𝑻𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐇𝐔𝐒𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞 + 𝕾𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓

'•.¸¸.•´´¯'••._.• . •._.••'¯´´•.¸¸.•'

"Shuichi."

Rantaro wrapped his arms around Shuichi's waist from behind and the latter jumped.

"You scared me."

Rantaro chuckled. "You ran away. Gotta get better at hiding~" He was teasing, then took Shuichi's hand and kissed it sweetly before his gaze shifted. "What were you looking at?"

Shuichi blushed, and would've fiddled with his fingers, but they were being held hostage by Rantaro's affection. "You have a lot of old pictures hung around here."

Rantaro nodded, nuzzling his face into Shuichi's neck. "Most of them were here before I even was. This castle is quite old."

"Oh. So then there's pictures of yours here , too?"

Rantaro paused. The silence of the corridor was almost unbearable. But the vampire's magenta hues never left the painting of an apple being devoured by a snake, blood spilling over a white table cloth. It wasn't a favorite of Rantaro's. Maybe he related to it. Maybe it just made him uncomfortable.

"When we get married, let's have lots of paintings of you around here . I think that will make this place much more beautiful." Rantaro caressed Shuichi's pink cheek. "Don't you?"

Shuichi must've nearly fainted from the sudden blood rush, but he couldn't form an answer to that question. Rantaro won that round, and laughed, kissing Shuichi's cheek.

"You know.. Shinguji and the other servants are quite busy with the preparations for the wedding.." he started, carefully and slowly putting his hand on Shuichi's stomach, earning a soft gasp from the other. "And.. well.. we'll be alone for quite awhile.."

Shuichi's cheeks heated up even more
God, this was embarrassing, but his stomach was filled with butterflies and heart was racing lovestruck.

"Is there.. maybe something you want to do, Shuichi?"

Saihara was silent. Then he shyly smiled and playfully pulled away— making, at first, Rantaro think he wasn't interested in the suggestion, but the look in Shuichi's eyes said otherwise.

"If you catch me one more time, I'll give you an answer." Shuichi suggested. He began to take off down the corridor. "And count longer this time!" He reminded before disappearing around the corner, out of sight.

Rantaro's laugh was heard from a distance, and after putting some space between them, Shuichi began to look for a better hiding spot. Not that his last one worked very well. He just got distracted by the paintings and lost track of Rantaro's counting. This time, Shuichi was determined to actually hide.

And it wasn't like the idea of Rantaro's suggestion wasn't liked. Shuichi found himself liking the idea quite a bit... But he didn't want to think he was easy or anything. That might seem lame to Ranraro. Besides, Shuichi wanted to try and win at least one round of hide-and-seek.

He found a nearby door he didn't recognize, but by now, Rantaro would be near the end of counting, so Shuichi went inside.

It was dark. No lights whatsoever except the small amount the creeped in when Shuichi opened the door. Spider webs and dust was everywhere, and so was furniture, but it was covered in white clothes to protect from the dust and webs.