Archive of Our Own ^beta

Mikey reminded Takemichi of a feline—a big one. A lion, maybe. His dark eyes stared for moments at a time and then blinked languidly, relaxed and unbothered. He laid around with his community, keeping an idle ear out for any disturbances. He was a leader and he had earned respect and his place as the head. He had his community and his territory under his protection. And when something—or someone—disrespected that, they'd have a price to pay.

Takemichi limped his way into Bonten's secure business building—the security guards staring at him in shock. He can feel his wounds healing slower than usual and it hurt, but he pushed it aside with only one objective on his mind.

"Mr. Takemichi!" One of them called, stepping forward in concern. "Do you need help?"

"Take me to Mikey." Takemichi wheezed. "Please."

The guards looked at each other, considering. The one who spoke approached again. "Boss would kill us if we let you up in this condition. Sit down in the lobby. We'll call them down."

Takemichi couldn't complain much. He honestly didn't think he could make it up that many floors without passing out or feeding. The guard helped him past the doors and laid him on one of the lobby couches. "You don't look too good."

"I don't feel too good, either." Takemichi quipped back with a shaky smile.

"Just hold on. Boss will be here soon." The guard soothed.

Takemichi's nod was jerky and he reached a hand down to his abdomen to lift up his shirt to expose a wound there. His hand quivered as he lightly touched around the wound, feeling splinters of wood within it. It pierced and prodded his insides making tears well up in his eyes. That didn't bode well. There was a large festering burn on his leg from holy water that had hardly healed since he got it and a gash across his cheek. A gust of air hit Takemichi and a shadow fell over him.

He looked up to see Mikey staring down at his with an unreadable look on his face. A tear slipped down Takemichi's cheek as he shook in relief. "Mikey."

No, Takemichi was wrong. The look on Mikey's face wasn't unreadable—it was blank rage. "Sanzu, get a doctor. Now."

Sanzu disappeared without a word. Mikey slowly knelt down by Takemichi's side and took his hand in his. "Tell me what happened. Who did this to you?"

Takemichi swallowed thickly, squeezing his fingers. "We were ambushed. The Black Dragons. It happened before opening time at the club and everybody was there. Somebody knew that we were all going to be there. They came in loaded with hunter gear. Holy water and stakes." His cheeks grew damp as he shed more tears. "Whoever was closest to the door died immediately. The rest of us fought them off just barely. I managed to get all of us away with my power but we are all injured with wounds that are taking too long to heal. A member of the Black Dragons is good with healing but they can't do it alone. We need help, please. They're sheltered in an abandoned building two blocks down."

Mikey wordlessly looked to a nearby guard and they immediately talked into a wireless earpiece, barking out orders. Sanzu suddenly appeared again with another vampire, who Takemichi assumed was the doctor, and got right to business poking and prodding at Takemichi.

"You have splinters of a stake in this wound. It was soaked in holy water. That's why you're not healing or, more so, can't heal completely. It has mixed with the blood in your body. The other wounds are superficial compared to this one." The doctor diagnosed promptly, pulling out a medical kit.

"Is it fatal?" Mikey asked.

"If we leave it in any longer, it can be." The doctor admitted grimly. "But he won't die because I'm here. You have my word."

Mikey blinked at them and Takemichi shivered at the deadly intent behind it. "If you fail, I will take your life."

The doctor did not flinch, bowing and opening their kit. "Then I will get started."

"Takemitchy," Mikey called and he turned to his attention. "Were they humans or vampires?"

"Vampires. They had tattoos. I know who they were." Takemichi winced as his wound was pried open to pluck out splinters.

Mikey leaned forward. "Who?"

"Rokuhara Tandai."

Sanzu and Mikey looked at each other, a conversation passing between them. Sanzu looked almost annoyed, scratching at the nape of his neck. "Those fuckers, huh? I'll update the others. We'll wait for your call."

Takemichi's brow furrowed. "You've had experience with them?"

Mikey sighed, rubbing at his jaw. "They've been a pest. Some up-and-coming coven trying to weasel their way into our territory. They've failed so far. That's why we haven't crushed them already. But if I knew they were going to do this-"

"Hey, there's no way you could have known." Takemichi flinched as a piece of wood escaped his skin. "Hindsight and all that."

"You got hurt because of my oversight—my arrogance." Mikey said firmly before it softened. "I'm supposed to protect you. You're mine, y'know?"

Takemichi smiled. He would've blushed if he could. "Well, I'm alive and you're taking care of me just fine. I came to you because I needed you. I trust you with my life, Mikey. Or did letting you bite me several times mean nothing?"

Mikey's eyes sparked with mischief suddenly, seeming to relax now that Takemichi was being treated. He pressed his lips to Takemichi's inner wrist in a mockery of a kiss, smiling into his skin. "Speaking of biting, are you hungry?"

Takemichi suddenly took notice of the saliva flooding his mouth and the way his gums itched. "I could eat."

"Not yet." The doctor interrupted abruptly, pulling another splinter. "The holy water needs to be expelled before you can eat or it will continue to sit in your body and slowly kill you."

"How do we get rid of it?"

"Bloodletting or we could get you to throw it up. You're going to feel horrible either way."

Takemichi sighed tiredly as Mikey idly played with his fingers. "Okay, drain me."

"I'll make sure you eat so much afterwards you won't be able to move. That way, I can keep taking care of you."

"I'm looking forward to being in your care."

The rest of the time went by slowly as the doctor pulled out the rest of the wood and placed them in a metal dish to be disposed of. They retrieved a bucket and placed it beside the couch, hovering Takemichi's arm over it. "You should lay down. You'll quickly start to feel dizzy."

Mikey moved around the couch to sit down, patting his thigh. Takemichi obeyed the silent demand and laid back until his head was cushioned by Mikey's thigh. The doctor moved diligently as they prepped the skin at Takemichi's wrist. "Are you ready?"

Takemichi briefly looked at Mikey before nodding. The doctor wielded a scalpel to cut at the designated area deep enough to reach the veins and then quickly grabbed a small metal contraption to slip within the wound to keep it from healing. Takemichi tensed at the feeling and Mikey placed a comforting hand in his curly hair.

Takemichi noticed as he watched his blood drip into the bucket that the area around the wound quickly became irritated and the blood itself was boiling up and smoking. It burned and Takemichi hissed through his teeth. "Is that...is that the holy water?"

The doctor nodded, adjusting his wrist downwards so the blood could drain faster. "When your blood stops smoking, it will be completely out of your system. I'll keep monitoring you but, for now, all you can do is wait and rest."

Mikey dismissed the doctor with a wave of his hand and hushed Takemichi as his face twisted in pain and discomfort. "It won't be long now. How about a distraction? Should we play a game or tell a story, hm?"

"A- a story, please."

Mikey grinned. "You first. Tell me about yourself."

Takemichi winced through his hoarse laughter. "Don't you know that's one of the most dreaded string of words in existence?" Mikey raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Fine. Uh, I'm a little over a century old. I was sired by—"

"I'm not interested in that. Tell me about you." Mikey said meaningfully. His dark eyes bored into Takemichi's, making him feel uncomfortably seen and he could not hide away from it. It made him dizzy—or maybe it was the blood loss.

"I was never—" Takemichi cleared his dry throat. "My whole human life, I tried to fit in. Always trying to be someone else or get in someone's good graces enough to ride their coattails to success. Whatever that fucking meant. I don't even remember now." He laughed bitterly. "I don't even think I had a dream or a purpose or anything I wanted to do. I just wanted to be anything but me. That's how I got turned, trying to live a life I had no part in."

Takemichi paused as he remembered that day. He and his friends trying to be wannabe gangsters and roll with the big boys. Running around threatening people when they did so to the wrong one. His friends, murdered. Himself, on the brink of death, choking on his own blood, when that man took pity on him and turned him.

A hand running through his hair snapped him out of his daze. He continued. "It's funny that gaining sudden immortality will force you to take a good look at yourself. For the first time in my life, I had to see myself and understand what that meant with an eternity on my hands. I felt lost and forsaken. I did not find the courage to burn myself in the sunlight so, instead, I wandered the night streets alone. I became a ghost. I didn't even realize that's how my power manifested."

"That's how you evaded me back then." Mikey mused from above his head.

"That's how I evade you now."

"I don't need to find you now when you willingly find your way to me over and over again, Mitchy." That sly look was back in Mikey's eyes again and Takemichi whipped his head away, instantly regretting it as the room spun dangerously. He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. Mikey clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Stay still."

Once the room was stationary again and he felt like it was safe to start speaking, he did. "Chifuyu found me one day at a park. I don't know what he was doing there. He took one look at me and told me to come with him. I don't know why I followed him but I did. I guess I was tired of sitting on my ass and doing nothing. He fed me and gave me a place to stay. We warmed up to each other after a while and became friends. He introduced me to other vampires and, eventually, we bought the Black Dragon and made it a vampire hotspot. I've been a part of it ever since."

"And who are you now?"

Takemichi blinked lazily. "Hm?"

"You said your human self tried being everyone but himself, your newly turned self was lost and confused, so who are you now?"

"Now, I'm...everything I was supposed to be. Loved, cared for, and protected. This is the most I've felt like me ever, if at all."

"I will continue to protect that image of you for as long as I live. I promise." Mikey captured Takemichi's free hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it.

The pain dimmed in comparison to the feeling lighting up Takemichi's body. It was tender and light in the wake of a very heavy declaration. "Mikey, when all of this is over, give me a real kiss, okay? I've waited long enough."

Mikey froze, processing what he just said. He suddenly groaned, thumping his head against the back of the couch. "How am I supposed to wait now?"

Takemichi chuckled. "I guess you'll have to tell a story."

And Mikey did. He revealed that the Black Dragons was founded by his brother a long time ago and told the story of how it was founded. It was once a silly dream and a bet but it became a reality and his brother's greatest joy. Takemichi drifted through the haze of Mikey's words as he listened, barely awake.

Mikey spoke about dealing with the lingering shame of letting the Black Dragon exchange hands of owners who did not care about the will of its founder and let it fall into disarray. There was gratefulness when, eventually, it was passed to more capable hands and given the respect it deserved.

Takemichi couldn't help but think, as he slipped into unconsciousness, that, maybe, they were destined to meet in some unseen tangle of fate.

When Takemichi woke up again, Mikey made good on his promise to feed him well. He felt bad for the workers carrying the drained bodies out of the room as it was early in the morning and surely they wanted to be anything but awake. However, being back in good health overshadowed it quickly.

Mikey nipped at his collarbone, practically in his lap. "While you were sleeping, Bonten and the Black Dragons took care of business. I wish you could've seen it. I wanted to bring back Terano's head for you but he doesn't deserve to see you, even in death."

Takemichi tilted his head aside, content to let him do as he pleased. "Thank you, Mikey, really. Those that were wounded—did everyone make it?"

"Not a single casualty."

Takemichi relaxed wholeheartedly and sighed. "That's good. Hey, Mikey?"

He lifted his head in curiosity. "Yeah?"

Their lips met roughly before it softened into something more comfortable. Takemichi cradled Mikey's cheeks as he languidly kissed him. This close, Takemichi can smell vampire ash on Mikey's skin and taste it on his lips. Just hours ago, Mikey brought an end to his enemies in a way that has given other vampire's nightmares with the same mouth he kissed him gently with now. Takemichi shivered before pulling away. His grim reaper--his kind lover. Mikey's eyes were blown wide, deep pools of obsidian. Takemichi suddenly grew shy under his stare. "Was that okay?"

"I wasn't ready." Mikey grabbed his wrist, face growing visibly excited. "Let's do it again."

"Wha- wait!"

In the quiet of the building, while the other vampires slumbered, Mikey's room echoed with giggling and rustling sheets. Outside of it, Rokuhara Tandai was no more.