Autumn doesn’t know if it wants to settle in or not. Some days are so nice and pleasant that Jongin’s jogging in shorts and swatting bugs; the next day looks like he lives in a snow globe, although whatever falls doesn’t accumulate and is gone by the end of the day.

It’s an in-between sort of evening, not warm but not freezing. Jongin managed a lap around campus without sweating too badly. He’s watching leaves fall from their trees as he stretches. His body moves on autopilot, lifting his arms and twisting his waist and reaching between his feet. His dogs follow his movements, trying to catch his hands and see if he has treats or nudging him for pets.

He’s going over a lecture in his head and trying to draft a thesis when he hears a loud thump against the window. Once his heart drops from his throat back into his chest, he looks at the window behind him. He doesn’t see anything but his reflection. The dogs are on alert in an instant, woofing softly and scuttling to peer into the darkness, ready to protect their dad.

“What's up, guys?” Jongin nervously looks, too, but he can't see anything in the dark. A bird or two has flown into the window, but that's always been during the day. They've always been fine, too, so if it was an animal, it's probably just stunned and will go on its way.

“C'mon. You guys need dinner.” It takes a couple whistles and slaps against his thigh to get all three dogs following him, but once he sets down three dishes of kibble, there's no question where their focus is. When the bowls are all clean and shiny with saliva, Jongin proudly pets their curly fur and praises their healthy appetites.

“You need to go outside? Go potty before bed?” The poodles all dance at his feet. Jjangah stands on her hind legs to try and reach his fingers, falling back onto all four legs when Jongin taps her nose. He opens the door to let them bound into the grass. They sniff around, pee a couple times, and dart into some decorative hedges close to the building.

Jongin stands in the open doorway and tucks his arms over his chest, tilting his head back to squint at the sky. It’s hard to see the stars in the city. Light pollution makes nighttime glow dully, but the colored sky is pretty in its own right, he supposes.

He's worried, though. Yifan said he was coming over after his last lecture, which ended a while ago. He texts if he’s running late, and Jongin can’t help but worry. Maybe his own phone is dead; he doesn’t pay attention to the battery life. It’s fine, though, when he checks it. There’s a texted photo from Taemin, a goofy selfie, but there are no other messages or voicemails or notifications. He tucks it back into his pocket.

He’s almost turned around to go back inside when he hears high screeching and squeaking under his dogs' barks and growls.

Heart back in his throat, Jongin charges outside, wielding his phone as a flashlight, and spots two of his dogs by the shrubbery. Monggu has something cornered behind a bush, backed up by Jjangu and Jjangah. That little bit of wolf blood is active, making his ten-pounders fearless predators.

The phone illuminates something rather large, compared to his dogs, black, and frantic in Monggu's mouth.

“Drop it!” Jongin roars. Stunned, the dog's jaws snap open, dropping the poor thing. “Go back inside! Now!” He has no time to feel bad for yelling at his dogs for their killer instincts. His own instincts are panicking.

Chasing the trio to their beds, Jongin grabs a towel from the bathroom counter and rushes back outside, carefully crouching beside the injured animal and wrapping it gently. He first assumes it's a raccoon or fox kit, but he can't tell with how its struggling and throwing limbs around. It settles a bit once cradled against Jongin's chest, chattering in what Jongin can only interpret as stress.

“Sorry for the sweat,” he says softly. “I haven't showered, yet.” He gingerly sits on the sofa. “And sorry for my dogs nearly killing you. They're good dogs; I promise. Usually.” The poodles sigh and whine softly, too ashamed to beg for forgiveness, yet. Jongin looks at the creature swaddled in his towel and recognizes the big ears and pointed face as some kind of bat. Bats typically hibernate in late fall until spring, sometimes in houses, if that's what's available. An uncle once found a couple of bats in Jongin's grandparents' attic and had chased them with a broom. Jongin's younger cousin had cried, thinking the bats were going to freeze.

Maybe this one got confused with the mild weather, Jongin muses silently. Cautiously, he loosens the towel. “Can I see if you're okay? I won't hurt you...” he asks softly. There's no blood that he can see, and he carefully nudges its body with a twisted corner of towel. This doesn't bother the bat until he gently touches the bat's forehead, then it squeaks and tries to crawl away.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry.” Jongin catches the bat again with his bare hands, dutifully ignoring every warning he's heard about bats carrying rabies and disease. It almost seems to faint, closing its eyes and making a noise like a moan.

His chest tightens. There could be internal bleeding in the bat's little body. He doesn't know what to do, and there's something wrong with the poor thing. Do vets see bats? Everywhere is closed by now, and he can't think of any animal hospitals. His neighbors probably wouldn't care, because it's just a bat. If it was a cat or dog, people would just fall over themselves with worry.

Checking the clock on his DVD player, Jongin whines a little himself. Yifan still isn't back, yet, like he said he was going to be, so he's completely on his own.

“I'm trying to help you,” he says, carefully touching a veiny ear, “but...I don't know how...” Kyungsoo always seems to have some kind of idea about everything, and animals innately love him. Maybe he can do his Doctor Doolittle thing and help.

But Kyungsoo is visiting family. His cousin is getting married, and he’s part of the wedding procession, standing as a groomsman. Jongin can’t interfere with something like this.

Chanyeol likes animals. He’s also allergic to most of them. Bats carry rabies, too; Chanyeol has a thing about one day contracting rabies and having to be shot in his backyard.

Wonsik or Munggyu would be sympathetic, at least. Jongin can’t remember their phone numbers. He really needs to save people’s numbers at some point. Soojung’s threatened to take his phone away and update his contacts. He should just let her. Whatever names she and Amber would come up with would be better than not having anyone at all.

The further into a panicked spiral he goes, the more frantic the bat tries to crawl away until it finally manages to get its wings free and barrel roll down Jongin's legs. It doesn't seem like it hurts, but it shakes its head as though dizzy.

And then Yifan is kneeling at his feet, sporting a black eye and trying to catch Jongin's welling tears with his sleeve.

“I'm okay, Jongin. I'm fine.”

“Yifan...” Just the sudden appearance of his boyfriend, the stress of worrying about the bat, the guilt over yelling at his kids, everything just liquefies and pours down Jongin's cheeks. He's not usually a crier and tries to hide his face, but Yifan pulls his arms down and hugs him, standing on his knees between Jongin's legs.

“I'm sorry. It's okay.” There isn't a huge difference between their statures and builds, but Yifan always makes Jongin feel substantially smaller. It could just be how firm his hugs are, enveloping Jongin fully.

Finally, he gets a handle on his tears and pulls out of Yifan's embrace enough to wipe his face with the hem of his shirt. His eyes are still pink and swollen, and his lashes are dark and clumped together from the tears, but Yifan's whipped enough to think he still looks gorgeous.

Jongin sniffs and almost touches Yifan's cheek, but he avoids the bruised flesh and stands up. “You need ice,” he mumbles. His face feels sticky from tears, and he knows Yifan doesn't care, but he cares. He hates crying, especially in front of anyone. His dogs wag their tails when he passes, and he pauses long enough to ruffle their ears and apologize for yelling. Monggu tilts his head, always the most perceptive to tears.

He wets a paper towel and scrubs his face, then wraps an ice pack in a kitchen towel.

Yifan's still kneeling on the floor, looking kind of dumbstruck more than lovestruck with the shiner.

Jongin sits again, and Yifan shifts onto his with his back against the sofa, between Jongin's knees. He flinches when the ice pack first touches his face, but the coolness soon soothes the pain. He heals faster than the average person, but he also should have some kind of concealer to hide the worst of it in the meantime.

The poodles shift and sigh noisily, still unsure about approaching their dad. Yifan relaxes against Jongin, enjoying the sympathy and pampering as his boyfriend combs his fingers through Yifan's hair.

“So you're a bat,” Jongin states, not knowing how else to put it.

“Uh...Sometimes...”

“Since when? Why—I mean, how...?” It defies all logic in Jongin's mind, but he personally witnessed it.

“Hey,” Yifan takes the hand scratching his scalp, “I know it’s weird and a lot to take in, but it’s a part of me, okay?” He kisses Jongin's palm and says, “It's just part of being a vampire.”

There's a noticeable tenseness between them that relaxes just as soon as it came, and Jongin leans over Yifan. He tilts his head back and catches a kiss on his upper lip.

“That explains a lot, I guess. Your weird sun allergy and reaction to garlic.” Yifan's said more than once that he shouldn't have garlic but loves it too much to avoid it. Like someone lactose intolerant still indulging in ice cream. He always regrets it a bit later, but he never learns. “I'm just surprised.” Jongin checks the placement of the ice, adjusting a bit to cover more of Yifan's cheek. “What even happened, though? Was it you I heard outside?”

Yifan smiles like he really wishes he hadn’t been asked anything. He's impressed that Jongin's taken his confession so well, but he'd rather talk about the peculiarities of his biology than what happened that night. It's embarrassing, and he tries to avoid the subject. “It doesn't matter. It was nothing.”

“Yifan, nearly half your face is bruised. Was it Monggu?” he asks quietly, an apology ready on his tongue.

“No! No, it wasn't your dogs at all. They were actually pretty gentle, considering, although you need to brush their teeth more or something, because their breath is rank.” He sighs and tries to think of the most graceful wording to explain. “Uh… You know how you yell at me when I stare at you for too long, even though I can't help but be dazzled by you?” Jongin rolls his eyes but nods with a pout, although he's actually pleased. “Well, it was like that. I was running late, so I figured why bother walking or busing it or whatever when I could just fly? So I'm flying at, like, top speed—supersonic—and I get here, but I can see you through the window, and you're in your zone. You're focused and in your element and just powerful and gorgeous, and...” he breathes a laugh, “I forgot to slow down...”

Piecing together the story, Jongin scoffs. “So you flew face-first into my window because you were distracted.”

“Dazzled,” Yifan corrects. He shakes a finger behind him. “I blame you fully. If you weren't such a handsome, talented, and driven man, my mind wouldn't go fuzzy so often.”

Jongin's smiling that you're an idiot, but I'm in love with you smile, but it gets a little sad when he shifts his grip on the ice. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't worry about this. I'll heal in a day or two, and it takes more than this to slow me down.”

“I'd feel better if you saw a doctor...”

“What are they going to do? Tell me to ice it, offer some over-the-counter painkillers and that's that.” He knows Jongin's worried, and it's something he's always liked about humans, their delicacy and resiliency. “If I can find someone to chaperon me to the university clinic, I guess it couldn't hurt to get checked out.”

“You expecting to get lost?” Jongin asks, kicking up a leg to pivot off the couch without making Yifan move. He at least needs a sweatshirt to look passably presentable in public.

“Well, I may be a creature of the night, but that doesn't mean I'm not afraid of the dark.” Yifan drops the ice on the sofa; his face feels numb. “Tonight was a little traumatizing, I'll admit—I was nearly eaten once, you know. This huge, curly-haired beast with massive fangs...” He mimes something ferocious.

“She's a toy poodle.”

“She’s much bigger when I’m that small, okay? Maybe I misinterpreted her intentions, and she meant business!”

“Which is strange, since she’s never gone after anything before.” Jongin pulls a sweater over his head, shaking his hair so it's out of his eyes. “I think she’s always been jealous, to be honest. I was hers, first, you know. You’re muscling in on claimed territory.”

Yifan eyes the dogs warily, showing his teeth a little when one looks interested in approaching him. He likes animals; he’s thought of adopting his own dog, although he isn’t sure if it’s out of want for his own little companion or a way to appeal to Jongin more. His boyfriend is very taken with cute things, dogs in particular. He goes to great lengths to greet every dog he sees and values himself based on their liking him or not.

It’d be so much easier if he’d just see himself as the all-around gorgeous man he obviously is, but Jongin’s kind of short-sighted when it comes to himself.

Short-sighted in general, too. He’s apparently taken out his contacts for the night and is muttering to himself while trying to clean the lenses of his glasses with his sleeve. Yifan can feel the stupid smile on his face again but can’t do a thing to stop it. Jongin’s just so cute with glasses. Plus, he’s shy wearing them. It’s adorable.

“So I was thinking that we could get dinner after fixing my face,” Yifan remarks. The dancer tells his dogs to behave, blows them all kisses, and locks the door behind him.

“It’s late. You haven’t eaten?” Jongin finally made it through the leftover chicken he'd bought earlier that week. A coupon had come in the mail for a supposedly family-sized meal. He's proud of himself for not eating it all at once.

“I have, so fine.” Yifan pulls the hood of his sweatshirt up and holds his arm out for Jongin walk at his side. “You wanna get dessert after fixing my face?”

“What are you in the mood for?” Jongin looks at him in the lamplight and walks on his toes a little to kiss Yifan’s non-bruised cheek. “Something sweet?” he purrs.

Yifan squeezes his waist. “Don’t do that. It may be dark, but we are still in public, and I can’t have anything spoiling my clean record, even you.”

Jongin laughs and smacks Yifan’s chest with the back of his hand.

a/n: Written for FayeValentine for the Kaifectionery exchange. (prompt no.3: college!au, Jongin finds out his boyfriend is a vampire when he accidentally turns into a bat and almost gets eaten by monggu. Jongin loves him anyway)

This was originally going to be from Yifan's perspective, and there was more about his own suspicions about Jongin being a werewolf, but it just wasn't flowing well, so it was canned. I do think it'd be a fun AU to add more supernatural creatures in, though. Just because.