Content warning: A bit (a lot) of foul language towards the end.

—

College was a wonderful place where people of all backgrounds and personalities — be it normal or just plain weird — gather to obtain the wonderful thing that was knowledge. So it shouldn’t be head-scratching that Daehyun’s roommate fell into the category of “weird”. Except this guy was more suspicious-weird than oh-he’s-just-a-little-quirky weird. But Daehyun’s parents raised him to be a good man with good manners who knew better to mind his own business than to pry too deeply into others’ personal life, no matter how curious his odd roommate got him.

—

The first time Daehyun met his roommate, Youngjae, was in their dorm room at the beginning of his first year. Daehyun had come into the room enveloped in absolute darkness, and it took him a bruised knee and a sore forehead to get to the light switch. Never mind the fact that it was three in the afternoon and the weather was sunny with a chance of irreparable sunburn. 

That alone should have set off all kinds of warning signals in Daehyun’s head that something was way off about his roommate.

When the light switched on Daehyun was greeted with a sight of a normal 4x4 room with two single beds to the left side of the room that were separated by a bedside table, and two white desks straight out of IKEA’s catalogue to the right. There was a sizeable wardrobe next to the window, securely fastened to the wall to prevent premature death-by-a-toppling-furniture. One of the beds was pushed as far away from the window as possible, and there was an human-shaped lump wrapped in a thick blanket lying in it.

Setting down his luggage at the foot of the unoccupied bed, Daehyun figured his roommate wouldn’t want to be disturbed at the moment so he walked to the window to pull the blackout curtain open so that natural light could get into the room. Conserving electricity was important, after all. The brightness hurt his eyeballs even after a short time in the darkness, so he turned away from the window.

Only to get the first biggest scare of his life when he saw that the lump was sitting up on the bed, facing him. Daehyun probably shrieked in fear, because who wouldn’t be shrieking at the creepy sight of a human-shaped blanket with no face staring(?) at them?

Daehyun put his palm on his chest, feeling his heart hammering against his ribcage at the jumpscare.

“Dude, you scared me!” He wheezed. The Lump grunted an apology. 

“Can you pull the curtains back? I have a skin condition where the sun will hurt my skin if I’m exposed to it.” The Lump politely asked in a muffled voice. 

“Oh, yeah sure. Sorry about that. I didn’t know.” 

“It’s fine.” 

Once Daehyun pulled the curtains back, the blanket was taken off, revealing his roommate, whose hair was as dark as the night sky and skin as pale as a sheet of paper. Not in the sense that his skin was fair, but more towards "holy this guy is literally as white as a paper is that even normal?!"

“Maybe it took that colour since he hadn’t seen the sunlight for so long because of his skin condition,” Daehyun rationalized. 

His roommate stared unblinkingly at him like a predator observing its meal, which greatly unnerved Daehyun, as his eyes had a strange red glow to it. Maybe his roommate had a thing for coloured contact lenses, who knew. Daehyun's new roommate grinned and waved at him, and if his fangs looked curiously sharper than a normal human being’s, Daehyun paid no mind of it. “Hi, I’m Youngjae.” 

Daehyun, always the well-mannered country boy, grinned back. “I’m Daehyun. Nice to meet you.” 

—

The second indication that there was something off about Youngjae was his extreme distaste towards anything garlic. 

Garlic bread? 

“That’s nasty.”

Garlic spread?

“Gross. Get that thing away from me.”

A tiny clove of garlic?

“I will burn this college to the ground if I see that thing anywhere within my 10 feet radius.”

Daehyun had googled if there was such a thing as garlic allergy and was surprised to found out that yes, garlic allergy was in fact a real thing. A rare condition, just like Youngjae’s sunlight allergy, but a condition nonetheless. Daehyun silently mourned for Youngjae’s taste buds, thinking what a shame that someone would never be able to experience how wonderful garlic bread tasted with mushroom soup.

—

The third indication, which was probably the most suspicious of all, was how Youngjae went out of his way to avoid mirrors or any reflective surfaces at any cost.

Daehyun had hung a small mirror in their room, which mysteriously disappeared the next day. When he asked Youngjae if he moved the mirror somewhere else, Youngjae tilted his head and asked “What mirror?” in confusion. It happened again and again until Daehyun gave up and left their wall bare of anything besides a few posters and a corkboard. Daehyun knew Youngjae knew about the mirrors, but he decided it wasn’t that big of a deal to actually confront Youngjae regarding it. The mirror in the communal bathroom was bigger anyway. 

Speaking of the communal bathroom, Youngjae would only ever use it late at night when everyone else was sleeping, or when the dorm residents were less active. 

Daehyun only noticed when he accidentally woke up at 2 am and saw Youngjae gathering his toiletries before sneaking out of the room and shut the door silently behind him. At first, he thought maybe Youngjae was too tired from classes that he forgot to shower, but the next night it was the same, as with the nights after, even on his days off. Daehyun dismissed it, figuring Youngjae was probably self-conscious about his extremely pale complexion. 

Besides the mirror thing, there was also the thing about cameras.

As part of the generation that grew up surrounded with modern technology, it was weird that Youngjae was never seen with a smartphone or other electronic gadgets, save for the old battered laptop that was probably made in the early 2000s. When asked how he kept in contact with his friends and family, Youngjae had a distant look on his face and showed Daehyun an old silver flip phone that was probably considered trendy in 2007. When Daehyun asked how he took pictures and selfies, Youngjae shrugged and said he wasn't a big fan of taking pictures, especially of himself.

It was truly unheard of, especially for Daehyun who loved taking selfies. He and Youngjae hung out a lot (turning a lot of heads when they were seen together in public), but when Daehyun took out his phone to take a photo of them so he could share it on Instagram, Youngjae politely refused and jokingly said that a guy all covered up in a mask, a hat, and sunnies would just ruin the picture. It wasn't just when they were outside too; even in their dorm, Youngjae would refuse to have his picture taken. Daehyun eventually relented, as he didn't wanna turn their friendship sour by being too pushy and decided he would respect Youngjae's wish.

—

All things considered, Daehyun probably should have been more suspicious of Youngjae. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together. But again, Daehyun was raised to be a good man, and he would only think the best of his friends instead of letting his mind wander to weird places. Like whether his roommate was actually a supernatural being instead of a normal human with very rare illnesses. Nope.

—

And now it was the present, the dreadful time of the year, the bane of every college students' existence: finals. This meant late night studying; disturbing numbers of caffeine intake beyond the recommended amount; high-stress levels; and of course, designer eyebags.

The two of them were in their room together, furiously typing up their essays on their respective laptops, hoping they could get it done by tomorrow. Daehyun reached for the coffee can, frowning when he realized he had drunk the last of it 500 words ago. Yawning and stretching in his seat, he glanced at Youngjae, who had stopped typing and was staring blankly at the screen. The light from his laptop illuminated his face, giving his skin an even stranger glow than usual. Youngjae his lips and his eyes darted to Daehyun, before travelling down to his neck and gulped. 

"You okay?" Daehyun asked. Youngjae seemed to snap out of it, clearing his throat and massaged the bridge of his nose. He nodded.

"Yeah just... thirsty."

"Well, I'm out of coffee. I'm gonna get some from the vending machine downstairs. You want anything? Drinking water or energy drink?" he asked as he got up from his seat to retrieve his coin bag on the bedside table.

Youngjae muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "a nice A-type blood bag would be really great right now,".

"Sorry?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though."

"Suit yourself."

Daehyun still bought a bottle of mineral water, just in case. The bottle was empty the next day, and Daehyun smiled to himself. 

—

As they got further into the semester and assignments were piling up on top of one another, Daehyun started to become very concerned with Youngjae's well-being, as his roommate appeared to grow more tired and sluggish. He was worried that the workload was starting to affect Youngjae's health, but the latter assured Daehyun that he'd be fine. Every now and then Daehyun would catch Youngjae sitting in the corner of their room with his head hidden behind his arms, taking deep breaths, sometimes almost to the point of hyperventilating. And during those times Daehyun would sit silently next to Youngjae, hoping his company would at least help his friend to alleviate some of his stress.

Little did he knew.

—

It was on Friday that Daehyun got the second and third biggest scare of his life.

He came back after a particularly gruelling day of individual and group presentations to find his roommate passed out on the cold floor of their room, right by his bed. Alarmed, Daehyun dropped his bag at their doorstep and kneeled beside his roommate, touching Youngjae's forehead to check his temperature. Daehyun had expected a fever so high it could boil water. What he did not expect was a forehead as cold as the damn freezer. It shocked him so much that he pulled his hand back with a yelp, and looked at his hand in confusion. Then he looked at Youngjae again, and it was as if his whole body was dunked in cold water when he noticed that Youngjae was not breathing. 

He put his hand on Youngjae's neck for a pulse, ignoring the coldness that seeped into his skin, then to the latter's wrist. Nothing. He repeated his actions just in case he missed something, but Youngjae was still cold to the touch, still not breathing, and still without a pulse.

Breathing heavily, Daehyun sat on the floor and cradled his friend's head into his lap, noting how peaceful his friend looked in his eternal sleep. He felt hotness behind his eyes, blurring his sight.

And then he cried, his sobs reverberating in the small room. In between his sobs he kept apologizing to Youngjae, sorry that he didn't do more to make sure Youngjae was fine, sorry that he wasn't there that morning when Youngjae probably needed his help, sorry that he wasn't there with Youngjae during his last moments. 

He cried and cried until there were no more tears to be shed, until he was only left with sobs and sniffles. 

"Daehyun? Why are you crying?"

His eyes snapped open to see a pair of red eyes staring straight into him, and the scream that followed was probably the loudest that ever escaped Daehyun.

He crawled backwards as fast as humanly possible, until his back slammed against the door. The previously-dead-but-now-is-not-dead Youngjae slowly got up to his knees to face Daehyun and had the audacity to look confused for few seconds, before finally realizing what was happening and muttered an "oh ". If Daehyun wasn't hyperventilating before, he was definitely doing it right now, his mind running at a rate of a thousand miles per second, while muttering no no no no no no this is a dream this is a ing dream holy JESUS CHRIST—

Youngjae tried to move closer to Daehyun but stopped when the latter screamed don't come near me, all the while shaking in fear. Youngjae put up his hands, trying to look as non-intimidating as he could, which would probably work if his eyes weren't glowing ing red.

Unable to suppress his fears anymore, Daehyun got up to his feet and ran out of the room as fast as he could, completely ignoring Youngjae's pleads to wait.

He ran without thinking of a destination, down a few flight of stairs before bursting through the door on the 5th floor. His panic level shot up when he heard footsteps behind him and he chanced a glance at his back, heart almost leaping out of his mouth when he saw that Youngjae was right behind him. 

"Stop chasing me!"

"Will you just wait and let me explain?!"

"THERE'S NO OTHER EXPLANATION FOR THAT, YOU MONSTER! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Willing his legs to go faster, Daehyun took a sharp turn to the left and immediately ran into the lavatory, and then straight into one of the stalls, locking the door behind him. 

He backed away slowly as Youngjae banged the door repeatedly, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all, until the back of his knees hit the porcelain seat. Great, now he was stuck in a toilet stall with a murderous vampire just waiting for him to give up and walk towards his inevitable death. 

How could he be so stupid?! The signs were there all along, glaringly obvious, but noooooo, Daehyun just had to think the best of his roommate and rationalized everything to fit human logic instead of embracing the fact that Youngjae was a blood- creature of the night whom Daehyun had been living with for almost a year. 

Daehyun heard several footsteps walked into the lavatory, and he sighed in relief. Maybe Youngjae would leave him alone if he didn't want his secret to be exposed in front of these people.

"Get out." he heard Youngjae said, voice murderously low. All at once, Daehyun felt compelled to leave the stall but managed to force himself to stop, while the people outside scurried out. He heard the door slamming shut and the lock turned, and he was really going to freak out because now he was all alone and locked in with a vampire. He was going to meet his doom in a god damn toilet of all places. Just great. 

"Daehyun, please get out of the stall. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

He didn't feel like doing what Youngjae said, which probably meant the vampire wasn't using his powers to make Daehyun walk out, and Daehyun kind of appreciated that. Kind of. 

He sat down on the seat and curled into a ball, rocking back and forth. He heard Youngjae moved and the door jerked slightly, indicating that Youngjae was also sitting with his back against the door. 

Suddenly, the door outside was urgently banged by one of the 5th-floor residents who didn't know better. “Hey, open up. I need to use the toilet!”

“ off,” Youngjae growled.

“Dude, seriously I need to go right now—“

“I SAID OFF! WHY DON’T YOU TAKE A DUMP IN THE BUSH OR SOMETHING?”

There was a few moment of silence, until the guy spoke in a dazed voice, much to Daehyun's horror. “...Okay, I’ll do that.” 

“, I didn’t mean to actually make him do it. Ah, whatever.” The door jerked again, and Youngjae sighed. "I didn't want you to find out my secret like that. Or for you to find out at all. I'm serious when I said I'm not going to hurt you."

Daehyun rolled his eyes. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"Well, not really. But think about it. Wouldn't you have died a long time ago if I was the murderous blood- fiend you thought earlier?"

"Were you reading my mind?!"

"Um. Not really? I can always hear what everyone's thinking but they all — uhh... no pun intended? Anyway, I don't like their voices so I just... focused on you."

Daehyun hummed. Youngjae did have a point. He would have died long ago if Youngjae decided he made a good dinner. "Did you ever consider it, though?"

"What? Drinking your blood?"

"Yeah."

"You're just gonna freak out if I answer the obvious question."

It was Daehyun's turn to sigh. He got up from the seat and unlocked the door, causing Youngjae to almost tumble backwards. His roommate immediately got up to his feet to face Daehyun, and well, at least Daehyun wasn't the only one who looked scared out of his wits. And Daehyun knew what he looked like because Youngjae was standing in front of the mirror by the sink and, surprise surprise, only Daehyun's reflection was in it. Which made all of this even more real and absurd.

"Why do you look so scared? Shouldn't I be the one wearing that expression?" Daehyun huffed as he crossed his hands.

Youngjae shrugged. "Wouldn't I be scared if I was going to lose my only friend?"

"I'm your only friend?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Daehyun, you've seen me outside of our dorm room. No one would wanna be friends with a weirdo who's never showed his face."

"Point." Daehyun conceded. He walked past Youngjae to lean against the sink and fixed his roommate a stare. Youngjae still looked as tired as he was the past few weeks, and Daehyun could guess assignments and group projects weren't the only cause of it after all.

"You haven't been... drinking the past few months, have you?"

Youngjae nodded sheepishly. "College is a goddamn piece of work, I don't know why I keep coming back to torture myself with boring lecturers and lazy group members. This course is just pretty darn taxing that I didn't have time to go stalking unassuming civilian at 3 in the morning."

That got a chuckle out of Daehyun, who caught himself and cleared his throat. "Does it hurt when... you know. Someone getting their blood ...?"

Youngjae's head tilted sideways, "Not really...? I only take how much is necessary for me to survive so they won't die from blood loss. What are you suggesting?"

Daehyun threaded his fingers together and averted his gaze from Youngjae. He actually really liked having Youngjae around, despite his initial freakout. And knowing that Youngjae saw him as something other than dead meat made him fear his roommate a lot less. Vampire or not, Daehyun couldn't deny that he still wanted Youngjae to stay, and he was still worried of his friend's well-being. He had a guess that if vampires went on without sustenance for a long period of time, there would probably be terrible side-effects that they would have to face, such as one that happened today as well as the symptoms Youngjae showed the past few weeks.

And for some reason, thinking about Youngjae latching those red lips on someone else's neck got Daehyun weirdly upset, but he didn't want to entertain that thought. Not yet.

"You're my one and only best-friend too, you know? I don't want us to drift apart because of this. And I don't want you to go around other people's blood because one day you might get caught and get into trouble for it. So..."

Closing his eyes, Daehyun pulled the neckline of his shirt downwards and craned his neck, offering himself up to Youngjae, whose eyes widened in realization. Daehyun felt the vampire inched closer to him until he could feel the coldness of the latter's body against him. Youngjae lifted his hand to cup Daehyun's cheek, then trailed his hand down to the base of his friend's neck.

"I'll make it fast,"

===

END

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author's note: i ran out of ideas how to end it lmao thanks for reading