28. Congrats

" W hat are you doing?"

Pausing from rolling the ball of dough between his hands, Foxx glanced up at the dhampir. Harlow was freshly showered and looking…fuckable with his wet hair, but Foxx was way too nervous to really enjoy the view.

The man started to frown as he continued to stare.

What did Harlow even have to complain about?! Foxx was the one who was stressed! Well, he could be being hunted by the council at this very moment, but…like…that wasn't an immediate problem!

"Well?" the dhampir rasped, eyeing Foxx like he was losing it.

Foxx was the one to frown now… Well, what?

Wait, no! The man had asked a question! Fuck…what had he asked? Oh! Right… What was he doing…? "Umm, I'm…making sugar cookies."

"Why are you making cookies right before Wes is supposed to arrive?"

"Well…I thought…we have a guest, so…like—WELL, when are baked goods a bad idea?!" Foxx defended. Was his timing a bit insane? Maybe. BUT, it was calming him down. Also, who would say no to cookies?!

"Foxx…" Harlow started slowly, his face pinching. "He is going to be here in like ten minutes. You don't really have time to bake cookies."

"I mean…that's fine. I've already got two trays in, so like, they will be done right as he gets here. Probably before he gets here. And I can just clean this up and put the rest of the dough away for now." He said all that before blurting, "Are you sure you don't want me to just stay in my craft room?"

"I want you to stay with me and meet Wes, and…well, you can probably explain what I am to him better than I can. I am wondering if I can even get diagnosed now…since I'm not human."

"You were never human…but I mean, I'm sure you still can. And even if you can't, that's fine." Foxx gave him a small smile, his face heating as he said, "Anyway, I like you just as you are."

Harlow smirked. "That's good to know…but you are worried if it will last. So, I need to at least try."

He grimaced. While he was fine with how things had turned out after Alastair sneakily recorded him…this was a downside. "They are just…silly fears. But whatever you want to do, I support you."

"Silly fears that send you running off in the night? Not to mention, you did say you'd try to talk to him too."

"Well…it was only one time," Foxx huffed. "And as for the other part… I…will…" He didn't want to, but he would. "Anyway…I need to clean this up."

Harlow shook his head. "Like I said, stay here, meet Wes. As for your cookies… Do what you want, I guess…" The dhampir walked past him and sat down in the first half of his living room.

Foxx eyed him for a moment, before glancing down at the island counter, his eyes flicking from the dirty utensils to the measuring cups, the mixer, and all the ingredients scattered about, not to mention the random bits of trash, before his gaze slipped back to Harlow.

Lips pursing into a pout, he snapped, "You could help me clean up, you know?!"

Harlow stared blankly for a moment, before his brow slowly lifted. "You want me to clean up your mess, brat?"

He sniffed. "Well, it would be the considerate boyfriend thing to do, old man!"

"Cause…that is a word that describes me… Considerate." Harlow said the last word with clear disgust.

Dropping the ball of dough into the bowl, he crossed his arms as he started to glare.

The man glared back, so Foxx glared harder, narrowing his eyes to slits. After a few minutes of staring, Harlow finally relented. Standing up, the man growled, "Oh, for fuck's sake!"

Foxx smiled sweetly while the dhampir stomped over to him.

Just as they finished cleaning up, his timer went off at the same time there was a knock at the door.

"Why don't you have a doorbell?"

Foxx opened his mouth and then closed it, before huffing, "Just go answer the door." He shooed Harlow away as he went to get the two trays of cookies out of his double oven.

After quickly sprinkling sparkling sugar on top, he was carefully plating a few very warm cookies when Harlow returned with the human.

The dhampir cleared the hallway, but Wes must have caught his foot on the edge of the trim as the man stumbled. The human looked to be about to fall, but managed to catch himself, stopping just short of plowing into Harlow. The dhampir looked back, but didn't say anything.

Foxx forced a smile on his face. One that became more real as he actually got a good look at Wes. Wes had short blond styled hair that was turning white at the temples, a sculpted square jaw, high cheekbones, light blue eyes with wrinkles at the corner, and barely there smile lines. Without checking, he'd say the man was nearer to Harlow's age, and looked to be in shape under his navy sweater and black trousers, but not as bulky as the dhampir. Based on how he looked standing next to Harlow, the man was nearly six feet tall. And Foxx had to say…the human was, well…he was hot.

While Foxx did like his bad boys, the fact was…he may have a thing for older men in general… Well, non asshole-ish older-looking men. No…wait, that wasn't true… As Harlow was definitely an asshole. But like, a particular type of asshole was okay… Did Foxx…possibly have daddy issues…?

Why the bloody hell was he even thinking about this? Who gave a fuck if Wes was hot… The man was here to pick their brains…so that instantly lowered him on the scale of hotness. Also, he had Harlow, so…like…what did he care if the human was sexy?

With a smile that was even more forced, Foxx beamed, "Welcome to our home. I'm Foxx Honeywell," as he walked over with his plate of sugar cookies and some napkins.

The human smiled. "Wes Ackerman, we spoke, I believe." The man didn't hold out his hand, but then…he was holding a plate, so…

"Yes." Foxx cleared his throat. "Uhh…do you want a cookie?" he asked awkwardly as he held out the plate.

Harlow snorted. "Foxx, later."

"Well, they are hot now!" Foxx huffed.

Wes chuckled. "I'd love a cookie. But why don't we get seated first, hmm?"

"Right!" He cleared his throat.

They settled in the first half of his living room. Harlow and Foxx took a seat on one of his teal couches, while Wes took an adjacent plush gray chair.

The human quickly ate one of the sugar cookies, mumbling compliments as he finished and wiped his mouth off politely with a napkin, before folding it and setting it down on the coffee table.

"Now…tell me what's happened. Why the secrecy?"

Foxx opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated, as really…there was more than one thing now, wasn't there?

Was there…still a need for secrecy? Harlow knew the council was still a problem, but…like…not talking about it over the phone wasn't exactly going to prevent them from finding out at this point.

"I mean…the original reason we wanted you to come here, and why we couldn't speak about it on the phone, is less…of an issue now…I suppose," Harlow admitted with a shrug.

"It's still an issue, just not completely for the reason we originally called you here," Foxx corrected. "There is something else going on that we can't tell you about. Tony might tell you, if you asked him, though. But the initial reasoning is still a thing. If we were to talk about this over the phone, or meet elsewhere, there are people who may hear things we don't want them to. As for why you are here…it's because Harlow isn't—or rather, wasn't ever—human."

Wes frowned, his brow pinching. "Wasn't ever human?"

"I'm not sure if you know much about them… Well, here's the simple explanation… The vampire who kidnapped Harlow tried to change him. It didn't go well for him, as Harlow, it turns out, was actually an unchanged dhampir."

The human's eyes widened. "A dhampir? I've…heard about them…but I never thought I'd get the chance to meet one."

Harlow had to say, the man seemed oddly excited about the prospect… Like there was this spark in his gaze that made his hackles rise just a bit.

"Well, now you have," Harlow drawled, before deadpanning, "Congrats."

Foxx snorted.

Wes grimaced. "I'm sorry I couldn't meet you sooner, Harlow. I had some changes happen in my work life that has led to my normal hours being slashed in half. Changes you'll find out about soon enough, so I suppose I should just tell you both now."

His head tilted. "Changes?"

"I'll be taking up the position of your Guild psychologist. Part time, of course, as I still have my own patients. But even before the offer, I had already begun cutting back my hours, in truth, in preparation to shift some of my focus to research."

"You're…going to be our new Guild psychologist?" Foxx asked slowly, though it had come out more like a statement.

"I mean, you'll definitely be a step up from Johansson, I suppose," Harlow scoffed. "But why would you accept the job if your interest is in research?"

Wes' mouth twisted into a hesitant smile. "Well…"

"Ah…" Foxx sighed. "We're what he's studying."

"Great… Lab rats…"

The human flinched at the words. "No… You are not lab rats. Me researching something doesn't make those I'm studying lab rats. And no, hunters weren't my original focus…but when I received the job offer, my interests shifted. I decided I wanted to study the effects that such a volatile job has on the psyche of both humans and paranormals alike. As for those I'll be focusing on…well, the fact of the matter is…neither of you would be the right candidates for this research."

Harlow chuckled. "Not normal enough, huh?"

"I am normal, thank you very much!" Foxx huffed in indignation.

Glancing over with a brow raised, he asked, "Foxx…who are you trying to lie to?"

The vampire met his gaze and stared for a moment, just glaring at him, before a giggle slipped out, followed by him smiling wide enough for his dimples, and one of his fangs, to show. "Okay…but…like, I'm more normal than you."

Harlow smirked. "You are."

"Drawing the conversation back to the subject at hand, as I didn't mean to derail it. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to come sooner, Harlow. I imagine this was not an easy transition."

He shrugged. "The physical changes have been more of a pain than anything… Well…that and the whole ‘vampire council wanting my kind dead' thing."

Wes' eyes widened slightly, clearly alarmed to hear that. "The vampire council…wants to…what?"

"We are handling it," Foxx said vaguely. "But technically, they have an ‘extermination on existence' policy for dhampirs."

Handling it, as in, they were sitting around waiting for shit to happen. Though it had only been a day, so…there hadn't really been much time for shit to go down.

"Can you tell me what you know about dhampirs, Mr. Honeywell? I'm afraid I'm not sure what is considered rumor versus the truth about his kind," Wes asked. Again, Harlow would swear there was a spark of something in his eyes.

Now that he was thinking about it, he vaguely remembered Tony mentioning that Wes found freaks like him interesting. He imagined dhampirs, based on what Foxx had told him so far, would be high up on Wes' list of things he'd like to study.

"Call me Foxx, please. And…well…" Foxx started slowly before explaining the whole survival rate, the one and three, and all the other crazy parts of being a dhampir.

When the vampire had finished, Wes let out a puff of air and said, "I see… That does add a new perspective to Harlow, in terms of genetic predisposition." The man frowned. "This thirst…it's not something you've mentioned before, Harlow."

"It's not really something I would have brought up unless asked…"

Well, if asked, on top of if he felt like explaining. Harlow had ignored the question of why he was constantly drinking plenty of times. Foxx being the most recent person he'd told. And really, that had been more of a last-ditch effort to shut the vampire up at the time. He wasn't sure why Foxx had been so insanely talkative when they'd first met, but…well, the vampire had mellowed out a bit, even if he was still a chatterbox.

"Anyway…in light of this new issue of me having never been human, is it possible for you to still diagnose me?"

Wes' head tilted. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I mean…I'm not human."

"It only means we have a greater understanding of why you are the way that you are. Which can only help when it comes to diagnosing you. Though," he checked his watch, "Starting such a big topic now wouldn't be wise. It would be better if we left it until next time." The man wrinkled his nose. "Unfortunately, I can't stay after the hour is up. My new position really isn't leaving me much free time right now."

"That's fine," Harlow grunted, before eyeing Foxx, who was being unusually quiet.

The vampire glanced over and quickly looked away. Harlow rolled his eyes. Foxx really thought he'd get Wes out of the apartment without Harlow bringing up his situation—fat chance of that.

"Well, with that clarified, there is one other thing. Foxx wants to start seeing you too."

Foxx sputtered. "I-I never said that."

"You said you would."

"I'd said I would think about it."

"Foxx," he warned.

The vampire huffed and slumped next to him.

"We can start with him joining my sessions, maybe… Unless that won't work with the whole you trying to diagnose me thing?"

Wes leaned back and eyed them both. "Well… It would still work. The fact is, most of your changes…" Wes hesitated, and met his gaze.

Harlow waved him on. "You don't have to hold back. I've told Foxx practically everything at this point." He blinked. "Oh right… We are dating now…just so you know."

The human chuckled. "Foxx already informed me of that fact when he called on your phone. But congrats. I'm glad you decided to talk to him. But…what I was going to say was…most of your changes have been due to him. So, seeing things from his perspective wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

"At the same time, while I wouldn't be opposed to having Foxx here for our sessions…is there a particular reason you need to see me, Foxx? And with that reason in mind…would it be beneficial for Foxx to have you here when he's working through it, Harlow?"