Come Together, Right now, Over Me (Interview with a Vampire: Lestat/Louis + Claudia) (Sick Louis)

[RemedyBane]

(Yes the title is a song joke )

 

Part 1: The Plan

 

 

Louis' depression was really starting to take a toll on him. Yes, he got Claudia back, but she just looked so angry and upset to be near Lestat. Nothing he did or said got them to even try to be kind to one another. The only time they ever seemed to agree on anything, was when they talked about Louis' health. He hadn't been eating much lately, and even holding his book up was exhausting. He thought he was hiding his fatigue well, but he could see the worried glances from Claudia, and how Lestat would randomly hold him whenever he stood, seemingly trying to gauge his strength. 

"Where are you going, my Louis?" Lestat turned from where he sat by the chessboard, eyebrows slightly raised as he watched Louis put on a coat; something he did not actually need. 

"To pay my respects," Louis unnecessarily buttoned his coat and donned his hat, "today would be Paul's-" his voice broke slightly, still not able to say his name without getting choked up.

"I will go with you-" Claudia stood up, only to stop as Louis held a hand out.

"I wish to do this alone," he put on a fake smile, wanting to reassure her, "I won't be gone long, Sweetheart." 

"Well then, while you are out, perhaps Claudia and I should go hunting. Bring you home something to eat?" 

"Not hungry," Louis' smile faded and he left quickly.

Yes, Claudia hated Lestat with every ounce of her being and despised agreeing with him, but here she was, silently hoping Lestat could have convinced Louis' to eat something, "We should bring him food anyway."

"Finally," Lestat met her gaze, "something we agree on." 

"Just get the car," Claudia bared her teeth as she grabbed her coat, "I still hate you." 

"The feeling is mutual, I assure you," Lestat's smile did not reach his eyes, which were full of fire.

-------

While at the cemetery, he let the tears roll down his cheeks, not caring about the blood staining his cheeks and the top of his collar. Flowers littered the ground from where his family must have visited during the day. He paid them no mind, staring at Paul's name etched in the stone, silently asking for forgiveness to a slab. After a few minutes, he felt too weak to stand and let himself slowly fall to the ground, dust kicking up as he hit the ground. He thought about lying there until the sun came up. It would be a painful death, and he was not worthy of the kindness of mercy. 

The impact of the fall knocked the wind from his lungs and he started coughing slightly. He managed to sit up and right himself. He felt awful. He wasn't even sure he could even chase the cat that ran through the grass to feed. His heart was thoroughly broken, shredded, torn apart. He lost his brother, his sister, his mother. None of his surviving family wanted anything to do with him, and the family he created couldn't stand each other. He knew they loved him in their own way, but it just felt so... tiresome. What could he do? The only time they ever agree on is feeding, and lately, making him eat. 

A lightbulb in his head went on and he stopped breathing, focusing on that feeling, as he looked around. The only thing they both cared enough about to tolerate the other was taking care of him. Could he really use that to his advantage? Vampires didn't get sick.

He picked up a bouquet of flowers and gave a tentative sniff. When he was human, just a small whiff of a flower would send him into fits. He stared into the flowers as he remembered the first time Lestat brought him flowers, back when he was still human. 

------------ (Flashback) ------------

Lestat had begged him to go to the opera with him that evening. He had never been before and he was actually excited, not that he'd want anyone to know. He got dressed in his finest suit and fussed with his suit while he waited for Lestat to knock on his door. He was ashamed to say that he kept looking out the window, hoping to see the familiar blonde hair. When he did, he ran down the stairs and composed himself at the bottom as he waited for the knock. Now, he couldn't just open the door that very second. Lestat would for sure know he was waiting if he did. He decided to take a few calming breaths before opening the door.

He grinned as he saw Lestat, and was going to say something about his attire being nice, but he quickly stepped back as he saw the bouquet of lilies in his hands, a smile falling as he felt his nose itch already.

"Everything alright, mon chere?" 

Louis half-closed the door and hid behind it as he pinched his nose shut, wanting to stifle as many sneezes as he could. Before he could calm down, the lillies were gone and Lestat's hand was suddenly running up and down his back.

"Ah, my apologies," Lestat turned him around, pouting at the red-rimmed eyes of his lover, "you should have told me about your allergies."

Louis blushed and held the black of his hand under his nose, trying very hard not to sneeze, especially so close to this perfectly manicured man, "Never gotten flowers be'hih.. be'huh-" he turned away again and pinched his nose shut, silencing the explosion.

"What are you doing?" Lestat swatted Louis' hand away from his face, "You will explode this way." 

Louis would have normally argued, but there was something about Lestat's tone that stopped him in his tracks, instead, bringing his cupped hands to his face, "HETSCH'iew." 

"There you go," Lestat kissed his shoulder, "just lilies? You understand my attempt at humor." 

"She is the only lily that doesn't do this to me," he sniffed and accepted the handkerchief from Lestat, "except that one time with.." his voice trailed off, eyes fluttering shut as he waited for it to come, pressing the handkerchief to his face, "TSChiew!"

"A tes Souhaits" Lestat pulled Louis back close to him, "except for what?" 

"The time she wore this perfume," Louis let Lestat hold him steady, even when he bent forward with another sneeze, inside the folds on the cloth, of course, "Ack!-tiew." 

"hmm, I thought we stopped this habit," Lestat took the handkerchief and wiped Louis' nose gently, "Perhaps we should retire to my home for the evening. You look miserable, darling."

"Nah," Louis felt guilty for ruining their evening, "I just gotta splash water on my f'hah.." before he could turn away, Lestat had the handkerchief to his face and kept his arms stuck at his side, forcing Louis to be at Lestat's mercy, 'Huuh'AKschiew!" With the mess that came with his latest sneeze, he figured he should be embarrassed, but he really just wanted Lestat to hold him and make him feel better, "Hih-Ahkxchiew!" 

"No more Lillies and no perfume," he wiped the remains of the mucus from Louis' nose before kissing his lips, "Anything else?" 

"Not all perfume," Louis scrunched his nose up, earning him another kiss from Lestat, "just ones that smell like flowers." 

"I will not bring you any more flowers," Lestat pouted and touched the now-swollen appendage, "come. Let us go home so you can get some rest."

"I don't have a fever, Lestat." 

"Let me take care of you," His fingers caressed his cheekbones, thumb gently massaging just under his eyes, "Let me make you feel better." 

"Guess that.." Lestat hit the right spot with his thumb, making Louis turn away and sneeze, uncovered towards the floor, "Hah'TSCHIew!" he sniffed a bit thickly and shook his head, "Sorry."

Lestat tsked and pulled him closer, "Is this a yes?" 

"Yes," now it was Louis' turn to pout, actually enjoying the attention he was getting, "I guess I could rest." 

"There's my Louis," he kissed him again before leading him out to the car.

-------End Flashback---------------------

Unbeknownst to him, Claudia had hidden behind a crypt and had been watching him since he arrived there. She wasn't in his head, mostly out of respect, but also fear of what sorrow she would find there. When he collapsed, it took all of her willpower to stop herself from running to try to catch him. He had looked so weak; it scared her. Now that she felt a bit more secure in his current well-being, seeing as he was sitting up and picking up flowers, she felt ok to just watch again. Now that she was focused on what he was doing instead of how he was doing, she realized that the flowers were different from the ones around the cemetery. Lillies were rampant around, being the common flower for the dead, but around Lestat were only roses. She thought was odd. Sure, there were some other flowers scattered about, but she knew that roses were more expensive and harder to get, having to travel more, to find them. Why would the living spend that much time and money on this specific flower instead of the ones easily available and cheaper? The dead couldn't enjoy it.. or at least, the dead they expected.

Louis finally stood back up, absentmindedly rubbing his nose as he got his bearings. He clearly was still a bit unsteady on his feet and was desperate for a meal; human or not. The blood tears still flowed from his eyes, but it didn't seem to bother Louis, as he did nothing to stop them or wipe it away. Was he so upset that he truly wasn't aware of what was happening? Sure, he would disassociate in their home, where they were in relative safety, but outside, alone? That didn't sit right with her.

Despite herself, she delved inside his head and found something she wasn't expecting. He wasn't just sad, but uncomfortable. He felt.. cold? Vampires couldn't feel cold. That didn't make any sense to her. Not to mention there was this strange feeling in the back of his throat that made her own itch. She couldn't help but cough slightly, muffling it into her hand as to not draw his attention. Thankfully, he seemed too out of it to hear much of anything. 

With a huff, she got up and ran home. She needed to talk to Lestat. That bastard better be home. 

-------------

Louis didn't want to go home. His old home was off-limits to him, and his new home just felt like constant spite and fights, and he was just so tired. It was a strange kind of tired. A feeling he had forgotten about until this very moment. He felt like collapsing again but kept going despite it. It was either lie down in the cemetery and accept true death, or go home, tell Lestat and Claudia to save it for another night, and go sleep in his coffin until he felt okay again. the Latter was sparsely more appealing. 

Maybe he could continue to starve himself sick and maybe Lestat and Claudia would make up. So far, he felt the part. If he didn't know better, he would say that he felt like he was catching cold. His bones were heavy, there was a strange feeling in the back of his throat, and he could swear his nose itched. That was impossible. Well, clearly it was possible, because he found himself lifting the collar of his shirt, his breathe hitching, "hih-AH!'SChiew!" He bent over forcefully and almost stumbled into a gravestone. Did he just sneeze? No. That must have been a fluke from his memory. He gave some tentative sniffs, figuring he would come to reality when he smelled his current state, nothing thinking anything of the sudden array of lillies scattered about; not until his doubled over again, "HAH'SChiew! ETChiew!" When he stood back up, he started coughing and patted his chest, "What the hell." 

"It's the lilies," He looked around, "Apparently, vampires still have allergies," he huffed and looked around, completely bewildered, "Fucking Lill'hiih-AHschiew!" With that last sneeze, he ran out of the cemetery, hoping the new air will rid him off his symptoms. When he stopped running, he realized he was an idiot. Why did he want this to stop? This was exactly what he wanted. He wanted to appear sick. He wanted to feel sick. This was his ticket to get some peace from the two of them. Now how the hell was he going to sneak Lillies into the house without Lestat knowing what he's doing? 

His thoughts paused when he felt another itch in his nose, "Utschiew! Atschiew! Schiew!" he thanked some passerby who blessed him and continued walking, not taking into consideration that there were no lilies around. There was no other reason for his sudden sneezing and sore throat, but he was too relieved to question anything anymore.

---------

Now that he had made it to their block, he slumped his shoulder and tried to look as pathetic as he could. In his defense, he was rather pathetic to begin with. All he had to do was stop smiling. He was thinking of the ways he would introduce his illness in conversation. Was he going to just say he was tired and go to bed? Would that really rouse suspicion? Should he cough upstairs?

He didn't have much time to think before he began hitching again, "oh.." he put two fingers under his nose, hoping to hold off the sneeze until he was closer to the house, but it was relentless, and he ended up sneezing into his hands several houses away, "Headzzchiew!" It was wet and throaty, and he was actually surprised with how it hurt his throat, "oh.. wow," he sniffed and coughed a bit, trying to regain his composure when another itch came, "Huuh-HUDzxchiew!" 

"God bless you!" Someone called over to him, "You best see a doctor come morning, son!" 

"Just a cold, Ma'am," He was a little startled, not having realized the woman was there, "I'll be right as rain by tom..to'huh." He shook his head and cleared his throat, "Tomorrow." Holy shit, this was really acting like a real cold, "Hih-HUtszch-iew!" 

"Ah," Lestat was suddenly in front of him, "When Claudia told me you were ill, I did not believe her," he tsked and took his arm, helping him stay steady, "oh, my poor Louis." 

"Didn't know we could get s'huh-" He didn't really need to sneeze, just wanted to lay it on thick, "-sick."

"You have been starving yourself, mon cher," Lestat led him inside, "anything can happen then."

"Didn't know I could feel this way again." 

"You must feel dreadful," Lestat cooed and held him when they were inside the door, "my poor Saint Louis." 

"C-can you and Claudia catch this?" he was suddenly worried.

"No," Lestat put a hand on his forehead, smiling, "this is your cross to bear."

"Oh," Louis went back to leaning on Lestat for support, "good."

"Let's get some blood into you, then we can cuddle in the coffin, hm?" 

"Sounds good," Louis sniffed pathetically, coughing lightly into Lestat's shoulder. 

Lestat pouted and picked him up bridal style, "Don't worry, my love. We will take care of you."

"We?" 

"Of course," Lestat kissed his lips, "a sick vampire takes two."

"And I'm very sick." Louis coughed for good measure.

"Don't worry Daddy Lu," Claudia came over with a glass of fresh blood, "We'll get you better in no time." 

"Thank you," Louis took a small sip before leaning back against Lestat, "just need some rest." 

"And blood," Lestat took the glass from him and brought it to Louis' lips, "drink, darling. Please." 

Louis took a few more sips before pushing it away, "'m sorry." 

"We will try again later," Lestat was seriously worried, "I promised you rest." 

"Hm.. Rest," Louis coughed lightly again, glad that there was suddenly silence in the house. This plan might just work, at least for a little while; but he'd take what he could get.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[funbusej]

Oh Louis, you silly, silly Vampire...I seriously love these characters so much!!