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— Saccharine. The aroma that clung to Yeon Sieun was saccharine. So subtle and faint that Suho didn't even realize it was there until he got close to him.
Pearlescent eyes and round cheeks, like a ripe peach. Lashes that made him look innocent as a wobbly doe, but Suho knew better.
Why would you do that in a classroom? Sieun had said. All Suho could focus on was that damned scent, the aroma that clung to an Eater who had had very few meals.
Or none at all.
Suho knew that Sieun would break some day. Would cave, sink his teeth into someone and realize who he was, and he knew it would be the most gorgeous, grotesque sight. To see Sieun sink his little teeth into someone, to rip ligaments and muscles out of flesh, to crack open bones… That is Suho's dream.
He didn't want to scare him away, though. Even if he knew Sieun was like him, knowledge of Eaters was scarce and a taboo topic among those who did know. So, he waited. Waited until the time was right where he could guide Sieun through his first kill, his first meal.
Of course he should've expected the boy would have a feast. When the call comes and Suho answers, he can hear the soft yet heavy breaths Sieun takes through the line.
“Suho-yah…”
For all Sieun liked to pretend, he was so soft and sweet. For Suho. Only Suho.
A grin comes onto Suho’s face. “Yes?” He answers calmly, resisting the urge to add an endearing pet name to the end of his inquiry.
Sieun's breathing gets heavier through the line.
“I…” The other boy sounds not quite scared. Maybe in shock. Maybe thinking he is a monster for whatever he's done, whoever he has devoured.
“I did something, Suho. Something… bad…”
He sounds so pitiful. Suho's chest warms with adoration.
“It's okay,” he replies. A harsh breath is what he receives in reply. He waits, but Sieun says nothing else.
“Where are you?”
He can hear Sieun losing his composure.
“No. You can't… You'll hate me. You'll think I'm —”
“A monster?” Suho finishes, already standing up, the party room forgotten.
“You are, Sieun. The most beautiful one I've ever seen.” Suho grabs his jacket.
“Now, where are you?”
The address Sieun mumbled to him is on the outskirts of Seoul. There is no one around save for skittering vermin and skinny stray cats. Parking his bike outside the abandoned, vandalized building, Suho can already smell what Sieun has done.
His deliciously sweet scent. And the blood — there is so much of it, the smell invading his nostrils. It gets stronger as he lets his instincts guide him towards the source of it.
In the mass of corpses and carnage is Sieun. Beautiful as ever where he sits slouched and still. When he looks up at Suho, that pretty face of his is smeared with blood. Suho just barely restrains himself from kissing the substance off of his plump, precious lips, instead settling for the tamer action of cupping his round cheek.
“You've made such a big mess, haven't you?” Suho coos, grinning in a way that exposes his teeth. “I knew this would happen someday. I knew. Do you want to know something, Sieun-ah?”
He goes from crouching to sitting, stroking his thumb over Sieun's jaw.
“I saw it in your eyes that day. With Youngbin, in the classroom. I saw how badly you wanted to devour him. To tear him apart. And I would've loved to see that, but it was too risky. Too many witnesses. They would've caught you, and you don't deserve to rot behind bars.”
Sieun's eyes are wide enough to hold the whole universe. He shakily touches the hand Suho has on his cheek.
A choked, spluttering gasp draws their attention away from each other. Suho follows the sound and finds a body laying on its back.
Not just anybody. He knows these curls, that pale skin.
Suho tugs Sieun to stand as they approach Beomseok.
His eyes are glazed over. He, surprisingly, does not have any wounds that Suho can see. He could get up and try to run away. Yet, he stays right where he is. Staring up at them; Unafraid.
“It felt wrong,” Sieun says quietly. “To kill him.”
“It’s because he's like us,” Suho responds, looking down at their friend. “You can always tell. We smell different — You smell sweet. He smells sour; almost tangy. Can you smell me, Sieun-ah?”
He watches the other boy’s throat bobs delicately before he hesitantly nods.
“...Yeah,” he confirms. “Like… copper. Pennies.”
Suho smiles. “That's what happens when you eat like you're supposed to. Do you want to eat him, Sieun-ah?”
Sieun looks hesitant. “He was our friend,” he says weakly. He's so empathetic and Suho finds that adorable.
“Don't feel bad. He’ll let you — Won't you, O-Bum?” Suho says mockingly, crouching to pat said boy’s cheek. He doesn't even flinch but he nods without saying a word, and Suho’s smile darkens to a wicked grin.
“See? You don't even have to feel bad about it. It's the circle of life. In our world, it's eat or be eaten.”
Still, even with Beomseok's compliance, Sieun shakes his head. “...I don't want to,” he says at last. “I can't.”
Suho is disappointed, sighing, but he doesn't pressure Sieun further. There are much better meals they can share out on the streets, meals that don't reek of pain and trauma; hurt and resentment. He rises back to his feet and pulls a handkerchief from his pocket.
“Here,” he tells Sieun. “Wipe your face. My bike’s outside. Wait for me down there.”
Beomseok tastes like misery. Suho gives him an easy Death, one last show of mercy, before he consumed him. His blood is coppery on Suho’s tongue as he finds Sieun outside, a smear of blood still under his jaw.
Suho rubs it off, and Sieun's big eyes gaze up at him, hazy from the high of his first feast. His cheeks are blooming with color, his eyebags already greatly reduced.
He's gorgeous, and he's all Suho’s.
“Others will show up to clean our mess,” Suho says, grabbing a helmet from his handlebars. “We should leave before then. Some of our kind can be… territorial.”
Sieun sniffs. His lashes flutter as Suho slips the helmet onto his head.
“Where are we going?” Sieun asks, voice small. Suho smiles.
“Home,” Suho replies. “You can meet my halmeoni, and shower.”
“Home,” Sieun repeats.
“Okay.”
When the missing persons reports are broadcasted, Suho feigns disinterest. They won't find anything. Not a body, not a tooth, not a strand of hair.
Sieun ate them well. Flesh, bones, and all.