Disaster

Chapter III

Winter

"Did you invite someone over?" Juyeon asked out of the blue.

Sunwoo, who was in the kitchen making some tea, turned to the living room where the vampire was sitting and reading a book. "What?"

"Someone's walking down the hall towards the apartment. Did you invite anyone?" he repeated again, not looking up as he flipped the page he was on.

"No," Sunwoo said with a shake of his head. "Can you tell who it is?" He was getting more used to Juyeon's strange powers, and more often than not actually found them quite useful.

Juyeon was silent for a moment, likely listening to the weight of the footsteps. "Not the landlady. And it's not Chanhee; the steps don't sound determined enough. Not Kevin either."

That surprised Sunwoo, considering those were the only two friends who really even knew where Sunwoo lived– much less the ones to come hunting him down in his own home. "For real?"

Juyeon nodded in response and opened his mouth to say something, but it was stopped by a knock at the door. The two roommates exchanged a glance before Sunwoo put his teabag down and went to the front door, brushing his unruly hair back just a bit as he turned the knob.

"Hello?"

From where he sat in the living room, Juyeon couldn't see who was at the door, but he could hear a smooth and lively voice coming from the visitor. Sunwoo stayed quiet for a good bit, Juyeon only hearing an occasional hum or 'ah' from the young man. Eventually, the door closed after an exchange of goodbyes, and Sunwoo reentered the main area.

"Who was it?" Juyeon asked, closing his book.

Sunwoo moved back to finish making his tea. "The new neighbor," he said with a shrug. "Said his name was Son Youngjae. Tea?" He turned to Juyeon with a raised brow.

"Please. Did he say what room he moved into?"

"Apparently the one right beside us. I have a feeling he's introducing himself to everyone in the building," Sunwoo said with a snort. "Very energetic and friendly guy. Here." He walked over and handed Juyeon a warm mug of chamomile and sat down on the couch with his own cup. His books and laptops were spread around the coffee table, as he was in the middle of studying when he wanted a drink.

Juyeon said no more about their new neighbor, and neither did Sunwoo. They continued back to their respective tasks, only stopping a few hours later so that Juyeon could have a bit of blood and Sunwoo could make himself dinner after he woke up.

Sunwoo didn't notice it at first, but a cold was creeping up his body once more. Starting at his heels, his body slowly succumbed to the ice.

💊

Juyeon was not a fan of their new neighbor, Youngjae. He couldn't really put a finger on it, but something about the bubbly 22-year-old just rubbed him in the totally wrong way. He wasn't rude or creepy, quite the opposite in fact. Ever since introducing himself that first afternoon nearly a month ago now, Youngjae had been in their apartment over seven times.

Juyeon was at first concerned Sunwoo just had no backbone to say no to the warm and extroverted boy, but when asked about it, the college student just said that Youngjae was good company and they got along well.

"Plus, Chanhee has been telling me for years that I need more friends. This is good," Sunwoo said.

Juyeon raised a brow. "Good?"

"Are you worried he's going to find out that you're a vampire or something?" He asked.

"No." Juyeon shook his head. "Just...making sure you're alright with him."

Sunwoo gave him a confused and oddly touched look. "Yeah, I am. Don't worry so much, 'kay hyung?"

Though Juyeon said he wouldn't worry, he still had a good bundle of concerns in the back of his head; none of which were about him and his lack of being human. In fact, Youngjae liked him very much, which was astonishing considering that Juyeon always tried to retreat into Sunwoo's bedroom whenever the neighbor was over. Actually, that part had probably surprised Sunwoo the most, even though Juyeon had explained to him that he was allowing Youngjae to see him. Really, Sunwoo was more concerned with the whole vampire thing than Juyeon was.

But still, Youngjae just...ticked him off. He couldn't stand the loud and obnoxious boy, and always grimaced when Sunwoo brought him up. Sunwoo never seemed to notice his distaste, or if he did, he chose to not confront Juyeon about it.

It was one evening when Sunwoo came in from a late lecture with a dopey smile on his face that Juyeon realized what was going on, and that he most definitely wasn't allowed to think that way about Sunwoo.

"Hey," Sunwoo said, granting Juyeon a blinding smile. "You'll never guess what happened today."

Juyeon was pretty sure he could guess, actually, but asked "What happened?" anyways.

"So it turns out that me and Youngjae-ah go to the same university–" Well Juyeon could have told him that. "And he's like best friends with Kevin! Well, he's kind of best friends with everyone– but not the point," Sunwoo muttered. "So he showed up at the end of the lecture today to meet with Kevin but then saw me and was like 'Oh wow hi!' and so I was like 'Hi!' and then the three of us all hung out...ah it was so fun..." he collapsed on the couch, arms and legs spreading over Juyeon as he hummed some random tune.

"Did you drink?" Juyeon doesn't think he's ever seen the younger boy like this. He wasn't allowed to think about the fact that Sunwoo's curly hair looked obnoxiously soft at the moment and that he wanted nothing more to run his fingers through it– just once.

Sunwoo pinched his fingers together. "Just a bit. Like, only a couple of glasses. I swear." He smiled and Juyeon rolled his eyes. He wasn't allowed to think about the fact that Sunwoo enjoyed Youngjae's company so much he was willing to drink with him, because Juyeon knew Sunwoo detested alcohol.

'Lightweight,' he thought. "Alright, up you go. Come on." He closed his book and moved Sunwoo around so that he was actually sitting in a position where he could stand from. Juyeon rose first and reached for Sunwoo's hand, pulling him up. "You need a bath and sleep."

Sunwoo groaned in protest but didn't make any resistance to being manhandled, so Juyeon dragged him down the hall to the bathroom, shoving him inside when they got to the doorway. He walked off to grab a towel and change of clothes before throwing them in and shutting the door, promising (read: threatening) Sunwoo that he couldn't come out until he was clean and dressed.

The boy showered oddly fast for someone who didn't seem to know their up from their down, and after only 20 minutes he was stepping out of the bathroom just a bit more sober, and squeaky clean.

He blinked around the apartment in confusion and Juyeon stared at him from his spot on the armchair. "Bed, Sunwoo." He wasn't allowed to think it was adorable how puzzled the boy looked.

"Right. Bed. What time is it?" his words were still a little slurred, but not as bad as before.

Juyeon stole a glance at the clock above the hallway before answering, "10:30."

"Is that early or late?"

The vampire had to resist the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He did not, however, stop himself from sighing very loudly. "Just go to bed, 'Sun."

"Yup. Yup. I'm gonna...I'm gonna go do that. Bed. Yes. I know where that is," he said, standing in the same spot. It was quiet for a few seconds as Sunwoo stared at the wall in front of him and Juyeon stared at Sunwoo.

"..."

"Where's my bedroom again?"

"Jesus fucking christ."

He wasn't allowed to think about it. He wasn't allowed to think about how a spike of anger rose in him whenever Sunwoo talked about their neighbor. He wasn't allowed to think about how he was never able to watch over Sunwoo whenever he was out of their apartment. He wasn't allowed to think about what Youngjae said and did when he and Sunwoo were alone.

He wasn't allowed to find Sunwoo beautiful.

...Okay, so maybe he knew why Youngjae pissed him off so much.