When he opened his steady eyes again, he’d won; the faint outline of daylight had passed, replaced with the darkness that he knew so well.

Arching a brow with the effort, he turned a shoulder and laid flat on his back, staring at the malformed patterns of the black springs. If he focused hard enough, he could feel the heat of his friends curled body above him. If he listened, he could hear the beautiful rhythm of his heartbeat. He imagined that he could see the warmth of his body in some type of red silhouette throbbing before him…

He felt the two thin pricks of teeth against his own parted lips.

Kei cautiously swallowed in a feeble attempt to will away the hunger, but his cold tongue couldn’t help but sweep at the red dots of precious blood.

It’d been a miserably hot week in Mallepa. Even at night, the earth was teeming with the energy of the sun. On Monday night, Kei had barely taken five steps down the stairs when he’d collapsed in a wisp of smoke.

When he woke up, he was staring at the familiar swirled patterns of the mattress springs.

However, now it was finally free; the heat-wave had subsided yesterday. He took one more day to wait it out; he wanted to make sure all that heat had leaked off into the sky.

His pale arm uncurled from his chest, moving across the carpeting, venturing into the moonlight. A lovely coolness whispered across his knuckles. He smiled.

Sho tossed violently to the left in the bed above, subsequently knocking the springs against Kei’s temple.

He bared his teeth, black eyes tensing as he clutched the side of his face.

Although he appreciated the housing his friend had given him during his hideout, he would be very glad when he was out of this room…more importantly, out from underneath Sho’s bed.

Why?

There had been an… incident on Thursday.

Sho had come home quite drunk. In itself, this wasn’t the problem; it was the girl that had stumbled in after him, just as sloppy and twice as eager to get her clothes off.

Underneath the bed, Kei flinched into consciousness, immediately sensing some type of danger. He immediately prayed for Mafia lackeys (It’d been a while since he’d eaten), but the glimpse of bare legs close together and a symphony of clumsy, low giggles alerted him to an even more terrifying scenario.

When Sho dared to seat himself on the bed, Kei’s knee shot up into the depression in one movement.

Sho had to subsequently excuse himself from further romping, his apology given in a high, pained voice.

Recalling the close-call, Kei’s dark, sleek brows rose up with inspiration.

His knee shot up into the mattresses’ familiar dent.

A normally smooth, low voice yelped in the dark.

|--|----|--|

“Of all the ways to wake a guy up…”

Sho was crouched over the sink in their narrow bathroom, swishing his fingers through his hair and critically eyeing the results of his work in the cracked mirror.

Kei glanced at his friend’s legs and ass framed by the doorway from their bedroom. He cocked an eyebrow, giving his crimson jacket one definitive zip. “Huh. You should talk,” He murmured back, pulling out the soft hood as he turned and walked to their shared nightstand. Just the sight of the simple, black furniture ran a thrill up his back, rejuvenating him to a point that he almost felt his still heart beat.

Going through the motions of eating was laughable to him, although he’d known others of his kind that loved the showmanship of it. He couldn’t fuck anymore, either.

From head to toe, he was numb and divided from the pleasantries of life. However, he could still taste and flex his lungs. Cigarettes were one of the few pleasures he was afforded. Smoking Happei Hunters, imported from Hong-Kong, was the closest thing to he had to sex; the pastime was definitely as luscious and twice as expensive.

Taking this into account, it was not surprising when Kei’s usually smooth movements jerked to a standstill, frozen by anger at finding his carton of Happei Hunter in the cluttered drawer empty and staring back at him with no means of explanation.

There was the vague, faded hiss of Sho’s hairspray.

Kei slowly turned his head, staring at his friend over his shoulder. He was busy waving away the fumes. His jeweled fingers stopped in mid-air, finally registering danger. He cautiously looked sideways at Kei, asking: “Something wrong?”

His friend held up the open, dangling carton with two fingers as he stared back at him.

“Oh…well, didn’t you give those to me? They were in my drawer.”

Kei glared.

Sho sighed hard, dropping his shoulders.

“If you didn’t want me to smoke them, why’d you put them in there?”

“Oh, bullshit!” Kei snapped back, throwing the box at him. His victim flinched as the silver carton pelted him between the eyes. “You knew those were mine!”

“It was in my drawer!” He shouted, defensively bunching his shoulders as he touched his forehead. “And, as crazy as this concept seems to be to you, that’s where my shit goes! If you wanted to keep it to yourself, you should have put it in your own drawer like a normal person!”

Kei’s tense glare fell, eyes flattening with contempt with a short huff. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he moved over to their bed, pushed his wandering foot underneath and fished out an interesting-looking strip of cloth. He punted it across the room.

“So, I suppose under your rules, this belongs to me now, hmn?”

Sho stared at the gold material and looked up, his left eyebrow twitching once.

“Suffice it to say, you claiming my underwear is a bit disturbing.”

“So was Thursday night.”

Sho blinked quickly, a red tint breaking out across his face.

“I-” was the only thing he could articulate before Kei swooped around, showing him his back as he stalked off into the kitchen.

|--|----|--|

Kei was not contemplating something as timeless and honorable as revenge. There was one word racing through his mind with every sense of urgency:

Paybackpaybackpaybackpaybackpayback-

It proved to be unforgettable and maddening. It pumped through his system, tightening his muscles and straining his jaw as he cooked. He jerked the pan around, watching the fluffy eggs lurch and hiss at the movement. Smoke rose up to his eyes and, blink, he mechanically grabbed the spoon at his side and scraped the opaque film off the surface.

He’d have to wait three weeks just to get another pack. Three fucking weeks!

There was no question about it; Sho had to get what was coming to him.

Said culprit slinked into the kitchen and meekly approached Kei from behind. He studied the food critically, as if he were looking for traces of poison.

“Ne…Kei?” He asked quietly, close to his ear. “You still mad at me?”

Oh, what a question. Kei scraped the edge of the egg-flaked spoon down the pan, eliciting a metallic whine from the cookware. Sho sighed, dropping his forehead against his friend’s bunched shoulder.

“Okay, I admit it; I knew they weren’t for me. I just smoked one, though!”

“Yes. You did. The last one.”

“Keiii,” Sho whined, rubbing his scrunched eyes against the dark fabric of his friend’s jacket. “I really feel bad about it, okay?”

Sho lifted his face, looking across to his friend’s averted, low eyes.

“Can I do anything to make it up to you?”

Stillness, then something raised Kei’s head slowly, tactfully. One mischievous black brow propped up as he smiled to himself.

“Yes.” He delicately turned his head towards Sho. “Split your beer with me.”

Sho’s full lips parted, stuck on the word.

“You drink?”

“Rarely, but…I need one tonight,” He sighed back.

Sho made a breathy, relieved laugh.

“Sure.”

Kei chuckled as well, but for an entirely different reason. Smiling to himself, he clicked off the stove, ready to serve Sho both a delicious meal and an entertaining lesson.

|--|----|--|

There was a certain art form to biting victims.

As a vampire, Kei was never very practiced when it came to clean feeding; many times he found himself wrenching his open jaw away in wild abandonment, more intent on hearing the singing pain quiet itself than to stop a thread of blood from creeping down his neck.

Luka was the gentlemen between the two; He’d always make a disapproving turn of his face when he saw the aftermath’s of Kei’s work.

Luka spoke about everything he knew, and Kei was always intent on hearing, although he would never visibly show his interest. His old friend told him something one night that had always stuck out separately from the many different stories of his life.

“I have discovered that vampire saliva has an interesting effect on humans. It seems that it triggers heightened blood flow in our victims”

Kei said nothing, just raised a brow and puffed on his cigarette.

“Haven’t you wondered how we seem to draw so much blood out of a dying heart? How can a pulse run so quick when we’re draining it?”

“…what are you basing this on, exactly?”

“Well,” Luka grinned widely, lifting his pale face to the sky. The blocky forms of skyscrapers crowded his view of the stars. “Let’s just say I know a lot of creatures of the night posing as ladies of the night.”

“Posing…”

“Just a couple wet kisses and their victims are so aroused they can barely see straight. It works great for them.”

Kei looked over at Luka evenly, a pause stretching out between them.

“I hope you’re not trying to propose something.”

“I’m just telling a story,” He chuckled back.

|--|----|--|

Sho glanced over the silver rim of his drink, his angled brow perking up curiously.

“Want another sip?”

Kei blinked and leaned back from his chair, realizing he’d gotten into a staring contest with the beer can.

“Ahh, I’m good.”

Already, Kei had taken three swigs, but there hadn’t been any apparent affect on Sho. It was very possible that he was overreaching, at this point; kissing and sharing a drink were two different things. However, his resolve was as sharp and strong as ever.

He leaned his elbow against the table, fingers rounding his bottom lip absently as he watched his friend eat.

Come on! Give me something!

Sho’s chopsticks paused in mid air, the chunk of yellow egg hovering just slightly above his plate. He stared at the gob of food, then looked aside.

Kei blinked at his friend, his chin still propped up against his palm.

Half a moment and Sho smiled cautiously, dipping his head down to run his wrist across his forehead…his coloring forehead.

“Is it warm in here?” He murmured, shifting his shoulders to the right.

“…It’s…a lot cooler than it has been for the past week, that’s for sure,” Kei picked up, determined not to let on to what he knew. “It’s ridiculous that we live with no AC at this day and age…the ozone’s not getting any thicker.”

“Yeah…”

Kei watched above his folded hands as the erotic color fanned out across Sho’s smooth face, the deep hue pooling in his lips, which were abruptly licked and pressed thin.

“Kei?”

Said person jolted straight-spined in his chair.

“Yes?”

Sho took a minute to clear the rasp out of his voice.

“Where…did you get these eggs?”

“From Son, naturally. Why? Don’t like them?”

“…on the contrary,” he murmured, ducking his head down as he prodded the last yellow morsel. His bare shoulders flinched, a strained look crossing his ruddy face. He lowered one hand below the table’s surface with faux-stealth, attempting to adjust a “particular” type of bunching with a violent tug of his pant leg.

Kei stared forward, iron-honed willpower keeping back his laughter. When he felt brave enough, he opened his mouth to speak.

“Are you alright? You look a little flushed.”

“Hah. Guess the beer’s getting to me,” he dismissed, slinking back in his chair out of necessity.

Oh. If you only knew, Kei mentally retorted.

Sho’s eyes darted down cautiously to his own lap.

He quickly hunched forward in his chair, biting back a moan. Kei’s lip quirked; He had to close his eyes, and in the darkness, further inspiration struck him.

The vampire abruptly slid forward from his seat, chest moving over the cheap wood finish as he inched his face close to Sho’s. He gazed up, hooding his eyes as he smiled.

“Shoo,” He drawled. “You look like you’re having a hard time with something. Anything I can do?”

Said friend latched his gaze to Kei’s defined collarbone inches away from his own crumpled lips.

“Shower,” Sho growled.

“…eh-”

“-Gotta take a shower.”

He shoved his legs forward, scraping him away the table.

Kei stared blankly at the overturned chair and abandoned plate, vaguely registering the screeching blast of the water pipes. His thin shoulders trembled as his head sank.

Without a hint of elegance, Sho’s friend burst into well-deserved laughter.

|--|----|--|

Fifteen minutes later, Kei entered their room, propping himself against the doorway as he surveyed the aftermath of his prank.

Sho lie head-down on their bed, damp body completely still and lax. He’d managed to have the decency to wrap a towel around his hips, even in the lovely haze of his afterglow. He looked like he’d been shot in the back.

Grinning to himself, Kei approach from the side and gave a sharp thwack to his toweled ass. Sho flinched up, unfocused eyes moving about absently.

“Enjoy your shower?” He murmured, scrubbing his friend’s clumping hair with his hand as his dazed friend stared back at him.

Recollection hit him, although admittedly, slowly. Sho looked across, thinning his eyes with a hint of a sneer…then promptly flopped his head down.

“You did something to me,” He muttered flatly into the mattress.

“Where did you get that idea?”

“You satanic pervert!”

“Well, I am a vampire,” Kei admitted, taking a leisurely seat next to his friend’s spent body. Sho turned over, gazing up at his friend. The critical look forced Kei to ask: “What?”

“Don’t I get the last laugh in the end? I mean…really. I feel like I should pay you for… ” Sho’s slender eyes widened, blood rising to his skin at just the faintest remembrance.

Kei snickered, witty black brow jutting up as he turned to look at the scuffed bedpost.

“Maybe…but I have a feeling your dick isn’t going to see the inside of those tight leather pants for quite sometime.”

At the mention of leather, Sho instinctively retracted his legs up with a whimper.

“Saa,” Kei sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he rose from the bed. “We’re even now.”

“…I’m glad.”

Kei turned back to his friend, who in turn, quickly averted his eyes.

“I hate it when you’re mad at me,” He admitted, pushing down an embarrassed smile.

Kei snorted.

“The important lesson is; don’t get on my bad side, ne?” He offered, lifting a recollecting finger as he passed the doorframe.

“Sou, sou…”

|--|----|--|

Sho collected enough shattered fragments of his nerves to do the complex dance of dressing. Kei mentally noted that, when his friend emerged, he was wearing lose, soft jeans. Very amusing, indeed.

They got into their car, Kei opening the door and slinking in, while Sho did an impressive hurtle and plop into the driver’s side; he never was a fan of conventional doors. Looking across, he saw his childhood friend bask in the cool moonlight, the ocean breeze rippling the white collar peeking from underneath his jacket.

Kei sighed, leaning back into the cushy material of the car seat.

“It’s a good night for driving,” Sho added.

“That it is…”

“Keys?”

Kei slipped open one eye, looking across at his friend.

“Not on me.”

“Oh! That’s right…I left them in the glove compart-Kei!” Sho floundered to stop his friend, but he’d already twisted the latch. The mouth flipped open, displaying the keys and a half-finished pack of Happei Hunters in its recesses.

The vampire slowly turned his head, pupils gleaming in the dark.

“Aha…hah…how did those get in there?”

The next morning, the neighbors of Sho and Kei’s apartment sat out on their narrow balconies, discussing the strange yelps and sporadic honking of a car horn they heard late last night.

They immediately chalked it up to the gay couple that lived down the hall, as they always seemed to be getting into fights.

End