Chapter Text
Riki has never been good at maintaining relationships or at least that’s what he has begun to believe. You would think that being born not necessarily mortal would give you plenty of time to learn about how the world and the people in it work, but no. He was just as clueless and lost about it as any other seventeen year old.
Except Riki is not just any other seventeen year old. Every normal seventeen year old doesn’t have retractable fangs and an occasional thirst for blood because your body will try and kill you without it. Riki is a vampire, well half-vampire at least. His dad is one but his mother isn’t.
Vampires exist, some people have their stories about them, others think it’s all bullshit but Riki knows that the people with their stories are likely telling the truth.
There are much more vampires in the world than people think but society has always been taught to fear supernatural things or just things they don’t understand. Riki blames the media for the reputation perpetuating vampires as scary and bad creatures that would murder you at any given chance to drain your blood. The only movie he doesn’t blame so much for it is Twilight, but the shit they included about vampires glittering in the sunlight is downright unforgivable and Riki will always hate those movies for it.
Yeah, vampires can tolerate the sunlight just like a normal person can except they can’t stay in it too long, not because they’ll burn up but because just like normal people the chances of sunburn exist and Riki’s only half-vampire anyway, he’s pretty sure that he can still contract skin cancer.
His parents always let him be proud of his abilities and explore them but only at home. In public Riki was just like every other kid, especially at school since if students at his school found out they would freak out and with the use of social media nowadays, it would undoubtedly be a story everywhere. Some would doubt it, some wouldn’t but it would definitely lead to an exposure and scrutiny for vampires when they already get more than enough. He’s kind of like the demi-gods from the Percy Jackson books; he got some of the cool powers of his dad but some things he missed out on.
His mother was who his dad fed from, it was always a little and it clearly never hurt. Riki would just always clear out of the room if he saw the exhausted red glow in his dad’s eyes when he came home and his mother would always quickly jump up to greet him. Riki would always find them cuddled together asleep on the couch afterwards, his dad’s head comfortably resting on his mother’s shoulder and sometimes a bloody napkin on the coffee table. But Riki would just fondly smile and drape a blanket over them before throwing the napkin away. He couldn’t imagine that getting to know and falling in love with a vampire was easy but his parents made it work; there was so much love between them and Riki could only hope for that one day.
He can’t fly or control peoples’ minds in the way that his dad does. He definitely doesn’t have the extended life span— not immortality that a lot of people believe vampires have or at least his dad initially had. It’s what he gave up to marry Riki’s mom because he said he didn’t want to spend years more wandering this earth without his true love by his side and Riki completely understood that sentiment.
A world without being loved or feeling loved felt like a terribly cold and miserable one. Riki’s never great at being all sappy and emotional but if there’s one thing he wants in life it’s to tell the people he loves that he loves them even if he won’t get that same thing back.
He could- and this was his favorite ability, climb on walls and even stand on the ceiling like Spiderman. He couldn’t do it for longer than an hour and he knew because he tested it but he still could and it was the coolest thing ever. He was supernaturally strong and fast, not as much as a full vampire but definitely to a noticeable extent that wasn’t at all an average human’s own so other people cannot know that fact as it would maybe not necessarily expose his entire secret but draw too much attention to his and vampires secret existence, which was what vampires were in this world— a secret. Riki also needed blood to survive because without drinking any once a month, he could die but he was always covered on that front. When he had to have his first blood drinking at age five he absolutely hated it. It was pig’s blood and not that of a human because half-vampires didn’t even need to drink human blood like full vampires did sometimes.
What his dad did actually kind of helped him drink it though. As a five year old of course Riki was stubborn about drinking blood but his dad outsmarted him of course. The man left with the glass of pig’s blood he’d been trying to convince his son to drink and returned a little while after with a chocolate milk— yeah, that’s where this story is going.
Five year old Riki of course adored the flavor of the chocolate milkshake although it had an admittedly strong, slightly irony taste. In the end, he found out the milkshake was more blood than chocolate milk but as a vampire, Riki naturally had a taste for blood at times and he admittedly enjoyed it. That was his routine for a while before he started just drinking the blood on its own, always from some animal which his dad never killed but just took blood from. It was pretty easy for him considering that he had a friend with his own veterinary clinic specifically for farm animals who took a completely safe amount from the animals and was able to heal the small wound left behind afterwards so the owners’ never suspected a thing.
Over the years, Riki tried pig’s blood, lamb blood, cow blood and even deer blood once but pig’s definitely remained his favorite. Riki chalks that up to the nostalgia he has over it. Riki has never tasted human blood and quite frankly has exactly zero interest or intent to. The smell of blood always sets him off in a way regardless of who it comes from though; his instincts and biology are still partially that of a vampires so Riki has fangs— retractable ones that is that he can sheath and unsheath at his very own will except for when he smells blood; that’s the only time that they come out.
But human blood was undoubtedly off his list; especially since one time when he was young, his mother cut herself whilst cooking and the smell made Riki’s head pound so much he thought he would pass out. The smell of human blood made him sick and Riki was actually kind of glad for that.
It felt wrong for him to consume it since Riki was half human anyway and the blood in his very own veins was a bit more like that of a human than a vampire.
Riki has always been deemed as a person who can’t keep a secret all that well but that’s not the truth. You would think that keeping his secret would be why he strayed away from people or had hard times forming relationships outside of his family but that wasn’t the truth at all. People just seemed to not like him and always kept their distance.
𖤓𖤓𖤓𖤓𖤓
He remembers the first year that they moved here from Japan and he started high school. His Korean, at least speaking wise, still wasn’t great but he could understand most of what people were saying and was getting much quicker at translating in his head.
A boy had sat down at the desk in front of him, his shoulder length black hair pulled into a bun and a smirk on his face that Riki certainly didn’t get a good vibe from as he turned to look at him. He almost looked like trouble which Riki certainly didn’t want in his first year at his new school despite starting a semester later than everyone else. That made things harder too, not being there for an entire semester he means. That just added onto it being more difficult for Riki to get in with other people.
However, at the time Riki was hoping that maybe he was just anxious and being overly judgmental on the guy. He had a small hope that this would actually be his first friend.
“Hi, I’m Kim Iseul. You’re the transfer student, right?” He introduced himself, his gaze almost scrutinizing as he looked Riki up and down, as if he was looking for something.
Two guys came in the door after he said that and made their way over to where Riki and Iseul were sitting, taking the seats on the other side of the first male and giving Riki that same look. Something churned uncomfortably in his stomach as he rested down the pen he was playing with on the desk in front of them. He really didn’t want to judge anyone too fast especially when that’s not what he wanted for himself so he’ll be polite.
“Yes, I’m a transfer.” Riki nodded, the word for student slipping from his mind at the moment, “My name’s Nishimura Riki.”
Iseul quietly clicked his tongue before extending his hand to Riki which the Japanese boy glanced at, hesitating slightly before he reached his own hand and Iseul gave him a firm handshake.
“Now Riki-ssi~” Iseul drawled and Riki knew he wasn’t going to like what he had to say from his very tone.
“Since you’ve transferred at the start of the second semester and I really don’t see someone like you having an easy time making friends...” The way he said 'you' was grossly condescending and that was what made Riki go from being weary of the guy to straight up disliking him but he let him go on.
“My friends and I want to offer you a spot in our little circle. You know that we’ve got quite the influence in this school, we can make these next few years a great time for you… or not so great. All you gotta do is follow what I tell you. So what do you say?” Iseul ticked his head to the side slightly, a dry chuckle leaving his lips at the end of his sentence. To Riki it sounded like a threat and a part of his brain was screaming at him that it was.
Riki was always perceptive, able to pick up on people’s attitudes and emotions and read them really well. He had a gift for it to the point that his dad almost thought one of his powers was being a full blown empath but alas he wasn’t, he just kind of understood people. So Riki understood that he wanted nothing to do with these guys.
“Yeah I think you need to relearn the dictionary definition of a 'friend'. I may not be that great at Korean yet but I sure as hell am not going to be following orders from you. I’ll find a friend who doesn’t want to treat me like a dog. Thanks.” Riki rolled his eyes at the trio before he picked up his stuff to move seats in the classroom.
Right as he stands up and is going to head over to the seat next to the window, he feels a firm grip on his arm and looks up to see Iseul glaring daggers at him even though it wasn’t really all that intimidating. Riki didn’t know how insecure you had to be to end up like Iseul, having slaves more than friends and he certainly wasn’t looking to head down that road.
“Last chance, Nishimura.” Iseul gritted out as he pressed his fingers into Riki’s arm enough for it to bruise but it would heal fairly soon, “Make a good choice here.”
“I already have.” Riki simply shrugged out of his hold before walking away from Iseul and to the seat in the second to last row by the window.
He could sense the other boy glaring at him but he really couldn’t be too bothered if he was. Riki certainly wasn’t going to let his first friends in Korea be a crowd that he certainly did not want to get in with regardless if no one else approached him that morning in class. Despite Riki’s kind smile and polite greeting of almost anyone in the hopes that someone would strike up a conversation, no one ever did. They just turned to their own friends and cliques and only stared at him briefly like he was some new attraction in a museum before turning away.
Unbeknownst to Riki, after that incident with Iseul he basically wrote up and signed the death warrant on his social life because Iseul grew the most intense hate boner for him that Riki thinks he ever would encounter in life.
𖤓𖤓𖤓𖤓𖤓
He really did nothing except reject the poor idiot but Iseul had some kind of power in the school because of his rich and influential parents so he really set out to make Riki’s life at school as miserable as possible.
Riki tried to make more friends, he thought he finally would when he joined the dance club at school. The people there were nice, they got along well and talked both during the club and outside of classes. Sometimes Riki would even sit with certain people at lunch or in certain classes but it definitely wasn’t a typical friendship, not the kind that Riki truly wanted anyway. Sure they got along well when it came to school— they worked on projects in certain classes together, sat together at lunch or walked in the garden during breaks but Riki was never friends with those people like they were friends with others.
He wasn’t invited out for pizza after Friday evening practices, he wasn’t invited to hang out at somebody’s house or a party unless the entire grade had been invited. Even when he went to the parties, he never stayed long because he never had anyone to talk to but people noticed; they noticed and it furthered the weird social isolation he had in the school despite his best attempts to get close to people. Riki wasn’t one to force himself on people— in the way that he didn’t need everyone to like him, but he wanted someone to.
He wanted someone he could share secrets with who wasn’t his sister or mother, he wanted someone to go get ice cream with and then set on a bench at the park as they get all existential and talk about their fears for the future yet somehow promise to stay close to each other. He wanted somebody who could be his person like his mother and father were, even though not necessarily in the romantic sense.
Riki’s weird social isolation in life also left him wondering what it was like to fall in love with someone, to feel for someone in that special way. He was never close enough with anyone at school to solidly develop feelings for them but he had his fleeting crushes, the people he would find so attractive it would make his heart pound and head briefly spin when they simply smiled at or spoke to him but they all went as quick as they came because he was never able to get close to them for it to be more.
As the semester went by, people noticed how much of a loner he was and they had their opinions and opinions about someone they obviously didn’t know very well caused rumors. People seemed to just think he was some kind of freak or outcast even though none of them ever made the effort to get to know him or try to be a friend to him.
Riki definitely wasn’t going to deem that friends weren’t his thing although no one in his school liked him enough to be one. Friends were his thing, he was loved by all of his classmates back in Japan and he adored them too but as time went by, the distance between their countries all seemed to grow more of a distance between their bond. Riki understood it though because he knew those people remembered and genuinely did care for him and see him as a friend but now he didn’t have that for whatever reason and it kind of just sucked.
He didn’t think it could get any worse, until it did.
Iseul and his lackeys truly completely had it out for Riki and having some people who seem to be so closely observing your every move to find something against you or harass you makes it far too hard to keep a secret that Riki already had to try really hard to keep. Especially during gym class when he tried hard to control his strength and speed during dodgeball games and then accidentally threw the ball way too hard to be considered normal.
No one really mentioned it or seemed to notice but Iseul did and he was the worst person who could’ve. There were already so many conspiracy theories about vampires all over the internet, alleged (actually true) stories of them being spotted and even some reported crimes talking of bloodsucking or rapidly moving figures.
The last ones always disturbed Riki the most, he knew what vampires were capable of especially if they used their powers for evil. He could only hope that they weren’t true but he knew they were. Just like everyone else, vampires are capable of good and bad; they may not necessarily be human in biology but at heart and in spirit, they are.
And just like Riki said, actual humans have their good and bad. Iseul just chose to give into all the bad it seemed.
Riki knew that the bully and his crew kept far too close an eye on him for comfort and he always watched his back around them because he knew in the back of his mind that Iseul had suspicions about him. But everything finally came to a head on a day in the middle of his second semester of junior year.
𖤓𖤓𖤓𖤓𖤓
Riki walks down the hallways of school, the campus quiet as most students were in class but he and a few others had a free period which Riki planned to spend in the library working on some sketches for his art class. Riki quietly hummed to himself as he walked through the empty hallways of the building to approach his planned destination.
Suddenly, he felt a hand tugging on his arm and pulling him into a classroom. Riki was shoved into a desk, the wood jabbing his side as he heard the door click shut and he spun on his heel to look at his assailant.
He wasn’t surprised to see that Iseul and his two sidekicks, Jaemin and Gunwoo were standing right in front of the door, glaring him down as they pulled the blinds to cover the window on the door.
However Riki’s stomach churned anxiously and he could only wonder why they’ve done this all of a sudden. Snide comments and shoves in the halls were common but they’ve never cornered him like this and although Riki knew that naturally he could more than deal with the guys if it came to a fight, he didn’t want to hurt them. He never wants to hurt anybody.
“What the fuck is this about? If this is some kind of joke, it isn’t funny.” Riki snarks as he attempted to shove past the boys and go for the door only to be pushed back into another desk.
“This definitely isn’t a joke, Nishimura.” Iseul tells him, his tone cold and sharp as he speaks, “I always knew there was something off about you but over the years you have really proved my point.”
“What are you talking about?” Riki furrows his eyebrows, playing dumb and internally thanking his sister for her acting lessons.
“Do you think we’re idiots, Nishimura?” Gunwoo pipes up, stepping closer to him and getting in Riki’s face.
Riki dryly chuckles, “I mean : yes, you are all basically walking embryos with one and a half shared brain cells between the three of you, but go on…”
Riki doesn’t really want them to go on, but he also just can’t help snarking at them a bit. It’s part of his charm after all.
“Don’t act all fucking cute, Nishimura.” Iseul snaps at him before suddenly right hooking Riki right in the cheek.
His head snaps to the side as he’s completely taken aback by the blow and he looks back at Iseul in shock, his hands clenching into fists as he holds them to his sides.
“What the fuck, man? What the hell is all of this about?” Riki asks as his eyes flit from one boy to the other.
“How you’re abnormally fast during gym class, how you throw a goddamn dodgeball better than a world class baseball pitcher, how you kicked a football so hard that it deflated last year and no one said a fucking thing?” Iseul lists off like it’s obvious.
“I’m just athletic.” Riki deadpans.
“Bullshit!” Jaemin snaps at him, “Absolutely no one is that fast or strong, no human at least unless they’re taking steroids or fucking Usain Bolt and even then, that’s fucking pushing what you’re capable of.”
Riki rolls his eyes, still playing the ignorant card, “You guys are unhinged and clearly spend too much time reading shit on Reddit. Maybe if you read a book for once, something will actually stick in those hollow shells that are your heads.”
“We’re not damn stupid, Nishimura Riki and we know, just like everyone does, that those 'theories' are a lot more fact than fiction and you definitely know it too, because you’re a part of those theories. You’re a goddamn vampire!” Iseul finally states his claim, right on the money but Riki wouldn’t let him know it.
Riki lets out his best fake incredulous laugh as he adjusts his bag on his shoulder.
“Yeah… no I’m not. This was very fun, fellas, but I’ll be going now,” Riki says as he pushes past Gunwoo with a little extra strength and goes for the door before he’s pulled back once again and his arms are locked in a vice grip.
“What the hell?” Riki yells in shock as he struggles against the older boy, “Let me go!”
Riki sees that Jaemin has his phone out and is recording and he’s especially worried about what he does now since he’s on video. Riki wants to just rip away from Gunwoo but he knows that realistically it will only prove their point that they’ve managed to figure him out. He also knows that realistically he could hurt him, pretty badly at that too since although he can control his strength, whenever he is stressed or angry or in almost any heightened state of emotion it can get out of control.
Iseul smirks, the look on his features crooked and sinister as he reaches for something in his pocket, “Well, if you’re not going to admit it despite all the evidence, I also read that there’s always one way to know for sure…”
Riki’s eyes widen as a small silver blade glints in Iseul’s hand and he struggles against Gunwoo, even more, panicking as he realizes what Iseul is planning on doing as he lightly traces the small pocket knife over his pale skin.
“Iseul, what the fuck are you doing? Stop, you’re going to hurt yourself!” Riki yells at the other boy, hoping and praying that he will think this through but he knows that the idiot won’t.
Iseul looks at him, eyes narrowed and sinister as he presses the blade against his skin, “That’s the point.”
A quiet slice cuts through the room and everything hits Riki at once. The overwhelming iron smell that he hates so much as his head spins and he feels his mouth ache as his fangs are forced out from his gums and make the taste of metal fill his mouth and Riki gags as his mouth falls open and blood dribbles down to the floor.
“No!” Riki yells as he shoves Gunwoo away, his strength taking over and causing him to basically throw the boy across the room.
The other two look on in shock and Riki’s head and mouth are in complete agony and he doesn’t think as he storms over to the two, grabbing Jaemin’s phone and crushing it in his hand before throwing it to the ground and stepping on it. He completely neglects the rules that have been set for him as he shoves the two back, knocking them to the floor before speeding out of the class and through the halls.
Riki thanked every higher being there is for small mercies as he burst through the bathroom door nearby one of the biology labs. He hurried into a stall and let himself sink onto the definitely unsanitary floor as he frantically ripped off sheets of toilet paper to clean the blood on his mouth.
Someone fucking found him out. Someone knows what he is and Riki’s mind only reels with sheer panic and terror as to what can come from this.
Iseul fucking forced his fangs out. Riki has only ever let his fangs come out naturally whenever he was going to feed but someone forced out his fangs and it was the most agonizing pain that Riki has ever felt. He already hated human blood as it is yet the smell seems to only linger in his nose and make his head pound despite being as far as he can be away from it.
Riki can feel his fangs slowly, retracting back as hot tears cascaded down his cheeks. He is so scared to step back out into the school because he knows why Iseul and his gang did what they did. They want to expose him just because they don’t like him and Riki has no idea how to face anyone now.
Despite his cloudy mind, he remembers the words his father told him so long ago if a situation like this was to ever come about. He reaches into his pocket with a shaky hand and pulls out his phone, unlocking the device before his fingers find his dad’s contact.
Riki dials it and brings it to his ear, trying to wipe at his tears with his other hand as the daunting rings seem to echo off the bathroom walls.
His dad picks up on the third ring.
“Riki? Is everything okay, little one?” The man instantly asks.
Riki lets out a choked sob hearing the familiar soft and ever concerned voice of his dad as he grips his phone tightly in his hand.
“Papa… something happened.”