Chapter Text
A new pain in his neck jolted Jean back to dizzy awareness. He could feel a rough brick wall at his back, disgustingly damp and slimy with God only knew what. The last thing he remembered was stepping out of the club to smoke. He’d looked up after lighting his cigarette to see a pair of glowing eyes. There’d been a sharp pricking sensation, followed by a lethargic numbness, and then everything had gone hazy. He didn’t know where he was or how he’d gotten there, but something was very, very wrong.
There was a sucking sensation at his throat, and a new wave of dizziness crashed over him. Jean reached up, his hand colliding with something solid and covered with cloth. A person? He tried to push away, but it was like all the strength was gone from his arms. His breath was coming fast and shallow, his heart beating quick and irregular in his chest as panic set in. He had to get away from there. Had to get help.
“Guys? Guys, I think we should stop. Didn’t it seem like we got too much blood?” The voice sounded young, nervous. Jean’s eyes briefly fluttered open, but all he could see were three blurry silhouettes.
“Would you relax? We’ve done this a hundred times; we’re not gonna drink for too long. He’ll just have a nice little nap and wake up a bit woozy, that’s all.”
“Dude, the bites aren’t closing, what the fuck?!”
“...Is that a medic alert bracelet?”
“Let me…” Jean felt fingers pluck at his wrist, turning the band over. “Hemophilia A, severe.”
The hands holding Jean up let go, and he slid down the wall, his legs unable to support him. The voices continued arguing above his head.
“Shit! Shit, what do we do?! Do we take him to a hospital?”
“And get staked for feeding without consent? Are you out of your fucking mind?!”
“Then what do we do?!”
“We get the fuck outta here before someone finds the body. C’mon!”
Footsteps pounded down the pavement away from him, and Jean tried to reach into his pocket for his phone to call for help, call a friend, anything , but his hands wouldn’t obey him. It was getting hard to think, his thoughts scattering before a wave of unconsciousness that threatened to drag him under, only one thing managing to stay clear in the forefront of his mind.
I’m going to die.
“Jean? Hey, what’s taking so long? We’re ready to go; where the fuck are you?”
Eren’s voice drifted over from the opposite direction that the assailants had gone. Jean stirred and tried to answer, but nothing other than a soft groan escaped from his lips.
It was apparently enough for Eren. “Hey, what’re you doing back-” His voice cut off in a gasp. A moment later, hands were gingerly touching his throat. “Fuck. What happened? There’s so much blood…” Jean forced his eyes open to see Eren kneeling over him, his face gone pale under his tan. Eren twisted away and shouted over his shoulder, “Levi!” Then he turned back to Jean. “Just stay with me, Kirschstein. We’re gonna get you help, but I can’t tie a tourniquet around your neck, so you have to stay awake until help gets here, okay? Just stay with me.”
Jean tried to do what Eren said, but his face kept swimming in and out of focus, and the sound of his voice faded away as everything went black.
“Jean!”
The next thing Jean was aware of was something warm and wet sliding down his tongue and into his throat. It was metallic yet sweet at the same time, and Jean swallowed whatever it was on pure instinct.
It was then that the pain hit him, every nerve in his body lighting up with it. He convulsed, his heart giving a painful lurch in his chest. Jean gasped, sucking in lungfuls of air as his eyes watered. Hands held his shoulders down, and Jean blinked to clear his eyes. Mikasa was looking down at him, and he realized belatedly that his head was lying in her lap. Her gaze moved to Jean’s right, and he followed it to see Levi stepping away from him, a handkerchief pressed against his wrist.
Levi looked to the side, not meeting his eyes. “Sorry. You didn’t have a pulse. You would have been dead before an ambulance could get here.”
Jean looked down at the bloody cloth in Levi’s hand and put it together with the taste still lingering in his mouth and realized with a sudden flash of clarity what the vampire must have done when Eren had frantically called him over to Jean’s rapidly bleeding-out body.
He tried to sit up, but Mikasa pushed him back down. “Stay still.”
Levi crossed his arms over his chest, his brows furrowing together as the silence between them stretched out. Finally, Jean sighed, too exhausted to be angry and mostly just relieved to be - sort of - still alive. “This doesn’t mean I have to call you ‘Daddy,’ now, does it?”
“Try it and you’ll be shitting out your own teeth,” Levi growled, the tension leaving his shoulders. “Mikasa. Get Kirschstein out of here and somewhere safe; you know what to do for the turning. Eren.” Levi started to walk deeper into the alley. “Feel like going hunting?”
Eren grinned, his teeth already turning long and sharp in his jaws as he shifted into his lycan form. “I thought you’d never ask.”
One of the perks of working at a hospital, even if his position was basically that of a receptionist with extra duties, was that Jean didn’t have to go through all sorts of registration hoops and bureaucratic red tape in order to receive an allotment of donated blood. The hospital took care of their non-human employees well, at least.
Jean sighed and tossed the empty plastic bag from his “lunch” into the biohazard receptacle. He looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching, but it was only Hanji, not a patient or one of the few visitors allowed to stay overnight, so he relaxed and leaned against the desk with his chin propped up on his fist. “Hey, Dr. Zoe.”
“Hi, Jean. How’s your shift going?”
“Dead quiet. Speaking of, how’re things down in the fridge?”
“I can’t complain. Neither can they, thankfully. It’s never a good sign when they do.” Hanji peered at him over the rim of their glasses. “Although I’m glad you’re not down there on one of the slabs right now.”
Jean hummed in agreement. “I suppose I can’t complain, either, all things considered. Just-”
“Just don’t say anything to Armin when he gets back.” Hanji shook their head. “You’re going to have to tell him sooner or later. Waiting isn’t going to make it any easier.”
Jean straightened the pens on his desk. “It might…” Hanji arched an eyebrow, and Jean’s shoulders slumped. “I just...need time to get all this sorted out myself. I’ll talk to him when I’m ready.”
Hanji reached out to ruffle his hair, and Jean huffed and ducked his head away, making them laugh. “It’ll be okay; you’ll see.”
“I hope so.”
“Jean!” Armin waved at him from the baggage claim and then hurried toward him, dragging his suitcase behind him. He let it go just before they crashed into each other in order to wrap his arms around Jean’s ribs instead. “I missed you.”
“Me, too.” Jean returned the hug and buried his face in Armin’s hair. It was getting long again, he noticed.
They pulled apart, and Armin held Jean at arm’s length, eyeing him critically. “Are you feeling alright? You look kind of pale.”
Jean shrugged off Armin’s hands and reached for the suitcase he’d abandoned. “Just third shift kicking my ass, I guess. I don’t get outside much during the day.” He started leading the way out to the parking lot, adjusting his sunglasses and ballcap more securely to cover his face. It was a myth that vampires couldn’t go out during the day, he’d discovered. He’d always known that Levi and Mikasa didn’t have any trouble with it, but they’d been born vampires, which made them a little different. Jean felt a bit uncomfortable and weak in sunlight, but as long as he wore long sleeves and pants and kept his face and eyes shaded, he was fine.
“Well, we can fix that. Eren and I were planning to go to the beach Saturday, and I already know you have it off, too, so why don’t you come with us? We can get the whole group together.”
Jean paused as he lifted the suitcase up into the trunk of his car before recovering and sliding it in place. “Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun.” He smiled at Armin, who beamed back, and Jean shoved down his misgivings as he slid into the car.
Despite it being last minute, they actually managed to get almost everyone there. Mikasa and Marco had both had to work that day and hadn’t been able to make it, but Hanji and Levi - mostly Hanji - had gotten Erwin and Mike to come along. Jean had parked himself under a beach umbrella next to Levi’s and gotten comfortable. So far, so good; no problems except the heat making him drowsy, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d slept most of the day away on the beach while the others ran around, thanks to working third shift.
“Erwin, zinc me.”
Armin paused from rubbing sunscreen into Jean’s back, and they both looked to their left to see Levi shaking a small tube at Erwin.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. Or do your eyebrows absorb all sound and prevent it from reaching your ears?”
Erwin rolled his eyes, but it looked like he was fighting down a smile. “I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of reaching your own nose .”
“Well, some of us can’t use mirrors and I don’t want to look like I’ve been taking make-up lessons from a drunken clown, so zinc me.”
Just then, Eren - in full wolf form - came bounding up between their umbrellas. He vigorously shook seawater off himself, pulling a startled yelp from Jean and a stream of curses from Levi. Then he headbutted Armin’s hip and nudged him toward the water.
“Alright, I’m coming.” Armin laughed and got up to follow Eren further down the beach.
Levi brushed droplets off the cover of his book and shook his head at Erwin. “And you wanted a pet.”
A little while later, Armin came back to coax Jean to join a game of volleyball with Connie and Sasha. Jean went along with him, figuring he’d put on enough sunscreen to be okay for twenty minutes. He tried to ignore Levi humming the Funeral March under his breath. How bad could it be?
It was bad.
“Holy fuck, that hurts,” Jean hissed between clenched teeth. He’d tried to stay under the umbrella as much as possible, and kept reapplying his sunscreen, but even the brief amount of time he’d spent out in the sun had been enough to make him as red as a boiled lobster.
Armin carefully smoothed some more aloe vera into his back. “I’ve never seen you burn this badly. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I started a new medicine; one of the side-effects is I’m more sensitive to sunlight.” It was a bald-faced lie, and Jean inwardly cringed, berating himself for not having the courage to just tell Armin he’d been turned.
Armin hummed and spread more of the lotion down Jean’s arm. “Jean.” Armin’s hands stilled on his arm. “Why aren’t you wearing your medical alert bracelet?”
“Oh, um, that…” The truth was, he wasn’t wearing it because apparently vampirism cured hemophilia. “A, uh, a link broke, and I lost it. I’m just waiting for a new one to get engraved.” Shit, he’d have to remember to keep wearing the damned thing for now.
“Oh, okay. Just be careful, alright? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Too late.
Jean gingerly sat up and pulled Armin into his lap. “I will. Thank you.” Jean tilted his head, his lips meeting Armin’s in a slow, unhurried kiss. When they pulled apart, he ran his fingers through Armin’s hair. “I love you.”
“Mm.” Armin leaned into Jean’s chest. “I love you, too.”
“You’re supposed to say, ‘I know.’”
Armin snorted in response before sitting up with a sigh. “It’s getting late. Do you want a ride home?”
“Nah. My back hurts like hell, but I think I can handle driving. Goodnight, Armin.”
“Goodnight.”