Summary: Raphael teaches Simon about being a vampire. Simon teaches Raphael about being a nerd.
By: inlovewithfictionalcharacters
So Raphael offered Simon vampire lessons. It all sounded pretty good until Simon found out it was less True Blood and more Interview With A Vampire. Less partying and more skulking around in a fancy house with expensive furniture and maybe learning to look decorative while laying on a chaise lounge like a Victorian lady facing consumption.
Okay Raphael didn't actually teach him the lounging around part. But he was pretty Lestat about the whole thing. Minus the gay undertones. Probably.
Simon had accepted that he wouldn't be able to see his mother and sister for some time and so he made up a lie so he'd be able to stay at the Hotel Dumort. He told her he had an internship that was closer to where a friend lived and would require a lot of his attention and late night work so he would be staying at his friend's place for a few weeks. His mother was sceptic because she knew Simon would rather invest his time in his band than pursue an internship but she eventually accepted his excuse.
And so Simon moved in at Casa Creepy Vampire Hotel, which was kinda like the Hotel California in that everyone had a lovely face and there was plenty of space but you could also never really leave.
Simon decided that this would be a problem for future Simon to deal with after he had the whole blood sucking urges down to a normal Edward Cullen level of restraint. Or maybe Carlisle Cullen in case he met his Bella Swan. He stopped his train of thought right there because while he wasn't ashamed to make a Twilight references there was a limit. Given that two of his best friends were girls and he had a sister he was open minded. Plus vampire knowledge might actually come in handy now.
Raphael gave Simon the room next to his. Simon figured it was a sort of mentor thing to keep him close so Simon wouldn't have to waste time stumbling through the whole hotel to find Raphael in case of emergency.
Simon wouldn't say that the room was to his taste seeing as it was decorated with gothic furniture and a depressing Delacroix painting featuring - ironically - souls of the damned. It might have been an original. Most of the painting at the hotel were.
Simon had actually gotten Clary to fetch some of his stuff for him from home. His laptop, a few DVDs and his Buffy poster because Simon was just gonna roll with the irony at this point. Apparently someone had managed to install electricity because there were outlets but wifi was sadly missing. Apparently vampires didn't believe in the power of the internet.
His first night Raphael taught Simon about all the abilities the vampires had. Healing, strength, speed, shape shifting. Simon wasn't sure if Raphael was being serious about that last one because it sounded pretty made up. But then again, so did vampires.
Raphael "taught" Simon while wearing an expensive black suit and lounging on one of the ridiculous gold couches in what Simon would think of as the common room except this was so not Hogwarts.
After Simon had gotten over the initial shock (and the fact that he couldn't drink coffee anymore) he was actually grateful that Raphael had decided to take him on. He could have just left him to fend for his own until he accidentally broke the Accords and was killed by a Shadowhunter. When Simon asked Raphael why he had decided to take pity on him Raphael just responded that Camille had caused enough drama for the vampires and that he would like to keep all of this quiet.
After the vampire 101 lesson Simon attempted small talk. He felt like it was only polite to find out more about Raphael since he would basically be his sort of roommate/student for the foreseeable future.
"So...where were you born? I was born here. New York, born and raised and died and raised from the dead, as they say." Simon said attempting to break the ice.
