Two more weeks had passed and both Taehyung and Jungkook could see that Hoseok was slowly starting to move on from the grief he was feeling.

He was starting to go outside again, he started cleaning his room and doing day-to-day chores again. The only room he never entered was Jungkook's, he still wasn't ready for that. Who knew? Maybe someday, Hoseok would be able to pick up the courage to take a deep breath and enter his dearest roommate's bedroom again, like he used to.

The empty bottles of banana milk and the empty bowls of instant noodles littering the desk, the pop music posters hanging on these walls... he could already imagine it, but every time his mind wandered off to his dead friend and what was now left of him, he forced it elsewhere with a shake of his head.

Jungkook would want him to be happy and healthy, right? He would be able to forgive him for what happened and he wouldn't want Hoseok to spend day and night grieving and feeling horrible about himself. Right?

Of course he didn't. Since Jungkook requested it, Taehyung stopped by at his previous dormitory once every few days to check up on him and his current state. And when he returned, he told Jungkook, who was now staying at Taehyung's mansion along with Mina and Chaeyoung, everything.

"He's doing okay, right? Eating and sleeping well? Going outside every once in a while? And what about dance practise, is he going to the dance studio again?," he would ask after every visit and Taehyung would patiently respond, reporting everything that he noticed about the brunette's behaviour.

To Jimin and Namjoon, Jungkook had said that he caught the flu so severe that the doctor told him to rest for several weeks. When they offered to visit him, he declined by saying he didn't want them to catch it because of him. In a week or so, he did plan on going back to university again. He just hoped Hoseok wouldn't accidentally see him somewhere. He also didn't know what to do with his dance rehearsals. Hoseok and Jimin both were on his team, what if the truth somehow got out before he was ready to talk about it?

As always, there were lots of problems just waiting to be fixed. But they wanted today to be a day without any worried. Taehyung wanted to teach Jungkook how to catch animals and drink their blood. Additionally to that, he wanted the ravenette to test out his vampire speed and strength. Of course, the woods were the perfect place to do that. Peaceful, quiet, full of animals and no humans.

"You know, this is actually so cool. Feels like I'm hunting for game in the Hunger Games or something," Jungkook said as the two of them hid behind a tree, waiting for a deer or a rabbit to emerge from the huge maze of trees and thick coats of leaves that were the forest. They had to be cautious and quiet, Taehyung in front to demonstrate how it was done and Jungkook right behind him, watching both the forest and Taehyung's back profile.

"Have I ever told you how nice you look from behind?" The redhead turned his head around to face him, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Well, thank you very much but this is so not the right time. We're supposed to be quiet, and we need to take this very seriously." Jungkook chuckled and ruffled his hair softly.
"Why so serious?"

"Because this is very important for you to learn. You were the one who said you didn't want to drink human blood. And if you want to live off animal blood, you need to be careful so nothing happens to you!" The younger remained motionless, simply looking at him.
"But why should anything happen to me when you're here with me?"

And all of a sudden, Taehyung looked a bit worried. "Yeah, but what if something happens and I can't always be with you?" The ravenette shook his head and bent forward to wrap his arms around him from behind and backhug him. "Don't be silly. Of course you can always be with me."

And in that very moment, both of them heard and sensed a little animal somewhere behind them, sneaking through the forest quietly, not leaving a trace except for a soft rustle in the leaves which made both of them tense. Using his vampire speed, Taehyung caught up to the animal, a young deer, and held it by its middle to prevent it from escaping.

"You need to be really quick with animals. Normally, these things are much wittier than you think. Unlike humans, humans can't do shit." He grinned at a hesitant Jungkook, who caught up to him maybe not entirely as skillfully, but still at a respectable amount of speed and now looked at the animal sadly.

"I don't know if I can do this. Look at how beautiful it is, it has so pretty and round eyes and so soft fur. I can't just murder it and drink its blood!," he protested which made the redhead sigh softly.
"I knew this would come. But if you can't bring yourself to harm humans, animals are the only option. Or you drink blood bags. But you've gotta live somehow."

Jungkook took a deep breath and nodded, kneeling next to the animal and him and feeling a bit dizzy but trying to keep focus.
And while Taehyung explained to him where he should bite and how deep and he listened, he felt the fear he had felt in the hospital again. The insufferable, choking kind that made your hands shake and your throat close up.
Would he keep having to do this forever? What if he couldn't get used to it?

"It's okay to be scared, it means you're a good person. You probably think you can never get used to it but that's untrue. And I'm not asking you to do this because I want to scare you forever, I'm doing it because starving as a vampire is painful. You literally dry out and it's like you turn into stone but you can't die from it, it just stiffens you and turns you numb." Jungkook turned up his head and gave him a questioning look.

"Sounds like you have experience." The redhead shrugged. "This one isn't really about me. Then again, kinda is. I used to be real clumsy so I got myself in a lot of unfortunate situations by accident. Just believe me when I say it's better if you drink enough blood." For a little while, there was silence.

"Okay. I'll try," Jungkook then said and Taehyung smiled, grasping his hand. And he really did try, practically going against everything his human self would've stood for. Drinking an animal's blood- he felt like a villain in a kid's movie.

The blood had an undescribable taste. He could clearly feel himself getting stronger and stronger with every single gulp, yet he couldn't help but feel as if something was missing. The blood didn't taste fresh and nourishing, not like the fresh blood he had drunk in the hospital, from the head doctor...

"Okay. Hey, that's enough now. Don't drink too much at once or you'll become an addict," Taehyung warned while softly patting his back. Jungkook shook his head, feeling as if he had been in some sort of trance and now he was slightly returning back into his normal state.
"This is such a strange feeling. Like the blood hypnotizes you."

The redhead nodded. "I know, that's why it's always so hard to stop drinking but that's a question of self-discipline, which you can train. Your eyes turn red when you're under bloodlust, by the way- actually, I think it suits you." He nudged the new vampire softly in attempt to lift his spirits and wiped some remaining blood from his chin with a smile.

Hand in hand, the two walked around the forest and simply enjoyed the sounds of birds chirping, woodpeckers pecking and the leaves rustling in the soft afternoon breeze.

"Do you think we were destined to end up like this?," Jungkook asked. "That if there's a god, he decided he wanted to make us deadly supernatural creatures before our lives even properly began?" Taehyung shook his head.

"I stopped believing in God or gods a long time ago. I just have shitty luck and was at the wrong place at the wrong time, by accident. And as for you, I think we'll both have to agree that your accident was entirely my f--"
All of a sudden, Jungkook abruptly halted in his step.

"If you say this one more time, I will literally spank you." Taehyung grinned teasingly.

"The accident was entirely my fault. Bye, catch me if you can." And just like that, he vampire-speeded away quickly, disappearing behind an abundance of trees within less than a second.

°○●○●○°

Taehyung wasn't out of sight for long, not even ten minutes after, Jungkook could hear his voice calling from about a mile away.

"Oh my god! Jungkook, come quick!"
T

hinking it was an emergency and Taehyung had found someone who was heavily injured, the ravenette rushed towards him rapidly. For some strange reason, he knew exactly where he had to go and it was as if his limbs were working on their own. The trees rushed past him at an inhumane amount of speed- was he using vampire speed without realizing it?

And just in a matter of few seconds, he was standing right in front of his lover who simply smiled.
"So you finally learned how to use vampire speed, too! Look." The redhead pointed next to him, and Jungkook's eyebrows furrowed.

Next to Taehyung stood a little girl, around six or seven years old. She was dressed in a long white gown, its hem touching the ground. Despite standing in the middle of a forest with two unknown men, she did not appear frightened or surprised in the slightest. Her expression was perfectly calm and her round, dark eyes looked him up and down slowly.

"Uh, hey. Little girl?," Jungkook asked, kneeling down so he was on eye level with her. "Little girl, where are your parents? What are you doing here, alone in the woods?"

"I ran away," the little girl answered nonchalantly, blinking at him with her gigantic teddy bear-like eyes.
"Um, okay? But may I ask why? Did you have a fight with someone? Where do you live?," the ravenette continued asking. Taehyung also kneeled down and carefully patted her shoulder, her not reacting at all.

"In the orphanage. It's very boring there," she responded, both vampires frowning sadly. "What's your name, little girl?," Taehyung asked her, which made her turn her head around.
"Lee Ahjin."

Both Taehyung and Jungkook were extremely confused as to how to act in this situation. They were also overwhelmed, just what were the odds of a random little orphan girl walking around in the forest?
"Ahjin, you shouldn't be out here by yourself, especially not in the forest. No matter how boring it is, never run off like that. They didn't treat you badly at the orphanage, did they?," Taehyung asked gently.

She shook her head. "It's just dull there. I hate it. Ahjussi, can't you let me stay at your house? You look nice." The redhead widened his eyes at the bold request. His first instinct was to say no, but his soft spot for children combined with how sorry he felt for the little girl for growing up in a dull, loveless orphanage made him slightly hesitate.

"Well... Uh... Ahjin, I'm not sure if that's--" However, he got interrupted by Jungkook. "Of course he will. But you have to promise to go back soon. And you should never go home with strangers just like that, it could be dangerous! I can promise you that we are trustworthy but you can never know beforehand. It's getting dark soon so it's best if we get going now."

Jungkook took Ahjin's much smaller hand and stood up, leaving a very confused Taehyung behind. He did not agree to this. He wondered how the hell he had gotten himself in such a situation again. He didn't know how to feel about this.

Nevertheless, he caught up with the two of them and took the girl's other hand, walking her towards his mansion.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: nope they're not gonna adopt her XD but yes this little girl does have a purpose

i also got my first english and music exams back today and i'm very glad to say i kinda have top scores in both of them so that's a good start but i suck at all other subjects so that's that😭 i'm just praying for my psychology exam next monday🙏🏻

btw this story reached 40k reads and it's just sooo many so thank you so much, i never expected sth like this but i'm so very grateful and if this story is fun for you to read that's all that i need🥺🥺 thank you very very much and also thank you for reading this randomly random chapter i love you very much🥰💜💜)