Chapter Text
The rat squirmed helplessly in the boy's mouth, thrashing and squealing as its blood rolled down the young boy’s chin. From the cool alley’s entrance, Yoshida watched in awe.
Something must have alerted the boy that he was being watched, and his eyes met his observer’s. He clamped down on the rodent, ending its struggle before opening his mouth and letting its drained body drop.
It was picturesque.
His light hair hung in greasy, matted strands, his clothes were filthy, and his body looked near starved, but the most striking of all his features were his wide red eyes, prominent even in the darkness of the alley.
“Am I interrupting?” Yoshida called from where he stood at the entrance.
The boy tilted his head and looked Yoshida up and down, he stepped forward, his movements shaky and tenative. As he clumsily walked toward the other boy, his breath grew more labored. “Are… are you like me?” The words came in a raspy whisper, his body trembling as he halted just short of Yoshida, his eyes seemingly searching for something.
“I would hope not,” Yoshida said wryly, a strange mix of curiosity and disbelief bubbling in his chest. Against his better judgment, he stayed where he was rather than escaping the alley and pushing this odd experience to the back of his mind. “Are you hungry?” He asked.
The boy nodded, a quick jerky motion.
Yoshida stepped further into the narrow alley to meet the boy where he stood. The stench of it fully hit him then, the wetness and rot clinging to every surface. His shoes squelched as he walked.
A feral boy with blood coating the lower half of his face wasn’t exactly conspicuous, so there was no way Yoshida could bring him out of the alley in his current state.
Rotating his randoseru to the front of his body, he pulled out a handkerchief. Thinking of the boy’s animalistic nature, Yoshida inched closer to him, mindful of his every movement. Despite his carefulness, the boy flinched regardless.
“I won’t hurt you,” Yoshida murmured. It was said absently, like a nicety.
Gently, Yoshida wiped the blood from the boy’s face, feeling his warm, heavy breaths on his skin.
Now that they were closer, Yoshida could see deep eyebags, much too deep for a boy his age. He still looked very young no doubt, but his features spoke of things Yoshida would never fully understand. He hadn’t noticed it until he felt light tugging at the hem of his shirt, but the boy’s eyes fluttered open and closed. He was struggling to stay awake.
Yoshida pulled the boy’s cheeks back to get to his teeth, maybe he could wipe a few of his front teeth, or wriggle out any tufts of hair caught in them. But he caught a glimpse of something. He stopped and pulled at it again, and he saw them.
Amongst his regular old crooked teeth were unmistakable fangs.
“Oh wow.” was all Yoshida could bring himself to say.
Something seemed to dawn on the boy at that, and he released a low growl from his throat.
It was likely meant as some sort of deterrent for whatever he thought Yoshida might do, but he seemed too exhausted to back up his bark.
“Did that little rat take all your energy?” Yoshida asked, tilting his head. He was still fixated on the fangs in the other boy’s mouth. Inwardly, he searched through a million different explanations, and yet he found none. When he finally settled for taking what was in front of him at face value, it didn’t distress him. It should have, but it didn’t.
Grabbing the boy’s wrist, Yoshida set out to test his new theory, attempting to lead him out of the alley. The boy hardly reacted to the sudden change in movement at first, but when he saw them fast approaching the alley’s entrance, his rabid snarling grew louder as he was pulled along, legs dragging though not enough strength to resist. The closer they got to the light, the more the sounds became whiney and desperate, almost like a kicked puppy.
Yoshida looked back at him and smiled. It was enough proof for him—a real vampire.
“I’m sorry about that,” Yoshida said, but he didn’t mean it.
“I really am!” He said, throwing his hands up. “How about we wait here together until it gets dark? I Promise I’ll get you a really good meal.”
The boy looked at him and spit.
Yoshida chuckled softly, his eyes scanning the ground for a spot. He settled on a half-decent newspaper, laying it out before sitting down, and pulling his coursework from his bag.
“You know today, I was supposed to go to cram school. I didn’t feel like it though. Something told me to leave early. Do you think it’s fate that we’ve met?” The boy ignored Yoshida and sat across from him, back to the grimy wall, curling up and closing his eyes. Yoshida talked as he did homework, about meaningless things. He was sure his counterpart wasn’t listening, but he didn’t care too much.
The air cooled as night settled in, and when it was dark enough, Yoshida hoisted the other boy up and pulled him along once more. The boy kept his eyes low as they walked before stopping in front of an old woman’s house. It was a shame, Yoshida would look back ever so often, hoping to catch a glimpse of their glow.
“She’s got a fat old cat, she keeps it outside,” Yoshida said as he walked right up to her porch and looked under the stairs. When he’d walked to school in the mornings, he’d seen the cat un-wedge itself from a little crack there.
Yoshida knelt by the entrance, lips curling into a soft cooing sound, almost unnatural in its gentleness. The cat’s eyes glowed in darkness and narrowed with curiosity at the boy’s ministrations. “Good kitty.” He coaxed, outstretching his palm until the cat, after struggling to free itself, nuzzled into his fingers.
From behind, Yoshida could feel the boy’s eyes boring into him. He wondered how the child hadn’t been driven mad by his hunger. According to his, albeit limited, knowledge of vampires, they were bloodthirsty creatures, and a starved one was a death sentence for any unlucky being who came upon it. Maybe it was restraint on the boy’s part.
Yoshida picked up the cat and stroked it’s matted gray fur, and it purred in his arms. “You can eat this, can’t you?” His voice was deceptively calm for the situation, and its overall bizarreness was not lost on him. When Yoshida tried to give the cat over to the boy, he made no motions to take it from him.
“Are you refusing?” Yoshida teased, waving the mewing cat in the boy’s face. The boy threw his head away, wrinkling his upturned nose. He would eat rats but was too good for a cat? Yoshida huffed and let the cat leap from his arms. It nuzzled against his leg for a short while afterward until it realized it wouldn’t be getting more attention, and darted away from the pair.
“N-no cats or dogs…” The boy forced out. Despite his voice’s weakness, it was said with conviction.
Yoshida put his hand to his chin and thought for a bit. There weren’t any other large animals around aside from strays and people’s pets, what other options were there?
He smiled when the thought dawned on him.
“What’s your name?” Yoshida asked. If they were to go through with his next plan, they might as well get to know each other better.
Silence.
At his lack of response, Yoshida closed the distance between the two, reached for him, and yanked his ear. “I won’t feed you if you don’t answer.”
“Denji!” The boy spat out.
Yoshida smiled and released his ear. “I’m Yoshida.” He said, grabbing Denji’s wrist again and leading him through the night.
Their second stop took them through a more populated area, flashing lights of bars and clubs lined every street corner. Hues of greens, reds, and blues bathed them as they walked, and music of various genres played out through windows and open doors. They passed drunkards and women whose perfume permeated in the air minutes after they’d gone. Denji, no longer occupied with the ground, took in their every surrounding.
They got a few odd stares, but for the most part people paid them no mind, which was good. At a corner behind a dumpster, shielded just enough from the main view of the street, they stopped in front of a sleeping homeless man. The smell of booze wafted from his body, and discarded bottles lay beside him.
“Here.” Yoshida gestured to the man, and Denji’s eyes widened at the suggestion. It was a funny thing to consider, the fact that a vampire was shocked at a human’s lack of feeling towards another.
“It’s alright, no one can see.” He said, quickly turning his head and checking to make sure no one was approaching. Denji stepped towards the man, but hesitated. It was no wonder how he was near starved. He considered his next words carefully.
“He’s not innocent if that’s what you're worried about. I’ve come around here before with my dad,” He said, while crouching down to poke at the man's body, seeing if he’d stir. He was out, not dead, but not alive enough to put up a fight. “He harasses women on the street. The youngest I think he’s gone for were maybe… middle school girls?”
That was it. Denji’s movements were still tentative and unsure, but he’d moved either way. Yoshida couldn’t help the sense of satisfaction that washed over him as Denji kneeled over the man’s body.
He started slowly, and Yoshida could see the way he struggled with himself, between need and fear. The moment he abandoned his struggle was evident, almost like a dam breaking. He latched onto the man’s neck. His hands dug so deeply into the man's shoulders that blood was drawn from there as well.
The bite itself was violent and the way his jaw twisted and pulled at skin and muscle was much too strong for anything human.
It was mesmerizing.
The metallic smell of blood filled the air, along with the noise. Gurgling, crunching, and the wet tearing of flesh, with the growling and ragged breathing of Denji. Yoshida didn’t know exactly when the man had woken up, but he couldn’t imagine one would sleep through having their neck torn open.
When the screaming started Yoshida stepped away, with his back to the scene. Hopefully, he’d be able to deter any curious inquiry, but in this part of town, it wasn't much of a worry.
The raw screams ebbed until eventual quiet, but the squelching, slurping, and chewing continued.
It went completely silent and again Yoshida felt tugging at his shirt hem.
“You're done?” He asked, turning to Denji. The boy nodded and Yoshida studied him. Wiping with a handkerchief wouldn’t fix this. The blood covered his face, his hands, his clothing, and a few chunks of meat somehow found their way into his hair.
Yoshida looked back into the street. No amount of people simply minding their business could cover up a bloodied child.
“You’re going to get me into a lot of trouble huh Denji?” Yoshida asked. He pulled off his bag again, grabbing what work he could, and anything else that could identify him, he dumped the rest onto the ground. He threw the bag over Denji’s head, letting the top flap fall over his front.
The two ventured out of the alley, hopeful that no one would pay much mind to their clasped, red hands.
Yoshida vaguely wondered if this was the same feeling of satisfaction people got when helping strays.
They arrived at Yoshida’s house, it was a decently sized house, but all the lights were out, and it was silent apart from the buzzing and cricking of bugs surrounding the building. After pulling a key from under the rug Yoshida let them in.
He left Denji at the door and ran him a bath, grabbing anything needed. He grabbed a rubber duck and laughed to himself before tossing it in the tub. When he went back to fetch Denji, he found him unmoved with the randoseru still covering his head.
“Why didn’t you take it off?” He asked teasingly as he pulled it off of the other boy. Denji shrugged rather than answer.
While Denji was in the bath he pulled out a sleeping bag, and when he was done with that, he was left alone with his thoughts.
It felt wrong– well that’s not right. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t feel anything other than giddiness, exhilaration even. He giggled until that faded into maniacal, joyous, laughter. He threw himself onto his bed and covered his mouth in the hopes that he’d be able to contain himself even a little, but he just couldn’t.
Eventually, he calmed down, and he heard faint splashing, and if his ears weren’t deceiving him, soft laughing coming from the bathroom. Denji spent a while in the bath, and Yoshida would’ve been worried if not for the noise he made.
He eventually heard the tub draining, and later footsteps padding around the hallway, looking for Yoshida.
“In here!” he called, voice too happy for any of the day's events. Denji made his way into Yoshida’s room, and Yoshida gestured toward the sleeping bag on the ground near his bed.
Denji plopped onto the sleeping bag wordlessly, and lay there for a bit, staring at the ceiling as Yoshida watched him. He turned and met Yoshida’s eyes.
“Thanks.” Then he turned on his side and was snoring away.
He leaned against his headboard and a smile played on his lips as he watched the boy drift off fairly quickly before reaching his lamp atop the nightstand.
“Goodnight Denji.” He whispered. Turning in bed, he let the sound of Denji’s uneven breath lull him to sleep.