Bad Blood [NoRenMin] ✔

11

"I'm really sorry that my study session ran late," Jisung apologises the next morning when they meet outside the dormitories.

"Don't worry about it," Jaemin says.

"How did the training go?" he asks almost immediately. Usually he'd only wait until after a cup of coffee. Granted they usually went for coffee on campus after the training session (the coffee was surprisingly good for campus coffee) or they'd manage to convince Taeyong into making them something to go.

"It went alright. It was pretty intense though, I won't lie. But Taeyong says I'm doing well so I must be doing better than I think I am," Jaemin admits because it's true. Initially, he truly suspected that he was doing badly until it was brought up by Taeyong and his suspicions were proved incorrect. He never really thought he'd be any good at the actual training; when he was younger, he never believed he could be a hunter because he never thought he would ever be good at it.

"And I bet you've already picked up that Taeyong doesn't say good things if he doesn't mean them," Jisung says with a grin. Ever since they've been hanging out, Jaemin noted that the younger seemed to be smiling more.

"Yeah," Jaemin murmurs softly. They were on their way to the coffee shop to get in some studying before the test tomorrow. Jisung was nervous; he says he sometimes mixes up some of the work if he has two tests in the span of a week. It was something about the amount of terms both classes had. (Jaemin didn't have a clue what he was studying nor did he ask. He didn't feel like having the question shoot back at him because in total reality, he had no clue what he wanted to do.)

(Maybe something in dance but taking that alone was far from enough credits. He ended up taking courses for business management and lawyer careers. He thinks his mom had a lot to do with it before she passed.)

"Hey, Jisung?"

The younger looks at him; his expression pulls the way it does when he's confused. "Yeah?"

"How long have you known about it all? The vampires and the hunters and really all of it." His voice gets softer with each word. He doesn't really know why he's asking Jisung but he is. Whether he planned to do so at all, he didn't really know. All he knew is that when they're talking, Jisung never talks about it. The topic is always the training and it's always Jaemin. Not once has it been the other way around. "You don't talk about it," Jaemin adds after a moment of pure silence. He couldn't even see the other male's face to figure out whether the question was hitting too close to something or whether he remained unfazed and was just taking it in.

"Since I was a kid," comes Jisung's reply after a moment. "My dad and mom were both hunters."

"Were?"

They get to the coffee shop so Jisung pauses and they follow the girl to their seat. The two of them slip into seats across from each other and before the waitress can pass them the menus, Jisung declines and the two of them give her their orders. She takes them down and disappears into the back. Jisung looks at him.

"They retired. Dad got called in for a mission a bit later," he says firmly; his voice is tight and he won't look Jaemin in the eye. Although Jaemin doesn't want to just assume, he thinks he knows why.

"Your mom?" He murmurs in question.

Jisung meets his gaze. "Like Taeyong said; all of us have a purpose."

Jaemin doesn't say anything further. Instead he allows the silence to enguffle them. The waitress comes back around with a tray and places their orders down; this time she places the right orders in front of them and then she disappears into the back again.

"Have you ever thought this place was weird?" Jisung asks suddenly. He doesn't wait for an answer; he seems to already know that a lot of people thought the place was weird. "If I tell you a secret, you can't freak out." Jaemin nods again so Jisung continues. This time, however, he lowers his voice and he leans in. "The waitress isn't one of us, nor is she human."

Jaemin's entire body tenses. Right then and there, he isn't sure whether he felt safe here anymore.

"You don't have to worry," the other boy says as he leans back in his seat. "She isn't a danger."

Jaemin's eyes flicker up. "Not all of them are bad, Jaemin. None of them asked for this, you have to remember," his dad once told him. He remembers because he never understood it. He considered them to be monsters; they weren't human. They drank blood to survive; they didn't have a heartbeat (but they still had their reflections) and they weren't supposed to be able to walk around in the daylight. To him, vampires wouldn't even have feelings. "Jaemin, not all of them took him. Don't group them together, yeah?"

"As difficult as it is for many other hunters to understand, not all of them are bad."

Jaemin stayed silent.

*

Jisung left first so when Jaemin walked back, he was doing it alone. His hands opened and closed at his sides before he gripped at the strap of his bag with the one. He thinks of the night he'd been attacked; for sure it wasn't a girl and if Jisung says she isn't dangerous, then it must be true. He thinks about how much Jisung sounded like his dad back there and he has to wonder what his dad would say to him in this situation. Who is he kidding? His dad would definitely have said the exact same thing.

As he's crossing the courtyard area, a group of people pass by and he automatically stops to let them get by before he continues.

His eyes land on something; someone and his body stiffens. A boy walks between the crowd and as he takes a seat on a bench directly across from him, Jaemin thinks he's imagining things. He couldn't be seeing correctly. But the more his eyes took the boy in, from the dark black hair falling into his face to the softness of his eyes that flickered across the page in the book in his hand, his light and barely there eyebrows that pulled when he frowned. The pull of his lips that has his nose wrinkling; a nose that had always made him feel insecure with how big he thought it was but even Renjun knew it only seemed big in contrast to the small and thinness of his face. His legs were stretched out and crossed at his ankles and he wonders, if it was really him, was he any taller? Was he taller than Jaemin? Could it even be possible that it is him?

"Jeno?" he murmurs and then before he can get a hold of himself, he's moving forward and he's calling out again. "Jeno?"

He doesn't know whether it's in response to his call or whether the boy decided to just look up, but when he does, their eyes connect and every single atom within him shatters. His blood turns cold but he doesn't stop moving. Not even when the boy gets up and then he's walking away and Jaemin finds himself calling out nonstop. He can't contain himself. He needs to know; he needs to be in front of this boy to know whether it was him.

A group of people rush by and Jaemin falls behind a step. When they've passed, he looks again, but he can't find him. He mumbles a soft cuss.

"Jaemin?" Still caught in the moment, Jaemin turns, thinking that maybe it's actually Jeno, but it's not. It's Renjun. It's only Renjun. He thinks back to all the moments before; all the study sessions and conversations and their evenings when Haechan didn't come to the room for the night and he shakes his head because it's not only Renjun. It's not just Renjun. It's Renjun, practically his third roommate. When he allows himself to meet the other boy;s gaze, there's a lace of concern in the softness of his eyes.

"Hey," Jaemin says and he hates how far off his voice sounds. He isn't sure he has full hold of himself yet.

"Jaemin, is everything okay?" Renjun asks. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Jaemin thinks he did. Maybe he did, but right now, he didn't have the energy to deal with this. Renjun steps forward and Jaemin looks at him. When the other hooks his arm with Jaemin's, he doesn't complain.

"Let's get back to the room," Renjun says softly. It's that exact softness that has him agreeing. Renjun's arm unhooks from his and loops around his waist and then Jaemin leans into him and his eyes flicker closed and he wishes this could just be it for the night and for the next few nights that follow.