Mikaela made a mistake.
"Don't get too close to the live stock, Progenitor." Krul told him when he was visiting her one afternoon. "We've got in a new supply and I need you to keep an eye on things, but be careful. You know it's illegal if you drink their blood straight from the vein.
"Don't worry, Queen Krul." Mikaela replied. "My thirst has always been in control."
And it had.
Drinking blood was not Mikaela's mistake.
Mikaela decided to stand by over the blood drawings that day, to get a handle on his new task. He watched with only minimum interest as the humans were paraded in and hooked up to be drained, and then were given an energy drink and sent on their way.
None of it was supposed to bother Mika. It never had before. But for some reason, when a few of the younger ones winced as the needle was plunged in their neck, Mikaela couldn't help but feel his stomach knot up.
But they were just livestock. Nothing more.
When the drainings seemed under control Mika decided to leave. No need to waste his time just watching. But when he walked outside he heard something strange.
"Would you like me to come to your mansion again?"
"Why of course, precious one, you're always welcome."
Mika bore his teeth as he recognized that voice.
He stormed around the corner.
Ferid.
The silver haired progenitor stood near the stairs, his bodyguards at his flanks, and standing at his feet was a small human boy with spiky black hair and bright green eyes.
Mika hissed furiously.
He reached down and scooped up the boy- who instantly started protesting but Mika ignored it. Staring at Ferid with burning eyes.
"Ah, hello Mika." Ferid said with a smile. "To what do I owe this little outburst?"
"I'm in charge of the livestock now, Ferid." Mika snapped at him. "So whatever you've been getting away with until now, it ends with me."
Ferid narrows his eyes. "Are you talking about the law against feeding directly from humans? But he offered Mika… how strong do you think my willpower is?"
"Then toughen up." Mika growled. "I'll make certain he doesn't offer again."
And with that, Mika stormed off with the squirming human child still caged in his arms.
"Hey! Put me down!" the child cried, squirming violently. "Hey!"
Mika felt his anger still fuming off of him but he slowly calmed down.
"What were you doing?" Mika demanded. "Did you not know that the vampires aren't supposed to drink from you? What were you thinking, offering yourself to him?"
The boy went silent, and the squirming stopped.
"Well?" Mika demanded.
"Why would I tell you?" there was a sudden, bright anger in his eyes. "Filthy vampire."
Mika's eyes widened.
"If that's how you feel why did you do it?" Mika hissed.
The boy looked away. Scowling.
Mika sighed.
"If you don't tell me why you were doing it then I can't help you. Don't tell me you actually just wanted him to drink from you."
"No!" the boy shouted, sounding appalled. "I didn't want to do this at all! But…" the boy looked down and away.
He was so young, Mika realized. Sometimes he forgot about age, as a vampire. But looking at this human…
"Hey," Mika asked. "How old are you?"
The boy looked at him in confusion.
"I'm ten."
"And what's your name?"
The boy raised an eyebrow. "Yuuichiro."
"Yuuichiro." Mika repeated. "Why did you offer yourself to Ferid?"
"Why are you asking?" Yuuichiro demanded, "Do you want to take his place?"
"No!" Mika's voice was hard. "No! Never let any vampire do that to you. Ever. Understand? I'm asking because if you had a good reason, maybe I can make up for what I'm asking you to give up."
Yuuichiro's eyebrows pulled together.
"He would give us things." the human explained, finally. "I didn't start it… but… My family… ," he sighed. "They all depend on me and Akane. And we couldn't do enough. And then I found out that Akane was offering herself to Ferid, and I couldn't let her do that. They all need her, so I said I would do it instead. I'm stronger than her and I'm not good for anything else anyway so if I can do this for her…"
Mika swallowed.
He wasn't supposed to care about this. He wasn't supposed to…
"Never go near Ferid again." Mika said. "If he bothers you tell me and I'll take care of it. And if you need anything, come to me, and I'll help you and your family."
"Why?" Yuu demanded. "Why would you do that for us?"
"Because I can trust myself not to break the rules." Mika responded. "I can't trust Ferid."
That's right. There was a rules against blood drinking. There wasn't a rule against this. Mika wasn't breaking any rules, he told himself.
Yuuichiro narrowed his eyes. "Why should I trust you?"
Mika looked down at him.
"Did you trust Ferid?"
"No. But he delivered what he said."
"Then don't trust me," Mika replied. "Just let me do as I say I will."
Big green eyes stared at him.
"Fine. And you don't want anything in return?"
"Nothing." Mika replied. "Give me nothing. Even if I ask."
Yuuichiro raised his eyebrows. "What?"
Mika finally set him down. "Go back to your family. If you need me, I'll be at the draining center every day. You can come find me if you're there."
Yuuichiro looked up at him. "What's your name, Vampire?"
"It's Mikaela Shindo."
"Mika-eee-lie…" Yuuichiro tried to say it and seemed to struggle.
"Call me Mika." the vampire noble decided with a sigh.
"Okay." Yuuichiro scratched his head. "Mika. You can call me Yuu, then."
"Yuu?" Mika smiled. "You're so small though. Yuu-chan sounds better."
Yuu blushed. "Don't look down on me! Filthy vampire." he barked, shoving Mika's leg.
Mika didn't even sway, he just smiled.
"Go to your family," He repeated. "What do you need me to give you that you wanted from Feird today?"
Yuu looked up.
"We don't have enough food for everyone…"
"What food do you want?" Mika asked. That would be easy. The vampires had no use for it.
"Umm…," Yuu blushed. "Curry?"
Mika nodded. "I'll bring it here tomorrow. So stay away from Ferid."
Yuu nodded back. "I will." He promised, and then he ran off through the streets.
~.~.~.~.~.~
It continued after that. Mika would meet Yuu at the draining center, and give him what he asked for. Within reason.
At first Mika maintained his boundaries well.
He dropped off whatever he had brought and briefly discussed whatever else Yuu needed from him. Then he would leave as quickly as he came.
But then there was the day that Yuu showed up strikingly pale.
"I thought I told you to stay away from the vampires." Mika hissed when he walked up to find Yuu hunched over on the stairs.
Yuu looked up.
"You just told me to stay away from Ferid, but either way, I AM staying away from the other vampires. Except you."
Mika tried to ignore the odd feeling that sentence gave him.
"Then what's wrong with you?" Mika demanded.
"What do you mean?" Yuu asked innocently.
Mika stooped down, picking up Yuu's arm, feeling his pulse.
It was weak.
Mika glowered at him.
Yuu looked away.
"I don't know." He said finally. "I think they took too much blood at the center. I've been feeling dizzy."
"Did you drink the energy drink?"
Yuu lowered his eyes.
"Yuu! How long have you been skipping it?"
Yuu's eyes snapped up. "It tastes horrible!"
Mika bore his teeth, growling.
"Wait here."
Mika went inside, took two extra energy drinks and brought them back outside.
"Drink both of them. I'll know if you cheat." Mika ordered, tossing them in Yuu's lap.
Yuu glared at him. "I hate them!"
"I don't care! Do it!" Mika's eyes flashed bright red, and Yuu fisted his tiny hands.
"Fine." Yuu uncapped the drinks and slowly chugged them. Making exaggerated gagging face.
Mika rolled his eyes.
"From now on you're drinking yours in front of me." Mika told him.
"I thought you told me not to give you anything." Yuu fired back.
"In what way is this for me?" Mika asked, as he sat down next to the human boy.
Yuu sighed heavily.
"Then why do you care?"
"Because it's our deal." Mika replied. "How can I know if you're keeping up your end and staying away from the other vampires if you look like a ghost every time I see you?"
"Fine," Yuu replied.
"So what is it this time?"
Yuu was quiet.
"More food?" Mika asked.
Yuu nodded his head a little.
"Curry?"
Yuu looked down.
"Mika?"
"Hmm?" Mika asked.
"Is this going to be the rest of our lives?"
Mika pressed his lips together, letting the silence hang in the air for a few minutes.
"What do you need, Yuu?"
Yuu looked at him.
"Some of the kids were talking about missing the chance to go to school…"
Mika stared at him.
"I don't know how to give it to them." Yuu murmured. "We don't get to go to school here, and I barely remember school from before."
Mika felt a war raging inside of himself.
"I have books." He said eventually.
Yuu looked at him in surprise.
"What?"
Mika folded his hands together under his chin, looking at the ground.
"I don't have them on a level for kids though. I would just have to teach you…"
What am I doing? Mika wondered of himself.
Yuu's eyebrows furrowed. "What are you saying?"
"I don't know how much time I'll have." Mika said sternly, but if I'm free I'll try to come by and teach you all like they do in school."
Yuu's eye widen, "You would do that?"
Mika looked away. "Meet me here again tomorrow."
Yuu nodded. "Okay." He rubbed his neck. "Thank you, Mika."
Mika shook his head. "It's fine. Just go.
Yuu stepped down the stairs, about to run off again but paused to look back at Mika, who watched him with curious eyes.
"You know…" Yuu murmured. "Sometimes it doesn't feel like you're really a vampire. You're not a monster like the others."
Mika stared at him.
"Not all vampires are monsters." He said
"Most of them." Yuu replied. "But not you."
Mika lips parted.
Yuu waved. "See you tomorrow, Mika."
Then he disappeared into the gloom.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Mika started teaching all the kids after that.
He thought he would rarely find time for it, but he found himself drawn back to it over and over, oddly thrilled whenever he would go.
It turned into something that happened three times a week or more. And every time Mika would go over different topic with the kids. Teaching them to read or to understand history, or science.
Yuu was the most interesting one. He took to it so well but would never admit it. He would purposely act like he didn't care or didn't get it, but when Mika would start to explain it again, Yuu would already have the answer before Mika had finished.
Mika tried not to find it adorable.
All of it continued.
Weeks of teaching turned into months, turned into a year, turned into two years.
Mika watched birthdays come and go, a passage that meant nothing to vampires, but were filled with such vibrancy for the humans.
On Yuu's birthdays, Mika would always give him something that was for everyone, a cake or games. Because he knew Yuu would like that. But he would also give Yuu something personal in secret.
One year it was a book written by humans about the world before the vampires. One year it was Mika's old pistol.
"What is this?" Yuu asked.
"It's a gun." Mika explained. "Never use it unless you have to, but it could help protect you if you were in danger."
Yuu smiled.
Mika gave him the things he thought would give Yuu hope, even if it felt like a lie. He wanted to see that light in Yuu's eyes that he got when he believed he could beat something. Yuu was twelve-years-old now, and after living in the vampire city since he was eight, Mika didn't want to see that fire inside him go out. He wanted Yuu-chan to stay Yuu-chan. Always.
One day when Mika was leaving after teaching, Yuu followed Mika outside.
"Mika,"
Yuu caught the vampire's hand and he turned slowly around.
"What's the matter?"
Yuu looked at him with big, searching eyes.
"Can I see where you live?"
Mika stiffened.
"Yuu-chan…"
"I've never seen it." Yuu pressed. "You take care of us but I never learn anything about you. You never talk about yourself. I just want to see something-,"
"It's too dangerous, Yuu-chan." Mika said quickly. "The vampires don't question what I do if I'm careful because I'm a noble. But if they catch you there, I have no way to protect you if you were found in my house. I would have become as bad as Ferid."
Yuu flinched.
"That's not true…"
"It is." Mika replied. "Yuu…"
He pulled his hand out of Yuu's.
Yuu looked down. "If I try to bring you closer you're just going to pull away completely, aren't you?"
"You shouldn't be trying to bring me closer, Yuu-chan." Mika said, with sad eyes. "I'm a filthy vampire aren't I? You used to remember that."
Yuu's eyes darkened. "Mika-,"
"Goodnight Yuu-chan." Mika cut him off. Then he turned and walked away.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Mika hadn't known something like this was going to happen.
He'd had no idea.
Not until he smelled all the blood.
The SO familiar blood.
Mika had run all the way there, but he stopped when he heard the gunshot. Freezing in place as his eyes took in the calamity before him.
It was the orphan kids. All of them. Yuu's family. They were bled out and spread across the ground like broken dolls, all of them soaked in red.
At the center of it was Yuu.
One of his arms was missing, but his other held the pistol Mika had given him… still smoking.
And Ferid lay on the ground with a bullet blown through the side of his head.
Mika felt his stomach roil.
Yuu had been standing on his leg before, but when Ferid had dropped Yuu dropped too. Going to his knees and then collapsing completely onto the ground.
"Yuu-chan!"
Mika ran through the scattered bodies, searching for signs of life but there was none.
Only Yuu, who Mika finally reached and fell to his knees next to. Pulling his broken body into his lap.
"Yuu-chan." Mika felt a pain in his throat and in his chest. And he felt like he might cry, even though he thought that was impossible for a vampire.
Yuu blearily opened his eyes, but they stared blindly.
"Mika?"
"It's me," Mika brushed the blood from his cheek, petting his dark hair. "It's me."
"I'm sorry." Yuu coughed, and red sprayed across his lips. "I broke our deal."
"You went to Ferid." Mika guessed, glancing at the body behind him.
"I wanted to steal a map so that we could escape." Yuu explained. "I was going to steal it from you, but then you said no. And in a way I was sort of glad. I didn't want to hurt you."
Mika felt that pain in his chest worsen. "You foolish human." He growled.
"Yeah," Yuu agreed, tears flowing down his cheeks and mixing with the blood. "Yeah I'm so stupid. And now everyone is dead because of me." Yuu sobbed and his chest rattled in an alarming way. "We're all dead now."
"No. No." Mika shook his head. "No. No. I can't save the other's but, Yuu-chan… You're still alive." Mika squeezed him. "You're still alive."
Yuu looked at him, and shook his head. "I'm going to die Mika. I'm going to be with my family."
Yuu reached up and touched Mika's cheek.
"Except for you," he whispered. "You were a part of our family too. I'm so sorry."
Mika gripped Yuu's hand. Holding it too his cheek.
Yuu had dropped the gun, Mika's gun, but his hand was still so cold, and it smelt like gun powder.
Mika closed his eyes.
"You selfish, greedy, reckless human." Mika hissed, and he actually felt hot tears roll down his face. "You've taken everyone else from me. How can you ask me to give you up too?"
Yuu looked at him with nearly sightless eyes. "Because you always give us what we need, Mika."
Mika opened his eyes and they flashed.
"That was before, Yuu-chan." Mika whispered. "Before you broke our deal."
Mika grabbed Yuu by the jaw, forcing his mouth open.
"But that's over now." Said Mika. "From now on, you can no longer refuse what I ask of you."
Mika sunk his fangs into his own lip until it was pouring blood. Then he leaned down over Yuu's face.
"And I'm asking you now, to live."
Then Mika pressed his mouth over Yuu's forcing the hot blood through his lips.
Yuu was too weak, and bloodless to struggle, but he made slight noises of protest until the blood started to slip down his throat and slowly take control of his body.
When it was clear it was working, Mika pulled away, and Yuu fell into a fitful coma in his arms, as his body started to heal and change.
A shadow fell over Mika.
"Do you understand what you've done?"
Mika looked up to see Krul standing behind him, then looked back down at Yuu.
"I had to. He's…"
"I understand. I've known for a while." She sighed. "When I realized, I regretted ever giving you your post. If I thought it would have stopped you, I would have taken all of it back."
"I'm sorry, Queen Krul." Mika replied.
"I've made my peace with it," she said. "We will hide this from the others."
Mika looked up again. "What?"
Krul met his eyes. "You better take care of him. Who knows what will happen when he wakes."
Mika looked down. "I know…"
Krul reached to pet his hair. "You're my only real friend, Mika." Krul said. "You're like a son to me. So I will always protect you. Even when you're foolish enough, to give your heart to a human."
Mika closed his eyes. "Krul, I-,"
"Well isn't this nice."
Mika and Krul both turned harshly to stare as they watched Ferid slowly sit up, holding the side of his head.
"Ferid." Krul bore her fangs. "Look at this mess you have created."
"Actually it would have been quite over. Had Mika not intervened." Ferid replied.
"You did not have permission to kill the livestock." Krul hissed and Mika flinched. "You will answer for this!"
"They were trying to escape." Ferid replied cooly.
"They were children." Krul smacked him across the face. "You should have reported it, or simply stopped them. You did this for sport, and you will be punished."
With that Krul snapped her fingers, and some of the local vampires appeared, grabbing Ferid by the arms and leading him behind Krul as she stormed off back towards the city.
Mika still kneeled on the ground. Holding Yuu to him. Surrounded by the bodies of the others.
Finally more vampires showed up, instructed to clean up. Mika nodded and slowly stood. Carrying Yuu with him as he headed home.
~.~.~.~.~.~
"NO!"
Yuu shoved the glass of human blood that Mika held out to him away, shattering it on the floor.
Yuu clutched at his throat, panting and squirming.
"Yuu-chan" Mika said gently. "You have to drink. If you don't, you lose yourself to the thirst-,"
"I want to die Mika," Yuu said, his voice hoarse and pained. "Just let me die. I want to die a human like my family did."
Mika looked down.
"I can't do that Yuu-chan…"
Yuu looked back at him, grabbing him by his shirt.
"Please! Mika, I can't become a full vampire. I won't!"
Mika covered Yuu's hands with his own, baring his teeth.
"And I won't watch you die!" Mika roared. "I told you I would make you live. Your punishment for breaking the deal you made with me!" Mika gripped Yuu tighter, "BECAUSE I ALSO HAD TO LOSE THEM!"
Yuu's eyes widen and Mika released him, about to pull away.
But Yuu reached up to put his small hand against Mika's cheek.
"Mika…" Mika tried to pull away and Yuu brought his other hand up to hold Mika's face between them. "Mika…"
Mika looked into Yuu's eyes. They were big and so sad.
"I'm so sorry." Yuu whispered.
Mika placed his hand over Yuu's. "Please," he whispered back. "Don't leave me all alone."
Yuu's expression softened, crumbled.
"I can't be a vampire," He whispered.
Mika closed his eyes, sighing.
"Then," Mika pulled away from Yuu standing up and grabbing another glass.
He pulled his glove off with his teeth and toss it aside before bringing his wrist to his mouth and biting down.
When blood was flowing he held it over the glass.
"This won't turn you anymore than it already has." Mika explained. "But you'll live. So please-,"
Mika was about to offer it to Yuu when he heard a growl.
Mika looked up just in time to see the hungry look that flashed in Yuu's eyes before his suddenly sprang at Mika, knocking the glass aside and latching directly onto Mika's wrist. Fangs sinking in.
Mika hissed in surprise. He hadn't realized how much Yuu was fighting the thirst. How bad it had gotten for him.
Mika sat down and gathered Yuu into him, letting him take all that he wanted.
"Thank you, Yuu-chan." Mika murmured, stroking his hair. "I will be your family now. I will take care of you, I promise."
At that Yuu pushed himself closer as he drank. Curling into Mika's chest.
~.~.~.~.~.~
So that was how it started. Yuu's new, grey existence.
He continued to grow, he continued drink Mika's blood, he continued to be Yuu-chan, and yet… Mika saw the part of him that felt the thirst and hated himself. The part of him that fought ruthlessly against the self-loathing that was eating a pit into his soul.
But Mika could also tell that he made it better.
For some reason, Mika seemed to hold back the part of Yuu that loathed vampires, and as long as Mika kept Yuu close he believed that he would live and that he would keep from losing himself.
Because somehow Mika seemed to give Yuu hope.
Time went faster for Mika. Watching someone who still grew made it seem like the days flew by in a blur. Like every second mattered but was gone too fast.
Mika continued to be Yuu's teacher. He watched his mind grow from simple problems to having deep discussion Mika never imagined coming out of the mouth of that precious child he first met years ago.
And Mika enjoyed it. He enjoyed how much more alive his life was with Yuu. How a the boy seemed to speed the pulse of everything, and made even Mika himself feel more human than he ever, ever hand. And for a while it was just that simple.
Mika should have suspected that something might be changing though. Perhaps he should have seen it all coming, that first night.
The night when Yuu was thirteen.
"You're not going to tuck me into bed anymore." Yuu insisted, folding his arms moodily.
Mika, who was reading in his parlor, looked up in surprise.
"What? But you used to ask me to…"
"I'm not a little kid anymore." Yuu said, holding his chin up.
Mika felt a little stung but nodded.
"Of course. Yuu-chan."
"And don't call me that anymore." Yuu added. "It's just Yuu."
Mika frowned. "I would call you Yuu-chan even if you were eighty. Suck it up."
Yuu pouted, blushing. "Fine, whatever."
Mika raised an eyebrow. "What's gotten into you?"
"Nothing." Yuu frowned at him. "I'm just growing up, and it's like you don't even notice."
"I notice, Yuu-chan." Mika smiled. "I'm just protective."
Yuu looked down. "But I'm strong, and I can protect you now."
Mika smiled. "I appreciate that, but I don't need you to-,"
"I'm going to protect you." Yuu's eyes were bright and fiery again.
Mika blinked. "Okay… you can protect me."
Yuu nodded. "Good."
Little things like that continued to happen over the next two years. Until….
"I'm going to bed Mika."
"Hmm?" Mika tried to finish his page before he looked up, not noticing the shadow falling over his shoulder. "Goodnight Yuu-,"
Suddenly Mika felt lips press against his cheek.
Mika froze, his book completely forgotten.
"Goodnight, Mika." Yuu murmured in his ear. "I love you."
Mika swallowed.
"I love you too, Yuu-chan," he said, turning back to look into Yuu's eyes.
Yuu smiled before turning around and walking away to go to bed.
After that things got even more overt.
Yuu would carelessly walk around the manor half dressed whenever possible. And when it was time for Mika to give him his blood, Yuu started taking from higher on Mika's arm. Doing things like sitting in his lap or holding Mika around the neck as he drank.
All of it left Mika feeling oddly unsettled.
Then came Yuu's sixteenth birthday.
Mika had gone all out for him; showering him with presents and spending the whole day spoiling him- even Krul had come and brought him a present. .
Yuu had been beaming all day, but he'd also been being very affectionate. He would touch Mika all the time. Giving him long hugs around the neck, holding his hand, even giving him kisses on the cheek.
All of it made Mika flustered but he tried not to show it. Always smiling and returning Yuu's affection easily.
"I love you, Yuu-chan. Happy Birthday."
"I love you, too Mika." Yuu smiled warmly up at him. "Thank you."
Then that night, when it was almost time for Yuu to go to bed, Mika was sitting and reading again.
"Hey, Mika?" came Yuu's shy voice.
Mika looked up and found Yuu standing in the doorway in just his pajama pants. Mika swallowed. Sometimes it was hard to remember, now, what Yuu had looked like as a kid. He was starting to form strong muscles and he had grown so much taller…
Mika shook his head.
"Yes, Yuu-chan?"
"I'm umm…," Yuu looked sideways and then back into his eyes. Blushing. "I'm thirsty…"
"Oh," Mika nodded, "It has been a little while, and with you still growing…" Mika agreed assuming Yuu was embarrassed at having a stronger thirst than he was used to. Mika started rolling up his shirt sleeve.
"Mika," Yuu walked up and put his hand over Mika's, stopping him. Mika looked up in confusion.
Yuu's big green eyes bore into him.
"Would it be okay… if I drank from your neck tonight?"
Mika felt a flash of something he tried to ignore. "Oh… um, I suppose Yuu-chan. Why?"
Yuu shrugged, blushing again. "I'm bigger now. It'll be easier this way."
Mika nodded, "True. All right." Mika unbuttoned the top of his shirt, pulling his collar away.
Yuu watched him with dark eyes.
"You should…" Yuu reached out and unbuttoned the shirt the rest of the way, with quick fingers. Pushing it off Mika's shoulder. "It's white. You don't want to get it dirty."
Mika- now sitting without a shirt- blushed a little too.
"Right." Mika shifted a little uncomfortably. "Umm… I'll…"
He moved to stand up.
Yuu touched his chest, pushing him back down. Then he slowly climbed, face forward, into Mika's lap. Keeping his eyes on Mika's as he carefully straddled his hips and sat down on his legs.
"It'll be easier like this." Yuu suggested, putting his hands on Mika's shoulders. Mika looked at him in surprise.
"I supposed so…"
Yuu nodded before tilting his head and leaning in.
Mika closed his eyes as he felt Yuu's breath on his skin before he surged forward to sink his fangs into the vein.
Mika heard Yuu's drinking and breathing, and the sounds filled Mika's ears, making him breathe harder.
Why did this feel so intimate? Why was this so intimate? Yuu had been drinking from him for four years now…
But Mika felt his heart beating faster, and he could feel Yuu's heart, too, as the boy rested his chest against Mika's.
The skin contact made him shudder.
"Yuu…" Mika started to say, and Yuu's hand slide down his side.
Slowly, Yuu pulled back. His eyes almost swallowed up and red dripping from his lips.
"Mika... " He said, and then he pushed forward to smash their lips together.
Mika jolted, making a sound of surprise.
He quickly pushed Yuu back.
"Yuu-chan, what are you doing?" Mika demanded, his breathing ragged.
Yuu looked at him, and nervousness started to leak through the hungry gleam in his eyes.
"I've read about it in some of the books in your library." Yuu explained, searching Mika's eyes. "This is what you do with the person that you love."
Mika blushed brightly.
"I do love you, Yuu." Mika said, reaching up to stroke his thumb across Yuu's cheek. "But, you're still a kid…"
"What?" Yuu's eyes furrowed. "That's not true! You don't look much older than me anymore!"
"I'm immortal." Mika pointed out. "But even in body I'm eighteen. That's when humans are considered adults."
"I'm not completely human anymore." Yuu argued.
Mika frowned at him. "You're a human compared to me."
Yuu searched Mika's face.
"I've thought about this okay?" Yuu insisted. "For years. When I realized what I felt for you, I continued to look into it. I realized that you saw me as a kid but I've grown now, and I've been trying to show you…" Yuu tilted his head. "I thought you had started to see it. I thought… it seemed like you felt what I'm feeling too."
"Yuu," Mika pressed, "You don't have to do this just because you love me. I've always loved you. I always will love you. You don't have to-,"
"I know I don't have to." Yuu interrupted. "I know that this part isn't love. I know I can love you without this. I DO love you without this, but…" Yuu's eyes lowered to Mika's chest, his hand slowly lowering from his shoulder to trace the skin. "I see you, and I feel this TOO. My body wants you, just like the rest of me wants you. And I know I don't have to have it, but I want to have it. I want to have this with you." Yuu's raised his eyes to Mika's again. "Unless you tell me you don't want it with me."
Mika sucked in a breath, searching through the hope and the fear and the strange mix of doubt and certainty that flickered in Yuu's eyes.
Mika thought about the changes in Yuu over the years. Knowing that he HAD noticed. He had seen and felt that Yuu was somehow catching up to him. That he wasn't just a kid Mika needed to protect anymore. And in a way… part of Mika had always seen Yuu as more of an equal than he would have admitted to when Yuu was only the height of Mika's waist.
But that was also that part that Mika struggled with.
He had talked to Krul about it once.
"He's your soulmate, Mika." She had said. "That's the thing with soulmates. They can be anyone in your life, they can come in any form. You're immortal, and yours came to you in the form of a human child. What that's going to mean for you might not always be a clear picture."
Mika knew at the time she'd been talking about the complications of Yuu still being part human. But it seemed funny to him now to imagine those words in this context.
Mika's soulmate, in the form of the child he had basically raised since he was ten. Now nearly a man who saw him in a whole new way.
It wasn't as if Mika had seen himself as Yuu's parent. That had never been what he wanted. He had just loved Yuu, and wanted to protect him. And at the time, taking care of him was what Yuu needed.
But maybe now Yuu didn't need a caretaker anymore. Maybe now Mika needed to serve his soulmate in a new way. As a person Yuu could love and be with for the rest of his life. A role Yuu would never outgrow, would never leave Mika behind in…
Maybe all of that was the natural course for their relationship.
But it didn't all need to happen today.
"Yuu…" Mika answered finally, reaching up to place his hand around the back of Yuu's neck, and into his hair. Yuu smiled.
"I love you, Mika," he said.
"I love you, too." Mika replied. "And I DO want you, like this."
Yuu beamed, and was about to lean back forward to kiss Mika again, but Mika stopped him, turning his head away.
"But I need some time." Mika said carefully. "We haven't… this is all very fast."
Mika met Yuu's eyes again, to see the shock in them, and Mika reached down to grab Yuu's hand. Bringing it to his lips and kissing his fingers.
"Date me." Mika pleaded.
Yuu blinked, "What?"
"Date me," Mika repeated. "We have the rest of our lives Yuu-chan, and you'll still grow up. I'm happy you see me in this way, but please, take it slowly with me."
Yuu huffed. "I HAVE been. I waited-,"
Mika gave him a doubtful look. "Because you were ready for this when you were thirteen?"
Yuu blushed. "I…"
Mika smiled. "I promise, Yuu-chan. I'll give you what you want. Just let me do it a piece at a time. Until you're eighteen."
Yuu raised his eyebrow. "Two years?"
"Yes." Mika said with a smile. "But don't look so offended, Yuu. Because trust me, you don't know anything yet."
Mika took him by the chin and pulled him closer, pressing a warm, chaste kiss to his lips.
Yuu shivered.
"Don't worry, Yuu-chan." Mika whispered against his lips. "We'll have plenty to fill up our next two years."
~.~.~.~.~.~
End of Part One
~.~.~.~.~.~
(This is a one shot that could turn into more depending how much people like it. I wrote it for a challenge I set on tumblr ( .com) If you like it you can let me know know in the reviews if you want me to continue. Otherwise I also invite you with the same challenge I gave on tumblr to send me Mikayuu AU's (Through reviews or PM) you want to see come to life and I'll write one-shots for them. Thanks guys!)
P.S. This chapter is T but if I continued it would turn to M so keep that in mind.