Daylight Specialist, 6/6

[astrangestorm]

He looked away when the needle pierced his skin, the nurse taking a blood sample with little gentleness. Nino tried to focus on a poster on the wall, a picture of two smiling children waving. “Grow up big and strong!” the poster said, “By eating a balanced diet.”

Nino rolled his eyes, not terribly interested in watching his blood fill up the vial. It had been two weeks now, with August winding down and his new strange life just getting started. Sho and Jun, despite their renewed relationship, were as hardworking as ever and they departed on most nights for the Starlight Kiss offices, working on organizing their fall tours.

But that didn’t mean they’d forgotten Nino. Jun, despite how tired it ended up making him for work, took advantage of daylight hours and scheduled things that required Nino to escort him. The first week, Jun had dragged Nino along to lunch with Toma and Mao, playing footsie with him under the table and daring him to do something about it. And the second week he’d completely lied about having a dentist appointment, instead taking Nino by the hand and pulling him back to the rear of the Amagasa enclave garage, just where Aiba’s security camera and the motion sensors didn’t reach.

Jun was rough, intense with his affections, kissing Nino until his mouth ached, pinning his wrists above his head and sucking on his neck, whispering in his ear about how badly he wanted to watch Sho drink from him the first time. They’d stayed in the garage for over an hour, Nino nearly losing his mind as Jun slipped his hand into his pants and jerked him off hard and fast. He doubted that Aiba had believed him when he came back up to the lobby, lips swollen and making excuses that he had to change his pants because he’d spilled soda on them while waiting for Jun to get his teeth cleaned.

And that was just Jun, stealing moments during the day.

Sho was no less enthusiastic about getting time with him alone. He sometimes showed up at Nino’s door an hour before sunrise, nosing along Nino’s neck before pressing the lightest of kisses against his pulse. He’d come down shortly after sunset one night, just as Nino was locking up. With the lights off, nobody could really see into the mail room, but Nino had still been nervous as hell when he’d let Sho into the darkened room with him, against enclave rules. As other residents exited the building, walking through the lobby just on the other side of the wall, Nino was busy discovering that Sho was just as skilled with his mouth as Jun was, kissing him, sucking on his collarbone before turning Nino around, pushing him against the counter and grinding against his ass until Nino begged him to stop.

He was bruised and covered in hickeys, no better than a teenager figuring things out for the first time. It was like Sakurai and Matsumoto were in competition with one another, to stake their claims on Nino’s body in places where nobody but them would actually see. Nino pondered the new situation thoughtfully, wondering if it was healthy to let the two of them do these things to him.

Yeah. He had zero problems with it.

Which had led him here, to the doctor’s office for a blood test. He’d watched Sho drink from Jun twice since that first night. The first time had mostly been a repeat, but sort of in slow motion. Sho had bared his fangs, but this time he’d let Nino come close, to look at them. Nino had been bold enough to run his finger along Sho’s bottom lip before pulling his hand back and letting him take what he wanted from Jun.

The second time had been considerably more adventurous, one of his own fantasies come to life in all too vivid detail. They’d been in Sho and Jun’s bed, the three of them, and while Sho drank from Jun, Nino sucked Jun’s cock, trying to match his own rhythms with Sho’s. For once, Jun had been left utterly speechless.

But Nino wanted more. He understood it now, how Sho and Jun had so easily become addicted to one another. The thought of Sho sucking his blood, his fangs piercing through his skin, he hadn’t quite been a hundred percent on board before. Even seeing how much pleasure it brought Jun, he’d still been wary at first. But he was starting to change his tune, wanting to know what it would be like to sit in Jun’s place and have it done to him. Though Sho and Jun both took turns with him, kissing and slowly learning his body, Nino wanted more.

He’d been too embarrassed to voice his request aloud, since he didn’t think he could actually get the words out, but he’d decided that sending the email during their work hours, when he knew they wanted to work seriously, would irritate the shit out of both of them, and what could be better than that?

So he’d emailed them and gone to bed, waking up to two replies. One from Sho asking that he please get a blood test and disclose anything about his sexual history they ought to know. And a second from Jun full of firework emojis that simply said “Yes!!!”

—

The birthday cake for Jun was still on the dining room table, uneaten, as Sho rolled a condom onto Jun’s cock. Although Nino thought that this ought to be a more Nino-centric celebration, the birthday boy had insisted they do it tonight and who was Nino to say no?

Jun was in bed on his back, looking impatient, but Nino hadn’t exactly done this for a while. But he felt as ready as he was going to be, having spent the last several minutes being lovingly manhandled with expert attention, Jun having stroked his cock while Sho had slowly, gently thrust inside Nino with his cold, lubed up fingers.

“I want someone to be fucking me when Sho-chan bites me the first time” had been his request, and now the time had come.

He crawled across the bed, getting on top of Jun. Sho sat idly by, stroking himself with a bemused grin, as Nino teasingly kissed his way across Jun’s chest, down his abdomen to the dark trail of hair that pointed the way to his waiting erection. Jun thrust his hips up, trying to urge him along. “I want my cake, Ninomiya,” Jun protested.

Jun knew he was nervous, and despite his usual teasing, Jun had actually been kind to him the last few days as Nino prepared for his “first time” with them. Jun’s emails had been full of answers Nino wanted, explaining as best he could what it felt like when Sho bit him, how sharp the pain was and how long it lasted. “You’ll never stop wanting it,” Jun had told him, which had nearly made Nino change his mind.

But now here he was, biting back a moan as he slowly lowered himself onto Jun’s cock, seeing patience in Jun’s face that he didn’t necessarily hear in Jun’s voice. Soon enough he felt full, shutting his eyes as he lifted himself and sank back down, his body gradually adjusting to the feeling of Jun inside him, hard and thick. This in itself was something to check off his bucket list, knowing that he was going to spend the next several minutes riding Matsumoto Jun’s dick.

Jun said nothing else annoying, thankfully, his hands settling on Nino’s waist, skimming across his skin as Nino rolled his hips. As he got more comfortable, he reached his hands back, holding tight to Jun’s thighs. This encouraged Jun, who started to gently rock his hips, thrusting up each time Nino ground down. It felt ridiculously good, and all of the hours he’d sat in the mail room picturing it could not really compare. “Oh god,” he was mumbling soon enough, looking over and seeing that Sho had somehow vanished from his side of the bed while he and Jun had gone right on fucking without a thought to spare for him.

Before he realized it, he felt cold fingers tracing along his spine, and he knew that Sho was behind them, probably kneeling between Jun’s spread legs. He stiffened a little, knowing Sho wouldn’t be able to hold off much longer. Nino had to be ready or he had to get out of the way and let Sho have Jun. Because when a vampire was hungry, you did not interfere.

Nino slowed down, trying to concentrate on breathing, letting Jun do all the work. The last thing Nino wanted was to be riding Jun like a mechanical bull and risk Sho tearing his throat open.

“Do you still want this?”

Sho’s voice was warm honey, surging through him, coating his bones. He tried very hard to concentrate, but having Jun where he was made things difficult. Perhaps he should have done this as a two-step process.

“You need to say yes, you know,” Sho reminded him.

He felt Jun’s hands squeeze his waist, warm and steady, and he nodded. “Yes,” he said, concentrating on the sensation of Jun’s cock slowly working in and out of him, a teasing pace that had him tightening his grip on Jun’s thighs, knowing his fingernails were going to leave marks on him.

Sho’s hands were gentle, easing Nino’s head to the side, his fingers stroking along his skin. Before he knew it, Sho was replacing his fingers with his mouth. Nino moaned softly at the feeling, each gentle press of Sho’s lips against his neck. He squeezed Jun tighter, hearing a quiet “fuck” come from him, feeling Jun’s body shaking a little beneath him.

Sho’s fingers grasped hold of Nino’s hair, tightening. That was the warning. That was all the warning Sho had promised. And then there was pain, a sharp sting that made him cry out. Sho had an arm around him, and he let out the faintest little “mmmm” noise before Nino felt him suck for the first time. It pulled another gasp from him, but it didn’t hurt. Actually, he’d never felt anything like it.

His whole body was suddenly on fire, tingling from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, and he wanted nothing more than to scream. But he couldn’t, he could barely make a sound, gasping as he listened to Sho’s mouth pressed against him, the little slurps and swallows. He knew by now that he was hurting Jun, digging his fingernails into the sensitive skin of his thighs. He could feel Sho behind him, a force he couldn’t control. He could feel Jun inside him, hard and hot.

Nino lost all sense of time, feeling like he’d somehow detached from himself. His vision was blurred, his hearing was muddled. He thought he could taste his own blood, a churning ache at the back of his throat. And then he could tell that Sho had stopped. But he didn’t let go. Instead he felt Sho’s hand come around him, grasping hold of his cock.

“Jun,” Sho said, sounding far away as Nino let out another shudder of bewildered pleasure. “Fuck him.”

And then Jun was moving again, each thrust so fast and deep inside him Nino couldn’t breathe. It might have been awkward, with Jun beneath him and Sho behind him trying to get him off, but it didn’t even matter. He didn’t care. He wanted to come. He needed to come.

It was too much and not enough and then way too much, and he let go, his orgasm coaxing a near scream from him. He’d never come like this before, feeling a curious, throbbing ache in his neck, feeling like he could hear the blood pumping, roaring through his veins. Sho let him go and he fell forward, not caring about the filthy mess he’d made, falling onto Jun. He felt Jun’s arms come around his back, felt Jun move, bringing his legs up, bending at the knees so he could thrust up and into Nino as hard and fast as he could. All he could do was let it happen.

He could hear Jun now, so close, his voice just another prickle of pleasure shooting through him. “So good,” he was telling Nino. “So fucking good.”

He was moaning, he was crying out, wondering where Sho had gone. But then Jun was coming, unable to keep up the brutal pace any longer. He stopped, and Nino lay there on top of him, breathing so heavily his chest ached. At some point, he felt Jun slowly pull out of him, the absence of his cock making him wince. Then he was being moved, blinking in confusion as he was rolled over, onto his stomach. He met Jun’s eyes, saw that he was smiling.

“Wow,” Nino managed to whisper, unable to even laugh.

“Wow,” Jun said in agreement, grinning at him.

Before Nino could even ask “where’s Sho-chan?” he was there, getting Jun’s condom off, throwing it in the trash beside the bed. Nino was exhausted, eyelids heavy, and he suspected they were not going to get to Jun’s cake any time soon. He felt disgusting, wanting a bath, but he couldn’t even voice his irritation. Especially not now that Sho was kissing his way down Jun’s abdomen, stroking him with practiced hands.

He could only watch, smiling a dumb, freshly fucked smile as he watched Sho grab the lube bottle from the nightstand, generously coating his fingers. “Remember?” he somehow heard Sho say to him. “Remember Nino, it’s his birthday.”

He heard Jun groan as Sho started to work, sliding a finger inside him. “Happy birthday,” Nino tried to tell Jun with his eyes, but Jun wasn’t listening anyhow. Nino watched, silly and content, as Sho fucked Jun with his fingers, quick and dirty, until Jun had tears in his eyes, begging for it so desperately his fingers were digging into the sheets at Nino’s side.

“You’ll never stop wanting it,” Jun had told him, and he’d been right.

Nino somehow drifted off midway through, with the sound of Jun’s satisfied moans beside him lulling him into unconsciousness.

—

“He’s not going to like this,” Agent Yoshitaka said in lieu of a proper greeting, pulling a folder out of her briefcase.

“He who?” Nino asked, leaning against the mail room counter.

“Matsumoto-san,” she said, passing the folder to him. Nino gave her a suspicious look, but as usual, her face was an impenetrable brick wall. He opened the folder, seeing the copy of the blood contract paperwork Nino had submitted on Jun and Sho’s behalf over a week ago.

“What’s wrong with it? The ward office signed off on it, no problem,” he said, looking through the papers. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you did everything you were supposed to, but it’s a new law that’s about to go into effect. I’m bringing this to you here because we’re trying to get to people who already have their paperwork in the queue first. After that we’ll be evaluating existing contracts on a rolling basis.” Yoshitaka cocked her head, staring at him in her strange way. “All blood contracts need final Bureau approval now. Beyond just the regular registration on the local level. He’ll have to come in for an interview. In person, to headquarters. To verify that he’s not being coerced or blackmailed into the agreement. Or to make sure that he’s not conspiring with vampires to ‘overthrow the social order’. That’s how the law reads, anyhow.”

“Oh come on,” Nino complained, shutting the folder. “This is his second contract with Sho-san. And the only conspiracy they have together is a lame ass blog on their travel site.”

“The new Japan,” Yuriko said, her voice almost apologetic. “BC negotiations have always been in the vampires’ hands, I know, but after Kobe, the Bureau’s been looking for ways to keep closer tabs on the humans who mingle with vampires. Since those rogue vamps got out during daylight hours, the Bureau’s fairly certain that humans played a part in it. So there’s a witch hunt now for ‘vampire sympathizers,’ if such a thing exists.”

“I suppose somewhere down the line I’ll be invited to say hello to the Bureau too. To discuss my various ‘sympathies.’”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Yoshitaka agreed. It wasn’t enough that the Bureau came in every week to spy on them. It wasn’t enough that they still kept their “temporary” night security guards in every enclave.

“And what if a BC refuses to come in for this so-called interview?” Because Nino could already see Jun saying thanks, but no thanks, his contract with Sho was between them, especially since he lived in an enclave.

Yoshitaka nodded in understanding. “They could be forcibly removed from an enclave’s premises.”

“But Japanese law doesn’t apply inside these walls.”

“Japanese law doesn’t apply to the vampires inside these walls.” Yoshitaka had a rather grim smile to offer Nino then. “Humans are a different matter. At least that’s what’s on the books as of 9:00 AM today.”

He frowned. Nino knew the golden age of blood contracts had long since passed, that the future was in blood banks and in whatever animal-derived sustenance they could get their hands on. What restrictions were coming next?

He laid out everything Yuriko had explained that evening, sitting in the office of Starlight Kiss Tours, slurping down noodles while Sho kept working without so much as a word of protest. Jun, as Nino had expected, was enraged.

“It’s my blood, why should the government have a say in whether I can give it to him or not?”

“It’s just an interview. A formality,” Sho said, trying to calm him.

Jun kicked the side of the couch, letting out an angry grunt of complaint. “They’re going to do trackers next, just you watch. It’ll be like Brazil around here, they’ll embed them right under your skin, shallow enough that you always know they’re there. Watching and listening, waiting for you to fuck up.”

“I don’t think they’ll go that far,” Nino said, trying to reason with him. “And I’ll be going with you. To headquarters. I’ll be in the room with you the whole time. Yuriko said they’d respect the BC’s escort.”

“Are they going to ask me how many times he does it? Are they going to ask me if I like it?” Jun complained.

“I don’t know what they’re going to ask you,” Nino replied. “I don’t like it either, but she said you could be removed from Amagasa if you didn’t cooperate. What’s answering a few questions going to do to you, honestly? Would you rather they come into your apartment one morning and drag you out kicking and screaming?”

Jun kept pacing the floor of the office, furious. Nino met Sho’s eyes, could see that as always, Sho didn’t want to rock the boat. It was invasive and insulting, like most other measures the Bureau had enacted. Nino supposed those feelings made him a vampire sympathizer, finding fault with the government’s methods. But what else could they do?

Nino finished up his dinner, resting a hand on Jun’s shoulder. “I need to go home, get some sleep.”

“I don’t want to talk to them,” Jun said, though his anger had weakened into something closer to a pathetic whine.

“I’m not going to bite you until you take the interview,” Sho said, his voice cutting through the room sharply. He wasn’t even looking up from the computer, his expression calm, typing up details for one of his cheery little blog posts.

“Cute,” Jun snapped, shoving Nino’s hand away from him. “Very cute.”

“Nino,” Sho continued, his face completely devoid of emotion. “Perhaps it would be best if Matsumoto-kun stayed with you tonight. He’s clearly not interested in getting any work done here.”

Nino held up his hands. “Sho-chan, fighting about this solves nothing.”

“How can you sit there and let this shit keep rolling off you?” Jun shouted, staring daggers at Sho’s blank expression. “What more do the humans have to do before you’ll grow some fucking balls and act? What is it going to take? How many more magazines? How many more bricks through the window? How many more canceled flights that nearly incinerate you? Get angry! Be angry about this! Feel something!”

Sho’s eyes were darkening, and his fingers paused on the keyboard. “Nino.”

He knew that if he didn’t get Jun out of there right then and there that the two of them would say something they’d regret. He settled his hand around Jun’s wrist, gave him a little tug.

“Come on. Please.”

Jun wrenched away again, but this time he didn’t put up a fight. They rode the train back, walking from the station to Amagasa in silence. Nino waited in the lobby, and Jun came down a few minutes later, toting a duffel bag. Sho had implied that Jun would just spend the night, but Jun would probably be angry for a little longer than that. He wondered if there’d been any other time like this, in their five years, when they’d slept apart. If they’d ever slept in separate buildings before.

In lieu of complaining further about Sho and his continued insistence on kowtowing to the Japanese government’s demands, Jun spent his time in Nino’s place above the family restaurant nitpicking and complaining about the apartment instead. About the pathetic state of the interior of Nino’s fridge, about the cleanliness of the bathroom, about the way Nino’s mattress creaked. Jun even slept angry, tossing and turning, making Nino want to shoot him midway through the night, but he eventually settled down, wrapping himself around Nino and clinging tight, as though Nino might disappear if he wasn’t holding on.

Jun went back to their apartment come sunrise, but only to get more of his things, some books, some food from the refrigerator. Nino left Jun alone in his apartment all day while he worked. He knew Jun wasn’t going anywhere, and Nino sent Sho email updates. Teasing little notes informing him that “Jun-kun spent the day scrubbing my bathtub” and “Did you know Jun-kun cries when he watches heartwarming animal commercials?” He received only brief, impersonal “thank you” messages in reply after the sun set.

It wasn’t until the third night that Jun leaned over, sounding desperately sad when he squeezed Nino’s hand in the dark.

“Call Yoshitaka-san. I’ll talk to them.”

Nino lifted Jun’s hand to his mouth, brushing his mouth across his knuckles. “They’re going to say yes.” Jun said nothing, probably not wanting to admit that he was far more frightened than he was angry. That he feared that his contract with Sho would be rejected. “Jun-kun, you have to believe that they’re going to say yes.”

—

“Oh, fuck this,” Nino grumbled as the uniformed security guard waved him onto a different street. The news broadcasts had been buzzing about it, and it had drawn a crowd to the headquarters of the Bureau of Undead Management, an otherwise uninteresting concrete slab of a building a few blocks south of the main government buildings in Chiyoda, the ministries and courts and the Cabinet office. He drove past news vans and their crews, waiting like vultures to prey on whoever was set to go inside.

Jun shrank down in the seat beside him, embarrassed as Nino was directed around a mass of people that were being held back by police barricades. It was the first day that the Bureau would be holding interviews with BCs, something that Nino thought wasn’t really that interesting, but apparently the Japanese public at large disagreed. Becoming a BC, it was something that you could usually count on only family and friends to know. But someone had leaked the information, and the Bureau was surrounded. People were curious. After Kobe, they were way too fucking curious.

Nino ended up parking a few blocks away, holding Jun’s nervous, sweating hand in his own while he dialed Yuriko’s number. He could hear people, the gathered masses, their protesting shouts and chants muffled by the closed doors and windows of the Toyota.

“This is Yoshitaka.”

“Hey, what the hell is going on here?” he asked, hearing a chant of “vampire lover!” start somewhere nearby. “I’m here with Matsumoto, you’ve got to be kidding. How are we going to get inside?”

“There are security guards lining the entire route. Please, just come on inside. The crowd is peaceful.”

The noise didn’t exactly sound peaceful to Nino’s ears. “I want someone to come to us. I’m not walking him past those people. You know they’ve all got their phones out, snapping pictures. It’s a violation of privacy!”

He felt Jun squeeze his hand tighter, and he squeezed back.

“Ninomiya-kun, if we send security to where you’re parked, it’ll draw even more attention.”

He moved the phone from his ear, whispering to Jun. “Do you want to reschedule?”

Jun had on his sunglasses, taking a deep breath. “No. Let’s go.”

“Alright, Yoshitaka. Where do we go?”

It seemed like the longest walk of Nino’s life as he walked at Jun’s side toward the Bureau’s headquarters. Despite the heat, they’d both worn jackets, if only so they could keep them zipped up, to cover the matching puncture wounds on their necks. The crowd seemed to quiet down as they walked by, but it was all the more embarrassing, knowing they were staring in silence. Judging them.

Jun seemed to finally relax once they got inside, and Yuriko was there to help them sign the guest registry and enter the building. The place had the same stuffy, bureaucratic vibe of any government office, the sounds of fingers on keyboards and muffled small talk. They were seated in a tiny office at the end of a long corridor with worn-down, tacky carpeting, nothing more than a table and chairs. To Nino’s surprise, Yoshitaka conducted the interview herself, though a co-worker with thick glasses and a combover sat beside her, jotting things down on a laptop while Jun was questioned.

“I argued with my boss to get this interview. You’re my first for the day, Matsumoto-san,” she said in good humor, though Nino thought it was a bit tacky given what was happening outside.

Despite his reservations and days spent wanting to be anywhere but in the bowels of this building, Jun behaved himself at the start. Having Agent Yoshitaka, a person who actually knew who he was (and was inside his apartment weekly) seemed to calm him considerably. She asked him questions for over an hour, asking about his family and what they thought about his blood contract. About how he’d met Sho and how they’d come to an agreement, their living arrangement in the enclave.

“Matsumoto-san, blood contracts traditionally run for five years, but on your newest submitted papers, it states that you will only be contracted to Sakurai-san for a year.” Yoshitaka looked at Jun seriously. “Why only a year?”

Nino knew the answer to this of course. Because Jun still wanted Sho to turn him. But there was no way he could tell a government agent that he…

“I have asked Sakurai-san to consider turning me.” Jun arched an eyebrow, daring Yoshitaka to say something. “We couldn’t reach an agreement when my contract was up, so this time I only signed on for a year in hopes of reopening a dialogue with him next year. But I still have every intention of being turned.” He dared to smile. “That’s not against the law yet, is it?”

Yoshitaka and the agent beside her didn’t say anything for a moment, as though they were waiting for Jun to laugh, to tell them he was joking. The balding agent eventually began to type, recording Jun’s answer in the computer. Yuriko’s strange smile was difficult to interpret.

“It is not against the law, provided it happens on enclave territory,” she explained. “As I’m sure Sakurai-san knows, unless you were already dying, any move he made to turn you, to have you feed on his blood outside enclave walls, would be considered an attack on a human. An attack that is punishable by death.”

It explained why Ohno had been able to turn Maru on the deck of his boat and why Joshima turning Sho against his will hadn’t been punishable. Maru had already been dying, and Sho had been inside Amagasa, helpless.

“He’s particularly well-versed in those regulations, Agent Yoshitaka,” Jun said, sounding almost cocky.

The remaining questions passed in a blur, about Jun’s means of employment and only a few questions about how Sho treated him, if Jun feared that Sakurai Sho might be a threat to Japan’s national security.

“No, he’s an absolute angel. Sho-kun loves following rules,” Jun had said, so casually Nino wanted to hit him.

Despite all that, Nino sat there and watched Yuriko stamp Jun’s documents, the other agent informing him that if there were any changes in Sakurai Sho’s treatment of him that he had only to notify the Bureau and the problem would be “managed.” It sent a shudder down Nino’s spine, but Jun was free to live his life, at least for the next year, in the Amagasa Vampire Enclave. At Sho’s side.

Jun seemed lighter, happier, as he and Nino stepped out of headquarters. The crowd seemed even bigger, the press of bodies against the barricades walling them in on the narrow path that led them down the street, back to the parking lot. “Let’s get out of here,” Jun mumbled.

He walked ahead of Nino, not putting as much effort into keeping his jacket up, not attempting to hide the evidence on his neck of what he was. They went down the steps, Nino’s ears ringing with all the gathered hundreds seemingly talking all at once to either side of him. It was kind of claustrophobic, walking along the narrow path. The Bureau’s security were milling about, stopping every few feet to request a person put their phone away, to stop recording.

A woman was coming up the path, heading toward headquarters. From the purple bruising on her neck, she was another BC, here for an interview. While the crowd had obviously been curious about Jun, whispering and pointing at him, the woman’s arrival sent hypocritical ripples and murmurs of disapproval through the crowd. “Blood whore,” Nino heard, over and over again, a bullying taunt. “Blood whore.”

If she’d come with a daylight specialist from her own enclave, he or she didn’t seem to be accompanying her into the building. Nino’s heart broke as he saw the woman speed up her walking, looking down in shame. “We should help her inside,” he called ahead, shouting a bit over the crowd to Jun.

But then there was a scream, followed by an angry, guttural shout of “Sumire!” One of the barricades toppled, people shouting and pushing, and then a man was running up the pathway, faster than the security guards could chase him. “Sumire!”

Nino saw the woman freeze, like a deer in the headlights of a speeding car. The man, with a crazed look in his eyes, he wasn’t too pleased about “Sumire” coming to headquarters to negotiate about her blood contract.

It took only a few seconds, a few heartbeats, and Nino didn’t even realize that Jun had started running too. Sumire standing there, in shock, the man pursuing her, Jun hurrying to put himself in between them. Nino’s feet felt heavy, like he was trying to run underwater. He saw the crowd spilling out by the barricades, the security guards desperately trying to hold them back. He saw Jun push Sumire, pushing her out of the way, and Nino cried out when he saw the gleam of the knife in the angry man’s hand.

The attacker and Jun hit the pavement hard. When the security guards swarmed, hauling the man off of Jun, Nino was nearly sick when he saw the knife sticking out of Jun’s abdomen.

There was roaring in his ears, panic when the crowd realized what had happened, and then Nino was moving, stumbling forward, collapsing at Jun’s side. “Don’t touch it, don’t pull it out,” he said, slapping Jun’s hands away from the wound. He could see the red spreading, staining Jun’s shirt. He started babbling, seeing the look of pain in Jun’s face, his eyes staring upwards, lost. “You’re going to be fine, okay? You’re going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”

“Hurts,” Jun was moaning, on his back, lying at a strange angle. The wind knocked out of him and a knife in his belly. Nino was pushed aside, more security guards pouring out of the headquarters behind them. Two of them had Jun under his arms, a third grabbed his legs, and they lifted him, hurrying him back to the building as all hell broke loose.

Nino was left there, sitting on the ground struck dumb as footsteps shuffled all around him. He looked down at his hands, saw Jun’s blood on them, and then he remembered. “No,” he mumbled, “oh no, he can’t…”

He looked up, squinting. The sun was high in the early September sky, bright and shining. The sun was shining, and Nino remembered.

I could be sitting right here, and he could be in Ueno Park and if he so much as got a paper cut, I’d know.

He stumbled to his feet, hands sticky with Jun’s blood as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. He left a smear of red across the phone screen as he dialed. He was soon at the top of the stairs, a Bureau agent waving him inside as the crowd frantically dispersed behind him.

“Hey, how’d everything go?”

“Masaki!” Nino cried, “Masaki, listen to me!”

“Nino, what’s wrong?”

He was in the lobby, eyes scanning the room in a panic. Where had they taken him? Had anyone called an ambulance? Did they have someone on site who could help him?

“Don’t let him leave. Masaki, don’t let him leave!”

“Don’t let who…” Nino thought the call had cut out, but then he heard Aiba shouting, in the background, his voice almost a howl. “Sho-chan! Sho-chan, you can’t go out there!”

—

The second ambulance was waiting for him, the sirens blaring when Sakurai Sho arrived at the headquarters of the Bureau of Undead Management. He’d come on foot, and he’d run all the way from Amagasa, a distance of nearly fifteen kilometers, in less than 20 minutes. Nino couldn’t even imagine how much faster he’d be at night.

Yuriko had a Bureau medical team ready to intercept, and Sho broke through a line of security guards with one last surge of energy, letting out a scream of protest and agony that Nino could feel in his marrow, standing at the top of the Bureau steps, waiting for him.

“Sho-chan!” Nino cried. “Sho-chan, let them help you!”

At first, Aiba had thought it was a snowman bursting out through the doors of Amagasa, but he’d somehow managed to recognize the hat. The ugly fucking bucket hat.

As Sho collapsed, Yuriko’s medical team gathered around, and the vampire put up no further protests. Nino wasn’t quite sure what the Tokyo traffic cameras might have picked up, watching a streak of fire go dashing up the street, knocking aside pedestrians and racing through busy intersections, dodging cars.

The nearest hospital equipped for a vampire patient in daylight hours was thankfully just blocks away, and when the doctor called Nino in sometime just after midnight, after Sho had undergone almost a dozen hours of treatment already, he had quite the story to tell. Sho’s skin had overheated, but the layers of clothes he’d managed to put over himself had borne the brunt of it. As the doctors had gently eased the fabric off of him, excising each tiny piece that had almost fused with his skin as he burned, it revealed that Sho had gone out wearing a ski mask, six t-shirts, two hooded sweatshirts, and a winter coat that might have served a human well in Siberia, all of that over jeans and snow pants.

“He’s insane,” the doctor concluded, especially after Nino had told him this wasn’t the first time Sho had gone out into the sunlight on purpose. “But he’ll live to tell the tale.”

Since Sho had been kind enough not to murder anyone on his desperate, suicidal charge to headquarters, and because their security had been so embarrassingly piss poor that Jun had been attacked when he shouldn’t have been, the Bureau was apparently picking up the hospital bill. The surgeries, the long and presumably painful process of burn treatment, the painkillers…all of it a burden on the Japanese taxpayer now.

As the proxy for the Amagasa enclave, Nino had suddenly been informed that he served as “next of kin” for any of the residents who hadn’t specifically named anyone in a will. He’d spent most of his day filling out paperwork and trying not to freak out, as he’d been made responsible for signing off on both Sho and Jun’s treatment. No plugs needed to be pulled, thankfully, or he’d have probably passed out and landed himself in a hospital bed of his own.

The nurses assured Nino that Sho would be told about Jun as soon as he regained consciousness, though that might not be for days with all the special vampire drugs they had him on to dull his pain and encourage the speedy vampire healing process to kick into gear. Joshima, who had sired Sho, had arrived at the hospital after dark, had told Nino that he would watch over him. “I don’t even know how to thank you,” Joshima had said. “For everything you’ve done.”

“I’m not so great. I take naps, you know,” Nino admitted, so tired he didn’t have much of a filter left. “In the mail room sometimes.”

Joshima hadn’t been angry. In fact, he’d laughed, patting his shoulder. “I think you’ve earned several naps, Ninomiya-kun.”

That left Nino to spend the night parked in a chair beside Jun’s bed, several floors up from the underground trauma unit that was somehow bringing Sho back from the brink. Jun’s parents and sister had already come and gone, and Nino had introduced himself only as a staff member from the enclave. Jun’s mother had been almost as worried about Sho as she’d been about her son, which made Nino smile.

The elder Matsumoto, Jun’s father, was a gruff man with the same proud bearing his son had. But when Nino had explained what Sho had done, leaving the enclave to come after Jun, his need to protect him far stronger than his need for survival, even the old man had been stunned.

Thanks to the haste and inexperience of his attacker, Jun had been extremely lucky. The knife had not penetrated any major organs, nor had it severed any arteries. Nurses came in and out of the room like clockwork, as the main worry now was from infection. He wasn’t going to be moving for several days, but all things considered, he would recover. And thanks to the damn interview he’d had with Yuriko just prior to the attack, she’d been able to ensure that the hospital had Jun’s blood type available if a transfusion was necessary.

He was sleeping now, somehow managing to be the only human being in existence to still look downright handsome in a hospital gown. Nino had pulled the chair up close, had maneuvered himself so he could lean forward, rest his arms on the bed and put his head close to Jun’s side. “The two of you, I swear,” he grumbled. “Sho-chan’s all wrapped up like a mummy right now, I should have taken a picture for you.”

He shut his eyes, exhausted and amazed that he’d made it through the longest day of his entire life. He listened to the patient, steady beeping from all the machines Jun was hooked up to, wishing he could somehow get to Sho, get inside his head, assure him that Jun was alive. That Jun was okay. That he had a reason to wake up again. All these weeks, all these years, Sho had kept to himself. He’d kept the peace, he’d obeyed the rules. But today that had changed, and he wondered what Jun thought of it. And if it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The machines beeped, the fluids dripped, and the nurses never even asked Nino to go home. One particularly kind nurse checked Jun’s vitals before draping a blanket over Nino, patting his back. He’d almost lost them today. Both of them. He was determined to never let them forget how much stress they’d caused him, how many gray hairs he expected to sprout in the coming days. Perhaps he’d retaliate by signing them up for a Stinky Cheese of the Month Club subscription.

At some point he felt familiar fingers running through his hair, stroking gently, before he fell asleep.

—

Jun was a sulky patient, complaining about the hospital food, his hospital attire, and his inability to go downstairs to see Sho. Thankfully not in that order.

Over the next few days, the visiting hours were filled to the brim, people cluttering up the room whenever Jun wasn’t being poked and prodded. The Matsumoto family returned with flowers by day, Toma and Mao came to yell at him for ‘being too slow to dodge’ in the afternoon, and residents of the Amagasa Vampire Enclave poked their heads in at night. Aiba arrived with smuggled in food. Ohno and Maru volunteered to water the plant in the Starlight Kiss Tours office. Murakami came to teasingly chide Jun for letting so much of his precious blood be wasted, when the two of them could have made a fortune.

By the fourth day Jun got sick of the company, ordering everyone out soon after sunset. He wanted to try walking, but Nino had shoved him down into a wheelchair, not giving a shit about Jun’s dignity. They’d been cleared to go underground, as Sho had finally emerged from his fog of painkillers. He was being kept inside a glass observation room, sealed off in hopes of warding off infections. He’d be in there for several weeks while his skin repaired itself.

He was still bandaged up, though his head was mostly uncovered. The doctors had given him a rather unattractive buzzcut in order to attend to his scalp, and he lay there in bed while a nurse gently held his phone on speaker beside him.

Jun had his phone in hand, his other hand on the glass, as though he could somehow reach through and touch him. “Your head has an ugly shape,” he said by way of greeting, earning him a rather weak chuckle in reply.

“Hi.”

“But I suppose it’ll grow back, your hair. This will now be a cherished memory. The time when Sakurai Sho was bald. Seriously though, your head is shaped very oddly.”

“Sorry.”

“Anyhow, I would not recommend getting stabbed,” Jun said, trying to sound casual, although Nino knew it was killing him to be on the other side of the glass. “It sucks.”

Ever so slowly, Sho tilted his head, looking over. He couldn’t move much else, not yet.

Jun maintained his teasing tone, informing Sho of all the Starlight Kiss activity he was handling from his hospital bed, with Nino’s assistance. He’d gone ahead and canceled all events and tours through the end of the year, which made Sho’s expression become grim.

“We’re Starlight Kiss Tours,” Jun said. “Not Ugly Bald Guy Tours. We have a brand reputation to uphold. They can wait for 2016, or whenever you have hair again.”

Sho blinked, his voice scratchy and strained. “Okay.”

“Nino is going back to work tomorrow,” Jun informed Sho. “Because if he doesn’t, then it means Aiba-kun will remain in charge of the mail room. And nobody wants that. As for me, I may be discharged by the end of the week. Joshima-san has done some preliminary cleaning while we’ve been gone, since we still had things in the sink and laundry hanging up. I can bring your laptop here, if you want, once they clear you to do tasks like that. Something to look forward to, working. Your favorite pastime, Sho-san. As for the rest of your time, it seems that Agent Yoshitaka has hired you an entire physical therapy team. Sounds expensive, vampire physical therapy! About time the government did something nice for a change.”

Sho was staring at him, blinking back tears, clearly wishing he was strong enough to say something more. Instead, he settled for “Okay.”

Jun looked down. “Now hurry up and get better.”

“Okay.”

Tears were streaming down Jun’s face when Nino pushed him back to the elevator. But seeing Sho, seeing him awake and even talking, Nino knew the worst was over.

The life of a Daylight Specialist, it was certainly never dull. Although, Nino hoped, he could definitely use a few months (or even years) of dull after the summer he’d just had.

—

Five months later

—

“I don’t have the passes for the aquarium night tour. Shit, they’re probably still by the printer.”

“What the hell, the taxi will be here in a few minutes!” Sho complained, tapping his watch. “Do I have to do everything around here?”

Jun rolled his eyes, leaving his rolling suitcase next to the mail counter in the lobby of the Amagasa Vampire Enclave. “I’ll be two seconds. I’ll be right back, promise.”

And off he ran, hurrying for the elevator. Nino shut down the computer in the mail room, watching Sho tap his foot impatiently. He looked over, giving Nino his patented long-suffering look. The look of someone who planned every one of his very special guided tours down to the minute, who had zero tolerance for such important things like aquarium passes being forgotten. “Can you believe him?” Sho’s eyes were asking.

“Osaka’s not going anywhere, Sho-chan.”

“What do you know, Ninomiya? You don’t leave Tokyo.”

Nino nodded. “Fair enough.”

He pulled down the shutter for the reception window with a rude bang, locking it up for the night. He closed up the mail room, stretching his arms over his head as he joined Sho in the lobby. It was February, it was freezing cold outside, and he had a very long night of undisturbed sleep to look forward to. Winter, what a glorious season.

There was a faint pink patch of scar tissue on Sho’s face now, running from the tip of his nose and down to his jaw. Five months on, it was still warm to the touch. Nino poked him there to be annoying, once, twice, before pressing a kiss to it. Sho tolerated the poking, and the kiss made him look away in shy delight.

“Safe travels. I’m sleeping in your bed while you’re gone. I’ve always liked your mattress better anyhow.”

“Don’t move Jun’s stuff around in the bathroom. He knows it’s you doing it every time.”

“He loves me,” Nino protested, holding his nose in the air.

Sho smiled, shaking his head. “It amazes me that the both of you will be turning 33 this year. When are you two going to grow up?”

In a handful of months, Jun’s blood contract would be up again. Nino was the only person who knew that Sho finally intended to agree to Jun’s request, that just like Sho, Jun would be 33 years old for the rest of his “life.” Jun didn’t even know yet. Sho was actually planning to tell him that weekend, during their Osaka trip, that he was willing, so long as Jun still wanted it. As for Nino, who had no interest in drinking blood or giving up his incredible salary that required him to work daylight hours, he supposed that he would insist on them calling him “senpai” when he reached the ripe old age of 34.

“We’ll never grow up,” Nino said. “Just to piss you off.”

The elevator chimed in time with Sho’s laugh, and Jun came back with a handful of papers in tow. Sho snatched them away from him, grumbling under his breath. The taxi arrived, and they said their goodbyes, bundled up in their coats and off to Tokyo Station to meet the shinkansen that would get them to Shin-Osaka before midnight.

Nino leaned back against the counter, grinning. He reached out his fingertips, giving the service bell a quick little ding.

“Sorry,” he said to the empty lobby. “We’re closed.”

Comments

[darkilk.livejournal.com]

Wheeeee~ had to take a break in between to zzz but sakumoto and Kazu worked so well! I hate that u got me to cry with sakumoto confessions to Nino that just show your absolute mastery of sakumoto angst, but love how Kazu was struggling with his own uncertainties where the pair were concerned. And of course all the little shoutouts that any arashian worth their salt shouldn't miss, but especially love Maru's mini-crush where oh-chan had to put a lid on. (^_^) what a wonderful start to the weekend (busy, but still... Lol)!

[astrangerenters.livejournal.com]

You should have seen me editing this nasty thing. Hours, I tell you. Hours to look for all my typos!!!

Maru's crush on Nino is monumental and there was no way I could pass up an opportunity to mention it here.

Glad you liked it, thank you!!

[helenmaldon.livejournal.com]

LOL I read this whole chapter in a panic afraid that something terrible was going to happen...and then something terrible did happen but I love that it was all okay in the end <333 And how much Sakumoto depends on Nino...maybe a bit like they depend on Nino in real life xD
This was incredibly absorbing and romantic!! Just like you always make me love Sakumoto, you made me love this threesome so much. So great to read another fic from you, thank you for sharing!!! <3333

[astrangerenters.livejournal.com]

Thank you for all your comments!!! They are super appreciated :)

Sho/Jun/Nino is my OT3 so I knew I had to do them justice. Somehow 'justice' equaled vampires though, I don't understand myself LOL.

So happy you liked it!

[gambitsfox.livejournal.com]

All I can say is........wow! I loved it! It was so hard putting it down long enough to go to work. Maybe you would possibly do a second story with these characters? Loved the whole background storyline about this AU and the characters. Very interesting. Sexy sex scenes too! Thanks! ; )

[astrangerenters.livejournal.com]

I'm not really planning on a sequel - I really loved this universe and characters a lot, but I can't make any promises that I'll revisit it. But it really means a lot to me that people want more, I'm so happy you enjoyed it. Thank you!

[piggywhale.livejournal.com]

I read this on AO3 but was impressed with it so much that I needed to stop by your LJ. I have been a fan of your writing for awhile now and always like your stories. But somehow this one strikes me more than usual. I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute reading this. You almost gave me a heart attack a few times, LoL. My heart did not beat that fast while reading fanfic for a very long time.

Never really into Sakumoto but you are changing my opinion with this one, I guess having Nino in the middle really shows the pairing in different light and I love it. :) Thank you so much for putting so much love and care into writing this (and every other story). <3

I am heading to your new Youkoso wagaya e story next. So glad you keep writing about Kenta and Asuka. Thank you.

[astrangerenters.livejournal.com]

As you can see, I write all my 'thank you' comments at the same time LOL. Sorry for the late reply ;)

I had a ton of fun writing this story. It was for the Nino Exchange and yet all this Sakumoto, oops. But the person I wrote for loves Sakumoto (and Nino) so I was able to justify it to myself. I am happy to change any and all opinions on Sakumoto, as it is my very favorite ;)

Thank you so much! I tend to be more responsive with LJ comments than AO3 ones for some reason, but knowing anyone's reading at all is enough to make me happy. Comments make my day brighter!! :D