Your Vanilla Scent (Junhao)

Jun

Dinner wasn't nearly as awkward as Jun had feared.

With the minor inquisition—What are your intentions? Who's mated to fucking who?—out of the way, it seemed like the group was content to proceed with the night as usual, chatting with one another easily.

Myungho—seated next to Jun at the dining room table—was quieter than Jun had come to expect when it was just the two of them in a room, but he seemed content enough, gazing at his friends happily, eating more food than his small frame should ever be able to accommodate.

No one seemed to expect Jun to talk much, which suited him just fine, especially with such an incredible meal before him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten so well, weirdly enough (were there vampire cooking show hosts as well?).

Although, Jun still had...questions.

Mate. Mates. Mated pairs. Fated mates.

How did one go from being a boyfriend to being a mate? It was incredibly fucking important that Jun find out, preferably yesterday. But the fate part of it was throwing him for a loop. Did that mean Myungho had a mate out there already? Was Jun just...filler? Prepping Myungho, giving him a taste of sex and romance, only for someone else to take him away permanently further down the line?

Jun hated the idea, so much so that his generally steel-lined stomach started churning well before they got to dessert. Why the fuck couldn't he be Myungho's mate? He'd be the most devoted mate there ever was, given the chance.

And no, the irony didn't escape him. The fact that he'd only just recently risked it all, blown up his entire life to be free of family obligation, to avoid a future of permanent fealty to his brother. Only to be ready, less than two months later, to swear eternal devotion to the pint-size barista with a traumatic past and very specific dietary needs.

Jun couldn't find it in himself to care though. Because Ivan? Ivan was a toxic, power-obsessed asshole of the highest level, molded to be so by their complete dick of a father. And Myungho? Myungho was everything good and right and wonderful, somehow remaining so even after centuries of horrific influence.

So yes, Jun would be fucking thrilled to be mated to Myungho.

But Myungho would have told him, wouldn't he, if that were the case? The little guy was an open book, a large-print picture book at that. He didn't exactly seem the type to keep many secrets at all, let alone a massive one like a fated, vampiric bond with each other.

One big question did make its way out of Jun during the first real lull in the conversation, his practical side unable to keep holding it in. "What will you all do ten or twenty years from now? When none of you age?"

It was Joshua who answered his question, after sharing a look with Seokmin. "We'll leave," he said simply. "All together. Find somewhere remote to spend some decades, until enough time has passed to join society again. Somewhere new though, obviously. A different country most likely."

Jun looked to Myungho, who was helping himself to a fifth portion of chicken. "And...you'll go as well?"

Myungho flushed, shifting in his chair. "I'm not— Well..."

"Of course you will," Joshua protested, his voice infused with a sincere warmth. "You and, um, well...any companions you might have. Mingyu and Wonwoo will come too, I think."

Jun had no idea who those two were, but the other three vampires around the table—Myungho excluded—started protesting immediately.

Joshua only shook his head, a stubborn set to his features. "They're our friends. We're putting petty differences aside in the future. For the future."