nervous when he could just panic? Who wouldn’t want to experience a hyped-up heartbeat, cold sweats, and dizziness? Panicking was obviously a better choice, Stephan thought with self-disgust.

He always panicked, so why the hell hadn’t he planned for it? He should’ve read a book or something. Seriously, what had he been thinking going in blind? At the very least, Stephan should have discussed it with Liam. No doubt his godfather would have given him some useful advice.

Wait, did Liam even date? Now that he thought about it, Stephan couldn’t remember the man ever dating. The vampire was over five-thousand-years-old. Surely, he’d dated at some point.

The rumbling of a motorcycle pulled his mind away from Liam’s love life. His gaze followed the man as he parked. Jayden moved like a predator, his gait slow and steady as he started toward Stephan.

Jayden placed a kiss on Stephan’s lips the second he was in range, and rumbled, “Hello.”

“Hi,” Stephan giggled. His face heated slightly at how smitten the word had sounded.

“Ready to go in?”

“Yep!” After linking his arm with Jayden’s, he dragged him into the theater.

A bsently sipping his pop, Jayden stared mindlessly at the screen. By the Gods, was this movie boring—some romantic touchy-feely bullshit. Which meant lots of crying, kissing, hugging, and declarations of love. It. Was. Awful.

But he could get through it…for Stephan. If only for the fact that the man had bought out the whole theater for today, just so Jayden wouldn’t be bothered by the voices. Other than them and two workers, there wasn’t a single person in the whole building. Therefore, he could fucking get through it.

“This is so bad.”

“It really is,” Jayden agreed.

His monster whined, “There’s no blood!”

“There isn’t.”

Well, as long as he had his monster’s attention, he might as well ask a few things he’d been wondering about. It wasn’t as if Jayden was paying attention to the movie anyway.

“Where do you go when you’re…not here? I mean, you’re here, but you’re not here , here, so where do you go?”

Did that question even make sense? Probably not.

“I’m always here.”

“Yes, but I can’t always see or feel you,” Jayden pointed out.

His monster nodded. “Nope, you can’t.”

“Okay…so where do you go?”

Blinking, he smiled and said, “Deeper. ”

“Deeper where?”

Shrugging, he waved at the darkness around him. “Deeper.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Jayden snapped.

His monster’s face scrunched up into an almost child-like pout, and then he poofed away. Well, shit—apparently his darkness hadn’t liked Jayden’s tone. Note to self—upsetting his entity when he wanted answers was a stupid idea.

Sighing softly, he peered at Stephan.

The corners of Jayden’s mouth twitched—well, at least Stephan was having fun. The man’s eyes were glued to the screen. His expression changed multiple times in a matter of seconds as he stared forward. It was adorable.

Midway through the movie, Jayden felt like stabbing himself just to end his suffering. When the movie’s credits finally began to roll, he had to hold back the sigh of relief that tried to slip out.

The disaster of a movie had been two fucking hours long—thank fuck it was over.

At the thought of leaving, Jayden began to relax, until he realized that he probably had an unimaginable number of these crappy romantic movies in his future.

And there to make his anxiety about his future suffering worse was Stephan, babbling on about what he enjoyed about the movie. Considering Jayden spent most of the last two hours staring at the elf, he was forced to remain quiet and nod in agreement.

“You didn’t pay attention at all, did you?” Stephan giggled.

Without feeling even a twinge of guilt, Jayden admitted, “No. ”

Pushing aside his worries, he absently wondered why they were still sitting in the theater.

“I figured you wouldn’t…but hopefully, you’ll like the next movie.”

Jayden blanched. “Next movie?”

Stephan started giggling harder. “Don’t worry, there’ll be blood in this one. It’s called Dark Love . I heard there’s actually a few murders.”

Jayden sagged in his seat.

A fter the last four hours in the theater, Stephan felt perfectly happy while walking hand in hand to one of his favorite places to eat—Jib Hot Dog Shop. The food was mouthwatering, but nothing fancy.

Actually, it was probably only a step above fast food, but Stephan loved it anyway. Wealthy or not, food was food. As long as it tasted good, who cared how much or little it cost.

“Where are we going?” Jayden asked.

Stephan hummed. “You’ll see.”

“And we had to walk, why?”

He admitted shyly, “I wanted to hold your hand.”

“Ah.” Jayden grinned, squeezing Stephan’s hand lightly.

A minute later, a brick building with a dull blue roof came into sight.

He squealed, “We’re here!”

Jayden raised his eyebrows as he eyed the building. “I have to say, this was not what I was expecting.”

“I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s good. I promise. I mean, I haven’t been here in a while, but I’m sure everything is still good. Well, none of it is good for you, but it tastes good.” Stephan worried his lip.

He probably should have asked Jayden what he wanted to eat—or if he was even hungry. Maybe the man had wanted to go home after the movies. Stephan just assumed eating was necessary on a date.

“If you want to go somewhere else, though, that’s fine. I probably should have asked what you wanted. Sorry, let’s go, we’ll find someplace we both like. Or maybe you’re not hungry. We could just go home. Whatever you want, I’m fine with it.” Stephan smiled weakly and tried to pull the man away, but Jayden didn’t budge.

“Whoa, hold up. I’m not picky when it comes to food, you know that. And if I wasn’t hungry, I would have said something. Come on, Sweetheart. Let’s eat.” Jayden wrapped his arm around Stephan’s waist and tugged him toward the building.

Smiling softly, he nodded. “Okay.”

When they walked in, the place smelled of French fries, cheese, grilled meat, and coffee—anything but healthy. In other words, delicious.

It appeared as if the restaurant had recently been renovated. There was barely a creak as Stephan slid into a vacant booth.

When the waitress bustled over, Jayden ordered a chocolate milkshake, four hot dogs with chilli and cheese, two cheeseburgers, and a large fry, that the man had informed him he had no intention of sharing. Not being able to consume nearly as much, Stephan only ordered a vanilla milkshake, two hot dogs with cheese, a small fry, and three cups of cheese .

Once the waitress was gone, with a raised eyebrow, Jade asked, “Three cups?”

“I like cheese, and you have no room to talk, Mr. I’m Not Willing To Share My Fries.”

Jayden grunted.

“So…admit it, you liked the last movie, didn’t you?” Stephan hummed.

“It wasn’t bad,” Jayden agreed, grudgingly.

The reviews hadn’t lied. There had been plenty of blood to keep Jayden occupied. Stephan personally thought part of the storyline was similar in ways to their own lives.

“The deaths were too quick,” the vampire said with a sigh.

He giggled. “If you say so.”

A smile pulled at Stephan’s lips—it was just like Jayden to want those he deemed evil to suffer more.

Well, at least, he’d enjoyed the last movie. Stephan knew the man had hated the first. Truthfully, the first movie hadn’t been perfect—a bit too sappy, even for his tastes. But they were having fun. That’s all that mattered.

Wait, was Jayden having fun? Stephan was, but maybe Jade wasn’t. Well…watching a movie you hated didn’t really qualify as fun. What the hell had Stephan been thinking? He should have asked the man what he wanted to see. Ugh, why had he even wanted to plan everything all by himself? This wasn’t one of his businesses, they were a couple! Couples were supposed to decide things together.

Stephan’s chest tightened with worry—had he ruined their first date? He’d thought it had been going so well. Apparently, Stephan had been fooling himself. Oh, what did he do now?! Was there a way to salvage it ?

“You’re doing it again.” Jayden’s deep voice interrupted his thoughts.

He blinked and looked up at him. “Doing what?”

“Overthinking things.”

Stephan flushed. “I wasn’t.”

“You were. Your eyes got this far-off look, and your face scrunched up. You were also mumbling and nodding to yourself.” Crossing his arms, Jayden asked, “What were you panicking about this time?”

“Are you having fun?”

Jayden slowly tilted his head to the side. “I’m with you. Why wouldn’t I be?”

The uncomfortable feeling in his chest vanished. Stephan beamed. “I have fun when I’m with you, too.”

Jayden rubbed his neck and gave Stephan a lopsided smile. But it soon waned, and a serious look overtook his face. The man was thinking hard about something—something dark.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to te—” he started, but stopped when their waitress came over with their food.

Once she was gone, Stephan asked, “What were you going to say?”

“Let’s eat first.”

“Okay…” Stephan said hesitantly.

He wanted to push, but he wouldn’t. Whatever it was, Jayden would tell him when he was ready.

Stephan picked up one of his hot dogs, dipped the end into a cheese cup, and took a bite. He moaned as the flavors hit his taste buds—oh, it was so good.

There was a comfortable silence as they ate. Once his plate was empty, Stephan leaned back and rubbed his stomach. As he waited for Jayden to finish, he found himself gazing longingly at what remained of his cups of cheese. Just a bit of the gooey substance clung to the sides. The thought of licking them clean came to mind.

Stephan wouldn’t, though, as that would be weird. Oh, but he really wanted to. Maybe he could…just a little. No, no, doing something like that in public would be…well, Stephan would never live it down.

“If you want more cheese, just order another hot dog.” Jayden chuckled.

Stephan reluctantly dragged his gaze away from the temptation and focused on Jayden. The vampire had finished.

Face flushing, he mumbled, “I’m full.”

After paying, they started walking back to where they’d left Jayden’s motorcycle.

Remembering that the vampire had been trying to tell him something before, Stephan asked, “What were you going to say earlier?”

Jayden’s eyes shifted to him, and then away. The man suddenly looked uncomfortable, uncertain even. “I just…realized how little you know about me and?—”

Stephan cut him off. “What are you talking about?”

“Let me finish. Stephan, I know about you, about your past. Yet you know almost nothing about mine. It’s funny, the only other person who knows everything is Dante. But it should be you. You accepted my monster, so?—”

“You’re not a monster. You’re just a little unbalanced!”

Jayden let out a barking laugh. “Even if you deny it, you know it’s the truth. But you accept me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have contacted Dante. You would still be trying to stop me. And despite me having a voice in my head, you don’t fear me. I’m a monster, but I’m your monster. So…I want you to know.”

His eyes widened, as Stephan didn’t know what to say. That Jayden would want to tell him about his past, it was something he had never dared to hope for—or ask for.

Over the years, Stephan had surmised that whatever had happened to him, it had been awful. Talking about it, he was sure, would be painful.

Stephan certainly had no wish to vocalize what had happened to his parents, or himself. It became too real when he spoke it aloud—it hurt too much. He had never told anyone—never voiced what happened, not even with Liam.

Hah…just letting his godfather read him—watching the man break into sobs as he saw how his dear friends died—had been soul crushing. Of course, that had been right after it happened. The years that had passed made it easier. Stephan hadn’t had any problems showing Jayden when they first met.

Still, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to say it out loud. Honestly, Stephan wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what Jayden had to tell him. It would just be more proof of how cruel the world was.

But if the vampire wanted him to know, if he was strong enough to tell him, Stephan would listen. Though their current location wasn’t really the best for such a sensitive conversation.

“Here?” Stephan asked hesitantly.

“Home.”

Stephan licked his lips. “Home.”