Returned (Diabolik Lovers x Reader)

Chapter 8

You awake with your face buried in your knees. You check the digital clock on your nightstand and grumble with drowsiness. It seems that your body has woken itself up which is frustrating, but still better than being greeted by Ayato only inches from your neck first thing in the morning. You can afford to lose a few minutes of sleep if it means you don't have to deal with that.

You quickly throw on whatever decent clothes you can find at the bottom of your drawer, though you pause for a moment, taking a second to consider the items you hold. Ayato was is annoying. You run your fingers through your hair in a weak attempt to get rid of tangles before opening the door and strolling out. You look left and right to make sure you wouldn't be jinxing yourself and stumble upon another brother. After deciding the coast is clear, you nod to yourself and continue on.

Only after a few steps into the corridor, the air swishes around you and you find that your back is met by the cold hard wall. Perplexing. There's a hand on your shoulder and another on your right side like some kind of fucked up dance move. More perplexing. You slowly look up to see Reiji. What a nasty way to start off your day.

You expect some kind of retort from him, maybe you managed to violate yet another unspoken rule. In the slim moments you'd appreciated the open air, maybe appreciation of the air happened to violate one of his rules. He certainly seems like he wants you to stop breathing. His eyebrows are ever so slightly pinched and his mouth is pulled into a fine line, but otherwise, he keeps his regular poker face.

You squint at him, tilting your head in confusion. It feels weird. He's not acting the way you expected him to. It feels so weird, you don't like it.

"Yes?" you question after a few more awkward moments, almost allowing a small quiver in your voice to be shown through your otherwise perfect mask of bored puzzlement. You're this close to snapping and yelling at him for ruining your morning. You know it won't end well, but it's reeaaaaally tempting. Reiji looked as though he would either kiss you or kill you. You hope it's neither, or prefer it to be the latter.

Reiji pauses. Never in your one and a half weeks staying here have you ever seen Reiji hesitate, though he recovers rather quickly before you can make any obvious physical reaction about it.

"It has occurred to me that no matter how impossibly obscure the chance of it happening is, I may have interacted with you in the past. Do you have any recollection of myself prior to your arrival at the mansion? Am I in any way familiar to you?"

"Hmm... Well, you don't look familiar, but..." No one looked familiar, if you knew him, you wouldn't know. You don't remember much before, and now it's been about a year and a bit. Sure, you had memories from earlier, but they feel like mere memories rather than things you'd experienced. If you knew him, if you had met, you wouldn't remember. It's not the first time you'd had to mumble your way through an interaction with someone you 'knew', though, you don't suppose the excuse of having a recognisable face would please Reiji. Fuck pleasing Reiji. You hold your tongue for a moment.

If you sift through times you can remember when you were younger, you must have had friends when you were little, thinking otherwise feels wrong so you choose to believe you had some kind of childhood social life. You chose to believe you had a good life in the times you couldn't remember, even if that feels wrong. You chose to believe that the churn in your stomach when you pulled memories from a time that wasn't yours was a good thing.

Your eyes wander to the side as you consider your next words carefully. You're not one to deny yourself, but you know you aren't going to find some long lost childhood best friend in his eyes. You don't feel yourself when you speak, your aim is to placate the man and leave. "...Truthfully, I do feel like I've known you before. Almost like we met ages ago...but that wouldn't be possible, would it?" you assured.

Reiji starts to stare at you so intently you feel like your body is heating up from the intensity. Funny, considering the places he's holding you are starkly cold. If his expression weren't so stoic you'd think his hand would go for your throat next with the way his posture tightened as you spoke.

"...okay. If there's nothing else, I'll leave now," you attempt your best polite grin. Knowing Reiji, he might just find another reason to scold you again if you were to leave discourteously. Yeah, that's what Reiji would do. You give a short nod before ducking under his arm and walking away.

You continue down the hallway, though you sneak a glance back and see the vampire standing straight again and adjusting his glasses. Freed from whatever temporary paralysis held him, you make no effort to try to hide your gaze, but he doesn't turn to look at you.

Moonlight streaks through the tall windows, leaving long sharp casts on the carpet. You pause momentarily to admire the moon outside, the contrasting colours of gold and pitch black garnering your interest. Your eyes linger on the scenery as you start to continue your stroll through the mansion.

You beat your record of a few quiet moments with three steps before you bump into a tall figure.

"Why the fuck are you up so early?" You don't even have to look up to know you're going to make eye contact with a familiar white-haired vampire. His frustrated tone only gives his identity away even more.

"Late," you correct.

He growls, the white-haired 'man' actually growls.

"I woke involuntarily and couldn't fall asleep again," you supply.

"Oh." Subaru's 'poker' face almost makes you laugh, since his expression is always either on 'angry' mode or 'emo' mode.

"...ok. See ya."

Subaru's eye twitches before giving a grunt and vanishing in thin air. Cool. You heave a sigh and purse your lips; seriously, what must you do to get a quiet morning all to yourself?

You continue your walk and come to a stop when you're just milliseconds away from hitting a pillar. It takes you a few moments to realise that your wandering has led you to the lounge. It's always the damn lounge. When you arrive, you notice Shuu resting on a couch with his earbuds in and his eyes closed.

You walk to the couch and stare down at him. He doesn't bother cracking open his eyes nor take out his earbuds.

"Huh..." At least he's not going to wake up and bother you. Maybe you can bother him instead.

"Hm?" he mumbles groggily after you hover for a few more moments.

"G'night..." You can, but you won't, it feels like a bad idea. Might backfire. Instead, you take a few steps back, turn, and leave the room.

His mouth twists slightly in irritation from your comment and he turns his back to you. You huff and march your way out of the lobby.

As you make a left turn to a new hallway, you unfortunately bump into the last person you wanted to see. The red-haired vampire blocks your path, glaring down at you.

"Sorry," you mumble and push past him, not wanting to engage in any further conversation. You bet fifty dollars any conversation with Ayato could turn into an insult contest in less than five minutes.

He scoffs, you choose to ignore it as you pick up your pace.

"Hey!-" Ayato calls after you. You hear his footsteps resonating in the hall as he catches up to you.

"Leave me alone Ayato-"

"How dare you speak to ore-sama that way, you little-"

You pick up your pace and break into a run, dashing through the corridor and heading towards your room.