Moving in [Marcus]

[merlin]

Seth was over the moon with joy. He was currently standing outside of his newly bought house with a truck filled with boxes and furniture parked behind him. He hadn't lived in the country for five years and had missed the open spaces and fresh air. With it being night there was no activity except for the chirping of crickets and every now and again Seth would see a firefly light up in the long grass that lay behind the house. The house was on the perfect little plot of land consisting of five acres of unused land. None of the land had been used for farming and instead consisted mostly of the tall grass that came to Seths hip when he stood in it. There was a patch of tree's not to far from the house and a pond that probably had fish in it. Seth figured that this was one of the best places he'd ever been able to call home, or at least the land was...

The house was a two story farm house with faded paint. Everything worked but that was not saying much. The house had an almost haunted look to it when Seth saw it in the light of the half moon. The windows were covered with a film of dust making it hard to see the inside and the front porch didn't look all that stable (Though Seth knew that it was perfectly safe). Because of the houses appearance it had been up for sale for a few years now and had also been decently cheap. Seth just hoped that Marcus would approve and give the old house a chance. Seth was sure that if given the time he could fix the house up quite a bit while the other slept at night. Besides the house had a basement with no windows which meant that Seth could walk around part of the house during the day if he needed or wanted to.

Thinking of Marcus, Seth looked down the driveway wondering how the other planned on arriving. Seth had simply rented a muggle truck figuring that it made it easier to move all of his things but he was not sure if Marcus would do the same. This would be the first house that Marcus would be living in after moving out of his parents home so perhaps Marcus' parents would be coming to help? Seth hoped not, feeling that seeing the house as it currently was probably wouldn't be very encouraging or a very good first meeting. All Seth could do was stand where he was and wait for Marcus to arrive, hopefully alone and with an open mind.

[skymole]

With a slight 'pop' Marcus appeared in the driveway. He hadn't seen the house quite yet which had actually flustered him. He usually wanted to know every detail of something before buying it or using it. He trusted Seth though and had let him handle it. The house materialized infront of him buthe couldn't see it at first. He stood there a moment letting his eyes adjust to the gloom. After a few moments he realized that Seth was standing a few feet away. "Hello Seth," he greeted walking towards him hoping that he wouldn't trip on some rock. He still really couldn't make out much of the house which was proabably a good things. What he could see looked old and decrepid. Trying to ward off the sinking feeling he focused his attention on Seth. "How was your packing?"

[merlin]

Seth took the others hand gently as a sinking feeling hit his stomach. Not only was it hard to see that Marcus could hardly see anything while to Seth everything was as clear as could be. What was really hard though was seeing the disappointment starting to form on Marcus' face. Sure the house didn't look all that great but Seth was positive that he could fix it up and before long it would be the best looking house ever! Seth had picked the house because it was not only cheap but also had very good structure and supports which meant that even if it looked ready to fall over the house was still strong.

"Very good everything is here in the truck. How about for yourself?" Seth asked as he realized that he saw no boxes with Marcus at the moment. Perhaps the other was planning on moving his stuff in during the day when he could see?

[skymole]

"It's at my uncle's house. There was too much to drive over and I didn't want to spend money on a rental. So this is the house then?" Marcus squinted in it's direction feeling even more uneasy now that he was closer. He wouldn't be as flustered except that he had just come from telling his parents and uncle about Seth and moving in with him. He supposed that things had gone as well as could be expected. The experience was still vivid in his mind.

A Few Hours Ago

Marcus paced in his uncle's living room eyeing the drive-way for any sign of his parents. He'd invited them over for tea today so that he could tell all three of his family members his plans and about Seth. He heard the sound of the car pull in and froze. They were here! Marcus rushed to the door and took a breath before opening it. "Hello Mum, Dad," he greeted from the doorway. His mom came over and gave Marcus a warm hug. Laura Flinn was pale and beautifull, with angelic blond hair and soft brown eyes. Marcus was now considerably taller than her, like his father, and the pair of them were always bent to her every whim. Marcus looked over the top of his mom's head to look at his dad. Johnathan Flinn was tall and dark-haired like his son but with hazel eyes. They exchanged nods in greeting before heading inside. They found Uncle Steve in the living room with the tea and biscuts and sat down. Uncle Steve also had dark hair and hazel eyes but was shorter and stockier than Marcus's dad.

After they were all sat down and served tea, Marcus spoke up. "Mum, Dad, Uncle, I have something to tell you." Marcus was nervous but decided it would be best to just let the cat out of the bag. "I'm moving out and into a house with someone." "Oh, who are you moving in with pumpkin?" his mom asked rather used to her son's blunt method of communication. "His name is Seth, I met him at the wizard hospital." "Seth?" Uncle Steve interjected with a thoughtfull look, "Oh! Oh him! So wait... You and him...?" His uncle suddenly burst into happy laughter. His mom looked curiously between them waiting for explaination. "Yes," Marcus said, "Mum, Dad, Seth is my boyfriend. We've been dating for eight months. There was silence except for his uncle's occasional chuckle. His mom excused herself to refill the teapot, his dad merely sat there processing, and his uncle started babbling about the different things and supplies that he could send along. Several sips of tea later his dad started calmly asking questions like "Have you thought about this thoroughly?" and "What plans do you have in case this doesn't work?". This was one thing Marcus was gratefull for with his dad, they both had similar ways of thinking and therefore often understood ech other clearly. His mom returned a little while later and sat down again. Marcus knew that she'd been in the kitchen mentally preparing herself to give him "the talk". After a few hours of reassuring them that he had thought this through and knew what he was doing and that he really wanted to do this, Marcus had excused himself saying that he was going to go meet with Seth at the house.

[merlin]

Seth was not sure what to say or how to say it. First thing he thought of was to ask how Marcus' uncle and parents were. Seth's understanding was that Marcus was supposed to be telling his family about his relationship and his new living arrangement's. Seth was not sure how it had gone and didn't expect Marcus to be telling him anytime soon. If there was one thing Seth had learned about Marcus it was the fact that he didn't offer information unless it was relevant. This pretty much meant that if his family had accepted the situation they wouldn't talk about how it went though his family wasn't okay with everything then Marcus and Seth would end up talking about it and figuring out what was going to happen. The other thing that Seth was nervous to talk about was the house. Seth felt so uncertain about it now and was sure that Marcus hated it. But at the same time this was the best that they both could do so hopefully Marcus would look at the house as a nice fixer-upper and just be able to see the potential, which was really all there was to look at...

"Don't judge it. You can think of me as your live in brownie until it's fixed okay?" Seth said hopefully. For the next week Seth planned on working on the house at night while Marcus slept until the house was beautiful and up to Marcus' standard. Seth only wanted to make Marcus' home as perfect and wonderful as the other hoped for. Seth would not disappoint the other and was sure that if given enough time he could make this house look almost brand new. Sure he couldn't really work on anything outside until later in the year but hopefully Marcus wouldn't mind the tall grass...

"And we have a barn that is in much better condition that you can use for your animals," Seth said. They couldn't see the barn from where they were since it was on the other side of the small forest grove but that was a good thing. It meant more space between himself and the animals that would be living in the barn. Hopefully the barn would be enough to keep Marcus optimistic about the house.

[skymole]

Marcus looked from the house to Seth. He didn't need to see his eyes to know what was going on behind him. He looked back at the house and tried to see it as he did. Not as it was right now, but as it could be. They were both wizards after all. They could turn it into whatever they wanted or needed. And what did he care where he lived or what kind of house it was. As long as he was with Seth it shouldn't matter.

"I like it," Marcus said turning back to Seth, "or at least I will like it. I'm sure it will be really great Seth." He hugged him and held on a little longer than usual. "I just need time to adjust... I'll be fine. Let's go get our stuff in." He released Seth and started heading towards the truck of boxes to begin moving them in.

[merlin]

Seth loved the other honesty and was glad that Marcus was at least willing to give the house a try. It didn't look impressive sure but it had been the only one that was within their budget so it would have to do. Given a week or so Seth was sure it would be a wonderful house, Seth just hadn't been to sure if Marcus would be willing to give the house that week to change into something better.

"How was the talk with your parents?" Seth asked at the reminder that Marcus needed time to adjust. This would be Marcus first house after all which was a big thing but that wasn't what had Seth thinking. Supposedly Marcus had told his family about Seth and that was what made Seth feel somewhat uncertain. Seth knew what it was like to live in a broken family and wouldn't allow Marcus to live through that. Seth didn't care about the house if Marcus family didn't approve of Marcus living in the house with Seth. Without Marcus' parents approval Seth wouldn't allow them to live together. Seth wouldn't allow Marcus to live with that type of family strain happening in the background.

[skymole]

"As well as could be expected," Marcus said giving the surrounding area a quick glance before pulling out his wand, "Dad was ok with it once I got through all of the details and reasons. Mum was a bit shaky about it but she wants me to be happy and she knows that I don't do anythings unless I've thought it out and really think it's the best thing to do. And of course all Uncle did was laugh and try to give me his collection of singing tea cozies." Marcus waved his wand causing a few of the boxes to levitate out of the truck. "Honestly, even by wizard standards he's a strange one. What on earth would we need singing tea cozies for? Sometimes I wonder if half of the things that wizards enchant are just because they can." Continuing his self lecture on the peculiarities of the Wizarding World, Marcus started walking to the house with the boxes floating along in front of him. Occasionally his speech would be interrupted by an "ouch" as he stumbled or hit something in the dark. He didin't want to summon a light though just in case a Muggle happened to be passing by. He made a mental note to place a charm on himself on the next trip back so he wouldn't run into all the stupid rocks and holes!

[merlin]

Seth smiled as he let out a sigh of relief. He himself had yet to mention Marcus at all to even his sisters or younger brother but hearing how well it went for Marcus made Seth just a little more confident. Seth still wasn't sure if he would be telling his parents anything though since they still didn't even know that he was a vampire. His parents were only just starting to accept his younger sisters, Violet, marriage to a man ten years her senior. How on earth was Seth expected to go off and tell his parents that he was a gay vampire who was dating a man five years younger then himself? It just wasn't going to happen.

Hearing the other grumbling as he stumbled around in the dark Seth grinned to himself and conjured a floating ball of light to follow Marcus. The light complete eliminated Seths night vision which made him feel just a little on edge but it meant that Marcus could now see where he was going so it was worth it. Being so late and the houses so far apart Seth wasn't worried about anyone spotting the floating globe. That was one of the nice parts of living in this neighbor hood, everyone was so far apart that it was like you didn't really have any neighbors!

"So there are some nice parts about this house that I haven't told you about yet," Seth said as he lifted one of the heavier boxes and followed Marcus. "First of all it has a full basement that has no windows so I don't need to worry about fixing up a room during the day. The basement has carpet floors and rooms and stuff. Also, the living room and dinning room are on the west side of the house so I can manage to have breakfast with you if we want too ever do that while still staying safe," Seth was happiest about that part. With how the house lined up with the sun Seth could safely spend the very early moments of morning upstairs still without being hit by the sun. Being awake long enough to say good bye to Marcus in the mornings as a very important thing in Seths opinion.

[skymole]

"Oh really?" Marcus said a little nervous but gratefull for the light, "that will be helpfull." Marcus was glad that Seth would have a place that he could be safe all hours of the day. He would prefer having a way that all of the house was available to him but Marcus didn't think there was a viable way. Putting a charm around the house would be too big of a thing to keep up all the time and if it was broken suddenly while Seth was upstairs... And enchanting the windows themselves would only work as long as they didn't break and even then there was a risk of not getting every nook and cranny. No, it was too risky. Marcus, even with his calculative detail-seeking brain, could not bear to think through what would happen if the charm failed. Marcus reached the house and entered it looking around for where to set the boxes. "Where should these ones go?" Marcus called over his shoulder at Seth. He knew that Seth would be able to hear him even if he had whispered but figured that it didn't hurt to be thorough.

[merlin]

Seth didn't mind not having access to the rest of the house during the day. He had been practicing staying up an hour after the sun had rose but after that he had to sleep, or in reality 'die'. Seth had learned that vampires don't really sleep like everyone else does. When they sleep during the day vampires didn't breath and since they didn't have a heart rate they were pretty much dead. Seth couldn't stay 'alive' all day and by an hour after sunrise he had to find a place to 'sleep' or risk passing out where he stood. So having breakfast with Marcus, at least during the winter months when the sun stayed down longer, was all that Seth could currently manage to do.

"Those go into the kitchen," Seth said loud enough for Marcus to hear him. When Seth caught up to the other he also set his box in the kitchen since both boxes had dishes and pans in them. "Where do you want your room to be?" Seth asked figuring that it was a good idea to figure out what room was what before they started moving anything else in.

[skymole]

"I don't know, why don't you show me around?" Marcus said with a feeble stab at making his tone flirtatious. He really did fail when it came to things like flirting or the little social playing typical in intimate relationships. He didn't fully understand them yet except that they seemed to get positive reactions out of people. But then there were so many details! Like you can flirt in some situations but not others. And you could only flirt with certain people but not others. And no seemed to have a consistant pattern of whether or not they liked being flirted with so as far as he knew you had a 50/50 chance of being snogged or slapped. It all made his brain hurt. But Marcus did know that Seth liked it. And although he didn't really know why, all he really cared about was that it made Seth happy. If it made Seth happy, then Marcus would do his best to do it even if it did make him feel stupid.

[merlin]

Seth grinned at the others suggestion and feeble attempt at flirting. Marcus was learning but he was still rather awkward at it. But not to worry, Seth was an expert and would show Marcus the proper way to flirt. So with a sultry smile on his lips and his eyes looking down at the other so that his ember eyes glowed, Seth took a slow step towards Marcus until only an inch of air kept their bodies apart. "Why don't we start with the bedrooms?" Seth suggested with a deep silky voice. With a gently hand on the small of Marcus' back Seth lead the other up the stairs slowly, never taking his eyes off of the other.

[skymole]

Marcus's heart fluttered severly and he could do nothing but numbly let himself be led off. He felt such a mix of emotions, both excited and terrified. He was well out of his element and not quite sure he was ready for what was coming. Wait... what was coming? What was Seth going to do to him? As usual, all the possiblities and paths went racing through his mind of what EXACTLY Seth could do to him. He had to face it, he was powerless to stop Seth if he was set to do something. Though then again, was that necessarily a bad thing?

[merlin]

As they were moving up the stairs Seth felt himself let out a sigh as he smelt Marcus' emotions. The others heart was racing so fast that his faint touch on Marcus' back made him feel the others pulse. Seth could smell the uncertainty the other felt and knew that he had gone to far in his flirting. Marcus always did much better when a plan was laid out in front of him so that he could know everything that was going to happen. That was why flirting was always such a challenge with Marcus because of the subtle messages that Seth would try and send that Marcus just didn't pick up on.

"Marcus I need to ask you to relax a little okay?" Seth asked gently as he moved his hand so that he was no longer touching the other and created some distance between them in hopes of helping the other calm down a little. Seth was still a new vampire and being so close to a nervous Marcus was to much for Seth to handle. "I am not going to do anything you don't want. Right now I'm going to just show you around the house and then finish moving the furniture in, okay?"