Title: Blocked

Story Summary: Vlad becoming a vampire brings more trouble than anyone had foreseen. Robin is afraid to be forgotten, in the wake of all this disaster. I don't know entirely where I am going with this yet, bear with me.

Chapter Title: Drainage

By: Black_Sakura27

Genre: Romance/General

Pairing: Vlad/Robin

Chapter Summary: Robin complains he doesn't get enough allowance. Mr Branagh has the perfect solution.

Warnings: This one-shot, in case you hadn't realised, contains yaoi - that's shounen-ai, slash, boyxboy, understand? It's Vlad and Robin, and those are both male names. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Robin scowled at the item on display; he really, really wanted that ornamental coffin. But his parents wouldn't buy it for him, and he didn't have enough money himself. He'd even attempted to ask Vlad for it, but Vlad said that when he'd tried to buy it, his dad had caught him, and though he seemed pleased at Vlad's apparent eagerness, scolded him for thinking he had to purchase one himself, and a fake at that.

Since then, the Count had gifted his son with the most brilliant coffin Robin had ever seen, and he couldn't believe that Vlad didn't want it. "Robin," his dad sighed, seeing where he was looking, "Enough of that. We shouldn't be encouraging this unhealthy obsession of your's, it's bad enough that your friend lives in a castle of all places..."

"Graham!" his mother cried, "Stop putting the Counts down. You can be such a child."

Rolling his eyes, Robin finally drew away from the window. "I could buy it myself if I got more money. I need a bigger allowance."

"You'd get more than enough if you saved," Chloe, his sister, snorted.

"It'd be long gone if I waited that long," he complained. "Come on, isn't there something I can do to convince you?" He turned pleading eyes on his parents.

A smirk decorated Mr Branagh's face, and Robin quickly decided he didn't like it. "Alright, I have something. I've been trying to get your brothers to help me with this, but you'll do just as well. If you help me out, I'll buy the thing for you."

"Excellent!" he froze. "What's the job...?"

---

"Ugh! This is so gross!" Robin exclaimed, voice muffled by his hand. "I mean, what is that smell?"

Vlad wore a similar expression. It would be worse for him, Robin thought, as he approached his 16th birthday, his senses grew ever stronger. They both hurriedly recoiled from the revolting stench, and its source. Vlad gasped in soon-to-be-unnecessary breaths once they were far enough away. "I'm going to be sick. Why are we doing this?"

"Because I really want that coffin Vlad! Dad'll buy it for me, so long as we do this."

"Well I can see why he didn't want to do it himself. No, sorry, I can smell why. Robin, your dad's the plumber, not us, he could do a better job. Isn't there something else you could do?" the vampire protested, warily approaching it again, and reaching a flurescent yellow gloved hand inside.

"You can bet it'd be even worse." Robin paused, studying his friend. "By the way, thanks for coming to help Vlad."

Vlad didn't answer, conserving his air as he heaved the drain out. The design of the drain was a long pipe, but sitting at the top was a cylindracal strainer, meant to stop things other than water from going down. It'd been 3 months since it was last removed, and Mr Branagh wanted Robin to clean it for him. He'd complained so much to Vlad at school that day, that the other boy had agreed to come and aid him.

But they hadn't predicted just how awful the smell would be. As soon as the strainer had been pulled out, Vlad had to shuffle backwards and catch his breath. Robin moved forwards to take his place, dumping the loathesome object into the plastic container of hot, soapy water. Both took another deep breath, and picked up their stainless steel wool, scrubbing madly at the metal. "Ew," Vlad grumbled.

Robin didn't like that he was making Vlad uncomfortable, but he would never admit the reason he complained that much to Vlad. He simply enjoyed the other boy's company - a bit more than was normal. At first, he'd put it down to being attached to the only friend he'd ever had; who wouldn't be? But then Robin noticed that not only did he no longer find 'fit' girls good-looking, but Vlad's vampiric status wasn't the only thing he found attractive about him anymore. As a result, he'd starting commenting on fit girls far more often, to hide his new found preference.

The worst thing, Robin thought, was that he didn't find anyone else attratctive - only Vlad. Ingrid was still pretty, but Robin didn't care. Kelsey Peterson was still fit, but Robin would take a date with Vlad over her any day. The thought made him wince; if people knew about this, he'd never live it down. Not to mention his friendship with Vlad would probably be over. It was bad enough people already insulted them about being gay already, if it was true...

It was true. For Robin. Not for Vlad.

"Robin, could you focus please? I'm doing all the work here," the boy's voice cut into his thoughts, and he jumped, spilling water everywhere. "Well done," Vlad laughed, and the tips of Robin's ears burned with embarrassment. "What on Earth were you thinking about?"

He stiffened. 'Make it up!' his thoughts urged, 'Lie!' "Um, you." '... smooth.'

"Me?" Vlad repeated incredulously, looking up. The smell was gradually becoming bearable the more they let the stupid thing soak, so they weren't scrambling away from it anymore. Robin almost wished they were, because it would provide a distraction. "What about me?"

'Think moron!' "Y-your 16th birthday. I mean, after it."

"Oh..." Vlad sounded disappointed. "That."

'Good one. Just because you think it's awesome, doesn't mean Vlad does - actually, he's terrified he's going to become evil and start biting people! What a great idea to bring that up.' Inwardly cursing, Robin grabbed the strainer and absentmindedly began to clean it. "I don't reckon you'll be evil, Vlad. Ingrid didn't get any worse. Much."

"Boris went psycho. He was worse than my dad, and his dad, put together."

"You're not Boris."

"I'm more like him than Ingrid - face it Robin, it's going to be a disaster."

"So, after then... you're not going to want to see me, are you?" Robin muttered, a thought that had been bothering him for a long time now. After Vlad became a vampire, he'd stop coming to school because of the sunlight, and potentially because of a new bloodlust. Everyone would go back to beating Robin up as much as possible, physically and mentally, because Robin wouldn't have any friends to stand up for him. Again. And Vlad, either because he was evil and didn't associate with breathers anymore, or because he was still Vlad and was horrified that he'd drain his friend dry, would never want to see him again.

Brilliant.

"I'll want to. I just don't think I should," Vlad elaborated. "I doubt it'll stop you though, right Robin?" He sighed. "I just don't want to hurt you."

He stayed silent for a moment, trying his hardest to hide the effect those words had on him. "You won't Vlad. Honestly, I wouldn't mind..."

"But I would. I'd hate to hurt anyone, but of all people, if I bit you..."

"I know it'd kill you Vlad," Robin soothed, "What I mean is, I'd forgive you if you did. Like, it wouldn't wreck everything."

Vlad smiled gratefully. "Thanks Robin. Here's to my 16th birthday, then."

More silence as they cleaned the strainer. Robin turned away, and sat on the ground beside the actual drain, grabbing the flashlight, and looking down with it. Apparently, so said his dad, there was a blockage down there too, and they were to get it out. At least this drain was shallow. Robin squinted, and so deep in concentration was he, that he almost fell over when Vlad spoke again. "What, sorry?"

"I said I have this problem... I wanted to discuss with you."

"Ok. Shoot."

"I... really like someone."

Robin felt himself stop breathing. "...no..."

"But, I don't think that the person likes me back."

Robin, after collecting himself, and putting on a cheerful smile to cover his hurt, turned to Vlad. "Of course they do - why wouldn't they? Do they know you're a vampire?"

"Yeah."

'He trusted someone else...' he couldn't help feeling jealous and replaced. "Wow. You must really like them, you know, if you told them that..." 'Wonder who she is. When I find out, I'll probably be the one with insatiable bloodlust... I need to stop being territorial of Vlad now, I guess...'

"I do, I really do, but why would he like me?"

Robin blinked. Once. Twice. Then, a lecherous smirk dared cross his face. "He...?" Alarm seemed to course through his friend, as he jumped up and stuttered and stumbled, trying to apologize for being weird. "Oh come off it Vlad - how can you think that's weird when people like me are wandering around?"

"You're not weird."

Secretly pleased, he added. "Ok. Well, being gay can't be as weird as being a vampire. Right?" Wrong thing to say, but Robin couldn't really care about that - there was a possibility, however slim, that the person Vlad liked so much was him; after all he was a guy, and he knew that Vlad was a vampire. "Who's the guy then?" he asked casually, returning his attention to the drain.

Silence.

"Vlad?"

He could hear the wind, and to his surprise, the other boy's thundering heartbeat. Hope coursed through him for a split second... and then he heard a thud. Whipping around, his eyes grew round in shock; Vlad had collapsed. "Vlad!"

----

Kura: I had been planning this as a one-shot... but towards the end it sort of escalated. Now I'm going to make it a little bit longer. Maybe not very long, but longer. And as long as I'm in my Young Dracula phase, I'll keep updating. As long as. I've never written for the fandom before, but I'm a long time fan, and it needs much more love.

Vlad's near confession contains lines courtesy of drygionus (who, EVERYONE in the YD fandom knows) when I read the captions for the screencaps on the website created by (surprise, surprise) drygionus. It goes something along the lines of:

Vlad: 'Robin, I don't know what to do. I really like someone.'
Robin: ...no...
Vlad: But I don't think he likes me back.
Robin: He...? -lecherous grin-

So thanks for letting me use those lines. Also, this chapter was inspired by my workplace. My 'friend' and I had to clean the drains, and it hadn't been done recently. The smell was unforgettable - it smelt like a toilet, honestly, we couldn't stand near it for more than 5 seconds. It got done, but the shop stunk of it for the rest of the night, out back at least. So, to the glory of dirty drains, I dedicate this opening chapter. I don't know 100% where I am going with this, yet, but I have an idea. It's going to get fairly dark, and should be reasonably interesting. Please review, it'll make my day.