Archive of Our Own

it's three a.m. when the sky tears open with thunder and lightning over the skyscrapers of south korea's capital, seoul. yoongi hits another a on his grand piano for the third time as he possibly can't hear another song of tchaikovsky anymore.

he lived with and under humans long enough now to have adapted to their habits of living in the daylight and falling asleep with the death of the sun. nights like these, however, remind yoongi of the fact, that he isn't an ordinary human. he isn't. sometimes he's longing for it. in particularly nights filled with silence and nothing more than the repetitive sounds of the grand piano in his living room.

the nights in rome never used to be drowning in silence. missing rome is a daily occurrence. even though this era is more peaceful for yoongi than living at octavian's side for so many years. the roman emperor brought blood and war with him―knowing all about yoongi's dirty little secret. and still yoongi never left his side.

after octavian died and yoongi could watch from all over the world how rome followed him into the grave he never bound himself to a human soul again.

that was until the arrival of a certain jeon jeongguk.

in 1716 he left europe with the end of the war of the spanish succession and went to the bahamas, more precisely nassau, where a new age of piracy was flourishing.

yoongi begins and ends with him. in 1718, when he met the possible doom of his rotten heart, heartbeats long gone, yoongi was a vampire for 1804 years already, 1829 more or less alive on this earth, watched empires rise and fall, kings and queens die and saw most war than most people will ever see in their lives―had more blood at his hands than most people will ever have in their lives.

jeongguk, twenty-one at that time, maybe not at war with the british but almost certainly with the world as one, worked under one of the more notorious pirates at that time, yoongi doesn't remember the name, doesn't want to remember the name, was found in a dark alley standing over two dead bodies, staring back at the light with black black eyes. jeongguk never told him how they managed to get him on that ship to england, to await a possible trial, amnesty, whatever they liked to call it, yoongi knew it would end in death, but yoongi knew what was happening and he followed.

he followed him all the way to london, got him off that ship and brought jeongguk to one of his houses he owned at that time. now, freshly turned vampires aren't fun, to begin with. they are violent, act like bratty teenagers with superpowers and have this thing called bloodlust not under control for even a second. he was surprised, rather in shocking disbelief, to say the last, that jeongguk didn't kill the whole crew on their passage to london―however, he understood once jeongguk lashed out on him.

some vampires drink either animal blood or human blood and yoongi balances between both of these, jeongguk however―does not. jeon jeongguk strictly drank vampire blood since the day he got turned into a vampire in 1718. yoongi thinks it's because it's the first blood he ever drank after someone turned him, and after that, he never gave up on it.

yoongi raised jeongguk through months, nearly a whole year, of learning how to control the lust for blood and the burning rage deep inside, paired with devastation over a dead heartbeat. after that jeongguk never left his side, at least psychically―physically jeongguk left a lot of times, went to america before the outbreak of the civil war and yoongi was left to wonder if jeongguk was still alive for nearly five years until jeongguk tracked him down in the southern france again. up to this day yoongi doesn't know how he managed to find him again, but it ended and begun with a lot of tears and jeongguk sobbing into his chest after they stumbled back into yoongi's house in marseille. yoongi dug his fingers into jeongguk's waist so hard it left bruises, not wanting to let go again. that night they slept entangled like that not even bothering to change clothes with jeongguk's tears drying on his cheeks and yoongi leaving small kisses all over jeongguk's face.

( "i didn't even know if you were alive," yoongi whispers into jeongguk's hair, arms crossed behind jeongguk's head, pressing him into his chest and holding him tight tight tight.

"i missed you so much." jeongguk breathes, "so much."

yoongi's heart breaks a little. )

their little play went on and on like that.

yoongi mostly stayed in europe after america was born as a new nation, and dwelled on human life, got acquainted with arts and music, befriended van gogh a few years before his passing away and stayed out of trouble, as much as he could for an undead creature that feeds off human blood.

jeongguk traveled the world, went to russia in the 1900s, vanished while the first world war swept across europe, visited japan after that, and left with yoongi for the u.s. in 1939 to stay with him for six years before a summer's night swallowed him again.

in 2011 yoongi moved to south korea, all too sure of the fact that if he wanted to jeon jeongguk would find him everywhere.

jeon jeongguk used to carry min yoongi's around in his dead cold hands after all.

it's three a.m. when the doorbell rings and yoongi's fingers start hovering over the piano keys. with trembling trembling hands he closes the piano lid and uses it to push himself up from the stool he sat upon for the last hours and slowly starts striding towards the door. his breath gets stuck in his throat for a moment.

it doesn't even have to be him, he tells himself, it could be namjoon again; bored out of his mind. wouldn't be the first time that the younger vampire, recently turned and one of yoongi's new lap dogs as seokjin, who brings him all the strays anyway, likes to call them, shows up at yoongi's apartment in the middle of the night to talk philological shit about nietzsche. therefore―he shouldn't be so full of undying hope. hope dies first anyway and yoongi still doesn't know why he isn't dead yet. eight months ago yoongi saw him for the last time, when he stayed for one week in march turning yoongi's sleep cycle into a mess since jeongguk is one of the classic vampires who still prefer to sleep during the day and basically kept yoongi awake for twenty-fours a day since yoongi can't sleep during day anymore. not really. but for jeongguk―for jeon jeongguk, he'd probably take a wooden stick through his heart. not probably. he for sure would. and it's deeply and utterly terrifying to even think of that. hoseok would send him flying out of the window facade, that surrounds a third of the living room, again for being not able to shut about jeongguk for one damned second. there's another knock at the door and yoongi realizes how long he's been standing in front of the wooden door without doing anything.

yoongi turns the doorknob around and the very second the door swings open to reveal a familiar face yoongi knows―he knows he's lost again. lost in nothing else than dark dark eyes who stare into his own, with an all too familiar ache to bury his fingers in his raven black hair that makes a stark contrast to his own silver-ish white undercut. his clothes are drenched and stick to his body, while droplets of water drip down his face.

a slow smile graces the lips of jeon jeongguk.

"missed me?"

( "missed me?"

yoongi has to blink twice, then another time to be able to register who is standing in front of him right now. slowly his brain catches up on remembering and recognizing who's even standing in front of him. now―jeongguk hasn't changed visually since he visited yoongi the last time, he can't, after all, he's dead like yoongi is, but it has been so so long. it has been so so long since he saw jeongguk the last time. since he got to touch jeongguk the last time.

it's the sunrise of a wednesday in january of 2016 when he looks into jeongguk's face after six long years again. after six years of missing the young man so much.

he still has a small mole under his bottom lip and if yoongi's heart would still be pumping blood through his veins, it would start hammering against his ribcage with the force of an angry lion by now.

yoongi is unable to move―feeling like he lost complete control over his body like his limbs went and turned to stone.

"can i come him?" yoongi can hear jeongguk asks and he drowns in it. drowns in how beautiful and breathy jeongguk's voice remained ever since he got to know the younger. "i'm really tired." )

once again yoongi can feel how his whole body goes numb at jeongguk's voice again. jeon jeongguk's beautiful beautiful voice which is still so soft when he speaks, always quiet, always hiding all the rage that is buried deep inside of his body. jeongguk tilts his head to the side, large eyes staring at yoongi softly.

"sorry, for interrupting your sleep."

yoongi opens his mouth, closes it again and just merely gestures inside of his apartment with a small nod of his head. too afraid of the fact that if he tries to speak, his tongue will fail him and turn all his words into an interwoven mess of letters he claims to be good at putting them together. he's been an author for decades now, always publishing his things under different names. in 2010 he started using his real name, min yoongi, which is how he guesses, jeongguk found him in the end. tracing him back to south korea when he started showing up again in.

in the past two years, jeongguk visited four times, stayed two weeks, then two months, four days in december and a week in blooming march before he left. and didn't come back for eight months.

he should be used to it, really he should. centuries went by in which yoongi saw him one or two times, once went twenty years without seeing jeongguk and his heart aches. he's been alive for, what feels like, eons now and twenty years rarely leave an impact on him anymore. however―twenty years without seeing a single glance of jeongguk made it hard for yoongi to exist properly at times. feeling like a part of him was missing all the time. he loathes that feeling more than anything in his life. because nothing in his life ever has come close to what one jeon jeongguk meant to him. still... means to him.

and this is why he can't keep doing this. jeongguk has been coming and going for centuries, with every time he leaves taking more and more of yoongi away with him. he's done that for so long. has been in love with jeongguk for so long. and even vampires reach their breaking point. it takes more time for them to break, perhaps, there are no studies proving that yoongi just assumed, but everyone has a breaking point. he's reaching his own. it's so hard being away from the person he loves the most in the world and sometimes he wonders how jeongguk can do it, making yoongi ask himself if jeongguk loves him anything like yoongi loves him. he likes to believe so―jeongguk just has another way of showing it.

he learned to live without jeongguk, lives his life with hoseok, seokjin and, newly, namjoon instead, they're great friends, and slowly, over the past seven months, when seokjin knocked at his door in the middle of the night with namjoon hung over his shoulder, he let jeongguk go. let him slip through his fingers, the walls of his memories and it hurts, now that jeongguk is back―he can twist yoongi's progress into cataclysm all at once, all with a few single words.

"why did you come back?" yoongi asks, and his voice wavers a little bit.

jeongguk puts his hand behind him to close the door and leans his back against it. he seems to be confused given the look he shoots at yoongi.

"you never ask that."

and yoongi―yoongi doesn't know what to say, what to feel other than pure overextension. maybe he doesn't want to keep doing this.

"you need to stop doing that to me," says yoongi quietly. hurt flickers over jeongguk's face when he takes a step towards yoongi, who immediately takes a step back. "you can't always leave and come back how you want to." his voice doesn't grow louder, he can't, never could raise his voice at other people, but it gets steady―resolute. "i need you to stop."

"yoongi―"

"don't," he snaps at jeongguk and watches him flinch again, only slightly this time. under other circumstances, he'd see it coming, as he's older and his senses work better than the ones from younger vampires, but suddenly jeongguk moved and is standing right in front of him.

"yoongi," jeongguk says again and yoongi melts. melts into jeongguk's arms, stumbles against his chest and after all, didn't put a fight for even a second, ready to unravel in front of jeongguk with the younger just saying his name.

for a moment jeongguk seems paralyzed, his arms hovering awkwardly at both sides of yoongi's body, who's sagged against jeongguk's chest before he wraps his arms around yoongi's waist. yoongi can feel the tears sting in his eyes when jeongguk draws him closer and puts his chin on top of yoongi's head. tears always make yoongi's eyes burn like someone purred acid into them so he squeezes them shut and quietly continues sobbing into the younger one's arms.

"yoongi," jeongguk repeats his name for the third time, and it feels so nice, letting one of his hands wander up and down his spine, tracing his fingers over the thin fabric of his shirt, "ssh, i'm sorry."

yoongi weakly shoves one of his hands against jeongguk, a weak attempt to push normally sends someone flying through the living room but deep inside his bones he feels exhausted and jeogguk always was able to keep up with his strength somehow. somehow, he tells himself, because it's easier than admitting that jeongguk has a strange addiction going on. when jeongguk only stumbles a few steps back, without letting yoongi flee his embrace, almost taking yoongi and him down, yoongi curls his fingers into jeongguk's black t-shirt and lets another tiny sob escape his mouth. his tears taste like salt and what feels like forever, jeongguk continues to hold him close, rubbing over his hair and back and whispering soothing little words into his ears.

"i'm sorry, for always turning your life into a mess."

yoongi keeps sobbing until he's laughing, he doesn't even know anymore. and he doesn't really care either.

"never stopped you from doing so."

jeon jeongguk has been messing with his life since 1718 and not ever in three-hundred years of being in love with this man yoongi dared to push him away. didn't try to push him away. didn't..want to push him away.

"sorry," jeongguk whispers. "i just missed you."

"s'okay," yoongi moves his lips against jeongguk's collarbone. "i missed you too. always miss you."

jeongguk changes into dry clothes once yoongi has calmed enough for jeongguk to leave him to himself for a few minutes and maybe jeongguk never really left, certainly not yoongi's heart, because he still has his own drawer in yoongi's room where all his clothes are stored. he moved all of jeongguk's belongings with him whenever he moved to another country because deep down he couldn't let go.

he knows jeongguk and how quick he is to abandon his daily clothes for some low-riding sweatpants and a plain sweater that give him sweater paws because he prefers comfort over looking good, not that jeongguk would ever not look good. after all, he lived to see jeongguk go through various clothing styles in different centuries in different countries and he looked ethereal in all of them. his black hair still sticks to his temples and yoongi resits the urge to brush his hair out of his face when jeongguk drops down next to him onto the couch, putting his hands between his thighs―a clear sign of discomfort he shouldn't be feeling. yoongi sighs. the couch is big and comfy, perfect to nap on and from mere instinct yoongi lays down pulling jeongguk down with him by slightly tugging at his elbow. back to a routine, they are. jeongguk effortlessly fits in between yoongi's legs and settles his head on yoongi's chest, hair sprawling out and tickling yoongi's throat and shin. this time yoongi is the one who wraps his arms around jeongguk's torso who makes a satisfied sound from the back of his throat.

yoongi doesn't know what they are, just that they are something and that yoongi would die for jeongguk in the blink of a heartbeat, putting him into an eternal sleep for real this time and that jeongguk would kill for yoongi without hesitation, take down a whole army if that's it what it takes to get to yoongi. they work like that.

they love each other but they haven't exactly talked about anything concerning feelings and establishment of their relationship in many many years. seokjin calls it pining, because they love each other, but they haven't ever clarified if their i love yous were meant to be romantic or not. it's not like they ever really kissed each other so it's probably the platonic version of love. that's still very important to yoongi even if he doesn't hold the same platonic love he holds for seokjin for jeongguk.

yoongi ignores the lingering questions on the tip of his tongue about how long jeongguk is planning on staying since he needs to be prepared to dodge several invitations of seokjin, hoseok, and namjoon to hang out because they can't possibly meet jeongguk. he doesn't want two vampires at jeongguk's neck for his sake, but mostly for namjoon's and hoseok's sake. namjoon is practically a baby vampire and hoseok hasn't even reached the fifty years of being a vampire mark, both of them far too young to take on an over three-hundred years old vampire, knowing that jeongguk literally could rip them to shreds. he also doesn't want seokjin to scream at jeongguk for never ending hours because the only image the three of them have on jeongguk is the fact, that he keeps breaking yoongi's heart relentlessly. he isn't. breaking yoongi's heart. yoongi keeps doing that all to himself. and still―yoongi wouldn't change one single second about the time he spent with jeongguk and the memories he has of him. he wouldn't trade it for anything. after all, it's worth it.

he trails his fingers over jeongguk's back. "where did you go this time?" yoongi hums.

"moscow," comes the muffled response, "i really liked the bolshoi theater. i met two other vampires."

"you didn't―"

"nah," jeongguk murmurs, his voice is so soft, "i liked them, we basically spent our whole trip together, they were pretty cute."

oh. yoongi thinks oh. and he shouldn't be feeling that way since they never established any rules to what they had going on. of course, jeongguk is allowed to sleep with anyone he wants, fall in love with anyone he wants and yoongi would be content. he wants jeongguk to be happy.

"they've been together since almost two-hundred years." jeongguk rests his chin on yoongi's chest and looks him in the eyes. "they called themselves eternal soulmates."

"i think that happens when you stay together for such a long time."

"one of them called the other babe and got thrown across the room," jeongguk babbles, "but then he made it better with kisses and i was kinda confused."

yoongi lets his hands slide under jeongguk's sweater and traces his fingers over the curve of his back and over the sides of his waist. tiny tiny waist. he curls one of his arms around jeongguk's waist, silently drumming his fingers against jeongguk's skin and keeps brushing his free fingertips over jeongguk's vertebrae. "you're the cutest, guk-ah," yoongi whispers.

he's so cute when he looks at yoongi with his big eyes and absentmindedly keeps babbling about anything that comes to his mind. "we've been together for three hundred years now." jeongguk lays his face back on yoongi's chest again, squishing his right cheek upwards to his eye. "we should celebrate that you put up with me for so long."

he wouldn't have it any other way. jeongguk may leave and leave and leave but the nights he spends at yoongi's side are more precious to him than anything else. somehow they manage to make up for all the heartbreak when he wakes up and jeongguk is gone.

yoongi chuckles at that and buries one of his hands into jeongguk's hair and starts scraping over his head lightly like he's a dog or a cat, but he knows jeongguk loves it. when they first met it was the only thing that made jeongguk fall asleep, still so very very scared of everything. another low, cat-like sound comes stumbling over jeongguk's lips and yoongi tenses up for a moment before he relaxes again. he's painfully aware of the fact that he missed this so much. just having jeongguk to hold onto. for a while, they just lay in comfortable silence until jeongguk's stomach makes a low rumbling sound. with a groan, jeongguk buries his face behind his arms.

"are you hungry?" yoongi asks him amused.

"a little bit," jeongguk admits, obviously embarrassed about it.

"i'm making us dinner then."

"okay, yoongi-hyung." jeongguk's eyes fall shut and he yawns at yoongi fangs peeking out at him. with a bad feeling in his stomach yoongi registers that jeongguk probably isn't aware of the fact that his fangs are showing otherwise he wouldn't be yawning at yoongi like that. as soon as a vampire no longer can control whether they show or not, it means that they haven't gotten blood recently enough. it also means they're around potential prey they can bury their fangs into.

"okay, jeonggukie," yoongi whispers and gently turns jeongguk to the backrest of the couch before he untangles him from his own grip to slide away into the kitchen. jeongguk has the remarkable talent of falling asleep everywhere and to every time he wants if he just tries enough.

in moments like that yoongi is thankful that the kitchen and living room are separated and he can call seokjin with a closed door between jeongguk and him. he speed-dials seokjin's number, hoping that the older either is awake or will wake up with yoongi calling him.

"what the fuck, yoongi," seokjin hisses through the speaker, "it's three a.m.! call namjoon or hoseok if you wanna talk in the middle of the night."

"hypothetically speaking, if i hypothetically were to make a mistake that hypothetically involves a certain person, who hypothetically would make me a prey what would you hypothetically do?"

"who's in your apartment? are you even in your apartment?"

"yes," yoongi grits out between his teeth, putting his phone between his ear and shoulder, so he can start cooking the late dinner for jeongguk and himself.

"you didn't answer my first question," seokjin accuses him.

"why are you even awake?" now that he thinks about it, asking seokjin for advice is a bad idea. he should've just gotten some vampire blood from literally anywhere and not get seokjin involved. maybe he just doomed jeongguk.

"i'm a doctor in an understaffed hospital that's keeping me from spending time with my boyfriend."

"great, thanks for your time," yoongi chirps, "see you―"

"not. happening. who's in your apartment that makes you feel like prey? you're a two-thousand-year-old vampire, you literally don't have to worry about anything."

now seokjin sounds like he's salty about the fact that he feels the need to carry a wooden stick around with him ever since he found out that vampires exist two years ago when hoseok stumbled into his hospital almost dying because he got into a fight with another vampire.

"so you see," yoongi stutters, "sometimes we make resolutions, we can't really stick to but―"

seokjin violently coughs at the other side of the phone. "is there, by any chance, a certain vampire in your apartment that i very much dislike?"

"no?" yoongi breathes.

"yoongi!" seokjin shouts, either forgetting or purposely ignoring the fact that yoongi's hearing senses are far more sensitive than his own. with a groan, yoongi waits for seokjin to continue, since he can't get rid of his phone between his ear and shoulder because he's still cooking. spaghetti with tomato sauce and arugula salad even though he knows it's the most basic dinner ever but it's jeongguk's favorite after all. "i thought we talked about this? jeon jeongguk is one fucking bastard, who's―"

"probably the love of my life or some fucking shit," yoongi hisses, "now let us talk about my unrequited love later and start focusing on why i'm actually calling you."

"not to cry over the fact you just listed?" seokjin asks sardonically.

"asshole, any way you get my human blood, do you can get me vampire blood as well?" even asking sounds stupid in yoongi's ears seeing at how seokjin hates jeongguk with a burning passion. seokjin starts arguing with him because he refuses to help jeongguk but gets soft once yoongi starts talking how he literally couldn't deal with anything happening to jeongguk.

ten minutes letter the spaghetti are getting soft in the pot and he prepared the arugula salad; however, he's still on the phone with seokjin who's insisting on going undercover so jeongguk won't ever find him again, which yoongi, obviously, refuses to. for obvious reasons.

"okay, here's the deal. i'll just get some of my blood, then you come over, i give you my blood and you give it back to me and i pretend it was from some random vampire jeongguk don't ever gets to see."

"why do we have to do it so complicated? just..offer him your neck, whatever. hoseok never says no to that, even though, objectively speaking, my neck is a hell lot prettier than yours so perhaps that's why."

yoongi scoffs. he's sure that hoseok has no problems with that offer from his boyfriend, who, not that surprisingly, has no problems with his boyfriend being a vampire. jeongguk, however, who isn't even his boyfriend, probably never will be, has a big problem with drinking yoongi's blood―actively refuses to.

"i'm not doing that. just send him to catch himself some vampire's neck."

"well," yoongi snaps, "i don't like when he does that. thanks for not helping me, our dinner is ready."

"you're cooking for him?"

"see ya," yoongi chirps, faking his voice. he slams his phone back on the kitchen counter. he gets the food set on the table in the living room because it's cozier in there to see that jeongguk is still curled up on the couch. when he's asleep jeongguk looks strangely human, black hair curling at the nape of his neck and eyes closed with his eyelashes casting shadows over his cheeks. he can't see the rage filling up jeongguk's eyes that way and sometimes it's easier like this because sometimes jeongguk still gets so very angry at the world―having lived through numerous wars with still no end in sight. 

yoongi crouches down between the couch and the coffee table to stroke jeongguk's hair out of his face. as soon as his fingers start tracing over jeongguk's golden skin the younger stirs under his touch and starts moving. he makes a groaned half sound and his eyelashes flutter when he opens his eyes. yoongi loves that the warmth isn't all lost in them.

"our dinner is ready," yoongi whispers, nudging his nose into jeongguk's hair and closes his eyes. jeongguk smells like pears and still a little bit of rain as his hair isn't dry yet. it strangely reminds yoongi of the times where he still lived in southern france and everything hurt a little less. with a satisfied sigh jeongguk nuzzles up to him, locking his hands behind yoongi's neck, pulling him down down down until their noses are bumping into each other. yoongi curls his fingers up in jeongguk's hair. yoongi breathes against jeongguk's lips, who silently smiles at him. he then draws back and boops yoongi's nice with his index finger.

"your nose is so boopable," jeongguk whisper-yells, overly excited about yoongi's noise―it makes him crack a smile. his gums are probably showing but jeongguk never fails to tell him how much he loves that smile. a yawn escapes jeongguk's mouth again and he screws his eyes shut.

( "what exactly are you two anyway?" seokjin asks, draped over the giant armchair in yoongi's living room, legs dangling over the armrest. hoseok is sprawled out on the couch together with yoongi, their legs entangled, while namjoon is seated on the carpet behind the coffee table, still eyeing his cup, that hoseok got from the mcdonald's drive-thru after threatening to call the ceo after the guy working didn't want to hand out empty cups, with blood suspiciously. drinking blood, no matter if it's from an animal or a person, majorly conflicts with his beliefs of not harming nor animal nor humans. he decided to go for human blood in the end, because he chose his animal friends over them. still, he's not really excited about it and all the lights of the apartment are still dimmed since namjoon can't deal with the light very well yet.

"yeah," hoseok chimes in, "are you two fuck buddies?" he has one of his elbows on the armrest and his chin propped up in his hand. for his normally very much bored attitude he seems to be enjoying this way too much. if his blood was still pumping through his veins if would be flowing towards his head now. heating it up because he's deadly embarrassed about the fact that he's embarrassed about it.

"we. are not," yoongi hisses, "fuck buddies."

"then," namjoon takes a sip from the straw of his cup, raising an eyebrow at him, "are you boyfriends?"

"you might think that after three hundred years of being together you might be something more than boyfriends," seokjin points out, "at least in a country that's less queerphobic than ours. but i don't even think they're dating." seokjin tells namjoon and hoseok who nod knowingly, when they, in fact, know nothing.

yoongi throws one of the pillows in seokjin's direction and it hits him so hard in the fact that he actually bangs his head against the backrest.

"we...like each other," yoongi mumbles. "we're like people who live together...sometimes. i'd say, affectionate comrades."

seokjin shoots him an emphatic look. "you're royally and beyond fucked."

"in love for three-hundred years," namjoon mutters, "disgusting. time is the worst of all social constructs ever invented, except for capitalism."

"you seriously call each other comrades? weak, min. weak." )

jeongguk opens his eyes to stare at yoongi. "yoongi, i―"

yoongi's mouth suddenly goes dry, scared of whatever jeongguk might say from i don't think we should do this anymore to yoongi, i'm not coming back after this visit and yoongi doesn't wanna hear it. not right now. preferably not ever.

"the food's getting cold, come on guk-ah."

he links his hands with jeongguk to pull him up from the couch who immediately slumps against him.

"you're the best, hyng," jeongguk slurs the words together, while he lets himself get dragged towards the table. it's rare for jeongguk to show so much vulnerability and it's making yoongi so goddamn soft. all soft and fuzzy inside when jeongguk is soft with him and doesn't seem so angry with everything. with a small huff jeongguk sits down at one side of the table and yoongi takes place at the head of the table.

"how's your book going?" jeongguk asks with a soft smile and yoongi forgets about all the hurt for a moment. jeongguk always gets emotionally invested in yoongi's characters and makes him tell headcanons about them, what they're doing in their free time and stuff and it's, no doubt, the most adorable thing that there is to jeon jeongguk.

/ /

a few hours of talking later the clock is nearing 6 a.m. and even though it's winter and the sun will rise many hours later, jeongguk is getting tired anyway and yoongi should've been asleep for hours now. jeongguk's eyes flickered to the couch for a moment, when yoongi mentioned going to bed, but yoongi just rolled his eyes and dragged him towards the bedroom. while yoongi likes sleeping in boxers and at least a t-shirt, jeongguk stated countless times that he prefers to sleep with as fewer clothes on him as possible. yoongi still remembers the one or two nights before jeongguk was a fully turned vampire when he used to be warm and not cold as stone like yoongi is. at least jeongguk will never complain about yoongi being cold other than seokjin who, apparently, always complains about hoseok's body temperature.

"have you eaten recently?" yoongi asks him quietly, brushing jeongguk's hair out of his face. for now, they're facing each other, the precursor of their sleeping position with jeongguk's chin tugged on top of  yoongi's head, curled up in a tiny ball; with his legs thrown over yoongi's waist; enfolding him whole; pressed up as close to yoongi as possible not letting an inch breath between them.

"we just had dinner," jeongguk chuckles.

"you know what i mean," yoongi says and a frown forms on jeongguk's face, his eyebrows furrowing at yoongi, almost carefully as if he expects yoongi to get mad at him. "your fangs were showing, guk-ah. come on, when did you eat the last time?"

"moscow," jeongguk says, "about four weeks ago? maybe five."

yoongi sighs at him, leans back so that he can look jeongguk in the eyes and take jeongguk's face into both of his hands. "can't you just―"

suddenly there's one of jeongguk's hands over yoongi's, softly prying it away from his face to take it between his hands. he presses yoongi's hand to his chest and intertwines their fingers.

"don't even think about it."

"don't you think it's safer for you to just use me instead of hunting down vampires?"

"i literally just said don't even think about it." jeongguk's voice has an edge to it now. "i've done this for three hundred years now," he says, "nothing's ever happened to me."

"but can't you just―i mean you can control it now, so why not do it with―" yoongi doesn't know why he's still trying to talk about jeongguk with this since they've had the same conflict for almost three-hundred years now. jeongguk drinks vampire blood, yoongi doesn't like the idea of him drinking vampire blood not because he particularly cares for other vampires besides hoseok and namjoon, but because he doesn't like the idea of jeongguk running into potential older vampires who could break his neck in one go, when he could just use yoongi and jeongguk literally won't listen to anything yoongi has to say about that. he hasn't listened to anything yoongi had to say on that topic for three-fucking-hundred years now.

"yoongi. yoongi, listen to me," jeongguk insists, and all yoongi ever does is listen to him when they talk about this, "i'm not going to drink your blood."

"but―"

"let me talk." jeongguk sits up in the bed, the blanket slipping off his body when he crosses his legs and shifts to face yoongi again. "i won't drink your blood, yoongi. not because i can't control it but because it happened one time―"

"this happened three-hundred years ago and i wasn't even mad in the first place," yoongi argues back.

"i don't care if you're mad at me or not," jeongguk hisses, "this is about me not wanting to come anywhere your neck close again because―just because."

yoongi examines jeongguk's face closely who stares at him with watery eyes, rapidly blinking and trembling lips. guilt bubbles up in yoongi as soon as he looks at jeongguk and realizes he's probably more affected by this than yoongi himself. "i'm almost as strong as you anyway and you're almost two-thousand years older than me. you're a fossil even under vampires, old man." jeongguk's voice cracks at his last words and yoongi thinks oh. he quickly reaches out for jeongguk, pulling him in and resting his head against his shoulder. with a sniffle, jeongguk scoots closer with the rest of his body and lets yoongi hold him.

throughout moments like these yoongi remembers that jeongguk is actually too good and precious for the world, even when he's angry with it, always striving to learn something new, always to reach ultimate perfection. but he also gets fed up over the slightest inconveniences so naturally, yoongi should've known better than to continue pushing jeongguk's buttons. he's still so young, even as a vampire. now, yoongi is old, even for a vampire he knows this but jeongguk hasn't even reached half the age it takes for him to be a third of yoongi's age. and the world is still somewhat precious to jeongguk even though he's seen so much war and death and inequality and it means the most to yoongi.

he softly kisses jeongguk's temple.

"i'm sorry, guk-ah. i just want you to be safe."

"i am safe," jeongguk says with emphasis on safe, "because i'm with you and i know what i'm doing."

yoongi can hear him pout through his voice and lightly chuckles.

"i don't hunt vampires with you, though."

"let's stop talking about that. i can take care of myself, promised."

jeongguk turns around and lays down again, essentially pulling yoongi down with him and ending their conversation about the only still ongoing issue they've ever had in their entire time together. and yoongi knows when he lost a fight against jeongguk and he's been resolute about it. with a hum, jeongguk drapes one of yoongi's arms over his shoulder and yoongi sprawls his hand out across jeongguk's chest. jeongguk tugs his own arms under his head and lets yoongi snuggle up to him, pressing his torso against jeongguk's back. yoongi is so soft.

"sing something for me?" jeongguk asks.

"haven't i proven often enough that i can't sing?"

"i still like your voice, hyung."

"okay, guk-ah. okay, i can do that."

yoongi entangles his free hand in jeongguk's black hair and starts scraping his scalp again. "what do you want to hear?"

"wanna sing freude schöner götterfunken for me? do you remember when we watched the premiere of beethoven's ninth symphony?"

yoongi hums in confirmation.

( they have seats in the wings. where they have them all to themselves with no one around them―therefore there's no one to judge them. it's been weird, going from the roman empire, where no one really cared if a man was in love with a man, or a woman in love with a woman, to 1824 where people very much cared for things like that. jeongguk still isn't used to it, living in the golden age of piracy where no one, at least the people on nassau, didn't care for it either. now, he's sitting on yoongi's lap, quietly singing to the choir that's performing on the stage.

yoongi has both of his arms wrapped around jeongguk's waist and his head rested against jeongguk's arm to still have a view on the stage with jeongguk in his lap.

"can you play me that when we get home again?" jeongguk asks.

when they get home.

"sure, everything you want, guk-ah."

home.

home is probably wherever jeongguk is. )

"so, sing for me?" jeongguk whispers.

"if you really want to fall asleep to my screechy voice."

"very much, hyung. very much."

yoongi can't contain a smile growing on his face when he starts singing to jeongguk who tugs his head under yoongi's chin and hugs yoongi closer to himself.

/ /

somehow their sleeping positions shifted in the night and yoongi wakes up to jeongguk facing him. a silly smile creeps up on his face once again and he feels like a lovesick teenager all over again. yoongi rolls around to catch a quick look at his clock. it's midday, one p.m., but with closed curtains, the light of the day still hasn't reached them and certainly not woken them up any earlier. jeongguk still sleeps peacefully and judging by his sleeping cycle won't wake up anytime soon. considering that, yoongi could go by his normal rhythm for the day with jeongguk sleeping until the evening. he considers it for a second, continue writing his book, meeting with seokjin, namjoon and hoseok for late lunch and then probably take a walk in the park, but instead, he turns around to jeongguk again and pulls him against his chest again, closing his eyes to drift off to sleep again.

when he wakes up again jeongguk has a leg thrown over yoonig's waist and hands tugged into yoongi's t-shirt pulling it down. this time it's seven p.m. and wow yoongi hasn't slept so much in a lot of years since he adapted to the human world. he presses a kiss to jeongguk's forehead and lets it linger for a few seconds until said vampire starts squirming at his side.

"mornin', sunshine," yoongi warbles in a soft voice, not to disturb jeongguk too much.

when jeongguk opens his eyes to look at him yoongi fights the sudden urge to draw back at the sheer blackness he's staring into.

"'m'hngry," jeongguk groans after a few times of blinking his eyes go back to normal, banning the black to make place for his beautiful brown eyes.

"you might need something more than a breakfast," yoongi says, tapping at one of his eyelids with index- and middle finger. there's realization dawning on jeongguk's face after a few seconds and yoongi can sense how jeongguk tries to scramble away but however, yoongi envelops him in his arms before that can happen.

"you might just need some more cuddles."

"i might just need some more cuddles," jeongguk confirms, the sound of his voice muffled through the way his face is drowning in yoongi's chest.

jeongguk rolls on top of yoongi with a little whine leaving his mouth that he has to move. for a few seconds, he wiggles on top of him, trying to find a perfect a position to lay in before he settles with his legs koala-hugging yoongi's waist and arms going around his neck. jeongguk has a lot of muscles, is taller than yoongi anyway and therefore feels a lot more suffocating laying on top of him even though yoongi doesn't need to technically breathe anymore. he's still kind of heavy.

"are you still tired?" yoongi asks with a small chuckle.

"not really," jeongguk mumbles, "i just like cuddlin' you."

"you're such a sap." yoongi holds back a stifled laughter when jeongguk lightly starts hitting him, after loosening his arms around his neck. "big sappy baby," yoongi mutters into jeongguk's hair, kissing one side of jeongguk's face all over again because it's the only side of jeongguk's face he can access. the younger vampire breaks into a silly giggling fit that makes yoongi go all fuzzy inside.

after they just returned to silent cuddling jeongguk sneaks a little kiss to yoongi's nose under the argument that it's still super boopable.

jeongguk stays with him for a while, having a weird mixture of brunch and breakfast, watches him while yoongi continues writing his book before he spends twenty minutes convincing yoongi to release him fro the deathly grip yoongi has on his hipbones to let him go on his hunt for vampires he can feed off. yoongi's not having it and because jeongguk said it will probably take him two to three hours, yoongi invited hoseok to come over and called namjoon to stay inside for the few hours jeongguk is out. wouldn't wanna have namjoon run into jeongguk in the middle of the night― certainly, it wouldn't end well.

now―it's ten p.m. and hoseok is sitting in his kitchen staring at him over cereals he's eating, almost ate the whole package already, and reads seokjin's last text message to him. he's screaming at yoongi for being stupid once again.

"so, he's been here for how long?"

"not even a day," yoongi sighs, "he showed up at three in the morning."

"fucking shit," hoseok breathes, "he really likes messing up your life."

yoongi turns around to hoseok from where he's leaning at the kitchen counter, gripping at it with his hands tightly. "he's not messing up anything," yoongi whispers.

"man, you really love him, don't you?" hoseok puts down his spoon and crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair.

"i love him so much," yoongi says quietly.

hoseok regards him with eyes full of empathy. "i know, bub. i know."

hoseok leaves around one a.m. when seokjin's shift at the hospital ends, wiggling his eyebrows at yoongi, and jeongguk still hasn't returned. saying yoongi is starting to get worried might be an understatement.

"i really wanted to meet him," hoseok says, standing in the door frame.

"i'm glad you didn't," yoongi huffs. hoseok can be friendly―is super friendly for most of the time, but being a sunshine all the time can be super tiring and hoseok would most certainly snap at jeongguk and while jeongguk is much more powerful than hoseok, he, for the love of everything yoongi holds dear in this world, can't deal with people raising his voice at him―therefore an angry hoseok would be the worst case scenario. "he's too soft for you," yoongi supplements.

"he's on the hunt for his kind right now," hoseok deadpans. "let me know once he literally rips your heart out of your chest."

hoseok hugs him tight and yoongi swears, jung hoseok is one of the best things that ever happened to him. once hoseok is gone yoongi can't stop pacing around in the apartment and he stays fidgety like that during the few hours he plays the piano again until it's half past one a.m. and there's a faint knock on his door.

in a rush, so he almost stumbles over his own feet, yoongi gets up from the piano and runs towards the door, yanking it open in an instant.

once again jeon jeongguk is standing in the door frame, grinning at him mischievously―a weak attempt to distract yoongi from the fact that he's covered in blood. literally, his lips are busted open, his cheek has a cut right under the other small scar yoongi loves so much, and his fingers are painted in red. a part of his shirt is ripped open and yoongi notices immediately how shaky his legs are.

"i'm back, hyung," jeongguk whispers, voice only faint, not much above a whisper, and then he trips forward―yoongi catches him in his arms, stumbling back into the apartment. he catches jeongguk's face between his thumb and index finger to pull it back and properly look at him. jeongguk stares at him through heavy-lidded eyes, a slow smile still growing at the corner of his lips.

"the vampires of seoul don't like to get their blood sucked," jeongguk rasps out. the nerve he has―grinning at yoongi like that like he isn't almost fainting at his doorstep.

"i'm going to kill you," yoongi hisses, while he kicks the door shut with one foot, still balancing jeongguk's weight in his arms before he sweeps one of his arms behind his back and the other one under his knees to lift him up from the ground. a startled yelp leaves jeongguk's mouth, quickly replaced with a whine when he lets his head fall back against yoongi's arm. while yoongi certainly has no problems with getting thrown around like a rag doll, at least insofar it involves jeongguk being the one to throw him around and having bed to catch him, jeongukk doesn't like being manhandled.

it helps being over two-thousand years old to lift someone who's not only taller than him but has way more muscles than yoongi will ever gain in his life. he carries jeongguk through the apartment who keeps on whining to him about the fact that he's getting manhandled right now and starts whining, even more, when he realizes that yoongi isn't carrying him to the bedroom but to the bathroom instead.

"i'm not getting my sheets dirty with your blood," yoongi argues after he sat jeongguk down onto the toilet lid and kneels down between jeongguk's legs.

"'m healing already," jeongguk huffs.

"yet you're still bloody," says yoongi, getting a towel from next to the sink wet and starts dabbing it over his face to get rid of the blood. they sit in comfortable silence, yoongi cleaning jeongguk's face and the younger vampire dozing off peacefully. "this happens when you don't listen to me."

jeongguk lazily blinks at him, stretching his arms above his head, and tilts his head to the side.

"be honest," yoongi murmurs, dabbing over jeongguk's left eyebrow, "how often does that happen?"

"haven't died from it yet."

"see, this isn't what i was asking."

jeongguk suddenly reaches for both of yoongi's hands even though he's still holding the wet cloth and presses them together. "i'm sorry, okay. i'm really sorry i'm so much trouble for you―"

"that's not what―"

jeongguk shushes him with a single glance, before he talks again. "and you know we can stop doing this anytime you want, if i'm causing too much trouble for your liking, that's perfectly fine, but if i'm not too much of an inconvenience in your life and you'd have no problem with me staying, then i need you to realize that this," this meaning getting in life-threatening situations to survive, oh the irony, "is a part of me."

with a sigh, yoongi sinks down on his shins and puts his head against jeongguk's thigh. almost as if on command jeongguk starts running his hands through yoongi's hair.

now―he's aware that being a vampire isn't safe to put it generally, nowadays a lot more humane citizens are aware of the existence of vampires and start carrying wooden little sticks along in their pockets with pepper spray and while yoongi gets all his blood from seokjin for most of the parts, hunting for humans could go wrong as well for all he knows , but hunting vampires is even more dangerous. jeongguk easily could run into a way older vampire, who's much stronger than him and lose against him if he's having a bad day. yoongi doesn't want to find jeongguk in the corner of a street in seoul one day, throat ripped open, heart ripped out of his chest or never see him again at all if it should happen when he's abroad. it's so dangerous and so full of dozen possibilities how this could go wrong. yoongi sucks in a breath before he looks up to jeongguk again, not having realized he dropped his head in the first place.

"okay," is all that comes over yoongi's lips that moment. having jeongguk around under that condition is better than not having him at all. it's not even a decision that's hard for him to make, no matter how much this bugs him.

"okay," jeongguk repeats. he reaches for yoongi's hands again and brings them up to his mouth to kiss over his knuckles one by one. "you know, back in the good days, looking like this really wasn't a big deal."

"the age of piracy sucked," yoongi says and when jeongguk's eyes start glittering with stubbornness he knows he's not getting any sleep tonight.

jeongguk starts stripping, getting rid of his pants first and then pulling his shirt over his head, tossing all of the blood-soaked clothes in the bathtub until he's left standing in his boxers in the middle of yoongi's bathroom. in the meantime yoongi hops onto the sink, kicking his heels against the drawers while he awkwardly watches jeongguk rubbing the wet cloth over his lower abdomen to get rid of the blood. he tries really really hard not to notice how small jeongguk's waist looks in comparison to his hips and chest. with a cough, yoongi looks up to jeongguk's face against.

"your golden age of piracy can't even compare to rome," yoongi mutters.

because he actually, more or less, lived through both of these eras and can compare these two to one and another other than jeongguk who didn't live through both of them which means he can't. and still―he wants to argue with yoongi over it like jeongguk has half a clue what he's talking about. he gets weirdly competitive about it like it still matters and like yoongi is insulting him personally with arguing that the roman empire was superior to the age of piracy, even if it was called the golden age of piracy.

"clearly. it can," jeongguk snaps back, "at least, our ships weren't moving at slow motion."

"if this is the only argument you can contribute to this discussion then you must've failed terribly in school," yoongi answers.

"at least i didn't have a ruler who burned down the city."

"that was never proven, you little shit." now he's getting offended himself. great. jeongguk just knows how to push his buttons until yoongi will catch on the little games he likes to play. "you weren't even around for both of these ages."

jeongguk scrubs the cloth over his left shoulder, watching yoongi through long eyelashes and then chirps, "still."

he then tosses the cloth straight into yoongi's face before he sprints out of the bathroom with a bright grin on his face. yoongi is quick to chase after him. 

at the couch he finally catches up to jeongguk, wrestling him down on into the cushions with jeongguk happily singing old songs he used to sing while sailing under the black flags. 

when they both lay in bed later that night and yoongi  is laying on top of jeongguk, his fingers drumming an old song of the french on jeongguk's chest, they still argue about which age was better than the other. jeongguk still can't back up his statements while yoongi can actually present more arguments but jeongguk won't listen. he won't. that doesn't stop yoongi from kissing jeongguk to sleep while the younger softly giggles until he falls. falls asleep. and yoongi falls―falls even more in love with jeongguk if that's even possible at this point. 

still―he falls. 

/ /

three weeks later―surprisingly jeongguk is still there, holed up in yoongi's apartment because the cold is bothering him and yoongi has been ditching seokjin, namjoon and hoseok for the last three weeks because he can't confront them with each other. not yet. not when there are certain things jeongguk and he hasn't talked about yet and he knows for sure that his friends would ask about these things. he doesn't wanna scare jeongguk off for possibly forever.

he also has no clue how he thinks about these things yet. other than the fact that he's helplessly in love with jeon jeongguk, who, at the very moment, is stretching out on the couch, making a low and rumbling sound from the back of his neck.

he's been making yoongi coffee for the last few hours while yoongi worked on the seventh chapter of his book for the whole day, now, the day humans call a day, which is why jeongguk is tired and sleepy even though he's been adapting to yoongi's day and night circle in the last weeks. at the moment he's in between the stages of managing and not managing which causes him to just be constantly tired, hanging around yoongi's apartment like a sleepy koala. he makes good coffee though. yoongi has both of his headphones put into his ears and is so absorbed in his works that he doesn't even notice when jeongguk leaves, fully dressed for once, and with yoongi's purse and credit card.

when he returns nearly two hours later yoongi only noticed him gone because his coffee stopped magically reappearing in his cup and jeongguk wasn't making any noises anymore. jeongguk comes back with a huge bag and an even bigger grin plastered across his face.

"what did you do?", yoongi asks, pulling one of the headphones out of his ear.

"i bought painting stuff."

"with my credit card?"

"you love sponsoring young talents like me," jeongguk grins cheekily.

"you're three-hundred years old."

"my talent can be young."

"you've been painting for three-hundred years as well."

it isn't like money means much to him as of why he goes back to falling into despair over the goddamn chapter he's trying to write while jeongguk starts setting up all the painting utensils he bought, yoongi doesn't have a clue of. but he enjoys watching jeongguk getting invested in all kinds of paintings because he's so passionate about his art it makes his heart spill over from adoration and sink. jeongguk bought a lot of stuff, from a new scaffold to a lot of canvas to oil paints and yoongi doesn't even want to know how much all of this stuff was.

jeongguk comes tiptoeing towards the table where yoongi is seated and drops his chin onto yoongi's shoulder. "so what do you want me to paint?"

( "not me," yoongi says, while he tries on concentrating on anything else than jeongguk's naked upper body. he doesn't know why he thought accompanying jeongguk outside to watch him paint was a good idea when his golden skin is glowing under the midday's sun and he looks like he just jumped out of one of the statues from ancient greece.

jeongguk regards him with a quick look, turning away from his scaffold for a second. "actually, you, sounds like a great idea," he mutters, "i painted literally everything that here's to paint. if you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly living anywhere remotely close to another human being."

"oh, i'm sorry," yoongi declares ironically, drumming his fingers against the wooden bench he's sitting on, "do you want to move out?"

"i would never leave," jeongguk says firmly. he turns around again and yoongi feels warmth spreading all across his chest. "i'm painting you." )

yoongi still feels the same warmth in his chest when jeongguk gets all passionate about his art and he still has the painting jeongguk made of him back in italy in the late 1700s. it hangs in his bedroom next to his collection of da vinci's. in some museums, jeongguk's art is exhibited as well under various anonymous names he keeps hiding his identity behind. up to this day, it's a mystery when, once again, a painting appears with the one and only, distinctive style that belongs to jeongguk and people still can't make out how these pictures keep showing up again and again. it's been three-hundred years after all. but jeongguk always liked being a mystery. 

"i could paint you," jeongguk continues after yoongi didn't answer him. yoongi absently pulls at one of his white-ish strands of hair.

"i haven't washed my hair in three days, you're not painting me."

"then give me someone to paint," jeongguk whines. with a sigh, yoongi pulls out his phone and scrolls through his gallery until he finds a picture of namjoon and shoves it into jeongguk's face.

"you can paint namjoon."

jeongguk slips away from yoongi's shoulder and returns to the scaffold he put up near the table yoongi's seated.

"who's namjoon?" jeongguk asks, eyeing him curiously and starts getting his paint ready on a palette, yoongi thinks it's archaic but whatever, while he waits for yoongi to answer him.

"he's―namjoon is one of my best friends."

"oh."

"do you...uh want to meet them sometime?" yoongi stutters out because now he feels weird about not asking or mentioning them earlier. it's jeongguk after all and they're yoongi's best friends. he can't keep them from each other forever after all―he guesses. he could try though.

"your friends?"

"yeah, if you want to, i mean. why wouldn't my friend meet my other friends?" yoongi sounds incredibly lame―even to his own ears. he doesn't want to know how he sounds to jeongguk right now.

"right, why wouldn't i want to meet your friends," jeongguk echoes lamely.

"i mean, they're my friends, you're my friend, right? it's only logical."

asking if they're friends after three-hundred years they spent together seems a bit far-fetched but in this very moment, he'd rather vanish into thin air and never return than talk to jeongguk about which label their relationship belongs to. they probably should talk about it, considering that was going on for three hundred years now. considering that though, yoongi doesn't think it's happening anytime soon.

"we're friends." jeongguk splashes some color on the palette rather aggressively and his answer sounds more like a question to yoongi. then― his gaze softens visibly and he sits down on the backrest of the couch. "i'd like to meet your friends."

he snatches yoongi's phone away and musters namjoon. "he seems nice."

"he is," yoongi confirms. "he'd like you."

"great, then let me paint him."

jeongguk fully turns towards the canvas on the scaffold, placing yoongi's phone down next to it before he grabs a pencil. internally screaming yoongi gets back to his chapter. 

the day jeon jeongguk will stop messing with his life―what is he even saying, that day probably will never come. it's not like he's going to stop jeongguk from doing so anytime soon. 

namjoon was right, being in love is even worse than capitalism. 

/ / 

"you're going to meet them on saturday," yoongi lets jeongguk know while he's playing the piano for jeongguk three days later. he's been hitting the same accords for a while now with jeongguk steadily watching him who has both legs at either side of the piano bench. he placed his hands down between his legs and blinks at yoongi expectantly. "so who are they? you only told me about namjoon so far. and i basically only know that he exists."

yoongi stops playing and presses his elbows down onto the keys instead. it makes an ugly sound before it dies down. 

"namjoon is working on his masters right now, he got turned recently, still drinks blood from closed coffee cups," jeongguk chuckles at that but doesn't interrupt him, "hoseok, i actually don't know what hoseok does, but he's also a vampire and i honestly think he's living off seokjin, who's a doctor and a human, so be nice to him. especially to him."

"i can do that," jeongguk says he leans his head against yoongi's shoulder. "play for me again?" 

yoongi starts playing again. it's rachmaninoff this time, a rhapsody on a theme of paganini because it's jeongguk's favorite. yoongi doesn't even need sheets anymore to play it―after so many years of playing this song, whenever jeongguk stayed with him, playing him when he was missing jeongguk, yoongi can reproduce the song in his sleep by now. it's like a part of him. like jeongguk probably is a part of him in some way. he's not even sure if he likes the way jeongguk belongs to the very core of his soul. he's only sure about the fact that it's inevitable. that it was never preventable ―that's something he's sure about. 

his fingers dance over the keys effortlessly with jeongguk still leaning his head against yoonig's shoulder, hindering the motions of his left hand a little bit, but not enough to stop him from playing. jeongguk quietly hums to the melody, sending shivers all over yoongi's body with his velvet-laced voice. it sends him falling out of cadence for a second before he catches his fingers again and continues playing as nothing happened. everything is happening. 

once the last sounds resonate from the inside, the heart, of the grand piano in the living room, yoongi feels lost. there's only silence, the piano, jeongguk and him. 

"that was beautiful," jeongguk whispers, "thank you for playing it for me."

he reaches for yoongi's left hand and intertwines their fingers on top of the keys. 

"everything for you," yoongi hums, and steadies his head against jeongguk's. 

"sometimes forever scares me," jeongguk says after a while of silence. "how do you manage it? being alive for so long?"

"i met you after a while, didn't i?" 

jeongguk lets out a muffled groan. "that was after almost two-thousand years. i'm sorry for never being around."

"it's okay," yoongi answers, "really." sounding more like he's trying to convince himself rather than jeongguk. with a huff, jeongguk rolls his head around and hooks his chin on yoongi's shoulder to look up to him. 

"is it really, though?" jeongguk blinks at him through his dark eyelashes and the ghost of his breath creeps over yoongi's lips. with his ring finger, yoongi strokes jeongguk's hair out of his face and brings his hand to rest on one side of the younger's face. 

jeongguk sucks in a sharp breath and bites down on his bottom lip. "can i―"

"use your words, jeongguk-ah," yoongi whispers back at him. 

jeon jeongguk, who likes ignoring everything yoongi says in general, of course, doesn't use his words and lifts his body up from the bench slightly to press his lips against yoongi's. it's so very very light in the first moment like it almost isn't there―jeongguk's lips brush against his own like a feather brushing over it. barely there but yoongi still feels it so much it's overwhelming him. yoongi's body reacts before his mind can start registering what's actually happening and before his mind knows―he's cupping jeongguk's face with both of his hands and slipping into the space that was separating them just a few seconds ago. 

"words, jeongguk-ah," yoongi whispers, moving his lips against jeongguk's still. as if lightning struck through jeongguk's whole body, he draws back from yoongi with a hitched breath, almost falling down from the piano bench if it weren't for yoongi reaching for his hands in time. 

"i'm so sorry," jeongguk blurts out after staring at him for a second. "that was so inappropriate," he whispers, "i don't know why i did that."

yoongi feels like his tongue weighs too much for his mouth to bear―he can't. can't get the words to slip past his lips. so he stays silent instead. in an abrupt movement, jeongguk gets up from the bench, slipping through yoongi's fingers like water. almost. 

"jeongguk," yoongi pleads, "jeongguk-ah, please talk to me."

jeongguk stares at him caught like a deer in the headlights before he tentatively tugs at yoongi's hand, gesturing yoongi to follow him. 

"couch," he whispers. yoongi only nods and tightens his grip on jeongguk's hand, squeezing it in encouragement as if his own heart wouldn't be jumping out of his chest right now if he still had a heartbeat. he almost thinks he can feel it hammering, phantom pain he thinks they call it. 

they make their way over to the couch with jeongguk almost crushing yoongi's finger with how strongly he's gripping them and yoongi nearly crashes into jeongguk's chest when he sits down pulling yoongi down with him. his hands are trembling in yoongi's. 

"take your time, guk-ah," yoongi says. "we have all the time in the world."

and they have. at least they have time. 

jeongguk pulls his legs to his chest and hugs himself, resting his chin on his knees. he heaves in another chunk of air. 

"i―i should've told you a long time ago i think, probably, to be an honest person, you know, but i was never really good at that."

yoongi swears is heart is gonna jump out of his chest any second now. 

"i'm just gonna talk yeah?" yoongi can feel himself nodding and jeongguk starts rambling, "so uhm, i guess it was around the french revolution? when we went to paris for a day because i wanted to know what was happening? yeah, it was around that time when i started looking at you differently. and when you took me to london, it was like in one of these stupid movies they make nowadays when the main character is out with their love interest and they show that slow-motion shot of them doing something trivial and the main character goes like oh shit and realize they're in love with them and i realized that, when you know, you almost fell in the thames." 

jeongguk stares at any point in the apartment but yoongi's eyes. "i like you, very much. have for two-hundred years now." his voice dies down towards the end like someone is drowning him and everything that comes out of yoongi's mouth is, "can't believe it took you eighty years to fall in love with me."

"what?" jeongguk whispers, voice hoarse. yoongi lets out a shaky laugh, thoughts running wild in his head when jeongguk's head shoots up, "i literally started liking you one year after we met."

"you―why didn't you ever say something?"

"why didn't you?" yoongi asks in return, feeling all too overwhelmed with the situation right now. jeongguk's mouth falls open like he wants to protest but shuts it quickly after realizing yoongi's probably right. he has that tendency of wanting to protest against yoongi jut for the sake of it, even if it involves possible declarations of love. 

"i― 

"can i touch you, jeongguk-ah?" yoongi extends his hand towards jeongguk in a slow motion waiting for jeongguk to give him the okay. 

"yes." as on command he scoots up to jeongguk, tugging jeongguk between his legs and carding his fingers through his hair. with a content sigh jeongguk falls against his chest and buries his head in yoongi's pullover. "so you're in love with me?"

jeongguk groans. "i don't wanna say it. because it means we could've been together for two hundred years."

with a stifled laugh, after jeongguk pinched one side of his waist, yoongi takes jeongguk's face between his hands and lifts it up from his chest. the younger's eyes are a little bit glassy like he's close to crying but there's a big smile stretched across his face. 

"you know all those times i just couldn't handle being so close to you. i couldn't stay away either, though."

"can i kiss you?"

instead of answering jeongguk tips his head forwards and lets his lips meet yoongi's right in the middle. this time it's aimed, jeongguk's mouth fits right against his own when yoongi angles his head towards the side. yoongi grips both of jeongguk's thighs and spreads them for him to place them right next to his hips. their teeth clash against each other when jeongguk starts laughing right into the kiss, slipping his hands in yoongi's hair. 

"is this weird?" jeongguk asks, leaning back barely a centimeter, their noses still touching. 

"us kissing?"

"yeah?"

"do you think it's weird?"

"no?"

"you don't sound too certain." yoongi slides his arms around jeongguk's waist only to press him closer closer closer. and jeongguk apparently doesn't is a fan of talking too much on this fine evening because jeongguk just slots their lips together again. yoongi guesses that's jeongguk's way of answering. "i'm certain," jeongguk mumbles when yoongi licks into his mouth. their lips move against each other in a perfect adagio. slow. calm. like they didn't miss two-hundred potential years of having all that. he pulls in jeongguk's bottom lip between his teeth and the sounds jeongguk makes are so so ethereal yoongi could get lost in them. jeongguk leans forward, causing yoongi to fall back into the cushions of the sofa. 

he loves loves loves. 

"we're going to talk about this in the morning, right?" yoongi utters. 

"definitely."

jeongguk tastes sweet, a little bit like toothpaste he just used an hour ago and strawberries he insisted on having for dinner, while yoongi had dinner like a normal person― vampire, whatever, and yoongi doesn't want to stop kissing jeongguk. not now. not ever. jeongguk kisses him senselessly until their lips are red and swollen and yoongi has lilac marks blooming all over his neck and chest. 

later that night after they stumbled into the bedroom, lips not leaving each other for a mere second, yoongi pressed their bodies close with jeongguk all over him so he can feel nothing but jeongguk jeongguk jeongguk when he maps out the curves of his body, his small waist, and thick thighs, leaving bruises all over jeongguk's body with how hard he digs his nails into his golden skin.

jeongguk looks like heaven crafted him and hell wrecked him when he's spread out under yoongi on the black sheets of silk. his whimpers come in an allegro―sound nothing like something beethoven could've ever produced even in the years his ears still worked, when yoongi curls his fingers into jeongguk. 

yoongi brushes jeongguk's hair out of his face, that's clinging to his forehead and presses a quick kiss to his lips, while jeongguk is still holding onto yoongi's shoulders as if his life depends on it. with his thumbs, yoongi wipes away the tear marks left on jeongguk's cheeks. 

"you're fine, right?"

"'s been a while, but i'm okay."

when yoongi starts moving, holding jeongguk down in the mattress by his waist, jeongguk's moans fill up the room in a symphony of yoongi's name repeated in a senseless prayer. he marks up jeongguk's body in blue, red and lilac until jeongguk buries his fingers in yoongi's hair to pull him and bring their lips together again.

"i love you, this is real," jeongguk whispers, arching his back when a final whimper trembles over his lips and he shakes under yoongi one last time―beautifully, before he comes to rest and yoongi collapses on top of him. it's sticky but yoongi can't be bothered too much by it. at least not at this very moment. jeongguk hugs him and hides his face in yoongi's shoulder. 

"i love you too, guk-ah."

yoongi almost feels his heartbeat. 

/ /

they talk in the next morning, after spending a whole ten minutes regretting that they didn't shower last night. so they take a shower first, separately, and make breakfast afterwards, so yoongi can stress eat while the talk about all the things they need to talk about. their talk is long, almost too long, but it clears up some things―a lot of things actually, why jeongguk went away but always came back and yoongi never said anything about how jeongguk was tearing his heart apart with how often he left him on his own. jeongguk said he doesn't wanna leave again. 

they're still hesitant with each other, cuddling is fine because they always did that as well as casually kissing, but none of them really know when it's appropriate to really kiss the other one or when it's not. mostly they're testing things, at least yoongi guesses it's what they're doing since yoongi hasn't dated anyone ever since he met jeongguk and the younger mentioned some casual, no-strings-attached, flings. it stung a little when jeongguk told yoongi about them. 

they have another two days before hoseok, namjoon and seokjin come over to meet jeongguk for the first time. actually, yoongi is minimally panicking because how in the world is he supposed to explain, that jeongguk went to being his boyfriend―is he even yoongi's boyfriend yet, in just three weeks after three-hundred years of not talking about feelings at all. he prays there'll be no screaming because he really doesn't want to scare jeongguk away again. 

after another night of cuddling, talking in low voices when they're close to drifting off to sleep, solves some things. they establish a few things, touching is fine, neither one of them say no to kisses after they could've had them for two-hundred years and all the other things that come with dating. they're not really familiar with the concept. however―yoongi knows pet names and the fact that jeongguk loves pet names; they get him all giggly and embarrassed. 

"i'm so glad i finally lost my impulse control," jeongguk mumbles, embraced by yoongi's arms and pressed up against yoongi's chest, "you are at least sixty percent of it so i'm surprised that it actually happened around you."

"'m glad too, baby."

jeongguk's nose and eyes scrunch up when he laughs at yoongi. 

the stars shine so very bright.

/ /

yoongi really wanted to play piano for jeongguk because it's the softest moments they have together, yoongi playing piano and jeongguk taking everything in he can get. the silence between the pieces becomes bearable and his skin still tickles when jeongguk links their fingers together. and seokjin, namjoon, and hoseok will drop by tonight so they wanted no funny business happening anyway. 

really―that was the initial plan. at the moment however he has jeongguk sitting on the piano, lid not closed, making dissonant sounds of adjacent keys whenever jeongguk slightly moves, legs wrapped around yoongi's waist tightly, holding yoongi close to the piano. jeongguk scraps his fingernails over yoongi's back and lets out a soft moan, when yoongi kisses down his neck and starts sucking at jeongguk's right collarbone, pressing his fingers against jeongguk's exposed rips as the shirt he was wearing is long gone, somewhere left to get stumbled over in the apartment when they make their way over to the bedroom. while their first night together wasn't desperate like that at all, their make-out sessions have turned into exactly that, causing them to knock over a dozen of yoongi's old chinese vases not bothering until the morning when yoongi was realizing what they did to these works of art and jeongguk having to put up with it. 

"hyung," jeongguk half says, half moans, causing him to start anew, "babe, do we have dinner prepared?" jeongguk asks, while yoongi is still occupied with jeongguk's neck and upper body. 

"mhm." 

"and they're not coming in the next hour, right?"

"sure, baby."

yoongi is fiddling with jeongguk's sweatpants when the doorbell rings and jeongguk pulls back with a groan and yoongi drops his head against jeongguk's bare chest. 

"not for another hour, huh?" jeongguk deadpans and yoongi slaps his hand against jeongguk's shoulder.

"i might've been mistaken in time," yoongi weakly admits. 

"you might've."

the doorbell rings again, longer this time, and yoongi makes his way to the door while jeongguk tries to somehow free his hair from the utter mess it is right now. and get a new shirt before the others come in. he's standing in the middle of the living room, caught like a dear in front of two vampires and a human, when namjoon, hoseok and seokjin all stumble in as soon as yoongi opens the door. he didn't exactly tell them that jeongguk is his boyfriend. jeongguk freezes in his steps with all three of yoongi's best friends staring at him like he just got caught murdering someone. 

jeongguk clears his throat. "hi?" 

hoseok grins at him maliciously, namjoon cocks his head to the side and seokjin squints his eyes at jeongguk. with a weak sound, jeongguk lifts his hand faintly into yoongi's direction who's at his side in a second. 

"why are they staring at me like that?" he whispers. 

"i might've told them things about you," yoongi weakly remarks. 

"you did?"

"i'm so sorry." hoseok, who showed up right next to jeongguk just this second drags him away to the dinner table and namjoon and seokjin escort yoongi to the kitchen. yoongi mouths another sorry in jeongguk's direction who throws him a desperate look over his shoulder. 

around twenty minutes later they're all seated at the table and jeongguk is captured between seokjin and hoseok, who make a terrifying couple by the way, with namjoon sitting next to yoongi at the other side of the table. 

"so, jeongguk," hoseok chirps, raising his glass of wine in jeongguk's general direction, "yoongi never mentioned how old you actually are."

"twenty-one?" hoseok regards him with a look. "oh, add three-hundred years on top of it."

"great," seokjin says, "yoongi is still the fossil of the table."

jeongguk cracks a half smile at that but it falls once seokjin puts his elbows on the table and props his chin up in one of his hands. "jeon jeongguk, huh? tell me something about you, yoongi didn't tell me yet."

jeongguk kicks yoongi's shin under the table. a look that says we're going to talk about this later. 

surprisingly, once jeongguk and seokjin didn't look at each other like they want to murder each other anymore, hoseok stopped making inappropriate comments and yoongi dropped the bomb that he's dating jeongguk, chaos erupted for a short amount of time―however, after that, they got along pretty well. 

jeongguk is absolutely smitten for namjoon, hoseok loves plastering kisses all over the poor boy and seokjin just may have found his new bickering partner for life. 

and yoongi is so so glad, that perhaps his life is working out after a few thousand years. 

jeongguk fits in like a missing puzzle piece. 

seokjin and hoseok crash in the guest room, namjoon takes off to see the stars with some new vampire friend he made in a midnight club for vampires and jeongguk has yoongi up against the door of their bedroom as soon as it's closed behind them. yoongi is quick enough, and left with enough willpower for the moment, to press his hand against jeongguk's lips. 

"no funny business tonight."

"why not," jeongguk whines at him, response muffled through yoongi's hand. 

"hoseok's a vampire. i'm not letting him eavesdrop on us having sex. unintentionally."

"you're not getting any anytime soon," jeongguk huffs and then he's off, curling up under the blanket, hogging it all. 

yoongi is...very much not getting any kisses from jeongguk tonight. he lets himself getting spooned by yoongi, claiming it's for body heat and yoongi is surprised enough that jeongguk doesn't fight him. he's that kind of feisty little spoon. yoongi loves him anyway. 

/ / 

it's three a.m. when he wakes up because someone is knocking at the door and he wasn't asleep yet anyway. jeongguk is quietly snoring and starts waking up the second that something knocks at the door for the second time. he rolls around to yoongi. 

"babe, please tell namjoon, either he sleeps on the couch or i will kick him out, if he wants to talk about nietzsche for another three hours, really dinner was enough of his discussions of nihilism with you, please i want to sleep in the night, you made me like that," he rasps out. yoongi really wants to kiss jeongguk right now, because he just sounds so attractive like that. 

"will do, baby."

with that yoongi slips away from the bed. he ends up tiptoeing through the living room with a candlestick in his hand to possible scare of any kind of intruder, even though he could just use his fangs. sometimes it's about being practical. 

ready to ruin his least favorite candlestick in his apartment he yanks open the door, only to have two people falling into his apartment and on top of each other. 

"who are you?" yoongi asks. and really―he knows before the strange people answer. 

"i'm taehyung," the grey-haired, the taller one of the two, on top of the mountain of two persons, answers and suffices his hand to yoongi. "kim taehyung. nice to meet our jeonggukie's lover."

the black haired guy from under him shoves him out of the way so he can face yoongi. "park jimin, pleasant to finally meet someone who's older than me."

yoongi wipes his head around when the bedroom door opens and jeongguk steps out, eyes half closed because of the light. "yoongi, what's happening?"

at jeongguk's voice both of taehyung's and jimin's head shoot up and they're up on their feet. 

"jeonggukie," taehyung screeches, "we missed you so much." 

"tae," jeongguk yells, yoongi has never seen jeongguk yell excited like that, nose scrunched up all the way and stumbles back against the wall, effectively waking up hoseok and seokjin when taehyung leaps at him, koala hugging him, and jimin brightly grins at yoongi like this isn't weird. 

"so, this is nice," yoongi says in deadpan. 

"glad we both agree," jimin chippers. 

hoseok comes out of the guest room. "i'm going to fucking murder you, namjoon!"

taehyung and jimin shut him up.

after they parked jimin and taehyung on the couch, calmed down hoseok, and got back into bed the next hours pass in a bliss―yoongi fast asleep and jeongguk finally being ready to give into kisses again. 

/ / 

"how did you find jeongguk anyway?" seokjin asks over breakfast, they decided to have on the couch around the coffee table, not very concerned with the fact that he's in an apartment with six vampires. seokjin claimed the armchair for himself, ditching hoseok and dumping him next to yoongi, who's separated from jeongguk, who's sitting at the carpet behind the table. 

"oh, he mentioned something about going back to seoul to see some min yoongi he never shut about, we put two and two together," red blooms all over jeongguk's skin and he lets out a strangled cough, "so we just searched for every min yoongi in seoul."

hoseok claps his hands together. "they had that in common, isn't that fantastic?"

taehyung clutches his chest, pretending like he's about to cry. "soulmates."

"soulmates," hoseok nods. 

yoongi raises his glass of orange juice at jeongguk. "to the same embarrassing friends we have."

jeongguk smiles softly at him. 

"how's living in moscow?" seokjin poses to taehyung and jimin. taehyung lays his arm on top of the backrest and jimin, rather seductively, bites into a chocolate coated strawberry. namjoon, who's caged in between them looks like he's going to jump at the door any second now. 

"oh, it's fantastic," jimin says, not even bothering to look at seokjin. 

"really, you should definitely see for it for yourself one time," taehyung adds, also not bothering to look at seokjin, because both of them have their eyes on namjoon for the whole time. namjook just looks completely smitten with both of them. 

seokjin looks at yoongi, who looks at hoseok, who looks at jeongguk, who slowly stands up. he intertwines his fingers with yoongi, dragging him up as well. "we're going to go now," he announces, "please don't have sex on the couch?"  jimin and taehyung smirk at him. hoseok groans in disgust. yoongi wishes they would've stayed in moscow.

/ / 

they end up in a diner right across the street, jeongguk snuggled up against his side with his feet planted on the bench. hoseok and seokjin on the other bench are already eating again. 

"did they try that with you as well?" hoseok asks. 

"yeah," jeongguk says, "but i think namjoon fits what they're looking for a teeny tiny bit more." he leans forward and steals a slice of bacon from seokjin's plate. "not saying that i didn't find them attractive but i think the noticed that i was kinda hung up on yoongi, so," he trails off, slightly embarrassed. 

"i love them," seokjin proclaims. 

"i love that yoongi won't whine about his eternal love for jeongguk ever again," hoseok declares. 

"bold of you to assume i will stop doing that," yoongi says and jeongguk turns around, yanks him down and kisses him. 

/ /

they get kicked out, hoseok and seokjin betray them by not following them outside because they wanna finish their breakfast, and end up lazy making out on the top of a small hill yoongi likes to visit sometimes with no one around but them. 

jeongguk sprawls his fingers out on yoongi's chest. right above where his heartbeat should be. 

"i'm never gonna leave again," he mumbles, snuggling up closer to him when yoongi puts an arm around his waist. 

"i would follow you, though. if you were wondering."

jeongguk smiles at him and all the stars light up in his eyes. 

yoongi swears his heart flutters at that.