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English
Series:
Part 1 of Junhao Vampire/Witch Parent AU
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Published:
2024-06-19
Words:
1,072
Chapters:
1/1
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16
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138
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Fingerprints on your Heart

Summary:

"Sometimes when you pick up your child you can feel the map of your own bones beneath your hands" - Jodi Picoult.

OR

Junhao become parents.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Minghao stops paying attention to the rest of the world the second Junhui places the baby in his arms. He feels completely undone, his magic spooling out of him in an attempt to cradle the little life he's holding. Never before has he been so uncomfortable, in so much pain, but it's been pushed to the back of his mind for the moment. Here, in this tiny birthing room, Minghao is very aware that his life is no longer completely his.

A pale hand shakily rests over Minghao's, fingertips skimming over the cloth of the blanket Minghao’s mother had made. Minghao doesn't want to take his eyes off the baby - tiny fingernails, downy hair, his loud wailing already dying down. He turns his head weakly. “Gege…” he trails off, overwhelmed.

“I thought I'd be alone the rest of my life,” Junhui whispers, voice wet. “I thought I'd ruined it all already. Oh, my loves…”

Minghao thought he'd cried himself out, but clearly he was wrong. “We're right here,” he rasps. “None of us are going anywhere.”

Junhui sniffles, resting his head into the crook of Minghao's shoulder. His hand rubs up and down the baby's back, soothing.

Minghao slowly squeezes the baby closer. “He's so cold,” he frets quietly.

Fingers comb through his sweaty hair. “I know, I know,” Junhui tries to comfort him. “But it's because he's like me. He's not technically… he isn't a human baby.”

“I know.” Despite his immeasurable willpower, exhaustion pulls at his eyelids. “He needs to eat,” he mumbles, resisting weakly when he feels Jianghua pulled from his arms.

“I have him,” Junhui whispers, pressing a kiss to Minghao's forehead. “Have some rest, Haohao.”

Between one breath and the next, he falls asleep.

Memories of his past seep into his dreams: spreading feed for the chickens; learning how to ride on horseback from his mother; Junhui and his father sketching out plans for the birthing room. A little boy who looks like him learns magic from his mother. Light, coming from the windows of a large manor on a seaside cliff, abruptly flickers out. A man with Junhui's eyes and Minghao's ears speaks a language he doesn't understand yet. He carefully steps around a rocky cave wall, heart pounding. It's too dark to tell if the liquid he's stepping in is salt water or blood. “Mama!” a scared voice cries out and he runs out, stealth be damned-

He wakes up, breath heaving. “Jianghua!” he calls out, trying to sit up. He gasps at the flare of intense pain, falling back to the straw bed.

He can vaguely hear Junhui saying comforting words, but he's only appeased when he feels his baby back in his arms. It's still unfamiliar to him, the weight of this child, but he vows to soon remember any and all of these endless pieces of information about their son.

“Jianghua?” Junhui questions him, sitting on the bed to support him as he sits up.

Minghao blinks in confusion. “I don't know. It just came out.”

Minghao's mother was probably pouring over the star charts from the baby's birth as they spoke. Wen Jianghua had been one of the names suggested earlier in his pregnancy, but nothing would be finalized until his mother got back to them. Speaking of his mother, he'd have to apologize to her. She'd fretted over him for nearly half the day when he went into labor, double checking her calculations and making absolutely sure Minghao knew which direction to face by the time the baby came.

Only when night came had Minghao broken the news that he didn't want to call the village midwife. Then, he'd told his mother he only wanted Junhui to help him give birth. He'd broken her heart, but he hadn't had a choice. His parents didn't know what creature Junhui was, and they couldn't know what creature their grandchild was. If she had been there, when the baby was born cold and bloodless-

Better to beg forgiveness. He'd traded her a long-term agony for a short-term one.

“I like the name,” Junhui says, drawing him from his thoughts. “He ate,” Junhui informs him, resting a hand on the baby's stomach. “Blood, like we thought.”

Minghao shudders. “At least I won't have to anymore.”

Junhui laughs quietly. “He seemed to enjoy it far more than you did.”

“How could you tell?”

“He didn't throw it up right after.”

“Is he okay? How long was I asleep?”

“A few hours,” Junhui says. “He's great. Just ate and slept. Most wonderful baby in the world. Took the bottle right away.”

Minghao shifts carefully, still feeling unsettled as he watches the baby. His eyes are closed, tiny dark lashes brushing his round cheeks. He seems to be deep asleep, but his pale complexion made him look sickly. Minghao's eyes drift to Jumhui's hand on the baby's stomach, utterly still.

“Oh gods, Junhui, he isn't breathing!” Minghao sits up in alarm, jostling Junhui and the baby, who opens groggy red eyes. The baby cries out, upset at being awoken and Minghao stares at him, bewildered.

“It's fine, love, he's okay, he's fine,” Junhui says frantically, wrapping an arm around him. “See, look, he's crying, just upset his mama woke him from his nice nap.”

“But he wasn't breathing.”

“We don't have to,” Junhui reminds him, brushing Minghao’s hair back over his shoulder. Minghao turns to look at him. Junhui's hair is pulled up in a loose bun. He looks tired. “Humans don't have to think about breathing. I got bitten as an adult, so I think I kept up breathing as a habit, but it's an illusion, I don't need to do it. But he's a baby, he doesn't know how to breathe yet, he can't fake it like I can.”

“That's…” Minghao collapses into Junhui's chest, exhausted, “incredibly alarming.”

“I know. I'm sorry.”

“It's not your fault.”

Junhui laughs bitterly. “It's completely my fault, you don't have to lie to me, little one.”

Minghao would bite him if he could move. “You can't call me that anymore. I just had a baby.”

“My little loves,” Junhui coos, ignoring him.

“It's not your fault,” Minghao says again, turning his head to nose against Junhui's jaw. “He'll be a good child. Know his mama and baba love him.”

“He'll be a good child,” Junhui repeats, wrapping his arms around Minghao’s around the baby.

“The best,” Minghao says quietly.

Notes:

btw!! this is junhaos FIRST child. prequel to the first fic i posted in this series. Inspired by revs art here

continuing to be nuts.

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twt

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