Chapter Text
The following morning, Ren walks with a slight spring to his step, sliding down the railing of the stairs and sticking the landing on the floor. Once in the kitchen, he starts on a cup of coffee, spinning his stirring stick like a pen.
Dracula takes a long drink of his tea and glances over. With a nod, he looks back at his book while Ganondorf reads over his shoulder.
Makoto enters the kitchen next and pats Ren’s shoulder, planting a kiss on his cheek.
Ann gently turns to the two, concerned.
She leans forward, not quite sure what she’s looking at when she sees Makoto. Ann finally asks, “So, what’s with the yokai?”
“With how Makoto died, you can imagine she’d be reborn as a vengeful spirit,” Ren tartly explains.
“I figured, I was just confused, because I saw a kitsune sleeping in Ryuji’s room.”
“Yeah, that’s Yusuke.” Ren pours the coffee and leans against the wall. “Honestly, this castle is already weird; you should expect the surrounding woods to be weird, too.”
Dracula scoffs and closes his book. “I believe you and Makoto also have something to discuss.”
Suddenly, all eyes are on Ren and Makoto. Leaf holds the spoon from her cereal in her mouth and tilts her head, accidentally getting some of her hair in her food. Dracula tenderly ties her hair into a ponytail and glances at
Ren expectantly.
Ren and Makoto exchange glances awkwardly. Makoto moves her head slightly closer, lightly raising her eyebrows.
Ren, in turn, furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head for a second.
She rolls her eyes and tilts her head towards the others. He sighs and shakes his head.
They exchange glances again.
Finally, the two announce simultaneously, “We’re engaged.”
Ren follows it up quickly, “Makoto and I plan on getting married when this is all over.”
Ann nearly chokes on her toast and beats her chest for a moment. Morgana nods and smiles. Leaf removes the spoon, chews, swallows, and smiles to let her teeth show.
When Ren looks at Dracula and Ganondorf, they both nod approvingly.
Gradually, the others start to go on with their day until Ganondorf and Dracula are the only ones left in the kitchen.
The vampire’s eyes shift to his hands. He toys with the ring on his finger. The ring that serves as a constant reminder of his past and the mistakes he’s made and will continue to make. The reminder to never make that mistake again.
Dracula toys with it while leaving it on his ring finger, then he glances at Ganondorf, then back at his hand. He removes the ring from his finger and stares at it for a few moments.
Ganondorf carefully holds Dracula’s other hand. When he notices, Dracula doesn’t pull away. He sets the ring on the table and looks at the man across from him.
What are we?
I know we aren’t what I think we are, right? It’s just a simple fling. There isn’t anything serious there.
Right?
Do I even want this to end, though?
Why am I even asking myself these questions? I should be okay with the fling just ending one day.
Dracula holds his hand tighter and notices Ganondorf staring. Almost lovingly.
He doesn’t pull away or protest. He simply stays.
The voe tilts his head slightly and brushes some of Dracula’s hair behind his ear. “Interesting.”
“Hm?” Dracula makes eye contact, not quite sure what he means.
“I don’t think I remember the last time I saw you with black hair. Not in a new release, that is. Re-releases and remakes don’t count.”
“I figured I forgot something,” Dracula cringes, only imagining what he could possibly look like.
“I’m not saying the white fading to black looks bad, the black hair suits you. I think it’s very elegant.”
“Really? I can’t stand it, how much of it is black?” he quickly takes some of his hair in his hands and notices most of it has turned black-- the silver has been growing out, and he hasn’t noticed. “Too much. The one time I’d like to have a reflection.”
“Can I ask why you don’t like it?”
“It’s just the color I was born with. Reminds me that I used to be human, and it bothers me. Besides, most game code requires I have silver hair anyway, so there isn’t much of a point to keeping it my natural color. Takes up a lot of my magic to maintain, though.” Before Ganondorf can say anything, Dracula quickly adds, “Before you ask, the answer is yes.”
Ganondorf immediately blushes and stammers, “I- uh- how- how did you know I was about to ask?!”
“Because it’s the immediate follow-up question when it comes to unnaturally colored hair. I would not like to discuss it right now.”
“Understandable. I shouldn’t have even thought of it.”
“I’m not trying to shame you for asking. It’s just something I’d rather not discuss in the kitchen.”
Dracula quickly kisses him and leaves to attend to other matters around the castle. Leaving Ganondorf to sit there alone in confusion.
Though he feels bad for toying with the voe’s emotions like this, it makes handling his own feelings on the matter easier.
The only thing he regrets is how much doing this would really hurt him.
Why am I like this?
Why is it that I keep getting in my own way?
Is my ego really this fragile?
Dracula stops at the door to the kitchen and turns to Ganondorf, who stands up and goes nearby. Before the vampire has the chance to really say anything, Ganondorf pulls him into a hug.
It’s far from the reaction Dracula expected, but instead of fighting it, he lets himself be held for a while.
“It takes a manipulative bastard to know when he’s being manipulated,” Ganondorf jokes.
“Things just feel complicated,” Dracula admits, pulling away in an attempt to avoid the conversation.
“I know.”
“Ren announcing his engagement just got me thinking about it, is all. I’ve been keeping myself calm about our current arrangement by just calling it a casual fling, but I don’t even know if that’s true.”
“We can cross the bridge when we get there. I agree that this isn’t something casual anymore, but there isn’t much to be done right now. We can go at your pace right now.”
“Alright. Thanks for putting up with my nonsense, by the way. I can be… indecisive when it comes to relationships.”
“I understand why. I’m just also willing to let you take all the time you need. You’ve been through the wringer canonically, and it isn’t fair to either of us to rush into something when we aren’t ready for it.”
“Sounds out of character for you.”
“I’m allowed to be aware of when it’s too soon to do something because of a traumatic backstory.”
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Ann stares at her phone while she lies in bed. Photos of her and Shiho pass her by as she mindlessly scrolls through her old photos. She stops at an older picture and sits up.
She starts to wonder who she really cares about romantically.
It certainly isn’t Ryuji-- perhaps for a while, but not anymore. She’s long moved on from that brief crush.
Who else is there?
No other men seem to be willing to be with her.
Ren is with Makoto, Yusuke is clearly gay, but we haven’t talked about it yet, Morgana is a cat no matter how much he wants to be with me, Ryuji likes Yusuke, Little Mac wasn’t interested in relationships while he was around. Ganondorf isn’t just gay, he is head over heels for Dracula… and centuries older than me. Same goes for Dracula, who probably sees me more like a daughter anyway.
Who else is there?
I mean, there’s Shiho, right?
But we’re both girls? And why would she even want to be with me after I kept putting myself in harm’s way to protect her? I could’ve saved her sooner.
“Why am I hung up on this?” She asks herself, lying back down. “Gay people don’t even bother me, so why is the possibility of me being gay so… wrong?”
She rolls out of bed, stuffs her phone in a pocket, and goes to look for a listening ear.
Eventually, she finds herself in Dracula’s study and sits across the desk from him.
He glances up from his record-keeping materials and asks, “Ann. Did you need something?”
“I need a listening ear,” she explains, “After what Ren announced yesterday, I’ve been thinking about things.”
“I’ll listen.”
“I’ve been trying to figure out who I really like romantically, but there’s someone always crawling in the back of my mind, but she’s a girl. My best friend, basically. I’m okay with other people being in gay relationships… It’s just?”
“You don’t think it applies to you because of your line of work as a model?”
“That could be part of it. I just want my family to be proud of me.”
“Should that come at the cost of how you want to live your life? It’s very individualistic, I know. But, there comes a time in everyone’s life where they have to decide if getting the approval of their parents is more important than their own peace.”
“How do you know that?”
“The funny thing about growing up in Medieval Europe is that you’re basically destined to do the thing your father did, who did what his father did, so on and so forth. I was supposed to be a knight, and for a very long time, I was. Eventually, I wised up and abandoned it for good. I still have the titles I earned, but I don’t do it anymore.”
“What about your family? If you were the heir, wouldn’t everyone be upset?”
“Likely. I just didn’t concern myself with it once I had become a vampire. I didn’t have a reason to look back. Where I’m going with this is that worrying about your family legacy goes against the rebellious spirit that I know you and your friends have.”
“... Now that I think about it, you have a point.”
“Yes. What’s the point in worrying about a problem that doesn’t exist? If your family supports it, great. It shouldn’t be the first thing you worry about. So, what do you think when you ignore factors like that?”
Ann answers without missing a beat, “I’m in love with Shiho, and I worry about her every day.”
“Now, was that so hard?”
“No. But I definitely feel better now. Thanks for listening.”
Dracula nods in acknowledgement and watches as Ann stands up and leaves the room.
Just before she leaves the room, Ann smiles at Dracula. Then, without another word, she practically skips away, back to her room.
She tosses herself back onto her bed and relaxes. Kicking her feet and holding her phone to her chest.