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Katsuki tackles the vampire as soon as his fancy dress boot steps over the werewolf den border. Limbs are a tangled mess in the withered leaves and damp soil. Sharp claws enclose themselves around a pristine, pale white and frigid cold neck, causing ash grey and striking blue larimar eyes to widen at the action.
And it would be so easy to rule this vampire as any other bloodsucker who roams their perimeters in sought of revenge, of their blasphemous reasoning that they need to take down as many of Katsuki’s kin as possible.
This one’s not like them.
But maybe he is, Katsuki thought to himself, on that last day he looked Shouto in the eyes before they parted ways.
Cut ties with him and said his goodbyes, which translated into a ‘hope to never fucking see you again, half and half’. And Shouto barely looked affected by it. So why- why should Katsuki think he’s any different?
“Why are you here?”
He spits right in the vampire’s face, doesn’t give a damn if his fury laced saliva lands on his face. Vampires think lowly of such ‘animalistic’ displays and behaviors from werewolves. If it pisses Shouto off, then it’ll serve to satisfy something ugly deep in Katsuki’s heart.
The vampire, damn half and half bloodsucker, dares to put a cold hand on his own, over the one gripping his neck in a hold that would be crushing to anyone else, to a living human. Not to Shouto. He doesn’t attempt to pry it off, just rests his palm over the blonde hairs on the back of Katsuki’s hand and looks him straight in the eyes.
“I know you do not wish to see me, but I must speak to you. At least one last time, before you run away once more.”
The words lurch a growl from Katsuki, sharp teeth bared in aggression and pointed ears standing on end in a mane of gold tresses. They look a sickly yellow in this light, and as much as Katsuki hopes this display of his body, this act of hostility, will make Shouto cower, he’s well aware it has no effect on the vampire. Not this one.
“What the fuck is there to talk about? You made it clear that you didn’t give a shit about it, about me, about talking to me- why now? What made you think I wanna sit and listen to you now, leech?”
Katsuki hits right where it hurts, and revels in the painful delight that is the slight sliver of hurt in Shouto’s eyes.
“If you’re not going to listen-“ Shouto hurls out, heaves a breath and flips them right around.
Instead of reaching with his hand to hold the werewolf down, Shouto digs his elbow close to Katsuki’s neck, locking his hips down with both legs.
“I’m going to make you.”
They could go on like this all day, and they have in the past, ending up in more draws than clear victories. It ended up not being about a show of strength, but an act of submission for them. The deliberate act of giving away your vulnerable side to someone else.
Katsuki did, he gave it all away, only to have it trampled and tossed away. So he picked it back up with bloody hands and ran, like a coward, with his tail between his legs and ears flat on his head.
He can’t remember the last time they perked up in elation, the last time he had to sit on his tail to stop it from wiggling around.
Not since he stared into Shouto’s hardened eyes and listened to him crush all the hopes Katsuki had for them. For their future.
Future which no longer exists in Katsuki’s eyes, but one that turned into a nightmare, haunting him any chance it gets.
Katsuki lets a bitter grin show on his face, reaches with dirt stained claws to grip hard on the vampire’s face – smudges it with soil and grass, preens at the smallest of ways in which he can taint Shouto – allows the pointed tips to dig just so into porcelain skin. Not enough to draw blood, there’s always time to take it that far. They’re only getting started now.
“And why the fuck would I want to listen to you?”
“Because I made a mistake,” Shouto starts, clear guilt in his gaze, which Katsuki doesn’t buy.
“Yeah, you made a mistake associating with my kind. You made that very clear back there. Now fuck off before I tear you to shreds, fang-face.”
Shouto shakes his head, doubling down on the force he’s using to hold the werewolf down. Katsuki can feel the pressure in his lungs, but doesn’t let it show, he’s not going to give this asshole the satisfaction of knowing he’s got a werewolf almost immobilized right now.
Katsuki should reach up and bite his whole face off.
“I made a mistake when I pushed you away. I wish to apologize, and to explain it to you, why I reacted that way.”
Averting his gaze does nothing in this situation, because Shouto’s all up in his face and it doesn’t matter where Katsuki’s eyes move to, the vampire can see his expression as clear as the moonlight above them.
“There’s nothing to explain, idiot.”
And there isn’t, because Katsuki was there. He was there when he showed up to Shouto’s old mansion – the one that’s too fucking big for just one person to live in, the one he helped the vampire move into – with a bouquet of dried sunflowers and the stupid ring he welded himself, the one that was supposed to symbolize the join of their bond.
What they had was by no means a typical relationship. The kind of relationship humans have. They never had that luxury, not when they belong to such different worlds, two worlds which have been at each other’s necks for centuries.
They were never meant to get this close and not want to tear the other’s throat clean and suck all the blood that’s left flowing in the body of their enemy. But they did.
Or at least, that’s what Katsuki thought they had.
He’d been so forward with his actions, fucking started to court the damn idiot. Brought prey which he hunted down himself and left it on Shouto’s doorstep. A sign that he can provide for his future mate.
Helped Shouto carry all the hand-me-down furniture from his mom, all on his own, and moved it again and again around the house, because the vampire was such a fucking indecisive bastard. A sign that he’s strong for his future mate.
Stayed up late with Shouto and browsed through his endless library, thumbed through dozens of books and even picked up something from them. He started writing letters, like Shouto did to his mom, but instead Katsuki didn’t send them to anyone in particular. Just, kept them in an old wooden jewelry box back in Shouto’s office. A sign that he’s not the savage Shouto’s coven makes him and his kin out to be. A sign that he is intelligent for his future mate.
Katsuki sometimes dreams about burning it. Turning all of his thoughts and feelings that he penned down on waxed paper to nothing but ash, then blow it all out into the night.
He’d cooked for Shouto, despite the vampire not needing human food to survive, but all that animal blood surely doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend the rest of your life when it comes to eating. So he would come over and serve the vampire all of his mother’s recipes, sometimes laced with rabbit or fox blood to make it more appetizing to the blood-sucker dumbass.
And he’d eat it all up. Would clean the bowl while singing praise to Katsuki, then get up from the table to thank him for the meal. He’d get a pat on the head at times, which felt a little condescending, or mocking at the least, but his ears would immediately flatten in delight over his hair and his tail would swish around, curling around Shouto’s thigh.
What they had was always on the verge of ‘wanting more’ for Katsuki. They’ve never crossed the line from unusual friendship and old aged rivalry to mates.
Sometimes, to Katsuki, it seemed like they were already there. But then Shouto would pull back when the werewolf’s hugs would linger a tad too long, would air out his bedroom after Katsuki spent the night and disturb their laced scents in the house with the smell of outside.
For a while, a long while, Katsuki didn’t take all that to heart. He knows who Shouto’s family is, knows the level of importance and influence his family has in their coven. Knows how adverse they are to fraternization with the enemy.
But he thought that didn’t matter to Shouto. Thought that, him moving out on his own to a secluded spot in the forest meant the vampire didn’t want to live by those beliefs and rules anymore.
“Yes, there is. I hurt you and I’ve been hurting myself over what I did to you.”
Katsuki doesn’t want to hear it, really. Has imagined what this would go many times, but he can never seem to make up the image of a happy ending to this conversation. He believes all too well that there is no happy ending to be reached for the two of them.
“I was scared, Katsuki, I was so scared when you told me those things, when you were so eager to leave everything behind to be with me. And I- I couldn’t let you do that.”
Shouto’s gaze finally falters, and he looks down at Katsuki’s chin, at the ground, at his own hands clenching and unclenching over the wet grass. It gives the werewolf the opportunity to look him over, to take in the face of a man he loved so much (and still loves, but has learned to deny it over time) and had not seen for months on end. The face he wanted to wake next up to for the rest of his pitiful life.
He looks awful. Eyes much sunken than usual, with dark grey wound-like eye bags coloring the underside of his eyes, hair a mess and smelling like he just crawled out of a tomb. Shouto doesn’t smell like the Shouto he once knew, now he smells like a husk of himself.
Katsuki can’t pick up on the faint fruit notes from his shampoo, or the smell of his laundry detergent. Or the stupid smell of sugar, because as much as vampires deny the need for human food, this one in particular has such a fucking sweet fang that it makes Katsuki’s gums ache.
Shouto’s scent is hollow. Like he’s been in his body, but left a long time ago. And what Katsuki’s smelling now are the faint remnants of his scent.
He hates it. Hates it so fucking much that Shouto can just show up, in the werewolves’ den no matter, with no intention to protect himself or hide the fact that he’s a vampire, just because he wanted to talk to Katsuki.
And the smidge of scent he could still pick off was what drove Katsuki to be the one to run here and ‘take care’ of the intruder himself. His stupid brain still goes haywire for this half and half dumbass.
Katsuki wants to ask him why. Why was Shouto so afraid of letting Katsuki in more than he already did. Why did he push Katsuki away when he finally mustered the courage to bare his bleeding heart out for the stupid vampire. Why didn’t he say anything? Why was he so fucking cold to Katsuki, when all Katsuki could feel for him was this fluttering and overwhelming warmth-
His claws dig further into Shouto’s skin, until he’s tearing at moonstone skin and there’s maroon blood trickling down his fingers. Shouto doesn’t flinch, almost like he can’t even feel it. Red droplets make contact with Katsuki’s face, and if he were anyone else, he’d reach out to lick it up, a show of dominance over his opponent.
Katsuki doesn’t even have the strength for that.
“W-why? Why do you get to decide what I can and can’t do, for fuck’s sake?!” Katsuki starts shaking him, but Shouto feels so light, despite the iron death grip he has on his neck, like he’s shaking an empty ragdoll.
“Who the fuck do you think you are to tell me that I shouldn’t leave everything behind to be with you?! I loved you, Shouto! I fucking love you and you pushed me away! You looked at me like I was mad in the fucking head! You looked at me like you- like you despised me, you asshole!”
There’s more wet droplets raining down on his face, but he doesn’t know if it’s Shouto’s blood or his own tears.
Shouto moves his arm and plants both hands to the right and left of Katsuki’s head, letting his head fall forward until their foreheads thump together.
Katsuki wants to bite him, to hurt him, to make Shouto feel what he felt that day, what if feels like to have your heart torn apart by the one person you thought was there for you because they cared for you and loved you for who you are-
Shouto sucks in a sharp breath. “You still love me.” He whispers in the small space between them, in the air that smells like dirt and blood and salty tears and the distinct smell of werewolf in distress. “Gods, you still love me, Katsuki.”
His breath hitches when he feels Shouto’s tears mix with his own blood which stained Katsuki’s face, and it causes something sharp to spike in his heart. Like his chest is being ripped open, an old wound acting up along with the changing of seasons. But this pain hurts so good that Katsuki doesn’t feel the need to lick it better.
“No, n-no I fucking don’t!” Katsuki rasps out, eyes clenched shut and head shaking frantically over the nest of leaves.
It’s a weak attempt, he knows the moment he hears his voice shake. Hands enclose themselves back around Shouto’s neck, both of them now, in a choking grip, but Katsuki seems to have lost all power over his body.
His fingers are trembling where they rest over the vampire’s pale neck, covering the spot that was supposed to carry his mating bite, but he can’t will themselves to squeeze. To wrench out all air out of this vampire, this- this man who still has Katsuki’s heart back at his house, house that was supposed to be their home.
Shouto makes no move to retract himself, instead he opens his eyes slowly and lifts his head to look Katsuki in the eyes. His hands go along with the vampire’s movement.
“I’ll let you kill me, Katsuki, if you allow me one last thing.” Reaching with one hand into his coat pocket, Shouto pulls out a small velvet pouch. “You can do whatever you want to me, but I wanted to give this to you, even if this means that I’ll never see you again. Even if it means that I can never repair what I tore apart.”
The vampire pulls out a long necklace, with a small vial at the center. It’s shaped into a mediocre heart, held together by two pairs of fangs, one above and one bellow. There’s red liquid sloshing around in the vial when it dangles off the vampire’s hand.
It smells strongly of Shouto’s blood.
“I want you to have this. This is supposed to be given at binding ceremonies, but in a more…unorthodox way.”
Katsuki knows, mated vampires are supposed to drink from each other. And this is Shouto willingly giving his blood to Katsuki, to a werewolf. The sight makes Katsuki’s muddled brain spin. That’s where the smell came from, the last wisps of Shouto’s pure scent. The one Katsuki would smell all over him back when they’d dance around each other, back when he thought he knew what they meant to each other.
“Why are you doing this now, Shouto? Is this some cruel joke of yours, blood-suckers? String me along, stomp all over my pride then show up to beg for pity?”
Shouto clenches the necklace in his hand at the accusation, brows furrowing in blazing anger. Now that he looks at it, Katsuki notices that the piece of jewelry is made out of bronze, and not the usual silver or gold humans make theirs out of.
“I was afraid that I couldn’t love you enough.” Shouto states, his voice all hard edges and unbridled clarity, like he’s said these exact words before. Like he’s been practicing them out in front of the useless full length mirror he keeps in his bedroom.
“You gave me your all, but I couldn’t do the same. I held back, with the guilt and fear that once you completely give yourself to me, you might regret it. That you might be in more danger than you are now, Katsuki.”
“So what, you think I’m weak? I could crack open your skull with my bare hands, Shouto! D’you think I can’t mangle you to shreds right now?”
Shouto’s body goes limp above his, all the strength in his body going to holding himself up. Like he’s telling Katsuki that he’s at his mercy. As if he’s waiting for Katsuki to do exactly as he says.
“I didn’t want to be the reason you suffer, Katsuki!” Shouto screams in his face, but it sounds more like a wait, a strangled cry, than anything else. “I wanted you all to myself, but I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve to be this happy, not when I held back because of what my family, what my coven believes about your kind.”
Using the last of his strength, Katsuki lifts the both of them up, until their knees bump together. His hands move to the vampire’s shoulders and his forehead knocks back on Shouto’s.
“You do, you do fucking deserve all that, Shouto. And I was so fucking ready to give it to you, all of it! But you wouldn’t let me…”
Shouto’s full on sobbing now, drawing in ragged breaths like he’s going to drown if he doesn’t, and he collapses into Katsuki’s arms. He’s so so cold, and not the familiar cold he used to be when Katsuki would hold him close at night to chase away those pesky nightmares. This cold is deathly frigid, like Shouto succumbed to his own nature and stopped taking care of an already withered body.
“I missed you so much, Katsuki. I feel so alone without you.” Shaky hands reach to thrust the necklace into the werewolf’s chest, unsure of where his hands are, until it falls onto his lap. Teary eyes look up into crimson ones. “Kill me, Katsuki. I don’t deserve this, I don’t deserve to come crawling back to you when all I did was hurt you, when I couldn’t return your love-“
“Stop with that bullshit, will ya?”
One of his hands comes up to grip Shouto’s chin, squishing his cheeks together. Bastard looks so pale like he’s on the verge of passing out. He must have starved himself again, like he always fucking does when he gets like this, all depressive and shit. Katsuki has half a mind to bare his neck and invite Shouto to drink from him.
“I’m not gonna fucking do it, no matter how much I say it. I can’t do it, not to you, Shouto.” He averts his eyes with his last words, but quickly looks back at the vampire. “I can’t just- I can’t just go from loving you to hating your guts. You mean a lot to me, Shouto, more than you can imagine.”
There are streaks of tears on his pretty face, but the sniffling makes Katsuki think the worst of it is over.
“B-but I don’t de-“
“Yes you do!” Katsuki hisses out before Shouto can go on with his previous bullshit. “We both deserve it, but you listened to your fears instead of doing what makes you happy. And you hurt me by doing that.”
“I’m sorry-“
“You hurt yourself by doing that, Shouto.” Shouto’s head falls at that, like a child being scolded. Katsuki lifts him by the chin to see his pretty face, no matter how weathered down by time and lack of food it looks. Shouto will always look pretty to him.
He picks up the fallen necklace and, while keeping eye contact with Shouto, Katsuki puts it on around his neck. The smell of Shouto’s blood hits him right in the nose, causing his nostrils to flare and his heart to beat wildly in his chest. Fuck, how he missed his vampire’s scent.
Shouto gasps quietly at the gesture, eyes flicking between the necklace and Katsuki’s expression.
“You’re wearing it- Katsuki I-“
A thumb rests over Shouto’s chapped lips. “Promise me to never hurt us again. Promise to never push me away again.”
Shouto’s nodding fervently, hands scrambling all over Katsuki’s front, eager to grasp his hand in his. “I promise, Katsuki. Anything you want. Where is the ring? The one you had with you that day, I’ll wear it.”
“I threw it in the lake.”
Shouto quiets down at that.
Katsuki remembers it even now. How he took off into the heart of the forest and kneeled on the edge of the lake he and Shouto used to come to and watch the ducks. Or bathe after a hunt. Or gaze at the reflection of the stars during the night.
Remembers how liberating and heart-wrenching it felt to throw the ring made by his own hands, the one he dreamed about Shouto wearing for so long, into the depths of freezing water so it will never be found again.
“Oh, I’m sorry…”
Katsuki pulls out a string tied to the belt loops of his pants, on it resting the same ring he had that day with him. He plucks it off the string, ripping it in the process, and places it in the cup of Shouto’s palm. Bewildered mismatched eyes meet his.
“I jumped in the water after it.” There’s a faint chuckle to Katsuki’s tone, which Shouto doesn’t miss. The vampire hands Katsuki the ring back and extends his fingers towards him.
“Will you put it on for me?”
It fits perfectly, just like he knew it would, and the carmine stone in the middle shines under the moonlight the same way Katsuki’s eyes glaze over when he looks back up at his pretty vampire and sees that the tearful expression turned into one of glee.
“Now you’re never getting rid of me, got it, halfie?”
The vampire nods empathically, fangs showing with how wide he’s smiling. Which reminds Katsuki of how thin Shouto has gotten since the last time they saw each other. True to his previous thoughts, Katsuki turns his face around and bares his neck to the vampire.
“Drink up, you look like you’re gonna faint, idiot.”
A hand comes up to cradle at Katsuki’s neck, fingers brushing over the visible veins. But the bite never comes. When he takes a peek at Shouto’s face, the vampire looks as hesitant as he looks famished and ready to devour Katsuki’s blood.
With one arm looped around the small of his back, the werewolf pulls Shouto closer in his lap until he’s whispering in his ear. “I’ll kiss you if you bite me, Shou.”
Pointy fangs attach to his neck and bite down until they breach skin, and then Shouto’s suckling down on his blood. His body turns a rich pink along with the warmth of it, his natural scent coming back to the vampire the more he drinks. It mixes in with Katsuki’s own scent, and it makes not just the vampire, but Katsuki too, drunk on it.
And it feels so damn good for him too, the way he feels Shouto sucking on his neck, the odd sensation of his body drained of blood. He breathes in the vampire’s scent, Katsuki wants to mate him. Wants to mount Shouto right this moment and bite on the nape of his neck so hard that the bite will never go away.
Although Shouto might go blood-drunk from how careless he gets with it.
Katsuki has to pull him away before he grows too weak to move around, and Shouto detaches his mouth from his neck like he’s pulled off a suction cup. His mouth is stained a pretty red, blood dripping from his bottom lip. Mismatched eyes are blown out in ecstasy, like it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted, and he’s giving Katsuki this look- like he’s asking to be mated right then and there.
Katsuki kisses him. Molds their mouths together and licks into his mouth to taste his own blood on Shouto’s tongue, bites on his bottom lip until it bleeds and licks it clean with a hungry growl. Shouto all but melts in his lap, slowly dragging his hips up and down the tops of his thighs, no doubt the blood drinking made him horny.
“Bite me, Katsuki. Make me yours.” Shouto slurs out, angling his neck close to Katsuki’s mouth and pointing to it with one finger.
Katsuki, instead, peppers kisses to the same spot. Whilst eager to do as asked, he really doesn’t want to mate Shouto here, out in the open where anyone could find them. Out here where his kin could smell him mating with a vampire.
“Not here, princess. Can’t have anyone see you, don’t want anyone else to see how good you look under me.” He feels Shouto shivering where he has his mouth pressed over his neck.
“Then take me back, Katsuki. Let’s go back home.”
Home sounds pretty damn good right now. Katsuki’s missed being home with Shouto.
But he’ll never have to miss it now, not when he found a new home in Shouto’s heart.
“Yeah, let’s go home, Shouto.”
He’s got a pretty vampire to mate.