Title: Under the Milky Way
Author: bnomiko
Rating: R to NC-17
Pairing(s): Trevor + Sypha + Alucard, Trevor x Alucard
Spoilers: through the end of S3 + through S4
Disclaimer: "Under the Milky Way" is performed and recorded by The Church. "How to Save a Life" is performed and recorded by The Fray. Castlevania is the creation and property of Konami. Castlevania (animated series) is the creation and property of Netflix. This is a not-for-profit fanwork and I do not own any of these characters.
Summary: After the events of Lindenfeld, all Trevor and Sypha wanted was to return to the closest thing they had to "home," but Alucard has not fared well in their absence. "You wanted to save the world, remember?" " He also needed it. He needed us." Post S3 + S4 animation canon based.
Archived at: http://www.phenixsol.com/Miko/FF/
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Under the Milky Way
Ch. 10: As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
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Trevor strolled into the kitchen a bit later in a pretty fantastic mood, all things considered. Tiredness still dogged him, but he'd just gotten laid, Sypha was going to have his baby, and Adrian was doing well enough that they weren't panicking that he'd gone off and hung himself just because their backs were turned for a moment.
It didn't hurt that the kitchen smelled pretty terrific, the scent of dough and bacon fat mingling in the air. Trevor joined Adrian at the counter, then turned and stood with his back resting against the surface, his arm snaking out to lightly rest across the front of Adrian's waist.
"Shouldn't you be with Sypha?" Adrian asked.
"She wanted to freshen up. And we both wanted to make sure you were okay." Trevor's eyes searched over the other man's face for a moment. He still looked a little tired and worn down; his eyes were still puffy. But he otherwise seemed back to his usual self. Trevor released a sigh of relief, paused a beat, then added, "I love her, you know?"
"I know."
"But I can stand here with you, like this," and Trevor gave Adrian's waist a gentle squeeze, "and my feelings towards her aren't lessened at all."
"Well, yes. You thought that they might?"
"I wasn't sure how this would go at all. But she believed it would work out, and I believed in her, so..."
"... So here we are."
"Yeah." And Trevor leaned against Adrian a little more, so he could rest his cheek on Adrian's shoulder.
It made it harder to portion out rolls, but Adrian wasn't really complaining about the contact. "I wouldn't have pegged you as the cuddling type," he said mildly.
"Yeah, well, people like what they like. And what I like right now is standing here next you."
Adrian sighed. "You really would've made it easier on yourselves if you chose someone less troublesome to deal with."
"You asshole, do you selectively hear only what you want to hear? We just went through this, didn't we? This isn't about adding a third person because we're bored or something. I was perfectly fine with it just being Sypha and me. But we're doing this because it's you."
Trevor's anger was reassuring, in a way. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just... I don't know if I'll ever be able to give you what you want."
"What I want...?"
Adrian turned an interesting shade of pink, as he made a strangled sound.
"What, you think if I don't have sex with you I'll just dry up and die? This has nothing to do with sex! I don't care if this is as far as you can go with me," and Trevor reached up to knot a hand in Adrian's hair, forcing him to turn and look at him, as Trevor closed the distance between them until their mouths were just a hair's breadth apart. "I just said I like you. I know for a fact that Sypha likes you too. What's so hard to understand?"
"Is... everything all right in there?" a tentative voice called from the doorway.
Trevor released his hold, though he noticed Adrian didn't back away. If anything, he was staring at him with a slightly slackened jaw, his breathing a little heavier than usual. Trevor was relieved that what he'd noticed earlier wasn't a fluke; apparently a certain someone didn't mind getting manhandled, just a bit. It was reassuring to know he didn't always have to be so careful with Adrian, as if he were made of glass. "Sypha, get in here and help me get through to this thick-headed idiot."
She hustled in and stared at Adrian, who looked suitably chastised. "What's wrong?"
"He seems to think I'm only into this because, I don't know, I'm horny or something," Trevor blurted out in exasperation. "I mean, you do realize Sypha's plenty to handle on that front."
Said Speaker growled Trevor's name under her breath.
Adrian sighed. "That's not what I said. I simply stated that I'm probably not the ideal pick for this sort of thing," he explained.
"This sort of 'thing'..." Sypha pondered. "You mean, a relationship? Or a three-way relationship?"
"Either or," Adrian muttered. "I just... don't want you to resent me, if things don't work out."
Sypha placed her hand on the blond's arm. "We would not resent you. We're friends first and foremost, aren't we?"
"But at some point, I'm sure you'd want something more physical..."
"Only if that's what you want. If you're not comfortable with it, that's fine. We will never ask you to do anything you don't want. We won't think less of you for it," the redhead was quick to reply.
"I'm perfectly fine with you just sleeping in bed with us, and a morning kiss, if that's as far as it goes. Someone has to warm Sypha's feet," Trevor said, trying the old joke, but no one bit.
Sypha frowned at Trevor, but she still pulled him into a hug with Adrian, who couldn't quite return the gesture, given that his hands were sticky with dough. He did at least lean in to kiss Sypha on the cheek, so she was pleased with that.
She looked around the counter space. Adrian must've done his foraging at top speed and returned just as quickly, because there was fruit, various sliced cheeses, greens sizzling in a pan with bacon, sausages, boiled eggs, along with the bread that soon would be baked up. "This is quite a lot of food for one meal, isn't it?"
"You're expecting. I wanted to make sure you had a wide variety of fresh foods available. You need to be healthy to have a healthy baby after all," he explained, like a doting aunt.
"Are... you going to be like this the entire time?" Sypha asked, a slow smile spreading on her face. She didn't like being told what to do, didn't even like being the focus of someone's care, but it was rather sweet seeing Adrian trying to look out for her and the baby.
The half-vampire looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I may have overdone it. Don't feel obligated to eat everything." He looked over the dishes on the counter again, and shrugged. "After breakfast, I was thinking... I have to imagine my mother had some books about pregnancy and delivery and early childcare. I was thinking we could go to her study and see if there's anything useful."
Sypha just stared at him a moment. His mother's study... Adrian had never offered to open up any of the rooms belonging to his parents, and Trevor and Sypha had never asked for access. "Are... you sure?"
"She'd be pleased to see her medical knowledge being put to good use. I only ask that you respect the space, that's all - she kept it tidy and I'd like it to remain that way."
She couldn't imagine doing anything but. "Of course!" And speaking of looking around the castle... "Oh yes, before I forget... would it be alright if we took some toys or other children's things from your old bedroom?"
Adrian hesitated. He understood why she was asking, but nearly everything in that room had been made by his parents. While he certainly had no practical use for any of it anymore, there was still some weird attachment there; in a way, the room was something of a memorial to the family he'd lost.
"If you're not okay with it, or want some time to think about it, it's not like we'll be needing any of it for quite a few months..." Trevor chimed in.
"No, it's... I'm being unreasonable. It's fine. You two... can handle it however you wish." He nearly added that he'd like his father's ring left alone, but he was certain even without saying it that they would.
"The windows in the room are still broken. Should we board them up while we're at it?" Sypha asked.
"Handle it however you wish," Adrian repeated. Apparently that was that - in what was turning out to be his way of handling things he didn't want to deal with, he gave permission, and nothing more.
The half-vampire really did prepare too much food, but the leftovers could be lunch later on, so it wasn't like his efforts had gone to waste. Once they were well satiated, Sypha and Trevor followed Adrian to a sealed door which he had to force open, then down a short hallway and up a winding flight of stairs - Dracula sure did love his spiral staircases. Lisa's study sat near the top of a small tower, a comfortably sized space with tall ceilings and expansive windows; when Adrian began pulling back the drapes, the room became drenched with sunlight, a welcome contrast to the darkness that smothered most of the castle.
Sypha spun her way around the room, impressed as always with the sheer breadth of accumulated knowledge in the castle's libraries. But she stopped after only a few moments, realizing Adrian was simply standing in the center of the room, his eyes closed and his head tilted back, and Trevor had approached to stand at his shoulder.
"Are you all right?" Trevor asked in a low voice.
"I... haven't been in here in quite a while." Adrian's eyes flickered open. "I can still smell her perfume, just barely. The scent of lily-of-the-valley."
There was nothing either of them could say to that. Best Trevor could do was brush shoulders with the blond to remind him he wasn't alone, without being too obnoxious about it. Adrian glanced at him through lowered lashes, and dipped his chin slightly in acknowledgement.
Since he couldn't help with sorting through the texts in the room, Trevor began wandering around and examining - but not touching - anything that caught his curiosity. There were dried herbs in a display case, stacks of bandages and pots of ointments and potions, and drawings and diagrams of things like organs and the inside of a human body. "This is what the Church considers witchcraft, huh?" he muttered without thinking. He knew nothing of medicine; these sorts of things could very easily be twisted into proof of something occult in nature.
"Apparently," Adrian answered, knowing that Trevor wasn't really talking to him specifically. The blond had pulled out the chair at the large desk near the center of the room for Sypha to sit on while reading; he himself was perched on the desk, one leg drawn up, the other dangling off to the right of the chair.
"Do you actually understand all of this stuff? Not what it says in the books, but you know what to do with these things?" Trevor asked, gesturing at some tools that he couldn't possibly guess the uses of. Lisa had been a doctor; Adrian had never claimed to be such.
Adrian looked up from the book he'd been skimming. "I wasn't as learned as my mother as far as medical knowledge, so I would likely have to consult with her texts. It wasn't like I had planned on following her footsteps, exactly."
"What had you been planning to do, if things hadn't gone awry?" Sypha asked, curious. It had never occurred to her to bring it up, as Speakers simply did Speaker things - though in some ways she was closer to an ex-Speaker now, having chosen to leave the life of a nomad to settle down. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, nor was it looked down upon. And Trevor of course had had his path in life set the moment he'd been born.
Adrian gave it some thought, and answered, "Travel the world like my father had been doing, I suppose. After that, I don't know. There was no clear expectation that I stay or go at any point."
The redhead nodded slowly, then decided now was as good a time as any to ask the question they'd somehow managed to ignore until now. "Speaking of expectations, we realized we hadn't talked it over with you - are you really okay with us living here, raising children here? We've been making assumptions all along, and that isn't something we can just assume."
"I... suppose? I hadn't really thought about it," Adrian answered. "Or... it's more like, I didn't think you'd be staying long." He held up a hand, before Trevor could start protesting again that he was misunderstanding things. "All that's happened in the last couple of days, I admit I'm still having a hard time processing it. But... I do want you to stay. Both of you. All of you," he added a bit shyly.
"Do you even like kids?" Trevor had to ask. "I mean, I stupidly blurted it out, but while we're on the subject, we might as well get your thoughts on it."
"I haven't been around any long enough to know. But... I'm willing to try and help however I can." The blond shrugged a bit helplessly. "I can't promise I'll be any good at it."
"That's good enough for me. Sypha?"
"Same." Sypha leaned against Adrian's leg, feeling him relax slightly at the contact. "That's all we can ask for."
Trevor grunted agreeably, then stopped in front of a charcoal drawing of Dracula and Lisa. Adrian had mentioned his mother liked portraits, though this one was unusual in the fact that it was drawn and not painted like the others. "Did she draw this?" he asked, remembering her flower painting in the hall.
The half-vampire looked up, confused by the sudden change in topic, then just as quickly looked down. "Oh. Er... that would've been me. I forgot she hung that up."
"Wait, you draw?" Trevor blurted out. He wasn't sure why he was surprised when Adrian was obviously far more well rounded than either of them. If he'd claimed to be an accomplished musician or a sculptor or a poet, there really wouldn't be anything that unbelievable about it, would there?
"I doodle a little," was the reply. Of course. Adrian thought everything he did was about average, if that. Whether it was because it all came so easily to him, or because of his ridiculously high standards, it didn't matter.
"Could you try your hand at drawing us?" Sypha quickly asked.
"... I haven't done it in a while, though," Adrian protested. Plus, he wasn't sure where he'd left his drawing supplies. Weren't they in the room he was using before? Or had Sypha removed them? She'd left some things in the hallway, but truth be told, he hadn't really looked at or sorted through the pile, so that was something else to add to his to-do list.
"That's all right. I don't know about Trevor, but I've never had anyone draw my portrait before," Sypha said, briefly rubbing her cheek against Adrian's leather clad leg, breaking him out of his reverie.
Trevor shrugged. He vaguely remembered his parents had portraits on display of several generations of Belmonts, so maybe they'd had someone come and paint theirs as well. Though it wouldn't matter now, with everything having gone up in flames. "I have no idea. If it did happen, I was an infant or a small child at best."
Adrian considered it. "I'll see what I can do," was the best answer he could give. He didn't want to promise something and not be able to deliver.
"Thank you!" Sypha cheered.
Adrian smiled and nodded, and without thinking, reached down to stroke his fingers along the side of her face. She tilted her head back and looked up at him, her eyes bright.
Trevor watched as Sypha rose to her feet and shared a sweet, careful kiss with Adrian. They treated each other with a lot more gentleness than they showed Trevor, but that suited the hunter just fine; he didn't like being coddled, but Adrian seemed to benefit from it. He was glad what he'd said earlier applied to him too - seeing the two of them together didn't change how he felt towards either of them. He'd been afraid of jealousy being an issue, though now that he'd thought about it, he'd never been the possessive sort. Or was it more that, he didn't have anyone or anything to be possessive over before? He couldn't imagine that he'd be so dismissive now if some guy he didn't know was kissing Sypha... or Adrian.
"Hmm, I just remembered something else," Adrian murmured, his fingers stroking through the short red curls as Sypha sat back down and returned to leaning against his leg. "Did you still want a bigger bed, Sypha?"
"Only if it won't be a hassle. But three adults do take up a bit of space, so it wouldn't be a bad idea."
"True." Adrian twisted slightly on his perch. "Trevor, any plans for the rest of this morning?"
"I assume we're going hunting for a bed?"
"We'll take a look around. I'm not sure what's available." Adrian didn't bother pointing out that his unusually tall father had an abnormally large bed in his room, as he had no intention of laying claim to it. But in the same vein, it stood to reason that some of the rooms intended for vampire occupants could've had larger beds as well, as Adrian remembered some of his father's guests being not much smaller than he.
Trevor nodded. "Sound good. Sypha, you're staying here?" he asked, knowing full well that wherever books were, Sypha was bound to be as well.
"Yes, I think so," she answered, leaning back into the chair to resume reading.
And so back down the stairs the two men went, then down the short hallway that connected to a longer one, and up more stairs, and then down even more stairs, to yet another wide hallway.
"This place is a fucking maze. I have no idea how you know where you're going," Trevor huffed as he tried to keep pace with Adrian.
"Well I did grow up here. And as random as it may seem to you, there was a sort of logic my father employed in the layout. For example, this is the main entrance for the guest wing," Adrian explained as they approached a pair of large, carved wooden doors, which barely budged when the blond tried to open them. "Hmm..."
"Stuck?"
"More like..." and golden eyes swept up the frame, then down, "... water damage? I think the wood swelled from the water that got in."
"We could utilize a back entrance, if this isn't usable."
"Maybe. However, I think I can force it; stand back please."
Trevor took several steps back as Adrian rushed one of the doors, slamming into it with his enhanced strength. It still took two more tries to get it open enough for them to slide through, but the half-vampire waved off any concern about damage done to both door and frame, as he had no plans to utilize the wing again.
They split up, with Adrian going up and Trevor heading down to begin wandering from room to room. Obviously if there was a suitably sized bed, it would be located in one of the suites on the upper floors intended for the generals. But Trevor got distracted from the task pretty quickly, as he'd always wondered why the castle was so massive - and why it felt so "haunted" - and it was because of areas like this. In the lower sections alone, there had to be at least a dozen smaller suites, with large dorm style barracks further below, plus a big kitchen, dining hall, and a communal gathering area. There were still provisions in the pantry, including two untapped kegs of beer! Trevor immediately made a mental note to come back and grab them later. Continuing to snoop through a few rooms and the beds in the barracks, he found neatly folded sheets, lots of assorted clothing, books and trinkets and other personal belongings; the former occupants hadn't planned on going into battle and not returning. The damn place was designed to house dozens, if not hundreds, of people, and yet the current population was three, or three and a half, if one counted the fact that Sypha was pregnant.
After wandering around, losing track of time, Trevor headed up to the top levels, where he finally found Adrian sitting on one of the beds, flipping through someone's journal. The blond looked up in amusement as Trevor walked in.
"Got distracted?" Adrian asked, snapping the book shut and tossing it aside.
"I had wondered how Dracula managed to house an entire army in here. This section alone is almost like a town by itself!"
"Probably. It eats up the bulk of this side of the building." Adrian stood and gestured at the bed. "Well, what do you think? It's in good shape and it's a bit larger than what we're using."
Trevor began pacing around it. "Is it really that much bigger?" He didn't see the point in trying to move it if they were only gaining a sliver of space. Maybe they needed Sypha to come and weigh in, since she'd been the one asking for it. He sat down, testing it - it sure was plush and comfy, so no complaints there.
"There is an even bigger one a few rooms over, but it's unlikely we'll be able to move that. The frame is a bit... overwrought."
"You've finished checking all the rooms then?"
Adrian nodded. "The ones up here. I didn't think there'd be any large beds downstairs. I mostly brought you along to help me with moving it, if we settled on one."
Trevor yanked off his boots, tossing them on the ground, then scooted up the bed to lie down on it properly. Vampires sure had good taste in mattresses, or was this more proof of how magical science was? "It's nice. Just not sure what it'd take to move it."
"The frame should come apart. The mattress will be tougher. Between the two of us, I think we can manage."
"What about the current bed? Shove it out a window?"
Adrian chuckled. "Not sure. Maybe just push it into an unused hallway. I don't really care."
Trevor rolled over on his side. The blond was joking, mostly, but he truly didn't seem to care what shape the castle was in, as long as certain rooms were left alone. It was strange in contrast to how much care and effort he'd put in into restoring the Hold. "I know it sounds weird considering how much space we have to work with, but is there like, a storage room or something? Just so there's not a random bed just... sitting out."
"There is. It's a bit out of the way, though." Adrian shrugged. "Moving furniture wasn't an issue for my father."
Trevor made a small sound of acknowledgement, then flopped onto his back and reached up an arm, beckoning to Adrian. "Come here, lie with me for a bit."
Adrian cocked his head slightly; maybe Trevor had a point, lying on it would give them a better idea if it was big enough to make a difference. He pulled off his boots, neatly lining them up by the wall, then crawled onto the bed and pillowed himself on Trevor's arm once the hunter let it flop back onto the mattress.
Trevor bit back a smile; the other man certainly could be agreeable when he wanted to be.
Trevor rolled slightly onto his side so that he could reach over with his free hand to play with Adrian's hair. The half-vampire sighed at the contact, shutting his eyes. Trevor suppressed a groan. Adrian was too damn pretty - and too trusting, even after what he'd gone through. It unsettled Trevor; a warring desire to protect and possess at the same time twisted in his gut, along with a lingering guilt. When they'd first met, Trevor couldn't be anywhere in Adrian's vicinity without keeping an eye on him at all times; he basically didn't sleep that first night, worrying that he'd wake up to a pair of fangs buried in his neck, or in Sypha's. And yet Adrian was going to just close his eyes and lie down next to him, as if the last two people he'd lain beside hadn't tried to kill him.
"Would you really have gone for a guy like me if you'd had your pick? I can't really imagine I'm your type," the brunet couldn't help but ask. He wondered what that Taka and Sumi had been like, before the whole betrayal and staking bit, but knew better than to bring it up.
"My 'type'?" Adrian's eyes fluttered open, then he shook his head. "I never thought about it. I didn't think I'd ever be in a relationship."
"Me neither. An anonymous roll in the hay after a night of drinking was just fine." Trevor smirked. "So you're settling for me, then?"
"You said you were interested. I am not disinterested. So our interests align," Adrian said with a slight smile. For some stupid reason, he thought that was funny.
Trevor stopped messing with Adrian's hair to slowly slide his hand down the side of Adrian's face. His hand felt as unworthy as the rest of him, rough and scarred against the pale, smooth porcelain of the other man's cheek. But Adrian didn't protest; his lips parted slightly, so Trevor took up the invitation and stroked his thumb over Adrian's lower lip, then when his mouth opened further, Trevor slid it in, curiously tracing the edge of one fang, while Adrian cocked an eyebrow in confusion.
"Have you ever bitten anyone?" Trevor suddenly wondered aloud.
Adrian pulled back slightly, eyes narrowing. "No. And I don't care for the taste of blood, before you ask."
"You've tried it before?"
"My parents were curious. About the blood, I mean. I think my mother was relieved to learn that I did not want nor need it."
Trevor hummed under his breath. Still, it hadn't escaped his notice that Adrian seemed unusually interested in his neck: he'd stare at it sometimes or nuzzle it when he could. "Want to try?"
"Try what?"
"Biting, of course. I don't mind."
Adrian frowned. "Why on Earth would you want me to bite you?"
"You're curious, aren't you - what it'd feel like. I know I am."
"No, not really..." But despite Adrian's protests, his eyes fell on Trevor's throat. He could hear Trevor's breathing picking up.
The hunter chuckled, knowing that he had the other man's interest, no matter what words were coming out of his mouth. "Come on. I want you to."
Adrian sighed. He really didn't want to. But... he was slightly curious. Not in the blood that surged in the veins and arteries under the tanned skin, but in what it would feel like, to sink his fangs deep into yielding flesh. He'd heard that it was pleasurable for both parties if done correctly. Certainly, the vampire half of him yearned to accept, but his human side continued to hold the reins uncompromisingly. He couldn't afford to let his control slip, just because part of him wanted to give in to temptation.
"Adrian. I'm only offering because I trust you on this - and that's what it really boils down to. If I thought you'd actually lose control over tasting a bit of blood, I wouldn't be letting you sleep with your face against my neck, you know?"
The half-vampire blinked, having no good counter for that. He'd noticed as well, that he slept best in that position or with his head on Trevor's chest, listening to the thrum of his pulse and the minutiae of blood circulating through his body. "You want me to, because you trust me. Because you want me to trust you too..."
"Yeah, something like that." Trevor tilted his head slightly, noting that Adrian's eyes had tracked the motion, his pupils dilating. The brunet grinned, and waited...
He'd expected Adrian to simply bite down, but apparently there was a bit more ceremony to it than he'd thought. Adrian sat up slightly, before taking hold of Trevor's chin and slowly turning it a bit. Once he was satisfied with the amount of access he had, the blond bent down and began nuzzling and... snuffing, for lack of a better term, up and down the hunter's throat. Moments later, and Trevor felt something warm and wet trailing up the column of his neck.
Is he licking me? It was a little ticklish, but Trevor tried to hold in any laughter, lest it drive Adrian away. It was so different than the time when they'd first met, when Adrian had yanked his hair and threatened to tear out his throat - that had been posturing. This, as strange as it was, was apparently the real deal.
The entire experience was as foreign to Adrian as it was to Trevor. He vaguely remembered his mother's lessons in anatomy, but thinking about charts and drawings wasn't really helping him find a suitable spot to bite. It was easier to tap into the instincts he'd spent his entire life restraining; since he could track where the majority of the blood flow was, it stood to reason that he could simply aim where it was most minimal.
The exploration finally stopped, and Adrian let go of Trevor's chin to instead grab a fistful of hair, pulling slightly until he had a tight hold of it, before whispering, "Don't move."
"Yeah..."
Trevor felt a hot gust of breath across his throat seconds before a sharp pain pierced the side of his neck and began slicing in slowly. He grimaced, forcing himself to remain as still as possible, even though every instinct in him yelled at him to fight back, to push and kick and gouge eyes, whatever it took to stop the intrusion. Instead of anything resembling pleasure, Trevor could only feel a cold sweat breaking across his brow, as something inside him told him he was going to die if this continued. He tried to steady himself, reminding himself to breathe - it'd be utterly disappointing if he were to pass out after all his persistence in asking for this very thing.
Then, a strange sense of euphoria began to wash over him. Yes, Trevor knew if he moved the wrong way, he could nick something and bleed out; he was painfully aware of that. But there was no scent of blood in the air. Adrian wasn't sucking him dry. He wasn't ripping and tearing or doing anything but lying there on top of him, almost placidly, breathing deeply and slowly, as if he was willing the brunet to calm down and let go as well. Trevor was teasing the line between life and death, but Adrian's weight on top of him held him securely in the world of the living.
Before he knew it, Trevor realized his breathing and even his pulse had calmed and slowed to match Adrian's, and he moaned, his fear melting away as he suddenly became aware of the softness of Adrian's hair rolling over his shoulder, of the near-silent, vibrating "purrs" emanating from the back of Adrian's throat. The tension in his muscles faded as he relaxed into near limpness, matching Adrian's. Those golden eyes were open, but there was a strange glassiness to them, a metallic gleam that Trevor hadn't seen before. It was both unsettling and strangely sexy.
They lay like that for a minute, then Adrian suddenly blinked, once, and then again, and carefully began to withdraw his fangs until his mouth completely detached from Trevor's neck, before leaning back in to start lapping lazily at the skin around the wounds.
"Is it bleeding a lot?" Trevor wondered aloud, figuring it was okay to talk now that there weren't knives in his throat. Annoyingly the pitch of his voice belied his seeming calmness.
"Just welling a bit. I did my best to ensure I missed any major blood vessels," Adrian murmured, pausing to run his tongue over his fangs. He frowned slightly, still not loving the taste of blood, though it tasted a little different than he remembered... less repulsive, at least. "Are you all right?"
"Oh yes," Trevor sighed.
"It hurt, didn't it?"
There was no point in lying. "At first - though that wasn't the issue. Maybe it's because I'm a hunter, or maybe it's basic human instinct, but... well, I had a moment of complete panic where something in me was convinced I was about to get eaten."
Adrian shifted off of Trevor to sit next to him instead, his fingers circling around the bite marks, before he reached up to lightly ruffle Trevor's hair. "That's probably normal, given that vampires predate on humans."
"Yeah, but I know better," Trevor groused, wrapping a blond curl around his finger. He didn't mind having Adrian play with his hair, but he preferred to be the one doing it, rather than the recipient.
"That's not how instincts work."
Trevor grunted. "Anyhow, once I got past that, it was... calming, almost. I swear I could feel your heartbeat. And you were purring," he added with a chuckle.
Adrian rolled his eyes, but he couldn't stop the flush of color that rose on his cheeks.
"Your eyes changed too. Not something I've seen before."
Adrian didn't comment, but he was starting to wonder if he'd blanked out at some point during the process, because he certainly didn't remember "purring" - or really much of anything past the initial biting down - and that worried him.
"The important thing is, was it as good for you as it was for me?" Trevor teased.
"That's irrelevant. Now that your curiosity has been met, you won't ask again."
Trevor reached up to rub at his neck. It was a little sore, but considering how much damage a vampire's fangs could do, it wasn't a bad result. "Why wouldn't I? If you liked it - and don't pretend you didn't - and I liked it, it could only be better next time."
"This isn't really the sort of thing you want to play with. It could very well go wrong at some point," Adrian cautioned.
Trevor waved off the warning. "Here, help me up, I want to see what it looks like."
Adrian withheld a snide comment about the brunet being left unsteady enough that he couldn't get out of bed on his own, but he stayed silent and did as asked. Trevor wobbled over to a mirror on the wall and craned his neck to get a good look.
The wounds were straightforward, just two puncture marks on the side of his neck. But simple as they were, Trevor felt triumphant. Was he the only Belmont who could say he'd survived being bitten in the throat? "Huh, it's not bad."
"It'll probably bruise later."
"Mm. I wonder what Sypha will think?"
"That you're an idiot?"
Trevor's answering grin was brilliant as he headed out the door, and Adrian wondered if he'd really be able to say, "No," the next time Trevor got it in his head to ask for such a thing.
* * *
Author's Notes:
March 16, 2023