Chapter Title: Exchanges
Rating: R/R
Chapter: 13/~20-something?
Warnings: Petting, heavy petting, threats, odd conversations, allusions to sex… (nothing y'all can't handle :)
Disclaimer: Gackt owns Moon Child. (Doesn't that mean he owns Kei too?)
Pairings: Heavy Lindsay/David, slight if-you-squint Kei/Sho
Jaded's fore-words: Enjoy hatin Lindsay in this one Satchi. There's plenty for you to. :) And Soubi will not like me for updating so quickly lol. That's an ironic for a fanfic author ha! XD
As soon as the door to David's bedroom slammed shut his shirt was torn from his body by Lindsay and he was spun around, held in place by hands on his bare shoulders. David glared at the wall, not exactly in the mood to be examined by his boyfriend. Lindsay exhaled heavily.
"That needs to be taken care of," the blonde murmured uneasily. "It's never been so dark before. Is it bothering you?"
"It stings like I've burned my neck with a hot frying pan and itches like crazy," David said flatly, feeling the urge to scratch his mark now. His hand unconsciously raised and was swatted away by Lindsay.
"Don't," he said, leaning forward and brushing his lips over the furiously red, hot-to-the-touch vampire-bite. Pleasant tingles erupted in David's skin, flaring out from the contact and licking his nerves from the mark to his fingertips and tailbone. David shivered forcefully and jerked away from Lindsay.
"Not now," David muttered, walking to his bed and sitting on the edge. Lindsay followed him with his eyes before physically doing the same.
"You got through it… And they seem to be taking it well," Lindsay said quietly, wrapping an arm around David's shoulders, placing his hand close to the mark.
"Won't really know until later though," David mumbled as Lindsay's thumb started rubbing slow circles into his flesh where the edge of the bite was. The same mind-numbingly pleasant tingles were erupting from the hypersensitive flesh again.
"It's going to get worse the more you do that," David added, his mind sinking into a relaxed haze. "…Cuz when you stop… it'll get …redder …and stuff."
"I know," Lindsay said with a soft hum. "Don't worry about it. We'll do something to fix it tomorrow. I'll kidnap you for the day. We'll sneak away from Sho and Kei, let them spend some time alone together. Maybe they'll be out of denial by the time I bring you back."
"Un...likely," David slurred. Lindsay smirked and moved his hand away.
The teen snapped up, sitting ramrod straight with a suddenly clear mind and pouting at Lindsay.
"No~" he whined pathetically like a child in a bakery denied sweets. "Keep doing it."
Lindsay chuckled and raised his hands to draw nonsensical lines with his fingers onto David's bare back. David hummed contentedly and scooted closer, thoroughly enjoying the attention. The more he relaxed against Lindsay with every soft stroke of fingers the more he would shiver, muscles trembling under Lindsay's fingertips.
"You okay?" The blonde asked quietly.
"It's just from the emotional drain. It'll go away. Just," David sighed and nuzzled into Lindsay's chest. "Keep doing that."
Lindsay whispered an amused chuckle, laying back and pulling David to lay on his chest. His fingers resumed their slow caressing.
They laid there in silence for so long that David's breathing had become the sluggish, even sighs of sleep and the blonde's arm was tired, slowly ceasing to move as he dozed off.
It surprised him then, when David suddenly shot up, a distressed growl leaving his throat, with his arm reaching over his shoulder and his fingernails furiously scratching at the mark. Lindsay blinked a couple times, coming out of his daze in a handful of seconds before his hand darted up and grabbed David's forearm, jerking the younger teen's hand away from itching exactly what he wasn't supposed to.
"Urhg! Can't I just… Cut it off or something?" David cried angrily, the bite throbbing annoyingly, burning as though he had a fever, stinging like he'd scalded himself, and itching worse than chicken pox all at once.
"You can't wait until tomorrow can you?" Lindsay whispered, examining David's irritation in the deep frown on the teen's face.
"Don't think so. Unless you're prepared to stop me from scratching or attempting to cut it off every ten minutes," David growled seriously, unknowingly twisting his wrist in Lindsay's hold, wanting so badly to just tear into his neck.
Lindsay slipped his thigh between David's and pressed it right up against the teen's groin. He began rocking it with small, barely substantial movements, placing his heel on the edge of the mattress for leverage. David hissed softly, ducking his head and pressing his forehead against Lindsay's chest.
"Calm down," Lindsay whispered to the squirming teen. "We'll make it better. We won't actually fuck because I'm sure Kei and Sho would kill me but we'll fix you over until tomorrow. Just be as quiet as you can."
"Not an easy feat. You know me," David muttered, grinding against Lindsay's thigh as his body burned intensely. He lifted his head and glared the blonde. "Why aren't you fucking affected?"
"Because I initiated the bond - I bit you, I don't feel it like you do. You ignored it," Lindsay growled and grabbed David's hair, using it to pull the teen down into a brief, fiery kiss. A minute later they parted with gasps and Lindsay's shirt was discarded. David's eyes were closed and he breathed heavily, licking his wet lips. Lindsay grabbed his hair again and pulled his face down into his neck, his lips placing moist kisses all along David's shoulder.
"Besides," he breathed as David whimpered, his hands fisting the sheets on the bed while Lindsay worked his pants open with his free hand. "I am affected. You think my bite hasn't been bothering me? It's always too hot and prickles like when your arm or leg does when it goes to sleep."
Then he shoved his hand into Davids's pants and David bit his neck to muffle his groan.
In the silence of the kitchen as the two men leisurely smoked, both in their own thoughts revolving around their small, new occupant of their awkward family, it wasn't hard for Kei to hear the murmurs coming through the wall - especially since he was sitting next to it and possessed a vampire's hearing. He had an idea of what was going on in the teen's room and definitely wasn't going to alert Sho, who was smoking and staring out the kitchen window blankly, apparently lost in thought.
"What do you think of all that?" Sho questioned quietly. So quietly in fact, Kei took a moment to wonder if Sho had even spoke at all. He almost missed the movements of Sho's soft lips, and he was staring at the man, lost in his own thoughts.
"All what?" Kei finally asked after an extended hesitation, tapping ash from the end of his cigarette and glancing at David's empty cigarette pack sitting on the table.
"About the gangs and the brothels," Sho clarified, not looking at Kei.
"It was disgusting," Kei said with a grimace, taking a drag from his cigarette.
"Do you think it was real?" Sho asked flippantly and Kei jerked his gaze back onto the man with a glower. Sho seemed to sense his affronted reaction and quickly continued. "I mean, I- The ways David reacted… It was too real. I just know it was. He could barely look at us. I kept feeling like I was watching someone kicking a puppy whenever he cringed… But yet, we've never even heard-"
"Stop," Kei commanded with a wave of his hand. "We didn't know because we didn't know. We couldn't have done anything, Sho," he murmured and stubbed out his cigarette. "I get it. I wanted to murder the fuckers too. But they're dead now. Someone else already did it. It's the past. And I'm pretty sure David wants it to stay like that. Don't dwell on it or you'll just make him uncomfortable. Don't doubt what he said just because you wished you could have killed the bastards yourself."
Sho sighed and rubbed one of his eyes with the heel of his hand.
"What do you think they're doing in there?" He asked, abruptly changing subject with a nod of his head at the wall Kei was sitting closest to. Kei glanced over his shoulder, hearing a soft groan.
"Talking," he lied and looked back at Sho. "I can hear them."
Sho stared at him suspiciously. Kei sighed and rolled his eyes.
"After what he just told us you're still going to get upset about that?" Kei questioned exasperatedly. Sho just scowled.
"If he hurts him… I'll kill him," Sho murmured threateningly. Kei had to smile at that, quickly hiding it a second later as Sho focused on it in a millisecond and smirked smugly. Kei raised a disapproving eyebrow at him.
"Don't give me that look," Sho said indignantly. "You don't like him either."
"Only because he's too protective of David," Kei muttered, staring down the ashtray as he thought of the blonde half-vamp. It sounded almost hypocritical of him though, when he had thought about locking the teen away in an ivory tower like in a fairy tale.
"And too possessive," Sho added, examining the barely burning cherry of his cigarette.
"We can't really get after him about that though. It's the vampire in him. He can't help it," Kei stated and stood up, going to the sink for a drink of water.
"Maybe… But have you noticed how David just… submits to him?" Sho inquired, awkwardness bubbling in his throat as he knew how wrong that sentence would sound. "He's controlling."
Kei frowned and considered this as he drank from the flow of water coming from the faucet.
Lindsay was almost controlling when it came to David. It wasn't that he ordered the smaller teen around or threatened him or abused him or anything but David seemed ready to jump before Lindsay even thought of saying it. And considering what David had just told them, that was a bit disconcerting.
The memory of Lindsay's first night in their flat flashed through Kei's mind and David had been the one threatening and abusing Lindsay - smacking the blonde and pulling his hair. David had his own control when he wanted it.
So then again, maybe not. It was probably that whole "Lindsay was in command only because David let him" thing that Kei had considered before.
"Want to sit him down for a nice chat later?" Sho questioned after continued silence on Kei's end, speaking as though he were inquiring about a having a picnic on the beach tomorrow.
He was imagining pinning Lindsay to a wall with the barrel of a gun pressed threateningly to his chest. Kei straightened from drinking from the faucet, wiping the corner of his mouth on his sleeve. He looked at Sho like the other man had grown another head.
Then he shrugged.
"Why not," he stated nonchalantly and exited the kitchen, leaving Sho to plot.
About an hour later, when David was asleep in his room and Lindsay was in the kitchen grabbing a soda from the fridge, the blonde teen turned around after retrieving a can of the carbonated drink and found the tall man with braids standing intimidatingly close to him with his arms crossed. Kei was leaning comfortably against the wall to Lindsay's left, closest one to the doorway.
"Hey," Lindsay said casually but sounding more like he was asking 'What the fuck do you want?'
"Have a seat," Sho ordered disguised as a suggestion, gesturing stiffly at the kitchen table. "We'd like to talk to you."
Lindsay glanced between the two, meeting Sho's steely eyes and studying Kei's indifferent expression. He stepped around Sho then and sat at the table, placing the can of soda directly in front of him on the table.
Kei moved around to occupy another of the chairs, maybe trying to show he was on equal ground, a mediator perhaps. Sho on the other hand, just stood immobile, oddly close to Lindsay, cutting an impressive figure with his arms crossed and his expression ever-cold toward the teen.
"First things first," Sho began, his deep voice intimidatingly hostile. "Hurt him, in any way, and I'll kill you."
Lindsay snorted.
"You'll have to fight Gabe for that right," he said tauntingly. Sho's steel blue eyes narrowed. "And what do you think you are, his father?"
"I might as well be," Sho growled and Lindsay scoffed.
"David's never had parents and he doesn't need them. He has a family, and it's not you," (not yet) Lindsay retorted quietly, maliciously. He knew he was fishing but he was aiming to hurt, and that's how you do that. You fish for a tender spot in the flesh of one's mind or heart and then you strike. Verbal spats with David had taught him that verbal stings hurt just as much as physical blows. And about David, Lindsay knew that his short lover was attached to the two men he was living with but that didn't mean Lindsay was going to just accept them messing with everything since David let them in.
"He's done just fine without you."
Kei stiffened, feeling a stab of pain in his chest and from the way Sho had tensed he guessed the tall man felt the same, and the vampire believed they were in complete agreement, wanting nothing more than to just hit the insolent ass that was David's boyfriend. And Kei considered for a moment that maybe it hurt so much because it was true, and Kei had been harboring this nagging wish in the back of his mind to have been there for/with the colorful little teen before.
Kei decided it was time for a topic change.
"David didn't tell us but were you ever part of the brothels?" Kei asked, trying to keep his voice even.
Lindsay glared at Sho a second longer before turning on Kei with calculating green eyes.
"No," the younger blond said slowly. "I found out about them through Shizuka and joined their little organization out of rage. My mother had been human and my father a vampire and both died when I was twelve. I was lucky to not have been picked up by the sick fucks after that. I wanted to fuck them over, bring them down," Lindsay spat in detestation.
"At least we can all agree on something," Sho murmured. Kei glanced at him questioningly and Sho caught his gaze. "Those guys were sick fucks indeed."
"Was that all you needed to say?" Lindsay asked, obviously wanting their small confrontation to be over.
"What was that thing you did to David when he was having that nightmare?" Kei blurted as Sho opened him mouth to dismiss the blonde teen. "Why'd you do it?"
"The tickling? Well, it's not really tickling considering only David's thighs are ticklish. He just calls it that. But anyway, I did it because it calms him down. It's like a sedative for him, especially if you do it to his back. Same with brushing his hair…" Lindsay explained, staring at Kei with his brow furrowed in confusion like the vampire had asked him if mixing red and blue made seven.*
Lindsay's explanation made Kei imagine a much younger David without colorful hair curled up on his side, sucking his thumb like kids sometimes do, as a hand gently rubbed and stroked his back with fingertips. A certain fondness for the thought warmed Kei from the inside and he had to resist the urge to smile.
"I'm assuming from the sudden silence that we're done," Lindsay said and stood up, soda in hand. When neither Sho nor Kei protested, instead just watching him closely, he turned and made to leave the kitchen. He paused mid-step though and turned back toward them with darker green eyes.
"The same goes for you two," he said forbiddingly.
"The same what?" Sho questioned with a glare.
"Threat," Lindsay stated. "Don't hurt him."
And with that he spun back around and left the kitchen, disappearing into David's room by the click of the door as it closed gently.
"I definitely don't like him," Sho growled and Kei raised a doubting eyebrow at him.
"You keep saying that and I'm not going to believe you anymore," the blonde vampire said, voice full of amusement, and received a disapproving glare from the man with braids.
The next morning, early-early in the day so it was around nine, Lindsay and David dressed, grabbed David's wallet, picked up their shoes, and snuck out of the house, running off down the street after shoving their shoes on just outside the front door of the apartment.
An hour and a half later Kei woke up after a nightmare he couldn't remember and could tell there was something not right in the apartment. When his mind was fully alert he knew, without even having to go down the hall and open the door to check, that it was David and Lindsay missing.
He didn't even have to wonder about where they went or for why. He'd been expecting it. Beyond suspecting where they'd gone though or for why, Kei didn't think anymore on it. It was too early to consider how Sho might react or maybe if they should punish David - ground him maybe? ha - or what the short teen and his blonde boyfriend were doing. The last one was just too wrong to think about. Kei didn't very much like the equation "David+Lindsay+alone=sex." But he guessed he'd just have to live with it.
The vampire was sipping on a bottle of blood with a label in black Sharpie declaring "DRINK ME" in bold letters when Sho stumbled from his room at noon, looking every bit barely awake. His short hair stuck up in odd directions and his braids were down. All the man wore was a pair of thin cotton pajama pants and Kei averted his gaze from deliciously tan skin.
The man stumbled over to the coffee Kei had prepared in the pot on the counter and he poured himself a mug of the liquid, gulping down half of its contents with a grimace before adding more to the cup and dumping in some sugar. He plopped down at the table across from Kei and stirred his coffee, barely seeing the cup in front of him. He sipped the hot drink, enjoying it's taste this time.
"They're gone aren't they," Sho stated.
"Mhm," Kei confirmed, lifting the bottle of blood to his lips.
"And they're probably…" Sho said, trailing off dazedly in displeasure.
"Yep," Kei said, staring at the fridge. Sho grunted.
"Is that… blood?" He asked after a moment, staring at the bottle Kei was holding. Kei looked the bottle too.
"Yea," he said and took a drink from it.
"…When was the last time you fed?"
"Don't know."
"And David left that?"
"Yep."
"That would explain it."
"Mmh."
Noon rolled by and found Sho eating chinese food on the couch while Kei tried to play one of David's video games as per Sho's insistence. The annoying, depressing game-over theme played as Kei's character fell onto his face and the screen faded to black, displaying the words "game over." The game asked Kei if he would like to save and keep playing. He hit "yes."
"That's the eleventh time you died," Sho stated and set his food back on the table. "Let me try."
Kei jerked the controller away from Sho's hand causing the man to lean farther over the blond to grab at it. Kei's cheeks warmed but he ignored it in favor of keeping the controller from Sho.
The front door slammed open and David strode in with a guitar case over his shoulder, Lindsay following behind. Both abruptly stopped and stared at the two.
"I can say I'm honestly disappointed," David said, surveying the two. "I expected more than just an awkwardly sexual-appearing struggle over an object."
Sho looked at Kei who wasn't looking at him and promptly jumped up, realizing how one of his hands was dangerously close to Kei's hip and he was laying on the vampire very… inappropriately. David rolled his eyes at the blushing men. Behind him Lindsay was smirking smugly, payback gleaming in his green eyes.
"Where were you?" Sho demanded as David went to the chair next to the couch and sat down, setting his guitar next to him.
"Out," David answered, unzipping the guitar case. "We saw Gabe."
And he slid a shiny blue acoustic guitar from the case, his name in dark red calligraphy on the body. Upon closer inspection Sho was able to see little shells cut up and carefully inlaid into the wood and painted over with a clear, red acrylic to give the letters texture. The instrument looked oddly familiar.
"Have I seen that befo…" Sho started to ask but trailed off as his eyes widened with realization. "That was your guitar in Gabe's urn?"
"Yeah," David said, setting the instrument comfortably on his thigh. "It has my name on it, doesn't it? It's my baby."
"Why was it in The Urn?" Sho asked incredulously, not understanding why David would leave something so precious in such a terrible place.
"The glockenspiels keep it in good shape, since it is the idol of their patron goddess," David explained, idly plucking the strings from E up. "They keep the strings new and tuned. And I never have to worry about scratches or cracks or polishing cuz they keep it good as new."
Just then Lindsay reappeared from where he'd disappeared inside David's room wearing a different pair of clothes, a more neat pair from the ones he'd had on before. The large hickey on his neck under his ear was oddly more visible because of this and it caught Sho's immediate attention. He turned toward David and noticed a purple bite on his neck and two more red hickeys around his collarbone. He almost gaped like a fish.
Then Lindsay came over and dropped an affectionate kiss to David's shoulder, the teen pressing his wrist against the vibrating strings of his guitar as he turned his head to catch his boyfriend's lips.
"I'll be back later," Lindsay breathed when they parted, David humming in acknowledgment. Then he straightened and made his way out the front door.
Kei grabbed Sho's t-shirt and yanked the man back onto the couch.
"Stop gaping like an attractive fish," he ordered and Sho snapped his mouth shut.
Then he frowned.
"Wait, did you just say attractive?"
David snickered quietly and went back to his nonsensical strumming, plucking strings randomly and playing bits and pieces of different songs.
"I'm going over to Son and Yi-Che's," Sho announced as he exited his room wearing a casual button up white shirt and his favorite leather pants. Kei was laying on the couch, staring at the tv mindlessly as David played video games. He pulled his gaze from it and instead looked at Sho appraisingly, the man never noticing as he was too busy fixing his cuffs. David nudged Kei's foot with his own that he propped on the couch to keep his slouched position in his chair.
"Have fun," Kei said and returned his gaze to the colorful flashing of the television. David huffed and paused the game. He turned his head just in time to see Sho disappearing out the front door, leaving his favorite white coat on its hook.
"You're going to lose him if you don't do something," David stated, shifting so he was sitting straighter. He shut down the video game and turned off the tv, tossing the controllers on the coffee table.
"I'm not going to do anything, David," Kei said and sat up too. "He needs to live his life without me-"
"So it's easier for you to leave him? To kill yourself?" David said accusingly, glaring at the blonde vampire.
"This is a curse, David-"
"An evolution. It happens."
"If I took him as my mate, he'd have to be changed-"
"And that's a problem? And not necessarily. Lindsay's mother was human-"
"Both his parents ended up dead. Inevitably. Dead. …Besides, he doesn't want me-"
"Oh yes he does. He just doesn't know it."
"How is that even possible?"
"He looks at you like a schoolgirl stares at a crush. He just doesn't know he's crushing on you because he's never allowed you to be a possibility. It's a closed door he doesn't notice because he doesn't wonder about what's on the other side. So he pursues the next best thing."
"And you know so much about this because…?"
"Humans fascinate me. I study them often."
"You're ridiculous."
"You're impossible to argue with."
"I try."
And with that Kei angrily stood, leaving the room for the bathroom, not closing the door entirely behind him on accident.
David huffed, flopping back in his chair. After a moment of eyeing his guitar he picked it up and laid it across his lap, humming a soft tune as he did. His fingers found the strings and he pressed down on familiar frets, the fingertips of his other hand idly plucking out quiet notes. He concentrated hard as he played, pausing now and then with a frown as though trying to remember the next part of the song before he continued. Sometimes he'd play a note and pause moving his finger to another string or a different fret before trying again until he was satisfied with the sound.
Then he started at the beginning again, playing the song all the way through and again without stopping. On the third time through he started to hum softly, the guitar acting as an accompaniment to his lullaby-like humming.
In the bathroom Kei paused in the action of cupping his hands under the running water from the faucet and stared into the mirror reflecting the partially open door to his left. He twisted the water off and only listened to David's playing. Soon he found himself humming along, followed by breathed words-
"-kimi to mita…"
-at which point he caught himself and inhaled sharply as nausea bubbled in his stomach and his brain spun around in his skull while his head filled with helium.
He flung the door open and stomped out into the living room, his hands clenched at his sides.
"Where'd you learn that?" He demanded, his voice sounding unprovokedly harsh to his own ears.
David jumped and his closed eyes snapped open, his playing and humming abruptly stopping. He stared up at Kei with frightened eyes.
"I've known it. I used to hum it at night when I was stuck in the brothels still," he said defensively, not understanding Kei's hostility. "I've always known it. The guitar part I did myself after I learned how to play, though."
Kei's vision swam and extreme vertigo took hold of his senses, forcing acrid bile up his esophagus.
"Oh my god," he breathed, stumbling to the couch and practically collapsing onto it. The cotton in his ears prevented him from hearing David worriedly trying to get him to respond to his name.
* - It clearly doesn't because eleven is blue and fourteen is red and there's no way you can make that seven - numerically or color-wise since seven is a grass green so it just wouldn't work at all. (I have ordinal linguistic personification, where numbers and letters feel a certain way. I don't actually see seven as grass green. Or eleven and fourteen as blue and red respectively. ….Don't question me!)
Jaded's after-words: oh wow...
XD reviews plox ne?