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Vampires were cruel creatures, so Daichi had heard.
Stalking through the night to pounce on an innocent human to suck dry of blood.
Monsters. Vile creatures.
And Daichi had been fortunate in his 17 and a half years on this planet to never meet one.
Daichi’s eyes trained on the blond as he slipped out of the gym to ‘go to the bathroom’.
Which he knew immediately was a lie.
The blond had been off all day: skittish, snappier than normal, anxious-looking, spacing out, looking pretty ill, and hardly speaking.
So when Tsukishima excused himself halfway through practice, he knew he wasn’t alright.
”I’m gonna refill my water bottle.” Daichi stated to no-one in particular, standing up and stepping out of the gym after the younger.
Tsukishima didn’t go to the bathroom, like Daichi had suspected he wouldn’t. He slipped, what he hoped to be unnoticeably, into an empty classroom, and shut the door behind him. But in his, whatever it was currently, state, the door didn’t shut properly.
Daichi quietly slid it open a little more, glancing in.
He almost didn’t see Tsukishima.
He was curled up behind the teachers desk, holding his legs to his chest desperately and his head buried in his arms. His hands gripped his arms so hard a few droplets of blood had beaded, dripping down his milky skin and hitting the floor with a small ‘pat’.
“..Tsukishima?” Daichi decided to speak up, sliding the door shut behind him, his worry increasing tenfold when he saw the small spots of blood. “Don’t do that, you’re gonna hurt yourse-“
”Piss off.” Kei interjected, not looking over or even up, not once shifting his position. If anything he curled in on himself even more at the sound of Daichi entering.
Daichi frowned, but had expected the snappy response from Tsukishima, but it didn’t fully dissolve the sting. “I want to help.”
“Good for you.” He deadpanned, refusing to look over or move.
”Tsukishima.” Daichi said firmer now, walking over, but eased off a little when the younger noticeably flinched. “…please?”
Kei curled in on himself more, as if trying to hide. His..oddly sharp..fingernails dug into his skin, leaving scrapes and small drops of blood to slither down the cold skin. “Go. Away.” He hissed out.
”You’re bleeding, Tsukishima.” He tried to get closer again, pausing once more when the middle blocker shifted away from him.
That got a small hesitation from the other. “…am i?” He asked quietly.
”Yes, you are.” Daichi responded, slowly kneeling down in front of the first year. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
“….no.” Tsukishima huffed, once more refusing to look up, head firmly buried in his arms. “…can you just..get Yamaguchi?..” He muttered.
Daichi paused, a confused expression drawing along his face. “..He got sent home at lunch, ill,..remember?”
”oh.” Tsukishima breathed out, tensing at the hand on his shoulder. He really was out of it today.
Daichi gently took Tsukishima’s hands, eyes widening at how cold they were. It was like holding blocks of ice. But he continued with what he had set out to do: he gently eased Kei’s grip on his arms until the fingernails weren’t piercing the skin, watching in a small gaze off horror as crimson stained the milky skin; Kei’s fingertips, embedded under his nails, rolling down his forearms, and smears of it on Daichi’s hands.
Something was clearly wrong.
”..then…can you grab Sugawara?…or Tanaka?..tell them it’s a code red..?” Kei whispered, still tense and still, but he allowed Daichi to move his hands.
“Can I help? I’m already here..” Daichi offered, his nerves definitely not eased at the phrase ‘code red’. “As captain, I-“
”’should be knowledgeable of and prepared to deal with any and all medical conditions, problems, and other issues of teammates’, I know.” Tsukishima bit out, voice tremoring a little. “please, Sawamura-san, just grab one of them.” He whispered.
He sounded so…scared.
“Suga’s running a drill.” Daichi said gently, trying to come off as soothing, taking the same tone he would when he siblings were scared. Like when his parents were in yet another fight when he was younger. “And Tanaka’s run off after Kiyoko.”
Tsukishima started gripping his arms again, despite Daichi’s efforts. “Please, Daichi-san,…take over his drill, find Tanaka..I don’t care!” He begged, voice shaking. “Just…please..get one of them.”
The desperation in the blonds voice made something in Daichi’s heart twinge. “..just..give me a minute?..”
He didn’t wait to see Tsukishima’s response, and stood up, darting out of the classroom and running back to the gym.
“Er..Suga!” He called, pulling the gym door open. “..can I talk to you?”
Koushi looked over, frowning. “But I’m running a-….” But he trailed off at the clear urgency on his partners face. “..y’know what, never mind. Asahi, take over for me! Thanks!” And he darted over to Daichi despite Asahi’s splutters of protest.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Koushi asked, taking Daichi’s hands as soon as the gym door had slid mostly shut.
”I’m fine.” Daichi clarified, smiling softly at the relief that crossed his lovers face, before he shifted back to seriousness. “But Tsukishima..isn’t? He mentioned a..code red?..he wanted you or Tanaka?. He gripped his arms and they were bleeding, and he was all curled up and wouldn’t look at me?”
The look of pure panic that crossed Koushi’s face shook him to his core. “Where is he?”
“In a third year classroom..in…D corridor?” Daichi replied, trying to remember the specifics.
Suga grabbed his hand and bolted there, giving Daichi no time to react before he was being pulled along.
Daichi lingered in the doorway as he watched Koushi crouch down in front of the trembling first year.
”Hey, Kei.” Suga said softly, gently rubbing his forearm. He glanced over at where Daichi was in the doorway, and nodded him over.
Daichi hesitated, before walking back over and sitting next to Suga.
“Can you look at me, please?” Sugawara asked softly to Tsukishima, gently brushing away some of the blood beads against the milky skin of Kei’s thin upper arms.
Kei nervously glanced up over his arms, locking his eyes on Koushi’s.
Daichi had to bite back a gasp.
The blonds usually honey-brown eyes were red tinted - the actual iris, not the sclera, not the surrounding skin, the iris - and his pupils seemed…unusually thin and long. But Suga was unfazed.
“What did I tell you last time?” He said softly, with a small air of I-told-you-so.
”…not to put off feeding until it gets dangerous.” Kei whispered, eyes warily trained on Daichi.
“And what did you do?” Suga asked with a small but visible smirk as he raised his eyebrow.
Kei chewed his bottom lip. ”…put off feeding until it got dangerous..” He muttered, gritting his teeth through the burning sensation in his head and throat.
”I’m sorry, what do you mean, ‘feeding’?” Daichi spoke up, looking back and forth between the two.
Suga glanced at Kei, who gave a small and reluctant nod. “Tsukishima..is a vampire.” Koushi explained, locking eyes with Daichi’s.
“He’s a- he’s what?!” Daichi exclaimed, feeling a pang of guilt as Kei curled in on himself.
“Don’t freak out.” Koushi insisted, holding his lovers arm. “He won’t hurt anyone. You can trust him.”
Daichi glanced at Tsukishima, who’s eyes were trained nervously on the floor. “…that’s…not what I was expecting..”
Suga just hummed, thinking. “It’s been to short a time since you fed from me, so safely you can’t yet.” He thought aloud to the blond, before his eyes drifted to Daichi.
“…oh.” He breathed, realising what Suga was implying. “Y-yeah…I guess I could.” He stated, trying to sound confident.
Suga gave him a grateful smile, kissing his cheek in a way that never failed to make his heart skip a beat, before squeezing Kei’s blood-splattered hand. “I’ll give you some space” He said fondly, standing up and walking towards the door. “And don’t talk your way out of it again, Kei!” He called back teasingly, though there was an underlying firmness, and the door slid shut.
Leaving Daichi alone.
With Tsukishima.
A vampire.
Who….looked a lot more scared than he did?
Daichi opened his mouth to say something, but Tsukishima got there first.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I-..what?” Daichi looked over at the first year, who was still curled in on himself under the desk.
”You don’t have to let me drink from you.” He muttered, head resting on his knees again as he looked at the ground in front of him, rather than Daichi. “You don’t have to keep my secret.”
”…but I still will.” He spoke up, earning a look of such surprise from the latter that proved just how unused the poor blond was to finding trustworthy..humans?
Tsukishima made no effort to move over to…drink..his blood…
Daichi chewed his lip thoughtfully, pulling his shirt down to reveal his collar bones. Vampires drank from the neck, right?
Tsukki’s eyes were instantly drawn to the bare skin in a way that made Daichi’s stomach churn, the look of pure hunger in his eyes sending the captain’s fight-or-flight instinct into overdrive.
Tsukishima forced his gaze away, swallowing thickly and gritting his teeth. “No.”
It was so painfully obvious how painful not drinking was for the middle blocker, so why wasn’t he?
“You need to.” Daichi said firmly, forcing away all thoughts of bolting for it and trying to pull Tsukishima closer.
“H-Hey!” Kei protested as he felt a hand on the back of his head, trying to push him towards the exposed skin. “Stop!” He hissed, putting bloody hands on Daichi’s shoulders in an attempt to push himself away, but Daichi never once stopped pushing him closer.
Daichi gritted his teeth. “You need to drink.” He huffed out, moving his hand off of the blonds head and pushing Tsukishima’s wrists downwards, causing him to slip forward and his lips to graze Daichi’s neck.
“Let me go!” He snarled, literally snarling, in a way that made Daichi’s heart thump, reminding him once more that Tsukishima wasn’t human. But still Daichi held him close to his neck, feeling the blond squirm and writhe.
“Drink.” He hissed, despite being nervous as hell about having a fucking vampire that close to his neck to drink his blood.
Kei scrunched his eyes shut as he grit his teeth, trying to ignore the overwhelming urge to drink: the sound of the blood rushing through Daichi’s veins; the smell, oh gods the smell, of his blood.
It was so, so close.
Daichi’s skin prickled with goosebumps as he felt Tsukishima’s hot breath against the base of his neck, followed by a nervous scrape of two needle-like objects. There was a noticeable hesitation on his part, before Kei gave into his desperate urges.
And plunged his fangs downwards.
They went through the skin effortlessly, lodging into a vein swiftly.
Daichi bit down on his lip, desperate to not make a noise despite the odd sensation. Though..it didn’t hurt that much..
Blood pooled in Tsukki’s mouth, and he let out a soft exhale through his nose, the warm air rubbing Daichi’s neck and the blonds fluffy curls of hair tickled his tan skin.
Kei sucked against his neck, drinking his fill yet still wary of how much blood a human could loose before it wasn’t good.
Daichi inhaled a sharp breath as he felt the unnervingly cold hands of the vampire tilt his head a little, the thin fingers guiding his head to made it easier for him, before Daichi’s head shifted, either purposely or accidentally, to rest in Tsukishima’s icey palm.
After what could have been seconds or years, he felt the fangs pull out of his neck, a rough but tender tongue brush against the puncture wounds before Kei pulled his mouth away from Daichi entirely. The middle blocker rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth, in case of any stray blood.
He gently brushed his thumbs over the small holes, brushing away any access blood and sat back, kneeling in front of Daichi and wringing his bloody hands. “thanks” He whispered, almost too quiet for Daichi to hear.
“Anytime.” The captain responded, still a little dazed and lightheaded. He reached over, gently squeezing Tsukishima’s shoulder. “And I mean that.” He reassured with a smile, his eyes looking into the blonds, which had returned to the usual honey brown colour behind his glasses.
Tsukishima looked over at Daichi, a smile forming on his slightly-bloodied lips. “Thank you, Daichi-san.” He said, slightly louder.
Once most of the dizziness cleared up, Daichi stood up and grabbed the first-aid box stored in the teachers desk.
A pang of guilt ebbed through Kei’s chest.
Right.
He’d injured him.
However, to his definite surprise, Daichi set the box down in front of him once he sat back down, and reached over for Tsukishima’s arms.
“huh?” He murmured aloud, eyes widening when he saw the tracks of tried blood and claw-shaped punctures along his upper arms. “oh.”
“Told you you were bleeding.” His captain hummed, cleaning the wounds and dressing them.
“..yeah..you did.” Tsukki breathed, still completely unused to this whole ‘trusting humans’ thing.
“So…you’re a..vampire?” Daichi finally asked, the question had been burning on his tongue for a while.
Tsukishima chewed his bottom lip, his fangs had disappeared up into his gums by now. “Yep..”
Daichi shut the aid-box, looking up at the taller. “That’s seriously cool.”
The middle blocker looked shocked. “That’s-..I-…what?”
Daichi huffed out a small laugh, standing up and offering a hand out to the blond, who reluctantly took it, albeit with bloody hand still.
Vampires were cruel creatures, so Daichi had heard.
But not all of them.
Trying to live an ordinary life, only drinking blood when permitted and causing them immense pain to avoid feeding when the could.
Not monsters. Usually peaceful creatures.
And Daichi had been fortunate in his 17 and a half years on this planet to meet one.