#A DOJIRUKI ASK OMG YES I AM GONNA SCREAM T-T

[artekai]

dojiruki vampire/researcher au?????????????? 👀👀👀👀👀👀 (i'm already weak for vampire aus............. but with this ship???????? OvO) i would like to know more................

HONESTLY IT IS A CRIME THAT I'VE NEVER DONE ANYTHING FOR THIS AU CAUSE IT'S IS SO DEAR TO ME <3

Under the cut cause this got unexpectedly long oh lord

Okay, okay, so it's not an AU as much as it's a mess of vaguely related ideas I've been trying to organize into something coherent for over a year BUT it’s a slice-of-life-y slow burn and basically the gist of it is that Takuto is a supernatural researcher who gets captured by Dojima for blood.

Dojima has no interest in humans and avoids them whenever he can, but he needs to feed Nanako somehow, and Takuto is the perfect target because Dojima doesn't like supernatural researchers very much. He says that their research makes monster hunters' jobs easier, thus putting Nanako in danger. Takuto begs and cries for his life, insisting that he isn't affiliated with monster hunters, but Dojima doesn't listen, until both of their screams wake up Nanako, who walks in on them and instantly becomes fascinated by Takuto, because she was born a vampire and barely gets to see any humans due to Dojima's rules about staying away from them except for feeding purposes.

So, Nanako looks at Takuto and goes, "Whoa, a real human! :O :O Aww, he's cute! :D But he looks so scared... :(( Can we keep him? :3" and Takuto is like "GOD YES yes yes I'm very cute and very scared please let me go - wait WHAT?!"

Fortunately, Dojima is like "uh. no. that's a whole ass human right there. I'll get you a wolf or something instead." But Nanako keeps saying that she wants the human because they can talk and do tricks, so, eventually, he manages to strike a deal by telling her that they can't keep a human as a pet, but he'll spare Takuto's life and release him into the wild.

And so, Takuto gets kicked out and Dojima warns him to never come back again because he won't be so merciful next time.

Of course, Takuto does what any sane, rational person would do in that situation. He writes about his encounter in his diary and then goes back to the Dojimas! :D

For some reason, he has decided that Dojima's place is a prime spot for some field research, and that, if he gets captured again, he can just exploit Dojima’s soft spot for Nanako to save himself. He tries to sneak in as silently as possible, but, because vampires have amazing senses, of course he gets caught, first by Nanako (who doesn't tell on him, of course) and then by Dojima, who, despite his threats, has no option but to kick him out again, because Nanako is watching. However, Takuto is very persistent, and the same happens a couple more times (I'm assuming he only sneaks in at night, at a time when it's guaranteed that Nanako will be around), until he realizes that sneaking in isn't working for him, so he begins trying a more aggressive approach, with more traditional methods to ward off vampires, like garlic. His attempts fail, though, and Dojima calls him a joke of a researcher ("If you had told me you were a fraud, I would've let you go a lot sooner"), which only makes him want to set his research right even more.

Anyways, Takuto's repeated attempts wear Dojima off to the point where he reluctantly accepts that this lowkey masochistic human coming over every other day is just a thing that happens now, I guess. Don't get me wrong, he's still tough on Takuto, scolds him for the tiniest things, and doesn't like that he's a researcher, but at least he doesn't want to suck his blood anymore because he does have a personal policy about only feeding off bad people, and, now that he has seen more of Takuto being a dumbass who can't defend himself, he feels hesitant to try to kidnap him again. Like... what harm can he even do? He’s a dork and a weakling. Besides, there’s also the fact that Dojima hasn’t seen Nanako so happy in a while... (she's. very lonely ;-;) And, the more Takuto keeping coming back, the more he bonds with Nanako (especially when Dojima is away), which means that, if Dojima were to hurt him now, it would just break Nanako’s heart even more...

Eventually, as he reluctantly gets more and more used to Takuto's presence, he just begins letting him in, much to Nanako's excitement. He’s tired of going through all of the song and dance of having to play hide and seek with him and threaten him with murder, so he might as well just leave him alone. Besides, if Takuto ever steps out of line, Dojima can still take him pretty easily. And, on the other hand, he is kinda curious as to why Takuto keeps coming back, or, rather, why is this research so important to him that he's willing to put his life on the line like this for it.

Okay, so at this point Takuto is really close to becoming part of the family. He starts joining the Dojimas for dinner, observing their behavior from up close, asking questions, and making notes, helps them with chores, keeps them company, and begins earning their trust until he practically finds himself babysitting Nanako whenever Dojima is away.

So, Takuto and Nanako develop a symbiotic relationship where Takuto answers Nanako's questions about humans and, in turn, she answers his questions about vampires (which Dojima is reluctant to answer). She's still young and isolated from supernatural creatures other than her dad, so she only knows so much, but, of course, as a primary source, her input is still infinitely valuable to Takuto. As for Nanako, she's fascinated by the human snacks and human food that Takuto brings with him, so she becomes interested in learning human recipes, and that’s how they start cooking together :)

(Well, part of the reason why she's interested is because she still kinda sees Takuto as a stray animal and wants to feed him, but give her a break, she's trying, she still has to unlearn all of Dojima's conditioning cause he deliberately taught her that humans were an inferior species that's only valuable for their blood T-T)

Okay, but, the more Takuto hangs out with the Dojimas, and the more Dojima sees him and Nanako acting like a family, the more he warms up to Takuto, until he even asks him to come over himself. Of course, he says that it's for Nanako's birthday, that he wants Takuto to be there because his presence makes her happy, but, on the other hand, you don't invite someone over for your kid's birthday unless you want them for be there, am I right?

Anyways, one night Takuto cooks some gyoza and the enticing smell brings back memories for Dojima, so, in a rare moment of vulnerability, he admits that he doesn’t let him hang around just because it makes Nanako happy, but that he actually enjoys Takuto’s company too (he’s. also very lonely ;-;). He finally opens up to him, telling him that he appreciates all of his help around the house, and he reveals that the reason he's such a cringe fail vampire that couldn't even follow through with his threats towards Takuto is that he used to be a human not too long ago. He’s so overprotective of Nanako and unsure of of his parenting skills because he had to figure out how to raise a vampire all on his own after Chisato (the vampire who turned him) died. I dunno when he was turned exactly, but it was probably shortly before her death, but, either way, that explains why he had a more down to earth view of humans, as opposed to Nanako.

(Not to mention that he might’ve also sympathized with Takuto over his loss of Rumi... I think Dojima generally sees a lot of the human part of him in Takuto)

In any case, Nanako tells Takuto that the reason Dojima is so wary of humans is that they were the ones who killed Chisato, and she makes him promise that he won't hurt them, cause he’s different to other humans, and both of them like him a lot :)

And, well. Takuto feels icky about his research now :)

At this point, the Dojimas barely see him as a source of food, if at all, and he barely sees them as an object of research, so he has begun questioning if  publishing his paper is worth it. Technically, he doesn’t need their consent to study them because they’re not human, but.... that’s literally his boyfriend and his daughter... his research might be important to him, but he can’t sell out his family for it!

Okay, so here’s where the mess of vaguely related ideas I mentioned comes into play, because I’m not really sure how Takuto’s research fits into the grand scheme of things and how that affects the plot. My initial idea was that he used to work for Wakaba until she died, and thus honoring her memory is a huge part of the reason why he’s so intent on finishing his paper even if it costs him his life (he thinks it’s honorable that Wakaba gave her life for science and that anything less than that would be unacceptable for him when she’s such an inspiration for his work), but now I’m considering letting Wakaba live so that she can encourage Takuto to continue his research when he starts having doubts about it. Either way, Takuto starts questioning her methods and her intent after bonding with the Dojimas, cause. you know. let’s not forget she’s a mad scientist on her own right <3

Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention there was initially supposed to be a political subplot where Namatame and Shido are running for office and they both have their eyes on Takuto, cause Namatame wants to hire him and Shido wants to kill him for his research. Namatame is also a well-known monster hunter who thinks Takuto is on his side, but the bigger threat here is Shido, of course, With him on Takuto’s trail, it’s only a matter of time until his supporters track him down and find out about the Dojimas, which can’t end well... But, to be honest, I think I’ll probably scrap that entire subplot because it feels out of place within the overarching narrative, even though I do like the idea of Dojima entrusting Takuto with Nanako’s care so they can run away while he holds them back, since he’s the only one who stands a chance...

Anyways! What I mean to say is that the main issue here is that I don’t have an ending and I thought that adding some external conflict could fix it, but I haven’t been able to get that to work either  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m. not good at external conflict cause I’m too much of a sucker for internal conflict lol. Either way, everything else is extraneous haha, the main focus is the love story between Dojima and Takuto and their respective arcs as Dojima overcomes his fear and his prejudices against humans and learns to open up while Takuto overcomes his prejudices against supernatural creatures and starts reflecting upon his own morality and what he truly wants out of life. And so the moral of the story is that Nanako is the number 1 Dojiruki shipper ever and we owe everything to her. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk :)