A/N: It has been far too long since an update. I honestly don't know when I'll get to a steady update schedule. All I can promise is to do my best and write every day. Now, onto the chapter! R&R. Enjoy!
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"Tadashi! Could you please get Hiro?" Aunt Cass called out to her eldest nephew as she ran from the kitchen down into the café. "It's going to be a busy day today! I can tell!"
"Sure, Aunt Cass," Tadashi replied. He stopped doing the dishes that had already piled up like crazy – his aunt had been right when she said it was busy – and dried off his hands. With the noise of chatting customers coming from the café, he headed up the stairs to his and Hiro's bedroom.
"Hiro? Hey, Hiro? Are you up?" Tadashi called as he got closer to the bedroom door, which was closed. He put his hand on the knob and turned it only to find that it was locked. Frowning, Tadashi knocked gently on the door.
"Hiro? Hiro? What's wrong? Why is the door locked?" Tadashi asked. No response came. He pressed his ear to the door and listened. Hiro was definitely inside; Tadashi could hear him moving. So, why wasn't he answering him? What was wrong?
"Hiro, if you don't open this door right now, I will break it down," Tadashi threatened. In truth, he was far more worried than he was angry or anything.
He knew Hiro was alive in there and that he wasn't hurt, but he was worried. Hiro wasn't acting like himself. As he listened once more, he thought he could hear a sniffle, a barely discernible sob, so muffled that he wasn't sure if he had actually heard it. Tadashi took a few steps back and then rammed his shoulder against the door. It instantly banged open, causing such a loud sound that Tadashi knew Aunt Cass heard it down in the busy cafe.
Frantic, heart racing, fearing something awful had happened to Hiro, Tadashi's eyes scanned the room. First, to his part of the room, where his bed was, where he and Hiro slept every single night. The bed was perfectly made and Hiro was not there. Then his eyes immediately went to the other side of the room, the side with Hiro's bed - that he rarely ever slept in - and desk - that he was often at, tinkering away on one thing his genius mind came up with or another.
And it was there, on that rarely used bed, that Tadashi found a Hiro sized lump underneath his blanket.
Upon seeing his little brother and mate curled up under the blanket, with no visible threat in sight, Tadashi's body relaxed and he ran a hand through his short, black hair. He crossed the short distance between himself and Hiro and sat down on the bed behind Hiro.
"Hiro? You scared me. Why didn't you answer me?" Tadashi asked, his voice gentle. He didn't want to bring up the sniffle-sob he may have or may not have heard.
Hiro didn't answer him. He didn't even acknowledge that Tadashi was there, which was extremely weird and alarming. Usually, if Tadashi was in a room, Hiro would be right by his side, touching him in some way with no regards to Tadashi's personal space - not that Tadashi would ever push him away anyway. Over the past four years, Hiro has grown; he's no longer than tiny, awkward six year old. He was now a tiny, awkward ten year old, and he was undeniably adorable in every way. But, he was still touchy-feely with Tadashi just as he's always been. Except for right now, which was strange.
"Hiro?" Tadashi repeated, his concern starting to make itself evident in his voice. "Come on, Hiro. Talk to me."
At last, Hiro moved, but instead of moving towards Tadashi, he moved away from him and closer to the edge of the bed. He let out a barely audible sniffle, the same one Tadashi had heard earlier, and that made the elder Hamada frown deeply. Pulling back the covers and kicking his shoes off, Tadashi crawled underneath the blanket and wrapped his larger body around Hiro's smaller one.
Thankfully, and much to his relief, Hiro didn't stiffen or freeze when Tadashi enveloped him in his arms. Insteadt, he just let Tadashi hold him, not moving, not responding, acting more doll-like than human, than vampire. It worried the elder Hamada more than he could successfully put into words. This...this was not his Hiro. Hiro didn't act like this, had never before acted like this. It was almost as though he were a pod person and the real Hiro was elsewhere. He had no idea what to do, no idea what to do to try and comfort his mate and brother. All he could do really was lay there behind him and hold him until he was ready.
Eventually, his patience paid off.
Hiro took a deep breath and his entire body seemed to shudder and tremble. Still, Tadashi held him, breathing normally, trying to be the calming force that Hiro obviously needed. A sniffle broke the silence that had descended upon their shared room and Tadashi listened as Hiro began to speak.
"Tadashi...there's...there's something...wrong with me," Hiro said, his voice full of conviction and truth even though it trembled, full of emotion. Tadashi felt his heart break into a thousand tiny pieces just listening to it.
"No, Hiro. You're wrong. Theres' nothing wrong with you," Tadashi told him and he tightened his grip on Hiro's small body. He felt Hiro's head shake back and forth, silently telling him 'no'.
"Tadashi, no, listen," Hiro said, his voice cracking slightly. "There is something...wrong with me. I know it. I feel it."
"Hiro, there is nothing-" Tadashi tried again, but Hiro cut him off.
"Tadashi, listen to me!" Hiro said, sounding far older than ten, sounding far over than anyone Tadashi had ever met, vampire or human. He sounded as though he had lived a thousand lifetimes and had experienced so many indescribable things. "Listen...to me," he repeated. "Tadashi, I...I'm not normal."
"No one's normal, Hiro," Tadashi tried to reassure him gently, though he wasn't sure how well he did. It was a pretty weak protest to begin with anyway.
"No, I... It's... I can't...explain..." Hiro stumbled over his words, trying to put into words what he felt. All Tadashi could do was keep quiet and listen as he held his mate. "I... It's...it's hard to... It'll sound insane."
"Hiro, no matter what you say, I will believe you. I will always believe you. Never doubt that," Tadashi said, pressing a kiss to the back of Hiro's head for good measure. He felt Hiro breath again and then felt his body relax as much as it could, which wasn't a whole lot.
"Tadashi, I... I have these...urges," Hiro began and for a moment, Tadashi's blood ran cold. He was half afraid that he'd have to give Hiro the birds and the bees talk and he was definitely not ready for that. Would he ever be, really? Was that even something he should discuss with his baby brother and mate?
"What do you mean by 'urges'?" Tadashi asked. Hiro sighed, shuddered really, trembled, as he released a breath.
"There have been... instances where I've been around you and..." Hiro started and then stopped, clearly triyng to find the words to relay to Tadashi what was going on inside of his head.
"Take your time," Tadashi told him, nuzzling his hair, breathing in his scent.
"I think about you a lot!" Hiro blurted and Tadashi didn't need to see his face to tell that he was blushing. With a soft smile, Tadashi buried his nose in Hiro's unruly locks.
"Well, I think about you a lot too, Hiro," he said.
"Do you think about sucking my blood too?" Hiro quipped back.
Tadashi's eyes widened a bit. He hadn't expected that. Actually, that wasn't exactly true; he had expected that, just not this soon. Hiro was only ten and yet here he was, talking about a subject that was usually only discussed by adult vampires. However, Hiro wasn't just any vampire; he was the Vampire King and the first ever naturally born vampire. So, it would make sense that things would be very different. Aside from that, though, Hiro was special, gifted, in so many different ways. Really, Tadashi should have seen this coming.
Even more than that, he should have anticipated it and prepared to answer whatever questions Hiro had. To an extent, he has, but he was still vastly unprepared for the actual conversation. How was he to put into words what he and Hiro were, what Aunt Cass was? How was he to even begin to explain what they were, how they were different, how their world, their society was? How was he to explain to Hiro how important he was, how needed he was, how so very different he was from anyone else on Earth? How was he to explain to Hiro what it meant to be a vampire? How was he to explain any of this?
So many thoughts were racing through his mind. Tadashi was half panicked, half zoned out. This could do one of two ways: either Hiro would take it well or he wouldn't. It was that simple. Hiro was incredibly intelligent, extraordinarily so; if Tadashi explained, he would understand. The evidence was too strong to dispute it, but that didn't mean Hiro had to like it or even accept it. After all, he was still ten; granted, he was a genius, but he was still ten.
Then again, there was also the possibility that Hiro had already noticed the signs. He was quite observant; it was very likely that he had picked up on how Aunt Cass and Tadashi were, some of the things they talked about, how different from humans they could be. When they became protective or angry, they became fierce, animinalist even. It wasn't hard to miss. Plus, it didn't hurt that half of the customers that came to their small cafe were vampires themselves, wanting to see their King, asking Cass and Tadashi how he was, saying hi, cooing at him, giving him looks of adoration and even worship. There was no way he could miss that, not in a million years.
Putting that to the side and focusing on Hiro's question, yes, Tadashi often felt the nearly uncontrollable urge to drink his mate's blood, to taste it on his tongue at last, to form that everlasting connection with him at long last. He had been putting it off because Hiro was still so young, but it was becoming harder, especially since Hiro was more than aware of the attraction their both shared to each other. They had kissed several times, had had full on make-out sessions a few times, but nothing went too far. As much as it would sometimes drive Tadashi insane to have his mate so close and yet so far, he had often thought that it was for the best. So long as he was by Hiro's side, giving him protection, seeing him happy, he could get through his desire to taste that sweet, delicious blood that coursed through his dear mate's veins. It sometimes drove him insane, to the point where the line between clarity and madness blurred so very dangerously, yet he always prevailed somehow. Aunt Cass was amazed; such a thing was unheard of. A vampire either gave in to their urges and took their mate's blood or they went mad.
Yet here they were, defying the odds once more.
"I do, Hiro. I do think about drinking your blood," Tadashi admitted to his brother, pressing a soft kiss to the back of his neck. He felt Hiro shudder and a small spark shot up through his entire body, almsot as though it were lighting Tadashi on fire.
"Why? That...that isn't normal," Hiro whispered, his voice so soft that it was almost as though he were praying for any kind of normalcy.
But they were vampires; normal wasn't exactly in their dictionary.
"You're right. It's not normal, not for humans," Tadashi replied. "But we're not humans, Hiro. We're vampires, and it's completely normal for us."
And there it was, out in the open at long last. Tadashi had finally told him what they were, why they seemed to different from the humans Hiro was often around. Now that he knew, it would either go over well or not. He dreaded how things would turn out if it didn't go over well. Still holding Hiro in his arms, Tadashi waited with baited breath for Hiro's response.