Memorial invitation

What did you wear to a memorial? Hell, what did you wear to a graveyard? Dragomir had never been, since no one close to him had never died. He dug around in his wardrobe's man side, but all Dragomir's male clothes seemed somehow...sinful for a memorial. Rips and black lace and chains. So he ended up wearing his most casual, and most boring, clothes. Grey jeans, no chains or rips or anything, black long sleeved shirt whose neckline was wide enough to barely reveal Dragomir's collarbones, and black leather shoes that didn't even reach his ankles. Dragomir didn't bother with his piercings and left them out for once. His face was bare. He slipped on his emchanted contact lenses braided his hair and ran out the door, already bit late. But he came back briefly to slip on the penny earrings made from Dick's pennies. It felt right.

Dragomir was really honoured that Dick had invited him to this memorial of his mother, especially after Dragomir had made it so Dick couldn't smoke anymore. Dragomir never knew his own mom and if he was honest, like always, he didn't want to. Dragomir's mother was just a half-succubus more interested in fucking than caring for her kid.
But it was really thoughtful and kind of Dick to do this to honour his mother. Dragomir was pretty sure not many would do it. Dick had many surprising sides. Dragomir really liked surprises like that.

When he was by the graveyard Dragomir got a text from Dick, telling him the location of the grave and memorial. Dragomir stepped into the graveyard and looked around. It wasn't as gloomy as he had thought it would be. The grass was green, sky was still blue, people weren't all dressed in black. It was almost a park except for, well, all the gravestones.
Dragomir thankfully found the location quickly and saw Dick from far away. It was really strange seeing him wear casual clothes, but not bad. It was yet another side of Dick and Dragomir was happy to see it. Dragomir also couldn't wait for Dick's reaction to his bare face and plain clothes.
Dragomir whistled a bit when he got close enough in order to catch Dick's attention. If Dick turned to look Dragomir would grin a bit and wave.
Dragomir came to a halt beside Dick and smiled up at him.
"Hey fucker. Oh, sorry is that not appropriate to say in here?"
Dragomir looked around, as if waiting for a graveyard police to take him away for cursing on a sacred ground.

@Ephemral

Dragomir laughed when Dick answered him and looked around again, in a bigger gesture now.
"Watch out Dick. Who knows what kinda people come here, ready to lecture youngsters about proper language. I already got lectured enough this week, thank you very much."
Dragomir shivered from the memories and turned to look at the table next to the grave, and the picture on top of it. Dick's mom got one of those smiles, the kind you just had to answer. Dragomir did just that.
"Your mom was a looker, you look a bit like her. And yeah, I just called you a looker. Savour it, it won't probably happen again."
Dragomir snickered.

Dragomir was not disappointed by Dick's reaction to his look. Though the man probably tried to hide it he seemed to be surprised, if not shocked by Dragomir's bare face.
Dragomir smirked and took mock hurt face.
"Do I really look that horrible? I can't lie so I gotta say my charm can't be fully utilized without makeup and piercings."
Dragomir snickered, as if Dick even gave a fuck about his charm. That's what was fun about hanging out with him. Dragomir still remembered when one of his so-called friends, who had actually been trying to get into his pants, had cut his ties to Dragomir after seeing him without makeup. It still made him bitterly laugh.

Dragomir did chuckle a bit at the joke Dick made about his mother, but stopped it short since it felt disrespectful. Instead Dragomir turned his head to face the grave and smiled at it.
"Yo Chelsea, how's it going? I feel bit stupid now 'cos this is my first time visiting a grave, and talking to one. But who knows, maybe you can hear me. Dick's a great guy, he turned out well. His pokerface and lying still need work but maybe it's good he can't do those. Oh, and I got him to stop smoking. I'm pretty proud of that. Well, proud and a bit guilty."
Dragomir stopped his...monologue?, and turned to look at Dick.
"I really do feel a bit stupid. Oh, by the way."
Dragomir dug in his pocket and drew out a small package. It was wrapped in black paper and touched up with a red ribbon. Really Dragomir like. He grinned at Dick and gave him the present.
"Happy birthday, asshole. It's kinda last minute, so bear with me."

((The present is handmade cufflinks made from silver and dark wood. One had D engraved on it and the other one M))

Dragomir was yet again pleased for Dick's reaction to his gift. Something about having to live in the shadows for the most of your life made you want to surprise people. And Dick's reactions were always so entertaining.
But Dick's even bigger reaction to the cuff links themselves made Dragomir a bit embarrassed, enough to blush a bit and look away briefly. He had specifically asked a person specializing in woodwork and jewelry to help him make the cuff links and Dragomir knew they weren't as good as professionally manufactured. It was weird how Dragomir didn't require perfection in anything else but his own creations. So he felt like he didn't deserve such a reaction from an amateur creation.

"You know, better late than never. I started on them when you first invited me to this memorial so they may be a bit rushed but hey, at least I tried."
Dragomir laughed a bit and rubbed his neck. But he smiled back at Dick, maybe not as widely as Dick smiled at him. The guy was way too happy for a pair of crappy cuff links.
"And you don't need to get me anything, really. My birthday was way back 15th February."
Dragomir shrugged a bit. He couldn't even remember the last time someone had given him a gift. Maybe it was during his first ever relationship, he had told his boyfriend his birthday and received a gift. But afterwards Dragomir's relationships got shorter and he didn't really have any close friends so birthday gifts were the thing of the past.

Dragomir went serious too when Dick turned to him with a serious face. It started to feel a bit more like memorial then, with the smell of the incense and Dick's serious expression. And then he explained his past and background, and Dragomir listened silently. He couldn't say he could relate to Dick on a deeper level, but some parts on his story resonated with Dragomir. And he also got pissed at that family of his, naturally, for setting his worth on stone like that.

After Dick finished Dragomir didn't say anything immediately. He looked at the picture of Dick's mother again and smiled just the tiniest bit, answering to her smile. Then he turned to look at Dick, serious as well.
"You know that I can't lie, right? So I can only say what I truly think is true. And the truth to me is that I don't think you're weak. Of course you might not believe me. Hell, you might not even want my opinion, and that's okay. But during the shortish time that I've known you I have seen that you're anything but weak. And I have a great eye for people, Dick. I don't say these kinda things lightly. And I wanna punch the ones in your family who treated you badly, though I hate violence. And I kinda wanna punch you for trying to please those people, and you might get mad at me for saying that. Go ahead and get angry, I deserve it. I can also say I get wanting to please, and live up to expectations. I'm guilty for that too."
Dragomir huffed some afterwards and brushed some of his hair away from his face. He kinda regretted his words.
"You can ignore 80% of that speech if you wanna, aside from the you're not weak part. I was talking too much about stuff I don't know about."

Dragomir sighed a bit and smiled at Dick.
"Thanks for telling me Dick, really. I appreciate it really much. It's been many years since I had a close friend."

Dragomir listened to Dick speak, and though they disagreed Dragomir didn't say anything. He had no experience with such things, and didn't have any right to criticize. Someone who grew up without proper parents could never know how it felt to need to live up to them or their expectations. Maybe in that sense Dragomir was lucky. No one had never expected anything of him, because his sole existence was not meant to be. Well, Dragomir was happy to exist, and in his thoughts he could lie to himself and say that he didn't care both his parents probably wished he hadn't been born.
At the end of Dick's speech Dragomir patted his shoulder a bit, in an attempt to console him.

When Dick asked about his parents Dragomir tensed up a bit. He sideways glanced at Dick, unsure if telling him about Dragomir's parents and past would make the guy feel better or worse. Probably worse. But Dragomir sighed and decided to tell him. Dick deserved to know.
"No, I...I will tell you. You should know. But it's not exactly a nice story."
Dragomir stuffed his hands into his pockets and stared at Chelsea's grave. In his mind he apologized for talking about something so depressing by her resting place.
"My parents, if you can call them that, were, are, a vampire and a half-succubus. I have never met my mother and if I'm honest I don't want to. My father..."
Dragomir swallowed and looked down.
"My father was a human turned vampire. He got so depressed about it that he had an affair, though he had a wife and some kids. The affair partner was that half-succubus. He forgot all about it and learned to live with being a vampire. Until 9 months later the half-succubus showed up with me, dumped me on him and left. And I was cursed to boot, thanks to my father's family being cursed."
Dragomir took a small break to let it all sink in, kicking the grass. After a while he continued.
"I don't know about their strength. My father has a lot of money, thanks to that he was able to raise me in secret. But...I think he's weak. And I don't know about that half-succubus. But maybe she's weak too if she decided to dump me on someone else."
Dragomir shrugged.
"We are not in good terms. I haven't seen my father in many years, not since I..."
Dragomir squeezed his hands into fists in his pockets. He took a deep breath and looked Dick straight into his eyes, dead serious.
"Not since I petrified his wife and he wished me dead."

Dragomir was scared to death how Dick would react to his words. To Dragomir killing a person. Dragomir had never told anyone except his old hired guardian when they'd found him after the fact, broken and crying and lost. Dragomir had spilled everything, his feelings and memories and doubts. And the guardian had told him everything they knew, including about Dragomir's father's family. And how Dragomir should've never been born.

Unexpectedly Dick did not yell, or seem disgusted. But he did ask about the murder, with a stern look, and Dragomir answered that look with his own. Dragomir sighed a bit and looked at Chelsea's grave. How would it have been if Dragomir had been born to an actual loving mother, and because he was wanted? Who knew. But Dragomir had never been a fan of what-ifs.
"What would you say if I said that I actually meant to kill her, wanted to do it?"
Dragomir glanced at Dick, kind of a sad look in his eyes. But he soon shook his head and let out a bitter chuckle.
"She came to the house yelling, about bastards and betrayal. I was making clothes, home alone. I peeked out and immediately she was on me, shaking me and clawing at me. I was scared, I was a woman and she was taller than me. My...my glasses fell off and broke. I looked her in the eye. And she just...froze. I couldn't stop the process without my enchanted glasses. But they were broken. When I found my spare pair it was...too late. He came in and saw me, before his petrified wife, glasses in hand as if I'd taken them off myself. I was a murderer."
Dragomir looked down, hands still squeezed into fists. Dragomir could feel his nails almost breaking the skin on his palms.
"It was an accident. But that doesn't make me any less of a murderer. I could've stopped it. But I was too slow, too weak. He chased me out, yelled threats after me, wished I was dead. I still remember the time, it was 2:15pm. There was a clock in the foyer."
Dragomir took one of his hands out of his pocket and slowly unfisted it. The nails had broken skin, there were red marks on his palm. Dragomir looked at it for a second before letting the arm hang on his side.
"Thanks for listening Dick. Even though you might not want to stay my friend after this. After all, murderer is a murderer, even by accident."