Chapter Text
The smell of coffee seeps in from under Riwoo’s door, waking him up with this pang of a headache. Drousily, he gets up in a daze, his head spinning the room around as he pries his eyes open, the blanket slipping off, the cold air brushing his arms. Riwoo feels this sharp pain in his teeth, almost as if he’d spent last night trying to bite into wood, or maybe even someone. His head falls, looking at the fallen blanket on his lap, and the bedrest on the opposite end of him. Riwoo slips his legs off the bed, pushing the blanket to the side as he gets up, opening the door and carefully taking his steps downstairs, his head still in pain.
“Jaehyun?” Riwoo calls out from halfway on the stairs, his voice giving up on trying to be loud. Riwoo hears a loud yet silent hum come from the kitchen, his feet stabilising himself on the last bits of the steps.
“Goodmorning.” Jaehyun’s back was turned, hunching over the electric stove, wearing Riwoo’s hoodie from the night before, however, Riwoo’s eyes were giving up on forcing its way open so he could barely notice it was his.
Riwoo walked sleazily to the kitchen, the change from wooden panels to marble floor being a contrasting temperature. Riwoo leaned his back on the kitchen counter that was beside the stove, the smell of pancakes hitting him awake.
“Yummy.” Despite the smell hitting him awake, his voice was still in a soft low murmur. Riwoo rubbed his eyes with his thumb, his eyes finally staying up easily. His vision was blurred for a brief moment, but when everything became clear, his eyes that were previously locked onto the pancake bubbles sizzling from the heat, now noticed the shade of Jaehyun’s hoodie seeming too familiar.
Riwoo straightened his back and lifted his hand to Jaehyun’s shoulder, slightly gripping it enough to turn him to the side and face him. Riwoo’s eyes dragged down, the hem of the hoodie finally hitting him back into recognition.
“My hoodie! Those are the cat ears I cut.” When Riwoo first bought this hoodie, he found fabric scissors lying around, unfortunately, he hadn’t known what it was and used it stupidly to cut an angled line on the hem of the shirt because he doubted it couldn’t cut – it did. He saved it by continuing the angled line and turning it into cat ears.
Riwoo’s eyes finally dragged themselves up, attempting to look at Jaehyun for confrontation but instead making a stop at his neck. His heart dropped. Riwoo never drank, so he knew nothing about both his tolerance and what he did when he drank. Jaehyun slipped Riwoo’s hand off his shoulder, tilting his head to the side, noticing his stuck gaze.
“Hm?”
“Did I..”
Jaehyun turned back to the stove, picking up the spatula that was resting on the middle of the stove to flip the pancake over – the flip revealing a perfect brown color. A smirk formed on Jaehyun’s face, while Riwoo just stood in shock beside him. Riwoo’s mouth trembled, he had no recollection of last night no matter how hard he tried, the last thing he saw was Jaehyun’s face splitting in his vision.
Jaehyun shut the stove off, shifting himself to the side, facing Riwoo once more.
“Did you?” Jaehyun stepped closer, Riwoo backing up in instinct, his steps didn’t stop, nor did Riwoo’s. Jaehyun’s eyes were unrecognisable, like there was this pool that Riwoo couldn’t swim out of. Riwoo felt his waist hit the couch behind him, letting Jaehyun be as close as he wanted. Riwoo’s hands gripped the couch from behind, watching Jaehyun tilt his head and lean into the side of Riwoo’s neck – his eyes shutting as his nose took in the smell of freshly cooked pancakes from the hoodie that was his.
Jaehyun’s mouth was inches away from Riwoo’s neck, but after a second, all Riwoo heard was a clanking sound – it was Jaehyun biting his teeth together. Jaehyun stood back up, backing away to give Riwoo an appropriate distance. Riwoo’s eyes opened as he felt Jaehyun’s smell grow faint, looking up at him.
“I’m really sorry. I was drunk, I didn’t mean what I did, I don’t even know wh–”
“It was defense.”
Seeing Riwoo this panicked over the truth, excuses appearing out of thin air, it was clear he was way too shy to own up. Would awkwardness take over their dynamic, their apartment, and worse, would it take away his chance to be bit again? So he did what he thought was best, for him at least.
“Defense?” Riwoo was doubtful, yet hopeful as it was his way out of an awkward confrontation.
“Mhm. I carried you upstairs, I guess you thought I was trying to kidnap you or something.” Jaehyun’s tone was cheerful, cheerful enough that he let out a chuckle to cover up the crack in his voice that came from the lies.
“You bit me until I dropped you on the bed. Fell asleep instantly.”
Riwoo’s eyes were fixated on how many bites there were.
“I didn’t want to let you go until you were on the bed. That’s why you bit me so much.” Jaehyun covered up, not letting Riwoo’s thoughts grow any longer.
“Sorry.” Luckily, Riwoo’s eyes averted to the floor.
“Don’t be. It’s my fault.” Jaehyun took his hand to ruffle Riwoo’s head, turning back to the kitchen to spoon the pancake out of the pan and onto a plate that already held one pancake – the pancakes stacking up on each other. As Jaehyun headed for the fridge to grab the syrup, Riwoo was still curling his nails into the couch behind him, his teeth grinding, the same teeth that bit Jaehyun, eyes not being able to be taken off from the floor.
“Riwoo?” Jaehyun’s head glanced over at Riwoo for a second while his hands shook the syrup bottle to squeeze it out.
“Yeah?” Riwoo’s head shot up, his eyes meeting Jaehyun.
“Have you showered or brushed your teeth?” Jaehyun looked back onto the plate, drizzling the syrup over the pancakes.
“Oh, no. I’ll go.” Riwoo shuffled his feet back to the staircase, this time, going up the stairs as fast as he could – Jaehyun being left in silence. Jaehyun had only cooked one pair of pancakes, the second pair still not cooked yet for he didn’t anticipate he’d wake up this early.
Riwoo was back in his room, pulling his shirt off by the collar and slipping out the pants from the night before. But as he stepped into the bathroom, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. His head leaned forward, the right side of his lip lifting up to reveal his fang. Riwoo licked the point of his fang, suddenly, a metallic yet sickly-sweet taste hit his tongue – the flavour was undeniably strong and recognisable, it went away after a lick or two, but it was there, and he was sure of it.
Did Jaehyun bleed from the bites?
An hour passed, Riwoo stepped out of the bathroom, dressing himself for the class he dreaded and headed downstairs once more. Jaehyun was on the couch, forking pieces of his pancake and stuffing it into his mouth while he watched his show on the TV that was held up above the fireplace.
“Your plate’s on the counter.” Jaehyun’s eyes still on the TV. Riwoo grabbed his plate and sat near beside Jaehyun, watching along with him. The silence between them lingered for long, it wasn’t awkward, just comfortable, but there was clearly something Riwoo had on his chest, and suddenly, the TV paused. Riwoo looked over to Jaehyun, the remote in his hand and his plate in the other.
“What’s wrong?” Jaehyun asked, staring bullets into Riwoo. Riwoo’s eyes fell down to his neck, his gaze stuck on the bites.
“It didn’t hurt, if that’s what you want to know.” Jaehyun’s stare fell, his tone quietly hinting at defeat.
Riwoo set his plate down on the coffee table, moving closer, his neck tilting to the side to get a more front view of Jaehyun’s neck. His hand pressed into the couch as he pushed his head in to check Jaehyun’s neck, a gaze so determined and focused. Riwoo lifted his other hand, his fingers gently brushing on the bites, his mouth cracking open in concern and sadness. His jaw clenched for a brief moment before pulling away.
“Class is in a while.” Riwoo stood up from the couch.
“Thank you for the pancakes.” His feet shuffled to the door, Jaehyun’s eyes following Riwoo before he completely left his sight. Riwoo picked his backpack up, one that was always lying by the door if he never had any assignments to do. Jaehyun’s teeth bit the inside of his mouth, fingers fiddling with his fork.
The door shut softly, Riwoo’s fingers reluctantly slipping off the doorknob before heading to campus. Jaehyun sat in silence, TV still paused, he knew Riwoo was carrying some sort of burden, he just didn’t know why he didn’t come to him for reassurance or at least closure.
The whole day Riwoo spent his time in classes agonising and worrying over Jaehyun, even when Sungho or anyone else came up, he would reply briefly and head back to whatever he was doing beforehand. What made the whole situation between the two roommates was that they had no run-in’s whatsoever, that day was the only day that they had no classes scheduled together – leaving both of them to only anticipate the awkwardness to come when they’re both back home.
As Jaehyun’s last class of the day wrapped up, the phone in his pocket buzzed, a muffled chime following along. He stood up from his seat, waving his friends goodbye before reaching into his pocket to see what the notification was about.
Park Shoulders: “Guess who got tickets to obsession!”
Jaehyun’s phone instantly exploded with notifications, messages piling over each other, but someone was missing. He slid his phone up, putting in the numbers for his passcode, 1022.
2M Snowman: “wat time? when? where?”
GIANT: “I’m not paying you back btw”
21: “Ok.”
GIANT: “I think that’s the first message he’s sent in months..”
2M Snowman: “WHEN???”
Park Shoulders: “I was getting coffee..”
Park Shoulders: “Later, 7pm”
2M Snowman: “i lwk have assignments”
GIANT: “Ur acting like you do them…?”
2M Snowman: “well my damn bad i guess”
Park Shoulders: “Meet at mine”
Jaehyun shut his phone, a slight smile forming on his face, something he needed after a heavy day like this. He looked up from his phone and onto the clock, just an hour before. His plan was to go home and wash up, then head over to Sungho’s, but seeing Riwoo leave earlier this morning, anxiety started to creep.
Riwoo’s classes ended way before Jaehyun’s, yet he still hadn’t gone home, maybe out of avoidance – honestly he hadn’t even opened his phone despite numerous notifications. Usually, when Riwoo’s mind goes elsewhere, so does his body, and the first place he would rather be other than home is the bench under the tree of the university’s park. It’s great because too many people walk by, they all have something in their life going on, he watches people rush by him, to their classes, to rush food over to their friends, people tripping on air and frantically look around, couples interlocking arms, or just friend-groups that remind him of his own.
Leehan was wandering around, trying to catch a glimpse of the leaves dusting away from the cold environment, camera wrapped around his neck. He wandered for a good while, all snuggled up in a leather coat, pink at the tip of his nose, his eyes caught the movement of a squirrel, it’s not a rare occurrence for the university is quite accepting of their habitat – Leehan raised the camera up to his eye, squatting down to get a good low shot of the squirrel running up a nearby tree, however, as he tracked the squirrel with his camera, he caught another sight. Riwoo sat in the background, legs crossed over with a sketchbook lying on his lap, his head hunching over the sketchbook while he bit the end of his pencil as he pondered on what to draw.
Leehan lowered his camera, his focus completely taken off the squirrel, his face fell, the excitement of potential photos turning to concern and worry for his friend. He decided to stand back straight up and dragged himself to Riwoo, his heart pounding as he stirred up conversations in his head.
“Riwoo?” Leehan murmured, close to a whisper. Riwoo’s head shot up, startled by this approach – only when he realised was it Leehan did he start to settle down.
“Did you see the group-chat?”
Riwoo’s head faltered back to his sketchbook, fidgeting with the edge of his pages. A thick gust of wind brushing in between them. Leehan didn’t know what to do, honestly he didn’t even know how to save this, he contemplated sitting down next to him, but even that seemed like a hard ice to break.
“I didn’t.” Riwoo’s voice was clear despite whatever tension was brewing between the two. Leehan raised his camera, shutting one eye and using his other to look into the viewfinder, this caught Riwoo’s attention, prompting him to raise his hand above his head to block the view and a slight smile lighting up his face.
“What are you doing?” A small giggling choking his words.
“Taking a picture of the latest animal that’s going into hibernation and shutting everyone out.” Leehan chuckled out, his smiley voice peaking through. Riwoo looked up, shooting his hand down to flex all his teeth at the camera, his fingers in a V-shape beside his cheek. The camera snapped, not once, not twice, not even thrice, Riwoo let out this laugh that he’s been dying to use for the entire day, a laugh so big it echoed, drawing attention from other students passing by, the opposite of what he came here for.
“Okay, okay.” His voice was big and bright, completely divergent from how he was before. Leehan set his camera back down, finally finding an opportunity to sit down beside Riwoo.
“Obsession, you coming?” This time, Leehan’s voice was more confident, the gentle atmosphere settling in between them this time.
“When?”
“Today? I think. I didn’t check the group-chat.” This sentence gave Riwoo a slight push off the burden he’s been carrying for the entire day. He pulled his phone out from his pocket, swiping up his notification centre, looking for a keyword.
“There” Riwoo pushed his phone closer to Leehan, their eyes scanning the notification together.
“7pm.” He pulled his phone away, reading the rest of the notifications himself.
“Pretty sure we’re all going.” Leehan murmured.
“Sungho said to meet at his“ Riwoo shoved his phone down back into his pocket, shutting his sketchbook while he was at it. Leehan nodded, lips pouting as he stared into the void, unsure of what else to say.
“You wanna go to his together?”
Leehan’s face beamed up, nodding excitedly.
:::
Jaehyun keyed in the passcode to the studio, pushing the door handle down and budging it open. As soon as he stepped in, he was met with this undying silence, a silence that’s been flowing for too long, his ears instantly ringing from the lack of white noise. He closed the door behind him, slipping out his shoes and switching on the fan, the air finally being washed away of its silence – but even then, something felt heavier.
He let his bag slop down onto the couch, throwing the keys onto the cushion, not even bothering to do a double-take to see if it kept its position. His feet dragged across the white tiles, his shoulders and posture lacking its stance.
Jaehyun stepped into the shower, the droplets hitting his shoulders like stones, some running down the same neck that was marked previously by Riwoo.
“Ah.. where’d he go.” Jaehyun sighed out to himself, the shower drowning out his voice.
:::
Leehan and Riwoo made it to Sungho’s, the laughs already echoing from under the door, just a few minutes away from 7 PM. Leehan punched in the passcode, stepping in himself before holding the door open for Riwoo. The two joining in on the lively conversation happening in the living room.
“I swear on everything, I felt my heart drop to my ass when he said the assignment was due today.” Woonhak fumed, stomping his feet down with a tightened expression. Sungho absolutely losing it besides Woonhak, while Taesan just stood guilty across from them.
“He,” Woonhak shot his arm up at, his index finger pointing knives at Taesan. “Told me it was due next Friday!”
Leehan and Riwoo approached the dispute, Leehan glancing at Taesan who was biting his lip trying to avoid Woonhak’s gaze – Riwoo baffled at how much Sungho’s laughs filled the room.
“Oh!” Taesan exclaimed, immediately launching himself at Leehan – an escape in his eyes. “Where’s Jaehyun?” Taesan asked, his voice trying to be loud enough to drift the conversation elsewhere.
“I’m still here!?” Woonhak’s voice louder than his. Taesan waved his hand as if to shoo away a fly. Leehan chuckled, eyes darting from the angered Woonhak to the very much laid back Taesan.
“I’m not sure.” His words dragged out, still chuckling from it all. “Thought he’d be here by now.” Leehan cleared his throat.
In the midst of all the laughing he did, apparently Sungho found himself tumbled on the floor, catching his breath as the joke died down. “Ah, my back hurts.” His breath restless.
Woonhak walked over, putting out his hand for Sungho. Sungho raised his arm, managing to get a hold of Woonhak’s hand — being lifted shortly after into a posture that was slouched slightly.
“I’ll call him.” Sungho shuffled over to the couch, bending over to grab his phone that rested on the cushions. Just as Sungho was dialing the numbers in, a chime signalling it was unlocking came in from the door. Heads turned, watching whoever unlocked it step through.
“What?” Jaehyun’s voice came in as he raised his head. Jaehyun scanned the room, looking individually at each and every one of his friends, finally spotting Riwoo, then, spotting Leehan who stood next to him.