Space

Elijah tells Micah that he needs space, but...what does that mean? He can't possibly mean that he wants Micah to go away...what other types of "space" are there?

“I’m sorry, I just...I need space.” Elijah, a young-looking vampire with messy black hair and large opal eyes said calmly. He turned away from Micah, his handsome boyfriend that towered over him, and strolled back into the house they shared together. Micah’s garnet eyes stared after him. Something...is definitely wrong… he thought, smoothing back his deep auburn hair. With strong determination, he spun around on his heels to figure out the problem. However...where was he even going to begin?

When Micah met Elijah at a vampire council meeting, it was no secret that Elijah was more...eccentric than the other vamps. He was inattentive, liked to call out in the middle of the meetings, and couldn’t seem to keep still. He also seemed to be very excited about anything and everything, like it was some sort of “Game of Life” they were playing. And all of that annoyed that crap out of Micah. It was a simple, stupid little bet he lost that caused him to talk to the guy. Nobody wanted to be around him nor cared to talk to him no matter how much he seemed to beg for attention, so Micah’s friends decided to guess how many times Elijah would blurt out in the next meeting, the loser having to go and talk to him. Micah was the farthest off the mark, seven times too high at a guess of twenty one outbursts. Thus, we was shoved unceremoniously into the fidgety vampire.

***

“Hi! I don’t think I’ve met you yet! What’s your name? Mine’s Elijah! Is the meeting over? Hey, look! It’s my friend! Hi, friend!” He waved excitedly to a silver-haired vampire quickly walking out of the area. “That’s my friend, he sits next to me in the meetings.” They both hesitated, Micah already worn out and dying to leave, wanting to shred the throats of his “friends” and silence the snickering behind him. “...What’s your name?” Elijah cocked his head to the side, his eyes cheerful and a large, stupid grin plastered across his face.

“M...Micah.” He said, gazing uncomfortably down at the grinning idiot before him.

“Micah…. Micah Micah Micah...I like that name! Those your friends?” He pointed at the group, nearly in tears with laughter, behind Micah. “Isn’t having friends so nice?”

“Um...yeah, those are my...friends...” Micah growled with a bit more agitated emphasis than he intended.

Elijah was taken aback, “...Are you angry? You shouldn’t be angry, you should be happy! See? Even your friends are happy!” He smiled as the group burst into laughter. Micah shot a glare at them all, causing them to back away a few steps, and reduce them to amused chuckles. Elijah gasped suddenly, “Hey, you know what? I know what’ll make you feel better!” He snaked his hand into Micah’s and started strolling off in an unknown direction, “Let’s go, friend!”

“Hey! Wait-” He whipped his head back to his companions.

“Ah ah ahhh.” One with chocolate hair sang, shaking his finger, “One day, remember? You can do it, friend~” Micah angrily stomped off as Elijah babbled on about whatever he was dragging Micah into.

Once the day had finished, Micah noticed that, the small, black-haired vampire didn’t seem to beg for attention or have some sort of weird fetish for annoying people. It seemed like a genuine part of his personality, his hyperness and inability to listen to anyone for more than five seconds. Though Micah didn’t really care, he took Elijah to the nearest doctor to have his head examined. The doctor was an old, wise vampire that had seen many patients, but even he didn’t have an accurate diagnoses for Elijah’s condition. After reading through endless books on vampire and even human health problems, he finally concluded that Elijah had ADHD, or some sort of vampire equivalent to it. He wasn’t entirely sure of his diagnoses though, since vampires never really had that sort of problem. Nonetheless, the doctor prescribed a special blood supplement for Elijah to take regularly, one lined with human antidotes. Medication for humans had been proved to be ineffective on vampires, but perhaps it would be compatible with Elijah’s...abnormal condition.

Weeks passed and the supplement had not helped Elijah in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to be growing more...depressed. And, despite Micah’s protests, he dragged the tall vampire to spend time with him often, Micah being the only person that would talk to him, or, at least, tolerate him long enough to be able to spend time with another vampire every once in awhile. But every moment he spent with Micah, he knew. He knew that Micah hated him and only stuck around because he felt like he had to.

In the middle of the next meeting, he stood up from his chair and silently dragged Micah from the room so they could talk in private. Micah only objected once, knowing something was up. Normally, Elijah would be bouncing off the walls 24/7, but he had grown quieter, more still. It seemed unnatural, like something very wrong. “Hey...Micah?” Elijah asked in a small voice.

“Uh...yeah?” Micah answered, confused.

“Do...do you hate me?”

Micah hesitated, “...Why would I hate you-”

“You hesitated.” Elijah interrupted, “So...you do…”

A sigh escaped Micah’s lips and he ran a hand through his hair, “No, I don’t. What’s this about?”

“I…” Elijah’s eyes suddenly began to spill tears, causing Micah to flinch.

“H...hey...are you al-...?” His eyes widened.

“I’m sorry…” Elijah brought his sharpened claws up to his neck.

Micah firmly pulled his wrist away from him, “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” He asked, maybe a bit too sternly.

“...I know you hate me.” Elijah replied through tears, “You hate me...you only stay because you feel like you need to, right? Because there’s something wrong with me? Because I need someone to remind me to calm down, to keep my head on straight, to do the tasks that need to be done? Because I…” He sunk down onto his knees, “...I need a reminder that I need to change…”

“No.” Micah relaxed onto his knees and placed a hand on Elijah’s shoulder, “That’s not why I’m here.” He hesitated, “...Okay, I admit, that’s what it was at first, but, not anymore.”

Opal eyes sadly met fierce Garnet, “...Then, why?” Before Micah could open his mouth, Elijah backed away and brought his claws closer to him, “No...it doesn’t matter. I’m useless anyways. Everybody hates me. I’m just a nuisance. I don’t belong here. I should just die. I need to die. I want to die.” He gasped between his sobs, then screamed, “I HAVE TO DIE-mmmph!” His cries were silenced by Micah pressing their lips together. Elijah squirmed to get away, but the taller vampire was also much stronger, and held him firmly in place.

Micah broke away when he was desperate for air, “*Huff*...Nobody...is going to be dying around here. Especially not you.” He waited a moment for Elijah to dry his tears, “Look, yeah, it started out as a sort of weird need to keep you in check, but I...you...I like...I...I like you.” He fumbled through his words, not sure how to put into words how the hyper vampire cared about him and enjoyed being around him, and held concern for him that no other vampire ever had. Elijah had become the one thing to fill the empty void in Micah’s life.

“R...really?”

“Y...yeah. Really.” Micah turned away to shield his face, red with embarrassment. Partly from the awkwardness of confessing to his crush, partly from shame that he couldn’t seem to explain what he felt for him wholly. Perhaps he’d be able to put that into words, or perhaps actions, later.

Elijah's face brightened, and a smile replaced his previous sadness, “I like you, too.” He whispered, wrapping his arms around Micah and snuggling into his chest.

“So, I guess...we could, like, go hunting together later, er, something….”

“Hunting? That sounds fun!” Elijah giggled. “But, um…” He backed away and stared into those handsome Garnet eyes, “Does this mean, you’re like...my boyfriend now?”

Micah blinked, “Hm...yeah, I guess it does.” He pulled Elijah close to him, “Just...don’t tell the other guys, okay? It’s a secret.” His face flushed more. Despite the fact that Micah had always been gay, he didn’t want his group knowing so he didn’t have to face the teasing. Plus, it’d be even worse since he had fallen for the vampire that most everyone in town hated.

Elijah shot away from him, “Secret? What secret? I love secrets! Tell me a secret!!”

Micah blinked once more, “I...uh…” He sighed, “Y’know what, nevermind…”

“Aww!” Elijah pouted for a moment, then jumped to his feet, “Okay then! You said we could go hunting together! So, let’s go!”

Micah pulled his hand away before Elijah could begin dragging him away, “Not right now, we have to finish the council meeting!” He roughly seized his hand and led him back to the meeting room.

Elijah gasped, “A meeting? What meeting? We have a meeting? What’s it about?”

“...”

***

Micah stepped down the road of the currently silent neighborhood. His relationship with Elijah had only escalated from that point on, going even to the point of them getting a house together. Unfortunately, his friends quickly found out about the two of them and did harass him about it, but they knew he was serious about it and were careful not to go too far. Elijah visited the doctor once more to see if they could fix his condition, wanting to be normal for Micah’s sake, but he could not. So, they gave him a different supplement, a new one that wasn’t so full of medication that it could overdose and kill a human. Though Micah told him not to, Elijah still tried his hardest to not be so energetic. One could only take so much from someone they planned to spend eternity with, right? Even if Micah did have his own methods to calm his small boyfriend down, Elijah could only sleep for so long before he’d want to get up and run around again. But what enjoyable nights those were…

Micah shook his head. Enough reminiscing, it’s time to figure out what Elijah was talking about when he said he wanted “space”. What could “space” possible mean? There’s no way he meant that he wanted Micah to stay away from him…. Normally, if he wanted to get away from snuggling Micah, he’d just wander off to whatever caught his attention, so there’s no way he’s bored of the taller vampire yet. Perhaps it means something…”space.” He did go back inside the house...perhaps Elijah wanted a little bit of redecorating done? Maybe “space” meant that he wanted the furniture pushed back to the walls a bit...yeah, that seems plausible.

Micah spun back around and headed towards their sky blue house. He entered just in time for Elijah to run up to him in a panic, “Honey, I may or may not have broken the coffee maker There’s a mess all over the floor I’ll clean it up don’t worry And I’ll buy a new one Eek!” He sped through his words then flinched slightly, squeezing his eyes shut. Micah slid past him to find shattered pieces of the coffee maker all over the floor. He sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair. Elijah tended to break things easily when he worked too quickly.

“I’m sorry…” Elijah teared up behind him.

“No, no, it’s okay.” Micah ruffled his boyfriend’s hair, “Go ahead and go get a new one, I’ll stay here and clean up.”

Elijah sniffled, “R...really?”

“Really.” Micah chuckled.

“Okay!” Elijah perked up, running across the house to grab his wallet and jacket.

As Micah grabbed a broom and dustpan, he froze and shouted towards the opening front door, “Don’t buy one that’s too expensive.”

Silence followed, “...I know.” The door slammed quickly.

Micah chuckled, shaking his head. He was pretty sure he made extra on his paycheck to cover Elijah’s extremely impulsive spending, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. They’d get a nice coffee maker out of the deal anyways.

Once the mess in the kitchen was clean, Micah clapped his hands together, “Alright.” he sighed lightly. As quickly as he could he began to rearrange the furniture so there’d be more space in the center of the living room. He took a moment, No, that’s not enough, there should be more. He thinks in extremes, so there needs to be more….  He called his friends over to help him out. There was that forested area behind the house, perhaps that could be managed somehow. No, he shouldn’t get too hasty, but he decided to have the plans set up for it just in case. Once that had been set, he took one last look of the front room. Hmm...maybe just a bit more….

An hour later, the front door opened quietly, and Elijah slipped in shyly, “Honey, I hope your not mad...but on the bright side, I got a really good-” He froze, eyes wide as an owl’s, “...What happened to the living room?”

Micah popped out from the dining room, “Surprise! You said you needed space, so I redecorated a bit. I can do this to the rest of the house too if you want.”

Elijah stared blankly at the living room, with nothing but a loveseat and coffee table scooted as from the center of the floor as possible and a flatscreen tv on the far wall, “...Where’s all the furniture?”

“Downstairs.” Micah said innocently. Elijah stayed silent. “Is...is it not enough?”

“I...I don’t remember asking you to do this…”

Micah blinked, “...You told me an hour and a half ago that you needed space.”

“I did?” Elijah thought for a moment, “...That seems vaguely familiar, but I don’t think this is what I meant.”

“So…” Micah mused, “...you don’t need more space?”

“...No, I don’t think so.”

Micah pulled a walkie talkie from his belt, “Guys, defuse the bomb, that’s not what he meant.” He muttered into it.

Elijah shot him a look of confusion as he set the coffee maker down, then stared back at the nearly empty living room. He took a moment, then suddenly ran into the center and began spinning around while shouting “Wheeeee!”

Micah watched in silence for a moment before his thoughts wandered off again, What kind of “space” does he want then? What other kind of “space” is there? A poster of the solar system caught his eye, one of Elijah’s favourites. Oh...oh. Micah left Elijah to his spinning to call his friends back. This will certainly not be a one-man job.

The next day, Elijah went off to his job early, so Micah called over the squad. They had a lot of work to do before Elijah came home. Although, they’d have to repaint the walls. Micah had constantly refused to do so in case they ever sold the house, but...ah hell, it was for his boyfriend. He’d paint it back to normal if he had to. Luckily, one of his friends had an art degree, so he could add all the nice little touches, as well as make sure he didn’t screw up the bit with the glow-in-the-dark paint. Hours of hard work had the boys coated in sweat, then Elijah appeared in the distance. Micah ran off quickly to change for the big reveal, and his squad rushed into the forest.

Elijah burst through the door, “I’m hoooooome!” But then his jaw dropped. His eyes scanned the house, coated in various colours of paint to resemble outer space. Stars and small planets had been painted all around with paint that would glow in darkness. Even the furniture was changed a bit to match the theme. Elijah squealed with excitement. Micah had been so anal about painting the walls, what suddenly changed his mind? Nonetheless, he was super excited. Speaking of which...where was his skyscraper of a boyfriend?

His spacesuit-clad vampire entered into the room slowly, clumsily, and awkwardly as if he were walking on the moon...or at least, that’s what he thought it was supposed to be. All the same, Micah felt ridiculous, but if that was what he had to do to cheer Elijah up, he’d do it. He even made those spacesuit-y breathing noises, which sounded more like an asthma attack than anything else, but Elijah could still tell what he was trying to do.

“This is amazing!” Elijah marveled, “How long did it take to do all of this?!” His eyes twinkled as his head spun around to see the house again.

“*Chhh* It took…” Micah brought out his walkie talkie, “How long did it take?”

“Approximately three days according to human technology.” Came a reply.

Though Micah cut it off quickly, “Three days to arrive, but we made it. *Chhh*” Elijah giggled, “So, *Chhh* are you happy with this space?”

“What?” Elijah’s face twisted out of its smile, “...Is that what this is about? This isn’t at all what I meant.” A smirk crept back up as he bounced in place eagerly, “...But I really like it.” His eyes began to wander around again like a young boy in a candy store.

“Crap.” Micah muttered, “Guys, don’t launch the rocket, don’t launch the rocket!!” He whispered sternly.

“What? Oh no, guys! Guys! Don’t-” A roaring came through the speaker, as well as shook the house, “Gaaah, wait!”

“Did he say no? It’s way too late for that!”

“Guys, it’s launching!”

“Aaaaaah!”

“AAAAAAAH!” Screaming erupted as the presumed rocket blast off into space.

“Way to go, idiot!”

“We were supposed to launch it!”

“You didn’t get the cue!”

“But-”

“Guys…” A crackling silence followed for a few moments. Elijah listened quietly, either concerned about what was going on or too entertained to not listen. “Guys, there’s a fire!!”

“Aaaaaah!”

“Put it out! Put it out!”

“Oh God, why?!”

“I’m sorry, bird!”

“Gaaaah!! What’s happening?!”

“That’s a can of oil, idiot!”

“Somebody help us!!”

Eventually, the screaming and bickering stopped, and after a few moments, a voice came through the speaker, “...Fire’s out.”

Micah pulled the talkie up to him, “...Thank you…” He forced out, mentally drained from the stress of wondering what the hell just happened. Too embarrassed to look his boyfriend in the face, he simply turned and attempted his space walking out of the room.

Elijah leaned forward, “...You can stop walking like that.”

“Oh, thank you.” Micah sighed with relief, quickly retreating to change back into normal clothes. Afterwords, as Elijah was dancing around their newly decorated home, he went to check on his friends and see the nice and toasty tree behind the house. Why does he have put up with these fools?

One last shot before Micah completely gives up. He already embarrassed himself more than was strictly necessary with the rocket incident, but at least Elijah appreciated the rest of the house. So much so, in fact, that Micah had received an award from him that night from his excitement, but that didn’t change the fact that Micah still hadn’t figured out what kind of “space” Elijah wanted. What kind of “space” was there left, exactly? That day at his job in the office, he stared down at his computer as he typed a frustratingly long email. Wait a minute...oh...oh. There were several computers and computer labs throughout the building...yeah, that could work. Once his shift was over, he got to work, hoping Elijah would be happy with what Micah had to present.

As soon as the front door opened, Elijah, clad in a white apron with a strawberry pattern, flew from the kitchen to his boyfriend, “Welcome home, Honey!”

Micah smirked, “I’m home, Baby.” They exchanged a kiss, Elijah bouncing in place as if he hadn’t seen Micah in years, “I’ve got something for you.”

“Oh? from your job?” He stopped moving in confusion, head falling to the side. What could Micah have possibly brought from his office job? It wasn’t a holiday, so they wouldn’t be handing out anything…. His face twisted into a sort of puzzled disgust as Micah opened a plastic bag on his arm, “...Spacebars?”

“Yeah!” Micah said with more excitement than he meant, though he was confident that he finally got it right this time, “I thought that you wanted them for some kind of project or something.”

“Uh...no…”

“Oh…” Micah sighed, shoulders dropping in disappointment, “Then...what kind of “space” do you want?”

Elijah flinched back slightly, afraid of Micah’s stern tone, “Are you still…?” He hesitated, then pulled Micah into a hug, “Y’know what, forget what I said. I  don’t need space anymore...I need you.” He nuzzled his head into Micah’s chest.

Micah smiled, hugging his boyfriend back, “...Alright.”

“...I love you.”

“I love you too.” Micah chuckled slightly. His eyes looked towards the clock, then he moved to quickly and gently peel Elijah off him, “Buuut, in that case, I should probably return these before I get fired.” He slipped out the door leaving Elijah to laugh at his ridiculousness. Elijah had only wanted “space” so he could finish a project he was working on for Micah’s birthday, he didn’t mean for Micah to go to such lengths to get him anything. They were talking about it the day before, after all, so he didn’t think Micah would get so perplexed over it. Maybe Elijah worded it wrong? ...All well.

Author's Note

I originally started writing this for a contest on the site, but unfortunately, the contest ended a while ago while I was still working on this. Though I'm not able to submit it anymore, I decided to go ahead and finish it anyways. I have no freakin' clue where this was going, I just kinda hopped on the train and went right alongside it xD

All the same, I hope you enjoyed reading ^_^/