Til Death

20. Daniel/Blake

DANIEL

Smiling to himself, Daniel covered his grin with his hand. As if he could hide in the back of this compact car, he leaned against the window to make himself small. A fresh blanket of snow settled across Sagewick, dusting pine trees and coating rooftops. Cozy fires burned inside almost every house they passed, their chimneys billowing out plumes of grayish smoke. Slowly, Daniel stretched out his leg and nudged his knee against Blake's.

It was subtle.

The first time.

Blake didn't even notice, too distracted with peppering Ignacio with questions, "I'm just asking if you have a..." Blake whirled his hands around as if he could snatch the right word from the air. "A significant other?"

Daniel snorted, bumping Blake's knee a little harder. He teased, "Always so innocent."

"Quiet you," Blake snapped, using the back of his hand to smack Daniel's arm.

Ignacio tilted his head, leaning it against the leather head cushion. He sat in the front seat with Adrian at the wheel. Ignacio chuckled. "Are you asking if I have a lover?"

The way he said lover sounded like he might have invented the word. This car was being threatened by a romantic, Daniel thought.

"Yeah. Do you?"

"No. I've never had the pleasure of courting anyone."

"Well, have you thought about it? I mean, if everything goes your way..." Blake started to explain, when he remembered Adrian at the driver's seat and Michael sitting in the very back, typing away on his laptop. Blake winced and tried again, "You might not be my assistant much longer. You could be free to date."

"I'll be free to do lot of things," Ignacio seemed eager to agree, while tap dancing around the subject all together. By his grin, Daniel could tell the little demon knew what he was doing, and Blake didn't have a clue. Ignacio went on to say, "Not even married yet and you're already trying to set up your single friends. Maybe we could do as the kids do today and double date."

"Who's teaching you about modern dating?" Daniel asked, suddenly suspicious, but he hadn't forgotten his game. Daniel nudged Blake again and this time, the cute wizard noticed. He shot Daniel a stern look just as Daniel feigned innocence, giving Ignacio his full attention. It took vampire levels of strength to stop himself from grinning.

"I'm an avid reader, your highness. The maids have given me self-help novels about finding someone who's marriage material and how to tell if a guy is just not into you. They've given me great magazine articles too. For example, do you know the that love has five languages. Fascinating stuff...?"

Daniel caught the sparkle in his eyes, and he knew, Blake had fallen right into his trap. Ignacio sharpened his blade, waiting for the final blow. "Words of affirmation, you know the way you two compliment each other..." he counted on his fingers and Daniel watched Blake's pale face burn a brighter red by the second, which made Daniel grin wider. Daniel could spend all day watching Blake's face go through a thousand different emotions in under a minute.

Ignacio went in for the kill, "Acts of service, like saving Blake that one time from the rogue vampire. There's receiving gifts like your new converses or—"

"I get it," Blake tried to stop him, but Iggy shook his head.

"I'm not done. There's also quality time, like the way you two spend literally every single moment together and physical touch..." This time he didn't need to voice an example. His dark eyes flickered down at the way Daniel's knee was pressed to Blake's.