Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Running errands for his dad wasn't Takumi's favourite way to spend a Saturday afternoon, especially such a gloomy one, but someone had to do it. Of course Takumi had the feeling that this someone always had to be him, but that could just as well be his imagination.

Ha. Of course not. Last-minute errands were always his job. Even if it was supposedly his dad's responsibility to keep an eye on their food storage.

Thankfully, it had at least stopped raining outside. It looked like it could start again every moment though, and Takumi hadn't brought an umbrella with him. It wouldn't make much sense for him to go back and fetch one now, so he decided that he'd just have to hurry and hope that he wouldn't get caught in a sudden rain shower.

That considered, he would have liked to go to the corner store closest to home, but no, his stingy old man had insisted he went to the grocery store on the other side of the shopping district because a) they were cheaper and b) they sold his favourite brand of sake. Which Takumi had been ordered to bring a bottle of, if he was going anyway. Figures.

At least he knew the shopping district like the inside of his pocket, so he was able to take several shortcuts all while now and then shooting a nervous look up at the sky to see if it was about to start raining.

That was exactly why he didn't notice the man standing in his way until he almost bumped into him. Takumi mumbled an apology. The street was narrow, and the man was standing right in his path. Which, on second thought, was a bit weird because the street wasn't so narrow that two people couldn't pass each other without getting in each other's way.

Takumi frowned.

"Could you please let me pass?", he asked politely, but the man didn't move. Takumi couldn't really see his expression because he had the visor of his baseball cap pulled low over his face and wore a surgical mask. Even after another two seconds of silence, he still didn't make a move to get out of Takumi's way.

Takumi had enough. He huffed and tried to push past the man because he really didn't have time for this, but that proved to be a bad idea.

His bag with the wallet landed on the ground as he let go of the handle, his fingers reflectively unclenching when his back suddenly collided with the brick wall. His breath was knocked out of him from the impact and he let out a surprised, strangled gasp. The man who had shoved him covered Takumi's mouth with one hand and muffled his following shouts that were equal parts enraged and panicked.

What the hell is happening?

Takumi thought that he was being robbed, but the man didn't bend down to pick up his wallet and run. Instead, he used his weight to pin Takumi against the wall and tore off the surgical mask that covered his nose and mouth. Takumi caught a glimpse of a grimace, which looked less angry and more desperate than expected. The guy's teeth were…

Takumi realised what was happening a fraction of a second before fangs sank into his neck. And shit, that really hurt and Takumi didn't make it better by trying to pull away, which only tore his skin more. He could feel that he was bleeding, and that the man – the vampire – was now greedily sucking on the wounds he had inflicted, which was a truly nauseating sensation. The fact that he emitted a pretty unpleasant smell didn't make it better.

Takumi could feel himself getting dizzy, likely from blood loss. The vampire didn't let up; he was probably half-starved if he resorted to attacking people on the street.

Half-starved. That absurdly reminded Takumi that he was supposed to buy some eggs from the store because they had run out, and he renewed his struggles. He couldn't go buy eggs if he was going to pass out!

It was funny how in life-threatening moments like these, your priorities got all messed up. The vampire could actually kill him if he didn't stop drinking soon, but all Takumi could think about was that damn errand his old man had sent him on.

Another strong wave of dizziness washed over him. He started breaking out in cold sweat.

"O-oi. Stop it," he stammered against the vampire's palm, which still didn't budge. Dark spots started dancing in front of his eyes and he had to find out that his limbs felt numb and didn’t really have the strength to struggle anymore. How much blood had the guy drunken already? Wasn't it enough now?

His legs gave out under him and he sagged against the brick wall. This led to the vampire's mouth dislodging from the bite wound for a moment, but that short moment seemed to be enough. The man froze. He pulled back and looked to each side of the alleyway hastily as if he was checking if there were any witnesses; then he finally let go of Takumi and pulled the mask back over his mouth.

Takumi sank to the floor. His vision gave out, but he could hear quick footsteps getting quieter. The vampire fled the scene, and even though he could barely move Takumi tried feeling around for the bag with his wallet. He felt the fabric under his fingertips and wanted to grasp it, but that was the very last thing he remembered before fully blacking out.

~~~

The next thing he could remember was hearing a male voice calling out to him.

"Oi! You there! You okay?"

Takumi groaned and blearily opened his eyes. He had a headache and still felt dizzy, and he wasn't even able to move his head to search for the owner of the voice. He faintly wondered how long he had been out. A few minutes? Less? Or more?

"Shit," he heard someone curse, same voice as before. Takumi's answer, or lack thereof, seemed to have been sufficient for the stranger. A tall figure moved into his line of sight and bent down a bit to take a better look.

"Hey. You. Keep your eyes open," the stranger said.

Takumi blinked and tried to get a decent look at the man. The only thing he could make out at first was the stranger's blond hair before he managed to get his face into focus. The man didn't look much older than Takumi, and his expression showed worry. "What happened?", he asked.

Takumi gave his best to respond clearly, but his tongue wouldn't really obey him. The word "vampire" came out well enough though.

The stranger's eyes wandered down to his neck and widened. Takumi wondered how much of a bloody mess there was. Would he ever get it out of his shirt again?

"Ah," the stranger only said.

"Can you stand?", a second voice suddenly asked from the left where Takumi couldn't see the speaker.

"No," he croaked and turned his head very slowly to avoid getting nauseous again. The owner of the second voice turned out to be a tall, dark-haired man in a black coat, who looked like he was about the other's age as well.

"I'll call an ambulance," he said. "The police as well." The man's voice was deep and pleasant.

Takumi nodded gratefully but regretted it in the very next moment as dizziness hit him again. He screwed his eyes shut and waited for it to go away. The blond extended a hand and shook Takumi's shoulder while the second stranger talked into his phone. "Oi. Don't faint on me now, alright?"

"'m trying," Takumi mumbled. The other said it as if it was easy and he had any control over it, but the dizziness was making it really hard to move without seeing dark spots in front of his eyes.

The man paused for a moment, as if he didn't know what to do next.

"I'm Keisuke, and that one over there's my brother Ryousuke," he said then. "What's your name?"

"Takumi." Talking was fortunately getting easier for him by the minute, but his head still felt like a cotton ball. A very painful cotton ball.

The man Takumi now knew was named Keisuke seemed to have caught his little wince of pain. "Are you from around here?", he asked. Takumi nodded, but made sure not to do it too hastily this time. It still hurt, so he decided to move as little as possible.

The things he would give to be at home now, in his bed.

Instead, he was sitting in some back alley on the wet, dirty ground and had to have someone call an ambulance for him.

He was struck by the sudden thought whether he could die from this. The wound on his neck didn't seem deep and didn't feel like it was bleeding much, but the vampire had drunken quite a lot of his blood. Maybe he would need a transfusion.

He must have looked like he was about to doze off, because Keisuke was shaking his shoulder again. "Don't close your eyes. Look at me."

Takumi would have really liked to take some rest, but he knew that this wasn't the right time and place. It was hard to keep his eyes open though, so he decided to do just what Keisuke had asked him to and tried to focus on him. It took effort, but it did help. Unfortunately, this intense staring at the man's face made Takumi fully realize how attractive he was. Which was objectively the wrong thing to focus on at a time like this, but it helped to keep him awake. And Keisuke did have really striking blue eyes…

'You've got to be joking, Takumi,' he thought at himself. Sternly. As sternly as he could in this case, anyway, because his willpower was at a pretty low point at the moment, and thus he continued to stare.

"Great," said Keisuke, who probably – hopefully – had no idea of Takumi's last thoughts. He glanced over at his brother, who was still on the phone, and then looked back at Takumi.

"We live farther away," he said lightly. "We wanted to go to a bar I like. Or rather, I wanted to. I just dragged Ryousuke along." He grinned, and Takumi focused on the way his eyes crinkled with amusement at the memory. If Keisuke was trying to distract him with this talk, it was at least working.

Keisuke seemed to come to the same conclusion, because he continued talking. "That bore holes himself up in his room all day. He's a workaholic, I tell you. No fun at all. Sometimes he just needs to be dragged out into society."

Takumi couldn't help but smile as he imagined Keisuke dragging his elegant and uptight-looking brother through the streets by the sleeve. They seemed very close. Takumi found himself wondering if he would be like this, too, if he had a sibling.

Keisuke grinned at him again, and this time Takumi's view caught on the other's mouth, or rather, his teeth. Even more precisely, his elongated, sharp canines.

Oh.

Takumi blinked in surprise and slight shock. Following an instinct, he quickly glanced at Ryousuke and thought to see the very same thing there while he was talking.

Vampires. Both of them.

Takumi was startled. His brain seemed to have not yet decided whether it wanted to be a bit scared as well.

But seriously, even if they were vampires, too, that didn't have to mean they would be tempted by the blood currently smeared across his neck. They didn't look like they had a reason to, either. From the way they were dressed, Takumi could only suspect that they could afford to get their regular doses from the blood bank. The vampire who attacked him probably hadn't been as lucky. And anyway, the two of them were helping him right now. It would be very rude and unfair to assume the worst, so Takumi forced himself not to.

Keisuke had caught his nervous glance, though. His amused grin turned into an awkward smile. "Should I keep a bit of a distance? That'd be okay, you know."

Takumi frowned. "'s fine. Just a bit funny. I met more vampires today in… an hour? Well, more in an hour than I usually see in 'n entire month."

His speech still sounded a bit slurred, but he thought that the fact that he was able to concentrate on forming a logical sentence had to be a good sign. Right?

"Then I'm sorry that the experience had to be so unpleasant." Ryousuke had finished his phone call and joined in on the conversation. Takumi could see now that he had guessed right: Keisuke's brother had fangs, too. If you were looking for them, they were visible when he talked.

"The ambulance should be here shortly." He put the phone away and gave Takumi a once-over. "You look very pale. Maybe you should lie down until it arrives."

The vampire slipped off his coat and lay it on the wet pavement next to Takumi. Keisuke helped him lie down, and Takumi breathed a sigh of relief once his head was resting on the soft fabric. This position was definitely better for his dizziness, but now he felt bad for dirtying Ryousuke's coat. It looked and felt quite expensive, though Takumi didn’t really know much about those things. It was a kind gesture either way, and it made him feel a little embarrassed for being such a bother.

"There, that's better," Keisuke reassured him. "Now stay awake until the ambulance is here, alright?"

"I'll try."

Takumi stared ahead into the cloudy grey sky between the roofs above him. The rain had yet to start again, but it looked like he might be spared of it, anyway. He thought he could hear sirens in the distance and wondered if they were for him and if his case was that urgent.  

What a day. To think that all he had wanted was to buy some stupid eggs…

Chapter Text

At the hospital it was quickly determined that Takumi wouldn't need a blood transfusion. He had to spend about two hours there anyway. They gave him an IV because he was dehydrated, and they handed him a blister of supplements in pill form that were supposed to help the body restore its blood and that he would have to take over the next few weeks.

The wound on his neck was photographed from seemingly all possible angles, a nurse took samples that would be used to attempt a DNA test (though that would be tricky because the culprit was a vampire and their DNA didn't replicate,) and then Takumi had to describe the attacker to a policewoman. When she left with a promise that the vampire would be found and taken to court, he only felt exhausted. He wasn't convinced that they would be able to find his attacker, and now that it was pretty certain that he would get out of this without much damage, he wasn't even that keen on him being caught. It had been a matter of life or death for that guy, right? And besides the fact that his trip to the store had been cut short, not much had happened.

Well, besides an unplanned hospital visit. And the fact that he had met two more vampires who had helped him.

Speaking of them: When Takumi was finally released with the order to come back in a few days for a blood test to make sure that the bite really hadn't transmitted anything he should know about, Keisuke and Ryosuke were waiting for him in the entrance hall. Takumi felt flustered by that because it was really not necessary that they sacrificed their time for him. Now that made him feel even worse for that little pang of fear and mistrust he had initially felt upon seeing that they both were vampires.

The relief that spread on their faces when they spotted him embarrassed him more. They had wanted to make sure he was okay even after all they had already done for him.

Takumi walked over to them and bowed his head before anyone could say anything.
"Thank you for helping me. Everything could have turned out a lot worse for me if you hadn't been there."

It could have, Takumi was sure of that. Without help, he might have stayed unconscious in that alley for who-knows how long.

"No need to be so formal," Ryousuke said, and Takumi lifted his head again. "It's nothing you'd need to thank us for. It was a matter of course."

"Yeah," Keisuke chimed in, "we're just glad that we were there to help."

"Not everyone would have done that. So, thank you."

There was an uncomfortable pause after that as they uneasily averted each other's eyes. But Takumi knew what he had said was true. Maybe there had been people passing by his unconscious form before the brothers arrived at the scene. He wouldn’t know. The thought made him uncomfortable.

"Oh, that reminds me-" Keisuke reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out something that, upon a closer look, turned out to be Takumi's bag and wallet. "I found this on the ground next to you. That's yours, right?"

Takumi breathed a sigh of relief. His old man would have killed him if he had lost that. "Yes. Thank you."

Keisuke handed it to him, and Takumi didn't bother to check the contents. To do that right in front of the brothers would have some rude implications, so he decided that had to wait until later and pocketed bag and wallet instead.

The sound of Ryousuke's voice made Takumi look up again. "Takumi, do you know how you'll get back home? Is someone coming to pick you up?"

Takumi blinked at the question. "Oh. Uh…"

There was no way he'd ask his dad to come fetch him. He was probably wondering where he was by now, but it wouldn't have been the first time he had stopped on the way home to visit Itsuki. Considering the time, it was also likely that he had already drunken again. Yeah, no way he would ask his old man for a ride. He'd be pissed, anyway.

"Well, I don't live too far from here. I was planning to walk home."

Ryousuke frowned at him. It looked almost accusatory, and Takumi couldn't help but falter a bit. The black-haired vampire had a sort of authority to him that immediately made Takumi feel like he had said something wrong.

"Walk home? In your condition? Excuse me, but that is a terrible idea. You're in no state to walk all that way alone." He shook his head. "If you don't have anyone you can call, we will bring you home. If you allow."

"Eh?!" Takumi gaped at him and raised his hands in defence. "That's really not-"

"No way we'll let you walk," Keisuke interrupted his attempt at an objection. "I don't know if you've realised, but less than two hours ago you were passed out in the road. Do you want that to happen again?"

He was frowning at him while his brother kept looking at him intently. Takumi hesitated.

"Look, we just want to make sure you don't injure yourself. If you don't want to go with us, we'll call you a cab or something. But please get the idea out of your head that you're going to walk that way by yourself."

After that, it was just a losing battle. Neither of them would take no for an answer, and with the heavy knowledge that they did have a point, Takumi had to agree.

They didn't end up calling a cab because Takumi didn't ask them to. He was a bit torn between not wanting to be rude by being too cautious and asking himself whether he was being naïve. He couldn't deny being a bit wary, but that was mainly because he didn't actually know that much about vampires, let alone how to behave around them. A lot of them were part of very old and very proud families or clans as far as he understood it, and the fact that they were pretty much immortal enabled them to hold very persistent grudges. Takumi wasn't sure about Ryousuke's and Keisuke's background and how they felt about those things, but he wanted to avoid offending them at all cost.

It was too bad that he had never even talked to a vampire before.

Fortunately for him, both brothers seemed to have a pretty casual attitude. Takumi kept thinking that it was because they were pretty close to his own age before remembering that he actually couldn't know that. He may have been asleep every time they talked about vampires at school, but the fact that vampirism pretty much halted the aging process at the price of needing human blood to survive was common knowledge. Takumi had once heard someone on TV call it "the most sought-after disease in the world." But here was one of the things he did know about proper manners towards vampires: Don't call it a disease. It was technically true, but most vampires didn't like hearing it at all.

Well, Takumi thought, if I was immortal, I probably wouldn't want to think about it that way, either.

He glanced at the brothers walking next to him across the parking lot, trying to figure out what kind of scale he was dealing with here. He had no clue how much influence they might have, let alone what kind of clan they might be part of. They definitely weren't poor, that much became clear to him when he set eyes on the car that was supposed to bring him home.

Ryousuke had called someone to fetch them, and what had turned up was an honest-to-god black limousine with a driver who bowed and held the door open for them. Takumi tried not to let it get to him, but it was a hopeless battle he was fighting here. Well, at least that answered part of the scale question. Takumi was glad that the drive would be short, otherwise he might end up with a stiff back seeing how tense he was.

Keisuke slid into the seat next to him and pretended not to notice his uneasiness. "So, where are we going?", he asked and jerked his head in the direction of the driver, indicating that Takumi needed to describe the way to him.

Takumi told him the address and felt pretty awkward about the whole thing, especially about being driven through the narrow streets in a damn limousine. His old man would definitely notice and question him about it, no matter how much sake he might or might not have drunken already. He grimaced. How was he going to explain this without making it weird?

While the driver navigated them through the labyrinth of streets that was the southern shopping district, all three of his passengers remained silent. Takumi considered breaking the awkward silence a few times – he actually had a lot of questions that he'd like to ask, but he was aware that it would be insensitive and rude to interrogate the brothers about what it was like to be a vampire. And besides, he still couldn't help but feel like a nuisance. Keisuke and Ryousuke probably had places to be, and now he was holding them off from their plans. The least he could do was to not annoy them further by asking too many questions.

He ended up being saved from his dilemma by Keisuke, who apparently couldn't stand the silence either.

"Did you grow up here?", he asked out of the blue, which gained him the attention of both Takumi and Ryousuke.

"Yes," Takumi answered, somewhat thankful for getting a topic to talk about. Mindlessly, he added, "I was born here, and I don't think I will leave anytime soon."

Keisuke looked at him curiously, and Takumi cursed himself for not shutting up. "Why are you so certain about that?"

Takumi shrugged. "I don't feel like moving anywhere else. And besides, what should I do there?"

"And if you had a reason to leave, would you do it?"

Takumi blinked, a bit taken aback by the question. He thought about how he had almost started asking personal questions, but it looked like Keisuke beat him to it. He wasn't insulted, just… well, a bit dumbfounded. He caught Ryousuke shooting his brother a glare, but the latter didn't seem to notice. He continued looking at him curiously, awaiting his answer.

"I guess." Takumi shrugged again, deciding that he didn't mind the questions. "I don't really believe there will be one, though. I'm pretty sure I'll end up taking over the shop and staying here, anyway."

"The shop…?", Keisuke inquired curiously.

Takumi didn’t get the chance to give him an answer because they arrived at their destination just in this moment. He almost didn’t notice until the limousine stopped in front of the tofu shop, and then he was abruptly reminded that he would have a lot to explain when he spotted his dad leaning against the house wall and staring at the black car that didn’t belong into these streets at all.

He opened the door for himself this time, inevitably starting to feel flustered when he noticed both brothers curiously inspecting the humble house that he grew up in.

He cleared his throat, "I, uhm- Thank you. For everything."

Ryousuke shook his head. "As I said, it was a matter of course. I apologise that this happened to you."

"Me too. I hope that the rest of your week will be a little less, uh, exciting," Keisuke added. Takumi was almost tempted to answer that he hoped otherwise, because he couldn't deny that meeting the two vampires, while awkward, had been a bit interesting. Much more interesting than going to the grocery store, at least.

That, however, reminded him once again of the fact that he would have to explain the events to his dad. He suppressed a groan.

"I hope so, too," he replied. Well, he definitely wouldn't complain about being a little less flustered because of a vampire he didn't even know anything about.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Ryousuke stated, and his brother nodded in agreement. Takumi hoped that he didn't actually blush and it just felt like he did. What was that about being flustered…?

"Likewise," he answered, and meant it. He was about to close the car door when Keisuke called something after him.

"Hold on to your blood in the future, yeah?"

Takumi caught a glance at his cheeky grin and heard Ryousuke reprimand him with a sharp "Keisuke."

He laughed. "I will."

Closing the door, he saw Ryousuke's expression of guarded relief and somehow got the feeling that Keisuke's bad joke would get a telling-off. He didn't have time to think about it because he had to move on to more important things: Trying to come up with a sensible way of explaining to his dad what had happened.

"I'm back," he mumbled as he approached the house, unhappily taking note of his father's raised eyebrow. He knew what kind of picture he must be giving off: No groceries, but a large bandage on his neck. To make it worse, dropped off from a black limousine.

"Sorry," he added, because it felt appropriate.

Fujiwara Bunta was looking surprisingly sober for this time on a Saturday. He gave the offending limousine another long look before it finally drove away. Takumi relaxed a bit.

His dad lit a cigarette, saying nothing and letting his son squirm for a bit.

"So," he grunted finally. "I take it that you weren't at your friend's place."

"No. I was… at the hospital, to be honest."

Bunta stared pointedly at the bandage on his neck. "Vampires?"

True to his nature, he guessed immediately what had happened. At least that meant that Takumi didn't have to explain as much.

"Only one," he mumbled.

His dad waved one hand in the direction the limousine had left. "I hope that wasn't the one who did this."

"Of course not!" Takumi glared at him. Did his old man really think he was that stupid? Getting attacked- No, offering himself to a vampire and letting them take him home afterwards? No way.

"They were the ones who brought me to the hospital. Nothing else happened."

"Good." Another long drag of the cigarette. "Wouldn't have thought that of you, either."

"Gee, thanks," Takumi replied sarcastically. "Good to know someone here has faith in me."

Bunta huffed, amused by his answer. "I wouldn't be so fast. You might realize that we're still out of eggs. No tamagoyaki tomorrow. Aren't eggs a recommended dish when you lose a lot of blood?"

Takumi immediately regretted engaging his dad in conversation. He huffed as well, though less out of amusement and more out of exasperation.

"Fine, old man. I'll go to the corner store." He turned around to leave (even though he wanted nothing more than fall into his bed now that the stress was over), but his dad held him back.

"You stay here and lie down, idiot. I'll go."

Takumi sighed. Sometimes his dad could almost be called a sensible father. Sometimes.
"Thanks," he mumbled, not even feeling bad anymore for leaving the task to his dad. He only wanted to sleep. Turned out that losing so much blood took more of a toll on you than he thought.

Keisuke and Ryousuke had been right in not letting him walk home all alone.

With that realisation on his mind, he pushed past his dad and entered the house without even registering the customer bell, a sound that he had heard so often in his life. With how tired he suddenly was, it almost came as a surprise that he even made it up to his room without passing out on the floor somewhere.

He fell into his bed without changing his clothes and immediately sank into a sleep so deep that not even an earthquake could have disturbed it.

Chapter Text

As the sight of the little tofu shop gradually got smaller in the back window, Ryousuke Takahashi, vampire and long-suffering older brother, let out a deep sigh and directed his reprehensive glare at his brother Keisuke.

Keisuke, either blissfully unaware of any misdeeds or just uncaring, duly ignored him and craned his neck to watch the human, Takumi, talk to a man that was likely his father in front of his home. Ryousuke came to the conclusion that simply glaring wouldn't gain him his brother's attention. If he wanted to ignore him, he would do so.

"You shouldn't have said that," Ryousuke stated evenly just as the car turned around a corner and the two vampires lost sight of the tofu shop. Keisuke finally turned around to face him.

"Said what? Goodbye?" He grinned, meaning that he knew exactly what Ryousuke was scolding him for. Ryousuke told him such, but his brother only shrugged. "It was a joke. And the truth. He's got to be careful, don't you think?"

Ryousuke sighed, again asking himself why he always had to do the damage control. There was no real damage this time, thankfully, but he was worried that Keisuke didn't understand the effect his words could have in their situation. As vampires, they both had to be responsible and careful.

"It wasn’t very smart of you, Keisuke. He just got attacked. And you know what the situation is like at the moment. I would have expected a bit more tactfulness from you."

Keisuke scoffed. "If you're still expecting tactfulness from me, you don't know me very well."

"Keisuke."

"And besides," his brother continued, "you also saw that he took the whole thing quite well. He allowed us around him; he wouldn't have done that if he had something against vampires in general."

"That is true, but your behaviour was still insensitive. You treated his experience like a joke. Be thankful that he didn't feel insulted by that."

"C'mon, you know that I didn't mean it like that! I just wanted to lighten the mood a bit. He could use it. Did you see how tense he was the whole time?"

"That could have been because he was attacked by a vampire immediately prior to being in close proximity of two vampires he didn't know anything about," Ryousuke reminded him sharply.

Keisuke returned his glare challengingly. "Oh? And which one of us insisted on bringing him home, huh?"

"Don't act like you passionately opposed it. He might have seriously injured himself if he went alone, and I couldn't condone that. And then you went ahead and interrogated him about his life situation. I hope I don't have to explain why that was a bad idea."

It was funny how quickly Keisuke's attitude could deflate. He averted his eyes, looking a bit flustered as if he was very aware of the fact. "He interested me," he mumbled, not quite quietly enough that Ryousuke couldn't hear him.

Oh dear.

"Keisuke. You are not supposed to hit on him!"

"I wasn't hitting on him!", Keisuke protested hotly. Ryousuke ignored his unconvincing asseveration.

"We found him unconscious in the street and had to bring him home from the hospital; you can't just start hitting on him!"

"I wasn't-", his idiot of a little brother tried to repeat himself, but Ryousuke didn't let him.

"Do you even understand what's going on? We are vampires, Keisuke. He's a human, who just got attacked for his blood to make matters even worse." He rubbed his temples in an attempt to stave off his beginning headache. "We can't afford to make a mistake, not with how things are for us at the moment."

Keisuke seemingly decided to go back to being stubborn. "I know about that, I'm not stupid. But I don't see what's wrong with a little flirting-", ah, so he admits that now, "-and besides, it's not like he reacted negatively. Take it easy, alright?"

Ryousuke sighed. "Look, relationships between vampires and humans are complicated-"

"That didn't stop our parents," Keisuke interrupted dryly.

"Do we really need to have that discussion?"

"No, we don't." Keisuke huffed. "You need to stop worrying about it. It's not like we're going to see him again anyway."

That, of course, was a giant misjudgement. But at that moment neither Keisuke nor his brother knew that, and thus Ryousuke was satisfied for now and let the argument rest.

~~~

"What?!! That's insane!"

Takumi flinched and rubbed his ear, which his best friend had just chosen to shout into. Takumi wished that Itsuki would learn to keep a bit of a distance when raising his voice like this.

Then again, he had been like this ever since they had met back in middle school, so Takumi really doubted that would happen. But hope died last.

Itsuki at least had the sense to look apologetic and lower his voice a bit. "Seriously though, Takumi! That really happened to you?! I can't believe it!"

He shook his head, even though he had already seen the bandage covering the wound. It was the first thing he had asked to see. Takumi shrugged.

"I just had bad luck," he mumbled. That's what it had been. He had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have been anyone else just as well. He told his best friend that.

Itsuki got a thoughtful look on his face. "Then again, such things happen more often lately, don't they?"

Takumi almost told him off. It wasn't like people got attacked for their blood on a daily basis. Itsuki was right though; attacks like that did seem to become more frequent. Or at least you heard of them more frequently. Takumi didn't know much about things like these, but he did watch the news and heard that there were fewer and fewer donors. Blood was getting more expensive, vampires who weren't part of any clan couldn't afford it anymore. That's how he understood it, anyway.

"Hm," he made and stared at the yellow curtains on Itsuki's window. For that, he got rewarded with a light punch to the back of his head. "Oi!"

"Quit spacing off!", Itsuki complained. "You don't seem to take this very seriously, even though you had to go to the hospital!"

"I am taking this seriously," Takumi defended himself. "I just don't want to make a big deal out of it."

In all seriousness, he would like to forget about the events as soon as possible. There was no chance he could do that if everyone kept making a big deal out of it. At least his old man wasn't making a fuss. Not like Takumi had expected him to.

With Itsuki, it was a different story. He almost regretted telling him.

Itsuki huffed. "But it is kind of a big deal!" He seemed to think for a moment, and Takumi was half-prepared to cover his ears again. "Hey, do you think you got into the newspaper?"

First he was feeling personally insulted because Takumi didn't take this seriously enough and now he was getting excited about a newspaper article?

Sometimes Takumi just didn't understand his best friend and the way he could jump from one mood to another. But that was Itsuki for you, right there.

"Dunno, didn't look."

"A chance of fame and you don't even look?!"

Takumi looked at him, a bit startled, until he noticed the grin on his face. He was joking this time. Takumi scoffed, but had to smile a little as well. He was almost about to believe that the topic was done with that and they could move on to something else, but he was mistaken. Before he could steer their conversation to a different subject, his friend had already focused on another part of his story.

"But anyway, to think that you now know two vampires personally…!", he marvelled. Takumi closed his eyes very briefly, to the effect that Keisuke's (very attractive) face appeared before his inner eye. He groaned. Why did Itsuki have to remind him? He was still embarrassed about the whole ordeal.

"I don't actually know them," he protested, but Itsuki waved it off. "Did you ask them what it's like to be a vampire?", he eagerly demanded to know. Why was he so excited about this?

"I didn't. That’s a really personal question, I think." Takumi wouldn't ask someone he barely knew about that, just like he wouldn't ask some stranger about their diabetes or something. Then again, maybe Itsuki's inhibition threshold was low enough to do just that. "Say, do you always assume you know someone after talking to them once?"

Just as he finished the question, Takumi remembered that this was exactly how he and Itsuki had become friends in the first place. So much for that.

Itsuki looked a bit miffed and raised his hands defensively. "Okay, okay. Fine. But you can at least tell me what they were like, right?"

Seriously, why was he so excited?

"Normal. They were normal," Takumi answered and thought about the coat and them waiting for him and refusing to let him go home alone. "Normal" wasn't really the right word. But maybe it would get Itsuki to shut up.

It didn't.

"What do you mean, normal?"

Takumi shrugged. "What do you imagine vampires to be like?"

That seemed to make Itsuki realize that his question was a bit stupid, because he started fumbling with the edge of his shirt. "You know, like what people say. Beautiful. Arrogant. Kind of stuck-up. …You know what I mean!"

"I guess I do," Takumi said and shrugged again. "They were like normal people."

He chose not to mention that the part about being beautiful did apply to the two brothers.

…Don’t think about that again.

This was embarrassing. Takumi wondered whether the fact that the thought of Keisuke didn't leave his head because of the circumstances of their meeting. There was no denying that the vampire left an impression that Takumi couldn't easily shake off.

Itsuki's loud voice tore him from his thoughts. "Ha! You're blushing! Why are you blushing?!"

Crap.

Chapter Text

Almost two whole months passed before Takumi found himself in front of the familiar modern, concrete building in the city's centre again. He had been warned not to visit it too soon after what had happened to him, but he possessed the common sense to have figured that out by himself. Two months, however, seemed like a sensible time for his body to sufficiently recover what was lost.

Despite the reason for the long break, Takumi didn't have any qualms as he pushed open the doors to the practice on the first floor.

The receptionist of the blood donation service already knew him and greeted him with a smile when he went to draw his number. It had become routine to him over time. He used to be nervous, but that was long ago. The first few times he went donating he almost felt ashamed for it, but that feeling had quickly made way to nonchalance. Takumi got used to the whole procedure like he got used to many other things.

There weren't many people waiting with him in the practice, which gave him reason to hope that it would be a fast deal today. Maybe he could pay Itsuki another visit before his afternoon shift began.

Thinking about Itsuki made him remember the conversation they had a few weeks ago. He looked around the waiting room inconspicuously; there were only two others waiting for their appointments. He wondered if he was seeing the results of vampire attacks getting more frequent and anti-vampire sentiments on the rise - but then again, it could also be simply because it was still early in the day.

He really didn't have to wait too long. Five minutes later he sat in one of the little rooms and was tended to by a nurse he also knew from earlier visits. She made meaningless small talk to distract him from the needle, but Takumi had gotten so used to it that he didn't need the distraction anymore. He stared at the wall, lost in thoughts as the nurse drew his blood, and was almost surprised when it was over already. Upon walking out he glanced at the blood bag and wondered for the first time where it would go, something that he had never really thought about before. The blood bank system supposedly worked very efficiently, but how could it do that anymore if there simply wasn't enough to work with?

He rubbed his neck absentmindedly, the place where the bite wound had been: No scar was left behind because vampire bites healed fast. The memory, though… Hundreds of years ago, there had been no blood bank system, and many humans experienced what had happened to him.

He wondered why he was thinking about that right now. It wasn't like he was getting second thoughts when he went to collect the small envelope with his money. Still… What had happened a bit less than two months ago made him start to think about stuff he took for granted. He really wished he had paid more attention when talking about those topics at school, brief as that had been. But up until now, he had never been interested in anything that had to do with vampires, except blood donation because it helped him save up for new shoes or whatever other thing he could use some extra money for. Other than that – well, there weren't all that many vampires (and both them and the human government were careful about keeping it that way) and Takumi had never had reason to expect it would be significant for him. That was probably pretty dumb of him, he thought as he left the practice and went down the stairs.

He was still in thought and halfway out of the front door when he almost bumped into someone because he didn't really pay attention to where he was going. He mumbled an apology, hastily bowing his head a little before moving on, only to be stopped by the sound of his name said by a voice that sounded vaguely familiar.

"Takumi? Is that you?"

The owner of the voice's surprise was evident, and Takumi didn't feel any less surprised as he finally turned around and came face to face with a familiar blond vampire.

Of all the people to meet here, he wouldn’t have expected to see him again – in fact, he wouldn't have expected to meet him again anywhere. Hadn't he said that he and his brother lived a while away from here?

"It is you! I didn't think I would meet you here," Keisuke said, smiling while looking the still-stunned Takumi up and down. "Recovered well?"

Takumi was a bit caught off guard and didn't really know what to say. "Ah… Yeah," he replied in what was almost a stutter. His first instinct was to more-or-less discreetly hide the envelope behind his back, but Keisuke had seen the movement. He looked a bit puzzled at the realisation he must have had at the sight.

"So you were here to- oh. Sorry. Never mind." He laughed awkwardly and shook his head, "Anyway, glad to see you're fine."

"Yeah…" Takumi felt his face grow hot again and felt angry at himself for getting embarrassed. There was nothing embarrassing about donating blood – except, apparently, for when you were standing in front of a vampire who had seen you at your lowest; unconscious from blood loss. For some reason Takumi was actually concerned about what the other might be thinking of him now.

"What are you doing here?", he asked to overplay his embarrassment and belatedly wondered whether it was an invasive question. Then again, Keisuke really didn't seem to pay much attention to such concerns himself. He didn't seem to possess much of the polite tactfulness that was often attributed to vampires, which honestly helped a lot in making Takumi a bit more comfortable in his company. It did not help making him any less embarrassed, though.

Keisuke hummed thoughtfully. "I have an appointment, that's why I came here," he answered and gave Takumi another intent look that the latter couldn't interpret. "Quite a coincidence that we meet again, huh?"

Takumi had to agree, all while admitting to himself that he was happy to see Keisuke. The fact that they were still standing in the open door and talking, inevitably blocking people’s paths in the progress, told him that the vampire couldn't feel much different.

He was probably glad that Takumi had recovered well. Well enough to donate blood again, too.

Someone pushed past them, grumbling something about "youth these days," and Takumi stepped aside with a mumbled apology. Keisuke chuckled and the two of them exchanged a slightly embarrassed look.

"This isn't really the best place to have a conversation, I guess," Keisuke said. He kept looking at Takumi, suddenly furrowing his brows as if reconsidering something. The expression only lasted for a second or so before it turned into a charming smile, showing his fangs just a little bit. "Say, are you free right now? What about I invite you to a coffee?"

Now it was Takumi’s turn to furrow his brows, in confusion on his part. "Didn't you just say that you have an appointment?"

The vampire brushed it off. "It's not that important. It can wait. But I'd like to talk to you a bit more now that we've met again like this." He smiled again. "I'd like to do it in a more comfortable place, though."

Takumi's fingers inadvertently tightened around the paper envelope, crinkling it in the process. He was baffled by the offer, enough so that there was an embarrassing pause before he could get a word out.

"Sure," he finally managed to answer, avoiding meeting Keisuke's eyes. The vampire didn't seem to be bothered by the moment of hesitation, instead seeming genuinely happy about how things were turning out. Takumi didn't know what to think of it. Keisuke didn't have much of a reason to invite him to a coffee. There was no obligation for him to do such a thing; he could have just asked about Takumi's wellbeing and left it at that if he just wanted to be polite.

But Takumi had never been very good at figuring out people's hidden intentions, at least not of those he didn't know well. In addition to that, he was still telling himself that he just didn’t know enough about vampires and their social rules.

Still, he was pondering about Keisuke's behaviour towards him and his own reaction to it as he let the vampire lead him to a nearby café.

Chapter Text

The café Keisuke had in mind was only a three-minute walk away. He didn't know this place or whether it was any good, but he wasn't very familiar with this part of town and had to hope for the best. It had looked pretty nice at least when he had passed it earlier, and on a second glance it didn't give him a bad impression either.

Inside the café looked inviting and cosy, and the scent of roasted coffee beans hung in the air.

A quick look at the menu told Keisuke that they offered lunch here as well, which was very convenient for his plans. "Let's sit there," he said and pointed at a table in the corner, a bit hidden behind a wooden room divider. Takumi trudged after him, not saying a word, and they both took a seat at the tiny table. Keisuke reached for the menu but stopped himself after a moment of consideration. "Do you want to look first?", he asked Takumi, but the other shook his head silently. He was wringing his hands and averting his eyes, Keisuke noted. That had been a bit expected, but it made him nervous as well.

To distract himself, he started skimming the menu. Not only for himself though, as he was already reading through the food items that they offered here with the plan to convince Takumi to order one of the dishes.

He ended up settling for a simple coffee for himself. He wasn't hungry in any way and he didn't even like coffee that much, but in his experience cafés were good places to get to know people better. And now that he had met Takumi again through some crazy coincidence, he really wanted to get to know him better. It was like a hint from the heavens that he ran into the other when he did, and it was an opportunity he wouldn't let go to waste.

He finally handed Takumi the menu, who honestly just seemed relieved to have something to occupy his hands with.

"The sandwiches they have sound pretty good, I think."

Takumi looked up, finally. "Huh?"

"I said, the sandwiches sound pretty good. I'm not very hungry at the moment, but you probably are. Choose something, yeah? It's on me."

Keisuke watched Takumi blink at him, looking confused at first, then stunned, then flustered, and finally comprehending. He furrowed his brows and opened his mouth for a retort, but coincidence took Keisuke's side yet again as a waiter chose exactly this moment to appear at their table. "What can I bring you?", he asked, smiling a brilliant service smile and stopping the forming discussion in its tracks.

"A coffee for me, please," Keisuke said and directed his attention at Takumi again. He honestly had no idea if blood donation services offered food to their human clients, but whether or not they did didn't make much of a difference to him. He hoped that Takumi would take him up on his offer, even though Keisuke had gotten no chance to explain his motives. By the look of comprehension that had crossed the human's face, he had made the connection himself already, anyway.

"And what can I get you?", the waiter asked Takumi, who still looked flustered.

"Lemon soda and a chicken sandwich," he mumbled after a short side glance at Keisuke. The latter enjoyed his little moment of triumph as the waiter nodded and left the table. He was, however, smart enough not to comment on Takumi's choice.

"So, how have you been?", he asked again before the silence between them turned uncomfortable.

Takumi shrugged and inspected the container of sugar sitting on the table. "Good, I guess. I mean, nothing special has happened."

"That's not very exciting."

"I know." Takumi's eyes wandered towards some spot in the corner of the room again, and Keisuke bit his lip.

"Well, glad to see that you're not making a hobby out of getting attacked on the street,” he said, grinning; and then winced, because that one had come out entirely on impulse. But it did have the desired effect of making Takumi finally face him again. He looked taken aback.

Keisuke considered apologising, but then a tiny smile appeared on the human's face and he chuckled as well.

"Yeah. I tried it and didn't like it much," he replied, and just like that Keisuke realised that meeting this guy was probably the most interesting thing in his entire life, period. He really liked the way Takumi, who struck him as a shy and very hesitant person at first glance, acted once he warmed up a bit. He had humour and a sort of go-with-the-flow attitude that Keisuke found uncomplicated and kind of endearing.

Ah, damn. He was definitely attracted to the guy, no need to deny it anymore.

After that, the atmosphere between the two of them became a lot less tense. The waiter brought their order, and Keisuke watched as Takumi took a bite of his sandwich. "It's good," he mumbled between that and his second bite, "Thank you."

Keisuke grinned at him, propping up his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his hand. His coffee went forgotten for the moment.

"No need to thank me."

In fact, he felt obligated to do this for him – it was, after all, deeply ingrained in their culture that a vampire was supposed to give a human who had given blood something to eat in return. Sure, that rule of courtesy didn't expand to blood donations, but in Keisuke's opinion he was just making up for the now two times that he had witnessed Takumi giving blood to vampires without getting this basic kindness in return. He was just being fair.

There was a moment of silence as Takumi took a few more bites off his sandwich and Keisuke watched the people passing outside the café.

Takumi broke the silence. "You're alone this time," he stated.

"Yeah." Keisuke felt a tiny spark of annoyance that Takumi brought up his brother, but he chose to ignore it. It made sense that this topic would come up. "Ryousuke's at home, doing what he does best." At Takumi's questioning glance, he added, "Studying. He's supposed to take over the family business one day."

"Oh." While Takumi seemed to think about that information, Keisuke finally remembered his coffee and proceeded to pour as much sugar and milk into it as it could possibly handle.

"Are you two…" Takumi paused, considering how to word his question, "Are you two actually brothers?"

Keisuke chuckled. "Yeah, we are." The question wasn't without reason; after all, it was not uncommon that vampire families weren't biologically related and simply chose to spend their immortal lives together as family.

"So you've become vampires at the same time?"

"Nah, he’s two years older than me and made the choice as soon as he turned twenty-one. And I couldn't exactly let him be immortal without me, so I did the same as soon as I was allowed to."

Keisuke laughed and enjoyed the surprise on Takumi's face. It wasn't exactly common for an entire family to be offered the opportunity to become vampires, but under certain circumstances, situations like theirs happened.

Takumi's surprise turned into a thoughtful expression. "Was it an easy decision? Becoming a vampire?"

Getting the offer to stay eternally youthful and immune to most diseases that humans have to be afraid of? Adding to that, the fact that the rest of his family had already made that decision and Keisuke did not at all plan to let them all outlive him? No question there.

"Yes," Keisuke said without having to think about it too much. He had had almost ten years to think about it from every possible perspective, and by the time Ryosuke had been turned, his decision had been already set in stone.

"Do you have any siblings, Takumi?"

The other shook his head no.

Keisuke looked at him seriously. "I wouldn't have let my brother have to watch me age without him for any force in the world, you know?" And less seriously, he added, "Also, he definitely needs someone to drag him away from his desk from time to time. He would start gathering dust if it wasn't for me!"

That earned him a small smile, and Keisuke leaned back and took another sip of his coffee. Takumi used the little break in their conversation to finish his sandwich.

Keisuke couldn't help watching him and imagining the bandage that was probably hidden underneath his long sleeves. Of course, Keisuke knew that there was a concerning shortage in the blood supply for vampires and every donor was valuable, but it didn't feel fair that Takumi of all people had to be one of them. He didn't know whether he maybe just needed the money and he wasn't insensitive enough to ask, but it seemed insulting to imagine that some vampire out there was probably taking that blood for granted.

Hell, Keisuke likely did so himself. It was an open secret that most vampires didn't like bagged blood very much, and Keisuke was no different. Bagged blood tasted stale and a bit like antiseptic, and compared to the feeling of drinking fresh, warm blood, it really didn't hold up. Until now, Keisuke had never been so aware of how dependant they all really were on humans like Takumi – and in return, some vampires saw them as just barely more than a resource. It was pretty fucked up.

Keisuke suddenly wondered if he was really that much better – after all, the reason he had been in the city today was that he also wasn't satisfied with bagged blood anymore. Meeting Takumi had diverted his attention from his plans, and Keisuke was thankful for that, because talking to him was so much more relevant. Never mind the attraction he felt towards him.

Takumi's voice tore him from his musings. "And what are you planning to do? Besides helping your brother to get some fresh air, of course."

Keisuke stared at his mirthful little smile and needed a moment to remember what they had been talking about. "Honestly, I have no real idea yet," he answered once he caught his composure again. "The family business might be Ryousuke's thing, but it's not really my calling. As of now, I'm satisfied with supporting him."

And enjoying the benefits of immortal life, because he had not yet grown tired of it. Realistically, though, he knew that it wouldn't go on like this. The rest of his family had found their purpose in their work, but Keisuke had not yet found such a thing.

"Hm," Takumi made. "I guess I understand that. I'm helping my dad out in the shop, but I'm just doing that because help is needed and I just happen to be available. It doesn't feel like my calling, either."

Keisuke suddenly remembered the conversation that had been interrupted by the arrival at their destination almost two months ago. He had asked Takumi about the shop he had mentioned back then. He had seen it, too – in his memory, it was some sort of little food vendor, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. So he asked.

"We make tofu," Takumi answered, a bit quieter than before and averting his eyes as if he was thinking it was somehow below his conversation partner.

"I need to visit you sometime and try it," Keisuke said, completely undeterred.

"Please don't," Takumi immediately replied. The suddenness of it made Keisuke laugh. Spurred on by this, Takumi had to laugh, too.

"Don’t get me wrong," he said. "My old man would have a field day getting me to explain why I know a vampire."

Keisuke stopped laughing. "Does he not like vampires?"

"No, not that I know," Takumi said quickly. "That's not it. It's just that he loves embarrassing me."

Keisuke raised one eyebrow. "Oh? Knowing me is something to be embarrassed about?"

"When you're being like this: Yes, absolutely," Takumi shot back.

Keisuke couldn't help it and burst out into laughter again. Takumi followed suit, and they might have been a little bit too loud because the waiter appeared again and quieted them down by asking if they wanted anything else.

"No," Keisuke answered and looked at Takumi, who shook his head as well.

"Then I'd like the bill," the vampire said, and the waiter left to get it.

They remained silent until Keisuke had paid and the waiter was gone again, not before wishing them a nice day.

"I hope I wasn’t too forward with you."

"Huh?" Takumi looked at him, obviously surprised, so Keisuke elaborated.

"I mean convincing you to come here. Maybe you had something better to do than having a chat with a vampire you barely knew anything about."

Takumi shook his head insistently. "Not at all. I enjoyed this. I honestly don't meet very many vampires."

Keisuke decided to come forward with the worries he had had since the beginning. It wasn't like the lecture his brother had given him after their first meeting with Takumi hadn't left any impact at all. "I was worried that you preferred that, seeing what happened to you."

The other frowned at him. "I don't- I admit that I don't know much about vampires at all. But I do know that you don't just go around attacking people because you feel like it."

That was harsher than expected, and Keisuke was taken aback. Takumi blushed as the silence dragged on. "I'm sorry, I…"

"No, I'm sorry," Keisuke interrupted him. "I presumed that- Well, I just shouldn't have said that. I'm glad that you agreed to come here with me. I really enjoyed talking to you."

"Me too." Takumi smiled at him, and Keisuke felt oddly warm inside at that honest expression. He looked away and quickly procured a pen and one of the paper napkins and wrote his phone number on it.

"Here," he said and pushed it towards Takumi. "If you ever have any more questions you always wanted to ask a vampire. Or if you decide that I'm allowed to visit you, after all." He smiled the most charming and least fanged smile he was capable of, but that was completely unnecessary as Takumi took the napkin without hesitation.

"Thank you. I'll consider that," he said and put it in his pocket. On a closer look, his cheeks looked a little bit flushed. He noticed Keisuke looking at him and quickly averted his eyes, glancing at his watch instead.

His eyes went wide. "Oh no. I’m supposed to be at work in thirty minutes and I still have to get changed. Got to go…!"

"I can drive you home," Keisuke offered before the other could jump up and storm out of the door. Takumi gave him a hopeful look.

"Really? That would be great."

He hesitated for a moment. "It won't be like last time though, right…?", he asked cautiously.

Like last time…?

Oh, right, Keisuke thought. "No, don't worry. I'm here with my own car."

"Ah. Then, sure. Thank you," Takumi said, looking relieved.

Keisuke stood up. "Let's go, then. We don't want you to be late, right?"

As they left the café and walked hurriedly towards his car which was parked a few streets away, Keisuke acknowledged the good mood he was in. Takumi was the most interesting person he had met in a while and seemed interested in keeping contact as well.

All in all, today had helped Keisuke's slight attraction towards the human slowly but surely solidify into a legitimate crush.

Ryousuke wouldn't like this at all once he found out about it, but that didn't really matter to Keisuke at all at the moment.

Chapter Text

In retrospect, Takumi probably should have anticipated something like this. Of course there would be nothing discreet about letting a vampire drive him to work. He had just wanted to arrive without being holed with questions for being late, but this was worse.

He could almost feel the questions forming in his friends’ heads when Keisuke stopped his glaringly bright yellow sports car at the side of the street opposite to the gas station. His wish of not creating a big scene upon arriving at the gas station was not fulfilled, but he hadn’t felt confident enough to ask Keisuke to drop him off a street away in order to not draw any attention.

His friends, particularly Itsuki, stared as he exited the car. Had he been on time, they would still be in the back getting changed, but because he was late, they were already in the front ready to witness his arrival.

His ears burned as he turned around to say a quick thanks to Keisuke.

“Sure, no problem,” the latter answered and smiled. “I hope I’ll hear from you.”

“Yeah.” Takumi shifted on his feet, feeling his friends’ stares on his back. Keisuke seemed to wait for him to say something more, but Takumi couldn’t think of anything, not while he wished that this situation would just stop happening.

“Take care,” Keisuke said and smiled that damn smile again that made Takumi feel like he could find a new job as a traffic light if his face got any redder.

Maybe that would be a good alternative to this job where the others will never let me live this down, he mused.

“I will.”

Takumi closed the car door and watched Keisuke wave at him once more. He steeled himself and turned around, trying to put up a nonchalant face while he heard the vampire drive off.

Nothing strange has happened, he thought at his friends and repeated it in his head like a mantra. There was nothing weird about this. No need to ask me any questions. Just forget that you saw anything unusual…

“Oi, Takumi! Who was that?!”

Oh, well. Not like he was getting his hopes up in the first place.

“Someone I know. I’m going to change now,” he grumbled and walked past the little group composed of Itsuki, their senior Iketani, and last but not least Kenji, who had once again decided to hang out with them during their working hours. Their boss didn’t seem to mind as long as they still did their work, and he didn’t make a fuss about someone not being exactly on time as long as it wasn’t too busy, so that at least was something he didn’t have to worry about.

What he did have to worry about was the fact that their boss could be a bit of a nosy type, so anything Takumi said would definitely reach him through either Itsuki or Iketani. And because he happened to be friends with his old man, Takumi could be certain that it would also reach him sooner or later.

He was so never going to hear the end of this.

When he returned to the front in his work uniform, he was again greeted by the others’ prying stares. He had never wished for a lot of customers this badly before.

“Now you’ve got to tell us, Takumi,” Iketani said. “What was that just now?”

“Yeah,” Itsuki chimed in and pointed an accusing finger at him. “Who was that person dropping you off? And why did they do that?!” His voice got higher with every question.

Kenji frowned thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, that car looked an awful lot like Keisuke Takahashi’s car. But that doesn’t make sense…”

Iketani’s eyes went wide at the sudden realisation. “You’re right! So that’s why it seemed so familiar!”, he exclaimed.

All three of them turned their heads simultaneously to look at Takumi, expecting some sort of explanation. Takumi, however, was currently too busy being confused.

‘Keisuke Takahashi…? Is that Keisuke’s full name? But why would they know him?’

“Hello! Earth to Takumi! Is it true?! Was that Keisuke Takahashi who dropped you off?!” Itsuki’s voice was almost cracking because he got so worked up over this. Takumi frowned.

“Maybe,” he said. “How do you know that name, anyway?”

Iketani and Kenji exchanged a look that clearly said, ‘Can you believe this guy,’ and Itsuki gawped.

“You’re meaning to tell us that you sat in his car and don’t even know who he is?!”

Iketani, who under normal circumstances would have probably reprimanded Itsuki for being so loud, shook his head. “I’m puzzled that you really seem to have no idea at all.”

“You have to remember that he isn’t into street racing,” Kenji reminded him.

Takumi, who had just listened to them with a growing feeling of unease, relaxed a bit when he heard that. Street racing, huh. It made sense that the others had heard of Keisuke, then, if he really was the same person they were talking about. He was pretty sure he would remember it if Keisuke had mentioned anything about street racing, but then again, they hadn’t talked about their hobbies much.

“I still don’t understand how you can’t be into street racing,” Itsuki interrupted his train of thought, sounding accusing as if they hadn't already had this conversation countless times before.

Takumi simply shrugged; he had given up being annoyed by it. He just didn’t see the appeal of driving a car for fun.

“Let him, Itsuki. I’m more interested to hear how he knows Keisuke Takahashi.”

Takumi felt uncomfortable under Iketani’s searching stare. He wished they would just drop the topic, but even he had to admit that his way of arriving had been so unusual that he would have probably persisted, too, had he been in their position.

“How do you know him?”, he attempted a counter-question.

Itsuki glared at him. “He’s pretty much a celebrity! I can’t believe that you’ve never even heard of-“

To Takumi’s luck, the sound of an engine interrupted his best friend’s tirade before it could properly start. “Customer,” Iketani hissed, and Kenji quickly pretended to be interested in the ice box in front of the store.

The small intermission gave Takumi time to think while he cleaned the windshield of the car. A celebrity? Itsuki was probably just exaggerating, but still… It felt weird to hear this from his friends. He could, somehow, imagine Keisuke having a hobby like that, and yet the knowledge that he was apparently famous for it in the scene seemed so… surreal.

Takumi was realising that he didn’t actually know much about Keisuke, not really. He had no clue why this bothered him; after all, he had met him only twice. There was only so much you could find out about a person in two conversations.

Still, this realisation suddenly fuelled the doubts that hadn’t been there since that uncomfortable car ride home from the hospital. How much could he even trust Keisuke? Was he being too naïve with how he was letting him into his personal sphere? Or was he being stupid right now, questioning this over some information that he would have probably gotten sooner or later, anyway?

He would have still been mulling over it long after the customer had left, had not his friends been so eager to continue the conversation where it had been interrupted.

“And you really never heard anything about the Rotary Brothers? At all?” Itsuki still sounded incredulous. Way too incredulous for someone knowing full well that Takumi really wasn’t interested in street racing.

“Who is that supposed to be now?”, Takumi asked, feeling a bit grumpy over being torn from his thoughts again.

Kenji had joined them again and took it upon himself to explain. “The Takahashi brothers, Ryousuke and Keisuke. They are pretty famous. But I guess if you’re not into street racing, you never heard of them.”

It has to be them, then, Takumi thought glumly and remembered their unfortunate first meeting again. Great. I’ll really never hear the end of this.

He was less concerned about Keisuke being a local celebrity rather than his friends never stopping to pester him about it because of the fact. Why, why didn’t he just risk being a bit rude to avoid this situation in the first place…

“Now that I think about it…”, Kenji spoke again, “Aren’t both of them vampires, too?”

Iketani nodded slowly. “As far as I know, yeah.”

It took him a moment, but then Takumi could watch Itsuki’s eyes suddenly widen. “Wait!”, he almost-shouted. “Is that why you know him?! Were they the ones who-?!”

Takumi tried to shut him up with a glare, but it was already too late. Kenji’s and Iketani’s heads turned.

“Were they the ones who what?”

“The ones who helped Takumi after he was bitten-“

That's enough. This time, the downright furious glare did shut Itsuke up. He looked down at his shoes and didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to, unfortunately. Both Iketani and Kenji gaped at Takumi.

“You were bitten?”, Iketani asked, looking uncomfortable. “As in, you were attacked?”

“Yeah,” Takumi mumbled, averting his eyes and already choosing some choice words to shout at Itsuki later. He was a great friend, he really was, but he also really didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.

Iketani and Kenji, however, thankfully didn’t feel the need to pester Takumi with further questions. “Sorry to hear that,” Kenji mumbled, and Takumi felt the sudden need to throw a wet sponge at him. He really didn’t want to discuss that anymore.

They stood in silence for a while, but today unfortunately happened to be a very slow day and there were no other customers to keep them busy and direct their attention elsewhere.

“I didn’t think you’d be someone to… drive around with a vampire after something like that happened,” Iketani suddenly spoke up again, hesitating for a moment as if he had a reason to reconsider his phrasing. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly when he caught the look Takumi was giving him. “I just thought that…”

“That what?”, Takumi growled. “That it’s wrong to talk to any vampire because I just so happened to meet one who decided that my blood would be a nice afternoon snack?”

Iketani looked away. “That’s not… I’m sorry,” he repeated. Takumi only huffed in response. He knew what his friend had been meaning to say at first, and judging from the other two’s looks, they also knew.

So much for their faith in him. Takumi fumed internally. Apparently it wasn’t possible in their eyes for him to just normally be friends with and talk to Keisuke just because he was a vampire – sure, that made things more complicated, but it definitely didn’t mean that Keisuke had somehow tricked him into the kind of sleazy situation that Iketani was probably picturing right now. That he would even go so far as to say that aloud… It made Takumi furious.

What made him angrier was the fact that it made him think about the stuff he had been considering earlier. Was he really being that naïve? Was his blood the only reason a vampire with money and status would deign to talk to someone like him?

It couldn’t be the truth, he was smart enough to know that, but doubts had a way of worming themselves into your brain like poison. Was it even worth getting so worked up over? What if he was having false expectations and there were just too many differences, too many hurdles to actually form some sort of friendship or anything else with Keisuke?

Iketani didn’t say anything else, and neither did Kenji. Even Itsuki kept quiet, reading the atmosphere for once.

The rest of their shift remained quiet. Takumi was the last one to leave, wanting to make up for being late even though he didn’t feel like staying any longer than he had to. He helped Tachibana-san sweep the shop and said a quiet goodbye when the boss sent him home. Finally. He wanted nothing more to fall into his bed right now, minus having dinner, of course.

As he changed out of his work uniform and into his normal clothes, he felt the napkin Keisuke had given him in the pocket of his jeans. He hesitated. If he really wanted to end this before it even began, this would be a great opportunity.

His fingers lingered over the flimsy tissue paper, but then he pulled them back. No, he decided, I’m going to keep it.

He hesitated again.

For now, at least.

Chapter Text

The dancefloor wasn’t too crowded for a Saturday evening, the few dancing bodies illuminated by strobe lights and laser beams cutting through the artificial fog in the air. The music was decent, but Keisuke didn’t really feel like dancing.

In fact, now that he stood here at the bar with the heavy bassline thrumming through his body, he wondered why he had come here at all. Maybe today just wasn’t his day and he should have gone home instead of trying to chase away the bad mood he was in with dancing and booze. Not that the latter was feasible; one of the pros (and occasionally, like now, cons) of being a vampire was needing a lot more alcohol to get actually drunk. Keisuke suspected that the owner of this club made a good fortune off of them, seeing how horrendously overpriced all the beverages were. Especially the ones that had blood in them, of course.

But Keisuke was in that “fuck it” kind of mood anyway, so why not waste some money on a lousy drink that wasn’t going to get him wasted. He sort of missed being human right now. Being immortal and resistant to the effects of alcohol didn’t go well with bad moods and wanting to forget.

He mindlessly stared over towards the stage after ordering his drink, trying to think about nothing in particular. The DJ was pretty good at his job: Of the few people in the club, most were actually busy dancing. In this lighting, it was hard to tell humans and vampires apart. This club’s main clientele consisted of vampires (with enough money in their pockets to waste on those shitty overpriced drinks), but you could always spot a few humans as well, mingling with the rest. Most of them were probably here with their vampire friends. Others, though…

Keisuke watched a couple off to the side, one of them leaning over the other and obviously sucking on their neck. The strobe lights made the scene look almost surreal.

He scoffed and looked away in distaste, only to wonder why that display bothered him. He had never considered himself to be a prude. Maybe he was turning into his brother.

A second after thinking that, he scoffed at himself: Ryousuke wasn’t a prude, he just took deeply personal and intimate things like that very seriously, and Keisuke couldn’t even blame him for it. It was just that he used to be less bothered by such stuff being displayed in public. Guess that’s what you called getting more mature with age. Not that he was aging though, technically.

The bartender finally handed him his drink. Keisuke looked at the dark liquid and suddenly didn’t really want to drink it anymore. He sighed and placed the glass back on the counter, deciding to wait a bit and watch the dancefloor some more.

Despite his best efforts, his mind kept drifting back to the last conversation he had with his brother, right before heading out and coming here. He had entered Ryousuke’s room in his usual fashion to ask him if there might be a chance of them getting some takeout for dinner for the first time in what felt like forever, but he didn’t really get to ask that question. Or rather, he had asked and gotten no answer.

~~~

His question lingered in the room, but Ryousuke didn’t appear to hear it. His eyes were glued to his laptop screen and he only made a vague noise of recognition to tell Keisuke that his presence had been acknowledged. Ryousuke was frowning at the screen, seeming too focused on whatever was on there to deal with minor occurrences like dinner.

Keisuke stepped closer to see what had his brother so transfixed.

It was a news page that he had open on his laptop, one of the major newspapers’ politics section. Keisuke’s eyes were drawn to the bold black headline: 'Government Introduces Bill to Reform Blood Bank System.' He skimmed over the beginning of the article and let out a low whistle at what he read.

“Ooh. Bad move.”

Ryousuke’s frown only seemed to deepen.

“Exactly.” He barely stopped staring at the screen in front of him, and Keisuke wondered what was going on in his head right now. There were a lot of thoughts going through his own head, too. He wasn’t completely blind to the political situation, despite what his brother might be thinking sometimes. This new bill, or rather the idea of it – since it hadn’t yet been passed, after all – was bad news. It wasn’t a solution for the problems at hand. Instead, it would only pour oil into the fire.

Of course, this was even more of an issue for Ryousuke, who was supposed to inherit the responsibility over the clan one day. That day was probably in the far, far future – Keisuke still struggled to think in vampire timeframes – but Ryousuke was required to be always prepared, especially during turbulent times like these. He would keep a close eye on the news for the next few weeks, and probably have a lot of meetings with their father and other high-ranking members of the clan, and probably wouldn’t sleep a bit.

He laid a hand on Ryousuke’s shoulder. “Don’t overexert yourself,” he said quietly, in the feeble hope that his brother would actually heed his advice.

Ryousuke rubbed his temples and let out a deep sigh. Keisuke watched, feeling worried for his brother who didn’t seem to get many favours from being the family heir. Suddenly, Ryousuke startled him by sitting up abruptly and shaking his hand off his shoulder in the process.

“This is stupid,” he hissed, and Keisuke reflectively took half a step back since he couldn’t quite remember the last time he had seen his brother this pissed.

“Can’t they see what they’re doing? This will cause an outrage!” Ryousuke buried his fingers in his hair and took a deep breath to calm himself.

He sighed again, and Keisuke let his cautiously raised hands fall back to his sides. “I’m sorry,” Ryousuke said, voice somewhat calm again. There was still a strained undertone to it that let Keisuke know that he was actually far from being back to his usual calm self.

Keisuke was still stunned. Sure, the bill was careless at best, but he wouldn’t have thought that it was that bad. Even then he believed everything his brother said, since Ryousuke really wasn’t someone who would flip out for no reason. Keisuke shook his head, fighting his confusion. Maybe he really was bad at politics.

Watching his brother’s reaction closely, he said, “Well, at least it’s still just an idea, right? Let’s just hope that the law won’t actually pass.”

“Not just hope,” Ryousuke mumbled, and went right back to staring at the screen. Eyes narrowed, brows furrowing in deep thought, and fingers starting to tap a quiet rhythm on the dark wood of the writing desk. All of those were clear signs that Ryousuke was scheming again.

That, on the other hand, meant that Keisuke’s presence wasn’t much appreciated anymore. Ryousuke needed to be left alone with his thoughts, and Keisuke would do him the favour. Not only because he was such a considerate little brother, but also because he felt like he had some thinking to do, too.

Or maybe just getting some distance between himself and whatever this was would also be nice. This was giving him a headache.

“I’m heading out,” he said, not expecting much of an answer and not getting one, either.

Suddenly, he couldn’t close the door behind himself fast enough. He almost felt guilty, yet he wasn’t sure for what.

That damn news article, and those damned politicians. Seriously, he had enough stuff to think about and this was absolutely uncalled for. Now Ryousuke would be in hermit mode for a while, leaving Keisuke to find another way to spend his time. Hell, that wasn’t even the problem. The problem was the fact that he felt utterly helpless at what to do. He was pretty much useless at this kind of thing, which was exactly why Ryousuke was the heir and not he. It wasn’t like it had much to do with age, not among vampires when some others in the clan were centuries older than them.

The headache intensified. Damn. He seriously needed a distraction.

~~~

And thus, he ended up where he was right now. His goal had been to get his mind off of things, but this seemed to be the wrong place for that. His thoughts just kept revolving around this damn issue, around his brother and that bill and humans and blood.

And now he also knew where that feeling of guilt came from. He started to regret keeping his second meeting with Takumi secret from his brother. Then again, him knowing about it wouldn’t improve his stress by any means. Keisuke was still unwilling to give it up even though he knew that, and that was what he felt guilty about.

But Takumi hadn’t called him back yet, and it had been two weeks already since they last saw each other. Maybe Takumi had given the whole thing some more thought and decided that getting close to a vampire wasn’t worth the risk. Keisuke found that he couldn’t really blame him. If anyone had the right to think like that, it was Takumi. Still, the thought stung.

Keisuke was certain that he could find someone without such qualms in this club, should he wish to search. He didn’t have any desire to do so. It was hard to get over his disappointment, and some meaningless fling with someone for fresh blood wouldn’t help it in any way. Considering the whole situation right now, it would only make him feel worse.

Hit with a sudden restlessness, he downed his previously abandoned drink in a few big gulps without paying much attention to whether it tasted good or not. The atmosphere in the club suddenly seemed stifling to him, and he needed fresh air.

He stepped out into the cold and buried his hands in his jacket pockets against the harsh wind that stung on his face, too.

Was he prepared to go home and confront his brother already? He wasn’t sure. He wished for another opportunity to talk to Takumi, but if the human had really decided against a connection, turning up in front of his house would be a terrible, horrible, no-good idea.

Keisuke almost regretted not getting Takumi’s number, but he had wanted to leave this whole thing up to the human. That was only sensible. Keisuke hadn’t really expected him to just not call at all though...

Shit. Last time Keisuke checked, something like that wasn’t supposed to sting so much. Not after one maybe-date.

What had he gotten himself into there?

Chapter Text

Takumi helped his father hoist the heavy box of tofu into the trunk and closed the door. His fingers were freezing in the night air. It was getting colder already as winter drew nearer, and Takumi sighed at the thought of snow making him lose time on his trek up and down the mountain.

His breath came out in little white puffs as he sat in the driver’s seat and waited for his dad to return with the cup of water. Soon they would need to shut the outdoor hose he used for that off from the water supply, or it would freeze and break again like last year when they forgot about it.

Takumi yawned. The heater in the car wasn’t working as well as it used to, but he was almost glad about that because the cold kept him awake at least. Early morning deliveries were a bit more pleasant when the air wasn’t humid and stifling like during the summer months.

His dad tore him from his musings by handing him the cup through the open window and going for his usual catchphrase.

“Don’t spill anything.”

Takumi nodded and off he went, already thinking about returning and going straight back to bed by the time he reached the mountain pass. His thoughts continued to drift off. From what he had heard from Itsuki and the others, street racers spent time here on the weekends. As far as Takumi could remember, he had never encountered one. They probably went home before he had to make the deliveries.

In Takumi’s opinion, they were strange people. Who thought it was fun to drive up and down a mountain in the middle of the night when you could be sleeping instead?

Enough people, apparently. For Itsuki there seemed to be nothing greater in the world. And if what he and the others had said was true, Keisuke was one of those people, too, and so was his brother. Strange how Takumi was confronted with that topic again and again.

He shook his head; no, he didn’t want to be thinking about Keisuke right now. That was done with. The others had probably been right thinking that there was no way a vampire like that would hang around a human like him for anything else than his blood.

And that was something Takumi really didn’t want to be thinking about.

He gritted his teeth and went into the next curve with just a little bit more speed than he normally would use. All this mess with vampires and whatnot – he would be better off if he continued to keep away from that like he did before all this mess started. Donating blood was impersonal, so that was okay, but a personal relationship with a vampire was way too uncertain and just overall-

Without being able to do anything against it, Takumi’s thoughts remained on Keisuke; and suddenly part of him was wondering what it would even be like if he let Keisuke drink blood from him.

‘Bad train of thought! Very bad train of thought.’

Takumi blushed and tried to think about anything different. It wouldn’t ever happen, so there was no point in thinking about it.

…Would it hurt, like when that unknown vampire had attacked him on the street? Probably not. Takumi imagined it would be more like the pinprick when he went to donate.

‘Not again.’ Once again Takumi thought that maybe it would have been good for him if he knew more about vampires. Maybe he wouldn’t be fantasizing about stuff like that and maybe it would have prevented this terrible confusion in the first place.

Then again, there probably wasn’t a guidebook on how to interpret a vampire giving you his number. Takumi would have to use his common sense for that.

Said “common sense”, however, didn’t give him a clear answer. What if Keisuke did want to be friends with him? What if all of this had really been without ulterior motive?

Crap, why was this so difficult?

By now Takumi was thankfully nearing his destination, so there was no room anymore for him getting distracted on the road down the mountain and maybe doing something stupid. He parked the car in its usual spot next to the house and stared at the illuminated windows for a moment.

It would be a lot easier if he could just let the thought of Keisuke go. But meeting him had been… different. The vampire had certainly left an impression, and Takumi had to admit to himself that he really wanted to get to know him better. He couldn’t remember ever feeling like this before.

Takumi shook his head and finally got out of the car; his dad must have heard him arrive and if he waited any longer to go inside, there might be questions. Takumi didn’t want to deal with any more questions; he was asking himself enough of those already. His head was swimming with them.

When he went inside, his dad was sitting in the living room as usual. There was a news program on TV that he didn’t seem to pay much attention to, at least judging by the newspaper in his hands.

“Going to bed now,” Takumi announced, like he usually did. They didn’t tend to exchange more words than that, which made sense considering that the only thing that Takumi wanted to do was go to sleep. This time, something made him stay for another moment when he usually would immediately go upstairs to his room.

The TV caught his attention; usually it would be switched off at this time of the night. Maybe it had been the word “vampires” that he heard and that made him linger and listen.

“-government has introduced a bill as a means to instigate the long-demanded reform of the current blood bank system to deal with the recessing number of voluntary donors. The bill proposes that all persons not afflicted by vampirism between the ages of eighteen and fifty will be required to donate blood once a year, unless they have health complications that forbid that. Since the bill has been revealed to the public yesterday, there have already been voices of protest-“

Takumi saw the news anchor looking seriously into the camera while the screen next to her showed quotes made to look like newspaper clippings that displayed those voices of protest. He didn’t have time to read them all before his dad reached for the remote and turned the TV off. He continued to look at his newspaper as if nothing had happened. Takumi glanced at it and saw that the headline on the front page also seemed to be about the planned blood bank reform.

He stayed silent and slowly turned towards the stairs to retreat to his room. He stepped up the first two and almost believed he was safe, but then-

“Your vampire friend must be interested to hear that,” his dad’s drawling voice sounded from behind him. “Whatever happened to him? Haven’t seen him in a while.”

Takumi winced and turned back around. Sure thing, his old man hadn’t even raised his eyes from the newspaper.

Well, shit.

The news had reached him, just as Takumi had expected. Likely through Tachibana-san. Damn it.

“He’s not my friend,” Takumi defended himself. “I haven’t spoken to him in weeks.”

‘So don’t worry, old man. If you’re concerned about me letting someone suck my blood for money like apparently everyone else around me, I can assure you that doesn’t happen,’ he thought bitterly.

“Hm,” his dad made and noisily turned another page. Takumi suddenly remembered the look on Keisuke’s face when he had asked him whether his father did not like vampires.

“I’m not doing anything stupid,” Takumi said quietly and cautiously. Maybe he had been wrong. Keisuke had said he wanted to visit him, after all. If it was important to him what Takumi’s father thought about vampires, then maybe…

The silence was almost unbearable.

“Getting mixed up with vampires is always stupid,” his dad finally said. “Can’t blame you too much, though.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

His dad turned another page before deigning to give him an answer. “You’re not a complete idiot. You might not know what you’re doing, but you’re careful. That guy seems like a decent fellow. Do whatever you want.”

Takumi blinked, then raised a hand to his forehead in exasperation. His old man was terrible. Had that been an insult? Praise? An indirect prompt to not chicken out of his developing friendship with Keisuke just because he was a vampire? What the hell did his old man mean?

Takumi pouted. “You’re making no sense.”

Another rustle of the newspaper. “Take some time to wrap your head around it.” And he was grinning while saying that.

“Shitty old man,” Takumi grumbled. “I’m going to sleep.”

“Whatever.”

Takumi huffed, then turned around to finally make his way towards his bed. He had work tomorrow, and he really needed some more hours of sleep if he didn’t want to doze off in the break room again. If he could manage to fall asleep at all, that is. His father’s words where ghosting around in his mind and weren’t making more sense with time.

Adding to that were the thoughts of Keisuke, and of the paper napkin carefully kept in Takumi’s bedside drawer. It suddenly didn’t feel like such a stupid idea anymore to just call.

Takumi yawned. That was something for his fully awake self to deal with. Right now, he wanted to do only one thing.

Still, with all the thoughts running through his head, it took him a good while to finally sink into a dreamless sleep.

~~~

Even though his sleeping hours had been less than sufficient today, Takumi managed to not doze off during his lunch break this time. He had been listening to the others’ conversation, chiming in here and there to keep himself from drifting off completely.

They had talked about that blood bank bill, too. It was hard not to, considering that the topic was all over the news. There were apparently protests planned for this Thursday, and while the news channels showed footage of interviews with politicians and experts and whatnot, Takumi noticed that his friends’ eyes wandered over to him ever-so-often. After two weeks of time they had still not gotten over the fact of him knowing a certain vampire.

It didn’t bother Takumi as much as it probably should. As long as his dad remained quiet about this topic, he would be fine.

And his dad did seem to not want to lose another word about it for now. When Takumi finally returned home from work and walked past him sitting in his usual spot, there was no more talking about vampires. Instead, Takumi headed up to his room and fished the napkin with Keisuke’s number out of his drawer. Now he only needed to wait until his dad left the vicinity of the only telephone in the house, because Takumi sure as hell wasn’t going to call while he listened.

The opportunity came sooner than expected. Some two hours later his dad shouted something about a community meeting (again? Surely more like a visit to the bar) up the stairs and left a few minutes after that.

Takumi listened for the sound of the engine disappearing before sneaking down the stairs even though there was no need to be quiet anymore.

He stood in front of the telephone for a good while. At one point he had picked up the receiver, stared at it for a while, and then put it down again.

Takumi was still uncertain whether this was a good idea, but in the end the desire to talk to Keisuke again won him over. He dialled in the number – and hesitated again.

What if he didn’t reach Keisuke? What if the timing was bad? What if Keisuke had already forgotten about him, or didn’t want anything to do with him after being left waiting so long? What if-

He heard the ring-back tone through the receiver. Too late to turn back now.

It didn’t take long until a voice answered on the other end of the line, but to nervous Takumi it seemed like ages.

“Keisuke Takahashi speaking.”

Well, it was now or never, right?

He swallowed. “Uh… Takumi here. Hello.”

Chapter Text

The sun was shining, white clouds hung in the blue sky and a light breeze shook the colourful leaves off the trees. Together, all of that combined into the perfect autumn day. It was a weather that should immediately lighten up the mood of everyone who saw it.

It was unfair, really. Weather aside, absolutely everyone was in a shitty mood, and so was Keisuke. It was bad enough that he had a hopeless crush on a human that probably didn’t want to talk to him ever again, but no; now he also had that stupid-ass not-yet-law to worry about. And his brother, who had been looking really tired lately.

Maybe he should pay him a visit. Keisuke knew he wouldn’t be able to drag him out of his room and away from all the work that piled on his desk, but maybe-

His phone rang. Keisuke fished for it in the pocket of his jacket and frowned at the unknown caller ID before answering.

“Keisuke Takahashi speaking.”

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line.

“Uh,” the unknown caller stammered before Keisuke could ask if there was anyone there.

“Takumi here. Hello.”

Keisuke’s eyes widened and he forgot to breathe for a moment.

“Takumi?!”, he gasped into the phone and quickly tried to calm himself because this was just embarrassing. Still, he couldn’t help feeling a bit giddy. Was what he had hoped for actually happening now? Maybe the human was just going to tell him that they shouldn’t see each other again.

…But he wouldn’t let him wait two whole weeks to tell him that, right?

“Yeah,” Takumi said, still sounding a bit unsure. “How… How are you?”

“Me? I’m fine. Yeah. Fine. And you?”

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Could he make this any more awkward? Last time Keisuke checked he wasn’t a twelve-year-old talking to his first crush. His only consolation was in the fact that Takumi was acting just as awkward.

“Also fine,” Takumi answered and paused for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry that I didn’t call you any sooner.”

Keisuke chuckled. He suddenly found himself to be in a brilliant mood.

“I was beginning to think that you’d never call. It’s great to hear from you again.”

“I- sorry. I wasn’t sure-“ Takumi interrupted himself, “Ah, nevermind.”

When he didn’t continue speaking, Keisuke almost wanted to interrogate him to find out what he was going to say, but then he figured that it didn’t matter much now. What mattered was that Takumi had called.

Keisuke decided to stop wasting any more time embarrassing himself.

“It’s okay. You know, what about we meet again sometime and talk face-to-face? I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed last time.”

“Me too,” Takumi answered, voice sounding a bit steadier than before. “I mean, sure, I’d like that.”

Keisuke suddenly felt really warm, and it took him a moment to identify that warmth as a mixture of intense relief and no-less intense joy.

Takumi had liked being with him. Takumi had called because he wanted to meet him again. He repeated those words in his mind again and again: Takumi, liked, called, wanted, again.

His bad mood from the past few days had already hinted at how bad he had it for the human, but only now did Keisuke fully grasp the extent of his crush on Takumi. With how amazing he felt right now, what else could it be?

Honestly, this feeling reminded him of his first high school crush with how excited he was about it. He wondered if, as a vampire, even falling in love became different. Maybe once you became immortal, your body forgot what it was like to have a crush until it happened again.

And Keisuke realised that, for the first time in quite a while now, he was actually excited about having feelings for someone. It had felt like a nuisance sometimes; like a distraction, definitely; but with Takumi, he was actually looking forward to what might become of them.

It definitely has to do something with being a vampire now, Keisuke decided.

~~~

It was still in the early afternoon, the weather outside was beautiful; yet the mood inside the house was not particularly cheerful. Visitors came and went, meetings were held, facial expressions were grim, and Ryousuke himself permanently had a news page open on his laptop that he regularly checked for live updates concerning the protests.

The new blood bank bill, as it had been dubbed by the news, hung over their relatively peaceful existence like the sword of Damocles. It wasn’t hard to see that the situation was difficult, and everyone was worried about the way things would develop when they were not actively working to make them develop the way they wanted them to.

Considering this background, it wasn’t difficult to imagine why Ryousuke found it especially suspicious how his brother who, mind you, had been very busy sulking for the last few days, seemed to be in an especially good mood.

Ryousuke was certain that Keisuke was indeed aware of the situation they were in; and judging by the way he always quickly left the room when the news started showing protestors again, he wasn’t unaffected by it all.

Hence seeing him like this, poking his head into Ryousuke’s room with an expression on his face that could only be described as mirthful, was quite jarring.

Ryousuke immediately knew that something was going on.

“Hey. I’m heading out for a bit. See you later,” Keisuke proclaimed and was already halfway out of the door before his brother called him back.

Ryousuke’s work could wait for a few more minutes.

“Where are you going?” he asked, trying to keep the doubt from his voice. If Keisuke sensed any opposition, he would tell him nothing at all.

Keisuke lingered in the doorway, still smiling, but noticeably cautious. “Well, outside. The weather’s great. Have you even looked outside yet?”

Ryousuke ignored the little jab. “That’s surprising,” he said. “I didn’t know you were one to enjoy walks around the park.”

To his surprise, Keisuke actually flinched a little at those words. It was only visible to the honed eye, but Ryousuke had many years of experience in reading his brother. Something clearly was amiss. Ryousuke quickly sorted through all the scenarios he could come up with on the spot. When Keisuke tried to use the opportunity to disappear before he could find himself in the midst of an interrogation, Ryousuke held him back. He was not getting around that interrogation.

“Wait.”

Keisuke turned around with the slightest hint of guilt on his face. “What is it?”

Furrowing his brows slightly, Ryousuke asked himself the same question. What was his little brother planning? He had some ideas, but he couldn’t be sure. He needed to ask the right questions.

“Wherever you’re going, do make sure there is not currently a protest march going on,” was what he ended up deciding on. He continued watching Keisuke’s face for a reaction.

His brother’s eyes widened slightly. “I- Of course.” He straightened up a bit. “I hope you know I’m not stupid enough to try and get into a fight with a few dumbasses. Not anymore, at least.”

Ryousuke believed him. This wasn’t it. Then what-

A sudden thought struck him. “Are you, by chance, meeting with someone?” he enquired.

The reaction was immediate. “No,” Keisuke quickly spat out, but the reddening tips of his ears clearly showed that Ryousuke had hit the bullseye. Keisuke was meeting someone and was feeling guilty for it. That pretty much only left one option.

“You’re meeting with a human,” Ryousuke stated, eyes narrowed.

Keisuke huffed, pretending not to be embarrassed about being found out so quickly. “Maybe. Is that forbidden?” he shot back.

No. Of course it wasn’t forbidden. It was just very ill-advised, especially at the moment where one half of Japan’s most influential vampire clans was trying to push a new law that was already beginning to widen the rift between vampires and humans, and the other half was trying to do damage control.

That aside, Ryousuke knew for sure that their father wouldn’t be happy about Keisuke trying to date a human, either. Of course, he had married their mother, who had been very notably human at the time. But even that had been met with resistance from both the vampire and the human side of the family.

Ryousuke sighed. “Keisuke. You know full well what’s wrong with that. Does your ‘special friend’ even know that you’re a vampire? Do they know what they are getting into?”

“Of course he knows,” Keisuke huffed as if he felt insulted on the human’s behalf. “He’s a blood donor, actually.”

Ryousuke narrowed his eyes at him. A blood donor? Really? That sounded very nice and convenient.

“I don’t trust this,” he stated.

“C’mon, you know him,” Keisuke said, sounding more desperate by the minute. “He’s fine. He’s had a bad experience and he still wanted to meet me again, okay? Just let me have this.”

Those words gave Ryousuke pause. ‘I know him?’ There weren’t many humans Ryousuke both knew and was able to imagine being close to Keisuke. Except- There had been that one instance where he had already scolded Keisuke for flirting with a human- Was he saying that-

“Are you telling me that you really met up with him again?” Ryousuke asked incredulously. His brother couldn’t actually be meaning that. That human, Takumi, had been attacked by a vampire. Although admirably thick-skinned, he had been obviously intimidated by them. Was Keisuke really telling him that he had thrown all justified cautions into the wind and come onto that human, of all the possibilities?

Keisuke, for some ridiculous reason, immediately feigned innocence. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? Guess I forgot.”

He couldn’t have fooled anyone with that, let alone his brother. Ryousuke assumed that he knew that. Keisuke was taking this way too lightly in his opinion. For heaven’s sake, getting involved with a human was risky enough without that damn bill looming above their heads. To make it worse, it was a human who had been attacked for his blood! Seriously, what was Keisuke thinking?

“Of course you conveniently forgot to tell me. Keisuke, you know full well that there’s a good reason why I warned you about getting close to him!”

Keisuke folded his arms across his chest, finally dropping his clueless act.

“So? It wasn’t my fault that we met; that was pure coincidence. And aren’t you the one always lecturing me about common courtesy? I just wanted to do him a little favour.”

“I see. Surely you only did it out of the goodness of your heart,” Ryousuke retorted dryly. His brother had a reputation for many things, but being remarkably selfless wasn’t one of them and it would probably never become one. Ryousuke did not believe for one moment that Keisuke was acting without any ulterior motive. They were similar in that way: They both rarely did anything that wasn’t promising to gain them something in return.

Keisuke glowered at him. “I was actually worried about him. Can you blame me?”

“No. But I do blame you for getting in contact with him,” Ryousuke said sharply, and sighed. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been worried himself, but pointing that out was a decidedly underhanded strategy.

“Don’t you think that it would be better to leave him alone after all that?”

“That’s his decision, isn’t it?” Keisuke spat. “Also, he’s a blood donor, remember? He clearly has no problem with vampires in general.”

Ryousuke taxed his brother with a look that he hoped looked appropriately stern. “Are you hoping he will let you drink from him?”

Keisuke spluttered. Dear god, he was so predictable. “No! I mean- Maybe one day-”

“You can’t be serious!”, Ryousuke interrupted him harshly.

“I am serious! I’m very serious about this! What are you worried about, that I’ll jump him and suck him dry?!”

“No, and you know damn well that I wouldn’t think that of you!”

There it was; that curse had escaped him without him caring to hold it back. He was getting too frustrated with his brother to care about language anymore.

No, this wouldn’t work. He needed to calm down. Keisuke was fuming and riling him up further wouldn’t do any good. Someone needed to keep calm here.

“I’m worried about both of you, Keisuke. With the way things are right now, you’re not doing yourself a favour.”

Keisuke seemed a bit placated. At least he lowered his voice again where he had been bordering on shouting before. “Seriously? I know it probably won’t be easy. But that won’t stop me from trying. I like him. I really do, and I hate admitting this to you.”

Ryousuke wondered if he really meant it. If he really liked the human that much, or if this was just about getting his will.

“We are far too involved with the current controversy, especially with the way that we first met him. We can’t risk anything,” he said. “If you like him, you should probably do him the favour and don’t drag him into this.”

Keisuke looked at him coldly. “So you think that I’ll be a bad experience for him and he’ll start to hate vampires afterwards. Is that what you’re implying?”

“He suffered a traumatic experience. You will only remind him of that, and that would not be fair towards him. Maybe you can view a connection with him as something neutral, but he will not. We are vampires, Keisuke. And you really need to stop behaving like you’re still a human!”

Ryousuke hadn’t even noticed his voice getting louder with every word, and the last one seemed to echo in the room for a long moment after being spoken.

There was a beat of silence as Keisuke wordlessly stared at him.

“I’m leaving,” he said, voice oddly calm.

“Keisuke-“

“Shut up.”

And with those two words Keisuke turned around sharply and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Takumi buried his hands in his pockets. It was cold, and now that the sun was starting to set, it would only get colder. He wished he had brought a scarf, but it was too late to walk back home and get one now. He had only ten minutes left until the time he had arranged with Keisuke on the phone, and he didn’t want to be late for once.

They were going to meet at a public park. It had been his own idea, but Takumi was beginning to doubt it already. He didn’t really go on dates that often, so he didn’t have much experience with what places were good for that. The park had been the first thing that came to his mind and he had suggested it without even thinking that much when Keisuke had asked him where he wanted to meet. Was it too boring and cliché to take a walk around the park? Maybe Keisuke thought so.

Self-consciousness slowed his steps as he neared the park. He wasn’t used to this – whatever “this” even was. It was a strange mixture of excitement and extreme nervousness that he was feeling.

At first, he thought it was only because of him meeting up with Keisuke – a perfectly reasonable thought, but as time went on, he got the feeling that there was also something else that kept him on edge. There were a lot of people walking around, more than Takumi would have expected given the cold and the time of day. He would have liked less people being around when he met Keisuke; maybe that would have helped him feel less embarrassed. Oh well, then he probably shouldn’t have chosen a public park.

He sighed. His breath came out as a white puff. He certainly hoped that Keisuke was already there or at least wouldn’t let him wait too long.

As if on cue, he heard someone call his name.

“Takumi!”

Takumi turned around and promptly spotted blond hair and a familiar face. Keisuke was waving at him as he approached. Takumi blushed; he had almost forgotten the effect Keisuke’s presence had on him. He stubbornly pretended the reddening of his face happened due to the cold.

“Hello,” he greeted quietly once they finally stood in front of each other. He didn’t know what else to say. Crap, he had never been good at conversations.

Keisuke didn’t seem deterred. “So, should we get going?”

“Uh… Yeah,” Takumi said and wanted to ask where exactly they should go but stopped himself. They were at the park because he had said so, so they were obviously going for a walk. His own idea. He was a dumbass.

“I didn’t get the chance to say that earlier,” Keisuke began once they had started following the gravel path around the park. “I wanted to tell you that I'm glad to get to meet you again.”

Takumi could feel himself blush at the sudden statement. “So am I,” he stuttered out. He forced himself to meet Keisuke’s eyes. The vampire was smiling at him, but somehow underneath it seemed like he was upset about something. Takumi wondered whether it would be okay to ask about it.

“So, how’s it been?” Keisuke asked him before he could settle for a decision. Takumi noticed how the other was trying to keep his voice light. He wanted to keep the conversation going. Takumi suddenly asked himself whether his call had really come at an inconvenient time.

Takumi shrugged. “I don’t think I can give you a more interesting answer than last time. I’ve been working; nothing much else has happened. And you?” He watched closely for Keisuke’s reaction and believed to see something that resembled guilt in the vampire’s expression.

Keisuke sighed. “The last few days have been chaotic.” He averted his eyes and looked up at the darkening sky.

“Oh,” Takumi replied because he couldn’t think of anything more intelligent or sensible. They both remained silent after that. Takumi regretted asking. He didn’t want to ruin the mood between them. Already this was shaping up to become a really lousy date. Because it was a date, right? He was still not sure about that.

“I’m sorry,” Keisuke said suddenly, causing Takumi to look at him. “I didn’t want it to be like this. I just-“ He sighed again.

"It's okay," Takumi reassured him. Then he hesitated for a moment. It was quite obvious that Keisuke didn't want to tell any details about what was bothering him, but whatever it was, it seemed to be serious.

"We don't have to do this today. If you'd like to meet again another time instead…" Takumi trailed off.

"No," Keisuke said decisively, his pensive expression making way for something more determined. His hands wandered downwards, searching for Takumi's, who had them in his pockets against the cold but let Keisuke tug them out and grab them without complaint. "No," he repeated. "I came here because I want to spend time with you. I-" He sighed again. "I just had an argument with my brother. Nothing too serious."

He plastered a smile of reassurance onto his face that Takumi found to look forced. He didn't believe one bit that the argument, if it really was the reason for Keisuke's mood, hadn't been all that serious. Keisuke looked like it had taken quite a toll on him. Takumi remembered how close the two brothers had seemed to be back when he had met them for the first time. Not that he had any siblings to relate that to, but he could imagine that it must hurt to get into a big argument with someone so close to you.

"I'm sorry," he simply said, and cursed himself for not having anything better to say. He must be sounding like an utter dunce.

Keisuke shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin. "It's not exactly your fault that happened. I should be the one who's apologising. I'm not being great company right now, huh?"

"It's fine," Takumi repeated. He wasn't going to be so selfish as to demand that Keisuke pretended to be happy just to please him. He wouldn't want that, either. Still, it was a bit of a blow to see him like this on what should have been more of a happy occasion.

"The offer still stands. We can do this another day instead."

Keisuke shook his head. "And I stand by what I said. I'm actually quite glad to get my mind away from everything for a moment."

He smiled at Takumi, which thankfully looked a lot less forced this time. "Now that that's been said, why don't we just try to enjoy our date anyway? I didn't come here to burden you with my problems."

Takumi blushed harder. Keisuke had just officially called it a date.

"I didn't mind. But sure," he somehow managed to say without stuttering, and mourned the loss of contact when Keisuke let go of his hands.

He had fallen hard.

On their way following the gravel path around the small lake, Takumi took note of how nice an afternoon it was. The air was cold and crisp, but it didn't bother him as much while he was walking. The setting sun bathed everything in golden light, making the scenery extra beautiful.

Takumi had a bit of a fondness for quiet walks like this, but he wasn't sure whether Keisuke felt the same. If the latter thought this was boring, he at least didn’t show any of it.

They walked in silence for a while, each of them busy with his own thoughts. Keisuke was probably still thinking about the argument. Takumi was normally not someone to stick his nose into other people's business, but it bothered him a bit that he didn't know what it had been about. If he knew, he might be able to divert Keisuke's attention instead of keeping silent in fear of making everything worse with an ill-considered remark.

He watched a lone mallard swimming its rounds on the lake and thought about how much he still didn't know about Keisuke. To him, he was still every bit the kind of secretive vampire that the media always depicted.

Speaking of the media, Takumi wondered how Keisuke thought about everything going on at the moment. His family and vampire clan were probably involved with that entire political debate in some way – or was Takumi falling for stereotypes right now? He was pretty sure that he knew that with how interconnected vampires were in their clans and with how relatively few of them there were, most of them had some involvement with politics in some way. He honestly couldn't see Keisuke being very involved in it, though. It didn't seem to fit him… Or rather, the parts of his character that Takumi had come to know about so far.

Still, it was hard to imagine that the outrage over the blood bank bill had gone by Keisuke without any effects.

Maybe that was what Keisuke had meant when he had said that his last few days had been 'chaotic.' Takumi wasn't well-versed in politics either, but he could imagine that the massive public outrage at the prospect of a blood bank reform hadn't been received happily by the vampires responsible for it.

Takumi sighed quietly. Keisuke, despite having been deeply lost in thoughts until just a moment ago, picked up on it.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing," Takumi reassured him quickly, but Keisuke didn't look all that convinced.

"You know," he said, "You don't need to force yourself through this, either. If I'm making you uncomfortable…" He trailed off and smiled regretfully.

Takumi frowned. Not only was that not at all what he had been thinking about, but Keisuke also looked distinctly as if he was hiding something. Takumi wasn't even sure what made him think that, but his gut instinct told him that there was more to the question. He had no idea how to find out what if Keisuke wasn't going to tell him though.

"I'm not 'forcing myself through this'. It was my idea in the first place. It's not your fault that you're having a bad day."

Keisuke gave him another long look before finally nodding, although he still didn't seem convinced. Takumi thought that he seemed off in general today. Last time they had met he had come across almost an entirely different character. This time, he seemed oddly… self-conscious. Yes, that was what it was. It felt as if he was second-guessing being here, for whatever reason. Which, in turn, also made Takumi second-guess himself.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"That depends," Keisuke said, a hint of his usual demeanour shining through in his lopsided grin.

Spurred on by that, Takumi asked, "What is it even like to be a vampire?"

It felt like a bit of a stupid question, but judging by the surprised expression on Keisuke's face, it at least wasn't a question he had dreaded.

"…That comes a bit out of nowhere," he said, sounding a bit baffled.

Takumi shrugged. "Well, you did tell me last time that I could ask you anything about that. And it always interested me. I mean, I didn't get to talk to many vampires so far."

"Huh." Keisuke blinked at him, then actually laughed a bit. "You're right; I remember telling you that. You have to be a bit more specific, though. There's much stuff that's different when you're immortal."

He grinned at Takumi and spread his arms in an overly dramatic, sweeping gesture. “You have the unique opportunity to hole a vampire with questions to your heart's content. Just ask away.”

Takumi glared at him a little, though it was mostly in jest. "Fine," he said. In all actuality, he was glad that Keisuke took him up on his change of topic.

He thought for a little moment and tried to think of a more concrete question. There were probably many things he was ignorant about, but it was difficult to come up with questions if you weren't even aware of what exactly you didn't know.

"Okay, first question... What is it like to know that you're immortal?"

Takumi would be lying if he said that he had never been interested in knowing that. He may have never paid much mind to vampires in the past, but he had always wondered how it felt like to never age. Or whether it even felt any different at all.

Keisuke was quiet for a second, pondering over the question.

"You know… I don't think I can really give you an answer to that." He paused again. "I don't notice much of a difference, to be honest."

Laughing quietly, he added, "I actually don't think I've even lived long enough to notice a difference yet."

Takumi hummed thoughtfully. "But does it generally feel different to be a vampire? Apart from the immortality thing?"

"Obviously." Keisuke grinned, his fangs flashing. "For one, the idea of drinking blood suddenly becomes a lot less gross."

Takumi couldn't suppress a small grin of his own. He could imagine.

…Well, actually, he couldn't.

"Does it taste any different than before?"

That seemed to be another question Keisuke needed to actively think about. He furrowed his brows and looked out at the lake for a moment.

"Not really?" he finally said, although the way he said it made it sound more like a question. "It's… Huh. How do I even describe it…?" He trailed off again.

Takumi watched him think, entranced by the conversation. He felt some heat rise to his cheeks because of what he was currently talking to Keisuke about and because of the simultaneously rising memory of the thoughts – well, more like fantasies – that had been plaguing his mind for a while now. Maybe he was being a bit too interested in the topic.

Keisuke didn't show any signs of being weirded out by the questions, which was a relief. "I guess it's a bit like drinking water," was the answer he settled with.

"Does that mean it tastes like nothing?"

"No, that's not it, either. It still tastes like blood, but you don't notice it as much as before.
…Imagine going for a hike on a really hot day and forgetting your water bottle, so you haven't had anything to drink for hours. Then you find a stream or something, and suddenly that water is the most amazing thing you've ever had. It still doesn't taste like much, but it's different. That's pretty much what drinking blood feels like to a vampire. Every single time."

"Oh," said Takumi, keenly aware of how red in the face he must be right now.

"I hope that explains it a bit," Keisuke said. He paused as if something had suddenly come to his mind and shot Takumi a slightly worried look. "But, you know, most of us are actually able to contain themselves. I know what I made it sound like just now, but it's not like we walk around all day thinking about blood or something."

Takumi blinked confusedly and wondered whether his thoughts were really that visible in his face. Then he realised what Keisuke actually meant.

"I'm not thinking that," he reassured him. The circumstances under which they had first met still seemed to be on Keisuke's mind, more so than on Takumi's own, actually. He didn't know if it was odd that he was able to banish that experience from his mind so quickly. He mostly avoided thinking about it altogether, which was probably why he sometimes forgot it had happened in the first place.

A look of relief crossed Keisuke's face, not quite quick enough to miss. "Good," he said, making an effort to sound light-hearted. "Otherwise I'd have to worry why you're even here right now."

Takumi looked at him, suddenly feeling apprehensive. "Does it ever bother you?"

"What?"

"Worrying that people might think you're out for their blood."

Takumi remembered Iketani's words from weeks ago, covertly accusing him of selling himself to a vampire. Such arrangements weren't unheard of (in fact, Takumi knew that the government paid a handsome bonus on top of what the vampire offered: It was advertised for in the donation center he went to), but most saw them as immoral because it was often thought that blood wasn't the only thing being paid for. Takumi was willing to give his co-worker the benefit of the doubt here, but it didn't mean Takumi wasn't still angry when thinking about it. After all, he had insulted both him and Keisuke in one go with that accusation.

Keisuke grimaced, which led Takumi to quickly add, "Sorry if that's too uncomfortable of a question."

"No, it's fine," the vampire sighed. "And yes, it bothers me at times. People sometimes like to imply vampires are some kind of animals that can't contain themselves." He shrugged.

"I mean, look at the current situation. I'm pretty sure you know what's going on right now, right? Everyone's outraged at that whole blood bank situation. One issue like that and boom, voices left and right crying about normal humans being enslaved for their blood or whatever their paroles are today."

He sighed again and finally gave a sardonic little smile. "Sorry. I didn't mean to rant at you."

There was something cautious and almost vulnerable in his expression that gave Takumi pause.

"No need to apologise," he said. "I think it's your right to be frustrated. You haven't done anything wrong just by being a vampire." He gave Keisuke a hesitant smile. "And we're supposed to talk about things like that if we see each other more often, right?"

Keisuke simply stared at him for a moment, and Takumi started to worry that he had said something wrong.

But then, just like that, Keisuke's demeanour shifted into something decidedly less gloomy.

"Oh, look, it's a vampire with feelings! Who knew that could happen?" He put on a dramatically serious face and proclaimed, "Better not tell anyone, or I might have to kill you."

"Ha, ha," Takumi deadpanned.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Keisuke said and threw up his hands in defeat. "No murder on the first date."

"And here I thought it was already the second one," Takumi mumbled with a small and still hesitant smile on his face. Keisuke's sudden mood shift didn't feel entirely genuine, but he did seem a bit more comfortable than just a few minutes ago if he was making jokes like that again.

"Well, I guess technically-"

Keisuke suddenly cut himself off and stopped walking.

Startled, Takumi turned to ask what was wrong, but the words got stuck in his throat. He looked in the direction Keisuke was also staring and saw a small group of people walking past them in some distance. Nothing unusual.

A few of them, however, carried posters, and it was only then that Takumi realised that he suddenly had a far greater problem than his suggested place of meeting maybe being boring.

Stupid, stupid, stupid – he hadn’t even considered the option of a protest march going on right in the place where he wanted to meet with a vampire.

Now that he saw it, he cursed himself for not noticing sooner. The many people in the park were of course due to there being a protest – or rather, there having been a protest. By the looks of it, they were on their way home already.

Takumi watched Keisuke stare at one of the posters that said, ‘Mandatory Donation = Thraldom’. His expression darkened. Any words Takumi might have wanted to say to improve the situation got stuck in his throat as he saw Keisuke balling his fists to the point that his knuckles turned white.

Takumi wondered if he would have to hold Keisuke back from jumping at those people. He wondered if he even could.

Part of him, he supposed, would want to join in.

Fortunately, however, Keisuke remained rooted to the spot and only glared with narrowed eyes as the group walked away, chattering among themselves.

"Well, fuck," he cursed quietly, his stance relaxing a little bit. He was still very visibly tense, though.

Takumi felt miserable. "I'm so sorry- I didn't know-"

"It's fine," Keisuke interrupted him. "I didn't know either. Let's just… go somewhere else, okay?" He looked past Takumi at the protestors with a forced smile on his face. At least he was keeping it together. Takumi felt sorry for him, apart from just feeling like an idiot because he could and should have paid more attention.

"Yeah, let's leave," he quickly agreed, especially because he already spotted another suspicious group approaching. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere with less people. Come," Keisuke said. Takumi didn't have to be asked twice and hurried after the vampire as he turned around and followed the way they had took here. He walked fast, but if the years on his high school's football team had taught Takumi anything, it was to run after people.

He let Keisuke lead the way out of the park until they reached the shopping district. There they had to get slower as there were way more people on the street. They sometimes had to literally push past them. Takumi spotted a few posters stuffed into trashcans along the way, pieces of the paroles on them still visible.

Keisuke looked over his shoulder to see if Takumi was still there or if he had lost him in the crowd. "C'mon, this way," he called out over the hustle and bustle of the people around them. Then he simply took Takumi's hand and pulled him along.

For some reason, the latter almost started thinking that this was fun. He had to keep back a dumb laugh at the fact that the two of them were basically fleeing together like in a dramatic movie scene. Realistically, he knew that there was barely anything fun about this, but the adrenaline flooding through his system (and the fact that Keisuke's hand was holding his own) made his blood rush with excitement.

It was only when they had reached a quieter side street that Keisuke got slower. Here almost nothing gave any hint about the protest having happened nearby.

Keisuke stopped walking, and so did Takumi. His pulse was still hammering so loudly that he honestly thought Keisuke might be able to hear it, too. The vampire turned around, not letting go of Takumi's hand, and for a moment the two of them just stared at each other and caught their breaths. Then, as if a spell had been broken, they both broke out into laughter.

"Damn," Keisuke laughed, "I didn't think I couldn't leave the house without running into one of those!"

"I swear I didn't do it on purpose," Takumi gasped out between bursts of laughter.

Keisuke clapped him on the shoulder good-naturedly. "I know, I know. But how's that for a second date? We don't even need murder to make it exciting!"

Neither of them seemed to be able to stop laughing until Takumi saw a random passer-by looking at them weirdly. He took it as a hint to try and sober up a little.

It was quiet and pretty dark in this side street compared to the main shopping street that they had come from. There weren't many shops here, which was likely the reason why it was so deserted. And now that the sun had set, it was really cold outside. Takumi wasn't sure whether his hands were trembling because of the adrenaline or because of the weather.

Keisuke had now managed to calm down too. After one last chuckle, he said, "Sorry for practically running all the way here. I just couldn't stand looking at that any longer."

Takumi looked at him and saw the pained smile on his face. As unfitting as it had been, he preferred the hysterical laughter to this.

"I understand that," he said. It wasn't like he knew from their short conversation what Keisuke's exact opinion on the whole blood bank issue was, but the people who had made those posters were obviously unwilling to consider any vampire's sight of things. Takumi vaguely wondered how he would think about it if he hadn't met Keisuke, or even just his brother. Worse, if it hadn't been vampires who had helped him after the attack.

'But that wasn't how it happened,' he reminded himself firmly. He was pretty sure that these were the exact kind of doubts that his old man would clock him over the head for if he uttered them in his presence.

Sure, he wouldn't be happy if mandatory donation were introduced. But he still recognised that something needed to be done since vampires couldn't exactly help needing blood to survive.

A sudden shiver ran through him as an especially strong gust of wind blew through the street. Once again, he regretted not putting on warmer clothes.

Keisuke seemed to have noticed his situation. "Damn, it's gotten cold," he commented and looked Takumi up and down. Then he wordlessly took off his scarf.

"Oi, what are you doing?!" Takumi protested as Keisuke moved in close and looped the scarf around his neck, grinning at Takumi's half-hearted struggles.

"I can't keep looking at that," he said. "Who chooses to go to the park in the middle of November and doesn't even bring a scarf?"

"But now you don't have a scarf," Takumi pointed out, trying to mask his embarrassment.

"But I'm a vampire."

Takumi blinked at him. "I thought the part about having no body temperature was just a myth?"

Keisuke tucked the ends of the scarf in and inspected his work with a satisfied nod.

"Partly," he answered. "Our body temperature is still generally a bit lower than that of normal humans. Also, we can't get sick, remember?"

Looking up, he added, "That doesn't mean I'm completely unaffected by this cold, though. Actually, I think we've stood around here for long enough. What about we go to that ramen place over there and I treat you to dinner?"

"If you want to," Takumi said, "Sure."

A smile spread on Keisuke's face, and he took Takumi's hand for the third time today.

Takumi’s cheeks were glowing as he walked towards the restaurant hand-in-hand with Keisuke, and it was certainly not just because of the cold.

Maybe this evening wasn't going to turn out so utterly horrible in the end.

Chapter Text

Ryousuke rubbed his temples and sagged slightly in his chair. His head felt about ready to burst. He needed a break, just a few minutes, maybe. He hadn't slept properly in days. A minimum of three news pages were always open on his laptop, and he checked them every few minutes or so for updates to react to. As it was going now, the protests were still gaining traction. The government, however, was starting to backpedal in sight of the outrage. The vampire faction was firmly divided in two between those who supported the bill and those who didn't, but the pressure from the public and certain vampire clans alike was starting to do its job. Still, the situation was tense and demanded highest attention.

And to make matters worse, Keisuke was now angry at him.

Ryousuke felt so tired. He sagged further, posture be damned, and stretched his sore wrists. His thoughts wandered back to his little brother's cold expression right before he had stormed out of the room.

Maybe he had been too harsh. Keisuke had always been driven by emotions more than anything else, and everything Ryousuke had said was bound to get to him.

But why did he have to get involved with a human during a situation like this?!

A frustrated sigh escaped him as he took a moment to look out of the window into the inky darkness of the evening. He could see his own reflection in the glass and didn't like how utterly exhausted he looked.

What if Keisuke was just doing this out of stubbornness, just to show that he could? He should be long past that by now, but still…

Ryousuke stood up from his desk, deciding that the break needed to be a proper one. He could leave his work for fifteen minutes or so and walk around a bit to chase the stiffness from his limbs. That had to be enough.

The desire for a glass of cold water drove him downstairs. And thinking about it, part of his headache might be because it had been a while since his last portion of blood. He was aware that he needed to take better care of himself despite all the work, but the theoretical knowledge was difficult to put into practice with all the things he had to look after.

Ryousuke trudged into the dark kitchen, not bothering to switch on the lights. He found his way to the refrigerator even in the darkness, and in opening the door, the light inside illuminated the room with an almost eerie twilight. Ryousuke took out a bottle of water and a blood bag, leaving the door open so he could still see what he was doing as he unscrewed the lid of the bottle. While drinking, he considered warming up the blood first, but he decided against it. That would take too long, and he didn't want to waste more time than absolutely necessary.

"Ryousuke?"

The lights in the kitchen were switched on. Ryousuke squinted into the sudden brightness and turned towards the familiar voice from the doorway.

"Mother? You're still awake?" He furrowed his brows, blinking a few times. His eyes were still adjusting to the light. Still, it was unmistakably his mother who had found him here in the kitchen at – he glanced at the clock on the wall – now ten past one in the morning. Well, more night than morning, anyway. It was highly unusual for her to be still awake at this time. She was more of an early riser, which meant that her two sons had probably not inherited their sleeping habits from her.

"A question that I could ask you, as well," she said and smiled faintly. The worried crease of her brows didn't go unnoticed by Ryousuke, though. "I assume that you have been working again."

She made a pause and her son sighed, certain that he knew where this conversation was going. "Yes," he confirmed simply and used the opportunity to put the water bottle back where he had taken it from and finally close the door of the fridge. The tiredness was refusing to leave even now.

"I'm worried about you," Hideko Takahashi simply stated.

'There it is.'

Ryousuke thought about how he could shorten this conversation most effectively. He was in no mood for a discussion and he knew that he had a few more things to catch up to before the next council meeting tomorrow. Well, technically that was today.

"There's no need to worry about me," he said in a tone that would usually be convincing enough. Not for his mother, though.

She was frowning now. "Not if it were a one-time occurrence, no. But I saw the light in your room switched on three nights ago when I left early in the morning for my appointment in Tokyo. Then it happened again the night after that. And last night, as well."

Ryousuke winced. He had fully expected her to know that he stayed up very late at times, but her knowing the true extent was a problem.

Well, it wasn’t like he wanted to do this, either. He just needed to.

"There's a lot of work to be done, and I use the days to sleep," he tried to argue. She gave him a sharp look, a 'don't you lie to me, young man' kind of look.

"You cannot tell me that you do anything more than take a short nap during the day with all the meetings I know you're attending." Her face relaxed a bit, and she sighed. "I'm not criticizing your commitment, but this goes entirely too far. You need to slow down, for your own sake."

Ryousuke began to protest, "But father has-"

"He also accepts the fact that he needs a little rest from time to time," his mother interrupted him, and her tone became sharper again.

"I will need to talk to him about this, anyway," she added under her breath, "It doesn't do any good to give you this much work and responsibility so early on; you're still too young for that."

Ryousuke furrowed his brows upon hearing the last part. Frustration started welling up inside him, and he blamed it on his tiredness that the emotion was bleeding into his voice.

"Someone needs to do that work, and we need as many people as possible to get this situation under control."

"I know that," Hideko said, now in a softer tone of voice after taking note of her eldest son's frustration. "However, it won't do anyone any good if you overwork yourself. I know that you know this, too. You're smart, Ryousuke. So why do you insist on doing this to yourself?"

What she didn't say was, 'This has happened before, so why is it happening again?', but the question still hung between them, unspoken. There were a few answers to that question, but Ryousuke didn't want to admit that he was falling back into old patterns.

Upon his silence, his mother asked another question he didn't want to hear: "Has something happened with Keisuke?"

It had been four days now since Keisuke had angrily stormed out of his room after their argument, and since then they hadn't talked to each other once.

Ryousuke didn't know where exactly his brother was all the time, but he suspected that he was spending time with the human. It would be typical of him to do this out of protest, in order to show everyone that no one could forbid him from doing anything. That had happened before: Years ago when they had still been human, and their mother had been there to witness it. Of course she was suspecting something now.

"Keisuke is fine, I think," Ryousuke answered, trying to keep his voice even. "He's seeing someone," he added upon realising that their mother would likely not be satisfied with that answer. It was better to get the truth out now rather than her finding it out some other way. Maybe the diplomatic way of putting it would be enough, too.

"Ah, how nice for him," she said. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes."

"So that is the problem? That he is going out with someone?"

"I don't have a problem with that," Ryousuke retorted, maybe a little bit too sharply since his mother's slightly raised eyebrows told him that he had already said too much.

"Come on now, Ryousuke," his mother said. "It's not one of his old… acquaintances, is it?"

Ryousuke sighed. "No."

Her body language relaxed a little. "Then what makes it your concern who your brother might be dating?"

Ryousuke frowned, trying not to feel anger at the veiled criticism. He only had the best in mind for everyone. It was very much his concern when so much depended on all their public image and Keisuke was risking it through his actions.

"He's seeing a human," he all but spat out, almost losing his temper there for a second. He immediately reprimanded himself for it internally.

His mother now did show one reaction he had hoped for: surprise.

"A human?"

Ryousuke only nodded. He watched her face for anything resembling anger or alarm, but there was none. Oddly, he felt somehow relieved about that despite initially having hoped for such a rection.

"A human…" she repeated thoughtfully; and then, much to her son's shock, she began to laugh quietly. "And I thought… Oh my, and you got me very worried there for a moment."

She shook her head and quickly sobered up, continuing in a quieter voice, "Don't be angry. I can see why you're worried. The situation is difficult, and Keisuke… well, he's Keisuke, isn’t he?"

Her tone was fond as she smiled, Ryousuke still staring at her. "Still," she said, "I think that he can very well choose who he wants to go out with. Do you know them?"

Ryousuke quickly caught his composure again. "Yes," he answered, a bit miffed still, "Yes, I know him. He's the one we brought to the hospital after he was attacked by a clanless vampire. I think I told you about it."

As soon as he mentioned the attack, his mother's eyes widened by a fraction. "I see."

Ryousuke couldn't deny the small amount of satisfaction he felt at the worry that had seeped into her voice. He knew wasn't in the wrong to be concerned about this matter.

"I have met him only that one time," he continued. "As far as I could see, he is a rather quiet and polite young man."

His mother's eyes were trained on him like a hawk's. "You are worried for him as well," she stated.

Ryousuke hated how she could read him like an open book sometimes, but she had always had that talent with other people, and happened to be his mother as well. Trying to hide something from her was futile.

Nevertheless, he didn't know what to answer.

"I am very proud of you, do you know that?" she suddenly said. Ryousuke looked up, startled.

"Yes," she continued, "You take responsibility. You are intelligent, you are a hard worker, and you have a kind heart." She walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the forehead, for which she had to stand slightly on her tiptoes since Ryousuke had grown a good bit taller than her over the years. He bent down a little to let her give him this little gesture of affection, something that she had done a lot when he was younger.

Ryousuke still wasn't sure how to react or what to say. Him at a loss for words; that didn't happen too often. Thankfully, his mother was prepared to do the talking.

"Have a little faith in your brother," she said. "Keisuke is not dumb. He may be a bit reckless at times, but he also has a kind heart. And he knows what it can feel like for a human amongst vampires. We all have the advantage of still being very much aware of that, don't we?" She chuckled.

"If he wants to be with a human despite the problems that might arise, he can do so. I'm sure that he knows that there are problems. I have faith in him," she ended seriously, "And so should you."

It was only then that Ryousuke realised again that his mother had once been in a similar situation.

He was talking to the woman who had possessed enough strength to leave all of her old life behind and step into unfamiliar territory by marrying a vampire. She had been met with a fair amount of opposition, too, but she had known what she wanted and didn't let the critical voices stop her. Keisuke had probably inherited a lot of his traits from her, Ryousuke thought.

And now that he really thought about it, it seemed only natural that she would support her younger son's choice in this matter.

Ryousuke remembered the fact that they didn't have any contact to their mother's family anymore. Their grandparents, Ryousuke dimly remembered, hadn't been happy about their daughter choosing to go with a vampire after her first marriage had failed. He and Keisuke had been young back then and their mother had tried to shield them from the arguments as well as she could, but children had the tendency to be very perceptive of things like that.

He still wasn't wholly convinced that Keisuke really knew what he was doing, and he still thought that it was unnecessarily risky. But what if he really cared for the human? Takumi, Ryousuke corrected himself.

In that case, he'd understand their mother's sentiment.

"I will try," he said quietly.

"That's my boy," she said, and smiled at him.

Then she tapped her finger against the blood bag that he still held in his hand, forgotten until now. "Aren't you going to warm that up?"

Originally, he hadn't been going to. But after he had already spent more time here in the kitchen than planned, he really didn't feel like drinking cold blood anymore.

"I forgot about that. Do you want some as well?" he offered politely, but she shook her head.

"I will be going back to bed now. And you should go to sleep soon, too."

She looked at him half-sternly, half-amusedly, and he couldn't help but chuckle quietly. "I will, mother. Goodnight."

"I hope so. Goodnight."

She turned around, stifling a small yawn as she walked away towards her bedroom. Ryousuke was alone in the kitchen again while he waited for the blood to reach body temperature in the heater. He was still tired, but he wasn't trying to fight his exhaustion anymore. He would do as he had promised and get some sleep for once. He could catch up to the material in a few hours. And after that meeting had taken place…

He thought of his car keys that he kept up in his room and that hadn't been touched for the better part of two weeks now. Without noticing it, he had started to retreat from everything that brought him joy lately. His mother was probably right. He needed to start thinking of himself again.

It had definitely been way too long.

Chapter Text

The morning at work had been lazy with barely any customers coming along, and the afternoon didn't look to get any busier before the rush hour. Tachibana-san had allowed his employees to seek shelter from the cold inside of the gas station instead of having them wait for customers outside the entire time. It gave them plenty time to sit around and talk or watch TV while they had barely anything to do.

Takumi currently tried to ignore the TV as much as possible. A news program was on, and like so often in the past week, it showed footage of protest marches and dour-looking politicians giving their commentary while the news anchors nodded seriously. Takumi was growing tired of seeing those pictures, but there was hardly a way to avoid them with how they seemed to be everywhere he looked. The TV, the newspaper his dad read, what felt like half the conversations he overheard or got involved in…

He wasn't too happy about being confronted with the topic all the time. It was already hard enough to think about his relationship with Keisuke without that additional issue.

Takumi wasn't naïve enough to think that being with a vampire wouldn't come with some unique challenges. For one, he still didn't know enough about vampires and their notorious culture to feel fully comfortable about the thought of ever meeting other vampires aside from Keisuke and maybe his brother.

But now it was frowned upon in general to be close to a vampire in any way. Not that such relationships hadn't been looked upon with distrust before the whole blood bank debacle, but still…

The outside world uncomfortably made itself known again in Takumi's mind by ways of an elbow nudging him in the ribs. He startled, but promptly found himself drifting off again even as Itsuki started rambling into his ear.

"Wow, do they ever report anything else in the news lately? You've seen it too, right? There's been this huge protest march going on and all! Do you think they'll end up stopping the bill?"

"Dunno," Takumi mumbled.

Itsuki furrowed his brows. "Would a law that everyone needs to donate mean that they wouldn't pay us for it anymore? I mean, that would suck. I'm still saving for my own car, after all."

"Hm," Takumi made.

"Are you even listening?!"

"Sure," Takumi mumbled, moments before yelping because Itsuki had decided to hit him over the back of his head.

"You're not listening at all!"

"Stop it!" Takumi grumbled and rubbed his head. "I'm thinking, that's all."

"Oh? What about?"

"None of your business."

Itsuki furrowed his brows even more intensely, which might have looked intimidating on anyone else's face. "Oi, I'm your best friend! I want to know what makes you not listen to me!"

His face suddenly lit up with a revelation. "Ooh! You're thinking about Keisuke Takahashi, aren't you?! You're not tricking me!"

Takumi shot him a glare. "Why would I be thinking about him?"

"Because he's a vampire, of course! …You're not saying that you're not seeing him anymore, are you?! I mean, he's practically famous!"

He nudged Takumi with his elbow again, a bit too insistently for the latter's current taste. "You know a celebrity! That's so cool!"

"You're not helping," Takumi grumbled and threw a wary glance at where Iketani was helping their boss restock the small magazine display. They seemed to be busy enough not to listen too closely, thankfully.

"Maybe you could introduce me…?" Itsuki continued hopefully. Takumi briefly imagined such a scene and grimaced despite himself.

"I don't think he has the time for that. We're not even that close."

His best friend faltered a bit but regained his enthusiasm just as quickly. "Fine… Once I have a car of my own, I'll race him anyway!" More quietly and pouting a little, he continued, "It's not fair that you of all people got to meet him. You're not even into street racing!"

Takumi shrugged.

The mention of street racing however finally got them Iketani's attention.

"Did I hear you talk about racing again?" he asked in approaching them, evidently having finished sorting the magazines.

Tachibana-san followed right behind and sat heavily down on the couch. "It seems to be popular with the young folks nowadays," he said, and Itsuki turned his attention to him.

"Yeah! It's so cool! I wish I had a car already…" He hung his head and sighed.

"I could take you to one of the Speed Stars meetups if you're so interested," Iketani offered, looking approving of Itsuki's enthusiasm.

Once again, Itsuki perked up immediately. This wasn't unusual at all, Takumi thought and sighed internally. His best friend had always tended to change his mood quickly. Takumi had found that weird in the beginnings of their friendship, but he had gotten used to it as quickly as he got used to basically everything else.

"Really?! You would do that?"

Iketani nodded proudly. Takumi already knew that he liked to show off his car at any opportunity he got, and everyone showing even the tiniest bit of interest would run a high risk of having to listen to a monologue about said car and Iketani's street racing team. Takumi had made that mistake once and then never again. Unfortunately, Itsuki encouraged their co-worker often enough that Takumi couldn't avoid the conversation every time.

Itsuki tugged on his sleeve. "That's so cool! C'mon, Takumi, don't you want to come along, too?"

"I don't see what's so fun about it," Takumi said, not for the first time.

Unlike all the other times he had said that, he now did honestly consider for a moment what might be the appeal of driving up and down a mountain in the middle of the night despite not having to do so because your dad happened to demand that you deliver tofu at ungodly hours. After all, Keisuke seemed to see that appeal if what the others had said was true. Maybe Takumi should try to see it, too, if he wanted to understand him better.

"There's nothing better than the feeling of tackling the corners on Akina," said Iketani while Itsuki nodded eagerly at his words as if he had any experience himself.

"Yeah, what kind of man doesn't get excited about racing?"

And just like that, Takumi's mild interest fizzled out again. If there was one thing he hated, it was people telling him what he was supposed to like or dislike or do or not do just because they had their picture of what the world should be like. He hated being shoved into moulds just because he was who he was and some people thought they knew how he should be like.

His train of thoughts – and thankfully, the conversation too – was interrupted by a car pulling up outside.

"Get going, we have a customer!" said Tachibana-san while Takumi and the others had already sprung to their feet.

"I call dibs on the- Oh, wait. Isn't that just Kenji-san?" Itsuki exclaimed.

Iketani took a closer look outside and sighed at the sight of the familiar car. "You're right. I'm sorry, boss."

Tachibana-san sighed, too, and sat down again. "Fine, let him come in. If he buys something, he can stay. Not that there's much to do at the moment, anyway."

Moments later, a gust of cold air entered the shop along with a shivering Kenji. "Hi, guys," he greeted and, after a meaningful look from Tachibana-san, ordered a coffee that Itsuki quickly went to make.

"Terrible weather. To think that it would get this cold so soon this year…" He trailed off and rubbed his hands together to warm them up a little.

"Yeah," Iketani promptly agreed, "If it goes on like this, we'll have snow on the mountain in a week if we're unlucky. The racing season is almost over."

A quiet yelp sounded through the shop as Itsuki burned himself on the coffee machine. Takumi went to ask if he needed help and passed the TV again on his way. The news had finally moved on from the dreadful blood bank bill topic and were now talking about some idol group's newest album, a topic that interested Takumi only marginally. It led his thoughts back in the Keisuke direction nonetheless.

It still felt weird to think of the other as some sort of celebrity, which was what Itsuki had called him. But he sure had the kind of air about him that made people feel drawn to him; at least Takumi thought so. He had felt drawn to him from the very beginning, after all. The blood loss at the time explained part of that at most.

Of course, back then he would have never expected that things would take such a turn. If they hadn't met again that second time-

Takumi furrowed his brows distractedly while cleaning the counter of the coffee that Itsuki had spilled. Why had Keisuke even been at that blood donation service in the first place? Vampire blood was useless for donations, so there had to have been some other reason. Maybe he could ask him the next time they met.

"Takumi, what's taking you so long? You've been wiping down that counter for at least three minutes! Come back here!"

Takumi jumped a little at the sound of Iketani's voice and blinked down at the drenched paper towel in his hands. He had been spacing off again. It was a good thing that Tachibana-san was such a lenient boss.

…Not when there was work to be done, though. A car pulled up to the station outside, and the boss got up from his seat.

"We have a customer!" he proclaimed before shooting a look at Iketani. "Unless it's another one of your racing friends."

Iketani peered outside and shook his head. "No, I don't recognise that one. Come on, guys! Let's not keep them waiting!"

Takumi quickly hurried after him and Itsuki, outside into the cold. Since he was the last one to get there, he got the unloved task of cleaning the car's windshield, which was a real pain at these kind of temperatures… no pun intended. The damp cloth stung his freezing fingers, and he hid his chagrin and tried to get the task over with as quickly as possible so he could flee back into the warmth of the shop. Over the car's roof, he met Iketani's eyes for a moment – his senior looked slightly apologetic. Takumi hoped that he was apologetic enough to take over this task when the next customer came along.

All three of them hurried to get the work done. As the sky darkened, it only got more uncomfortable to be outside, and their uniforms didn't help that much against the biting cold. As the customer paid for the gas, Takumi looked up into the murky sky. Iketani had probably been right about the snow. Soon, the weather would make his tofu deliveries even less enjoyable than they already were.

But then again, winter was a great time to sit inside a warm home together with someone you liked. Takumi didn't have much experience in that department, but he supposed that he would enjoy meeting up with Keisuke to drink hot chocolate while snowflakes danced outside of the window. He had never really liked Christmas, but maybe they could have a Christmas date – if Keisuke liked that kind of thing.

When Takumi went back inside together with the others, he pretended that the blush on his cheeks must have come from the cold.

He really wanted to see Keisuke again soon.

His thoughts were interrupted when he almost walked into Iketani, who, for some reason, had stopped right behind the entrance to the shop.

"Boss? Takumi and I are going to sweep the floor, yeah?"

Tachibana-san nodded his approval, and before Takumi could gather his thoughts, Iketani had already pulled him along to the storage closet where the brooms were kept.

"I wanted to talk to you for a while now," he said quietly once the others were out of sight. "I wanted to apologise. Properly, I mean."

Takumi blinked at him, uncomprehending at first.

"Huh?"

Iketani leaned on the broom and looked past Takumi as if unwilling to meet his eyes.

"You know, for what I said a few weeks ago. About you and- well."

He paused, but Takumi remained silent, waiting for him to continue talking. It was pretty clear to him now what the other was talking about, and since he was, in fact, still angry about that, he didn't feel like letting Iketani avoid the awkwardness of admitting that what he had said had been really shitty of him.

Iketani looked a bit pained, but he did take the hint.

"I shouldn't have implied that you'd… sell yourself to a vampire. Damn, that already sounds so wrong when I say it out loud. Really, I'm sorry. I know you're not that kind of person. As your friend, I shouldn't have assumed anything like that."

He sounded genuinely apologetic. Takumi eyed him, not feeling all that inclined to let this matter slide so easily.

"You shouldn't have, yeah." He didn't look at Iketani as he took the second broom off its hook on the wall. He chose his next words carefully. "I don't like that you got to that conclusion in the first place."

Iketani sighed. "I know. I insulted you, and I'm sorry. I was worried for you after hearing what happened, and I guess seeing you hang out with a vampire, a rich one at that, made me jump to conclusions."

Takumi glanced at him, and Iketani quickly added, "I'm not trying to make excuses. I understand now that it didn't make what I said any less unfair towards you."

"But it wasn't only unfair towards me," Takumi pointed out. When Iketani gave him a questioning look, he explained, "You insulted Keisuke as well."

Iketani looked surprised for a moment, as if that actually hadn't come to his mind at any point prior to this.

"You're right, I suppose," he said then. "I'm sorry for that, too. But I thought that because vampires are like… you know…" He trailed off helplessly, gesturing with his hands.

Takumi furrowed his brows. "You have no right to assume those things about Keisuke. You don't know him."

Again, Iketani shot him a surprised look. This time, it made Takumi feel a bit uncomfortable. He had defended Keisuke without thinking much about it, and only now realised that he had just made himself vulnerable to more assumptions. Assumptions that were probably correct this time.

But it wasn't like he had ever hoped to keep the nature of his relationship with Keisuke secret for long, anyway. It was probably better if Iketani knew why his words had been so insulting, and that Takumi would not tolerate those things in the future.

"So you know him closely?" Iketani asked carefully, seeming a bit flabbergasted by that revelation. "I mean… well, sorry. I didn't realise you two were…"

"Yeah," Takumi interrupted him and forcefully shoved the closet door open before his co-worker could try to talk about it in more detail. His ears were burning.

Iketani, thankfully, chose to follow him quietly and not make much of a ruckus. They chose their different corners of the shop to sweep while Itsuki and Kenji were talking about racing again. The fact that Iketani didn't join the conversation told Takumi that his senior had to be in deep thought. This once, Takumi would have preferred if Iketani started talking about his car if it meant that he stopped mulling over Takumi's relationship with Keisuke.

At least he apologised for the things he said.

With that at least somewhat comforting thought on his mind, Takumi finished up sweeping the floor and was about to place the broom back in the storage when Itsuki called for his attention.

"Oi, Takumi! Look," he said and pointed at the TV.

Expecting anything from that group of female idols Itsuki liked to his old man having made a stupid TV spot to advertise the shop and having gotten it into the local program somehow, Takumi glanced at the screen to see…
Nothing spectacular, really. It looked as if the program was back to talking about the blood bank situation, seeing that it was showing a man who looked like he was possibly in his late thirties or early forties, who stood behind a podium and seemed to be giving some kind of statement in front of the House of Representatives.

"…and we must understand that this is a matter of high importance to both humans and those afflicted with vampirism that we must find a solution for together – to not widen the growing distance between us that threatens the peaceful coexistence…"

Takumi had no idea what was so special about it. It was the same buzzwords he saw in every article or interview on the topic. Strangely, however, his lack of reaction seemed to bother the others.

Kenji looked genuinely surprised, and perhaps a bit dubious.

"Don't you know who that is?"

Takumi shrugged and looked at the TV again. He still didn't recognise that man, even on second glance, and he had no idea why he should. He didn't know the face and name of every politician out there, and he knew for a fact that his friends didn't, either.

In that exact moment, a caption popped up on the bottom of the screen that showed the name of the representative speaking: Hisato Takahashi, member of the Council of Vampires.

"Oh," Takumi said, understanding what the others must have meant. "That's the head of that clan, right…?"

"Yeah," Kenji said, "And not only that, but that's also Ryousuke and Keisuke Takahashi's father. Didn't you know that?"

Takumi blinked and looked back at the screen, reflexively searching for a resemblance before remembering that the man wasn't Keisuke's biological father. His way of speaking was also pretty different, from Keisuke's at least. Maybe it was because Takumi simply wasn't able to imagine Keisuke in that position: Holding a speech in front of the House of Representatives. That role would fit his brother much better.

And hadn't Keisuke said that his brother would take over the family business one day? Was this a part of it? Politics? Takumi had had no clue that the two's father was the leader of one of the bigger vampire clans. He felt like he should have known, especially with the looks that his friends were now giving him.

"Dude, you really didn't know?" Kenji asked, brows furrowed. "I thought everyone knew. Everyone in the racing scene, at least. Those guys are kind of a big deal."

Itsuki nodded eagerly. Takumi trusted the fact that he had probably learned all there was to learn about the Takahashi brothers if they really were such great racers. If he got out of this unscathed, he'd probably have to prepare for a lecture about it, courtesy of his best friend.

Tachibana-san, who unfortunately had also been listening to the conversation, spoke up before Takumi could say anything to defend himself.

"Now, now. Some people like to keep the facts of their personal life to themselves at first. It's good advice for young folks who are dating. You should remember that in case you ever get into such a situation."

"W-what is that supposed to mean?!" Kenji spluttered, while Itsuki laughed and nudged his side.

With both Kenji's and Itsuki's attention shifted to Tachibana-san, Takumi relaxed a bit – but not so much as to not feeling Iketani's eyes practically boring into him from across the room.

'Maybe I really don't know enough about Keisuke,' the voice of doubt reared its head inside Takumi's mind.

Maybe his boss was right – maybe Keisuke just wanted to keep his family life secret. It would be somewhat understandable. Takumi would probably also try to not talk about it to someone he didn't know that well if his family were the one that was rich and influential. But still…

He probably should know more about Keisuke. They were dating now – Keisuke had said so himself. If it really was public knowledge what family and clan he belonged to, then maybe Takumi wasn't putting in enough effort.

He finally came to a decision. Next time they met, he would ask Keisuke about it all. He didn't want to be just someone who barely knew him. He'd ask him about racing and about his family, and about whether and why he didn't want to talk about those things.

He just didn't want to have to hear about any of it from his friends first, who were already judging him enough for the situation.

Chapter Text

The silence of the night was disturbed by the roar of an engine as a car's headlights cut through the inky darkness.

Keisuke kept his eyes firmly on the road, but he knew that his focus was off today. There was this quiet restlessness keeping him on edge, and the adrenaline rush of racing hardly did anything to keep it at bay. In fact, it was probably making it worse, and this had been a bad idea.

It wasn't that much fun anyway since Keisuke had no opponent. He longed for a real challenge, something he hadn't had in a while. It had been quite some time since Ryousuke had last accompanied him, and-

Damn it. He wanted to avoid thinking about Ryousuke right now. The situation between them was still frustrating Keisuke, but he also couldn't deny that underneath that was a nagging sense of worry. He hadn't exchanged one word with his brother since their argument, which was now almost five days ago. Not confronting Ryousuke had been easy since he continued holing himself up in his room and only came out to eat. At least Keisuke presumed and sort-of hoped his brother still left his room to eat and didn't actually starve himself over his work.

Shit. Keisuke really wanted to stop avoiding him since the silence between them was beginning to get disturbing.

On the other hand, he also really didn't want to be confronted with accusations and good advice again. If there was one thing that Keisuke knew about his brother, it was that he liked to stick to his opinion like a chewed piece of gum to the sole of a shoe. Worse was only the fact that he was often right in doing so. After all, he had always been the perfect genius heir. He could be really, really insufferable when he thought he was in the right.

…There it was again. Keisuke gritted his teeth, drifting through a corner just slightly too fast so that his line was off by a few centimeters. It only frustrated him more. Why couldn't anyone ever let him decide what was best for him? Sure, he hadn't always made the best decisions, but even before that everyone had questioned everything he did. Especially their old man, the asshole.

Who also happened to be at fault for a lot of other things, but that was beside the point right now.

Keisuke wondered what the asshole would have said if confronted with the fact that one of his sons was dating a guy. He wouldn't have been happy about it, that much was clear. Keisuke smiled grimly. He would have deserved to have it rubbed in his face, and Keisuke would have gladly done so.

A glimmer of headlights on the stretch of road ahead brought Keisuke back to the current moment. He huffed as he made space for the other car – idiot, driving up the mountain at this time of the night and getting in the way of racers – and slowed down a little for the next corner.

What he would have done didn't matter anymore, and using Takumi for petty revenge like that would be pretty selfish of him.

…Was it selfish of him to want to pursue this thing with Takumi in the first place? Probably. Ryousuke had reasons to think the way he did, and he was clear on his opinion that Keisuke was sabotaging their family's agenda with what he was doing.

Keisuke didn't want this to ruin his relationship with his brother… or sabotage anything, really. But, damn it, neither did he want to give up on something that had become so dear to him in such a short time. Was there really no way for him to have both?

The truth was that he found himself thinking about Takumi a lot. About the hesitant, but earnest way he smiled, about the witty remarks he made when he came out of his shell, about his handsome face, and occasionally about the surely very soft skin on the inside of his wrists.

Keisuke would then think about what it would be like to pierce that soft skin with his fangs, and what Takumi's blood would taste like.

That train of thought tended to be quickly followed by a feeling of shame. Keisuke had promised himself pretty early on to not even consider such things, a promise that he had broken quite a few times already. It wasn't like he was just so blood-crazy all the time, really; but the thought of sharing such a moment of intimacy with Takumi…

No. No, he wasn't going to think about that anymore. He knew he was a fucking hypocrite, and that Ryousuke might have had a point with some of the things he'd said. He knew that, damn it. Ever since his conversation with Takumi in the park, something glum and heavy that Keisuke knew very well to be guilt had taken up its home inside of him, curling around his insides like a boa constrictor and occasionally squeezing until he got nauseous from the feeling.

Pissed off, Keisuke took the next corner a bit too fast again. He almost started skidding and cursed in frustration.

Where were all those damn doubts coming from now?

Despite himself, he slowed down the car and stared blankly ahead. Not even racing felt like fun right now, even though it had long been the one thing that could get him excited. It was one of the things he and Ryosuke had indulged in even before becoming vampires. And afterwards… Well, vampires already had a reputation for liking dangerous sports. It was an established fact that the possibility of death lost much of its teeth when one was immortal.

Haha. Teeth. Way to remind himself of the issue.

He had to admit to himself that this whole thing wasn't as fun and easy as he had expected it to be. Back when he'd met Takumi that second time, on the way to that blood donation service, he'd merely been intrigued – the circumstances of their first meeting had still been fresh on his mind, just like Ryousuke's warning to stay away. It was interesting that he'd seen Takumi again there of all places, and it hadn't exactly been difficult to make the connection where he had come from. Too bad that he'd seemed so ashamed about it.

Keisuke groaned. How often would he have to tell himself to let it go until it finally settled in? He wasn't going to risk the thing he had going on with Takumi just because of a case of itching fangs. Blood bags weren't even that horrible, anyway.

It was almost funny, Keisuke thought, how much his perspective had shifted lately.

There were a lot of habits he was willing to change for Takumi, but the thought of how easily he could ruin it all sent a pang through his chest.

Maybe Ryosuke was right. Maybe they really had no chance of working out. Vampires in general weren't exactly welcoming towards humans, just like it was the other way around. Keisuke was beyond caring what people outside of his family thought about him and his relationships, but what about Takumi?

Keisuke cursed and stepped down on the gas again. He wasn't typically someone to have second thoughts, and he loathed them with a passion when they appeared.

In racing, there was no space for second thoughts.

He'd come here, to Akina, just so he could take his mind off certain things on a course he wasn't all that familiar with. So far it wasn't working very well, but he was determined to not let that stop him. The Akina downhill was supposed to be the thing he was focusing on right now.

Keisuke dimly remembered that before all that wild crap had begun happening, his brother had said that he was planning to begin his conquest of Kanto's racing scene on Akina – those plans seemed so far away now. It felt like ages that they had last raced together. Even Ryousuke, who used to always gladly sacrifice sleep to squeeze a few hours on the mountain into his overloaded schedule, had relented in face of the giant pile of problems he was forced to help sort out.

Only now fully realizing this, Keisuke felt even stupider for their argument and for giving his brother more worries than he already had without him.

As much as the thought stung, he may have to apologise for one or the other thing he'd said and done.

'Wouldn't be the first time,' he thought, a sardonic smile forming around his mouth.

Then, from one second to the next, his car was flooded with light.

Keisuke's eyes shot up from the road in front of him and squinted into his back mirror: Behind him he saw the headlights of another car, too bright in his eyes for him to make out any other details.

The car had appeared there without him even noticing until now that it was practically riding his bumper. He must have been in truly deep thought.

Just as annoying as that realisation was the fact that the other car's headlights were still blinding him so that he couldn't even properly see what model it was. Maybe a MR2 or a 180, most likely driven by some hotshot being really satisfied with themselves just about now.

Keisuke smirked. 'Too bad that you won't have much time to enjoy your little moment there.'

He had to admit that whoever that other racer was, they weren't all too bad to have been able to catch up with him, even though he hadn't been fully focused at the time. There was nothing fumbling or amateurish about their driving style. More than Keisuke had expected from the local racers, to be honest.

Still, there was no way that car, whichever model it was, could keep up with the combination that was Keisuke and his FD now that they were taking this seriously. This was a race now, after all, and Keisuke was not one to refuse a challenge – even if it was such a laughably one-sided one.

He entered the next corner and fully expected to see those headlights finally disappear behind him as he coaxed his car into what he felt was the best drift he'd managed tonight.

But the other car pulled it off effortlessly as well, drifting all the way through the corner so close to the FD that Keisuke could have reached out through the window and touched it had he not been too busy driving – and too busy being outraged as he finally recognised the make and model.

'An AE86?! Is this supposed to be a fucking joke?!'

He grit his teeth, exiting the corner and speeding up on the short straightway that followed – the distance between the two cars grew again, but only until the next corner resulted in the same unbelievable scenario: What was unmistakably an Eight-Six being door to door with the FD.

It was the kind of thing that should only be able to happen in some kind of weird dream.

No, some kind of nightmare.

Keisuke felt sweat beading at his hairline as his pulse sped up. Those headlights were hunting him. Nothing he tried could shake that car off his bumper.

Was he being haunted or something?! No real, physically-existing Eight-Six should be able to keep up with him when he was already giving all he got.

Knowing the next stretch of road, Keisuke slowed down, expecting the Eight-Six to do so as well – instead, he watched incredulously as the car shot past him, looking not only like it wasn't slowing down, but speeding up. Keisuke could make out some kind of slogan written in black characters on the car's side, but everything went over too fast for him to actually read it.

His stomach sank as he watched what he was certain would result in a crash: The slow right turn was followed by a sharp left here, and the other car was way too fast to make that second turn. His hands clenched around the steering wheel; his whole body tensed as he prepared himself for having to swerve around the unfolding disaster in front of him.

But the disaster that unfolded was an entirely different one from what Keisuke had expected.

In front of his eyes – it had to be a nightmare, it had to be – that outdated Eight-Six pulled off a perfect, beautiful inertia drift, disappearing around the corner with a speed that was going to haunt Keisuke's actual nightmares for a while.

Only his instinct saved him from crashing into the guardrail himself after he'd lost focus on his own line – there was no time for second thoughts, after all.

He was blocking both lanes, but he didn't care. His breathing was heavy as if he had just run a marathon.

His FD- no, he'd been passed, on the downhill of Mt. Akina, by some ten-year-old junker.

He swallowed heavily, tried to calm himself somehow. He hadn't been fully focused. He was too unfamiliar with the pass and got careless. That had to be it.

The roar of a familiar engine reached his ear and broke through his shock enough to tear his eyes away from the corner that Eight-Six had disappeared behind.

Just a few minutes earlier, this specific engine noise would have been the last thing he wanted to hear.

Now, Keisuke was almost relieved to see the familiar white FC coming down the pass and slowing down to a stop next to him.

The door opened and Ryousuke got out looking like he wanted to say something, but Keisuke didn't give him the chance. Right now, he didn't care about what had happened between them days ago and what had been haunting his mind for just as long.

Right now, something completely different was haunting his mind.

"Aniki… I just got passed by an Eight-Six on the downhill."

Chapter Text

"…and that's why we totally should try to save up for an Eight-Six!"

Takumi made some non-committal noise, having listened to exactly none of Itsuki's tirade ever since his best friend had started going on and on about cars again. For some reason that was the only thing he talked about lately, even though neither of them owned a car and wouldn't anytime soon; at least not with the money they were making at their part-time job.

No, Takumi was busy thinking about other things.

Yesterday evening, after his shift had ended, he had tried to call Keisuke. To no avail; no-one had answered the phone – which wasn't such a big deal, really, he told himself.

But what Iketani and the others had said still haunted his thoughts, so the disappointment ran deep when he didn't get to talk to Keisuke to reassure himself that all was well.

After two failed attempts at reaching him, Takumi had started doing some of the research that he probably should have already done at some earlier point. He'd never been the mistrustful kind, but after everything that happened and what he'd been accused of, he had wanted to be sure – as sure as he could be with the information he was able to find, anyway.

There wasn't much information, but there was just enough to confuse Takumi even further.

For one, everything that the others had told him yesterday seemed to be the truth – Hisato Takahashi, who was apparently Keisuke's father and apparently also important enough to speak for the Council of Vampires, was in fact the leading figure of the Takahashi clan. Even though he never paid much attention to politics, Takumi dimly remembered having heard about it before – it was one of the fourteen total clans that formed the Council, the organisation of the most influential vampires that oversaw all internal matters within the vampire clans of Japan and that represented them within the government.

How the hell would Takumi have been supposed to make that connection? There were too many people with that same last name, anyway, and Keisuke of all people being part of such a family? He wouldn't have suspected that in a million years.

Then again, maybe that was just another sign that he was a naïve idiot. Maybe there had been enough signs that he could have picked up on if he had paid attention instead of succumbing to Keisuke's charms so quickly.

Wait. That thought just now had made it sound as if Keisuke was some kind of evil manipulator, and he wasn't that. Right?

Just because he hadn't said anything about who his family really were didn't mean he was a bad person. It wasn't as if he had lied to him. He'd only omitted certain facts that he probably believed Takumi already knew.

Apparently, those were common knowledge, after all.

Takumi only wished that he'd get the opportunity to talk to Keisuke soon, even though he wasn't entirely sure what he should say to him then. Maybe it was really just that he needed the reassurance that Keisuke was still the person he had gotten to know. Vampire politics be damned.

"Oi, Takumi, are you listening?!"

Itsuki had seemingly only now noticed that Takumi was distracted, lost in his monologue as he had been.

"Sure. Cars are expensive, though," Takumi said blindly, hoping that that was still on topic. He felt a bit guilty for ignoring his best friend, but there were so many thoughts running through his head that he really couldn't follow a conversation about cars (of all things) on top of it, too.

Itsuki immediately deflated.

"Yeah… It would take even the two of us ages to save enough money, especially if they really stop paying out for donating blood…"

'You could offer yourself as a private donor,' Takumi almost suggested, bitterly, but then felt even worse for thinking that.

"Nah, I don't think it will really come to that."

Takumi and Itsuki both flinched; neither of them had heard Iketani approaching.

"You think so?" Itsuki asked after having evidently recovered from the small scare. If it had been their boss, he might have (somewhat rightfully) assumed that they were slacking off.

"With how things are currently going, no," Iketani said. "Not even the vampires can just ignore the amount of outrage they're getting. They still need us, so they'll have to think of something that won't earn them that much vitriol ."

"I guess…" Itsuki didn't look all that convinced. "But that means they have to rely on getting enough humans to donate. And fewer and fewer people want that." He shot a sidelong glance at Takumi. "Let alone because of all of those attacks."

"The attacks happen because there's not enough blood donations, and because of the attacks fewer people go donate, huh…" Takumi muttered. When it came down to it, it was the strained relationship between humans and vampires that was the cause of all of these problems, wasn't it?

He didn't realize that he was spacing off again until an elbow was jabbed painfully into his side.

"Oi!"

"Takumi, look!" Itsuki hissed, ignoring his noise of protest and staring past him in the direction of the road.

Mildly irritated, and rubbing his aching side, Takumi turned his head and followed his friend's eyes – only to be rendered speechless when he saw what awfully familiar car was now pulling into the gas station.

It took all three of them an extended moment before they managed to gather themselves enough to do their job. Iketani – quite unsubtly – nudged Takumi to go talk to their customer.

The driver side window rolled down, revealing the face Takumi had both longed and dreaded to see – especially here, of all places.

"Hey," Keisuke said.

Takumi greeted him like he would any customer, in case the boss was watching from inside the shop. Then he followed it up with a less customer service appropriate "Why are you here?"

"To get gas. And to talk to you."

Keisuke grinned, but wouldn't quite meet Takumi's eyes. He seemed distracted, fingers drumming an unsteady rhythm on the steering wheel.

Takumi, for his part, was painfully aware of Itsuki and Iketani lingering at just the right distance away, surely attempting to listen in on their conversation.

"Not here," he said.

"Not here," Keisuke agreed, glancing over. "Sorry for not answering yesterday. I was out of the house."

"It's fine," Takumi said. To his chagrin, his own uneasiness wasn't lessening at all, even though his heart was doing the same excited leaps as every time he saw Keisuke.

"Are you free today after work?" the latter asked.

Takumi shrugged, way too aware of his friends' eyes on his back. "Yeah, as far as I know."

"Wanna meet at that café we went to that one time?"

Despite himself, Takumi felt the heat returning to his cheeks. "Sure," he said, which finally earned him a small smile.

"I'll pick you up after your shift. When are you done here?"

"No, no, that's not necessary," Takumi quickly declined, flustered – he could do without Keisuke showing up at his place of work more often than strictly necessary. Itsuki and the others were already having a field day as it was. Takumi was still holding out hope that at least the boss wasn't paying too close attention.

Keisuke raised his brows at him, but took the rejection in stride.

"Alright, I'll wait for you at the café then."

His gaze wandered across the surroundings, past Takumi – his fingers had stopped their incessant drumming, but he seemed no less distracted.

"One more thing for now, though," he said, after hesitating for a moment. "Do you, by any chance, know something about an Eight-Six racing on Mt. Akina?"

Takumi blinked at him. "Uh…"

"An Eight-Six?"

Iketani's voice startled Takumi as his senior stepped closer to the opened car window.
"Why are you asking?"

Keisuke looked him up and down once. The look in his eyes changed, sharper and a lot more focused all of a sudden. "Is that S13 over there yours? You're part of a local team, aren't you?"

Takumi furrowed his brows, feeling… confused? Annoyed? – Even more so when he noticed Iketani straighten up a little, expression filled with not-so- subtle pride.

"The Akina SpeedStars, yes. We're the fastest on Akina."

Keisuke nodded slowly. "I see. Then that Eight-Six is your secret weapon, huh?"

…Takumi realised that he could not follow this conversation any more beyond the fact that it seemed to be somehow about racing, but even Iketani now seemed befuddled.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Keisuke stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowed, then said, "Alright. If you want to keep it a secret, fine. Just know that I won't lose a second time."

Iketani's jaw dropped – Takumi would have laughed at his expression if he wasn't too busy being confused. "You… lost? "

Keisuke scoffed, and for a moment, that troubled look was back in his eyes. "I was distracted, that was all. Beginner's luck. Just tell the driver of that Eight-Six to be on Akina next Saturday at ten. I'll have my revenge."

Iketani opened and closed his mouth, evidently at a loss for words. Keisuke didn't seem to expect an answer from him, anyway. He finally turned his attention back to Takumi, still frowning – but his expression softened a bit when their eyes met.

"And we'll meet later, yeah?"

Takumi found it in himself to nod, trying to shake off the unpleasant feeling of being way out of his depth.

Itsuki, who had been a had been a silent observer from his position, finished pumping the gas – his wide-eyed expression told Takumi that he had a lot to say that he was currently biting back on with all his might.

Keisuke paid for his gas, waved a short goodbye at Takumi, and drove off – as so often leaving confusion in his wake.

But for once, Takumi wasn't the only one affected.

"What do you mean Keisuke Takahashi lost?!" Itsuki screeched as soon as the yellow car was out of hearing distance.

"I can't quite believe it, either," Iketani said, still staring in the direction that Keisuke had driven away to . "But he said it himself…"

"And to an Eight-Six, too! If that's true, then…"

Itsuki tore the cap off his head and crumpled it in his hands, too excited to really notice what he was doing to the poor thing.

"…Just imagine! That's so cool!"

While they animatedly discussed what had just happened, Takumi stood a bit off to the side and was quietly relieved that at least nobody seemed interested in the fact that Keisuke had just invited him on a date.

It bothered him, though, that he could not join the current conversation in any meaningful way – mostly not for their sakes (they had their interests and Takumi had his; it had always been fine that way), but for Keisuke's. It seemed obvious now that his friends had been right: Keisuke was involved in street racing, and it seemed to be important to him, judging by that competitive glint in his eyes when he'd been talking to Iketani.

And Takumi just didn't understand.

His friends were discussing the events like they were the most spectacular news they had ever heard – Iketani was already planning on contacting Kenji somehow, if he didn't eventually turn up out of his own volition, anyway, and spreading the news to the rest of his racing team, and Itsuki was raving about how unbelievable it was that Keisuke Takahashi could have lost.

What was the big deal about it all? What was so great and interesting about this – why were Itsuki and Iketani, why was Keisuke so invested in driving a car up and down a mountain?

"Hey…"

In their excitement, it took his friends a moment to notice that he had spoken.

"…What even is an Eight-Six?"