Note: Sunday update :)
I know some of you are eagerly waiting for the story to earn its M rating but patience, let me develop the story a bit, I don't write PWP sorry!
Yûichirô slid out of bed, his feet meeting the cold tiles of the floor. Shivering, he stood and walked to the open window, the light breeze chilling him to the bones. Pulling the curtain out of the way, he closed the window, his eyes falling on the view outside. Dark, barely discernible, the outlines of the world made his heart sink.
For some reason, the loss of contact - if he could call contact what he had felt while dreaming – had left him at loss. It wasn't just the physical proximity, there was more to it. The familiar feeling that he couldn't place, but that he suddenly realised he missed... what was it? Why did it feel like déja-vu?
Sighing, Yûichirô went back to bed, shivering, the warmth of the sheets welcoming his body, lulling him back to sleep.
"Who are you?"
There he was again, in the black atmosphere of the void, calling out to the white point approaching.
Eyes tightly shut, the brightness of the light suddenly becoming unbearable, Yûichirô held out his arms in direction of his demon.
"Are you a demon? I don't even know if you are one..."
"Yes, I am."
The boy felt hands on his own, and he closed his fingers on them, feeling the entity coming closer, the sensation of finally being able to touch it physically making him shiver slightly. Four hands were now trapped between his chest and the body of his demon. He wanted to open his eyes so badly, but each time he tried, they would just burn, and water, and he had to squeeze them shut because it just damn hurt, with so much light.
"Please, tell me who you are. I can't see you."
"You know who I am."
"Let me at least see you, please..."
"I can't..."
"Why do I need to remember you? Will something happen if you tell me your name?"
The demon was making so much mystery about his identity that Yûichirô couldn't help but wonder if there was some curse involved or something.
"I need to know that I still have a place in your heart. I am a demon, but I don't want to be just that."
Who could it be? Yûichirô knew that there weren't many options if he was supposed to know this person... could he still call it a person?
The warm hands left Yûichirô's and found their way around his shoulders, hugging him tightly.
The boy started as he felt his body react to the contact in a way so similar to what he had felt years before. He couldn't be mistaken this time. His body remembered, and so did his mind, finally.
"MIKA!"
The light died down all of a sudden, as Yûichirô opened his eyes and took a step back.
Tears started to spill as he took in the sight of a grown-up Mika, standing in front of him.
"Yû-chan..." the blond boy was smiling, and Yûichirô couldn't help but smile back through the tears, half laughing, half sobbing. The voice was deeper, but now, he just couldn't believe he hadn't recognised it. Yes, Mika's voice was not one of a child anymore, but it still had that softness in it, and the timbre was still the same, if not for the manlier sound of it.
"Mika, I can't believe it's you!" Yûichirô couldn't process what was happening, the fact that his demon was Mika, how his friend had ended up as a demon, what were the odds that they got reunited... everything was so confused right now.
Strong arms snaked around his shoulders once again, Mika bringing him close, the other boy holding his waist tightly.
For a moment, none of them talked, drowning in the happiness of the reunion, but quickly Yûichirô withdrew, starting to feel awkward. He was holding his best friend so tightly, what was he thinking? What would Mika think?
Blushing out of embarrassment, the dark haired boy broke the silence: "You're taller than me." he mumbled.
"Always have been." the blond boy chuckled.
"How did that even happen?"
Mika knew that the question wasn't about his height, but the general idea that he was now a demon.
"I thought you were dead..." Yûichirô continued, "Well, are you technically alive, as a demon?"
"Yes, more or less. I'm immortal so I guess you can say I am alive."
Yûichirô couldn't help but stare. Of course he recognised his friend, the curly blond hair, the striking blue eyes, but he had to get used to seeing him so grown up. It was as if Mika never died, that day, as if he had just led a life on his own, becoming almost a man now, at the same time Yûichirô himself had grown up.
"What happened?"
Finding themselves sitting on the ground, both boys kept glancing at each other, exchanging smiles.
"I thought I would die, the day you... Ferid..." Mika didn't want to utter those words. He knew his friend, he knew how tormented he had been over fleeing away while leaving them all behind. He had seen that, from the realm he had been stuck in, all these years. So he wouldn't say it, because he didn't mean it that way.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry Mika..."
"There's nothing to be sorry for, Yû-chan, see? We're together now." Mika forced a smile on his lips. He was happy, but he hated to see Yûichirô beat himself up over something that he wasn't responsible for. Mika was happy that his friend had been able to run away. To live. There was no resentment for the past in him.
"Ferid almost emptied me of my blood, well, what was left of it, as you were leaving, and Krul... the queen of vampires, she stopped him and she turned me into a vampire, to make it short."
"You're a vampire?!" Yûichirô opened wide eyes.
"No, not exactly. I refused to drink blood after she turned me in... and that's what happens when you don't drink blood, you become a demon..."
"Oh..." the dark haired boy had no idea what to reply to that. He already felt guilty for running away without his family, now, the guilt for all what Mika had gone through was tearing him apart, and it was a thousand times worse.
"Yû-chan, don't. This was not your fault. If anything, it was mine. I was stupid enough to think that my plan would work."
"Yû-kun!"
Yûichirô started, immediately sitting in his bed. Blinking a few times, it took him several seconds to realise where he was, and whose voice had called him.
"Yû-kun! Wake up! We're waiting for you for breakfast, the girls cooked it and they will be angry if you don't come downstairs."
Yoichi had a sheepish smile on his face, his head poking through the door cracked open.
"Why don't you admit that you just don't want to have to eat it all by yourself?" Yûichirô yawned, aware of the girls' ability to cook: close to zero, "I'll be there in a sec."
"Okay!" Yoichi exclaimed, closing the door and running to the kitchen.
"Fuck." Yûichirô muttered under his breath. He stood up, looking around, "Mika? Are you there?"
Just as he expected, no one replied. Where was Mika now? Was it all just a dream? It felt so real it was confusing.
He washed his face, got dressed, and headed downstairs to the common room, where the rest of his squad was sitting.
He didn't want to be here, and he didn't like that he had been stirred from his dream either, just when he was finally reunited with Mika, and mostly in the middle of a talk...
Shinoa handed him a plate full of... something supposed to be food as he sat next to Yoichi.
Unfortunately, it tasted even worse than it looked.
"Seriously girls, why do you impose us your poor cooking skills, what did we do to deserve that?" Kimizuki said after swallowing the first bite with difficulty.
Even Yûichirô would never have dared to say that out loud, and for a reason, as he saw Mitsuba jump from her chair and slap the other boy, her eyes glaring daggers.
"That's what we get for taking care of feeding you boys?" she spat angrily.
"We'll never cook again!" Shinoa sulked, forking in the pile on her plate.
"That's kind of the point." Kimizuki replied, rubbing his cheek, pushing the plate away from him.
Yoichi kept on eating, not wanting to be impolite, but he was starting to feel sick.
"You don't like it either! Say it!" Mitsuba yelled at the poor petite boy who was doing his best to hide his disgust while swallowing.
"No! It's okay... I guess..." Yoichi was shared between lying to spare the girls' feelings, and say the truth so they would never have to eat something like that again.
"Guys, I have a question." Yûichirô gave everyone a welcoming distraction from the horrid breakfast, "How do you interact with your demon? I mean, when you have dreams, are they just dreams or is it something more? More real?"
"No Yûichirô, wet dreams don't count as real." Shinoa teased him, poking out her tongue.
The others chuckled, but Yûichirô ignored her comment. He really needed to know.
"I talked with mine yesterday." Yoichi said, "It's still fresh so I'm not sure how it happens yet, but I think I was dreaming, and we talked."
Yûichirô was on the edge of his seat, eager to know more.
"I woke up and he wasn't there so I think I was dreaming, but it was more like he would appear in my dream to talk to me than just me having a dream about my demon, if that makes sense." Yoichi explained.
"It's not dreams," Mitsuba huffed, "You rookies don't know shit!"
"It's hard to tell, it doesn't feel like sleeping but my demon never appeared to me when I wasn't closing my eyes, but I've barely had it for two days so I wouldn't know." Yoichi added, averting his eyes from Mitsuba's glare.
"Demons are real and we sealed a pact with them, so it's normal that they show themselves to us to communicate." Kimizuki said as he stood up and deposited his plate in the sink before leaving the room.
Shinoa gathered the rest of the plates and began to do the dishes.
"They can appear if you summon them, like I showed you the other day when you wanted to steal my scythe. But why do you ask Yûichirô, did something happen?"
"No, it was just out of curiosity..."
"Demons like to talk to their owners, it's normal." the girl smiled to him.
Yûichirô nodded. So it might not be just a dream, to his relief.
But his encounter with Mika had been abruptly cut, and he was hoping that he would be able to resume it at some point. Yûichirô wanted to hold on to the belief that it was really Mika, not just an hallucination, or worse: a trick from a demon that wasn't Mika. But he didn't really think it could be the case. How could a demon make him feel the same way that Mika used to? No, that was impossible, it had to be his long lost friend... The boy wasn't even sure that he was simply trusting his gut feeling, or if he was trying to persuade himself.
He wouldn't even be able to cope with it if it wasn't really Mika, or if these were just hallucinations...
The day was spent training, but everyone could tell that Yûichirô wasn't into what he was doing. Mitsuba finally decided to end it when the boy was almost hurt by a blow he could have easily dodged otherwise.
Yûichirô didn't even oppose: all he could think about was the moment he would be able to go to sleep.
Dismissing dinner – he was way too impatient to go to bed – Yûichirô went back to his room, showered quickly, and slid under the sheets.
It was an early time to go to bed, and sleep didn't come as fast as he wished.
But Yûichirô held on despite his rumbling stomach, he had to dream, he had to meet Mika again...
After a while though, he finally gave up and slid out of bed to fetch food. He made himself a sandwich in the kitchen that he ate on the way back to his room. Once back, he sat criss cross on the bed, and tried to relax.
A cold breeze brushed strands away from his face, and he realised that the window was open, although he was one hundred percent sure that it was closed when he had left his room. It was too cold outside at night to let it open anyway.
Everything started to turn around him suddenly, and Yûichirô felt like he was floating, the bed a mere raft as he found himself in the void again.
"Don't be scared, I'm here." the familiar voice came to his ears before he saw anything, but soon, Mika was sitting across of him. Yûichirô couldn't distinguish the bed anymore but he was feeling it under him, strangely.
"Mika... I was afraid that I might not see you again... or that it wasn't really you."
"I'm not leaving you, we have a deal, remember?" Mika smiled, his hand reaching for his friend's, squeezing it lightly in reassurance.
Yûichirô blushed, retrieving his hand instinctively in an attempt to hide his embarrassment, but Mika frowned. He looked hurt, but said nothing.
"Will you come in my dreams all the time?" Yûichirô tried to change the subject. He had reacted a bit abruptly, but he didn't want Mika to think that he actually enjoyed the physical contact. It was weird, and he didn't want Mika to imagine things.
"Yes, unless you don't want me to?" the blond boy couldn't hide the sting in his question.
"Of course I want you to! I've missed you!"
Mika seemed to relax a bit with this statement.
"Is there a way for me to see you outside of my dreams? In real life I mean."
"This is real life Yû-chan. What you call dreams are reality, I am truly here."
"But... why does it happen in my sleep then?"
"It happens in your mind, your body is still, but everything you experience here and now, your body feels it too. I know it is a weird concept to you, but the more we interact, the more you will get it."
"Okay..."
Yûichirô wasn't sure he understood but did he have a choice? It was already amazing that he had been reunited with Mika, he didn't need more than that for now.
"Let me show you." the blond boy came closer, and grabbed Yûichirô's hand again, pulling it to his mouth.
"OW!" Yûichirô pulled on his hand to free it from Mika's grasp, opening wide eyes at the droplets of blood forming along the small cut on his index, "Why did you do that?!"
He brought his finger to his mouth to suck on it, not missing Mika's look. The blond was staring at his lips with envy.
"Mika, you're scaring me right now..." Yûichirô had to admit that he wasn't feeling exactly at ease with his friend biting him and now looking like he was about to pounce him.
"I'm sorry Yû-chan!" Mika seemed to snap, the softness in his eyes coming back, "I just wanted you to see it for yourself, when you wake up."
But Yûichirô was focused on something else, suddenly realising something.
Carefully, he brought his uninjured index to Mika's mouth, slightly raising his upper lip, discovering a pointy fang.
"You have vampire fangs..." Yûichirô whispered. He hadn't expected that, Mika had refused to drink blood so he wasn't a vampire, but he had the fangs anyway?
"They came when Krul made me drink her blood, and for some reason they stayed..."
Yûichirô began to understand the meaning of Mika's look a little earlier: "Do you feel the need to drink blood?"
Mika seemed reluctant to reply, which only confirmed Yûichirô's suspicions.
"Tell me Mika. It won't change anything, I'm just trying to understand how it works for you."
"Yû-chan... I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you, it was stupid... I try not to think about it but yes, sometimes, I feel like I'm going to go insane if I don't drink blood, and I acted without thinking... This is not what crossed my mind at first but I couldn't do that so... and then it was too late, you were bleeding and I just..." Mika had to keep the truth from his friend, he couldn't tell him everything because Yûichirô would force him to drink his blood if he knew, "Forget it, I'm fine now."
And there was no way he told Yûichirô what his initial idea was, because it was obvious that his friend was indeed just his friend. And if Yûichirô didn't want him in his mind, then he was doomed.
"Like hell I'm gonna forget it! And what is it that you couldn't do? You're not making much sense you know?"
Mika wasn't surprised that Yûichirô reacted like that, it was very much like him. But he regretted saying so much now, he should just have shut up.
"You're not going to like it so forget it."
"No way."
"Yû-chan..."
"Mika, I have all night and you know I'm stubborn so spit it out already."
"I could just leave and let you sleep."
"Is that a threat?" But Yûichirô's voice came out weak instead of the harsher tone he had initially wanted to put into his words. The sole idea of Mika leaving was heartbreaking...
As much as he fought them back, tears were threatening to fall, and Mika didn't miss his glistening eyes.
"Yû-chan, really, it's nothing... and I'm not leaving, promise."
Mika pulled Yûichirô into his arms, forgetting about the obvious reluctance his friend had showed earlier at their physical contact. When his friend was in that state, he just couldn't stay there and watch him cry.
The way Yûichirô clung to him suddenly surprised Mika. He was half expecting to be pushed away. Yûichirô had not refused the embraces the previous times, but Mika had put that on account of the happiness of the reunion, but now he wasn't sure he understood what was going on with his friend.
The hug lasted a long moment, until Yûichirô spoke again.
"Tell me." he whispered, his head nested in the crook of Mika's neck.
"Okay but don't freak out, it was just a bad idea that crossed my mind."
"Okay."
"A hickey."
Yûichirô, his arms still around Mika's waist, straightened to look at the latter in the eyes: "What? Seriously?"
Mika averted his gaze: "I told you it was a bad idea. I was just trying to think of something visible physically."
Yûichirô stayed silent for a few seconds, still staring at his friend, who was feeling totally awkward now.
Was Mika... blushing?
Something ignited in Yûichirô's gut. Butterflies.
When he woke up the next day, Yûichirô indeed had a cut to his finger. Staring at it, the butterflies came back at the thought of Mika giving him a hickey. Fuck, now he had a problem down south.
Getting rid of his pyjamas, he hopped under the shower, a little ashamed as he literally took the matter in hand.
