Little King (Seoksoo)

Joshua

Joshua once again found himself at his kitchen counter, Seokmin placing food in front of him. Plain toast this time.

"Eat," Seokmin urged. "It will soak up the alcohol. Settle your stomach."

Joshua didn't feel like he needed anything to soak up the alcohol—turned out surprise murder did wonders in sobering a person up—but it was true his stomach was roiling at thinking of the mutilated body Jeonghan had shown them. It wasn't the gore itself—Joshua had seen plenty bad enough at the hospital—but the fact that the corpse's face had been familiar.

His would-be mugger.

When the police came, Seokmin had urged him not to mention his connection to the body. "No one but us knows what happened the other night. No need to get yourself further involved for no reason," he'd counseled.

So Joshua—along with Jeonghan, Seungcheol, and Seokmin—had answered their questions about his role in finding the body honestly but had offered up nothing else about his history with the dead man.

Still, Joshua had to ask, as Seokmin drove his car back to his house, if Seokmin had anything to do with the man's death. Seokmin, expression bank, seemingly unsurprised and unfazed by the question, had looked him in his eyes and said he hadn't killed the man. That he'd never even tried to track him down after that night.

And Joshua had believed him. Just like that.

Did that make him stupid? Putting so much trust in a man—a vampire—he'd just met? Probably. And that should almost definitely worry him. But for whatever reason, it didn't. Just further proof you're a dummy, dummy.

Seungcheol had almost insisted on coming home with them, catching on quickly that there was more to the situation than anyone was telling him, but when he'd seemed about to argue with Joshua's refusal, Jeonghan—Seokmin's stupidly handsome vampire friend—had stepped in.

"I agree. You should come," he'd purred, eyes glinting, lips stretched in that maniacal smile he seemed to have permanently etched on his face. "I might get scared just remembering the whole grisly experience and need someone to hold me in the night."

Seungcheol had immediately backed down, mumbling about everyone going home and getting some sleep. Joshua had never seen him so easily intimidated by anyone. He'd seen his brother hold his own with men built like linebackers, yet this svelte blond supermodel of a vampire seemed to scare the living daylights out of him with no effort at all.

Was it petty of Joshua to find that hilarious?

In the end, Jeonghan hadn't come back with him and Seokmin either. He'd said he'd needed to feed, whispering to Seokmin something about searching for someone as he made his way out.

Seokmin set a steaming mug in front of Joshua, bringing his mind back to the present.

"I didn't even know I had tea." Joshua's voice sounded hollow to his own ears.

"I purchased some for you." Seokmin was eyeing him with concern, as if he would break at any moment.

Well, Joshua was made of tougher stuff than that. He gave himself a shake and smiled genuinely at Seokmin.

"Thank you for the groceries. I didn't get a chance to say it, with my whole 'drunk ranting about phone numbers' thing. It was very sweet of you to do that for me."

Seokmin just nodded once, watching Joshua with the same intensity he always did. "I like doing things for you. It...soothes me. Soothes my demon too. To take care of you."

Joshua felt a lump forming in his throat at Seokmin's admission. How long had it been since someone had wanted to take care of him? He suddenly seemed on the verge of tears.