Making up the Distance

Gabriel stood under the shower, head tilted upwards in thought as he let the water rain over his face and hair, fingers smoothing through the curls.

There had been more distance between he and Jean recently. For the first time in months he had felt... lonely. Even when Jean was in the same room as him, they didn't talk as much as they used to, and it felt as though they were slowly moving apart.

He sighed and turned the water hotter, feeling the slight burning heat on his icy skin.

They hadn't broken up or anything... it just... wasn't what it was somehow.

Jean-Claude yawned and flicked the comic he was reading closed.

He needed to pee.

The Fledgeling pushed himself up, knocking Cleo off his chest and padding towards the bathroom. Gabe was in the shower but he doubted he'd care if he he walked in.

Perhaps he'd drag him into the shower with him.

The two of them were getting a little distant but he still thought about Gabe a hell of a lot. He just didn't know how to make the leap to bind their relationship together better.

The man sighed softly as he unzipped his jeans.

"Managed to tear yourself away?"

At first he had quite liked comics. He had never been much of a reader himself, so having pictures and only a few words had quite appealed to him. But he had soon started to have bitter feelings towards the things when Jean ended up being buried in them and virtually completely ignoring him.

Immature, really, to be jealous of a book.

But then he was immature. It wasn't as though he had ever pretended otherwise.

"Mhmm."

He finished peeing and washed his hands, mercifully not flushing the chain while Gabe was using the shower.

Jean-Claude turned his back on the sink then leaned back against it. Now was as good a time as any to try and strengthen the weakening relationship.

"I lost interest in it."

You seem to have lost interest in a lot of things. he thought bitterly, but didn't voice it, only reaching down to squirt some conditioner into his hand, running it through his hair with his fingertips.

"Give me a hand, will you?"

A hand waved a comb out of the shower door. He could just about do the front bits, but further back and down it was a lot more difficult.

He was thankful that he now had Jean to use as his own personal hairdresser.

Jean-Claud stripped of his clothing as he strolled towards the shower.

"How did you manage to keep such long hair until I came along to brush it for you?" he murmured with a fond smile as he slid in behind Gabe and took the comb from him.

The comb ran through the vampire's blond hair gently, sliding through the little knots easily enough.

"Is that okay?" He hated tugging too hard at Gabe's hair when he was combing it.

"By allowing it to become a tangled mess or spending a fortune on hairdresser's bills."

His local hairdresser couldn't believe his luck when a man came along who would pay him just to wash, comb and blow-dry... about four or five times a week.

"It's fine."

His head lolled back against his shoulders, eyes sliding closed at the gentle massaging sensation of the comb along his scalp. He loved his hair being combed. There was something so rhythmic, so soothing about it. And it was even better that it was Jean doing it. Lately, he had been showering a lot by himself, and he had really missed the closeness... not only emotional,but also physically.

It wasn't just about the sex. It was having Jean near him. Just to feel their skin touch was enough.

He shook his head with a small smile.

"Why am I not surprised you paid a fortune on your hair?" His fingers ran through the locks, the comb clattering to the floor.

Jean-Claude pressed against the vampire's back, his eyes sliding shut as he leaned forwards to kiss his neck gently. He wasn't searching for sex. He just wanted to be close to the man.

Like Gabe, he had missed being close.

Gabriel let out a contented sigh as the man's fingers stroked through his hair, head falling back to rest on the man's shoulder.

He wanted to stay mad at him. But he couldn't. It was annoying as hell.

"I couldn't cut it." His voice was almost shocked at the thought of cutting his hair. Well, he had considered it once or twice. For convenience reasons. But his hair was a part of him, and he was incredibly vain.

The latter probably had more to do with it, in all honesty.

A quiet gasp escaped him as Jean's lips brushed over his neck. He hadn't expected this move towards closeness.

Towards what they used to have.

He turned in Jean's arms to push his lips to the other man's. Not exactly tenderly, but not lustily either. This kiss was more than eager. It was desperate.

"You'd look odd with short hair. I've gotten used to your long hair. I like it."

He really couldn't picture Gabriel with short hair no matter how much he tried. The hair was part of what made Gabe Gabe.

When the older man turned around and kissed him, his hands sliding up into the man's hair, fisting tightly. His lips moved over Gabriel's just as desperately.

After so long where he had shied away from Gabe and done his own thing in his own space, being close to him like this was amazing. Why had he ignored and pushed this away?

Now he had it again, he couldn't understand why he had done it.

It almost hurt, the raw emotions that were being bared in this kiss. He could feel the water droplets raining down his cheeks and it was only when one touched his lips and he tasted salt that he realised that they were mingled with tears.

His hand balled into a fist on the man's chest as he kissed him, long nails digging into his palm.

He had thought Jean was going to leave him. The most important person in his life... the only person in his life... and he had thought that they wouldn't ever be together again.

The younger vampire pressed forwards against Gabe, pushing him back against the wall of the shower.

God, he missed this.

He missed being close to the older man like this.

He pressed as much of himself as he could against the taller man. He wanted to feel as much of him as he could.

He whimpered quietly as Jean pushed him back against the wall of the shower, hands spilling up and over the man's chest to cup the back of his neck, pulling him in closer.

It was as though with this one kiss, they had breached the barrier which had separated them for so long, and now he found himself shaking with the emotion that it brought to finally be close again after so long.

He allowed Jean to press closer, body melting against the tiles.

His lips left Gabe's, trailing down his neck.

He kissed and licked the older man's neck with a low purr, feeling the head of his slick skin under the his tongue.

Since they ad begun to drift he had been avoiding drinking Gabe's blood which left him constantly hungry and getting weaker and weaker. He tried human blood but he couldn't keep it down. He tried animal blood with the same effect. So he had been stuffing himself with human food.

"Sorry," he murmured softly before he bit down.

He needed the blood.

A quiet moan slipped from his lips as Jean's lips caressed his neck, head tilting back willingly. His arms tightened around the man's shoulders, pulling him tight to him, his desperation to cling on revived by this hope of becoming close again.

He cried out, jolting as teeth pierced his skin, more in surprise than pain. His heart pounded faster in his chest, welling with emotion. He was feeding Jean again. Another tear slipped out, drawing in a shuddering breath.

Jean was feeding again. He would never get over the incredible feeling of feeding his fledgeling. Even when their relationship had been stable, Jean had rarely fed, and now... he had done it of his own free will.

Every drop of blood that spilt from his veins was a reminder of their bond. That he had given Jean something that nobody else ever could. And that Jean was his fledgling.

His hand stroked through the brunet locks encouragingly, arms clamped tightly around his lover's shoulders. He had been so close to letting go and now... he wouldn't. He couldn't.

The younger man drank greedily.

The blood tasted amazing. Nothing could beat the taste of Gabriel's blood. Nothing he had eaten before and nothing he had drank.

His drinking didn't stop or slow.

He was hungry and drinking from his lover was something intimate.

Jean-Claude wouldn't stop until Gabe stopped him.

His head lolled back against the wall, eyes sliding closed as short puffs of breath escaped his lips, clutching Jean's head to his neck.

And Jean didn't stop drinking.

He wanted to stay like this forever, locked together. There was pain, yes, but it was a blissful sort of ache, the kind of ache as when a lover leaves... and you know that, eventually, they will come back, and the pain, the waiting makes the return all the sweeter.

He could feel his legs trembling beneath him from bloodloss and arousal, but it was perfect. His head dizzy, as though he were drunk on the scent of his lover's body and the warmth of Jean's breath on his neck sent shivers straight through him.

The man continued to drink from his lover.

He wanted to stay like this. To keep drinking like this forever. But he knew he couldn't. He had to stop drinking.

Jean-Claude slowly pulled back, panting as he tried to get the breath back that had been deprived as he drank.

"Sorry," he panted softly, his head bowed. The spray of the water soaked his hair, darkening the light colour and washing the blood from his chin.

"Don't be."

The words were murmured softly. He paused for a moment, panting softly, his hands running through Jean's hair, over his jaw, as though suddenly seeing him, touching him for the first time.

His lips pressed to his lover's again, more tenderly this time, lips caressing against Jean's soothingly, sweetly. He could feel silent tears raining down his face, and the moment was bittersweet... but completely and utterly perfect.

"I love you."

It seemed like forever since he had last said that, and he felt just as vulnerable as the first time that those words had slipped from his lips. It was as though they were beginning all over again.

He leaned into the gentle touches to his face, his bright eyes flickering up to the older vampire.

His fringe was dark and weighed down with water, covering the very tops of his eyes as he stared up at the man through his lashes.

The kiss was returned just as tenderly, his fingers weaving through his long, wet, blond hair.

"I love you, too," he murmured softly.

A rush of warmth swept over him, a smile creasing his lips. Yet with the overwhelming happiness, there was a faint touch of pain that there had been cause to doubt that Jean had loved hi in the first place.

He buried into the side of Jean's neck, body shivering with a breath that was not entirely a breath, almost a sob.

"I'm cold." he mumbled into the side of the man's neck.

Gabriel pulled away to step out of the shower, wrapping himself in a towel before turning back to his lover.

"Come to bed."

The words were ambiguous. Whether he wanted to be close sexually or just be near his lover was unclear. And, if he was honest, he wasn't sure himself what he meant. His hand reached out to hold Jean's imploringly.

Cold.

Jean-Claude had taken too much blood. "I'm sorry," he murmured softly, arms wrapping around the vampire, hands rubbing his skin to try and provide heat through friction.

When his Sire pulled away from him and wrapped a towel around himself.

His hand settled in Gabe's, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Of course." How could he deny a request like that?

"Don't be." he repeated firmly. "If I'd needed you to stop drinking, I would have told you."

Well, perhaps that was a bit of a lie. He enjoyed feeding his fledgling and he had never really taken much notice of what was good for him. But it definitely wasn't Jean's fault.

He led his lover out of the bathroom, settling down on the bed as he pulled Jean in next to him, wrapping the covers around them both.

He gave a little nod.

Jean-Claude felt bad about it but, unlike other times he had fed from the older man, he wasn't wallowing in a pit of 'I hurt him, I'm a bad person.'

He didn't know what the change was but it was stopping him from starving himself so he wasn't about to complain about it.

"I'm still wet," he murmured, curling closer to Gabe. He hadn't had the luxury of a towel like Gabe had. He had just been pulled out of the shower and into bed.

Gabriel slipped the towel off himself to wrap it around Jean. The duvet was beginning to be stained pink with the remnants of the blood from his neck, and he pressed a hand to the wound to stem the bleeding as he curled around his lover, free arm clasping him to him.

He nestled into the side of his lover's neck, drawing in a shaky breath, his hand kneading the skin of Jean's back.

"I missed you. I missed you so much."