Archive of Our Own

Apocalypse-- b : a great disaster

Standing by the bookcase, full of memories of his life, his love, and his travels, Sanji stopped in front of a small stand he hadn’t noticed before. He felt himself instinctively smile as he guessed his lover found another way to insert himself in the memories of Sanji's past. His lover was always like that, slipping in pieces of their own life into his memories, trying to insinuate he had always been there.

Sanji wished they had. His life might have been far happier if he had started off with Usopp in his life. If Usopp had been constantly at his side, rather than someone he had to find again... that would have been better.

As he picked up the stand and realized what was hanging from it, his mood turned sour as he thought perhaps his lover was in the mood to be cruel rather than kind.

Familiar hands slipped around his waist, smoothing over the fabric of his shirt before sliding beneath it. Lips pressed to Sanji’s neck, and he murmured, “Speak of the devil…”

He set the stand and its item down and turned to wrap his arms around Usopp. Usopp smiled and moved his arms to drape around Sanji’s neck instead, unaware that Sanji was upset, and nearing anger. So Usopp kept smiling, his cheerful grin clashing with Sanji’s worsening mood. He remained unaware, even as Sanji growled and backed him against a wall, one hand sliding possessively to his hip, while the other went to his throat.

“Oh,” Usopp murmured with surprised delight, “Hungry are you?”

“Always for you,” Sanji growled. He kissed Usopp, because even if he was unhappy, Sanji found it hard to resist his lover. He’d been drawn to him in the days of their youth, and in this new life, Usopp was like the driving force of all things he did. Even if Usopp angered him, Usopp was the love of his life—eternally.

He growled and nipped at Usopp’s mouth as the kiss became more aggressive, drawing blood from his lower lip, which he sipped on unkindly.

Usopp pulled away, slightly breathless and pouting, catching on to his lover’s temper. “What is it? You only act like this when you’re mad!”

Sanji nuzzled against his partner, touching the tip of his nose against his, before he growled, “The locket. On my bookshelf. Why did you put it there?”

Usopp blinked, surprised by the question. He looked over Sanji’s shoulder, at the bookcase, and then back at Sanji. Blinking, he asked, “That made you angry? It’s my mother’s locket. Her photo and my father’s are in it.”

Sanji pursed his lips and muttered, “It caused the worst day of your life!”

Usopp blinked again and tilted his head at Sanji as his expression became incredulous. “It did?”

Sanji released Usopp and threw his hands up in the air as he started to pace. “You’re playing obtuse on purpose!”

“Well, I could be, if I even knew what that word meant!”

“Usopp!”

“SAN-geeeeee!” Usopp spat back mockingly.

Sanji turned to him, meant to snap again, but Usopp had assumed "the pose.” The pose was a stance Usopp took up when he was getting angry, but not there yet. It was a warning. His arms were crossed over his chest, his right hip popped out, and his brows were slightly narrowed. If his eyes narrowed as well, Sanji knew that meant he was in store for Usopp’s full fury, and that would mean nights of hell for Sanji as he scrambled to win back his lover's favor.

Looking at Usopp’s face, and recognizing he didn’t understand what Sanji meant, Sanji blinked, and let his anger fade away into shock.

"You… don’t remember?”

“Remember what!?”

“That… that necklace! You dropped it, and that’s why… that’s why…” Sanji trailed off, pain stabbing his heart as he struggled to say it.

Usopp’s growing anger evaporated as his eyes went wide with understanding. “Oh! Oh, Sanji… love… that wasn’t my worst day ever!”

He strode towards Sanji and flung his arms around Sanji in a fierce hug. Sanji accepted him and buried his face in his neck, holding tightly onto Usopp’s wiry frame. His waist was thin, and felt so good in Sanji’s arms. And Usopp’s arms, thick with muscle felt so good around Sanji’s neck. Usopp was perfect, and they were even more perfect together.

But while Sanji was happy now, it didn’t leave him without regret.

Killing the man you love had a way of plaguing one with guilt, even if you were now happy together.

“It was. It was the worst day!” Sanji eventually said, squeezing Usopp tight as he tried to be insistent. To his own ears, Sanji’s voice sounded small and grating.

“It wasn’t! Sanji… my love, it’s when I met you! It wasn’t my worst day by a long shot!”

“I was a monster…” Sanji mourned.

Usopp cupped Sanji’s face and made the blonde look at him. Usopp smiled, his long white canines bright in the light of their room. With a sparkle in his eye and with absolute contrition, Usopp whispered, “And now, so am I!”

Ten years ago

Zoro, Brook, and Usopp crept into the old house carefully. They were on a food and medicine run, a very important run, especially now. Luffy and Nami really needed some medicine for whatever sickness they had caught. Chopper, the closest thing they had to a doctor, had pleaded his case for their group’s need to get some kind of fever reducer and clean water if they could get it.

These were not easy things to come by, but they had to try.

The world wasn’t a place where you could just walk up to a grocery store and get everything you needed, not anymore. It had stopped being that kind of place sometime around Usopp’s thirteenth birthday. So many things had happened at once; Usopp really didn’t know what it was that changed things for the worst and led them to where they were now. Was it the cosmic storm that spread some kind of filter over the sun and created a strange red sky during the day and an extra dark night? Was it the strange illness that had spread unchecked in one country that finally crossed overseas? Was it the nukes that took out part of the west only days later?

Who was to say, and who was to know? Usopp sure didn’t. But he knew a few things now.

One, never travel alone.

Two, try to move only during the red day, even if it was hot and your skin stung from the strange rays.

Three, have a base underground, and spray mint and lavender around your door—this kept them out.

Four, avoid the goddamned vampires.

The fourth rule was one of the more important rules.

The sickness that had spread across the world was initially called Sanguis-Sitis9 after a long run of viral spreading around the world. There had been other mutations before a name was settled on the modern-day illness, nine in total. The illness was… a thing of nightmares, something straight out of a horror movie. It spread in the air at first, but it then became something that could be passed down through blood mixing, or saliva, such as receiving a bite. The illness gave a person a craving for blood, a growth in intelligence, libido, and strength. It also included a decrease in compassion and empathy and lowered one’s ability to feel pain.

Those who caught the earlier versions of the illness, versions 1-3, simply died, their bodies devouring their own blood and shriveling the person up into a mummified husk. Versions 4-8 of the illness had people who became so crazed they sought out to kill their fellow man or destroy things for the simple act of doing so. These people also fed off blood of other humans, and others that were infected. Worse, those who contracted Sanguis-Sitis versions 4-8 were still alive. They were strong, fast, unable to speak, and voracious. They were to be avoided at all costs, but if met, it was best to assume you might not make it out alive. Since the illness’s title was such a mouthful, those with Sanguis-Sitis versions 4-8 were dubbed a simpler name, “The Crazies.”

The title worked, as the wild, destructive, and brutal acts these people did could only be described as crazy.

But those that caught Sanguis-Sitis9, which tended to be the only thing spreading currently, were dubbed a much easier name that many recalled as a tale from a horror story. They were called “Vampires.”

Those who had the current disease were intelligent and closer to being humans, but they weren’t really human anymore. They ate blood, showed abnormal feats of strength, and had enough heightened skills that made them perfect hunters. They had all the heightened abilities, and even extra ones from the earlier evolution of Sanguis-Sitis, along with the ability to stand unthinkable amounts of pain. Their morals were more twisted, and within a few years, they drove the humans from their homes and established their own society.

A human could live with vampires; a government had been rather quickly established by the bloodsuckers, and for once you could actually say a man of intelligence was in the government. It just meant that many of those people in the new government didn’t give a shit about mankind… So not so different from a human government in that respect.

But to live with vampires, you had to live on a human farm, where you were expected to donate your blood twice or even three times a month. It wasn’t so bad, some would say. You got to live, but you were never free. You followed the vampires' rules and the diet they expected of you, and they even picked your spouse.

Humans were downgraded to animals, and the vampires didn’t seem to know the difference between the two.

So your choice was to live with the vampires and never know what life truly meant, or to go out into hiding and hope you weren’t caught by vampires who could choose what they did with you, or the crazies who would choose to rip you apart and wear your skin for the fun of it.

Usopp had been moved to a human farm when he was fourteen after trying to dodge the vampires who had invaded his town. He’d lost is mother to the first wave of illness, and his father who was overseas could not be contacted. For all Usopp knew, his father was out there trying to find him and his mother, or maybe his father was dead. He believed in the first option. Yasopp was too great a man to be gone, and he had an unusual set of skills along with his work companions and fishing buddies. Usopp just had to hope they’d reunite.

After he’d been captured and placed in a human farm, which was a small suburban area that humans were allowed to dwell in, Usopp had tried may times to find a way out. He’d found several ways, and had even passed on those exits to others braver than him who wanted to escape. As much as he wanted to escape, something held him back.

Something that was as strong as his fears, which was the feeling of loneliness.

He didn’t want to escape alone, but he could not connect with anyone who seemed willing to escape alongside him. So when he saw Luffy, Nami, and Zoro wandering outside the enclosed fence wrapped around the suburban area he was staying in, he begged them to help him escape. Luffy agreed to help immediately, with Zoro and Nami, his more reluctant followers. But Luffy was strange in a way. He still believed things could get better and that humans and even vampires could find a way to live together. He looked at life like one big adventure, and Usopp thought he was the coolest person he had ever met.

He escaped that night with them and eventually grew close with them and the others that would join them on their journey. They were a pretty big happy group most days, with four hidden cave dwellings in a forest outside a nearby abandoned town. With four safe places to stay, that meant if one underground home felt too unsafe, they could move on to another and rotate out as they hid from vampires, crazies, and sometimes other humans.

They lived like this well into Usopp’s twenties.

But the last rainy season had been hard. Their crops had been over watered, and animals seemed to be staying more in their holes and hideaways. Usopp was a damn good shot with a rock and sling, but if there were no animals to find, that meant less food. And now Nami and Luffy were both sick, the rainy weather and the lack of food weighing on them. They needed supplies. So after a drawing of straws, Zoro, Brook, and Usopp were headed out, at night during the more dangerous time to travel, all in order to try and get their friends some medicine, water, and if lucky, maybe a nice treat.

Luffy had a fondness for Twinkies. Those things never went bad.

They’d not used lights as they snuck into an abandoned town, where cars were left in the streets with their doors open. Houses too had open doors like yawning mouths, and the darkness inside always gave them the creeps. But you never went in a place with a closed door. That was asking to run into someone, or something.

Zoro, who often led these expeditions, was at the lead of the party. They were traveling low and holding on to a piece of rope so they wouldn’t get separated as they made their way through the dark. They weren’t to use their lights until they were actually inside a house.

Usopp wasn’t sure what made Zoro pick a house to check, but he had been with him enough times to know that weirdly this was the one thing that Zoro was really good at. (Besides fighting, drinking, and wielding a sword of course.) It was rather strange, because Zoro got lost easily, but he just seemed to know which house was untouched and would actually have supplies to be found. There might be a body or two inside, but they’d only ever run into a vampire on one occasion, and Zoro had taken them out with one of the three katanas he’d always carried.

Usopp had gathered, through bits and pieces, that his favored sword he called Wado had belonged to his childhood friend, who unfortunately caught one of the earlier variations of Sanguis-Sitis9. Usopp didn’t know much of the details, even if he was curious. It felt too cruel to ask. All Usopp really needed to know was that, like many of them, Zoro had lost someone he cared about and was trying to carry on her memory by holding onto her sword.

“Usopp!” Brook’s urgent whisper had Usopp at attention. He blinked and looked over at the thin man, who now had his flashlight on. “You can turn on your flashlight now.”

“R-Right,” Usopp whispered, pulling out his small flashlight from his bag.

When his light was on, he found Zoro looking at him, his expression stern.

“Don’t daydream here, Usopp.”

“Right. Sorry, Zoro.”

Zoro nodded easily, accepting the apology, and with the rope that had connected them all now tucked away at his hip, the three wandered the first floor together. Zoro always entered a room first, scanned it, and then the others followed. They were here for special supplies, but if something extra was found, they took it.

After clearing the first floor, they’d gotten two bottles of alcohol, a clean blanket, and a few books, one of those books being about finding plants in the wild and their uses. This would be a good book for both Robin and Chopper.

Together the trio gathered upstairs, and sliding along the wall, walked up to the next floor.

Drawing his sword, Zoro walked the hallway of the second floor and opened every door of the bedrooms that had shut doors. He did not step in but shone his light in quick succession, looking for any signs of life that should not be present. When the cursory check was done, Zoro waved them towards him, and the group started in the largest room.

“It must be the master bedroom. Someone took the bed, though,” Zoro mused.

"But left the frame,” Brook chuckled, taping the metal bed stand still left on the floor. “What a sight that would be. Someone dragging a king-sized mattress into a hideaway.”

Usopp was going through a dresser, half listening to the conversation, half letting his mind wander. Something felt off today. He was more on edge. Maybe it was because Luffy was sick, and Luffy was hardly ever impaired. He was struggling to focus.

He pulled out a pocket knife from the sock drawer and opened it. It was a good knife. Three inches long and over an inch thick. This would be handy for self-defense or for taking apart a fish or other hunted animals. He pocketed it and recited what he found before opening another drawer.

“Hey, Usopp, help me in the bathroom a minute? There’s a knocked-over bookcase in front of the sink and medicine cabinet,” Zoro called.

“Yeah,” Usopp answered promptly before hurrying to join Zoro in the bathroom. A closet door was shut in the bathroom, and Usopp felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in fright.

“The family is inside,” Zoro explained, catching Usopp’s anxious expression. He shook his head, muttering, “Suicide. There are three of them. I closed it; there's no point in leaving the door open and seeing that.”

Usopp let out an anxious breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, his hand curling around a golden locket around his neck. It had belonged to his mother, and inside was his mother’s picture, as well as his father’s. It was Usopp’s one keepsake from a family he used to have. He never took it off.

Moving to one side of the overturned bookcase, he and Zoro counted to three and then lifted it. The bookcase was heavier than it looked, and Usopp staggered as he tried to lift it. He could hear Zoro grunting, his tone surprised.

“Heavier… than it looks!” Zoro acknowledged, taking more weight to allow Usopp to try and get a better grip.

Usopp shifted his hands to a different side of the bookcase, and the wooden wall gave way. Usopp only had time to let out a small squeak of surprise before he was knocked to the floor by an array of trinkets and books.

Brook hurried towards the bathroom, his eyes wide with alarm. “Are you two alright?!”

“Usopp!” Zoro gasped, rolling the now empty bookcase off of Usopp’s body.

“I’m fine! Just surprised!" Usopp wheezed from the ground, shoving the books and trinkets off him. A slim red box slipped off his shoulder, and Usopp snatched it. The shape of it and the color set off an alarm bell in his head. He turned it over and then held it up with a triumphant grin.

“A first aid kit!”

“It could be empty," Zoro cautioned, even as eagerness tinged his words.

"It feels full!” Usopp crowed, wiggling out of the debris and hopping up with the first aid kit. He opened it on the dusty sink counter and smiled. The first aid kit was full. Aspirin, Tylenol, bandages, alcohol, disinfectant pads, and two odd straws wrapped in plastic, with words on them reading "Life Straw."

Zoro squeezed Usopp’s shoulder and gasped, “This is a gold mine!”

“A buried treasure!" Usopp agreed, plucking out one of the straws and reading it over. “Oh! You can drink dirty water with this, and it’ll make it safe!”

“Like a filter?” Brook mused, his brows in his hairline. "Fascinating!"

“This is great,” Zoro agreed, before he looked around the room. “Let’s finish looking around, but we can go home after this. No use in staying out longer than we need!”

Usopp closed the med-kit, agreeing wholeheartedly. He slipped the kit into Brook’s backpack, and he and Zoro finished looking around the bathroom. They didn’t find anything near as good as the med-kit and made their way to the rest of the rooms.

They found a few things of interest in the other rooms. Hand sanitizer, soap, another blanket, and an intact magnifying glass. But the thing that held their interest the most was the med-kit. They had truly hit a pot of gold with finding it, and all felt eager to return back to their hideout, where their sick friends waited. Usopp reached up to touch his locket, intending to seek comfort from it, only to find nothing there.

Frantically he looked down at himself, seeing no sign of his locket, or the golden chain it had been on.

His head snapped up, and he turned to look out the doorway, back out into the hall, and at the master bedroom on the other side of it.

Without realizing he was doing it, he broke rule number one and rushed down the hall back into the master bedroom. He entered the bathroom, the closet door open and dark. Distantly he heard his friends calling for him, but he was already on the floor of the bathroom, searching for his mother’s necklace on the floor. Luckily enough, he found it after turning over two objects. He curled his hand around it with a sigh.

He heard a step behind him and winced, expecting to get chewed out.

“Sorry, Zoro! I dropped my necklace! I should have—" His words came to a stop as he looked up at not Zoro, but a blonde man dressed in clean clothing.

A vampire.

Only vampires had clean clothes, and this one was dressed to perfection. He was close to his age, with pale skin that felt ethereal and even iridescent, even in the dark. His clothes seemed tailored, and fit his frame to perfection. He had a clean smell, along with a metallic tang of blood. His blonde hair shone as good as gold, and the only sign of grime on him was a telling stain around his mouth.

His eyes were trained on Usopp’s face, the pupils of his eyes a deep red instead of black.

They stared at each other for what felt like an endless stretch of time, and then the vampire smiled.

Even with blood stained around his mouth, the blonde man looked beautiful and strangely familiar.

“The bodies inside were old, but I thought I heard someone else in here. How fortunate to find such a treat as I passed by. Say… haven’t we met before?”

The vampire bent and reached for Usopp, and then one of Zoro’s swords went flying through his neck. The katana had been thrown, and the force of the throw had pinned the vampire by his throat, flush to the wall and away from Usopp. The vampire blinked with surprise, fresh blood gurgling past his lips as he let out an irritated huff, “I just got this shirt...”

“USOPP! NOW!” Zoro’s voice roared bring Usopp out of his frozen state.

Shaking, Usopp hurried to his feet and leaped over the angry vampire’s flailing limbs. With Usopp’s fist tightly curled around his mother’s necklace, he bolted for Zoro and Brook, who stood outside the master bedroom door. Once Usopp was inches away, Zoro and Brook turned to start running, knowing Usopp would catch up. He had always been the fastest runner of the group.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Usopp panted as they made it down the stairs, his speed carrying him past his friends.

“Later!” Zoro snarled desperately, his hand still curled around Wado and his other remaining sword.

“We’ll have to cut through the river outside of town! Lose our scents!” Brook panted, his body trembling with urgency and fright.

Usopp nodded, leading the charge out the door, when something heavy fell on him from above. Screams went up in the air, including the sounds of his own voice, and Usopp rolled and rolled away from the door until he slammed against a wall, a body on top of him. He lay stunned for a minute and blinked as the harsh light of a flashlight fell on him, lighting up up as if he was standing on center stage.

The room had gone oddly silent.

Usopp blinked a few times against the light and then tried to get up, forgetting that something was on top of him. He put his hands out and found a pair of strong arms splayed around his body and keeping him pinned to his floor. He pushed them and winced as he felt a sting at his neck.

Art by Me

It was then, with horror, he realized the vampire from before was feeding from him. He pushed again, shaking as he felt the panic set in. He was as good as dead. A vampire had tasted his blood, and through his bite, Usopp would catch the disease—if the vampire left him alive. If his friends tried to save him now, they’d be forced to kill him to stop him from turning, and that was if they managed to defeat the vampire who had so quickly recovered from a blade being thrown through his neck. This vampire was strong, And Usopp’s time had run out.

He had become a liability.

The blonde pulled back from Usopp, blood dripping from his snakelike fangs as he retracted himself. As he pulled away, the gaping hole in the sides of his neck closed up. The blonde licked his lips and whispered, “You have my thanks for your… donation. Fixed me right up.”

He looked out at Zoro and Brook, who were still frozen and staring at the scene, horror etched on their faces. Brook was even crying, his body shaking violently as he pulled out a small baton he carried on him. Zoro’s face was a terrible mix of pain, disbelief, loathing, and despair. His hands tensed around the hilt of his blades and Usopp knew they would try to rescue him.

Now that human blood had been spilled, any nearby crazies or other vampires would know to come to this house. They were probably already on their way. They would be outnumbered in a handful of minutes. Usopp felt an awful idea fill his head, a brave idea that would frighten him under different circumstances. But if he didn’t enact this plan, he knew Zoro and Brook would try to save him.

And then Luffy and Nami would never get that first aid kit.

“Go!” Usopp shouted, surprising his friends and the blonde above him. “Go now! Get the medicine home!” Usopp fished out the pocket knife and, with a quick flick of the blade, cut down the length of his forearm.

“USOPP!” both Brook and Zoro screamed, while the blonde turned to look at him in surprise.

“Get out now, I’m done for!” Usopp shouted and thrust his arm out for the vampire, and pressed it directly to his lips. “Hey! Fangs! Down here! A nice warm meal, hot and ready!”

The vampire took hold of Usopp’s arm, snatching the flailing limb with ease. He licked up the new wound and murmured, “What an enticing offer. Who am I to refuse? Especially such a nice red wine, with a strong bouquet...” He sucked at Usopp’s bleeding flesh, and Usopp closed his eyes. He felt the vampire hunch over him and turned his face away not daring to watch.

The vampire abandoned Usopp’s arm and his lips fell back on the first bite the vampire had initially made on his throat.

Strangely, the bite was as painless as it had been the first time, and if it wasn’t for the sound of sucking, Usopp wouldn’t have known he was being fed from. He wrapped his shaky arms around the vampire, tears rolling down his cheeks as he embrace the vampire, intending to hold him until he died or passed out. It should be enough time to give his friends the head start they needed.

“Usopp!” Brook wailed, but his voice was distant.

Usopp opened his eyes, and he could see Zoro had grabbed Brook, and they were running out the door. He caught one last glimpse of Zoro’s profile, noting the tension, the hate, and the tears that streamed down his face. Zoro probably hated him now, or worse, hated himself for accepting Usopp’s sacrifice and running away. But Luffy and Nami would get their medicine. Usopp only wished he had time to apologize for forcing Zoro to make this awful choice.

He closed his eyes, and waited, expecting the end to come, but maybe only a minute later, the vampire had pulled his mouth away and now sat atop Usopp’s waist, pinning his body and arms with his powerful thighs.

Usopp kept his eyes stubbornly closed, but eventually the silence and the act of nothing happening had him opening his eyes.

The blonde was staring at him with a puzzled expression. If it wasn’t for Usopp’s own blood staining his mouth, Usopp wouldn’t have felt frightened at all. The way the vampire looked at him was as if he was trying to recall something.

“Usopp… Usopp… I know an Usopp…” the vampire murmured.

“Y-You do?” Usopp squeaked, his body trembling all over. “W-well then. What a small world! How about, since you know another Usopp, you just let me go?"

The vampire drew Usopp’s arm up, jerking the limb to him easily, even as Usopp resisted. He licked up Usopp’s dribbling arm, kissing the wound Usopp had created.

“If I leave you on your own, the crazies drawn by your scent will come inside and tear you apart, or another vampire may choose to have you for themselves. My presence keeps all of them away.”

Usopp let out a wet sob and pressed his hand and his mother’s locket to his mouth. He could feel the heart imprinting itself on his lips and found himself praying to his parents and apologizing to them both. He had wanted to live to see a world that Luffy wanted. A world where humans and vampires could meet in the middle and find a way to coexist. Meeting him and listening to the way he spoke had made Usopp wants to be brave and believe in that kind of world. But it was over for him, or would be soon. He’d never get to see that brave new world.

“Sanji.”

Usopp’s eyes fluttered, and he looked back at the vampire, who was back to licking Usopp’s arm.

“W-what?”

“Sanji,” the vampire said again. “My name is Sanji.”

Usopp blinked and felt himself stiffen.

“Sanji…” Usopp croaked, “Sanji...I…I knew a Sanji.”

Sanji suckled Usopp’s arm, and by now, Usopp was starting to feel a little dizzy from all the stress and blood loss. But Usopp knew a Sanji, or had known one at least.

As a boy, there was a restaurant in his hometown, where a blonde boy named Sanji lived and worked with his father. They boys had gone to separate schools but had managed to forge a friendship over the years of Usopp’s frequent visits to the family diner. Sanji had wanted to be a great chef, just like his dad, and had a smile as bright as the sun. For Usopp, the boy was his first love.

When Usopp had to run away with other struggling survivors, he had cried over the thought of never seeing the boy again. He’d always felt somewhat foolish about it, but the Sanji of his childhood was someone he constantly missed.

“Sanji… from the Baratie?"

“Usopp… who always had his sketchbook under his arm, and his mom with a friendly smile," Sanji whispered, his blue eyes shifting into various shades of colors as he licked at Usopp’s wound. He smiled, and despite the fangs, it was the same smile Usopp had seen in the past. The smile of a friendly boy, who Usopp had a crush on. Who Usopp had always thought about and wondered over ever since the sickness came, and with it, the beginning of the end.

Unable to help it, Usopp pressed his hands to Sanji’s face, cupping his cheeks with his palms. Sanji sank into his hands, and Usopp found he was able to sit up. He held the vampire’s face in his hands and stared at the creature who had once been his childhood friend. His tears fell faster, and he flung his arms around him. “I had… I had wondered what happened to you! Where you were! If you were safe or… or…”

Sanji wrapped his arms around Usopp and nuzzled into his embrace. He sighed and murmured, “I was turned after a year of being on the run with my father. We both were turned. We’d wandered into a den of vampires, and the head of their little…. “family,” Judge Vinsmoke wanted me to be one of his children. They bit me and my father, tortured us… and even crushed my father's leg. It was a terribly long night.”

Usopp shuddered and cried harder, “S-Sanji! That’s-”

He was silenced by Sanji’s lips kissing him beneath his eyes. Usopp froze, surprised by the gesture, but Sanji kept kissing his wet cheeks, and wiping up his tears, as if intended to collect them all. “Are you crying for me, Usopp?”

“O-Of course! Sanji! That sounds awful!” Usopp stammered, not quite able to control the volume of his voice.

Sanji smiled at him, slow and pleased and nuzzled back into Usopp’s neck, and rest his head there. Confused, Usopp wrapped his arms around the vampire.

‘What’s happening?’ Usopp thought desperately confused. He had gone from terrified, miserable, to happy, and shocked in such a short amount of time, Usopp thought he might pass out. ‘Or is that the blood loss?’

“We remained human for that night, but in the day, when the Vinsmoke clan were tired and had over indulged… I changed. And I changed… rather expeditiously.”

Sanji ran a firm hand down Usopp’s spine, which sent a chill up to Usopp’s neck. He tried to pull away, but Sanji only allowed Usopp enough space to breathe and enough space for Sanji to look at him. “Sanguis-Sitis9 can be passed through the saliva, as you know. But it spreads faster if you taste a vampire's blood when you’ve been bitten. And the Vinsmokes had spilled so much blood of us humans, they hadn’t noticed how messy they’d been, or how my father and I had ingested some blood. Their blood! And well, I hope you remember Zeff’s temper!”

Sanji offered a toothy grin and cupped Usopp’s face.

"S-Sanji—"

“Zeff and I turned so fast, and were so strong, that the Vinsmokes didn’t have a chance. They’d left plenty of injured humans to eat, and so we had that available to us of course, but more importantly we got to indulge on some well earned revenge. I took Judge’s head for myself.”

Sanji’s grip on Usopp became painful, and Usopp whimpered as he slid his arms away from Sanji. This was not his friend. He’d been foolish for a moment, but his friend Sanji wasn’t here. Not really. This vampire was not safe-

“Don’t let me go, Mon ange,” Sanji purred, smiling at Usopp his expression startling soft. “I remember how you enjoyed stories—"

“S-Sanji!”

“So I’m telling you one of my own,” Sanji whispered, his eyes locked onto Usopp’s. Even when Usopp tore his gaze away, he could still feel Sanji looking at him.

“We took over their stronghold and slept it off. The next day we returned to the city. It’s wonderful, Usopp. The vampires have really set up a way for us to live. We were welcomed and slotted into society. We even have a restaurant again. While you need blood to live, you can still enjoy food. I could make you so much delicious food, Mon ange… I know it sounds scary,” Sanji murmured, pulling Usopp closer. "But we do want to create a world for us, for the human’s next stage of evolution, the vampire! It will be a very good place with a bit more time. With a few more things under control—"

Usopp pushed at Sanji, shaking now as he started to sweat. “Let me go, Sanji! Please! You were my… you were my—"

Sanji caught Usopp’s face and turned him to look at him. Sanji’s eyes were dancing, and his teeth were bright white against the blood stains around his mouth. “We were friends. You and your stories, and your scardy-cat ways… I too wondered about you. And I knew if I ever saw you…”

Sanji gripped Usopp’s forearms and pulled him forward and pressed his mouth against his. Usopp stiffened as his childhood crush, or something like it, kissed him. What had started as a firm press grew into something more as Sanji invaded his mouth with his tongue. Usopp moaned, embarrassed by the hot ball of excitement Sanji’s touch caused and disgusted by the taste of iron in his mouth.

Sanji released him from the kiss, and Usopp coughed as he took in a ragged breath. Sanji kissed Usopp’s brow and sighed, “If I ever saw you, I knew I had to make you like me. I’ve looked for you Mon ange… I never thought I’d see you again. But here you are.”

“No!” Usopp sobbed. “No, don’t!”

“Usopp! Usopp, Mon ange,” Sanji crooned sympathetically, “It’s already started. I bit you love. There’s no going back.”

“No! No… I…”

“You know it’s already too late. You’re infected. If I leave you now, and somehow you weren’t torn to pieces by others snapping for your blood, within a week you’d be just like me. Better to get it over and done with quickly, don’t you think?”

Sanji shifted his tongue, and Usopp’s eyes caught sight of the pink, enticing muscle. Sanji grinned and licked his lips flirtatiously, making Usopp flush. Then Sanji bit his tongue, and drew his own blood.

“No!” Usopp cried again, turning his face away.

“There was a time when I would spare you from this, but… but now that I’ve lived this way a several years, I don’t want to do that. Look, I’ve aged. I’ve grown up. So there’s no need to fear living forever. It’s not like the movies. Things are just a little different now. I’m stronger, I’m healthier—"

“No! No! No!” Usopp ranted, trying to thrash away from Sanji. “I don’t want to be a vampire! They’re cruel! They’re monsters! Drain me instead!”

“Some of us are,” Sanji agreed, kissing Usopp’s brow again and trying to shush him. “But despite what you think, we still love. We still have emotions. I love you so much I’ve let your friends go. Don’t you know how gracious that is? I only want you, Usopp; there’s no need for me to go hurt them. I’ll never even think of looking for your old friends as long as I have you.”

Sanji’s teeth sank into Usopp’s neck, another painless bite, but it had Usopp screaming.

“Mon ange,” Sanji hissed against his neck, “Don’t struggle! It will hurt if you struggle. The bite can be painless if you’re careful. But if you struggle, or I get angry—"

“Let me go!”

Usopp was pressed back to the ground, Sanji’s hand curled around his throat. Usopp had been foolish in thinking he had managed to sit up on his own. No, Sanji had allowed him to sit.

“I missed you so much,” Sanji seethed, his expression a mix of anger and sadness. “Every day I ran I wondered about that sweet boy who would visit my family’s restaurant. I was too scared then to recognize you as mine, but I’m not scared now! Fate has brought you back to me, and I’m not one to spit in its eye."

Sanji leaned down, crowding around Usopp, and kissed him again. The hand at Usopp’s throat was gentle, and it became a simple touch, a slight press. Usopp pushed at Sanji, even as his heart was at war with himself.

Sanji, his old friend, was alive!

He was a vampire.

They had found each other again.

He was a vampire.

And Sanji, against all odds, liked Usopp too.

He was a vampire.

It was a dream come true!

It was a nightmare.

Sanji’s lips trailed wetly away from Usopp’s mouth and down his jaw.

Usopp’s mouth tasted like blood, and it wasn’t just his own.

“Sanji!” Usopp pleaded. “No!”

“It’s already too late,” Sanji cooed, playfully sticking out his bleeding tongue. His own red blood was smeared on his tongue, proof that it had been put in Usopp’s mouth. “You’ll change by tomorrow.”

Usopp choked on his sob, and cursed, having no words to say.

“Oh, Mon ange… I want you now. While you’re warm, and just as I remembered. The same bright eyes and the same dark skin. You won’t change a lot, but you will get colder. That seems to be an ever present sensation… though the cold won’t bother you much anymore,” Sanji groaned, moving to kiss down the unmarred side of Usopp’s throat. He moved his hands down and found Usopp’s. He laced their fingers together and pinned Usopp’s hands by his head.

Usopp sobbed as Sanji drifted back up and kissed his brow.

“Darling, shush now. Don’t you want me too? Didn’t you want to see me again?” Sanji asked pleadingly as Sanji pressed feather-soft kisses to Usopp’s brow and nuzzled his nose against his. “You were happy a moment ago…”

“You’re… you’re a…”

“I know, Mon ange, I know. I’m a monster, but I’m still alive. Largely, I am still myself, just a few things have changed!” Sanji promised. “And I want you, just as I always have. I love you.”

Sanji remained still above him as Usopp cried, something inside of him shattering. Sanji wasn’t going to let him go. He would not ever see his friends again. He would not die, but instead become a vampire, and Usopp wasn’t sure what was worse. He mourned the loss of his friends, he mourned the loss of his humanity, and he stewed over the mixed up feelings swirling within him now.

The part of him that now hated Sanji… and the part of them who was still very much in love with the boy who had once worked a diner, and always had a special smile just for Usopp.

He had two options left. To fight until the very end, or accept it.

“Usopp… don’t cry.”

“I’m… I’m tired,” Usopp whined, his voice raw and soft. “I’m so tired!” His head was pounding and there was a strange tingling in his limbs. He didn’t hurt but something weird was happening. He was sure he could feel it now, the beginning of the change.

“I can only imagine,” Sanji said, with an ache to his tone that strangely comforted Usopp. “Let me take care of you. Be with me, Usopp. It won’t be scary for long, I promise, my love. I will take care of you from now on. We can take care of each other.”

Usopp cried for a little longer, and then his tears flowed to a stop. His body had decided there weren’t any tears left for him to cry and the effort in crying was exhausting him. Sanji held his hands and watched him quietly, his eyes gentle and concerned in a way Usopp recognized. Usopp had missed Sanji too. He had thought about him every day. But in all those thoughts, he’d never thought of his old childhood crush as a vampire. He’d dreamed of finding him, safe and unharmed. He’d dreamed of loving him.

"If only I found you sooner,” Usopp whispered. “We could have lived together, struggled together. Fought together!"

“I know, my heart, I know,” Sanji cooed understandingly. “And I would have done all that with you. I would have fought for humanity and my right to exist next to you. I would have fought for every day for a life with you. But I’m a vampire now. I’ve changed… and I’m asking, I’m pleading with you to choose to live alongside me in this form now.”

Usopp looked back at Sanji, knowing that the words were just for Usopp’s sake, just so Usopp felt he had a choice. Even if Usopp refused, Sanji had already infected him. He would keep him, would have him. It was clear Sanji wouldn’t leave Usopp behind. Perhaps he actually couldn’t. Who could guess how the mind of a vampire worked?

Usopp had loved Sanji, the human boy, when he was a child.

And even now, he ached for him. Even in this form, with Sanji’s blood stained mouth and his strangely cold but inviting eyes, Usopp still wanted him.

Choosing to accept the lie of choice, Usopp whispered, “Okay. Okay, Sanji.”

Sanji smiled, and it was a beautiful thing. He cupped Usopp’s face and bent down, hurrying to kiss him again and again while murmuring against his mouth, “Oh, Usopp. Je t’aime de tout mon coeur! Je t’aime, je t’aime, je t’aime, je t’aime! I love you. I’ll never give you reason to regret this choice.”

Usopp shivered as Sanji kissed him, his cold skin adding to the sensation of Sanji’s adoration. It was more pleasurable than Usopp might have thought. Sanji’s hands were roaming over Usopp’s body now, and Usopp shivered as Sanji’s knowing hands took the edge of his shirt and started to tug it up. Usopp shifted up, shaking as he moved to allow Sanji to remove his shirt.

When the shirt was gone, Sanji hurried to kiss him again, his hands stroking over the curve of his chest and his abs.

“You grew strong, Usopp.” Sanji sighed reverently, “Strong without me. I wish I’d been there to see it.”

Usopp couldn't think of anything to say, so he remained quiet as Sanji touched him.

Sanji pulled back, and Usopp feared the vampire might be angry at him for his silence, but Sanji was simply pulling off his own shirt. Usopp froze, struck by Sanji’s strong body. He had never imagined what adulthood might look like on Sanji, at least not as intimately as seeing him naked. He had fantasies of being with Sanji, but they’d never gone past kissing or hand-holding in those dream. It had felt disrespectful somehow to fantasize about someone who he wasn’t sure had felt the same way as him, or who could have been dead.

Sanji took Usopp’s hand and pressed it to his chest, snapping Usopp out of his thoughts.

His chest was as cold as the rest of him, and curiously, Usopp moved his hand across Sanji’s chest, looking for something he wasn’t sure of… until he found it.

"Your… heartbeat.”

“Fast, isn’t it?” Sanji whispered with a sly smile. “It’s not stopped. It is moving. I believe it’s about 500 beats per minute. Lethal for a human, of course, but normal for what I am now.”

Usopp nodded and, unable to help himself, asked, “Does it hurt?”

Sanji’s expression softened, and he leaned for Usopp’s mouth, whispering, “Just at the beginning, Mon ange.”

He sealed their mouths in another kiss, sweet and slow at first. But then Sanji’s strong arms were all around Usopp, and the vampire’s tongue was back in his mouth. Sanji’s hands moved like lightning, and soon they were both fully naked.

Usopp was pulled from the ground and into Sanji’s lap, and with a shiver, he felt Sanji’s hard shaft against his backside. He was frightened; none of his fear had left, but the excitement was starting to build alongside a bit of curiosity. And the tingling feeling, the one that told him something was changing was still coursing down his skin. It was so strange, but if he tried to focus on pleasure, maybe he could forget that his humanity was really going to end.

Sanji cupped his hand over Usopp’s heart and looked into Usopp’s eyes. Usopp tried to dodge the gaze at first, but Sanji pressed his brow against Usopp’s and waited. Finally, Usopp looked back at him, and found Sanji gazing at him with adoration and love.

Tears flooded Usopp’s eyes again.

“Mon ange, no more tears,” Sanji whispered gently. “After tonight my love… never cry again.”

Sanji’s hand pressed against Usopp’s chest, touching him over his heart. His hand slid down, his cold fingers leaving a tantalizing chill down his skin. Sanji’s thumb pressed into the juncture at his hip, and Usopp gasped. Sanji grinned, and kissed Usopp hard, tasting of blood, and Usopp clumsily accepted the kiss. Sanji’s hands were back to roaming, and his eager fingers skirted over Usopp’s growing erection.

Usopp moaned, unable to help it, as his body started to come more alive from pleasure. There was a strange tension inside him: eagerness, fear, hope, and all his doubts and regrets all tangled into a messy string. Usopp tried not to think about what would happen after Sanji and he had sex. Sanji’s words of it only hurting a moment had not reassured him.

“W-what does the c-c-ch-change feel like?” Usopp stuttered.

Sanji wrapped his hand around Usopp’s cock, and Usopp gasped, his hands flying to Sanji’s shoulders.

“Don’t think of it, Mon ange.”

“I-I… I just n-need to know! What does it-”

“Like a heart attack,” Sanji whispered, his lips ghosting over Usopp’s wounded neck. “It will be later, right at the end.”

Usopp gripped him tight.

“I’ll hold you the whole time,” Sanji swore.

The wound on Usopp’s neck had stopped bleeding, and even the wound on his arm was no longer gushing. Usopp wasn’t as dizzy anymore, but he still felt weak. Sanji didn’t seem to mind or even notice Usopp’s weakness. He just kept kissing Usopp’s skin, touching him, and tormenting Usopp until he felt hot and had grown painfully hard.

“I regret taking you this way here, on a stranger’s dirty floor,” Sanji sighed, picking Usopp as if he weighed nothing, and tucked him further his body. Usopp squirmed in a moment of panic, and Sanji laughed as he pressed two of his fingers into Usopp’s mouth. “But Mon ange, I don’t think I could wait. My home is far from here… and I just can’t wait. Not after so many years of missing you.”

Usopp couldn’t say a word, but he made a protesting hum around Sanji’s fingers that sounded more like a moan even to his ears. Sanji pressed the pads of his fingers against Usopp’s tongue, stroking and rubbing it in a suggestive manner. Usopp moaned in earnest and squirmed against Sanji’s lap, Sanji’s free hand circling around to Usopp’s front. He grasped his cool fingers around Usopp’s hot cock again, and Usopp whimpered on Sanji’s fingers.

“Ah, Mon ange, you sound so good. I dreamed of this, you know!” Sanji whispered into Usopp’s ear. “You were one of my first thoughts when I changed. I had longed for you while I was human, but that longing became greater when I changed. I knew what it meant when I was a vampire. As a human I had pretended not to know… I was too scared and pathetic.”

Sanji’s voice had been surprisingly cold and angry at his past self, and Usopp looked at him with surprise.

The vampire smoothed out his expression, and he whispered, “But when I changed, I lost that fear. I knew what all my thoughts meant. That I lusted for you; I loved you. As a human I had been so afraid of it. I'm not afraid of it anymore, Usopp.”

He kissed the corner of Usopp’s drooling mouth and stroked Usopp up his cock. Usopp moaned and bucked, gagging as the fingers pressed further against his tongue. Sanji pressed his lips into Usopp’s ear and hissed, “I’m not afraid of it like this, Usopp. Like this, I can love you and never be afraid!”

Sanji removed his fingers, and Usopp coughed as the fingers were retracted, a trail of spit connecting his lips to Sanji’s fingers. In shock he watched as Sanji’s fingers descended and pressed beneath his balls. He felt Sanji slip his fingers between his cheeks and felt a prodding against his hole. Usopp clenched and shakily called, “S-Sanji! W-wait—"

A finger was slid in, and Usopp cried out, pushing himself forward, and burying his face in the man’s chest. He squirmed as if he could get away, and then Sanji slid another finger inside him. It was tight, invasive and slightly painful.

“Sanji! It… it hurts!”

“This will take more lubrication than I thought," Sanji hummed, almost sounding casual as he probed Usopp’s insides.

Sanji retracted his hands, and in shock, Usopp watched him rewet his fingers with his own mouth.

“T-That’s dirty!” Usopp blurted, unable to stop the words from slipping out.

Sanji grinned as he retracted his fingers and then roughly shoved both of them back inside Usopp. Usopp cried out, and Sanji smothered that cry with his own mouth.

Usopp tasted blood again… but something else too. Chocolate? Wine? Citrus? He sucked against Sanji’s tongue, and Sanji growled into the kiss as it became more intense. When Sanji’s fingers pushed hard inside him again, Usopp broke away from Sanji’s mouth to cry out, vaguely aware that he was starting to taste flavors in Sanji’s blood.

Good flavors.

“Ah, do you feel good?”

“I-I don’t know!”

“We’ll keep trying then, Mon ange.”

Usopp was coaxed into a long kiss as Sanji roughly fingered and stretched him. Sanji’s tongue twisted and tangled against him, making Usopp dizzy. Usopp was trying to follow along but his inexperience could not match Sanji's desire. When Sanji pulled back, Usopp gasped for air, crying out pitifully as Sanji’s fingers probed him fiercely.

“There’s not a single dirty thing about you,” Sanji promised, kissing Usopp’s neck and sucking the skin.

This time he did not bite, seeming to be more determined about leaving behind a hickey on Usopp’s body rather than biting him again.

Usopp moaned and whimpered, pain and pleasure mixing in an erotic concoction that had him gasping. Sanji kissed and nipped Usopp’s neck and shoulder, grinding his erection beneath Usopp’s backside from below. This part of Sanji felt like the only part that was still warm, still hot.

“Sanji!” Usopp gasped, crying out against the other’s throat when Sanji removed his fingers.

Abruptly, Sanji lifted Usopp up by his thighs, lifting him as easily as one would a bag of groceries. Usopp whimpered Sanji’s name in fear, his hands gripping the vampire’s shoulders tightly. Without a warning, Sanji brought Usopp down, and pierced his head into Usopp, dragging him on it halfway before he mercifully stopped and allowed Usopp to gasp for breath.

“You’re tight, Mon ange,” Sanji groaned. “So delicious, so good! But you most relax, or you won’t enjoy yourself.”

Usopp had tensed all over, the sensation painful and new. His fingers were biting into Sanji’s shoulders, strong enough to draw blood, and he shuddered as he clenched and tensed in all the worst ways. Sanji somehow kept Usopp up with one arm, and ran his free hand down Usopp’s chest, to his stomach, and back to his cock. He wetly kissed at Usopp’s chest, just over his heart. Sanji’s hand stroked him up and down, and Usopp had to fight his hips to not buck into it.

“Sanji… Sanji… it hurts,” Usopp whispered.

“Pain is temporary,” Sanji promised, stroking Usopp faster. “Focus on the pleasure, Mon ange. Focus on that.”

Usopp whimpered and gasped, the pleasure there on the outskirts, but it was hard to look past it. The pain was sending his mind into a spiral. About his friends and never seeing them again. About everything that could and would likely happen after Sanji fucked him. He was so afraid, so afraid, and under all that fear was the desire to be with Sanji.

“I want to be with you,” Usopp sobbed unexpectedly. “I’d always wanted it.”

Sanji adjusted Usopp in his arms, growling like an animal, but he made no further movements. He was tensed in a way that Usopp could see. Sanji was doing his best to hold himself back. “You’ll be with me now, Mon ange. I always wanted it too. I won’t lose you now. Not to humanity, and not to your fears. You’re coming down here with me.”

“Down?” Usopp gasped, his eyes widening as he looked into Sanji’s eyes.

Sanji’s blue eyes were deep, as deep as a raging sea. “I’m a monster from hell, and you’ll be coming with me. I can’t let you go now that I’ve found you. Come down here with me!”

He kissed Usopp, and Usopp again tasted the iron of his own blood, and the savory flavor’s of Sanji’s blood. Then Sanji bucked inside him, burying himself in Usopp all the way to the hilt. Usopp cried out, his mouth tearing away from Sanji as he sobbed in shock and pain. He tensed, crying as Sanji held him still.

When Usopp was done crying, he slumped against Sanji, allowing the man to hold him and cradle him against his chest. Sanji stroked a hand down his hair and kissed him, gently whispering words of comfort that Usopp could not quite register. He was dizzy, and he ached, but the pleasure was coming back as Sanji continued to stroke his cock. When he at last felt calm, when pleasure started to win against the pain Usopp realized Sanji was kissing the side of his face.

“I’m here, Mon ange. I’m here. Shh, shhh, no more pain. Shhh.”

“S-Sanji,” Usopp hiccuped, his breath hitching around the vampire’s name. The tingling was more noticeable now. It felt weird, and it too coaxed pleasure from him.

Sanji nuzzled him. “Are you feeling it now? Do you feel me inside you?” He pressed a hand to Usopp’s belly and pressed, and Usopp moaned as he felt his insides press against the cock inside him.

“Sanji… Sanji… please,” Usopp pleaded. “Make it feel good.”

“It will, my love, it will. I will make it so, so good!” Sanji promised, kissing the side of Usopp’s face again before he lay back on the ground. He kept Usopp sitting on his lap, and Usopp whimpered from his seat, Sanji’s cock a burden inside his body. Sanji dragged his hands to Usopp’s back and stroked them up and down, the touch firm and soothing. Even Sanji’s chilly temperature was soothing him somehow. Slowly, but surely Usopp felt himself calm as Sanji rubbed his back, and the pain started to ebb to a dull, barely noticeable pinch.

He shifted and gasped as something inside him was pressed, something that set off a series of fireworks behind his eyes and had his cock jumping like a fish.

“There,” Sanji breathed below him, “There it is!”

“Wh-What-”

His hands came to Usopp’s waist, and he dragged Usopp up and then back down on his cock, hitting that spot inside Usopp directly. Usopp choked, as the breath was punched out of him, as well as igniting another burst of pleasure that had Usopp’s inside’s fluttering.

Sanji did all the work at first, guiding Usopp’s body up and down on his cock, fully removing himself, before driving the whole length of himself back inside. The pleasure was truly starting to overtake any discomfort, and soon Usopp found himself doubled over, his hands planted firmly on Sanji’s chest as he rocked his bottom back onto Sanji’s cock.

“Sanji,” Usopp gasped, his own erection starting to twitch in earnest as he neared an end. “Sanji… it feels good.”

“I knew it would, Mon ange,” Sanji groaned. "You feel so perfect. So fucking perfect. We just had to get past the hard part… find our pace.”

Sanji moved, and Usopp gasped as Sanji removed himself fully. He was turned, and forced onto all fours. Usopp felt Sanji grip his waist, the nails of his thumbs biting into the skin of his back. Sanji lined himself up, his twitching head pressing between Usopp’s cheeks. Usopp made an embarrassed sound as he felt his pucker flutter expectantly against Sanji’s warm head, as if welcoming him.

“Oh, yes,” Sanji groaned, “Welcome me home, Usopp! Just like that!”

He thrust back into Usopp, and Usopp choked for air, his voice twisting into a lewd and wet cry. Sanji fucked Usopp in true earnest. Sanji’s hips were snapping at a hard, demanding speed, but every press inside felt good. Usopp could not contain the noises he made, and cried out freely, no longer conscious of how loud he was being or thinking about any of the things he’d been worried about before.

He felt good and could only think that he wanted to continue to feel good.

“You’re so delicious and warm, Usopp!” Sanji growled, doubling over Usopp and pressing his weight against him.

Usopp fell forward on his chest and arms, and Sanji gripped the left side of his ass spreading him more as he plunged back inside.

“Sanji! Oh, Sanji!”

Sanji kept his hips up and fucked into Usopp at a pace that Usopp couldn’t comprehend. It felt so good, and all Usopp could do was moan and cry out, futilely trying to buck back against his rough partner as he presented his bottom like a willing target. Sanji growled, cursing and praising Usopp, his hand reaching down to squeeze Usopp’s dripping cock beneath his legs.

“No, don’t!” Usopp choked, overstimulated by Sanji’s hand around his shaft.

“You love it, don’t you Mon ange!”

“Sanji!”

“Say it!”

“I-I… I love it!”

“That’s fucking right!” Sanji hissed with delight, and relentlessly rubbed his thumb over Usopp’s leaking head, Usopp choking on his name as he came.

“Oh, Mon ange, just like that! Oh, Usopp! Usopp!” Sanji groaned, driving himself deeper and deeper into Usopp’s body as the human’s walls fluttered around him. He kissed any part of Usopp’s skin he could reach, his hand catching Usopp’s seed as he ejaculated. Sanji then fisted his wet hand around Usopp’s cock, continuing to stroke him as he pounded in and out of Usopp’s spasming hole.

Usopp gasped, his body aching and tingling. Pleasure was burned into his belly, different and stronger than he had ever experienced before. He was exhausted, and his body warned of something else brewing, waiting to come. Like a predator stalking its prey, there was something inside him, waiting to tear itself out.

But that was later. The pleasure was all he felt now.

A moment later, Sanji roared like a beast, and he finally came inside Usopp, painting his insides with his surprisingly hot cum. When Sanji collapsed, he did it on his side, tucking Usopp into himself, trying to keep Usopp from touching the floor. It was almost funny how he’d just fucked Usopp against it, but didn’t want the man to become dirty by it. Usopp, too exhausted to care about either being dirty, or the tingling that was growing stronger lay panting in Sanji’s arms. Sanji’s body had warmed up to where it almost felt like Usopp was lying with another human. Usopp rolled into him, wincing a little from his over-taxed body, and put his hand atop Sanji’s heart.

Sanji dropped his hand over Usopp’s and clung to it. He looked at Usopp and gifted him a beautiful smile that left Usopp staring.

“I love you,” Sanji whispered when they’d rested for several long minutes. He stroked a hand over Usopp’s sensitive body, kissed his shoulder and said it again. “Mon ange, I love you.”

“I love you, Sanji,” Usopp whispered, feeling satisfied as the words left him. He had loved Sanji once, back when things were normal. He didn’t know if he loved this new Sanji now, but he had loved him before. It felt like he could love him again.

Sanji wrapped his arms around Usopp and sat up, bringing Usopp with him. Sanji had spilled out of him earlier, flaccid and spent, but as Sanji cradled Usopp in his arms, he stroked himself until he was hard again and slipped back inside. Usopp whimpered and shuddered as the vampire reentered him, gasping at the full sensation of having him back in his body.

Enfolding Usopp into his arms he whispered, "You keep me so warm. You’re so warm inside here."

He pressed a hand over Usopp's belly, and Usopp shuddered at the touch and the implication.

“Sanji…”

“I love how warm you make me. I love you. I’ve missed you,” Sanji whispered, cradling Usopp to him as if he were someone precious. “I can’t believe I found you again.”

The words sounded so sincere and happy, and Usopp pressed his hand to Sanji’s cheek. “You really missed me?”

"Oh, every day! Every day, I thought of you. Even when I woke up like this… you were close to my mind. I longed for you, but I was glad I hadn’t been near you when I changed. The first stage of hunger… it’s quite difficult,” Sanji whispered. He nuzzled against Usopp and kissed his mouth and then the bridge of his nose.

“I promise, it will be much easier for you.”

Usopp stiffened.

“What?”

“You feel it now, right?” Sanji whispered, his expression not unkind as he touched Usopp over his heart.

He hurt. His heart, it was starting to hurt.

“Sa-Sanji?” Usopp whispered, his voice tinged with panic.

Sanji’s face looked so terribly sad, and he swallowed hard. “There’s no humans close, but I ate good before I found you.”

“S-Sanji-”

“You can feed from me for a bit. I’ll hold you through the worst part of it my love. It’s just a moment.”

Usopp tried to speak, but his heart wasp pounding. He breathed, trying to keep up with his heartbeat, but he could not take in enough air. Everything was so tight inside his chest, and down his arms. The tingling was worse, and accompanied with a sudden cold. Usopp choked, his body jolting as his heart beat at a speed Usopp knew it should not. His head fell back and he tried futilely to say Sanji’s name.

“It only hurts a moment. Just a moment, Usopp! Hang on!”

Sanji pressed his mouth to Usopp, his tongue thrusting inside Usopp’s mouth. Usopp tasted the rich tang of copper, and recognized the flavor of chocolate, wine, and citrus. He struggled at first, horrified by what was happening, but Sanji wouldn’t let him go. He kept kissing him, and he kept holding him, his cock buried inside Usopp and pressing against that pleasurable zone inside of him.

Something wanted to claw out of Usopp’s throat. A scream, a cry, a curse. Usopp bit down on Sanji’s tongue, and he sucked hard. More delicious blood spilled into his mouth, and Sanji held him hard, keeping him close. Usopp continued to suck, letting go of his fears as he felt something more important-hunger.

They kissed for an insurmountable amount of time. Usopp gasped when Sanji’s mouth finally left his, and he choked on the blood that had been left in his mouth. Sanji watched him with a predatory gaze, his eyes catlike in the dark, as he licked his lips, smearing blood onto them from his injured tongue.

“S-S-San...ji…” Usopp choked. It felt like his heart was going to burst inside his chest.

Sanji rocked Usopp and shushed him, wrapping himself around the other while he remained buried inside him. “Shhh, oh Mon ange… oh Usopp. This is the worst part. A brief moment of pain. I promise it will be over come tomorrow night. You’ll see. You won’t remember the rest of your transformation. Just this tiny bit right now.”

Usopp shook violently in Sanji’s hold, only not thrashing out of them thanks to Sanji’s great strength. He felt the bite wounds on his neck and arm tingle, and itch, as the nerves around those bite marks he hadn’t felt until now, came alive as if he’d been shocked. His heart was pounding, throbbing and pulsing in a terrible way. A strangled breath choked out of Usopp’s mouth, slipping past his lips unbidden as he turned to look at Sanji.

Sanji watched with a calculated expression. He looked so cold.

Usopp blinked, and the dark room had changed. He could see through the dark, and he could see Sanji’s face. Pale scars marked his body, all over in near-invisible thin white lines that Usopp hadn’t seen before. Scars left over from the hands of vampires that once had tormented him. Usopp blinked again, and Sanji’s face became lovelier. The expression he had thought was calculating and cold was a mask. And a poor mask at that. Usopp could see it now. Behind that cold stare, was the Sanji he’d always known. Sanji was worried, scared, in love, and full of self-loathing and sadness.

His blue eyes weren’t deep and dark, they were the waves of an ocean that yearned for him, for Usopp, who Sanji thought of as his harbor.

Usopp could see every bit of Sanji, all the emotions he'd missed before his heartbeat had started to race.

“Sanji…” Usopp gasped.

Sanji took Usopp’s hand and clutched it to his cheek. A single tear fell down Sanji’s cheek, and Usopp knew the things that made up that tear. A teardrop had three layers to it.

“Sanji!”

There was the first layer, an outer hydrophobic oily layer that protected a human’s tears from evaporating or spilling out onto their cheeks—unless, of course, they started to cry.

“Usopp… Usopp! Mon ange, I’m here.”

Then there was a middle aqueous, or watery, layer that transported a mixture of vitamins, salt, and other minerals and nutrients to the cornea of the eye. But largely, this layer was water and electrolytes, which explained the headache that could come from crying when they were shed.

“Sanji… you’re beautiful.”

The third layer of a teardrop was another layer of mucous that coated the cornea. Because the mucous layer is hydrophilic, it helps ensure smooth distribution of the aqueous layer over the entire eye. But the makeup of tears tended to change when one actually cried.

“Usopp,” Sanji whispered, his voice full of regret, worry, desperation, and love. Usopp hadn’t been able to hear those emotions before. But he heard them now.

There were three types of crying too. Basal tears, reflex tears, and weeping tears. Weeping tears acted as a natural painkiller. Weeping tears contained the protein-based hormones prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and Leu-enkephalin. It was Leu-enkephalin that acted like a natural painkiller.

Usopp was weeping, and so was Sanji. Usopp felt no pain, and he hoped it was the same for Sanji.

“Sanji… I love you.”

Usopp lost consciousness then.

He had bits of memories after that for the next several days. Memories of being carried somewhere, of being bathed in a large tub, and of being tucked into a lavish bed. Of Sanji tending to him and helping him feed when Usopp woke twenty-four hours later, feeling unbearably ravenous and the sudden need to rip someone apart. Usopp was rather touched when Sanji fed him from blood bags, rather than a living human.

It was a considerate thought, to worry about Usopp’s feelings towards humanity. Though Usopp had doubted if he would have cared about ripping apart a living person just then.

It was not as fast as Sanji seemed to hope, but the pain was brief. There was still some pain, but it was distant and felt like an echo that was far way from him. The real pain had been back in that house, back in the moment when it felt like his heart was bursting. Everything else was fleeting.

His life started again on day three, when he woke up in Sanji’s arms, in his bed.

Usopp sat up, a clean warm comforter spilling off his nude body. Sanji looked up at him from where he lay, his eyes wide and full of all kinds of emotions that Usopp could now see and understand.

“Usopp?”

Usopp smiled and cupped Sanji’s face, stroking his thumbs over Sanji’s cheeks. “Sanji… my beautiful Sanji. I’m here.”

Sanji sat up and kissed him and then wrapped his arms around him and quietly cried on his shoulder while Usopp stroked a hand up and down his back.

“I love you, Sanji,” Usopp whispered, this time sure he loved the man who clung to him.

His man, his monster, his beautiful vampire.

The present

Sanji frowned at Usopp’s happy declaration and shook his head. “No. No, Mon ange. I was a monster that night. I knew how scared you were. I knew you were frightened, and I still satisfied my lust and changed you. There were better ways I could have done it-"

“No, Sanji. Don’t regret that night. I don’t. You changed me, so I could be with you,” Usopp whispered, cupping Sanji’s cheek and rubbing away the tears that were gathering in his lower lid. “I know it was frightening for me when I was human, when my mind was too small to understand. But I understand now. You weren’t a monster. You were lonely… and needed me with you.”

He pressed gentle kisses to Sanji’s distressed face. “I’m grateful for my mother’s locket. If I hadn’t dropped it, you wouldn’t have found me alone. If I hadn’t been alone… why… Zoro could have killed you!”

Sanji snorted, even as he settled into Usopp’s hands like a puppy. “I’d like to see the moss-head try!”

Usopp chuckled, “Oh, he couldn’t do it now, but back then, even if it cost him his life, he would have killed you if you’d happened upon us all together.”

Sanji sighed and admitted, "If I hadn’t heard him say your name… I fear I might not have recognized you. It was your name, your frightened eyes, and your taste that made me remember you.”

Usopp grinned, his eyes twinkling. “My taste? You tasted me when we were children?”

“I dreamed of it,” Sanji corrected, and allowed Usopp to pull him in for a passionate kiss.

They broke apart, and Sanji glanced back at the shelf.

“When some time passed, I went back to that house and found my mother’s locket again. I’ve held onto it, and I finally moved it to our bookcase,” Usopp explained. “This bookcase has so many early memories for you. So many beloved memories. Now, it’s got some of mine. The photos of my parents, and of course the memory of reuniting with you.”

Sanji glanced worriedly at Usopp, and Usopp laughed again and reassured, "It's a good memory now, my love. I promise.”

Sanji sighed and wrapped his arms around Usopp and held him tight.

“I hate that I scared you… but I’m grateful you were happy to see me back then, even when you were afraid.”

“New things have always scared me,” Usopp sighed, stroking a hand down Sanji’s hair. “You grumpy thing. I can’t believe you’d ever think I’d put something there as a reminder to hurt you.”

“My stupidity still shows itself, it seems. I thought I’d left it behind when I stopped being human,” Sanji sighed. He kissed a faint scar on Usopp’s throat and apologized again. “I am sorry, Mon ange. I knew better than to get mad like that.”

Usopp chuckled, “You just like to get mad sometimes so we can fight and then have passionate sex after.”

Sanji giggled but didn’t deny it.

They stood quietly for a moment until there was a knock on their door.

They turned in unison as it opened and saw Zoro. Zoro was just like them now, as were most of Usopp’s old friends. There were just two left… or there had been two left.

“Brook and Jinbe woke up,” Zoro announced with a subtle smile at the corner of his mouth. “Nami, Luffy, Vivi, and Franky are with them now, helping them eat. Robin and Chopper are getting them some new clothes and more blood. They’re very hungry! But I think it would help them if all of you were there. It’s been a long time since they’ve seen you, Usopp.”

Usopp grinned. After his first year of being turned, Usopp had expressed his desire for his friends to be turned as well. Sanji, eager to please his lover had agreed to help find them. And so Usopp hunted his friends down, determined to bring them to their side. It had taken ten years of hunting to get them all, but as of a week ago, they had finally caught the last two.

The freedom of losing your humanity was a gift, and nothing to fear.

It’d been a long ten years, but with Jinbe and Brook’s transformation, it was finally all settled.

“We’ll be down,” Usopp said cheerfully, and then tugged Sanji with him as he walked for the door.

Sanji sighed, “I was hoping we could cuddle.”

"Tonight, love, and even more than that,” Usopp promised.

Zoro snorted, “Gross!” And then left, laughing as Sanji glared at him.

“I regret not killing him that night,” Sanji growled. “I could have. I could have followed him and Brook before they got to that river—"

“If you had, and you had killed him, I don’t think I would have loved you as much as I do now,” Usopp said, smiling at his lover. “I think I would have allowed you to turn me only so I could kill you myself.”

Sanji sighed and shifted to curl his arm around Usopp’s shoulder and held him closer. “Ah, you are probably right. Oh well. In the next life, hmm? Surely I won’t have to endure Zoro another lifetime.”

Usopp laughed and kissed Sanji. “If there is another life, one after this one, I hope we are still together in it.”

“Ah, that would be nice,” Sanji agreed. “Maybe I’m on another Baratie… and you fall in love with me again.”

“You’d still be too scared to tell me you love me,” Usopp sighed, sounding regretful. But he shot a smile at Sanji before the other could worry. “So, maybe I’d have to steal you first next time?”

Sanji smiled, clinging to Usopp as they walked side by side. “Oh? Stealing, eh? Are you a thief?”

“Even better!” Usopp announced, his brown eyes sparkling. “I’m a pirate!”

Sanji grinned the whole walk down to greet the newly awakened friends, listening intently to Usopp’s tales of them as pirates on the sea, in search of treasure, adventure, and happiness.

It was not such a bad story.


The End