Are You There - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

"Okay, so convince me." Jooheon stands under the glaring sun, Changkyun lingering beneath the hospital's main awning. He was surprisingly cleared of all issues eighteen hours after admittance, though he is not sure the humans caring for him knew exactly what was wrong with him. Each time a nurse had come to check in on his room, they only asked if he was still dizzy, leaving when he denied their question.
Perhaps Hyungwon had convinced them that he had just collapsed. He makes the mental note to ask his Master later on.
"What am I convincing you of?" Changkyun holds his hands out at his sides, confused. Jooheon has been told as much of the truth as the vampire is willing to give. Jooheon had seen him heal within the blink of an eye, enough to show the human that Changkyun was not in fact lying. Or playing some sort of ploy.
"I mean, don't you turn into a bat in the sunlight?"
Though Jooheon has seen the unthinkable, witnessed a man walk away from a fatal wound and watched a minor one heal in seconds, he cannot hide the inner skeptic. The whole idea of vampires existing is not in his wheel house, a rather narrow minded man compared to others of his age. In the supernatural sense that is.
Changkyun rolls his eyes, bracing himself for a subtle burn as he takes his first step into the stark afternoon sun. Like a wave, the heat of the air sinking above streaks against his dark skin. He knows he will not burst into flames, and he is nearly positive that becoming a bat will never happen, but Jooheon can notice the subtle shift in the vampire's demeanor as he walks along.
Changkyun strides toward Jooheon carefully, his shoulders hunching forward as his cheeks begin to taper off into a deep crimson. The blonde furrows his brows, shrugging his jacket off to drape around Changkyun's shoulders. He tugs the hood up, careful to avoid his skin at all costs. The dark man is reddening at every inch of exposed skin, almost like a sunburn.
"Does this hurt?" Jooheon asks quietly, his eyes wide beneath his lowered brows. He has never seen a reaction like this to just the sun, and he is not sure just how he is supposed to help with it. Changkyun thankfully shakes his head, his breathing bated despite the denial.
"It's like standing in front of an open oven. It doesn't burn, but you can feel it hot on your skin." He shakes as soon as the words are past his lips, shivering as if feverish. "If I haven't eaten enough, the sun makes me weak." Gesturing off towards the slowly sinking sun, Changkyun groans. "Sunsets are the worst I think. It's when the sun is just staring me straight in the face."
Turning himself away and tugging the jacket closer to his body, Changkyun shuffles himself in the wrong direction. "Don't you live this way-" Jooheon cuts himself off, chasing after the vampire so he is not left behind. "Why're we going this way?" They walk side by side, the blonde wondering how to help while the darker begs for silence.
"I'm not walking towards the sun, obviously. I'll collapse at this rate. I haven't had fresh blood in a few days so even though I'm healed, I'm not in perfect shape."
Tilting his head back in curiosity, Jooheon cannot help but let his wonders slip past his dark lips. "Could you drink my blood?"
Changkyun blanches, his face like a blank sheet as he turns his head to glare up at the blonde. Swiping his tongue over his lips, he narrows his eyes and bares his teeth in a grimace. "Unless you wanna die or become an addict, you won't ask me that again."
Jooheon takes a long step away from Changkyun, walking ahead a ways before the vampire begins stepping after him. Both their heads are low, different trains of thought winding around one another in confusion. Changkyun wonders where his Master is. He wonders why he cannot hear Hoseok in his mind. Why he cannot even feel Hoseok anymore. He wonders if their connection is ruined now, after only a few months. He wonders if Jooheon believes him.
Jooheon thinks of other, darker things. If Changkyun could really be something so impossible, how could it have happened? The supposed vampire had not given him any information as to why the blonde feels so drawn in. Why Changkyun was so clearly in his life before now. Why it feels as if the younger was essentially wiped from his memories. Why and why again, with no answers.
"Can I see your fangs?"
Jooheon's loud voice draws the eyes of many passerby, and Changkyun glares at each that spare him a glance. They do not stare long.
Pausing so the blonde can catch up to his quickened pace, Changkyun sighs. "I don't have fangs." His hood pulls back from his face a bit too far, making the young man jerk his gaze away and face the ground ahead once more. Jooheon frowns further, tripping over his own feet as he attempts to keep up with Changkyun's brisk pace.
"Well why not? You're a-" Glancing about, Jooheon lowers his voice. Whether he believes it or not is no longer the issue at hand. He simply does not want to embarrass himself again. "If you're a vampire," he whispers, leaning down to be heard though Changkyun could hear him from a mile out. "Then shouldn't you have fangs? Y'know, to bite people?"
Sighing, Changkyun reaches a hand out at a speed too quick for Jooheon to catch. His fingers latch around the blonde's wrist, tugging him around a bar at the corner of the block and into the waiting shadows. Glaring up into Jooheon's suddenly blushing face, Changkyun releases his hold quicker than the blonde expects. There rests a mark where his hand was, but Jooheon tries not to wince as his skin burns.
"Do you want me to bite you? Is that what you really want?" Leaning up on tip toe, Changkyun makes sure his voice is lower than usual. A deep drag to draw Jooheon in. He holds his breath as he leans in too close, his nose pressed to the blonde's jaw and raising goosebumps on the both of them. "Will it be enough proof if I drain you right here on the street?"
Jooheon coughs, nervous as Changkyun's hot exhale hits his throat. He shakes his head frantically, disbelieving still but scared of what the younger will do nonetheless. Lifting a hand between them, Jooheon pushes the darker away from him carefully. "Don't touch me," he murmurs, the joking moment broken.
"Sorry," Changkyun murmurs, glancing down at the pale hand that wavers between them. He tries not to notice the dark imprint of his hand coiled around the smooth skin at Jooheon's wrist. "But you're just not getting it."
Baring his teeth, Changkyun is quick to reveal no fangs present. Jooheon glances away, embarrassed to have fed into the ploy at all, knowing for sure that vampires still are not real. Opening his mouth to apologize in turn, Jooheon is interrupted by another bout of Changkyun's annoyance.
"I need you to understand that I'm not going to hurt you if I can help it, but pestering me about what I can do..." Lifting a hand to his temple, almost expecting a headache he knows will not come, Changkyun turns away. "I can't control myself if I get angry. I held myself away from you for six straight months just so I wouldn't hurt you, and I don't want to ruin that streak now when I've finally told you part of the truth."
Changkyun stalks away, headed in any direction that will take him from Jooheon's almost intoxicating scent. He cannot hold his breath forever, and that caramel lace will entice him eventually. He does not want to be around the blonde when his thirst becomes unbearable and his venom arches up the back of his throat. Jooheon chases after him despite the silent threat hanging between them, catching his breath as he matches pace with the vampire.
"Okay, so let's say I believe you."
"We've already said that today." Changkyun does not want another let down, but he is tired of pushing the blonde away, shutting down every question. He just lets Jooheon follow along blindly. Setting his course towards Hyungwon's Jade Palace, Changkyun allows the blonde the moment to speak freely.
"Well let's pretend again for a second." Shielding his eyes from the sun setting on their right, Jooheon stares down as best he can at the dark man beside him. "What exactly happened to you last night? Why didn't you just heal like you did earlier? Like, in seconds."
Changkyun tugs the jacket closer, shivering as the sun begins hitting him harder between passing bodies and cars. Jooheon sighs, tugging the vampire onto his other side so he can shield the shorter from the burning star sinking beside them. "I was stabbed with something blessed. Probably soaked in holy water so that I couldn't heal."
Forcing the jokes of silver crosses and stakes back, Jooheon continues his line of questioning. "So that's what burned your skin like that? Made it twisted and nasty-"
Changkyun cuts Jooheon down with a withering glare, already done with this topic. "Yes, that's why I scarred like that." Pausing before a small store, Changkyun tugs his sleeve up in the shade. Revealing the scar Jooheon had not even noticed carved there, Changkyun tries not to grimace at his own body. "This one is from healing Hoseok, we had to use a blessed blade for that too because any blood that hits my cells is immediately impure."
"You healed him with your blood?" Jooheon cannot hide his disgust, imagining his close friend drinking someone's blood just to heal- "Oh my God. Hoseok isn't a vampire too is he-"
"Don't worry about what Hoseok is." Changkyun drops his sleeve again, walking ahead and rounding a corner. The antiques shop is far from here, and he wonders if Jooheon will be able to keep up with his pace for several more kilometers. He is not moving at nearly his fastest, only a casual jog for humans, but he knows Jooheon is not the prime example of top physical condition.
Sure enough, after very few minutes of chasing after the vampire, Jooheon's breath is short and he is begging to call a taxi. "I could carry you," Changkyun offers over his shoulder, Jooheon's form slumped against a storefront in fatigue. The vampire pauses beneath an awning, glancing behind him at the blonde. He cannot fight the fond smile that tugs his lips up at the sight. Though Jooheon has made his life rather difficult in these last few days, Changkyun cannot help but find the blonde incredibly stunning. A rare light that shines too bright, but will never burn him. So he hopes.
"You can't carry me," Jooheon wheezes out as he pushes himself away from the brick wall behind him. He holds a hand against his side, dragging heavy breaths between his teeth with each new step he takes. "I'm too heavy."
Changkyun scoffs, wondering if the 'Don't touch me' rule is still valid in this situation. "You saw me disappear into thin air yesterday, and you believe I can't lift you up? You watched a cut on my arm close in on itself, but I can't-"
"Okay okay, never mind." Pushing past Changkyun, Jooheon rolls his eyes in sudden annoyance. He still does not believe the younger man or his story of vampiric abilities, but he does not like being poked fun at any more than before this strange storyline began.
Sighing from behind him, Changkyun makes the quick decision before his mind can curse him for it. Reaching out to grab Jooheon's upper arm, he begs his abilities not to fail him now and let him fade into oblivion with Jooheon in tow. While it will not be particularly grand for either of them, Changkyun knows it will be the only thing to push the blonde over that precipice between disbelief and knowledge.
[ x ]
Hyungwon startles at the sound of strangled breathing, sudden and loud from the front of his store. He has only just arrived, but he is still sure that nobody could have come in after him through the front door. Unsure, he steps onto a chair to peer out over the staggered shelving units, spotting his youngest pressed firm to the front wall of windows in obvious fear.
"Changkyun-"
Hyungwon flinches at the sound of a sudden heave, someone else obviously with his youngest vampire. Cursing, Hyungwon rounds the nearest aisle so he can see the front of his store properly. He groans when he spots the familiar blonde crouched before the door, hurling into an old tea kettle with so many memories painted through its decades of life. Hyungwon hates to think that this one will forever be engraved in the tin's scrap soul.
Ignoring the mortal on the ground, Hyungwon faces his youngest from across the dim space. "Did you just fade here?"
Changkyun nods, coughing as a sweat breaks out across his forehead. Sighing, Hyungwon crosses the store to take the younger in further, a hand on one shoulder and the blonde left to heave his stomach's contents into the kettle alone. "I have some reserves stored in the back for emergencies," Hyungwon says quietly, headed towards the back office.
The store is set up with a very basic floorplan, the entirety of the actual storefront open and spacious. It is the amount of junk Hyungwon has collected over the years that makes it difficult for the pair to weave towards the back. Changkyun stumbles over several chair legs, while Hyungwon simply glides as if nothing were in his way. As if his mind were not plagued with the thought of what will happen to him one week from now.
"What do you think you're doing fading about the city with a human? You know they can't handle it-"
"He didn't die, so..." Changkyun does not finish his thought, pausing instead to ensure that Jooheon is in fact still breathing in the other room. He nods to himself when he catches the ragged groans of the blonde, surely keeling over in exhaustion. "He'll be fine, I controlled the fade really well this time."
Hyungwon can tell as much, seeing as Changkyun is still walking after this round. Hyungwon does not remember how long it took him to master the ability, but he knows it was the hardest strength he had had to develop. It was a pain to control, and he spent many nights winking in and out of the candlelight with little resolve.
The store office, compared to both the store and Hyungwon's home, is incredibly luxurious. He spares little expense when it comes to the technology he has stocked into the small room. Changkyun has only entered the back office twice, but he believes it to be closer to a karaoke snack room more than a place for work. With the thick carpeting, open-faced refrigerators, and odd stripes of colored lighting near the ceiling, it is a place to relax rather than file.
"There's some blood in the taller fridge," Hyungwon tells the younger, leaving him to find some blankets. Though Changkyun has begun to sweat, he shakes in the older's grasp almost as aggressively as a leaf in a storm.
Shuffling forward, Changkyun stoops low in search of the disgustingly cold substance his body craves. Well, truly he could go for the young dancer that lives around the corner from his apartment, but the walk is too far and the sun has yet to set. He will surely knock himself unconscious trying to snag someone from the street.
"You still haven't bitten the kid," Hyungwon states simply as he drapes a heavy blanket around his youngest's shoulders. "He smells like you though."
Changkyun blushes as he straightens, two cold packs held tight to his chest as he lets the cooler's door close behind him. "I'm not gonna bite him," he informs his Master definitively. "He smells too good," he adds quietly as he finds a seat in the office's lone armchair.
Hyungwon chuckles to himself, catching a whiff of the blonde on the air easily enough. He smells sweet, dark around the edges like a toffee candy, but with something darker still beneath that. Changkyun's dead and stale life tangled with that vibrant health, a cocktail of light and dark that should not be brought together.
"The blood of someone you love tastes better you know."
Changkyun considers jabbing at Hyungwon, bringing up Hoseok and their rather odd relationship of late, but the elder seems out of place today. The young vampire pockets the joke for now and instead tears a corner from the first plastic pack so he can drink. Cold, sluggish liquid hits the back of his throat, subduing the venom that has been rearing up in fear of his emptying stomach.
"So you've told the blonde, I assume?" Hyungwon's question is answered only by a nod, Changkyun's lips otherwise occupied by the plastic caught between them. Though it does not settle his hunger like a fresh vein would, Changkyun can feel his body flood with warmth. "Was that fade meant to be used as proof?"
Changkyun nods again, thankful that he does not have to explain much where his Master is concerned.
"And you said you could control this fade easily?" Hyungwon's curiosity is new to the younger, and he pulls his cold pack from his lips in confusion.
"It wasn't easy, but I could control it, yeah. Is that suddenly important?"
Hyungwon glances away, unsure of how he can explain what he has done in the name of his youngest. Or what he has just done to his youngest. "I spoke with the Counsel this morning." Lifting a hand in a casual air, Hyungwon is anything but. "I've asked for a week to help you harness a new ability. Something that will make them protect you from any future attacks."
"But I'm a half-blood." Changkyun is not following the whole idea, swept up again by the blood resting between his fingers. Finishing the first pack and setting the drained plastic aside, he asks, "Why would they protect me if they're probably the ones having me hunted?"
Hyungwon tilts his head from side to side, choosing his words carefully. "If they can find something useful in you, an ability they can use to their benefits, they'll keep you alive. They'll offer protection."
"I only have a week to find something new?" Changkyun tears his second pack open, sucking at his forefinger when a few drops land against his skin. "I didn't think that was how it worked."
Hyungwon nods. "It really isn't. But I've asked for the week, and if you don't discover a new ability, I'll be killed."
Pausing with the pack between his lips, Changkyun's eyes find his Master's in fright. "Hrmm-" His mumbled terror is cut off as the doorway suddenly fills with a familiar caramel scented blonde.
"Holy shit. Is that blood-"