Archive of Our Own

In the opulent main hall of the mansion, servants in white garments darted from side to side, their heels clicking against the marble floor. Several servants were adorning the walls and columns with bows and ribbons. In the center of the hall stood a young man in a dark suit, his purple hair gathered into a small, low ponytail. His entire demeanor made it clear that he was in charge, issuing instructions.

“Chess,” the young man called out to one of the maids with a wave of his white-gloved hand. “Have you prepared the table for the servants?”
“No, Master Reo,” the maid replied, lifting her frightened scarlet eyes to her master. “We have never—”
“Do you want the servants to dine with the masters?” Reo raised his eyebrows. “Or get underfoot?”
“No, Master. We shall prepare a table for the servants.” The maid bowed and hurried towards the other hall.
“And coordinate the menu for them with me. You wouldn’t want them chewing on napkins throughout the reception, would you?” The young man adjusted his lavender silk neckerchief.
“Yes, Master.”
“Belle, why the hell are the napkins burgundy?” Reo exclaimed. The reception had to be of the highest standard; the napkins on the tables must not be allowed to blend in with the color of the liquid in the glasses.
“We have no others, Master,” the maid said, hiding her scarlet eyes from the gaze of his purple ones.
“But you have legs. Go and buy new napkins.”
“What color, Master?”
“Purple?” A white-haired young man entered the hall, wearing blue pajamas. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, shuffling his bare feet across the marble.
“As you wish, Seishirou-sama,” Belle nodded.
“Yeah, purple and white will do,” Reo agreed. Purple would pair well with the white tablecloths.
“Yes, Master.” The maid bowed and departed. Seishirou embraced Reo from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder.
“Come on, let’s go get you a bath,” Reo said with a smile, returning the embrace.

Reo stepped out of the Night Sky café, locked the doors, handed in the keys, and headed towards the convenience store on the street corner. He had been working part-time at the café ever since he finished school, saving up money, and rented a small apartment in the neighboring district. He picked up some groceries for dinner and a can of peach beer. Uncle Kagami gave his usual creaky remark "This is the last time, Reo" (it was the third time, and not the last) as he sold him the beer.
Tonight, he had every right to have a drink. For one thing, it had been a grueling shift with hardly a moment to sit down. For another, he had been accepted into university! The economics department. He needed to call his parents and all that. Holding his shopping bag in one hand, Reo fished his phone out of his pocket and started dialing his mother's number.

Suddenly, someone bumped into his shoulder —or perhaps he walked right into a lamppost — but his phone flew out of his hand. Reo looked up. The boy who had bumped into him deftly flicked the phone up with his heel as it flew towards the pavement, caught it in his hand, and handed it back, saying:
"‘M sorry, that’s yours."
"Oh, um, thanks." Reo took a closer look. He had definitely seen this guy somewhere before. "Oh, you’re Nagi, right? You sat next to me at the ceremony?" He remembered the white hair.
"Yeah, I remember you too, economist," Nagi nodded.
"What are you doing here? It’s late." All the establishments in this area were already closed, and there was nothing else of interest. Perhaps he lived nearby?
"I…" Nagi scratched his nape. "I wanted to go buy a charger at the convenience store, but my phone died, and I couldn’t pay." He shrugged. "So I’m just… here."
"And what are you doing here?" Reo raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno. I’ll figure it out." He didn’t sound panicked, he looked perfectly calm.
"Why don’t you go to your dormitory? Or where do you live?"
"My home is in Kanagawa," Nagi replied, blinking belatedly.
"That’s quite far. The dorm?" Reo was beginning to doubt the reality of this conversation. Surely, Nagi was just messing with him.
"Um, to be honest, I’m not sure how to get there. You can’t just show up, can you?" The blond tilted his head thoughtfully to the right.
"You don’t know the way? Or the address?"
"Not that either. I mean, I can’t just show up and say ‘Nagi Seishirou, History, can I live here?"
Reo didn’t understand. He understood each word and the meaning of the sentence, but he didn’t know what to do with what he had understood. Had Nagi Seishirou fallen from the moon?
"You’d need an application, certificates, and a mountain of other papers," Reo began. "Anyway…" He sighed. "So have nowhere to go?"
"Seems so," Nagi agreed easily.
"Incredible," the boy sighed. He tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose. He definitely needs that beer tonight. Perhaps it worth buying another one while they were still close by. Reo sighed and made a decision he might later regret. After all, it was unlikely Nagi wanted to kill him or rob him.
"You can crash at my place for tonight. It’s not far," Reo exhaled.
"Great," Nagi agreed readily. He turned and fell into step behind Reo.
"Remind me your name, economist."
"Mikage Reo. You can just call me Reo."

They walked the block in silence under the streetlights, turning onto a quiet street. They climbed to the third floor of a low-rise building, where Reo opened the door to one of the apartments. It was small, with a separate kitchen and a living space.

"Come in," Reo said, ushering his guest into the room. "I have a futon for you."
Seishirou placed his backpack by the small bed and sat down on its edge. Across from the bed, a television sat on the drawer, to the right, by the window, was a desk with a slight chaos of notebooks and books. After receiving a charger for his phone, Nagi settled into the computer chair.
"Are you hungry? I'm going to make dinner." Mikage changed into his house clothes and headed to the kitchen.
"I’m okay with anything," Nagi replied quietly, lifting his head from his phone.
"Noodles? Rice?" Reo pressed.
"I usually just eat whatever's served for me. Choosing is such a hassle." Seishirou shrugged.
Served? Did he have a personal chef or something? Reo decided to let that question go.
"Curry, then," the boy declared, leaving no room for argument.
"Reo's the best," Nagi chimed in. Reo smiled—it took so little to make him happy: charge his phone, settle onto a futon, and eat some curry.
This time, Reo's curry turned out better, almost identical to the one his mother used to make. In the apartment he had rented only two months ago, there wasn't much tableware yet. No matter how hard Mikage tried to find two identical nice plates, he couldn't. As expected, Nagi didn't care at all about the color of the plate or whether their chopsticks matched.

"It's really tasty, thanks," Seishirou said.
"So, you're from Kanagawa?" Reo asked. Nagi just nodded in response, tapping his metal chopsticks against the ceramic blue plate. "You came here for university?"
"My mother passed away, and well…" Seishirou rubbed the back of his neck. "She would have wanted me to go to university."
"Oh. I'm sorry." The rest of the meal passed mostly in silence. Reo laid out the futon between his own bed and the chest of drawers. The room instantly became much more cramped.

In the morning, Reo nearly tripped over Nagi out of habit. Though, if Mikage had actually stepped on his outstretched arm, Seishirou probably wouldn't have been bothered — he was sleeping so soundly that it took about five calls to wake him for breakfast. Reo finally managed to rouse Nagi by nine o'clock. Shoving a sandwich into his hands, Reo ushered his guest out of the apartment so he could finally hurry off to university.
Returning home after his evening shift at the café, Reo found Nagi sitting on the staircase outside his apartment door. The boy stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"It died again," Nagi said simply, holding up his phone. Reo sighed.
"And you've got nowhere to go again," Mikage concluded, already fishing for his keys in his bag.
"I only knew the way to this place," Nagi replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Grass is green. The sky is blue. The Moon is a satellite of Earth. I have nowhere to go, so I came to you.

"Incredible," Reo sighed and shook his head, ushering the blond into the apartment.
In any case, Nagi was strange, but he hardly seemed intent on causing any harm, and Reo hadn't put away the futon. The next day, Wednesday, Mikage found Nagi in the same spot — outside his apartment door. He sighed and opened the door.
"Today need an invitation?"

On Thursday, Reo surprisingly did not see Nagi on his doorstep. Before opening the door, the boy looked around as if expecting the blond to be hiding around the corner. Well, it had to happen eventually. Seishirou had probably figured out the dormitory situation and left. Mikage walked into the room and sat on the bed. Relief gave way to a strange anxiety and something akin to resentment. If he had left, why hadn't he sent a message? He could have at least said thank you. He could manage the resentment with a dismissive snort and wave of his hand, but the anxiety churned in his stomach. Reo had found Nagi on the street; he had nowhere to go. What if he was wandering around the neighborhood right now? The boy rose from the bed, threw on his coat, and thought that he must be insane. Fine. He would just take a walk down the street, stop by the store for some rice, and if he didn't encounter Nagi, he would return home.

Leaving the store, Mikage turned onto a different street, walked a few meters, and spotted a familiar head of white hair in the alley. Reo quickened his pace and caught up with the blond slowly ambling along the street.
"Hey, Nagi, why are you here?"
"Hey," he turned around. "Looking for you. You were taking a long time."
"Were you planning to search all of Tokyo for me?" Reo smiled. Nagi shrugged, as if saying "maybe".
"Incredible," the boy laughed. "Let's go home."
When they entered the apartment, Reo placed a set of keys on top of Seishirou's bag.
"Here. The spare keys." The blond tilted his head quizzically to the right. "So you don't have to wander the streets."
Mikage changed his clothes and went to prepare dinner. While the rice was cooking, he chopped vegetables. Instead of staring at his phone in the room, Nagi sat at the table, resting his head on his folded arms. Reo caught his gaze.

"You know, you could help," the boy suggested. After a few moments, Nagi stood up, peered over Reo's shoulder, and stared intently at the pot of rice. He proceeded to open every drawer and cupboard in the small kitchen, some of them several times.
"You’re not helping."
"I’m observing," Seishirou said, opening the cutlery drawer for the third time, as if expecting something different to have appeared in there. It was amusing. It was as if he had never been in a kitchen before.
"You opened the same drawer three times," Reo noted.
"Just forgot what was in it."
"Cutlery. It's been cutlery the whole time."

In the end, Nagi's contribution in making dinner ended with him getting out the plates (on the second try, after finding the right cupboard). Small victories.

Reo didn't notice when the second week of Seishirou's presence in his apartment began to pass. He stopped stumbling over the futon out of habit and started cooking for two. At the end of the second week, Nagi approached Reo with a pile of dirty laundry and asked, with a completely serious expression:
"Reo, who can I give these to so it can be washed?"
Reo raised his eyebrows, blinking several times as he tried to process what he had just heard. The boy sighed, led Nagi to the bathroom, and announced solemnly:
"Allow me to introduce you, Lady Washing Machine."

This situation amused Mikage so much that during his evening shift at the café, his lips kept breaking into a smile. Perhaps he wasn't smiling because of that. The café had received new lemon cream cakes, Seishirou would like them, he should grab a couple for him. After his shift, he would need to stop by the grocery store — would Nagi like chicken soba? Oh, Seishirou was starting to occupy far too much space in Reo's head.

"Did you find someone?" Chigiri, who worked at the same café, inquired. "You're always rushing home after your shift and smiling like that." Hyoma nudged his friend's shoulder.
"Did my mother pay you to ask that?" Mikage rolled his eyes.
"We haven't hung out in three weeks! It's Hiori's birthday next week, we need to plan something."

Reo walked with Chigiri, discussing the latest news and the upcoming birthday party. But he couldn't shake the thought that he hadn't even noticed how Nagi had practically moved into his apartment. Reo had grown accustomed to his company at dinner, to their idle chatter before bed, to how difficult it was to wake Nagi up and get him out of bed. Even to the fact that Nagi seemed to think food magically appeared in the fridge and clean clothes materialized on the chest of drawers. Well, having a roommate was actually quite nice. Though, were roommates usually found on the street?

That evening, Reo decided to make onigiri. Lost in thought, he was dicing eel into small pieces for the filling.
"What are you making?" Nagi's voice sounded right beside his ear. Seishirou peered into the bowl, resting his chin on Reo's shoulder.
Reo's heart skipped a beat, and his body felt as it had been doused with boiling water. Seishirou's closeness was so unexpected. Mikage exhaled, trying to shake off the strange feeling, turned away to hide his unexpectedly flushed cheeks, and shoved the bowl of rice into Nagi's hands.
"We're going to make onigiri. When I was a child, I used to make them with my mother. It was fun."

This, too, turned out to be fun. Reo, predictably, was much better at it — his onigiri were nearly perfect triangles, all the same size. Seishirou's mostly ended up as misshapen balls. At first, he showed little enthusiasm and didn't seem particularly inclined to put in any effort, after all, it made no difference to him what geometric shape his food took. But by his fourth attempt, he shaped a perfect onigiri.
They made rice balls, getting rice all over themselves and the kitchen, and laughed. Nagi's laughter was a rare thing. Tonight, Reo heard it for the first time — quiet, brief, accompanied by a smile that lingered at the corners of his lips. Seishirou laughed when he spotted a grain of rice tangled in Reo's purple hair.

Once dinner was ready, they moved into the room.
"If you've decided to live here, you're paying half the rent," Reo declared unexpectedly, scrolling through options for something to watch while they ate. Reo wasn't made of money, after all. Nagi blinked a couple of times, evidently unprepared for this turn of events, then reached for his backpack.
"I don't have much cash. Will this be enough?" He held out several folded bills. Mikage frowned — could Nagi not count? Was this the first time he'd seen cash?
"More than enough," Reo said slowly.
"Good," Seishirou agreed easily. He placed the money on the bedside table.
Reo started a comedy show, a few episodes of which they had already watched.
"So, I can live here?" Nagi asked. Reo laughed, why hadn't he been curious about this before? Perhaps because Mikage now had to admit that he wanted Seishirou to stay.
"Yes, you can stay," the boy confirmed.
"Good. I like living with Reo."

Reo turned towards the television, hiding a small smile. He stole a glance at Seishirou. Though he slouched as usual, there was something almost imperceptibly aristocratic about his features: high cheekbones, a sharp jawline, a straight nose. In the artificial blue glow of the television, his already pale skin looked almost translucent, his hair silver-white, as though someone had assembled him from fallen stars. Nagi's large grey eyes, however, looked at everything with a mixture of boredom and inexplicable melancholy.
He was captivating. Reo’s glad Nagi’s staying. He had grown used to him. Without Nagi, Reo would be lonely.

That's exactly what he told Chigiri when, during their next shift together, Hyoma asked, after Reo said, "I need to go feed Nagi":
"Who the hell is Nagi? Your cat?"
"My roommate. He's in the history department," Mikage said, beginning to scrub the coffee machine, bracing himself for the barrage of questions from his friend.
"Roommate? Reo, are you serious?" Hyoma threw his hands up. "You refused to share an apartment because you wanted to live alone, and now you have a roommate? Are you kidding me?"
"Chigiri, I wasn't planning — I met him by chance on the street. He had nowhere to go," Reo sighed. He knew how it sounded. "Things just… happened, and now I have a roommate."
"You picked him up off the street? Reo, what the fuck?" Chigiri tried to catch his friend's eye.
"Yes, it was strange," Mikage finally abandoned his task and turned around, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. "But Nagi is nice. And… it turns out I was lonely." Reo sighed.
"Fine." From the way Chigiri rolled his eyes, it was clear he was still annoyed. "I hope things really are okay with you two."

The following evening, when Mikage didn't have a shift, the doorbell rang unexpectedly. When it rang a third time, Reo decided to answer. A deliveryman handed him boxes containing a PlayStation and controllers, declared flatly that it was "paid," and left. Reo and Seishirou spent the evening playing games, it was genuinely fun — they laughed and jostled each other with their elbows. Reo realized he hated losing, while Nagi occasionally became surprisingly serious.

Yes, he could stay. Reo's happy with him. Mikage even found himself enjoying taking care of Nagi. Something warm bloomed in his chest whenever Seishirou said, "Reo's the best," or simply thanked him. Seishirou was strange, otherworldly, he radiated a natural charm and an aura of comfort.

Now, Mikage was once again trying to wake Nagi, as he had every morning for the past month. Or maybe it had been longer… anyway.
"Nagi, the bathroom's free!" Reo repeated, drying his wet hair with a towel. He watched Seishirou toss and turn on the futon, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Lately, he'd been lazier than usual and sleeping more.
"Too much trouble. I'll go in the evening," Nagi mumbled, reaching for his phone.
"You need to wash your hair," the boy reminded him.
"That’s a hassle," Nagi whined. Reo sighed.
"I'll help you." He set down the towel and grabbed Seishirou's hand. "Let's go." The boy tugged Nagi toward the bathroom. When had Reo decided that washing someone's hair was perfectly normal? Maybe he could say he was just joking? Well, it wasn't a big deal.

Seishirou undressed slowly, fumbling with his shirt, untying the drawstring on his trousers. Reo waited patiently, trying not to look at his body — it seemed like the polite thing to do. Still, he noticed that Nagi’s skinny, but solidly built. Mikage turned on the warm water to refill the tub.
Nagi sat down in the bath, confirming the water was comfortable. He sank lower, relaxing his shoulders into the water, tilting his head back, and met Reo's gaze with a smile. Mikage scooped up water with a ladle and carefully poured it over the blond's head to wet his fluffy hair. Reo had never washed anyone's hair before. It wasn't difficult, but it felt strange. A good kind of strange — something intimate, like a long, silent embrace, like catching someone's natural scent, like sharing your vulnerabilities while lying in bed in the dark.

Seishirou closed his eyes to keep the water out. It trickled down his pale face; his long, dark lashes clumped together into beautiful little rays. Reo picked up the rosemary and lemon shampoo and squeezed some out. Mikage lathered the shampoo and began to wash Nagi's hair. He swept the long fringe back, combing through the hair with his fingers to distribute the shampoo. He massaged Seishirou's scalp with pleasant pressure, working the product into the roots.
A languid sigh escaped Seishirou's slightly parted lips. For Reo, this became some kind of meditation: with gentle smile on his lips, he moved from massaging Nagi's head to his neck and firm shoulders.
"Reo’s hands are amazing," Nagi said quietly. In the warm water, under warm, surprisingly firm hands, he felt like a piece of softened clay.
Mikage rinsed out the shampoo, careful to avoid getting it in the blond's eyes and ears. Nagi reluctantly climbed out of the bath and stretched. Reo handed him a towel but found he couldn't tear his eyes away from the droplets of water running down his toned stomach, absorbed by the edge of the towel. His amethyst gaze caught on the trail of white hair leading from his navel downwards, and his cheekbones flared with color. Reo immediately looked up and met the intent gaze of grey eyes. A wave of heat washed over Mikage, as if he had been caught red-handed. He quickly retreated from the bathroom, trying to dispel the strange obsession.

That evening, Reo found Nagi in his bed. He was curled up on it, his face buried in the pillow. "Are you okay?"
"Mhm. Just tired," Nagi mumbled quietly. He looked too tense.
"I'm here if you need anything."

Later, Seishirou refused to eat. He must truly be sick. Mikage tried to take his temperature or give him medicine, but the blond refused, insisting he was fine. Reo lent him his blanket and went to sleep with the thought that he would definitely take Nagi's temperature tomorrow if he wasn't feeling better.

Seishirou tried to fall asleep, curled under the blanket Reo had given him. His body trembled, but not from cold. Nagi buried his nose in the fabric, inhaling through teeth clenched against the cramp in his stomach. The thin blanket held Reo's scent — a warm, sweet, enveloping aroma that now, instead of calming him, tormented a consciousness starved with longing. With each breath, his head began to spin, petrol-slick patterns swimming before his closed eyes.
Seishirou didn't notice when he ended up on the bed, looming over the sleeping boy. The proximity to his warm body made his teeth ache. Mikage lay on his back, his head conveniently tilted to the left, the wide collar of his nightshirt exposed the curve of his neck and his right shoulder. The calm beating of Reo's heart deafened his sharpened hearing. The sweet scent settled on his tongue so that he could almost feel the softness of a magnolia petal.

Unable to resist the pain that wracked both his body and his mind, Nagi opened his mouth. In the dim light of night, long, sharp fangs glistened, thin strands of thick saliva stretching between them. A single drop fell onto the warm, delicate skin of the exposed neck.
Suddenly, a cry shattered the silence. A jolt of pain shot through Nagi somewhere near his nose.
"The fuck are you doing?!" Reo shouted, his voice rough with sleep. The blow brought Seishirou to his senses, he rubbed his nose and looked guiltily at frightened Reo.
"I’m…" The gears in the blond's feverish head began to turn slowly, reluctantly. "I’m sorry."
"No, you’re not!" Reo retorted. He exhaled, the panic had receded slightly. "Well maybe you are, but…"

Mikage looked at Nagi again. He didn't understand what Seishirou had been about to do, but he doubted the other wanted to continue now. Perhaps Reo should apologize too — he hit him quite hard out of fright. However, when Mikage peered more closely at the pale face opposite him, he realized Seishirou's nose was perfectly intact, not broken, not even bleeding. And what was that… were those fangs?
"What the…" Reo moved closer. Holding his breath, Nagi allowed the boy to lift his upper lip with his thumb and examine the fangs. "You’re… a vampire?"
Seishirou gave the barest of nods, his eyes fixed on those amethyst ones. Mikage's lips parted in surprise. Was he asleep with a fever of thirty-nine degrees, dreaming this? Had he stumbled into a manga or another world? He rubbed his eyes and temples and let out a heavy sigh. Unbelievable. Nagi was still sitting astride him, looking slightly — just slightly — guilty.

"Get off me!" the boy exclaimed.
"You broke my nose," Nagi complained.
"You regenerate!" Reo retorted.

Seishirou shifted closer to the foot of the bed, and Reo drew his knees to his chest, burying his face in them. This was absurd. Mikage had heard stories about mysterious disappearances in rural areas, about deaths supposedly caused by wild animal attacks, around which legends of vampires and other creatures were woven. But who would have thought that one of them would end up in his damn apartment? On one hand, it explained certain oddities, on the other, it added far more. After a short pause, Reo decided to clarify the situation.
"You were going to bite me?"
"Yes. I'm really sorry." Nagi swallowed hard. "I haven't eaten in a very long time, and it… hurts." His body was tense, his brow furrowed, his jaw clenched tightly.
"And why don't you just go… hunt? Or whatever you call it?"
"I can’t. I mean, I know how it works, but I’ve never tried." Nagi shrugged. Good Lord. Nagi Seishirou had to be the most ridiculous vampire in existence.
"If you bite me, will I turn?" Reo hoped Seishirou wouldn't answer with "I don't know."
"No, it doesn't work that way from a bite. You'd need the blood of a progenitor, so no, you wouldn't." He sounded quite confident, even if Reo had no idea who this "progenitor" was.
"Oh, that’s good to know." Reo bit his lip, seeming about to make the second most terrible decision of his life (the first being picking Nagi Seishirou off the street). If he was truly suffering that much…
"I suppose you can bite me," the boy said, lifting his eyes to the vampire. Seishirou's face lit up, but he almost immediately frowned again.
"I've never drunk blood from a person… well, directly." Reo rolled his eyes. How had this vampire even survived until now? Well, it seemed they were both equally clueless about this.
"I don't think it's that difficult," Mikage suggested. "Just… sink your fangs in and that's it. Just not somewhere the marks will show."

Reo pulled his T-shirt over his head and lowered his legs, letting Nagi come closer. The vampire knelt between Mikage's bent legs, awkwardly placing a cold hand on his right shoulder and leaning in, unsure where to begin. Seishirou inhaled the scent of Reo’s skin, tracing the tip of his nose from his earlobe down his neck, stopping just below the curve.
"Here?" Nagi's voice was quiet, as though he was holding his breath. Thirst and excitement mingled into a thick haze before his eyes.
"Y-yes." Reo's voice unexpectedly cracked on the first syllable, he swallowed hard. He felt somewhat self-conscious, as if he was lying before the vampire on a large white platter.

A knot of anxiety churned in his stomach, cooling with a vague sense of anticipation, his fingertips tingling. He hoped it wouldn't hurt too much. Mikage exhaled shakily as Seishirou's breath touched his shoulder and bit his lip. He squeezed his eyes shut when the vampire's saliva-damp lips pressed against his bare skin. His stomach clenched with hunger; somewhere lower, a strange pull throbbed beneath unfamiliar heat.
Amethyst eyes flew open, Reo cried out as fangs pierced his skin. Pain flared and subsided into a dull ache. The fangs sank into the muscle; blood began to seep from the puncture wounds. It trickled down his skin until the vampire caught the drops with his wet tongue.

The moment that tense tongue touched the hot droplet, fireworks exploded behind dark eyes, neural connections in his brain rewiring themselves. Perhaps blood vessels really had burst in his head, only to regenerate instantly. This was far better than anything he had been fed before. The blood was so hot, so thick, so pungent. It had a particular flavor he had never tasted — something from Reo's body itself. Scarlet eyes rolled back beneath trembling lids, Seishirou moaned, sending vibrations across Reo's skin and a shiver down his spine. Nagi pressed closer, beginning to drink greedily.
Mikage's body trembled from what could not be called a caress. The vampire growled like a hungry animal, lapping, pressing his lips, sucking the skin into his mouth to drink the blood he so desperately needed. It felt as if he was trying to draw out Reo's very soul. Reo bit his lip, trying to distract himself from the strange sensations coiling into a tight knot low in his belly.

Nagi grabbed the boy's forearm, pressing against him with such desperation, clinging as if to a lifeline, that a soft moan escaped Mikage's parted lips. Such raw need stirred something strange within Reo. A strange lightness and heat filled his body, his head feeling like a balloon. His pajama trousers grew uncomfortably tight, his thoughts muddled, but Mikage tapped Seishirou on the back.
"Hey-hey," he had to push against the vampire's shoulder. "Stop!"
Nagi pulled away from the wound, crimson threads of viscous saliva stretching from Reo's shoulder to the vampire's chin. Seishirou let his forehead drop onto the boy's shoulder, breathing heavily, raggedly. Each inhale filled his lungs with the scent of blood and Reo's intensified fragrance.
"T-this was," his hoarse voice cracked into a whimper, "So… intense." He was trembling, fine shivers running through him.

Reo didn't know how to react, so he embraced the vampire. He stroked his back and allowed himself to run his fingers through his fluffy hair, trying to calm him.
"It's alright," Reo whispered as Seishirou let out a small sob. "I've got you." A smile crept to Mikage's lips: he was the one from whom he'd just tried to suck out his soul, yet it was Seishirou who needed comforting. At least this gave him time to catch his breath and calm his own arousal. Best not to think about that. The vampire's breathing steadied, his fingers loosening their grip on Reo's forearm.
"That was incredible," Nagi said quietly. "Like the first time."
"Drinking from a person?" Reo scratched his scalp with short nails, his fingers tangling in silvery hair.
"The blood was so hot and delicious." Nagi pulled back and looked up. His gaze met amethyst eyes, and the vampire involuntarily held his breath. Reo's heart skipped a beat. Seishirou's eyes—slit pupils like a cat's, a deep, bottomless scarlet. His gaze dropped lower — the vampire's lips were thin, pale pink, stained with blood at the corner. Reo tried to wipe it away but only smeared the stain across his skin. Seishirou licked his lips, the tip of his tongue brushing against Reo's fingertip, making Mikage look away.

"Can I… sleep here tonight?" Nagi asked awkwardly. "Too much hassle to go back to my futon."
"Your futon is two steps away," the boy reminded him tiredly.
"Still."
"Fine," Reo relented. He lay on his back and shifted closer to the edge of the bed. It certainly wasn't meant for two, but they could try to squeeze in. Mikage was exhausted, interrupted sleep and the weakness from blood loss were taking their toll. Seishirou lay on his side facing Reo, close to the wall.
"I’m a virgin, though," Reo announced suddenly.
"Um… You’re sharing a secret for support?" Nagi raised his eyebrows in confusion. The boy felt foolish. Probably just a stereotype.
"Vampires love virgins' blood, don’t they?"
"Kinda," Nagi shrugged. "I liked yours. But it’s weird."
"What?" Reo turned his head.
"It’s weird that Reo’s a virgin. You’re handsome, smell nice, have soft skin. And you’ve got girls around you at the uni."
"I'm just… not into girls," Reo admitted. His second secret for the day, though nothing would top the revelation that Nagi Seishirou is a vampire.
"Kay. But still weird." The vampire closed his eyes. Reo exhaled silently in relief when he received no negative reaction. He gave in to impulse, running his palm through soft white hair. Did vampires even sleep? He'd have to ask. Lulled by the vampire's quiet breathing, the boy drifted off.

Senses slowly emerged from the haze of sleep. Reo began to hear the noise outside the window and Nagi's breathing beside him, felt the weight of his body and a strange lightness in his limbs, a sense of peace settling over his mind. Mikage opened his eye, the clock read 10 AM. Well, he was already late for university, no point in rushing now. He could allow himself to lie there a little longer.
He lay on his stomach, one arm dangling off the bed, while Seishirou was sprawled on top of him, his head resting on Reo's shoulder blade. The vampire's arm was wrapped around Mikage's waist as if he were some sort of plush toy. Perhaps he was lonely, too?

The embrace was pleasant, it had been a long time since anyone had held Reo like this. Usually, he received hugs from Chigiri or Hiori when greeting them or saying goodbye. It was nice to lie in warm arms. Weren't vampires supposed to be cold as ice? Seishirou's palms were cold, yet right now, lying with him was warm. Mikage lingered for another twenty minutes or so, savoring the infinity of the morning. Hunger eventually won out, and he slipped out from under Seishirou and headed to the bathroom. Nagi let out a whine, rolled onto his other side, and buried his face in the pillow.

In the mirror, besides his slightly swollen face and tangled purple hair, Reo was met with a bruise on his shoulder. The bruise, resembling a hickey, was accented by two deep burgundy dots — the marks of fangs. So it hadn't been a dream after all. Oh, this was all so strange. It had been from the very beginning. Mikage took a shower and went to prepare breakfast. This time, he could make something more elaborate than a sandwich. As he mixed the pancake batter, Reo called out:
"Nagi, breakfast!"

As expected, silence was his only answer. Did Nagi sleep so soundly because he is a vampire? When breakfast was ready, Mikage returned to the room and tousled the vampire's hair:
"Come and eat, Seishirou." The vampire mumbled in response. "Get u-up!" Reo tugged at his shoulder, turning him to face him. Nagi opened his eyes, blinking several times, and looked at Reo. His eyes had returned to their normal state — grey with round pupils.
During breakfast, Mikage decided to ask a few questions that were preventing the puzzle in his head from coming together.
"How did your mother die? I’m sorry if it’s…"
"No. Um, she was old, and that happens. Humans just… die." Seishirou pressed his lips together.
"So she was human?" Nagi nodded in response. Was it even possible for a vampire and a human to have a child? "How old are you then?"
"About sixty, I think? I stopped counting."

Reo let out a nervous laugh. Seishirou was nearly three times older than him! And yet he didn't know how to gather documents for a dormitory, how to use a washing machine, and countless other simple, everyday things. He behaved like a spoiled child, and the image suited him so well (or perhaps Reo had simply grown used to it and made his peace with it). Reo couldn't even imagine him any other way.
They didn't share the bed again after that, though Nagi still preferred Reo's bed for playing video games and reading manga. Seishirou began to touch him more often. Nothing inappropriate, just as if testing boundaries: resting his head or a hand on Reo's shoulder, sitting closer, their knees or elbows brushing. Reo didn't mind, it was even pleasant.

Reo fall asleep in his bed to the sounds of some shooter Nagi played on his phone in the dark. At some point, the noise of gunfire and other chaos began to coalesce into something more coherent. Reo. Reo.
"Hey, Reo."
Mikage, frowning, forced his eyes open, blinking several times to shake off sleep, and looked ahead. Seishirou loomed over him, for some reason shirtless. He was looking at Reo with dark, hungry eyes.
"Nagi?" The boy tried to glance at the clock, but a cold palm landed on his cheek.
"I'm so hungry, Reo," the vampire said, his fangs glinting, his gaze fixed on Reo's hazy amethyst eyes. "Give me some blood. I need you."
"Y-yes, alright." Mikage replied belatedly, hypnotized by Seishirou's eyes. He sat up in bed and tried to pull off his shirt. Seishirou sank back onto the bed and helped him get rid of the clothing faster. He must simply be very hungry, but Reo's heartbeat quickened when those cold fingers accidentally brushed against his skin.

Nagi lay on his back, moonlight falling across his pale skin. He bit his lips, watching with half-lidded eyes hungry, and so needy that heat raced across Reo's skin.
"Come here." Reo braced himself somewhat awkwardly on a bent elbow near the vampire's head, his stomach clenching at the contact of skin against skin. Cold palms settled on the boy's shoulder blades, pulling him closer. Nagi dragged his tongue in a broad stroke from Reo's earlobe to the curve of his neck, a shuddering half-moan escaped Mikage's lips. He bit his own lip, bracing for the flash of pain from the bite.
Seishirou sank his fangs in just below the curve. The pain was softened by the vibration of the vampire's moan against his skin. Nagi sucked the skin into his mouth, working it with his lips, swallowing greedily, exhaling languidly. He gripped Reo's shoulders, pressing their bodies closer. Mikage slid his other hand beneath Seishirou's head, stroking, supporting him. The boy's head began to swim, heat coursed through his body, pooling low in his belly.
Nagi pulled away from the bite, catching the droplets of blood that had trickled down Reo's shoulder with his hot tongue. Reo wanted to ask if he'd had enough blood, but only a moan escaped his lips as Seishirou arched against him, rubbing against his groin.

"Reo, help me," he whispered. Oh, fuck.

Nagi was hard, his arousal straining against the thin fabric of his trousers. He rolled his hips towards Reo, grinding against him, his own erection pressing against Mikage's. The boy lifted his eyes in alarm and met two burning rubies, a shiver ran down his spine. Tentatively, Reo touched the vampire's body — placing his palm on his chest, stroking briefly. Seishirou responded to the touch of his warm hand with a ragged exhale. His skin was smooth, velvety, without a single imperfection or mole. Not as the vampire stories described — not hard stone, but cold silk. Reo slid his hand lower, down his toned stomach, along the neat trail of white hair, and stopped at the waistband of his trousers. The vampire watched him expectantly, licking his bloodstained lips. Reo placed his palm over the hard length and squeezed through the fabric. Seishirou gripped his forearm, his thin lips parting.
Instead of a moan, Reo heard a shrill beeping. The image before him blurred until it shattered. The boy opened his eyes and silenced his alarm on the third attempt, rubbing his eyes and inhaling deeply. Fuck. It had been such a vivid dream, so eerily real. He could still feel Nagi's skin beneath his fingers, the pain of the bite, his voice, and… Reo was painfully hard.

He slipped out from under the blanket, carefully stepping over Seishirou's outstretched legs, and shut himself in the bathroom. He turned on the warm water and let it stream against his back. It was just loneliness and hormones playing a cruel trick on him, conjuring up a filthy dream about his roommate. Reo wrapped his hand around his cock and exhaled a half-moan. He moved his fist up the shaft, tightening his grip around the head.

His thoughts kept drifting back to that dream, and he surrendered to them when the simple motion of his hand was no longer enough. He recreated in vivid detail the sensation of skin beneath his fingers, the sound of that heated whisper. He imagined pulling down Nagi's trousers and underwear, the vampire lying there with his legs parted. Seishirou would look up at him through his long lashes, which cast shadows onto his cheeks, and his voice is so needy:
"Reo," he’d call.
"Nagi," Reo answered. He was close, his movements becoming more erratic. The boy breathed heavily, gasping with parted crimson lips. Reo whispered "Nagi" barely audibly, completely forgetting that a vampire's hearing could pick up a whisper over the sound of running water. The wet sound of his fist sliding along his length, the heavy breaths, even the way his tongue pressed against his upper teeth to form the word "Nagi."
"Reo-o," a whiny tone.
Reo held his breath, his eyes flying open at the voice from behind the door — but it only pushed him impossibly closer to the edge. He bit his lip, his brow furrowing as he tried to stifle a moan, his hand moving faster. Reo’s was perfect for moaning.
"Re-e-o-o," Seishirou called more insistently. His call was just right as Reo came, the vowels drawn out as his abdominal muscles contracted, pulsing out his release. As the peak of pleasure receded, awareness and a strange sense of guilt washed over Mikage. His cheeks and ears burned with shame, he washed up with trembling hands, trying to finish quickly.

"Y-yes, Nagi," Reo answered, his voice unsteady.
"I'm hungry," Nagi said.
Reo left the bathroom, avoiding looking at the vampire, and hurried to the kitchen. Nagi smirked, his gaze following the wet trail on Reo's shirt where water dripped from his purple hair. He heard everything. The second time, he repeated it on purpose.
Reo prepared the rolled omelets with trembling hands, watching Nagi from the corner of his eye. He sat at the table, propping his head on his hand, looking at his phone. It was fortunate that Reo had forgotten Nagi is a vampire, that he could hear the thunderous beating of his heart, could feel the heat radiating from his flushed cheeks. They ate breakfast in near silence, then hurried off to university.

By the time his evening shift at the café arrived, Reo had stopped thinking about the morning incident, until the stream of customers slowed and Chigiri asked:
"So, how's your Nagi?"
Reo's breath hitched instantly, he blushed and nearly dropped a mug. Hyoma laughed.
"What, did you fall in love?"
"N-no, I was just… lost in thought," the boy deflected. He didn't know. Maybe yes. Maybe no.
"Well, he’s quite handsome," Chigiri shrugged.
"How do you know?" Reo immediately turned towards his friend. Chigiri smiled and nodded towards the register. Indeed, Nagi was standing there. He smiled with the corners of his lips, watching Reo dressed in a purple shirt and a navy-blue apron with stars, bearing the inscription "Night Sky Cafe."
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Reo asked.
"Was coming back from uni, decided to stop by and pick you up," Nagi said simply.
"My shift doesn't end for another hour."
"I'll wait." Nagi sat at one of the tables and immersed himself in a game on his phone. Reo brought him iced tea with lemon and a cream bun to make the wait more pleasant. For the remaining hour, Mikage kept stealing glances at Seishirou, occasionally meeting his eyes. Chigiri rolled his eyes once, he felt like he was watching a pair of schoolkids in love exchanging glances and notes.

"I don't think he liked me," Nagi said when Reo finally closed up the café.
"Chigiri?" The boy chuckled. "We've known each other since school. He protects me from… bad guys. So he doesn't like anyone." Nagi hummed in response.
"I never went to school," the vampire said unexpectedly. It made sense, there probably weren't vampire schools. Seishirou rarely spoke about his past and was generally a man of few words, Reo always listened with interest.
"We lived in a small estate in Kanagawa. My mother was from an old, noble family. My mother and a few servants who knew what I was taught me. I rarely went into the city."
Reo could easily imagine Nagi as an aristocrat: he didn't do his own laundry, didn't cook, didn't even wash his own hair. Servants did everything for him, he simply strolled through gardens, lounged on piles of cushions, and studied some refined art like calligraphy. But imagining him as a small child was difficult.
"Vampires don't age, do they?" Reo asked.
"A vampire remains the age they were when they were turned," Seishirou confirmed. "But I'm half human, so I finished developing by fifteen and simply age very slowly."
"Do vampires really have inhuman strength and speed?"
"Yeah, so do I," Nagi confirmed. Well, perhaps Reo would see that in action someday. "Wanna get home faster?" the vampire suggested.
Mikage raised his eyebrows in question and gave a tentative nod. Seishirou stopped, bent down, and scooped Reo up with one arm under his knees. The boy let out a yelp and grabbed hold of the vampire's hoodie.

"Hold tight," the vampire said, pulling Reo closer with his other arm. He glanced around and then shot off towards home.
Mikage barely had time to draw a breath before the air rushed away. It felt like plummeting from the highest loop of a roller coaster: wind in his face, the scenery changing with dizzying speed. Reo squeezed his eyes shut, pressed into the solid body. A few seconds passed, before he could register fear or embarrassment, Nagi had set him down by their apartment door.

Reo swayed, gasping for air. Strong, cold arms caught him. Seishirou watched him with dark eyes, perhaps waiting to hear his thoughts on the sprint. Reo's heart didn’t stop pounding, he tucked his disheveled hair behind his ear with a trembling hand and met the vampire's gaze. Nagi caught his chin and covered his lips with his own, offering no time for pleasant anticipation.
Seishirou kissed Reo's upper lip and paused for a few seconds: waiting for a response, or perhaps remembering how to kiss. Mikage cupped Nagi's face in his palms the moment he realized what was happening and kissed him back. The vampire's lips were soft, unmarred, with a taste of almond cream. Nagi drew Reo's full lower lip into his mouth, gently pressing his fangs against it, licking the tiny wounds, letting Reo's tongue graze his fangs. The touches were slow, almost innocent.

They pulled apart to smile at each other. A laugh bubbled up from Reo's lips as he realized they had been kissing right outside the apartment door. For dinner, the boy made noodles, a foolish smile lingering on his lips. New questions formed in his mind, Nagi seemed to hear the gears turning and watched him expectantly as he chewed his noodles.
"Have you ever had sex?" Mikage pressed his lips together immediately after asking. It was a ridiculous question, and probably very inappropriate, and Nagi would probably think—
"Yeah," the vampire replied simply.
"With another vampire?"
"No. It was a girl, then a boy I met at a night bar."
"Did you like it?" Vampires remained a mystery to Reo.
"Not really," Nagi shrugged. "It was nice, but still a big hassle, though."

After dinner, they settled in front of the television on the futon to play games. This time, they chose a co-op game where characters had to work together to clear levels. They made an excellent team, but the final boss refused to go down.
"Oh, I can't," Reo groaned after their third attempt to defeat the boss, letting his controller drop and tipping his head back in exhaustion.
"Yeah, I'm tired," Nagi agreed. Mikage turned to look at the vampire's face, Seishirou's gaze had become touchingly warm, free of its usual cosmic boredom and melancholy. Yes, he was definitely in love.

Reo set down his controller, leaned forward, and caught Nagi's lower lip between his own. The vampire responded readily, threading his fingers through Reo's silky purple hair. Mikage had forgotten, or perhaps had never known, that kissing could feel so good: slowly pressing their lips together, stroking each other's tongues. The boy pulled back from the vampire's sweet lips to catch his breath. Seishirou lay back on the futon, one leg bent at the knee. A silent invitation to continue. Reo hovered above him, bracing one hand by his head. His fingertips tingled, a pleasant flutter pulling low in his stomach.

"May I?" Reo asked quietly, hooking his fingers under the hem of Nagi's oversized T-shirt. Nagi nodded.

The boy pushed the shirt up to vampire’s collarbones and felt his breath catch. So much better than the dream. Seishirou's body seemed carved from cold marble by a master sculptor — broad shoulders, rounded pectorals, the outline of abs, all forming an inverted triangle. Reo traced his palm from the lower stomach up to his collarbone. The vampire's skin was impossibly soft, velvety, unblemished. Mikage leaned in as if touching something sacred and pressed a damp kiss between his pecs.
Nagi's breath caught at the sensation of hot lips and palms, it was almost like the first time he had tasted blood. Reo didn't know exactly what he was doing, and perhaps he was a little nervous, but he desperately wanted to cover the vampire's body in kisses, to lavish him with caresses as if he were the most precious treasure. Mikage slid his hands under the vampire's shoulder blades, kissing, nipping, sucking on skin. Red marks from the hickeys vanished immediately from the flawless skin. Reo took the pale pink bead of nipple between his lips, a quiet, velvety half-moan escaped the vampire's lips. The boy traced the areola with the tip of his tongue, rolling the bead between his lips, Nagi arched his back slightly to the touch.

Mikage tracked every reaction from the vampire. He wanted so badly for this to feel good for him too, for him to want more with the same intensity. Reo scattered kisses across the beautiful body, painting short strokes with his tongue, leaving damp trails of saliva. Seishirou threaded his fingers through the purple hair and responded with soft moans. He offered his body to the caresses as naturally as one accepting offerings from a devout worshipper. Reo's stomach tightened with arousal, his patience wearing thin. He hastily tugged off Nagi's trousers and underwear.
Mikage ran his hands reverently over the magnificent thighs — strong, lean. The skin on the inner side was impossibly soft, delicate, and Reo wanted so badly to leave vivid crimson marks there, but he watched the hickeys fade instead. As if he weren't permitted to mark such a superior being. Nagi pulled Reo towards him, tugged off his T-shirt, and kissed him greedily. They moaned into each other's mouths at the contact of skin against skin — one hot, one silken. Seishirou stroked Reo's body with his palms, pressing as close as possible, trying to pull off the boy's shorts.

Mikage wrapped his hand around the vampire's cock, slick with precome, the veins prominent, the head flushed. Nagi moaned louder, rocking his hips forward, burying his nose in Reo's neck to inhale the heady scent of magnolia and fig. Reo pressed his own painfully hard cock against the vampire's, wrapping his hand around them both. He moved his fist with a twisting motion, squeezing around the heads. They bit their lips, their teeth clashing as they swallowed each other's moans.
"Reo," Nagi called out desperately, gripping the boy's tense shoulder. His name had flowed so beautifully into a moan that Reo's stomach clenched with a spasm.
"Wanna try one thing, do you trust me?" Reo asked, his voice hoarse. Seishirou bit his lip, nodded several times, looking utterly enticing. Mikage retrieved the lubricant from the bedside drawer and warmed it between his fingers.

Reo found the little hole with his fingertips and pressed gently. He watched Seishirou, waiting for his nod. Reo had never done this before, he read enough, but he was still nervous. He added a bit more lube, stroked Nagi's stomach, and carefully slid his middle finger in to the second knuckle. Mikage held his breath along with the vampire: inside, Seishirou was impossibly hot and tight, despite the coldness of his skin. Reo moved his finger slowly, feeling the walls, showering the vampire's chest with kisses to distract him.
"How it feels? Should I stop?" the boy asked, studying his reactions.

"Weird," Seishirou exhaled shakily. "Go on."

Mikage added more lube, afraid of causing pain, and pushed in a second finger. Seishirou frowned slightly, drawing air through clenched teeth. The stretch felt strange, unfamiliar, but he didn't want it to stop. Reo crooked his fingers, circling them against the front wall, biting his lip in concentration. The moment he found that firm spot, Seishirou's eyes flew open, his back arching, a violent shudder running through his body. He let out a moan that dissolved into a beautiful whine, clenching around the long fingers.

Damn, it’s so hot.

Reo swallowed hard, trying to stifle a pathetic moan. The muscles of his abdomen contracted, precome beading at the tip of his cock and beginning to drip from the head — the thought of Seishirou clenching just as tightly around his cock was driving him insane.
"Do that again," it was almost an order.

Between the moans and little whines, the pulsing heat around his fingers, Reo's head was spinning. He pressed himself against the vampire, kissing and licking his neck, grinding cock against his thigh. An unfamiliar pleasure that made him want more and more pierced Nagi’s body. Mikage fucked Seishirou with his fingers, stretching and warming the tight muscles. He stroked the hot, velvety walls and pressed against the prostate as if the sole purpose of his life was to bring pleasure to his master. Nagi scratched Reo's lower lip with his fangs, their desperate, wet kiss took on the taste of blood. Blood smeared across their lips and chins, mixing with saliva.
"I’m close," Nagi whispered, his thin lips parted with moans. His brows were furrowed, Reo imagined a flush on his cheekbones.
Reo wrapped his hand around their cocks again, squeezing and moving his palm, bringing them closer to release. Mikage himself was impossibly close — the quiet, short moans, the pulsing heat, Seishirou's pliancy were enough to push him to the edge. Reo pressed his forehead against the vampire's, looking into those dark pools so closely it felt like falling into a hungry abyss. Seishirou pulled the boy against him, pressing between his shoulder blades, his short nails scraping across Reo's sweat-slicked skin. He buried his face in the crook of Mikage's neck and licked the skin broadly.

Suddenly, fangs sank into the muscle, mirroring that very first bite. Seishirou moaned like a wounded animal, arching until his bones seemed to crack. Reo let out a guttural groan, continuing to move his palm, prolonging their orgasms until Nagi's stomach was painted white. Seishirou unclenched his jaw and apologetically lapped at the bite as Reo struggled to catch his breath. The boy fell back onto the futon, coughing from his parched throat.
"How do you like it?" Reo asked, his voice hoarse.

"Way much better than… anything," Nagi replied, wiping a trail of blood from the corner of his lips.
"Now we have to shower," Mikage said, anticipating resistance. Nagi predictably whined and tried to hide, pulling the blanket over himself.
"Nah, I want sleep."
"Do vampires need sleep? Or it’s just you?" Reo propped himself up on his elbow, peering at the pale face.
"We don’t really sleep. Vampires have more sensitive hearing, smell, sharper vision. We sense the slightest vibrations in the air." Seishirou waved his hand, creating those very vibrations. "It heavily overloads the brain, even though it's better adapted to it than a human's." Reo thought about how difficult that must be. "So we don't sleep, we… enter a trance to temporarily shut down the brain and rest."
Several more months of idyllic cohabitation passed, though perhaps they had been dating since that day. Chigiri enev liked Nagi, Hyoma seemed to have finally assured himself that he’s not some bad guy. Would anyone in Reo's small circle ever find out Nagi was a vampire? Unlikely. And no one would believe it anyway.

Today evening, Mikage finally managed to drag Seishirou out for some shopping, to update his wardrobe and prepare for the colder weather. There was less sunlight now, which Nagi appreciated; it meant Reo could actually persuade him to go out. Though, being half-human, he could tolerate sunlight, bright light and prolonged exposure still made him uncomfortable. As for the cold, Seishirou was largely indifferent to it—oh, sometimes Reo forgot his boyfriend was a vampire—so Reo used it as an excuse for the shopping trip.

They turned onto a quiet street where a few late-night establishments still had their signs lit. Nagi looked somewhat wary as Reo chatted about how his business strategy project presentation had gone at university. Suddenly, Seishirou stopped in the middle of the street and blocked Reo's path with an outstretched arm, trying to shield him behind his back.
"Wha…" Reo barely had time to open his mouth when two figures in black cloaks with hoods emerged onto the road in front of them.

Nagi turned in the opposite direction, looking for an escape route, but another black cloak appeared there too. Seishirou tensed, and fear began to creep into Reo's stomach. Did vampires attack their own kind? Another vampire dropped from the roof of a neighboring building, landing silently before Nagi. He pushed back his hood, revealing dark green hair with a long side bangs, and stepped closer.
"Master Nagi, we have finally found you," the vampire said with a bow. Seishirou frowned.
"Who are you?"
"Lord de Ver has asked us to find his heir. Your father wishes to see you," the vampire said. Seishirou and Reo exchanged glances. "You and your servant must accompany us to the estate."

Nagi glanced at Reo again with a silent question, the boy shrugged uncertainly. The vampires hadn't moved an inch, and something told Reo they would insist on the trip to the estate — so they hardly had a choice. Perhaps things would become clearer once Nagi met this lord, if he truly was his father? Seishirou gave a short nod to the vampire with the side-swept bangs.
"Please, come this way." He turned and walked towards a black car waiting at the intersection at the end of the street. The other vampires leapt onto the rooftops of nearby buildings and disappeared into the gloom. Reo's stomach tightened with anxiety, he pressed his lips together and followed Seishirou.

They climbed into the large black car. Nagi placed his hand on Reo's knee, whether as a protective gesture or to mark his claim, Reo wasn't sure. The vampire sat opposite them on the black leather seat. He slid back the partition separating the passenger compartment from the driver and said simply, "To the estate."
"I am Rin, the twelfth progenitor," the vampire introduced himself. "I am the trusted aide of Lord de Ver, the third progenitor." Rin unclipped his cloak and removed it with an elegant movement of his gloved hand. Beneath the cloak, he wore a black jacket with silk lapels and a sea-green shirt, it looked exceptionally expensive. It seemed the stereotype about vampires being wealthy held true.

"So this lord claims he is my father?" Nagi asked.
"Lord Third Progenitor asserts that you are his heir," Rin confirmed.
"And why does he suddenly need me?"
"I believe that is a matter best discussed with his lordship." Rin seemed disinclined to talk, his whole demeanor discouraging further questions, so the remainder of the journey passed in silence. Thankfully, he turned away, no longer boring into them with his scarlet eyes. Reo covered Nagi's hand on his knee with his own — whether to calm himself or to show he was there. The car drove beyond the city limits towards the mountains and after a while turned onto a dirt road leading through the forest.

Ascending into the mountains, the car passed through red torii gates onto a cobblestone drive. Nestled in a bamboo grove stood a large two-storey mansion in the Japanese style, its architecture infused with European influences. Rin stepped out of the car, Reo and Nagi followed. A man in black approached and attempted to take the shopping bags from Reo's hands. The boy eyed him warily, noticed the pointed vampire ears, and decided to entrust his bags to him. They followed Rin into the mansion, where another vampire announced that the master was waiting in Sakura Hall.
Sakura Hall turned out to be a grand reception room with heavy wooden doors. Though Reo been asked to remain outside, Nagi insisted they would go in together. Standing in the reception room with panoramic windows overlooking an inner courtyard was a man of European appearance with slicked-back white hair, dressed in a three-piece suit. He looked no older than forty, but given his status as a vampire of importance, he could well be a thousand years old.

The man approached, his pointed leather shoes clicking on the marble floor. He sniffed almost imperceptibly and measured Reo with his gaze. He reached out towards Seishirou's face, but Nagi stopped his hand halfway, gripping his wrist. The man pressed, squinting, but his hand did not move.
"Quite strong, as expected," the man smirked. "Please, sit." He gestured invitingly.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Third Progenitor, Lest de Ver. Though I am known by another name, I prefer my true one." De Ver took a flagon of unusual shape from a container filled with ice and poured a deep burgundy liquid into two short-stemmed glasses. He offered one to Nagi.
"You… are my father?" Seishirou asked.
"I remember your mother, she was beautiful. I was not aware of any cases where a woman could carry a child by a vampire, let alone have a half-breed survive," Lest made a vague gesture with the hand holding his glass. "But, to be equal in power to the Fifth Progenitor while bypassing me is quite… impossible."
"Why did you only find me now?"
"You see," the man turned toward the windows, "I’ve been in Japan only recently. This is the territory of the Fourth Progenitor, Lord Ikuro. But he was killed by hunters from the old Norman Order. Poor old Ikuro," de Ver sighed and took a sip of blood from his glass. In the inner courtyard lay a Japanese garden with a babbling fountain and red wooden bridges spanning streams and a pond. Cherry trees grew in the garden, their leaves already beginning to fall, preparing for the cold season.
"The hunters are precisely why I need all the forces I can gather. But I also require an heir." Lest turned back to Nagi. "Someone who will remain in Japan, who I can trust. And who better to fill that role than my own flesh and blood?" De Ver's face twisted into a predatory smile. "What bout Mister Eyelashes?" Seishirou brought the glass of blood to his face and inhaled. He took a sip, rolling the liquid in his mouth. Reo's blood had proven predictably more flavorful than this. Mikage watched Nagi and de Ver from the corner of his eye.
"Rin is far too impulsive, too fixated on surpassing his brother the twelfth progenitor, Sae." The man waved his hand slightly dismissively. "And I would prefer that this territory be inherited by someone way more stronger. "
"What makes you think I'll agree?" Nagi raised an eyebrow.
"As if you have anything more interesting to do." De Ver smirked, his eyes half-lidded. But then his expression grew more serious. "Of course, you are inexperienced. I will have much to teach you. But we have plenty of time, do we not?"
There was no reply. Nagi frowned and looked into his glass.
"I'll give you three days to consider. Make yourselves at home in the estate," Lest said, spreading his hands. "If you give me a positive answer, we will need to hold a reception to present you." The man turned back to the window, signaling the end of the conversation.

Nagi and Reo headed toward the exit of Sakura Hall, their footsteps shuffling against the marble. At the doors, they were met by a blonde girl in a black dress.
"Lord Nagi, I have prepared chambers for you," the servant said.
The walk to the chambers felt as long as traversing an entire city block. The spacious room with a king-sized bed draped in a canopy was located in the east wing of the estate, on the second floor. The room was fitted with blackout curtains in jade green, had its own bathroom, and opened onto a balcony. Seishirou entered the room and flopped onto the bed, his back hitting the mattress. Reo made to follow suit, but a servant stopped him.
"The servants' quarters are in other rooms," the girl said. Reo blinked, staring into her scarlet eyes with their narrow slits, afraid to object. He glanced uncertainly at Nagi, who shrugged and said, "I'll find you," giving his shoulder a brief touch. Mikage nodded and followed the girl.

Perhaps Nagi needed some time alone, he had much to think about. He had just met a father he had never known, who turned out to be an important vampire figure, and was now being offered a position of power. Reo felt a flicker of unease. Too much had happened all at once. He was in a damn vampire estate, and…
"Your room." The servant opened a door to one of the rooms on the first floor. "It's directly below your master's chambers."

The room was not as lavish, but still nicer than the apartment Reo and Nagi shared. Panoramic windows overlooked the garden, the balcony door stood ajar, letting in the cool evening air. On a small round table in the corner sat a large plate of fruits. Another door led to a small bathroom. Mikage discovered towels, slippers, a robe, and toiletries, and decided to take a shower.
Before today, Reo had never truly considered the fact that his boyfriend was a vampire. They were good together —comfortable, happy— and Reo was so in love. But what came next? Seishirou had mentioned that vampires lived in one place for several years, assimilating into human society, then moved on to avoid raising suspicions about their appearance. Nagi himself had spent most of his life in the estate, only venturing out at night and avoiding the city. Would their future be a life of constant relocation every decade or so?

With his mind spiraling, the boy stepped out of the bathroom in a white robe, drying his hair with a towel. The moment he looked up, his breath caught and his heart skipped a beat — a boy was sitting on his bed, swinging his legs.
"Hi, sorry I scared you!" The boy, with brown hair and a straight bangs, waved a hand. Was he a vampire? What did he want?
"Hi…?" Reo answered uncertainly.
"I heard that another human had arrived with the young master, and I spotted you while walking in the garden. You're human, aren't you?" He tilted his head to the right. "I'm Bachira, Rin's servant."
"Reo." The boy exhaled in relief, realizing his unexpected guest was human. Even though Nagi said drinking directly from humans is forbidden, Reo felt somewhat uneasy surrounded by vampires. He sat down on the bed.
"You're a servant to that white-haired lord?" Bachira took an apple from the fruit platter. He was dressed in a white shirt and short trousers held up by bright yellow suspenders, embroidered with sunflowers.
"We're… friends," Mikage said, opting for a safer answer. After all, he knew nothing of the orders in high vampire society. Bachira shrugged and bit into the apple.
"So when did he promise to turn you?"
"Um… He didn't?" Reo raised an eyebrow. He wasn't even sure if Nagi could do that in the first place. Bachira frowned in confusion.
"So you're serving him for nothing, then?" the boy asked. Now Reo was the one who didn't understand. "Vampires take human servants to drink their blood in exchange for the promise of turning them."
"We’re… I’m not his servant."
"As you wish," Bachira waved the hand holding the half-eaten apple. "But he drinks your blood." The boy circled his finger in the air, pointing at Reo's neck. Mikage immediately clamped a hand over it, covering the relatively fresh bite.
"Anyway, it was nice to meet you." Bachira rose from the bed and stretched. "See ya." He waved and disappeared into the hallway.

Reo exhaled and stretched out on the bed. After another half-hour of restless thinking, Mikage got up and examined the contents of the dresser. Inside, he found two sets of clean clothes and a pajama set consisting of a silk shirt and pants. The pajama fit him in length but was rather tight across the shoulders. Reo went up to Nagi's room. The vampire was lying on the wide bed in a white pajama, staring at the ceiling —or rather, at the luxurious canopy— with his hands folded over his stomach. He looked as though he belonged there, exactly where he meant to be.
The vampire immediately pressed into Reo's embrace, burying his face in his chest, the tip of his cold nose touching the skin exposed by the low neckline of the shirt. Mikage scooped the vampire up in his arms, burying his nose in the white hair that smelled of rosemary and lemon shampoo.

"So you're the Fifth Progenitor?" the boy asked. Third, fifth, twelfth… it was all so confusing. The ranks of vampire aristocracy were determined by strength: the lower the number, the more powerful, indicating closeness to the blood of the first vampire. After the twelfth, they stopped counting. "Seems so," Nagi mumbled.
Incredible.
"Can you… turn me?"
"It seems so. You would just have to drink my blood." Seishirou left a brief kiss in the hollow between Reo's collarbones. "Would you want that?" the vampire asked after a few moments of silence. Mikage pressed his lips together. He would like to stay with Nagi, to be someone worthy of him, but to become a vampire…
"Maybe," the boy answered uncertainly.
"If I turn you… you would be like the Eighth Progenitor." Nagi lifted his head to meet Reo's eyes. Those lively amethysts were beautiful, Seishirou would miss them if they changed to scarlet. The boy brushed the bangs back from the vampire's forehead and left a kiss there. Nagi's eyes only revealed him as a vampire after he drunk blood — perhaps because he was a half-breed. Now, in that dark abyss, it was Reo's own reflection staring back.
"Would you want that? For me to be a vampire?" Reo asked quietly, his lips barely moving.
"I want to be with you. It doesn't matter if you're a vampire or not." The most tender words Nagi had spoken in the past half-century. Reo smiled — genuinely, with just the corners of his lips, as if showing his teeth would shatter everything. They kissed gently, slowly, as if anything more than the slightest pressure might dissolve their lips.

Having bathed Nagi in warm water, Reo stepped out into the garden. His face, framed by purple hair, reflected in the pond against the grey sky. The water rippled as a plump golden carp splashed, snapping at an insect. Only the murmur of the fountain and the rustle of leaves broke the silence.
"Remind me of today's schedule," Reo requested.
"The final fitting for your and Master Seishirou-sama's suits at four o'clock, the arrival for the tenth progenitor, Lady Ming Ha-yoon at six in the evening, and approval of the menu for the human servants for tomorrow's reception," the servant replied.
"Rin will meet Lady Ming," the boy said, imagining the displeased look from Mister Eyelashes. The servant vampire bowed and left. Mikage sighed.

He was quite anxious about tomorrow's ceremonial reception, where Lest de Ver would present Nagi as his successor and head of the Japanese vampire community before the other leaders of the Asian region. His head spins from being thrust into the world of vampires, with its new rules, orders, and laws. Yet he could not deny that Mikage was in his element — organization, control, direction, management. Seishirou said that Reo is better suited for the role of leader, already, people addressed him as master. In just five days, Reo had grown accustomed to luxury — dressing in fine fabrics, receiving massage, not having to cook or do laundry. Seishirou, meanwhile, seemed as though he always belonged here, as if he had never lived in an apartment the size of a servant's quarters.

After admiring the golden carp and bamboo grove, the boy returned to the chambers.

Seishirou didn’t bothered to dress after his bath. He lay on his stomach, sinking into the soft mattress, clutching a pillow in a nest of blankets and cushions, as if resting on a huge cloud. His bare, pale skin and white hair blended with the silk of the bed. The thin, translucent fabric of the canopy fluttered in the breeze, tickling the skin of the slumbering noble vampire. Seishirou was undoubtedly where he meant to be.

Reo's breath caught at the sight, it’s something from a Renaissance painting. A reverent warmth spread beneath his ribs, his heart clenching in a tender ache. He wanted to lay the entire world at this beautiful creature's feet. Mikage slipped off his lacquered shoes and jacket, climbing onto the bed. Seishirou cracked his eyes open sleepily and made a cute little purring sound. The boy traced the tip of his nose along the vampire's spine, from the charming dimples at the small of his back down to the damp hairline. He inhaled the scent of innocent cleanliness mingled with bergamot and lemon, and pressed a kiss to Nagi's cheekbone. Seishirou nuzzled Reo's cheek in return, bumping his head against him like a cat. Reo's hand, sheathed in an elegant white glove, touched the vampire's thin lips, Nagi bit the fabric and allowed the hand to slip free.

Reo tossed the second glove aside, letting his palms slide over the broad expanse of the vampire's shoulders. Seishirou exhaled languidly as warm hands worked into his muscles. His thumbs pressed lightly into the trapezius, massaging in circular motions along the spine, nearly grazing the soft down at the nape of his neck.

Mikage peppered the vampire's back with small kisses, his lips touching every inch of the ivory skin, his fingertips counting each rib. Reo wanted to bathe his treasure in caresses, dissolve him in tenderness. He whispered compliments and lovesick nonsense, imprinting each word into the skin with his lips. Seishirou received it with pleasure, responding with a quiet hum rumbling in his chest. Mikage's hands travelled down his back, squeezing the flesh of his narrow hips, settling on the small, firm asscheeks. Reo nipped and kissed the delicate skin, stroking, and the vampire answered with a languid sigh, arching slightly, offering his body. Arousal gathered slowly in Reo's stomach.

Nagi bent one knee and drew it to the side, exposing himself for Reo. The boy placed his hands on the vampire's asscheeks, parting them further to reveal the view of the small pink hole. Mikage ran relaxed tongue from the ball to the hole, licking in broad strokes. There was no passion, only worship and veneration for the magnificent creature beneath him.
Seishirou bit his lip, exhaling a quiet moan, crumpling the duvet in his fists. Reo’s rapturous, methodically smoothing his tongue over every tiny crease on the twitching rim. He could feel Nagi's balls tightening. His probing tongue slipped inside, stroking the hot walls, and Seishirou moaned louder. Reo lost himself, lavishing his master with devotion, pulling away only when the vampire's voice took on a needy, whiny tone.
Mikage wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smiling as Nagi called his name.
"Alright, let’s prepare you," the boy said, reaching for the lube.

Seishirou cast a sultry glance over his shoulder, settling his hips more comfortably on the pillow, sinking into the down mattress. Truly, the crown of creation.
Reo sat back on his folded legs, loosening his lavender neckerchief and unbuttoning the top buttons of his shirt. There was something thrilling about the contrast — Mikage fully dressed, the jacquard waistcoat cinching his narrow waist, the white cotton shirt hugging his strong forearms, his trousers stretching over his thighs and straining against his arousal. Reo squeezed out the lube, sliding one finger into Seishirou slowly down to the knuckle, and exhaled shakily. Vampire regeneration made Nagi virgin tight every time, Reo's head spun, a tight knot of heat coiling low in his stomach.

Reo took his time preparing Seishirou — he didn't care about his own need or the passing minutes, his master's pleasure was all that mattered. Mikage moved his finger slowly, kissing Nagi's neck, nipping at the sensitive spot behind his pointed ear, laving it with his tongue. He added more lube until it made wet, slick sounds, then pressed in a second finger. Seishirou's lips parted in a soft moan. Reo stretched him for a long while, methodically warming his muscles, caressing the velvety walls. He pressed the pad of his finger against the prostate, and Nagi let out a long, drawn-out moan, arching his back. The vampire writhed, trying to take the fingers deeper. Mikage added a third finger, stretching him wider, scissoring them apart. He watched his own fingers spreading Seishirou open, and nearly whimpered at the torturous arousal stabbing low in his stomach. His movements were relentlessly slow, the pressure barely enough. Seishirou called for him, demanding:
"Reo-o—" his name dissolving into a moan.

The boy smirked, a little mischievously. Nagi is ready to take him, Reo drawn it out deliberately, teasing him, working him open for so long on purpose. Perhaps just to hear that voice — the one that made him willing to do anything. Mikage withdrew his fingers and watched for a moment as the well-stretched hole clenched around nothing, slightly gaping. Nagi watched as Reo unfastened his trousers and pushed them down, slicking his aching cock. Reo loomed over the vampire, his shaft sliding between his asscheeks, nudging against the pulsing rim.
"Master Fifth Progenitor wants me inside?" he grinned.

Nagi's eyes fluttered shut, and he answered with a whiny "Mhm." His pale, thin lips parted to draw in breath as Reo pushed in the thick head. The vampire moaned on the exhale as the boy filled him in one smooth motion. Reo stilled, trembling as the tight heat engulfed him. Nagi took him so well, clenching around him deliciously. The boy felt he might come without even moving.
Seishirou reveled in the sensation of fullness and stretch, savoring the pleasure Reo so diligently bestowed upon him. Mikage braced himself on one bent arm, covering the vampire's hand with his own, interlacing their fingers in a tender gesture. He began to move, rocking his hips unhurriedly, prioritizing depth and the perfect angle. He drew his hips back, pulling out halfway, then thrust back with a twisting motion. The head pressed against Nagi’s prostate with each gliding stroke, sending soft waves of pleasure through him. Heat spread through the vampire's body, a faint flush seemed to bloom across his cheekbones and the tips of his ears.

Nagi moaned on the exhale, his face buried in the pillow, making no effort to stifle the sound. He didn't care that they were surrounded by vampires with hearing seven times sharper than humans'. Let them know how good he felt. Reo pressed his forehead between Seishirou's shoulder blades, gripping the vampire's hip with his other hand, breathing heavily, biting his lip in concentration. His body felt electric, his stomach tight with arousal, but all that mattered was Seishirou's satisfaction and desire. The vampire's cock rubbed against the silk sheets, staining them with precome. Reo pressed deeper, hitting every needed, sensitive spot. He pressed his damp lips to the vampire's ear.

"Feels good?" he asked, kissing and mouthing at the pointed ear, nipping at the lobe. Reo was so good, so attentive.
"Harder," Seishirou demanded capriciously.
"Yes, Master." A hot whisper against his ear.

Mikage pulled out, leaving only the head inside, then thrust back with a sharp slap against the delicate skin of his thighs. Nagi let out a long moan, clenching tight around the burning length, feeling every inch and vein. With each forceful thrust, Reo pushed Nagi forward across the slick silk, the ornate headboard knocked rhythmically against the wall.
All of the vampire's senses were focused solely on Reo: his soft groans and whimpers, his hair, slipping from its elegant style, tickling his shoulders, the firm grip on his pale thigh. Reo smelled of pure desire, the scent thickening and settling on Nagi's tongue like sweetness. Seishirou melted, drunk on sensation, his thoughts tangling until only one thing remained clear — hunger. Hunger for more, for pleasure. Nagi grabbed Reo's white shirt, pulling and tearing the sleeve with a loud rip of expensive fabric. The vampire pressed his cheek to the bared skin, nuzzling against the tense shoulder. Seishirou licked the forearm, just below the crook of the elbow, and Reo knew what would follow.

"Take it," Reo encouraged him.

Previously, blood was a necessity, now, it is the most coveted and exquisite dessert.

Nagi sank his fangs in, and Mikage's moan broke into a whimper at the brief flash of pain. With Reo's muscles tensed, blood spurted from the wound. Seishirou swallowed greedily, moaning brokenly, with a hard thrust against his prostate, the vampire's crimson eyes rolled back beneath half-lowered lids. Blood stained the white silk sheets. Nagi drowned in pleasure, rocking his hips to meet Reo's movements halfway. Mikage's face contorted with ecstasy, his brows drawn together, purple hair plastered to his sweat-damp forehead, his cheekbones flushed. He lost himself, moving faster, pressing Seishirou into the bed.

Reo moaned, keening through clenched teeth, nearly forgetting to breathe — it seemed utterly unnecessary when Nagi was clenching so perfectly around him. He was impossibly close, impossible to stop, his stomach tightening sweetly. He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut and move faster, harder. His thrusts grew erratic, shallow, the head of his cock rubbing Seishirou’s swollen prostate. Reo is achingly close, he wanted to prolong this state of raw, exposed nerves and fevered haze, to wring out every drop of pleasure from the brink, but his body betrayed him. Reo came with a broken cry, his head thrown back. But he couldn't stop — not until his master come undone.

Nagi felt the hot cum spill inside him and whimpered as he clenched around the sensitive cock. Mikage kept moving in the tight heat, at first it was pleasant, prolonging the orgasm, but after a few strokes the pleasure became too much for his overtaxed body. Seishirou was close, and Reo focused solely on bringing him to the same euphoria. The vampire gasped through bloodied lips, moaning and whining, his cock leaking precome, forming a milky pool beneath his stomach. Reo sobbed, he was so sensitive, his whole body trembling with strain and exhaustion, his abdomen aching from the effort to put more force into his thrusts. His clothes clung tediously to him, feeling unbearably heavy, sweat streamed down his temples. Every sensation was magnified to the point of torment, his head spinning, his face contorted in sweet agony, a tear sliding down his cheek. Reo pushed through the pain, the tears, the overstimulation, until finally Nagi tensed like a bowstring and came with a long, drawn-out moan. Seishirou convulsed around him, and Reo’s cry broke into something raw and wild.

Reo gathered what little strength he had left and collapsed onto his back. He was completely ruined and fucked.

"Fuck…" the boy exhaled. "I’ve almost died." Mikage's laugh dissolved into a dry cough from his parched throat. His body ached, he could have happily simmered in a boiling cauldron after an hour-long massage. Seishirou, his pillow princess, rolled over and propped himself up on an elbow, looking utterly fresh and satisfied.
"Nah, I wouldn't let you die," he said, his voice slightly hoarse as he undid the small buttons on Reo's waistcoat. "I’d turn you into a vampire." He left a kiss on Reo's cheek. Reo gave a strained smile and touched his forehead to Seishirou's.
"You will," the boy whispered. Reo's certain that it won't prove to be a bad decision, as long as Seishirou remains by his side.
The vampire made no ceremony of unbuttoning the shirt — with one sleeve already torn, it was ruined anyway. He simply tore it open to free Reo from the clinging fabric. Seishirou pressed his lips to Reo's solar plexus, grazing his skin lightly with his fangs, leaving a few kisses on his chest, then slid off the bed to pull off Reo's trousers.

Seishirou wrinkled his nose at the sensation of come and lube trickling down his thigh. He threw a blanket over himself and padded across the cold marble floor on bare feet.
"I'll run a hot bath."

Reo smiled, stretched languidly, working out his stiff muscles, and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of running water, savoring the emptiness in his head and the sense of peace. He had nearly drifted off to sleep when Nagi carefully scooped him up in his arms and carried him to the bathroom.
"The master fifth progenitor decided to take care of me?" Reo ruffled the white hair at the nape of the vampire's neck. Nagi almost seemed embarrassed. Holding his burden tenderly with both arms, he stepped into the large basin, filled with water hot enough to steam, and lowered them both down. Reo sank into the water up to his chest and let his head fall back against Nagi's shoulder, leaning against his chest. Seishirou cupped water in his palm and poured it over the boy's shoulders, it streamed down his skin, pooling in the hollow of his collarbones. The boy let out a contented sigh.

Ahead lay a long day, and tomorrow—an entirely new life.