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“How do I even deal with this…? K-Kris... what should I do? How does… a vampire even… do… what it does?”
Be normal << ❤️ >> Demonstrate
Kris couldn’t help it. Some intrusive thought became exposed to… it, so here that choice was. They bit their lip, knowing they couldn’t communicate their displeasure without Noelle catching wind. Maybe such worries were for nothing, though. The deer in question was barely looking at Kris at all. Although dolled up in light blue pajamas with a Christmas tree pattern, she was not showing any jolly spirit – just chewing her nail instead. A habit she’d broken years ago, but, well, this was an extremely not normal circumstance.
Her new fangs were nicking her thumb. She didn’t seem to notice.
Be normal << ❤️ >> Demonstrate
It was deliberating, Kris supposed. They had no choice but to sit there, frozen, while they waited for it to choose. Noelle finally seemed to notice the damage her teeth were doing, causing her to recoil and cover her mouth with both hands. When she fought back a sob, Kris flinched, the most they could do until it made up its mind.
Noelle mopped at her eyes with the back of her hand, and Kris finally felt the SOUL twitch. Empathy? Or had it just seen enough?
Be normal << ❤️ >> Demonstrate
Amazing. Kris didn’t know it had it in it.
Though. They didn’t know exactly what to do with this prompt.
Be normal. Simple enough. They limply flopped their hand onto Noelle’s shoulder. She shuddered a little, finally looking at them.
Their emotionless voice resounded.
“Be normal.”
Well. Walked right into that one.
Noelle’s eyes flickered, and a brewing tear was swept away quickly. “I-I’m so sorry,” she said, forcing a tiny smile, “I know th-this is, um, not a great thing to ask, faha. I just don’t know if “normal” exists anymore. For me.”
Her smile fit uncomfortably in her mouth. Neighboring her top buck teeth was a sharpened, elongated pair of fangs, abnormal even among monsters.
“It’s okay.” Kris’s voice was flat. “You need it. Drink.” Again, they tilted their head, exposing a long stretch of pale neck, ripe for feeding. “Or you’ll die.”
Not immediately, not even necessarily soon, but she had to learn how now. While it was safe. While it was private. (❤️Mostly.)
Noelle did not react desirably. She scrunched up further atop Kris’s bed, away from the tasty offering standing at the bedside. “B-But,” even talking was tough for her now, “what if, what if, you get hurt…? Don’t you think…” She couldn’t seem to form the words she wanted, and speaking them was difficult through oversized teeth, and Kris started to notice the way Noelle’s eyes were dilating and her breath was quickening.
“I don’t wanna hurt you, Kris! I, I just—I’m so hungry, and, and if I start drinking, I don’t know if—” Her hands tugged futilely at her own scalp, then dropped down to clutch her knees close to her chest. “Y-You need your blood…”
“It’s been days. You need it more right now.” Something resembling… patience, entered Kris’s deadpan. “Drink.” Their thin finger, starting at their jaw, traced a long line down a vein.
“I, I can’t,” Noelle choked. “I’ll hurt you, and, and—but, if I, if I don’t,” she was hyperventilating and it was making Kris’s throat tighten, “then, then I’m gonna—”
Frantic eyes turned up toward Kris’s again. “I, I just don’t know what to do… Wh-What should I do, Kris??”
That same question again.
Be normal << ❤️ >> Demonstrate
God dammit.
Be normal << ❤️ >> Demonstrate
It didn’t hesitate for a second this time.
Kris was in motion before they knew it. Slumping over the bed with some strange precision despite their lumbering lanky movements, they ignored Noelle’s startled little scream as they grabbed her by the hooves and yanked her closer, sliding her on her back to the edge of the bed. She froze wide-eyed while Kris clambered over her.
Their right hand went to her throat, meeting soft, oft-pruned fur. Smelled like apples. Toriel had let her shower here for the sleepover.
They applied no pressure, but Noelle felt her entire face flood red as if they’d squeezed at full force.
They cupped Noelle’s cheek with their other hand.
And they leaned in.
She stopped breathing entirely.
Their hand… gently… pushed… Noelle’s cheek, tilting her head away.
Exposing her neck. Their hand there, on her neck, flattened her fur, for ease of access.
With normal human teeth, freshly brushed at least but otherwise unexceptional, Kris laid their imitation of a vampire’s kiss into Noelle’s throat.
Surface level.
Not gently.
Not painlessly.
But surface level.
Kris felt a rush of Holiday blood enter their mouth, and Noelle’s whimpers (which were not entirely pained???) in their ears.
When they felt the lesson was learned, they released. A circle of red painted Noelle’s fur. And Kris’s maw.
“…It’s that simple.” They themselves were struggling for breath now, but that was nothing compared to Noelle, who couldn’t even wait for Kris to lift off of her before she hid her blushing face behind her hands. “That was a demonstration. Normal vampire kiss. Your turn now.”
They tugged at her shoulders, urging her to sit up. She did, and her hands fell to her lap along with her gaze.
Kris sat next to her and waited. Pulled the collar of their own pajamas down slightly, exposing their neck once again. Noelle’s blood was drying around their lips, its flavor rosy on their tongue. They wondered if Noelle would take that observation as a compliment.
Noelle was still blushing. After a few seconds had passed, the redness softened, replaced by what looked like a small amount of irritation. Her eyes had been glistening with tears for some time now, too.
Well. Understandable. No doubt that hurt at least a little. A trickle of blood had trailed a line from her neck down to her pajamas, too. Toriel would be concerned about that later if they didn’t do something about that.
“…ine…”
Kris tilted their head.
“…Fine,” Noelle mumbled. “I’ll try to vampire kith—kiss you.” God, this fang situation was even worse than when she’d had braces in middle school.
Kris nodded. They angled their neck toward her and leaned closer.
But,
Noelle swung her leg over Kris’s lap and pushed them down.
One hand went to their smooth, hairless neck, the other to their cheek.
Something inside Kris skipped a beat.
Fight back << ❤️ >> Flirt back
Before Kris could even register which option was worse, Noelle acted first.
Her mouth couldn’t seem to close properly anymore, but it was closed enough that it was unmistakable that what happened next was a kiss, no vampire involved. She bunched up the front of Kris’s shirt into her fists, locking them in place.
And Kris,
FLIRT BACK << ❤️ >> FLIRT BACK
Kris’s hands,
FLIRT BACK << ❤️ >> FLIRT BACK
The SOUL was jittering even more than Kris themself, the damn freak.
Kris’s hands slipped to Noelle’s sides, then around to her back, where they found purchase clutching at her shirt, pulling her tighter.
Clumsy was an understatement. Noelle’s lips didn’t fit together right. Not that she’d know what she was doing in the first place. And Kris was no better. Even if they hadn’t been so conscious of Noelle tasting her own blood on their mouth.
It helped when they let their lips part for her. When Noelle didn’t have to fight so hard to, to be normal. Their mouths fit better together this way.
There was some attempt at tongue. Just as clumsy, but welcome. Kris’s hand moved again, this time to Noelle’s cheek, a thumb brushing away the earlier tears.
Who else could she have gone to for this?
Was there anyone she could have trusted more?
Maybe. But, she has to do this, or she’ll die. Eventually, but, certainly.
Kris nibbled at Noelle’s lip. A suggestion. They let go, let her have her turn.
Cautiously,
ungently,
with no small amount of pain,
she sunk her teeth into Kris’s lip too.
Kris cringed from the pain, and Noelle—coughed. A sputtering cough, like when she’d first tasted her mother’s hidden alcohol, stumbling onto something that she couldn’t have imagined would taste so horrible. The cough returned the modicum of blood she’d attained back to sender, a nasty streak of Kris’s own life splattering back into their face.
Immediately her hands rose to her mouth, half in shock and half to stymie any further mess. Kris’s face was now decorated with both of their blood.
To their credit, they didn’t flinch. Even though the puncture was open, a copper taste rushing over their tongue, they still gave Noelle a casual thumbs-up.
“Neckgh,” Kris growled over her apologies and through their mouthful of blood and rapidly swelling lip, once again tilting their head to grant access to their throat. “Ngow’s your chansh.”
Her fingers twiddled uselessly while she shuddered in shock and excitement and horror and joy, the old Noelle in her trying to make her rush off to find a first aid kit because Angel above was that a lot of blood… but. But the new Noelle, also, knew, knew, god damn that’s a lot of blood, and morbid thrills were chasing themselves up and down her spine—the taste of them was so horrible and incredible on her tongue, and before she knew it, hungrier than she’d ever been, one of her hands palmed their jaw aside in thoughtless desperation for her food.
Kris groaned in, pain? Mostly? Noelle was ravenous, her hands again moving to their shirt as if to tug them even closer, even though her fangs were already fully lodged in, taking all they wanted. The buck teeth, too, an uninvited but not unwelcome addition.
This—Kris didn’t know if this was a new low for them—this might’ve been even better than the kiss.
Her mouth departed with hardly a moment to spare before Kris would’ve lost consciousness. They didn’t know if they would’ve ever stopped her themself.
The neck wound mostly sealed itself, some work of the fangs, though there was no small mess spread across their entire throat from blood Noelle had accidentally dribbled throughout her careless feast, and darker lines in the middle from her non-vampiric buck teeth suggested some extra damage.
She slumped over Kris. “I, I’m,” she gasped, with a smile on her face, unable to feel regret when the feeling of that damn hunger finally being gone, gone, was just so amazing, “K-Kris… I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
Kris nodded. Didn’t trust themself to speak, and most certainly didn’t trust it to make a responsible choice.
“I’m finally full,” she choked, tears coming again. “I-I’m, I can, it feels like, like I can think again!”
Kris did open their mouth this time, trying to speak, but all that came out through their ruined mouth was, “ow.”
Noelle ran her thumb over the neck wound, then the engorged lower lip. Some kind of halfhearted massage. “I’ll go get some bandages.”
She finally sat up, still perched in Kris’s lap, and while her eyes casted about in search of the first aid kit, Kris got a better view of the mess. Blood, Kris’s blood, matted her fur around her mouth, all over her chin, drenching her neck and a massive spreading stain over her pajama shirt. Kris felt a chill pass over them as they took in the sight—those clothes were ruined, no doubt. And Toriel would be mad.
“B-Bathroom. Downthtairth.”
“Okay! Be right back!”
When Noelle swept out of the room, in brighter spirits than they’d seen from her in days, Kris waited with a wince to hear some scream, maybe Toriel somehow still being awake at this hour, or Noelle discovering her own appearance in the bathroom mirror.
But, nothing came, and soon Noelle was back with kit in hand. Still wearing the same crimson mess.
She applied the bandages with a smile.
Added antibiotics for the swollen lip.
Kissed Kris on the forehead.
“Thank you so much, Krismas.” She sighed, looking down and pressing her forehead against Kris’s. “I just, I didn’t know who to turn to, and…”
Kris pressed their hand against the bandaged neck wound. “Susie.”
Noelle shivered. “Hmm? What?? No, um, I couldn’t ask—”
“I’ll ask. Next time.” With Noelle moving aside, Kris stood up and started to prepare their bed.
“O-Oh! N-Next time.” Noelle was back to being unable to finish a thought. “Y-You, um, didn’t like it. I, I guess that makes sense, it probably hurt a lot—”
“It’s okay.”
She twiddled her thumbs a mile a minute. “B-B-But—I—I should, I should be the one to, I mean I’m, I’m the vampire and—”
“Yeah, but, I wanna drink her blood now too.”
Staring slack-jawed at Kris, Noelle felt as if her blood was chilled. “What?????”
Kris paused.
Be normal << ❤️ >> We’ll drink her blood together
.
.
.
Be normal << ❤️ >> We’ll drink her blood together
Kris nodded approvingly. Same page, for once.
When they gave their response, Noelle...
...felt... of all things,
a calm wash over her.
Kris was the weird kid. She'd just kissed them. The creepy kid. Who she'd just kissed. The neighbor who would always prank her. Who she'd just kissed. Even at their closest times, she always felt this... gulf, of understanding, of never having any clue what Kris was thinking, never being able to relate to this weirdo (as much as she loved them for it all).
But this whole vampire deal, messed up as it was, must’ve been making her just as weird as them. Because for the first time tonight, with her and Kris both covered in each other’s blood and their own, she felt certainty, confidence, and she was able to put on a smile of perfect understanding, of finally being on the same page with Kris.
“Yeah. I wanna drink her blood with you, too.”
Across town…
…Susie sneezed, once again.
“The fuck’s up with me today…”