#13mins

“The musics a little loud out here,” you spoke up, having just gotten used to the quieter atmosphere of Wonwoo’s room and the ticking noise started coming up again. Jihoon shrugged and took his phone out of his pocket, clicking the volume button a couple times and you noticed it got a little quieter.

“The last time we brought the turntables out, some guy spilled his drink all over it so we’re just sticking to bluetooth.” Jihoon tapped his phone a couple more times and you looked at his hair for any of those glitter specks. There were none, so you assumed he might have narrowly escaped one of the other’s pranks. “Wanna go to the living room?”

You shrugged and followed him to the living room, where multiple people were still dancing and chattering. With his back to you, you saw shimmering wings and how they bounced with each step he took. Jihoon was especially careful when moving around the people, twisting this way and that in order to avoid people hitting them. He kept glancing back to see if you were following, but you were drifting off as more and more people started heading over to the living room when they saw Jihoon heading to the stereo. Eventually he grabbed your hand and pulled you along with him and by his side rather than behind him. He didn’t let go of your hand when he faced the room, instead he stepped closer to you to hide your joined hands from prying eyes.

He led you over to one of the bowls full of candy used his other hand to take one out. It was held in front of your mouth and Jihoon looked at you expectantly. “Open up, I’m feeding you.” Almost like magic, you found yourself willingly opening your mouth right after he suggested you did. The sugary candy was chewy and tasted like fruit.

A thumb wiped at the corner of your lips, and you watched Jihoon lick off the visible sugar particles from his thumb. You wiped your face for whatever was left and felt yourself turning red.

“You made some really nice music,” you said, trying to make yourself less awkward. Jihoon smiled and thanked you.

“I’m quite surprised that I made all of this before Halloween. Though I admit that I rushed to finish up three songs this morning. ” He popped a piece of candy into his own mouth and hummed. While he was eating you brought your hand up to touch one of his wings. After you poked it Jihoon jolted and instantly let go of your hand, most likely due to the shock. Had you looked any closer you would have seen his hand tightly gripping his clothing material. “Sorry, these were actually pretty hard to make. I’m trying not to get them damaged. You could say they’re quite... sensitive.”

His wings shimmered once more and you swore you saw them flutter once. Jihoon’s face was red, and you managed to catch that before saying anything else. “Were you embarrassed that you jumped so frantically?”

“You could say that,” he coughed into his hand. “It’s not like I was expecting them to be touched or anything. Just have to watch out for wandering hands, you know?” Jihoon clapped his hands together to get the sugar off his fingers, which prompted an abundance of glitter falling to the floor. He clicked his tongue and wiped his hands on his pants instead.

“Where’s all the glitter coming from anyways?” Jihoon shrugged, avoiding eye contact.

“Probably from the wings.” Jihoon started bouncing back and forth, looking more awkward than you were before. He muttered something under his breath, something about almost slipping up. “Well it’s 11:54AM so I better get going. I forgot I had to go help clean up, uh, something.”

He had spoken to you a couple seconds ago. About him hearing about how you were searching for him. Seokmin was certainly right about him coming out if you joined in too. You turned around and saw the tall man behind you. His eyes were gleaming and he donned little horns from the top of his head. He reminded you of how Jeonghan looked, but there was a certain glint in his eyes that told you otherwise. Especially when you saw a pointy looking tail.

“I think the coast is clear, wanna get out of this closet?” Mingyu asked, though e quickly added on. “I’m not complaining though. Being in here with you is really nice.” Mingyu grinned and laughed a little bit, the intensity from his gaze now diminished to a playful and somewhat shy fleeting of the eyes. He mumbled a little bit about not being good at ‘this.’ He reached behind you and opened up the closet door, allowing you to step out first. An arm linked with yours when the door was shut and you followed in the footsteps of the giant next to you.

His touch was extremely warm, and made you want to keep that touch with you. It made you almost crave it, desire it.

“Thinking about me?” Mingyu teased with his goofy smile. You couldn’t exactly focus with his warmness still on your mind and making your thoughts incoherent. Especially not when he looked absolutely ravishing in a tuxedo. You’d think he would dress up as something more... dorky than what was supposedly a demon in a suit. Though you couldn’t say for sure. Did his tail just move?

Mingyu waved to another person at the party and shouted something to them, but that all flew past your ears as the side of your body rubbed against his. Warm, so warm. It felt so maddening that you wanted to cling onto him. You rubbed your arms. No goosebumps.

“Cold?”

“Think so.”

“Here,” he said as he got behind you and wrapped his lanky arms around you. “I’ll keep you warm.” He snuggled into you and you sighed in content. He body, his smell, his warmth was surrounding you. It felt satisfying. “Yeah, I have that kind of effect on people.”

Oh, snap. You said that out loud. Mingyu laughed and you felt the rumbling behind you. His held you even tighter and bent a little so that his head could rest on your shoulder. He kept it there even if it was a slightly awkward angle.

“Mingyu, you feel so nice,” you admitted. Mingyu hummed and moved his hands up and down your arms. Everywhere he touched it felt amazing. If he kept that up you’d probably try to persuade him to be your personal heater. “I never want to leave.”

He cleared his throat and then slowly moved away from you which brought out a small whine. It was as if you needed him, and soon. Before you could speak your thoughts you felt your head swim a little. Perhaps you were coming down with something, maybe that was why you couldn’t feel chills and you experienced the slightly loopiness.

“I’m going,” you said.

“Already? It’s only 11:56AM, the party’s barely even started.” Mingyu went out to reach you and you immediately heard sirens going off in your head, so you moved back some.

“Just to the bathroom. I’m either getting sick or someone actually spiked the punch.” You turned to leave. “Thank you, though. For making me feel nice.”

“I guess,” he said, voice clear and ringing out into the night. He pointed over to the cup that Joshua set down earlier. “That mine?” He asked for you to hand it to him before you could reply. When you reached upwards to hand over his cup you smelled a tangy, almost metallic smell. Though you were too distracted by the intense eye contact and the soft brush of cold hands to bother with that. He thanked you and took a sip of his drink. You swore his pupils dilated some.

“What are you doing on the roof anyways?” Junhui shrugged, keeping his mouth closed and his lips tight. He even thought it would be safe to start sucking on his lower lip a little bit which making you look away for fear of staring like you did earlier. He brought his cup back up to his mouth and spoke before drinking again. He had a light lisp, probably because of the teeth.

“Wanna come up here?” It was your turn to shrug. Your cup was handed to Junhui and he placed it in a secure spot where it wouldn’t spill alongside his own. He took both of your outstretched hands and pulled you up which an unsurprising amount of strength. When you were high enough to put your knee on the roof, Junhui took a hold of your waist and pulled you into his lap, his arms still around your waist and his fingers interlocked with each other. 

The closeness of your faces reminded you of how Jeonghan acted with you a earlier. Especially when Junhui buried his face into your neck in a similar fashion.

“Is this your way of saying hello to everyone?” You asked when you felt his pointy teeth teasing the skin of your neck. He chuckled and snuggled into you a little more.

“Just you,” he replied smugly. You rolled your eyes and scoffed, then hitting his hand in warning when you felt one of the fangs poking you again. They felt extremely share. They must have bite marks since he probably hasn’t taken them out while eating Junhui laughed and squeezed you a little bit. “But I’m thirsty.” The whining tone in his voice did nothing to save him from an even harder smack from you. Another whine sounded and you laughed this time.

Junhui didn’t try anything else after that. He simply rested his chin on your shoulder and savored the feel of your warm cheek against his cold one. He must have been out for a long time. You heard a faint ticking noise and you looked at the watch that rested on Junhui’s right wrist. It was 11:51PM.

“Were you making a pun?” You referred to the numerous glittering scales that ran along his neck and jaw. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. You noticed that he had little fins in place of his ears. He went to scratch his neck but stopped himself. “Aren’t those things bothering your skin?”

“Well, I guess they’re pretty dry. Or... making my skin dry.”

“Let’s take them off you then,” you said and started to bring your hands near his face. He caught your hands and instead interlocked your fingers together. “What are you doing, isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“I can bear with it. Besides, your soft hands take my mind off the itching.”

“Then let me use my oh-so-soft hands to soothe your itching skin.” Gently you took your hands from his and smoothed them right under his jaw. His breath hitched and he trained his eyes on you while you kept your eyes on your hands and the glittering scales.

They were smooth to the touch, cold and shimmery. You turned and turned the sink on from right beside you. In the mirror you saw Minghao’s cheeks turning a light red. You hated to admit that your own had donned a similar color. You put both hands under the running water and took them out when they were wet enough. Your fingers trailed once more along the scales, moistening them up in hopes you could get the water to soothe the skin underneath.

Though it seemed like the scales were merely absorbing all of the water. It didn’t seem to matter too much though since Minghao softly sighed and closed his eyes in content, obviously enjoying the relief the water gave him. A couple more times your hands went under the water and rubbed the scales. No matter how many times you rubbed them the scales didn’t look like they budged. Not that you cared since this was one of the times you got to see more of Minghao.

He always wore covering clothing, much like Joshua. Scarves and turtlenecks were found on him all the times he was out and about. You swore you saw him in a tank top once but we was quick to hop up and go cover up from prying eyes.

Your hands started to move upwards, covering the scales that ran along his jaw, until they reached his ears. Or fins. He stopped you there, taking a hold of your hands again.

“Those are quite sensitive,” he warned you. His cheeks had grown a darker shade of red and he avoided all eye contact with you. You could have sworn you saw his fins move a little bit.

“What’s all this?” You asked, slightly amused by his getup. It seemed he had contacts in and his eyes were glowing a sharp yellow. The dark red shirt he word that was almost as red as Seungcheol’s lips only earlier contrasted with his eyes and hair. Jeonghan smiled -- not smirked, smiled -- at you.

“This? We’re dancing, of course.” Even from how close you were to his face, you could still see Jeonghan’s mischievous grin and the little sparkle in his eyes through his colored contacts. They glimmered a little bit, making you think that his eyes were always that color. You moved back from him a little and took a better look at him.

“Well speak of the devil,” you muttered. Jeonghan smiled even wider, if that was even possible to begin with. A hint of sharpness to his teeth were noticed immediately. Them being longer than normal and definitely more defined the last you remembered seeing them when he smiled.

“Like them?” Shoulders brushed shoulders when you shrugged. If he didn’t like the close contact he surely didn’t say anything. Besides, with the look on his face it seems like he absolutely loved it. “Well, always had them. They’re coming in pretty useful tonight.”

“Why’s that?” 

Jeonghan. Oh, Jeonghan. He reached his hand up and cupped your cheek. He started nearing you and continued his swaying with you in his arms. His face kept coming closer and closer. The ticking sound made it back into your ears, and you felt your face grow warm as that cursed smirk finally made its way to his lips. At the last second Jeonghan swerved down and brushed his lips ever so slightly at your neck.

“Because,” Jeonghan answered. “At any moment I could make my move and strike.” His lips brushed you once again and you shivered. He pulled back and then let go of you completely. You were still left with your mind hazy, if not even hazier than when you were getting a drink with Seungcheol. Speaking of drinks, you really needed one since your throat became so dry.

“Sorry, buddy,” he called up to Junhui, who sat there with a frown and his eyes narrowed. Most of the time he’d be passive about situations or let his friends do what they pleased within boundaries, but this time it felt like Jun was heavily upset. Soonyoung motioned over to your spilled drinks, now dripping off the roof and splattering heavily onto the ground. “Didn’t mean to ruin your drinking time.” With that said, Soonyoung smiled and then took you away with Junhui’s eyes locked onto his head. You were set down only when Soonyoung confirmed that the door shut and Junhui did not come back to retrieve you.

“What was that all about?” He shrugged in response. “I thought it was pretty looking at the moon. It’s full tonight.”

“Yeah, well,” he rubbed the back of his head. “He usually gets really hungry at night, especially when... well, he’s been outside all night so I doubt he’s had anything to eat. Speaking of food, I need some too.” He motioned for you to follow.

He brushed past a lot of people, each of them dancing to the more upbeat song that was playing now. Soonyoung turned towards you and started dancing a little bit as he moved farther along the room. He swiveled his hips and smirked a little, making extra use of his hands by running them down his body.

“Slow down there, mister star-of-the-show. The way you’re dancing is going to start making some of the people here a little hungry too.”

“Well, let’s make sure you get satisfied first, shall we?” Soonyoung winked and then led you into the kitchen, where Seungcheol had poured you a drink earlier. There were a lot of snacks lying on the island, the counter, and the dinner table. Soonyoung sighed at the choices of chips and candies and whatever snack that could not be considered as an actual meal. He opened up the fridge and scanned it while you got another drink.

You nearly spilled your drink when he had come back around and grabbed your waist. He reported to you that there was nothing to eat, which made you snort and take the first sip of your drink. With the hand around your waist -- which he moved to your lower back -- Soonyoung decided to relocate the both of you to another room.

“Where are we going?” Soonyoung leaned forward and spoke into your ear when the music got really loud, which you swore he winced at a little bit.

“My room. I have all kinds of snacks.” Soonyoung then growled a little in your ear when someone bumped into you. He got a little closer, allowing you to smell his scent. When growled a little again when you passed the room you had seen Seungcheol walk out of. “Man, I hope people stop hooking up at our parties. We live here and it’s not pretty picturing something like that happening in one of our beds.”

He laughed lightly and then took you into one of the rooms, shutting the door behind you two. You walked further in the room, peeking out the window when you heard the wind blow fiercely outside. Were you glad that you came inside. A low howl sounded behind you. More like a small whistling noise, which came from Soonyoung when he saw you bend a little to peer outside.

“Stop,” you scolded, but cracked with you saw the genuine apologetic look in his eyes. Soonyoung winked and then actually apologized with a chuckle.

“So,” Soonyoung started off. He took long steps and stood in front of you in no time. “I’m still pretty hungry.”

“Then eat something,” a voice called. The sound of a small plastic package hit the back of Soonyoung’s head and he winced and jolted forward a little bit. Any further and he’d most likely bonk heads with you. When you looked behind him over his shoulder you saw Wonwoo standing there with a tight lipped frown. Wonwoo had his arms crossed and was waiting for Soonyoung to move away from you. When he did you had a view of the clock on the wall.

Soonyoung lowly growled in frustration, then grabbing the snack packet that was thrown at him and a bag of beef jerky that was sitting against the window sill behind you. He whispered something into Wonwoo’s ear, but he merely blinked slowly in response. You caught something though, something about him being lucky that he’s already dead. You assumed that was because Joshua planned to prank him something later in the night. Then you were left alone with Wonwoo. He blinked slowly again and moved sluggishly to sit on top of the bed closest to you.

He seemed more tired than usual. Perhaps it was because of his introverted personality and the abundance of people being too much for him. His eyes looked bloodshot too. Not much a surprise as he had a habit of staying up late. Wonwoo held up a hand when you went to leave as well.

“You can stay.”

“But you kicked Soonyoung out.”

“He tends to make a mess in every room that he doesn’t sleep in. Digs around like a dog in everyone’s stuff,” Wonwoo said. He opened up a tupperware container that held some mushy looking food. He glanced up at you before taking the first bite and mumbling, “Brain food. I’m starved.”

He told you to help yourself and motioned towards a couple snacks lying on a desk across the bed he was sitting on. You picked up a half eaten back of chips and sat down in the chair, moving it so that you were facing the man who got livelier with each bite he was taking. When he finished his food, Wonwoo groaned and then threw the container and his utensils off to the side and plopped back on the bed.

“Eat too fast?”

“Nope, just really satisfied.” He moved so that he was able to see you better. He reached an arm out and motioned you over. “I want some chips too, could use something crunchy to balance out all that mush.”

You rolled your eyes and walked over, the chip bag outstretched. When you got close enough, Wonwoo yanked you by the arm and onto the bed. He didn’t mind at all that chips were scattered in various places after flying out of the bag at all. In fact he took one near his head and started slowly crunching on it. He smiled in content and slowly shifted around. He had always been a little slow at moving.

He trapped you in his arms and smiled contently. “Caught you.”

“You’re very sly, Jeon Wonwoo. Though with tonight’s recent events I’m not too surprised with much that has been happening.” Wonwoo shuffled some and quirked an eyebrow.

“Really now? I guess I’ll have to up my game,” he said. He shifted so that he was hovering over you, trapping you in his arms still as well as under his body. “Now you’re really trapped.”

Quickly, you brought your body up and rolled him over, catching Wonwoo a little off guard as his slow reactions allowed you to gain the upper hand. “I do believe it is me who has the upper hand this time.” Something told you that you’d be there much longer if you stayed so you got off of him and headed out the door, waving over your shoulder.

“So what are you?” You asked, letting your eyes trail up and down. Joshua laughed a little at your shameless looking, laughing even louder when they stopped at that choker of his. You took a sip of your drinks to cover up your embarrassed blush.

“Don’t ask me, a friend of mine just wanted to dress me up. Since we actually had no costumes available we literally dressed me up.” Well at least that dress coat looked amazing on him. Joshua took a sip of his drink and then winced shortly afterwards. “I probably grabbed Jun’s drink by accident. Could I have some of yours?”

You handed over the fruity punch and watched Joshua take a big gulp. He set the other cup he came out with down on a table outside and then took another swig of your drink. The drink sloshed around, all of the liquid nearly gone. “Thirsty, aren’t you?”

“Quenched actually. I’ve gotten a taste of your lips,” Joshua teased with a smug smile and a wink. Looks like going outside didn’t exactly help with cooling yourself off. You turned away and he chuckled, apologizing in case he had made you too uncomfortable. In your peripheral vision you saw him adjusting the choker. Funny, this was the most you’ve seen of his neck. Not that you look at it all the time. He wears all sorts of scarves and other assortments of clothes to cover up his neck. You always assumed it was because he was being modest or wanted to hide up some reminders of an activity that makes people’s blood rush to places other than their face.

But his neck. A clean slate. Pure and untouched. Wait what? You cringed at yourself for thinking about something like that. When you turned back to face him Joshua’s fingers fumbled with the choker once more and then he jolted forward. He held his hands by his neck and the top of his head.

“Are you okay?” Joshua readjusted himself and the choker as well. Choker this, choker that, how many times did you have to keep focusing on that choker. He nodded and seemed a little skittish.

“Perfectly fine. Brain freeze, y’know? I had some ice from the cup and nearly choked on it.” A sheepish laugh sounded from him and you patted his back, prompting him to put a hand on his forehead. He glanced around and then used both of his hands to hold the sides of his head. You swore you saw his entire head being put into place. “I’m going to go back inside; I need to get my own drink, y’know?” You waved goodbye, seeing the time on the clock when the door swung open.