The Confession

Serious, embarrassing, late-night internet research on topics he never thought he'd need to Google.

How to not get aroused during intimate situations. Meditation techniques for physical control. Does thinking about your taxes actually work?

The consensus was: think about something completely unsexy. Focus on breathing. Stay detached.

He'd tried meditation that morning. Taken a cold shower. Mentally prepared a list of the most unsexy things he could think of.

His landlord's face. Spreadsheets. That one coworker who chewed with his mouth open.

He was ready.

Wednesday. 2 PM. Fourth session.

Mio answered the door herself this time, which was unusual. She looked... happy. A small smile that she couldn't quite hide.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi."

They stood there for a moment, both slightly pink.

"Should we..." Mio gestured toward her room.

"Right. Yes."

The session started normally. Blood pressure check, normal. Consent confirmation, given. Mio's hands were steadier now, more confident. This was routine.

Except it wasn't. Not anymore.

Because Akira was hyperaware of everything. The way she bit her lip in concentration. The way her hair fell forward when she leaned close. The little sound she made when she was focused.

Spreadsheets, he thought desperately. Tax forms. Root canals.

"Ready?" Mio asked.

"Ready."

She positioned herself as she had last time, kneeling beside him on the bed, one hand on his shoulder, leaned in toward his neck.

This is fine. This is professional. Think about something boring. Anything boring.

Her breath was warm against his skin.

Your landlord's face. Your landlord's face. Your landlord's—

She bit down.

The hypnosis spread through him like honey: warm, sweet, overwhelming. But it wasn't just the spell. It was her weight against him, the little satisfied sound she made, the way her fingers curled in his shirt.

Every single one of his careful preparations dissolved like sugar in hot water.

Oh no.

Mio drank carefully, gently. Thirty seconds. Then pulled back, licking the wound closed with that unconscious delicacy that made Akira's brain short-circuit.

"How do you feel?" she asked, already reaching for the gauze.

Akira didn't trust his voice. Gave a thumbs up.

She applied the bandage, these had bats holding hands, which was almost offensively cute, and smiled. "Same as last time? No dizziness or…"

"I'm fine," he managed.

"Good! I'll get your payment and…"

"Wait."

Mio paused, supplies in hand. "Is something wrong?"

Everything was wrong. Or right. Or…

Akira couldn't get up. Not without making his situation extremely obvious. And he was so, so tired of this happening. Of the embarrassment. Of pretending it was just a biological response to the hypnosis when he knew—knew—it was more than that.

Screw it.

He slid off the bed. Onto his knees on the floor.

Mio's eyes went wide. "What are you…"

"I'm sorry I had a boner on you," Akira said, looking up at her.

Silence.

Complete, absolute silence.

Mio's face turned the color of a tomato. Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. No sound came out.

"Again," Akira continued, because apparently he'd decided honesty was the only option now. "I'm sorry I had a boner on you again. And it's going to keep happening. Every time. Because it's not the hypnosis. It's you."

"I…what…" Mio's voice came out as a squeak.

Akira stood up, carefully, strategically. Looked her in the eye.

"Let's date," he said. "So I can have a boner without it being sexual harassment."

Mio made a sound like a dying computer. Her hands flew up to cover her face.

"That's…you can't just…that's not…" Muffled, behind her hands.

"I like you," Akira said, simpler now. "More than professionally. More than I should, probably. And I want to date you. If you want that too."

Mio peeked through her fingers. Her eyes were visible, very wide, very bright.

"...Really?" Tiny voice.

"Really."

"You want to. Date me. A vampire who attacked you. Who makes you sign contracts. Who lives in her room and hasn't gone outside in months…"

"Yes."

"But I'm…I'm not good at this. At people. At relationships. I've never even…"

"Neither have I. Not really. We'll figure it out."

Mio's hands lowered slightly. "You really want to?"

"I'm on my knees asking. That should tell you something."

"You're on your knees because of the…the situation."

"I'm on my knees because I'm trying to be romantic and I'm very bad at it."

A small sound escaped her. Laughter? Maybe. She lowered her hands completely.

"Okay," she whispered.

"Okay?"

"Yes. Okay. Dating. We can do that."

"So... we're dating now?"

"If you want to?"

"I do want to."

"Okay. Good." Mio's smile was growing, bright and helpless. "Me too."

They stood there, both blushing furiously, grinning like idiots.

"Should we tell the others?" Akira asked.

"Probably."

Neither of them moved.

"Maybe in a minute," Mio said.

"Yeah. A minute sounds good."

They didn't make it a minute.

Reina's voice drifted up from downstairs: "Mio! Did you die? You've been very quiet!"

"That's my cue," Mio muttered. She took Akira's hand, just pinkies linked, tentative, and led him downstairs.

Reina and Momo were in the living room. Reina doing something on her phone, Momo sprawled upside-down on the couch watching TikToks.

Both looked up when they entered.

Reina's eyes immediately went to their linked hands.

"Did something happen?" she asked, too casually.

"We're dating now," Akira said.

Momo jackknifed upright. "CALLED IT!" She whipped out her phone, showing Reina. "You said two more weeks! I said today! Pay up!"

Reina sighed with perfect grace and transferred money through her phone. "Congratulations to you both."

Mio was hiding behind Akira's shoulder. "You were betting on us?"

"Everyone could see where this was going, dear." Reina set down her phone. "I'm genuinely happy for you."

Akira pulled out the payment envelope from his pocket. Held it out to Mio.

"I don't need payment anymore."

Mio's head popped up. "But your blood…"

"Being with you is payment enough."

"Oh my GOD that's so CHEESY," Momo groaned, but she was grinning. "I'm going to throw up."

"Shut up," Mio said, but her voice was shaky. Happy. She took the envelope. "I'm still paying you. Your blood is valuable and you need to replenish properly…"

"Then consider it a gift. From your boyfriend."

Mio made a strangled sound. "Boyfriend."

"Is that okay?"

"Yes. Very okay. Extremely okay." She was glowing.

Reina stood, raised their wine glass of blood in a toast. "To new beginnings."

"To Boss finally getting some," Momo added.

"Momo!"

After the chaos settled, Mio turned to Akira, nervous again.

"Should we... do something? For our first date?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know! I've never dated before!" Her voice pitched higher. "Do we go somewhere? Do something special? I don't know the rules…"

"There are no rules," Akira said. "We just spend time together."

"But where? I can't…" She glanced at the window. The curtains were still open a crack, but going outside was clearly terrifying.

"Here is fine," Akira said quickly.

Relief flooded her face. "Really?"

"Really. We could have dinner? Talk?"

"I'll order something!" Mio pulled out her phone. "Something special. Very special. The most special dinner ever…"

"Mio."

"Yes?"

"Breathe."

She took a breath. Nodded. "Right. Breathing. I can do that."

Reina appeared at Akira's elbow. "We'll give you privacy. Come, Momo."

"But I want to WATCH."

Reina physically dragged her away. "You'll do no such thing."

The door to Reina's room closed. Then Momo's. The mansion suddenly felt very quiet.

Mio and Akira stood in the living room, alone.

"So," Mio said.

"So."

"Dinner?"

"Sounds good."

Mio stress-ordered. A lot.

When the delivery arrived thirty minutes later, there was enough food for six people. Fancy pasta. Grilled fish. Three different desserts. Appetizers Akira couldn't even name.

"I didn't know what you'd like," Mio said, arranging everything on the coffee table. "So I got options."

"This is... a lot of options."

"Too much? I can order more…"

"No! This is perfect."

They sat on the couch. Side by side. Not quite touching.

Both staring at the food.

"You can eat," Mio said. "I'll just... watch? That sounds creepy. I'll have a drink." She'd poured blood into a wine glass again. Fancy.

Akira picked up a fork. Put it down.

"I don't know what to say," he admitted.

"Me neither."

"We should probably talk though. Since we're dating."

"Right. Talking. Dating people talk." Mio clutched her wine glass. "What do people talk about?"

"I don't know. Normal things?"

"What's normal?"

They looked at each other. Started laughing.

"We're bad at this," Akira said.

"Really bad," Mio agreed. Then, quieter: "Do you... mind that I'm a vampire?"

"Where's this coming from?"

"I just. You're human. I'm not. That's…doesn't that bother you?"

Akira considered. "I think vampires are just misunderstood beings."

"Really?"

"Really. You're not that different from humans. You just have different needs."

"And fangs."

"And fangs," he agreed. "But I like your fangs."

Mio hid behind her wine glass. "Why?"

"Because they're yours."

She made a small, happy sound.

"Why do you like me?" Akira asked. "You said during the first session that my blood tastes like depression and instant ramen."

"It does! But that's…" Mio set down her glass. "It's not just your blood. It's everything else too."

"Like what?"

And Mio launched into a list.

"You're kind. You cleaned my room without me asking and you didn't judge me for the mess. You're not afraid of me even after I attacked you. You call me out when I'm wrong but you also praise me when I do good things. You're patient with my anxiety. You make me feel safe. You have a nice voice. And you're handsome. Very handsome. You have broad shoulders and a long neck and your hands are…" She paused to breathe. "...and you smell nice. Like coffee and something else I can't identify but it's good. And you're smart. And you don't make fun of me for being a shut-in. And your blood is amazing but that's like tenth on the list probably. And you have nice eyes. Did I mention your eyes? They're very warm. And…"

She wasn't stopping.

"...and you're genuine. You don't pretend. You tell me when you're uncomfortable instead of just going along with things. And you signed up for something crazy and you just... adapted. Most people would have run away but you stayed. You keep staying. And…"

Akira leaned in and kissed her.

Mio made a surprised sound, stopping mid-word.

He pulled back.

"Sorry," he said. "You weren't stopping."

Mio's eyes were wide. Dazed. "...You can do that again."

"Yeah?"

"Please."

This time was slower. Softer. Akira cupped her face with one hand, gentle. Mio's hands came up to clutch his shirt, holding on like she might float away.

Her first real kiss. He could tell by the way she hesitated, then followed his lead. Sweet and uncertain and perfect.

When they pulled apart, both were breathing hard.

"That was nice," Mio whispered.

"Yeah."

She leaned back in, more confident this time. "Can we do it again?"

"We can do it as many times as you want."

"Good."

The third kiss was deeper. Mio's arms wound around his neck. Akira pulled her closer, careful not to rush. She made a small sound against his mouth, pleased, surprised, and kissed him harder.

They broke apart eventually, both flushed and smiling.

"We should eat," Akira said. "The food's getting cold."

"Food. Right." Mio looked at the spread like she'd forgotten it existed. "You should eat."

They did, eventually. Between kisses. Between soft conversations about nothing important. Between long moments of just looking at each other like they couldn't quite believe this was real.

Hours later, Akira stood at the front door, getting ready to leave.

"Same time next week?" Mio asked.

"It's not a session anymore," Akira said. "It's a date."

"A date where you let me drink your blood?"

"Is that okay?"

"It's perfect." She smiled up at him, shy and happy. "Does it still count as payment?"

"No. Now it's just part of dating a vampire."

"You're really okay with that?"

"I'm really okay with it."

Mio stood on her toes, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thank you. For today. For... everything."

Akira caught her hand before she could pull away. Kissed her properly.

When they finally separated, Mio was glowing.

"Goodnight," Akira said.

"Goodnight."

He left. Made it three steps before looking back.

Mio was still at the door, watching him. Smiling so wide it had to hurt.

He waved. She waved back.

It took him another five minutes to actually leave because they kept looking back at each other.

Back in his apartment, Akira sat on his couch in the dark.

He had a girlfriend.

A vampire girlfriend.

A vampire girlfriend who lived in a mansion and hadn't been outside in months and drank his blood and made him feel more alive than he had in years.

His phone buzzed.

Mio: I had a really good time today.

He smiled.

Me too.

Mio: I can't stop smiling.

Neither can I.

Mio: Is this what dating is like?

I think we're figuring it out together.

Mio: I like figuring it out with you.

Mio: Sorry, that was cheesy. Momo would say eww.

Momo's not here. Be as cheesy as you want.

Mio: Okay. Then: I really, really like you. A lot. So much it's kind of scary.

Scary how?

Mio: Like I don't know what I'd do if this ended. If you left.

Akira stared at his phone. Then typed carefully:

I'm not going anywhere.

Mio: Promise?

Promise.

Mio: Okay. Good.

Mio: Goodnight, Akira.

Goodnight, Mio.

He set down his phone. Lay back on his couch.

His empty apartment didn't feel quite so lonely anymore.

In her room, Mio lay on her bed, phone clutched to her chest.

She had a boyfriend.

A human boyfriend who knew exactly what she was and stayed anyway. Who kissed her like she was precious. Who made her feel brave enough to try.

Her phone buzzed again. A group chat.

Momo: boss are you still awake

Reina: She's definitely awake. Probably staring at her phone giggling.

Mio: I'm not giggling.

Momo: you're totally giggling

Reina: How was the date, dear?

Mio: ...It was perfect.

Momo: AWWWWW

Momo: did you KISS?

Mio: That's private!

Reina: She definitely kissed him.

Momo: BOSS GOT HER FIRST KISS

Mio: I'm turning off my phone now.

Reina: Sweet dreams, Mio. We're very happy for you.

Momo: yeah yeah we're happy now SPILL DETAILS TOMORROW

Mio turned off her phone. Rolled over. Screamed into her pillow with pure joy.

Then opened her curtains all the way.

The city lights streamed in. Bright. Alive.

Maybe someday she'd go out there.

Maybe with Akira beside her, she could.

But for now, this was enough. More than enough.

She looked at her gaming setup, at her monitors, at her small world.

It didn't feel quite so small anymore.