"Oh fuck off," Bryce said with a pout, looking back to Cyprus, "It was one time. One!" He kicked at a rock on the path, almost being over the top dramatic, slightly playing into the whole Toreador's being dramatic thing, "I take it you're never going to let me live that down, are you?" He asked. He knew that he deserved it for being an asshole, so he wasn't going to complain any further.. Unless Cyprus kept going on about it. A part of him didn't care, being teased by him wasn't an awful thing.
Cute when he pouted too, was there any way that Bryce didn't look good? Cyprus didn't show his appreciation of course, he was too busy shoulder checking the Toreador bastard with a laugh bubbling out of him. "You're truly ridiculous and no, in fact, I will not be letting you live that down. So you're going to nut up and drink champagne in your fancy spot on the rocks with me , and it's going to be a good time." He tried to school his expression into something serious near the end, smoothing out his hair like it would make him look any more stern.
"You make one mistake and suddenly no one can let it go," He mumbled, though there was a smile tugging at his lips as he shook his head, "Fine, I'll drink your stupid champagne with you at my fancy spot as you called it and I'll try and have a good time with you old man." He replied, sticking his tongue out at the other playfully, "And that serious expression you're trying to make makes you look older then you are."
Cyprus rolled his eyes, reaching over to shove Bryce gently. "Oh, like I need to take fashion advice from a baby." His tone was mocking, but he stopped trying to smooth his expression out too, so he couldn't really say it was a victory. He fiddled with his hair after a few moments, the way he usually did when he was getting thoughtful. "You don't even know what old looks like, you're barely 20. God. I'm friends with a fetus, how long have you even been a vampire?"
"I'm 41 thank you!" He replied, chewing at the inside of his cheek. He knew that in comparison yes, he was young, a baby as Cyprus put it, but he didn't like to think like that. And he knew that Cyprus wasn't as old as some of the vampires he'd met, but he wasn't going to admit it now, "And I've been a vampire for over 20 years now," He looked the other up and down, "And maybe it would benefit you taking fashion advice from someone younger, some of us keep with the trends."
Cyprus didn't really think he was a baby. Age didn't mean so much to vampires and anyways, he was 40. Not as old as him at all, but old enough that he knew how to handle himself. Old enough that he wasn't some baby fledgling, still cutting himself on his fangs every time he tried to drink. The teasing made him scoff, softer than normal. Fonder. He pulled his jacket a little tighter around himself. "I'm sorry, I'm friends with a toddler. A very well spoken, very fashionable toddler, but a toddler nonetheless. I'm not taking fashion advice from you until you turn fifty."
Bryce rolled his eyes, "Guess you're stuck with me for another ten years then, if you can handle me for that long that is, grandpa." Cyprus' fashion wasn't terrible, he made his clothes look good, great in fact if he was being honest with himself. Sure, it might not what he would normally find attraction but he was hot. Very hot. So he really wasn't going to get Cyprus to change his style anytime soon.
Cyprus noticed Bryce looking him up and down, but he figured it was just a more subtle critique of his fashion. Honestly, he liked the way he looked. Sure, his shirts were getting a little tight across the chest and his boots were beat to hell and back, but still. He looked fine. "Please, I babysit a whole bar full of idiots who actually are fledglings. I'm sure I can deal with a 40 year old for a while, even if he does have his head lodged up his ass."
"You really think I'd mess up this hair by putting my head up my ass?" Bryce replied, raising a brow, "With hair this good I would never." He slipped his hands into his pockets with a small shrug, "Speaking of babysitting those idiot fledglings you speak of, shouldn't you be there right now instead of spending time with me?" he asked, a grin etching into his features, "Am I that special you're gonna skip work for me?"
"You would if you thought it made a good hat, mister fashion expert." He raised an eyebrow right back, tucking his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket. "And you are special, that's why I'm figuring out where the hell your house is. So I can drop by unannounced after babysitting—which I'm not missing out on yet, by the way—and kick my feet up on your overpriced couch and talk to someone I happen to like quite a bit. Even if you are an ass."
"Is that so? Damn you must really like me then." Bryce wasn't going to complain, though. He liked spending time with Cyprus, really liked it, "Hey, you're the one that wants to spend time with me, therefore you have to out up with me being an 'ass' as you say." He nudged the shower with a smile, "But I'll make sure to have the alcohol ready for when you finish babysitting, or coffee if you need it to stay awake after dealing with all those other toddlers."
"You're charming, what can I say?" He looked Bryce up and down, letting a small smirk cross his face. "I've been charmed. You, dangerous predator that you are, have ensnared me in your grasp." The sarcasm was thick in his voice but his eyes were warm where they lingered on Bryce. He liked him so much, it was honestly embarrassing. He'd never hear the end of it if the thin-bloods found out. "I mean… ensnared with coffee and alcohol, sure, but still. It counts on the technicality."
Bryce couldn't help but blush at that smirk, running his hand through his hair in some horrible attempt to hide it, "Ah I see, the only reason I have really caught your attention is because you just want me to give you coffee and alcohol, gotcha." He replied, smiling almost giddily, "Well, my door is always open if you happen to want either of the two, I happen to make a great coffee."
Cyprus toyed with the ends of his own hair, considerably more pride in his expression then there had been before. Bryce was cute and Bryce liked him, which was huge, and maybe he could try this out. The whole dating thing. The whole picking up a stranger thing honestly, it was weird to remember that they'd only met last night. "Well there's also the tiny fact that you happen to make me pretty happy, but that's really inconsequential in the face of a good cup of coffee. I haven't had anything that didn't taste like motor oil in years."
Bryce grinned, "I'm definitely going to have to make you a good cup of coffee, then, if that's the case," He decided, "If you like my coffee more then you like me we're going to have some serious problems though because then you're not even gonna come round and visit me just my coffee machine." Bryce wouldn't care even if that was the case, as long as he got to see Cyprus every once and a while then he was happy with that.
"Well I'll need you to work the coffee machine for me, and anyways coffee's only half as good when you don't have any company to drink it with." He'd probably be dropping by pretty often using coffee as an excuse, if he was being honest with himself. Especially now that he knew Bryce would accept the excuse. "So I will, however indirectly, be dropping by to hang out with you too."
He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth before quickly releasing it in a dramatic sigh, "How awful for you. To spend time with someone as terrible as a full-blood like myself. What would your thin-blooded friends think if they found out you were dropping by a Torreador house for coffee?" Bryce raised a brow, a half smile playing on his cheeks. He knew Cyprus wouldn't tell them, and that was fine he supposed.
"They'd say I was an idiot, but I'm not going to tell them about dropping by your house because the last thing I'm doing is bringing a gaggle of children with me text time I go over." He'd be absolutely swarmed with overeager fledglings wanting to know he was safe. Normally that would all be well and good but he was pretty sure Bryce didn't want his nice house becoming a hangout for baby thin bloods. "You'll just have to live in secrecy for a little until I decide you're worthy of dealing with my idiot kids."
Bryce almost shivered at the thought of all those children in his house. His pristine, well deserved, clean house. He wasn't going to let a bunch of fledglings come in and trash the place, "I can live with that. I didn't practically want to become a dad anytime soon anyway." He replied, "Besides, I hate kids, you can keep them. I'm happy to be your little secret for a while longer."
Cyprus laughed quietly. "They're going to be pissed when they realize I've been hiding you away." He gave Bryce a warm little smile, taking a half step closer so they could walk with their shoulders touching. "I'll have to suffer through hours of interrogation, and demands to meet you—demands which I will very valiantly fend off, because I value your happiness—and then I'll have a whole coterie of children whining at me until I break and introduce you."
The smile he was given made Bryce's heart do a flip. He returned it with a small smile of his own, as well as a nod, "Well they're not all bad," He said, sighing lightly, "However I am not bursting at the seems to meet your cohort of children. Maybe after they've begged you to let them meet me and I've had enough of you complaining about it." Not that he would mind the complaining, any conversation with Cyprus was good conversation he had found.
"Entirely fair, my children are little terrors." He laughed quietly. "But you'll like them well enough. They put on their best behavior for strangers, even when those strangers are mysterious Toreadors stealing their dad's attention." Funnily enough, he did consider the kids his. They were a ridiculous bunch and there were far too many of them, but they were his. He'd raised them since they were tiny things, shown them how to control their thirst and their newfound powers. "Maybe I'll introduce them one at a time, that way they won't overwhelm you."
"That would take forever though, considering it seems you have quite a few of them." He'd rather just meet them all in one go, get it over and done with rather than drag the meeting out over multiple visits. Bryce knew it might be easier on everyone if he met them in small batches, though, "But it doesn't really matter. Whether I meet them all at once or one at a time it doesn't bother me. You're the dad after all, you get to pick."
Cyprus laughed, glancing over at Bryce with a warm sort of smile. He hadn't expected it to be this easy. Normally people were, at the least, slightly wigged out by the giant family thing, but it seemed like it barely even bothered him. "You're sweet. We can split the difference and do small groups, threes or fours, that way you won't have to worry about the little terrors roaming around your house unsupervised."
Bryce let out a thankful sigh, "Good, because if your children ruin my nice white couches with their grubby hands or get piles of dirt on my clean floor then you're the one who's gonna be cleaning up and replacing my couch." He nudged Cyprus gently. He didn't give a that much of a shit, really. Leather couches and hard wood floors were easy to clean and after the parties he used to throw, Bryce was in fact, a master cleaner.
