Are You There - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Jooheon gasps, his entire body tensing as his spine lifts from the sofa beneath him. His eyes are wide as he awakens from what feels like a terrifying eclipse of his mind. He feels hung over, lost and weak. When his body stills again, and he can feel the cushions beneath him, he groans loud enough to be heard from the two men in the next room. Jooheon cannot recall how he has ended up here, or where exactly here is, but he knows whatever has happened must have involved far too many shots of whiskey.
That is the only way he could feel such a pounding headache after only just waking up.
His groggy body takes its sweet time to roll onto its side, his eyes scanning the guest room has woken into. He recognizes the surroundings now, but just barely. He has only stayed in this room once since his friend purchased the house, but which friend that is still has yet to hit him.
He tries to call out, but his throat is bone dry, as if he has sbeen sleeping with his mouth hung open all night. He coughs a few times, trying again. He can only get out broken syllables, guttural sounds that do not let him feel very human. Tears prick at his eyes as his face goes red with the effort, but the men in the room beside his have already begun making their way down the hall to his door.
"Jooheon?"
Outside the door, the two wait quietly, Minhyuk's hand on Hoseok's arm to keep him steady. He has not slept now for more than twenty-four hours, and his body will give out completely soon. He can feel it, yet he refuses to let Hoseok stumble about without aid. "What exactly did you do to him?" Hoseok whispers up to the taller man, not having paid much mind to his house guest until he had woken.
"A kiss of the fae," Minhyuk says through a sigh of exhaustion. "He's wiped-" He pauses to take in a sharp breath, swaying on his feet. "-w-wiped back for two full days. Maybe more..."
Minhyuk sags against Hoseok now, the older man yelping to try and keep the nurse upright. "Get a grip," Hoseok mutters, clenching his teeth as he leans Minhyuk against the hallway wall. He helps lower the thin man to the ground, keeping him upright with the wall as a support. "I'll grab you in a second, lemme figure out an implant for Jooheon."
Minhyuk doesn't respond. He tries to lift his hand in a silent wave, letting Hoseok know that he has been heard, but he can barely twitch his fingers. Hoseok takes the silence as compliance, and leaves the nurse to push into his home's guest room.
"You're up!" He almost shouts when he spots Jooheon on the sofa bed, though it has not been pulled out and made up to be slept in. It still looks like an average upholstery couch, and Hoseok hopes that it was not too uncomfortable for his dear friend. Jooheon flinches against the throw pillows behind his head, Hoseok's voice far too loud for such a painful moment in his life. He slowly lifts a hand to his temple, groaning in pain once again.
"Hangover?" Hoseok guesses, thankful to have found a proper excuse for Jooheon's weakened state so quickly. "I'm not surprised."
Lifting a chair near the door, Hoseok carries it towards Jooheon's side, sitting down so he can lean over his friend. Though he himself is not yet in his best form, Hoseok knows how disgustingly painful it can be for a body to be taken back any amount of time. Hoseok wonders if Minhyuk knew just what he was doing when he took Jooheon's memories, or if he had been blindly following an order.
"What happened?" Jooheon's voice hits the air in a fierce croak, crackling more than a radio frequency out of reach.
"You drank about two bottles of my imported vodka to yourself," Hoseok lies, touching a hand to Jooheon's temple to implant the false memory.
Unlike Minhyuk, who the broad man can tell was born under only half of a bloodline, Hoseok is of full fae blood. While Minhyuk is very clearly a telepath- that much could be deduced by just a touch of Hoseok's hand- his ability to implant memories is weak. Hoseok had seen as much at the cafe last night before his entire body had shut down. Jooheon, someone Hoseok himself had toyed around with, had fought against Minhyuk's tricks easily.
Now, lying still on the sofa, Jooheon succumbs easily to the thoughts Hoseok places at the front of his mind. It is only a gentle suggestion. Drinking by himself. Crying over Changkyun. Crying over Kihyun. Crying when Hoseok revoked his drinking privileges. They are all suggestions, but Jooheon grasps easily to each.
Hoseok's shoulders fall as Jooheon's lips pucker in thought, his mind recalling false events and finding the truth behind them. "Was I really bad?" He asks Hoseok quietly, his voice reviving itself bit by bit.
"Horrid," Hoseok admits, patting his friend's shoulder carefully. "I don't think alcohol will ever be your friend, buddy."
Jooheon groans, lifting both hands to hide his face in shame. "I'm sorry," he calls into his palms. He has been known to get lost in his bottles of liquid comfort, doing radical and sometimes dangerous things when he is left with no inhibitions to hold him back. The false memories of sobbing over bottles of vodka are not hard to believe after having it happen plenty of times before.
"I'm sorry," Jooheon repeats after dropping his hands away, frowning up at his older friend.
Hoseok only shakes his head, patting the blonde's shoulder again before standing. "It's still early, go back to sleep. Rest up and get rid of that headache." He turns to put the chair back near the door where it belongs, glancing over his shoulder at the blonde before leaving.
He shuts the door behind him, heaving a sigh of relief before turning to Minhyuk on the floor. "Okay chief," he mutters as he crouches down to heft the nurse up. "You can sleep in my bed, but if you try and use the knife you stole from me, I'll make sure your master doesn't ever get you back."
Minhyuk can barely hear the broad man. He can barely even feel the hard chest he finds his cheek pressed against. He can only nod and pretend he has understood what he has just been told. Hoseok sighs, tucking the nurse into his bed carefully, knowing that his threats against the man are empty. He has taken a peak into the telepath's weakly hidden memories already, and he does not want any strife with a vampire.
Vampire.
Hoseok's mind lingers on the word for a moment before his memories of last night hit him. "Changkyun," he whispers.
[ x ]
Kihyun is pissed. After years of getting his way with Jooheon, before and after they were together, he really cannot believe this. "Two days!" He exclaims, tossing his hands into the air. "He's ignored my calls for two days, he completely ditched me at a party-"
Hyunwoo holds his hands in the air, trying to silence the small man before him. "Listen guy, I already told you Changkyun isn't here. If you're pissed at his friend, then you should find him. I'm here to sell comics, not be your therapist."
Kihyun sighs, leaning his elbows against the counter. He had come into the comic book shop as soon as it opened today, eager to tell Changkyun to back off. The feisty red-head had no doubt that Jooheon had walked out of Hoseok's party on Wednesday night for his best friend, the dreary foreigner with bad manners and crude dressing habits.
Now, at eight in the morning on a bleak Friday, Kihyun is taking a leave from work to hunt down either of the morons that were keeping him from getting laid. Unfortunately, Hyunwoo stands in his way now.
"Dude, if you're not gonna buy anything, could you at least pretend to look around?" Hyunwoo taps his fingers against the counter, not quite annoyed, but getting there. Compared to his coworkers, Hyunwoo is like a gentle giant. He takes what he us given and always attempts to keep the balance between others. But that does not mean that his patience cannot be tried.
"Can you just gimme Changkyun's number?" Kihyun stares up at Hyunwoo through his long lashes, pouting out his lower lip to try and appease the large man. Kihyun is shameless when it comes to his looks, and uses them whenever and wherever he can. Hyunwoo however only rolls his eyes at the small man across the counter.
"That's private information, and I'd be breaking the law if I gave it to you." Hyunwoo heaves a loud sigh, standing from his stool and rising to his full height. Atop his seat, he already hovers above Kihyun, but with the heels on his boots, and Hyunwoo's broad build, Kihyun shrinks back nervously. "I don't know you, I'm sure you're a great dude, but that won't stop me from grabbing you by the arm and twisting it behind your back until you get out of this shop."
It's an empty threat, but Kihyun does not know that. Hyunwoo, despite his physique, could never intentionally hurt someone. Only if his life were threatened. Or perhaps his cat's. Kihyun's feet stutter back anyhow, and he knocks into a shelf of vintage comics still in their original sleeves. Hyunwoo shouts in surprise, worried that the precious pieces would be knocked to the floor. Kihyun steadies the shelf behind him before it can topple, bowing apologetically before scurrying towards the front of the store.
He pauses at the door, his face screwed up in an ugly scowl, before turning back around and rushing for the counter again. "If I give you my number, will you at least call me when Changkyun comes into the store?"
Kihyun's fingers grip the edge of the counter in a vice, his knuckles going white. His teeth clench and his jaw locks as he waits for Hyunwoo's reply. This is a long shot, probably the longest shot he has taken in quite some time, but he cannot miss the chance. He needs to have Jooheon to himself. The blonde is the only person that has ever made him feel worth a damn during this life, and without that, he feels hollowed out.
Hyunwoo can see the naked desperation on Kihyun's face, breaking his natural beauty into pieces as his features tighten and pinch. Hyunwoo would be lying if he said he was not slightly jealous of whoever had this man's sole attention.
He thinks over the idea, worried for the safety of his coworker. He does not know this man, but he knows Changkyun. He is a more or less good kid, quiet, does his job well. Sure, he has made Hyunwoo cover a load of hours, but he is young and Hyunwoo cannot remain mad for too long. The man before him- Hyunwoo does not know anything about him.
He canmot bite back the natural ache in his chest that comes from wanting to help. So he sighs, and reaches under the counter for a notepad and pen. "Write your number down and I'll consider it."
Kihyun's face breaks out in a smile, a full ninety watts aimed straight for Hyunwoo's blushing cheeks. Kihyun has won yet again. He scrawls his number across the paper, leaving his name beneath it, as he had not told the man who he was. "Thanks..." Kihyun holds onto the last syllable, searching the man's shirt front for some sort of name tag, but finding none.
"Sohn Hyunwoo," the tanned man offers with a polite smile. He glances down at the name written on the paper and smiles a fraction wider. "Kihyun?"
The head of bottle red nods, extending a small hand towards the older man. "Yoo Kihyun." They shake, one large hand dwarfing Kihyun's entire being. It makes him almost flee, a palpable fear of what the strong man before him could do settling onto his shoulders. "Remember to call me, okay?"
Hyunwoo nods, dropping his hand onto the counter. He nods towards the exit, hoping that Kihyun will get the message and finally leave his place of work. Kihyun understands and hurries himself away from the large man, dark eyes boring into him even when he has stepped out onto the sidewalk at the front of the store.
"What a lumbering creep," he mutters under his breath as he turns on his heel and heads for his parked car. As if by habit, he pulls his phone from his pocket to check for any missed messages or calls. Swiping any that do not have Jooheon's name attached to them, Kihyun finds that nothing is really happening. "Please don't be dead or something," he whispers as he unlocks his car and climbs into the driver's seat.
Turning over the engine, Kihyun sighs. Though he knows he is not the kindest soul roaming these streets, he also knows that he will never be able to improve if he has to continue roaming alone.
[ x ]
Changkyun jumps up from his bed as his phone suddenly vibrates on his dresser across the room. Hyungwon had given it back to him when prompted for the device's whereabouts, and Changkyun had not touched it since arriving home early this morning.
He had not even wanted to arrive home after listening to Hyungwon's drawn out story of his life, and his inevitable death. He had had so many more questions after being told that he was now on a hit list. Nothing more on the subject was given, and all Changkyun got out of his master after that was that his dear friend had been taken care of.
Changkyun did not like the sound of that, but there was not much he could do. The sun was up, and though Hyungwon had assured him he would not be swarmed by flames under the UV rays, the young man felt significantly weaker after the star had risen into the sky. With his body feeling drained, he did not even know how to pursue new information on Jooheon or Hoseok.
Stumbling towards his dresser, Changkyun is careful to avoid the streaks of sunlight that stab through his window's blinds. I'll have to buy blackout curtains, he tells himself before snatching for his phone.
The contact that blinks on screen surprises him, and he answers the call right away. "Hoseok!"
The older man on the other end sighs, sounding tired but more coherent than Changkyun feels. "Changkyun, where exactly are you right now?"
Changkyun wonders if Hoseok can remember anything about last night. He wonders if he should apologize if he does remember. Is that something I can actually apologize for? 'Hey, buddy, sorry for almost killing you-'
"Changkyun? Seriously, where the hell are you?"
"I'm at home," he says quietly, settling back onto his bed. He pulls his legs up under him, the tone in his friend's voice surprising him. They are not particularly close to one another, Jooheon really their best connection, but Hoseok has never been anything but kind to the younger. The bite to his voice surprises the tanned man.
"Okay. I'm coming over with Jooheon soon."
Changkyun sits up straighter, the thought suddenly terrifying. "What? No, you can't!"
Hoseok sighs again, rather tired of everybody causing him so much trouble lately. "If you haven't realized, you've eaten in the last few hours, so he'll be perfectly safe." It hurts Hoseok to talk so bluntly to his friend. Though they are not close enough to share secrets, he still wants to protect the youngest of their group.
It hurts more when Changkyun can only stutter into his phone's mic, fear gripping his chest as he realizes that Hoseok does remember. He does not wonder why Hoseok has not had authorities break into his home yet. He does not even wonder why Hoseok is speaking to him now. His mind is too caught up in fear for what his friend must think of him to see anything else clearly.
"Changkyun, please calm down."
Despite his lungs serving little to no purpose, Changkyun still finds the ability to hyperventilate as panic sets in. "Hoseok- I'm so.. So sorry-"
"Calm down!" Hoseok's voice commands attention, and the man tucked into his bed across the room stirs under the covers. "Changkyun, I'm not going to put you into any danger. But I can't keep Jooheon here. He's had his memories wiped of the last few days, and he's been crying since he woke up about how much he misses you."
Changkyun's chest aches as he sinks back into a slump on his bed. "Hoseok," he whispers, tears burning the edges of his vision into damp blurs. "Hoseok I don't know what to do. I'm so scared."
Hoseok's own chest falls as he sighs yet again, worried for the young man. He has never known a vampire, not personally. He has known several of his bloodline who have been taken by vampires as siphons- pledges as the monsters call them- however his interactions with children of the night have been limited to those of his own kind.
"Just stay calm, alright? I'm bringing Jooheon out now, and he won't want to see you working yourself up just because you gave me a glorified hickey." Though his tone is light, the joke is not funny, and neither men laugh.
Not even Minhyuk, who is fully awake now, can spare a smile for the sad man across the room. He sits up under his cocoon of blankets, his body still chilled to the bone as Hoseok hurries to end the conversation. "Just stay out of the sun, conserve your energy, and let us in when we come knocking on your door. Alright?"
Changkyun hums, shaking in place on his bed. They both hang up, and the tanned man's phone hits the mattress beneath him before he can even take in a shaking breath. He wants to go through all the steps of a full breakdown. He wants to lock himself up and sob. Out of fear. Out of pain. Out of agony.
He does not know what he will do when his two friends arrive. He does not trust himself to have either of them in his home. Not even with the sun up to keep him weak. He does not know the extent of his body's newest desires, and the half of his head that he cannot control scares him.
But the other half of his head that is controlled now by someone else scares him even more than anything. He only hopes that Hyungwon will keep away from his vulnerable mind.