Jeonghan had always prided himself in being a rational man, a realistic man, so with that being said, when Seungcheol had asked him months ago if he believed in forever, Jeonghan had quickly answered no, he didn’t. “Nothing lasts forever; everything will come to an end at some point.” He had followed up far too easily for someone of his age. Granted, Jeonghan was old enough to know better than to believe in forever, but he was also still young enough to try and reach for that dream anyways.

“That’s...dark...” Seungcheol replied slowly, now turned away from the other man which Jeonghan took it upon himself to assume that meant Seungcheol’s feelings were hurt, because the slightly older male was a softie despite his appearances.

Jeonghan huffed out a laugh and he shoved at Seungcheol lightly. “Well, do you believe in forever?”

“Of course.” Seungcheol answered just as quickly as Jeonghan had. “When you’ve lived forever, you kind of have no choice.”

“Do you exist solely to give me a hard time?” Jeonghan asked with a sigh because there was always something about Choi Seungcheol that seemed off... unrealistically off that Jeonghan was never sure if he wanted to entertain. Sometimes he would, though, with carefully calculated acts coupled with nearly professionally feigned innocence that pushed Seungcheol down the path that Jeonghan wanted him to take (ironically enough).

Seungcheol turned to him with his usual, sickeningly sweet grin. And while Jeonghan usually opted to pay no mind to Seungcheol’s overly prominent fangs, he couldn’t help but be drawn to them now. “That sounds like it could be quite romantic, so I’ll say yes,” Seungcheol chuckled and moved closer to Jeonghan, moving his arm under Jeonghan’s so that he could rest a large, pale hand on Jeonghan’s thigh and his head on Jeonghan’s shoulder.

“You have a strange idea of romance…” Jeonghan mumbled and rested his head onto Seungcheol regardless of the situation. Jeonghan looked out at the empty park in front of them, it was extremely late because of course that was Seungcheol’s favorite time of day, but Jeonghan didn’t mind because he liked this park and he liked the peace. And as much as he wanted to pretend that the situation he had found himself in was the only thing not sitting quite right with him, he couldn’t bring himself to care—he felt as if pretending to care would have been irrational, therefore very unlike him.

Besides—Jeonghan moved his other hand to take a hold of Seungcheol’s and he glanced down at the other, a soft smile spreading across his face as he watched Seungcheol laying peacefully on his shoulder, eyes closed and humming softly—quiet moments like these, and many of the other ones that they’ve have, made everything okay. At least, for the moment; Jeonghan wasn’t quite sure what the future had in plan now that Seungcheol had entrusted Jeonghan with his secret (that wasn’t much of a secret, honestly).

However, as it turned out, the following months weren’t as dramatic as Jeonghan expected them to get.

Seungcheol continued living on normally, as if he hadn’t casually revealed to Jeonghan that he was a vampire. Jeonghan expected to get wrapped up in a situation far bigger than himself, forced to choose between a life of normality and realism or eternity and solitude (though, he supposed that it wouldn’t be all that solitary). Eventually, the lack of the pizzazz and the drama about the whole affair got to Jeonghan a little bit. He may have been a man with a more laid-back nature, that enjoyed the logical side of life, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t like dramatics.

“So you’re really not going to turn me into a vampire or something? Am I not good enough?” Jeonghan asked with hands on his hips, completely out of the blue. He and Seungcheol were at Seungcheol’s apartment, in Seungcheol’s makeshift library that he made one of his spare rooms into.

“What?” Seungcheol looked at Jeonghan as if he were crazy and for a moment, Jeonghan considered that he was. That he made up Seungcheol being a vampire and he was just casually being a fool for months .

“You’re a vampire, right?” Jeonghan questioned in a small voice, moving his hands from his hips as he took to fiddling with his fingers instead.

“Yeah?” Seungcheol answered dutifully, wide eyes, confused pout, and all. Jeonghan let out a sigh of relief.

“So why haven’t you offered to turn me into a vampire?” Jeonghan crossed his arms over his chest and stared Seungcheol down, the confidence in his voice coming back with full force.

“The truth is…” Seungcheol’s expression shifted slowly—his eyes softening and his pout becoming more pronounced—as he fully turned away from the bookcase that he was previously looking through. “I can only turn someone into a vampire if we’re true loves,”

Jeonghan’s expression was unreadable for a moment before he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Okay, and? That doesn’t change the fact that you should have asked me by now then,” Jeonghan chastised with a scowl. Seungcheol gasped then choked on the air he took in far too quickly. He sputtered and covered his face, turning away from Jeonghan completely and faced the bookcase once more. Jeonghan would bet on everything that Seungcheol would have flushed a dark red if he could.

“O-Oh…Oh my god, I was kidding, but you really lo...like me too?” Seungcheol turned back around to ask Jeonghan shyly.

“I thought it was obvious that I loved you,” Jeonghan snorted.

“It wasn’t, not in the slightest,” Seungcheol replied quickly with a shake of his head.

“Well, I do, so there’s that. Now about being a vampire—”

Seungcheol cut Jeonghan off with a heavy sigh. “Han...as much as I would love to have you with me forever, I...I can’t just Turn you, I’m sorry. I know I was playing around with the idea, apparently enough for you to consider it, but there’s just so much for you to lose. You have your family, your friends, your education—your future . There’s so many things you care about in this life and I—I can’t take that from you,”

“But what about you? Didn’t you have all of that too?” Jeonghan fired back.

“It’s different for me, Hanie. I was born into this.” Seungcheol explained about how he came from a clan of vampires, instead of being the case of an unwarranted Turning, which he made it a point to clarify that only Turned vampires sought to Turn others into vampires—it wasn’t common that a pure-blooded vampire desired to bring a human into this lifestyle. “I didn’t think you’d want to be a vampire this bad. It all seems a bit unrealistic,”

“It’s partly because I was offended you didn’t offer to turn me immediately, but…” Jeonghan took in a steady breath and released it slowly as he thought. Seungcheol waited as patiently as ever for Jeonghan to continue. “I do like you a lot, Seungcheol, and I can’t imagine that it’d do either of us any good to continue on like this knowing how it’ll end up. I do love my family, my friends, my life , but...but I don’t know. You’re also apart of my life, you can’t expect me to just ignore what we’ve had since we—well, since I was eighteen. I don’t want to grow old and just die all by myself, I don’t want you to be alone again. I love you, and I meant it,”

Seungcheol looked at Jeonghan for a long time then. Jeonghan wasn’t the type to jump into anything based on emotions; he thought things through, carefully and extensively, and he always chose the option that was best—not just for himself, but for everyone involved. Seungcheol stepped closer to Jeonghan and cupped his face into his hands—they were cold, but Jeonghan had long since gotten used to the feeling—and he looked deep into Jeonghan’s eyes one last time, searching for any insecurity in his decision (in which, there was none) before pulling Jeonghan into a kiss. After parting, Seungcheol pressed his forehead against Jeonghan’s and listed off all of the things they needed to do before they could even think about Turning Jeonghan.

Seungcheol tried to be calm and collected, but he was always terrible at hiding that excited twinge in his voice that made itself apparent at the ends of his words, and Jeonghan couldn’t wait until the time came for him to learn hundreds of years worth more about Seungcheol.

“I still can’t believe you’re really going to have me tell my family I’ve decided to Turn into a vampire,” Jeonghan huffed with arms crossed against his chest. He and Seungcheol were walking side by side towards Jeonghan’s childhood home, where the upcoming conversation could make or break all of the pleasant memories that rested there.

“C’mon, Han-ah, your family should also have a say in this. Just in case they’re able to bring up some points that you didn’t think about, you know?” Seungcheol reiterated once again with a chuckle.

“You really have class and manners at the absolute worst times,” Jeonghan continued complaining all the way up to the doorstep of his former home with Seungcheol butting in as little as possible. Jeonghan was nervous, so painfully nervous, because while his parents were very loving and supportive of everything he did, this...this was otherworldly.

“This is for the best, Jeonghan,” Seungcheol wrapped a placating arm around Jeonghan and brought him in for a hug.

Jeonghan clung onto Seungcheol as if his life depended on it. “What will you do if they don’t accept my decision? What if they don’t accept you ? What if they try to hurt you—I mean, I don’t think my parents are like that, but the supernatural is beyond most people and...and…”

“Hannie,” Seungcheol pulled away slightly despite Jeonghan’s reluctance (it was no match for Seungcheol anyways) and he cupped Jeonghan’s face into his hands as he liked to do. “I wish I could tell you everything will be alright, but truthfully, I’ve never done this before. You’re the first person, in all of my 230 years roaming this planet, that I’ve fallen in love with—”

“You’re lying,” Jeonghan huffed out a laugh in disbelief.

“I wish, but...but it’s true. There was never a good time in history for vampires to exist until recently, and instead of playing fate, I chose to be alone for so long. There were so many times where I wondered for what exactly was I living for, and so many times that I considered seeking death, but I’m so glad that I didn’t. That something compelled me to wait for this—for you,”

“Seungcheol…” Jeonghan let out the breath he was holding in a shuddery exhale, trying to keep himself together because, in the end, he still had to face his parents head on.

“I know that I said that your parents deserve to have a say in this,” Jeonghan’s body tensed in expectation. “and I still do, Hannie,” Jeonghan sighed and his shoulders dropped. “but, ultimately, the choice is yours to make, and I will comply with whatever you choose,” Seungcheol slid his hands down to Jeonghan’s shoulders, kneading them with extreme caution as to not unintentionally hurt Jeonghan.

Jeonghan took in another deep breath and exhaled it slowly before nodding. “Okay. Let’s do this.” He looked into Seungcheol’s eyes, and despite Seungcheol being an cold, undead being, his eyes held so much life and warmth to them that they managed to quell Jeonghan’s nerves and ignite his unwavering and indestructible confidence.

Jeonghan gave Seungcheol one of his biggest smiles, one where it seemed as if his eyes were smiling along with him, and he turned towards his parents door to knock onto it firmly.

The aura of the home was unlike it had ever been before. It was stifling, suffocating, and the silence didn’t make it any better.

Jeonghan didn’t even attempt to swallow down the lump inside his throat lest he choke on it and have the tears he was actively holding back began to fall free. Seungcheol was silent beside him, and Jeonghan knew that his jaw was clenched tight, fighting the urge to bare his fangs and just destroy everything around him.

The conversation had started innocently enough; everything was fine, it was all good, then the two shared a look and Jeonghan began testing the waters. Unfortunately for him, for the both of them, Jeonghan had dove too deep into the waters, and he was caught in turbulence.

Jeonghan confessed his decision to his parents—and in his rage, his father indirectly confessed to much more.

“First it was you being a damn homoual, and now this?!”

The words stung, but what hurt even more was the genuinely hurt “What happened to our son?” that his mother mumbled into her hands.

Jeonghan rose from his seat quietly, Seungcheol reacting to his actions faster than anything, and they both left without a word.

Pierced skin and searing pain. Unbearable heat turned grim coolness. Exhaustion piled on only by more exhaustion. With his last bit of consciousness, Jeonghan had the thought that getting Turned into a vampire was nothing like popular media made it to be—and that the taste of blood wasn’t that bad after all. It was surprisingly sweet and though Jeonghan never had a sweet tooth before, it was like he craved the taste more than anything in that fleeting moment.

He woke up in a plush bed not his own, but also not unfamiliar. When he looked to the side at the miniature calendar on the nightstand, it has been marked that it’s been a whole two weeks since he’s last been conscious. Jeonghan groaned and slipped back into the comfort of the blankets and sheets, and he wondered if he had made the right decision.

The conversation went worse than anything Jeonghan had expected, and in his attempt to forget that the love he had received since coming out back at ripe age of fifteen was all a lie, he pleaded with Seungcheol to Turn him immediately. It was unlike him, to make a hasty decision like that, and Seungcheol tried to calm Jeonghan down and consider seeing his sister or his friends, anybody , but Jeonghan couldn’t be swayed. He was hurt, and he couldn’t bear to potentially put himself through that again, especially not with his sister.

Jeonghan grabbed a pillow to hug as he rolled over in bed, curling up onto his side. There was an unusual feeling settled in his stomach, but he assumed it was the result of his two-week long coma and his emotional state.

After settling himself into a position that he felt somewhat comfortable in, Jeonghan wondered if maybe he should have went to see his sister again before his parents inevitably (probably) ruined his good name to her and disallow her to see him again. The thought was sombering, especially since Jeonghan couldn’t help but think about how he and his sister hadn’t really contact each other lately, how maybe she didn’t want to contact him, or even if she did, how easy it could be for her to take their parents’ side. He wouldn’t blame her, couldn’t really—

A sharp, stinging sensation interrupted Jeonghan’s thoughts and the feeling had an uncharacteristic yell ripping through his chest and out of him. Jeonghan writhed, turning over onto his knees and clutched at the central point of the unbearable pain he was experiencing—his stomach. His stomach felt emptier than he’d ever known it to, and the searing heat that overcame him didn’t make it any better.

“Han? Jeonghan?” Seungcheol’s presence hadn’t even registered to Jeonghan and when Jeonghan was ce again to face the other, a wave of something washed over him; something primal, something that rose from the deep recesses of his body. It made his head spin, his vision blurry, his mouth...it itched to do something . He was...he was hungry.

“ Cheol… ” Jeonghan slurred, trying to see Seungcheol properly by blinking slowly. So much was happening to him at the moment, and he was so hungry , it was an unbearable feeling. Jeonghan felt trapped inside his own body and yet, he also felt completely removed from himself at the same time.

Jeonghan felt movement from his side and then he swore he was being lifted, but once again, nothing registered to him until an overwhelming scent caught his attention and suddenly made everything a lot clearer. Jeonghan blinked a few times, came to himself, and saw that Seungcheol had removed his shirt and sliced his neck just enough to draw blood. Somewhere in the back of Jeonghan’s mind wanted to question just where the blood came from, but his main priority at the moment was getting Seungcheol’s blood into his mouth.

“ Hungry… ” Jeonghan slurred a lot less this time as he drew closer to Seungcheol’s neck, at the blood tentatively. The more he , the stronger his hunger became until he was digging into Seungcheol’s neck and at the steady stream of blood that tasted better than anything he had ever eaten as a human.

Jeonghan fed off of Seungcheol’s blood hungrily, his moans heard loud and clear in the otherwise silent room, while Seungcheol simply at his hair and his back. The scene could have been compared to a baby’s first meal from it’s mother’s ; however, with Seungcheol’s labored breaths and Jeonghan’s moans that weren’t entirely because of finally feasting on blood anymore, the comparison fell flat.

“ Jeonghan... ” Seungcheol breathed out, gripping Jeonghan’s hair tightly. Jeonghan grunted and dug his teeth into Seungcheol’s skin deeper, pushing Seungcheol back onto the bed. At this point, it was less about feeding and more about the indescribable sensation all over his body, more about how Seungcheol was submitting to him, slowly losing himself in whatever pleasure this was. “Han...Han...Hannie—! ” Seungcheol chanted Jeonghan’s pet names, hugging Jeonghan closer to him, until his body shook and he let out a deep, drawn out moan.

Jeonghan grunted into Seungcheol’s neck, bit down even more, drew more blood, and then he was gone. Jeonghan detached himself from Seungcheol’s neck only to bury himself into it and pant heavily. “What the hell was that?” Was the first thing Jeonghan said after finally coming to his senses. Being out for two weeks must have taken its toll on him hard .

“You—” Seungcheol furrowed his brows nearly immediately and sat up. Now that he was back to himself, Jeonghan nearly choked at the sight of Choi Seungcheol, shirtless, looking a lot more ripped than Jeonghan expected (but also totally expected, which might have also been Jeonghan just pushing out his hopes onto the other man, but he digresses). “You just took my vampire ity!”

“Choi Seungcheol, what the fu— Vampire ity?” Jeonghan did everything he could to stop himself from laughing; part of it was because he wasn’t entirely sure if that was a real thing or not, and the other part was, even if it wasn’t real, Seungcheol would end up sulking regardless if Jeonghan were to act insensitively.

“Yes, it’s not a real thing, but!” Seungcheol exclaimed, expected Jeonghan to immediately fire off either with teasing or laughter or, even worse, both. “But, I think of it that way. Everyone always said feeding was better than , especially with a vampire partner, so I decided that I’d make it a special thing of its own,”

Jeonghan looked at Seungcheol pout and mess around with the sheets before he pulled a pillow over to himself to hug, probably suddenly feeling very shy by how he was shirtless. Jeonghan broke out into a fond smile, and he leaned forward to take Seungcheol’s lips with his own. And contrary to the  animalistic feeding the two of them just had, their kiss was slow and sweet, a lot more like themselves. Jeonghan pulled back and rested his forehead against Seungcheol’s, and the thought he had from before came back to him.

Had he made the right decision?

Seungcheol closed his eyes, a small smile on his face, and he began to hum. The two of them slowly descended back onto the bed; Jeonghan on top of Seungcheol, their foreheads still touching, Seungcheol hugging Jeonghan close as he hummed his favorite tune—it was one beyond Jeonghan’s years, Seungcheol had told him once, a tune played by a child somewhere in Europe enthralled by an instrument they were given as a present. Jeonghan always thought the tune was a bit mature for a child to have plucked out once upon a time, but in this moment he was grateful.

Jeonghan studied Seungcheol’s peaceful face. He traced every outline with his eyes, examining every detail, even the tiniest of ones. He took in this moment, and every moment the two of them have had together thus far, and he wondered what forever would be like.

“Are you scared?” Seungcheol asked quietly, eyes fluttering open. He looked as beautiful as ever.

“A little.” Jeonghan admitted, seeing no use for lies. “What’s it like, living forever?”

“Scary, lonely. It’s easy to feel lost, like you have no purpose.” Seungcheol also admitted. Jeonghan remembered the exact sentiments Seungcheol expressed a couple weeks prior at his parents’ house, and he hoped to forget the following pain over time since from now on, he had a lot of it. “But seeing the world change before me was always fun,”

“I can’t imagine what kind of world we’ll go into together from here on out,” Jeonghan mused. He would’ve assumed that thinking about the future would be less scary without the prospect of aging or dying, but the thought of having to tough out whatever the world dished at them from this point on replaced that mortal fear.

“Don’t worry, no matter what happens, we’ll have each other. Believe it or not, there’s not many people around that carry materials ready to kill a vampire, especially not here in Korea,” Seungcheol laughed a lot louder than he usually did, causing Jeonghan to groan and slip off of Seungcheol and to the side of him; although, Jeonghan remained curled up close, face buried in Seungcheol’s neck still. He was particularly attached to the bite mark and absently traced it with his finger.

“You know...because I insisted on Turning sooner than we planned, I still have a lot to learn about being a vampire. I have a lot of questions, for instance: how do you have blood? Also, aren’t you supposed to heal super fast? Not only is my bite mark still here, but so if the cut you made…”

Seungcheol laughed once again, a wide smile lingering on his face. Jeonghan rolled his eyes fondly; Seungcheol was too happy about all of this, it seemed, and he had given up on trying to hide it. “Well, firstly, vampires store the blood they consume. It’s mostly used for energy, but can also be used for feeding. Secondly, I haven’t fed in a while, so my healing is a bit slowed down at the moment,”

“Is it because of me? I didn’t drain you of even more energy, did I?” Jeonghan questioned almost frantically, sitting up to gaze at Seungcheol with a deep frown and knitted brows.

“No, no, Hannie, calm down,” Seungcheol shook his head and brought Jeonghan back down to rest onto his shoulder again. “I’ve just prioritized my energy differently. Less energy spent on healing means I can conserve more blood for you, since you’ll probably want to feed off of me for a while,”

“Speaking of feeding...do you feed from humans...?” Jeonghan questioned softly, and Seungcheol expected him to be a bit freaked out about the idea, but when he glanced at Jeonghan, the other was subtly sulking instead.

“Never been a fan, really,” Seungcheol placated. “I have a friend who has family that owns a butchers. He gets blood bags for me in bulk,”

Jeonghan hummed. “Not to sound self-absorbed, but I didn’t think you had other human friends aside from me,”

“I don’t.” Seungcheol answered simply. Jeonghan looked at Seungcheol, confused. “Soonyoung is a werewolf, his family owns a butchers as a guise. Keeps them from harming actual people,”

“You know what, we have forever to do History and Biology and whatever lessons on vampires, first things first, I want to meet all of your friends. Any other mythical creatures I should know about roaming South Korea?”

Seungcheol snorted. “You have no idea, Yoon Jeonghan.” And Seungcheol didn’t elaborate more on that. He closed his eyes once more and feigned sleep.

“What? Seungcheol, do you even need to sleep?”

“Nope, but it’s a good way to pass time and leave you hanging.” Seungcheol answered one last time before he refused to entertain Jeonghan anymore. Eventually, Seungcheol really did fall asleep, and Jeonghan grumbled by his side until he was able to do the same.