Hoseok feels as if his teeth are about to fall out, his skin incredibly tender. Bruises litter his arms, and he feels... oddly cold, considering how he shouldn’t be feeling temperature at all. Or, maybe it’s an emptiness. Yeah, that’s it. It’s the dull throb of emptiness coursing through his body. His fangs throb endlessly, and he can’t help but scratch at his wrists, forearms, anything to distract himself from it.

He probably looks like a meth head with how antsy he is right now, standing under the night sky and waiting to get a movie ticket. Humans mill around him, their collective heartbeat throbbing in his ears in sync with the throb in his pointed canines. Minhyuk’s beside him, keeping a firm grip on his elbow as if daring him to try and break away.

“You’ve made it this long outside, hyung,” Minhyuk murmurs to him, his tone low enough for only Hoseok to hear. “The rest of the night is going to be a breeze!” Hoseok chuckles, albeit a bit strained. He turns to give Minhyuk a grateful glance, unable to really muster much else, but what he sees stops him.

Changkyun didn’t think anything important would happen tonight. He knew Minhyuk had told Jooheon he was bringing a friend, he knew that they’d be going to see a movie with this friend... He just didn’t know that this friend would be so damn hot.

If he’d have known, he’d have probably worn something different... Or, at least, something better than the trash he’s wearing now. Where this mysterious friend is wearing skin-tight leather pants, Changkyun’s got nothing more than baggy jeans with the least amount stains possible for someone who hasn’t done laundry in a month. This stranger also has a biker jacket, a black tank top, and Changkyun’s only got an oversized black hoodie reaching down to his knees.

Maybe he’d have done something more with his hair than just run his fingers through it if he had known how attractive the newest addition would be.

“Th-This is your friend...?” Jooheon asks, gaze flicking towards the black-haired stranger with an unreadable light to his eyes. Minhyuk nods, wrapping an arm around Hoseok’s shoulders... a seemingly casual move that leaves Hoseok with no room to move. Minhyuk’s always been strong, ever since being Turned, and, even if Hoseok could throw him off easily, he doesn’t want to cause a scene.

Changkyun’s eyes don’t leave the strange man, even as Minhyuk tugs him a bit too close.

“Yep~! Everyone, meet Hoseok. Hoseok, this is everyone!”

“Hi,” the man apparently called Hoseok says, offering only a nod to accompany his single syllable. His voice is clipped, tense. It only serves to exacerbate Changkyun’s nerves at meeting this new person, and he feels himself inwardly recoil. Jooheon looks over at him as he shifts a couple steps back on instinct, the light in his eyes knowing.

“I’m Jooheon,” Jooheon says, offering out a hand. Hoseok gingerly takes it, his fingers trembling slightly, and quickly retracts his hand after a single up-and-down motion. Jooheon presses his lips together in a flat line, his dimples making an appearance, to show his displeasure at the odd greeting. “And this is my friend, Changkyun,” Jooheon introduces, waving towards the youngest there. Changkyun bows slightly, his heart hammering in his chest.

“H-Hi,” he greets, hating himself for stammering like a nervous high school boy. He can feel Hoseok’s eyes on him, bearing down on him like some ominous cloud. He squirms a bit under the gaze, unable to bring himself to meet the man’s unwavering eyes.

“Where’s Hyunwoo tonight?” Minhyuk asks, clearly trying to expedite the awkwardness and get them into the theater. Jooheon’s flat line turns into a pout, a small whine emanating from his throat.

“He went on his dumb camping trip,” Jooheon sulks, crossing his arms over his chest. Changkyun glances up at the night sky, having not realized it was the full moon already. Like clockwork, Hyunwoo always goes out of town for some excursion or another every full moon. Or, at least, he has ever since Changkyun’s known him. “I tried to get him to let us tag along, but he would budge…” Minhyuk chuckles lowly, as if knowing something the others don’t.

“Trust me, Heon,” Minhyuk says fondly, “you don’t want to be on that camping trip.” Minhyuk struts over to the line, Jooheon following close behind to ask just why the older says that, leaving Hoseok and Changkyun to their own devices. Changkyun anxiously plays with the ends of his sleeves as he shuffles forward to stand behind the others, eyes glued to the night sky as he presses his lips into a thin line.

Hoseok blatantly watches him from the corner of his eye, and Changkyun can’t very well tell if Hoseok knows he’s being so obvious, or if the older thinks he’s actually being way more inconspicuous than he actually is… somehow. Changkyun partly hopes it’s the second option, because then at least this seemingly perfect man would have an obvious flaw: he’s a ditz.

“S-So, um…” Changkyun mutters nervously, eyes flitting down to the cement. “What do you do?”

Only silence follows his question, and Changkyun thinks for a moment Hoseok didn’t answer him. He supposes he did kind of mumble, or, at least, he knows he tends to mumble around strangers. Oh God, he’s already screwed it up. He’s already put off this too-hot-to-be-real new guy and he thinks Changkyun’s a freak and—

“I… w-work from home,” Hoseok finally answers, his voice surprisingly tentative. There’s a slight tremor to it, and he even stammers, an obvious sign of nerves. Changkyun looks over in evident surprise, his pierced brow slightly raised and his hands stilling in their anxious movement.

“That’s cool…” Changkyun says, trying to think of a way to get Hoseok to keep talking. He feels pressured to carry on the conversation, like he knows Hoseok wants to talk but doesn’t have a clue as to what to say. Hoseok looks over at him then, fully tilting his head over, his eyes on Changkyun’s wrist.

“Is… that a smiley face?”

Changkyun looks down, humming in surprise at seeing a smidgen of his ink peeking passed the sleeve of his sweater. He pulls the sleeve up a bit more, showing off the inside of his wrist.

“It’s a smiley and frowny face,” Changkyun says, trying and failing to hide the pride in his tone at showing off his first tattoo. “I got it when I was sixteen and just moved to the city…”

Hoseok doesn’t say anything after that, his ethereal blue eyes instead remaining glued to the inside of Changkyun’s wrist. Changkyun thinks it’s because of the tattoo. Someone like Hoseok would probably think it lame, embarrassing… But, really, Hoseok is hypnotized by the vein beneath the simple ink, bulging out from Changkyun’s milky skin and just about to burst from being so full of that delicious, hot, thick blood that gets Hoseok’s mouth watering at the mere thought of it.