4. Chapter 4 (1/1)

sorry - this didn't want to be written for most of last week, but now i've worked out what i'm doing it should come quicker. enjoy (and sorry...)!

disclaimer: still not mine, none of it is mine.

kissing bertrand didn't get any less intense and wonderful the more he did it. his mother had been thrilled to hear that robin was getting into sport, and had insisted that he stay away for as long as he was welcome at garside. he hadn't mentioned, during that phone call, that his four-hundred-year old personal trainer was a major part of the attraction.

vlad had noticed their increased training time on his return with erin, but the slayer had managed to persuade him that this was a good thing; it gave him more time to spend with her, after all. they'd only been back a couple of days – their escape had been a one-day affair – and bertrand gave robin a look every time he opened his mouth to talk to them. he always relaxed when robin managed to avoid revealing their new… well, whatever it was… but the glares he obviously meant to be intimidating were so full of fear that he was amazed nobody else could see how terrified bertrand clearly was.

he was in no hurry to tell vlad about this thing with bertrand anyway; they hadn't even really talked about it yet. he'd meant to start the conversation at some point, but they'd had training to do and… well… robin was a seventeen-year old boy. given the chance to choose between having an in-depth conversation and snogging bertrand until he saw stars, well, there was no choice, was there, really?

robin had managed to keep things quiet about them so far. that was good, because bertrand knew he'd be expected to explain himself once the rest of the household found out what they were doing, and he didn't know how to begin to explain. he didn't understand himself at all.

the boy was a

eather, for blood's sake. if he was going to kiss a bloodbag at all, it should have ended in fangs, but… they were still all over each other for a substantial proportion of the time bertrand set aside for training together. if the vampire was confused about why he was so keen to kiss robin, it was nothing compared to his confusion about the boy's willingness to reciprocate. it was all he could do to get him to train, sometimes – although once he knuckled down, robin was a very determined student.

he didn't want to ask, though, didn't want to shatter the fragile understanding between them. only when he opened his eyes, pulling away from another scorching training-room kiss, and realised that robin could see right through him – only then did he finally abandon the pretence and start the conversation he knew needed to happen."what are we doing, robin?" the

eather sighed; it seemed he'd been dreading it just as much as the vampire had."i'm kissing you, and you're kissing me back, and we're both enjoying it, right?" bertrand nodded, but then the question he'd been hoping to hold back slipped out unbidden."why?"

robin frowned, eyes boring into bertrand's, surprised by the vulnerability he found there."why do i like kissing you?" the tutor was looking away, eyes suddenly anywhere but on robin, and that wouldn't do. robin reached up and caught his chin, making the vampire focus on him. "because it's just the beginning, because hopefully it means something more than just some random snogging, because i want to be with you. you're the only person who takes me seriously half the time, and you make me happy. that a good enough reason?" it seemed not."i'm a vampire; i've killed a lot of people, i've slain a lot of vampires. you shouldn't be-""don't you want this, bertrand?" was that what it was? "you can tell me, it's alright.""i do want this." it was a quiet admission, as if the vampire didn't want to acknowledge it. "but you shouldn't." robin rolled his eyes."well, i do. so let's just roll with it, yeah?" bertrand nodded slightly. "so are we, like, going out?" the tutor looked a little confused, to be honest."is that what you want this to be?""yeah, i mean… if you do." he wasn't going to throw away the casual snogging just because he'd rather have a relationship, but if he could have both…"then yes. i think that would be best."

robin stared at him for a moment, and bertrand wondered if he'd said the wrong thing. should he have been less cautious about agreeing to this insane relationship? should he, indeed, have refused to let the boy get so attached?"really?" he nodded; there was nothing to be gained by changing his answer now, after all. then robin threw himself at him, and he realised he didn't want to change it at all. this was good, this was what he wanted. and robin, for reasons best known to himself, seemed to want it too. he gave up trying to understand and gave in to the

eather. no, wait, he might not quite understand what was going on here but he was still the older partner and moreover the vampire, and he wasn't going to let robin push him around as he was trying to at this very moment. he spun them round, pushing robin up against the wall he'd been backing bertrand towards, and took control of the kiss, vaguely aware that in about a quarter of an hour he had a training session with vlad and they would have to stop-

"what's going on?" apparently, a quarter of an hour had gone by faster than he'd thought.

robin's eyes flew open and he peered over bertrand's shoulder, shocked by the sudden appearance of his oldest friend."vlad! we, um, we were just-""bertrand, get out of here. wait for me in the kitchen. now." he spoke with the authority of the chosen one and bertrand looked apologetic as he squeezed his hand and left. robin watched him all the way to the door; well, he was still a teenage boy, after all.

vlad rounded on him the moment the door closed, clicking his fingers in front of his face, looking as if he didn't know whether to be furious or concerned."what the hell was that? how could you let him do that? i thought the whole point of this training was learning not to get-""not to get bitten, and i didn't did i?" vlad stared at him, horrified."you weren't even hypnotised, were you?" that did it; robin wasn't having anyone judge them like that, not even his best friend, not even the chosen one of all the vampires."no, i was just snogging my boyfriend of my own free will, funnily enough. got a problem with that?"

vlad looked aghast."robin, you don't know him, you don't know what he's done – he's a killer, vampires and

eathers, he's not-""he'd never hurt me.""how can you be sure?" vlad closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep, unnecessary

eath. "you need to go home. clearly it isn't safe for you to be here.""what-?""renfield!""what, no, you can't just kick me out-" vlad's expression was cold."actually, i can." then his eyes turned yellow and everything slipped out of focus.