penumbra

Chap. 9 - An Intimate Dilemma

"Hongjoong" a gentle call poked and burst the bubble of tormenting thoughts that smothered his mind.

He blinked, feeling terribly confused when he noticed the jarring change of surroundings. They weren't in the alleys anymore, Hongjoong instead found himself sitting on the leathery seat of a nice, insanely expensive looking car. He was so tired from crying for so long he didn't even bother to feel embarrassed upon noticing his head resting against San's shoulder, and let out a groan as he tried to sit up and adjust himself.

"Don't let him move too much" the voice was husky, but not too deep, and sounded like the person was holding back a decent amount of frustration. "I don't want him smearing blood back there."

Hongjoong looked up and in the direction where the voice came from and merely saw a head with blonde hair that roughly reached the person's nape on the driver's seat. He wanted to twist and turn his body to see the face of whoever was driving but every limb of his just felt so heavy for him to move that much. He at least knew that it was another vampire by the smell.

"Okay, Sangie, don't worry," that was definitely Wooyoung on his other side. "Come here, Joong."

He was patiently and carefully pulled over closer to Wooyoung, being greeted by a surprisingly non-condescending smile. He cradled Hongjoong's face tenderly and it was almost comforting, really. The young vampire saw him looking elsewhere and taking one hand away to go briefly through his bag before turning back with a thick handkerchief. The older then proceeded to gently wipe the blood from his cheeks. The cotton felt so amazingly soft to the touch. "Déjà vu, right?"

Hongjoong was too worn out to keep up a brattish stance so he just laughed, dazed and giggling along with the older as he watched the black fabric that was cleaning his tainted face gradually turn darker and darker with the blood. He was feeling so weirdly clingy. Maybe it was because he'd never come out of a breakdown this smoothly. Even with Seonghwa, it had never quite happened in a way where there was so much touching being done by the other party and not having been started by him.

He realized he quite... liked it. More and more Hongjoong took note of just how much he actually craved being touched. His old aversion was truly fading, and now that he was free from all of the torture he'd been put through he really just wanted a loving touch and to be cared for. Seonghwa did take care of him as best as he could but there always seemed to be something holding him back. Of course, he was different, and came back weirdly into his friend's life. Came back wrong. Hongjoong was so sure Seonghwa could tell there was something off about him.

How could he possibly make peace with his feelings for his dear childhood friend when he'd become this monstrosity? Seonghwa would never like him back, would he...?

"Joong?" Wooyoung noticed the younger's eyes filling with tears. "Hey, what's wrong? You're safe now, there's no need to cry!"

The young vampire inhaled sharply and let out a tiny, high pitched whine in response, shuddering as the handkerchief rubbed over and cleaned his lips and chin.

"Don't just sit there and make those noises expecting me to understand what you want!" The other teased, grinning at the pout he got as an answer. "If you use your words to tell us what you need, we'll do our best to help. How does that sound, hm?"

"Woo, don't taunt him..." San demanded impatiently from the other far side of the seat.

"I'm not! I just don't wanna risk doing something that'll upset him. And sorry I didn't clean you before you woke up, dear. I didn't wanna disturb you while you were unconscious."

Hongjoong appreciated hearing those words, especially after the first insistent, cocky impression he'd gotten from him, but now it was just so hard to actually verbalize what was on his mind anyways. He felt so floaty and heavy at the same time, and the way Wooyoung kept lovingly caressing his cheek with his thumb was only sinking him deeper into that, especially while simultaneously rubbing the handkerchief over his lips with his other hand. Some enigmatic feeling creeped up on Hongjoong and before he realized he was already staring at Wooyoung's mouth. He was so close... It just seemed right.