Looking back, it’s more his fault than Junhoe’s.

Hanbin is not the one who found the bat on the ground, but it’s his decision to pick it and bring it home. It’s just—it’s 1.35 am of a Sunday morning. The nearest clinic is an hour drive and he can’t take his car because he’s buzzed.

His friend has a really nosy and strict landlord and even a meaner roommate while, although he wouldn’t describe the college’s dormitory as nice since some part of the hall are awful (because a couple of the students who are staying don’t know that the very foundation of being in a complex with other people is basic human decency aka clean your room because it smells rotten), at least he lives alone.

Why was he even trying to blame someone else if it was a decision he made?

But Hanbin believes that, upon coming back from a trip to the bathroom, nobody would have expected to find a guy passed out on the floor, crushing the little bed he had put on quickly the night before, instead of the bat he had rescued.

The normal thing to do when a stranger breaks into your room is to call for the police, and indeed, that would have been Hanbin’s plan, but he gets scared easily. So, after recovering from the shock, he stumbles back, trips on his feet, crawls as far as he can from the lying body. All while screaming at the top of his lungs.

He doesn’t recommend following his example because the next thing he knows is that the person’s stirring.

This is the moment when his mind starts playing images of his imminent death as he watches with an erratic breath the intruder slowly start to get himself up in a sitting position.

The guy blinks sleepily, hair disheveled. His eyes start dilating as he looks around him.

It almost comical how when he and Hanbin finally find themselves staring at each other, the guy’s reaction is to get petrified himself.

The stranger is the one to break the silence.

“Oh, no,” he groans, burying his face in his palms, “he’s going to kill me,” and then whines some more. It takes him some minutes to collect himself.

Well, not really. He still looks very displeased—not as much as Hanbin, though—but he gets on his feet and then turns his head around.

“Do you mind if—?” He’s flicking his thumb towards the window.

Hanbin does not reply. If possible he freezes even more because he’s being addressed.

“I’ll—,” the guy keeps talking, “—just go.” He opens the window and throws himself out of it before Hanbin can move and stop him.

Maybe they put something in the drinks yesterday.

There’s just no way Hanbin looks down, expecting to observe how a body splatters onto the ground, but instead witnesses the transformation of that guy from a person to a bat in a ‘poof’, right?

It can’t be.

————

Hanbin tells himself that it’s only a severe case of hangover culminating in hallucinations. That he keeps having throughout the day.

He feels like he’s being watched, followed, and in more than one occasion he catches glimpses of a now familiar figure.

But, again, it can’t be.

Because people don’t turn into bats. Or any kind of animal. Unless they’re folklore beings and now, that’s ridiculous. Those are only made up stories.

Still, that doesn’t explain why when he’s studying in the cafeteria he feels eyes on him, but when he checks around him, there are only the few regulars and the baristas serving. Nothing suspicious from outside, either.

His everyday routine is dorm, school, studying in somewhere quiet and dorm again.

That night he regrets not going in a nearer place to home, and more, regretting staying out until late, even though he’s been very productive today.

Hanbin wouldn’t want to, but he has to take this very dark alley with only a flickering post-lamp in the middle of it, to reach the dormitory.

Armed with his almost non-existent courage, he strides to arrive to the other part where he can almost see the sign of the pizza/bakery.

His skin is prickling, shoulders heavy with anxiety, but he makes it.

It’s then that he hears and after he rotates his body to watch where the noises are coming from, also sees someone running, arms flailing in the air, and shouting, “help, help, help, help, help!”

Hanbin’s instincts go wild. He sees someone run as if they’re being hunted and he does too without thinking twice.

His legs stops only once he’s at his complex’s entrance.

“Pfiu,” a voice says, and Hanbin snaps his head to his right to discover that the person had a) tailed after him, b) looks perfectly okay, not a puddle of sweat, out of breathe, and leg muscles burning like Hanbin is feeling, and c) is the guy who jumped from his window this morning.

C is probably the most alarming out of the three.

“Sorry about that.” The guy smiles at him sheepishly. “I don’t really like dark places. Give me the shivers.” He says and to prove a point, he shivers.

Hanbin’s gaze falls on the other’s open mouth, taking in how his canine are abnormally longer and sharp.

“You’re a vampire,” he blurts out, all his reasoning evaporating at the sight of those teeth. It’s not like he can come up with other explanations. Hanbin is a smart fellow. He knows he’s not dreaming, so putting 2+2 that’s the only conclusion he can come to.

And oh, he is about to hyperventilate. He can feel it. It’s coming. It’s—

The vampire gives him a funny look. “Duh,” he utters as an answer, the it’s ‘obvious’ implied.

Something about him folding his arms on his chest, completely forgetting that he just admitted to being a vampire and scared of the dark thus having no rights to look so smug, makes Hanbin weirdly relax a little. Or at least, relaxed enough to still be completely coherent.

A metallic noise comes from the distance all of a sudden.

Startled, Hanbin winces. It’s just from the a stray cat jumping on an empty can of soda.

The guy squawks. Very loudly. And he crouches down, curling in on himself, and has a hand full of Hanbin’s pants. He remains like this for some time.

Actually, he stays like this until Hanbin informs him that,

“huh, it’s just a cat.”

The guy peers at him. “Really?”

Hanbin nods.

“Ah.” One second later he’s standing up. “Well, sorry about this too.” For such a supposedly lethal creature, Hanbin expected being drained out of blood. Or murdered.

He definitely didn’t imagine to be comforting a vampire.

Hanbin looks at the other properly. Jet black hair, a pronounced jaw, average height. He’s young, probably even younger than Hanbin. At least that’s how he physically looks like. For all he knows the guy could have been alive for millions of decades.

His personality reminds Hanbin of Junhoe, maybe without the sass, and that’s what prompts him to ask as he recalls his day,

“were you—following me?” If the answer is negative then he should consider having one of those soothing tea at night. He’s becoming too paranoid.

On the other hand, though, he saw a vampire morph into a bat.

“Yes,” the guy admits, sounding shy about it. “But I’m not planning on keeping it up for long. I just wanted to make sure—I just need to—” He doesn’t complete his sentence, instead his head to a side and leans in Hanbin’s space.

Hanbin jerks his whole self back reflexively, definitely opposed to the idea of having a creature like this close to him. Especially to his exposed neck.

The movement doesn’t bother the guy at all. It seems like the brief moment was enough for him to see whatever was that he was looking for.

In fact, he says, “thanks,” bids Hanbin goodbye with a salute, and then gives Hanbin his back as he takes his phone out to make a call.

Hanbin blinks. What—was that?

“Hey, yes, it’s me—” He hears the vampire say in the phone and while he knows that it’s not nice to eavesdrop, he listens for a while anyways because—well, what the hell was that?

He doesn’t know if it’s confusion, a sudden curiosity mixed with a sudden lack of surviving skills, but instead of locking himself up in his room, Hanbin remains here.

“—it happened again.” A pause. “No, babe, not that. Yes! I’m sure, there’s no bite.”

At that, Hanbin starts touching frantically all over his neck with his fingers. Fortunately, as the other mentioned, there’s not a single hole in it. It’s a reminder that staying out right now is dangerous.

But this is a vampire. A being that shouldn’t exist, but it does. Who turns into a bat, Hanbin saw that. And the vampire confirmed that he is, indeed, a vampire. And he got fangs. And, and, and he’s a weird vampire.

A huff. “No, I’m telling you I didn’t—oh, c’mon. It was one time! I turn someone by mistake once and now you think I’m on a biting spree? What if I get a disease, , please.” Another pause. “I—I didn’t mean to call you a . It’s just a thing people say these days. Honey—”

Whoever is on the other line sounds extremely pissed. Hanbin can hear the yelling from his spot.

A sigh, and it gets quiet before his phone growls,

“did you just sigh at me?”

Hanbin sees the other start sputtering. He lies, “no, I wasn’t! Not at all!”

It’s only now that he notices that he’s not alone.

Predatory eyes stare at Hanbin with a piercing gaze, making a chill run down Hanbin’s entire back. He can’t suppress the a small gasp escaping from his mouth.

Vampire.

But then Hanbin’s shown a smile. The vampire is gesturing at his phone and grimacing as he keeps getting yelled at. He’s rolling his eyes dramatically before finally waving his hand at Hanbin and just, well, going away.

That was very anti-climatic.

————

He tries to tell someone about the creature—the vampire—but predictably none of his friends believe him.

His insistence that it hadn’t been all in his head, it happened for real, only makes Jinhwan worry and nag at him about taking breaks in between his long marathon of studying, while Junhoe completely disregards him after a pointed side-way stare.

After that, Hanbin tells himself it’s pointless to keep arguing.

The week doesn’t present any other kind of incidents, normal or supernatural, but the following has Hanbin bite his nails when Kim Jiwon asks him if he’s still available for tutoring.

“I find it easier when I have a big brain like yours helping me,” Jiwon says playfully, shooting Hanbin his crooked smile that’s very endearing.

“Oh, ehm—” Hanbin stammers as he thinks about it.

He has savings, but more money has never hurt anyone. Plus, he worked with Jiwon for two semesters and he is a good learner, he picks up what Hanbin teaches him quickly and unlike