Seulgi likes to wear her hair up.

 

It’s easier, she says, tying it up instead of bothering with something as simple as a hair brush (god forbid she so much as look at a straightener or curling iron), and Joohyun hates it, hates the curve of her neck whenever she turns, hates the smooth expanse of skin that’s always on display, hates how she can’t stop thinking about the blood that runs just underneath.

 

It wouldn’t be hard to get a taste. Joohyun could be messy, rip the skin right off with one quick bite, blood flowing directly into , warm and ready. It would make things easier, more exciting, but Joohyun’s never been a messy eater and despite popular opinion, she doesn’t want to hurt Seulgi if she can help it.

 

No, Joohyun is clean.

 

She’ll sink her teeth in slowly—a small prick of the skin that would only be painful initially—and carefully so that nothing’s wasted and Joohyun’s fully satisfied. She can imagine it clearly, kissing Seulgi until she’s ready, the swipe of her tongue before she bites, the warm taste of blood against -

 

“Unnie?”

 

Joohyun snaps her eyes up.

 

“Y-yes?”

 

Seulgi looks at her curiously, tilting her head to the side, and Joohyun has to stop herself from staring at the way the muscles in her neck strain against her skin.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“I’m okay.” Joohyun nods, at her lips. It’s hot, is dry, and her eyes are bright like the red that runs through Seulgi’s veins, but Seulgi doesn’t need to know that Joohyun had just thought of at least a dozen different ways to kill her.

 

“But your eyes-”

 

“It’s fine.”

 

Seulgi opens to the curt response, but closes it quickly. She nods, turning back to the textbook in her lap wordlessly, and Joohyun sighs. Hundreds of years of experience and Joohyun’s still lacking in social skills.

 

“Seulgi,” she calls, but the girl doesn’t move. “Seulgi.”

 

Nothing.

 

Joohyun grits her teeth, trying to remember what it was like to be human and fueled by simpler emotions, but all she can recall is anger that led to a snapped neck and desire so strong she’d torn straight through to the bone. Neither of those memories seem particularly appropriate for this situation.

 

“Seulgi,” she tries again, reaching out to grab at her arm. It’s warm beneath her palm, and Joohyun resists the urge to grip tighter. “I’m sorry, I just-” she stops and Seulgi finally turns to her, eyes wide and bright and human. Joohyun looks away. “I’m sorry.”

 

She hears the shuffle of papers against the bed and the soft thud of a book closing before all of her senses are invaded simultaneously by Seulgi’s scent.

 

Gentle arms wrap around her, pulling her against Seulgi until she’s pressed to her front, head tucked in the crook of Seulgi’s neck so that Seulgi’s all she can smell and all she can feel.

 

“You’re hungry,” Seulgi states and Joohyun frowns, already knowing where this is going. “If you want, you could-”

 

“No.”

 

Seulgi knits her brows together like the idea of Joohyun not wanting to her blood is offensive. Maybe it is, Joohyun doesn’t know; humans have always been confusing.

 

“Why not?”

 

Joohyun leans back as Seulgi crosses her arms. For a moment, it feels like they’re a normal couple, arguing about something as mundane as what movie to watch and not over whether Joohyun should potentially kill her.

 

“It’s dangerous.”

 

Seulgi rolls her eyes. “And leaving me alone with Sooyoung and Seungwan the other day wasn’t?”

 

Joohyun snarls at the mention of the other girls. “They won’t hurt you.”

 

“And you will?”

 

She could, she always could, and Seulgi knows that—they both do. It’s why she spent so long pretending Seulgi didn’t exist, avoiding her as much as she could, but like a moth to a flame, Joohyun couldn’t resist and Seulgi wouldn’t let her leave no matter how hard she tried.

 

“I don’t want to,” she admits and Seulgi’s eyes soften. She traces patterns on Seulgi’s knee as she whispers pleadingly, “Please don’t make me.”

 

“AlL right,” Seulgi sighs, squeezing Joohyun’s hand on her knee before turning back to her textbook. Joohyun watches her for a moment, wondering if Seulgi is still upset with her (for what, Joohyun’s still not entirely sure), but then Seulgi gathers her hair into her hands, pulling it back as she ties it swiftly into a bun, and Joohyun almost chokes.

 

She’d forgotten about her hunger when they’d been talking, but sitting here now, Seulgi’s neck on full display, it’s all Joohyun can think about, the dryness in almost unbearable. She turns away, attempting to busy herself with looking at the posters on Seulgi’s wall, but then Seulgi tilts her head back, moving it in a slow circle as she stretches and Joohyun sees red.

 

“What-”

 

Joohyun has her pinned to the bed, eyes narrowed as Seulgi gazes up at her quizzically.

 

“You’re doing this on purpose,” she growls and Seulgi has the audacity to smile innocently up at her. She pulls Joohyun down, seemingly unaffected by the way Joohyun is looking at her like she could eat her whole.

 

“So?”

 

She tugs Joohyun’s bottom lip with her teeth, and Joohyun wonders how she ended up with a human girlfriend who’s less afraid of her than her vampire younger sisters (though they’re not very affected by her either, which is kind of burdening since Joohyun would like to think she’s at least a little bit menacing).

 

“It will hurt,” Joohyun warns, resigning herself to what she’s about to do. She’d promised herself in the beginning she’d never drink from Seulgi, but then again, she’d also promised herself she’d never get involved with a human and she did a wonderful job of keeping that. It was only a matter of time before she broke this vow too.

 

“It’s okay,” Seulgi says, angling her head away so that her neck is open, and this time Joohyun doesn’t bother with pretending not to stare. Her fangs push against her lips, and she opens to free them as Seulgi whispers again, “It’s okay.”

 

Joohyun bruises her with a kiss first, careful not to break skin as she bites, softly until Seulgi’s breath is ragged and her fingers dig into Joohyun’s side. She runs the flat of her tongue up to Seulgi’s ear, muttering out another apology as Seulgi mewls.

 

It hurts at first, just as Joohyun knew it would. Seulgi gasps, clawing at Joohyun’s back as she searches for something to hold onto, but then seconds later she’s calm, relaxing into a strange sort of euphoria as Joohyun drinks steadily.

 

Everyone tastes different, and Joohyun’s been around long enough to know what she does and doesn’t like, but there’s something about Seulgi that’s unique, a distinct sweetness Joohyun’s never had in anyone else. Joohyun closes her eyes, reveling in the warmth of Seulgi’s blood as it slides down , and it’s almost enough to make her want to keep going, drink her dry until Seulgi’s a mess of bones and skin. It’s hard to stop once started and when she was still young, Joohyun used to be incapable of eating without killing, but when she feels Seulgi’s arms fall limply to her side, followed closely by a quiet, “Joohyun,” Joohyun forces herself to pull away.

 

It’s difficult, taking all of her willpower not to latch herself back onto the open wound, but then Seulgi looks up at her, eyes unfocused and skin pale, and concern overpowers every other emotion she’d been feeling.

 

Joohyun raises her so that she’s sitting up, worried that Seulgi might fall asleep. Seulgi slumps against her, pulse slow and breathing shaky. She’s cold and for once, Joohyun is the warmer of the two. There’s a mark where she’d bitten, but it’s small and Joohyun knows it won’t be noticeable under the bruise her kiss had left.

 

“I’m sorry,” Joohyun says again, overwhelmed with guilt as Seulgi curls her fingers into the front of Joohyun’s shirt. She rubs her hands soothingly across Seulgi’s back, tracing along her spine as Seulgi lifts her head wearily.

 

“No, it’s...it’s okay. Just-” Seulgi’s eyes are dark as she brings Joohyun towards her, crushing her lips against Joohyun’s desperately. Impatient hands brush along her jaw, cupping her cheeks as she tilts Joohyun’s head back to swipe her tongue across the roof of Joohyun’s mouth. Seulgi’s bold for once, mind too incoherent to remember how to be shy, but Joohyun doesn’t mind. She’s been through so many lifetimes she’s almost forgotten what it was like to feel breathless after a kiss.

 

Seulgi drags her lips across Joohyun’s cheek, trailing kisses down her jaw until she reaches Joohyun’s neck. Joohyun shudders at the teeth against her skin, suppressing a moan when she feels Seulgi bite, harder than Joohyun did, like she wants to draw blood.

 

“What are you-”

 

Joohyun hisses as Seulgi begins to harshly. She shuts her eyes, aware of the painful way her fangs are digging into lips, but she can’t focus on anything other than the feel of Seulgi’s mouth on her neck and the agonizing way she alternates between teeth and tongue. When Seulgi finally pulls away, Joohyun’s struggling for oxygen she doesn’t need, body humming with the kind of want she doesn’t have to kill for.

 

She lifts a hand to her neck, skin throbbing and tender from Seulgi’s efforts, and opens her eyes to Seulgi watching her intently, no longer weak from the loss of blood.

 

“What was that for?”

 

Seulgi brings her hand to Joohyun’s neck, moving aside Joohyun’s own as she thumbs the sore spot carefully.

 

“Will this leave a mark?” she asks instead.

 

“I’m only a vampire,” Joohyun answers with a quirk of her brow, “I’m not indestructible.”

 

It’ll stay a few days, a week at most, and she won’t be able to go anywhere without Sooyoung and Seungwan teasing her. It makes her feel strangely human, and she wonders if that was Seulgi’s intent.

 

Seulgi sits back, smile crooked as she regards Joohyun warmly.

 

“Twilight lied to me then,” she replies, hand combing through Joohyun’s hair. Joohyun leans into the touch.

 

“You read Twilight?” Joohyun asks amusedly, the corners of her lips rising.

 

Seulgi’s eyes turn bashful, gaze falling to the floor.

 

“I was young,” she admits, “and I didn’t know you guys were real!” Seulgi purses her lips, embarrassed, as Joohyun smirks.  “At least, I never bothered with the movies.”

 

Joohyun laughs, wrapping Seulgi back in her arms as the younger girl glares.

 

“As long as you know I’ll never sparkle,” she coos, smiling when she feels Seulgi return the hug.

 

“Funny,” Seulgi mumbles, nudging her forehead against Joohyun’s.

 

Joohyun’s the stronger of the two, but Seulgi’s taller and it’s easy for her to push them back to lie against the bed. Seulgi’s body is warm once again and pressed together like this, it almost feels like Joohyun’s is too.

 

“But really,” Joohyun starts, lips brushing Seulgi’s lightly, “what was that for?”

 

Seulgi blushes, eyes turning away as she confesses, “I just wanted to know what it was like.”

 

Joohyun raises a brow. “To bite someone?”

 

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she mutters, laying her head against Joohyun’s shoulder. “I don’t really get the appeal,” she continues thoughtfully, “but you do have very nice skin.”

 

Joohyun laughs, tugging Seulgi’s hair down from its bun so she can run her hand through the soft tresses. Seulgi’s scent hits her in waves, but now Joohyun’s hungry for something entirely different.

 

“I find it appealing,” Joohyun says as Seulgi lifts her head. There’s the same look of want Joohyun’s sure is in her own eyes, and Joohyun’s not sure how much more she can wait. “I find you appealing.”

 

“Yeah?” Seulgi her lips, hips pressing down and Joohyun groans.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Seulgi dips down to kiss her, hands running down her sides and up her shirt. Joohyun hears Seulgi’s textbook fall to the floor and is reminded, vaguely, of a test Seulgi had been complaining about studying for the next day, but then Seulgi’s hands grow bolder and Joohyun finds she could care less about the current state of Seulgi’s education.

 

“I lied earlier,” Seulgi whispers and Joohyun has to fight to remember what it is they were talking about. She moves back to the mark on Joohyun’s neck, kissing it softly as she continues, “I just wanted you to be mine.”

 

Joohyun flips them then, scratching blunt nails across Seulgi’s scalp as she kisses her deeper and presses harder.

 

She whispers against the spot she’d bitten as Seulgi moans into her ear.

 

“I’m already yours.”

 

---

 

Joohyun leaves before the sun rises, tearing herself away from Seulgi with the promise to be back at night.

 

When Seungwan sees her, she’s alarmed at first, inspecting the deep bruise on her neck with concern before breaking into a roaring laughter. Sooyoung joins eventually as well, pointing and giggling like the young school girl she’ll be forever.

 

It stays for the rest of the week and Joohyun almost misses it when it’s gone.

 

Seulgi promptly gives her another one.

---