An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Inspired and based on this amazing art by @mojo-chojo
(Guess who might be writing a #birds of a feather au piece? me... we'll see if I ever finish or red ropes prove too much...)
The last person Tango expected to see sat at the bar of iCandy, barely after the opening, after waking up from his day time nap, was Zedaph. A crazy inventor/scientist who helped him build his gun sometime after he became a full-fledged hunter. At least he thought it was Zedaph. Zed he knew didn't have any hooves or horns. The coat, the hair and the eyes were the same. The voice too as he laughed at Impulse grumbling at whatever he was mixing.
"Tango, please order something normal..." Impulse whined noticing the vampire.
"Tango?! What are you doing here?" Zedaph asked almost hopping on his stool.
"Living kind of," Tango shrugged baring his fangs.
"Whaaa? When? Who? How? Why?" Zed almost fell off his seat grinning and bombarding Tango with questions.
"A few months ago. A vampire I was hired to kill. No idea how I was kind of dying because I decided to not do it and they tried to kill me," Tango explained. He was much less sour about the whole thing now.
"One gross monstrosity and one speciality," Impulse presented two drinks. Wincing at Zed's and winking at Tango when giving him his. "You two know each other?" he asked. There were few other customers and they already had their drinks.
"Ugh, that's gross," Zed cringed after one sip of his drink.
"Told you so," Impulse sighed, his eyes going wide as the satyr still finished the monstrosity in one go.
"Kind of, at least I think we do," Tango sighed, drinking his special, spiked with blood drink. "Zed helped me make Holsten..."
"Our baby how's our baby?" Zed almost creamed hearing the name.
"Perfectly fine," Tango sighed pulling out the gun. He didn't miss the way Impulse's back tensed and untensed. "Don't worry Impy, it's a strictly business relationship," he assured the jinn with a grin.
Zed watched them for a moment, sipping a beer he ordered to wash his previous drink down. There was something fishy going on there and he wasn't sure he wanted to poke it. "So," he eventually said, giving Tango a side glance once Impulse was gone to help another customer. "One of the guild's best hunters is now a vampire and flirting with an owner of a magical tavern? Interesting..."
"And you have hooves and horns," Tango huffed. He didn't like secrets.
"I'm sure you can guess why I hide it," Zed sighed.
Tango did. Now. Back then he'd be much more confused, maybe even turned to violence. "Humans aren't all that kind," the former hunter sighed finishing his drink.
"Tell me about it," Zed sighed. "Not even to each other."
Tango nodded. "I've been with more kindness as a vampire than a hunter," he confessed. He didn't even tell Impulse about that.
"That's the way it is," Zed sighed, tapping a hoof on the metal part of the stool. "So, you got a boyfriend now..."
"No." Tango ended that line of questioning. "How haven't I seen you here before?"
"Today's my first time, a friend recommended the place to me," Zed instantly stopped sulking from Tango's shut down and grinned. "You met Doc yet?"
"Can't say I have," Tango shook his head. Doc? What kind of name was that...
"I'm sure he'll show up, eventually," Zed laughed finishing his beer and shouting for another.
Tango sighed. Apparently, he was going to see Zed more often now... Fun.
