Chapter Title: We Welcome Them Graciously Into Our Home ...Or Not

Rating: PG-15/R (chapter/story)

Chapter: 10/?

Warnings: dream, kissing, allusions to horrible things, arguments and fights, slight brief nudity, parental actions, yadiyada...

Disclaimer: Gackt owns Moon Child right? (I guess that means he own Kei too huh? *wiggles eyebrows*)

Pairings: Luka/Kei, Lindsay/David, slight barely even thereness Kei/Sho

Jaded's fore-words: HAPPY CHRISTERMASTER AND MERRY HOLIDAYS! AND A WONDERFUL BOXING DAY TO YOU ALL! I hope everyone punched someone in the face. So I hope everyone's had some fun holidays and etc. I liketh this chapter cuz I hearts David hardcore so uh... Have fun reading and remember to give me lots of reviews and commentses on this one cuz I hearts it and all and wanna know all about it.

[dream-thoughts or conscious thoughts while dreaming]

[The beach again.]

The dark night sky was slowly fading to the early blue-black color that appears just before the dawn. Hesitant moon beams washed in with the surf as they walked along the sand near the water's edge, a fascinating silver shimmering on Luka's face. [Kei remembered now, that they had gone to the beach the day Luka died, before the sun had risen, and talked.]

"Luka," Kei said quietly, watching his lover's face. A slight turn of the head told Kei he was listening. "Dawn's close." Luka flinched at the word 'dawn.' "We need to get somewhere protected."

"You go. I'm done," Luka said equally as quiet. Melancholy touched his tone gently.

"Luka…?" Kei asked with trepidation. "Luka, you can't mea-"

"Kei, I can't. Not anymore," Luka said with heavy, jaded breaths. [What had caused Luka to give up? Kei couldn't remember.]

"I can't believe you're giving up so easily!" Kei cried, anger and pain twisting inside his chest in a writhing ball of fire. He grabbed at the sleeve of Luka's jacket, tugging his lover around to face him.

A too familiar hand held his face as he cried silently, warm tears streaming down his cheeks to drip onto the cold sand below. Kei's fist tightened around the handful of fabric clutched in his fingers as a forehead pressed against his own. His free hand grabbed Luka's wrist. Lips pressed soothingly against his and he let out a soft sob against them. [Kei couldn't think of any other time in his life he felt like such a woman. And he didn't even know what he had been crying in the first place.]

"Think of it like this, Kei," Luka whispered, a sense of pleading entering his voice. "You stay here and keep looking while I go there to look." [That was bullshit. They both knew it.]

"You really believe he's dead?" Kei choked out, wishing Luka would hold him and tell him they'd find Kiyoshi, like when he'd first disappeared and every day was filled with hope.

"I pray to anything that listens he's not," Luka responded, kissing Kei's lips again, lingering, savoring. "But Kei, sometimes you just have to face the reality of what might've happened. It is possible he's dead. We lost all leads and-"

"I don't care," Kei interrupted venomously, jerking back slightly. "I won't stop looking for him. …I refuse to give up on him."

"Then live, Kei," Luka whispered, tugging Kei forward with a hand on the blonde's neck. His lips pressed against salty skin and slightly gritty locks of pale gold. "Live for him and look for him. And always know that I'm sorry I couldn't stay."

Kei sniffled. [This was when he thought about that night they fled Japan when the world as they knew it collapsed around them. Kei remembered how much he resented Luka for giving up after they'd ended up in Mallepa to make things easier for Kei. But now Kei couldn't remember why he needed special treatment in the first place. Had he been ill or something?]

The sun was pinkening the sky and causing a faint white glow to appear on the horizon where it would crest.

"I'm sorry, Kei," Luka apologized. Kei's grip on his lover tightened for a second before his fists relaxed and Luka slipped away from Kei, brushing past him.

…

"Yuugure ni kimi to mita Orenji no Taiyou~

nakisou na kao wo shite eien no sayonara… "

Kei watched Luka burning in the sun, singing that soft melody he had used to soothe Kei when he'd found the blonde as a newly transformed vampire, confused and in pain and overly-sensitive to everything around him, then he turned and ran for a safer shelter.

…

Years later… He was starved and exhausted and depressed and found by a young boy in a dilapidated concrete building. He had no idea why he was so exhausted. He attributed the depression and his starved state to his lost companion - the man he had as a lover. He was so thirsty… The boy's neck smelled so delicious in the dusty building. His innocent eyes reminded Kei so much of-…

Kei jerked with a soft gasp and his eyes fluttered open quickly. Artistic light partition bars, wall, chair, living room on the other side, daybed, the tv running… everything was as it should be.

"Kei?" David inquired softly to get the vampire's attention. Kei turned his head toward the door to find the teen kneeling on the wood floor next to the daybed instead holding Kei's clenching and unclenching hand, blocking most of Kei's view of the door.

"Was it a particularly horrible nightmare?" He asked with concern shining in his eyes. Kei let go of David's sweaty hand, breathing heavily as he pushed himself up to sit.

"What time is it?" Kei asked, his voice hoarse, and was promptly handed a half-full glass of red liquid. It smelled like blood. He sipped it. It was blood. He raised an eyebrow at David who looked away guiltily.

"Couple hours till sunset," David muttered under his breath.

Kei sighed and leaned his forehead on the palm of his empty hand, elbow propped on his knee.

"And where's Sho? He was here when I fell asleep this afternoon."

"Out with Yi-Che and Son."

Kei exhaled lightly, glad that his human companion who he most-definitely-didn't-have-feelings-for-but-maybe-definitely-found-attractive was out enjoying the day instead of moping around the apartment while he slept. He ignored the small twist of nausea related to that same thought in his stomach and esophagus.

"Do you want to talk about your dream?" David hesitantly inquired and Kei distracted himself by gulping down the blood in the glass.

"I'm fine, David. I'm used to it-"

"I have nightmares too, Kei. Fucked up, horrible nightmares but no matter how many times I have them I'm always glad for someone there when I wake up. You can't tell me that they don't bother you and you can just brush them off!"

Kei gave David a calculating look, taking in the tentative, fearful, angry, upset look in his hazel eyes. David glanced down at his hands in his lap, fiddling with his black tank-top's hem.

"Please stop pushing me away. I'm sorry if what I said made you uncomfortable and angry when I brought up Sho. I was just-" David trembled noticeably, the sudden shaking of his body interrupting his voice and making it difficult to speak. "I don't like people being upset. I was just trying to make you feel better. …it obviously didn't work."

Kei smiled soothingly, unable to find himself anything but worried about David's behavior, and reached down, pulling the teen up onto the daybed with him by his arms. David startled and stared at Kei confused but leaned into his embrace when he pulled him closer. He could feel David's body trembling and he felt at loss. What was wrong? How could he fix it? Was there something going on?

Before Kei could even open his mouth, David inhaled deeply and let out all the air in his lungs with a great sigh, relaxing. For several long moments the trembling was gone and then it was back. Barely there but still happening. But with each breath, David relaxed more and more against Kei and the shaking in his muscles slowed and stopped.

Kei pulled him into his lap, hugging him like a child.

"What was that about?" He asked David with concern.

"Sometimes when I get really emotional about something I just start shaking, whether I'm angry or sad or excited. It just has to be strong emotions and suddenly I'm shaking so much I might as well be vibrating like toothbrush," David explained in a thick voice, sounding very drained. Kei "mm"ed in understanding and stroked his fingers through David's hair.

After a while he realized the young teen was dozing off when drool started creating a wet spot on his shirt. He gently shook David.

"When was the last time you slept?" He asked quietly near David's pierced ear. David groaned and shifted.

"Twenty….nine? hours ago? …maybe…?" Was the mumbled answer he received caught with a yawn.

"Why?"

David stiffened almost imperceptibly in his arms. Then he cleared his throat.

"Nightmares…. They've been… particularly horrible, recently."

That would make sense, Kei reasoned with himself. The way David had reacted to his nightmare had seemed a bit odd, for it not being his own. But it would make sense that David was having nightmare troubles and Kei was so easily brushing off his own nightmare. David probably felt like Kei would do the same if he told him.

"You need sleep," Kei stated and laid David down with care onto the bed they were sitting on.

"I've stayed awake longer," David protested, even as his body was barely under his control and his eyes were already fluttering shut.

"I don't doubt it," Kei said with a chuckle. "But you definitely need sleep."

"Can I have a blanket?" David questioned, implying he wanted Kei to go get a blanket for him to snuggle under. Kei nodded and stood up. He walked into David's bedroom and came out a little bit later with Bob on his shoulder and David's black and silver comforter bunched up in his arms. Without a word he tossed it over David so it covered the teen completely, letting David shift until he was comfortable.

Not even a moment later David was suddenly whisked into the twilight realm of dreaming, falling quickly towards the bottom of Morpheus' abyss. His lips parted with a soft breath and his lips had a light sheen in the corner. Bob jumped from Kei's shoulder, wings humming as he floated down on top of David's waist, sliding to curl up against his stomach. Kei leaned down and kissed David's temple, brushing his pink hair back and feeling very parental.

He sighed, wondering again at how attached to David he'd gotten as he walked toward the kitchen with the empty glass he'd discarded onto the floor.

His dream was all but forgotten.

It was dusk when later that night Sho flung the door open calling Kei's name.

"Shhh!" Kei hushed him from the couch, pointing at David sleeping soundly on his bed. "If you wake him up, I'll be forced to punch you."

"Oh. Sorry," Sho said but quickly rushed over to Kei, disregarding the vampire's shirtless state. Kei didn't even remember he'd taken his shirt off earlier when he had accidentally splashed blood-water onto it when rinsing the glass from earlier.

"Come with me," Sho practically demanded and grabbed Kei's wrist. Kei expertly slipped his hand away.

"Come with you where?" He questioned with a frown.

"To the beach. Son, Toshi, Yi-Che and I are going and I want you to come with. Not to mention Son and Toshi have been wondering what's up with you recently and Yi-Che seemed eager for you to come along when I brought it up," Sho said and snatched up Kei's wrist again, looking all the more like a little kid.

"What about David? We're not going to wake him up and I'm not leaving him here-"

"He'll be fine," Sho dismissed, waving off Kei's concern for the teen while dragging Kei toward the door. "He's been alone before and besides, Gabe wanted to come over and hang out with him later."

Kei sighed and jerked his hand free from Sho's grip, not seeing the mildly hurt glimmer that flashed in Sho's eyes before disappearing into confusion.

"I need a shirt, Sho," Kei said and smiled amusedly and Sho glanced at his chest, blushing in embarrassment for being so stupid (not anything else at all~). He coughed and turned the other direction.

"Uh yeah, that would be useful and uh… Just go get a shirt and stop laughing at me!" Sho demanded and stomped his foot with his arms crossed, looking like a five-year-old princess who wasn't getting her way.

Kei just chuckled in amusement and walked away into Sho's room where his extra clothes were. He grabbed one of his favorite low-necked, white, peasant shirts and pulled it on before returning to the living room.

"Sho?" He called softly, wondering where the tall man was when he didn't see his head of braids anywhere in the living room.

"Yeah?" Sho answered back from Kei's daybed area. Kei walked over with his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall, looking at Sho who was sitting in his customary chair, staring fondly at David. He glanced at the blonde.

"He was talking in his sleep," Sho said for explanation. Kei nodded with a quirk of his lips.

"Anyway," Sho said and stood up. "We should get going before Toshi touches something in the car and breaks it."

He brushed past Kei, causing Kei to tense up while he was impossibly close for a split second. Kei smelled Sho's wonderfully addicting scent, his hot blood coursing through his veins, and felt his warmth seep into his skin before Sho was on the other side of the living room and Kei was left grappling for control over his silly putty willpower.

"Kei? You coming?" Sho asked when he reached the door.

"Mmhm," Kei said and spun around with a last glance at David and Bob. He instructed Sho to lock to door and Sho didn't protest, already planning on doing it anyway. Gabe would know how to get in anyway. They knew she knew.

"Sho, wait," Kei stage whispered urgently, hopping up the steps of their flat to stop Sho from opening the front door.

"What?" Sho asked quietly, mildly annoyed and wondering why Kei stopped him.

"Listen*," Kei said, mooning at the door.

"The parents are home," Gabe's voice intoned from inside as Sho put his ear to the door.

"Parents? What?" A different, female-sounding voice questioned.

"David's pretend parents. The two guys that own this place," Gabe said monotonously.

"Shut up, woman," David playfully barked, almost sounding a bit sullen, like he didn't like the casual way she referred to Sho and Kei. There was an amused snort.

"Hey, fuck you, Lindsay," David retorted to the snort and there was the sound of two bodies rolling around on the floor.

Sho glanced at Kei who was staring intently at the door, probably trying to imagine the scuffle happening in their apartment. Kei returned the look briefly before Sho turned the doorknob and swept into the apartment with a stony glare. Kei was right behind him, seeming a bit more casual except for the questioning frown on his face.

They both froze in the entryway, the door clicking shut behind them.

After a quick scan of the people in the living room (noticing the two blondes new to the group) both their gazes landed on David.

David who was straddling some blonde guy's hips, shirtless, hands on the floor on either side of the guy's head, with a burning cigarette held between his middle and forefinger. His head was turned to the side where Sho and Kei were standing, a flush creeping over his face.

The blonde guy he was on top of was casually laying on his back, one hand on David's hip with a lit cigarette held similarly to David's, the other holding a glass of something alcoholic (Sho and Kei both were guessing because of the smell of it in the apartment) out to the side so as to not spill it. He turned his head, blankly looking at Sho and Kei, seemingly giving them a once-over.

An almost imperceptible tapping noise was heard as Gabe knocked the burned contents of a pipe into an ashtray in the middle of their gathering, filled mostly with cigarette butts. Sho glared at the action, knowing what had been in the pipe. The blonde girl sitting on her knees next to Gabe made a squeaking noise at the loathing expression his eyes directed in her general direction.

"What's going on here, David?" Kei questioned evenly, stepping up and placing a calming hand on Sho's arm in warning. He stared at the blushing teen who was avoiding his gaze, instead opting to examine the burning cherry of his cigarette.

There was a tense silence as everyone waited for him to speak. Then he sat back on the blonde's hips, the cigarette between his lips as he expertly drew in a tobacco-filled breath through the filter, and he glanced at the two men whose home they were in and spoke with practiced ease and nonchalance.

"Nothing," he answered with a small shrug, blowing smoke on a sigh. "We're just hanging out."

Kei consciously noted the almost obscenely different way David was acting compared with the way he and Sho knew him to be. He glanced at the blonde under David, who by this time had moved to prop himself up on one elbow facing him and Sho. Maybe he was acting this way because of the two new teens…? A tremble of anger from Sho, felt via Kei's hand on his shoulder, brought him back from his contemplations.

"Gabe, I suggest you get your things together and leave now. Take your friends with you, too," Kei commanded quietly, glancing at the mildly stunned blonde girl as Gabe grabbed her urn and tossed her pipe in. She stood and offered a hand to the blonde girl.

"C'mon, Max," Gabe said, pulling the girl to her feet once she grabbed her hand. "Lets go before shit hits a fan."

"Yeah, uh, good idea," the girl dubbed Max muttered following Gabe as she waltzed out the door, Max herself skirting around Kei and Sho and throwing an exaggerated 'oh-you're-in-trouble-now' look at David before pulling the door closed behind her and Gabe.

Sho glared at the blonde, whom David was still sitting on, as he snubbed his cigarette in the ashtray with David's, leaning impossibly close to David to do it. Both men caught the hand on David's lower back, steadying him as he shifted in the blonde's lap, David whispering something into his ear. From the burn in Sho's eyes, Kei interpreted that he didn't approve of the blatant display in front of them and expected the older blonde to leave as well. Kei wasn't too pleased either.

He especially wasn't pleased when David sighed softly, heavily, and the blonde leaned forward to press his lips to David collarbone in a comforting kiss, palms pressing against the smaller teen's back.

Then David was raising himself up from his lap and offering a hand to the blonde, all this under the scrutinizing gazes of Sho and Kei. When both were on their feet they turned and faced the older males in the room, standing close so their arms touched. Kei took in the fact that the top of David's head barely came up to the blonde's chin and came to the nagging conclusion that he was definitely older than David.

"What's this?" Sho asked bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest and staring evilly at the blonde as though he were a cockroach under a microscope for sadistic inspection.

"This is… Lindsay, my lover," David said, pausing in his introduction to glance at the blonde's reassuring expression.

"You're what?" Sho questioned dangerously, narrowed eyes flickering a glance at David before resting once more on Lindsay with dangerous intent.

"My lover, Sho. I do believe that I mentioned a couple times that I'm gay," David said with snark and glare for Sho too.

"That's not even-"

"Sho, go get an extra blanket and pillow," Kei ordered calmly, ever the presence of calm and reason.

"What?" Sho exclaimed rounding on the vampire.

"He can sleep on the couch," Kei explained with a look towards Sho that had the taller man's expression changing to smug. He turned and stalked down the hall. Kei didn't notice since he was too busy taking note of a look of their own passing between Lindsay and David.

"How old is he?" Kei asked, staring at David for an answer as the closet door banged open near Sho's bedroom.

"More or less nineteen." The answer came from Lindsay and not David, causing Kei to send a suspicious glare his way.

"Five years?" Kei inquired cooly, the question completely rhetorical. He glanced between the two, noticing how David's countenance had changed from being somewhat annoyed and embarrassed to completely defensive and challenging at the question. Lindsay's attitude was the same uncaring one he'd displayed toward him and Sho from the very beginning.

"Five years!" Sho practically shouted, hearing what Kei had said. He reentered the room holding a pillow and a haphazardly folded blanket in his hands. His glare was back as he focused on Lindsay.

"Technically four, since David considers himself fifteen," Lindsay said casually, easily matching their threatening glares with a muted one of his own.

"He told us he was fourteen," Sho said, now giving a suspicious eyebrow raise to David. The teen blushed lightly but never wavered in his defensive, challenging stance.

"I told you what was easiest to comprehend. Vampire children age progressively slower than humans. You wouldn't understand that I'm physically stuck between fourteen and fifteen but actually about sixteen or seventeen. Vampire children are basically stuck in limbo between being human and something more, a-k-a a vampire," David explained, voice flat as though he were talking about something he'd rather not. "I associate myself to being fifteen, since it's about in the middle."

"Why didn't you just tell us that then?" Kei asked, trying to understand but not able to banish the slight anger in his voice away.

"Because I feel the need to explain everything and when I told you, I wasn't in the mood for long-winded explanations and inquiries about everything," David intoned with annoyance.

"And how do you know all this about something even normal vampires don't have any idea about?" Sho retorted, realizing not for the first time that Kei knew almost less than he did about everything David told them. It made a spark of nervousness jump in his stomach as he thought to himself that David could be just feeding them bullshit and really be some kind of freaky, blood-obsessed teen jumping at the chance to live out some twisted fantasy. But even as his mind considered this, something inside told him everything David told them was true.

He was so immersed in his thoughts he almost missed the way David tensed at that question and subtly shifted closer to Lindsay, whose fingers gently caressed his forearm. It was a soothing gesture meant to give the suddenly colder looking teen support.

"Because I grew up around a large group of …orphaned vampire children," David pushed out with bite, a small, almost nonexistent tremor passing through him. "And I have a friend who somehow, by some slip of nature, knows everything in the entire fucking world."

Kei stared at David, knowing he was hiding something, and contemplated calling him out. Sho had no such moment of consideration.

"What aren't you telling us, David?" Sho questioned icily. He unconsciously took a step forward and the reaction was immediate in the other two.

David leaned back with a spark of something in his eyes that was gone once Lindsay pulled David's back against his chest, holding him protectively against his body while shooting a black look at Sho. Kei didn't have a chance to identify what the spark was.

"Back. Up," Lindsay practically growled at Sho, his slightly longer canines glimmering in the low light from the lamps.

"It's alright," David placated, placing his hand on Lindsay's thigh near his knee. Lindsay relaxed somewhat but still kept an eye on Sho.

"David," Kei called out barely above a whisper, his voice commanding attention all the more for it. "Go to your room. We're continuing this conversation tomorrow."

A flash of shock passed over David's face and froze there before he sighed and turned to face Lindsay. The blonde looked at him as he slipped one hand onto his shoulder while the other went into pale gold locks. David tugged him gently down for a kiss which Lindsay responded to wholeheartedly, hands going to David's hips. Barely seconds later they parted and David hugged Lindsay for the span of a deep breath before walking away towards his room, fetching his shirt from the floor on the way.

When the door clicked Kei returned his attention to Lindsay who was back to seeming uncaring, with a tint of cautiousness now.

"The couch is over there," he said and motioned towards where it was, opposite the room from his own bed. "The bathroom is the door on the right in the hall. The kitchen door is there, in the alcove between my bed and David's room. The kitchen, the bathroom, and the couch are the only places you're allowed."

Sho sneered and shoved the pillow and blanket into Lindsay's chest, causing him to stumble back slightly, before turning and stalking off into his own room at the end of the hall. Kei waited until his door closed before moving to his own bed on the other side of the partition. Lindsay went to the couch and stripped himself of shirt and shoes and socks before making himself comfortable on the couch.

The lights went out and the message was clear for both parties.

Don't try anything.

It wasn't exactly unexpected but Kei had hoped that it might have been avoidable. He couldn't even give an irked huff when David's door slipped open and clicked nearly silently shut a second later. He wanted to call David out, caught sneaking out of his room and creeping into the living room, but he'd regretfully already passed the threshold into more asleep than awake and it would take more than a couple minutes for his body to act according to his brain's will.

"What are you doing?" Lindsay whispered and Kei heard some shifting on the couch.

"Sneaking**," David responded equally as quiet. "So make room."

There was more shifting on the couch and Kei heard the furniture creak quietly under more weight. The whoosh of a blanket sounded and David sighed.

"Comfortable?" Lindsay questioned, amused.

"Nope. You're way more uncomfortable than the bed I just left," David muttered sarcastically and then squeaked. "Hey now, no pinching."

"Mmm, can I do this instead?" Lindsay murmured and Kei was finally able to force his eyes open just in time to see Lindsay slowly kissing David with one hand in his pink and black hair in the early-morning blue-black light glowing in the room. David was laying on top of the older teen under the blanket, propped up by his elbows above Lindsay's shoulders, his eyes closed as they kissed. After a minute David pulled back, breathing just a bit heavier than normal. Lindsay used his grip in David's hair to tilt his head back and attach his lips to David's neck instead. David sucked in a sharp breath, letting it out in a sigh after a moment.

"Careful," he breathed and Lindsay pulled away, loosening his hold and staring at David's face. He smiled roguishly at him. David rolled his eyes.

"When'd you become celibate?" Lindsay inquired teasingly and David tugged on a lock of his pale-gold hair.

"When I decided to live in an apartment with two parental men and then had a small party in said apartment with my two friends and boyfriend, thus getting my boyfriend on their bad side which ended up with him sleeping on the couch with the more-parental vampire-man barely asleep on the other side of the not-wall in the not-room nearby while I decided it might be fun to sneak out to the couch and sleep with my boyfriend, regardless of the parental vampire sleeping not ten feet away," David whispered quickly with a mock glare directed at the blonde underneath him.

"I forgot how snarky you could be," Lindsay muttered and David tugged on his hair again.

"You enjoy my snark. It makes things interesting."

"Oh, it does." Lindsay grinned and his hand moved under the blanket. David yelped and smacked Lindsay's shoulder before making a shush motion.

"Stop that or I'll knee you where it hurts," David growled and Lindsay chuckled.

"Okay, okay I get it-"

"You just don't want your junk injured."

"Go to sleep."

"I was planning on it until you started molesting me."

Lindsay scoffed and secretly Kei was cheering for David in his head. The small teen definitely had some hilarious control over his boy toy.

"You go to sleep then," David ordered and plopped down on Lindsay's chest, wiggling a bit to make himself comfortable. Lindsay oof-ed as David's weight expelled air from his lungs . He smiled though and wrapped his arm around the smaller teen's ribs, holding him close and closing his eyes.

Kei contemplated opening his mouth to send David back to his room and break up the happy couple's snuggle-moment but instead decided that nothing horrible would happen while he was sleeping about ten feet away and he just smirked, knowing Sho would inevitably wake before him and reveled in the thought of the man's reaction to what he'd find on the couch. Kei would let them have a moment but only because he knew Sho would be the one to shatter it in a few hours.

* lol Navi

** lol Smeagol/Gollum

Jaded's after-words: I have basically nothing to say... so uh, happy rainbow fucks to you all. :)