Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jin fucked up when turning Jungkook. It’s the only explanation.

#

“No.”

“Jungkook-”

“No, I’m not doing it and you can’t make me.”

“Yes I can.”

“But you won’t.”

Jin squeezes his eyes shut. He’s never been more tempted in his unlife to exert his influence and force a progeny to obey. None of the five before Jungkook were this frustrating; not even Yoongi who’d melodramatically driven two swords through Jin’s chest, burned his house to ashes, then sauntered off to Hong Kong for the next decade after a tiff.

That was annoying. This wiggles under Jin’s skin and scratches and itches and makes him want to bury Jungkook in the flower bed and leave him there for the next century.

But Jin’s a good sire so he counts to ten and opens his eyes.

“Jungkook-ah,” he says in a calm tone that does not mirror his feelings. “You know what to do. I know you know what to do. So please drink before I drive a stake through your fucking heart.”

Jungkook purses his lips together and shakes his head like a disobedient toddler.

Jin’s fingers twitch with the want to break his neck. He’s done it to Namjoon when he’s fallen into one of his maudlin states but the worry that it’ll undo all Jungkook’s progress staves his hands.

“It’s her or nothing,” Jin says. “You’re not getting anything else.”

“Fine.”

“You’ll starve.”

“Fine.”

He would do it too, starve himself until Jin caves. But Jin refuses to. This time.

“Fine,” Jin parrots and gently tips the woman’s head to the side and pulls back her hair. She’s utterly malleable under his glamour but holds her new position like a plastic mannequin.

Jin trails a finger down her neck and her pulse beats slow beneath his fingertips. He likes the feel of life, likes to be reminded that this was him once, so long ago that his memory is fuzzy and faded, people and places blurred, history and fable sutured together and impossible to tell one from the other. He thinks he might almost be able to recall being on the other side, being his sire’s feast, but he also thinks he might be creating the feeling from his progenies experiences-

Jungkook snatches Jin’s wrist and Jin jumps. “Stop touching her,” Jungkook says, possibly snarls. It’s hard to tell when he’s tripping over his baby fangs.

Jin shakes him off but Jungkook continues to glower, not realising he looks as threatening as a Chihuahua puppy.

“If you’re not going to use these put them away.” Jin taps a fang and instantly realises his mistake when Jungkook takes Jin’s finger into his mouth.

Jin rolls his eyes. “Don’t think you can distract me.” He extracts his finger, or tries to because Jungkook catches the digit between his teeth and razor sharp fangs slice skin.

“You little shit,” Jin shouts and wrenches his arm back. The wound on his finger closes in an instant.

Jungkook’s lips curl into a cocky grin. He licks blood off his fangs while holding eye contact with Jin. Then he moans and Jin would think it exaggerated but Jungkook’s arousal surges through their bond and ignites Jin. He’s never had a progeny so constantly horny- no, wait, Taehyung. Taehyung was - still is - insatiable, but he’s insatiable for everyone; Jungkook only wants Jin.

It’s more evidence that he somehow screwed up when he turned Jungkook.

“Hyung, you taste so wonderful, hyung.” Jungkook leans forward, eyelids hooded.

“You know what tastes even better? Her.”

Jungkook scowls. “No.”

“Suit yourself.” Jin touches the woman’s neck again and Jungkook growls. It’s insane that he’s jealous of Jin feeding. He hadn’t known it was possible to be jealous of a feeding until Jungkook nearly killed the first person Jin brought home post turning.

Jin ignores Jungkook and pierces the woman’s neck. Her blood is liquid divinity and Jin drinks and drinks and Jungkook becomes more and more agitated. It taints their bond and detracts from his pleasure. Jin would close his side of their link but the last time he did that Jungkook cried. So he wills himself not to be bothered, not to be hurried, but it’s near impossible with Jungkook inching closer and closer and figuratively breathing down his neck.

Jin relents before he’s full. He draws back and is still high on the feeding when Jungkook throws himself into Jin’s lap and smashes their mouths together hard enough that Jin hears the crack of Jungkook breaking his jaw. Jin drowsily tries to wrest him off but Jungkook tightens his already painful grip on Jin’s hair and Jin has no desire to find himself bald so he backs off, lets Jungkook suck the blood off his lips and lick into his mouth and sweep him into a kiss. It’s not the best - Jungkook rough and eager and Jin sloppy and passive - but Jin doesn’t particularly mind and he knows Jungkook’s ecstatic for them to be kissing at all.

Jin allows it while he comes down from the feeding but when Jungkook grinds down in his lap he pulls back. Jungkook kisses him again so Jin breaks it again. And then Jungkook tries again so Jin holds him at arm length.

“Down boy.”

“I’m not a dog,” Jungkook grumbles and throws himself at Jin again.

Jin easily tosses Jungkook onto the chair. “Down.”

Jungkook huffs.

Jin presses a finger to his own fang and draws blood. Jungkook straightens up, nails clawing at the armrests.

“There’s still plenty of her to go around,” Jin says.

Jungkook looks at Jin, at the blood on his finger, at Jin again. “I don’t want her.”

“You’re not having me either.”

“You’ve said that before.”

Jin has, repeatedly, and then all it takes is a few hours of Jungkook’s doe eyes and a sorrowful bond and Jin invites Jungkook to take his fill. But he doesn’t understand why Jungkook won’t feed from anyone but him. Jimin had been similar, anxious about moving on from Jin’s blood to a human but at least he’d been willing to try with Jin beside him. Jungkook… Jungkook just won’t.

Jin swipes his blood over the punctures in the woman’s neck and the broken skin mends seamlessly together. He then cleans the little blood smeared across her skin with a cloth. While he does he gets an idea.

“Are you really never going to drink from a human?” he asks Jungkook nonchalantly.

“Nope.”

“Then I shouldn’t bother bringing anyone back?”

“Nope.” There’s a full second pause before his expression turns suspicious. “Why? What are you getting at?”

“I’m saying I won’t bring anyone else back. You can stay here and I’ll go out alone to feed.” Jin makes a show of tucking the woman’s hair behind her ear and Jungkook twitches. “Maybe I can find another pretty donor.” Jin peeks at Jungkook through his eyelashes, aiming for sultry but feeling corny. ”Like how I used to have you.”

It’s cheap and obvious and he really shouldn’t threaten to replace Jungkook, not when he’s so young and emotionally unstable, but he does it anyway.

“You can’t,” Jungkook says, voice rough and serious. He sounds intimidating and Jin is pleased to discover his puppy progeny can bite.

“Why not? I’ll even let you continue to drink from me. Isn’t that what you want?”

“Stop it. I’m not sharing you.”

“It’s just a feeding, Jungkook-ah, no one’s sharing me.”

“No.”

“Jungkook-ah, you have a choice. Either I bring humans back and we feed off them together, or I do it alone.”

Jungkook expression twists to devastation and their bond reeks of it. Jin clenches his jaw. He needs to nip this behaviour in the bud. He’s not going to give in. He’s really, really, really not going to give in this time.

“Hyung,” Jungkook says and the bite is now a pout. “Sire.”

“Oh don’t even try that sire shit. It’s not nearly as charming as you think.”

Jungkook scowls. “You’re not allowed to leave me. You promised.”

“I’m not leaving you-”

“You can’t!”

“I’m not-”

“You promised!”

“Jungkook-”

“I won’t let you!”

Jungkook’s fangs come out and their bond is a storm of ferocious emotions that throw Jin off kilter. He subtly tampers down his side of the link but Jungkook picks up on it instantly, his big eyes already glistening wet with betrayal.

This night is not going as planned.

Jin takes Jungkook’s face in his hands and quietly shushes his sobs. Jungkook takes Jin’s shirt in his hands and accidentally rips through the fabric. The second one that night and the ninth that week. Another eight million won destroyed.

“Sorry,” Jungkook mumbles against Jin’s chest.

“It’s not your fault. You’re still new and it’s all very difficult, I know.” Jin barely remembers it from his own experience but he remembers each progeny fighting through their transition, struggling with untamed emotions and stumbling through sudden strength. Hoseok’s had been the easiest, almost as natural and graceful as a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly, but Namjoon had suffered the worst, and cost Jin a fortune in tailors and furniture.

None of them had been quite like Jungkook.

“I’m not going to leave and I don’t mean to punish you, Jungkook-ah, but you have to drink human blood. You can’t keep relying on me.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re a vampire and vampires feed off humans.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“But you’re going to.” Jin pushes Jungkook off- Jin tries to push Jungkook him off but Jungkook clings tighter and breaks a couple of Jin’s ribs. He grunts at the sting but they’re already mending.

Jin peels Jungkook’s arms away while his progeny whines and deliberately widens mournful eyes because he knows Jin’s weak for his annoyingly innocent face.

Not this time.

Jin recaptures his resolve and breaks free. He stands by the placid woman and tips her neck and pats the skin. “Right here, Jungkook-ah.”

Jungkook doesn’t move.

Jin flushes their bond with quiet anger and disappointment. Even while Jungkook’s bottom lip quivers and his eyes get glassy with tears.

“Jungkook-ah,” Jin says, not quite commanding but stern. It’s as close to imposing his influence as he’s ever got, with Jungkook at least.

Jungkook snivels.

Jin holds firm.

The innocence dissolves and Jungkook glares. “I hate you.”

Jin doesn’t get the chance to respond before Jungkook barrels into him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Jungkook kisses Jin over and over and Jin remembers the time before he turned Jungkook, back when he thought this one would be simple.

He shoves Jungkook’s head into the woman’s neck. Jungkook’s canines don’t extend. Even though he’s an inch from an artery and can smell, feel, hear the blood pounding under her skin.

Any other newborn vampire would have ripped into her by now, unable to resist for a second, and Jin would be on standby waiting for the moment to pull them off because they would never be able to control themselves. He’d done it five times before.

But Jungkook. Jungkook isn’t tempted. How could he not be tempted? How could he not be tempted when bloodlust is basically written into vampire genes, is practically a rite of newborn vampire passage?

What is wrong with him?

Jungkook tilts his head and looks at Jin. Jin narrows his eyes and paints himself the picture of disapproving. “Her or I feed alone.”

Jungkook growls from the back of his throat. It’s cute. Jin doesn’t tell him that.

Finally, finally, Jungkook lengthens his fangs and bites. It’s sloppy and blood rivets down her back but Jin doesn’t care if it’s accidental or passive-aggressive because he’s just so fucking thankful they’ve made it to this stage.

Jungkook lifts his head. “I don’t like it.”

“You’re lying and I don’t care. Feed.”

Jungkook stares at Jin and there’s something in his eyes that makes Jin wary.

He lowers his fangs back to her neck… while staring at Jin… while his expression tilts sly. Then he tears into her, slices his fangs through a main artery and blood spurts. Everywhere. On the walls, the ceiling, the furniture, Jungkook, Jin.

And Jungkook smirks.

Jin grabs him by the throat and throws him across the room. Then he covers the woman’s wound with one hand and bites his other wrist open. He holds it to the woman’s lips and instructs her to drink.

Jealously blazes through their bond and Jin returns his own fury. “Don’t. You have no one but yourself to blame.” And because he’s pissed he adds, “It’ll be your fucking fault if I have to turn her too.”

Jungkook is fast. Swifter than a human eye can follow he’s on Jin. But Jin’s quicker and stronger and he stops Jungkook from doing something reckless like killing the poor woman. Jungkook thrashes and Jin breaks his back to give himself a minute of peace.

The woman mindlessly drinks while Jungkook cries on the floor. His pain creeps into Jin but it’s nothing really, nothing compared to the hell Jin’s endured through his centuries. But to Jungkook it’s the worst agony he’s known as a vampire, and his sire inflicted it. Jin withholds his guilt from Jungkook; he doesn’t need the brat wielding it against him later.

The blood seeping between Jin’s fingers tapers off and he releases the woman’s throat to see the ragged wound knit together. He sucks his fingers and licks his palm clean and somehow, somehow Jungkook is turned on, even while writhing as his bones reconstruct.

Jin steps over him and kneels before the woman. “How do you feel?” he asks.

“Tired and weak,” she says, eyes unfocused but voice holding firm.

“You’re going to forget this night,” Jin commands. Her pupils dilate under the glamour. “Tonight when you sleep you will have wonderful dreams and wake up feeling positive and refreshed.” It’s the least he can do. That and pay their Uber.

His gaze strays to the blood smeared up her neck and dripping down her dress to puddle onto his original 16th century Persian rug. “Er, this is wine. If it doesn’t wash out you can send me the bill.” He takes her phone and enters his number with the explicit order to delete if she doesn’t require his money. It’s more than he’s done for any other human recently but Jungkook did paint the room in her blood.

He sends her to wash up while he arranges her Uber. Jungkook sits up and mopes at Jin. His face is lined with tears so it’s more effective than Jin lets on. “I’m going to take her down to the car,” Jin says, anticipating the tantrum.

Jungkook lives up to expectations and grabs Jin’s leg. “Why? Why?”

“Because I don’t want the driver questioning why a woman is leaving my flat looking like Carrie.”

“Who’s Carrie? Is she another of your humans? Hyung?”

“No, she’s a- you know what, it doesn’t matter. Just stay here and don’t throw yourself out the window after me. Again.”

Jungkook scrambles to his feet. “I’ll come with you.”

“I’ll be gone two minutes.”

“I don’t want you gone two minutes.”

Stupid warmth blooms in Jin’s chest. Jungkook’s obsessive need to attach himself to Jin like a leech is suffocating, but sometimes, despite himself, Jin finds it delightful.

Jin brushes Jungkook’s hair back and kisses his forehead. Jungkook’s eyelids flutter and he gently sighs. This is who Jin fell in love with, this beautiful, sweet boy with overflowing adoration.

“Stay here,” Jin whispers. “I’ll be back to you in no time at all.”

Jungkook wraps his arms around Jin’s waist and lays his head on Jin’s thigh. “I hate when you’re gone.”

“Yes, I know. I haven’t had a solo shower since I turned you.”

“Showering is more fun with two people.”

“I suppose you’re not wrong.”

Jin’s phone dings. Jungkook’s arms tighten.

“Two minutes,” Jin says.

“No,” Jungkook says, but he’s being more playfully rebellious than outright obstinate, and only half fights when Jin pries him off.

Jin calls the woman from the bathroom and she returns with her face and neck somewhat clean. “Your ride is here,” he tells her. She stares without acknowledgement until Jin helps her into her coat and hands over her purse. “Come along,” he says and places a hand on her back to lead her out the flat.

Jungkook hisses, actually hisses like he’s a cartoon vampire faced with a crucifix.

“Stop being theatrical.” Jin throws him a withering look but removes his hands from her back. He guides the woman down the lift and to the car, glamours the driver, and waves them off. He feels Jungkook’s eyes on him the whole time. He purposely does not spare the window a glance.

In the lift Jin basks in this singular moment of solitude but still finds himself pining for Jungkook, as if that’s possible. It’s probably their bond, probably Jungkook’s extreme withdrawal powering through their bond and infecting Jin. He hopes it’s that. Hopes he’s not mad enough to actually long for Jungkook after minutes apart. One of them in this relationship is enough.

The lift opens and Jin is body slammed into the back wall splintering the mirror. Great. Now he’s going to have to glamour security and pay to have it replaced.

Jungkook fists Jin’s shirt and kisses him. It’s softer than Jin anticipates, but the way Jungkook presses up against him is pure lust. “I missed you,” Jungkook breathes against his lips.

“You? Never.”

Jungkook mouths over his jaw, hands ghosting down Jin’s chest.

Jin’s skin is alight at the friction, at the arousal seeping from Jungkook and kindling in Jin like a fever. Half of him wants to tear Jungkook’s clothes off and fuck him against the broken mirror. The other half eyes the camera in the corner and pictures the security guard gawking at his monitor.

He hits the button to reopen the lift doors while Jungkook sucks on his earlobe and undoes his belt.

“Not here.” He nods to the camera.

“Let them watch.” Jungkook peels Jin’s zipper down but Jin captures his wandering hands.

“Since when are you the exhibitionist?”

“I want them to see. I want everyone to see us.”

“I’m surprised you’d allow anyone to see me naked. You put a chopstick through Taehyung’s jugular for insinuating-”

Jungkook throws Jin over his shoulder and their flat flies by in a blur until Jin is tossed onto the bed. Jungkook kneels over him, baby fangs large and shiny and impressive for a newborn. “Don’t say his name. You’re mine.”

“I’m not just-”

Jungkook smacks his hand over Jin’s mouth. A tooth loosens and Jin tongues it back into place.

Jungkook’s unblinking eyes bore into Jin’s. “You’re mine right now,” he says, voice low and gravelly. “In this moment you belong only to me. None of the others hold claim to you because you. Are. With. Me.”

Jin is tempted to ask if he’s owned by anyone in his proximity, but Jungkook vibrates with a whirlpool of aggression and fear and jealousy and desire and maybe it’s best to let this one go. Even if Jin does feel like a chew toy the puppy has stolen for himself.

Jin removes Jungkook’s hand from his mouth. “Jungkook-ah-”

Jungkook tries to stop him speaking again, first with his hands and then with his lips. Jin pecks him back once then pushes him off.

“Jungkook-ah-”

“Don’t,” Jungkook snaps, but his eyes are red and watery. Jin expects that Jungkook expects a lecture on sharing, accompanied with the statement that Jungkook holds the same value in Jin’s heart as any of his progeny, that they’re all equal.

Jin smiles softly. “I love you.”

Like a switch the tears and melancholy dissolve into a wide toothy grin and crinkled eyes. “I love you too. I really, really love you. So, so, so, so much. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. More than I could ever love anyone or anything ever.” The bond explodes with love. Wholesome love and enamoured love and impassioned love and lascivious love and unimaginable soul crushing can’t-live-without-you love.

It’s momentous and beautiful. And weighty.

It’s so much- too much love, and Jin is burdened by the outpour of Jungkook’s emotions. How can one person contain infinite galaxies of love? How can he recklessly bestow it upon another? How can Jin bear such raw idolisation and devotion?

How can he ever return even a fraction of that love?

He’s undeserving.

And he knows Jungkook is forever grateful for the incomparable shred of love Jin is capable of giving, but it pains him that he can’t give more, that his feelings will never reach the ocean depths of Jungkook’s.

He occasionally wishes Jungkook loved him less.

Jin musters his own subpar feelings - the happiness he receives purely from Jungkook’s company, the pride in watching his youngest progeny wobble into his new undead life, the awe that Jungkook choose him, the serenity, the hope, the joy that Jungkook inspires, and, of course, his love, his love that Jungkook surreptitiously planted in Jin’s heart and fed and watered until the roots were dug in deep enough to no longer require outside tending - he collects it all and attempts to broadcast their extent and depths through his link to Jungkook.

“Hyung!” Jungkook gasps. And bursts into tears. Not his usual pretty sniffles but heaving bellowing sobs that pop Jin’s sensitive eardrums.

Jin retracts his emotions from the bond-

-Jungkook screeches and tucks around Jin like an octopus.

Jin lets a little back in and pats his back. “There, there.”

He absolutely has to teach Jungkook better emotional control. Or any emotional control. A smidgen would be spectacular.

Jin’s phone vibrates in his pocket. He sneaks it out and opens the message behind Jungkook’s head. It’s a selfie of Namjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi sitting outside a cafe with the caption ‘look who i bumped into in rome!!’, and they do indeed look like they’ve all come back from three different outings and happened to bump into each other; Namjoon from a farm, Hoseok from a beach front tourist trap, and Yoongi from a crypt.

Jin would send a selfie back but he’s blocked by Jungkook’s everything so he instead types ‘my precious babies!’ and is in the process of adding a few smiling faces with hearts, some blowing a kiss, a couple of hugging smilies, when Jungkook stiffens and abruptly stops wailing.

“What are you-” Jungkook spies the message, sees Hoseok’s name at the top and the barrage of emojis in the reply. He grabs the phone and hurls it across the room where it shatters against the wall like confetti. “No.”

Jin looks from the mess on the floor, to his open poised hand, to Jungkook who at least appears regretful, minimally regretful, as though he doesn’t regret throwing the phone but would have preferred not to have been caught doing so.

“When you’re on hold with my insurance tomorrow I hope you remember this moment.”

Jungkook folds his arms. “You broke the rule. You’re not allowed to contact them when you’re. With. Me.”

“That isn’t a rule, that’s one of your tantrum demands. Which I did not agree to by the way.”

“Well then you should.”

Jin boops his nose. “So demanding for a newborn vampire.”

“Your vampire.”

“Who else would have you?”

Jungkook slaps Jin’s upper chest. His collarbone only fractures so he presumes Jungkook was trying to be gentle.

“Am I your favourite progeny, hyung?”

Jin opens his mouth but Jungkook immediately interrupts. “You have to tell me what I want to hear.”

Jin opens his mouth again but Jungkook interrupts again. “You have to tell me I’m your favourite. Say ‘you are my favourite progeny’, okay?”

Jin cuts off a snort, opens his mouth but Jungkook interrupts again again. “You can’t say anything else. You have to tell me I’m your favourite. You have to, okay? Promise me.”

Jin sighs fondly and nods. He opens his mouth, waits a beat, then says, “Jungkook-ah, you are my most favourite progeny. The best progeny I could ever want.”

Jungkook blushes and curls inward, hands half covering his ears as delighted embarrassment infuses their bond. It’s too cute, cuter than Jin can bear. He leans up onto his elbows and lightly presses his lips to Jungkook’s, drawing out a squeaky, “Hyung!” Jungkook chases Jin back down on the bed and presses butterfly kisses up his chin, at the corner of his mouth, across his cheekbones, and over each eyelid.

Jin laughs and patters his fingertips along Jungkook’s spine.

“Say it again,” Jungkook begs into his ear. “Just once more.”

“No, you’ll get conceited.”

“Because I’m you best progeny? Because I’m your favourite? Because you love me the most?”

“Yah, one compliment and it’s gone right to your head. I should take it back.”

Jungkook draws back to peer down at Jin, his expression crushed, eyelashes blinking back tears, lower lip quivering. It’s a bluff, their bond still ripples with self-satisfied achievement and gushing contentment. But it does work on Jin, as much as he wishes and pretends otherwise.

“Okay fine. You’re my best, sweetest, most cherished progeny. My only favourite.”

“Hyung,” Jungkook breathes, then drapes himself over Jin, radiating childish glee as he wraps Jin in his arms. It takes so little to bring him joy. It also takes so little to send him bawling but Jin focuses on the positive of his baby vampire.

“Do you remember when we first met?” Jungkook asks, not remotely for the first time.

Jin hums affirmatively. He’d forgotten until Jungkook sparked his memory during their second meeting, though he’d lied about it at the time since Jungkook was so fascinatingly enthusiastic to have crossed paths again.

“You appeared out of nowhere to protect me,” Jungkook adds, snuggling into Jin’s chest. “You were my saviour.”

“I don’t think chasing away a few bullies makes me your saviour.”

“Yes it does. You were my beautiful guardian angel who came to rescue me when I had no one. It was fate. We are fated.”

Jin doesn’t believe in fate. Doesn’t until he thinks about his six progenies and how out of all the billions of people in the world now, and all the billions of people who have come and gone in the past thousand years, he somehow managed to find them, turn them, and keep them with him for centuries.

“You have no idea how much I wished to go back to that night and live it over and over,” Jungkook murmurs.

Jin does know, Jungkook has told him repeatedly.

Jungkook has also repeatedly shared his version of events, that an ethereal angel swooped in from the darkness to terrify away his bullies and offer a shield to young Jungkook when he was scared and hurting. This angel had shown his fangs, revealed his true vampire nature in good faith and patted magical blood on cuts and scrapes and healed Jungkook. Jungkook begged him to stay, begged to go with this hero but was denied.

Jin though, has never told Jungkook his version of events, that he’d only put a stop to the bullies because he’d been in the middle of seducing a silver fox with movie studio connections and the intrusive childish taunts were kind of a mood dampener. He then doesn’t add that the boy left his mind once out of sight and would have stayed gone without Jungkook’s persistent reminders.

“Did you love me at first sight?” Jungkook asks.

“You were eight.”

“I was twelve!”

“Really? You were so tiny.”

“I was tall for my age!”

“Huh.” Jin shrugs. “All children look the same to me.” Like little sticky gremlins.

Jungkook brushes his lips against Jin’s chest. “Did you think I was a cute kid though?”

Jin recalls the googly eyed boy with the bowl cut and bulbous nose dribbling snot. “Yeah. Sure.”

The corners of Jungkook’s mouth lift into a shy smile. “I heard bells ring the first time we met. I never forgot about you. I used to sneak out at night looking for you and when I finally went to sleep you were in all my dreams. I spent years searching for you. And I found you.”

“You did. And then you never left me alone again.”

Jungkook pouts. “Well, yeah because you wouldn’t turn me.”

“You were a child.”

“I was seventeen!”

“You were a child. A dumb child who wanted to be a vampire because you met one once.”

“Because I met you. Because I wanted to spend eternity with you.”

Jin shakes his head. “You didn’t know me. What if we weren’t compatible? What if it turned out five years of fantasy wasn’t reality?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Jungkook says. He leans over Jin with too intense eye contact and says, breathily, “You’re perfect. You’re so fucking perfect.”

Heat flowers in Jin’s cheeks like he’s a flattered virgin. Why is it always Jungkook that sends him reeling? He’s lived through centuries of awed idolisation, been fawned over by royalty, been worshipped by thousands of humans, but Jungkook, his foolish, besotted baby progeny somehow flusters him with one nonsense compliment. Not even Yoongi, who composed and publicly performed songs pertaining to Jin’s manhood had caused him to blush in an instant. Nor Namjoon with his reverent poetry that would suddenly spill into eroticism or Taehyung with his gallery of ‘artistically’ nude portraits.

Just Jungkook.

Aided, probably, by the devotion overflowing in their bond. At least that would be an understandable reason; a maddening amount of love pressing too much weight into Jungkook’s blind praise.

To save himself Jin forcibly scoffs and presses his palm over Jungkook’s face to nudge him back. “If I was perfect you would be feeding from humans.”

Jungkook grabs Jin’s hand and plays with his fingers. “I don’t need anyone when I have you. Because you’re perfect and everything to me.”

“That’s delightful but you need to know how to feed from a human without killing them. You need to be able to survive on your-” Jin cuts himself off but too late.

Jungkook scowls and grips Jin’s wrists. “I’m never going to be on my own,” Jungkook snaps. “You swore we’d always be together. Don’t you dare ever think about leaving me.”

Jin had sworn that, just as he’d sworn it to his other progeny. He’d meant it each time, but when he meant it he also presumed his progeny would at some point desire their own independence and venture out into the world. And they had. Though perhaps Jungkook had taken his words a tad too literally.

“It was a slip of the tongue, JK, I’ll always be here. But you might want to be on your own one day-”

“No, never.”

“-but just in case-”

“Shut up.”

“-you’ll need to know how to safely feed.”

Jungkook grits his teeth and absently squeezes until Jin’s wrist bones grind together. “I’m not them,” Jungkook says, like it’s a dirty word, “I’m not going to desert you.”

“They didn’t desert me.”

“They did, they abandoned you.”

“Them parting from my side is not abandoning me. We’re immortal. Some time away from each other is healthy. And Jiminie and Tae were here two weeks ago or have you already forgotten trying to assassinate them? Multiple times.”

“I don’t like them.”

“You liked them perfectly fine before I turned you.”

“They weren’t all over you then.”

They were, but it had been easier for Jungkook without their bond showcasing Jin’s love for someone else. And Jungkook’s emotions weren’t quite so charged then.

“You’re new,” Jin says softly. “Your feelings may change when you mature.”

“They won’t and I am mature.”

“You’re a baby.”

“I’m an adult. I’m twenty three.”

Jin laughs and pats Jungkook’s head. “Aww, you’re adorable.”

“Stop it,” Jungkook says while shaking his head free, his expression trapped somewhere between a glare and a sulk. “Stop treating me like I’m a kid again.”

“Feed and I won’t.”

Jungkook leans back, still sat on Jin’s lap. The undercurrent of want fades from his end of their bond and is replaced with irritation. “I will never drink human blood again.”

Irritation leaks from Jin’s side of their bond too. “Yes you will.”

“Make me.”

“If you keep refusing I’ll have to.”

Jungkook turns his head away to the side. “You wouldn’t.”

Jin wouldn’t and it pisses him off. He stamps down on his exasperation but shares his disappointment with Jungkook. “Good vampires learn.”

Jungkook sticks out his tongue.

“The others learnt.”

Nails tear through Jin’s jeans. He wills the lacerations in his clothes to be aesthetically wearable.

“I think you could learn the quickest though. I think you could do it without me needing to intervene.” Jin sits up, tugs Jungkook chest to chest and whispers into his ear, “Don’t you want to prove you’re better than them?”

Jungkook swallows. He blares a cocktail of desire and daring, cockiness and pride, distrust and defiance. Ever prevalent jealousy swirls in the midst.

“Don’t you want to prove you’re the best for me?” Jin licks along the shell of Jungkook’s ear and nips at the lobe.

Jungkook goes very, very still, the way he does when he’s trying very, very hard not to stoop to his screaming emotions. “You’re…” He coughs the croak from his voice. “You’re manipulating me.”

“Yes I very obviously am. It would greatly please me if it worked.”

“You shouldn’t do that,” Jungkook say, quiet and strained. “It’s not fair.”

Jin places his hands on Jungkook’s knees and slowly trails up his thighs. “Is it not? Is hyung being mean and trying to trick you?”

“Yes,” Jungkook whispers.

“Poor little vampire. What a cruel sire you have.”

“You’re not cruel,” Jungkook says immediately, always ready to defend Jin even against himself. “You’re… you’re good- you’re great, incredible and brilliant and perfect and dazzling and breathtaking and-”

Jin snorts and not in a dazzling manner. “Is that so?”

Jungkook nods at super speed.

“I remember a time when you told me I ate like a deranged hog.”

“No! Well, yes, but I didn’t mean it. I was joking because you looked so funny- a nice funny! And you were still handsome even cross eyed. And I really didn’t mean to insult you, hyung. I would never I swear.”

“I stuffed an entire an entire steak in my mouth and slobbered all over my face and clothes. You weren’t wrong.” He lightly squeezes Jungkook’s waist. “Jungkook-ah, you can still tease me, you know? I always liked that about you and I don’t want you to stop because you’re my progeny now. Don’t change too much on me.”

Frantic, booming terror storms their bond.

Jin reacts before he thinks; hurls Jungkook into the corner and stands in front of him, teeth out, crouched to attack. Then his head clicks into gear and he unfurls his body and retracts his fangs. “JK,” Jin says, turning around and dropping his forehead onto Jungkook’s shoulder. “Is there a reason my immortal body just had its first heart attack?”

Jungkook doesn’t speak. Their bond is still chaos though, panic and horror and sickly dread; all the worst emotions bundled together.

Jin lifts his gaze. Jungkook is crying, silently, which is another first.

“Oh Jungkook-ah,” Jin whispers. He wipes tears but the stream is unyielding. “What happened? Did you have an unhappy thought? Did I let something bad into our bond?”

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence; newly turned vampires frequently spiralled into periods of distress over minute transgressions. Even Hoseok, his sunshine progeny fell to bouts of despondent introspection. But this was Jungkook’s first unprovoked dip.

“You don’t like me anymore,” Jungkook says, his voice wet and wobbly.

“What? In the last ten seconds?”

“You said I changed and you don’t want me to. You liked me when I was human but I forced you to make me a vampire and now I’m different and you don’t like what I’ve become. You hate me.” Jungkook slumps down the wall, turns away when Jin attempts to lift him to his feet.

Jin sits cross legged in front of him instead. “If I didn’t hate Yoongi for maiming me I’m not going to hate you for not mocking me.”

Jungkook tenses and scowls at the mention of Yoongi hurting Jin but misery overcomes rage. “I know I’m worse now.” Tears track down his face in a nonstop river. “I cry all the time and I get mad too easy and I demand all your time and attention and never give you a break. I’m not fun or interesting anymore. I’m just boring and moody and a pain and you hate me.”

Jin tickles Jungkook’s chin but he shakes his head and squirms away. “Aww, little idiot.”

Jungkook’s mouth pops open, his face aghast.

“What? You are an idiot.” Jin squeezes Jungkook’s cheeks into a fish pout and grins. “Did I or did I not make a powerpoint presentation about vampirism?”

Jungkook doesn’t answer but acknowledgement shows on his face.

“‘Yes you did, handsome hyung’,” Jin says, manoeuvring Jungkook’s jaw in pantomime with each syllable.

Jungkook snatches Jin’s hand and breaks at least a dozen bones. At Jin’s yelp his expression and link reshapes to guilty regret. “Sorry, I’m sorry, it was an accident, I’m sorry.” Both of Jungkook’s hands sandwich Jin’s, the top one almost hovering, as if afraid to touch and hurt again.

“Yeah, yeah it’s fine. That was in my powerpoint too,” Jin says, before they can divert offtrack. “Under ‘You’re Very Strong Now, Please Don’t Destroy Everything You Touch’.”

Jungkook nods softly, still cradling Jin’s hand. “That slide was just a picture of Namjoon hyung with the word ‘MENACE’.”

“What more was needed?”

One corner of Jungkook’s lips lifts. The tears have stopped too but Jin doesn’t draw attention to his shift in disposition.

“Do you also remember the section ‘Puberty two point Oh Boy!’? The one where I explained how your emotions are going to be amplified one trillion percent but you’ll still be you so don’t freak out.”

“How am I still me?” Jungkook asks, and his eyes glimmer wet again. “This isn’t me, I was never like this when I was human.”

“Of course you were but everything you felt was in moderation and you reacted appropriately to those feelings. Now it’s all… more. A lot more.”

Jungkook frowns in thought, then shakes his head.

“You used to tell me you missed me when we were apart-”

“I did!” Jungkook’s hands clamp like a vice around Jin’s. “I always missed you. Did you think I didn’t?”

“I know you did. My point is you missed me then but you were fine with being apart-”

“I wasn’t. I wanted to be with you always.”

Jin laughs and pokes Jungkook’s cheek with his free hand. “Let me finish. Missing me isn’t new. You missed me before and you miss me now, except now your feelings are hypersensitive and not so easy to handle. See? Nothing about you as a person has changed.”

“Then why does being a vampire only bring out the worst in me? Why couldn’t it bring out all the best stuff that you actually like about me?”

“It does. And I like everything about you.”

“You’re only saying that.”

“I’m not. I might have met a million people in my unlife and you are one of six that I turned. Do you know how small of a percentage that is? It’s about, uh, maybe half a percent, I think. Wait, let me get my phone.”

“I broke it.”

Of course he did, and there it is, in pieces below the latest dent in the wall.

“I’ll get your phone then.”

“You don’t have to,” Jungkook says.

“No, I’m curious now.” Jin zips through the penthouse to his blood soaked living room, grabs the phone, and returns to sitting in front of Jungkook in the space of a single second. Unlocking the phone, opening the browser, and typing into the search engine is mind numbingly slow in comparison. The answer loads in and Jin frowns. “Sixty thousand?”

Jungkook leans over, sees the figures and gives Jin a look that is far too judgemental for someone in the middle of a personal crisis. He steals the phone and tweaks the sum. “How do you not know basic mathematics?”

“It’s not my fault,” Jin whines. “I never went to school growing up.”

“You have two degrees.”

“Well not in maths. No one ever taught me that. How am I supposed to know how numbers and percentages work?”

“Children are taught how to calculate percentages in primary school. It’s not hard.”

Jin sticks out his lower lip. “Stop being mean to hyung, you’re going to hurt my feelings.”

Guilt missiles through their bond and Jungkook scrambles to his knees. “I’m sor-”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Jin pushes him back to the floor and pets his hair. “What’s the answer?”

Jungkook turns the phone and Jin reads ‘0.0006’ and then a bunch more zeros he doesn’t bother counting. Jin beams. “Look at that Jungkookie, that’s how special you are to me.”

“Less than one percent?” Jungkook asks but there’s a smirk hiding in his lips.

“Ha ha, you know what I mean. See how exceptional you are, how rare it is that you stood out to me? You and I are a near impossibility but against all odds we found each other and then we choose each other.” Jin follows the shape of Jungkook’s eyebrows with the pads of his thumbs then cups his face. “I made you mine for all eternity, for every century and every millennia to come. So how could you possibly think I don’t like you one month in?”

Their bond swells with euphoria. Jungkook’s toothy, eye crinkling smile is just as ecstatic until he hides his face behind his hands. “Hyung, you’re being too romantic. My heart hurts.”

Jin grins smugly. Jungkook is by far the most romantic one in their relationship, the one who always leaves Jin reeling from devout words and sentimental gestures even when he’s not trying, especially when he’s not trying and just being his usual earnest self. Jin finds it harder. The feelings in his heart and the thoughts in his head don’t translate fluidly to his tongue or manifest plainly in his actions. But even when he succeeds, even when he doesn’t fumble his meanings it’s embarrassing to be to be found out, to be discovered too honest and too genuine, to be caught as though undressed and laid out open and raw for all to exam. When that happens it’s easy to turn his emotions into a joke or excuse his behaviour as selfish intent.

But this though, this accidental flustering of Jungkook without mortifying backfire is so wondrously gratifying. Jin quietly snaps a photo with Jungkook’s phone.

“Hyung,” Jungkook says in a giddy whisper. “You like me. You like me like me.”

Jin doesn’t hold back on a bolt of laughter. “I do. In fact I’ve even heard rumours,” Jin conspiratorially quietens his voice and glances left and right, “that I love you. But shush, if you start spreading it around someone might get a big ego- mmph!”

Jungkook flings himself into Jin’s arms, forcefully grabs his head and kisses him hard. White noise bursts through Jin’s skull and Jungkook splits into into four fuzzy versions of himself. Jin squeezes his eyes shut and concentrates on the bliss of Jungkook in his lap licking at his lips, kissing down his throat, biting into his neck and drinking… His. Blood.

Jin wrenches Jungkook back by his hair and growls at him.

Jungkook tongues at the smeared blood around his mouth and smirks. But when Jin sends anger and disappointment through their bond he deflates, hunching down and pulling his shoulders in, dropping his chin but looking up at Jin with wounded Disney princess eyes.

Those hypnotising fucking eyes are going to be the second death of him. And Jungkook - the devious bastard - knows it. Jin covers them with his palm. “I said no.”

“But you love me!” Jungkook ducks Jin’s hand and strikes a second attack with those eyes. “How can you let me starve?”

“I brought you a lovely meal earlier-”

“She wasn’t lovely. Did you think she was lovely? Is that why you chose her? Do you like her?” Jungkook grabs Jin’s shirt and rips the collar from the seams. “Hyung?”

“Jungkook-ah,” Jin says, softly but firmly as he takes Jungkook’s wrists and forces his arms down to his sides. Jungkook resists but is useless against Jin’s strength. “I’m not having the same conversation again. You said you wouldn’t feed from humans and I said you won’t feed from me until you do. That’s it. I’m not changing my mind and you’re not getting around me. Feed or starve.”

“Hyung,” Jungkook whispers, his sorrow a sledgehammer to Jin’s heart.

Jin clenches his jaw. No, nope, he will not be swayed. Not tonight at least, he can make that. He can.

Jin stands with Jungkook hoisted around his waist. Jungkook’s interest is piqued, more so when Jin carries him to the bed, and then a thousand time more when he’s thrown onto the mattress. Desire swallows his sadness and Jungkook lifts his head as he peers up at Jin, his legs stretching out and open.

Jin’s gaze only flicks over the blood staining Jungkook’s lips dark red. He turns away with as much disdain as he can inject into his face and folds his arms. When guilt rolls Jin’s way he obscures his victory from the bond.

“What does it even matter if I only drink from you?” Jungkook asks. The sheets rustle as he crawls closer. Then he stops. “Do you hate it?” Jungkook asks in a whisper of a whisper that only vampire ears can hear.

Reassurance is on the tip of Jin’s tongue until he clutches at resolve. Till morning. He can last till then. “I love when you drink from me,” Jin says, not as unaffected as he’d prefer.

Jungkook sniffles. “Then why?”

“Because one day you will drink from a human - properly - and their blood will taste so exquisite that it’ll be impossible for you to stop until you’ve killed them. You need to learn when to cut yourself off and, crucially, you need to learn the self control to be able to stop even when you don’t want to.”

Jungkook scoffs. “I’m not Jimin.”

Jin’s anger flares white hot.

He expects his wrath to temper Jungkook but Jin finds himself yanked round to face his progeny. “I’m better than Jimin,” Jungkook growls with fangs on show. “I’m better than any of them. You could starve me and lock me up with a hundred people bleeding out and I wouldn’t thirst for a drop of their blood.”

Jin pulls Jungkook off him. “You’re a month old. You’ll change.”

“I won’t.”

“You will.”

Jungkook’s hands dart out again but Jin catches them both by the wrist. “Were the others the same as me?” Jungkook asks, undeterred. “Or did they beg for a taste of human blood? You told me what they were like, you told me I’d feel the same but I don’t. I don’t, hyung, I don’t want any blood but yours.”

Jin sighs. He nudges Jungkook back onto the bed but sits beside him. “You are different,” Jin admits and arrogant joy shimmered in jealously floats into their bond. “But that doesn’t get you out of learning.”

“Whyyy?” Jungkook yells, the one syllable stretching out and twisting into a weedy whine.

“Because there may come a time when you will depend on human blood to survive. Quiet,” Jin says, before Jungkook can get a word in. He’s not quite bearing down his influence but he is bearing down the warning of such influence.

Jungkook huffs but closes his mouth.

“You’re acting out unnecessarily,” Jin continues. “I only want you to feed so I can teach you how and when to stop so you don’t accidentally murder a human or descend into a bloodlust rampage. Despite what you pulled today, I don’t think you’d do well with a death on your hands, Kookie. You’re an innocent soul and the guilt would be excessive. Plus I don’t want the hassle of a dead body either. There’s so much more logistics involved in disposing of corpses in modern society.”

Jungkook shrinks down on himself, remorse and dread twining through their bond and in his eyes. Although it’s not the first time he’s hurt a human, today was unusually spiteful and callous. It’ll haunt him later, once he’s cooled off and processed the night.

And Jin could use Jungkook’s horror as a motivator in their current argument - he’s not above opportunist tricks - but, but his baby progeny is sensitive and Jin can’t bring himself to be that cruel.

Maybe in a day or two though if Jungkook’s stubborn streak persists.

Jin spins to another tactic. “Drinking blood from live humans without causing their untimely death is an important skill, one that requires vast amounts of self control and willpower that every good vampire must master.” Jin trails a finger along Jungkook’s jaw and tips his chin up. “And you did promise to be good for me.”

“I am,” Jungkook says, typically eager, this time ruefully so. Then he wiggles away from Jin and folds his arms, petulant and boyish like the Jungkook who heard no after the hundredth time of begging Jin to turn him. “Stop manipulating me.”

Jin cups Jungkook’s chin and is swatted away.

“Stop it. I’m mad at you.” Unease and regret sprinkles through his link. “I’m not very mad at you, hyung, only a little.” He shuffles until he turns his back to Jin. “Still love you,” he mumbles under his breath but Jin hears easy.

He grins at Jungkook’s back then dances fingers up his spine. “JK? Jungkook-ah? Are you ignoring me now?”

“Yes.”

“Rude.” Jin rests his chin on Jungkook’s shoulder. “Do you have a singular adequate reason for refusing to drink from a human?”

Jungkook nuzzles his head against Jin’s. “I don’t like the taste.”

“That’s a lie.”

“It’s not. I don’t like their taste because it’s not you.”

“You do realise where the blood in my body comes from, right? Or do I need to fire up my vampire nutrition slide again?”

“It is different. When it comes from you it smells like you and I can feel you all around me and it makes the taste better. When it’s human blood it’s all…” Jungkook screws up his face in revulsion.

“That’s romantic of you but my body doesn’t alter blood enough to make such a significant difference.”

“Yes it does.”

Jin pulls Jungkook against his chest. “Fine. It does. But you’re still not excused from my super important vampire lessons.”

Jungkook draws in his legs and scrunches into a tight ball. “Its not just that.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s not,” Jungkook says, sounding too serious.

Jin lightly kisses Jungkook’s ear and fills their bond with reassuring love. “Tell me then.”

“It’s… it’s like you’re getting me ready to leave you,” Jungkook says in a rush. “You’re preparing me so I can be on my own, so I’ll manage without you. You’re going to wean me off you and onto feeding from people and teach me all the skills I need to survive on my own and then you’re going to leave me because you won’t have a reason to stay. But if I’m dependant on you then you can’t go. You can’t ever go, hyung.”

Jungkook breaks into muffled sobs and Jin rocks them side to side. “Did I call you an idiot already?” Jin asks softly.

Jungkook nods.

“Then I’ll be gentle and only remind you that your insecurities and fears are highly exaggerated and completely irrational. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You taught the others independence and then left them.”

“I didn’t leave them.”

“Then you taught them so they’d leave you.”

“They didn’t leave me either, no one left anyone, I keep telling you that.”

“Then why aren’t they here? Why are you alone?”

“I’m not alone, I’m with you. And they’d come home if you let them.”

“This isn’t their home,” Jungkook snaps. “This is our home. They don’t belong here.”

Jin decides not to remind Jungkook that the floor below makes up their bedrooms and that their mail comes through this address. “Don’t be selfish,” Jin says instead. “Even if you’re pretty enough to get away with it.”

“One day you won’t want me anymore,” Jungkook continues. “You’ll grow bored of me of fall out of love with me or,” Jungkook’s nails pierce Jin’s skin, “you’ll fall for someone new and want to get rid of me so you can be with them.”

“But if you don’t know how to feed from humans then I’m stuck with you?” Jin asks, finishing Jungkook’s train of thought.

“You’d feel obligated.” Jungkook twists in Jin’s arms like he’s trying to escape.

Jin pins him in place. “You’re not an obligation and you’re not going to be replaced. Do you know why it took me six years to make you a vampire?”

“Because you had to make sure about me.”

“Nope, I was sure about you three years in. It took me so long to agree because you deserved that extra time to change your mind. Whenever I pushed you away it wasn’t because I didn’t want you, it’s because you needed to experience a world beyond me before you could make that decision about me. Your regret would be a devastation that I could never recover from.”

Jungkook’s emotions slither out their bond leaving it ominously vacant.

Jin freezes. Jungkook’s never done that before. Jungkook shouldn’t know how to do that. Why is he doing that?

Jin catches the tendril of his own anxiety and tamps it down, keeps his link near empty. “Jungkook-ah?” he says, unable to completely remove the waver in his voice. Which is stupid because he’s an ancient being, powerful even by vampire standards, and he shouldn’t be rendered nervous by his progeny who’s less than a month old and lisps when his fangs are out.

Jungkook leans away from Jin and Jin lets him. Jungkook turns around. His expression is stunned.

Oh. Oh! That’s why the bond is empty, because Jin has shocked every other emotion clean away.

Jin fights his grin breaking onto his face and muffles the laughter swelling in his throat. Overpowering emotions can stun a vampire into emptying the bond, but usually it happens in an instant, not with slow realisation.

What did he say that caught Jungkook so off guard? Was it the three year admission? Should he have confessed that? Jungkook did spend his adult life chasing Jin and arguing against a conviction that he now knows didn’t exist; is he going to be pissed Jin didn’t turn him earlier? Angry that Jin maybe, barely, kind of lied by omission about his feelings?

“Are you okay in there?” Jin touches the centre of Jungkook’s forehead. “Do I need a séance to get you back out?”

“You…” Jungkook says sounding far away. He blinks, pupils dilating into focus, and draws back from Jin’s finger. “You liked me that early on?”

Shit, it was the three years thing. He definitely should not have said it.

“I did,” Jin says warily.

“But you didn’t tell me?”

He seems more amazed than mad and Jin loosens up. “It would have affected your decision.”

“But I’d already made my decision. I made it when I was twelve!”

“And how dare I question the resolution of a child.”

“Hyung!” Jungkook slaps Jin’s arm, crumbling the bones in own his hand while mashing Jin’s muscles. Jungkook whimpers in pain.

“Careful,” Jin says and receives a glare for his sympathy. He kisses Jungkook’s palm in atonement and mushy love buds in their bond.

Jungkook tips his head to the side. “What did you mean when you said you wouldn’t recover from my regret?”

“Vampires are… we’re…” Jin struggles to convey his meaning within the limits of human language. Perhaps it’s impossible, but he endeavours. “Our attachment is significant,” is what he manages. “You, well, I tried to explain it in the powerpoint but I know you couldn’t understand.”

“I do now I’m a vampire,” Jungkook says with a flurry of movement, springing to knees and bouncing lightly on the mattress, entwining his fingers with Jin’s, nodding his head and beaming toothily.

“You don’t,” Jin says, framing his words within a shot of compassion to reduce the impact.

Jungkook stills and emanates despair. “I don’t?”

“You don’t, not yet.”

“But, but I love you. Really, really love you. I love you more than what’s possible. I’d do anything for you, I’d die for you!” Jungkook’s fangs spike. His emotions blare aggressive. “How can you say my attachment isn’t significant? It’s the most significant thing in my life. You are my life!”

“I’m not insulting you or your feelings,” Jin says. “And if you would do anything for me you’d be feeding off humans by now.”

Jungkook opens his mouth but his fury is already defeated. He slumps onto his heels.

“I know you love me,” Jin says, “profoundly. But that’s not what I mean. Our attachment isn’t an emotion, it cannot be reduced so crudely. Emotions and feelings change-”

“Mine won’t. Mine will never, ever change, I swear.”

“Mmmhmm. But you, what you are to me is untouchable. Even if we despised each other I would still be concerned with your health and happiness, even if we parted on the worst terms possible I would still return at your call, even if you spent the next millennia trying to kill me I would never end your life. I’m, well, I’m tied to you in a way you’re not tied to me.”

Gloom and elation and heartache and envy and triumph agitates their bond. Jungkook stares at Jin with tears balanced on his waterline. “You think I’m not tied to you like that?”

“You are tied to me, Kookie. You’re bound as my progeny and me as your sire. But you’re also still inherently human, still ruled by human thinking and human emotions and human concepts. When you imagine forever and eternity you imagine it in the context of a human lifespan, eighty years, a hundred if you’re ambitious. In the decade since we first met you grew from a child to a teenager to an adult, you had literally half your lifetime of experiences in that time, but for a vampire those ten years are a blip, nothing.”

“So? What does that have to do with anything?” Jungkook asks, eyebrows furrowed but voice warbling.

“In ten years your world changed three, four times. You moved away from home, you graduated university, you started your first job, you made new friends, you fell in love.”

“With you.”

Jin smiles that even now Jungkook still has the need to clarify, as if he’s concerned that Jin will somehow mistake his feelings as being towards someone else. “With me,” Jin agrees and bites back a chuckle at Jungkook’s firm nod. “You also died then came back as a vampire, that was a pretty big deal.”

Jungkook nods again and Jin is wounded by his earnest adorable cuteness. It must show in their bond because Jungkook tilts his head in confusion, which only makes him cuter. At any other time Jin would pinch his cheeks and coo and end up in a headlock but since they’re in an important conversation, tussling until one of them shatters their spine will have to wait.

“In just ten years your life changed so much, in another ten years it might change again. You’ll apply for your master’s and probably get another job, you could decide to travel or move into your own place, you might even want to be friends again with my other-”

Jungkook’s fangs slide over his lower lip.

“With them and decide to adopt their lifestyles.” Jin takes a bracing breath. “And there’s the tiniest, teeniest possibility that you fall out of love with me and in love with someone else.”

Jungkook’s eyes grow enormous and an avalanche of emotions cascade down their bond.

Jin kisses him, soft, barely there kisses to redirect his attention. And to temper the incoming denials and accusations and promises. “I’m not saying it will happen,” Jin murmurs when Jungkook is distracted, “only that it might and it’s okay if it does.”

Jin’s stomach churns at the thought and he snips his link to near closed to halt the sadness spreading Jungkook’s way. He doesn’t want to imagine Jungkook breaking off their bond and giving his heart to someone else and he can’t bear the idea of spending all eternity cast as a shadow in the threshold of Jungkook’s unlife. But he will if it comes to it, because he’s a vampire and this is his curse for nourishing an attachment.

“I won’t,” Jungkook says. “I’ll never, ever, ever, ever, ever fall in love with anyone but you. You’re it for me. You’re my everything. I don’t care if you don’t believe me because it’s true and I know it.”

Jin smiles and warmth spreads in his chest.

Jungkook’s face lights up as realises Jin’s happiness and in the next split second Jin is tackled off the bed onto the floor and his jaw crushed between Jungkook’s palms and his lips bruised in a kiss.

Jungkook draws back all of a sudden. “Promise me you’ll never turn anyone else.”

“Haven’t I already made that promise?” Jin asks, his enunciation fumbled while the fragments of his jaw cinch back together.

“You always add an asterisk. ‘I’ll never turn anyone else’,” Jungkook says in a nasally impersonation of his voice that somewhat offends, “asterisk, ‘unless you agree to it’.”

“What’s wrong with that? I would never and I have never sired anyone unless all my progenies agree with the decision.” An accord that was put into place following Yoongi’s apocalyptic response to Hoseok. “As long as you say no it won’t happen.”

“But that asterisk means you’re holding out on the possibility, that maybe one day I’ll change my mind and you can sire someone new. It’ll always be in the back of your mind every time you connect with someone. You’ll never be satisfied with me if you think you can do better.”

“Jungkook-ah,” Jin begins but Jungkook stands.

Jin tests their bond, touches the swamp of mourning melancholy. “You’re not-”

“A replacement for Taehyung or anyone else, I know,” Jungkook says, though he doesn’t sound convinced. “But I am your sixth. And one day you’ll ask for permission to sire a seventh and I don’t want you to have that option. I want you all to myself. Always.”

There must be something in his face or creeping into their bond because Jungkook adds, with a scowl, “I can share with them, if I have to. But only them. And if it’s on occasion. An annual occasion. Like their birthday.”

“How generous of you,” Jin says.

Jungkook narrows his eyes. “I’m being very generous.”

“So true.” Jin winds an arm around Jungkook’s shoulder and locks him into a side hug. “I’m sure they’re penning thank you cards as we speak.”

“Hyung, you’re making it all a joke but I’m serious.”

“I know you are, sorry.”

At Jin’s apology Jungkook shimmies into the hug.

“I promise not to sire any more vampires,” Jin says, “if…”

Their bond detonates. Ugly emotions torpedo through Jungkook’s end. Jin doesn’t need to parse through them to figure out the direction Jungkook’s thoughts have turned.

“If-”

Jungkook’s fingertips turn to knives piercing the flesh of Jin’s waist.

“If,” Jin repeats, “you drink human blood.”

The bond drains and refills with relief, and then with bitter ire. “No.”

“What a shame.” He unhooks Jungkook’s fingers and the skin regenerates. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Hyung. Hyung!” In a millisecond Jungkook is in front of him. “That’s not fair. I told you why I don’t want to.”

“Because you’re afraid if I’m not beholden you to I’ll wander off and find someone new, I understand. But I’m offering you a deal; drink and I’ll make the promise without the asterisk. It’s a win win for the both of us.”

“You’re manipulating me again.”

“No, this time I’m coercing you.” Jin presses his palm to Jungkook’s firm chest. It’s still fresh not feeling a responding heartbeat. “But it’s a fair deal.”

“It’s not.”

“In what way?”

“In the way that I don’t wanna.” Jungkook lays his head on Jin’s shoulder. “Please don’t make me, hyung.”

Jin holds steadfast. He does.

“Please,” Jungkook whispers, voice on the cusp of breaking.

“It’s just a feeding,” Jin says, to Jungkook, to himself. “Just the one time.”

“And then I can always drink from you?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ll never turn anyone else?”

“Yes.”

“And we’ll stay together for ever?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ll never see them again?”

Jin lifts Jungkook’s chin up so they’re eye to eye. “Did you really think you could sneak that by?”

“Fine. But you have to tell them that I’m your favourite.”

“Absolutely not.” Jin doesn’t play favourites. To their faces. It’s one thing to sweet talk Jungkook in private but to declare it publicly is to invite another sword or five through his chest, or whatever inventive revenge Jimin conjures up. Each of them have a unique place in his heart, and he knows each of them believe that place is more substantial than the others. And for his own safety they can go on presuming that.

Jin brushes Jungkook’s cheek with the back of his hand. “I want to keep it our secret.”

Jungkook hums for a thoughtful second before nodding and sinking into Jin’s arms. “Okay. Our secret. Which you can’t take back.”

“I won’t.” Jin pokes Jungkook in his side. “And you? Are you going to agree to feeding off a human or will we go through this drama again tomorrow?”

“Do I really have to?”

“Yes you do.”

“Really really?”

“Really really.”

“When do I have to feed?”

“Tomorrow.”

Jungkook whines and a slip of woe enters the bond.

Jin side eyes him.

What vampire gets truly upset at the prospect of drinking from a human? How is it possible? Where did Jin go wrong?

“Next year,” Jungkook says.

“We’re not haggling.”

The woe becomes more pronounced, and feigned. Jungkook lacks the skills to camouflage his attempt at exploitation.

Still…

Jin holds Jungkook tight in his arm until there’s not a breath of space between them. “Next week.”

“Next month.”

“Don’t push it,” Jin whispers in his ear.

“…Two weeks.”

“…Two weeks.”

Jin feels Jungkook’s smile against his neck. And then the flick of his tongue and the graze of his fangs. “Hyung. Sire. Please.”

“Alri-”

Jungkook pierces Jin’s jugular and laps at his blood, hands tugging at his hair, hips rolling against Jin’s, bond beating with desperate, ferocious desire.

Jin shudders in pleasure, overwhelmed from the inside out.

“Isn’t this so much better, hyung?” Jungkook gasps. “Don’t you prefer this? Don’t you want this instead?”

“Two weeks.”

Jungkook bites deliciously harder. “We’ll see.”

“Two weeks,” Jin croaks.

And he means it. He does. Jungkook will drink human blood.

#

He doesn’t.