It was pouring by the time we made it to the highway, winding down the road toward Forks. I'd captured Jisung's arm and wrapped it around my shoulders. (He didn't mind.) It was growing blacker by the minute, rain thunking onto the glass and blurring the outside world.

"Can you even see?" I asked, squinting out the windshield.

"It looks like day to me." He shrugged.

"So you have night vision? What else can you do?"

"I can hear really well." But he tugged on my earlobe.

I scooted over to the far side of the bench seat, holding my hands over my mouth. I spoke as quietly as I could.

"Did you hear that?" I asked him.

"'Construction ahead,'" he answered, smug.

"I made it too easy." I whispered again. "What'd I say?"

"'I couldn't hear.'"

"Oh, so you can't do everything."

"No, you said, 'I couldn't hear!'" he shouted.

I laughed — it was too easy to find my way under his skin.

I sandwiched my palms over my mouth.

"What'd I say then?"

"You didn't say anything — you're just trying to sabotage me now!"

I scooted back to the spot next to him. "It's fun to mess with you. You get loud."

He closed his mouth, side-eyeing me.

"Can your whole family see and hear everything?" I asked.

"All vampires can. We're designed to be the ultimate predators."

"I want to make fun of you so bad right now."

He pressed his lips into a line. "Go for it. My family does."

That distracted me. "Tell me more about your family," I said.

"What do you want to know?"

"How did you all find each other?"

"We've been building our family since... a while. Mostly it was by chance."

"And when it wasn't?"

"It's a long story."

I sighed dramatically.

"Okay, okay." His nose twitched as he searched for words. "I am not the only one in my family with... gifts. Felix is a precognitive. He has visions of the future. It's how I knew you were in trouble in Port Angeles. Someone makes a decision, and it's like the butterfly effect. He stares off into space and sees the change as if he were watching a movie."

"Like Raven from That's So Raven?"

"Yup, that's him."

I giggled.

"Felix says he made the smallest decision, to turn left instead of right, and he saw himself becoming a part of our family," Jisung continued. "He had no idea we existed. He had no idea Changbin existed when he saw him in the same vision and instantly fell in love with him. The two of them found us in nineteen twenty-two, they've been with us since."

It was fascinating, knowing all this and linking it to the guy I met a few days ago. With his bright coral hair and gargantuan smile, I could tell Felix was odd, but I wouldn't have pegged him for a fortune teller in a thousand years.

"Does Changbin have a power?" I asked.

"Changbin's gift is... unique. He can manipulate a person's emotional climate, excite or sooth a crowd at will. He acts like he's gonna take over the world, but we know he's too fluffy."

"Do the others have powers?"

"Theirs are more subtle. Everyone carries with them a few traits or talents from their human lives, and becoming a vampire strengthens them."

"So you could already read minds when you were alive?"

"I could get a read on people easily... I think. Human memories fade."

"Oh." I wondered if that was a source of grief or solace for him; he would forget the good as well as the bad. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Um, no, thanks," he said. "That's sweet."

I smiled. "So what about Seungmin? What can he do?"

"Seungmin has charisma," he said. "It's impossible not to love him."

"Hyunjin?"

"Hyunjin can look at any given situation and find the good in it, hold on to the positive. He sees the world through rose-coloured glasses."

"Jeongin?"

"Jeongin can cheer anyone up simply by being himself."

"Dr. Bang?"

"Chan is compassionate. He's worked hard his whole life, only thinking of others."

"Mr. Bak?"

"Haseong is caring, loyal, protective — he's fierce in his love."

"And Chan and Haseong are together?"

"Yes."

"And Felix and Changbin?"

"Yes."

"And Hyunjin and Jeongin?"

"And Seungmin."

"Like... the three of them?"

"Yes."

"Whoa. Cool. So, basically, you came together to form a family of vampires who don't eat people."

"Gay vampires who don't eat people."

I laughed. "What were you all before that?"

"We came from very different backgrounds — from every corner of the world, all different pockets of time. Chan is three hundred years old while Felix is barely ninety. Each of us were on the brink of death; Chan wouldn't have turned us otherwise."

"You were dying? How?"

"I was seventeen and my parents were... gone. It was 1895. I've learned from Chan's mind that I was an addict — heroin. I was living on the street and got an infection. Sepsis set in. Chan found me, alone and half-dead in a back alley, and turned me."

It was a lot to take in. My sweet Jisung — who literally trembled at the drop of a hat and sparkled like he was made of sequins — had been in a rough spot over a century ago. I reached out and smoothed his hair down.

"I wanna comfort you but I don't know how."

"Pats are good."

I kept patting his head.

"What does it feel like? Turning into a vampire?" I asked then.

His jaw set uneasily. "More painful than you can possibly imagine."

"I've stepped on a lot of Lego in my lifetime — try me."

He smiled, and it just made his next words all the more lurid.

"Like drowning and burning at the same time."

I blinked. "That sounds awful."

"It was."

"But you're okay now."

He took my hand off his head, holding it gently. "I'm okay."

I squeezed his hand and relaxed into the truck's swaying rhythm. A streetlamp passed overhead, lighting up his face. His cheeks were pure perfection — round and bumpy, a darker shade of brown than the rest of his face.

"Are those acne scars?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"They're beautiful."

His head tilted. "Is that possible?"

"Of course it is."

He looked at me — seeming to forget about the road altogether. His eyes swept my hairline, down to my jaw.

"Yours are beautiful, too."

Mine weren't scars, rather a light seasoning of pimples and pores and various Angsty blotches. Hearing him call them beautiful made me jittery and happy.

"You're just saying that." Classic gateway statement that really meant 'say it again.'

"I've actually never noticed them before. But they are. You are."

I jittered more noticeably. I was shaking anyway — because of his temperature — but I still shifted closer, making sure we were touching in as many places as possible.

He looked over at me for a second, something like concern crossing his face. He pulled over to the side of the road, turned the engine off and angled himself toward me.

"If you're cold, you shouldn't touch me," he said.

"But... I want to," was the only argument I could think of.

"Is it really worth your comfort to—?"

"Yes." I crossed my arms to illustrate my resolve.

His eyebrows curved down apologetically. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I don't blame you for being cold. You can't help it." I untied the sleeves of his flannel — it had fallen down, hanging around my neck like a cape — and put it on properly.

"Does this make you feel better?" I asked.

He looped his arm around me and rubbed my shoulder. "As long as you're all right."

I nodded, leaning into his side.

He started the truck and continued down the road.

"Hey," he said then, his voice an octave higher than usual, "did you tell Charlie about where we were going today?"

"Just randomly occurred to you?" I tested.

"There's a police car a couple miles east. Charlie's a cop. You know — train of thought."

"For your information," I said, "I told him nothing."

"Seriously, Minho? You didn't do the one thing I asked — I begged — you to do?"

"Uh-huh. However, I did tell Angela and Jessica — and Jessica probably told Mike and Lauren and Eric."

He was quiet for a moment, staring into the distance with his lips ajar. My smile was evil.

"People know we spent the day together?" he said.

"Mm," I replied simply.

"Then why did you make such a big deal out of keeping it from Charlie?"

"Because I didn't want to tell Charlie."

He stuttered for a second before he got the words out. "So you just let me believe you didn't tell anyone?"

"I wouldn't have gone with you if I was genuinely afraid you would murder me, all right? That's insane. I knew you were stronger than that. Besides..." I kissed his cheek, making an exaggerated 'mwah' sound. "I wanted to piss you off."

His mouth opened like he was going to curse me out. I waited, still smiling villainously as I watched my plan unfold to a tee.

Instead of yelling, he smiled his gummy heart-shaped smile, his head falling back against the headrest.

"You're mean," he said, elbowing me gently. He didn't look angry at all — more like he finally understood a joke.

"But you're not freaking out on me. Why?"

"Because..." He glanced at me, his eyes solemn and attentive. "I was drawn to you because you teased me. You treated me like a regular person when no one else did. Like a human. You were funny and shameless and unafraid — and you still are, even now that you know all my baggage."

"You don't get treated... like a human, really, do you?"

He shook his head. My heart went weak with empathy for him.

"I mean, my family tries," he amended. "But we've been together for so long, and we have this really good rapport, and it all builds into something comfortable and familiar, but... not human. It isn't enough for me."

"I'll keep bugging you, then." I lifted one of his hands and kissed the groove of his palm. "For as long as you want me to."

He pulled over to the side of the road, turned the engine off and was pressing his lips to mine within seconds. I smiled dully, disintegrating into his kiss, my hands floating up and framing his face.

"You really pulled over just to kiss me?" I kept my lips hovering over his as I spoke.

"Mmhmm. Just to kiss you. To somehow communicate that I love when you tease me and piss me off, and I hope you keep doing it for a really, really long time — without having to put it into words and make it weird."

He kept kissing me as if he hadn't spoken, as if he hadn't made a declaration.

"Message received," I murmured, "not weird at all."

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sorry for that stupid That's so Raven reference SKJFHSJ

what did you think of the new info on the rest of SKZ?

there's more details about their backstories (plus a meet n greet) in chapters to come... ^^

see you next week