Shortly before dawn, they left the hut. They planned to get settled with Hangeng and Heechul, then go to the market to get the thank you gift for their host, before returning to the mansion. Ryeowook had attempted to suggest that it might be better for Kyuhyun to go to the market alone since he didn’t know how long they’d need to get settled, but Kyuhyun had denied him before he had even voiced out his thought entirely, so Ryeowook didn’t ask into that direction any further. Clearly, Kyuhyun’s mind was set on staying by his side to guarantee his safety, so Ryeowook wouldn’t mess with that.

They arrived at the mansion just as Ryeowook felt the sun begin to rise above the horizon and Hangeng opened the front door with a warm smile. “Welcome back.”

They entered the house and the thought struck Ryeowook that this would be his home for the next while, that they would actually stay for longer than a few nights.

“Where exactly can we stay?” Kyuhyun asked right away and Hangeng motioned across the big room towards the hallway. “There are several rooms on this level and some more upstairs. You can take whichever rooms you’d like, except from the two at the very beginning of the hallway.”

Rooms… Of course Hangeng would use the plural, but after all this time of having slept close to Kyuhyun and knowing how protective the other was, the thought of using separate rooms had never occurred to Ryeowook. What about their early morning or late-night talks? And their goodnight kisses? And—

He should just stop there. Heechul was around; though Ryeowook hadn’t seen the other yet, he could certainly smell him. Which he realized was actually a rather creepy-sounding thought.

“Thank you.” Kyuhyun took Ryeowook’s hand, briefly making him wonder if he had missed any part of the conversation, but he obediently let Kyuhyun pull him along towards the hallway, right towards the ladder where Kyuhyun gently pulled him ahead and nodded upstairs. Ryeowook went up first, looking around once he got there, feeling a little lost. A thin layer of dust covered the floor, showing that the other two really didn’t seem to go upstairs often.

They picked two adjacent rooms near the ladder. Ryeowook scanned the room briefly, but aside from a bed, a window, and two hangers, nothing much could be found, so he quickly lost interest. He left his bag by the door and stepped back into the hallway, surprised to be the first one, but just a moment later, Kyuhyun joined him and they went back downstairs. This time, Heechul was in the main room together with Hangeng, looking up and smiling when the two of them came in. “I apologize for not remembering to clean properly upstairs.”

Ryeowook shook his head lightly. “Please don’t worry about it. Thank you again for allowing us to stay.”

“Do you have any plans for today?” Hangeng asked and Ryeowook nodded, then glanced at Kyuhyun who continued in his place.

“We wanted to get something from the market for our first host, that’s all.”

“If you like, we could go together.”

Hope immediately flared up inside Ryeowook and he watched Kyuhyun’s carefully schooled expression, wishing he could also read the other’s mind. Was he contemplating all the possible dangers, all the pros and cons?

Eventually, Kyuhyun nodded. “Yes, we can do that.”

“Would you two like to eat something before going to town?”

Ryeowook’s eyes went to the pot that was once again placed over the fire, a scent coming from it that confused him because one part of him thought that it was delicious while the other part dismissed it as mediocre and not worth the effort of eating. “I haven’t really eaten much human food yet, so I’ll pass, but thank you for the offer.”

“I’m also fine,” Kyuhyun replied and the other two nodded.

“I was planning on making something fresh one of these days, depending on what the market offers. If you’d like to try it, I’ll make something mild in taste,” Hangeng offered.

The last part was directed towards Ryeowook who hesitated, then looked away. He had had some more dried fruit, but always with the same result, and he definitely didn’t want to show such a response in front of Heechul and Hangeng, no matter how familiar the other two certainly were with such a reaction. But at the same time, hadn’t Kyuhyun said that it wouldn’t get better if he didn’t eat anything?

He looked back at Kyuhyun, unsure how to respond, unsure if Kyuhyun would even be okay with that. But Kyuhyun had also accepted tea offers, so food should also be fine, shouldn’t it?

Kyuhyun seemed conflicted, but he did nod slowly, and Ryeowook wished they were alone so he could remind the other to speak his mind, to let him in on his thoughts and held-back worries.

Turning back to the front, Ryeowook’s smile was back as he replied, “Yes, I’ll happily try some. But I’d like to apologize in advance if I cannot appreciate the food to the fullest extent, please don’t take any kind of reaction from me personal.”

Hangeng shook his head, responding to his smile. “I wouldn’t, don’t worry. We understand that it’ll take time for you to get used to human food again.”

If he didn’t specify ‘time’, then how long was that? Was that human-long or vampire-long? Dread overcame Ryeowook at the thought that the measure could be in vampire time and he quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of his head. “What about you two, what are your plans for today?”

“I have to work, that’s all.”

“Is there anything you don’t like or can’t eat? Whenever you’re comfortable with that, I think we should all cook together,” Heechul chimed in.

Ryeowook shook his head and glanced at Kyuhyun who also shook his head. “I’m fine with anything.”

“Me too.”

“Great!”

“There’s something I was wondering about,” Kyuhyun changed the topic and Heechul nodded in encouragement, “if possible, I’d like to wait a little longer until I search for work in town. For the time being, I still have some money left to help pay for groceries and rent.”

Rent? Ryeowook couldn’t remember them having talked about this matter and, having lived all his life in court or, as of recently, anywhere, the concept of having to pay rent seemed absolutely strange to him. But that was what normal people did, wasn’t it?

Heechul, though, shook his head. “No need to waste your money on something like rent. This place belongs to us and with Hangeng’s position and the lack of normal human needs, money is never tight for us.”

Kyuhyun hesitated, seemed to hold something back, then he nodded. “At least allow me to help with groceries.”

Hearing that, Ryeowook felt somewhat useless: Kyuhyun could work at least, but what could he do? He could help with the cooking and other duties around the house, though there was probably still a lot that he had yet to learn or was at least still unfamiliar with. And even if he suggested using his own money for groceries as well, Kyuhyun would probably deny him unless he ran out of money and hadn’t been able to find a job yet, but how likely was that?

“Do you two want to get settled first or do you want to sit down with us?” Hangeng asked, his gentle tone making Ryeowook feel incredibly welcome and at ease.

“I’d like to sit down with you,” Ryeowook replied and looked at Kyuhyun, smiling when the other nodded in agreement.

☆ ☆ ☆

Soon after Heechul and Hangeng had eaten, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Hangeng left to go to town. Their conversation remained light the whole way, but it was still mainly Ryeowook talking to the other two, making him worry a little, though he kept his thoughts and feelings as clean as possible.

It was only when he and Kyuhyun were back in the forest, a basket with various kinds of food dangling from Kyuhyun’s hand, that Ryeowook deemed it the right time to speak up. “You were very quiet today.”

Kyuhyun glanced at him before looking ahead again. “I’m sorry. It’s just… a lot.”

Ryeowook waited, hoping that Kyuhyun would say more, but the other remained quiet. His heart sank and Ryeowook also focused on what lay ahead of them. If only there was some way for him to comfort Kyuhyun!

“By the way… about the rooms…” Was it weird of him that he didn’t want to sleep alone? At first, sleeping so close together had seemed strange to him, he had always slept on his own, after all, so why did it suddenly seem weird to him that he had his own room? He would only be separated from Kyuhyun by a single wall, so why was his heart still restless?

“We don’t have to sleep in separate rooms, you know?”

Ryeowook glanced over at Kyuhyun, mildly surprised that the other knew exactly what he wanted to express, though a much bigger part of him had expected it. “But won’t it be strange if we share a room?”

“They know that we’ve stayed in a small hut and have been traveling through the wild until now. And you can’t tell me that just because they have two rooms for themselves, they also use both rooms.”

“They don’t?”

“Why would they? If their relationship is indeed similar to ours, I’m certain that they’re mostly using only one of those two rooms or maybe redesigned the other room to function as a study or something similar.”

That made sense.

“I have another question: Are you really okay with me eating what Hangeng-sshi will cook?”

Kyuhyun nodded with a soft sigh. “I guess their food will be as good as anyone else’s, so why should I let you have some dried fruit but not freshly cooked food?” He frowned. “Saying that aloud makes it seem like I’m controlling you… Ryeowook, don’t think that way, please. Ever.”

“I don’t,” Ryeowook was quick to deny, flashing Kyuhyun a comforting smile when their eyes met. “But after how angry you were when I tried the tea, I’d rather check with you first before taking another step.”

Without a warning, Kyuhyun came to a stand. Ryeowook turned around to him, confused, tilting his head when he found Kyuhyun staring at him so unmoving that he could as well be a statue.

“Kyuhyun?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Eh?”

Kyuhyun shook his head, looking away, but the distraught expression didn’t leave his face and his fists were clenched. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“What? No, no, no, that’s not—“

“Then why would your reasoning be that you don’t want me to be angry with you?” Their eyes met again, and even though they stood so close, to Ryeowook, it felt like they were standing unmeasurably far apart from each other.

He took a step forward and gently touched Kyuhyun’s arm, shaking his head. “I don’t want you to be angry with me, that’s true, but I understand where your anger came from and I don’t want you to have to worry so much about me. You’re the one who has more experience, so I’d rather follow your lead than accidentally do something that could get us in danger or that could be overly rude.”

Kyuhyun shook his head. “But you shouldn’t have to ask me for permission to do anything. That’s just… that feels so wrong. You said it yourself, we’re even: both of our wishes and needs are equally important. You’re your own person and so am I—I don’t ask you for permission to do anything, so you shouldn’t do that either.”

Ryeowook looked aside, frowning. But it hadn’t been wrong that he had relied so much on Kyuhyun these days and that he had rather let the other speak when serious topics had come up, had it? Hadn’t Kyuhyun wanted this? It had sounded that way to Ryeowook during their argument, at least to some degree, so why was this behavior suddenly wrong? Or had he misinterpreted something?

“I’ll still turn to you when it’s about decisions that can be labelled reckless, okay?” he asked eventually and looked up, searching in Kyuhyun’s eyes until the other nodded and relief flushed through Ryeowook.

“Yes, let’s do it like that.”

Ryeowook smiled and linked his arm with Kyuhyun’s, gently pulling the other to keep moving. It was already hot, but he ignored it for the sake of being close to Kyuhyun, hoping to bring the other comfort. His free hand leisurely waved the fan and he immediately smiled when his eyes landed on the beautiful design. “How come you picked this one for me?”

“You don’t like it?” Kyuhyun’s voice was wary, prompting Ryeowook to quickly shake his head.

“How could I not like it? I was just curious if there’s a specific reason.”

“There is,” Kyuhyun started slowly, hesitating once more before he added, “It’s beautiful. There’s something calm and warm about that scenery that… And the meaning of orchids…” Kyuhyun trailed off again, but tingling warmth already spread through Ryeowook and he tightened his lock on Kyuhyun’s arm, leaning against the other for a moment. So he hadn’t been wrong when he had immediately thought of the meaning of this flower! And calm and warmth… If Kyuhyun mentioned those two words so explicitly, were those the words that he attributed with Ryeowook? Could that be?

“Thank you. This fan really means a lot to me.”

“What fan would you have picked for me?”

“Honestly? The same one that you picked on your own.”

“Really?”

Ryeowook nodded. “Not only do the colors fit you, I think the proverb also works really well.”

“Um… about that…” Kyuhyun trailed off and Ryeowook bit back a smile, guessing what Kyuhyun wanted.

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart,” he read aloud, using the Korean pronunciation for the Chinese characters. “That’s what it says. Some annotations give this sentence a different meaning, but taken by itself, I really like the idea of doing your best wherever you go.”

“But it’s so difficult to always do your best.”

“If you take the ‘best’ as an unmovably standard, then yes. But in my opinion, every day has a different ‘best’, so it’s not all that difficult to do your best every day. Some days, your best may be very productive, other days, your best might simply be staying in control.” He had stood by those words for a long time, had even gotten into an argument with his teacher once—but this time as he said those words, they felt empty to him. Hadn’t he always given his best? But there he was, beating himself up while he hadn’t been able to control the hunger, whining over still not having figured out what his power was and that he probably didn’t have a power…

“Nevermind what I just said,” he mumbled just as Kyuhyun said, “You have a point.”

They stared at each other for a moment, but then Ryeowook shook his head. “Right now, I’m speaking without following my own principles.” He looked ahead, suddenly missing his life at court where everything had been so easy, the rules so clear, his role unmistakable…

But with a flick of his wrist, those thoughts dissipated. No, he had chosen to not continue that life and had followed Kyuhyun instead, he had chosen to break out of his everyday life and to follow his heart. Kyuhyun was definitely worth the comparably turbulent life and the new challenges that he had to face!

☆ ☆ ☆

After leaving the basket at the hut, the two returned to the mansion, their pace slowing as Ryeowook grew more and more tired. He had initially wanted to stay up long enough to chat a little more with Heechul, but by the time that they arrived back at the house, all Ryeowook could focus on was the siren-song of the bed, though the nearly undefeatable challenge of a ladder separated him from sweet sleep.

Heechul was obviously amused by his state, but merely gave them clean bedsheets before he bid them goodnight, and it was all Ryeowook could do to stay awake until Kyuhyun got into bed with him and gave him a goodnight kiss before he fell asleep.

☆ ☆ ☆

When something woke Ryeowook up, his body still felt leaden and the sun was still up, its effect on him so strong that it couldn’t even be evening yet. But soft panting and a sensation that aroused the vampire nature inside him left him unable to fall back asleep. Kyuhyun was still by his side, but he wasn’t holding him and, judging by the feeling of emptiness next to his torso, the other didn’t even seem to be lying.

Confused, Ryeowook forced his eyes open, squinting against the uncomfortable brightness. Kyuhyun’s sitting shape was still blurry, getting a little sharper with each time that Ryeowook blinked until he finally fought off the tiredness enough to mumble, “Kyuhyun?”

The other tensed. “I’m okay,” he said quickly, his voice sounding pressed.

Ryeowook frowned and slowly sat up, yet Kyuhyun turned his face away, letting his hair fall between them like a black curtain. “What’s wrong?” Ryeowook reached one hand out, but stopped midway, unsure if Kyuhyun would want any kind of physical contact in that moment.

“Nothing. Just a nightmare.”

“Do you want,” he yawned, blinking afterwards, trying to remember what he had started to say, “want to talk about it?”

“No.”

Then what? “Can I do anything else for you?” Wasn’t it normally good to drink something in such a moment? But Ryeowook wasn’t sure if his tired body would carry him downstairs, fetch some water, and get back upstairs all without accidents. Additionally, despite their earlier conversation, he didn’t think it very likely that Kyuhyun would be comfortable with him wandering through the house all on his own, at least not yet, even though he didn’t hear Heechul or Hangeng. Then again, how much did ‘not hear’ mean? They were all vampires, after all, and Ryeowook knew that the other two were in the house, so who was to say that just because he didn’t hear them didn’t mean that they weren’t awake?

Slowly, Kyuhyun turned around to him and their eyes met. Kyuhyun’s expression softened almost immediately and he reached a hand out, gently trailing it along the side of Ryeowook’s face until it rested on his cheek. Ryeowook leaned his head into the hand, closing his eyes for just a moment too long before he quickly opened them again, already feeling himself doze off. The corners of Kyuhyun’s lips curved upwards in the hint of a smile and he finally lay back down, pulling Ryeowook into his embrace.

“It’s okay. I should be used to this by now.”

“You get nightmares often?”

“Not anymore, but I used to. Especially during the time when I was running away from her.” One of Kyuhyun’s hands slowly caressed Ryeowook’s back and he couldn’t help but relax, fighting hard to keep his eyes open. No, Kyuhyun seemed to need him awake at that moment, it was the least Ryeowook could do!

“Are they always the same?”

“No. But… I think they have the same theme.”

“What theme?”

Kyuhyun shook his head lightly. “Maybe I’ll tell you some other time.”

“Just like the reason for what happened this morning. Dusk...” Or whatever to call the time when they had gotten up and Kyuhyun had apologized to him.

Kyuhyun’s hand came to an abrupt stop and Ryeowook was certain that he heard Kyuhyun’s heart stumble beneath his ear, making him frown. Had he said something wrong?

“Just like this morning,” Kyuhyun repeated and his hand continued its path, feeling more absent-minded this time.

Ryeowook wanted to call the other out, but instead, he yawned, forgetting about his protest when he had to instead use all his will-power to open his eyes again after yawning.

“It’s okay, little prince, you can go to sleep.” Kyuhyun placed a peck on top of Ryeowook’s head, making him feel incredibly safe and well taken care of.

“But—“

“I’m okay. I promise.” His voice was so honest that Ryeowook couldn’t argue against it.

“'Mkay,” he made as his eyes closed on their own, thinking about the best ways to stay awake in case Kyuhyun still needed him, unknowingly drifting off to sleep.

Hey guys,

I've only been able to write this far for the time being (university is killing me). That means: future updates will take longer, so please be patient with me. But, as promised, I am going to finish this story.

Thank you for reading, subscribing, and commenting! Seeing you all enjoy this story really brightens my days <3 I wish you a wonderful day~