There’re some things Sunggyu isn’t fond of, and one of them is being made to do something, knowing he has little room to refuse because he’s duty-bounded as the second-in-command. Earlier in the night, the local werepanther king of Jeonju had brought some of his pack members to his Master, offering his young weres to be blood donors in a bid to win her favour. He’s not the first were-king to do so, but he’s certainly the most insistent one so far.

See, the thing is, it’s rather rare that a vampire manages to become a Master of the City without any affinity for animals-to-call, but Eunha did, and for once, under her reign, none of the wereanimal groups are automatically favoured for power simply because they are the “right” type of wereanimal that the Master of the City has affinity for. Sunggyu thought it would be a good thing, to even out the power bases because the werewolf pack had grown too powerful under the previous Master of the City, but alas, it’s only been giving him trouble thus far.

The werepanther king had refused to leave even after being told the Master wouldn’t have time for him, and with Eunha too busy to entertain their company, Sunggyu had been forced to host them. Eventually, he figured the fastest way to get the werepanther king out of their office was to agree to test out one of their blood donors. What he hadn’t expected was for the panther king to insist on having Sunggyu drink from him in front of everyone – “Well, you said it’s a test, so we want to know what you think and surely, with so many of my pack here, one of them would suit your taste or your master’s, don’t you think?” – and now Sunggyu’s trying not to give too much of his annoyance away as a young man (werepanther) walks towards him, more graceful than anything he’s seen. 

He doesn’t like this situation, that he’s not here entirely willingly – Sunggyu prefers his blood donors willing, thank you very much – and the young werepanther is probably here because he has to as well, pack duties and all. All in all, it’s not an entirely pleasant situation, but Sunggyu tries his best to be professional, schooling his face into a neutral expression as he lets the werepanther slide up his lap.

The man – boy? – is dressed in a sleeveless mesh top, his lean but muscled body on showcase, tight ripped jeans leaving little of his muscled thighs to imagination, but his face looks a little too young – too innocent – and Sunggyu finds himself wondering if he’s even legal. The man (boy) doesn’t look at him, his gaze a little off, probably heeding advice to never directly look into a vampire’s eyes, but he settles himself onto Sunggyu’s lap when the vampire doesn’t protest.

“Do you…” The man (boy) his lips. Sunggyu follows the movement of his tongue unconsciously. “How do you want to drink from me?” the man (boy) eventually asks, voice just a little shaky despite his confident walk and movements earlier and how he’s almost straddling Sunggyu at the moment.

Sunggyu opens his mouth to answer the question, but what he ends up saying is, “What’s your name? And how old are you?”

The werepanther blinks, surprised, but he quickly recovers. “Howon. My name is Howon. And I’m nineteen.”

Nineteen. Sunggyu can’t remember how it feels to be that young, and maybe something shows on his face, because the werepanther – Howon – is suddenly pleading –

“Please don’t reject me just because I’m young, I…”

Sunggyu raises a brow.

Howon almost looks into his eyes but ends up fixing his gaze somewhere else on Sunggyu’s face instead. “I’ll be kicked out of the pack if I can’t do this. This was my last chance.”

Sunggyu knows he has no reason to, and he really shouldn’t do this, but for some reason, he decides to take pity on Howon. He taps the boy, motioning for him to move so he can stand.

“Panther king, I’ll take your werepanther here for a while. I’d rather do this in private, if you’ll excuse me, for I’m not one to drink in public. I’ll let Eunha know of your offer, and that is all I can do. Do not hold this as a promise of anything.”

Sunggyu tilts his head, indicating that Howon should follow, and if he hears barely concealed sounds of annoyance from the werepanther king at his decision, he ignores it.

He brings Howon to his office, motioning vaguely to the couch.

“Sit.”

Howon looks between the couch and floor for a moment, then ends up sitting crossed-legged on the floor.

“I mean on the couch,” Sunggyu comments, closing his door, wondering if he should lock it. On one hand, he usually keeps his door locked, but on the other, he’s not sure how the werepanther would take to being confined in the same room as him. Well, technically it’s not like he can’t unlock the door, but Sunggyu still ends up leaving his office door unlocked, though he does at least make sure that it’s firmly shut.

“Uh, so, where do you want to drink from?” Howon asks again, and Sunggyu wonders if that’s all the boy has on his mind.

“I don’t actually intend to feed from you,” Sunggyu says, moving to his desk. He has work to do, which the panther king’s visit had interrupted.

Howon looks up in surprise, meeting Sunggyu’s eyes for just a fraction of a second before he turns away quickly. “Oh.”

Sunggyu flips his file open, sparing a glance at Howon. “Yeah, so just relax and stay here for a while, and I’ll have someone send you back to your pack later.”

Howon stiffens at the words. “No! You can’t do that – I… I’ll be checked when I go back and if they don’t find bite marks…”

Sunggyu pauses in reading his work. “Won’t you have healed by then though?”

Howon swallows. “They… injected me with something that slows down my healing.” Then, almost like he suddenly thought of it, he quickly adds, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing poisonous or dangerous for vampires, it’s just –”

“Your pack doesn’t sound like they value you very much,” Sunggyu comments drily. He senses the werepanther tensing up at that, and he wonders. “Is that why they offered you as blood donor? Because they don’t want you in the pack?” He’s aware that werepolitics are messy, but Sunggyu doesn’t think it’ll be wise to get him or his Master tangled in it. He’s about to just send Howon out immediately, when the other suddenly schools his face into a more somber expression.

“It was a punishment, actually. They gave me an ultimatum, to be a blood donor or get kicked out of the pack.” There’s a pause, then the werepanther adds, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you this to gain your pity. In fact, I’m starting to think I should have just taken the route of getting kicked out of the pack. It’s not like they were really helping me anyway. Maybe I should just excuse myself instead of causing you more trouble than I probably already did.” Howon makes a move like he’s going to stand, and given his earlier thought to let Howon out, Sunggyu could just let him leave. But there’s something in Howon’s tone of voice, the way he’s suddenly asserting himself instead of being more pliant earlier that catches Sunggyu’s attention.

“Sit back down. Let me make a call.”

He ends up telling the werepanther king he’ll have Howon stay for a day or two to assess his suitability as blood donor. He doesn’t say anything else, and the way Howon’s eyes widen as he takes in what Sunggyu’s saying in the phone call would amuse him if he’s not aware of how fragile the werepanther’s position is.

“So, since I pretty much did you a favour, would you tell me what you did to get yourself such a punishment? And how long does the slow healing effect last anyway? I’m not going to drink from you while that substance is in your system.” Sunggyu’s aware he probably sounds callous, but Howon looks at him somewhat gratefully, and he’s not sure he deserves that look of appreciation on his face.

(And if he notices how it makes Howon look even better than he already does, the way his eyes are more alive, the lines of his body less tense… well, Sunggyu ignores those too.)

It takes a whole day for Howon’s healing abilities to return to normal, and Sunggyu lets him sleep in his office during the time. Howon doesn’t say much about why he was punished besides that he angered some higher ranked pack mates, and that’s why he got pushed to be food for vampires even though he never really wanted to do this.

“Not that I’m not willing,” Howon quickly adds, and Sunggyu merely waves a hand as he concentrates on his work.

“I know. You’ve told me that many times already. I’m aware that you’re not forced to be donating your blood to me, you don’t have to keep reassuring me.”

Howon still looks tense where he is on the couch, and Sunggyu sighs, wondering if it’ll be better to just get it over with. He hasn’t drunk fresh blood in a few days, and Howon’s presence in his office right now is just a little distracting. Tapping his pen once on his paper, Sunggyu stands in one fluid motion. Howon’s back straightens immediately, eyes alert though they never quite meet Sunggyu’s.

“Relax.”

Howon’s shoulders loosen up a little, but he’s clearly still uneasy. Ignoring that, Sunggyu sits down next to Howon on the couch, then motions for him to come closer. He doesn’t expect Howon to slither up his lap the way he did yesterday, in front of the werepanther king, but he does, graceful and oddly sensual with how smooth the movement is despite nervousness still radiating from his body.

Sunggyu raises a brow. “You don’t have to be on my lap for me to feed, you know.”

The tips of Howon’s ears redden, but he stays where he is. “It’s… easier. Or so I’m told.”

Howon’s hands only rest lightly on Sunggyu’s shoulders so he can maintain his position, but the grip tightens a fraction when Sunggyu brings a hand against Howon’s waist.

“It is.”

And that’s all he says before he pulls Howon closer, face turning towards the visible artery on Howon’s neck.

“One last chance to back out,” Sunggyu whispers, knowing his breath will tickle, this close to Howon’s neck. The werepanther quivers but doesn’t move. Sunggyu his lips, then bares his fangs.

Howon’s blood is warm, almost too hot rolling off his tongue, going down his throat, slaking the thirst Sunggyu had pushed to the back of his mind. It’s not particularly special in taste or consistency, but it’s strangely addictive, and Sunggyu doesn’t realise he’s drinking faster than usual, a little too hard until Howon lets out a small sound.

Sunggyu stops immediately, pulling off Howon’s neck. “You okay?”

Howon averts his eyes. Sunggyu’s about to turn him back to face him before repeating the question – he doesn’t like political blood donors on principle, feels like he needs to be serious and extra careful about everything even though he was just starting to enjoy drinking Howon’s blood earlier – but then he notices the flush of Howon’s cheeks, and how Howon’s kind of carefully holding himself…

He can’t help it; Sunggyu’s eyes drift down. He’s kind of staring at Howon’s crotch – the tight jeans leave little to the imagination to begin with, let alone now – when Howon makes an awkward cough.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” There’s a little high-pitched sound of what Sunggyu thinks might be embarrassment, and then Howon’s adding, “You know, my pack thought this would be punishment because I’m straight.”

Sunggyu glances up at Howon’s face. Despite the growing evidence that Howon’s carefully angling away from him, Sunggyu decides not to assume. “Are you?”

Howon laughs, the sound short and dry.

“No. I just told them that because I didn’t want to end up being their .”

He doesn’t say anything else, but the way Howon said  makes what feels like anger stir in Sunggyu. Still, it’s not really his business, so Sunggyu just makes himself shrug. Not a word passes between them for a moment, then suddenly, Howon stands up, Sunggyu’s lap distinctly lighter and colder for it. He ignores the feeling. In front of him, hands clasped one over the other, Howon bows to Sunggyu, a full ninety degrees, before saying, “You didn’t have to do this, but you accepted my blood, thank you.”

It all feels kind of backwards, Howon thanking him. Thanking Sunggyu for taking his blood, in turn keeping him in the pack. A pack that doesn’t seem to care for him, Sunggyu thinks, though he supposes that’s not for him to worry about. He barely knows Howon; he shouldn’t be feeling indignant on his behalf. He tells himself he isn’t, merely inclining his head slightly to show he’s heard. And then Howon’s moving for the door, saying something about werepanthers and his king and Sunggyu tunes out, only realising that Howon’s gone after a while.

He stays sitting there for a long time after Howon’s left, thinking.

Feeling.

(There’re some things Sunggyu isn’t fond of, and one of them is watching Howon go that day, unsure if he did him a favour by taking his blood or if he’d just cemented the young panther’s lowly status in his pack.)

***

A/N: 

Howon (Hoya) is always the most composed out of the trio in the main story, but his composure is actually something he learnt over time, to control his were side. Since I don't get to play with him as much in the main story (he kind of acts as Woohyun and Sunggyu's mediator most of the time lol), I wrote this to explore what he was like when he was younger, when he was more hot-headed. Not sure if it came across entirely, but it was definitely fun to imagine Hogyu years ago, meeting for the first time.

Anyway, this has actually been half-written since a few months ago, and I kind of only finished it today because I was trying to write Ch18 of Three and got stuck. I love Three, the whole universe and story and all but to be honest, I think I'm scared of writing the next chapter of Three because I'm trying to end it and I'm worried that it won't turn out the way I want. Also, I've been busy packing, getting ready to move house and distracted by other things (*coughs* Exo *coughs*) but well... I just want to say, I'm still invested in Three, and I'll write it eventually but Ch18 has been hard so far.

Well, enough of that, I'll love to know what you think of this :) Thank you for reading~