Chapter Text
Something not many people knew about Louis was that he had a scorching temper which could raze a building at the best of times. Years of self-inflicted suppression taught him how to stifle it for his own good and the safety of others when certain events made it clear his tendency to fly off the handle could be a toxic flaw. Therapy helped a lot too.
His last true red-eyed moment occurred when Lestat missed Claudia's first day of kindergarten because he claimed to have missed his flight back home after a business trip. Louis found out through a mistaken admittance from his then husband's former assistant that he took Antoinette with him. Antoinette, who'd been the secretary at Claudia's private school at the time. She was there when they came to the preschool interview and greeted the incoming parents with pleasant smiles while directing them to meet with the principal. Antoinette who made no distinct impression on Louis but apparently caught Lestat’s eye.
When Louis found out, he wasn't angry because of the cheating. Well, he was, but that was secondary in the grand scheme. No, the reason he threw an entire Le Cruset set on the floor was because Lestat endangered their daughter's future by his actions. It was one thing to fuck models and waitresses and people in night clubs who could be bought off with chump change attached to an NDA, but to swipe his cock in their daughter's school was just wicked beyond words. The cherry on the shit cake was the fact that it all came to a head because Antoinette couldn't keep her bitch mouth shut and ended up confiding in a fellow staff member who decided to sell the story to the press for a big payday. The only reason this story never got out was because the newspaper happened to be where Louis’s longtime friend Jonah still had deep connections and he had the staff bury it as a favor to Louis. The humiliation hurt more than a knife wound.
The next day, he threw all of Lestat’s suits out their bedroom window and broke his grand piano with a golf club while threatening to do the same to Lestat if he didn't leave the house. Louis also threatened to withdraw Claudia from the school and keep their generous donations away if the bitch wasn't fired, which the principal did not hesitate to agree with.
All this was to say Louis mellowed out in recent years. Blind anger did nothing but leave him with aches in the end so indulging in that momentary rage has no upside. This hard-learned lesson was why he was able to very calmly ask Armand to confirm or deny what Lestat told him.
“Why did you pick Azalea to work for you?” There was no time to cleverly formulate a trapping question when Lestat’s words left Louis too raw to think properly. All he focused on was getting a real answer to clear his head.
Armand carefully speared a piece of meat and cheese with the tip of his knife. They were having lunch at a charcuterie close to Louis’s office building, hours after leaving the funeral reception. Armand suggested it after Louis told him Claudia would be with her father until late tomorrow afternoon. “I personally did not oversee Santiago’s choice but I agreed with it. Your firm had the clearest vision of what we hope Aventine's American arrival to be. It did not surprise me that you understood.”
Louis spread strawberry jam across the surface of his cracker. “Why is that?”
Armand's mouth curved into an indulgent smile. “I feel as though our opinions mirror one another, don't you agree?”
The thought did cross Louis’s mind during their previous dates because Armand was such a refreshing conversation partner. It had been a long time since he could talk about an array of topics with someone who didn't wither away when the conversation turned deep. But he wondered if that was a natural by-product of their connection or if Armand was that good at playing the part of intellectual equal because he had the advantage of soliciting this information before they ever met.
“How long have you known Lestat?”
Armand chewed thoughtfully first. “We met at business school years ago. I was a little older since it was my second post graduate degree while he was only doing it because his father required it. That is what he told me at least.”
“Oh,” Louis casually sipped his glass of San Pellegrino. “You didn't tell me you were friends with my ex when we met.”
“Friendship would be an exaggeration if I were to define our relationship. We were friendly acquaintances who lost contact for a number of years after a rather lackluster end to our cordiality. I certainly didn't know the two of you had been married when we first met.” The explanation seemed plausible enough. It wasn't abnormal for people to know each other tangentially in the same peer group then stop talking once graduation came around. Still, Louis pressed on.
“Why didn't you tell me though? When you found out.”
Armand seemed to ponder on this answer. “I suppose it was a cowardly omission on my end. You had only just learned about Aventine when you confided in me about your ugly divorce with a man I remember to be quite unpleasant. Forgive me Louis, but I didn't want to scare you away by also admitting I had a past with Lestat, especially when it was not significant enough to warrant endless scrutiny. It was mere weeks but I was already so infatuated with you so I selfishly refused to endanger my chances.”
Louis ducked his head down to face the table because he did not want Armand to see how the words affected him. Knowing that the omission occurred because Armand seemed to like him that much made his long dormant butterflies to flutter again. Was this the truth? It seemed plausible enough. Lestat having a simple falling out then acting like the other person was evil incarnate was typical Lestat behavior. Louis knew that firsthand. Armand didn't sweat or falter when confronted and readily admitted his own behavior which he thought as less than stellar. There was no stonewalling or fighting—just a calm conversation.
“Well, you're lucky I like you enough to overlook that.”
Armand’s smile lit up like a light flicked on. “I consider myself very lucky indeed.”
“Another thing though: what caused the falling out?”
This seemed to take some of the light from Armand's handsome face. He carefully dropped his spearing fork on the table. “A mutual friend of ours unfortunately took his own life during our final few months at school. He was depressed for most of his life but the stress did not help. Lestat blamed me because I was mentioned by name in the suicide note.”
Louis shifted in his chair to obscure his discomfort. “Can I ask why?”
“We had a brief romance which I ended once it became clear we were unsuited for one another. He did not take it well and it was one of the reasons he took his own life. Amongst other things,” Armand said softly.
“Oh.” Louis ruminated on all the information tossed his way in the past few minutes. Living with the suicide of a loved one was no easy burden to bear, he knew that well enough. Paul’s death remained an itchy scar he would never see fully stitched no matter what affirmations declared it wasn’t his fault. Armand tentatively reached for Louis’s hand on the table. Louis let him, allowing their fingers to intertwine until the warmth of the other man’s palm seeped into his own in a surprisingly comforting gesture. A thumb swipe across his knuckle sent sparks down his entire arm.
“Is there anything more you need to know? I am an open book, Louis.” Armand seemed earnest to spill anything else asked of him.
Leoncour. The intricacies of the Lioncourt family empire haunted Louis like a specter in an old colonial house no matter how much he tried to shake it off. Claudia’s inheritance remained tied to that behemoth whether or not he liked it, but it did not mean he needed to subject himself to whatever machinations his former in-laws cooked up. Lestat was convinced Armand needed Louis to be some Trojan Horse for his takeover of the family firm. Ha! As if. He would have an easier time tossing a fire bomb into the office building in broad daylight. Louis didn’t give if a fuck if Armand stripped that place for parts as long as his baby’s trustfund remained intact which it would even if there were a million buyouts.
“I don’t need to know anything else right now but I appreciate knowing you’ll be willing to tell me the truth when I do ask for it.” there’s a question still wrapped in the declaration. Armand catches it with a wryly smile and single nod. His slicked back curls remained intact despite the movement.
“I’ll always tell you anything you need to know,” he promised.
Their hands were still intertwined with neither making a move to untangle them. This peace is briefly interrupted by the echo of previous words washed over Louis filling his mouth with a sour taste.
“I know it is disappointing to hear all of this. I'm certain you worked hard and believed this was truly earned. But Armand is a snake who will do anything to get what he wants, even if it means going through you to get to me.”
He swallowed hard, feeling himself drown in the endless brown pools of Armand’s eyes. The last question sat on the tip of his tongue but his lips remained stubbornly shut. There came that familiar, selfish sensation which told Louis he perhaps did not need to know this particular truth just yet. Not when he felt truly desired for the first time in so long.
Hours later once it was nighttime, the phone rang sharply, waking Louis up with an abrupt start. He quickly grabbed it with his left hand from the side table, squinting at the screen in annoyance because he forgot to put it on DND. Why didn’t he do that? Oh, because he never did when Claudia was with her father. Who was the one calling right now?
Louis grabbed his sleeping robe which was haphazardly tossed on his dressing table chair and draped it around his body before answering the call mid-stride. “Lestat? What’s the matter? Is Claudia ok?” His voice was hoarse from sleep but appropriately worried enough.
“She’s fine,” Lestat said. He sounded drowsy—no he was slurring.
Louis frowned as he gently closed the door to his bedroom. “Are you ok?”
A heavy sigh filled the receiver. “It depends on what your definition of ok is.”
“Are you drunk?”
Another loud sigh, this time accompanied with sheets rustling. “Something like that.”
Louis gripped his phone. “You’re drunk while Claudia is in the house with you?”
“She’s asleep.” Lestat’s response was sharp. “I would never deliberately get drunk while tending to our daughter, Louis. Is it a crime that I chose to have a few drinks before bed?”
Relief pulsed through Louis then annoyance followed. “Fine. Is there a reason you’re calling so late?”
A deep chuckle tickled his ear. “Late? It is barely 10PM. Ironic how you’re the younger one between the two of us.”
“Did you call to make fun of my sleeping habits?”
“I called to apologize for my words earlier today.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.” Lestat sighed as if the weight of the world rested on both shoulders.
“Ok.”
“I’m sorry for what I said about yourself and Armand de Romanus. You are incredibly talented and innovative and intelligent so anyone would be lucky to have your touch on their project. There are many reasons why you are valuable outside of your association with me and I was foolish to ever imply otherwise.”
Louis leaned against the wall still holding his phone to his ear without saying a word.
“Louis? Did you hear me?”
“I heard you, Lestat,” Louis said softly.
“Obviously I cannot ask for forgiveness without earning it. Just give me a chance to earn your forgiveness, please.” Lestat’s pleading tugged at heartstrings Louis forgot he even had.
He didn’t know why his voice sounded wobbly. “It’s ok, Les.”
“You haven’t called me that in a long while.” Louis could hear the smile in his ex-husband’s voice. He tied his robe tighter against his body.
“Well, I haven’t had a reason to. Is that all you wanted to tell me?” There was an invitation as well as admonition. What he was hoping to hear, he wasn’t sure. Just something .
“I miss you.”
Louis’s heart jumped inside his chest like a bouncing ball against concrete. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“You’re engaged.” It was an accusation. A harsh one ground against the roof of his mouth so Lestat would get the hint well enough.
“I am engaged but it doesn’t stop me from saying how I feel. Antoinette…she isn’t…” He trailed off with audible hesitation. “I fear that I made—”
“Lestat, I will do us both a favor and pretend this conversation never happened. Go back to your fiancée.”
A heady pause followed. “I don’t love her.”
Louis ended the call with a single finger tap, ignoring how his heart sped. He breathed in and out with both eyes closed as he leaned with his back against the wall. After a minute, Louis went back into his bedroom where his visitor had stirred awake.
“Is anything the matter?” Armand asked blearily. Even half asleep, he still looked gorgeous. His curls fell artfully across his face framing those brown eyes like a deliberate sculpture. His bare chest had a few sprinkles of dark hair. The sight made Louis’s mouth water again.
“Just went to get some water,” Louis lied. He crawled back on the bed, cuddling with Armand who draped over his back with an arm around his waist. Their combined heat lulled him back into slumber. This was the first man he’d brought back to his house since the divorce. Perhaps this was reckless but it was the most alive Louis felt in so long and the sex invigorated him in more ways than one. Even now his loins were stirred as Armand’s fingers danced over his thighs, slowly inching down to his hole which was still wet from earlier ministrations.
A single finger dipped inside making Louis inhale harshly. His back arched forward to ease the entry. Armand chuckled against his shoulder. “I see you’re awake in more ways than one.”
“Yeah,” Louis breathed.
Armand slotted himself between Louis’s legs allowing his hardened cock to brush against Louis’s hole. The other man gasped when he was penetrated again. Louis dug his fingers into Armand’s back as his legs wrapped around the other man’s waist.
“I’m so awake right now,” he moaned, lost in the sweet bliss of the thrusts that followed.