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This was a normal procedure. Dick rolled up his sleeve. You brought out your fangs and bit his wrist. It takes a couple of minutes, and then boom. Done. There was no drama to the feeding. No ominous candlelight or pinning him against the wall in an alleyway while thunder cracked dramatically outside (although he wouldn’t complain).
It was just the two of you, sitting besides each other.
At some point, feeding from him had become about as routine as changing bandages after patrol. You pulled your fangs free and pressed a gauze pad against the two little puncture wounds. Dick didn’t even look away from his phone.
“You good?” You asked, looking at him with concern.
“I’m feeling pretty good.” You smiled at his lackadaisical response, taping the gauze into place. Dick finally glanced down. Two tiny red spots were already beginning to seep through the white. Nothing unusual. He had seen them dozens of times before. Probably hundreds. Then he frowned. A thought came to mind.
You started packing the supplies back into the first-aid kit. Dick looked at his wrist, and then touched his neck. Huh. He tried to think back.
Every time you fed from him, it was the same. His wrist. Always the wrist. Never the neck. Dick glanced at you.
“Hey.”
“Mhm?”
“Why do you always bite my wrist?”
You paused for half a second, and then resumed putting away the gauze. “Because it’s easier.”
“Easier than the neck?”
“That’s stereotyping.”
Dick blinked. “What?”
“You assume that because I’m a vampire, I’m supposed to bite people on the neck.”
“I didn’t say you were supposed to.”
“The implications were there.”
“I just asked a question.”
“The implications were in the question.” Your mouth twitched. Dick caught it, and his eyes narrowed.
“Oh, you’re messing with me.”
“I plead the Fifth.”
Dick stared at you, while you snapped the first-aid kit shut. “That’s not how the Fifth Amendment works.”
“It is when I use it.”
“You can’t just invoke it because I asked why you won’t bite his neck.”
“I can and I will.”
Dick grinned. There was definitely something here. You were being a little shit and dodging the question, which meant he was absolutely not dropping it.
You stood with the medical kit tucked under your arm, but Dick reached out and caught your wrist, stopping you. He wasn’t holding you tightly, but it didn’t really matter anyway since you had enhanced strength.
“Why the wrist?”
“Dick.” You looked away shyly. Wait. His grin faltered. Were you… embarrassed?
Now he really wanted to know. His grip loosened around your wrist. “Seriously. Why?”
You glanced at him, your fingers shifting against the handle of the medical kit. “It’s just…” Dick waited. You looked away again. “It’s intimate.”
“What?”
“Biting someone on the neck.” You fidgeted with your hands. “It’s intimate.”
There was a long pause where Dick just stared at you.
“...But it’s not intimate when we have sex?”
Your head snapped toward him, eyes widening. “No! I mean… It is! This is just…” You made a strange gesture with your free hand. “...Different.”
“Different how?” He questioned.
You closed your eyes, frowning. “Hm… It’s like… Sex is sex…”
“Okay…”
“And biting on the neck is biting on the neck.”
“That doesn’t really clear anything up.”
You opened your eyes and stared at him. “It does to me.”
Dick raised an eyebrow. “That is possibly the least helpful explanation you could have given.”
“I don’t know how to explain it.” You sighed.
“Try.”
“Like sex can mean more, but like it doesn’t have to…” You trailed off. “Neck biting is like ‘oh yeah, you’re mine!’ because of the marks and stuff.”
Dick went quiet. You immediately regretted the phrasing. His eyebrows rose.
“...You’re mine?”
“That’s not the part you were supposed to focus on.” What else were you expecting? “It’s cultural.”
“I see…” Dick scratched his chin in thought. “So, hypothetically, if you bit me on the neck, then you’re marking me as yours?”
“Yeah.” You looked away, playing around with the medical kit. His grin widened, tilting his head slightly and exposing the side of his neck. “You whore.”
Dick barked out a laugh. “Excuse me?”
“Whore.”
“I’m participating in your culture!”
“You just learned about it thirty seconds ago.”
“And I am already embracing it.”
“You’re offering yourself up like a Victorian maiden.”
That made him laugh harder. “What would a present-day man do then?”
You stared at him. “I don’t know. Have some dignity?”
“That sounds boring.” You rolled your eyes. Dick leaned back against the couch, still looking far too pleased with himself. “Okay, so Victorian maiden is out. What’s the modern equivalent?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because I want you to bite me.” Dick’s grin sharpened, while you froze. You pointed at him.
“See? Whore.”
“How is that worse?”
“You said it with intent!”
He laughed again, then deliberately hooked two fingers beneath the collar of his shirt and tugged it slightly to the side. You put your hand over your eyes, like you were staring into the sun.
“Ah!” You yelped. “Put that away!”
“You make it sound like I’m showing you my ankles.”
“No. This is the equivalent of pulling your cock out in public.”
Dick went completely still, and then doubled over laughing. “Oh my God!”
“I’m serious, Dick!” You were now peeking through your fingers. “Thick neck is the same as a thick cock.”
“Why are you peeking!?” He wheezed. You immediately slammed your fingers shut.
“I was checking to see if you put that thing away!”
“So, is seeing me naked the same thing as seeing two dicks?”
You lowered your hand just enough to glare at him through your fingers. “No.”
Dick’s grin widened. “Why not?”
“Because there’s intent. You are showing it off!”
Dick looked down at his exposed neck. “Is there a modest amount of neck I’m allowed to show?”
“You normally show a modest amount!”
“Good to know.” He fixed his collar. “There. I’m decent now.”
“Thank God.” You put your hand down. Dick paused. A lot of memories came to mind where you stared at his neck with half-lidded eyes.
“...That makes sense now.”
“What?”
“You were thirsting for my neck a lot.”
Your expression went blank. “No.”
Dick was grinning. “Let’s see…” He started counting on his fingers. “After patrol last month.”
“No.”
“At the gym.”
“Stop.”
“You were perving on me.”
“Damn it, Dick! Let me appreciate it!” You huffed, turning your head away. Dick laughed, pulling you into his arms on the couch. You resisted for all of half a second before letting yourself fall against him.
“There,” he said, as if he caught a child in their hand in the cookie jar. He wrapped his arms around you. “Honesty, at last.”
“Shut up.”
He rested his chin on top of your head, still chuckling. “So…”
You narrowed your eyes. “What?”
“If you ever wanted to…” He trailed off, suddenly sounding a lot less smug. You looked up at him. Dick rubbed the back of his neck. “Do the neck thing.”
Your expression softened. “You want me to?”
He shrugged, but there was something shy underneath it now. “I mean. If it matters to you.”
That took some of the wind out of your annoyance. You stared at him for a moment, and then you leaned closer. Dick went very still. Your lips hovered near the side of his neck. His breath caught.
You pressed a kiss against his neck.
“Not tonight.” You smiled against his skin. “I already drew blood from you.”
Dick groaned. “I can take it.”
“No.”
“I’ve lost more blood than this before.”
“Yeah, and you needed a transfusion!”
“It’s fine.” He waved it off.
“Dick, no!” You laughed. “Not tonight.”
His head fell back against the couch. “Such a cruel world.”
“You’ll live.”
“That’s what I’m saying!” You smacked his chest and he laughed. For a moment, the two of you just looked at each other, and then, his expression softened. “But seriously.” He rubbed his thumb over your knuckles. “Whenever you want to.”
Your eyes flicked toward his neck. He didn’t tilt his head this time. He just let the offer sit there. Somehow, that made you more flustered than all the shameless neck flashing had. You squeezed his hand.
“Okay.”
Dick smiled, which turned into a grin. “So should I start wearing lower collars?”
You shoved him off the couch.