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[phantomshow]

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[undyingcrow]

Mm... Yes.

[Yes to the question, or use to being taken? Either way, he's rolling up a sleeve.]

[phantomshow]

[Ren manages a frail chuckle, still determined to keep up the playful demeanor in the face of what is showing to be a fairly serious problem.]

Then I should warn you … my boyfriend’s … not …

[His words shake and slur together until they drop off entirely as he passes out again, head dropping forward.]

self-harm cw (albeit for love)

[undyingcrow]

Damn it, Ren!

[Screw it. This is going to hurt, but he takes one of his claws and cuts along the top of his arm before bringing the open wound to Ren's lips.]

Drink.

[phantomshow]

[Ren’s head immediately jerks up, eyes wide with fear and focused like they haven’t been since they landed.]

Akechi, wh-what are you d-doing?

[He tries to scramble backwards, away from the bloody limb, but there isn’t any farther back into the wall to go, and he’s too weak to get up.]

[undyingcrow]

"Don't be a fool, Ren. I nearly killed you. This blood is the least I owe you." He isn't moving. No, that fresh wound is right there for the taking.

[phantomshow]

I c-can’t, I’m - I’m gonna h-hurt you …

[He shakes his head, but his willpower is already beginning to crumble in the proximity of what his body instinctively needs to survive.]

D-don’t … wanna h-hurt you …

[undyingcrow]

A small drink won't kill me.

[Come on, Ren. He's not going to let you drink all of it. That would be absurd.]

[phantomshow]

[A small drink should be fine. But Ren’s fear is that he won’t be able to stop with a small amount, and that he’ll be too strong for Akechi to fight him off. Vampires aren’t really known for having a high amount of restraint, after all.

But it’s getting harder and harder to hold onto his refusal to drink. The blood on Akechi’s arm calls to him, pulls at his core, sings like a siren luring sailors toward dangerous waters. His hands reach out, wrap around the offered limb. There is no space in his brain for debate about the moral quandaries of taking blood from a living being to slake his own thirst. There is only the steady thump of Akechi’s pulse and the raw, primal need to consume it.

Ren glances up at Akechi through his long, dark lashes and whispers a fervent plea:]

Stop me. Please.

[Then his mouth closes tightly around the slit in Akechi’s skin and fills with liquid warmth.

He drinks.]

[undyingcrow]

[Akechi cringes, but holds still. He lets Ren drink, at least at first. But indeed, it may become necessary to intervene. To stop him.

He waits a few moments, enough to ensure Ren has gotten something...

And then he grabs Ren by the back of his clothes and pulls him back.]

slaps down a cw for gross vampire imagery

[phantomshow]

[For the moment, Ren’s entire world begins and ends with the blood filling his mouth and the heartbeat contained within it. This is his first time tasting blood as a vampire, and it draws a long, indecent-sounding moan out of his throat when the first drop reaches his tongue. A small drink is not enough; the desire for more tugs Ren farther and farther down.

He wants to unhinge his jaw and swallow Akechi whole, like a giant snake. He wants to push his teeth deep into the skin and muscle of the other boy’s arm and suck out every last drop of blood from his veins. He wants to crack open his bones and lick up every speck of marrow, taste the final beat of his heart, consume him completely until there is no division remaining between Ren and Akechi, just them, together, indivisible at last -

The tug backward barely registers, and it’s not enough to make Ren stop, but it’s enough to shake his trance and redirect his gaze up to Akechi’s face. His expression is what shocks Ren into ceasing his drinking - Ren recognizes he’s hurting Akechi.

Immediately, Ren pulls his mouth away from Akechi’s arm and claps a hand over the cut, healing it closed with a gentle green energy that glows from underneath his palm. With the hyperfocus on blood now broken, Ren looks properly horrified about what he’s done.]

[undyingcrow]

[And despite Ren's bloodlust, Akechi pulls him closer.]

Ren, it's all right. I knew what I was getting myself into.

[It's not Ren's fault. He didn't ask for any of this. And...

His tails flick slightly. There was something... appealing about Ren's intensity.]

[phantomshow]

[Impossibly, against all common sense, Akechi isn’t pushing him away. Ren is too dazed from the sudden rush of sustenance and the duel before to properly interrogate this fact. Instead of resisting, Ren allows Akechi to pull him closer, and he reciprocates with wrapping his arms around the other boy.]

Why? Akechi, I - I could’ve killed you.

[Not indirectly, through the inaction of not being fast enough to stop what happened in the engine room of Shido’s Palace. Not by making the choice to break Maruki’s stranglehold on reality and reset the world to the one where Akechi appeared to perish. With direct action, by stealing away every bit of Akechi’s life essence and keeping it for himself.]

I couldn’t live with myself if I killed you again.

[undyingcrow]

Ren, I wouldn't let that happen.

[Sighing, he grasps Ren's shoulder firmly.]

And you didn't kill me. If anything, I'd argue that you saved me.

[phantomshow]

[Ren bites down on the impulse to argue that Akechi couldn’t have stopped him if he’d truly wanted to keep taking his blood until he’d taken his life entirely. It’s a stupid argument, likely to only lead them in circles, and Ren doesn’t have the energy to fight any more battles today.]

I saved you … [He repeats it, but there’s a note of doubt in his tone.] ‘Cause I didn’t keep you in Maruki’s reality, right?

[Ren sighs and pulls back just enough so he can study Akechi’s face.]

I know I didn’t kill you … but it felt like I did for a long time. And sometimes, with these changes, I - I think I could. If I’m not careful … if I go too far … if I lose myself again …

[It was foolish of him to allow the bloodlust to take control, Ren understands this now. Hindsight is always crystal clear. Frowning deeply, he continues:]

I told you I’d rather die than hurt you again, and I meant that.

[undyingcrow]

I still believe our "bond" may have saved me on Shido's ship.

[It's the only explanation he can think of, particularly within a cognitive world. Why not, really?

Still, he remains close. Right now, Ren needs the support.]

Regardless, I would smack you to your senses if you took it too far. I am strong, Ren.

[phantomshow]

[The idea that it was the bond they forged that kept Akechi alive turns Ren’s insides upside down and upright again. He’ll need to unpack those feelings at another time, because there’s something else more pressing that he needs to communicate.]

I know you are.

[His mouth twists in a wry half-smile. It took four of the Phantom Thieves working together to take him down, after all. Akechi is without doubt the stronger fighter between the two of them, and if they were back in Tokyo as semi-ordinary humans, Ren wouldn’t question whether Akechi could overpower him on his own.

But they’re not in Tokyo, and neither of them is just human anymore. Ren reaches to place a gloved hand along Akechi’s jawline and gently rub his thumb over the whiskers near his nose.]

You’ve won every duel against me here. But … what if this thing I end up turning into is stronger? What if I’m not myself anymore?

[Akechi doesn’t need to be a detective to see the fear that’s taken up residence in Ren’s dark grey eyes. It’s a new kind of fear, to not be able to trust and control his own body and mind. The closest he’s ever experienced before now was being overtaken by any of the various status effects thrown by Shadows in the Metaverse, and those were always temporary, quickly healed by one of his team or worn off by the time battle ended. Vampiric desire for blood is very different.]

I don’t think I can explain just how much I wanted you just now. All of you. Or how much I still do …

[He drops his hand and looks down, ashamed in his confession.]

You’re inside me now - I can still feel your heartbeat in my mouth. And there’s something else in here that wants more and doesn’t want to stop until it’s got it. What if I can’t control that? You’ll need to do more than just smack me a few times.

[undyingcrow]

[His nose wrinkles a bit at the touch. Whiskers are so sensitive, but he knows Ren means well.]

If it comes down to that, I can heal you. Whether or not this power remains is unclear...

[But... hm. He'll place a hand over Ren's all the same.]

But the same can be said of your current state. For all we know, this shall pass.

[phantomshow]

[He’s right, of course. These changes could be temporary. Ren could be worrying when there’s no need.

The weight and warmth of Akechi’s hand on his helps ground Ren, pulling his mind back from giving in to the fear and panic bubbling up and threatening to explode. He laughs under his breath and glances back up to Akechi with a grateful smile.]

I love you so much. [Ren shifts to gently fold his fingers around Akechi’s hand.] When did you get so good at being this calm?

[undyingcrow]

...Something changed here.

[Those angelic wings of his twitch ever so slightly.]

While I'm in this state, I feel... strange. It doesn't carry over to my chimera form.

[phantomshow]

[Hmm. Akechi did mention experiencing psychological effects during their duel. Instantly, Ren’s focus switches off himself and onto the other boy.]

Strange … in a bad way?

[undyingcrow]

I'm... not normally so driven to protect.

[At least, not in his own opinion. Perhaps it's his biases speaking. Who can say? But even so...]

For reasons I can't comprehend, I want to do good. I want to help. I feel so... "pure."

[phantomshow]

I’ve always believed in your ability to do good, if you wanted to.

[Ah, but maybe that’s the issue. Ren knows better than anyone how fiercely Akechi values his free will.]

Does it feel like something is forcing you to do good? To help? Like you’re being controlled?

[undyingcrow]

It's more like an abundance of sentimentality. A strange compulsion to protect and guard all things pure and good.

[He casts a glance at the angelic wings on his back.]

Imagine me, a defender of purity.

[phantomshow]

[Ah yes, Akechi's famously favorite thing. Sentimentality.]

I don't have to imagine it. You're right here.

[It's not hard to picture, either. It's not a far leap from goodness and purity to justice, and Ren is keenly aware that the differences between how Akechi's life progressed are a mirror to his own. The Phantom Thieves fought for justice, after all. If their roles had been reversed somehow, Akechi could have been the one leading the charge for righting injustices in their society. That's what was at the root of his elaborate revenge scheme against his father, after all - addressing the injustice both he and his mother suffered at Shido's hand.]

So ... if you're a protector of all things good and pure, and you just rescued me from that fighting ring ... are you trying to say you think I'm something good and pure?

[His mouth curves into a crooked grin and his eyes take on a mischievous glint.]

'Cause I think we both know that's a stretch.

[undyingcrow]

You're certainly more pure than me.

[Still, he matches Ren's grin with one of his own, tapping his cheek ever so gently with a claw. Just one. The others remain retracted.]

Still, considering you find me attractive in my present state, one might question the purity of said attraction.

[Really, it's all in jest. If anything, he's flattered.]