It was official—Aidan was developing some kind of deeply unfortunate, Pavlovian response to this setup. The moment he heard Sally and Nora call out their goodbyes on the floor above his he started counting the seconds until Josh arrived for dinner. Twenty excruciating minutes had elapsed before he heard him coming down the stairs, and by the time Josh pushed the door open, carrying a new box of supplies, Aidan's fangs were already out. It took all his willpower not to jump Josh like he was some sort of hapless back-alley blood bag, but he couldn't help the small rumbling sound that escaped his throat at the sight of him.

Josh, of course, noticed this, and the state Aidan was in, and put the pieces together at once. An embarrassed, surprised, and then vaguely apologetic look crossed over his face. That was when Aidan spotted what he was holding in the box; a series of small glass tubes, a stand for them to go in, a pre-packaged needle, and plastic tubing to be used as a tourniquet.

Now it was Aidan's turn to be embarrassed. With great effort, he sheathed his fangs and cleared his throat. "Got it."

"Yeah, it's gonna—I'm gonna be doing it this way. If that's cool." Josh slipped on his awkward word fumbling and fidgety gestures like an old coat.

"Alright," Aidan said, striving for nonchalance and not doing a very good job.

"Sorry," Josh said. He shook his head and put the box down on the edge of Aidan's bed. "It's just… Nora—"

"No, no! It's fine. Totally fine, understandable."

"She's worried about infection, and even though I told her I really don't think it works that way—"

"Josh, really," Aidan said, putting his hands up and wishing he was in any conversation but this one. It felt like he'd just been friend-zoned by his prom date and was now listening to a hasty (and needlessly lengthy) explanation about how he was just like a brother. Aidan was too old to feel this mortified by such weird, inconsequential things. "It's cool."

Uncomfortable silence settled down around them and Aidan sighed. This was to be expected. Josh busied himself with preparations for the blood drawing and Aidan tried to think of an excuse to leave the room that wouldn't make them even more awkward. He doubted his ability to keep his "normal face" on the moment Josh broke skin, which would be any minute now.

"So…" Josh said, carefully, as he swabbed at the crook of his elbow with an antiseptic wipe, "you don't think I can catch anything from you, either?"

"Nope… nope I don't," Aidan replied with a wry smile. Josh snapped the rubber tubing in place and Aidan swallowed around a dry, deserty ache in his throat at the sight of the veins of his arm starting to bulge outward. "... When you've been alive as long as I have you learn a thing or two about your own biology, and a thing or two about wolves."

"And nothing in that 'thing or two' suggests that we can contaminate each other with something like this?" Josh asked, becoming distracted and glancing up at Aidan for his reply.

"Josh, I can't even catch a cold from you."

"Hmm…" Josh said, frowning slightly as he pondered that. He looked at a point in the middle-distance while he thought, and Aidan took to staring unabashedly at his arm while he was preoccupied. Even without heightened vampire senses Aidan would have been able to see the strained, almost trapped blood in Josh's arm pumping against the surface of his skin.

Snap out of it, he coached himself, clearing his throat and managing to tear his eyes away. He resorted to picking at a threadbare part of his mattress. "Well… I can't blame you for wanting to do it this way. It would certainly be a lot less uncomfortable for you."

Josh spoke quickly, which made Aidan suspect he hadn't meant to blurt out what he said next. "No, I don't mind the other way… I mean—" He paused, back to uncomfortable, and floundered for a bit in the silence before he weakly finished it up with, "You know what I mean."

Aidan was like a shark that had scented blood… appropriately. He visibly perked up at that almost-admission and zeroed in on it, curiosity sharpening his gaze as he studied Josh's profile, his furrowed brow, and the slight, red creeping flush that was traveling up his neck. "Actually," he said, pleased that his voice was perfectly level and in-control, "I don't."

"Never mind," Josh said quickly, moving now to unwrap the pre-packaged needle. "I don't know what I'm talking about, this way is tidier."

Josh did like tidier. Aidan would give him that. He chose his words carefully, shrugging and glancing around the room as if idly looking for something interesting to watch. "I don't disagree. Only…" He glanced at Josh out of the corner of his eye and saw that he'd succeeded in engaging him in this subject. Josh looked up at him warily. "If I didn't know better I'd say you liked being fed from."

Josh's jaw dropped and he made expressions, but no sound for a second. "Aidan, what?"

"Come on, it's not like it's uncommon," Aidan insisted, rolling his eyes. "There are scores of humans who think being fed on feels..." He gestured in the air, willing Josh to finish that thought for him.

No such luck. "Feels?"

Aidan shrugged. "Good."

Josh shook his head rapidly like he was trying to get water off his face. "Dude—"

"Alright, alright!" Aidan responded, putting his hands up. "Forget I said anything, I was just curious. No big deal."

"Jesus."

Aidan rolled his eyes. "Now get on with it before you lose that arm."

Josh seemed to realized he was still holding his needle aloft, his bound arm still badly missing its circulation, and returned to his task at hand. Aidan, meanwhile, turned away so he wouldn't be caught vamping out. Sure enough, out came the fangs as the sharp, quick copper of blood filled the air. Sometimes Aidan wondered how other people couldn't smell it. He'd spent almost 90% of his life as a vampire now, and among the many things about humanity that had faded was his memory of how scent used to work.

"Here, take your blood shots, you freak," Josh grumbled, putting the little stand of four small tubes down on the bedside table near Aidan. Aidan managed to wait for two entire seconds, giving Josh a smirk, before he reached over an uncapped the first one. Why he was trying to play it cool and act like he was casually sipping a cocktail rather than frantically snorting crack, he wasn't sure. Something about his pride didn't want to admit to Josh just how badly he needed this.

"So, while you're doing that, can I see your disease spots?" Josh asked, crossing his arms and resting one knee against the bed.

"Sure," Aidan said, downing the first of the vials of blood with an Elysian shiver as he hiked up the hem of his shirt. Josh leaned down and frowned at the marks, then pulled something out of his pocket. Aidan couldn't really be bothered to look to see what it was, because now that he'd had his first taste those other three tubes were not going to last long. With mild frustration, Aidan glanced at the few streaks and droplets of red that still clung to the inside of the first glass cylinder. It seemed like such a tragic waste.

Something cool touched down against Aidan's skin and he glanced down, frowning, to spot a yellow length of measuring tape being stretched against his side. He paused, second vial halfway to his mouth, and quirked an eyebrow at Josh. Josh wasn't paying attention, though, his brows knitted together in concentration as he pressed his thumb nail into a black mark on the tape, then removed it and mumbled the reading under his breath. Aidan cleared his throat.

"Care to fill me in on what you're up to?" he asked, taking a slower sip from the blood tube.

"Notes," Josh said in a distracted mutter, turning to head over to the table where the lost-and-found boxes were still stacked. He rummaged in one, one-handed, and pulled out a book that Aidan recognized as the same style as Josh's werewolf journal. Aidan frowned at his back as Josh uncapped a pen with his teeth and started scribbling on one of the pages.

"Okay," Aidan said. "So you're… what, going to become a vampire epidemiologist?"

Josh chuckled and shook his head, still facing the desk and book. Aidan finished the second vial and put it next to the other empty one, still frowning at his friend's back. "In a manner of speaking. So, your biggest section of marks clocks in at 3.4 inches at its widest diameter right now. We'll see what the growth rate is over the next few days."

"Okay," Aidan said again, thrown off by this far more than he should be. Instead of reaching for the third vial he got to his feet and pulled his shirt up over his head and tossed it behind him on the bed.

The marks looked much the same. He thought perhaps the edges of the spattering of black against his right collarbone was a little more pronounced, darker, but that was about the only change. He told Josh this much when the other man came back with his measuring tape and book.

"Weird… okay," Josh said, scrawling that as a note in the side margin. Aidan's eyebrows shot up—he thought Josh had just started writing in this book, but apparently he'd been wrong. He was already at least twenty pages into it.

"When did you…"

"I jotted what I could remember about the virus before I gathered up all the supplies from the hospital," Josh explained. "Also made my list of vaccines while I was doing that." He still sounded distracted and lost in his mind, tapping the pen against the page while he drew a messy box around his table of measurements. Aidan remained still, dinner on hold for a while as Josh took more numbers from his marks and wrote more notes about other weird things, like the elasticity of Aidan's skin and what it looked like when Josh scratched a part of his shoulder lightly with his nail. Aidan couldn't help wondering if Josh was just pulling these tests out of his ass.

"So…" Josh began, finishing up a scribbled sentence about Aidan's coloring (which should have probably just read "vampire pale, as always"), "you've had donors who were in it because they liked being 'fed on,' as you call it?"

Aidan didn't respond for a beat, not sure why Josh was bringing this subject up again when he seemed so eager to avoid it just moments before. He approached with caution. "Believe it or not. It's more common than you think."

"Not surprised, trust me. Just… what is it they say is so great about it?" Josh glanced up into Aidan's face, and at his expression, he tacked on, "Out of curiosity."

"For your research?" Aidan joked, and Josh rolled his eyes at him. "Just kidding. Well… these particular… donors," Aidan said, resisting the urge to toss up air quotes around the word, "I never made much of a habit of talking to after. Or before. But the few who did share told me that it was like… I don't know." He shrugged again and tried to think of the exact phrasing, but as with many of his memories, it was hazy and almost inaccessible, buried under decades of cobwebs and countless other competing images and sounds. "Being adrift. Like they could relax and lose themselves in the feeling. They described it as a sort of 'pleasant daze.'"

Josh huffed out a small laugh, and Aidan couldn't think why. "You have something to share with the class?" he prompted.

Josh glanced up at him, regret for his reaction clear on his face. For a moment they were quiet, but Aidan waited him out patiently. "It's just—" Josh shrugged, almost harshly, like he could remove the scrutiny like a jacket. "It sure doesn't feel relaxing to me."

Aidan's heart sank, though it was ridiculous. Of course Josh didn't like being fed on—the vast majority of the people he'd taken blood from in the past sure as hell hadn't. He wasn't sure why it felt disappointing, like a black mark against his name or a bad report card. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Josh picked up on his guilt at once and his brown eyes went wide with horror. "No, not like—not like that, I swear," he said, moving so he could sit down next to Aidan on the bed and explain. Aidan's previous remorse and discomfort turned back into confusion as he frowned at Josh. "It's not… bad. It's just not relaxing."

Aidan paused for a moment, but his frown was still in place. Josh was looking at him hopefully, like Aidan could telepathically discover what he really meant with some hitherto undisclosed vampire power. "... I'm afraid you're going to have to clarify what you mean by that."

Josh groaned and carded a hand through his hair, agitated. "Instead of making me—what did they say, dazed? It's sort of—" he cut himself off abruptly with a soft "agh" sound of frustration. "I don't know. Every word I think of sounds stupid."

Aidan turned to face Josh better, his gaze unblinking. "Try me." He didn't know why this was so important to him, but sheer curiosity forced him to press on.

"Invigorating? Electric? Stimulating?" At Aidan's face, Josh glared at him. "You asked for the stupid words, so I gave you the stupid words. It makes me feel sort of over-sensitized."

"And… that's not bad," Aidan asked, slowly, like he was trying to understand complex algebra.

"I said no." Josh sounded a little peevish and snappy now, so Aidan backed off.

"Okay, okay. Sorry. Just… strange, is all."

Aidan was, once again, prepared to abandon this topic and move on, but now he had piqued Josh's curiosity, and apparently his genetically-ingrained fretting. "Why?" Josh asked, his eyes going wide with concern. "Have you heard of that being bad, before? That feeling?"

"No, definitely not bad," Aidan said, before he could stop himself.

Of course, Josh latched onto that strangely-worded reply, and Aidan fought the urge to kick himself. "'Definitely?' What do you mean by 'definitely?'"

"Nothing, Josh," Aidan said, the two words coming out as an exasperated sigh.

"No, you don't get to cop out when you forced me to call your feeding habits 'electric.'" Aidan paused; he couldn't really argue with that logic.

Still. This was not a conversation he wanted to be having right now. Or ever. "Just… some other people I've fed on in the past have said that it feels good… in the opposite direction. If you catch my drift."

Apparently Josh did not. He gave him a bewildered look, repeating the words "in the opposite direction" silently to himself like it was the Sphinx's riddle. Aidan groaned.

"You're gonna make me say it out loud?" he asked. "Really?"

"I don't know what you—" Josh started, then abruptly stopped. There it was; the pieces had clicked into place. Red rushed to Josh's ears and he made a truly priceless face at Aidan. Aidan sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You asked. And see, you don't have to worry, since that's obviously not the situation here."

"Obviously!" Josh exclaimed, looking a little squeamish. "Jesus, Aidan, what sort of people did you feed on?" Aidan lifted an eyebrow at Josh and opened his mouth to playfully supply detailed answers, but Josh back-pedaled at once. "No, nope. Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Good boy," Aidan chuckled, finally reaching over to get the last two vials of blood as Josh grumbled to himself and closed his book. He took them both in fast shots, letting the nourishing, rejuvenating feeling wash over him and temporarily rob him of all other thoughts.

It was probably a good thing they were going to be handling the feeding this way, Aidan mused. He really didn't want Nora to get wind of the fact that he'd insinuated her fiance was a little too stimulated by a vampire mouthing at his skin—particularly this vampire.

The thought was amusing, but also vaguely troubling to Aidan; not good, but not bad.