Work Text:
You know, you'd think becoming a vampire would be a bit more… like… life changing. Right?
This little musing came across Mark one fine spring noon while sneaking fries from Jeno's plate. The sun was flitting between the clouds, some pigeons were fighting over the crumbs of a chip bag, people milling about. The world continued to turn.
“Hey Mark,” Jaemin's sharp voice dragged him out of his reverie. Reverie, that's a nice word. Very smooth, maybe a bit winding. Jaemin smiled a wide smile, the one that he could never tell if it was genuine, condescending, or sarcastic. Or maybe something else. Or maybe all of the above. Something else that hadn't changed. Being a vampire was nothing on Jaemin's ever active poker face game. “You have ketchup on your nose.”
“Oh,” Mark hastily grabbed a napkin and sure enough, after a quick rubbing, it came away with a splotchy red stain. “Thanks.”
“Aigooooo,” Chenle was positively crooning as he leaned over the table to pet Mark's cheek. “My son.”
Okay. So maybe there was that.
Chenle had certainly never called him ‘son’ before all this and that was very close to being the only thing Chenle ever called him now.
As for the uptick in physical affection, while startling at first, it wasn't anything that bothered him too much and at this point the others didn't bat an eye. Maybe they did a little at first. And a balk or two at the son business. But it was all good now. Kinda like brushing teeth.
Yeah, the whole Fang Thing was new. But you get past it and then it's just brushing your teeth. Doesn't even need a new technique or some fancy toothpaste substitute. Like phoenix ash or siren tears or something weird and obscure and Magical. Chenle said he'd been using Crest for as long as he could remember. He also said it would be best if Mark canceled his next dental appointment and to never have one again. Which was fine with Mark because he hadn't had the insurance for it for the last year.
Somewhat related, Mark no longer got morning breath. It isn't easy to notice something's missing right away, like how you don't know you've lost your keys until you check your pocket, so it could've been hours since you lost it. And on a lazy weekend he'd chosen not to get up quite yet to savor the loving embrace of the blankets for a few moments more, and it occurred to him after nearly half an hour he would've been spurred from the haven by that off taste in his mouth. And after checking in with the memory banks, it was confirmed, he couldn't remember having it since the whole dying-and-being-turned-into-a-vampire had happened. A quick text to Chenle and he got a string of laughing emojis along with his agreement, that yes, vampires don't get morning breath.
The next fry he liberated he took a moment to fully admire. Still the same old lightly browned yellow with flecks of sparkling crystals. Well, one could say that it was different because he didn't need his glasses to see it anymore. But people also got lasik surgeries. But those people might say it was life changing. And some people (*cough cough* Renjun *cough cough*) would say he always hated contacts to which his best response was a laugh, shrug, and a ‘I guess I did’. So maybe half a point to the being-a-vampire-is-life-changing team.
Biting down, it was still the classic salt, oil, cholesterol, and potato flavor everyone knows and loves. Did he still have cholesterol? Probably not right? What if he drank the blood of a person with high cholesterol? Maybe Chenle or his parents knew but Mark certainly didn't.
And Chenle's parents… they were certainly something. Very much more vampire-y than Chenle. Rich from their millenia on Earth, they certainly behaved like they didn't live human lives. And they followed through with Chenle's line of thinking and had deemed themselves his grandparents. So he had a new sorta dad and sorta grandparents.
Chenle was much less gung ho (wait, Chenle's Chinese. Was that an appropriate term? Ok, enthusiastic then) about being a sire aside from the son thing. Chenle's parents (should Mark start thinking about them as his bonus grandparents? He still couldn't shake the feeling of visiting a friend's parents rather than grandparents.) on the other hand, had done the whole cheek pinching, examining, and interviewing. They did seem kinda proud too.
And they had given him two gold ingots he didn't have a clue what to do with other than stash under his bed as a problem for Future Mark to sort out.
So that whole affair was definitely more life changing then not. But people got step parents and step grandparents from time to time. Something more classically life changing was someone paying off your debts.
Which Chenle’s parents/his grandparents on his vampire's side had gone ahead and done. And his parent's mortgage. Very much a classic life changing thing. His attempt at a thanks had been interrupted with a hand wave and a ‘we take care of our own’.
There was also the slightly more ominous line that followed: ‘and you're ours now’. Mark was pretty sure it was meant to come across with a welcome-to-the-family vibe and not the we-own-you-now-and-you-will-never-escape-us vibe it gave off.
Like seventy percent sure.
Maybe sixty.
Weird, slightly scary (basically) in-laws. Very normal. Not life changing. Not something you'd anticipate coming with the vampire shabang, but not life changing.
He still had classes to attend, taxes to pay, friends to meet. No running away, no reforging his identity, no blood baptism, no murders. Not even the hiding from the sunlight thing.
Life for Mark had changed in a few ways, but not in life changing ways. Not really. He even still breathed. His heart beat. At that most basic level, his life hadn't changed.
Sure, Mark now had a fun new party trick in stopping his heart, but that wasn't anything he'd ever get to show off. There were people that could bend their elbows the other way, and he, a now vampire, couldn't do that.
Actually he probably could, but it would just break or snap or tear something. And his brand new accelerated healing would take care of it. Not that he'd seen much of it in action. Just when he'd nicked his cheek with a razor (not even a fancy silver one, just classic disposable). It vanished in a blink from his reflection. A reflection he still had. Because mirrors still worked just fine.
Unlike his brain when-
When…
There. The reason he forgot to breathe. The shining example of why he was certain his life hadn't significantly changed because of his becoming a vampire.
Donghyuck's wind caressed hair shined with its own light, taking in the rays of sunlight and amplifying them. He was half out of breath, teeth flashing with a quick grin. “Hi guys. You would not believe the drama I just caught between the west wing and the Square.”
Mark inhaled and there it was, his soft scent of summer and joy. Something he'd always loved but got to experience more and more with his vampire senses.
“Hi.” Mark's voice was lost to the chorus of greetings and Chenle’s grilling for the tea, but it didn't matter. His cheeks were starting to hurt, and he eased his smile, looking away because it felt sacrilegious to admire Donghyuck too long.
Jisung offered a sympathetic look.
Yeah. Being a vampire wasn't life changing.
Meeting Donghyuck certainly had been though.