Work Text:
Hyunjin is in his art studio to finish a few pieces. He has been here from morning to late at night every day this week to get ready for an upcoming art show. Most of his paintings are done, but he is never satisfied with anything he paints; he can always add more details and change small things. The inability to be satisfied is partially from nerves, and mostly from being a perfectionist. He will keep working on them until he has to send them to the studio.
He tends to forget about time when he’s here, getting lost in painting, so he doesn’t realize how late it is until Felix comes through the door. Surprised at seeing him, Hyunjin glances out of the window and notices the dark for the first time. It is much later that he was planning on staying here, explaining why Felix has come looking for him. Felix probably has to go to work soon, and he can’t go there hungry.
“There you are.” Felix says with a soft smile, coming over to Hyunjin and looking at the painting he’s working on. “Wow, that is…” He trails off, and for the first time Hyunjin wonders if he shouldn’t have painted it. It is nothing new to paint Felix, but in this one there are veins dancing under one of his eyes. His vampire side is on full display, red irises and fangs peeking out between his lips.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have added that, I just process through painting and you’re beautiful-” Hyunjin’s rambling is cut off by a kiss. He can feel Felix smiling against his lips, so he can’t be that mad. Hyunjin drops his paint brush so he can cup Felix’s cheeks and pull him closer. Things have been so good between them since Hyunjin found out, like nothing ever changed between them.
When they pull apart, Hyunjin’s eyes are glued to Felix’s face, watching the red and purple veins move under his eyes as his hunger shows. His eyes are still brown, so it can’t be that bad, but he needs to feed. Felix looks back at the painting, his eyebrows pulling in with concentration. Hyunjin silently watches him, seeing that Felix is processing something and not wanting to rush him.
“Is this how you see me?” Felix asks, tilting his head a little as he keeps searching the painting. Hyunjin looks at it too, as if he hasn’t stared at it for hours already. The vampire features are only on one side of his face, showing everything Felix is. Hyunjin loves every part of him, so he tried to show how beautiful he is rather than making the painting scary.
“That depends. What do you think I see?” Hyunjin asks, searching Felix’s face for how he’s feeling. Hyunjin can’t know what others will see when looking at the painting, it probably looks scary to most people, but he only cares what Felix sees.
“Even the ugliest parts of me are beautiful.” Felix says, looking emotional when he turns to look at Hyunjin. Hyunjin realizes that it’s a big transition to become what Felix is, it must have been hard for his identity to change so drastically. He never wanted to hurt anyone and now he has to in order to live. That must have been really hard, and it probably still is.
“Because you are beautiful. Every part of you.” Hyunjin says, cupping Felix’s cheeks and looking deep into his eyes. “You’re different, but that is not a bad thing. You are still the person I fell in love with, even though some parts of you have changed.” Hyunjin can see how much Felix needed to hear that, how reassuring it is to him, and he feels horrible for not realizing that Felix felt this way sooner.
“But aren’t you scared of me?” Felix asks, looking so small. Hyunjin smiles in a way he hopes is reassuring. He has never been scared of Felix, no matter who or what he was. He probably should be, but all he feels when looking at Felix is love and trust.
“The first time I saw you like that, your darkest side revealed to me, I just saw how beautiful you were.” Hyunjin says, reaching up to stroke his fingers over the skin under Felix’s eye. Felix’s eyes flutter closed as the veins come out, moving under Hyunjin’s fingers.
“You’re hungry.” Hyunjin reminds him, bringing them back to the real reason why Felix is here. He feeds on Hyunjin most days, taking a little every evening rather than waiting for days and having to drink a lot. Felix overslept and had to go straight to work last night so he must be really hungry by now.
“Are you sure?” Felix asks, just like every time. He is having a hard time with getting used to this, always so scared of hurting Hyunjin, but it has been fine for weeks, it will be fine now too.
“I love doing this for you.” Hyunjin reassures him with a nod. Felix doesn’t have to be told twice, pulling down Hyunjin’s shirt collar and leaning in. He places a soft kiss on his neck first, letting Hyunjin know where he’s going in, then the sharp sting comes and Hyunjin sucks in a sharp breath. It only hurts for a moment before it feels good and Hyunjin’s arms tighten around Felix.
He feels Felix start sucking on his neck, but then he’s pulling back with a gasp, spitting out the blood that’s in his mouth and bending over with a deep cough. Hyunjin is too shocked to move, watching Felix as he clutches his throat and wheezes in sharp breaths between coughs. Blood is splattered on the floor and Hyunjin’s painting, but he doesn’t care about that.
“Felix?” Hyunjin says, snaping out of his shock to bend down and rub Felix’s back, desperate for anything to help. This is exactly how he reacted when Hyunjin gave him vervain tea before he found out. It burned Felix like acid, but that doesn’t explain what is happening now.
“Vervain.” Felix gasps out before being taken by another coughing fit. Hyunjin gathered that much. He’s never seen Felix react like this for any other reason. But it makes no sense, he was drinking blood, not vervain.
“But-” Hyunjin realizes with a start what happened. He liked the tea when he tasted it before giving it to Felix, so he decided to make it again. After he realized that vervain burned Felix, he didn’t want to keep it at the apartment, so he brought it here, which is why he kept forgetting to make it again. Until today. He had a full cup of it earlier, meaning that he now has vervain in his system.
Felix is finally able to breathe, the burn calming down as he lifts his head to look up at Hyunjin. His chin is smeared in blood, and it drips down his neck, the skin around it looks irritated. Reacting quickly, Hyunjin grabs a rag he uses for painting and starts wiping at Felix’s face, getting the toxic blood away from his skin. Burns are revealed when the blood is gone, but Hyunjin watches it heal within seconds.
“I had vervain tea.” Hyunjin admits, feeling stupid for not realizing what would happen. Felix looks at him with wide eyes, his mouth opening and closing like he’s lost for words. Hyunjin feels horrible, he should have known that it would be a bad idea to drink it.
“I didn’t know that mattered.” Felix finally says, so Hyunjin isn’t the only one who didn’t know. Chan said it protects from vampires, so it makes sense, but he’s still so confused. There’s so much they don’t know, so many things they have to figure out with no one to help them. Except maybe Chan, but he says that he doesn’t know anything. Hyunjin has a feeling that he’s lying, but he can’t get Chan to admit it.
“What do we do now?” Hyunjin asks. Felix needs to feed, but Hyunjin can’t feed him. If Felix is too hungry, he shouldn’t go to work, he’ll be surrounded by humans for hours. He will hear their hearts and smell their blood and resisting is difficult, no matter what Felix says to reassure Hyunjin.
“I’ll find something else to eat.” Felix says, and Hyunjin knew that this would happen at some point. Felix can’t always feed on him, something will happen that takes away the option, but he hates the idea of Felix feeding on some unsuspecting stranger and erasing their memory. Hyunjin can consent to it, and he kind of likes it even if he doesn’t want to admit it. Strangers don’t know what’s happening to them and Hyunjin hates that.
“What about Chan?” Hyunjin says, figuring that it’s better to ask someone they know than to put a stranger through it. Chan would also be able to consent, and Hyunjin is sure that he would say yes once he knows the situation.
“I can’t ask Chan.” Felix says, sounding so sure of it. It makes Hyunjin wonder if Felix has asked him before, but Felix could have said if Chan didn’t want to. There’s a strange shift in Felix’s mood, like bringing up Chan made him uncomfortable, so Hyunjin tries to push it.
“Why not? He knows what you are, and I’m sure he’d be okay with helping.” Hyunjin voices his thoughts. He can’t think of a single reason why Chan wouldn’t help. All of their friends would, but Chan is the only one who knows.
“No, Hyunjin, I can’t.” Felix says, taking a step back and avoiding looking at Hyunjin. He’s clearly hiding something, he’s a terrible liar.
“It’s better than a stranger. I know you can take their memory away, but does that make it okay?” Hyunjin says a little too much, letting it slip that he really hates the thought of what Felix might do. He knows that Felix needs blood to survive, but he hates the thought of anyone getting hurt.
“I won’t.” Felix says, and as quickly as the uncomfortable feeling settled under Hyunjin’s skin, it melts away, replaced by the warmth Felix brings him. “I’ll wait until the vervain is out of your system. It shouldn’t take too long.” Felix continues, nodding to himself like he isn’t convinced.
“Are you sure you can do that?” Hyunjin asks. He doesn’t mean to question Felix’s self-control, but he’s seen how Felix gets when he’s too hungry, and he is already showing some of those signs. He shifts on his feet, fidgeting with his hands and holding his breath, distracting himself and avoiding taking in the smell of blood.
“Do you not want me to?” Felix asks with a frown. Hyunjin realizes that he’s being difficult. He doesn’t want Felix to feed on someone, but he doesn’t want him to wait either. Those are the only two options, Felix has to do something. “I’m used to waiting until the sun goes down, I can wait a few hours.” Felix reassures him, referring to the time Hyunjin didn’t know, when Felix hid away in their room until it was safe for him to go outside.
“Okay.” Hyunjin feels bad for agreeing. Felix is hungry, and Hyunjin is making him wait even though he knows how hard it is for Felix to control himself. He knows that Felix will feed on someone if he really needs to, but he also knows that Felix will do everything he can to avoid it now that he knows how much Hyunjin hates it.
“I have to go to work.” Felix suddenly says, leaving in too much of a rush to be natural. He doesn’t even say bye, just turns on his heels and disappears faster than Hyunjin can say anything. Hyunjin sighs and rubs a hand over his face, wondering what he did wrong. Should he have been more supportive of Felix hurting someone? Even though that goes against all of his own morals.
He looks around, seeing the mess left behind. Blood is splattered on the floor, and he can feel that it has run down his neck and seeped into the collar of his shirt. Felix is probably just irritable from being so hungry, so Hyunjin pushes it aside and gets to work cleaning up. Then he stares at his painting for a long time, wondering if he should try to remove the blood splatter in the corner or leave it.
-
Hyunjin is sleeping when Felix gets home, waking up from the movement of the bed. Hyunjin rolls around and glances tiredly at Felix, sitting up with a start when he sees his face. Felix’s eyes are a deep red, the veins under his eyes more prominent than ever in the early morning light. It doesn’t scare Hyunjin, but his sleepy mind wasn’t expecting it so soon after waking up.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” Felix says, his voice shaky. Hyunjin quickly shakes his head, he was just startled, it could have happened even if Felix looked normal. Seeing how light it is outside, he wonders how long Felix has been home, probably just pacing outside their door.
“It’s fine.” Hyunjin reassures him, unable to stop himself from reaching up to trace his finger over the veins on Felix’s face. He expected them to be raised from his skin, but he can barely feel them under his fingertips. Felix closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, probably fighting to keep control of himself.
“Why aren’t you doing anything?” Hyunjin asks in confusion. He thought Felix would be a lot more impatient by the time he came back from the bakery. Felix’s red eyes open to look at him again, almost looking black in the dim light of the room.
“I don’t know if I can control myself.” Felix’s voice is shaky again, strained with the effort of holding himself back. Hyunjin can see how tense he is, shoulders almost meeting his ears and a deep crease between his brows.
“You said you need enough for me to feel hungover. Is that when you’re this hungry?” Hyunjin asks. So far, he’s only felt a little dizzy after Felix feeds, nothing like the discomfort he expected. He’s pretty sure that Felix has never taken enough from Hyunjin to feel full, so he has more self-control than he thinks.
“Yeah, but- if I don’t control myself, I could drain you.” Felix says. It should be scary to hear those words, but Hyunjin isn’t scared. He just wants Felix to feel better, and he knows exactly how to do that. Hyunjin can take feeling a little off for a while, Felix needs to feed.
“You won’t.” Hyunjin says confidently. Felix hasn’t been anywhere close to losing control, not one time. Hyunjin has no doubt that he’ll be able to stay in control this time too.
“You don’t know that.” Felix argues, but Hyunjin can see him starting to give in. He’s simply too hungry to resist, so it isn’t that hard for Hyunjin to convince him.
“I have vervain, I’ll burn you if you take too much.” Hyunjin says. It’s an empty promise, he doesn’t have anything on him, but it reassures Felix. He’s on top of Hyunjin in a split second, pushing him into the mattress and leaning down to mouth at his neck. “Go ahead.” Hyunjin urges him on, and a moment later, sharp teeth pierce his skin. He doesn’t pull away this time, so Hyunjin’s blood is clean again.
Felix bites him closer to his shoulder this time, and Hyunjin feels his body react to it. He almost feels high, an indescribable feeling coursing through his body as Felix sucks on his skin. There has to be something in his bite that makes Hyunjin enjoy this. It should hurt, it should sting, but that only lasts for a moment before the warmth settles over him. He can tell how much Felix is enjoying it, moaning against Hyunjin’s skin as he drinks.
Hyunjin doesn’t pay attention to time passing or how he feels until Felix pulls away. He licks up the last drops from Hyunjin’s neck, then he reaches into the nightstand before pressing something soft against the wound. Hyunjin just looks up at Felix, the intense tingling still coursing through his veins. He can’t quite figure out how to move or blink or say anything.
“Are you okay?” Felix asks, sounding so much better than before. Hyunjin smiles and closes his eyes, pleased that he was able to help Felix. “Your heart is racing.” Felix adds, making Hyunjin aware of it. His heart is beating hard and fast in his chest, almost making him feel a little queasy from how intense it is. He feels relaxed and sleepy, like the feeling didn’t stop after Felix stopped feeding this time.
“I took too much, didn’t I?” Felix sounds more frantic this time, but Hyunjin’s mind is too slow to come up with anything to say. “Shit, I’m so sorry.” Felix says in such a small voice. Hyunjin opens his eyes again, fighting how heavy they feel to look at Felix with a soft smile.
“I’m okay.” Hyunjin says, trying to reassure Felix. He doesn’t feel that bad, just a little woozy and tired, nothing a nap can’t fix. Felix shakes his head, tears forming in his eyes as he takes in sharp breaths. Hyunjin should do something to comfort him, but he’s so tired, he’s struggling to keep his eyes open, and he doesn’t know how to lift his arms.
“Let me get you some things, I’ll be right back.” Felix suddenly says, moving so fast that Hyunjin doesn’t see him leaving. He’s left alone, closing his eyes and sinking into the mattress as he feels how tired he is. His head is starting to hurt, and he feels a little sick, he’s dizzy even though he’s laying down, and his body is aching. It does remind him of a hangover, but it’s also very different.
Felix comes back within moments, his arms full of snacks and drinks. Hyunjin just wants to sleep, but he obediently drinks when Felix holds a bottle of something sweet up to his lips. He tries to look more awake, hating how guilty Felix is feeling, but he feels less awake for every second.
“I am so sorry.” Felix apologizes again, accentuating every word. The tears are back in his eyes, but they don’t fall. Hyunjin somehow lifts a heavy arm, clumsily placing a hand on Felix’s cheek.
“I’m okay, Lix.” Hyunjin says, his arm quickly becoming too tired to hold up. Felix covers Hyunjin’s hand with his own, keeping it in place without Hyunjin having to strain himself.
“I took too much; I should’ve stopped sooner.” Felix says quietly. He probably feels like he lost control, but if that was the case Hyunjin would be dead. Felix didn’t lose control; he was just hungry and Hyunjin wanted him to take what he needed to feel better.
“You were hungry, it’s fine.” Hyunjin says, unable to say everything he’s thinking. The connection between his brain and mouth is not working, so he isn’t able to be more convincing. If he could, he would go on a whole rant about it to reassure Felix that it’s okay.
“It’s not fine, I made you sick.” Felix says, busying himself with opening a wrapper. He takes his emotions out on the candy bar, roughly tearing it open like he’s mad at it. Hyunjin can’t help but giggle at the sight, it isn’t often he sees Felix like this, and it is adorable.
“I’ll be fine by morning.” Hyunjin says, obediently opening his mouth when Felix holds out the candy bar. He feels so far from hungry, but he takes a bite. If Felix thinks that a candy bar and some electrolytes is going to help, he’ll do it for Felix. Hyunjin slowly chews, feeling his appetite come back at the taste of food.
“I don’t feel good either, that was too much.” Felix says, still stuck on it. Hyunjin lets out another giggle, he feels kind of high, so he has no control over his emotions. Thinking about a vampire overeating and getting bloated from it is just funny to him right now.
“You can’t put it back in my veins.” Hyunjin says, and this time Felix is the one snorting a laugh. Hyunjin smiles proudly, pleased with himself for being able to get Felix out of his head. They can’t change what has been done, and Felix finally seems to realize that too.
“Have your snack and we can take a nap.” Felix says, finally letting it go. Hyunjin doesn’t have it in him to fight it, so he eats the candy bar and drinks the whole bottle before cuddling up with Felix and finally drifting off to sleep.
-
Hyunjin feels like he’s only asleep for a few minutes before a sound wakes him up. He keeps his eyes closed and hopes to drift back to sleep when he hears it again. It sounds like a moan of pain, but it’s too distant to really make sense of. He keeps hearing the sound, more sure that it’s Felix every time it reaches his ears, but he can’t tell if it’s a good or bad sound when he can barely hear it.
Hyunjin sits up and is relieved to feel a little better. He still feels achy and slow, but he’s had worse hangovers than this. He moves his heavy limbs to get out of bed and goes searching for the sound, quickly finding Felix curled up on the couch in the living room. He moans again, clearly in pain and Hyunjin rushes over to him.
“Felix? What’s wrong?” Hyunjin asks, on the edge of frantic. Felix’s face is screwed up in pain and he’s unable to lie still, his arms clutching his stomach. Felix’s pain tolerance has always been high, but he hasn’t had so much as a headache since becoming a vampire. Seeing him in this much pain is shocking and terrifying.
“Burns-” Felix whines, voice scratchy as he breaks off in another moan. Hyunjin runs his hands over Felix’s body, like he’s expecting to find an injury or an obvious answer to what is wrong. Felix continues to writhe in pain, his knuckles going white where his hands are clenched in his shirt.
“Where?” Hyunjin asks, but he only gets a whine in response. Felix is clutching his stomach, arms wrapped around it and pushing into it. “Is it your stomach?” He asks, desperate to find out what’s going on. He said that he didn’t feel good after feeding, maybe he took way too much for his own body to handle, but that makes no sense. If he got too full, it should be getting better over time, not worse.
“Everywhere.” Felix gasps out, his wide eyes looking up at Hyunjin, begging for help. In this moment, he’s so human, so vulnerable, Hyunjin’s heart breaks for him. He has no idea why Felix is in so much pain or how to help. If Felix was human, he’d be worried about his appendix, but this seems even worse than that.
Felix suddenly rolls onto his side and retches, and Hyunjin jumps back in surprise, moving to sit on the edge of the couch by Felix’s waist instead. He doesn’t bring anything up, just goes back to groaning and squirming around. One of his hands grabs Hyunjin’s, squeezing it so hard that Hyunjin worries about it breaking.
“It’s okay, just breathe.” Hyunjin says, hating how helpless he is. He doesn’t know what is wrong or how to make it better, and Felix is in so much pain. Felix starts trying to get up, desperately pushing himself up while Hyunjin tries to make him lie back down. “Relax, you don’t have to do anything right now.” Hyunjin says, having no clue what Felix is so worried about all of a sudden.
But then Felix retches again, throwing up blood on the floor. Hyunjin feels panic squeeze in his chest and forces himself to take a deep breath so stay calm. Felix throwing up blood is not because he’s dying, it’s just that that’s what he ate, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t dying.
“Shit, okay, just let it out.” Hyunjin says, moving to hold Felix up so he doesn’t fall off the couch. Felix continues to retch up blood. It splatters onto the floor and gets everywhere, but Hyunjin doesn’t care. Felix is still whining in pain between the heaves, moving around and curling around his stomach.
Hyunjin feels like he is going to lose his mind with worry, desperate to figure out what is happening and how to help. He doesn’t know, and Felix probably doesn’t either and they have no one to ask. Hyunjin is terrified and he needs someone to guide him, to tell him that it will be alright.
“C-call-” Felix gasps out, cut off by another retch bringing up more blood. The sour metallic smell is making Hyunjin feel a little sick too, but he pushes it down so he can focus on Felix. “Chan-” Felix continues, and suddenly Hyunjin knows exactly what to do. Chan knows more than he wants to admit, he has to know what is happening.
“My phone is in our room, will you…?” Hyunjin hates having to leave Felix, even if it’s just for a few seconds. He can’t move at vampire speed, he can’t be back before Felix knows it. Felix nods, supporting his own weight as he continues to throw up. Hyunjin tries to be as fast as possible, almost falling in his rush to get to his nightstand and rip his phone out of the charger.
He has Chan’s contact pulled up in record time and presses the call button as he runs back to the living room. Sitting beside Felix again, he notices that Felix has gone over to dry heaving. Hyunjin holds the phone between his shoulder and ear and uses both arms to try to make Felix lie down. He needs to relax, but he is so much stronger than Hyunjin so he can’t get Felix to move an inch.
“Hyunjin?” Chan’s voice suddenly comes through the phone. Felix continues to dry-heave over the puddle of blood and Hyunjin is so distracted that he doesn’t reply right away. “Hyunjin-ah? Is someone sick?” Chan asks, using that clear, stern voice that forces Hyunjin to listen. He takes a moment to close his eyes, searching for what to say to explain to Chan what is going on.
“Lix is throwing up blood.” Hyunjin says, as if the blood part should make Chan panic, but of course it’s blood. “I mean- He’s in so much pain, he said it burned everywhere and then he started throwing up and he can’t seem to stop.” Hyunjin rushes out, giving Chan all the information he has. Felix retches again, somehow bringing up another mouthful of blood.
“What did he eat?” Chan asks, oddly calm for what he’s hearing. Hyunjin doesn’t understand why he isn’t panicking. Vampires don’t get sick, but something is very wrong with Felix right now.
“Just me.” Hyunjin says, wondering when that became so normal that he can say it with a straight face. Truth is, he loves being able to keep Felix fed, but seeing him this sick makes him worry about ever doing it again. They didn’t do anything wrong, so why is Felix so sick right now?
“Was there anything out of the normal with your blood?” Chan asks, sounding like he suspects something. Hyunjin doesn’t have it in him to ask what it is, he just needs a solution, a way to help Felix.
“No, not- We had to wait longer than normal because I had vervain yesterday, so he couldn’t feed until this morning.” Hyunjin tries to explain, but his memory is hazy. He barely remembers what happened when Felix fed on him, so he can’t be sure that nothing happened.
“How long after you had the vervain?” Chan asks. Hyunjin tries to think back and do the math, but he doesn’t know when Felix woke him up.
“I don’t know, somewhere between twelve and eighteen hours maybe.” Hyunjin says, unable to be more specific.
“Okay, Hyunjin, Felix is going to be okay. Take a deep breath, relax, I’m coming over to help. I just need to make a quick stop, but I’ll be there as fast as possible.” Chan sound so sure of what he’s saying that Hyunjin allows himself to relax a little. Chan didn’t seem worried about Felix, so he isn’t dying, and Chan is coming to help. He must know what is wrong and that it will be okay.
“Okay, thank you.” Hyunjin says and then the line goes dead. Hyunjin lets his phone fall onto the couch and turns his full attention to Felix who has finally stopped heaving. “Chan says you’re gonna be okay, he’s on his way.” Hyunjin says, reassuring both of them. Felix curls back into himself on the couch, wrapping his arms around his stomach and groaning in pain.
“Do you need anything?” Hyunjin asks, still at a loss of what to do. He doesn’t know how long Chan will take to get here, but he will panic if he doesn’t have anything to do to distract himself. He can’t give Felix water or medicine or anything else he used to do when Felix got sick as a human, but he has to do something.
“The smell…” Felix trails off, looking like he’s fighting his gag reflex. Even Hyunjin is reacting to the smell, and it must be so much stronger to Felix. Cleaning up bloody vomit sounds like the most disgusting thing Hyunjin has ever done, but he will do anything to help Felix.
“I’ll clean it up, don’t worry. Do you want to move to our room?” Hyunjin asks, figuring that it might help to get Felix into another room, but Felix shakes his head. He turns his back to Hyunjin, pressing his face into a pillow and finally looking a little calmer. Hyunjin takes another deep breath, not even trying to hide how stressed he is because Felix’s senses are too sharp to hide anything, then he gets up to go to the bathroom.
He fills a bucket with soapy water and gets a few towels and every clean rag from under the sink. Bringing everything back to the living room, he starts cleaning the floor, wiping up as much as he can with the towels first and then using too many rags to wash the floor with soapy water. He wants to be sure that he gets the as much of smell as possible out of the room, knowing that Felix will be able to smell it if anything is left behind.
Bringing everything back to the bathroom, he throws the rags in the washing machine, turns it on and rinses out the bucket. When he goes back to the living room this time, he opens a window and makes sure that all the curtains are closed, knowing that the sun will try to make its way in soon. He has just settled down by Felix’s side when he hears the front door. Chan doesn’t knock, just lets himself in.
“Chan is here.” Hyunjin says, like Felix couldn’t hear it. He grasps Felix’s hand and squeezes it, and Felix looks at him. Hyunjin is surprised by the signs of hunger on his face. He wouldn’t think that Felix was ready to eat anything yet, but the veins are clear under his eyes. Then he groans and turns his face back into the pillow, clearly still in a lot of pain.
“How is he doing?” Chan’s voice makes Hyunjin look up, surprised to see that Chan brought a big bag with him. Felix lifts an arm to give Chan a thumbs up, and it is so comforting that Hyunjin might cry.
“What is going on?” Hyunjin asks, skipping the greeting and small talk. Chan knows what is happening, and Hyunjin needs an explanation.
“Blood poisoning, or food poisoning, same thing really. The vervain wasn’t completely out of your system; it takes at least twenty-four hours. He is still new, so he didn’t notice the taste and in such low concentration it won’t burn, but it will make him sick.” Chan explains and Hyunjin tries to wrap his head around the fact that his blood made Felix sick.
“How long will he be sick?” Hyunjin asks, wondering how vampire food poisoning differs from the human kind. He doesn’t know how Felix will go days without feeding or keeping any blood down without getting dangerously hungry.
“He needs fresh blood, clean blood.” Chan says, but Hyunjin doesn’t understand how. It hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet, so he can’t drink from Hyunjin, and he won’t drink from Chan either. Hyunjin is not about to go find an innocent stranger to bring home as a meal.
“He can’t drink from me, and he refuses to drink from you.” Hyunjin states the obvious, hoping that Chan has thought of a better solution than Hyunjin can come up with.
“He can’t drink from me, so I brought blood.” Chan says, opening his bag and pulling out a blood bag. It looks exactly like the blood bags he’s seen on TV, probably taken from a blood bank in a hospital. Felix clearly smells the blood, emerging from the pillow again with red eyes and fangs poking out between his lips. Chan throws the bag to him, and Felix easily catches it, immediately biting into it and gulping it down.
“How do you know so much about this?” Hyunjin asks, starting suspect that Chan and Felix have more in common than they let on. There must be a reason why Chan knows so much about this, and he seems to have known these things long before Felix turned.
“I don’t have red eyes if that’s what you’re asking.” Chan says, but Hyunjin can’t let go of the feeling. There is something about him that is so similar to the new side of Felix.
“Then what colour are your eyes?” Hyunjin asks, mostly joking, but apparently, he asked the right question. Chan closes his eyes for a moment, and when they open his irises are yellow, almost glowing. Hyunjin is too stunned to speak, gaping at Chan as he grabs another blood bag and throws it at Felix.
This is not the time or place, so Hyunjin pushes down all of his questions and focuses on Felix again. The first blood bag is drained and he’s working on the second one. It seems to be helping. Felix looks far less tense, and his face is relaxed, eyes much softer when they lift to look at him.
“Are you okay?” Hyunjin carefully asks. He shouldn’t find Felix adorable when he’s sucking on blood, but his eyes are so soft and his hair falls into his face, he almost looks childlike.
“The pain is gone.” Felix says, setting down the now empty blood bag. He looks healthy again, the colour back in his cheeks and his eyes going back to his normal brown. Hyunjin still struggles to understand what just happened. He never thought he would have to see Felix sick again but seeing him so sick made him fear for Felix’s life.
“I poisoned him?” Hyunjin asks, looking back to Chan who is still strangely calm. It’s like he’s seen this many times before, but who does he know that would teach him these things? Chan nods with an apologetic smile, like he understands why Hyunjin feels guilty.
“You didn’t know.” Felix says, reaching out for Hyunjin’s hand and squeezing it comfortingly. Hyunjin still thinks that he should’ve known. Felix was burned by his blood right after he had the vervain tea, of course they should have waited longer to make sure that it was completely out of his blood. It just seemed safe when he didn’t get burned the moment it touched his tongue.
“But I still did it. This was my fault.” Hyunjin says, feeling horrible. He poisoned his boyfriend. He isn’t sure how to ever forgive himself for that. Felix links his arms around Hyunjin’s neck and pulls him into his body, holding him close until Hyunjin relaxes a little. He folds himself into Felix, letting himself be comforted by his closeness. He isn’t as warm as he used to be, but his touch is still relaxing.
“It’s both our faults; I didn’t taste it in your blood. And if we had known how toxic your blood still was, I never would have drunk from you so soon.” Felix says, and he admittedly has a point. “Besides, I made you sick too, we’re even.” He adds, reminding Hyunjin that he took a little too much earlier.
“I’m gonna need another nap.” Hyunjin says, drained by the stress of what they just went through. He doesn’t know how to process this whole ordeal, but a nap seems like a good place to start. He will try to forgive himself, but it won’t be easy. Knowing that Felix doesn’t blame him helps a little though.
“I second that.” Felix says.