Little King (Seoksoo)

Seokmin

Seokmin should really leave. Right now.

He'd been so close to killing that man. Not even biting him, feeding off him, but just beating the life out of him. But Joshua's voice had somehow cut through the murderous fog, his demon tuned in to the trembling boy more than the prey directly in front of them.

That in itself was a revelation.

The rational human side of him was aware he was in trouble—that he had his fangs fully out, his demon showing in his eyes—and that at any moment, Joshua would start screaming bloody murder and run for the hills.

But his rational human side was definitely not in charge right now.

Sweet. Honey sweet. Ours, ours, ours.

The boy was bleeding, and...that scent. It was the rich, coppery, tantalizing smell of fresh blood but also the smell of Joshua, that milk-and-honey intoxicating scent. And apparently his demon was just as captivated by Joshua's scent as the rest of him. It had barely registered the attacker scuttling away into the darkness, too focused on the boy himself, on having him in its sight.

The boy who was currently staring at Seokmin, eyes wide, looking a little fearful but mostly in shock.

"What...just happened?" Joshua's voice was barely more than a whisper.

Seokmin said the only thing he could, the only thing that mattered. "He was hurting you."

Before Seokmin knew what he was doing, he was reaching for the neck of Joshua's shirt, pulling the collar down and to the side to reveal the bleeding cut on the boy's shoulder. He couldn't stop the growl that came out of him then, his demon and him both enraged that someone had hurt their lovely boy.

He waited again for his demon to demand to chase, to kill, to finish what they'd started with the boy's attacker, or for Joshua to scream and push him away. But neither happened. The boy continued to stare at him, wide-eyed, and Seokmin's demon was focused in on the cut. Protect, soothe, lick, heal.

Seokmin could maybe, just maybe, fight that urge. Step back and let Joshua run from them. But he couldn't find it in himself to even want that. He and his demon were in agreement.

He gave in.

Before he knew it, he was leaning in and licking Joshua's cut, letting his saliva heal the wound, and the sweetest taste he'd ever known was filling his mouth.

He pulled Joshua closer, his demon growling low enough that it was practically purring, pressing the boy against himself as he licked away any traces of blood on his too-pale skin, the shallow wound already healed in moments.

He was able to keep himself from attempting to mouth out the blood that had soaked into Joshua's shirt, but just barely.

Seokmin paused, lips resting against the smooth skin of Joshua's shoulder, and waited again for the demon to demand more—more blood, biting, tearing—but it continued to simply purr its approval at having Joshua so close, the boy's taste in their mouth a reward for having protected him, healed him.

Seokmin forced himself to lift his head, leaning back slightly to look at Joshua, who was tilting his head to peer at his own shoulder. Those big brown eyes grew even wider, if that was possible.

"He sliced me. I felt it."

"Yes," Seokmin agreed.

"But the cut isn't there anymore."

"No." Unable to keep the pride from his voice, Seokmin stated simply, "I fixed it."

"With your tongue." There was a rising edge of panic in the boy's voice.