Are You There - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Hyungwon walks along at a brisk pace, practically dragging Changkyun beside him. The older understands that the younger's sudden drive to flee has nothing to do with fear, and everything to do with hunger. He occasionally warns Changkyun, his tone terse and his grip tight.
"If you are caught killing someone, you'll be hunted down and killed yourself."
Despite the idea of a second death, something Changkyun only a few hours ago believed could  not happen, he fidgets against his captor. His first fresh blood was nothing short of euphoric, and he cannot get the taste off his tongue. The blood made his body come alive, and he only now realizes that it almost replicated the feels of sex; blood coursing all over and a flush of heat storming his existence.
A place inside him is still disgusted, even gags at some of the crude thoughts running round his mind, but the primal instinct in him now is to eat. And God does he want to eat. He wonders if everyone will taste as sweet as Hoseok did. Sweet yet salty, his mind reminds him. Just like a chocolate-covered pretzel.
Changkyun hums at the thought, struggling harder against Hyungwon.
"I swear, little one, I'll snap your neck myself if you don't settle right now." There is an edge to his voice that Changkyun has not heard much of. Hyungwon has been smooth since they met, as casual as an old friend; this change startles him. Changkyun tries his best to keep his new hunger at bay, trusting that Hyungwon will have no trouble keeping his word. Though he ceases his struggle, his mind still runs rampant, positively drunk on the flavors of his old friend.
So rich and creamy, warm against his lips and tongue, like a brownie fresh from the pan. So many bursts of flavors on his tongue, still toppling over one another to be experienced. Changkyun almost cannot handle the high he gets on just the taste alone. "Master," he whispers suddenly, surprising both men as they wander through the dark city.
Hyungwon's eyes shift to his young disciple, gleaming in the dark as Changkyun's own eyes drift about. "What is it?"
The young man's ears can pick up even the shift of wind a mile away, so it is easy for him to hear the stumble of a woman a block over, her feet dragging against the pavement like bricks. Hyungwon notices the tilt of Changkyun's head, knowing what the hunt looks like after decades of his own wild lifestyle.
"No." His grip tightens on the tanned boy quickly, dragging him to his apartment quicker than before. "You need to train yourself to fight your urges. You need to learn the difference between who to feed from and who to let pass."
As they reach the corner of the street, Changkyun and Hyungwon turn to watch as the woman they had both heard moments ago stumbles towards them from the next street over. Changkyun practically whimpers as he watches her approach slowly, his throat clear of the venom, but his tongue burning anyhow.
He looks up at Hyungwon pleadingly, but the man only shakes his head. "Can you not smell her?" Hyungwon asks in annoyance, his own nose burning with the stench of rice wine, despite the distance between the pair and the woman. "If you drink from a drunkard, you'll feel it for hours, and you'll run the risk of killing them far easier, because their blood becomes thinner."
Changkyun licks his lips at the thought, freezing mid-motion after realizing he is even doing it. "It'll make me drunk?" He asks curiously, watching as the woman crosses the street, turning away from them and heading North while they head West. He takes one faltering step, not caring when Hyungwon drags him back. "Can't I just try it-"
"No!" Hyungwon all but rips his arm from its socket, forcing Changkyun to follow him back the way they had come. All the while, Hyungwon mutters beneath his breath, Changkyun listening intently despite his urges. "If I had known when you entered my shop that you would be so difficult, I would have let you wander ahead as a mortal."
Changkyun officially stills at those words, only his feet moving as he allows Hyungwon to lead him along. Neither speak now, though Changkyun has more questions than before they left his apartment. Wasn't Hyungwon meant to explain things? Instead, he just made things more difficult for me.
"I believe your little friend has escaped," the silver-haired man states in amusement. They've reached the apartment complex, and Changkyun turns to find that his guest room window is just beside them. Through the haze of the dark room, Changkyun can see easily that it is empty. The blonde has gone missing.
Changkyun curses, the back of his mind processing things too fast and launching information towards the front of his brain like a virus. "Hoseok," he blurts, realization dawning on him. "He was probably out meeting Hoseok."
"Whom?" Hyungwon stares down at the younger as he begins to fret again, visibly worked up over whatever is going on inside his head.
"Hoseok," he blurts again, looking up at his Master in anguish. "Jooheon probably left for the guy I just left on the street."
Hyungwon hums, that dark smile like a blade under the streetlight. "How intriguing."
[ x ]
"You really can't just sit here if you're not gonna buy anything." The part-timer glares down at the blonde that has been seated in his usual cafe seat for over thirty minutes. "I'll call the police and tell them you're a drunk if you don't buy something."
Jooheon's eyes roll, his chest rising and falling with a heavy sigh as he stands himself up. He is far taller than the slight boy before him, probably a few years older as well, and could easily beat him into the wall if he so chose. But he has already come to terms with the fact that Hoseok is not coming along, and he will have nobody to bail him out of jail tonight.
"Fine, whatever, don't have to be such a prick." Jooheon holds his hands up to show that he means no harm as he backs away from his usual table, heading for the door with another roll of his dark eyes. He mumbles under his breath all the way, silently begging a lightning storm to begin and strike the cafe so the boy will have to suffer in the dark.
In the air of the night, Jooheon cannot see far down the street. For a Saturday night, the city is quite empty. He can see a few stumbling bodies a block away, clearly leaving pubs for the night, hopefully not going off to cause havoc in the dark. A heavy sigh falls past his lips as he shoves his hands into his pockets, turning away from the cafe and rounding the far corner of the building.
He hums to a tune he does not recognize, walking towards his own apartment nearly thirty minutes away on foot. He does not want to go back to Changkyun's. Not if his best friend refuses to even speak to him like he usually would. Jooheon is not one for listening to bullshit, and he cannot stand hearing it from Changkyun of all people.
"...like he doesn't even realize who I am or something-" Jooheon's irritated ramblings cut off when he accidentally knocks his foot into someone slumped on the ground. He yelps, hopping nearly a meter back in fright. "Oh my God, hello?"
The form groans in obvious pain, though it does not seem like it will be moving from the path anytime soon. Jooheon assumes that it is a man from the broad back and cropped hair, and hopes that he is not concealing a weapon to attack Jooheon with if he kneels down to help him. "Hello?" He calls sharply, crouching to prod at the man's side.
The man is almost completely folded in on himself, his face buried in his arms, and his knees tucked of to his chest. It only begs the question of why there is a man lying in the fetal position in the street in the middle of the night. Jooheon tries to pry one of the man's arms away from his head, worried that the man might spring up at any time, but worried even more that the man might suddenly die if he stays down like this. "Sir?"
He finally pulls the man's arm up from his face, revealing his strong profile, dulled some in the dim light of the street lamps. Though Jooheon's eyesight is not perfect, especially without his glasses on, he can recognize the face of his friend he had only seen one day before. "Shit- Hoseok?"
Jooheon works harder to roll his friend onto his back, holding both the man's arms away from his head to get a better look at him. "Hoseok? Hey, what happened?" Jooheon pats at his friend's cheek, begging him to come to his senses. His skin is freezing, scaring Jooheon more than the lack of reply he receives.
Cursing under his breath, Jooheon pats at his pockets for his cellphone. Hoseok lets out a low whine from the ground beneath him, in obvious pain though Jooheon cannot see anything outwardly wrong with him. The startling sight reminds him so much of discovering Changkyun covered in blood, that Jooheon has to pause for a long moment and shake himself out of his memories. "Hoseok," he mutters, still rummaging for his cellphone. He cannot find it, and he lets out a strangled screech when he realizes it is probably still at his best friend's apartment.
He cannot lift Hoseok up, he knows his own limits. But perhaps he could drag him along on his back? Jooheon rolls his eyes at the image he would give off, dragging a visibly dead body down the street in the middle of the night. "Okay, buddy, you've gotta help me out this time. I have to get you up."
Hoseok does not respond, in a deep, nearly catatonic sleep. His body, though outwardly pained, is working at full speed beneath the surface. Changkyun's venom, a small enough amount to only stun Hoseok, rushes through his veins to replenish what Changkyun stole. The wound at his throat has already healed, and all left to be done now is the regeneration of his blood.
Though Hoseok is asleep, he can feel everything, and is simply unable to announce that he is in pain. Admittedly, the sensations running through his body are almost rapturous. He is uncomfortably warm, as if he is wrapped in a fleece and held tight by strong arms. It is a near intimate feeling that holds him still on the ground, one that continues to draw his legs to his chest. He feels as if whatever is happening to him has stripped him naked and bared him to the world.
"Hoseok, c'mon, gimme your hands." Hoseok does not respond, only another groan passing his clenched teeth. Jooheon takes the larger man's hands in his, yanking him up into a sitting position. With as much of his energy as he can spare, Jooheon hoists his friend up until he is leaned over the blonde's back.
Jooheon lilts to the side on impact, Hoseok's solid build far too heavy for him on his own. He cannot make it back to his apartment, or Changkyun's at that. Not with this dead weight. Groaning, he makes the possibly detrimental decision to go back to the cafe and face the stupid kid behind the counter. Hoseok's feet drag behind them as Jooheon stumbles like another drunk in the night, whimpering with each step as his knees buckle beneath him.
"Hoseok, wake the hell up you bastard-" Jooheon shuts his mouth as he hits the door to the cafe, knocking straight into the glass and stumbling over the body leaned behind him. He cries out, angry and in pain.
The boy behind the counter jumps in place at the sound of a bash at the door, curious as to who stands just outside. The streetlights at the storefront are too bright, and he cannot see who has come to bang against the door with their foot, but he does not think he wants to go and let them in. He glances towards the only customer that has come in all night, aside from the blonde that did not even buy anything earlier.
The customer watches the barista right back, sipping on his tea curiously. Admittedly, he has been sat for only five minutes awaiting the arrival of the blonde at the door. His phone blinks on the table with the text message he never actually opened, only glanced at the address that popped into his notifications, and the man he was meant to wait for. He does not know how the sender knew any of the information, but he does not question it.
If the contact name had been any other, Minhyuk would have just gone back to finishing his emergency room rounds, providing paperwork to families and rushing about like the tired mad man he was. "Are you going to push the door for them?" Minhyuk calls out boldly, the barista startling in his place once again.
"I don't know if I should," he admits. To him, the darkness holds nothing but dangers. And if someone cannot figure out how a pull-to-open door works, maybe he does not want to find out exactly why. "They could be crazed."
"Yeah, and they could be zombies looking for brains," Minhyuk calls out in annoyance, the boy going wide-eyed. "Oh stop pouting like a child." The nurse stands, irritated now more than ever. He would much rather be at the hospital, a place he hates more than most anything, yet he is here dealing with the problems of another. He hopes once he opens the text message fully, he will be rewarded with something more than just what he has already seen. What he already knows.
Snatching his phone from the table, Minhyuk stands to let the pair of men into the cafe, not surprised to see Jooheon's angry face when he opens the door for them. The blondes share a glance, Jooheon's face flashing recognition and surprise before constricting in pain again. "Watch out," he grumbles as he shoves past Minhyuk.
The nurse, now in street clothes, watches as Jooheon drags the large man on his back into a booth, dropping him there unceremoniously. "You got a phone?" The young man calls out to the boy behind the counter, who only shakes his head nervously. Black eyes watch beneath equally black hair, scared beyond relief as Jooheon's face contorts in anger.
The blonde groans, Minhyuk watching from his place still beside the door. His eyes glance down to his phone, deftly opening his most recent message. "Then how the hell were you expecting to report me to the police earlier, huh?"
"Is there anything I can help you with, Sir?" Minhyuk steps forward, his phone now pocketed and feeling heavier than before. He forces a smile onto his lips, eager to fix things and leave. "You remember me from the hospital, right?"
Jooheon nods, glaring over his shoulder at Minhyuk. Naturally, sirens begin sounding at the back of his mind, the sight of his familiar face like an incoming tornado. "What're you doing here?" He does not mean to sound so rude, but his night has gone less than perfect, and he cannot seem to control his tone.
Minhyuk shrugs in return, deliberately casual as he glances at Hoseok. The broad man has not moved from his slumped position in the booth seat, though a sweat has broken out on his forehead. Minhyuk assumes this is due to the stifling heat of the cafe mingling with Hoseok's internal fever. "I'm working a split shift. I've got a few hours before I get back to the hospital."
It is not a complete lie; he will end up going back to work, but this is not an excused absence by any means.
"You're a nurse, yeah?" Jooheon peers over at Minhyuk curiously, stooped forward a bit to hold a hand to his lower back. Dragging Hoseok for only two minutes was enough to leave him exhausted, but his priority is his friend. "You mind looking at him real quick? Or could you call for someone?"
"I don't have a cellphone," he lies, folding his fist so his nails dig into his palm. He hates to lie more than he hates to serve for someone who only lies. "I'm sorry. But I can look at him if you need me to." The message he has just read whirls around Minhyuk's mind, Hoseok the least of his worries right now. Jooheon is the priority, but he does not know if he can bring himself to erase the blonde's memories again.
Jooheon waves Minhyuk over to his friend, too worried to bother feeling unnerved by Minhyuk's sudden appearance. Perhaps under different circumstances, Jooheon would wonder why the hell the man had been his main source of contact in the last twenty-four hours. He would wonder why Minhyuk had appeared before him so many times already, and he could barely recall any memories of him.
"What happened to your friend?" Minhyuk asks carefully, sliding onto the booth seat beside Hoseok. He already knows that the large man was attacked, and he knows who attacked him, but he cannot exactly tell Jooheon that much. He should at least play the part of an oblivious nurse.
"I don't know," Jooheon admits anxiously. "I was waiting for him here, and when I left because he wasn't coming, I walked into him on the ground outside.
Minhyuk presses his hand to Hoseok's head, pretending to check for a fever. The contact, however, takes him directly into the man's shot mind. Minhyuk frowns at the disgustingly sexual thoughts and images crowding the older's head, something he does expect but still cannot stand.
Having been bitten himself, Minhyuk knows how deep into the feeling one can get as the body attempts to restart itself. That rush of venom in the blood, the heat pouring over every inch of skin. Not to mention the new connection shared between the drinker and the supplier. A connection that can either be taken sexually, or professionally. It is an entirely too intimate experience for Minhyuk, and he shivers at the familiar thoughts as he leaves Hoseok's mind.
He checks the man's pulse, just to look professional, before turning the man's head to the side. There is no sign of a bite, meaning he has healed perfectly and there is not any real problem. Of course, losing half your blood supply in a few seconds time is a problem, but the man will not be in any danger if he continues to sleep it off.
"He smells like alcohol," Minhyuk states firmly as he stands from his seat. Of course, no such stench clings to the air, but the switch behind Jooheon's eyes flips and he has already been convinced. Like before, it is harder to control his thoughts, and Minhyuk's face turns a light shade of pink from the effort.
Jooheon's memories rewire themselves. Running into Hoseok on the street disappears and is replaced by meeting with Minhyuk at the cafe by accident. They only make idle chat, nothing that Minhyuk should have to recall later, before Jooheon departs.
The soft-faced man stumbles back, glaring up at Minhyuk as his mind shuts itself off from the world. "What're you doing right now?" Jooheon asks accusingly, smacking at the side of his own head almost too aggressively for Minhyuk's liking. "What the hell are you doing?"
Minhyuk's mouth falls open as he tries to figure out what's just happened. Jooheon breaks their eye contact, completely lost as he tries to straighten out his head. He spots Hoseok lying still behind Minhyuk, and whatever the nurse tried to replace comes back easily. Jooheon slumps into a random chair behind him, feeling completely wasted of all energy.
Minhyuk only stands still, his eyes narrowed on Jooheon in utter confusion. "Did you just block me out?" He asks quietly, crouching down to peer up at the younger. "How did you do that?"
Jooheon glares back at the nurse, his head pounding with the effort of fixing his own brain. "First tell me why the fuck you're the only thing I know is real from the last day and a half."
Minhyuk stands back up, the message from his master still haunting him. "Shit," he spits out, reaching his hands up to tug at his hair uselessly. He glances at Jooheon, who watches him closely. There is only one thing that will fix this to the fullest, but Minhyuk does not know how to control it, and he most certainly does not know how to ensure that it will not wipe everything from Jooheon's frazzled mind.
Kneeling again, Minhyuk utters a single, gentle apology before gripping both sides of Jooheon's face. Dear God, don't let me kill him. Before Jooheon can struggle in Minhyuk's grip, the nurse presses his lips to the younger's, tugging memories away from the man like oxygen. Minhyuk pulls away when he thinks that the first hospital visit has been wiped, his breath pouring out of him in one long heave. The kiss of the fae, something he's never once thought of using, has hopefully just saved his mother; the very woman that gave him the ability.
Hyungwon's message flashes once again in Minhyuk's mind, the nurse's stomach churning as he watches Jooheon's eyes close and open in silence.
From C. Hyungwon: The Cafe Bene in Dongdaemun, immediately. Your new brother and his friend have had a run in, he will enter with the boy from the hospital soon. Fix him or your mother's rations will be cut until you give me a different result.