Title: Loving the Indifferent
Author: i_nv_u50
Rating: R just in case...
Warning: Slash, probably quite a bit of blood, maybe a bit of death & pillage, sort of Master/Slave atmosphere, possible slow updates, and lots of swearing XD
Claimer: The characters are mine XD (Un?)Fortunately.
Author's Notes: Yay! Can't talk too much now, gotta go get ready for tonight... but grad's coming up in two days and I'm scared T.T Although my dress is very pretty. It would look good on Craig, actually. Hmm. *art bunny pops up out of nowhere. Craig beats it to a pulp* Damn. So much for that idea... . Nevermind the fact that I haven't decided on his character design yet... I suppose Joaquin could give it a try though...

ghenne04  ~  Indeed :D So are we all, I imagine. 'specially me. I don't think my muses have ever heard of the writer-know-all concept. Damn XD I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^

Sh'arra Rie  ~  Because Craig's a sweetheart and is quickly becoming a favourite of mine. Damnit, I swear he took me by surprise. I certainly wasn't expecting that to happen... Ah. Well, 'daytime', so to speak, hasn't come yet, and alex reacts... differently. You'll see =P I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^

okinawablossom0288  ~  Shane's just very suspicious of sluts and the like. Which you'll see the reasoning for later, when he tells me his history and I can find a way to incorporate it into the story. He's not mean. He just... doesn't understand :D I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^

ddz008  ~  Alex finds out more info about that next chapter, so I guess we all do too ^^;; They are so cute together :D ...when they're not being bitchy and all that junk. Vampire stories rule :D I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^

Wolfwitch  ~  Mwaha. I don't like cockroaches. Eurgh... . Craig's a sweetie. Really. Once you get past that strange exterior XD I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^

NotEnough  ~  Craig's good with his tongue, but not at talking, I can tell you that much O.o;;;;; He doesn't 'talk' to shane for a good while, actually. Drives everybody mad in the process. Craig's desperately, passionately, hopelessly head over heels in love with shane... and, of course, it goes deeper than that, but I figured I'd give you a straight out answer this time... For a change and all that. Sorry for the spoiler if you didn't really want to know T.T because first of all, taking blood is painful, and it's easier to ignore the pain if they're having sex. Second, he wants to reward the donor in a warped kind of way, so he gives them pleasure while he eats, so to speak. And I think there's a third reason, but that might be a plot twist later so I won't say it here =P It would be worse for the donor more than him – although joaquin would probably never recover if he drained someone because he wanted to much blood or something... At your service, m'dear XD This is a very suck-face chapter... and I say that as unromantically as I can to avoid melting into a pile of goo, because if I didn't melt, I'd be whacking the boys over their heads with multiple mallets. They're such idiots -.- I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^

anonymous  ~  I did! I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again! ^^

anonymous – with – an – email  ~  Alex and Joaquin for your viewing – uh, reading – pleasure ^^ I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again! ^^

MidnightsFall C. M. Guthrie  ~  feel free . wish I could learn japanese T.T dang O.o; stupid computers. Oh well. Thanks for attempting anyway!! . Hmm. If you ever find out why you couldn't get into it, let me know and I can try and change it. I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing and letting me know, and I hope you review again!! :D

Engelique  ~  I am impressed! Majorly impressed. Cause your fic rocks. Lol I'm sure you've got a pretty good guess as to Craig's problem. I'm not predictable at all... and neither is he obvious. Oh, no, of course not  . Heh. =P alex will be fine... eventually. Mwaha!!! Like I said, your fic is great! Everyone should read it! And if it makes you update sooner, well, that's a sacrifice I'm wiling to make =P ... .;;;  anyway, I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^

Fei  ~  Interesting. Yes. Very. . Aw, that's okay. Short reviews are good too. And it's nice of you to review anyway :D I'm glad you still like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! :D

Kura  ~  . . Who, Craig? ... Absolutely! XD Alex and Joaquin are just as cute ^^ Alex finds out more about the wound thingy next chapter, when everything gets explained in great detail... maybe. Possibly. Mwaha! It's going to take forever to star and forever to finish – I think I'm looking at several years worth of stories here. *doesn't know whether to laugh or cry* Oh well. At least I know the characters well... . I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^

Libris  ~  Why, thank you :D The characters demand they tell the story themselves – it's not really any of my doing. But then, if I wrote it my way, they'd all be fluff couples already... or deathly suicidal XD whichever works, really :D Ee!! . They are! Craig's my latest darling. *thwacks Craig* spontaneous violent love, it is. (white light! White light! XD) (sorry .) ANYway, yeah. Craig's much more different than I thought he'd be, but he's turning out well, so I guess it's all good ^^ Babbling's great. I babble constantly. Well... yeah. Constantly XD So feel free to babble, really ^^ I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, hope you do it again!! ^^

Senko  ~  Yeah, Craig's miserable T.T Poor man. I'm glad you like it! ^^ Thanks for reviewing, please do it again!! ^^

So! ... Um. Nothing much to say. If alex confuses you this chapter, complain in your review and suffice to say, I'll reply as best I can. Like usual. With much rambling. Indeed.

Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter up soon, but grad and diploma exams are approaching, so I'm not sure how soon it'll be. There is however, a long weekend this weekend, and I'm hoping to get the next chapter of reckless up, if anyone reading this cares...

And that's about it. So, read, enjoy, and please review!! ^^

~*~

The world was night black and hurt, in painful stabs that scattered across his skin and lodged in the more sensitive areas of his body – his eyes, underneath his jawbone, the curve of his collarbone – in ways that had him twisting and muttering deliriously in an attempt to complain and protest, to ease.

Something was murmured to him and there was something cool stroking his face, gentle fingertips caressing his cheeks, exploring the curve of his forehead, memorizing his closed eyes and parted lips, softly brushing hair back from his brow.

Alex sighed softly and cracked his eyes open, trying to see past the white mist sleep had given him, trying to sink into the caress so he wouldn't feel the pain. The white mist cleared, and a blinding light seared his vision, making him flinch and cry out involuntarily as the pain rewoke and set him on fire.

"The lights, Dax," said that voice, and the lights vanished, turning the back of Alex's eyelids from blood red to comforting black again.

"Master," a new voice – Dax? – asked quietly, "do you want me to leave?"

"Yes," said the someone. Why couldn't he identify who? "Close the door when you go."

Alex vaguely tried to place the character to the voice, but gave up because it was impossible, and he whimpered again as a particularly deep stab pierced his throat.

The fingertips, not having stopped once, trailed down his cheek and onto his neck, pausing there for an instant before they became hands, sliding sideways as they curled possessively around his shoulders.

There was the cool heat of an open mouth pressed against his bare skin, his bare neck, and it felt strange, in a good way. Had this happened before? Another hand was resting on his chest, the splayed fingers pressing heavily down on him, claiming him in a way that triggered some distant memory, and Alex groaned.

"Joaquin?" he whispered unsteadily, his voice hoarse and hesitant.

"No one else, mijo," Joaquin murmured against his neck, his mouth open and suckling and pleasant. "Go to sleep, little one, there'll be no more pain in the morning."

It was tempting – so tempting – but Alex resisted the downwards pull of his eyelids. "How long –"

"One day unconscious," the vampire replied without waiting for him to finish. He sounded sympathetically amused. "Forgive me, I did not think to warn you about touching the bite."

"I-" Alex tried to start, but couldn't find the words he wanted.

"Sh," Joaquin murmured. "Go back to sleep."

"Stay with me?" Alex blurted out, unsure where the plea had come from, but averse to denying it was what he really wanted.

His host's head lifted and if Alex had had his eyes open, he would have noticed a strange expression in the vampire's eyes, but he didn't, and so the moment passed undetected.

"No," Joaquin answered softly, but Alex sensed some sort of hesitancy and latched onto it.

"Please," he asked, daring to lift one of his hands and covering the hand still pressed against his breastbone. The skin was smooth and soft with an underlying firmness that hinted at immortal strength. There was no pulse.

A short pause, and then Joaquin's mouth descended on his, the kiss fierce and wild and unchecked, insisting – no, demanding – full submission and Alex was too pleased to refuse it.

When Joaquin kissed him – he had figured this out last time – the world sank away, and everything else ceased to exist. He could use an escape at the moment, where the shame and the pain and the confusion couldn't batter at his mind any longer than they had been doing.

So when Joaquin shifted and covered the younger boy's body with his own, Alex let his hands wander the vampire's back, his mouth open and unguarded as his host ravaged him; remaining willing and desperate to forget the world as it was at the moment.

~*~

"You have to talk to me sometime, you know," Shane remarked casually, turning the music down.

Craig paid no attention, simply reaching over and turning the volume up again, his eyes never leaving the road.

Shane sighed irritably and stared out the window for a few more seconds before making up his mind, and reaching over to turn the volume off again. He barely got a glance as Craig's hand automatically stretched out to turn it up again, but this time, Shane was ready, and he slapped the hand away. "Leave it," he said. "We're leaving it off until you start talking to me again."

That earned him a glare and Craig's hand dropped to the shift, his gaze returning determinedly to the road ahead of them again.

The silence roared in Shane's ears.

He almost thought about turning the radio on again because this silence was horrible, and it stretched on until he almost couldn't bear it anymore, and he was about to give in despite himself and turn the radio back on when Craig gave a soft sigh.

Shane glanced at the other young man sharply. He was still wearing his sunglasses and his baseball cap, hiding most of the top of his face, but his profile was still strikingly beautiful, with the straight nose and delicately full lips which were parted and coloured a –

Shane blinked at himself, and looked away, feeling his ears heat up and knowing he was blushing deeply. He had to stop himself from jumping when Craig spoke, although the tone surprised him more than the words.

"Why do you hate me, Shane?" Craig's voice was quiet, and serious, and Shane turned to look at him again, brow furrowed in confusion. Craig hadn't looked away from the road, but Shane noticed that they had sped up a little.

He wondered if it was intentional. "I don't hate you," he said slowly, pondering the truth of the words as he said them.

"Then why the hell are you such an asshole?" Emotion crept into Craig's voice, but Shane couldn't, for the life of him, identify it.

He scowled instead, not wanting to be confused by the redhead, comfortable with their familiar routine which Craig was decidedly straying from now. "You're the asshole, you jerk," he retorted, hoping to get a rise out of Craig. Really, he was acting eerie – it wasn't normal.

There was a brief silence as Craig's hands clenched around the wheel, and he gave a short, jerky nod as if deciding something before slowing the limo down and pulling over against the side of the road, the dust raising up into the air.

"What the hell are you doing," Shane leaned over to try and wrestle control of the car away from Craig, or at least persuade Craig to keep driving because they had no reason to stop – and was caught entirely by surprise when Craig grabbed his shoulders and heaved him upright, letting go momentarily to pull his shades off .

Then his hands had returned to Shane's biceps, and Shane was left staring, absolutely stunned, into pale pale gold eyes, so similar to white wine that it was no wonder he felt so light headed all of a sudden – because surely those eyes could make you drunk, intoxicated, and make you love it.

He didn't have time for another thought before Craig jerked him forward, throwing his head back quickly to dislodge the cap and it fell onto the driver's seat somewhere, but Shane was preoccupied by then.

What was Craig doing?

The kiss, when it came, made him open up his eyes at last to Craig's intentions, shocking and provoking as they were unexpected and unprepared for.

He could almost feel bruises start, broken blood vessels the least of his worries, because how could Craig have wanted this and how could he have known that Craig really did want to fuck him?

Craig's tongue was insistent against his lips, that were too tight and impassable except for the desperation the other young man was kissing with, and Shane parted his lips a little, knowing it was a mistake, knowing he'd regret it, but doing it anyway. Craig's tongue pushed into his mouth unhesitatingly, still fiercely desperate and with an undertone of longing that made Shane push his own tongue forward to meet it, opening his mouth until he couldn't bear it anymore.

And then it was over. Just like that, Craig pulled back, stared at him for a split second, his face pale and his eyes wide, and then the redhead turned around and opened the door, wildly shoving it until it was wide enough for him to climb out and stumble onto the dried grass by the side of the road.

Shane stared blankly at the other young man as Craig staggered to the middle of the field and fell to his arms and knees, stunned when a small sound cracked the peaceful, natural silence. Craig was in the field looking as if his heart was broken, and Shane could only watch, frozen in the car.

Numbly, he reached over to the radio and flicked it on again, settling back to wait, refusing to think about what had just happened. Let Craig take as long as he wanted. He didn't want to know. Craig had always been strange and sly, had nearly always had an ulterior motive...

Now would be no different.

~*~

"Really?" Sylvie helped herself to some more apple juice, wincing as the warm liquid ran down her throat. It was liquid, on the other hand, and it tasted good, even if it was too warm. "Then what did Shane do?"

Stewart shrugged, his eyes flicking up to glance in the rearview mirror. "We've lost them," he said, instead of answering the question.

She was prevented from turning in her seat because of the seatbelt, but there was no car in the side mirrors, and she frowned. "Do you think they've killed each other?"

"Nah," Stewart replied, and managed to keep his face straight. "Who would bury the bodies?"

Sylvie gave him an unamused look. "Look, you should turn around. I'm worried about them."

"Especially Craig?"

Sylvie shrugged uncomfortably and looked away from Stewart's eyes that kept watching her in the rearview mirror. "Well, he wasn't in the best of moods when we left," she argued feebly.

"Neither was Shane," Stewart reminded her. "Besides, you're too mothering. Let them sort out their own problems."

She judged the advantages of being angry at him for that, and then decided not to bother. It wasn't worth the effort, not when he could make her laugh enough to forget her anger with very little effort. "I'm supposed to be mothering," she told him instead. "I'm practicing. And how would you know that they're going to sort it out themselves? Neither looked very willing to talk when we left."

"So they'll beat each other up," Stewart replied nonchalantly, and protested as Sylvie swatted at him. "What? It's what guys do! Relieves tension and sorts out issues! Stop that!"

Sylvie regarded her husband, half fondly and half exasperated. "You're such a man," she said, and laughed when he gave her an odd look, refusing to explain it.

She didn't think she could explain it to a man anyway.

It was probably a girl thing.

~*~

Ally woke up again with a hand still brushing hair back from his face, the pain little but a distant memory except when he moved, as he found out when he tried to turn his head to see the bed guest. He groaned as his neck felt like it was being slit. "Joaquin?"

"I'm here," a soft voice said neutrally.

"What's the time?" Ally was pleased to find out that it was a lot easier to talk... Made it more pleasant, somehow.

"Half past three," Joaquin answered, his voice still soft. It promised many things, could hold seduction and sensuality in it as easily as Ally could hold something in his hand, but right now...

"Are you tired?" Ally asked, cracking an eye open.

"No," the vampire replied.

"Hungry?"

A short pause. "Not really, little one."

Ally found himself desperately trying to hold back a happy smile, unsure why it might be a bad idea to let the older man see it. "Thirsty?"

Joaquin shifted beside him, Ally thought he felt his host hovering over him, and opened both eyes wide enough to watch Joaquin search his face. Joaquin's face was smooth and gleaming silver in the moonlight that was streaming through Ally's bedroom window, and it was desperately beautiful still in a way that made Ally's chest ache and his heart hurt.

"Why all the questions, little one?"

"I owe you a few," Ally whispered softly, trying to keep eye contact, but it was too intense and he had to close his eyes under the pretense of exhaustion again.

"That game is over," Joaquin murmured softly, sounding closer. "That game was over when I told you how I came to own you."

"How I came to be yours?" Ally mused, wondering what was wrong with him. He was sure he was supposed to be panicking more than this, and yet... yet, he wasn't. It felt nice, safe and secure, knowing he belonged. It was almost what he had seemed to be looking for, for a very long time.

"Yes," the vampire said gently. He was closer, Ally wasn't just imagining it, and he lifted his face in anticipation of the kiss that was surely to come next but all that happened was that Joaquin brushed soft lips over his cheekbones – first his left, then his right. "Sleep, little one. You'll be back to normal in the morning."

With that, he carefully moved again, was even halfway off the bed before it registered with Ally that he wasn't getting kissed, that Joaquin was leaving. Impulsively, he reached out and grabbed Joaquin's silky sleeve, clutching it in his fist and tugging until Joaquin allowed himself to be pulled back onto the bed.

"Don't leave me," Ally begged, catching a hold of the front of the vampire's shirt with his other hand and clinging to it. "Please, I don't like the dark – it's too –"

"Dark?" Joaquin's voice had returned to that horrible neutral state and Ally scowled up at him.

"Don't do that," he reprimanded, hardly aware of what he was saying. "Don't go all stiff and unreachable just because I asked you to stay a little longer."

His host regarded him seriously, then sighed softly and caught Ally's hands in his own. "Mijo, don't do this to yourself. You won't remember why you acted like this in the morning."

"I don't think I'll remember any of tonight in the morning," Ally said stubbornly, refusing to let his hands be pulled away. "So please, won't you just stay? Please? For me? For... for my dad?"

Joaquin hesitated, and let out a breath that sounded alarmingly shaky for a vampire – since when could he breathe? – but that didn't matter because he was moving further onto the bed and lying on his side again, propped up on his elbow and staring down into Ally's face. "Sleep," he whispered.

Ally smiled at him sleepily, too tired to be aware of anything anymore, and felt his eyes slide shut.

Cradled on the edges of sleep, he distantly felt lips brush his temple, and then the stroking resumed again – light fingertips and soft, murmuring words that comforted and sent him into a peaceful kind of oblivion.

~*~

Alex woke up with a start, gasping for breath and staring wildly around the room, looking for the imposter before his gaze finally settled on Dax who was waiting in the doorway. "You all right, Alex?" the other young man asked quietly.

Alex stared at him. "What happened?"

"You touched your wound," Dax answered, his tone and expression guarded. "You lost consciousness for a few days."

Something hovered on the edge of Alex's memory, and he frowned, reaching for it with all his strength but it eluded the fingers of his mind and he remained ignorant to what might have happened. "And last night?"

Dax continued to look at him silently, not flickering an eyelid or changing expression. "You were still out of it, as far as I know. This is the first time you've woken up for almost 48 hours."

Alex frowned at him thoughtfully, confused. But surely...

He shook his head. "No wonder I'm so hungry," he said instead with a sheepish grin. "Can I have something to eat?"

Dax grinned back. "Of course. Come on, I'll help you to the kitchen."

Alex clambered out of bed unsteadily, and paused by the cupboard for clothes, before turning back to the bed in uncertainty. He had been so sure that...

"Alex?"

"Coming," he replied distantly, and opened the cupboard, putting the issue away from his mind.

It probably wasn't important anyway.

~*~

They were back on the road again, Craig had his hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, his knuckles white as they so often appeared to be these days and his mouth was tight with tension and warning.

Shane tried not to think about how that mouth had tasted, or felt, or how talented that mouth had been...

He stared out of the window, chin resting on his hand, his own teeth clenched and letting his eyes unfocus, letting the scenery blur as it sped past them as they overran the speed limit to try and catch up with Stewart and Sylvie.

The radio was turned on.