Are You There - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Jooheon stumbles into a few people as he wanders about the city, making it almost to his own apartment when his phone rumbles in his pocket. He tugs the device from his jacket, startling when his boss's number flashes up at him. "Hello?" Jooheon stops walking, taking a seat at a bus stop as his thoughts slowly come back to him. He cannot exactly recall why he had left Changkyun's apartment, but bits of what he had heard before he was gone linger. Blood flares up several times as Mr. Kim begins to speak in his ear.
"Lee Jooheon. Has it occurred to you that you've showed up for exactly none of your scheduled shifts this week? I gave you Wednesday, because you said your friend's mother had died. But you don't mourn with them for four days, Jooheon."
"Is it Saturday?" Jooheon wonders aloud, knowing that it must be. His haze of parties from the days before still leave him a bit absent, and he doesn't know if he can fix it.
"Yes, Jooheon. You've missed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I'm sorry, but because you didn't give me any proper advance, or even a call at all, I'm going to have to start filing your termination report." Mr. Kim has never been a particularly angry man, rather easy going in Jooheon's opinion; the blonde understands that for Mr. Kim to come to this standing, Jooheon must deserve it.
That does not make it hurt any less. "I understand," Jooheon mutters, staring hard at the cement beneath his feet.
He ends the call without a word, not keen on hearing Mr. Kim's apology, or even how his final paycheck will be processed. Jooheon wants to hear none of it. Admittedly, he is not particularly let down by the call. His job, a customer directory assistant at a movie theater, was not incredibly glamorous. No benefits, no aid, no money. Jooheon shrugs his shoulders and grips his phone in his fists, thinking of other things.
He stays seated on the bus bench for a long while, his phone dying after so long, and his body growing cold. He is wearing no jacket or shoes, and though he is not sure why, he is acutely aware of the eyes on him as others notice as well. When he finally decides to stand, the soles of his feet ache, but he refuses to lift them and check for blood.
Blood.
Jooheon's broken memories and snippets of Changkyun's conversation with the stranger this morning replay.
"I'm not your damn blood slave."
Jooheon's eyes crease at Hoseok's odd words, wondering what that could mean. It is not a phrase he has ever heard before, and it does not match with the rest of his mortal ideals. He dismisses the thought, starting to walk as his mind tugs up another lingering moment.
"You haven't had a bite out of this one yet." Jooheon can still feel the hairs rising at the back of his neck at just the memory. The stranger's fingers had run along the curve of his neck, poking at him and shifting his shirt aside a bit as if in search of something.
"What the hell," Jooheon mutters aloud, completely lost. If his phone was not dead, he would be texting his best friend in search of answers rather than walking almost aimlessly. Who was that guy this morning? Why was he grabbing at me? Why were you two talking about blood and slavery and biting-
Realizing what direction he is headed in, Jooheon sets a path down to follow. It is not a particularly long walk from his spot to The Fourth Wall comic shop. He just hopes that Changkyun has not also lost his job and will be prepared to welcome him in with open arms. Or at least folded arms and a smile. After the brush offs he is becoming used to, Jooheon can only expect the bare minimum from the tanned boy.
He does not hurry himself along, despite the near freezing temperatures that practically claw at his exposed skin. Instead, he smiles to passerby and attempts to enjoy the walk. He does not feel particularly happy today, though he has not been particularly happy for some time. Today, people on the street just take a deeper notice to his unhealthy state.
Some even whisper, point, and gawk.
Arriving at the comic shop is single-handedly the best thing that could happen to Jooheon today. Spotting his best friend through the storefront, his dark face tucked behind a book, is such a welcome sight after the odd morning Jooheon has had. The blonde is prepared with questions for Changkyun, perhaps some clues on what the hell is going on with him lately, or what he is getting himself into. Instead, when Jooheon strides into the store, that familiar bell tinkling above his head, Changkyun does not meet his gaze with a smile.
The younger's entire face falls at the sight of his best friend, and it almost makes the blonde's footsteps falter and slow. Holding his chin up as best he can, Jooheon walks through the center aisle straight for his best friend. "I've just been fired," he informs the younger as soon as he reaches the counter.
Changkyun sets his book down, not bothering to mark the page he has last read. It is a copy the vampire has skimmed over several times before, he will simply start it over when he gets back to it.
Changkyun glances around the store, searching for something that Jooheon cannot pinpoint. "Kihyun is here," the younger whispers, his dark gems finally landing on Jooheon's face. The blonde lurches on his feet, a bit pained at the thought of running into the red-head once again. "Come hide, he's in the bathroom right now."
Changkyun reaches out to take Jooheon's hand in his, the younger almost flinching back when he feels just how cold the blonde's skin is. "What's Kihyun doing here?" Jooheon whispers as Changkyun rushes him behind the counter and towards the stock room.
"Him and Hyunwoo are apparently buddies now," Changkyun explains. He wishes so desperately to explain that Kihyun is kind of a demonic creature, sucking his energy away like a parasite. But he cannot do that and still maintain what is left of his sanity. Not to mention, he has only just learned what an incubus even is, so explaining would be difficult anyhow. "Jooheon, where's your jacket?"
Jooheon glances down at himself, a tan hand still resting on his forearm. Changkyun's fingers act as an electric heater, sparking his nerves to life beneath his skin. "I just kinda left your place and..." Jooheon shrugs, lifting his eyes to his best friend's. "I'm not sure, I just felt like I had to go home. I didn't even grab shoes."
He stomps his feet a few times, the slap of skin against the floor's tiles a sickening sound in the quiet store. Changkyun glances down and sighs, dragging Jooheon through the stock room into the employee's break room. "Are you a child or something? Don't you know to take care of yourself by now?"
Jooheon shrugs again, just happy to hear Changkyun scolding him as usual. It feels as if it has been weeks since they have had a proper conversation; he would welcome even a screaming match at this point. "I got fired," Jooheon says again when Changkyun motions for the blonde to sit beside a small furnace. It is the only warm spot in the whole of the store, and Changkyun almost shies away from the heat that pries at his naturally chilled skin.
The vampire ignores Jooheon yet again, letting his fingers slip from the blonde's icy skin to find a blanket. There is not one, and all he returns with is the heavy coat he had left Wednesday night when paramedics dragged him from the store. Stripping the sweatshirt Changkyun wears on himself now, he passes both articles to the blonde on the floor.
"Put the sweater on and use the coat like a blanket."
Jooheon begins to shiver as the heat of the store suddenly itches at his skin, as if he had not realized just how cold he was until now. He stretches his legs out beneath him as he drapes the long coat across his lap, Changkyun groaning at the sight of the blonde's feet.
"There's a rock stuck in the bottom of your foot," he tells Jooheon, rushing away again to find a first-aid kit. He is lucky to even come back with damp paper towels, the first-aid tucked away in the bathroom where Kihyun is still residing. If Hyunwoo were not in the manager's office for a meeting on store sales and marketing strategies, Changkyun would just send the large man in to clobber Kihyun and snag the kit.
When Changkyun sinks back down beside Jooheon, he has to smack the blonde to stop him from picking at the bottoms of his blackened feet. "You'll be lucky if this doesn't get infected," he murmurs in disgust. Lifting Jooheon's right foot to rest in his lap, Changkyun has to hold his breath.
It's just blood, and you're not even hungry. Jooheon's foot is not only filthy, but weeping blood from around the stone lodged in his heel. Changkyun cringes at the sight, his face pinching in pain. "Don't you feel this?" Changkyun asks quietly, swiping the damp towel around the stone to try and clean the skin up.
The tanned boy's eyes blink rapidly as he attempts to swallow his desires. The sight before him is positively revolting, filthy skin and rubble embedded too deep to wipe away. But the smell.
"My feet are numb," Jooheon admits as Changkyun bats away his thoughts. The vampire cannot afford to lose his self-control so early into his decision to keep his wits about him. He is not going to be like Hyungwon and kill for the first lifetime of his new curse. "Is it actually that bad?"
Jooheon attempts to tug his foot away from the younger, but Changkyun just tightens his grip and jabs at the stone tentatively. "Yeah, it's actually that bad." Changkyun forces a small smile onto his lips as he glances up at the blonde, nervous to help him, but nervous to hold him like this much longer. "If you could keep from screaming, that'd be great."
"Why would I scream-"
Jooheon's face morphs in an instant faster than the strike of a match. His skin is blasted over in red, his teeth clamping down on his bottom lip to stifle his cry of pain. Changkyun clenches his teeth as he watches his poor friend, the sound of the pebble hitting the floor too loud within the silent break room.
"I'm sorry," Changkyun whispers, folding the paper towel still in his hand and pressing a clean side to the now open wound in Jooheon's foot. "I'm so sorry," he whispers again. The dark man's eyes flit from his hands to Jooheon's face, impatiently awaiting a reply from the blonde. "Jooheon-"
"Who was that guy this morning? The one who brought Hoseok by." Jooheon pushes a harsh breath past his gritted teeth, a hissing sound the result.
Changkyun blinks. And he blinks again. Lowering Jooheon's injured foot to the ground, he can only blink in confusion. "I just tugged a rock out of you, and you're asking me about some guy from this morning?"
"I need the distraction," he explains before adding, "you called him Master."  His breathing has made an attempt to level off, but he still cannot get quite past the pain in his now throbbing foot. He hopes that this conversation will prove a worthy adversary for the red hot bursts in his heel.
Changkyun blinks again, wishing he had Minhyuk's ability to wipe away what he does not want to hear about anymore. He scours his mind for an explanation, something, anything that could even remotely make sense. Jooheon grows impatient as the seconds tick by, his pain almost forgotten as he waits for an answer.
"It's his gamer tag," Changkyun spits out just when Jooheon opens his mouth to say something else. "Master H-One. On the Xbox." Changkyun can feel the single bead of sweat sink down the back of his shirt collar and trace the length of his spine. He is terrified of being found out, and the heat of the furnace is really making it hard for him to keep his cool.
Jooheon and Changkyun are not ones to lie. Especially not to one another. Though they have before, they can almost never get away with it. The pair are thick as thieves, and cannot get much past the other.
"Well why the hell aren't you just using his normal name then?" Jooheon sinks back against the wall behind him, clearly annoyed. Yet he has taken the bait, which is all that Changkyun could have asked for.
Smiling, the vampire pats at Jooheon's leg above his coat. "It's just a joke between him and I."
Jooheon tries to smile back, though he does not much care for the pang of jealousy that twirls through his gut. Changkyun is not one to make friends easily, and Jooheon almost likes that the younger is emotionally dependent on him. He does not take well to knowing that he is no longer the only friend able to show up at any time, or make Changkyun smile like the world has been handed to him.
Changkyun can be happy, of course. Jooheon would just prefer if the younger were happy because of something he had done. No matter how toxic that idea might sound to even the blonde.
"You're bleeding," Changkyun mutters after a long silence. Jooheon tugs his feet under the blanket, hiding them from sight, but Changkyun is not looking down. The vampire's dark eyes are locked on Jooheon's lips, a tear in the skin left from when Jooheon had fought his own scream.
Unlike the stone in Jooheon's foot, this sight is far more inviting for the young corpse. His feelings for the blonde, though stuffed low and hidden for the last few days, cannot be stifled for long. Especially not when glazed in the sweet scents of caramel and iron.  Fighting the urge to lick his own lips, Changkyun meets Jooheon's eyes with a grimace.
"You cut your lip," the vampire mutters blandly, his shoulders rising to hide his red ears.
Jooheon is struck by a tang of iron as he swipes his tongue across his lower lip, cringing at the taste. Changkyun watches the action, invested as if his favorite film were on screen. "Uh- You said you were fired?" Changkyun cringes at his own words, shocked to come off so blunt. Better than jumping his bones for getting a bloody lip, he thinks to himself after a moment of shame.
"I'm not upset," Jooheon admits quietly. Changkyun's gaze has made him slightly uncomfortable, the younger yet to look away from the blonde. "You know I don't really like it there."
Changkyun nods, his hands clenching into fists in his lap. He is practically shaking, a tense excitement pulsating through him like waves against a shoreline. A breeze gentle enough to just ruffle the petals of a flower could launch Changkyun forward, only the smallest of efforts necessary to encourage him.
"Are you okay?" Jooheon asks his best friend after another long silence. The dark boy shrugs, his legs tucking beneath him as his fists press against the ground. "You look stressed, Kyun."
Changkyun shrugs again, his body poised to pounce. Only a small voice at the back of his head is holding him still, begging him to just sit back and take a breath. If you do something, he could get hurt. If you do something, you could ruin absolutely everything.
"Can I confess something?" Changkyun's lips purse together, trying to capture the words that have already hit the air between himself and the blonde before him. That was not what he had intended to voice. Originally, he was going to offer to pay for a taxi so Jooheon could go home. Or perhaps have Jooheon make a snack run so the younger could usher Kihyun out. Now he has hopelessly trapped himself in this confining space with the most appetizing meal the vampire has ever lain eyes upon.
"Uh, I guess." Jooheon shuffles in place, crossing his legs so he can lean closer to his best friend. "You can tell me anything, obviously. That's how it's always been." Jooheon is clearly worried over his best friend, despite his own inner turmoils.
Changkyun is aware of Jooheon's recent troubles; the feelings of abandonment especially. Changkyun know's he is a huge part of that, having put his personal life before his best friend on several occasions. The party at Hoseok's being the most recent.
"You won't hate me?"
An inch of space is closed as Changkyun shuffles just a bit nearer, Jooheon barely noticing as his eyes watch the younger carefully. "Why would I hate you?" The blonde rakes a hand through his hair, licking at his lower lip again only to flinch into himself at the sharp burning that comes of it. His lip is still bleeding, and Changkyun cannot help but glance at the small cut every few moments.
"Mainly because there's a handful of things I wanna do right now, but some of them are rather messy, and the others are probably illegal."
Jooheon swallows nervously, watching as Changkyun's hair falls into his face like a curtain. Almost as if on instinct, Jooheon reaches up to flick it from the younger's forehead, something they have done for one another plenty of times. Their mutual feelings- though unspoken- keep them from letting anything interrupt their eye contact. Even something as simple as a fall of hair between their gazes.
Changkyun, quick as a wink, grasps onto Jooheon's wrist just before he can shift the younger's hair aside. "I'm gonna kiss you," he blurts out before Jooheon can tug his hand back or even whimper in pain.
The blonde's eyes widen, the words taking too long to compute. "You're gonna what-" Changkyun gives Jooheon's wrist another tug, the blonde lurching forward onto his knees so he is at eye level with the younger. "Kyun, what're you doing?"
Changkyun lets out a shaky breath, unsure of his actions himself. He wants to pause for a moment and explain to Jooheon. Explain that the sight of his blood makes him both hungry and dazed. The sound of his pulse has him practically preening. The mere sight of him-
But there is simply no time to spare, and Changkyun does not want to talk himself out of this moment. Now, while his mind has no control over his body, he lets the last four years of restraint out between the movement of one second to the next. Not a breath can separate him from this. Not an ounce of hesitation can halt him any longer
With little courage left to spare, Changkyun pulls Jooheon just a hair closer. The younger can feel his best friend's heart against his chest as he narrows the gap between their lips. Jooheon, frozen in something between fear and wonder, only watches the events as they strike. He does not even breathe, though he wishes he had; the moment Changkyun's lips are pressed against his, the air he was saving is swept away.
It is not a thundering, ravishing kiss that makes his stomach drop nor his heart stop. Conversely, Jooheon's entire body almost settles, as if comfortable. Something in the back of his head begs for this not to be merely a vivid dream. He does not want to have another ignorant vision about his best friend. He wants this. Real and alive.
Changkyun, though his thoughts have slowly come to and his body is less controlling, makes no move to end the contact. He pretends he cannot taste Jooheon's blood on his tongue. That he cannot even smell the rest pumping through the blonde's veins. That the single breath of air Jooheon pushes out is not impossibly intoxicating.
He lives in the daydream for as long as he can; this is just a kiss, and they are only two boys in love in a comic book employee break room. Until it is no longer the two of them.
"Get off him!"
Changkyun is knocked away from Jooheon with more force than expected, his fingers coming up to his mouth in wonder like what so often happens in his novels. He can still taste the sweetness of Jooheon on his lips, something he never thought he would earn in this lifetime. Though he figures that he now has one hundred lifetimes to live through.
The realization scares him, but also puts a glare on his face as he stands to face the man that has just thrown him away from the love of the century. He only has one lifetime with Jooheon beside him. There is not a single chance he will let a rat like Yoo Kihyun interrupt that.
But before Changkyun can say a single word, Kihyun is grasping him by the front of his shirt and dragging the younger away from the blonde still on the floor. They leave Jooheon alone, suddenly cold without Changkyun to leave hot trails of contact on his skin.
"Kihyun-" Changkyun huffs out a hot breath as he yanks himself away from the small man, ready to kick out at the bastard for still hanging around. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Instead of giving a proper answer, or reacting as if he has heard Changkyun at all, Kihyun places his hands together before his chest as if in prayer. "I'm not a man to beg, half-blood. But I'm going to ask you just once not to hurt him. Please."
Changkyun scoffs, already turning on his heel to return to Jooheon's side. He is not exactly in the mood to pick up where the pair had left off, but hes in less of a mood to argue with the red-head just now.
Kihyun however is far from done. He scampers around Changkyun to block his path again, hands still together in petition. "Please. Please Changkyun. Just let me take care of him. I won't hurt him."
"I barely kissed him," Changkyun mutters, rolling his eyes at the smaller man. "Don't act like you've never done worse. I'm not hurting anybody-"
"You'll hurt him," Kihyun blurts out, reaching his small hands out to grasp onto Changkyun's arms. "You already know you can't control yourself." Latching onto Changkyun's insecurities, Kihyun expands them until it is all the young man can see. Though he does not like the newborn vampire, Kihyun must admit he also does not like using his dark abilities on the younger. "You know you'll hurt him if you keep him too close to you. Please let me take care of him."
Changkyun's head shakes, the block in his mind beginning to crumble as the incubus wills the younger to listen. Unlike with Hyunwoo earlier, Kihyun's concentration remains intact, and he holds Changkyun for as long as it takes. "You'll keep away, right?"
Changkyun only nods.