Vampirical -- Lauren Jauregui x Reader

Sunlight

"Hi," she replied shyly and walked carefully over towards me at a normal speed.

"And speak for yourself." She added with a chuckle as she brought her cool hands up to my elbows before planting her lips on mine.

"I missed you," I confessed quietly when she pulled away. She giggled and shook her head, heading back towards where she was standing before.

"But you saw me this morning." She threw over her shoulder, and it took it as my prompt to follow her deeper into the natural paradise.

"I know, but you weren't at lunch," I explained, making her turn back to me with a cocky smirk.

"Besides, I always miss you unless I'm with you." I drawled until I was beside her, "And I've been excited for tonight."

"Good." She hummed, slowly leading me further into the maze-like garden, its walls various shades of green leaves with occasional pops of colour from flowers, "Have you eaten?"

"Not yet." I shook my head and she smiled widely before reaching down to grab my hand.

"We'll relax for a bit and then we can go somewhere to eat, sound good?" She offered and I nodded as I pulled myself into her side, the warmth of the air combatting her own temperature. Oh crap! The warmth of the air- it was a sunny day. There were only a few thin clouds in the sky, one of them only just covering the sun. In fact, it was slowly rolling away, peeling back the protection that it offered my vampire girlfriend.

"Um... Laur? You don't-" I began, my tone careful so as not to freak her out, but she must have seen my worried gaze glued to that ever-moving cloud because she cursed under her breath and rapidly tugged us both underneath a nearby tree.

"Wait, you don't... do you?" I questioned, unable to finish that sentence but hoping she'd understand anyway.

"No, no I don't." She breathed, peering up at the sky only to see that the next cloud to come along was going to take a while, and then something in her expression changed from panic to realisation.

"What is it, Laur?" I questioned and she glanced back down at me, at the sky, and then to me once more.

"I... We don't disintegrate like in the stories and films but... there's something I think you need to see and I don't know any better day to do it." She explained before letting go of my arm that she had been grasping and stepping towards the sunlight.

I instinctively went to pull her back but then she looked back at me with a sad smile and reminded me that whatever she was about to show me, I had to see it.

As she stepped into the sunlight, she becomes unhealthily thin and pale, like a skeleton, and just stayed there facing away from me for a moment. Her underdress which previously hugged her curves perfectly hung loosely on her now, swaying in the soft breeze.

"Lauren?" I questioned shakily and she sighed before turning slowly. Her eyes, changed in colour and surrounded by bruises of the darkest shade I'd seen, were sunken and glazed over. Her lips her cracked, her cheekbones and jawline sharp because her cheeks were hollowed out.

"Laur?" I was close to tears by now. She just- she looked so dead.

"Y/n/n, this is what I look like. This is what I really am." She explained, "I wanted you to see because... I don't want you to fall in love with me and forget what I am. You deserve to know the truth."

Now the tears I was close to were streaming down my face, and I scanned her face over once more before grabbing her hand and pulling her toward me, into the shade of the tree and into my arms.

"I-" I tried to talk but it was difficult with that image seared into my mind.

Pulling my head off of her shoulder, I looked up at her and saw those green eyes, plump lips, and her gorgeous proportions again.

"Shh, it's okay." She hushed quietly, tucking my head under her chin.

"Thank you." I nodded, "But I don't ever want to see that again."

She chuckled softly and rubbed up and down my back until I began to shiver slightly.

"Here, sit down." She offered, pointing towards a bench that was conveniently half in the sun and half in the shade. I took the sunny side and she sat beside me, and I rested my head on her shoulder and connected our hands after I wiped the stray tears away.

"I love you," I confirmed after a moment of silence, and she seemed to relax a little beside me, putting her cheek on the top of my head.

"And I love you." She replied calmly and quietly, with a slight husk in her voice that undeniably sent a tug and a throb to my core.

After a second, she spoke up again, patting my thigh.

"Hold on a second." She told me and I nodded, sitting up, and she disappeared.

She turned up again in front of me with a light pink rose held delicately between her fingers and held it out to me.

"For you." She grinned and I smiled as I took the flower from her and twirled it in my hand, mesmerised by the way the petals span for a second. She sat back beside me and resumed our earlier position as I played with the rose, just happy to be beside her.