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The sun is setting. Its crimson body falling into the twilight, spreading its light across the endless forest before losing its deep red to the darkness.
Inside a centenary mansion that said forest guarded, eyes as hot as the sun followed the phenomenon in front of them and unconsciously mimicked it, red irises little by little giving way to the dark and revealing, even if unintentionally, the darkness that had long existed in the body to which they belonged to.
Stars already dotted the sky when Juyeon decided to withdraw himself. The big window through which he had seen the twilight was left behind as he turned to go down the stairs, as well as the living room, the hallways, and everything else in his path; only the melancholy of that moment was not left behind, remaining with him throughout his journey and getting bigger and bigger as he approached his goal: the crypt of the mansion.
Reaching the underground, Juyeon passed by the tombs of his grandparents, his parents and his brother — who had long since left him, their fragile bodies given in to the time when they could no longer support themselves — until he reached the only tomb whose moonlight illuminated the inside, the only tomb that remained open, the one that veiled Changmin’s body.
Weeks had passed, but Juyeon still hadn’t had the courage to close the tomb. Though he didn’t admit it out loud, his heart still believed that Changmin would get up, that his serene, silvery face would twitch under the moonlight, his eyes would open and blink a few times before he would say, his voice hoarse from having overslept, “I had the strangest dream.”
But weeks had passed and Changmin had shown no sign of accepting the transformation.
Juyeon let his hands rest carefully on his face and his fingers trace his handsome features as gently as he had become used to doing. His skin, once warm and pink, was cold and whitish; his eyes were closed, just as his smile, hiding the brightness they used to have, and his hair was some sort of reddish brown, so different from when they had first met.
The memory made Juyeon open a melancholic smile. Even after years with Changmin, living with all his characteristics, habits and, above all, eccentricities, the way they had first met was still something that impressed him.
✦
Three years had passed. Back then, the Lee property was almost a tourist spot for self-called ghost hunters, its location and the fact that it has been untouched since the 18th century serving as a feast for the speculators and the curious.
They used to come in big groups. They traversed the grounds with their heavy equipments — cameras and other things that Juyeon wasn’t sure what they were or what they were for —, entering the property and spending hours looking for ghosts that didn’t exist there, only to leave moments later with frustrated sighs and spent films, something that never failed to entertain Juyeon.
Out of all the goofs — as Juyeon had kindly nicknamed them — who had been there, Changmin had been the only one who had gone alone and, curiously, the only one who had found exactly what he wanted.
Juyeon remembered it so clearly that it was as if he had just lived it all over again. He was on the balcony of his room, watching the sun that had begun to set over the horizon — an habit from years ago, acquired in childhood when he joined his brother in the same place and bet his next day snack that the sun would set earlier than what was expected by him.
Even when the light faded completely and the first stars began to appear above him, Juyeon still hadn’t withdrawn himself. He was more distracted than usual, lost in his thoughts as he had never let himself be, even though there was no reason for him to be like this. When he finally turned to go in, however, his movements were interrupted by a surprise, a figure who had not been there before and which, to his astonishment, now that he had noticed it, had gone unnoticed by his keen senses.
His visitor had a slim body wrapped in black: boots, pants, shirt, and a thick vest that was connected to the backpack he carried with him; his hair was a vibrant shade of red and pink, the thin, straight and messy strands partially hidden under a black cap like the rest of his look. It was a simple look, befitting what he probably intended when entering a supposedly haunted house. His eyes, however, diverged from the pattern; two dark orbs, bright as the stars that now filled the sky above them — maybe even more than them — they immediately caught Juyeon’s attention.
He would have been delighted were it not for the astonishment he felt. To have been betrayed by his own senses — I mean, he hadn’t even seen him arrive! —, to have been so easily found by a single person after dodging group after group of experts… Juyeon felt bewildered at that moment, as if his consciousness had been suspended for an instant, stopping him from reacting.
Who brought it back, to his surprise, was the same person who had suspended it.
The visitor looked him up and down for a few seconds, as if evaluating him. Then he frowned, arched his brows and said before his eyes even met Juyeon’s, his words overflowing with sincerity, “You’re less scary than I expected.”
That was like a shock wave for Juyeon, which immediately snapped him out of his daze. That whole meeting was a surprise, something totally unexpected for him, but those words in particular had caught him off guard — he could even tell he was a little offended.
Without giving the stranger a chance to develop his observation, something he seemed to be about to do, Juyeon bypassed his body and darted inside, leaving him behind.
“Hey!”, he heard him exclaim and straight away the sound of his quick footsteps began to echo through the bedroom, hallway and every other room where Juyeon passed by, trying, in vain, to lose him. For an ordinary human being, his visitor was pretty fast.
“Are you really a ghost?”, pretty fast and pretty talkative. Even though he was running to catch up with Juyeon, losing more and more of his breath with each step he took, he hadn’t stopped talking. He commented on how easy it had been to get in, on how he didn’t really believe he’d find anything besides old, musty furniture and reiterated that Juyeon wasn’t a very scary creature; that if he were to expect anything it would be something like a Bloody Baron, with a bloodied body and heavy chains dragging across the floor — Juyeon had no idea who was that — all while repeatedly questioning Juyeon’s identity. “You’re too solid for a ghost, aren’t you?”
Realizing that he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, at least not until he received an answer, Juyeon took a deep breath and turned to face him — narrowly missing him, who stumbled slightly as he had to stop running abruptly — wide opening his mouth and showing almost aggressively the sharp, prominent teeth that protruded from his gums.
The sudden action made the stranger jump back, but his surprise didn’t last long. Juyeon’s, on the other hand, only grew when the visitor smiled broadly and nodded as if he was satisfied with the answer before offering him his hand enthusiastically. “I’m Changmin.” he said and his voice had such excitement that for an instant Juyeon wondered if they were living the same moment, if he was seeing things as they were really happening.
The stranger — now Changmin — however, still had his hand outstretched. His eyes, if it was possible, were even brighter than before and it must have seemed enough to Juyeon.
“Juyeon.”
✧
Juyeon was used to being alone.
It was weird, in a way, considering that as a kid he was always surrounded by people. Whether it was his friends, his cousins or his brother, Juyeon always had someone by his side.
When he reached adolescence, new obligations emerged and the time previously reserved for friends became limited. Juyeon no longer had them all the time, but they were still there, and when the opportunity came around, they were all side by side. It was a natural change, Juyeon knew, and he adapted to it with ease, like a tree that sheds its leaves every autumn so it can get through the winter.
Things started to move at a different pace a little after that. The slow, gradual changes Juyeon had seen take place suddenly became abrupt and aggressive, and when he least expected it, the winter, which should have passed, was still there.
Juyeon had just turned 23.
The fever was the first indication that everything wasn’t fine, but Juyeon had never been one to complain as long as he still managed to fulfill his obligations, so he ignored it. The world around him burned, but he ignored it and ignored it, believing that everything would be fine naturally — as it had always been.
But it didn’t.
Things started to move at a different pace when he had long since fallen ill and the known smallpox remedies were no longer effective. Amidst waves of consciousness in a sea of unconsciousness, Juyeon heard his father hand him over to eternal life. In the background his mother was crying, thinking that this was not the paradise she was hoping for her son to reach.
Since then, while everything around him changed, as the plants successfully reached spring, offering the blooming of their flowers to the world as proof, Juyeon found himself frozen, unable to keep up with the changes around him.
Childhood and adolescence, despite all their colors and fragrances and flavors, were only a small part of his long life, a part that now lay at his feet like fallen leaves and a bitter reminder of when he could still bloom.
It was difficult to adapt to the present, to his cold and alone and eternal present, but after centuries of experience Juyeon had managed to get used to it.
So when Changmin suddenly arrived, full of colors, fragrances, and flavors Juyeon hadn’t experienced for a long time, his entire world was turned upside down.
Initially, Juyeon didn’t imagine it would last long. To him Changmin was just another curious — a little luckier than the others though — who would leave as soon as all his questions about Juyeon’s nature had been asked, looking for another haunted mansion to investigate; but after a week he was still there, following the white stone path that led to the mansion. Juyeon wondered if his curiosity was inexhaustible, completely oblivious to Changmin’s excited smile when he saw him from below.
He always arrived when the sun went down — he said he didn’t want to disturb Juyeon’s sleep routine and sometimes even asked if he’d slept well. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that Juyeon didn’t need sleep — at least not if he wasn’t completely exhausted —, that had been one of his first questions to the vampire actually; however, for a moment that was what Juyeon thought. Maybe Changmin had a bad memory and didn’t remember all the questions he had asked from the start, since there had been too many, he thought; but all it took was that Juyeon saw the mischievous glint in his eyes when he asked that for the thought to fall away and he knew immediately — and time would only bring confirmation — that teasing was one of his favorite hobbies.
Together they watched the hot sun fade until it cooled completely and the sky turned a cold shade of blue, and when the first stars began to twinkle overhead, they retreated themselves and spent hours deep into the night talking.
Changmin was very talkative, as Juyeon had already observed, and he always had something to say. He commented on the weather, his day, sometimes even the mansion and Juyeon himself, always with a playful tone that never failed to elicit laughs from him — and little by little an equally good-humored response.
The world became so colorful with him around that Juyeon didn’t even flinch when, in one of his farewells, as the sun rose and Changmin, his droopy eyes contrasting with his excited smile, made his way back down the white stone path, he found himself looking forward to the twilight, because he would not have wanted it any other way.
✧
Full of surprises, from time to time Changmin arrived with different ideas and schedules for their meetings.
One day, he came up with an electronic device that Juyeon didn’t know about — not that he knew much about electronic devices at all, but this one was particularly intriguing. It looked like two metal plates had been welded together side by side so that they could open and close like a book, but a book without pages.
“This is a laptop.” Changmin said, noticing Juyeon’s curious gaze on the device. His voice was patient like a kindergarten teacher, but never with the intention to tease him for not knowing about his devices. He liked, and had already made it clear a lot of times, to introduce the news to Juyeon. “It’s like a magic box, though it’s not shaped like one. With it I can do many things much more easily, like watching today’s news, listening to a song or watching a movie, which is what we’re going to do today.” He turned to Juyeon, who was listening intently, before continuing. “Do you know what a movie is?”
“Of course I know what a movie is.” Juyeon responded calmly, as if the opposite possibility didn’t offend him a bit — he wasn’t all that oblivious to the world —, but his urgency to respond didn’t go unnoticed by Changmin, who immediately raised his arms in surrender.
“You are thousands of years old. How could I know?” He tried to justify himself, but Juyeon just rolled his eyes and huffed, nudging him lightly with his shoulder and muttering for him to put the movie on.
The night was filled with screams and laughter, from Juyeon and Changmin respectively. Changmin had chosen a sequence of horror movies about a killer puppet, something Juyeon had never seen or heard like, but that had perfectly fulfilled its role of scaring him, and scaring him a lot. He had screamed so much that, at another time, an investigation would not even have been necessary for a ghost hunter to prove that the Lee mansion was indeed haunted. Meanwhile, beside him Changmin just laughed, enjoying his reactions. Changmin had never imagined that, big as he was, Juyeon would be able to curl up so much, but here he was, crushing a pillow and curled up so much that his head nearly reached his bent knees.
By the time Changmin left, Juyeon still hadn’t gotten over the scare. He had a tired expression as he walked Changmin to the door, one that Changmin had never seen on his face ever since they met. It looked like he was in shock and that, if he slept, he wouldn’t be able to sleep after that.
There was the perfect opportunity to provoke him.
“Good night, Juyeon.” Changmin spoke with his hand still on the doorknob, smiling widely. “Sleep well and be careful not to meet Chucky in your dreams.”
Juyeon didn’t even need to see him to know he was having fun, a lot of fun, with him. “Bye, Changmin.” He responded with rolled eyes, catching a glimpse of Changmin’s smile getting even bigger before he turned the doorknob and left.
✧
The other day, Changmin arrived a little earlier than expected. He had a plastic bag and an excited smile with him and looked eager to meet Juyeon, considering the long strides he took to get to him. At first glance Juyeon smiled with equal excitement, infected — and even a little moved — at the sight; however, as Changmin approached him and Juyeon saw him better, the mischievous glint in his eyes stopped going unnoticed and his real intentions became clear to Juyeon, whose smile immediately disappeared from his face as he began to take steps backward. Changmin was up to something and Juyeon was his target.
Confirmation came with an even wider smile from Changmin as he closed the distance the vampire had created between them. Before he knew it, Juyeon had nowhere to run, he was trapped and Changmin opened his mouth to reveal whatever evil plan he had.
“The day has come… Say goodbye to that black hair of yours, Juyeon.”
The idea had come up a few days ago, when Changmin broke a comfortable silence that had settled between them by commenting that his hair needed to be dyed again. Juyeon, who had been reading beside him for some time, closed the book for a moment and turned to him, touching his faded strands with his fingers, as if to confirm that they really needed a touch-up.
Changmin blushed a faded shade of pink very similar to his hair at the sudden action and looked away for a moment, until Juyeon withdrew his hand and returned his attention to the book. A few more seconds passed before he spoke again.
“You would look good with dyed hair, Juyeon. What is your favorite color?"
That’s why, a few days later, Juyeon found himself with a whole new look, completely different from what had been his for a long time. The navy strands made him look different, more modern — if he was going to put it into words without being teased by Changmin. It was weird looking in the mirror and not finding black anymore, but not necessarily bad, and a few pats later he finally smiled satisfied with the change — a smile that grew when, through the mirror, he saw the author of that change, a Changmin with vibrant locks again, confirming that he was looking good with dyed hair.
✧
Once, Changmin came up with a mischievous smile and a bottle of alcohol.
When Juyeon saw Changmin approaching him with the drink in hand, shaking the bottle with that excitement only he had, he could only laugh and shake his head in disbelief, though he wasn’t exactly surprised by the sight. Changmin knew that Juyeon drank alcohol since the beginning — what Juyeon drank and ate had been one of his first questions to the vampire when they first met — and since then he had promised that one day he would make a bet with Juyeon on who could drink more between them, a silly promise that had never left his words and actually became real, at least not until that moment.
A few glasses later, when they had long since occupied the living room and opened the bottle of wine, however, a very smiling Changmin ended up surrendering and handing the victory to Juyeon, laughing and claiming he couldn’t drink a drop more.
By that instant he had his head tilted back, pressed against the wall behind him to keep the dizziness from throwing him forward. His eyes were closed as he breathed slowly and his half-open mouth still carried the traces of a laugh, the corners slightly raised and the prominent dimple in his right cheek making a presence. His face was flushed from the wine and laughter, his cheeks visibly pink even though there was little light in the room.
So natural and Juyeon could swear he’d never seen him so beautiful. The carefree posture given him by the alcohol so suited him and made him so attractive that Juyeon couldn’t resist, the wineglass halfway to his mouth returning to the floor as his hand made its way to Changmin’s face.
The vampire touched him with caress, his fingers strumming the skin so gently that the touch was barely there. His forefinger glided slowly over the defined jaw, reaching his chin, where his thumb rested for a moment for a stroke, before making its way back and joining the other fingers over the warm, red cheek that, Juyeon realized with delight, occupied perfectly his palm.
Changmin shivered under the touch, his steady breath being interrupted for a second. Afraid of having scared him or making him uncomfortable, Juyeon was about to retreat his hand when, to his surprise, Changmin sighed and snuggled into his palm, accepting the affection.
It was Juyeon’s turn to hold his breath as he slowly turned around and opened his eyes, the two dark, bright orbs the vampire had liked from the start.
The dilated pupils thanks to the dark were like a deep ocean in front of him, an unknown world that called him, invited him to swim in itself. Juyeon had never been so attracted as he was at that moment, seeing his reflection in them; and the closer he got, the more he saw himself reflected in them, the more determined to dive he became and so he did, closing the distance between them until he managed to sink at once.
And the impact was the best he’d ever had.
Changmin’s lips were sweeter than any delicacy Juyeon had ever tasted, sweet and warm and he immediately felt electrified, taken by a desire to feel them more and more that he didn’t even know existed inside him. So he pressed a little more, always aware of how Changmin received him, a part of him still afraid to scare him with his sudden actions. It was only when Changmin seemed to melt under his touch, sighing and pressing back, that Juyeon could sigh with relief, holding him tenderly as he adjusted the angle to kiss him without fear.
It was perfect. Sweet and warm and Juyeon thought he could stay that way forever, caressing Changmin’s soft cheek and being reciprocated with the equally soft touch of his mouth, at least until they pulled away for a moment and Changmin called his name between a sigh.
Changmin was always calling his name — whether out of necessity or out of sheer desire to see the vampire roll his eyes whenever he realized he was just playing with him — but never like that. Never between a sigh, never with the racing pulse that Juyeon easily felt under his touch, never with the half-open mouth and the cloudy eyes Juyeon was met with when he opened his own and never with the determination that followed and made Changmin straddle him in a fast movement and resume the kiss with a firm hand on his face.
Between kisses and desperate touches, Juyeon managed to reach the bedroom when the heat became too much. There, with a lingering peck on his forehead and their hands intertwined, he made Changmin his, with only the moonlight that shyly invaded the room through the curtains as a witness.
Minutes later, when satisfaction gave way to tiredness, a flushed Changmin tried, unsuccessfully, to hide from Juyeon, who hadn’t stopped looking at him with eyes full of tenderness since he’d laid down beside him. “It’s not like it’s the last time you’ll see me like this.” embarrassed, he responded to what Juyeon said that a moment like that should be treasured forever. In response the vampire just snorted, bringing him close to hug him, at that moment unable to clarify to Changmin how literal those words were to him.
At times like that, Juyeon wanted to be selfish, wanted to be selfish and speak once and for all what was tormenting him so much since he realized that he had become completely attached to Changmin. At times like that, Juyeon wanted to be able to hold his hand, look into his eyes and ask, with all the sincerity that existed in his body, for Changmin to be his forever, his forever; but he couldn’t, he couldn’t bring himself to ask something like that, to make Changmin, even for a second, think about giving up his whole life for him. So he was content with memories — as he had become used to living from the beginning —, even if all his habits had stopped to make sense since Changmin’s arrival.
To his surprise, it was Changmin himself who brought the matter up.
They were strolling through the garden after another shared night, walking under the stars and exchanging brief caresses through their intertwined hands when Changmin suddenly asked, “Can you transform someone?”
Juyeon almost stopped in his tracks, startled, and had to use all of his self-control not to show how his entire body had suddenly gone on alert. “Yes... Well, I know how they transformed me, but I never tried to transform anyone.”
Changmin muttered in acknowledgment and the quietness reigned. During those short, but long seconds when he said nothing back, not even a clarification of the abrupt question, Juyeon felt like his heart was going to explode. That could just be a curiosity of his, yes; but at the same time, Juyeon couldn’t help but consider an implication in it, and that mere thought was enough to make the vampire squirm with anxiety inside.
A few more steps later, Changmin again cut through the silence and finally said the words Juyeon so wanted to hear.
“Transform me.”
This time the vampire couldn’t control himself and his movements stopped as soon as the request reached his ears. It felt surreal. so surreal that, for a second, Juyeon thought he imagined it all, but Changmin wasn’t staring at him in confusion as he turned and their eyes met, as would be the case if the whole situation was just a consequence of his disconsolate imagination. No, Changmin was staring at him with certainty — the same look Juyeon had become used to seeing whenever he was determined about something — waiting for an answer from him.
However, as much as he wanted it, Juyeon had to resist the urge to agree right away.
“Changmin…” he turned around completely, holding both of Changmin’s hands before continuing. “You heard me. I have never done this before. It might not work and I… I can’t let you give up your life li-”
Changmin silenced him before he could finish his warning, lifting his face enough to give him a chaste, but determined kiss.
“I want to be yours forever, Juyeon.” he said when, as he took a step back, Juyeon made no move to keep on talking. “Yours forever.”
The vampire was silent for a moment, searching in his face any indication, as small as it could be, that he was unsure of his decision. When he found none and Changmin’s words finally reached him, Juyeon was finally able to give in to the impulse and agree, hugging him tightly and kissing him tenderly under the stars.
So they planned everything for the following night.
After the sun rose and Changmin left, Juyeon spent the entire day remembering and repeating the procedure in his head to reproduce it perfectly on Changmin hours later. It was amazing, in a way, how he still remembered everything, everything his brother had told him hours after he had finally woken up from that nightmare — it had been years after all; but at the same time, it wasn’t as if he could forget.
When the twilight finally came, and with him Changmin, the vampire repeated the entire process he had gone through centuries before, meticulously so that everything worked out according to the plan. Once the procedure was complete, he settled Changmin in his bed and began measuring time. For him it had lasted half a day; for Changmin, he stipulated between two and three days, as he was not in danger as he had been.
But weeks had passed and Changmin had shown no sign of accepting the transformation.
✦
The moon was already high when Juyeon woke up, disoriented. He hadn’t realized that, at some point while he was daydreaming, he’d started to use the grave as a headrest and dozed off, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise.
The truth is: he was tired, tired and regretful. If he had refused to transform him, if he had insisted a little longer on telling him how risky it was, if he hadn’t been selfish and wanted him forever, in the first place, maybe Changmin would still be by his side, with his warm and pink skin, his bright eyes and smile and his vibrant locks. The sun would not have lost to darkness forever, leaving behind only the emptiness that was Juyeon’s body.
Sighing one last time, he prepared to get up and go back — to the ground and to the meaningless days and nights without Changmin around. His neck ached and his hair itched, probably thanks to some bug that had landed there while he was sleeping and that he roughly tried to brush away with his hand, only to find a much heavier touch of a palm on his scalp.
Juyeon jumped back instantly, startled. Had he been so lost in his thoughts that he’d dreamed of a touch that wasn’t there, even awake? Had the longing he felt, excruciating as it was, crossed the line between the real and the imaginary so that he could feel Changmin again, have Changmin again? That should be it, at least until Juyeon awakened his slumbering senses and heard, as clear as the moonlight that lit the crypt.
“Juyeon.”
Once again, Juyeon felt as if his heart was going to explode. It felt like a dream, an immensely cruel dream given how heartbroken he’d been feeling for a long time, but it was there. When he lifted his head and stared at the tomb with shaky eyes, it was there. Changmin was there, finally awake.
Slowly Changmin got up, grunting and twisting his face into a grimace from the effort, as natural as if this were just one more time he'd overslept.
Sitting up, he looked around, probably trying to recognize the place. His eyes, the same dark, bright orbs that Juyeon had missed so much, roamed the crypt from side to side slowly, until his face contorted again, this time in confusion.
Then he looked at himself, his whitish hands and the grave where he rested. As if something had suddenly become clear, he slowly relaxed his expression, resting his white palms on his outstretched legs.
Finally he looked at Juyeon, who couldn’t contain a sob when he saw him.
It was real. After meaningless days and nights, endless darkness, he finally had Changmin back.
It was real and it became even more so when Changmin said, his voice hoarse from having overslept:
“I had the weirdest dream.”