Chapter Text
It had only been a few months since Ronnie Graham moved to Manhattan, hoping to make it as a designer in one of the biggest fashion capitals of the world. It hasn’t exactly worked out yet so far for him but hey at least the snow was gone. He was grateful to have a roof over his head, though. His best friend Carine has been letting him crash at her apartment for the last three months, since he has yet to find a place of his own or even steady work yet. She doesn’t mind, she gets all the free clothing she wants from her BFF. They were inseparable growing up and shared everything, to the point of getting mistaken for dating way too often for them to admit. Trying to find a job is the absolute pits; especially since he hasn’t had time or money to legally change his name yet, nor decide on what gender to put on his license since he didn’t know if genderfluid was an acceptable checkbox so that just added to his stress. Right now though he needed to focus on finding a steady job and has been to the point that the librarians probably know him by name now.
It’s late in the day when Ronnie calls it quits to phone Carine. “Hey, I’m done at the library for today, what did you want to do for dinner?”
His roommate wasted no time replying, “Oooo I know you’re probably drained from hitting the books all day but I JUST heard about this cool ass-club from the new girl at work, and we. Have. To. Go! You’ve been working so hard and need to blow off some steam and forget about hunting for a job for just one night.”
Ronnie sighed in response.
“Pleeeeeease?” He can almost hear her giving him puppy eyes from over the line.
He let the silence permeate for a minute before deciding, “You know I have an interview tomorrow morning, and I mean I’d rather save what money I have left... ugh okay fine but only for a few hours.”
“Awesome! Thank you, Ronnie, you’re the best. And don’t worry about buying drinks, I’ve got you covered.” Good, now he is slightly stressed out about going out to drink the night before an interview.
“Okay okay, I’m not getting plastered though, nor dressed up. You get me as-is, for a few drinks. And that’s it. I can’t exactly get hired as a photographer for a newspaper if I show up hungover, alright? You can go on ahead though and just text me the address; I want to eat something first so I’m not drinking on an empty stomach.”
The shuffling he hears in the background must be her already halfway through getting dressed to go out. “Sweet, I’ll see you soon, babes. Bye!”
Well, at least he didn’t make any actual plans tonight. He walks towards his bike and puts his bomber jacket on, sighs, and unlocks his cat-eared helmet before setting it on the seat so he could grab his gloves. It’ll be fine, really. He’ll drink enough just to let loose and socialize for a bit before turning in for the night. He’ll still be able to drive his Kawasaki motorcycle home, even if it’ll be in the dark.
Across the city, the residents of a certain Staten Island mansion were just getting up for the night. Colin Robinson already left for the night, citing he has a zoning meeting to attend and Nadja had decided that the rest of the house was going to go out for some fun. She was sick and tired of Nandor moping about after being dumped yet again. “Really, Nandor, maybe drinking some drug blood will do you some good. I’m sick of seeing you mope around like a sad little turkey all night! Who cares if you got dumped, you’re always getting dumped!”
At that Nandor looked even more hurt but wouldn’t respond. Guillermo, on the other hand, did, “Um, I’m not sure if this is the best idea....”
Laszlo interrupted without letting him continue, “I say it’s a great idea! Who doesn’t enjoy a good night on the town with some delicious drug blood? Gizmo, use your computer and look up places to get drugs. I heard there is a good new club that just opened up over in Manhattan.”
Nadja nods in agreement while Guillermo dejectedly leaves to fetch his laptop.
“Alright, I guess we can go out tonight,” Nandor relents. “But nothing too fancy, okay? Just for a little bit of doing the drinking and then we can come back home.”
Nadja rolls her eyes, “Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you say Nandor. We’ll go out drinking at the club and see where things go from there.”
The night really did not go very well. Whatever human that Nandor drank from wasn’t having a good time before Nandor got his fangs on them. Thankfully they were put out of their misery. Guillermo then brought the poor vampire out the back door for some fresh air, on the off chance that he started projectile vomiting all over.
As Guillermo had hoped, the cold night air helped the vampire feel a little better. The street wasn’t well-lit for his human eyes to see very well but at least Nandor could. As he was affectionately rubbing his master’s back, the two of them heard a motorcycle approaching above the booming music that spilled out into the night. He turned to keep an eye on the intruder, and saw a black Kawasaki park on the sidewalk. A youthful figure dressed in black combat boots, blue jeans, a black bomber jacket with matching gloves, and a black full-face helmet that featured what looked to be cat ears swung their leg over to get off of their bike.
Nandor noticed the ears, and mumbled, “Guillermo, look, a kitty cat.”
His glorified babysitter nodded and silently hoped the stranger didn’t pay them much attention.
Unfortunately for him, the stranger did pay them much attention as they took their helmet off to run a hand through the black and red wisps that had fallen out of their split color braided hair and winked at Nandor. “Nice outfit,” he smiled.
Shit, this couldn’t get worse, could it? Thought Guillermo.
“Haha, what a pretty kitty,” chimed the inebriated Nandor.
The stranger giggled as Guillermo gave his master a horrified look. What was he thinking? Here they were, outside because HE didn’t feel good after drinking the blood of someone who had wayyy too much of some drug that they don’t even know, and he’s catching the attention of some random person like it’s nobody’s business!
Thankfully, a blonde in a sparkling bodycon dress and the highest heels Guillermo has ever seen came out to greet the interloper, and the latter wrapped an arm around the girl and they finally went inside. Guillermo lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Where did the kitty go, Guillermo?”
Nandor looked at him with earnest curiosity to know where the stranger went, but the young man was hoping that they left so things wouldn’t get any more messed up than they already were. “I’m not sure, Master, I think the kitty left.”
Nandor huffed. “What do you mean, the kitty cat left? Why would they leave this amazing bar. I know that I am having such a good time-” He didn’t get to finish that sentence as a wave of nausea made him double over.
“I know, Master, I know.”
Okay, Ronnie did have to admit coming out tonight was a good idea. Carine always has good ideas. The club did have a lot of people for a weekday, but thankfully it also had several booths scattered around so even though they had to talk above the music their conversations weren’t being heard by the entire room. He was a few drinks in, like he said, but not plastered. "I’ve now had enough to be loose and limber,” He states to Carine, who laughs in response.
“Yes, aren’t you glad you joined me here on this lovely evening?” She continues, batting her eyes.
Ronnie sticks his tongue out as they hear a loud noise from across the bar. “Oh,” he says, spotting a beautiful dark haired woman dressed in a floor-length gown yelling at a man in an Edwardian outfit. “Hey, Carine? Remember the guys that were outside when I pulled up?”
“Hmmmm, maybe?”
“Well there were two of them, and one looked about to be sick.... his outfit, was like, reeeeally old. I think we have a group of people who like dressing in period outfits. More importantly that woman over there is insanely gorgeous!” He slapped the table with both hands, “Yooo what if they’re like friends with the two people outside and like what if they would be down to model for me?”
Carine tilted her head to the side, “I’m not sure that people normally will just model for a stranger.”
He scoffed, “If they’re nerds then they would probably maybe go for it. I know cosplayers help fashion designers out, and photographers. And vise-versa.” He shrugged, looking at the water he was stirring, “I’m both, so I must have a double chance.” He absentmindedly chews on his lip ring while gathering the courage to go over to the boisterous couple. “Ugh, fuck it,” He stands, ready to engage the enchanting strangers.
“Hello,” He starts off with, facing the woman. “I’m terribly sorry to bother the two of you, but I just wanted to let you know that you are absolutely gorgeous.”
She perks up from tormenting her companion over something trivial that he must have done. “Oh? Hello young mortal, yes thank you I am absolutely gorgeous! How sweet of you to notice.”
The man grunts, wanting to say something but she just swats at him, “Hush, my darling Laszlo, let this child speak.” She didn’t really care what this human had to say as long as they kept complimenting her.
Wow, they even talked in an interesting way, Ronnie thought. He cleared his throat, thinking of a good way to ask for her hand in marriage- um, ask her to be a model. “I, um... I was wondering if you would be interested in being a model for me? I know you’d look stunning in anything,” Oh no, the courage he had when talking with Carine didn’t follow him over here. He quickly fumbles in his pockets for a business card to give to her. “I um, my name is Ronnie, my pronouns are currently he and him, and I’m a fashion designer. I just moved to Manhattan a few months ago so I don’t have the money to properly be able to pay you for your time at this moment but I promise that I’ll make it up to you. I’ll even let you keep the outfits if you wish. May I ask, fair lady, what is your name?” he grinned sheepishly.
Nadja took the card in her perfectly manicured hands and crossed her legs to look it over. “Ooo, I haven’t modeled for anyone in quite some time. Flatter me more, short one, and I shall consider it. And my name is Nadja,”
Laszlo must have decided Ronnie wasn’t a threat to him because he nodded in agreement, signifying that the newcomer should continue.
Ronnie wasn’t used to complimenting people to their face, he always really wanted to but the resulting anxiety was generally too much for him to handle. This time he would do his best, given that he’d had some liquid courage helping run the show. “I really want to have the opportunity to do your beauty justice, if you’ll let me. The night sky pales in comparison to the way your eyes sparkle in the light of this club. You could wear a dirty paper bag and still be the best-looking person in the room.”
The corner of her mouth slid up to form a small smile. He totally nailed it.
“Hmmm, yes I think I shall model for you,” she turned her head to shout at the crowd, “Guillermo! Where are you?”
A man barely older than Ronnie approached, and he noticed that he was outside earlier with the man who had been looking terribly sick following behind.
Nadja clapped her hands together when she saw him, “Ah, there you are! Here, take this card that is from this lovely designer named Ronnie. I am going to model for him, and I don’t want you to lose it, alright? I shall be very very mad if you do.”
Guillermo grumbled something about how she’s not his master but accepted her order nonetheless.
Ronnie spots that the now only nameless person in their group looks a bit better, and once again says fuck it to himself. “If it's alright with you, your friends can come too,” he suggested to Nadja, while winking at him. Poor guy was still probably suffering from too much to drink, as he just gaped at the younger man without saying anything.
Not wanting to bother them any longer, Ronnie excused himself. “Thank you for lighting up my evening, Miss Nadja.” He takes a slight bow, “I hope to hear from you soon.”
She nods in acknowledgment, and Laszlo finally manages to pipe in, “We’ll see about that, young man. Care to stay longer and we’ll see where the night carries us?”
Nadja swats at him again, and shoo’s Ronnie away. He happily leaves them to their revelry, knowing that if he stayed, he would only make things more awkward for himself.
As he returned to Carine, he was beaming but felt the pressure of at least one pair of eyes watching him walk away. “I did it!” He sat down, still in disbelief that he actually was able to ask such a thing from strangers.
“Yeah, I saw. I can’t believe the confidence on you!” She playfully punches his shoulder, and he feigns being hurt. “Great job, I am proud of you for pulling that off.”
“I know right, look at me go! I’m lit and I was able to talk to a gorgeous person, aaaaah.” He checked his phone, and saw it was getting pretty late. “Shit, I gotta go home. Catch ya later, girl,” he says, giving her a peck on the cheek. “I’ll grab a water from the bartender on my way out, don’t worry about me. Get home safe later, alright?”
She waves him off, “You too! Best of luck on your interview tomorrow if I don’t see you before then,” She winked.
He chuckled and shook his head as he left for that water. Stepping outside, he chugged what was left of it and disposed of the empty bottle in a nearby trash can before gently slapping his face in an attempt to get a little more sober before riding home. The chilly night air had already helped a lot, and he grabbed his helmet and gloves to leave, not seeing a caped figure watching him drive off from the shadows.