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“The least your father could’ve done was check the mansion’s dress code.”
“How’s that his fault! He hasn’t had the time, you dog.”
“Both of you, calm down, it’s just a dress. You won’t die.”
Shi Mei might say that, but Mo Ran disagrees. He will die, actually, because this isn’t just any dress, which he’d still be sort of okay with. No. It’s a maid dress, ruffles and all, in dark blue. At least it’s his colour, he supposes, but that doesn’t make the situation much better.
“If Mo Ran dies, then good,” Xue Meng grunts, “it’s a bad idea he’s here with us to begin with. He’s going to fuck things up with Chu Wanning, just watch.”
“The fuck, I won’t,” Mo Ran answers, and means it. He knows this is important, and he’s going to try his best. Mostly, he’s here for fighting power, since Xue Meng alone isn’t a lot, and Shi Mei isn’t the strongest fighter to begin with. He’ll stay low, even if it means wearing a maid dress, but he’ll still complain about it simply because he can.
At least it fits him despite the fact he’s almost an adult man and his growth spurt is mostly over. He hopes, at least, because otherwise he might stop fitting through doors at one point.
“Watch you fuck it up when we meet him as soon as we’re… dressed,” Xue Meng continues, so Mo Ran tells himself to be the more mature person and simply not answer – it gives him a thankful glance from Shi Mei in return.
The three of them finish dressing and then prepare themselves to actually meet the mansion’s master, which is whom they’re here for to begin with. Admittedly, Mo Ran is a bit scared at this point.
He’s heard all kinds of things about Chu Wanning from all kinds of perspectives. Good things and bad things alike. Some say he’s somewhat of a saviour to humans, informing them of any type of vampire attacks that might come their way, always informed himself and on top of things. He’s gracious with his money, pays all of his employees good wages, and obviously doesn’t discriminate against humans – otherwise, Mo Ran wouldn’t ever have agreed to come here. Women, but also some men, say that he’s beautiful, ethereal even, in a way that doesn’t come for free with vampirism.
(Not that all vampires are pretty anyways, that’s just a regular stereotype; but others believe it, and they say that stuff regardless.)
However, there’s also bad and downright crude gossip floating around everywhere. He might pay well, but his treatment of his employees is accordingly bad, to the point that people say the wages aren’t actually high, given all the bullshit you have to put up with. He’s particular as hell about his food, picky with human food and blood alike. He passes out every now and again because he’s seemingly not in the best health, yet he refuses to see any doctors whatsoever. It’s not like vampire doctors don’t exist. He throws anger tantrums sometimes, and oh, also everyone suspects he’s a virgin despite the fact he’s going at two-hundred at rapid pace by now.
Mo Ran has not a single damned clue why the last rumor is a rumor, and who came up with that. First of all, is his sex life really anyone’s business but his own? No, not really. And, secondly… he’s two-hundred, almost. No way in hell is he still a virgin.
(What Mo Ran doesn’t know is that this rumor is, in fact, correct.)
Either way, he’s about to meet the man himself now, so he’s going to find out which of these statements is true. Apart from the virginity statement, unless Chu Wanning tells all his new maids about that, which he highly doubts to be the case.
Once they’re done dressing, one of the older maids goes to fetch them, and takes them upstairs through the mansion towards his room. The entire thing is… huge, to say the least. Mo Ran, having grown up as an orphan, is still not quite used to these types of pompous buildings. There’s a dark purple carpet spread over polished dark, hardwood floor. The walls are painted in a slightly brighter version of that colour, both carpet and wall decorated with golden details. There’s a ton of pictures of different styles, both western and eastern, accompanied by random little tables with porcelain articles on them; here and there are what’s clearly automatons, of which he can barely make out the function. Only one actually moves as they walk past it; attached to a thermometer, and it opens the damned window. Mo Ran can only assume that it’s because it got too warm inside. He hears the sounds of windows opening from all over the mansion, so this is clearly not the only one of the kind. Mo Ran, already expecting to go in through the two large doors in front of them, is taken aback when the maid takes yet another turn, and instead points at something that looks almost like a walk-in closet rather than a room.
“Not in there, that’s the library. The master is currently up in his study. This way, please,” she says, opening the literal closet door instead. From inside comes a dim, blue light, illuminating only barely the stairs inside, going in a spiral up to what Mo Ran can only imagine must be the tower-like thing they saw from the outside. He steps in first, after the other maid, and tries his bet not to get creeped out. These stairs creak, and the walls are also just wood. He makes sure he doesn’t hit them with his hands or anything, just because they look like they might give him a crapton of splinters if he even so much as scraped them.
It's not actually that many stairs, he notices as soon as the maid opens the next door, steps inside, and then aside so the three of them can follow.
With a small look back at Xue Meng and Shi Mei – Xue Meng very visibly uncomfortable about his current attire, Shi Mei unvisibly uncomfortable with it, but Mo Ran does know that he doesn’t enjoy wearing dresses, because at home, he’s been forced into them one too many times – Mo Ran steps into the room, lit up by both the same bluish light, as well as the sun coming in from inside the window.
Mo Ran is very glad that all these old-timey vampire tales about them turning into ash in the sun aren’t actually true, or else he’d feel horribly suffocated in this mansion. They just sunburn a little faster and more severely, and might get a heatstroke sooner than humans, but it’s not a life-or-death matter at any rate.
So, hey, at least Chu Wanning is getting some daylight. Mo Ran actually has to look around for a bit before he actively spots him, sitting in a small desk at the corner, in front of a staple of documents and books, wearing a bronze-coloured monocle, and squinting at something in front of him. He doesn’t even look up at them, and usually, Mo Ran would find that incredibly rude – however, damn, some of the rumors are true.
Chu Wanning is ethereal. His eyes, one of them behind the monocle, the other free, are clear and awake and absolutely beautiful, even from far away. His long hair is in what seemed to have been a strict bun, however some of it seems to have fallen out by now, framing his face, or sticking up in slightly weird ways. He’s wearing a white button-up and grey slacks, and his feet remain invisible behind the desk. He has high cheekbones, an angular nose and a sharp chin, and all Mo Ran can really think is that yeah.
He's ethereal, and he might also just be a virgin, given the fact he looks so stupidly untouchable.
“You-“ Xue Meng behind him starts, before he crashes into his back, Mo Ran stumbling forward, catching himself, and then giving a small cough at his misstep.
This has got to be a really bad first impression, especially given the way Chu Wanning immediately frowns at them. Shi Mei steps in behind him. The maid bows, and leaves, closing the door behind her.
“It’s you three,” Chu Wanning states, still looking at Mo Ran like he’s personally destroyed all blood supplies in his house or whatever.
“Yes,” Xue Meng starts, with a bow that Mo Ran and Shi Mei immediately follow.
Chu Wanning gestures them towards him with a flick of his hand, so all three of them step towards him. Somehow, Mo Ran feels like the air around him feels a little colder.
It might just be because this room feels strangely empty, for being his study. Overly tidy. He wonders whether it’s Chu Wanning that’s naturally tidy, or whether it’s the work of the maids.
“Welcome,” he says, a very clipped word said very un-welcome-y. “You’ve received your schedules, I assume.”
“Yes,” Xue Meng repeats, seemingly thinking that he should be the one to talk, given it’s his father who sent them here and all. “We have. We’ve looked them through thoroughly and will memorize them shortly.”
“Good. You may leave.”
Huh?
“Nothing else?” Xue Meng stutters, confusion laced into his voice, and Mo Ran also just stares at him like he’s gone insane.
“Hm? No. You have your schedules. Isn’t that all you need?”
Okay, no, so, Mo Ran has decided that this guy might just be an asshole, actually. What the fuck does he mean, ‘isn’t that all they need’? Has he forgotten they’re not actually his maids?
Since Xue Meng seems just about ready to relent, and Shi Mei isn’t ever one to cause trouble, Mo Ran takes one step forward, and looks at Chu Wanning, putting on the best, most polite smile he can possibly manage.
“Sir, we’re not here to be servants.”
“I’m aware. I’ll keep you informed. Work for a week or two first to get used to the manor, you won’t be able to help me in any way. The best way to learn is by doing a servant’s work. You may leave now, I have work to do.”
Right as Mo Ran is about to open his mouth again, Xue Meng and Shi Mei both lightly kick him, so he shuts back up, but all he knows is that they’re here to, you know, save the world, and not clean up after a guy ten times their age and cook for his picky fucking palate.
*
…Maybe they’re here to do that after all, and maybe Mo Ran doesn’t actually mind doing housework that much at all. In fact, he doesn’t mind it at all, and even at home, he does most of the cooking and cleaning. It’s been two weeks now, and they’ve really just been playing the part of servants. He’s learned some things about Chu Wanning by now – he’s more relaxed about any and all kinds of possible human casualties than one would assume, but that might be a façade, since he’s not in this for the money. He isn’t that much of a picky eater; hand him anything sweet, and he’ll gobble it all up obediently. The amount of tea he drinks is egregious, and the amount of berry juice he consumes would probably kill him if he weren’t a vampire, just stomach-wise alone. If you make any meat for him, it has to be as soft as humanly (or vampirely) possible. The same goes for fish. He’s not at all a naturally tidy person, and Mo Ran has been cleaning up after him more in the past two weeks than he has cleaned up after Xue Meng for his entire life. And that means a lot.
He doesn’t actually see Chu Wanning that much, either, apart from when he brings him food and then occasionally tidies up his room if Chu Wanning lets him. After Mo Ran has bugged him about it for at least ten minutes, because in such an environment, no one can concentrate.
He’s not much for conversation is for sure. All his answers are short and to the point.
The one instance he has observed Chu Wanning during his scarce free time was him reading some overcomplicated philosophy boo.
In his free time.
Of his own will.
“Alright, A-Ran, make sure to be quiet, he was asleep the last time I checked. Or at least he didn’t answer,” Shi Mei says, handing him the servants keys that they always pass on to the next; there aren’t enough sets for all three of them, and it might also just be that Chu Wanning doesn’t trust them enough. Mo Ran doesn’t know.
“Hm. Sure.”
“I know you don’t like him much,” Shi Mei says, “but act nice?”
“I never said I dislike him,” Mo Ran says, “he’s just a bother. Overall. Who knows whether he’s even worked on any vital projects. He hasn’t said anything about possible vampire attacks this entire time, right?”
“Well… no,” Shi Mei starts, and he has this very vaguely exasperated look on his face somehow. “But, A-Ran, have you heard of any attacks happening?”
Dang.
He’s got him
“Right…” Mo Ran says, awkwardly scratching his nose with his knuckles for a few seconds. “Fine, fine, whatever. I’m gonna be quiet, so you go rest up well, okay?”
Shi Mei and him say their goodbyes, and Mo Ran steels himself to go up to Chu Wanning’s study to retrieve all leftover plates and cups before they get so crusty that he can’t wash them off anymore. He just has the nightshift, so it’s going to be fine if he lies down on the small bed in the servant room; there’s a bell Chu Wanning can ring if he needs something, so Mo Ran would be awake fast enough.
He grabs the keys, then makes his way up the small staircase, taking some shortcuts around the mansion he’s gotten to know now.
Sadly, Chu Wanning was right. It makes sense to know the mansion if they’re meant to operate around it and give him some further protection – he might be really strong, but he can’t be awake at all times, and how would you concentrate on work if you had to constantly fear getting attacked?
It’s not very late yet, so he tries knocking on the door. Like Shi Mei said, there’s no answer. What a bummer, because Mo Ran will still have to go and get those dishes.
As quietly as he can, he opens the door – which isn’t very quietly, because it creaks loudly.
It being dark outside now, the only light are the blue glowing stones scattered across the walls, alongside a candle on Chu Wanning’s desk.
“You’re not asleep,” Mo Ran says when he sees that no, Chu Wanning is sitting in the middle of the room, once more having made a complete mess around him. He’s working on some kind of bigger automaton, nothing like the small ones across the mansion.
He doesn’t even receive an answer – see, that’s what pisses him off about the guy. No manners at all, but as soon as you miss your manners even just once, he will hate you.
Fucking hypocrite.
Yet, when he looks so concentrated, not just does he look beautiful…
He looks cute.
A thought which Mo Ran has been trying to swat away like an annoying fly for the past two weeks without any form of success.
It’s time he admitted it, maybe. Chu Wanning looks really cute like this, all focused on whatever new thing he’s building.
With a sigh, he gets to gathering the plates and cups scattered across the room (at least none of them are broken). Right as he wants to leave, however, Chu Wanning suddenly makes a little noise.
Mo Ran turns around to him, and he’s just got his hand outstretched towards him, curling his fingers a few times as if to beckon him closer. Mo Ran places the dishes outside, then closes the door behind him, waiting for whatever Chu Wanning wants from him.
“Screwdriver.”
“Huh?”
“Hand me the screwdriver.”
With a small look of despair, Mo Ran glances around the entire room.
“M-master. I’m afraid I’m not sure I know where you have put the screwdriver.”
“What are you implying?”
“…That you have no sense of order,” Mo Ran says, partly because he’s genuinely fed up with how messy of a person this man is, and partly because he wants to see a reaction.
And oh, a reaction, he gets. Chu Wanning turns around to him, that angry little stare in his eyes. Then, he points at Mo Ran’s feet.
“In front of you.”
Okay, and he still manages to make Mo Ran feel stupid, too.
Yet, all he can do is reach for the screwdriver at his feet, pick it up, and step towards Chu Wanning to press it into his hands.
His fingers are cold. Mo Ran feels like that’s not necessarily related to the fact he’s a vampire.
“Do I stay, or…?”
“Yeah, you can hand me tools.”
Of course. Mo Ran is staying as a maid. What else was he expecting?
For a while, they work in silence, except for Chu Wanning’s commands. Mo Ran tries his hardest to figure out what the automaton is for, especially when Chu Wanning starts working some of the blue stones into it.
The room still faintly smells of rosehip tea and berry juice and macarons.
“What is that thing, anyways?” Mo Ran asks, his tongue faster than his brain, but what can he say?
He’s interested. Chu Wanning probably won’t answer anyways-
“A Night Guardian. Well, the name is unrelated, since vampires can attack at any time, but most crime happens at night, so. It probably can’t ward them off, but it can at least alert humans if needed. I’m trying to work in defense mechanism that work.”
“Silver, wooden stakes, garlic?”
That gets him an actually angry glare.
“Do you actually believe that stuff? Mo Ran, you’ve been making me food with garlic all week.”
“Maybe I’ve been trying to kill you.”
“As if,” Chu Wanning sighs, seemingly realizing now that Mo Ran was joking. He shakes his head slightly, his hair moving along, and in the unnatural, cold light, his eyes look all tired.
Well. Maybe Mo Ran isn’t trying to kill Chu Wanning, but the other way around might just be the case, because why is Mo Ran’s throat all dry when looking at him? Why is his heart beating so fast all of a sudden?
All of these things are such bad signs.
All of them.
Mo Ran would rather not think about this any further.
“What then?”
“Things that could ward off humans, too. Blinding lights, a fine mixture of pepper and water that gets sprayed at the intruder. I’ve been thinking about just putting in some soap to make the floor slippery, but that could be disadvantageous to the victims, too. Some easy fighting techniques should be manageable to build in. Maybe something to make them dizzy. Either way, this is a prototype.”
…That’s probably the most Chu Wanning has said to him throughout the entire time he’s been here, and it also makes it very clear to Mo Ran that Chu Wanning was in fact working hard this entire time to protect humankind. Not that all vampires are bad. Mo Ran does believe that vampires also shouldn’t be killed for no reason – but, honestly, those things may also just be sold to vampires one day.
“I see,” he says, “that’s really cool. I didn’t realize something like that was even possible.”
“Hm, a lot of things are possible with automatons. Once you understand how to make things work, it’s not that hard anymore. Hand me another nail.”
Mo Ran does exactly that, because now he knows where everything is, because when Chu Wanning hadn’t needed anything from him directly, he kept himself busy tidying up. At least the room doesn’t look like something’s exploded in it anymore.
Once more, their fingers touch, and Mo Ran can’t lie; it’s significantly more on purpose at this point.
It’s not like he can’t at all keep it in his pants, but look, the rumors didn’t lie, and Chu Wanning is really damned beautiful – if he gets to at least touch his fingers a little bit, then that’s already a win in his opinion.
This time, he lets them glide over his knuckles once, which is completely unnecessary, and Chu Wanning does give a little frown at it, as if confused what Mo Ran is doing, and why he’s touching him like that. And yet… if Mo Ran can tell correctly in the relatively dark room (he supposes Chu Wanning has some kind of night vision, so he can probably work in a semi-dark room if needed), he’s blushing just the tiniest bit.
Not entirely immune to the charm of Mo Ran, wearing… a maid dress.
Because they’re still doing that, because that’s apparently really just the thing here, even for guys. Eh, he’s gotten used, but Xue Meng hasn’t. Every single day, he complains about it, even though he’s turned into the hugest Chu Wanning-suck-up that anyone could ever imagine.
Right now, watching Chu Wanning work this efficiently, with deft fingers that he gets to touch every once in a while, he almost gets it.
Though Mo Ran isn’t going to do the “sucking up” version of “sucking” someone, but eh, Chu Wanning will realize that at one point. Hopefully. Maybe. Look, Mo Ran’s just a man at the end of the day, and what can he do if there’s another, very beautiful man in his vicinity but fall for him headfirst, even though when he’s been claiming to hate him for two weeks?
So, maybe he has a tiny little crush on him.
He can barely be blamed.
“…Say, Mo Ran,” Chu Wanning suddenly starts, and Mo Ran’s head shoots up like a dog’s would when they hear their owner’s voice from the other side of the door.
“Yes?”
“Why are you three wearing the female uniform, exactly? I’ve been meaning to ask for a while, but I was uncertain of whether to bring it up.”
For a while, Mo Ran just sits there, stunned, unable to say much to that question that came so out of the blue, especially considering what exactly Chu Wanning has just asked.
However, the man himself appears to take that as Mo Ran feeling attacked in some way or whatever, because he swiftly turns just a little redder, putting down the hammer he’s holding.
“I… don’t mean this in a judgy manner, at all,” he stutters, uncharacteristically shy all of a sudden, “if that’s simply what you three prefer, I do not care, but…”
“What?” Mo Ran simply says, “it’s not… obligatory?”
“Why would it be? If men want to wear dresses, I could not care less, but most men choose not to. Most of my servants are women, as you may have seen, but we do have men’s uniforms.”
“Well, that’s great to know,” Mo Ran says, “because none of us knew that.”
Chu Wanning furrows his eyebrows, and also looks Mo Ran up and down, from top to bottom, from the skin of his chest above the dress’ cleavage all the way down to the ruffles of its skirt.
His face color gets even more human-like.
Is he… checking Mo Ran out?
“But it doesn’t matter,” Mo Ran adds, “I’ll tell Shi Mei, since he’s a bit uncomfortable in dresses. Xue Meng too, but I want to see him suffer. I keep wearing it. Do I look good in it?”
For a bit, Chu Wanning opens his mouth, as if he’s right about to answer; however, he doesn’t, closing it right back up, eyes anywhere but on Mo Ran.
Fuck. Shit, he was totally checking him out, wasn’t he? Mo Ran can’t believe it.
“Hmm, seems like you quite like the dress,” he says, starting to get a little scared that Chu Wanning might explode if he keeps talking, so he just smiles at him vaguely. Chu Wanning, though, is still avoiding his gaze. “I’ll keep it on then. No issue.”
“Do not force yourself,” Chu Wanning hisses from between clenched teeth. “Get out if you’re not going to help.”
Oh, Mo Ran’s going to help this man, and he’s going to help this man, but considering just how shy he is, that might still take a while.
He gives Chu Wanning the most dazzling smile he could possibly manage, and then, they get back to work.
Only for another hour, though, because Chu Wanning starts nodding off at one point, which is when Mo Ran stops even just trying to hide the fact that he has a crush on him by now from himself. Not when his face looks all relaxed. He carries him to bed and draped some blankets over him, then makes sure to turn off all the lights, and set his alarm at the usual time. For a while, he just watches him sleep, which might be a bit creepy, but Chu Wanning is a vampire, so he’s inherently creepier.
Then, he steps out of the room, grabs the dishes, and get to work on them.
Maybe, Mo Ran thinks, he wouldn’t mind doing the dishes for Chu Wanning for the rest of his life.
*
It’s been three months.
Mo Ran doesn’t just have a crush, he’s in love. Full-blown love. He hasn’t told Xue Meng and Shi Mei, but unless they’re completely stupid, they’d know. One late night session of helping Chu Wanning turned into at least three nights a week. Cooking for him every now and again turned into taking it over completely, leaving Shi Mei and Xue Meng with much less work. By now, Shi Mei has started wearing a suit, but Mo Ran told them there’s only one, so Xue Meng let him have it. Both him and Mo Ran are still rocking their maid dresses.
“It’s late,” Xue Meng says, looking at the large golden clock on the wall of the main hall, “he should be back by now. It was just an errand.”
“I’ll be on the lookout,” Mo Ran says to both him and Shi Mei, “you’ve both ought to go to sleep, it’s been a hard day.”
They’ve been guarding the mansion the entire day, given that it’s currently a very high risk situation, political tension having risen, and frankly – whatever worry Shi Mei and Xue Meng are feeling, Mo Ran is feeling at least tenfold.
What if something did happen?
Clearly, Xue Meng seems to be feeling the same thing, not very eager to go rest; in the end, Shi Mei talks him into going to sleep, and they leave Mo Ran alone in the main hall. It’s two in the morning. He should’ve been back at midnight, and usually Chu Wanning is on time. He’s only been late once, and that’s because he took a detour to a sweets shop, because his love for sweets is much bigger than Mo Ran anticipated at first. He’s been indulging him a little too much in it; perhaps with the goal of making him fall for him.
Buying sweets wouldn’t take two hours, though. He’s going to have to stay here if Shi Mei and Xue Meng are going to sleep.
In the end, he decides to clean – until the clock strikes three with a deep, reverberating sound, and the door opens.
Immediately Mo Ran drops his mop. Chu Wanning is in the door, in the same white suit and light-blue tie that he left the house with in the morning, hand in his side, pressing against a large red patch.
He’s bleeding.
As fast as he can, Mo Ran runs over, and puts his hands onto his shoulders. Touching Chu Wanning this casually hasn’t been a thing for too long, but once he started doing it, he couldn’t stop himself anymore, and Chu Wanning let him.
“Wanning!”
And yeah, he might’ve also taken up only calling him by his given name, which he did object to, but he also blushed so beautifully that Mo Ran didn’t care, and still doesn’t care. He’s going to keep calling him that.
“What happened? Never mind, whatever, we need to get you patched up first, where do we-“
“My study,” he sighs, swatting both of Mo Ran’s hands away with the hand that isn’t pressed into his side. “It’s already mostly healed. Stop fretting.”
“Still,” Mo Ran starts, looking at the large bloodstain, some of it still slowly seeping through, which means that it’s not already mostly healed, and Chu Wanning is straight up lying to him.
He grits his teeth though, because Chu Wanning is a very proud man, and if he says it’s mostly healed, then Mo Ran will have to act accordingly.
“Okay,” he says, “but you have to let me take a look at it and take care of it. Are you sure you don’t need Shi Mei?”
“No,” Chu Wanning says, and sways once he tries to walk again. Mo Ran catches him as fast as he can.
“Lean onto me. Put an arm around me so that you don’t slip out of my grasp.”
For a second, Chu Wanning looks absolutely bewildered; in the end, however, he does, his hand awkwardly gripping Mo Ran’s shoulder.
Even wounded, he’s still stupidly adorable.
They start walking once Mo Ran has closed the door and made sure no one is outside, but Chu Wanning affirms that it’s safe, and that it was no big deal at all – they’ll talk once Mo Ran is sure the bleeding has either stopped, or is going to stop soon.
Once up in his study, Mo Ran turns on the proper light, because he’s not a vampire.
Now he gets an actual good, first look at Chu Wanning’s state.
There are beads of sweat rolling down his temples. His eyes are red, and his fangs are out; Mo Ran has never seen his fangs.
While this is arguably not the time to think about that anymore deeply, a certain part of Mo Ran starts thinking by itself. Chu Wanning actually looking like a vampire as sexy as hell. He’s got to admit that.
Okay. Whatever. Not for now.
“I’ll undress you,” Mo Ran says, which makes Chu Wanning’s head fly around to him, “tell me what happened or not, but stay still, alright?”
Chu Wanning gives a short nod, his breathing a little heavier than usual as Mo Ran sits him down on his bed after putting some spare towels below him so that no blood gets on the sheets.
Then, he gets to slowly unbuttoning Chu Wanning’s shirt, and does his best to ignore the fact he’s going to see his skin if he continues doing that.
“It was just vampire hunters,” Chu Wanning says in the end. So, he does want to talk about it, huh? “They were hunting a vampire child only for having stolen some candy, so I stepped in. I was careless for a moment, and one got me with his sword.”
“I thought you hated vampires,” Mo Ran starts awkwardly, and Chu Wanning gives him another glare.
“Not children,” he clarifies, then sighs. “Either way, it was unrelated to any plots or whatever. I escaped easily. It was just unfortunate.”
Mo Ran opens another button, then another, and sees a faint scar on Chu Wanning’s chest, the rest of his skin unblemished, a little paler than it would be for a healthy human, probably; leaning a tiny bit more towards grey than towards pink.
“You made the right decision. You shouldn’t have gotten hurt, but you’re safe now, and you’ll heal up… right?”
“Yes,” Chu Wanning affirms, but his voice suddenly sounds very weak, like it’s bordering on barely even reaching him anymore. His eyes, blown wide a second ago in what Mo Ran thinks now must have been desperate attempts at staying awake, start flickering shut, the red of his pupils being hidden by long eyelashes.
“Hey, hey,” Mo Ran says, snapping another button open with one hand, then patting his cheek with the other. “Stay with me. Wanning. Don’t faint.”
“’s nothing serious,” Chu Wanning slurs as he desperately tries to pump air into his chest, one of his hands suddenly coming up to clutch at the neckline of Mo Ran’s maid dress, his thumb touching the skin directly above his collarbones, as if contemplating-
“You’re thirsty,” Mo Ran states, matter-of-factly.
Of course he’s thirsty. He’s lost a shit ton of blood.
As fast as he can, he opens the rest of the buttons, then strokes the shirt of as fast as he can, careful with the part that’s stuck to the wound; Chu Wanning winces a little at that, but significantly less than anyone else would.
“’m not.”
“Yes, you are, you stubborn little- whatever, where do you keep your blood supply?”
Only now does it occur to Mo Ran that he has, in fact, never seen any blood around the mansion – but he also doesn’t know all the rooms, and Chu Wanning is a very private person. He might just be hiding them somewhere, but right now, there’s no time for secrets.
“What?”
“Your blood supply. You need to drink blood.”
“I don’t have one.”
“What?”
“I don’t have a blood supply. I don’t drink blood.”
Mo Ran’s eyes nearly fall out of his damned sockets as he grabs another towel, and the jug of water on Chu Wanning’s nightstand, getting it wet enough to clean the wound. Chu Wanning is correct, though – it’s bleeding less and less by the second. He can see the edges of it closing already. He really wished he had such fast healing powers.
“What do you mean, you don’t drink blood?”
“I don’t drink blood,” Chu Wanning repeats, still clearly delirious. “I refuse to.”
“Why the hell- you know what, I don’t care-“
“Makes me less human.”
At that, Mo Ran grows a little bit softer. Of course it’d be such a reason. He puts a hand to Chu Wanning’s lower back, his skin feeling pleasantly cool against his fingers; then, he starts to dab away at the outer edges of the blood.
“Whether or not it makes you seem one way or another, you lost a lot of blood. If you were human, you’d need to get some blood into you, too. And right now, you’re a vampire. You need to drink blood. Is there really none in the mansion?”
“No.”
Of course. Because the rumor is both right and wrong at the same time – Chu Wanning isn’t picky about blood.
He just doesn’t drink it to begin with, which also explains his random dizzy spells.
“Okay. Alright. I’m not opposed to it, as long as you don’t, you know, go overboard- hey. Stay awake.”
Once more, he pats his cheek, then keeps his hand there, Chu Wanning’s head lolling against it slowly; his hair tickles both his palm, and the back of his hand.
“Opposed to what?” he forces out, looking up at him through a haze, nuzzling a little closer, taking some deep inhales through his nose this time. He’s so, so obviously thirsty, yet tries to act like he isn’t, that idiot.
“You drinking my blood. I don’t mind. Wouldn’t be the first.”
“I’m not- going to,” Chu Wanning mumbles against him, Mo Ran still awkwardly trying to swipe away the blood at his waist.
There’s no new blood anymore.
It’s closing.
“Stop acting like a child,” Mo Ran scolds in the end, presenting his wrist directly to him, but Chu Wanning just jerks back, even when it seemingly makes him more awake; his pupils are wide, gaze narrowing in on Mo Ran’s wrist. “Come on now.”
“No.”
“Wanning, I swear, it’s fine. I don’t mind.”
“No. I can’t- do that.”
“Fine,” Mo Ran says; for a moment, Chu Wanning looks almost relieved, like he believes that Mo Ran will stop pressuring him into this, however Mo Ran cares about Chu Wanning’s well-being because he’s horribly in love with him, so he has to prioritize that over Chu Wanning’s feelings for now.
Chu Wanning lets his head sink back against the wall, grabbing the towel himself, probably thinking that Mo Ran is abandoning him in a half-done state; however, Mo Ran is busy grabbing one of the knives in Chu Wanning’s nightstand, and an empty teacup, and gets to work. He gets hurt a lot in combat, a little cut won’t hurt him, so he very casually lets some of his blood drop into the cup – will it taste of tea? He should ask Chu Wanning.
“Mo Ran-“
“Is it okay like this? If it’s not directly from me?” he asks, squeezing the wound just a little bit to speed up the process. “How much do you need?”
“Not- not so much,” Chu Wanning gasps, placing a hand in front of both his nose and mouth.
That wasn’t a ‘no’. Mo Ran can at least compromise on the amount, he supposes. He lets up, grabs some of the bandage he’d gotten originally for Chu Wanning, and is just about to wrap it around his own arm when Chu Wanning rips it out of his grasp.
“Let me do it,” he says, this time sounding meek, which is an entirely new look to him. “You shouldn’t have done this to begin with.”
“I know that vampires recover a lot faster if they have blood, so just take it now. Have you never drunk any blood at all?”
“I have- once. You don’t… need a lot. The wound is closed.”
“Yeah, but you lost a lot of blood, and it’s probably not recovered on the inside, at least. Just drink it, Wanning.”
“Stop calling me that,” Chu Wanning mumbles out from between clenched teeth, wrapping the gauze around Mo Ran’s arm with swift and practiced motions.
“Don’t think I will. Drinking my blood, that’s so intimate-“
“I’m not even drinking it from you!”
“Bummer.”
“Mo Ran!”
“Hm?”
“I’m a vampire! Be at least marginally scared of me!”
Mo Ran can’t help but let out a laugh at that, as Chu Wanning finishes up his job, then reaches for the cup with trembling fingers.
The towel lies discarded at his side.
“I’m not scared, though,” Mo Ran smiles. He gives a short nod at the cup, hoping to encourage him to just drink from it already. “If anything, I think you look really cute when you want blood.”
As if a switch has been flipped, both Chu Wanning’s cheeks turn awfully red – as if he doesn’t even need any blood – and his lips too, because he raises the teacup to them, and spills some of it with how hastily he does it, gulping the rest down like a man possessed.
Mo Ran has a strong feeling it has little to do with cravings, but more so with the fact that Mo Ran just very blatantly flirted with him, and not even frigid, possibly-still-a-virgin Chu Wanning would miss that.
He even coughs a little once he’s done, placing it back on his nightstand, his lips still smeared with blood.
They just stare at each other for a while. Mo Ran picks the towel back up, instead raising it to his lips this time, and Chu Wanning lets him – at least for long enough until they’re not crimson anymore, but then, he slaps Mo Ran’s hand away.
“I’m going to sleep. Leave.”
And, just like that, he lies down in bed, on his side.
“But- Wanning, your wound-“
“Leave.”
There’s a small tremble in his voice that betrays him, though. Also, he’s lying on his good side, his naked back and the blood on his other side exposed. Is that an invitation for Mo Ran to continue cleaning him up, even if Chu Wanning can’t see him like this?
“Hmm. I meant what I said,” Mo Ran laughs, changing the towel’s side to the one with less blood on it now; “you’re really cute.”
“I’m asleep.”
That prompts a small snort from Mo Ran, but he nods a little to himself regardless.
“Of course. You’re asleep. So you won’t even notice when I clean you up and then creep into bed with you?”
He doesn’t receive an answer, but it’s clear enough of an answer to Mo Ran – that’s a yes.
Smiling to himself, he finishes his job, listening to the way Chu Wanning’s breathing eventually does even out, and he does actually fall asleep.
“Alright,” he whispers, stroking some hair out of his face once he’s done, “I guess staying here with you directly is enough to protect you, too.”
With that, he goes through with what he had previously threatened, and climbs into bed with Chu Wanning, making sure not to come into contact with his wound, just quietly lying on his side once Chu Wanning has turned onto his back in his sleep.
That night, Mo Ran doesn’t close his eyes even for a second, just watching the rise and fall of his chest, the healing wound, since he forgot to turn the light of anyways. He watches the fluttering of his eyelashes when he dreams, and the way his mouth falls open at one point.
He watches and watches and watches, because he can’t get enough of this guy ten times his age, which would be a bad thing, if Chu Wanning hadn’t literally just let him share a bed with him.
Maybe, Mo Ran will come back from this mission not just with intel, but also with a hot vampire boyfriend.
(That thought will hopefully power him through the rest of his shift in the morning, given that he’s not getting any sleep like this.)