"What are you so dressed up for?" You quirked an eyebrow up when you caught sight of Kun re-emerging from the bedroom in a fresh button-up shirt and pair of dress slacks. "It's just Kunhang and Yangyang."
The vampire went back to the pan that he had been tending to on the stove. "I'm hosting dinner at my house, for one. And for some reason that I can't seem to put my finger on, this feels like a meet-the-parents part two."
You scoffed at that little jest at the end. "You've met Kunhang before."
"And I got this weird feeling that he didn't like me."
"Oh, was it the death glares or all the times I told you he was trying to talk me out of dating you that clued you in?"
He chuckled. "Still, it can't hurt to want to make a good impression."
You came up behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist and resting your chin on his shoulder. "It's going to be fine, hon. I'm here, and Yangyang will be too, which I think will actually help for once."
"That is a scary thought."
"You know, I think we give him too little credit sometimes."
"Who? Yangyang?"
"Yes."
"And why is that?"
"If it weren't for his ineptitude, we wouldn't have gotten together."
"Oh, I don't know about that." Kun set his spatula down and turned around. He readjusted the collar of your shirt, tender gaze tracing over your features. "Now, call me superstitious, but—"
You couldn't help but giggle at the concept of a vampire being superstitious. A soft smile played across Kun's lips before he continued.
"—but I think that we would have found each other without the love potion. I don't know which one of our choices would have eventually made the life that finally brought us together like this, but I think they would. My miracle..." He cupped your cheeks, pulling you in for a gentle, sweet kiss.
While you never wanted this moment to end, the faint, acrid smell of something burning wafted up to your nose, and before you had fully processed that, Kun was already pulling back from the kiss. He cursed under his breath, turning around and pulling the pan off the burner, quickly flipping the food over. You peeked around him to look, seeking a few spots that were a bit blackened.
"Sorry..." You pecked his cheek sheepishly before stepping back fully to leave the kitchen.
❧
Kunhang and Yangyang arrived soon after, the witch almost immediately, and predictably, making a crack about Kun's house looking like a yard sale, which the gryphon found hilarious. Soon, though, you were seated for dinner, Kun dishing up food for everybody then taking his seat beside you.
"I do have to apologize, one side got a little too crispy," Kun bowed his head apologetically as everybody had picked up their utensils. "I did my best to alleviate it after the fact, but there may still be some burned areas."
"Oh, and what were you two doing?" Kunhang waggled his eyebrows, lifting his fork to his mouth.
"Mm?" Your boyfriend didn't look up from cutting up his food. "Ah, I was changing my shirt and Y/N was setting the table so neither of us were paying attention."
You opted not to respond, busying yourself with taking a deep sip of your water.
Your gryphon friend dropped his fork back onto his plate with a clatter, disgust on his face. "Y/N, I can hear your heartbeat! Gross!"
"I keep telling you, Kunhang, don't ask questions that you don't want the answers to!" You snapped back, pointing a finger at him accusatorily.
"It was just a joke!"
"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!"
Yangyang pushed the food on his plate around with his own fork. "Suddenly I'm not hungry..."
"Oh my god, it's perfectly sanitary, don't be dramatic." You smacked his arm. "It's either eat it or starve, Yangyang."
And with that, the witch was back to shoveling food in his mouth. "Don't have to tell me twice. This is great, Kun!"
Your boyfriend sighed and shook his head. "Thanks, Yangyang."
❧
After dinner, you knew that Kun was going to start habitually clearing the table, but you already had a plan in mind.
"Kunhang, have you seen Kun's PC setup?" You asked casually, grabbing yours and Kun's empty plates before the vampire could. You knew damn well that Kunhang hadn't seen the computer in his stubborn crusade to avoid Kun at all costs.
The gryphon's features perked up minutely in interest. "No. Is it a custom build?"
Kun nodded as he reached for a glass. "Yes, it is. I can show you after I—"
But you swiped the glass just before his fingertips could brush it. "You two can go look at it. Yangyang and I have got clean up. Right, Yang?"
To your surprise, the witch gave a thumbs-up from where he was reclined casually in his dining chair, pushing it back to balance just on the rear two feet. "Yeah, all good. Go talk nerd shit."
"Are you sure?" Your boyfriend asked you, a visible frown on his features over leaving you with clean-up duty.
"Of course. You cooked, we can do the dishes," you reassured him with a bright smile.
"Alright, thank you." He pecked your cheek before leading Kunhang out of the dining room.
Once you felt comfortable that you were no longer in the gryphon's and vampire's magical earshot, you looked to Yangyang with a curious head tilt.
"So why'd you let me volunteer you for dish duty with no complaints?"
"I knew what you were doing," he said with a shrug, and stood up to help clear the table. "I don't like pissy Kunhang anymore than you do, so whatever you think will help."
"Thanks, Yangyang." You smiled at your friend sincerely, carrying your stack of plates and utensils over to the sink. "Do you mind putting the leftovers away and I'll wash the dishes? Heads up, there is blood supplement in the fridge, but it's synthetic, I promise. If that's too weird, you can just put everything in containers and I'll put it away after I'm done washing."
"I don't mind, I've dealt with grosser. Witch, remember?"
"Right, thanks."
As Yangyang spooned the little leftover food that there was into a container, you rinsed off the dishes and loaded up the dishwasher.
"So you're really cool with all this, huh?" Yangyang commented as he opened the fridge up.
"All what?" You asked curiously. "Kun being a vampire? Having to keep my food next to my boyfriend's synthetic blood? I mean, I grew up with Kunhang and other magical creatures, remember?"
"Fair." He put the food in and shut the appliance again, leaning against the counter next to you. "So, do you think you could ever do it?"
At your blank stare, Yangyang added on, "Drink blood. I mean, technically you already drank Kun's in the love potion, but you know, willingly, and a lot of it. If you were to become a vampire, and I'm not even asking existentially about living forever or anything, just the diet. Do you think you could do it? If worst came to worst and blood supplements and synthetic blood were no longer available."
The witch had a grin on his face like the two of you were giggling kids playing Would You Rather at a sleepover and talking about your crushes, not the actual question he had just posed to you. You chewed on your bottom lip as you thought, still washing a few more pots and cooking utensils from the night.
"I... don't know," you answered honestly. "I mean, that all kind of changes when you become a vampire, right? Like, your taste preferences. There's not a lot of people drinking blood before they turn into vampires, at least."
"Fewer, for sure."
"Yeah, I uh, I don't know, Yang. Would you? Can witches even become vampires?"
"Unfortunately, no," he sighed wistfully, then turned giddy, "But wouldn't that be badass? A witch vampire? Vampire witch? God, that'd be so cool!"
"Why can't witches become vampires? I know you guys aren't technically humans, but... like, do you know what makes it not work?"
"There's a lot of theories. As a witch, I'm of course inclined to believe that nature favors balance. A being can only be one kind of magic thing. Humans aren't magic, but once you guys become something magic, same rule applies to you, no double-dipping, no getting greedy."
"Seems like a pretty good theory to me."
Yangyang nodded towards the living room then, "You think it's been enough time for them to bond over CPU specs or whatever?"
"Probably?" You said. "I'm just glad dinner went as smooth as it did. I hope I wasn't pushing it with putting them alone in a room together."
"We haven't heard shouting or the sound of Kunhang's neck snapping yet, so that's a good sign."
You gave him an unamused look. "You're truly an optimist."
"It would totally be self-defense on Kun's part."
"Still not helping."
"Anyway, I've got to pee, so—" He pointed down the hall to the guest bathroom, and you nodded with a small smile at your friend's familiar bluntness.
"Don't drown in there, Yang."
He stuck his tongue out at you before disappearing from your sight.
You took a deep breath, steeling your nerves to enter the living room yourself. Coming around the corner, you saw Kun and Kunhang sitting on the main couch together, on opposite ends. Their body language looked relaxed, conversational, and a relieved, genuine smile came to your face as you looked over the two of them.
"Uh-oh, what's this? The Annual Bad Joke Conference?" You teased, making your way over to perch yourself on the arm of the couch next to Kun, resting an arm on his shoulders. He wrapped his own around your waist, settling his hand on your hip.
"Yes, and now that our keynote speaker is here, we can begin," Kunhang ribbed you right back.
"Oof." You clutched at your chest like you'd been stabbed. "I've been wounded."
"I was actually asking Kun about his grad program he's looking at," your friend explained, gesturing to your boyfriend.
Kun nodded heartily. "Yes, I was detailing my current predicament about with it being only a one-year master's, I wasn't sure if I wanted to work right after or look into finding another one-year master's to complete since your master's program will be two years long."
"Oh, don't fucking remind me that May isn't the end right now," you groaned, dropping your forehead onto the top of Kun's head.
"Right. My apologies, my love." He rubbed your back comfortingly.
"Hey, Kun?" Yangyang's voice floated into the room then, and you picked your head back up to see him walking in.
"Yes, Yangyang?"
"Uh, I really hate to do this, but I kind of accidentally mentioned I was coming over when I was visiting my coven today, and my Grandma asked me to ask you for something?"
"No more blood. I told you, after the love potion, you and your whole coven simply must get your vampire blood from somewhere else."
"Yeah, I know. And they know. Trust me, I'm never living that one down at sacraments. Uh, no, Grandma told me to ask you for a book back? She said it's red, about the size of your hand, gold on the edges of the pages?"
"Did she tell you what it's called?"
"She said you'd know what it was?"
"What... oh."
You frowned at the concerned look on Kun's face. "What? What is it?"
"It's a cursed book of fairytales. I don't know how Yangyang's grandmother had acquired it in the first place, but it was wreaking havoc on the coven some years ago. Lures in any children nearby, they couldn't risk even having it there in a spellbox. She gave it to me for safekeeping," he explained, looking over to the witch. "Why does she want it back?"
"No clue. Better not to ask questions with her."
"Yes, I'm aware. Well, it should definitely be around here... somewhere." Kun stood up with a sigh, looking around the living room. "If not in here, then probably the library, or the bedroom... or the guest room... or the attic. I definitely still have it, I kept it when I moved in here, I know that much."
Yangyang gave him a skeptical look. "I'll help you look."
"Thanks. I don't feel anything in here, we should start in the library." The vampire nodded towards the other room. "Alright now, Yangyang, if you think you've found it, don't touch it, you'll reactivate the curse."
"I know how curses work! Witch, remember?"
"Witch who puts his potions in Gorgonade bottles! Remember?"
As the two of them headed off, still bickering, you and Kunhang just looked at each other, bursting into giggles at the same time.
"He's totally going to forget and touch it if it finds it." You shook your head, sliding down onto the main couch cushions.
"Yeah, he'd be all 'Look, Kun, I found it!'" Kunhang zealously imitated his roommate yanking a book off a shelf. "And then bam, get cursed like an idiot."
"I hope that thing's in the attic. I don't want to think that I could've been almost accidentally cursing myself this whole time."
"Yikes. Better have Yangyang ask his grandma if Kun is hanging onto anything else for her."
"Why do you think she wants it back?"
"You never know with Grandma Liu."
You nodded, silent as you pondered this for a moment, having never met anybody from Yangyang's coven, much less his grandmother, the matriarch of it. Kunhang left the silence alone for a while before he finally spoke again.
"Okay, fine. He's not so bad," he admitted with a half-hearted eyeroll.
"What finally did it?" You asked curiously.
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, what was it? What finally convinced you?"
"He's a pretty good cook."
"Your stomach, of course."
"Hey—"
"Look, I'm just glad this is all resolved now," you grinned, scooting closer to him to wrap an arm around him.
Your friend threw an arm and a wing over your shoulders, pulling you in closer. "Yeah, me too. You deserve something so... good. I'm happy for you."
"Thanks, Kunhang." You rubbed his back. "Seriously, for everything."