Prior To Dining With A Coven Of Vampires

(A/N - Bit of a disclaimer: Gets a bit serious later on in the chapter. Some mushy stuff but also delves a little into mental health and how it's affected by trauma and how that can affect relationships. Nothing too graphic or anything like that but it is touched upon. If that's not you're jam, then I'd advise reading with caution and peacing out if it's too much for ya.)

As I walked past the doorway and into the house, Esme closed the door behind me and spoke up, "Can I take your coat for you, Jason?" she asked with an outstretched hand.

Shuffling off the leather jacket, I handed it to her with a smile, "If you wouldn't mind taking it, Mrs. Cullen," to which she took the jacket and folded it over her arm as she returned the smiling expression I gave her.

"Please, call me Esme. I've found in my years that being too formal can be a bit of hindrance and despite my age, being called 'Mrs. Cullen' always makes me feel old," she said, a hand on her cheek as she joked with me. Ara ara energy, honestly.

"Then I won't hold back and I'll just call you Esme," I said with a smile before I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder as a guy practically appeared out of nowhere. For once, I was actually the shorter one in the situation - admittedly only by an inch or two*. He was bulkier than me, having more muscle mass and a somewhat stockier frame as well.

(*A/N - For reference, and those who forgot, Jason is 6'4" and Emmett is canonically 6'5"/6'6".)

Getting a look at his face, he was as good looking as all the other Vampires I'd seen, but the thing that stood out more was the mischievous look on his face as he spoke, "Say, you're Jason, right? The guy Rose is so crazy about?" he asked and I couldn't restrain a chuckle as I gave an answer.

"Yeah, name's Jason Swan. And you?" I held out a hand and he grabbed it almost instantly, a smile stretching across his face. The same mischievous smile, like a kid's smile when they had a prank in mind.

"Emmett Cullen. Nice to meet ya. You know, Rose--" he stopped speaking when a shining object shot through the air quick enough that it even began to blur to my enhanced eyes. Though I quickly realized it was a knife - not that Emmett seemed all too bothered about it. And I could see why when the sharp metal object practically crumbled on the back of his head without even leaving a scratch. He turned back to see a very cold-eyed Rosalie giving what could only be described as death eyes, "What was that for? Can't you see I'm speaking to lover boy over here? What if you missed and hit him?" he said indignantly but it was clear he was winding Rosalie up so he could get a reaction out of her.

"What exactly were you about to tell him, Emmett? Lies, I suppose? Embarrassing lies?" she questioned with the same, frankly, terrifying face. Scary yandere energy, honestly.

Emmett opened his mouth but before he could, Esme spoke up having just hung up my jacket, "Now now, Emmett, stop trying to embarrass your sister. Think about how you felt when Edward used to try and do the same thing to you when Edythe was near," she spoke, her tone extremely maternal in nature, as she turned her gaze away from the wry-looking Emmett and toward me, "Now, Jason, how about I take you to the dining room? The food is almost ready."

"Sure," I nodded before patting my stomach, "I can already feel my hunger growing, smelling such delicious food," I said, turning my gaze to Rosalie who looked damn near ecstatic with my praise. Emmett also seemed to see it but a stern gaze from Esme had him lifting his hands in surrender.

Though he still commented on something when he poked my upper arm, "...It's weird, man. It feels like touching a warm Vampire. You sure you're fully human? One of your parents secretly a Vampire?" he jokingly asked.

"Well, I come from Arizona, Emmett. Don't think a Vampire would be able to hide there for too long," I joked and got a laugh out of the guy, "Though if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate not being treated like an animal from some sort of petting zoo," I told him not to let his curiosity get put ahead of his manners, though I tried to do it as politely as I knew how. Emmett took his hand back before giving me an apologetic look.

"Ah, sorry man...just kinda freaks me out a little a human could be so much like, well, us," he gestured to himself, Esme and Rosalie. The latter of which seeming to getting more and more annoyed by Emmett's very existence.

Taking a step forward, Rosalie grabbed me by the arm and looked to Esme with a smile, "I'll take him through, Esme," then she turned to Emmett and her expression did a 180 flip, "And you, don't be so embarrassing all the time, okay? Otherwise who knows, maybe you'll wake up bald one day," she coldly said and I couldn't help but feel bad for the guy.

Esme smiled and went about picking up the broken knife while Emmett just stood there nervously laughing. When we were halfway up the stairs, I heard him mutter to him 'That was a joke, right?'...and I couldn't bring myself to pop his bubble. Keep fighting on, big guy. I'm rooting for your hair. Besides, I had to thank him for letting me see such a flustered and cute side to Rosalie. I mean, besides the death glares.

Meanwhile, as we were walking, I moved my hand to hold Rosalie's hand that was currently holding my wrist. She froze up for a moment and looked back at me with a bashful look in her golden eyes but I just smiled, "You don't need to be so embarrassed just because he's teasing you in front of me, Rosalie," I mentioned and she huffed.

"I know but sometimes he's such an idiot it makes me want to explode and whack him with a tire iron," she embarrassedly said, and if it weren't for the lack of blood in her body, I'm sure she'd be blushing up a storm right about now.

Nodding, I knew the feeling, but I also knew that--, "They're your family, Rosalie. I'm gonna have to speak to them at some point, no matter what embarrassing stories they have to tell me about you," I smirked at the thought of learning about some of the things Rosalie had done over the years. The interactions and adventures she'd had with her Coven.

Rosalie stopped moving just as we got to the top of the stairs and turned around to look at our hands that were holding the other person's. She gripped my hand tighter and in turn I held on just as tight.

I ran my thumb across the back of her hand and she shivered, goosebumps shooting up the arm connected to the hand I was holding. Seeing this, I wondered why she was showing such physiological reactions when he body was, by all human standards, unalive. Though after remembering the slightly corrosive tears that'd burned through my jacket earlier today, I guess there's more to Vampires than what the books said. They might not be alive in human standards...but in some sense, they are alive, and it'd be ignorant to say their bodies can't have physiological reactions to stimuli and whatnot.

Yet I pushed that thought from my head as I just feel her body temperature. It wasn't freezing. It was just cooled. It wasn't cold like water approaching freezing temperatures but rather the cold that your pillow would be at on a winter night - the type of cold that makes you feel like snuggling up against the source of that coolness.

Calming, refreshing...that what touching her felt like. It made me smile.

"I'm gonna speak to your family so I can get to know them. So I can get to know you better," I told her and she looked at a loss for words for a few moments.

Though, of course, this didn't last long as she replied, "...Why?" her question rang through the silent stairway and the two of us just stood there, looking at each other. I guess you could say this was a logical question - after all, neither of us had spoken our feelings in the time we'd known one another. It'd been a mutual understanding between the two of us that we like one another, so what was the point in speaking about it? But that thought had changed, it seems, for Rosalie.

She wanted clarification. Which I'm more than okay with giving.

"Because I like you, Rosalie," I admitted in a forthright manner, "And I have a feeling you like me too, so I'm gonna naturally have to speak to your family and get to know them."

There was a pregnant silence between the two of us. I'd said what I wanted to say and Rosalie was digesting what I'd said. The latter of which didn't take very long, honestly.

"Even despite knowing I'm a Vampire?" she asked, a sort of nervous anxiety slipping into her tone as she asked me a very simple question.

Nodding, I answered, "Yes, even despite the fact you're a Vampire, I still like you."

"Even if I told you I've killed people?" her voice was quieter this time and the anxiety in her tone was as clear as day. Her insecurities, the obstacles holding her back from accepting me and her feelings...they were truly coming to the surface after the events of today.

"Yes, even despite that," I nodded and took a step closer to her. Despite still being a few steps down from her, the two of us were at eye level with one another.

She looked like she still had one question, and I'm pretty sure I know what it is. First, her shoulders started to subtly shake. The hand I wasn't holding was clenching at the white blouse she was wearing, fidgeting with the material. Her eyes refused to meet mine as she had this question on the tip of her tongue.

She looked nothing like the cold person she'd been when I first saw her outside the cafeteria. Right now, she was vulnerable. Like an open wound was vulnerable to infection.

...It really made me think. Vampires, despite being so physically inhuman, have minds that are surprisingly human. They have aspirations, hopes, desires...and even traumas, fears and things they dislike to the extreme.

The image of a vulnerable Rosalie...hurt. Like a lemon juice poured into a cut. It stung like hell.

"Even...even if I'm not...pure?" she practically whispered and tears pooled in her eyes, her tone sounding broken and damn near lifeless. I could hear the other Cullens all come to a stop within the house and I knew if I didn't handle this well, they'd definitely try and kick my ass. But I didn't need that as motivation to handle this properly. I had feelings beyond descripting for the woman in front of me - I wanted to handle this properly because I wanted to make her happy. Not because I was scared of her family being mad at me.

I took the final step and was right next to Rosalie. I let go of her hand and she audibly gasped, misunderstanding my action. Though before she could misunderstand further, I pulled her into a hug.

I just hugged her.

If I had to describe it, I wanted to protect her from everything on the outside of the hug. Yeah...I wanted to protect the near-invulnerable Vampire from the outside world. It was arrogant of me, for sure. But who cares? If you're not capable of performing arrogant actions for the person dear to you...than are they really as dear to you as you thought?

"Yes, even if you think you're not pure...I'll be here to tell you how wrong you are. I can even do a ten point powerpoint on how you're wrong, if you want," I answered sincerely, albeit with a lighter tone to try and cheer her up before I sighed at her lack of a reaction. "I can guess what you mean by your words and tone, Rosalie...and it doesn't matter to me. At all. That was the past, and the present belongs to us, right?" I asked, further trying to cheer her up.

It didn't cheer her up, but she did look up at me, her eyes filling with a certain amount of hope, "Do you mean that, Jason...? Truly, truly mean it?" she asked, her voice and tone a little stronger than before.

Nodding, I gave my answer with a resolute tone and a wide smile, "Of course. I'll even go as far as to promise you that I mean it, Rosalie."

"You shouldn't have said that," her eyes went a little wide before her frown became a small smile. I felt her hands reach up and around my back, gripping with enough strength to warp steel, "I won't let you get away no matter what now that you've promised, Jason."

A lesser man would've been scared. A somewhat Yandere esque Vampire just said they wouldn't let you go. A person who drinks blood and doesn't need sleep, just said they'll never let you go no matter what. Honestly, even greater men would be scared. So...I guess that speaks volumes about how utterly odd I am that I felt joy when she hugged me back and said those words. Which wasn't really a surprise to me. Whether it's due to my inherent biology or the fact I'm a reincarnator, I've always been an unusual human. An inhuman human.

Smiling both at what she'd said and what I'd just thought, I answered her, "I should be the one to say that. Now that I've found you, I was never gonna let you go~" I joked with a mock scary tone, to which Rosalie let out a pearl of giggles, her melodic laughter filling the silence that had just plagued the stairway we were still standing right next to.

"You're still an idiot now," she giggled, her words somewhat harsh but her eyes soft and full of warmth as she smiled wide and beautifully, "But, it seems I have a thing for idiots. I've only just recently discovered it," she admitted with a jokingly serious tone.

"Oh, really?" I questioned, "Well, how about you tell me about it over some food? It smells pretty done," I smoothly transitioned the conversation and Rosalie seemed to realize our current whereabouts and why I'd come over. She instantly became a little flustered - no doubt realizing her family had just heard the entire conversation - but she quickly calmed down and just voluntarily took my hand again, entwining her fingers with mine.

"That's sounds perfect," she said, smiling once again. And though this smile was smaller than the previous one, it was a smile that said she was at ease. Like she'd had a weight lifted from her shoulders.

She was truly happy at this point. That's what every instinct in me said, and I had to agree. This was the happiest I'd seen Rosalie up to this point.

And so, the two of us walked to where the food for me was, the two of us happy.