warnings: this is a vampire book so i figure you know what you've signed up for, but this chapter has depictions of violence, blood, and blood drinking so if that makes u uncomfy don't read it.

Human compassion has a relatively small capacity.

It's always at it's height when it comes to someone less fortunate than you, someone who can allow you to stroke your own ego by getting them out of a hard time in their life that you feel responsible for. Not that there's anything wrong with helping people, it's just that the motives are commonly impure. All to feed a dangerous savior complex.

The thing it, it always seems to get to it's limit when it comes to helping those within your reach. The people who are just like you, who need help with trivial shit like their bills or are struggling with something non surface level, like bipolar disorder or depression. When it comes to helping the one's that'll give you no benefit, it's absentee. Like it never existed in the first place.

Jeongguk doesn't think anyone's really compassionate. It's all an act, a line to impress that girl with the flowers on her dress or the boy with a pickup truck, all because watching others be kind is like a turn on for the empty soul. What you're incapable of doing yourself amazes you, regardless of whether or not the person is doing it genuinely.

He thinks he can be compassionate sometimes. When he wants to be. It's really not hard to sympathize with people when you can hear their pain, see their struggle. That's what he thinks the main problem with this town is, fucking empathy.

Jeongguk can't hear his struggles. Or see the man's pain. What he can do though, is sympathize with someone who's being treated like an outcast. That everyone glares at, despite not knowing him.

So, yeah. Jeongguk feels sympathy for Taehyung.

But he still stands where he stands. Perched behind the bar, watching as Taehyung throws money on the table, a 10, because apparently fake blood is expensive, and then he gets up and leaves. The door hits his heel on the way out. They don't make eye contact.

Jeongguk feels bad.

He almost runs out after him. But that'd be a fake act of human compassion, only to make Jeongguk feel better, because honestly, if he were Taehyung, he probably wouldn't want to see himself right now. After that awkward napalm detonation of a conversation.

So he stays where he is. Elbows on the wood. It's like a routine working here, about twenty minutes total spent per shift with his face buried in his hands, customers looking at him and undoubtedly judging him. It's a lot easier to block them out when his eyes are closed. Despite Hoseok cooking behind him, it's usually the most quiet he gets in a night.

Tonight however, it's the second most quiet. Nothing beats talking to Taehyung. The dead silence within his head. The unclouded words, what he hopes is the truth and not just more lines. Although maybe he's being overly expectant, but he also doesn't care.

He should care. Maybe that goes with the compassion thing. Hand in hand or something like that.

But, maybe he's not capable of real compassion either. Maybe compassion goes beyond the minds of humans, and only someone like Taehyung would know how it feels. To truly see another and want to help them, not because you want help yourself but because you know they deserve it.

Maybe that's reserved for higher beings. Because that's what Taehyung is. A higher being.

In the blink of an eye he could leave two small wounds in the flesh of everyone's necks, watch them as they writhe while the life force is sucked from them without a fighting chance, but he doesn't. He faces the ridicule, almost allows it.

It's baffling. Jeongguk tries to wrap his head around it, but he fails. He just keeps himself where he is, head firmly planted in the warmth of his palms, until a tap on his shoulder brings him out of the comfort his own head brings.

Is he okay?

Jeongguk's fucking fine. Hoseok is just concerned.

"Hey. Were you just talking to that-"

"I was."

He turns around fully, leans back so his elbows are still touching the counter, but now he's looking at Hoseok as he talks to him. The spatula's still in his hand. A bit of crusted food lies on the edge, where Hoseok forgot to clean it. Jeongguk thinks the slight judgmental look in Hoseok's eyes it's totally unjustified. He also thinks he understands why Taehyung called him cook man.

Almost laughs.

"Right," Hoseok's eyes go wide, "right. And was it nice?"

Jeongguk doesn't feel like laughing anymore.

"It is a he. And he has a name."

"Right. Yeah, okay. What's his name?"

"Taehyung."

Hoseok tilts his head to the side. Seems to think about it for a second before a ghost of a smile plays at his lips and he lets out, "That's actually a nice name."

Jeongguk feels like he could laugh again. He doesn't, but if he really wanted to maybe it'd pour out of his lungs in a much more pleasant way than his earlier word vomit had. Thinking about it in hindsight, he really wishes he had followed Taehyung outside of the bar.

"Isn't it? That's exactly what I thought too. See-"

"Jeongguk."

He stops. Hoseok's looking at him with his eyebrows caved in. He looks serious, which isn't normal.

"What are you doing."

Again, the judgmental stare. The one Hoseok has no place to hold while he looks at Jeongguk. He's not his fucking father. Why does everyone feel like they have jurisdiction over what Jeongguk says and does?

"I don't know what you mean."

"Talking to a vampire? Fucking irresponsible. You're gonna get yourself hurt, or worse off, you'll end up dead-"

The pressure in Jeongguk's head builds up. He's trying to block out Hoseok's thoughts, because he really doesn't want to hear the judgment in his voice and his mind simultaneously, cause the mind is usually worse. The issue is, when Jeongguk focuses on blocking out one person, it usually allows the others to trickle in.

Hoseok's voice becomes white noise.

I'm glad that fuckers gone, bout scared my kids half to death-

I wonder if their blood's actually a drug like they say on TV. Maybe I could try some one day-

This burger tastes like ass but the beer is cheap-

"I'm being serious. You've heard what they say. It isn't safe to-"

It switches back and forth. Which one he's paying attention too.

It's suffocating.

"Hoseok. I don't wanna hear it right now."

Hoseok continues anyways. So does everyone else.

"I don't care. You need to. I'd rather annoy the fuck out of you right now than click on the news in a week and see you've been found dead in a-"

That waitress is so hot, I wonder if she has-

What does blood taste like? That fucking vampire got me thinking-

The silver really does burn their skin, it's almost funny watching this fucker struggle-

Jeongguk goes rigid at that last one. His entire body tenses, head to toe as the thoughts continue to flood into his brain, endless, one after the other, but if he really tries he can hear that one, and a few others with it, and Hoseok's still fucking talking-

"Hoseok, shut the fuck up."

Hoseok inhales sharply, places his own hands on his hips like Jeongguk loves to do. "Jesus man. Just looking out for you but if-"

"No, seriously. Shut the fuck up."

Jeongguk closes his eyes, focuses. Focus focus focus, his brain screams, trying to get back to that one particularly bone chilling thought process that makes worry take hold of his gut, twist it around in multiple loop-di-loops until he's closing his eyes to try and stop the feeling, make it so he can listen.

It comes back.

Oh fuck, he's not even struggling, look at him laying there like a fucking fish out of water-

This time it comes with a picture.

Jeongguk's eyes widen. His mouth opens, air rushing out. Hoseok keeps talking, even when the pen Jeongguk forgot he was holding clatters to the floor, and Jeongguk's fingers start shaking.

Because behind his eyes, is Taehyung.

Taehyung lying on the ground, chains wrapped around his wrists and neck, and they look like they're digging into his skin, burning him-

The image disappears. He sees Hoseok staring at him. Then it comes back a moment later, the same thing, but this time he looks closer and he can see the shadows dancing over Taehyung's body, undoubtedly people surrounding him, and Taehyung's in pain, face twisted up, but he doesn't resist.

Just lays there.

Hoseok comes back again.

"Jeongguk?"

He's probably been saying his name for awhile now.

Jeongguk doesn't care.

He's running out of the restaurant before he can even think, feet moving on their own, carrying him further away from Hoseok, closer to the hateful words still spewing shit in his brain, and then he realizes there's an entire group of them, and they all have Taehyung cornered like a fucking wounded animal.

All because Jeongguk couldn't keep his mouth shut and drove him out of the bar before they could even have a genuine conversation. How are you, how was your day and all that good shit, all down the metaphorical drain and replaced by pain and dangerous situations.

This is probably dangerous. The air as it hits his face snaps him out of some kind of trance, the one that made him rush out of the restaurant, the savior complex he had been desperately contemplating, but in all honest. What can he do? Against a group of men, who easily overwhelmed Taehyung-

Jeongguk would be nothing to them. Just a tiny obstacle in the way of their hateful glory.

He stops. Just for a second. His shoes sink into the gravel. He's not even sure where Taehyung is. And why does he feel so obligated to save him anyways? They hardly know each other, and it's not like Taehyung is his responsibility.

And then it comes back. Paints Jeongguk's eyelids in a blood orange, but not the sunset kind, the nasty kind that has a bit too much blood involved for his liking. Taehyung there, in the middle of a clearing, one Jeongguk recognizes from when he walks a little too far during his smoke breaks.

He blinks. The image disappears. Is replaced by blades of grass, swaying, the stars above sparkling, almost moving in his vision that's slowly blurred with tears. Not because he's sad, but because he isn't sure what to do.

Fuck, a splinter. It's worth it though if I get to see a stake drive through this-

A stake?

Jeongguk runs.

As his feet pound on the rocks that turn to grass, he slowly pulls his knife out of his back pocket, the one he always keeps just in case, because when you hear the things he hears, it lets you know exactly what people are capable of. Terrible, horrible things.

Horrible things he has no idea how he's going to prevent with a fucking pocket knife.

He clutches it tighter and runs faster.

He's probably running too loudly. He doesn't care. He can't hear the slam of his feet against the ground below over the sound of his own heart as it beats against his chest, pours blood into his ears until every sound is muffled, except for the thoughts of a disgusting man.

I'm gonna do it. Holy shit, I'm seriously gonna do it. Kill a real vampire-

He reaches the clearing.

At first he just looks.

None of them turn around, oblivious to the trembling boy behind them holding a pocket knife with unsteady fingers, breathing heavily after the physical exertion.

A bunch of rednecks. He should've known, especially by the voices. They sounded exactly the way they look.

He sees Taehyung.

The moon shines down on him, reflects off of the silver that holds him to the ground. It's almost beautiful, how eerie it looks, seeing someone who usually emanates an aura of power and free will completely stripped of his own, sinking into the grass and looking so vulnerable.

A tear falls down Jeongguk's cheek. Kisses the grass below. He's not sure why he's crying, but it probably has something to do with compassion. Sympathy. All because these humans have none.

It morphs into anger when he catches sight of the stake. Wooden, pointed, resting in one of the man's fingers. He has a scraggly beard and a beer belly, a stained white T shirt over his body. When his head turns a bit to the left, Jeongguk recognizes him as the yellow toothed man from the night he and Taehyung met. The one with the terrible thoughts. He should've recognized the voice.

You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

He stares for a second more, but ultimately regrets it when with a chuckle the man's hand draws back, and he leans down, and the moment the stake is hovering over Taehyung's heart Jeongguk's talking.

The stake stops.

Six heads turn to look at Jeongguk.

"Wait," it comes out as a weak shout, not as confident as he'd wished it was. When he makes eye contact with them all, his feet root into the ground. Sink into the grass like Taehyung.

His heart feels like it's not beating.

Adrenaline's the most powerful drug there is.

His eyes narrow, and then suddenly his voice comes out powerful. Not weak, not shaking, nothing. He watches Taehyung, who still looks in pain, but his eyes meet Jeongguk's. They're pleading. Probably begging him to go away, save himself.

He doesn't.

Just extends the knife out in front of him like a protective barrier.

"Don't fucking touch him."

Was that his voice? The one he just heard? The courageous thing that cut through the air, sent a chill down his spine?

The adrenaline doesn't last long. It easily chips away into terror, when the yellow teeth come back again, that same smile. All Jeongguk can think is that the stake's no longer on top of Taehyung's heart. His desired goal has been achieved.

The men back away from Taehyung a bit. Take a step towards Jeongguk.

What now?

"Look what we have here," that same voice as before, the one that called him that god awful pet name, "changed your mind about that drink sugar?"

Fuck, the anger comes back. Despite his wobbling knees he holds his ground, sticks the knife out a bit further and spits, "In your fucking dreams."

The men all laugh, the sound bouncing back and forth between them. Jeongguk feels disgusted, scared, and cornered, but the underlying concern for the man lying helpless on the ground is what keeps him from fainting on the spot.

That is, until Taehyung's voice speaks up from his place, weak but firm, a bitten out, "Jeongguk, get out of here-"

They laugh again. It's bitter, makes Jeongguk want to throw up. He think's that'd be more pleasant than the scene before him, watching as they look mockingly down at Taehyung. His gut curls up tighter, and before he realizes it his knuckles are white around the knife.

"Aw. That's cute. They're in love or something. Little blood bag here to save the day?"

"Fuck you," Jeongguk's tone is vicious, and his own voice sounds foreign in his ears, that same feeling of, was it me who just said that? Is it me who's outnumbered six to one, only defense mechanism a rusty pocket knife that I'm definitely too afraid to use?

They think horrible things too. Even worse than what they say. Jeongguk feels wrong with their words in his ears, almost guilty that these thoughts are in his own head, even if the thoughts themselves belong to someone else.

A different man steps forward. He's getting scarily close to Jeongguk. Without thinking about how it looks, Jeongguk steps backwards, away from them.

More of those fucking laughs.

"He's scared. Look at those wobbly fingers holding the knife. Are those tears on his cheeks?"

"Shut up," he shouts, because it's becoming too much. Everything they're saying, Taehyung's pleas from the ground, because he's still talking, still asking Jeongguk to run away, to save himself, and that's all Jeongguk wants to do, but he just can't. He's not that kind of person.

He knows exactly what kind of people they are.

But how did he get himself into this situation?

Lingering in the back of his mind is that he doesn't even know what kind of person Taehyung is. All this for a gamble.

What he does know, is that he doesn't deserve to die. If you ask Jeongguk, no one does. That ever so annoying compassion coming back to bite him in the ass, because maybe if Jeongguk can get himself into a situation like this purely on impulse, compassion just comes naturally to humans.

If Jeongguk's even human.

It's the wrong time to be thinking. Yet they still are.

I wonder if while they keep the pretty one occupied I could run back and stake it, wouldn't take but five seconds.

Jeongguk's lip curls. "If you try it I'll fucking kill every single last one of you."

No he won't.

The one who was thinking narrows his eyes. Fuck, Jeongguk fucked up. It seems to be a reoccurring pattern tonight, but right now, with every drop of blood pumping through his veins like it may be the last, it's probably not the time to make careless mistakes.

"How'd you know I-"

The man trails off, eyes squinting even more. Jeongguk's pale as a sheet at this point, seconds away from his knees collapsing and letting himself melt into nothing, leaving he and Taehyung to the fates that be. He doesn't. Just holds the knife a little tighter, yelps when he accidentally cuts his finger and a drop of blood falls.

The men laugh fucking again.

Taehyung's reaction is different.

Jeongguk hears that familiar clicking noise, the one that means his fangs are out, and see's Taehyung's hand's flex under the silver. Like he's trying to keep himself still.

Jeongguk quirks his head, confused.

The men don't give him time.

"He's a freak. He heard what I was thinking, I just-"

"Don't be fucking ridiculous."

"I'm dead serious Jim. We should tie him up with silver too just to be sure."

Jeongguk's heart sinks. Jim, the yellow toothed man with a very yellow toothed name eyes him another time, and Jeongguk manages to get out a weak, "Stay the fuck away from me."

It's silent for a moment. Jeongguk breathes in, and it's almost like he takes everything with him. All of the air in their space. Until the men are left suffocating on the floor, Jeongguk perfectly fine while he goes to help Taehyung. Save the prince or some cliche shit.

The air stays where it is.

"Grab him."

It's a blur.

They rush towards him, only a few. Two or three. Jeongguk holds the knife steady. It's shaking violently now. He's crying again. A couple of them say things like, "Shhhh," and, "We're not gonna hurt ya," but Jeongguk knows that's a lie if he's ever heard one. A walking bullshit detector.

They get close. He could easily end it. A knife to the stomach, to the heart.

But he's too fucking compassionate. Too hellbent on the fact that nobody deserves to die.

So he punches the one closest to him instead.

A firm right hook. Lands on his jaw, the man's face whipped to the side and a red mark blooming. He holds a hand to the spot. Jeongguk watches it all with wide eyes, the way everything stops and the man stares at the ground, completely silent.

"You, fucker-"

He screams. Doesn't punch anymore. His arms get pulled to his sides by a bigger man who runs up behind him, holding him firmly in place. He thrashes in his hold, screams getting louder. Hears someone tell the man to shut him up. Hears someone else tell them to get him on the ground.

Someone grabs his legs, and pulls.

Ow.

Fuck.

Ow.

For a split second he lays there. When he tries opening his eyes, tears streaming out of them, his vision's white. His head throbs.

They fucking dropped him on the ground.

He feels something warm and wet on the back of his head. Maybe blood. Is that a rock underneath him? His head hit a fucking rock.

The liquid trickles down further, starts collecting at his neck. Everything hurts, his entire body aches, and he waits for the hands to grab him by the ankles again, drag him across the grass.

The hands never come.

He hears rustling around him. Still can't see anything, but the more he blinks the more light starts to shine through the cracks in his eyelids, and when he gets them fully open he sees the stars. They're so bright, and they twinkle in time with his breathing, the rise and fall of his chest as glitter spreads out across the sky and makes him feel alive, despite the dead weight pinning his head to the floor.

His ears ring, but he hears a scream.

The hands still never come.

More commotion, yelling. The grass thuds next to him, and he assumes it's someone falling to the ground. More thuds follow in suit.

What's going on?

He tries to look into one of the men's heads, hear what his eyes can't see, but he doesn't feel anything. Not that electric current that connects his mind to another's, or the light that usually overcomes his brain when he tries to close his eyes and block everyone out.

For once it's silent.

And he hates it.

His breathing gets faster. The stars twinkle less and less, get dimmer and dimmer, but he forces his eyes to stay open and see anyways. He hears another thud, an alarmed noise. His knife must be on the grass somewhere. He can feel blood drying in his hair, undoubtedly staining it red.

He sits up.

It's automatically a mistake.

His head implodes, pain cascading behind his eyelids that aren't even closed, but they might as well be, because his vision is a kaleidoscope of blood and hues of yellow and orange, pretty in a way that only makes his head hurt worse. His vision doesn't focus. He hears another thud.

And then everything's quiet. No men, no grass crunching underneath feet. No breeze. Just the pain that hangs in his head, doesn't subside even when his vision comes back.

Taehyung stands in front of him.

There are fading marks on his wrist and neck. Red, indents in the skin from the chains he had been held down by. It was definitely silver, and Jeongguk had always thought it was a myth that vampires were burned by the metal but this disproves it completely.

He still looks eerily beautiful.

Blood stains his mouth. His upper lip, his bottom one, the white teeth that poke out of the space in-between. His fangs. A drop of blood slides down one of them, taints the white in a pretty red that makes Jeongguk's head spin even more.

He realizes why his mouth is covered in blood.

Before he can speak, think, Taehyung moves like the wind would, braces a hand behind Jeongguk's back and uses the other one to support his neck so his head doesn't fall. Gently, he lifts Jeongguk from where he is on the ground, until he's holding him, arms supporting his weight and feeling strangely warm against his back.

His head spins more. When his eyes open again, Taehyung's right above him. A drop of blood falls from his lips and lands on Jeongguk's neck. Taehyung carefully smooths it away with his finger.

"You're bleeding," he whispers, voice quiet. It makes Jeongguk chuckle, lungs constricting around a laugh that makes his head hurt worse.

"I know. Please don't bite me."

Taehyung shakes his head and smiles a bit too, but he looks entranced, and sad at the same time. Like every muscle in his body is telling him to do something, but he holds himself back. Probably from licking the backside of Jeongguk's head, tasting liquid dreams.

"Why would you do that," he asks, eyes filled with concern. Not black, not brown, just general confusion. Some of that pain from earlier. He lifts Jeongguk up a bit, tries to help him stand on his feet, but keeps careful hands on him to make sure he doesn't fall.

"Cause," Jeongguk croaks out, and he lasts on his feet for about two seconds before his knees collapse under him, and he falls backwards towards the ground with a gasp.

Taehyung catches him.

"Woah, Jeongguk," his voice sounds concerned too, and he takes his own hand off of Jeongguk's neck and carefully brings it up to his mouth, biting into the skin softly. Jeongguk cringes at the noise it makes, but when he catches sight of those fangs covered in blood again, his mind asks questions.

He looks to his left. A man on the ground. Red on his neck.

His eyes widen.

"Are," his mouth looses all moisture, he somehow swallows without screaming from the pain, "Are they-"

"No," Taehyung shushes him, hand carefully carrying his weight while Jeongguk tries his hardest to keep his head from falling backwards, "They're not dead. Don't worry."

"Then what are-"

"Shhhh, you're hurt. You need to drink my blood."

Jeongguk's mind swirls again. He feels delirious, and Taehyung looks kind of like an angel despite the fact that most people who see him would automatically associate him with something evil. An absolute tragedy.

"Your blood? Why would I-"

"It'll heal you. Here," he holds the wrist that he had bitten into out, and Jeongguk sees two clean puncture wounds in the soft skin. Taehyung edges it closer to his mouth, and when Jeongguk inhales, he smells the ocean.

Without registering what he's doing, he latches his mouth onto Taehyung's wrist, immediately feeling some of the liquid touch his tongue. It tastes sweet, like candy, or oranges, but also a bit salty like that taffy you buy from the ocean side, or the ocean itself. The beach. Jeongguk can almost feel the wind in his hair and the sand beneath his toes while he sucks a bit harder, gathers more blood.

Taehyung exhales softly, and it sounds weirdly satisfied, and Jeongguk thinks this may feel good for him, but doesn't think about it much when he realizes that he feels like he's touching the clouds, this almost high feeling coming from drinking the soothing liquid.

His head hurts less and less, and soon, he doesn't even feel the pain at all, just stands up of his own accord and pushes his body closer to Taehyung's, curling a hand over the wrist that feeds and holding it firm onto his mouth, feeling Taehyung everywhere and he just wants to feel Taehyung everywhere-

"Okay, you're okay," Taehyung carefully unhooks Jeongguk's hand from his own and pulls it away from Jeongguk, watching as the boy tries to chase it with wide eyes and an open mouth, a drop of blood resting on his already pink lips.

Without considering the consequences Taehyung lets him settle his body weight back into his arms, the half awake boy who stares at him with dazed eyes, leftover shock and fear and something Taehyung blames on the vampire blood. The drop of blood stays where it is.

Carefully, Taehyung reaches down and swipes his thumb over the lightly chapped skin, collecting the blood on the pad. The finger is then brought to his mouth where he licks the blood off of the tip, the pink of his tongue making Jeongguk feel even more out of it.

It's silent.

And then Jeongguk whispers, "Thank you."

Taehyung shakes his head. "I should be thanking you."

Jeongguk stares up into those beautiful eyes, untamed and packed to the brim with movement one last time, before his consciousness slips away into the deep depths of the ocean and his eyes flutter closed, showing him the night sky above without the stars that turn into glitter.

Taehyung catches him that time too.

-
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