[ The moment Louis tells him not to laugh, Lestat presses his lips together between his teeth because... Just the simple act of being told not to do something makes it powerfully difficult to resist doing just that, and Lestat is honestly surprised by Louis' lack of foresight in the matter.

When the reveal comes, Lestat's heart constricts strangely in his chest and his mouth falls slack and open in a soft exhalation of breath.

Of course he'd known, he could have guessed as much if he'd been asked, but somehow being told in this manner while Louis holds his face and looks at his mouth and beats his eyelashes like that and plays with his hair... Lestat feels a powerful emotion wreck through him like a wave, something he didn't think was possible for a monster like him to feel any longer, something so powerfully human that if he thought to do so, he might even be able to make believe.

He feels so unbelievably, hopefully and stupidly happy. His heart swells with foolish and giddy affection, and the smile that spreads across his face doesn't have an inch of sharpness to it for the brief few moments it's on show before he presses it to Louis' mouth. ]

Then, my heart, let me make up for lost time and show you what you've been missing.

[ He presses his forehead to Louis' and the temptation is still there to cancel their plans and remain here, in love and truly sick with it, but he feels a mounting excitement he can't deny any longer. He takes Louis' hands and squeezes them. ]

This is the first of many from here on, after all.