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Shuichi’s throat itched and his head was aching. He hadn’t been able to drink for the entire killing game and it was finally catching up to him. He may have eaten breakfast with everyone on a daily basis, but it provided no nutrition. That was because Shuichi Saihara was a vampire.
Shuichi’s body felt heavy as he dragged himself toward the dining hall. When he woke up, his head was pounding and he could barely move. He was getting toward his limit, if he couldn’t drink something soon, he wouldn’t be able to resist his more animalistic impulses anymore.
Shuichi was already struggling to hold himself together around his friends. Involuntarily, his mouth would start watering and he had to force himself to not jump onto and bite into one of them.
Shuichi stumbled toward the door to the dining hall, but he suddenly hesitated. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to control himself around everyone. In his fear, Shuichi dragged himself away from the door.
Shuichi wandered back towards the dorm, figuring everyone else was already in the dining hall. He needed to be away from everyone until he could figure out how to get a grip on himself. Shuichi slammed the door to the dorm building behind him.
“Dammit, I need to get it together, but…” Shuichi hissed at himself, voice trailing off. He stumbled to the wall, needed to hold himself up as he was light-headed.
“Hmm, what are you doing, Saihara-chan?” A childish voice suddenly appeared behind Shuichi.
“Nothing.” Shuichi looked at his feet. He didn’t want to look Ouma in the eyes like this.
“Oh, really? I find that hard to believe.” Ouma came closer to Shuichi, making it impossible to not look at him.
“Ouma, go away.” Shuichi growled. This guy seriously knew how to annoy people at the wrong times.
Ouma laughed, “Are you turning feral, Saihara-chan?”
“No. Get out of here.”
“You’re so mean to me! What did I ever do to you.” Ouma poked Shuichi in the face. He did it with the hand that Shuichi had bandaged after Ouma had cut himself playing the knife game. Shuichi’s mouth watered thinking of the blood spilling from the cut.
“Saihara-chan, why are you drooling?” Ouma made a face that said no matter what Shuichi’s response was, he’d make it into a joke.
“I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten in a while.” Shuichi decided to tell a version of the truth.
“Huuuh? But then why are you running away from breakfast?” Ouma somehow got even closer to Shuichi. He felt his face heat up at the proximity. But his embarrassment aside, the proximity was also making it harder for him to control himself.
“God, Ouma, I—” Shuichi gripped his hair in desperation. It was almost too much, if he didn’t get out of here now he didn’t know what would happen. His head was pounding and his legs were shaking.
“…Saihara-chan?” Ouma’s voice was surprisingly concerned.
“Please get away from me.” Shuichi choked out.
Ouma didn’t move, nor did he say anything. He just continued staring at Shuichi. Slowly, he backed up a few steps, but he was still far too close.
“I’m serious. I-if you don’t get away, I’ll—” Shuichi couldn’t get the words out properly. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees. Shuichi’s grip on his hair tightened and he curled into himself.
“Bite him. He’s not suspecting it, if you pounce on him he won’t be able to escape.” A voice in Shuichi’s head whispered. He didn’t want to listen to it, but if he didn’t he would probably pass out. Actually, he might be dead within a week.
“Hey Saihara-chan, this isn’t a good joke. Seriously.” Ouma tried to sound nonchalant, but his worry snuck into his voice.
“Fuck, I—” Shuichi couldn’t finished before in involuntarily leaped at Ouma. His mind resigned to its lack of control as he held down the smaller boy and sank his teeth into his neck.
“Fuck, what the hell?!” Ouma shouted, pain and confusion in his voice. Shuichi didn’t respond, he continued sucking the blood out of Ouma’s wound. “Seriously, what the hell are you doing?!”
Shuichi stopped and pulled away from Ouma. He wasn’t starving anymore, meaning he was able to think clearly again. “I— I don’t…”
Ouma was glaring at him while he backed away, gripping his neck. He was rightfully pissed off, but there was something else to his expression that Shuichi couldn’t quite grasp.
“I’m…” Shuichi knew there was no way out of this. Telling Ouma the truth was the only way the other boy would let him go, he’d be able to tell if Shuichi lied in an instant, but he’d wanted so desperately to keep it a secret. Even so, he didn’t have another option… “I’m… I’m a vampire.”
Ouma stared at him like he’d grown another head. “That’s a pretty shitty lie, Saihara.”
Shuichi winced a bit at the cold way Ouma said his name. “It’s not a lie, I really am. You could tell if it’s a lie, right?”
The two just stared at each other in silence for a moment. Kokichi’s stone expression was unchanging and he wouldn’t move an inch.
“I’m… I’m sorry for biting you. I haven’t been able to drink anything since the game started so… it’s been getting hard to control myself.” Shuichi couldn’t meet Ouma’s gaze.
“So you’ve been starving yourself this whole time? We’ve been here for two months.”
“I don’t need to drink as often as humans have to eat.”
“Hmm…” Ouma looked thoughtful for a moment. “Okay, I believe you!”
“I— wait what?”
Ouma grinned at him, “Yep, you’ve convinced me! Sooo, since I’m the only one who knows Saihara-chan’s darkest secret…”
Oh, so that was his game. Shuichi sighed.
“Don’t make that face at me, beloved. I won’t spill.”
“Huh? But aren’t I… a danger to everyone?”
“Maybe a little, but that just makes the game more interesting! Plus, I doubt someone like you would have the balls to pull something. After all, you only attacked me because you were about to starve to death, it’s almost pathetic.” Ouma laughed at him for a moment.
Shuichi shrunk into himself in embarrassment. Ouma teasing him was nothing new, but his emotions were currently all over the place so he wasn’t taking it great.
“Umm, Ouma, look…” Shuichi trailed off, not sure how to word his request.
“Hmm? Spit it out already.”
“Listen, I don’t want anyone to know about this so… c-can I drink from you when necessary?” Shuichi had managed to stun Ouma for once, which was a feat in itself, but it also made him panic. “I mean, I don’t have to obviously. I’ll figure something else out so—”
“Saihara-chan can drink from me if he wants.” Ouma stated flatly. This time, it was Shuichi who was stunned. “The killing game would be so boring if my favorite person died from something as lame as starvation.”
“Ah, okay… Thank you, Ouma-kun.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m doing you a huge favor or anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…” Ouma got back into Shuichi’s face, close enough that they could feel each other’s breath. He gave Shuichi a smirk. “What if I told you I liked being bitten?”
Oh. So that was what that expression Shuichi couldn’t figure out was.
“Well, I’ve got places to be now. Cya, Saihara-chan!” Suddenly, with a flourish, Ouma began running off, leaving Shuichi somewhat disoriented.
“Wait, Kokichi!” Shuichi knew using the other boy’s first name so suddenly was a dirty tactic, but he couldn’t just let Ouma run off now.
“Hmm, what is it?”
“I…” Shuichi hesitated, unsure of how to word what he was feeling. “No, nevermind. Now isn’t the time.”
“What a waste of time.” Ouma yawned and checked out his nails. “Make sure you say something less boring next time. Bye-bye, Shuichi!”
With that, he ran off. It didn’t escape Shuichi how Ouma had used his first name. He didn’t like how it made his heart squeeze, but being stuck in a place like this made those kinds of feelings… not ideal.
Regardless, Shuichi felt more at ease than before. Part of it was the fact that he was no longer starving, but it was mostly how little Ouma had seemed to care about Shuichi’s vampirism once he’d accepted it was real. There was also that comment about how he liked being bitten too…
Shuichi wasn’t sure how exactly, but it felt like something in their dynamic had just shifted dramatically.