Tangled in bedsheets, haphazardly dressed in only undergarments and Minji’s too-large button up shirt, the only light coming from the dimmed beams of moongeist seeping into the bedroom from their ajar window. No one else is awake at this hour - only creatures of the night and restless souls stir in the gloomy dusk, counting the minutes until the city wakes once more. Limbs ensnaring her torso in a loose grip, and her lover’s shallow breath on her collarbone. Minji’s close to consciousness, but dangling over the edge of coherent and immersed in a dead sleep.

It’s times like these, Yubin thinks to herself, that she cherishes most of all.

Not because their intimacy must be kept private at every corner, or that she’s ashamed of loving Minji so much it hurts. (She’s already heard the concerns about her ‘lifestyle’ hundreds of times over from her friends and family. Vampires and humans don’t mix, they would tell her. Yubin doesn’t listen to them because they don’t know Minji like she does. They don’t know how Minji tears up at seeing her own dog because Cherry is so cute, they don’t know how Minji writes her adorable little poems and song lyrics about loving her until her last breath - which, by all accounts, won’t be for a very long time. They don’t know Minji, and it makes Yubin irrevocably angry.)

No, Yubin cherishes the moments that Minji lets go of all her toughness and bravado. It isn’t often that Minji lets herself be vulnerable, but Yubin has the privilege of seeing it, feeling it, experiencing it. She stirs in the early hours of the morning - sometimes staying up just to watch Minji’s layers of external defenses disengage themselves - and observes. Observes how Minji clings to her torso like a sloth. Sometimes hangs agape and she sees the faintest indentations of Minji’s fangs, and despite herself, Yubin finds it cute. It’s a very private sight to behold her lover this relaxed, and she wholeheartedly treasures it.

Vampires, she’s come to learn, are nothing like humans have made them out to be through the centuries. Minji’s skin feels not like ice, but instead the temperature is akin to a tepid mug of freshly brewed tea. There’s no denying that she gets colder more often than most living beings she knows, but Minji is plenty capable of generating her own body heat. The throb of her inner pulse is slow, methodical, but nowhere near absent. Yubin supposes, in several ways, vampires are far from heartless creatures. (Or is that just Minji? Yubin doesn’t know. Minji is the only vampire she’s formally met.)

The pallid light from the waning moon tints Minji’s melanated skin a ghoulish blue, though Yubin suspects it casts a similar effect on her own body. The vampire’s chest rises and falls steadily, and Yubin contemplates how this is likely the most at-peace she’s seen her fiancée. She wonders if Minji dreams, wonders if she dreams about Yubin in the same ways that the human dreams about her. What kind of dreams, would a vampire have?

(Then again, no one has more thirst for earth, for blood, and for ferocious uality than the creatures who inhabit cold mirrors - creatures like Minji. So maybe Minji’s dreams are decidedly less vanilla than Yubin’s own.)

“You’re thinking.”

Yubin’s lip quirks upwards. “Well, darn. You caught me.”

The interruption to her thoughts is unexpected, but not an unwelcome one. Minji’s crimson eyes behold traces of grogginess, and it’s glaringly obvious that the vampire just woke up, but none of it detracts from Minji’s natural beauty. It’s laughably easy to lose herself in her fiancée's eyes, though she’s long since stopped trying to determine if it’s because she’s in love with Minji, or just a side-effect of the vampire’s vaguely hypnotic influence. “Why are you awake?” She asks in a gravelly, sleep-addled voice that has no right to sound so attractive, especially not at 3 in the morning. “It’s early for you.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” she easily lies. Well, Yubin isn’t quite sure that it’s a lie - perhaps a half-truth would be more accurate. It’s no secret between the both of them that she struggles with her circadian rhythm. Minji doesn’t sleep very much either, but whereas she biologically needs less sleep to function on a normal level, Yubin is usually too restless to sleep comfortably. The consequences of her sleep deprivation are detrimental to her day to day life, something that causes Minji an endless supply of concern for the human. “You know how it is, Min.”

“I’m sorry, Bin,” the vampire mumbles, and Yubin can tell the pity is genuine. It doesn’t antagonize her like the way sympathy from someone else usually does, but Yubin concludes it has to do with the fact that Minji isn’t just someone else. The care she sees in Minji’s eyes is real, but so is a hidden undertone of restraint. “I could-”

“Not tonight,” she declines before the words are even tumbling out of Minji’s mouth. Her gaze wanders from the brief pang of hurt that flashes in Minji’s eyes, down to the vampire’s pale lips. The glossy finish of her piercings shimmer dully in the low light, something that causes her brow to knit together in a slight frown. “Min, you forgot to take your piercings out again…” I know she’s a vampire, but I don’t want anything to get infected… She reaches out to the smoke-tinted jewelry, intent on helping to remove it.

Yubin’s hand doesn’t get very far, however, as Minji almost immediately intercepts it with her own. The vice grip on her wrist borders on painful, but the way Minji’s expression tightens almost imperceptibly makes Yubin ignore her discomfort. “Minji?”

“I… I’m fine.” It isn’t an uncommon sight for Minji’s eyes to glow in the odd hours of the night, what with the lack of other lighting serving to accent the bloody hue of her irises, but something tells Yubin that tonight is different. Minji never grinds her teeth, or stops Yubin from touching her unless her self-control is at the end of its rope. “Just… g-give me a minute.” The only time this happens is-

“When was the last time you ate?” Yubin’s suspicions are confirmed when Minji doesn’t hold eye contact with her.

“That’s not important.”

“It’s important if you’re starving yourself.”

“I don’t need to-”

“Gods, why are you so stubborn?” Yubin resists the urge to roll her eyes at their back-and-forth banter. Before Minji can stop her, the human moves to straddle her hips and forcefully pulls on the lapels of her shirt. It’s large enough that her collarbone is revealed without popping any of the buttons, but she takes it a step further and nearly rips the top of her shirt open. “Oh, don’t give me that look. I know you’re hungry.”

Whatever denial Minji plans to respond with dies on her lips, and it’s likely that the vampire knows her hesitancy is redundant at the least. Still, apprehension occupies her crimson gaze on Yubin’s neck. “Yubin… you don’t need to do this,” she mumbles. The tone is otherwise inaudible, if not for their extreme proximity.

“I want to.” The reply is equally soft, but when accented by Yubin tilting her head in order to bare her neck, the atmosphere between them grows heavy with unspoken tension. Despite the confidence of her words, however, feeling the brush of fangs and the tickle of Minji’s breath on her skin is enough to induce tremors all throughout her body. She isn’t scared, she’s not - but the anticipation almost kills her every time, makes her breath get stuck in , and she knows Minji knows this.

Yubin feels the smirk on her neck. “You say that, but you’re so nervous… I can feel you trembling.”

“ you, you know I hate needles.”

“A little ironic, isn’t it? A tattoo artist afraid of needles?”

“Oh, shut up and just bite me already-”

Minji’s fangs finally pierce her skin. She’s certain her shudder is so strong that Minji feels it, just as she’s certain Minji will undoubtedly make fun of her for it. (Yubin doesn’t care in the moment.)

The immediate moment of the bite is always the worst. The numbing agent in the vampire’s venom has a delayed reaction, and for all of a second, she winces at the potent sting of Minji’s fangs in her neck. But once the numbing agent enters her bloodstream, a pleasured gasp is drawn from her lungs, and all momentary pain is forgotten in an instant. Yubin moans - she moans - and under any other circumstances she’d be too embarrassed to even look at her fiancée, but the heat of the moment allows her to momentarily omit the memory from her head.

Minji must be starved for blood, because within seconds of opening up a wound in her target vein, she drinks with the depravity of a caged animal. It’s no exaggeration to say that Yubin is not accustomed to the sensation. Letting Minji feed on her always borders on an experience, though she supposes it has something to do with the fact that Minji tends to bite her during . (Sometimes the pleasure is too much for Yubin to handle and she blacks out, something she also finds a tad embarrassing. Minji is way too good at what she does, she concludes.)

The desperation translates to Minji’s body language as well. Yubin’s neck is already plenty accessible to the vampire, but her lover’s free hand wraps around the back of her shirt and rends the fabric from her flesh. Minji’s aim is a little too close to Yubin’s backside for comfort - the vampire doesn’t seem to care, claw-like digits carving harsh grooves into her inked skin. The little gasp that falls from her agape mouth does nothing to deter Minji’s frenzied behavior. Yubin isn’t sure if the claw marks will heal like normal scratches or if the jagged welts will scar over, but for the moment, she doesn’t mind the pain. (Minji’s always eager to remind her that Yubin likes it rougher than most, anyway.)

Eventually, though, Minji slows down and seems to sober up from her haze of bloodlust. Yubin feels her head grow light, and she can barely see her lover through her eyelids, only somewhat aware of Minji’s tongue and lips pressing into her neck. It isn’t until she feels the human’s feeble tap on her shoulder that Minji fully pulls away from the wound. Yubin nearly collapses back onto the mattress with a shaky breath; it isn’t often that Minji really, truly, drains her. “W-wow…” Her voice sounds airy and thin, even to her own ears. “You must have been...hungry.”

The way Minji the blood off of her lips - her blood - it’s incredibly attractive, makes her body feel hotter than it should, but she just feels so tired. It takes a herculean effort just to look up at her lover, who eventually moves to settle beside her. “Sorry. I know that was a bit… much.” The guilt is obvious in her voice, so much so that Yubin doesn’t need to turn and look at Minji to know the vampire is frowning.

“Hm… it’s okay,” Yubin mumbles. Her lids grow too heavy for her to keep them open, so she gives into her exhaustion and relaxes. “You were...hungry. And I...liked it.”

“I know.” Minji sounds as if she wants to say more, but chooses not to. “Good night, Yubin.” She feels one last kiss on her exposed neck, on the fresh indents marring her honeyed skin. “I love you.”

She wants to stay awake to return the affectionate remark - one of her favorite things in the world is to give Minji reaffirmations of the mutually unconditional love she has for the vampire - but retaining her consciousness proves to be an uphill battle. Her previous lightheadedness in tandem with how exhausted she is makes her succumb to the slumber her body so desperately craves. Minji's larger body, although not terribly warm, presses against her in a vaguely protective embrace, and Yubin has never felt so safe in her life.

Minji’s pulse, however slow and muted, lulls her to a deep sleep all the same.