Are You There - Chapter 55: Chapter 55

"Babe, you're almost out of O-positive."
Changkyun's ears perk up at that, distracted momentarily from his task at hand. Jooheon's voice is soft in the kitchen, below even his normal speaking volume, but Changkyun hears it nonetheless. "I'll text Minhyuk about it!" He calls back, returning his focus to the man sat across from him.
"It's still so weird for me to hear you guys call each other babe," Hoseok informs his long time friend, scratching at a funny scar he had discovered across his chest one day. "Like, I know it's been two years, but... I don't know. You guys just went so long playing your little game of "I'm straight!" that I still sometimes don't believe you're together."
Changkyun smiles, a bright and humbling sight for the broad fae sat opposite him. "Stop trying to avoid me with casual conversation," Changkyun murmurs after a beat has passed, his hands stretching out again to touch Hoseok's temple. "I discovered this ability the other day, and I wanted to show you first."
Hoseok rolls his eyes before letting them fall closed, mumbling under his breath all the way. "Not sure why you wouldn't request your Master to help you with this-"
He stops with a gasp, his mouth holding agape as images flash through his mind's eye. Memories that were never there, and in fact should not be there. Hoseok flinches as the memory of pain, searing through the skin of his chest, crops up harder than the rest had. His scar. His hand, as if on reflex, reaches up to paw at the fabric of his shirt, right where the first circle rests. He tried these days not to think about it, assuming his mother had attempted to charm him in her sleep. Now he understands.
Well, more or less.
"Did you just show me some kind of alternate universe?"
Jooheon, wandering into the room with a mug of something smelling of iron, smiles at his oldest friend from above his boyfriend's head. "Isn't it crazy?" His grin is wild, and when Changkyun turns slightly to take the mug, he spares an equally manic one for the older.
Hoseok, almost in accusation, points his finger at the vampire. "I thought you said I was the first person you were showing. What's he know about it?"
Jooheon taps at his temple, Changkyun mirroring the action from a foot in front of him.
So many things had changed this time around, and some of them could not be helped. The night of Changkyun's change Jooheon had gone to the hospital for him, but as Minhyuk had promised, his mind was not tampered with. Instead, he was lead to Changkyun in the dungeon of the morgue, where the vampire was nearly dead.
And though he would not change anything about his life now, Changkyun wishes he had not drawn first from Jooheon those years ago. Even with the blood bond that links them, it still hurts his soul every day that he thinks about hurting his love.
"Right," Hoseok murmurs as he watches Changkyun take a heavy sip from the mug, careful to lick his lips so nobody is uncomfortable with the sight of warm blood. "So... What was all that?" Hoseok knows not how to question what Changkyun has just passed to him. Images of him, of people he knows and some he wishes he did not, they do not match up with what he knows of this world. And Changkyun loves the way the broad fae twiddles his thumbs in an attempt to comfort himself.
"Memories," he answers simply, sipping again from the mug. He is not so partial to chilled and reheated blood, but it is what he can get without causing harm, and Minhyuk can give him an almost infinite supply from his placement at the hospital. "From my first attempt at death."
Hoseok grimaces, none taken to the way Changkyun has slowly begun speaking like his Master. "You and that old bastard sound so alike it's-"
"Disturbed, right?" Jooheon, from over his boyfriend's shoulder still, gives a strong nod of agreement. "It's worse when they're in the same room. Sometimes they whip out words from centuries ago and I'm so lost-"
"Well when you see the same person everyday..." Changkyun ducks his head, taking another sip of the bland blood before glancing up at his boyfriend. Jooheon smiles adoringly down at the younger, pursing his lips jokingly to let him know he is just poking fun. "Well at least I didn't ever start talking like that rat-"
"I swear to the Gods, if one of you calls me a rat one more time-"
Changkyun snickers, missing the last few words of a certain petite man as he enters the apartment. "Who invited him?" He asks Jooheon accusingly, to which the older only rolls his eyes, smiling a moment later.
"Him and Hyunwoo are having another off part of their relationship. He's depressed-"
"I'm not depressed," Yoo Kihyun announces as he wanders down the main hall to the apartment, finding the three that have already gathered in the bedroom. His nose wrinkles as the scent of the fae sat in the room assaults his senses, a grotesquely earthy scent that he does not want so early in the morning. "Gods, couldn't you open a window?" He complains casually, poking his nose in the air as he stares hard at Hoseok.
The fae grunts, quick to stand and tense his muscles. "Don't make me knock you through the wall, rat."
Kihyun huffs, throwing his head back to fake a sardonic laugh. "Sorry fae, but I was invited." He pats at Jooheon's head, almost too high above his own to reach properly, in a doting way. "And before any of you question why once again, I'd like to know first."
Changkyun stands from his place, clearing his throat nervously as he sets his mug down atop his seat. Glancing at Jooheon, he admits sheepishly, " I actually didn't want to show him the memories."
Kihyun blinks, wondering just what that could mean. "Oh I see, leaving me out of another big secret. Yet again! I remember we used to all be the best of friends, before I started dating this bafoon-"He tosses a glance at Jooheon, who chuckles in his sheepish way. The incubus throws his hands up in a dramatic huff, glaring up at Changkyun now. "First, you send some behemoth of a vampire to Claim me!" His anger picks up as he steps closer to Changkyun, his cheeks going red. "And then you and Jooheon start shacking up- then you just throw that clumsy beast at me to try and make me feel less alone-"
"Hey you love Hyunwoo," Changkyun tells Kihyun in an almost patronizing tone.
"Well that aside, it wasn't appreciated at the time. And now this. What're you hiding from me?" Kihyun has his hands on his hips, and his nose is higher than the rest of his face as he glares harder than ever before.
"I've got a new ability," Changkyun finally admits. A sigh deflates the height of his shoulders, somehow shrinking a few inches beneath Kihyun's heavy gaze. "I think it stems from Master's ability to read the memories from objects. I can give memories."
Kihyun scoffs, his eyes rolling skyward as he interprets what this means incorrectly. "You've always been able to glamour, Changkyun. This isn't new-"
Changkyun shuts the incubus up quickly, the same way he had done to Hoseok not minutes before. His dark hands are pressed to a pale temple, dark hair tickling his fingertips as memories flood through the contact.
But Kihyun does not stay in place as the fae had, instead shuffling away from Changkyun's touch after only a moment of contact. "I don't want to see that life again," he starts, his gaze dropping to the floor. "That life ended two years ago. I don't want to relive it."
Changkyun's mouth falls open, awe clear on his features as the other men in the room openly gawk at Kihyun. "You knew? This whole time- these last few years, you remembered everything? And you never said anything-"
"It wasn't my life anymore," is all Kihyun offers up. Clearing his throat, he glances away from the eyes that stare harder with every passing moment. "Why else would I allow someone to call themselves my Master? It is my curse to recall lives of my past, and while you revoked that past from existence, I wasn't able to forget."
Though the others are shocked, Hoseok finds the sense to comment, "You talk like Hyungwon too. So annoying."
"What's annoying?" Amidst the mess of thoughts and confusion, not even the vampire had heard the front door open yet again and allow entrance to a certain bubbly telepath. "I brought doughnuts by the way." A bag rustles as the man donned still in a pair of teal scrubs steps further into the bedroom. "What're we all staring at the rat for?"
Kihyun all but screams in outrage, giving up rather than lashing out at Minhyuk. "I'm not a rat!" he huffs out, collapsing onto Changkyun's abandoned seat. Changkyun is barely quick enough, even with his heightened reflexes, to grab his mug from the chair before Kihyun can make contact with it.
The telepath, having reached out with his mind in the few moments he had been given, hums. "I see," he states plainly as he steps in and passes the bag of pastries to Hoseok. "So they finally know about it all?" His question is directed towards the vampire, but it's the fae that replies.
"How come you knew?" Grimacing up at the nurse, Hoseok cannot fight his disdain over being so left out of the loop.
"I'm his brother," Minhyuk points out matter-of-factly. "Anything my Master knows, I know."
"Well how come I never saw it in your head?" Hoseok glares up at the telepath, wanting to reach out with his hand and search for memories that may still be hidden. "I mean, your walls always crumbled when we had sex-"
"Hoseok, you seem to think that you're good enough in bed for me to have let all my secrets spill." Minhyuk pats the fae's head, shaking his own with a curt smile. "Hate to tell you that that is just not the case."
Hoseok glares down at the bag in his hand, reclaiming his seat and reaching inside for a pastry. Minhyuk smiles to himself, shielding his memories from the fae as he lets his hand rest atop the broad man's shoulder.
Changkyun and Jooheon share a look, knowing that while the relationship that had ended between the two faes had been horrific months before, it would not last much longer. Not with the way Minhyuk stared after the older, or the way the Hoseok so desperately looked for acceptance from the younger. The couple nods to one another, not even needing to use their link to understand one another these days. Kihyun gags as he notices the interaction, sticking a finger down his throat in jest.
"Gods, you guys are so gay, it hurts." Kihyun clutches his chest dramatically, pretending to go into cardiac arrest.
"You're just mad 'cause Hyunwoo hasn't called you back yet-"
Kihyun bares his teeth at the fae that dares to speak up, but he does not refute his words. He is not given the chance to, the Mark on his chest burning suddenly as his Master grows near. Changkyun and Minhyuk stiffen as well, their backs straightening and their breathing slowing.
"Okay, who invited the-"
"Oh please," Chae Hyungwon practically purrs in his newest's ear. "Finish that sentence my pet."
Kihyun grimaces, but ducks his head in respect. "Master," he greets quietly, forcing himself to keep his eyes low. He was quick to make it known that he resented being under a Claim, but even quicker to back down from an argument with the vampire.
"And how are my children today?" Nobody replies, though nobody apart from Kihyun seems particularly unhappy. "Well, I presume." Nods go up around the room, heads bobbing up and down to confirm the elder's words. "I was called upon. Why?"
Changkyun lifts his head, dropping his walls for his Master. Even after years of knowing Hyungwon, he still has no clue if the elder can read his thoughts. They are connected, just as he and Minhyuk are. He and Kihyun even. Yet he has not a single clue what the extent of Hyungwon's powers are. He never gets an answer when he asks.
"Hm," is all he says as he glances about, eyes locking with Minhyuk's after a moment. "A new ability," he states simply, none too interested. "If you were wise, you'd figure out how to send time reeling forward, yes?"
Changkyun freezes in his place, before taking a long step towards his Master. "Is that possible?" He questions with wide eyes, voice hard and eager to learn. "Is that a really something I could learn?"
His Master smiles, shrugging his shoulders in that casual manner that he has. "Young one, everything is possible. Your life of knowing what you can do, and how to do it? It has only just begun."
Kihyun, with a finger up to his gaping lips, fakes another gag before standing. "Alright if I'm not needed, I'm gonna go find a man to suck the life out of." Kihyun gestures towards the bedroom door, clearly waiting for permission to see himself out.
Changkyun nods, but holds a hand up for him to wait. "Babe, could you and Hoseok wait in the kitchen for a minute?" Jooheon's brow line slowly descends over his eyes, confused over why he should leave the room. He and Changkyun's connection is quite strong, and it is often times harder than anything else to hide thoughts from one another, but he obliges anyhow. "Thanks," the vampire murmurs as the door shuts on their exit.
Kihyun, Minhyuk and Hyungwon all stand a bit closer now, staring hard at the youngest. "Make this quick," their Master blurts, looking less than enthused to be cooped up in the room. "I've yet to hunt this week, and I am admittedly starving."
Changkyun notes the almost white pallor to Hyungwon's skin and nods, understanding the hunger all too well. "I wanted to show you all something else. Something I've been practicing for a few weeks now. Only Jooheon knows, but perhaps practice with a group will do me good." Minhyuk opens his mouth to question the meaning of this, but shuts it tight when Changkyun grabs for the telepath's hand. "Everyone hold hands, in a circle please."
He adds the polite courtesy just to appease his Master, knowing the elder hates a rude subordinate like nothing else.
"What is this about?" Minhyuk questions, grimacing as his hand slides into Kihyun's sweaty palm. The pair share a look, eyes squinted with disdain, before letting their gazes fall on the youngest again.
"Time," Changkyun blurts out. "I still don't understand how it works, time I mean. It's so complex, and there's so much to figure out between one second to the next." Changkyun's grip on Minhyuk's hand and Hyungwon's hand tightens, making the other two tighten their grips on Kihyun's hands. The incubus is admittedly uncomfortable, but he attempts to guard his expression.
"But somehow I can reverse it." The youngest's eyes are wide as he gazes at the faces around him, so much admiration and respect clear on his features. "And just like when I fade, I've figured out how to take others with me."
There rests a silence for a long time. Minutes perhaps. Seconds. Time is so relative, nobody really understands it. But everybody opens their mouths at the same time as excitement envelopes the group of four. This little group, so haphazardly lumped together, are eager to uncover how time comes about. And they want to do it together.
"Do it," Minhyuk blurts, eyes wide and lips pursed.
Changkyun closes his eyes for a moment, collecting his thoughts.
And then he dials the sun back across the sky, repairing the lost moments of breaths he maybe could have held. Bringing new life to instances he would rather have shared with his closest allies
Though he only shaves back a few seconds, he is thankful that he can look around and see that the others know the truth with him. They have come back to reclaim those few moments again, and he is no longer alone. Changkyun is with them, from now, 'til forever. His family.