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Chengling sits squished between Gu Xiang and Gao Xiaolian on the overcrowded couch, eyes glued to the tv screen. He’s pathetically grateful for it too. Not that he’s scared. It’s just that when everyone else decided earlier that they were going to watch The Thing, he hadn’t wanted to say no despite it technically being R-rated and him technically not being seventeen and Zhou Zishu technically telling him to stop watching stuff that would just end up freaking him out. But at least with the calm presence of the two girls here - okay, the calm presence of Xiaolian - it’s not as bad as it could be. He can’t be a baby forever after all. This is fine.
Just as the doctor onscreen goes to use defibrillator paddles and the poor victim’s chest opens up into rows of horrifying teeth, the front door slams open. Chengling shrieks. Cao Weining shrieks louder and drops the popcorn bucket. Gu Xiang is looking around for something to throw when the lights flick on and Zhou Zishu gives them all a very unimpressed glare.
“I told you not to watch this kind of shit,” he says, kicking off his shoes by the door. Then he looks at Gu Xiang. “Your brother said it’s late and you better get back home, and I quote, without unwanted company.” Cao Weining, now sweeping up the spilled snacks, doesn’t seem to notice he’s being discussed. Message delivered, Zhou Zishu grabs a beer from the kitchen before retreating upstairs.
“Like he’s one to talk,” Gu Xiang mutters, looking mutinous.
Chengling glances up. “What do you mean? Something about Uncle Zhou?”
She gives him a flat look in return. “It’s September, and we’re still in the middle of a heat wave, but he just came back from my brother’s place wearing a scarf. Really? You think he’s cold?”
It takes a moment for her meaning to sink in. He’d noticed the scarf before, but just because it was still warm out didn’t mean that Zhou Zishu was only wearing it to cover something. Probably. What could he possibly need to hide?
“What if he had a mosquito bite that he was protecting?”
Gu Xiang snorts and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, maybe if it’s a vampire mosquito.”
Chengling doesn’t think about her comment until much later that night. He’s in bed trying not to think about the movie they never finished when he remembers the vampire mosquito. Pffft, that’s not even a real thing. He closes his eyes.
And immediately opens them again, rolling over to stare out of his windows towards Wen Kexing’s house next door. Vampire mosquitos may not be real, but what about actual vampires?
—
By the light of day, Chengling’s theory from the previous night seems a little silly. Childish, even. Just because he doesn’t know Wen Kexing very well yet doesn’t mean he should make up wild theories about him. That doesn’t stop him from immediately pulling out his phone to search for more information. “How to tell if someone is a vampire” doesn’t turn up very useful results (really, would an actual vampire walk around wearing the blood of virgins on a necklace?), but he does end up putting together a decent list of possible signs. This is going to require some more research and observation.
Zhou Zishu is already downstairs when Chengling comes down for breakfast, nursing his usual cup of black coffee and scrolling through his phone. He doesn’t say anything when Chengling sits down across from him with a bowl of instant oatmeal. Chengling surreptitiously peers at his neck, looking for any sign of, well, a bite. But Zhou Zishu’s hoodie doesn’t leave much uncovered.
“Up late last night?”
Ah. Zhou Zishu’s looking at him now. “I - well, yeah,” Chengling admits sheepishly. “It was such an old movie, I didn’t think it would be that scary.”
“What are you calling old, kid?” Zhou Zishu shakes his head but lets the subject go for now.
As he starts to get up from the table, Chengling suddenly thinks of something that had stuck out to him this morning while he was thinking. “Can I ask you something?”
“You just did. Stop asking if you can ask things.”
“Sorry,” Chengling says. “It’s just - how come you always go over to Uncle Wen’s house instead of him coming here?”
Zhou Zishu narrows his eyes before answering. “Don’t… call him that, it makes me think I’m losing this battle.” Cryptic. “But Wen Kexing doesn’t come over here because that means I’d have to actually invite him over, which I’m not doing.” He shudders. “The man needs some boundaries, okay?”
Chengling thinks of the list he made in the notes app on his phone and swallows, mouth suddenly dry. Wen Kexing needs an invitation to come over here. Interesting.
—
Okay, so maybe he’d overreacted the other morning. There are plenty of rational, non-vampiric explanations for why Wen Kexing never comes into the house, or why Zhou Zishu keeps wearing suspiciously high-necked shirts after spending time with him. Chengling simply let his imagination run away. So he’ll be more careful from now on.
That doesn’t mean he’s not going to keep an eye on their next door neighbor. It’s not like Chengling has much else to do after school (and if Zhou Zishu catches him looking bored, he’ll find chores for him to do again).
The first day, Chengling thinks he’s stumbled upon pretty damning evidence. He’s never really noticed Wen Kexing’s habits before, but now that he’s paying attention he realizes that the man always leaves his house at night and comes home right after dawn. Okay, dusk-ish, and sometimes it’s been dawn for a couple of hours. But still! Those are definitely nocturnal hours! That’s something, isn’t it? He just needs to continue watching, and surely he’ll find the literal nail in the coffin.
Except a week later, Chengling has to admit he might’ve jumped the gun again. Aside from his weird hours, Wen Kexing hasn’t done anything the slightest bit suspicious. He attempts to ask Zhou Zishu what exactly it is that their neighbor does for a living, but he isn’t very helpful (“he’s a professional pest”).
Gu Xiang is even less helpful. She’s over at the house again with Gao Xiaolian because her brother is “being a total monster and told her to get out for the afternoon”. Chengling’s never questioned why Gu Xiang and her friends are over here all of the time (just like he’s never questioned if she’s actually dating Xiaolian or Cao Weining, and he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t get an answer if he pried into the older kids’ matters anyway). But today seems as good a chance as any to get some more information.
“Why is it that Uncle Zhou lets you all come over all the time but he won’t invite Uncle Wen over too?”
Gu Xiang snorts. “I don’t have to wait for permission. I’m not like my brother.”
There it is again, that reference to permission. Chengling acts natural. “So uh, you’re saying then, I guess, there’s something different… about your brother…”
She looks at Chengling like he was dropped on his head when he was born. “Really? Of course I’m different than him, there’s pretty big obvious differences - “
“I think,” Xiaolian cuts in, “what you mean, is that we should probably leave the topic alone.” She smiles gently at Gu Xiang, who grumbles but drops the subject. Then Cao Weining finally shows up, and Chengling retreats upstairs before the vibes get any weirder.
Which means that he happens to be entirely coincidentally looking out of his bedroom window when Wen Kexing suddenly bursts out of the side door with a bundle of… something… in his arms. Chengling picks up the binoculars he’s been keeping on his desk just in case and tries to get a closer look. He doesn’t have much time to catch a glimpse before Wen Kexing dumps the armful in the garbage bin, but it’s enough to see a flash of clothing stained an ominous red.
Oh. Oh shit.
Chengling attempts to calm down. After all, it’s four o’clock in the afternoon. It’s nowhere near close to dusk. It is cloudy though, which could be something? Honestly he doesn’t know what to do in this situation, Chengling hadn’t really thought he’d get this far. H’es clearly in over his head here, and he - he needs help.
Three pairs of eyes look up as he clambers down the stairs, nearly falling. They’re all huddled around Cao Weining’s phone watching videos, like usual, and Chengling tries to pull himself together before they think he’s freaking out over nothing.
“So can vampires walk in the sunlight? Like, right now for instance?” When they just keep staring blankly at him, Chengling weakly adds, “I’m working on a book report for my summer reading.”
“No,” Gu Xiang replies, “they’ll catch on fire and die. Also I don’t know - and I don’t want to know - what you were doing up there but you look like you’re about to pass out, so maybe stop.”
Cao Weining tilts his head to the side. “Actually, some of them might be able to. The Twilight vampires could go out in the sun, they just sparkled.” There’s silence for a moment. “You know, that’s why Bella had to keep him from going out in the sun during the second one so that he wouldn’t be revealed?”
Xiaolian pats him on the head, Gu Xiang rolls her eyes, and then all three go back to ignoring Chengling.
He’s no less confused about Wen Kexing (or the relationship between these three), but Chengling has finally had enough. It’s time to take things into his own hands and get some answers. Zhou Zishu is always telling him that he needs to handle his own responsibilities after all (and clean his room, but… baby steps). So he’s going to do it. He’s going to march over there and figure out if Wen Kexing is a blood-sucking demon.
“Uhhh, Uncle Zhou asked me to go borrow some eggs before he gets home, I’ll be right back,” Chengling announces. No one responds. He slips out the door and heads for Wen Kexing’s front door.
The seconds right after he rings the doorbell are some of the longest in his life. Can there really be a perfectly innocent explanation for all this? Will he be subjected to a scene of bloody carnage? Will Wen Kexing be angry? Annoyed? Or even worse, if he is a vampire, will he simply make Chengling disappear and leave Zhou Zishu completely vulnerable?
It’s almost anticlimactic when Wen Kexing opens the door with a faintly baffled expression on his face and a mop in his hand. “Chengling? Is everything okay? Is your, uh, is A-Xu -”
“I NEED SIX EGGS.” It comes out a little more shouty than Chengling intends it to be.
Wen Kexing leans back, eyes wide. “... sure. Wait there for me though, it’s a mess in here right now and A-Xu will have my head if you track this all over his floors.” He turns back inside. “Also did you even bring a bowl? Kids, I swear…”
As he talks, Chengling leans forward to peek through the open door, and - it’s red, red everywhere. Streaks by the door, splotches across the floor, dripping down the counter, even some splattered on the window. His mind fills in the rest all too easily: a hapless victim dragged here and fed on viciously, struggling to get away and only making a mess of things before getting captured again, dragged back in from the door -
Chengling doesn’t wait to end up as dessert. He books it back across the yard, hops over the fence, and slams through the side door at a full run. He doesn’t stop moving until he’s safely in his bedroom with the door locked.
He hadn’t truly believed it until now but - Wen Kexing really is a vampire, and he’s got his sights set on Zhou Zishu.
—
“You’re going out??” Chengling repeats a few hours later, cursing his bad luck. “Like, to an actual restaurant?”
Zhou Zishu’s eyebrow twitches as though he’s trying very hard not to react. “Yeah, I’m allowed after all.”
This is unexpected. And bad, if Chengling’s suspicions are right. “With who?”
A pause. Zhou Zishu sighs. “Wen Kexing,” he admits.
Oh no. “Wen Kexing??”
“It’s just dinner.”
Chengling’s voice practically breaks. “Dinner???”
“Do I have an echo?” Zhou Zishu finally snaps. He grabs his jacket from the back of the couch and slips it on. “You’re acting like a nagging auntie. I’m just getting food. With another person.” He’s not making eye contact with Chengling, which would actually be pretty funny if he wasn’t about to be in mortal danger. “Order whatever you want for dinner, and you can call me if there’s an emergency, but somebody better be bleeding or dead. Got it?”
And with that, Zhou Zishu’s out the door.
Chengling tries to keep his cool. Sure, he’d been planning on telling Zhou Zishu that their neighbor was a bloodsucking fiend tonight, and now he was going out on the town with the monster instead. But there’s no reason to think that Wen Kexing is more likely to drain Zhou Zishu dry tonight than any other evening they’ve spent together. Plus they’ll be in public! Wen Kexing can’t possibly do anything drastic with so many witnesses!
The pizza Chengling orders ends up cold and untouched. Who could have an appetite right now? He posts himself by the window in his room where he can clearly see Wen Kexing’s house so that he’ll know the moment they’re back. As long as Zhou Zishu gets home safely, he can finally warn him and then hopefully this entire situation will get dealt with. By… someone (Chengling makes a mental note to research modern-day vampire hunters later).
Keeping watch ends up being a lot more boring than Chengling expects. As the hours pass he wonders what they could possibly be doing for this long. Even eating slowly, dinner could only possibly take an hour or so. Right? There’s some excitement around nine - trash cans clanging, a shriek - but it ends up just being a couple of cats chasing each other. Time drags on. Chengling is beginning to wonder if he could play a video game without being too distracted when headlights finally appear in Wen Kexing’s driveway.
The pair of them get out of the car and then linger. Not ideal. Why isn’t Zhou Zishu leaving? Chengling picks up the binoculars to see if he can get a better view. What he sees disquiets him. Zhou Zishu, normally so stoic, looks… soft. Chengling shudders. As he watches Zhou Zishu leans slightly towards Wen Kexing. His eyes are wide and he’s smiling. Chengling thinks back on all his research. Some sources had mentioned powerful vampires having the ability to put their victims in a trance. Oh god, if that’s happening here then Zhou Zishu might be in even more danger than he thought.
That fear is confirmed a moment later when Wen Kexing motions back towards his house, and Zhou Zishu nods his head. Chengling watches him follow the vampire through the front door into the lair. His stomach sinks. This is bad. He has to do something to get Zhou Zishu out of there before…
Well, before Chengling loses somebody else he cares about. After his family had passed, Uncle Zhou had been the only person who stepped in to protect him. Sure, there’d been attorneys and various relatives who had all swooped in under the pretense of being so worried about his wellbeing. But even as a kid, Chengling had seen that they only cared about the money. He doesn’t know where he’d be right now if it wasn’t for Zhou Zishu’s stubborn care, and it was high time Chengling started being worthy of it.
Surely this counts as an emergency. Chengling picks up his phone and calls Zhou Zishu before he can have second thoughts. It’s only on the third ring that he realizes he needs to come up with some kind of reason for calling, which freezes his brain for long enough that he doesn’t realize that the voicemail has picked up. Chengling hangs up and tries again. Same result. Zhou Zishu has never not picked up when he called. This can only mean that for some reason he can’t - like having his life sucked away by a vampire.
Minutes later, armed with an old lacrosse stick from his ill-fated attempt at team sports and a pair of wooden take-out chopsticks, Chengling across both yards. There’s no time for stealth. He nearly slips on the wet grass but skids to a halt at the front door, listening. There’s no obvious sounds of violence, but there is faint music playing (no doubt to aid in his demonic hypnotism). Chengling holds his breath and tries the doorknob. Amazingly it’s unlocked. He pauses for just a moment to summon all his courage. Then with a deep breath, Chengling throws the door open and rushes in with a yell.
“Let go of my dad, you vampire bastard!” Chengling yells.
Wen Kexing, who has Zhou Zishu bent over the back of the couch with his teeth on his neck, jerks back and practically drops him. “What the fu-”
Zhou Zishu falls with a muffled oof and lands half on the floor. Chengling tries to step between them, but the furniture is in the way, so the best he can do is an awkward crouch. “You can’t have his blood! He needs that!” That had sounded a lot more threatening in his head. Oh well. Chengling braces himself for whatever counterattack is about to occur.
Wen Kexing doesn’t lunge for him, or display demonic powers, or even turn into a bat. Instead he blinks once and then bursts into laughter. “You think I’m a what?” he asks in between snorts until he finally leans against the back of the couch and dissolves into giggles. “Oh my god. A-Xu, you said he was smart.”
Finally upright, Zhou Zishu flicks Chengling on the back of the head. “I’m obviously a terrible judge of character given that I’m here with you.” He snatches the lacrosse stick from Chengling’s hands. “Are you insane, why are you screaming about vampires?”
Chengling’s at a loss. “I - but the clothes, the blood - he had you in a trance.” When Zhou Zishu just glares at him, Chengling points to his reddned neck. “He was literally biting you just now!”
“Is that why you ran off earlier today?” Wen Kexing smiles, and Chengling thinks rather petulanty he does have unusually pointy canines. “I was mopping up the remains of what should’ve been tonight’s dinner. Fucking Shen Shen somehow knocked over the entire pot of arrabiata sauce I’d had simmering and streaked it all over the kitchen before I caught him.”
“Shen Shen?”
“My asshole cat.”
Oh. Oh no. Chengling swallows. “Then how come you can’t come into our house unless you’re invited in?” Wen Kexing looks confused. Zhou Zishu groans. “And what’s going on if you’re not a…” The candles. The music that Chengling now realizes is probably supposed to be romantic. Zhou Zishu’s scarves and high collars. “Oh my god, are you two -”
“No, nope, we’re not doing this.” Zhou Zishu takes Chengling by the shoulders and stears him towards the door. “We’ll have a conversation when I get back home, and you’re grounded.” Chengling isn’t entirely sure Zhou Zishu even knows what being grounded means, but he feels that this isn’t the opportune moment to bring that up. “Do not try to attack anyone else in the meantime. Are those fucking chopsticks?” he adds in a whisper.
Chengling tries to salvage the situation. “I think that’s great! If you are dating, I mean! Congratulations!” Zhou Zishu just sighs.
“You know, A-Xu, you may be hypnotized. Though I didn’t have to use my evil powers, just my huge - “ Wen Kexing is cut off by a pillow to the face, and then the door slams shut behind him.
Despite the embarrassment, Chengling mostly feels relieved. No one is getting their blood drained. He doesn’t have to figure out how to kill a vampire. And Zhou Zishu has actually found someone he seems to like! He’ll just try not to think about the implications of all the bite marks - hickeys - and everything will be just fine. If he ever lives this down, that is.
His hand freezes on the doorknob. Chengling’s entire body breaks into a cold sweat, and his breath goes shallow as he remembers one tiny, very significant detail.
Had he really just called Zhou Zishu dad?