8. TRUST

That night Taehyung slept but it wasn't peaceful. He had nightmares the whole night and tossed and turned until his alarm went off at 5:30. He groaned and pretty much smashed the thing. He rolled over trying to ignore the time and go back to sleep. Then he heard the sound of his phone vibrating. He turned it over to see several messages from Jungkook again.

(Messages between Jungkook and Taehyung)

Jungkook: "Taehyung? Are you ok?...Are you being tortured or something?....why are you so worked up? Tae? What is going on?"

Taehyung: "Jungkook?...uh, what the hell? It's early what do you want?"

Jungkook: "Now you answer?!"

Taehyung: "What is it?.....Uh, why were you messaging me all night? I was sleeping!"

Jungkook: "Then you were having one horrible dream because you were like 20 different emotions the whole night!"

Taehyung: "Really? Oh man sorry. Did I keep you up?"

Jungkook: "I don't sleep Taehyung but dealing with your roller coaster emotions is exhausting..."

Taehyung: "Sorry I didn't realize I was having a nightmare....guess being a secret shapeshifter with a family willing to kill me, can cause a few bad dreams."

Jungkook: "You are definitely not a morning person are you?...Look, you clearly don't feel safe there. So...you know you can always stay with me or the hyungs if you need to. We can come up with an excuse so your parents don't get suspicious."

Taehyung: "Really? Thanks for the offer, I may take you up on it one day. Wait....what do you mean you don't sleep?"

Jungkook: "I'm imortal Tae, I am basically dead. I don't need to sleep, eat, drink, none of those things."

Taehyung: "Buti have seen you eat and drink at school."

Jungkook: "Well I have to blend in. Look, why don't you stay with me tonight? Maybe if I am there and you feel safe you wont have any nightmares."

Taehyung: "Yeah...ok i'll just tell my parents that we have a project to work on. Thanks!"

Jungkook: "No problem. Oh and Tae try and stay calm until I get there, huh?"

Taehyung: "Yeah, yeah...."

The drive to school was pretty quiet. Taehyung was pretty calm when he was around Jungkook. When it was just them, he didn't have much to worry about. That is as long as Jungkook is also quiet and doesn't say or do anything.But he knew Jungkook wouldn't be able to stay quiet for long.

"So what kinds of things do you like to eat?" Jungkook asked.

"Why?" Taehyung asked confused.

"Well, if you are coming to my house I should probably buy some food you know?" Jungkook said.

"Oh right! Umm...I like ramen and snacks a lot!" Taehyung said casually.

"Ok well we can pick some up after school!" Jungkook said glancing at him and smiling.

Uh oh! Cute bunny tooth smile!

Taehyung could feel himself smiling and tried his best to stop. He turned toward the window and tried not to to think about cute bunny Jungkook smile.

Jungkook laughed to himself.

Taehyung really didn't get that hiding his face didn't keep Jungkook from knowing what he was feeling. Yet he kept doing it, trying to hide.

"Tae." Jungkook said smirking.

"Yeah?" Taehyung answered.

"Why do keep hiding? Don't you remember..." he started to say before Taehyung interrupted him.

"Yes I know Jungkook can we just not talk about it ok?" Taehyung said annoyed.

Jungkook laughed softly.

Shy Taehyung was pretty funny and cute.

"I'll see you later!" Taehyung said rushing off when they arrived at school.

"But!" Jungkook said before Taehyung was out of sight.

Jungkook looked at the book Taehyung left in the back seat.

He sighed and grabbed it before heading inside himself. Delivering his stuff to him seemed to fall under this new babysitter's gig.

Jungkook could sense Taehyung was a little anxious which seemed to be a normal state for him.

He walked to Taehyung's first class and searched the room for him.

He saw Jimin and walked toward him, on the other side of him was Taehyung. He was talking with Jimin, and saw Jungkook come up out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey Tae, you left your book!" Jungkook said smiling and handing the book to him.

He said goodbye and left.

"Uh what was that?" Jimin asked.

"What?" Taehyung asked looking down at his book.

"Why would he have your book? Did he drive you here?" Jimin asked with a stupid smile on his face.

"It's no big deal. I haven't been able to drive myself and he offered to pick me up. It's no big deal!" Taehyung said shyly.

"So are you guys like dating now?" Jimin asked sinking into the seat in front of Taehyung.

"What?! No of course not!" Taehyung said still not looking at Jimin.

"Oh my god, no way! You and Jungkook are dating!!!" Jimin said way too loudly.

"Shut the hell up Jimin, we aren't dating. We are just friends! I already told you!" Taehyung said annoyed.

"Really? Ok let me ask you this...is he giving you a ride home?" Jimin asked.

"No. Not exactly." Taehyung said shyly.

"What do you mean?" Jimin asked confused.

"I am...uh...going to his house after school." Taehyung said hiding half of his face.

Jimin tried to hold back his huge smile.

"But he will take you home after right?" Jimin asked.

"Uh...no, I gonna stay the night there too." Taehyung said opening his book and hiding his face.

"You guys are totally dating!" He said a little softer this time.

"No we are not! He is helping me with a project and it's gonna be a lot of work so he said I could stay there. No big deal, I have stayed at your house before." Taehyung said trying to convince Jimin.

"Yeah but that's different! I'm not some dark mysterious loner hot guy!" Jimin said smiling.

Taehyung rolled his eyes and decided to let Jimin go off on his rant and ignore him. When Jimin finally finished he wondered where Hoseok had gone.

"He is probably in the library reading his fanfics again! You know how he has been lately." Jimin said not putting much thought into it.

Now that he thought about it, Hoseok had been doing a lot more reading lately. He seemed distracted and skittish for the last week or so.

This kind of concerned Taehyung. It wasnt like Hoseok to be so secretive. He was a good student and studied hard, and wasn't as care free as Jimin sometimes but they weren't too far off.

Lately though he had seemed different, and Taehyung decided to check on him.

He followed the halls untill he reached the library doors. He peeked in through the windows and could see Hoseok at the computers again.

He decided he was going to walk up quietly and take a peek at what Hoseok was looking at before letting him know he was there. Taehyung slowly and quietly walked up behind him and glanced at the screen.

There were images, drawings of creatures with fangs and people murdered and all these terrible things. Taehyung skimmed some of the article, and realized what his friend had been obsessing over. He knew Hoseok had a thing for vampire fanfics and stuff, but this seemed more than that. After skimming more of the page, he felt a pit in his stomach. This article made vampires sound like monsters that killed without prejudice, even at times for fun.

He hadn't thought much about what vampires were capable of, he had been too busy freaking out over his own thing. It didn't occur to him that these creatures were more dangerous than the humans who wanted him dead if they knew what he was. He hadn't really thought of what Jungkook or the other hyungs were capable of. They always seemed so calm and normal despite what they were. He had seen Jungkook lose his temper but never to the point of actually hurting anyone. Taehyung was lost in his own thoughts when Hoseok turned and saw him standing there.

"Tae? Uh what are you doing here?" Hoseok asked nervously.

"Oh uh I came to find you! I am worried, you seem different." Taehyung said.

Hoseok realized he couldn't keep this to himself any longer. He and Tae found a table where there was no one around and Hoseok explained.

"I know you guys think I am weird because I like to read those dumb fanfics and stuff, but this isn't like that." Hoseok said pausing.

"What do you mean?" Taehyung said curious.

"I think I saw a vampire. A real one." Hoseok blurted out.

Taehyung's heart started pounding and his palms felt clammy as he gripped the arm rests of his chair.

"You saw a vampire? Ok. Um, where did you see it?" Taehyung asked trying to stay calm.

"In one of the bathrooms. I bumped into him as he was running out and his eyes were red. When I went inside I saw that one of the sinks was dented. There is no person alive strong enough to dent a sink with his bare hand." Hoseok said.

"Did you see who it was?" Taehyung asked trying to sound like he didn't know anything.

"That's the thing, it was...Jungkook." Hoseok said watching for Taehyung's reaction.

Taehyung knew he had to act suprised, but panic set in and he didn't know what to do.

"A-are you sure that's who you saw?" Taehyung asked with a slight hitch in his voice.

"He is kind of hard to miss and he pretty much knocked me over! But I don't have any proof, so I have been trying to find some!" Hoseok said annoyed.

"Why are you trying to find proof?" Taehyung asked.

"Well haven't you heard about all those deaths recently? They say it's some kind of animal, but it think it could be a vampire. That could mean that we have a murderer walking around at our school!" Hoseok continued.

"Why do you think a vampire is killing these people?" Tae asked.

"What are the odds of an animal traveling up the coast killing people as it goes? That doesn't make sense." Hoseok said confidently.

Taehyung really felt panicked now, and was worried that Hoseok would notice soon.

"Well, I think if Jungkook was a murderer they would have some evidence by now to connect him to the crimes. Don'tyou think?" Taehyung said.

"He is a vampire, he is fast and smart. He wouldn't leave much evidence." Hoseok said confidently.

"If you found this proof what would you do?" Taehyung asked nervously.

"Well both of our dads are on the city council, they can handle something like this right? I mean call in FBI or whatever! I'm sure they would need a special prison to hold someone like that!" Hoseok said.

Hoseok drifted off into a tangent shuffling through papers, not noticing the change in his friend.

Taehyung really started to panic now, and it was not good. Where was Jungkook? He could feel the pain in his head and tried his best to breathe and stay calm.

Luckily Hoseok was looking at his research and ranting, or he would have seen the pain in Taehyung's face.

Taehyung gripped the chair tighter and held back the urge to scream in agony. It was getting to be too much, but Taehyung couldn't move. His head felt like it was burning.

A moment later he felt a hand grab him and pull him away.

Hoseok looked up and the chair where his friend had been sitting was empty.

"Tae? Taehyung where did you go?" He whispered loudly looking around him.

Taehyung was gone.

Jungkook pulled Taehyung outside and rushed him to the car.

"Tae? Taehyung breathe ok?" Jungkook said as Taehyung let out a scream of pain.

"I can't! Ahhh it hurts!" Taehyung groaned.

"Uh this had to happen at school?!" Jungkook groaned.

Jungkook did not like the idea of letting go of total control around so many people. But he had to in order to keep Taehyung from shifting. Jungkook took a deep breath and let go of the thing holding him back. He let go just enough for his eyes to turn. He turned to Taehyung and grabbed him by the shoulders making Taehyung look directly at him. Taehyung's eyes were closed because of the pain in his head being too much.

"Tae look at me! Look at me." Jungkook said calmly.

When Taehyung opened his eyes he tried to focus on Jungkook through the pain he felt. He met Jungkook's eyes and took several deep breaths.

"Focus on me ok? Breathe." Jungkook said softly.

Taehyung could feel the pain subside and slowly disappear.

When he looks toward Jungkook he can see something is not right.

He had turned away and looked like he was fighting himself.

"Jungkook? Are you ok?" Taehyung asked.

Jungkook took deep breaths and tried to focus again.

"Yeah, I just need a minute." Jungkook said.

Taehyung watched him fighting with himself, holding back the side of him that could easily take over. The side Jungkook didn't want to be, but had to be to help Taehyung. He felt guilty for needing Jungkook's help, for making him fight the side of him he hated. He knew Jungkook couldn't be the one who was hurting people. Maybe it was because they were connected, but he trusted him. There was still a little doubt in his mind, but only because he didn't know Jungkook well when he was not in control. Was it possible that he hurt someone? His thoughts began to take a life of their own until he glanced at Jungkook again. It was taking him longer to come back, and Taehyung couldn't figure out why.

"Jungkook what's happening?" Taehyung asked worried.

"It's hard this time to calm down. I need you to breathe and relax ok Tae? You are giving off too much I can't focus." Jungkook said gripping the steering wheel tighter.

Taehyung realized he was overwhelming Jungkook with his anxiety and fear.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry!" Taehyung said apologetically.

He did his best to push all those negative thoughts away, and focus on Jungkook. He needed him. This time it was his turn to keep Jungkook from losing control. He reached out and took Jungkook by the shoulders like the other had done.

"Jungkook! Ok, everything is fine! I am fine, ok. I am fine!" Taehyung said calming himself and letting go of his negative emotions.

Jungkook looked back at him with his eyes still red and tried to focus on Taehyung's voice.

"Everything is ok! Just breathe, remember who you are." Taehyung said over and over.

'Remember who you are', Jungkook thought to himself. 'I am not a monster, I am not a killer. I am good.'

Jungkook closed his eyes and repeated those words softly out loud.

"Remember who I am. I am not a monster. I am not a killer. I am good." Jungkook whispered.

Hearing this hurt Taehyung. Did Jungkook really think he was a monster? This made Taehyung feel sadness and guilt. He watched Jungkook slowly come back and when he opened his eyes again they were golden brown once more.

Taehyung let out a sigh of relief and dropped his arms falling into his seat. Jungkook also laid back in his chair letting out a breathe of relief.

They were both quiet for a moment.

"That would have been bad!" Taehyung said suddenly.

This made Jungkook laugh, and Taehyung flinched at the unexpected sound.

"This is crazy!" Jungkook said.

"Yeah it is!" Taehyung said in agreement.

After another moment of quiet between them Jungkook turned his head to look at Taehyung.

"What happened?" Jungkook asked.

Taehyung wasn't sure if he should tell Just everything that Hoseok had said. The more he thought about it, the more he felt guilty for even listening to him.

"Tae it's ok. Just tell me!" Jungkook said calmly.

'Damn emotional bond!' Taehyung thought.

"He has been obsessing lately. Reading and researching whenever he wasn't in class. He seemed jumpy and reserved. I decided today to sneak up behind him and try and see what he was researching." Taehyung paused.

"What was it?" Jungkook asked.

"He was reading about vampires. When he caught me behind him, he told me everything. He said he saw you, what you are. He said he found articles of people being killed, and he thinks a vampire killed them. He thinks you killed them." Taehyung said.

Jungkook looked down at his hands, he could feel Taehyung's guilt.

"And you believed him?" Jungkook asked.

"It was a lot to take in. I mean hearing him say he saw you, I panicked. His dad is a member of the council too. He said he wants to tell them about you. I freaked out!"

Taehyung admitted.

Jungkook was still looking down at his hands when he began to explain.

"Tae. I never killed anyone. The one killing those people....he is the one who turned me. I was the only person he left alive." Jungkook admitted.

"What?" Taehyung asked.

"Namjoon and Yoongi hyung have been tracking the deaths as well. They knew it had to be a vampire. They tracked it here, and they found me." Jungkook said.

"They did?" Taehyung asked shyly.

He had no idea that Jungkook had almost been killed.

"Yes. For some reason the vampire didn't kill me. So I went through the transition. Namjoon hyung trained me, and I have never harmed anyone!" Jungkook replied.

Taehyung felt both guilt for not believing in Jungkook and relief to know that Jungkook was innocent.

"Do you know you have such hectic feelings?" Jungkook said teasing.

"Uh I know ok! It's a lot to take in!" Taehyung said embarrassed.

(Messages between Jungkook and Taehyung)

Jungkook: " Tae?...stop ok?...stop feeling guilty ok?"

Taehyung: "Uh i hate this emotional bond stuff! How do you stay calm all the time? I feel Iike I run into stress inducing situations daily!"

Jungkook: "Well, it's not easy, it takes practice. It doesn't help being bonded to an emotional baby though!"

Taehyung: "HA HA...you are hilarious kook!"

Jungkook: "Seriously though Tae its fine, ok? A lot has happened in a short time. Our lives have been thrown together, but we are still pretty much strangers. It's hard to trust someone you don't know well. So lets change that ok? Tonight you can ask anything you want! I have nothing to hide!"

Taehyung: "That's true we barely even talked before all this happened now we are emotionally attached at the hips. I guess I have been a little unsure about things. And you too, you can ask whatever you want!"

Jungkook: "Ok so are we cool? Can stop feeling so guilty?"

Taehyung: "Yes, sorry I'll see you later?"

Jungkook: "Yess, see you later."