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Footsteps echoed heavily through the high school linoleum, in a steady yet panicked rhythm. The walls watched as a figure dashed through the empty halls, skidding to a stop at the stairwell and only allowing himself seconds to catch his breath before bolting up the stairs; his breathing jerky and terrified. As he ascended the building, he looked both left and right, whipping his head back and forth as he read the numbers on the classroom doors. In blind panic, he only managed to snag the key for one door from the front entrance, and he internally prayed that he’d managed to end up on the correct floor in his mad dash up the stairs.
Finally arriving at a familiar classroom, the purple haired figure withdrew the school lanyard from where he had hastily shoved it in his pocket, and with shaky hands, used the rust-scented key on his chain on the creaky door. He struggled with the key for a moment with a splayed palm against the old metal, pulling and twisting in an attempt to remove it from the lock, but leaving it as thudding sounded quietly from the nearby staircase. When he slammed the familiar door of Class 3 open, the noise ricocheted off the walls, alarming anything inside the Academy of the boy who was sneaking around inside. He muttered a curse to himself and shut the door quietly, hoping to make up for the previous disturbance. Still, his heart nearly stopped beating as he looked out the classroom doorlight, suddenly aware of the familiar footsteps that seemed to echo everywhere around him.
Shaking off the fear as best as he could, the panicked-stricken boy looked around the classroom for any hiding place: a shadow underneath a desk, an empty cabinet, a vacant closet - anything that could provide him solitude from the creature prowling the halls. He briefly considered attempting to barricade the door, but wracked his brain for something else when he realized it would take far too long. The shaking boy squeezed his eyes shut and blew strands of his sweaty purple hair out of his face, hoping to drown out the ringing fear and think of something useful instead. His eyes shot open when he recalled something that his teacher had said repeatedly during their lockdown drill earlier that week.
“Hide behind the door. Make yourself as flat as you can. Stay out of the view of the window to the best of your ability. Don’t make a noise. If they’re outside, do not breathe.”
Turning back around to face the door, the purple haired teen inhaled sharply as the footsteps slowly crescendoed throughout the hallway. They were still light and soft, but louder; knowing. He ignored the dull thuds that grew closer and surveyed the entranceway to the classroom. There was a decent amount of space that was out of the direct line of sight through the doorlight, which would allow him to either sit or stand in hiding. He chose the former - if it managed to get into the classroom, it’d need to turn around in order to find the boy, allowing him that extra second to get away, to run - to survive.
As he lowered himself to the ground as quietly as possible, the boy inhaled shakily and pushed up his glasses with his pointer finger. Now that he had a moment to think, he clenched the frames and shook his head- when had he even grabbed the glasses in the first place? He tried to pinpoint the moment that he remembered to grab his mock glasses; he used to forget them, (they hadn’t seemed to help him blend in) but someone reminded him - always seemed to mention it when the fake frames didn’t make it to school.
He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a shaky breath. Of course he grabbed them - Shun always reminded him.
Shun.
Kaidou.
Shun.
Kaidou Shun.
Even though he had just recently turned seventeen, Kaidou Shun was still flush with the excited mind of a preteen, something that immediately drew the purple haired boy in. He was intrigued by how Kaidou’s childlike imagination meshed almost perfectly with his own — tainted by years on the streets. He was almost enamored by how he seemed to be able to forget his adolescence when Kaidou stretched out his hand. Both boys were shocked at how much they had in common after their first meeting: they both enjoyed building treehouses in barren fields, creating battle plans they’d never (or no longer) use, and watching yakuza movies that reminded the older boy of a life he no longer had to live. After divulging his secret to the other boy, Kaidou always agreed to help Aren redye blond hair to purple, which became a bimonthly routine. Shun loved drawing characters that semi-resembled his favorite anime, so together, he would draw and the other would compliment.
The two quickly became inseparable. Every day after school they’d walk home together, occasionally stopping at the treehouse they’d built to play board games or debrief about Dark Reunion’s latest schemes. Often they’d fall asleep on each other’s shoulders on the tattered couch that they’d found themselves, only waking up when Kaidou’s mother would burst through the weak wooden door, shocking the two awake and disturbing her son’s peace with worries of cram school and homework. Kaidou would spring up from the couch quickly, shaking off sleep and grabbing his bags, apologizing to the other with a flush spreading across his face. He’d rush out of their fort, humiliatingly accepting his mother’s scoldings, but never forgetting a formal goodbye once he got home. The purple haired boy would sit in the newfound silence, waiting for the text tone. Once it arrived, he’d trace his finger across the screen, wondering why it felt so domestic, so kind, so-
“Aren.”
A dark voice rang from the other side of the wall, jolting the hiding boy out of his own thoughts. He shook his head and braved a glance up at the door handle, checking to make sure the lock was turned. The white brick walls did little to quell his nerves, the voice seemingly piercing through the weak insulation as he spoke again. “Come on Aren, I know you’re up here, I can smell you.” Aren flinched as a horrible scratching noise came from the other side of the door. “Plus we’re like best friends, intuition and stuff. You’re being a jerk.”
Aren silently shoved his hands under his legs, putting all his weight on them. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried his best to drown out any natural care for the other boy. He was not going to open the door, no matter what Shun said. He didn’t even know the person on the other side was even Kaidou. The door was staying locked. Despite his fear, he still fought the natural need to reach out, to slam open the door, when Shun spoke again.
“Stop acting like a wuss Aren, I’m not a monster, I’m just your friendly neighborhood freak right? A loser, with old bandages wrapped around nothing. You know I’m harmless, you just pretend to make me feel better.” The footsteps had stopped, and Aren knew the other boy was just playing with him. Although there was a giant slab of cinder and a locked door between them, Shun’s voice traveled loud and clear - he was speaking directly through the door to Aren. The screech of nails on the door stopped and were replaced by the unmistakable creek from the rusty door handle turning.
“Come on, stop hiding. Let’s go to the base and play chess until my mom drags me home.”
Aren looked up to see the lock turn easily, no struggle from the outside. He froze, shooting his hand into his pocket to feel for the lanyard that held the key, his voice hitching when he felt nothing. Aren’s breath hitched as he felt his heart stop; there’s no way, he must’ve-
“You left the key in the door, Aren!”
Shun slammed open the door, sending Aren sprawling out in the opposite direction towards the chalkboard. Without time to process the situation, Aren’s hands were still inside his pockets and he couldn’t brace himself for the impact, his nose hitting the ground with a sickening crunch. He quickly felt a familiar metallic taste inside his mouth from where his teeth met his tongue with the blow to the floor. Reeling, Aren brought his hands to his nose to shield it, raising his eyes when the once protective door slowly shut, Shun revealing himself on the other side almost comically.
In a split second, Shun shot his hand out and locked the door from the inside, mockingly taking care to pull the key out, drop it on the floor, and send it flying behind him with a kick. The blue haired boy looked down to his best friend on the ground, wearing an expression of mock commiseration. He simply crossed his arms and shook his head, playing with a fray on the end of one of his arm bandages. “I’m disappointed Aren, I know you’re smarter than that.”
Aren took the other’s moment of disappointment to spring up, aiming to run around the teacher’s desk to put a barrier between the two, but his collision with the ground combined with the quick movement resulted in a dizzy spell. Aren only managed a few steps before Shun easily slammed Aren’s head into the chalkboard, knocking his breath out and releasing a cry of pain as his nose took the brunt of the hit once again. “Jeez, Aren, you’re a lot wimpier than I took you to be, honestly. You said you used to fight, but I’m not seeing any of that!” Shun sneered, dropping his arms into his pockets in a very un-Kaidou-like fashion. Aren doubled over and gasped for air from his mouth, unable to breathe in without pain ripping through his head. His eyes fluttered from the delirium of the successive hits, glancing up to see Shun watching in what seemed like annoyance.
“W-what?” Aren spit out, blood and saliva flying.
Shun placed his hands on his hips and blew out a wisp of air in mock inconvenience, before shooting out his leg and catching Aren in the gut, shoving him to the floor and leaving a scuff mark on the white shirt. “I was starting to think you had forgotten how to speak.” Aren fell roughly into the wall from the kick, breathing raggedly and painfully. He took a shaky breath, trying his best to power through the debilitating pain shooting to his nose. Subconsciously imitating Shun’s movements, Aren blew bloody strands of hair out of his face and looked up at Shun from his position against the wall, failing to find any sense of security inside the boy he thought he knew.
Aren inhaled sharply, willing himself to retort despite the pain. “I’m not the one who gets off on blood now, you freak.” Shun shrugged at the insult thrown his way. Still, Aren felt a pang in his heart from the unrecognizableness of the boy he called his best friend. “And, I have nothing to say to you, I don’t even know who you are.”
Feigning offence, Shun inhaled sharply through his teeth and dramatically brought a hand to his heart. “You really have nothing to say to your best friend?” He crouched down to Aren, who had curled in on himself, still reeling from the pain that seemed to come from everywhere. Shun shook his head pensively before placing a bandaged hand on Aren’s right shoulder. “You okay there buddy?”
Aren wanted to throw himself in the opposite direction, but could only bring himself to flinch violently away from the touch. ‘Don’t touch me again.”
“Again?”
“Yes, Shun!” Aren cried out, voice laced with irritation evident and mixing with deliriousness. “Again! You just threw me into a wall!”
Shun rolled his eyes and dropped onto his knees, positioning his head to stare distantly into Aren’s unfocused ones. “You’re so tiring Aren, I mean come on. I’m not that strong.” Aren’s unfocused eyes widened as he felt an icy hand creep from his shoulder, wrapping firmly around the back of his neck. “ Or, maybe I am.”
“Shun-”
Aren stopped abruptly as he felt Shun’s cold fingers begin to dig into his nape. Aren tried to inch away, but was held in place by a newfound pressure applied to his sternum, pushing ever so slightly into the ‘V’ of his collarbones. It wasn’t painful - not yet- but it kept him from moving, it kept him still. Slowly, Shun’s thumb trailed up, pushing as his finger made its way over Aren’s Adam’s apple. Shun pushed gently as Aren swallowed, and the injured boy froze, unable to process the situation he was currently in.
“What are you-” Shun’s nails dug harshly into the back of Aren’s neck, daring him to continue. Aren’s mouth snapped shut, the pressure over his throat combining with his various injuries and pulling only a measly whimper of pain. Aren fought to stay on guard, but the delirium and the entire situation that he was in drifted his eyes closed, despite Shun’s thumb threatening to sink into his airway entirely. Despite everything, Aren felt pulled into an overwhelming sense of comfort in the hand of his best friend.
Shun’s vice grip loosened but remained, snapping Aren back to reality. “Jeez, you’re so difficult sometimes, you know? I thought we promised to keep each other safe, but you ran when I needed you.” Shun slowly lifted his left hand to Aren’s face, running his pointer finger across the bridge of the glasses which was now cracked. “I thought you took these out.” Aren opened his mouth to respond, maybe retort, maybe answer, but shut it tentatively -feeling Kaidou’s thumb twitch at his neck- looking into the other’s eyes and hoping he didn’t actually want an answer. Shun rolled his eyes and leaned forward, tilting Aren’s head up from his nape. Aren clamped his eyes shut and set his jaw, preparing for another violent collision with the wall, but instead he felt the glasses gently lift away from his aching nose. He snuck his eyes open, unprepared to see the blue haired boy only centimeters away, the glasses trapped in between his razor-sharp teeth.
Shun caught Aren’s eye, a familiar kindness present for a split second, before spitting the frames into a free left hand and easily crushing the cheap glasses between his fingers. Aren watched cautiously as Shun traced his pale fingers over the shards on the ground, before beginning quietly. “You know,” Shun began, pushing gently yet assertively against Aren’s neck once again. “you’ve been the cooler one this whole time.” Shun’s index finger stopped over a large shard, picking it up somberly and eying it. “But really, it’s nice to be on this side for once.” Pressing his thumb down subconsciously, Shun continued, seemingly indifferent to Aren’s struggle for breath. “I mean, this can be the new normal, Aren. We can be best friends, but this time, you can be the weak one, and I can be the bigger, stronger, cooler one. Maybe I’ll even let you wear my bandages…” Shun trailed off, distracted by the shard digging into his fingertip from the force of the grip he held it with.
“Please!” Aren cried out, completely unable to inhale from the force pushing down on his neck. “Kaidou!” He clawed frantically at the hand obstructing his airway, accidentally tearing Shun’s bandages from his arms. As his red armwraps fell to the ground, Shun seemed to snap back to reality, and retracted his hand quickly, dropping the glass shard. Aren fell forward, gasping and coughing for air. After a moment of recollection, Aren’s hands shot up to his bruised neck as he pushed himself as far into the wall as he could, hoping for any degree of separation from the other.
Shun stared forward, eyes wide.“What did you say-” He was cut off as Aren lunged forward, slamming him into the ground. Aren froze, stalled by the sudden movement. In his moment of recollection, Shun easily pushed himself onto his elbows, rearing his head into Aren’s nose. Blood flew as a sickening crack echoed through the room, followed by an agonized scream. Shun snorted, throwing the other boy to the side and straddling his trembling figure. “I really don’t know what you thought was going to happen.” Shun sighed to himself, as if he was being forced to continuously mangle Aren’s nose against various surfaces. “Really, I feel bad for you now, but you keep trying to move away and it’s annoying me!” Cracking his knuckles dramatically, Shun slammed a fist into the bottom of Aren's stomach. “Okay, that one was just for fun.”
Aren screamed out in pain, collapsing into a fetal position in an attempt to protect himself. He waited for another hit, another strike, but it seemed like Shun was waiting. Aren slowly lifted his head, trying his hardest to focus his eyes.“Please, stop!” His gaze drifted away, unable to bring himself to make eye contact with whatever his best friend had turned into. “Kaidou, please.”
The silence that followed was eerie, almost as if Shun was waiting for Aren to move again so he could forgo speaking for physicality.
Kaidou never liked the quiet, Aren knew that. The reason for the silence didn’t matter, the blue haired boy would fill up any vacancy of sound with a soliloquy or the murmuring of a song he didn’t know the words to. Aren knew he wasn’t in front of Kaidou already, the violent nature was oppositional to anything he had ever demonstrated, but the lasting silence only cemented that fact. Aren shut his eyes tightly, wishing the other would do something, anything. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for - maybe a final blow? Turning to lay on his back, Aren released a shaky breath, hoping his last thoughts would be of Kaidou.
Moments passed, but it felt like hours to the trembling figure bared open on the floor. Aren waited, expecting, but when the finishing hit didn’t come, he didn’t feel anything at all. He weighed his options: sit and wait until either the pain or the monster finished him off, or open his eyes and try one last escape. If Aren wasn’t dead yet, with his heart open access, then maybe there was a way out. Choosing the latter, he was a former thug, after all, they went down fighting- Aren sucked in a breath for courage and shot his eyes open, bracing for anything. As his eyes readjusted, Aren’s hope flickered out; instead of a route out, he stared up into Shun’s bloodthirsty eyes, glowing bright, and dangerous, as he caged Aren in, feeling like a weak mouse trapped under the vigilance of a hungry snake.
Aren blinked stupidly when he felt a drop of wetness (saliva?) fall onto his forehead and slide down his face. His gaze traveled from Shun’s undeniably captivating stare to the gleaming, jagged fangs bared inside the mouth above him. Shun licked his lips and Aren subconsciously did the same vaguely registering Shun haphazardly feeling around the ground below Aren’s head in search of the long-forgotten shard. “Please, Aren, I just,” Shun swallowed heavily, sparing a glance at Aren’s bruised neck. “I just need a little taste… just a sliver.” His voice was unrecognizable to Aren; dark, thirsty, and unfamiliar. A more sentient Aren would be embarrassed at how he wanted to hear more - current Aren was barely registering that it was Shun at all.
“Shun.” Aren croaked out, unable to keep the lethargy out of his tone. The creature above him shook his head frantically, snapping his wandering hand up to grasp Aren’s jaw and connect their eyes.
“Kaidou, you said Kaidou before.” Aren felt dizzy as his head jerked in Shun’s hand with his frenzied tone. “Why didn’t you say that name again, please, Aren, you smell so good, I can’t…” Shun muttered, trailing off incoherently, before falling silent and roughly holding Aren’s jaw up, leaning forward to inhale into his exposed neck.
Aren took a deep breath and attempted to steady himself - tried to make sense of the situation, but found himself unable, the feeling of frozen fingertips contrasting with the heat of Shun's body and overwhelming him. Aren shivered as Shun’s touch crept up his forearm, bunching his uniform sleeve at his elbow before eventually finding firm placement caging him in. Aren feebly attempted to pry his jaw from the vice grip, but found it impossible to look away from Shun’s illuminating eyes as he raised his head and spoke quietly. “Aren, please, don’t look away.”
Aren scoffed the best he could. “I couldn’t look away if I tried.” Shun lowered his head slightly, letting out a breath, or maybe a laugh. Aren couldn’t tell. His head fell limply to the ground when Shun finally let go, Aren letting out a shallow puff of breath. “Just get it over with, Shun.”
The prospect of dying was terrifying, and seemingly now completely unavoidable. Aren was submitted to bleeding out on the floor of his high school from a mutilated nose - of all things- before having even graduated. He was eighteen years old, succumbing to battle wounds less severe than he’d had in secondary school. Even worse, his murderer was his best friend. Even worse than that, it was really all his own fault for making the rudimentary mistake of forgetting to take a key out of a lock. If he was sure of anything, it was that this was not the way he’d wanted to go out, but he was conscious enough to recognize that the eventual lull of the end was less painful than trying to fight whatever it was that had done it all in the first place. If he was to die, Aren figured he could give the monster above him something easy to clean up, at least he would die with the honor of having the last words.
Aren shook violently, this was it, he was done for. His best friend wasn’t scary, not by a long shot, but this was not his best friend. Kaidou was long gone, a victim of whatever had caught him first, and decided he was the perfect vessel for evil, complete with periwinkle hair and red arm bandages. Aren watched in horror as he traced every single drop of his sweat that was visible, gushing down Shun’s flushed face and euphoric expression. Each one of his freshly born fangs glistened in the moonlight, warm saliva messily dripping from his opened mouth.
Shun’s eyes shone bright yellow, an amber glow radiating with both hunger and desire - tears starting to leak out as he stared directly into Aren’s own. He was trying to hold back, for whatever reason, but it was obvious that it was for naught. “Please-” Shun lunged at Aren once again, retracting his fangs for a split second, accidentally piercing them directly through his bottom lip as he moved frantically.
“Kaidou-”
It was the most intense pain Aren had ever felt. An agonizing pain through his neck shot his eyes open, his body convulsing in reaction to the accompanying squelch that flooded into ears. He screamed as his face turned red and splotchy from the searing pains through his neck, tears flooding down his cheeks. It was like being pricked one million times with a needle, repeatedly, in the same spot - over and over. Aren clawed at the figure above him, arching his back and flailing, digging his nails into skin and fabric and kicking his legs furiously in an attempt to free himself. He let out a horrible wail as a hungry, wet sensation cut lengthwise across his entire neck, contrasting with the burning heat of the two punctures on his veins. Unable to form words, Aren’s mouth fell slack, only able to let out whimpers of pain as the creature above him flitted the bite on his neck, sucking and tonguing the wound until Aren managed to gather himself enough to hurl it off of him, immediately covering the wound with as much pressure as his failing body could manage.
Shun shot back, easily moved in his faraway state. Blood fell from his mouth, dripping down his turquoise uniform and coloring his teeth pink. Aren watched in dazed horror as Shun met his eyes with his own- almost self conscious. A familiar red flushing across his face and dusting down into his collar. “What?” Shun wiped his open mouth with a palm, tearing the skin slightly, before falling forward and beginning to crawl back towards Aren with a vast, faraway grin. “I told you that you smelled good!” Kaidou Shun was ravenous, and Aren Kuboyasu was nothing but a meal with purple hair and fake glasses.
Aren clawed himself backwards with one hand, the other clamped around his neck in hopes of keeping it away from Shun’s sight. Unable to pull his full body weight, he fell backwards onto his elbow, resorting to pushing himself with weak legs as far away as possible. Aren let out a pained whimper as his callused fingertips rubbed against his neck, reigniting the searing pain and coating his fingers with slick, warm blood. Braving a glance towards the door, any last semblance of hope drained as Shun took the moment of broken eye contact to secure a vice grip on Aren’s ankles and pull him roughly towards him, once again causing Aren to slam his head against the ground. As his head knocked against the classroom floor, Aren watched the ceiling tiles groggily, sputtering in an attempt to clear his mouth of fresh blood as a last comfort. Closing his eyes, Aren braced himself and waited for whatever the release of death felt like for the umpteenth time, wondering why Shun hadn’t just taken mercy on him the first time.
Instead of tearing flesh, Aren felt a cold air on his ribs.
It was soft, like a kitten's nuzzle or a dog nudging for pets. But there wasn’t a baby animal or kindhearted dog that was gently coaxing his shirt up, there was only Shun. Aren wanted to sit up, to ask what was going on, but he was barely able to comprehend one course of action after another after the amount of concussions he had experienced. What Aren really wanted to do was throw his hand to the side and grab a stray lense shard, and aim directly for Shun’s neck, but all he managed to do was tangle an exhausted, clammy hand in Kaidou’s hair as the younger boy peppered Aren’s bruised and battered stomach with soft, bloodstained lips. Lying on the dirty school ground, Aren embraced the feeling of the soft kisses bordering the ugly lesions littering his gut. It was a captivating feeling, maybe he got to experience ecstasy before death.
The touches filled Aren’s chest with a warmth that he couldn’t place. It was odd, the horrible pain was still there, but he couldn’t focus on it anymore. It lingered just underneath a tenderness that he had wanted for so long, all he could feel was Shun making his way up his body, trailing kindness and gentleness up to where Aren’s neck was seeping darkness from a fresh bite.
Shun’s lips stopped at Aren’s collarbone, pupils dilating as he seemed to come back to himself. “Oh.” Aren registered the feeling of fingers and eyes inspecting his neck, setting it on fire again, but he couldn’t bring himself to respond to the pain, not anymore. Shun rose from Aren’s body, raising a hand up to his lip, feeling the punctures that came from his lack of restraint. “Aren?” Aren tore his gaze from the ceiling down to the boy above him, watching in the closest he’d ever get to nirvana. His eyesight was dim and it felt like he was being stabbed and kissed all over. He tasted something, but he couldn’t remember opening his mouth in the first place. Vaguely, Aren recognized the feeling of being watched, of being monitored. Shun had been sitting, crumpled into a ball, sweaty and exhausted and nothing like he had been only minutes earlier. “Aren, we can go to the base tomorrow, okay? I’ll let you win chess.”
Aren closed his eyes, trying to listen, to know what he was supposed to do next. He heard Shun’s breath, and he heard his own, but when he tried to feel his heart in his chest, he couldn't feel his pulse. Somewhere inside, Aren knew he should’ve been freaked out, he should have shot up and ran and jumped out the window and stopped himself before he ended up like Shun. Shun, who killed Kuboyasu Aren, and Kaidou had brought him back. They were all dead, all three of them.
Somewhere below, Aren felt his shirt being straightened out, and his sleeves being unrolled. He felt a tightening in his neck, washing away the pain with a numbness. He felt broken glasses being set on top of his shattered nose, though the pain wasn’t even there anymore. Eventually, he felt arms wrap around his waist, and an icy hand tucking his head into the crook of a neck, fingers massaging circles into his back for solace. All things considered, Aren was pretty comfortable in the moment, even when he searched for his heart and found nothing.
Aren huffed out a laugh, mixing with the distinct sound of cries happening above him. Maybe they’d go back to school on Monday. Maybe they’d meet for chess tomorrow, and maybe they’d still laugh when Kaidou’s mom came to bring him home. It didn’t really matter. They’d live forever and wish they had died when they had the chance. Aren shut his eyes one last time cursing himself as he fell slowly into a dreamless sleep.
He really should have grabbed that key.