Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“We want you out by the end of the week.” Mum says. Techno looks over from his bed, pausing in his typing. His college acceptance letter on screen with a big ‘congratulations’ written with bolded letters.

“School doesn’t start for the next two months.” Techno replies. He doesn’t fight it, knowing there’s no reason too. His parents have been warning him since he turned seventeen that he won’t be allowed to live here after he turns eighteen. His birthday was a week ago. If anything he’s been waiting for the reminder that his time is up.

Mum just frowns, flicking her hair out of her face. “We told you—“

“I’ll pay rent.” Techno cuts in, shutting his laptop closed. “I got into the dorms but they don’t open until a few weeks. I just need a little more time.” He states as he stands.

Mum looks over at his closed laptop, then over at him. “Keep your money for when you move.” She sighs before leaving the doorway. Techno lets his shoulders relax as he looks around his room. There’s no way all of his stuff is going to fit in a shared dorm. He’ll probably need to rent out a storage space. Or beg his father to let him keep his stuff here.

…He should start looking for a job to pay for storage space.

“One room with three beds please.” Ranboo says. The receptionist looks up from her computer, pausing at the sight of all three of them. Her grey hair is tied back, white steaks showing throughout. Her glasses had those tassels that went around the head in case they were to fall off. Her necks exposed, blood pumping through her hearts major arteries—

Techno shuffles on his feet, choosing to look anywhere that wasn’t at the person in front of them. There’s a vending machine in the lobby and a fish tank. His eyes catch onto a small one swimming awkwardly. It probably injured its fin somehow.

“I need to see some ID.” The lady says as she clicks something on her computer.

“Right here.” Ranboo digs through his pockets, taking out his wallet. He opens it up and hands it over.

The lady looks down at it, humming. “How long do you plan on—“

“The week.” Tommy cuts in from beside him. A duffel bag is thrown over his shoulder. Carrying everything they owned. Turns out running from the cops causes people to kind of forget to bring their luggage. Though, Techno never had much to begin with.

“Well, we don’t have any three bedded rooms. We have one with a queen and a twin sized bed. Or two connected rooms with one having a single bed and the other a double.” The receptionist explains as she hands Ranboo back his ID.

Techno gets a glance at it, eyeing the spot where it says he’s twenty one. He narrows his eyes at it, looking up at the guy. He does pull off being in his early twenties. If you squint. “We’ll take the one room—“

“Two bedrooms.” Techno cuts in, shoving past the other. Ranboo makes a sputtering sound as he slaps a few bills down on the counter. “I’ll be taking the one with the single bed. Please.” He states.

He can feel daggers being stared into his back as the lady turns to her computer to type in the request. When the keys are handed over Techno quickly takes his and starts heading towards the elevators before she even tells him which floor they’re on. The number three is on his key, so it’ll probably be the last floor of the motel. He only slows to a stop when he presses the elevator button. 

It gives Tommy and Ranboo enough time to catch back up with him. “What the hell was that about?” Tommy asks, pushing his way in front of him. 

“What?” He huffs, turning his key over in his hands.

Tommy scrunches up his nose. “You know what I mean!”

“Your change.” Ranboo interrupts, reaching his hand out. A few quarters.

“Thanks.” Techno nods, accepting the money. The elevator doors open, all three of them shuffling inside.

Tommy crosses his arms over his chest as Ranboo presses the floor number. “You can’t just spend money like that for unnecessary things. We could have shared a room.” He says. The elevator dings at the second floor.

Techno looks from Tommy to Ranboo, who seems to have chosen to not get involved. Good, it’s not a one vs two. “Ranboo gave me this money to spend on a motel room and bus fare. That’s what I’m doing.” He explains. The elevator dings at the third floor, doors sliding open. Techno walks out, Tommy right beside him.

“What about food? Clothes? A new phone?” Tommy says, waving his hands around. “We're literally on the run with nothing but a single bag. You don’t even have a change of clothes!”

“And I’ll buy some new clothes tomorrow with the leftover change. You two can buy food while I dine on…whatever I find.” Techno shrugs as he stabs his key into his room's door.

Tommy looks like he’s going to pull his hair out. Thankfully Ranboo steps in, unlocking the door beside him. “It’s not Techno’s job to worry about our money situation.” Ranboo says, pushing the door open.

“What’s so bad about sharing a room?” Tommy huffs. He then gestures at him, like that would make some sort of point. “And what about midnight feedings? How are you supposed to feed him when he’s locked himself in a different room?”

“That’s the point.” Techno rolls his eyes, wrenching his door open. “It’s called ‘I want some privacy and to not get woken up at three in the morning just to drink some blood’. I think you two should learn it.” He huffs as he walks into his motel room. Before Tommy could go off on him he shuts the door behind himself, locking it.

Once the door’s closes Techno lets his body relax, eyes roaming around the small dark motel room. He hears a distant curse muffled by a door. There’s a stench in the still air, a thin layer of dust lining the surface of the small table in the kitchenette. 

“Sleep.” Techno sighs while kicking off his shoes. “Finally…” He walks sluggishly over towards the bed, collapsing into the covers. There’s a mint on the pillow that he tosses off the side. He really doesn’t mean to be so combative with Tommy and Ranboo it’s just…

Since deciding to stick together Tommy’s been getting on his nerves. It’s always ‘don’t eat that’, ‘keep your head down’ and ‘stop trying to rip my arm off’. Which, the last one sounds kind of fair. But he still isn’t used to the whole being looked after thing. Even before going to college Techno wasn’t really taken care of so intently. 

It’s overbearing at times.

Techno rolls onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. There’s water damage, a yellowing colour forming at where the ceiling hits the wall. He grimaces, closing his eyes as he rolls onto his side.

He wakes up to the sound of soft knocking. Blinking his eyes open he peers around the room. The noise isn’t coming from the front door. He turns his attention to the door connecting his room to Tommy and Ranboo’s. He lays there, staring. Another soft knock comes from the door.

“It’s the middle of the night!” Techno groans, pushing his face into the pillow. He should have remembered to lock that one too.

The door creaks open, Ranboo peeking his head in. “Sorry.” He whispers, walking into the room. “It’s just—your uh…feeding timer went off.” Ranboo says as he makes his way over towards the bed.

A timer? “Really?” He questions, looking up. “I’m not a newborn baby.”

“You are technically only a month and two weeks old in vampirism.” Ranboo states, sitting down on the edge. He rolls up his shirt sleeve, offering it over. “And you need to eat multiple times a day and at least once during the night to not starve. You're more hungry than you were before.” He says.

Even with the explanation it still sounds infantilizing. “I’m tired, is what I am.” Techno replies, pushing the arm offered to him away.

“And you're going to be more pissed than tired in the morning if you don’t at least have something now.” Ranboo says, shifting in his spot. His arm is pressed up against his lips and for a few seconds Techno’s able to resist.

Then he hears the sound of blood flowing through Ranboo’s wrist and his mouth begins to water. Before another second could pass he’s biting down on Ranboo’s wrist. Ranboo flinches, his blood flowing into his mouth. Grabbing Ranboo’s arm he pulls him closer.

It tastes like iron. If iron was the most delicious thing in the world, that is. Nectar from some sort of delicious fruit tree. A blood fruit tree. Its name is Ranboo. Letting go of the arm in front of him, Techno rolls onto his back. He licks his lips. Ranboo takes out a rag and wipes his face. 

“This is humiliating.” Techno mumbles. Utterly humiliating. He thought he was done with the babying after he was done fledging? 

Ranboo pulls back. “I’m sorry.” He says, standing up. “It’s just…I can’t help but want to make sure you're okay.” Like a pet who’s fallen over, he wants to snark back. 

He wants to say that he doesn’t care, that it’s not needed, that he’s fine. But those aren’t the words that come out. If only because he doesn’t think he’d be alright on his own after everything that’s happened. “You’d be the only one.” Techno whispers, eyes going half lidded. “My parents wouldn’t go through all this trouble.” He complains.

Ranboo inhales roughly, staring down at him as if he grew another head. “Well I guess that’s the difference between me and them.” He whispers. Ranboo fixes up the blankets around him before taking a step back. He starts cleaning up the now healed bite marks on his arm as he walks over to the door connecting their two rooms. “Goodnight, fledgling.”

“Night, Ranboo.” Techno yawns, closing his eyes. 

“We need to buy some clothes.” Tommy says as he taps at his phone. “The only extra I have is covered in vomit.” Tommy looks over at him, nose scrunched up.

Techno chooses to pretend Tommy wasn’t aiming that at him. “My condolences.” He waves the other off. Tommy splutters.

Ranboo walks out of the bathroom, eyeing the two of them before he sits down on the edge of his bed. “I can go to an ATM today and pull what I can. Though I’m sure our descriptions are all over the vampiric community by now.” He speaks up as he leans on his elbows. “It’s not everyday a fledgling is making the news.”

“Why?” Techno asks from his position on Ranboo’s bed. He knows fledglings are uncommon. You're lucky to meet one in your lifetime, but he didn’t think running off would cause this much of a problem.

Tommy scoffs, rolling his eyes as he opens up the fridge. “Fledglings are important to us. They remind a lot of people of their once forgotten mortality. The feeling of experiencing things for the first time. Of innocents we don’t have the luxury of having. So a fledgling being ‘kidnapped’ and possibly hurt sends off alarm bells to everyone.” He explains. He pulls out a dirty cup from the fridge, grimacing.

It makes a little sense. Still, there’s a lot of questions regarding all of that. “Then why didn’t you all make fledglings before? Like, the older vampires.” The ones who didn’t have to worry about guns and going to jail.

“A lot of people weren’t really…healthy back then.” Ranboo answers as he takes out his phone. “Fledglings' death rates were too high. And a lot of vampires only turned people they liked, so no one wanted to risk them dying. Also the whole ‘I’m going to hate you for the rest of my immortal life’ kind of stopped a lot of people.” He adds offhandedly. Ranboo turns his phone over, showing a google maps location.

Techno pushes off the bed and walks over, getting a closer look. It’s a clothes shop, out of the way. Probably owning a lot of no named brands. “This will be our best bet for a cheap place to head to.” Ranboo states.

Tommy walks over, checking it out. “I’ll take Techno while you go to the ATM. We should be finished by the time you come in to pay.” Tommy says as he walks towards his shoes. He slips them on, stuffing the laces into the sides.

“You're going to trip.” Techno deadpans as he heads to the door joining there rooms. Tommy waves him off as he enters his side of the double motel space. He slips his own shoes on, making sure to tie them tight. He gets back to Tommy’s and Ranboo’s side, both of them waiting at the entrance way.

Ranboo opens the door, closing it behind them when they're out. Tommy takes the lead down the hall as Techno follows closely behind. Ranboo stays behind him, like a really tall shadow. The three of them load up into the elevator with one objective in mind. Get clothes, probably some food and figure out where they're going next.

If only life was this simple.

Chapter Text

Getting a call in the middle of the night always led to trouble. Phil knows this would be no different, when he turns in his bed to grab the phone off of the bedside table. Checking the caller ID quickly before answering, he sits up in his bed. “What?” Phil answers.

He’s already making his way out from underneath the covers by the time the person replies. “We got a new case for you to work on.” Eliza says. She sounds anxious, fed up. Trouble.

Sighing, Phil heads towards his closest to get out his uniform. “Who’s dead?” He asks. It’s usually those types of cases that have the precinct calling him at ungodly hours. A vampire loses control and eats a poor soul walking the streets at night. That or vampires are causing trouble when they really shouldn’t be.

Or should, in some cases. But it wasn’t Phil’s job to point out the difference. It was his job to do as he’s told, or explain that shoving his nose in the business was a worse idea.

Eliza takes a few seconds to answer. “FCS contacted us about a kidnapped fledgling. There’s two suspects so far, both vampires. We’re unsure of the kidnappers intentions. It could be one of those misunderstandings—“

“I’m on my way.” Phil cuts her off, hurrying to finish changing. He doesn’t wait for a reply as he hangs up the phone. Phil’s out of the house in ten minutes, driving down the highway to the precinct.

No wonder they called him this late. Fledglings were a hassle on their own. The little shits never know what’s good for them. Especially the older ones. The ones who grew up a lifetime as a human, forced to see the next hundred years with new eyes.

Parking outside of the precinct, Phil checks his phone for any more messages. Nothing comes up. Clicking on Tommy’s contact, he isn’t surprised to see nothing there. It hurts, but it’s a pain he no longer remembers ever being without. His kid’s grown, he thinks he has it all figured out. He’ll come back when he needs to. When there’s no choice but to talk.

Walking into the precinct, Phil is met with Eliza. Her arms are crossed, eyes narrowed. “You were speeding.” She states, starting to walk off.

He follows. “You said a fledgling is involved.” He says back. “I didn’t hit anyone, if that’s what’s got you twisted.”

Eliza scoffs, rolling her eyes. They enter one of the conference rooms. Usually reserved for active cases with a lot of evidence. A place to scatter files and photos out of public view. There’s a single picture on the table and next to it, an almost empty file. Picking up the photo, Phil’s met with a pink haired man with brunette roots. The photo looks like it was taken for a high school graduation. “Who’s he?”

“That’s Techno Billiam Blade. He was in a car accident around a week ago. The Fledgling Care Services were supposed to take him in but then he was taken by two adolescent appearing vampires.” Eliza explains as she opens up the bare bones file.

Setting the photo down, Phil looks over the papers. Basic medical records, placement of the bites… “He was bitten twice?” Phil asks.

“Two different vampires, actually. The marks are slightly different. Sadly the medical team didn’t take any DNA swabs.” She says.

“So his sires took him.” Phil states. Two bites, two potential kidnappers.

“We’re not sure. They didn’t wait for the ambulance. The guy had a DNB.” She replies.

That made sense. Guy gets into a car accident, vampires show up, bite him and then flee the scene. He’s seen this happen way too many times to count. It usually doesn’t end too well for the fledgling. “You want me to find these guys and bring the fledgling back to FCS custody.” He says, guessing where this case was going. Predictable.

“Yes.” Eliza answers. She closes the file and hands it over. “FCS will be contacting you later on. They have Rosa Kine and Harold Carnell working on this case as well.” Phil couldn’t hold back the disgusted look that crosses his face at the names. Not those two. Eliza catches this and sighs. “Ms Kine was very adamant.”

“Of course she was.” Phil groans, hand clenching around the file. “She chases more fledglings away then she does actually caring for them.” He scoffs. “Harold is no better. Have you seen him manhandle fledglings?“

“It’s not my place to gossip, Phil.” She says, turning to leave. She pauses at the door, frowning. “I hope you find him before they do.” She leaves him then.

It’s two days later when Phil gets a call. He’s at his desk at the precinct, files spread across the surface. He’s waiting on a call from the college SMP’s security team to get back to him on his request for their CTV footage. He almost doesn’t answer it, frustrations growing at the lack of progress he’s made on this case.

Glancing over at the screen, Phil almost chokes on his own spit at seeing Tommy’s name. Scrambling to grab the phone, he ends up knocking a few papers off of his desk. People look over but he gives them no mind. Swiping accept, he holds the phone up to his ear. “Hey mate—“

He’s cut off, Tommy’s voice hurried. “My fledgling is dying and I don’t know what to do.” He rambles out.

Phil almost drops the phone. Looking around quickly, he stands from his desk and makes his way to the hallway. Out of earshot from any prying ears. “Start from the start.” He orders. His fledgling had a fledgling? He has a grandchild? Who? When? Why hasn’t Tommy come to him before it got this far?

“Me and Ranboo found them in a car crash.” Tommy exhales. Phil blinks, shoulders rising. His breath hitches, but he doesn’t let himself be heard. There’s noise in the background. Crying. “We both bit them. They started fledgling three days ago. Their temp was above forty last time I checked. They won’t keep anything down and are in constant pain.” Tommy says.

Too much is adding up. It would be stupid of him to not make the connection. But that isn’t important right now. Thinking over what he knows, from Tommy and his experiences, Phil tries to figure out what could be done here. “Start an ice bath. Lower their temperature as gradually as you can.” He explains quickly.

Phil speed walks into one of the research rooms. He boots up the computer, cursing silently for it to hurry up. Once it opens, he clicks on the program he’s looking for and plugs it into his phone. “Keep them hydrated, a few sips at a time. After they can keep water down, feed them a little blood. Where are you?” Phil finishes.

Keep talking, Tommy. He just needs a minute. “Thanks, Tommy.” Tommy says.

“Tommy.” Phil breaths. His eyes stuck on the loading bar. Just a few more seconds… “Where are you?” He asks again.

“I’ll send a Christmas postcard.” Tommy huffs, hanging up the phone. Phil stares at the incomplete loading bar. He then promptly grabs the chair beside him and throws it against the nearest wall. Hissing, Phil grabs tighter onto his phone.

“So it takes a dying man for you to call me?” Phil growls. A tear breaks free from his eyes, rolling down his cheek. Pocketing his phone, he takes a deep breath in. It’s been a lifetime, he can wait a few more weeks. The wait would be worth it now. Now that he knows who took that fledgling from FCS.

“Techno Billiam Blade…my grandson.” Phil whispers to himself. He didn’t think he’d ever see the day where he once again was made a grandfather.

“So this is the best option?” Techno asks, looking over the racks. It was your stereotypical thrift store. Don’t get him wrong, Techno’s spent plenty of weekends sorting through for potential good finds in stores like this. A college kid is notorious for being broke and eating ramen for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Didn’t make this place any better. These options were making the past thrift stores he’s been to look like Gucci and Prada. “What? You're too good for hand-me-downs?” Tommy asks. He looks over from his own sorting, eyebrow raised.

“I’m too good for hand-me-downs that have been handed down five generations.” Techno replies. “Everything here looks so vintage. Vintage and broken.” He says, moving onto another rack. There were a few people wandering around the store. All of them looked old enough to be his grandfather. The old metal band posters on the wall and the brown carpeted floor that looks like it was supposed to be two shades lighter didn’t help.

“Vintage?” Tommy scoffs. He grabs a leather sweater and pulls it out. “These are all practically brand new!” He yells, shoving the sweater in his face. “It just needs a little patching up!”

“Look who’s talking.” Techno sputter, shoving the piece of clothing away.

Tommy scowls, hanging the sweater back up. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Looking the other up and down, Techno rolls his eyes. “You're a dinosaur, Tommy. These are all things my grandparents would wear and call ‘hip with the kids’.” He explains.

Tommy looks at him, then around the store. Like he just realized nothing here fit the time period. “Ah…”

“I mean, did you actually wear this stuff?” Techno asks. He goes back to the racks. He couldn’t be that picky, really. Was this really the only thrift store in the area? He feels like Ranboo was setting him up. Tommy looks away. Techno waits for a reply, only for there to be none. “Tommy?” He voices, looking over.

Tommy’s now a few feet away, bending over a wooden table. Walking over, he’s met with vinyl records. Some were chipped, others in pretty good condition. Those were the pricier ones. “I used to have a collection of these, you know.” Tommy says, picking one up carefully. “All the originals. I even had The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.”

Techno goes to poke fun at the fact Tommy listened to The Beatles on vinyl, but stops himself. Tommy’s looking at the vinyls as if they held meaning. A soft smile on his features. Turning to the records, Techno picks one up. Making sure to be careful with it. “I grew up with The Beatles.” He states.

“You did?” Tommy asks.

Nodding, Techno remembers back. “Any time I went to my grandparents house they would blare ‘Yellow Submarine’. They had other songs from The Beatles, but that’s the only one I really remember. They had a vhs collection like no other. My grandfather always made me listen to older mental and rock bands. Said no grandson of his was going to be uncultured.”

“He was a smart man.” Tommy replies. He pauses, eyes flicking from Techno down to the records. “Where is he now?” He asks.

Setting down the vinyl record, Techno turns away from it. “Probably off with his new granddaughter or something. Too busy reliving the younger years with her, you know?” Techno says.

There’s no point in thinking about it. Not when it creates a pit in his stomach that has him wanting to throw up. Techno had his time with the man. He’s grown, self-sufficient. So what does it matter that he doesn’t see the man anymore? That he wishes he could have had more time? His grandfather has a new family in his baby cousin. It’s her time with him. Like with everyone else, Techno’s turn was over. Techno returns to the clothing racks. 

It takes a while but soon enough Techno has a collection of clothing he feels like weren’t totally old school. Enough to get him by, at least. Tommy pays, making a face at the receipt as they leave with their bags.

“If you say everything is so expensive now, I’m going to make fun of you.” Techno states as they walk across the parking lot. 

“It’s not my fault that it is!” Tommy yells, shoving the receipt in one of the bags. Cracking a smile at the other, he goes to call him old. Only for Tommy to flip him off before he could. “Anyways, you hungry?”

Eyes widening, Techno takes a few steps to the side. “I don’t want any blood—“

“I’m not asking about that! If you let me fucking finish, I was going to say we could order something from one of the food stalls.” Tommy hisses, gesturing off towards the street.

“Oh.” Techno mumbles. “Alright.”

Tommy leads them to a hotdog vendor. He passes over the bags he’s carrying so he can get out his wallet. “I’ll have two hotdogs.” Tommy says, handing over a twenty dollar bill. The vendor hands over the change and starts getting their order ready.

As they wait, Techno walks over to the shade underneath a nearby tree. He sets down the begs near his feet. Resting his back against the tree, he shuts his eyes. A headache was starting to form and he could only guess it was from the sun. A minute passes before he feels a tap on his shoulder.

Opening his eyes he finds that the person in front of him isn’t Tommy. Or Ranboo, for that matter. “Hello Dear.” An older woman smiles. She’s wearing a sun hat and sun glasses, her purse hung over her shoulder. She looks like the woman his mother taught him to seek out if he was ever lost.

“Uh, hello.” Techno greets back, fixing his posture. “Can I help you?” Was she lost? He doesn’t have a phone anymore, so he’d be no help in giving directions. 

He feels her eyes move across him, like the sunglasses were invisible to him. “I’m sorry to be so blunt, but do you need help?” She asks, reaching out slightly. She stops herself before she touches him, her hand hovering between them. “I was watching the news the other day. I think you should come with me.”

Wait, what? News? “I’m fine, mam.” Techno tries to take a step back. Only to bump into the tree behind him. Her hands close around his wrist and he feels something shift. The air grows thick, suffocating.

She wasn’t human.

Techno digs his heels into the ground but it does nothing to match the vampire's strength. She’s talking in a soft voice, eyes kind as she drags him away. His mind froze, not able to catch up to what was happening around him. She’s a vampire, he just knows this. Even without the strength of her grip. She’s a vampire and for some reason, his feet won’t move. Won’t listen. What was wrong with him? 

They're a few feet away when the hand around his wrist is grabbed. The woman hisses, only for a louder scratchier hiss to meet his ears. For a second his heart stops, limbs locking in place. He’s in danger, isn’t he? This is a bad situation. Where…where’s Tommy—

“Let go of him.” Tommy demands, nails digging into the woman's arm.

The lady does as she’s told, though it doesn’t deter her very much. She turns her attention onto Tommy, baring her fangs as she throws herself at him. “You leave this poor fledgling alone!” She growls, sharp nails aimed at Tommy. The situation smashes into him, forcing his mind to catch up. He stumbles to the side. 

Tommy scoffs. “He’s mine, you bitch!” He yells. He lunges towards her.

What the hell is happening!? “What’s going on!?” Techno screams. His voice shocks the two vampires, stopping them before they could get close enough to do damage. He tries to point at the two of them but his hands are shaking.

The woman tries to get closer, reaching out for his outstretched hand. Tommy forces himself between them. “Fuck off lady.”

“I’m not having you take advantage of him!” She yells.

“No one's taking advantage of me!” Techno yells back. He walks out from behind Tommy, ignoring the look the blonde shoots him. “What is this about!?”

The woman points at Tommy. “He kidnapped you! I saw it on the news.” She states.

Techno pauses, then looks over at Tommy. Who looks seconds away from pulling out his own hair. “I chose to stay with him.” Techno deadpans.

“And he’s my fledgling. You can’t kidnap your own fledgling!” Tommy huffs.

“Is this true?” The woman asks, realization drawing on her. Any heat from the potential ‘threat’ leaving her at the words.

Sighing, Techno nods. “Tommy’s like, my sire? Or something? He made me.” He says, shrugging. “Wouldn’t be my first choice…”

“Hey!” Tommy yells.

“Well this is embarrassing.” The woman chuckles awkwardly. “The news said—“

“The news is a bunch of bullshit." Tommy cuts her off. “Techno’s my fledgling. He’s in no danger.”

The other nods, fixing her purse on her shoulder. “Of course, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.” She says. Turning her attention to him, her soft smile returns. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” She apologizes. Techno hums. The vampire leaves.

“…I have questions.” Techno says. Walking back over to his bags, he picks them up off the ground. 

“I’ll answer them later.” Tommy sighs, rubbing his temples. “I need a drink.” 

Being a vampire sucks. It’s like gaining an iron deficiency without the actual iron deficiency. He’s tired and all he wants to do is sleep. A half an hour nap would do. But Techno had pride and he wasn’t going to give Tommy the satisfaction of taking one.

“You're going to fall asleep and bang your head into the table.” Tommy states. He’s scrolling on his phone perched on the kitchen counter.

“I’m not tired." Techno reiterates for the hundredth time. Even though he really, really is. “And you have questions you have to answer.”

“If I answer them will you go to your side and take a nap?” Tommy asks, looking up from his phone.

“I’ll consider it.” Techno replies.

Tommy pockets his phone. “Fine, ask away.”

Contemplating his first question, Techno chooses the one that freaks him out the most. “I froze.” He says, thinking back to an hour earlier. “When that woman grabbed my wrist. I didn’t even fight her. Why couldn’t I move?”

Tommy nods, eyes softening for a second. “Your fight, flight, freeze and fawn response basically got rewritten when you became a vampire. An older vampire tried taking you, you froze up because you didn’t know what to do. Usually fledglings run towards their sire, because they know they are safe.” He explains.

“Why didn’t I run to you then?” Techno questions.

Tommy scrunches on his nose, looking away. “Because you don’t think I’m a safe person to run to yet.” …oh. Well, that’s something. Damn, it’s awkward now.

The door opens, Ranboo stepping inside. He spots the two of them, catching onto the awkwardness instantly. “What’s wrong?” He asks as he closes the door behind him.

“I almost got kidnapped.” Techno replies.

“You what!?” Ranboo yelps.

He sits up, stretches and turns towards the door leading to his room. “I’m going for a nap. Don’t bother me.” He says, walking away. He hears Ranboo questioning Tommy before he closes the door. Tommy can deal with that. He was too tired anyway.