Chapter 3

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Certainly not to his surprise he couldn't sleep. Of course he couldn't. The mats were hard and he just felt the nervous energy radiating off of Jungkook. After a while he simply got up again, feeling Jungkook's eyes on him as he stretched his arms a bit. He hadn't even been lying there that long and he still felt stiff.

Then he turned back to Jungkook, who almost looked startled when Taehyung made eye contact with him, as if it was surprising that Taehyung wasn't denying his existence. Maybe it was.

"You wanted to talk. Let's talk. I can't sleep anyways."

"So now you're coming to me?" Jungkook asked, watching as Taehyung sat down on the floor in front of him. His hands were way too cold, but he simply ignored it. It wasn't like focusing on the fact that he was freezing was going to change anything about it.

"I'm bored and you are too, so what can we do?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I might not like you, but talking is still better than focusing on the fact that there isn't a single place I could come up with that I'd not prefer over being here."

Jungkook chuckled. "Hate me that much, huh?"

Taehyung shrugged his shoulders. "You could be less of a dick."

"It's not like I actually force people to do anything. Why should it be my problem that humans are this easy to manipulate? They are stupid." Jungkook leaned his back against the wall, playing with the seams of the shorts he was wearing. "You tell them a few lies, feed into their love for themselves and they go all 'whatever you need'. I'm just teaching them a lesson."

Wow. Just wow. Taehyung couldn't help but feel angry at how casually Jungkook seemed to juggle with human's lives. Like they were worth nothing. But he also knew that getting mad wouldn't do anything... maybe he could actually change Jungkook's opinion if he talked to him.

"You don't seem to think much of humans." he ended up saying, watching as Jungkook moved a bit, seemingly uncomfortable with how he was sitting. For a couple of seconds he said nothing before getting up and moving to the mat pile. With seemingly no effort he lifted one of the mats up and pulled it into his corner.

Taehyung could feel himself grow antsy as Jungkook seemingly took all the time in the world to arrange a comfortable sitting spot by putting half of the mattress against the wall, the other half resting on the floor. Only when he was sitting again he finally answered with a smile on his lips that totally didn't fit his next words.

"I hate them."

Taehyung furrowed his brows. "Why do you hate them?"

Jungkook smiled, once again crossing his legs. "Because of how stupid they are. And because even though you are so naïve and easy you think so highly of yourself. You don't realize how weak you actually are. Most of you even look down on us vampires. Because we drink blood. But aren't you exactly the same? Don't you all eat meat too? My issue with humans is how you act so high and mighty, like you are such moral beings, but in the end it's just a few things your character really comes down to. Lust, hunger and narcissism."

That was probably the most he had ever heard Jungkook speak. It was weird how Jungkook's reasoning was easy to follow and Taehyung understood where those things were coming from, but at the same time Jungkook was so wrong. Humans weren't like that. Some certainly were, but not all.

"It's not right to assume that vampires are lower than us. I'm totally on your side with that... but that naivety you speak of is not something bad. You say those girls are stupid for allowing you into their heart and being willing to help you, while you also complain about humans looking down on you. They certainly didn't, but they might with the next vampire they see. They were willing to help you and you just used that against them. How is that something they have done wrong? How could anyone love if they always have to keep their guards up?" Taehyung asked, keeping his voice stable. He didn't want to get angry. Jungkook deserved it, but he knew him... there was no way he would listen if Taehyung used a different tone than a neutral one. He wasn't trying to pick a fight. He just wanted Jungkook to understand that what he was doing was wrong.

Jungkook actually seemed to consider it for a moment. Staring at the wall behind Taehyung before looking back at him, his expression more certain than it had been before. The smile was back. That goddamn, annoying, arrogant smile Taehyung hated so much. "You know what always gets me in their pants? And trust me, I've tried a few things."

Taehyung raised an eyebrow, a gesture for Jungkook to go ahead.

Jungkook did, his intense gaze piercing through Taehyung. "It's not when you talk about random things. It's not when you tell them about yourself. Even open up a bit... it's when it's just about them. When you compliment them. Listen to what they say. Act like you care. That's when you always have a chance. If you feed into their ego, that's when they fall in love with the guy they hardly know because he spent the last few days doing nothing but talk positively about them."

Taehyung pressed his lips into a thin line, not really sure what to say to that. That wasn't everyone. Not everyone was like that. Jungkook seemed to generalize the few girls he had dated onto everyone.

"So you just hate every human because of that?" Taehyung asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jungkook smiled at that, suddenly seeming a lot younger than he had just seconds before. "I don't hate every human. Just most of them." He grinned. "For example... I don't hate you because you're human. I hate you because you're annoying the fuck out of me." He wiggled his eyebrows and Taehyung couldn't help but smile at the sudden playfulness. He quickly forced himself to assume a more serious expression again. He didn't want to react like this to something Jungkook had said.

"Anyways, I don't usually put in a lot of effort into getting girls to like me, so if they think they are in love with me that quickly it's their problem. If they also let me drink from them that's just my luck." Jungkook stated, stretching his arms over his head.

Taehyung sighed. "At least you only drink from them once."

Jungkook grinned. "See? I'm actually a good guy. Don't use them more than once. Don't get them addicted."

Another sigh from Taehyung, this time even louder. "God, I really can't stand you. Your attitude just pisses me off. Think you'll ever stop being such a dick?"

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders. "It's pretty normal for vampires my age to play around like this for a bit. Maybe I'll settle down for one person one day... though I doubt I'll find a human I can actually stand."

"After all that shit you've already pulled, I doubt there will be any girls actually staying for a long time when you reach that point. She'll hear about everything you've done and break up with you, assuming she's just another one of your personal blood bags." Taehyung stated dryly. He kind of really hoped someone would actually break Jungkook's heart. Maybe he would finally realize how the shit he was doing was wrong.

"Maybe. Not my problem to deal with yet though." Jungkook grinned. "Enough about me and my drinking habits. I mentioned I was hungry earlier and this is not helping..." For a second his eyes flashed red as he continued. "Tell me about you... what do you do while you're ignoring me?"

"Well." Taehyung mirrored the way Jungkook was sitting, the only difference being that he clamped his hands between his legs to warm them up a bit. "I go to school. Try to get through my day without setting a certain vampire off, who seems to be constantly offended by me not giving him attention, and I just... live? I don't know what you want to hear."

Jungkook rolled his eyes. "I mean what you do overall. What are your hobbies? What do you like? What do you hate? I'm bored, just talk about anything."

"Oh." Taehyung thought for a couple of seconds. "I like... hanging out with friends? My roommate, Jimin, usually is the one who makes sure we're invited everywhere, but I honestly like that a lot. I also enjoy photography a lot. It's not really much but..." He couldn't continue because Jungkook interrupted him.

"Nooooooo." After staring at Jungkook for what had to be at least ten seconds in bewilderment he finally gave an explanation for his sudden outbreak.

"You just reminded me of the fact that my favorite photographer posts on insta every Friday...I always comment something. He'll be worried when don't write anything."

That was new. Taehyung hadn't even known Jungkook was interested in photography too. It didn't really fit with the rest of his character, but then again, Taehyung knew absolutely nothing about Jungkook aside from the fact that he was a dick most of the time.

"You like photography?"

To his surprise Jungkook actually nodded. "It's somewhat of a new hobby though... I never really liked it before, but I found that guy's profile on accident and I really liked his pictures."

Maybe there was something they had in common after all. Weird to think about, but maybe they'd learn to get along in here and maybe that would reduce the number of fights they would have outside. Taehyung could only hope.

"Maybe I know some of the artist's pictures. What's his user?"

"Vante."

Silence.

Taehyung just sat there, frozen, staring at Jungkook. His brain just short circuited. After a couple of seconds Jungkook furrowed his brows. "Everything okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Taehyung blinked a couple of times, forcing himself to snap out of it before smiling in the most awkward way possible. "Uhm, sorry. Never really heard of them."

"You totally did. What was that reaction? Do you know the artist?" Jungkook asked, his eyes suspicious as he eyed Taehyung.

"No, I don't." he continued to lie, but Jungkook was having none of it.

"Taehyung... do you know that artist?"

Seemingly not having any control over his own body he nodded. "Yeah. It's my account." The second the last syllable had left his mouth he quickly covered his mouth with his hands, both he and Jungkook gasping in unison.

"Did you just manipulate me?!"

"You're Vante?"

Taehyung exhaled, feeling anger coil in his gut. "Jungkook. Did you just force me to tell you?"

Jungkook seemed to shrink a bit at Taehyung's sudden anger and there was a bit of satisfaction Taehyung got from that. "I really wanted to know. Sorry."

"You're such an asshole, I swear."

"It's not even a big thing." Jungkook tried defending himself weakly. Taehyung was having none of it. But instead of saying anything he got up, breathing out and walking back over to his mat pile. "The conversation is over. I'll try to sleep again."

A/N

The paaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiin

Lmao this will be the funniest kind of update for you guys won't it?

I suffer and... you get something.

🤧