Chapter Text
Sanghyuk sat in the back of Hakyeon’s car primly. The atmosphere was so heavy that he was surprised it hadn't crushed him flat. Quite beyond anything, being in such a small enclosed space with a vampire should have been giving him a panic attack. The fact that he felt only the normal amount of fear was probably because of how bizarre it was to see a vampire sitting calmly in the passenger seat.
Or rather, it wasn't that Taekwoon was sitting calmly, or else the atmosphere wouldn't be what it was. More, he was sitting in a stiller mimicry of Hakyeon, who was driving in silence, ignoring any of the company currently in the car with him. The two of them were thoroughly mad at one another. It made Sanghyuk feel like he was trapped in a car with two warring parents.
Wonshik's new home was far enough away that although Taekwoon was able to make his way there on foot, neither Sanghyuk nor Hakyeon could have hoped to get there and back without seriously cutting down on the time they could actually spend with Wonshik and Hongbin. It had been decided to take the car, whose GPS and tracking systems had slowly fizzled into irrelevance at some point last week as all the wards from the people using the car shorted them out. Hakyeon had gleefully removed them and tossed them away, and now they could talk comfortably.
Not that there was much talking going on in the car currently.
Sanghyuk cleared his throat, unable to take it for any longer. "What— what sort of place does Jaehwan live in?" he asked, voice gradually become meeker as he went on, like the sound of it was encroaching on the silence which had become almost sacred.
It took Taekwoon a couple of seconds to answer. "Underground," he said. "It's a house, underground. It belonged to our maker before he died. It is big enough to house all of us without trouble, but it is a thoroughly depressing place. Our maker had a certain aesthetic that Jaehwan continues to find amusing and strikes to keep alive."
“Do all vampires live underground?” Sanghyuk asked. He had heard about Taekwoon’s apartment from Hakyeon, although Hakyeon had refused to take him there.
“The sensible ones do,” Taekwoon said simply. He turned his head in Hakyeon’s direction. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
Hakyeon heaved a sigh. Sanghyuk saw his fingers tighten around the steering wheel. “I know,” he said, “you’ve said that a hundred times already.”
“I do not want to take you to that place,” Taekwoon said, his voice gone soft enough that if Sanghyuk wished, he would be able to ignore it completely, let the sight of the scenery occupy his mind rather than the brewing argument which he had seen hashed out a number of times already. “It’s not safe to be in that place with two freshly turned vampires, especially one who has been having the issues that Hongbin has been having.”
“We’ve already met up with Wonshik without a problem. And Jaehwan says that it’s safe to meet with Hongbin now. It’s been a couple of weeks since that first time and he’s— he’s feeding like he should be, Jaehwan said, and you know he’s lucid for hours at a stretch. You’ve seen him.”
“Jaehwan would say anything to make things more amusing for himself,” Taekwoon said, a low dangerous note in his voice. “You know better than to trust anything that comes out of his mouth, Hakyeon. And just because Hongbin can sometimes maintain his lucidity for a few hours, does not mean he will this time.”
Hakyeon stiffened. “I don’t know what you want me to say or do,” he said through gritted teeth, “or more, I know exactly what you want me to say and do. You want me to turn this car around, go back home, forget about this whole thing. Well, I can’t do that. You can’t expect me to not take this chance to see Hongbin again. He’s my family.”
His voice broke a little. Sanghyuk looked down at his hands, twisted in his lap. He’d spent so long listening to Hakyeon talk about Hongbin that to him, it just seemed perfectly natural that Hakyeon would do anything he could to see him again. It was why Sanghyuk was going; he wanted, more than anything, to meet Hongbin for himself. While he understood that Taekwoon was concerned about the safety of it, Sanghyuk knew that Wonshik wouldn’t agree to anything which would put either him or Hakyeon in any danger, and if he truly believed it was safe for them to see Hongbin, Sanghyuk would trust him.
Taekwoon remained silent after that, a silence that he maintained even as he was lifting the perfectly normal looking grate down at the end of a long, dark alleyway that Sanghyuk would, even as a trainee hunter, be afraid to look down. The removal of the grate revealed a long drop, with a metal ladder showing the way down. Hakyeon went down first, wary for all he had said in the car, and Sanghyuk followed. Taekwoon flitted down without use of the ladder, which made Sanghyuk wonder why it was there. Then he realised that glamoured humans would probably have to climb their way down and resolved to not think about it any longer.
At the bottom of the ladder there was a long corridor, which Sanghyuk was only able to see with the help of his owl eyes tattoo, since Taekwoon had replaced the grate and the darkness was as thick as tar. It was Taekwoon who led the way, even before Sanghyuk could fully see. He took Hakyeon’s hand, who in turn took Sanghyuk’s, and began to tug him along.
The tunnel went on for longer than Sanghyuk would have expected, twisting around corners and descending, but eventually they came to a doorway. Oddly, the door in said doorway looked like a perfectly normal front door to any house, albeit overly large, heavy, and engraved with swirling patterns which made Sanghyuk suspect it had been brought here from a different country. Taekwoon didn’t bother knocking, merely pulled the door open without any ceremony whatsoever, and ushered them inside.
Wonshik was waiting for them just inside the house, a smile already threatening to crack his face in half. “You came!” he said happily, engulfing first Hakyeon and then Sanghyuk in hugs. “I don’t know how to explain how happy I am that you came. And grateful. I’m so—”
“It’s okay,” said Hakyeon, laughing. “I wanted to see Hongbin, I needed to.”
“He’s in the bedroom, he needs— he’s a bit nervous, you know, although I told him not to be, he’s just preparing, he’ll be through in a bit— but come in, come on, the living room is this way—”
Jaehwan’s house was, as far as Sanghyuk could tell, exactly what would be thought of if someone said to him “vampire lair”. They’d lit some candles, probably for the humans’ benefit, and it just added to the overall ambience. Sanghyuk rather thought he might have preferred it to be full dark, since he could see the decor in all its garish detail, between the candles and his owl eyes amplifying their light. The whole place was over the top and tacky and hurt his eyes as well as offended his sense of interior decorating. In the back of Sanghyuk’s mind he found that he was mentally envisioning Wonshik, Hongbin, and Jaehwan laying down to sleep in coffins with each sunrise. The association was just too strong.
It was bigger than Hakyeon’s place, the entranceway leading into a large living space which contained a truly horribly maroon couch, and a coffee table with what looked like dragon’s talons for legs. Sanghyuk glanced at Hakyeon and found that he was pulling a face at the table, upper lip curled in disgust. Sanghyuk seconded the feeling.
It was all so— he wanted to say it was very Jaehwan, but he didn’t even know Jaehwan. More than that, it just seemed overly vampire, the whole thing, like he’d gone out of his way to make it uncomfortable for the humans. The fact that he was sitting in an armchair drinking from a plastic bag of blood didn’t help the feeling. Sanghyuk averted his eyes from it, stepping closer to Hakyeon, feeling a slight lessening of his fear as he did so.
“Welcome to my humble abode,” Jaehwan said from around the straw in his baggie.
“Ignore him,” Wonshik advised.
“This is my home,” Jaehwan said in indignation. “I will not be ignored in my own home.”
Taekwoon was glaring at Jaehwan, who was ignoring him with the ease of someone quite used to ignoring the disapproval of others. He lifted himself out of the armchair and made his way to out of the room, through an archway, grumbling about ungrateful kids. Sanghyuk let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.
As he did so, there was a shuffling sound from behind them, emitting from the hallway, and another vampire stepped slowly out of the darkness. He must have been Hongbin, and Sanghyuk wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been this exactly. He’d seen photos of Hongbin, of course, knew what his face looked like, but he hadn’t expected him to look so frail, so beautiful in a way that made his stomach uneasy. Or maybe that was just because he’d heard this slim, tall man scream and laugh from behind a warded door. Sanghyuk had had nightmares about that laughter.
There was a moment of utter silence as Hongbin walked to Wonshik, avoiding their eyes. He took Wonshik’s hand, closed his eyes for a brief moment, and then looked at them, smiling, a little strained. “Hello,” he said. He had dimples and for some reason that made Sanghyuk feel less scared of him.
“Hongbin,” Hakyeon choked out, his voice breaking as he started to cry. He rushed forward and enveloped Hongbin in a hug that, if Hongbin had been human, could have crushed a couple of his ribs. He buried his face in Hongbin’s shoulder, shoulders heaving with sobs. Hongbin lay his head on Hakyeon’s, hugging him back, more lightly than Hakyeon by far.
Taekwoon made a short, sharp gesture, taking a couple of steps forward, putting him in easy distance of the hugging pair. He, for his part, seemed to be waiting for something to give. Sanghyuk fancied he could still see the residual madness in Hongbin’s eyes, although perhaps that was just poetical thinking. Wonshik wouldn’t have invited them over if it wasn’t safe.
He hoped.
“I missed you so much,” Hakyeon sobbed. He lifted his head, showing the large wet patch on Hongbin’s shoulder he had left behind. “I’m so sorry, for everything— for leaving you behind, for not being there with you, for yelling, I’m so sorry—”
“Hakyeon,” said Hongbin, looking touched and alarmed in equal amounts. “You don’t— don’t need to apologise for anything, it wasn’t your fault—”
Hakyeon shook his head. He took a step back, letting Hongbin go, bringing his hands up so that he could wipe ineffectually at his eyes with the back of his hands. Hongbin took Wonshik’s hand again, clinging to it, and Sanghyuk saw Wonshik squeeze it, looking at Hongbin with a smile that made something heavy settle in Sanghyuk’s stomach, something not quite jealousy, something just more than envy.
“We let you go off alone,” Hakyeon said, voice a little calmer now but still thick with tears. “We broke all the rules and you— when you disappeared I thought the guilt was going to kill me, and then, when— when you weren’t— dead, I suppose, it wasn’t any easier. I’ve always just wanted to apologise. I— I want you to know how sorry I have always been.”
“You sound like Wonshik.” Hongbin looked at Wonshik with an expression that seemed a little different to the way Wonshik looked at him, like he couldn’t believe Wonshik existed for a very different reason to why Wonshik couldn’t believe Hongbin existed. “He— neither of you need to apologise. I made a decision and it was my decision to make. It could have been you guys. If you’d been with me, maybe it would have been you guys too. We can’t know.”
Hakyeon embraced him for a long time, silence throughout the room. When he stepped back, he turned to Taekwoon, who stared back at him without a single change in his facial expression. Sanghyuk was still trying hard to get used to this way of communicating they seemed to have developed to deal with Taekwoon’s tactiturnity.
“You can relax,” Hakyeon said softly.
“No,” Taekwoon said. Hakyeon pressed his hand to Taekwoon’s chest, and Taekwoon just jerked his head in a short shake. “He doesn’t have it fully under control yet.”
“He won’t hurt me.”
“He might try,” Taekwoon disagreed. Hakyeon made an angry noise in the base of his throat.
“He’s right,” Hongbin said apologetically. “I— I might. I don’t want to but I don’t have control yet. I don’t know when I’ll get— hungry.”
“The hunger isn’t something we can control,” Wonshik explained. “It’s a compulsion, Hakyeon. And Hongbin— he feels it more than other vampires.”
“So it’s not safe here,” Sanghyuk said, before he could stop himself.
All the eyes in the room fixed on him, and that was a terrible feeling, so many vampire eyes pinning him to the spot. He got the impression that they’d forgotten he was there beyond being another heartbeat. “No,” Hongbin said softly, “it’s not. Not completely.”
“Oh,” said Sanghyuk. He felt suddenly faint, tears pricking at his eyes. A couple of the pairs of eyes turned concerned.
“Hey, kiddo, don’t worry,” Wonshik said, taking him by the shoulders. “It’s not completely safe but that— it doesn’t mean—”
“If he loses control, I am here,” Taekwook said. The way he said it seemed to suggest that the entire reason he was there was for if Hongbin lost control, rather than any real desire to be there.
“Right,” said Wonshik, sounding a little deflated.
Sanghyuk smiled at the expression on his face and Wonshik smiled back and let him go. He was back at Hongbin’s side immediately, moving faster than a human. It was like he was pulled back there by the gravity of Hongbin’s body. He led Hongbin to the couch, telling everyone else to sit too. Taekwoon, as usual, chose to remain standing, by the side of the armchair that Hakyeon sat in.
There was a brief, awkward silence. It became clear that after the initial outburst of emotion, no one quite knew what to say. Hongbin was giving Taekwoon strange, side glances. In an undertone to Hakyeon, he said, “How have you been?”
The question took everyone, but most of all Hakyeon, by surprise. “I’ve been…” He looked like he didn’t know how to answer. “I’d say fine but we all know that’s not true. I mean, compared to you,” he added hastily, “I’ve been perfectly okay, but it’s been hard, you know?”
Hongbin nodded gently. “Wonshik told me about his turning, and why he did it. I was surprised to hear about Taekwoon. I never— out of everyone, you were the last person I would have ever expected to get caught up in— this kind of thing.”
Hakyeon gave a tense, tight smile. “It just happened,” he said.
“I’m not— Hakyeon, I’m hardly in a position to judge you for anything.” Hongbin gave a hollow laugh. “I managed to ruin a lot of lives that night, didn’t I?” He looked at Wonshik, a drop of blood running down his cheek. Sanghyuk blinked. He hadn’t known that vampires could cry, and he certainly hadn’t known they cried blood.
Wonshik cupped Hongbin’s cheeks, staring at him fiercely. “Don’t say that,” he said, “you have to stop blaming yourself for this. I made my decision on my own, and so did Hakyeon. It wasn’t your fault, what happened. Don’t— don’t cry, you know what—”
“Yes, yes,” Hongbin said impatiently. He straightened up, wiping at his face although no more tears had been shed. “Now then,” he began, looking at Hakyeon and Wonshik in turn with an expectant expression. “Isn’t anyone going to properly introduce me to Sanghyuk?”
Hakyeon gave a little jerk of surprise and Wonshik’s mouth fell open. “Oh,” he said, turning wide eyes on Sanghyuk, “kid, I’m so sorry, I completely—”
“It’s okay!” said Sanghyuk hastily. He didn’t think he could take Wonshik actually admitting to having forgotten about Sanghyuk, that he didn’t know Hongbin. “You guys were busy, I know that. I figured you just— you know— forgot that we haven’t met, really, and I didn’t want to interrupt again.”
Hongbin shook his head. He gave Sanghyuk a warm, friendly smile, one which made Sanghyuk smile automatically back, just a little. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” Hongbin said. There was nothing, nothing in his face or voice which recalled the terrifying monster he’d been when he had been locked up in the cells in HQ. “Wonshik’s been talking about you so much, I wanted to get to know you myself.”
Sanghyuk could feel himself blushing. He tugged on a lock of hair by his ear, embarrassed at the thought of being discussed. “That’s funny, because Wonshik’s always talked about you,” he said shyly. “He and Hakyeon both. I always wondered what kind of person you were.”
“What sort of things have they been saying?” Hongbin asked, leaning forward and lowering his voice into a conspiratorial tone.
“Hakyeon says that you were a better hunter than Wonshik was,” Sanghyuk confessed, aware he was throwing Hakyeon under the bus. But it was something that he’d always wondered about, unsure if Hakyeon was just making fun or if it were true.
“Hey,” Wonshik said heatedly, turning to Hakyeon, “what the hell have you—”
“It’s true,” Hongbin said casually. Wonshik jerked his head in his direction in an oily movement and growled, low in his throat. Hongbin gave him a soft, sweet smile. Wonshik’s irritation dropped off his face in an instant, and Hongbin laughed before turning back to Sanghyuk. “It’s really nice to meet you, Sanghyuk. I really want to be friends with you, if we can. You’re important to Wonshik and that means you should be important to me, too.”
“I’d like that,” Sanghyuk said. He meant it, too, even though the energy and adrenaline pumping through his veins at that moment told him quite clearly that just being in this room was a huge mistake. On a common sense basis, that was obvious. But he could do it, couldn’t he? Even though he was scared, even though he knew that neither Hongbin nor Wonshik were fully in control of their hunger, he could still be friends with them, couldn’t he?
The introduction out of the way, all of the attention in the room seemed to fix on Hongbin once again. Wonshik and Hakyeon no longer seemed to be aware that any other creature existed in the world, and Sanghyuk couldn’t blame them. Hakyeon in particular had already done his grieving for Hongbin; seeing him alive and mostly well must be like seeing a ghost. Seeing that expression on their faces— it was painful, causing a tender ache in Sanghyuk’s chest.
I’m going to cry, Sanghyuk realised, and the thought made him feel small and young and pathetic. He couldn’t do it here, where the others would see. They already thought of him as nothing more than a child, to be protected and watched over and not truly allowed out into the world. Sometimes he appreciated that, but he didn’t want to do anything which further imprinted the idea in their heads.
Quietly, he excused himself and left the room to find a bathroom. Hakyeon squeezed his hand on the way past, resurfacing from Hongbin long enough to tell Sanghyuk to take his time, to let Hakyeon know if this was too much. Sanghyuk didn’t know how to tell him that it was already too much, but not for the reason Hakyeon thought. He felt Taekwoon’s eyes on him the entire way as he left the room.
The first bathroom he found was far down the hallway, right before the hall made a sharp turn right. It was as lavishly and garishly decorated as the rest of the apartment. He didn’t know of any other person who would paint a bathroom this shade of maroon. All of the fittings in the sink had once been gold, but were faded from years, possibly centuries, of use. When he turned the tap on, part of the gold covering flaked off in his hand.
The sounds of the water covered the sounds of his quiet sobs relatively well, so that he didn’t think even the vampires in the building would be able to tell the difference. He didn’t allow his crying fit to become prolonged, cutting it off as soon as he could, his composure returning to him in a quick snap.
He splashed his face with the cold water thundering from the tap, before cupping it in his hands and bathing his eyes in it, feeling the sting of the tears fade away. When he lifted his head to look at himself in the mirror, his eyes didn’t seem as red as before. Maybe, if he was lucky, no one would notice.
“Idiot,” he muttered under his breath. He couldn’t believe he’d been so affected by the reunion. He’d expected the tears from everyone else, but he had never met Hongbin before, and hadn’t thought that it would be as emotional for him as it had been. But then it was more than that, more that just emotions.
Sanghyuk had never seen Wonshik look like that. He’d never seen Wonshik smile like he had done when he looked at Hongbin. He’d seen Wonshik smile before but, he suddenly realised, he’d never seen Wonshik actually happy.
Was this what it took for Wonshik to happy? Was Hongbin the only thing in the world who could make him happy like that? Had everything else not been enough, had his friendship with Hakyeon, his mentorship of Sanghyuk, not been enough? It hurt Sanghyuk to think that no matter what he did, in his own way he’d never have been able to make Wonshik happy again.
“This is where you disappeared off to.”
Sanghyuk jumped at the voice, spinning to find Jaehwan lounging in the door of the bathroom. His arms were folded across his chest casually but he was doing that thing with his eyes again. It made the hairs on the back of Sanghyuk’s neck stand up on end. That look felt like he was being devoured as he stood there.
“Everyone was crying back there,” Jaehwan said, snorting lightly. “Nobody seemed to have noticed that their youngest was taking so long to return.” The way he said youngest sounded like he was laughing at Sanghyuk. As usual.
“I didn’t want to intrude on them,” Sanghyuk muttered, looking at Jaehwan’s folded arms. He was scared of Jaehwan, he couldn’t escape from that, he was scared of all vampires, even Wonshik, on some level, but the urge to avoid looking into Jaehwan’s eyes was particularly strong, especially here, where they were alone. He wasn’t sure what Jaehwan would do if he looked into his eyes— would he try glamouring him? Sanghyuk didn’t know, because he didn’t know Jaehwan, but the feeling of predator rolled off Jaehwan in waves, thick and almost heady. Hongbin would only attack them if he lost control; Jaehwan seemed like the type to attack Sanghyuk just for the fun of it.
He was trapped, too, stuck in the bathroom with Jaehwan in the only doorway. He wouldn’t be able to make his feet walk forward, wouldn’t be able to make Jaehwan move without his voice shaking, his body trembling. His wards were already crying in discomfort just at this distance, across the room from him. He didn’t dare move at all.
Jaehwan was peering at him. “Have you been crying,” he asked, voice blunt with disgust.
Sanghyuk’s heart hammered in his chest for some reason. “No,” he protested weakly.
“You have,” Jaehwan said. “Why were you crying? You don’t even know Crazy.”
“Wonshik,” Sanghyuk mumbled. “He just— he looks so happy now. It’s— I’m happy for him but it also makes me sad.”
“Imagine that,” Jaehwan said. “A happy vampire.”
Sanghyuk risked a look at his face, although he avoided his eyes. Jaehwan was frowning slightly, looking past Sanghyuk into nothing, chewing his bottom lip. He looked deep in thought but barely even twitched in surprise when Sanghyuk spoke. “Aren’t you happy?”
Jaehwan looked, at first, like the question merely confused him. Then he grinned, his eyes going intense again. He looked Sanghyuk up and down and Sanghyuk tried to not think about how his eyes seemed to linger at Sanghyuk’s crotch, on his throat. “Why do you ask?” Jaehwan murmured, almost a purr.
“I just— you didn’t look or sound it, when you said that.”
“And what if I wasn’t?” Suddenly Jaehwan was no longer standing in the doorway. Instead, he was inside the room, standing over halfway to Sanghyuk, who took an automatic step backwards and found himself pressed against the wall. Then he tried to pretend like he was casual and like he hadn’t just panicked. “Do you want me to be happy, Sanghyukkie?”
“Well, yeah,” Sanghyuk said blankly. “I mean, I’d like it if everyone was happy, you know? And only my grandmother called me Sanghyukkie, I don’t— please don’t call me that.”
Jaehwan chuckled lightly. “Oh, you are so precious,” he murmured. “No wonder the others tried to warn me off. Has anyone ever told you, Sanghyuk, how attractive you are?”
Sanghyuk blinked and then blushed so hard he felt it, the spread of heat through his entire body. “N-no,” he spluttered. No one had, either. He’d always been something that everyone else just looked through, looked past. A kid, a nobody. It had worked for him. In high school, he’d been gawky and awkward, kept his head down. Now, at HQ, he was just a trainee, a nuisance more than anything. His mentors being two of the best hunters out there had afforded him a begrudging sort of respect from some of the other hunters, but Wonshik being turned had been a blow. Even with his recent kills, nobody was expressing any interest of that sort in Sanghyuk.
“Did I embarrass you? I didn’t mean to.” Jaehwan didn’t sound particularly apologetic though. “I was just curious. Because you are, if you were wondering. Very attractive.”
He said attractive in the way a starving man might say delicious. Even so, Sanghyuk still muttered, “Thank you.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t thank me just yet,” Jaehwan said, smirking. He was getting closer, slowly, as if by doing so he wouldn’t frighten Sanghyuk. If that was the aim, then it was pointless, because Sanghyuk was so scared he was completely frozen to the spot. He wondered if Jaehwan could hear the frantic beating of his heart in his chest.
“But I’m wondering what that means,” Jaehwan said, his voice a purr that was making Sanghyuk’s stomach do weird twisty things. “If no one has told you that you’re attractive, does that mean you’ve never — what is it you humans say, that awful cliche phrase — you’ve never been confessed to.”
“No,” said Sanghyuk truthfully.
“And kissed— how about kissed?”
Sanghyuk flushed, hands curling into fists by his side. Jaehwan noticed and his grin widened. “That’s none of your business,” Sanghyuk muttered. It was getting difficult to talk.
“A virgin,” Jaehwan said softly, staring at Sanghyuk’s burning cheeks, at the way he was fidgeting. “You’re a virgin, aren’t you?” He laughed, a little, to himself more than at Sanghyuk. “Even Taekwoon wasn’t so lucky.”
Sanghyuk didn’t want to answer that, didn’t know how to reply. He stood, frozen to the spot, his primary emotion abject terror, but feeling small and weak, and a little humiliated besides. So what if he was a virgin? He had time. He was only seventeen.
Jaehwan strode forward, stopping too close to Sanghyuk for comfort. He was only a little bit taller but he used that to his advantage, seeming to loom over Sanghyuk. “You’ll be gorgeous one day,” Jaehwan said, voice low, intensifying the twisty feelings in Sanghyuk’s stomach. “You’re pretty now, so pretty, but— one day.” He shook his head and exhaled, even though Sanghyuk knew vampires didn’t breathe. The air ruffled Sanghyuk’s hair; he was close, too close.
“I’m not— not pretty,” Sanghyuk stammered out.
“You are,” Jaehwan said. “Maybe not to the humans, but to me—” He reached out a hand, too fast for Sanghyuk to jerk away from, and cupped Sanghyuk’s cheek. Sanghyuk’s wards went off, sending a wave of energy through him jerkily, flooding him with adrenaline, but Jaehwan didn’t blink. Instead, his other hand came up and cupped Sanghyuk’s other cheek, and he took a step forward so that, although their bodies weren’t touching, Sanghyuk was effectively trapped with his back to the wall.
“What are you doing?” Sanghyuk whispered; it was all he felt capable of doing.
“I want you,” Jaehwan breathed. His head tilted down, and Sanghyuk could feel his gaze boring into him, although he kept his eyes averted, almost desperately. “I want you, Sanghyuk.”
“Let go of me,” Sanghyuk whispered. His heart was beating so hard he felt like he was going to die.
There was a pause, just for a moment, and then Jaehwan did so, letting him go and backing away with his hands held up. He was grinning, like it was some joke to him. “Are you really so scared of me?” he asked. “I won’t hurt you.”
“I don’t know that,” Sanghyuk said. “I don’t even know you. I thought that Hongbin wouldn’t hurt me but Wonshik— he said that he might. If he might hurt me, when he cares about Wonshik who cares about me, then why wouldn’t you hurt me?”
Jaehwan threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, that’s so logical. Of course, you’re forgetting one thing, and that is I’m not like Crazy. I’ve lived for centuries, Sanghyuk, I’m in control. You could be bleeding out in front of me and the bloodlust still wouldn’t even more than twinge on the edges of my consciousness. The answer to your question is, of course, I won’t hurt you because I simply don’t want to hurt you.”
“And what if you wanted to hurt me?”
Jaehwan’s eyes flickered back to his body, eyelids going heavy as his gaze lingered on the soft, exposed skin of Sanghyuk’s throat. “Well then,” he said huskily, “that would depend on if you wanted me to hurt you.”
“I will never—” Sanghyuk began heatedly, but then Jaehwan had gone still for a second, listening, making the words die in Sanghyuk’s throat. He could recognise danger when he saw it; the way Jaehwan was standing made him think of an animal being stalked.
The next second, though, Jaehwan was back in his personal space, hands pushing Sanghyuk’s shoulders to the wall almost painfully hard, and his face was pressed to Sanghyuk’s neck. Sanghyuk screamed, his fear overwhelming him, fear that he hadn’t felt since he’d been confronted with vampire Wonshik at HQ. His hands scrambled at Jaehwan’s shoulders, trying to claw him off, but Jaehwan was immovable, chuckling lightly at Sanghyuk’s attempts.
“Get the fuck off him,” came the sudden yell from the doorway, and Jaehwan left him, flitting away while laughing hard. Sanghyuk sank to the floor, crying, hands pressed to this throat in an attempt at protecting himself.
Hakyeon was in the door, looking furious, his dagger in his hand and raised. Jaehwan looked at it and snorted. “That’s not going to do you any good,” he sneered.
Out of the space behind Hakyeon materialised Taekwoon, who reached out and plucked Hakyeon’s dagger from his hand, and held it in his own. He glared at Jaehwan and said, “I won’t kill you.”
“No,” Jaehwan agreed. “What will you do, Taekwoon? With your measly knife.”
There was a blur of movement and then Jaehwan was on the floor, hitting it hard enough that Sanghyuk felt the ground move underneath him. Taekwoon was on top of him, the dagger sliding slowly into the skin of his belly. Jaehwan screamed, arching around the silver, trying to dislodge Taekwoon like Sanghyuk had tried to dislodge him earlier. His success was about as much as Sanghyuk’s own success.
“This measly knife could gut you,” Taekwoon hissed, face pressed to Jaehwan’s. Sanghyuk became aware of hands on him, pulling him up insistantly. “I shouldn’t imagine it would be enjoyable, holding your insides in while you wait to heal, Jaehwan.”
“Come on,” Hakyeon said, pulling Sanghyuk to him, pressing Sanghyuk’s face to his shoulder, away from the scene on the floor. “It’s okay, Sanghyuk, you’re safe now—”
“He didn’t hurt me,” Sanghyuk muttered. Jaehwan had scared him, yes, but he thought this was a somewhat over the top response. “He wasn’t trying to hurt me, he knew you were coming. He just wanted to scare us both.”
Hakyeon held him away, staring at him. “Are you defending him?” he asked in disbelief. “After— after what I saw him trying to do to you?”
“He wasn’t actually going to bite me,” Sanghyuk said. “I’d already told him to leave me alone and he did. He just— just wanted—”
“He wanted to make us angry,” Taekwoon said. “Jaehwan enjoys that. It makes life more interesting.” He twisted the knife in Jaehwan’s stomach, and Jaehwan made a gurgling noise.
“Don’t hurt him,” Sanghyuk said, taking a step towards the pair. “You don’t— don’t have to hurt him, he didn’t hurt me. Please.”
Taekwoon stared at him solemnly, dark eyes unblinking and unreadable. Then, eventually, he pulled the knife from Jaehwan’s stomach, climbing to his feet in one smooth, oily movement. Jaehwan bit off another scream, hands clamping over the wound, fingers slippery with his own blood.
“You are too kind for your own good,” Taekwoon said slowly.
“Isn’t he just,” Jaehwan gasped out, struggling to sit up. The blood was already lessening off. “But he’s right, I didn’t hurt him. I wouldn’t hurt him, you know that, Taekwoonie.” Taekwoon snorted. Jaehwan looked pointedly at his stomach and said, “You wound me, Taekwoon. Literally, this time.”
“You will live,” Taekwoon said shortly.
“In a manner of speaking,” Jaehwan quipped. “Threatening to gut me, Taekwoon? That’s a new one. I don’t imagine that had everything to do with my advances on the youngest member of our merry pair of humans. Will you hurt me every time I talk to your little pet?”
A second later he was on the floor again, Taekwoon’s knee pressed to his throat. Jaehwan flailed, gasping like he was struggling to breathe. Then he fell still, looking bored. “I have no need for air, Taekwoon, you know that.”
“Perhaps you have a need for an unbroken neck,” Taekwoon hissed. “You test my patience, Jaehwan. You do so on a normal day, but this is beyond the pale. You threatened Hakyeon, and I won’t tolerate that. And you will leave Sanghyuk alone.”
“You cannot kill me, so what is there that you can do to stop me? You can hurt me, yes, smash my skull into my marble flooring, again, but I will heal, Taekwoon. What’s a brief amount of pain in these centuries we have lived? Besides, Sanghyuk is perfectly capable of making his own decisions. Perhaps he doesn’t want me to leave him alone.”
“He is a child,” Taekwoon hissed. Sanghyuk opened his mouth to protest that, but Hakyeon slapped his hand over it.
“So is your precious Hakyeon, according to our standards,” Jaehwan said. He laughed hollowly. “Are you going to lecture me on morality and standards of behaviour, Taekwoon? I’m not the one actually fucking a human here, am I? Forgive me if I don’t think you’re a paragon of decentness right now.”
A second later, Taekwoon was standing in front of Hakyeon and Sanghyuk, reaching out and taking them by a shoulder each. Sanghyuk fought not to flinch. “Come,” Taekwoon said. “We should leave. Talking to him is impossible. Dawn will be soon and I don’t wish to be stuck in this place.”
“Okay,” said Hakyeon, eyes flickering to Jaehwan, who was laying on the floor, eyes to the ceiling. “We’ll— Sanghyuk can stay with me, we don’t need to make the trip to his apartment as well.”
Sanghyuk sensed that Hakyeon was waiting for Sanghyuk to protest, but he didn’t. Part of him was grateful. He didn’t think he wanted to be alone. It was true that Jaehwan hadn’t hurt him, but he could still feel the ghost of his face against his neck, sending shivers down his spine. How easy it would have been for him to sink those fangs into his skin, rip out his throat, let him bleed out on the bathroom floor — and it wouldn’t matter that Jaehwan hadn’t asked permission to feed, because he wouldn’t need Sanghyuk’s blood anyway. It had terrified Sanghyuk how easily he had been able to imagine Jaehwan doing it.
“Come,” said Taekwoon again, softly, moving to block Sanghyuk’s view of Jaehwan. Only then was Sanghyuk able to make his feet move, stumbling along between Hakyeon and Taekwoon, Hakyeon’s arm around his shoulder helping to keep him upright and moving.
Just as they left the bathroom, Jaehwan said, “See you soon, pretty Sanghyuk.” Sanghyuk bit his tongue to stop himself sobbing.