Chapter Text
There was a human in their nest.
That was all Jeongin could focus on when they returned from getting lunch at Vampbites. The vampire friendly cafe was just far enough away from campus that no student would stumble upon them too close to the cafe but so far that it was inconvenient for them to travel there for more than just their weekly blood order. It was new in town and had quickly gained popularity with the supernatural community. Jeongin, personally, was a fan of their O Negative chocolate lava cakes and had been so distracted by the treat that he’d completely forgotten that their RA had told them of their new roommate.
The coven knew that, by continuing to live in the dorms, they were opening themselves up to the possibility of a human living with them but that didn’t mean that Jeongin wanted one to live with them. They’d somehow made it through the entirety of the last three years without receiving any last minute additions to their dorm so of course their luck was bound to run out at some point.
“Ah, hello!” the human greeted, bowing to the seven of them as they filed into the dorm suit that they’d been living in for the last four months blissfully human-free.
His covenmates all bowed back, Jeongin giving the human a halfhearted bow of his own when Seungmin elbowed him in the ribs knowingly.
“Hello,” Minho greeted as he straightened back up. “You must be our new roommate.”
The human nodded, wide, blinding smile still stretched across his lips. “Yeah,” he declared. “I’m Bang Chan. I’m in my final year. Sorry for barging in on you guys so late into the semester.”
Minho shook his head. “It’s alright,” he responded diplomatically. “We always knew that an eighth member to the dorm was a possibility. I’m Lee Minho.” Minho gestured to each of his covenmates, introducing them to Bang Chan and it took everything in Jeongin’s power to keep the grimace off of his face when Minho introduced him to the human.
He gave Bang Chan another halfhearted bow before quickly excusing himself to his room only for his feet to stutter to a stop when he realized that his room— the only single room— was no longer just his. There, on the other side of the room that Minho or Changbin must have cleared out, was a couple of duffel bags and a made-up bed that wreaked of the human’s scent. Jeongin almost backed right back out in protest, though his pride ultimately kept him from doing so.
He glared at Bang Chan’s things as he stomped over to his bed and flopped face first onto his comforter, refusing to lift his head even as the door opened and someone let themselves into the room. A weight settled down on the mattress next to his hip as a gentle hand carded through his hair, Changbin’s soft scent filling his nose.
“Want to switch bedrooms, Innie?” he offered softly.
Jeongin sniffled pathetically, turning his head just enough for Changbin to catch sight of his red rimmed eyes. “You’d do that?”
Changbin rolled his eyes, pinching Jeongin’s exposed cheek fondly. “I’d do anything for you, baby bread,” he murmured. “Why don’t you come sleep with Hyung tonight and tomorrow we can switch our rooms before class.”
Jeongin nodded, shuffling across the bed until he could rest his head in Changbin’s lap, his arms wrapped around the older vampire’s waist. “You’re the best, Binnie-hyung,” he muttered sleepily. “I’m sorry I’m causing problems.”
“You’re not causing problems,” Changbin scolded softly. “No one blames you for not wanting to room with Bang Chan, baby. But can you do something for me? Can you give him a chance? I think this human isn’t like all the others and that you might actually like him if you give him a chance. He seems really sweet.”
Jeongin tilted his head to pout up at the older man. “We’re not telling him, right?”
Changbin shook his head. “Not for a long time, at least,” he assured. “We’ll be completely sure that he won’t take it badly before we even consider telling him that we’re vampires.”
The younger man nodded in agreement and cuddled back into Changbin’s stomach, humming contentedly until their moment was inevitably broken by a hesitant knock on the door. After Changbin gave permission the door opened slowly and Bang Chan guiltily ducked into the room.
“Sorry,” he murmured, bowing in apology to the pair. “I, ah— I have class early tomorrow, so if it’s alright with you, I’m going to head to bed. You can keep talking or whatever! I can sleep through anything so it’s really no bother.”
Changbin shook his head and stood up, gently guiding Jeongin to get up as well. “Don't worry about it, Chan-ssi,” he assured. “Innie isn’t feeling the greatest so he’s going to sleep with me tonight. You’ll have the room to yourself tonight.”
Bang Chan nodded, a concerned frown marring his face. “I hope you feel better, Jeongin-ssi,” he replied.
Jeongin nodded stiffly and shuffled over to his dresser to pull out the first pair of sleep clothes he touched before making his way out of the room without a word. Most of his hyungs were still in the living room and Jisung immediately opened his arms for Jeongin to fall into the second he caught sight of the younger man.
“You’re alright, baby,” Jisung cooed. “Chan-ssi is really nice, for a human.”
Jeongin pouted into Jisung’s chest, pressing his face tightly to the soft fabric of the older vampire’s hoodie. “I don't care,” he grunted. “He’s a human.”
“Not all humans are bad, Jeongin-ah,” Minho scolded gently. “Give Bang Chan-ssi a chance and trust that your hyungs won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“Of course I trust you, hyung,” Jeongin mumbled around Jisung’s sweatshirt. “Doesn't mean I’m gonna trust him.”
“Just— try to be civil, at least,” Minho amended with a sigh.
Jeongin lifted his head to glare pathetically at his coven leader. “I’ll try,” he promised reluctantly. “But don’t expect me to be friends with him.”
Life continued on after that in relative normalcy. Jeongin switched rooms with Changbin and he ignored the hurt and confused look Bang Chan tried to suppress when he got home from classes that night and found that his roommate had changed. He didn’t say anything about it to Bang Chan and in turn the human didn’t mention it either. Changbin seemed to like rooming with the human, even going so far as to call him hyung which was just insulting considering that the vampire was nearly one hundred and going through college for the third time.
It made sense to an extent though, considering they weren’t telling Bang Chan that they were vampires and therefore had to go with the ages they’d registered on their human IDs. The only one of them that was actually younger than Bang Chan was Jeongin and he sure as hell wasn’t going to call the human his hyung.
The human didn’t make it easy for him, however, to keep his distance. Bang Chan was unfailingly kind and always had a smile for Jeongin despite the half-formed grimace he inevitably returned it with. The human seemed to get that Jeongin didn’t like him but somehow didn’t hold a grudge. It honestly infuriated him to no end. He wanted to hate Bang Chan— just like he hated all humans on principle— but the human was just too nice.
Nearly a week after Bang Chan had moved in, Jeongin came back to the dorm on his own, stuttering to a stop when he smelled the human inside. He squared his shoulders and forced himself to keep moving, refusing to be pushed out of his own nest by one shrimpy little human.
“Ah, hello, Jeongin-ssi!” Bang Chan chirped from where he was stirring something on the stove. “I was just making ramen. Would you like some?”
Jeongin swallowed and shook his head. “No thank you,” he muttered as he ducked past the human to put his things away in the room he now shared with Hyunjin.
“You guys got a package, by the way,” Bang Chan called. “I put it in the fridge.”
Jeongin hummed in acknowledgement, just loud enough for the human to hear him. It took him another few seconds to register Bang Chan’s words and make his way back out to the living area where he frowned at the human in visible confusion. “You put our package in the fridge?” he asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.
Bang Chan just nodded and pointed towards said fridge with his spoon. “It says to keep refrigerated on it,” he explained with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulder. “I didn’t know how long you guys were going to be out tonight and I didn’t want whatever you ordered to go bad.”
Jeongin hesitantly moved over towards the fridge and opened it only to breathe a sigh of relief when he realized that Bang Chan had just stuck their whole package in the fridge instead of taking the contents out.
“Ah— thank you, Bang Chan-ssi,” he mumbled awkwardly. “I’ll just— take this to my room.”
“You know you guys can store your food in the main fridge, too, right?” Bang Chan offered softly. “I won’t eat anything that’s not mine.”
Jeongin shrugged awkwardly. “This stuff takes up a lot of space,” he hedged. “And it’s not— not food. It’s, um... medicine, so it’s easier to just... have it closer to me.”
Bang Chan nodded his head in understanding, shooting Jeongin one of his kind smiles before turning back to his ramen. “You don’t have to explain if you don’t want to, Jeongin-ssi,” he assured. “But I’m happy to listen if you do.”
Jeongin nodded, hugging the package close to his chest as he stared at Bang Chan for a few more seconds before ducking back into his bedroom. He made sure that the door was shut behind him before opening the box and carefully depositing their blood in his refrigerator. Minho would divide it up later, but for now, at least it was out of Bang Chan’s reach.
Reluctantly, Jeongin returned to the main area, unwilling to be a hermit and have his hyungs call him out for not being nice to Bang Chan, not that Jeongin suspected the human would rat him out if he wasn’t.
He grabbed one of the throw blankets and wrapped it around himself as he curled up in the armchair. Bang Chan had turned on some kind of nature documentary and Jeongin was loath to admit that it was one of his favorites. He found himself getting partially sucked into the show, keeping one ear on Bang Chan all the while. The older man was multitasking impressively, eating his ramen and working on some homework while also watching the show. Jeongin was reluctantly impressed.
Without even meaning to, Jeongin’s eyes started to stray more and more towards the human as he worked, completely absorbed in what he was doing and either not feeling Jeongin’s eyes on him or ignoring them.
“What happened to your arm?” he blurted out, eyes fixated on the human’s forearm that had been exposed when he’d rolled up his sleeves. The skin was covered with a thick layer of bandages and Jeongin could see how Bang Chan favored the limb and kept it off of the table.
Bang Chan glanced down at the aforementioned bandage and laughed uncomfortably, carefully tugging his sleeve back down to cover the bandage. “Fire,” he said shortly, though quickly followed it with an easy smile, no doubt trying to ease Jeongin. “I’m alright though.”
“I didn’t ask,” Jeongin bit back before immediately groaning and covering his face with his hands. “Sorry— I... didn’t mean it like that. I’m— I’m glad you’re... okay.”
Bang Chan just grinned brightly and turned back to his homework. “Thank you, Jeongin-ssi,” he said.
It was quiet for a few more minutes, the only sound being the nature documentary playing softly on the television. “How’d you get burned?” Jeongin blurted out, immediately wanting to facepalm. He didn’t know why he asked that; Jeongin didn’t care what happened to Bang Chan. Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself.
“A house fire,” Bang Chan explained, somewhat reluctantly. “It’s why I moved in here. My hyungs’ bakery caught on fire and we all lived above it. They’re all alright too but... the place was destroyed. They found a new place but the apartment above it was too small for me too.”
“So they kicked you out?” Jeongin asked, completely baffled.
Bang Chan shook his head. “No,” he replied hurriedly. “But I didn’t want them to feel like they had to make space for me or give up on this bakery just so I had my own bedroom. I still spend plenty of time there though. I love my hyungs dearly.”
Jeongin nodded, frowning slightly. It didn’t feel like Bang Chan was telling the full truth and he couldn’t help but think that the human was downplaying his separation from his hyungs. It made something tighten in his chest but he knew he wasn’t close enough to press the human for the whole truth; he probably never would be.
The room fell back into silence and Jeongin was getting ready to make his escape back to his bedroom when the door opened, letting in Seungmin and Minho who paused when they caught sight of Jeongin willingly sitting near Bang Chan.
“Hey, guys,” Minho greeted cautiously, kicking off his shoes before making his way towards them and climbing into the armchair with Jeongin, sliding in behind him and wrapping his arms around the younger vampire.
“Hi, Minho-yah,” Bang Chan greeted cheerfully with a little wave.
Jeongin’s eyes narrowed when the human’s sleeve fell down a bit with the movement, exposing a bit of his bandage. Bang Chan’s eyes caught his gaze and quickly tucked his arm back under the table with a little smile towards Jeongin.
“You working on your paper, hyung?” Minho asked, resting his chin on Jeongin’s shoulder.
Bang Chan nodded his head with an exaggerated sigh as he leaned back against the couch. “‘Working’ might be a stretch,” he mused tiredly. “It’s kicking my butt, more like.”
Minho snorted while Seungmin plopped down on the couch close enough for his knee to bump against Bang Chan’s shoulder. The human glanced at Seungmin with a smile and then stretched up to pull a throw blanket off of the back of the couch, draping it over the vampire’s lap.
“Must be cold outside,” he said as he tucked the blanket around Seungmin’s lap.
Seungmin nodded, clearly trying to bite back his laugh. “Very cold,” he agreed. “Do you need help?”
Bang Chan smiled up at Seungmin before handing him his laptop. “Do your worst,” he challenged. “Don’t hold back with your feedback. I already know it's awful.”
Seungmin chuckled as he sat back, gently resting the laptop on his thighs as he began to proofread while Bang Chan asked Minho about his day. Minho immediately went in on a story involving his professor and three students in his class that caused so much havoc that the professor just gave up teaching entirely and had instead assigned the whole class an extra three essays.
While he was talking, Jisung, Felix, and Changbin returned home, the oldest vampire immediately going to his and Bang Chan’s bedroom with his backpack and returning a few minutes later in a sweatshirt and hoodie with a relieved sigh as he dropped down onto the couch next to Seungmin, shifting to rest his cheek on the younger man’s shoulder as he closed his eyes.
“Remind me again why I decided to go back to school?” Changbin lamented, earning giggles from the other vampires and a fond smile from Bang Chan.
“Because you’re a masochist,” Seungmin intoned before passing the laptop back to Bang Chan. “It’s good, hyung,” he said gently to the human. “I left some comments on where you need to elaborate but for a first draft it’s really well written. It’s a solid B paper right now.”
Bang Chan smiled up at Seungmin as he clicked around on the document, no doubt saving the progress, before closing it and standing up with an exaggerated stretch. “Thank you, Seungmin-ah,” he replied sincerely. “I appreciate you being willing to suffer through my very dull assignment.”
Seungmin shook his head. “I don’t mind, hyung,” he assured. “I actually find the moral ethics of human behavior fascinating so I’m happy to proofread whenever you want me to.”
Bang Chan just smiled again and nodded his head. “I’ll take you up on that,” he promised. “You’re gonna regret that offer when finals roll around. This is my second time taking this class and I don’t understand it any more than I did the first time.”
“I’m happy to help, hyung,” he replied.
“Well, thank you. And with that, I think I’m going to duck out for the night,” Bang Chan declared. “I’m exhausted. Have a good night everyone!”
Most of the coven waved goodbye to the human as he disappeared into his and Changbin’s room. As soon as they were alone, Minho squeezed Jeongin’s midsection tightly, earning a quiet yelp from the younger vampire.
“What, hyung?” Jeongin whined quietly.
“What do you mean ‘what?’” Minho teased, though everyone could hear the serious tinge to his voice. “You were willingly hanging out with Chan-hyung.”
Jisung gasped, grabbing at his chest exaggeratedly. “He was what?” he exclaimed softly.
Jeongin scoffed. “I wasn’t doing anything with Bang Chan,” he grumbled. “I was just watching a nature documentary. Don’t make this into something that it’s not. I don’t like him.”
Minho sighed and squeezed Jeongin’s waist gently, softly urging him to lean back against his chest which he did so gratefully. “Okay, Innie,” he placated. “Hyungs are proud of you anyways. It must have taken a lot of courage to stay in the same room as Chan by yourself. You did good and we won’t tease you, love.”
The others all nodded their heads in agreement, shooting Jeongin soft, approving smiles that he did his best to pretend wasn’t happening, lest he die from embarrassment. He huffed and shifted to hide his face in Minho’s chest, shutting down anything they had to say on the matter.
At that moment, the door opened and let in their last coven member. Hyunjin looked around at the group in confusion. “What’d I miss?” he asked as he kicked off his shoes.
Jeongin took the chance and wiggled out of Minho’s arms before anyone could say anything and wrapped himself around Hyunjin instead. “Hyung!” he exclaimed quietly. “I’m glad you’re home. Let’s go to bed— I’m tired.”
Hyunjin held Jeongin to his chest, no doubt having a silent conversation with the coven over the younger vampire’s head before shrugging and gently starting to herd Jeongin to their shared bedroom. “Alright, Innie,” he cooed. “Let’s go cuddle.”
Jeongin made a face but didn’t deny that was what he wanted. He knew Hyunjin, out of all of his nestmates, would be the one to just silently hold him and not try to prod for answers that Jeongin didn’t even know how to answer himself.
It was harder to continue ignoring Bang Chan after that. Every time Jeongin was near the human he found himself watching the older man closely, eyes flickering between the still-bandaged arm to his smile and then down to his waist, as if trying to find some reason to still dislike the human. But Bang Chan continued to worm his way under Jeongin’s skin without even trying.
The scent of a human in his nest still set his teeth on edge but Jeongin was quickly discovering that Bang Chan’s scent in particular was slowly becoming more familiar and comforting as the weeks passed by. He’d even caught himself sniffing one of his sweatshirts that he’d left laying on the back of the couch.
The worst part was how unfailingly kind Bang Chan was. Even with Jeongin’s dislike for him incredibly obvious, the human didn’t seem deterred but he also never forced himself on Jeongin like some overly kind people. He let Jeongin open up to him at his own pace and it was working. If Jeongin didn’t know better, he’d say that one of his mates had secretly told Bang Chan about their vampirism and Jeongin’s own, personal, aversion to humans.
Jeongin was the only one of his coven that still looked his age. In human years, he was just shy of twenty-four and he’d barely been a vampire for five years. His father had been a vampire and his mother a human, when they’d met. It was love at first sight and intrigue and hallmark worthy love confessions that Jeongin never got sick of hearing when he’d been growing up. His father had offered to turn his mother then and there but she had insisted on waiting, on giving him children first, and that was how Jeongin and his brother had come into existence. After they were past the breastfeeding age, his father turned his mother so that she wouldn’t age too far past him and they raised their sons together.
The thing about half-blooded vampires like Jeongin and his brother, was that they were born human. While they still needed to be turned when they got old enough to complete the change, as humans, they still had some vampiric traits, such as the need for blood consumption and enhanced hearing.
It was in Jeongin’s final year of high school that a group of human hunters attacked their home. His older brother had been turned by then so he was the only ‘human’ in his house. The humans spared him at first, making him watch as they killed his family one by one by setting them on fire. It was only once every member of his family was dead that the humans turned their bloodthirsty gazes onto him, calling him an abomination and a freak of nature.
Minho had been the one to save him. The older vampire had been a friend of his dad’s and had lived nearby and came running when he saw the smoke. Jeongin’s injuries had been too severe and Minho, with little other choice, turned him then and there before taking him home and caring for him. Jeongin had been with the coven ever since. It had taken him nearly two years after that for him to willingly step foot outside of the house and another year for him to be able to walk among the humans. Everywhere he looked all he saw was hatred for his kind in every human’s gaze that he walked past, the echoing maniacal laughter of those that had gleefully murdered his family.
The problem with Bang Chan was that Jeongin didn’t see that same look reflected in his eyes, the haunting laughter didn’t follow him around with this particular human. He hated that this man didn’t immediately make him want to run in the opposite direction, that he didn’t worry whenever he knew one of his covenmates were home alone with him.
Jeongin didn’t like him, but he didn’t hate him.
Which was why, Jeongin couldn’t figure out why he was so anxious. Bang Chan was usually back from classes by now but he was still missing and none of his mates seemed to have noticed his absence yet and if Jeongin said something they’d all look at him like he grew a second head. But the later into the evening it got, the more anxious he got.
Bang Chan was far too nice for his own good. The likelihood of someone taking advantage of his kind soul was incredibly probable and Jeongin didn’t like the human’s odds one bit. He sighed, roughly dropping his textbook down onto the coffee table before making his way into Minho’s room where his hyung was watching something on his phone— most likely cat videos if Jeongin had to guess.
He crawled into Minho’s bed with him and wrapped himself around the older man like an octopus, hiding his face in Minho’s chest so that he didn’t have to look at him when he spoke. “Bang Chan’s not home yet.”
Immediately, the video stopped and Minho set his phone on his nightstand in favor of carding his fingers through Jeongin’s hair.
“Are you worried, baby?” Minho asked softly, only slightly teasing.
Jeongin huffed and pressed his face further into Minho’s chest. “No,” he grumbled. “I don’t care about him. I just noticed, that’s all.”
Minho hummed, sounding entirely unconvinced. “Well, then there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Hyung,” Jeongin groaned.
Minho giggled and tugged at Jeongin until the younger vampire lifted his head so that Minho could press a kiss to his lips. “Chan is fine,” he assured. “He texted me to let me know he wasn’t coming home tonight.”
Jeongin frowned. “Where is he then? He’s too nice— what if someone is taking advantage of him?”
“He’s at his hyungs’ house,” Minho explained.
“The same hyungs who kicked him out?” Jeongin remarked bitterly.
Minho frowned back and shook his head. “They didn’t kick him out, Innie. The way Chan talks about them is too sincere for there to be any bad blood between them. Whatever happened, it didn’t happen out of malice.”
“Did you see his burn, hyung?” Jeongin pressed. “He said he got it in a house fire but I don’t buy it.”
“You know, it’s okay to admit you care about him, baby,” Minho murmured softly. “He’s an easy guy to like— even for you.”
Jeongin pouted, sitting up just so he could fold his arms across his chest petulantly. “I don’t like him,” he grumbled.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Minho placated. “Now, if you’re going to be in here, then you need to lay down. You’re cutting into my cat compilation time.”
Jeongin sighed but did as he was told, curling up next to Minho as he rested his head on the older vampire’s shoulder. “Are you sure he’s gonna be alright with his so-called ‘hyungs?’” He whispered after a few moments of silence as Minho tried to find a video that he hadn’t already watched.
“He’ll be fine, Innie,” he promised as he pulled up a video. “And if he’s not, I’m sure you’ll be able to nurse him back to health.”
“You suck, hyung,” he grumbled.
He could practically hear Minho’s eyes roll. “Well, I’m a vampire, so I’d have a problem if I didn’t.”
“Hyung!”