Kita gets to sleep in his room tonight, which he's thankful for. He would like to have more time to mentally prepare for actually living with Alexis. Sure, he technically lives with the guy now, but they don't see each other much. Alexis is always so busy. This has made it surprisingly easy to keep his secret.

He's not going to have that anymore, though. If he and Alexis share a bedroom, he will be seeing the guy a lot more, and it will be far more difficult to get blood. So, this will add some obstacles, but it's better than being suspicious. Refusing would raise suspicion, especially since Kita has made it clear how much their marriage's believability matters to him.

It's made even worse when Alexis walks him back to his room that night, but before Kita can enter, stops him.

"Can you do something for me?" Alexis asks him, and Kita closes his eyes for a moment, preparing himself for anything, then turns around. Alexis is a few feet away, so there's plenty of distance between them. Kita still can't make eye contact.

"Sure," Kita replies, scratching the back of his neck. He thinks he might have an idea what Alexis is about to say, and it will complicate all kinds of things.

"Stop going out at night. I don't want to risk another vampire incident."

How the fuck is Kita going to eat?

He hasn't gotten any blood for himself yet, it's all been given to him. However, if he's actually going to go out and fucking hunt or something, he can't be doing that in the middle of the day. Especially now that he's married to Alexis, who is about to be the fucking Emperor of Amarath. One of the most powerful positions in the world, leading a global superpower.

Kita is now recognizable. Widely recognizable.

Of course, he and Alexis have been best friends since they were kids, so he's always been recognizable to an extent. He's used to people randomly stopping him and asking about him, asking how the royal family is, what it's like to be so close to them. That's either about to get way worse or a lot better, depending on how equally people perceive Kita to Alexis.

Then the second part of Alexis' words catch up with him. The vampire incident. This is the first time vampires have been brought up with Alexis, since Kita was turned.

Kita wants to talk about it. He knows Alexis hates vampires, a lot, but maybe... maybe it's gotten better. Perhaps he doesn't hate them as much as he used to, maybe something has changed his mind? It's not like he and Kita have ever talked about vampires much, they just don't get brought up super often. Well, unless Kita is asking him about his work or something like that.

How could he go about this, though? He doesn't want to risk raising absolutely any suspicion, but he also wants to know. He wants to test the waters a little bit. Perhaps a hypothetical could work? Still, Kita would have to be very careful. Alexis is smarter than him. Alexis is smarter than most people. He's the heir to the Amarath throne, he received the highest and most quality education you can.

Oh, Kita's so fucked.

"If, uh..." oh god. Kita's gaze is completely unmoving from the floor. "If your mom got turned into a vampire, what would you do?"

That's so random. Kita didn't even respond to Alexis' request. Hopefully he forgets, Kita really doesn't want to answer that. Kita isn't sure how much time passes before Alexis finally gives him a response, but his voice sounds strange enough that Kita finally looks up.

"...are you okay?" He asks, a confused expression on his face. Kita gulps.

"Yes."

Kita doesn't talk after that, hoping it will prompt Alexis to answer the question. He just frowns, glancing off to the side as he thinks about it. Kita can hear his heartbeat in his ears, praying that Alexis won't catch on. He's trying to be smart about this, but again, Alexis can outsmart him.

"If my mom got turned..." he says, still looking unsure, "I'd probably never see her again."

Wow, Kita didn't even think about that. He was just naming someone Alexis cares about, trying to gauge how he'd feel about someone he's close with being a vampire, since that's Kita's situation. However, he's probably right. If Eve got turned, she'd go completely off the radar. She'd tell nobody, she'd remove herself from the equation entirely. That probably goes for anyone in the Sinclair family.

"That would never happen, though." Alexis finishes, making eye contact again. He tilts his head a bit, studying Kita, and Kita could be mistaken but... he seems closer than he was before. "Why, are you afraid you'll get bitten or something?"

Oh god oh shit oh no fuck oh fuck Kita's so dead he's so fucking dead why did he think this was a good idea— "n-no, I was, um... just curious."

Alexis does not believe him. He knows Kita well enough to be fully aware that he doesn't ask super specific hypotheticals for fun. Nope, Kita is after something and Alexis knows that.

"It's a 15% success rate," Alexis tells him, probably trying to make him feel better. "Even if you got attacked again, the chances are low. You don't have anything to worry about."

Alexis is just trying to help, and Kita knows that. He's trying to reassure him, trying to ease his mind. Unfortunately, all this does is make it worse.

"What if I do?" Kita asks him, finally glancing up to meet Alexis' eyes. He can't even help the way he's starting to get emotional, eyes watering as he thinks about the very, very dark path his future holds. Alexis begins to look concerned. "What if I do, Alexis? What if I have a lot to worry about? What then?"

Kita's voice cracks, and Alexis' mild concern begins to morph into real worry. Kita runs a hand through his hair, the stress of everything really getting to him. Not much more than a few seconds go by before Kita feels himself being pulled into a hug. Alexis wraps his arms around Kita's shoulders and pulls them flush together, and Kita feels momentarily breathless.

This is refreshing. For a while there, after the wedding, Alexis wouldn't really touch him, so this is nice. It actually helps Kita calm down, the stress dissipating as he relaxes into Alexis' arms. A minute goes by before he hugs him back, feeling momentarily distracted by the muscle he feels there.

Yeah, that's also been happening quite a bit since the wedding. It's part of why Kita was so bothered by Alexis keeping his distance. For some reason Alexis just stands out to him a lot more. Kita is constantly aware of exactly what he's doing, where he is, how long he will be there. Of course, this has always been the case, but not to this extent. Not to the point where Alexis is practically all Kita thinks about, if you exclude his constant panic over what he is—and even that has something to do with Alexis.

Kita also stares at him a lot, now. Not even just his face, or in passing or something. No, Kita can't keep his eyes off of Alexis. Kita practically studies him, memorizing every inch of his face and what he can see of his body. How did Kita never notice how perfect his best friend was? All these years, and Alexis has been fucking gorgeous from the start, so... what changed? How didn't he see—

"You're with me now," Alexis says after a few moments, voice soft, cutting off whatever the hell was going on in Kita's head, thank god. Kita closes his eyes, basking in the warmth and safety and love in Alexis' hold before he inevitably loses it forever. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Kita almost breaks down at that, but is able to keep his composure for the rest of the exchange. Until Alexis says goodnight, eyes lingering intently on Kita as Kita goes in his own bedroom, hearing Alexis' door shut soon after.

I won't let anything happen to you

In the privacy of his dark room, Kita finally lets the tears fall. He leans against his door and takes off the crown, holding it against his chest and sliding down until he's curled up in a ball on the floor. Kita finally lets everything set in, the Cordelia incident not helping him emotionally at all.

Alexis won't let anything happen to him, at least until he finds out the truth. Kita believes him, Alexis has always cared very much for his safety and well being. That doesn't change reality, though.

He was too late.