"You weren't at school today," Seokjin said as he clenched his jaw. He was standing in front of Yoongi's bedroom door, barely holding it open to see his best friend. Yoongi was hiding his left foot behind the door, only held up by one of his crutches, which was also hidden behind the door. He knew that he couldn't hide it forever, and he knew he looked awkward and was uncomfortable as he tried to hide from Jin now, but he needed to at least try and figure out a lie to tell him.

  "I didn't go to school today," he repeated. "You are right. I got my paperwork from my teachers. Just one day absent won't hurt—"

  "But why?" Seokjin crossed his arms. "And why are you not letting me inside?" He suddenly pushed the door open, which hit Yoongi's crutch, causing him to fall, but Seokjin pushed by the door and caught him, gasping as he looked at Yoongi's foot.

  Well, he tried.

  "What the hell happened to your foot?" Seokjin lifted Yoongi and placed him down on his desk chair. The younger looked down in shame, feeling sorry as he tried to figure out what he was going to say. His brain failed him. "Yoongi," Seokjin sighed. "You do realize that I can smell Taehyung, right?"

  Yoongi furrowed his eyebrows at him. "You can?" he asked, surprised.

  Seokjin frowned. "God, Yoongi." He shook his head as he looked down at him, trying to figure out what to say himself. "If he's trying to hide the fact that you two are having little playdates, he should really be more careful with where and how he does it. And you..." He sighed once again. "I can't believe you. Don't you realize how dangerous this is?" He rolled the desk chair further into Yoongi's room and closed the door behind him. Yoongi rolled the chair to his bed in slight shame.

"You're a vampire, too," he said as he crawled onto his bed and pulled himself up, making sure not to move his foot any.

"Yeah, but I won't kill you."

Yoongi frowned as his best friend walked over to him and easily picked him up, settling him better onto the bed, the pillows that Taehyung bought him pressing into his back.

"Taehyung won't kill me," he said.

Seokjin sat down on the bed next to Yoongi with a concerned look on his face. The younger should probably be scared of Taehyung. He should be scared of all of them, and honestly, he shouldn't be friends with the vampires. It's a messed up game of whether or not Yoongi will be bitten by one of them and he knows that. He had thought about it many times ever since he opened his mind and let the facts hit him like a train. Vampires are real and they could kill me any minute now.

But Seokjin cannot sit there and ask Yoongi to not be friends with vampires when he himself is one. It makes no sense. Besides, Yoongi is his own person. He chooses who he talks to and he chooses his life. So before Jin could even open his mouth to speak, Yoongi beat him to it.

"Taehyung won't kill me," he repeated, looking right into his best friend's eyes.

Seokjin merely nodded to himself. Yoongi could tell he didn't like it, though. "Then we need to talk to them, Yoongi." He looked back at Yoongi with a hint of worry in his eyes. "If you want to be Taehyung's friend, then you have to be accepted by Jimin and the others, too. And if you're leaving us—"

"I'm not doing that," Yoongi rushed to say. He reached for Seokjin's hand and held tightly onto it. "Please. I want to stay friends. There is no reason for us to not be. I want you guys to be my friends, too. But I've been..." He looked at his broken foot in guilt. "I've been hanging out with Taehyung a lot lately," he admitted, which earned a scoff from Seokjin. "But don't let that be a bad thing, hyung. I've been hanging out with him for weeks and nothing has happened. You guys didn't even notice it, so what's the harm in it?"

Seokjin let his head drop. "I guess we can try," he confided. "But if Taehyung does something to you—"

"He won't."

"But the others will, Yoongi." Seokjin furrowed his eyebrows, turning to Yoongi and clutching tighter onto his hand. "Jimin has tried to kill you twice. Jungkook too. What if the others do as well? You don't know anything about them or what they want."

Yoongi nodded. "I know," he said. "But that's how I feel being your friend, too."

Seokjin's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "I would never hurt you."

"I know that." He shrugged at Seokjin with a bit of uncertainty in his voice. "But do I really? How am I supposed to know? Even Hoseok got uncomfortable at the party when he saw my blood. He could've easily killed me."

"He wouldn't," Seokjin said. "Just— Fine. I get it. Whatever. We're going to talk to them. Tomorrow at my backyard again, since they like to invite themselves to take in the view." He let go of Yoongi's hand. "Tell Taehyung. After school at my house. If they don't come..." Seokjin sighed. "I know they will."

Yoongi nodded. "I'll tell him."

He felt the mattress moving as Seokjin stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Yoongi."

-

Asking Taehyung to get his friends to meet Yoongi's would probably stun the vampire, so Yoongi started by telling him about how Seokjin had found out about them being friends, his broken foot, and the way Jin sniffed them out. At first, Taehyung's face fell, a knowing look in his eyes as he locked eyes with Yoongi. They were sitting on the porch, Yoongi's crutches beside him and he had his broken foot rested on the ground gently. He had his arms crossed over his abdomen as he spoke to his friend, not even looking in his eyes as he explained Seokjin's whole deal.

  "I don't know, Yoongi," Taehyung sighed. He laid back onto the porch and groaned to himself, his arms stretching up over his head as he stared at the human. The sun was just rising, the sky still dark and Yoongi felt in the air that he probably had a long day coming ahead of him and Taehyung both.

  "I don't either." Yoongi laid back with him. "But maybe they won't mind us being friends," he said. "Seokjin was upset, but not too angry. What if your friends are the same? What if they're okay with us?" he asked.

  Taehyung shook his head slowly, the back of his head rolling onto the porch. "I doubt that Jimin would like this," he said. Yoongi knew that it was wishful thinking, but he could still at least try and be positive about the situation. This situation flows deeper than it should, anyway. It shouldn't matter that Taehyung and Yoongi are friends— they aren't Romeo and Juliet. They're just friends and there is no harm in that, but that's just what Yoongi personally thinks to himself.

  Maybe the situation is more important to vampires. Maybe Yoongi is missing something that he just hasn't figured out yet.

  "You know," Yoongi began as he leaned back up off of the hard, cold porch. Taehyung watched him in silence. "I bet Jimin would like me if he gave me a chance. I'm a person who's easy to get along with. Does he seriously hate me just because I'm a human? He was a human at one point, too. That's not fair."

  Taehyung shrugged to himself. "He doesn't hate you." He was probably lying, Yoongi figured. For Jimin to not hate him, he sure does damn well act like he does. "I can try to get Jimin to meet Seokjin there, but what if this causes another fight?" he asked.

  "It won't."

  "You're always so sure of yourself," Taehyung chuckled. "If it does break out into a fight, I'm sorry. To be honest, I don't even know why you're letting me get in the way of your friendships." He sighed as he set his arms over his face, covering whatever expression was below. "I'm just some guy. Why are you letting this go so far, Min Yoongi?"

  Yoongi pressed his palms beside him, dropping his head to stare down at his lap. "I'm not sure, really," he admitted. "But maybe it's the same reason that you're letting me ruin yours, too." He looked back at Taehyung with a weak smile. Taehyung hadn't moved his arms, but Yoongi could tell he was probably smiling at least a little bit. "So come on," Yoongi said as he reached for the vampire's hand. "We gotta go to school. I'm not sitting on this porch all morning. You promised to take me for breakfast before school starts."

  He gleamed at Taehyung as he removed his arms and sat up, ready to haul Yoongi to his SUV— again, the result of having broken his friend's foot is carrying him around wherever and whenever he pleased.

-

Yoongi was nervous when school ended. He wasn't dead yet, so that was a good sign. Jimin gave him a few looks, so he guessed that Taehyung talked to him today at some point.

  When school eventually finished, Yoongi walked with Seokjin to his house. The walk was slow because of the crutches, a very uneasy feeling in Yoongi's stomach because he and Seokjin has never had such an awkward silence like this. Seokjin is his best friend for a reason. They can talk for hours and never get bored or never have a dull moment. So the fact that they were so edgy today was making Yoongi feel sort of strange and slightly queasy.

  Namjoon and Hoseok turned up at Seokjin's house not too long after they did, and at least some of the tenseness went away when Namjoon started to make small talk with Yoongi and stroked his shoulder in such a nice, peaceful way that made him ease up.

  Seokjin was sitting on the steps to his back porch with a stern look on his face and Hoseok was sitting on the other side with his arms bundled over his knees, holding onto himself closely, and he seemed a little nervous.

  "Are they coming, Seokjin?" Namjoon suddenly asked, shooting Seokjin a look. Seokjin merely shrugged at him. It had only been twenty minutes since school had ended. Yoongi didn't know whether to hope they were coming or hope that they weren't. But sure enough, all three of his friends perked up and looked off into the woods, senses proving themselves to be worthy as the other group stepped into Seokjin's backyard. Taehyung was there behind them, coming in closely.

  "Seokjin," Jimin started by saying as he stopped right in the middle of the backyard. "You let your human in on my family. What a nice surprise." He smiled devilishly.

  Seokjin stood up from the steps and walked forward, not without Namjoon and Hoseok slowly making their way with him. Namjoon took Seokjin by the wrist and pulled him back before he got too close, a knowing look on his face. Seokjin glared back at him, but followed the silent order and backed up.

  "Yoongi has a name, Jimin." Seokjin glared at the shorter who was only a few feet away from him. Yoongi trudged behind Namjoon with one crutch which was digging into the mud, glancing up at Taehyung, who was merely looking at the ground and biting his lip anxiously. "Besides, you're the one who fucking let Taehyung near him. That's not my fault," Seokjin continued to argue.

  Jimin scoffed, a little too calm. "Of course you blame me," he said. "I didn't want the fucking human near us, anyway. It's useless."

  Hoseok stepped towards Yoongi and wrapped his arm comfortingly around him, something Yoongi was thankful for, but which made Taehyung shoot a glare at the other vampire. "Yoongi isn't just a useless human," Hoseok stated, "and you know that. You were a human once, too. It's not Yoongi's fault."

  To that, Jimin started to laugh hysterically. It made Yoongi feel uncomfortable once again. The rest of everyone else— even Jungkook looked at Jimin like he was inane as he bent over, laughing to himself.

  "Oh, yeah," Jimin said towards Hoseok, who was now tightening his grip on Yoongi's shoulder. "Why don't you explain what we were talking about the other day, mister Jung Hoseok?" he smiled big to him.

  Everybody looked at Hoseok.

  Jimin had that big smile, Yoongi, Jungkook, and Taehyung looked at Hoseok in confusion. Namjoon furrowed his eyebrows and Seokjin clenched his fists, glaring at the vampire in a way that could kill him.

  "You talked to Jimin?" Seokjin asked, trying his hardest not to believe, but Hoseok had a guilty look on his face that gave him away. Hoseok cannot lie. Everybody knows this.

  "Yoongi isn't going to choose sides," was Hoseok's only answer to them. He didn't deny talking to Jimin, which seemed odd to Yoongi. Even he was confused by it.

"If I were fucking sane, I would choose to stay a fucking human," Jimin suddenly growled to Hoseok, as if Yoongi was going to suddenly turn into a vampire tomorrow. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He turned to Yoongi with a deep glare, narrowing his eyes. "You don't even know the full story, yet you trust Taehyung? You trust a vampire? That's pathetic."

  Jimin chuckled as Yoongi's eyes averted to look at Taehyung, who was staring in confusion. Taehyung looked back at him, eyes wide and almost as if he was denying what Jimin was saying, maybe even a hint of panic within those eyes. "Humans are so easily manipulated," Jimin sighed. "And Taehyung, you should be ashamed of yourself for what you're doing," he told him.

Taehyung grimaced at him. "You don't know a damn thing about what I'm doing—"

  "Hoseok," Jimin cut him off. All eyes were back on Hoseok, who had large eyes as his arm slowly fell from Yoongi. "Keep keeping secrets from Seokjin and he'll come apart someday, you know?" Jimin smirked at him. Seokjin growled, lunging to attack Jimin out of anger, but Jimin quickly disappeared, along with Jungkook who was following close behind.

  "God damnit!" Seokjin yelled, picking up one of the yard decorations and throwing it in the direction that the vampires ran in. He turned back around, groaning. "Hoseok—"

  "I'm sorry, hyung." Hoseok let his head fall in shame. "I just can't."

Taehyung strolled forward as Seokjin started to curse to himself. "I have to go talk to Jimin..." he told Yoongi, his voice small as he spoke. Yoongi nodded and Taehyung ran as well, following the tracks of his coven.

  "Hyung, walk me home." Yoongi frowned as he reached for Seokjin's hand. "Please."

  Seokjin glared at Hoseok as he took Yoongi's hand and held it. "Namjoon, fix your damn family. It's clearly not functioning. You're too God damn lenient on us. Fix him." He shot a glare to Hoseok one last time before he pulled Yoongi around the house, still holding onto his hand as they began to walk, the crutches too slow for either of their liking.

  When Yoongi realized they were halfway to his house, he squeezed his friend's hand and sighed. "I just wanted to be friends."

  Seokjin scoffed. "Friends," he repeated coldly. "He doesn't treat you like a fucking friend, Yoongi. Anyone could see that. The way he looks at you... We aren't stupid."

Yoongi watched his step, trying not to drag his foot on the sidewalk. "We are just friends, though," he tried to say, but Seokjin just shook his head in doubt.

  "Just keep Jimin away," he muttered lowly. "And if Taehyung hurts you, I'll fucking kill him, Yoongi. I really will."

  Yoongi nodded. "That's more like it, hyung." He smiled, still weak. "I'll be careful."

~