Dining with Dinner
Moonless NightsMrs. Kim smiled at Minho, surprising him by answering the door herself instead of letting one of the maids get it.
"Minhyun sprained her ankle falling down the steps about twenty minutes ago, so I decided to take door duty for a while," she explained, smiling warmly as she wrapped her arm around the male's shoulders and leading him to one of the chairs just inside the entryway to their large home. "It's not like we get a great deal of visitors, and I thought maybe you and I could talk for a little while?" she said quietly, the words in the form of a statement, though her tone formed it into a question.
Minho bit his lip, followed by a slow nod. "I think I would like that, to chat with just you," he nodded once more. His own parents lived far from where he had moved to after high school, disappointed in his choice not to further his education. He made enough money with bartending and the odd catered event, but it was hard to find any time to visit. The Kims were very kind to him, even Grandmother had begun to refrain from a snarky or possibly disdainful remark increasingly frequent. It wasn't at all hard for Minho to understand how they'd found it in them to accept Taemin as their own child; they were just that sort of people.
The human was welcomed far beyond his expectations into their home. He realized after a short while that he looked to the elder adults as his family. Not only did their age command respect, but the care they took to make him comfortable earned his affection rather quickly.
"Was there anything specifically you had in mind to talk about?" he asked the woman softly, and followed Mrs. Kim's gaze down as she gathered his hands between her own.
"I just wanted to hear from you how things are going with Minnie," she explained, trying hard and mostly succeeding to hide a troubled face behind her well refined mask. "The two of you have spent a lot of time together, and I wasn't sure exactly what the terms of your arrangement were. I just," she paused to take a deep breath. "I just worry about him, I'm sure you can understand, and with that worry comes a concern for you as well."
"Mrs. Kim, please," Minho started, slowly moving his hands until he had the woman's captured between his palms.
"Taemin and I area doing well. The terms we've set is simply to grow closer. I want to get to know him, and his family, more and more. He has some kind of time requirement in his mind, and he'll be upset if I release him before that," the man tried to explain, then smiled softly at the ground. "More or less, Mrs. Kim, once Taemin feels we are friends enough that he's met his end of the deal and it would be acceptable for his 'servitude' to end, our arrangement will be over," he finally worded correctly, as his hands pulled back to settle in his own lap.
Nodding slowly as he spoke, the older woman felt a small smile spread to her own lips as well. "Friends, is it?" she murmured, lowering her head sharply and taking in a deep breath. "Taemin doesn't have many of those, as you know. He can count his number of friends that exclude family or servants on one hand, Minho, and he doesn't even need all of his fingers," Mrs. Kim said quietly, holding out one palm to demonstrate just how few that really was.
"I was wondering if it would be possible for me to get some blood," Minho told her after several moments of silence, just the sound of their breathing filling the air. "For Taemin, of course," he added quickly when he saw the puzzled look on her face. "I thought it would be good if I had some blood in my house in case he ever got injured or just thirsty. I know he would rather fight off thirst than attack me again, and there have been the few nights that he's stayed over..." he trailed off, feeling foolish for even asking such a thing of the woman.
Rather than call him an idiot or point out how ridiculous he sounded, Mrs. Kim nodded with another warm smile on her face. "I'll have some gathered for you for when you leave tonight. Taemin likes both bottled and bagged blood, depending on his mood," she informed the human, who honestly had no idea there was more than one way to package it. He hadn't been told much about packaged blood, only reading about live feedings from the laws.
"If Taemin simply needs to feed to keep control of himself, he prefers bottled blood and to either sip it from a straw or mix in with milk or some sort of cola," she went on to explain. "But, if Taemin gets hurt, it's usually quicker with bagged blood. Biting into the plastic helps calm his instinct to feed from a human because his fangs have to pierce through to get the blood. Either way, he prefers his blood more of a lukewarm or room temperature."
"I had no idea feeding from packaged blood could be so complicated..." the human murmured. He recalled one time that Taemin had practically drooled over the raw steaks he was preparing for dinner, since he'd just gotten paid and decided they both deserved a dinner with real meat. That was the only time he had ever encountered anything to do with Taemin's vampire side at his apartment.
Mrs. Kim smiled at him once more before rising, and the way she looked down at him told him to remain seated just how he was. "Take care of our Taemin, Minho," she whispered, bowing slightly before taking a deep breath and pulling him up with her. "Take care of him and you will always be welcome here, even after you are no longer his master."
Taken aback momentarily, Minho furrowed his eyebrows before nodding to Mrs. Kim. "I'll do my absolute best," he told her just as softly, bowing in return, lower to the ground and longer.
Once the man stood properly, Mrs. Kim smiled at him once more and took his arm to let him lead her to the dining room where dinner was about to be served.
"What were you talking to my wife about earlier, Choi Minho?" Mr. Kim asked lowly once dinner was over and the group waited for dessert to come out. Mrs. Kim shook her head and sighed at the question, looking at the napkin in her lap.
"Do we finally get to put Minho on the menu?" Grandmother asked, eyes twinkling in amusement at the look the boys and her daughter gave her.
"Mother, please," Mrs. Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head again. "Minho and I were talking about he and Taemin. I wanted an update and state of affairs from him and then we just talked for a few minutes. Hardly the sort of thing we'd tie him to the table and devour him for, dear," she told her husband, patting his cheek lightly a few times before bringing her hand to his face a little harder, but still not enough to be called a slap.
"Why were you talking about us?" Taemin asked Minho in a whisper, blinking expectantly at the other man.
Minho smiled and ruffled Taemin's hair until it was actually mussed enough for the boy to pout. "She just wanted to know how we were doing, and I asked about getting some blood at my house for you, just in case you should ever need it," he told the younger looking vampire.
Taemin's eyes widened at the mention of blood, since it always seemed like an awkward, almost taboo, subject with his human frie- Master, but he smiled softly because the man had thought of him. "Thank you, Minho hyung," he smiled again, leaning over more to hug him loosely.
As dessert came to a close as well, Taemin stood up before everyone had left the room. "I'm staying at Minho's this week," he declared, giving Minho a look that reduced the man to being able to do nothing but nod in agreement. "My school holiday is over now, and I'm going to stay at Minho's because there are going to be group projects this week and I want to be able to invite someone to my place for a change. And, even though it's Minho's home, I'll finally get the chance to do that," he explained, and although it was clear to see the disapproval on the faces of the adults and the boys both, no one could argue with Taemin's logic.
"Very well, tomorrow mor-"
"I'm already packed. I'm going with him tonight," Taemin cut off his uncle, swallowing nervously until he saw there would be no more protests. "I'll go get my bags," he told Minho, grinning widely as he practically ran out of the dining room to go up to his bedroom.
Mrs. Kim rose slowly, beckoning Minho to follow. She led him to a cold room, turning on the light to show several refrigerators that were revealed to all hold blood, of all different types, in both bottles and bags. "I'll gather these up for you to take to your car," she told him, finding a box in one corner and placing everything she thought Taemin might need inside.
"Thank you, Mrs. Kim," Minho said quietly once the box was in his hands. He took a deep breath, thinking of what he held, then carefully took it to his trunk. With Taemin racing to his car, Minho chuckled and helped the boy put his things in the back seat.
"I'll return him in a week, safe and sound."
~*~
"Howon and Woohyun."
Taemin's face fell at the next to last group the teacher mentioned. She was assigning the groups for a small paper, and two grades had been joined for the project, some teacher's idea to build friendship between the older and younger students. He was the last student left.
"Taemin and..."
Well, he was the last student in his grade. The young vampire who had yet to ignite turned to the boy he knew would be his partner, shrinking back in his seat as he was met with a sadistic grin.
"Dongwoo."
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