Highness (Jeongcheol)

Jeonghan

Jeonghan took a small sip of his vodka soda. It wasn't his drink of choice, but he didn't trust this place to make him anything more complicated than that. The bar definitely wasn't one of his usual haunts, with its surly staff and tasteless collection of neon signs advertising mediocre beer brands. But he was trying to keep as far away from Joshua's house as he could without leaving city limits.

He'd been drinking and flirting his way through this part of town all night. It should have been fun—it might have been in the past—but mostly it was just...tedious. There was no heart to the flirting. No real intention. Not even for the sake of hunting.

Jeonghan's inner vamp was still only interested in one particular prey.

It wasn't like Jeonghan had suddenly stopped liking to go out—dancing and flirting with Seungcheol at his side had been all kinds of delightful. He'd relished getting to study his human's reactions to Jeonghan, to other men. And then the incredible satisfaction at being the one to take him home at the end of the night. But Seungcheol was at his stupid work.

With Myungho there for added protection, of course.

Theoretically it should have been Jeonghan with him, but Jeonghan was hoping to avoid drawing attention to his human—if Hendrick hadn't gotten a close look at Seungcheol that night, then it would be best for them not to be seen together. And while Myungho wouldn't be much of a defense against Hendrick, he was still stronger than any human and would hopefully be able to stall Hendrick enough for Jeonghan to get there.

At least, that was what Jeonghan hoped. He worried he was putting an awful lot of stock in Myungho's loyalty to him, considering this was Myungho's first time away from that fucking den. He caught himself biting at his fingernails and tucked his free hand under his thigh, annoyed at his own nervous tell.

Was Jeonghan making a mistake? But Myungho had always hated Hendrick. He could never understand why Hendrick took such delight in hurting Jeonghan, why he didn't take more care with him, like Vee had for Myungho. Jeonghan was counting on that hatred to help his old friend hold strong.

He took another sip of his drink. It would be okay. Seungcheol would be okay.

And Myungho had been more than happy to help, sweetheart that he was. Moreover, he was nonthreatening and adorable enough that Seungcheol had been pretty sure Myungho could get away with hanging around the hospital cafeteria all night without drawing too much suspicion.

Jeonghan was trying very hard not to feel bitter about it all. At how easily Seungcheol and Myungho interacted. He was painfully aware this was all his own trauma-induced bullshit. Seungcheol had done more than his fair share in reassuring him, both verbally and in other ways, that he liked Jeonghan just as he was. And he wasn't being subtle about it—having Myungho around apparently did absolutely nothing to stop Seungcheol from wanting to touch and hold Jeonghan all the time.

And Jeonghan was having a hard time even pretending to be annoyed by it. He liked being touched by his human. Liked being held by his human.

Jeonghan had never thought he could be so content stuck in the same boring house for days. But Seungcheol had a way of making staying still easy, for the first time in Jeonghan's lengthy existence.

Jeonghan toyed with his straw, trying to push thoughts of his human away. There was an even better reason to send Myungho in his stead. Hendrick may have been jealous in the past, but his obsession was still very much with Jeonghan. If Seungcheol had to leave the house, Jeonghan wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

Even better if Jeonghan could draw Hendrick out himself.

He'd tried calling the same number he'd been receiving all those goddamn texts from, but either Hendrick had blocked him or he'd already dropped whatever burner he'd been using to taunt Jeonghan. Another aspect of his pointless mind games, no doubt. Don't call me; I'll call you.