Hakyeon could tell as soon as the door opened that something was wrong. He peeked his head out of the kitchen, watching as Sanghyuk slipped off his shoes and silently entered the room. He wasn’t looking at Hakyeon, he wasn’t looking up at all. He passed through the main room, not speaking, or making any other noise, really. Hakyeon was expecting him to sit down, or say something, but instead the vampire just walked past him down the hall, and Hakyeon heard his door shut firmly. Hakyeon made eye contact with Taekwoon, who was at the stove. Taekwoon nodded his head in the direction Sanghyuk had gone.

            “You should go after him.” Hakyeon put down his bowl and stood.

            “Yeah.”

            The way Sanghyuk was acting made Hakyeon suspect that he had made a mistake, or something along the lines, but he hoped he was wrong. The kid didn’t need any more of that. He stood outside of Sanghyuk’s door, raising his hand to rap against the wood four times.

            “Sanghyuk?” No response, but when Hakyeon tried the door handle he found that it was open. None of the lights were on, but the window was wide open and the light from the moon was enough to illuminate Sanghyuk sitting on the windowsill. He didn’t turn and face Hakyeon when he came in, head lowered. Hakyeon gently shut the door behind him, maneuvering his way through the mess on the floor. Sanghyuk’s figure shook, just barely, and Hakyeon paused where he was.

            “Hey,” Hakyeon tried again. “You’re home early.” Sanghyuk tilted his head away from Hakyeon. The elf finished crossing the room and sat down next him.

            “Did something happen?” Sanghyuk inhaled sharply, releasing the breath slowly, shuddering. His voice was quiet when he finally responded.

            “Yeah, obviously. That, or I just like to come in here and start crying, it’s a habit.” Hakyeon sighed.

            “Okay, but what?” There was a longer pause this time.

            “I messed up.” Sanghyuk’s voice cracked halfway through the words, and he buried his head in his arms. Hakyeon took that in, thinking through what could have happened. There weren’t a lot of things that could get to Sanghyuk like this, so it was definitely something serious. As he turned over situations, Sanghyuk audibly sniffled and Hakyeon redirected his attention. His tone was softer this time.

            “Tell me about it.” He wondered if Sanghyuk really would be willing to talk about it. He didn’t discuss a lot with Hakyeon, but hopefully he might open up this time.

            “It happened again.” Getting an answer out of him would be slow going, Hakyeon figured, but he also figured that it was better for the vampire to talk about it now rather than brood over it.

            “You’re going to have to tell me more than that.” Sanghyuk peeked one eye out at Hakyeon. It was red and puffy, and there were trails running down his cheek.

            “I didn’t know again, I couldn’t help it. I tried to stop, I swear, I didn’t-“ he broke off, burrowing his face back between his arms, and Hakyeon realized what he was talking about. It had happened once before, Sanghyuk accidentally killing someone. He hadn’t told them about it until weeks afterwards though.

            “Oh, Sanghyuk.” Hakyeon leaned over towards him and moved closer, pulling him into an embrace. Sanghyuk didn’t move or react for a while, still stiff, but after Hakyeon started to run his hands through the purple hairs on the back of his neck, he uncurled himself, sagging into Hakyeon’s arms. Hakyeon didn’t really know what to tell him or what to say, so instead he just let Sanghyuk rest his head on his shoulder, and he could feel the warm tears soaking into his shirt.

            It was frustrating, seeing him like this, and not knowing what to do. Hakyeon could feel his own heart ache for Sanghyuk, he couldn’t imagine what it must be like, what it must feel like to be responsible for taking someone’s life like that.

            He stayed just like that for a while, until Sanghyuk pulled back and rubbed at his eyes.

            “Sorry.”

            “What for?” Sanghyuk looked up at Hakyeon.

            “I dunno. Shouldn’t you be mad or something? I mean, I,” he paused for a second. “I killed someone.”

            “I’m not mad at you, of course not. They knew the risks. And you didn’t mean to. If you were to start going around killing people all the time, then I would be mad at you. But I don’t blame you.” Sanghyuk let out a snort.

            “Blame me? It’s my fault, you should blame me.” Hakyeon reached up and wiped a tear away from Sanghyuk’s chin.

            “I don’t blame you because you’re doing enough blaming for the both of us, Sanghyuk.” Hakyeon moved his hand to the Sanghyuk’s shoulder. “It’s never going to be easy for you, you know that.”

            “I didn’t ask for any of this, I never wanted to be a vampire.”

            “I know.” Hakyeon pulled him back into a hug.

            “But I think you’re doing alright.”

            Hongbin sat in front of Sanghyuk, who had just finished recounting what had happened. He still didn’t always associate Sanghyuk with the whole vampire vibe, even though he definitely was one, but he definitely didn’t seem like it most of the time. Right now though, in the small light from the kitchen at the table, Sanghyuk looked more like one than Hongbin had ever seen him, eyes bright and pupils wide. Hakyeon had told him the story already, but it was far different when he heard it from Sanghyuk.

            “And?” Sanghyuk blinked at him.

            “And what?”

            “I mean, what are you trying to tell me?”

            “I guess just that you might, should, be a little bit more worried sometimes? You seem pretty chill about the whole -your-blood thing, so.” Hongbin just looked at him.

            “Well I’m not gonna say I wasn’t freaked out for a while. Maybe it’s dumb but I trust you, I guess.” Sanghyuk’s eyes widened.

            “I just told you I’ve accidentally killed people, and you’re saying you trust me?” Hongbin shrugged.

            “Until you give me a reason not to, yeah. Besides, I think you’re scared enough of Hakyeon that you wouldn’t do it.” Sanghyuk rolled his eyes and shoved Hongbin’s shoulders.

            “Yeah right, Hakyeon’s not scary. I could take him.” He paused. “Maybe.” Hongbin laughed.

            “Sure, Sanghyuk. Now I’m tired, so if you are going to bite me you might as well do it before I change my mind and go to bed. It’s a much nicer option anyways.”

            “Psh, I never told you that you have to help. You just keep doing it. Go to sleep, for all I care.” This time it was Hongbin who was rolling his eyes.

            “Whatever, Hyukkie.” Sanghyuk glared at him, standing up and moving closer

            “Don’t call me that.” He leaned into Hongbin’s neck, and Hongbin laughed.

here's some more hakyeon/sanghyuk interaction, i guess?

and more sanghyuk and hongbin

i guess i should mention that this is in the past

i dunno if you might gather that anyways but just in case

this happened just around when hakyeon met sanghyuk so way back

yes well there is that!

thank you for reading, commenting, and subscribing!

~Win