Work Text:
Twilight. That moment of the day where the sky would be full of so many colours and so many hues. Usually, it also meant the end of work, but not for Jaehyun. At least, not today, as he had a night shift. Last night, he couldn’t sleep well and, as a result, he was quite tired tonight. Looking at the sky, he wished for a calm night at the hospital.
Half an hour later, he entered the building through the employees’ door and went to get changed in his nurse uniform. The first three cases were easy, some flu and a lady who broke her leg. Painful for her, yes, but easy from a professional perspective. At that point of the night, cases stagnated, as most people were asleep and it wasn’t a weekend night. Weekends were hell, as too many people came with accidents caused by alcohol. While waiting for new patients, he went to the coffee machine, because he already began feeling sleepiness creeping in.
Five minutes after going back to his office, another nurse came and knocked on his door.
“Hey, Jaehyun, there are two people asking for you at the waiting room.”
Huh, weird. He thought to himself, as no one asked for him specifically before. Probably some patient who didn’t understand how to take their meds or something.
“I am Nurse Jaehyun, who asked for me?” he announced as he arrived to the waiting room.
A young man ran to him. “Me, a friend of ours recommended you for our case, she said we could trust you”.
Huh, weird. “Okay, sir, who is that friend, and how can I help you?” The other man didn’t seem injured so Jaehyun was confused as to why he was at the hospital to begin with.
“It’s, uh, my older sibling, Taeyong, they’re sitting over there.” The man walked and Jaehyun followed him. There was something weird about the man, whom hadn’t shared his name yet, but Jaehyun couldn’t point at anything for that gut feeling.
When he saw Taeyong, he could see right away how pale and distressed they seemed, as if they ate something contaminated. If it’s a food issue, I hope it isn’t E. coli. “Good night, sir.” Before he could finish his sentence, the younger sibling was lifting Taeyong and talking softly to him. “Could you follow me to my office, please?” The sibling nodded and began following him. “And, by the way, could I have your name?”
“Na Jaemin.”
“Thank you.”
Jaehyun asked what was wrong, and Jaemin told him that they were out eating and suddenly Taeyong began choking on their own spit then vomited everything inside of them and fainted.
“And what were they eating?” Jaehyun asked.
Jaemin looked at him for two seconds too long and hesitated while gesturing vaguely with his hands. “Uh. So. About that.” Jaemin opened his mouth and pulled his top lip upwards as if he was trying to indicate something. Jaehyun was really confused because he expected some type of text-based answer. And then, he saw Jaemin’s teeth and it clicked for him.
“Oh. Oh. Oh.” That kind of food. Not E. coli, then. “Okay, is…that person alive now?”
“I guess. We left in a rush, but I didn’t check while we were leaving.”
“I see. Well, I’m not sure if you are aware, but usually we don’t get this kind of…patients at the hospital and I’m not sure about the treatment.” I mean, fuck, okay, don’t panic, this is basic how to treat patients 101, Jaehyun.
Panic and worry crossed Jaemin’s eyes. He held Taeyong’s hand closer to him, in a protective way. Jaehyun felt sorry for them, but he really couldn’t do anything about the lack of vampire health curriculum found at university.
“I could try something, though.” Jaehyun said. “When was the last time they ate before tonight?”
“Uh. Last month, I think. It has been a while, for sure. That’s why I got so worried when they vomited, it had been a long time.”
“So they’re malnourished right now and that won’t help them recover from…whatever is happening to them. Well, let’s get them some food then.” Jaemin looked at him as if he just lost his mind, but he couldn’t think of anything else to help them. “I’ll be right back.”
Jaehyun went downstairs to the blood fridge. Okay but. Clearly not every kind is good for them. What should I get them. He got three different fresh bags just in case, and got upstairs again.
When he arrived to his office again, Jaemin was still holding Taeyong. His eyes were sort of teary, as if he wasn’t capable of actually crying but was on the edge of doing so.
“What’s in your hands?” Jaemin asked as soon as he entered the room.
“Food. Your sibling is malnourished, and recovering is always more difficult without food.” Jaehyun explained. “But clearly not all types of food are good, per tonight’s reaction. I’ve brought different kinds and we’ll try which one works best.” Jaehyun was going to pour the blood in cups when he considered a minor possibility. “Jaemin, when was the last time you ate?”
“Tonight, I did manage to eat before the incident. Don’t worry, I won’t attack you.” Jaemin assured him while laughing.
Jaehyun poured the blood in the cups and decided to try first with the A kind. Alphabetical order is as good as any, really. “Taeyong, hi, I’m Nurse Jaehyun, I’m not sure how much you have listened or understood from what I’ve explained. I need you to take a sip from this cup, please. Just a sip, so I can see your reaction.”
Taeyong opened their eyes just barely, muttered a faint “yes” before leaving their mouth open for the cup. Jaehyun put the cup between Taeyong’s lips and waited to see the reaction. The first sip didn’t seem to go badly. After the second sip, his patient began coughing a lot. Jaehyun opened their mouth and saw that their gums and throat were swollen, similarly to an allergy’s reaction for humans. Interesting, didn’t expect that. “I may know the origin of the problem, but we need to try another one to confirm everything”. Jaehyun took the B cup now and offered it to his patient. After the third sip, they finally opened their eyes fully. They smiled. “Good evening, Nurse.”
“Well, clearly A is not good for you but B is okay.” Taeyong nodded as a response to the nurse. “Let’s try O, but I don’t think you’ll have any reaction.”
Jaehyun was right and O went perfectly for Taeyong.
“So what is it?” Jaemin said with a hint of anxiety is his voice.
“A food allergy, as far as I can say. Your sibling can’t drink blood type A, like some humans can’t eat certain fruits.”
“Is there anything else we need to know about it, Nurse?” Taeyong asked.
“Well, I would need to research more to be able to answer that, but hey,” Jaehyun took a piece of paper and wrote something on it. “Here, have my number, so we can stay on touch.”
Jaemin took the paper and thanked him.
“We need to leave now. Thank you for everything and good night.” Taeyong said and moments later the pair left.
Jaehyun was left alone at his office, considering what his next move should be. Well, first, I need to finish my shift.
Finally. Jaehyun opened his phone while waiting for the bus.
Jaehyun:
Morninggggg.
Johnny:
What’s up, valentine boy.
Jaehyun:
You won’t believe what happened tonight to me.
Johnny:
Rocky night shift? Ohhhh, has another patient fallen in love with you?
Jaehyun:
I’ve told a million times, that scene only happens in stories, real-life hospitals are usually more boring.
Johnny:
Ah, blah blah blah, whatever. What happened?
Jaehyun:
Remember how many vampires think I’m one of them bc of my pointy teeth and now a lot of them know me.
Johnny:
Yeah.
Jaehyun:
Well, two came today to the hospital bc they had a medical accident and didn’t know who else to ask.
Johnny:
Wtf, vampires don’t like hospitals at all.
Jaehyun:
Yeah, I thought the same, but apparently these two were different, idk.
Anyway the point is. Food allergies for vampires are a thing, I think.
Johnny:
That’s even weirder, BUT. You should talk to Doyoung.
Jaehyun:
Who.
Johnny:
My co-worker from the department. He works a lot with vampire health research, I think he’ll be able to tell you more. Contact: Doyoung Work
Jaehyun:
I’ll text him later, I’m almost home and I need to sleep before I pass out in my street clothes.
Johnny:
Go sleep then. I’ll tell Doyoung to expect a text from you, too many weirdos send him messages bc of that topic.
Jaehyun:
I can imagine. Kay, good morning for you, ttyl.
“I’ve been thinking,” Jaemin mentioned while opening the house. “Do you think this has anything to do with the tales? All those abrupt vampire deaths seemingly out of nowhere?”
“Yes, maybe they’re related,” the other replied.
“Don’t you think we should tell the other vampires?”
“No. The thing is…first of all, they’ll be suspicious if we tell them that we went to a human hospital, even if many know about Human-Who-Keeps-Getting-Mistaken-For-Vampire.”
“But…people will die,” the younger argued.
“They won’t believe us, people would die regardless.” Taeyong sounded defeated.
“If you say so. See you later, I’m going to my room.”
Whilst changing clothes, a little piece of paper fell from Jaemin’s jacket. Oh, right, I need to text Jaehyun. I liked that kid, he seemed very nice. I hope we keep in touch.
It was around midday when Jaehyun woke up. While having breakfast, he opened his laptop and searched for Doyoung online. He found some free access papers and began reading them for about an hour. Apparently, there was some sort of legend going around about a mysterious disease that killed vampires but no one knew exactly why. Jaehyun suspected it was the same thing that happened the night before to Taeyong. Anyway, I should text him before it’s too late.
Jaehyun: Good morning! I’m Jaehyun, Johnny’s friend, not sure how much he told you about, but he said he’d mention me
Doyoung: Hello. He did warn me this morning but didn’t give me lots of details, to be honest, he just said that you had something interesting to tell me about my research
Jaehyun: More or less. But I’d prefer to talk about this in person, could we meet somewhere this evening?
Five minutes passed before Doyoung answered.
Doyoung: Do you know the café nearby the history faculty?
Jaehyun: I think I’ve seen it once passing by
Doyoung: Well, is 7 pm good then?
Should be enough time for the laundry to dry.
Jaehyun: Sure! See you then there
Doyoung: Okay, I’ll see you.
It was enough time for the laundry, and now Jaehyun was inside the bus while reading a bit more some of the papers of Doyoung. I wonder if antihistamines work with vampires as well… Walking towards the café, he received a text from Doyoung indicating which table was theirs. It was convenient because he wasn’t sure yet what did the other look like and searching for him was going to be difficult without any references.
Doyoung greeted him upon arrival and they proceeded to order something to eat.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, yeah,” Jaehyun answered.
“Are you human? Because you asked for a meeting in the evening and I just saw your teeth and they’re pointy but you’ve also ordered food,” Doyoung said very quickly, almost anxiously.
Jaehyun laughed. “I’m human, yes. I work at night, I have social jet lag to say. My teeth are just naturally like this, but that’s one of the reasons I’m meeting you so it’s a fair question.”
“What brings you here then?”
Jaehyun told him the events of last night briefly and how he was telling Johnny because they’re close friends.
“So you didn’t know about me?” Doyoung seemed surprised.
“Not until Johnny told me this morning,” Jaehyun answered honestly. “What do you think, though? I have many ideas but I want to hear your opinion before.”
“I…honestly don’t think my input is that important. I lack biology knowledge to be able to answer any questions here, but we could…tell the vampires maybe so they can protect themselves?”
“Yes, I was also thinking of that. I’m not sure if they would listen, that’s why I was interested in talking to you.”
“What was the name of your patient?”
“Taeyong.” Something in Doyoung’s face changed, although Jaehyun couldn’t point at what specific emotion it represented in that moment.
“You said they came with someone, right? What was the other’s name?”
“Jaemin.” Jaehyun wasn’t sure if all those questions lead to something good or bad.
“So that Taeyong.” Doyoung sighed.
“You know each other?” It was bad, it seemed.
“I started my research thanks to meeting Taeyong.”
Jaehyun was even more clueless now. “You sound as if something is wrong, though.”
“We had a big argument some months ago. They’re so…pretentious. And stubborn. I’m not sure if your plans have any chance depending on Taeyong.”
“I have Jaemin’s number, maybe he’d be more helpful?”
“I am not sure about that either, he doesn’t like upsetting his sibling.”
“Well. Thanks for your help. I’ll keep you updated, it was nice meeting you.” Jaehyun got up from his seat.
“You’re leaving already?”
“Yeah, I’ve only slept a couple hours today and I’m still sleepy.”
“Oh, I see. It was nice meeting you too, I’ll research about your theory and tell you if I find anything interesting.”
“Thank you! Good night.” Jaehyun felt like that conversation did help in his research, at least.
Jaemin had spent hours looking at the ceiling of his room. Usually, he’d be reading or playing some videogames but today he had more important things to think about. First of all, the tales were true and abrupt vampire deaths were a possibility. Second of all, it was related to blood types. Third, that was all the information they had, which was not a lot. Fourth, other vampires didn’t know and his sibling said it was a waste to tell them. He didn’t agree with Taeyong but didn’t know what to do either and that was keeping him from enjoying the evening. Two minutes later, he got his coat, wallet, and a little notebook and left the house as silently as possible and left.
The nearest vampire pub was 20 minutes away at human speed. However, hey, the good thing about being a vampire is vampire speed so he was there in half the time. The pub was half empty, but he managed to speak to four different vampires about the tales. The next pub was two streets away and he actually walked at human speed this time. There, people were in groups so he asked around, inviting some people to drinks if they seemed to have some more information. The third pub was his favourite, and he saw some of his friends. They were a younger group of vampires and it was nice to share thoughts with like-minded people. He didn’t tell them the real reason he was asking about the tales because he still wanted to respect Taeyong’s wishes, although Jisung did ask a couple of times.
Around five AM, he left his friends and went home. He reviewed his notes there: some people were aware of the tales, mainly older vampires. People had different theories, like the day of the month (We’re not werewolves to be affected by the moon, c’mon), if the victim was menstruating (That could kill the victim more easily, I guess, but.), if the victim was bitten in the near past, the victim eating something specific beforehand (Honestly, this was so close yet so far from the real deal, huh.), etc. He still didn’t know how to tell people about the risk without disrespecting his older sibling, but now, after seeing so many unaware vampires, he felt even more anxious about the topic. I shouldn’t call Jaehyun, he’s either sleeping or working now. A text may be better. Now, he could go play Cookie Run for the rest of the day.
Doyoung was very angry. Very, very angry. And he was also sick of the silent treatment. That’s why he was right now knocking on Taeyong’s house. Taeyong opened the door while saying something about not being interested in any sales but they stopped right away upon sawing Doyoung.
“What in hell are you doing here?” Taeyong blocked him from getting in.
“When were you going to tell me about your hospital visit? Were you even going to?”
“Who told you that to begin with?” They didn’t seem happy about it.
“Don’t try changing the topic. Answer me.”
“I do not owe you any information, I think I’ve stated this before clearly.”
Again, that stubbornness. “We’ve known each other for years.”
“And?”
“I care about you, Taeyong. If something serious happened to you—“
“Good thing vampires don’t tend to get hurt,” Taeyong mentioned cynically.
“But you know vampire health is literally my topic, you could’ve asked me for help.”
“I already told you this. Your study has the potential to become a weapon against vampires and I think you are smart enough to understand some humans would use it against us.”
“But it also means vampires can take better care, Taeyong, come on.”
“It is too much of a risk.” Doyoung knew they already had this argument many times months ago but he wasn’t going to leave without pointing to the obvious.
“Is it that or that you don’t want to ask help from me?” Taeyong didn’t answer. “Your pride is why I stopped talking to you.”
“Is that all? I have nothing else to say.” Taeyong looked abruptly behind Doyoung.
“Hiiii.” A familiar voice shouted. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Jaehyun was looking at both of them with curiosity. Suddenly, Jaemin emerged from behind Taeyong and greeted the newcomer. “Hello, Doyoung, nice to see you again.” Doyoung figured he didn’t have anything else to say nor was he invited over and so he greeted Jaemin and Jaehyun, and left.
Jaehyun looked at Jaemin with an unsaid question and the other only shrugged and invited him inside.
“Water? Not that we have anything else for you, though.” Jaemin offered.
“What brings you here, Jaehyun?” Taeyong didn’t look cheerful at his presence.
“Jaemin invited me,” the nurse stated.
“Oh, did he? Beloved brother, did you also invite Doyoung?” Taeyong asked in an accusatory tone.
“I think that was me on accident,” Jaehyun admitted. The other two looked him, one curious and the other angry. “After your hospital visit, I researched on vampire healthcare and met with Doyoung. I didn’t know he knew you but he guessed it and I didn’t lie. The rest was his initiative, though.”
“Listen, Jaehyun—“
“Taeyong,” Jaemin interrupted, “I still think we have the responsibility of telling other vampires. That’s why I contacted Jaehyun.” Taeyong didn’t seem convinced but nonetheless waited to hear the rest.
“Basically,” Jaehyun began, “we need someone respected within the community –that would be you, Taeyong—and someone knowledgeable on vampire behaviour –that should be Doyoung—to reach the maximum amount of vampires.”
“I am not collaborating with that know-it-all human again. You will have to find another way.” Taeyong sentenced.
“I’ll see what I can do about it, then.” Jaehyun got up. Lately, no one was being very helpful with this issue and it was beginning to annoy him.
“I’ll come with you to the door, wait.” Jaemin stood up.
Before stepping out, Jaehyun hesitated for a second. “I have a question for you, Jaemin.”
“I’m not sure what happened between those two.” Jaemin answered directly.
“Not that.” Jaemin waited for the question. “The other day you didn’t seem impressed by blood at all, and I always thought vampires…you know.”
Jaemin laughed out loud. “I was worried about Taeyong, c’mon.” That made sense for Jaehyun. “And I was never impressed by blood as a human, not even when I got my first menstruation.”
“That’s something not all people can say, that’s for sure. Anyway, good night, let’s see if your sibling comes around the issue.”
“Good night, Jaehyun. Don’t be that hopeful, you’ll get your heartbroken.”
Jaemin closed the door and went inside again. “You still owe me a night out, Taeyong.”
Taeyong couldn’t find the keys to the house and their hands shaking weren’t really helping. “My keys are in my back pocket,” Jaemin said with the smallest voice.
Finally, they got inside the house and Jaemin was recovering on the sofa. Guilt has been going through Taeyong’s mind since Jaemin had coughed an hour ago. Specially, because they had just rejected Jaehyun’s help. Maybe Doyoung was right and they could prevent more vampire deaths. It would be foolish to know the problem and doing nothing about it. Now, where was that phone of theirs to text a smart-ass researcher.
Jisung, one of Jaemin’s friends, was leaving the new clinic at Taeyong’s second floor. He didn’t have any allergies according to the test but he did take some flyers with him to distribute to other vampires. “Jeong Clinic: Visit us to avoid a second death, this one might be for good. Open Mondays and Fridays night”. The phrase had been Doyoung’s idea, he said it would attract the younger vampires, who were more difficult to convince. They still felt untouchable by any illnesses and didn’t believe in the tales a whole lot. Jaehyun wasn’t so sure but Jaemin’s friends were being very helpful spreading the word and he appreciated the pun anyway. Taeyong did roll their eyes upon hearing Doyoung’s idea although they were letting their new Something get away with more than before. It was becoming a serious thing, and that night Taeyong was finally meeting Johnny after hearing about him from both Jaehyun and Doyoung for weeks.