ChangKyun’s eyes open slowly, the seamlessly dreamless sleep slowly fading away, revealing reality better than any dream. The very first thing he sees is Wonho’s sleeping face so close to his one small move forward would make their noses collide. Just like the first time when ChangKyun woke up next to the vampire his long dark lashes brush against his pale round cheeks, his sinfully rosy lips are parted slightly due to fangs poking his delicious looking full lower lip, his hair is a tousled silver mess on top of his head. He’s as peacefully beautiful as it’s possible, like a timeless artwork, and ChangKyun can’t hold himself back.

He runs his fingers through the silver locks fixing some disobedient strands that were out of place. His fingers glide over the soft cheeks and draws out the line of the vampire’s jawline stopping at his chin. It’s a momentary decision, but ChangKyun doesn’t want to overthink it in any way, and gives in to the urge and leans closer, pressing his lips against Wonho’s. It’s short peck, but a wave of warmth washes over ChangKyun and it’s a feeling he hasn’t had ever before.

“One more,” comes a sleepy grunt from the vampire, surprising ChangKyun, but he obliges and kisses the barely awake man again, this time longer. “More,” comes another half asleep whine and the moment ChangKyun leans in for another kiss he is pulled into an embrace, his lips claimed in a kiss deep, sweet and passionate. He feels himself melting into the scent of autumn breeze and undeniably this is the best morning (assumably) in ChangKyun’s life.

“I must warn you,” Wonho murmurs against ChangKyun’s lips, “my old self has a lot of romantic sap gathered up in few hundred years of being alone and I don’t intend to hold any of it back,” he speaks his lips almost brushing ChangKyun’s with every word. “Not like you really have a choice,” he smiles mischievously, his blue eyes gleaming through half open lids. He hides his face in the curve of the brunet’s neck, his lips finding the spot where he bit down yesterday and pressing against it. There’s a light shiver rushing through the human, making him unable to respond, and the vampire smiles against his skin.

“I assume it’s still around 10 a.m, so you should go and have breakfast,” the silver hair murmurs against Changkyun’s neck. “As I had my meal last night,” he adds, his tongue going over the small punctuation marks, making ChangKyun shiver again.

“For that you probably have to let me go,” the ‘captured’ male points out and receives a whine in response, yet Wonho’s grip gets looser. Changkyun presses one more kiss on Wonho’s lips before slipping out of the bed. The half-lidded blue eyes follow him to the door where ChangKyun stops.

“I will come back later,” he says as if reassuring the sleepy male and receives a small smile in return before the vampire’s eyes fall shut. ChangKyun lingers at the door for a moment longer before finally exiting the room. As if nothing has happened, nothing has changed he makes his way downstairs and instead of finding the kitchen empty, it’s fuller than ever. Kihyun is at the stove, Minhyuk settled in Shownu’s lap as per always, Jooheon immersed in something on his phone and Hyungwon in half-asleep state resting his head on the table. This was not what ChangKyun expected.

“Good morning,” he greets them casually even though every single pair of eyes is now locked on him as he takes one of the few empty seats at the table. The grin on Minhyuk’s face is probably the most vicious thing ChangKyun has ever seen and he does his best to avoid eye contact with the fairy-like vampire and concentrates of the coffee mug that appears in front of him.

“Did you shrink during the night? Or your clothes suddenly got too big?” comes two sneaky questions from the white-hair vampire and even though ChangKyun doesn’t look up and begins to poke the pancakes in front of him with a fork, he can feel Minhyuk’s eyes drilling into him.

“I have a few oversized pieces,” he tries to brush off the nosy vampire, but it doesn’t work a single bit, as Jooheon jumps in on the fun as well.

“You might want to consider a different cut for the shirt then as there is something on your neck,” his eyes disappear from the wide smile plastered all over his face. “Looks oddly similar to the marks on your hand,” he adds and ChangKyun can feel his cheeks heating up and he is afraid to put a single piece of the pancakes in his mouth in fear of another question and thus choking.

“I have always wondered, how does it feel - the first bite like that and everything that follows from a human perspective,” Minhyuk leans on the table on his elbows. “Shownu is not very elaborate in descriptions, so maybe you could…”

“Lay off, Minhyuk,” surprisingly Wonho’s voice stops the other vampire as he saunters in the kitchen taking a seat next to ChangKyun, folding his arms on the table and resting his head on them. “I’m sorry. I was too sleepy to realize they all will probably be here, ready to attack,” he says to ChangKyun with an apologetic smile. “Eat,” he encourages and his half-lidded eyes travel around the table.

“You are absolutely no fun,” Minhyuk pouts, “I wanted some juicy details of his first time with a vampire, is that so much to ask?” he continues and ChangKyun almost chokes yet manages to keep it in.

“First of all, it’s none of your business, Lee Minhyuk,” Wonho replies, his voice low and authoritative, “Secondly, your record is unharmed and will always remain unmoved, so don’t worry,” he ads and ChangKyun raises an eyebrow in question.

“He was riding Shownu’s an hour after they met for the first time,” Kihyun is quick to elaborate and this time ChangKyun actually chokes, alarmed Wonho up from the table immediately, rubbing his back until the cough is gone.

“It was not an hour!” Minhyuk screeches and jumps around in Shownu’s lap, the bigger man being mildly bothered by it, as he seems as half asleep as Hyungwon at this point, the latter just quietly listening and observing, his head still on the table. “Tell them, babe!” he turns to Shownu in search for support but the answer sets everyone at the table in shouts of laughter.

“It was actually 45 minutes,” the tanned man says casually and this time Jooheon is the one who chokes on his coffee while Kihyun bursts into laughter, clapping his hands. Hyungwon looks absolutely shook, his eyes big, while Wonho just shakes his head. ChangKyun is somewhere in the middle of all these emotions and with ton of questions, but Minhyuk’s reaction wins over any question.

“No!” he screams and jumps up from Shownu’s lap. “You need to be on my side! Don’t tell them that!” the white haired vampire stomps his feet and flails his arms like a child throwing a temper tantrum. “It was not 45 minutes!” he exclaims at everyone at the table.

“Was it 40 then? I can’t recall 40 or 45,” Shownu replies quite absentmindedly as if he just didn't see his partner literally flipping out. The kitchen is a mess as Kihyun is literally sitting on the floor laughing, Jooheon has transformed into a happy laughing and clapping seal, Hyungwon is low key convulsing in laughter on the table and both Wonho and ChangKyun can’ hold their laughter in either. Minhyuk goes into another fit, but ChangKyun is absolutely distracted by Wonho’s head suddenly and very naturally leaning on his shoulder, his face illuminated by the brightest smile. The vampire looks up, their eyes meeting, and in an absolutely idiotically cliche way Minhyuk’s ear piercing screeches get quieter.

“Really?” Minhyuk suddenly turns to them, “I am having a relationship crisis and you two newlyweds decide to be sappy?” he lashes out and Kihyun is no longer sitting but actually rolling on the floor. “I am going to sleep!” he exclaims with most prominent pout and stomps out of the kitchen, leaving confused Shownu behind.

“Should I go, or should I rather stay away?” the broad mad murmurs and looks at Wonho, who is still resting his head on ChangKyun’s shoulder, as if asking for help. He looks genuinely lost as all in all he has done nothing wrong.

“You have been with him for 2 years. You know what to do,” Wonho replies simply and Shownu stays in his place for few seconds more before walking the same direction Minhyuk went. It doesn’t have to be said out loud, but he probably went after him.

“This was fun, but I feel twice as tired now,” Hyungwon stands up with a yawn, the long sleeves of his burgundy jumper sliding to his elbows as he stretches. “My only comment - good for you,” he smiles softly at ChangKyun and pats Wonho’s shoulder as he passes by, sauntering away, the sleeves flailing around as he walks.

“I agree,” Jooheon says and stands up as well. “I will still keep my eyes on you,” he looks at ChangKyun, “but… good for you,” he repeats Hyungwon’s words and takes his mug with him as he walks toward the TV room. That leaves only ChangKyun, Wonho and Kihyun in the kitchen, the later finally back on his feet and placing his own breakfast on the table before taking a seat.

“You won’t , right?” Wonho asks, his voice thick with sleep again, eyes barely open. Kihyun shakes his head and there’s some sort of silent conversation between the two before Wonho stands up. He presses a kiss on the corner of ChangKyun’s lips first, gently his face, before full on kissing him on the lips for a second.

“Have a nice day. I will find you when I wake up,” he murmurs and gives the human another peck before dragging his feet out of the kitchen the same manner as he did when entering. The kitchen falls into weird silence after all the laughing and yelling, but it’s not uncomfortable and both men at the table finally get on with the breakfast. Kihyun re-fills their mugs and adds more pancakes to the plates and even though it feels nice, it also is somewhat unsettling.

“I have to tell you something,” Kihyun finally speaks and ChangKyun thinks to himself ‘there it is’. There are countless options on what the pink haired man could say and neither of them, for some odd reason, seems positive.

“Sure, go ahead,” ChangKyun encourages him and takes a sip from his coffee, his hands locking securely around the warm mug, getting ready to listen.

“No one here has a clean record,” Kihyun begins and ChangKyun stops breathing. In no way could the pink-haired man found out what Changkyun was hiding from, he couldn’t know it. What kind of digging he had to conduct to get to that.

“As I am responsible for this place, I had to look into your past medical reports and your criminal record,” the pink haired man continues and ChangKyun’s grip around the mug tightens. “I understand perfectly why you would want to hide it all and why you have been with no stable home, why you have been running for so long,” Kihyun continues to speak and ChangKyun wishes he would stop. Just few hours ago he has finally found his place, no matter how ridiculously romantic that sounds, and now the survival instinct at the back of his mind is screaming at him to gather his things and run away again.

“If you are worried I will tell Wonho, then don’t worry, as I won’t… because he already knows,” ChangKyun’s heart stops at this statement and he looks up at Kihyun. The latter reaches across the table and gently, reassuringly squeezes the brunette’s wrist. “He might not know the reasons, the actual events, but he can read your medical record from a single drop of blood better than any doctor. He knows since he first bit you and he obviously doesn’t care. It doesn’t affect him, maybe even makes him care for you even more,” Kihyun talks slowly, sincerely and it’s soothing but also stressful. Wonho knows the horror of ChangKyun’s past he wasn’t proud of a single bit.

“Can he really not care about all that?” ChangKyun whispers a question and Kihyun just nods.

“Trust me when I say, your record is not that bad compared to other’s, mine being a prime example,” the pink haired male says before letting go of ChangKyun’s wrist, standing up and taking the mug from the brunette’s hands. “Ask him. Tell him the reasons. You will see it will not bother him,” he ads simply and even though it seems so simple ChangKyun feels extremely anxious. The light and lovely feeling he had since the moment he woke up is gone and he suddenly feels as lost as he was the two days he didn’t know where Wonho was.

He tries to pick up a book in the library, but it gives him no sanctuary. He tries to watch a movie in the shared TV room, but it doesn’t grasp him so around 4 p.m he finds himself wandering around the hallways, ending up at Wonho’s door. Quietly he makes his way in the dark room, very minimal light coming from the covered window, and takes a seat on the piano bench.

Wonho is sound asleep, breathing slowly and steadily, and it doesn’t seem like he has noticed that ChangKyun is in the room. That gave the latter time - probably couple of hours - to figure out a way to ask, to tell, to explain his disturbing past. He wants to start with an apology, but there’s nothing he really can apologize about. He wants to start with stating that he has changed, but he wasn’t even sure had he. Idea after idea pops in his mind but he disregards them all and by the time the vampire sits, the room near completely pitch black he has come up with nothing.

ChangKyun observes how Wonho pulls the thick curtains open and how he sit down on the bed, facing ChangKyun. He doesn’t say a thing, he doesn’t move and it’s obvious he wants the brunette to make the first move. Unsure about everything ChangKyun finally speaks keeping his head low.

“So… you know… about some bad decisions I have made,” he stammers out and he sees the vampire nod. “And you don’t care a single bit?” he asks and looks up, meeting the gorgeously blue eyes looking straight at him as now the vampire shakes his head. “Why?” ChangKyun let’s almost almost miserably, on the verge of choking.

Wonho stands up from the bed and takes the needed few steps closer to ChangKyun, kneeling on the floor in front of him and taking his hands. “Last night I told you that I have done plenty of horrible things, things that keep me awake and gives me - a creature of nightmares - most frightening night visions,” he rubs soothing circles on ChangKyun’s hands and his words seem like a weird lullaby - slow and calm, melting fears and anxiety away despite the dark content.

“In your blood I tasted sadness drowned by alcohol and smothered by cigarettes, fear of reality hidden behind drugs, unfairness of malnutrition and diseases only desperation can bring,” ChangKyun listens quietly, biting on his lower lip, not wanting a single sound to break through, let alone allow himself to shed a tear. He had made himself stronger than that, hadn’t he?

“I saw the outcomes and I would like to hear the reasons for one simple reason - to make sure they never happen again. To keep it all a far away as possible from you. I warned you this morning - I have a lot stored up and this is one of those things,” Wonho smiles softly, reassuringly and ChangKyun takes a deep breathe, tightening his grip on Wonho’s hands.

“Meeting the wrong people lead to a lot of bad decisions, especially if the neighborhood you live in is far from being even a decent one,” he focuses on his a tone or two darker hands in Wonho’s pale one’s and tries to find strength to at least shortly, as shortly as possible let his past out in the open.

“They encourage to drop school and run away from home. They introduce things that can switch reality off and a way in which you need only your body to earn money for any of those substances, sometimes food. At one point it’s clear they just use you and unfortunately by the time you want to leave, you have seen far too many things and people to leave,” he skips details, he skips names, he skips events - all he wants to do is to explain, to make it clear it was a stupid, regretful choice he made. He wishes to forget, to erase it all and for this to be the last time it’s ever brought up.

“So I… I ran away. Whenever they neared I ran again until my final choice was The Blue Flower. If you come here you disappear and the last year I really, really wanted to disappear… forever,” he murmurs the last part and loses his grip on Wonho’s hands just for a second, almost panicking when they slip away. They re-appear on his cheek, making him look into the mesmerizing blue eyes.

“You didn’t come here to disappear. You came here to be found and I wish that I had found you faster in this ridiculously huge city,” Wonho rises up a little and gently presses his lips against ChangKyun’s. “Now you don’t need to run, you don’t need to fear or over think, as you have the sappiest, thousand and something years old immortal demon next to you,” he blooms into a smile and it’s so contagious ChangKyun can’t help but to smile in return. “Though the demon part might be frightening at times, but most of the time it’s quite useful,” Wonho adds and stands up.

“Give me your hands,” he says, his palms in front of ChangKyun and the latter does as asked and let’s himself to be pulled up on his feet. “Now, I’m going to do a vampire thing, so don’t get scared,”  Wonho adds and before ChangKyun manages to ask what it will be, the whole room changes into a blink of an eye.

They are no longer in Wonho’s room but in a bright, large hall with high ceilings and golden ornaments on the walls. There are tall mirrors on the walls, all decorated with golden flowers and sea-shells, heavy deep red curtains framing large windows on the opposite wall. Curved lines of the fanciest fashion being the main motif, even the heavy wooden doors not escaping the curves. Gold and crystal chandeliers hand from the ceiling filled with candles just like the curved candle sticks on the walls, peeking from the walls.

There were people moving around the large hall, music of a string quartet and piano filling the room from somewhere behind ChangKyun and to say he was in shock was an understatement. His eyes finally lock on the man before him and he is taken aback even more.

It’s no one else but Wonho, but he looks as unreal as possible. He’s wearing a white loose shirt with a deep v-cut that reveals his chest too sinfully and wide collar that makes his broad shoulders even broader. A wide white belt with silver moon flowers embroidered on it shows off his slim waist, well fitting grey pants accentuating his legs. His hair is swept in a half wave to the left and there’s the mischievous smile on his lips, his eyes gleaming as he takes a step closer.

Wonho’s arm wraps around ChangKyun’s middle, while he is holding the shocked man’s right hand  in his left. “Let’s dance, shall we?” he asks with a grin and before ChangKyun responds, he begins to move along with the music playing - slowly and gracefully and ChangKyun’s full conteration goes to not stepping on the man’s feet. He looks down to control his own clumsy feet better, noticing he himself is wearing something else - a pure grey shirt with embroidered sleeves, and pants of similar fashion.

“What’s going on?” he finally murmurs and looks up at Wonho. “Am I dreaming?” he ads and Wonho smiles before twirling them around the dance hall, ChangKyun barely keeping along, but not denying the excitement rushing through him.

“I’m creating an illusion by projecting my memory into your head. Complicated and is supposed to be a skill to drive someone crazy, but I prefer this usage,” the vampire explains and guides them through the hall. They swirl around other couples, and ChangKyun can swear he sees Minhyuk somewhere in the back, but he doesn’t focus on that, the feeling of securely being in Wonho’s arms being more important.

“Whenever reality will be too much, you no longer need to turn to bottles and pills, you don’t need to run away - you need to run to me, because I can make the reality step away, I can protect you from it,” he slows down the dance to them barely moving despite the tempo of the music. “If you are willing to trust me, of course,” Wonho adds and he almost sounds insecure suddenly.

“I’m pretty sure I already do,” ChangKyun responds and Wonho’s lips press against his almost immediately. The marble walls and golden flowers melt away, the people dancing turn into fog and disappear in the thin air, the music fades away and it’s just the two of them in the middle of Wonho’s room. Their lips are connected in a kiss, their hands holding onto each other not with fear they could disappear but because they want to hold each other closer, no reality being able to tear them apart.