How to Become a Vampire (1: Sehun)
Oh Sehun longs for a life in darkness, and his best shot might be becoming friends with the strange and mysterious Kim Jongin. (School/Vampire AU)
Notes
So, I have suffered horrible writer's block for quite some time and here's my attempt at jumping back in. I'm not sure how far this will go if it goes at all. Er.. honest opinions will be greatly appreciated.
- I don't edit much, since this is just extremely casual practice writing. I'm sorry if grammar and spelling mistakes bug any of you.
- I'm not trying to be culturally accurate within this story. I'm from the US, and you'll probably see limited references toward Korean culture in general. Still, if you feel like enlightening me with your own knowledge, feel free to make "corrections" and maybe I'll consider things like that in future stories.
- This story could become an 'M' rated story. It could also remain incomplete. I make no guarantees.
- This story was greatly inspired by conversations and past roleplays with my friend Kie (my Sehun muse~). I was motivated to write by my good friend Leftoh. I'm thankful very much to each of them as usual!
- This story is in no way meant to represent actual people, nor my opinion of actual people. It has only taken inspiration from them.
The Day I Really Wanted Kimbap
Oh Sehun was in a decent school. He had a resemblance of something he'd call friends and a gang of girls that were easy to flirt with, even if they weren't his exact type. His marks were fine and his teachers were improving them still.
Even so, Sehun disliked this school quite a lot. Like many his age, just 15, he felt he didn't fit in. A stuffy uniform with baby blue accents and a fluorescent lit classroom symbolized everything he wasn't. He liked to get lost in daydreams of another world, one he was aware most certainly existed, one that was dangerous and dark and much more suitable for a man like himself.
While his friends were talking about the most popular girl, her long curling hair and blushing cheeks - Sehun imagined an older woman, tight black pants and glaring eyes. A woman he could sink his teeth into after a vicious fight for dominance, that's what Sehun wanted. Something like that, anyway.. maybe.
Whatever it was that he wanted, he couldn't find it in that school. He was much closer to it, he thought, on his long walks home through unkept streets and shadowy buildings, routes that he didn't need to take but he just felt drawn to. It felt so cool, walking past chipping paint and pausing at this sound and that sound, waiting for someone or something to give him the action he craved.
He made older friends - cooler friends outside of school. They seemed to keep secrets from him and that would piss him off, but he picked up on enough to know they had what he wanted. Bandages and bruises, vague comments about things they did or are going to do for 'those people who don't come out during the day'. These guys played with vampires, Sehun knew - because Sehun knew that vampires were real. He also knew that he was going to be one someday. He had to be.
Sehun told these friends that he knew, and they never denied it. They just said, "Get home before the sunsets then."
Sehun liked to sit outside of his house after sunset and wait for a pale faced, fanged stranger to come try and suck his blood. For a while, anyway. At 15, he was growing out of futile hopes like that. If you want to get the attention of a vampire, it takes a bit more.
"Sehun - Kim Jongin is in your school, isn't he?"
One of his cool friends asked him that once. Kim Jongin was in the same school as Oh Sehun, but Oh Sehun had never paid that much attention to him before.
Kim Jongin almost never talked, except for when he had to speak to teachers. He had absolutely no friends, and there were a plethora of weird rumors. Enough to catch Sehun's attention, but not to keep it.
"Yeah, he goes to my school."
"Huh.. interesting."
Sehun's friend wouldn't tell him what was so interesting about that, so Sehun was going to find out himself.
"Hi," Sehun greeted Jongin one day during lunch.
Kim Jongin hadn't been easy to find - he was sitting in a classroom alone by the window and even his chewing was quiet.
Jongin had perfect posture. He looked up at Sehun and continued to chew a mouthful. Chopsticks were positioned in his hand over a lunchbox full of kimbap. He didn't appear overly interested in Sehun. Just dully curious.
Well, since Jongin was too busy chewing to invite Sehun to sit, Sehun invited himself - dragging a chair closer to Jongin's desk. "My name's Sehun."
Jongin swallowed and turned his eyes to his food, but pretended to still be quietly chewing. It was obvious he didn't want to talk. Sehun wasn't interested in what Jongin wanted.
"I haven't had anything to eat all day," Sehun said, looking over the kimbap. It was pretty. Truthfully, he had breakfast, but for as hungry as he suddenly felt, he might as well not have. How wonderful would it be to make a friend over free lunch?
However, Jongin just took another piece of kimbap for himself, filled his mouth with it, and his expression said clear as day - 'get your own.'
"You're Jongin, right?" Sehun looked at him. "Kim Jongin?"
Jongin only chewed. Sehun already knew, and Jongin didn't need to confirm it - even if he wanted to and it looked like he did not.
"Hey," Sehun boldly reached over to pat Jongin's bicep. "Let's be friends."
While Jongin swallowed, he slowly shook his head. 'No.'
"I think we're a lot alike," Sehun insisted. "We don't really fit in with the other people around here, right? .. Hey, it's okay, you don't have to talk to me. We can be quiet friends, right?"
Jongin just got another piece of kimbap.
Sehun watched him a bit longer after that, trying to be patient. Jongin seemed to just about forget that Sehun was there, except for when he occasionally threw him a cautious glance. The minutes were flying by.. and Sehun wasn't going to have time to get any food at this point for himself.
Sehun sighed and pressed, "Do you want me to go away?"
Jongin shrugged.
Sehun tapped his foot on the ground. He wished Jongin would tell him to go away, that would be more simple - but Sehun wouldn't give up that easily either.
There's only one piece of kimbap left. Damn.. Kim Jongin eats quite well.
Sehun was practically drooling as the last piece was eaten - on the inside. He thought he must have looked quite cool, under the circumstances. It was harder to watch Jongin swallow than it was to watch him chew - as if there was still some hope in the chewed up rice within that mouth. He twitched.
"Was it.. good?" Sehun asked.
Jongin raised a brow at Sehun, nodded, and drank from a bottle of water before he got up. He put his lunchbox together as he did so.
Sehun got up too. "Want to ditch next period together?"
Jongin shot him a look. His lunchbox ready to go, he headed out the room. Sehun started to follow him, but again, his stomach rumbled. He needed something to eat - fast.
"You ate with Kim Jongin, right?" Sehun's 'friend' asked in a hushed voice after lunch. Sehun had managed to scarf down a bag of chips from the vending machine and drink half a bottle of juice before the bell rang.
They sat at the back of ongoing class and they were supposed to be copying english phrases from the chalkboard. When that friend - Jiyong, he was called - asked, his expression was judgmental as it was curious, which sort of annoyed Sehun - but it was nothing unexpected.
"Not really." Sehun thought of leaving it at that. He didn't eat with Jongin. He watched Jongin eat. Besides, it's not as if they spoke or anything. Even so, he was too curious not to counter. "Why? What's up with him?"
"You're the one eating with him," said Jiyong, apparently dismissive of Sehun's denial, "You tell me."
Of course. Nothing to gain from a guy like this. Sehun sighed and copied a few more phrases down. "Doesn't he talk to anyone?"
Jiyong scoffed, "No. Isn't he retarded or something?"
Sehun rolled his eyes and shut his mouth tight. It became hard to focus for the rest of that period.
After school was let out, Sehun was half-frustrated while he looked around for Jongin, who seemed to not be anywhere. He followed the guidance of a female friend and eventually ended up at Jongin's locker, or what she thought was Jongin's locker, but maybe Jongin had already come and gone.
The hall was almost empty of other students before Sehun decided to give up the wait. He readjusted his backpack and started toward the exit. He made it almost all the way down the hall before the sound of a locker opening drew his attention, and he looked over his shoulder.
Jongin was in no sort of hurry, in contrast to everyone else Sehun had ever known after school. He pulled a bag from his locker, setting it on the floor to carefully fit a binder in.
Sehun turned back and hurried over to greet him. "Hi."
Jongin looked up at Sehun. It was weird, like he was scared for a half-second. Then he just frowned, zipped his bag, and stood up straight.
"You don't talk to anyone, huh?" Sehun walked up and closed Jongin's locker for him.
That amount of 'help' just earned Sehun another odd look, and Jongin put his lock on before heading silently down the hall.
Sehun frowned. Why, he wondered, did he feel like the bother, when Jongin was being the rude one? He followed, and Jongin was walking slow enough that it was easy to keep up. "So, do you go home after school or what?"
"Home," Jongin answered, causing Sehun to practically jump.
"You do talk?"
Jongin shrugged.
"Where do you live?"
Jongin's throat seemed to work hard for his answer. His eyes squinted and adam's apple bobbed before he managed to say, "You can't come."
"I wasn't asking to.." Sehun stared at Jongin, trying to work out exactly what that was. Maybe his throat was sore, or something. Maybe he just can't talk properly, like some disability. Either way, Sehun figured he should probably lay off the questions for a while.
It wasn't like he couldn't do the talking. He was charismatic enough for such a challenge, he thought.
"I never go straight home. I'm not in any clubs or anything, I just prefer doing my own thing. Home is boring. My parents are nice, when they're around, but you know.."
He glanced at Jongin, who appeared to be deeply in thought about... the floor area.
"Well, maybe you don't know. But anyway, they're not around much." Sehun felt more stupid than expected, talking to someone so quiet with no idea whether or not he was being listened to. He definitely needed to find a lighter topic anyway.
Since one didn't jump into mind, the two of them walked without words for a bit, until they were a few steps out of the main entrance. Jongin seemed to be softening up some, just kind of focusing his eyes anywhere but Sehun.
Finally, Sehun tried. "You seriously made me want kimbap today. I wanted to kill you."
Jongin was looking in the other direction, but by the way his cheek twitched, Sehun thought he probably smiled.. maybe a little.
"Seriously," Sehun continued, encouraged by what was probably only a hallucination, "Who packs your lunch? My mom bakes for a living but I even have to buy bread." He hesitated and shortly laughed at himself. "Wow, I'm making my life seem pretty pitiful right now."
Jongin looked back at Sehun with the slightest hint of a smile before quickly looking away again.
"Did you just smile? Ah, now it all makes sense," Sehun suggested. "You're some kind of sadist, aren't you?" He came to a pause outside of the school's gate. "I guess you're gonna head to.. the bus stop?"
Jongin nodded, repeatedly, as he hesitated to continue on - but never came to a full pause. He continued his slow pace toward the same direction that most other students went - the direction opposite Sehun's way home.
Sehun could have followed him another little ways, but something told him he shouldn't. "See you tomorrow, Jongin."
At those words, Jongin kind of hesitated again, but he walked on - leaving Sehun to soak in several new ideas and theories about his mysterious new friend.
The Day I Said Something Stupid
It had been about three days since Sehun began eating lunch with Jongin. On the fourth day, the day just before the weekend, he greeted people he had considered somewhat friends, and they didn't greet him back. He didn't feel bad about it - actually, he felt encouraged. If other people started to know him as Kim Jongin's friend, it was only a matter of time before Kim Jongin knew him as a friend.
The girls of the school didn't mind his new lunch partner as much. They spoke to him as usual, and as usual, he winked - poked - and coolly flirted with them in return.
When lunch came, he brought a meatbun with him to Kim Jongin's classroom and joined him as usual at his desk.
Today, Jongin's lunchbox looked even more elegant than usual. Actually, it looked like something Sehun had seen in Japanese comics. Jongin kept his usual posture as he mixed prettily cut vegetables into rice with his chopsticks. He didn't look at Sehun much, but that's something Sehun was becoming accustomed too.
"Seriously, whoever makes your food..." Sehun sort of mumbled as he bit into his own meatbun.
Jongin didn't really respond.
Minutes later, Sehun noted. "Some guys aren't talking to me today. I guess it's because I'm hanging out with you so much." He waited for a look of pity that wouldn't come before he continued. "It's that or this outfit." He gave a brief tug to the sleeve of his uniform and felt overly pleased with the small smile from Jongin.
It was the best he was going to manage before lunch was over. Somewhere, he got on the topic of a TV show everyone was into lately that he didn't like, and Jongin never offered an opinion.
Jongin left first, every speck of his beautiful food eaten, and Sehun stayed back - even though he could use an extra snack before the next class. The silent treatment was something he was getting used to, but he still felt he was only half cracking into Jongin's hard exterior. He thought, he might as well try cutting to the chase, when he got the chance next.
So his next classes went on for far too long. He ended up tapping his pencil, tapping his feet, and even trying to sleep once - but he was never one who could get there in the middle of the day. When the minute hand was at last in it's final stretch towards 6PM, his stomach even rumbled. Then finally, the bell rang.
As usual, Jongin was extremely slow getting to his locker. Today became the first day that he didn't look surprised to see Sehun waiting. He nodded toward him before tending to his lock.
"Where've you been?" Sehun asked as usual, only to be answered with a shrug. He waited until Jongin had his bag ready to go and was snapping his lock closed on his locker before he continued.
"They found three bodies last night," Sehun announced, without much severity in his tone, although the news was true. Bodies kept turning up all over lately, most of them drained of a lot of blood, often with bite wounds somewhere on them. Only people with closed minds and denial problems were really in the dark - although it was very few people who would talk about it openly.
Jongin didn't look like he was very interested. He had probably already heard, after all. He looked at Sehun though, waiting for him to start walking first. He knew at this point that they'd be walking to the gate together.
So Sehun headed for the doors, walking slowly, as Jongin seemed to like to. "One of them was young, like us. I don't think the killers care about age."
Again, not much of a response, but there was a certain darkness to Jongin's expression - like most people would have when you were talking to them about death, Sehun supposed.
"Killers, right? Because one vampire couldn't do all of this damage alone," Sehun said casually, and watched Jongin's expression.
Jongin nodded. Then he abruptly stopped.
Sehun stopped too. He glanced around. The hall was already clear except for the two of them, or it was until a teacher walked out of her class and headed the other way down the hall, toward the office. Her heels were unnaturally loud, and then she was gone.
"Um, so. You okay, Jongin?"
Jongin frowned at Sehun, then turned his attention ahead and walked fast for the doors.
Sehun would have liked to believe that confirmed something about Jongin's relationship with vampires, but Jongin was so weird it was hard to say what it meant. Sehun tried keeping his voice down while he followed. "What? Are you mad because I said vampire?"
"Leave me alone," Jongin had no trouble saying. He switched into a practical run. Sehun even tried to reach out and grab him, but once they were beyond school doors, there were a lot of people around. Sehun came to a stop, watching Jongin's back hurrying away. He called, loudly, "See you tomorrow!"
But there was no school on Saturdays, and Jongin didn't slow down.
On Sehun's walk home, he had a lot of things going through his mind, arguing thoughts about just how much he'd screwed it up. He even found himself caring a little that if he lost Jongin, he'd pretty much be friendless at school. He didn't know why he cared about that. He usually liked being alone there anyway. There was always girls, too..
He felt lonely enough to ignore his hunger, anyway, and turn a street early so that he might meet the only friends that should matter. He was relieved to look at their apartment ahead and spot exactly who he hoped to.
"You better have brought me food," said Sangwan when he spotted Sehun.
Sehun thought Sangwan looked even more rough than usual. There was bruising between his eyes that looked particularly bad and a deep frown on his frequently happy face. "Sorry," he said, and sat next to Sangwan on the apartment building's steps. "I'm hungry too."
"Now isn't a great time," said Sangwan.
"No kidding," Sehun responded.
Sangwan was only one of the four older boys that live together and often hang out on this street, with a cool vibe and obvious connections to the undead.
"Test go wrong or something?" Sangwan's voice was a sigh, and he brushed a hand through his mess of black hair.
"No," Sehun said, "I've been talking to Kim Jongin."
"Sehun-- dammit."
"What? Problem?"
"I knew Jaewoon fucked up when he mentioned that name," Sangwan heavily shook his head. "Don't get involved with Kim Jongin, alright? It's dangerous."
Sehun smirked. Sangwan should have known better, really. Nothing could be more encouraging. "Involved? It isn't like we're dating."
"Ha. Ha." Sangwan was unamused.
Sehun shrugged his shoulders, frowning as he recalled Jongin rushing off. Encouraging as 'it's dangerous' might be, Sehun might have already blown it. "I mentioned vampires and he freaked."
"No shit."
"Why?" Sehun asked.
"I don't know -- loads of reasons. Who wouldn't freak when you mention vampires? Most people would think you're crazy.."
"He doesn't," Sehun said.
"I guess he doesn't," Sangwan sighed. "Look, you shouldn't come around any more."
"My face might end up looking like yours?"
Sangwan quickly put his hand over his nose, hiding some of that bruising. "It could end up worse."
"I can take it better than you," Sehun had heard it all before, and he couldn't be any less afraid. He glared at Sangwan for even trying.
And finally Sangwan gave up with a heavy sigh. "I'm hungry. I'm gonna go inside."
Sehun stood. "Feed me."
"No chance."
After the building door shut behind Sangwan, Sehun sat down again to try sorting through his thoughts. His stomach kept growling, and his mind kept repeating; "Don't get involved with Kim Jongin."
He kept waiting for Sangwan or one of the others to come out, to answer his questions about Jongin or even to present a new, less complicated question for answering. However, they didn't come out again, even though Sehun waited for what felt like an hour, but couldn't have been that long. He waited until he felt sick with impatience and hunger, then he finally got up and headed home, dreading the uneventful weekend ahead.
The Day I Learned Who He Is
Sehun's weekend didn't go as badly as he'd predicted. He found plenty of ways to entertain himself that didn't involve Kim Jongin or Sangwan. That is to say, he found video games. He fell into a practical stupor until Monday morning, which in fact came too soon.
He woke up late to a note from his dad telling him not to eat mom's muffins left out on the counter. He was hungry and took one anyway. They never seemed to have food in the house that wasn't for the family bakery. He was too bitter to follow the rules on a Monday morning.
He left as soon as he could. He hated mornings. The sun was rarely that bright, but it always seemed that way to him. His eyes were squinting the whole way to school, even as rain clouds came out.
Sehun was already at the gate before he really thought about Kim Jongin. He hadn't figured out what he was going to say to him, if anything. He only knew he wasn't going to give up.
Even after being late waking up, he was in school pretty early, so he decided to wait around Jongin's locker, but he never showed up. Sehun barely made it into class on time. When he got there, his former 'friends' shot him evil looks. That maturity really wasn't helping Sehun's mood.
He put his head down on his book and sighed. Luckily, his homeroom teacher never seemed to mind that he paid zero attention to her. He didn't lift his head until it started raining, and then all of his attention was on the window, mind too numb for thoughts.
When lunch period came, Sehun raided the vending machine, apparently determined to never eat a healthy lunch again. He had to use his pockets to get all of his food to the classroom where Jongin was. He was relieved to see him sitting there with his fancy lunchbox.
Jongin was staring at the rainy window, paying Sehun and his pretty food no mind.
"Hi," Sehun said, and pulled his chair up to Jongin's desk. He opened a package of bread and watched the back of Jongin's head. "How was your weekend?"
Jongin shrugged.
"Sounds exciting." Sehun leaned back in his chair and bit into his bread. When he was almost done, he asked, "Not hungry today?"
Jongin turned, sitting properly and starting to eat, as if Sehun had only reminded him.
Sehun balled up the plastic from his bread and opened a second. "You were acting weird when I saw you last."
"Sorry," said Jongin, after he swallowed something bright enough to be fruit, but Sehun didn't know what it was.
"It's cool," Sehun said. "Just, I hope you don't think I'm crazy. Because I mentioned vampires."
Jongin chewed.
"I know these guys," Sehun explained. "They asked me last week if I was in school with you and they wouldn't tell me why they were interested. I'm pretty sure they hang out with vampires, honestly."
"I don't want to know," Jongin said after he swallowed.
Sehun looked questioning. He was kind of surprised that Jongin said what could be considered a full sentence.
Jongin glanced toward the window. "Just talk about something else."
Sehun nodded slowly, inspecting Jongin. "My weekend sucked," he said. "I've gotta get a date."
Jongin didn't talk again for the rest of lunch, but he seemed like he was listening moreso than usual - occasionally making eye contact with Sehun and everything. It was definitely progress and that was enough. If Jongin didn't want to talk about vampires, that was fine. Hopefully, rambling at Jongin to no response would be considered 'getting involved'.
The classes that followed lunch were much better. Sehun might have had a bit too much to eat, but otherwise, he was in a tremendously better mood - and Jiyong's judgmental stares from next to him weren't putting him off any. Sehun even threw him a cheerful wave.
Sehun's first priority after classes were over wasn't to find Jongin. Instead, he located Krystal, a cute girl in a year above him, and he asked her to see a movie with him. She said she didn't think she could make it, having plans with a 'girlfriend', but Sehun felt successful in making her smile.
He walked after that to Jongin's locker, and was a bit surprised to see Jongin waiting there with an expectant look on his face. When they made eye contact, Jongin shyly turned away, but Sehun was already smirking.
"I think Krystal likes me," Sehun announced as he stepped next to Jongin.
Jongin nodded and started leading their slow pace toward the door.
"If I ask you which girls you think are cute, will you answer me?"
Jongin shook his head.
"Yeah, figures. So, I asked her out and she had plans. Should I ask her out some other time or find a new girl?"
Shrug.
"True," Sehun nodded at Jongin. "Ah," the main entrance doors were open as usual at the end of the day, but outside was pouring rain. "Totally forgot it was raining."
Jongin watched beyond the doors for a moment. The students outside were either comfortable under their umbrellas or in a fast hurry to get to the bus. Jongin cleared his throat quietly, then he said, "Sorry."
"Do you control the weather or something?" Sehun smiled at Jongin.
Jongin shrugged.
"Guess we should just walk really fast?" Sehun supposed Jongin had no umbrella, since he wasn't pulling anything out. "Come on," he tapped Jongin's back, then rushed into the weather.
Jongin smiled as he followed along to the gate.
"Hurry up, hurry up," Sehun said, making the turn towards the bus stop with Jongin. They'd been drenched in an instant, however, so there was no need to rush now. They ran together despite this, and joined a wet, waiting group by the street's corner. "Oh, it's late?" Sehun hadn't caught a bus in so long, he'd just assumed it would be there for when school got out.
"Missed it," Jongin tells him. A girl near them gave Jongin a startled look. She had probably never heard him talk before.
"What are you going to do?" Sehun asked.
Around the corner, a black car hit it's horn. They both looked toward it. Jongin turned and walked in a hurry in it's direction.
Sehun started to follow. "Your parents?"
Jongin didn't turn back.
Sehun called, "See you tomorrow!", as he watched Jongin climb into the car. He could see someone in the passenger seat, but that's the extent that his sight would let him figure out. 'Someone'...
Sehun was freezing on the walk home. He made that early turn again, strongly hoping Sangwan or one of the others would let him into the building to warm up and hang out. He made it there and used the intercom to call up, but no one answered. He had to wriggle his cell phone out so he could try that way. Before he dialed anyone, Sangwan and other apartment occupant, Jaewoon, came running up to the building from behind.
"What are you doing out in the rain?" asked Sangwan as he wrestled out his key.
"Waiting to be not in the rain," Sehun answered.
They let him in.
"We don't have anything to eat," said Jaewoon.
"Or drink," Sangwan added.
"That's okay," Sehun sat on their dingy couch and accepted a towel that Jaewoon handed him. The apartment was exactly what you'd expect of an apartment lived in by four young men - a cheap, destroyed mess with several video game systems hanging out on the floor. "Can we game?"
"If you want to put something in," Jaewoon said and sat next to Sehun.
Sehun wanted to warm up first. He sort of blurted out then, without thinking, "Me and Kim Jongin are friends."
"What?" Jaewoon asked.
"Told you," Sangwan muttered.
"Maybe you should tell me what's up with him," Sehun said, "So you know, I can be prepared."
Jaewoon hesitated, but finally turned seriously to Sehun. "He's part of the Kim family."
"Is that why his name is Kim Jongin?" Sehun looked bored at Jaewoon.
"/The/ Kim family," Jaewoon said, which still meant nothing to Sehun because there had to be jillions of those.
"He's part of a vampire family, Sehun. A strong one."
"Wait, so he's actually a vampire?"
"No," Sangwan said, and promptly changed the subject. "I'll pick a game, huh?" He bent down next to their shelf.
Jaewoon gave Sehun one last piece of information, somewhat quietly. "A family like that is really protective of their humans. You really, really shouldn't get involved, okay?"
"Wait, but.." Before Sehun could ask another question, Sangwan practically yelled, "I'm putting in a game! Shut up before I kick you out.."
Read the next part.