Chapter Text
It started from one hunt gone awry.
“What the fuck are you saying?” Ronaldo exclaimed at the VCD officer by his doorstep. Hinaichi was babbling nonsense in a panicked state, something that was definitely not Japanese or English. It sounded European, but what did Ronaldo know about languages? He could barely talk in English. “Hinaichi, I can’t understand you.”
“Hold it right there, Ronaldo.” Draluc swept into the office from the living room, curious at the sudden commotion. “She’s speaking French Now, step aside and let me. Excusez-moi mademoiselle, s'il vous plaît dites cela sur plus de tome ?”
Hinaichi immediately perked up, instant relief in her face as she babble a long string of non-intelligible noise to Ronalid, but even if he was able to decipher it, Ronaldo still would have no clue what was being said as he was too fixated on the fact that Draluc not only understood fluent French, but also spoke the language without missing a beat.
“You can speak French?!” Ronaldo didn’t mean to interrupt, but the shock was too much to keep in.
“I had a tedious and rather expensive education, Ronaldo.” Draluc rolled his eyes. “A noble vampire such as I, is expected to learn the minimum. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
“Pretentious jackass.” Ronaldo muttered under his breath. Draluc made a face and inquired Hinaichi for more information.
“She said there’s a vampire who could switch languages through hypnosis. She’s already hit the VCD headquarters and the hunter’s guild, taking advantage of the chaos and confusion to slip away.” Draluc surmised.
Having heard this, Ronaldo and Draluc immediately sprung into action, led by Hinaichi and translated by Draluc on the go. The city was riddled with people speaking different languages, causing panic all over Shin-Yokohama as people lost the ability to communicate.
They managed to track the trail of victims over the noise of confused people in different languages, slowly leading them to the guild.
“There’s someone coming from the corner!” Ronaldo warned and just as they turned to the source of the sound, a flash of bright light towards them, blinding Ronaldo for a second. He managed to catch the sound of a shrill cackle before it disappeared.
“Ce dracu a fost asta?” Ronaldo covered his mouth in shock, an onslaught of curses leaving his mouth—all sounding foreign in his ears. He meant to ask what that flash of light was about, but the words that came out of his mouth were not Japanese either. He wasn’t even sure what language it was. He looked desperately towards Draluc, hoping he knew what language he was speaking.
Draluc continued speaking in Japanese, the damn vampire blood in him nullifying the effects of the hypnosis. However, even if it was most definitely Japanese, Ronaldo couldn’t understand what he was saying. It simply didn’t register in his brain.
“Ce?”
“ But of course you end up speaking Romanian .” Draluc spoke and Ronaldo actually understood. There was a pleased grin spread over his face, obviously amused at Ronaldo’s predicament. “Not bad. You sound like a native, especially with all that swearing. Could have fooled me if I didn’t personally know your gorilla-brained self.”
“You asshole. Die.” Ronaldo grumbled. “This is not the time to focus on that. What’s happening?!” It was a very strange sensation. He was very conscious of the shift in language. He could tell Draluc was speaking differently, so far from the familiar Japanese he was used to hearing but he still understood somehow. This was harsh, but also melodic in contrast to the rigidness of Japanese. Ronaldo didn’t hear it ever when the vampire had moved in, so fluent and accustomed to Japanese that he didn’t slip.
It was…nice to hear on Draluc’s mouth.
Wait, where the fuck did that come from?
He wasn’t able to unpack that yet, because (fortunately) two figures were running towards them in urgent speed. Ronaldo had recognized them in no time.
“Satetsu, Maria!” Ronaldo called out to the men running through the crowd. “I heard what happened. Did you catch her?”
“Ronaldo?!” Maria exclaimed. “Kadını kovalıyorduk ama o kaçmayı başardı. Onu en son beş dakika önce gördük!”
“Fuck, she got you too?!” Ronaldo cursed. That sounded less familiar than what Hinaichi spoke. He belatedly realized he was speaking in a different tongue and communication was nearly impossible when Maria frowned at him the moment he said it.
“She said the suspect got away. They saw her five minutes ago.” Draluc surprised Ronaldo again for translating despite him being less than 100% sure that those words were not French or Romanian either. Draluc seemed to notice Ronaldo’s shock and he rolled his eyes once again. “It’s Turkish. Don’t look too surprised, gorilla brain. Try to evolve your brain to grasp higher language.”
Ronaldo nearly punched him to dust there and then if the damn shitsand wasn’t being genuinely helpful at the moment. He could do without the attitude during the emergency. Draluc spoke to Maria in the same language, translating the answers to the questions Ronaldo grilled at them.
“Cum videris eam, noli respicere in oculis eius.” Satetsu spoke up. This time Ronaldo, Maria, and Hinaichi looked at Draluc expectantly.
“Well?” Ronaldo waited for a translation. “What did he say? Don’t be suddenly useless now!”
“Oh shut up, you twat. Nobody uses Latin these days but priests, and if it isn’t obvious, they’re not exactly the best conversationalists for vampires, are they?” Draluc furrowed his brow, grumbling about not using these languages in centuries, something about being rusty and hating Latin out of all the languages he was forced to learn. “Nonetheless, you’re lucky Romanian is close enough to it. Now Satetsu, say that again?”
Statetsu shook his head. Draluc sighed, repeating the question again in what Ronaldo believed again was clumsy Latin. Ronaldo could see the lack of mastery as the words were halting and unsure. Satetsu looked more distressed, but obliged and spoke slower. “Hypnosis est ab oculis eius. Noli respicere.”
“Er…something about the eyes and hypnosis.” Draluc grimaced. “Whoever we’re looking for, she’s powerful enough to hypnotize people this quickly and this many.” He translated the same thing to Hinaichi, Maria, and Satetsu, quickly shifting from one language to the next. It was weird seeing the vampire capable, and maybe it was the strangeness of it that’s causing the discomfort roiling in his chest, the tight knots working itself in his gut.
Yeah. For some reason it irritated Ronaldo, despite the fact that he was grateful…reluctantly. Definitely.
Hinaichi discussed something in rapid French to Draluc, who nodded and translated it for the rest. “Hinaichi said, the culprit is fast, agile, and small which made her slip through the VCD and the hunter’s guild in a flash. What’s that?” Draluc leaned over to Hinaichi. “Oh, Hinaichi also said that she was caught feeding on several girls before the VCD started the pursuit. She’s extremely dangerous.”
“What a fucking troublesome ability.” Ronaldo clicked his tongue. The shift in languages had certainly caused confusion all over the city. There was a huge delay in reports and information due to the communication barrier. Before they could get a statement, the vampire was long gone.
It was rare, but occasionally Shin-Yokohama did face some really troublesome vampires. Tonight was one of those nights.
Eventually they did manage to apprehend the culprit.
Her one mistake was targeting Shin-Yokohama. In the end her downfall was the insane vampire residents of the city who didn’t take tasting their own medicine lightly. They were scarily capable when they wanted to be, which to Ronaldo, made their misconducts conflicting to think about. On one hand, their perverse hobbies were a real bother to society, on the other hand, he can’t help but be thankful that this was all they thought of doing.
But wasn’t that fucking depressing? Was the bar really that low?!
It might have caused more harm in any other city, but without the element of surprise and her agility, she had nothing else to fight them with.
The unfortunate part was that there was no undo spell for the language switch, she explained. It would wear off on its own between three days and a week. Ronaldo groaned as she was taken away to the VCD facility for examination. No physical harm was inflicted upon the victims, but the confusion was going to last for days.
“Well.” Draluc smirked, collecting John into his arms as they walked home. “You’re very lucky your reliable vampire partner can understand you, huh? Otherwise, I’d be confused with what you’re saying. For all I know, you’ve gotten a change of heart and want to eat celery after all!” He cackled. “Gaah—s-sand!”
“Shut up. Fuck you. Asshole. Jackass. Die.” Ronaldo marched off, leaving behind the reforming dust pile that John was gathering up in distress.
“Now, now, young man. Is that how to treat the hero of the night?” Draluc jogged to his side to catch up to Ronaldo’s long strides. “Admit it, Ronaldo! You’d never be able to solve this one without me. Now, you need to reward me. A new QSQ would be enough.”
Ronaldo turned to the smug vampire, so self-satisfied with his (admittedly) big contribution. He knew exactly what he did, and he knew he could milk it for all its worth. The shine in his eyes basically screamed praise me . The attention-seeking bastard was practically glowing with it.
The way he spoke also sounded so different. He was more playful in Romanian than he was in Japanese, not because of a change in attitude, but due to the nuances that got diluted in speaking a second language. He spoke as if he’s trying to be cute, used to being given everything he ever wanted. All he had to do was ask it, much like the spoiled prince that he was.
Ronaldo guessed this was the language Draluc spoke to get his father—and his whole family, really—to spoil him. It really shouldn’t be a surprise. What surprised Ronaldo however, was the new perspective he was seeing from one change in the language.
“How about I’ll reward you by not killing you.” Ronaldo scoffed, taking John from Draluc’s grasp in favor of cradling him in his arms. The armadillo nuu’d in what Ronaldo liked to think was a pleased sound.
Draluc chuckled. “What’s that Ronaldo-kun? You want to try eating celery after all—gah sand!”
Business continued as usual for Ronaldo’s office with Draluc mediating as their translator. Lesser vampire attacks continued despite the language issues after all. He was almost certain that Draluc was saying unnecessary things to the clients, but Ronaldo could never prove it even if he wanted to. The teasing grins Draluc sent his way was not helping Ronaldo’s patience either.
Ever since the incident, Ronaldo was twice the more irritated at Draluc and his stupid Romanian (multiple languages, really), his smug knowing looks, and his confident smirks since both of them were well aware that Ronaldo was under the mercy of Draluc—and oh how that bastard relished in it. He was rubbing it in and he enjoyed it when Ronaldo started flushing from anger, how he turned red from irritation.
What’s worse was, whenever they started arguing, Draluc would switch to another language when he replied to Ronaldo, continuing without a care as if Ronaldo could understand him. The fucking shitsand was doing it on purpose and it was infuriating him. If only he didn’t use his skills to cause more trouble for Ronaldo, he might even admit that it was pretty impressive.
(Ronaldo wasn’t that prideful. Privately, he could be honest enough to think that anyone who could do that was due for praise. Ronaldo could barely speak English save for a few choice words).
However, he wasn’t ever going to say that out loud. He was not stroking that fucking dick’s already abnormally inflated ego.
Still. Even though Ronaldo knew the guy had been around the world for so damn long, there had to be a limit to how many languages he could speak.
“You can ask, you know?” Draluc said from the kitchen where he was cooking dinner. Ronaldo paused from writing (see: attempting to write. He couldn’t write in Japanese either. Somehow everything he typed reverted to Romanian) his manuscript.
“Ask what?” Ronaldo gritted out, frowning at his screen and refusing to give Draluc the satisfaction of looking up. Depriving him of attention was usually a bigger blow to his ego and a more reliable way of shutting his schemes down.
From the corner of his eye, he could tell Draluc’s eyes were twinkling. “How many languages I know. Aren’t you curious?”
“I don’t want to fucking know.” Ronaldo immediately snapped. Surely he wasn’t that open of a book? He cursed how uncannily observant he was on useless things. Why couldn’t he use that ability for hunting vampires?
Draluc laughed, making Ronaldo flush red again. From anger. And irritation. And…exasperation.
“For the record, I should know about nine.” Draluc smiled, picking up the pieces of chicken from the hot pan. “Without counting the other stuff. I feel like that’s cheating. I don’t really speak it, I just understand it.”
“Oh so you just want to brag.” Ronaldo rolled his eyes. “You keep fishing for compliments, you vain bastard.”
“Now why would you think that?” The shit-eating grin on his face was infuriating. “I like to think I worked hard for it. I have a natural affinity for learning them. A genius. Something like a special power.”
“Did you work hard for it or did it come naturally? Why don’t you pick one?” Ronaldo snarked, but Draluc ignored him of course.
“It’s how I understand John after all, and John is just as good at it. He taught me Portuguese.” He explained as John nuu-ed from his place in the kitchen next to Draluc.
“John? You know Portuguese?” Ronaldo perked up at the new information about the armadillo. John nodded and made affirmative noises.
“He said he’s from Brazil so it’s only natural.” Draluc translated. “Of course you don’t notice when he shifts his language. Your gorilla brain doesn't know the nuances of nuu-speak, after all.”
Ronaldo paid no mind to that last jab. “Wait, you mean I can learn what he’s saying?”
“If you try hard enough, sure why not?” Draluc slipped off the apron from his person and hung it on the hook near the cupboards before he started setting the dishes on the table. “It’ll probably take you one million years since you can’t even understand human language but—young man put that chair down, I’m holding soup!”
After exactly a week, the curse had finally worn itself out.
Ronaldo didn’t even notice it until halfway through the day. He got so used to hearing Draluc’s playful Romanian, used to speaking it, tasting it, the words curling in his tongue. Really, it had started to grow on him and he had no one to talk to until Draluc woke up to know for sure if it had worn off.
(Did he really talk to the vampire the most over everyone else? Sure they lived together, but seriously? Even as he checked his LINE, Draluc’s name was right on top).
When Draluc greeted him in the evening, he belatedly realized that the Romanian no longer made sense. He could hear it properly now without any influence, but the words simply slipped through him like water.
The rigid Japanese was back, shifting everything again in its axis. Something felt different, but not in the way he could explain. Draluc sounded more formal now, though he couldn’t put his finger on how. Or his politeness sounded irreverent now, unlike when he spoke Romanian which was full of mischief and life. Not—not that Japanese was bad. No, Japanese was a fine language (nevermind it was the only one he knew) but…well…
It was different. It had its own charm.
Draluc speaking it was different.
(He kinda missed it)
Wait no. No. That came out of nowhere. He was happy to be back to normal, damn it! He was glad to no longer need to rely on Draluc for everything he needed to say. Most of all, he was glad that he won’t be receiving smirks shot in his direction. No more knowing glances full of mischief.
And this was a good thing. Ronaldo thought. For sure. A Draluc that was not constantly smirking was good for the whole household. Good for Ronaldo’s heart certainly—because the bastard wasn’t going to cause trouble. The tightening in his chest and the knots in his stomach whenever a playful look from the vampire was sent his way was because of the anxiety and anticipation of Draluc’s schemes.
A Draluc that was not constantly smirking meant Ronaldo didn’t have to pummel him to death out of sheer embarrassment or anger, and then John didn’t need to cry when it happened. So really this was good. It was all good.
…
…
…
Damn it.
“Stop your maidenly sighs. I can hear your idiocy from my coffin.” Draluc chose that moment to enter the office, freshly awake and ready for the night, John cradled between his arms. “You sound like a pining lady, breathing in the asbestos and lead.”
“I don’t sigh like a maiden!” Ronaldo scoffed. “And the air is perfectly clean.”
“Oh? I could have sworn that this dirt cheap apartment must have some hiding behind the walls.”
“If you hate it so much, go back to your castle.” Ronaldo pulled out his laptop and decided to block off the vampire’s annoying jabs and continue writing the Ronasen instead. “Least his lordship die from the poisoning.”
“Idiotule,” Draluc said sharply, and Ronaldo disliked the way his ears rang at the foreign word. “Why would I do that if I could just bother you about it until you do something about it, hmm?” He said with a wider grin than he would usually make.
He supposed the vampire was just really against leaving.
“Oi, why do you look like that?” the expression in Draluc’s face was so riddled with confusion that it almost made Ronaldo laugh if he wasn’t wondering about what the vampire meant. What did his face look like?
And then he did it . Draluc spoke in fluent Romanian from frustration, as if saying things Ronaldo didn’t understand could make up the fact that he didn’t understand Ronaldo, like some petty act of rebellion. Then there was that ringing in Ronaldo’s ears again, coupled with the uneasy knot in his stomach.
He did not like that. He didn’t like the way it was rubbing him, the angry burn in his body, the flustered embarrassment he was feeling from…from…from all this.
(He was half sure Draluc wasn’t even saying anything besides hurling insults to him, judging by the repeated words).
“Are you done?” He huffed, turning away from the complaining vampire.
“Not quite.” Draluc replied.
“Well, I’m done.” Ronaldo grabbed his (freshly bought) earplugs from his desk drawer and blocked out the noise. “Shoo. Go play games or whatever.”
Draluc eyed him a little too intensely than usual. Ronaldo thought maybe it was the wrong thing to say. Draluc didn’t take kindly to being shooed away, and was bound to take revenge soon. He probably shouldn’t have. But in a weird moment of awkwardness, he was caught off guard with his own reaction, how he squirmed, how his toes suddenly curled from tension.
Now that Ronaldo was speaking Japanese again, the intensity of hearing the foreign words was a gut punch. He didn’t hate it, per se. (Heck, didn’t he just say he missed it?) It just…made him feel something—something he didn’t understand, and it activated his instinct to fight or run away (and in this case, run away). He couldn’t say hey, shitty sand. Tone down the Romanian, will you? I get really mad and confused when you speak it. No, the vampire would only stubbornly keep speaking in foreign tongues to drive the stake in Ronaldo’s heart. Plus, there was really no way of saying that without sounding like an asshole.
Hey, your language makes me really mad. Speak Japanese in Japan. No, Draluc would spin his words and call him a prejudiced gorilla before telling the whole world about it.
Draluc was still staring at him. Ronaldo could tell. He had mastered the art of watching the vampire from the corner of his eye in case he was planning for another prank. It was awfully convenient for moments like now. He looked like he was trying to figure something out, something he didn’t understand. He was treating it as the puzzle games he often played in his QSQ.
It stayed like this for a few more tense moments before Draluc suddenly scurried off to who knows where, either finally finding what he was looking for in triumph or bored from his fruitless observation.
(Ronaldo quietly exhales the breath was holding).
Why he had been holding it in the first place, he didn’t know.
The next incident came nearly two weeks later.
Much like most things, it was from a petty fight between them. Draluc was often most dangerous at the height of boredom because it meant he would bother Ronaldo for fun or for attention. The result was coming home to celery flowers all over the house, pressed in his manga, hidden between his laptop, stuffed in the bathroom, inside his drawers, decorating the kitchen, and most importantly, on a huge bouquet of it on the vampire’s arms.
Ronaldo screamed, running out of the house but not before punching the smug vampire into dust. In retaliation, Ronaldo brought all the special white garlic flowers in one of the flower shops down the street and pushed them to Draluc with immense malice and intent to kill.
“Are you trying to kill me?!” Draluc shrieked, throwing the rest of the celery flowers at him before he slowly turned crumbling from the garlic flowers. “They were just flowers! It was an experiment! You can’t possibly be affected by the flowers too!”
“You started it!” Ronaldo yelled back all while Draluc spat out curses from a mixture of all the languages he knew. “Now I’m shoving these flowers down your throat and up your ass, you fucking shitsand!”
“Opri!”
Draluc barked, holding John up to his face for protection. Ronaldo nearly tripped on his feet at the words. He didn't know why he stopped. The order left Draluc's lips with unyielding firmness that it rooted him in the spot.
“Stai! Ronaldo, stai!
There was recognition from the back of his mind, something that didn’t need too much thought to put two and two together. The shock burned his chest, shooting nerves of lightning down his spine and stomach, all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes.
“Ah—”
Well. That was an interesting feeling.
What the fuck was that?
Ronaldo blinked at the vampire.
Sharp, lidded eyes stared back.
“Good boy.” Draluc finally stretched his lips into a toothy grin, fangs glinting as he made infuriating cooing sounds, so smug at Ronaldo for being frozen in shock. “That’s right. You’re so much cuter when you’re obedie—sand!”
Ronaldo drove the sprig of garlic flowers on the pathetic pile of sand and left it there for an hour until the damn vampire repented, ignoring the weird burning sensation in his whole body.
He felt like he was being constantly watched.
Ronaldo tried not to let it get to him. Surely, this was just Draluc’s schemes for payback, trying to get under his skin, trying to unnerve him. He knew that twinkle in Draluc’s red eyes, the shine that basically said he was treating all this as a game. He was fixated on something, but he wasn’t sure what it was he was fixated on.
His one-track hedonist mind was dangerous when he was obsessed with something. He was always sure to see through to the end. It usually spelled trouble for Ronaldo who was the victim of Draluc’s obsessive antics. He was obviously under some kind of observation which Draluc didn’t feel the need to hide. He felt akin to a gorilla in a zoo, being constantly examined like this. It was almost like an experiment.
What the outcome was supposed to be, Ronaldo didn’t know. Frankly, he was afraid to find out.
“Oi Ronaldo.” Draluc called from the couch where he was playing his QSQ. “Ronaldoooooo. Gorilla. Pea brain. Mr. Vampire Hunter. Mr. Shin-Yoko’s Best Vampire Hunter. The Great Hunter Ronaldo-sama. Ronaldo the Eloquent Writer. Ronaldo the Handsome—oh he got shy.”
“ASKJDFDSLGFKGF!” Ronaldo yelled. He already knew how this was going to go. He ignored the heat in his face from every single teasing name Draluc threw at him. He hated how he treated it as a game.“What?! What do you want to buy this time?!”
“Let’s buy an air fryer.” Draluc showed him a picture on his phone, immediately springing into action. Without remorse. How shameless!
“We don’t need an air fryer.” Ronaldo ignored him and decided to continue browsing shows to watch on Netflips.
“No we don’t. I’m not saying we need it. I’m saying I want it, you thick headed gorilla.” Draluc scoffed.
“Want it with your own money.” Ronaldo shoved the annoying hand poking at his shoulder until it turned into sand.
“John wants it too.” Draluc turned to a different tactic altogether, which was hitting Ronaldo with his weak spots—namely John. He’d stoop as low as emotional manipulation and coercion. The bastard. His morals are lower than the ninth circle of hell but he still insisted it limbo danced with the devil and win. “I can make yummy healthy food. John would love that.”
“Nuu!” The armadillo piped up in response to his master. “Nu nu!”
“I’m sorry John!!! But I have to use the money to do maintenance on my guns.” Ronaldo patted the armadillo on the head. “But I’ll set aside the rest for your new futsal uniform, how’s that?!” He bargained with the armadillo so he didn’t get on his bad side, and with a thoughtful nuu, he turned to Draluc with regretful eyes.
“Ack! Et tu, John?” Draluc lifted his hand to his mouth. “How could you break John and mine’s special bond! You’ve turned my own familiar against me! Air fryer! John! Air fryer! John!”
“Shut the fuck up!” Ronaldo punched Draluc so he’d stop whining. The body crumbled into dust on his arm and onto the floor. “You’re just influenced by the ads you’re seeing in between your games. You don’t want an air fryer! You just want some shiny new thing!”
“Yes I do!” Draluc started throwing a tantrum. “And what’s wrong with wanting a shiny new thing? I’m a vampire and a descendant of dragons. Wanting fun, shiny things is exactly what we do.” Eventually, when he finds that Ronaldo won’t be swayed, he would usually stop and send retribution later. That was fine with Ronaldo. First there was getting into his good side using compliments, then emotional coercion, then a tantrum. Honestly, he was such a man-child.
Ronaldo shook his head and went back to the show on his screen, hoping that was the end of it. But then—
“Vă rog?” Draluc murmured sweetly. “Ronaldo-kun, dragă, te rog pentru mine?”
“W-what?” Ronaldo sat up straight before he knew what he was doing. A newly reformed Draluc had approached him on where he was sitting on the couch and stared with his gaunt eyes. He looked like he was really trying to look cute, which was a little pathetic. His legs were still a pile of sand on the floor, but his body was right between Ronaldo’s legs, hands on his thighs.
“Fii un băiat bun pentru mine?”
“SAFDKJDFDLDAGGFGFDAGDFGJ!!!” Ronaldo kicked the body back into dust, getting up to stomp at the dead vampire with enough brute force. “Stop that! You shitsand! You old man! Bastard! Motherfucker! You piece of shit!”
John’s concerned nuu’s had finally made him stop. Ronaldo grumbled, leaving the house to cool himself off. It was too hot inside.
“What model do you want?”
“What?”
“Air fryer. What do you want?”
“Oh!”
Ronaldo was going crazy.
And Draluc was to blame. For sure. A hundred percent. It was always that shitty sand’s fault. Everything goes back to him. He couldn’t take the teasing anymore. His mood was worsening with every day passed, his concentration slipping. He was losing his mind!
This certainly wasn’t good for his health. His blood pressure was rising, his head constantly dizzy, his mouth dry, his legs weak, his pulse roared in his ears, and most of all, he could feel his nerves crackling with lightning whenever Draluc when he started speaking in Romanian.
But it didn’t stop there. Lately, whenever he was just in the general presence of the vampire, Ronaldo felt the symptoms regardless. It was irrational. He found the vampire lord annoying, noisy, troublesome, obnoxious, and—and—and—
It didn’t make sense.
Ronaldo was sure he found all of Draluc’s attempt at being charming pathetic. The man had no ounce of cuteness in him, nor grace, elegance, or allure. While gifted with a silver tongue, the guy’s unpleasant shitty personality puts off anyone. He was a self-serving, shallow, weakass old man who only cared about the next exciting thing. He was a hedonistic bastard who would bet his body on the line, only if it had the promise of fun, a coward who ran away when it was inconvenient.
And yet. Ronaldo fumed at the thought. Somehow he had been running circles around him, filling him with confusing thoughts, manipulating him into always agreeing with his whims and wants. Immediately after buying an air fryer, Draluc had wheedled two expensive games from Ronaldo during its release date through his whining. Next, he pleaded for special Hokkaido milk, then some exclusive blood wine, then he made Ronaldo buy new kitchen knives. Finally, Ronaldo ran to the store for blood jam pastries from the shop they passed by the other day just because he saw Draluc sigh wistfully at them through the shop’s window.
That simply didn’t make any sense!
It was almost like he was dancing on the palm of the vampires hand, as if he had some sort of pull at his will, like had control over his decisions, like he was hypno—
Of course.
Of course.
Fuck. It was staring him right in the face. The damn bastard must have been laughing at him the whole time. He must’ve thought Ronaldo was a fool.
He didn’t consider it since the fucking sand was so weak and so powerless, but of course it was possible. He must’ve had help from his grandfather, some tool to bewitch Ronaldo and control his mind. Draluc must’ve had some kind of device that hypnotized Ronaldo before he even knew it. It made sense. The Romanian must be the trigger. He spoke it in his native tongue so Ronaldo wouldn’t understand.
Oh that fucker was so dead. He was going to kill him.
“Shit sand!” Ronaldo barked, slamming the door open to their living area where Draluc was half-way out of his coffin, still dressed in his nightgown. The vampire turned into sand at the loud bang in the door, crumbling on the floor with a curse. “I’m going to kill you for real this time! Stop this now!”
“Ah? What the fuck do you mean? It’s too early for this.” Draluc yawned, hair unkempt as he yanked his nightcap off his head. “Did you hit your gorilla brain on the way back?”
“Cut the crap, old man!” Ronaldo spat. “I know what you’re doing. Why don’t you cut it out? Stop playing your games with me!”
“Ronaldo-kun.” Draluc’s face turned serious for once. His thin brows furrowed into a deep crease. “I’m serious. What are you talking about?” His voice was thick with confusion, but Ronaldo did not let this get to him. The man had such a way with words after all, a talented silver tongue that his naive self often fell victim to.
“Stop it!”
“Puișor, idiot young man.” Draluc sighed, pushing the bangs off his face.
“I said stop it!”
Draluc stared at him, irritation roiling off him. His sharp nose flared with indignance. Talk. He said in between the silence, waiting for Ronaldo to spit it out.
“You’re messing with my mind!” Ronaldo yelled, and ah fuck his eyes were burning with pinpricks of tears. He wasn’t going to cry damn it. He knew the vampire’s nature, he knew that it was in his nature to play tricks. He was a selfish hedonist who only cared as long as it promised him fun. Why was he letting it get to him? “Stop it! You’re making me care for you, making me run around and do things I don’t usually do because I suddenly feel something about you, something I didn’t used to! Stop it, stop making me lo—”
Ronaldo clamped his mouth shut, hand on his mouth before he said anything more incriminating than that. No. No. This was all fake. None of this was real.
Draluc stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He looked tired, one foot still in the realm of sleep and at the same time, fully awake from the word vomit Ronaldo spilled without forethought. He blinked several times, the silence suffocating Ronald like cotton stuffed down his throat and his ears.
A beat passed. Another second. The longer the silence went, the more Ronaldo’s anxiety curled his organs into knots.
“Say something!”
Draluc shook, slowly crumbling on the ground. The sound of laughter hissing from the pile of ashes scattered all over the floor.
“Bastard! Why did you die?!”
“You’re an idiot! Idiot! Prost! Silly donkey! Gorilla-brained dumbass!” A half-reformed Draluc yelled back, hands clawing up from the floor. “Brain-dead! Banana for brains, half-wit, nitwit! Fou, dummkopf, idióta, βλάκας, salak, идиота. I can say it in all languages I know and it still wouldn’t be enough . Honestly, I’m flattered you think I’m capable of such powers. I should thank you.”
“What?” This time it was Ronaldo who looked bewildered, holding back on kicking Draluc back into sand to hear his explanation. How was he making it his fault? Why was he acting like Ronaldo was the one who messed up here?
Draluc grumbled, heaving a huge sigh as he composed himself into something more decent, fully reformed with his body and limbs. “Rub your two brain cells together for once will you?” He massaged his temples, his thumb and forefinger. “Do I need to spell it out for you? Alright. Take a seat and let’s go back to the beginning.”
In shock, Ronaldo found himself on the couch as Draluc stood before him, tapping his slippered foot with impatience, pissed off. Once again, he pushed his bangs away from his face before giving up entirely when it refused to stay that way. His sunken eyes found Ronaldo’s, sharp ruby red on blue.
And then. He told him.
Right from where trouble began.