I have no idea why chapter one was rated M. Maybe for language? IDEK anymore and I don't think anyone who is reading this cares. There will be nothing other than some possibly mature language in this fic. That is all.

Siwon honestly thinks that’s the last he’ll ever see of the vampire named Kyuhyun, so he surprises himself more than anyone the following night.

“I gave you my number for a reason,” Kyuhyun sputters when he spots Siwon waiting for him under the lamp post outside the bar.

Siwon avoids looking at Kyuhyun and shrugs helplessly. “I just…sort of wound up here. I wasn’t planning on it,” he lies.

The fact is that he’s spent the last 24 hours agonizing over his first encounter with a vampire. His parents are highly active in the vampire community, not for their contributions to their place in society but for the opposite. They don’t want the vampires gone exactly, but they want them controlled; put into sanctioned off communities and cut off from humans. They don’t treat vampires as people, because they don’t believe they are people. Since he was three, Siwon’s parents have drilled him on tips and tricks to recognize vampires so that he if he ever sees one he can run as fast as he can away from it. Vampires are unnatural, nothing should exist for so long without going mad.

“How can they do it?” Siwon’s father often rants. “How can they live for hundreds of years and keep their sanity? They’ll snap one day, several already have! Some of them were crazy before they were immortal! We have enough destruction in society, we don’t need anymore.”

Siwon has never been against what his parents thought, but he is starting to realize that he’d never had a reason to think otherwise. His encounter with Kyuhyun has made him wonder if his parents might just be wrong. Clearly not all vampires are mad, certainly Kyuhyun hadn’t seemed mad. He’d acted like a very reasonable person.

“What are you doing here?” Kyuhyun now asks, giving Siwon a hard look. “Did you run away again?”

Siwon shakes his head. “I have every intention of returning home,” he promises, “But I’ve decided I want to research vampires on my own. And this was kind of the only place I knew of that would be good for observation,” his voice trails off as he talks, as he is uncomfortable aware of the disbelief on Kyuhyun’s face.

“What made you think I’d even be coming here?” He demands incredulously. “Were you just going to wait here for me, or were you going to walk in on your own? Neither of those are very good ideas, it’s not exactly safe for you out here.”

Siwon has never taken kindly to being told what to do and he lashes out immediately. “You said that nobody would associate me with my parents,” he says defensively. “Why wouldn’t I be safe?”

Kyuhyun grabs his arm and tugs him closer, whispering his next words directly into Siwon’s ear.

“That threat to your safety was not directed at the vampire community. I stand by what I said about those shoes and muggers.”

Siwon barely registers what Kyuhyun has said before he is pulled inside the bar. It’s not at all like it was last night, now it’s teeming with the undead and there’s pulsating music seemingly spewing from the ceiling. Kyuhyun maneuvers them over to a table in a shadowy corner; It’s so dark that at first it takes a moment for Siwon to notice the other man already seated there, and when he does he bows hastily, not that the man seemed particularly offended by the lapse in decorum. If anything he seems far more interested in Kyuhyun.

“Where have you been for the last week?” The man asks, looking Kyuhyun over critically. “Have you eaten at all? You look so sickly.”

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes and sighs. “I’ve been taking care of myself just fine,” he insists. “And as for where I’ve been, if you came up for air once in a while you would have seen me. Stop partying so much, act your age.”

The man laughs, loudly. “You sound just like Jungsu,” he teases. “And who are you to tell me to act my age?” He continues with a smirk, finally directing his piercing gaze towards Siwon. “Going after now, are you? Isn’t he a bit young to consent?”

Siwon feels the blood drain from his face and a thousand protests fly to his lips, but when he opens his mouth nothing comes out. Kyuhyun does a pretty good job of looking righteously offended though.

“Watch your mouth, Kim Heechul,” Kyuhyun growls, “Don’t go throwing words like that around without thinking. Siwon is here as my friend, nothing more and nothing less. And you have no right to talk about consent given that boy sitting next to you.”

Gratitude rushes through Siwon and he slumps back against his chair before the second half of Kyuhyun’s sentence registers. What boy…?

A confused looking young boy pokes his head out from behind the man named Heechul and spots Siwon immediately, smiling kindly at him. Heechul put his hand on the boy's shoulder and glares at Kyuhyun with narrowed eyes.

“For your information,” he grinds out, “Hankyung is 18 and he was the one who brought up the deal, not me.”

“I know how old he is. What did you promise him?” Kyuhyun demands, and before Heechul can answer Kyuhyun barks something fast in Chinese. Siwon doesn’t catch it, but the boy nods in affirmation and looks up at Heechul with a smile. “We made a fair deal,” he says in Korean. Kyuhyun frowns suspiciously but doesn’t press the issue.

“Siwon,” he says and Siwon jumps a bit. “This man here is Heechul, he’s a friend of mine. The boy next to him is Han Geng, also known by Hankyung. He’s Heechul’s Conduit.”

Siwon understand the implication of the term and his eyes fly directly to Hankyung’s neck and wrists, sure enough there are red patches on his skin that indicate he’s been bitten recently. If Hankyung notices the scrutiny though he says nothing about it. Instead he stands up and jerks his head towards the back of the bar. “Walk with me?” he asks. Siwon glances at Kyuhyun, who shrugs his shoulders, his eyes still on Heechul. Siwon can tell that Kyuhyun has some words he wants to say to Heechul and decides it’s best if he makes a hasty retreat.

Siwon follows Hankyung out a back door which lets them into a private garden. Several other people are already gathered in a small gazebo lit with strands of Christmas tree lights. There are three boys and two girls, the youngest among them is a round-faced girl who looks to be about eleven. They all turn to look at the two of them as they approach.

“This is our new friend,” Hankyung says as they draw close, or rather as he draws close and Siwon stops a few feet away, unsure of how he’ll be received. They’re all human as far as he can tell. A burly teenage boy—the only teenager by the looks of it—stands up and beckons Siwon over.

“Well come on,” he says. “We don’t bite.”

Siwon grins weakly and approaches the group. Hankyung introduces the teenager as Kangin. There are two other boys who are sitting close together, and they are Donghae and Hyukjae, but Siwon isn’t sure which one Hankyung points to when he says their names; and anyway both are nearly concealed completely by furry hats and bulky scarves. The youngest girl is Joohyun and the other girl is Sunkyu.

“Nice shoes,” Sunkyu remarks, eyeing his feet. Siwon shifts uncomfortably and makes a note to go to a Payless as soon as he can.

“Siwon is Kyuhyun’s friend,” Hankyung says, and something about his tone makes Siwon uneasy.

“I actually only met him last night,” Siwon confesses. “I really don’t know what I’m doing here.”

Kangin actually laughs at that. “We’ve all been there, trust me,” he says, clapping his hand on Siwon’s shoulder. “You’ll figure out soon enough what it is you want from your association with him.”

“Be glad that you’re with Kyuhyun though,” Hankyung throws in. Siwon shakes his head.

“I’m not with him,” he insists. Hankyung scoffs.

“Kyuhyun introduced him as his friend,” he tells the group, and they all look at Siwon with new found respect.

“Kyuhyun doesn’t say things he doesn’t mean,” Sunkyu says, a hint of awe in her voice. “Hankyung-oppa is right, be glad that he likes you.”

A hundred implications could be drawn from that statement and just as many questions, but Siwon voices none of them and instead sits back and listens while Kangin and Sunkyu attempt to make small talk with Hankyung. It’s not going well, but the three of them are bored enough to keep it up for a while, during which time Joohyun hums to herself and Siwon sneaks glances at the motionless boys that he dubs twins, even though he’s totally unsure of their actual relationship.

This game of normalcy continues until the back door of the bar bangs open, startling the group. “Oops,” a young woman calls sheepishly. “Sorry about that.” Two more people – a baby-faced boy and a younger girl—follow behind her and make their way over to the gazebo.

“Who’s the new kid?” The woman asks as she breezes past, barely glancing in Siwon’s direction before she sits down next to Joohyun. The young girl immediately latches onto her and gives her a bright smile. “That’s Siwon, Kahi,” she says. “He’s Kyuhyun’s friend.”

The woman’s eyes widen and she blatantly stares at Siwon. The other two arrivals seem shocked as well.

“You’re kind of young to be hanging around Kyuhyun, though. Aren’t you?” The boy asks.

“I’m not hanging around him,” Siwon snaps defensively. “We’re not even friends, I literally met him 24 hours ago. The only reason I’m here is because I was tired of hearing about how Vampires were monsters and I wanted to see for myself if it was true.”

It’s the truth, bur the older woman smirks like she doesn’t believe him. “Don’t lie to us, we know you’re the kid that Kyuhyun picked up off the bridge last night.”

Siwon feels his blood run cold for the second time that night and he swallows fearfully. “How did you know that?” He gasps. Hankyung grabs his arm and pulls him down onto a bench next to Donghae and Hyukjae.

“Chill out,” one of them says from behind his scarf (the first time Siwon has heard either of them talk) taking in Siwon’s panicked expression. “Kahi just knows because she lives here. Whatever secret you have that put you on that bridge is still a secret. You aren’t the only person who’s been picked up in the middle of the night by a vampire, you know.”

Siwon mentally slaps himself; he really needs to relax because now everyone probably thinks he’s a freak. Kahi clears and directs her gaze to the girls.

“Sooyoung called to inform you that your ride is out front,” she tells them in a tone that clearly says ‘Get moving.’ Joohyun whines about wanting to stay but Sunkyu pulls her up and hurries off, throwing a goodbye over her shoulder.

The baby-faced boy passes under the lights and on his neck Siwon can see red skin where he’s been bitten recently. As he takes in Kahi and the other girl, he can see similar marks on their necks and arms.

Hankyung follows his gaze. “Siwon, meet Sungmin, Kahi and Nana. They all...” he trails off uncertainly.

“We live here,” Sungmin finishes. Siwon looks at him and finds himself having to avoid his eyes. For such a youthful face, Sungmin has very tired eyes.

“Here?” Siwon echoes incredulously. “At a bar?”

Nana gapes at him. “Wow, you are new to this kind of thing,” she laughs.

Before Siwon can correct her, Sungmin announces that they should all get back inside.

“It’s getting late and cold,” He says gently, “And you don’t need to get sick. Especially you, Hyukjae.” Siwon frowns, Donghae and Hyukjae are both wrapped up in heavy winter gear, meanwhile Sungmin is clothed only in a t-shirt and makes no move to leave.

Kangin and Hankyung get to their feet. “Sungmin is right boys,” Hankyung says, patting the younger boys shoulders. “Yesung and Ryeowook will be looking for you. And Heechul is probably wondering what happened to me.”

“Best not to keep them waiting,” Kahi agrees.

The five of them bid the other three goodnight and make their way back inside, where they nearly run into two men. Siwon recognizes Ryeowook from the night before.

“We were just about to come and get you,” The second man announces.

Siwon follows his gaze to “the twins,” who still haven’t taken off their winter garments.

“Come on Hyukkie,” Ryeowook beckons (Siwon realizes the second man must be Yesung), “Let’s get you home.”

At last Siwon is able to tell the two apart—Hyukjae is the smaller of the two, and he’s wearing a yellow hat whereas Donghae has a red one. Talk about too little too late though, since both of them are now leaving. Donghae rushes over to Yesung and grabs his hand.

“Bye,” Siwon calls weakly, figuring he’ll be ignored, but both of them turn to wave as they walk away.

Siwon looks up to find Kangin looking at him curiously. “You okay?”

Siwon shrugs. “I feel so out of the loop,” he confesses.

“Aw, don’t worry! Everyone you just met totally likes you!”

Siwon laughs.

“No I mean it,” Kangin insists. “I obviously speak for myself, but Sunkyu likes you because she likes Kyuhyun and if you’re good enough for him you’re good enough for her. Joohyun loves everyone because that’s just who she is, but she’s ten so she’s also a little wary of older boys. Hyukkie and Donghae are normally much more talkative and bouncy, but Hyukjae’s getting over a cold and Donghae refuses to be happy without him. And obviously this one—” he pokes Hankyung in the ribs, “Likes you as well or he wouldn’t have brought you out to meet us.”

Siwon nods and asks quietly, “Then what about those other three?”

Kangin hesitates and it’s Hankyung who answers. “They have nothing against you,” he assures, “They just take a while to warm up to people. Especially Kahi and Sungmin. That’s more to do with their personal experiences than anything else.”

Kangin nods in agreement. “Yeah, like he said—they’re all perfectly nice, but first they have to feel comfortable. You understand that, right?”

Siwon can tell it’s code for something, something he isn’t privy to, but he doesn’t mind so much as long as he knows that it’s nothing personal. Now that he understands a bit more, he supposes he can consider it a productive night.

“So then I have what, six new friends?” He asks happily. Kangin grins at him.

“Exactly that,” he says. “And you’ll meet more the longer you stick around, trust me.”

“Guys,” Hankyung says suddenly, “Heechul’s calling us over, I think we should break up the…the…aw crap,” he mutters.

“Yeah, okay,” Kangin says, pushing Siwon ahead, “We got it, break up the love fest.”

“Ah, that’s it!” Hankyung cries at the same time Heechul yells at them to move their butts, he has places to go. Kangin and Hankyung race back to the table and Siwon follows at a more leisurely pace. By the time he gets there Heechul is chewing Kangin out for not arranging a ride with Jungsu like he was supposed to.

“Who’s Jungsu?” Siwon asks, recalling the name having been mentioned earlier.

“My Keeper, apparently,” Kangin snipes, glaring at Heechul. “Nobody asked you to drive me, you know.”

Before Heechul can retort Kyuhyun lays a hand on Kangin’s arm. “I don’t want you walking around alone,” he says quietly, an imploring look in his eyes. Kangin lowers his eyes in surrender.

“See you around,” Kyuhyun says in a louder tone, waving goodbye to the three of them. Siwon also says his goodbyes as the three men leave.

“So,” Kyuhyun says, turning his full attention to Siwon. “How is your evening going?”

Siwon considers his answer for a moment. “Honestly it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I’m glad I’m here.”

Kyuhyun smiles at him. “Good, so am I.” 

Thanks to everyone who commented on the previous chapter! It seems like a lot of you liked how different this story was, and I promise you won't be disappointed as the story goes on ^^