Chapter Text
Yeonjun stood on the front porch of the frat house, hoodie drawn up over his blue hair since it was drizzling outside. His arms were crossed, a glare set perfectly in place on his porcelain face, and said glare was directed at the house across the street from him. Conveniently placed, his rival fraternity was hosting some sort of function that weekend, and the way they had fought and fought so that Yeonjun’s frat wasn’t allowed to have their standard weekend party made Yeonjun irritated.
Like, who died and made Choi Soobin the king? Being president of the Sigma Chi Epsilon fraternity did not mean he suddenly held all of the power in his weirdly large, and very human, hand. There was some sort of toxic logic, Yeonjun contemplated, that the two largest rival frats on campus were the all-vampire one, and the all-human one. Yeonjun, who had a good handle on when something was or wasn’t dated, considered the situation to be very outdated. He had advocated for the president of his frat to switch over to co-ed, a mixture of vampire and human males. Sure, he would appreciate not having to leave the house to get laid, but he also believed in inclusivity. Humans had been aware of the vampire presence for nearly a hundred years now, Yeonjun didn’t understand why some places couldn’t catch up with the times.
And he knew for a fact that Choi Soobin only joined and became elected of the only all-human fraternity because he believed the exact opposite of Yeonjun. No way was he advocating for the inclusion of vampires into their hellhole. Not that Yeonjun would even for a second consider jumping ship. He was a loyal frat brother, and he wasn’t about to abandon all of his best friends. They could just kick out the more annoying recruits, the ones who were too rowdy or unreliable. Yeonjun didn’t have a solid plan in place, alright? He just knew things needed to change. And glaring at Choi Soobin’s place of residence seemed like a good first step.
When his bestest best friend, Choi Beomgyu, appeared next to him seemingly out of nowhere, Yeonjun didn’t acknowledge him. The vampire stood next to him in complete silence, staring out through the rain to the glowing yellow lights streaming out of the SigmaEp house. “Hyung,” he said after several minutes. “If you tell me you’re out here not because of what the others said, but because of equality I will slap you,”. That made Yeonjun blink, exhaling unnecessarily through his nose, turning his head just a bit to look at Beomgyu, who had arched a brow, though kept his gaze forward. “Why do you think I give a shit what the others think of me?” he sneered.
Beomgyu only smiled a little, eyes unmoving. “Based off of the way you told them you were ‘saving him for later’ and then stormed out, I’d say you give a little bit of a shit,” he pointed out. Yeonjun stared at him, before groaning, dropping his arms and shoving his hands into his hoodie’s front pocket. “Choi Soobin already gives me such a headache, and having the boys make it a bet just…now I’m gonna have to do something about it,” he muttered. He heard Beomgyu sigh, little puffs of white clouds forming around his mouth. “You don’t have to do anything about it, nobody’s forcing you to fuck Soobin to win an immature bet,” he replied, a hint of malice in his voice. When Yeonjun lifted his eyes, he could see a bit of disapproval in Beomgyu’s features.
He didn’t say anything though, just turned and went back inside. The rest of the frat was still sat in the living room, and he approached the president, holding his hand out. “The wager is 115,000 won?” he checked. The president, smirk spreading across his face, nodded, grasping Yeonjun’s hand. Yeonjun hesitated, briefly thinking of Beomgyu, before shoving the thoughts away. “I’m in,” he agreed, and then there was a lot of cheering. He felt claps on his back and hands ruffling his hair, and he laughed along with all of them. Choi Soobin didn’t mean anything to him, and he could really use the extra money.
When Yeonjun approached Soobin the next day, when it was still rainy, he found him next to the large gardens the environmental science majors had planted last spring. He studied him from afar, using his heightened senses to pick up on his scent, as well as his heartbeat. After some mindless calculations, Yeonjun determined him to be calm, and therefore less likely to resist. He straightened up, smoothing out his sweater, before walking up to the abnormally tall human.
As he got closer, the tell-tale sting in the back of his throat appeared, and the delicious smell of human blood entered his nose. But he wasn’t thirsty, and so he ignored his body’s natural reaction. “Soobin-ah,” he said in way of greeting. Soobin, dark hair hanging over his eyes, snapped his head up, and Yeonjun didn’t miss the slight blush. It disappeared quickly though, and he was a little surprised to see Soobin give him a quick look of distaste, before plastering on a smile. “Yeonjun-ssi,” he said, bowing his head a little. Yeonjun bit his lip, the growing annoyance towards the kid only getting stronger by the second.
“I was wondering if you’d like to hang out sometime,” he blurted out, deciding to just get straight to the point. Soobin’s eyes widened for a second, and Yeonjun thought he may actually believe his request to be genuine. But that was immediately proven false as Soobin let out a series of giggles, covering his mouth as he gathered his stuff and stood up. Yeonjun stared at him in expectation, doing his best to keep the expression of disgust off his face. Did Soobin think something was funny? He had just been asked out a date and he reacted this way? It was just rude. After he got over his little laughing fit, he hid a smile behind his hand as he moved around Yeonjun. “Oh, Yeonjun-ssi, that is literally the last thing I would ever want to do with you,” he said, before shaking his head and walking off, still laughing a bit.
Yeonjun stood there, stunned, and a bit insulted. He couldn’t even turn around to yell any sort of comeback, but he couldn’t even think of one to begin with. He had never been spoken to like that by a human since they were first revealed to them. He truly did not know how to process it, and so he just walked back to his house, and ignored all of the curious stares as he went up to his room. He sat down on his bed, staring at his walls, and wondering what the hell had just happened. He had never been rejected before. If anything, his vampirism lured people in just enough that he usually never had to try to get someone’s attention. His vampirism, and his perfect personality. Seriously, what was wrong with Soobin?
Yeonjun ground his teeth, his fangs protruding just a little, and he swallowed once. He wouldn’t let Soobin get to him. He would just have to try again, maybe soft and sweet isn’t what Soobin responded to. Maybe he needed someone to…take control. The thought made Yeonjun smirk, and he stood up, leaving his room to get a blood bag downstairs. His frat brothers looked at him, and he looked back, sending a few some flirtatious winks just to fuck with them. They all dropped their tension and rolled their eyes, a few laughing and throwing insults. Everything was back to normal.
He knocked three times on the front door of SigmaEp. He felt uncomfortable being so close, he had never actually been inside, and he just felt squirmy. He was fucking immortal, and a house was giving him the creeps. The door swung open after a few seconds, and if Yeonjun was expecting to be turned away with a harsh glare, he was very surprised. The person—kid, almost—who opened the door had wavy hair, a sharp nose, and a very bright smile. He gave a bow, before stepping back. “Yeonjun-ssi! Please, come in! What can I do for you?” the kid asked, and Yeonjun didn’t bother to wonder how he knew his name. He was aware of just how popular he was on campus.
He did, however, falter in his resolve to skip the small talk and inquire straight about Soobin. This kid seemed too nice, too willing to help, and maybe Yeonjun could use it to his advantage. He didn’t want to compel anyone, that would be considered cheating, but maybe this boy would respond to just a little bit of charm. And so Yeonjun returned the smile, putting on his most dazzling expression. “Yes, actually,” he said sweetly. It felt weird, but it seemed to hold the kid’s attention, so he continued. “I was wondering if I could speak to your president, Choi Soobin, about organising a joint fundraiser between Sigma Phi and Sigma Epsilon,” he explained.
The boy’s eyes widened, and he smiled even wider somehow. He clapped his hands togther a few times, before grabbing Yeonjun’s wrist and pulling him towards the stairs. “Oh my gosh, that sounds so fun! I’m sure Soobin-hyung will be totally on board, he’s always looking for ways to bring us both together!” he cried as they climbed the stairs. The boy was a lot clumsier than Yeonjun, but he also had human motor skills, which were so poor it’s a miracle they didn’t all manage to hurt themselves more often. The boy looked over his shoulder as they hit the second-floor landing and started passing bedrooms. “Neither of us understand the need for a rivalry, and I hope you feel the same, which I’m sure you do, considering why you’re here!” he babbled on.
Yeonjun had to admit, when he heard the kid insinuate that Soobin was not the stuck-up anti-vampire human Yeonjun thought he was, Yeonjun faltered even more. Suddenly, he didn’t feel as motivated to win the bet. He didn’t want to take advantage of Soobin if he may actually be someone he could learn to care about. He had never really thought of it being his own frat’s fault for the divide. He supposed that was the vampire in him, though. He needed someone to help him see the human side of things, since he couldn’t remember anything from when he was mortal.
As they approached the last door, Yeonjun gave the boy another smile, and then the boy knocked on what Yeonjun assumed was Soobin’s room. “Hyung! There’s someone here to talk about a fundraising event!” he called out. Yeonjun, with his super-hearing, heard Soobin breathing on the other side of the door, and heard his heartrate increase just the littlest. That was interesting. Did he have trouble speaking to presumed strangers? He heard some muttering about making appointments, before another sigh, and then the door opened and Soobin locked eyes with the boy first. “Hueningkai, I thought I told you-,” He turned his head then, and cut himself off as he locked eyes with Yeonjun. Warm brown to cold grey, they stared at each other, and Soobin narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing here? Gonna ask me out again? And did you use a fundraising excuse to get in?” he asked, his voice raising in volume with each question. Yeonjun briefly saw the boy—Hueningkai’s—face drop as he realised he may have made a mistake, but Yeonjun quickly rushed to save himself.
He held his hands up, eyes widening. “No! I’m not here to ask you out, I think I know when I’m rejected,” he said. Kai murmured something about hearing the oven go off, and he twisted, disappearing down the hallway. Yeonjun didn’t blame him, the tension in the air was almost tangible. Soobin watched him for a moment, before looking back at Yeonjun, leaning against his doorframe and crossing his arms. “You mean you really want to organise a fundraiser? With me? And our very rivalled frats?” he asked, his mocking tone making Yeonjun grind his teeth. If he didn’t know Soobin’s true efforts, he would’ve said something sassy and rude in an instant. But he held his tongue, and nodded, unsure of what exactly he was doing. He had no plans, no approval, nothing, just his own pride.
“I really think a fundraiser could be a good first step at…bridging this divide between our houses,” he said, surprisingly smooth. He almost believed himself. Soobin blinked a few times, as if actually considering Yeonjun’s words, before he stood up straight. “I happen to think so too,” he replied, face softening exponentially as he dropped the scowl. Yeonjun just nodded, doing his best not to focus on the dimples on Soobin’s cheeks, or just how good he really smelled. He had stared a lot in the past, and now that he was up close again, it was hard not to. But he pulled his focus away, which was easy to do with how much space existed in his head, and he pulled out his phone. “Put your number in, and we can start weekly meetings to figure it all out,” he said, holding out his phone to Soobin.
Soobin glanced at it, before taking it and punching in his number. “You sure you’re not trying to just court me?” he asked, handing the phone back. His warm fingers brushed across Yeonjun’s icy ones. Yeonjun rolled his eyes, taking a few steps back. “You’re starting to sound like you want me to,” he retorted. Soobin let out a laugh—okay, wow—and shook his head a bit, grabbing his door to close it. “In your dreams, Yeonjun-ssi,” he finished, before closing the door.
And so it begun. The human and the vampire would meet up every week, Yeonjun able to conveniently use the excuse that he was wooing Soobin for the bet when his frat brothers asked him where he was off to. Beomgyu was the only one who knew the truth, as Yeonjun confided in him the night of, and he knew that he couldn’t keep secrets from his best friend. They had known each for so long it was impossible for them to lie to each other. Beomgyu gave him fair warning about Soobin finding out about the bet, and suggested that Yeonjun just tell him about it before it was too late, and Yeonjun stalled.
Because over time, and through the meetings, he and Soobin had started actually becoming friends. It was hard not to, when they spent three hours a week in isolated company. Yeonjun learned just how passionate Soobin was about closing the gap between vampires and humans, how he had joined the all-human frat in the hopes of reforming it, how he only had a few people who really understood him. And as Yeonjun listened, he began to care for the boy, feeling an urge to protect him and provide for him. Not that Soobin couldn’t care and provide for himself, but Yeonjun just slowly found himself not wanting to leave after their planning sessions.
And he could tell Soobin’s feelings towards him had changed too. He blushed a lot more, rolled his eyes a lot less, and started feeling much more comfortable around Yeonjun. The older could remember how much his heart had raced the first few meetings, and now it was a steady, calming beat. It reminded Yeonjun of some twisted form of a lullaby, not that he’d ever admit it. He could see very clearly the direction that he and the human were going, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to stop it by telling Soobin about the bet. Sure, his original intention had been unkind, but now, it was sincere and genuine. Yeonjun had pursued Soobin for years, but he had never taken the time to do it right. Now he was. He was so close.
One evening, Yeonjun invited Soobin to his frat house. It was nearly Christmas break, and his house was especially empty, all of the vampires taking off where the blood would be richer and the choices more varied. That meant the city, as well as the outlying towns as everyone went home and departed campus. It simply wasn’t ideal, having so little humans to compel and feed off of while they were in that haze, but Yeonjun didn’t have anywhere else to go, so he stayed. And Soobin, Yeonjun had learned, didn’t have any living family left, so he was staying too. And okay, maybe that fact made Yeonjun’s heart ache, and he wanted to spend some time with Soobin not going over numbers, donation forms, and sponsorships. He wanted to clear up the gray area the bet had caused, and he wanted to make his true intentions known.
When Soobin knocked on the door, Yeonjun stood up from his spot on the couch. Beomgyu—the only other frat brother in the house with Yeonjun—looked up, but remained in his spot. Yeonjun took a breath, before going and opening the door. Soobin stood there, looking absolutely adorable in his scarf and beanie, hands wrapped up in white gloves, holding a bag of what looked like takeout for himself, and a few blood bags for Yeonjun. “I, um, brought some snacks,” he said, teeth chattering. Yeonjun couldn’t feel the cold anymore, but Soobin’s nose was red, and so he pulled him inside quickly, shutting the door. “You’re so sweet, Soobinie,” he cooed. Soobin giggled, looking around a bit as he followed Yeonjun into the living room. “Wow, your house is so…clean,” he remarked.
Yeonjun chuckled, turning and walking backwards as he spoke. “Vampires have…very little desire for material things,” he explained, before winking at Soobin. “Except for humans,” he tacked on at the end. The answering blush he got made him smile, though it faded quickly to surprise and embarrassment as he saw Beomgyu. He glanced fearfully at Yeonjun, who quickly went up to him, looping an arm around Soobin’s shoulders. “This is my best friend, Beomgyu, and you have no reason to worry about him, I have him under control,” he introduced, laughing as Beomgyu groaned and rolled his eyes. He waved a hand in Soobin’s direction as Yeonjun sat the two of them down, his thigh pressed against Soobin’s. “Nice to meet you, Soobin-hyung, Yeonjun has told me all about you,” he replied, running a hand through his hair.
Yeonjun glared at him, before putting on a fake smile. “Don’t you have a video call with Taehyunnie in ten minutes?” he sneered. Beomgyu looked at him, and then at Soobin—who was acting very shyly—and then nodded. “Right, I do,” he said unconvincingly, standing. He bowed to Soobin, and then disappeared upstairs, leaving Yeonjun and Soobin alone. They sat in silence for a few moments, before Yeonjun stood, digging through the bag and grabbing a blood bag. He checked the label to make sure it was the type he needed, and smiled at Soobin when he saw it was. “You’re always too considerate, Soobin,” he complimented. Soobin blushed, before pulling out his own human food and chopsticks. “I just have a good memory,” he muttered. Yeonjun smiled, taking a few sips, before falling into easy conversation with Soobin.
It just happened naturally, their dynamic, and by the time they each finished their respective snacks, Yeonjun was laughing and happier than he had ever been before. Soobin leaned against the couch cushions, coming down from a story he had just finished, and Yeonjun smiled at him, just staring. Taking in everything about the beautiful human in front of him. When had he started thinking of him as beautiful? “What?” Soobin asked, shyly looking away, covering his face. Yeonjun chuckled, before sighing. He needed to tell Soobin. If he wanted to have anything with the boy, he needed to be completely honest. He hadn’t told his frat brothers yet, but he feared Soobin’s reaction more.
“Soobin-ah,” he started. He hesitated, before boldly taking Soobin’s hand in his. Their fingers slotted together perfectly. Fuck, he hoped he wasn’t too late. Soobin looked at him, gaze focused, if not a little confused. “My frat brothers…they bet me that I could get you to…have sex with me,” he confessed, deciding to just be forward. He immediately heard the inhale, how much Soobin’s heartbeat sped up, and the slight pull on his hand as he tried to separate them. But Yeonjun held tightly, and rushed to explain himself, eyes open wide. “I accepted at first, mostly to get them off my back and believing that I still didn’t care about humans, but…,” he paused, the words getting caught in his throat. It was hard. He had never quite felt this way about a human before. He did his best though.
“I quickly changed my mind, after you rejected me and we started having our meetings,” he continued. “And now…I don’t know what I’m feeling but I know that I don’t want to stop feeling it,” If he could cry, he’d be tearing up right now, because the expression on Soobin’s face is so conflicted, such a mixture of hope and sadness, and Yeonjun wished he could read minds just so he could understand what Soobin was feeling. “I understand if you…if you don’t trust me, and you never want to see me again, but I promise you that my feelings for you are real, and…I think we could have something beautiful if we tried,” He didn’t recognise his own words as he said them, but they came so naturally he didn’t question them. He rarely went with his instincts when it came to Soobin, and maybe that’s how it was supposed to be.
He waited as Soobin processed his words, noting that he had stopped trying to pull his hand away, which he took as a good sign. Soobin swallowed, his adam’s apple bobbing, before he looked down, blinking a few times. “I can’t say I’m surprised about the bet,” he said after a while. Yeonjun gulped, his nerves (metaphorical nerves) sparking beneath his skin. He held his breath as he listened, Soobin very slowly smoothing his thumb over Yeonjun’s knuckles. “But…my perceptions of you and feelings for you have changed over time too, and so I believe that you’re telling the truth,”
Yeonjun inhaled, a flicker of hope blossoming in his empty chest, and he bit his lip, looking at Soobin. The younger still wasn’t looking at Yeonjun, but he was blushing. “I want to go slow, but, I think we could have something beautiful too,” he whispered, and if Yeonjun didn’t have super-hearing, he probably wouldn’t have caught that last bit. But he did, and it made him smile softly, and move closer, lifting a hand to Soobin’s face. He cupped his cheek, felt the warmth of his skin beneath his fingertips, and when they locked eyes, he could see the hope in Soobin’s eyes too. It was layered with a thin veil of uncertainty, but Yeonjun knew that would fade with time. He was just going to have to prove himself.
“You sure you’re up for this? Dating a vampire…it can be a lot,” he breathed. Soobin blinked a few times, leaning into Yeonjun’s hand just the slightest, eyes fluttering. “Dating me can be a lot, too, I’m very needy,” he replied. Yeonjun smiled, chuckling as he leaned forward, lifting up on his knees. “Good thing I’m looking forward to taking care of all of your needs,” he whispered, before finally connecting their lips.