[Fic] Irresistible - 6/10
Title: Irresistible
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Rating: NC-17
Genre: AU, vampire, smut, historical
Warnings: References to issues of consent (not in fic itself), fictional drug use
Summary: The streets of Zhou Mi's city are being contaminated with a new drug - Euphoria. Pure vampire blood, it causes a high unlike any other, but when the high fades, the nightmares begin. It is the spread of Euphoria that Zhou Mi fights, and in that fight he needs a partner to get him to places and people that only a vampire can.
***
Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Epilogue
***
By the time Zhou Mi had thundered down the stairs, the servants had gotten Kyuhyun in through the door. He was standing, which was a blessed relief, but his clothes were bloody, and so was his face. Red marks there, also, as though he’d been hit, and scrapes on his hands.
“Kyuhyun,” he said, stepping forward to where Kyuhyun was being supported.
“It’s worse than it looks,” Kyuhyun said. “I just need- Bath.”
“What happened?” he said, aghast. “Did the carriage turn over?”
Kyuhyun shook his head, and winced. “I was attacked on the street. Four men. Half a dozen, I don’t know. Anti-vampire gangs, probably. Upstairs.”
He wanted to touch. To touch Kyuhyun all over and make sure he was all right. He also knew they needed to move Kyuhyun as fast as possible in case he lost the strength to get up the stairs.
“I’ll get blood on your clothes,” Kyuhyun said, a trail of bloody saliva trailing down his chin as he waved Zhou Mi back. To his staff he said, “Help me upstairs. Please.”
Zhou Mi could only watch as the servants helped Kyuhyun toward the stairs.
“Water’s being prepared?”
“Yes, sir,” a maid told him.
There was blood being smeared into the floor, and even that he couldn’t think about as he followed them up the stairs. His hand gripped the railing, nearly pulling himself up after them even as his heart was beating almost beyond control.
Kyuhyun was a vampire. He could heal inhumanly fast. But seeing him weakened, battered, was not something that Zhou Mi had ever been prepared to face. Kyuhyun, vampires, to him were so untouchable.
But he didn’t even make it to Kyuhyun’s room, seeing Jinyong peeking out from behind his door.
“Hey,” Zhou Mi said, pushing in and getting down to Jinyong’s level and trying to hide his own fear.
“He said Kyuhyun is hurt?”
“He’s doing better. I’ll be looking after him, so go to sleep, all right?” Zhou Mi said, and kissed the top of Jinyong’s head. “I’ll come check on you in a while, too. But don’t worry.”
Zhou Mi hugged him, picked him up and settled him on his bed. He was just leaving as Jinyong’s nanny arrived. He was glad for that, leaving Jinyong with a smile and stretching his legs to get to the bathing room as quickly as he could.
Zhou Mi could see Kyuhyun was hurting, just in the way he moved, as though there was something painful in the movement of his hips, the flexing of his spine. Then there were the dark marks on Kyuhyun’s face, blood running from his hairline. That, he thought, was the most startling of all. Of course he knew it was possible for vampires to be injured, even if the injury wouldn’t kill them. But to see a man he already identified as immortal, injured, made him that much more human. Zhou Mi wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
No, he did know. But he shoved it aside, as he watched the bath being filled. He tested the water himself, as one of the servants put out clean towels and Kyuhyun’s valet helped Kyuhyun out of his clothes.
Kyuhyun hissed as he sank into the heated water, and relaxed back. And it was time.
“I’ll take care of him tonight,” Zhou Mi said, stepping up beside the tub and addressing the two men. “I’ll ring if he needs more water or help getting out.”
There was a pause, but they acquiesced when they saw that Kyuhyun wasn’t objecting, leaving them alone. Maybe he hadn’t bathed a man before, but he knew what he liked himself. And he wanted that time alone with Kyuhyun.
“Do you need to talk to me?” Kyuhyun asked, leaning his head back.
Zhou Mi turned from him only for a moment, getting a cloth for washing, a sponge, and soap before moving back to Kyuhyun’s side.
“No, I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I’m not dying, if that’s what you’re asking,” Kyuhyun joked. But he didn’t say more until Zhou Mi sat on the low stool. “It was nothing. A group of idiots who couldn’t have gotten the best of me on their own.”
“They knew you were a vampire?”
The cloth, slick with soap, skimmed over Kyuhyun’s shoulder and collarbones. He just barely bit back the grin as Kyuhyun made a sound, almost like a contented cat.
“They did. It fucking hurt.”
Zhou Mi followed Kyuhyun’s line of sight to an angry red wound running along Kyuhyun’s arm. It tickled something in the back of his mind. He’d think on it later, as soon as he’d satisfied himself of Kyuhyun’s wellbeing. He knew that wound had to have been much worse before Kyuhyun had gotten home, proof of a vampire’s incredible healing power. It probably wouldn’t be there by morning. Perhaps that was something to be envied.
“I can do this myself, you know,” Kyuhyun said, stopping Zhou Mi’s hand before it got much further down Kyuhyun’s chest.
“Yes, I know.”
But that didn’t mean he stopped. He carefully rubbed at Kyuhyun’s sore stomach, his hips. Taking the sponge to rub down Kyuhyun’s thighs and shins. He glanced up, to see if he was hurting, or tickling, to find Kyuhyun’s eyes steady on him. Little blood, but blooming bruises, turning a bit green and yellow already. He did not mean it to be sexual, meant it to be more of a gesture of caring, but he was not blind. Kyuhyun was growing aroused. Maybe from the touch, maybe from anticipation, but it had him blowing out a breath. Not an unhappy one, as he carefully washed the inside of Kyuhyun’s closest arm.
“You could get a position doing this,” Kyuhyun said.
Zhou Mi cleared his throat, dragging his eyes from Kyuhyun’s lips.
“Let me get your back.”
Marks from gravel, bruises. What might have been broken or bruised ribs, Zhou Mi could see all of them clearly. Scrubbing down Kyuhyun’s back felt like it was cleansing the skin, but also Zhou Mi’s mind. The worry, the want to be close. Seeing Kyuhyun’s fingers curling over the edge of the tub, bracing himself. And almost shivering with anger as he rubbed special creams through Kyuhyun’s hair, carefully pouring water from a large copper jug over Kyuhyun’s head to rinse him clean.
“This is nothing,” Kyuhyun said, his voice flat and even. He grabbed Zhou Mi’s wrist before he could move. “I can hear your questions rattling around in your brain from here. Nothing a little bite won’t cure.”
“You’ll have that after you’re dry.”
Kyuhyun looked up at him, and the expression was one Zhou Mi couldn’t read. “You’d be this outraged that someone was hurt, no matter who they were, wouldn’t you?”
Kyuhyun’s eyelashes were dark and wet, catching the light as they considered each other. His whole face was wet, actually, including his mouth. He should not have thought of Kyuhyun like that, not then, but it was impossible to stop. But he realized he hadn’t answered Kyuhyun’s question.
“Probably. But you’re not anyone.”
It was not a confession. It was fact. They were not strangers, and could not pretend that they were. But he still saw the surprise on Kyuhyun’s face, before he pressed his lips to Kyuhyun’s, parted and damp from the bath. Kyuhyun couldn’t just make light of his concern, do anything he wanted, to worry him. And he didn’t have the words or knowledge to tell Kyuhyun that. But he could kiss, feeling Kyuhyun’s mouth soften for him, open to him. The tingles that ran down his spine at Kyuhyun’s soft sound, the sharp, almost bitter taste of Kyuhyun’s mouth. Kyuhyun’s hand was wet, fingers tangling in Zhou Mi’s hair as Kyuhyun tilted down his face. Leaving Zhou Mi’s nose pressed to Kyuhyun’s skin, breathing against each other.
“Peculiar human,” Kyuhyun said, but there was no mockery to it. “If this tub was big enough, I’d drag you in here with me.”
That drew all types of images to his mind, ones that had him biting his lip to contain himself. “Maybe if the water was warmer. You can finish up yourself?”
Before the water grew cooler than it was. He stood, leaving Kyuhyun to finish washing himself as he made sure a towel and Kyuhyun’s robe was at hand. It was simple, then, to help Kyuhyun from the tub, letting the water stream down before Kyuhyun stepped out, and could be wrapped in the robe. The towel, Zhou Mi laid over Kyuhyun’s head, putting the other on the floor so that Kyuhyun wouldn’t slip.
And it put him at a loss, tucking his hands behind his back as Kyuhyun rubbed at his hair with the towel.
“Not going to dry me, too?” Kyuhyun teased. “I’ll finish drying off in my room, if you want to ring to let them know the bathing room is ready to be cleaned.”
“I will.”
It gave him a minute of solitude at least, to try working some of the knots out of his shoulders, rubbing his hands up and down his arms, to reduce the odd leaden feelings. But he was mostly together, by the time the manservant bounded in, and all was finished on his end. All that was left was to go to Kyuhyun, and to whatever being together brought them before sleep. A meal for Kyuhyun, that much he knew, to help him heal.
When he returned to the room, he was not entirely surprised to find that Kyuhyun had slid into bed on the side that Zhou Mi usually slept on. There was just enough room there for Zhou Mi, or for them to arrange themselves atop whoever was doing the taking. He undressed, leaving his clothes carefully over the back of one of the chairs before Kyuhyun tossed back the corner of blanket and invited him in.
He let out a soft moan as Kyuhyun’s uninjured arm snaked around him, grasping his hair and pulling him into filthy kiss. Kyuhyun’s tongue was holding nothing back, both demanding and urging Zhou Mi along, even as Kyuhyun’s thigh rubbed against his.
And his breath came hard as their lips parted. “Are you sure you feel up to it?”
“You mean you’d deny the poor, injured vampire his request to have his cock sucked?” Kyuhyun paused a moment, choking with laughter as Zhou Mi flushed. “You would consider it. But that’s not the gratification I’m seeking.”
“What is it you want?” Zhou Mi asked, his thumb skimming just above the little scars along Kyuhyun’s cheekbone. Proof he’d once been human. Proof that once, the injuries he had would not have healed nearly so fast.
Kyuhyun’s fingertip traced down his collarbone. “I think I’ll let you do the work tonight. And yes. I’m sure.”
That hadn’t been the question he’d been going to ask, but he squeezed Kyuhyun’s hand anyway.
“I can do that.”
Kyuhyun’s body was lit by half, and part in shadow from the bedside light. With his eyes, he traced the bottom edge of Kyuhyun’s ribcage, the dip of his navel, and the fine hair that traced down from it. His body was not that of a man who needed muscles to work day to day.
But it was that of a man. Sturdy bones, solid hips, and strength. It was written in every inch of his skin. The dark of nipples against his skin, scattered marks that made Kyuhyun unique.
“What do you see?” Kyuhyun asked.
Zhou Mi very carefully slickened his fingers, only to feel Kyuhyun’s body give within moments, pushing down against them, taking them in. It was not so much that he felt he needed to, because he knew Kyuhyun could take him without any touch at all. But he wanted to. He’d been so surprised, eager, the first time. Too exhausted to do anything but follow Kyuhyun’s invitation to its inevitable end.
But not that night. Kyuhyun was hurt, but relaxed, mouth falling open as Zhou Mi stroked him inside until he was squirming, tightening himself on Zhou Mi’s fingers, fucking himself on them. It had Zhou Mi stroking himself as well, but not too fast. Just enough, so that when Kyuhyun couldn’t stand it, he would be ready.
His mouth opened, almost ready to ask how many men had done that for Kyuhyun, driven him wild without ever slipping inside him, and he thought better of it. Kyuhyun had lived longer than he had, and if he knew, it might not be the answer he wanted. How many men had been where he was, how many men had seen Kyuhyun gasping and flushed and pushing up against them for more.
It didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. The only thing that did was that he was there, right then, and it was him who was pressing up with his fingers and making Kyuhyun gasp.
“Zhou Mi. Fuck. Stop teasing!”
“Some other time, I could make you come like this,” Zhou Mi promised, feeling himself shiver.
It was so smooth, the way his fingers slid out, and his erection replaced them. Kyuhyun’s thighs gripped him, holding him deep, pulling him in. He settled on his elbows, close enough to feel Kyuhyun’s breath.
“I don’t mean to offend,” Kyuhyun said, his tongue flickering at Zhou Mi’s lower lip. “But I think I like your cock better than your fingers.”
“My cock isn’t offended in the least,” Zhou Mi murmured. “My fingers… Another time, maybe.”
It wasn’t as simple as sliding in and out. It was the way their hips met, and the slide of Kyuhyun’s nails against his skin and through his hair. It was in their kisses, slow, because he controlled them. All he had to do was lift his head if Kyuhyun pressed him, low little rumbles of dissatisfaction.
“One day I want you on your back,” Kyuhyun said, taking a long inhale as Zhou Mi’s hips flexed quicker. “I’ll hold you down, sink on you, and you’ll have no- Oh. No way to make me go faster.”
“I want that. I want- Kyuhyun.“ It was a moan, as their hips rolled together, like a wave rising and turning. For a moment, in his mind, he saw the blood trickling from Kyuhyun’s head. “You’re all right. You’re all right.”
He kissed Kyuhyun’s neck, the arch of his cheekbone. Full lips and stubborn chin were there for him taste, cover. Only pausing for the pleasure their bodies were sending up his spine. Close, too close.
“Come with me,” Kyuhyun urged him. “I’ll show you.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“Yes.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“Let me feel you. Zhou Mi. Let me-“
Kyuhyun moaned against his neck as Zhou Mi stroked his cock and pressed into him until his mind was blank of anything but pleasure. All he knew, as his hand went wet with Kyuhyun’s come, was that he couldn’t hold back. He moaned, and moaned again as he felt Kyuhyun’s teeth sink through his skin, and he could not stop, until his hips slowed their desperate struggle and he was hoarse - and Kyuhyun’s teeth were still in him.
But only for a moment longer, until he moaned again as Kyuhyun’s tongue soothed where he had bitten. The arm that had taken most of his weight began to tremble, and he could do little but slide from Kyuhyun and debate which way to move.
As soon as the room stopped spinning.
“You took more,” Zhou Mi realized. “You needed more.”
“You make me lose control,” Kyuhyun accused, but his voice was not harsh with it. Zhou Mi laughed, the feeling rusty, and with effort let his arm give so he could roll toward the center of the bed. “I didn’t take as much as the first time, but I should get you something to drink. Or eat.“
His head felt a bit muzzy. Maybe that was the aftereffects of the sex, and not just the bloodletting. “I should be taking care of you.”
“I am mostly healed. You… You should not move.”
“Won’t.”
Kyuhyun kissed him, and he tried, sloppily, to catch Kyuhyun’s lip with his teeth. He missed, and Kyuhyun just chuckled at him.
“I’ll be right back.”
Zhou Mi squinted, and then opened his eyes wide as he watched Kyuhyun walk naked to retrieve his dressing gown. And he was glad to be tall sometimes as he stuck out a leg and dragged what looked like a shirt of Kyuhyun’s off the floor, and used it to mop at his skin. After that, he just reclined on the pillows and finally felt settle enough to open his eyes as Kyuhyun came back in.
“I used your shirt to clean myself off,” he confessed, as Kyuhyun put a mug and bowl down on the bedstand.
“Good thing it was due to be washed,” Kyuhyun said, and shimmied out of his robe. That naked skin all tantalizing in front of him, even with the marks. But they were fading. And it was opposite of earlier, with him holding back the covers so that Kyuhyun could slide in.
“Your warmth always surprises me,” Kyuhyun said, as soon as he had took back his mouth from Zhou Mi’s.
Zhou Mi cupped Kyuhyun’s shoulder. “But you don’t feel cold to me.”
“Odd, isn’t it? Are you hungry? You should eat something just in case ”
But when Zhou Mi thought to raise his hand to take the bowl, he was startled as Kyuhyun lifted a piece of fruit from it, offering it until Zhou Mi took it from his fingers with his teeth. Apple, crisp and tart as he chewed.
“You’re feeding me?”
“You feed me,” Kyuhyun said.
That was something Zhou Mi could not argue with. He quickly drank the water Kyuhyun had brought and settled against Kyuhyun’s side.
“More,” he demanded cheekily, feeling a bit decadent and waited on. Even if he was the one supposed to be taking care of Kyuhyun. Still it seemed like Kyuhyun enjoyed it, teasing his lower lip with the fruit and pulling it back before letting Zhou Mi eat it. Their heads were so close, both laughing. And he ate, as Kyuhyun told him a story of a vampire who was ill at the site of blood. Eating wasn’t bad for that vampire, as long as there wasn’t any trace of it after.
“What about you?” Zhou Mi asked, after he’d finished the last of the food Kyuhyun had brought.
“Me? I don’t particularly enjoy the sight of blood. It is food, and it keeps human and vampire alike alive. But I have no desire to bathe in it.”
“That would be a disturbing sight.”
“Mm,” Kyuhyun agreed, his hand spreading against Zhou Mi’s chest. Bruises that had been there earlier, ringing his wrist, were nearly gone.
“My blood healed you,” Zhou Mi said in realization.
“Your blood has been healing me all night,” Kyuhyun said. “When a vampire drinks from a human long enough, they become…mostly of their blood.”
“Oh.” He liked that, oddly. In Kyuhyun’s veins was nothing but his blood. He traced Kyuhyun’s inner arm, where he knew veins were. “Then you’re mine. Me.”
“Yes, I’m you,” Kyuhyun teased him. “Right down to the last drop.”
Oddly, it seemed like the first word had fit better. But he kissed Kyuhyun to mask his awkwardness, to make him forget the slip of his mouth, no matter how true it felt. But no matter what it felt like, it could not be true. He’d known that before Kyuhyun had touched him. Remembering Changmin’s warnings had him flinching, kneading the back of Kyuhyun’s neck and moaning into the kiss. A month had seemed like forever, and it was slipping away.
Still, there was time that they could take advantage of, and he had the strength to do it as he rolled onto his knees and kissed Kyuhyun.
“There’s not much time before the sun-“
“I know. Let me take care of you.”
And Kyuhyun gasped as Zhou Mi kissed down his stomach.
***
When Kyuhyun was resting easily, Zhou Mi rose and put his robe on over his trousers. He tested himself, to make sure he was steady, but was not terribly concerned since he wouldn’t be near any stairs. He could check on Jinyong, make sure the house was prepared for the day. There would be no more work, but he needed to let the staff know.
Jinyong stirred immediately when Zhou Mi opened the door, emitting a cry that had Zhou Mi striding across the room to hug him.
“It’s all right. It’s me. Everything is all right. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Zhou Mi said, petting Jinyong’s soft hair.
“Is Kyuhyun going to die?”
“No. Oh, no. He’s injured, but it would take more than that to kill a vampire.”
“You were afraid,” Jinyong said, his voice trembling a bit.
“I was. He’s my-“ Business partner. Enabler in the vampire world. Friend didn’t quite fit. He settled on, “He’s my vampire.”
And that didn’t sound quite right either, but it got him a smile. “So you’re not afraid any more?”
Zhou Mi smiled, and stroked down Jinyong’s cowlick. “Not any more.”
“I won’t be either. You like him. He gave me a cookie once.”
“Did he?” Zhou Mi asked, his lips trembling.
“He held it out and stared. And wiggled it. Like I’m a puppy.”
“But did you take it? What did you tell him?”
“I said thank you,” Jinyong said a bit petulantly, as though he was being criticized on his manners. “Will he let me sit on his lap when he’s at his desk?”
“Maybe. You could ask.”
“But he has to ask before biting me, right?”
“You never have to be afraid of that,” Zhou Mi said, and cuddled Jinyong close. And when Jinyong was asleep, Zhou Mi felt better as well.
His vampire. Those words haunted him all the way back down the hall.
***
Kyuhyun woke to warmth and dark. The second wasn’t surprising, but the first was. The weight on the bed told him why, as did the breath against his neck, the breathing of a man who was not asleep.
“You’re still here.”
“I left for awhile,” Zhou Mi said, sliding an arm over Kyuhyun’s side, and pressing a kiss to his neck. “Checked on Jinyong, went to the sanitarium. Our patients being treated are making progress. The younger boy can even speak now.”
“Good. What brought you back so early?”
“You. I figured you’d heal better if you were warm. Or if not, you’d feel better anyway.”
“And you wanted to make sure I was all right?”
“That too. I even let Jinyong watch you sleep for a few moments to assure him you were going to be fine?”
That surprised Kyuhyun as well.
“He was worried?”
“He was. He heard that you were ill, likely watched you being helped to your room. He has a lot of empathy. And you’ve been kind to him.”
That wasn’t something he’d wanted spread around. Though, it was Zhou Mi, who seemed to know everything and be amused by every weakness Kyuhyun showed. Not amused, as though he were cataloguing those weaknesses for his own gain, but because he enjoyed people. At least, people who were not working for the destruction of others.
“I should rise. I had a note sent to Changmin, so he will undoubtedly be barging in to assure himself I have all my limbs.”
“He wasn’t here last night,” Zhou Mi realized.
“Yes,” Kyuhyun said, and reluctantly disentangled himself from Zhou Mi’s arms. “Even he has affairs of his own to deal with now and then. That, or perhaps he feels he got his point across.”
“Did he?” Zhou Mi asked, a hand on Kyuhyun’s back.
“I don’t know-“
Kyuhyun made a sound nearly a squeak when he felt his balance give. And then he was suspended in midair with Zhou Mi supporting his weight, and looming over him, smiling.
“Oh,” Kyuhyun said. And wondered at the smug tilt to Zhou Mi’s mouth. “You did that on purpose.”
“A little. Did I hurt you?”
“No.” But he was chuckling as he got himself under control, nudging up against Zhou Mi’s mouth. A nice way to greet an evening, with a man’s arms around him, and kisses firm.
“You like it when you get to take care of me, when I’m weaker than you,” Kyuhyun accused, his told mild and even.
“No, not exactly,” Zhou Mi said, shaking his head. “Obviously I don’t enjoy that you’re hurt. But being able to take care of you is something new. It reminds me of how-“
Kyuhyun frowned at Zhou Mi, wondering what was going through his head. Zhou Mi almost looked embarrassed, and that meant that Kyuhyun had to know what the words were that Zhou Mi had stopped himself from saying.
“How what?”
Zhou Mi cleared his throat, and it took him a moment before he reluctantly met Kyuhyun’s eyes. “How human you are.”
If Zhou Mi had wanted to surprise him, to say something that made him feel as though he’d been hit, he could not have chosen better. It felt like the air in his lungs stopped up for a moment as he tried to school his face. He knew he had not succeeded, not entirely, with the widening of his eyes. And then there was the way Zhou Mi’s expression had become just slightly concerned. Perhaps Zhou Mi wondered if he was insulted, or hurt in some way.
“We hold ourselves apart from humans for a reason,” Kyuhyun said, as Zhou Mi nodded slowly. “But many of us never forget that we started as humans. It is strange to be reminded of that.”
Zhou Mi’s mouth opened, primed for apology or explanation, and Kyuhyun stopped him.
“You shouldn’t worry yourself.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“Do you wish I was human?”
Zhou Mi shook his head, reaching up to grasp Kyuhyun’s wrist. “You would not be the same. You haven’t told me of your past.”
“But you like who I am now?”
At Zhou Mi’s grin, Kyuhyun imagined he’d struck close to what Zhou Mi had been about to say. Zhou Mi leaned in immediately, touching his mouth with some kind of friendly enthusiasm. It was strangely pain, mingled with something close to happiness. If any human should appreciate him as he was, it should gratify him that it was Zhou Mi. Not a human he bit for a night, or a weekend. But it also seemed a waste. He had few enough friends, and he did not expect to keep contact with Zhou Mi with their month was up. It would be too difficult. Too tempting, too dangerous.
At least, he thought in their case it would be. Zhou Mi’s mouth parted for his nudging, a lazy curl of a kiss, Zhou Mi’s tongue flirting with his. Zhou Mi saw the humanity in him, and he saw that Zhou Mi was no ordinary human. Not just for the lack of thrall, but for everything. It clutched him inside as tightly as Zhou Mi gripped him with his arms. It should have frightened him, coupled with Changmin’s warnings. But they had time. They could not worry, until there was no time left, or taint what they had.
Their lips parted, wet, and Kyuhyun stared at Zhou Mi’s as he felt Zhou Mi’s breaths come a bit quicker.
“I feel I want to have these lips wrapped around me,” Kyuhyun said, touching Zhou Mi’s mouth. “As I have mine wrapped around you. We’ll work twice as hard after.”
“But not nearly as hard.”
Kyuhyun gusted out a laugh. “Yes. Exactly.”
Zhou Mi’s eyelids lowered, eyes knowing and the edges of his lips pulling. It was interest and it was acceptance. They stretched out on the bed on their sides, head to opposite ends and trousers open and down. The room was fill with the sounds of wet sucking and sighs. Moans of encouragement, the touch of skin to skin. It was a more sensual endeavor, he found, to suck and be sucked at once. His consciousness was split of enjoyment and purpose, but what pleasure he felt was enhanced by the jut of Zhou Mi’s arousal between his lips.
“No, too fast,” Kyuhyun gasped.
“Faster,” Zhou Mi pleaded.
And it was he that fell first, his hips held back by Zhou Mi’s hand as he moaned and lost himself to the heat of Zhou Mi’s mouth. It made him redouble his efforts on Zhou Mi as soon as the pleasure had stopped consuming him. Though the truth was, Zhou Mi’s moans only made it continue, a shudder down his spine as he gripped Zhou Mi’s hip and took him deep. The stroking of his hand, his tongue, and Zhou Mi couldn’t last. His mouth moved twice as fast as Zhou Mi’s sounds, the touches of Zhou Mi’s fingers, and he smiled at the desperate cry that melted into a moan as Zhou Mi came for him.
He sucked until Zhou Mi shuddered, fingers tight on Kyuhyun’s waist.
And it was only then that he let himself relax, resting his head on the mattress and breathing in the scent of home, of Zhou Mi. If Zhou Mi had been face to face with him, or with his back to him, Kyuhyun would have pressed closer for warmth. As it was, he just kept his hand on Zhou Mi’s hip and basked. Even if he couldn’t see Zhou Mi, he knew he was doing the exact same thing.
He jolted at a knock on the door.
“Sir, Mr. Shim is downstairs.”
Kyuhyun struggled up onto his elbow. “Tell him I’ll be down shortly.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kyuhyun used that momentum to move, swinging around so he could face Zhou Mi who was almost silently snickering into the cover.
“That is why staff who don’t come into a room without permission is important,” Kyuhyun said, laughing down at Zhou Mi as they curled together.
“Would we have shocked him to death?” Zhou Mi asked.
“Not so much so that anyone else would have heard.”
The solid, warm weight of Zhou Mi’s hand against his neck had his toes curling under. The kisses were bright, warm and lovely, opening to each other slow and steady. It was the taste of himself in Zhou Mi’s mouth, and Zhou Mi’s taste in his own, and they shared it.
“I could make a habit of beginning my nights like this,” Kyuhyun murmured.
“You have a lovely mouth,” Zhou Mi said, eyes coy.
“Yours is…exceptionally adequate.”
Zhou Mi laughed into his kiss, and he hooked his leg over Zhou Mi’s hip to draw him closer. He could have stayed there for hours, drawing little interested sounds from Zhou Mi’s throat, tiny sighs as Kyuhyun teased the edge of his ear.
But there were other things to take care of.
“I should go down before Changmin thunders up,” Kyuhyun said with regret. He might have started his night well, but Changmin would not find him amenable for having torn him away from a man with his legs stretched over the bed, pants open and mouth wet.
Because he could, he mussed Zhou Mi’s hair, and realized that was only hurting himself because Zhou Mi looked even more rumpled, ready for sex and pouting.
“Feel free to stay here as long as you want. Changmin won’t mind,” Kyuhyun said, a bit wry even though Zhou Mi understood.
“I should look in on Jinyong again,” Zhou Mi said, though he didn’t move, just watching as Kyuhyun stood and dressed to go downstairs.
“When you’re ready, then,” Kyuhyun said. And he bent, not feeling obedient as much as wanting, when Zhou Mi held out a hand to draw him down again. And three kisses later, he was finally ready.
Kyuhyun opened the door to the hall, just in time to hear his name shouted up the stairwell in a familiar voice. He sighed and looked back at Zhou Mi.
“I hope you enjoyed knowing Changmin, because you might not any more after I get down there.”
He thought he heard Zhou Mi’s chuckle as he closed the door. He only half meant his threat.
***
Changmin was understandably cautious, when he heard of Kyuhyun’s injuries. However, it gave Changmin something to mull on besides Kyuhyun’s interactions with Zhou Mi, so after Zhou Mi had come down, and left to go to the sanitarium, it was a pleasant time with Changmin. It was possible to kill a vampire, and they had been friends long enough to imagine that losing each other would be a great loss.
“I have not heard of another vampire being attacked so. Did they mention the Euphoria to you?”
“Not that I recall,” Kyuhyun answered.
“Perhaps yours, and Zhou Mi’s, fear of humans beginning a backlash against vampires. But identifying a vampire is not as easy as that.”
“Yes. However, since I was out on Zhou Mi’s behalf visiting a vampire, I may have been caught by association.”
Changmin nodded. “I will keep my ears open. I wonder… I wonder if the Choi family had something to do with it.”
Kyuhyun tried to picture the composed Sooyoung wielding a bucket, and couldn’t.
“I don’t think so. When she spoke with us, it seemed like she knew ways to harm a vampire that were far more effective than these thugs.”
Changmin’s laugh was loud. “That’s very true. Still, if there is one person in the city who might know who these people might be.”
“You’re right. I’ll send her a note. Maybe she’ll agree to another audience.”
Like a queen. He and Changmin shared an amused look. He knew it would not be that night, but another night.
“I’ll take my leave, then,” Changmin said, standing with his hat. “I have a couple of new vampires who might be willing to bite the patients in need. They’re a little…less than enthusiastic.”
“Your help is appreciated,” Kyuhyun said, standing and holding out his hand.
Changmin stared at it, before sighing, and grasping Kyuhyun’s hand.
“Yes. I hear Zhou Mi’s thanks behind yours. I’ll be seeing you.”
“Have a good night.”
Changmin sent a grin back. “There’ll be a woman waiting to feed me at home. So I will.”
***
Kyuhyun sat for only twenty minutes after Changmin had gone before hearing a creak in the hallway. Zhou Mi was gone, and the staff would not be skulking. The child, perhaps, and it was confirmed, when a tousled head appeared around the door. Kyuhyun’s problem with children had been less that he didn't like them, and more that he wasn't really sure what to do with them. He found them cute. It wasn't like he was a monster. But this child was cute. Cleaned up, well dressed, he could have been the son of any gentleman. It had been only a few days prior when Jinyong had peeked into the office while Zhou Mi was gone.
”You're a vampire," the child said.
"That's right."
"Zhou Mi likes you."
Kyuhyun had to keep himself from smirking. "I think he does."
The boy dawdled, drawing circles on the rug with his toe. Kyuhyun didn't want to ask him if his nanny knew where he was, chase him off. Somehow he could see Zhou Mi being negative about that. He rustled in his drawer, getting a wary look, at least until he emerged with a cookie. Perhaps the child shared Zhou Mi's sweet tooth.
"Would you like it?”
The boy had taken it, mumbling a thank you before darting from the room. But like a puppy after scraps, it seemed he had a visitor again. That time he didn’t even ask, lifting the lid from the plate and holding out the cookie with lifted eyebrows. Sidling along the edge of the room, and then the desk, Jinyong reached for it, pulling it back like he wasn’t allowed. Or perhaps just afraid.
But cookie in hand, Jinyong did not run away as he had last time. He stared at Kyuhyun’s desk and the strange things that must have been on it to a child’s eyes. And the voice Jinyong used to speak was a bit wavery, strengthening as he spoke.
"Zhou Mi said you might let me sit on your lap."
Zhou Mi would have.
“Perhaps. When Zhou Mi is here…?” Kyuhyun ventured. It would put the child at ease, and give Kyuhyun a much-needed back up.
“You’re better now?”
Kyuhyun had forgotten that Jinyong had been there when he’d come home injured.
“Yes, I am. Thank you for asking,” Kyuhyun said, and smiled. He was hoping, just a little, for an answering smile. He got a head waggle, and considered them even.
He felt a bit responsible for Jinyong. Even if Zhou Mi was consistently paying him back for any supplies and had paid him for Jinyong’s purchase, he knew his money had freed the boy to begin with. It had been Zhou Mi’s will, and Kyuhyun’s funds, that had done it. When he thought of the squalor Jinyong might still be in, he had a twinge of thankfulness for Zhou Mi pushing him. It was easy to ignore, when the boy was out of sight.
It was less easy, when the boy was inching his way around Kyuhyun’s desk, as though it would bite him. But it wasn’t the desk the boy feared- it was him. His kind. There were other boys like him that Zhou Mi was trying to help, by keeping them safe from the Euphoria as they grew.
Keeping the child with them to make Kyuhyun see the humanity in what they were working to accomplish was a good goal. But he knew that hadn’t been Zhou Mi’s purpose. Still, the boy could not stay. He thought they both knew that. There was a place he belonged, if Zhou Mi could find it.
They both heard the knock at the outer door, and Jinyong cowered at the side of his desk. Perhaps Kyuhyun was a source of fear, but he was a known source, until he proved otherwise. Still, Kyuhyun knew it could be no one else, and was proved correct when Zhou Mi appeared in the doorway.
“Zhou Mi!”
“Jinyong!” Zhou Mi said, crouching and opening his arms for Jinyong to run into.
“He gave me a cookie,” Jinyong said, his voice pitched almost to a whisper but still loud enough to be heard.
“Ooh,” Zhou Mi said, impressed by the cookie that Jinyong still held. Though not by the crumbs that were undoubtedly scattered everywhere, Kyuhyun mused.
“He said I could sit on his lap,” Jinyong said, in the exact same volume.
“Is that right?” Zhou Mi asked, gathering Jinyong into him and standing. “I thought he might let you.”
“Because he won’t bite me…”
The statement had started strong and faltered, as though Jinyong was attempting to build up his belief that it was true, despite Zhou Mi’s assurances.
“That’s right,” Zhou Mi said softly. “Only me. Why don’t we sit on his lap together?”
Kyuhyun opened his mouth to protest, and Zhou Mi smiled at him over Jinyong’s head. He saw the way Zhou Mi was being clung to, the care Zhou Mi showed an innocent. He saw the way, a moment later, Jinyong and Zhou Mi beamed at each other as though in conspiracy. And he knew it was not in him to resist.
“You think we’re going to fit?” Zhou Mi asked Jinyong as they got closer.
“I think so,” Jinyong said.
Kyuhyun had the very nice viewpoint of Zhou Mi’s backside backing up to him, almost doing a little dance and making Jinyong giggle. What he was doing was making Kyuhyun hope he didn’t topple over and take all three of them to the floor. But he reached for Zhou Mi’s hip, guiding him back onto Kyuhyun’s thighs.
Zhou Mi glanced back and Kyuhyun had to resist waggling his eyebrows. He liked Zhou Mi like that.
Jinyong peeked over Zhou Mi’s shoulder as they landed. Kyuhyun hoped his smile was not frightening, and more welcoming. With his face, he didn’t always know.
“You have teeth,” Jinyong told him.
“I do. Human teeth, and vampire teeth,” Kyuhyun answered honestly. “One behind the other, like a shark.”
“What’s a shark?”
“It’s a creature that lives in the ocean. Not near here, in a fountain or a river, but far away. I have a book with a picture of it.”
“Can I see?”
“You can. But that means we need to get up, because it’s in the shelf.”
“Good!”
Lap sitting abandoned in favor of some mystery, Jinyong twisted out of Zhou Mi’s arms and down onto the floor, only to immediately start pulling at Zhou Mi’s hand.
“Let him up so he can find the book.”
“Easy,” Zhou Mi told him, and squeezed Kyuhyun’s arm before standing.
Kyuhyun followed them to the row of shelves, and found the book of marine biology that he’d been looking for. The settee was just wide enough for two adults to sit comfortably far apart, which meant it would be perfect for two adults, and one tiny human.
So Kyuhyun sat, patting the cushion beside him. And with his hand still clutching Zhou Mi’s, Jinyong sat. It caused a dance, Zhou Mi switching hands so he could sit and well without his arm twisted, and in only moments his arm was along the back of the couch, fingers pressed to Kyuhyun’s shoulder, and Jinyong between them. The book stretched wide, its pages four times as old as Jinyong himself, with drawings of fish and strange creatures and what some would consider to be monsters.
“I hope this doesn’t bring nightmares,” Kyuhyun mouthed over Jinyong’s head.
Though the way Jinyong was oohing and ahhing, he didn’t think so. It became more about the book, and less about Kyuhyun and vampires. So Kyuhyun watched, as Zhou Mi interacted with Jinyong. The laughs, and squeezing his shoulder, and encouraging Jinyong to read the names, haltingly. And Zhou Mi listened as Kyuhyun told stories about the great monsters of the sea. It wasn’t because he watched Zhou Mi watching, and more that he glanced up every so often and found Zhou Mi smiling at him.
“It’s been chaotic the last few days, but I’m taking him to see if we can find his parents tomorrow,” Zhou Mi said, after he’d taking Jinyong up to bed.
“If you find them?”
Zhou Mi sat at the desk he used for correspondence. “Then it’s for the best.”
And Kyuhyun wondered.
***
It was hard to say who was holding on harder, him or Jinyong as Zhou Mi’s carriage rolled through the streets. They went away from the gas street lamps, to the wards where there were shops and where those with less lived. He himself had grown up two wards over, only they had been near the cattle processors, a cow adorning their fountain. The streets had been decorated with manure, and he’d often fallen asleep to the sound of lowing cattle.
His instructions had been for the driver to go up and down each street to inspect the fountains. If he found one, headless, he was to stop.
And eventually, the carriage did. Zhou Mi’s eyes closed momentarily, and he squeezed Jinyong’s hand.
“Let’s get out and walk a little ways.”
Jinyong looked up at him wordlessly, nodding. No tears, and Zhou Mi was thankful, because he wondered if he could have stayed strong instead of telling the driver to return to Kyuhyun’s home and that they would try again. Instead, he took a breath and stepped down as his driver opened the carriage door for them. He lifted Jinyong down, and took hold of the bag they had filled with Jinyong’s belongings that he had accumulated while with Zhou Mi. Sets of clothing, and his favorite toys, and several books.
A nod to his driver told him they would be back, and together they walked to the fountain. It seemed Jinyong had played at it, and if it had not been long, there would still be familiar sights to lead him home.
“It’s the fountain!” Jinyong said, leaning out away from Zhou Mi’s hand a bit. “My brother said the horse butt told us how to get home”
It was said with a giggle, and Zhou Mi’s heart twisted, swinging their hands together.
“Let’s see what we find following it, then,” Zhou Mi suggested.
They skirted the fountain and its continuous flow of water, and followed the billowing horse tail toward the street. It seemed the longer they were there, the more Jinyong saw that was familiar, the less apprehension he had. He was the one pulling Zhou Mi instead of the gentle tugging Zhou Mi had done to take Jinyong toward the fountain.
“I fell off that box once, and oh, that cat scratched me, but it likes me now!”
No matter how fast Jinyong went, however, he did not go faster than Zhou Mi. He did not let go of Zhou Mi.
And then Jinyong stopped, lifting his hand and pointing and then dragging Zhou Mi forward again.
“Mama!”
The woman they were walking toward looked up, and reacted as though she’d seen a ghost, stepping back, her face a mask of shock. The basket in her hands dropped, rolling on the ground as Jinyong raced for her. Zhou Mi held his breath, and before Jinyong could get there, she had dropped to her knees, and was there to gather him in.
“My baby. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“Mama. I’m okay, Mama.”
Zhou Mi’s throat was tight as he walked closer, and Jinyong was bubbling.
“Zhou Mi saved me! Vampires bit me but I didn’t cry much. And Zhou Mi knows vampires, too. Did you miss me?”
“I did,” she said, and stood to face Zhou Mi with a tightening face. “Thank you for returning my son. He… He disappeared. Kidnapped. And I thought never would I see him again.”
“It was nothing. I hoped to reunite him with his family. These are some things he’s been using. My address is there, in case you have questions.”
“Thank you, sir. Jinyong, go inside.”
Instead, Jinyong raced to him. Zhou Mi dropped to one knee and gave him a long hug. He felt the sobs more than heard them, and ordered his heart to be stronger.
“You’re safe,” Zhou Mi whispered. “If you need anything, you know how to find me.”
Jinyong nodded, meeting Zhou Mi’s eyes with his cheeks wet with silent tears. They considered each other, Jinyong’s lower lip beginning to tremble, before he turned and ran for the door.
“You should go. Thank you again, but you should go,” Jinyong’s mother told him.
“Yes,” Zhou Mi said. And he took her hand, pressing money into it. “Please use it for anything your children need. I’ll check in on him, after a while.”
And without a word, before she could protest his charity or anything else, he walked away. She was grateful for the return of her child, wary of a stranger. Jinyong had been happy when he’d seen her, happy to be held by her. Zhou Mi gave his driver a nod, and got into the carriage.
His first thought was of going to Kyuhyun, stripping and pressing himself against Kyuhyun’s back and forgetting the tears. But that would not be helping anyone but himself, not truly. Perhaps Kyuhyun would appreciate the warmth, but he would be doing it for himself. The tears were joy for Jinyong, and regret.
So instead Zhou Mi went to the sanitarium. Since he could not work near the patients most times without feeling sick - with grief and smells - he did what he could. He folded laundry, cleaned vegetables, spoke to family, mopped empty rooms. He worked until after midnight, until his back ached and his hands felt chapped. And then he went to his own home, not wanting to impose upon Kyuhyun and his staff again, and cleaned himself. His horse was led behind the carriage, because he felt too tired to even imagine riding that night, but he could ride back in the daylight.
Kyuhyun stood as soon as Zhou Mi entered, eyes shadowed.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m late. I was at the sanitarium, and-“
“I figured as much,” Kyuhyun said, stepping up close to him. “You weren’t here, and neither was Jinyong when I woke. You found his family?”
“I did.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. A child should be with his parents. It would have been different if we could not find them, but we did.“
“You did.”
“If he had been my child, if I didn’t know where he was, if he was all right. I couldn’t let them suffer like that. I could have provided him more in the way of physical things, but-“
“You would have given him everything he needed, don’t delude yourself about that,” Kyuhyun said. “You did what you thought was right, and you’ll be able to see him again.”
“It wouldn’t have been as hard- It would have been hard, still, but not as hard, because he cried. He was scared when we left, and perked up when he recognized his neighborhood, but when I left him there he cried.”
“He felt safe with you. You should be thankful for that. You made a horrible situation so much better, after you rescued him. Imagine if he’d just been stuck with me.”
Zhou Mi chuckled against the side of Kyuhyun’s face. “Who is deluding themselves now? You were sweet with him. You helped him to see that not all vampires were like the ones he’d known. And he’d have trusted you more, if he’d been here longer.”
“I have an image to maintain,” Kyuhyun said, but Zhou Mi knew it was only to make him smile. “What can I do for you?”
Zhou Mi let his hands settle on either side of Kyuhyun’s neck “You can take me to your bed.”
“How is me biting you going to make you feel better?”
But Kyuhyun was smiling, before Zhou Mi kissed him.
***
Every though Kyuhyun was fully satisfied, in every way he could hunger, he could tell Zhou Mi was still pensive. The longer Jinyong had been with them, the more Zhou Mi had grown attached. The little games, the way Zhou Mi smiled and praised him. Jinyong was a success, in Zhou Mi’s eyes, in his fight against the Bad Vampires. One battle, he’d been trying to win over and over. He’d won it, too, when he’d found Jinyong’s parents. But then he had to remind himself of the other things he had to fight for. But Kyuhyun was glad, because he couldn’t have imagined the heartbreak had Jinyong stayed longer. It grew only exponentially, day by day and moment by moment. And he refused to equate them with it, as he stroked Zhou Mi’s hair.
Zhou Mi murmured against his neck, something incomprehensible probably to both of them and he leaned into the motion. The heat of it. The humid warmth of Zhou Mi’s breath was a luxury to him, and he basked in it. The sun was finding its way to the horizon, and he could feel it. Maybe a few more kisses. He could have fallen asleep right like that, with the way Zhou Mi’s fingers were tracing his arm. He couldn’t feel the wound there any more, the long line of it up his forearm, but he knew that was what Zhou Mi was remembering.
“It healed up nicely.”
“Mm,” Zhou Mi hummed in agreement.
Zhou Mi’s head slowly lifted off the pillow and Kyuhyun looked at him. His face was tense, frowning as he stared at Kyuhyun’s arm. No longer sleepy in the slightest.
“I was too worried about you that night. I had a thought- Tell me everything that happened that night. Did they say anything? What did they do to you?”
Zhou Mi seemed ready to shake him if he didn’t comply, so even if he was confused Kyuhyun did tell him. The four men that had called him vampire, and beaten him. One or two men, he could take on his own. He could take more, physically, than what the average human could, but four was a different matter. They’d had sticks, sturdy and short and designed for beating.
“What happened after your arm was cut?”
“I don’t know. Someone was kneeling on my head and the others were holding or kicking me. I couldn’t see anything.”
“Did they have a bucket? Some kind of vessel?”
“Yes. One of them had a bucket. He was hitting me with it at first. I remember the clang as it bounced off my skull. But a bucket? Why- A bucket. A deep, clean cut.”
Zhou Mi’s eyes were bright, nodding as Kyuhyun was getting the picture.
“You think- You think they bled me. To sell my blood to humans. If the attacks were like mine, they might never know blood was taken.”
“I know,” Zhou Mi said.
“My blood could be putting people in that sanitarium. Your blood.”
Zhou Mi’s face sobered at that. “Yes.”
“This may be our opening,” Kyuhyun said. “Our- I thought that vampires were staying silent out of shame, that they were being bled like some robberies gone awry. But they might not know. There are those who would be very angry to know their blood is being used in this way. We always knew that. We just didn’t know- Bury the shame, build the anger.“
“The list of vampires you’ve been compiling,” Zhou Mi. “One of them may know someone who knows someone else. They can be our eyes.”
It seemed Zhou Mi had found his balance. Questions and prodding had not brought them answers. Perhaps anger would.
***
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Rating: NC-17
Genre: AU, vampire, smut, historical
Warnings: References to issues of consent (not in fic itself), fictional drug use
Summary: The streets of Zhou Mi's city are being contaminated with a new drug - Euphoria. Pure vampire blood, it causes a high unlike any other, but when the high fades, the nightmares begin. It is the spread of Euphoria that Zhou Mi fights, and in that fight he needs a partner to get him to places and people that only a vampire can.
***
Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Epilogue
***
By the time Zhou Mi had thundered down the stairs, the servants had gotten Kyuhyun in through the door. He was standing, which was a blessed relief, but his clothes were bloody, and so was his face. Red marks there, also, as though he’d been hit, and scrapes on his hands.
“Kyuhyun,” he said, stepping forward to where Kyuhyun was being supported.
“It’s worse than it looks,” Kyuhyun said. “I just need- Bath.”
“What happened?” he said, aghast. “Did the carriage turn over?”
Kyuhyun shook his head, and winced. “I was attacked on the street. Four men. Half a dozen, I don’t know. Anti-vampire gangs, probably. Upstairs.”
He wanted to touch. To touch Kyuhyun all over and make sure he was all right. He also knew they needed to move Kyuhyun as fast as possible in case he lost the strength to get up the stairs.
“I’ll get blood on your clothes,” Kyuhyun said, a trail of bloody saliva trailing down his chin as he waved Zhou Mi back. To his staff he said, “Help me upstairs. Please.”
Zhou Mi could only watch as the servants helped Kyuhyun toward the stairs.
“Water’s being prepared?”
“Yes, sir,” a maid told him.
There was blood being smeared into the floor, and even that he couldn’t think about as he followed them up the stairs. His hand gripped the railing, nearly pulling himself up after them even as his heart was beating almost beyond control.
Kyuhyun was a vampire. He could heal inhumanly fast. But seeing him weakened, battered, was not something that Zhou Mi had ever been prepared to face. Kyuhyun, vampires, to him were so untouchable.
But he didn’t even make it to Kyuhyun’s room, seeing Jinyong peeking out from behind his door.
“Hey,” Zhou Mi said, pushing in and getting down to Jinyong’s level and trying to hide his own fear.
“He said Kyuhyun is hurt?”
“He’s doing better. I’ll be looking after him, so go to sleep, all right?” Zhou Mi said, and kissed the top of Jinyong’s head. “I’ll come check on you in a while, too. But don’t worry.”
Zhou Mi hugged him, picked him up and settled him on his bed. He was just leaving as Jinyong’s nanny arrived. He was glad for that, leaving Jinyong with a smile and stretching his legs to get to the bathing room as quickly as he could.
Zhou Mi could see Kyuhyun was hurting, just in the way he moved, as though there was something painful in the movement of his hips, the flexing of his spine. Then there were the dark marks on Kyuhyun’s face, blood running from his hairline. That, he thought, was the most startling of all. Of course he knew it was possible for vampires to be injured, even if the injury wouldn’t kill them. But to see a man he already identified as immortal, injured, made him that much more human. Zhou Mi wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
No, he did know. But he shoved it aside, as he watched the bath being filled. He tested the water himself, as one of the servants put out clean towels and Kyuhyun’s valet helped Kyuhyun out of his clothes.
Kyuhyun hissed as he sank into the heated water, and relaxed back. And it was time.
“I’ll take care of him tonight,” Zhou Mi said, stepping up beside the tub and addressing the two men. “I’ll ring if he needs more water or help getting out.”
There was a pause, but they acquiesced when they saw that Kyuhyun wasn’t objecting, leaving them alone. Maybe he hadn’t bathed a man before, but he knew what he liked himself. And he wanted that time alone with Kyuhyun.
“Do you need to talk to me?” Kyuhyun asked, leaning his head back.
Zhou Mi turned from him only for a moment, getting a cloth for washing, a sponge, and soap before moving back to Kyuhyun’s side.
“No, I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I’m not dying, if that’s what you’re asking,” Kyuhyun joked. But he didn’t say more until Zhou Mi sat on the low stool. “It was nothing. A group of idiots who couldn’t have gotten the best of me on their own.”
“They knew you were a vampire?”
The cloth, slick with soap, skimmed over Kyuhyun’s shoulder and collarbones. He just barely bit back the grin as Kyuhyun made a sound, almost like a contented cat.
“They did. It fucking hurt.”
Zhou Mi followed Kyuhyun’s line of sight to an angry red wound running along Kyuhyun’s arm. It tickled something in the back of his mind. He’d think on it later, as soon as he’d satisfied himself of Kyuhyun’s wellbeing. He knew that wound had to have been much worse before Kyuhyun had gotten home, proof of a vampire’s incredible healing power. It probably wouldn’t be there by morning. Perhaps that was something to be envied.
“I can do this myself, you know,” Kyuhyun said, stopping Zhou Mi’s hand before it got much further down Kyuhyun’s chest.
“Yes, I know.”
But that didn’t mean he stopped. He carefully rubbed at Kyuhyun’s sore stomach, his hips. Taking the sponge to rub down Kyuhyun’s thighs and shins. He glanced up, to see if he was hurting, or tickling, to find Kyuhyun’s eyes steady on him. Little blood, but blooming bruises, turning a bit green and yellow already. He did not mean it to be sexual, meant it to be more of a gesture of caring, but he was not blind. Kyuhyun was growing aroused. Maybe from the touch, maybe from anticipation, but it had him blowing out a breath. Not an unhappy one, as he carefully washed the inside of Kyuhyun’s closest arm.
“You could get a position doing this,” Kyuhyun said.
Zhou Mi cleared his throat, dragging his eyes from Kyuhyun’s lips.
“Let me get your back.”
Marks from gravel, bruises. What might have been broken or bruised ribs, Zhou Mi could see all of them clearly. Scrubbing down Kyuhyun’s back felt like it was cleansing the skin, but also Zhou Mi’s mind. The worry, the want to be close. Seeing Kyuhyun’s fingers curling over the edge of the tub, bracing himself. And almost shivering with anger as he rubbed special creams through Kyuhyun’s hair, carefully pouring water from a large copper jug over Kyuhyun’s head to rinse him clean.
“This is nothing,” Kyuhyun said, his voice flat and even. He grabbed Zhou Mi’s wrist before he could move. “I can hear your questions rattling around in your brain from here. Nothing a little bite won’t cure.”
“You’ll have that after you’re dry.”
Kyuhyun looked up at him, and the expression was one Zhou Mi couldn’t read. “You’d be this outraged that someone was hurt, no matter who they were, wouldn’t you?”
Kyuhyun’s eyelashes were dark and wet, catching the light as they considered each other. His whole face was wet, actually, including his mouth. He should not have thought of Kyuhyun like that, not then, but it was impossible to stop. But he realized he hadn’t answered Kyuhyun’s question.
“Probably. But you’re not anyone.”
It was not a confession. It was fact. They were not strangers, and could not pretend that they were. But he still saw the surprise on Kyuhyun’s face, before he pressed his lips to Kyuhyun’s, parted and damp from the bath. Kyuhyun couldn’t just make light of his concern, do anything he wanted, to worry him. And he didn’t have the words or knowledge to tell Kyuhyun that. But he could kiss, feeling Kyuhyun’s mouth soften for him, open to him. The tingles that ran down his spine at Kyuhyun’s soft sound, the sharp, almost bitter taste of Kyuhyun’s mouth. Kyuhyun’s hand was wet, fingers tangling in Zhou Mi’s hair as Kyuhyun tilted down his face. Leaving Zhou Mi’s nose pressed to Kyuhyun’s skin, breathing against each other.
“Peculiar human,” Kyuhyun said, but there was no mockery to it. “If this tub was big enough, I’d drag you in here with me.”
That drew all types of images to his mind, ones that had him biting his lip to contain himself. “Maybe if the water was warmer. You can finish up yourself?”
Before the water grew cooler than it was. He stood, leaving Kyuhyun to finish washing himself as he made sure a towel and Kyuhyun’s robe was at hand. It was simple, then, to help Kyuhyun from the tub, letting the water stream down before Kyuhyun stepped out, and could be wrapped in the robe. The towel, Zhou Mi laid over Kyuhyun’s head, putting the other on the floor so that Kyuhyun wouldn’t slip.
And it put him at a loss, tucking his hands behind his back as Kyuhyun rubbed at his hair with the towel.
“Not going to dry me, too?” Kyuhyun teased. “I’ll finish drying off in my room, if you want to ring to let them know the bathing room is ready to be cleaned.”
“I will.”
It gave him a minute of solitude at least, to try working some of the knots out of his shoulders, rubbing his hands up and down his arms, to reduce the odd leaden feelings. But he was mostly together, by the time the manservant bounded in, and all was finished on his end. All that was left was to go to Kyuhyun, and to whatever being together brought them before sleep. A meal for Kyuhyun, that much he knew, to help him heal.
When he returned to the room, he was not entirely surprised to find that Kyuhyun had slid into bed on the side that Zhou Mi usually slept on. There was just enough room there for Zhou Mi, or for them to arrange themselves atop whoever was doing the taking. He undressed, leaving his clothes carefully over the back of one of the chairs before Kyuhyun tossed back the corner of blanket and invited him in.
He let out a soft moan as Kyuhyun’s uninjured arm snaked around him, grasping his hair and pulling him into filthy kiss. Kyuhyun’s tongue was holding nothing back, both demanding and urging Zhou Mi along, even as Kyuhyun’s thigh rubbed against his.
And his breath came hard as their lips parted. “Are you sure you feel up to it?”
“You mean you’d deny the poor, injured vampire his request to have his cock sucked?” Kyuhyun paused a moment, choking with laughter as Zhou Mi flushed. “You would consider it. But that’s not the gratification I’m seeking.”
“What is it you want?” Zhou Mi asked, his thumb skimming just above the little scars along Kyuhyun’s cheekbone. Proof he’d once been human. Proof that once, the injuries he had would not have healed nearly so fast.
Kyuhyun’s fingertip traced down his collarbone. “I think I’ll let you do the work tonight. And yes. I’m sure.”
That hadn’t been the question he’d been going to ask, but he squeezed Kyuhyun’s hand anyway.
“I can do that.”
Kyuhyun’s body was lit by half, and part in shadow from the bedside light. With his eyes, he traced the bottom edge of Kyuhyun’s ribcage, the dip of his navel, and the fine hair that traced down from it. His body was not that of a man who needed muscles to work day to day.
But it was that of a man. Sturdy bones, solid hips, and strength. It was written in every inch of his skin. The dark of nipples against his skin, scattered marks that made Kyuhyun unique.
“What do you see?” Kyuhyun asked.
Zhou Mi very carefully slickened his fingers, only to feel Kyuhyun’s body give within moments, pushing down against them, taking them in. It was not so much that he felt he needed to, because he knew Kyuhyun could take him without any touch at all. But he wanted to. He’d been so surprised, eager, the first time. Too exhausted to do anything but follow Kyuhyun’s invitation to its inevitable end.
But not that night. Kyuhyun was hurt, but relaxed, mouth falling open as Zhou Mi stroked him inside until he was squirming, tightening himself on Zhou Mi’s fingers, fucking himself on them. It had Zhou Mi stroking himself as well, but not too fast. Just enough, so that when Kyuhyun couldn’t stand it, he would be ready.
His mouth opened, almost ready to ask how many men had done that for Kyuhyun, driven him wild without ever slipping inside him, and he thought better of it. Kyuhyun had lived longer than he had, and if he knew, it might not be the answer he wanted. How many men had been where he was, how many men had seen Kyuhyun gasping and flushed and pushing up against them for more.
It didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter. The only thing that did was that he was there, right then, and it was him who was pressing up with his fingers and making Kyuhyun gasp.
“Zhou Mi. Fuck. Stop teasing!”
“Some other time, I could make you come like this,” Zhou Mi promised, feeling himself shiver.
It was so smooth, the way his fingers slid out, and his erection replaced them. Kyuhyun’s thighs gripped him, holding him deep, pulling him in. He settled on his elbows, close enough to feel Kyuhyun’s breath.
“I don’t mean to offend,” Kyuhyun said, his tongue flickering at Zhou Mi’s lower lip. “But I think I like your cock better than your fingers.”
“My cock isn’t offended in the least,” Zhou Mi murmured. “My fingers… Another time, maybe.”
It wasn’t as simple as sliding in and out. It was the way their hips met, and the slide of Kyuhyun’s nails against his skin and through his hair. It was in their kisses, slow, because he controlled them. All he had to do was lift his head if Kyuhyun pressed him, low little rumbles of dissatisfaction.
“One day I want you on your back,” Kyuhyun said, taking a long inhale as Zhou Mi’s hips flexed quicker. “I’ll hold you down, sink on you, and you’ll have no- Oh. No way to make me go faster.”
“I want that. I want- Kyuhyun.“ It was a moan, as their hips rolled together, like a wave rising and turning. For a moment, in his mind, he saw the blood trickling from Kyuhyun’s head. “You’re all right. You’re all right.”
He kissed Kyuhyun’s neck, the arch of his cheekbone. Full lips and stubborn chin were there for him taste, cover. Only pausing for the pleasure their bodies were sending up his spine. Close, too close.
“Come with me,” Kyuhyun urged him. “I’ll show you.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“Yes.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“Let me feel you. Zhou Mi. Let me-“
Kyuhyun moaned against his neck as Zhou Mi stroked his cock and pressed into him until his mind was blank of anything but pleasure. All he knew, as his hand went wet with Kyuhyun’s come, was that he couldn’t hold back. He moaned, and moaned again as he felt Kyuhyun’s teeth sink through his skin, and he could not stop, until his hips slowed their desperate struggle and he was hoarse - and Kyuhyun’s teeth were still in him.
But only for a moment longer, until he moaned again as Kyuhyun’s tongue soothed where he had bitten. The arm that had taken most of his weight began to tremble, and he could do little but slide from Kyuhyun and debate which way to move.
As soon as the room stopped spinning.
“You took more,” Zhou Mi realized. “You needed more.”
“You make me lose control,” Kyuhyun accused, but his voice was not harsh with it. Zhou Mi laughed, the feeling rusty, and with effort let his arm give so he could roll toward the center of the bed. “I didn’t take as much as the first time, but I should get you something to drink. Or eat.“
His head felt a bit muzzy. Maybe that was the aftereffects of the sex, and not just the bloodletting. “I should be taking care of you.”
“I am mostly healed. You… You should not move.”
“Won’t.”
Kyuhyun kissed him, and he tried, sloppily, to catch Kyuhyun’s lip with his teeth. He missed, and Kyuhyun just chuckled at him.
“I’ll be right back.”
Zhou Mi squinted, and then opened his eyes wide as he watched Kyuhyun walk naked to retrieve his dressing gown. And he was glad to be tall sometimes as he stuck out a leg and dragged what looked like a shirt of Kyuhyun’s off the floor, and used it to mop at his skin. After that, he just reclined on the pillows and finally felt settle enough to open his eyes as Kyuhyun came back in.
“I used your shirt to clean myself off,” he confessed, as Kyuhyun put a mug and bowl down on the bedstand.
“Good thing it was due to be washed,” Kyuhyun said, and shimmied out of his robe. That naked skin all tantalizing in front of him, even with the marks. But they were fading. And it was opposite of earlier, with him holding back the covers so that Kyuhyun could slide in.
“Your warmth always surprises me,” Kyuhyun said, as soon as he had took back his mouth from Zhou Mi’s.
Zhou Mi cupped Kyuhyun’s shoulder. “But you don’t feel cold to me.”
“Odd, isn’t it? Are you hungry? You should eat something just in case ”
But when Zhou Mi thought to raise his hand to take the bowl, he was startled as Kyuhyun lifted a piece of fruit from it, offering it until Zhou Mi took it from his fingers with his teeth. Apple, crisp and tart as he chewed.
“You’re feeding me?”
“You feed me,” Kyuhyun said.
That was something Zhou Mi could not argue with. He quickly drank the water Kyuhyun had brought and settled against Kyuhyun’s side.
“More,” he demanded cheekily, feeling a bit decadent and waited on. Even if he was the one supposed to be taking care of Kyuhyun. Still it seemed like Kyuhyun enjoyed it, teasing his lower lip with the fruit and pulling it back before letting Zhou Mi eat it. Their heads were so close, both laughing. And he ate, as Kyuhyun told him a story of a vampire who was ill at the site of blood. Eating wasn’t bad for that vampire, as long as there wasn’t any trace of it after.
“What about you?” Zhou Mi asked, after he’d finished the last of the food Kyuhyun had brought.
“Me? I don’t particularly enjoy the sight of blood. It is food, and it keeps human and vampire alike alive. But I have no desire to bathe in it.”
“That would be a disturbing sight.”
“Mm,” Kyuhyun agreed, his hand spreading against Zhou Mi’s chest. Bruises that had been there earlier, ringing his wrist, were nearly gone.
“My blood healed you,” Zhou Mi said in realization.
“Your blood has been healing me all night,” Kyuhyun said. “When a vampire drinks from a human long enough, they become…mostly of their blood.”
“Oh.” He liked that, oddly. In Kyuhyun’s veins was nothing but his blood. He traced Kyuhyun’s inner arm, where he knew veins were. “Then you’re mine. Me.”
“Yes, I’m you,” Kyuhyun teased him. “Right down to the last drop.”
Oddly, it seemed like the first word had fit better. But he kissed Kyuhyun to mask his awkwardness, to make him forget the slip of his mouth, no matter how true it felt. But no matter what it felt like, it could not be true. He’d known that before Kyuhyun had touched him. Remembering Changmin’s warnings had him flinching, kneading the back of Kyuhyun’s neck and moaning into the kiss. A month had seemed like forever, and it was slipping away.
Still, there was time that they could take advantage of, and he had the strength to do it as he rolled onto his knees and kissed Kyuhyun.
“There’s not much time before the sun-“
“I know. Let me take care of you.”
And Kyuhyun gasped as Zhou Mi kissed down his stomach.
***
When Kyuhyun was resting easily, Zhou Mi rose and put his robe on over his trousers. He tested himself, to make sure he was steady, but was not terribly concerned since he wouldn’t be near any stairs. He could check on Jinyong, make sure the house was prepared for the day. There would be no more work, but he needed to let the staff know.
Jinyong stirred immediately when Zhou Mi opened the door, emitting a cry that had Zhou Mi striding across the room to hug him.
“It’s all right. It’s me. Everything is all right. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” Zhou Mi said, petting Jinyong’s soft hair.
“Is Kyuhyun going to die?”
“No. Oh, no. He’s injured, but it would take more than that to kill a vampire.”
“You were afraid,” Jinyong said, his voice trembling a bit.
“I was. He’s my-“ Business partner. Enabler in the vampire world. Friend didn’t quite fit. He settled on, “He’s my vampire.”
And that didn’t sound quite right either, but it got him a smile. “So you’re not afraid any more?”
Zhou Mi smiled, and stroked down Jinyong’s cowlick. “Not any more.”
“I won’t be either. You like him. He gave me a cookie once.”
“Did he?” Zhou Mi asked, his lips trembling.
“He held it out and stared. And wiggled it. Like I’m a puppy.”
“But did you take it? What did you tell him?”
“I said thank you,” Jinyong said a bit petulantly, as though he was being criticized on his manners. “Will he let me sit on his lap when he’s at his desk?”
“Maybe. You could ask.”
“But he has to ask before biting me, right?”
“You never have to be afraid of that,” Zhou Mi said, and cuddled Jinyong close. And when Jinyong was asleep, Zhou Mi felt better as well.
His vampire. Those words haunted him all the way back down the hall.
***
Kyuhyun woke to warmth and dark. The second wasn’t surprising, but the first was. The weight on the bed told him why, as did the breath against his neck, the breathing of a man who was not asleep.
“You’re still here.”
“I left for awhile,” Zhou Mi said, sliding an arm over Kyuhyun’s side, and pressing a kiss to his neck. “Checked on Jinyong, went to the sanitarium. Our patients being treated are making progress. The younger boy can even speak now.”
“Good. What brought you back so early?”
“You. I figured you’d heal better if you were warm. Or if not, you’d feel better anyway.”
“And you wanted to make sure I was all right?”
“That too. I even let Jinyong watch you sleep for a few moments to assure him you were going to be fine?”
That surprised Kyuhyun as well.
“He was worried?”
“He was. He heard that you were ill, likely watched you being helped to your room. He has a lot of empathy. And you’ve been kind to him.”
That wasn’t something he’d wanted spread around. Though, it was Zhou Mi, who seemed to know everything and be amused by every weakness Kyuhyun showed. Not amused, as though he were cataloguing those weaknesses for his own gain, but because he enjoyed people. At least, people who were not working for the destruction of others.
“I should rise. I had a note sent to Changmin, so he will undoubtedly be barging in to assure himself I have all my limbs.”
“He wasn’t here last night,” Zhou Mi realized.
“Yes,” Kyuhyun said, and reluctantly disentangled himself from Zhou Mi’s arms. “Even he has affairs of his own to deal with now and then. That, or perhaps he feels he got his point across.”
“Did he?” Zhou Mi asked, a hand on Kyuhyun’s back.
“I don’t know-“
Kyuhyun made a sound nearly a squeak when he felt his balance give. And then he was suspended in midair with Zhou Mi supporting his weight, and looming over him, smiling.
“Oh,” Kyuhyun said. And wondered at the smug tilt to Zhou Mi’s mouth. “You did that on purpose.”
“A little. Did I hurt you?”
“No.” But he was chuckling as he got himself under control, nudging up against Zhou Mi’s mouth. A nice way to greet an evening, with a man’s arms around him, and kisses firm.
“You like it when you get to take care of me, when I’m weaker than you,” Kyuhyun accused, his told mild and even.
“No, not exactly,” Zhou Mi said, shaking his head. “Obviously I don’t enjoy that you’re hurt. But being able to take care of you is something new. It reminds me of how-“
Kyuhyun frowned at Zhou Mi, wondering what was going through his head. Zhou Mi almost looked embarrassed, and that meant that Kyuhyun had to know what the words were that Zhou Mi had stopped himself from saying.
“How what?”
Zhou Mi cleared his throat, and it took him a moment before he reluctantly met Kyuhyun’s eyes. “How human you are.”
If Zhou Mi had wanted to surprise him, to say something that made him feel as though he’d been hit, he could not have chosen better. It felt like the air in his lungs stopped up for a moment as he tried to school his face. He knew he had not succeeded, not entirely, with the widening of his eyes. And then there was the way Zhou Mi’s expression had become just slightly concerned. Perhaps Zhou Mi wondered if he was insulted, or hurt in some way.
“We hold ourselves apart from humans for a reason,” Kyuhyun said, as Zhou Mi nodded slowly. “But many of us never forget that we started as humans. It is strange to be reminded of that.”
Zhou Mi’s mouth opened, primed for apology or explanation, and Kyuhyun stopped him.
“You shouldn’t worry yourself.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“Do you wish I was human?”
Zhou Mi shook his head, reaching up to grasp Kyuhyun’s wrist. “You would not be the same. You haven’t told me of your past.”
“But you like who I am now?”
At Zhou Mi’s grin, Kyuhyun imagined he’d struck close to what Zhou Mi had been about to say. Zhou Mi leaned in immediately, touching his mouth with some kind of friendly enthusiasm. It was strangely pain, mingled with something close to happiness. If any human should appreciate him as he was, it should gratify him that it was Zhou Mi. Not a human he bit for a night, or a weekend. But it also seemed a waste. He had few enough friends, and he did not expect to keep contact with Zhou Mi with their month was up. It would be too difficult. Too tempting, too dangerous.
At least, he thought in their case it would be. Zhou Mi’s mouth parted for his nudging, a lazy curl of a kiss, Zhou Mi’s tongue flirting with his. Zhou Mi saw the humanity in him, and he saw that Zhou Mi was no ordinary human. Not just for the lack of thrall, but for everything. It clutched him inside as tightly as Zhou Mi gripped him with his arms. It should have frightened him, coupled with Changmin’s warnings. But they had time. They could not worry, until there was no time left, or taint what they had.
Their lips parted, wet, and Kyuhyun stared at Zhou Mi’s as he felt Zhou Mi’s breaths come a bit quicker.
“I feel I want to have these lips wrapped around me,” Kyuhyun said, touching Zhou Mi’s mouth. “As I have mine wrapped around you. We’ll work twice as hard after.”
“But not nearly as hard.”
Kyuhyun gusted out a laugh. “Yes. Exactly.”
Zhou Mi’s eyelids lowered, eyes knowing and the edges of his lips pulling. It was interest and it was acceptance. They stretched out on the bed on their sides, head to opposite ends and trousers open and down. The room was fill with the sounds of wet sucking and sighs. Moans of encouragement, the touch of skin to skin. It was a more sensual endeavor, he found, to suck and be sucked at once. His consciousness was split of enjoyment and purpose, but what pleasure he felt was enhanced by the jut of Zhou Mi’s arousal between his lips.
“No, too fast,” Kyuhyun gasped.
“Faster,” Zhou Mi pleaded.
And it was he that fell first, his hips held back by Zhou Mi’s hand as he moaned and lost himself to the heat of Zhou Mi’s mouth. It made him redouble his efforts on Zhou Mi as soon as the pleasure had stopped consuming him. Though the truth was, Zhou Mi’s moans only made it continue, a shudder down his spine as he gripped Zhou Mi’s hip and took him deep. The stroking of his hand, his tongue, and Zhou Mi couldn’t last. His mouth moved twice as fast as Zhou Mi’s sounds, the touches of Zhou Mi’s fingers, and he smiled at the desperate cry that melted into a moan as Zhou Mi came for him.
He sucked until Zhou Mi shuddered, fingers tight on Kyuhyun’s waist.
And it was only then that he let himself relax, resting his head on the mattress and breathing in the scent of home, of Zhou Mi. If Zhou Mi had been face to face with him, or with his back to him, Kyuhyun would have pressed closer for warmth. As it was, he just kept his hand on Zhou Mi’s hip and basked. Even if he couldn’t see Zhou Mi, he knew he was doing the exact same thing.
He jolted at a knock on the door.
“Sir, Mr. Shim is downstairs.”
Kyuhyun struggled up onto his elbow. “Tell him I’ll be down shortly.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kyuhyun used that momentum to move, swinging around so he could face Zhou Mi who was almost silently snickering into the cover.
“That is why staff who don’t come into a room without permission is important,” Kyuhyun said, laughing down at Zhou Mi as they curled together.
“Would we have shocked him to death?” Zhou Mi asked.
“Not so much so that anyone else would have heard.”
The solid, warm weight of Zhou Mi’s hand against his neck had his toes curling under. The kisses were bright, warm and lovely, opening to each other slow and steady. It was the taste of himself in Zhou Mi’s mouth, and Zhou Mi’s taste in his own, and they shared it.
“I could make a habit of beginning my nights like this,” Kyuhyun murmured.
“You have a lovely mouth,” Zhou Mi said, eyes coy.
“Yours is…exceptionally adequate.”
Zhou Mi laughed into his kiss, and he hooked his leg over Zhou Mi’s hip to draw him closer. He could have stayed there for hours, drawing little interested sounds from Zhou Mi’s throat, tiny sighs as Kyuhyun teased the edge of his ear.
But there were other things to take care of.
“I should go down before Changmin thunders up,” Kyuhyun said with regret. He might have started his night well, but Changmin would not find him amenable for having torn him away from a man with his legs stretched over the bed, pants open and mouth wet.
Because he could, he mussed Zhou Mi’s hair, and realized that was only hurting himself because Zhou Mi looked even more rumpled, ready for sex and pouting.
“Feel free to stay here as long as you want. Changmin won’t mind,” Kyuhyun said, a bit wry even though Zhou Mi understood.
“I should look in on Jinyong again,” Zhou Mi said, though he didn’t move, just watching as Kyuhyun stood and dressed to go downstairs.
“When you’re ready, then,” Kyuhyun said. And he bent, not feeling obedient as much as wanting, when Zhou Mi held out a hand to draw him down again. And three kisses later, he was finally ready.
Kyuhyun opened the door to the hall, just in time to hear his name shouted up the stairwell in a familiar voice. He sighed and looked back at Zhou Mi.
“I hope you enjoyed knowing Changmin, because you might not any more after I get down there.”
He thought he heard Zhou Mi’s chuckle as he closed the door. He only half meant his threat.
***
Changmin was understandably cautious, when he heard of Kyuhyun’s injuries. However, it gave Changmin something to mull on besides Kyuhyun’s interactions with Zhou Mi, so after Zhou Mi had come down, and left to go to the sanitarium, it was a pleasant time with Changmin. It was possible to kill a vampire, and they had been friends long enough to imagine that losing each other would be a great loss.
“I have not heard of another vampire being attacked so. Did they mention the Euphoria to you?”
“Not that I recall,” Kyuhyun answered.
“Perhaps yours, and Zhou Mi’s, fear of humans beginning a backlash against vampires. But identifying a vampire is not as easy as that.”
“Yes. However, since I was out on Zhou Mi’s behalf visiting a vampire, I may have been caught by association.”
Changmin nodded. “I will keep my ears open. I wonder… I wonder if the Choi family had something to do with it.”
Kyuhyun tried to picture the composed Sooyoung wielding a bucket, and couldn’t.
“I don’t think so. When she spoke with us, it seemed like she knew ways to harm a vampire that were far more effective than these thugs.”
Changmin’s laugh was loud. “That’s very true. Still, if there is one person in the city who might know who these people might be.”
“You’re right. I’ll send her a note. Maybe she’ll agree to another audience.”
Like a queen. He and Changmin shared an amused look. He knew it would not be that night, but another night.
“I’ll take my leave, then,” Changmin said, standing with his hat. “I have a couple of new vampires who might be willing to bite the patients in need. They’re a little…less than enthusiastic.”
“Your help is appreciated,” Kyuhyun said, standing and holding out his hand.
Changmin stared at it, before sighing, and grasping Kyuhyun’s hand.
“Yes. I hear Zhou Mi’s thanks behind yours. I’ll be seeing you.”
“Have a good night.”
Changmin sent a grin back. “There’ll be a woman waiting to feed me at home. So I will.”
***
Kyuhyun sat for only twenty minutes after Changmin had gone before hearing a creak in the hallway. Zhou Mi was gone, and the staff would not be skulking. The child, perhaps, and it was confirmed, when a tousled head appeared around the door. Kyuhyun’s problem with children had been less that he didn't like them, and more that he wasn't really sure what to do with them. He found them cute. It wasn't like he was a monster. But this child was cute. Cleaned up, well dressed, he could have been the son of any gentleman. It had been only a few days prior when Jinyong had peeked into the office while Zhou Mi was gone.
”You're a vampire," the child said.
"That's right."
"Zhou Mi likes you."
Kyuhyun had to keep himself from smirking. "I think he does."
The boy dawdled, drawing circles on the rug with his toe. Kyuhyun didn't want to ask him if his nanny knew where he was, chase him off. Somehow he could see Zhou Mi being negative about that. He rustled in his drawer, getting a wary look, at least until he emerged with a cookie. Perhaps the child shared Zhou Mi's sweet tooth.
"Would you like it?”
The boy had taken it, mumbling a thank you before darting from the room. But like a puppy after scraps, it seemed he had a visitor again. That time he didn’t even ask, lifting the lid from the plate and holding out the cookie with lifted eyebrows. Sidling along the edge of the room, and then the desk, Jinyong reached for it, pulling it back like he wasn’t allowed. Or perhaps just afraid.
But cookie in hand, Jinyong did not run away as he had last time. He stared at Kyuhyun’s desk and the strange things that must have been on it to a child’s eyes. And the voice Jinyong used to speak was a bit wavery, strengthening as he spoke.
"Zhou Mi said you might let me sit on your lap."
Zhou Mi would have.
“Perhaps. When Zhou Mi is here…?” Kyuhyun ventured. It would put the child at ease, and give Kyuhyun a much-needed back up.
“You’re better now?”
Kyuhyun had forgotten that Jinyong had been there when he’d come home injured.
“Yes, I am. Thank you for asking,” Kyuhyun said, and smiled. He was hoping, just a little, for an answering smile. He got a head waggle, and considered them even.
He felt a bit responsible for Jinyong. Even if Zhou Mi was consistently paying him back for any supplies and had paid him for Jinyong’s purchase, he knew his money had freed the boy to begin with. It had been Zhou Mi’s will, and Kyuhyun’s funds, that had done it. When he thought of the squalor Jinyong might still be in, he had a twinge of thankfulness for Zhou Mi pushing him. It was easy to ignore, when the boy was out of sight.
It was less easy, when the boy was inching his way around Kyuhyun’s desk, as though it would bite him. But it wasn’t the desk the boy feared- it was him. His kind. There were other boys like him that Zhou Mi was trying to help, by keeping them safe from the Euphoria as they grew.
Keeping the child with them to make Kyuhyun see the humanity in what they were working to accomplish was a good goal. But he knew that hadn’t been Zhou Mi’s purpose. Still, the boy could not stay. He thought they both knew that. There was a place he belonged, if Zhou Mi could find it.
They both heard the knock at the outer door, and Jinyong cowered at the side of his desk. Perhaps Kyuhyun was a source of fear, but he was a known source, until he proved otherwise. Still, Kyuhyun knew it could be no one else, and was proved correct when Zhou Mi appeared in the doorway.
“Zhou Mi!”
“Jinyong!” Zhou Mi said, crouching and opening his arms for Jinyong to run into.
“He gave me a cookie,” Jinyong said, his voice pitched almost to a whisper but still loud enough to be heard.
“Ooh,” Zhou Mi said, impressed by the cookie that Jinyong still held. Though not by the crumbs that were undoubtedly scattered everywhere, Kyuhyun mused.
“He said I could sit on his lap,” Jinyong said, in the exact same volume.
“Is that right?” Zhou Mi asked, gathering Jinyong into him and standing. “I thought he might let you.”
“Because he won’t bite me…”
The statement had started strong and faltered, as though Jinyong was attempting to build up his belief that it was true, despite Zhou Mi’s assurances.
“That’s right,” Zhou Mi said softly. “Only me. Why don’t we sit on his lap together?”
Kyuhyun opened his mouth to protest, and Zhou Mi smiled at him over Jinyong’s head. He saw the way Zhou Mi was being clung to, the care Zhou Mi showed an innocent. He saw the way, a moment later, Jinyong and Zhou Mi beamed at each other as though in conspiracy. And he knew it was not in him to resist.
“You think we’re going to fit?” Zhou Mi asked Jinyong as they got closer.
“I think so,” Jinyong said.
Kyuhyun had the very nice viewpoint of Zhou Mi’s backside backing up to him, almost doing a little dance and making Jinyong giggle. What he was doing was making Kyuhyun hope he didn’t topple over and take all three of them to the floor. But he reached for Zhou Mi’s hip, guiding him back onto Kyuhyun’s thighs.
Zhou Mi glanced back and Kyuhyun had to resist waggling his eyebrows. He liked Zhou Mi like that.
Jinyong peeked over Zhou Mi’s shoulder as they landed. Kyuhyun hoped his smile was not frightening, and more welcoming. With his face, he didn’t always know.
“You have teeth,” Jinyong told him.
“I do. Human teeth, and vampire teeth,” Kyuhyun answered honestly. “One behind the other, like a shark.”
“What’s a shark?”
“It’s a creature that lives in the ocean. Not near here, in a fountain or a river, but far away. I have a book with a picture of it.”
“Can I see?”
“You can. But that means we need to get up, because it’s in the shelf.”
“Good!”
Lap sitting abandoned in favor of some mystery, Jinyong twisted out of Zhou Mi’s arms and down onto the floor, only to immediately start pulling at Zhou Mi’s hand.
“Let him up so he can find the book.”
“Easy,” Zhou Mi told him, and squeezed Kyuhyun’s arm before standing.
Kyuhyun followed them to the row of shelves, and found the book of marine biology that he’d been looking for. The settee was just wide enough for two adults to sit comfortably far apart, which meant it would be perfect for two adults, and one tiny human.
So Kyuhyun sat, patting the cushion beside him. And with his hand still clutching Zhou Mi’s, Jinyong sat. It caused a dance, Zhou Mi switching hands so he could sit and well without his arm twisted, and in only moments his arm was along the back of the couch, fingers pressed to Kyuhyun’s shoulder, and Jinyong between them. The book stretched wide, its pages four times as old as Jinyong himself, with drawings of fish and strange creatures and what some would consider to be monsters.
“I hope this doesn’t bring nightmares,” Kyuhyun mouthed over Jinyong’s head.
Though the way Jinyong was oohing and ahhing, he didn’t think so. It became more about the book, and less about Kyuhyun and vampires. So Kyuhyun watched, as Zhou Mi interacted with Jinyong. The laughs, and squeezing his shoulder, and encouraging Jinyong to read the names, haltingly. And Zhou Mi listened as Kyuhyun told stories about the great monsters of the sea. It wasn’t because he watched Zhou Mi watching, and more that he glanced up every so often and found Zhou Mi smiling at him.
“It’s been chaotic the last few days, but I’m taking him to see if we can find his parents tomorrow,” Zhou Mi said, after he’d taking Jinyong up to bed.
“If you find them?”
Zhou Mi sat at the desk he used for correspondence. “Then it’s for the best.”
And Kyuhyun wondered.
***
It was hard to say who was holding on harder, him or Jinyong as Zhou Mi’s carriage rolled through the streets. They went away from the gas street lamps, to the wards where there were shops and where those with less lived. He himself had grown up two wards over, only they had been near the cattle processors, a cow adorning their fountain. The streets had been decorated with manure, and he’d often fallen asleep to the sound of lowing cattle.
His instructions had been for the driver to go up and down each street to inspect the fountains. If he found one, headless, he was to stop.
And eventually, the carriage did. Zhou Mi’s eyes closed momentarily, and he squeezed Jinyong’s hand.
“Let’s get out and walk a little ways.”
Jinyong looked up at him wordlessly, nodding. No tears, and Zhou Mi was thankful, because he wondered if he could have stayed strong instead of telling the driver to return to Kyuhyun’s home and that they would try again. Instead, he took a breath and stepped down as his driver opened the carriage door for them. He lifted Jinyong down, and took hold of the bag they had filled with Jinyong’s belongings that he had accumulated while with Zhou Mi. Sets of clothing, and his favorite toys, and several books.
A nod to his driver told him they would be back, and together they walked to the fountain. It seemed Jinyong had played at it, and if it had not been long, there would still be familiar sights to lead him home.
“It’s the fountain!” Jinyong said, leaning out away from Zhou Mi’s hand a bit. “My brother said the horse butt told us how to get home”
It was said with a giggle, and Zhou Mi’s heart twisted, swinging their hands together.
“Let’s see what we find following it, then,” Zhou Mi suggested.
They skirted the fountain and its continuous flow of water, and followed the billowing horse tail toward the street. It seemed the longer they were there, the more Jinyong saw that was familiar, the less apprehension he had. He was the one pulling Zhou Mi instead of the gentle tugging Zhou Mi had done to take Jinyong toward the fountain.
“I fell off that box once, and oh, that cat scratched me, but it likes me now!”
No matter how fast Jinyong went, however, he did not go faster than Zhou Mi. He did not let go of Zhou Mi.
And then Jinyong stopped, lifting his hand and pointing and then dragging Zhou Mi forward again.
“Mama!”
The woman they were walking toward looked up, and reacted as though she’d seen a ghost, stepping back, her face a mask of shock. The basket in her hands dropped, rolling on the ground as Jinyong raced for her. Zhou Mi held his breath, and before Jinyong could get there, she had dropped to her knees, and was there to gather him in.
“My baby. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“Mama. I’m okay, Mama.”
Zhou Mi’s throat was tight as he walked closer, and Jinyong was bubbling.
“Zhou Mi saved me! Vampires bit me but I didn’t cry much. And Zhou Mi knows vampires, too. Did you miss me?”
“I did,” she said, and stood to face Zhou Mi with a tightening face. “Thank you for returning my son. He… He disappeared. Kidnapped. And I thought never would I see him again.”
“It was nothing. I hoped to reunite him with his family. These are some things he’s been using. My address is there, in case you have questions.”
“Thank you, sir. Jinyong, go inside.”
Instead, Jinyong raced to him. Zhou Mi dropped to one knee and gave him a long hug. He felt the sobs more than heard them, and ordered his heart to be stronger.
“You’re safe,” Zhou Mi whispered. “If you need anything, you know how to find me.”
Jinyong nodded, meeting Zhou Mi’s eyes with his cheeks wet with silent tears. They considered each other, Jinyong’s lower lip beginning to tremble, before he turned and ran for the door.
“You should go. Thank you again, but you should go,” Jinyong’s mother told him.
“Yes,” Zhou Mi said. And he took her hand, pressing money into it. “Please use it for anything your children need. I’ll check in on him, after a while.”
And without a word, before she could protest his charity or anything else, he walked away. She was grateful for the return of her child, wary of a stranger. Jinyong had been happy when he’d seen her, happy to be held by her. Zhou Mi gave his driver a nod, and got into the carriage.
His first thought was of going to Kyuhyun, stripping and pressing himself against Kyuhyun’s back and forgetting the tears. But that would not be helping anyone but himself, not truly. Perhaps Kyuhyun would appreciate the warmth, but he would be doing it for himself. The tears were joy for Jinyong, and regret.
So instead Zhou Mi went to the sanitarium. Since he could not work near the patients most times without feeling sick - with grief and smells - he did what he could. He folded laundry, cleaned vegetables, spoke to family, mopped empty rooms. He worked until after midnight, until his back ached and his hands felt chapped. And then he went to his own home, not wanting to impose upon Kyuhyun and his staff again, and cleaned himself. His horse was led behind the carriage, because he felt too tired to even imagine riding that night, but he could ride back in the daylight.
Kyuhyun stood as soon as Zhou Mi entered, eyes shadowed.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m late. I was at the sanitarium, and-“
“I figured as much,” Kyuhyun said, stepping up close to him. “You weren’t here, and neither was Jinyong when I woke. You found his family?”
“I did.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. A child should be with his parents. It would have been different if we could not find them, but we did.“
“You did.”
“If he had been my child, if I didn’t know where he was, if he was all right. I couldn’t let them suffer like that. I could have provided him more in the way of physical things, but-“
“You would have given him everything he needed, don’t delude yourself about that,” Kyuhyun said. “You did what you thought was right, and you’ll be able to see him again.”
“It wouldn’t have been as hard- It would have been hard, still, but not as hard, because he cried. He was scared when we left, and perked up when he recognized his neighborhood, but when I left him there he cried.”
“He felt safe with you. You should be thankful for that. You made a horrible situation so much better, after you rescued him. Imagine if he’d just been stuck with me.”
Zhou Mi chuckled against the side of Kyuhyun’s face. “Who is deluding themselves now? You were sweet with him. You helped him to see that not all vampires were like the ones he’d known. And he’d have trusted you more, if he’d been here longer.”
“I have an image to maintain,” Kyuhyun said, but Zhou Mi knew it was only to make him smile. “What can I do for you?”
Zhou Mi let his hands settle on either side of Kyuhyun’s neck “You can take me to your bed.”
“How is me biting you going to make you feel better?”
But Kyuhyun was smiling, before Zhou Mi kissed him.
***
Every though Kyuhyun was fully satisfied, in every way he could hunger, he could tell Zhou Mi was still pensive. The longer Jinyong had been with them, the more Zhou Mi had grown attached. The little games, the way Zhou Mi smiled and praised him. Jinyong was a success, in Zhou Mi’s eyes, in his fight against the Bad Vampires. One battle, he’d been trying to win over and over. He’d won it, too, when he’d found Jinyong’s parents. But then he had to remind himself of the other things he had to fight for. But Kyuhyun was glad, because he couldn’t have imagined the heartbreak had Jinyong stayed longer. It grew only exponentially, day by day and moment by moment. And he refused to equate them with it, as he stroked Zhou Mi’s hair.
Zhou Mi murmured against his neck, something incomprehensible probably to both of them and he leaned into the motion. The heat of it. The humid warmth of Zhou Mi’s breath was a luxury to him, and he basked in it. The sun was finding its way to the horizon, and he could feel it. Maybe a few more kisses. He could have fallen asleep right like that, with the way Zhou Mi’s fingers were tracing his arm. He couldn’t feel the wound there any more, the long line of it up his forearm, but he knew that was what Zhou Mi was remembering.
“It healed up nicely.”
“Mm,” Zhou Mi hummed in agreement.
Zhou Mi’s head slowly lifted off the pillow and Kyuhyun looked at him. His face was tense, frowning as he stared at Kyuhyun’s arm. No longer sleepy in the slightest.
“I was too worried about you that night. I had a thought- Tell me everything that happened that night. Did they say anything? What did they do to you?”
Zhou Mi seemed ready to shake him if he didn’t comply, so even if he was confused Kyuhyun did tell him. The four men that had called him vampire, and beaten him. One or two men, he could take on his own. He could take more, physically, than what the average human could, but four was a different matter. They’d had sticks, sturdy and short and designed for beating.
“What happened after your arm was cut?”
“I don’t know. Someone was kneeling on my head and the others were holding or kicking me. I couldn’t see anything.”
“Did they have a bucket? Some kind of vessel?”
“Yes. One of them had a bucket. He was hitting me with it at first. I remember the clang as it bounced off my skull. But a bucket? Why- A bucket. A deep, clean cut.”
Zhou Mi’s eyes were bright, nodding as Kyuhyun was getting the picture.
“You think- You think they bled me. To sell my blood to humans. If the attacks were like mine, they might never know blood was taken.”
“I know,” Zhou Mi said.
“My blood could be putting people in that sanitarium. Your blood.”
Zhou Mi’s face sobered at that. “Yes.”
“This may be our opening,” Kyuhyun said. “Our- I thought that vampires were staying silent out of shame, that they were being bled like some robberies gone awry. But they might not know. There are those who would be very angry to know their blood is being used in this way. We always knew that. We just didn’t know- Bury the shame, build the anger.“
“The list of vampires you’ve been compiling,” Zhou Mi. “One of them may know someone who knows someone else. They can be our eyes.”
It seemed Zhou Mi had found his balance. Questions and prodding had not brought them answers. Perhaps anger would.
***