Although he had originally intended to stay a short while before going back to the apartment, Draluc couldn’t drink the blood vials as fast as he wanted. Everytime he tried to gulp down a mouthful, the warmth of it would heat up his entire body to the extent that he felt like he was melting into sand.
Mihai initially looked energetic after the blood draw, happy to help out a friend that he hadn’t met up with in years. But slowly, the combined fatigue of losing blood and jet lag washed over him, making it harder for him to keep his eyes open.
“Sorry Draluc, I don’t think I can last any longer.” He stood up, stretching his arms above his head. “Let’s talk more tomorrow…”
He shuffled through his wallet and took out a hotel key card. “Feel free to drop by anytime.”
With that last gesture, he gave the vampire a tired “goodnight” before heading off to bed.
Draluc debated whether he should just take the vials with him and go back to the apartment, but the thought of having to drink in front of Ronaldo kept him planted firmly in his seat. He would finish his meal and take the rest with him. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Bored with nothing better to do, the vampire took out his cellphone and opened up Twitter. He really wished he had brought his QSQ, but settled for reading some funny memes and catching up on the news.
He was shocked to find that “Dora-chan” was trending in the local area, and clicked on the tag to find that a picture of him and Mihai walking into the elevator at the hotel was circulating, reposted hundreds of times with all sorts of comments:
‘Oh my god, who’s that cute guy with him?! Is that his boyfriend?’
‘LOL, cucked Ronaldo’
‘Did Ronaldo break up with Dora-chan? I’m REALLY about to go over there and teach him a lesson’
‘NOOO DORA-CHAN!! MY DREAM WAS TO MARRY YOU!’
‘I was really rooting for RonaDora as my OTP ;_; ‘
Draluc locked the phone and threw it on the couch. If he had a slim 0.01% chance of confessing to Ronaldo and having it work out before, he had an absolutely ZERO chance right now. Also, did all of Shin Yokohama already assume that he and Ronaldo were a couple?! That was absolutely preposterous! They never did anything couple-like at all!
But he did happen to make Ronaldo a heart bento as a joke, he could see why people got the wrong idea. And the time when he gave him chocolates (just obligatory ones!) on Valentine’s day. And sometimes they even went grocery shopping together (without John) and talked about what to make for dinner the whole way.
One time, that idiot even dragged him to an early premier midnight showing of a movie in a series he had never watched. But Ronaldo was excited about it, so he obliged him, because John was too busy that day.
Yup, nothing couple-like at all!
+++
It had been several hours of playing video games. John and Ronaldo had ordered pizza as a treat (since Draluc wasn’t there to scold them). The armadillo had easily beat the hunter at Vario
Kart several times, and now they were playing a much more low-key puzzle game about snipping pieces of paper.
Just as they had finished a level, Ronaldo’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and blanched, scrambling to pick it up immediately.
“F-f-Fukuma-san! What do I owe the pleasure of your late call?”
Ronaldo heard Fukuma sigh at the other end.
“Ronaldo-kun, I’m not in the business of prying in private affairs, but there appears to be quite the scandal brewing on Twitter. I just got the call from one of my interns and thought I should pass along that information.”
Fukuma yawned, making sure to keep the phone away from him when he did. “I’m not sure what course of action, if any, that we’ll need to take, but we can discuss that at a later date. Goodnight for now.” He hung up quickly.
Ronaldo was utterly confused. Why would Fukuma contact him about some social media nonsense? The elite editor was a busy person, and had no time for drivel.
Curious, Ronaldo took out his phone and logged into his secret Ronaldo Chronicles fan account. He didn’t use it often, but he liked responding to comments from a fan perspective, without people knowing that it was him.
Once he logged in, he could see that his timeline was inundated with comments from fans in the area, freaking out about Draluc. He scrolled through the many subtweets and comments, searching for the initial cause of the outcry.
I bet that idiot is just being a public nuisance, I’m sure it’s nothing serious-
There it was. A slightly wonky picture, blurry at the sides due to how quickly it had been taken. It was posted by some anonymous account, with the comment: ‘This is the cutest Dora-chan I’ve ever seen!’
The picture itself was completely innocuous, showing Draluc walking into the elevator with Mihai being a gentleman and holding the door open. But the picture had caught Draluc right as he was looking straight at the handsome bastard.
And his expression was… his expression was kind and joyful, completely open. Nothing like the smug smiles or smirks that he would often throw around when had a funny prank in mind. Not at all like the mischievous grin he would wear when he was bullshitting while talking to a client or friend.
And it was absolutely different from the sad smiles that he saw appear on the vampire, when he caught him out of the corner of his eye…
Draluc had underestimated Ronaldo’s kinetic vision, and the hunter was often looking at him secretly for various reasons, mostly as an anti-celery attack measure while he was cooking. But although that was the original reason, he mostly looked for fun now. He could see Draluc’s excellent knife skills, and often thought about cooking himself once in a while.
It was less than two years since he had met him, but Ronaldo had really thought that he had come to know the vampire quite well. He had never really thought to put a name to the feelings himself, but he could tell that Draluc had become someone important to him in that time.
Someone he wanted to take along to the movies now and then. Someone who he wanted to learn to cook for. Someone he wanted to protect from the other idiotic lesser and greater vampires that often ended up causing his death.
And yes, someone he wanted to punch when he was hogging the QS5 when Ronaldo wanted to use Netflips to watch a new release.
Hot tears started to well up, stinging his eyes. John, who was already looking at Ronaldo when he had taken the phone call, had rushed to his side, anxiously tugging on his shirt.
What if Drac was always waiting for Mihai? Did he miss him so much that it hurt that much when they were apart?
The tears fell freely, rolling down his cheeks. Ronaldo embraced John, crying openly.
“..John…. I’m an idiot! I’m a huge idiot! I can’t believe it took me this long to realize..”
He took another sorrowful look at his phone. “And it’s too late now.”