Chapter Text
They were at a swimming resort again. The one Kyouya’s family owned. Kyouya was looking at his binder. Going over plans for… something. The words and numbers were a mix of symbols and shapes. For some reason this didn’t seem odd to him or even important. He had a glass of ice tea next to him, topped with a little umbrella. Small droplets of dew forming on the outside of the glass. And there were sounds of laughing from the other host club members surrounding him. Everything was perfect. The way it was meant to be. Kyouya was filled with a sense of contentment. He was happy.
Maybe that should have been the first sign that something would go wrong.
There was a scream. Kyouya looked up from his clipboard to see Honey running back to solid ground with Haruhi in his arms. Completely limp. “I only took my eyes off of her for a minute. Her hearts not beating.”
“She was in shallow water.” Mori added coming to the shorter boys side. Grabbing Haruhi’s wrist.
They all surrounded her as Honey gently laid her on the ground. Hikaru reached out like he wanted to touch her but stopped at the last moment. “How could this happen? We’ve been so careful with her! We’ve done everything to protect her.”
“Do either of you know CPR?” Kyouya asked the two oldest in their group. Honey and Mori glanced at each other before shaking their heads no.
Somewhere beside him, Kaoru let out a sob. But Kyouya couldn’t focus on that right now, not when Haruhi’s body was so still. He pushed himself forward and started compressions on her chest. There was still a chance that he could resuscitate her. He just had to get the water out of her lungs, had to get her heart beating. Had to get her to breath…
After what felt like both hours and no time at all. There was someone pulling him back, pulling him away from her. Their grip was too strong to fight. “It’s too late, Kyouya. She’s gone.”
+++
Haruhi didn’t mean to intrude, but somehow this is always what happens and she ends up intruding anyway. She had only meant to get everyone more tea. Of course she had noticed that Mori and Honey were absent… but they had only been studying so it’s not like their presence had been mandatory or anything.
Haruhi’s first thought when she sees them is that they are entangled so intimately because they were making out. But then they both look at her when she makes a little surprised sound and Honey has… a red liquid rolling down his chin and there's more red where Honey’s face had just been buried in Mori’s neck. And oh, that red liquid is blood. Honey has blood running down his chin. Mori is bleeding. Was Honey drinking Mori’s blood.
All that comes out of Haruhi’s mouth is, “Your eye’s are red.” Because they are. Honey-senpai’s eyes are practically glowing red and that is not their usual color. But that’s probably the least important thing about this moment.
“Haru-chan…” Honey opened his mouth and Haruhi could see that there were fangs in his mouth.
Somehow Haruhi’s eyes widened even more. “Oh. You’re a vampire.” She had read enough YA novels to understand that much.
“I won’t hurt you. I swear. You’re safe. I only drink from Takashi. And I only need it every once in a while.” Honey said as he wiped the blood on his chin away. Slowly detangling himself from Mori.
Haruhi gulped and loosened the shoulders she hadn’t meant to tense. Right, this was still Honey-senpai, she knew him. There was no need to be afraid. “Sorry for interrupting, Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai. You can finish up. I don’t… I don’t need you to explain. I trust you.”
“I was just finishing up anyway. Please, let me explain. I can tell you have questions.” Honey pleaded, hugging his bunny to his chest, face filled with anxiety.
Haruhi hesitated, she did have questions. “Are you sure? You don’t have to.”
“Yes, I’ve had enough. I promise it’s fine.” Honey nodded.
Haruhi nodded back.
“Mitsukuni.” Mori chided softly, sounded almost like a… a whine. But surely that wasn’t right, Mori didn’t whine.
Honey looked back at Mori and winced. “Right, uh… let me just clean Takashi up first.”
“Take as much time as you need.” Haruhi said, looking away. The older teens collarbone was still covered in blood after all. Of course he would want that dealt with before they started talking. It had to feel uncomfortable.
A minute later Honey announced. “All done!” Haruhi noticed when she turned back to look that she didn’t even see a bite mark on his skin as Mori pulled his shirt back on. Honey must have seen her curious look because he immediately offered an explanation. “Vampire’s are able to heal their bites instantly. So all Takashi has to deal with is blood loss. A few days with lots of water and taking it easy and it’ll be like it never even happened.”
“And you don’t…” Haruhi tried to think of the best phrasing. “You don’t need to drink very often?”
Honey shook his head. “Fiction likes to make it a lot more dramatic than it is. I just drink a little bit from Takashi every few weeks and I’m fine. Vampires only go on rampages like that when they’re starving. And we’d have to go months without blood to get that thirsty. Being around blood and open wounds is uncomfortable, but that’s just because it smells good. But it’s not like I have so little self control that I have to take a bite out of everything that smells yummy. That would be silly.”
“Mmn. Mitsukuni’s sweet addiction is much less easy to manage.” Mori added.
Honey pouted. “Hey!”
“Why do you only drink from Mori? Are there rules about who you can drink from?” Haruhi asked.
Honey eyes had faded back to his usual chocolatey brown. “I mean, technically I can drink from anyone who knows the secret. And even if they don’t, it’s mostly just that I don’t have any special powers that let me make people forget. So I’d just have to deal with whatever their reaction to finding out is. But we’re not really supposed to reveal the truth to people that don’t already know. But most vampires kind just stick to drinking from one person, since the thirst doesn’t make it dangerous to do so. We usually just stick to our mates.”
“Your mate? Like a soulmate?” Haruhi asked, glancing back at Mori.
Honey shrugged. “Saying soulmate makes it sound more romantic than it is. Mates are chosen, not fate or anything. Vampire children choose their human mate pretty young. A human child that they like or something. It’s kinda like a magical contract. The vampire agrees to take care of their human mate, physically protect them, make sure they’re always safe and happy, provide for them so they want for nothing. And in return the human mate agrees to feed the vampire for the rest of their life, or until they break the contract. The magic of the bond makes your mates blood taste so much better than other humans' blood. There’s usually at least a bond of friendship, romantic feelings aren’t very common but it’s been known to happen from time to time.”
“Do you have supernatural abilities?” Haruhi asked. Deciding that she wasn’t going to bring up if Honey and Mori had the romantic kind of bond. She had a feeling that they did, and that they weren’t really ready to talk about it. And considering that she was pretty sure they were still cousins, that was understandable.
Honey nodded with a smile. “Enhanced senses, super strength and super speed. I try not to use them very often though, it feels like cheating. There’s vampire spells and magic, but I don’t know any of them. Most vampires don’t learn them until they reach maturity.”
“And uh, sunlight?” Haruhi winces a little at her phrasing but is sure he knows what she means.
Honey chuckles lightly. “Not a problem. Does make me sleepy though. It’s why I take naps so often. And I sunburn really easily, have to use lots of sunblock even during the winter.”
“Are you immortal?”
Honey hummed. “I can die. I’m Immortal, not invincible. Immortality is more of an aging thing. Normally vampires age at the same rate as humans until they reach maturity and then they just stop aging until they die. If they die. Sometimes they age more slowly than humans but it’s rare. I probably do just have a baby face. I aged normally before. Though maybe I’ve already stopped aging. Hard to say. Other vampires will still consider me a kid until I’m like fifty at least.”
“What do you usually do when you stop aging? Surely people will notice eventually.” Haruhi frowned.
Honey frowned too. “Some will fake their death. Some just move to a new place. There’s a few colonies around the world. Places where only vampires live so they don’t have to hide that stuff. Usually you kind of just become a recluse, retreat from the world at large. I’m told it used to be easier to hide that stuff. Before the world got computers to hang on to proof of identity and population. Before you could just move to a new place and start over. But now you have to have documents.”
“Does anyone else know?” Haruhi asked.
Honey looked back at Mori, looking uncertain. “The other host club members all know. Most of them knew before they even met me, because my family has been vampires for generations. Tama-chan figured it out on his own.”
“So I was the only one that didn’t know.” Haruhi realized.
Honey had a guilty look on his face. “I wasn’t trying to hide it. But I know unbelievable it sounds to a normal person. And if you did believe me. I didn’t want to… You’re my friend and I didn’t want you to be scared of me. I’ve never actually told anyone before. Everyone who knows already knew or figured it out themselves.”
“It’s okay. You’re allowed to have secrets. And most people wouldn’t believe you if you told them you were a vampire.” Haruhi said, trying to push down the small feeling of hurt. Hurt at there being another thing that all of the boys had that she wasn’t involved in and she wasn’t. She understood the feeling of keeping a secret because no one would believe you. And she knew that they all had secrets, that they were keeping things from her. Being hurt and making them feel guilty wouldn’t help anyone.
Honey tilted his head to the side. “Why did you believe it so quickly? You just accepted it right away as the truth.”
“I’ve encountered the supernatural world before. It wasn’t a vampire, but with the blood, fangs, and red eyes it didn’t feel like that much of a leap.” Haruhi admitted.
Honey’s eyes had a look in them that she couldn’t quite decipher. “You’ve met other supernatural beings?”
“Mhm. I made a promise to a fae child when I was little. And I’ve met a few witches over the years. Just enough to know that this stuff is very real.” Haruhi said vaguely.