Archive of Our Own

It’s a cold, clear night, the full moon high up in the sky, when Yoongi finds him. 

He’s been out for maybe fifteen minutes, hiding in the shadows, trying to find a human he can feed from. He’s not that thirsty, but it’s starting to bother him, that itch he can’t scratch on the back of his throat.

He could’ve drank from the blood bags at home but he wanted to get away for a bit. Sometimes living with five other vampires was too much for his introverted brain, even if Yoongi loved them to death—but not literally because, well.

He knows there are parts of the Han River that are deserted this time of the night and he was hoping he’d find someone walking around, just like it’s happened many times before. What he’s not expecting is to find someone like him. Or… almost.

The poor thing is sitting by himself on the floor in the dark, his shivers clearly caused by something worse than the cold. A fledgling. He looks miserable, both from the pain and the thirst, eyes bloodshot and veins starting to pop out around his mouth. He couldn’t have been bitten more than a couple of hours ago. His fangs probably haven’t started to come off yet. 

He doesn’t notice Yoongi approaching. He should’ve, if his sire had fed and cared for him, instead of leaving him alone to go through his turning alone. The senses are the first thing that gets heightened after one gets bitten, but he seems to be too weak still for that to happen. 

He does look up when Yoongi crouches in front of him, clearly struggling to focus on anything. 

“Not interested,” he mumbles. He’s breathing heavily. “Please leave.”

There’s blood on his neck, Yoongi can see now that he’s up close, hidden by the lapel of his coat. He’s probably still bleeding from the bite. 

“Do you know what happened to you?”

The guy frowns. “What?”

“Do you remember getting bitten?”

Sometimes the shock is so big it’s easier to forget the moment they get turned. Like one moment they’re human and then the next—

“Some guy, he tried to rob me,” he says. “I think. It happened so fast…”

He keeps going paler and his breathing is way too slow. He’s losing too much blood on top of everything else.

“Listen,” Yoongi starts saying, grabbing one of his shoulders because he knows humans tend to like physical comfort during stressful situations. Or something. It’s not like he’s been human for the past few centuries. “This is going to sound insane, but that guy wasn’t robbing you. It was a vampire and he bit you and turned you into one too.”

The fledgling blinks at him, pretty brown eyes fluttering shut and open again. He frowns again, tries to shake his head. “What? I— I’ve just— lost a lot of blood— just need to call an ambulance but the dude stole my phone—”

Yoongi’s eyes soften. “I’m sorry, but an ambulance can’t help you anymore.”

The fledgling tries to push him away, but with Yoongi’s superior strength and his weak state, he can’t move Yoongi at all. “If you’re not gonna help me, please leave me alone.”

“Let me help you, then.” Yoongi moves his hand from the guy’s shoulder to his neck, where the blood is. He can’t do much about it now. The bite will disappear once the fledgling feeds, just like all the pain and discomfort, but he tries to keep the place as protected as possible for now. “What’s your name?”

The fledgling eyes him before saying, “Seokjin.”

“Seokjin-ssi,” Yoongi says. “I’m Yoongi. I’m sorry to say this but if you stay like this you’re gonna bleed out soon. And even if you don’t, the sun is gonna burn you alive once it starts rising.”

Seokjin frowns, still trying to push him away. “Why? Why are you doing this to me?”

“I’m sorry.” Yoongi repeats, not sure what for. Maybe being the one who found him and not any of the others, who are a thousand times better at dealing with this kind of thing. Well, except for Jeongguk, maybe. “Everything will be better once you feed.”

Seokjin’s eyes widen. “No. No, no, I’m not— I would never—”

“But you want to, don’t you?” Yoongi asks. They’re so close now, Yoongi practically holding Seokjin up with his strength alone. “You must be feeling so thirsty.”

Seokjin shakes his head. He’s so pale and crying and using all his willpower to argue with Yoongi. “I’m not a fucking vampire, you asshole.”

Yoongi hums. “Okay, then.”

It’s probably an asshole move, but Yoongi is getting desperate. While it is the middle of the night, they’re still by the river and there’s a chance of someone passing by, even if it’s small, and seeing a guy covered in blood and Yoongi holding him still. 

If someone saw him, the six of them would have to hide. Move to the other side of the world again, much sooner than they were intending. Jimin and Jeongguk wouldn’t be happy, with the way they love being in Korea—their home —so much. Fuck, even Namjoon would be sad about it. 

So he does the only thing he can do. He lets his fangs grow until they’re completely out, white and sharp and very much visible to the fledgling. Seokjin gasps and stops fighting Yoongi, finally, which gives Yoongi room to bring a wrist up to his own mouth and open a cut deep enough so blood can start coming out. 

It’s like a switch is turned on. In one moment Seokjin is panicking and crying, and in the other he’s sitting still, eyes dark and completely focused on Yoongi’s blood dripping down the pale skin of his wrist. 

“I thought you weren’t thirsty,” Yoongi teases. 

Seokjin doesn’t move. He just licks his lips and that’s when Yoongi knows he’s got him. 

“Go on.” Yoongi offers his wrist to him. “You can drink.”

Their eyes meet for a moment and then Seokjin looks back at his wrist. His pupils are completely round by this point. He leans forward warily and grabs Yoongi’s arm but still doesn’t drink from him. “You’re not human.”

“No.”

Seokjin almost snorts. “Can a vampire feed another vampire?”

Well. They can, but it’s not very practical. Typically, it’s the sire’s job to feed their fledgling for the first time so this kind of thing doesn’t happen—or so the fledgling doesn’t accidentally kill someone when they still don’t know how to control their hunger. But it’s not at all common to see random vampires feeding each other.

(Jeongguk does feed from Namjoon—and Hoseok—, but Namjoon is his sire so it doesn’t count. And Taehyung and Jimin feed from each other often and they aren’t each other’s sire, but they’ve been together for over three hundred years now and they also shouldn’t be taken into consideration when it comes to what vampires usually do. Either way, all of them mostly drink human blood.)

“I wouldn’t offer if you couldn’t,” Yoongi says softly.

Seokjin swallows. His whole body is shaking now, like all he wants to do is lean forward and take Yoongi’s wrist into his mouth. Still, he hesitates.

“It’s okay,” Yoongi whispers. “You can’t hurt me.”

Seokjin bites his lower lip but doesn’t push him away when Yoongi brings his wrist up to his mouth. Instead, he closes his eyes and opens up, waits for Yoongi’s blood to touch his lips. Then he closes his mouth and sucks .

Since Seokjin still doesn’t have his fangs, he can’t sink them on Yoongi’s skin and feed properly, but Yoongi made sure to make a cut deep enough to work around that. He was telling the truth when he said Seokjin couldn’t hurt him, at most there’s a slight sting on his wrist but nothing Yoongi can’t handle. If anything it feels… good, almost.

He feeds for a couple of minutes, making these small whining noises Yoongi can’t help but get obsessed with. At some point, the bite on his neck closes off and he stops bleeding out, much to Yoongi’s relief. He doesn’t need a newborn fledgling dying on him. 

Seokjin can’t control his thirst yet so he doesn’t know how to stop feeding. Even if Yoongi himself is a vampire, who typically tastes… not as good as a human. It’s not really a problem, and Yoongi was expecting that. This is why fledglings should feed from their sires at first.

He brings his other hand up to the back of Seokjin’s neck and squeezes slightly. “Slow down a bit.”

Seokjin opens his eyes and whimpers. He leans away, eyes dark and bloodshot, a few veins starting to appear under them—a common sign of feeding—, his mouth red and blood dripping down his chin. “I— Fuck.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Yoongi squeezes the back of his neck again. His wrist is already healing up. “You just need to learn how to control yourself. And it’d just be better if you drank some human blood instead of getting it from me. I have some at home—”

Seokjin suddenly pushes him away. “No! No, no— I’m not—” He tries to wipe the blood on his face but it just gets all over his hands. “I can’t drink blood from a person, I— I can’t be a monster—”

“You won’t drink from a person,” Yoongi starts saying but Seokjin doesn’t seem to be listening. “But you’re not a monster if you do.”

Seokjin must realize he’s feeling much better now, well enough to get up on his own and step away from Yoongi. He wraps his arms around himself, a reflex from when he was a human most likely. It’s not like vampires get cold. 

“Stay away from me,” Seokjin says. “If you think you can get me to follow you home after all that— that crazy talk, you’re fucking mistaken.”

Yoongi almost laughs when he says that. Crazy talk? He literally drank Yoongi’s blood and wouldn’t let him go. 

“And don’t follow me!” Seokjin yells and rushes away. He’s taller than Yoongi, he realizes now that he’s seen Seokjin standing, and broader too. And still, if Yoongi wanted to follow him home, or harm him in any way, there’s nothing he could’ve done to stop him. 

Yoongi sighs and gets up from the floor, dusting off his clothes. He was supposed to go out to feed tonight, and now he’s even hungrier than before but all he wants to do is go back home. 

(He kinda really wants to follow Seokjin just to make sure he gets home safe, but he knows that would turn into making sure his turning process goes smoothly and that’s not something he could do without being noticed. Plus, he wants to respect Seokjin’s wishes and stay away.)

So he goes home, still hungry and now worried about something else. Jeongguk was playing a video game on the TV in the living room when he went out but now he’s watching something with Taehyung. 

Jeongguk doesn’t look away from the TV as Yoongi makes his way over to the couch and plops down next to them but Taehyung frowns at him. “Hyung, you’re back early.”

Yoongi groans. “Found a fledgling by the Han River. He had no idea what was happening to him.”

“Shit, really?” Taehyung looks shocked. “What happened?”

For some reason, Yoongi feels weird saying he let Seokjin feed from him. He feels… protective over that moment. So instead he tells them that he compelled someone for Seokjin to drink from and that he ran away scared afterward.  

“Man, that sucks,” Jeongguk says. “He wasn’t with his sire?”

Yoongi shakes his head. “Apparently the vampire ran away right after biting him.”

Jeongguk makes a face and Taehyung sighs, “Just like what happened to me then.”

“Yeah, but Jimin-hyung found you and helped you,” Jeongguk adds.

“And Yoongi-hyung found the fledgling and helped him right?”

Yoongi shifts on his seat. “I tried. He didn’t wanna believe me at first, you know, the way it usually goes. Then he seemed more receptive when he saw the blood in front of him.” He makes sure the blood on his arm is hidden. “And then when I stopped him from drinking too much, because you guys know fledglings don’t have that self-control yet, he just— panicked and started saying he wasn’t a monster. And then he left.”

“And you let him?” Jeongguk asks.

“What was I supposed to do?” Yoongi crosses his arms. “He told me not to follow him.”

Hoseok comes into the living room then, hair wet from a shower. “Who? Where? What happened?”

“Yoongi-hyung found a fledgling,” Taehyung explains. “Abandoned by his sire, apparently.”

Hoseok frowns. “What?” He looks around “ Where’s he, then?”

“Home,” Yoongi says. “He told me to stay away. Got pretty freaked out about the whole thing.” 

“Wait, hyung, did you even feed at all?” Jeongguk asks.

Yoongi sighs. “No. I didn’t feel like looking anymore after he left. I’ll just drink from one of our blood bags, I guess.”

Taehyung makes a sympathetic face while Hoseok presses, “Wait, so you found a fledgling who has no one to help him as he turns and you just let him go?

Yoongi gets upset at that. He knows Hoseok tends to feel more protective over younger vampires, but he doesn’t know what else he should’ve done. “You didn’t see him. He had no idea what had happened to him until I explained it. And then he looked so scared, not of me, but of the fact that he was a monster now. He told me he’d never feed from a person. Again,” he hurries to add. “I don't even know if I should’ve helped him feed but I wasn't gonna let him sit there in pain until the sun came up and he burned alive.” He takes a deep breath. “He can choose to do whatever he wants now.”

Hoseok purses his lips but nods. Taehyung and Jeongguk just look sad. “You’re right, hyung. I'm sure it was a tough choice. I hope he can find some peace wherever he is now.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi says. “Yeah, me too.”

He thinks that will be the last of it. Seoul is a pretty big city and vampires have to keep to themselves so it’s not like he sees many of them regularly. Usually, they only know the vampires in their own nests or when they meet others on specific occasions. So the chances of Yoongi seeing Seokjin again are pretty low.

He tries not to think about it. It’s not like he was the first fledgling Yoongi has ever helped—even if he was the first Yoongi has ever fed. 

Which is probably why forgot to consider one thing. 

In all his six hundred years, Yoongi has never turned anyone. He himself was bitten by a doctor after he nearly died from a fever. His family thought he passed away and he never saw them again, having to travel from province to province with his sire to help people who needed it. 

Hoseok and Namjoon were already a hundred years old by the time Yoongi met them, back when Yoongi was barely a hundred and fifty years old himself, right after he left his sire to travel on his own. They had come from the same nest and had the same sire—a nice vampire lady called Lee Hyesoo who was nearing a thousand years old already back then—, and were also turned after near-death experiences. Apparently, she’s still alive and sends Hoseok and Namjoon memes on KakaoTalk sometimes. 

They met Jimin and Taehyung later, almost three hundred years ago. They weren’t even a proper nest by then, with Yoongi going a few decades away from Namjoon and Hoseokfrom time to time, but they always ended up finding each other again and again. Taehyung never knew his sire. He was turned by a random vampire, just like Seokjin, who never took care of him properly. Instead, he had Jimin, who was only a few years older than him but still took Taehyung under his wing, who helped him feed and taught him the basic stuff about being a vampire. Yoongi has seen both of them joke about Jimin being Taehyung’s sire countless times by now. 

(Later they learned Jimin’s sire was an evil asshole who thought vampires were the superior species and should treat humans as such. He was also a piece of shit to Jimin and all the other fledglings under him, the opposite of how Lee Hyesoo treated Namjoon and Hoseok. Jimin had enough one day and decided to leave his nest, which is how he ended up finding Taehyung. And when his sire kept causing problems and almost outing the existence of vampires to society at large, Jimin, with Taehyung in tow, went back home and ripped out the asshole’s heart himself. No one in that nest fought them at all.)

They decided to start calling themselves a nest by then. Hoseok got too attached to Jimin and Taehyung to let them go—all of them did, to be honest. Namjoon had wanted to make a nest with the three of them for centuries by then and adding Jimin and Taehyung was a nice bonus. So they all did just that. Stuck together. 

And then they met Jeongguk. Human Jeongguk, who Namjoon met some fifty years ago at college. Namjoon, being the nerd that he is, insists on going to school whenever he can and has maybe ten degrees by now—most of which he doesn’t remember a single thing from and some that don’t even exist anymore. 

Jeongguk was nice and cute and an easy way for Namjoon to feed. Jeongguk didn’t remember anything after Namjoon would compel him, and Namjoon always made sure to not feed too much to not hurt him or make him suspect anything. It’s how they always fed on humans: by compelling them and being safe about it. 

That went on for months. While they all try to keep their distance from humans, Jeongguk just seemed to be an exception from the beginning. He was easy to befriend and everyone liked him. Yoongi tried to warn everyone how getting attached to a human could end, but by that point it was already too late. 

Except for the day Namjoon’s compelling didn’t work. 

Failing to compel a human depends on a lot of things but ultimately what happened was that Jeongguk and Namjoon fell in love with each other and that fucked the whole thing up.

Jeongguk didn’t react badly, all things considered. He did end up turning into a vampire—Namjoon’s own doing—, and joining their little nest, so it could’ve gone worse, Yoongi thinks. They’ve all been together ever since, traveling around the world from time to time to not raise suspicion about themselves

So Yoongi never turned anyone. He’s never been anyone’s sire and barely remembers his own at this point. Which is why, he tells himself, it takes him so long to realize something has been… off. 

In the days after he meets Seokjin he feels restless and on edge, but he assumes it’s because he hasn’t fed from a human in a few months, drinking only from the blood bags they have at home. While that’s usually not a problem, it still doesn’t compare to drinking from a live, breathing person.

He decides to go out and try again the next weekend. It’s getting closer to the end of the year so people tend to stay home because of the cold, which makes it harder to find someone out late and alone. Eventually, he finds someone on a dark empty street on the other side of the city, a nice guy who looks a few years older than him—but isn’t of course—and who won’t remember a single thing after Yoongi licks the bite on his neck closed and tells him to forget all about it. 

He goes home as usual, feeling much more like himself now that he’s sated. And then the next day he starts getting more and more agitated. 

Yoongi is used to sleeping during the day after all these years, barely gets annoyed by the sun rays threatening to spill from behind the thick blackout curtains in his room, but now he keeps waking up in the middle of the day feeling off and unsettled. He also can’t concentrate on anything, can’t make himself work on any of his songs, can barely keep up with a conversation.

It gets to the point the others start noticing. Jeongguk sends him these weird looks while they’re trying to work on something, while Jimin keeps asking if he’s sure he’s okay.

“The vibes are off,” Taehyung says one night when they’re all gathered in front of the TV in the living room to watch a drama they all like.

“What?” Yoongi asks when he realizes Taehyung is looking at him. 

“No, he’s right,” Namjoon says from his place between Jeongguk’s legs. “Are you okay? You seem… tired?”

“I've been having some trouble sleeping,” Yoongi brushes them off. “Maybe I should go out to feed again.”

Hoseok frowns. “It hasn’t even been a week, hyung.”

Jimin places a hand on his forehead, as if he’s trying to check his undead temperature. “You feel kinda, uh, clammy.”

“I'm fine, just. Anxious. You know how I get sometimes.”

“Should we move?” Taehyung asks. “We don’t want you to feel uncomfortable because we like being here.”

“I like being back home too, and I don't feel uncomfortable about it,” Yoongi rushes to explain. “I don’t know what it is. I’m sure it’ll go away soon.”

It doesn’t go away. At some point Yoongi stops sleeping altogether—which isn’t that worrying for a vampire, but they still should sleep sometimes so they don’t have to feed more often—, his hands start shaking slightly and his thirst gets worse faster and faster. 

“I don’t know what’s up,” he tells Namjoon and Hoseok when they corner him in the kitchen in the middle of the day while the others are sleeping. It’s been two weeks since the last time he slept by then. “I don’t know what could be doing this, I haven’t done anything differently.”

A few things could make a vampire feel like this. Some of the most common things include a lot of garlic (which Yoongi hasn’t eaten), sacred places (which Yoongi hasn’t visited), silver (all his earrings are made of titanium, thank you very much). Then there’s stuff that’s rarer, like if another vampire had compelled him and his system was trying to shake it off. 

That could explain what’s happening, since Yoongi wouldn’t remember it either way, but very few vampires can compel Yoongi at all and he can’t think of a reason any of them would be interested in doing that. They’re all much richer and more powerful than him already, and they wouldn’t try to feed from Yoongi when they could have any human they want—or any vampire in their nests willing to give their blood for them. 

And then, that’s when it hits him. 

“Oh no.”

Namjoon turns to look at him. “What’s ‘oh no' ?” 

“The fledgling. That day by the river,” Yoongi says. “I— He fed from me.”

“He what?!” Hoseok almost yells. 

“There was no one around and he was covered in blood and just— pretty out of it, I couldn't just drag him around to get someone he could feed from, so I let him drink from me.” Namjoon and Hoseok look at him like he'd grown another head. “Don’t give me that look! What was I supposed to do? Let him die? He had no idea what was happening to him!”

“Okay, okay. We get it, we’re not judging you,” Hoseok says. “But hyung, that was a random fledgling who drank from you. And I remember you said his sire ditched him?” Yoongi nods. “So you were his first?”

“Yeah,” Yoongi swallows. “Yeah, I was.”

“He formed a bond with you,” Namjoon says, matter-of-factly. “Since his first sire didn’t do his job properly, his body picked the next best thing. You.”

That’s what he was fearing. Part of him was hoping they wouldn’t say that, that there was another explanation. “Ah, fuck.”

“That’s why you’ve been feeling like this lately,” Namjoon continues. “Your bond is suffering because you’re apart.”

That can’t be true. Yoongi can’t be Seokjin’s sire. There's no way. 

“What am I supposed to do?” Yoongi asks. “He told me to stay away from him. He looked so scared about the whole thing and kept saying he wasn’t a monster…”

Namjoon whistles and Hoseok makes a sympathetic face. “We’ve all been there, hyung. I know it’s been a really long time for you, but I'm sure you remember what it was like when you first turned. Was it easy to accept you wanted to drink human blood at all?” 

Yoongi shakes his head. He remembers feeling exactly the same way as Seokjin: like he was a monster who didn’t deserve to live. 

“But you’re fine with it now and that still doesn’t make you a monster.” Hoseok meets his eyes. “Because you control your instincts, instead of letting them control you. He'll understand that too eventually.”

“And,” Namjoon says, “If you’ve been feeling like this, I bet he’s been feeling miserable too. Or worse.”

“Fuck,” Yoongi squeezes his eyes with his fingers. “I don’t even know where he lives.”

“Jeongguk will find him, I’m sure.” Hoseok puts his arm around Yoongi’s shoulder. “You have to go after him, hyung. He’s probably still scared and thirsty if he was so against feeding. He needs you.”

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” Hoseok is right. Seokjin needs him. “Let's find him.”

After Yoongi tells everyone else what actually happened, and they all have their separate breakdowns about it, it’s actually not that difficult to find Seokjin. First, Jeongguk finds everyone living in Seoul around thirty called Seokjin—Yoongi has no idea how but he’s not particularly interested in the internet so he wouldn’t understand even if Jeongguk tried to explain—and they go looking based on how close to the place Yoongi found him he lives. 

Jimin and Hoseok offer to go with him so he’ll at least have some support, while Jeongguk, Taehyung and Namjoon stay home standing watch in case they need more help. 

“But how am I gonna know I found him?” Yoongi asks as they’re getting ready to go out.

Namjoon pats him on the shoulder, a cryptic smile on his face. “Believe me, you’ll know.”

And then they’re off, Jimin and Hoseok following him around the city, as Yoongi clings to Namjoon’s words like a lifeline.

As it turns out, the closer he gets to Seokjin, the more agitated he gets. By the time he’s outside Seokjin’s building, Yoongi is ready to jump out of his skin, his bond with Seokjin thrumming through his veins and giving him a terrible headache. He hopes Seokjin doesn’t feel the same. 

The front door needs a code that none of them has which is a big problem. Jimin wants to wait and try to compel the first person that goes inside the building, but it’s the middle of the night and that could take hours. Five minutes being a few meters away from Seokjin is already proving to be agony. 

“Can you feel which apartment is his?” Hoseok asks him. 

“Kinda,” Yoongi says through gritted teeth. “I’d know for sure if I got closer.”

“Let’s just wait and when we’re inside you’ll know for sure,” Jimin adds.

Yoongi groans. “I can’t fucking wait, Jimin.”

“You’ve waited until now.”

“I wasn’t outside his fucking building—”

“Let’s just get up there. The building isn’t that tall,” Hoseok interrupts. “You think he’s in this column? Second, third floor?”

“Are you kidding me?” Jimin asks, baffled. “You wanna jump on their windows like you’re Edward Cullen? What if someone sees it?” 

“It’s the middle of the night.” When Jimin tries to say something else, Hoseok interrupts, “And we’ll just go around compelling everyone in the neighborhood if we have to while hyung helps Seokjin. Right, Jimin-ah?”

Jimin whines, already moving towards the building. “But I wanted to meet Seokjin.”

By the time they finish speaking, Yoongi is already getting ready to make the jump. Third floor, he decides. He’s, like, ninety percent sure. 

He hasn't done something like this in a long time now, technology stopping all of them from attempting anything non-human-like out in the open like this. Besides, there isn’t really a need to do it—they all have cars and every building has an elevator. 

Still, Yoongi does it easily now. He lands on the windowsill gracefully—maybe not as gracefully as Jimin and Hoseok will, but still good enough for his standards. The window isn’t locked, thankfully, and the moment he scoots inside the room he knows he’s in the right place. 

If Yoongi has been feeling awful the past few weeks, Seokjin looks like he’s been through hell. He's lying down in a bed, facing the window Yoongi came in from. Even with the soft yellow light coming from the bedside lamp he looks pale—way too pale, even by vampire standards—and weak, his cheeks sunken and the bags under his eyes darkened. 

He probably hasn’t fed at all since Yoongi, which is alarming because fledglings need to feed more often than mature vampires. His eyes are closed like he’s asleep but his breathing is heavy and irregular. 

Yoongi approaches the bed and sits by the edge of the mattress. He debates on what to do, not wanting to spook Seokjin too much, but he can’t leave him alone like this. He pushes Seokjin’s hair out of his face gently and says softly, “Seokjin.”

Seokjin stirs slightly, brows furrowing, but he doesn’t open his eyes. Yoongi hears movement behind him and knows it’s Jimin coming inside. 

 “Seokjin-ah,” Yoongi tries again, shaking him a little. 

Seokjin hums and his eyes flutter open. 

“What—“ Seokjin tries to say, dazed. He looks at Yoongi’s face, recognizing him. “You?”

“Hey,” Yoongi smiles softly. “You remember me, right? I'm Yoongi. I'm here to help you.”

Seokjin isn’t very responsive. He doesn’t acknowledge what Yoongi says but he also doesn’t try to fight him. Yoongi’s chest tightens when he thinks about what would’ve happened if he had taken a few more days to find him. 

“Seokjin, you remember what I said last time right? That you’re a vampire?”

Seokjin blinks a few times then repeats softly, “Vampire.”

“Have you fed at all since then?” Yoongi knows he hasn’t but he asks anyway. “Or has anyone seen you like this?”

Seokjin shakes his head, a little more alert. “I can’t— I can’t go out, the sun, the smell of b-blood—“

“Hey, it’s okay,” Yoongi comforts him. “It's the middle of the night, see? And I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Seokjin looks at Yoongi and then at Jimin behind him, clearly scared. Jimin steps forward and smiles gently. “Hi, Seokjin. I’m Jimin. Yoongi-hyung and I are really old friends and he told me about what happened that night. You don’t have to be scared.”

Jimin does seem to be able to calm Seokjin down a bit, which isn’t surprising. His gentle demeanor has that effect on people. 

“You’re a vampire too?” Seokjin asks.

Jimin nods. “Yes, we’re both vampires and here to help you. We have another friend downstairs who’s also a vampire. We’re all here to help you.”

Seokjin eyes both of them, or tries to. His eyes seem heavy but his hands won’t stop shaking. 

“I just—” He starts. “It hurts so much. How do I make it stop hurting ?”

Yoongi’s heart breaks a little from how distressed he sounds. Turning isn’t easy for anyone but it’s especially hard if you’re alone, and even worse if you’re scared and refusing to feed at all.

“I know,” Yoongi soothes him. He pushes a few of Seokjin’s hair strands behind his ear. “I'll make it stop, I promise, okay?”

Yoongi wasn’t counting on Seokjin not having fed since the night they met from the looks of it. He thought Seokjin was having a hard time adjusting, and most likely hurting from their strained bond, but nothing like this. He doesn’t know if Seokjin is even strong enough to get up and follow Yoongi so he can compel a person for him to feed from. 

He doesn’t want to force feed Seokjin again, doesn’t want to make Seokjin live as something he hates so much, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to talk to him properly when he’s not starving. Yoongi hasn’t explained to him yet that they can live without hurting anyone. Fuck, Jeongguk has never hurt anyone at all, human or vampire, and Yoongi doubts he ever could. At this point in their really long lives they all have enough knowledge and are capable of helping Seokjin so he’ll never have to do anything like that at all—just like how they helped Jeongguk all those years ago. 

And if even after Yoongi explains all of this to Seokjin he still refuses to feed by himself at all, then Yoongi will leave him alone to do whatever he pleases. He’d never force Seokjin to be something he despises. 

Now, though, he’ll make it stop hurting just like Seokjin asked him to. 

He starts growing his fangs out and lifting his wrist to feed Seokjin again, the same way he did that night, when Jimin suddenly grabs his arm. “You shouldn’t feed him directly now. What if he can’t stop?”

Yoongi frees his arm. “He stopped last time we did this.”

Jimin reaches for him again. “He’s much weaker now. What if we hurt him accidentally?”

Seokjin looks like he can barely keep his eyes open, but he’s doing his best to keep up with what they’re saying.

“Let’s take him home,” Jimin suggests. “We’ll get him as many blood bags as he needs and we’ll be somewhere safe, for us and him.” Jimin takes a deep breath. “We can’t— No one else can see him like this, hyung.”

He doesn’t know what Seokjin’s been doing in the past few weeks. Most likely staying home while avoiding the sun like the plague. Still, his place isn’t as secure as their apartment, where they’re on the last floor so no one can see them and where they have tinted film in all their windows blocking the sunlight.

“Yeah,” Yoongi says. “Yeah, okay.” 

Yoongi moves closer so he can slide an arm under Seokjin’s knees and another under his shoulders. “Seokjin-ah, I'm gonna take you home with me, okay? We’ll feed you when we get there, but we need to make sure you’re somewhere safe so no one sees you in this state.”

Seokjin watches him as he speaks and nods. 

“Where's Hoseok?” Yoongi asks

“Said he was getting the car ready. He’s probably downstairs by now.”

Yoongi picks Seokjin up and starts moving towards the window with Seokjin in his arms, then stops and turns to Jimin. “Should I jump down? Would someone see me if we use the elevator? Would that take longer?”

“Oh my God, just jump. We’re already fucked anyway.”

Yoongi jumps down, making sure not to jostle Seokjin in his arms too much. Seokjin moans softly when they land but stays quiet and still otherwise.

Hoseok has the car waiting for them on the other side of the street and Yoongi rushes to get inside, Jimin already on his heels. Jimin sits in the passenger seat while Yoongi sits with Seokjin in the back.

“Is that him?” Hoseok asks, turning his head. “Wow, he looks pretty bad, the poor thing.”

“He hasn’t fed at all,” Yoongi says. 

“Wait, really?” Hoseok’s eyes widen. “Aish.”

Thankfully, they get home in no time since there’s no traffic this late at night. His bond feels more settled with Seokjin in his arms, but instead of the urgent and suffocating feelings of before, now it’s like his body is screaming with the need to take care of and protect Seokjin. Protect his fledgling.

Since their penthouse is in a rich neighborhood their garage is private and underground, so there’s no risk of anyone seeing them at all. He carries Seokjin out of the car and into the elevator, not even checking to see if Jimin and Hoseok are following him, then through their apartment’s front door. Seokjin doesn’t move except for the slight tremors going through his body. 

Jeongguk is in the living room when they come in and gets up when he sees the commotion. “Is that him? Is he, uh, okay?”

“He'll be fine.” Yoongi sets Seokjin down on the couch. He won’t let himself think otherwise. “Jimin-ah, can you get me a blood bag, please?”

Jeongguk eyes Seokjin for a bit. “He’s pretty out of it.”

“He hasn’t fed at all,” Yoongi tells him, sitting behind Seokjin to help hold him up.

Jeongguk’s eyes widen even more as he gets a worried look on his face. 

Jimin brings a blood bag soon after and hands it to Yoongi, who rips it open. “Open up, Seokjin-ah”

Seokjin whimpers but opens his mouth for Yoongi, his pupils dilating with the smell of blood so close. Yoongi notices his fangs still aren’t fully out when they should be by now. 

Yoongi feeds him the blood, thinking he should be relieved Seokjin’s finally feeding but there’s still a weird feeling on his chest that he can’t name. Before he can think too much about it, Seokjin pushes Yoongi’s hand away after a few sips and makes a face. “Tastes bad.”

“Uh,” Jeongguk says. “Actually, if you're really his sire then all blood that isn’t yours is gonna taste weird at first, especially if he hasn’t fed from you in a while.” Jeongguk almost blushes. “Just saying.”

Yoongi looks at Hoseok who shrugs. “He did tell me and Namjoon that when he turned but I didn't think it’d be the case here since, you know, you didn’t actually bite him.”

Seokjin keeps watching him, still looking miserable, eyes shining like he’s about to cry. Their bond throbs painfully. 

“Fuck.” He passes the blood bag to Jeongguk and motions for Hoseok to help him with Seokjin. He starts taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves. “Hoseok-ah, hold him up.”

“Hyung, I don’t think—” Jimin starts.

“I know,” he says. “I'll just— feed him a little, then we’ll go back fo the blood bag.” He doesn’t mention the fact that his body comes alive with the prospect of feeding Seokjin, or how Seokjin seems the most animated now that he mentioned it since Yoongi found him. He turns to Jeongguk. “You said it’s fine if he’s been fed from me recently, right?”

Jeongguk nods and then makes a face. “Well, it’ll still taste different but definitely much better.”

“Where are Taehyung and Namjoon-hyung?” Jimin asks suddenly. “Can we all be here at least to make sure no one gets hurt?”

Jeongguk goes to get them. Namjoon is apparently reading in bed while Taehyung sleeps, cuddling against him. Standing watch my ass.

“I thought you guys were standing watch in case we needed you guys to find Seokjin?” Hoseok laughs.

“ They were standing watch,” Taehyung pouts, looking sleepy. “Someone would wake me up if I was needed.”

Hoseok lifts an eyebrow at Namjoon then.

“Uh, I had my phone with me?” Namjoon scratches the back of his head. “Besides, I knew you were gonna find him. Hyung’s bond seemed really strong if it was hurting that much.”

Is their bond really that strong? Yoongi decides to worry about that some other time. Like when Seokjin isn’t curling closer to him, looking scared in a room full of vampires he doesn’t know on top of everything else.

Yoongi rests a hand on the small of his back. “It's okay. They’re family. No one is gonna hurt you.” 

 “No,” Seokjin says. “They are here to stop me from hurting you, right?”

Yoongi frowns. “You won’t.”

“I’ll hold Seokjin-ssi back, then,” Hoseok says. Yoongi isn’t sure he heard what Seokjin and Yoongi just said at all. Hoseok turns to Seokjin, “Uh, sorry about this.” 

Hoseok curls an arm around Seokjin’s throat and then another around his waist and arms, not too tight but tight enough to hold him still. Seokjin is still too weak to fight back—Yoongi doesn't think he would either way, based on how worried he looks—, but he does react when Yoongi finally opens a cut on his own wrist for him to drink from and blood starts sliding down Yoongi’s forearm. 

“Hold still.” Yoongi places a hand on his chest to keep him down and brings his wrist to Seokjin’s mouth.

Like the first time, Seokjin opens his mouth easily, lips closing around Yoongi’s wrist and sucking slightly. He whimpers when the blood hits his tongue and closes his eyes, the veins starting to appear under them. His tiny fangs barely scratch Yoongi’s skin.

It doesn’t hurt. Not at all. In fact, the problem is that it feels the opposite of painful. 

When Seokjin first fed from him it felt like nothing special. It wasn’t very pleasant, sure, and he’d never had another vampire drink his blood before, but it didn’t feel particularly good or bad. Maybe like he was getting a hickey on his arm—as weird as that sounds.

It feels very different now. Seokjin feeds slowly at first, not strong enough to do much other than suck and swallow, but the burst of pleasure shooting through their bond makes Yoongi gasp loudly. 

“Hyung?” Jimin steps closer, looking alarmed. 

“I'm fine,” Yoongi breathes. It's honestly getting a little hard to concentrate on anything other than Seokjin drinking his blood. “It doesn't hurt.”

Namjoon snorts. “I'm sure it doesn’t.”

At some point Seokjin opens his eyes, the veins from feeding appearing under them more pronounced now. There's blood running down the side of his mouth, red and vibrant. He looks up at Yoongi and starts to get a little… bolder. 

Hoseok doesn’t look particularly strong—and he really isn’t the strongest in the nest by far—, but he’s still stronger than Seokjin right now. When Seokjin starts surging forward he’s quick to hold Seokjin back, which only seems to upset Seokjin more. But not in the way Yoongi is expecting.

Seokjin whimpers and bites Yoongi’s wrist harder—but still not hard enough to hurt properly. When he realizes he can’t break the skin because he doesn’t have proper fangs yet he whimpers again, looking at Yoongi like he’s begging for something.

And at that moment Yoongi wants to give him everything, no matter what he’s asking for. 

Yoongi isn’t sure what he should do, what he wants to do, here, in front of everyone else, so he just watches Seokjin for a moment. When Yoongi doesn’t react, Seokjin closes his eyes again and goes back to sucking. 

Yoongi almost doesn’t want him to stop at all, doesn’t want to stop whatever he’s feeling as Seokjin feeds from him . Seokjin’s sire . If there was any doubt on his mind before, he knows for certain Seokjin is his fledging now. 

He’s considering giving Seokjin his other wrist or something, anything so Seokjin doesn’t pull away from him, when Jimin’s voice cuts through them. “That’s enough.”

Like he’s been burned Yoongi blinks and pulls his arm away. Seokjin looks dazed, drunk on Yoongi’s blood. His eyes are still red but he doesn’t look so pale and weak anymore. Yoongi wants to lick the blood on his lips, running down his chin and neck. 

He shakes off his button-down—it’s black and he doesn’t care about it either way— and gently wipes the blood from Seokjin’s face. Seokjin watches him as he does it and doesn’t say anything at all.

It’s then that he realizes, with sudden clarity, that he was starting to get hard in his pants from feeding Seokjin. He flushes and stills, scared of moving too much and someone noticing his state. Would Seokjin be able to tell through their bond? Does he feel the same as Yoongi right now? 

He tries to focus on Seokjin, on how he still needs Yoongi’s help to get through all of this which means Yoongi can’t keep getting easily distracted. 

He clears his throat and says, “Seokjin-ssi, Hoseok will give you as many blood bags as you want. Please, don’t hesitate to ask if you’re still hungry. We’re all here to help you.” He gets up and angles his hips away from Seokjin because the last thing he wants to do is scare him away for being a creep who gets boners while helping him feed. “I’m gonna go clean up all this blood but I’ll be right back, okay?”

He walks away towards his room before anyone can say anything and locks himself inside his bathroom. He splashes water on his face to calm himself down and notices his own pupils are blown wide when he didn’t feed at all. 

“Fuck,” he says to the empty bathroom. He leans on his hands over the sink, head heavy between his shoulders. 

The bond feels stronger than ever, thrumming through Yoongi’s veins and making him lightheaded. He can’t stop thinking about how good it felt to have Seokjin feed from him—or how pretty he looked with his lips on Yoongi’s skin, with blood on his lips and running down his neck—

He takes a few deep breaths and thinks the most unsexy thoughts he can until he calms down and goes soft. After what feels like an eternity he finally feels in control again and leaves the bathroom to join the others in the living room again. 

Seokjin is still sitting on the couch when Yoongi gets there, Jeongguk and Taehyung on either side of him playing some game on the TV, drinking from a blood bag through a metal straw. He looks much better but still tired and a little lost. The others are in the kitchen, across from the living room, talking quietly with their backs to the living room. 

Yoongi sits on the couch perpendicular to the one the three of them are, Seokjin following his movements. He kinda wants to tell Taehyung and Jeongguk to fuck off, but he doesn’t want to seem rude to Seokjin. 

Instead, he asks, “How are you feeling?” 

Seokjin lowers the blood bag to his lap and licks his lips. “Much better actually. Thank you, Yoongi-ssi.”

Yoongi can see Jeongguk and Taehyung trying not to laugh out of the corner of his eyes. “Ah, I’m glad you’re doing better then. And you can call me hyung if you want.”

“You can call me hyung if you want too, Seokjin-ssi,” Taehyung says. 

“Ah, me too!” Jeongguk adds without looking away from the game. 

“Yah, stop bothering him,” Yoongi waves his hand at them. He’s just thankful he can’t blush as a vampire—well, not most of the time.

The others must hear Yoongi’s voice because they come back into the living room then, piling around the two couches while giving space to Seokjin. 

“So,” Hoseok starts, “now that Seokjin-ssi is doing better I think we should all, you know, talk and explain everything.”

“Right,” Namjoon says. “Everything has been pretty chaotic so maybe let’s all introduce ourselves first so Seokjin-ssi doesn’t feel confused and left out.” He turns to Seokjin. “I’m Kim Namjoon, by the way. Sorry for not saying anything earlier.”

Seokjin shakes his head. “It’s okay, Namjoon-ssi. I understand.”

“Well, you know me,” Jimin says. “But in case you don’t remember since you were, well, pretty out of it, I’m Park Jimin.” He sends Seokjin a charming smile, making him laugh softly. 

“Kim Taehyung,” Taehyung waves. “But like I said, you can just call me hyung”.

Yoongi rolls his eyes but doesn’t have the chance to say anything because Hoseok starts speaking. “Jung Hoseok,” he smiles. “But you can call me J-Hope, or Hobi, or hyung. Actually, I think you can call all of us hyung, if you want,” he laughs. 

“Jeon Jeongguk!” Jeongguk says, still playing his damn game. “Ah, sorry, this match is almost over, I can’t leave—“

“I’m gonna unplug the fucking TV,” Jimin threatens. 

“No!” Jeongguk yells. “No! Look! It’s over!” He keeps yelling even though he’s still playing. A bunch of characters keep moving around on the screen.

“Are you winning at least?” Hoseok asks.

Jeongguk groans.

Seokjin stays quiet but he doesn’t look bothered at all that Jeongguk is gaming. Seokjin’s been nodding and bowing to everyone this whole time but now he turns to look at Yoongi.

“Uh,” Yoongi says, “I guess you already know but— Min Yoongi.”

Seokjin smiles and bows to him too. “Nice to meet all of you. I’m Kim Seokjin but I guess you all know that, and also where I live— lived?” He laughs, a little tired and nervous. “Uh, can I even go home or are you guys a secret vampire society that abducts young vampires and kills them?”

“You can,” Yoongi rushes to say, even though their bond hurts just thinking about not having Seokjin around. How healthy . “You can leave anytime and go anywhere you want. It’s just that…” He knows the others are watching them and he tries not to feel too self-conscious about having this conversation in front of them. “The two of us kinda— sort of— bonded that day by the Han River.”

Seokjin frowns. “Bonded?” He looks around and everyone nods apologetically—except for Taehyung, who smirks. The asshole. “I think I heard you guys mention it but what— what does that mean, exactly?”

“Uh,” Namjoon interrupts, “ I think we should all give them both some space to talk this out, right, guys?” He doesn’t wait for an answer and gets up, pulling Taehyung up with him. “You can have the living room if you want.” 

Jeongguk starts protesting, saying his match isn’t over yet, and Jimin gets on his lap, trying to get him to die in the game and give up playing. Hoseok gets up and nods toward Seokjin and Yoongi. “We’ll be around if you need us. There are more blood bags in the fridge if you guys need it. Maybe you should drink some, hyung?”

Yoongi nods. He really should be replenishing the blood he’s feeding to Seokjin.

Hoseok follows Namjoon back to their room while Jimin finally gets Jeongguk to give up and the other three turn everything off, waving at them both as they make their way toward Jimin’s and Taehyung’s room.

With the living room silent and empty, Yoongi turns to look at Seokjin. He looks even smaller alone on their big dark couch, his head down as he plays with his own fingers. Hoseok took the empty blood bag from him when he left. 

Yoongi gets up and sits on the other couch with him, not too close but close enough that he hopes he can offer Seokjin some comfort. Seokjin for his part doesn’t look uncomfortable by the proximity—and Yoongi might be imagining the way he relaxes a little more into the cushion. 

“I’m sorry for suddenly throwing all this information at you,” Yoongi says. “You didn’t ask for any of it.”

Seokjin shrugs. “I didn’t ask to be turned into a vampire,” he snorts. “And it wasn’t you who did that. You don’t have to apologize. I’d rather know what happened anyway.”

“Right.” Yoongi shifts. “But I did feed you that day by the river against your will… which led to this, uh, bond.”

“You told me that if you didn’t feed me I’d die, right? And the same would’ve happened if you hadn’t found me today?”

Yoongi nods. “If I didn’t get to you today, I’m not sure what would’ve happened. Between you being a fledgling and not feeding at all and our strained bond, I don’t know how long you had left…” Their eyes meet for a moment and then Yoongi looks away. “Another reason why you shouldn’t go home yet. Fledglings get, uh, thirsty more often.”

“Right,” Seokjin says. “So I shouldn’t leave because I’m a danger to others and because of our bond. But I’m still not sure what that means…”

Yoongi takes a deep breath. “Basically, our bodies think I’m the one who turned you. They think I’m your sire, so they created a bond between us. Because I was the one who fed you for the first time that night when that’s what your real sire should’ve done.” Yoongi pushes his hair out of his face. “While it’s not rare for vampires to feed each other it’s also not that common, and feeding from a vampire who isn’t the one who turned you for your first time is mostly unheard of. I had no idea this would happen but I should’ve known better, I shouldn't have force fed you at all and tried harder to find another way. So I’m sorry about that too.”

“I don’t remember much about that night, to be honest. Just that I was scared and so thirsty and then— and then you.” 

Seokjin looks up and their eyes meet once again. He eyes Yoongi with a hint of curiosity, like he’s studying Yoongi also for the first time. 

Yoongi’s stupid heart is drumming in his chest. Seokjin says Yoongi is one of the few things he remembers from the night he was turned and Yoongi’s body suddenly doesn’t know how to act. He’s a six hundred years old vampire, for fuck’s sake. 

“But,” Seokjin continues, “I think I can feel it. The… bond? I thought everything I was feeling came from the fact that I wasn't— feeding— but when I saw you in my room, while I was still very hungry, it was like something inside me finally calmed down.” 

Seokjin blushes a pretty pink as he says it and Yoongi wants to lean forward and kiss him. 

He really needs to get it together. Seokjin already has too much on his plate to worry about.

“I felt the same,” Yoongi says. “The last few weeks have been rough for me, but I’m sure it was nothing compared to what you went through.”

Seokjin chuckles. “Ah, I’m better now. Maybe a little tired…”

Right, that makes sense. Seokjin might not be as hungry anymore—even if he’ll definitely have to feed again soon—but his body was running on fumes for god knows how many days by now. “Like I said, you can leave and go home whenever you want, but I don’t think you should be alone until you’re strong enough. We have plenty of space for you to stay with us, as you can see. This is only while you’re still a new vampire, I promise,” he rushes to say.

“Oh.” Seokjin blinks. “Well, since you're my— What did you say? Sire? Then I guess you'll have to take care of me for a while longer, hyung.” 

Seokjin smiles at him for the first time since they met, all soft cheeks and plump lips. 

Needless to say, Yoongi is pretty fucked. 

They move to the office, Yoongi having to help Seokjin walk all the way there because he’s still too weak to do it alone. Yoongi shows him their pull-out couch and helps him prepare his bed. Part of him—and he's choosing to believe it's only because of this stupid ass bond—wanted Seokjin to sleep in his room, where Yoongi can watch over him and keep him safe, but he knows that’d be creepy since they don't know each other well. Yet. 

“You can stay with us for as long as you need,” Yoongi tells him. “Don't worry about it.”

Seokjin sits on the bed once it’s done. He keeps squeezing the pillow resting on his lap. 

“You know, it was my birthday that night. When we met,” Seokjin starts. “I was out for drinks with some people from work and then on my way home… I kept thinking, maybe it's fitting this is also the day I die,” he smiles down at his hands. “And now I’m still here, because you saved me.”

He looks up at Yoongi. He doesn't know what it is but keeping eye contact with Seokjin is one of the hardest things he’s ever done. 

“So, I just wanted to say,” Seokjin continues, “thank you. For everything. I know you also didn't ask for any of this but you didn't have to, you know, feed me from what I understood.” Yoongi can see he's blushing again. He's never seen a vampire blush this much, if he's being honest. “But you went out of your way to help me multiple times, so… I’m thankful for that.”

“Ah, it was nothing really,” Yoongi tries to brush him off but Seokjin looks at him like he can see right through it. “Like I said, I shouldn't have fed you against your will. You clearly didn't want it and I still reasoned with myself that you weren't in a position to make that call, which obviously isn't okay. We can, uh, arrange something if you hate being a vampire that much.”

Seokjin snorts. “You mean you'd kill me if I asked you to?”

The thought makes Yoongi feel physically ill but he still shrugs. If it’s what Seokjin wants, he’ll respect that.

Seokjin looks around the office. They call the room that but they mostly use it to keep their plants and books, their art pieces—mostly Namjoon’s and Taehyung’s—, Jeongguk’s photographs—yes, vampires do show up on camera—, and Hoseok’s and Jimin’s dance equipment.

Seokjin stares at a picture of the six of them from fifteen years ago sitting on the desk. They all look exactly the same, of course, just with different hairstyles. “So you guys all live together.”

Yoongi nods. “Yeah, it’s been the six of us since Namjoon turned Jeongguk like… fifty years ago by now?” 

Seokjin blinks. “Fifty? Is Jeongguk, what? Seventy?”

Yoongi laughs. “Seventy five, actually.”

“What about you?” 

Yoongi smirks. “Six hundred and thirteen.”

“Jesus,” Seokjin breathes. “Well, you don't look a day over thirty, hyung. Which happens to be how old I am.”

Yoongi laughs. “Are you saying we pass as same age friends?”

“Ah, I don't know about that.” Seokjin teases. “I like calling you hyung, to be honest.”

Yoongi has to stop himself from touching Seokjin’s red ears. He doesn’t want to make Seokjin uncomfortable, especially when he won’t meet Yoongi’s eyes. 

When the conversation dies down Seokjin yawns and Yoongi realizes he's overstaying his welcome. 

“I’ll let you rest, then,” Yoongi says, making his way toward the door. “There are blood bags in the fridge and my room is the next door on the left. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

Seokjin smiles and nods. They bid each other good night and Yoongi leaves Seokjin alone. Their bond doesn't seem too happy but it's nothing he can’t handle. His own room is literally just down the hallway and Seokjin will let him know if he needs anything. It’s fine. It’s going to be fine. 

Seokjin stays with them for the next few days, drinking from blood bags as much as he can. Still, their bond doesn’t waver at all. In fact, every time Seokjin has to feed from him it’s like his body’s reaction to it keeps getting stronger to the point Yoongi needs to disappear into his room for longer periods of time so he can calm himself down. When it becomes clear Seokjin will have to stay indefinitely, Yoongi takes him back to his apartment to pack some things he needs—even though Yoongi kinda enjoys seeing Seokjin walking around wearing his clothes.

He tries to give Seokjin space while also showing him Yoongi is there if he needs anything. He finds out Seokjin is quiet like him and enjoys staying home. Sometimes it’s just the two of them, when all the others go out to do whatever it is they like doing outside, and Yoongi’s never enjoyed someone’s calming presence as much as he does Seokjin’s. 

“You must all be very close,” Seokjin comments one early morning after Yoongi is done feeding him and the others are all in bed already.

Yoongi rolls his sleeves down to cover the place Seokjin was just sucking on his wrist. “It hasn’t always been like this. When we found Jimin and Taehyung, the five of us just decided we liked being together. And then came Jeongguk.” And now you , he wishes he could say. “If you wanna join our nest, you’re more than welcome here. We have all this space but we all do our own thing for the most part.”

“I’ve seen Jimin-hyung’s and Hoseok-hyung’s dance videos,” Seokjin says. 

Yoongi nods. “They teach dancing classes in a studio in Gangnam some nights, while Namjoon takes online classes on— environmental engineering, I think?” 

“Oh,” Seokjin blinks. “That’s so interesting.”

Yoongi continues. “Jeongguk and Taehyung help me with my songs sometimes.” He told Seokjin the other day he enjoyed making music but Yoongi hasn’t shown him any of his songs yet. “I think they do something related to video games on the internet too, Jeongguk has a bunch of cameras in his room…”

Seokjin smiles softly. “I’ve seen his streaming setup.”

Yoongi… isn’t sure what that means, so he continues, “If there’s anything you’d like to do, just let me know. Or if there’s anyone you want to see?” He shifts, not sure how to bring up the subject, but knowing he’ll have to do it eventually. “You’ve been with us for a few weeks now and you haven’t mentioned if there’s someone who might be looking for you.”

Seokjin shrugs, downcast. “No one like that. My parents passed away a few years ago after I graduated from college and I’ve been trying to keep jobs down ever since. Turns out being an inspiring actor is extremely difficult,” he laughs humorlessly. “And now I can’t go out during the day and I don’t age anymore, so.”

Yoongi frowns. “We can think of something. I mean,” he licks his lips, “if you end up staying with us. Or we can help you settle down and then leave you alone if that’s what you want.”

Seokjin smiles a little, looking endeared. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

All in all, Seokjin seems to be adjusting… better than before. He gets along well with everyone and Yoongi knows all of them like Seokjin already. He gets especially close to Jeongguk, though, maybe because of their ages being the closest or just because they enjoy playing video games together until the early hours of the morning.

Some days, however, Yoongi can see are rougher on Seokjin. He can feel it through their bond, the way Seokjin’s guilt and regret slip through sometimes, especially when he has to feed from Yoongi directly.

“It gets easier with time,” Yoongi tells him when he finds Seokjin sitting on the floor in front of the tinted windows in his room, watching the sun rise behind the Seoul skyline. “I hated myself so much at first I thought it’d consume me.”

Seokjin turns to look at him, looking paler than usual and Yoongi knows he hasn’t been drinking the blood bags. “How did you deal with it?”

Yoongi sits down next to him. “My sire was a doctor, so I traveled with him for a while helping people. I think it made me realize that what I did was more important than who I was.” He shrugs. “And then when I met Namjoon and Hoseok it just became clear that our… condition was just that and it didn’t have to mean anything else. Because if I was a monster for just being like this then it’d mean they were also monsters, and I could never think of them like that.”

Seokjin keeps watching the slow movement outside, deep in thought.

“I’m not saying you’ll wake up one day and never feel bothered by it again,” Yoongi says. “I’m sure we all do from time to time. But you don’t have to do it alone.”

The reflection of Seokjin’s small smile on the window is brighter than the sunlight peaking in the horizon. 

As the weeks pass, he tries to answer all of Seokjin’s questions. Do we really burn in the sun? Yes. Can vampires eat at all? Sure, it just won’t stop us from getting thirsty. Is garlic really bad for vampires? In big quantities, yes.

(“Maybe I was always supposed to be a vampire,” Seokjin says one night as he and Yoongi cook dinner so they can all have a proper meal together at the dining table. “Did you know I’m allergic to garlic, hyung?”

“I didn’t,” Yoongi replies as he stirs the kimchi before he can add the rice to the pan.

“Well, and potatoes, I guess. What’s a monster that can’t be around potatoes?”

Yoongi tries not to smile as he says, “The monster mash?”

Seokjin stills next to him and Yoongi worries for a second Seokjin’s gonna think he’s a dumbass before Seokjin starts cackling next to him.)

Beyond Seokjin’s curiosity on vampirism, he keeps complaining about his gums hurting. When Yoongi sits him down to check them, he notices his fangs are starting to come out but are still too small for him to feed by himself.

“They'll grow with time,” Yoongi tips Seokjin’s chin up while he examines his fangs. Seokjin stays still, mouth open, as he lets Yoongi take a look. “Since you were so weak for so long, they're just taking a bit longer.”

The big question comes when they’re all lounging in the living room and Seokjin asks how vampires usually feed.

“You can't just drink from these blood bags all the time, right?” Seokjin points at the bag he’s drinking from. “That's not very vampiric of you. Aren't you supposed to go out and terrorize people?”

Namjoon laughs while Taehyung frowns and turns to Jimin sitting next to him. “Jimin-ah, I wanna go out and terrorize people with you.”

“Of course, babe,” Jimin says without looking up from his tablet. 

Yoongi ignores them and tells Seokjin, “Basically we can compel people into doing what we want. So they'll let us feed from them and won't remember it at all. It's not that easy though—Jeongguk found out Namjoon was a vampire because the compelling didn't work.” Jeongguk nods from his place between Hoseok’s legs. “It depends on how vulnerable the person is to magical influences, how strong we are, how big is the request. It's usually fine but it's not guaranteed.”

“It's easier to drink from blood bags than going out and meeting someone privately so you can maybe compel them into letting us drink their blood,” Hoseok explains. “We know someone who works at the blood bank and they give us enough without making it a problem.”

“It’s also easier to compel people during sex,” Taehyung adds suddenly and everybody turns to look at him. “What? We've all done it.”

Seokjin is silent for a moment, probably taking everything in, then he says, “Can a vampire compel another vampire”

“Only if one is much more powerful than the other,” Yoongi replies.

“Like me and you?”

Jeongguk giggles. “Something tells me Yoongi-hyung doesn’t need to compel you to suck your blood, Seokjin-ah.”

Seokjin blushes. “Well, if Yoongi-hyung wants to feed from me he’s welcome to do so.”

“Yah,” Yoongi complains. He can feel his cheeks warming up too. “Stop fucking around.”

He refuses to think about feeding from Seokjin after that. He’s absolutely not going there. 

He does still need to teach Seokjin how to compel someone and feed properly. Maybe if Seokjin is asking about it, it means he’s more open to the idea of drinking blood directly from a human. Maybe he wants to try.

Yoongi can't do anything about it until his fangs grow enough, though. Yoongi keeps catching him trying to bite the younger ones who, instead of pushing him off, keep indulging him much to Yoongi’s annoyance. Only because Seokjin hasn’t agreed to join their nest yet and they all should be giving him space to decide.

(And because he’s secretly jealous they can be so touchy with Seokjin while Yoongi feels like he’s gonna combust whenever Seokjin’s lips touch his wrists.)

For example, Jeongguk is always playfighting with Seokjin around the place and Seokjin takes advantage of the fact that if he bites Jeongguk in the middle of their antics, Jeongguk can’t bite him back without hurting Seokjin somewhat. Jimin and Taehyung, on the other hand, tell Seokjin he can suck on their necks whenever he’s pouting about his swollen gums, because it’s supposed to stimulate his fangs to grow faster, and Seokjin shyly takes them up on their offer. 

When Taehyung notices him moping around—because of course he does—, and all he says is, “I’m sure he wants to worry his fangs on the side of your neck too, hyung. No need to look so sad.”

Yoongi has to talk himself out of putting garlic in his food the next time he’s cooking them dinner.

His fangs do grow out eventually, small but still very sharp, and Yoongi wastes no time telling Seokjin they’re going out so Yoongi can teach him how to compel someone and drink from them. Seokjin seems nervous at first but Yoongi tries his best to reassure him. 

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Seokjin frowns. “Am I ready?”

“You’ve never given me a reason to believe you’re a danger to anyone. And I’ll be there the whole time,” Yoongi says. “Nothing’s gonna happen. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“Can’t I just keep drinking from the blood bags?” Seokjin pleads, his eyes big and sad. “And from you?”

Yoongi ignores the second part of the question for his own peace of mind. Yes, he’d like nothing more than to feed Seokjin himself for the rest of eternity, but Seokjin hasn’t said anything about staying with them yet and he doesn’t want Seokjin to stay with them because he’s too scared of being on his own. “You still have to learn how to drink from a human. In case…”

In case you ever want to leave me, he doesn’t say, but he knows Seokjin heard it anyway. 

They go out when the weather is starting to get warm again, the late spring night almost too humid for Yoongi’s taste. The skies are clear and the moon is full and bright, casting a soft light on Seokjin’s skin as they wait on a low rooftop for someone to walk by. 

He looks paler than usual, and it reminds Yoongi of the night he found Seokjin almost dead on his bed. He reaches out and grabs Seokjin’s hand, squeezing it lightly, hoping that’ll be enough to show him all Yoongi wants to say. 

Seokjin squeezes his hand back and nods. He takes a deep breath and his shoulders don’t look so tense anymore. 

When they spot a guy passing on the other side of the street, Seokjin waits for Yoongi’s signal. When Yoongi motions for him to go on, they both jump out of the shadows. 

As it turns out, Seokjin might be too good at this. He doesn’t even say anything before the guy stops in front of him, fascination clear on his face as Seokjin smiles softly and almost purrs, “Hello”, like he’s not a predator who just found his prey. 

Yoongi’s pretty sure Seokjin wouldn’t even have to compel him for the guy to follow him into a dark alleyway, away from prying eyes, but he does it anyway. Yoongi watches as Seokjin does what he taught him. Simple orders, confident tone. Stay still, don’t make a sound. Forget all about us.

He does so well that Yoongi almost exposes his own neck for Seokjin, wondering if he somehow managed to compel Yoongi too.

Seokjin is very polite and respectful for a vampire. He clearly does his best to not hurt the human anymore than he has to while feeding, and also apologizes before letting his fangs grow and biting the side of his neck. 

It's cute. No one ever thinks of vampires as cute creatures, but that’s the best word to describe anything Seokjin does. 

Neither of them are particularly thirsty—Yoongi made sure of it, to protect both Seokjin and whoever he’d feed from—, but Yoongi still leans forward when Seokjin is done and drinks a little himself. Seokjin leans on the side of the building behind them and watches him with his dark eyes and red mouth. He licks his lips, trying to catch the last drops of blood, but there’s still some running down his chin, the column of his neck. 

Yoongi suddenly realizes, as he starts drinking, that the one he wants to bite right now is actually Seokjin. 

Seokjin has never bitten him in the neck. They’ve always kept all bites located on Yoongi’s wrist—maybe to maintain some kind of boundaries they unconsciously set up—but now all Yoongi can think of is tilting Seokjin’s head to the side and sinking his fangs into the skin of his pale, long neck. 

Would Seokjin taste different to him? The same way he tastes better to Seokjin than regular human blood?

So much for refusing to think about it.

These thoughts keep plaguing him for the next few days, even after Seokjin is back to drinking from blood bags. He wishes he could forget the whole thing, but the others keep asking what Seokjin thought of drinking from a living person, if he felt like a “real vampire” now. 

“I guess,” Seokjin shrugs. “It felt nice doing a good job, and drinking from a human tastes better than from these blood bags. But—” He looks up at Yoongi and then away when he realizes Yoongi is watching him. “Yoongi-hyung still tastes better.”

(In all this, their bond never weakens. It’s always on the back of his head, thrumming through his body. He doesn’t remember the bond with his sire feeling like this, and he doesn’t know what he’s gonna do if this never goes away. He doesn’t know what he’s gonna do if it does go away either.)

He decides to just bite the bullet and ask Namjoon about it. At this point, he can’t keep pretending curiosity isn’t killing him slowly, especially when he remembers all the soft noises Seokjin makes while he’s sucking Yoongi’s blood.

He corners Namjoon one night when he’s studying alone in his room and everyone else is busy doing something else. It’s embarrassing enough to have this conversation with his oldest friend, he doesn’t need anyone else eavesdropping on them. 

Namjoon looks up from his tablet when he hears the door opening and frowns when he recognizes Yoongi. “Uh, what is it?”

“I need to ask you something,” Yoongi tells him.

“Oh,” Namjoon blinks. “That took you long enough.”

It sure did.

“When I brought Seokjin here that night, Jeongguk was the one who explained my blood would taste better to him,” Yoongi picks on the skin around one of his nails. “Does that mean— Does it mean Seokjin’s blood also tastes better to me?”

Namjoon, to his credit, doesn’t look surprised by what he’s asking. He just watches Yoongi as he stammers through his question and waits until he’s done speaking. 

“Yeah,” Namjoon says. “Your blood will taste better to each other at first to keep the fledgling from feeding recklessly, and then it’ll stay like that if your bond is strong enough.”

Yoongi takes a deep breath. “How did I never hear about this?”

Namjoon laughs. “Well, if there isn’t a strong enough bond then that doesn’t go on for a long time. I don’t remember what my sire’s blood tasted like and neither do you I bet, because our bonds weren’t meant to last.”

“I’ve never heard anything about it from you or Jeongguk either,” Yoongi argues. 

Namjoon scratches the back of his head. “It can be very… intimate. I guess that’s why we don’t talk about it much. We’ve only talked about it with Hoseok, I think.”

“And besides,” Yoongi keeps talking, “my bond with Seokjin isn’t supposed to last either. He’s probably gonna leave soon and we’re still bonded like this. What if we can’t stay apart like in the beginning? He’s gonna start resenting me.”

“Ah, hyung,” Namjoon says, “I’m not sure if Seokjin will leave any time soon. And even if he does, I doubt it’ll be permanently or that he’ll ever have bad feelings about you. In all these months, he’s only had eyes for you.”

Yoongi shakes his head. “I don’t want him to stick around because he thinks he has to either.”

Namjoon sighs. “I think you need to talk to him. Properly. You’ve always said we need to give him space, which I agree with, but it’s been months now. He must have an idea about what he wants to do from now on.”

Yoongi nods. If Seokjin wants to leave or if he doesn’t want to stay a vampire, Yoongi can’t do anything about it. He’s taken too many choices out of Seokjin’s hands already. If, by any chance, he wants to stay with them, though…

“And ask him if you can bite him too,” Namjoon adds, taking him out of his thoughts. “I’ve seen you looking at his neck. He’s gonna let you. You’re the only one who can’t see how much he likes you, hyung.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes even though his heart is racing as the prospect. “Whatever. Shut up.”

Even if Namjoon is right—and Yoongi has his doubts—, he’s still not sure how to bring it up with Seokjin at all. “Hey, Seokjin-ah, is it okay if I suck your blood today just because I wanna know what it tastes like?” 

The gods must smile down upon him because he actually doesn’t have to say anything at all in the end. He actually approaches Seokjin because it’s around the time Yoongi needs to feed him again.

Their “office” stopped being that a long time ago. It’s full of Seokjin’s things now—clothes, video game figurines, plushies, a guitar—, the space lived in instead of just a room they used for storage. Yoongi likes coming here and seeing all the ways Seokjin made the room his in the short time he’s been with them.

Seokjin is lying in bed, playing one of his video games. He stops when Yoongi appears at the doorway and knocks lightly on his door, the small frown of concentration disappearing from his face, replaced by something softer.

“Hey,” Yoongi greets. He walks into the room and sits on the edge of the bed. “Sorry I haven’t stopped by recently to feed you, I’ve been, uh, distracted.”

“Oh,” Seokjin blinks. “Actually, I was thinking— You know, now that I can feed by myself, you don’t need to keep doing it.”

Yoongi wouldn’t call himself a dramatic person, but hearing that feels like having his chest ripped open.

Seokjin shifts and continues, “I’m sorry for making you do that for so long. I’m sure it hasn’t been pleasant.”

“Uh, yeah. About that.” Yoongi swallows. “I wouldn’t say it hasn’t been pleasant for me, if I’m being honest.”

Seokjin’s eyes widen and his cheeks start turning pink. “O-oh? Did it feel good then?”

“It didn’t feel good for you?” Yoongi’s voice pitches higher.

“Well, yeah, but— Since you were the one being fed from, I didn’t think it’d feel particularly good for you.”

Yoongi snorts. “Believe me, it felt more than good for me.”

Seokjin, still blushing, looks down at his lap. “Oh. Maybe we can… try the opposite then?

Yoongi is glad he doesn’t have to breathe. “Seokjin-ah, are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “I’d like to try it. Jeongguk says it feels— nice, so I’ve been thinking about asking hyung about it, but…”

Seokjin has been thinking about Yoongi biting him? Yoongi’s head starts spinning.

“Do you wanna— Right now?”

Seokjin giggles. “I don’t have anything else better to do, so.”

Yoongi thanks whoever is listening that they’re home alone because it means no one will intrude on them—or worse, tease Yoongi about it. Namjoon has probably already told everyone else about the conversation they had and he doesn’t need to give them more ammo.

He scoots forward on the bed to get closer. Seokjin doesn’t meet his eyes, but he does tilt his head to the side, exposing the long column of his neck. Yoongi reaches out and cradles the side of Seokjin’s face with one hand and rests the other on his shoulder. Seokjin closes his eyes.

It feels pretty surreal, to be doing this. While Seokjin has fed from him a few times by now, it’s never been in these conditions. Yoongi could tell himself they were doing it out of necessity and that it didn’t have to mean anything.

It’s different now, after Seokjin told him he wanted to try this, and with Yoongi choosing to bite Seokjin for no other reason other than him wanting to. 

As Yoongi lets his fangs grow and sink them into the side of his neck, he knows both of them want this.

Seokjin whimpers when he breaks skin, and suddenly he can taste Seokjin on his tongue. So sweet and rich and lovely. He groans and sucks harder, Seokjin’s hand coming up to grab his arm, gasping, while also going pliant and letting Yoongi drink his fill.

Their bond throbs and lights up in a way it’s never done before. Yoongi doesn’t know how to not get addicted to the feeling, like he’s surrounded by Seokjin and drowning in him at the same time.

Namjoon was right, of course. Seokjin tastes better than anyone he’s ever fed from in all his existence. Yoongi hasn’t felt like he was close to losing control in centuries, but now it’s a challenge to get himself to stop and pull away.

 Seokjin is clearly affected, breathing heavily in front of him and shaking lightly. Finally, they look at each other, and Yoongi wonders what Seokjin is seeing—his wide pupils, the veins under his eyes, his fangs dripping with his own blood.

“Do you still think vampires are monsters?” Do you think I’m a monster?

Seokjin smiles softly and pushes a strand of hair behind his ear. “Yoongi-yah, how can I think vampires are monsters when you’re the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen?”

They’re sitting so close now, their noses almost touching. It’s the easiest thing to pull Seokjin in with the hand still on his face and kiss him

Seokjin hums against his lips and licks into his mouth, probably tasting himself on Yoongi’s tongue. He understands now why the others do this, as it makes Yoongi’s cock—hard since the moment he bit Seokjin—throb in his pants.

He could kiss Seokjin for the rest of eternity. Just wants to keep pressing his lips against Seokjin’s soft and plush ones, to keep listening to the soft sounds he makes whenever Yoongi does something with his tongue.

But, before that, he needs to know.

“Does that mean,” Yoongi says when they pull away, “that you’ll stay?”

Seokjin smiles. “You’ve done so much for me, I couldn’t even begin to thank you. All of you. If you’ll have me—”

Yoongi kisses him again. “There’s no ‘if’. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if you told me you wanted to leave.”

Seokjin laughs and pulls him into a hug. “Ah, hyung. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me forever then.”

It’s still too humid outside for Yoongi’s taste, even if fall is just around the corner. The moon isn’t out tonight, but that doesn’t mean he can’t see Seokjin perfectly next to him as they wait.

Things are good. Seokjin joined their nest officially after that day and accepts who he is now—but never letting his instincts overcome him. It’s a battle some days, and they all can relate to that, but he’s been doing great. For now, he’s still not sure what he wants to do with all the new time he has, but Yoongi is still so proud of him.

As for their bond, Yoongi’s surprised with how much stronger it got after he fed from Seokjin and both of them truly accepted it, when Yoongi was already pretty overwhelmed by it in the beginning. They’ve never been more attuned to each other’s presence and feelings, barely needing to share a look to know what the other is thinking.

Needless to say, the sex is like nothing Yoongi’s ever experienced before.

As it is custom, Yoongi’s hand finds Seokjin’s and he gives it a light squeeze. They don’t need to say anything else to each other.

When Yoongi spots someone in the dark street below, he knows it’s time.

“Are you ready, Jin?” Yoongi asks.

Seokjin smirks. “Are you ready, Gi?”

They jump.