Chapter Text
“Hey, Kihyun.”
“Hmm?” Kihyun makes a noncommittal sound at the back of his throat, attention still firmly focused on the pancakes in front of him.
“I need to tell you something.”
That gets Kihyun’s attention. Oh god, he thinks, this is how it starts. This is how it always starts.
He doesn't turn away from the stove but Minhyuk continues anyway.
“I've been thinking about it for a while and – don't freak out – but I'm pretty sure our neighbour is a vampire.”
Kihyun suppresses a sigh. Pancakes, he reminds himself, just get the pancakes done. “Hoseok? He moved in like, a week ago. What did he do to make you think he's a vampire?”
Minhyuk wrinkles his nose. “I don't know, but you know how it is, when you get a feeling about somebody? You just know.”
“No,” Kihyun corrects. “I know how it is when you get a 'feeling' about somebody. You thought Yerin from 23A was some misery demon and practically menaced her out of our block.”
“I could hear crying through the walls every night! What was I supposed to think?” Minhyuk protests.
“She was watching dramas.” Kihyun says. “Who skips that conclusion and goes straight to ‘oh she's probably a demon’?”
Minhyuk waves a hand. “Okay, I was wrong about Yerin but that was just one time.” One time, Kihyun mocks internally. “Point is, Kihyun, I'm positive that Hoseok is a vampire. Trust me, my delicate werewolf senses can detect things you can't.”
“I don't think Mina from 25B appreciated your delicate werewolf senses much either, considering you thought she was some kind of river monster.” Kihyun comments, flipping one of the pancakes.
“She ate fish every night. Every night.” Minhyuk whispers. “And don't make fun of my werewolf senses because when you finally realise Hoseok is an actual vampire living next door, I'm going to rub it in your face forever.”
Kihyun scoffs. “Good luck proving it. Hoseok is not a vampire.”
“We’ll see, Kihyun, we’ll see.”
☾
Although it's been about a week since their new neighbour has moved in, both Minhyuk and Kihyun haven't seen much of him. (“Which is really suspicious!” Minhyuk says. Kihyun chooses not to respond.)
So it comes as a surprise to him when he's unloading his laundry on Sunday evening and Hoseok wanders in, a pile of clothes in his arms, looking sleepy and slightly disoriented.
He looks around blearily until his gaze finds Kihyun and he brightens immediately. “Hey,” he greets. “Yoo Kihyun, right?”
Kihyun gives a brief nod. “Shin Hoseok? You just moved in.”
A smile stretches over Hoseok’s face, as if he's genuinely pleased Kihyun remembered him. Jesus, Kihyun thinks, what if he turns out to be smilier than Minhyuk? Or Jooheon?
“Yeah, Hoseok, but some people call me Wonho. You can, if you like.” He moves nearer and gestures to the washing machine. “If you're done here, could I use it?”
“Sure, go ahead.” Kihyun says, taking a step back. Given how little he's seen Hoseok since the day he moved in, he’d almost forgotten what he looked like. Dressed as he is now, Hoseok looks like the most unthreatening being to ever come into existence. An oversized gray hoodie that practically swallowed him up, loose sweatpants and Eevee slippers.
Kihyun internally snorts at the thought of Minhyuk actually believing that this man could be a vampire.
“Yeah, this should go in the wash too.”
Then suddenly, the hoodie is gone and Kihyun has to suck in a sharp breath to stop himself from swearing in surprise. Hoseok pulls the hoodie over his head, to reveal a broad back with the most definite, carved shoulder muscles Kihyun has ever seen.
Oh god – why doesn't he haven't a warning label attached to – that's why he was wearing that sweater – what the hell, I wasn't ready to see that –
“Kihyun?” He's pretty sure his brain short-circuited for a full five seconds until Hoseok’s voice cut through his internal panic.
And suddenly, Hoseok is standing much closer than before, eyes squinting at him in concern. “Are you okay?” Kihyun swallows. His brown eyes are too close, too intense with worry.
Kihyun steps away. “Yeah,” he tries to maintain a casual tone. “So, uh, Wonho, I haven't seen much of you since you moved in. Have you been busy?”
Hoseok runs a hand through his hair, rumpling it even further. “Yeah, moving in, meeting up with a few friends in the area. But I'll be around more often now, especially since I've finally gotten to talk to one of my neighbours?” He offers Kihyun an apologetic, slightly shy smile.
Kihyun shrugs and says half-jokingly, “Be glad you met me and not Minhyuk. He's a menace.”
Hoseok laughs, like they're sharing an inside joke. “Can't wait to meet him anyway. He sounds like my friend, Changkyun. I’m his hyung but he's a little shit towards me all the time.”
Kihyun pretends to consider this for a moment. “Yeah, sounds about right.” They share another laugh.
“Well I guess I'll see you around then?”
Kihyun leaves with a small smile on his face and no doubt in his mind that Hoseok is completely harmless and most definitely not a vampire.
☾
The next time Kihyun sees his neighbour, he's out collecting mail on Tuesday evening.
“I wasn't aware you were into ‘Dogs Weekly.” Hoseok comments amusedly, reading over his shoulder.
He hates to admit it, but he's secretly kind of overjoyed he ran into Hoseok again.
“Ah, it's not for me.” Kihyun explains. “It's for Minhyuk, my roommate and your other neighbour. He really loves puppies.”
Hoseok’s lips quirk into a smile and his eyes flash with something akin to mischievousness. “Yeah, he seems like the type.”
“You've met Minhyuk?” Kihyun asks, shocked. Minhyuk hadn’t mentioned anything about his ‘investigation’ into Shin Hoseok’s vampiric ways so he assumed he hadn't made any progress yet.
“Well, not so much met, as he ran into me in the elevator. By ran into me, I mean he actually kind of body slammed me? And spilled some water on me from his canteen.” Hoseok laughs, as if completely accepting of the whole affair, while Kihyun feels a sense of dread growing every second. Minhyuk has met Hoseok – he might as well get ready to say goodbye to him now. Water? He spilled ‘water’ on Hoseok?
“Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Minhyuk is really – he can be clumsy sometimes. He doesn't think sometimes. Most of the time. All the time.” Kihyun rambles, trying to cover up his embarrassment that his roommate actually tried to splash holy water on Hoseok to check if he was a vampire.
Hoseok waves a hand. “Nah, it was funny. He seemed kind of confused afterwards though? Like he forgot why he was even there. Minhyuk seems like an interesting person, I hope we can meet properly sometime.”
Prompted by his words, Kihyun says, “Oh right! You said we’d see you around more but after that you just disappeared again. Still busy?”
Hoseok laughs apologetically. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve been… you know.” He rubs his eyes blearily.
It's just then Kihyun notices his state. Oversized hoodie and sweatpants again. Sleepy and relaxed, almost like he just woke up.
Just woke up? Kihyun thinks. As if he slept the whole day… Wait, no. He is not letting Minhyuk and his crazy theories get into his head like that. Hoseok is not a vampire, even if his sleeping schedule appears to be a little odd. For all he knows, Hoseok might work a night job or take night classes. Kihyun’s not one to judge.
“Well if that's all, I'll get going for now. Let's grab lunch or something, sometime?”
Hoseok’s beaming smile is all he gets in reply but it's enough to make Kihyun satisfied.
(And convinced that he is not a vampire.)
☾
“I'm telling you, Hoseok is a vampire.”
It's the first thing Kihyun hears when he meets Minhyuk for breakfast at the local café after his first morning class. (Why Minhyuk decided to take an 8am class in college is well and truly beyond him.)
“No, I've talked to him a few times and he is definitely not a vampire. Have you seen his slippers? They're fluffy Eevee slippers. I've never seen anyone less likely to be a vampire.” Kihyun huffs.
“He literally told us to call him Wonho. It can't get more obvious! What if that's like, his secret vampire name? That he uses in his underground vampire society?” Minhyuk waves his hands around for emphasis.
Kihyun rolls his eyes, taking a sip of his drink. “Minhyuk, if that was his secret vampire name, it wouldn't be so secret anymore if he told us, would it?”
Minhyuk considers this for a moment, then shakes his head. “Okay maybe not, but maybe that's what he wants you to think.”
Kihyun groans. This is going to be a long few months.
☾
Within the next two days, Minhyuk has somehow dragged Jooheon into the whole mess and has gotten him convinced that Hoseok is a vampire.
“Kihyun, you don't need evidence to see that he's a vampire. You can just feel it.” Jooheon insists.
“Well, I’m sorry but I can't feel anything with my dull, human senses. Hoseok’s been nothing but nice to us, why are both of you so convinced he's a vampire?” Kihyun asks.
“Well –” Minhyuk starts.
“The walls aren't exactly thin, you know, with your werewolf hearing, both of you could hear what he's doing in his apartment. Have you ever heard him say anything like ‘the night is upon us, time for me to awake from my slumber and hunt for blood’? No? Then where's your evidence that he's a vampire?”
Minhyuk slumps in his chair, exchanging a defeated look with Jooheon. “He’s hopeless.”
Jooheon pats his leg comfortingly. “We’ll try again tomorrow, Hyukkie.”
Kihyun looks up at the ceiling, dear lord, please save me.
☾
It's Friday by the time Kihyun runs into Hoseok and by then, he's just so so glad to be able to talk to people who are not Minhyuk and Jooheon.
“Whoa, you look kind of rough.” Hoseok comments when he steps into the elevator.
Shit, Kihyun thinks, out of all the times to look like crap, I have to do it in front of Shin Freaking Hoseok.
“It's been a long day. A long couple of days, really.” Kihyun pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to stop the impending headache. “Remind me why I decided to take that many advanced courses in college and why I decided being friends with Minhyuk and Jooheon was a good idea.”
Hoseok shuffles closer, till Kihyun can feel his warmth. It's a little weird because he can't say they even know each other that well yet, but strangely comforting. “Jooheon?” he asks curiously. “That's a new name.”
Kihyun rubs at his temples while he struggles to come up with an answer that is not Jooheon’s part of the werewolf pack that Minhyuk and I are both in, except that I'm human and kind of just adopted by the wolf pack because we were childhood friends.
“We’re, uh, childhood friends.”
Hoseok brightens. Does he ever stop smiling? Jesus, this is Minhyuk-level of sunshine. “Wow, that's cute. I have a childhood friend too – Hyungwon, he's my best friend but he's mostly just an asshole. And you know Changkyun.”
Kihyun nods although he doesn't really know Changkyun, he feels like he kind of does just from Hoseok’s strange descriptions of the 20-year old.
“We should have a meet-up one day. Your friends and mine. A party for the neighbours.” Kihyun says.
“Sounds fun – but there's, um. Kind of a problem? I don't know if you know but… I'm not sure your friend, Minhyuk, exactly… likes me.” Hoseok says uncertainly, his smile drooping into a small frown.
Kihyun smacks his forehead. That dumbass! “Hoseok, if that idiot did something, please tell me, I'll kick his ass from here to China.”
Hoseok laughs, gently prising Kihyun’s hand from his forehead. “No no, he didn't do anything. It's just that, I kind of get the sense that he's suspicious of me. And watching me? All the time. Like the other day when I went to collect the mail, he just stared from behind. For a moment, I thought he might be checking out my ass but then, it just felt off and kind of creepy. And the other day, when I walked past him in the hallway, I greeted him but I swear that he sniffed me as we passed.”
Kihyun feels an increasing desire to bury himself in the ground and never have to see Hoseok again. “Sorry about that, Minhyuk’s kind of suspicious of all our new neighbours. It’ll be over in a few weeks, I promise.” Yeah that's because our neighbours usually move out after a few weeks, he silently adds.
“But meanwhile, I'll tell him to lay off – agh, sorry,” Kihyun grits his teeth as the pain in his head intensifies for a brief few seconds. He collects himself after a few seconds of holding his breath, while Hoseok shifts even closer, staring at him in concern. “Sorry, the migraines have been getting worse lately. I barely got an hour of sleep last night.”
Hoseok shoves him gently to show his disapproval. “An hour? You can't run on an hour, Kihyun. If you want,” he pauses, as if contemplating something, “we can go up to my apartment. I have some tea that's good for headaches.”
Minhyuk would yell at him, a defenceless human, for willingly going into a ‘vampire’s lair’ but he honestly could not care less. “Yeah, sure. That would help lots.”
Nodding, Hoseok guides him to his front door, which is not hard given that they are living one unit away from each other. He fumbles with his keys for a moment – Kihyun takes the time to approve his adorable Gudetama keychain – before the door to his apartment swings open.
It's not much different from his apartment, if a little bit more bare. Hoseok, thank god, is neater than the human tornado Minhyuk and actually has space to put things on his coffee table. He guides Kihyun to the sofa and tells him to sit and rest while he makes the tea.
Listening to Hoseok hum quietly and the tea hissing as it boils is soothing and Kihyun might have fallen asleep right there on the couch if not for his throbbing headache. He has a nice voice, Kihyun observes distantly.
He’s snapped out of his reverie as Hoseok comes over, holding out the mug of tea to him. Kihyun accepts gratefully and brings the steaming hot tea to his lips. He's dimly aware of Hoseok’s hand on his shoulder, gentle but firm. Before he even knows it, his mug is empty and his headache has miraculously dissipated.
“Whoa,” Kihyun stands, swaying dizzily. Hoseok reaches out to steady him, smiling, although he looks a little more tired than before. “That's some strong tea. Did you put alcohol in it?”
Hoseok gets that mischievous look in his eyes again. “If I did, I wouldn't tell you. Did it help?”
“Yes, lots, thanks.” Kihyun says warmly.
“No problem,” Hoseok chuckles. He glances at his hands, then back at Kihyun. “Glad to be of help.”
Kihyun nods at him another time in gratitude, before leaving the apartment, his lips still warm from Hoseok’s tea.
(Later, he finds a note in his shirt pocket, a phone number hastily scribbled on it:
If you ever feel stressed or unwell again, drop by my apartment anytime – Hoseok :-))