Avocado

A/N: This oneshot takes place in the same universe as Heinz, Love Bites, and a Full Moon, but it's a little farther back into the past.

Mina stood up from her seat and waited for all of the background conversations to subside before making the announcement that the rest of her coven members had been waiting all day to hear. Once she knew that she had the complete and undivided attention of every individual present, she proceeded to finally speak, her low voice resonating clearly throughout the silent dining hall. "Good evening, everyone. As you should already know, I have arranged dinner with all of you on this moonless night in order to make a very important announcement. I intend to share some personal information that I believe is necessary for you to know - not only because I feel an obligation due to our social customs, but because we have survived so many years together as a coven, and I feel a close connection to each and every one of you that goes far beyond standard - "

A pale hand suddenly went up into the air, and Mina reflexively paused. "Yes, Momo?"

"You have my most deepest and sincerest apologies, but frankly, can you perhaps hasten your, um, speech? I haven't ingested anything all day due to this much anticipated dinner and as a result I feel particularly faint at the moment." There was a brief mumble of agreement among the other vampires seated around the large dining table. The blonde made a gesture towards a surprised Sana. "I believe your announcement involves this young woman sitting next to you? Please, introduce her to us." A tight smile formed on Momo's lips. "Quickly."

"Yes, well, um, tonight, we have a guest of honor who I'm certain you are all unfamiliar with - "

"A millenium later..." Dahyun attempted to mutter under her breath, but she was nonetheless heard.

A defeated Mina allowed her shoulders to slump as she let out a heavy sigh. She moved behind Sana's chair and rested her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders. "Everyone, this is Minatozaki Sana, my lover of sixteen weeks and counting. Please treat her well."

Sana forced herself to smile cheerfully at the vampires staring at her, who were carefully scrutinzing what they could see. She couldn't deny that it was a bit intimidating, especially considering what abilities they possessed and that they pretty much preyed on her kind. But she was going to be brave for Mina. The vampire promised Sana that meeting the rest of her coven would in no way bring any harm to her, and Sana trusted Mina just as much as she loved her. "I-It's a pleasure to finally meet you all."

"So this is who you've been risking your outing privileges to see, constantly sneaking out and returning late. From what I can determine so far, she was definitely worth it." Both Mina and Sana decided to accept Jungyeon's comments as compliments.

"Minatozaki Sana..." Chaeyoung actually appeared interested for once, and it was even more surprising that the corners of her lips were slightly curled up - a rare, positive reaction from the usually apathetic vampire. She leaned forward in her chair as she asked, "Is she going to join our coven?" 

Mina blinked, hesitating, but the head of their coven spoke for her. "She can't..." Jihyo began, tentatively. "Because she's a human."

Upon this revelation, the other vampires purred in unison, looking increasingly excited, and a few of them were even their lips. Sana could clearly see each pair of long, needle-like fangs from where she sat. She fidgeted, trying her best not to tense up instead. Mina apparently noticed the coven's response to Sana's status as a human as well, and she gave her lover a discreet, comforting squeeze of the shoulders.

"I thought something smelled delicious, and I knew damn well that it wasn't these so-called 'fusion' human food-blood dishes that Nayeon prepared." 

"Please, feel free to starve instead. Or you can die trying to cook for yourself." The oldest of the coven nonchalantly retorted. She seemed accustomed to Jungyeon's offhand remarks.

"I'm a freaking vampire, all I really need is blood."

Mina clasped her hands together, regaining the attention of her distracted coven. "Anyway, Sana is my significant other and I would like everyone to welcome her warmly regardless of whether or not she is a human. Friend; not food. That's basically all I needed to say. You may now enjoy this wonderful dinner that our lovely Nayeon has worked so hard to prepare for us." The aforementioned vampire sent a sweet smile toward Mina, causing a few pairs of maroon eyes to roll.

"Kissing - that's how you avoid getting into trouble." Jungyeon interjected one last time before Mina returned to her seat and everyone began digging into the food. (Being the thoughtful lover she was, Mina instructed Nayeon beforehand to cook separate dishes without blood so that Sana could eat.)

Dinner went as well as planned, save for the occasional bickering from Jungyeon and Nayeon as well as the one-time invasion of Sana's personal space carried out by one Hirai Momo. She wouldn't stop edging closer and sniffing the human until Mina pulled Sana's chair away from the blonde and closer to her own. Then came the free time they all had afterwards, in which trouble began to officially brew.

"Um, Mina? Is this...a vampire thing?" Sana's voice called out unsurely.

"Tzuyu, what do you think you're doing?" Mina questioned once she turned around and saw the vampire getting a little too close to her girlfriend, her nose poking into the human's brown hair while she was inhaling rather deeply. It irked Mina alone that Tzuyu was practically embracing her girlfriend from behind, but she could also see the younger vampire's growing appetite for fresh blood - that distinct look in her narrowed eyes couldn't have been mistaken for anything else.

Tzuyu immediately snapped out of whatever trance she was in and created appropriate distance between Sana and herself. "I just wanted to, uh, smell her hair...and guess what kind of shampoo she uses...?" She nibbled nervously on her lower lip as she realized that her excuse came off sounding like an excuse (which was not her intention).

Mina decided to let Tzuyu go this time, and she merely sent a warning glare into her direction. "I'm watching you. Sana, come here." She beckoned for her lover and Sana willingly complied.

Mina was frustrated. She was just trying to individually introduce Sana to each of the members of her coven but here they were behaving as if Mina had brought them a tasty snack to feed on. She felt as though she couldn't have turned her back on any of them for a single second. They were much more tempted by Sana than she had originally anticipated. Hopefully the conditions would only be like this because of and for their first encounter. Otherwise, Mina was going to have to make some adjustments she didn't want to make.

"You should avoid or at least be wary of Tzuyu. She's the latest addition to our coven and she seems to struggle the most with self-control. In fact, I would advise you to approach everyone here with caution for the time being. They're particularly attracted to you for some reason, and it might be because they've just met you for the first time. They won't attack you, but they'll probably make you feel some levels of discomfort. Just bear with it for now." Mina explained to Sana, who nodded wordlessly. That's when she started feeling guilty for bringing the human into this situation. It was a bit difficult already for Mina; she couldn't have imagined how her girlfriend felt. "Maybe we should go to my - "

"Hi." Dahyun seemed to appear out of nowhere as she flashed Sana one of her most charming smiles, putting her flawless fangs on display for the young woman to see. "I'm Dahyun. I have other names they call me by, but you can call me whatever you'd like." She wiggled her brows and the human-vampire couple simultaneously cringed.

"I'm quite certain that one of the first things I mentioned about Sana is that she's my lover...so you probably shouldn't be trying to flirt with her." Mina pointed out.

"Oh no, don't get me wrong. I'm just being friendly." Dahyun told Mina as she casually took Sana's hand into hers. "But if you're willing to share, I am too..."

Chaeyoung suddenly showed up next to Dahyun, and Mina palmed the side of her face in exasperation. "If there's one thing you should know, it's that there is no such thing as sharing, especially for lovers. If you really want someone who's already in a relationship, you should just steal them away from the person they're with." Chaeyoung continued to wear that slight smile on her face, but it was looking more and more like a smirk in Mina's eyes. "Not that I personally would ever do something like that. But what would anyone else do if they were in my shoes?"

"I don't want to know." Mina murmured before grabbing Sana's hand and quickly leading her away from her unruly coven. "Honestly speaking, this whole thing is inching towards a full-blown disaster. They're usually not like this. I don't know what's gotten into them. We should just go into my bedroom. I'll take you home later."

"I actually don't think it's that bad..."

Mina stopped in her tracks to give Sana a glance of disbelief, a pause that she would soon come to regret as Nayeon and Jungyeon came sauntering towards them. Unfortunately, she couldn't have just broken into a run alongside Sana because that would've been a highly offensive action against the eldest of the coven. Thus she just stood there helplessly, tightly grasping onto Sana's hand. Come what may, she was ready for it.

"Hey I know you already said that we should welcome Sana warmly and treat her as a friend or whatever, but can't we just eat her? She has this super mouthwatering scent; it's driving all of us crazy. By the way I mean 'eat her' as in her blood and her dry; not the other thing you're probably thinking of right now. Yeah, I can totally tell what you're thinking about. Naughty, naughty Mina." Jungyeon wagged a finger directly in front of Mina's face and the vampire seemed to be on the verge of combustion. "I didn't realize you were into that interspecies stuff until now... I mean, humans are pretty cool too I guess. Being all human and everything. Doing their human thing."

"The other 'eat her' thing doesn't sound like a bad idea either, now that I think about it."

Mina groaned internally. "Not you too, Nayeon."

"I'm just saying. It's got to be loaded with proteins and sodium or have some other kind of nutritious value. Is that your secret, Mina? That must be why you're always positively glowing these days. I wonder if we vampires have any nutritious value in ours too."

"What's 'it'?" Jungyeon asked, although she seemed to know the answer to her own question already, judging from the wolfish grin on her face.

"Oh, you know - "

Just as Mina was contemplating whether to crash out of the nearest window and fly away as fast as she could with Sana in her arms, the reliable leader of their coven came to their rescue. "That's enough, you two. The presence of a human within our vicinity shouldn't warrant such unacceptable behavior. You've troubled this couple enough. Poor Mina must be mentally exhausted and Sana must be terrified right now." Mina allowed herself to relax just a bit with Jihyo's timely arrival. But it seemed that her thoughts of security were mistaken. "Also, I'll be heading out on a blood run soon. Would you like me to take Sana home while I'm at it?"

Mina's defenses automatically went up at the mere thought of Jihyo being alone with the human. "No, it's - it's fine. I'll be taking her home myself later. It's okay. Really." She tugged lightly at Sana's hand to indicate that she was ready to walk away but her girlfriend wouldn't budge. All Sana had to offer her was a face contorted with confusion. Mina frowned.

Jihyo on the other hand took notice of the couple's communication through telling facial expressions. She placed her hands on her hips once she discerned what the exchange was about. "What's that look for? I don't have any ulterior motives. I'm just trying to be considerate here and make things more convenient for you."

"Thank you very much for your consideration. We truly appreciate it but we'll be fine on our own from here on out. I was planning to show Sana around - starting with my bedroom - so we should get going now. I'll speak with all of you later." With that said, Mina turned heel and hurried toward her bedroom, a quiet Sana walking beside her and still holding onto her hand.

"You're just paranoid now!" Jihyo shouted after the shrinking figures of the pair.

Mina sat on the edge of her bed and observed Sana as the latter walked around her bedroom, carefully examining every object that piqued her interest. She eventually picked up an antique-looking music box from Mina's dresser and gently turned the crank. As soon as it began to emit a soothing melody, Sana smiled in content and returned to her girlfriend's side with the tinkling music box in her hands. "I don't understand why we couldn't have stuck around so that I could properly acquaint myself with everyone. At first, it seemed like you really wanted me to meet all the vampires in your coven. If I can recall this accurately, you were pretty excited about it. Up to the point that I couldn't even think about rejecting your invitation to dinner."

"I was excited, but you know how they were out there. It was unbelievable. They didn't even try to hide the fact that they wanted to eat you - I mean, your blood. Or is it the other way around? Ah, I don't even know what they want anymore. Either way, I don't like it. At all. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I just wanted you and my coven - those that I care most about - to meet each other. They are my family. I don't want you to think badly of them, because they usually have a lot more self-control than this. Believe me, they're not like this at all."

"I know, and I do believe you. You've known them longer than I have, way back even before I was alive. Plus you bring them up often, so I have a good idea of what they should be like. I don't think you should worry about it. We've only just met. They might just be excited to meet me. Like how you were excited to introduce us to one another. They weren't hurting me or anything. They seemed quite welcoming. In their own vampire way, I guess. But the point is, both you and I know that they're generally good-natured. So maybe there was no need to regard them with such suspicion?"

Mina pondered things over for a moment before replying, "...you're right. Maybe I was being overprotective. I'm sorry. I'll apologize to everyone else too. Especially to Jihyo. But first..." She leaned towards Sana to place a chaste kiss on her lips. "I want to spend a little more time with you alone, before we head back outside into that mess. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course it is." Sana whispered against Mina's lips, smiling as she kissed her again.

Nayeon, who had been standing on the other side of Mina's bedroom door, turned away from said door and gave the rest of the coven a satisfied grin. "Alright, mission accomplished. Seems like Mina is serious about Sana and vice-versa. We don't have to worry about the two of them." She said as quietly as possible.

"So we don't have to kill the human?" Jungyeon tried to clarify.

Jihyo shook her head. "No... Not yet, anyway."

"Just tell us when. We only do what we have to."

There was a brief, heavy silence that hung about the atmosphere before the leader of the coven began her brisk travel down the hall. The other vampires followed, leaving the oblivious lovers to do as they pleased for the time being.