Time went by without anyone noticing, and eventually, the already cold autumn transitioned into freezing winter.

The fiery red and gold leaves were forced off their twigs by the crisp wind and from there on, after floating around the air for a brief while, landed on the ground until they withered. A heavy and thick coat of snow covered the now hopeless and lonely branches, as if to comfort them.

As December approached, the ambience in Cheonsang University transitioned from a dull and bored one into an excited and festive one, as Christmas was approaching. And so was Taehyung's birthday- not that he cared, though. He couldn't even bother calculating his own age at this point.

Life went on and not much had changed. No one had tried to attack yet and Mina hadn't had any more ground-breaking visions. The vampire was still- more or less- forced to hang out with his three companions and following Jimin's orders, they watched the rest of the Twilight-movies that happened to be quite popular around the area, much to the others' dismay. They also went on a few more bowling trips, and Taehyung improved and could now gain a few strikes without Jungkook standing closely behind him and fixing his posture. Once you got the hang of it, bowling was actually quite fun.

Jungkook's intense questioning on the vampire lifestyle had got much less, though every now and then the ravenette just couldn't help but ask. Apologizing about fifty times before and after and saying a 'I hope you don't mind me asking' along with every question, Mina's plan to intimidate him had worked significantly better than Taehyung's. The redhead had to say, he actually did not mind the questioning all that much, once getting used to it.

In business & economy, the two of them were still forced to sit next to each other. For some reason, the tension was extremely awkward if it was just the two of them, no Jimin forcing them to converse and no Namjoon to spit wise facts and/or philosophies. Just an out-of-place and slightly anxious Jungkook chewing on his fingernails and an awkward, internally cringing Taehyung tracing the outlines of his much sharper fingernails.

They avoided being left alone at any cost, not knowing why. Maybe because Taehyung was the reason Jungkook had to wear a cast around his right index finger for weeks and was unfortunately forced to skip his dance practise with his so-called 'crew' during that period of time, the crew not being too pleased about that.

To celebrate the sudden heavy snowfall and the approaching of December, Jimin had the amazing idea to go on a hiking tour and visit the nearby hill, where him and his parents had been often when he was a child, to build snowmen.
Not once in his life had Taehyung built a snowman. He'd never understood the enjoyment about rolling around a few balls of snow and sticking stones and sticks onto them. But of course, he still tagged along.

"I-- literally-- can't-- I-- hate-- travelling-- uphill-- it's-- so-- fuckin-- steep," Jimin panted exasperatedly, holding his tummy as he forced one leg in front of the other continuously. His cheeks were at least as red as Taehyung's hair colour. Eventually, he just started clinging onto Namjoon's hand who was walking in front of him.
The vampire had to surpress a laugh.

Jungkook, walking directly behind Jimin, smirked. "Haha, that's what you get from being short," he teased, the blonde turning around and glaring at him angrily.
"I still have long enough legs, maybe not as long as Joonie's but still very long," he defended himself.

"I personally don't even think my legs are that long, I just have a tall and long figure. And I try my best to not look terribly lanky," Namjoon commented, climbing the hill forward with the shorter still clinging onto him.
"No, you're just being modest. TaeTae, how do you manage? You don't even look tired! Are you a crazy super athlete like these two or are you normal?," he then spoke, the redhead slightly caught off guard by the sudden question.

He shrugged, actually not feeling challenged in the slightest. If he wanted to, he'd be able to run a marathon through the whole of North America within only a few hours. Perks of being a vampire. He simply shrugged.
"I guess I just have good stamina." Jimin wheezed in response.

"Good doesn't cut it. And-- your legs are long too! They're so pretty, what the hell? God has his favourites, I swear." He kept walking, repeatedly huffing out a cloud of cold and misty air.
In that exact moment, Jungkook turned around and glanced at the vampire for a brief moment. More specifically, his legs. Probably because he wanted to check whether Jimin had been right about his legs being long and pretty. He also couldn't help but strongly agree with that statement, like it or not.

Taehyung didn't really know what to think about that. He had seen the younger's eyes on himself very clearly and as much as he hated to admit it, the ravenette- more or less- checking him out made him halt in his step in surprise and a rain of strange emotions wash over him. He almost felt flustered. It may have been only an extremely short moment, but his vampire senses once again did not lie.
But why had he done that? Was there a reason?
Why was he even thinking about this?

"We're at the top, everyone," Namjoon commented just in that moment, the noodlehead letting out a grunt of relief and hugging the brunette's shoulders from behind with said brunette not objecting.

"So much snow!," Jimin gasped. Indeed, the few trees standing there looked like they'd come straight from a fairytale, covered by a tremendous layer of powdery snow that basically resembled the sugary icing on top of a cake. Taehyung did have a liking for winter, it was calm and peaceful and most importantly, not so terribly hot.
He also enjoyed looking at snow, always feeling the desire to lick that sweet-looking layer off the branches.

"Did you all bring gloves? It's important, or the snow will freeze your fingers off," Namjoon warned, putting his hands into thick gloves and the blonde next to him doing the same thing, but wearing fluffy mittens instead of gloves.

Taehyung obviously didn't bother. Feeling cold wasn't a problem for vampires, at all.
"You seriously didn't bring any? Are you that keen on exposing yourself?," Jungkook, who knew, suddenly asked behind him, grinning.

Taehyung whipped around with an alarmed look on his face. "Will you keep your voice down? It's just gloves, you seriously think they're gonna suspect I suck blood out of humans' veins just because I didn't bring gloves?," he hissed. The younger shrugged.

"I'm just saying. But do you want any? I have an extra pair." The vampire thought for a brief while. Despite feeling like his pride might shatter when accepting a stupid pair of gloves from Jeon Jungkook, he was not looking forward to Jimin's and Namjoon's eagle eyes suspecting things and them asking him tiring questions. So he nodded. "Fine," he groaned reluctantly, holding out his hands so Jungkook could pass the gloves on to him.

However, he did not expect the ravenette to just take his hand and put the glove on it himself, widening his eyes and staring up to the other in slight panic. Jungkook said nothing, his eyes trained on Taehyung's hands as he slipped the gloves over them while biting his lower lip in concentration. For a short while, it seemed as if the corners of lips had to surpress a little smile.
And for a short while, it seemed as if the temperature within the redhead's face went up extremely high. Despite the cold.

"So, let's do this! Whoever builds the prettiest snowman gets a piggyback ride from Jungkook downhill!," Jimin announced. Jungkook, who then let to of Taehyung's hands, looked furious.

"What the actual fuck, I never agreed to this! And what if I win, huh?," he exclaimed.
"Hah, I'd like to see you try," the blonde retorted. "Your snowmen look terrifying. They're literally just big bulges of snow on top of each other. You need to do it with feeling. And if you do happen to win, I'll carry your backpack. Don't expect any of us to carry you, you're heavier than a damn truck."

Jungkook looked extremely offended.

°○●○●○°

Taehyung had to admit, building a snowman was more fun than he had anticipated it to be.

Despite finding snow pretty, he had never touched it or done anything with it other than watch it, so holding the unusual and slightly shimmery substance inside his hands was an entirely different experience for him. In fact, he enjoyed it so much his mouth couldn't help curl into a huge, genuine and absolutely endearing smile.

Rolling the pearly white snow into huge balls actually made him laugh, him bending down while running around the top of the hill and trying to make the snowball as big as possible. And eventually, he had stacked three perfect-looking snowballs on top of each other, quite satisfied with his result. Just as he was about to collect some sticks and stones, he sensed something shoot towards him from behind.

Since running in vampire speed wasn't an option, he winced and waited for the collision, exactly knowing what it was.
Someone had just thrown a snowball at him. And the loud cackling from the back let him know who it was immediately.

Feeling the urge to strangle the person again, Taehyung jogged away (normal-speed) from them while screaming "Jimin, no!" over and over, a wet patch on his back and his hands covering his head as he did not want snow to smash into his luscious and soft blood-red hair.

You ghoulish little worm, he yelled inside his mind. If I were able to use my powers right now, oh boy...

Taehyung was so preoccupied running away from Jimin and even forced his eyelids close as he heard the blonde boy form another snowball with his mittens as he let out squeaks of misery and exclaimed a little "No, not my Louis Vuitton jacket!", he didn't even notice someone standing right in front of him which made the redhead harshly collide with a jacket-clad but still kind of firm chest.

His heart thumping unusually loud, he lifted his head in surprise and surpressed another squeak of misery, feeling two dark and starry eyes stare right into his own. Of course it had to be none other than Jeon Jungkook, Taehyung's heart shortly skipping a beat when realizing.
"Oops, I'm sor-- Fuck, he's still there. Protect my jacket, please."

As Jimin was still racing towards him with a snowball inside his hands, Taehyung winced again at the thought of his precious jacket being ruined and subconsciously pulled Jungkook closer while kind-of hugging his middle. The ravenette froze for a good few second with his eyes wide as saucers before holding the vampire's back with one hand, as best as he could, and turning around so Jimin was now running towards him instead.
"Alright Jimin, that's enough," he scolded.

And then, much to Jimin's dismay, they all agreed on not throwing around with snowballs on the hill since Namjoon found it too risky as there could be little stones or other dangerous particles hidden within that could cause damage when colliding with someone's face. Taehyung, on the other hand, was utterly relieved.

So long story short, they continued building their snowmen and decorated them with branches and pebbles afterwards. Jungkook had also conveniently brought little carrots to use for their noses, the result being utterly adorable.

After taking about a hundred pictures since Jimin required one from every single angle, and that included a group selfie, the 'winner' was chosen. As Namjoon accidentally slashed his arm against his snowman's neck and the poor figure was left beheaded, he was disqualified immediately. The head of Jimin's snowman was positioned about five inches left from where it actually should be, so he didn't qualify much, either.

As for Jungkook, he seemed to have little symmetrical problems aswell, plus, his snowman was extremely unproportional as his bottom was gigantic compared to his head. Plus, his snowman lacked a nose as the ravenette had decided to just eat his carrot after completing his work.
That led to Taehyung being the winner, his snowman looked like it was straight out of a kids' picture book. Ironic, since it was his first time building one.

Surprisingly, Jungkook actually held his word (or more like: Jimin's word) and gave the redhead a relaxed piggyback ride back down. He didn't seem to mind that much, Taehyung was considerably light and he wasn't bothered by that extra addition of weight at all.
Taehyung himself seemed to mind much more.

"Can't you go any faster? If I could walk by myself, I'd be down in a millisecond," the vampire huffed after a while, his legs crossed in front of Jungkook's front and a clear sulk written on his face.
"With vampire-speed? Can you show me?" The human's eyes shone brightly.

"Are you insane? I can't afford being that light-headed, what if they see me?," he immediately exclaimed, wrapping his arms tighter around the younger's neck in frustration.
"I'm actually kind of surprised by how well you're taking this. Are you strong or are you just pretending to be strong?"

"Well, arguing with Jimin is pointless. And I am pretty strong, thank you very much. Plus, you're light as a feather." Taehyung almost smiled, watching the astonishing winter scenery with a calm gaze.
"What do you expect? I've lived off human blood for the past few centuries." He leaned his head between his own shoulder and the back of Jungkook's head, feeling a little drowsy all of a sudden.

"We're there. You can stop choking me now. Jesus, your grip is too tight," the ravenette groaned after a few more minutes of carrying the vampire around and enjoying the view of the blissful pearly white hills below a perfectly blue sky. However, Taehyung didn't seem to want to get off as he kept his arms and legs secure around Jungkook, like a little monkey.

When he still wouldn't budge after a minute, the younger grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it near Taehyung's face but intentionally didn't hit him with it, the redhead immediately letting out a shriek and within a millisecond, he was just gone with a strange zooming noise.

A few seconds later, the strange zooming noise appeared again and Taehyung was suddenly back. Jungkook simply gaped at him and the way the vampire could seemingly move in literal light speed.

"You bastard. How dare you threaten me with snow," Taehyung complained with a furious glare. The ravenette couldn't help but grin, finding this situation more amusing than intimidating.

He then shrugged. "At least I got to see your vampire speed," he spoke proudly, a burst of pure admiration suddenly penetrating his chest.

Taehyung surely was one of the most unusual beings he had ever met.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: i love how i'm writing about december when it's literally almost june sjsjsj help🤡

here's a casual reminder to stream butter and can i just say we did so so well😭😭 we truly are an amazing fandom and i'm so proud of us for making this amazing song break the records as it should🥺 butter truly is the best summer song ever and it cheers me up lots and i can't wait to attempt learning the choreo🧈💜

also, this book hit 10k reads?!?!!?😭😭 omg as always i can't believe the amount of attention i'm getting i swear i feel like some sort of celebrity and i hope you know how grateful i am for all the overwhelming support i'm getting and if ppl find my books fun it means the world to me plus i love writing them🥺💜 just thank you a lot you're truly the best and i appreciate you so much uwuwu💕

thank you again for reading this chapter and for (hopefully lmao) enjoying this story i do love you a lot🥰💜💜)