speakscanadian | Nom nom nom (for Asher)

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Nom nom nom (for Asher)

What was that saying?

Beggars couldn't be choosers.

India had never been at the top of Ray's list of vacation hotspots but it wasn't like there was a brochure full of options for where they could go that year. He'd heard on the grapevine that it wasn't exactly a luxurious place but after bumping back down to reality after the disappearance of the mist, anywhere that was away was a step up in Ray's book.

With hindsight, maybe two giant suitcases and a bag slung across his chest wasn't the best plan. Especially not when he'd partnered himself with the least helpful or willing man on the planet. Never one to travel light though, there were very noticeable drag marks left in his wake as he ploughed ahead over the causeway and onto the second island.

"Thanks again, by the way," Ray drawled sarcastically for the third or fourth time. "For all of your help. Really."

Had Ray not spent so much time packing and repacking, maybe they would have reached their destination before nightfall.

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Asher's insistence that he would do it intentionally was enough to make Ray laugh. Not completely humorlessly but then again, he was laughing at him.

He did turn to face him then, once the danger of being trampled on was gone.

"Stop talking and try to understand me, will ya. You knew you were in control but I didn't." All Ray'd had to go on was the word of a vampire who - for all intents and purposes - he'd never met before. Asher hadn't exactly inspired confidence from the outset.

"That's why it was fun for you, right? I thought I was about to be killed by a vampire. Not you killing me intentionally but something controlling you." He shrugged a little. "I was wrong, thank God. But if you ask me about my feelings, I think I might offer my neck to the chicken guy over there just to avoid anymore torture."

"Can't you just say you didn't think it was funny?" He could understand that, he guessed. In the moment, had the tables been turned, he probably wouldn't have found it funny either.

All he really wanted to know was how long Ray was going to be... whatever he was at him

"Because there's nothing controlling me here anymore than there is back there. That makes it sound like I'm a fucking robot."

"I know that now." Ray dropped his head to the side, like it was too much effort to keep it upright. Pity he hadn't known it at the time.

"Can we stop going around in circles, please? Come on." He nodded back towards the causeway. "I miss those baby blues."

"That makes one of us," Asher muttered, rolling his eyes. He could have done without that specific location, but the vampirism? The strength, the senses (once they eventually leveled themselves out), the immortality? They definitely didn't suck.

Should this place and its ability to restore powers remain, Ray was already worrying that Asher would become dissatisfied with life as a human on the other island. If Ray had the choice between being superman and getting old and tired, he knew which he'd choose.

For now, he put his faith in the historical transience of the place and pushed the concern to the back of his mind. It would probably disappear in a day or two.

"You're not the one who has to look at them every day. Yellow creeps me out." Maybe there was something wrong with Ray or maybe every vampire film was wrong but he found absolutely nothing mesmerising or tempting about Asher's eyes right now. "You look like a snake."

"And the fangs don't?" Asher asked. If they hadn't before then they probably did now.

"Maybe hazel creeps me out."

"I'm used to them. Aaaand," Ray weighed it up mentally for a moment, "they have their uses."

He arrived at the head of the causeway first, stopping before he crossed the divide.

"Anyway, shut up. I'm still mad at you and my eyes aren't creepy. You know I think they're my best feature."

"How mad? Scale of one to ten?" He was awfully calm for someone who was angry. That was either a good thing or a bad thing, but he wasn't sure which it was just yet.

"Sorry your vacation was a bust," Asher offered, shrugging. "And that I freaked you out as much as I did." He wasn't sorry for the joke altogether, just that his acting was a bit too on point.

"Nine," Ray answered honestly, saying nothing after the apology except: "After you."

"Seriously?" Asher said, looking genuinely perplexed by Ray's response.

"It. Was. A. Joke! I said I was sorry!" Sort of. In his own, roundabout way... The word sorry was definitely in there, so it counted. "The least you could do is acknowledge it."

"Fine." Ray jabbed a fist out to thump Asher on his upper arm, pulling his hand back with a puff of air and giving it a shake. He'd wanted to do that on other side, when it would have hurt Asher more than it would him, but since Asher wasn't making any moves to cross the divide, Ray had to take what he was given.

"Consider it acknowledged." The least Asher could do was pretend that hurt.

"... Wast that for the apology or pretending to bite you?" He asked. All of this was beginning to make his head hurt more than the heightened sense of sound had.

"Look, if you're pissed, be pissed. I don't know how to deal with this."

Ray figured his behaviour was entirely fair. If Asher didn't know how to deal with this, it was only because Ray hadn't known how to deal with that.

"It was for ruining my vacation, scaring the shit outta me and then whining because I'm not making it easy for you by yelling and storming off." He huffed out a sigh of frustration. "Look, all I want right now is for you and me to leave here and things to go back to normal."

"You mean for me to go back to normal." Whatever the fuck that was, but he was pretty sure that was what Ray had actually meant by it.

"And me," Ray corrected, even though he mostly meant Asher. "I can't be myself when you're like this, okay. I'm not there yet."

It was one thing knowing Asher used to be a vampire. It was a whole other thing to actually be confronting it in person.

"Why the fuck not? Jesus Christ, you're acting like I killed someone the second I stepped foot here." Why the hell wasn't he this freaked out by the guy lopping off chicken heads out in the open? It was more or less the same thing.

"Maybe I should have. At least then there'd be a reason for it."

"What don't you understand?!" Ray asked, losing a bit of the cool he was trying so hard to keep hold of.

"I don't know this," he enunciated slowly, gesturing up and down at Asher. "You said what you did was a joke? Fine. But I know you've done worse before to people and it didn't end with a kiss on the neck. If you stay here--" He caught his breath, looking away briefly and shaking his head in disbelief, wondering how the night could have changed so dramatically.

"If you stay here, what happens if you go back to that?" The look he gave Asher was enough to show him that the thought alone scared Ray and he didn't bother trying to hide it. "Do what comes naturally?"

"What don't you understand?!" Asher echoed. For someone who wasn't keen on talking in circles anymore, it was like Ray was going out of his way to miss Asher's biggest point.

"I wouldn't, because I can control it. I don't feel a pang and pounce. I can, if I choose to, but I can choose not to, to leave before it gets to that."

Ray wasn't going to tell Asher again that he understood. It wasn't what he was asking. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have but if the joke had done anything, it was highlight to Ray any number of potentially horrific things Asher could do if he chose to.

"Will you choose not to?" He asked simply, holding his gaze. That was the question Ray was afraid to hear the answer to.

The only thing that stopped Asher from up and socking Ray right then and there was the fact that he was worried he'd actually punch a hole straight through his skull. He thought the answer was obvious; why would he have been so adamant on Ray understanding that he had the power to choose if he was planning a bloodbath?

Reaching out, Asher dropped the bags out onto the causeway, returning Ray's gaze with one a lot colder.

"I'll let you know."

Ray closed his eyes but said nothing. He was still angry and he knew if he stayed he'd end up saying something he'd regret. Maybe he already had.

Scrubbing a hand over his head, he turned and passed through the invisible barrier without another word. He knew it would be futile to hope that Asher would follow him.

On the other side, Ray looked back over his shoulder but all he saw was beach and bushes.

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