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Many people would think fairy tales where werewolves, vampires, and fairies would exist while few would think otherwise. Unfortunately for everyone, only one of those species exists.
Vampires, blood sucking humans are scattered around the world. While some countries are inhabited by more than one million of these fantasy beasts, Korea only has around 5,000.
Donggyu happens to be one of the lucky thousand, but in this case, it would be unlucky. Park Donggyu has to suffer from constant sunburn if he doesn’t lather himself with sun screen and cover himself with long sleeves and pants.
The whole time he’s lived out these past 20 years, he has only ever seen two vampires in total. One being his mother, and the other being his little brother, Arctic. He wasn’t sure whether he would want to encounter another vampire but who knows.
Another unsuccessful encounter with a human is added to Donggyu’s list. He sighs as he wipes the blood off his mouth with his sleeve. Below him is a stranger passed out on the ground. Donggyu holds in a gag, disgusted by the blood he tasted. It’s been too long since someone's blood had satisfied the vampire. It was irritating.
He lifts the stranger up, enough to make the human look like he was a drunkard passed out in the alley way. Checking that everything looks fine, he stands up, silently thanking the other for the trouble as he lifts up his mask.
He makes sure his hoodie covers his head before walking out of the alleyway. At the entrance, he bumps into someone. He stumbles back, a little anxious as he bows. “I’m sorry..-”
“Oh it’s okay!” Donggyu straightens himself, relieved at the fact that this stranger wasn’t rude. He looks towards the other, staring in shock as he gets a clear look, noticing the light brown hair which suited the man before him perfectly.
Park Donggyu had never seen anyone look so out of this world until now. He gets flashed by the prettiest smile known to man that any woman would fall for. And maybe even him.
Is he an idol?
He comes back to his senses, deciding it’s not safe to stay around, especially with the stranger he left in the dark alleyway behind him. He bows once more before walking the opposite direction of the pretty boy he stumbled upon. And even as the vampire had gone to bed after arriving at the dorms, that pretty boy did not leave his mind.
…He couldn’t sleep.
Even as his roommate's alarm rang, he still couldn’t find it in himself to sleep even if he tried. How could he sleep? He was hungry, thinking about a man he would never see again, and still hungry.
Day by day he was slowly starving himself due to the horrible blood he’s unfortunately had a taste of. Curse being a vampire. It’s no fun at all. The only benefit of being a vampire is the fact that they’re stronger than a lion.. maybe.
Junmin woke up after a couple seconds, turning it off his alarm and sitting up, getting ready to wake Donggyu up but as he turned to look at the other, his eyes widened. “You’re up early..?” Donggyu just nods, clearly tired. Junmin takes another moment before saying, “Ah.. you haven’t slept.” Donggyu sighs, not denying it.
Junmin stands up, taking a few steps before standing in front of Donggyu who's sitting on his bed. He ruffles the younger's hair in an attempt to comfort the other. “I’ll be fine Junmin hyung. I’ll probably just nap in class if I can.” He sits up, getting ready for classes. “If you say so..” Junmin says before doing the same.
-
The two go their separate ways after realizing that they didn’t have the same first classes for this semester. After walking for a while, Donggyu makes it to his first class, English. He looks around the room and notices his friend first. He walks over and sits next to Junseo while greeting him.
The rest of the students walk in, taking their seats as they wait for their professor. When the professor finally walks in, he finally introduces himself and explains what their course is about and what they would do in class. At the end, the professor explains, “Throughout this quarter, you will be working in a group of four for a project worth 25% of your grade.”
The announcement catches the ears of the students, Donggyu as well. He closes his eyes as he thinks to himself. Please.. Just let me get a good group for this.. Other than Junseo next to him, he didn’t think he knew anyone in this class.
The professor switches the slide on the screen projector, showing the names of the students in a neat order. “These will be your groups this quarter. If your name is not on the screen please let me know.”
Donggyu scans the screen for his name, spotting it on the top right of the slide.
Park Donggyu
Kim Junseo
Chen Kaiwen
Zhou Anxin
He lets out a sigh of relief at the fact Junseo was in the same group as him. He didn’t recognize the other two names but sincerely hoped they would do their work. As class ends, everyone is off to meet their group to exchange numbers and such.
Junseo and Donggyu get up as well, looking for a Chen Kaiwen and a Zhou Anxin. As Donggyu scans the room, a man to his left catches his eye. Light brown hair that wouldn’t leave his mind last night. The guy turns around, locking eyes with Donggyu.
It was the one from yesterday. Donggyu’s breathless as he stares until he gets a tap on his shoulder. He looks to his right to see Junseo. “Everyone has already found their groups.” He nods his head towards the one who Donggyu ogled and the guy next to him.
“I think they’re the ones we’re looking for.” And his heart skips a beat. Donggyu follows his hyung as Junseo walks towards the other two. “Are you guys Chen Kaiwen and Zhou Anxin?”
One of them speaks up first with an expression that makes him look like an excited puppy. “Yes, that's us! I’m Chen Kaiwen and my friend here is Zhou Anxin!” Kaiwen places his arm over Anxin’s shoulder as he introduces the two. Anxin asks, “And you guys are Park Donggyu and Kim Junseo?”
Junseo pulls out his phone as he answers. “You'd be correct. I’m Junseo and this guy is Donggyu.” He holds out his phone, showcasing his screen with a blank contact information. “Let’s get each other's number and set a time and place to meet for the project. Is that fine with everyone?”
The two in front of them nod, Kaiwen taking the initiative to put his phone number in the older’s phone. After doing so, Anxin does the same as Kaiwen turns to Donggyu to give him his phone number. But he stops for a second.
Donggyu’s anxiety rises up ever so slightly, already overthinking. Does he remember him? Would he? His hood was up and he had his mask on. Did he find that man in the alley-
“You’re really handsome.” Donggyu’s thoughts come to a halt as he hears the words come out of the man's mouth.
I don’t think he remembers or knows.. Phew.
“T-thank you-” Donggyu stutters out. His ears turn a slight shade of pink at both the compliment, and the fact his voice had the audacity to stutter as well. Embarrassing. Kaiwen grins as he hands his phone to Donggyu so he’d put his number in, which he does.
After that slight interaction, they head out, Donggyu walking next to Junseo. Donggyu didn’t have a class until an hour later, giving him some free time. “Kaiwen huh?” Junseo comments. Donggyu looks at his hyung.
“What about him? Junseo smiles knowingly as they walk. “Nothing.” Donggyu raises his eyebrow, utterly confused at what Junseo was trying to say, or imply.
-
Two days pass by. Donggyu still hasn’t slept due to hunger. His eyebags, although not screaming that he hasn’t slept, were quite visible. The only thing he could look forward to was the fact that his group was meeting in about 20 minutes. It was a Friday and the four had agreed to meet up in a quiet coffee shop at 5:30 PM.
Donggyu had already been in the coffee shop for a couple minutes, deciding it was better to stay indoors and sip some cold coffee rather than stay outside, and sweat due to him wearing a grey hoodie out on a sunny day.
As he was scrolling on his phone, he heard the bell attached to the entrance door ring. He takes a quick glance to see who entered. To his surprise, it wasn't just another customer. Chen Kaiwen walked in, looking around the place before his eyes settled on Donggyu.
His face brightened as he walked towards the other. “You’re here early!” Kaiwen sits down in front of Donggyu, placing his bag on his lap. He takes out the packet previously given by their professor, setting it on the table.
Kaiwen started talking about the project as he flipped the pages. Donggyu stared at Kaiwen like he wasn’t real. He’s still caught up on the fact that Kaiwen is that pretty. Donggyu doesn’t know what to think of this really.
As Kaiwen flipped a page, his finger slipped across the paper, causing a paper cut. “Ah-” Kaiwen squeaks as he holds his index finger, slightly in pain. Donggyu’s eyes widen slightly, but as he’s about to ask the other if he’s okay, he smells it.
The cut on Kaiwen’s finger drew a drop of blood. Although it wasn’t much, for a starved vampire like Donggyu, it made him restless. Kaiwen’s blood hadn’t smelled like the humans Donggyu has encountered before.
It smelled as sweet as honey. And to a vampire like himself. Even the blood looked sweet. His instincts were telling Donggyu to take Kaiwen away and make him his. To make a feast out of Kaiwen’s blood. He held back, putting a hand towards his mouth as sweat ran down his face. His eyes shone with a hint of red.
He stared as the boy licked his finger in an attempt to not make a mess, blowing it at the end. After a moment, Donggyu was able to restrain himself. “Do you need a band aid?” Kaiwen looked up, shaking his hand.
“It’s fine! It isn’t like the cut is big anyways. Just a paper cut!” He smiles, shoving the finger close to Donggyu for him to see. "Look! It's fine." Donggyu leans back as he gives a strained smile, hoping that the other wouldn’t catch the vampire struggling.
His finger was perfectly fine, only a slight scratch visible and no blood in the way anymore.
“Ah right! Where were we again?..” Kaiwen looks down at the papers, going back to what he was explaining for the project. Donggyu lets out a quiet breath, closing his eyes. His thoughts had gone back to the moment when Kaiwen's blood was on his finger.
If it were to go his way, he’d be the one to hold onto Kaiwen's hand, licking the blood himself. He could maybe take Kaiwen into the bathroom in the shop, pushing him into the wall and grabbing his hair to give him space into the open area of his neck.
Then he could-
The bell chimes from the door once more, causing Donggyu to get out of that trance. The two look towards the door to see Junseo and Anxin walking in, talking. Kaiwen raises his hand, catching their attention.
The two walk over, Junseo sitting next to Donggyu and Anxin next to Kaiwen. “All right! Now that we’re all here, we can actually get started on this!” Kaiwen exclaims. They finally start with their project, talking about what role each member needs to do. Donggyu by then had calmed down and joined in on the conversation.
.
Kaiwen stares at Donggyu when he isn’t looking, noticing the way his eyes shone under the light. He couldn’t tell if he’s going crazy, or maybe he hasn't had enough sleep. But the way Donggyu’s eyes have a hue of red for a moment is as clear as day to him.