Chapter Title: Down Time

Rating: PG-15/R

Chapter: 21/possibly 30-ish

Warnings: inside Lindsay's head, weeping, cussing! always cussing, (pleasant) molestifications

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

Pairings: Kei/Sho, Lindsay/David

Jaded's fore-words: At bottom.

It was late into the night - the sky pitch and the bedroom lit by only the lamp on the bedside table - when Sho awoke groggily from his rest. The first thing that hit before he opened his eyes was the pain. Everywhere. Every muscle he had was sore. And in some places it felt as though he had taken a beating. Then he stretched and felt the painful cramping, pull of muscles in his perineum area. Flashes of memory hit him then and his eyes shot open to stare at his cream colored ceiling in shock and an inability to believe it actually happened, even as every bruise and bite on his body protested that.

A shouted curse and a clatter of something reached him through his closed bedroom door and Sho was able to identify David's voice as the one cursing. He blushed bright red from his ears to his navel, suddenly very glad that things in the bedroom (and on himself) had been cleaned up and it didn't seem like David would be anywhere near his room for awhile. The running faucet in the kitchen telling him so, along with Lindsay's concerned call from the living room. He was very grateful for the sheet covering him.

And then the loss hit him as he noticed the sheet was covering only him, bringing with it an irrational fear and horrifying sadness.

Kei wasn't there. He wasn't in the room with him, and Sho just knew inside him that he wasn't in the apartment either. Where was Kei? Why wasn't he there? He was supposed to be there. Where was he? He couldn't have left Sho, could he? He wouldn't have, would he? Sho needed Kei. He needed him there, now.

Without realizing it, Sho had begun to cry quietly, curling in on himself. His legs rose to his chest as his arms crossed across it. He sobbed breathily, pained by Kei's disappearance.

He sat like that, his sobs steadily increasing in volume as he began to unknowingly panic, until he was wailing out Kei's name unashamedly, terrified without the blonde vampire there.

The door to his bedroom flew open and David appeared, holding one of his hands to in his other as he wrapped a large band-aid around his middle finger. He seemed confused before he understood what had happened and made his way swiftly to the bed.

"Where's Kei?" Sho gasped through his tears, his eyes pinched closed after seeing David enter his room. "Where's Kei, David?"

David said nothing as he slid onto the bed next to Sho and hugged the man close, pulling him into a soothing embrace.

"David," Sho moaned as though he were dying. "Where's Kei?"

"He went out to feed, Sho," David murmured, turning Sho's face into his neck and letting the man sob into his shoulder.

"To feed?" Sho repeated, his crying becoming hushed but nowhere near stopping. This was supposed to console him? That didn't tell him where Kei was or if he was coming back. He needed Kei here and he needed him now. Why wasn't he here for him?

"I want Kei," Sho sobbed and David rubbed soothing circles onto his back with his uninjured hand, trying to comfort Sho and maybe calm him down. Having been on the receiving end of the same type of experience he knew exactly what was going on. Thankfully he hadn't had to deal with it since Lindsay had refused to leave him alone the first few days. But Sho, poor Sho had woken alone. David felt a sudden and consuming anger toward Kei for leaving Sho. Then the rational voice in his head berated him for that, since David knew how Kei could be and if the vampire had to feed, he had to, and David just needed to drop it before he thought himself in circles.

Unintentionally David had started gently hushing Sho like an inconsolable child, the hand rubbing Sho's back never stopping.

He didn't even stop when he noticed the sudden malicious presence in the doorway, directing waves of malevolence at him.

David turned his attention there to see Kei wearing his previously discarded jeans and white long-sleeved shirt under his typical red jacket, eyes narrowed on him and lips a thin line of displeasure. His stance was casual, all his weight on one foot and one knee bent, one hand hanging at his side, the other on the doorjamb. But David knew better, could see Kei's white-knuckled grip on the doorway and the tense line of his jaw. The man was barely holding himself back, only because David was his son. Sho and Kei's bond was in its earliest stage and until it had progressed, David and Lindsay would be seen as a threat to Kei's claim.

In an attempt to placate Kei, David relaxed himself entirely and put off a sense of inattentiveness toward Sho, showing that he lacked interest and was only there to be cried on. Kei's body relaxed somewhat but he remained glaring at David. David was tempted to glare back, as if to say that it was Kei's fault he was there in the first place but that would only be seen as a challenge to Kei's mind.

Resignedly, he slid off the bed and let go of Sho, even as the man tried to hold onto him. But David stepped back out of reach, hands at his sides, gaze affixed firmly to Kei's that watched him like a hawk. Sho let go of him, looking even more devastated, not noticing Kei in the doorway until David was stepping in that direction.

"Kei!" Sho cried out happily as he reached out toward the blonde and the warning, challenging look in Kei's dangerous hazel eyes disappeared as David slipped past him.

Kei entered the room, kicking the door shut behind him, and stripped off his coat as he went to Sho. Keeping their gazes locked, he slid onto the bed on one knee to sit and cradled Sho's jaw in his palm, wiping away the wetness on Sho's face with his thumbs.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly, Sho grabbing his bicep and staring longingly at him, as though he weren't really there in front of him.

"You weren't here," Sho choked out, fisting the side of Kei's shirt in his other hand, trying to pull Kei closer. "I thought…"

Sho flushed suddenly, realizing how stupid and clingy and needy he was being. His hands immediately released Kei's shirt and arm, falling to his lap as he pulled his face away from Kei's hands. He averted his gaze to his lap, twisting the sheet covering him around a finger. One of Kei's hands covered his own.

"Tell me, Sho," Kei requested gently, watching his mate for a reaction.

Sho continued to stare determinedly at his lap, his hands remaining still beneath Kei's. A finger and thumb grabbing the sides of his chin tilted his head up and he was forced to look at Kei.

"Tell me, Sho," Kei requested again, demand creeping into his tone. Sho pouted.

"I thought you left me," Sho mumbled, the thought of such a thing making his eyes tear up.

"I could never," Kei murmured and leaned in to kiss his lover to emphasize this. Sho's hands returned to his body, arms wrapping around him in a desperate embrace.

Kei kissed him slowly, palm cradling his jaw and the fingers of his other hand carding soothingly through the shorter locks of hair on the top of Sho's head. When they parted it was with happy sighs and Sho buried his face into Kei's neck with a weak laugh.

"I'm so stupid for thinking you would. I just don't know what came over me," Sho whispered into his skin. Kei held him with one arm wrapped around his shoulders and his hand still carding through his hair. "I felt so scared when you weren't here when I woke up. You love me. You wouldn't leave me."

"No, I wouldn't. I do love you, but it's so much more than that now, Sho," Kei breathed into his hair. "You're mine. All mine. And I'm not going to share you. You're not stupid for feeling afraid I would leave you. Besides it being human nature to feel that way in that situation-"

"I still over-reacted," Sho interrupted, a tug to one of his braids quieting him.

"The bite made it worse. I've claimed you as my mate, and as you're not a vampire and can't return the claim it's natural for you to feel such. Until the bond has strengthened over time, as it only can, you'll feel this way whenever we're apart," Kei explained in a dulcet tone, brushing his lips over Sho's ear.

"Well, that sucks," Sho huffed and then tried to joke. "Better get started on turning me."

Kei jerked back and gripped Sho's chin almost painfully tight, glaring at him face to face.

"Don't joke about that," he breathed dangerously.

"David says it's inevitable," Sho stated challengingly, glaring back at Kei.

Kei turned his head with a snarl, neither denying nor confirming. Sho assumed what David had said was right.

"It can't be so bad," Sho said, tugging his chin free from Kei's hold. "And just so you know, I'm not going to let you get all emo-pussy on me like that dumbass wannabe-pixie from that Twilight movie."

Kei snorted in amusement and returned his gaze to Sho, smiling. He pecked the taller man on the lips.

"Thanks."

When David returned to the kitchen he found Lindsay sitting on the counter next to the stove, eating one of the fresh chocolate chip cookies that David had just pulled out of the oven, the cookie sheet full of them tossed carelessly on top of the stove.

"Did you get your hand taken care of?" Lindsay asked, nodding in the direction of David's hand hanging limply at his side.

David's middle finger on his left hand chose that moment to throb painfully where the burn was located all along the side of it. David raised his hand up and stared blankly at the bandaid wrapped securely around the finger.

"Uhh. . Mmmm. . .Yeah…." He breathed, blinking several times in a row.

He dropped his hand and moved to the warm cookie tray. To test its temperature he tapped his uninjured fingers on the side of the tray, deeming it cool enough to touch.

"Was I that. . .pathetic. . .when. . .?" David asked, trailing off as he yanked drawers open, looking for something to get the cookies unstuck from the tray.

"You were," Lindsay answered bluntly, carefully watching David as he chewed a bite from his cookie.

David turned to him in the midst of opening a drawer with an angry glare that bordered on a pout.

"But it was your own fault," Lindsay continued, shoving the rest of his cookie in his mouth as David slammed the drawer shut. He chewed slowly, and swallowed, knowing David was silently staring in front of himself, waiting on Lindsay to elaborate.

He didn't. Instead, he grabbed the shoulder of David's shirt and dragged him over to stand between his parted legs. He wrapped an arm around David's shoulder while his love stared up at him in confusion. He smiled, a small quirk of his lips, and threaded his fingers through the mostly pink locks on the side of David's head.

Then, without a word, he leaned down and kissed David.

Without any elaboration, he pressed their lips together, sticky and overlapping and tasting of chocolate.

He pulled back and waited as David's eyes fluttered open before sliding from the counter, dropping another kiss on David's lips and leaving the kitchen for the living room.

"Spatula's under the pot holder," he said flatly over his shoulder to his dazed lover.

David blinked and shook his head slightly to clear his mind.

Lindsay never had to work hard at being David's mate and lover. He did what came naturally and was right nearly every time. That didn't mean he had no idea what he was doing. He knew all too well. David finds intelligence attractive. Lindsay was smug enough about it to know this was one of the reasons David found him attractive. So, by all means, he knew exactly what he was doing. He just never really planned any of it out, or thought about it before doing it. He just knew.

So he knew that when David was asking about being pathetic, he was actually more wondering if he had ever been that disgustingly vulnerable during the first stage of their mating. You see, in David's mind, vulnerability is somewhat of a kink and a taboo, something he appreciates and enjoys in others but not something he is. David hides his vulnerabilities away like dark secrets. Few had ever really known them, and Lindsay is lucky enough to say he is one of the few. Even stuck in extremely vulnerable situations for most of his life, David was never actually vulnerable in them. Lindsay understood, then, David's aversion to being vulnerable and finding it something frightening and disgusting in himself.

When David was asking if he had ever been as pathetic as Sho's reaction to Kei's absence, he wasn't belittling it. His compassion and sympathy for Sho were real and pity-free. He wasn't insulting Sho but rather reflecting the similar situation back on himself and using simple, nearly scathing words to distance himself from what he was really trying to convey. It wasn't complicated to understand David. It just took knowing him, and a wonder for things hidden away to get it. David was at once you-get-what-you-see and care-to-find-out-what-I'm-hiding? Candid and obscure with everything he said and did. Lindsay had learned that it was a way to weed out the posers, wannabes, and back-stabbers in the world. People that really cared would want to find out. The people that didn't would take what he said and leave it at that. It was like a puzzle, a maze, a game.

Really, David asking about being pathetic in the context he did, was not only a question of whether or not he had ever been that frighteningly vulnerable, but probably something about being too easy to read emotions from also.

Lindsay kissing him reminded David that it was him who David was vulnerable around, could be vulnerable around. Lindsay was his mate, the person who would be there always, always strength and support when he needed it, when his shields cracked, or he fell apart. And Lindsay was one of the few who would know when that was happening because he was one of the few who could read him easily.

The kiss had been a reaffirmation to David, of Lindsay there in his life.

Watching TV, sprawled out on the couch, Lindsay contemplated his actions and David's reactions to come to these conclusions from previous knowledge and he filed it away in his head. Knowing himself as well as he did, it was probably in an overflowing box labeled simply "David" or more amusingly "Understanding Your Mate and All Related Mating Rituals."

That little bit of pondering done, he clued in to what was on the television and zoned out, subconsciously listening to the quiet goings-on in the flat just in case.

Fingers slid over gorgeous, tanned skin, tracing a small scar from a knife accident from too many years ago to count. They did not linger on the familiar scar, instead gliding smoothly to a newer blemish, this one a ring of scabbed indentations and a wavy ring of blue bruise underneath. Teeth marks circling a small nipple on a sculpted chest. The fingers stroked this ring thoughtfully before slowing, pausing, and pressing curiously.

They did not move as a stuttered inhale of mild pain seemed too loud in the silence of the small, tiled room.

Eyes drifted upward from the fingers to another similar bite near a defined collarbone. This bite was heavily bruised - plum, spotted with nearly-black purple - and a nearly ugly, raised, dig of both top and bottom teeth deep into flesh was swollen around the edges and slightly inflamed. The scabs were very much velcro-connected to the vulnerable tissue beneath, making them severely painful if accidentally tugged or ripped. The bruise of this bite was somewhat odd also, the edges - coinciding with the edges of the ring of broken skin - were curled almost like smoke, and appeared as though to be a maroon brand against his skin.

Sho's entire body trembled as a flash of white-hot pleasure and undiluted need assaulted his senses from memory and he gasped, trying to stifle these images and practically tangible feelings. His hand unconsciously moved from his nipple to prod the heated flesh of the gouge from teeth. But a millimeter away and he reconsidered, dropping his hand instead to the countertop, fingers curling loosely around the edge of the sink. His eyes remained fixated on the claim-mark, contemplating it with gaze alone. Washing it minutes before in the shower had been a confusing and surging affair, Sho's sensory receptors pelted with extreme, searing, stinging pain and tingling, addicting, brain-scrambling pleasure all in the same brush of an innocuous washcloth lathered in silky suds of soap.

It was a bone-melting experience Sho was dubious to repeat.

Instead he tore his attention away to the nearby hickeys spotting his skin in large purple and brown uneven stains. Splashes of outstanding color covering his neck and upper chest randomly in varying degrees of intensity. These weren't the only bruises of bright color on him, though. Sho knew from washing up that there were five, finger-like, neat, blue-green bruises on the backs of his thighs from when Kei had grabbed them while-

Sho bit his bottom lip and he tensed, trying to distract himself from remembering what if felt like to have Kei's skilled tongue in such an oddly arousing and sensitive area of his body.

Without conscious thought, Sho's hand left the counter and idly traced the nearly black, broken handprint wrapped around his hip. The heel and the fingertips of the print were where it was darkest, fading to a deep plum color, then to maroon for the palm and the little, thin areas between plum pads and fingertips. The edges of the whole thing was blue. Sho learned not to put any pressure on this one since whenever he did it sent a pinching, throbbing, teeth-grinding shudder of pain into the entire thing and the surrounding area. He wouldn't be surprised if the bone beneath flesh was covered in barely noticeable hairline fractures.

The gentle press of lips between his shoulder blades made him jump as two slim arms sneaked their way around his bare waist. His gaze fell to them in the reflection of the mirror and he wondered how he hadn't noticed his new lover sneak up behind him. He was standing in front of a large mirror. …And, come to think of it, hadn't he locked the bathroom door?

Those soft lips brushed the nape of his neck and Sho's skin quivered in a ripple down his spine but he refused to shiver.

He sighed as his chest filled with warmth, forcing the air out to make room. The purest affection he had ever felt before overwhelmed him and he wanted absolutely nothing, and in the same moment he wanted everything Kei.

Subconsciously, he leaned back into the vampire's embrace. Kei breathed deeply and exhaled with a sigh, damp locks of Sho's unbraided hair brushing his nose and cheeks. Then he raised himself to his toes and hooked his chin over the taller man's shoulder, their gazes meeting in the mirror in front of them. Sho's lips quirked in a small, half-smile and Kei returned it silently.

Sho shifted and turned halfway to face Kei who loosened his arms and fell back to his feet, watching Sho's face, waiting. After a brief pause, Sho leaned in and gently pressed his lips to Kei's and the blonde's eyes slipped shut as he returned the careful pressure. One of Kei's hands carded through Sho's hair and his fingers trailed slowly down the man's neck with the same motion. With a soft nip to Sho's bottom lip, Kei pulled away and met Sho's almost-sleepy eyes.

"Get dressed. I'll braid your hair for you," Kei offered softly, pulling Sho closer to him with his arm around the taller man's waist.

Another quick kiss and Kei released Sho, leaving the bathroom.

Sho licked his lips and glanced out of the corner of his eye at himself in the mirror.

Two days later...

Sho groaned into Kei's mouth, his fingers tightly fisted in satiny platinum locks as he and Kei made out on his bed. Kei was once again above him and between his thighs, their clothing covered hips rocking together leisurely as they kissed. Sho's legs were practically locked around Kei's waist as the vampire undulated deliciously above him and he couldn't get enough of Kei, no matter how tightly he held them pressed together. Their bare stomachs brushed against one another's, the skin-on-skin contact making both of them crazier with desire for the other.

Both gasping dazedly from their effects on each other, Kei dragged his lips away from Sho's reddened ones and left wet, open mouthed kisses in a burning trail over his chin and down his neck, working his way in a diagonal toward his claim-bite on Sho's shoulder near his collarbone. Sho bit his tongue and moaned when Kei reached the edges of the purple and black bruise surrounding the deep impression of Kei's teeth. The vampire opened his mouth wide and breathed hot air onto the sensitive, cool skin before leaning down and scraping the edges of his lengthened canines over the healing scabs. Sho's entire body shuddered in searing need as the extremely sensitized nerves surrounding the healing flesh fired off potent tingles of pleasure to his central nervous system.

He keened loudly and arched upward into Kei when the vampire actually reattached his mouth to the abused flesh.

In David's room, Lindsay took a seat next to the shorter male on the bed and stared at the mural across from them that was very nearly finished.

"When do you think it'll end?" He asked nonchalantly, eyes affixed to a cannibalistic orange star eating a helpless small pink one in the mural.

"This round or…?" David questioned back, his voice equally devoid of much of anything.

"Or." Lindsay clarified.

"A week," David stated decisively.

"You always say a week," Lindsay shot back flatly.

"It's a good amount of time," David murmured distractedly. Lindsay hummed.

A muffled cry traveled through the wall and David's eye twitched. Lindsay noticed.

"You brought this upon yourself, you know," he stated obviously.

David grunted.

"Yeah. But I didn't need the details," David muttered and it was obvious this whole time he was staring at the opposite wall trying to ignore what was going on a wall away behind him. Lindsay chuckled.

Then an idea silently dinged into invisible light above his head.

"Maybe I can distract you from those details," Lindsay said with the barest hint of suggestion.

And before David could even open his mouth to respond, Lindsay had him flat on his back on the bed beneath him.

Lindsay knew David. Lindsay knew David well. They hadn't been together for a very long time but he already knew more of David's little idiosyncrasies than anyone else, except maybe Gabe, who knew everything about him because she knew everything, period.

So he knew exactly what was going to happen when he pinned David down the way he had, with David on his back, legs bent like he had been sitting Indian style before being forced down, Lindsay's hands wrapped tightly around his wrists as they were forced to the bed under them on either side of David's head. He knew that when they ended up in this position, David would tense up, a fiery defiance would flare in his eyes, and he would automatically attempt to use his legs as a barrier between them, even as Lindsay's body would be in the way of that course of action.

And after that moment where he would tense up, put himself on guard, and his mind would be calculating the next move, he would relax. Because it was Lindsay who was pinning him. And purely because it was Lindsay, he would let himself relax.

David did relax after a breath. His eyes turned almost sleepy and his legs fell down to splay to the sides, bent at the knees, letting himself open up. And because he was doing that, his cheeks burned bright red.

Lindsay smirked lazily down at him, happy he knew David so well and loving that it was only for him that David was like this.

Carefully he lowered himself down onto David, feeling his younger mate breathe against his chest as their hips aligned perfectly.

Now, if only they weren't wearing shirts.

"What are you doing?" David asked him breathlessly, his quickening heartbeat felt in Lindsay's own chest.

"Distracting you," Lindsay stated, smiling smugly. A low growl was heard through the wall in the silence following that statement.

"Not working," David mumbled in annoyance, his eyebrow quirking but his oddly hazel eyes never leaving Lindsay's purest green ones.

"It will. …You know, you practically promised me this," Lindsay said in a slow drawl. David gave him a skeptical look. "'If they just realized their feelings for each other they'd be fucking… And, they'd stop bothering us.' That implies - taking into account what was going on during that time of course - that you wanted to fuck like bunnies without them cock-blocking us every time we tried."

"You read too much into things," David muttered with a glaring pout.

"I think you wish that were true, because then you wouldn't be stuck underneath me like this," Lindsay stated matter-of-factly. David's lips pressed together angrily and Lindsay smirked challengingly.

It was going to be one of those encounters…

He shifted, intentionally letting his hips drag over David's. The younger man tensed and sharp eyes warned him, watching his face carefully, calculating.

One of those encounters were one of the few times David was not playful and instead a fiery, fierce, stubborn fight waiting to happen. Usually David was teasing, playfully messing with the people around him to see how they would react and if they were willing to step up. So, often, between them, there were a lot of playful threats, button pushing, sometimes cruel teasing, and pointless arguments until Lindsay decided he had had enough and he pushed David into submission. But sometimes David wanted a real fight and the power struggle most people didn't see between them crested in a tsunami-sized wave and Lindsay truly had to fight to dominate David. Because normally David submitted for his own enjoyment, letting Lindsay dominate, in a sense. After these ferocious encounters Lindsay always felt the immense surge of satisfaction that accompanied the affirmation that he deserved his dominant role purely on the fact that he had earned it.

Below him, David clenched his teeth and twisted his right wrist in a defiant attempt to free it from Lindsay's hold.

Lindsay watched him carefully, blinking slowly as he considered what might come next.

Well, his original reason for this was distraction, so to hold true to said motive, he should probably attempt to actually do such. But do it how, was the real question…

The easiest way to distract David, with the limits of their position, would be to grind their hips together. That would be too easy, though. If Lindsay were to limit himself to just his mouth, he could easily distract his younger lover with kisses to his neck. He couldn't use his hands anyway. They were holding David's wrists to the bed.

He shifted on top of David with a predatory smirk, moving to straddle his hips while simultaneously leaning down to press his lips to the minutely trembling flesh over David's heavy pulse just under his jaw. He barely tasted soft skin before David's heel whacked against the outside of his calf and he was thrown off balance by David jerking his right elbow in toward his own ribs. The next thing Lindsay knew he was falling sideways off the bed and David was jerking away from him, staying on the bed.

Lindsay hit the floor with an involuntary grunt in the back of his throat.

A poorly muffled snort of laugher reached him and he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He was glad for the cushioning the rug next to David's bed had provided for it. Shaking it off, Lindsay rose to his knees and leaned his arms on top of the bed. His gaze fell on David's face, where a grimace trying hard not to be a smile was directed at the ceiling.

"Oops," David said before breaking out into a fit of sniggers. He turned his dark, amused, hazel eyes on Lindsay. Lindsay returned the gaze, unamused.

David's face fell and his eyes were suddenly hard, like shiny new marbles.

"Sorry," he said quietly, sincerely. Then he was bolting upright and grabbing a handful of Lindsay's blond hair. Their lips were pressed together briefly, David's moving gently and radiating apology with his tenderness. The angle David was twisted as he leaned over must have been painful but Lindsay received no indication of such as he responded with equal slowness. His hand raised from the bedspread to brush his fingertips over David's ear and found himself blinking in confusion when all contact between them ceased.

David was gracefully tumbling off the bed next to him, landing expertly on his feet without a glance at Lindsay.

"I'm going out," he muttered as he exited and was out of sight, leaving Lindsay kneeling next to his bed with a worried frown.

A strange, calculating, curious, wary tenseness spread out from his stomach and he sat up slowly, contemplating the doorway through which David had disappeared. There was something wrong. Part of him wanted to take off after David, but another part of him knew that it would be fruitless and only serve to possibly piss him off. David was irritated; at what, Lindsay had no idea. But he knew if he dogged David and berated him about it, there would only be bloodshed between them. They didn't fight often, but when they did, it could be bad.

So instead he would wait. He would watch David carefully and be ready. David would tell him when he could, and if that didn't seem to be any time soon, Lindsay would help him speak. David wasn't often down, but the times when he was really down were terribly scary times for Lindsay, especially after they mated, because David was still technically new to the world and he had a trainload of baggage. Both of them were discovering huge new things about David, and Lindsay knew that deep inside, beyond his free, careless, alive surface, David hid dark emotions and thoughts and ideas. There was anger, Lindsay knew for sure. And acute pain and sadness. There were always glimpses of all this when David slept and a nightmare would sneak its way from the hidden, barred confines of David's mind. Very few times had Lindsay ever seen these innermost, horrifying things.

But each time scared him, rocked him to his core. Anguish and helplessness was what he remembered most from those times. He felt that he was getting better at dealing with them when they came, though what he wished he had learned was how to prevent them.

At this point, all he could do was see it coming and hope to help David through it to the other side.

"Kei?" Sho whispered from where his head was pillowed on the vampire's chest. They were naked and Kei was on his back with Sho pressed against his side, the sheet on Sho's bed draped barely over Kei's hips and entirely over Sho's stomach, the only thing keeping them decent as they were basically plastered very comfortably to one another. Kei was nearly asleep, as it was about ten in the morning and the sun was burning bright in the sky.

"Hmm?" Kei hummed and Sho felt the vibration in Kei's sternum.

"I can hear your heart beating," Sho said. Kei frowned slightly with his eyes closed before shifting his arm a bit around Sho so his fingers could lazily play with the longer strands of silk brushing over the taller man's skin.

"Yeah…?" Kei finally responded. There was a moment of silence.

"I thought vampires didn't have heartbeats," Sho finally stated, turning his head so he could prop his chin on Kei's chest and watch the blonde's face.

"That's just a ridiculous notion humans came up with a long time ago, probably before medical science," Kei told him, cracking his eyes open for a brief glance at Sho before they shut again. "If vampires didn't have heartbeats our blood would not flow. We would not become aroused, our regeneration would not be possible, we would have absolutely no brain functions, we would constantly be cold… Basically we would be reanimated corpses, zombies really. So I do have a heartbeat, because I am not a zombie. I am a vampire. It's slightly slower than the average human's heartbeat, but it does exist. My heart does have to pump blood, stolen though it may be."

"I've always thought all those vampire myths and movies were crap," Sho commented with a smile before laying his head back down on Kei's chest.

Several long minutes of peace passed before Sho broke the silence again.

"You breathe too," he said hearing the super long, even whoooooooooshes of breath Kei was taking.

"I do," Kei murmured. "I don't have to."

"Why do it then?"

"Habit." Kei shrugged slightly. "I mean, technically, I do have to breathe, just not a lot. If I absolutely needed, I would only have to take a breath once a week."

"Wow," Sho breathed.

"Of course, I wouldn't be speaking during that time since air flow over the vocal chords is what causes speech," Kei explained sleepily, things falling silent once more.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed in stillness before Sho once again ended it.

"You're being talkative," he observed, shifting his legs in their tangle with Kei's.

"You are more," Kei mumbled and Sho knew he was barely conscious.

"You don't normally tell me anything about being a vampire, except when….." Sho trailed off, not wanting to bring up their arguments when Kei would starve himself. "But now you're just telling me."

"You're my mate now. I have these stupid, insane urges to please you even when I'm nearly asleep." Kei paused, the silence chastising and Sho blushed. "Also, this is some knowledge you should probably need to know as my mate."

"Oh," Sho said and fell silent once more.

Barely a minute went by this time and he was opening his mouth again.

"Kei," Sho murmured quietly.

"Yes, Sho?" Kei muttered and Sho could tell he was getting annoyed. He ducked his head down on Kei's chest.

"The next time you go out to feed, could I maybe come with?" He asked, barely loud enough for himself to hear but he knew Kei would just fine.

"I only fed three days ago, Sho," Kei uttered quietly.

"Does that mean yes?"

"I'm not going to be leaving you any time soon, Sho. And When I do go out to feed, yes, you can come along. Is there anything else you absolutely need to say right now, or can I sleep?" Kei said blandly, forcing an eye open to glare at the mop of hair resting comfortably on his chest.

"Sorry. I won't say anything more," Sho whispered, still blushing.

"Just sleep, Sho," Kei ordered, loosely wrapping his arm around Sho's ribs.

Sho sighed and let his eyes fall closed.

Some time around mid-afternoon, Lindsay was idly playing one of David's video games - more for the sake of keeping his mind busy than anything of entertainment value - when the phone David had left behind between the couch cushions dinged with a new text. Lindsay fished it out and checked it after seeing Gabe's name lit up on the screen.

'david's fine he wanted me to text you to let you know.'

Lindsay frowned at it. He had been concerned after David hadn't returned after a few hours but assured himself that his mate was fine. It wasn't unusual for David to be out and about for long hours on his own - or with one other person. But now it was nearly three in the afternoon and he had been gone since six that morning. Nine hours and he hadn't even checked in to let anyone know he was okay, which was weird. Except now Gabe was texting Lindsay, so he had to be with her, right?

'is he with you?'

Lindsay wanted to make sure. Gabe was special after all.

'yea he doesn't want me to say anything more to you though he won't be back until later"

Lindsay glared at the phone, unsure. Should he be worried, pissed, or back off? He definitely felt pissed off at David not wanting to even text him on Gabe's phone himself. But the more rational part of his brain was telling him that he should be worried, because David was distancing himself. When David detached it meant there was too much in his head to have room to deal with other people. And he did feel worry, but… His anger seemed to be easier - less complicated and painful - and more predominant. Still, he didn't want to be that way toward David right now, especially right now.

'tell him- no he's probably reading it over your arm. When are you coming home?'

Home. Lindsay felt a bit odd typing that up. Did he considered Kei and Sho's apartment home? Not really, no. But David lived here, and that was home. It was still weird though.

'all he says is he'll be there letter and not to worry cuz he's fine

*later'

Yeah. Right. Not worry. And later… At least he would be back before midnight. Later wouldn't mean "tomorrow" in David-speak.

The toilet flushed at that moment, interrupting Lindsay's thoughts and he stared back down at the red phone in his hand.

'allright'

He tossed the phone onto the couch a cushion away and picked up the Xbox controller from the arm. He unpaused the game and began shooting everything that moved in the game, releasing some of his worried anger that way.

"Where's David?" Sho croaked from the wall near the entrance to the short hall, staring at Lindsay through puffy, tired eyes. A pair of loose pajama pants hung twisted and crookedly on his hips. Lindsay knew exactly why too. He'd been there plenty of times, pulling on the nearest item of clothing to leave his bed and not caring how it looked, if it was on right, or even if it was his.

"With Gabe," Lindsay said dully, returning to staring blankly at the screen. Sho grunted and glanced around.

"Say when he's gonna be back?" he asked, yawning. Lindsay shook his head.

"No."

Sho hummed and turned around to head back to bed. Lindsay thought about shouting something sarcastic or teasing after him but refrained. They weren't friends and he honestly preferred it that way.

Muffled rustling noises roused Lindsay from sleep some time around midnight. He cracked his eyes open to find David with his back to him, stripping in the hazy light leaking between the curtains from streetlights outside. His clothes being dropped carelessly to the floor was what he had heard. Lindsay glanced at the clock and felt the mattress shift. David was crawling into bed next to him.

"Hey," he whispered and David's head jerked up so he was facing Lindsay, though Lindsay couldn't see any of his features.

"I thought you were asleep," David whispered back. Lindsay propped himself up on an elbow and pulled David down for a kiss.

"I was," he breathed between them. David licked his lips and Lindsay felt it.

"Didn't mean to wake you," David said and slipped fully into bed next to Lindsay. Lindsay settled back down on his side, his fingers stroking softly up and down David's arm next to him.

"Don't worry 'bout it," Lindsay muttered, feeling his eyes slip shut without his consent. David shifted and rolled onto his side with his back to Lindsay. In response, Lindsay shifted in behind him, draping his arm comfortably around his lover's waist. A couple inches of space remained between them and both were content.

"Night," David yawned. Lindsay sighed a barely coherent "nnngh" into his sweet smelling locks of hair before drifting off completely.

Jaded's after-words: So… I know it's been a while but this is my last year in high school and I've had a lot of things to do (because I've been behind due to certain circumstances). In five days I'm turning in the computer I've been using for school for the last three years. I don't know when I'll next be able to post, since I don't own a computer of my own except a really old one that's only good for music and pinball, and this chapter isn't all that great. It was supposed to be longer but since I'm out of school in eight days, I thought I should just post something before I can't post anything at all. I will be writing more even though I won't be able to post and maybe when I do have access to a computer with internet and stuffs I can post regularly.

David - going by personality alone - seme? or uke