Promise (Ateez au)

Chapter XVIII

He had to talk to his hyung and no matter how hard he tried to deny it, he also did it for Hongjoong. The silver-haired man cared too much about Yunho, and that's why he's like this now. Distancing himself from the older would be best, but Mingi knew Hongjoong could never do that. Hongjoong hadn't been treating him badly or anything, but ever since he killed the person who was like a father to him, he couldn't bring himself to being nice to him. It had hurt him deeply, seeing the lifeless body of his hyung laying there. He knew he had tried to fight until the very end, but that fight, he lost. He missed him every day and he couldn't lose Yunho too. Both Jongho and Yunho were like his parents, while Hongjoong was that annoying ex that was trying to keep them apart. Not that Yunho and Hongjoong ever dated to his knowledge. Except for that one kiss they shared, he was sure nothing happened between them.

Mingi was scared to see his hyung. He knew what state he was in, but also knew that it was nothing like he had ever seen before. He knew it would be dangerous to go in there, but no one could change his mind. Yunho would never in a million years hurt him. He had promised that.

"Don't do it." He heard San's voice behind him, before harshly getting smacked against the wall.

"What the fuck, San?!" He knew his eyes had turned red, just like the ones that were staring at him with hidden anger.

"I told you not to go in there. I've said it many times already, but still you won't listen!" Mingi got scared by the way San was behaving. He should've seen it coming, but he wished it wasn't true.

"Know your place. Don't you ever forget who saved your life a year ago! If it wasn't for me-"

"Do you really think I'm thankful?" A fake laugh escaped his mouth. To Mingi, it looked like San had gone insane. The look in his eyes, his behavior ... He regrets turning San, because he realised the monster he had created. "Thank you, for letting me go through hell. Thank you, for making me lose Wooyoung. Again. And thank you, for not letting me die peacefully when I wanted to."

"Shut up. It's not my fault Wooyoung's not here right now. You made him upset. Neither me, Yeosang or anyone else but you has anything to do with that." Mingi knew he was dangerously close to making San fully snap. And if he did, he probably wouldn't survive it. San was extremely strong, but hopefully still believed there was only one way to kill a vampire. That would be by silver or using their weakness against them. Starving was another one, but San seemed to not know that.

"Fuck off, okay? This is my last warning." San hissed, turning his back to Mingi. He was lucky he made it out without a fight. San was clearly holding himself back, maybe scared if Wooyoung would find out. The lack of control of the younger scared Mingi. He had talked about his worries with Yunho before, but he has other things he should worry about right now.

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A sudden knock on the door made his eyes widen. He tried to hold himself back, but had already crawled towards the door. He was so close to scratching his nails on the door, already having left quite a few marks on there, but was just able to hold himself back.

"Hyung, can I come in? I want to talk?" The soft, but deep voice entered Yunho's ears. His hunting instinct quickly took over. He had to control himself for a moment in order to get that fresh blood he was longing for. Of course he wasn't thinking straight anymore, only one thought going through his head. Blood and hunger were the only things he could think about. He had gone too far and he couldn't go back now. He was bringing his loved ones in danger, but couldn't change anything about it.

The door slowly and hesitantly opened, revealing a slightly scared Mingi. He looked at his hyung sitting on the ground next to the door opening and Yunho looked back, a smile plastered on his face.

"Mingi, I'm so happy to see you! You know, it's quite annoying that you're all thinking I can't control myself anymore when I'm clearly perfectly in charge of what I'm doing."

Step 1: make the prey comfortable. Don't let them feel you're seeing them as a prey or they'll run.

"You don't sound like yourself, hyung. Is something wrong?" The fear that Mingi was radiating became more clear. Yunho had to make him feel comfortable in order to go to the next step. His hunger was already taking over again, making it harder to go against him changing. It took a lot of his energy to keep those eyes from going pink again, but he had to fight against it.

"Mingi, I'm just very happy to see you! Here, let's sit down so we can talk comfortably." His plan on getting him out of that door opening was working. Mingi was slowly making his way to the bed, but wasn't ready to let his guard down yet. "You know I care a lot about you, right? I would never hurt you. You didn't forget that, did you?" He knew those words were going to make him relax, and he did. A soft smile appeared on Mingi's face.

"I know, hyung. I know you'd never hurt any of us. It's just that none of us have ever seen you like this and it's just a bit weird because we don't know what you'll do or not do."

"There's no reason to be scared of me, right? Have I ever hurt you before?"

Step 2: approach your prey.

He softly put his hand on Mingi's thigh, hoping it would reassure him that he wouldn't hurt him. But it turned out the opposite.

"I think it's better if we talk another time." Mingi quickly said, standing up immediately after the sudden touch.

"Mingi-" Yunho grabbed the younger's wrist, unconciously letting his nails dig in his skin. He hadn't noticed that they had grown again, but Mingi sure did.

"Hyung-" His eyes grew big, quick steps were taking backwards.

Step 3: Attack.

A hiss escaped Yunho's mouth and his pink eyes were looking dangerously, and hungrily, at the younger.

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Hi! I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise of updating regularly, but I'll try to go back to my updates on Sunday. Everything school related has ended for 2.5 weeks now and I feel relieved. I know it's April Fools today or tomorrow, but I'm not going to participate in that because I've been clowned by Atiny on Instagram way too much already ... And it's still 31st March 😭
I hope you're all doing okay and are taking care of yourself ♥️