A/N: 
Guys! Guess who had enough funds to commission a little something for this? :D
Click for NamJin Cuteness
I'll link this in the chapter it corresponds to, but please give some love to the artist Proova @/minipoo_ on Twitter and all of their amazing talent!!

Oh and quick quick note before you delve in; I tried to research whether or not Vietnam and South Korea traded in the 1600's but couldn't find any concrete source that said they did, so for this AU we're gonna presume that they did not.

Please Enjoy!~

Over the next couple of days Seokjin found himself in an odd state of melancholy. Not only had he nearly gone feral in a heavily populated place, but he had also managed to lose his entire Mario collection within the span of an hour.

Jin had wanted to return to the arcade to retrieve his toys and collectibles, but Taehyung said that they needed to get Jin away from everyone. Once they got home Jin asked Tae if he could go back for him, but his brother said he had some errands to take care of so he was unable to go until later in the week. So Jin had to resign himself to losing his things while dwelling on the fact that he had been so close to falling back onto his ravenous state.

Seokjin had sulked like a child for a few hours until he finally descended the steps of the mansion and searched for Youngbae.

In all of his time back, Jin hadn't gone to the kitchen for anything other than getting his daily rations of blood, but that would soon change.

Tracking down the coven member had been easy enough, but learning how to use the new cooking utensils had proved to be a different matter. But Jin was a quick learner and in less than a day he was left alone to vent his thoughts within the large kitchen.

Over the course of the following day Seokjin spent his time in the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a light blue apron around his waist and plastic gloves on his hands. The television in the kitchen—Seokjin had long since learned that there was at least one television in every room, except the dining room—was on and a woman in it was guiding him through a recipe.

Even before he had become a vampire, Seokjin had loved to cook and in hard times cooking had served as a calming mechanism for him. Cooking was something that had always soothed him, and having an edible reward by the end of it was always a good perk. Seokjin loved to eat regardless of whether he made the food or not. At times, he wondered if it had been an ironic twist of fate that he had ended up as a glutton in his vampire life.

"Jin-ah?" a soft voice called out to Seokjin, and pulling his gaze away from the woman instructing him on making beef broth for Pho.

"I was wondering where you were," Hyorin explained, smiling gently. "Bae said that I could find you here?"

Seokjin lowered the volume on the television, "I'm sorry I didn't know you were looking for me. Is everything okay?"

"That was what I was going to ask you, actually." she confessed, taking a seat in one of the tall stools around the kitchen island. "Are you okay?"

Seokjin shot her a puzzled look, "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

Instead of answering, Hyorin asked a question of her own. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Day before yesterday." Seokjin answered proceeding to the next step in his recipe.

Hyorin frowned and crossed her arms, "That's not what I meant, I'm asking when was the last time you slept for more than an hour, Seokjinnie."

"Three months ago, for about four centuries." Seokjin replied flatly and winced when he noticed the bitterness in his words. "Sorry noona, I shouldn't have said that. I know you're all worried, Tae has popped in a few times during the day in between his duties; Chaeyoung, Jennie, and Seunghyun hyung have stopped by too. Even Yoongi peeked in at some point last night."

The other vampire hummed. "And you didn't want to tell any of them what's bothering you?"

"Nothing is bothering me." Seokjin said a little too quickly as he checked on his simmering broth and went back to cutting vegetables for a different dish. "I'm perfectly fine."

Hyorin didn't look the least bit convinced, but her smile was kind. "I remember when I was young and still human, my mother would use cooking as a coping mechanism too. Whenever something was bothering her she would go straight into the kitchen and just cook and cook until we ran out of nearly everything. We had to give the rest of our village our leftovers otherwise the food would go bad. There's no shame in being usept Jin-ah."

Seokjin didn't reply and Hyroin sighed. "If you want to talk, we're here. What are you making by the way?"

"It's a type of soup from a place called Vietnam, I believe it's called Pho? The lady on the television says that this recipe is to die for; I don't think she should be showing this to humans, but I think we'll be alright."

Hyorin giggled. "Don't worry that's just a verbal expression no one is at risk of dying, not even the humans."

He gaped in wonder and they lapsed into silence for a few minutes as Seokjin moved to check in on how his broth was doing, trying to keep up with the woman on the show.

After turning away from the stove again, Jin asked, "Does everyone do that?"

"Use the expression?" Hyorin sounded perplexed, but decided to humor Seokjin for a moment. "Not everyone no, but it's become slightly common around the humans to make jokes around it. You should see how often it gets used around the month of October."

"No, not the saying." Seokjin sighed. "Does everyone blend in now, or at least try to blend in with the humans."

Hyorin's expression of puzzlement became a little more understanding, "It wasn't like that for you, was it?"

Seokjin shook his head. "No… no it wasn't. Back then we were a smaller Coven. Hyungs, the others, Tae, and I were secluded. We lived near humans but not amongst them. We traded labor for what we needed in terms of food and clothing and built our own shelter. But we stayed away from humans. Now, though, I see that the opposite is happening, we're no longer living in the outskirts of some village and holed up in some temple. We're right in the middle of their society, we're pretending to be like them, working and studying alongside them."

Hyorin didn't reply immediately, she simply sat there listening to Seokjin attentively, waiting for him to finish before quietly asking. "And is this a bad thing?"

Seokjin shook his head again "Of course not. It's genius if you think about it. What better way to lead others away from what you really are than to pretend to be one of them? I think it was a tactic that should have been used long ago."

Sensing his hesitation, she gently prodded, "But?"

Seokjin pulled a few spices from the rack that the recipe called for. "I've been thinking about it for a while, after I went out with Taehyung the other day. And I came to realize that vampires have been doing this for years and that it's not a new concept. You just confirmed my suspicions when you asked if it wasn't like that for us. Back then, this Coven couldn't do that because they had a glutton in their ranks. Other groups probably blended in seamlessly with humans and lived as they pleased without fear of being discovered. But for this coven… we couldn't because I was a risk. I never thought that we were different, not really. Covens didn't communicate and come together often, so I didn't know just how different our family was to other Covens. On some level though, I knew that I wasn't a normal vampire and that I was different from my hyungs and noonas, and from Tae.

"But no one ever talked about it, about what I was. I was never treated any different inside the Coven, but ignorance isn't unavoidable. After we moved to a new area a few years before I was placed to sleep I saw the differences. We lived so far away from the other covens, Jiyong said they lived closer to the city, but now I think they lived in the city. And in time I heard what other vampires said, that my coven should have left me, killed me even out of mercy, that I would seal their fates and get them killed. Jiyong hyung didn't have to seclude us. But he did and the coven was alienated because of it. But while I was asleep, they were free to insert themselves back into the human world again. They built a large home and ties to other vampires, the Coven thrived. Taehyung thrived. He has human friends. He has a life, and he left it because I came back."

"Are you regretting being reawoken?" Hyorin asked softly.

Seokjin flinched, saying nothing for a long moment before finally admitting. "As selfish as it is, I'm not regretting being back. I'm happy to be awake again. To be here and away from there. Being put under is… I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But, I guess that I am upset that I didn't get to experience all of the changes with TaeTae. He grew up while I was away, as the older brother I should have been there to see him take life into his own hands. It's a silly notion, I know, to mourn the loss of time being a vampire and all, but I can't help it."

"It's not silly and it's really not selfish of you to be happy being awake again." Hyorin smiled, plucking a strawberry that Seokjin had cut meticulously earlier that day for a pie. "It's understandable. I don't have any direct siblings of my own, but I can imagine I'd feel pretty left out too if I missed out on big events that happened to my Coven siblings. We keep in touch and meet up a few times out of the year. Are you going to talk to Taehyung about this?"

Seokjin shrugged stashing his spices for later use in the recipe and finally deeming the broth done. "Eventually, I just need to figure out how to word it without sounding like a petulant child."

Hyorin smiled, "You'll figure it out in time."

After that, the two lapsed into much lighter topics, and Seokjin finished his recipe, getting his first taste of Pho and agreeing that it was really good. Though he wasn't sure if he would call it to die for. Jin poured Hyorin a bowl just as a bell chimed throughout the mansion.

Seokjin ignored it, since noises weren't uncommon within a household of thirteen. But after a few seconds it rang out again.

"Should I?" Seokjin asked, unsure if he was allowed near the door without any of his escorts around.

"Should be fine, delivery people hardly ever stay long. And you just drank some blood earlier right?" She reasoned and Seokjin had no room for argument.

"Okay then… thank you for the talk noona."

"Not a problem kiddo, I hope it helped in clearing your thoughts a bit." Hyorin smiled and served a second bowl, "Youngbae has a horrible habit of forgetting to eat on time, thank you for the food, Seokjinnie."

Down the hall and after a series of turns, Seokjin arrived at the door and opened it as he had seen Taehyung do so many times before when he accepted deliveries.

When Seokjin opened the door he was met with the sight of not one late night delivery person but three of them instead. Though Jin was able to recognize two of them as Taehyung's friends after a moment.

"Remind me why we never visited Tae's place again?" the human Seokjin remembered as Hoseok said, craning his neck up as far as he physically could—as if the angle would give him a better view of the three story building.

Namjoon was quick to elbow his friend and shoot Seokjin a timid smile, "Ignore him. Ah, you're probably wondering why we're here right?"

Perplexed, Seokjin ventured. "Yes?"

"Right, so—"

"Oh is this him? You were right hyung he really is hands—", whatever it was the youngest boy was about to say was immediately cut off by a flustered looking Namjoon who covered his mouth, the cargo that he had been carrying now dropped on the floor.

"I heard the doorbell, who's at the door?" a sleepy voice asked from behind Seokjin.

Seokjin opened his mouth to say humans but managed to stop himself from doing so and instead moved aside to let the shorter vampire get a better view of their visitors. "They're Taehyungie's… friends?"

"This early in the day?" Yoongi grumbled no longer wiping at his eyes and finally getting a good look at the small group.

"Dude, the sun just went down literally a few minutes ago." Hobi pointed out, ever present grin never faltering.

"Yeah, well, I'm nocturnal." Yoongi deadpanned causing Seokjin to stare at the youngest vampire with wide eyes.

How could he be so reckless as to oust not just himself but all of them like that? Were the rules of vampirism not explained to him?! Just as panic began to rise within Seokjin, the bright sound of laughter was quick to advert his attention to Hoseok.

"Oh man, I feel that. Last term I had a class at 9, went straight into midnight so I had like three hours of sleep between that, my afternoon class and my job it was awful."

Seokjin watched in open mouthed amazement, he almost couldn't believe it. Not only was Yoongi engaging in casual conversation with Hoseok—a human. But Hobi was actually taking Yoongi's blatant admission to the truth as nothing more than a joke.

"I'm sorry did we wake you?" Namjoon's question snapped Seokjin away from the strange development between Hoseok and Yoongi.

Again, Seokjin had to stop himself from saying, I don't sleep.

"We weren't asleep no, it's still pretty early for most of us." Seokjin answered, though made no move to either open the door wider or close it. Logically he knew that common hospitality—no matter what day and age he was from—dictated that he had to be courteous and invite their guests in. But he also didn't know what the house rules were on human guests, especially now that he was awake again.

As he was contemplating this Yoongi seemed to pick up on his inner conflict and stepped closer to the door, guiding Seokjin to the side. "So, you guys here for Tae?"

Seokjin watched with a thinly veiled mixture of dread and astonishment as the trio replied with nods and were allowed into the house. Was this a normal occurrence? Or were these humans being led to their slaughter? Surely they weren't if Taehyung cared about them, right? At least Taehyung did seem to care about them from what Seokjin had seen back at the arcade.

"Yoon-ah" Seokjin hissed, flicking his eyes from the humans—who were toeing off their shoes and gawking at every corner of the house they could see—and down to his fellow vampire. "This can't be safe."

"If they tell Tae we turned them away it might make him upset if he asked them to come. It's around 9, your last meal was about forty minutes ago give or take right?" when Seokjin nodded, Yoongi continued. "Then we're good, if you feel overwhelmed we can take them to another part of the house, kay?"

Yoongi's words were logical, and that should have been enough to calm Seokjin, but worry continued to gnaw at him as the scent of human became more and more distinct from the other smells that had wafted in from outside. Seokjin swallowed harshly as he contemplated excusing himself and retreating to somewhere else in the house.

"Kookie?" Taehyung's voice cut through the mess in Seokjin's mind as if on cue and brought his attention to Tae's smiling face as he rushed at his three friends. "Hyungs you're here too! That's so cool! But, how did you find the house?"

"House? We thought you were really well off TaeTae, but," the boy whistled lowly, "this is something else. This place sits on top of what, like 20 acres?"

"Roughly thirty-six, actually." Taehyung supplied from where he was draped over the shoulder of the boy Seokjin guessed was 'Kookie'.

"Pfft, yeah our bad." Hoseok snorted good naturedly.

"We found your address on that time off request you filled out for university." Kookie spoke up again. "We tried calling you, but when that didn't work we looked through your room for a bit and found this address."

Taehyung grimaced, "Sorry I didn't pick up I don't think I've had a chance to charge my phone since Tuesday… been busy with a couple of things. Sorry for making you guys worry, but hey, how'd you get past the gate?"

"Your cousin let us in." Namjoon finally spoke up, fiddling with the drawstring of his hoodie. "He asked us how we knew you and after explaining why we were here he just let us in, I think he said he was Jiyong-sshi?"

If Seokjin was confused before his mental state was beyond hopelessly lost with the new revelation. He didn't mind the familial tie Jiyong had chosen, and he wouldn't be surprised if he found out the entire Coven was given the same sort of roles for when humans visited. But, why was Jiyong inviting humans into their house?

"That's nice of him, I'll have to thank him later for letting you guys in. Were you that worried about me that you wanted to check in on me, Kookie?" Taehyung teased pinching the cheek of the youngest member amongst them.

"We all missed you, Taehyung-ah." Namjoon intercepted, with Hoseok chiming in, "We've missed you lots!"

"But we also wanted to drop these off for you. When the guys and I were cleaning out the lockers on Wednesday night, we noticed that there was one still locked up. So we used the log and traced the signature back to you. But I mean it made sense since you got out of the arcade in a rush on Tuesday. How are you by the way, Seokjin-sshi?"

"I'm fine." Seokjin said, eyeing the bags at the human's feet with renewed interest. His previous caution and skepticism was quickly replaced leaving a giddy feeling of elation in its wake. The most obvious being the much anticipated and hopeful reunion of his Mario collection; and the other, he wasn't quite sure how to describe it but it made Seokjin smile warmly at the human named Namjoon.

"Oh hey! Are we having some sort of party or something?" A new voice rang out from the top of the stairs as Jimin came sliding down the handle rail. The young vampire's eyes widened with unbridled curiosity, "TaeTae are these your hu—niversity friends?"

If Taehyung was alarmed that Jimin had almost used the word human in front of the very non-vampire group, he didn't show it. Instead he nodded to the question happily.

"Yeah, they're the guys I told you about. I was rooming with them while I was attending University." Taehyung said without missing a single beat and then addressing the group around them to make a round of introductions.

"Jiminie, this is Jung Hoseok, he's a dance major at the university. He's super talented and he's even choreographed a few dances for a few dance groups around the city, and might get a studio soon; oh and Yoongi hyung, get this, Hobi hyung also has a presence underground just like you. And over there is our house leader, Kim Namjoon, he's studying music production and composition, he's also really talented and writes his own things on the side. He's actually been at Uni far longer than we have cuz he's a genius. He'll be done within the next two years. And this right here is Jeon Jungkook, Kookie is majoring in computer game animation, but he likes to try alot of things out like dance, music, and sports so he isn't sure on what he wants to minor in." he explained, pointing to each person as he introduced them but never loosening his hold on Kookie.

"Namjoon and Hoseok hyung you guys met Jinnie hyung a few days ago but you didn't, Kookie. Seokjin hyung is my older brother who was down in Antarctica for a while but back home now. And I guess you guys just met Min Yoongi, he's our cousin on Jiyong hyung's father's side of the family, once removed. So no direct relationship to Jin and me. He's taking some time off of school and doing some mixing instead. And I saved the best introduction for last: Park Jimin. I know for sure I've mentioned him to you guys before. I've never had the chance to bring Jiminnie around the apartment but has been my best friend since his diaper years, so we go, like, way back. And all of you know me so we all know each other now."

There were a few beats of silence as they all committed a name to a face and a chorus of "nice to meet you"s and variations of "you too" sparked up before simmering back down.

"Well now that you're here!" Taehyung announced not long afterwards. "I always wanted to show you my room, c'mon Jungkookie." Tae didn't even bother getting a response from the young human as he started to tug him up the stairs with Jimin in tow.

The remaining four looked after them and Yoongi cleared his throat, "So Taehyung mentioned you had a presence in the underground? What do you go by?"

Hoseok lit up like a lamp. "Oh yeah. I've been in the game for a while now, I used to be in a dance group called Neuron before we had to go our separate ways. And every now and then I join dance tourneys but I've been getting more into the rap scene with Namjoon's help; so if you ever hear the name J-Hope, you know who to cheer for."

Seokjin watched with barefaced curiosity as Yoongi's sleep seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye and a normally dormant light brightened up not only his eyes but his entire face as he openly gawked at Hoseok. "J-Hope? As in the guy behind Hope World? I can't believe Tae's known you all this time and never mentioned it, some underground presence he said. You're a genius, you broke records with your last mixtape"

Hoseok flashed Yoongi a bashful smile, and bowed his head. "Thank you, I am really proud of how Hope World came out. Do you dance too?"

To Jin's growing astonishment, Yoongi flushed with the barest hint of color. "I'm not a dancer. I can be passable at most, but definitely not winning any awards as one. I rap, I started back in middle school as Gloss, then Suga for a while and recently I released some things as Agust D on Soundcloud…" Seokjin stopped listening as he noticed that the two began to head towards the stairs either to follow after Taehyung and the others or to go elsewhere.

Namjoon whistled lowly turning to Jin and whispering. "You aren't going to turn around and tell me that you're actually G-Dragon, are you?"

"I don't think so. I've been told I look more like an alpaca than a dragon." Seokjin whispered back unsure of why they were speaking in hushed tones but going along with it.

Namjoon smiled. "That's fair. So um, what do you think we should do with these?"

"Oh!" Seokjin had to stop himself from snatching the bags from the floor and speeding to his room; that was not proper etiquette in any era and so Jin bowed deeply to Namjoon several times. "Yes, thank you very much for taking great care of those. And for bringing them all the way out here."

"Seokjin-sshi it's okay, you don't need to thank me." Namjoon hurried out, placing a hand on Seokjin's shoulder and preventing him from bowing again. "I was happy to get them home, honest. Do you need help getting them up the stairs? The bags are pretty heavy and my two elves ran away before I could stop them."

"Elves?" Seokjin asked, brow furrowed as he looked up and held Namjoon's eyes as if he would find the answer to his question there. Seokjin knew he had heard the term before, but couldn't quite place it at the moment.

Without warning Namjoon stepped away from Seokjin, his ears burning a bright pink and suddenly looking anywhere but at Seokjin as the vampire picked up on the very audle thumping of his heart. "You know, like Santa's elves?"

"Oh yes!" Jin grinned, glad for the distraction against the human that was so very close to him. There were new festivities and holidays introduced to the world since his leave and one of them involved a portly man named Santa that had mystical elves and deer made of rain to help him deliver presents to children on a certain day of the year. "Of course, I'm sorry. But it's alright we don't have to trouble the kids, I'll take three of the bags and you can take the other."

"I can't take one while you take three." Namjoon was quick to protest. "They're pretty heavy, there's like half the Mario store in here. So I'll take two and you take the other two, deal?"

"That's not true," Seokjin gaped at the ludicrous idea, "I was only able to fit about two fifths of the store in these bags. I was told that any more and the card would max out."

Namjoon tilted his head and chuckled, "Sorry, it was a bad guess, but would you mind leading the way and I follow?" He hefted two of the bags into his hands and looked to Seokjin expectantly.

Seokjin eyed the human and the bags. He bit his lip as he considered the situation. His brother had been too elated in his visit that he had left Namjoon with Seokjin. And Yoongi, possibly eager to be away from Jin had managed to take Hoseok with him as well; leaving Jin with Namjoon.

One human was better than three surrounding him, and with the many smells of his earlier cooking, it was tolerable to be around the scent of human, but that didn't mean that it wasn't there. Jin worried that he wouldn't be able to hold himself back, that he might repeat a mistake.

He wanted to protest Namjoon's help, or simply just turn in a different direction and hide… even if it meant losing his things in the process. Material toys weren't worth the life of the kind human. Objection to Namjoon's presence was on the tip of Seokjin's tongue, but he couldn't really voice it. There was just something in how earnestly Namjoon wanted to help Seokjin that made the vampire want to encourage him so long as he wasn't in danger of being hurt.

Perhaps it was a mistake, and Jin so desperately wished that he made the obvious and safe decision, but he was weak to the expectant look he was receiving and gave in to the human's whim.

He promised that if he got even a little hungry he would turn right back around and seek Seunghyun. So, he got the remaining two bags and off they went, up the stairs and down a few corridors that Seokjin knew would lead them to his room. It was one of the three paths that Seokjin had memorized with success after trial and error. His room, the kitchen, and the main sitting room where he would watch his shows.

When they finally reached the door to Seokjin's room, he paused and glanced over his shoulder. "I, um, it's a mess in there."

Namjoon laughed good naturedly and shrugged a shoulder without a care. "Seokjin-sshi, you're talking to a university student. My room hasn't seen a clean day since before I moved into the apartment."

Seokjin's eyebrows knitted at that, he had no choice but to take Namjoon's word for it, even if he itched to find out just how messy the fabled room was.

"Okay." Seokjin said simply and opened his door, stepping in and around the wires on the floor and the occasional article of clothing as he walked towards his wardrobe.

"Woah." Namjoon breathed behind him.

"Your room is… amazing!" Seokjin heard Namjoon place the bags down on the floor and then the tell tale sound of light footsteps muffled by the socks that the human wore. "I love it. It's simple but it's also, not? Were you going for an old Hanok feel? Cuz I think you really got it down, like I know a sarangbang was traditionally used for studying, writing, and things, but I think you were able to make it work as a bedroom. Are your walls lined with authentic hanji? Like actual mulberry tree hanji?" he asked taking a closer look at Seokjin's walls and hummed appreciatively before wondering over to Seokjin's bed. "And wait, it actually feels like you have an ondol under the floorboards? How is that possible on the second floor of a building?"

Seokjin hovered a few meters away from Namjoon, unsure of what he should say. From what he had been able to gather in his talks with Jimin, Yoongi, and some of the younger vampires of the current millenia; his room was out of the norm in modern society. He was told that there were few places that were as well preserved as Seokjin's room after times had changed and architecture began to adjust with it. To them, and others of the current time period, Seokjin's room looked like something straight out of a historical drama or a history book.

When Seokjin had let Namjoon into his bedroom he had forgotten that his room wouldn't be something a normal everyday person would expect it to be. But seeing how openly Namjoon admired Seokjin's space, it warmed the vampires heart.

Namjoon was quickly becoming Seokjin's favorite of Taehyung's friends.

"It keeps my feet warm." Seokjin said after a while. To that day he didn't understand how Jiyong had managed to get the heat to stay trapped underneath the hardwood floor of Seokjin's room. But he appreciated that his leader had gone above and beyond to make Seokjin feel as if he really was in his old room in the Joseon Dynasty. "I don't know how it was so accurately executed, but it adds a touch of authenticity."

"I'll say." Namjoon's dimples deepened along with his smile. "My feet are already getting used to the warmth. I better get out of here before you have to force me out." he chuckled picking his way through the mess of Seokjin's floor to reach the hallway again much to Seokjin's relief. The scent of human wouldn't linger too long inside his room, and being out in the open of the house it would greatly help him from being overwhelmed.

"So ah…I guess…" Namjoon's smile turned bashful as he looked to Seokjin, tips of his ears dusted pink once again.

"Do you like food?" Seokjin blurted out before he could overthink his words and stop himself.

At Namjoon's wide eyed stare, Seokjin quickly added. "Sorry that sounds weird, what I mean to say is… I made alot of food earlier and well, there's only so many of us here. And not everyone here has a large appetite. So, can I give you some food as a thank you?"

Seokjin wasn't sure but he thought he saw Namjoon's dimples deepen again with a wider smile. "I told you already, you don't have to thank me Seokjin-sshi. But I'd be happy to help you with the food."

After making their way back downstairs and into the kitchen, Seokjin began to pull out the many dishes out of the refrigerator that wasn't locked and contained the blood baggies. "Is there anything you don't like, or can't eat, Namjoon-ah?"

"I can eat most things. But seafood is definitely on my no list, I was allergic to it when I was little so I didn't get a taste for it, besides I can't imagine myself ever being able to eat a crab." Namjoon said as he sat himself in the very same high stool chair Hyorin had used earlier that day.

"Why crabs specifically?" Seokjin couldn't help but ask as he eyed a cheesecake he had stored in the fridge earlier that morning.

"They're cute." Namjoon stated simply.

"They're cute?" Seokjin repeated skeptically as he placed two bowls of pho broth into the microwave—the future was very convenient in Seokjin's opinion; it was rather liberating knowing that he could cool or heat foods at will—and fiddling with the buttons. He had seen crabs before, of course, he had even boiled and killed too many of them to count, but to think of them as cute, Seokjin didn't know about that.

"Of course they are! Look at them, how can you think they aren't cute?" Namjoon was adamant on showing Seokjin the error of his ways it seemed as he pulled out a cellular phone from his pants pocket.

"Look at this little face and tell me he isn't cute." Namjoon insisted, sliding his phone over to Seokjin.

Jin took the small device and studied the picture until the screen went black taking the crab with it and reflecting Jin's surprised face to him. He hadn't broken the phone had he?

An apology was on Seokjin's lips the moment his head snapped up to look at Namjoon, he hadn't meant to kill the device. However, before he could get a single word out, Namjoon's hand was hovering over his own as he reached out and poked the screen. "Dude, you can just tap on the screen from keeping it from sleeping, there's also more pictures in there, you can look through them if you'd like."

Seokjin visibly relaxed, nodding along to Namjoon's words as if he actually understood what the other was saying. Relying solely on his experience of watching other people with their cellphones, Seokjin swiped his finger slowly across the screen. To his astonishment, the image of the porcelain white crab was swept away and a new one took its place. This crab was one with a small shell carried on its back. The next one was a crab with really long pincers. Then a crab with long eyes. A crab that nearly blended into the sand under it.

Jin kept scrolling until he came up to an image of a small crab peeking out of a pearly pink shell resting on the palm of someone's hand. "I like this one."

Namjoon smiled fondly, "I caught that one a last summer when we went down to Busan with Jungkook." He then eased his phone out of Seokjin's hands, "Told you they were cute."

"I suppose they can be cute and delicious, like cows and lambs." As if on cue, the microwave beeped behind Seokjin, alerting him that it was done with its task. He pulled the soup out and distributed the noodles into each bowl.

Over the next few minutes, Seokjin pulled dish after dish, reheating what needed to be warm and leaving others as they were.

"You really weren't kidding when you said that you made a lot of food. This is the biggest feast I've ever seen." Namjoon marveled when Seokjin set the final piece down, the cheesecake he had made before his visit from Hyorin.

"Namjoon-ah, if there is one thing I do not joke about it's food." Seokjin declared with the lightest bit of indignation in his tone, but he was unable to keep up the charade when his lips formed a smile.

"That's a lie. Do you know what they call a fake noodle?" Seokjin asked as he pulled a noodle from his bowl of pho.

"A fake noodle?" it seemed it was Namjoon's turn to question with equal parts confusion and curiosity. "Is it a non-noodle? No-dle?"

Seokjin shook his head to both of Namjoon's guesses, his laugh coming out in chuckles until he revealed the answer.

"An impasta!" Seokjin announced and fell into a fit of laughter.

A second later the kitchen was filled with not only Seokjin's laugh but also Namjoon's and whatever lingering awkwardness that had settled between the two was dispelled.

Namjoon finally took his spoon into his hand and began to sample the pho. Seokjin watched in fascinated silence, neglecting his own bowl. Namjoon brought the spoon to his mouth and savored the first dish. It was subtle, but Seokjin saw his eyes widen a small fraction before his eyebrows knitted pensively and a second taste was had. And pretty soon a third, each new taste easing away the lines of Namjoon's face until he was staring at Seokjin with astonishment.

"This tastes really good Seokjin-sshi." Namjoon praised and tasted the rice and then the nabak kimchi, and the Jangguk mandu.

"I'm very glad you like it." It was always satisfying for Seokjin to see the reactions of others towards his food, it was the best part of his job, in his opinion. But for some reason that Seokjin couldn't begin to understand much less explain, he was starting to value Namjoon's opinions and inputs above the ones he had already received. With each new compliment to his food, Seokjin beamed with pride and became more and more convinced that Namjoon was the best of Taehyung's friends. And the coil of dread and anxiety that had taken residence in his chest eased some, he was still hyper aware of how human the other boy was, but he was less on edge about being alone with him.

"I mean it though," Namjoon brought Seokjin back to the kitchen, "how did you get them to taste like this? I'm not a professional taste tester or anything even resembling a foodie, but I'm pretty sure that you can outcook some of those five star restaurants. There's just something… very authentic to the food. Even the other dishes, I don't think I've ever had better Vietnamese food." Namjoon confessed taking another spoonful of pho.

Seokjin preened with pride at the compliment. "I'm glad you think so, it's my first time making it. Though really I just followed the instructions of the lady on the television."

"I dunno, Seokjin-sshi, I'm convinced that you added some sort of secret ingredient in this. Either that or you're a food wizard."

Seokjin laughed, "I'm nowhere near the level of a wizard, but I appreciate that you think I am. Hey Namjoon-ah?"

Namjoon looked up from his plate, taking another bite of his food and hummed.

"Thank you very much for helping me eat all of this." Seokjin said and decided that Namjoon truly was his favorite of Taehyung's friends.

A/N:
Hello again ^^!~ I had multiple people guess that their visit would be a disaster, which honestly it could have if 1. Jin hadn't fed recently, 2. they were in close quarters, or 3. someone [Joon] cut themselves.
All vampires, even young baby vamp Yoongi, are good at controlling their urges, baby vampires are able to vocalize when they're hungry so it's not like they can go hungry unless there's no blood around. Gluttons are the only exception because they need that constant flow of blood, think of them like blood addicts, they can't help their constant need for blood, so the trope of 'uncontrollable thirst' in this AU stemmed from Glutton vampires.

But, I hope you enjoyed this installment ^^ I will be going back to my bi-weekly updates from here on out unless something comes up. I don't think we're in danger of that though. So see you in the next update!~ Thank you again to all of you that have read, subscribed and especially those of you who have commented; love you!~

Question for this chapter: The gang has officially met! How ready are we for YoonMinSeok? :D