𝟏𝟕𝟕𝟐 | 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲

- ♦♦♦ -

Seonghwa couldn't move, his legs sinking into the ground with too much weight for him to bear. A hand reached his shoulder, pulling him around to face Yunho's trembling sight. San's prying demeanor pulled him another time around until red glowing eyes pressed much closer, "That man was the one who tried to kill you?" he rasped through a voice latched with disgust.

Seonghwa could only stare with the lack of any expression to the fangs splitting his Sani's face in two. Yunho, however, seemed like he had a better grasp of the current situation, shutting San's mouth with the fabric of his cloak. San snarled the moment the fabric touched his tongue, throwing his head to the side to get away from the restraints, his legs kicking him off the ground and pulling himself out of Yunho's reach before he ran off. "San-ah!!" Yunho screamed after him but the other was already gone. He cursed under his breath, turning around to face Seonghwa again and cupping his face in his huge hands with much care, "I will go after him, stay put." Before he even received his answer, he threw himself around and sprinted after the youngest on his blood-rage.

But Seonghwa did not feel like listening to any more orders.

Following the trail of Kingsmen was no trouble when the streets were so dark. His quick reflexes put him at an advantage whenever one of the men thought he heard an extra pair of footsteps and he had to find a hide. San and Yunho were nowhere to be seen on the route, which made him suppose that Yunho had successfully gotten to the younger before he had truly committed something reckless.

A foot kicked into the corsair's knees, making him lose his footing for a moment. The silence from him had another man kick the pirate in his stomach.

"Ye think I be feckin' lyin'? I tell ye someone be followin' ye fer a while. I be smellin' 'im," the voice slurred under the tight sack over his head.

Instinctively to the suggestion, Seonghwa sniffed the air, his brows after a moment gathering at the odd smell. His sight slid across his surroundings. But he was the one following after them, and somehow, the corsair knew.

♦

When Seonghwa returned to the mansion, his arms full of bottles with warm blood, Yunho was disappointed, even if he did not outrightly express the feeling, Seonghwa sensed the frustration coming from the other way before he even entered through the main door. He heeded the taller standing by the last step of the large stairway.

"You did not stay where I asked you to," he said, crossing the hall and tasking himself at reaching out to take the jars from Seonghwa's hands. Suddenly, the older felt himself offended by the remark, him being the authority of this household. When Yunho should know his place - however close they had become.

Seonghwa did not let him have the jars, pulling back when Yunho tried to take them. His eyes hardened as he pursed his lips. His fledgling's eyes flinched up at his, expression loosening up as he was met with his sire's exasperation. "I can do whatever pleases me whenever I want to - You shall not decide what I am allowed when I am the most superior here." When Seonghwa took a step forward, Yunho stumbled one back, arms going behind his back as he shrunk in height. He poked his tongue with a fang before opening his mouth again, "Now, did you get San without causing any more trouble?"

Yunho's lips had sealed shut, his mouth quivering as if trying to break free from the adhesive. His round eyes did not blink a single time. When Seonghwa understood that Yunho had brought the words a little too close to him, he moved forward once again, his powerful tenor wafting around his move when he thrust the jars into Yunho's hands. "I thought so," he sneered and leaned into the other with a low growl passing through his clenched teeth, fingers slipping from the jars and drilling into Yunho's clothes instead.

Rot lingered in the air once Seonghwa removed himself from the trembling corpse, fingers noticeably fighting against the slipping jars in his arms and throat bobbing up and down. He had him exactly where he wanted him to be.

"I can be found in my room if you need me for anything, but I doubt that you will when you have been ruling this place for so long already."

On his way up the stairs, he yanked his cloak off and threw it across the backrest of a chair when he reached his chamber. He changed his clothes and washed up a bit. Blood stains had seeped through his dark garments, coloring his skin with a rich red that had begun itching upon it already drying up.

♦

A hooting sound entered through the window close by, waking Seonghwa from his slumber. A chilling wind blew him in the face when he pulled himself up to sit. His chamber was dark, an open window explaining the fresh air and rustling sounds of the night. Little drops of rain scattered from the sky, hitting against the opened window's frame outside. As he pulled at the cover around him, he suddenly noticed the sleeping presence by his side. Yunho.

The male was asleep, his head resting on top of his nightstand, body sat on the floor as he bent over the furniture, rather uncomfortably. Seonghwa wondered for how long the other had stayed like that before he finally startled awake, leaning forward and scooping a hand out to at least lift Yunho's head so that his cheek rested against the mattress' softer side. But his hand lingered when he wanted to move it away again.

A tingly feeling spread under his skin, erecting hairs responding down his nape and exposed shoulder from his clothing sliding down. It tasted like remorse, but Seonghwa couldn't quite understand why he suddenly would feel untrue to his actions when Yunho surely had deserved such harsh treatment. Why were pleas of forgiveness dancing in the hind of his head?

"I am sorry, Seonghwa-ssi, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Yunho whispered, eyes still closed as he had not moved yet.

The words threading along with his own had the ancient vampire stiffen, not quite knowing what he had expected from him. Yunho bit his lip, looking more troubled by the silence passing, "I.. I shouldn't have ordered you around.. It just slipped from my mouth, and after so many years, unknown of whether you would come back to us- I just- I feared that you would get hurt again."

Seonghwa tilted his head at the recognition sinking in his stomach. The sense of dread from Yunho's mouth crept up along his spine and he stalled. But he did not know why. Then he distracted himself by brushing a finger across Yunho's closed eyelids, drawing a line across the bridge of his nose, and had the male flutter his eyes open upon the tickle. A crease of worry appeared on his forehead instead.

"I know that you can protect yourself.. I just..." Yunho gauged upside-down up at him, the pupils of his eyes widening the more Seonghwa found himself in them, "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you again." He was desperate. And Seonghwa found himself caressing his forehead as he spoke with a tight chest, as to soothe out the crossing worry on his face, "I have told you before. Nothing can kill me, Yunho. Hurt me, yes, but I cannot be killed entirely."

A fist formed in the expensive fabric of Seonghwa's silken hanbok, pulling with weak strength as if he halfway regretted it, "I truly do not believe you are aware of how many tears of despair were spilled in the time you were not with us." And the strain. The strain speared right through his heart. Seonghwa shunned the need to bite his lip.

Yunho twisted his upper body around, legs following until he kneeled in front of Seonghwa, hands grabbing the edge of the bed. "You were the only one who came when I needed help the most. I deserve whatever you tell me. If I so need to be punished for acting wrongly against you, then you shall be allowed to do that. I will allow you to do anything."

Seonghwa suddenly urged forward, grabbed the younger's chin, tilted his head up, and let their eyes meet again, "You fool. You don't need any schooling, Yunho," he said drily. Remorse still clung to the underside of his tongue. Yunho's lips started trembling the closer he inched his face. "I am so sorry, Seonghwa-ssi- please, please forgive me," he whimpered, beautiful, deep brown orbs fluttering shut. Seonghwa's nose slid down the slope of Yunho's before his free hand nuzzled into his short neck hair and he slotted their lips sweetly together. Yunho breathed his scent pressing to the tip of his nose, the move so naturally that Seonghwa could not find himself flinching when hands slowly wrapped around his thighs and pulled him closer to the edge of the bed. A forgotten pain shot up his heels from colliding with the bed's contours, his nails instinctively digging into Yunho's scalp. Noses kissed harder up against each other, slipping to rub against one side then the other when Seonghwa hummed at the lulling sensation of Yunho's large hand creeping up his arm and bared shoulder. Then naughty fingers pushed underneath the silken fabric, urging his weight closer.

He just could not wait.

Suddenly, Seonghwa threw himself back into the bed, claws drawing out of his fledgling's skin as he watched Yunho's instincts react at the immediate loss of contact. His eyes darted up the length of Seonghwa's body, running up under his nightwear in more ways than others. Yunho's tall body came stumbling on top of him when legs curled around his knees. They were left staring at each other in the dark, the sheets crinkling under Yunho's elbows when he swept a strand of hair out of Seonghwa's face.

"I love you, Seonghwa-ssi," he gently said, leaning down to kiss him again.

Then he did it again. And again. And Yunho's lips lingered for so long against his that he felt a stubborn heat sizzling in his cheeks and he weakly gave his chest a push away. Seonghwa's head rolled away to the side, feeling out of his own body in a way that seemed unexplainable to him.

"Yunho," he whispered, "I am not like San. I do not know what love means. Like he does." He listened to the drumming rain outside, dragging his teeth across his lower lip as he focused on the sounds of screeching birds in the distance.

The distraction was far from enough when cold lips connected under his jaw and made him painfully swallow a surprised puff of air.

"And I do not suppose that you will. We can teach you how it feels," Yunho muttered and rolled down beside him, his legs still curled into Seonghwa's. With a single tug, the ancient vampire's body followed him around, easily falling into his fledgling's arms. He felt a foreign peace within the rest there.

"We will teach you how it feels. I promise you that.."

∞