BVQA: Charles and Riku. I love those two so much. It got to the point that I was basically only reading Blood+ for the minor characters, because honestly I kind of loathe Saya. But back to the topic on hand! This is just a little snapshot of Charles and Riku being together and, you know, the way they were before Saya royally screwed them up. Why? Because they're adorable, that's why.

This will be my first Blood+ fanfic, by the way, so feel free to tell me if the characters are OOC.

LINE BREAK

Riku cowered under the covers, body racked by shudders and whimpering slightly. His eyes were screwed tightly shut and his head was curled against his knees, eye sockets pressed so tightly against his kneecaps that he could see bright flashes of neon in the darkness behind his eyelids. They probably weren't supposed to be doing that. He didn't particularly care.

He flinched as another scream filled the room. He'd cover his ears, but that would mean relinquishing his killer death grip on the edge of the blanket.

"Charles, make it stop," Riku begged. He was on the edge of hysteria.

"What did you say?" Charles' voice was a little louder than normal. Probably couldn't even hear over the deafening, pain-filled shouts, and the fact that Riku was mumbling into his shirt probably wasn't helping. Riku took a deep breath and lifted his head, cracking his eyes open. For a second his vision was all browned-out and fuzzy, but then it cleared and he hesitantly parted the edges of the blanket and stuck his head out of the opening.

Bad idea. With a shriek, Riku slammed his eyes back shut and grabbed for the nearest 'safe' object- Charles, of course. The chiropteran didn't even seem to notice the human who was clinging to him for dear life. His eyes were, instead, fixed on the screen in front of him.

"Oh, come on!" He snapped as another bloodcurdling scream echoed through the room. "That's not what happens when you dismember someone! The noises are completely different and humans don't bleed like that!"

Riku shivered and tightened his grip around Charles' waist. Charles absently reached down and ruffled Riku's hair with his remaining arm. Then he continued his little rant, which rather defeated the purpose of comforting Riku in the first place. "These people obviously didn't do any research, I mean- look, there they go again! The morons! The spinal cord doesn't just snap like that when the head is ripped off, they're making this way too clean! Death is messy!"

Riku didn't ask how Charles had come by this extensive knowledge, just held him closer and buried his face in the warm, sweet-smelling material of Charles' dress shirt. Yeah, focus on that instead of the sound of rending flesh. The shirt smelled like detergent and Charles. What did Charles smell like? Riku breathed in, trying to pick up the individual scents. Was warmth a smell? There was that and candy, since that was pretty much all Charles ate- oh, and blood too, since that was pretty much all he drank. There was a slight undercurrent of alcohol, very faint, probably from when he and Saya had gotten into a fight earlier that week and one of them had smashed a bottle of wine against the wall. Charles was to baths like a cat was to water, so while the scent had faded considerably it was still there. What else? Old dust, musty books, and the smell of Charles' mansion concentrated onto his skin. Yeah. It was a nice smell, one that was totally failing at distracting him. The screams were getting closer to the camera.

"Oh, and they're bringing out the chainsaws. This is ridiculous-"

"Charles, will you please just pause this?!" Riku's voice was considerably higher than normal. He was about ten seconds from having a mental breakdown. The screams were still grating on his ears. Then they stopped and Riku felt Charles shift under his arms, twisting to the right. The next thing he knew his nose was pressed to Charles' stomach about a half an inch above his bellybutton and the chiropteran's knees were bumping against his shoulders.

"Hey, what's got you so upset?" He asked, slight surprise evident in his tone. Riku muttered something incoherent against Charles' belly.

There was an awkward silence.

Then some more awkward silence.

"Does that blood and gore make you happy? Because it kind of freaks me out." Riku asked, pulling back marginally and looking up into Charles' face. His purplish eyes blinked back down at Riku, confused. Then his lower lip stuck out in a pout.

"But I wanted to watch it."

Riku shivered. "Why?"

Charles shrugged. "Just because your 'Saya nee-chan' doesn't like violence doesn't mean all Chevaliers are total wimps. Also, on a related note, I'm kind of hungry now. . ." Riku blinked, then realized where Charles was going with that and jumped back across the couch. His ankles tanged in the blanket they'd been sharing and he toppled onto his back as Charles leaned over him curiously.

"Ch- Charles! Wha. . . now?" Charles laced the fingers of his left hand into Riku's collar, exposing his throat and holding him down at the same time. Riku could never find it in him to refuse Charles outright- he was the chiropteran's only source of food, after all- but that didn't mean he was really comfortable with the idea of, you know, being stabbed in the throat.

"I'm hungry," Charles whined, pinning Riku to the couch as he nuzzled against his neck. Riku could feel his heartbeat picking up exponentially as Charles lapped at his pulse. This part actually wasn't so bad- oh, who was he kidding, this felt amazing. Blush as he might, Riku liked having Charles close by him, and this was, if nothing else, extremely close.

Charles apparently took Riku's lack of protesting as consent- not that he would have stopped anyway- and the next thing Riku knew he was in an extreme amount of pain and flinching against the Chevalier's grip. That was a bad idea. As he moved, Charles' fangs did not and Riku whimpered as he felt his neck being ripped at by the opposing forces. Charles' hand tightened on his collar and he made a tiny, dissatisfied sound in the back of his throat as his prey tried to get away, but he relaxed marginally as Riku got over the initial pain and fell still.

Riku wasn't entirely sure how long Charles drank, but eventually the pain and blood loss had lulled him into a sort of stupor and the only thing he could do was lie there and listen to the sound of Charles swallowing against his throat. Whoo. . . everything's getting darker. . .

Eventually Riku woke up to the sight of credits rolling across the television screen. Apparently the movie was over. Good riddance. Charles, however, was still curled up in Riku's lap, occasionally lapping at his wounds like a puppy. A puppy that was very hard to stay mad at.

"Mmph. . ." Riku tried to sit up, only to be pressed gently back against the cushions.

"You passed out. Moving's not a good idea, stupid," and so saying, Charles wrapped his arm around Riku's shoulders and nuzzled into his chest, leaving Riku to glare absently at the ceiling. Charles always got snuggly when he was full, which was wonderful except for the fact that that meant he was only snuggly when Riku was supposed to be annoyed with him. It could be viewed either as a consolation prize or some twisted form of self-preservation instinct, but right now Riku was too tired to view it as either. All he knew was that he was very, very tired and if there was a warm, cuddly, cute thing in his lap that wanted him to sleep he wasn't going to argue.

Riku rested his head against the back of Charles' head, feeling soft black curls tickle his cheek. Horror movies scared the crap out of him, and having his throat punctured and blood drunk were not on his 'top ten' list of things to do, but when every movie night ended like this, well. . .

Movie night had become his favorite night of the week.