Page 3 of Only Fangs

From: Mikael (user ID: OnlyFangs)

Did I see your name in the audience earlier tonight?

Collin stiffened at the question. How did Mikael always notice? How did he even have time to read usernames during his performance?

A chat window opened while Collin contemplated his answer. Fuck. He should have just logged out, but the vampire had already caught him online.

Mikael: I know you’re there.

Collin’s fingers hovered over the keyboard.

Mikael: I promise I don’t bite fans ;)

Collin groaned and typed.

Collin: I’m still not your fan. Also, you would biteanyone. That’s your whole gimmick.

Mikael: Why do you keep watching if you don’t enjoy my shows?

Collin: Solely to see what the competition is up to.

Collin knew he was being unnecessarily defensive but damn it, the vampire’s ego was already big enough.

Although, putting it like that was unfair to Mikael, and Collin didn’t like to be unfair. He was just so frustrated with himself. The truth was, Mikael had been nothing but friendly to him. He’d messaged Collin after one of his first-ever streams, when he’d already been a big deal and Collin had been a nobody, simply to say ‘good job.’

That was how Collin’s obsession had started.

But it wasn’t Mikael’sfaultthat Collin was obsessed with something he couldn’t have. That was entirely his own problem. And he had no business taking it out on the other man.

Collin took a deep breath and tried again.

Collin: It was a good stream. The fae today seemed into it.

Mikael: Oh, yeah. He was fun. Did you watch the whole thing?

Collin paused with his fingers on the keyboard. He’dwantedto watch the whole thing, but the paywall had stopped him. Admitting that felt like admitting weakness, though, and he was already so much weaker than Mikael that he didn’t want to do that. So he lied.

Collin: I got distracted halfway through.

Mikael: Really? Damn it. I know my streams are starting to get boring. It’s always the same old, isn’t it? I bite some fucker and he gets off on it. How much of that can people really want to see?

Mikael’s message was followed by a series of frowning emojis, which threw Collin completely off balance. He hadn’t meant to make Mikael feel bad just because he’d wanted to save a couple of bucks and couldn’t afford to watch the full stream. “No,” he typed, “Your show’s awesome. It’s just, well, you know. Paywall.”

He cringed as he hit enter, but he couldn’t take the words back once they were there.

Mikael: Oh.

Mikael: Wait, let me gift you a subscription.

Collin: No!

Collin cursed at his screen. He didn’t need the vampire’s charity, and besides, it was agoodthing he couldn’t watch all of Mikael’s streams. He’d never find the time to do anything else.

Mikael: It’s cool, really. You should have a subscription.

Collin: I don’t want you to gift me anything. You put a lot of hard work into your videos. Don’t give them away.

There was a pause before Mikael typed again, then his message appeared on screen. “You could work it off.” A smug-looking emoticon accompanied the words. Collin stared at them as heat rushed through his body because he knew exactly what kind of work Mikael was proposing. He’d been trying to get Collin to agree to a collaboration for weeks.

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