The Last Bite: Part I
Title: The Last Bite.
Pairing: Onew/Key
Lenght: 24000+ words
Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Drama
Rating: pg-13
Summary: And a simple bite can change everything. Jinki knows that, but his decision is set in stone. He'll give up everything for that one person. And everything, means everything.
Disclaimer: A three-shot for chunonew_rx (For the shinee_replay Replay4Japan fundraiser).
Warning: Vampire!AU the parts are already posted.
A/N: Hello everyone. This fic is entirely dedicated to chunonew_rx . I'm terribly sorry for all the troubles I might have caused her, having to rewrite the whole thing over and over again as my muse and plotting expertise simply SUCKS. Anyways, I hope you truly enjoy this, and if you have any objections please do say so as I still owe you another one-shot. Alright! enjoy and remember the links to the other parts are below.
He couldn’t help it.
He had tried several times to convince himself he didn’t give a flying fuck about his boss’s life outside work, and it was hard not to when said man looked so cryptic and unreadable every single day, 24/7. His eyes lowered hurriedly when he was caught in the act, hands nervously running over the massive pile of paper work he should be organizing at the moment instead of looking like a dumb fuck. Soon he feels a cool rush of air run through his hair, a crispy mint scent filling his nostrils, and he instantly knows who’s the one currently standing in front of his desk, shadowing him at eight am sharp.
“Good Morning Kibum.” As always, the voice is low and even, messing with his hearing range and making a shiver run so deliciously through his bones.
“Good Morning Mr. Lee.” Hurriedly he flashes a pair of crinkled eyes towards his boss, smiling brightly though gritted teeth in order to avoid looking at Mr. Lee’s penetrating dark eyes. Because he knows that once he places his attention on those chocolate dark pools he just looses himself and falls into an impeccable hole of dumbness, trying frankly not to show that stupid fear that never fails to claw over his chest. He’s been there, so its experience talking.
His efforts pay off though, as said man nods curtly in his direction and silently retrieves to his dark lair across the vast room. Sighing, he runs a hand through his soft locks, pondering exactly just how he managed to be stuck in this ridiculous situation for over the past two months.
When he applied for an assistant position at the Lee Corporations, he never expected his hundred percent French ability to be taken on full notice. Kibum still remembers how incredulous he had sounded over the phone when the hiring manager called him that early sunday, yes, Sunday.
He almost spilled his coffee all over his recently made waffles when that cheerful voice announced how he won the job he had applied for over thousands of applicants, albeit having no working experience whatsoever as he had recently finished his Finances degree. He wasn’t gonna lie, he thought at first that something fishy was going on when he walked into that ridiculously large reception the next day, eyeing the hiring manager warily while said man explained what exactly his job was gonna be from then on.
He had looked like a fool that day, gaping like a fish and eyes widening entirely as he was so much as pushed into the last floor of the building, having almost thirty floors under him and the entire corporation beneath his bare feet. He stepped into the executive VIP area, thinking vastly in his mind that there must’ve been something wrong with that man, hiring a freshly graduated twenty three year old to work for the CEO as his personal assistant. The pay they offered was good, extremely good, and debating with his lack of experience and the amount of work he was gonna be doing from then on, he accepted the job right away, tossing away all the consequences swimming in his muddled mind.
And now he was left huffing to himself two months later, wanting to shove his head in the nearest trash can just to dump all the crap that has built up inside his head, all thoughts revolving around his particular boss. Lee Jinki was far from cryptic, just moving under the sunlight like a tight ball of mystique and something unknown.
To anyone else, the successful twenty six year old was what could be called the perfect boss, never rising his voice to his employees, showing concern towards anyone working on extra hours, and most likely he was just perfection incarnated with his devastatingly gorgeous looks, all eyes and pouty lips. But Kibum wasn’t gonna fall for those things, he might have for the first few days he started working at the Lee Corporation, and he’d probably still be biased by his strikingly charming boss if it wasn’t for the fact that--
Kibum, would you be so kind to bring me my mail? Thanks. He jolted slightly, paperwork fluttering around as the intercom at his right buzzed to life. He took a short look towards the big wooden doors at the far end of the room, feeling his desk suddenly small in that ridiculously extended floor.
Right away sir. He replied, cradling all the packages left forgotten under his desk while making his way across the room. He didn’t need to knock by now, kicking the heavy door with his foot as he stumbled his way into the grand office. Kibum tried not to look at the way the older one was casually leaning against his chair, hair unruffled and cheeks slightly puffed out as he scanned his emails with boredom. He plopped the correspondence in the neatly polished desk, bowing politely and taking his leave without a second glance.
And he didn’t need to take a second glance, as he knew what his boss’s next move was gonna be. Kibum already knew that after reading all his emails, Lee Jinki was gonna go through his physical mail, clicking his tongue at the unimportant correspondence while sorting the mildly important things to the left side of his desk. And then, as he would be finally done with the tedious task, his eyes would land ultimately on that medium sized package that had been hidden under the pile of paper.
Kibum quietly closed the door behind him, suddenly aware of how much noise his shoes made as they glided through the marbled floor. The noise was loud, and he wanted to be distracted, but it was useless, his mind was simply focused on the set of events that never failed to happen in that office every single morning. Biting his lips, he starts typing away in his computer, trying to be subtle and not squeak when the sound of paper being tore up starts creeping from the wall.
He knows he has to keep quiet and do his job, he just has to, because his boss wouldn’t want him walking in and disturbing his much needed… breakfast. He shuddered at the thought, his heart hammering in his chest with each word he typed. So he goes on with his morning work, ignoring the fact that a certain CEO has finally unwrapped his precious package, eyes glistening with hunger as a thick tongue runs over equally thick lips, nimble fingers sneaking into the box, pulling out what he has been waiting for for almost a day.
And he wastes no time, almost ripping the lid off and circling with his warm lips the blood pack’s opening. His eyes roll to the top, a guttural groan chocking in his throat as the fluid sluggishly slides past his throat and into his awaiting stomach. And Jinki knows his making a mess of himself, feeling like an animal as some of his food manages to slip past the tight passage of his lips just to dribble off his chin and slide down his neck.
“Fuck…” He whispers hoarsely, sucking the last amount of blood from the now empty packet. He feels the new pulse, his vital force revived, and a smirk breaks on his lips, blood red lips glistening as he spots his now soiled white shirt through the reflection of his glass wall. Slowly, his hand wipes his dirty mouth, tongue licking what’s left of his threat. It all takes a second, and soon he finds himself fetching for another pack of blood from the box, pleasure consuming him as his eyes once again flutter while sucking the warm blood all the way down.
Kibum really tried to focus on his work, having to type the same letter over and over again while hoping the client won’t be too pissed off for having it sent so late. But he just can’t help it, and who would actually… What employee in his right mind would be calm and going about while knowing his boss is calmly sucking the blood of who knows who from a blood pack in their office! Because yes, Kibum had found two weeks after getting employed by the Lee Corporation the reason why the hiring manager of the Corporation chose him over thousands of other qualified applicants to work for them-as the assistant of the CEO nevertheless.
Who would’ve known that the government demanded from every corporation that hired vampires to have at least twenty percent of permanent human employees in their working payroll…
He had concluded up until now that he must be the stupidest person on the planet at the moment, agreeing to work on a Corporation where all the employees were half blooded vampires and the CEO was a pure blooded one, coming from an ancient line of royal vampires and whatsoever.
And what was he still doing here?--Probably mastering the art of being the potential snack willingly waiting to ripe up enough to serve as a good appetizer at some mindless business meeting. Fuck.
Welcome to the Lee Corporations Mr. Kim!
We’re glad to have you joining us. You might be intimidated and feel out of place some times, but don’t worry… we don’t bite much.
That should’ve been his first clue.
----------------------------
“Have you noticed something odd about Mr. Lee lately?”
“Odd?”
“Yeah, I mean, aside from the fact that he’s a full blooded vampire prince and all, there’s something weird going on with him lately.”
He didn’t like the uninterested shrug he received from the male across the table, tempted to throw him half his lunch in response to such lousy reply. Kibum knows he should probably follow Jonghyun’s attitude and mind his own business, but his stupid curiosity was what helped him find out the secret about the Corporation currently dominating the country and the entire continent, so he kinda owed his curiosity that much.
It was that hunch and that constant voice in the back of his head that led him into the underground storage rooms about a week after being hired as the CEO’s assistant. He had been just so damn curious about those packages that everyone seemed to receive every Monday morning aside from his boss that received them daily, almost every employee happily accepting the neatly wrapped boxed while excusing themselves minutes later towards the bathroom, receiving just nervous stares from the neglected employees left to care for their own business, like himself.
What he found in there still makes him shudder involuntarily, even though it’s been two months already. He truly had expected drugs, cocaine or marihuana, a fucking forest of those to be honest, but the thought of finding the biggest blood bank he could’ve possibly imagine greeted him sixteen feet underground, having sneaked viciously through security at a lunch break.
He kept the secret though, thinking naively that maybe employees were forced to deliver those blood packets to some clandestine organization that worked under the water, or maybe the corporation was extremely into helping the red cross, who knew. But two days later he found himself stumbling into one of those bathrooms that people always scurried into after receiving their Monday delivery.
He still remembers how innocently those co workers had stared at him as they lounged comfortably in the room, sipping noisily the sweet pack between their hands… some even twirling the freaking straw with their fingers while smiling amusingly in return of Kibum's stare. Those definitely weren't bathrooms.
It was all a blur after that, he must’ve had a stroke or an aneurism… or both probably, but the next thing he knew he was laying face first in the employees’ free clinic, screaming himself awake with that pillow already halfway down his throat. Kim Jonghyun was in charge of human resources, so it was his rightful duty to inform him and talk him through the shock--finally informing him he was one of the fortunate employees that didn’t require blood in their food chain. The brunet kindly explained how the company was required to hire a certain amount of human employees as to discard racial favoritism-as if someone would actually object to any of that.
He had known since the day he was born that vampires existed, that they had been roaming around earth since the dark ages, but it had been a very clandestine race back then, some even thinking it was extinct. Throughout the years he encountered several half blooded vampires, having gone to a school that allowed both species to get along and mingle, but he just never gave it a second thought, always staying as far away as possible from those sharp pointed toothed kids.
Some would call it fear… he calls it fear too, but when your family tell stories about how vampires love to make their pray suffer before sucking the light out of their eyes, he’d rather have the word coward tattoed on his back than having his blood so much as sucked out of its respective places.
You think we kill people and drink their blood!? What are you! Three?? Jonghyun sucked as a human resources’ administrator, almost losing his patience with all the naïve questions that surged throughout the introduction. Kibum was a little interested to say the least on how this company managed to keep so malevolently hidden from society, fooling humans as to believe that all their employees were pretty much… humans.
Even though the older one was slightly offended by the question, it was his duty to respond, and with gritted teeth he explained the air head how only full blooded vampires were allowed to kill humans, and half blooded ones could only drink blood by purchasing it from a blood bank or killing an animal-animal blood taste like foot… infected foot. Lee’s Corporation was one of the few companies in the world to have their own blood bank especially for their employees.
It’s quite the privilege to work in this company you know? Half blooded vampires like me are seen like filth not only by humans but by full blooded vampires as well… It’s nice to know that even a company that’s run by royalty cares about us underdogs. And with a cheeky grin and a rather awkward handshake, the introduction was over, not before having a small tour through those rooms he once thought were bathroom facilities. You wouldn’t expect us to just suck our breakfast in front of you humans right? Geez… have some sense man.
He doesn’t know how or why, having all his life been frightened by vampires thanks to his lovely vampirefobic family, but somehow a friendship was formed between him and that half blooded vampire. They were surprisingly alike, enjoying the same food, the same music, even both thinking that the Twilight series was a serious scam. It made him a little less stressed, but always cautious, always trying to avoid troubles that involved people from another species.
There were several things that he had been told about vampires that were outrageously wrong though, and that made his stay in the Lee Company easier. Half blooded vampires weren’t allow to kill people, and not because it was some forbidden law that could be broken by some savage renegade of society like he thought at first-It gives us gastritis.. Damn that stupid plasma and its proteins! Jonghyun proclaimed one evening. They could eat food normally, but blood had to be drunk at least once a week due to some metabolic need, and that was provided graciously by the free blood bank at the company.
The whole sun is a vampire’s worst enemy was the most ridiculous one too. Kibum felt like laughing when he remembers how much Jonghyun had whined about the hideous sunburns he acquired on his weekend escapade to the Bahamas. The older one somehow got carried away while napping on his back on the soft white sand that once it was night time he was all roasted up from head to toe.
The list gets longer though, and he knows it would probably make any vampire laugh at the sheer impossibilities people say and think about them, but he had decided long ago that it was somehow fun to discover how all those stupid tales his family told him about those sharp pointed toothed kids were just stories full of--
“Crap. Seriously, this food tastes like crap! Look at this!!” Rolling his eyes, he stares boringly as his friend waves a piece of soggy bread in his face, looking appalled as it falls expertly in his now bready bean soup. It looked like a pretty typical Monday, the cafeteria busting with life and the loud clank of metal utensils rolling in the air. He’s too into his thoughts trying to tune out Jjong’s horrible puppy whines that he fails to notice that all room’s actions halt at once and silence follows.
It’s not until Jonghyun whispers some incoherent babble that he realizes that a certain man has just walked into the room and glides graciously towards the fruit island at the buffet area, all eyes clawed on his back as Lee Jinki casually picks enough fruit to feed an entire village. He can’t help but gape in disbelief as the yearly fruit supply is placed carefully on one heavy looking platter while employees open a path for him to strut towards the perplexed cashier now fumbling with the cash received. To call it a rare event in the history of the Corporation would be a big subestimation, as it would imply that said event has happened more than once. So it’s an event that cannot be named, too grand to even allow a simple adjective to describe it.
Cause it’s not just anyone that it’s now walking back to the elevator with his food neatly wrapped in aluminum foil: not the general manager, not the vice president, and certainly not the president-fuck, who cares about the president? When it’s Lee fucking Jinki walking around like some resurrected Greek god in the still frozen cafeteria.
Only the soft sound of the elevator doors closing manages to pull everyone from their initial shock, all food now soggy and cold gone to waste, and as people slowly start to come back to reality, a reality in which their very very beloved CEO had just walked down from his almighty VIP floor to the mundane fifth floor cafeteria to buy Korea’s entire fruit reserve, Kibum can only reinforce his idea that yes! There is something really wrong with Mr. Lee.
“Okay, now please tell me you understand what I mean when I say Mr. Lee is acting odd.”
“Y-yeah… he’s acting pretty weird, I get that now. Did you see the way he wrinkled his nose in disgust at the sight of watermelons? Pretty creepy right?”
Grumbling, he proceeded to poke his already inedible lunch, rolling his eyes at his friend stupid obliviousness. He knew something was going on in that CEO’s head, and even though it really wasn’t he’s place, and he didn’t-really, he didn’t- care, he was bound to find out what was going on.
------------------
“Kibum, I want to get sick.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to mm, how do you call it? Catch a cold? A stomachache?”
Master plans have their ups and downs, not always being the perfection you always portray in your mind-Kibum knew that. After the unusual incident at the cafeteria, things became a little tense around the company. All employees have been cautious ever since, fearing that their boss’s strange behavior was some kind of sign sent from heaven, a notorious message that soon there was gonna be a cut around the corporation, as stupid as it might sound, and that heads were about to roll.
He was smarter than that though, simply sighing in exasperation at the outrageous gossips that had been floating around. Sure, Mr. Lee had picked up quite the habit of going down the employees’ cafeteria from then on, strangely enough he had taken a liking on fresh tangerines, and sure you can call it extremely out of character of him to waltz around departments whilst asking what are some good Sunday movies to watch. But wasn’t it too early to jump into conclusions? People were starting to think the poor man had gone mad.
And that led him back to his master plan, which had been a disaster from day one, but still a plan no doubt. He had subtly started getting closer to the older male, asking him on regular basis if he needed another glass of water, would you want me to get you more tangerines? He’d ask while staring at the empty bowl the CEO had deliberately placed on his desk, and even though said male would kindly smile while dismissing the favors fervently proposed, he was by now a hundred percent sure that there was something extremely wrong going on, getting closer and closer to the truth.
At first it were only tangerines, and there was nothing wrong with liking tangerines actually-the taste being quite enjoyable-but then came the hopelessly romantic choice of music that made you want to cut your veins just to stop the agony from progressing any further. Like a good assistant, he’d stay quiet throughout those long torturous hours in which he had to send at least twenty shipping orders with Diane Ross and Lionel Richie singing about their stupid endless love in the background.
Days went by, and things just started spiraling into the mere pits of hell. Jonghyun was as oblivious to all this as a piece of useless wood, and even though everyone suspected there was something fishy going on with their boss, the main idea circling those thickheaded workers was the idea of a cut soon being made. With frustration heaving over his shoulders, Kibum decided to keep quiet and not comment his notorious findings with anyone else, intent on finding the truth by himself.
He managed to survive the weird fruit cravings-that soon turned into soggy vegetables and tofu-and the horrible choice of cheap 80s love songs, but the moment he found his boss staring at his reflection in his ridiculously grand bathroom, freezing him exactly at the entrance as those contracts to be signed were left forgotten in his hands, that was just rock bottom. He found it hard to breathe, from fear or from horror, who knows, as the older one simply stared at his own reflection, touching his fangs mindlessly as if testing their sharpness with the soft flesh of his fingertips.
Do they look scary to you? The nonchalant tone in which that question was made pulled him out of his horrorized stupor, five minutes slowly passing by before he was able to response with a jerky shook. The smile that followed his clumsy answer, so bright and stunning, had him gaping in awe though. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, and somehow those sharp deadly fangs that were supposed to scare any human that stood close enough, in that moment they looked… charming.
I would’ve believed you if you hadn’t taken five minutes to answer Kibum. Come in, let me take a look at those contracts you have there.
That smile had been haunting him ever since, making it hard to concentrate on his job as whenever he let his mind slip just a little it would immediately wander to the deepest corners of his brain, just to pull out the memory of that perfect smile he had hastily locked down in some drawer of his subconscious.
Without his consent, he became more attentive towards his boss’s every move, feeling somehow embarrassed by his own behavior at some point. Why was he obsessing so much about his personal life anyways? Who cares if he looks like he suffered from the worst hangover every Monday? He certainly shouldn’t mind if that man started taking a liking to fruit even though being royalty gave him the privilege of feeding solely on blood.
But he saw sadness in his smile that day; he saw some kind of longingness that moment he saw Jinki staring at his own reflection in his bathroom. Like he didn’t like what he saw or like he was missing something he still hadn’t lost. And that alone made him want to keep up his subtle spy job, because maybe that man needed help, maybe he was suffering all by himself with no one to care. Who knew? It didn’t hurt to find out.
He couldn’t back out of his words though, he couldn’t promise himself he’d try harder to find his boss’s secret and want to drop everything to hell the next day. Cause that’s exactly what he wanted to do the moment he found his CEO with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist at six thirty that Monday morning. He wanted to screw it all and become as oblivious as his stupid friend at human resources, cause Lee Jinki sitting in the middle of his office with the air conditioner on full mode, skin as translucent and milky as the softest silk and muscles left exposed for the world to ogle and idolize on, meant t.r.o.u.b.l.e.
“Mr. Lee… Are you okay? Have you been drinking? Don’t worry, I’ll hurry to the cafeteria and get you-,” He was just about to burst through the doors and out to the elevators when the male once sitting comfortably in the carpeted ground suddenly stood up, towel riding up to expose a pair of deliciously toned thighs. Kibum found the ceiling quite interesting in that moment.
“No! I’m fine, I don’t drink-I can’t drink, I’m a vampire remember? Alcohol equals poison for us, but wine is fin-Anyways, I-I need to get sick, like in getting a disease kind of sick? I figured that if I want to know how to be able to take care of someone when they fall sick, I need to know what being sick feels like…”
“I need help Kibum… please.”
Kibum stared mutely at the man before him, not believing that the almighty Lee Jinki that has featured in more Forbes issues than any other successful entrepreneur was now standing just a few meters away from him, with a towel hanging loosely from his hips and a soft and surprisingly cute blush adorning his cheeks. He found this image rather endearing.
But he wanted to run, he wasn’t gonna lie. He didn’t want to get to involve in this mess that was now lying before him. He was still scared of vampires, Jonghyun being a huge dumb exception, and getting involved with a full blooded one, royalty nevertheless, was just crossing the line.
He was still terribly terrified by all those stories his family used to tell him like bedtime stories, about vampires sucking the blood out of young infants just for pleasure. He remembers those horrible nightmares he used to have, in which he was cornered by a horde of nasty blood lusting vampires, all smiling at him with their sharp teeth sparkling in the dark. And soon those fangs would curl monstrously into some twisted snarl and it’d all be over with the sickening sound of teeth digging into flesh.
Shuddering, he started making his resolve of turning around and not giving a fuck, but in a blink he found that sadness in those eyes again, that helplessness he once saw like a spark weeks ago. He felt his shy shell breaking piece by piece, the shards crushing and rolling beneath his feet as he walked backwards towards the door.
Once his back was against the solid door and his hands were gripping the handle with enough strength to break it, Lee Jinki caught his intention in a heartbeat. The older one knew about his fear towards his kind, it had been deadly stipulated on his first days working as his assistant, with the shaky hands and the uncomfortable shiver whenever said male was close to contact, but that man had a patience so vast and so deep that it was truly admirable at some extent how he had been able to endure his obvious displeasure while working for him.
It must’ve taken a lot of courage from that vampire prince to ask for help-help from a human being, the ones he seeks for nurture. Or maybe he’s just too desperate, he couldn’t tell.
Noticing the deflated expression landing on that face at the sight of his intentions, Kibum took a deep breath and finally followed his resolve; closing his eyes and missing the look of amusement that pushed pass the sadness and settled in its place. The soft click of the lock resounded around the room, his trembling hands reaching blindly behind to make sure he locked the door correctly.
It wasn’t like some mindless employee was gonna burst at any moment, as it was still too early and he cursed his morning habits at that, but he had to take precautions-a rumor about a CEO and his assistant getting it on at some ungodly hours in the morning was never good.
Silence followed his actions, as he was left staring mutedly at the older male now fidgeting with the hem of the towel protecting his integrity. For the first time in his life, Kibum was simply lost for words, leaning against the door while the clock ticked off against the wall signaling the minutes that dragged by. Soon he found himself remembering the older one’s confusing explanation, the screws in his brain twisting and twisting until realization dawned in his mind and the disbelieving words poured out of his lips before he could stop them.
“You’re sitting in the dark semi-naked with the AC on full mode, waiting to get sick just to know what it feels like? Are you crazy!?” He gasped in shock seconds later at his outburst, biting his lower lip and just waiting for hell to open up a pit and suck him in, cause he just yelled at his boss, and not only yelled, he had subtly pointed out his lack of intelligence. Great, he was gonna get his ass fired, goodbye generous paycheck.
Jinki couldn’t help but stare in awe at the ray of emotions that displayed in his assistant’s face, horror and shock to hopeless despair. It was the first time he had seen him so open, so emotionally free despite having been working for him for about 4 months.
Jinki smiled, laughing a little to himself. “I guess I’m crazy, cause this AC feels like summer breeze to me, and I’ve been here all night.”
All night!? Again, Kibum’s brain filter wasn’t working correctly, but thank god the one in his mouth was cause all he did was shook his head in disbelief while making his way to the controller left forgotten at the desk. “The air conditioner isn’t working on you because your skin has the ability to endure extreme weathers. You could probably parade around the north pole butt naked and still feel like its summer.”
Ignoring the chuckle that left his boss’s lips, he proceeded to turn the device off, shuddering now and then at the cold chills seeping through the thick material of his suit. He figured it was an assistant’s job to aid their boss in their every need, and with that thought and a soft blush over his cheeks, he quietly picked the discarded clothes at the couch. With a quiet thanks, Jinki grabbed his shirt and dress pants whilst ignoring the trembling hands that handed said items, turning around and leaving the younger one to his thoughts.
Kibum watched as his boss disappeared into the bathroom, dragging a stifled breath out as he cautiously took a seat, hissing at the coldness of the leather against the fabric of his pants. He had talked disrespectfully to his boss, twice in the course of fifteen minutes… he was never gonna hear the end of it from Jonghyun, and that was if he ever told the brunet about this weird ass conversation-god knows that man could be the worst gossiper ever.
All the while the older male was changing in the bathroom, Kibum tried to make sense as to why Mr. Lee wanted to get sick so badly, going through the extreme of staying all night with only a towel to cover the nakedness and the air conditioner at its full capacity. As far as his inaccurate knowledge of vampirism goes vampires, let it be half blooded or pure, are pretty much immune to diseases.
Jonghyun once said that half blooded vampires couldn’t drink blood straight out from a human’s body because of the plasma and the serum proteins and even though they had the ability of getting sick, their recovery system was so fast that the disease wasn’t able to create enough effect in the body to be called as such.
But that principle obviously didn’t apply to pure vampires, so what? Mr. Lee was suddenly invincible? Immortal, sure, but invincible? That seemed too unlikely.
He was pulled out of his crumpled thoughts by the sound of footsteps thumping against the carpet, and his eyes landed swiftly on the man now dressed in his crispy black suit, tie hanging loose over his broad shoulders. “I guess the cold induced by an air conditioner thing was a really bad idea?”
He wanted to scowl and say It really was a really bad AND stupid idea but he kept quiet, fidgeting with the seam of his suit. Jinki took in his assistant’s sudden shyness, wondering how a person was able to shift between moods so graciously, but decided he’d spare the younger one the troubles, walking slowly towards the other side of the couch and taking a seat. Kibum subtly moved closer to the edge, not knowing what to expect from the older one, and he really didn’t know what Mr. Lee wanted him for, he asked for help but it could’ve been just a reflex or a thought fluttering to the surface without his consent.
“I know you might be thinking if I really meant what I said, about asking for your help,” Kibum’s eyes slowly traveled to the other side of the sofa, staring mutely at his boss from the other end, “And I really meant it, I need your help. It sounds weird to be asking aid from someone I barely know, and you must find it extremely strange to have your boss asking such impromptus requests, but… I really have no one else to ask… you’re the only human I know here.”
“So, you need a human then?” The word rolled from his tongue a little bit too rough for his liking.
“I-I need a human to teach how to be human.”
Finally that question that had been bubbling in his mind burst from his mouth, unable to stop it. “Why?”
Jinki’s eyes suddenly lowered their gaze towards the floor, eye lashes brushing delicately over milky white skin. Was it vulnerability he was witnessing? He was about to say sorry for his intrusion in the other’s personal business when a pair of brown eyes clawed their attention in his own, shutting his train of thoughts and his coherency all together. He saw fire blazing in those orbs, brown toasting in the flames that danced in said eyes.
“I’m giving up immortality in three month. I need to learn how to be human cause I’m gonna be one in ninety days.”
And everything shifted and changed forever.
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“Oh god… I’m really gonna get sick now.”
“That’s what you want though, right?”
“Yeah, but I want a simple disease, like the flu or something, not a full bacterial infection rotting in my intestines…”
“Quit being such a baby and just eat the damn burrito.”
There are different types of people in the world: the good guys, and the bad ones. The good guys usually appeal to everyone, with their good looking features, their sense of style and their personality that seems to match with everyone else’s. Those good guys always get friends, everything seems to revolve around them and luck is always stuck to the sole of their shoes like gum. Lee Jinki was not a good guy, at least for the world he wasn’t.
Kibum had learnt over the course of two weeks that the world he had been living in from day one just wasn’t the world he once had pictured. People were too quick to judge, already anticipating an outcome that was far from the truth. The moment he stepped into that supermarket a few days ago with a mute vampire trailing on his back, he just knew what that women by the cereals section was thinking, he could almost read the hideous thoughts molting on that butcher’s head, and he didn’t need to spare a glance at that cashier that had stiffly attended the silence couple.
Vampires and humans simply didn’t mingle, they didn’t match and they weren’t meant to stick around long enough to bond and become best friends. The moment he took over his fears and decided to help out his boss in his search to becoming human from the inside out, he had been a little reluctant about the whole process, not knowing how he was gonna be able to overcome his terrors and embrace the idea of helping someone that shared the same blood as those monsters that once haunted the dreams of his childhood.
Jinki was aware of how terrified and uncomfortable he was with his own race, always staying a foot away in fear of causing some discomfort, always smiling and thanking him for his obvious efforts whenever they stayed up late in the office just talking-mostly on Kibum’s part, just sharing anecdotes about life that might help the desperate man in his journey.
It was in those nights that Kibum learnt a little bit more about his boss, how he lost his mother some centuries ago when the Roman Empire was at its glory. How his father was nowhere to be found since world war two, and how he emigrated to Korea just forty years ago in sake of getting a new start.
Romans? Wha- How old are you anyways?
.... I could be your ancestor’s best friend. Let’s leave it at that.
Like a river, Jinki started seeping in. So slowly that it left no sound, he started sinking in his veins, mixing with his thoughts, and as soft and delicate as a butterfly’s flight, he poised his heart on his lap.
His fears were slowly ebbed away with thrust in a heartbeat. He found himself trusting Jinki without even noticing at first. Maybe those eyes that never failed to shape into slits with a smile were able to shoo those demons away, his soothing words? He couldn’t put a finger on it, but suddenly some nights he found himself shifting just a little bit closer towards that inexplicable warmth, he found himself opening up to that man that didn’t have the heart to kill a single fly.
Kibum found himself smiling at the discovery that Lee Jinki was rather clumsy and impossibly ridiculous with his lame jokes, and even though it alarmed him from time to time, the thin line between their working relationship and a small but steady friendship started to waver and crumble with each passing day.
He found himself screaming bloody murder one morning, papers flying in odd directions, as he stepped out of the elevator and greeted the sight of a dark figure hanging limply from the tall chandelier, feet crossed over the cable like a dead lock. Umm, Do I need to ask why are doing upside down, hanging from that chandelier?
He had been a little bit scared of turning on the light and electrocuting his boss to death, but weighting his options he figured a little skin burn wouldn’t harm the older one. He was dumbfounded in the bright light, watching the veins popping from that forehead glistening with sweat.
I’m trying to give myself an aneurysm. I think it’s working Kibum.
He kept his comments to himself, just rolling his eyes downwards as he proceeded to recollect the scattered papers that had flown from his hands. He found all of Jinki’s ideas quite stupid in all honesty, none giving him the experience he was seeking for.
Jinki wanted to get sick or get in an accident just to feel the pain, feel the comfort of loved ones taking care of someone like humans are so used of. The brunet had never experienced what love was like, what it was like to have a father to look up to and a mother to rely on. He never knew those things, and it was a little understandable he was seeking all those experiences before he turns human, wanting to prepare for the flood of unstable emotions.
Thirty minutes later, it was just impossible to concentrate on those documents he needed to transfer to his laptop when bids of sweat were sluggishly puddling in a soaked spot on the marble floor. It was crazy enough that he could even see the older one’s figure reflection on his laptop’s screen, looking like huge ass bat. Alright, I think you’re gonna be giving me an aneurysm if you stay there any longer Jink-I mean, Mr. Lee.
It’s okay you know. He had been so used to accidentally calling the older one by his name, so accustomed to correcting himself seconds later, Jinki smiling and keeping quiet, that the soft change made him halt and babble the first thing that popped in his head.
What? To stay up there hanging upside down? Yeah, I don’t think so,
No… I mean, it’s okay if you call me by my name. I think we’re past that point now.
But… you’re my boss and I’m your assistant. We can’t be friends. His eyes slowly meet the ones above, watching emotions flicker in those brown orbs. He didn’t know why his heart skipped a beat just then, mistaking it for the fear of his boss falling and crushing his skull. He fooled himself.
We can be both. And that was the turning point, where everything simply changed for both of them.
It felt strange to treat your boss like a friend, and even stranger that your boss joked with you like long time buddies, but surprisingly it all seemed to work out, it seemed like it was about time. They still kept the professionalism at work, never addressing each other informally in front of the employees, but on closed doors they were only Jinki and Kibum, a friend helping a friend. He would’ve thought Jinki would fire him for all those times he called the older one a disastrous human being under construction, but as Jinki once said, they were past the point of formalities.
But even though their relationship had progressed from the professional realm it had been stuck for so long, their journey towards humanism was far from close. They had lost two important weeks trying to find something viral enough to trigger Jinki’s immune system, but it seemed that the vampire was quite immune to any disease, making the job far more complicated than it should be.
And that quest had lead them to this very moment, in which Jinki found himself trying to remain composed while keeping his cool-even though he swore he saw something crawling between the chunky meat of that burrito Kibum had plastered in his hands. In those moments he regretted asking his assistant for his help, eyeing daggers at the younger one eagerly prompting him to take a bite. They were currently situated at some forgotten part of the city, were street vendors crowded the pavement and the crispy taste of reused oil seeped into your mouth inconspicuously.
Why of all places did they have to end up in the unhealthiest of them all, he wondered, taking the treat in his hands and watching the raunchy sauce dribbling all over his fingers. So that’s what bile taste like, he thought amusedly.
“Here goes nothing.” The repulsive sound of his teeth biting on it had him almost spitting the half chewed food on the table, but he decided to just get over it and swallow the horrible thing now rolling on his mouth.
“See? How hard was it?” Kibum cheered, making Jinki glare in return as he hurriedly washed the evil taste of raw meat from his tongue with water.
“World war two was a piece of cake compared to this. Seriously, this was pure hell. A greasy taste of hell.” Rolling his eyes, he passed his coke to the older one, the word cry baby hanging from his lips.
“I can’t believe you’ve never tasted Mexican food before.”
“I’ve never eaten food actually…” Despite the sound of laughter and food sizzling in oily grills, they detected the stiff silence that surrounded them. They could almost feel the daggers clawed in their skin from the people on the nearby tables, and you didn’t need to be a genious to know they had been eaves dropping on their conversation since the moment they stepped inside.
Jinki dismissed the hate with ease, obviously used to the treatment. It was new to Kibum though, the amount of hate radiating off of those people. Was it so impossible to picture a human and a vampire having a civilized conversation? It was no wonder how much the company struggled to find humans willing enough to work in there, making the task of filling the requirements established by the government a real pain in the butt.
He felt a pang of something in his chest just then, maybe guilt, when he saw his own actions mirrored in those people around them. He had been so scared about vampires in the past that he never actually thought about the pain he might have caused to them by flinching at their proximity or simply ignoring their existence all together.
Kibum smiled sadly, wanting to blame his family for imposing a fear that wasn’t necessary at such a young age. He didn’t wanna be that kind of person anymore, he hoped this experience would break all the barriers he had set in his heart to fully accept that other kind that really wasn’t how everyone else pictured it.
“What’s with the sad smile? Are you finally regretting feeding me with potentially poisonous food?”
Jinki was smiling at his way, with a hint of knowledge glinting in his eyes. The older one had this weird ability of knowing his every thought, and it irked him at some points. But right now, him understanding his thoughts was just what he needed. “Don’t be ridiculous. If I wanted to poison you I would’ve spiked your daily blood supply with some bourbon or vodka.”
Lifting an eyebrow, Jinki smirked at the reply. “Since when are you in such liberty to speak to your boss like that huh? Talking about poisoning the hand that pays you is a little bit reckless I think.”
“Oh, so we’re back to formalities now Mr. Lee? You want us to go back to our awkward human-vampire relationship?” He leaned forward, smiling evilly as he saw a little bit of defeat in the other one’s eyes. It never seized to amaze him how easily he was able to address the topic now, not even feeling the occasional stutter he used to suffer from when talking about said issues.
“Nah, it took me too long to get you to stop shivering whenever I walked closed by to go back there.” He snickered, snatching the borrowed beverage from the older one and taking a sip of what was left of his coke, ignoring the failed attempts of his boss to get it back.
As the conversation carried on, he found it was easier to ignore the whispers, to numb the daggers. He found it easier to shift his eyes from Jinki’s fangs to his eyes, lowering them later to land on his heart.
Part II
Pairing: Onew/Key
Lenght: 24000+ words
Genre: Romance, Supernatural, Drama
Rating: pg-13
Summary: And a simple bite can change everything. Jinki knows that, but his decision is set in stone. He'll give up everything for that one person. And everything, means everything.
Disclaimer: A three-shot for chunonew_rx (For the shinee_replay Replay4Japan fundraiser).
Warning: Vampire!AU the parts are already posted.
A/N: Hello everyone. This fic is entirely dedicated to chunonew_rx . I'm terribly sorry for all the troubles I might have caused her, having to rewrite the whole thing over and over again as my muse and plotting expertise simply SUCKS. Anyways, I hope you truly enjoy this, and if you have any objections please do say so as I still owe you another one-shot. Alright! enjoy and remember the links to the other parts are below.
He couldn’t help it.
He had tried several times to convince himself he didn’t give a flying fuck about his boss’s life outside work, and it was hard not to when said man looked so cryptic and unreadable every single day, 24/7. His eyes lowered hurriedly when he was caught in the act, hands nervously running over the massive pile of paper work he should be organizing at the moment instead of looking like a dumb fuck. Soon he feels a cool rush of air run through his hair, a crispy mint scent filling his nostrils, and he instantly knows who’s the one currently standing in front of his desk, shadowing him at eight am sharp.
“Good Morning Kibum.” As always, the voice is low and even, messing with his hearing range and making a shiver run so deliciously through his bones.
“Good Morning Mr. Lee.” Hurriedly he flashes a pair of crinkled eyes towards his boss, smiling brightly though gritted teeth in order to avoid looking at Mr. Lee’s penetrating dark eyes. Because he knows that once he places his attention on those chocolate dark pools he just looses himself and falls into an impeccable hole of dumbness, trying frankly not to show that stupid fear that never fails to claw over his chest. He’s been there, so its experience talking.
His efforts pay off though, as said man nods curtly in his direction and silently retrieves to his dark lair across the vast room. Sighing, he runs a hand through his soft locks, pondering exactly just how he managed to be stuck in this ridiculous situation for over the past two months.
When he applied for an assistant position at the Lee Corporations, he never expected his hundred percent French ability to be taken on full notice. Kibum still remembers how incredulous he had sounded over the phone when the hiring manager called him that early sunday, yes, Sunday.
He almost spilled his coffee all over his recently made waffles when that cheerful voice announced how he won the job he had applied for over thousands of applicants, albeit having no working experience whatsoever as he had recently finished his Finances degree. He wasn’t gonna lie, he thought at first that something fishy was going on when he walked into that ridiculously large reception the next day, eyeing the hiring manager warily while said man explained what exactly his job was gonna be from then on.
He had looked like a fool that day, gaping like a fish and eyes widening entirely as he was so much as pushed into the last floor of the building, having almost thirty floors under him and the entire corporation beneath his bare feet. He stepped into the executive VIP area, thinking vastly in his mind that there must’ve been something wrong with that man, hiring a freshly graduated twenty three year old to work for the CEO as his personal assistant. The pay they offered was good, extremely good, and debating with his lack of experience and the amount of work he was gonna be doing from then on, he accepted the job right away, tossing away all the consequences swimming in his muddled mind.
And now he was left huffing to himself two months later, wanting to shove his head in the nearest trash can just to dump all the crap that has built up inside his head, all thoughts revolving around his particular boss. Lee Jinki was far from cryptic, just moving under the sunlight like a tight ball of mystique and something unknown.
To anyone else, the successful twenty six year old was what could be called the perfect boss, never rising his voice to his employees, showing concern towards anyone working on extra hours, and most likely he was just perfection incarnated with his devastatingly gorgeous looks, all eyes and pouty lips. But Kibum wasn’t gonna fall for those things, he might have for the first few days he started working at the Lee Corporation, and he’d probably still be biased by his strikingly charming boss if it wasn’t for the fact that--
Kibum, would you be so kind to bring me my mail? Thanks. He jolted slightly, paperwork fluttering around as the intercom at his right buzzed to life. He took a short look towards the big wooden doors at the far end of the room, feeling his desk suddenly small in that ridiculously extended floor.
Right away sir. He replied, cradling all the packages left forgotten under his desk while making his way across the room. He didn’t need to knock by now, kicking the heavy door with his foot as he stumbled his way into the grand office. Kibum tried not to look at the way the older one was casually leaning against his chair, hair unruffled and cheeks slightly puffed out as he scanned his emails with boredom. He plopped the correspondence in the neatly polished desk, bowing politely and taking his leave without a second glance.
And he didn’t need to take a second glance, as he knew what his boss’s next move was gonna be. Kibum already knew that after reading all his emails, Lee Jinki was gonna go through his physical mail, clicking his tongue at the unimportant correspondence while sorting the mildly important things to the left side of his desk. And then, as he would be finally done with the tedious task, his eyes would land ultimately on that medium sized package that had been hidden under the pile of paper.
Kibum quietly closed the door behind him, suddenly aware of how much noise his shoes made as they glided through the marbled floor. The noise was loud, and he wanted to be distracted, but it was useless, his mind was simply focused on the set of events that never failed to happen in that office every single morning. Biting his lips, he starts typing away in his computer, trying to be subtle and not squeak when the sound of paper being tore up starts creeping from the wall.
He knows he has to keep quiet and do his job, he just has to, because his boss wouldn’t want him walking in and disturbing his much needed… breakfast. He shuddered at the thought, his heart hammering in his chest with each word he typed. So he goes on with his morning work, ignoring the fact that a certain CEO has finally unwrapped his precious package, eyes glistening with hunger as a thick tongue runs over equally thick lips, nimble fingers sneaking into the box, pulling out what he has been waiting for for almost a day.
And he wastes no time, almost ripping the lid off and circling with his warm lips the blood pack’s opening. His eyes roll to the top, a guttural groan chocking in his throat as the fluid sluggishly slides past his throat and into his awaiting stomach. And Jinki knows his making a mess of himself, feeling like an animal as some of his food manages to slip past the tight passage of his lips just to dribble off his chin and slide down his neck.
“Fuck…” He whispers hoarsely, sucking the last amount of blood from the now empty packet. He feels the new pulse, his vital force revived, and a smirk breaks on his lips, blood red lips glistening as he spots his now soiled white shirt through the reflection of his glass wall. Slowly, his hand wipes his dirty mouth, tongue licking what’s left of his threat. It all takes a second, and soon he finds himself fetching for another pack of blood from the box, pleasure consuming him as his eyes once again flutter while sucking the warm blood all the way down.
Kibum really tried to focus on his work, having to type the same letter over and over again while hoping the client won’t be too pissed off for having it sent so late. But he just can’t help it, and who would actually… What employee in his right mind would be calm and going about while knowing his boss is calmly sucking the blood of who knows who from a blood pack in their office! Because yes, Kibum had found two weeks after getting employed by the Lee Corporation the reason why the hiring manager of the Corporation chose him over thousands of other qualified applicants to work for them-as the assistant of the CEO nevertheless.
Who would’ve known that the government demanded from every corporation that hired vampires to have at least twenty percent of permanent human employees in their working payroll…
He had concluded up until now that he must be the stupidest person on the planet at the moment, agreeing to work on a Corporation where all the employees were half blooded vampires and the CEO was a pure blooded one, coming from an ancient line of royal vampires and whatsoever.
And what was he still doing here?--Probably mastering the art of being the potential snack willingly waiting to ripe up enough to serve as a good appetizer at some mindless business meeting. Fuck.
Welcome to the Lee Corporations Mr. Kim!
We’re glad to have you joining us. You might be intimidated and feel out of place some times, but don’t worry… we don’t bite much.
That should’ve been his first clue.
----------------------------
“Have you noticed something odd about Mr. Lee lately?”
“Odd?”
“Yeah, I mean, aside from the fact that he’s a full blooded vampire prince and all, there’s something weird going on with him lately.”
He didn’t like the uninterested shrug he received from the male across the table, tempted to throw him half his lunch in response to such lousy reply. Kibum knows he should probably follow Jonghyun’s attitude and mind his own business, but his stupid curiosity was what helped him find out the secret about the Corporation currently dominating the country and the entire continent, so he kinda owed his curiosity that much.
It was that hunch and that constant voice in the back of his head that led him into the underground storage rooms about a week after being hired as the CEO’s assistant. He had been just so damn curious about those packages that everyone seemed to receive every Monday morning aside from his boss that received them daily, almost every employee happily accepting the neatly wrapped boxed while excusing themselves minutes later towards the bathroom, receiving just nervous stares from the neglected employees left to care for their own business, like himself.
What he found in there still makes him shudder involuntarily, even though it’s been two months already. He truly had expected drugs, cocaine or marihuana, a fucking forest of those to be honest, but the thought of finding the biggest blood bank he could’ve possibly imagine greeted him sixteen feet underground, having sneaked viciously through security at a lunch break.
He kept the secret though, thinking naively that maybe employees were forced to deliver those blood packets to some clandestine organization that worked under the water, or maybe the corporation was extremely into helping the red cross, who knew. But two days later he found himself stumbling into one of those bathrooms that people always scurried into after receiving their Monday delivery.
He still remembers how innocently those co workers had stared at him as they lounged comfortably in the room, sipping noisily the sweet pack between their hands… some even twirling the freaking straw with their fingers while smiling amusingly in return of Kibum's stare. Those definitely weren't bathrooms.
It was all a blur after that, he must’ve had a stroke or an aneurism… or both probably, but the next thing he knew he was laying face first in the employees’ free clinic, screaming himself awake with that pillow already halfway down his throat. Kim Jonghyun was in charge of human resources, so it was his rightful duty to inform him and talk him through the shock--finally informing him he was one of the fortunate employees that didn’t require blood in their food chain. The brunet kindly explained how the company was required to hire a certain amount of human employees as to discard racial favoritism-as if someone would actually object to any of that.
He had known since the day he was born that vampires existed, that they had been roaming around earth since the dark ages, but it had been a very clandestine race back then, some even thinking it was extinct. Throughout the years he encountered several half blooded vampires, having gone to a school that allowed both species to get along and mingle, but he just never gave it a second thought, always staying as far away as possible from those sharp pointed toothed kids.
Some would call it fear… he calls it fear too, but when your family tell stories about how vampires love to make their pray suffer before sucking the light out of their eyes, he’d rather have the word coward tattoed on his back than having his blood so much as sucked out of its respective places.
You think we kill people and drink their blood!? What are you! Three?? Jonghyun sucked as a human resources’ administrator, almost losing his patience with all the naïve questions that surged throughout the introduction. Kibum was a little interested to say the least on how this company managed to keep so malevolently hidden from society, fooling humans as to believe that all their employees were pretty much… humans.
Even though the older one was slightly offended by the question, it was his duty to respond, and with gritted teeth he explained the air head how only full blooded vampires were allowed to kill humans, and half blooded ones could only drink blood by purchasing it from a blood bank or killing an animal-animal blood taste like foot… infected foot. Lee’s Corporation was one of the few companies in the world to have their own blood bank especially for their employees.
It’s quite the privilege to work in this company you know? Half blooded vampires like me are seen like filth not only by humans but by full blooded vampires as well… It’s nice to know that even a company that’s run by royalty cares about us underdogs. And with a cheeky grin and a rather awkward handshake, the introduction was over, not before having a small tour through those rooms he once thought were bathroom facilities. You wouldn’t expect us to just suck our breakfast in front of you humans right? Geez… have some sense man.
He doesn’t know how or why, having all his life been frightened by vampires thanks to his lovely vampirefobic family, but somehow a friendship was formed between him and that half blooded vampire. They were surprisingly alike, enjoying the same food, the same music, even both thinking that the Twilight series was a serious scam. It made him a little less stressed, but always cautious, always trying to avoid troubles that involved people from another species.
There were several things that he had been told about vampires that were outrageously wrong though, and that made his stay in the Lee Company easier. Half blooded vampires weren’t allow to kill people, and not because it was some forbidden law that could be broken by some savage renegade of society like he thought at first-It gives us gastritis.. Damn that stupid plasma and its proteins! Jonghyun proclaimed one evening. They could eat food normally, but blood had to be drunk at least once a week due to some metabolic need, and that was provided graciously by the free blood bank at the company.
The whole sun is a vampire’s worst enemy was the most ridiculous one too. Kibum felt like laughing when he remembers how much Jonghyun had whined about the hideous sunburns he acquired on his weekend escapade to the Bahamas. The older one somehow got carried away while napping on his back on the soft white sand that once it was night time he was all roasted up from head to toe.
The list gets longer though, and he knows it would probably make any vampire laugh at the sheer impossibilities people say and think about them, but he had decided long ago that it was somehow fun to discover how all those stupid tales his family told him about those sharp pointed toothed kids were just stories full of--
“Crap. Seriously, this food tastes like crap! Look at this!!” Rolling his eyes, he stares boringly as his friend waves a piece of soggy bread in his face, looking appalled as it falls expertly in his now bready bean soup. It looked like a pretty typical Monday, the cafeteria busting with life and the loud clank of metal utensils rolling in the air. He’s too into his thoughts trying to tune out Jjong’s horrible puppy whines that he fails to notice that all room’s actions halt at once and silence follows.
It’s not until Jonghyun whispers some incoherent babble that he realizes that a certain man has just walked into the room and glides graciously towards the fruit island at the buffet area, all eyes clawed on his back as Lee Jinki casually picks enough fruit to feed an entire village. He can’t help but gape in disbelief as the yearly fruit supply is placed carefully on one heavy looking platter while employees open a path for him to strut towards the perplexed cashier now fumbling with the cash received. To call it a rare event in the history of the Corporation would be a big subestimation, as it would imply that said event has happened more than once. So it’s an event that cannot be named, too grand to even allow a simple adjective to describe it.
Cause it’s not just anyone that it’s now walking back to the elevator with his food neatly wrapped in aluminum foil: not the general manager, not the vice president, and certainly not the president-fuck, who cares about the president? When it’s Lee fucking Jinki walking around like some resurrected Greek god in the still frozen cafeteria.
Only the soft sound of the elevator doors closing manages to pull everyone from their initial shock, all food now soggy and cold gone to waste, and as people slowly start to come back to reality, a reality in which their very very beloved CEO had just walked down from his almighty VIP floor to the mundane fifth floor cafeteria to buy Korea’s entire fruit reserve, Kibum can only reinforce his idea that yes! There is something really wrong with Mr. Lee.
“Okay, now please tell me you understand what I mean when I say Mr. Lee is acting odd.”
“Y-yeah… he’s acting pretty weird, I get that now. Did you see the way he wrinkled his nose in disgust at the sight of watermelons? Pretty creepy right?”
Grumbling, he proceeded to poke his already inedible lunch, rolling his eyes at his friend stupid obliviousness. He knew something was going on in that CEO’s head, and even though it really wasn’t he’s place, and he didn’t-really, he didn’t- care, he was bound to find out what was going on.
------------------
“Kibum, I want to get sick.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to mm, how do you call it? Catch a cold? A stomachache?”
Master plans have their ups and downs, not always being the perfection you always portray in your mind-Kibum knew that. After the unusual incident at the cafeteria, things became a little tense around the company. All employees have been cautious ever since, fearing that their boss’s strange behavior was some kind of sign sent from heaven, a notorious message that soon there was gonna be a cut around the corporation, as stupid as it might sound, and that heads were about to roll.
He was smarter than that though, simply sighing in exasperation at the outrageous gossips that had been floating around. Sure, Mr. Lee had picked up quite the habit of going down the employees’ cafeteria from then on, strangely enough he had taken a liking on fresh tangerines, and sure you can call it extremely out of character of him to waltz around departments whilst asking what are some good Sunday movies to watch. But wasn’t it too early to jump into conclusions? People were starting to think the poor man had gone mad.
And that led him back to his master plan, which had been a disaster from day one, but still a plan no doubt. He had subtly started getting closer to the older male, asking him on regular basis if he needed another glass of water, would you want me to get you more tangerines? He’d ask while staring at the empty bowl the CEO had deliberately placed on his desk, and even though said male would kindly smile while dismissing the favors fervently proposed, he was by now a hundred percent sure that there was something extremely wrong going on, getting closer and closer to the truth.
At first it were only tangerines, and there was nothing wrong with liking tangerines actually-the taste being quite enjoyable-but then came the hopelessly romantic choice of music that made you want to cut your veins just to stop the agony from progressing any further. Like a good assistant, he’d stay quiet throughout those long torturous hours in which he had to send at least twenty shipping orders with Diane Ross and Lionel Richie singing about their stupid endless love in the background.
Days went by, and things just started spiraling into the mere pits of hell. Jonghyun was as oblivious to all this as a piece of useless wood, and even though everyone suspected there was something fishy going on with their boss, the main idea circling those thickheaded workers was the idea of a cut soon being made. With frustration heaving over his shoulders, Kibum decided to keep quiet and not comment his notorious findings with anyone else, intent on finding the truth by himself.
He managed to survive the weird fruit cravings-that soon turned into soggy vegetables and tofu-and the horrible choice of cheap 80s love songs, but the moment he found his boss staring at his reflection in his ridiculously grand bathroom, freezing him exactly at the entrance as those contracts to be signed were left forgotten in his hands, that was just rock bottom. He found it hard to breathe, from fear or from horror, who knows, as the older one simply stared at his own reflection, touching his fangs mindlessly as if testing their sharpness with the soft flesh of his fingertips.
Do they look scary to you? The nonchalant tone in which that question was made pulled him out of his horrorized stupor, five minutes slowly passing by before he was able to response with a jerky shook. The smile that followed his clumsy answer, so bright and stunning, had him gaping in awe though. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, and somehow those sharp deadly fangs that were supposed to scare any human that stood close enough, in that moment they looked… charming.
I would’ve believed you if you hadn’t taken five minutes to answer Kibum. Come in, let me take a look at those contracts you have there.
That smile had been haunting him ever since, making it hard to concentrate on his job as whenever he let his mind slip just a little it would immediately wander to the deepest corners of his brain, just to pull out the memory of that perfect smile he had hastily locked down in some drawer of his subconscious.
Without his consent, he became more attentive towards his boss’s every move, feeling somehow embarrassed by his own behavior at some point. Why was he obsessing so much about his personal life anyways? Who cares if he looks like he suffered from the worst hangover every Monday? He certainly shouldn’t mind if that man started taking a liking to fruit even though being royalty gave him the privilege of feeding solely on blood.
But he saw sadness in his smile that day; he saw some kind of longingness that moment he saw Jinki staring at his own reflection in his bathroom. Like he didn’t like what he saw or like he was missing something he still hadn’t lost. And that alone made him want to keep up his subtle spy job, because maybe that man needed help, maybe he was suffering all by himself with no one to care. Who knew? It didn’t hurt to find out.
He couldn’t back out of his words though, he couldn’t promise himself he’d try harder to find his boss’s secret and want to drop everything to hell the next day. Cause that’s exactly what he wanted to do the moment he found his CEO with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist at six thirty that Monday morning. He wanted to screw it all and become as oblivious as his stupid friend at human resources, cause Lee Jinki sitting in the middle of his office with the air conditioner on full mode, skin as translucent and milky as the softest silk and muscles left exposed for the world to ogle and idolize on, meant t.r.o.u.b.l.e.
“Mr. Lee… Are you okay? Have you been drinking? Don’t worry, I’ll hurry to the cafeteria and get you-,” He was just about to burst through the doors and out to the elevators when the male once sitting comfortably in the carpeted ground suddenly stood up, towel riding up to expose a pair of deliciously toned thighs. Kibum found the ceiling quite interesting in that moment.
“No! I’m fine, I don’t drink-I can’t drink, I’m a vampire remember? Alcohol equals poison for us, but wine is fin-Anyways, I-I need to get sick, like in getting a disease kind of sick? I figured that if I want to know how to be able to take care of someone when they fall sick, I need to know what being sick feels like…”
“I need help Kibum… please.”
Kibum stared mutely at the man before him, not believing that the almighty Lee Jinki that has featured in more Forbes issues than any other successful entrepreneur was now standing just a few meters away from him, with a towel hanging loosely from his hips and a soft and surprisingly cute blush adorning his cheeks. He found this image rather endearing.
But he wanted to run, he wasn’t gonna lie. He didn’t want to get to involve in this mess that was now lying before him. He was still scared of vampires, Jonghyun being a huge dumb exception, and getting involved with a full blooded one, royalty nevertheless, was just crossing the line.
He was still terribly terrified by all those stories his family used to tell him like bedtime stories, about vampires sucking the blood out of young infants just for pleasure. He remembers those horrible nightmares he used to have, in which he was cornered by a horde of nasty blood lusting vampires, all smiling at him with their sharp teeth sparkling in the dark. And soon those fangs would curl monstrously into some twisted snarl and it’d all be over with the sickening sound of teeth digging into flesh.
Shuddering, he started making his resolve of turning around and not giving a fuck, but in a blink he found that sadness in those eyes again, that helplessness he once saw like a spark weeks ago. He felt his shy shell breaking piece by piece, the shards crushing and rolling beneath his feet as he walked backwards towards the door.
Once his back was against the solid door and his hands were gripping the handle with enough strength to break it, Lee Jinki caught his intention in a heartbeat. The older one knew about his fear towards his kind, it had been deadly stipulated on his first days working as his assistant, with the shaky hands and the uncomfortable shiver whenever said male was close to contact, but that man had a patience so vast and so deep that it was truly admirable at some extent how he had been able to endure his obvious displeasure while working for him.
It must’ve taken a lot of courage from that vampire prince to ask for help-help from a human being, the ones he seeks for nurture. Or maybe he’s just too desperate, he couldn’t tell.
Noticing the deflated expression landing on that face at the sight of his intentions, Kibum took a deep breath and finally followed his resolve; closing his eyes and missing the look of amusement that pushed pass the sadness and settled in its place. The soft click of the lock resounded around the room, his trembling hands reaching blindly behind to make sure he locked the door correctly.
It wasn’t like some mindless employee was gonna burst at any moment, as it was still too early and he cursed his morning habits at that, but he had to take precautions-a rumor about a CEO and his assistant getting it on at some ungodly hours in the morning was never good.
Silence followed his actions, as he was left staring mutedly at the older male now fidgeting with the hem of the towel protecting his integrity. For the first time in his life, Kibum was simply lost for words, leaning against the door while the clock ticked off against the wall signaling the minutes that dragged by. Soon he found himself remembering the older one’s confusing explanation, the screws in his brain twisting and twisting until realization dawned in his mind and the disbelieving words poured out of his lips before he could stop them.
“You’re sitting in the dark semi-naked with the AC on full mode, waiting to get sick just to know what it feels like? Are you crazy!?” He gasped in shock seconds later at his outburst, biting his lower lip and just waiting for hell to open up a pit and suck him in, cause he just yelled at his boss, and not only yelled, he had subtly pointed out his lack of intelligence. Great, he was gonna get his ass fired, goodbye generous paycheck.
Jinki couldn’t help but stare in awe at the ray of emotions that displayed in his assistant’s face, horror and shock to hopeless despair. It was the first time he had seen him so open, so emotionally free despite having been working for him for about 4 months.
Jinki smiled, laughing a little to himself. “I guess I’m crazy, cause this AC feels like summer breeze to me, and I’ve been here all night.”
All night!? Again, Kibum’s brain filter wasn’t working correctly, but thank god the one in his mouth was cause all he did was shook his head in disbelief while making his way to the controller left forgotten at the desk. “The air conditioner isn’t working on you because your skin has the ability to endure extreme weathers. You could probably parade around the north pole butt naked and still feel like its summer.”
Ignoring the chuckle that left his boss’s lips, he proceeded to turn the device off, shuddering now and then at the cold chills seeping through the thick material of his suit. He figured it was an assistant’s job to aid their boss in their every need, and with that thought and a soft blush over his cheeks, he quietly picked the discarded clothes at the couch. With a quiet thanks, Jinki grabbed his shirt and dress pants whilst ignoring the trembling hands that handed said items, turning around and leaving the younger one to his thoughts.
Kibum watched as his boss disappeared into the bathroom, dragging a stifled breath out as he cautiously took a seat, hissing at the coldness of the leather against the fabric of his pants. He had talked disrespectfully to his boss, twice in the course of fifteen minutes… he was never gonna hear the end of it from Jonghyun, and that was if he ever told the brunet about this weird ass conversation-god knows that man could be the worst gossiper ever.
All the while the older male was changing in the bathroom, Kibum tried to make sense as to why Mr. Lee wanted to get sick so badly, going through the extreme of staying all night with only a towel to cover the nakedness and the air conditioner at its full capacity. As far as his inaccurate knowledge of vampirism goes vampires, let it be half blooded or pure, are pretty much immune to diseases.
Jonghyun once said that half blooded vampires couldn’t drink blood straight out from a human’s body because of the plasma and the serum proteins and even though they had the ability of getting sick, their recovery system was so fast that the disease wasn’t able to create enough effect in the body to be called as such.
But that principle obviously didn’t apply to pure vampires, so what? Mr. Lee was suddenly invincible? Immortal, sure, but invincible? That seemed too unlikely.
He was pulled out of his crumpled thoughts by the sound of footsteps thumping against the carpet, and his eyes landed swiftly on the man now dressed in his crispy black suit, tie hanging loose over his broad shoulders. “I guess the cold induced by an air conditioner thing was a really bad idea?”
He wanted to scowl and say It really was a really bad AND stupid idea but he kept quiet, fidgeting with the seam of his suit. Jinki took in his assistant’s sudden shyness, wondering how a person was able to shift between moods so graciously, but decided he’d spare the younger one the troubles, walking slowly towards the other side of the couch and taking a seat. Kibum subtly moved closer to the edge, not knowing what to expect from the older one, and he really didn’t know what Mr. Lee wanted him for, he asked for help but it could’ve been just a reflex or a thought fluttering to the surface without his consent.
“I know you might be thinking if I really meant what I said, about asking for your help,” Kibum’s eyes slowly traveled to the other side of the sofa, staring mutely at his boss from the other end, “And I really meant it, I need your help. It sounds weird to be asking aid from someone I barely know, and you must find it extremely strange to have your boss asking such impromptus requests, but… I really have no one else to ask… you’re the only human I know here.”
“So, you need a human then?” The word rolled from his tongue a little bit too rough for his liking.
“I-I need a human to teach how to be human.”
Finally that question that had been bubbling in his mind burst from his mouth, unable to stop it. “Why?”
Jinki’s eyes suddenly lowered their gaze towards the floor, eye lashes brushing delicately over milky white skin. Was it vulnerability he was witnessing? He was about to say sorry for his intrusion in the other’s personal business when a pair of brown eyes clawed their attention in his own, shutting his train of thoughts and his coherency all together. He saw fire blazing in those orbs, brown toasting in the flames that danced in said eyes.
“I’m giving up immortality in three month. I need to learn how to be human cause I’m gonna be one in ninety days.”
And everything shifted and changed forever.
---------
“Oh god… I’m really gonna get sick now.”
“That’s what you want though, right?”
“Yeah, but I want a simple disease, like the flu or something, not a full bacterial infection rotting in my intestines…”
“Quit being such a baby and just eat the damn burrito.”
There are different types of people in the world: the good guys, and the bad ones. The good guys usually appeal to everyone, with their good looking features, their sense of style and their personality that seems to match with everyone else’s. Those good guys always get friends, everything seems to revolve around them and luck is always stuck to the sole of their shoes like gum. Lee Jinki was not a good guy, at least for the world he wasn’t.
Kibum had learnt over the course of two weeks that the world he had been living in from day one just wasn’t the world he once had pictured. People were too quick to judge, already anticipating an outcome that was far from the truth. The moment he stepped into that supermarket a few days ago with a mute vampire trailing on his back, he just knew what that women by the cereals section was thinking, he could almost read the hideous thoughts molting on that butcher’s head, and he didn’t need to spare a glance at that cashier that had stiffly attended the silence couple.
Vampires and humans simply didn’t mingle, they didn’t match and they weren’t meant to stick around long enough to bond and become best friends. The moment he took over his fears and decided to help out his boss in his search to becoming human from the inside out, he had been a little reluctant about the whole process, not knowing how he was gonna be able to overcome his terrors and embrace the idea of helping someone that shared the same blood as those monsters that once haunted the dreams of his childhood.
Jinki was aware of how terrified and uncomfortable he was with his own race, always staying a foot away in fear of causing some discomfort, always smiling and thanking him for his obvious efforts whenever they stayed up late in the office just talking-mostly on Kibum’s part, just sharing anecdotes about life that might help the desperate man in his journey.
It was in those nights that Kibum learnt a little bit more about his boss, how he lost his mother some centuries ago when the Roman Empire was at its glory. How his father was nowhere to be found since world war two, and how he emigrated to Korea just forty years ago in sake of getting a new start.
Romans? Wha- How old are you anyways?
.... I could be your ancestor’s best friend. Let’s leave it at that.
Like a river, Jinki started seeping in. So slowly that it left no sound, he started sinking in his veins, mixing with his thoughts, and as soft and delicate as a butterfly’s flight, he poised his heart on his lap.
His fears were slowly ebbed away with thrust in a heartbeat. He found himself trusting Jinki without even noticing at first. Maybe those eyes that never failed to shape into slits with a smile were able to shoo those demons away, his soothing words? He couldn’t put a finger on it, but suddenly some nights he found himself shifting just a little bit closer towards that inexplicable warmth, he found himself opening up to that man that didn’t have the heart to kill a single fly.
Kibum found himself smiling at the discovery that Lee Jinki was rather clumsy and impossibly ridiculous with his lame jokes, and even though it alarmed him from time to time, the thin line between their working relationship and a small but steady friendship started to waver and crumble with each passing day.
He found himself screaming bloody murder one morning, papers flying in odd directions, as he stepped out of the elevator and greeted the sight of a dark figure hanging limply from the tall chandelier, feet crossed over the cable like a dead lock. Umm, Do I need to ask why are doing upside down, hanging from that chandelier?
He had been a little bit scared of turning on the light and electrocuting his boss to death, but weighting his options he figured a little skin burn wouldn’t harm the older one. He was dumbfounded in the bright light, watching the veins popping from that forehead glistening with sweat.
I’m trying to give myself an aneurysm. I think it’s working Kibum.
He kept his comments to himself, just rolling his eyes downwards as he proceeded to recollect the scattered papers that had flown from his hands. He found all of Jinki’s ideas quite stupid in all honesty, none giving him the experience he was seeking for.
Jinki wanted to get sick or get in an accident just to feel the pain, feel the comfort of loved ones taking care of someone like humans are so used of. The brunet had never experienced what love was like, what it was like to have a father to look up to and a mother to rely on. He never knew those things, and it was a little understandable he was seeking all those experiences before he turns human, wanting to prepare for the flood of unstable emotions.
Thirty minutes later, it was just impossible to concentrate on those documents he needed to transfer to his laptop when bids of sweat were sluggishly puddling in a soaked spot on the marble floor. It was crazy enough that he could even see the older one’s figure reflection on his laptop’s screen, looking like huge ass bat. Alright, I think you’re gonna be giving me an aneurysm if you stay there any longer Jink-I mean, Mr. Lee.
It’s okay you know. He had been so used to accidentally calling the older one by his name, so accustomed to correcting himself seconds later, Jinki smiling and keeping quiet, that the soft change made him halt and babble the first thing that popped in his head.
What? To stay up there hanging upside down? Yeah, I don’t think so,
No… I mean, it’s okay if you call me by my name. I think we’re past that point now.
But… you’re my boss and I’m your assistant. We can’t be friends. His eyes slowly meet the ones above, watching emotions flicker in those brown orbs. He didn’t know why his heart skipped a beat just then, mistaking it for the fear of his boss falling and crushing his skull. He fooled himself.
We can be both. And that was the turning point, where everything simply changed for both of them.
It felt strange to treat your boss like a friend, and even stranger that your boss joked with you like long time buddies, but surprisingly it all seemed to work out, it seemed like it was about time. They still kept the professionalism at work, never addressing each other informally in front of the employees, but on closed doors they were only Jinki and Kibum, a friend helping a friend. He would’ve thought Jinki would fire him for all those times he called the older one a disastrous human being under construction, but as Jinki once said, they were past the point of formalities.
But even though their relationship had progressed from the professional realm it had been stuck for so long, their journey towards humanism was far from close. They had lost two important weeks trying to find something viral enough to trigger Jinki’s immune system, but it seemed that the vampire was quite immune to any disease, making the job far more complicated than it should be.
And that quest had lead them to this very moment, in which Jinki found himself trying to remain composed while keeping his cool-even though he swore he saw something crawling between the chunky meat of that burrito Kibum had plastered in his hands. In those moments he regretted asking his assistant for his help, eyeing daggers at the younger one eagerly prompting him to take a bite. They were currently situated at some forgotten part of the city, were street vendors crowded the pavement and the crispy taste of reused oil seeped into your mouth inconspicuously.
Why of all places did they have to end up in the unhealthiest of them all, he wondered, taking the treat in his hands and watching the raunchy sauce dribbling all over his fingers. So that’s what bile taste like, he thought amusedly.
“Here goes nothing.” The repulsive sound of his teeth biting on it had him almost spitting the half chewed food on the table, but he decided to just get over it and swallow the horrible thing now rolling on his mouth.
“See? How hard was it?” Kibum cheered, making Jinki glare in return as he hurriedly washed the evil taste of raw meat from his tongue with water.
“World war two was a piece of cake compared to this. Seriously, this was pure hell. A greasy taste of hell.” Rolling his eyes, he passed his coke to the older one, the word cry baby hanging from his lips.
“I can’t believe you’ve never tasted Mexican food before.”
“I’ve never eaten food actually…” Despite the sound of laughter and food sizzling in oily grills, they detected the stiff silence that surrounded them. They could almost feel the daggers clawed in their skin from the people on the nearby tables, and you didn’t need to be a genious to know they had been eaves dropping on their conversation since the moment they stepped inside.
Jinki dismissed the hate with ease, obviously used to the treatment. It was new to Kibum though, the amount of hate radiating off of those people. Was it so impossible to picture a human and a vampire having a civilized conversation? It was no wonder how much the company struggled to find humans willing enough to work in there, making the task of filling the requirements established by the government a real pain in the butt.
He felt a pang of something in his chest just then, maybe guilt, when he saw his own actions mirrored in those people around them. He had been so scared about vampires in the past that he never actually thought about the pain he might have caused to them by flinching at their proximity or simply ignoring their existence all together.
Kibum smiled sadly, wanting to blame his family for imposing a fear that wasn’t necessary at such a young age. He didn’t wanna be that kind of person anymore, he hoped this experience would break all the barriers he had set in his heart to fully accept that other kind that really wasn’t how everyone else pictured it.
“What’s with the sad smile? Are you finally regretting feeding me with potentially poisonous food?”
Jinki was smiling at his way, with a hint of knowledge glinting in his eyes. The older one had this weird ability of knowing his every thought, and it irked him at some points. But right now, him understanding his thoughts was just what he needed. “Don’t be ridiculous. If I wanted to poison you I would’ve spiked your daily blood supply with some bourbon or vodka.”
Lifting an eyebrow, Jinki smirked at the reply. “Since when are you in such liberty to speak to your boss like that huh? Talking about poisoning the hand that pays you is a little bit reckless I think.”
“Oh, so we’re back to formalities now Mr. Lee? You want us to go back to our awkward human-vampire relationship?” He leaned forward, smiling evilly as he saw a little bit of defeat in the other one’s eyes. It never seized to amaze him how easily he was able to address the topic now, not even feeling the occasional stutter he used to suffer from when talking about said issues.
“Nah, it took me too long to get you to stop shivering whenever I walked closed by to go back there.” He snickered, snatching the borrowed beverage from the older one and taking a sip of what was left of his coke, ignoring the failed attempts of his boss to get it back.
As the conversation carried on, he found it was easier to ignore the whispers, to numb the daggers. He found it easier to shift his eyes from Jinki’s fangs to his eyes, lowering them later to land on his heart.
Part II