How to Become a Vampire (2: Jongin)

[strongbabypanda]

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
Read the first part.

The Night I Daydreamed

"Was that boy your friend?" one of Jongin's older sister's asked him in a soft voice.

"No," Jongin answered her and that was that.

The windshield wipers sounded especially loud in the quiet car. It was unusual for his sister to ride, but no one was explaining anything to him, so he knew it wasn't important for him to know. He wasn't excited to get home, so whatever detour they might make would be fine. The rain was so bad, he wouldn't be able to walk the dogs. He watched the rain streaking across the window and wondered how long Sehun would have to be in it before he got home.

When the car came to a stop, Jongin knew they were somewhere he didn't want to be immediately, because his sister moved over and gently hugged him, that way she always did when things were bad for them.

All his window saw was tall grass and a fence.

His mother climbed out of the passenger seat and opened the door on his side, holding an umbrella over it. It was useless, since he was already wet, but Jongin quietly climbed out and looked to their rising trunk.

"Come on," his mother shut the car door and guided Jongin around to the open trunk, where she pulled out a bag. His father was helping his sister out of the car with an umbrella in hand, but his sister seemed wet too. They had probably picked her up from her yoga class and she probably had got just as drenched.

Jongin had a chance to look at the house they were about to enter. They were parked in the back and the windows were blocked up. His heart sank. It was going to be that kind of a night.

His mother and him were the first inside the house. She took him straight to a bathroom, gave him the bag, and told him to dry off some before he changed. "Don't touch anything," she added, although she didn't need to, because he knew the rules.

After he took off his wet clothes, he put a towel from the bag around his waist and sat on the floor, plucking at his dampened strands of hair and hoping his mom would check on him soon. "Are you dressed yet?" She'd ask. "Not yet," he'd say. She would have a miniature freak out and he would successfully have rebelled.

However, several minutes of quiet went by, and he was feeling very naked.

His clothes were too nice for someone to feel comfortable in. The fabric had a fresh scent and it was well pressed, but felt soft. Expensive. As usual, they had the best of the best.

Jongin preferred his school uniform.

When he was dressed in his button up, soft blue shirt and his hard structured designer jeans, he looked at himself in the mirror, frowning.

His dad was the one who knocked on the door. He had a mop and a faded smile when Jongin opened the door for him.

"Hang your uniform over the shower bar. I'll get the floor."

Jongin had to be careful about how his uniform dripped on him, but he got it hanging, then swiftly moved into the hall so his dad had mopping space.

This was their privileged life. Coming in through the back and mopping floors.

"Your hair isn't completely dry," his mom fussed as she moved towards him. He was getting too tall for her to do this while he stood, but she managed to comb his hair straight, seemingly exasperated.

He looked behind her and saw his sister, standing in a could be formal or casual dress in white. She was 18 years old, but making faces like a child at him. He grinned.

Until his mom angrily realized what was going on and turned seriously on his sister. "Subin, take this seriously." Her whisper was angry. "Do you want your sister to be embarrassed?"

When she said sister, she meant their oldest sister, Sumin.

Jongin hadn't seen her in a few months. He asked with interest, "Is Sumin here?"

His mom looked so sharply at him that he thought he was in trouble, but she just said, "Her master will be here, and she may or may not come along. You will be quiet, you will be respectful, and you will do everything you are asked."

Again - Jongin already knew the rules. He nodded.

This house, Jongin found, belonged to a relative of theirs that he had already been well informed about. Her name was Taeyeon and she had only been living in Korea for a few months, after having lived for quite some time in the west.

A relative in this case didn't mean cousin, or grandma, or anything like that. In fact, she probably was blood related to them at some point, but Taeyeon hadn't been human for quite some time - and they weren't going to be attaching "great great great" to her title. No, she was just an honored 'relative'.

"Jongin, hmm?" Taeyeon had glimmering eyes and long fangs in her smile as she looked him over.

"Yes, miss." He bowed. "It's an honor to meet you."

He hoped she choked on a neck, but no one would ever know that.

Jongin was here for the same reasons he was usually in the home of strange relatives - to attend a small gathering, where they would pretend he was important - where they would advertise him and his sister to vampires that would be interested in making them consorts, which they would serve as until they were paired with another consort to make a baby and continue their everso prestigious bloodline.

Privileged. Vampires would never hurt members of the Kim family. Not except for the weekly, monthly, or even daily times that they would be bitten by their future masters.

Jongin didn't get to see his oldest sister that night. She never appeared, although her master did, and Jongin tried not to look at him.

Jongin stood mostly out of the way, there being far more attention on his 'of age' older sister. He didn't mind being practically ignored, but he certainly wished they would leave her alone. Nearly any of these vampires could take his sister away to be rarely seen by him - that very night, if they chose, since she was 18 now.

He watched a man with pale fingers stroke them across her shoulder and he had to have this nonchalant expression and pretend he didn't care.

When he tried to think happy thoughts, he couldn't. He thought of the dogs he couldn't walk, and he thought of Oh Sehun running with him through the rain. Although, for some reason, that latter thought wasn't so bad.

A man named Siwon came next to him, putting a cold hand on his shoulder and standing very straight. He spoke in a quiet, calm voice and said, "You look like you're lost in another world."

Jongin bowed his head. "I apologize."

For being a vampire, the man had a kind smile. "You're too young for this. I don't think Miss Taeyeon would mind if you had a nap."

"I'm enjoying myself," Jongin said, but his heart thumped nervously, because he was worried it sounded rude.

"Of course," Siwon finished dismissively, as if sensing these nerves, and he smoothly moved away.

It took a long time for Jongin to relax after that possible mistake. He expected to be scolded any moment, but he never was.

Jongin was very relieved to get home, but it was late and there was school in the morning. He prepared his lunchbox and tucked it into it's spot in the refrigerator. He washed his uniform, although he had a second prepared. He did his homework, and fortunately there wasn't much of that. Although, if there had been, he would have probably got a written excuse from his parents to delay it. He didn't want that, anyway.

"Our son couldn't do his homework. He was partying with vampires."

Finally, it was pushing on 3AM. He pulled his small dog, the only one that was technically his (since the other two belonged to each of his sisters), into bed with him when no one was looking and he fell asleep.


The Night It Hurt

Weeks ago, Kim Jongin met Oh Sehun. Maybe it was just about on months. Jongin liked school. It was better than being home, he had found. Even better, if he was being honest, now that Sehun was around.

Sometimes, Sehun brought up vampires. He once questioned if Jongin was family with any. Somewhere in him, Jongin was sure that Sehun had intentions beyond friendship with him. He was careful, though. He always shut off the topic of vampires. He didn't say much, so he wasn't going to slip and give anything away.

He really wanted to give it away sometimes. He wanted to give everything away.

During lunch, Sehun had already finished his inferior lunch of whatever they had in the cafeteria that day. He was telling Jongin about the date he was taking Krystal on this weekend - their second date, it would be.

Jongin listened closely. The casual dating world was such a curiosity to him that Sehun might as well have been reciting a fantasy novel.

"If she eats cheap enough, I guess I can take her shopping." Sehun said.

Jongin nodded. His sisters both liked shopping. It made sense to him.

"Her curfew is the biggest problem," Sehun said. "A curfew at sunset means she's related to vampires, or her dad's an asshole. I'm leaning towards the second."

Jongin smiled, even though he tried not to, since vampires were mentioned. He didn't mean to invite more of that topic in.

To be honest though, Jongin wondered a lot what Sehun's connection to vampires was. He worried that they were hurting him, maybe making him befriend Kim Jongin. Maybe he was an idiot that thought he could become one. Maybe he just had a really creepy imagination, too.

Jongin would never ask. He couldn't.

He was wondering about it, though, when he put a napkin from his lunchbox out on his desk, in front of where Sehun sat, and placed a sushi roll on top of it.

Sehun didn't get the picture at first, glancing briefly at the sushi roll before looking back at Jongin and continuing to speak. "Her dad's probably right to be an asshole, anyway. Girls don't put out before dark. If I were a dad, I'd give my daughter a curfew like that. There's no way I'll become a dad though..."

Jongin nodded as he withdrew a second pair of chopsticks from his box. He held them to Sehun, and Sehun looked at them, confused.

"Do you like sushi?" Jongin asked.

Sehun nodded.

"I made extra."

Sehun took the chopsticks and looked down at the sushi roll sitting on top of the napkin. "What? Thanks. Hey, wait... you--you make your own lunch? You made this?"

Jongin nodded before took in a mouthful of sushi for himself, which only partially hid his proud smile.

"How long have we been eating together and I didn't know that? It's like you never talk or something.." Sehun eyed Jongin as he tried the sushi. It was better than he imagined.

He immediately reached his chopsticks towards a another piece, still sitting inside of the box.

Jongin blocked with his own chopsticks and gave Sehun a puzzled look.

Sehun smiled at Jongin. "Don't be a tease. You said you made extra, not an extra."

Jongin smiled, challenging at Sehun.

What commenced next was probably the most epic chopstick fight a classroom had ever seen, and it ended with Sehun earning three extra sushi rolls - which meant one more than Jongin had actually meant for him to have, but Jongin didn't mind. The battle was worth it.

At the end of the day, Sehun hissed when they walked outside. The sun was very bright. "Got any sunglasses, Jongin?"

Jongin pat Sehun's lower back, which somehow meant 'no'.

"Okay," Sehun said, pretending to understand Jongin's way of talking through touch. He took a breath and walked ahead. He turned back, waving. "See you tomorrow!"

Jongin laughed and waved. Sehun must have forgot again that tomorrow was Saturday.

Late that night, Jongin was having a hard time holding his eyes open to study. He read the same sentence over and over, and his dog Janggah watched him with an expression of disappointment. He occasionally petted her, which was one way of saying, 'I'm trying.'

The footsteps were a short warning. He pulled his blanket up over Janggah, who was not supposed to be in bed with him. The dogs had a special room for them to sleep in.

His door opened, and his father - gray hair and soft, tired eyes, stood there. "You're not sleeping yet?"

"I was reading."

Janggah wiggled.

His father frowned deeply, walking over to the bed. He pushed the blankets aside and lifted Janggah by the scruff of her neck. "I'm disappointed."

Jongin sat up quickly, "You'll hurt her."

He cringed when his father practically threw his dog out of the room before shutting the door. He felt the blood rushing to his face. He wasn't supposed to get emotional. He was supposed to bite his tongue. But he wanted to scream.

His father turned back on him, his usually soft voice dangerously stern. "Why?"

Jongin had a hard time forming calm words.

"Jongin, I asked you a question."

"I didn't want to be alone."

"And does it matter what you want?"

No. The wants of the master come first, then the host, the vampire, the parent, the teacher, then the child. Jongin's wants didn't matter, so he'd been taught.

"Jongin.."

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." The words hurt. That happened often with words for Jongin, who found even lies to be far too telling of emotion. They were too intimate. Using them when he didn't want to was embarrassing on a painful level.

His father rubbed his face and seemed tired. "Jongin. Who is your new friend at school?"

Sehun had nothing to do with his dog, Jongin thought.

"Your teacher told us. His name is Oh Sehun?"

Jongin nodded. "Yes sir."

"We'll look into that." His father ended quickly, like he decided he couldn't deal with this now. He opened the door and he added, "No dog for a week. If I catch you with it, it will leave this house."

When his father left the room, Jongin fell against his pillow and coughed. His throat hurt. He held his breath and gazed upwards, tricks he'd been taught from forever ago to hold back tears.

Crying when you're punished is shameful.

It didn't take him a full minute before he had himself contained. He tried not to think of Janggah. He tried to focus on his book, but he couldn't. Eventually, he imagined eating out with Sehun, and maybe going shopping afterwards.

But it was hard to think of Sehun now, too.

'We'll look into that.'

What did that mean?

The Night I Woke Up
A couple of weeks went by. You could say Jongin just about forgot the comments his father made regarding Sehun. Nothing had come of it so far. His friendship with Sehun continued and no one at home said a word.

He was more worried about Janggah, who he had gone a week without. That time had gone by slowly and now he had his dog again, but it still bothered him that it had come to that. It had been so dumb of him to blatantly break a rule like that, he said to himself. There was a voice within him, however, saying that it shouldn't have been so wrong - that if it was, his father shouldn't have taken it out on his dog.

There was also a reminder, a cruel voice never letting him forget that one day he'd be given away to a vampire, and just like his sister had to leave behind her Monggu, he would have to leave behind his Janggah.

He was thinking about that on the day he suddenly asked Sehun, "Do you have a dog?"

Jongin didn't start many conversations. Questions out of the blue were rare. Sehun always seemed pleased by them, although, Sehun had become rather good at leading entire one-sided conversations as well.

"No. Do you?" Sehun returned.

"Janggah," Jongin answered.

"What?"

"Her name."

"Small dog or big dog?"

Jongin gestured with his hands. It meant 'small.'

Sehun nodded, smiling. "Had her long?"

"Three years."

"That's cute," Sehun laughed lightly.

Jongin's perfect posture broke a bit as he relaxed. Maybe if the worst came up, Sehun would take care of Janggah. It wasn't the most comforting idea, but it was something.

The two of them had an eating contest today, so their food was all gone early. Jongin cleared off his desk and lowered his head, though he still looked at Sehun, and reached over to pat his knee.

Sehun was still adjusting to Jongin's touchy side, every bit to physical contact what Jongin was to sentences. The knee patting didn't look to bother him today though. Sehun just put a hand over Jongin's and patted back.

Jongin never wanted moments like these to end. There was such a contrast between school and home these days, it felt like flipping between dreams and nightmares. Jongin wondered, if he had been born to a different family, like Sehun's, if his wants could matter. If his wants mattered, he thought, maybe he would never have to leave this room.

But Kim Jongin's wants were meaningless. The bell rang as usual.

Sehun and Jongin met again after school, same as they always did, and walked out. Sehun wasn't particularly talkative, he'd just said a word or two about the girl he was interested at the moment - one that was different from just a couple of weeks ago.

They were trailing behind the bigger crowd as usual, but there were still plenty of students outside. A sea of their grey and blue uniforms - enough for someone not wearing one to stand out.

Sehun slowed down, noticably, so Jongin did too.

"Jaewoon?" Sehun questioned when they were closer to the scruffy looking man, who seemed like he hadn't washed in a few days.

Jaewoon looked right at Sehun and moved closer with a dangerous aura.

Jongin reached to grab Sehun's hand, feeling protective, but Sehun jerked it away and demanded, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"They took them," Jaewoon said, and stoped directly in front of Sehun. "They found out we have a friend that's friends with Kim Jongin. So they took Sangwan, Dongho, and Yongjin." His tone was stiff. He was trembling. "They took them because they think I can take him!" Jaewoon's voice was a growl and he only threw a look towards Jongin in order to emphasize 'him'.

A couple of students around looked in their direction or even moved closer to find out what was going on. Jongin watched them nervously.

"Calm down," Sehun instructed.

"You better make him come, Sehun." Jaewoon's tone was low and dangerous, a small bit more controlled than before. He pointed an angry finger. "You better make him come with me willingly, or someone is going to get hurt."

"Jongin?" Sehun frowned. "Look, don't tell me what I better do, okay?"

"This is your fucking fault in the first place!" Jaewoon growled again and moved closer. He was an arm's reach away from Sehun, but reaching is as far as he got.

Jongin moved between them, knocking Jaewoon's arm away in the process. He held a hand against the strange, older man's chest and glared up at him without words, but the message should have been clear. 'Fuck off.'

Jaewoon didn't appear to be discouraged. Just pissed. He shoved at Jongin, but Jongin shoved back to a much more successful result. He angrily watched Jaewoon stumble backwards.

Then, to his surprise, Sehun grabbed him from behind and threw him out of the way. Jongin was so caught off guard that he barely managed to stay on his feet. He didn't hear what Sehun shouted, because he was overcoming a mild panic at the time. He had thought for a split second that he'd been set up - that Sehun's time of betrayal had come.

When he turned back, he was almost relieved to see Sehun attacking Jaewoon, although he was having very little luck. Jaewoon angrily held onto Sehun's wrists and pulled him several steps away.

A teacher would come out. They'd be in trouble. Jongin would be transferred, or home-schooled. Basic fears to anyone else were all Jongin could consider at the moment.

Fortunately, none of them would come true. Jaewoon must have been threatened by something Sehun did, or maybe he'd just started to come to some sort of senses about fighting a boy that much smaller than him right outside a school. He threw Sehun backwards and yelled. He shot a pained look at Jongin, shook his head, and hurried off.

With the danger further away, students gathered around to see what had happened, but Sehun brushed them off. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be staff around.

His, Sehun's, face was beet red as he collected himself from the ground.

Jongin went to him in a rush. He held out his arms, meaning to hug him, but Sehun pushed him away, saying, "Get off."

Jongin backed off and felt horribly concerned. After a moment, though, Sehun gave him a softened look.

"See you tomorrow," Sehun said through his teeth, and he started towards the gate again.

Jongin watched him and other students moving away. He felt a horrible, sinking feeling - and he couldn't just let him leave on a note like that. He ran to Sehun and lightly grabbed his arm.

"Please," he said, when Sehun looked back at him. It's all he said.

Sehun frowned at him, but he stopped walking.

The two of them eventually sat down on the sidewalk outside of their school's gate. A few other groups hung around, but none of them were close enough to be a bother. Jaewoon must have been a long walk off by now.

"You probably want to know who he was," Sehun suspected.

All Jongin wanted to know right now was that Sehun was okay, but he didn't say so.

"I said something about it already. I heard about you from my friends that I know are mixed up in vampires. He's one of them."

Jongin just listened.

"He did warn me, you know? He said I shouldn't get involved." Sehun shrugged. "I just didn't care. If you tell me not to do something, it's pretty much guaranteed I'll do it."

That wasn't hard for Jongin to believe.

"Honestly, if he came at me a little differently just now, I might have wanted to help him out." Sehun sounded bitter - as if he wished it had gone that way.

Jongin didn't feel threatened. He shifted a little closer to Sehun and put his chin on his shoulder. In a way, the honesty was comforting. On some level, also, he thought he wouldn't have minded if Sehun and his friend had taken him away. He almost wished it too.

"You probably don't know how lucky you are," Sehun muttered after a while. "Even people who don't know you want you."

Jongin didn't move. He just watched two birds land together on a telephone wire visible across the street, knowing now wasn't the time to accuse Sehun of being the lucky one.

The sun was nearly gone when Sehun got up and headed home. Jongin still didn't want to move. He sat outside of the gate and tried to count early stars, but he wasn't sure which of them were only lights. Probably most of them, he thought.

He wasn't particularly surprised when a black car parked in front of him and his mom came out of the passenger seat. She didn't say a word, but opened the back and pointed with a stern expression.

Jongin moved slow. He thought it would be easier to ask his muscles to lift a car than to ask them to take him into that one. Every second he took made an angrier looking mom, but Jongin couldn't be bothered to care.

The door shut behind him.

Jongin's dad drove several minutes before he spoke, in his calm, soft voice.

"Your friend impressed us today."

Jongin lifted his head, attentive, and his father explained a plot to him.

There was no reason for his father to tell him that it was their family who took Sehun's friends, wanting to test Sehun's loyalty to Jongin. No reason that Jongin could figure out, unless it was to make him feel controlled and trapped, helpless and hopeless.

Something felt significant about this night. Something in Jongin, however slight, changed.

One day, whatever it took, he wouldn't be controlled any more.

Read the final part.