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Ronaldo’s head ached as he tried to lift himself off the ground. Well, he assumed that it was the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted with a swirling void of black, blue and purple. He felt a little like he was in one of those neat little bottles that showed the current of the water in them. It would have been an interesting sight if it didn’t leave Ronaldo thinking What the Actual Fuck is Going On?!
The last Ronaldo remembered, he and a few members of the Guild had been chasing down a vampire, Vamp Seer, who apparently had some crazy spiritual powers that could draw people into some sort of spirit world to do who knows what with them. They had cornered Vamp Seer in an abandoned building when the vampire made a move to escape. They had tried to strike down Draluc, who had been tailing behind the group in some vain attempt at help. Ronaldo had acted without thinking and pushed the Vampire Lord out of the way, taking the hit and now being stuck in this weird void.
Ronaldo felt a surge of annoyance. Draluc would have been fine, the idiot would have turned into a pile of sand before the vampire even touched him. And yet something in Ronaldo had made him risk himself for that weakling. Before he could think anymore about it, a chuckle filled the air. He turned his head to try and find the source of the sound before the silhouette of a smiling face appeared below him. The chuckling grew louder as the face moved from below to the air above him.
“Well, well, well, well, well. I was going for that lousy little vampire lord, but this is so much more interesting. The Infamous Vampire Hunter Ronaldo the Great. I feel like I should be honored, but I feel more disappointed than anything.” Ronaldo felt his blood boil at the comment.
“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN, YOU OVERGROWN CHESHIRE CAT WANNABEE?!?!” the vampire chuckled once again, though it felt more annoyed than the previous laughter.
“ I expected a vampire hunter of your renown to at least be strong in spirit as he is in body, but from what I was able to see while waiting for you to awaken, I am sorely disappointed at what I found.” Ronaldo felt annoyed at that statement. How dare this jerk claim that he wasn’t strong in spirit! What authority did this joker have to be saying shit like that?!
“I’ll have you know that I'm incredibly strong in spirit. A lousy vampire like you doesn’t know what you're even talking about? Hell I’m Ronaldo the Great, the greatest vampire hunter ever-,” Before he could finish, Ronaldo heard a voice from behind him. His own voice. Turning around he saw a familiar scene from a while back. It was when Handa had come over to look for something to use against him under the guise of investigating Draluc. Draluc had agreed to help the dhampir and they lied about playing a game to him and how they didn’t want him in it and Ronaldo watch as the version of him closed the door, exclaiming how they were jerks and he could hear the muffled crying as the scene then faded away.
Okay, admittingly, that wasn’t one of Ronaldo’s best moments, but it was just one moment of emotional weakness. It was nothing to get worked up over. But as soon as that thought passed over, more images flashed before Ronaldo.
A moment of him groveling at Fukuma’s feet, wearing nothing but his boxers, promising that he would get the latest manuscript done for The Ronaldo Chronicles.
Another of him trying to get that scooter brat to delete the rude comment he had made about Ronaldo when they were in Draluc’s castle.
Yet another of him standing outside of his kitchen, his face scarlet as he is reprimanded by the VCD about how dumb it was for a vampire hunter to have his own vegetables turn into vampires.
And yet another one as it showed him crying in fear over a piece of vampiric celery.
On and on similar moments of emotional weakness and just straight up embarrassing moments played out before Ronaldo.
“It's quite a shame, isn’t it?” piped the voice from before. “Such a component hunter being such a pathetic human being. Able to stand up to my fiercer compatriots, yet will cow down to a literal child because he’s scared of one little comment ruining his reputation. Or refusing help because you're afraid of ridicule over something you had no control over, or heaven forbid you come across a stray piece of celery and react the same way a cat does when it sees a cucumber. How is it that for a Vampire Hunter, you are completely shit at being able to interact with other humans normally. No wonder your biggest fans are vampires. They can relate to the struggle of interacting with other humans.” Ronaldo stood there, at a loss for words. What could he even say to a vampire who has literally looked into his soul and laid it out for him to see?
“And you know what the big kicker is to me looking through these memories? Finding out that the world’s most pathetic vampire hunter is in love with the world’s most pathetic vampire.” The memories changed again, this time to moments with him, Draluc and John. It was just typical day to day stuff, but through the lens of this vampire's power, he could view the memories from an outside perspective. And from what he saw, it really hammered in the fact that if you didn’t know any better, the duo looked like a couple with a child (The child in question being John). Small moments of them hanging out in the agency, going shopping, general shin-yoko shenanigans.
Ronaldo stood gaping, trying to think of a rebuttal to what he was seeing.
“Ha! Nice try, you creep! Me?! In Love with that pathetic excuse of a vampire?! You’re probably just manipulating this whole thing to try and make me slip up! Well it isn’t going to work on me, so go choke on some garlic!” Not his best, but it was something. Anything to keep Ronaldo from doing some deep self reflection on himself.
The memories shifted again to a scene at the Guild, Hinaichi standing in front of them. It was of her explaining the vampire they were after.
“This is the vampire Vamp Seer. They’re a vampire with strong spiritual powers that uses a person's memories against them. From what we’ve learned, they don’t actually manipulate a person’s memories. Apparently, they believe that people lie to themselves and that the truth is what will get them to break so that they are easier to control. Regardless, we all need to be careful while looking for them.” and with that, the memory faded away.
Again, the air filled with a chuckle and soon the glowing, cloaked silhouette of Vamp Seer appeared before Ronaldo.
“I’ll admit, that was a good attempt. Trying to call me out on a bluff, you at least have some common sense on trying not to let a vampire in on your weaknesses. But that won’t work on me. This place is a spirit realm of my own creation. Nothing is hidden from me, including your innermost thoughts and feelings. And boy oh boy, are you just a treasure trove of denial and self deprecation. Not only do you try to bend yourself backwards for everyone’s approval, you’ve tried your damndest to convince yourself that you're actually straight.”
Another memory appeared. It showed Ronaldo as a young teen, walking towards his brother’s room. This younger version Ronaldo had a determined yet nervous look on his face. Then despite his mouth not moving, Ronaldo heard the inner thoughts of his younger self.
“It's going to be fine, Hideo. Everything will be fine. Hiyoshi won’t think differently of you if you tell him you're bisexual. He will still love you regardless of that fact. Yeah. Everything will be fine.” The young Ronaldo was soon at the door to his brother’s room and heard him talking on the phone with someone. He was just about to knock when he heard his brother’s voice.
“I mean it seems weird if you’re bisexual and dating someone who’s the opposite sex. It just feels like you're lying to your partner. It feels like a weird cop out, like you're afraid of saying you're gay or straight so you settle for some weird middle point.” At that point his brother’s voice faded away and the younger Ronaldo walked away from the door, head down and on the verge of tears. And with that the memory faded.
Ronaldo stood there, shaken by the memory he had seen. He had completely forgotten about that. And the memory brought back the pang of hurt he had felt. The shame of apparently being some sort of liar to whatever potential partner he would have in the future. And the resolute determination to not be seen as such to his brother.
“Little Ronaldo, always wanting to be a people pleaser, even if doing so means lying to yourself. Even if on the inside you're screaming that this is all wrong. Though I supposed you have gotten so used to it that it's just background noise in your head.” Ronaldo tried to throw a punch at the vampire but they faded away before appearing again.
“HA! Did you forget what I just said?! This world is my domain Hunter! Nothing you could do will harm me! You will stay here until the only thing left of you is nothing but a broken husk of a man!” Vamp Seer’s laugh echoed throughout the void and Ronaldo felt a pit of despair form in his gut. Tears also started to form in his eyes. He felt so hopeless and weak. But then a thud sounded out in the void.
Both Ronaldo and Vamp Seer turn to see a crack form in the void, bright light emitting from it. Another thud sounded out and the crack grew bigger. As more thuds happened, the crack only grew in size. Something was trying to break into this void. Something large and powerful.
One more thud happened before the crack burst open. And out of the light emerged not some being of light, but a large shadow behemoth. It seemed like such a contradiction, something of shadow emerging from light. It didn’t really make sense to Ronaldo.
Vamp Seer boldly approached the figure, confident in their abilities.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but if you think this pathetic display will taunt me, then you are wro-” He was cut off as the behemoth open its mouth, filled to the brim with rows of sharp fangs, and let out a loud roar. Ronaldo covered his ears to block out as much of the noise as possible, but still, it was a roar that he could feel down to his bones.
Vamp Seer fell back to the floor, trembling as they realized that the being before them was more powerful then they had thought. The spirit vampire opened their mouth to scream but the behemoth striked out. Vamp Seer was soon consumed in a wave of black and when the wave receded, Vamp Seer was nowhere to be seen. Soon the Behemoth turned towards Ronaldo.
Ronaldo stood frozen. He was certain that he would soon befall the same faith as Vamp Seer. Ronaldo felt his heart hammer in his chest as he stared down at the behemoth. But despite the previously aggressive display, the behemoth moved slowly towards him and seemed to decrease in size. Soon the behemoth stood before him, though not as the behemoth that had seemingly devoured Vamp Seer, but almost the same size as Ronaldo, if just a little smaller than him.
The figure gently grabbed Ronaldo’s face, turning it side to side. The odd figure then gave a motion that could be interpreted as a sigh. Then the figure brought what Ronaldo assumed was their face and pressed it against his.
Ronaldo thought for a moment that the figure was going to rip their face off, but the figure lingered still before pulling away. Ronaldo blinked before registering that what just happened could have been described as a kiss. Ronaldo’s face flushed at the action and before he could scream, the figure pressed what Ronaldo assumed was his forehead to Ronaldo’s own and Ronaldo felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.
~~~~
When Ronaldo woke up, he was back in the agency office, laying on the couch. He groaned as he sat up. Everything seemed normal in the office, Mebiyatsu standing vigil by the office door, Ronaldo’s hat laying on top of it.
Ronaldo heard a cry of “SAND!” emanate from the apartment. He got up slowly from the couch, wincing at the slight pain in his head, and made his way to the apartment. When he got into the apartment proper, he was greeted by the sight of Draluc cooking up a storm in the kitchen. John, who had been watching his master work, turned in response to the door opening to see Ronaldo standing there.
John let out a string of “Nu’s” when he saw Ronaldo and rushed over to the hunter. John continued to “nu” until Ronaldo picked him up. John gave the hunter a quick nuzzle on the cheek, happy to see him up and about.
Draluc put on the finishing touches to whatever he was cooking before moving out of the kitchen to address Ronaldo.
“Ah Ronaldo. Glad to see you have finally decided to wake up. It's good to know that all the food I made won’t go to waste. Now come, eat while the food is fresh.”
Ronaldo sat down at the table and took note of all the food that Draluc was setting out on the table, with John leaping from Ronaldo’s grip to help set up the cutlery. Fried Chicken, Omelet rice and Banana Fritters. All of Ronaldo's favorite things to eat. Ronaldo felt his mouth water at the sight, but he was also a suspicious at Draluc making all this.
“Okay Fangs, what's the catch?” he questioned. Draluc gave out an offended gasp, free hand placed on his chest to emphasize his reaction.
“Oh What?!, I’m not allowed to be nice and cook your favorite things every once in a while?!” The response was met with a raised eyebrow from Ronaldo and followed by a sigh from Draluc.
“Okay. I felt guilty about you getting caught up in that vampire’s weird pocket dimension thing trying to save me, so I figured this might help make up for what happened?” The silence that followed was heavy and tense. Ronaldo could feel what he wanted to say building in his throat. He didn’t want to say it, especially to Draluc because who knows how he would react, but Ronaldo felt like if he didn’t, he would just blurt it out at the worst possible time to the wrong person. And honestly, Draluc was probably the right person to tell this. So he took a deep breath before calmly speaking.
“I’M BISEXUAL!!!” Yelled Ronaldo at the top of his lungs. The sudden yelling made Draluc turn into a pile of sand while John rolled up into a ball. Ronaldo didn’t mean to yell but apparently he was more keyed up about it then he thought and the events of the past night had brought up old feelings about it as well. Draluc soon reformed and looked at Ronaldo with confusion at the sudden declaration.
“Okay? What brought on the sudden confession?” Ronaldo took a moment to craft his response.
“When Vamp Seer had me in that…place, he could see into my memories and he used those memories to try and get me to break and he brought one up from 10 years ago. I was about to tell my brother that I was bisexual but I heard him talking to someone on the phone. I only heard one part of it but it basically boiled down to how people who are bisexual are just indecisive about their sexuality and lying to their partners because of that. I didn’t want him to think I was a liar so I walked away from his room and just tried to move on with my life.” Ronaldo took a deep shaky breath and he felt his eyes start to well up a bit as he continued on, “ But I guess since I told you, I probably have to tell everyone now, including him and will have to live with him thinking I’m a-” Ronaldo is cut off by Draluc and John giving him a hug. John nuzzled against Ronaldo’s neck, letting out sad little Nus while Draluc just held him, a solid presence anchoring Ronaldo to the present.
The combined hugs were enough to make the tears that had been welling in Ronaldo’s eyes finally spill over and he wrapped his arms tightly around the vampire. Miraculously, Draluc didn’t collapse into a pile of sand but he also tightened his grip as well. They stayed that way for a bit while Ronaldo sobbed into the vampire’s shoulder. After a few minutes, Ronaldo had calmed down and Draluc moved away to grab one of the plates on the table and John moved to the hunter’s lap, nuzzling into his stomach. He filled it with a little of everything before putting the plate in front of Ronaldo before moving to sit in the chair next to Ronaldo.
Ronaldo picked up his spoon and took a bite out of the omelet rice. It was delicious and honestly what he needed after having a small breakdown. Ronaldo had a few more bites before Draluc spoke up.
“You do realize that you aren’t obligated to tell anyone about your sexuality, right?” Questioned Draluc. Ronaldo paused for a moment to process this. He didn’t have to tell anyone? No one had to know he was bisexual? But didn’t that count as lying as well?
“But-” began Ronaldo but Draluc continued talking, “I mean it Ronaldo. You are not obligated to tell anyone what your sexuality is, regardless of what your relationship is with someone. You should only tell someone when you are ready to tell them, not because you feel like you have to. You aren’t a liar for not telling someone about it as well. And it is also important to know when people are wrong, and as much as it probably hurts you to hear this: your brother is wrong. Whether it's because he genuinely believes that or he’s just misinformed, it doesn’t change the fact that his words hurt you. I know he’s your hero, but he’s still human, and humans make stupid mistakes all the time. But they can also change. Who knows? Maybe your brother got his head out of his ass about bisexual people. And if he hasn’t? Then he’s a bigger idiot than I thought.”
Ronaldo took another bite of his food while he contemplated what Draluc said.
“Yeah. I guess you’re right. It still feels weird to actually acknowledge all of this after pushing it down for so long. It might be a little longer before I’m comfortable talking about this with anyone, but it's nice to have someone know. Though I have to ask: Are you okay with all this?” Draluc blinked at Ronaldo before giving a slight chuckle.
“I just gave you a speech about how you aren’t obligated to tell people about your sexuality and you are still questioning me? I’m still here having this conversation with you, aren’t I?”
“Huh. I guess you are.” The silence that followed was a comfortable one as Ronaldo finished eating his food. Draluc got up to go to the fridge and came back to the table with a bottle of milk. Ronaldo was almost done with his food when Draluc’s phone started to ring. Draluc looked at the caller I.D. and got to his feet.
“Oh it’s Hinaichi. I told her I would call her to give her an update on you. Better take this call.” Draluc answered the phone while going into the other room. Ronaldo put down his spoon and thought back to something Vamp Seer had said.
And you know what the big kicker is to me looking through these memories? Finding out that the world’s most pathetic vampire hunter is in love with the world’s most pathetic vampire.
Vamp Seer wasn’t completely wrong about Ronaldo’s feelings towards Draluc but this might be something for Ronaldo to take his time with. But still, it was nice that Draluc would still be here, regardless of what’s going on with Ronaldo.
~Epilogue~
“And you’re sure Ronaldo is fine, Draluc?” asked Hinaichi. The events of the prior night had left her deeply worried about her friends.
“Yes Hinaichi. Aside from being a little tired and shaken up, he’s doing fine.” said Draluc over the phone. Hinaichi was relieved at that but had to ask one more question.
“Are you okay Draluc?” Hinaichi remembered the call that the VCD had gotten last night of how Vamp Seer had somehow gotten both Draluc and Ronaldo and how they needed extra help. Hinaichi and Handa had been the ones to go out to help. By the time they got there, they were greeted by a peculiar sight. Vamp Seer was curled up into a ball on the opposite side of the room while Draluc was clutching an unconscious Ronaldo to his chest as if the hunter was a life line.
When Handa approached Vamp Seer, the vampire clung to his legs and practically begged to be taken away.
“I’ll go anywhere as long as I'm not near That MONSTER !” he shouted, pointing towards Draluc. Hinaichi had gone over to the duo and had to step back as Draluc’s turn to look at her. Good God his eyes. They had this feral fury to them. And the grip he had on Ronaldo could only be described as protective. Draluc looked ready to rip out someone’s throat if anyone got closer.
It had taken John’s worried Nu’s to get the vampire back to his normal self and even then he was reluctant to let Satetsu carry Ronaldo away. He looked at Ronaldo as if he would disappear if he looked away.
“I’m fine, Hinaichi. But thank you for your concern. Next time you come over, I’ll make you some sweets as a thank you. Well bye for now.” and with that, Draluc hung up on her before she could say anything. Hinaichi had so many questions, but one question came to mind.
What did Draluc do to make Vamp Seer so afraid of him?