Jinki was feeling nervous for the first time in a long time. He didn’t know how to explain it, but since Jonghyun called him asking him if he wanted to go on a date, the old vampire was trembling and couldn’t do anything but think about it. That was the reason why he was already there, waiting for Jonghyun, even though he knew he was almost an hour earlier.

He was trying to find a place where he could go to wait, when he saw an all-smiles Jonghyun crossing the road and waving at him.

“You’re already here!” He said, when Jonghyun finally appeared next to him.

“And so are you.” Jonghyun said, holding his hand and pulling him to the bar’s door. “Why did you come so early?”

“To be honest, I was really nervous about this and couldn’t stay at home waiting. And you?”

“Couldn’t stay at home either but not for the same reason.”

Jinki sighed. “Minho still doesn’t talk to you?”

“Minho ignores me, Taemin doesn’t talk to me either and Krystal just looks at me with sad eyes and then disappears after Minho.” Jonghyun mourned, shrugging.  “I tried to talk to them all, I don’t know what else to do.”

“Maybe I should try and-“

“You know what? Let’s not talk about this tonight.” Jonghyun suddenly interrupted, smiling. “It’s enough I have to live with it everyday. Tonight it’s just you and me, just like old times.”

Jinki was incapable of denying Jonghyun such wish when the other smiled so brightly at him. So he nodded and the both of them finally entered the bar.

The place was dark and the music was loud but Jonghyun seemed to know everyone so Jinki felt at ease. He was lead by the other to an even darker corner and they both sat at a table, hidden from the curious stares.

“Are you a regular here?”

Jonghyun laughed and looked at him. “I used to be. Not anymore.”

“It seems like everybody knows you here.”

“That’s because they do.”

Jinki nodded and continued to explore the place. “I see.”

“Why? Are you jealous?” Jonghyun spoke right into his ear, making him shiver and turn his head to look at the smirking vampire siting by his side. “Are you?”

“Why would I be jealous, Jonghyun?” Jinki muttered, knowing Jonghyun could hear him perfectly fine. “I have you all for myself now.”

Jonghyun swallowed and his gaze fell on Jinki’s lips. On impulse, he leaned in and caught the other’s lips, making the two of them lose sense of where they were and commit to the feelings. Jinki had his hand resting on Jonghyun’s hip and he could feel how the other’s hands roamed everywhere, never breaking contact with his body.

Suddenly, someone coughed and cleared their throat, which made them pull away from each other and look at the intruder.

Jonghyun gasped and Jinki immediately looked at him, worried. “Is everything okay?”

“Zhou Mi.” Jonghyun whispered and got up, leaving Jinki even more confused. “H-how are you?”

“I see that you’re doing great.” The vampire ignored the question and looked at Jinki before turning to Jonghyun again. “You’re even back to the person who left you to die.”

“Stop.”

“What? Isn’t it the truth?” He scoffed and Jinki could swear that he saw Jonghyun tremble. “Isn’t he the one you promised to hate until the end of your days? I should’ve known that your promises were not real.”

“You don’t understand, I don’t-“

“What about Taemin? Did you dispose of him already?”

“Stop this.”

“Did you turn him and then left him alone on a dark alley?” Zhou Mi continued, apparently unaware of Jonghyun’s inner turmoil. “It kind of reminds me of a funny story of some time ago, you know?”

“Zhou Mi-“

“Shut up! I don’t to hear anything from you.” The older said, silencing him once again. “You are my worst mistake. I shouldn’t-“

Having heard enough of that nonsense, Jinki stood up and put himself between Zhou Mi and Jonghyun. “Will you please stop and leave our table? We’re trying to have an enjoyable night and you’re ruining it.”

Zhou Mi looked at him, motionless for a while before beginning to laugh. “Are you seriously trying to give me an order? Do you know who I am, Lee Jinki?”

“I don’t know you and I don’t even care about it. But you’re disturbing our date and upsetting my partner so I would like you to leave.”

“Jinki…” Jonghyun grabbed his arm and whispered. “Don’t.”

“I just thought of someone who will be very happy with these news. Does your father know about this, Jinki?”

Jinki’s whole body tensed and he growled. “I don’t have a father anymore.”

“He’ll be delighted by this!” Zhou Mi laughed and looked straight at Jonghyun. “You’re going to pay for your sins, Jonghyun. And in the most painful way.”

**

“Minho, come on, look at me!” Kibum whined for the nth time that day. “You’re hopeless, I hate you.”

He flung a pillow at Minho’s head but the other stopped the attack with his arm and continued to play his video game. Kibum thought of throwing a tantrum but when Krystal chuckled, he got up from the floor and sat besides her on the bed.

“Still nothing?”

“God, no, it’s like he doesn’t see anything else besides that stupid game. You know, it often bothered me when we were friends but now it’s even worse.” He blew some hair on his fringe that was losing its red color and pouted. “What are you reading?”

“Just going through this magazine, nothing special.”

“Guess we’re both fated to boredom since our friend doesn’t care about us.” Kibum stressed the word friend but Minho didn’t even bat an eyelash to that. “Ugh, can you please pay us some attention, Choi Minho?”

When Minho continued to ignore his protests and cursed at the game he was playing, Kibum huffed and got up from the bed, trying to find something to do.

“Oh, Taemin’s home.” Krystal announced, still flipping the pages of her magazine. “He’s debating whether he comes here or not. Oh, guess he went to his room.”

“Really? Taemin’s here?” Kibum asked, excited. “Maybe I should go talk to him. Do you think he’ll talk to me?”

“If you try.”

“No.” Minho said, for the first time. “Don’t go.”

Kibum scoffed and threw him an incredulous look. “Now you talk? Too bad, I’m going to speak to him either you like it or not.” He turned to the door and began to walk until Minho showed up in front of him, making him squeal. “You got to stop doing that!”

“Kibum.” He called, ignoring what the human said. “I don’t trust Taemin, I don’t want him near you.”

“He is my friend and I trust him so you need to get out of my way and let me talk to him.”

“Why don’t you listen to me?”

Kibum rolled his eyes, annoyed. “And why don’t you? Look, I know you don’t trust him but he’s not going to hurt me. If anything, I’m the one who hurt him and I-“

“That was not your fault.”

“Of course it was, I was the one doing it.” He retorted, growing impatient. “Minho, I need to apologize, please, let me go.”

Minho held his stare for a long time before he sighed and stepped aside, letting Kibum reach the door. Before he could go, Minho grabbed his arm gently. “Be careful.”

“You have nothing to worry about.” Kibum smiled and began to lean in to peck Minho’s lips when his face was hit by a flying pillow. “Yah!”

“Don’t you even dare do that in front of me.” Krystal ordered, staring at them with a raised eyebrow. “Go talk to Taemin and let your displays of affection for later, okay?”

Kibum smirked, grabbing Minho’s cheeks making him puff his lips and kissed them, looking straight at Krystal who stared horrified at them. “I will kiss my boyfriend whenever I want. Now, I’m off to talk to Taemin.”

Kibum closed the door and took a deep breath. He was actually really nervous because he didn’t know how Taemin would react. For sure, he wouldn’t want to listen to him.

After all, he almost killed him. Even if it wasn’t his intention, Kibum had done it and now he had to apologize for it.

He walked all the way to Jonghyun’s room and stopped by the door, his hand in a fist, ready to knock. The problem was that he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He could feel his skin starting to sweat and he closed his eyes.

Maybe Minho was right. Maybe he shouldn’t really talk to Taemin.

But he wanted to. Taemin was his friend and he felt the need to apologize for what he had done.

Before he could have more conflicting thoughts, the door in front of him opened and it revealed Taemin on the other side. He let his arm fall slowly at his side and smiled softly at Taemin.

“Come on, get in here.” Taemin uttered, stepping aside and rolling his eyes when Kibum stared at him and didn’t move. “I could hear your brain cells working and it was pissing me off. You’re not here to try to kill me again, are you?”

Kibum chewed on his lip and looked at the ground. “Taemin, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you. I didn’t- I mean, I knew what I was doing but I didn’t want to do it.” He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. “I wasn’t myself that day. I… I had some problems but I’m taking care of them now. My grandma is helping me and-“

“Pumpkin, you become a chatter box when you’re nervous, hum?”

Kibum’s head snapped and he look at the other, finding him smiling. “I’m really sorry, you know?”

“I know you are.” Taemin said, still smiling at him and taking a few steps to closer to the human.  “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have tried to separate you two.”

“Don’t apologize for that when I tried to kill, Taemin.” Kibum frowned, raising an eyebrow. “It doesn’t even compare.”

“I’m still sorry, sunshine.”

“Will you please stop with the nicknames, you brat?”

Taemin laughed and pulled Kibum to him, his arms around the human’s body making him gasp. “You forget I’m older than you.”

“You’re still my annoying little friend.” Kibum whined.

“Friend…” Taemin repeated the word and smiled, pulling away from Kibum’s body. “Thank you for being my friend.”

Kibum made a disgusted small noise, putting an end to the atmosphere around them, making Taemin chuckle and look over his shoulder to the door, his smile widening. He even went as far as put an arm around Kibum’s shoulder and turned them both to the door, where Minho stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Relax Choi, I didn’t do anything to him.” Taemin announced and smirked when Minho growled. “Unfortunately, I must say.”

“Listen here, you little-“

“Hey, hey, hey.” Kibum walked to Minho and put a hand on his chest, stopping him from glaring at Taemin and look at him instead. “He was just joking, okay? Why are you reacting like this though?” When Taemin snorted, Kibum’s widened his eyes. “Is this jealousy? If I knew this would make you pay attention to me instead of your stupid game I would have done it a long time ago.”

“Kibum-“

Before he could say anything else, the front door was opened and Jonghyun entered the house with Jinki behind him. All eyes were on them but he stared directly at Taemin, without paying attention to anyone else.

“We have a problem.”