When Ryeowook awoke in the early evening, he was surprised to find Kyuhyun with him in the hut and not still somewhere outside. He sat up slowly, stretching a little, and even got enough time to fix his clothes a little before Kyuhyun turned to face him.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning. You didn’t go to town today?”

“I did. But I came back early today.”

“Why?” Ryeowook sat on the edge of the bed, watching the other with curiosity and confusion, finding the occurrence of Kyuhyun being present while he woke up still strange.

“Because I want to try something.” Kyuhyun got up and took a step towards Ryeowook who watched him, his wariness growing.

“What do you want to try?”

“How well your body has already adapted to its vampire nature—and if you can already bear the sunlight.”

Ryeowook blinked, staring at Kyuhyun, waiting for the other to take his words back, but when neither of them broke the silence for a long while, the words and the thought that maybe Kyuhyun wasn’t teasing him sank in. “Really? Why?”

“If we follow the coast much longer, we’ll get too close to the capital. But our only other option is to walk through the woods, which bears a lot more dangers ranging from the potential lack of shelter during the day to wild animals that you at least certainly haven’t faced yet. They usually keep their distance since they accept us as the superior predators, but some starved ones can get very daring. Don’t worry, we’re fast and strong enough that we can escape any such danger and yes, I already have experience with situations like that.”

Ryeowook looked away, distraught. So far, they somehow hadn’t come across predatory animals and he had simply assumed that they were either very lucky or the animals generally didn’t frequent the coastal stretches. The thought that they just kept their distance because he and Kyuhyun were vampires was calming in one way, but it also made the thought of the extremely desperate ones still approaching even scarier. But the thought that they could get discovered if they followed the coastline much further was also scary.  

Hesitantly, Ryeowook stood up and took a step towards Kyuhyun who in turn motioned towards the door. “You go ahead. I can’t decide for you what hurts and what might be bearable. The door opens towards the inside, so unlike the place where I turned you, you can easily hide away from direct sunlight exposure here.”

Ryeowook went towards the door, but he looked at Kyuhyun again, uncertainty making him waver. Kyuhyun, though, nodded at him with a small smile, looking tense nonetheless.

Ryeowook pulled the door open a little, squinting against the sudden brightness. He hid behind the door, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the different lighting. In search for even more reassurance, Ryeowook looked over at Kyuhyun once again, forgetting why he had faced that way in an instant. Hadn’t he gotten used to this view? Then why did it once again take away his breath, why did the evening sun seem to add a whole new palette of colors that the twilight had hidden from him until that moment? How could Kyuhyun still become even more breathtakingly beautiful? Oh, how wrong he had been on the night that he woke up as a vampire for the first time to think of Kyuhyun looking the most beautiful then when he had never seen the other bathed in the golden light cast by the sinking sun.

Ryeowook slowly reached out his hand, quickly pulling it back, though, when he was hit with an uncomfortable sensation. Ah right, his mission hadn’t been to admire Kyuhyun…

He looked down at his hand, then he carefully reached it out once again until the sun shone on it. He watched, shocked by how unusually pale his skin was. Maybe as a member of the royal family, it was normal for his skin to be fair, but this was more… gray. Lifeless. So unlike Kyuhyun’s beautiful, sun-kissed skin tone.

The discomfort of the sun’s contact with his skin increased, but it was still a far cry from what he had felt that first night. And were his eyes playing tricks on him or was his skin starting to turn red-ish?

“How is it?”

Ryeowook looked up and pulled his hand back for closer inspection. Truly, red patches seemed to cover the back of his hand. “Uncomfortable. Not painful, but… uncomfortable.” In lack of better words, he simply repeated himself, a little frustrated. How had he spent all his life studying just to end up lacking words? That didn’t sit right with him.

“May I see?”

Ryeowook looked up, surprised to find Kyuhyun approaching him, closing the door when they were face-to-face. “Shouldn’t I test further?”

Kyuhyun shook his head. “No need. Your body is still sensitive to the sunlight, we shouldn’t overdo it, if possible,” he explained while carefully taking Ryeowook’s hand in his own, bringing it closer to his face to look at it carefully.

“It’s not too bad, is it?”

Kyuhyun look up and shook his head once again. “No, don’t worry. We should still try to avoid direct sun exposure, I think, but your body seems to have adapted well-enough that we can do this.”

“Will we need to prepare anything else?”

Kyuhyun nodded. “I will go to the village once more now to buy some food that we can take along and also to feed—I’m not sure how soon we’ll come across any humans again.”

Ryeowook’s eyes widened. “But won’t that be dangerous for you? You too have to feed, what if—“

Kyuhyun had raised Ryeowook’s hand and placed a gentle kiss on his knuckles, throwing the newborn for a loop mid-sentence. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be able to take care of myself—of both of us.”

Ryeowook still wasn’t convinced, but he merely looked away with a pout. How could he not be worried? He wasn’t well-enough adapted yet to bear the sun as easily as he should, it was unclear how long they’d go without seeing any civilization, they could come across starved wild animals, people from court were most likely still chasing after them… How was all of that not something to worry about?

“But you’ll be honest with me if things are not fine anymore, won’t you? Total transparency, remember?” Kyuhyun nodded and let go of Ryeowook’s hand. A wave of disappointment flowed through Ryeowook at the sudden loss and he hugged himself to make up for it, flashing Kyuhyun a small smile. “Then go quickly so we can leave soon.”

Kyuhyun nodded once again and took a step back. “I’ll be back soon.”

Ryeowook watched as Kyuhyun left and closed the door behind himself, then he looked around, slowly getting to work with packing their belongings before he sat down at the table, thinking. What had been different the night before that might have caused him to stay in control, at least enough that he had been able to not only stop but also Kyuhyun’s wounds afterwards without biting him again? He played through the entire process in his mind, but except from the content of their conversation, he couldn’t think of anything that made that night different from previous nights.

Kyuhyun took longer than Ryeowook had expected until he returned. The sun had already begun setting and with the fading daylight, tiredness and exhaustion also left Ryeowook’s body, when he finally sensed Kyuhyun’s presence shortly before the door was opened. To his surprise, Kyuhyun didn’t return empty-handed as he normally did. Instead, he held a small bundle in the scarf that Ryeowook had initially kept food and medicine in and had wrapped an extra layer of cloth around himself like a coat.

“You bought something in town?” he asked before he remembered that Kyuhyun had said that he'd buy food and feed. He clearly still had to work on memory-skills...

Kyuhyun looked at the bundle, then he nodded. “Yes. Aside from food and water, I got some cord and a waxed cloth that we can use as a tent—it’ll help protect us from rain, sun, animals…”

That made sense. The thought of wild animals still scared Ryeowook, but he ignored it as good as possible, reasoning to himself that Kyuhyun had said that animals would respect them. Mostly, at least. “Shall we get going then?”

Kyuhyun nodded in response. “The sun should have set far enough by now that it shouldn’t harm you anymore.”

Ryeowook got up and shouldered his backpack, then he put on his coat, not sure who exactly he was protecting his belongings from, but since it had become a habit, he continued to wear his backpack underneath his coat. He assured himself with one more glance that they would leave the hut in a neat state, then he turned to Kyuhyun and they nodded at each other, leaving the small place.

They turned away from the coastline right away and walked deeper into the forest.

☆ ☆ ☆

As the night progressed, Ryeowook stopped assuming that each rustling of leaves or cracking of twigs meant that an animal was about to attack them and he mostly droned it out. The walking became as monotonous as ever: as they trotted on, their conversations became less and less, they passed an infinite number of trees, occasionally had to make detours or climb over fallen trees, sometimes with slightly better, sometimes with slightly worse light conditions… The most exciting moment to him was the point at which Kyuhyun suggested to leave a little more time between future feedings, going from one full day to one and a half days, since he assumed that Ryeowook would be able to keep the hunger at bay for that long. The downside of this, which Ryeowook realized quite a bit later, was that the hunger would most likely be stronger then, giving him another blow to his hope of staying in control during feeding sessions.

“I think we should start building our tent for the night,” Kyuhyun said and came to a stand.

Ryeowook turned to him, perplexed. He could feel the morning creeping closer, but he wasn’t quite as exhausted as on many other nights, taking it as a sign that they hadn’t walked quite as far as usually. But there was a different part that really struck him. “Build?”

“Yes. If we do a good-enough job with it, we can even take it with us for a couple days, I think, so we won’t have to build something every day. But this area doesn’t look like we’ll be able to find a natural hideout like a cave or something, and there is certainly no civilization nearby.”

“Do you know how to do this?”

Kyuhyun flashed him a glance that clearly asked how Ryeowook even had the audacity to ask such a question, then he got his facial expressions under control. “Let’s start by looking for long branches. Maybe also a tree that we could use as protection, so one with low-hanging branches, if possible.”

Ryeowook gave in and started searching around. He didn’t have a precise idea of what Kyuhyun was looking for, nor how they were supposed to find long, sturdy branches and actually carry them wherever they needed to go, but if Kyuhyun said that it was possible, he wouldn’t argue against it any further.

He strayed a little from Kyuhyun’s side, making sure to keep the other in view nevertheless while he looked around for anything suitable. They had come across so many loose branches along the way, how come that he suddenly couldn’t find any?

Ryeowook strayed to the side a little more, letting his gaze wander. Over there, wasn’t there something he could use? He approached the thing and it indeed turned out to be a branch of about the size that he deemed fitting. He grabbed and pulled on it, surprised at how easily it moved until he remembered that vampires were stronger than humans, of course. The branch seemed sturdy, so he kept it, the realization dawning upon him what Kyuhyun had meant when he had said that they might not have to build a new tent every day. The branch was a little bulky, making it awkward to carry, but it didn’t feel heavy at all.

Something rustled behind him, making Ryeowook flinch. He turned around, suddenly suspicious again. Something inside him told him very clearly that something—or someone—was out there and a new scent seemed to hang in the air. He scanned the area closely, eyes lingering on the thick bushes that appeared even denser due to their fresh leaves, then he slowly turned around. No, he had to stop going crazy over every little sound. Nothing was there.

Ryeowook turned away, steeling his resolve against the growing doubt and insecurity. He glanced over to where Kyuhyun was also searching and had also already found a few branches.

He moved closer to where Kyuhyun was before he continued to look for more suitable branches as well. However, there was no way to stop his prince-paranoia and the feeling that someone was watching him.

More rustling made him spin around, determined to put the paranoia to ease for real.

A pair of yellow eyes stared right back at him.

Ryeowook’s entire body froze as he stared at the beast in front of him. Saliva was dripping from the wolf’s bared fangs, its head slightly lowered, ready to attack, eyes drilling into Ryeowook, keeping him in place. Even his blood froze in his veins while he simultaneously heard it rushing in his ears.

He should run. He should run! Why wasn’t he running? Why wasn’t he screaming for Kyuhyun?

The wolf took a step closer. And another. It raised its flews, baring his fangs even more. Another step. Then it cowered, ready to jump. Hunger and bloodlust shone in its eyes. Its muscles tensed and it leaned back just the tiniest bit.

A wall of fire exploded between them.

Ryeowook stumbled away from the sudden heat. His foot got caught on something and he fell, but he still moved away.

The fire disappeared as quickly as it had come, allowing Ryeowook a glimpse of the wolf’s fleeing silhouette. Movement to his side startled him, but the fear of another wolf barely had time to settled in before he realized that it was Kyuhyun instead. Kyuhyun, who pulled him close, then pulled away right away, fussing over him, his lips moving, but his words not registering in Ryeowook’s mind.

A wolf. Kyuhyun had said that they wouldn’t get attacked. He had said that they’d be safe!

The earth trembled. No, it was he himself who was trembling. Something hot and wet rolled down his cheek and before he knew it, tears were cascading from his eyes.

Kyuhyun’s lips stopped moving. And suddenly, Ryeowook found himself in a tight hug. The other’s scent engulfed him like a protective shield, banning the rest of the world somewhere far away from where they were, allowing reality to finally sink in.

“I’m sorry. I just… I-I…”

“Shh.” Kyuhyun leaned back a little and he gently wiped away the tears, one arm still securely wrapped around the prince. “What are you sorry for? You panicked, that’s okay. I’m here, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“But… that wolf… you said…”

Kyuhyun shook his head lightly. “Don’t worry about it. It was one of very, very few creatures who got desperate enough from hunger to approach us.”

Ryeowook looked into the direction that the wolf had disappeared into. As his shock was wearing off, he suddenly pitied the wolf, but Kyuhyun pulled him up just a moment later, bending down once more to also pick up the thing that Ryeowook had stumbled over—the branch that he had collected.

“Come on. There’s nothing we can do to help it, so let’s work on making the tent instead.” Kyuhyun gently pulled Ryeowook back to the area where he had been searching, not even suggesting that they should continue search separately. Ryeowook picked up the branches that Kyuhyun had dropped and held out a hand for the one branch that he had collected, grateful when Kyuhyun allowed him to take the role as the carrier.

“How did you know that I needed your help?”

“One thing is the scent, of course. Did you not notice that?”

Ryeowook looked down shamefully. “I did. But I’ve been a little on edge since you told me that wild animals might approach us, so I thought I was just imagining things again and overreacting…”

“I’m sorry. I hadn’t meant to scare you.” Ryeowook looked up when he was handed another branch, keeping his eyes on Kyuhyun as the other continued talking, “Anyway, another point is that we’re predators, which means that I could sense your fear. I usually really hate that part of being a vampire, but in this case, I guess it was kind of useful. And lastly, that wolf was growling at you. If you two hadn’t had my attention already before then, I certainly would have noticed it then.”

“It was growling at me?” Was that what had happened when the wolf had bared its fangs a little more?

Kyuhyun snickered. “You really were frozen from shock, huh? I even called your name.”

“You did?” Ryeowook’s eyes widened and he instantly felt guilty when Kyuhyun nodded. How could he not have noticed any of that? “I’m glad.”

Kyuhyun turned to face him. “You’re glad?”

“That you can control fire, I mean. I’m glad about that. If you hadn’t been able to scare the wolf away, I…” He held the wood a little tighter, feeling a tremble travel through him again.

“Hey, don’t think about that.” Kyuhyun came closer to him and flashed him a gentle smile. “I mean it when I say that I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Ryeowook returned the smile.

☆ ☆ ☆

Ryeowook wouldn’t have thought that building a tent could be so much fun, especially because he could properly tease Kyuhyun this time and watch Kyuhyun lose his cool, acting all innocent and like he couldn’t be blamed whenever Kyuhyun glared at him. Who would have thought that years of learning how to persuade his family into anything could be so useful outside court as well? And especially so effective with an immortal who had most likely already seen his share of persuasion attempts!

“Kim Ryeowook!”

Ryeowook laughed and raised the remaining twigs for their fire in defense, ducking behind them as if they were proper protection. “I’ll stop, I’ll stop!” He put the remaining twigs in place, then sat back, giving Kyuhyun the chance to start the fire. Dawn was approaching, but it was still dark. The tent behind them was finished, looking sturdy, and the rainproof fabric was draped and secured above it, mostly hiding the part that served as their entrance as well. The night was comfortably warm, bearing an air of summer that Ryeowook was already excited about. The first summer away from court and his books, away from endless conferences in the relentless heat, from having to look perfect all the time even though he was melting under his robes.

“I wish I could just freeze this moment, you know? Stop time, keep this forever…”

He felt Kyuhyun’s eyes on him, but kept looking past the fire. Since the shock from earlier had worn off, both of them had relaxed and Ryeowook felt even more secure than before. Something also told him that their perpetual proximity after that incident hadn’t just been one-sided but that Kyuhyun had been just as adamant about staying close as he himself had been.

“What about future moments?”

“The future is in the future, but now is now. And I like this moment right now.”

Kyuhyun laughed softly and shook his head, but he didn’t argue any further. “Do you want to see a little trick?”

Ryeowook nodded excitedly. “My own private show?”

“Yes, though not as grand as what you’re used to. I’d hate to spend too much energy on this and half my time taking the fire off somewhere,” Kyuhyun answered while he summoned a small flame in his hand. Small sparks flew off the flame, sparks that looked more and more like tiny butterflies. Ryeowook watched their dance in awe, amazed by their intricacy.

When the butterflies ceased to fly, Ryeowook’s gaze went back down, watching the images that Kyuhyun weaved into the flame and that seemed so much more individual and personalized than anything Kyuhyun had shown them at the spring festival. He spotted a ship and a forest, something that looked a lot like stars, and a few syllables, written in Hangeul, Meet me o—, then the image changed again.

Ryeowook looked up and his eyes met Kyuhyun’s. With a smile, he reached a hand into his shirt, quickly finding the small pocket that had been sewn into the fabric. He retrieved a small, round stone, unable to keep himself from smiling when he saw the surprise on Kyuhyun’s face. The small flame died as Kyuhyun reached out, taking the stone carefully. “Is this…?”

Ryeowook nodded. “I kept it all this time. I couldn’t keep your message because I was afraid someone might see it, but I kept the stone.”

A fond smile appeared on Kyuhyun’s lips as he held the stone, examining it a little longer before he handed it back, gently placing it in Ryeowook’s hand as if he was holding a fragile treasure and not a simple stone. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d keep it.”

Ryeowook shrugged and put the stone back into the pocket. He knew that the stone didn’t have any material value, but it had a huge sentimental value for him. And if he didn’t take it wrong, Kyuhyun shared that feeling.

“Where did you learn to… do that? To put images into your fire?”

“I learned that more or less accidentally, actually. Towards the end of my stay with my sire, I would go out and practice this element, try to keep it under control without burning anything. One day, I discovered that I could kind of paint images that I had in my head into the fire. The fire is too fickle for forms to last long, but I realized that I could show symbols, though it took some time, of course, until I could form small scenes or big images.”

“So you can even evolve your powers?”

“To a certain degree, yes.” Kyuhyun nodded. “Each power has its limits, of course, but the ease with which you can control them, how much energy you need to use them, how well you can cope with the side effects… All of that can improve. And you might find out about things your power is capable of that you hadn’t realized at first.”

“What kinds of side effects do you mean?”

“Oh, there are a lot of them! Having to be extra careful when and how to use your power in order not to cause harm, learning to cope with the harm that you might have caused, the physical and mental exhaustion that can occur… Or, if we were to take passive powers… Maybe mind readers are a good example. Imagine your surroundings never being quiet because you always hear other people’s thoughts? Those kinds of things often go unnoticed and unmentioned, but they are not to be overlooked.”

Ryeowook hummed and turned to the forest. What kind of power did he have? How would it show? Was it really an active power as Kyuhyun assumed?

Somewhere in the distance, a bird welcomed the nearing morning, waking up the animals around it and reminding Ryeowook of how late it had already become.

“Should we go to sleep?”

Ryeowook glanced over at Kyuhyun, reluctant to let the day come to an end when the moment was so nice and comfortable. “I don’t want to…”

Kyuhyun chuckled. “Just wait a few more minutes, I bet you’ll want to go to sleep then.”

The glance turned into a glare because Ryeowook knew that the other was correct: once the sun rose, the tiredness and exhaustion would be back. “For how long will this continue?”

“I mean, the sun is already affecting you less, so it shouldn’t take long anymore. You’ll still notice that being awake at night is more comfortable than being awake during the day, but you won’t feel this leaden tiredness anymore.”

“That’s good to know.”

“So?”

Ryeowook sighed and, after one more wistful glance towards the fire, he pushed himself off the ground and went into the tent. Suddenly, he realized that there was something he hadn’t thought about until then: there was only one blanket. And that one was lying on the ground for them to sleep on.

“Um… How are we doing this again?”

“The easiest way would be to sleep lying together. Unless you mind it, that is.”

Minding it? He’d have to think about that. But he was certainly not used to something like that. “The sun will make me fall asleep anyway, so I think I’ll be fine.”

“Sure?”

Ryeowook nodded and sat down on the blanket. Kyuhyun followed suit and lay down, so Ryeowook did as well, staying on his back since he wasn’t sure what was appropriate and what Kyuhyun would feel comfortable with.

“If the proximity becomes too much for you at one point, wake me up, okay? It’s okay if the need to feed becomes overwhelming at one point, but if you’re able to, I’d still appreciate to be woken up first.”

Ryeowook grimaced. “Let’s hope the sun will keep me knocked out.”

Kyuhyun nodded. “That would be preferable, yes.”

Ryeowook pulled his coat closer, using it as a blanket, and Kyuhyun did the same with his own coat. The prince felt nervous about lying so close to the other and his mind went back to the moment right before the turning when Kyuhyun had kissed him. How long until he’d get that again?

No, that wasn’t a good question to think about right before going to sleep, he could already feel the desire for another kiss, for maybe even more than that brief brush of lips, rise inside him. No, he should instead focus on the tiredness that the sun awakened inside him.

Despite how much he tried, his last thoughts before he fell asleep surrounded Kyuhyun.