Archive of Our Own

Beomgyu liked to consider himself a very open-minded person, especially when it came to the supernatural.

He’d met several of them during his time at school, and not once had he said anything rude. His mother had told him he might get eaten if he did, which was enough of a threat that his younger self had taken it seriously. He’d even stopped his classmates from bullying a young faerie girl one time. That meant that he’d gotten milk all over the front of his uniform instead, but the girl had been so grateful that she gave Beomgyu a good-luck charm that he’d been wearing ever since.

He even lived with a supernatural now, which to him seemed about as open-minded as it got. Soobin was a werewolf. It only really got inconvenient during his time of the month, which was when he started to get super grumpy and territorial for no reason. At least he didn’t bite– once he was actually stuck as a wolf he just tended to chew on the furniture and get hair everywhere. It was more like having a really poorly-behaved dog as a roommate.

The other thing that Soobin was weird about was the sniffing. It was the one human convention that he didn’t seem to understand– it was weird to sniff your friends, and Beomgyu stood by that. It didn’t matter to Soobin. Anyone that came in or out of the apartment got the thorough sniff treatment.

“Yeesh, can you– Soobin hyung! That’s enough!”

Soobin crossed his arms. “You’ve been around a vampire.”

“What?” Beomgyu gave him a completely nonplussed look. “I would definitely know if I was around a vampire. They’re, like– kinda freaky-looking, right? No offense.”

Soobin snorted. “Why would I care if you called a vampire freaky-looking? They are. They’re monsters with no sense of decorum, they just go around eating whoever they like.”

Beomgyu neglected to mention the fact that due to the sniff treatment he’d just gotten at the front door, it looked a lot like Soobin didn’t have much decorum either. “Yeah, exactly. If I came into contact with a vampire I probably wouldn’t even be alive right now.”

Soobin harrumphed, but he seemed to be inclined to let the topic go for now. “Just be careful. I don’t want to have to go off on some quest to get vengeance for you if they find your bloodless body in a dumpster somewhere.”

The idea made Beomgyu shudder. He had full confidence that Soobin would indeed go on a murder spree if he got killed, because Soobin was protective of his friends. The dumpster part was definitely worse, though. Beomgyu was planning on dying a much more notable death than vampire food.

Yeonjun came over for dinner that night, because Yeonjun pretty much came over for dinner every night. He lived in the apartment two floors up, and Soobin had tracked his scent through the elevator one day and then “accidentally” ran into him at the mailbox. Yeonjun didn’t seem to mind– at least not as much as Beomgyu thought he should. He seemed happy to bring over whatever was in his fridge and let Soobin cook it in front of him while he sat there whistling at the counter.

Yeonjun was a human, at least as far as Beomgyu was aware. He thought it might be rude to ask. Soobin had told him that most supernaturals were pretty upfront about it, but some preferred to hide to avoid discrimination. He hadn’t displayed any traits that Beomgyu considered particularly weird, though he certainly seemed much more happy to sit through Soobin’s sniff treatment than Beomgyu was. Maybe Yeonjun had just grown up around more werewolves than Beomgyu.

“Dinner’s ready,” Yeonjun called, summoning Beomgyu from his bedroom. It smelled like pasta, which was a bit hit or miss. Soobin had a bad tendency to put tomatoes in his pasta– Yeonjun loved them, but Soobin knew very well that Beomgyu couldn’t stand them. When he got to the table, it was pasta al pomodoro. Soobin’s bizarre favoritism for Yeonjun had won out again. At least Beomgyu could make ramen later, he thought miserably as he stirred his tomato mush around.

Soobin and Yeonjun seemed to be ignoring him entirely. They were staring very deeply at each other across the table, hardly a word between them. Beomgyu suddenly got the weird feeling that he was intruding on something. Should he leave? It was still early enough that he might be able to get tteokbokki from the stand near the station.

He got up and put his plate in the kitchen, and neither Soobin nor Yeonjun acknowledged him. He figured that was his sign to dip. He grabbed his keys and wallet off the side table, peeking back into the dining area just in case. Soobin and Yeonjun were still staring at each other, so Beomgyu decided to just head out without saying anything. Soobin could always text if he was that offended about it.

It was still warm out considering that the sun had already set, but it tended to be that way in the summer. The heat lingered in the concrete long after the sun was gone, radiating heat back at Beomgyu. He could feel sweat beading beneath his hairline even though he was in just a t-shirt and shorts.

The older woman at the tteokbokki stand smiled when she saw him. He didn’t buy from her often, but he was at this train station twice a day five days a week. She was clearly familiar with him. He pulled out his wallet and approached the cart, pointing to one of the trays.

“Can I get a cheese tteokbokki and… um, a red bean bun please. Yep, that’s perfect.”

The woman handed him his tteokbokki, and he put the bun in his pocket. He gave her a bill and waved her off when she tried to offer him change, and she smiled as he walked away. The tteokbokki was hot as all hell, but it did good for his stomach which was growling from the pitiful meal of plain spaghetti noodles he’d eaten earlier. He wondered if Soobin and Yeonjun were done with their weird stare-off yet.

There was a small noise behind him as he munched on his tteokbokki. He turned around, but it didn’t look like there was anything there. The street was relatively well-lit even at night. Probably just a stray cat, he thought. There were several of them that frequented the area. Yeonjun even fed them sometimes.

He was right next to the park when he heard another noise. He whipped around. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end; he wasn’t quite sure how he knew, but there was definitely someone watching him right now. The park was vacant, as to be expected for a Tuesday evening past sundown.

Beomgyu stood there for several long moments, waiting. Then, from underneath a parked car, a cat emerged. It looked at him with round golden eyes and meowed.

“Oh, thank God,” Beomgyu mumbled, bending down to stroke its orange fur. “You scared me, little guy. Or girl? I’m not sure.”

The cat didn’t respond, of course. It just meowed again and started to sniff at his tteokbokki. He held it out of the cat’s reach just in case. “That’s way too spicy for you, I’m sorry. Next time I’ll get some fish cakes to share with you, alright? How’s that?”

The cat meowed again. It butted its head against Beomgyu’s knees, but didn’t complain when he gave it one last pat and started walking again.

He’d barely made it five steps when something slammed him against the play structure in the park. Beomgyu wasn’t even sure when he’d managed to get that far– the play structure was a good forty feet from where he was standing. Had he flown? There was terror sloshing through his veins. Something was holding him by the neck with cold, stiff hands.

Not something. Someone. With glowing red eyes and fangs that shone golden in the streetlights– a vampire. Beomgyu opened his mouth to scream for Soobin, for anyone, but the vampire put a hand over his mouth and used it to tilt his head so that his neck was exposed.

Beomgyu struggled and writhed, but the vampire had supernatural strength. There was nothing he could do. He could feel the vampire’s hair against his jawline and ears, and the sensation made him shiver before there was a piercing pain in his neck.

He tried to scream again, but no sound came out. Was he seriously going to die on the playground three blocks from his house? Soobin would go ballistic. Beomgyu tried to think of any god to pray to but his brain was coming up blank–

The vampire pulled away. Beomgyu could see him better now, jet-black hair and skin as pale as marble. He wasn’t as horrifying as Beomgyu thought that vampires were supposed to look– the eyes were just mildly off-putting. He might even be sort of handsome, if Beomgyu looked at him the right way.

The vampire wiped at his mouth with his sleeve. There was a slight wrinkle around his nose, like the taste of Beomgyu’s blood disgusted him.

“What?” Beomgyu demanded. “You’re not going to kill me?”

“Well, I might have,” the vampire said, in a high, smooth voice. “But that is nasty.”

“I’m nasty?” Beomgyu shrieked, suddenly furious. “You were about to murder me without remorse, and I’m the nasty one?”

“Yeah,” the vampire replied. He wiped at his mouth again, cringing. “Seriously, what do you eat? That tastes like battery acid.”

“Very normal stuff, actually, like that tteokbokki you just threw everywhere. That was my dinner, by the way, so thanks for that,” Beomgyu said sarcastically.

“Do you ever, like… eat a vegetable, every now and then?”

“You know what? Fuck you!” Beomgyu cried, pointing directly at the vampire’s face. Antagonizing a creature that could snap his neck without a second thought probably wasn’t the best of plans, but the adrenaline in his veins was making it hard to think straight. “I bet you just didn’t do it right, or something! You stupid bloodsucker, you can’t even figure out how to eat humans right? What, are you a fucking noob!? I bet my five-year-old niece could do a better job at biting me!”

The vampire backed away, eyes wide. He was clearly put-off by Beomgyu’s diatribe. “Dude, what is your problem? I just said I’m not going to kill you.”

“Yeah, because you think I’m disgusting! Now I have to go around living the rest of my pitiful life knowing I’m not even good enough for a bloodsucker to eat! Do you think this is a Michelin-star restaurant? No! I’m just a regular guy working at a stationery store and trying to get by while monsters like you make a mockery of me–“

“Okay!” The volume of Beomgyu’s yelling seemed to have gotten to the vampire, because he had his hands over his ears. “I can try it again, if you’re that mad! You’d think you’d be grateful to not die of exsanguination tonight, but I guess not.”

“No.” Beomgyu crossed his arms over his chest petulantly. “You don’t get a second try. Now fuck off and go find someone else to murder.”

The vampire stood there for a while, clearly confused, while Beomgyu stared him down. He turned around, glancing hesitantly over his shoulder before disappearing back into the night.

Beomgyu looked down at the front of his t-shirt and sighed. There was no way that he was going to be able to get the tteokbokki sauce out of it.

Kai, his coworker at the stationery store, dropped an entire box of greeting cards in shock when Beomgyu told him what had happened the next morning. His almond-shaped eyes went wide, mouth falling open.

“And then he just left?”

“Yep,” Beomgyu replied, stooping down to help Kai scoop the cards back into the box. “Soobin hyung immediately started shouting about vampires the second I got into the apartment, and Yeonjun hyung burst into tears. He thought the tteokbokki sauce on my shirt was me bleeding out.”

Kai chuckled. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t die, at least. How’s Soobin hyung handling it?”

“Terribly,” Beomgyu admitted. “I think he’s got a hit out on the guy right now. Hyung is probably calling up all of his little furry friends to hunt him down as we speak. I wouldn’t want to be a vampire in our neighborhood right now, that’s all I’m saying.”

Kai hummed. “Wonder what it was that made him let you go.”

“Probably the fact that he thought my blood tasted like battery acid,” Beomgyu replied bitterly. “Can you believe he called me nasty to my face? The attitude on vampires, I swear…”

“That doesn’t sound like something that someone who’s very tolerant of the supernatural would say.”

“Yeah, well consider me extremely intolerant of vampires right now,” Beomgyu shot back. “Or maybe they’re intolerant of me. You think vampires can have allergies to certain humans?”

“Maybe,” Kai said, shrugging. “I’ve never met one. I don’t think very many people do and live to tell the tale.”

Beomgyu huffed as they put the last of the fallen greeting cards into the box. “I hope he is. I hope my blood gave him massive hives, and now his perfect face is all messed up and swollen–“

“Wait a second. Did you say perfect face?”

Beomgyu loudly welcomed a customer that had just walked into the shop, and then went back to chatting with Kai. “Well, I have to give credit where credit is due. He’s good-looking, even if he’s an asshole.”

Kai started to laugh. People were staring now, because Kai’s laugh sounded a lot like a seagull trying to sing Britney Spears. He didn’t explain anything, just pointed at Beomgyu and kept laughing.

“What?” Beomgyu said grumpily.

“You’re mad because a hot guy called you gross,” Kai gasped in-between laughs. He wiped at his eyes with the bottom of his shirt, hiccuping. “You’re mad because you think he’s cute.”

“Am not!” Beomgyu protested. “I’m mad because– because he had the audacity to try to kill me and then not even finish the job. What a loser.”

Kai smirked, but didn’t say anything else. Beomgyu pulled the collar of his shirt up a little higher to hide the two puncture marks on his neck.

Soobin was waiting for him outside the train station that night, because Soobin was apparently a helicopter parent with nothing better to do with his evening than walk Beomgyu home from the station. It was sort of appreciated when they passed the park, and the memory crept up in Beomgyu’s brain against his will. The vampire had thrown him so fast that he hadn’t even had time to figure out what had happened.

“Kang Taehyun,” Soobin said, without preamble. “Twenty-one. He lives in a place in Gwangjin-gu, nine miles southeast of here. I already have a watch on his house, the next time he comes out he’s getting a wooden stake.”

“Damn,” Beomgyu replied, not even sure how to respond to that. “That seems a little– uh, much. I don’t think you need to go that hard.”

“He tried to kill you,” Soobin said seriously, grabbing Beomgyu’s shoulder. “You’re just lucky you weren’t turned. A bite like that can turn people pretty easily.”

“Maybe I’m just built different.” Beomgyu shrugged. “I’m serious, hyung. You don’t have to drive yourself crazy over it. It’s not like he’s going to come after me again.”

“Oh, he definitely won’t,” Soobin said darkly. “I’ll make sure of that.”

Beomgyu shivered a little. As much as he looked like a fluffy little bunny, Soobin could be scary sometimes. He was sniffing the air as they walked, clearly still on the lookout. Beomgyu held onto his arm dutifully and looked around.

“Wait a second, did you say he’s twenty-one?”

“Yes.”

“Like, actually twenty-one? Or is he four-hundred-and-something but just looks twenty-one?”

“Actually twenty-one,” Soobin answered. “He was turned last year. You’re right, he’s relatively new to the whole vampire thing.”

Beomgyu snorted. “Unbelievable. So he actually was doing it wrong, and the whole time he just blamed it on me.”

“You’re lucky he was inexperienced,” Soobin said sternly. “An older vampire certainly would’ve killed you regardless. You can’t go running your mouth like that around supernatural creatures.”

Beomgyu grumbled something under his breath, but Soobin pretended not to hear. He made dinner again that night with Yeonjun sitting on the counter, singing along to the music playing from his phone and occasionally handing Soobin something from the fridge. Beomgyu did his best to ignore them as he played video games on the TV– whatever was going on there, he did not want to know about it.

The next full moon was two days later, which meant that Beomgyu had to lock Soobin in his bedroom to keep him from chewing up the coffee table again. He pressed his ear to the door. He could hear whining and scratching, but it didn’t sound like Soobin was tearing up his mattress. That had happened before, because Soobin’s wolf was actually the worst-mannered animal he’d ever met. Beomgyu would prefer to have a rabid raccoon in his apartment once a month.

He was sitting in front of the TV when he heard howling. Not whining, full-blown howling. It was ear-piercing even with Soobin’s bedroom door between them. “Hyung!” Beomgyu yelled. “Shut up! The neighbors are going to complain!”

Soobin didn’t seem to care. The howling continued, and Beomgyu took his slipper off and hurled it at the door. There was a temporary pause. Then, Beomgyu heard tapping on the window.

He turned around. There was a silhouette on the ledge outside, highlighted by the moonlight, human-shaped with bright red eyes. His heart stopped. It was Taehyun, he was sure. Beomgyu was halfway to Soobin’s bedroom to sic the werewolf on him when Taehyun shook his head frantically.

“Wait,” Taehyun said, voice muffled by the glass. “I need to talk to you, please.”

“Oh, come on, I’m not falling for that,” Beomgyu retorted, hands on his hips. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

In hindsight, he didn’t really want Taehyun to answer that. “I can’t come in unless you invite me inside. Just open the window so we can talk.”

“Hell no. In fact, if you don’t leave right now I’m letting the dog out,” Beomgyu threatened.

“Wait! Please, I could only come tonight since all the werewolves are turned! This might be your last chance!”

Beomgyu paused. Against his better judgement, he went to the window. If Taehyun really wanted to he could just break the glass, and Beomgyu really didn’t want to deal with the headache that would cause with the landlord. He clicked the lock open and slid it upwards.

True to his word, Taehyun stayed perched on the sill outside. It really seemed like he couldn’t come in unless Beomgyu expressly invited him, which was something Beomgyu had always heard but had thought was too silly to be true. Taehyun’s face was lit up by the flashing lights of the television, marble skin reflecting different colors but eyes staying that same ruby red.

“I don’t want what happened to me to happen to you,” Taehyun said. “You might turn into a vampire because of what I did.”

“Fantastic,” Beomgyu replied sarcastically. “And what am I supposed to do about that, exactly?”

“You need a spell,” Taehyun said. “One from a witch, preferably, but anyone with magic will do. A protective enchantment to get the venom out of your body. I didn’t bite you for long so you should still have time, but–“

Taehyun was cut off by more prolonged howling. Soobin seemed furious with the fact that he was still trapped in his bedroom while there was a vampire on their windowsill– the exact vampire that had tried to kill Beomgyu, no less. Beomgyu took his other slipper off and hurled it at the door to get Soobin to shut up.

“Why are you doing this?” Beomgyu asked. “Why do you care what happens to me? You were going to kill me, anyway.”

Taehyun’s expression fell. He looked guilty, which wasn’t something that Beomgyu thought vampires could feel. “I was turned against my will, too. Now I’m constantly hungry, out-of-control, a monster, just like you said. Forever. Unless someone kills me, I’ll be like this for the rest of eternity. I didn’t want that to happen to you.”

“You seem perfectly fine right now.”

“I’m getting– getting better at controlling it,” Taehyun said. “But it’s hard unless I can feed regularly. If I’m too hungry then I take too much, and…” He trailed off, looking down at his feet. “I don’t want to hurt people. I’m just hungry.”

Beomgyu sighed. “Stop making me feel bad for you. Get off my windowsill before Soobin hyung breaks down the door and go home. If the wolves find you, you’re dead.”

“I’m dead anyways,” Taehyun said miserably. “They’re outside my house twenty-four hours a day. I can’t get out and feed when I need to. Eventually I’m going to break, and they’ll kill me.”

Beomgyu looked at him, really looked at him. He seemed so young, crouched at the window like a child, holding onto his knees and avoiding Beomgyu’s eyes. This Taehyun was nothing like the beast that had tried to murder him in cold blood. Had he fed already? How many people had he eaten tonight? Beomgyu tried to reconcile the monster he’d seen with the person he was looking at now.

“Just go home, Taehyun,” Beomgyu said. “I’ll tell the wolves to stop tailing you. If you kill anyone else, though, I’m setting Soobin hyung loose on you.”

“I won’t,” Taehyun promised. “Thank you. I really– I’m trying.”

He sounded sincere, so Beomgyu just nodded. Taehyun turned around on the narrow ledge without once losing his balance, peering over his shoulder.

“Since you know my name, can I know yours?”

“Beomgyu. Choi Beomgyu.”

“Okay. I– will you tell me if you succeed?” Taehyun asked. “If you manage to get the spell, I mean. Just for my own sanity.”

“Sure,” Beomgyu said tiredly. “Now go.”

Taehyun jumped. In his head, Beomgyu knew that a fall couldn’t hurt him no matter how high, but his heart jumped into his throat regardless. When he looked out over the windowsill, Taehyun was gone. The street was quiet.

Beomgyu went over and unlocked Soobin’s door, releasing him from the bedroom. Immediately, he went to the window and started barking.

“Soobin hyung, shut up. I’m serious, the neighbors are going to be so mad. Here, I’ve got my slipper. You want to play fetch?”

Anger forgotten, Soobin chased after the flying slipper with a yip of joy.

Beomgyu held a formal meeting with his friends the next day– that was just Yeonjun, Soobin, and Kai– at a restaurant after work. He told them everything that Taehyun had said, the three of them listening with varying degrees of horror on their faces. The second Beomgyu finished talking, Soobin seized him by the shoulders and shook him.

“You opened the window for a vampire!?”

“Yes, but I didn’t invite him in, so he just sat out there,” Beomgyu replied, massaging his neck. “Jeez, hyung. You’re going to get us kicked out of here.”

“That’s not a thing,” Yeonjun said. “The invitation part. That’s just a myth, they can come in any time they want.”

Beomgyu froze. “What?”

“Yeah,” Yeonjun responded, shrugging. “My cousin’s coworker said one came into the coffee shop, but no one invited her in. There were no injuries, thankfully. Apparently she just purchased a pastry and left.”

That didn’t make any sense. Beomgyu remembered Taehyun perched so politely on the windowsill, not even a toe inside the apartment. So he really could have come inside whether Beomgyu opened the window or not? There was no reason for him not to just break in, then. There was really no reason for him to have come last night at all, if Beomgyu really thought about it. He could’ve just gone on with his life and left Beomgyu to turn on his own.

Well, except for the werewolves. Taehyun definitely needed Beomgyu to call the wolves off, which he’d already done this morning– even though Soobin hated the idea and wanted Taehyun’s head on a stick. A promise was a promise, though, and in exchange Taehyun had told him about the spell.

“That’s not the important part,” Beomgyu said, trying to redirect the conversation. “We need to find a witch. He said anyone with magic would work, but a witch is the best. Does anyone know one?”

“No,” Yeonjun said grimly. “Soobin?”

Soobin shook his head. Kai did, too, but he looked determined. “It doesn’t matter, we’ll find one. I’m sure someone’s advertising services somewhere, I’ll get online. In the meantime– Soobin hyung, can you ask the other werewolves if they know anyone? We want someone reputable, of course…”

Beomgyu tuned out the chatter as he thought, twisting the ring on his pinky finger. It was an old nervous habit he’d picked up in his middle school days. If what Taehyun had said about the venom was true, then he probably only had a few more days before he became a vampire himself. Would Soobin kill him, too? Soobin hated vampires, but Beomgyu liked to think that he would make an exception for him. The constant bloodlust would be an issue, though– he likely wouldn’t be able to hang out with Kai or Yeonjun for a couple of years until he got a handle on it.

It was a bleak thought. Again, he found himself feeling bad for Taehyun. How awful it must’ve been to be bitten and turned against his will, to be alone through the whole process with no one to help him control himself. He didn’t even have any friends now– Soobin had already told Beomgyu that there was no one going in or out of the house besides Taehyun. His entire existence was feeding, hurting people he didn’t want to, and then caging himself inside that house.

Yeonjun tapped his hand, pulling Beomgyu from his thoughts. He pointed to the ring Beomgyu had been fiddling with. “What’s that?”

“Oh, a gift from a friend in middle school. It’s too small for me to wear on my pointer finger anymore, but she said it was a good luck charm that would protect me…”

Beomgyu trailed off. Soobin seemed to have put two and two together as well, because he gasped. Kai and Yeonjun looked nonplussed.

“She was a faerie,” Beomgyu said slowly. “Protective magic.”

“That should work!” Kai exclaimed, face lighting up. “Right? That’ll keep you from turning?”

“I don’t know,” Beomgyu answered uncertainly. “I don’t know exactly what kind of protective magic. Is good luck enough to keep me from turning into a vampire?”

“We need to find someone to ask,” Soobin said. “Regardless, we need to find someone that knows what they’re talking about. I’ll ask around in the werewolf community, and everyone else should focus on finding other resources. Beomgyu, can you get in contact with the girl that gave you that ring?”

“Maybe,” Beomgyu answered. “I might be able to find her on social media, or something. We haven’t spoken since middle school.”

“Try it. It’s better than nothing.”

Beomgyu could think of someone who would know. Someone that he would even be able to find easily– Soobin had already told him. Gwangjin-gu, nine miles southeast. Soobin had even had a hit squad outside Taehyun’s house. His address had to be somewhere in Soobin’s phone.

Beomgyu got the address from Soobin’s phone while he was in the shower. It was going to be a little bit of a process, but he snuck out on Saturday morning before Soobin woke up and got on the train. He then sat at the bus stop and waited ten minutes for a bus to show up, tapping his feet nervously against the ground the entire time. If Taehyun didn’t kill him, Soobin certainly would.

He was nervous the entire bus ride, too. It felt like a stupid thing to do. It was a stupid thing to do, to knock on the door of someone who’d tried to kill him five days ago. What if Taehyun was hungry, and lost control? Beomgyu doubted very much that a starving vampire would care much whether his blood tasted good or not. It was like walking into the lion’s den with a big sign on his chest that said Eat Me.

He arrived at Taehyun’s house just before 10 AM. He knew that Taehyun wouldn’t be asleep, because vampires didn’t sleep. The house was nondescript; it looked older, and like it was falling into disrepair. Beomgyu wondered if it was Taehyun’s childhood home. He’d had to climb a massive hill to get here, and stopped at the gate for a second to catch his breath. He couldn’t stop his hands from shaking as he knocked on the door.

There was an answer almost immediately. Beomgyu jumped away as Taehyun’s red eyes appeared out of the darkness, the rest of his body still hidden behind the door. Right– sunlight. Beomgyu wiped his sweaty hands on his pants and tried to sound braver than he felt.

“Hi. Sorry to disturb you, I just– had a quick question for you, that’s all.”

“No problem,” Taehyun replied, still hiding in the shadow of the door. “Do you want to… come in?”

“If that’s okay,” Beomgyu replied, wondering if he was about to make a massive mistake.

The front door closed behind him, shrouding the hallway in darkness. It seemed that Taehyun had taped up pieces of cardboard over any open windows, and all of the curtains were shut to keep the light out. Beomgyu, still blinded from the rays of the summer sun outside, couldn’t see anything besides Taehyun’s glowing red eyes.

“Be careful there,” Taehyun said, seeming to notice Beomgyu’s fumbling as he took his shoes off. “There’s a step here. Come around the corner, we can sit in the living room.”

Taehyun guided him to the couch, and Beomgyu sat. He put his hand out to keep Beomgyu’s knees from knocking into the coffee table, but somehow his touch wasn’t quite as terrifying as it was the first time they’d met. Taehyun turned on a standing lamp in the corner of the room.

It was a very average-looking living room. Aside from the fact that the curtains were drawn, there was no sign that a vampire lived here. There was a shelf in the corner with photos on it, family shoots and pictures of a round-eyed baby that couldn’t be anyone but Taehyun. The rug looked worn, and the coffee table looked like something out of an antique shop, but there was a gaming console under the TV and a stack of more games than Beomgyu had ever seen in his life. Taehyun must be bored.

“It was my grandmother’s house,” he said quietly. “She passed a few years ago. My family decided it would be best if I lived here after I turned.”

“Do they ever come to visit?”

“No,” Taehyun replied. “I told them not to. It’s not safe for humans.”

Beomgyu swallowed loudly. He was a human, sitting on the couch right now across from Taehyun, but Taehyun didn’t seem like he was going to snap at any second. In fact, he looked perfectly calm.

“I had a question about the spell you mentioned,” Beomgyu said. “I had a faerie friend in middle school that gave me this ring. Do you think it would work to keep me from turning?”

Slowly, he extended his hand forward so that Taehyun could look at the ring. It wasn’t much, just a simple silver band with minute engravings of symbols and characters Beomgyu didn’t understand. Originally sized for his middle school self, it now only fit between the joints on his pinky finger.

“I suppose,” Taehyun answered, humming as he turned Beomgyu’s hand over to examine the other side. For some reason, his cold touch was making Beomgyu feel even sweatier. “It’s hard to say. Can you take it off?”

“Will it make me turn into a vampire if I do?”

“I doubt it,” Taehyun said. “If the spell is effective, it’ll work at the time of the bite as well as after. I’ve done as much studying as I can, and from what I understand these are good runes. It’s a decently strong spell.”

Beomgyu slid the ring off of his finger and went to give it to Taehyun. Suddenly, he was knocked flat against the couch. Taehyun’s body was pressed into his, holding him down, his face pressed into the spot on Beomgyu’s neck where the old marks were still fading. Instinctively expecting another painful bite, Beomgyu flinched and let out a squeak.

The pressure on his body was gone. Taehyun was across the room, hiding behind the shelf, gasping for breath. Beomgyu was so thrown by the sudden turn of events that he was still frozen on his back. He sat up, staring.

“Put that back on,” Taehyun said, his voice shaking under the struggle to control himself. “Now.”

Beomgyu hurriedly shoved the ring back onto his pinky. Taehyun’s demeanor started to relax, and he crept out from behind the shelf. Instead of disgust, the look on his face this time was one of terror.

“What happened?” Beomgyu asked, feeling his heart racing in his chest.

“You–“ Taehyun paused, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. “You smell good. Really good. I think that ring…”

“… Is the reason you thought I tasted bad before,” Beomgyu realized. “It was protecting me.”

Taehyun nodded. He was still keeping a good distance away from Beomgyu, barely making eye contact. He had folded his hands behind his back like he was afraid he might try to grab Beomgyu again.

“Are you hungry?” Beomgyu asked. “Is that the problem?”

“No,” Taehyun said. “I ate recently. I don’t know why…”

“You said I smell good to you?”

Taehyun hesitated, and then nodded. “Yes. The best human I’ve ever smelled.”

“Do you want to try?”

Taehyun looked at him like he was insane. Beomgyu felt a little insane, but there was something about the desperation in Taehyun’s eyes as he begged Beomgyu to put the ring back on that picked at something deep inside his chest. Taehyun didn’t want to hurt him.  Taehyun was alone, had sent his family away for their safety, had no friends. Taehyun had come to his window and stayed outside. Just for my own sanity.

“You don’t have to,” Beomgyu continued. “But I think you could. I think you’re better at controlling yourself than you think. You didn’t hurt me.”

“I can’t,” Taehyun said, shaking his head. “You– I can’t explain to you what it’s like because you won’t understand. You smell heavenly, and I can’t do it. If I killed you I wouldn’t– I wouldn’t forgive myself.”

“Why? You’ve killed people before.”

“And do you think I’ve forgiven myself for any of them?” Taehyun’s red eyes were shining with something else now, something wet. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and swiped at his face with his forearm. “I don’t want to be like this.”

Beomgyu stood up and came closer. Taehyun shrank away like he thought Beomgyu was going to hit him, but didn’t make any moves to cram himself back behind the shelf again. He looked terrified of Beomgyu.

“I don’t think you are what you think you are,” he said softly. “Would a monster have come to check on me, no matter the danger? Would a monster shut himself away from the world just to spare everyone else?”

Taehyun wouldn’t make eye contact. From this angle, Beomgyu could see the tears sticking his lashes together in wet clumps. He really was beautiful, pale skin and fine features like a Grecian statue. His fangs just barely poked into his plump bottom lip.

“I’m going to take the ring off,” Beomgyu said. “I’ll keep holding it, so if I feel like I need to put it back on I will. You can take just a little, right?”

“I don’t know,” Taehyun fretted. “I don’t know. I don’t want to hurt–“

“I know,” Beomgyu interrupted gently. “That’s why I trust you.”

Taehyun swallowed. “Can I have your wrist instead? It’s– less dangerous for you because the blood flow is lower, and I… might be better at controlling myself if I can’t smell you quite so well.”

“Whatever you’re comfortable with,” Beomgyu responded. “I think it’ll be good practice. If this goes well, then maybe you can keep feeding like this consistently and not have to worry about snapping on anyone else.”

Beomgyu didn’t mention what would happen if it went badly, because it looked like every single horrific scenario was flashing through Taehyun’s brain right now and reflecting on his face. Beomgyu tried to imagine what it would be like for Taehyun to be free, to be able to come back to society without fear. To see his family, to meet Beomgyu’s friends. It was the thought still in his mind as Taehyun sank slowly to his knees and waited for Beomgyu to hold out his wrist.

Beomgyu brought his pinky to his mouth and pulled off the ring with his teeth. Instantly, he saw Taehyun’s pupils dilate. He was drooling, saliva dripping off of his fangs and over his chin. Still, he hesitated.

“It’s okay,” Beomgyu told him. “Just a little.”

Slowly, Taehyun brought his mouth to the inside of Beomgyu’s wrist. Beomgyu felt his cold breath, and then his lips, and then the prick of his fangs against the sensitive skin. It made goosebumps rise on his arm. He hesitated one second longer before his fangs pierced Beomgyu’s skin.

There was the sting of pain right at the moment of the bite, but as soon as Taehyun seemed to settle it was gone. He drank in polite little gulps, sucking at Beomgyu’s skin to keep the blood flowing. Taehyun was looking up at him from the ground at Beomgyu’s feet with his wrist in his mouth, round red eyes and wet lashes fluttering, and oh. 

Oh no. Oh no.

Soobin was going to kill him for sure. Taehyun might kill him if he didn’t stop drinking soon, but Soobin was going to find a warlock to resurrect his body and kill him again. Soobin hated vampires. Beomgyu hated vampires because of Taehyun, but the emotion he was feeling right now was definitely not hate. His head was getting light.

Taehyun pulled away right as Beomgyu swayed, swooping up to catch him. “No, no, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” His voice was panicked as he pulled the ring from between Beomgyu’s teeth and put it back on his pinky finger, shaking him a little. “Wake up, please wake up–“

“I’m fine,” Beomgyu mumbled, face smooshed into Taehyun’s pillowy chest. “I think I’m going to die, though.”

He glanced up to catch sight of terror on Taehyun’s face, the tiny smear of his blood still at the corner of the vampire’s mouth. Beomgyu reached up to brush it away, his thumb catching on Taehyun’s bottom lip. Taehyun grabbed his hand. “How are you feeling? Do you need to sit down? Here, I’ll carry you to the couch.”

He scooped Beomgyu up in a princess carry, much too strong for his narrow build, and deposited him on the couch with utmost care. If Beomgyu thought it was bad before, it was terrible now. He had a weakness for guys who could manhandle him a little.

“I feel like maybe I have a crush on you.”

For the second time that day, Taehyun stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “Sorry, what?”

“You asked how I was feeling. I feel like maybe–“

“Okay, yeah, I heard you the first time,” Taehyun said hurriedly. “But why?”

Beomgyu shrugged. “You’re cute. And nice. And strong. I like that.”

“I– I tried to kill you once.”

“It was an accident,” Beomgyu replied, catching Taehyun’s hand and tangling their fingers together. “Hey, do you want a human blood bag? I was thinking earlier it might help you feed more regularly, and then you could– you know. Do normal stuff again. I could do that for you. No strings attached, if you want.”

Taehyun goggled at him. “You just said you had a crush on me and now you’re offering to be a blood bag, no strings attached? Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“No, not really,” Beomgyu admitted. “This is all kind of sudden for me too. I was looking at you there on the ground and then I remembered what my coworker said about the night we met– I wasn’t mad you tried to kill me. I was mad because a hot guy called me gross.”

Taehyun blinked at him for several moments. Beomgyu tried to sit up, but his head started to spin again and he had to lay back down. He made a mental note to have Taehyun stop drinking a little earlier next time. Taehyun let go of his hand and disappeared somewhere without saying anything.

Beomgyu felt a little put out, laying there on Taehyun’s couch. The least the vampire could’ve done was said something, but Beomgyu supposed that he was acting pretty oddly. Maybe the venom had done something to his head. Taehyun returned with a glass of water and set it on the coffee table. He helped Beomgyu sit up, and then gave it to him to drink.

“I’m– honored, really, or something like that,” Taehyun began, while Beomgyu was chugging the glass of water. “I don’t even know what to say. That someone like you would even… That night, when you called me a monster, I wanted to die. I know I am, I know, but hearing you say you have a crush on me now, it– it makes me want things I shouldn’t.”

“You can,” Beomgyu said. “I do. I want to. I think you’re really cute, and I think it might be fun to take a vampire on a date. Only nighttime outings, of course.”

With Beomgyu’s fresh blood running through his veins, Taehyun blushed. A light peony pink graced his perfect cheeks, and screw Soobin. Beomgyu was going to date Taehyun no matter what the werewolf had to say. Beomgyu poked his nose.

“Is that a yes or a no?”

“I– of course it’s a yes, how could I say no to you?” Taehyun answered, flustered. “You like me. I can’t believe it.”

“But do you like me?” Beomgyu asked hopefully. Maybe he was pushing his luck right now– all Taehyun had agreed to was a date.

To his surprise, Taehyun’s expression softened. The blush traveled from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, almost staining his face pink in an adorable heart shape. “You’re beautiful. You’re kind to me. No one has been kind to me since I turned.”

Beomgyu launched himself off the couch at Taehyun in a hug. Taehyun caught him easily– it was sort of like making contact with a brick wall, and Beomgyu felt a little whoosh as the air was knocked from his lungs. Taehyun didn’t seem to know what to do for a second, and then his arms came up to wrap around Beomgyu’s waist in a delicate embrace.

Beomgyu pulled away, grinning from ear to ear. “So. Where do you want to go first?”

Taehyun’s ruby eyes searched his face. “You’re really not joking? You mean it? You like me?”

“You can hear my heartbeat, can’t you? You know I’m not lying.”

Taehyun relaxed, expression going slack, his hand coming up to brush back Beomgyu’s hair and then dropping back to his side undecidedly. Beomgyu grabbed Taehyun’s hand and put it on top of his head, where it just sort of sat there limply. He giggled.

“You’re going to have to get used to touching me, you know. I’m sorry, but I’m very clingy.”

“I don’t mind it if you touch me,” Taehyun said. “It’s just– I’m a lot stronger than you. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

“Eh, Soobin hyung tries to wrestle me into the ground regularly. I think you’ll be fine.”

Taehyun seemed to be thinking about something else for a while, so Beomgyu just stared at his face contentedly. He really had pretty eyes, and his lips were the perfect shape. Beomgyu was getting distracted. Finally, Taehyun spoke.

“Would you really have been a blood bag, no strings attached, if I asked?”

Beomgyu thought about it for a second before answering. “Probably. And I would’ve been thinking about how cute you are and pining miserably after you the entire time. I like it much better like this.”

Taehyun smiled. Beomgyu’s heart did an entire gymnastics routine in his chest at the sight of his fangs poking into his bottom lip. There was a dimple on one side of his face. Had Beomgyu ever seen him smile before? If it was terrible before, this was worse. Beomgyu was down worse.

Soobin was understandably distraught when Beomgyu returned that afternoon, having not answered his phone one time. He didn’t even need the sniff treatment to know that Beomgyu had been around a vampire, and his face was nearly purple by the time Beomgyu got his shoes off.

“Please tell me you did not go see him.”

“Yep,” Beomgyu said cheerfully. “He said the ring works great, by the way. I let him drink from me, and we’re going on a date on Tuesday night.”

“You did what?” Soobin snarled, right at the same time that Yeonjun emerged from Soobin’s bedroom with a curious “You’re doing what?”

Beomgyu pointed between them. “Hey now, wait a second, wait a second. There’s something going on here, and I didn’t want to ask before but now it’s too suspicious.”

Soobin crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not telling you until you break up with the bloodsucker.”

“Oh,” Beomgyu said. “Well in that case, I’ll stay not knowing. Hi, Yeonjun hyung! Might be better to put your shirt back on next time instead of Soobin hyung’s, though.”

Yeonjun’s face turned so red it rivaled Soobin’s purple, and he disappeared back into Soobin’s bedroom without another word. Beomgyu looked up at Soobin innocently.

“So. You down to have Taehyun at the apartment next week?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“Too late,” Beomgyu replied, grinning. “I already invited the vampire in.”