A Toothless Smile

Chapter 9 

TW // graphic descriptions of violence, blood, minor body horror, vomitting
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"This is a really big elevator."

Jungkook cringed to himself. Yeah that was – real smooth. The most perfect thing to say... but the elevator was huge so at least he was accurate. Jungkook didn't even know they made elevators this size, it reminded him of hospital elevators that were made to fit hospital beds – except it was larger.

"It gets crowded here at certain hours so this was the optimal choice." Namjoon replied from behind him.

"Is there only one elevator?" Jungkook asked, suddenly very interested in the blue prints of where ever the fuck he was being taken to. It was a nice distraction. The elevator was smooth gray, had nice little buttons on the side. Super interesting.

"This is the main one." Yoongi answered. "It was the first one installed. People use this one the most so it gets special treatment."

"Neat." Jungkook said, not lamely at all.

If elevator talk could distract him from the sense of impending doom in chest then Jungkook would take it.

Seokjin had asked him yesterday – after he'd woken up in his lap all curled up like a kitten which was as embarrassing as it was comforting – if he'd feel up to taking a quick trip to The Underground. There was paper work needed to be filled, some medical checks Yoongi wanted to take care of, and of course the most important one being that Jungkook had to give a statement about what had happened to him.

He wasn't thrilled to repeat what he'd been through again. It had been hard enough to tell it to Seokjin and everyone.

The man was caught. The man who had ripped his neck off was caught. He was in a cell somewhere in this Underground place. Sungho, too. They were all caught. Jungkook didn't have any details about who this man was, not even his name, because he didn't want to know and had told Seokjin as much.

But knowing that he was about to be in relatively close proximity to the Sire, to Sungho, it made Jungkook feel sick. He'd been feeling terribly anxious ever since they left the penthouse and what little excitement Jungkook had about going out for the first time after being confided to a bed for days dwindled out.

Hoseok said it was fledgling anxiety, that it was very normal for him to feel scared of leaving the nest, especially since Jungkook was so young. An infant. That was the correct term for him. Jungkook was a twenty year old vampire infant. What the fuck happened to his life. At least Jimin and Taehyung seemed a little uneasy about going out if the way they were clinging to Hoseok's arms was any indication, though they looked more excited than Jungkook.

"There will be a lot of people." Seokjin warned. "A large majority of them won't bother us or come anywhere near us but they will be staring, unfortunately. The ones who will come close will be my assistants."

"Why would they stare?" Jungkook mumbled. It's not like he was something great to look at. He was sitting on a wheelchair with clothes that were a size too large on him with a blanket covering him. At least he had a bucket hat and a mask to hide behind, the blanket too. He felt pitiful. Maybe vampires liked pitying.

"Because you're the fledgling of Kim Seokjin." Jimin answered, his tone edging on proud.

"Right." Jungkook mumbled again. "Because you're a Lord, right?"

"Because he's The Lord of Seoul." Namjoon corrected. "Among other things."

Jungkook glanced sideways just in time to catch Seokjin roll his eyes.

"They won't bother you." Seokjin assured him instead. "It's rude to get too close to a fledgling, even more so with an infant."

"Do – do people know I'm –" Jungkook waved a hand. " – like this?"