To Be Understood.

To be understood.

THE WAITER'S - CHAPTER 4: RIVALRY

🍵 Is it too strong? 🍵

💕Pairing: Jimin x Reader x Jungkook

✏️Genre/au: Angst, Romance, Slice of life with some action, Smut

✏️Rating: PG 18+, explicit

📝Word count: 4169

⚠️Chapter warnings: possessiveness, jealousy, rivalry, provocations

<<<Chapter 3 | Main list | Chapter 5>>>

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You wait inside the pitch dark common area of the bathroom getting near the door to listen to what's going on outside. Hearing the door of the next bathroom close, then the silence. You take it as your chance to get out, but as soon as you open the door you notice a silhouette standing against the frame of the broom closet with his arms crossed over his chest. The green emergency light above the door sets the mood for feeling caught red-handed.

Guilt is written on your face and the corner of Taehyung's lips moves up in a slight smirk, showing amusement of sorts, before he walks away. You are left shocked and worried by his attitude when you realise he hasn’t called you out for inappropriate public behaviour and he was there only to confirm a suspicion. The thought that Jimin might get to know what just happened unsettles you, even if you know you don't owe him anything.

However, there’s a certain fear that he might refuse to see you after finding out about this bathroom affair, due to how frowned upon this kind of behaviour is. Maybe, he follows the monogamous mindset that floods this society, where sleeping with two men is not even considered an option. That same attitude Jungkook has had in the bathroom, the one that says 'only mine, even if we are not together' kind of thing.

You know, or at least remember, how Jungkook used to be. When it comes to Jimin, you are blindfolded with lots of what-ifs tinkering in your head. He is a mystery, something you want to explore, a book you have read the summary of, but is yet to be open and maybe is that same curiosity that Jungkook has felt. Maybe, just the inevitable attraction is what has made Jungkook feel the need to show off like that.

You make your way back to the table before Jungkook and find out the room has been lit with candles, an impressive amount of them. It's incredibly romantic and you see the group taking pictures of each other, combined and alone. You are greeted effusively by Sofie, and her new generation phone with more lenses than you ever thought a phone needed, who offers to take a photoshoot of you, using those exact words. Your concern, however, isn't that she’ll be taking pictures of you but that you might still show signs of your transgressions.

She doesn’t point out anything as she comes closer to show you the results of her work, but you can tell something is up when she stands next to you and keeps the glance a little bit longer on you. They are good-good but you think it’s due to her talent, not to your own beauty since pictures in this kind of light can be pretty difficult.

Somehow, Jungkook has managed to get himself to look perfect once again, without a single sign of what has transpired, but when he is offered to be taken pictures of and he takes off his jacket, you feel like you might get your shirt just as damp as he had not many minutes before. He poses like a model, without any sort of shyness and you hear Namjoon and Seokjin teasing him as if they were somewhere in the background when Jungkook cracks out of character in that bunny smile he used to wear.

The corner of your own lips going up and threatening to show a smile as you look at him makes you snap back to reality and focus your attention on the purple orchid at your side, the only plant in the garden with such vibrant colour. Back in time they were popular amongst royalty and wealthy but nowadays they mean gratitude and respect, so you wonder if the fact that it doesn’t match the rest of the flowers is because it’s a gift. The thought is interrupted when Namjoon approaches you to suggest you sit down, like everyone is starting to do and you take the chance to thank him for the invitation.

“It wouldn’t make sense not to invite you, sweetheart. Even if these things are not your cup of tea,” he expresses, touching your arm affectionately as you walk away to your seat.

As if he had been waiting again, Jimin starts to bring in the carts for desserts and coffee, Eunbyeol has the courtesy to take them in order to pass them around and Jimin is about to head back in when the power returns. He smiles to himself and stays just a second enough for Namjoon to refer to him.

“Jimin waiter-nim, I would like to tell my appreciation to the chef before we leave. We loved it,” he speaks as the head of the table. The smile on Jimin widens and to you with all the whites and soft colours around, the lights and the candles, he looks like an angel. One could never guess the way he moved between the sheets, looking so sweet and dedicated in his apron.

“Wait for the desserts, Kim patron-nim, they are also of his making,” he says with candour in his voice and you feel warmness in your chest for how proud he is of his friend. Making sure no one has detected your momentarily infatuation, you see the same smile printed on Hoseok’s lips as he raises the written paper to make his choice and you don’t see the blonde angel leave.

He comes in later, in the middle of an adventure telling from Seokjin’s lips that has Namjoon blushing with shyness. Apparently, Namjoon had a terrible crush on Eunbyeol for a long time before he found the courage to approach her and when he did, he teared up when she accepted to go on a date with him. Eunbyeol knew about this but the other girls were bags of awws to that memory. He notes down the orders with his eyes exchanging glances with the person speaking to him, but you just can’t seem to focus on the menu, glancing over it constantly to see his pretty handwriting the words quickly escape you. When he looks at you expectantly it gets you by surprise and you have to clear up your throat to find your voice.

“I would like some honey bread, please.”

He nods and gives you a small smile, maybe lingering a second too long on the stare before flicking his pen and walking once more inside the main restaurant. Your hand went straight to your drink as soon as he turned around and you caught Jungkook giving you an expressionless glance, before he focused on the conversation that had araised.

This time you knew what they were talking about, you had been there, but you knew another side of it because you were making out with Jungkook right before it happened. He gives you a second glance and one of the corners of his lips curves momentarily up before shifting his focus again.

You remember your lips were locking with his in one of the rooms of his fraternity as the party boiled in the whole building. Summer was near and so was the end of the semester. People were especially eager to celebrate the end of the exams and the alcohol was running around excessively. Jungkook couldn’t hold himself any longer, throwing looks at you across the room like he was going to come over at any moment and kiss you in front of everyone. So you took the wise decision to move upstairs to use the bathroom and maybe stay away from the crowd, or so you said to Yuuki, who was with you that day.

You didn't even make it to the bathroom before being pulled into a bedroom where jk hovered over you, pressing your back against the wall, and closing the door with his feet. The rooms weren’t supposed to be intruded and by far everyone was following the norm but you just didn’t know where to hide for him to get his way and be calm for the rest of the party.

The sounds of muffled moans coming from the next room, however, confirmed that you weren’t the only ones to be sneaky and mischievous and as you got distracted, looking towards the wall where the sound came from, he attacked your neck.

“Missed you so much… Fucking hated these exams….” he muttered against your skin in between open mouthed nibbles.

You used your hands on his jaw to move him from the dangerous path his lips were tracing and his hands pulling you against his hard body accompanied. Your lips were hungry for each other and his tongue entered your mouth immediately, breaths faltering quickly. “Kookie, we gotta slow down–” you told him in between your lips before he kept it going.

“Don’t worry, I just want to feel you a little–” he interrupted himself, latching on you again, grabbing on the flesh of your hips. Then the crowd outside starts to get noisy and you hear people running in a panic through the corridor to the stairs, making you separate.

When you stoped hearing noise in the hallway, you both came out of the room and walked down the stairs separately. Yuuki shouted at you through the people and signaled to follow her. Like that, she got you away from the fraternity before the fire fighters arrived to the scene.

As it turned out, someone had the brilliant idea of throwing fireworks near a vandalised tree with roll paper in it, the explanations weren’t necessary but some of the guys had to speak with the authorities that night and apparently, Seokjin was one of them.

“I just thank my parents never knew that happened. They would have disowned me!” he says, exaggerating and provoking everyone to laugh with him.

The storytelling doesn’t end there but you stop participating for a second to check on Jimin, who's bringing desert and you see it; Jungkook looks defiantly at him, only for Jimin to ignore it completely, focused on doing his job diligently. However, when he leaves your plate, his forearm brushes the surface of your own purposely, before he looks towards Jungkook. That simple touch, a successful provocation because he huffs air through his nose and snarls before looking around the winter garden, as if trying to control himself.

Jimin gives you a smile when you look up to him after Jungkook’s reaction, having missed Jimin’s glare, and you reciprocate politely. At the chance, he offers you more whipped cream, while putting a hand on your back, indiscreetly and you accept it, without moving an inch, wanting even the slightest touch.

Then you sense tension and look towards Jungkook without moving your head. His dark eyes are set on where Jimin’s hand is resting before they move to meet yours and your skin raises in goosebumps. Still, you don’t move until Jimin’s hand leaves your back and you hear him offer Yuuki some whipped cream too, seeing him move from the corner of your eye but keeping your vision towards Jungkook, who you see use his tongue over his molars inside his mouth, showing to be upset, before he wipes his lips from the sweet puffy desert. Distracted spontaneously by Seokjin, he turns his head, as he is asked about how he feels in his new position. The smile he offers to his elder, is stained, never reaching his eyes.

“Lot’s of responsibilities but I love it and it gives me the income and freedom I need to settle down,” he tells him. ‘Settle down’ your brain doesn’t need a second thought to know what he means. There you almost gasp when you feel Sofie’s hand over your thigh and look at her before she leans to whisper in your ear.

“What’s with the waiter and Jungkook?”

You doubt for a second when she leans back but have a taste of your honey bread and make the wrong gesture when picking up your Omija tea so it falls straight on Sofie’s black and white striped trousers. You apologise immediately and drag her to the bathroom with the excuse to clean the stain before it settles, taking your stain pen and all. You do, however, make the pen work.

As soon as you have made sure the bathroom is empty, you go straight to the point, “Jimin, is the guy I slept with two weeks ago and I think Jungkook can smell something is up,” you tell her as you bend one knee to rub the pen against the first white stripe.

“The fuck??” she let’s out, moving backwards, making you pull her closer by the thigh to keep working with the magic pen. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she says, sounding more offended than nosey.

“You know me–” you say, looking up from your position.

“So you weren’t gonna tell me you and Jeon Jungkook had sex when the lights went off either.” Your eyes go wide and she smirks from her superior position. “You know me, I catch onto that shit,” she says. You suddenly stand.

“So you knew about Jimin,” you tell her.

“I knew you liked him because you have been quite obvious,” your eyes bulge again. “At least for me,” you then relax, squatting to keep sliding the pen over the stripes. “But I think nobody has noticed about the sex, although you both glow like damn lanterns.” She points out and you lower your head to cover your eyes with one hand in a frustrated gesture. You realise in that precise moment that your legs are not getting tired of your position because you are out of shape, you are not, but because that’s what having vigorous sex with him is, a constant reminder on your body. “So, what are you going to do now?”

“For the moment, I’m seeing Jimin tonight,” to that reply, Sofie’s jaw drops and then she wheezes with wide eyes, losing it.

“OH. MY. GOD.”

“What? It’s not like I have to compromise with any of them, right?”

“That’s right, you don’t. But, what about the too good you used before? What about leaving his house because of that?” she questions, while you go back to work on the stain. “Most important, what about the way Jungkook was looking at Jimin?”

“I’ll keep it casual, no feelings involved, and, what about that?” you respond as if you weren’t aware that ignoring feelings was simply not going to happen for you.

“He looked so–possessive,” she mentions in a lower tone, giving you a concerned look.

“I’m no one’s nothing, as I said. I don’t owe him exclusivity,” you expose, more for yourself than anything. The words said during sex, before he came, resonating in your head. ‘What you say during sex, isn’t supposed to be taken seriously, right?’ you tell yourself.

“Are you sure he knows that?” she questions. “I mean, not like you need to go tell him you’re seeing someone else, but has he said you were a thing or pointed it out?” The words sound again but you ignore them. “Like, the way he looked at Jimin–”

“Yeah,I know. I guess I’ll need to talk with him at some point,” you say sternly, weighing for a second how to even approach the subject, “Not today though,” you sigh, deciding to leave that for another moment, since you weren’t going to be alone with him any time soon.

“Was he good?” her question gets you off guard and she smirks cheekily at you. You smile at yourself and stand, rubbing your neck, feeling the tickling memory of his lips over your skin.

“He knows what he does to me,“ you admit, looking away into the mirror. Sofie is right, your skin looks brighter.

“Uuuhh–”

“It’s as if time has not passed for us. It’s comfortable, intense,” you think about his roughness, the way he has poured himself in the action. The words he’s needed you to say in order to reach his own release. He’s jealous. He was trying to show you he knows how to please you, what he can do to your body.

He definitely knows you’ve slept with Jimin. How? You can only guess. But if there’s one thing that Jeon Jungkook can’t stand, it's losing.

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🍵 Oupsieee! 🍵

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Let me know your thoughts and reblog if you liked it. There's other 7 more writen already, so stay tuned for the next one! See you in Tuesday 27th!

I want to thank once more, @moonleeai for the beta work 💜

seeing fanworks in general get less and less engagement here is making me so sad but i wanna say this: if you are still giffing, still drawing fanart, still writing fanfic your work is absolutely cherished and important. your time is never wasted.

What Hides In The Shadows - Chapter 3: WISE IMMORTALITY

🩸 You'll know the powers given to you. 🩸

💕Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

✏️Genre/au: Vampires, Alternative universe (Future of humanity), Sci-fi, Horror, Romance, Action, Vampires vs. Hunters

✏️Rating: PG 18+, explicit

📝Wordcount: 3117

⚠️chapter warnings: Gore, blood erotism

<<<Chapter 2 | Main list | Chapter 4 >>>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~V~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a pregnant silence in which he ate and you just sat down absentmindedly, Jungkook came back, left a book in front of your empty glass and sat down to eat too. When you finally found your mind, you wondered.

"If I decide to stay—"

"I'm listening." said Taehyung once he'd swallowed, meeting your eyes for just a split second, still bothered. You understood you had offended him.

"Will you promise to answer my questions truthfully, no matter how harsh the answer is?" you questioned.

"I think I've been sincere enough till this moment for you to question that.” This time, the irritation transpired on his tone. “Now, if you are going to ask me again why I made you, we can get you a new mentor straight away. I said all I had to say on that matter." he added adamantly. ‘If you’re only my mentor you have a very questionable way to show it…’ you thought, surprising yourself. His eyes lingered on your face, studying you for a second before you spoke.

"Ok. Understood." you said, giving up temporarily. He seemed to relax a bit but it was difficult to tell from his stiff position on the chair. "I have another petition though." he simply nodded. "Can you promise not to use your influence on me?" There he left the chopsticks over the table and turned his upper body to face you, tangling his fingers together on top of the dark wooden surface.

"No. I can't promise that when I'm the only thing that can stop you from killing someone and putting all I care about at risk." he replied calmly. Although he seemed to be expecting an objection, you couldn't, fearing that possibility too. The killing part, at least. "Especially since you've not changed fully yet." your eyes widened. "But, I can promise you, I will only use it when it's strictly necessary—"

"You said I'm not done…?" you breathed out. If you wouldn't have known better, you would have hyperventilated but you kept it together, trying not to think about the pain.

"No, you're not. You're just poking your little baby fangs right now. Your system is still processing the change. Your brain has to adjust. This is not an overnight thing, you were born one way and the bane I placed on you is causing everything in you to change. That requires, at least, some time and, not going to lie, pain too. You'll keep trying to do everything as if you were a human but you're not, and your body won't respond equally. Your bones, nerves, tendons, any internal tissue really, is being upgraded." He made a pause for you to process what he was saying. "The change works fast on the surface, with its own symptoms, like you begin to act as the new thing you’re becoming but internally, as I said, takes time. How long?” He read the question written on your face. “It'll depend on how much energy your cells can take from what you consume. So you'll have to drink plenty of blood if you want it to be quick and get it over with." he explained. His words made you look at your hands and nails, then touch your retracted fangs, assimilating. The elastic skin in your gums that allowed the fangs to move in and out without allowing anything else to enter, feeling slightly different than the rest. Upper, the length of the fang could be felt through and you were astonished. "Try to not press them down with your fingers. It can cause tendinitis and it will hurt like hell. You heal fast, yes, but your fangs won't retract then, so it'll be very uncomfortable and difficult to hide what you are for a while." you had left your mouth alone with the first sentence but at that point you felt like not touching them again.

"Then I won't." you muttered. "I have another question…”

“What do you wish for?” he wondered.

“Maybe it’s weird, I don’t know.” you said but he only waited for you to speak. “About the blood… Does it all taste the same?" that made Jungkook stop eating and look at you. "I mean, I get the kind of oxide taste it's the same, because I've licked a wound before but your blood…" you involuntarily touched your lips with the tip of your fingers, your sight getting lost nowhere as you remembered. "The taste of your blood… It had this undertone— Not that I would know what mine was since I wasn’t—What I am now... But it changed its flavor while I was drinking—” your fingers slid down over to your throat. “It had this kind of— Like— Like when you lick a melting vanilla ice cream in summer. Only your blood was warm— but that slide on my tongue was there, like a creamy, mild, and sweet sensation. And I was wondering—"

Jungkook cleared his throat. "If you'll excuse me." he said with a tense tone. Then he stood, left his dishes on the washing machine and walked out the room as you followed him with your eyes. He never met yours.

“Did I say something?” When you tilted your head back to Taehyung for answers, his eyes were set on you. Dark lust stained the blue of them and there was a sort of energy flood between you. “Are you using—What did I do?” you wondered in confusion.

“No…” he said with a fanged smirk. “What you feel, it’s just us. Chemistry.” Suddenly, you felt a need to stand and go to him but it stopped immediately. “That was.”

“Wow…” you whispered and swallowed instinctively. “So, I said something.” you confirmed.

“You did.” His way of lengthening the moment made your skin crawl and your fangs show.

“Can you— break it to me?” you asked as your breath hitched involuntarily. He chuckled in response and wore them down, eyes slowly fading from the ice blue to their natural dark tone.

“Ok.... The way you spoke it was erotic...” Your eyes widened.

“So I basically turned you on.” you confirmed with a cocky smile.

“Me— and Jungkook.” your eyes bulged to his admission and your smile wore off immediately, so did your fangs. “You’ll learn to see those things easily now if you couldn't before. But to ‘break it to you’, you could walk naked in front of any male vampire and most of us would just ignore it. Not me, I wouldn’t be able to. Wouldn’t try either.” he admitted shamelessly and you couldn’t avoid the the warmth focusing in your cheeks. “But when it comes to blood, we really can’t ignore it. It’s our food, our energy source and for some reason we— Well, get off on it.” you blushed harder, the naive way in which you had said those words and the way they meant sin, making you feel sloppy all the sudden.

“No joking with blood then,” you finally concluded, your eyes diverting to his throat, invited by the conversation.

“No, no joking, ” he stated slowly and lowered an octave. He was smirking and began to bite his bottom lip seductively. You swallowed again, your lips parted for a shallow breath, and your heart rate accelerated as a response. “We don’t talk about it openly as we would do with most subjects, the feeding, I mean. It’s kind of personal and since it used to imply murder, it still stays as a very delicate matter. You know, we used to think that the more we spoke about it, the more unsensible to it we could become and then it could turn into a greedy act— It’s probably the taboo itself that's turned it into something so— Alluring. But I won’t shame you for speaking. Just keep those thoughts for me, hm? Knowing the effect…” The way his words were flowing through his tongue felt like a caress on your body. He smirked again.

“How are you doing that?” you wondered.

He blinked in bafflement and seemed almost innocent. Suddenly, he chuckled for himself as he looked away to clear his throat. “Sorry, I got lost in the moment,” he admitted. “I’ll teach you all those little tricks when we are done with the basics.”

“This is so interesting.” Carving with his eyes in yours, he nodded for you to proceed. “So, blood does or does not taste the same?”

“No, it doesn’t but this, I’m sure you can figure it out,” he explained but you only stared at him clueless. “Okay, let me put it this way. Wagyu beef is the best in the world, right? Why is that?” he rhetorically asked. “Because those cattles are well fed and taken care of, like royalty cows. So their meat is more marbled. If you extrapolate that to humans, not that I’m saying they are livestock, we can say that the most healthy ones, the ones that take good care of themselves, the happiest are the ones that taste better. Popular opinion, of course. The hormones in the blood are what determines the taste. That’s why our ability to charm and attract a person is given us. You can create a sort of illusion of happiness, get them high on you. Besides its main purpose which was for them not to scream and alert their group.” You were about to interrupt him. “Theory first, be patient," he concluded.

“I’m intrigued. Would then a scared person taste bad or not as good? What happens if a person is ill?” you wondered.

“It’s not that it tastes bad but it tastes bitter. I personally prefer the honeyed sweetness that comes with seduction or arousing a person. It's similar with us, we also have hormones travelling our bloodstream and it can change its taste. What you described as melting vanilla ice cream, was that one I have preference for...” he confessed and you nibbled at your lower lip, thinking about his blood again and understanding now what you tasted was his want for you. He gleamed. “But that’s like a preference. There’s vampires who like to scare their victims before getting a nibble. Never in a way that produces suffering or any pain or to humiliate the subject though. Just in a way they can get that taste in the blood. Hunting without using attraction, as it is, does it for them. As I told you, we are not cruel, maybe mischievous but not in a bad way. ” he spoke. “You're not eating, love, the food is getting cold–” he suddenly cut off the conversation and used his chopsticks on a beef-stuffed dumpling to feed you. It tasted heavenly. Your eyes closed as you slowly chewed. You could tell apart flavors and textures in a way you had never done before. “Since you are still changing and getting used to your senses, they might be temporarily inconsistent. Your body is smart, but you can still get overwhelmed and blocked so take it easy on yourself," he recommended. "I bet the taste is more overpowering than what you are used to.” You opened your eyes to see him holding his head on his knuckles with his elbow over the table, looking at you with amusement. "Now you’re given a whole range of possibilities that were numb to you as a human, probably fated to always stay like that.” He paused to open the Chardonnay that stood in a bucket next to the table. He served both your glasses and one for Jungkook. You instinctively looked at the door. “He’ll be back. It’s not like he’s doing anything with what you said,” he said nonchalantly but you flustered at how he’d blurp it without a care in the world. “It was picturesque but not enough to work with,” he insinuated, making you wheeze, then giving up to a nervous laughter. “Are you scandalised? I didn’t say anything,” he smirked.

“Not directly,” you giggled with sarcasm and then he laughed too, and displayed his boxy smile. “So, what about the sick?” you asked after he fed you again. He exhaled a long contemplation before he spoke.

“You’ll kill them.” Your eyes went wide and your lips parted. “You do understand our purpose of existence, right? Since you’re a child of The Guardians, you must know a lot more about us than the general population. I know there’s a program–” You opened your mouth to question how he knew who you were. “I'll get to that in another moment, it's irrelevant right now,” he replied, seemingly guessing what you were about to ask, surprising you and waiting for your objection to his knowledge. "So, I’m sure they’ve taught you that our existence is a sort of plague control. Of course, with some adding that we are not to befriend. The first is a fact. Everyone has that in mind. The second," he scoffed. "Well, it's because they can’t guess how we work as a whole and fear how difficult it is to stop us if we choose to attack. How we might choose who lives and who dies." He makes a small pause and takes a sip of the bubbly drink, although you can feel he's not done talking. "Attacking an ill person makes sense as a natural equilibrium kind of thing and since your kin has fought very hard to make deadly diseases less deadly, we would be the biggest natural threat to that balance. For those killings, if done, flavor is completely irrelevant. You are inclined because it's easy, not appealing,” he explained then took a sip and fed you again. “When we drink we can drink until we are full or not. There’s always a choice. If you drink as much as to satiate your thirst, you will kill the person, even if it’s healthy. You’ll need at least three liters per day. One and a half liters per feed means two feedings a day. The amount you take depends on your own thirst but anything further than that is a great loss of blood for one victim alone, and if it doesn’t receive treatment straight away or eventually, the person will die.” You couldn't fathom the severity of feeding and its true consequences. It seemed as though there was a dangerous, very thin line between life and death. To someone new like you, it seemed impossible to achieve the right measure while succumbing to the need of blood. “If you choose a weak or ill person, you’ll just kill it. Even if you don’t get to those amounts, you’ll cause that person a loss of blood that needs to heal from whatever it has. So, it’ll get worse and worse until it dies.” he explained. "Naturally, animals won't choose an ill victim, just weaker ones, but human illnesses do not affect us. The most you can get from drinking a virally infected person's blood is a sort of cold. Basically, your blood fights whatever disease that blood may have, but it's so fast it might last only an hour or two up to twelve. Not much more than that. HPV, HIV, cold, flu or sorts won't affect us because; either our body is immune or has weapons to fight it. All it’s scientifically proven, of course. Funny little experiments as simple as to use a sample of blood from any of us and try to infect it. You could watch it like a match on your TV but you always know who wins. Hell, we can't even get antrax, for that matter." You were astonished with how mundane it seemed to him.

“Wow– I feel like I should thank you now– Thank you!" you expressed despite the lack-ability to convey a better words to say. He only smiled and shook his head, resting his back at the seat with a less rigid position. He smiled at the appreciation, a comfortable silence soon followed as you exchanged a lingering glance. He brushed some of your hair away from your face and tucked it behind your ear, while his thumb gently caressed your cheek and trailed down to your chin. The longing in his eyes, as they dipped from yours and down to your lips, revealed he was eager to kiss you again. However, you fought the urge and shook off the heavy exchange as the need to learn more about what you were becoming overtook, "But-- What about cancer?"

"That's the tricky part of it all. Immune system-caused cancers don't affect us, there's only a one in a million chance we'll have a gene failure produced cancer but untreated or untreatable radiation can provoke it, so we are not immune to it. As to if that would kill us? Most likely won't and we have a high rate of invasive treatment survival, so we can get it sorted that way." he explained. "We adapt easily to most circumstances. Just remember, anything that damages the brain will, most likely, kill you. So, be careful with that too. We are not Gods. Don't lose your ground because your worst enemy is your own stupidity."

"Noted… But I'm curious, would any of you have survived to Chernobyl or Hiroshima, intact?" you wondered.

"None of our kind was in Chernobyl, but I can tell you there were some next to Hiroshima and they are still breathing with no sizable side effects from the bomb or the residual radiation. They were treated when it happened and that was all of it," he explained and fed you again with another type of dumpling. "But they never moved on from the things they saw. The destruction– You can imagine," he interrupted himself when you looked concerned.

The silent raigned after that but the way he seemed to drift in deep thought made you wonder if he had just concealed him being one of the afected. You wondered how many things he would have seen and if he had been in any means accountable for the Shadow Nights. That, was what made you realise one fundamental fact, you didn't know a thing about him, not even his age.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~V~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this. Let me know your thoughts and reblog to let it spread 😊 See you soon! ~

Thanks you for the back and forth while doing the beta @heathfritillary. ILY💜

© 2021-2022 Cherry Soulth, all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any kind, translations, unsanctioned adaptations are not allowed.

I feel so stressed with my writing... When did I decide it was ok to have 8 open projects? WHEN???

here’s a little comparison for people who say engagement hasn’t gotten that bad and anyone who complains is ungrateful.

these are two posts from my first go round on tumblr circa 2014-2017, my most popular gifset of all time

& a text post

notice how the ratio is about even on likes to reblogs?

here’s from this go around, my most popular gifset

and my most popular fic

do you see how that’s discouraging?

i love being on this site. i love the little community i’ve found and the people who follow me and the mutuals i’ve made friendships with and the mutuals that i’m still getting to know. i love it. but at a certain point it’s hard to justify spending so much time on works that get bad engagement.

reblog, comment, send asks. without them, this site doesn’t work.