Daylight Specialist, 4/6

[astrangestorm]

When three magazines arrived in one day with ‘DIE VAMPIRE’ scrawled across the covers, Nino got Agent Yoshitaka on the phone. Kazama-kun had been extremely apologetic, saying that he’d intended to put them in an envelope for defaced mail, but he thought it best to bring them to Amagasa as is so something could be done about it.

None of the three magazines was addressed to Sho. And much as that brought the slightest relief to Nino’s heart, he could still imagine those bricks on the floor of Starlight Kiss Tours. Sho hadn’t filed a complaint about it, but now Nino supposed he had little choice but to report it.

Yoshitaka, strange on most days, was entirely professional upon arrival. She took photographs of each magazine first before slipping them all in her bag. They were to be taken to Bureau headquarters in hopes of running the handwriting on each magazine against their database of catalogued threats. But if they had no matches, then the person threatening the Amagasa residents was still out there, undiscovered. He told Yoshitaka about the magazine incident with Sho, about the broken windows at Starlight Kiss.

She took a copy of the invoice from Yasuda’s firm, scanning it quickly. “You said they wrote on the bricks that were thrown through the windows?”

“Yeah. Same message.”

“Still have the bricks?”

Nino shrugged. “They probably threw them out.”

Yoshitaka looked annoyed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Perhaps she cared about the vampires she tracked more than she let on. “Well, we can try and get Sakurai-san a refund or some sort of tax break for the broken windows. If we had the bricks, he’d be guaranteed compensation since it would be irrefutable that it’s anti-vampire harassment. But with just a few broken windows, it can be written off as simple vandalism. I can’t promise anything.”

“He’s not in the habit of reporting things like this anyway,” Nino admitted.

“Most of them aren’t,” Yoshitaka replied.

Aiba was looking through the magazines, shaking his head. “They’re not hurting anyone, the vampires. Why would they do this?”

“No matter how closely we watch them, how much we make them follow our rules, they’re still stronger than we are,” Yoshitaka pointed out. “Some people don’t like that.”

The trouble with the magazines and the vandalism at Sho’s business was enough to get Joshima to cancel Taichi’s party. The money Taichi had collected so far for the caterers and entertainment was instead being channeled into upgrading security for the building. Over the next several days, Joshima had contractors coming in and out before settling on a company that would install more high-tech cameras on premises. Aiba was excited for the new technology, the motion sensors installed in the garage, and the pending upgrade for the elevators. If a criminal got past the front door and got past Aiba (and Nino), he’d still hit a wall upon reaching the elevators. They were getting a passcode, known to residents only. It would have to be keyed in before any of the elevator doors would open.

Nino and Agent Yoshitaka started to do rounds of the neighborhood during the day, familiarizing themselves with the people who worked in the local businesses, asking if they’d keep a watchful eye out for anyone suspicious near Amagasa. Unfamiliar cars parked on the block, people walking by multiple times, anything out of the ordinary. Nino wasn’t sure any of them would go out of their way to help, but it couldn’t hurt to ask them to simply look.

The residents seemed more irritated than threatened. With all the contracting work, there were strangers in and out of the building for several days during daylight hours, and Nino felt bad for those who were trying to rest but didn’t have one of the soundproof vamp sleep units. That included Jun and Sho, who Nino hadn’t spoken to at all since the night at Starlight Kiss. One night he’d still been working in the office, with the shutter down and locked, and the Sakurai-Matsumoto mailbox had opened and closed. He’d listened to them talking about some vampire-friendly luau in Honolulu before heading out the door. It was cowardly, sure, but Nino supposed it was for the best.

The following evening he conveniently packed up the mail room just before sunset, ducking out before Aiba and going home. It was a Friday evening following a long day of listening to awful drilling noises as a crew of electricians from Yasuda’s company worked on wiring up the elevators. Nino’s head was pounding, and he was ready for bed almost as soon as he got inside, sprawling out on his loveseat because he doubted he’d make it to his bedroom.

The buzzer for his door went off a short time later. “Go home, Masaki. I’m tired!”

The buzzer went off a second time. Nino rolled off the loveseat with little grace, thumping onto the floor with a low growl. He dragged himself to the door and looked out the peep hole to see Sakurai Sho standing there in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. It amazed Nino how Sho could go out in the summer heat in suits or jackets all the time. Maybe vampire body temperatures were different.

He undid the locks, pulling the door open slightly. “I was sleeping,” he lied.

Sho was unapologetic. “Can we talk?” He looked rather exhausted, which made sense with all the noise that had been buzzing through Amagasa of late. A vampire without sleep was kind of scary.

Nino couldn’t help but poke his head out into the hall, confused. “Where’s Jun-kun?”

“Watching a movie in the apartment,” Sho said before asking once again, with emphasis. “Nino, can I come in? I want to talk to you.”

“Giving him an awful lot of freedom, leaving him alone,” Nino pointed out, going for a teasing tone. Traditionally, blood contracts were never supposed to be left by themselves. They were either with their vampire or being escorted by a trusted proxy, which was why Nino always had to accompany Erika or any of the other Amagasa BCs when they went out during daylight hours.

“I think I can trust him not to run away,” he said as Nino took a step back, letting Sho inside.

“I don’t have anything for you. To drink I mean,” Nino said sheepishly, and Sho waved a hand, not worried about Nino’s hospitality or lack thereof.

Sho sat at one end of Nino’s loveseat, and try as he might, there wasn’t much space between them. It had been days now, but having Sho so close, Nino caught himself staring at his lips, remembering how gently he’d taken Jun’s fingers into his mouth and…

“Nino.”

“Yeah?” He blinked, wishing he could be a more respectful host, but between his long, noisy day and all the time he’d spent trying not to think about Sho as more than a regular old Amagasa resident, it was just not happening. But try as he did to fight it, it was all too easy to sit with Sho, to relax around him.

Sho sat with his back against the cushion, hands shoved into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. He looked a little lost. “Matsumoto-kun’s contract ends in two months.” Last names again. Maybe on purpose, in hopes that Nino would forget what he’d seen that night at Starlight Kiss.

Two months. Five years together, and it was almost up. Nino hadn’t even realized it was so soon. “How does that renewal stuff work? With the contracts, I mean. Is that something I can help with? Do you need me to speak with Agent Yoshitaka about it?”

Sho’s eyes were serious. “I was hoping you could spend some time with Matsumoto-kun, Nino. Not just as the daylight specialist, accompanying him around because it’s your job. But as a friend.”

Nino was confused. “This isn’t about the contract?”

“It is about the contract. Sort of,” Sho said quietly. “I was hoping…I was just, well…”

“Well?” Nino sat sideways, pulling his socked feet up onto the loveseat. He nudged Sho with his toe. “Well what, Sho-san?”

“Because of all the restrictions in a blood contract, Matsumoto-kun has spent the last few years living on my schedule. He misses out on a lot, being tied to me that way. He doesn’t complain, not that much. Not as much as he could. But anyway,” Sho said, exhaustion written across his face. “I want him to get out more. To remember what it’s like to be human, to go out in the sunshine and just live a normal life.”

Nino could scarcely breathe. Jun probably had no idea Sho had come to his apartment. If Jun knew what Sho was asking, he’d be angry. “Sho-san, you don’t want him to renew his contract, do you?”

Sho was staring at his lap. “Yes. And no.” Nino watched him rub at his eyes, run his hands through his hair, let out an annoyed sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t know what I want him to do.”

“You think if he hangs out with me, he’ll change his mind? Well I hate to break it to you, but I’m not the ‘going out and having fun’ type. I’m the ‘let’s stay in and not spend money needlessly’ type.”

Sho smiled gently at that, still looking down. “I’ve already taken five years from him. It was around his birthday when we met. He’d just turned 27. Those are prime years, important years. And I let him sign his life away to live with me. He has to be around me almost every waking moment. At home, at work, even on the road when we’re leading a tour. Sometimes even I get sick of seeing him, so I know he has to be tired of me.”

With the way Jun had reacted when the threats against Sho had come in, Nino kind of doubted that Jun wanted a life without Sho in it. “Jun worries about you,” Nino said. “And you’re trying to push him away?”

“It’s not like that. I love…” Nino inhaled sharply at that, without meaning to. Sho noticed. “I love having him around. But I don’t want him to do anything he’ll regret. I want him to be happy.”

This was deep stuff, heavy relationship stuff. We share a king-size bed stuff. Why was Sho trusting Nino with this sort of thing? Sho turned, and Nino saw the heavy burden Sho seemed to be carrying. He remembered that first awkward dinner he’d shared with them, how Sho had asked him to look out for Jun.

“After Misako-san died, he changed,” Sho admitted, and his voice was so low, so quiet, that Nino had to wriggle a bit to sit closer. “Or maybe he’d been thinking this way for a long time and I refused to pay attention to it.”

“You can tell me,” Nino said, trying to encourage him. Sho was putting up a tough front, blinking as though he was trying not to cry.

“He asked me to…” Sho closed his eyes, choking up. “Nino, this was a little while before you came here, but he asked me to turn him. I don’t know if it was Misako-san’s death or the realization that his contract’s almost done, but he asked me to do that to him.”

Nino was stunned, could barely keep the conversation going. “He wants to be a vampire.”

“I told him no. I’ve told him no again and again, that I cannot and will not do that to him,” Sho explained. “We share close quarters, and for the last few years we’ve been…well. In regards to that, at least, it’s made things awkward lately.”

No kidding, Nino wanted to say, as Sho all but confirmed that he and Jun were far more than a signed contract. It certainly went a long way to explaining why Sho and Jun behaved so strangely around one another. Jun had, in no uncertain terms, asked Sho to kill him, to bring him back as something inhuman. He’d look human, he’d sound human, the same as Sho sitting before him now. But he’d always be different. He’d always need blood to survive. Sho had turned him down. Nino imagined that would put a strain on any relationship, especially one as close as theirs.

He remembered Ohno, how he’d turned Maru only to keep him from dying needlessly, from freezing to death after his fall into Tokyo Bay. Ohno despaired about it to this day, worrying he’d made the wrong choice. That Maru hadn’t known just what he was agreeing to. Jun was different, obviously, having spent the last few years in the enclave. Jun knew first hand what a vampire’s life was, the restrictions and the difficulties.

And now Nino knew what Sho wanted from him. Sho wanted Jun to change his mind, to never ask such a thing of him again. Sho wanted Jun to remain human and was hoping Nino would be the one to convince Jun it was the right choice.

“I’ll try,” Nino decided, doubting he was going to be of much use. “All I can do is try.”

Matsumoto Jun had proven himself a stubborn person, someone who knew what he wanted and didn’t give in to expectations. He’d quit his job to make money at blood banks. He willingly signed a blood contract, trading day for night and probably losing friends along the way. And when Sho was threatened, Jun wanted him to fight back. If Jun was so set on becoming a vampire, whatever his reasons for wanting it, how far would he go?

A while later, Nino walked Sho to the door. Sho stood in the doorway, looking like a weight had lifted. Was Nino the only confidant he had? “I want him to grow old,” Sho admitted. “You can’t imagine how badly I want that.”

“I probably can’t,” he said quietly. “Good night, Sho-san.”

He gave Nino a quick nod. “Good night.”

—

A few days later, Jun sent him an email. Something about shopping for clothes for a pending Hawaiian trip, the next destination for Starlight Kiss Tours. Nino supposed it had been Sho’s idea.

Jun met him in the lobby on a Wednesday morning, and it was almost startling to see him in broad daylight. He was in a gray t-shirt that Nino liked very much, if only because it was tight and showed off the broad span of his shoulders, the pale muscle of his arms. He apparently wore contacts on most days, but hadn’t put in the effort this morning since he was squinting at the sunlight through a pair of horn-rimmed glasses that made him look a touch pretentious, crossing his arms a bit huffily as he waited for Nino to lock up the mail room. He hadn’t styled his hair either, shoving it all under a New York Yankees baseball cap.

“Been a while since I’ve been up this early,” Jun admitted, looking like he wanted to crawl back in bed and never come out.

“Poor baby,” Nino replied, having already been briefed by Jun-expert Sakurai Sho about Jun’s tendency to be ‘temperamental’ upon going out during the day. He wasn’t going to let Jun bitch at him all day unless he got to bitch back.

According to Sho, Jun had always been a night owl, even before the contract. He was the kind of person who’d go out after dark and stay out drinking until the sun came up. Adjusting to a vampire’s schedule hadn’t been much of a hardship for him. With Aiba bidding them farewell, Nino and Jun took the elevator down to the parking garage. While Jun sipped what smelled like the world’s strongest coffee from a travel mug, Nino pulled the Toyota out of the garage and out into the daylight.

Nino had always been a homebody, shunning the outside, but even he had to admit that Matsumoto Jun was pale. He was tempted to put his arm next to Jun’s, to marvel at how much darker he was simply from going out to run normal errands for the enclave every day. As Nino drove, he snuck quick peeks at his passenger, hiding a smile at the way Jun shrank back in his seat, putting down the sun visor and whining about having left his prescription sunglasses back at the enclave. Nino wasn’t free from Jun’s complaints and chatter until they ended up at the outlet mall in Kisarazu.

It had been a long drive, Jun using the freedom of not having to drive and being up during normal human hours to make personal phone calls. He didn’t seem to care if Nino was listening in as he called, in order, his mother, his grandmother, a friend named Shun, and then his sister, leaving a lengthy voicemail for her as she wasn’t at home.

For someone under contract to a vampire, Jun’s phone calls were surprisingly mundane. He talked about work as though he was a normal salaryman, discussing the upcoming tour to Oahu in a week’s time. He told his grandmother that he’d take pictures of Diamond Head for her. He told the friend that he’d bring souvenirs back for his child. He must have spent fifteen minutes listening to his mother complain about a neighbor who was slacking off with sorting her recyclables. He signed off with his mother by calmly telling her that “Sho-san says hello,” which made Nino nearly steer the car into another lane.

Nino had not really used the word ‘cute’ thus far as a descriptor for Matsumoto Jun, but today it seemed warranted. As Nino trailed him from store to store, Jun’s grumpiness started to slip away and he became a different person. A cheerful person. Someone with a smile so bright and beautiful it could probably end wars and human suffering. Retail therapy worked wonders on someone like Jun, it seemed. He patiently asked Nino’s opinion about clothes, about swim trunks, about sandals. He then proceeded to dismiss Nino’s suggestions outright, buying whatever he wanted instead.

“I just buy what feels right,” Jun explained, which made no sense to someone like Nino, who much preferred to take a glance at the price tag first before picking anything off the rack. And yet it was still more cute than obnoxious, watching Jun tote bags around, hold a shirt or a pair of slacks against himself to guess at the fit, agonize over a purchase he was making for Sho.

“He’s got too many of these ugly hats,” Jun complained in one store. “He’s never out in the sun, he doesn’t need any more god damn hats.”

“Hear, hear,” Nino said in support, remembering the hat Sho had been wearing before their trip to Fukuoka.

In two hours, Nino had gotten more exercise walking from store to store than he’d gotten in weeks. He’d managed to influence only one of Jun’s purchases, selecting a new red tie for Sho that would most assuredly look perfect on him.

And in two hours, Matsumoto Jun had taken out his credit card fourteen times and carried around bags from at least a dozen stores. New jeans, items for Sho, accessories for himself. Some of it, Nino wanted to point out, would probably not be going to Hawaii with him, but he got the feeling Jun really enjoyed going out in daylight hours for once, getting to try things on and touch fabric in person. Back at the enclave, Nino was regularly signing for Jun’s online orders. Shopping in person instead of from the other side of a glowing screen had Jun so happy he was even cracking jokes, offering to help Nino pick out some new things.

“I’m fine with my current wardrobe, thank you,” Nino declined, not wanting to spend another two hours of his life at the outlet mall.

They somehow managed to fit all of Jun’s bags in the car, heading back. Nino had never been out this long on “enclave business” before, but he wasn’t complaining. He’d gotten to see an entirely different side of one of the people he’d been hopelessly pining for all these weeks. It helped fill in the blanks, create a more whole Matsumoto Jun than the bits and pieces he’d gleaned from setting the man’s mail in his box or trying food he’d made. He was irritatingly particular about anything and everything, but he was kind and sweet at the same time. Nino caught him smiling a few times as he picked things out to buy for Sho.

They were going to stop for lunch upon getting back, and as the car crawled along in bumper to bumper traffic, Jun reclined the front seat the slightest bit, crossing his arms. Nap time. Nino let his eyes dart from the road before him to Jun at his side, reveling in all the crazy contradictions wrapped up in one person.

Handsome and proud, but with puncture wounds on his neck he wasn’t too vain to hide with bandaging or make-up. Living with a vampire under a contract that had probably distanced him from friends and family, but promising his grandmother that he’d send her his ‘vacation’ photos. Delighting simply in a day out, mingling among humans, but having asked Sho to turn him into a vampire and keep him from a day like today ever again.

After Nino stopped back at the enclave to check in with Aiba and make sure there’d been no emergencies, he and Jun headed for a small Italian bistro in the neighborhood for lunch. While Jun expertly twirled pasta around his fork and Nino did so with far less finesse, he couldn’t help asking questions, wanting to know more about him.

He got answers to questions great and small. Maybe it was the daylight, but Jun seemed open and relaxed in a way he hadn’t been around Nino before. He liked the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but lately he’d entered a jazz phase. He had no shame admitting that he loved both romantic movies and shounen manga. The job he’d quit to sell his blood full time had been at a hotel, where he’d worked at the concierge desk because he liked to be helpful, but hated wearing a uniform and being treated like a servant. “Basically, I would hate having your job,” he admitted to Nino, which made him snort in a most ungentlemanly fashion. But his skills at arranging spa visits and dinner reservations for hotel guests made his transition to his new life as Sho’s travel agency employee go quite smoothly.

BCs lived with their vampires, were paid for their blood. Jun had negotiated things so that he’d be allowed to work for his pay, simply because he was the type of person who wanted to earn their keep. “I didn’t want to be just a bag of blood to him,” he said quietly, and Nino noticed a bittersweet grin flash across his face before disappearing again.

He’d grown up in Tokyo, in a normal family. No vampire relatives. He was the first to go to the “dark side,” he admitted with a chuckle, and while he and his father had a very tense relationship since Jun joined the enclave, his mother had been slowly softening the old man up. Jun was even hopeful his parents would come on one of Sho’s trips someday.

“It would take a lot of planning, but there’s nobody better at it than Sho-kun. Somehow, he’d find a way to make it happen.”

It was obvious that Jun cared for Sho a great deal. Not just as the person he relied on for employment and shelter, and not as the person he was in a relationship with, strained though it may have been. He had a solid respect for Sho as a person, full stop, for his work ethic and his personality. That didn’t stop him from teasing him, though.

“He’s really weird,” Jun told Nino, lowering his voice as though Sakurai Sho, a mile away and asleep, might overhear him. “He overschedules and he grinds his teeth when he’s asleep and he eats things that make him sick and he can barely dress himself. But still, there’s just…”

“…there’s just something about him,” Nino interrupted, earning a soft smile from Jun.

“I wonder sometimes, if he was just human,” Jun said, absent-mindedly pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “If I’d feel the same.”

Nino said nothing, letting Jun stare blankly at his glass of wine for a few moments. In a different world, would they have still found each other? Ended up together? Or was Jun as addicted to the idea of being with a vampire as Sho was addicted to his blood? Did Jun want to be a vampire so Sho wouldn’t rely on him in that way any longer? To make things more even between them? He wanted to ask Jun why, why he thought it was worth giving up a chance at a normal life.

He twisted some more pasta around his fork, thinking about everything Jun believed he could leave behind. “That girl on the fridge with you. There’s a picture of you and her. Who is she? Your sister?”

Jun seemed to snap out of his reverie, reaching for his wine glass and taking a healthy gulp. “You look that closely at our refrigerator?”

Nino smiled. “Whenever I come in with Yoshitaka, I take a peek at it. I’m sorry if that’s weird, but I don’t go in the bedrooms when we do the inspections. Gotta have something to look at.”

Jun nodded. “That picture was from before I met Sho-kun. Mao-chan…she and I…well, it took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I prefer men. We were together for several years.”

“Sho-san doesn’t mind you keeping that? A picture of the ex? Not the jealous type?”

“No, he doesn’t mind if I keep it.” Jun met Nino’s eyes, face utterly serious. “She was attacked and murdered by a group of vampires.”

Nino’s eyes widened, his hand shakily putting down his fork. “Jun-kun…oh god. Oh my god I’m so sorry…”

But then Jun started to laugh, a mean-spirited cackle that left Nino confused. His heart was racing, still imagining the woman with the sweet smile on Sho and Jun’s refrigerator being murdered in a gruesome fashion. Jun was laughing so hard he had to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye, earning a few stares from other people in the restaurant.

“Oh you should see your face right now,” Jun managed to say in between gasps for air. His whole body was shaking, and he reached a hand out, giving Nino’s a squeeze. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Oh my god, she’s not dead, Nino.”

“What the fuck,” he mumbled, deciding to let Jun choose when to let go of him. Jun’s grasp was warm, strong, enveloping his own small hand so easily.

“I’m sorry,” Jun said, barely holding it together. “Mao-chan is absolutely, one hundred percent fine. We broke up amicably and I see her once a week, if not more. She can’t come to the enclave, but she comes to the office to see me.”

Nino glared at him. “You have a bizarre sense of humor.”

Jun gave his hand one more squeeze before letting go, snickering under his breath. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, I just…you were listening to me so attentively, I couldn’t help myself.” He cleared his throat, wiping another tear from the corner of his eye. “Mao-chan is fine. Breaking up with her was the best thing I ever did for her, if only because it opened the door for her to realize she loved someone else. She married our friend, Toma-kun, we all grew up together and now she’s got him wrapped around her little finger.”

“Remind me never to listen to you so attentively again, Jun-kun.”

Jun’s laugh got Nino through the rest of the day, seeing how gradually he’d come to relax around Nino. As he bustled around the mail room, he kept thinking of the “new” Jun he’d met that day, the Jun who smiled and laughed and reached out to squeeze his hand.

When his alarm went off come morning, there was an all-too-formal email waiting for him from Sho, stating that he hadn’t seen “Matsumoto-kun” so happy in months, thanking him for taking him out for the day. The email he received from Jun, however, was much less stiff.

We’re going to karaoke Saturday night. You better come. Jun.

—

Even though he’d gone back to his apartment for a quick power nap after work, the long hours in the mail room were catching up with Nino as he got into the backseat of Sho’s car on Saturday night. Jun was already plying him with energy shots, passing one back to him as Sho pulled the car out of the garage. He was already regretting having volunteered himself as designated driver.

They were off to a vampire-friendly karaoke place in Kabukicho, would be meeting with Jun’s ex Mao-chan and her husband Toma. Aiba had been invited but he and his girlfriend were already on a double date with Kazama-kun and his wife. It left Nino feeling like a fifth wheel as Sho parked and he followed him and Jun inside. But it didn’t take long for him to feel welcome among the strange circle of friends.

Mao practically flung herself into Jun’s arms upon their entry to the rented karaoke room, Jun lifting her around, turning them in a circle until she complained. “See,” Jun said, jerking away as Mao attempted to fight back with tickling fingers. “See Nino, she’s not dead.”

“What do you mean not dead?” Mao fumed, shoving him. “What are you telling people about me, you creep?”

Toma rolled his eyes, leaning close to whisper conspiratorially with Nino. “He’s kind of a dick, isn’t he?” he mumbled, although there was obvious affection in his voice.

Unlike most humans, Toma and Mao didn’t seem to treat Sho any differently, arguing with him about what songs to sing, asking about the pending Starlight Kiss Hawaii tour, and not showing any outward disgust when he ordered one of his blood-infused vampire specialty drinks. Nino got the sense that if Jun turned up vampire one day, Toma and Mao would not be too troubled about it. Maybe it was this acceptance that made him bold enough to want Sho to turn him. Nino wondered if Jun had asked his friends about it, if they’d support his decision. Not that it was going to change Sho’s mind.

Nino was introduced and not treated as an afterthought. The laid-back and chatty Toma wanted to know everything about his job, speaking noisily over Jun’s rather nasal Michael Jackson medley, to learn all the ins and outs of the enclave. Nino couldn’t tell them much, on account of what he’d promised Joshima-san, and he could see appreciation in Sho’s eyes for keeping his chatter mostly about Yokoyama’s weird complaints, about Jun’s Cooking with Blood magazine.

He kept downing energy drinks while the others slowly got drunk around him. Soon enough Jun was tugging him by the hand, sharing a microphone with him. His body was warm when he put his arm around his waist, and when Nino turned in a slight panic, he could only see acceptance, even encouragement in Sho’s eyes. The vampire was sipping one of his drinks, his eyes bright from the alcohol. Nino simply nodded, putting his arm around Jun’s back and joining him for a rather misguided, but enthusiastic attempt at a Golden Bomber song.

He and Jun did so many songs in a row their voices started to crack, but nobody complained. Toma and Mao were nearly asleep, eyes heavy as they limply hit tambourines or mumbled along. Sho was in and out of the room, buying more drinks until everyone except Nino was thoroughly liquored up. Toma, in a sleepy giddiness, did one final X Japan song with Sho before calling it a night, half-dragging and half-carrying his wife from the room, heading downstairs to catch a taxi.

Now it was just the three of them, Jun completely uninhibited by now and grabbing the half-empty beers that Mao and Toma had been struggling through and downing them in between shouting out lyrics. Sho was laughing at him, his shimmering, amused eyes meeting with Nino’s. “He’s going to be hugging the toilet tomorrow,” Sho said, hand squeezing Nino’s thigh.

He liked the attention, though his current state of sobriety kept him from touching Sho in return. He glanced at his phone, sighing, showing it to Sho. “I have to be at work in three hours.”

Sho leaned closer, and Nino was having a little trouble thinking clearly. Jun’s noisy singing, full of lyric misfires, combined with the dim lighting and glowing TV screens in the karaoke room, didn’t help. “Have you even had a day off since you’ve started? It’s summer, you’re putting in what, 13, 14 hour days every day?”

Nino shook his head. “It’s not that big a deal…” He usually got in at least an hour or so of a nap each day, when they weren’t expecting deliveries and he had Aiba to ding the bell and wake him.

“Then call in sick,” Sho said. “And I’m usually the last person who would advise such a thing…”

“Workaholic!” Jun shouted, his voice echoing from the microphone and bouncing around the room.

Nino shook his head, ignoring the voices of his intoxicated companions. They’d have to leave soon, if only so Nino was awake enough to drive them back to the enclave safely. “We should call it a night soon.”

Sho reached out a hand, his fingers gently teasing along his jawline. “Too responsible, Ninomiya-san.”

He shut his eyes as soon as he felt Sho’s cool fingers on his skin. He couldn’t help but sink back against the cushion, nervous and excited and sleepy all at once. Jun’s singing stopped soon thereafter, the music continuing without him. “I need to get you home,” Nino protested weakly. “I have to work.”

“Call in sick,” Sho said, fingertips fluttering across his face. He found the mole on Nino’s chin, poking and chuckling. “Ahhhh, you’re so cute.”

He opened his eyes, saw that Jun was standing only a few feet away, holding the karaoke microphone and watching with a grin. “I’m not that cute,” Nino denied. These two sure turned stupid with liquor in them.

“Look at his hands, they’re tiny,” Jun said, sounding like a damn expert, and Sho’s wandering fingers left his face, grabbing his hand.

“Oh wow,” Sho marveled, prodding his palm. “Wow, they’re small. Cuuuuute….”

He had to take a bit of offense at that. “Hey, not everything about me is small, alright?”

Jun and Sho both laughed, louder than necessary on account of them both being stupid drunk. “Alright,” Sho finally said, “fine, fine, we’ll go.”

Sho pulled out his wallet, refusing Nino’s money as they settled the bill for the room. It was a true ordeal getting back to Amagasa, with Sho in the front seat of the car beside him trying to give him directions (even though Nino knew the way) and Jun in the back seat with the windows rolled down, sticking his head out for fresh air almost like a dog.

He pulled into the garage and wanted to head home, sleep in his own bed, but Jun was around him, all over him, hugging him from behind and nudging him forward to the elevator. “Stay with us, I’ll make you breakfast. We’ll call Aiba-kun, have him cover downstairs a few hours so you can sleep in. He won’t mind, he loves you!”

“I really shouldn’t,” Nino complained, as he tried and failed to ignore the feeling of Jun pressed along his back, insistent.

“Too late,” Sho said as soon as the elevator doors shut, wiggling his phone. “I already texted him.”

“Joshima-san is going to fire me,” Nino whined. “I never thought I’d say this, but you two are bad influences.”

As soon as the elevator opened on the sixth floor, Jun hoisted him, lifting Nino into his arms like he weighed nothing, Sho laughing and getting out his keys. They got him inside, Sho unlacing and pulling off Nino’s sneakers and then Jun was carrying him again, princess-style, into the bedroom.

“The couch is fine…oof!” Jun dumped him on the bed with little ceremony, and then the two of them were undressing him. He was on the verge of panic, wondering if they were intent on sleeping with him, but as soon as Jun had yanked Nino’s jeans off, Sho was there tugging on the blankets, bundling Nino up in the chilly air conditioned room. They weren’t going to fuck him. They were pampering him.

Despite all the excitement, despite his seeming inability to ignore how good it had felt when Sho had touched him, when Jun had wrapped his arms around him, he somehow managed to drift off.

—

When he woke, it was because someone was snoring. Nino turned, seeing that at some point, daylight had come, prompting Sho to come into the room and go to sleep. He’d kept a respectful distance, his back to Nino, burrowed under the blankets so he wasn’t much more than a head of messy black hair. Nino got up slowly, hoping he wasn’t disturbing him. On a day like today, Sho was probably wishing he had a fancy vamp sleep unit.

The clock on the microwave read 9:47 AM when he found Jun in the kitchen, back in his nerdy glasses and making an omelette. He was in a sleeveless tee and tight red boxer briefs, a blanket and pillow discarded on the living room sofa behind them, and Nino struggled to keep himself steady. “Morning,” he mumbled, the aftertaste of too many energy drinks coating his tongue.

When Jun turned his head, fluttering his fingers in hello, Nino saw two fresh wounds on his neck. Sometime between depositing Nino in their bed and Sho later joining him there, Sho had drunk from Jun. Nino almost wished he’d been able to watch, creepy as that was.

“I’m still going to work after this,” he decided, taking a swig from the mug of coffee Jun had already left on the counter for him.

“Do whatever you like,” Jun said, not seeming to care if Nino was staring at his hips, the curve of his ass through his underwear. From the scratchy sound of his voice, he had been ill already and would probably spend the remainder of the day resting, sleeping off his hangover. Nino wondered if Sho sucking his blood helped or hindered his recovery. “Aiba-kun’s already there, he called earlier. He doesn’t care that you’ll be late.”

Of course Aiba didn’t care. Because he’d spend the rest of the day giving Nino the third degree, curious as to what had happened to result in Nino spending the night in Sho and Jun’s apartment. Aiba’s imagination drifted to the perverted rather easily. Nino was almost tempted to lie to him and provide lurid details about the imaginary threesome he’d had, in which Sho had sucked his blood while Jun had sucked his…

Jun set the plate of eggs down on the kitchen counter with a dull thud, raising an eyebrow at him. “Eat something. You look like shit.”

Aiba didn’t even comment on Nino appearing in the same clothes when he finally went downstairs for work sometime after 11:00. In fact, he’d never seen Aiba with such a grave look on his face. He was at his security desk, his phone out and some video playing.

“Thanks for covering the desk.” He waved his hand in front of Aiba’s face. “Masaki, what’s wrong?”

Aiba had tears in his eyes, handing Nino his phone. It was a breaking news story, about an enclave in Kobe. They’d been illegally harboring a handful of recently turned vampires, or so the news was reporting. Somehow, some way, they’d gotten out, away from the enclave during daylight hours. Three vampires had managed to kill fourteen people, including two children, in a matter of minutes before burning up in the hot sun. A suicidal charge? A protest against government regulations? The human news was obviously not going to come up with a reason that cast the vampires in a sympathetic light.

All of Kobe, hell, most of the Kansai region was already on government lockdown, the Self-Defense Force was expected to be activated to keep the peace, and the news report speculated that the entire Kobe enclave that had housed them would get the sun for it. Human retaliation against the vampires was expected, and the government was still considering what was to be done.

Nino sat down on top of Aiba’s desk, handing him back his phone. “Fuck.”

Aiba nodded, looking horrified. “It’s the worst that’s happened in almost twenty years, they’re saying.”

“I need to call Yuriko.”

While he’d been upstairs, eating his omelette, people had been murdered and the social order in Japan had reached an all too nasty tipping point. Just last night, he and Jun and Mao and Toma had spent hours with a vampire, with not an inkling of fear about it. It took him almost forty minutes to get through to Yuriko, who had few answers for him. Was Tokyo going on lockdown? No, not yet, but it was on the table. No announcements would likely be made until sundown, when the vampires could be officially informed of what had happened.

Daytime deliveries and mail service continued as usual, but come sunset, he and Aiba went up to Joshima’s apartment together to break the news. The enclave’s leader wasn’t surprised, looking exhausted. He already had his television on, said that his phone had been ringing for hours. Reports were already filtering in about enclaves being harassed around the country, whether it was graffiti or other vandalism. Now that the sun had gone down, Joshima suspected it was going to be a long night in Japan.

“My friend Nakai-san is on the board at the Vampire Rights Commission,” Joshima was saying. “I’m going to get Amagasa’s name on the list of enclaves who are condemning the attacks.”

“What good will that do?” Aiba asked, shaking his head.

“Nothing, in all likelihood,” Joshima agreed, frustrated. “Innocent lives were lost, and we will all be blamed for it, regardless.”

“We’ve gotten no orders for a lockdown yet,” Nino said. “And Agent Yoshitaka is doing her best to keep me updated on everything. She’s responsible for eight different enclaves, so she’s got her hands full.”

“It’s night time now,” Joshima decided. “And you’ve done all you could. I thank you, both of you, for your concern and all your hard work. But we need you tomorrow, more than ever. Please rest well tonight so you can keep the building safe come morning.”

As Aiba and Nino returned to the lobby, they saw vampires leaving as usual. Aiba even grabbed Yokoyama by the arm, risking his wrath. “You shouldn’t go out, Yoko, not tonight,” Aiba pleaded with him.

“I’m not afraid of humans,” Yoko said, heading out the door without looking back.

Nino patted Aiba on the shoulder, knowing there was nothing they could do. While they’d been upstairs with Joshima, the residents of apartment 6B had already gone out, as had Ohno and Maruyama. He couldn’t relax until he’d spoken with all of them.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened, Nino,” Ohno told him when Nino’s call got through to him, his voice calm and soothing. “Honestly, it’s going to be okay.”

“Tell Nino I love him!” Maru was shouting in the background of the call. “In case we die!”

Ohno sighed. “If there’s any violence against vampires reported tonight, it may actually be vampire against vampire.”

Nino laughed quietly. “Take care of yourselves. If you die, I’m going to be the one to have to cancel all your damn magazine subscriptions.”

“I’ll do my best to avoid troubling you then,” Ohno replied, hanging up.

Sho didn’t answer Nino’s call, but Jun did. “It’s quiet,” Jun said, speaking to Nino from the Starlight Kiss office. “Hardly anyone out tonight.”

“I’m guessing if vampires can kill fourteen people in broad daylight, then nobody’s interested in seeing what they can do at night.”

“A wise course of action,” Jun said bitterly. He cleared his throat. “Not that any vampire in Japan’s going to be stupid enough to give the humans any more ammunition by attacking anyone tonight. Anyhow, Sho-kun’s on the phone with the airline. Since Tokyo hasn’t been locked down, we’re seeing if we can still take off on Tuesday night.”

The Hawaii trip. In the panic of the day, Nino had almost forgotten. “You’re still going?”

“Have you met Sakurai Sho before?”

Nino looked down, grinning. “Ah, how foolish of me.”

Jun was solemn now. “We haven’t had any cancellations. Nothing comes between a vampire and Waikiki in the moonlight. And I’m going to be with them. It’ll be okay.”

“I’m glad. I’m glad you’re going. Since you have to take pictures for your grandma.”

“Exactly.” Jun took a breath. Nino could hear the worry in his voice. “Thank you for calling though. And for all you’re doing at the enclave. It means a lot to him, even if he won’t say so.”

“It’s my job.”

“And it’s mine to get us all to Hawaii safely,” Jun assured him. “Good night, Nino. Go to bed, because I’m not staying up to make you anything in the morning.”

“You say the sweetest things,” he teased before hanging up.

Nino was worried. Vampires attacking humans, it had happened all his life. They were predators, they craved human blood. It was the natural order of things. But now he worked among them, had even befriended them. Not every vampire was vicious or spiteful, even as the government monitored them, controlled them. They went to blood banks, they kept blood contracts. They contented themselves with animal blood. They had businesses and friends and homes. It wasn’t a dark age, not any longer. Vampires were stronger and faster, but they were vastly outnumbered. And every human knew their vulnerability. He was truly worried.

He had to hope that Jun’s assurances and Sho’s determination would be enough.

—

They’d left with little fanfare, not long after sundown. Until their taxi arrived, Sho had been juggling an armload of paperwork - travel visas, passport information, his detailed itineraries. Jun had been nearly silent, fiddling with a white shell necklace around his neck, unable to look away from Sho. Nino bid them farewell as Aiba turned things over to Nishikido-kun, the government-appointed security guard. While Aiba was still on during daylight hours, as a security precaution the Bureau of Undead Management had contracted out with private security companies Japan-wide to place guards in every enclave in the evenings. A temporary measure, they said, until things in Kobe calmed down.

Which they still hadn’t. The news didn’t report it, but there were rumors on the Internet that vampires in Kobe, Nagasaki, and some smaller cities in Tottori had been physically attacked. That none of them had retaliated was amazing, but not a guarantee forever. Eventually they were going to go after a vampire with a much shorter fuse.

None of the vampires liked it, a human on duty in the building that hadn’t been appointed by Joshima, their leader. Yoshitaka had assured everyone, via a letter Nino had been obliged to put in every mailbox, that the guards were from an agency that had long worked with vampires. But like always, the vampires were slow to trust. Nishikido, a virtual stranger, now had access to Aiba’s master set of keys and the elevator codes.

Nino had argued with Yoshitaka back and forth over the phone and email all day, asking that Joshima be allowed to hire a security guard of his choosing or coordinate among the residents to police the building themselves at night. Thus far, he’d made little headway, since Yuriko was working even longer hours than he was, going from enclave to enclave and helping out at headquarters too. And even if she wanted to make an exception for Amagasa, her supervisors would probably say no anyhow. She had actually apologized, telling Nino she wished she could do more. Nino could see now that Yoshitaka Yuriko was a strange woman, make no mistake, but she didn’t want any harm to come to the residents. Unfortunately, she still had her bosses to answer to.

Having a stranger in the building made Amagasa realize how much they’d been taking for granted. The last two days, Nino had never seen Amagasa’s vampires show Aiba Masaki so much respect. They shook his hand, made small talk with him. Let out begrudging thank yous because he’d kept them safe all this time with little reward and without complaint or fear of them.

He and Aiba headed upstairs, sitting together on Nino’s loveseat and watching the news. No matter what channel they put on, the news was either about Kobe, with profiles and interviews about the victims, or information about what the government was planning to do. In Tokyo there had been protests at ward offices, and dozens of vampire-run businesses closed indefinitely to keep from bringing trouble to their neighborhoods. Governments in other countries were calling on Japan to crack down harder on its vampire populace, to raise taxes on their property, on the blood-infused food and drink they consumed.

Eventually Aiba couldn’t take much more, going home to try and sleep. Nino fell asleep in his living room with the TV still on. When his phone went off, it was still dark, and he groaned quietly, fumbling around for it on the floor beneath him. It was Matsumoto Jun calling, which confused him as he tried to blink away sleep. How could Jun be calling if he was supposed to be in the air?

His phone screen read 4:09 AM as he answered. “How long does it take to get to Hawaii? Did you teleport?”

“Nino, I need your help!”

He bolted up, feeling almost light-headed as he sat up a little too abruptly. “Jun, what’s wrong?”

Jun’s voice was shaking, as though he could barely keep it together. “We’re still at Haneda! The flight was delayed for five hours and…and we were supposed to leave at 4:45 now, cutting it really close but…fuck, fuck, fuck!” He was rambling, and Nino could barely hear him over the sounds of airport noise around him. “Some of the passengers found out we were going to be on the plane and raised a ruckus…I mean, we’ve had this fucking thing booked for ages, and the airline usually notifies people that there’s going to be vampires in the cargo hold. The cargo hold, Nino, what can they do in the fucking cargo hold!”

Even though his heart was racing, he couldn’t afford to panic. Not when Jun sounded like he was about to explode. “Jun. Slow down, slow down. How can I help?”

“We just got bumped! Sho-kun’s on board, they all are already, in the special travel compartments for vampires. But they’re bumping all of us just because they can get away with it. And…and they’re supposed to be taking the travel containers out but they’re asking me to move them. Like we have to leave the airport, but they’re not going to be finished unloading until 4:30, and the sun’s up right at 5:00 and they don’t even fucking care and…”

“Jun! Listen to me, I don’t need every single detail. What do you need me to do?”

“We have to get them somewhere. None of the rental car places open until 8:00, and the buses start running at 5:00, but I can’t put them on a bus in broad daylight! There’s nowhere at the airport to hold them. I can’t check us in at any of the hotels near the airport this early. We need to get them out of here, now.”

“How many people?”

“There’s five on the tour, five. And then Sho and…”

“Okay so that’s seven people to transport,” Nino was saying, already thinking ahead as he turned the lights on, fumbling around for the paper copy of the Amagasa directory he kept in the closet. “They won’t fit in the car, and we’ll need something dark to put them inside. I can get a van…”

“Where are you going to get a van at 4:00 in the morning?”

“That’s not for you to worry about, alright? Just…where I can find you? Where can I meet you?” He was already losing time, still talking to Jun. The sun would be up in about 45 minutes.

“I’m in the international terminal. Where should I go? Where should I bring them? Nino, where should I bring them?”

Nino was thinking as fast as he could, his phone shaking in his hand as he listened to Jun’s petrified voice. “Get them underground. Underground, you hear me?”

“There isn’t…I don’t think we can get underground…”

He put Jun on speaker, was already getting dressed, pulling on the first t-shirt he could grab from his drawer. “The parking garage then, get to the very middle of the parking garage, as far from the exit as possible. Did you pack any towels? Blankets?”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“Okay, okay,” Nino said, catching his breath, flipping through the directory, quickly scanning for a vehicle rental place in the neighborhood. Finding none, he skipped ahead. He found TOKIO Movers, found the number for Joshima’s friend Yamaguchi-san. “Jun, this is going to be okay. As soon as they’re unloaded from the plane, you get them covered. I know you’re all packed for Hawaii, but get them covered. Shirts, jackets, anything you’ve got. Get them to the garage and I’ll come to you. I’ll come to you, do you hear me?”

“Nino?”

“Yeah?”

“Hurry.”

part five

Comments

[helenmaldon.livejournal.com]

OMG the Sakumoto in this fic is absolutely heart-wrenching!!! And somehow getting it through NIno's perspective just makes it more so. And OMG the karaoke scene <3333333 You make me want those three to be together so badly *^^*