Chapter Title: Grounding Leads to Boredom Leads to Plotting

Rating: PG-15/R

Chapter: 16/20- or 30-something-ish?

Warnings: language, lots of dialogue... stale from fresh off the press (i wrote it, it sat, i'm posting without editing at all)

Disclaimer: Gackt owns Moon Child. (Doesn't that mean he owns Kei too?)

Pairings: Kei/Sho

Jaded's fore-words: Sorry I haven't done much with this recently. Been trying to catch up on school work and work on this fanfic challenge that's going to doom me... If you want details, mention it in your review. lol. I'm tired. Leave meh alone! enjoy this (or die) lol ha ha ha (CARL THAT KILLS PEOPLE!)

"Grounded! Seriously?" Max yelled on the other end of the phone, so loud David had to hold the device a foot from his head.

"Yes, srsly," David said, bringing the phone back to his ear.

"How- How-" The blond girl stuttered, obviously not able to comprehend how it was even possible for her stubborn friend to be in a position where he was remotely grounded..

"Oh, didn't you know? Kei's my dad," David stated casually, examining the fingernails of his free hand in an airy imitation of gossiping ladies on tv. He snickered to himself as Max spluttered about again.

"YOUR DAD!" She ended up shouting and David winced, jerking his head away from the phone. "…Wait, who's Kei?"

"The blonde, short vampire you met that one day when we found you and you were over here that one time I got in trouble about Lindsay," David said, wanting to continue with the "that one day with that one thing that one time" speaking he had going, but knowing its effect would be lost on the ditzy blond.

"Ohhhh! Okay. I know who you're talking about now," Max said and David could see her nodding in his mind's eye. "Well, at least now we know why you're so short."

"You be quiet," David muttered in annoyance. He hated her teasing him about his height. He could still kick her ass, goddammit. Even if she was a foot taller than him. Damn tall people. "I will pop a cap in yo ass."

"Yeah, only cuz it's at your height, shorty," Max said with a cackle and David scowled at his bedroom door from where he was sitting on his bed.

"I'm hanging up now," he muttered and Max's giggles stopped immediately.

"Noooo," she whined. "I didn't get to ask you about Lindsay!"

"Ask what?" David demanded, done with talking to his friend. He'd learned a long time ago, for him, Max was to be taken in small doses and after half an hour on the phone, he was done.

"Have you two fucked recently?"

"What do you think?"

"How are you NOT in more trouble? Details, please!"

"We have amazing timing. And no. Goo'bye."

"Nowa-"

David hit the button to end the call on the cell phone Gabe had bought him right after he had been grounded. He had never been grounded. It was quite odd actually. Surprisingly, he wasn't as bored as he thought he would be. Well, not since he requested Max buy him a roll of thick card-stock-like paper and tubs of acrylic paints. He liked painting. He'd discovered this about a year previously when he'd found some spray-paint cans and played with them on the side of a dumpster. Apparently he had a steady hand and wasn't too bad artistically.

He tossed his phone onto his bedside table and stood up, feeling hungry. He stretched and left his room for the kitchen, contemplating the perks of cereal versus ice cream while he went. He decided vanilla ice cream covered in sprinkles and Fruity Pebbles with a little bit of milk in the bowl was a delicious idea and he sat down at the table to enjoy his concoction in a glass mixing bowl.

David was only halfway done with his . . . edible mixture when Sho entered the kitchen from the living room, looking for another beer. David considered maybe opening one and adding it to his ice cream, wondering for a second if he'd enjoy a beer flavored milkshake in a bowl with soggy Fruity Pebbles when the door to the bathroom opened and Kei was seen out of his peripherals walking by the entrance of the kitchen wearing just a pair of loose black pants low on his hips. His messy blonde hair was wet and dripping, adding rolling beads of water to the ones already collecting on his chest and back. He seemed unfocused and intent on the floor as he walked by, holding a towel in his hands.

Sho coughed on his beer and David's gaze flickered to his face in concern, his eyes widening when he noticed the bright hue of Sho's ears, red spreading to his cheeks. His spoon of colorfully speckled vanilla ice cream paused in the air in front of his mouth. He could have laughed at what he just saw but instead he stuffed his face full of ice cream to hide his grin. Sho calmed his coughing fit while leaning on the counter, his beer set safely aside.

"You okay?" David questioned, faking his concern since he rather wanted to guffaw loudly. He eyed Sho, convincing himself it was because he was concerned while still looking for a certain reaction.

"What? Oh, yeah," Sho said hoarsely and turned around, swiping up his beer and sipping it. "It's just not often Kei doesn't wear clothes." Sho blushed, realizing the odd implications of that statement. "I mean, he's usually very self-conscious about his body. He almost never walks around without a shirt. He caught me off guard around week ago with the same thing."

Sho actually believed he was choking on beer because he was shocked. David almost groaned to himself, seeing a moment he could have used slip by as he didn't have a witty way to convince Sho otherwise. He angrily spooned enough ice cream into his mouth to hurt his teeth and give him a brain-freeze while causing the nerves of and around his spinal chord to become sore beyond the pain of a brain freeze. He did groan then.

"Are you okay?" Sho asked in return. David swallowed the ice cream in his mouth and nodded with watering eyes.

"Brain freeze. I'm fine," he breathed, feeling a spike of pain in his esophagus as it contracted tightly around the glob of ice cream he swallowed. He really needed to stop doing shit like that. It hurt. A lot.

"Alright," Sho said and left the kitchen, giving David a funny glance over his shoulder. David contemplated going after him, just to see if Kei was still not wearing a shirt and wondering how Sho would react to that.

Then he realized something and picked up his bowl of ice cream, rushing from the kitchen and kicking his bedroom door open, then closed. He dropped onto his bed and exchanged ice cream for phone and he texted Gabe.

"I think Kei's strutting" he smashed out on the tiny keyboard his phone possessed and hit send. A second later Gabe responded.

"he is. remember when Lindsay did that lol"

"yea that's actually what made me connect the dots. He was walking straighter and he wasn't wearing a shirt"

"theres other things he does you just havent noticed them"

"lol my task might be easier than i thought. i just caught sho embarrassed about kei's half-nekkidness-ness"

"fan~tastic."

"don't sound too enthusiastic… and get back to work."

"hot guy. leave me alone."

"bitch"

"cock whore"

"suck it, you know u want to"

"i'd rather not. i don't know where that thing's been"

"yes you do"

"go play with your boy toy"

"gladly"

David dropped the phone onto the bed next to him and went back to ice cream, not annoyed at all, no not at all, about the sudden ringing of the doorbell.

"U-uh, You're Sho right?" Max's voice sounded from the front hall. Sho probably nodded. "David wanted this stuff."

"In his room," Sho said for explanation and a second later David's door was nearly flying off the hinges as Max burst in carrying a couple paper bags with handles and a large roll of thick paper a meter wide under her arm.

"Whew, he scares me," she muttered and dropped the stuff on David's floor in the middle of his room.

"He's behind you," David informed before slurping the remains of his ice cream down.

Max spun on her heel and when she found no one behind her she promptly twirled around to David again. He threw a clown doll at her, hitting her in the face and making her shriek. She glowered evilly at him and stomped out of the room shouting.

"SEE IF I EVER DO SOMETHING NICE FOR YOU AGAIN, DICKHEAD!"

Then the front door slammed shut and David chuckled. Max got mad easy sometimes and it was fun pushing her buttons, like the clown-o-phobia one. David really needed to find the actual term for that, if there was one...

David eyed the supplies on his floor and wondered about what he might paint while he licked his spoon clean.

"Toshi's got a new job for us," Kei told Sho as the taller man walked in the front door wearing a small scowl after visiting his brother. Sho glanced at him before walking to the couch and sitting down.

"Okay," he said with a shrug. "When?"

"Tomorrow night. Sho, we have a problem."

"What?"

"David-"

"We take him with just like last time."

"He's grounded. We really shouldn't-"

"So? You're his dad. You make the rules. If you say he comes with, he won't question it."

"And what about Lindsay?"

"What about the fucker? He can take care of himself. By the way, where is he?" Sho glared at David's bedroom door.

"He went out. ...I think we should take him with us, Sho."

"Why?"

"Because he might need to feed too and we won't have to worry about David-"

"I'd worry more with him there."

"Sho," Kei said with a weary sigh.

"Fine. Fine, he can come with too. If he keeps his paws off David the whole time. I don't want him manipulating David into . . . making out somewhere dangerous because he's thinking it be hot or something."

"You don't give David enough credit. He wouldn't let himself be pushed into something like that."

"He wouldn't have to be pushed into it. He's not exactly pointed due North."

"Neither are you, Sho." Kei glared at his companion threateningly.

"Which is why I can say that without judgement. And why you should accept it. We're in the same boat, Kei. I wasn't insulting or criticizing him. It's just him. It's how he is. He would probably agree with Lindsay if he suggested it. He… He loves Lindsay. He trusts him implicitly. Didn't think I noticed? He jumps for Lindsay. I just, …Well… I guess I'm just worried it's not a two way street, ya know."

"We just have to trust David. …And I'm not saying I don't or anything…"

"…I feel paternal," Sho said with a sigh and Kei smiled knowingly at him. "Do you think it would be easier if you'd had a little baby girl bundle of joy?"

"If it were David, just as a girl, I don't think there'd be much difference."

"I take that as no."

"Take it as a 'David is David' and gender wouldn't change him." Kei laughed at Sho's glower of disapproval as Kei used his own concept against him.

The tips of Sho's ears burned and his stomach clenched uncomfortably juxtaposed by the light sort of joy that expanded in his chest as Kei laughed so easily around him for what felt like the first time in forever. Sure Kei had laughed before, but there was something different in this one. It felt more real, more like Kei, more of Kei's …muchness or something. Kei grinned at Sho, his wonderfully brown eyes flickering unfamiliarly and Sho tentatively smiled back, suddenly feeling at loss.

He couldn't figure out if the feeling was from Kei's unusual behavior itself or because he felt displaced because of the vampire's unusual behavior. Was Kei acting this way because of David? Was it because Kei had David, his long, lost, forgotten son? What was it that caused Kei to act less like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders? Whatever it was fueled a small fire in the pit of Sho's stomach that made him burn with a jealousy he had never known.

Kei stood from the couch, unaware of Sho's envy, and slid a hand through Sho's short hair, still smiling, before he went to his daybed and shed his boots so he could lay down for a nap. Sho's scalp tingled from the contact as he watched Kei get comfortable. He unconsciously reached up and scratched his fingertips over his scalp, bewildered by the odd gesture Kei hadn't done since Sho was thirteen.

David was painting on the wall the next day, late in the cloudy afternoon. He used large, sturdy tacks to hold up an expanse of the paper Max had brought him. It stretched along one wall, the one with the kitchen on the other side. He had to rearrange some things to make room for him to work but he was fine with that.

Presently, he was painting a castle turret in the corner in the shape of a glass bottle. It was blue. Thin pencil marks outlined an entire sprawling landscape filled with the strange images of David's mind, melting together to create something that made sense. The castle made entirely of glass and floating in the clouds he was working on was in the top lefthand corner of the paper. The bottoms of the clouds drizzled down into roots that connected the cloud to the ground, the roots looking more like gnarled pillars than anything. Among the pillars were tiny humanoid creatures, hiding. In the night sky behind the castle cannibalistic stars were snacking on one another, red giants munching on littler blue ones while a group of yellow stars licked at glowing white ones as if they were ice cream, only mouths and tongues changing them from little glowing balls of gas to actual beings. These were all things from dreams of his.

Painting carefully, using his acrylics sparingly and switching paintbrushes for different textures, let David's mind free. It forced him to concentrate on just colors and how to create certain effects, occasionally looking tips up on his computer via the internet. He learned a long time ago that if he thought too much about something when trying to be artistic he ended up with something horrid. It was better if he just let his hand do all the work.

By the time he was satisfied with the work he had done on the copying of his dreamscape and his brushes were all soaking in warm water, David's mind was whirring excitedly. He stared at the drawn part of the mural as his mind also supplied the information that dreams were strange things and wasn't it a dream or two that helped Kei into remembering that David was his son?

David smacked his forehead as an idea occurred to him. A smear of dark blue paint remained on his skin when he reached for his cellphone, ringing just two seconds after his moment of genius.

"No."

David blinked at Gabe's sullen voice on the other end of the connection.

"Why not?" David demanded and huffed angrily.

"…Because it would be weird."

"In what way?"

"Kei's your dad, dude. And Sho's like… your not-dad dad. It would be weird thinking of them like that."

"…Then don't. I'll just send you a general idea and after you plant it everything should work itself out from there."

"No."

"Come on! None of it would be graphic!"

"…"

"It's something entertaining to do?"

"… Fine. But nothing too gross."

"YOSH! Okay, we start with Operation Glass Castle tonight!"

"Why 'glass castle?'"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because as soon as your brain went off on your dads hooking up, I jumped ship."

"Oh… Glass Castle because it was something in front of me at the moment. You know, the thing I was painting before I had my ingenious idea."

"Ah."

"I'm going to start brainstorming now. I think I'll call Max and see if she can help out too."

"Have fun with that, honey bunches."

"I will, banana pants."

"See you in dreamland tonight."

"Yeah, later."

David ended the call and tossed his phone onto his bed behind him, smirking evilly as he rubbed his paint-covered hands together in perfect imitation of any good villain.

That night the heist went smoother than normal, since Lindsay was forced to tag along. For the first time, Sho and Kei watched as David killed men with a gun without second thought, he and Lindsay working naturally as a team to ensure the other's safety from the bullets whizzing through the air around them. (They worked together in a way Sho and Kei never could. The nearly fluid movement they had achieved only because of years and years of grueling, and punishing practice.)

It was a side of the multi-hair-colored teen that they'd never witnessed before. The four of them came out of the job with barely any scratches except for a centimeter wide scrape from a bullet nicking Lindsay's side. But that quickly disappeared as the blonde vampire-child fed alongside David, each with their own unconscious body clutched close. Sho refused to watch that, feeling a slight twist in his stomach as the two drank.

Instead he watched Kei feed, peeking at his friend who normally wasn't so candid about drinking life - blood - from humans in plain sight (in front of Sho especially).

Kei was hunched over a drugged man's prone body on the ground and one arm was wrapped tightly around the man's ribs with enough force to crush while Kei's free hand held the guy's head back at an impossible angle for better access to his neck. At one point, Kei seemed to have felt Sho's stare and glanced up at him without removing his mouth from the man's neck. Sho blushed, a shiver crawling down his spine without the accompanying full-body shudder, and looked away, letting Kei finish feeding in peace and occupying himself with poking through the gang's possessions.

Unknown to him David had seen what had transpired between the two and grinned to himself as he plotted for their wonderful demise. His evil plotting was interrupted by a bloody kiss from Lindsay. He didn't mind all that much.

Sho did though and barked at Lindsay to back off.

Kei rose from his meal, pupils drunkenly dilated, and laughed at Sho's protectiveness while slinging an arm around the taller man's shoulders as best as he could. Sho glared at him, blushing faintly though in Kei's drunken state he didn't notice. Neither did he notice the way Sho's eyes lingered on his lips where a smear of blood was in the corner. Nor did he notice how Sho's gaze subconsciously followed Kei's tongue as he licked the blood away from his ruby lips.

David noticed though and was promptly smacked playfully in the back of the head by Lindsay. It didn't matter to him because he already had plans.

Plans that were executed that night when Gabe dropped in on his mind telepathically and he supplied her with great information to mess with Kei and Sho, and hopefully make them hook up soon. Gabe wasn't too pleased with the scenarios David provided her with but she dutifully accepted her role in the scheme. In fact, she was curious to know the two's reactions, even if she didn't enjoy the means of causing them like David did.

Jaded's after-words: bla, still tired. review. thanks for reading... moving on *snore*