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Gen bleeds.
This, in and of itself, is nothing uncommon. He is human - flesh and bones and lies and truths, no matter how much he tries to appear otherwise, and humans, after 3700 years, still bleed the same color. Senkuu has seen him bleed many a time before, has treated most of them, thus, logically, a nosebleed should not be any exception.
Except that it is.
He looks at Gen, with blood trickling from his nose down his smiling lips, and feels a strange want in him. He is sitting across from Senkuu, lilac coat spreading around lithe form like torn butterfly wings, his frail wrist visible as he holds his hand up to touch the blood, not yet comprehending what’s happened. This smears the blood trail into a splash of red on his skin, his lips, his joker-laugh scar.
“Oh?!? Is this finally my time to heaven now? Save me, Senkuu - chan, I don’t think they have Cola in heaven.”
“Tch, so noisy. You know you’re not dying. There’s no Google search here.’’
“Ah, you wounded me! My heart is bleeding from this tay-cruel ~~”
Despite the joke, there’s a tone of a grimace in his smile, as he does not expect this much blood from a nosebleed. It’s the normal amount, actually - the Kiesselbach's plexus consists of a lot of blood vessels, so when it bleeds it looks terrible, but generally it looks worse than it is. The reason why he has a nose bleed can be serious, though, but Senkuu leans on dry season and allergic reaction more, as there’s nothing indicating this is posterior nosebleed. Yet.
Senkuu moves closer - they are inches apart, now - and takes Gen’s face into his hands. Gen’s uncharacteristically quiet, eyelids fluttering shut. His eyelashes are ridiculously long, Senkuu thinks idly, doing a quick check up. Gen’s already stopped bleeding, which is a good sign. His lips are parted, just slightly; they look soft to the touch, and the faint tint of crimson makes him think of ripe cherries. Senkuu has the urge to feel, to touch, to taste . The blood is drying, an oxidized rustic red on milk white skin under his palms. Once again, he thinks of a butterfly. Illogical of him, he knows, but like this, Gen looks so vulnerable. He’s seen the man when he’s at his weakest, and yet not even then did he look this fragile. Like a wisp of morning mist, disappearing under the harsh sunlight.
“Earth to Senkuu-chan? I’m not dying, am I?”
Gen opens his eyes, and they’re just - so blue , god. His irises are dilated, dark and wide and Senkuu wants to take a bite, and maybe that’s gross, it’s definitely gross, but he wants . A desire so intense it’s swallowing him whole: all is left in this world is Gen. Gen, beautiful and fragile and brave and cunning and shallow and caring and so, so human it’s fascinating. Gen, revived only to confirm Senkuu’s death, and yet he’s now the reason Senkuu’s still breathing. Gen, whose blood is red and whose name is both identity and persona, who Senkuu can’t really crack and that makes him want Gen even more. Gen, Gen .
Senkuu does not answer Gen. Instead, he opens his jaw, wide, over Gen’s left cheek, over his scar, over his dried blood, and bites. Hard.
It tastes vaguely of metal, the skin is soft under his teeth, and he wonders if he can leave a mark like this.
Immediately, Gen screeches loudly, pushing Senkuu away and holding his cheek with both hands. His face is now bright red, flustered and confused. Senkuu likes that. He thinks, he likes surprising Gen, all for this expression.
"Wha - Senkuu-chan! Why did you -! I know I'm a snack and all but you can't just bite people out of the blue like that!"
"Tch," Senkuu says, as nonchalantly as possible. Which is not much. “”You don’t have to be so loud.’’
“Senkuu-chan!”
The air is stilled, and they look at each other. He should say something, but before he can think of anything at all, Gen laughs. A full bodied laugh that seems to be contagious, because he's laughing too, loud and uncontrollable. It’s not until a few minutes later that their laughters turn into giggling, and then everything falls into silence again.
“Hey, Senkuu-chan,’’ Gen’s scooted back into Senkuu’s space, his hands no longer hiding the bitten cheek - there’s actually Senkuu’s bite mark on it, red and shiny with saliva, and Senkuu’s already wanted to bite it again. Gen delicately tucks the white strand of his hair behind his ear, and his eyes glint with mischief. “ If you want to kiss me, you only need to ask.”
Senkuu splutters, because he doesn’t , he only wants to - hm. Does he? Want to kiss Gen? He sure knows that he wants to bite him, and he did, but why? Cannibalism is briefly considered and swiftly crossed out, as he doesn’t particularly have any urge to eat human flesh, he just wants to taste Gen. Curiosity? Can be, but not strong enough. Senkuu is curious all the time, and he has never wanted to bite anybody. Not until today, that’s it. Or maybe - ?
Gen giggles, exasperatedly, and Senkuu is pulled back to reality. He’s been staring at Gen this whole time, and god, his lips truly look soft, how can a boy’s lips look this soft in this Stone Age of a world? He -
Oh.
“Gen,” he says, voice parched and cracking. His ears are definitely red. “Ï’m going to kiss you now.”
“Finally,” Gen giggles, and the rest of his words are swallowed into Senkuu’s mouth.
He once heard from his classmate, 3700 years ago, that first kisses should be soft and sweet, a ceremony of young love blooming. His first kiss is nothing like that. It’s open-mouthed and fast and exciting and Senkuu wants more . Gen makes these little moans when he’s bitten on the lips, just lightly so; he shudders when Senkuu places his hand on his slim waist, and when he touches his neck, his jaw to deepen the kiss. Every reaction from Gen makes him want to try more, wants to test and experiment; he’s greedy for knowledge.
When they part, Gen’s flushed red. The calm mask he always wears has slipped off, leaving behind redden lips and cheeks and a shyness from Gen he’s never seen. It’s quite cute, really.
This does not last long, however.
“Senkuu-chan~” Gen whines. He’s sitting on Senkuu’s lap now, hands intertwining behind Senkuu’s neck to look at him. There is it again, the impish smile on his lips that spells trouble. “I can’t believe you’re such a monster~~You’re supposed to be a shy young man flustered with sweet first spring, not a devouring monster like that~’’
“Oh, am I, now?” Senkuu asks.
“Yes, yes, very scary. Poor little me was shaken to his boots with such intensity!” Gen’s voice has gone up an octave, waving his right hand dramatically like a helpless schoolgirl.
Senkuu can’t help it, he laughs. Gen laughs too, as they slowly slide to lie on the floor. His lilac coat spreads out near the blueprints, a bit crumbled after all of that commotion.
Senkuu lies on his belly between Gen’s legs, and feels the warmth from where they touch. Gen is looking at him now, and he sees his own reflection on those grey blue eyes. He guesses Gen can do the same thing, as he feels the need to devour rises up again. It’s not as intense as before, and he understands it for what it is - desire.
Desire to be impossibly close to Gen, to have him - flesh and bones and lies and truths - and even more. Such desire burns through his body, and can only be sated by Gen.
Such desire can be love.
“Took you long enough,” Gen says, and Senkuu’s sure he hasn’t said anything out loud; he’s (maybe) in love, not dumb. Gen’s just that terrifyingly perceptive - or maybe, it’s because Gen knows the feeling all too well, knows of a love so intense it bursts.
Senkuu looks at the brightness in Gen’s eyes and deduces it could be both. Gen is not someone you should ever underestimate.
"You still have blood on your face." He says instead.
"Ah? And whose fault is that?"
"I don't know, mentalist. Who's the one having a nosebleed?"
"And who's the one biting me and neglecting to clean it up, huh?"
"Well," Senkuu grins devilishly. " I can still do that for you."
Before Gen can react, he bites his cheek again,
and licks.
"Waah- ah hah ha, what are you doing!!! Stoppp - ah ha ha !!!!" Gen shriek laughs, a delightfully childish sound, but makes no actual move to get away. When Senkuu stops, Gen's cheek is mostly clean of blood and disgustingly shiny with spit. He raises his head and rubs his cheek on Senkuu’s coat.
“Ew, that’s disgusting!”
“You started it!”
They laugh again, bodies rumbling together. After a while, Senkuu asks.
“What’s next?”
“I don’t know,” Gen admits softly. “Whatever we want, I guess.”
“Hm,” Senkuu agrees. “After all, we’d go to Hell together, so I reckon we’ll have a lot of time to work it out.”
A chuckle. “Always the pragmatic aren’t ya, Senkuu-chan?”
“You know me.”
Gen hums. Senkuu feels rather than hears it. He thinks, they’ll have to talk more later, establish ground rules and all that. The world won’t wait for young love, especially when they’re in such a race for humanity. No time for sweet words and idling dates, no time for stumbling words and naïve touches.
But now, as he’s looking at Gen’s smile, swooping down for another giggling kiss, Senkuu thinks the world can wait, just for a while.