Taehyung could not believe it.

He had mentally prepared himself for anything that could come into his way and cause him trouble.

Hunters, aggressive werewolves, other vampires, some stupid town council that would try to find and kill him, everything.

But here he was, walking home with a toddler following him around happily and full of energy.
How was he even still awake?
And why did he have to be there at that time? Taehyung really was unlucky.

Normally, he would've used his vampire speed to get home quicker but with the suspicious kid hot on his heels, he obviously could not risk doing anything that stupid.

When he finally arrived at his quite new accomodation, which was a grand, fancy manor standing by itself amidst a lot of stark trees, he sighed. If it weren't for the warm lights shining cozily from the inside, it would've looked quite spooky. It was in the middle of nowhere, after all. The amount of plumbers and electricians he had to arrange just to get the plumbing and electricity running! It was tiring, really.

"Wow, Mister!," the little boy exclaimed in surprise.
"Is that your house? It's huge! Like Buckingham Palace! Are you a prince?"

Taehyung rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"I'm not a prince. It's not even that big. But of course, this is totally mine," he half-lied.
Well, technically it was. If you ignored the fact that the way he actually got the house was knocking on the door, playing the sweet neighbours' boy who wanted to impress the previous owners by bringing a nice housewarming gift.

The elderly couple which had lived here had kindly invited him in with a delighted smile but were sadly manipulated into leaving the house forever and leaving him all the rights for the manor.
Did Taehyung feel bad? He absolutely did not. Actually, he thought he was being quite merciful. After all, it was better than just killing them off, right?

He wanted something, he got it instantly.
Those were the perks of being a vampire, he didn't like doing it the 'human way'. It just seemed dull and tiring to him by now.

"Come on, kid. We're going inside," he said impatiently, throwing a glance on the little ravenette who was bouncing around on the balls of his feet while laughing brightly.
Taehyung felt his heart give a little jolt of adoration.

He did have a soft spot for adorable, little kids.

That may have been because he, as a vampire, never had a chance to reproduce.
As a gay man, he could not reproduce either.
However, little kids did bring a little bit of joy to his quite cold heart.
Living for hundreds of years, human emotions started numbing and the heat within him cooled off more and more, he was just... void. Most of the time.

As soon as they entered the house, the little boy gasped in awe, running around the lobby and screaming in joy.
"Oh my god, so coooool!"

And he had good reason.

The lobby was simply divine.

Pillars and floorboard made out of expensive, polished marble, delicate curlycues and embellishments made out of pure gold and a five-tier diamond chandelier hanging down the beautifully painted ceiling, the paintings looking like the inside of a typically famous Catholic Church. On the floor laid a huge red velvet carpet, giving an even more luxurious vibe to the whole lobby.

It simply looked like a mixture of various cultures and eras morphed into one single room. Let's just say, Taehyung wasn't like most cliché vampires who liked isolating themselves in dark ruins with creepy furniture and slimy spider webs hanging at every single corner without a single ounce of light anywhere.

He liked being clean. And fancy, with the exactly right amount of delicacy.

"Don't run! Your shoes are dirty, please take them off. Didn't your parents teach you any manners? And don't you dare touch anything!," Taehyung scolded, dragging the little boy back to the wardrobe at the other end of the lobby by the collar of his red jacket.

He then pointed towards the huge (also made out of marble) shoe closet standing proudly in the corner, dozens and dozens of shoes being stapled inside tidily, the whole shoe closet looking like a topmodel's fashion wardrobe.
Jungkook gaped with eyes as wide as saucers, taking off his tiny shoes and placing them below the closet.

"Mister, do you have a wife? Or a sister?" Taehyung cocked a brow.
"I do not. Why would you think that?"
The toddler pointed towards his collection of women's shoes standing in the bottom shelf.

"Oh no, sweetie, those are mine. You know, living for so long, you start getting bored of only wearing boring men's shoes, so-- Hey, put that down!," he yelled, ripping a pair of squeaky clean, pearly white sneakers out of the child's curious hands and putting them back in place while shaking his head in disbelief.

"Didn't I just tell you not to touch anything? You kids have the memory span of a fucking goldfish, I swear to god! Oh shit, I shouldn't have said 'fuck' in front of a kid-- Hey, where'd you go?!," he exclaimed as he didn't see Jungkook next to him anymore, quickly throwing off his shoes and jogging around the huge lobby to chase the little boy.

Sadly, Jungkook was nowhere to be found, making him release a string of curses that should definetely not be heard by any toddler.

And suddenly, he heard the kid's exhilerated voice again:

"Mister, what's this?," the toddler popped up again and asked excitedly, holding a blood red necklace inside his small, chubby hand.
The stone was shaped like a huge teardrop and glowed mysteriously, silver garnet surrounding and framing it in beautiful, delicate shapes. Not a single scratch or flaw embossed the necklace, it simply looked too precious to be touched. Taehyung's eyes turned wide as saucers at the sight, panic slightly settling in his chest.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, not this one. Stupid little kids, always so damn nosy and taking things they shouldn't! Does he even have any idea how powerful this thing is? Obviously not.

"For the last time, didn't I tell you not to touch anything? Where did you get that from anyway? Give it back, it's important to me!," the redhead snapped, the little child pointing up towards his bedroom before hesitantly giving him the necklace while pouting sadly, leaving Taehyung sighing deeply.

"Don't you dare go up into my bedroom again. It's creepy. And, well... It's a necklace, a very special necklace. The most special one I own, actually. I've had it for a very, very long time," he suddenly started explaining while tracing the beautiful gemstone with his index finger carefully, little Jungkook listening to him with wide, curious eyes.

"It's pretty! What's it called? It looks just like your hair, red like blood. Oh, how is your hair so red, Mister? Did you dunk it in blood?" The redhead's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, him caught off guard for a second. What kind of random and not to mention, stupid question was that?

"You kids and your odd minds, I swear to god. The amount of fantasy you have in your tiny brains is fascinating. Jesus Christ, I dyed my hair with hair dye, not blood. And by the way, this gemstone is called Cinnabar. It's one of my favourites," he told him, tracing it again.
"Why?"

"Well, first of all, it's super pretty. It has this really special dim glow. Also, stones like these have been around for thousands of years, but you have to dig deep to find some because there has to be vulcanic activity for it to be created. It's also the most toxic mineral on earth, when you oxidize it, it produces methyl and dimethyl mercury which causes terminal damage to your nerves. I find that pretty interesting, you know?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Huh?"

Taehyung rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, right. I keep forgetting you're a kid and kids don't know stuff like that. Actually, you should be glad, the world is unnecessarily complicated. You'll see when you grow up."
Especially if you've been around for hundreds of years like me, he added in thought.

"Why is this so important to you, Mister? It's just a necklace," the toddler suddenly spoke, making him huff slightly.
"It is not just a necklace. It was made by someone who's important to me at an important time. You wouldn't understand," he slightly snapped, his head flooding with memories suddenly coming up.

"Does it have magic powers? Like the Harry Potter stone! Phalisopher's Stone!" The redhead scoffed, feeling slightly offended.
"Excuse me? First of all, it's the Philosopher's Stone! Second of all, you did not just compare this necklace to a stupid immortality stone in some kids' book! The disrespect..." He tsk'ed.

Ironically, that was exactly what it was. A magic necklace with immortality powers (and more) and a very long backstory. Not to mention, it was extremely dangerous. But Jungkook didn't have to know that, did he?

"Okay, kid." He grabbed the little boy's collar again and walked up the stairs elegantly, said little boy being pulled after him.
"I have five guest rooms in this house, two of them are on this floor. These two." he pointed towards two huge doors, giving the impression of royal chambers in a palace. They were shaped like royal gateways, tons of elegant details and little symbols painted in gold shaping them. Jungkook was, once again, in awe.

"Take any room you want, there is a bathroom for each in case you need a toilet. Don't you dare urinate in my guest bed, I'm warning you. And sleep, don't snoop around my house or I won't be able to get my beauty sleep. Don't come inside my room until it's at least eleven AM. And if you're hungry... too bad because I don't have any food. Uh, I-I forgot to-- do the grocery shopping. Yeah. Anyways, good night." Not sparing the toddler a single glance anymore, he walked towards his own bedroom, deep in thought.

What if the little boy tried snooping around again? What if he found his emergency stock of blood bags? Could he just lie and say he was a doctor that specified in blood transfusion or something? But he didn't even know much about medicine!

Luckily, he had all of his most precious items stored inside his own bedroom, exposed to absolutely nobody but himself. But nevertheless, he couldn't help but worry about the kid's safety, he did have a soft spot for kids after all.
What if he got lost and hurt himself? Or tumbled down the stairs and died? He just hoped the little boy was tired by now and would sleep peacefully beneath the soft duvet, filled with comfortable goose feathers that would make sure that everyone could enter dreamland within a millisecond.

Sighing, he changed into his pyjamas as soon as he reached his own room.
He might be a vampire that didn't need sleep but he still enjoyed taking naps, taking care of himself and his beauty, reading books, listening to music and simply relaxing and pretty much drowning in luxury during nighttime. Since he didn't have the opportunity to do anything remotely close to that in his past human life, that was the least he could do as an immortal being.

Yawning, he let himself fall onto the velvety surface of his queen-sized bed, perking his ears for any toddler feet tip-toeing around and nodding in content as he heard nothing.

Feeling quite exhausted, he let his eyelids flutter close, hoping the little boy wouldn't do anything stupid.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: i swear this is gonna be like a super dramatic story or whatever but the chapters with baby jungkookie are so funny to me idek :D

and btw i just randomly wanted to thank you for the positive reactions under my face reveal in my last book and for the positive reactions i'm getting for this book already like what?👉🏻👈🏻💜 thank you so much i feel very loved and so should you🥰
just thank you for reading i love you🥺💜💜)