『Schadenfreude』▷ jaesahi。

d r e a m

Asahi had two things that he currently wished for.

One was that Mashiho would uncharacteristically cancel their appointment so that he would not see a stranger hugging his friend while crying his heart out, and another for Yoshinori to let go of him because his shirt was damp, limbs were numb and he was beginning to feel the inquisitive stares that hovered around their figures. Thank the devil as Haruto gathered himself and began to help his lord away from his compeer, allowing Asahi to get back on two feet and incline his head in obligatory hail.

"Sorry," Yoshi mumbled, rubbing lucent tears out of his equally bright eyes. "It's just," he inhaled like a child on his first audience with a celebrity, heart thumping wildly against his chest as he tumbled out the words he deemed correct to say to someone he deified. "I haven't seen you in like, twenty years. I can't believe you're here right now. It's, it's unbelievable. I didn't expect that you'd actually be—"

"My lord, sire," attempting to calm the frenzied prince, Haruto solicitously placed two hands on his shoulders, whispering in Japanese. "People have begun to observe. Dare I ask sire to take seat first?"

Yoshinori paused, conflicted in circa a quarter of a second before Asahi had held forth a hand to usher him. He did so as told, collecting all the fallen pieces of his vizard kept unwell— quite the opposite of Jaehyuk whose mask was near stuck on his face, Asahi noted— and proffering his own hand, a silent gesture for the other to take the seat right across.

At the action, Asahi tipped his head in practiced gesture, solemnly planted himself onto the soft yet momentarily uncomfortable chair.  "Greeting once again, my lord," he spoke so that only three of them could hear, but even if he didn't he doubted anyone in the vicinity would understand Japanese. Still, it was better to be safe than to garner unwanted attention or query.

Yoshinori's response was so spontaneous it was almost mesmerizing, so quick to put on the frontier of a proud ruler just like he had always been.

"I trust you have been well?"

He nodded. "Yes, my lord," afraid not so much, now that things had gotten all the more complicated. "Dare I offer thanks to His Highness for asking."

"At ease," the other assented. "It has been a while, Ettore. I do apologize for such foolish actions, you know how immature I tend to be."

"Of course not, sir. I believe that you are simply demonstrative."

"Good words, Ettore. Say flattery does not toil, howbeit."

"I merely speak the truth, my lord."

The former prince glanced at his blank face, then smiled wryly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

There came again Asahi's indifferent reply, neither stiff nor laidback, uncaring as he was and had ever been. Yoshi's eyes crinkled with familiarity and exasperating upsets, and if the other saw, he didn't chose to care.

When Haruto came back— astonishingly, Yoshi himself had not noticed that he had even left— he brought with him three cups of coffee with scents all too known to their small circle. Black coffee for the straitlaced, obscurely moody noble; a delicate aroma of milk and coffee blended in latte meant for a certain neurotic yet emphatic one, and the strong smell of pure coffee emanated from the double espresso of the serious and loyal man among them.

Asahi glanced curiously towards Haruto who had been the one to order said drinks, the latter immediately sending a quick to vanish contumacious glare that had gone completely by the time Yoshinori spoke up.

"Quite nostalgic, is it not?" he asked, a little fond smile appearing on his lips. "I hope you still recall such times, Ettore."

Asahi's orbs flashed scarlet for the shortest moment, settling onto the dark liquid that filled the cup. "Yes, I do," his lips quirked slightly. "How could I forget?"

Clank.

He almost found it amusing. The way Haruto could automatically empty his eyes of any emotion, pretending as though he had not just nearly broken the cup in irritation as Yoshi espied him cluelessly hid a novel to be read behind.

"Apologies," he quickly set. "My hand slipped."

"Be careful, lest you burn yourself."

"Yes, my lord."

The exchange was so domestic, so familiar, and Asahi could already feel churning on his stomach that so urged him to hurl as memories of the past arrogated his mind; reminding him of all the things that he wished he never would recall but still dreamt of every night and always.

How could he forget?

This moment,  uncannily, was the exact mirror of the one that began all of this idiotic balderdash.

------

It was unknown if Jaehyuk would ever get tired of gazing at flowers, but it seemed that it was most likely impossible. He found the young master of the abode sat on his favorite spot in the garden even when it was already two in the morning, a wine glass perched between his fingers as crimson liquid swam aimlessly around. The male looked alluring in all ways possible to say so, dress shirt half-open as he brought the glass up to his lips as he drank with a gaze fixated on Asahi's eyes.

"Well hello," he greeted. "Had a good sleep?"

The Japanese didn't answer.

He raised a curious brow. "What's wrong?" he asked, almost teasingly. "You look a little vexed, A-sa-hi~"

When the pure vampire once again ignored his claims, he opted to offer the drink in his hand, an idle smirk on his face.

"Want some?"

Asahi wasted no seconds as he seized the other's hand and placed the glass up against his lips, eye to eye with the halfling as he imbibed what was left of the blood in the pricey wineglass.

"My, it's so unnerving to see you like this," Jaehyuk quipped. How he had enough energy to mock someone at midnight, none would know. "Your hair's so messy and you look like you're still half asleep. Your complexion... ah, you're a vampire now, so it's still perfect. But what's got dear little Asahi's brows so knitted, huh?"

To his surprise, what was given was an answer instead of a riposte.

"I had a dream."

The halfling stilled.

"What dream?"

Eyes of scarlet, special even among all the red eyed vampires, stared at Jaehyuk's own as if it peered through his soul and even though he all but detested when someone gazed at him that way, Jaehyuk found himself far too drawn to those luminescent eyes, staring back unknowingly.

Many seconds passed by and they simply stared.

Then Asahi's lips quickly furled into a very irksome, yet very rare smile.

"Who knows? I forgot."

Jaehyuk broke into a smile, aggravated upon the realization that his own tactics had just been used on him.

-----

Sorry, late update. This is literally a whole day late.

"How could I forget?"

* Yoshi was reminiscing about a moment the three of them shared in their past lives that exactly the same as this one— where Yoshi is paying attention to Asahi, and Haruto was, like always, being ignored. So when Asahi said this, Haruto thought that he was teasing him for being ignored by Yoshi and nearly broke the cup.

"How could he forget?"

* This, on the other hand, was of a different context.