#yes he's sipping blood like juice in that last paragraph

[espectres]

MP100 VAMPIRE AU NONSENSE.

Basic rundown, in your usual everyday modern world, vampires are a thing! Extremely rare, extremely unbelievable, don't live among humans, or do they? They actually do, yes, for they are excellent shape-shifters who have evolved enough to gain the ability to walk into the sunlight long enough so that it isn't suspicious to any human.

( tw: mention of child abuse & abandonment, somewhat detailed description of decapitation and neck injury. )

"Claw", known as "Fang" in this au, is an organization of vampires with the unrealistic goal of world domination, led by one of the oldest & strongest vampires to have existed and remained alive for the past two centuries, Suzuki Toichiro. While their goal might seem childish, their ways are far away from any joke, kidnapping people to turn them into vampires is their specialty, and turning random people into vampires just on a whim and leaving them to suffer the transmission horrors is not far from their deeds either.

Shou, Toichiro's firstborn, is a Dhampir, half a vampire born to a human mother and his vampire father, and as far as things went in the first eight years of his life, he was simply a human with no vampire features, he gained these after his mother abandoned him, unable to bear his father's growing cruelty and violence. Shou's transmission, done by his own father, was an experience, and it was an astonishing success, a Dhampir with all vampires strengths, and none of their weaknesses, but could very much get killed in the classic ways.

Enraged with the way he was treated by his father & the existence of Fang as a whole, Shou decides to have his revenge by murdering every single vampire in the organization, with his own father on top of the list.

Vampires don't age physically, Shou's true form remains that of an eight years old. Chronologically speaking, he isn't ancient like the majority of his kind. He is thirteen, he looks thirteen, too. Once you get a good hold on your shapeshifting, you can look any age you want. There is a limit to how much you can change your features, tho. Shou even keeps up the mild shapeshifting in his sleep, looking like the teenager he is instead of the child he was when he was turned. It’s that instinctive for him, being in hiding.

The last couple years of his life was spent hunting down vampires, making a team of those who agreed to join him in taking down Fang, and freeing Vampires who were forcefully taken in, all while concealing his identity as the culprit of many crime scenes. Toichiro isn't an easy target. He's constantly moving all around the country, and Shou aims to take down as many vampires as possible before he would have to confront his father again.

Shou likes to call himself a miracle of genetic engineering, he thinks it's funny.

Feasting on humans ends up with two possibilities, either the victim survives to become a vampire, or is killed by the vampire culprit. The later option considered the kindest for many reasons, but those working at Fang never consider it, aiming to get more and more soldiers under their grasp. Shou isn't a fan of hunting humans for blood, in fact he has never needed to do it even once, anything he drank was either ready & served to him when he was with his father- or something he got from emergency rooms in the hospital, not asking about the details in the best decision if you ask me.

Vampires can tolerate the sun for short amounts of times, like walking from one place to another, but dhampirs like Shou don't need to avoid the sun at all. And while some vampires can tolerate some human foods with many many exceptions, Shou can digest anything without a problem, he still doesn't get any nutrients from human food, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying it. And aside from things that straight up kill a vampire, none of their weaknesses work on him.

The best way to kill a vampire is to decapitate them, and the best way to decapitate them is to twist their necks from behind, a broken neck is the worst injury for a vampire, it takes the longest to heal with their regenerative ability, it's enough if you plan to deem your opponent paralyzed for a few minutes, but if you gotta kill that vampire, then you twist until the head is in your hands and the body is on the floor.

" What about a heart? "

And Shou falters, the red stained straw falling from his lips, revealing his fangs and their sickening white colour, slightly tainted by his drink. He never falters.

❝ What? ❞

" A heart, the books said- "

❝ Don't worry about the hearts. ❞ He cuts short and sweet, a reassuring smile hiding away the sharp teeth, and his gaze shifts to his drink again, crimson and shimmering and basking in the sunlight pouring through the window. ❝ They're too hard to get to. ❞

[spideychelleforever]

She received the email a bit after 4 PM, providing a link for her to sign the lease. And she saw his part had already been completed.

Without knowing what she was getting herself into, MJ signed the legally-binding document that would seal the deal for the next two years that she would spend living as Peter’s roommate.

****

For his part, Peter was a good roommate. He cleaned the bathroom and kitchen when needed, he cooked regularly, he bought groceries, he vacuumed, and if she asked him to or not to do something, he did it or stopped doing it. Sometimes it annoyed her when she’d find him laid out on the couch snoring during the middle of the day or something, but it was a minor inconvenience.

It was their junior year of college by now. They’d reconnected after a fateful reunion at Target that took place about a year ago, and as if the gods had heard MJ’s cries, they had spent a crapton of the last year together. Studying, working on projects, helping the other practice something, watching movies and TV together, eating together. They had been roommates in all but lease, so they eventually decided to just make it official and pool resources together.

And despite the fact that she’d gotten one of her best friends back, MJ couldn’t deny sometimes fantasizing that one day Peter would think she wasn’t home and walk out of the shower with little to nothing on and it would lead to them...

Stop! Something in her head screamed at her. She frowned, remembering that Peter would never love her back.

***

“Shit, Parker,” MJ sighed, enjoying the warm sensation in her stomach as a generous amount of what she’d just swallowed began sticking to it, “that was actually really good!”

“I’m so glad you liked it!” Peter smiled as he got up to get their plates. “Do you want anymore?”

MJ shot a look warily at the pan which still had a good bit of the porkchops Peter had somehow blessed her with. Despite being full already, she figured a little more wouldn’t hurt. “Yes please,” she nodded, wincing a little since eating in excess was never a good thing to her. But when it was a new recipe from the idiot she was in love with? She could take it.

****

Another night in paradise was one of their all-nighters. Peter had procrastinated too much and was now struggling to get a book report done before 8 AM the next day. Which was only 5 hours away by this point.

“Come on dude, concentrate,” MJ yawned. “You can do this, or whatever.” Despite her love for him, not even MJ could fight running on 18 hours with no sleep that easily. “Tell me again, what’s your theme for the third page?”

“The third page.. will... try to...”

The next thing MJ knew, it was 6 AM. Two hours until Peter lost a significant grade going into the last few weeks of the fall semester. And Peter was currently out of service, his head leaning against the couch as he smiled peacefully.

Adorable as this was, MJ’s blood turned to ice once she remembered their situation. She took his laptop, which he’d laid on the coffee table, and looked at what was left. She cringed seeing there were still 3 paragraphs and the conclusion from the outline left.

MJ looked between the laptop and her sleeping love a few times.

After about twenty minutes, she pulled out the book he was writing about and started typing.

At 9 AM, MJ was woken with a start by a frantic cry. “OH NO OH NO OH NOOOOOO”

She jolted upright, not quite remembering when she’d fallen asleep, and looked to see Peter frantically ripping his laptop open and immediately hitting the bookmark for his class website. “No-no-no-no-“

He read it. “Submitted at 7:45 AM.”

He sat there, dumbfounded. Eventually he went into the document file and opened it. And somehow, there was an entire, immaculate essay written based on his outline. Completely from scratch and... frankly it looked and sounded better than what he’d already written.

The turns of phrase, the vocabulary, the sharp, biting tone. None of this was like Peter’s writing. This was.. this was...

Wait. Peter looked deeper at his laptop screen. Something was there.

He turns around to see MJ standing over him, sipping a glass of orange juice.

She’s eying him with a raised eyebrow, fighting the dizzying light-headedness eating at her because of the stupid puppy dog eyes he’s making at her. It’s not like she likes those stupid puppy dog eyes or anything. But then the wind is nearly sucked out of her when he jumps to his feet to stand in front of her. They were close enough that you’d think they just stopped slow-dancing.

“Did you-did you really do my paper for me?” Peter asked softly.

MJ’s eyes were in that sort of blank, unsure mode that was a tell that she was trying so hard to not show emotion, even though her eyes so badly wanted to return fire to those puppy dog eyes of his.

“Oh, yeah, I.. yeah I figured you needed the extra two letter grades I’m gonna get you with what I wrote,” MJ tried to snark. “Plus...” her voice softened involuntarily, “you were tired.”

Peter’s grin exploded onto his face, just like how MJ liked it, and she nearly dropped her orange juice when he suddenly grabbed her and hugged her.

She’d been hugged by Peter before. They were friends, roommates, best friends. But every hug felt like the first time. And to be held with such affection by the boy she so badly wanted to grow and build with was just... exquisite. Feeling his solid jawline resting on her shoulder, feeling those rocky arms wrap around her, the fiery gravel of his abs on her comparatively average stomach...

Finally, MJ put down her cup of juice and hugged him back. Her long arms went around him and melted at the feel of his smaller, rockier body. She didn’t know why, but her right hand ended up gently resting on the back of his head - oh wait, right, it was to bring him closer to her, duh. She loved how warm it was. How cozy and sweet and right this felt.

The way it felt to be held like this by Peter, the way it felt to be hugging and comforting him, the warmth, everything, made it clear that signing their lease with him was one of MJ’s better life choices.

****

This is a belated entry for Day 5: Roommates of Spideychelle Week! @spideychelleweek