#ditn

It's been eating at Steven for days now and he couldn't get it out of his mind.

He saw you enter the alleyways, he knows he did. He could recognize you easily. But next thing he knows he comes across the Silhouette and they actually talk to him, and they sounded like you. But it couldn't have been you. It just couldn't. Steven refused to believe such a thing.

He and the rest of the system know what the Silhouette is and they don't really hide it either with how they talked about what they do and why even if they themself never actually confirmed it, and you just couldn't be that. You couldn't possibly be a vampire.

Vampires were bloody-thirsty beings that went out looking for someone or something to get their meals from. And that just wasn't you. You could be such a thing. You never loomed over him. Never looked like you had some plan in your eyes.

But then again you never go out in the day, apparently sleeping due to... something regarding your lifestyle or work. Did you ever actually say what you did that would cause that? Your strict liquid diet. Your collection of antiques. The closed curtains in the day. Your interesting decor. The photo of who you say is your relative that you look exactly like through some weird genetic lottery.

No. No. That's ridiculous. This is ridiculous. You aren't a blood-sucking vampire. You were too ni-

"Jeez, what's got you in a twist, huh Steven?" Jake intrudes in the middle of Steven's train if thought. "Nothing. It's nothing." Steven claims to his co-alter. "It doesn't seem like nothing I can feel you thinking yourself into knots in here." Jake says, "Mind telling me what that is, amigo?" Jake asks again.

Steven sighs with a bit of a groan at the tail end of it, "Something strange happened a few nights back when I was doing the rounds around the block." Steven admitted, but Jake's silence was a tell that Jake wanted him to be more specific. "I saw Y/N leaving into the alleys. I thought that was odd so I followed them a bit because that's the alleyway and I wanted to make sure nothing happened to them. But I lost them at some point and when I did, that Silhouette person showed up and talked to me, I think they thought I was Marc." Steven explained further. "And?" Jake questioned. "It's stupid. I'm just getting in my own mind." Steven claimed again. "What was so weird about it, Steven?" Jake prods. "They sounded like them." Steven finally confesses.

"You think they're the same person?" Jake asks.

"I didn't say that." Steven idly corrects.

"So you're all caught up on the fact that they sound alike but you also don't think that they're the same person?" Jake inquires with a tone that holds skepticism towards Steven's reasonings. "I don't know..." Steven mutters before switching back to being more confident in his idea, "No. No. They aren't the same person. They just can't be." Steven proclaims. "Why not?" Jake counters.

"Because they just can't be, Jake! I have a hard time believing that they could ever be such a thing." Steven exclaims. "Vampires are unsettling and just want to drink blood and use trickery and other things to get it. I've never felt that way with them. I've never felt in danger around them, if anything I worry about them being in danger or getting hurt." Steven explains. "So your reasoning is that they're too pretty and polite to be a vampire?" Jake remarks.

"What the bloody hell are you trying to get at here, Jake?" Steven snaps back.

Jake's silent for a moment, but only a short moment before speaking again. "Give me the body." he requests, "I have something to show you.".

🩸🩸🩸

It was a short track, about ten minutes, down to a rentable garage that the system knew was where Jake kept all his things for his work like his cars and equipment. Marc and Steven never went or looked through to see it because it didn't have much for them. But Jake has asked Steven to stay co-fronting as Jake made the walk.

"What exactly do you want to show me?" Steven asks from the reflection in a building window as Jake waits d for the crossing light the change, "You'll see." Jake says casually. "I don't like the ambiance of this, mate." Steven comments as he stands in the glass, "I'm not a fan of surprises, especially when it's something from you." he adds.

"It's not a surprise, Steven. I just don't have good words to explain it, so the best action is to just show you." Jake explains. "Once this is all done you'll understand and know." Jake claims before continuing to walk. "I don't like how you're beating around the bush, you know that?" Steven calls out to him before moving along with him.

Soon enough, the two make it to the garage. Everything was still in place. The same cars and sets of various things say for a mini fridge on a table and a cooler set below the table Steven doesn't remember being there before. He takes a moment to think about it but settles on the idea that maybe he and Marc have just never noticed them before. But he realizes that whatever there is to see involves these things when Jake saunters towards the table. Casually opening the freezer part, taking out two ice packs, and placing one in the bottom of the cooler.

"Jake," Steven asserts, "What could you possibly have in store for you to need a cooler and bloody mini-fridge in your gara-" Steven was stunned out of finishing his sentence when Jake opened the actual fridge part to reveal blood bags, and a lot of them packed inside.

"What the hell!" Steven exclaims in horror at the display, having such a strong reaction that the body staggers slightly even though he isn't entirely fronting. Jake finds their footing and starts reaching into the fridge to grab one but Steven takes control of the body and yanks their hand back. "Jake, what in the bloo- what in the fuck is wrong with you?" Steven yells looking towards the window of one of the cars, seeing Jake looking back at him.

"It's a long story. I'll explain when everything is done." Jake says. "No! No! Absolutely not." Steven interjects, "You are explaining everything to me right now. Do you understand me?" Steven demands. Jake shrugs "Alright.", "But close the fridge door, the blood needs to stay cool or else it goes bad." he adds.

Steven shuts his eyes to avoid seeing the bags when he closes the door before looking back to Jake, "Spill." he demands again.

"Those are for Y/N. I found out that they were not only a vampire, but that they were that Silhouette person. Both because they sound the fucking same and because I accidentally saw them chase someone down. They didn't kill them but they did do some weird power thing so that they don't remember what happened and let the person go. I didn't mean to spy on them that time. I was just scouting around and happened to witness that without them seeing me." Jake started explaining. "But, I was worried about our safety so I... might have paid them a visit while they were sleeping." he then details, hesitating to admit that he broke into your flat. Steven was about the tear him a new one but Jake stopped him with a "Let me finish.". "I just looked around. I found them in the coffin in their living room because of course I did. They were... sleep? Or something. Whatever happens to vampires when it's daylight, I don't know." Jake shrugged. "Again. I did nothing to anything or to them, I just saw what I needed to see and left." he clarifies.

"After that I caught them walking the alleyways again and, while disguised, told them that I knew who they were and that all I wanted was for them to keep their fangs off you and technically Marc. And they did, they said they weren't planning on it anyways-" Jake picks back up but Steven comes into the talk. "You told them about us?" Steven questions. "I didn't say that." Jake corrects, "I told them to not hurt you and 'Moonknight', so technically Marc. They know nothing about this." Jake clears up as he points between his place in the reflection and where Steven is.

"And you didn't tell me when you learned all this why?" Steven asks, upset at being left out of the loop, "I mean- I feel like I'm experiencing all the same rubbish with Marc all over again." Steven rambles in disappointment. "I had to make sure we were safe or in danger before doing anything. I was doing my job being part of this system." Jake defends. "I get that you're mad but I was doing this to keep us safe. I would have let you figure it out but you were driving yourself nuts and I didn't know how to explain it to you without you actually losing it." Jake apologizes. "You telling me would have been nice." Steven remarks.

"You didn't even want to believe vampires existed at first. How was I meant to break the news to you that your little crush was a vampire? Plus I didn't know if they were aiming to eat from you because you're so trusting of them or not until recently." Jake rants.

Steven rubs his temples to ease his head as he digests all this information. "Does Marc know?" Steven questions in a groan. "Jake shakes his head, "As far as I know, no. I don't even think he knows that they quit their work in the alleyways since you were out then." Jake answers.

"Why did they stop?" Steven asks himself. "Listen, I just started doing this to see if maybe they would take it, and they have been. We have a thing set up where I deliver the blood bags to them and they tell me when they need more. I don't really know why they're quitting." Jake claims. "They said something about 'unwanted attention' back when they thought I was Marc that night. Plus he hardly knows YN so we might as well wait till he does and then we explain it to him." Steven mentions.

Jake does a well-that-explains-it gesture but Steven stays in the thought. "Maybe they really are in trouble. Lots of trouble." Steven worries.

"Listen, hermano. We can worry about all that later. But right now I think we should finish the delivery. Yeah?" Jake gestures to the mini-fridge. "I can finish it for you if you want. You seemed kinda disturbed by the-" Jake offers but Steven buds in, "No, I can do it." he says.

Jake tells Steven how to pack the blood bags into the cooler properly and make the walk back to the flats.

🩸🩸🩸

Steven spends a moment staring at your flat's front door. He's made the ten-minute walk back from the garage, past the front desk, and up the elevator, all he had to do was knock. But he felt oddly nervous and hesitant. Like, some part of him still didn't want to believe that he was actually delivering blood bags for you to feed off of because you're really a vampire.

"Are you sure they're awake?" Steven whispers. "It's about five-forty or so and it's getting dark out now. I'm sure they're up. They might actually be waiting." Jake answers, "Have your keys ready to head into our flat so they don't see us." Jake mentions, Steven following the instruction and unlocking the door to his flat so he could pull it off.

With a deep breath, he places the cooler at the door, does the knocking rhythm that Jake taught him, and slips into his flat without making too much sound.

Steven stands with his ear pressed to the door, hearing what sounds like your door open, then promptly close. He waits a moment before opening the door again and peaking out into the hall and looking at your flat. The cooler is gone.

Upon this sight, Steven pulls back into his flat and turns towards the rest of it but just stays standing there, looking towards the ground as he tries to process this now.

You are a vampire... that's... okay. That's perfectly fine. That's just how you are. That's great to have in mind. Now everything odd about you has an explanation and he can make everything vampire-friendly for you when you come over and he knows to overlook everything at your place. He now knows your secret. Without your knowing.

"Should I tell them that I know?" Steven ponders to Jake. "Well, you'll have to explain how and that would snowball into you having to explain everything about us." Jake remarks, "And I think we should at least have Marc in on it." Jake sarcastically suggests.

"Tell me what?" Marc's voice comes in as if it were on cue. Steven and Jake let out stressed groans before Jake chimes in "Steven, go sit down and get the mirrors.".