More Than Monsters

Stay

Knowing that it was Raphael who had opened his door (again, without knocking), Simon didn't even both turning around.

Raphael stood in the doorway, leaning against one side of the frame. He cleared his throat to announce his presence. Simon still didn't respond.

Raphael then walked toward Simon.

Simon was facing the bed, away from Raphael. On the bed was a duffel bag, along with some of Simon's personal items that he was gathering into the bag.

"What are you doing?" Raphael inquired softly, raising an eyebrow. I️t was a somewhat rhetorical question, as Raphael could see the obvious, but he didn't want it to be the reality.

Simon scoffed in annoyance.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he said.

Raphael came up closer to Simon. He gently placed his hands on Simon's shoulders. Simon closed his eyes and became still, exhaling.

"Can we please just talk about this, mi amor?" Raphael whispered, leaning in toward Simon's ear.

There was certainly a part of Simon that didn't want anything more than to just kiss and makeup, but it wasn't that simple. He couldn't simply make himself forget the words that had shattered his whole world. He wasn't just angry with Raphael. He felt lied to and betrayed, and on top of it all, he just felt hurt more than anything else.

Simon opened his eyes and shook his head. He pushed Raphael off of him. Raphael took a step back and Simon turned around to face him.

"There's nothing to talk about. I️ clearly don't mean as much to you as I️ thought I️ did, so it's probably just better that I️ go," he said, his voice remaining eerily quiet.

Simon almost felt guilty when he saw the pained expression on Raphael's face.

"Simon, that's not true. Come on, you know that," Raphael pleaded.

Simon shrugged and shook his head.

Without a moment's notice, Raphael sped out of the room.

He returned within two minutes, but Simon had already resumed packing.

Raphael placed a hand on Simon's shoulder.

"Please," he began, "I️ wanna prove it to you."

Curious, Simon turned around.

Raphael was standing before him, his stance open and vulnerable. In one hand he held up a golden chain that had a cross at the end of it.

The fledgling gave the older vampire a confused look. Raphael extended his hand to hand the necklace over to Simon.

"I'm a Jewish vampire. What am I️ supposed to do with a cross?" Simon asked.

Raphael rolled his eyes. He had to actively fight the urge to make a snarky comment, as he was already on such thin ice with Simon as it was.

"I️ want you to hold onto it for me for a while. Keep it some place safe. That way even if you go, you'll know I'm being honest with you, and you'll know that I'll stay fighting for you no matter what," Raphael said.

Simon allowed his eyes to meet Raphael's.

"Are you sure?" Simon uttered sheepishly, urging Raphael to think about the significance of what he was doing.

But Raphael had already thought it through and made up his mind. He wanted to be better and stronger for Simon.

And so, Raphael nodded in response and allowed the fledgling to gently take the golden chain in his fingers.