Home's Where the Heart is
Home's Where the Heart is
PG13; SHINee-Honew; Romance; nudge
note for jimi phasera ♥♥♥ vamp!shinee au oh god how do i live this down
Home's Where the Heart is
It is the last thing that Minho expects on a random Tuesday to meet someone like Jinki. See, Jinki is the most unlikely vampire that ever was.
Minho expected, from all the books he's read and movies he's come across, for vampires to be at least a tad intimidating. And this is why Minho almost completely disregards Jinki when they first meet, the last thing on his mind being anything remotely related to vampires.
"Can you help me with something?" says Jinki politely as Minho is returning a trolley of books to their respective shelves. "I can't find this book."
People come up to Minho for help everyday, and this particular request comes up about nine times out of ten. Minho is usually sorely tempted to tell them that it's really not that hard. Sections exist for a reason, but he mostly ends up helping them anyway, albeit reluctantly.
His interest, however, is piqued, when Jinki mumbles something about seduction.
"Seduction?" Minho says.
"I kind of need to borrow the Seduction Guide for Bachelors, or anything similar. It's sort of urgent," he says, scanning a list of books in his hands. Minho peeks over at the list, which is full of titles like Women: a Comprehensive Guide to the Female Mind and A Guide to the Signs of Attraction and Talking to Girls. He holds in the urge to laugh.
"It's no problem," he says with an obligatory smile before pushing his trolley to the side to show Jinki the way to the self help section. Jinki smiles wide in gratitude as he follows Minho around.
"Thank you so much," Jinki says when they've found his book and Minho makes a move to leave. Yuri, one of his colleagues, stops him. "You're not going to just leave that trolley of books there, are you?"
"I'll be right on it," he says with a smile, and she shuffles away, satisfied. Jinki gapes in awe.
When he turns around, Jinki is still behind him, mouth open in a soft 'o'. He raises an eyebrow questioningly, forcing Jinki to collect himself and go on his way, mumbling a string of thanks.
The next day, like much of his week, is uneventful until Jinki shows up again, this time looking determinedly eager.
"Was there something wrong with the book?" he asks, more out of politeness than actual curiosity. Jinki shakes his head furiously, as if to insist that the idea of Minho giving him a lousy book is preposterous.
"Oh no! It's nothing like that. The book was absolutely fine, it's just-," Jinki starts uncertainly. There's a sheepish grin playing at his lips, and Minho can't help but get the feeling that Jinki wants something from him. "I was wondering-well. This is hard."
Minho cracks a smile. He's got to admit, the guy is kind of funny.
Yuri then walks up to him with a list. "Minho, do you think you could check these new books in? The shipment just came in-" she says before she finds herself pinned against a bookself between Minho's strategically placed arms.
"Yuri-yah, I was hoping you'd like to help me with that? I've got my hands full right now," he breathes just inches from her face. Her breath catches, her face is flushed. She leans in close, and-
"Right there! You need to show me how you do that everytime," Jinki practically screams in excitement, clapping his hands together. The two librarians collectively shoot him a look that plainly says be quiet, this is a library! He stops clapping abruptly, visibly embarrassed.
"Don't worry, Yuri. I'll get to it later," Minho sighs, before turning to Jinki, trying to figure out exactly what to do with him. Yuri leaves in a daze, leaving Minho and Jinki alone. The boy shuffles nervously and looks up at Minho expectantly. He sighs again.
"Look. I'm not sure what you're looking for, but I'm pretty sure you have the wrong guy, sir."
"Jinki. My name is Jinki," he says, smiling, unphased by Minho's polite go away. "And I'm sure you're more than capable of helping me, Minho sshi."
Minho looks at him. There's an unwavering persistence about him that makes it hard for Minho to shake him off. "Minho, please. You have to help me. It's urgent."
"Teach me how to make a girl fall in love with me," he says, eyes wide, a slight pout hanging on his lips. Minho considers this for awhile. "If I say yes, will you stop bothering me at work?"
Jinki nods vigorously at the prospect of Minho agreeing. He pulls out a piece of paper with a phone number on it, and tells Minho to call him as soon as he gets off work so they can work something out.
He trips on a table leg on his way out.
Minho walks to the bus stop, figuring it's a huge mistake he's making, calling Jinki at ten twenty-three at night after his shift. He really has no idea what he's doing punching in the numbers and pressing call, but his mind doesn't do much stop him, so he holds the phone to his ear.
"Hello? Minho? You're off work, aren't you?" Jinki answers after the first half of a ring. It's kind of unsettling how eager he is, but Minho entertains him for about a minute or so before he finds the boy standing in front of him.
His phone clicks shut and he puts it in his pocket, silently calculating how much of a mad dash it would be to get a cab. Because in all perfect honestly, Jinki finding him on such short notice is sort of creepy.
Then Jinki smiles like Minho's the best thing he's seen all his life.
It's not like Minho hasn't seen Jinki's smile before, but this time, there are fangs. And just like that, Minho knows. Perhaps Jinki didn't mean for Minho to find out so soon, but he inwardly thinks that Jinki's got his lucky stars to thank that he forgot to tuck his fangs away.
Minho's always been infatuated with vampires.
"Your teeth," he says before he can stop himself. They're white and clean and perfectly sharp, the tips thin enough to pierce his skin with the slightest pressure, and Minho wonders what being bitten would feel like.
He touches his neck casually.
Jinki clamps a hand over his mouth. "Oh-oh my god. You didn't-"
The urge to step closer isn't easy to resist, so he doesn't. He steps toward Jinki who turns away quickly, hand still firmly clamped over his mouth. When he turns back around, the fangs are missing, along with his smile.
Minho decides tonight is as good as any to hone his customer service skills and drop the touchy subject for the night. "So, you need my help with something?"
There's an uneasy twist to Jinki's words - he opens and closes his mouth and Minho feels the tension in Jinki's flickering gaze. "Well, yeah. I mean, if you'd still be willing. After seeing - I mean. Yeah."
Maybe it's stupidity, but the first thing that comes to his mind is, "I'll help you - if you bite me."
"What?!" Jinki sputters and stumbles a few steps back. "You want me to bite you?"
Minho finds that he isn't joking, and nods seriously. Jinki continues to stare at him in disbelief.
"I'm just curious," he says in explanation. "Maybe I could come by your house and help you do whatever it is that you need me to do."
"I - I don't understand. I thought for sure you didn't like me. I wasn't even sure you'd call."
Minho takes a step closer, then two, then he's about as close he can get to popping Jinki's personal bubble. Jinki gulps. "Take me home?"
Jinki blinks and nods, okay.
About two weeks pass from the time Minho and Jinki first meet, and they meet at least every other day in Jinki's home to practice being a heartthrob. Jinki is conclusively terrible at being charming, despite being very earnest.
Jinki insists each time that they have an hour long session dedicated to practicing pick up lines, and while Minho reminds him constantly that being himself and talking comfortably would be the best bet, Jinki seems to have ideas of his own.
"How about, 'Did you break any ribs? You look like you just fell. Out of heaven'," says Jinki, looking thoroughly impressed with himself, jotting it down in a small notebook he'd gotten himself to take notes (half of which is filled with lines he'd made up on his own).
Minho sighs and resists the urge to tell Jinki that the line would never work on anybody, living or dead.
"Jinki, I keep telling you. Just be yourself," he says, taking Jinki's pen away gently, which earns him a magnificent pout from the vampire.
Jinki's home is filled with furniture that is just about the least that Minho expects from the home of a vampire. There is a plasma TV in the living room, a macbook pro in Jinki's room (which is just about the only room that he sees, most days) along with a PS3 armed with the new rockband as well as an xbox 360 which always has street fighter 4 on pause (because, as it turns out, Jinki is a gigantic nerd, and his family is filthy rich).
Theres also a king sized bed on which Jinki flops every time they make their way into the bedroom.
"Why do you need a bed?" asks Minho one day when they're trying to fix Jinki's hair. He taps the brush against Jinki's shoulder in thought. "I thought vampires slept in coffins."
Jinki smiles at him. "You shouldn't believe everything you read. I'm not dead, you know."
"Oh?" Minho says, surprised and oddly warmed. It's a nice thought. He's a living person with a living heart, even if his diet is a little strange. "That's nice."
"Not really," says Jinki, eyes misting over a light blue. Minho begs to differ, but he keeps a lid on it and continues to style Jinki's hair.
Jinki hasn't kept to his word and bitten Minho. The only other time Minho dares to ask, Jinki waves the request away, insisting that getting a girlfriend is of utmost importance. He'll bite Minho when he's good and ready.
"I don't understand why you need a partner so badly. Everyone works at their own pace," says Minho one weekend. They're sitting on the bed, practicing eye contact. It doesn't too go well because Jinki keeps laughing at Minho's deadpan expression. He holds Jinki's chin as they practice, and he feels a tingling in his toes as he looks into molten chocolate irises.
There's a sad tinge to Jinki's smile when he answers. "It's for my parents. I'd never turn another person if it weren't expected of me. No one wants to be a freak."
It's the first time Jinki ever mentions anything about being a vampire on his own. "Turn?"
"Yea," Jinki says, his smile lighting up again. "That's how it works. I mean, if it were just a virus or a ritual or something, the person getting turned might not ever forgive me, and then how are they supposed to learn the rules?"
Minho nods, urging Jinki to continue.
"But if I take their life force by making them-uhm. I think I've said too much."
They sit in silence for a while. Minho wonders idly what exactly that life force could be. Blood, maybe, he thinks. He wants to ask Jinki to elaborate, but the vampire seems upset with himself, so he doesn't push it.
He asks Jinki to practice his smile, an exercise he's always been fond of.
"Your teeth, Jinki," says Minho.
The vampire shyly retracts his pointed canines till they look human again. He smiles into his mirror with all the happiness he can muster forcing Minho to wonder how Jinki has problems getting girls with a smile like that.
It's the last time Minho agrees to any of Jinki's suggestions.
They decide to tackle Jinki's problem with a practical approach, and Jinki has a brilliant idea of going to a beach in the scorching summer heat. Beach babes, he reasons. Their ride is Jinki's family car with a chauffeur that's scared shitless of the entire Lee Clan. He shoots Minho warning looks when he opens his door, but Minho quietly ignores him.
They play in the sand for a bit, both of them decidedly having too much fun with beach ball to try to attract girls just yet, before Jinki insists on going to the bathroom. When Jinki doesn't come out for half an hour, Minho realises there's a problem. He finds Jinki locked in a cubicle.
"Jinki, what are you doing in there?" he asks, rapping lightly on the stall door. Jinki moans from inside.
"Minho," he wails, "I'm blistering!"
Minho is mildly terrified. Why did Jinki not mention before that he couldn't be under direct sunlight? Minho had considered the thought, but Jinki had surprised him so many times with unexpected vampire facts that he didn't want to make any assumptions. The beach had been Jinki's idea, anyways.
"Jinki, open the door," Minho says sternly, rattling the door by the handle. "Let's get you home."
Jinki makes a small sound of protest before pulling the stall door open slowly. He looks up at Minho with a look of sheer misery, his cheeks stained a deep pink. "I'm sunburnt. What do I do?"
"You tell me, you're the vampire," says Minho, positively petrified that Jinki might burst into flames at any moment. "Please tell me you're not going to explode."
"No, I'm not. Those are just rumours. I just sunburn really easily. But Minho," Jinki whines, "it hurts."
"Will you please put lotion on my face?" He collapses into Minho's chest and mumbles tiredly into his shirt.
Minho leans him against a sink and applies the lotion to Jinki's cheeks. The gesture is met with a heavy sigh of relief, cool breath tickling Minho's fingers as he rubs in circles. And as much as Minho's mind is full of thoughts about how unnatural this vampire is, not even combusting in the sunlight, he can't help but find Jinki's sun kissed face endearing.
Jinki bites Minho by accident.
After Jinki nearly gets fried in the summer heat, Minho decides that Jinki needs a break, starting right that second. They clamber into the car and roll the shades up so the driver can't appraise them through the rear view.
Jinki mentions in passing to Minho that he's tired, and Minho lets Jinki pillow his head against his shoulder after a few jokes about how there's no coffin for him to sleep in. The car jerks, and Jinki nuzzles comfortably into Minho's neck.
He's about to drift off before he feels the slightest of pin pricks on his ear lobe, followed by a slow, continuous-suckling sensation. Jinki, it seems, has latched onto Minho's ear and is, for lack of a better term, feeding. He wonders if he should wake Jinki up.
Then he shivers, because Jinki's running his tongue slowly along the shell of his ear, back and forth, and Minho can't decide if he's shivering because he's worried or because he's aroused. He could very well be both at the rate Jinki is going. He leaves the idea of waking Jinki altogether, because he isn't sure he wants this to stop.
Jinki removes his lips and breathes against Minho's skin, hot and sleepy. Minho's eyes flutter close at the swirling heat of Jinki's breath in his ear, and he leans into Jinki, pretending to sleep.
Jinki's the first to wake up.
"Minho, why is your ear bleeding?" he says groggily, as he attempts to wipe the thin trail of blood that's made its way down to Minho's collar with a thumb. Minho touches his earlobe cautiously. It doesn't hurt much, but blood comes away with his fingers.
Realisation dawns on Jinki as his expression quickly turns from sleepy to mortified.
"Did I do that?" Jinki says, hand clamped over his mouth. He mumbles a string of oh my gods and looks around helplessly in his bag for something to clean the mess, before something seems to click in his head.
He's cautious, hands hovering uncertainly around Minho's head, not sure what to touch. "I can stop the bleeding, but I uh - I have to do something."
Minho raises an eyebrow at Jinki's flustered expression.
"Please close your eyes?" he says softly, settling a hand around the base of Minho's neck. Minho lets his eyes fall shut, breath shaky.
Jinki's lips meet the skin of his ear, so light Minho barely feels it, and then the dull throb is gone.
"You should have woken me up," Jinki says when Minho opens his eyes to look at him, curling his fingers in his lap. Minho mops up the streak of blood with a tissue. "This is just-I'd like to die now, if that's possible. Please."
He's about to make a joke about how Jinki's already dead, but then he remembers that he isn't, and smiles.
It's mutually agreed upon that Jinki and Minho practice together in a safe, non sunny environment - Jinki's room being the most ideal. Minho wonders why they even bothered to take things to the playing field when Jinki still has trouble stringing his words together.
They've got a good set up going. Minho has a sheet wrapped around his waist in gesture of a skirt, and he pretends to be sitting at a dinner table with Jinki on a date. Jinki fumbles with his lines, and Minho giggles accordingly, remembering to flip his hair every so often.
The 'date' goes by without much incident, and it is a huge achievement that Jinki is able to make it from obtaining Minho's number all the way to the end of the first date. They stand in front of Jinki's bedroom door which is Minho's makeshift doorstep.
"Well uhm. Thanks. For the date," says Jinki, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Minho stares at him, expectant. "Uhm. Yea-Good night?"
Minho laces their fingers together, because someone's got to take the reigns. He doesn't want Jinki's relatively perfect date to go to waste because of the lack of front door finesse.
"Good night, Jinki. I had a great time," he says, moving close to Jinki's face.
Jinki's nervousness peaks when they're an inch apart. "Is this the part where-lips."
"We kiss, yes."
The look in Jinki's eyes in the dimmed lights is shy and timid. He bites his lip uncertainly, breathing shallow and uneven between them.
So Minho decides to close the gap between them in a huff, their lips clashing slightly off-centre. His eyes close on their own and his hands move up to run fingers through Jinki's messy hair as Jinki has one hand planted firmly at Minho's waist, the other cupping his face.
Jinki runs his tongue tentatively along Minho's bottom lip-it swells up plump and pink with blood. He mimics the movement and their tongues push softly together, slick and warm and heaty.
They pull away when there's the distinct taste of iron between them because Minho's scored his tongue against Jinki's teeth by accident, bodies pressed into the bed that they had somehow moved onto, shirts pushed half-way up their torsos.
Jinki's laugh tinkles in the semi-dark, his smile just visible through the after-kiss haze. "Aren't we moving a little to fast for a first date?"
Minho politely ignores the question and requests that Jinki fix his tongue. Jinki complies.
It happens suddenly, on a day where he has to work.
Minho see's Yuri pouring over something on the library's database, hair pulled up into a messy bun, the back of her neck exposed. He draws close and breathes in her scent - his hand is already on her shoulder when she turns around and smiles at him, and it takes all of him to back up and walk away.
Because he wants to rip her throat open with his teeth.
That can't be right.
He dials Jinki's number hastily. "Jinki, I need to meet you."
Jinki doesn't say much about being a vampire unless he forgets himself. Minho fails to see the connection between getting a girlfriend and 'upholding his honour as a vampire', as Jinki liks to put it.
He hopes today is a day that Jinki does forget himself, if only to know what the matter is with him. Maybe Jinki had lied and there really is a virus. Or perhaps being around vampires has triggered the crazy in him. Whatever it is, Minho is determined to leave with an answer.
The vampire opens the front door and greets Minho with a puzzled look. "What was the emergency?"
He wordlessly grabs Jinki by the arm and drags him into the bedroom, shutting the door behind them.
"You will tell me everything there is to know about turning someone into a vampire."
Jinki laughs at first, until he sees that Minho is nothing but serious, to which he responds with a frown. "You know I'm not supposed to tell, Minho."
There's a whirlwind of movement, and suddenly Minho's pinning Jinki to the bed, hands pressing down on either shoulder, his mouth hovering strategically over Jinki's jugular vein. He pads his fingers along Jinki's gulping throat. "You must know why I feel the urge to do this to the people around me."
"I'm changing."
Jinki shakes his head, "Y-You're not turning into a vampire. I refuse to believe that. That's just-it's absolutely preposterous. No. No, you are human."
Minho runs his tongue across the front row of his teeth, lingering over his canines that, although nowhere near as sharp as Jinki's, are definitely not normal anymore.
"This is. It's really happening, isn't it?" says Jinki, eyes a little wide. Minho nods slowly.
He doesn't expect what comes next. Jinki pulls Minho's weight on top of him and eagerly presses their lips together, gripping Minho's back with as much strength as he has. Minho is puzzled, and a kiss is certainly not appropriate, but he doesn't push him away. It feels different though, as though Jinki's trying to suck the life out of him. It's foreboding.
Minho tries not to think about what it means.
Jinki eyes are watery when they break apart.
"I'm sorry," says Jinki through his tears. He looks up at Minho and brushes a lock of hair out of his face. "Minho-shit I'm so sorry."
Minho doesn't say anything and continues to stare into Jinki's rueful eyes. He doesn't like that look on him very much, to be honest. The smiling is a lot nicer. He rolls off Jinki and lies beside him quietly, waiting for him to continue.
"I mean. We k-kissed and everything. I should've warned you. I could have stopped this. Shit, M-Minho," he says shakily, burying his face in Minho's shoulder. "Why'd you have to make me so h-happy?"
"You don't sound very happy."
"..."
There's a thick blanket of silence smothering them for a good while, Jinki's hiccoughs being the only sound that breaks the stillness.
Then Jinki sits up and puts on this face like determination and I'm going to do something about it even if it kills me. It isn't a much better look than the crying, Minho thinks. He grabs Minhos arm by the crook of his elbow and pulls him out into the living room, his face still tear streaked and his eyes still puffy around the edges. The house regards the change in atmosphere by being exceptionally cold and unwelcoming.
Jinki pushes Minho out the door, saying something about the discontinuity of their meetings muffled by a stuffy nose (so that it sounds like weekend nut see itch udder anymore) and shuts the door with the gentlest slam Minho has ever witnessed.
And just like that, Minho's heart disappears behind the door.
He walks home, no descriptions.
He quits his job, because every time he's around people, he wants more and more to bite them.
It's been a week (maybe two, he can't seem to keep track of time) since Jinki drove him away.
Minho lies alone in his bed, listening hard for a heartbeat he knows he won't hear.
Tossing and turning, he wonders if all dead people are this restless.
He's glad its cold out, because then he gets to wear earmuffs, and this way, he's less likely to hear the pulse of hot blood running through a vein in the neck. It's unnerving, stepping outside in the day time where there are so many people. He feels terribly depraved, eyeing them and longing to feed off them.
He wonders absently how Jinki managed to be around him and exercise so much control.
There's a point in time where the sound of fresh blood through veins gets too much for him, even with the earmuffs, so he u-turns and heads back home, ready for another night alone, trying to make his blood-lust disappear via cold turkey. Trying to ignore how sharp his teeth are getting.
Someone ducks messily into an alley a few blocks away from where he's standing.
He has a sneaking suspicion that it's Jinki just from the way the person stares blankly from under his beanie for about a whole second before starting and ducking out of sight, but he can't tell for sure.
Minho turns to his left in time to see two boys about his age walk past him, chatting loudly. He grabs the fake blond by the arm and brisk walks somewhere dark. The alley a few blocks away that he is hoping Jinki might be hiding in.
"Yah! Let him go! Kibum-" his friend calls after them, running. Minho hauls the struggling boy over his shoulder and uses his long legs to his advantage by out running the person named Jonghyun-ah! Get this fucker away from me! The fake blond named Kibum bangs his fist against his back in protest.
He sets Kibum down against the wall and by this time, he's too tired from struggling to put up much of a fight. It's the cold weather. The boy blows into his hands and stares at Minho apprehensively.
"What do you want with me," he asks, just as Minho's taking in his surroundings. There's a dumpster and a few roaches, and a huge pile of used tissues. No Jinki in sight.
Minho pulls Kibum into a standing position, closing in on his neck. The boy turns away from Minho, a grimace firmly in place.
"Please trust me. I won't hurt you," Minho says in his most charming voice. It doesn't seem to work on Kibum that well.
"Like hell you won't," he says, trying to push Minho away. When he moves, the blood in him rushes, and Minho can hear it, and for the first time his canines fully extend. They go down so far that if he clenches his teeth, the tips of his teeth touch his gums. There's a gap between his lips and his fangs are just visible.
Kibum absolutely loses it and screams bloody murder.
It's a good thing Jinki comes out of his hiding place at this point, because given the close proximity of Minho and a screaming Kibum (whose blood pressure is sky rocketing, he notices), he's just about ready to give in and drain him.
"Minho! Stop!" says Jinki from behind the dumpster, nose a bright pink and arm extended, ready to pull Minho out of his stance. Kibum takes Minho's distraction as an opportunity to make a run for it, sticking his middle finger in the air as he flees for his life.
Jinki sniffles, letting his arm fall to his side. "You didn't bite him. Did you?"
"I wasn't going to," he admits, almost smiling. It's nice to see Jinki again, after a long time of wanting to but not really knowing how. Leaving the house never seemed to work out too well.
"You must be thirsty. Do you want to come with me?" Jinki asks, giving him a pink nosed smile. "There's so much I need to say."
They usher into Jinki's car and hold hands. Minho feels his heart seeping back through his finger tips.
It seems strangely foreign, being in Jinki's room again, but soon the feeling returns and he takes a familiar step toward what used to be. He sits on Jinki's bed, while Jinki sits beside him.
Jinki breaks the silence.
"I've been following you all this time. You never left your house," he says. Minho nods, smiling. "I wanted to talk to you so bad."
"So why didn't you," he says more than asks, because he already knows the answer. "It wasn't going to work. You had to have known."
Jinki pouts. "I thought it might. I thought we could just-forget."
There's a painful twist to Jinki's mouth, and his eyes are a little watery. "Then we both started dying. We would've been like those dead vampires you read about in books; lost and alone for the rest of eternity."
He's a vampire. The fact spoken out loud sinks to the bottom of his stomach like a rock. He's strangely okay with it, his heart beating calmly somewhere close to him, but not really where it used to be.
"That life force you were talking about before. The one you take to turn someone," he starts, and Jinki takes in a sharp breath. "It's the heart, isn't it?"
Jinki looks at his hands, not answering.
"I couldn't leave my house because I didn't want to bite anyone. I wanted to see you, but I couldn't control myself," he says quietly.
"It's a good thing you didn't," Jinki says nervously, daring to pick up the conversation again. "You might've killed someone otherwise. That's why I panicked when I saw you attacking that boy and-"
"Here." He pulls out a plastic bottle filled with a viscous, red liquid, passing it to Minho who opens it carefully. Minho takes a small sip-it's the best thing he's ever tasted in his life. Whether its taste is affected by his ravenous hunger or the fact that it's the first time he's tasted blood as a vampire, he's unsure. The bottle is drained in a matter of seconds.
"I waited for the moment I'd stop hearing your heartbeat in my ears," Jinki says, leaning his head against Minho's. He's tears spill over and he wipes them away with the heel of his palm. "It never came. I didn't want to believe that I'd turned you. You of all people. I hate that I've cursed you."
"It doesn't feel like a curse," Minho says, putting his arm around Jinki's waist. "At least, not this."
Jinki turns to him seriously. "Do you love me?"
Minho nods without the smallest hint of hesitation. It's strange. After Jinki had captured his heart with his goofy smile, he'd only been able to feel love, or nothing at all.
"Then we're bonded," Jinki says, pulling him into an embrace, "Because I love you too. More than anything."
Minho squeezes Jinki tightly in his arms, feeling the empty space his heart used to be fill up with someone else's. He buries his face in Jinki's hair. It's earthy, warm, his.
He pulls Jinki into a kiss, and they're right at home, where they're supposed to be.
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PG13; SHINee-Honew; Romance; nudge
note for jimi phasera ♥♥♥ vamp!shinee au oh god how do i live this down
Home's Where the Heart is
It is the last thing that Minho expects on a random Tuesday to meet someone like Jinki. See, Jinki is the most unlikely vampire that ever was.
Minho expected, from all the books he's read and movies he's come across, for vampires to be at least a tad intimidating. And this is why Minho almost completely disregards Jinki when they first meet, the last thing on his mind being anything remotely related to vampires.
"Can you help me with something?" says Jinki politely as Minho is returning a trolley of books to their respective shelves. "I can't find this book."
People come up to Minho for help everyday, and this particular request comes up about nine times out of ten. Minho is usually sorely tempted to tell them that it's really not that hard. Sections exist for a reason, but he mostly ends up helping them anyway, albeit reluctantly.
His interest, however, is piqued, when Jinki mumbles something about seduction.
"Seduction?" Minho says.
"I kind of need to borrow the Seduction Guide for Bachelors, or anything similar. It's sort of urgent," he says, scanning a list of books in his hands. Minho peeks over at the list, which is full of titles like Women: a Comprehensive Guide to the Female Mind and A Guide to the Signs of Attraction and Talking to Girls. He holds in the urge to laugh.
"It's no problem," he says with an obligatory smile before pushing his trolley to the side to show Jinki the way to the self help section. Jinki smiles wide in gratitude as he follows Minho around.
"Thank you so much," Jinki says when they've found his book and Minho makes a move to leave. Yuri, one of his colleagues, stops him. "You're not going to just leave that trolley of books there, are you?"
"I'll be right on it," he says with a smile, and she shuffles away, satisfied. Jinki gapes in awe.
When he turns around, Jinki is still behind him, mouth open in a soft 'o'. He raises an eyebrow questioningly, forcing Jinki to collect himself and go on his way, mumbling a string of thanks.
The next day, like much of his week, is uneventful until Jinki shows up again, this time looking determinedly eager.
"Was there something wrong with the book?" he asks, more out of politeness than actual curiosity. Jinki shakes his head furiously, as if to insist that the idea of Minho giving him a lousy book is preposterous.
"Oh no! It's nothing like that. The book was absolutely fine, it's just-," Jinki starts uncertainly. There's a sheepish grin playing at his lips, and Minho can't help but get the feeling that Jinki wants something from him. "I was wondering-well. This is hard."
Minho cracks a smile. He's got to admit, the guy is kind of funny.
Yuri then walks up to him with a list. "Minho, do you think you could check these new books in? The shipment just came in-" she says before she finds herself pinned against a bookself between Minho's strategically placed arms.
"Yuri-yah, I was hoping you'd like to help me with that? I've got my hands full right now," he breathes just inches from her face. Her breath catches, her face is flushed. She leans in close, and-
"Right there! You need to show me how you do that everytime," Jinki practically screams in excitement, clapping his hands together. The two librarians collectively shoot him a look that plainly says be quiet, this is a library! He stops clapping abruptly, visibly embarrassed.
"Don't worry, Yuri. I'll get to it later," Minho sighs, before turning to Jinki, trying to figure out exactly what to do with him. Yuri leaves in a daze, leaving Minho and Jinki alone. The boy shuffles nervously and looks up at Minho expectantly. He sighs again.
"Look. I'm not sure what you're looking for, but I'm pretty sure you have the wrong guy, sir."
"Jinki. My name is Jinki," he says, smiling, unphased by Minho's polite go away. "And I'm sure you're more than capable of helping me, Minho sshi."
Minho looks at him. There's an unwavering persistence about him that makes it hard for Minho to shake him off. "Minho, please. You have to help me. It's urgent."
"Teach me how to make a girl fall in love with me," he says, eyes wide, a slight pout hanging on his lips. Minho considers this for awhile. "If I say yes, will you stop bothering me at work?"
Jinki nods vigorously at the prospect of Minho agreeing. He pulls out a piece of paper with a phone number on it, and tells Minho to call him as soon as he gets off work so they can work something out.
He trips on a table leg on his way out.
Minho walks to the bus stop, figuring it's a huge mistake he's making, calling Jinki at ten twenty-three at night after his shift. He really has no idea what he's doing punching in the numbers and pressing call, but his mind doesn't do much stop him, so he holds the phone to his ear.
"Hello? Minho? You're off work, aren't you?" Jinki answers after the first half of a ring. It's kind of unsettling how eager he is, but Minho entertains him for about a minute or so before he finds the boy standing in front of him.
His phone clicks shut and he puts it in his pocket, silently calculating how much of a mad dash it would be to get a cab. Because in all perfect honestly, Jinki finding him on such short notice is sort of creepy.
Then Jinki smiles like Minho's the best thing he's seen all his life.
It's not like Minho hasn't seen Jinki's smile before, but this time, there are fangs. And just like that, Minho knows. Perhaps Jinki didn't mean for Minho to find out so soon, but he inwardly thinks that Jinki's got his lucky stars to thank that he forgot to tuck his fangs away.
Minho's always been infatuated with vampires.
"Your teeth," he says before he can stop himself. They're white and clean and perfectly sharp, the tips thin enough to pierce his skin with the slightest pressure, and Minho wonders what being bitten would feel like.
He touches his neck casually.
Jinki clamps a hand over his mouth. "Oh-oh my god. You didn't-"
The urge to step closer isn't easy to resist, so he doesn't. He steps toward Jinki who turns away quickly, hand still firmly clamped over his mouth. When he turns back around, the fangs are missing, along with his smile.
Minho decides tonight is as good as any to hone his customer service skills and drop the touchy subject for the night. "So, you need my help with something?"
There's an uneasy twist to Jinki's words - he opens and closes his mouth and Minho feels the tension in Jinki's flickering gaze. "Well, yeah. I mean, if you'd still be willing. After seeing - I mean. Yeah."
Maybe it's stupidity, but the first thing that comes to his mind is, "I'll help you - if you bite me."
"What?!" Jinki sputters and stumbles a few steps back. "You want me to bite you?"
Minho finds that he isn't joking, and nods seriously. Jinki continues to stare at him in disbelief.
"I'm just curious," he says in explanation. "Maybe I could come by your house and help you do whatever it is that you need me to do."
"I - I don't understand. I thought for sure you didn't like me. I wasn't even sure you'd call."
Minho takes a step closer, then two, then he's about as close he can get to popping Jinki's personal bubble. Jinki gulps. "Take me home?"
Jinki blinks and nods, okay.
About two weeks pass from the time Minho and Jinki first meet, and they meet at least every other day in Jinki's home to practice being a heartthrob. Jinki is conclusively terrible at being charming, despite being very earnest.
Jinki insists each time that they have an hour long session dedicated to practicing pick up lines, and while Minho reminds him constantly that being himself and talking comfortably would be the best bet, Jinki seems to have ideas of his own.
"How about, 'Did you break any ribs? You look like you just fell. Out of heaven'," says Jinki, looking thoroughly impressed with himself, jotting it down in a small notebook he'd gotten himself to take notes (half of which is filled with lines he'd made up on his own).
Minho sighs and resists the urge to tell Jinki that the line would never work on anybody, living or dead.
"Jinki, I keep telling you. Just be yourself," he says, taking Jinki's pen away gently, which earns him a magnificent pout from the vampire.
Jinki's home is filled with furniture that is just about the least that Minho expects from the home of a vampire. There is a plasma TV in the living room, a macbook pro in Jinki's room (which is just about the only room that he sees, most days) along with a PS3 armed with the new rockband as well as an xbox 360 which always has street fighter 4 on pause (because, as it turns out, Jinki is a gigantic nerd, and his family is filthy rich).
Theres also a king sized bed on which Jinki flops every time they make their way into the bedroom.
"Why do you need a bed?" asks Minho one day when they're trying to fix Jinki's hair. He taps the brush against Jinki's shoulder in thought. "I thought vampires slept in coffins."
Jinki smiles at him. "You shouldn't believe everything you read. I'm not dead, you know."
"Oh?" Minho says, surprised and oddly warmed. It's a nice thought. He's a living person with a living heart, even if his diet is a little strange. "That's nice."
"Not really," says Jinki, eyes misting over a light blue. Minho begs to differ, but he keeps a lid on it and continues to style Jinki's hair.
Jinki hasn't kept to his word and bitten Minho. The only other time Minho dares to ask, Jinki waves the request away, insisting that getting a girlfriend is of utmost importance. He'll bite Minho when he's good and ready.
"I don't understand why you need a partner so badly. Everyone works at their own pace," says Minho one weekend. They're sitting on the bed, practicing eye contact. It doesn't too go well because Jinki keeps laughing at Minho's deadpan expression. He holds Jinki's chin as they practice, and he feels a tingling in his toes as he looks into molten chocolate irises.
There's a sad tinge to Jinki's smile when he answers. "It's for my parents. I'd never turn another person if it weren't expected of me. No one wants to be a freak."
It's the first time Jinki ever mentions anything about being a vampire on his own. "Turn?"
"Yea," Jinki says, his smile lighting up again. "That's how it works. I mean, if it were just a virus or a ritual or something, the person getting turned might not ever forgive me, and then how are they supposed to learn the rules?"
Minho nods, urging Jinki to continue.
"But if I take their life force by making them-uhm. I think I've said too much."
They sit in silence for a while. Minho wonders idly what exactly that life force could be. Blood, maybe, he thinks. He wants to ask Jinki to elaborate, but the vampire seems upset with himself, so he doesn't push it.
He asks Jinki to practice his smile, an exercise he's always been fond of.
"Your teeth, Jinki," says Minho.
The vampire shyly retracts his pointed canines till they look human again. He smiles into his mirror with all the happiness he can muster forcing Minho to wonder how Jinki has problems getting girls with a smile like that.
It's the last time Minho agrees to any of Jinki's suggestions.
They decide to tackle Jinki's problem with a practical approach, and Jinki has a brilliant idea of going to a beach in the scorching summer heat. Beach babes, he reasons. Their ride is Jinki's family car with a chauffeur that's scared shitless of the entire Lee Clan. He shoots Minho warning looks when he opens his door, but Minho quietly ignores him.
They play in the sand for a bit, both of them decidedly having too much fun with beach ball to try to attract girls just yet, before Jinki insists on going to the bathroom. When Jinki doesn't come out for half an hour, Minho realises there's a problem. He finds Jinki locked in a cubicle.
"Jinki, what are you doing in there?" he asks, rapping lightly on the stall door. Jinki moans from inside.
"Minho," he wails, "I'm blistering!"
Minho is mildly terrified. Why did Jinki not mention before that he couldn't be under direct sunlight? Minho had considered the thought, but Jinki had surprised him so many times with unexpected vampire facts that he didn't want to make any assumptions. The beach had been Jinki's idea, anyways.
"Jinki, open the door," Minho says sternly, rattling the door by the handle. "Let's get you home."
Jinki makes a small sound of protest before pulling the stall door open slowly. He looks up at Minho with a look of sheer misery, his cheeks stained a deep pink. "I'm sunburnt. What do I do?"
"You tell me, you're the vampire," says Minho, positively petrified that Jinki might burst into flames at any moment. "Please tell me you're not going to explode."
"No, I'm not. Those are just rumours. I just sunburn really easily. But Minho," Jinki whines, "it hurts."
"Will you please put lotion on my face?" He collapses into Minho's chest and mumbles tiredly into his shirt.
Minho leans him against a sink and applies the lotion to Jinki's cheeks. The gesture is met with a heavy sigh of relief, cool breath tickling Minho's fingers as he rubs in circles. And as much as Minho's mind is full of thoughts about how unnatural this vampire is, not even combusting in the sunlight, he can't help but find Jinki's sun kissed face endearing.
Jinki bites Minho by accident.
After Jinki nearly gets fried in the summer heat, Minho decides that Jinki needs a break, starting right that second. They clamber into the car and roll the shades up so the driver can't appraise them through the rear view.
Jinki mentions in passing to Minho that he's tired, and Minho lets Jinki pillow his head against his shoulder after a few jokes about how there's no coffin for him to sleep in. The car jerks, and Jinki nuzzles comfortably into Minho's neck.
He's about to drift off before he feels the slightest of pin pricks on his ear lobe, followed by a slow, continuous-suckling sensation. Jinki, it seems, has latched onto Minho's ear and is, for lack of a better term, feeding. He wonders if he should wake Jinki up.
Then he shivers, because Jinki's running his tongue slowly along the shell of his ear, back and forth, and Minho can't decide if he's shivering because he's worried or because he's aroused. He could very well be both at the rate Jinki is going. He leaves the idea of waking Jinki altogether, because he isn't sure he wants this to stop.
Jinki removes his lips and breathes against Minho's skin, hot and sleepy. Minho's eyes flutter close at the swirling heat of Jinki's breath in his ear, and he leans into Jinki, pretending to sleep.
Jinki's the first to wake up.
"Minho, why is your ear bleeding?" he says groggily, as he attempts to wipe the thin trail of blood that's made its way down to Minho's collar with a thumb. Minho touches his earlobe cautiously. It doesn't hurt much, but blood comes away with his fingers.
Realisation dawns on Jinki as his expression quickly turns from sleepy to mortified.
"Did I do that?" Jinki says, hand clamped over his mouth. He mumbles a string of oh my gods and looks around helplessly in his bag for something to clean the mess, before something seems to click in his head.
He's cautious, hands hovering uncertainly around Minho's head, not sure what to touch. "I can stop the bleeding, but I uh - I have to do something."
Minho raises an eyebrow at Jinki's flustered expression.
"Please close your eyes?" he says softly, settling a hand around the base of Minho's neck. Minho lets his eyes fall shut, breath shaky.
Jinki's lips meet the skin of his ear, so light Minho barely feels it, and then the dull throb is gone.
"You should have woken me up," Jinki says when Minho opens his eyes to look at him, curling his fingers in his lap. Minho mops up the streak of blood with a tissue. "This is just-I'd like to die now, if that's possible. Please."
He's about to make a joke about how Jinki's already dead, but then he remembers that he isn't, and smiles.
It's mutually agreed upon that Jinki and Minho practice together in a safe, non sunny environment - Jinki's room being the most ideal. Minho wonders why they even bothered to take things to the playing field when Jinki still has trouble stringing his words together.
They've got a good set up going. Minho has a sheet wrapped around his waist in gesture of a skirt, and he pretends to be sitting at a dinner table with Jinki on a date. Jinki fumbles with his lines, and Minho giggles accordingly, remembering to flip his hair every so often.
The 'date' goes by without much incident, and it is a huge achievement that Jinki is able to make it from obtaining Minho's number all the way to the end of the first date. They stand in front of Jinki's bedroom door which is Minho's makeshift doorstep.
"Well uhm. Thanks. For the date," says Jinki, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Minho stares at him, expectant. "Uhm. Yea-Good night?"
Minho laces their fingers together, because someone's got to take the reigns. He doesn't want Jinki's relatively perfect date to go to waste because of the lack of front door finesse.
"Good night, Jinki. I had a great time," he says, moving close to Jinki's face.
Jinki's nervousness peaks when they're an inch apart. "Is this the part where-lips."
"We kiss, yes."
The look in Jinki's eyes in the dimmed lights is shy and timid. He bites his lip uncertainly, breathing shallow and uneven between them.
So Minho decides to close the gap between them in a huff, their lips clashing slightly off-centre. His eyes close on their own and his hands move up to run fingers through Jinki's messy hair as Jinki has one hand planted firmly at Minho's waist, the other cupping his face.
Jinki runs his tongue tentatively along Minho's bottom lip-it swells up plump and pink with blood. He mimics the movement and their tongues push softly together, slick and warm and heaty.
They pull away when there's the distinct taste of iron between them because Minho's scored his tongue against Jinki's teeth by accident, bodies pressed into the bed that they had somehow moved onto, shirts pushed half-way up their torsos.
Jinki's laugh tinkles in the semi-dark, his smile just visible through the after-kiss haze. "Aren't we moving a little to fast for a first date?"
Minho politely ignores the question and requests that Jinki fix his tongue. Jinki complies.
It happens suddenly, on a day where he has to work.
Minho see's Yuri pouring over something on the library's database, hair pulled up into a messy bun, the back of her neck exposed. He draws close and breathes in her scent - his hand is already on her shoulder when she turns around and smiles at him, and it takes all of him to back up and walk away.
Because he wants to rip her throat open with his teeth.
That can't be right.
He dials Jinki's number hastily. "Jinki, I need to meet you."
Jinki doesn't say much about being a vampire unless he forgets himself. Minho fails to see the connection between getting a girlfriend and 'upholding his honour as a vampire', as Jinki liks to put it.
He hopes today is a day that Jinki does forget himself, if only to know what the matter is with him. Maybe Jinki had lied and there really is a virus. Or perhaps being around vampires has triggered the crazy in him. Whatever it is, Minho is determined to leave with an answer.
The vampire opens the front door and greets Minho with a puzzled look. "What was the emergency?"
He wordlessly grabs Jinki by the arm and drags him into the bedroom, shutting the door behind them.
"You will tell me everything there is to know about turning someone into a vampire."
Jinki laughs at first, until he sees that Minho is nothing but serious, to which he responds with a frown. "You know I'm not supposed to tell, Minho."
There's a whirlwind of movement, and suddenly Minho's pinning Jinki to the bed, hands pressing down on either shoulder, his mouth hovering strategically over Jinki's jugular vein. He pads his fingers along Jinki's gulping throat. "You must know why I feel the urge to do this to the people around me."
"I'm changing."
Jinki shakes his head, "Y-You're not turning into a vampire. I refuse to believe that. That's just-it's absolutely preposterous. No. No, you are human."
Minho runs his tongue across the front row of his teeth, lingering over his canines that, although nowhere near as sharp as Jinki's, are definitely not normal anymore.
"This is. It's really happening, isn't it?" says Jinki, eyes a little wide. Minho nods slowly.
He doesn't expect what comes next. Jinki pulls Minho's weight on top of him and eagerly presses their lips together, gripping Minho's back with as much strength as he has. Minho is puzzled, and a kiss is certainly not appropriate, but he doesn't push him away. It feels different though, as though Jinki's trying to suck the life out of him. It's foreboding.
Minho tries not to think about what it means.
Jinki eyes are watery when they break apart.
"I'm sorry," says Jinki through his tears. He looks up at Minho and brushes a lock of hair out of his face. "Minho-shit I'm so sorry."
Minho doesn't say anything and continues to stare into Jinki's rueful eyes. He doesn't like that look on him very much, to be honest. The smiling is a lot nicer. He rolls off Jinki and lies beside him quietly, waiting for him to continue.
"I mean. We k-kissed and everything. I should've warned you. I could have stopped this. Shit, M-Minho," he says shakily, burying his face in Minho's shoulder. "Why'd you have to make me so h-happy?"
"You don't sound very happy."
"..."
There's a thick blanket of silence smothering them for a good while, Jinki's hiccoughs being the only sound that breaks the stillness.
Then Jinki sits up and puts on this face like determination and I'm going to do something about it even if it kills me. It isn't a much better look than the crying, Minho thinks. He grabs Minhos arm by the crook of his elbow and pulls him out into the living room, his face still tear streaked and his eyes still puffy around the edges. The house regards the change in atmosphere by being exceptionally cold and unwelcoming.
Jinki pushes Minho out the door, saying something about the discontinuity of their meetings muffled by a stuffy nose (so that it sounds like weekend nut see itch udder anymore) and shuts the door with the gentlest slam Minho has ever witnessed.
And just like that, Minho's heart disappears behind the door.
He walks home, no descriptions.
He quits his job, because every time he's around people, he wants more and more to bite them.
It's been a week (maybe two, he can't seem to keep track of time) since Jinki drove him away.
Minho lies alone in his bed, listening hard for a heartbeat he knows he won't hear.
Tossing and turning, he wonders if all dead people are this restless.
He's glad its cold out, because then he gets to wear earmuffs, and this way, he's less likely to hear the pulse of hot blood running through a vein in the neck. It's unnerving, stepping outside in the day time where there are so many people. He feels terribly depraved, eyeing them and longing to feed off them.
He wonders absently how Jinki managed to be around him and exercise so much control.
There's a point in time where the sound of fresh blood through veins gets too much for him, even with the earmuffs, so he u-turns and heads back home, ready for another night alone, trying to make his blood-lust disappear via cold turkey. Trying to ignore how sharp his teeth are getting.
Someone ducks messily into an alley a few blocks away from where he's standing.
He has a sneaking suspicion that it's Jinki just from the way the person stares blankly from under his beanie for about a whole second before starting and ducking out of sight, but he can't tell for sure.
Minho turns to his left in time to see two boys about his age walk past him, chatting loudly. He grabs the fake blond by the arm and brisk walks somewhere dark. The alley a few blocks away that he is hoping Jinki might be hiding in.
"Yah! Let him go! Kibum-" his friend calls after them, running. Minho hauls the struggling boy over his shoulder and uses his long legs to his advantage by out running the person named Jonghyun-ah! Get this fucker away from me! The fake blond named Kibum bangs his fist against his back in protest.
He sets Kibum down against the wall and by this time, he's too tired from struggling to put up much of a fight. It's the cold weather. The boy blows into his hands and stares at Minho apprehensively.
"What do you want with me," he asks, just as Minho's taking in his surroundings. There's a dumpster and a few roaches, and a huge pile of used tissues. No Jinki in sight.
Minho pulls Kibum into a standing position, closing in on his neck. The boy turns away from Minho, a grimace firmly in place.
"Please trust me. I won't hurt you," Minho says in his most charming voice. It doesn't seem to work on Kibum that well.
"Like hell you won't," he says, trying to push Minho away. When he moves, the blood in him rushes, and Minho can hear it, and for the first time his canines fully extend. They go down so far that if he clenches his teeth, the tips of his teeth touch his gums. There's a gap between his lips and his fangs are just visible.
Kibum absolutely loses it and screams bloody murder.
It's a good thing Jinki comes out of his hiding place at this point, because given the close proximity of Minho and a screaming Kibum (whose blood pressure is sky rocketing, he notices), he's just about ready to give in and drain him.
"Minho! Stop!" says Jinki from behind the dumpster, nose a bright pink and arm extended, ready to pull Minho out of his stance. Kibum takes Minho's distraction as an opportunity to make a run for it, sticking his middle finger in the air as he flees for his life.
Jinki sniffles, letting his arm fall to his side. "You didn't bite him. Did you?"
"I wasn't going to," he admits, almost smiling. It's nice to see Jinki again, after a long time of wanting to but not really knowing how. Leaving the house never seemed to work out too well.
"You must be thirsty. Do you want to come with me?" Jinki asks, giving him a pink nosed smile. "There's so much I need to say."
They usher into Jinki's car and hold hands. Minho feels his heart seeping back through his finger tips.
It seems strangely foreign, being in Jinki's room again, but soon the feeling returns and he takes a familiar step toward what used to be. He sits on Jinki's bed, while Jinki sits beside him.
Jinki breaks the silence.
"I've been following you all this time. You never left your house," he says. Minho nods, smiling. "I wanted to talk to you so bad."
"So why didn't you," he says more than asks, because he already knows the answer. "It wasn't going to work. You had to have known."
Jinki pouts. "I thought it might. I thought we could just-forget."
There's a painful twist to Jinki's mouth, and his eyes are a little watery. "Then we both started dying. We would've been like those dead vampires you read about in books; lost and alone for the rest of eternity."
He's a vampire. The fact spoken out loud sinks to the bottom of his stomach like a rock. He's strangely okay with it, his heart beating calmly somewhere close to him, but not really where it used to be.
"That life force you were talking about before. The one you take to turn someone," he starts, and Jinki takes in a sharp breath. "It's the heart, isn't it?"
Jinki looks at his hands, not answering.
"I couldn't leave my house because I didn't want to bite anyone. I wanted to see you, but I couldn't control myself," he says quietly.
"It's a good thing you didn't," Jinki says nervously, daring to pick up the conversation again. "You might've killed someone otherwise. That's why I panicked when I saw you attacking that boy and-"
"Here." He pulls out a plastic bottle filled with a viscous, red liquid, passing it to Minho who opens it carefully. Minho takes a small sip-it's the best thing he's ever tasted in his life. Whether its taste is affected by his ravenous hunger or the fact that it's the first time he's tasted blood as a vampire, he's unsure. The bottle is drained in a matter of seconds.
"I waited for the moment I'd stop hearing your heartbeat in my ears," Jinki says, leaning his head against Minho's. He's tears spill over and he wipes them away with the heel of his palm. "It never came. I didn't want to believe that I'd turned you. You of all people. I hate that I've cursed you."
"It doesn't feel like a curse," Minho says, putting his arm around Jinki's waist. "At least, not this."
Jinki turns to him seriously. "Do you love me?"
Minho nods without the smallest hint of hesitation. It's strange. After Jinki had captured his heart with his goofy smile, he'd only been able to feel love, or nothing at all.
"Then we're bonded," Jinki says, pulling him into an embrace, "Because I love you too. More than anything."
Minho squeezes Jinki tightly in his arms, feeling the empty space his heart used to be fill up with someone else's. He buries his face in Jinki's hair. It's earthy, warm, his.
He pulls Jinki into a kiss, and they're right at home, where they're supposed to be.
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