Unwanted Houseguest
Pairing/Characters: Kyungsoo (EXO)/ Jaehwan (VIXX)
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 5876
Summary: Kyungsoo learns new respect for Satanism, and mourns his refrigerator.
A/N: Originally posted in the 2015-2016 vixxomoments fic fest. Also on ao3.
Kyungsoo steps back and observes his handiwork. He's got the candles, burning nicely and some in danger of dripping wax on his floor. There are sprigs of flowers and herbs scattered around a chalky circle scrawled into the polished plywood, and the curtains are drawn, darkening the room.
Sure, the chalk is pink sparkly sidewalk chalk he pilfered from Hakyeon’s RA activities closet. And sure, the flowers and herbs are actually random prettyish weeds from his neighbor’s decaying window planter box. And yeah, the candles are red velvet cake-scented gift candles from his mother but Kyungsoo hadn’t the faintest idea where to get free incense and figured the candles killed two birds with one stone. But overall, he thinks it looks pretty good.
The looks are what's important anyway, Kyungsoo thinks as he goes to adjust the camera on the bookshelf. It's not supposed to actually work, just look accurate enough to get him an A on this final project.
Kyungsoo was supposed to get assigned to a typical religion, something with people or an establishment he could easily go film and interview. But no, he'd been assigned Satanism. Not a religion typically advertised to the general public.
And so several strange looks from librarians and one destroyed browser history later, Kyungsoo had been forced to recreate his own demon summoning ritual. He'd told his professor what he'd planned, and the guy had the nerve-the nerve-to suggest he "choose something else; can't be too careful, Kyungsoo." As the person who'd assigned Kyungsoo the topic in the first place, this was pretty rich.
Besides, his professor was clearly joking. The most danger here is Kyungsoo slipping in his socked feet and landing on a candle.
Camera set, Kyungsoo turns to face the camera and begins his introductory explanation, pointing out the different parts of the setup and what they are for.
"And now," he says, holding up a stapled internet printout, "I will read this, and begin the demon summoning ritual. It's not a real grimoire, because our library doesn't carry those, but the words are the same."
He grins at the camera, the one that Baekhyun says makes him look like a kindly serial killer. Might as well have some fun. "Don't worry, this is all there is. There are no special effects, and you won't be watching some amateur version of The Exorcist. Just me, reading. Let's begin."
Chanyeol had actually suggested he add a bunch of special effects and pretend to summon a real demon. He'd even volunteered to be the demon and provide the effects from the prop department, with an excitement that was frankly worrying. Kyungsoo had refused; this is a project for Perceiving Religions in the Modern World, not Film 322. Even on a zero-dollar budget, Kyungsoo is going to try to make this look nice and academic.
He turns, straightens the paper, and starts to read. He’d had to practice a few times, since some of the words are in Latin and Kyungsoo took German in high school, unfortunately. His research said he has to “open the gates,” whatever the heck that means, then think of a demon he wants to summon and invite them in. Alternatively, he doesn’t need to pick a specific demon, just invite any demon. Since Kyungsoo doesn’t actually have a wish or job for a demon-because this isn’t going to work anyway-he goes with that option.
He doesn’t really know what “open the gates” means, so he just pictures the door to his apartment opening as he reads. He feels a little stupid but he figures it’ll help him get into the mood. He takes a deep breath, and in his best voice, begins to read.
Kyungsoo finishes reading surprisingly quickly, and pauses in the sudden quiet of his apartment, ears straining and eyes staring at the chalk circle, half expecting something to happen despite himself. When he hears nothing but the hum of his fridge, he lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at himself. Of course nothing was gonna happen, of course because demons aren’t real, and this is just an overachieving class projec-
There’s a loud snap, like a firecracker going off, accompanied by a flash of blinding white light originating from the chalk circle. Kyungsoo shrieks and flails backwards, socked feet slipping and nearly sending him into a candle. He manages to clutch at his ratty old couch and stay upright, but he can’t see anything but spots, and the sickly sweet red velvet smell has been undercut with the smoky burning smell of a charcoal grill.
As Kyungsoo blinks, trying to clear his vision, he realizes that the light has faded, but not entirely. There’s a ring of low orange flames dancing along the lines of the circle, flickering brightly and casting shadows along the walls. They don’t appear to be spreading, and Kyungsoo spares a millisecond of worry for his floor, but then notices the pitch-black, hulking shape almost as high as his ceiling standing in the center. He blinks, and suddenly the shape is gone as if it never existed, replaced with a tall man grinning widely amongst the flames.
“Who invites me from the other side, summons me into the mortal realm? Who summons the Demon Prince Jaehwan, commander of more than fifty demon hosts?” The man throws his arms out wide, revealing that the shimmery shirt under his slim, dark Italian suit is open to mid-chest. Kyungsoo meets the man’s eyes and sees fire, or maybe just the reflection of flames. In any case, there is a stranger in his apartment. Possibly also an arsonist.
“Who the fuck are you and how did you get in my apartment?” Kyungsoo slowly stands, scanning for a weapon in easy reach while trying not to take his eyes off the stranger. Fuck, where is his phone?
The man blinks, but doesn’t appear to falter. “I just told you, I am His Unholy Highness, the Demon Prince Jaehwan, He Who Commands Sixty Demon Hosts, Granter of Wishes and Tormentor of Souls.” He flourishes his hands, firelight glinting off of several rings. Kyungsoo spots his Stats textbook on the other end of the couch, and slowly moves towards it, socked feet sliding slowly over the floor. It won’t do much but it might buy him time. Keep him talking, Kyungsoo. Keep the crazy guy distracted.
“Okaaay, but what are you doing in my apartment?” Kyungsoo spares a millisecond to mentally pat himself on the back for his steady, confident-sounding voice.
The man huffs, smile turned into a full-lipped pout, and hands going to his hips in a dramatic pose. Kyungsoo winces, expecting a weapon but there’s nothing. He keeps moving. “You summoned me, of course.” Kyungsoo is almost at the book, fingers creeping along the upholstery. “You, whose name I still don’t know, summoned me, Demon Prince Jaehwan, commander of seventy demon hosts,” he whines, “and anyway I asked you first, so you should really tell me your name already.” The man sniffs in indignation but it quickly turns to delight. “Ooh, is that red velvet cake? Nice.” Kyungsoo’s at the book, fingers curling around the spine. Just a little more…
“Uh,” he says, eloquently, just as he manages to get a good grip and leverage on the book. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Kyungsoo steps forward a couple times and heaves the heavy book up and around in an almost discus throwing motion, sending it hurtling towards the man’s face. For a fraction of second Kyungsoo thinks it’s going to hit the guy, but then his arm flies up and Kyungsoo’s textbook bursts into blue flames before it hits his face.
“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?” the guy bellows, and Kyungsoo is suddenly faced with an even taller man-thing with horns curving from its head and eyes flaming red with actual flames. The creature takes a couple steps to the edge of the circle where Kyungsoo is, the remains of blue fire dripping down his fingers over the glowing rings. Kyungsoo yells, panics, and tries to run, but his feet slip on the slick plywood and chalk, sliding out from under him through the fire and into the thing’s legs. It trips, losing its balance, and falls sideways into the bookshelf, head hitting the particleboard with a loud crack. The shelf breaks and several books and the camera topple after it.
Kyungsoo holds his breath but the thing is motionless, and he relaxes for a moment, before he realizes that he’s lying on a candle and his jeans are kind of on fire.
The thing comes to a couple minutes after Kyungsoo saves his legs from combustion and grabs a heavy floor lamp to brandish as a weapon. Well actually it’s a crappy secondhand lamp so it’s hardly heavy but it’s the heaviest thing with the longest reach that he has. The thing groans and sits up, books sliding down to thunk on the floor. Kyungsoo spares a half a second’s despair for his poor camera, but then is back to full attention, lamp up and ready to swing.
The thing stretches, rubs its head and whines in pain when it touches what Kyungsoo assumes is where its head hit the shelf. He notes that the horns and flames are gone, leaving only silky brown hair only slightly ruffled by the fall. It moves to stand, and Kyungsoo wishes he’d tied it up, though based on the fate of his textbook even duct tape probably wouldn’t have held.
He needn’t have worried though, since the thing wobbles, almost tips over again, and flops down to just slouch on the floor instead.
“Uuugh, my head hurts,” it moans, and puts its face in its hands. “I’m sitting here on the floor of some mortal apartment wrinkling my pants and I don’t even care.” It continues whining in a low voice, muttering to itself and rubbing at its face. Kyungsoo almost relaxes, but snaps back to attention when one of its hands flings outwards and points directly at him.
“You!” it says, not looking up and one hand still over its face. “Fetch me some water, my head hurts.”
Kyungsoo blinks, nearly drops the lamp. “What?” The thing groans and looks at him through its fingers.
“Water. Get it.” The thing’s eyes appear normal, if scrunched in irritation, but Kyungsoo pictures red flames and he quickly but calmly sets down the lamp and goes to fetch water from his tiny kitchen. It’s right off the main living area so there’s no chance for escape, and he tries to minimize the time spent with his back turned to the living room.
He brings a glass of water, sets it down as close as he dares to the now smudged chalk circle, and hurriedly goes back to brandishing his lamp. The thing practically yelps in happiness and gulps it down, sighing in relief.
“Ahh, yes, great. I already feel bet-” it pauses, eyeing Kyungsoo where he’s brandishing the lamp in confusion. “Why are you holding that lamp?” It moves to stand again, less shakily this time.
Kyungsoo supposes that some of his terror must show on his face and in the way he raises the lamp up higher, because the thing’s expression goes from confused to wide-eyed in astonishment.
“Oh shit what do you think I’m going to maul you or something?” It stands and waves its hands frantically. “Noo, no no. I may have eighty demon hosts at my command but I don’t maim people, I’m not an animal. I was just...surprised.” It pouts again and Kyungsoo is so taken aback by the overdone cuteness of it, so inconsistent with the perfectly coiffed image and the dying flames on the floor that he simply blurts out,
“Are you a demon?” He winces.
The thing laughs, a loud, sharp, cackling laugh. “I thought that was obvious, though I am better looking than your average demon.” It poses for effect, adjusting its suit jacket. “My name, as I’ve already said, is His Unholiness Demon Prince Jaehwan.” He bows with a flourish, a lock of hair flopping into his eyes in a way that Kyungsoo supposes was entirely intentional. “At your service.” He looks up, smiling rakishly and this time it’s only a little demonic, more charming than anything. ”And since I’m going to be stuck here for a while, I really think I should know your name.”
“It’s Kyungsoo,” he replies, before he fully processes what the demon just said. “Wait, you’re stuck here?”
“Hmm, yes,” Jaehwan says absently, distracted by the smears of pink chalk on his pants. “You closed the doorway and broke the circle before showing me out, so I’ll be here for a while.” He looks up, apparently oblivious to the way Kyungsoo is now using the lamp for support.
How long?” Kyungsoo grits out, trying to keep his knees locked.
“Hmm,” Jaehwan straightens up and taps his chin thoughtfully. “Well you’ll need extra help to send me home since you didn’t set up a particular, uh, channel by summoning me specifically. When was the last full moon?”
Kyungsoo’s stomach drops and he scrambles for his phone. “I...I don’t-let me check.” Google brings him the answer in seconds. “...five days ago.”
“Oh, nice!” Jaehwan laughs, and Kyungsoo looks up sharply.
“I can’t have you stuck here for almost a month,” Kyungsoo says, but Jaehwan waves his hands dismissively.
“Pssht, don’t worry, no one will miss me.”
“That’s not the problem,” Kyungsoo says, almost shouts. He can hear the edge of hysteria in his voice and he immediately stops, letting go of the lamp and abruptly turning to sit on the couch, hunched over and face in his hands. “This is fine, I can handle this, I am calm,” he mutters into his palms, trying to force the dark edge of panic back from behind his eyes.
“You okay?” Kyungsoo peeks over his fingers to come face to face with Jaehwan, bent at the waist and face scrunched into a concerned pout. He yells and flings himself backwards into the couch, ending up clutching at a throw pillow like a shield.
Jaehwan merely giggles. “You’re kinda cute when you’re startled,” he says, grinning, and Kyungsoo blinks. “Your eyes go all wide and round and you flail a bit.”
What. “I’m not cute when I’m startled, what does that even mean.” He feels himself frown. “And I don’t flail.”
“Yes you do,” Jaehwan says, straightening up a little. “That’s the second time you’ve flailed around all cute and panicked like a distressed owl.”
“I do not flail like a distressed owl, what the hell,” Kyungsoo sqwaks, but Jaehwan is ignoring him, choosing to imitate a scared Kyungsoo, complete with startlingly accurate bird noises. It looks profoundly stupid and on instinct Kyungsoo does what he always does when confronted with profound stupid and throws the pillow at Jaehwan’s face.
He freezes, waiting for flames but Jaehwan merely catches the pillow and pouts. He looks so out of place, dressed in his flashy outfit, clutching an old ugly throw pillow and calling Kyungsoo cute. Kyungsoo is struck by the sheer insanity of the past fifteen minutes and simply bursts out laughing, collapsing back into the cushions.
There’s a demon prince in his apartment for the next month. Demon prince thinks Kyungsoo is cute. Demon prince is probably dangerous, and certainly crazy. Kyungsoo might be crazy, too-will be if he tries to get the police involved.
He’s surprisingly fine with this. There’s only one option available and there’s a certain calming quality to that.
Kyungsoo calms down after a few moments, opens his eyes again to see Jaehwan perched on the armchair opposite, long legs crossed and shirt falling open to reveal even more chest.
At least he’s good looking. Silver linings.
“So,” Jaehwan says, smirking. “Now that we’ve settled down, let’s talk dinner.”
Kyungsoo groans, burying his face in the cushions.
Jaehwan coos.
Kyungsoo’s alarm goes off and he grumbles, flinging his arm out to shut it off. It’s fall break; there’s no reason to be up yet. He snuggles back into the blankets, curling them tighter around himself as he settles back into sleep. He was having the strangest dreams, he thinks, groggily. About handsome demons and fire and owls.
“You’re even cuter when you sleep.”
The haze of sleep dissipates and Kyungsoo snaps his eyes open to see a pair of dark eyes hovering above his face, glittering with a strange color. He doesn’t yell this time, merely scrambles back and up to the headboard, heart pounding.
Not a dream, then.
Jaehwan grins. “You did it again! But your hair is all fluffy now, so you look like a baby owl.”
Kyungsoo frowns, still waiting for his chest to calm down. “You need to stop that. I am not cute. No one calls me cute.”
Jaehwan scoffs. “Now that I know is a lie,” he says, lounging back on the bed, and Kyungsoo realizes with a jolt that Jaehwan is very shirtless.
“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Kyungsoo yelps, to his dismay. He’s normally so unflappable. Jaehwan smirks and Kyungsoo tries to will down the heat from his face.
“It’s comfortable,” he says, stretching lazily, and Kyungsoo is not looking at smooth skin over long obliques, he is not. “These pants are comfortable too,” he continues, pulling at the tie on his pajama pants. “Bit short though.”
“Those are mine!” Kyungsoo yells in recognition. “You stole them!”
“Not like you wear them, apparently,” Jaehwan retorts, gesturing at Kyungsoo’s bare legs. The heat is definitely crawling over his face as Kyungsoo tries to nonchalantly tug the blankets up over his lap.
“That’s not important,” he says, keeping his voice even. “I didn’t give them to you, so you stole them, and you need to give them back.” He realizes what he’s said too late.
“Give them back?” Jaehwan says, a delighted grin on his face. “Well alright then.” He starts to tug down on the waistband of the pants and Kyungsoo practically jumps out of bed, scrambling for the door.
“Keep them!” he yells before he shuts himself in the bathroom, turning on the shower to drown out the sound of Jaehwan’s laughter.
It turns out that Jaehwan doesn’t sleep, and had spent all night raiding Kyungsoo’s fridge. “Mortal food is so tasty,” he whines when Kyungsoo yells at him, sprawled across the couch. “And I was bored.” Kyungsoo, with confidence borne of rage, hauls him up from the couch-with some difficulty, as Jaehwan is surprisingly heavy; Kyungsoo tries not to think about why-forces him into a sweatshirt and tries to fit him into jeans, before Jaehwan gives up and conjures his own pants. When Kyungsoo tries to take back the sweatshirt, he whines, saying something about cotton being more comfortable than magic. Kyungsoo manages to ignore the absurdity of that statement, briefly mourns the loss of another item of clothing, and drags Jaewhan out to the grocey store.
Jaehwan is fascinated by the store, exclaiming over fruits and asking Kyungsoo twenty questions for every mundane thing. He sounds ridiculous, a grown man asking about the difference between beef and pork, and while Kyungsoo realizes that most everyone he knows is out of town for the holiday, he can’t help but look around anxiously when Jaehwan loudly says things like “we just don’t have this kind of variety in Hell.” He’s so distracted that he doesn’t notice the cart is filling up until they’re at the register.
“I can’t pay for all this,” Kyungsoo hisses, but Jaehwan does something with his hands, a kind of wavy motion, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows they’re back at his apartment, bags of groceries on the floor, and nose full of the smell of charcoal.
“Did you just make us steal this food?” he coughs, feeling a little dizzy. “What did you do?”
“I merely rearranged their books a little and then skipped the walk,” Jaehwan says, already rummaging through the bags. “As far as their accounts know, we were never there.”
Kyungsoo frowns. “Well next time I’m paying. No more stealing food.” Jaehwan laughs. “Whatever you say,” he shrugs, pulling out a bag of gummy candies and flopping onto the couch. “Now, introduce me to mortal television.” He pats the spot next to him cheerily.
This is going to be a long month.
The first week continues much like the first couple days, Jaehwan asking Kyungsoo a million questions about mortal life and demanding food and entertainment. By the end of the week, though, Kyungsoo realizes that he’s gotten used to it, used to dragging Jaehwan out to “expeience the mortal realm,” and having to explain the logic behind reality TV. He dimly registers that he’s hardly gotten any classwork done, the main reason behind him staying for fall break, but quickly gets distracted again when Jaehwan grabs his arm excitedly and exclaims over how cute the penguins on TV are.
Jaehwan is very clingy, he discovers, constantly grabbing at Kyungsoo or throwing his long limbs over Kyungsoo at every opportunity. At first Kyungsoo balks, remembering fire and a dark shape but since the summoning Kyungsoo hasn’t seen a trace of either. If not for the strange colors in Jaehwan’s eyes, his tendency to appear and reappear in a whiff of charcoal (often in places and times most likely to startle Kyungsoo “because it’s adorable”), and the way he casually alters his outfits with a wave of his hands, Kyungsoo could almost pretend that Jaehwan is merely an unexpected and pesky houseguest.
Almost.
Kyungsoo enters the tiny kitchen one morning to the sight of Jaehwan halfway through a package of cookies Kyungsoo had hidden at the back of the pantry. He is once again shirtless.
“Are you eating all of my cookies?” Kyungsoo grumbles. Jaehwan whirls, cookie between his lips and crumbs on his bare collarbones.
“No?” he mumbles, distorted around the cookie. Kyungsoo marches over, grabs the package, and tries furiously to ignore how broad the demon is.
“Stop eating all my food. And put on a goddamn shirt.” He stalks out of the kitchen, and pretends not to notice Jaehwan’s crumb-covered smirk.
The next time it happens, Jaehwan is sitting on the couch watching TV, eating cheese snacks and not wearing pants when Kyungsoo walks out of his bedroom for a break from class reading. Kyungsoo watches as he lifts his hand to his mouth, sucks the cheese dust off each finger between plush lips.
Jaehwan looks up, meets his gaze, and grins around his thumb, tongue peeking out as he licks off the last of the dust. Kyungsoo turns on his heel and goes back to his room. He didn’t like that flavor of snack anyway.
He doesn’t finish the reading.
Class finally starts up again, students returning reluctantly to campus to face the second half of the semester and the encroaching cold. Kyungsoo tries to make Jaehwan stay in the apartment while he’s at class, and for the first week, it works. Jaehwan is too busy discovering the wonders of Netflix and gladly stays in the apartment, glued to Kyungsoo’s laptop.
But Kyungsoo’s luck runs out, and soon enough Jaehwan is whining to join him on campus. Theoretically, Jaehwan could do whatever he wanted, but not since the shopping incident has he forced Kyungsoo to do anything, merely whining and pleading. Kyungsoo wonders why Jaehwan doesn’t force the issue, and why the whining works so well. Demons are supposed to be scary, and Jaehwan certainly was, at first. And yet here he is, flopped on top of Kyungsoo’s homework like a gigantic cat, slowly driving Kyungsoo up the wall with his simpering cute act.
Kyungsoo feels like a sucker. And yet.
He at least gets him to promise that he won’t teleport, or do magic, or scare people. Jaehwan had agreed impatiently, though, so who knows if he’d actually hold to it.
Kyungsoo brings him along to one of his lectures, the one with almost 200 students, so he figures one extra student won’t stand out. He realizes with dismay that Jaehwan doesn’t look like a tired college student at all, too well-groomed and carrying himself with too much confidence. He’d also elected to wear the suit, “dressed down” with one of Kyungsoo’s tshirts. He looks more like a celebrity than a student, and Kyungsoo can feel eyes on them all the way up to the back of the lecture hall.
Thankfully, the harried TA doesn’t appear to notice when she walks in five minutes later. Kyungsoo breathes a sigh of relief that turns into a swear.
“Fuck, I forgot my homework,” he groans quietly, digging in his bag. He sees Jaehwan move beside him and his hand reach for the bag as well. There’s a quiet snap and a light whiff of burning and Kyungsoo snaps his head up to hiss at Jaehwan. He stops short when he sees the tiny smile on Jaehwan’s face as he pulls Kyungsoo’s binder out of his bag, where it certainly wasn’t before. “I thought I told you not to use magic,” he quietly says, instead.
Jaehwan smiles a little wider, still soft. “Who says I did? You must’ve just missed them.” He winks, before settling back to listen to the lecture.
“...Thanks,” Kyungsoo says, feeling unbalanced.
Turns out, having a demon prince around willing to pose as a worshipper actually helps with research for your project on Satanism, and Kyungsoo has his report finished and set aside two and a half weeks before it’s even due. He also learns what Jaehwan looks like when he’s being evasive, when Kyungsoo asks about what Jaehwan does in Hell or other demons. In those moments, Kyungsoo is reminded that Jaehwan is a demon, remembers the huge black shape in his living room, and shivers, before Jaehwan tries to cuddle him amd smooch his head.
On those nights, though, his dreams are strange and hard to remember.
After a few days, Jaehwan does grow bored of classes, choosing instead to wander the city-though apparently he can’t go more than a few dozen miles from the apartment. But he still meets up with Kyungsoo after his classes. Kyungsoo doesn’t know how he times it or knows where Kyungsoo is, when Jaehwan has no phone or otherwise, but at this point he’s stopped questioning it. Besides, it’s kind of nice to have someone waiting for you after class-it’s charming, and makes the class go by faster for reasons Kyungsoo doesn’t want to examine.
He gets antsy, though, knowing that at some point Chanyeol or Baekhyun or someone will see them out together and stop accepting his excuses of “busy with homework.” So they eat dinner together pretty much every night, in front of the television, Jaehwan regaling Kyungsoo with stories about how he fought off a pack of squirrels, and yelling things at the reality show on TV. Sometimes, Kyungsoo joins in, and he can’t remember the last time his apartment was this noisy.
One night, towards the end of the second week, they’re watching a movie, Kyungsoo mourning the loss of most of his popcorn stash as it disappears into Jaehwan’s terrible mouth. It’s been a long day, Kyungsoo spending most of it in classes and researching dismissal of demons. The topic doesn’t give him quite as much pleasure as before, but the challenge is enough to distract him from those ideas.
But it is a challenge, most of the information has to do with summoning and then dismissing a specific bound demon, not one with some weird loose tether like Jaehwan. Kyungsoo’s head feels heavy, and he starts to nod off against the back of the couch. He feels a hand creep around his shoulders, tugging him down gently to rest on something warm and solid. Groggily, Kyungsoo opens his eyes to see Jaehwan’s thigh stretched underneath his head and he makes a noise, as if to get up, but a hand gently keeps him down.
“Easier on your neck,” Jaehwan says from behind him, and Kyungsoo doesn’t need much more convincing. He’s so tired, and Jaehwan is predictably warm like a furnace, smelling vaguely of campfire. He drifts off, a large hand settling on his head.
The next night, Jaehwan immediately brings Kyungsoo’s head down onto his lap after dinner, and Kyungsoo only grumbles a little.
He sleeps extremely well for those days, waking up alone in his bed after a pleasantly dreamless sleep.
It’s four days before the full moon and Kyungsoo wakes up before his alarm goes off. He doesn’t understand why until his eyes flutter open to see Jaehwan lying across from him, staring at his face with a strange look. Kyungsoo hasn’t woken up with Jaehwan in his face since that first morning but this time he merely blinks and makes a questioning noise.
A small smile twists across Jaehwan’s lips, a softer version of the one he gives when he calls Kyungsoo adorable. “Good morning,” he says, but Kyungsoo doesn’t really hear it, too focused on trying to pin down the color flashing in Jaehwan’s eyes. Sometimes it’s blue and sometimes it’s green and sometimes it’s red and it’s mildly distressing, in the way small odd things are in the early morning. As a result, though, he notices when Jaehwan’s gaze flicks down and then back up.
Oh.
Hm.
Kyungsoo bites his lip and Jaehwan’s gaze flickers again. His face moves even closer, and for a brief moment Kyungsoo can feel Jaehwan’s breath on his face before the distance closes entirely.
Jaehwan’s lips are as soft as they look, warm and surprisingly gentle for all the sharp smirks and pouts they can twist into. They move slowly across his own, light and dry, but when Kyungsoo presses forward they pull back, barely ghosting over his top lip. Then Jaehwan comes back, slowly pressing to the corner of his mouth and Kyungsoo wants, tries to slot closer, get that pouty bottom lip between his own. But Jaehwan pulls away entirely and Kyungsoo makes a noise of frustration, eyes snapping open.
“You’re so cute,” Jaehwan says, grinning mischeviously and Kyungsoo wants it off.
He makes a strangled angry noise and surges forward, hands coming up to grip at Jaehwan’s face. He takes that lower lip into his mouth and bites, pulling it between his own. Jaehwan groans and finally presses forward, licking into Kyungsoo’s mouth and it’s all he can do to hang on.
Kyungsoo expected Jaehwan to taste smokey, he supposes, but instead he tastes like some sort of spice, something heavy. But really Jaehwan just tastes like heat and Kyungsoo wants more, licking back into Jaehwan’s mouth and sucking on his tongue. He feels hands in his hair, feels heat seeping into his skin wherever they touch and he wants more.
Kyungsoo scrambles closer, arms twining around Jaewhan’s neck and for once he’s thankful for the demon’s lack of shirt, hands able to press against ridiculously warm skin. Jaehwan pulls away again to move down, full lips trailing teasing kisses down Kyungsoo’s neck. He pulls at Jaehwan’s hair in frustration and feels him smile against his collarbone.
“Get back up here,” Kyungsoo growls, “I’m not done with you.” But Jaehwan merely hums, ignoring him.
“Hmm, no,” he says, and Kyungsoo opens his mouth to argue but it dies in his throat when Jehwan begins moving farther down, sliding under the blanket, hands creeping under Kyugnsoo’s shirt.
Oh. Maybe Kyungsoo could skip his first class.
(He does.)
Later, after his second class, Kyungsoo wonders if this morning was a fluke, one of Jaehwan’s moments of curiosity, now sated. He would be fine, he thinks, if it was a one off, since Jaehwan’s going to be gone in four days anyway. That would be fine.
But when he gets back to the apartment and Jaehwan pounces, slotting their lips together with a breathy “Hello, cutie,” and a teasing nip to his lip, he can’t help but admit that the feeling that blooms in his chest is relief.
The three days before the full moon are over a weekend, and Kyungsoo spends most of it bent over surfaces, or on his knees, or looking down at his hands in Jaehwan’s hair, or down the long expanse of the demon’s back. It’s one of the most exhausting weekends he’s ever had and yet despite how sore and tender his lips feel he cant seem to say no when Jaehwan slides over and presses more kisses to his skin, his mouth taking and taking again and again. He falls into it, and dimly thinks that he’s merely feeding a different hunger, but he’s not sure yet if it costs less.
The full moon is a class day, and though the ritual is supposed to be short, Kyungsoo skips class. He was going to set up the circle and candles first thing but Jaehwan had decided to use his spoon at breakfast like some sort of obscene lollipop and there went the morning. Lunch is lost to bickeing in front of the television between kisses, and so it’s not until late afternoon that Kyungsoo even begins.
“How do I look?” Jaehwan asks, suddenly appearing beside Kyungsoo and almost making him screw up his chalk lines. He’s wearing the same suit that he arrived in, but in a different color, deep black with dark red lapels. Kyungsoo admires the look before he smirks.
“Who are you trying to impress? No humans on that side to startle.” Jaehwan scoffs, and absently lights the candle on the table nearby. “I am a Demon Prince, and a certain level of style is expected, of course.”
“Overdress to impress,” Kyungsoo laughs, and Jaehwan pouts.
Kyungsoo stands up and gestures at the circle. “Alright, get in in there and don’t screw up the lines.” Jaehwan moves forward but pauses when he’s in front of Kyungsoo.
“One for the road?” he says, and Kyungsoo barely has time to roll his eyes before Jaehwan kisses him, softer than he expected. He pulls back and Jaehwan grins widely before skipping over the lines and into the circle.
“Don’t be a stranger, Kyungsoo,” he says, straightening his jacket. “You know how to get in touch.” He winks.
“You’ll just eat all my food,” Kyungsoo says, but he’s smiling even as he starts to read.
There’s another flash of light, red this time, and burning charcoal again fills the air, but no snap and no flames. The candles glow brighter for a moment, before going out entirely. The circle is empty.
The smell of charcoal quickly fades, covered by the sticky sweet smell of artificial red velvet. The apartment is quiet, save for the familiar hum of his fridge. Kyungsoo stands there, listening, but there’s nothing.
He sighs, and grabs a rag to clean up.
Two and a half weeks later
Kyungsoo sits back and admires his handiwork. He’s done his research more properly this time, and this time he won’t fuck it up, he knows. He stands up, dusts his hands off on his jeans, grabs the printout, and begins to read.
There’s a movie marathon on TV, and he could use the company.
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 5876
Summary: Kyungsoo learns new respect for Satanism, and mourns his refrigerator.
A/N: Originally posted in the 2015-2016 vixxomoments fic fest. Also on ao3.
Kyungsoo steps back and observes his handiwork. He's got the candles, burning nicely and some in danger of dripping wax on his floor. There are sprigs of flowers and herbs scattered around a chalky circle scrawled into the polished plywood, and the curtains are drawn, darkening the room.
Sure, the chalk is pink sparkly sidewalk chalk he pilfered from Hakyeon’s RA activities closet. And sure, the flowers and herbs are actually random prettyish weeds from his neighbor’s decaying window planter box. And yeah, the candles are red velvet cake-scented gift candles from his mother but Kyungsoo hadn’t the faintest idea where to get free incense and figured the candles killed two birds with one stone. But overall, he thinks it looks pretty good.
The looks are what's important anyway, Kyungsoo thinks as he goes to adjust the camera on the bookshelf. It's not supposed to actually work, just look accurate enough to get him an A on this final project.
Kyungsoo was supposed to get assigned to a typical religion, something with people or an establishment he could easily go film and interview. But no, he'd been assigned Satanism. Not a religion typically advertised to the general public.
And so several strange looks from librarians and one destroyed browser history later, Kyungsoo had been forced to recreate his own demon summoning ritual. He'd told his professor what he'd planned, and the guy had the nerve-the nerve-to suggest he "choose something else; can't be too careful, Kyungsoo." As the person who'd assigned Kyungsoo the topic in the first place, this was pretty rich.
Besides, his professor was clearly joking. The most danger here is Kyungsoo slipping in his socked feet and landing on a candle.
Camera set, Kyungsoo turns to face the camera and begins his introductory explanation, pointing out the different parts of the setup and what they are for.
"And now," he says, holding up a stapled internet printout, "I will read this, and begin the demon summoning ritual. It's not a real grimoire, because our library doesn't carry those, but the words are the same."
He grins at the camera, the one that Baekhyun says makes him look like a kindly serial killer. Might as well have some fun. "Don't worry, this is all there is. There are no special effects, and you won't be watching some amateur version of The Exorcist. Just me, reading. Let's begin."
Chanyeol had actually suggested he add a bunch of special effects and pretend to summon a real demon. He'd even volunteered to be the demon and provide the effects from the prop department, with an excitement that was frankly worrying. Kyungsoo had refused; this is a project for Perceiving Religions in the Modern World, not Film 322. Even on a zero-dollar budget, Kyungsoo is going to try to make this look nice and academic.
He turns, straightens the paper, and starts to read. He’d had to practice a few times, since some of the words are in Latin and Kyungsoo took German in high school, unfortunately. His research said he has to “open the gates,” whatever the heck that means, then think of a demon he wants to summon and invite them in. Alternatively, he doesn’t need to pick a specific demon, just invite any demon. Since Kyungsoo doesn’t actually have a wish or job for a demon-because this isn’t going to work anyway-he goes with that option.
He doesn’t really know what “open the gates” means, so he just pictures the door to his apartment opening as he reads. He feels a little stupid but he figures it’ll help him get into the mood. He takes a deep breath, and in his best voice, begins to read.
Kyungsoo finishes reading surprisingly quickly, and pauses in the sudden quiet of his apartment, ears straining and eyes staring at the chalk circle, half expecting something to happen despite himself. When he hears nothing but the hum of his fridge, he lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at himself. Of course nothing was gonna happen, of course because demons aren’t real, and this is just an overachieving class projec-
There’s a loud snap, like a firecracker going off, accompanied by a flash of blinding white light originating from the chalk circle. Kyungsoo shrieks and flails backwards, socked feet slipping and nearly sending him into a candle. He manages to clutch at his ratty old couch and stay upright, but he can’t see anything but spots, and the sickly sweet red velvet smell has been undercut with the smoky burning smell of a charcoal grill.
As Kyungsoo blinks, trying to clear his vision, he realizes that the light has faded, but not entirely. There’s a ring of low orange flames dancing along the lines of the circle, flickering brightly and casting shadows along the walls. They don’t appear to be spreading, and Kyungsoo spares a millisecond of worry for his floor, but then notices the pitch-black, hulking shape almost as high as his ceiling standing in the center. He blinks, and suddenly the shape is gone as if it never existed, replaced with a tall man grinning widely amongst the flames.
“Who invites me from the other side, summons me into the mortal realm? Who summons the Demon Prince Jaehwan, commander of more than fifty demon hosts?” The man throws his arms out wide, revealing that the shimmery shirt under his slim, dark Italian suit is open to mid-chest. Kyungsoo meets the man’s eyes and sees fire, or maybe just the reflection of flames. In any case, there is a stranger in his apartment. Possibly also an arsonist.
“Who the fuck are you and how did you get in my apartment?” Kyungsoo slowly stands, scanning for a weapon in easy reach while trying not to take his eyes off the stranger. Fuck, where is his phone?
The man blinks, but doesn’t appear to falter. “I just told you, I am His Unholy Highness, the Demon Prince Jaehwan, He Who Commands Sixty Demon Hosts, Granter of Wishes and Tormentor of Souls.” He flourishes his hands, firelight glinting off of several rings. Kyungsoo spots his Stats textbook on the other end of the couch, and slowly moves towards it, socked feet sliding slowly over the floor. It won’t do much but it might buy him time. Keep him talking, Kyungsoo. Keep the crazy guy distracted.
“Okaaay, but what are you doing in my apartment?” Kyungsoo spares a millisecond to mentally pat himself on the back for his steady, confident-sounding voice.
The man huffs, smile turned into a full-lipped pout, and hands going to his hips in a dramatic pose. Kyungsoo winces, expecting a weapon but there’s nothing. He keeps moving. “You summoned me, of course.” Kyungsoo is almost at the book, fingers creeping along the upholstery. “You, whose name I still don’t know, summoned me, Demon Prince Jaehwan, commander of seventy demon hosts,” he whines, “and anyway I asked you first, so you should really tell me your name already.” The man sniffs in indignation but it quickly turns to delight. “Ooh, is that red velvet cake? Nice.” Kyungsoo’s at the book, fingers curling around the spine. Just a little more…
“Uh,” he says, eloquently, just as he manages to get a good grip and leverage on the book. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Kyungsoo steps forward a couple times and heaves the heavy book up and around in an almost discus throwing motion, sending it hurtling towards the man’s face. For a fraction of second Kyungsoo thinks it’s going to hit the guy, but then his arm flies up and Kyungsoo’s textbook bursts into blue flames before it hits his face.
“WHAT WAS THAT FOR?” the guy bellows, and Kyungsoo is suddenly faced with an even taller man-thing with horns curving from its head and eyes flaming red with actual flames. The creature takes a couple steps to the edge of the circle where Kyungsoo is, the remains of blue fire dripping down his fingers over the glowing rings. Kyungsoo yells, panics, and tries to run, but his feet slip on the slick plywood and chalk, sliding out from under him through the fire and into the thing’s legs. It trips, losing its balance, and falls sideways into the bookshelf, head hitting the particleboard with a loud crack. The shelf breaks and several books and the camera topple after it.
Kyungsoo holds his breath but the thing is motionless, and he relaxes for a moment, before he realizes that he’s lying on a candle and his jeans are kind of on fire.
The thing comes to a couple minutes after Kyungsoo saves his legs from combustion and grabs a heavy floor lamp to brandish as a weapon. Well actually it’s a crappy secondhand lamp so it’s hardly heavy but it’s the heaviest thing with the longest reach that he has. The thing groans and sits up, books sliding down to thunk on the floor. Kyungsoo spares a half a second’s despair for his poor camera, but then is back to full attention, lamp up and ready to swing.
The thing stretches, rubs its head and whines in pain when it touches what Kyungsoo assumes is where its head hit the shelf. He notes that the horns and flames are gone, leaving only silky brown hair only slightly ruffled by the fall. It moves to stand, and Kyungsoo wishes he’d tied it up, though based on the fate of his textbook even duct tape probably wouldn’t have held.
He needn’t have worried though, since the thing wobbles, almost tips over again, and flops down to just slouch on the floor instead.
“Uuugh, my head hurts,” it moans, and puts its face in its hands. “I’m sitting here on the floor of some mortal apartment wrinkling my pants and I don’t even care.” It continues whining in a low voice, muttering to itself and rubbing at its face. Kyungsoo almost relaxes, but snaps back to attention when one of its hands flings outwards and points directly at him.
“You!” it says, not looking up and one hand still over its face. “Fetch me some water, my head hurts.”
Kyungsoo blinks, nearly drops the lamp. “What?” The thing groans and looks at him through its fingers.
“Water. Get it.” The thing’s eyes appear normal, if scrunched in irritation, but Kyungsoo pictures red flames and he quickly but calmly sets down the lamp and goes to fetch water from his tiny kitchen. It’s right off the main living area so there’s no chance for escape, and he tries to minimize the time spent with his back turned to the living room.
He brings a glass of water, sets it down as close as he dares to the now smudged chalk circle, and hurriedly goes back to brandishing his lamp. The thing practically yelps in happiness and gulps it down, sighing in relief.
“Ahh, yes, great. I already feel bet-” it pauses, eyeing Kyungsoo where he’s brandishing the lamp in confusion. “Why are you holding that lamp?” It moves to stand again, less shakily this time.
Kyungsoo supposes that some of his terror must show on his face and in the way he raises the lamp up higher, because the thing’s expression goes from confused to wide-eyed in astonishment.
“Oh shit what do you think I’m going to maul you or something?” It stands and waves its hands frantically. “Noo, no no. I may have eighty demon hosts at my command but I don’t maim people, I’m not an animal. I was just...surprised.” It pouts again and Kyungsoo is so taken aback by the overdone cuteness of it, so inconsistent with the perfectly coiffed image and the dying flames on the floor that he simply blurts out,
“Are you a demon?” He winces.
The thing laughs, a loud, sharp, cackling laugh. “I thought that was obvious, though I am better looking than your average demon.” It poses for effect, adjusting its suit jacket. “My name, as I’ve already said, is His Unholiness Demon Prince Jaehwan.” He bows with a flourish, a lock of hair flopping into his eyes in a way that Kyungsoo supposes was entirely intentional. “At your service.” He looks up, smiling rakishly and this time it’s only a little demonic, more charming than anything. ”And since I’m going to be stuck here for a while, I really think I should know your name.”
“It’s Kyungsoo,” he replies, before he fully processes what the demon just said. “Wait, you’re stuck here?”
“Hmm, yes,” Jaehwan says absently, distracted by the smears of pink chalk on his pants. “You closed the doorway and broke the circle before showing me out, so I’ll be here for a while.” He looks up, apparently oblivious to the way Kyungsoo is now using the lamp for support.
How long?” Kyungsoo grits out, trying to keep his knees locked.
“Hmm,” Jaehwan straightens up and taps his chin thoughtfully. “Well you’ll need extra help to send me home since you didn’t set up a particular, uh, channel by summoning me specifically. When was the last full moon?”
Kyungsoo’s stomach drops and he scrambles for his phone. “I...I don’t-let me check.” Google brings him the answer in seconds. “...five days ago.”
“Oh, nice!” Jaehwan laughs, and Kyungsoo looks up sharply.
“I can’t have you stuck here for almost a month,” Kyungsoo says, but Jaehwan waves his hands dismissively.
“Pssht, don’t worry, no one will miss me.”
“That’s not the problem,” Kyungsoo says, almost shouts. He can hear the edge of hysteria in his voice and he immediately stops, letting go of the lamp and abruptly turning to sit on the couch, hunched over and face in his hands. “This is fine, I can handle this, I am calm,” he mutters into his palms, trying to force the dark edge of panic back from behind his eyes.
“You okay?” Kyungsoo peeks over his fingers to come face to face with Jaehwan, bent at the waist and face scrunched into a concerned pout. He yells and flings himself backwards into the couch, ending up clutching at a throw pillow like a shield.
Jaehwan merely giggles. “You’re kinda cute when you’re startled,” he says, grinning, and Kyungsoo blinks. “Your eyes go all wide and round and you flail a bit.”
What. “I’m not cute when I’m startled, what does that even mean.” He feels himself frown. “And I don’t flail.”
“Yes you do,” Jaehwan says, straightening up a little. “That’s the second time you’ve flailed around all cute and panicked like a distressed owl.”
“I do not flail like a distressed owl, what the hell,” Kyungsoo sqwaks, but Jaehwan is ignoring him, choosing to imitate a scared Kyungsoo, complete with startlingly accurate bird noises. It looks profoundly stupid and on instinct Kyungsoo does what he always does when confronted with profound stupid and throws the pillow at Jaehwan’s face.
He freezes, waiting for flames but Jaehwan merely catches the pillow and pouts. He looks so out of place, dressed in his flashy outfit, clutching an old ugly throw pillow and calling Kyungsoo cute. Kyungsoo is struck by the sheer insanity of the past fifteen minutes and simply bursts out laughing, collapsing back into the cushions.
There’s a demon prince in his apartment for the next month. Demon prince thinks Kyungsoo is cute. Demon prince is probably dangerous, and certainly crazy. Kyungsoo might be crazy, too-will be if he tries to get the police involved.
He’s surprisingly fine with this. There’s only one option available and there’s a certain calming quality to that.
Kyungsoo calms down after a few moments, opens his eyes again to see Jaehwan perched on the armchair opposite, long legs crossed and shirt falling open to reveal even more chest.
At least he’s good looking. Silver linings.
“So,” Jaehwan says, smirking. “Now that we’ve settled down, let’s talk dinner.”
Kyungsoo groans, burying his face in the cushions.
Jaehwan coos.
Kyungsoo’s alarm goes off and he grumbles, flinging his arm out to shut it off. It’s fall break; there’s no reason to be up yet. He snuggles back into the blankets, curling them tighter around himself as he settles back into sleep. He was having the strangest dreams, he thinks, groggily. About handsome demons and fire and owls.
“You’re even cuter when you sleep.”
The haze of sleep dissipates and Kyungsoo snaps his eyes open to see a pair of dark eyes hovering above his face, glittering with a strange color. He doesn’t yell this time, merely scrambles back and up to the headboard, heart pounding.
Not a dream, then.
Jaehwan grins. “You did it again! But your hair is all fluffy now, so you look like a baby owl.”
Kyungsoo frowns, still waiting for his chest to calm down. “You need to stop that. I am not cute. No one calls me cute.”
Jaehwan scoffs. “Now that I know is a lie,” he says, lounging back on the bed, and Kyungsoo realizes with a jolt that Jaehwan is very shirtless.
“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Kyungsoo yelps, to his dismay. He’s normally so unflappable. Jaehwan smirks and Kyungsoo tries to will down the heat from his face.
“It’s comfortable,” he says, stretching lazily, and Kyungsoo is not looking at smooth skin over long obliques, he is not. “These pants are comfortable too,” he continues, pulling at the tie on his pajama pants. “Bit short though.”
“Those are mine!” Kyungsoo yells in recognition. “You stole them!”
“Not like you wear them, apparently,” Jaehwan retorts, gesturing at Kyungsoo’s bare legs. The heat is definitely crawling over his face as Kyungsoo tries to nonchalantly tug the blankets up over his lap.
“That’s not important,” he says, keeping his voice even. “I didn’t give them to you, so you stole them, and you need to give them back.” He realizes what he’s said too late.
“Give them back?” Jaehwan says, a delighted grin on his face. “Well alright then.” He starts to tug down on the waistband of the pants and Kyungsoo practically jumps out of bed, scrambling for the door.
“Keep them!” he yells before he shuts himself in the bathroom, turning on the shower to drown out the sound of Jaehwan’s laughter.
It turns out that Jaehwan doesn’t sleep, and had spent all night raiding Kyungsoo’s fridge. “Mortal food is so tasty,” he whines when Kyungsoo yells at him, sprawled across the couch. “And I was bored.” Kyungsoo, with confidence borne of rage, hauls him up from the couch-with some difficulty, as Jaehwan is surprisingly heavy; Kyungsoo tries not to think about why-forces him into a sweatshirt and tries to fit him into jeans, before Jaehwan gives up and conjures his own pants. When Kyungsoo tries to take back the sweatshirt, he whines, saying something about cotton being more comfortable than magic. Kyungsoo manages to ignore the absurdity of that statement, briefly mourns the loss of another item of clothing, and drags Jaewhan out to the grocey store.
Jaehwan is fascinated by the store, exclaiming over fruits and asking Kyungsoo twenty questions for every mundane thing. He sounds ridiculous, a grown man asking about the difference between beef and pork, and while Kyungsoo realizes that most everyone he knows is out of town for the holiday, he can’t help but look around anxiously when Jaehwan loudly says things like “we just don’t have this kind of variety in Hell.” He’s so distracted that he doesn’t notice the cart is filling up until they’re at the register.
“I can’t pay for all this,” Kyungsoo hisses, but Jaehwan does something with his hands, a kind of wavy motion, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows they’re back at his apartment, bags of groceries on the floor, and nose full of the smell of charcoal.
“Did you just make us steal this food?” he coughs, feeling a little dizzy. “What did you do?”
“I merely rearranged their books a little and then skipped the walk,” Jaehwan says, already rummaging through the bags. “As far as their accounts know, we were never there.”
Kyungsoo frowns. “Well next time I’m paying. No more stealing food.” Jaehwan laughs. “Whatever you say,” he shrugs, pulling out a bag of gummy candies and flopping onto the couch. “Now, introduce me to mortal television.” He pats the spot next to him cheerily.
This is going to be a long month.
The first week continues much like the first couple days, Jaehwan asking Kyungsoo a million questions about mortal life and demanding food and entertainment. By the end of the week, though, Kyungsoo realizes that he’s gotten used to it, used to dragging Jaehwan out to “expeience the mortal realm,” and having to explain the logic behind reality TV. He dimly registers that he’s hardly gotten any classwork done, the main reason behind him staying for fall break, but quickly gets distracted again when Jaehwan grabs his arm excitedly and exclaims over how cute the penguins on TV are.
Jaehwan is very clingy, he discovers, constantly grabbing at Kyungsoo or throwing his long limbs over Kyungsoo at every opportunity. At first Kyungsoo balks, remembering fire and a dark shape but since the summoning Kyungsoo hasn’t seen a trace of either. If not for the strange colors in Jaehwan’s eyes, his tendency to appear and reappear in a whiff of charcoal (often in places and times most likely to startle Kyungsoo “because it’s adorable”), and the way he casually alters his outfits with a wave of his hands, Kyungsoo could almost pretend that Jaehwan is merely an unexpected and pesky houseguest.
Almost.
Kyungsoo enters the tiny kitchen one morning to the sight of Jaehwan halfway through a package of cookies Kyungsoo had hidden at the back of the pantry. He is once again shirtless.
“Are you eating all of my cookies?” Kyungsoo grumbles. Jaehwan whirls, cookie between his lips and crumbs on his bare collarbones.
“No?” he mumbles, distorted around the cookie. Kyungsoo marches over, grabs the package, and tries furiously to ignore how broad the demon is.
“Stop eating all my food. And put on a goddamn shirt.” He stalks out of the kitchen, and pretends not to notice Jaehwan’s crumb-covered smirk.
The next time it happens, Jaehwan is sitting on the couch watching TV, eating cheese snacks and not wearing pants when Kyungsoo walks out of his bedroom for a break from class reading. Kyungsoo watches as he lifts his hand to his mouth, sucks the cheese dust off each finger between plush lips.
Jaehwan looks up, meets his gaze, and grins around his thumb, tongue peeking out as he licks off the last of the dust. Kyungsoo turns on his heel and goes back to his room. He didn’t like that flavor of snack anyway.
He doesn’t finish the reading.
Class finally starts up again, students returning reluctantly to campus to face the second half of the semester and the encroaching cold. Kyungsoo tries to make Jaehwan stay in the apartment while he’s at class, and for the first week, it works. Jaehwan is too busy discovering the wonders of Netflix and gladly stays in the apartment, glued to Kyungsoo’s laptop.
But Kyungsoo’s luck runs out, and soon enough Jaehwan is whining to join him on campus. Theoretically, Jaehwan could do whatever he wanted, but not since the shopping incident has he forced Kyungsoo to do anything, merely whining and pleading. Kyungsoo wonders why Jaehwan doesn’t force the issue, and why the whining works so well. Demons are supposed to be scary, and Jaehwan certainly was, at first. And yet here he is, flopped on top of Kyungsoo’s homework like a gigantic cat, slowly driving Kyungsoo up the wall with his simpering cute act.
Kyungsoo feels like a sucker. And yet.
He at least gets him to promise that he won’t teleport, or do magic, or scare people. Jaehwan had agreed impatiently, though, so who knows if he’d actually hold to it.
Kyungsoo brings him along to one of his lectures, the one with almost 200 students, so he figures one extra student won’t stand out. He realizes with dismay that Jaehwan doesn’t look like a tired college student at all, too well-groomed and carrying himself with too much confidence. He’d also elected to wear the suit, “dressed down” with one of Kyungsoo’s tshirts. He looks more like a celebrity than a student, and Kyungsoo can feel eyes on them all the way up to the back of the lecture hall.
Thankfully, the harried TA doesn’t appear to notice when she walks in five minutes later. Kyungsoo breathes a sigh of relief that turns into a swear.
“Fuck, I forgot my homework,” he groans quietly, digging in his bag. He sees Jaehwan move beside him and his hand reach for the bag as well. There’s a quiet snap and a light whiff of burning and Kyungsoo snaps his head up to hiss at Jaehwan. He stops short when he sees the tiny smile on Jaehwan’s face as he pulls Kyungsoo’s binder out of his bag, where it certainly wasn’t before. “I thought I told you not to use magic,” he quietly says, instead.
Jaehwan smiles a little wider, still soft. “Who says I did? You must’ve just missed them.” He winks, before settling back to listen to the lecture.
“...Thanks,” Kyungsoo says, feeling unbalanced.
Turns out, having a demon prince around willing to pose as a worshipper actually helps with research for your project on Satanism, and Kyungsoo has his report finished and set aside two and a half weeks before it’s even due. He also learns what Jaehwan looks like when he’s being evasive, when Kyungsoo asks about what Jaehwan does in Hell or other demons. In those moments, Kyungsoo is reminded that Jaehwan is a demon, remembers the huge black shape in his living room, and shivers, before Jaehwan tries to cuddle him amd smooch his head.
On those nights, though, his dreams are strange and hard to remember.
After a few days, Jaehwan does grow bored of classes, choosing instead to wander the city-though apparently he can’t go more than a few dozen miles from the apartment. But he still meets up with Kyungsoo after his classes. Kyungsoo doesn’t know how he times it or knows where Kyungsoo is, when Jaehwan has no phone or otherwise, but at this point he’s stopped questioning it. Besides, it’s kind of nice to have someone waiting for you after class-it’s charming, and makes the class go by faster for reasons Kyungsoo doesn’t want to examine.
He gets antsy, though, knowing that at some point Chanyeol or Baekhyun or someone will see them out together and stop accepting his excuses of “busy with homework.” So they eat dinner together pretty much every night, in front of the television, Jaehwan regaling Kyungsoo with stories about how he fought off a pack of squirrels, and yelling things at the reality show on TV. Sometimes, Kyungsoo joins in, and he can’t remember the last time his apartment was this noisy.
One night, towards the end of the second week, they’re watching a movie, Kyungsoo mourning the loss of most of his popcorn stash as it disappears into Jaehwan’s terrible mouth. It’s been a long day, Kyungsoo spending most of it in classes and researching dismissal of demons. The topic doesn’t give him quite as much pleasure as before, but the challenge is enough to distract him from those ideas.
But it is a challenge, most of the information has to do with summoning and then dismissing a specific bound demon, not one with some weird loose tether like Jaehwan. Kyungsoo’s head feels heavy, and he starts to nod off against the back of the couch. He feels a hand creep around his shoulders, tugging him down gently to rest on something warm and solid. Groggily, Kyungsoo opens his eyes to see Jaehwan’s thigh stretched underneath his head and he makes a noise, as if to get up, but a hand gently keeps him down.
“Easier on your neck,” Jaehwan says from behind him, and Kyungsoo doesn’t need much more convincing. He’s so tired, and Jaehwan is predictably warm like a furnace, smelling vaguely of campfire. He drifts off, a large hand settling on his head.
The next night, Jaehwan immediately brings Kyungsoo’s head down onto his lap after dinner, and Kyungsoo only grumbles a little.
He sleeps extremely well for those days, waking up alone in his bed after a pleasantly dreamless sleep.
It’s four days before the full moon and Kyungsoo wakes up before his alarm goes off. He doesn’t understand why until his eyes flutter open to see Jaehwan lying across from him, staring at his face with a strange look. Kyungsoo hasn’t woken up with Jaehwan in his face since that first morning but this time he merely blinks and makes a questioning noise.
A small smile twists across Jaehwan’s lips, a softer version of the one he gives when he calls Kyungsoo adorable. “Good morning,” he says, but Kyungsoo doesn’t really hear it, too focused on trying to pin down the color flashing in Jaehwan’s eyes. Sometimes it’s blue and sometimes it’s green and sometimes it’s red and it’s mildly distressing, in the way small odd things are in the early morning. As a result, though, he notices when Jaehwan’s gaze flicks down and then back up.
Oh.
Hm.
Kyungsoo bites his lip and Jaehwan’s gaze flickers again. His face moves even closer, and for a brief moment Kyungsoo can feel Jaehwan’s breath on his face before the distance closes entirely.
Jaehwan’s lips are as soft as they look, warm and surprisingly gentle for all the sharp smirks and pouts they can twist into. They move slowly across his own, light and dry, but when Kyungsoo presses forward they pull back, barely ghosting over his top lip. Then Jaehwan comes back, slowly pressing to the corner of his mouth and Kyungsoo wants, tries to slot closer, get that pouty bottom lip between his own. But Jaehwan pulls away entirely and Kyungsoo makes a noise of frustration, eyes snapping open.
“You’re so cute,” Jaehwan says, grinning mischeviously and Kyungsoo wants it off.
He makes a strangled angry noise and surges forward, hands coming up to grip at Jaehwan’s face. He takes that lower lip into his mouth and bites, pulling it between his own. Jaehwan groans and finally presses forward, licking into Kyungsoo’s mouth and it’s all he can do to hang on.
Kyungsoo expected Jaehwan to taste smokey, he supposes, but instead he tastes like some sort of spice, something heavy. But really Jaehwan just tastes like heat and Kyungsoo wants more, licking back into Jaehwan’s mouth and sucking on his tongue. He feels hands in his hair, feels heat seeping into his skin wherever they touch and he wants more.
Kyungsoo scrambles closer, arms twining around Jaewhan’s neck and for once he’s thankful for the demon’s lack of shirt, hands able to press against ridiculously warm skin. Jaehwan pulls away again to move down, full lips trailing teasing kisses down Kyungsoo’s neck. He pulls at Jaehwan’s hair in frustration and feels him smile against his collarbone.
“Get back up here,” Kyungsoo growls, “I’m not done with you.” But Jaehwan merely hums, ignoring him.
“Hmm, no,” he says, and Kyungsoo opens his mouth to argue but it dies in his throat when Jehwan begins moving farther down, sliding under the blanket, hands creeping under Kyugnsoo’s shirt.
Oh. Maybe Kyungsoo could skip his first class.
(He does.)
Later, after his second class, Kyungsoo wonders if this morning was a fluke, one of Jaehwan’s moments of curiosity, now sated. He would be fine, he thinks, if it was a one off, since Jaehwan’s going to be gone in four days anyway. That would be fine.
But when he gets back to the apartment and Jaehwan pounces, slotting their lips together with a breathy “Hello, cutie,” and a teasing nip to his lip, he can’t help but admit that the feeling that blooms in his chest is relief.
The three days before the full moon are over a weekend, and Kyungsoo spends most of it bent over surfaces, or on his knees, or looking down at his hands in Jaehwan’s hair, or down the long expanse of the demon’s back. It’s one of the most exhausting weekends he’s ever had and yet despite how sore and tender his lips feel he cant seem to say no when Jaehwan slides over and presses more kisses to his skin, his mouth taking and taking again and again. He falls into it, and dimly thinks that he’s merely feeding a different hunger, but he’s not sure yet if it costs less.
The full moon is a class day, and though the ritual is supposed to be short, Kyungsoo skips class. He was going to set up the circle and candles first thing but Jaehwan had decided to use his spoon at breakfast like some sort of obscene lollipop and there went the morning. Lunch is lost to bickeing in front of the television between kisses, and so it’s not until late afternoon that Kyungsoo even begins.
“How do I look?” Jaehwan asks, suddenly appearing beside Kyungsoo and almost making him screw up his chalk lines. He’s wearing the same suit that he arrived in, but in a different color, deep black with dark red lapels. Kyungsoo admires the look before he smirks.
“Who are you trying to impress? No humans on that side to startle.” Jaehwan scoffs, and absently lights the candle on the table nearby. “I am a Demon Prince, and a certain level of style is expected, of course.”
“Overdress to impress,” Kyungsoo laughs, and Jaehwan pouts.
Kyungsoo stands up and gestures at the circle. “Alright, get in in there and don’t screw up the lines.” Jaehwan moves forward but pauses when he’s in front of Kyungsoo.
“One for the road?” he says, and Kyungsoo barely has time to roll his eyes before Jaehwan kisses him, softer than he expected. He pulls back and Jaehwan grins widely before skipping over the lines and into the circle.
“Don’t be a stranger, Kyungsoo,” he says, straightening his jacket. “You know how to get in touch.” He winks.
“You’ll just eat all my food,” Kyungsoo says, but he’s smiling even as he starts to read.
There’s another flash of light, red this time, and burning charcoal again fills the air, but no snap and no flames. The candles glow brighter for a moment, before going out entirely. The circle is empty.
The smell of charcoal quickly fades, covered by the sticky sweet smell of artificial red velvet. The apartment is quiet, save for the familiar hum of his fridge. Kyungsoo stands there, listening, but there’s nothing.
He sighs, and grabs a rag to clean up.
Two and a half weeks later
Kyungsoo sits back and admires his handiwork. He’s done his research more properly this time, and this time he won’t fuck it up, he knows. He stands up, dusts his hands off on his jeans, grabs the printout, and begins to read.
There’s a movie marathon on TV, and he could use the company.