"Oh, come on, Tavi! I don't bite! …Much."

With that teasing statement, Vinyl Scratch was just asking to be gagged. To which her current roommate, Octavia Melody, was more than happy to oblige.
The cellist paced around their apartment as Vinyl sat tied up in tight rope in the center of the living room. A thick rag was tied between her jaws, causing her sharp fangs to protrude from her gums. Octavia shivered as she spared another glance at her friend: those piercing red eyes and pointed ears, combined with her pale skin, gave the visage of a monster straight out of a children's book. But the terror caused by her inhuman appearance was betrayed by Vinyl's playful expression, despite her predicament. Vinyl tilted her head and winked at Octavia, prompting her to turn away to hide the blush growing on her cheeks.
After a few minutes of deliberation, Octavia walked to where Vinyl sat and reached down to remove her gag.
"You make any noise, this is going back on," Octavia motioned to the rag stuffed in Vinyl's mouth. "Understand?"
"Yshh, mhmm," Vinyl mumbled with an eye-roll.
Octavia scoffed as she slowly removed the gag from Vinyl's jaws, causing the vampiric DJ to spit out a few strands of cloth.
"Pfft. Jeez, Tavi, you know there's a whole process we gotta go through before gettin' into foreplay, right?"
"You're a vampire." Octavia fought to keep her voice from trembling.
Vinyl nodded as if there was nothing with her roommate's observation. "Well, duh. Kinda obvious, don'tcha think?" she wiggled her pointed ears for added effect.
Octavia pinched the bridge of her nose. "You-we've been living together for two years, and I'm just now figuring this out??"
"What can I say?" Vinyl shrugged in her ropes. "I'm good at keeping secrets."
"Apparently not at defending yourself."
Vinyl's cheeks became tinted red as she remembered Octavia rushing forward to pin Vinyl to the wall the minute she showed off her transformation into her vampiric state. "I mean, I figured this would freak you out a bit, so I didn't wanna do anything else to make you think I was dangerous."
"You are dangerous," Octavia insisted.
Vinyl huffed. "Why? 'Cause I got a pair of fangs and I got no melanin on me?"
"Vampires suck blood! They-I-I shouldn't even have to tell you this! I know you've seen your share of horror films!"
"Aw, Tavi, you know me so well."
"Not as well as I thought!" Octavia stopped herself and took a deep breath before going on. "I can understand, to an extent, why you'd keep this to yourself. But what else have you been hiding? How do I know you haven't done something to me that I don't know about?"
"Trust me, you'd know," Vinyl replied. "And you can trust me, Taves."
Octavia opened her mouth to retort, but Vinyl beat her to it. "Why else do you think I finally chose to show you, huh? I could've kept you in the dark 'til you kicked the bucket, but I didn't. Because I wanted to show you that you could trust me."
Octavia pressed her lips, processing Vinyl's words. A few tense moments of silence passed between the two musicians.
"Look, you can keep me like this all you want, I won't complain," Vinyl assured her. "And I know you don't have much reason to trust whatever I'm saying right now, but at least trust me on this: I would never hurt you."
Octavia pressed a clenched fist to her lips as she cast her gaze to the floor. She then looked straight at the blood-red pupils of Vinyl's eyes. "…I believe you."
"…Really?" A tinge of hope crept into Vinyl's tone.
"…I do. Against my better judgment, I do."
A gentle, earnest smile stretched across Vinyl's face. "…Thank you, Octy. Really, that…I…thank you."
Octavia tilted her head. "…You're rarely speechless."
Vinyl gave another teasing shrug. "You always had a way of leaving me tongue-tied."
The two roommates broke into a chuckle, a sense of comfort flowing through them both as they slipped back into their familiar rhythm.
"Speaking of tied, whaddaya want to do about…?" Vinyl wriggled her shoulders where the ropes clung to her upper body.
"Oh, let me take care of that!" Octavia rushed over and untied the ropes restraining Vinyl. The DJ stood up and stretched her arms, flexing her body to get the blood flowing.
"Y'know, I was serious back there." Vinyl's voice took on that playful mirth Octavia half-missed. "I really wouldn't have minded being your private vampire."
Octavia kept her face still to conceal the rush of euphoria she felt at her words. "You have your DJ responsibilities to help pay for rent," she reminded Vinyl.
"Eh, maybe we could make a cover story. Like, maybe 'Vinyl's been stricken with a mysterious illness and must remain in bed to stave off the affliction'!"
"Didn't you use that excuse to get out of jury duty?"
"Shoot, you're right. Ooh, maybe we could say I got cursed in Trotsylvania! Folks eat that stuff up these days."
Octavia sighed. "Why do I feel you're just looking for a reason to be tied up indefinitely?"
Vinyl leaned forward and nudged Octavia's hip with her own. "You'd enjoy that, wouldn't you?" she whispered huskily into her left ear.
Octavia trembled slightly as she leaned closer into Vinyl's pointed ear. "Well, I do have quite a few ideas to make your indoor stay more…enticing."
Vinyl beamed as her eyes shone with anticipation. Octavia exchanged knowing smiles with her roommate before they interlocked hands. It had certainly been a shock to learn that her closest friend was a vampire, but some things weren't enough to soil years of trust and friendship.