Cassie called and he sent her to voicemail. She texted him and he ignored them.
Instead of getting angry, everyone gave him space and understanding.
It pissed Luis the fuck off.
Then it was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. The days slipped by in a blur of scrolling on his phone and apartment searches.
Friday came again.
Julien and Karim hadn’t said a thing last week about the bar.
But now it was the second week. It was supposed to be the things-back-to-normal week.
Luis marched downstairs when he was sure both of them were up. He found Karim in the kitchen pulling ingredients from the refrigerator and Julien seated at the island on a laptop.
“I need you both to stop being so nice to me,” Luis declared from the doorway. They both paused and turned to look at him.
“Stop being nice to you?” Julien asked, confusion seated between his brows.
Luis’s chest heaved a hot breath. “You’re giving me all this time and space. You haven't demanded I move out, help around the house, or even drive you to the bar.”
Julien tilted his head curiously. “And you’d like us to?”
“I don’t want you to starve!” Luis said.
“Nobody’s starving,” Karim said. “We have blood here.”
“You hate bottled!” Luis accused.
“It’s not that bad,” Karim shrugged.
Luis made a sound of frustration and almost grabbed at his hair. “Everyone’s just–just tiptoeing around me. I hate it. You can’t justlet me–”He gestured vaguely, “you can’t just let me take advantage of you.”
Julien’s tone went even more delicate. “You’ve been through a lot, Luis–”
“Stop! Just–fuck. It feels like–” His voice stuck for a second, “I put you in danger, I literally pointed a vampire-hating terrorist group in your direction. You hired me because you trusted me to keep you safe. I’ve–I’ve done the opposite of that because I’m a coward and–and now I’m just sitting in your house,useless. You’ve both been so patient and kind and I’ve beenawfuland–I can’t stand it, I hate it! I hate myself and–” Luis was breathing too quickly, words pinching in his need to get them out.
Julien stood. He stepped closer and his hands laid carefully down on Luis’s shoulders. “Take a breath,” Julien said.
Luis did.
“Good, slow in and out.”
Luis did.
Julien nodded. “Alright. You haven’t been sitting here useless. You’ve been resting. Healing. And you didn’t put us in danger; we’ve always been in danger from people who hate us. You could’ve done everything right, and there’d always be that risk. That’s what it is to be who we are. Neither of us blame you.” He turned his head to Karim who nodded in agreement.
“But–” Luis started, but Julien cut him off.
“No,” he said, soft but final, “You will not tell me how I feel.”
Luis’s shoulders sagged. “I just feel so guilty, so useless,” Luis said.
Julien gazed down at him, “I can’t do anything about guilty, but if you need to feel productive while you’re here, we can do something about that. If you need… structure, I can provide that.”
“What do you mean?” Luis asked, but there was a hopeful tilt to the question. He felt like he was drowning and desperately wanted for something to get him back on steadier ground.
“Jules,” Karim said, but Julien didn’t take his eyes off Luis.
