#alucard

you’ve known adrian for a long, long time. you’ve watched civilizations rise and fall with his hand in yours. you’ve spent countless winters with him. time has slipped through your fingers like shadows running long during the winter solstice.

but you’ve never bared yourself to him like this. skin stripped raw with a vulnerability that felt more unnatural than sharing a bed with him, pressed skin-to-skin to counteract the colder northern climate.

the tub is warm, water just hot enough to blush your skin, but not enough to scald. your arms wrap around your chest, trying to keep adrian’s eyes off the goosebump-speckled flesh.

with your back turned to him, it should be easy to pretend he’s not there at all. however, adrian’s deft fingers work into your scalp, kneading the skin and pressing into your pounding temples.

he doesn’t even flinch at the blood staining the water a muddled red.

the sight of it sickens your stomach, curdling your intestines and making bile rise to your throat. the very process disgusted you nearly to the point of illness- were you not in pain for a week every lunar phase it could have been a minor inconvenience at best. but the world is not kind; horrible nausea, cramping like being hit with rocks repeatedly in your gut leaving you bed bound for days, and bleeding enough to soak through the bedsheets.

adrian hums, grabbing your attention. you incline your head to show you’re listening. “if you think it would be helpful, i can rub your lower back to ease some of the pain. only with your permission of course.”

you nod, and the water sloshes slightly around you as his hands sink under the water and hover against your waist. tension could tight in your gut as his fingers press into the dimples of your back, touch gentle enough to be noticeable but not intrusive.

adrian sighs through his nose, clearly gathering his thoughts. “i know it might not mean much to you,” he starts, and you have to suppress the urge to turn and look at him. not now- not with your chest exposed to him, bared for all the world to see and leer at. “but your body does not define you.”

you scoff. “that is easy for you to say, my love. the amount of times you have been mistaken as a girl is more than i can count on one hand.” adrian’s androgynous appearance made you simmer with jealousy, but you would never admit that to him. his vampiric beauty lended nicely to his body and made him appear ethereal to the average person.

“i’m well aware of that fact.” adrian responds, hands raising above the water and returning to his side to reach for the cloth resting on the rim of the tub, “yet i wanted to tell you anyway. even if you may not internalize it. you have always been my husband in all but name, and nothing your body does will change that.”

tears gather in your eyes at the factual tone adrian addresses you with. he speaks the praise like it is fact, written in stone and signed in blood. your breath stutters as you fight the burning in your throat. “you don’t mean that.”

“oh, but i do. it’s truth the same way night will fade into day.” adrian says, letting a hand rest on your shoulder. you turn to face him this time, a single tear escaping your waterline. “your body doesn’t define you, my love. my husband.” he presses a kiss to your temple, gentle and reverent.