“Heartache looks beautiful on you.” Jooheon remembers clenching his jaw after that comment, shaking his head with tears pricking at his eyes. “Even now, even with the current circumstance. I can’t help but still find you utterly striking, my darling,” that cold, ancient voice had muttered, dripping with falsities and hidden intentions- enough to make Jooheon boil with rage just at the mere recollection.

The rest of the memory faded away like smoke as Jooheon angrily stood up from his cluttered, messy couch, his legs shaking from the sudden movement. It had been seven days since that moment, when his undead heart shattered into a thousand pieces, but he still wasn’t over it. But realistically, how could someone get over a decade-long love and engagement in only seven days?

Scrubbing at his eyes, Jooheon brokenly falls back onto the faded, maroon couch, his hurting body tired from even that much movement. Tears welling up in his vision and threatening to spill out, Jooheon groans, anger mounting at the rush of weakness he felt.

“Stop… crying about him,” Jooheon muttered to himself, rubbing at his swollen eyes with shaky hands. “He will never cry about you, he never even felt the same way about you,” Jooheon continued, the words like a mantra of resilience. Collecting his strength bit by bit, Jooheon leaned further into the couch, closing his eyes and letting his long, black hair fall into his eyes.

Memories, lingering love, regret, anger… they all swirled around Jooheon in a self-hating fog, leaving the vampire in a constant state of conflicted emotions. He found it hard to even think, and after spending the past few days pouring over his work, Jooheon decided that maybe it was time to stop thinking. Maybe, if just for a little bit, he could slip into unconsciousness.

Slipping on his shoes and coat, Minhyuk grabbed his bag of provisions, and walked out of his apartment on a mission. It was Minhyuk’s duty, as Jooheon’s best friend forever, to make sure the boy was alright no less than twice a night, and, even though he gave the boy some space earlier (mostly because he wasn’t answering his texts), Minhyuk absolutely had to go over there at least once tonight.

Jooheon was in a rough patch right now, and Minhyuk couldn’t blame him. After the initial break-up, that Jooheon himself had insisted on, the boy had been a hot mess- never leaving his apartment, not even feeding. He was frail, tired, and looked even more lifeless than usual. It made Minhyuk’s rhetorical heart throb in concern and sympathy, and, as he approached Jooheon’s front door, began rapidly knocking his fist against it, desperate to get to the man and make sure that he was okay.

One second passed… then two. Minhyuk tried knocking again, anxiety rising at the distinct possibility that Jooheon wasn’t ever going to answer him. Panic mounting to a head, Minhyuk closed his eyes, pushing all of his focus into the energy surrounding him, and then channeling it into a powerful blast of pure force- knocking the door down right off the hinges. A cloud of dust rose from the disturbance, and Minhyuk walked inside the apartment, eyes scanning around the opulent, spacious main room… and its current state. Crumpled sheet music and spilled ink were scattered and spilt around the floor and every visible surface, with Jooheon himself passed out on the couch- looking like he hadn’t bathed in days.

“Jooheon!” Minhyuk called out, watching the way the previously motionless man jolted awake at the call, his body lurching forward and eyes wide with panic. Seven days ago, Minhyuk would’ve found Jooheon’s surprise and fear hilarious and endearing, but today- it only filled him with sadness. He walked over to Jooheon’s side, kneeling down to get eye-level with the haggard-looking vampire. 

“Is everything okay? I tried knocking, but you didn’t answer,” Minhyuk asked, his sapphire-blue eyes wide with worry as he stared into Jooheon’s ice-blue ones. Jooheon swallowed dryly, processing the statement as his eyes glanced over to the entryway. Shocked with the sight that greeted him only moments after being woken up by Minhyuk screaming his name, Jooheon groaned, his voice tired and annoyed.

“Hyung?! Didn’t I tell you to call first?” Jooheon belatedly asked, tiredly getting up from the couch to assess the door situation from a closer range. Minhyuk pouted, his lower lip sticking out as he watches Jooheon slowly walk- his body looking weak and maltreated.

“But you weren’t answering, and I was worried about you,” Minhyuk explained, and Jooheon merely pursed his lips, knowing that Minhyuk had a good point. Jooheon didn’t know how long he’d been asleep on the couch, but he did know that if Minhyuk wasn’t there to keep an eye on him, he might not have woken up in the same year, let alone night.

“Thank you,” Jooheon said, sincerity in his voice. The mood suddenly took a darker, somber tone as Jooheon felt a solemn gratitude towards his friend, and the terrible way he was treating himself. Minhyuk blinked nervously at the shift in atmosphere, wondering if now would finally be the time to ask Jooheon what had really happened the day he broke up with his ex. 

They were engaged, and Jooheon suddenly called off not only their marriage- but their relationship as a whole. For vampires with high stature and status, like Jooheon, engagement was the first step in an eternity-long commitment. As an elite vampire, to call off an engagement needed months, if not years, of documentation and proof to prove that a split would be the best choice. To keep a perfect reputation and status, it had to be proven valid in court, not decided by Jooheon alone.

Minhyuk’s typical personality was definitely borderline pestering at times, but even he knew that if Jooheon didn’t want to talk about it- then he shouldn’t push him. He respected his boundaries, no matter how much his curiosity was eating him up inside… at least, as best as he could manage.

“Do you… want to talk about it?” Minhyuk asked, unable to stop himself as he witnessed firsthand how broken Jooheon appeared, how dead his eyes looked. Jooheon swallowed, considering it for a moment… the thought of confiding in his friend and getting everything off his chest was tempting, but the lingering love he still held for his ex-fiancé was keeping him from doing it. The public was already dying to know what happened between the two, and if word got out about what really happened that day, it would destroy his ex’s status and reputation for eternity.

“I’m sorry,” Jooheon simply replied, guilt smacking him right in the face. As much as he loved his ex-fiancé, he still cared about his friend… and he couldn’t even tell his best friend why he was so hurt- his best friend that only wanted to help him heal his wounds. It made him feel like a failure of a friend, and he stared down at the fallen-down door, not even angry at Minhyuk for knocking it down any longer. Sensing this, Minhyuk pulled out his little bag of provisions, figuring that now was the best time for a distraction.   

“I brought a few things with me, here, come look at this,” Minhyuk said, gesturing for Jooheon to come back to the table. A cold draft breezed in through the empty doorway, and Jooheon, completely unaffected, walks to the table, a slight limp in his step. Pulling out a ceramic water bottle, Minhyuk hastily unscrewed the cap, and the powerful scent of blood flooded the room. Perking up, Jooheon grabbed the bottle as it was handed to him, and took a small sip, slipping out a pleasant groan as he then began chugging the entire bottle. 

“I thought you might want some of that,” Minhyuk said, smiling fondly as he watches Jooheon messily slurp down the red liquid. Inhaling deeply as he finishes the bottle, Jooheon sets it down, not even noticing the streams of blood dripping from his mouth. Feeling the blood course through his veins and into all of his limbs, Jooheon exhales a sigh of relief, the food fueling his body and providing him with strength that he so desperately needed. Cringing at the unkempt appearance of his friend, Minhyuk frowns, and then shakes his head, glad that at least he had some energy in him now. He then pulls out a small piece of paper from his bag, handing it to Jooheon.

“I also saw an advertisement for this club on my way here,” Minhyuk explained, watching the way Jooheon’s face contorted in confusion as he read the paper. “I thought it might be a good idea to get you out of the house, and I think a pretty human boy might be just what you need right now,” he continued, smiling amusedly at the scandalized expression on Jooheon’s face. “Maybe get you a little blood, and a little booty, if you get what I’m saying, my friend,” Minhyuk continued, and at that comment- Jooheon outright laughed, setting down the flyer and shaking his head.

“I don’t know, hyung,” Jooheon began, frowning a bit as he found his gaze returning to the paper, unable to tear his gaze away from the beautiful, flush-faced human boys posing naughtily on the advertisement. “These sorts of places aren’t really becoming of young elites like us,” Jooheon said, choosing to ignore what state he, as a ‘young elite’, was currently in for the sake of his argument. Minhyuk had handed him an ad for what was essentially a strip club for vampires to feed off of humans who enjoyed being used as a live blood supply. They were mostly frequented by vampires with low status and low standards- definitely not upstanding vampires like Minhyuk and Jooheon.

Minhyuk couldn’t help but laugh at the reply, shaking his head.

“What do you have left to lose, Jooheon?” Minhyuk asked, not expecting an answer. Jooheon’s gaze flickered down to the floor of his apartment, noticing the terrible state it was in. “Maybe some y fun would get your mind off of things for a little while?” Minhyuk prompted, tilting his head cutely to the side. “This is also a pretty damn easy meal, and you definitely need more than that water bottle’s worth of blood to last you through the night,” Minhyuk added, and at that Jooheon began slowly nodding- clearly getting warmed up to the idea. 

“Alright, but what if we get seen there?” Jooheon asked, but it was pretty clear by his body language and expression that this was his last hold-out. Minhyuk walked closer to the boy, wrapping his arm around his shoulders as he looked into his face, a bright smile painting his features.

“It’s like you said, Jooheony bee. It’s not the place for upstanding vampires,” Minhyuk began, and then smirked, the expression a little more conniving. “So if we get caught there, they’ll be caught too,” he concluded, and Jooheon smiled, feeling the first shreds of excitement he’d felt in the past week.

“You have a point,” Jooheon admitted, and then sighed, nodding his head resolutely. “Alright, I’ll go,” he said, straightening his posture. Minhyuk squealed in delight, tackling the man in a tight hug. 

“Great!!” Minhyuk cheered, and, after pulling back and seeing Jooheon’s incredibly ragged appearance, frowned in disgust.

“Alright, you just go take a shower and get all prettied up, and I’ll be in here… fixing your door,” Minhyuk said, chuckling nervously as he stared bashfully over at the mess he’d made. Jooheon nodded, and then quirked a brow, glad that Minhyuk at least was planning on doing that himself.

“I’ll be out soon- please don’t break anything else,” Jooheon jokingly said as he walked over to his bathroom, the sound of Minhyuk’s footsteps creaking the floorboards echoing behind him. Entering the room, Jooheon closed the door behind him, sighing slowly as he started up the shower. As he was waiting on the shower to heat up to an appropriate temperature, Jooheon found himself facing his vampire-calibrated mirror- and took in his terrible appearance.

“,” he muttered under his breath, tired eyes scanning his bloodstained, messy appearance. He looked like a complete and total wreck, not only on the surface- but written all in his eyes were visions of pain and lingering emotion. Jooheon ran his hand through his long, greasy black hair, and then winced, a memory flooding into his mind.

“Your dark hair is so beautiful long, darling. Keep it like this for me.” He could almost see the sly, cool grin on his ex-fiancé’s face as he uttered those words, and it made tears well into Jooheon’s eyes. He tugged on his hair, and then angrily raked his fingers through the long, stringy strands, hating how much it reminded him of his ex.

Getting an idea, Jooheon pulls open the cabinet in his bathroom, pulling out a pair of scissors and an electric trimmer. He wasn’t going to let his ex control his appearance any longer, and with that thought fueling him, Jooheon flattened his hair, making bold, fast cuts. He cut off probably two or three inches of hair, leaving only short, choppy strands remaining. Along the sides of his head, Jooheon trimmed his hair down with the electric trimmer, giving him a completely unique and fresh hair style… but that was only half of his ex’s comment. His hair was still dark, but Jooheon would have to change that after showering. Bleach didn’t stick well to dirty hair, after all.

Getting into the shower feeling much lighter already, Jooheon quickly bathed himself, washing off days’ worth of grime and negative emotions down the drain. He didn’t realize just how much he needed this shower, and felt refreshed and light as he stepped out of the shower, body drenched in water. After towel-drying himself, Jooheon began blow-drying his hair, pleased to see that he actually did a pretty even cut. Wrapping his towel around his hips, Jooheon opened the door to the bathroom. 

“Hyung! Come help me with something,” Jooheon called out, watching the way Minhyuk immediately jolted up, walking over to the boy. Scrunching his eyebrows as he surveys Jooheon’s new appearance, Minhyuk frowned, giving him a questioning look.

“What happened to your hair…?” Minhyuk asked, but Jooheon was already waving off the question.

“Needed a change, and that’s not all. Could you help me get this bleach on my hair?” Jooheon asked, and Minhyuk chuckled, glad to see that Jooheon was really putting forth effort to move on, and a hair change seemed like a pretty harmless thing in Minhyuk’s mind. Already walking towards the bathroom, Minhyuk followed after Jooheon.

“Yep,” Minhyuk replied, and, as the two entered the steamy bathroom, Jooheon poured some of the special, fancy vampire hair product into a bowl, getting out some plastic gloves for them to wear while applying the product. Grabbing a pair of gloves, Minhyuk put them on, eyes tersely watching the way Jooheon’s hands trembled as he squeezed out the product. Minhyuk knew that under normal circumstances, Jooheon was perfectly capable of doing this himself, but that was the thing. This wasn’t a normal circumstance.

Silently getting a glob of the product on his gloves, Minhyuk began massaging it into Jooheon’s scalp, spreading the product throughout his short hair. With the length of Jooheon’s hair in its current state, Minhyuk found that the job was getting done incredibly quick, and Jooheon helping him out got them finished in no time.

Removing the gloves and setting them onto the edge of the sink, Minhyuk raised his hands to either side of Jooheon’s head, hovering them there as he focused his energy. This particular type of bleach was specifically made for vampire hair, and could permanently dye hair in seconds- with enough energy, that is.

“How light are you wanting me to go?” Minhyuk asked, his eyes flickering over to Jooheon’s reflection in the mirror. Jooheon looked him dead in the eye, and with a stern voice, replied:

“White.” Getting the idea, Minhyuk inhaled deeply, focusing all of his energy into heating up the bleach in Jooheon’s hair, rapidly speeding up the rate of the bleach absorption. He watched the black strands turn brown, then red, then wheat blond, until-

“Alright, I think that’s enough,” Jooheon said, wincing slightly from the intense feeling on his scalp. Minhyuk nodded, and then removed his hands, observing the stark white hair that was now on Jooheon’s head.

“Wow, that looks incredible,” Minhyuk complimented. He looked like a completely different person, his hair and general appearance a harsh contrast from how he looked a few minutes ago. Jooheon nodded, but the bleach was stinging his scalp- he needed to rinse it out. 

“Let me wash it out now,” Jooheon said, his hands clenching the towel that was haphazardly wrapped around his waist as he eyed Minhyuk expectantly. Getting the gist, Minhyuk nodded, and then shot the boy a cheeky wink as he exited the bathroom.

Stepping back in the shower to wash out the burning bleach, Jooheon ran another round of shampoo and conditioner through his hair, and then got out of the shower, annoyed that he had to dry his hair all over again. Luckily, his hair was significantly shorter now, and the task was quick and easy. He even styled his hair in messy, haphazard spikes, smirking contentedly at the reflection in the mirror. Slipping his towel back on around his waist, Jooheon felt energized, excited to go out into the world again. It was an incredible feeling, after everything he’d been through. Opening the door to the bathroom, Jooheon stepped out, showing off his newly acquired hair proudly to his friend.

“Damn!! That suits you so well!” Minhyuk complimented in a loud, bright voice, and Jooheon smiled, a tiny tinge of embarrassment welling up from the assertive compliment.

“Thank you,” Jooheon murmured under his breath, and swallowed, remembering that they were about to go out- and he needed to decide what to wear. “What are you wearing?” Jooheon asked, unable to see what sort of obscene outfit Minhyuk was wearing under his calf-length trench coat. Minhyuk smiled toothily, and then began ing his coat.

“I’m glad you asked- this way, we can coordinate,” Minhyuk replied as he ripped off his coat- showing off an entirely too revealing outfit. On the top, he was wearing a distressed fish-net top, paired with leather, lace-up arm-bands and several y looking straps along his mid-section. On the bottom, he was wearing baggy, ripped jeans with steel hoops sewn into the fabric to expose even more flesh. Jooheon raised his eyebrows, shaking his head.

“Yeah, I don’t think I have anything in my closet that could coordinate with that,” Jooheon replied, punctuating the sentence with a finger waggling at Minhyuk’s ensemble. Chuckling, Minhyuk raised his eyebrows, as if he didn’t quite believe what Jooheon was saying.

“What about that corset I bought you?” Minhyuk prompted, referring to a shiny, latex corset belt that Minhyuk had bought him for his 93^th birthday a few years ago. Jooheon stammered, but then pouted, realizing that Minhyuk had a point. Plus, he hadn’t ever found the opportunity to wear that particular piece of clothing before… maybe tonight was a good night to try something new. Hell, this would be the least new thing he’d be doing tonight.

“…I’ll go get it.”

After trying on several different outfits, and eventually deciding on a pair of shiny leather pants and a plain white button-down, with the corset on top, Jooheon was finally content. He added some finishing touches with jewelry and makeup, and was ready to head out for the night. Looking over at Minhyuk, Jooheon smiled softly, thankful that his friend woke him up by knocking down his door today.

“You ready?” Minhyuk asked, and Jooheon nodded, grabbing his wallet and keys and then walking towards the door.

“Let’s paint the town red.”