Chapter Text
Jimin didn't know what was happening to her.
At first she thought it was just the stress of all the long schedules finally getting to her. The constant practices, performances, and events always left her tired, after all; that was just part of the job. But recently it felt like it wasn't just her idol duties leaving her weary. Over the past few weeks Jimin had felt absolutely exhausted. It felt like there was something deeper inside of her that was being drained day by day, like she was missing something vital to her wellbeing, but she didn't know what.
She hadn't been able to sleep well either, which was even more irritating, since recently all she'd been wanting to do after forcing herself through her long busy days was sink into her bed and rest, but whenever she did, all she could do was toss and turn uncomfortably, only being occasionally met with short bouts of fitful, dreamless sleep that only seemed to leave her more exhausted in the morning.
Jimin supposed that was why she'd started to despise the sun. Its bright blinding rays always seemed to mock her in the morning, always coming up too soon for her to get a proper rest. That wasn't all, though. She'd always been sensitive to the sun, but that sensitivity seemed to be increasing recently, perhaps due to her exhaustion. Being in the sunlight had started to make her skin prickle uncomfortably; it was just so hot and bright. She didn't know how others could stand it, or how she used to.
Her and Minjeong's apartment had these big windows that she used to love but now she couldn't stand them, and she hated it, especially since she knew Minjeong liked the natural light. Jimin kept feeling the urge to just pull the blinds shut or at least put some sunglasses on at the times the sun is highest in the sky, but she didn't want to get any weird looks or questions from Minjeong, so she restrained herself.
It was getting harder and harder to function normally as the days kept passing. Everything was just too much. It wasn't just the exhaustion or the sun, but to Jimin, it felt like every sound was too loud, every scent too overpowering, every movement too sudden. All the lights were just slightly too bright, and the constant overstimulation gave her migraines throughout the day. Hell, she could barely even get a break at nighttime.
It all just kept building up and growing increasingly unbearable, and Jimin was usually good at keeping herself composed on the outside, but she was pretty sure the others were starting to notice.
One afternoon, Jimin was spacing out on the couch in one of their practice rooms, staring at her phone but not really processing anything.
"Jimin?"
The sun was so bright today, and all Jimin wanted to do was go sit in a dark corner or something since she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep even if she was in her bed. But that would be weird. Obviously.
"Jimin. Earth to Jimin!"
She was just so tired. And she felt so empty inside, hollow, even though she'd eaten breakfast only a couple hours before.
Suddenly, Jimin heard a loud snap in front of her face, startling her so much that she jumped off the couch and nearly threw her phone. She calmed down a little when she realized it was just Aeri, albeit an Aeri with a bewildered and somewhat suspicious look on her face.
"Jeez Aeri, you snap really loud," Jimin blurted, hand over her still-racing heart.
"What? It didn't seem that loud to me." Aeri said. "Anyway, what's up with you, Jimin? You're so jumpy lately."
"Am I?" Jimin avoided her gaze. She really needed to get whatever this was under control. She didn't want the others to worry about her when she was probably just overworking herself; she just needed to take it easy, let herself relax, and soon enough this whole episode would pass right over. Yep. Any day now.
"Yeah, you are. Have you been getting enough sleep?" Aeri questioned.
"I guess I could probably use some more." Well, it's the truth.
"Hey, don't push yourself, okay? Get some rest tonight."
"Yeah, I'll try."
Jimin sighed.
–
Along with Aeri's concern, Yizhuo and Minjeong kept giving Jimin these not-so-subtle concerned glances whenever she slipped up slightly in practice or stumbled over her words or overreacted just a bit to a loud noise or flash of light.
Evidently her worsening condition was starting to show; even Jimin herself could see it in the bags under her eyes when she looked in the mirror, could feel it in her own sluggish, delayed movements.
All of her members and even some staff had asked her what was wrong lately, advised her to get more sleep, drink more water, don't be so hard on herself, but nothing was helping. They all spoke to her with hints of worry in their voices and to be honest, Jimin was getting a little worried herself.
She didn't know what to say to any of them. She just knew deep down that none of their advice would work. Jimin felt like there was something wrong with her, deeply, fundamentally. Something that couldn't be fixed with a few naps, if she even could nap anymore.
She didn't want to think about it. But of course, all of what she'd been experiencing wasn't even the end of Jimin's problems. In fact, as it would turn out, this was only the beginning.
It was one of their rare days off when Jimin's next...issue...made itself known.
It was raining that afternoon so it was grey and cloudy outside, which Jimin was thankful for. She was lounging on the couch in the main living area of her apartment, scrolling mindlessly through her phone when Minjeong flopped down next to her.
"Hey," Jimin greeted her, barely looking up. This was a fairly usual occurrence for them, and Jimin wasn't feeling too uncomfortable today, so she was grateful for Minjeong's presence.
"Hi, unnie. I'm bored. Whatcha doing?" Minjeong asked in her usual light, airy tone as she moved closer, their legs and sides brushing as she leaned her neck over Jimin's shoulder to peek at her fairly uninteresting Instagram feed.
"Not much, just..." Jimin trailed off as her nose twitched.
Before Jimin could process anything, she inhaled...and her senses were instantly flooded with the most overwhelmingly potent scent she'd ever experienced in her life; it was dizzying. Sweet and rich, sort of like vanilla, but also a hint of something flowery and crisp, and it was...so unmistakably Minjeong.
Oh god, I can smell her.
Of course, she'd smelled Minjeong before. They lived in the same apartment after all, and even aside from that, they'd been in the same group together for years, always in close proximity, never too far apart. She'd smelled her in every flavor of shampoo and body wash imaginable, more perfumes than she could even name, smelled her sweat after long hours of dancing and her clean, damp skin after she got out of the shower.
But this was different. It had never, ever, been like this before. Minjeong was right there, her neck right next to Jimin's face as she breathed her in, and it was too much and not enough at the same time. Minjeong's scent was incredibly strong in the best possible way, and there was something about her scent that had always been there but had never caught her attention until now that drew Jimin in, made her want to...
She didn't even know.
All she knew was that she could smell Minjeong, and Minjeong was absolutely mouthwatering.
"Um, Jimin? Are you okay?" Minjeong asked at Jimin's unresponsiveness, leaning away from her face to try and assess the situation.
Jimin finally snapped out of the trance she was under, though Minjeong's scent had barely gotten weaker at all. She hoped Minjeong didn't notice that she was inhaling slightly more intensely in an attempt to breathe as much of her in as she could.
"Yeah! I mean, yeah, sorry, you just...um...smell really good today," Jimin babbled.
Ugh, why would I say it like that.
Minjeong glanced down Jimin's face, then back to her eyes, a brow raised suggestively. "I guess you really think so. You're, uh, drooling." There was a hint of a teasing smile on her lips.
"W-what? Oh god–" Jimin frantically wiped at her mouth and chin with her sleeve only to come away with the horrifying revelation that yes, she had in fact been drooling at the smell of her roommate.
"Minjeongie, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking anything weird, I swear–" Jimin panicked, trying to explain herself.
But Minjeong cut her off. "It's okay, unnie, I'm just kidding. I know you've been tired and stuff lately." Jimin sighed in relief.
"But damn, if I didn't know any better I would have thought you were about to take a bite out of me!"
-
Jimin really wished Minjeong hadn't said that last part.
Because ever since then, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. She thought that now the sleep deprivation was getting to her for real this time, because, sure, Minjeong had always looked fairly kissable, but biteable? That was on a whole new level.
On top of that, Jimin still couldn't get enough of Minjeong's scent. She'd recently caught herself leaning in to Minjeong's neck a bit more often than was usual for them, and once or twice she'd even found herself sniffing the other girl's clothes and belongings when she wasn't around.
Yeah, she was definitely going crazy. Either that, or she was turning into some kind of creep.
At least the one upside to this was that Jimin didn't have as much time to focus on all the other recent annoyances, since Minjeong took up so much of her thoughts and senses.
Minjeong herself didn't seem to notice or be bothered that much, though, other than the occasional weird look or teasing remark when Jimin couldn't stop herself from being a bit too clingy.
Like today, where they were cuddling in Minjeong's bed, supposedly watching a movie on her laptop. Jimin wasn't paying too much attention to the screen though; she was too engrossed in Minjeong's neck to focus on anything else.
She blamed it on the fact that they were in Minjeong's room where her scent was the strongest, seemingly embedded into her pillows and comforter and lingering in the air. That was why Jimin's already heightened senses were going haywire, and the only thing she could do to stop herself from doing something even weirder was bury her face in the crevice of Minjeong's neck and hope her actions didn't gross her out.
"Unnie, are you tired? We can just sleep if you want," said Minjeong. Her voice was soft, and Jimin could feel the vibrations of her throat as she nuzzled closer.
"Mmm," was all Jimin said in response, not having the brain capacity to form a proper answer.
Minjeong just giggled lightly. "Weirdo."
Jimin smiled into Minjeong's neck at the playful sentiment. She was so warm and her skin was so soft, and at some point Jimin had become hyper-focused on the steady rhythm of her pulse point, and her chest slightly rising and falling with her relaxed breathing. The beating of Minjeong's heart was a little more rapid than usual, and Jimin couldn't help but imagine the blood rushing through her arteries and veins just below the surface of her skin, skin that was so temptingly fragile. It'd be so, so, easy to break (and let the sweet redness underneath drip out onto her tongue).
Saliva pooled in her mouth.
Fuck.
–
Jimin tried not to think about it. She really did.
She ignored the way her stomach would lurch with something that wasn't quite nausea whenever the memory of her reaction the other night resurfaced. And she ignored the way she couldn't look Minjeong in the eye or be too close to her without starting to salivate.
Instead, Jimin put all her focus into her idol duties. No more late night cuddles or clothes-sniffing or drooling over her best friend's neck. That was what she told herself, at least.
Work wasn't really getting any easier, but she thought she might be getting used to the way things were now. Or she might have been imagining it. The past few days had been blending together in a haze, if Jimin was being honest with herself. Aeri and Yizhuo kept looking at her like they were afraid she might collapse at any moment, and they might not have been too far off.
Minjeong looked at her like that too, but her expression was a little different, a little deeper, more hurt.
At least that's what Jimin thought she picked up on from the few glances she'd spared Minjeong's way since that night. Looking at her too much made her feel things (desires, urges, instincts) that she wasn't ready to confront yet. And she really didn't want to start drooling again.
She thought she'd played it off pretty well after the...incident, but maybe she had been too abrupt in tearing herself away from Minjeong's warm body or too messy with her haphazard excuse to get back to her own room, because she could feel Minjeong's patience with her running thin.
She felt Minjeong's eyes on her all throughout dance practice today, and her gaze wasn't as soft and caring as usual. Jimin could practically feel her eyes boring into her all day long, narrowed in suspicion. She pretended she didn't notice anything, but Minjeong obviously knew Jimin was hiding something.
Jimin sped out of the company building later that evening and made a beeline for her room after arriving at the apartment in an attempt to avoid any more prolonged amounts of time spent around Minjeong, and therefore avoid any further incidents.
Jimin really shouldn't even have felt guilty. It's not like she even knew what she was hiding other than a few strange annoyances and bodily reactions lately, so she technically wasn't even doing anything wrong.
But those facts didn't stop her from feeling like the worst person in the world when Minjeong came into her bedroom that night looking like a kicked puppy and begging her, "Please, Jimin, I can't take this anymore, just tell me what's going on."
Minjeong sat down tentatively next to Jimin on the edge of her bed and said, "I can help you. We can all help you. Just please talk to me for once so we can get through this, okay?"
Her voice was high and pleading, desperate, and Jimin choked back the guilt, until it felt like she was choking on something else.
That scent.
Minjeong. But sharper. More concentrated, and more direct, like smelling salts right under her nose.
She glanced down to Minjeong's arm and saw a small cut, maybe an inch long, red, open.
Jimin let out a shuddering breath as an intense wave of dizzying desire overcame her, clouding her mind and fogging her senses and rationality. She clenched her hands into fists and pressed her nails into her palms in an attempt to physically restrain herself from lurching forward.
She needed Minjeong's blood so desperately that it was almost painful.
"You've been avoiding me, unnie. You won't even look at me lately! Did I do something wrong?" Minjeong asked, exasperated.
Jimin was panting with the shock and severity of her desires, Minjeong's voice just an echo somewhere in the back of her mind. All of her senses were locked onto Minjeong's wound. Her mouth felt weird. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to control herself for much longer.
"Minjeongie...I..."
Jimin's voice felt faraway, small and pathetic. It was difficult to get the words out, having to spare the energy to form her mouth into shapes and sounds when all her body wanted was for every cell to be laser focused on the tiny injury.
Minjeong must have noticed where her gaze was, because she held her arm up to Jimin's face and said, "Oh, this? Don't worry about me, it's just a scratch, see? Never mind that, can you please just...Jimin?"
Jimin let out a strangled whimper, finally looking Minjeong in the eye, trying to communicate something. She registered a faint tugging sensation on her teeth.
Minjeong inhaled sharply. She yanked her arm away.
The sudden reaction brought Jimin somewhat back to her senses and her eyes darted all over Minjeong's face, frantically trying to find the source of the wide-eyed, alarmed expression on her face.
"What?" Her mouth felt weird. Not weird like a few moments ago when it was hard to form words, but physically weird. Like...there was something in her mouth. Or more accurately, sticking out of her mouth, moving awkwardly against her tongue and lips as she spoke.
Jimin instinctively opened her mouth wider and ran her tongue along the top row of teeth, only to be met with something in place of her canines...something long and...sharp.
Horrified, she slapped a hand over her mouth and scrambled back away from Minjeong instantly.
No, no, no, no.
This can't be happening. What's wrong with me? What am I doing? What...am I? Oh god, I almost hurt Minjeong. I need to leave, stay away from her, I have to–
"Unnie! Jimin, look at me!"
Minjeong was shaking Jimin's shoulders and yelling in her face. Jimin snapped out of her spiral and blinked up at her, confused as to why she was getting this close when she'd definitely just seen something weird and unnatural.
Then she saw that cut again and forced her head to turn the other way, squeezing her eyes shut and letting out a tiny grunt from the sheer willpower it took to stop the urges from getting to her.
Jimin squinted one eye open to see Minjeong glance up from the cut on her own arm to Jimin's bared teeth, and a flash of understanding crossed her gaze. Jimin immediately clamped her mouth shut, though she could still feel her...fangs...poking her bottom lip uncomfortably.
"I'll be right back, Jimin. Wait here."
Minjeong exited the room and Jimin barely had any time to process any of this before she returned, still stuck in a daze of sensations.
Minjeong entered a few moments later, with no changes except for three large band-aids she had seemingly used to cover up her tiny cut. A little excessive, but whatever.
"There. No more blood. That was the problem, right?" asked Minjeong.
Jimin looked at her, incredulous. "W-well, I think I might have a few more problems than that..."
Her voice was shaking and it really did feel weird to talk with the new obstructions in her mouth, but Jimin did have to admit that the cloudy haze that had been completely overtaking her moments ago had mostly dissipated back down to its normal levels. At least, as normal as it usually was around Minjeong.
"Well, yeah, obviously," Minjeong replied, eyeing her mouth. "But at least you're not about to maul me anymore, right?"
Jimin's face flushed with remorse and embarrassment over her not being able to control herself. "I'm sorry...I-I didn't mean–" Her voice wobbled.
"I know. It's okay," said Minjeong, her voice softer now. "It's not your fault. It's just, like...your nature, or something, right? I can't be mad at that."
Jimin looked at her. "Why does it seem like I'm more freaked out than you are right now?"
Minjeong smiled slightly and shrugged. "I dunno. It just doesn't feel that surprising for some reason, I guess. Especially with how you've been acting lately. And I mean...it's kinda cool, right?"
Jimin raised an eyebrow. "Cool?"
"I mean, you're, like...a vampire, right? That's pretty cool."
At that word Jimin swallowed and looked away. "I don't know what I am. I just f-feel like a freak." She bit down on her bottom lip on instinct and her sharp teeth immediately made her wince. "Ow. See?"
Minjeong apparently took that as a literal invitation to come closer, because she leaned forward right up to Jimin's face. Jimin pressed her lips shut self-consciously.
"Let me see them."
"No."
"Come on, please? I just want a closer look."
"No. It's embarrassing."
"Ooh, I saw them a little when you talked. I just have to keep you talking then, hmm..."
Jimin couldn't help the small hint of a smile forming on her lips. "Shut up."
Minjeong mockingly gasped and clutched her hand to her chest. "Wow, unnie...that hurts." Jimin rolled her eyes, and Minjeong finally resorted to putting on that one puppy dog expression.
Jimin sighed.
"Ugh, whatever. You can look," Jimin relented and Minjeong's face lit up.
Jimin awkwardly bared her teeth, hesitant. She probably looked so stupid. Minjeong studied her fangs closely for a few moments, then met her eyes. "Don't be embarrassed, Jimin. Your fangs are kinda cute anyway."
Jimin looked at her in disbelief. "You're seriously weird..." She sighed. "Well, whatever. I just hope these aren't permanent."
"Wait, this is seriously the first time your fangs have come out?"
"Um, yeah. I didn't even know that what's happening to me was...not normal...until now."
"Wow, okay," said Minjeong. "I guess you have a lot to learn then. You probably haven't even drank blood yet. No wonder you've been so low on energy."
"I...haven't. Done that." Jimin glanced quickly down at Minjeong's band-aids as she felt her stomach twist uncomfortably. She should have been disgusted at the thought of drinking blood, but instead she was mostly just disgusted at herself for not finding it repulsive in the slightest and actually finding the idea...tempting, to say the least.
"But you want to, right?" Minjeong asked earnestly.
Jimin blushed. "Um, I dunno."
She did. She really, really did. It was an undeniable fact at this point.
"You want to drink my blood specifically, right?"
A guilty expression formed on Jimin's face as she felt herself starting to salivate again at that thought.
She'd probably taste so good...
Stop, stop, stop.
"I'm so sorry, Minjeong. I-I'd never actually hurt you. You know that, right?"
"Of course. Don't worry, I trust you, unnie. But...you do need it, though, right? Blood?"
Jimin sighed. "...Yes. I think so."
Even now, Jimin was still craving it. Her desires were easier to control and suppress when Minjeong's blood wasn't tempting her directly in her face, but she was pretty sure she was going to need something sooner or later if she wanted to gain her regular energy levels back, and normal food didn't seem to be enough, if the past few weeks were anything to go off of. Jimin swallowed.
"I mean, honestly, I don't think I'd really mind..."
Minjeong mumbled something under her breath.
"What?"
"Never mind. Don't worry, though, Jimin. I'll help you figure out your situation. We can get through it together, okay?"
She breathed a sigh of gratefulness. "Thanks, Minjeong. And thanks for not being, like...weirded out and stuff."
"Oh, you're plenty weird. You being a vampire just doesn't have anything to do with it." Minjeong smirked.
"Shut up, Minjeongie," Jimin laughed and pulled the smaller girl into her arms, both of them flopping back onto her bed, and for once, Jimin actually felt tired enough to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.