They were really trying to put themselves on a normal timetable, being up during the day and asleep at night, but they were vampires. Vampires were nocturnal by nature, so it was hard. So far they were managing to go to bed in the early hours followed by sleeping late. They were rock stars, it wasn't anything they hadn't done before, especially when touring, but they were also professionals and the average world did not work on rock star time.

Even when he crawled out of bed two days after they had all first had sex, Damiano knew it was going to be a long day. He just had a feeling.

Ethan was having visitors after lunch, a couple of his sisters and his dad were going to be coming, so the first thing they all did was tidy up a bit. There was a service booked to come in twice a week, but this was not one of those days. They weren't slobs by any means, but they had had sex on the couch twice the previous evening, so they threw those throws in the washing machine, and things like that.

Victoria had her first therapy session with her new vampire-approved therapist booked for later as well, which was bound to be stressful. They'd all been given options and picked who they'd like to talk to, but Victoria was the first, and having a new therapist was never an easy thing to do. It hadn't been mandatory, but they were big believers in that sometimes independent, trained help was the best way to go and they all had things they needed to talk about. Friends were great, but an outside observer could be lifesaving.

There was a screen and tablet set-up in the private room for remote sessions. Vampires didn't have to worry about the pandemic, but they had to play at life as if they did when possible to maintain their illusion of humanity.

They also had plans to do a short video for Instagram to let the fans know they were alright. The last thing they wanted was for rumours to get out of control and their management had been making noises about doing something. That was going to take some play acting and some fake bandages because humans did not heal as fast as vampires. It was all kinds of stressful, but they had decided it needed to be done.

At least they didn't have to come up with their own cover story, they just had to play into the one their new community had come up with for them.

Damiano found himself alone in the lounge after they had finished their tidying session and he knew he was thinking too hard about everything. Sometimes he couldn't help himself, so he sat down on the floor, brought his legs up so they were crossed and took a breath. He was a firm believer that sometimes you just had to take a mindfulness moment. At times he used an app, but this time he went old school and slowed his breathing down, concentrating on that.

It was a bit different meditating with vampire senses, because now, when he wasn't moving or focusing on something else, he could tell how much more he was aware of. Almost immediately he could hear the others in the house and it made him smile. Victoria was talking to Chili, Thomas was doing something on his phone, and Ethan was humming to himself with the sound of water in the background.

He felt himself relaxing into what he was doing, knowing they were safe and well. He had never felt as close to anyone as he did Victoria, Thomas and Ethan. Before they had been his closest friends, but now they were more than that, and he wasn't sure how to define it yet. He wanted to say partners, girlfriend, boyfriends, something like that, but they hadn't labelled whatever this was yet, and it felt presumptuous to just decide that by himself.

Pushing the heavy thoughts aside he let his senses bring him all the information they could. In his mind's eye he could almost see Victoria kneeling on the floor in her bedroom, playing with Chili and telling the little dog how wonderful she was. His smile widened as the simple pleasure he was witnessing. He knew it was Victoria's way of avoiding thinking about her appointment that afternoon, but that didn't stop the genuine joy of the moment.

He moved on to Thomas next and realised their guitarist was actually in the next room. Thomas was sitting at the breakfast table with his feet up on another one of the chairs and he was playing a silly matching game. Damiano had no idea what combination of senses were giving him the information, but it was almost as if he was standing right there as his mind filled in the gaps.

"Pink," he muttered to himself for no reason he could consciously fathom.

The sound of a shower door opening dragged his attention away. Ethan was still humming away to himself as he stepped under the spray. Damiano could almost see him, long hair piled up in a messy bun, broad shoulders, muscled back running down to a slim waist and pert arse. And fuck, Damiano was getting distracted.

He had seen Ethan in very little clothing and sometimes none at all many, many times, but, in the past, it had never turned him on like it did now. Having done his research just like he had said he would, he had plans, so many plans and quite a few of them involved Ethan's strong drummer's hands on his body. So far he had not broached them with the others, but he was working up to it and waiting for a few things to be delivered.

He pulled his concentration away from Ethan before he could get carried away. He had plans for Victoria and Thomas too, if they were agreeable, but they weren't currently naked, so they weren't as distracting. Switching his focus back to Victoria he noticed two things: she was no longer in her bedroom and she was no longer talking to Chili.

Opening his eyes he found himself looking at some very familiar legs.

"Having fun?" Victoria asked with a knowing grin as he looked up at her.

"Huh?" he asked.

Her grin widened and she pointed down. He followed her finger and noticed the rather prominent tent in his trousers.

"Ah," he said.

"What have you been up to, Damià?" she asked. "We just tidied, remember?"

"Well if you must know, listening to Ethan shower," he replied with his best unrepentant grin. "I was testing my senses and got distracted."

"Well a wet Ethan is a very distracting thing," Victoria agreed, "but if we invade his shower he won't have time to get ready before his family arrives, and I don't fancy being staked through the heart with a drumstick."

Damiano laughed.

"That would probably hurt," he agreed.

"Table tennis?" Victoria offered as an alternative.

He was more than happy to help keep her distracted for as long as she needed, so he nodded. Unfolding his legs, he stood up and pushed the heel of his hand against his unruly cock.

"Just give me a minute to get the blood back in my brain," he said, which made Victoria laugh so loudly, Chili began barking.

~*~

Damiano was on edge the entire time Victoria was in her therapy session. He spent the whole hour in the lounge, in a position where he could see into the hall and the door to the private room. The only thing he had to be thankful for was he wasn't the only one. Thomas walked down the hallway at least twelve times and Ethan was watching Damiano watch the hallway, even if he was doing a good job of pretending to be engrossed in his phone.

When the door opened, Damiano didn't try and hide the fact he had been waiting for it, but he didn't get up. If Victoria needed space he would give it to her, they all would. She was holding Chili to her chest and she just stopped in the hallway. It was as if the world was holding its breath as she stood there, staring blankly at nothing. No one in the house made a sound.

Then Chili wiggled a little, asking to get down and that was it. Victoria's face screwed up into a mess of hurt and she began to sob.

Damiano was out of his seat far faster than was humanly possible, but he only got to Victoria just before the other two.

"Cara," he said, touching her shoulders very gently and carefully.

She buried her face in his shoulder without a word, even as Ethan took Chili. Damiano simply wound his arms around her and let her cry. Sometimes therapy was hard and, given what they'd all been through, no doubt there would be plenty more tears in all their futures.

"We're here," Thomas said and joined in the hug, throwing his arms around both of them.

Ethan was not far behind, as soon as he deposited Chili on the floor.

Victoria said nothing and none of them wanted to push her, so they remained in a mostly silent, cohesive bundle of limbs with only the odd murmur of comfort for what seemed like an age. Damiano did his very best to be strong, but he hadn't lied when he had told Victoria he was an empathic cryer. Hearing and feeling one of the dearest people in his life expressing so much pain had his eyes prickling in no time and the tears came soon after. Thomas was there ahead of him and only Ethan remained stoic.

They'd talked to each other about what had happened, what they remembered, but they had danced around some of it. Victoria's reaction seemed raw, possibly what she really needed to begin healing properly.

"I've ruined your shirt again," she eventually said, voice muffled against his shoulder.

He gave a watery laugh.

"I can cope," he promised, kissing her hair.

"But I was wearing mascara this time," she added.

Thomas snorted a tiny laugh at that.

"I'll come cry on you when I have my first session," Damiano promised, "and then we'll be even."

Victoria tried to laugh, but it turned into a hiccup and an aborted sob.

"Come on," Damiano said, "let's sit down and we can all cry in comfort."

"Anyone want tea?" Ethan asked as they partially separated so they could move into the other room.

"Thanks," Damiano said and Victoria wasn't looking up yet, but she did nod.

Ethan could be as good with words as the rest of them when he so chose, but he was much more a man of actions. He headed to the kitchen, giving Victoria a gentle kiss on the cheek before leaving.

"I'm cold," Victoria said.

"Want to head outside?" Damiano asked. "I'm sure we can get all of us on one of those loungers if we try hard enough."

The weather was hot at the moment, but the private room was air conditioned, although he doubted Victoria's chill had much to do with actual temperature.

"Yeah," she said quietly, still not looking up.

Damiano had been prepared for the current outcome, however, and pulled a wad of tissues from his pocket. Handing them out, he gently guided Victoria towards the back doors. If she wanted to talk, they would talk. If she wanted to put herself together silently in the comfort of their company, they'd do that instead. He was pretty sure he, Thomas and Ethan were in firm agreement on that point.

~*~

It had indeed been a long day with quite a lot of crying. That's why they were ensconced on Damiano's bed with popcorn, ice cream and Disney+ cued up on the TV. It was comfort-movie time.

Victoria had cried for twenty minutes after her therapy session, and Ethan had done quite a bit of crying with his family. Apparently he had exceeded his stoic limits while not melting down with Victoria. They were all talking to their families by phone and they had all given their permission for their families to be brought into the loop, but apparently having them there in person and seeing everything first hand amounted to lots of hugging and crying. That hadn't involved the rest of the band so much, but they had made sure to be ready just in case, once Ethan's family members left.

Ethan looked back to normal now, but it was impossible to tell because his stoic reserves seemed to be recharged and he had it down to an art form. Victoria was still looking delicate and no one was up for anything deep that evening. Hence drafting in Disney.

"Shit," Ethan said as they all made themselves comfortable, "my sisters were going to message me, anyone seen my phone."

"It slipped out of your pocket and between the couch cushions when we were deciding what to do before coming up here," Damiano said, before his brain caught up with his mouth.

"Oh, thanks," Ethan said, scooting off the bed and jogging out of the room.

"Damiano, if you saw him lose his phone earlier, why didn't you tell him then?" Victoria asked in a mock serious tone.

He just looked at her for a moment as he traced back over his thought processes.

"Would you believe I didn't know I knew that until I said it?" he asked when he came up with nothing.

"Given the look on your face, yes," Thomas replied and crowed in victory as he managed to swipe the remote.

"All your thoughts get pushed out by pictures of Ethan's arse again?" Victoria said with an innocent smile.

"Hey," was Damiano's best comeback.

Given that Victoria was actually smiling, he was willing to be the butt of the joke. Then he realised what he had just thought and facepalmed at himself.