a/n: YAY IT'S FINISHED WHOOOOO 

You never, for even once in your entire life, dreamed of walking into a vampire’s home willingly. Especially recently, when said vampire is one called Lee Jonghyun. And yet, in total and complete irony, there you were, watching him pour you a cup of hot tea right on his kitchen counter. Jonghyun pushes the black mug towards you and nudges his head.

“Drink,” he urges. “It’ll help with your headache.”

For once, throughout all the months you’ve spent with him, you have no snarky remarks, no insults, no scornful comments to say to him. You have nothing to say at all. You simply take the mug and bring it to your lips, sipping the warm green tea and letting the liquid linger on your tongue. You then look back up at Jonghyun, who is quiet all the same, watching as you take gulps from the tea.

He breaks the silence first.

“This is the first time you aren’t trying to throw offensive words at me,” Jonghyun says, giving you a small smile. You stare at the remaining tea inside the mug while you trace the rim with your finger.

“How could I after what happened back there?” you whisper.

Jonghyun sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He glances at anything he could keep his gaze on, as if he were trying to think of the right things to say. When he finally returns his eyes back to you, he asks, “Don’t you want to ask me anything about that?”

You shrug.

Jonghyun sighs again and gives in. “We share the same maker. Yonghwa and I. That is why he calls me brother.” He pauses, continuing a few moments later, more to himself than to you. “But I could never call him that anymore.”

You place the cup down and observe him. Jonghyun seemed to be elsewhere, like he was remembering something unpleasant.

“Maker? Is that what you call the vampire who turned you?” you question. Jonghyun nods just before tipping his chin up at you.

“We have the same blood running through our veins—our maker’s. We’re bound whether we like it or not,” he answers in disdain. “The three of us used to travel together…until I couldn’t live like that any longer. Yonghwa has lost every bit of humanity left in him. He is destructive and hateful and selfish.”

“And you aren’t?”

You regret it immediately when you notice his expression—hurt.

“I do not deny the fact that I have my own share of sins,” he admits, exhaling. Jonghyun looks up at you, his eyes serious. “But I’ve been trying. And I want to keep trying. When you’ve lived long enough, you begin to realize how meaningless immortality is. Humans have it so much better, and yet, they wholly take advantage of their finite state in this world.”

It was beginning to amaze you. You often thought of Jonghyun before as a petty vampire—a monstrous being who thrives in blood, who needs to steal from humans in order to live—not an ancient entity with years and years of experience, who’s watched the world form and reform with his own two eyes. You never contemplated on how he feels, what he thinks of, what centuries and his condition have done to his soul. If he even had a soul.

You were starting to think that he still does.

“Your maker,” you begin. “Is she still alive?”

Jonghyun shook his head. “He met the sun about five decades ago.”

“Vampires can commit suicide?”

Jonghyun looks at you incredulously and you quickly state an apology.

“Why, though? If you don’t mind me asking.”

He shrugs again. “He couldn’t take it anymore as well, I assume. The immortality. He said he’d lived far too long to watch the world die again.”

Silence.

“Yonghwa thought him a coward,” Jonghyun mutters through gritted teeth. “But anyone can tell it is Yonghwa who is the fool.”

Abruptly, you don’t bother keeping things from Jonghyun anymore. You embrace yourself as you stare at the wooden counter, recounts of the evening playing over and over again—the horde of vampires storming into the pub, Yonghwa’s teeth grazing your neck, Jungshin so close to death. Mortality seemed so close now.

“I’m scared.”

Jonghyun snaps his head back up and looks at you with such intensity that you almost shivered under his gaze. He enunciates each word as if his life depended on it. “I won’t let him hurt you. I swear.”

You gulp down before speaking again.

“That thing you said at the bar. About me being yours,” you say. “Does that actually work?”

He gives a curt nod. “A vampire can choose a willing human to be his or her host, and the vampire shall only feed on this human; no other vampire is allowed to touch them. Yonghwa may be deceitful, but he knows his boundaries.”

Your heart is beating so fast that you’re sure Jonghyun can sense it. But he remains quiet, not saying anything, thankfully. He seemed so different from the nosy, chatty immortal you grew used to.

“D-Do you need to feed?” you stutter. Jonghyun stares at you, and for the briefest moment, his gaze falls on your neck.

“Only when you consent it. In the meantime, we can just keep—“

“I consent,” you say, exhaling deeply as you meet his dark eyes. “Do what you have to.”

He stands from his chair and purses his lips as he begins to make his way towards you. He pauses midway. “Are you sure about this?”

You simply nod and he helps you stand up, placing your hair to one side of your neck. Jonghyun places his arms around your waist and pulls you close. He noses through the flesh of your chest as he begins ing your blouse, then working up to your neck. You emit a short gasp when you feel his lips pressing on your skin.

“Jonghyun,” you murmur. “Why?”

He pulls away to look at you.

“Why did you choose me?” you ask.

Slowly, he begins to smile. It isn’t the smug, conceited smile you grew so used to seeing on his lips. This smile is gentle; it is soft. It is loving.

“My list of reasons on why that is so are endless,” he answers. “But, simply put, it’s because…you are you. And I am me.”

“That isn’t very helpful,” you groan.

Jonghyun smirks. “We can’t help who we fall for.”

You roll your eyes again, but you admitted it—you were beginning to feel the same way.

“Will it hurt?”

“For a little while. But I will be gentle,” Jonghyun grins as he holds your waist tighter. Your arms involuntarily do the same around his neck. Jonghyun begins to cradle the nape of your neck and you feel his steady breath on your skin. You shudder at the coldness.

He plants a brief kiss on your neck, and then…

You heave out a whimper as you feel a swift bite, Jonghyun’s teeth sinking into your flesh. You hold onto him for support as you feel your knees growing weak. You eventually notice the fangs had retracted by now, leaving only the sensation of Jonghyun lightly at the puncture wounds, taking in your blood at a steady pace. You moan again as you feel his tongue lapping at your skin, simultaneously as he keeps on the blood. Your hands dig into his hair and you feel him gulping down, his throat grunting once you give his hair a rough pull.

Your breathing is erratic throughout the entire feeding, but Jonghyun is finished after a few minutes, cleaning the bloodied bite marks on your neck with his tongue. Finally, he pulls away, his mouth stained with red. You keep holding onto him for support.

“Is that…it?”

Jonghyun raises an eyebrow. “Did you expect something dramatic?”

“No,” you say, peeved. “It was…nice.”

He smiles after wiping his lips clean with a paper towel from the counter. Then, Jonghyun leans in and presses his mouth to yours, kissing you deeply. You sigh into his kiss, and, you decide it right then and there.

You liked Lee Jonghyun.

It didn’t matter if he was a vampire. Or immortal.

Because he was Jonghyun, and you were you. That was what mattered.

“See?” he whispers when you pull back for air. “Being mine isn’t so bad.”

“Yeah, it isn’t bad,” you tell him just before looking up at him with a mischievous look. “It’s horrible.”

Jonghyun groans, but smiles at the same time, tucking a stray lock of hair behind your air. “You’re beginning to sound more like yourself again.”

“Is that a problem?”

“No,” he smirks. “I happen to love it.”

You grin and you tiptoe to kiss him again, holding him tight. Jonghyun’s fangs then run out and he pricks his finger, and you realize what he’s about to do. You stop his hand from going close to your neck.

“Don’t heal the bitemarks,” you protest. “I want to see the look on Yonghwa’s face when he sees them.”

“Devious,” Jonghyun remarks, grinning with pride. “I approve.”

You chuckle before you ask, “How old are you anyway?”

"Love, I have so much to tell you,” he answers when he moves away to dampen a towel for your wounds. "I don't know where I should begin."

“Then tell me,” you insist. “You have time.”

Jonghyun sets you down on the couch and presses the towel to your neck, a smile set on his face. “Yeah. I do.”

You smile back at him. Genuinely, for once.

You and Jonghyun had all the time in the world.

FIN