Revamped Life ~ Komahina Vampire AU

Chapter 4 - Acknowledgement

　Nagito regained his senses and carefully extricated his fangs from Hajime's neck. He looked at him shamefully.
　"Thank you," he said quietly. Hajime dizzily leaned against the wall.
　"Mm-hm," he hummed wearily.

　After a few moments of waiting for the nausea to die down, he went to the bathroom, flipping the light on and examining the bandage.
　Blood reached the edges of the adhesive, and the puncture marks in the gauze allowed some of it to leak out.
　He took a deep breath and reached up to peel off the grotesque article. In his peripherals, he saw Nagito standing in the doorway.
　"Um... Do you want help?"
　He let his arm drop. "Whatever." All he wanted to do was collapse.
　Nagito stepped into the room, taking a washcloth off the towel rack and proceeding to remove the bandage.
　As Nagito cleaned the area around the wound, Hajime watched the scene in the mirror. It was weird to see empty clothes floating around.
　"Do you know what you look like?" he asked groggily. Nagito glanced at the mirror, then went back to the task at hand.
　"Not since I became a vampire."
｟Guess that's why his hair's so...casual.｠
　"What do you think you look like?"
　Nagito discarded the bandage in the trash bin and pressed the washcloth into Hajime's neck.
　"Probably hideous," he mumbled nonchalantly. Hajime nearly blurted out that it wasn't true, but clamped his eyes shut instead, opting to focus on blocking out the pain as he waited for his neck to stop bleeding.
　A while into this, Nagito surprised Hajime by asking, "What do you think about how I look?"
　"Uh... Alright; I guess?"
　Nagito seemed to gain some of his carefree nature back. "That's a relief to hear. People usually say I look like I'm on Death's doorstep!"
　Hajime decided against telling him the descriptions weren't far off.
｟He's so joyful about it, too. Does he even care, or is it a safety mechanism?｠
　He decided to change the topic.
　"If you'd eaten something, would you still—"
　"Human food is just a recreational thing. All it does is taste good and weaken us."
　"...Hm."
　"Anyway, it's stopped bleeding," Nagito affirmed. Hajime, still extremely worn-out, uttered a "thanks" before leaving the bathroom.
｟I want to sleep so bad, it feels like I won't get up on time tomorrow.｠
　He looked back. Nagito was staring at the blotches of blood on the washcloth. When he realised Hajime was looking at him, he turned on the faucet, quickly sticking it under the water.
｟It looked like he didn't want it to go to waste.｠
　Hajime shuddered.
　"You won't feed when I'm asleep; right?" he asked, trying to sound as monotonous as possible.
　"No! That would be dangerous!" Nagito exclaimed. "I'd never do that!"
｟That's good to know.｠

⌔⌔⌔⌔
【What if I'd just made the washcloth thing super weird, like the hankie in Tōkyō Ghoul?】
【"Hi·na·ta-kuuuuuun!"】
《Then I would have loved this fic all the same.》
【༎ᜊ༎ Meti, you're so sweet.】
⌔⌔⌔⌔

　Hajime rolled over to face the beams of sun streaming through the cracks in the blinds, hoping that would wake him up faster. He touched the enumerated scabs on his neck.
｟That's six in three days.｠
　Nagito, sitting on the same chair as the previous night, practically glowed from the light being reflected off his hair. He smiled at Hajime.
　"Good morning," he greeted softly.
　"Morning," Hajime responded, getting out of bed. He lumbered over to the mini-fridge.
　"Microwave," said Nagito.
　"Huh?"
　"I put your bentou in the microwave," he reiterated.
　Hajime turned around to see that it was true. The microwave oven on the countertop scrolled "ＦＯＯＤ ＲＥＡＤＹ," and a pair of chopsticks was rested on a plate next to it.
　"Um... Thanks," he said, retrieving the rice. Nagito beamed with a can-do-no-evil expression. Hajime forced himself to focus on the rice instead of how much the man looked like he had a halo around his head.

　As Hajime ate at the counter, Nagito chittered about various trivial subjects— card games, flowers, a dog he once had— basically stuff that served as background noise.
　Eventually, he fell into a blank stare. Nagito noticed, and stopped his blather.
　"Hajime?"
｟If I keep showing up with a bandage on my neck, they'll ask more questions.｠
　"Hajime?"
｟It'd be awkward to bring it up with him.｠
　"Hajime."
　He blinked out of his trance upon a hand being waved in front of his face. He turned to Nagito, who was now standing next to him.
　"Looks like you've got something on your mind," he teased.
　"Uh... Yeah."
｟Now's your chance; I guess.｠
　"Can you feed from somewhere other than my neck? I told people at work it's a bee sting, but I won't be able to use that forever."
　"I can switch to your AC vein if that's more convenient," he said, pointing at the spot between his own forearm and bicep.
　"Yeah; that'd be better."
　Nagito suddenly looked like he'd thought of something amusing.
　"...What?"
　He smirked. "I just figured out the reason I went for your neck was because I wanted to get close to your face."
　Hajime's face became flushed, and Nagito chuckled.
　"Don't say stuff like that," he said seriously, turning back to his rice.
　After a few moments, he looked at Nagito again, who'd begun winding the string of his hoodie around his finger.
　"I didn't really believe you were a vampire," Hajime admitted.
　Nagito looked up. "I know," he responded cheerfully, making Hajime feel somewhat awkward.
　"I just went along with it, since you're going to help me."
　"I suspected as much."
｟Smiling so carefreely... He's not making this easy.｠
　"After how you acted last night, I understood that it wasn't just some cannibalistic addiction."
　"Not being able to see me in the mirror didn't convince you?" he joked.
　"Well— that, too— but the way you took blood this time was like you were actually going to starve."
　"I felt like I was going to starve," he shrugged. They stayed quiet for a while.
　Hajime was first to break the silence.

　"I believe you now."

｜Chapter 4のNotes｜

　Doesn't feel like the most perfect chapter, but I missed being able to update the fic. (༎﹏༎)

✐ You might be wondering why I included certain vampire tropes (invisible to mirrors) whilst leaving out others that would've seemed likely for Nagito to have (sunlight being harmful), then added one that doesn't even have to do with vampires (teleportation). The plot relevance will come into play later; I promise.

✐ とにかく、here are the notes from before I fell ill:
　Going back to the writing advice I discussed in the previous chapter's notes, I'd like to also clarify that— while adding to your story every day is very good to do— it's also good to lay off forcing yourself to focus on writing if you absolutely cannot bring yourself to. It'll only make you frustrated, and the quality is likely to decrease.
　Your inspiration will return, and things will be 大丈夫! ☆