"You've been mighty quiet tonight, darlin'. What's up?" Karl asked as he kneaded the dough ready for his next batch of sourdough bread.

Chris looked up from where he'd been piping buttercream onto a child's birthday cake before he sighed deeply. He didn't respond to the other vampire's question, however; instead, he continued piping, albeit more slowly and thoughtfully than he had before.

Karl arched an eyebrow at the other vampire yet didn't say anything; instead, he carried on kneading the dough and waiting for a response from his husband.

Around them, the quietude of Hensen House had long since settled, and far beyond the walls of their house and garden rumbled the sounds of night-time Atlanta. In the kitchen itself, the myriad scents of that evening's baking session surrounded the vampires and infused the room with homely scents. All in all, it was a typical evening for the vampires which was how they liked it.

Chris sighed again before he finally said - "Don't you ever feel bored by life, babe?"

Karl grunted and gave his husband a one-shouldered-shrug without looking away from his dough.

"Occasionally, as you well know. Why?" he asked with a gruff note underpinning his question.

"I'm bored right now," Chris replied more mournfully than was his wont.

Karl huffed out a humourless laugh before he said - "Well, you'll be finished with that cake soon, kid. Then you can get on with something more interesting if that's what's bothering you."

There was a weighted silence in the vampires' kitchen, and then Chris gave Karl a level look. Karl gave his husband an amused glare and saw the corners of Chris' mouth twitching up into the beginnings of a smile. Karl knew then that Chris was not as irritated as he was trying to make out.

Karl gave vent to a gruff laugh in response before he said - "Now what's eating ya, kid?"

"You are," Chris pointed out as he jabbed his piping bag in Karl's direction. "Giving me crappy advice. I wanted something better than that suggestion of yours."

"Is it crappy? I didn't think it was that bad. Anyway, I still don't know what the devil's got into you. Not exactly," Karl countered and arched an eyebrow briefly at his husband. "Are you bored with life in general or are you bored with our life as bakers? Or are you bored with decorating that cake, as I asked earlier?"

Chris paused as he gave the other vampire's question some serious thought. Karl frowned; though he had meant his retinue of questions, he hadn't expected Chris to actively mull them over at any great length.

Chris finally broke the thoughtful silence by saying - "It's not the baking, babe. It's not the cake either, because as you pointed out, I've almost finished it. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's time we should do something different for a change. Something new. Something that we haven't tried before to take the bored edge away from things."

Karl sighed heavily before he shook his head in sudden world-weariness. Chris finally gave in to one of his usual cheerful giggles when he noticed the unimpressed look on his husband's face.

Karl sighed that time before he said - "Yeah? Is that all it is, darlin'? Well, we've tried changing things up before and it's never worked out. Not properly. Remember when you forced me to take you canoeing once? We've never done that again even though you said you enjoyed it. And that time when you took me to that illegal poker game. We haven't done much of that since, either."

"Yeah. But we haven't needed to do that again, have we? The illegal poker, I mean," Chris pointed out with an amused smile. "I was trying to get us a car so we could travel to Florida for a much-needed holiday. If you don't mind remembering that eenie-weenie fact."

"Which is a car we still own. I realise that before you say anything smart," Karl conceded as he finally set his dough aside to prove. "But still. The canoeing. We've never done it again."

"Didn't need to," Chris said petulantly. "Things got exciting after we went canoeing. And we've done other things since. Plenty of other things, in fact."

"But now you're complaining about being bored again," Karl said in exasperation as he made his way to the sink.

He shook his head in continued exasperation as he washed the sticky dough from his hands under the streaming waters of the tap. Chris gave his husband a grin which Karl was destined never to see because his back was turned; Chris' smile was also destined to never be reflected in the night-dark window, unfettered by curtains or blinds. Sometimes, Chris missed his reflection.

"Well. It happens. I've been a vampire for over a hundred years, which is far longer than you have been one," Chris reminded the other vampire with a heavy sigh. "I'm allowed to get bored quickly. You'll see what I mean when you get to my age."

Karl sighed heavily even as he turned to wipe his hands dry on the nearest towel.

He nodded before he said - "All right. So you've got me there. I know I've spent barely twenty years as a vampire but I still get bored. On occasion."

"You? When the hell have you ever been bored? You've never really said," Chris said and he hooted with something like his usual laughter.

"A good book usually gets rid of that boredom, kid," Karl said dryly. "Or I sit down and work on another recipe book. Which reminds me - why the devil don't you go and take some photos or something? You ain't done that in a while. We could use them in a recipe book or something, if you take anything of food. Or painting. Remember when you had your painting stint? And where's your guitar? You could strum that. Compose a tune. Or work on your motorbikes - "

Chris raised one large-knuckled hand with another peal of laughter, which sent deep laughter lines fanning out from the corners of his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, I get the picture, Karly-bear. I have a lot of hobbies so I have no excuse to be bored," he conceded. "It's just that I wanted to try something completely new. Tread new paths that have been untrodden by us before."

"Yeah? Very poetic. Learn to bake something you've never cooked before then," Karl said gruffly as he consulted his order sheet to see what needed to be created next.

"No baking, babe. I was thinking Zumba," Chris said proudly.

Karl blinked at his husband's sudden, out-of-the-blue suggestion.

"Well, ain't that random? What the devil is Zumba now, kid?" Karl barked out in sudden surprise. "Sounds like a goddamned disease. A contagious one. That turns you into a zombie or some such pretentious crap."

Chris gave the other vampire an unimpressed look before he said - "Don't be ridiculous, Karl. Disease, indeed."

"Well, what the devil is it then? I've never even heard of it before," Karl said as he threw his broad hands up into the air in exasperation. "I'm still going to believe it's a goddamned disease if you don't enlighten me as to what the devil it is, kid."

"Okay. So I'll enlighten you. Zumba is a fitness thing, isn't it? It combines dance with cardiovascular exercises," Chris began to explain yet stopped when Karl started swearing copiously.

"And why the devil would we want to do something like that for, kid?" Karl asked once he'd got over his initial bout of swear-filled disgust. "We're vampires, man. We don't put on weight. We look pretty fit because we are pretty goddamned fit. And besides, if we do this Zumba thing, we have to hang out with humans."

He sneered enough to start showing fangs in his disgruntled disgust and Chris laughed.

Chris then nodded before he said - "Well, that's kind of the point of it all. Imagine all of those sweaty human bodies with their hearts going all pitter-pat after all that exercise. Imagine the rush we'll get when we feed from them afterwards. That's what I'm interested in."

"Well, you should have goddamned said that in the first place. We can hang about the gym or whatever it is and bite someone afterwards. No need to actively get involved with this zoom-zoom thing," Karl gruffed.

"It's Zumba not zoom-zoom, Karl. And I'd like to give it a go. At least once. Because I'm bored and I want something different to do. And the food will be a perk afterwards," Chris said and quirked both thick eyebrows at his husband. "Besides which, when do I ever ask you to do anything?"

"Only every goddamned week, Chris," Karl barked and scowled. "The only trouble is, I go and do everything you goddamned ask me to. I'm a goddamned fool for you, which is part of the goddamned problem."

Chris grinned wide enough to show both fangs and nodded.

"I know. I'm lucky," he said and his grin turned into a smug smile. "So I'll arrange a beginner's class for Saturday night then, shall I?"

"I haven't agreed to this yet, kid. Hang on for a minute," Karl spluttered as he glared at his husband in sudden indignation.

"You practically did when you said you go along with everything I ask you to," Chris pointed out and arched one thick eyebrow at Karl. "Sounds like an agreement to me."

"Don't push your luck, kid," Karl said as he pointed at Chris with one admonishing finger.

Chris grinned, crossed his arms over his slender chest and waited, one thick eyebrow raised again.

Karl sighed and stared back at his husband before he said - "You're going to book it no matter what I say, aren't you, kid? As per goddamned usual."

"And you're going to go along with it all and moan and swear your head off while doing it," Chris predicted with one of his habitual giggles. "And then cheer up when you feed from a human afterwards."

"Goddamned smart-ass," Karl said and turned away abruptly. "Fine. Book the goddamned zoom zoom thing then. See if I goddamned care. But don't blame me if you absolutely hate it."

"You're going to hate it, more like. Oh! By the way! Can you even dance, Karly-bear?" Chris asked and he looked - as well as sounded - thoughtful. "You know I've never properly seen you dancing. Not even when we crashed that ball some years ago."

"Well, I sort of slow-danced then," Karl said defensively. "That's something."

"That doesn't count. Anyone can slow-dance. I mean like proper Latin dancing," Chris said and began doing the Macarena in the middle of their kitchen to prove his point.

"Well, that ain't so difficult," Karl said and copied a few of the moves that he'd observed from Chris.

"Okay. So that was probably a bad example. That's a fairly easy one to pick up. Even humans can do it. I meant something more complex. You'll see what I mean on Saturday," Chris said and grinned.

"And what makes you the expert on it all, all of sudden anyway?" Karl asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I've been watching videos about it on YouTube. For instance, I've been watching Zumba Suzy a lot lately when you've been in the shower," Chris said airily. "You should see her class kill that Daddy Yankee song."

"What Daddy Yankee song?" Karl said before he sighed and shook his head vehemently. "You know what, darlin'? Never mind. Don't answer that one. I don't think I want to know. But don't blame me if this zoom-zoom thing all ends in tears and you don't want to do it anymore."

"There won't be any tears for us, babe," Chris predicted with a smug grin. "Just for our victims. Which will never appear because they won't even remember what happened to them in the morning so it's a moot point."

Karl just sighed and didn't offer up an immediate argument for Chris' astute statement. Although he said no more on the subject, Karl remained visibly unconvinced about the Zumba classes for the rest of the evening.

****

Karl looked up at the unassuming building on Peachtree Street and shook his head in mounting irritation. Humans were already streaming inside and more than one of them gave the two vampires friendly smiles and nods. Karl didn't respond, yet Chris gave them all a close-lipped smile and a nod in return. Neither vampire ever showed their fangs in front of humans to further protect their identities from their victims.

Chris nudged his husband when he noticed Karl's recalcitrance and hissed - "Be friendly, Karl."

"You be goddamned friendly. It don't mean I have to be. I didn't even want to do this crap, might I goddamned remind you," Karl growled and his jaw tensed in further irritation.

"Well, at least try it out. Once," Chris objected. "We've paid good money for this."

"A lot of good goddamned money. Which is why I'm going to step into this goddamned building and do this zoom-zoom crap so as not to waste it," Karl said and stamped inside the building with bad grace.

Chris laughed and followed in Karl's stamping footsteps. They followed the human masses, and Karl muttered beneath his breath as to how the majority of the class' attendees were actually human women. Only a few of them were men which made Karl feel even more out of place and irritated. Chris however typically took it all in his stride as he did everything else.

Karl's grumbles only stopped when the instructor gave them the run-through as to what she expected them to do; she gave a few run-throughs and Karl stared in disbelief at the complicated - to him - dance moves. He didn't have the chance to do anything else other than to follow, despite his inherent need to swear and complain.

Karl continued to perform each move half-heartedly yet Chris treated them as he did everything else - with gusto. Chris also seemed to have no problem in picking up any of the dance moves and so fared much better than Karl did.

As they continued to move around the makeshift dance-floor, both vampires ensured that those around them blocked them from the view of the mirrors that faced them so that their reflections - or rather lack thereof - would remain unnoticed.

Soon, the music began - slowly at first so they could find their beat and comfort level before it began to speed up. Chris kept up with the moves and the rest of the class without a stumble or a false step, yet Karl was stumbling over his feet and swearing within five minutes because he found the entire thing too difficult. His stumbling attempts garnered himself a few sympathetic looks and amused laughter from those closest to him.

By the time the break arrived, Karl sat down heavily on the floor and refused to move again. This was despite Chris' best efforts to rouse him.

"C'mon, Karly-bear. Get up," Chris said and hooted with laughter again.

"Ain't doing it, kid. You ain't making me," Karl barked and crossed his arms across his broad chest. "Told you this would be crap. You wouldn't listen, would you? As per goddamned usual."

Chris sighed and tried his best to heft his husband to his feet, yet Karl steadfastly refused to move once again. Chris shook his head and in so doing, caught the eye of an amused class attendee watching nearby.

"Your friend isn't cut out for this, is he?" the woman said as she nodded at Karl.

"He's my husband and he's always like this," Chris said with a close-lipped smile. "Won't try anything new. Goddamned spoiled brat."

"Hey! I can hear you from down here. Bad-mouthing me," Karl snapped which made both Chris and the human woman laugh. "It's all slander and lies. It ain't my fault I can't goddamned dance, is it?"

"Well, we're not good at everything, babe," Chris reassured him sympathetically.

"Well. I had to find out the hard way that I can't goddamned dance," Karl bellowed as he continued to scowl up at his husband. "I should never have agreed to come here and embarrass myself. People are watching me."

"I still think you're very brave for trying something new. You can always sit the next part out if you're really not up for doing any more," the woman sympathised as she tried to smile without laughing at Karl.

"And look like a goddamned social outcast? No way!" Karl bellowed even as he struggled to his feet again. "I'm going to dance like a goddamned clumsy disco elephant or nothin', tonight."

Chris turned away to laugh so that he didn't show his fangs with his laughter; his husband's habitual contrariness had reared its amusing head once again. They didn't get another chance to speak as the instructor returned and called for them to take their places yet again. Karl swore yet his vehement curses were drowned out as the music began and soon the vampires joined in with the dancing again.

By the end of the evening, Karl was still fuming yet he calmed down considerably when Chris reminded him that it was time to pick out a meal for themselves. Both vampires stepped outside and hungrily picked out a victim apiece fro the milling, chatting throng. They led the unsuspecting, mesmerised humans into the shadow of an alleyway and soon began to bleed them, mouths clamped closed over willing, exposed necks.

The vampires took just enough blood so that their victims wouldn't remember what had happened in the morning - Chris and Karl's vampiric saliva always wiped their victims' memories clean, if they didn't outright bleed them to death.

Soon the vampires drew away and left their first feeds dazed and confused in the darkness of the alleyway. The vampires wandered casually away to scout out more victims, picking and choosing from those that dallied until their hunger was finally sated for the night.

****

"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it, babe?" Chris asked as he grinned at his husband.

They had returned to Hensen House and Karl had also returned to his previous grumpy mood.

"The feeding part was all right. The rest was crap," Karl moaned and refused to look at his husband. "I ain't going to that goddamned class again and you ain't gonna make me. Christopher Hensen."

"Yeah? Is that right? And how old are ya?" Chris asked with a loud peal of laughter.

Karl gave his husband a gimlet glare which made Chris laugh even harder.

"Fine! So we're never going again," Chris finally conceded. "It's no fun if you're not having fun."

He waggled his eyebrows at an increasingly unimpressed Karl.

Karl harrumphed and turned away even as he said - "I never have fun."

"You do. Sometimes," Chris countered with a laugh. "Don't lie."

Karl merely harrumphed again and refused to answer which was enough of a valid response for Chris. Chris gave his husband's back a cheeky wink before he passed the still grumbling Karl. Chris began walking up the stairs, headed up to the bathroom.

"I'm taking a shower, Karly-bear. Want to join me?" Chris asked over his shoulder.

"Might do," Karl said truculently even as he began to follow his husband up the stairs.

His movements gave lie to his words and as such, Chris' laughter belted out next and Karl barely hid a grin in response.