1. Invitation Inside (1/2)
title: of the darkness||chapter: invitation insidecharacters: ryou, shou, camulachapters: 1-25||words: 1,140||total: 1,140genre: family, supernatural||rated: pg-13challenge: diversity writing challenge, ygo gx, j6, multi-chapter with 15-25 chaptersnotes: it's an au. it involves vampires.summary: shou invites his
other in after ryou returns from a long trip away. that is his first mistake. it only gets worse from there.
rain poured down from the featureless sky, coated from horizon to horizon with thick stormclouds laced with blue-white darts of lightning. fires remained burning only by the sheerest of good luck. all travelers remained tucked into inns or wherever they could get shelter, be it in a convenient cave or anywhere they could beg floorspace from.
which was why when there came a heavy beating on the door to the mansion, shou hurried toward it. one thought alone rang through his mind at the sound: big
other!
it had to be ryou. who else would try to come here during this kind of storm? four days it had raged, and five days since ryou left in the first place. shou had spent every one of those days perched at one of the windows that gave a view of the outside, hoping that he could get a glimpse of his
other returning home.
servants came toward the door as well, but shou beat them all there. he was short for his age, but he scampered along fast enough to get there first, swinging the heavy stone door open.
there in the doorway stood someone who could only be marufuji ryou, though on a first glance, it wouldn't have been that surprising if anyone didn't recognize him. rain-soaked hair plastered to his scalp, every inch of his clothes soaked through, and looking pale as death itself. shou didn't wait for a moment.
"get in here!" shou beckoned him in, then whirled around to stare at the nearest servant. "get a hot bath going! and something for him to wear! and something to eat, too!"
"no," ryou murmured, his voice drained, but still in tones of habitual command. "nothing to eat. i'm … fine."
shou didn't know if he should trust that, but he figured they could always put something together after his
other changed and rested. what was important was getting him out of those wet clothes before he caught some sort of massive cold. he might have already; it looked as if he'd spent ever moment of his time out there in the rain.
"well, you're still going to get a bath and changed," shou declared, setting his hands on his hips and giving his older
other his best look. it wasn't nearly as good as the looks ryou could give him when he'd done something stupid, but he tried his best.
ryou returned a small, tight smile, one that didn't show any teeth and didn't quite seem to touch his eyes. he put up no argument when it came to bathing and changing, stripping out of his soaked clothes and wrapping up in a blanket that one of the servants
ought as he sat before one of the fires that still managed to burn.
shou fluttered around him like a butterfly, toweling him off and working a comb through his hair. shou wouldn't have dared to do this to his
other under any other circumstances, but ryou didn't seem inclined to move a great deal, so shou made up for it.
"the bath is ready, sirs," the maid in charge of that announced. shou wished he were a little taller, so he could give his
other a hand.
perhaps that wasn't so necessary, though, as ryou rose to his feet and moved with liquid grace toward the door. he'd always moved easily, no matter how tired or injured he was, but now he seemed almost boneless. he didn't even seem as tired as shou thought he should be after his trek outside.
i hope he tells me what happened. ryou still seemed pale, but shou decided that was probably from the ceaseless pounding of the rain and not nearly enough food to eat. any supplies ryou had taken with him likely hadn't survived the first deluge, and who knew where his horse had ended up.