Lucian clutched his chest desperately, gritting his teeth against the pain

AN: aw man, I'm really scared about posting this… mrgh.

I hope you like it, anyway.

Enjoy!

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True To Form

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Lucian clutched his chest desperately, gritting his teeth against the pain. Was this normal, for someone's heart to hurt so literally on such a normal basis? He tried holding his breath, but immediately let it go, gasping, teeth bared and fangs apparent. Only once before had someone walked in on him when he was like this, and that… had not ended well.

The pain spread out more, encompassing his chest and midsection, and he doubled over, biting back a whimper. He squeezed his eyes closed, holding as tight as he could, and waiting…

Knock.

Knock knock.

"Lucian?" He looked up, at the closed door, wishing frantically that Aaron would go away, so he could ride it out, so he wouldn't see, so he wouldn't lose control… "Lucian, you in there?" Aaron knocked again, more urgent. "Look, I'm coming in, okay, if you're doing something embarrassing stop now, all right?"

Lucian almost lost it completely when the doorknob started turning, but the ache renewed its efforts and he couldn't move, couldn't get away, couldn't deal with it that much longer, and he gave a painful moan. Aaron stumbled in, asking questions, until he saw Lucian, and stopped.

"Go…" Lucian forced out. "Go, go away, hurry, run, please…"

What's wrong with you? What do I do, do you need medical atten—"

"NO!" shouted Lucian, eyes flying open. "No, no, no, no no no no nonononononono--"

"Okay, okay, no hospital. Geez, talk about keeping up appearances-"

"Aaron," Lucian croaked. "Go…" His voice cracked and he sobbed, breathing harsh and raspy. He curled himself into a little ball and flopped down onto the floor in the fetal position, clutching his head.

"Of course not! You're my friend! I'm not leaving you, all right?"

He moaned desperately, and Aaron moved closer, moving the hair from his eyes. "What do I do? Tell me what to do and I'll do it, anything!"

Lucian hissed and tried to say something, so Aaron moved closer to hear what he was saying, and there was a painful grinding sound before he repeated himself.

"Blood…" he whispered crazily. "Need blood."

Aaron pulled back sharply and looked at him, incredulous. Lucian gripped his head harder, mouth opening to try and breathe, and the younger boy could see fangs like a vampire's in his mouth, and suddenly he understood.

He gritted his teeth before lifting his friend from the floor and putting Lucian's head by his neck. "Bite," he said shakily. "Come on, do it already!"

Lucian took a rattling breath before uncurling and sliding an arm around Aaron's other shoulder and one around his waist, holding him still. He deliberated another moment before sinking his teeth into the soft skin of his neck. The brunette held perilously still, face bright red.

After a minute or so of this Lucian began to relax a bit, and slid his left hand down Aaron's arm and under and past, bracing it against the boy's back, rearranging his body to fit better against the other's, holding him gently. Aaron started to relax a little too, even though the blood loss was a little heady. Had he been standing he would have crumpled to the floor, but as Lucian was supporting him he was able to be a little less tense than before.

It felt good that he was able to actually do something helpful for the elder male for once, and he smiled. He trusted Lucian, and while he was hopeful about Lucian's opinion of him, he couldn't be completely sure that he thought so highly of him, and he wanted to do something of merit in return for all the times he'd saved his ass.

He made a resolution then and there to protect Lucian for as long as he could. They would probably be together for a while because of this whole Dumas thing, and this was bound to happen again, so he promised himself that he would do whatever it took for his friend. After all, he wasn't quite strong enough to protect everybody yet, so he'd start with one person.

Aaron started when Lucian moaned against his skin, pulling Aaron closer to himself with an iron grip. Tentatively, Aaron reached up, moving very slowly so as not to startle him, and ran his fingers delicately through Lucian's hair. The elder practically purred, and then blushed furiously, seeming to have remembered where he was and what he was doing.

Very carefully, Lucian pulled his fangs out, and began to lick at the puncture marks to speed up the healing process, making Aaron squeak in surprise.

It felt good.

Aaron realized suddenly that his hand was still in Lucian's hair and began to pet Lucian's head. He has nice hair, observed Aaron sleepily.

"Hey…" murmured Aaron. Lucian looked up, a sated look on his face, listening. "I'm just going to go to sleep now, all right?" Lucian, still not feeling like talking, nodded and let him gently down to the carpet, and Aaron smiled blissfully before falling asleep.

The violet-haired male studied Aaron for a while, wondering vaguely if he had taken too much, if it had hurt, if the brunette was going to be okay…

He felt almost like he had violated some unspoken rule, that friends didn't bite friends. Or allies didn't bite allies; he didn't want to assume. That would be rude, he decided, nodding to himself. Rude is bad. Okay. I'm sleepy now… gonna sleep next to my pet…

Lucian lay down, not even noticing what he had just thought, pulled Aaron to his chest, and fell fast asleep. His last thought before he slipped into blackness was Haven't felt this good in a long time.

And they were out.