Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The shining light from the chandeliers was bright as the vast ballroom space was lit up brilliantly. The soft yellow glow bouncing off of the numerous faces in attendance. This was the first time he had been treated to this sight, the first time he was allowed to be there as himself. It should be a cause for celebration. It was. Yet, somehow, he couldn’t find it in himself to smile. Not genuinely, at least. Eyes filled with curiosity fell upon him. Inspected him like a fine piece of jewelry being presented to them. He had greeted each and every one of them, and all of their reactions had been the same.

“Such a fine young man you are.”

They all smiled at him, but none of them meant it. He was not ‘fine’, so they ended up disappointed.

“Raise your head, keep your posture in check, boy.” his uncle spoke lowly, walking right past  while refusing to look directly at him. He did as he was asked, he always did. “Yes, uncle. My apologies.”

The footsteps became more faint until he disappeared back into the crowd.

The scene felt strange, ripped out strange from the storybooks he liked to read, it was real, everything was real. And yet here he was, wishing he wasn’t there. A sense of dread hanging over him, asking himself what this shift in attitude meant. Why now?

He wasn’t allowed the solitude to think about the answer, having his attention demanded away from those thoughts by noblemen trying to curry favor, get in the king’s good graces.

If only they knew that wasn’t how it worked.

Deciding to simply wander about, catching bits and pieces of conversations. One in particular pulling his attention towards it.

“This growing vampire infestation has been incredibly bad for business!” a young noblewoman yelled nearby. “Can you imagine, they shut down my production lines for a day because one of those bloodsuckers apparently holed up inside my factory!?” her face was positively gleaming with anger now, as her words grew louder and angrier by the second. The man she was speaking with hesitantly handing her another glass, looking like he was wholly unsure on how to respond to her woes.

“The problem is getting out of hand, I agree, but there’s not much we can do I’m afraid.”

She huffed before taking a big swig from her glass.

‘Vampires, hm’

he had heard a lot about them, but all he knew came from second-hand knowledge. Reports, accounts such as those. The aristocrats especially seemed to hate them. The young prince couldn’t help but wonder if that was deserved. Vampires had been part of this world for longer than anyone here had been alive. It was a topic of interest to the young prince, admittedly. He had never actually seen one in person, but he wanted to see if the scripts stayed true, or if they were overblown machinations of the fearful human mind.

“Pardon me your highness, I have a matter that needs to be urgently discussed with the king. Business, as it could be called.” A tall man started, looking down on him, words sweet like they were coated in honey, but a face that betrayed a hint of disgust. “My apologies, but I am not the one who should be conversing with then, I cannot help you gain favor with him I’m afraid.”

The moment he spoke the words he turned his back to walk away. He felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him in his tracks.

“No, no, you don’t understand. I am certain he would be very interested in what I have to say.”

The young prince sighed,

“Then by all means, seek him out and state your proposal to him directly. I told you, I cannot be of any help to you in this.” He tried to stay polite, but found it increasingly difficult to upon the insistence. He simply wanted to leave. He was facing the side entrance to the ball-room, if he could just take a few more steps he’d be able to get away from this mess.

“But I-“ the man started, sputtering in offense. He’d had enough, brushing the hand on his shoulder off, not giving the man space to continue speaking.

“If that was all, I will be off now. Good day to you, sir.”

A figure quickly crossed past the open doorway the prince had been making way towards, catching his attention. It didn’t look like someone who worked here, or belonged here at all. His eyes flit between the room, to the guards, and then the dark entranceway leading to the now-empty halls. There were only a few seconds to decide before the stranger would make it out of sight.

Without another word he quickly followed after them, struck with a sudden curiosity. Knowing he should’ve warned someone, at least inform one of the guards, but he wasn’t thinking. Not really.

Or maybe part of him wanted to simply do this, a sense of excitement bursting in his chest as he quickened his step. Was he hoping for it to be an intruder looking to cause trouble? He shook his head, telling himself to stop thinking that way.

The figure stopped in front of the library entrance, the prince couldn’t make out a lot, but he noticed them take out a piece of paper and looking it up and down. A map, perhaps? Were they looking for something in particular?

They pocketed the parchment before quietly slipping inside, and before the door could fall back into place he managed to catch it, hoping he hadn’t been noticed yet. His breath caught in his throat. Had he been any wiser, he would’ve gone to let somebody know by now.

He couldn’t place why he had felt so drawn to them. Having barely seen what they looked like.  

The library was vast, made up of a ground floor and an upper level. Book cases so grand they required ladders to even access half of the knowledge they contained. He instinctively found himself hiding behind any cover he could find. It was dark, barely anything visible, but he didn’t want to risk it.

Well, he hadn’t wanted to risk it, before he managed to blow his own cover by stumbling against a small cupboard, upon which a stone bust had been resting. Barely able to register what was happening until,

‘CRASH’

He let out an audible “oh shoot”, trying to find his way back to the door, only to find it had been shut-a state he hadn’t left it in-

“If you’re going to follow someone, maybe try not to make any noise next time.” The voice came from behind him. Much closer than anticipated.

He had barely been able to organize his thoughts before he felt a cold sensation against his neck, what little light there was reflecting off of it, a blade.

“Does anyone else know?” He (he was almost certain they were a man by now) asked the stranger.

“No, I followed you on my own.” A quiet chuckle could be heard.

“Now why would you do that?” the man spoke in a mocking tone, seemingly trying to contain his laughter. Voice dripping in sarcasm.

“Curiosity? An excuse to get away from all, that” he nodded his head towards the direction of the ballroom, hoping the other would understand what he meant. The cold pressure he had been feeling on his neck let up as well, signaling the other had taken his blade back.

“Sounds like you have a death wish to me. Luckily for you I didn’t come here to bury bodies.”

The logical part of his brain was begging to leave it. Just go back to the festivities and pretend he hadn’t seen anything, but he was also fully aware that wasn’t really an option anymore. That was the easy way out, and he somehow always found it in himself to make things more complicated than they needed to be. Classic.

“What did you come here for then?”

“Wouldn’t you want to know?” The man snarled back.

“Yes, actually.” Came the quick response, hoping the other would take the hint that the prince wasn’t joking.

“I might be inclined to tell you, if you give me your name.”

“My name? I’m.. alright with that, but why?”

“I want to know who I’m dealing with if, or when, you rat me out.”

“Alright, okay. I can get behind that, I guess-” he hesitated for a second, was he really going to give in to the other’s demands, just like that?

Well, yes. He was. Now wasn’t a time to be afraid, as strange as that might be.

“-It’s Atsushi.” He finally let out.

“That’s-“ the other started, before stopping himself “Oh fuck. You’re him?”

“You’re telling me you decided to hold a knife to my throat without even knowing who I was?” Atsushi managed to chuckle now, too. “Very clever of you, whoever you are.”

“Shut it!”

Feeling confident, the prince decided to turn around, hoping he could catch a glimpse of the other’s face at least.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it hadn’t been this. A pair of ethereal blue eyes staring right back at him, almost as if they were glowing. Slit pupils signifying a danger he couldn’t entire place. His face was barely visible.

“It’s a bit dark in here, so if you’re looking for something I’m more than willing to help you, but-“ he pointed towards the door “-my personal chambers just so happen to be directly across from here, nobody will come in there unannounced.” he saw the other raise an eyebrow at this suggestion.

“You seem weirdly casual and eager about this?”

“Well, yeah. I have nothing to lose so, why not?” the prince brought his hand up to the door handle, signaling to the other that he was going to open it, hoping there was nobody around to see them.

He hadn’t exaggerated when he said his chambers were directly across, and when the coast was confirmed clear he waved a hand, standing against the doorframe leading to his own room. When the other man carefully walked in, making sure to never let Atsushi out of his sight, he closed the door and turned on the light. The other holding a hand in front of his face as he carefully inspected the boy standing in front of him. Analyzing him.

“Okay, weirdo-prince, set the record straight for me, will you?”

Atsushi hummed in acknowledgement.

“You catch me sneaking around your place, knowing full well I’m not supposed to be there, and your first instinct wasn’t to alert anyone?” An agitated tinge to his voice, rubbing his temple in the process. Clearly not expecting Atsushi to respond in the ways he had been so far.

“Yes, what about it?”

“If I had been here with more violent intentions you would’ve been dead and people would be none the wiser until tomorrow-“ Turning his head away as he spoke.

“-probably longer than that if you’d killed me in library, almost nobody goes in there. It’s pretty much just me.” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was fully aware of his own recklessness tonight. He just didn’t care, not really.

“So this thing you came here to steal. What is it?” trying to get the focus back to the subject at hand. He heard the other sigh, and a muttered ‘weirdo’.

The redhead approached him, taking a piece of paper out of the bag he’d been carrying, and handed it over to the prince. Opening it, Atsushi saw the image of an ornament of sorts. It looked familiar, almost certain he had seen it before.

“Can I ask you why you need this?”

“No.”

It was the first time Atsushi allowed himself to take a good look at his new acquaintance. The man was much shorter than him, red hair tied in a messy ponytail slung over his right shoulder. It was difficult to make out most of what he was wearing due to the hooded cloak covering most of it. A detail that caught his attention especially -aside from his eyes- was his right arm, he could barely make out the edges of a large scar on the inside of his forearm. The man was dressed in fairly fine clothing, for as much as the prince was able to see it. Reds and blues mixed on layers. He caught himself staring, and quickly tried to change the topic, hoping the other hadn’t noticed.

“I don’t know why you want this, but I think I know where it is, I can even go get it for you. Will save you a whole lot of trouble I reckon.” He said softly.

“I don’t understand you.” The other man spat back, letting the frustration he had been so clearly feeling up until this point out “Besides, I don’t trust you.”

“You trusted me enough to show me your face.”

“You knowing what I look like won’t cause me any problems. If I stay here while you go off to do whatever I’d be sitting ducks for when you inevitably change your mind and return with palace guards at your side.”

“I won’t.” he curtly responded.

“That’s easy for you to say. I’m the one who shouldn’t be here, you have zero reason to accommodate me, so why the fuck would you?”

Atsushi sighed, allowing himself to fall back into one of the nearby chairs. Contemplating on whether or not to simply tell the truth, it’d be easier. Besides, maybe that way he could convince the man to trust him enough to give him his name.

‘Wait, why do I want to know his name?’

“I- hate it here..-“ he started slowly, hesitation clear in his voice “-I couldn’t care less about what happens to anything in this building. You could blow it to high-hell and I’d appreciate you for it.” The redhead stared at him in shock, but didn’t saying anything, not yet. Atsushi reckoned that was a good sign.

“I spend my days painting, and reading books that’s about as much as I’m allowed to do. I can’t even go outside within the castle walls. I am bored out of my god-damn mind. I followed you because I thought ‘at least this is more interesting than mingling with guests who don’t actually care about me anyway’.” He took a deep breath, not sure if it was a good idea to share something he had kept successfully internalized for so long with someone he had only just met, and not under the best circumstances to boot. “- You can call me strange all you want, this is probably the most excitement I’ll ever have in this life, so at least grant me that, will you?”

The sound of the chair scraping against the floor could be heard clearly, followed by a soft -poof- as the other man had let himself fall into it as well. He noticed his eyes darting around the room, either uncomfortable or simply looking for a topic to switch the conversation to.

“I guess anyone would go crazy, living like that.” Was the answer he seemed to settle on eventually. It was spoken with a tinge of a genuine wistful feeling, his hand in front of his mouth as he said the words. And looking back at it, Atsushi realized he had been doing that every time he talked, averting his face, looking away. Hiding his face behind his hands.

Why would he hide his face only when he spoke?

Unless, what he wanted to hide was in his mouth?

His mind raced as he started to grasp the reality of the situation.

Slit pupils, like a predator’s.

‘How did I not notice sooner?’

It’s the reports, speaking of red eyes. They all had red eyes, according to all accounts he’d ever heard about them. That’s why he hadn’t questioned anything until just now.

“You’re-“ he started, voice shaking. There was no cause for fear, not yet, but he definitely wanted to exercise caution.

Settling on a way to pose his question, continuing with “- not ‘human’, are you?” the other’s eyes widened in surprise, jumping out of the chair in a swift motion, backing away from him. Eventually he seemed to calm down upon noticing Atsushi wasn’t moving away.

“How did you-“ his breathing sounded panicked, erratic.

“You were- you were hiding your face every time you said anything, only when you spoke. I didn’t notice at first, because your eyes are blue, but-“ he gulped “Your pupils are different too. I just put two and two together, like that.”

“Fuck.” He hissed, seemingly at nobody in particular. Looking Atsushi straight in the eyes as he formulated the next question.

“Are you afraid of me now, your highness?” It was said with a bitter tone to his voice, and Atsushi could see them clear as day, as he said the words aloud. The sharp fangs on the corners of his mouth.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“No.”

“Then, no. I’m not afraid.”

The prince got up slowly, making his way towards the other “I do have a simple request, though. Before I go and retrieve the item you need” a look of confusion gracing his face.

“Let’s hear it then”

 “I want to know your name as well” he manages to sound confident, but inside he felt anxiety upon asking the question. It had only been a few minutes ago that the redhead had explicitly told him he didn’t trust him, after all.

“Huh?-“ he let out a bewildered noise, looking back at Atsushi as though he was absolutely insane. Mouthing a silent ‘what the fuck’. Eventually deciding to just give in.

“- Ugh, god, fine. If you bring it back to me, I’ll tell you my god-damn name okay.” Clicking his tongue in annoyance afterwards.

Something about it made Atsushi smile, a genuine smile, the first one in a while. That, and it also got him weirdly excited, now it wasn’t just a petty ploy to get back at his uncle, but also a way to get to know the redhead, the vampire’s name.

“I’ll be back in a bit”

He quietly slipped outside, unsure of whether or not the lights should be turned off. Before closing the door he said in a low tone “When I return I’ll knock 3 times in quick succession so you’ll know it’s me. If it’s anything besides that, hide quick. Nobody barges in without knocking here, but they will go in eventually if they don’t hear from me” Atsushi saw the redhead nod to signal he understood and promptly closed the door.

The trinket he sought was a very expensive piece of jewelry from a rival kingdom, it had been gifted to his uncle as a peace offering by Ougai Mori. He could rack his brain all night about what the vampire needed this for, but he couldn’t really come up with anything aside from ‘money’. The vampire didn’t look like he was in need of it though.

As far as he could remember- and he was fairly good at that- his uncle kept it in his personal study, a room more gaudy and unused than anything in this godforsaken place. Lucky for him, that meant he wouldn’t run the risk of getting caught while still inside, unluckily for him, there was a guard posted at the door at pretty much all hours of the day. If Atsushi was seen going in, and it came out the peace offering was gone, he was the first person to be -rightfully in this case- blamed.

‘Think, Atsushi, that’s about the only thing you’re good at’

No time to make a fake replacement, distracting the guard personally or managing to convince the man to let him in wouldn’t work as both those options would leave traces.

Get someone else to distract the guard? That could work, if he somehow managed to spin it in such a way where it wasn’t obviously him asking the person to get rid of the guard for just a bit- however this left the predicament that whoever managed to get wrapped up in this could end up implicated instead.

‘You’re thinking too much about this.’

It’s then he caught himself just shy of running into someone.

“My apologies, I was deep in thought” he stammered out, rubbing the back of his head whilst acting as casually as he could manage.

“O-oh, your highness, I am so sorry! I should’ve been the one to pay attention” the girl in front of him was one of the maids, a girl who had been working here since she was a child.

He laughed at her nervosity “Don’t’ worry too much about it, Lucy. No-one’s around, you can relax.”

She sighed, her facial expression morphing into one of annoyance “You’re so undignified for a prince”

“Hm, really? I’ll keep that in mind, thanks.” She put her hands on her hips, looking him up and down

“aren’t you supposed to be attending your fancy, rich-people-only, banquet around now.” She stated accusatory

“Well…-“ he started

“’Well’ what?! Isn’t that what you’ve been hoping for?” Her voice had become loud and boisterous.

“-I’ve come into some, urgent matters to take care of?”

She didn’t look like she bought that, at all.

“Uh-huh, sure you did.”

“Lucy, I really appreciate you, but I really need to-“ he stopped himself as the realization hit that she was probably his best bet at getting inside the study unseen.

“-actually, could you help me out with something?” she raised an eyebrow, and he noticed a sense of distrust coming from her.

“I need to get inside the king’s study-”

“Just ask the guy at the door to let you in?”

“-unseen.” he hissed.

“Oh,” she brought her hand up to her face, placing her index finger on her chin, looking like she was considering his request.

“I’d ask you why, but I already have a feeling you won’t tell me. So, sure. You owe me though” 

He clapped his hands together and bowed his head before uttering a quick ‘thank you’. She simply waved him off, pointing at the corner at the end of the hall. “Stand there and wait until I lead the watch away, I’ll buy you five minutes, so do whatever you have to within that time”. He followed her instructions and waited, watching as she walked up to the guy in front of the door.

He couldn’t hear what she was saying exactly, but after a brief moment he trailed behind her, leaving the study unguarded and Atsushi took his chance to quietly slip inside.

The jewelry he was looking for was eye-catching and not the smallest piece in his dear uncle’s collection, so he had faith five minutes would be enough to find it, but after turning on the desk lamp he still felt overwhelmed when looking upon everything. The last visit to this room had been years ago, so while he was aware of the fact that ‘things that moved to the inside of this room never left’, nobody could’ve really been prepared for the sheer amount of things that had been collecting dust in this one room.

‘five minutes.. five minutes. I can do this’

‘The most expensive piece in his collection, a symbol of diplomatic proficiency, if I were him, where would I put it?’

Right, if anything, he’d want to be able to see it instantly while sitting behind his desk, while at the same time, flaunting it towards any guests he invited in.

His uncle barely used the room, but he remembered him sitting in his chair once. It was a unique way of sitting, he didn’t sit straight behind the desk, chair in the center. It was situated at the side, on the left, and he’d look cross-way, not straight ahead.

He set the scene as he remembered it, sitting in the chair as the old man always did. Closing his eyes to focus.

He opened them, the first thing that came into view a frame on the wall, the object of his search carefully placed at the center of it.

‘Thank you for being so predictable and vain.’ He quietly prayed to nobody in particular. Grabbing the jewels and stuffing them inside a bag, he quickly made way to the door. Hearing distant voices the moment he stepped outside, closing it as softly as possible and running the opposite way.

He’d have to remember to thank Lucy personally later. He had been so eager to return he almost forgot to knock, remembering to in the nick of time so he wouldn’t give the redhead a heart-attack,

Well, he probably couldn’t, but that wasn’t important.

Knocking thrice in quick succession then quickly going inside. The light had been turned off again, probably for the best, when he thought about it.

The redhead was sitting on the edge of his desk, looking through the pages of a book when Atsushi brought him out of his thoughts.

“I got what you’re looking for.” taking the piece out of the bag to show him, his eyes widened.

“Fuck, you really did it huh?” taking the bag in his hands, looking at it with a perplexed expression.

“Well yeah, were you still doubting that I would?” a small laugh escaped him.

Something seemed to click inside of the other’s mind, looking at the prince with a shit-eating grin

“So fast too, were you that eager to hear my name?”

A breath got caught in his throat as he struggled to find a response, ultimately managing a “Yeah”, but it came out soft and croaky. As if he was caught off-guard.

Which he was.

Atsushi had seen his face before, but now the redhead had gotten rid of the hooded cape he’d been wearing earlier it was easier to see all of him at once. Thoughts inside his mind whirring

‘He has a nice figure’

Okay, calm down there. Don’t go there.

Looking at the vampire standing before him he realised. He was different, different from all of them, the crowd of simple-minded pleasers roaming the halls looking to curry favour with anyone with a modicum of power. This one hadn’t been like that. Yet the only reason he’d stood out to Atsushi had nothing to do with his inhumanity. The difference had been in the casual nature by which he’d approached the other. He hadn’t sought out Atsushi to get something from him, he hadn’t even asked for the help to begin with. The prince himself had to offer and then still insist. He had gotten so used to people only wanting his attention for their own benefit that this- whatever this shallow interaction had been, was new and refreshing to him. The irony of it all didn’t escape the young prince either. All he’d ever been told about them was that they were monsters, both inside and out.

The person standing in front of him was none of that. He hadn’t been all that dangerous to begin with. Seemingly unwilling to bring actual harm to the prince even when his nature had been called out.

To him -Atsushi-, that signified a level of rationality and empathy that most people he spent his days with didn’t even possess.  

Yet to him, aside from all that, the feature that took his breath away, shook him to his core, were his eyes. Blue, ethereal, like sapphire crystals under the light of the moon. In simple words, the vampire’s eyes were beautiful.

“You must be incredibly lonely to call something about me beautiful.”

He hadn’t realised he had actually vocalized the thought, his mind so occupied, his emotions so strong he had unknowingly started speaking them. The stranger looking back at him with a ferocious curiosity gracing his features.

“I am, but that has nothing to do with this” he could already feel the deep blush making its way to his cheeks. Embarrassed that he’d spoken the words, and that they were heard.

The vampire made his way towards the balcony’s entrance, opening it.

“My name is Chuuya.” he said, looking back at Atsushi with a softness he hadn’t yet witnessed on the man- Chuuya’s face before. “Thanks, you saved me a lot of trouble.” That last sentence betraying an earnest emotion from him, making Atsushi speculate that this had been really important to him. He didn’t have the time to respond before Chuuya disappeared out of sight.

He noticed a strange desire grow within him, a desperate wish that he would be able to see him again.

Part 2

Traveling through the countryside was fast and effortless. Steam-engines were accessible and easy to hide on. It was his favourite method of transportation when it came to distances as vast as these. He looked back to the castle, getting smaller and smaller as it grew further away from him. A satisfied look on his face as he felt the weight of the bag in his hands.

He couldn’t believe he actually did it, actually gotten a hold of something so valuable, from right under the king’s nose no less.

At least this way, he finally got what he wanted, and more than that to boot. Not only that, but he personally met the ever-elusive prince, the one the king had been so eager to hide away from the public.

Everyone knew he existed, everyone knew his name, but nobody had known what he looked like.

He could feel the smile forming on his lips unconsciously, the sensation of having that knowledge felt strangely satisfying, but that wasn’t all about the boy that had struck him.

“Your eyes are beautiful”

It kept ringing in his mind, ever since he left. It wasn’t the first time hearing that, but it was the first time it came from someone who knew what he was.

Someone like him, beautiful? He would almost accuse Atsushi of lying, but the way he started furiously blushing once the realisation set in that he had actually said it, nobody was that amazing of an actor. Nobody would go through those lengths for a lie like that.

It was a bizarre interaction, he had successfully snuck inside the castle, and yet the most memorable part of the entire night were his short conversations with the prince.

He had half a mind to file him away under ‘just another insane human’, but part of him had thought the boy had made the most sense out of everyone he had heard that night.

He also had to admit to himself that the prince had stood out to him visually. Atsushi had called his eyes beautiful, but Chuuya wondered if he had ever looked in a mirror before.

They had been striking, so much so that the redhead had struggled to look away from them initially. Like a violet night sky bleeding into the sunset.

‘Ok, that was oddly poetic and disgusting, stop that’

He took a moment to just sit back and breathe, reflect on it all. Sure, the boy had been strange. He didn’t react like humans, or well, -anyone- was supposed to, that much was clear. Yet something about it made sense.

It left him wondering what he’d do with a life locked between the same four walls. A shiver ran across his back for simply imagining it. Not even sure if he’d even want to live at that point.

They weren’t the same, obviously, but it at least made him understand why he had been so eager to help. Do something, anything. He hadn’t been exaggerating, a life like that reeked of mental torture.

He tried to focus on something else, anything else would do.

The steam-engine was long and made up from a lot of different compartments, but the ones in the back always were for transport of goods and luggage only, it made it easy to hitch free rides, and he had a nice night sky view for his troubles as well.  The stars were plentiful, lighting up the night sky. It wasn’t a new view to him, where he lived he could see them every day in pure silence and nightly bliss. It was a difference between the capitol city and his home. It had been difficult to see he stars around the palace, where everything was brightly lit every second. It was jarring, something he hadn’t experienced before. There was a dignified and pompous air to everything, the streets themselves almost carrying this mocking sensation that they know they’re better than him. Everything was built perfectly symmetrical, not a centimetre out of place. Gold adorning the street lamps, signs, everything really.

A rich man’s dream.

Chuuya found it nauseating, not understanding the appeal behind any of it. He wasn’t so much against living great and lavish, but had found that even that should have its upper limits, and Yokohama had gone far past those borders. He hadn’t attended the feast for long, but while there and looking around it had felt like he couldn’t have been more out of place anywhere else, and there had been one other person who hadn’t  belonged in that atmosphere.

He could hear the hissing of the engine as the locomotive made way towards its stop. Coming to a halt ever so slowly. Making sure to jump off before it had come to a full stop so he’d be gone before anyone would see. Quickening his step as the conductor’s whistles blew nearby. There wasn’t any real fear of having been spotted leaving the train yet, but he wasn’t about to stick around long enough to be suspected of anything. Finally making his way to the main street of the city, his city.

Mizu-Shōbai wasn’t a quiet place, it was loud, filthy. Neon signs adorning every building in a splash of colour that would be seizure-inducing to the strongest of people. He’d been here dozens of times before, maybe hundreds. Knew every alley, every route. Every place.

Loud metal structures whirring at every hour of the day. The city looked sick.

The thing was, the appearance may have had its issues, but the inner workings were as fine as anything. The air was clean despite the green fog-like clouds that could be seen around every corner. It wasn’t bad for you, or unhealthy. Many a genius had worked on this place’s infrastructure, found ways to harness power, flush away toxins and filth. They never had the resources to make it look good, but it worked. The people had made it their own, and that’s what had drawn Chuuya to it.

This place wasn’t one he called home, but it was a welcome change of scenery. A nightlife city of entertainment, where sex, drugs, alcohol and gambling where the main attractions.

Plenty of unsavoury types to go around too, but they usually didn’t bother him. Not anymore.

His destination was a small pawn-shop at the edge of the city, situated in one of the small alleyways leading to and from the main street. He knocked twice in quick succession on the dingy shop’s front door, paused, then knocked twice again. After about a minute the door flung open, a couple of people spilling out. He quickly slipped through the door, turning the sign behind him to say ‘closed’.

The owner looked at him with a bored expression, sighing with irritation.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that. Just come in like a normal person.” He procured a lighter from one of the shelves behind him, lighting a cigarette.

“I could, but having you send people out before I come in is much safer for me, actually.”

The man behind the counter rolled his eyes at that.

“So, you here to disappoint me?” he said, a subtle smirk on his face. Chuuya threw the bag on the counter, responding with a smirk of his own.

“No, actually. I got what you asked for.”

That seemed to get his attention, as he grabbed for the bag to open it, his eyes widening in awe as he took the jewel out.

“You can’t be serious? This is the real deal, how did you-“

“Straight-up, directly from the palace itself.” He put his elbow on the counter, placing his hand under his chin as he basked in his victory.

“C’mon Ryuu, you should’ve known I’d actually go for it.”

“Don’t call me that-” he spat out, but while his words were loud, there was no real bite behind them. The redhead laughed at his friend’s response. “- I didn’t think you’d be insane enough to actually attempt it, let alone succeed.” He inhaled a sharp breath before saying “You did, surprisingly well. With this, I can get you the money and the information you need. But you’re going to have to be patient for it.”

“A compliment, from you? Well if this isn’t my lucky day.”

“Don’t push your luck back into the ground, you menace.” a giggle escaped the redhead upon hearing that. Mouthing a silent ‘thanks’ upon hearing the description his friend gave him. He pulled one of the stools closer, situating himself on top of it. A comfortable groan escaping him as he could finally give his legs some rest again. His attention settled back towards the shop owner, an every-present scowl on his face, but that was normal. That was just how the grumpy man was, and he wouldn’t want the guy any other way. The world would probably end if Ryuu learned to smile.

“That’s not even the only thing I got from my little trip” he suddenly started , earning him a groan.

He had been pondering whether or not he should tell the other about this, but figured any opportunity to brag towards a trusted friend was an opportunity to take.

“What is it now? Please don’t tell me you stole some rich girl’s cat or something.” He grabbed two glasses and a bottle from behind the counter, filling them and shoving one towards the redhead across from him. Chuuya taking it and mouthing a grateful ‘cheers’ before throwing it back in one go.

“No, not a cat. I didn’t take anything else besides this, but-“ he placed the glass back down, signalling towards the other to refill it. “- I met someone. An interesting fella.” Ryuu raised an eyebrow at that, looking back at his companion with an expression that bordered between annoyance and confusion.

“You, met someone?-“

“- Yep-“

“- Whilst you were there to steal one of the king’s most prized possessions?”

“-Funny story, actually. I wasn’t even really the one who took it. Not directly.”

The shop owner hesitantly brought the bottle to Chuuya’s glass to fill it. His movements betraying a sense of uncertainty.

“What the hell did you do, Chuuya?” It was obvious now Ryuu was struggling to hold himself together and for a while, the only answer he got was a loud burst of laughter. The Redhead calmed down, focusing a gaze back across from him. A serious glint in his eyes.

“I met him, Ryuu. The one the king hides from the public. He exists.”

“The prince?-“

“Who else? Yes, of course I mean him!” Chuuya felt a jolt of excitement as the topic had shifted to Atsushi, he knew how much people had been dying to catch a glimpse of him, that knowing what he looked like was a privilege only afforded to the highest of society. And yet he hadn’t only seen him, he had spoken with him.

“I kind of, accidentally put a knife to his throat at first though”

“Chuuya!-“

“I didn’t know it was him!-“ he threw up his hands in a motion that signified ‘It wasn’t me, I’m innocent’

“-but, he was the one who got me that trinket you wanted”

There was a short moment of complete silence before the sound of a glass shattering into a thousand pieces echoed through the room as Ryuu dropped it out of shock.

“He what!?”

Chuuya downed the remainder of his second glass, beckoning for more before continuing.

“He offered, actually. Said he’d help me to get back at his uncle” there was a solemn tone to his voice as he started speaking. Remembering how lonely the boy had looked. “And he did, he really did-“ his voice trailed off, his mind occupied by something else. Something unexplainable.

Atsushi had looked somewhat akin to a lost cat in the rain, separated from its mother. Left to die alone, but somehow surviving. And yet, even though all the sadness and pain he had so subtly been conveying through his words and actions, he could tell the prince was kind at heart. He had been accommodating towards him, hadn’t even flinched upon finding out what he was.

The way he had looked at Chuuya had been the exact same. It was an entirely new experience and he wasn’t sure on how to deal with that.

“I know that look in your eyes, whatever you’re planning. Don’t.” Ryuu curtly said. Pinching the bridge of his nose. “Please don’t do anything even more stupid than you already have”

“Stupid?! Ah, you wound me Ryuu!” he spoke in a dramatic tone as he crossed his hand over his heart, pretending to be offended in the most gaudy way possible.

“God, you’re insufferable.”

“And yet you put up with me, you’re such a darling. That’s what I like about you.”

“I keep you around because without me you wouldn’t have any friends. Also your presence keeps thugs at bay. You’re useful and that’s it.”

“Uh-huh, whatever you say love.”

“That’s disgusting, I think I’d rather get sucked dry by a vampire than have you call me that.” The other started, turning his nose up in disgust. Earning him another chuckle from the redhead.

“Ironic you should say that-” a waft of smoke blown directly into his face, no doubt a silent sign from the other to shut up. For real this time. Chuuya loved getting under his skin, it was one of the simple pleasures of life he was allowed to indulge in, and boy was it fun to piss off Ryuunosuke.

He also knew, however, the man had his limits and Chuuya was teetering on that edge right about now. Considering he still needed to reap the actual rewards of his adventure, figuring this would be a good place to leave things off. Let the man rest.

“Please get out and don’t involve me into whatever mess you’re planning to get yourself into” he threw the now empty bag back at the redhead who caught it in one swift motion as he made his way out the door. Waving goodbye to his friend before closing it.

‘don’t get in trouble, he said’

He chuckled to himself, thinking that his friend truly didn’t know him if he thought Chuuya would ever avoid an opportunity for trouble. He prided himself on his ability to attract, and subsequently deal with problems.

For now, though, he was just happy to make his way home. Wanting nothing more than to fall on his bed and enter a deep sleep. Fully aware of the fact Kouyou was going to be there, waiting for him with questions. Questions he wasn’t sure on how to answer without possibly setting off her wrathful nature.

What he did was dangerous, and Ryuu had been right when he called his actions stupid, but they both knew it was necessary.

A part of him was never going to be satisfied, not unless he dealt with this demon that haunted him. A sneaky demon, hiding away in the furthest depths of hell.

And he was going to drag him out, drag him out and kill him once and for all.

The farm wasn’t far from Mizu-Shōbai, but it was isolated enough to be just out of view. Clearing the night sky of all unnatural neon lights and making way for the veil of stars above. As much as he liked the city, in all its underhanded, criminal, and morose glory, it was no match for this sight. Nowhere else tonight had it looked this clear and mesmerising. It was a view he was privy to daily, yet it kept tugging at his heartstrings ever-so-slightly every time.

“What has got you so sentimental today?” a voice gently tugged him away from his thoughts.

“Sentimental? I’m always like this, aren’t I?” a light chuckle escaped him, but the weight behind those words wasn’t lost on the other.

“How’d you know I was here, though. Don’t recall sending a message up ahead for when I was coming back?”

The woman laughed, taking a piece of paper out of her dress pocket and holding it up to her face.

“I have my ways-“ her expression shifted from her earlier joyous tone to a more serious one “- I do not appreciate not hearing at all from you for so long, Chuuya. I know you have your own things going on. And you are free to do whatever you please, but-“ she hesitated for a moment, biting her lip “- at least tell us something, anything. So we do not worry so much next time.”

He sighed. “Got it, my bad” he reached up to ruffle through her hair, earning him a jab to his side

“Do not treat me like a child!” She yelled through huffs, trying to keep in her laughter. Her words had lost the edge to them, a signifier that he was in the clear. For now.

For the last time that day his mind drifted back to the boy in the castle. Sunset eyes and the wistful emotions behind them.

‘Leave it be’

He tried telling himself off for the flurry of thoughts currently occupying his head, but come morning, there would be no stopping whatever he had all but convinced himself into doing just now. 

Part 3

There was a small, anxious feeling in the back of his mind. It had been there since waking up, hoping that the disappearance of the peace-offering hadn’t gone noticed yet.

There had been no mention of it, but the knowledge of what he had done, and the realisation of the consequences of his actions had hit him all at once. Atsushi was a mess right now, and he was anything but prepared to meet with the guests that had caught the king’s attention yesterday.

“Your bath has been prepared, you Highness!”

“We have cleaned the chambers your Highness”

“Please wear the garments the king has provided for you today, your High-“

He quickly waved her off with a solemn smile, interrupting her practised line. “I will see to it, don’t worry”.

He couldn’t bear the routine, day in, day out. Filled with bows, being called by his title over his name. Even if he’d told them he preferred ‘Atsushi’, the only one who actually listened to that was Lucy, but she was never one to stick to the rules or kiss up to authority if she had the chance to rebel.

The clothing that had been picked out for him consisted of a umber waistcoat over a slightly reddish-brown blouse, dark trousers and knee-high boots. Taking the gloves usually worn from the dresser and putting them on. He simply didn’t feel comfortable without them. Luckily their colour matched the rest of the outfit just fine so they wouldn’t look out of place.

He gulped down a wave of anxiety making its way up to the surface. Meeting the king and his guests was his least favourite part of any day where he had to do it. Even if nothing came of it. He’d feel those eyes bore in the back of his head, looking for any kind of mishap he made so he could be reprimanded later.

The worst part were those venomous words, spoken with a hidden ire and hatred undetected by anyone but him-

“This is my son, I’m sure you’ve met him.” the king spoke whilst wearing the fakest smile he could muster towards the women standing in front of them. They’re looking Atsushi up and down, hiding a small giggle fit they’re having behind the hand fans they’re holding.

“We certainly did meet him. An eye-catching young man for sure-“ she directed her attention towards the young prince, addressing him directly “-Your hair, is that a natural colour?”

He nodded, speaking in quiet practised tones “Yes madam, I was born with this colour.”

He saw her give the other a woman a look, unable to place what it meant, but it usually never was a good sign for him whether they liked it, or not.

“You are a sight to behold, so unique. Quite handsome too.” she continued, he wasn’t sure if it was genuine but he didn’t care. He just wanted out.

“If I may be so bold as to ask your Highness-“ she started quietly, almost whispering “- but about the rumours surrounding him, is there any truth to them?”

A cold wave of reality washed over him, looking at the satisfactory grin on the man’s face as their eyes met.

“And what ‘rumours’ might you be referring to?” he sounded authoritative as ever, but there was a glint of joy in his voice as he spoke. Noticing Atsushi’s anxiety spiking with the topic brought up.

“Well-“ the other woman spoke this time, not making eye contact with the young prince “- We’ve heard whispers amongst high society that he’s-“ she turned to face him directly, clear disdain written on her face as she finished her sentence

“- that he’s, not human.” Her eyes narrowed as she practically spat the last few words out.

The first woman who’d spoken seemed to notice the atmosphere drastically changing, quickly hushing her companion, sputtering apologies for offending them. Until the king spoke again, loud and clear so everyone could heard him, even from across the vast room.

“It’s true that he’s -different- from us. I can assure you however that he’s not one of them. He is much more valuable than that.”

Atsushi wanted nothing more than to disappear right now. To sink into the floor and stop existing. It didn’t get any easier and every time it was yet another painful reminder, feeling a burning sensation across his throat. Begging for it to be over soon so he could just get the remainder of the day over with.

“We can discuss this more, privately. Boy, go back to your chambers. You are not to go anywhere until you are called. Understood?” he nodded with down-cast eyes. Making sure to step away from them as quickly as he could. Once outside he let out a breath he’d been holding. He grazed his fingers across the choker around his neck, it sat uncomfortably in light of the topic at hand. Taking it off wasn’t an option, but he wishes he could on days like these.

Back between the familiar four walls of his bedroom, he lets himself fall onto the bed. Knowing the negotiations were going to take a while, he figured he might as well pick up another book from library. All the ones currently in his room were his personal collection, books he had finished dozens of times over. Lucy gave him most of them per his request, she’d often ask him what she could bring with her whenever she went to the city. She was allowed to leave, he was not.

Her efforts never went unrewarded, he always made sure of that as without her there would be nothing he could truly call his own, belongings that couldn’t be held over his head.   

He couldn’t really complain about anything, living a lavish life the way he did. He had a roof over his head, a warm, luxurious bed, enough food to last him the days, but he had to admit he was lonely. Lucy still had a job to do, she couldn’t be around all the time.

His uncle took him in when he had no reason to, his uncle took care of him when nobody else would. He had to keep telling himself this, keep reminding him that the king is doing him a favour. He shouldn’t complain, but he couldn’t shake that feeling either. Hatred and anger at the man holding his strings tightly.

What would the world outside those walls look like to him? Was it as beautiful as the stories described, drab and dark, or maybe it was as plain as inside here?

No matter which one it ended up being, anything would beat being stuck here, he imagined.

He took a peek outside, noticing the halls were completely empty. Upon this discovery he made his way across, slipping through the library door. As always the space was devoid of life, outside of him. He never understood why such a vast collection of books was being left to rot, why nobody besides him seemed to care about the amounts of knowledge contained within these walls.

He wandered around aimlessly, not too sure what kind of book he was looking for, until his eyes strayed and his gaze fell upon a small section buried in the corner that had never caught his attention before. Reading the labels found within these shelves, he learned that these were all books written on supernatural occurrences, monsters.

He let out a small gasp, wondering how he’d never seen any of these before. Maybe it was because he’d never been too interested until- yesterday.

He scanned the shelves for the word ‘Vampire’, finding a couple of encyclopaedias surrounding them on the bottom shelf, tucked away. He wasn’t too sure if anyone would notice if he took them to his room, but he’d definitely look suspicious being caught with them.

He decided to simply take one at a time, starting with the largest one.

It was old, the pages had started seeing decay. Flipping through the contents he found missing pages, ripped out. As quietly and quickly as he could, he put the other books back where he’d found them, making his way back across the hallway and shutting the door. Heart pounding with a sense of excitement. Maybe one of these books would contain information about-

‘No, don’t think about that. You don’t want to learn’

He situated himself on the corner of his bed furthest away from the entrance. He took the book and scanned the pages, there were crudely drawn images. Whoever wrote this wasn’t a master artist, and Atsushi figured he could definitely do better than this. He chuckled to himself at the idea of painting monsters to give his uncle a right heart-attack, but quickly dropped the idea knowing that would just come back to bite him in the ass.

Something that caught his attention were the descriptions next to the drawings, there were different types of vampire names scribbled across the pages. And while the images depicted monstrous forms, filled with warnings of danger and death, there was no mention of vampires looking like humans. There were several pages describing them as ‘imposter people’. Gloved fingers tracing the outline of a picture that caught his attention in particular, the being depicted was human-esque, grey skin with pointed ears, red eyes with black sclera and a mouthful of sharp teeth. It’s base form was humanoid, but it didn’t look like one.

His thoughts trailed back to the events of yesterday, to the vampire he met.

Chuuya had looked human on all accounts, whatever was being depicted here wasn’t even close to him. The only thing that had given him away were his fangs, which were only noticeable when he opened his mouth to begin with.

He read the description next to the image aloud, trying to make sense of it

“Vampires have the ability to shift forms. They are capable of looking human, but are incapable of covering up all the traces of their inhumanity. More research required”

A line was drawn to the place where the vampire’s heart supposedly sat. A descriptor telling the reader to make sure to pierce a vampire’s heart the moment the opportunity was available.

It seemed.. morbid to the young prince. The person he met yesterday had been far from anything described in this book.

It was biased against them, something he hated more than anything when it came to supposed scientific research papers and informational tomes. He slammed it close, a sense of irritation bubbling up inside him. He’d make sure to put it back where it belonged as soon as possible, hiding it beneath the bed for now.

He didn’t have to wait long after that, a loud knock on his door calling for his attention before it was thrown open, revealing the king looking absolutely furious.

“You are lucky today, boy.” He spat. Striding towards the young prince. “Their offer was meagre and measly, so I guess you’re going to stay a while longer. Enjoy it while it lasts.” In a rare fit of confidence, Atsushi found himself standing up, looking back at his uncle with a fiery determination behind his eyes.

“What if I don’t want to be used as your bargaining chip, nor stay here any second longer?” anger welling up inside him. The man looked down on him, his rage growing by the second.

He grabbed the boy’s arm, squeezing it as hard as he could. “Don’t forget who fed your worthless ass when nobody else wanted you. Who gave you a roof over your head, who allowed you to live in luxury? You’re not worthy of any of this, you ungrateful abomination, but here I am. I did this out of the goodness of my heart. So you better make sure you repay me, and stay in your lane!” he threw the boy forward, making him fall on the ground.

“You wait until I find someone who offers me what I want. Your only value is that curse you bear. Do not forget that, ever!” Atsushi found his entire body trembling as he sat on the ground, forced to look up at the figure looming over him, finding himself unable to speak, nor find the words to use in the first place.

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

He avoided eye-contact with the man, but eventually managed to speak in a low tone.

“My sincerest apologies uncle, you’ve taken care of me for all these years. I should be content with all you’ve done for me. I was selfish, please forgive me.”

It was the most practised, least genuine line he’d ever said. Forced to repeat this same exact sentence over and over again whenever the man was displeased with his attitude. The point wasn’t that he wanted it to be genuine, but to show that he was in control of the boy no matter what.

“And don’t you forget it.” he marched off, footsteps heavy as the noise rung in the prince’s ears.

Part of him had known perfectly well that none of this was okay, family wasn’t supposed to hold basic life needs over your head.

The other part of him argued he was being selfish, that they were right. His uncle didn’t have to take him in at all, but he did it anyway.

The luxury he was afforded was something most people would never even see a fraction of, yet here he was, complaining.

A sense of guilt welled up within him. He hated how he was treated, yet he kept somehow convincing himself over and over again that this was what he deserved. That this was the king’s right as his guardian.

He stumbled forward, finding his knees still weak from the shock of it all. The words stuck in his mind as he desperately tried to cling to any sense of sanity.

‘worthless, ungrateful abomination’

It’d be enough to make anyone retch, but he was so used to it by now. A familiar scene that left him cowering in fear every time, huddled up in the corner of the room and staying there for hours on end before. Now he feels like he’s slowly getting numb to the intimidation. He still wasn’t immune to it, the initial outbursts still shook him to his core, but the aftereffects didn’t linger for long anymore. He just wanted to sleep, but his heart was racing, his mind too full and chaotic. There was no way he’d be able to fall asleep like this.

Sitting himself down on the floor against his dresser, he let his mind wander. It wasn’t the best solution he had, but it was the only one. Let his thoughts consume him for a short while so he could get it out of his system for now.

Sometimes he wished he had taken up any physically intensive activities. He he probably wouldn’t have been allowed to regardless, but the wish was still there. It’d be nice to be able to put his all into something as silly as swinging a sword around.

He looked down at his hands, realising how ridiculous he was sounding. He had barely any muscle and didn’t think the ability to lift a real sword was within him to begin with, let alone swing it around.

He had barely registered the passage of time until noticing the dark night sky settling through the windows. He hadn’t eaten at all today, but the hunger had never come to him to begin with.

He sighed. Unsure of what to do with himself, too exhausted to move, but too emotional to fall asleep. He didn’t feel like doing anything, just spend his time sitting like this, contemplating whatever his mind would throw at him.

He was fine with that, he was.

-click-

He almost missed it. The small noise coming from the direction of the balcony. Looking up, he was expecting to be met with a simple night sky, but gasped when his eyes fell upon something different.

The sapphire eyes with those slit pupils staring back at him.

He rubbed his eyes a few times, unsure of whether or not his mind was playing tricks on him.

Chuuya was standing in the open entrance leading to the balcony, his back against the doorframe, arms crossed.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes” he said jokingly, before following up with a quick “you’re staring, you know?”

Something about his demeanour was different from the prior day. It was more, pleasant. More casual.

“You- you came back?” Atsushi found the motivation to get up, eyes still wide in shock.

He almost managed not to stutter when he asks the next question on his mind “Why?”

The slight tremble in his voice giving away how nervous he was. He’d hoped the other wouldn’t catch that, but by the way his expression shifted as he looked Atsushi over, he knew he had noticed.

It wasn’t that he was unhappy about this, because really, he couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of getting to know Chuuya a little better than before. He had wished for something like this. It was just the small voice in the back of his mind telling him that the very act of entertaining this -guest, was a betrayal to the very owner of this castle.

He was about to tell that small voice to shut up, stuff it back into the depths where he wouldn’t hear it, when his train of thought got interrupted by the man clearing his throat.

“This time, for the sake of being courteous, or whatever, I’ll ask permission. Can I come in?” He didn’t know what it was, the tone in which he’d said it, or maybe the ridiculousness of the situation, of someone who had broken in and left with something that definitely didn’t belong to them, asking permission to enter his bedroom. Something about it made him burst out in a genuine fit of laughter. One of the first ones in a while. He almost missed the way the redhead perked up upon his reaction. If he hadn’t he’d been inclined to apologize. And to ensure that this small bit of effort wouldn’t go unnoticed he managed to stammer out a “Yeah”

The other took a few steps forward, seemingly unsure of what to say at first, fidgeting with his hands before directing his attention back towards the prince himself.

“I’m- also, bored out of my mind.” It was spoken carefully, sounding serious again as he did “- it’s the same for you, right? Except you’re also lonely” The comment wasn’t made with any kind of malicious intent, and it had been stated matter-of-factly, but it hit Atsushi like a gut punch regardless.

The other noticed, following up the statement with a curt “You said so yourself, but you can’t go anywhere. So I figured- I figured I’d come to you instead.”

There was a silence as Atsushi was contemplating how to respond. He wasn’t sure how to feel about someone managing to grasp at his core so soon after meeting, after having known him for so little time.

Maybe Chuuya was just a natural at that. He wanted to entertain that idea, even if just to convince himself he wasn’t that obvious with his emotions. Fearing that worst-case scenario where the wolves of high-society figured out how to read him, tear him apart emotionally like his uncle was capable of.

“I’m- I’m not sure if I’m interesting enough to entertain you for long, to be honest.” Was the answer he eventually settled on, avoiding eye-contact with the other. He wanted to, he really did. Having someone to simply talk to, someone new who treated him like Lucy did, it was a dream come true if he had to be honest.

But somewhere in the back of his mind the fear he’d exhaust all his goodwill with the redhead as soon as the man realised there was nothing good about Atsushi grew large. Nothing interesting about him. Just another rich kid without any real problems. 

The redhead hummed quietly at the comment, placing his hand on his chin as a gesture, to show he was thinking.

“You don’t need to be ‘interesting’. You did just fine keeping me on my toes yesterday though.” He chuckled, as if remembering the thereby referred to incident directly. “I just want to get to know you.”

“Sounds a bit mundane for someone who leads the kind of life that makes him end up stealing from royalty.” Atsushi countered, a mischievous glint in his voice.

“See? You’re already getting back into it, this is fine.”

He sat down on the bed, a small smile forming, his hands feeling the variety of fabrics adorning the space he occupied “No wonder rich people are so well-rested, if I had a bed like this I’d never get up.” he joked, lightening the mood as Atsushi had no choice but to laugh “I don’t think that’d be a good thing to be honest. Not being able to get up, but hey, if you can take it with you you’re more than welcome to.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He smarmily responded. They fell into another silence, but it was comfortable this time. The prince wasn’t sure what to make of the other’s motivations, but his mind had drifted away fully from the events that transpired earlier today. For the first time in a while he didn’t feel anxious, or worried. He felt relaxed.

“Y’know, my younger sister would probably kill for a bed this soft.” Chuuya continued building on the conversation, looking for a way to carry it over into new topics no doubt.

“You have a younger sister?”

“Yeah, we ain’t related by blood, but she’s like a sister to me regardless.” the fond smile on his face indicated he was thinking of the memories he had with her.

“I got more ‘family’ like that. None of us are ‘real’ family, according to some people. But it’s real to us.”

Atsushi felt his breath catch in his throat, family wasn’t something he’d thought about in a while. His uncle was technically family, a fact he wanted to desperately deny, but fully aware that that wasn’t really possible.

Lucy was his friend, but they weren’t close enough for him to consider her an honorary sister. He wondered what the redhead’s family was like, what kind of people they were.

Were they like him?

“What about you?” he hesitantly asked upon noticing the prince’s change in attitude. A sense of sobriety washing over him as he pondered the question.

“I don’t have any. Not really.” There was still time to back away, he told himself. Still time to shut himself off, but maybe, just maybe, he wanted to talk about it. He wasn’t sure why, he hardly knew him, but with how easily the other had trusted him with information about a sister, Atsushi felt like the least he could do was return the favour.

“My parents died when I was about seven-“ he gulped, trying not to visualise the memory making its way to the surface “- I don’t remember it very well, but I watched them die.” He fell quiet, afraid he’d overshared and turned the other away, but when he looked at the other he found him looking back. A focused expression, listening intently.

“I remember seeing blood, and then them. Lying there, completely motionless. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I knew somehow that this was wrong.” He hadn’t noticed the redhead get up, hadn’t noticed him walk up to him until he felt a hand on his shoulder. A reassuring gesture. To him, the touch-starved boy, it might’ve well meant the world.

He’d unconsciously started trembling again the memory finally managing to push its way through.

“I’m sorry, that might’ve been a little heavy-handed for a first conversation.”

“Don’t be sorry. I invited it. If you’re comfortable with telling I don’t give a shit about it ‘being heavy-handed’.”

“Tell me more about yourself?” the question came out in a pleading tone, catching the vampire slightly off-guard. He hummed before sitting down across from Atsushi.

“Sure” he smiled.

“What’s it like where you live?”

“Depends on how you look at it really.-“ he started, lightly chuckling to himself after seeming to recall something “- I live on a farm, technically, but I spend a lot of time in Mizu-Shōbai too.”

Atsushi’s eyes widened at these revelations “You live on a farm?”

Something about it made him feel a giddy type of way, Chuuya didn’t look like the kind of person who’d spend his time cultivating crops or herding farm animals.

“It’s not just me, all of us do. Though, I do the least around there in terms of work-” quickly adding a “physical work that is-“ He seemed to contemplate on what more to say to the other man, but watching the spark in Chuuya’s eyes light up when he had simply mentioned the word ‘farm’ gave him this warm feeling. Atsushi made himself more comfortable, laying his head on his arms as he watched the other man.

“So what do you do then?” He found himself asking in a sarcastic tone. The redhead noticed, returning the gesture with a grin of his own.

“I make sure we don’t accidentally run out of money, are you getting cheeky with me now, your highness?”

“Me? I wouldn’t dream of it, please do continue.”

The smirk never left his face, raising an eyebrow at the challenge.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” the prince simply hummed in response, tilting his head slightly.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so comfortable with anyone, this strange feeling of safety despite the fact he’d been opening himself up – willingly- more than ever before. There was no uncertainty to his actions. No doubts in the redhead’s ability to keep everything they spoke about between these four walls.

Granted, Chuuya had trusted him with personal information too. Talking about his home, his family. He even mentioned a city name, one he didn’t recognise, but he was curious to look it up later if the vampire didn’t tell him about it.

There was a natural flow to the conversations they had, it never fell stagnant or felt purposeless. Every word said was a step closer to the goal of, well, getting to know each other better.

The arrangement itself was strange obviously, that fact didn’t slip his mind, but he also knew his entire life was a string of distinct un-commonalities, so maybe that would place this entire ordeal square in the realm of ‘normal’. For him at least.

Aside from the slightly personal and emotional start, the conversations lightened, searing past silly topics such as favourite food, animals. Book recommendations -Atsushi didn’t stop to breathe for one second as he strung together a sentence containing an assortment of titles that Chuuya was inevitably only going to remember maybe one of anyway-

And Atsushi realised they had a lot to talk about without even needing to touch the more serious topics. So he figured saving those for later-

Was there going to be a ‘later’?

He hadn’t thought about it until just now. Did the vampire mean he was going to visit him like this again? Possibly, regularly?

A slight blush crept its way up to his face when the thought crossed his mind, slightly embarrassed about assuming something like that, and it definitely didn’t go unnoticed by the other.

Every so often, during small bouts of silence, or when Atsushi was getting particularly emotional -and trying to hide it- Chuuya would give him this, look. It felt like his entire emotional state was being dissected, and he learned quickly that the man was both incredibly intuitive, as well as a skilled ‘judge of character’ so to speak.

Almost nothing was capable of getting past him, no matter how hard the prince tried to keep it under wraps. A question or statement that reminded him of painful memories, and suddenly the conversation would be diverted, flip around to something entirely different.

He wasn’t sure if the vampire was doing this for the sake of his own comfort, or Atsushi’s. It didn’t matter, not really.

It wasn’t until the view of a rising sun came into frame that he realised how long they had spent the time talking. The prince shot a worried look towards the vampire, who proceeded to return a confused glance.

Until the realisation hit and the sound of bellowing laughter could be heard.

“Did- are you-“ he doubled over laughing before trying to finish the sentence again “Did you think the sun was going to hurt me?”

A wave of shame washed over the young prince as he struggled to answer without making himself look like any more of a fool than he undoubtedly already did “I- Listen, I wasn’t sure ok! There’s no actually, -accurate- research on vampires” he turned his face away, desperately trying to hide the deep crimson currently covering his face.

“Man, that is so precious of you.”

“Don’t mock me! All I know about -this- comes from heavily biased sources!” the embarrassment almost overshadowed the looming feeling of loneliness that was going to overtake him, realising the redhead was going to have to leave soon.

“Ahw, you’re already going to miss me?”

“No way.”

“Liar, it’s written all over your face~” the vampire cooed. Laughing at the prince’s feeble attempts to hide his emotions from him.

Something shifted, his expression turned into a more serious one, speaking in a much lower voice than before when he said the next words that came out of his mouth

“Don’t worry I’ll be back.”

The world around the prince started spinning upon hearing these words, a fluttering sensation rising in his stomach.

“Okay-“ there had been more he wanted to say, but he couldn’t keep his racing mind in check for long enough to formulate the sentence, something about the declaration had absolutely messed with his mind. He didn’t mind, though. The promise alone was enough to get him through the days, however long it’d take for the other to make his way back again, he’d be there.

He knew friendship was usually not gained after so little time, knew it was an absurd situation. Most people would laugh at the idea of referring to someone you’ve known for two days as a friend.

But for Atsushi, this was all he had. He had Lucy, and now he had Chuuya too. And he’d keep every blessing close to his heart. Guard it like his personal treasure, because he had no other choice.

Part 4

A promise was a promise, and Chuuya had kept his. Returning the next night, and many nights after. Always came in the same way, so much so that Atsushi started leaving his balcony doors unlocked, sometimes even fully opened, just to make it easier.

They simply talked for most of it, not leaving the confines of the single room. The vampire sharing stories of places he’d been, this is how he learned that he’d travelled quite a far ways before settling down here. The prince wasn’t sure where exactly ‘here’ was, but he loved learning about it anyway. There was only so much books and maps could teach you.

He’d asked about Mizu-Shōbai, but Chuuya had said showing him around in person would be more fun, promising to take the prince someday. The prospect of leaving to see for himself excited him, even if he wasn’t sure if it was actually doable. He wasn’t even certain how much time he had left in this place to begin with. Eventually his uncle was going to get rid of him, one way or another, he knew that much.

“So, how much do you actually know about vampires?” the redhead asked him out of the blue one night, the prince unsure about what brought the topic on in the first place.

“Everything the books can tell me, but I just have this feeling that none of it is accurate” he eyes the corner of the book peeking out from under his bed as he spoke. Debating whether or not to just show it to the other.

“Oh? How come?” he cocked his brow as he shot a puzzling glance towards his friend.

He found it difficult to settle on an answer, not because he didn’t have one, but because almost all of the ones he could think of would involve showing the vampire the book he found. A book filled with language calling him a monster, creature, something deserving to be killed. Even if it was inaccurate, he didn’t really know how he would respond to something like that.

“If you keep creasing your forehead like that you’re going to look like an old man very early in life.” the redhead spoke earning him a pillow thrown straight to his face. “Well you don’t have to look at my face, lucky for you.” Atsushi spat back in a childish tone, trying - and failing- to keep himself from laughing as he did.

“I don’t have to, but your face sure beats the stinkin’ ugly décor you’ve got around the place, so I’d prefer to look at that.”

“Well I can’t argue with that, that’s not fair.”

He heard a chuckle from across the room, quieting down as he made his way to sit next to the prince.

“You’re thinking of something, keeping it locked tightly in that little brain of yours-“ he started, melancholy seeping through the words as he spoke “-you do that a lot, internalizing. I noticed” he turned to face the boy sitting next to him. “I ain’t so weak that you gotta worry about me, I can take it”

Atsushi bit his lip, trying to avoid the other’s gaze. Chuuya’s annoying ability to dissect his mind, slowly pull it apart and figure out the inner workings, was still something he was coming to terms with. Albeit slowly. He didn’t like how the other was able to see through him so easily. He was good at hiding, trusted his capacity for subtlety. His base survival instinct had made it look so necessary, yet the redhead simply came in, crashing down every wall he had ever built around himself. No care in the world.

Lucy had been able to, to a very limited extent, but she was only allowed a surface level, only allowed to see what Atsushi chose to show.

Chuuya had zero care or consideration for that, and it was confusing to the prince. It was a bit uncomfortable on one hand, but on the other it felt, refreshing. He had spent so long building his walls up that he’d become unable to completely let them down on his own. The redhead eliminated the need for that, by just getting him, bypassing or breaking them completely.

“Are you-“ he took a deep breath, composing himself “-comfortable, seeing how humans are portraying your kind? It’s not- it’s not pretty you know”

The other just nodded in response.

He sighed, finally giving in to the nudging of the other, procuring the book he had so ceremoniously tossed under the bed six months ago and holding it out to the vampire.

“I got curious a few months ago- after we first met. I wanted to see if there was any research about vampires-“ The redhead took it from him, eyeing the cover suspiciously “-it was the first book I found, I actually got a little pissed off when I read it though. I went back and looked through the others I saw, but they’re all, like this.” Gesturing at the book, creasing his brows as he felt the irritation rise up again thinking about it.

The vampire’s fingers traced the pages as he slowly and meticulously went through all of it, every so often Atsushi could hear a snicker, or short spurt of laughter coming from him. When he reached the same page Atsushi had last read, the one that had made him close the book in anger, his expression shifted. It became a bit more wistful, but lasted only a small second before returning to his more usual demeanour.

“Are you- okay?” he found himself asking the vampire warily, hoping it didn’t come across as condescending.

“Yeah. You’re right, most of it is completely inaccurate bullshit, if you’re applying the knowledge to vampires, that is”

“What do you mean?”

Chuuya flipped through the pages again, backtracking to an earlier chapter. He pointed at the illustration of a humanoid creature with rotten flesh.

“What is says technically isn’t incorrect, but this isn’t a vampire” he stated matter-of-factly. “It’s a ghoul. It’s pretty much the same for all of these, they’re all things that exist, but pretty much none of them are vampires”

He flipped back to the page containing the grey-skinned human-looking creature. “This is the only thing that doesn’t, I’ve never seen anything that looks like this. Especially not a vampire”

He brought his hand up to his face, looking to be in thought. “I guess, to some humans, everything they see as a monster is a ‘vampire’. Some of them seem so desperate to blame us for all their problems. There’s a pretty big difference between us and these things though-“

“Which is?”

“Vampires are- conscious. I don’t think I need to tell you, but we’ve got fully developed minds. We all were human once-“ he stopped, grimacing at his own words spoken aloud. Something about them seemed to have set off memories in his mind, but Atsushi didn’t dare ask him about them, not now.

After a moment he seemed to compose himself.

“What I’m saying is, these things are all actual demons and monsters, they don’t got rational thought or logic to them. They’re pure instinct. Go after everything that breathes and whatnot. Vampires aren’t inherently ‘evil’ or bad. Most of us lead completely uninteresting, boring lives. You just don’t really see it because they have their own communities, far away from humans.”

“What about you? Mizu-Shōbai is a human city, isn’t it?”

“I-“ he bit his lip, forming a scowl ”- I’m not really, ‘welcome’, in those communities. Neither are the others I live with. We just stick to ourselves mostly.”

“I’m sor-“ before he was able to finish his sentence the vampire slapped a hand across his back. The force of the impact making the prince cough.

“Don’t do that-” he curtly stated “-stop apologizing for things you really don’t need to apologize for.”

He wanted to retort, feeling like he had to defend himself, but his mind had returned to being a mess. A clutter of words swirling around inside, none of it making any sense. All he could remember were the words he heard so often, almost daily. The words etched into his skin by their violent impact. Telling him he had no value on his own. Demanding him he apologise for his existence, to be sorry for who he was.

It was easy to say ‘don’t apologise’, but when apologising was your only defence mechanism, what else were you supposed to do?

His lip trembled as he struggled to keep them at bay. He didn’t want to ruin this, didn’t want to make the vampire feel bad.

‘Keep it in’

He repeated it silently, over and over again. Only noticing how miserably he had failed when he felt a hand on the side of his face, making him look back in Chuuya’s direction, worry written all over his face.

“That- probably came out a little too blunt, I’m sorry” he said softly. Wiping the tears pouring down the prince’s face as he spoke. “It’s not been easy for you either, huh?”

The sun slowly made its way to the surface again as they sat there, in complete silence. Atsushi couldn’t think straight at all, only registering the soft touch of the other on his cheeks.

“I hate to leave you like this. I really do, but we’ll be in much more trouble if I don’t” Atsushi could only manage to nod in response, leaning into the touch for a split-second before returning to his senses and shooing the other off.

“I’ll be fine, I always am. You better be off before anyone catches you.”  

This part was always the hardest for him. Even if he knew the redhead would eventually be back, letting him go wasn’t easy for Atsushi. Because he knew there would be a day when it would be their last. The ticking time bomb that was his uncle’s temperament hanging over him, ready to blow at a moment’s notice, ready to violently whisk him away to some far corner of the world.

Ready to tear him away from the only two people he was comfortable with, the only ones who cared about him for who he was.

He hadn’t told Chuuya about it, the arrangement. He wasn’t really sure how to bring it up, but the main reason for it was because he was almost certain the redhead was going to try and convince him to leave.

No matter how much he hated it, how lonely he got, how used he felt. The part of his brain that felt indebted to his uncle was locked tight, the guilt he’d feel for leaving would be too much, he was afraid of it.

Whenever his thoughts wandered to the idea of escaping, the voice in the back of his mind started to get drowned out by the repeating of the words ‘ungrateful’ ‘selfish’

‘abomination’

He flinched at the memory of those words. Like he was being cut by a knife. They stung.

Looking at the mirror, he started recognising himself less and less. His eyes seemed lifeless and tired. He looked exactly how he felt. The longer everything went on, the more hopeful he got, but every time Chuuya left, the wave of reality came crashing down on him all over again as he realised this was temporary.

He was setting himself up for something more endlessly painful in the future.

Before he’d only be missing Lucy, now the redhead was added to the list. And he wasn’t sure how he’d feel not being able to see them again. All he could do was hope his guardian’s greed exceeded his own expectations. Hoping there was nobody who bid quite high enough for his tastes.

Hoping he’d keep rejecting everyone who came with an offer.

But one day, he knew, he’d tire of that game. And then he’d sell Atsushi off to whoever asked first for the highest price they offered.

His gloved fingers traced the edges of the choker sitting uncomfortably around his neck, a fearful expression on his face as he thought about the full moon coming up again in two days.

‘don’t forget what you are’

But if there was anyone who could look past that, wouldn’t it be Chuuya, of all people?

‘stop it’

He desperately wished for himself to stop making it more difficult, to pick something and stick with it. For his mind to stop fighting itself on everything.

He just wanted to be happy, to live in comfort, to have someone who cared about him.

Not this, he never asked for this.

He could barely sleep that morning.

 Part 5

“Hey, tell me, what’s your family like? You’ve only really talked about your younger sister before” he was lying down on the bed, his back against the mattress. His friend sitting on the edge of it, eyes scanning the pages of a book that had been recommended to him.

“Hmm, I have a younger brother too. And well- I guess I could call her an older sister? Mother feels weird, definitely not that, though she acts like one to the other two”

“Not to you?”

The other chuckled “She tried to, but I think our dynamic is more- sibling-like. It’s, unique, I guess”

“It sounds.. pretty fun regardless.”

“It is” he closed the book, setting it down next to him as he turned to face Atsushi. “Why the sudden interest?”

He had long since given up on trying to keep his emotions hidden from the other, there was no point to it regardless when he’d be seen through immediately.

“I guess I’d like to know what a healthy family is like?” Chuuya’s eyes widened slightly after hearing this, then his expression quickly changed into a look of fondness, directing his gaze at Atsushi directly. Shifting his position so that his legs were on the bed too, making himself a bit more comfortable. Pointing at one of the pillows as he muttered “Gimme one of those” before barely catching the one that came flying at his face.

“I’m glad your cheekiness hasn’t changed at least” he giggled as he set the pillow on the long bedframe behind him and leaned his back against it.

“I call them my younger siblings, but in all honesty they’re way older than me.”

“Were they- turned young?” the vampire nodded, grimacing “It’s technically not allowed to turn children. It’s considered morally wrong by almost everyone, but some people still do it. Sometimes just a wish to care for a child of your own. A turned parent not being able to bear outliving their children, deciding to do it when they’re still young and unable to grasp the situation-” he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“-usually, vampire children are put down as quickly as possible. To save them the trouble. They’ll never truly grow up, mentally or physically. The ones I live with, they were waiting on that fate, waiting for the day they’d be executed.”

Atsushi properly sat up, grabbing one of the pillows and hugging it close to his chest. He guessed, in their own way, that was considered a mercy from vampires. “What are their names?”

Chuuya smiled “Kyouka, and Kenji. The oldest one is Kouyou, she’s the one who saved them, and-“ 

“-.. me” the final words were spoken much softer than the others, breaking into a whisper so the prince could barely hear them. He wanted to ask the other what he’d meant by that, but he already continued on his story.

“They wanted to live, and Kouyou wanted to ensure that they could. So she took them with her, and they ran away from their home, their community.”

It dawned on Atsushi why the redhead had said they weren’t welcome in the spaces of other vampires. Because they had children with them, a taboo. Something that’d get them in trouble. Although it didn’t explain why Chuuya had singled himself out in that statement either.

“How did you meet?”

Surprise flashed across the vampire’s face upon hearing the question, he averted his eyes from the boy across from him, looking down at his hands.

“That’s, not something I want to talk about.” he quietly spoke.  Almost as if he felt ashamed for it.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-“ he got interrupted when something soft hit his face, surprising him. “Woah, I get why you like doing that, that felt pretty good” was what he heard somewhere across from him.

“In any case, I don’t want to hear your apologies. You’re not a mind-reader. That’s why I’ll just tell you if I don’t want to answer a question. And you-“ he pointed a finger straight at Atsushi “- you should probably learn to say no, too.”

In this situation it seemed like an innocent comment, but coming from the vampire, he knew it was a loaded statement. This was about more than just answering personal questions.

“So let me ask you, your highness. What exactly is your relationship with you uncle like?” his eyes narrowed when he asked the question, but Atsushi could tell it wasn’t really a question. He already knew more than the prince had given him credit for. The way the vampire snarled whenever the topic of the king was brought up was the main indication. From what little he had actually told Chuuya, there shouldn’t have been any good reason to hate the man as much as he seemed to do.

Frankly speaking, he was overwhelmed by it, entirely unsure of what to answer, or maybe he knew, but doing so would force him to acknowledge an ugly truth he’d wanted to bury for so long.

Sticking his head in the sand, pretending it wasn’t there, that was the easiest way to live for Atsushi.

He sunk into himself, crossing his arms, trying to close himself off from the other.

“Atsushi-” he closed his eyes, pretending he didn’t notice the hint of desperation the other’s voice had contained, but his commitment to denial just wasn’t able to last in the face of this.

He forced himself to look at the other. Chuuya had moved to sit directly across from him, a lot closer than before.

“You really need to stop doing this-“ he started wistfully “-reading my mind, breaking it down like this.”

He could feel those blue eyes bore into him, looking past everything he constructed to keep others at bay.

“I wouldn’t have to if you didn’t make it so difficult to get to know you-” he responded in a whisper, a hint of agitation in his voice. “- I can tell there’s something gnawing at you. You’ve stopped taking care of yourself. You look like a mess, Atsu.”

He inhaled sharply upon hearing the impromptu nickname, it was something new, something he hadn’t been called before.

“I’m not a mind reader, I’m intuitive, but- this-“ he gestured towards the boy in front of him “- I can tell there’s something deeply wrong, but I won’t be able to figure out what it is unless you tell me.” Somewhere along the way, his voice had grown more pleading, more emotional, more-

Desperate.

A swirl of emotions, anger, agitation, worry, fear, sadness. All of these were conveyed through his words and the way he spoke them. And it was so close to getting Atsushi to give in. He wasn’t sure how much more he’d be able to take.

He felt his bottom lip quiver, he wanted to trust the man in front of him so badly, more so than he ever even imagined. He wanted to cry his heart out and yell, he wanted to tell him.

But doing so would force him to admit what his relationship with his uncle was like. And the uncertainty of what he would do upon that revelation, it made him fear for whatever was ahead. He thought himself weak, worthless.

He wanted to simply live with the understanding that he was the problem, not others.

“Please”

Something snapped inside him at that moment. Internally scolding himself for being at fault, for getting them to this point. He leaned forward, letting his head fall onto the other’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry-“ he softly cried out “- I don’t know how to talk about this. I want to- but, I..“ taking a deep breath before releasing it, trying to calm his nerves.

“I don’t want to believe the words I’d be saying to you.”

“Start somewhere, anywhere.” the redhead spoke, running a hand through the other’s now messy hair. “In the meantime, let me fix this for you, hand me that brush.” He pointed at the hairbrush sitting on the nightstand, mouthing a low ‘thanks’ when Atsushi handed it to him. He started by undoing the braid in the other’s hair, and the prince realised this was something he did to calm both his nerves, and an attempt at taking the focus away from Atsushi. Letting him have his mental space as he slowly worked on the longer piece of hair the boy always kept in a braid.

“He took me in after my parents died. I don’t remember a lot of what he said, but he told me he wasn’t particularly interested in playing house with me-“ The soft tugging at his hair was actually succeeding in calming his nerves, fighting the urge to close his eyes and lean into the feeling.

“- At first I was fine with that, I thought I was. It’s not like I wanted him to replace my parents. I barely knew him, he didn’t pay attention to us when they were still alive. But there was.. something, something that changed the dynamic.” Chuuya looked at him, but decided against speaking, allowing the boy to figure out for himself what it was he wanted to say. Letting him choose how vulnerable he was okay with making himself here.

“I- still haven’t come to terms with that exactly, so I’m sorry that I can’t tell you about it, but all you need to know is when that came to light, my uncle started becoming harsher with me.” He tries to gather his thoughts, organize them so that he knows what he wants to say, but his mind is utter chaos and his entire body was shaking. Almost as if physically rejecting the words that were trying to form on the tip of his tongue.

He tried to fight it, fight against the feeling of futility that filled his mind whenever his train of thought brought him back to this particular topic. Always this one.

“There, looks better now” the redhead joked as he finished braiding and neatly tied the hairband to keep it in place.  

“Thanks” he responded, trying his best to muster a smile.

“Don’t force yourself. You’ve done well enough for tonight -“  the prince shook his head. “I haven’t done anything, like always, I quit when the going gets too tough. I don’t- I want to-“ his breathing became ragged as his heartbeat quickened.

What did he want? Did he want to admit it, say it?

What exactly did he want to say?

Chuuya opened his mouth as to counter whatever the other had just said, but quickly closed it, his head snapping to the direction of the door. His eyes widening. Atsushi seemed to catch on quickly as he started hearing the heavy familiar footsteps making their way closer towards them, stopping right in front of his room. ‘fuck’ he cursed under his breath, panicking.  

“The balcony! you can hide around the corner.” He kept his voice barely audible, and the vampire nodded his head as he quickly made his way outside, leaving the doors open in fear of the noise they’d make being heard.

Not a moment later the door to the bedroom was thrown open with so much force it slammed against the wall, making Atsushi flinch.

“Boy! I have excellent news!” His uncle bellowed in a loud voice, deciding not to bother with his usual game of tension. He took note of the open balcony, giving the prince a puzzling look.

“Since when do you leave those open?” he questioned, raising his eyebrow.

“I just- needed some fresh air. That’s all. Do you- want them closed?” His voice sounded small as he constructed his words carefully, trying not to set off the rambunctious man.

“Leave it, I do not care.” He grabbed the headrest of the nearest chair, dragging it closer. He let himself fall into the seat with some force.

Atsushi noticed a long time ago, that when they were alone the man would speak louder, act bigger, let his footsteps fall heavier. Every action in the boy’s presence carefully constructed to intimidate him as much as he could.

The man wanted him to be afraid, but he didn’t want other people to know that. He treated him with a bare amount of respect when someone else was around, but the second they were alone the mask came off.

It was a reason he never once referred to the prince by his name. He always called him ‘boy’ to create distance, and thus, in similar fashion, Atsushi had started doing the same to him.

He knew what this was called, this power play. This tug of war for control between them, a battle he had been losing since it started. The only ways he won were small, and ultimately insignificant. Things like stealing an invaluable item that ultimately held no emotional weight to the man. He had the money to replace it, had the power to sweep its disappearance under the rug.

Sometimes he did childish things, like spitting in his food or drink before bringing it to him. It didn’t serve any other purpose than making the boy feel just that tiny bit elated at the prospect of his uncle consuming it, being none the wiser.

For every small act of defiance, though, there would be a punishment worth tenfold of that. If not for his actions directly, then just for the mere fact he was alive and breathing in the same space.

The memories cleared as his fingers glid past his abdomen, remembering what would happen when he stepped a little too far out of line, but like the fool he was, it didn’t stop him from trying. Not completely. It did absolutely mess with his head and his mentality though. Because somewhere along the way he’d started to believe the words the man said to him. The insults, curses.

The fact that he was to feel indebted to him. Telling himself this wasn’t normal or right made no difference.

“Sit, boy” he commanded, and so the prince listened. Moving slowly, as if trying not to set off a wild animal by making sudden movements.

He kept his head down, avoiding the hateful glare of those eyes. His attention drifted to the man’s hands, as he noticed they were gripping a piece of parchment, something akin to a letter, he reckoned.

“What’s the good news, uncle?” he tried carefully, hoping the man wouldn’t leave him in suspense and simply get it over with. The mental torture becoming more difficult to bear with the longer the seconds ticked by.

“Hmpf, you should be thankful of my good mood-“ he scoffed, then cleared his throat in his usual, loud manner. “- I have been offered a most wonderful deal today. And I have decided to take it.”

Atsushi’s eyes widened, his breathing becoming ragged as his heartbeat became rapid. Panic overtaking his mind. He wanted to speak up, but couldn’t find the words to say.

“Ougai Mori, from the empire next over, came to me in a letter. He said he was willing to give up twenty-five percent of his territory in trade for you. Why on earth he is willing to go that far for a mongrel such as you, I wouldn’t know.” He was beaming as he continued speaking, laughing at his own success no doubt. “Regardless- I don’t care. You’re leaving soon.”

“When is ‘soon’?” something in his mind clicked as the fear and anxiety made way for irritation and anger. He wanted to lash out, yell that he wasn’t a commodity to be sold. He wanted to scream and make a scene, just for once in his life, but something in his mind was desperately trying to keep him from doing so. His basic survival instinct begging him not to go against the man in such fashion.

“Tomorrow, don’t bother to prepare, you don’t need to take anything with you. You own nothing in this place after all”

“What- you can’t just-“ he was interrupted by the sound of the chair being thrown backwards, heavy strides making their way towards him, a strong hand grabbing his face and yanking him upward.

“You have nothing to want, you will sit here and let it happen. You were nothing without me. I took you in, you disgusting, ungrateful brat!” he spat angrily at the boy, his face only mere inches away. The prince’s small frame, in contrast to the towering figure standing over him.

Then, the first hit struck, a nauseating crack resounding in his ears.

The man swung his arm again, throwing the boy to the ground with violent force in the process.

“You can’t even defend yourself, what other value could you possibly have besides this? You’re cursed, and nobody would want you if they knew about it!” he knelt down before the boy, still lying on the ground. Atsushi found it in himself to glare at his uncle, trying to convey all the anger he was feeling while he still had the guts to do so.

“Glare at me all you want, it’s not going to change anything.” His tone became calmer, his eyes narrowing. “Knowing Ougai, I’m certain that ‘fighting’ spirit inside you will be dealt with swiftly enough. I don’t know what he wants with you, but I can guarantee you it’s not going to be pleasant.” The prince could see something move in the corner of his eyes, he’d almost forgotten about Chuuya, who had no doubt heard -and seen- everything go down. His anger deflated and made way for shame, shame of being seen this way by one of his only friends. Embarrassment at his own weakness and inability to do anything about it.

He subtly gestured at the other, trying to signal for him not to interfere or come closer. The king scoffed one final time, growling a ‘pathetic’ before turning his back on him.

“Enjoy this final night here while it lasts, boy.” He slammed the door close, leaving Atsushi alone again in the full confidence that the boy would simply sit there and take it.

And he was right, because nowhere during the entire exchange had the prince’s mind wandered to escaping or running away, and he hated himself for it.

He was a trained dog, trained to take everything he was given -good or bad-.

He tried to stand, wincing as he put weight on his legs, he’d definitely bruised something during that fall. He missed the sound of the footsteps nearing, almost missed the arm around him as he stumbled to the side, falling onto the redhead’s shoulder. He avoided eye contact, letting the other guide him back to the bed and sit him down carefully.

It was quiet for a bit, neither of them sure of what to say.

What can you really say in a situation like this? The first one to break the silence was Chuuya, giving him a look that fell somewhere between pity and anger.

“I guess that answered my question perfectly.” He hissed, but his anger wasn’t directed at the boy in front of him.

He closed his eyes, trying to give himself some space to think.

“Thanks for not interfering.” Was what he settled on eventually. Not sure on how to continue the conversation naturally.

“Thanks?! You’re grateful for that?” the redhead raised his voice, the words dripping in confusion, grimacing. “I would’ve killed him if I did-“

“That wouldn’t have solved anything.”

“-No, it wouldn’t have, but it sure would’ve been deserved as fuck- ” He groaned. Gesturing to the prince to stay where he was. He made his way for the bathroom, disappearing through the door before returning, holding a wet piece of cloth in his hands.

He situated himself next to Atsushi on the bed, slowly bringing the fabric up to his face and carefully wiping it across.

“Is it bleeding?”

“Thank fucking god it isn’t-“ the vampire started. Atsushi realising that that would’ve probably made things a lot more difficult for the redhead.

“-This-“ he continued cautiously “- is not okay, and you know it isn’t.”

“I have nothing to complain about.” He tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible. His voice not betraying a hint of emotion.

“Bullshit-” the vampire’s voice was dripping with contempt.

“-You and I both know this is abu-“

“Don’t!” the boy quickly countered, yanking his head away from the other “don’t say that..”

“You being in denial doesn’t change the facts, Atsushi.”

“I owe it to him.”

“You don’t owe him shit.”

“He took care of me, fed me, gave me a home.”

“Really? Sounds to me like he did nothing but use you!”

The silence that came after those words was deafening, the longer the conversation went on, the more he realised he was running out of excuses for himself. His body started trembling, thinking of everything that happened.

“So what if that’s the case, I don’t have any other family!” he finally cried out, tears streaming down his face. “I can’t go anywhere. I don’t have anyone besides him. Nobody else wanted to get near me after my parents died! I’m cursed, the only thing I’m good for is making others miserable!”

He didn’t recognise his own voice as he spoke, it came from him, but it might’ve well been from the voice of a stranger. The sentiments of his uncle echoing through his own vocal chords.

They weren’t his, and he wasn’t sure if he really believed them, but he reached his breaking point and this is the only thing he could think to do.

Part of him hoped his fervent denial and his almost delusional ramblings had finally gotten through to the vampire, convinced him that this is where it ended.

Except he was still there, looking at Atsushi with those beautiful eyes, eyes that calmed his nerves and drew him in like no other did. They were looking at him, and there was no hatred, anger, or disgust to be found anywhere in them. Instead, they were soft, filled with emotions that he couldn’t really place, feelings he wasn’t used to seeing. Especially not directed straight at him.

“You’re not alone.” Chuuya said softly, and the anxious prince could feel where this was going. He just knew it, and his treacherous mind wanted it, he wanted so badly for it to go that way.

“Then where am I supposed to go?”

“With me-“ he started slowly “- we have a lot of space, it’s far away from here. A little isolated too.”

“What about your family? I’m sure this isn’t something you can just decide on your own.” He bit his lip, knowing he was just trying to find ways out, even if the vampire’s logic was sound.

Even if he really wanted it

“They’d welcome you with open arms.” Was all he said, chuckling a bit while he did “I think Kyouka especially would like you a lot.”

“I’m-“ he took a heavy breath, releasing it before continuing “I don’t know if I can.. it’d be spitting in the face of all the years everyone here spent taking care of me.”

He felt the other’s hand on his cheek, carefully guiding his face back to look at Chuuya.

“And you? Tell me- in all your honesty, what is it you want?” the question was almost like being hit with the blunt force of something heavy. Nobody had ever asked him what he wanted, just told him what he should do. Should feel.

He’d never truly wanted to be selfish, defiant? Sure, but all the alarm bells in his mind started ringing all at once, screaming that what he was doing was selfish, an act so wholly unfamiliar to him, who had obeyed throughout all of his life.

He wanted things, but never spoke about that. He wished, dreamt, hoped, but never took.

The vampire smiled at him, standing up, placing himself in front of Atsushi, holding out a hand.

The gesture made him realise that maybe, there was more to this life of his, that maybe he could be more than some rich man’s belonging. And so, the chains binding his mind, rusty and brittle, starting breaking slowly, little by little.

It started the day he met Chuuya.

This second to last chain, binding him to his uncle’s will, snapped that instant. As he grabbed the hand being held out to him, pulling him up.

The other hummed, an amused expression gracing his face.

“I knew you’d come around, princess”

He laughed as Atsushi’s face grew red at the nickname, playfully hitting the vampire’s shoulder in retaliation.

“Don’t call me that!”

“That’ll be for me to decide, and I decide I’m going to keep calling you that.” He returned, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Okay, genius, so how exactly do you want do go about it?” The prince huffed. He wouldn’t be able to navigate the outside of the castle if his life depended on it -and it this case it kind of did-, hoping the redhead had at least remotely thought this through.

“How flexible are you?”

“Eh? Not very, I barely have the muscle to carry my own body weight to begin with.”

Chuuya pointed at the balcony “We can climb down from there, it’s surprisingly not that high up-which is really stupid in my opinion, but hey- in any case. There’s some pretty strong vines lining the side of the building”

“That’s how you got up here every time?!”

“Uh, yeah, how else?”

The prince leaned over the side of the balcony railing, looking at the flora adorning the side of the building.

“Are you sure this is strong enough?” he wrapped his hand around a part of the vine and pulled at it, expecting it to fall apart or break, but it didn’t even budge.

To him that could just be a signifier as to how physically pathetic he was, though.

“Yeah it’s fine. I’ll go down first, if you fall, I’ll catch you.” He said confidently, not missing the way the prince whimpered at hearing the word ‘fall’.

He watched as the vampire held onto the stem, clambering down with grace and efficiency all the while he found himself thinking there was no way he could do it. Cursing himself once again for not taking up any physical activities so he’d at least be confident enough that he could carry his own weight.

“Okay, noodle arms, don’t fail me now” he whispered at himself, holding on to the vines and trying to not look down.

And yeah, this had been a very casual reminder that he should absolutely have worked on maintaining his muscles somewhat because his arms were already killing him, barely a ways down as he carefully scooted lower and lower. 

He was about halfway there when he set his foot on a branch, hearing a familiar -crack- and a snapping sound, as he was pulled of his concentration, his arms finally giving in now that they had to support the full weight of his entire body. He miraculously managed to keep himself quiet as he felt the gravity pull him towards the ground at record speed, fully expecting to hit it at full force.

That sensation never came as he opened his eyes, looking up at the redhead's face.

“I told you I’d catch you, didn’t I?”

“Thanks-“ he stammered out, slightly embarrassed for making such a fool of himself. His feet finally on the ground, the realisation hit him, he was outside, properly and fully outside. Not longingly staring from atop a balcony, his feet were standing on the grass, patches filled with weed and flowers.

He crouched down, taking one of his gloves off and letting his hand rest atop the flora, letting himself feel everything, a whole new experience for him.

He was half-expecting his companion to joke about it, tell him he was weird for being fascinated with grass of all things, but the mockery never came. He simply saw him standing there, arms crossed, a smile on his face. He didn’t try to rush his friend, as he seemed to understand how much it meant to him.

He cleared his throat, putting the glove back on.

“Sorry- we should probably hurry up while it’s still dark.” Chuuya hummed in response, undoing the clasp of his cloak and handing it to Atsushi.

“You’re more likely to get recognised out there, so it’s of more use to you than me right now” he took the piece of clothing, nodding thankfully as he slung it around himself, putting the hood up.

“So where do we go from here?” he questioned, looking around, no doubt trying to locate which direction lead outside, since they technically weren’t in the clear yet.

The redhead pointed to a huddle of bushes growing up the side of the wall, it was quite a distance away from them. “You see that over there, the foliage?-” he started walking towards them, gesturing for the other to follow “-It’s near impossible to see from here, but the wall actually has a hole in it right there. Nobody ever noticed because-apparently- the king has never heard of the concept of ‘gardening’, considering the sorry state of this place” it was dark, and thus not easy to see, but it wasn’t hard to understand what he’d meant by that, he didn’t have much actual experience with greenery and nature, but he knew most of the plants from encyclopaedias he’d read and a lot of what he recognised were weeds. Broken-off branches and rubble littered the ground, plants were overgrown and clearly not taken care of by human hands whatsoever. These were all things he never really noticed, even if he was looking at it from above.

There were leaves about everywhere, and for the first time the sorry state of it all really got through to him. He wasn’t even sure as to why it looked so abandoned.

The hole in the wall was in a corner section, and when he looked to his right he was met with a surprising sight, it was almost as if there was a portal connected to a whole different world right between where they stood and there. A clear line where the greenery actually started looking like it was being looked after. Lights adorning the side of the building and wall- which was something he had never seen in the part he was able to overlook from his room- and it hit him, the realisation.

The library, the king’s study, the piece of yard visible from his balcony. They were all spaces connected to the part of the castle he occupied, the part he lived in.

And they were also the spaces mostly abandoned, the places nobody willingly visited. No gardeners, no maids. The king’s study was only used to impress high-ranking guests, he never came there in his off-time.

It was because of Atsushi. Either because they believed the rumours surrounding him, saying he was cursed, or because they were told not to bother.

He was deliberately left neglected, people were specifically instructed not to interact with him.

Lucy had been the only one, but even she wasn’t around often.

It made him wonder why she had bothered in the first place, maybe she believed the rumours, maybe she liked challenging herself.

He felt bad for leaving without telling her anything, but there was also a level of awareness of the fact

he would never trust her enough to tell her any of this. Not to let her know beforehand he was leaving, or even about Chuuya.

Turning to face the building he’d called his home for most of his life, and in childish but defiant fashion, stuck his middle finger up to it, mentally giving it a big ‘fuck you and thanks for nothing’, before following the vampire through the hole.

Part 6 

When they emerged from the other side, the first thing Atsushi saw were the blinding lights, they were still shielded by a collection of greenery, lining the outside of the structure as far as the eye could see, they decided to stick behind cover and walk as far away from the entrance as they could, leaving it altogether when they were certain nobody could see. And it was the first time Atsushi got a look at the city he’d been living so close to, the first thing he noticed was how- gold everything was. From the streets, to the lampposts, and everything in between. Everything either contained gold accents, or seemed to be made entirely from the stuff. It was home to the wealthiest people around, and it screamed that with every inch of its existence. Every corner, every brick, it all begged for your attention, so much so that it was headache-inducing.

He hated it, the castle itself had been bad enough, but this was disturbing to some degree. Atsushi wasn’t sure why they’d wanted everything to look this way, why the insistence on making it look so busy and neat in the worst way possible.

He pulled the hood down further, concealing his face as much as possible, not many people knew what he looked like, but if anyone did, they’d definitely live here. His companion took a hold of his wrist, guiding him in the direction of where to go, seeming to have noticed how overwhelmed the prince was by everything. He was grateful for that, all things considered.

They matched their pace to that of everyone around them, making sure they wouldn’t stand out, or at least ensuring they’d stand out less than they already did.

Both of them kept quiet as Chuuya guided them through the maze of symmetrical streets and alleyways. All of it lit up and bright in the face of the night sky above. He kept his eyes focused on the roads ahead of him, trying not to let his gaze wander to the sides. Avoiding as many people as they could, which wasn’t as challenging as he’d expected it’d be.

‘A city filled with people too busy with themselves to look and see what’s happening around them’ would be an apt description of the place upon first impressions. And for once he was grateful of the high-society attitudes, steeped in aggrandizing senses of self-importance. When they reached the edge of the city, away from the hustle and bustle of the main streets, Chuuya spoke up again, pointing towards a construct on the ground that the isolated boy didn’t recognise at first glance. “We follow these for a bit, in that direction. Then we should reach a smaller station where we can hop on in peace”

“Alright, question though, what are we ‘hopping on’ exactly?” Atsushi questioned, feeling slight embarrassment at the fact he didn’t know about something so seemingly normal.

“Oh, I assumed you knew, but I guess they’re fairly new for someone who spent his life like that.” The vampire started “You’ll see when we get there, do the words ‘train’ or ‘steam-engine’ say anything to you?”

The prince shook his head, he had never heard about any of this, but he had gleamed through bits and pieces of conversations the castle workers, or the boisterous loud-mouthing guests his uncle liked to entertain, that a lot of technological developments had been made in the past few years. The library didn’t get updated, so he never got to read about any of it.

The redhead simply nodded, saying a quick ‘you’ll see’ before continuing to drag the confused boy into the direction he’d gestured at earlier.  

The stroll there was the most peaceful moment they’d had this entire night, it was nice to the prince, allowing himself to clear his thoughts.

It surprised him how clear the stars were from here onwards, the night sky covered in a veil of tiny lights, for the first time he was allowed to see the view without any obscuration by unnatural man-made lights.

“Hey-“ his friend started, stopping for a second to look back at him, concern written all over his face.

“-are you, y’know, actually okay?” his gaze was cast-downwards, focusing on Atsushi’s legs.

“I dragged you all the way without really thinkin’ about it, but you injured your leg.”

The prince let out a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of his head “It’s fine, really. I’m used to dealing with worse pain, so this isn’t really much of an issue.”

“That-“

“Please, I’m okay, you can look at it when we get to where we need to be if you really want to.”

It seemed to somewhat satisfy the redhead, he sighed, turning back around.

“It’s there, we’re pretty close by now.” Atsushi quickened his step, making sure he was next to his companion. He could see faint lights in the distance, some sort of building.

“It’s a train station- Yokohama has one too, but there’s no way we can sneak aboard unnoticed there.” It didn’t take long for them to finally reach the station. It was much larger than it had seemed in the distance and the prince watched in amazement as they were passed by some metal vehicles, Chuuya chuckled at his wide-eyed amazement, uttering a ‘That’s a train’ when his friend asked him what it was.

“So we’re riding on one of those?” He asked, an excited glint in his eyes.

“We sure are, just gotta make sure we get the right one- then hop on at the very last car to make sure we can stay put for the entire ride.”

“Ah, I’m assuming one would usually have to pay to board one of these, then?” The mischievous tone behind the question was noticeable. Continuing with a soft “-And I’m also assuming you have never actually paid to ride it, not once”

“Don’t get cheeky with me brat, they’re insanely expensive.” He ruffled through the now-beaming prince’s hair, attempting to mess it up as much as he could and getting a giggle out of the other.

“C’mon, we shouldn’t hang around too long where people can see us, I have just the spot.” They went around the back, a spot where they could see the incoming vehicles. There was a big electric sign at the centre of the building, Atsushi could see destinations, times of arrival and departure, and he noticed the information changing whenever a train left or arrived at the station itself. Some trains didn’t stop at all and zoomed straight past them, it all fascinated him. The world he’d grown up in became so much bigger all of a sudden, and he was thrilled at the prospect of learning all about it, now that the opportunity was there.

“You like that, eh?” Chuuya leaned into him.

“I’ve- not got a whole lot experience with automated technology. I only knew about factory lines and such, although I didn’t really understand any of it, admittedly. It’s all so- new? New, and exciting.”

“You’ll love Mizu-Shōbai then, I’ll take you there soon enough, not tonight though. We’re both going to need our rest after all this.”

The prince nodded in understanding. As much as he’d wanted to see everything, he was already exhausted after everything that happened today.

When their train rolled up into the station Chuuya quickly took hold of Atsushi’s wrist again, dragging him towards the back and helping him up before jumping on himself. There was a singular door leading to the inside of the compartment. Atsushi could see it filled with cargo and luggage.

“Nobody checks these during the rides, and the next stop is ours so we can relax for a bit.”

“How long will it take?”

“Give or take, thirty to forty minutes.”

It dawned on the prince that between the walk from the station to the castle, the hassle of climbing up to the balcony, the train ride itself, and then probably also the walk between their next stop and Chuuya’s home, the journey one way was already much past one hour of travel.

And the vampire had done this almost every single day for eight months.

“You called me crazy, but I think you’re much more insane.” He uttered under his breath.

“I don’t know what brought that on, but you’re welcome I guess.”

“For?”

“Not being the more insane one between the two of us.” He patted the spot next to him, gesturing Atsushi to sit down.

“Let me take a look at your leg real quick. See how serious it really is” Atsushi wordlessly sat down, undoing the clasps of his boot before sliding it off, rolling up the leg of his pants. He could barely see what was happening due to the darkness, and he only know found himself asking how in the world the redhead saw anything at all.

“Do your eyes- can you see well in the dark?” he clumsily stuttered, realising a bit too late how crude and tactless the question had been.

Luckily, his companion didn’t seem to offended, humming in amusement.

“My vision at night is pretty much as good as it is during the day, yeah.” His fingers traced a spot on his legs, right below his knee. “That looks pretty bad.”

“Hm? That bad, I hardly feel it anymore though.”

“Learning to ignore the warning signs of your body doesn’t suddenly make it any better, Atsushi. The fact you don’t feel the pain is pretty worrisome, this is definitely worse than just a bruise. How’s your face doing?”

Atsushi just shook his head. “All good on that front, I stopped hurting pretty quickly and the ringing in my ears is minimal now”

“Geez, Kouyou is gonna have a field day with you tomorrow. She can get really fuckin’ fussy.” He sighed, letting his back fall against the crate behind him.

“Are you sure they’re- going to be okay with this?”

“Positive.”

“How are you so sure about that?”

“Because I know them, princess. I know what they’re like, and looking at the state you’re in, I doubt they’d even let you go if you wanted to. They’re good-natured worrywarts.”

“So, like you?” The prince hunched forward, letting himself down to sit in front of his friend. He couldn’t see what sort of expression the other was making, but he assumed it was probably the vampire’s usual grin.

“Like me, except worse. Get used to it, you’re not going anywhere with a cut or a bruise with them around.” He joked. Leaning back more comfortably. The prince closed his eyes, trying to relax, get his thoughts in order. Make sense of everything that happened. Until his companion brought the topic back up.

“I’d eh, advise you against getting cut at all though, or bleeding in general.” His voice sounded small, almost nervous. It was a new thing, coming from Chuuya.

“Oh?”

“Not for- not because of them.” He quickly added to it.

“Because of you?”

The vampire let out a noise he was unsure of how to place. The topic seemed to unsettle the other.

“I’ll try not to- get hurt at all.”

“yeah, that- that’s the best possible option.” Letting out a nervous breath he was holding, but the exchange left the prince with a lot of questions. Wondering if Chuuya had trouble controlling himself around blood.

Was that it? Was he ashamed of that?

He could definitely understand where the redhead was coming from if that was the case, he couldn’t imagine what that must be like. He also didn’t want to make assumptions about his friend, though. Silently scolding himself for doing so in the first place, for all he knew the vampire could just be uncomfortable around blood in general. No other reason.

All vampires were humans once, and some things wouldn’t change just because you turned into a vampire.

The sound of a loud whistle whisked him out of his thoughts, seeing his companion get up quickly as well.

“Time to get out of here.” He said, holding the door open for his friend.

“It’s still going, isn’t it?” He questioned, but listened regardless as he made his way through.

“Best to jump off while it’s still running, it’s already slowing down, I’ll tell you when we can get off safely.”

He wanted to ask why exactly, but was cut off from doing so as the cart swayed with a little more force than he’d braced for, losing his balance and almost tumbling over the railing.

He felt an arm around his waist, holding him in place and keeping him from falling over. He looked up, seeing  Chuuya, one of his hands around a steel pipe, the other around his waist. His usual smug look plastered on his face.

“Careful there princess, definitely don’t wanna fall off like that. You’ll hurt that pretty face even more that way.” He coyly said.

He started a defiant “Please stop calling me that-” before his brain processed the second sentence, a blush more intense than he’d ever had before creeping to the surface of his face. All of his rebellious attitude vaporizing in an instant, and he could tell his friend had noticed exactly that, choosing not to say anything about it. Until a later time, no doubt.

He steadied himself, preparing to get off when the other said they could, he followed his example as the train had almost come to a halt. Quickly running into the opposite direction of the station they’d been approaching.

All in all, the emotional rollercoaster that was today ended in an unexpected way. Chuuya leading the way to the farm he apparently lived on. Atsushi glanced back one final time, back in the direction they came from. Everything that had ever been familiar to him far out of sight, but his world had suddenly exponentially expanded. That alone, he thought, made everything more than worth it.

They walked through a set of gates, a fence surrounding a huge mass of land with a modestly-sized building sitting comfortably in the middle of it all. The vampire turned to face his companion, smiling as he held out a hand towards the house itself.

“Welcome home, Atsushi.” He beamed, gauging the other’s reaction as he looked around him, amazement written all over his face.

“This is nice- it’s so cozy, and warm-” he could feel the tears well up in his eyes again, but this time they came from a place of joy. He tried to wipe them away before the other saw, but gave up when he realised that wasn’t happening. Instead opting to simply get his emotions out of the way first.

“Thank you, Chuuya.”