Sungmin woke up to the smell of home – the rich mixture of the vampire scents, which he could distinctly identify which belonged to who, on top of the smell of Ryeowook’s familiar cooking. He could hear the bickering between the monkey and the fish in the living room, the soft sounds of Ryeowook’s spatula hitting against the pan accompanied by chopping possibly by Jongwoon helping his mate, and the gaming conversation between Shindong and Heechul.

Picking himself up slowly, he pulled his blanket off him. The burning of the venom had left him rather drained, but the pain and discomfort from the thirst were gone – probably the work of others. Sungmin trudged into the shared toilet across his room, lifting his head to the mirror after splashing water on his face. He never had the chance to embark on such a waking up routine, the last time of ‘waking up’ being his transformation. The colour of the irises reflected in the mirror confirmed his speculation that he had been injected with blood – human blood, as deduced from the crimson red.

“Troublesome idiot. You woke up too fast.” Heechul smacked the back of his head, causing him to let out a loud groan.

“Too fast?” Sungmin rubbed the back of his head.

“I should have asked Teuk to inject more venom. Let you burn to death for making us worry like that.” Heechul deliberately pushed at his sore spot with two fingers.

“That would have fulfilled his dying wish, wouldn’t it, hyung?” Shindong popped his head around the door with an amused smile.

“Hell yeah. Then I don’t need to see this irritating mob of blond hair anymore.” Heechul picked at said blond hair, messing up his already messy bed hair.

“Teukie hyung did inject a fair amount…” Sungmin pulled at the awkward strands, attempting to make himself look more presentable for no particular reason. “It felt really long… How long have I been out?”

“A little more than two hours.” Shindong answered, giving a light pat to his back. “Are you feeling better?”

As though the question brought back the sorrow and loneliness, Sungmin saw how his face fell from the reflection in the mirror. He gathered a smile as best as he could. “Physically, yes.”

“Of course you feel fine physically! We injected four blood packets.” Heechul’s brows scrunched up at the mental calculation. “That’s like… almost two litres okay!”

Knowing how much he had worried his family, Sungmin couldn’t help but want to cheer them up despite the emptiness in his chest. “What blood type was it? I never liked O.”

“Brat!” Heechul smacked his head again, this time with much less strength. “You never even tasted except that one time before! And I tell you! It was all O!”

“Too bad I can’t vomit them out then.” Sungmin joked, reaching out for his towel on the hanger to dry his face.

“You should pray that you don’t throw up later.” Heechul said, the quizzical statement sending Sungmin frowning confusedly.

Without needing to ask, his mind was filled with the vision Heechul had seen earlier as the cherry-haired vampire recalled it.  

‘! It was a ing bad dream!’ Kyuhyun pointed a finger at him, screaming right into his face.

He shook his head, the movement turning vehement as the possibility filled his head. “No!”
 

“Min!” Heechul shouted, reaching for his arm.

Sungmin backed off, shoving Heechul aside roughly to escape the toilet. “No! What did you all do?!”

“Oh yes! I missed you so much, Kyuhyunnie!”

The butterflies in Sungmin’s stomach fluttered as Donghae’s exclamation reached their ears, before he felt the anxiety clutched his stomach so tightly he thought he could really throw up. He bolted down the corridor, heading towards the study room where there would be an escape into the woods. However, as his hand came into contact with the doorknob of the study, he was tackled to the floor by Shindong, followed by Heechul pinning his legs down.  

“Yah Teuk!” Heechul’s voice boomed across the house, traveling down to the first floor. “Bring that brat up! This idiot here is trying to run away!”

“N-No…” Sungmin struggled, heart racing as he heard the multiple footsteps racing up the stairs, the sweet scent of his human becoming stronger.

“What is going on?” The familiar voice he had missed so much froze him to the spot, and he lay unmoving even when the other two vampires got off him. When he finally snapped out of his trance and flipped himself, the human straddled him with eyes glaring daggers.

“!” Kyuhyun yelled with his left arm raised to point a finger at him, just like in Heechul’s vision. “It was a ing bad dream!”

Sungmin could only stare at the pale face of his lover, the already swollen eyes filling with tears again, wetting the cheeks that were starting to turn flush from crying.

“You lied!” Kyuhyun pounded his chest with his fist. “You told me to have a good dream!” Another pound. “You said you would be there when I woke up!” Yet another pound, but Sungmin prevented the next one, catching the reddened fists of his human to pre