Terry smiled as he walked into the living room, greeted by the sight of his boyfriend Julian rearranging and plumping pillows, the lights already dimmed. He took a moment to admire the slim form with its milky skin and tawny, dandelion fine hair that no amount of hair products could tame. Julian straightened up, spying Terry, and if the look on his face was anything to go on he seemed just as appreciative of Terry’s own pale olive complexion and black locks. Smiling at being caught, Terry sauntered over and practically threw himself onto the couch, disturbing Julian’s careful arrangements, but Julian didn’t seem to mind. The basement where they both stayed had a small “entertainment area” as well as a bedroom, and was almost as big as an apartment. Terry was still getting used to the space he now had since coming to live with Julian and his family. Julian plunked down next to him with a grin.
“You ready?”
Terry settled the small bowl of popcorn he’d been carrying on his lap. “Sure; what’re we watching?” Julian grinned again, holding out a stack of DVDs for him to inspect. Vampires, vampires, zombies, vampires…. Terry really hated it when it was Julian’s turn to choose for movie night. It didn’t help that he wasn’t a big fan of scary movies, either, no matter how much Julian tried to convert him. “Okay, no to Lost Boys again,” he said with finality. “Anything else is up to you.” He resigned himself to another night of not so much watching the movie as glancing at the screen during the tamer parts and cowering against Julian for the rest, not that his boyfriend ever seemed to mind. He read through the blurb on the box as Julian inserted the DVD. Something about college kids going to live in a house owned by vampires and trying to escape while being picked off one by one. Joy.
“How can you watch this stuff?” he asked in disdain. “Having all these vampire movies, isn’t it a little weird? Not to mention a little too much.”
Julian shrugged. “Not really. It’s interesting seeing the different ways vampires are interpreted. What’s weirder is those people who actually believe they are vampires and try to act all dark and Gothic and shit. The movies are usually funny more than anything else.” He turned to Terry, leaning in close with a wide smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll hold you close if you get friiiiiiighteeeened,” he teased, drawing out the last word in a way that was probably supposed to sound spooky but just made Terry whack his arm.
“Like you need that as an excuse,” Terry muttered.
“Like you complain,” Julian returned easily.
They settled down to watch the movie, Terry crunching some of his popcorn. Julian eyed the bowl with distaste.
“How can you eat that stuff?” he asked, in much the same way Terry had questioned his taste in movies.
Terry looked at the bowl and took a few more flakes. “I don’t know; I just like the taste of it.”
