Armand in his costume, looking unconvincing, seeming far stranger than Louis to Daniel despite his ignorance. Big fake brown eyes staring uncannily at him, and Daniel, taking scathing notes about him.

'Catholic guys.' [affectionate]

Vampire subtweeting. Daniel stays with the back of his hand pressed against the side of Louis' knee, like the three of them are a conduit of sharing the emotional strain of this. Louis with the fucking worst of it— his life, nearly snuffed out, his relationship, revealed to be even more of a nightmare that he was passively living through.

"Everyone cracks," he says, shrugging one shoulder. "Even me. We pushed each other. We had to."

A trap laid for Armand on purpose. You, I can break, to Real Rashid, letting the ancient vampire feel safe in the belief that Daniel was too aware of the mental power imbalance to try. A trap for Louis, scrabbled together by chance. A curve ball that will seem like less of a surprise and more like an ambush.

A trap for his own fucking self. A dozen times.

"Armand tried to head it off at the pass at the first breakthrough, revealing himself to cow me into laying off. Then the next week of me, you, and Armand roleplaying a supportive partner worried about me bullying you."