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Lestat didn't think much of it when he agreed to Daniel's proposed activity for tonight's double date with the four of them. They've done several of these since he and Louis arrived on the Night Island a week ago at Armand and Daniel's invitation. He's very much enjoyed himself on all of them, and this one should be no different.
Daniel's choice for tonight's date is a visit to the Night Island's roller rink, a very different 'vibe' (as Daniel put it) from their previous dates throughout the week which included fancy dinners, orchestral concerts and the like. Lestat has never been roller skating before, but he isn't concerned. It should be easy enough.
When he and Louis arrive, Armand and Daniel are already there waiting on a bench near the rink, watching the humans roll by.
"Scoping out dinner, are you?" Lestat asks as they approach the bench.
"People watching." Daniel answers, standing up and rolling over on his skates to Louis, giving him a big hug.
Lestat rolls his eyes. "You just saw him two hours ago."
"You stick to Louis like glue when he's been away from you for five minutes." Armand retorts.
Lestat huffs, but drops it. It's not untrue, anyway.
"We got skates for you guys already so you didn't have to wait in line." Daniel says, picking up and presenting them with two pairs of roller skates. One pair is hot pink with electric blue laces and the other is lime green with safety orange laces. Lestat chooses the green and orange pair, so Louis takes the pink and blue. As they lace up, Armand and Daniel start without them, holding hands and starting their first lap around the rink.
Lestat watches them and pretends to grimace at their affection. "They're ridiculous."
Louis scoffs. "Yeah, right. Like we're any better. If anything, we're worse."
"Hm. You're not wrong." He leans over and kisses Louis, whose hands are still occupied tying up his second skate. Louis grins against his mouth and kisses back, but pulls away when Lestat starts trying to deepen it, making him pout.
"We're in public, Les." Louis chuckles.
"I could freeze the mortals."
"And Armand and Daniel?"
"I don't mind them."
Louis laughs. "Right. Well, you're just going to have to wait till later." He says, standing up and offering a hand to Lestat.
Lestat takes it gratefully and rises to his feet, only when he tries to move forward, he stumbles and slides around wildly. He makes a startled noise and flails his other hand trying to catch his balance, eventually landing on Louis' bicep. Louis grabs his arm back, steadying him.
"Whoa, you okay? What happened?"
"Putain de merde! These shoes are trying to kill me!" Lestat exclaims loudly, drawing the attention of nearby humans and even Armand and Daniel on the opposite side of the rink.
"You probably just stepped wrong. Try again." Louis says, carefully releasing Lestat but staying close in front of him. Lestat tries again to move forward, only to be met with the same result as last time. Louis catches him again and Lestat grunts loudly in annoyance.
"Lestat, have you ever been skating before?" Louis asks.
He hesitates for a moment before answering. "No." He admits. "But this should not be a problem. I am an almost 300 years old vampire with superior strength, coordination and balance. I should not be fumbling around like an infant deer."
"Having trouble?" Daniel asks as he and Armand complete their first lap and pull over to the barrier.
"No! Everything is fine." Lestat insists as he shrugs Louis' hands off and manages to fling himself onto the barrier before he can stumble again.
"Are you sure? You seem to be… Struggling." Armand says, unable to hide his amusement.
"I am quite sure. You two continue on with your hand holding." He gestures out to the rink.
Daniel shrugs. "Alright, if you say so." He tugs on Armand's hand and they continue on their way. Once they're out of vampiric earshot, Lestat turns back to Louis.
"I cannot be seen like this. It's humiliating."
"It's not humiliating, baby, you've just never done this before."
"I should be a natural! It must have something to do with the skates. Perhaps a witch has cursed them."
Louis chuckles, then fixes his expression to a more serious one when Lestat glowers at him. "I don't think a witch cursed the skates, Lestat. You just need to practice."
"I cannot practice with them here." He says, glancing back at the other vampire couple, seeing them now skating backwards. "Look how they taunt me with their skills!"
Louis sighs. "Just give it a try, won't you? I'll help. Take my hands." He extends them out for Lestat to grab. He stares at them, contemplating. He feels embarrassed about his severe lack of skating talent and would prefer to not have an entire building of mortals and Armand and Daniel laughing at him. But then again, if he accepts Louis' offer, he'd get to hold his hands. The choice suddenly becomes easy. He takes Louis' hands.
"There you go. I'll lead us out." Louis says, inching them backwards towards the entrance to the rink.
"Why are you so good at this?" Lestat asks, clumsily pushing himself along and maintaining a death grip on Louis' hands.
"Armand and I did this a couple times back in the day." He answers.
Lestat grumbles some choice words and expletives under his breath as they reach the rink. "It's a lot slicker than the carpet, so be careful." Louis warns.
Lestat nods and Louis rolls them on, keeping them close to the barrier so they can go slow. Immediately Lestat slides forward and almost collapses into Louis, his hands sliding away from Louis' to his forearms. He growls with frustration. "I do not understand why this is so difficult!"
Almost 300 years Lestat has lived. He has endured an entire pack of wolves, his family, the sun, fire, attacks from ancient vampires and all manners of nasty creatures… So many things. After all this, he never could have imagined that his most formidable opponent would be shoes with wheels.
"Glad you're finally joining us. Was starting to feel like a solo date." Daniel says, him and Armand finally having come around to them again.
"Be nice, Daniel." Louis says, shooting him a warning glare.
"Hey, we all start somewhere. You should have seen me the first time I did this, I fell on my ass like a hundred times. You'll get it."
Lestat flushes with embarrassment at being perceived in this moment of weakness, but is at least grateful Daniel isn't being an asshole for once.
"I can confirm that. It took quite a while for him to get his footing." Armand adds.
"Why don't we roll with you for a bit? I can give you some pointers." Daniel offers.
Lestat sighs theatrically. "Very well."
The four of them skate right beside the barrier at a snail's pace as Lestat slowly but surely gets used to the skates and finds his balance. Louis holds him steady and encourages him, Daniel gives him advice, and Armand comments on the positioning of his feet, telling him what would be a better placement. Lestat objects to this, saying that his feet are perfectly fine. Unfortunately, upon adjusting his feet according to Armand's instructions, he finds it much easier to move and feels much more stable. Armand at least has the decency to not say 'I told you so', but the smug smirk on his lips says it loud enough.
After a couple laps around the rink, Lestat feels he has finally finds his footing and starts to feel a bit more confident. He's also moved his grip from Louis' arms back to his hands. They've picked up their pace slightly and yes, this is fun, Lestat has to admit.
"You wanna try on your own?" Louis asks. Lestat's hold on him has loosened up, no longer needing to completely rely on him to keep himself upright. He looks to Armand and Daniel. Daniel gives him a thumbs up, Armand, a curt nod.
"Yes. But stay close." He answers.
"I will." Then, slowly, without breaking their momentum, he starts letting go of Lestat's hands. Lestat immediately wishes he hadn't. Not for the sake of his balance, but simply because he misses him already. However, their hands separating provided enough distraction that Lestat doesn't realize he's skating all on his own until he notices that Louis is now a few feet away from him.
"Yeah, you've got it!" Louis cheers.
Lestat laughs loudly with delight. "Yes! Take that, you wretched things." He says, looking down at his painfully bright neon green skates.
"I'm sure it was entirely their fault." Armand quips, though Lestat can feel a sense of pride at his success flowing off him.
Lestat takes to it rather quickly after that, and after only a few more slips and close calls, he's skating as good as the rest of them. Eventually, he retakes Louis' hand. Just to hold for the sake of holding it this time.
The four of them spend a while circling the rink, enjoying each other's company and moving with the music. Lestat's own songs come on a couple times, much to his delight. Daniel occasionally shows off by doing some absurd trick, making Armand go wild with praise every time. Lestat attempts a few himself, but fails miserably. He makes Louis promise to take him skating again once they're home so he can practice and put Daniel to shame next time the four of them do this. Louis laughs, but agrees.
When they've all had enough, they exit the rink, turn in their skates and start making their way towards Armand and Daniel's villa where they've been staying.
"We must do this again in the future." Lestat says, basking in the glow of the moonlight and feeling the cool breeze flowing through his hair.
Armand hums in agreement. "It was fun. It's been too long since we've done it." He turns to gaze lovingly at Daniel, who gazes back and smiles widely.
When they arrive at the villa, a staff member brings them a fresh delivery from the Farm for them to have for dinner, which they all eat together in Armand and Daniel's grand and opulent dining room. After that, they go their separate ways to prepare for bed. As soon as their pajamas are on, Lestat grabs Louis by the waist and goes in for a heated kiss, which he returns enthusiastically.
Louis pulls away minimally after about a minute, smiling. "What was that for?"
"It is later, and the mortals and Armand and Daniel are gone." Lestat smirks, referring back to Louis' comment from earlier.
Louis chuckles fondly, "C'mere." Hey says before resuming the kiss and leading them to their coffin.