Chapter Text
Min Yoongi hated being hungry.
Even just being mildly peckish was an uncomfortable sensation, he hated every sense of the feeling. The itch in his gums, the cramps (no matter how bearable, they were always a bitch to get rid of, even after he fed), the worry over his next meal.
In their trainee days and first few years of debut, Yoongi used to go days–sometimes a whole week–without blood, to the point where he would be so weak he could scarcely hold on to his glamour.
With their tiny tiny budget, accommodating for their (many) supernatural trainees sometimes came second to other things, though BigHit always tried to do the bare minimum. The company was aware it attracted supernatural trainees, due to its small size and open contracts. But they really couldn’t take too many high maintenance creatures, there wasn’t enough money for it. They had to turn away so many talented supernaturals because they simply didn’t have the resources to cater for their needs.
The money was spread dangerously thin as it was, with the huge water bills. Seokjin tried his best to go as long as he could without it, but he still needed to be under water for at least an hour every day if he didn’t want his skin to dry out–and the makeup Noonas got mad at him at the first sign of cracked lips. (In the early years they worked out a system, where Jin would stay in the shower while the others took their turns. It was awkward at first, but it did wonders for the bills and Jin’s health, so they got used to it. And when their sales began to pick up, the first thing they did was install a deep bath. It was barely large enough to fit him, but Seokjin still cried for hours when he saw it). Not to mention the demons that needed a way to feed.
Jimin had been too embarrassed in the early days to even say what kind of demon he was, but he had assured them he had some way to feed, and that he didn’t need to as often as a full-blooded demon would. Of course years later they found out that was a complete lie, but he was fed plenty by the members late night masturbation sessions (that was a fun conversation, to say the least).
Yoongi felt bad burdening them with his blood costs on top of everything, especially since it was difficult to get him signed in the first place. It felt like too much of a hassle to hound them when they forgot to order enough, or they couldn’t get any from their supplier. Of course they never updated him when that happened, so he never had the ability to ration correctly, leaving him hungry for days.
He would spend seven hours in dance practice, barely able to keep up, followed by several hours working with their producers, before collapsing in bed at four in the morning on a painfully empty stomach. Staying up late was in his genes–quite literally, he was a nocturnal creature–but getting up early? Spending the whole day and whole night without sleep? Even for someone who didn’t need as much sleep as a human, it became taxing very quickly.
Eventually, he managed to successfully flip around his bodyclock, though he still mourned the quiet stillness of night. Living in the daytime, and also the limelight, was a lot more difficult than he had anticipated. Lights and sounds overstimulated him quickly (and sleeping it off was always the easiest way to recover from a sensory overload, hence the naps), and layers of magic sunscreen had to be applied under his makeup to prevent burns.
As the years went on, and their fame grew, the blood became easier to acquire. Yoongi rarely even received blood late, let alone not enough. Plus, he could pick what kind he wanted, how old he wanted it to be, if he wanted it mixed into food and drink. With money came so many options that he had never even thought possible outside of Hell.
Which is why he liked to share. The thought of all the other vampire idols going hungry, while he had a five course meal infused with the rarest blood type in the world left a bad taste in his mouth (quite literally. He had found AB- to taste strikingly gross)
So, In early 2018, Yoongi began a group chat with the few other blood demon idols he knew, using it to organise blood drop offs and hook them up with better product. It was only really used for emergencies and for general advice among friends, but slowly it grew, including trainees from companies he had never even heard of. There were even a couple staff members involved, for the sake of security. But for the most part, the chat was stale. Yoongi had always made it extremely clear that if they wanted to have conversations unrelated to their shared species, they could make their own group chats.
In fact, there hadn’t been a message in more than two months.
Until that morning, when the staff pinged them with the link to a news story.
Yoongi was not bothered to check what it was, he was busy working on a song with a few producers, discussing vocal arrangements and harmonies. But then a few hours later his phone started going off with notifications. At first he had thought it was the Bangtan group chat (which he was sure he muted), but a cursory glance proved him wrong. Curious at what got the chats attention, he scrolled up to the preview image in the staff’s message.
In big red letters; KOREA’S BLOOD SUPPLY EMERGENCY - GOVERNMENT SCRAMBLES FOR SOLUTIONS
Well shit.
The producers in the room caught on to his frightened expression, they watched silently as he frantically clicked on the article, scanning over it with wide eyes.
An accident at the loading docks, six shipping containers worth of blood from overseas losing their preservation runes. Completely useless. Yoongi didn’t need to look at the frantic messages from his vampire dongsaengs, he knew there would be a shortage for a month at least.
He clenches his abdomen almost absently, breath coming in sharper at the thought of going hungry again. He can’t go back to those days, he can’t go back to that pain—that weakness.
But that’s not right. He has more than plenty in his blood reserves. And he has the money to afford fresh blood, even in a time like this, money always gets priority over need (he feels sick that those extra zeros in his bank account are what makes him ‘more deserving’ than other vampires. Hates even more that the thought comforts him through his nightmares).
Immediately, Yoongi jumps up to check his blood fridge, which he still insists on keeping in his studio after all these years. There are a few pouches back at the dorms, and another few in his apartment, but he keeps the majority of them in his studio. (There is some part of him that recognises the studio as his secondary den, but he refuses to acknowledge that thought. If he dwells on the idea of coworkers he barely knows in his den for too long he’ll go insane)
As he expected, when he rips open the double doors, it’s full to the brim. He has enough for two months, easy. (Yoongi doesn’t notice the way the producers in the room pale, one looks down at his notes quickly, the other stares, his jaw hanging open).
Glancing back at his phone, Yoongi sees more and more frantic messages, as Idols come out of practice only to find they’ll probably be rationing their food for weeks.
With so much blood in his possession, and more than enough money to secure more for himself, it isn’t hard to make the decision. The internal debate is less than five seconds, before he hits the voice message icon on impulse,
민윤기(You):
[voice message][recording]
He holds the speaker up to his mouth, closing the fridge with his other hand, “Hmm, i’ve got rations for the next three months at least, if anyone is short, feel free to message me. Don’t rely on your members if you can help it, I have more than enough and enough money to purchase fresh If I need to.”
Just as he hits send, he looks up to meet the eyes of the two dumbfounded producers, who quickly pretend they weren’t listening. Yoongi frowns, he can’t believe he lost sight of his surroundings so easily. Sighing, he sits back down, flashing his phone screen with the news headline in their direction as a way of explanation. They make noises of sympathy, one of them grimaces, but (fortunately) neither of them say anything else about it.
After that, he gets lost in the music. Of course, he doesn’t forget about the crisis—how could he? This is the biggest thing to happen to the Korean vampire population in a while. No doubt ‘feral rates’ are going to go up this month, and the news will make a big deal about all the ‘deranged vampires’ without even mentioning the lost blood supply or everything the government didn’t do to help the situation.
But music is notorious for its means of escape, and while that's not usually what he uses it for, he allows himself to be swept along with the rhythm, letting the thoughts of social politics and starvation fall to the back of his mind.
That night (or rather, two in the morning. Which is earlier than usual for him), when he crawls into his bed, he finds a direct message from a person he doesn't know. Their name looks vaguely familiar, and a quick check lets Yoongi know that he’s from the vampire chat.
The good thing about only really knowing famous people is that he doesn’t have to ask, he just copy-pastes the name into naver.
양정인, Yang Jeongin, Stage name: I.N. Maknae and vocalist of 스트레이 키즈 (Stray Kids), an eight member South Korean boy group under JYP Entertainment.
Stray Kids? He doesn’t really keep up with newer groups anymore, but he’s fairly certain he remembers Hobi raving about one of their members (apparently he was one of their back up dancers for a while, which is interesting), and the pictures look slightly familiar, he’s probably seen them at award shows before.
From: 양정인:
Hello Suga-sunbaenim, this is Yang Jeongin from Stray Kids.
Yoongi snorted, he could’ve just read the message.
From: 양정인:
I’m a member of your blood demon chat, there was an issue with my blood last month, some of it got mixed up and sent for the trainees, so I have less rations then expected. If it’s not too much trouble, could I have four or so pouches?
Fucking hell, why is he so polite? Yoongi frowns through the surge of affection in his chest. There's something about his vampire dongsaengs that makes him feel so needed. Whenever he’s able to help them, he can almost imagine it's his own little nest of fledglings to take care of.
But that's a whole other can of worms for his therapist to deal with.
For now, he sends a message back to Jeongin, feeling the odd urge to pull a Seokjin and say ‘Hyung will take care of it~’ (He’d rather die than actually type those words)
민윤기(You):
Sure. i have free time tomorrow if u want me to drop it off?