Bad Blood [NoRenMin] ✔

33

After being offered the room to stay for as long as he wished, Jaemin felt obligated to repay in some way and that is how he found himself working alongside Taeyong behind the counter. He had to admit that it was a little weird, seeing people from a different perspective. Contrary to his beliefs regarding bars, a lot of the people he found himself serving were much nicer than expected.

He hasn't returned to his room since the confrontation with Renjun; the only time he did was to fetch some of his clothes. The only other time he set foot on campus was to attend his classes. He spoke to Jisung, kept in touch with Haechan but never once did he go into the countless texts Renjun left him. Whenever he thought about it, his chest hurt and he wanted to smack himself.

It's midday and Jaemin just took on his shift when Jisung walks in, grinning at him like he just received the biggest reward in history. He takes a seat, and it's the first time Jaemin manages to actually take in all of Jisung since the last time they were face to face which was definitely the last bar meeting.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Bartender," Jisung says and his grin only seems to widen, which Jaemin didn't think was possible.

"What will it be?" Jaemin queries, unaffected by the choice of nickname. At this point, he expected teasing from Jisung every once in a while.

"The usual," he replies easily. Leaning forward, Jisung's eyes narrow as his grin disappears. Despite being aware of the fact that he was being analyzed, he proceeds in pouring the drink. He places the glass in front of Jisung and leans forward on his elbow, resting his chin against the palm of his hand.

"Say what you want to say, Jisung." Jaemin smiles. He's been expecting this encounter for a while and though they spoke over the phone, Jaemin managed to easily dodge whatever conversation they were about to have; the chances that Renjun being a vampire remained a secret between him, Xiaojun and the others were far too small to be contenders.

"You knew I was going to say something?" Jisung queries with a whine in his voice. He looks disappointed at being called out.

"You're making the face."

"What face? I have a face?"

"Your expressions differ. So, yes, you have a face," Jaemin replies smoothly enough. He tilts his head to the side. "So what is it you want to say?"

There's a blur of silence between the two and only when Jisung moves back into his seat does the silence shatter. "I ran into Renjun the other day," he starts. "He was looking for you," he continues softly. Rather than maintaining eye contact, Jaemin can barely look at him. He wished it didn't have to come to Renjun being spoken about. In truth, he wanted to avoid the topic for as long as possible. If this were as long as it could have been, he feels disappointed in whatever expectations he had set.

"Oh, okay," is all Jaemin says. It's all he can manage. He tries picturing the two together, but it's not as easy as he thought. It felt like the clashing of two worlds, except that, in this case, one world was no longer one of his worlds. Renjun wasn't part of his world anymore.

Jisung narrows his eyes. "A source revealed that you found out he's a vampire. Is that true?" Jaemin knows he knows the answer, but rather than accepting any information he's received, he needs to hear it from the original source and despite his annoyance at the prying, Jaemin is a little grateful. You couldn't even find reporters like this these days.

"It is," he replies albeit reluctantly. He fists his hands, nails prying into his hand just hard enough to form dents.

"Jaemin, why did you and Renjun break up?" His question is so direct and completely unexpected to what he was preparing himself for that Jaemin completely freezes; his entire body tenses and it's difficult to hide the surprise. It's a dumb question, Jaemin thinks. Renjun is a vampire. We had to break up.

"He's a vampire."

"He also saved your ass from vampire attacks countless times," Jisung retorts immediately. He looks pissed off, as if he's the one who has been dumped and not Renjun. Still, Jaemin was not budging with his opinion.

"That doesn't change what he is, Jisung."

"Well it should," he seethes in response. "How many times do you need to be told that there are not only bad vampires out there?"

"He's right you know." It's Taeyong who joins his side, tying the apron around his waist while looking at Jaemin with a small and certain smile. He wasn't offering advice but rather just stating his opinion; that was something he did often, Jaemin picked up the longer he spent time with him.

Before Jaemin can so much as comment, their conversation comes to a crashing halt as Kun walks in, eyebrows furrowed and looking more serious than Jaemin ever imagined seeing him. He walks in with a purpose. Jaemin stands up straight while Jisung turns around in his seat, all eyes now on Kun who stops only a few feet away from Jisung.

"They're picking a fight," he states. He sits down in one of the chairs next to Jisung and orders a coffee. While Taeyong takes on the order, Jaemin can't help but note the way Kun's hands are shaking. Though he's clearly trying to steady them, he's struggling to do so. Taeyong places the coffee in front of Kun and nudges his head in his direction.

"Who is picking a fight, Kun?" Though just as serious as Kun, his tone is soft and gentle.

"The vampires," he says. "I spoke to Lucas. He came to my place last night and he was drunk and a mess." Jaemin perks up a little. He never realized that vampires could get drunk. Or that they drank anything other than blood for that matter. He catches the look that Taeyong gives him ('now is not the time') and quickly turns his attention back to Kun.

"Alright, but what does that have to do with the vampires picking a fight?"

"I know their plan, " Kun sighs. He looks completely worn. "Lucas spilled it all." When he catches their stares, he rolls his eyes and mutters something about them not caring about whether Lucas was okay or not. He sips his coffee and nods at nobody in particular. "They're looking at turning the town into a vampire town. Or at least, semi-vampire town. Where the half that are humans will be their meals," he explains, answering the unasked question that lingered in the air. "That's why they're starting with the homes."

"They can't do that!" Jaemin exclaims and, as if it only registered then, he asks, "Can they?"

Taeyong nods. "They can and they will."

"So we need to act," Jaemin insists.

"I'm not done, unfortunately," Kun says and though he's smiling, even Jaemin can tell that it pains him.

"What more could there possibly be?" Jisung asks, speaking for the first time since Kun came in. He looks more concerned than Taeyong.

Clearing his throat, he looks up and somehow, the atmosphere has thickened in seriousness. "They're going to come for the bar," he says. "Take it from us and make it theirs."

The silence is remarkably deafening.