Chapter Text
“You’re a vampire? Like me?”
Jaejoong hated vampires. All of them, himself included. But this one here was too cute. He had a soft child-like face with sparkling eyes that crinkled adorably from the corners when he smiled at Jaejoong. And the tufts of hair peeking out from under his cap were deep, vibrant red. Like fresh blood straight out of arteries.
Cute.
Even if he seemed a little too excited for Jaejoong’s liking. And he was definitely talking too loudly. The street looked almost empty at midnight, but you could never know. Especially now, during the war.
“Tone it down, will you?” Jaejoong hissed. “The humans may be hard of hearing, but they’re not deaf.”
“Sorry.” The boy’s smile fell and for a moment Jaejoong felt almost bad. Almost.
“What’s your name?” he asked and saw with something akin to relief that the smile gradually crept back, until it was a more timid version of the earlier.
“Kim Junsu.” The boy fiddled with the edge of his cap, eyes shyly darting between Jaejoong’s face and the ground. “And you?”
“Jaejoong. Kim Jaejoong.”
The other’s gaze lit up. “We have the same surname! What line of the Kims are you from?”
“Gimhae.”
Junsu nodded excitedly. “I’m from the Gyeongju Kims.”
He looked young. Not only young by human standards, but also young as a vampire. Poor thing must have been quite recently turned. Maybe a year ago, or so.
But he was the most polite vampire Jaejoong had ever seen. The few newborns he had met over the two centuries resembled more animals than humans. Feral, confused, perpetually hungry… The older ones were even worse somehow. All emotions washed out, save the cruelty and a sick, twisted sense of lust.
Not that Jaejoong himself was any better, of course. But at least he only killed the humans who would have harmed the others too much if left to live. Nowadays his menu mostly consisted of soldiers – he did not care much about from which side. And even if he had had his fair share of hook-ups – come on, he had lived in this world for two hundred and one years already, he was allowed to have some fun! –, he always made sure that the human was willing.
And he had never turned anyone.
“Do you live here, Kim Jaejoong-ssi?”
Junsu was looking at him curiously. Jaejoong raised his brow at the other. “Here? In Seoul? Now? Gods, no, I’m just temporarily residing.”
And working for the Myungdong gang, but Junsu did not have to know.
“I have an apartment not far from here,” Junsu told him. “Well, it’s not actually mine, but it was empty and I heard from the neighbours that the owner was dead, so I kind of… took it. And switched the locks.”
A corner of Jaejoong’s mouth lifted a little. “Smart. But you need to fetch yourself some legal papers when the war is over.”
Junsu shrugged. “If the house is still standing by then.”
“Well, the real estate market is always a mess after war,” Jaejoong commented. “If you act quickly, you may get yourself a nice place for less than a half of the price.”
“With what money?”
“How am I supposed to know? Rob a bank, hook up with a chaebol, steal a car and sell it on the black market, find yourself a job…”
Junsu snorted at this. “I have been trying the last option for a few months.”
Jaejoong looked at him from head to toe. Green military cap, jacket too big for the thin frame, worn out shoes – he was almost like a random human teenager, save his crimson hair. And, of course, Jaejoong had yet to see a human with such a lovely face.
Several gunshots were heard in the distance.
“How old are you?”
“Nineteen.”
Jaejoong frowned. “You don’t look nineteen.”
“I was turned when I was seventeen,” Junsu explained. “And my birthday is in December.”
“You don’t look seventeen either.”
Junsu sent him an apologetic smile. “I know, I get it a lot. It’s a real inconvenience when I’m trying to find a job.”
“It’s really inconvenient to find a job nowadays in general.” The shooting continued, a bit closer than before. “Don’t worry, you’ll look older after a few years.”
The ageing of the vampires was still a bit confusing for Jaejoong, even if he had been one for almost two centuries. The popular literature usually depicted them as some ageless creatures, frozen in time, but actually they did grow older, although their bodies stopped changing visibly. From his erratic researches Jaejoong had gathered that vampires who were turned as adults roughly maintained their appearance age-wise. Those who had been in their teens usually continued growing up after the turning, albeit they reached physical adulthood much slower than humans and retained some youthful quality for ever. The younger the person was before turning, the more child-like they looked after, even if fully grown up.
It was disturbing sometimes. Mostly because however young the vampire seemed to be, their eyes clearly showed all the years lived. Jaejoong knew very few things as creepy as century-old eyes in a face that could belong to a teenager.
Jaejoong did not know what happened to those who were turned as babies. He hoped there were not such cases. But then again, vampires were heartless monsters.
“How old are you, Kim Jaejoong-ssi?”
Junsu was still there. Jaejoong wondered why the boy had started talking to him at the first place. Most of the vampires he had seen had either fled or tried to steal his food.
“Two hundred and one.”
Jaejoong expected Junsu to be astonished, taken aback, or at least a good deal of surprised. But Junsu just nodded.
“I thought something like this. You look quite young.”
“I look young?” Jaejoong was sure the other meant his actual age, as a vampire, not his ever-youthful appearance. “That’s rich coming from a nineteen-year-old who looks like a literal baby.”
“I don’t look like a baby!” Junsu protested, but he was giggling at the same time and it kind of contradicted his words.
Jaejoong shrugged. “Sure, whatever puts your mind at ease.”
Someone was running a few streets away, followed by many heavier footsteps. The gunshots had came even closer. Jaejoong scanned the area, his eyes easily cutting through the night.
“I’d rather go. We may not die, but the bullets are a bitch to deal with. And I have things to do and places to be.”
Junsu looked upset all of a sudden. “Will you… will I see you here again?”
“Why?”
“What do you mean, Kim Jaejoong-ssi?”
“Why do you want to see me?”
“Because…” Junsu was fiddling with the edge of his cap again, “because I haven’t seen another vampire for a long time and… and I really liked talking to you.”
Now Jaejoong was genuinely surprised. “You like talking to other vampires?”
“Yes. I… my family is dead and I can’t go to my friends, because they would sense that something is off with me… and many of them are dead anyway… and with humans it’s just… I can’t talk to them like I can talk to a vampire. They don’t… they don’t understand.”
Jaejoong stared him, perplexed. What planet was this boy from? “Junsu, you should never get too close to a vampire. We’re monsters if you haven’t noticed.”
Junsu shook his head. “I am not a monster. And you are definitely not a monster.”
He sounded annoyed. Angry even. Jaejoong did not comment on this.
“I have to go,” he said instead.
“Will I see you again?”
“I’m not sure.”
Junsu sighed. “Okay,” he uttered in a small voice and suddenly Jaejoong wanted him to smile again.
“You might see me,” he told the other. “We have the whole damned eternity, after all.”
Junsu’s next “okay” sounded a bit happier. He pulled his green cap deeper over his hair and waved at Jaejoong.
The elder did not understand what prompted him to do this, but he found himself stepping closer to Junsu, straightening the cap and brushing off some dust. “Nice hat.”
“Thank you.” Junsu smiled at him bashfully and Jaejoong fought off the urge to trace his lips with a finger. “I… uh, I actually took it from a dead American soldier. I needed something to cover my hair.”
Jaejoong took a step back. “Bet the last owner wasn’t half as pretty as you.”
Junsu’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open abruptly. And then he was clutching Jaejoong’s shoulder and laughing; a husky, high-pitched, infectious sound.
Jaejoong found himself smiling along.
He would definitely come back.
Jaejoong was not sure how he ended up in Junsu’s apartment, but here he was, laying on a small and rather uncomfortable couch, a bottle of soju in his hand. Junsu was sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking at Jaejoong. And smiling. Like a ray of sunshine.
Jaejoong preferred the comforting darkness of the night since his turning, but he did not mind Junsu’s smile.
“I thought you were avoiding me!” Junsu complained, though there was not any heat behind his words. Jaejoong rolled his eyes and took a sip from the bottle.
“It has been less than three months.” The elder stretched himself on the couch and drank another sip. “I have a life, you know. Or do I look like your mum?”
Damn, this was a sensitive topic. Junsu had told him last time that his family was dead. But then again, so was Jaejoong’s family. And he had warned Junsu about vampires being monsters, so the boy only had himself to blame if he decided to take offence.
“Nope,” Junsu said. His eyes started blinking faster, but otherwise he remained calm. “You have much lighter hair.”
Jaejoong’s hair was the only thing he liked about himself as a vampire. It was golden, pale golden, like the ornaments of the king’s throne in a moonlight. He had worn it long earlier and sometimes dyed it black to appear more human, but as the fashion changed, he found that long hair made him stand out too much. And short hair was a lot easier to hide.
Jaejoong snorted. “Yours looks like a fire explosion.”
“It depends on the hair of the vampire who turned you, doesn’t it?” Junsu twirled a red strand between his fingers. “My hyung had pink hair. Or pinkish brown if you wanna be more specific. But he said that I would have probably ended up with kind of reddish hair anyway.”
“Your hyung?!”
Two things were needed in order to turn a human into a vampire – venom and connection. Venom was injected into the poor victim during feeding and connection was achieved via sexual intercourse. In other words, the vampire had to have sex with a human, suck their blood at the same time and be a little bit too careless with the amount of venom produced. The human was out like a light after this – sex with a vampire was always draining, feeding or not – and when they woke up, they found themselves in an unimaginable pain. The organs changing, cells dying and reforming… every bit of your body morphing into a monster made of death and hunger and cruelty.
Jaejoong had yet to meet a vampire who had been turned willingly. Most of them hated their makers. He himself wanted nothing more than to kill the one who had cursed him into this half-life. But alas, she was too strong for him. He had been lucky to get away.
If he thought about it rationally, he had to admit that most of the vampires were not so horrible than his maker. Or at least they did not own a bunch of dungeons where they kept humans just to torture them. Hell, most of the vampires did not have enough money for this kind of twisted luxury – and high enough position in the king’s court which would have allowed them to get away with almost anything. They were nothing but feral creatures who drank from whom they wanted and fucked whom they wanted. Human blood was sexually arousing, after all. And sometimes accidents did happen.
But never had he heard someone referring to their maker as hyung.
Junsu eyed him curiously. “I meant the vampire who turned me.”
Yes, Jaejoong had figured as much.
Should he call his maker noona? He wanted to gag at the thought.
“Why do you call him hyung?”
Now Junsu seemed genuinely surprised. “Because he’s older than me?” He looked away, at the faded and partially torn wallpaper, suddenly a bit… sad? “I don’t know his name.”
Jaejoong shook his head. “No, I mean… I know what vampires are like. The bastard most likely forced himself on you. Or even if you gave your consent, he turned you against your will and made you live like… like this. For ever. If this pitiful excuse of existence is even worth to be called life.”
Junsu’s eyes were big and round like two obsidian stones. “He didn’t… he’s not… He – he saved my life, Jaejoong-ssi. I would have been dead if he hadn’t found me.”
It was Jaejoong’s turn to be surprised. “What do you mean ‘saved your life’?”
Junsu shifted on the floor. “He… I… My home was hit by a bomb two years ago. My parents and brother died… instantly, I guess, because they were inside the apartment and I had just went outside before the building collapsed. I… I don’t remember what happened after… I mean, some flying stuff knocked me out… but when I woke up, hyung was there. He found me some corpses to feed on and explained me what he had done and who I was.”
So the vampire had drank the blood of a half-dead unconscious boy, decided to fuck him at the same time and underestimated the amount of venom he had produced. Jaejoong scoffed. Typical. But staying with Junsu afterwards and tricking him into believing that the vampire had saved his life was some next-level mindfuckery.
Jaejoong did not have any compassion towards the vampires, regardless of their past. Once the human had been turned, he or she was no longer a living person to feel sorry for. But Junsu was attentive and caring and kind of sweet – okay, really sweet – and Jaejoong’s thoughts did not make sense any more.
He took a big gulp from the bottle, scrunched his face against the taste and flicked his golden hair. Then he smiled sharply at the younger. “Explained you, huh? What did he explain?”
Junsu seemed a bit uncomfortable. “He told… he told me that he had turned me into a vampire. Because I was almost dead and he didn’t know any other way to keep me alive.”
Jaejoong cocked his head, the smile morphing into a sarcastic sneer. “And pray tell me, Junsu-darling, how exactly did he turn you?”
If Junsu had been human, he probably would have blushed. “He… I mean… you know how to turn a human into a vampire, don’t you, Jaejoong-ssi? You have to drink their blood and give them enough of your venom and… and have s-… and sleep with them.”
The elder snorted at the euphemism. “So he fed on an unconscious boy, raped him and accidentally turned…”
“No!”
Jaejoong put the bottle down and looked at the said boy. Junsu was glaring back at him, his eyes wide open, nostrils flared and mouth pressed into a thin line. He was still sitting on the floor, but now he was tense, on alert, like a wildcat ready to charge. His hands were balled into fists.
He looked… angry?
Well, angry Junsu was something new. Was he going to show his feral side at last? Was he going to attack Jaejoong?
Jaejoong almost smiled at that. It would have been the most ridiculous reason another vampire had been attacked him for.
“Defending your maker?” Jaejoong could not help but provoke Junsu a bit further. “Now that’s interesting.”
Junsu took a deep breath and slowly unclenched his fists. “He didn’t… he did not rape me.”
The elder raised an eyebrow. “Did you give him your consent?”
Junsu eyed him suspiciously. “How, Jaejoong-ssi? I was unconscious.”
“Sex without mutual consent is rape, Junsu-yah.”
“But I would have died otherwise! It’s not his fault that there isn’t another way to turn someone into a vampire! If I had been conscious and if he had asked me, I would have said yes.”
Jaejoong sat up on the couch. His head was buzzing a little from soju. “You would have voluntarily chosen to live as a vampire?”
Junsu nodded quickly.
“Your parents are dead. Your brother is dead. You can’t go to your friends, because they would sense that something is wrong with you. You can’t reveal to humans who you are, because they would fear you and run away from you… or, if they’re smart enough, chain you with silver and drive a stake through your heart. You can’t go to other vampires, because they are heartless killing machines who only think about their thirst for blood. You have nothing but your hunger and misery.”
“Jaejoong-ssi.” Junsu’s anger had gone as fast as it came and he looked at Jaejoong with something akin to tenderness. “You are the second vampire I’ve ever met, but even if I don’t know much about the other vampires, I can say that you are not a heartless killing machine. If you were, you wouldn’t be sitting here and talking to me and worrying about me. I am not a heartless killing machine, because I actually care for humans. I try to feed on the dead people as much as possible and if I drink blood from a living person, I always make sure that they’re okay afterwards. And say what you want, but hyung was not a killing machine, nor heartless.”
Jaejoong took his bottle from the floor and drank the last remnants of soju. “And where is he now?”
Junsu looked away.
“Where is he?” Jaejoong felt a little bad for making Junsu upset, but continued nonetheless. “He left you, didn’t he? Did he grow tired with you? Did he toy with your feelings and use you and throw you away when you weren’t interesting enough for him any more?”
Junsu sighed. “What do you mean with him using me?”
“Well, a young lover would certainly be exciting for a while.”
The younger actually snorted at Jaejoong’s words. “Jaejoong-ssi, we didn’t have this kind of relationship. We… just talked, mostly. He told me a lot about his life. He helped me to get used to all of this… vampire stuff. He stayed with me for a year to make sure I can manage on my own.”
A vampire with a conscience? Interesting.
“So, what’s his name?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
Junsu fiddled with the edge of his shirt. “He was… a little bit like you, Jaejoong-ssi. He didn’t hate everything like you do, but he was… tired. Really tired. And he didn’t want to… as he said it… to drag me down with him. So he… he looked after me, but he constantly pushed me away at the same time. He… he was from a completely different era than me or you… and names were really important for him. He said that if he told me his name, I would be carrying a part of his soul with me forever, and he didn’t want me to… to grow too attached.” Junsu blinked quickly and swallowed. “Didn’t work anyway.”
Jaejoong twirled the empty bottle in his hand and put it back on the floor. So the vampire had manipulated Junsu into loving him and then tossed him away like some used goods. Sounded like the shit Jaejoong’s own maker would have been capable of. If she had been a little less blood-thirsty, that was. She loved mind games, but she was mostly a whips-and-knives type of person.
“How sweet,” Jaejoong hummed. “The lover-boy finds his sleeping beauty, wakes him up with a true love’s kiss – oh, sorry, there was more than a kiss – spends a year-long honeymoon with him to cure his own eternal boredom a little… and then, when he has grown tired of his new toy, he throws it in the garbage and goes looking for the next entertainment.”
Now Junsu seemed truly hurt, but he kept himself carefully under control.
“You can say whatever you wish,” he told Jaejoong quietly, “but I know what love looks like.”
Jaejoong did not reply.
They fell into silence after this. Junsu stared stubbornly out of the cracked window, into the pitch-black night of Seoul. The lights in the still-standing buildings were switched off in order to not make it too easy for the bombers. Most of the street lamps were broken and those that still managed to work were left unlit.
Jaejoong looked at Junsu. At his pale face that seemed to glow through the darkness. At the fiery mop of the slightly too long hair. At his slender frame clad into an old shirt and almost threadbare pants. At the crease between his eyebrows, at the long dark lashes, cute button nose and the stubborn set of his jaw. At his downturned, plump and oh-so-kissable lips.
Kissable? He was attracted to the boy? To another vampire?
Jaejoong rose abruptly and crossed the small apartment in a few strides, but when he had made it to the door, Junsu turned to him from his place at the floor.
“How long will you be gone, Jaejoong-ssi?”
Jaejoong shrugged. “A few days… weeks… months… years? Who knows.”
Junsu nodded slowly. “Goodbye, Jaejoong-ssi… and thank you for coming.”
“Stop with the Jaejoong-ssi,” the elder huffed. “We have known each other long enough.”
A shy smile crept across Junsu’s face. “What should I call you then?” There was a hint of teasing in his voice. “Ahjussi?”
Jaejoong let out a snort. “Hyung is fine.”
The way Junsu’s eyes lit up was nothing short of beautiful.
He was not in love with Junsu. Jaejoong did not think he could ever be in love with someone. He had tried proper relationships for a few times, but had managed to ruin them every time. And yet he had to admit that he cared about the younger vampire. A little bit, at least.
Junsu was nothing like the other newly turned vampires. And he did not remind older vampires either. To be honest, he was surprisingly… human. A very polite, friendly and ever-cheerful human. Jaejoong wondered if it had something to do with the way he was turned. Maybe if young vampires knew what was happening to them, they would have become less wild afterwards. And maybe if they were given enough blood at the beginning, they would have been more able to control themselves later.
After all, Jaejoong himself had known during his turning what was happening to him. And even if the circumstances had been terrible – to put it mildly –, he had had enough food.
More than enough. Jaejoong shuddered at the memory.
Yes, he was a monster, but he still prided himself for his ability to remain calm and not let his hunger override his rational thinking. And maybe there were more vampires like him. Junsu was definitely one.
And he was cute. Very cute. Jaejoong had always liked cute things.
Yes, he was not in love with Junsu, but he was definitely attracted to the younger. Not that he planned to act on it. Especially not when Junsu still clearly loved the bastard who had turned him.
“Do you like it?”
Jaejoong lifted his head from the crook of Junsu’s neck, took another gulp from his bottle and tightened his hold at the younger’s waist. He became clingy when he was drunk and Junsu’s shoulder made such a nice pillow. When Junsu was not tense. Why was he so tense? He had felt perfectly relaxed before.
“Do I like what? Your neck?” Jaejoong turned his head and gave the said neck a playful bite. “Of course I like it. It’s soft, it’s cute, it smells good…”
Junsu let out somewhat nervous laugh and slapped Jaejoong’s knee. “I wasn’t talking about my neck.”
“That’s a shame,” Jaejoong mumbled and nuzzled further into the silky coolness, feeling Junsu gradually unwind again. “It smells like baby powder. And –” Jaejoong licked a long wet stripe over the ivory skin “– mm, tastes good.”
“Hyung!” Junsu shrieked, still laughing, and tried to twist away. Jaejoong chased after him with his mouth.
“If I ever die…” Jaejoong stopped to sniff at Junsu’s neck again, “I wanna be reborn as the pheromones on your neck.”
Junsu threw his head back and burst into uncontrollable giggles. Jaejoong chuckled along with him and sipped his soju. He was drunk, considerably so, but even if he hated his venom with everything else that made him a vampire, at least it protected him from a complete blackout while drinking. And helped him maintain his balance and clarity of speech.
It did not, however, protect him from a hangover. But this was a problem for tomorrow.
“Stop, hyung,” Junsu finally said and tried to find more comfortable position on his couch with Jaejoong clinging to him as a human-sized leech. Or a vampire-sized leech. Which was basically the same, because vampires had once been humans and had, therefore, roughly the same size. And because leeches drank blood and vampires drank blood, did it mean that vampires were human equivalent of leeches?
Or were leeches the fish equivalent of vampires? Did fish call leeches vampires in their own language? In… Fishian? Fishish? Fesh?
“Jaejoong-hyung?” Junsu’s voice woke Jaejoong from his musings. “Do you hear me?”
“Mmh.” Jaejoong nibbled at Junsu’s neck again. It reminded him the good old times when he had used to get together with his friends and crash at each other’s houses and drink soju and eat samgyupsal until the early morning hours. Oh, the joys of young nobility!
Jaejoong had tried samgyupsal after his turning, but it had tasted like shit. Junsu’s neck was better. Much better.
“Hyung, you try to maul my neck every time you get drunk.”
Jaejoong hummed an affirmative. “I have had to live two hundred and one years without it. I have had to drink two hundred and one years without smelling or tasting it. And now…”
“I really hope you didn’t start drinking right after you were born.”
“And now, when I’ve found the most perfect complement to my soju,” Jaejoong went on, “I fully intend to make up for lost time.”
One and a half months. Too short a time, compared to all the years before. He regretted not having tried it earlier. He had known Junsu for six months and discovered his beautiful neck only one and a half months ago. This made four and a half months of wasted time.
Junsu sighed and tilted his head a little to give Jaejoong better access. “I wish you were like this when you’re sober.”
Jaejoong blinked slowly. “Like what?”
Junsu’s long fingers drew random patterns on the elder’s thigh. “Cuddly. Warm. Like… like someone I can actually have a nice conversation with. I love spending time with you… and I don’t mind your sarcasm… but I don’t like it when you’re deliberately hurting me.”
Jaejoong swallowed all the remaining liquid with one go and hugged Junsu closer. He really wanted to see the other smile again. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m just… I… I don’t…”
“You’re trying to prove me so hard that you’re an insensitive monster.”
Jaejoong nodded, because this made sense. “I am a vampire. Vampires are monsters. Therefore, I am a monster.” He gestured with the empty bottle. “Ha! Logic!”
Junsu scoffed. “I am a vampire and I am not a monster. Where’s your logic now, hyung?”
“You’re not a monster,” Jaejoong agreed. “You’re cute.”
Junsu looked away, out of the same old cracked window. The war was over – finally – and by some miracle the house was still standing. The night was softer now, penetrated by the yellow glow of a few electric lights. In some nearby buildings, construction work had already begun. Junsu had found a job a couple of weeks ago and Jaejoong knew that he was saving money for a proper place to live.
And Junsu had asked him something. Tonight, when Jaejoong was in the middle of savouring his neck. It was probably important, because he had sounded oddly nervous, but Jaejoong could not remember, for the love of all gods and ancestors, what it was that Junsu wanted to know.
“What did you ask?” Jaejoong mumbled into Junsu’s porcelain skin. “Say it once more.”
The younger turned to look at him. “What?”
“You asked me something. Earlier. Tonight. What was it?”
“What… oh.” Junsu grew quiet again and his hold on Jaejoong’s thigh tightened.
Now Jaejoong was curious. “Tell me. Tell me.” He lifted his head and poked Junsu’s shoulder with one finger. “Junsu-yah. Su-ah. Susu. Jyunjyu. Su-darling. Tell me.”
Junsu looked at his hand that was still clutching Jaejoong’s thigh. He had nice fingers. Jaejoong wondered if his fingers tasted the same as his neck.
“I wanted to… to know… Iwantedtoknowifyoulikedoingyouknowwhat.”
Jaejoong blinked slowly. “Su, I’m drunk. A little slower this time, please.”
Junsu sighed. “I… just… I became curious.”
“Yes?”
The younger’s eyes darted between Jaejoong, the bottle in his hand and a few empty ones on the floor. “You were drinking tonight, right, hyung?”
Jaejoong snorted. “No, Susu, I was visiting the royal library of Kyujanggak.”
Junsu grabbed an untouched bottle from the floor, opened it and pushed it into Jaejoong’s hand. “Drink some more. You’re getting sarcastic again.”
Jaejoong drank obediently.
“So,” he leaned his head on Junsu’s shoulder and closed his eyes, “yes, I was drinking. We had a party with the boys.”
Junsu nodded. By now he knew about the Myungdong gang and Jaejoong’s illicit activities, but had not had any objections so far. Not that he was in a position to question Jaejoong’s life choices anyway.
“And… besides drinking…”
Jaejoong hummed and snuggled closer to the other. “What do you mean?”
“You smell like… not only like soju and yourself, but… you know.”
Jaejoong took another gulp of his liquor. “Wha- aah, you mean this.” He poked at Junsu’s cheek, giggling. “I smell like sex, you wanted to say. Yeah, there were two lads, really cute.” He shook the bottle in his hand and looked at the liquid swirling around. “Really, really cute.”
They claimed they were not gay while sober, for Jaejoong’s endless amusement. But after a few drinks they were all over Jaejoong every time and the vampire gladly indulged them. It was fascinating to watch two merciless thugs turning into an incoherent mess, and the chance to tease them the next day only added to the fun.
And they absolutely adored Jaejoong, drunk or sober. They were also the only ones from the gang who knew about Jaejoong’s true nature.
“Do you like it?”
“Do I like what? The sex?”
Jaejoong almost regretted that Junsu was not a human. The boy looked like at the verge of blushing again and the pink colour would have been adorable on Junsu’s cheeks.
Junsu nodded slowly, still averting his eyes. “Yes, this one.”
Jaejoong snickered evilly. “I’m sorry, Su, but you’re awfully vague. What exactly did you mean?”
Junsu glanced at Jaejoong, only to look away again. “You know, hyung,” he mumbled.
“Say it.” Jaejoong kissed the other’s cheek and lightly bit his ear. “Say sex,” he whispered with a theatrical seductiveness.
“Hyung!”
“I won’t leave you alone until you say it.”
Junsu snorted, leaned back and lifted his feet on the small table in front of the couch. “Suit yourself.”
Jaejoong’s eyes narrowed. Carefully he put his bottle on the floor – he tended to underestimate his strength when he was drunk – and looked back at Junsu. The younger was watching him, a challenging twinkle in his night black eyes.
Without a warning Jaejoong pounced on him.
The attack was so quick that Junsu barely had time to think, let alone move. He yelped when Jaejoong landed at him with his full weight, and tried to get away, but even drunk, the older vampire was too strong for him.
“You’ll become a good fighter after a few years,” Jaejoong remarked, holding Junsu’s wrists with one hand and mercilessly tickling him with the other. “You’re quite strong for your age.”
“I have… aah, hyung, stop… I have a black belt in taekwondo.”
Jaejoong stuck a finger under Junsu’s ribs, making the other giggle and squirm helplessly. “Cute. But right now I’m still stronger than you.”
“I’ll… ah…” Junsu’s words were lost between his giggles, “I’ll kill you, hyung, I swear to…”
Jaejoong chuckled. “Say it.”
“Say what?”
Jaejoong held a dramatic pause and looked at Junsu with a teasing smirk. The boy was even prettier like this, his hair a crimson mess, his eyes shining with laugher and – oh, finally! – the barest hint of pink on his cheeks. “Say sex and I’ll stop.”
Junsu huffed at him and Jaejoong poked his ribs again.
“Okay, okay,” the younger wheezed. “Sex. There, I said it. Satisfied?”
Jaejoong sat back, grinning, and held out his hand for Junsu. “Very.”
“You’re silly.”
“I’m drunk.” Jaejoong picked up his soju and resumed drinking. “And to answer your question, yes I like sex. A lot.” He threw a teasing wink at Junsu. “Satisfied?”
Junsu shrugged, still smiling. “Kind of.”
“Kind of? What else do you want to know? An explicit description of the earlier night?”
The younger’s eyes widened comically. “No!”
“What then?”
Junsu was fiddling with the edge of his shirt. “I… just… I’ve had it… I mean, I must have had it, in order to be a vampire, but I…” he took a big breath out of a human habit – the vampires’ need for air was almost non-existent – “but I don’t remember anything of it and I’ve been wondering…”
Jaejoong raised an eyebrow. “The vampire who turned you really didn’t try anything afterwards?”
Junsu shook his head quickly. “No, no, nothing like this. I mean…” there was this adorable almost-blushing look on his face again, “I tried to coax him into that one time, but… yeah, nothing.”
“Hmm.” Jaejoong took another gulp of soju. “Maybe he prefers humans.”
Which was, honestly, beyond his understanding, because Junsu was prettier than any human he had met. And if the vampire did not have any qualms of fucking an unconscious boy, why should he have stayed away from Junsu afterwards?
Or maybe he preferred his victims weak and completely at his mercy? Disgusting.
“And what do you want me to do about it?” he asked to take his mind away from those thoughts.
An embarrassed laughter fell from Junsu’s lips. They were full. And bright red. And glistening a little in the dim light of street lamps shining through the window.
“I wanted… If you don’t mind, hyung… I wanted to…” Junsu coughed awkwardly, looking everywhere but at Jaejoong. “Ah, never mind.”
Jaejoong stared at the boy, an understanding slowly cutting through his pleasant alcohol-induced buzz. “You want me to have sex with you.”
Junsu squeezed his eyes shut and nodded minutely.
For a moment Jaejoong thought that he was hallucinating, but then he remembered it was physically impossible for him to drink himself into delirium.
“Su,” he said softly, putting the bottle away and touching Junsu’s hand. “You’re underage.”
Okay, maybe this was not the best choice of words, because now Junsu was watching him with a weird mix of hurt and shame.
“I’ll be twenty next year,” the other stated. “And the age of consent is fourteen. But… but if you don’t want to, then you don’t…”
“Wait, Junsu, wait.” Jaejoong massaged his temples, cursing the alcohol in his system. Of course he wanted Junsu, this was not even a question. He wanted to pin the younger under him, to kiss him breathless, to open him up, slide into him, fill him to the brim… Or maybe ride him, feeling Junsu thrusting into him over and over again… But he was afraid of hurting Junsu, not so much physically than emotionally.
They needed to talk things through. And this was not something Jaejoong trusted his inebriated mind to do at the moment.
“Come here.” Jaejoong lied down on the couch and gently pulled Junsu’s hand. “I need to be sober for this.”
Junsu crawled on top of the elder, the couch too narrow to accommodate them otherwise, and pushed his face into the space between Jaejoong’s neck and shoulder. “You’ll get cranky again when you’re sober.”
Jaejoong wrapped his hands around Junsu. “I’ll try not to.”
The sky was slowly growing lighter. A few people were rushing past the house. A car was started somewhere. The neighbours’ child woke up and called her mum, complaining about a nightmare.
“Junsu-yah, one thing.”
The younger hummed quietly.
“I don’t do relationships. I… I can’t.”
Jaejoong felt Junsu smile against his shoulder. “Don’t worry, hyung. Neither do I.”