Chapter Text
Verso knew he was in trouble when Gustave was still breathing after losing all that blood.
He hadn’t intervened- had meant for him to die. But Maelle would not leave the cliff, would not abandon Gustave because she could see the rise and fall of his chest just slightly.
This caused Verso no small amount of panic, the man should be dead. The ground beneath his feet was slick from the amount of his blood pooling beneath him.
He carried Gustave onto Esquie, and Lune immediately began to try and heal him. Nothing seemed to work– no amount of pictos, healing or revive tints seemed to do anything.
And yet, Gustave’s chest continued to rise and fall with labored breathing.
Verso had never seen anything like this before. He had heard the man was stubborn, apparently he was also too stubborn to die as well.
Later after they arrived at a safe location, he was thoroughly questioned by Lune while Sciel and Maelle sat quietly by Gustave’s side.
One much too long conversation later, Verso managed to make his way back to Maelle, and the ever so incapacitated Gustave. He plopped himself down next to her, far enough away to be polite, but close enough for conversation.
Maelle only gave him a faint smile.
He didn’t even know what to say to her, this had not gone according to plan at all.
Verso was meant to slip into the void left by Gustave, what was he meant to do now?
He was contemplating his situation when he saw the prone man begin to stir, Maelle's face was a mixture of worry and relief.
The next part happened so fast, if Verso had been anyone else he wouldn’t have been able to stop it.
Gustave sat up in a swift motion and immediately lunged for Maelle. Verso somehow managed to get between them, blocking the strike with his forearm. Maelle cried out at the attack while Verso tried not to cry out in pain as Gustave bit into his arm.
The other man’s teeth were unexpectedly sharp, and punctured through his jacket and into his flesh, causing blood to well up through his sleeve. The moment hot liquid spilled onto Gustave’s lips, his eyelids lazily dipped in satisfaction and he began to drink Verso’s blood.
Verso didn’t know what to do except stare in abject horror. It was painful, but nothing more than Verso regularly dealt with. He watched as the hole in Gustave’s abdomen began to knit itself back together, golden chromatic ribbons and blood red threads seeming to spin and fill the void that had been left.
Maelle had begun to scream sometime while this was happening, but Verso felt almost detached from himself as he observed Gustave. He watched as his eyes shifted from black voids into a dark hazel color.
Verso saw when Gustave came back to himself, his jaw loosening from its grip on his arm as he flinched back, face painted with horror and Verso’s blood.
“Gustave? What the fuck was that?” Lune asked, having just arrived from wherever she had been. The whole thing had all happened so fast Verso wasn’t surprised by her seemingly late arrival.
Gustave sat, eyes wide and mouth agape, blood dripping down his chin and further staining his uniform.
“I- I don’t know- what?” he clutched at his head with his sole hand, eyes swimming with obvious confusion.
Maelle tentatively approached him, and Verso watched as she gently reached towards Gustave who flinched backwards, shaking his head. She looked scared and hurt, but Verso could tell Gustave didn’t want to push her away.
Gustave didn’t understand what was happening to himself.
He remembered the white-haired man stabbing him, he remembered falling to the ground, he remembered the pain.
He remembered thinking ‘I can’t die here, I can’t leave Maelle alone-’
And then everything had gone dark, Gustave had thought he was dead.
But then he heard voices, and he had felt the hunger.
A hunger so deep inside him he thought he was going mad.
He had smelled something- sweet and rich and he knew it would help.
Something, anything to stop the pain from the hunger.
He hadn’t even realized he had moved, or that his eyes were open until suddenly his vision was filled with a man he’d never seen before.
And Gustave had bitten him.
He had jerked back reflexively and felt something wet dripping off his chin and soaking the fabric below. The man in front of him just stared back at him, his face carefully neutral. That was when Gustave suddenly heard Lune yelling at him.
“Gustave? What the fuck was that?”
He opened and closed his mouth a few times to speak, searching for the right words before he managed, “I- I don’t know- what?”
His head ached and he brought his hand to rub at his temples. He was still starving, his head was spinning, his mouth felt odd and on top of it all, he had no idea what was happening.
Maelle tried to approach him, but as she got closer his mouth began to water. Something inside him told him, BEGGED him to eat eat eat eateateateat-
Gustave drew into himself, not trusting whatever was happening to him to not hurt her. Maelle looked scared, but she also looked pained as he retreated out of her reach.
He felt like he couldn’t breath, he began to gasp as panic gripped him.
The man he didn’t recognize, the one who had been bitten, finally spoke,
“Maelle, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The redhead glared at him for a moment, but relented and stopped trying to approach Gustave.
“Do you know what's wrong?” Lune practically demanded, but managed to make it sound like a question.
The man nodded in response, “I think I have an idea, but I need you three to give us some space.”
Gustave could barely think through the ragged breaths, but somewhere in the back of his head he thought that was probably a good idea.
He couldn’t hurt Maelle, he needed to keep her safe-
The girls exited the clearing, leaving him alone with what was once his meal moments before now.. Gustave had scrunched in on himself, knees to chest, his one arm wrapped around his legs, and face tucked away on top. Only his eyes peeked out at the stranger, who looked at him and sighed.
“It’s okay, Gustave.” Gustave flinched at his words and the man quickly corrected himself, “Well, maybe not okay, but I won’t hurt you.” He gave him a shy smile and Gustave wanted to trust him- but there was that deep hunger inside that seemed to grow the closer they got to each other. He found his eyes transfixed on the arm he had bitten earlier- staring at the blood soaked fabric.
“My name is Verso, only fair since I already know your name.” Verso was approaching him like he was a wild animal, hand out in a placating gesture, with slow, deliberate steps.
Maybe I am a wild animal- I feel like I am about to lose control of myself. Again.
Gustave wanted to sob, he wanted to scream in frustration at whatever was happening to him but, he didn’t let himself. He carefully kept all his muscles locked tight, not trusting himself right now.
“It’s okay- you can’t hurt me in any meaningful way.” Verso pulled up his sleeve to show his arm didn’t even have a bruise from the bite earlier.
Gustave was relieved he had managed to bite the one single person who apparently could heal very fast. He kept himself still, visibly tensing as Verso let out another long sigh and knelt down in front of him.
Verso cast his pale eyes towards the ground,“I don’t know what you remember- but you should be dead from your injuries.” He looked back up at Gustave, a sad smile on his face. “And I don’t know how or why, but I think I know what’s happening to you.”
Gustave blinked at him, not trusting himself to speak, but Verso seemed to get the message.
“If I were to guess, I would say you’re still starving right now- based on how you seem to not be letting yourself move.” He raised an eyebrow, Gustave didn’t budge, so Verso continued.
“The man who killed you, his weapon went completely through your abdomen, you should have bled to death. The wound didn’t begin to heal until you. . .drank from me.” Verso motioned to the blood soaked fabric on his arm. “I think that if you don’t. . .feed more than you’re going to be a danger to Maelle-”
“No-” Gustave managed to croak out, cutting Verso off, “-no I, I can’t let that happen.” He had lifted his head just slightly to speak and could feel the blood in his beard begin to coagulate, sticking together uncomfortably.
Verso’s face hadn’t changed, but something in his eyes looked even sadder than they had before. He slowly moved next to where Gustave had balled himself against the rockface and sat down. He adjusted himself again to get comfortable before he began to unbutton the top of his shirt.
Gustave didn’t think his eyes could get any wider- what was Verso doing? But with him so close he didn’t trust himself to so much as to breathe-
Immediately his eyes were drawn to Verso’s exposed neck and that new hunger inside him seemed to redouble, He couldn’t look away from the veins he could see so close to the surface there.
He hadn’t realized he’d gotten closer until Verso put a hand on his arm to steady Gustave. Their eyes found one another, burnt hazel coalescing with pale blue.
“I thought this would be more comfortable- well, certainly better than my arm.”
Gustave had barely heard the offer presented to him before he found himself straddling Verso’s lap, his teeth finding skin too easily.
Verso let out a pained moan as Gustave began to feed- somewhere in the back of his feral mind he was panicking. How this shouldn’t be possible, how his teeth shouldn’t be able to puncture skin so easily, how he was drinking blood at all.
But now? All he could feel was the hot liquid flowing across his tongue like nectar and flowing down his parched throat like water to a man in the desert. It was ecstasy. Blissful, mindless ecstasy.
Verso shouldn’t have been enjoying this. He shouldn’t like the feeling of a man that he had meant to die in his lap, or the single hand gripping his shoulder with enough strength to cause his bones to break.
But as Gustave latched onto his neck while letting out small sounds of satisfaction and continuing to devourVerso’s blood, he couldn’t deny how tight his pants began to feel.
The man in his lap may as well have been on another plane of existence, Verso was wondering if he was going to be able to get Gustave to stop- or if he was going to suck him completely dry. This would be a new one for Verso, he was almost sure he had never been completely bled dry before. . .
He could feel some of the hot, thick liquid escape the seal of Gustave’s lips against his skin, flowing lazily down the side of his neck before surely staining his shirt. Verso made a mental note to have a towel on hand next time, because he had a feeling there was going to be many more next times.
Verso was the obvious choice. He could regenerate any blood he. . . donated to Gustave. Though Verso had a sinking suspicion this wasn’t just about blood, but the chroma carried within the blood, and he was the best option for that as well.. Gustave would never forgive himself if he hurt Maelle, and Verso didn’t even know if Lune or Sciel had enough chroma to spare for something like this. Verso just happened to be an endless well of both.
Eventually he began to get dizzy. However Gustave seemed to be feeding with the same gusto as when he started, so Verso let him keep going.
When the dark spots began to swim in his vision, he carefully tried to pry the other man away. Gustave immediately growled at him forcing Verso to try again, this time with a little more strength..
“Gustave- it’s time to- stop.” The words were a struggle, but they seemed to snap Gustave’s focus as he pried himself away. The other man’s eyes were wide with fright as they stared at him in startled horror. They were also a bright, mesmerizing hazel color that Verso found hard to look away from.
He brought his hand up to his neck, feeling the stickiness of the blood congealing there and tried to focus his healing on the area. The response was sluggish at best, which shouldn’t surprise him. The man across from him having drained his current chroma significantly. Verso doubted anyone but him could have survived it.
Gustave looked lost, the dark red of drying blood contrasted against his pale skin and stained the whole front of his uniform as well. Verso didn’t know if the blood would ever really come out, hopefully he had some spares somewhere.
“What- what’s happening to me?”
Verso did not feel good- he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to stand up for another hour or more- so he tilted his head back against the rockface and gave a bitter laugh.
“Maelle told me you were the smart one.” He teased, closing his eyes so his vision would stop swimming. “Don’t you read books? Heard the fairytales?”
“But that- those aren’t real-”
“I’m not sure you can claim that anymore, seeing as you are something of a mythical creature now.” Usually he wasn’t this blunt, but between the very long day and the blood loss, his tongue had loosened.
When he managed to peek open one of his eyes, Gustave was still staring at him, his mouth agape. Verso could see just the tip of two fangs poking out below his upper lip.
“You should probably go wash up, you have a little blood-” He made a sweeping gesture to his whole front and Gustave looked down at himself before making a strangled sound.
Verso closed his eyes again, settling in to doze and hoping he would be able to recover enough to move soon.
Gustave mechanically walked to the stream that cut through a portion of the camp, purposefully taking the long way as to avoid the campfire and his team, especially Maelle, from seeing him drenched in blood.
He let his knees fall to the ground on the bank of the stream and he began to undress himself. His scarf was completely saturated in blood, it squished beneath his fingers. The hunger inside him yearned, but he didn’t know if he would even be able to get enough out of the fabric to really be of any use-
He shook himself from his thoughts, dropping the wet fabric to the ground. Gustave undressed his top half in quick, efficient movements, trying not to think about the smell of Verso’s blood on him- or how it made him want.
He looked down at his front and he saw two large patches of thick scar tissue. But they were different- he brushed his bloodstained fingers across them, and saw the shimmer of gold flecks there.
Quickly Gustave pushed that thought away too. Everything was too much, nothing made sense.
Or it made too much sense in a way he couldn’t bear.
Washing himself the best he could, he got spare clothes. Not bothering with the full uniform top and settling for the undershirt and vest. He desperately needed some form of control, and the vest felt like the best he was going to be able to achieve at the moment.
Gustave’s old uniform was trash really- it had two large holes on the front and back- and was also soaked (and probably stained) with his and Verso’s blood. He stood for a moment, staring at the pile of fabric on the ground, when suddenly everything he was pushing away came crashing back into his thoughts.
Verso hadn’t outright said his suspicion, but Gustave had understood all the same.
Vampire.
It didn’t make any sense, and it also was the only explanation.
He had been trying to ignore the twin sharp points that brushed against his bottom lip.
Vampires aren’t real.
He had been trying to ignore how he had sunk his teeth into Verso’s neck.
It was impossible.
He had been trying to ignore that he had no idea how long he had fed from the other man, lost in the feeling of blood running down his throat.
A sob suddenly escaped him, and once it had started he couldn’t stop. Hot tears rolled down his freshly washed face and into his newly cleaned beard, and all he remembered is how it felt to scrub the drying blood from it.
He had survived the white haired man, but at what cost?
He was here for Maelle, he could protect her.
But he also was just as likely to kill her.
Gustave wasn’t dumb, he saw how pale Verso had been when he managed to get him off. Gustave probably would have killed anyone else by that point.
He was a burden.
A parasite.
A monster.
By the time he was able to collect himself enough to rejoin the group, Verso was also there. He still looked far too pale, but he must have walked over here himself so that was something at least.
Maelle saw him and made to stand up, but Lune prevented her.
Her sharp gaze raked over him, before she asked, “Are you okay?”
Gustave could hear the unspoken question of are you a danger to us?
“I- I don’t know Lune.”
Lune’s gaze narrowed, but Sciel got up from her seat and gently guided him down to sit with them.
“We have dinner, if you want-” She trailed off, obviously unsure how to continue. What had Verso told them? Obviously enough from the pitying look on Sciel's face was anything to go by.
“It’s worth a try.” He gave her a pinched smile and took the bowl from her. He was still hungry, the nearby scents wafting from his friends making him want to be sick, but he tried to channel the hunger into the food in front of him. Surely this could help? Maybe he could eat this too so he wouldn’t have to have as much-?
It didn’t look bad, standard rations and he remembered it tasting fine yesterday. He eyed the contents wearily before popping a spoonful of the stuff into his mouth. It felt like ash against his tongue and also tasted like soot.
He forced back a sob, as he choked down the bite. It went down like lead and sat heavily in his stomach. He carefully handed his bowl back to Sciel, unable to keep the tears from his eyes.
“So it’s true.” Lune said.
“Vampires aren’t real-” Maelle began to say, and Gustave gave her a sad smile making sure his fangs showed.
The three women next to him gasped in shock, and it was almost enough to make him not completely miserable.
Sometime later, just before they would turn in for the night, an argument broke out.
Sceil’s brows were furrowed, “You can’t be serious about being the sole donor-”
“I am completely serious.” Verso cut her off, “I am the only one here who can’t die-” he trailed off as he looked over at Gustave, and amended his next words, “-from blood loss here. After resting tonight I will be completely fine from his feeding today.”
“Can you guys not talk about me like I’m not right here?” His words were sharp, his mood not improving as his companions had gone over what was happening to him. They all had the decency to look sheepish at his admonishment, and he let out a big sigh.
“I agree with Verso, if I lose control-”
“You won’t.” Maelle, who was leaning against his side, interjected.
“I could, I almost got you today first Maelle.” The thought of his sweet sister pale in his arms, the life drained out of her by him, made his heart break. “I can’t- I won’t let that happen. If Verso regenerates it’s the best option.”
He wasn’t sure why he was phrasing it as a hypothetical- he could see clearly that the mark on the man’s neck from earlier was completely gone. It was the only thing in this whole mess that wasn’t completely unbearable.
Maelle frowned up at him, before tucking herself into his side again. He wasn’t sure about her being so close to him, but she wouldn’t stay away and he wasn’t going to physically force her away unless he had to.
He was scared it might come to that, his new sense of smell was telling him that she smelled delicious and the hunger inside him was aching for a taste. Gustave found his mouth watering, and he couldn’t stand it any longer.
“I’m going to go get some rest.” He stood up as he said it, but was careful not to knock Maelle over as he did so.
The others muttered half hearted ‘goodnights’ as he left the campfire. Summoning his bedroll from its picto, he smoothed it out on the ground before laying himself down on it. Tucking his single hand beneath his head, Gustave closed his eyes and tried to rest.
But rest wouldn’t come.
Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t tired at all. He had just gone to bed to escape the talks about him and the smell of his friends' blood.
He rolled onto his back and looked up at the stars where they managed to shine through the trees overhead. He wanted nothing more right now then the sweet relief of sleep, of not being stuck thinking and overthinking everything that had happened.
Instead he was stuck with the unfamiliar feeling of new sharp teeth in his mouth.
And remembering how much he liked the taste of blood on his tongue.
Time had passed and he didn’t know how long he had been laying there spiraling in his new reality when he finally gave up trying to sleep. He wasn’t tired and he was just torturing himself at this point. Gustave forced his body up and made his way over to the campfire- might as well keep whoever’s on watch company.
He was surprised to see Verso sitting there.
“I thought you said you needed sleep to recover.” The scolding words fell from his mouth before he could hold them back.
Verso raised an eyebrow at him, an amused half smile on his face “I did- it’s third watch and I don’t need as much sleep as they do.”
Gustave sat down across the fire from the other man, who was carefully watching him with those pale blue eyes. They sat in silence for a while, Gustave staring unseeing into the fire and trying not to think about anything.
“How are you?” Verso asked and Gustave could hear the weight of all the unasked questions wrapped into this simple one.
He racked his hand through his hair, sighing as he thought about his answer. He decided to be honest.
“I had really hoped to be able to sleep- have at least one normal thing left. I guess I don’t get to have that either.” He gave him a tight smile and felt his new fangs prick at the inside of his lip. “Just watch and tomorrow I will crumple to dust in the rising sun.”
Verso shook his head, “No- you spent time in the sun today. Looks like you get to keep one thing.” He winked at him. It was so absurd that it startled a laugh out of Gustave.
They spent the rest of the night in easy conversation about small things until the sun came up, and despite Verso’s reassurance Gustave couldn't help but flinch as the sunshine reached his skin. Thankfully nothing happened and he was relieved he wouldn’t have to worry about this one thing.
His hunger was still persistent.
Several days passed and it only grew worse. Lune had suggested he feed everyday, but Gustave refused. He loathed how much he enjoyed it, and he wanted to hold off as long as he could.
By the third day though, Verso cornered him in camp.
“You are going to feed, now.”
“But I- and you-” Gustave found himself spluttering, and the closer Verso got to him, the less he could make coherent thoughts over the smell of his blood.
Pale eyes pinned him in place, “Your eyes are almost as black as they were when you woke up, when you lunged at the nearest person.” He crossed his arms, “Don’t think we all haven’t noticed the distance you’ve put between yourself and us, and it’s gotten ridiculous today. We are taking care of this, now.”
Gustave looked at him with dark eyes that bordered on black as he continued to stammer.
“It’s just- I don’t like-” He trailed off, his eye dropping to the ground before he continued. “Is there a way we can do this where I’m not in your lap?”
If he hadn’t been so pale, Verso wasn’t sure he would have been able to see the light blush across the other man's face as he asked. Oh- this wasn’t just about the feeding then.
He brought his hand up to his chin and contemplated aloud, “Well, neck is going to be the easiest access. I’m not sure how else you would get to it unless-”
Suddenly he was thinking of Gustave pinning him to a tree, his one hand strong enough to keep him there as he bit into his neck-
“Verso?” Gustave looked startled and he shook himself out of his thoughts, ignoring the blush he could feel across his own face.
“Only if we stand, which with how dark your eyes are I don’t think is a good idea.”
Gustave sighed and nodded his head. Verso plopped himself down on the grass and began to undo the buttons on his shirt.
He saw Gustave begin to do the same, and he felt his blush intensify. “Whoa there, what do you think we’re doing?”
The other man continued stripping out of his jacket and began unbuttoning his own shirt. He huffed.
“Well, I don’t have infinite clothing, and I’m not very good at this yet-” He bared his fangs in emphasis, “-and it’s much easier to get blood off of skin then it is a white shirt.”
He made a fair point, and by that same logic Verso should undress his top half as well. However he didn’t think he would survive being skin to skin with a man straddling his lap-
He shook himself again out of his thoughts and summoned the small towel from a picto he had prepared specifically for this.
It took everything in him not to stare as Gustave approached him, shirtless and not shy of the toned chest and abs on display. Dark curly hair adorned his chest and arms, along with two fascinating scars unlike anything he had ever seen.
Verso had caught a small glimpse of them as Gustave had healed right in front of him, but he hadn’t got a good look at them before. Thick skin covered where he had been stabbed through, and they seemed to have almost brush stroke-like texture to them, in shades ranging from chromatic gold to a dark crimson red. Now he knew he was staring, but he hadn’t realized he had begun to reach out until Gustave snatched his wrist, with just a hair too much pressure than he needed to.
His eyes snapped up to Gustave’s, who was almost standing over him now. Dark eyes filled with a profound sadness.
“Don’t-” Gustave’s voice was barely a whisper, “please I- don’t.”
Verso nodded mutely before withdrawing his hand. Gustave took the invitation to seat himself across his lap, unable or unwilling to look him in the eye before biting into his neck.
They fell into a rhythm, and found the best schedule was for Gustave to feed every other day. Any longer and he would get. . .weird. He would start to go to great lengths to put distance between him and everyone else for fear of lashing out and hurting one of them.
He was also much stronger than he had been before, and even with a single arm he was a beast in battle.
That also led them to their next discovery. If he was injured- he didn’t heal until he fed again. Gustave was harder to stop when he was feeding to heal, and Verso found it somewhat thrilling.
Verso knew he enjoyed it too much. The attention, the feeling of being needed, the heat of a man in his lap. But he hadn’t realized how bad it was until they reached Monoco’s Station. Everyone had agreed to rest there for the night, and both Lune and Gustave were very excited about the Grandis.
The Gestral found him, he had found a secluded area to wait for his friend so they could freely talk.
“You-” Monoco pointed at him emphatically, “-have a crush.”
It was definitely not what he had been expecting, and all he could do for a moment was blink dumbly.
“I do not-” he began to deny
“Don’t play dumb with me Verso, I know you better than anyone else in this damn Canvas.” The Gestral’s voice was stern as he placed his hand on his hip.
Verso had to drop his gaze to the floor, and if anyone asked he would claim the flush on his face was from the chill in the air. He couldn’t deny it, not to Monoco. He liked being used, he liked the feel of Gustave's rough beard scratching against his neck, and it definitely helped that he was absolutely gorgeous.
After Gustave had fed from him shirtless, it was how they did it now. Verso was able to hold onto Gustave’s sinfully small waist as he fed, and was it so bad that he enjoyed it?
“How you managed to find someone as messed up as you is impressive though, mon vieux.”
“Hey-!”
“I remember him telling me about vampires. . .didn’t think we had anything like that here.”
Verso let out a long breath, “We don’t- not in the traditional sense. I’m not sure if it was how Renoir killed him or what, but it’s not just the blood Gustave is taking, but the Chroma as well.”
“Merde.”
“Yeah, I don’t think anyone else would survive donating to him. Possibly Alicia if she came into her Paintress Powers, but at that point she could just fix whatever is wrong.”
“Do you think Renoir did it on purpose?”
Verso hadn’t considered it, but shook his head. “No, he wanted Gustave out for a similar reason as I did- to get Alicia out of the Canvas. He is her strongest anchor here without any of her memories. . .” He trailed off, obviously their plan to let Gustave backfired horribly.
“Now instead you’re pining after him.” Monoco stated flatly.
How had his decision to let the man die turn into this? Because as much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn’t.
Gustave was fiercely loyal to a fault. He was kind and brave and rash and-
Oh yeah, he was a goner.
But he didn’t have to tell Monoco that.
Besides, it wasn’t like Gustave could love like him too? He resented him, Verso could see it in his dark hazel eyes right before he settled into his lap. The man who was keeping him alive, his sole source of sustenance.
No one could ever love him for who he was, they always loved who he was supposed to be, or what he could do for them.
Gustave just happened to hate him for what he had to have Verso for.
Unfortunately, Gustave found he was starting to. . . not hate feeding.
Verso was. . .nice. Since he had- turned?- he had been fairly cold, but he didn’t find it unpleasant. He did find deep satisfaction in the heat he felt from Verso as he latched onto his neck and drank. It was a feeling unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and definitely not something he would be able to explain to anyone else.
This time he had gone to feed, had felt different somehow.
Verso had been talking with Monoco when he had found them, and he politely cleared his throat to announce his arrival.
The Gestral had shuffled away, and Verso had immediately begun to prepare himself. Gustave saw the dark flush on the dark haired man’s face and raised an eyebrow in silent question as he began to strip.
Verso shook his head in response and settled down on the ground, patiently waiting for Gustave to finish stripping out of his shirt.
Gustave couldn’t help but be distracted by a scent- his sense of smell having grown significantly more sensitive with his condition. It was something he usually smelled as they went through the motions of getting ready, but today for some reason it was stronger. He tried to ignore it, it’s not like he could ask Verso what it was, since he was sure none of the regular people could smell it.
He pushed the thought aside as he carefully lowered himself down onto Verso’s lap, and he could hear how it made the other man’s heart race in his chest. He adjusted himself until he thought it would be relatively comfortable for both of them, and began to lean into the now familiar neck. The scent was even stronger here, and as he bit into the soft and tender flesh of Verso’s neck, he felt him shudder beneath his fangs.
This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, Gustave thought it was a fear response of some kind. However, the longer they got familiar with each other and their routine, Gustave found he was able to not lose himself completely to the process.
And he was starting to notice some things.
Like now, as he drank down the hot sticky substance, he could hear Verso attempting to muffle a moan. He thought about the scent again, it was even stronger than when he had started. He tried to focus his attention on it, when suddenly he felt Verso try to subtly shift his hips beneath him, feeling the not-so-subtle tent in the other man’s pants.
Verso’s arousal, that’s what he was smelling. The suddenness of the thought combined with the pleasure of blood across his tongue caused his own desire to spike. He could already feel himself hardening in his pants and he was acutely aware of every inch of contact between him and Verso.
It’s not like Gustave hadn’t noticed how attractive Verso was, it was impossible not to when he pressed himself up against him every other day. He had felt the hard cord of muscle beneath his hand, had admired the man’s beard and scars up close while the other man thought he wasn’t looking.
There was no way Verso felt this way about him. He was a monster who was literally using him as food. He was unnatural, an abomination- was he even a man anymore?
Some part of him screamed YES! And he had to make an effort not to grind their erections together.
He was getting distracted, he needed to pay attention to why he was here.
Just then, a thought occurred to him.
Verso was literally giving him what he needed to live- maybe he could give Verso this in return.
Gustave tapered off his feeding and pulled back until they were face to face. Verso stared at him with wide eyes, pupils blown wide with desire. Gustave didn’t let himself think about the blood dripping down his chin as he leaned in, and heard Verso’s breath hitch. He hesitated just a second before he pressed their lips together.
Verso’s lips were warm, and soft, and gave easily under his prompting.
When Gustave leaned in, Verso thought he must be dreaming. Maybe the vampire had finally sucked him dry and killed him and this was actually heaven. He could smell his own blood on the other man’s lips and when they tentatively touched, it was all he could do not to completely melt into the soft caress of Gustave’s mouth on his.
Gustave’s tongue ran across his lip, requesting entrance to which he relented happily. Moaning into the feeling of it plunging inside, the taste of iron, of himself on Gustave's tongue was intoxicating. He sucked at the intrusion and Gustave growled at him, the sound making his dick twitch in its confinement.
The kiss grew heated, a clash of teeth and tongue and moans. Verso couldn’t help but dig his fingers into where he was holding Gustave at his waist, to which he was rewarded with a small rut of their hips together.
Just that small taste of friction made him want more, so he thrust himself up against Gustave, who let out the most beautiful moan Verso had ever heard. So he did it again, and again, and was rewarded each time with more of the other man’s breathy, keening.
Soon Gustave was meeting him thrust for thrust, rutting their erections together as they stole more bloody kisses. The feeling of Gustave’s flesh beneath his hands and the friction of their coupling causing the heat in his belly to rise at an alarming rate.
Gustave, continuing to grind against him, pulled back and looked at him with hungry eyes. Verso felt the danger in the look, and saw the fangs poking out just beneath the other man’s lip. Slowly, Gustave leaned into Verso’s neck once again, never letting up on the rocking of his hips, and plunged his teeth into the flesh there.
The pain mixed with the pleasure had Verso crashing over the edge, falling apart beneath Gustave’s teeth in his neck. Gustave followed him, and he could feel him shudder of his own orgasm with his fangs still buried into his skin.
Verso tried to catch his breath as Gustave pulled away, a sad but satisfied look on his face. Verso was worried he had done something wrong when Gustave extracted himself from his lap.
“I hope that was- enjoyable for you.” He said it like it cost him something, every word painfully extracted from his still blood stained mouth.
While he had very much enjoyed it, he didn’t understand what Gustave was saying. He pinched his eyebrows in confusion.
“I noticed- your smell- and you do so much for me I thought-” Gustave trailed off, not looking at him.
In the post-coital fuzz of his brain, he was having a hard time parsing what Gustave was trying to say, but he didn’t have a chance before Gustave had turned away from him.
“I’ll see you later.” His voice was so sad, and Verso wanted to go to him. But between the blood loss and his legs feeling like jelly, he couldn’t stand up.
So he helplessly watched as Gustave walked away, knowing he had fucked up.