Chapter Text
Perhaps he shouldn't have been so calm. Not there, at least. Not in the mansion of the very man responsible for his nightmares. There was something mournful in the air, though he couldn't tell if it was the ancient architecture of the place or simply the gloom that filled the room.
It was dark, barely visible save for the faint threads of light slipping through the heavy curtains. And yet, that very darkness was what made the atmosphere so enchanting. Or rather, so enigmatic to Yuu.
Besides, Mikaela was at his side. Perhaps that was why he felt so at ease.
Towers of books stacked beside abandoned shelves. Old records tucked away in dusty boxes. Portraits of strangers whose names he would never know. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust that stained his gloves, yet beneath those curious eyes, even the grime seemed to shimmer.
Mika watched whatever the brunet showed him and smiled with quiet restraint, savoring the expression on that face far more than any object Yuu held in his hands.
The floor was white. How long had it been since anyone had set foot in here?
Now the soles of their shoes had left trails across the entire room. One could trace how the elegant-cut boots had followed those thick combat soles through the vastness of the hall.
Following his steps. Staying by his side.
A soft piano drifted from the record player. Or perhaps it hadn't been so soft in its original recording—the old machine barely had the strength left to turn the disc. That made the younger boy laugh as he stopped to watch it.
Yuuichirou picked up another record and blew off so much dust that he could see it floating in the air around him.
Truth be told, there were many things weighing on his mind. He felt like a wreck inside, so flooded with anxious thoughts that it was like being trapped in a nightmare within himself. How could he ever escape without dying in the attempt?
And yet there he stood anyway, changing the record and looking at Mikaela with eyes far brighter than Yuu himself could have imagined. In the background, a new piece began to play, its female voice falling over them like a caress.
Yuu stepped back and leaned timidly against the wooden cabinet, listening, and Mika did the same nearby, his gaze fixed on the player.
Suddenly, something felt strange, and he couldn't quite place why. Suddenly, the music made him nervous about being alone with him.
His heart stirred. His body tensed. And—
"It's beautiful," Mikaela said.
Yuuichirou smiled wide, feeling like an idiot.
On a whim, he walked out to the center of the hall and began to move, trying to follow the rhythm once he got there.
Mika watched from his spot and let out an airy laugh at the sight of him spinning clumsily, which made Yuu laugh at his own movements too.
"I'm actually really good. I'm just being humble about my talent."
"Yes, I'm sure, Yuu-chan."
The brunet laughed again at the sarcastic tone of his reply and stopped, looking at him from across the room with an expression difficult to decipher. But after a moment, as if something had surfaced from the depths of his thoughts, he walked over to him—until he stood less than a step away. Their shoes facing one another.
He stayed silent, thinking over what he was about to say, the blond's gaze fixed intently on his face. Then the vampire lowered his eyes to Yuu's hands and watched him remove his gloves with a shattering calm, setting them down on the very cabinet Mika was still leaning against—so close that he brushed against the blond's body and sent a shiver through him.
Once he had done so, Yuuichirou extended his hand toward him.
"I'd like to dance with you."
Mika looked into his eyes, startled, and Yuu immediately brought his hand to the back of his head, rubbing it nervously.
"Well, it's not like we always get the chance..."
Delighted to see him so flustered, Mikaela didn't hesitate to remove his own gloves and set them beside Yuu's.
Perhaps they shouldn't have been so calm. Not there, at least. Not in the mansion of the man responsible for their nightmares. And yet, there was something in the song playing softly in the background—and in their hands now held with such tender care—that made them feel at peace.
Clumsy steps taken in the middle of that vast hall. In the dimness, the warm and subtle light filtering in caught the shine of jet-black hair, the warmth of bronze skin, those emerald eyes. Yuu found himself looking down, lips pressed into a smile, laughing foolishly as he watched his own feet stumble in their attempt to coordinate, until Mika kicked him playfully and made them both laugh.
Yuuichirou complained without losing that amused expression, but fell quiet when he noticed Mika's hands suddenly letting go.
Not quite understanding what was happening, he let himself be repositioned and said nothing when he felt those hands settle on his waist. In truth—and without the other having to ask—Yuu lifted his arms and draped them over Mika's shoulders, wrapping around him in an embrace that drew their bodies and faces close, so close that Mikaela could feel his breath.
That kind of closeness... wasn't usual for them. Only when the vampire drank from his neck did their bodies find themselves in anything resembling an embrace—a macabre one. But now it was different. They weren't in a life-or-death situation.
Mikaela didn't quite know what was happening or how they had ended up in that position. He had absolutely no idea what Yuu was thinking, but he couldn't stop looking at him, like an addict to his presence.
There was something about the brunet that drove him mad, something far beyond his understanding. Was it his warmth? The sweet scent that rose from his neck? His gaze meeting his own? The weight of his arms around him? Whatever it was, it did him good. God, it even made him feel human, defying everything his vampiric nature truly meant—no heartbeat, no breath.
So dead for him. And so dead in truth.
Mika had stopped hearing the melody. Now he only heard his breathing. But even his breathing—the way Yuuichirou sounded each time he let the air escape in those sighs, in those tender sounds, in that voice speaking his name as no one else ever could—undid him.
"Mika." Just that. Enough to make him sigh.
Suddenly, Yuu tightened his embrace, and the atmosphere shifted. Their chests pressed together, their entire bodies clung to one another, even their legs seeking each other out, forgetting the dance or that swaying that had pretended to be one.
Mikaela felt him tremble. He felt him breathe differently, as if he were afraid—but in his eyes, he saw no fear. He saw everything but that. A certainty, a curiosity, a wonder... as if he had discovered something new within himself.
So he squeezed his waist over the fabric, just as he pressed his lips together while waiting for answers, because Yuu wasn't letting go. He wasn't loosening that embrace that kept him held so intimately against him. And yet, he watched him sigh with hesitation, as if caught in a silent debate with himself.
"Yuu-chan..."
The brunet smiled at him with a carefree mask, but his fingers—which had begun to stroke the nape of his neck—told a different story.
His fingers caressing him... only made it worse.
Hesitant (because he still couldn't read the signs), Mika drew closer and rested his forehead against Yuu's with a sweet, unrecognizable look in his own eyes—he, the cursed being with crimson irises. Without releasing his waist, his hands slowly moved over the younger boy until at last he had him trapped in his arms.
Yuu smiled with his eyes closed. Comfortable, at ease with that new sensation, but with an implicit sadness all too easy to read.
Life had been so hard, so unfair, so cruel to them. They had been born wretched from the very first minute of their existence. Both of them, two of a kind—so unhappy, so desperate for some scrap of love, the kind they had never received even in childhood. Children of the demon. Fit for death.
Lonely. Or perhaps not so much after all, because they had each other. Two of a kind, they understood one another.
Why did it suddenly surprise them to discover they were enamored with each other? Why did it suddenly surprise them to feel so at home in each other's arms? It had always been obvious—even in the midst of something as grim as when Mikaela drank from his neck.
Their hands moved on their own. Their gazes said everything. Up close, with their noses brushing, they held each other with a need that had long been restrained and now, in the privacy of that ancient room, could finally surface.
It was intimate. It was sweet. It was heartbreakingly sad.
Outside, there was nothing left. Only abandoned buildings, remnants of the humanity that had once been. And in there... two beings who were far from human, yet loved each other with a mortal madness.
Meanwhile, long forgotten, the record played on. The afternoon fell in its final rays of orange light, casting upon the floor the shadow of their figures; their faces close, their lips parting... and then drawing nearer until there was no space left between them, until only a single shadow stretched across the old floor of that hall.
They kept dancing after that. Swaying, rather.
Hands on Yuu's waist. Arms over Mika's shoulders. Their faces joined above their closed eyes.
The room now dark. Completely dark.
Guren, who happened to be passing through the corridors, stopped when he saw the door left ajar and heard a soft piano drifting from behind it. Silently, he drew closer to peer through the narrow gap and saw them there: those two lovers swaying to the serene rhythm of a love song.
Guilt. That was all he could feel before he closed the door without a sound, because he knew all too well that he would be the reason this would also be their last dance.