Turkey

[Trillian]

Looking at Owen was like being hypnotised.  It was like watching a graceful underwater dance, and once again he thought of a siren's call.  Was this what they meant?  So enchanted by someone that you didn't care if you were dashed against the rocks, if only to get closer.  He felt like he understood the mythology better, now.

Breaking eye contact a long moment after the question hung between them, because it helped him gather his thoughts, Vincent licked his lips and then looked back at Owen with the answer.

"I wanted to, but didn't want the blame to rest on the heat of the moment," he said, then his lips twitched a smile before he continued.  "I want to be sure your eyes are open."

[Existentially Odd]

Owen stared at his friend, pleased that at least he hadn't done anything wrong, but confused about what he meant.  "So... we'll say they are.  What am I seeing?" he hinted, wanting to get an idea of where Vincent was coming from before he made any incorrect assumptions.  He had to keep reminding himself, he didn't know this Vincent.

[Trillian]

Whatever you want, Vincent thought but didn't say.  Oh, but he would give Owen whatever he wanted, and more, as long as he was included and wanted in return.

What did Owen want him to say?  He obviously didn't have his eyes open, if he wished to be told his options.  Was it merely a roundabout way of asking Vincent his opinion?  He felt like he was stranded in an ocean of uncertainty.

Uncertainty, that was what he'd seen on Owen's face.  It had been that expression which had given him pause - his desire had been squashed kicking and screaming, but he'd put it aside anyway.  Best to address that, then.

"It was what I saw, that I have to ask you about.  Last night, before you..." he was having trouble speaking just at the memory of those words.  Words that were haunting him.  "...said what you wanted, you looked like you didn't know what you wanted."  He moved his hand down to touch Owen's knee, because they were within easy reach and he wanted contact.  "I was worried that the bite was making you want something that you wouldn't ordinarily want from me."

Oh, please don't retreat now, don't take back what you said, don't rethink yourself, don't prove me wrong, all the signals I got, don't tell me I misread them.

His internal mantra was kept to himself.

[Existentially Odd]

Owen had to think back to the night before and he frowned as he did, tilting his head to the left.  He couldn't recall any particular expression on his face but he could guess what Vincent had seen.  The shock of the child he'd been dying and being replaced with the new him.  Was he new?  He didn't feel so, but every time he looked at Vincent, there were new feelings, new questions.  They were new, their friendship had been redefined... yet he didn't understand exactly how, just yet.

"I knew what I wanted," he reassured the vampire with a little shrug, his fingers reaching for the hand on his knee and entwining absently with it.  "I was just... surprised to realise that I wanted it from you.  I guess you're right... it was the bite making it happen because I'd never thought of you that way before.  I honestly thought you were over sex, but you obviously don't feel the need to tell me everything," he gave a little laugh as he watched for Vincent's reaction.

"So anyway... I can only guess you're talking about the part where I started seeing you differently, last night.  The part where I stopped thinking of you as my best friend, always-been-there-since-I-was-a-baby Vincent, and started seeing you as... well, as you.  As a man.  Horny and sexy and real.  Surely you can admit how it'd be a bit weird?  Even though you've always thought of me as an equal, you know I didn't see it the same way," he reminded the vampire, deliberately avoiding the word 'father', because he'd said it before and it had become an argument, not a discussion.  There was no danger of that association ever coming to him again now, he thought.  "Last night... that stopped.  You saw that moment, I suppose, and I'm getting used to it, to seeing you... sexually," he grinned shyly.

"I don't regret that I see you differently now... do you?"

[Trillian]

Vincent shook his head.  "No," he said quickly.

He couldn't say or do anything other than simply smile at Owen, enchanted by him all over again.  The light was exactly the same as it had been last night, only this night was new and fresh, with a lot of possibilities.  At the same time as he hoped to progress things with Owen slowly, he also wanted to leap upon him and take what had been on offer the night before.  His more sensible side won out and he remained as he was on the bed.  After some staring and smiling at one another, his mind was once again touched gently by Sabri, compelling them to come join him for some partying.

He sighed.  "Our host has apparently organised a party for tonight," he explained, letting Owen in on the fact he'd had mental communication.  This was followed by a warning.  "Be careful with him, Owen.  Sabri is very old, and from a culture neither of us know very well."

[Existentially Odd]

Owen frowned, looking down and blinking as he pondered how to phrase a question that he simply couldn't rearrange.  So he looked up and just asked it.  "Um... am I yours, now?" he enquired.

[Trillian]

Vincent burst out laughing, unable to help himself.  He reached for Owen and pulled him close, hugging him tightly.

"You were always mine," he said gruffly, before kissing Owen on the jaw where he could reach.

[Existentially Odd]

Owen frowned, though he instinctively mirrored Vincent's humour with a twitching smile (that faded quickly) and allowed himself to be pulled into the hug and kissed before he leaned back, needing to see his friend's face while he pursued an answer that helped him.  Being told that he'd always been Vincent's was... odd, now that he thought about it, because in what way did he mean that?  Quite oddly, the final fight he'd had with Steve a year ago rose in his mind and he recalled how he'd been so horrified that the other boy had accused him of being a toyboy to a rich sugar daddy, who was just grooming him to be his play thing.

Oh, fuck.

Realisation washed through him and it felt almost like someone had tipped a bucket of ice water on his head, the cold feeling ran over him swiftly.  "Really?  Always?" he stressed meaningfully, narrowing his eyes at Vincent.  "Even when I don't know I am and have sex with someone else?"

[Trillian]

Vincent was wondering what had gone wrong.  Owen had tensed and his body was sending different kinds of signals.  From so close, Vincent knew the difference between lust and fear.  What the hell was he afraid of?

The questions baffled him, and the accusation left him flustered.

"What? No, I... " he frowned at Owen, wondering what he could possibly be thinking to have him so angry.  Was it because Vincent had waited so long before making a move?  "Here and now is... wasn't planned or expected."  He wanted to smooth things over but didn't know how.

[Existentially Odd]

Owen scowled at Vincent, not wanting that idiot from a year ago to have been correct but unable to shake off the feeling that he was.  Vincent was sincerely confused, though, and that was really reassuring.  If he said last night had been unplanned, Owen believed him.  He'd obviously mistaken Vincent's interpretation of ownership and taken it sexually, where Vincent had (understandably) gone the vampire-owning-a-mortal route.  He relaxed by degrees, telling himself that he was overreacting, and that was clear from Vincent's reaction.

So he was owned by a vampire who'd more or less had sex with him.  It was still just about the first part for Vincent, where Owen was interested in the second part.  He'd obviously have to be more direct.  "Okay," he said, exhaling in order to assist his focus, "so it wasn't planned, but where do we go from here?  What happens if Sabri wants to bite me and I get all horny and want him to fuck me?" he challenged, wanting to know Vincent's gut reaction, so he'd been deliberately provocative with his wording.

[Trillian]

The scowl terrified him, but he watched as Owen eventually lost the tension in his body.  He watching him imploringly, forgetting what he'd even said that had been misinterpreted so evilly.  When the boy started to speak, Vincent was intently listening.  He was floored by what he heard, which he interpreted as this:

Where do we go from here? Read: I don't have any expectations for us.
What happens if Sabri wants...? Read:  I want him to fuck me, still.

His heart quailed but he was very good at deadpan expressions by now.  He gave Owen a thoughtful expression before answering as coolly as possible.

"You're free to make your own decisions, Owen."

[Existentially Odd]

The teenager was still frowning, though he sensed Vincent was upset with him for asking that question.  Well, that was fair enough, he supposed, but why wasn't he saying what sort of relationship he wanted?  Why did Owen have to figure it out for himself based on cues like Vincent's face going all serene (like it did whenever he started talking about his latest sexploit)?  Why not say?

"But you'd prefer my choice was to choose only you from now on, right?" he insisted, looking up at Vincent from beneath his eyebrows in an encouraging sort of way.

[Trillian]

His cool expression softened, for how could he look at that enthusiasm and hopefulness and do anything but love it?

"Of course," he agreed, and reached over to brush a wayward strand of hair (of which there were many) behind Owen's ear.

[Existentially Odd]

He looked at Vincent, wanting to ask him if that was a decision he'd made just last night, but afraid to.  He'd been told last night wasn't planned... but how long might Vincent have wanted to change their relationship, without pushing him?  Vincent always waited for him to make his own decisions and to live with the consequences, offering an opinion but never an answer, wanting Owen to discover for himself, without persuasion.  Could he have been having that perspective for a while now or... was it new?  Did it change anything anyway?

Whether it was a new or old desire on Vincent's behalf, it was out in the open now for Owen to deal with, so he'd leave it at that.  After a full minute of just looking at Vincent, Owen leaned forward and pressed his lips to the vampire's, holding in a fairly common-pressure position for a moment before he tilted his head and deepened the kiss, pressing his tongue tentatively into Vincent's mouth.

[Trillian]

Vincent looked back at Owen, his hand gently lingering on the mortal's neck.  He felt with his hand the movement Owen made before it was actualised, and the kiss was immediately responded to.  A twitching of awareness zinged in his groin as his arms wrapped around Owen while the kiss deepened.

There was an odd prickling in his head that he didn't associate with mental communication, but certainly didn't believe was natural, either.  He broke the kiss and frowned as he concentrated on identifying it, only to feel Sabri's tethered mental line pulling away.  He followed it, angrily.

Must you spy on us, too? he demanded.

Tut tut, no need to thank me, Sabri replied, with genuine amusement.

Thank you? Why would I thank you?

Because I gave you the opportunity to bed him.

Vincent was stunned.  He left Sabri's mind, hearing the mental chuckle as he went, and once he was properly seeing Owen's concerned face, he shook his head at him.

"We should get up, Sabri's impatient," he said.