Drain me [SKZ fanfiction] Lee Felix

A little peek into their lore.

Chris canceled their Friday movie night. Again... She shouldn't even be surprised at this point, but it still hurts her a little.
She tried to sound indifferent to it on the phone but probably let a tiny bit of disappointment shine through her voice as he promised her to come visit as soon as possible.
Before meeting Jisung and Felix she would've cooped herself up with her misery. Probably read a good book to get her thoughts off to prevent herself spiraling or browse through the internet in search of something to occupy her time with.
Now she still has something to look forward to, so she uses the time to thoroughly clean the living room and kitchen. Her Friday evening is now a relaxed one with music filling the room and her humming along whilst wiping dust from corners she hasn't cleaned in probably a year. It feels good.
Saturday morning she takes her time making breakfast which ends up being her brunch as around half past one there is knocking on her front door.
She rolls her eyes, knowing both vampires can just come in whenever they want, but opens the front door with her eyebrow lifted.
"Using formalities all of a sudden?" she grins at them and both vampires shrug at her.
"We brought snacks!" Jisung happily chirps, holding a backpack up which he unpacks in her kitchen. "Do you guys prefer salty or sweet popcorn?" he asks.
"Sweet."
"Sweet."
Lorey and Felix look at each other and grin whilst Jisung exhales out loud and drops back the microwavable popcorn bag with the salty variant.
"Well, good thing I got like eighty percent sweet things. Why is there never someone preferring salty popcorn?"
Lorey helps him pop the bag into the microwave and sets the timer whilst also grabbing three mugs to get them some tea.
"Salty popcorn is only tasty in one way—," she starts off.
"Oh oh!" Jisung interrupts. "Felix, say what you've said to me in the store!"
She curiously awaits his answer and Felix sighs before saying; "When combined with caramel."
Jisung looks back at her with lifted eyebrows and a big smile. "You were thinking the same, right?" he chirps.
Lorey blinks twice before pouring hot water into the mugs. "Felix, are vampires able to read people's minds?" she asks without looking up.
"Nah," he answers. "We're pretty good with reading body language after time passes. This was literally me saying my preferences."
The microwave beeps and Jisung quickly grabs the bowl she hands him to pour in the popped kernels, wafting the sweet aroma around the room.
"Yeah, what's up with still being able to taste things?" she says, handing Felix his mug he takes with both hands, not bothered by the scorching hot ceramic.
"Those—," she nods to the collection of cliché vampire movies she had gathered for her supposed movie night with Chris. " —All say food should taste bad as the supremeness of blood should numb out mere human food and whatnot. So, how does that work?"
Felix looks at Jisung who seems eager to start off. Felix will fill in where his explanations will be incomplete and Jisung likes that he can at least try to show his human friend what he knows.
"It's not that food tastes repulsive," he eagerly explains. "It's just that we either throw it up a few hours later or get sick for a few days after trying to digest it with a non functioning digestive system. It takes a lot -and I'm not joking when I say a lot- of energy for us to eat and drink. I think the repulsive thing comes with sickness and puking. I mean, name an alcoholic drink that made you vomit in your teenage years."
He looks at her for an answer and she instantly shivers thinking back to the first time she barfed after one too many shots of Malibu. Pure, straight from the glass instead of mixed up, because teenagers aren't the wisest.
"See? It's the same for us. You'll develop an aversion to things making you sick."
"And you're still wanting to have a snack party? Because—," she scrunches her nose at both of them.
"Wasn't done yet! Either to blend in with sociëty or because this generation thought it would be fun we're still able to eat and drink. I for one love to taste things!"
Felix steps in when he sees Jisung looking at him, not knowing what else to say.
"The only thing that changed with our taste buds is that we get used to the taste of blood so we prefer it over normal food. But blood also has different tastes depending on a variëty of things. You've witnessed it first hand."
Lorey knows he means her feeding Chris with the blood she took from the bodies at her work.
"But—," she's not sure if she should ask her question, knowing she's about to pinpoint a rather touchy subject. But seeing Felix nodding slightly at her to just ask, she gatherers her breath. "You said it costs a lot of energy, right?" she looks at Jisung who nods. "Does that mean you need fresh blood to be able to digest? Just like with closing wounds?" Her gaze is fixed on her hands which are tightly pressed around the bowl of popcorn. "Did you have to feed because of the snacks?"
There, she asked.
Both vampires glance over at each other. Felix already knows how Jisung feeds, but the lad doesn't know about him, thus making both a little apprehensive with answering.
"You're not obligated to tell me," Felix says to Jisung who shuffles in his seat.
"For me—," Felix looks over to her. "I don't need to feed that often. I can go a good three to five weeks without needing blood. Last time was three weeks ago and before you go worrying you've troubled me every time you offer me a cup of tea, drinking isn't as draining as eating. So don't go blame yourself for something you didn't know." Now he looks over to Jisung who's contemplating if he'll tell Lorey or not.
"Promise me you won't laugh or cringe," he asks Lorey with big, pleading eyes. She keeps silent and gives him space to say whatever he wants.
Jisung takes a big gulp of air. "After my dad met my step mom, we never fed from other humans. I haven't bitten anyone beside her for over the last eighteen years."
He gets flustered when he looks up to Lorey who subconsciously rubs over her wrist whilst balancing the bowl of popcorn on her knees. "My step mom is our donor if we really need it and my dad has some other connections where he gets bagged blood from. I-I got her permission to feed earlier so I could hang out with you guys."
His eyes are downcasted to the floor and he looks so small Lorey could mistake his behavior for that of a five year old with his slumped shoulders and crossed legs. She swallows thickly to get the uncomfortable lump out of her throat, glancing over to Felix who doesn't show any emotion on his face.
"I'm... not sure at what part I should laugh or cringe," she eventually says.
Jisung whines and now looks her straight in the eye. "Oh come on!" he pouts. "I played all big and dangerous while I'm nothing more than a mommy feeder and a coward!"
That makes her chuckle a little and she quickly places the popcorn bowl in Felix's hands before grasping Jisung's hands.
"All I can say is I'm honored you set aside your pride so you can enjoy these human things," she assures him. "And your mom is a badass for keeping two vampires alive whilst also caring for Hyuna. She must be the toughest human alive!"
Felix lays a hand on Jisung's shoulder. "She definitely is in my book. And so are you. Not hunting and killing isn't so easy for our kind. I could know."
Jisung smiles at both of them and with a small glance at Felix asks; "Are you still hunting and killing humans?"
They both see how Felix smiles weakly, taking a moment to gather his thoughts before answering.
"Sometimes," he eventually says. "But I try to fill time with feeding off of animals."
Jisung's face immediately scowls and Lorey tilts her head to him and asks what's wrong with that.
"It's frowned upon," Felix explains, not minding Jisung's facial expression. "It doesn't taste particularly good and is something of old times where it had to be done when the human population shrank and our food sources ran low with that. The youngsters in our generation see it as weak and unworthy."
Jisung quickly holds up his hands. "I don't think you're that!" he defends. "I just can't understand how you're able to feed off animals. Maybe I really am too young of a vampire for it, but the last time I tried sucking out a cow I felt sick for a whole week! I rather eat a three course meal and puke that out twice than ever drink from an animal again. You oldies have weird genes."
Felix shrugs and pops a handful of the popcorn into his mouth, offering some to Lorey who chuckles and takes a hand out of it to nibble on.
"Still, it makes me feel a little guilty. Not only towards you guys, but also to—," she bites her lip and thinks back to all the time she forcefeeded Chris in the beginning of their discovery. He never complained once whenever they hunted down a small animal for him to feed from and he definitely must've known the difference in taste as he had tasted her blood. Gosh, she's been such a let down, she thinks to herself.
"Hey," Felix gets her out of her thoughts. "I see you thinking. You didn't have the knowledge like we do. Don't blame yourself. He should've told you eating made him feel sick or that animal blood tastes pretty vile."

They abandon the vampire talk for now and focus on more daily topics to cheer each other up. After telling Lorey they surely would be fine with eating more snacks aside from popcorn she gives in and enjoys the variation Jisung has brought with him. They make a game out of who can catch the most gummy bears with their mouth when thrown at them and they debate which cookie flavor is the best. Lorey is genuinely enjoying her time with the two and manages again to let go of her stern facade in favor of goofing around with the two of them.
"This one time, I had a—," She halts mid sentence when out of nowhere Chris appears in her hallway, stumbling a bit over the two extra pairs of shoes on the ground.
"What the— Lorey?" he loudly calls her name.
She frowns and stands up, meeting him halfway as he walks into the living room and immediately stiffens when he notices she has company.
"Hi Chris," she greets him casually. "Wasn't expecting you this quick. I've got some friends over. This is Felix and—,"
"Yeah, I know Han," he interrupts her, pulling her on her arm a little back so he can speak to her a little more privately.
She blinks at his sudden behavior and leans into what he wants to tell her.
"Why are you here with a damn vampire?" he almost hisses at her. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from them? He's dangerous!"
She can't believe her ears and scoffs out loud. "No he's not," she retorts at him. "Who are you to judge? Do you know him?"
Chris frowns at her and looks over at the two at the couch who are both looking at them with questioning faces.
"Yeah I do! And that's not important. He's a vampire and you're in danger just sitting here with him!"
She pulls her arm out of his grasp and places her hands on her hips, not caring if the others can hear their conversation.
"Chris, you're being awfully rude," she remarks. "I've met Jisung a few months ago and he is not -and I repeat- not in any way a danger to me. We're friends."
Chris cringes when she says the last words and angrily stares at Jisung who's slowly rising from his seat.
"You're in my territory, again," he grumbles to the young vampire who clearly is feeling the hostility towards him.
"Chris!" Lorey warns him, but he's not listening.
"I-I am just visiting," Jisung tries to explain.
Chris steps towards him, but before he can say anything, Felix interrupts him.
"And he got permission from her himself," he says in a dangerously low tone towards Chris. "He is not feeding or hunting in your territory, so he's free to go and stay wherever he wants."
Chris blinks twice at his words and scoffs at him. "And who is this random human?" he says, not even looking away from Felix who looks back with a bored expression on his face.
"He's not—," she starts, but Felix gives out a laugh and tilts his head cocky towards Chris.
"A random human you say?" Felix's eyes show a spark of amusement and Lorey is low key scared of what he will do.
Chris rolls his eyes at him and then points towards Jisung.
"I want you out of here," he says, turning towards Lorey again. "Lor, please listen. You don't know anything about us. I don't want you to be in danger."
'Us'. The word tastes stale on her tongue. He's doing it again. Her best friend is ostracizing her from gaining knowledge about what he is.
"Wow, good job leaving her in the dark," Felix scoffs at him and Chris turns around to see Felix still sitting on the couch with his arms crossed.
"What?" he snarls, but Felix rolls his eyes at him, slouching down some more on the couch.
"For a protector, you're pretty shitty," Felix muses. "What? You think by not telling her anything she simply won't be in danger? What do you know about vampires anyway?"
Lorey opens and closes her mouth, not knowing what to say to keep Felix from provoking Chris. Meanwhile Jisung is fiddling with the hem of his shirt, looking from Chris to Felix. Where is his normal stubbornness or cocky demeanor when it comes to Chris?
"Felix, you don't have to—," Jisung mumbles.
"What about it, mate?" Chris cocks his head towards Felix. "Are you blinded by him as well? All talk about knowing rules huh? That dipshit in fact did feed in my territory, so I have all the rights to send him away."
Lorey's heart sinks and her face pales as she makes eye contact with Jisung who looks at her with the same panic displayed on his face.
"I saw you splash that stupid flask of holy water all over yourself and saw you walking around the next day as if nothing happened at all! First of all, you made your sister worry like crazy and second, vampires can't heal that quick without fresh blood and you never left my territory." He turns back to Lorey and grabs her by her arms. "Please Lorebee, you have to listen to me. I want you to stay as far away from him as possible. He's an egocentric, dumb bloodsucker who just likes to mess with humans for his own pleasure. Just tell him to get out of your house."
She's stunned with the sudden words of her friend and looks at him, trying to process his words.
"I-I got permission," Jisung mutters at Chris with balled fists and a trembling lip. "I know I was stupid for messing with holy water a-and I talked to Hyuna about it afterwards. I'm not— I won't harm Lorey in any way."
Chris scoffs again and tries to push Lorey a little behind him as if protecting her from the 'dangerous' vampire in the room. She stumbles a little and swats his arm away.
"Chris, You're being ridiculous," she huffs, only for him to silence her with a; "Not now, Lor."
Not now? Is he for real? She's not some little kid he can put in a time out so he can have his 'very adult' talk with his opponent.
"I don't care if you got permission or if you talked to Hyuna. I want you out of our sight."
"Or else?" Felix snickers without even looking at him.
This fuels Chris's anger only more before staring at the laid back person on the couch.
"Stop interfering. This is something between that sucker and me," he says.
"Woah, stop right there!" Lorey ducks under his arm and steps in front of Chris, finally snapping out of her confusion and regaining her senses.
"This is between you and me in the first place," she points at herself and Chris. "Why are you barging in in my home, talking to my friends only to get angry to the point you're down for a fight with somebody who didn't even do anything in the first place!"
Chris frowns at her and lowers his arms as he stares at her in disbelief.
"Are you seriously defending that leech?" he jeers.
She crosses her arms and frowns back at him.
"Are you seriously badmouthing my friends?" she retorts.
"Lorey, don't be blind. You know nothing about him and here you are chilling with a vampire in your own goddam house!"
She is so done with him right now. "And why do you think that is?" she spats at him. "All you do is keep me in the dark under the pretense of protecting. Jisung at least speaks to me!"
Chris laughs at her and she can feel her blood slowly coming to a bowl.
"Is this about me canceling on you yesterday? For your good measures, I was out patrolling my territory, because some random vampire decided to wander in and out of it without me knowing when he'll hunt my friends down!" His gaze once again lays on Jisung who seems to want to dig a hole in the ground to hide in. Lorey isn't having it and gathers his attention back to her again.
"And instead of simply telling me, all I get is a sad call saying you're busy and then you show up out of nowhere to belittle who I'm with! Chris, wake up! You can't control who I befriend."
They both fall silent for a moment, having a stare off which ends in Chris growling out loud and throwing his hands in the air.
"Why are you this stubborn?!" he yells.
"Why are you such an asshole?!" she yells back.
He glances a last time at Jisung before looking back at Lorey who isn't gonna give in any time soon.
"Ugh— You know what?! Fine!" Chris grunts before turning around. "I don't have time for this," she hears him mumble.
"Christopher!" she almost yells at him, stepping towards him to hit him with the first item she can find, only for him to disappear into thin air, leaving her with the remote control of the TV in her hands.
"Oh my god!" she frustratedly groans. "Why is he so insufferable!" She slams the item in her hand back on the table and stomps her foot angrily on the ground letting out another annoyed grunt.
"Fucking— Okay, Lorey. Breathe." She inhales deeply, calming herself down and counting to ten in her head. When was the last time she felt this angry? More specifically, so angry at Chris? It wasn't about him letting her down for the umpteenth time in a few months. It was because he doubted her whole being by saying her friend isn't to be trusted.
She turns around to the two, seeing Jisung awkwardly staring at her and Felix holding in his laughter.
"I'm sorry you two had to witness that," she apologizes towards them.
Jisung immediately waves his hands and tells her he gets it, asking her if she's okay.
"I'm fine," she mutters in one breath. "He can be so... so—,"
"Clueless?" Felix chuckles, gaining a whine from her.
"Oh my god, you! You were such a menace, Felix! Why did you have to provoke him that way!"
Felix can't help but snicker through this guilty look he gives her. "Can't help he's too stupid to recognize Jisung isn't the only vampire around."
This gains Jisung's attention. "Did he really not notice anything about you?" he asks with a small voice.
Lorey looks at Felix who slowly stands up to gather their mugs for a refill. She notices how normal Felix indeed looks whilst doing the mundane task. With Jisung she had known from the beginning he wasn't a human. It was his nails and lack of breathing that gave him away. But with Felix she never looked at him that well.
She knew, because he was the man with the low voice, hiding in the dark. She knew he was a vampire, because he told her so. But now she's looking at his back, she can't find a single thing about him looking even slightly suspicious.
"He didn't notice, because I didn't show him anything," Felix lightly notes, picking new tea bags out of her collection and asking them which ones they want. He looks so relaxed, not phased at all by what happened.
"Mango," Jisung quickly answers, before walking over to help him fill up the mugs with water. He's still a bit antsy, but relaxes as he tries to take in Felix's demeanor.
"I only noticed because you stepped out of the shadows, but now you mention. You are really good at hiding your features."
Lorey can feel how her worries about the outburst she had with Chris dissipates in the air with the curious new topic they embrace. She quickly walks over to them grabbing her mug and together they sit down again on her couch.
"It's a perk of being this old," Felix sighs, keeping his scorching mug in his hands again while Lorey has to put it down on the table to cool down as soon as she sits.
"Can I touch your hand?" she asks, surprising Felix with her sudden request.
He stretches out one hand and she deliberately touches the back of his hand first.
"Jisung?" she asks, also stretching her hand out towards him.
Jisung snickers when she shivers upon touching his skin. "He's able to fake a body temperature, right?" he asks Lorey who releases Jisung's hand but keeps holding onto Felix's. She's observing his hand and when she looks up she points at his cheeks.
"You're blushing as well," she calmly states.
"You should check his ears and neck!" Jisung pesters him as he's leaning a bit back to see the red creeping up the vampire's spine.
"Oi!" Felix retracts his hand from her grip to cover the back of his neck and glare at Jisung. Jisung grins at him whilst Lorey scoots closer to Felix, fascinated by her discoveries.
"Can you open your mouth?" she asks, not giving Felix any time to object.
She worms her index and middle finger over his lower lip and lower teeth to get him to open his jaws so she can see if she can spot anything remotely looking like fangs.
"Aw," she pouts, not finding any and releasing his lip.
Felix is too stunned to talk and Jisung nudges him in his side whilst holding back a laugh when he sees the flustered stage the girl brought him in.
"Can you see mine?" Jisung asks her, opening his mouth widely for her and even pulling up his upper lip.
"Nope," she says after examining, giving Felix the time to come down from his stumped state. "Are there more features vampires can hide?"
Jisung nods and points at Felix. "Skintone, temperature, fangs, nails, eye color, blushing, breathing, ears and even his scent. All things he mastered to hide over the years probably."
She blinks rapidly, trying to picture the boy in front of her with all those things different from their current state and Felix averts his gaze when he notices her intense stare.
"I've seen Chris before," she mumbles under her breath, getting him to look back up to her while now she averts her eyes. She can't help it. She wants to stay angry at the other right now, but at the same time, her mind wanders off to him even if she doesn't want to.
He was never scary to her. Even with the blood red eyes, nails formed like claws and his fangs, hissing at her the first time she saw him after feeding, Chris was never something she found herself to be afraid of. He is much scarier being just angry without all his vampire features.
"Can you show me?" she softly asks Felix who stares at her with something like understanding. Or maybe even a little pity? She's not sure what he sees when looking at her.
"I rather not," he answers, disappointing her a little. "Maybe Jisung can?" he averts to their friend who shyly nods and opens his mouth again. She observes how the gums around his canines wobble a little as if something wrinkles beneath the surface before two pointier canines break through the flesh and point down. It doesn't even take a second and with another second they retract as if they weren't there at all. All she can bring out is a slow 'wow'.
Jisung licks with his tongue over his teeth and then points at his eyes. Felix shuffles a little and she can feel how he goes sitting behind her. Before she can ask, she sees how Jisung's eyes turn from their deep brown color to an almost ruby red. His gaze is mesmerizing and the red gets brighter and deeper until a pair of hands fold over her own, pulling her back a little.
"And this is why I'm not showing you," Felix almost whispers in her ear.
She shivers with his deep voice before he releases his hands and is faced with an awkward Jisung.
"Gazing comes with the eye color change," he explains. "It's meant to lure in prey. Mine isn't that strong, because I have no clue how to do it properly. Not every human is prone to it, but seeing your face, you were. Or maybe it's because I've fed on you before. I don't know."
She wrecks her brain if she ever lost herself in Chris's eyes whenever they were that red, but she can't remember.
"Thanks by the way, Felix. That was a smart move," she hears Jisung say to Felix who is already sitting back in his previous pose. "So, what's next? You've already seen the nails, so the ears?"
Jisung folds his hands behind them and within a moment she can see how the tips form from round to little pointy tips. She can't help but giggle at the sight and he wiggles them around with his fingers.
"Freaky, right? They look more like tiny elf ears. You know? Those little Santa helpers."
She can't help but agree and he lets them disappear after that.
After some other simple tricks Jisung can show her she huffs and lets herself fall back into the couch, slightly touching Felix's shoulder in the process.
"I can't understand why he's so adamant about not telling me these things," she nags. "They're fascinating!"
"Well, they are because we're showing it," Jisung carefully says. "I don't agree with your friend, but he is right in wanting to protect you."
Felix next to her also hums in agreement. "Not all vampires are nice," he almost whispers with his gaze far off in the distance.
"Doesn't mean he shouldn't tell you anything, let alone choose your own friends, but I think basic knowledge can only be helpful in these cases. We taught Hyuna all of these things as soon as she was old enough to understand," Jisung explains.
All three of them stay silent. Only her grumbling stomach interrupts their thoughts and Lorey groans at her embarrassing sounds. The other two laugh at it and tell her to make some real food for herself as it's already dinnertime with how much they've talked.
After eating, playing some simple card games and chatting some more they say their goodbyes, leaving Lorey alone to go to bed.
All the things she learned today are swirling around in her brain when she brushes her teeth. Maybe she can gather enough courage to meet Chris and talk things out. She doesn't want to stay angry at him and rather have her best friend back. Yeah, a good night of sleep should help her.