It's unusual for Minseok's boyfriend to be clingy at night.

Minseok is aware of the familiar weight on top of him even as he sleeps and he doesn't question it, except that nowadays nocturnal snuggles aren't really a thing. That's what unsettles him and slowly makes him melt away from the dream he was having and slip back into consciousness. The frail edges of reality and dream are fringed for a second, fuzzy, like static on a TV screen. One thing is for sure: his boyfriend is there in both dimensions. He's just a little realer in this one.

He breathes in deeply, inhaling the scent of Jongdae's shampoo as hair tickles his face. "Jongdae," he whispers sleepily, his hands reaching up to touch Jongdae's bare waist, his arms then circling it to pull him closer.

There's a low hiss and a click, a sound that Minseok knows very well. There's the explanation to the nocturnal clinginess.

He opens one eye.

He has to admit it, there's still a split second during which his mortal creature's instincts of self-preservation warn him about something deadly staring right back at him, hovering over him. The sight of the pair of infernal ruby-red eyes can be really, really disturbing. It's terrifying to the people who are not used to it.

As it should be.

But Minseok has grown impervious to the evil effect of these eyes. On the contrary, he finds them really pretty. Most of the times their owner doesn't realise he's getting thirsty, and Minseok enjoys the way the usual brown of his eyes slowly melts away into a bronze colour with honey flakes that soon turns to copper, then to a deep, rich sunset orange before the scarlet sets in and their owner finally recognises his own thirst. Jongdae hasn't been a vampire for long. He still needs to learn his new body's inputs before the transformation starts and his throat starts to itch.

"Hello, Dae," Minseok whispers in the darkness, unabashedly staring into the flames that swirl around the blown out irises of his boyfriend. He can tell that the other is making his best impression of an evil, frightening creature, subdued growl and eyes squinted because of his ferocious frown.

The legends say that if you stare into a thirsty vampire's eyes for too long, you start hearing the demonic rumble of hell's perpetual devouring fire.

But this is his Jongdae. Minseok is not scared.

Plus the only rumble he hears is the impatient grumbling Jongdae's stomach makes because he's thirsty. Even as a human, the younger's tummy used to be very vocal about its need to be filled.

He knows the other can see perfectly in the dark, so he smiles up at him. He reaches up to lightly kiss the tip of Jongdae's nose. "What's wrong, babe?"

Shell shocked, Jongdae goes silent. His eyes widen, showing the rubies in all their glory before he sighs and collapses on top of him. "I thought I got you this time," he whines softly, hiding his face on Minseok's chest.

The human frees his right arm from the blankets and reaches for the lamp on the nightstand to turn the light on.

Jongdae huffs and turns his face in the opposite direction. "No, stop. I'd rather drown in my shame without any spectators, thank you very much."

Minseok sighs. He turns on the light anyway and starts carding his fingers through Jongdae's jet black hair. The long strands are like silk under his fingertips as he tries to comfort his boyfriend while at the same time looking for the right words.

"I was a tiny bit scared the moment I saw your eyes," he offers in the end.

Jongdae simply grunts.

"Dae, do you need to feed?"

Jongdae doesn't answer.

To say Jongdae is struggling with his condition would be an exaggeration, because he's not. They live in a peaceful world where vampires are common. Entirely accepted? No, probably not. But they have come a long way since the days when the two races had to murder each other for survival, humans to protect themselves, and vampires... because killing humans is what they do to survive. Or rather, what they had always thought they needed to do.

Jongdae hadn't always been a vampire, and if you told him two years ago that he would become one he would have laughed. Accidental turning from feeding doesn't happen anymore. Casual, non-consensual turning is punishable with death, though, and it's been decades since the last case. And voluntary turning is extremely rare and generally frowned upon, with very few exceptions.

Jongdae was one of the exceptions.

He had been diagnosed with lymphoma and despite treatment, soon it had become clear that he wouldn't win the battle. He was not ready to say goodbye to this world, to his family and friends, and especially to Minseok, so he carefully considered all the options laid out in front of him by doctors, acquaintances, strangers on the internet, other patients. He took his time (he didn't have much time left, but he used it judiciously) and when put in front of the most extreme decision, he opted for the only solution that would grant him more time. Minseok had been skeptical, but it was not his decision to make. And if in the end it was going to avoid the death of the love of his life, he was definitely not going to get in the way.

Their mutual friend Junmyeon, a vampire half a millennium old that they met in college (while he was getting his twentieth degree or something), offered his help when they asked him about it. First, by answering their questions as impartially as possible. Then, by volunteering once the decision had been made.

It hadn't been easy, to choose between death and immortality. But when it became clear that Jongdae was not going to make it they signed all the papers and underwent all the necessary assessments. Then, in the presence of both human and vampire governments' delegations, Junmyeon had gently bitten Jongdae on his wrist and then let his own blood trickle in Jongdae's mouth.

One year later, Jongdae is thriving. He adjusted to his new situation, taking every difficulty in stride. After only six months as a fledgling, Junmyeon severed his bond as his sire to set him free and Jongdae had proven to be a very meek and disciplined vampire on his own, perfectly integrated in society, controlled in his instincts, and human-oriented to say the least.

Jongdae's boss had been open-minded enough to allow him to go back to work after a short time on probation. As part of an editorial staff he mostly works from home, but sometimes he attends meetings at the magazine's headquarters with his colleagues. He regularly goes on errands alone, his friends started to invite him to hang out again. Mistrust and caution were to be expected and Jongdae didn't let them hold him back trusting that everything would go back to normal.

He and Minseok never stopped sharing their apartment. Never an incident, never an issue. They keep loving each other beyond what words can express, just like they had loved each other when they got together in high school, shamelessly head over heels for each other.

Of course there are differences. Jongdae doesn't sleep anymore, his skin is paler and on the cooler side, he forgets to turn the light on when he enters a room at night, he revealed a sudden propensity to wear black items of clothing at all times and at all costs, he freaks out whenever he walks in front of a specific ancient mirror in his grandmother's house, and his diet consists of Minseok's blood only.

And then there's the fact that, despite him ignoring it and hiding it well, he's an infernal beast whose instinct is to prey on people. "People" being Minseok.

"I ," Jongdae mutters after a while. Then he snorts. "Not even literally."

Minseok keeps caressing his head, his fingertips pressing on the younger's scalp. "Why do you say that? Even Junmyeon said you're the best vampire he ever turned. You're so good!"

Jongdae raises his head to look at him, pouting. "That's because he ly, like, two guys in over five centuries. One of them is me and the other one is Sehun and Sehun is a literal gremlin."

Minseok lightly thumbs at his lower lip, not at all surprised when his boyfriend moves to be able to kiss him. The human's tongue feels the tips of Jongdae's fangs. He must be really hungry if he let them out and he's not bothering to put them back.

"I know," Jongdae says in the end, flopping down next to him. "I know I'm good. I'm proud of being a good vampire."

"Then what's wrong?"

Jongdae takes time, caressing Minseok's face. "Vampires should be scary," he explains. One of his fangs catches on his lower lip and it peeks out when he closes his mouth again. He's so cute, Minseok wonders whether he could ever be scared of Jongdae. The answer is obviously no. Especially not now.

But it would be counterproductive to tell him that right now.

"Vampires are scary. The very concept of vampires is terrifying," Minseok comments.

"But you're not scared of me!" Jongdae whines.

"Should I be?"

Jongdae stutters. "N-no- I don't want you to be scared of me!"

Minseok turns to him and circles his waist to pull him closer. He knows where the conversation is going and he hopes he can offer some comfort because as much as it sounds a little stupid to be discussing Jongdae's failed audition as the horror villain he apparently wanted to impersonate, he knows the other can be bothered by the fact that he... well, he stopped cooking actual food for himself a long time ago. Minseok brushes his thumb over his cheek. "Then what is it?"

"I don't—as your boyfriend, I'm so happy you don't feel like I might eat you," he chuckles. "Which I could totally do, by the way, in a way that does not involve blood—ouch!" he protests when Minseok pinches his cheek. "But as a vampire I'm frustrated. I have never hunted in my whole life and that's—you know. That's the basics."

"You want to hunt me? Scare me?"

Jongdae hides his face against his neck. "I don't know what I want. Sometimes there's a voice inside my head that mocks me because I'm not being the predator I should be. I just—I don't want to be a failure as a vampire. I don't know if I'm living up to the expectations."

"Whose expectations?"

"I don't know. Satan's, probably," the younger groans.

"Dae. If it wasn't for... you didn't even want to be a vampire." He pauses. "You didn't have a choice. There were no expectations."

"I know." He pauses as well, letting a few seconds pass in which they both let the sad memories flow away. Dark moments that reek of hospital, flashes of images of small tubes and needles, tears that no one had the strength to wipe away.

After a moment, it's all gone and they softly smile at each other in reassurance. Jongdae scoffs a little. "But still. Am I not to be taken seriously?" he protests.

"I take you very seriously." Minseok kisses his forehead. "But maybe I'm just used to you, and I'm in love with you, which is why I'm not scared of you."

"I wouldn't want you to be scared of me. And I'm glad you're not suggesting I start hunting Baekhyun when he comes over next time."

"He'd be so scared, I'd love to see it."

"But I wouldn't love to see it and I wouldn't love to do it."

Minseok chuckles. "So you want your preys to be scared of you... but since your only prey is me you don't want me to be scared... but you don't want other preys?"

Jongdae blinks. "It sounds even more stupid uttered out loud. Damn." His fang gets caught on his lip again and he blows raspberries to free it. Which further proves Minseok's point that being scared of him would be impossible.

"Have you tried talking about it with Junmyeon?" he suggests.

"Yeah. He said I should be proud because I'm a very strong vampire that doesn't feel the need to scare his preys before feeding. He said that even in the past, like during the Middle Ages and stuff, a vampire held power only when he didn't need to hunt because their preys offered themselves to them without the need to ask."

The human grins, thinking about all the times he has offered himself to him. "Then you must be so powerful."

"But you just told me you love me!"

"That I definitely do."

Jongdae blinks. The red in his eyes settles on a vibrant shade of crimson, exactly the same as blood. He turns to look at the ceiling, distractedly rubbing his chest. He's shirtless; for some reason he always is when he needs to feed. Their laundry machine is forever grateful that feeding involves ness 99% of the time.

After a while, Jongdae speaks again. "Junmyeon also said that the thrill of the hunt will disappear when I'll stop being a young vampire. He even started feeding from bottles and tumblers around two centuries ago."

"Why don't you try?"

Jongdae pokes at one of his fangs with his index finger. He taps on it, pondering. "I'm too young. And I prefer it from you directly."

"Why?"

"A combination of anatomical details and of mushy feelings. Both things equally gross. So for now no bottles, please."

To tell the truth, Minseok knows why. During one of his first feedings, Jongdae had cried on his shoulder because he loved to feel Minseok's life pulse through him. He had confessed, sobbing, that after being so close to death he loved to feel his lover's life ripple in his system, nurturing him, grounding him, reassuring him that he was still there. That they were both still there.

Of course it also had its downsides. For weeks Jongdae had been lost and fragile but he refused to look at Minseok straight in the eyes because he thought his red irises would disgust the human. He had also, more than once, called himself a leech, which had been incredibly depressing for the both of them and for Junmyeon too. It had been hard to convince Jongdae that it wasn't the case. Eight out of ten vampires feed exclusively from their partner, in mixed couples, so Jongdae was wrong when he called himself picky. He was normal. And he was extremely relieved to find out. He had kept reading the statistics out loud for an entire evening, bouncing around like a kid until he stabbed his pinky toe on the nightstand. He had bled and he had panicked because of the sight of his own blood. He almost fainted.

A truly terrifying vampire.

"I agree when Junmyeon says you're strong, for what it's worth," Minseok whispers, one hand running over the chest of his lover, his palm gliding on the smooth skin in a soothing manner, his fingers teasing the same path right after.

"I mean, me too," Jongdae whispers. "But I wouldn't mind the thrill. I have never felt it. And I'm still a fledgling for crying out loud."

Minseok ponders.

If Jongdae wants scared, he'll give him scared. Next time his adorable vampire boyfriend decides to wake him up in the middle of the night, growling like a puppy, he'll pretend he's having a mild heart attack.

Although he's sure that even if one day Jongdae might actually succeed in frightening him, the vampire would be the most scared of the two as a result.

"Dae, as you said you're still a fledgling. Maybe you have to perfect your ways. Maybe you have to learn to be terrifying."

Jongdae tilts his head. "Maybe you're right. I received the wrong training."

Minseok smiles and kisses him on the lips. "My little domesticated vampire."

"You're not making it better, calling me domesticated," Jongdae deadpans, not even responding to the kiss.

"But you're mine nonetheless."

"Aw, sweet." Jongdae finally relents and kisses him back. He gets on top of him again, their bodies connected as much as possible.

Minseok looks up at him, at his bright eyes framed by his unruly hair, at his curly lips shiny and swollen. And it hits him, randomly. Sometimes it happens, when he realises things could have gone a different way. He caresses his face. "I'm so happy you're still here, Dae," he murmurs.

Jongdae smiles softly. "I would have never left you," he whispers, his lips hovering over Minseok’s.

For a split second, Minseok wonders what is the reason behind the use of the past tense. He can only hope that his boyfriend hasn’t changed his mind about never leaving him and hasn’t forgotten that his nature clashes against Minseok's mortal one. By default one of them will continue on for eternity, while the other will perish. Eventually one of them will have to leave the other behind, if they don’t do anything about it.

But he brushes away the thought because Jongdae is holding him in his arms right now and that's all that counts.

"Hey." Jongdae nudges at him with his forehead. "Did you hear me? I would have never left you," he chuckles. "Wow. My complaints about being a bad vampire are so irrelevant when I think of us."

"Keep thinking of us, then," Minseok suggests, pulling him down for another kiss. "Come on, now. Feed. Your eyes are getting disturbingly dark."

"Are they scary?" Jongdae asks, hopeful.

"Uh." Minseok clears his throat. "Not really, no. They're really pretty."

Disappointed, Jongdae rubs his nose against Minseok's. "Thank you, I guess."

"Dae, babe, you must be so thirsty if they're so dark... I'm getting hungry just by looking at you."

Jongdae moves his rubbing actions to his jaw, then to his chin and his neck. "Yeah. I'm almost having cramps," he breathes out, hugging him tight. "And you smell so good," he adds, raspy.

The best vampire in the world. Starving, yet he prioritises emotional talks that could potentially take all night long to solve. "Where do you want to feed?"

"Neck," is the expected response. By now Minseok has learned that to the various stages of his thirst correspond various parts of the body. The less thirsty, the further from his heart Jongdae is going to feed. But the redder the eyes, the warmer and quicker in his veins the blood has to be to satisfy his needs.

"Mmh, y," Minseok teases him.

"Kiss me some more, because I'm going to taste disgusting to you afterwards and I cannot kiss you anymore."

Laughing, Minseok indulges. He sits up and climbers on Jongdae's lap. "All right. Here come the kisses for my very, very dangerous predator, my own deadly vampire."

Jongdae growls before he laughs as well, and then their lips connect again.

Minseok used to find it weird whenever Jongdae would kiss him with his fangs out. In the beginning they accidentally punctured him and as soon as he learned to manage them, the vampire decided to tuck them away to make the kiss more pleasurable. But now Minseok is starting to enjoy their presence. He mainly enjoys them because when he them, the vampire either moans in contentment or in a different kind of excitement. Plus they make the kiss dangerous, which is kind of arousing.

He slides his tongue inside of the younger's mouth, tipping Jongdae's head back to reach deeper. Jongdae's hands curl around his ribs and squeeze when Minseok his gums right above his fangs and bites his lower lip.

"All right," Jongdae says after a while. "I wish I could feed from kisses. Boy, that'd be amazing."

Minseok chuckles and takes off his own shirt. "I'd make you fat in, like, a week."

The vampire laughs, sitting the both of them upright, but then he eyes the exposed skin of Minseok’s neck and his attention zeroes on his jugular. He is a vampire after all.

"Enjoy your meal," Minseok says lowly. "And let's go to sleep afterwards, okay? I have a shift in the morning."

Jongdae nods and straightens his back to better reach the desired area. He waits a couple of seconds, sniffing it, before he finally pierces Minseok’s skin with his fangs. He does it delicately, always afraid of hurting the other, and immediately closes his lips around the wound, stopping before he . His hold around Minseok's body tightens a little, but he waits obediently. He proceeds only when Minseok hums softly, his hand cradling Jongdae's head again, his fingers tangling in his hair.

Once Jongdae has taken enough, he pulls away without needing to be instructed to do so and the small wounds a couple of times until they stop bleeding. Then he gently lowers his lover onto the sheets, on his back, and reaches over to the nightstand to get some cotton wool and iodine to tap over his neck. Not a single droplet of blood lands on the bedding and by tomorrow the punctures will be invisible, healed by the supernatural saliva of the younger.

He's never been a messy eater. Junmyeon had made sure to train him not to be one, even though the enthusiasm and the lack of experience of the young fledgling had caused a couple of very bloody situations during the very first days. Besides, with Minseok being very cleanliness oriented, Jongdae had started to form the habit of leaving no traces behind very soon after his turning, proving useless all the worrying Minseok had done about the state of their apartment. Sehun had narrated stories of vampires who like to stay covered in the blood of their preys after feeding. He justified the unsolicited, gory tales saying they were going to prepare them psychologically, though Minseok is not entirely sure that the other wasn't simply talking about himself.

That was definitely not Jongdae's case, though. He even brushes his teeth afterwards and he does it without anyone asking him to.

Jongdae can say whatever he wants, but he's definitely domesticated.

Minseok drinks from the water bottle Jongdae offers him, not bothering to hide his heart eyes.

"Do you need anything else?" the vampire asks softly, adjusting Minseok's pillow and smoothing his hair.

The human slowly shakes his head. "You're the best vampire in the world, Dae."

Beaming down at him, Jongdae has the audacity to blush, thus becoming not only the best, but the cutest vampire of all lands and Minseok shall fight whoever says otherwise.

"Good night, my love." Jongdae pecks his lips after cleaning his own mouth with a tissue. His irises are fading back to copper, soon they'll look entirely human again. "And thank you. I'll go wash up and then maybe I'll finish writing that article before tomorrow's deadline. Sorry for waking you up and for rambling and for not feeding after your dinner like a normal civilised being."

But Minseok pulls at his wrist. He feels a little weak, but that is expected, and a little heady, which is expected too. Legends about bites are partially true. "Stay with me until I fall asleep," he whispers. "I'm so tired I'll sleep soon, I promise. Then you can go kick that intern's with your fantastic article. Show them who's the most badass vampire fledgling."

Jongdae's giggle is the last thing he hears before drifting off, and his eyes slowly going back to brown are the last thing he sees.

-

Two weeks later, Minseok comes back home from work a little earlier than usual, since his boss at his design studio was happy with the project he handed in the previous day and didn't want to overwork him. "Dae, I'm home!"

He receives no answer, so he assumes Jongdae would be out grocery shopping or maybe indulging Baekhyun's latest shenanigans. "Babe? Are you home?"

He listens, but silence is still the only other occupant of the house. He shrugs and walks to the kitchen to drink a glass of tap water. He better stay hydrated, since he expects Jongdae to be thirsty sometime soon.

He's still standing at the counter, giving his back to the room, when he hears the muffled sound of bare feet on the tiles. He smiles to himself; it's his chance to make Jongdae feel like a dangerous predator. As a precautionary measure, he lowers the glass to the counter in order not to break it.

His flinch when Jongdae grabs his shoulders and spins him around is authentic, but he makes sure to exaggerate it as much as possible, yelping as well.

Jongdae growls, his face already hidden in Minseok's neck, but then he stops his offensive attack to look at him. "Did I get you?" he asks excitedly. If he had a tail he would wag it. His eyes are of a bright copper colour and his fangs are not in sight, a sign that he decided to seize the opportunity of Minseok's arrival before he would be very thirsty.

Minseok inhales deeply and nods but it breaks his heart to lie to Jongdae about something that is so evidently making him feel uncomfortable. And it must be showing on his face.

"I didn't get you, did I."

"Uhm." Minseok lowers his gaze. "I heard your footsteps, so." And then, because Jongdae's face falls, he adds: "But you did sort of catch me off guard because I expected you to, like, back-hug me or something. Not to be all vampiry and stuff."

Jongdae pouts (he does that a lot lately). "Thank you for playing along anyway."

Forlorn, the human bites his lips. "I'm sorry. I only wanted you to feel more comfortable with yourself," he tries to explain, placing his hands on his boyfriend's arms.

The vampire hugs him and lifts him up, sitting him on the counter. "I know, Seokkie. And I'm grateful." He rubs his palms on the other's thighs before looking up again from between his legs. "But I would have tasted that you weren't scared anyway."

"You—you would have?"

"Yeah. The very first times I fed from you I could taste you were a little bit scared, though you said you weren't."

Minseok opens his mouth wide. "I—you knew?" he blurts out.

"It's okay. I can't blame you. I'd be terrified of someone my blood and I'm a whole vampire myself for crying out loud," he chuckles, before he becomes serious again. "I think it helped me become so... domesticated, the fact that I hated to scare you. So even though scared blood is somewhat tasty, which is the whole point of hunting—adrenaline is ing delicious—I prefer yours to be normal. Because it tastes like you love me."

This is a lot of information to process.

"Jongdae..." Minseok caresses Jongdae's cheek. "I suppose in the beginning I was a little bit nervous, because it was something new for us. But there was never a moment in which I didn't trust you, I want you to know that."

"I know that. It was foolish of you to offer yourself immediately after I was turned. But the fact that you trusted me so unconditionally..." He trails off and looks to the side.

Minseok cups his face. "What?"

Jongdae blinks, before he meets his eyes. "You were sure I could take my new status ever since the very beginning. Seok, babe, I had been turned for barely one day when you barged in and demanded to see me. I could have literally drained you in less than sixty seconds, not even Junmyeon could have stopped me, but you were there and you kissed me—" he blinks even faster, which is a telltale sign that maybe he's going to have one of his emotional-vampiry moments. "And then when I had to start feeding from someone who wasn't my sire, you were there rolling your sleeve up without even saying anything... I don't think I ever told you how much it meant to me."

"But I understood it."

Jongdae swallows, looking at him straight in the eyes. "The reason why most fledglings freak out continuously for months after being turned is that we are scared of everything. Mostly of ourselves. You trusted me so much that I could handle myself a lot better."

Minseok leans in to kiss his forehead, really close to having a moment himself. "Dae, you're the bravest and most determined person I know. You would have pulled it off even without me."

"Maybe. But not so easily, and not so quickly."

"Then I'm glad I was there for you," Minseok whispers. "You're so young but you went through so much. You deserve some peace of mind and I will always strive to help you achieve it. Okay? You don't have to thank me for that."

Jongdae tiptoes to kiss his lips. "Ok. But don't pretend to be scared, in the future. All right?"

"I promise."

-

Jongdae normally feeds once every twelve to fifteen days, which is a perfectly acceptable time for his human of choice to regain strength and blood cells, everything made easier by the supplements he takes and his healthy lifestyle. It could be less or a lot more depending on how stressed Jongdae is and on how much physical activity he does. But that is not too much to go by because sometimes he gets thirsty without actually doing anything relevant, and sometimes he gets thirsty when they have even though he fed just hours before. His and his thirst are not always linked, but when they are it's mayhem.

One time he went forty-five consecutive days without feeding and Minseok was so freaked out he kept staring at Jongdae's brown eyes and forced him to send him a selca once every hour when they were apart to monitor the colour. Jongdae wouldn't drink his blood and almost flipped the plate of human food Minseok dared to propose. He went as far as "accidentally" cutting his finger to make the other smell fresh blood, and the vampire didn't react at all. Well, he the finger clean and kissed it better, but then he put a band-aid on it and proceeded to lecture him about kitchen knives, which freaked Minseok out even more.

The human even called Junmyeon to ask what would the reason be, but apparently it was not that unusual for vampires to go on a sated streak. It could be because of the moon, or because sometimes their bodies which are almost alive and functioning (emphasis on almost) contrary to popular belief, decide to go on a cleanse on their own.

The old vampire also said that Minseok was probably the only human in the world who complained about not being fed off of.

Since Jongdae is a very cautious person and an extremely civilised vampire, when his sire had broken their bond he accepted gladly the bottles of synthetic blood that Junmyeon stacked in their fridge. He would have never risked being separated from the human for reasons beyond their control, freaking out, and going off to hunt some random unwilling person, so he decided the bottles would be good for emergencies and stacked them in strategic locations. Baekhyun's panicked scream once he found some in his own freezer had been priceless.

The other bottles never left their place at the bottom of Minseok's fridge. Until now.

When Minseok comes back home from work and finds out that his kitchen has been turned into something that could easily look like a slaughterhouse, he actually does get scared.

Because he's not sure the stains of blood will come off all surfaces. He's positive the floor tiles and the counter will be ok, but what about the fridge? And oh my god, is that the white carpet he bought last week??

"Dae?" he calls.

He hears a muffled growl somewhere else in the apartment, but when he turns around to look he doesn't see Jongdae approaching. That's when an entire new set of actual fears decides to possess him.

"Dae, are you ok? Did you get hurt? What happened?" he calls, and moves to go back to the hallway to look for his boyfriend, but he stays rooted in place when he notices that upon stepping in he had landed upon a small pool of blood. There are glass shards everywhere. "Jongdae!" he screams, upon not receiving any answer.

His heart starts racing. What could have happened is the intervention of another vampire. The door hadn't been locked, now that Minseok thinks back at it.

He looks around, dropping his backpack on the nearest chair. He toes off his shoes and runs in the hallway towards the bedroom. "Dae, where—ah!"

Jongdae comes out of the bedroom with a jump, grabby hands raised in the air, mouth open and fangs in full display as he lets out a soft "ggrrrr." His eyes are a deep orange with ruby flakes like flaring embers.

Minseok's socks do not provide enough grip to prevent him from crashing down on the floor when he tries to arrest his run before he collides against his boyfriend. He ends up legs in the air, tummy up on the tiles, his eyes still trained on the vampire.

Jongdae immediately drops all aggressivity and giggles, jumping around him like a kid. "I got you! I finally got you!" he gloats.

The human closes his eyes and groans. He reaches for the back of his head with one hand, wondering if his skull cracked open at the impact. It didn't, but the action catches Jongdae's attention. Immediately, Minseok is being cradled against Jongdae's chest. "Oh my—did I hurt you? I'm so sorry! What the , I didn't mean to—are you ok? Let me see! Oh no, oh no—"

"'M fine." Minseok tries to soothe his panicked boyfriend. "I'm ok, Dae."

Jongdae is not persuaded and he carries him to the living room. He fetches ice from the freezer and applies it to his head, babbling a never ending stream of apologies.

"I went grocery shopping and I was putting the ice cream in the freezer but there wasn't enough space so I moved out the blood bottles Junmyeon gave me but then I started defrosting the compartment and I forgot two of them were out and then my hands were wet and they slipped out of my grasp and they broke and spilled everywhere and I had just went to the bathroom to wash my hands and change my clothes when I heard you on the stairs and my fledgling instinct thought it was a good opportunity to ambush you and I thought you were going to be scared of me if you found the blood so I hid in the bedroom and I—I would have never hurt you, you know that, I wasn't even thirsty enough to feed! I succeeded, I scared you, but I hate to scare you this is terrible I wish I didn't—"

Minseok leans in to kiss his rambling lips to shut him up. He in his mouth, not surprised when he doesn't feel the fangs. Jongdae whines softly.

"Dae, I know you wouldn't hurt me or anyone else."

Jongdae pouts. "Technically, I did hurt you anyway."

"It's nothing." Minseok dismisses it. "Are you going to tell me if you feel a better vampire now?"

The vampire hides his face by planting it on a cushion. "A better vampire, yes. But a horrible person overall? Absolutely. And that is way worse. . I wish I could go back. This is awful."

Minseok purses his lips. On one hand, he wants to make a clarification and say that he was not scared of Jongdae, but for Jongdae, and that he fell because he didn't want to hit Jongdae and not because he was terrified by his appearance. He decides against it because it would defeat the purpose and as he's learning, the vampire beast inside of his boyfriend's chest has its own ego which needs to be fed with fear and not just with blood.

On the other hand, Jongdae feeling a horrible person is the last thing they need. Especially because the transition from human to vampire hadn't been the easiest despite the fact that Jongdae conquered his new position with grace and diligence. Minseok remembers holding him in his arms whenever he cried because he felt like he had bargained a piece of his identity for immortality. It took Jongdae months to realise that he was still himself despite his new diet. He doesn't want such doubts to creep up again.

"You only did what you had to do, Dae. You listened to a new part of you, which is now satisfied. I assume you won't be doing it again?"

Jongdae looks at him hopefully, shaking his head. "I don't think I'll need it, no." he lowers his gaze. "It was the first time I felt like I could hunt if I wanted to, Seok. It was..." he catches himself saying it and he stops, horrified.

Minseok caresses his cheek. "I hate to see you this upset. You did nothing wrong. Do you want me to call Junmyeon?"

-

"I can smell blood from the street," is the first thing Junmyeon says when Minseok unlocks the door.

Junmyeon is the last person Minseok would have guessed a vampire at first sight. If you don't count his penchant for grandpa clothes (he defended himself by saying it's hard to follow fashion after a while and he lost interest after a couple of centuries) he looks as young as they are. He had been turned by a lover when he was one year younger than Minseok, on a whim and without consent. However, his eyes are gentle and his sense of humor might be questionable but is not at all bitter like the one that sometimes characterises vampires as old as him, or vampires who are not vampires by choice. His lover had left him barely two years after turning him, but Junmyeon had decided that having his heart broken was not a good reason to stop enjoying his immortality.

He's someone Minseok trusts, or else he wouldn't have entrusted him with Jongdae’s life. Jongdae had always trusted him too, and after being turned by him he identified him as a sort of spiritual guide. Junmyeon's patient and kind-hearted nature had done wonders for them during the past year.

Minseok winces and looks at the bloodied kitchen behind himself, knowing it's perfectly visible from the door. "Well, we haven't tried to clean up yet."

The vampire's nostrils flare. "Is it yours?"

"No."

Junmyeon inhales deeply and walks in with determination. "What happened? Jongdae?"

Jongdae bashfully emerges from the living room. His attitude and the fact that he's shirtless visibly preoccupy the older vampire, who marches up to him and puts his hands on his shoulders, neither reprimanding nor confrontational. "Jongdae? What did you do? You have never slipped up before." he says, sad and a little incredulous.

Minseok shakes his head and reaches them. "He didn't do anything, Junmyeon."

Junmyeon furrows his brows. His eyes are starting to turn of a delicate pastel orange because of the preponderant smell of blood in the apartment. "What do you mean? You said it was an emergency on the phone."

"It is an emergency. Look how sad he is!" Minseok points at Jongdae.

Definitely wondering whether he's joking, Junmyeon releases his grip on Jongdae. "First of all, I would be more concerned by the amount of blood in your kitchen than by his mood. And second of all, I thought you were the fittest to solve his emotional turmoils?"

"I tried, but this is a vampiry thing and you are the one in charge of Jongdae's vampiry things."

The older vampire looks between the two of them with a perplexed look, before he walks to the kitchen and smells the air. He comes back with a very displeased expression. "Jongdae, is that the synthetic blood I gifted you?"

Jongdae nods meekly.

"That was expensive, why is it on the floor? Wait, before you answer." he sniffs him and looks at his eyes. "You are really thirsty. Do you want to feed before you explain, since from what I can make out of the situation there's no actual emergency?" he asks, glancing at Minseok.

Jongdae shakes his head. "I'd rather get this off my chest."

After a while, when Jongdae has stopped explaining the whole situation (with the help of Minseok who had to translate the emotional babble into understandable, coherent sentences) Junmyeon remains pensive. His eyes have gone back to the usual chestnut colour, contrary to Jongdae's which are redder than ever.

"So let me get this straight, Jongdae." the older starts. He scoots closer and takes Jongdae's hands in his. "You thought you were a bad vampire because people don't cower at your sight or something?"

"I didn't think that. It's just a feeling that comes and goes. It's the fledgling in me."

"But if that was the criterion to judge good and bad vampires, that would make me an awful vampire, a total failure. Don't you think? It took your dear boyfriend four months to realise I was one."

Minseok chuckles. It’s true. He hadn't even suspected his classmate was a vampire until a certain terrible Oh Sehun had visited his sire and had started making allusions about diets. Still, for something like two hours Minseok had thought Junmyeon was vegan and that was the only reason why he never ate with him at the canteen. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

"Do you think I'm an awful vampire?" Junmyeon interrogates the fledgling. "Be honest."

Jongdae hastily shakes his head.

"I'm glad." He pauses. "Then why do you think I'm a good vampire? I know you considered Kyungsoo too when the time came to turn you. Yet you chose me to be your sire. There must be a reason, am I right?"

"Because you don't even feed from people," Jongdae answers with a whine. "You're so controlled and you always know what to do and keep yourself in check. I was never intimidated by you being a vampire, even when I didn't know you well back in college," he answers. His voice is rough, his throat must be burning.

Minseok starts seeing the point of the conversation and smiles to himself, glad that he and Jongdae's ex-sire chose the same approach. Junmyeon smiles too. "Then look at yourself. You are basically starving. There is a human here at your mercy, a human that you defined as, and I quote you: ‘scrumptiously irresistible.’ You were standing in the middle of a room covered in blood. Yet you seem calm and collected, and voluntarily postponed your feeding. That's the most controlled I've ever seen a vampire, to be honest. Now look at Minseok. He has been at your mercy ever since your first day as a vampire. He lives alone with you, you could have easily torn him apart a hundred times in the past year without anyone finding out, yet you never even bite him without his consent. Am I right when I say you're not scared of him?" Junmyeon directs his question to the human, who shakes his head.

Jongdae is puzzled. He blinks hard, then it finally starts to add up. "Then why do I feel like I should be scary?"

"Because we are predators. But we are still human. Trust me, Jongdae. Being a good human and being a good vampire are not necessarily contraries. You are very good at both things."

He pats his head and gets up to leave. "When Sehun calls me for 'emergencies' it usually means he made someone faint during an or something. So maybe next time phrase it better, instead of giving me a heart attack? My poor heart is very old, it doesn't hold up well."

"Your poor heart is also very dead, Junmyeon."

"Yeah, well. Try not to scare me."

Minseok nods. Jongdae's laughter fills the apartment, and the sound of his mirth lets the three of them know that things are fine again.

"So you're telling me..." Baekhyun begins, leaning against his kitchen counter, attention absorbed by the expensive red wine he's swirling in his glass. "That you panicked because you weren't scary, but then when you succeeded at being scary you panicked even more?" He sniffs at the liquid before he glares at Jongdae over the rim of his glass.

"Precisely," Minseok confirms, nodding and taking a sip of his own wine.

"Stop exposing me," Jongdae whines, his head buried in his arms over the marble table.

Baekhyun shakes his head. "Dude, you're literally the least vampire of all vampires." He lifts the wine bottle from the counter and he dangles it. "Want some?"

Jongdae ponders. Minseok offers his own glass to be sniffed at, but when the fumes hit the vampire's nostrils he barely suppresses a retch.

"What a shame." their friend comments. "You used to like this one."

The vampire rolls his eyes. "Just because it's liquid and it's red it doesn't mean I still like it."

"I bought it specifically for you." Jongdae's best friend pouts.

Jongdae grunts. "Why is everyone buying me expensive bottles of things I don't need and then complaining when I don't need them?"

Huffing with annoyance, Baekhyun pulls at the handle of his freezer and opens the first drawer. "Would you rather have some of this?" he asks, holding up one of the bottles Junmyeon had gifted his childe. The synthetic blood doesn't look much different than wine, from a distance.

Jongdae opens his mouth to protest. Then he closes it, a little lost. He scratches his head. There are golden freckles in his irises that were not there just a second ago.

Baekyun keeps staring at Jongdae, then he lowers the bottle. "No. Oh, hell no."

Minseok bites his lips. Under the table, he squeezes Jongdae's thigh next to the knee, reassuringly. "Baek," he calls without taking his eyes off his boyfriend who is seemingly experiencing temporary difficulties in making his brain function properly due to extreme overthinking. He looks at their friend. "Baek, do you mind microwaving it? And bringing a glass? We had dinner but Jongdae didn't. It's only fair."

"Micro—a glass? A glass?" Baekhyun screeches.

Minseok glares at him in a way that makes Baekhyun almost cower. "You offered first."

It's not a convincing argument for the human. "You want to—in my kitchen?!"

Jongdae lowers his head at that, staring at the empty plate in front of him. Baekhyun's and Minseok's are empty as well, but his has remained clean throughout the whole dinner for obvious reasons.

Minseok doesn't even have to continue glowering at Baekhyun before the younger human realises his mistake. He carefully places the bottle down on the table and walks around the counter to hug Jongdae. "I'm sorry." he says softly. "I'm sorry, Jongdae. I thought you were over that phase. I spoke carelessly. You can have a glass, even though that glass will be dead to me afterwards—I mean, I'm sorry."

Under the table, a gentle tap on the back of Minseok's hand is the only warning the human gets before Jongdae shrugs. "It's fine, Baek. It's either your blood or the one in the bottle, tonight." he says lowly. "First option wouldn't require the disowning of any piece of tableware though."

Baekhyun freezes for a second, before he hits Jongdae's nape and stands straighter, his hands on his hips. "Very funny, Jongdae. Very, very funny."

"You think I'm kidding?"

"Of course you're kidding."

"Oh, so I'm kidding."

"Yeah you are, you little troll—"

Jongdae leaps from his chair, fangs out and hissing like an enraged cat, lunging for the neck of his best friend.

Baekhyun screams with the maximum power allowed by a human throat and runs to the living room flinging his arms, almost knocking over Minseok's chair and Minseok himself. They hear him yowl in pain somewhere near his couch, then a steady stream of muttered curses and Jongdae's name spaced out between them.

The boyfriends look at each other for a second, not moving from the kitchen. Then Jongdae lets out a frustrated groan and a whimper that, while giving a vague idea of his current emotions, are not explanatory at all.

"Elaborate on that." Minseok starts, still sitting in his chair, unflappable.

Jongdae his fangs and on his own lower lip for a second. When he opens his mouth to speak again, his vampire attributes are gone. "I'm not gonna lie, it felt good. But now comes the part where I feel like ." he closes his eyes and rubs his forehead. "I should have known, after I tried it with you."

Minseok reaches for Jongdae's hand and envelopes it in his. "I know, babe."

Jongdae sighs. The human stands up and kisses him on the tip of his nose, before pulling him to the living room where Baekhyun is lying on the floor tangled with his carpet, staring at the ceiling. He coughs and vaguely gestures at Jongdae. "I hope you will consider stopping with your I-am-a-failure nonsense since I almost shat my pants. By the power vested in me by Mr. Satan himself, I now declare you a perfectly valid and fully-fledged vampire. Now off."

-

Minseok is still holding hands with Jongdae as they walk home, a couple of hours and many laughters later. The bottle of wine Baekhyun had bought for Jongdae is in Minseok's backpack. The vampire is silent, so he swings their hands and peers at him. "You ok?"

Jongdae looks at the sky. "Yes."

"You're not feeling like a horrible person, are you."

The vampire grins. "A little. Not even remotely as much as the time I thought I scared you and you called Junmyeon, tho. I wish pranking Baek was a gainful employment," he chuckles. "But I felt...fulfilled. Now that I know that I can scare people the side of me that wants to feed off people is reassured that I could keep myself alive in case of emergency. Like during the apocalypse and when I'd be too busy to become a powerful lord like those medieval gentlemen Junmyeon told me about, with people throwing themselves at my feet, and definitely too busy to forge love relationships to convince people to bare their necks to me."

Minseok laughs. "I know you too well, you'd rather die than scare people again. You'd go for the romantic relationship route."

"Ssshh, don't say it out loud. I don't want the vampire in me to hear it. I don't want it to know that I'm a softie."

They turn around a corner, the streetlights casting pretty shadows on Jongdae's (now perennially) young features. "I think I'm coming to terms with this thing. The not-being-scary thing." he admits cautiously.

Minseok draws him closer, leaning against his shoulder. "I'm so glad, Dae. I just want you to be comfortable with yourself."

"I mostly am."

Jongdae circles his waist as they cross the street and get closer to their home.

"Do you need to feed?" the human asks.

"I fed three days ago, I'm good. Why?"

"Such a good vampire."

But Minseok is not good enough to conceal his thoughts so as soon as they are both huddled under the covers in their bed, Jongdae rolls in his direction. The human knows that he'll keep him company only until he'll fall asleep, because then he will set off to another sleepless night, one of the many that will add to each other to make up Jongdae's eternity.

Minseok wants to be part of that.

"What's on your mind?" Jongdae asks after taking in his face, every single detail, for few minutes.

"You."

It's worth it, to be this mushy every now and then. It makes Jongdae smile wide, his beautiful lips stretch over his teeth and his eyes crinkle with joy. Cutest! Vampire! Of all lands!!

"Ok, but elaborate on that." he nudges Minseok.

Minseok smiles at the words thrown back at him, then he clears his throat. "You didn't drink from the bottle because you just weren't thirsty, or are there other reasons?"

Jongdae frowns, surprised by the question. "I wasn't thirsty. And I already told you why I prefer to feed from you anyway."

"Would you ever consider... feeding off someone else?"

The vampire recoils. "I... would? Unless—oh, , I'm sorry, does it stress you out? I probably should—"

"Wait. I'm not asking because I want you to stop feeding from me. I love to think that I'm the one."

"You are." Jongdae whispers, looking for his hand under the sheets and squeezing it. "You definitely are the one. You keep me alive, you give me some of your own life force and I wouldn't want anyone else's."

Struggling not to choke on the sudden urge to cry, Minseok snuggles closer to him. "I'm asking because... you know, one day I might... I might not be able to give you my blood."

Jongdae closes his eyes, sorrow heavy on his face. They never talked about it before. "I don't even want to think—please—"

Minseok closes the distance between their faces and kisses him lightly. "I was not talking about my death, Dae. I was just saying, one day I might be like you."

Jongdae's brain experiences technical difficulties for five whole seconds. He slowly sits up. "You—you would—" he splutters.

Minseok drags him back onto the mattress to comb his hair with careful motions. "Not today, not tomorrow, not in a year. But one day, before I become fat and wrinkly and you drop me for some of Sehun's hot vampire friends."

Jongdae lands on top of him with a slight growl in the back of his throat. "Excuse me? Sehun's friends? I could never. I have excellent taste. The fact that I'm in a bed with you right now and not at one of Sehun's parties should testify to that."

Laughing, the human hugs his precious vampire closer. He's still a little nervous. "What do you say?"

Jongdae can't stop smiling. His brown eyes are gentle and full of care, completely human despite their owner's timeline stretching through the decades and the centuries to come. Jongdae has never been more Jongdae than now. Or more in love than now, for that matter.

He leans down to kiss Minseok, who waits for an answer with a tilted, gummy smile of his own but with bated breath.

They exhale and relax against each other's mouth. Jongdae rubs his nose against his, smile impossibly wider and bright.

"I say..." he begins, pecking Minseok's lips again, deep in thought. "Okay."

And maybe Jongdae didn't know he needed to know this, to know that Minseok would be by his side in the future however long it might be, to finally settle in his condition.

Of course there are millions of things left unsaid. The fact that voluntary turning is a hassle in front of the law, without special circumstances such as Jongdae's illness. The fact that tackling immortality and such a radical change would be difficult and possibly sorrowful, not to mention the pain of the turning itself. The struggles on the mental, physical and emotional levels. Leaving people behind. Never being able to escape reality through sleep. Becoming stronger but more vulnerable at the same time. Losing a piece of identity, being stripped of humanity.

Yet Minseok knows it all too well, because they already went through it once. Together.

And deep down inside Minseok had always known that choosing this path for Jongdae had meant choosing it for himself, because Jongdae would never leave him behind.

He's not scared.

He pushes Jongdae's hair away from his face. "Not today, not tomorrow, not in a year." he reminds him. "We will figure things out over time. Together."

Jongdae nods. "We always figure it out." he tilts his head. "Or rather, you do. Because you're a clever boyfriend who always knows what to say and what to do."

Minseok giggles when the vampire rolls and pulls him on top of himself, circling him with his arms. After a long, long, long and languid kiss and a lot of skin and roaming hands, they settle again, the older curling on the younger's chest.

"Good night, my little domesticated vampire."

"Good night, my clever human," the younger whispers back.

They snuggle against each other. Soon Minseok will be so deep in sleep that he won't feel Jongdae slip out from under him, but something tells him that tonight Jongdae will just hold him tight and probably stare at him from under his long lashes thanks to his vampire powers, even when the light is turned off. And Minseok couldn't feel safer and happier, despite being in the arms of a creature supposed to scare him and take his life.

The scare part, though—Jongdae still needs to work on that. Or, as they found out through trial and error, he does not need to work on that. Because he's a softie and he's perfect like this.

"You know what, Seok?"

Minseok flinches a little when the other suddenly talks. He was almost asleep and he blinks at the darkness. "What?"

"You'd be a terrifying vampire."

"Thanks, Dae. It means a lot, coming from you."

Jongdae pulls at a strand of his hair in retaliation.

"Ouch."