Chapter Text
Riki did not wake up. And Sunoo was ready to pull out his hair. They had moved him back up to his room around day three, Heeseung finally saying it was okay to do so. But he wasn’t awake–at least not lucid. He was barely conscious enough to eat, much less answer any of Sunoo’s questions.
So, instead, he sat in front of the overly large computer in the study, pouring over footage after footage from camera feeds around the city, dating back from when Sunghoon suspected Riki had been attacked to the night Sunghoon had found him. If there was something—anything—that pointed to who had hurt Riki, he hadn’t found it yet. All the footage blurred together now, empty streets and indifferent people. None of it explained what had happened. None of it was enough.
Sunoo sighed, clicking on the next camera set that showed nothing but a dark street, passerby’s walking, talking but none of them were Riki.
“How’s it going?”
He nearly screamed, jumping so far back he fell out of his chair. Jay blinked at him before promptly bursting into laughter, doubling over with the force of it. Sunoo glared at him, pushing himself up.
Jay pushed a plate of food toward him, a glass of blood in his other hand, his laughter dying down a little. “You’ve been working on this for a while; thought you might want something to eat.”
Sunoo’s glare softened a little but he still pushed Jay’s shoulder, “You couldn’t have knocked?”
“I did. Twice. I also called your name.”
Sunoo’s brows furrowed, surprised. He was usually aware of his surroundings, so Jay coming in without his knowledge was nearly unheard of. “You did?”
Jay tugged on a strand of his hair, fond. “Yeah, I did. Why don’t you take a break? Sunghoon and Heeseung are talking in the kitchen, you should join them.”
Sunoo ignored that, he still had work to do, at least then he wouldn’t go insane waiting for Riki to gain consciousness. “How’s Riki?”
Jay sighed. “Resting right now, first time we’ve been able to be away from him in a while. Jungwon’s still with him though.”
“How are his arms?”
“He’s been ripping at them less often, but I just changed his bandages a couple minutes ago.”
Sunoo rubbed at his eyes, the amount of screens finally affecting his vision, leaving it slightly spotty and blurry. Jay stepped closer, his hand coming up to swipe under Sunoo’s eye.
“Take a break. Please?”
Sunoo hesitated. He wanted to keep working, but the concern in Jay’s eyes wasn’t something he could ignore. He wanted to ease it. To show Jay he was fine, so he relented. Jay smiled, holding some food out to him. Sunoo took it, leaning against the desk.
Jay wiped at a crumb at the corner of his mouth, waiting until he was satisfied with the amount of food Sunoo had eaten before pulling him out of the study. Heeseung and Sunghoon were still in the kitchen, talking softly across the kitchen island to each other. They looked up as Sunoo and Jay walked in, tired but affectionate smiles on their faces.
Heeseung wrapped an arm around Sunoo’s shoulders the moment he was within reach, pressing a messy kiss to his temple. “Hey. You were in there for a while. Taking a break?”
Sunoo squirmed in his hold. “Hyung’s making me.”
Jay rolled his eyes as he walked past, plating food for Heeseung and Sunghoon. He plated some more, handing one off to Jake in the living room, accepting his kiss of thanks and heading up the stairs to give some to Jungwon, Sunoo’s assuming.
“Find anything?” Sunghoon asked.
Sunoo’s smile dropped and he frowned at the counter. “No. There’s nothing. It’s like he just didn’t exist.”
Sunghoon reached out to take his hand. “We’ll figure it out. He mentioned something about a grocery store. Maybe we’ll look closer at the ones in the area.”
Sunoo sighed, leaning into Heeseung’s side. “Yeah. Maybe.”
They fell quiet, quiet enough that Sunoo could hear Jungwon and Jay arguing upstairs. “He’s resting right now. Both of you will be fine if you take a break.”
He heard Jungwon huff. “No.”
There was a crash and all of them looked up towards the staircase. Jay emerged, literally dragging Jungwon down the stairs. Jungwon clawed at the top stair, squirming to get out of Jay’s hold, cursing colorfully at him.
“...need help?” Heeseung asked hesitantly.
Jay didn’t even look at him, just grabbed at Jungwon when he managed to wriggle away. “Nope! I got this.”
Sunoo was doubtful but he didn’t say that out loud.
To his surprise, Jay did manage to get Jungwon fully down, dropping him in the living room, directly on Jake. Jake looked surprised but latched on, refusing to let Jungwon go, even when he was vaguely threatened by the boy on his lap.
Sunoo drifted over to the living room, sitting on the couch across from Jake and Jungwon. Jay threw himself onto the couch beside him, dramatically sprawling across his lap like he was exhausted from hauling Jungwon downstairs.
“I deserve a medal or something,” he muttered, face buried in Sunoo’s thigh.
Sunoo snorted, carding his hand through Jay’s hair. “You’ll get a participation trophy at most.”
Jake was still holding Jungwon in his lap like a weighted blanket he had no intention of giving up. Jungwon grumbled under his breath but didn’t really resist anymore. Heeseung, standing nearby with a glass of blood in one hand, tilted his head toward the TV.
“We should put something on,” he suggested. “Movie night. Just something stupid. We’re not going to solve anything right now anyway.”
“Can we watch the one with the dog again?” Jake asked. “Where he keeps coming back?”
“I cried,” Sunghoon admitted.
“You sobbed,” Jay corrected from Sunoo’s lap.
Sunghoon flipped him off without heat, already reaching for the remote.
“Subtitles this time,” Sunoo said, stretching a leg out. “Jake always talks over the important parts.”
“I add commentary!” Jake defended.
“Exactly.”
Heeseung handed out glasses, gently brushing knuckles against arms and shoulders as he passed. Jay sat up just to lean more deliberately into Sunoo. Jungwon was finally starting to relax in Jake’s hold, lids heavy, tension bleeding out of him by degrees. It felt peaceful, close, like a pulse beating slow and steady between them all.
Sunoo blinked down at Jay. “Shit. I left my phone in the study.” He stood, stretching. “Pause it if it starts.”
“No promises,” came from three different directions at once.
Sunoo pushed open the study door, the lights still dim from earlier. He stepped inside and spotted his phone near the edge of the desk—and paused.
The monitor was on.
That was weird. He didn’t remember leaving it like that. It wasn’t even on the same camera he’d been looking at.
He stepped closer.
There—on the screen.
Riki.
Just–there. Standing in the middle of an empty street. Frozen.
Sunoo’s breath caught. He clicked back a few seconds. Riki was heading out of the store, a small bag hanging on his arm. Then nothing. Like the cameras glitched.
Empty street.
He clicked forward again.
There. Riki.
No movement. No transition. No attack. He’d just appeared. Like a ghost glitching into frame.
His chest tightened.
“Guys?” He called.
Footsteps sounded and one by one they poked their head in. “What? We paused the movie.”
Sunoo beckoned them closer. Heeseung leaned over his shoulder.
“Is that Riki?”
“Yeah, but watch this.” He reversed the footage. Riki walked out of the store and just as he looked up to cross the street the footage cut three hours ahead with Riki standing, trembling in the middle of the road.
“What the fuck?”
Jake turned to Jay, “I thought you said he was attacked.”
Sunghoon blinked at the screen rapidly, like he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. “He was. Or at least he said he was.”
Jay pinched the bridge of his nose. “The footage was clearly cut.”
“So what do we do? What are our options?”
No one had an answer. And then—
A knock at the door.
They looked at each other for a moment, exchanging glances before Sunghoon slapped the desk, already out the door, footsteps quick but careful.
“I’ll get it.”
Sunoo barely had any time to process what he said before Jay was running after him, yelling something about not being stupid. He glanced at Jake before chasing after them.
Sunghoon opened the door with one hand still behind his back, ready to slam it shut if needed. Sunoo saw the moment his posture shifted, a twitch in his shoulders, a slight lowering of his guard—but not completely.
“Hanni?”
Sunoo blinked. He hadn’t seen her since before the last council meeting. Same eyes. Same voice. But something about the way she stood on their porch made his stomach knot. Rain clung to her coat and hair, her heart beating wildly, like she’d ran here. She looked unshakable. And Sunoo didn’t trust that for a second.
“Hi,” she said. “I know I should’ve called, but you missed the last council meeting and then—well, shit’s hitting the fan. I need to see Jungwon.”
Jungwon’s voice came from the hallway before Sunoo even noticed him approaching. “Hanni.”
He was stiff, posture rigid, expression unreadable. But something in his voice—something low and taut—told Sunoo that this wasn’t a pleasant surprise.
“Hey, friend,” Hanni said, stepping past Sunghoon. “You look like hell.”
“You’re not wrong.”
Her eyes scanned the room now, flicking briefly past Jay, past Heeseung—lingering on Sunoo only a beat longer before moving on. No one breathed. No one moved. Not even when she made her way to the living room, standing at the center.
Sunoo didn’t dare look toward the stairs.
Heeseung cleared his throat, moving closer. “You should sit.”
Hanni shook her head. “No, I shouldn’t. I’m not staying long. I just… I needed to check on you. And to tell you something.”
Sunoo watched Jungwon nod, his arms crossed on his chest as he leaned against the back of the couch. Hanni stood there, her posture mirroring Jungwon’s.
“They’re going to know either way. Might as well just say it here.”
Hanni huffed a laugh, “Codependant much?”
Jungwon shot her a look, all sharp edges but no real bite, “They’re my coven. My information is theirs.”
“Fair enough.”
Jake and Sunghoon exchanged a glance. Jay’s hand landed on Sunoo’s shoulder.
Sunoo leaned slightly into it, his voice a breath at most. “This can’t be good.”
Jay didn’t answer, but his fingers curled tighter.
“Council’s whispering,” Hanni started, voice lower now. Jungwon shifted, arms falling away from his chest as he leaned forward.
“What about?”
“Something’s shifting and you not showing up to the meeting…rattled people”
Sunoo caught the way she stared at her fingers, restless at her sleeves.
Jungwon frowned. “It was one meeting.”
“Exactly. I think you forget how much influence you all carry. How much everyone else looks to your coven for guidance. And with the rumors flying around…people are restless, paranoid.”
Jungwon shifted again and out of the corner of his eye Sunoo saw Heeseung adjust to block the stairway.
“What rumors?”
Hanni didn’t look at any of them as she pulled a file from her coat, handing it to Jungwon. Sunoo peered over his shoulder.
The pages were damp, letters bleeding together but it was still obvious. Two photos were paperclipped to the papers—bodies. Sunoo wanted to throw up. He scanned the page, taking in the details. Each body was battered and bruised but more importantly each body was drained.
“What the fuck?”
Sunoo couldn’t help but agree.
Jungwon looked sick. “Where did you get this?”
“I took them from Nova’s office.”
“Why?”
Hanni looked more timid than Sunoo had ever seen her, fidgeting with the buttons on her jacket. “I don’t want Mira—or any of them involved.”
Jungwon’s hand clenched on the paper, crumpling it slightly in his hold. “And so you’re willing for my coven to face the brunt of this threat?”
Hanni glared at him and Sunoo now more than ever could recognize the reason for their friendship. Hanni looked angry—it was the same expression Jungwon wore whenever they were threatened.
“Your coven cannot be so easily taken out. You’re too connected. If you find something…you can’t be so easily silenced. The same cannot be said for my coven.”
Jungwon deflated, glancing back down at the papers. He took the photos, handing them to Sunoo. “Can you look into them?”
Sunoo accepted the photos, reaching behind himself and into Jay’s pocket, stealing his phone. He unlocked it with ease, searching for the two faces in the photos. They were still discussing, talking in hushed tones and Sunoo tried to follow along as he searched.
“This can’t be from a vampire.”
“You don’t know that.”
“It’s too clean, there’s no punctures, no claws, how would they have gotten the blood?”
Hanni didn’t have an answer for that. Sunoo glanced up.
“They’re both strays.”
Hanni turned to him. “What?”
Sunoo turned Jay’s phone to her, displaying their council-sanctioned registration. “They have no coven, isolated, lived on opposite corners of the city.”
Jake leaned back, his hand finding Sunghoon’s. “Easy targets.” He murmured.
Jungwon sighed and Sunoo winced. His mark throbbed, burning with pain coming directly from Jungwon’s end. “Why hasn’t this been brought to our attention earlier?”
Hanni bared her teeth. “Because you’ve been MIA for nearly two weeks. No one could reach you. It took me four days to find out where you live!”
Jungwon cringed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, we’ll take care of it, find out who’s responsible.”
Hanni fidgeted again. “It’s only a matter of time they come for coven’s. Before no one’s safe. Don’t let it be mine that’s next. Don’t let it be yours.”
Sunoo flinched like he’d been burned, the same fear echoing in his veins, and the bond, thrumming through all of them.
“I heard you talking to Nova about single-source dependency a while back.” Hanni whispered, and when her gaze landed on Sunoo, it felt like a blade.
“I…was.”
Hanni nodded, digging her own phone from her pocket. “You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to find these. Most of it’s gone now—scrubbed. This is all I could get.”
Sunoo took it from her. It was a screenshot—part of a lab report from somewhere in America. The header was half-clipped and blurry, the text smudged in places like it had been captured in a hurry, or after the original page had already been partially taken down. Five vampire’s faces on the cover but they looked hollow, dead even with their hearts still beating.
Sunoo scrolled, eyes catching on fragmented phrases.
‘...genetically modified…’
‘...single-source feeding…’
‘...unexpected connection…’
‘...bond stab–degr–…’
‘...unmarked…”
Then:
[FILE CORRUPTED — CONTENT UNAVAILABLE]
“They didn’t last long. That’s all it says.”
Sunoo’s fingers tightened on the phone. He didn’t look up as Jay leaned in and plucked it from his hands, already reading it over himself.
“They’re making new vampires? In America?”
Hanni shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
No one said anything. They didn’t even look at each other.
“Look.” Hanni said gently. “Whatever you’re not telling me, be careful. They’re looking for excuses right now. Don’t give them one.”
Jungwon cleared his throat. “We’re not.”
Hanni looked doubtful but she wrapped her coat more tightly around herself, sweeping toward the door. “There’s rumored to be a third, down at the factory on the other side of the city. There’s a witness, or at least someone who knew the victim. Get to it.”
Jungwon stood. “Let us take you home.”
“No, I’ll manage.” She smiled and without another word was gone, not even a shadow left behind.
The silence that she left was painful. Sunoo glanced toward the hall, searching for Riki’s heartbeat, steady and calm. When he turned around Jake was wrapped in Heeseung’s arms, and Jay looked like he was trying to keep Jungwon together. Sunghoon approached him, holding out his arms in offering. Sunoo practically fell into him, his head landing on Sunghoon’s shoulder.
“What now?”
Sunoo glanced up in time to watch Jungwon pull away from Jay, his expression hard to read. “Now we find a body.”
“Hold on—”
But Jungwon was already halfway out the door. Jay grabbed his wrist, forcing him to a halt. “Stop. We have more to worry about than just us right now. What about Riki? You want to leave him alone right now? In the state he’s in?”
Jungwon finally seemed to hesitate and he looked around, entirely unsure of himself. Sunoo let Sunghoon’s arms fall away. “I’ll stay with him.”
“Are you sure?” Jungwon asked, stepping closer.
Sunoo nodded and Jungwon reached up to press a kiss to his cheek. “Be safe.”
“We will.”
Jay pulled him in next, leaning their foreheads together. “Call if anything happens. And I mean anything.”
Sunoo laughed despite himself and accepted Jay’s kiss as he headed out the door. Heeseung grabbed him, kissing his other cheek before disappearing after Jay, giving Sunoo’s hand a squeeze on his way out.
Jake jumped on him delivering small pecks all over Sunoo’s face, making him promise to call, just as Jay had. Sunghoon got him last, slipping his arms around Sunoo’s waist just to hold for now.
“I don’t like this.”
Sunoo let out a sigh. “Me neither.” He admitted.
Sunghoon pulled back enough to look at him, his hands cupping Sunoo’s face. Then he leaned in, his lips pressing against Sunoo’s, his arms pulling him closer. When he pulled back Sunoo felt dazed.
“I love you.”
Sunoo smiled. “I love you.”
Then they were gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything hurt. Not quite like the fire that had lived inside his veins for—he didn’t know how long— but enough. Like something had burned all the blood right out of him, and now all that was left was the aftershocks.
Riki sat up slowly, wincing with every movement. He propped himself up against the headboard of his bed, already feeling like that little movement had drained him of all his energy. He leaned his head back against the headboard, eyes sweeping across the dimly lit room. Several mattresses were sprawled across the floor, blankets and clothing in loose piles, like someone had moved in and never cleaned up.
The door opened and Sunoo walked in, humming quietly. The door bumped into a pile of what looked like hoodies and Sunoo’s singing cut off. He huffed, leaning down to pluck it from the floor aggressively, muttering something about “animals” under his breath, but he didn’t sound mad, just resigned. He moved through the room, picking up clothes, throwing blankets onto mattresses, back to humming peacefully under his breath. Riki watched him. It was calming, like a wave pushing him back under the water, but Riki didn’t feel like he was drowning. He shifted, maybe Sunoo would stay and sing for a while. He pulled the sheets up and immediately the dull fire that had settled in his limbs flared again. His stomach twisted and Riki clenched his teeth, fighting the urge to throw up.
He must have let out some sort of sound because Sunoo’s head shot up and his breath rushed out of him. He dropped all the clothes he had managed to gather unceremoniously on the floor, quickly reaching to stabilize Riki against the headboard again.
“Take it easy, yeah?” Sunoo said, pressing the back of his hand to Riki’s forehead and cheeks. Riki leaned into his touch, or tried to. The movement forced another ripple of nausea through him and Sunoo cursed, telling him to stop moving.
Sunoo pushed his shoulders firmly against the headboard, preventing any further twitches. His hands were warm, even through the fabric of his shirt. Sunoo slowly pulled back, darting across the room to grab a blood bag. It was larger than any blood bag Riki had seen so far, covered in large, messy sharpie letters across the front “SH”.
He offered it to Riki, holding it out with a small “here” but Riki closed his eyes. He didn’t remember much, but the pain still echoed in his bones, pain he knew would resurface if he drank that.
Sunoo pushed it into his hands, “It’s Sunghoon-hyung’s. Please just drink it.”
Riki looked down at it in his hands, praying that only he could see the way his fingers trembled. He didn’t want to need it. Didn’t want to trust it. But something in Sunoo’s voice–quiet, kind–pulled him unwillingly towards yes. “It hurt. Last time. I can’t—remember everything but it hurt me.”
Sunoo made a small sad sound, “No. Not Sunghoon-hyung’s, you were able to keep this down without pain. I promise.”
Riki looked over at him. Sunoo’s eyes were round with sympathy and no matter how hard he searched there was no trace of dishonesty. His eyes darted between the bag and Sunoo before he swallowed his pride and relented. Sunoo let out a little audible sigh of relief and reached for the bag, bringing it to Riki’s mouth before freezing a hair away from his lips.
Riki looked up at him and Sunoo bit his lip, looking embarrassed “Can I?”
“Yes.”
Sunoo brought it to his lips, letting Riki drink at his own pace, only occasionally pulling back to wipe a stray drop away with his sleeve. Once it was empty Sunoo pressed his hand back to Riki’s forehead, moving down to his neck before pulling away again.
“Can you lift your hand for me?”
Fear dumped ice in Riki’s veins and he paused. Sunoo looked earnest, twisting his hands together and inching closer on the bed. “You don’t have to.” He said quickly, “Do you want more blood, we have more downstairs.”
He stood quickly and before Riki could think about what he was doing, his hand shot out to grab Sunoo’s sleeve, preventing him from leaving the room. Riki’s eyes widened and he braced for the pain to come trampling in but even after a moment it never came. At least not in the agonizing wave Riki was used to. Instead, it sat behind his eyes and in the back of his skull, whispering into the echo of his bones, more of a reminder than anything real anymore. Sunoo was still frozen but allowed himself to be pulled back towards the bed.
“Sorry.” Riki rasped, releasing Sunoo when he registered the death grip he still had on the other.
“It’s okay, I should’ve known, that was my fault.” Sunoo gave him a soft smile. His whole face softened, eyes curling up to half-moons, full, pink lips pulling back to reveal sharp fangs that Riki didn’t have it in him to find scary. If anything they just added to his beauty, a kind of ethereal look that made Riki fight the absurd urge to touch him, just to ensure he was real. Then his words registered.
“Wait. What?”
Sunoo cocked his head, hair falling into his eyes slightly but he didn’t push it away, “How much do you remember?”
Riki racked his still-muddled brain, only coming up with vague memories of voices, touch and pain. So much pain. “Not…a lot.” He admitted.
“Yeah, hyung said to expect that. You weren’t in the best condition.”
Riki blinked at him. “How long was I in ‘not the best condition’?”
Sunoo winced, immediately avoiding contact and suddenly Riki regretted asking. “Eleven days.”
“Eleven?”
Sunoo nodded, “That’s why your room had gotten messy so quickly. This is eleven day’s worth of outfits for six people.”
“What?”
“We couldn’t leave, even if you were asleep, it was like it triggered a flare or something. So we all moved in here.”
Riki’s eyes swept the room again, taking in all the clothes that couldn’t possibly be his and everything slowly pieced itself together. “You all stayed here? With me for…eleven days? Why?”
Sunoo looked at him like he was stupid, “You were in pain and if we could ease that, even a little, we would. So if it meant sleeping here for a couple days…so be it.” He stood up with a flourish, fingers brushing Riki’s shoulder like a silent reassurance that he wasn’t leaving. He rounded the room, picking up the clothes he had dropped earlier and tossing them into a basket until the only things remaining were the mattresses and blankets.
Riki’s breath caught. The headache behind his eyes split open and Riki was slammed with voices, touches, too much. Sunghoon, he thinks, telling him he’s okay. Hands on his shoulder, arms around his waist. It felt real, visceral.
“Where’s–” Riki cut himself off but Sunoo looked up again, eyes warm.
“Who?” He asked, “Jungwon? Sunghoon-hyung?” Riki did respond but Sunoo still grinned, “They’re at a meeting right now, but don’t worry they’ll come back.”
Riki cleared his throat, “Why didn’t you go with them?”
Sunoo raised an eyebrow, “Do you really think that if you woke up and no one was home you wouldn’t have completely freaked out?”
Riki didn’t respond, but Sunoo must’ve caught the way his fingers twisted the edge of the blanket, because his teasing smile softened into something gentler.
“Do you want to move around a little?” He asked, almost casually, like it didn’t matter either way.
Riki hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to stand, let alone walk—but a part of him was restless.
Sunoo read his silence like an open book. “It won’t be very long. And I’ll be right next to you the entire time.”
“Okay.” Riki slowly pulled the blankets off his legs, still fearful the pain would come back.
Sunoo watched him carefully, a good distance away but close enough that if Riki looked like he was going to stumble Sunoo could catch him. Riki paused before his feet touched the ground and Sunoo stepped closer, offering his hand. Surprising himself, Riki didn’t hesitate in taking it. Sunoo’s hand was warm, comforting, matching the smile that lit up his face when Riki’s hand slid into his.
He stabilized Riki, only pulling away when it looked like he wouldn’t fall right back over. Sunoo led the way, basket tucked under his arm as he opened the door, holding it open as Riki passed through. He smiled again and hopped down the stairs, blonde hair bouncing on his head as he went.
“I just need to throw this in the laundry real quick.” He led Riki to a small room with two large appliances. It smelled soft, like lavender and there were clothes hanging from every available surface. Sunoo moved around the room with ease, tossing the clothes in his basket into the washing machine, pouring an egregious amount of detergent and then kicking the machine when it wouldn’t start. He let out a small “Yay!” before urging Riki out of the room, claiming ‘it wouldn’t run if it knew it was being watched’.
He led them back to the kitchen, leaning forward on the counter to watch Riki. “How would you feel about a house tour?” He asked in an almost nervous way that immediately caught Riki’s attention.
“I’d like that.”
“Great!” Sunoo perked up, waving his hands around the large space, “This is our kitchen, we all take turns cooking but Jay’s the only one who actually follows any recipes.”
Riki nodded, Jungwon had told him this before. The kitchen was messier than Riki remembered though, there was a mug turned over on its side, pokemon characters facing up. Dishes piled up in the sink and various little half-empty snacks packages lay hidden in the space. But somehow, the less clinical version of the kitchen Riki had seen some eleven days ago made him feel more relaxed. Like it was lived in, not just something there for decoration.
Riki hadn’t noticed he’d moved until his fingers grazed a very well-loved coffee machine.
“Careful,” Sunoo advised, “if anything happens to our coffee pot we may actually witness a homicide.”
Riki stared at him, unable to tell if he was joking or not from his tone but Sunoo just clicked his tongue, “Don’t worry, I’ll say a few words at your funeral.”
“What–?”
But Sunoo had already moved on, shouting something about the kitchen not being the only room they have. Riki rushed after him.
“And there is our living room, that couch is my favorite, it’s so comfortable…” He pointed to a couch that looked like every other couch and Riki scratched the back of his head, overwhelmed and more confused than ever but he couldn’t bring himself to be upset about it. Then something caught his eye.
Sunoo peaked his head over, “Oh. Yeah, we have just about every game, Heeseung likes to play pretty often, so feel free to play whenever you want.” He shrugged like he hadn’t just shown Riki the largest and most recent collection of games and consoles he’d seen and walked back down the hall. Riki hesitated a moment longer before following.
Sunoo swung open a large set of doors. There was a–rather large desk that sat in the middle of the room, adorned on just about every wall were bookshelves that reached as high as the ceiling, and little loveseats that littered the area. “This is the study,” Sunoo mentioned, “it’s more of Heeseung or Jungwon’s forte but we’ve got practically every book ever published if you ever wanted to try out something new.”
Riki picked up a book that was bent open over the arm of one seat. A Tale of Two Cities, the title read and his eyes scanned over the annotated page. Except only one part was annotated, a single line highlighted. “ There was a smell of blood and smoke in the air and the city was burning."
He put it back down. “Why is it Heeseung and Jungwon’s forte?”
Sunoo shrugged, “They handle the majority of the things Council-related.” He gestured to the mound of papers that were piling up on the desk and Riki could already feel a headache forming just from looking at it. “But, I mean, we all use the study, Heeseung and Jungwon are usually just the main ones that occupy the desk.”
Riki nodded, content enough with the answer as Sunoo pushed off one of the couches to head back out of the room, “Archives are that way–at least Coven archives but honestly it's just a bunch of unorganized files, very boring.” He gestured to a closed door across the room before he was gone…again.
Riki groaned and ran to catch up. He found Sunoo hovering by a staircase, who smiled and started to take the stairs two at a time when he saw him. “This is my personal favorite,” he said, “it’s so calm up here you can almost forget about…well, everything I guess.”
Riki followed until Sunoo came to an abrupt stop, slamming his shoulder into a metal door, whose hinges creaked upon opening. Sunoo was muttering under his breath, “I keep telling them we need to fix the door but no, let me just break my shoulder every time I want to open the damn thing.”
Riki didn’t know what he expected, blinding light? To burn and die? Neither happened. Darkness flooded Riki’s vision and he had to take a couple moments to adjust to the only light coming from the moon and stars above their head. Sunoo dragged in a deep breath, looking perfectly at ease.
Riki glanced at the roof’s edge skeptically, “You’re not going to push me off, are you?”
Sunoo looked momentarily offended, “After I just spent the last eleven days trying to keep you alive?”
Fair. Riki inched closer. It was an open space, lounging chairs with small tables in between. But what caught Riki off guard the most was the sizable garden on the far side. There were flowers of all colors, climbing on vines to reach a sun that was no longer hanging in the sky. “You garden?” He asked before he could stop himself.
Sunoo turned, “Oh, yeah, we all do. I like the flowers but the fruits and vegetables were Jay’s idea. We all try to take care of it, it reminds us we can create, not just destroy.” The last part tapered off as Sunoo stared at the garden, like a thought he hadn’t meant to share.
He had a far away look to his eyes, like he wasn’t fully present and Riki found himself watching him. Then, like a switch had flipped, Sunoo snapped out of it, turning to Riki again. “We all come up here, it's peaceful, gives you a moment to breathe.”
Riki couldn’t help but agree. Everything felt so much quieter up there, like he couldn’t hear everything. And could rather just focus on the sound of his own heartbeat, of Sunoo’s. Sunoo closed his eyes, swaying in the wind slightly, humming a tune under his breath again. Riki’s eyes closed of their own accord.
He didn’t know how long they’d stayed there, but it was long enough that Riki knew he should’ve been cold, but he didn’t feel the wind nipping gently at his cheeks. He didn’t feel it at all and then Sunoo shut the door, cutting them off from the outside.
Riki could tell they were headed back and for some reason he dreaded it. Sunoo moved happily, practically skipping as he made his way through the halls once more. “This is Jay’s room.” He gestured to a closed door with a single small guitar sticker stuck in the center. “Enter at your own risk.” He pointed to the door across from Jay’s, “That’s Jake’s room, he’s usually pretty okay with other people being in his room.” He paused. “But, just to let you know, once you go in you don’t leave until he decides it's okay for you to leave.”
Riki blinked and Sunoo shrugged, “Could be anywhere between two hours or twenty, depending on his mood.”
Riki couldn’t even process that before Sunoo had moved on, “This is Heeseung’s room, he will pretend to get mad about you using his favorite soap but honestly I just think he likes it when we smell like him.” He gestured to the door directly next to it, “That’s Sunghoon’s room, his is probably the cleanest out of all of ours.”
He continued, “That’s Jungwon’s room.” He said.
“Jungwon’s….scary.” Riki blurted before he could stop himself and Sunoo halted mid-stride.
He turned to Riki with a slight frown before glancing back at Jungown’s door. “Jungwon’s…like a cat. He pretends to be indifferent but then will act like it's a complete coincidence that he’s always in the same room as you.” He turned to Riki with a soft smile, “He’s actually quite soft.”
Sunoo’s eyes were warm, affectionate, as he toyed with a lock of hair. Riki nodded though and Sunoo, for the first time, was slow to move on, his fingers grazing the plain door.
“Oh! This is my room.”
His hand curled around the doorknob, hesitating for just a moment. Riki froze. Something about it felt different, more personal than the garden, more intimate than the jokes. Then Sunoo swung the door open.
Riki peeked inside.
It smelled faintly sweet, like honey or something floral. A few plush toys sat along the bed, their eyes catching on the light. There was a mirror, covered in sticky-pads with small messages and books closed with everything from a hair tie to an empty snack package being used as a bookmark.
Riki turned back and found Sunoo nervously twisting his fingers as he looked between the room and Riki.
“I also don’t mind extra people in my room.” Sunoo murmured, almost like he was giving Riki a hint and Riki couldn’t help but smile at him.
Sunoo blinked at him, like he was stunned and cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact, “Uh, we’re–we’re almost done.”
Riki laughed, following Sunoo out of the room. They stopped in front of another door and Riki’s brows furrowed. He turned back to the hallway and counted. There were seven rooms and his own room lay just across the hall. So who’s room was this?
“Another guest bedroom?” Riki guessed and Sunoo shook his head.
He pushed open the door and Riki was bombarded with not just one scent but some sweet, overwhelming combination of all of them. Riki hesitated at the doorway, blinking against the soft golden light that spilled out. The room felt like a breath held in the lungs, quiet and warm, low-lit but still humming with life. He stepped inside slowly, his footsteps muffled by the layered rugs and lingering blankets and he found himself instinctively lowering his voice, like the atmosphere there wasn’t meant to be disturbed.
“What–?”
It wasn’t a bedroom. It wasn’t even a room, not really.
“This is our nest.” Sunoo said, his voice lowering along with Riki’s.
It was sunken and sprawling, with a mattress that spilled past the frame and spilled again onto the floor. It was layered so thick with comforters that it seemed more like a cloud that had fallen down to earth. There were pillows everywhere, soft where bodies had rested often. Some still held faint impressions.
“Your…nest?” Riki asked, still moving slowly, still looking around.
Sunoo shrugged casually but Riki could feel his eyes on him, like he was looking for judgement. “We all sleep here together most nights. Our rooms are for us to decorate and have a private space for ourselves but we end up here most nights.”
Riki nodded absentmindedly, taking another step forward. The air was warm, there was no cold from the winter outside, no draft or sharp corners. Only a slow candlelight, soft shadows and a peace so physical it made something in his chest ache.
Clothes were scattered about, not carelessly but naturally; hoodies were tucked beside pillows, a scarf caught on the bedframe, sweatpants placed at the foot of the bed. A book lay open with a dried flower pressed between the pages. An old, worn t-shirt hung off the back of a chair, stitches obvious by some of the creases.
Something about it felt like he was intruding, like he was holding some piece of them he wasn’t allowed to see yet. But Sunoo didn’t stop him, just watched with a small, growing smile on his lips.
Riki knelt down near the edge, picking up a worn, oversized hoodie. It was crumpled to the floor, like someone had peeled it off in a daze, forgetting it there. Riki brought it to his face before he even thought about it.
It smelt like Sunghoon, but he could detect small notes of the others between the stitches, like it’s been passed around a couple times, or stolen perhaps. He closed his eyes, the scent becoming more and more like something he associated with safety. It was plucked from his hands and Sunoo turned away for a moment, heading towards the closet in the back of the room. Riki blinked, dazed and embarrassed all at once. He hadn’t intended to do that but he couldn’t stop himself.
Before he could back out of the room, and pretend it never happened Sunoo returned, a different hoodie in his hand, holding it out to Riki. “Here, this one’s actually been washed in the last decade.”
Riki took it delicately from Sunoo’s outstretched hand. It still smelled like them. He slipped it on, the extra layer adding to the weight building in his arms. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the exhaustion from his brain. Sunoo’s hands landed on his shoulders but it felt more like he was holding him up.
“You okay?” He asked, one hand coming up to cup his cheek, like he was checking to see if the fever had come back.
“Yeah. Just tired.”
Sunoo winced, “I did drag you around for a while, maybe we shouldn’t have pushed too hard. Let’s go back to bed, yeah?”
Riki pulled away, “I slept for eleven days, I’m fine.”
Something in Sunoo’s expression hardened. “No. You spent eleven days in excruciating pain, unable to sleep for more than a couple hours at a time because you were screaming and clawing at your arms. We’re going back to bed.”
Riki didn’t fight him this time as he herded Riki out of the room, bringing him back to their starting point. Sunoo settled him on the bed carefully and Riki winced at the soreness that had returned and spread. Sunoo handed him another blood bag, raising an eyebrow until Riki brought it to his mouth and began to drink. He busied himself tidying up the room, wiping nonexistent dust off the dresser, folding and refolding the blankets until he was just standing in the center of the room, having completely run out of things to do. Then he headed for the door.
Riki sank down further into the still-warm sheets, inhaling the scent that clung to the room. “Hyung, stay with me? Please?”
Sunoo froze, his back to Riki but Riki couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed. Instead he just inched back enough to pull back the sheets, patting the spot next to him. Sunoo sat down slowly, like he was giving Riki enough time to take it back. But Riki only smiled, reaching out to trace the shell of his ear impulsively, enamored with the blush that had spread over the high of Sunoo’s cheekbones. Sunoo looked down at him, his breathing shallow and Riki grinned to himself, tucking his face into Sunoo’s hip bone. Sunoo sat stiffly until Riki pulled him down further.
He cleared his throat. “You should sleep.”
Riki hummed, “Sing for me?” He asked.
Sunoo blinked, “What?”
Riki peeled one eye open, propping his head on his hand, ignoring the pain that shot through his body to do so, “That song you were humming when you walked in, sing it for me, please?”
Sunoo hesitated and Riki used the opportunity to lay his chin on his chest, looking up at him, “Please, hyung?”
“I–okay, fine.”
His voice was soft at first, uncertain — but the warmth in it spread through Riki like a balm. Riki smiled again, tucking his face into Sunoo’s hip and closing his eyes to the sound of Sunoo’s voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jake was exhausted. They’d been going in circles for two hours now and were no closer to reaching an answer than when they started. He twirled the pen in his hands, only barely managing not to pout when Jay snatched it away. He was bored. And tired. Not the best combination.
“You knew this person?” Jungwon asked for the umpteenth time.
The vampire sitting across from them was timid, with long brown hair that reached past her waist. Her eyes were wide, scared but she nodded all the same, just as she had all the other times Jungwon had asked.
“He hooked me up with other…blood supplies…” She averted her eyes, casting them downwards as if she expected them to execute her there and then. If they were honest, they didn’t much care for how she got her supply, they just wanted to know if she knew who killed the man in the photograph.
“Do you have any idea who could have done this, any at all?” Jay pressed gently, but again she shook her head, refusing to look at the body.
It was the same pattern that Hanni had shown them, only now, they were in charge. Each body was bruised, battered, and drained. Every drop was gone when the bodies were found. But there didn’t seem to be any puncture marks, no claw marks or messy trails of blood, nothing that indicated another vampire could be the culprit.
Jake rubbed at his eyes, blinking rapidly and looking up to find everyone looking at him. “What?”
“I’ll only talk to him.” The girl repeated, pointing directly at him. Jake thinks her name is Maddie, but he could be wrong.
Sunghoon was shaking his head before she could even finish. “Absolutely not.”
“Hoon…” Heeseung rested a hand on Sunghoon’s arm, looking hesitant.
Sunghoon turned to him, his voice thick with betrayal only they could notice, “No. Please tell me you’re not actually considering this.”
“She’s harmless.” Heeseung reasoned.
“You don’t know that!”
“Jake can handle himself.”
Jake stood up, his chair scraping against the floor, effectively cutting off Heeseung and Sunghoon’s argument. He nodded at the girl and she stood too, pausing at the door to ensure he was following. Jake tried to smile reassuringly at her, ushering her out the door but not before he flipped off the others. He heard Jay laugh before the door closed.
He followed her out the building, letting her lead him down a small dirt road into a patch of woods, far past the hearing range of any vampire. The woods were silent. Jake couldn’t even hear the rustle of animals or the chirp of birds. It was like every living creature fell mute. “So…” He started, “You do know more information?”
Maddie–or whatever her name was–stayed quiet, only occasionally glancing back to reassure herself that he was there. She stopped at an open area, the same one where they’d found the body. She crouched down, reaching under some ferns and digging in the dirt there. When she straightened up she was holding a card in her hand, a small, black business card.
“You’re marked.” She said.
Jake blinked, hand unconsciously coming up to touch the small mark on his neck, it was obvious to anyone who looked at him that he was marked, he’d never even tried to hide that. “Yes.”
“Your new one isn’t. He’s not as strong without it. But you’re safer.” She still wasn’t looking at him.
Jake felt like someone had ripped the air from his lungs. No one was supposed to know about Riki, no one outside the coven should even know he exists yet. “What?”
She folded the card in his hand but Jake barely felt it. “He is yours, is he not?”
Something possessive curled in his chest. “He’s ours. How do you know anything about him?”
Her answering smile was a little teary, “The Underground knows everything.”
Jake pushed her shoulder when she went to leave. “No. Don’t give me that bullshit. What do you mean we’re safer? What is he weaker without?”
Her expression was carefully blank, an almost exact copy of the mask Jungwon wore when he didn’t want to give too much away. She reached up, her hand clamping down over Jake’s mark. It burned. Like her hands were going to rip the bond from his bones, cut the string that attached him to the five people he held closest. Jake screamed, falling to his knees, but her hand followed him down.
“Your bond is strong, stronger than most. With it, he’ll be stronger, but if he remains unmarked, it will ensure your survival.”
She let go and Jake fell forward, convulsing through the aftershocks on the damp ground of the forest floor. She walked away, until the shadows swallowed her whole. The forest was alive now, screaming but above all that he could hear his coven shouting something that sounded vaguely like his name. He couldn’t answer them.
Just as he was regaining some feeling in his limbs he heard the pounding of feet on the ground.
“Jake? What’s wrong? What happened?” Heeseung cradled Jake’s head, his hands shaking.
Within an instant Jay, Sunghoon and Jungwon were all kneeling in the dirt beside him, their touch healing whatever Maddie did to fry his nerves. They huddled closer and Jake carefully unfurled his hand, the one Maddie pressed the business card to. His heart dropped. There were three, not just one. On each card was the victim's name, printed in the same font, the same color as the card they found the night Sunghoon brought Riki home.
Heeseung sucked in an audible breath, taking the card from him, like if he brought it closer to his face, the similarities would disappear, taking the implications with it.
“Where’s Maddie?” Sunghoon demanded, his hands curled into fists.
Jake’s voice came out raspy, “She took off.” He didn’t startle when Heeseung snuck an arm under his legs, lifting him from the ground. Instead, he just clung, tucking his face into Heeseung’s shoulder where his own mark glowed in the dark of the night, desperate for the contact with the bond he was so afraid he would lose.
No one asked him any more questions until the car doors closed.
“What happened?”
Jake sighed, “She was saying all this weird shit,” he paused, “she knew about Riki.”
A beat passed then Jungwon blinked.
“No, that’s not possible. No one outside of us knows he even exists, she can’t know.”
“She told me ‘your newest isn’t marked’ and then some bullshit about it being safer for us that way.”
Jay looked like he would be pacing if they weren’t sitting down, “How would she know any of that?”
Jake’s head pounded but he tried to dig through his memory, “She said…something about ‘The Underground’?”
Beneath him, Heeseung froze. He didn’t say anything, just handed Jake to Jay, clambering from the back to get in the driver's seat, his words hushed but fearful. “We need to get home. Now.”
When they pulled into their driveway two shadowed figures already awaited them. They sat on the porch and even with the dark and distance Jake could make out the slope of Sunoo’s head, resting against Riki’s shoulder, and the twitchy way Riki’s knee bounced beneath him. They were both wide-eyed, alert, like they hadn’t moved in hours.
The second the headlights cut out, they bolted upright. Heeseung had barely put the car in park before Sunoo was tearing open the back door.
“Where’s Jake?” He gasped, eyes red-rimmed and wild. He scrambled over Jungwon without hesitation, landing directly in Jake’s lap.
Jake winced but managed a soft laugh, rubbing comforting circles into Sunoo’s hip and pulling him closer. “I’m okay, I promise.”
Sunoo gripped his shirt with both hands like he didn’t believe him. His body trembled.
“He woke up screaming.” Riki whispered, still hovering outside the car. His arms were crossed over his chest. “His mark burned.”
Jay moved to the open door, his voice quiet, “Jake got hurt,” he said, hand brushing Riki’s arm in comfort.
Heeseung didn’t say a word. He just slammed the driver’s side door so hard the car shook, and stalked inside. Sunghoon muttered a curse and jogged after him.
Jay exhaled, low and tired. “Are you good to walk?” He asked Jake, stepping back to give him some room.
Jake nodded, adjusting his hold on Sunoo. “Yeah. Just–might need someone to hold the door.”
Jungwon climbed out first, reaching into the back seat to help Sunoo down, then offered his hand to Jake. Riki lingered nearby, quiet and shifting his weight like he didn’t know if he was allowed to follow. Jake reached for him but Sunoo got there first, wrapping his fingers around Riki’s wrist and tugging, not hard, not demanding but encouraging and Riki gave a tired smile letting him lead the way into the house.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the tension in the air was obvious. The sound of arguing led them to the living room. Heeseung was pacing, his words harsh and cut, Sunghoon stood across from him, his tone cold. Jay clasped Sunghoon’s shoulder and Jake noticed the way they loosened just a fraction.
For one, tense moment they just stared at each other. Like it was them versus Heeseung and Jake hated it. He hated the look on Heeseung's face, like he was cornered, he hated how silent Jungwon was and the blatant fear being hidden behind Sunghoon’s anger.
“What is the Underground?” He asked bluntly and all eyes turned to him.
“It’s nothing.” Heeseung insisted but Jake didn’t believe him, not with the cloud of fear hanging over him.
“I don’t believe you.” Jake said simply. “You froze, you recognized it, so tell us what it is.”
Heeseung groaned, dragging a hand down his face harshly, whispering something even they couldn’t hear.
“What was that?”
Heeseung glared and if Jake wasn’t also frustrated he would have curled back from the intensity. “They shouldn’t even fucking exist anymore.” He repeated.
Jake sucked in a breath. Jungwon stayed silent, uncharacteristic for him but he shuffled closer to Jay who offered the comfort he was too afraid to ask for out loud. Sunoo and Riki remained glued together, like if they let go one or both of them would shatter.
Heeseung didn’t even look angry anymore. Just exhausted. He collapsed onto the couch, head in his hands. “They’re a committee. Completely made up of originals. They were spearheading the war but they dissolved. They shouldn’t exist anymore.”
“Originals?”
Jake turned to Riki, who looked like he hadn’t meant to ask that aloud.
“Original vampires.” Jungwon answered, not turning to look at Riki. His eyes were on Heeseung, but he didn’t look afraid anymore. Now his gaze held calculation, like he was seeing something they weren’t. “They were the first vampires. We all come from them.”
Heeseung held Jungwon’s gaze, “There was a war, back when all we did was kill each other. The Underground—we didn’t like the idea of an all human council. We felt like there was no way it would end up equal and safe for vampires. We moved weapons, traded blood, planned attacks.” He took a deep breath, like the memories pained him. “It ended in the blood treaty; they won–the humans–obviously and the Underground dissipated, completely disappeared for preservation purposes. The Council didn’t like that though, they’ve been tracking down originals for years, executing them.”
“We?”
The room froze. Jake’s breath caught in his throat, he hadn’t caught that slip-up, but Riki did. Heeseung looked up at him, horror written all over his face as he realized his mistake.
“You were a part of the Underground?” Jungwon whispered.
“You’re an original?” Riki seemed completely oblivious to the tension, just genuinely curious.
Heeseung’s eyes were rimmed with tears he refused to let fall and Jake inched closer, offering his hand, which Heeseung squeezed. He cleared his throat. “I was. And when everyone else disappeared, so did I.”
Riki shifted, his arms crossed over his chest like he was trying to piece everything together. “Wait, how did you get away from the Council?”
Heeseung tensed next to him and Jake slid an arm around his neck, slipping down to sit on the arm of the couch. “What do you mean?”
“You said the Council was tracking down originals? Did they just not catch you yet?”
Heeseung winced and Jake didn’t miss the way he refused to look at either Sunghoon or Jay. They seemed to notice too, exchanging a glance between them, something even Jake couldn’t read. But that’s the way it always was, so much history between the two that not even decades of being with them could shake the bond they still shared.
“I made a deal.” Heeseung’s voice was quiet, defeated. Jake squeezed his hand, something twisting in his stomach.
Jungwon didn’t look like he wanted to know, still he asked. “What did you do?”
“They found me in 1931.”
Jay and Sunghoon’s heads snapped up. “No…” But Sunghoon didn’t quite look like he believed his own words.
Heeseung’s tears fell freely now, guilt pouring down his face. “I didn’t have a choice. They were going to kill you.”
Jay wasn’t breathing. “What did you do?”
Heeseung’s breath was choked, stuttering, “I gave them information. Five originals for your lives.”
“No.” Sunghoon repeated.
“I had no choice.” Heeseung insisted, reaching for Jay but he pulled away and Heeseung looked gutted. “It was the first time I had something to lose. They didn’t threaten me; they threatened you. I couldn’t lose you.”
Sunghoon looked terrified, “That thing with Maddie, in the woods, and Jake, was it just the start? Are they coming for us now?”
“ I don’t know .”
“Maddie doesn’t exist.”
Everything stopped and even the silent stare-down between Heeseung, Sunghoon and Jay broke to look at Sunoo. “What are you talking about?”
Sunoo, for his part, looked startled. “Jungwon asked me to do a background check? She just doesn’t exist, no record, there aren’t even photos of her beyond the one Jungwon took with his phone.”
Jake blinked, that wasn’t possible. “What about the security footage? From the factory?”
“Scrubbed. It looked like you’re talking to no one.” He held up his phone and everyone leaned in. There, sitting at the table they had spent hours at was Sunghoon, Heeseung, Jungwon, Jay and Jake but no Maddie. They were showing photos to no one, arguing with no one and when Jake stood up to follow her out of the building he was following no one.
Jake felt like the ground beneath him had shifted. Maddie wasn’t real. But Jake had seen her, suffered at her hand. If Maddie wasn’t real, then what had hurt him? What had threatened his bond?
“Syrus.”
Jake leaned back, mind reeling from the fact that they had spent hours with someone who didn’t even exist. “Who the fuck is Syrus?”
“He’s an illusionist, makes you question reality. Can make things seem real when they aren’t.”
Jay looked to be on the verge of a panic attack. “How can we fight someone that can be anything or anyone?”
Heeseung held up his hand. “We don’t.”
“Hyung.” Sunghoon’s voice was sharp, jagged with tears that wouldn’t show on the surface.
“No. Listen, I know Syrus. If he wanted Jake dead, he would be.” Heeseung’s hand found Jake’s again and Jake held on, pressing a kiss to his shaking hands.
“So then why did he come? Why is the Underground resurfacing?”
The question sat, weighted between them. Jake could think of one reason. Syrus, whoever he was, was only showing up now. Conveniently, at the same time bodies are appearing across the city. But no one said any of this. Instead, they shared glances, pointedly avoiding Riki. Whatever was happening, silently, mutually, they wanted Riki as far away from it as they could get him.
No one knew what to say, not really. Jake glanced at Riki, whose brows were furrowed in quiet confusion, trying to follow everything that had happened. Like he was trying to piece together the things they weren’t telling him. And Jake was afraid he would figure it out. He looked so small in that moment, so unaware of just how much was shifting beneath his feet.
Jake hated how everyone looked at Riki the same way now—like he was breakable. Or worse, expendable.
“Come on,” Jungwon muttered, already turning toward the hall. “Let’s…regroup later. I need to think.”
The others filtered out slowly, like the air had gone out of the room. Sunoo gave Jake a worried glance. Riki lingered, like he was waiting for someone to tell him what to do. Jake hadn’t known Riki for very long but he didn’t picture Riki being so unsure.
Jake offered him a faint smile, soft with guilt. “Let me walk you to your room, yeah?”
Riki nodded, reluctant but resigned, and followed.
Jake led him away but he didn’t miss the way Heeseung stayed behind. Nor the way Jay and Sunghoon did too, their eyes sharp, jaws set. Like they had been waiting.
Jake left the door cracked behind him. Whatever needed to be said now…didn’t belong to him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The silence that followed Jake’s departure was colder than anything Heeseung had ever felt–and he had lived through just about every experience possible.
Sunghoon crossed his arms. Jay wouldn’t even look at him.
Heeseung swallowed.
“Okay,” he said softly. “Say what you need to say.”
But they didn’t jump on him like he’d originally expected. They glanced at each other, having another one of those private conversations no one else was privy to. Part of Heeseung just wanted to sit back and admire it because even after all this time, the way they moved together–even currently mad at him–was beautiful. The other part of him found it hard to believe there was ever a time they hadn’t been like that—insync.
Jay looked away first, turning to Heeseung. “Why did you do it?”
“You already know that answer.”
“I want to hear it again.”
Heeseung ran a nervous hand through his hair. “They came to me with a deal. Said they’d been following me for a while, I guess but…” He looked down at his hands, turning them over. “They were going to kill you. My options were to stand there and watch you die or give up five names and their locations.” He glanced up, watching them. “I don’t regret it. I never have.”
Sunghoon’s shoulders loosened, just a fraction but Heeseung counted that as a win. “But you didn’t tell us anything.”
“Would you have been able to handle it? Freshly turned fledglings with the threat of death hanging over their heads?”
Jay flinched. “I—that’s not the point.”
“No. That’s exactly the point.” Heeseung could feel the way they reacted, he didn’t want to look up to see it, see the way Jay’s face fell or the hurt in Sunghoon’s expression. “I’d never had something to lose before. I had never cared for anyone beyond myself the way I did for you two. I couldn’t lose you. Either of you.”
He could very obviously see Jay and Sunghoon scrambling to find an explanation, a solution that they knew didn’t exist. Heeseung had two options. And he chose them. Every time.
Sunghoon, who had been quiet up until now, had his hands in his hair, tugging harshly at the strands, “We didn’t—I didn’t—do you–?”
Heeseung stood swiftly, removing Sunghoon’s hands with practiced ease, tipping the other’s chin to look at him. “I have no regrets. The entire time, all I could think
about was you and Jay.”
“But you knew them, you were close with them.” Jay insisted and for the first time Heeseung recognized that it wasn’t anger in their tones. It was guilt. It was fear.
“They were never family to me the way you are. They weren’t my coven, I was preserving my coven.”
Sunghoon didn’t speak again. He just blinked up at Heeseung, eyes rimmed red, his mouth parted like there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t name yet. Then he was folding forward, forehead pressed to Heeseung’s sternum, breathing coming out shallow.
Heeseung caught him like muscle memory, arms coming up easily to wrap around Sunghoon’s shoulders, like they’d done it a thousand times already. Jay came next, quieter, slower, like he didn’t want to take up space he hadn’t earned yet. But Heeseung opened an arm to him without question and Jay all but collapsed into his side. One hand curled into Heeseung’s shirt, the other fisted in Sunghoon’s, like he was trying to keep himself tethered to the both of them. His fingers were trembling where they touched them and Heeseung turned to kiss the crown of Jay’s head.
“I’m sorry.” Heeseung finally whispered and Jay hummed some kind of acknowledgement but his voice cracked a little.
Sunghoon let out a sigh, leaning back enough to look at them. “What if you do regret it? What if one day this all falls apart, and you realize you lost your whole family for nothing—?”
“I didn’t lose my family,” Heeseung interrupted gently. “I found it. In you. In Jay. In all of us.” He reached up to cradle the back of Sunghoon’s head, thumb brushing behind his ear. “There is nothing they could've given me that would’ve ever come close to what I have here.”
Jay looked like the breath had been punched out of him, equal parts relieved and disbelieving. “What are we going to do about the Underground? We can’t let them hurt us.”
“We won’t.”
Neither Jay nor Sunghoon said anything right away, but they both pressed in closer–an answer in the way they moved, the way they leaned into the space Heeseung carved out just for them.
“Come on,” Heeseung said eventually, tipping his chin towards the stairs. “Let’s go up.”
“To the nest?” Jay asked.
Heeseung nodded. “Yeah. Everyone’s waiting…”
Sunghoon pulled back, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm, “We can…talk to them about this tomorrow. When my head doesn’t feel like it’s going to implode.”
“Your head hurts? Where?” Jay pulled away too, his hands drifting to Sunghoon’s face, not so subtly trying to get a better look at his head. Sunghoon complained, trying to get away but Jay’s grip was unyielding.
Heeseung watched, eyes darting between them with amusement. He failed to stifle a laugh when Sunghoon bit down on Jay’s finger making him curse and slap the other upside the head.
Jay pouted slightly, cradling his injured finger, “What?” He demanded.
Heeseung shrugged, lingering slightly in the doorway, “Nothing. Just–some things never change.”
Jay and Sunghoon’s bickering ceased and they turned to him with identical expressions, “What does that mean?”
Heeseung grinned, turning on his heel to make his way up the stairs, Sunghoon and Jay following closely. The nest wasn’t very far down the hallway, maybe a couple steps more but when Heeseung pushed open the door it was empty. Blankets remained untouched as they had for almost two weeks now, pillows still laid on the floor, clothes in a disarray.
Heeseung frowned, turning to Sunghoon and Jay to reassure himself that he wasn’t the only one seeing it. Jay cocked his head, his mouth opening before a short burst of laughter interrupted him. They all shifted, turning to face Riki’s bedroom door, quiet aside from the small murmur of conversation.
They opened the door and this time were met with the soft, warm light from the lamp in the far corner. Jungwon was lounging on one of the many mattresses, his body fitting neatly between Jake’s legs with his back to the other’s chest. Jake looked up when they walked in, his smile warm but cautious, like he wasn’t sure how they’d return. There was a blanket thrown across their legs and Heeseung automatically searched for Sunoo and Riki. He found them curled together on Riki’s bed, their heartbeats steady and strong. Heeseung raised an eyebrow and Jungwon shrugged, looking completely unbothered.
Jay tugged him further into the room, pushing him down on another mattress, grabbing Sunghoon on his way down. Jungwon settled more firmly onto Jake, his head on his shoulder and when Jake turned to kiss Jungwon’s temple Heeseung caught sight of Jake’s mark, now reopened, red and slightly puffy. Jungwon’s fingers traced it without looking, his touch light, possessive.
“Sunoo said he didn’t eat much today, just a bag.”
Heeseung blinked, settling with his head in Sunghoon’s lap. “Did he have Sunghoon’s blood or did he try Riki on human today?”
“Just Sunghoon’s still, said he didn’t want to risk it with us being so far away.”
“I want to take him shopping.”
Heeseung jumped, whipping around to Sunoo, his voice thick with sleep, propped up on his elbow. “Why?”
Sunoo shrugged with one shoulder, his nose scrunching up a little. “I don’t know. I want this room to feel like his, let him have his own clothes, and decorate a little.” He glanced back at Riki who hadn’t so much as stirred. “I didn’t like how…timid he seemed in the house, like he didn’t belong here. I just want him to have a space just for him, you know?”
Sunoo wasn’t looking at them but Heeseung grew a small smile, heart swelling slightly. Jay clicked his tongue. “When did you see that?”
“I gave him a tour today,” Sunoo said. “After he woke up.”
Jungwon turned his head on Jake’s shoulder, a small frown playing on his lips. “You toured him?”
“Only the safe parts,” he replied, twisting the blue sheets around his fingers. “Kitchen, study, living room, my room.”
Jay raised an eyebrow, leaning back against a pile of pillows. “You let him into your room?”
“Just the doorway, he didn’t linger long.”
They watched him, quiet but focused.
“He didn’t seem too into the books in the study,” Sunoo continued, still not looking at them. “But he stopped at the game console; seemed impressed by our collection.”
Jungwon hummed. “He mentioned he liked video games.”
Heeseung turned again, staring at Jungwon like he’d lost his mind. “When did he say that?”
Jungwon didn’t answer right away, his throat bobbing. “The night I came to get you, before the chaos. We…talked a little.”
Heeseung’s brow furrowed and he could feel Sunghoon tense slightly underneath him. “What’d you talk about?”
Jungwon winced. “His interests…mostly. He likes photography too, I’ve been looking at cameras.”
“Oh, have you now?” Jay’s voice came out teasing and Jungwon hid himself in Jake’s neck.
“Yeah. He mentioned he used to take photos a lot. It felt like he missed it.”
There was a long pause. Something shifted and everyone exchanged glances–not angry, just surprised. They hadn’t known. Heeseung tangled his hand with Jay’s, pulling him closer as he thought. That night, Jungwon had been near hysterical, more upset than Heeseung had seen in years . It hadn’t made sense at the time, when Jungwon had snapped at him, when he had refused to let Sunoo hold him. But it made sense now.
Sunoo’s voice was gentle, in a way he only ever used around them, “He told you that?”
Jungwon didn’t nod or deny. “It was late. He couldn’t sleep.”
There wasn’t judgement but something a little quieter. The recognition that Jungwon had already built a bridge, just like Sunghoon, even if he didn’t tell them.
Jay laid back, exhaling through his nose. “Alright. So we start from there.”
Jake mirrored him, pulling Jungwon to lay on his chest. “So we take him shopping, buy him a console and a camera. Is that all? Anything else anyone wants to share? ”
Sunoo paused, considering. “I showed him the nest.”
There was a beat while everyone digested that. Heeseung paused, their nest was their safe place but he couldn’t find it in himself to be upset. He didn’t feel violated like he expected to, and looking around the room, everyone seemed to think the same.
Jake cleared his throat. “What’d he think?”
“He…stole one of Sunghoon-hyung’s hoodies.”
Sunghoon’s head shot up. “I thought I recognized what he was wearing! I just thought I was going crazy.”
Sunoo shook his head, biting down a grin. “He picked up a dirty one originally, I gave him a clean one instead.”
“Oh, so you aided his thievery?”
Sunoo rolled his eyes, curling back against Riki’s body, like he belonged there. They settled, finally. Not perfect, not fixed but a little closer, warmer.
Heeseung shifted to lay between Jay and Sunghoon, reaching over to curl his fingers around Jake’s wrist. He was slipping, moving between the states of sleep until he felt a little tug on his arm, someone calling his name in a hushed whisper.
“Hyung?”
Heeseung groaned, blinking his eyes open again. Jungwon took up his vision, his eyes a little hesitant. “Yeah? What’s up?”
Jungwon chewed on his bottom lip for a second, “Riki danced at a company, before he turned. I think he was training to become an idol.”
Heeseung blinked back against the fog in his head. He hadn’t known that information either, but he knew Riki couldn’t go back. He couldn’t debut, not with the cameras and the fans. He had no doubt Riki would’ve been a beautiful idol but no one could know and with Riki not aging he would’ve never been able to disappear the way they do when questions become too hard to answer.
“I know he can’t go back, but I was thinking we could look into a couple of schools for him or teams or something?”
Heeseung tried to hide his smile but Jungwon flushed anyway. “Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.”
Jungwon nodded, laying back down again and Heeseung ran a hand through his hair. Only when Jungwon’s breathing reached a steady rhythm did Heeseung finally let himself be pulled under with him.