The Less I Know The Better (2/4)
The stranger was clearly less confused this time, even going as far as to crack a smile at the evidently strung out brunette. His posture began to relax, smile pulling itself a bit wider before he replied.
"You called me here. Zhang Yixing, right?"
Yixing, mostly terrified but a bit curious, tersely nodded.
"I go by Jongdae where I’m from, but you can call me Chen if it suits your taste better. You called me up earlier today, but I couldn’t manage to get into the room you were in, so I decided to just wait for you here. Sorry about the clothes. I had gotten some when I was still home, but they burned off on the trip up here. Nice to meet you, Yixing. I’m your new demon bud.”cd f
There was a short moment of silence before any response was heard, the offered hand of the stranger going unshaken.
"You're my what?"
"Uh, demon bestie, evil minion, pal from hell, whatever you want to call me. Here to solve your problem. That's the simple way to put it. You really should have done some research before summoning me up, Xingie. Demons are a pain to get rid of if you don't summon them for a specific reason."
Another stretch of silence passed.
“Okay,” Yixing said quietly, talking more to himself than the boy in front of him. “Alright. I’ve gone insane. I’m currently hallucinating. Okay.”
He’d begun to shuffle away from the demon(?), avoiding the confused stare locked on his moving form. A slightly shaking hand reached into his bag as he increased the distance, digging around for a few seconds before settling on his cell phone. Upon getting a good grip on it, he suddenly launched his bag across the room as a distraction and ran backwards, locking himself in the small bathroom ten feet away from his bedroom.
Yixing sat down on the cold toilet seat and took a deep breath. Okay, so there was someone in his apartment who thought he was a demon here to serve Yixing like a loyal servant. Okay.
First things first, he needed to call Luhan.
It took a few moments of fumbling with the small device to find his friend’s contact name due to his slightly shaking hands, but the second he pressed call it was like a lead weight had been lifted off his chest. Luhan would fix this. He would know what to do.
Hopefully.
“What now,” he heard Luhan’s voice deadpan through the speaker, the sound an immense relief. Yixing took a short moment to pull himself together before blurting his situation into the phone.
“There is a Korean man in my house who claims to have come from hell and he has a cat and pets aren’t even allow in these apartments? He won’t get out of my room and I don’t know if he’s a robber or-”
“Xing!”
“-what?”
“Shut up for a second.”
“Right.”
Luhan loudly sighed, the repercussions of his breath in the receiver causing Yixing to pull away for a moment. “Okay, you need to slow down. So someone’s in your house? Are you sure you don’t know him? I know studying has been making you a bit forgetful and he may be someone you met in Korea trying to pull a prank-”
“I don’t know him. I’m sure. I would have remembered someone like that,” Yixing replied in a slightly lower voice, mumbling in more of a whisper toward the end, “He just showed up. Do you happen to know anyone named Jongdae?”
“Nope,” was the reply, Luhan popping the ‘p’.
“He’s about my height, straight reddish-brown hair, really, um, pretty lips, high cheekbones, sorta cat-like eyes-”
“Nope. Not familiar. Sounds a bit like you have the hots for him, though.” Luhan said with a chuckle, obviously less worried about the situation than he should’ve been.
“I’m-what?” Yixing scoffed, “No! Luhan, be serious. I could...I could have a murderer in my home! He might be here to assassinate me for all we know!”
“I’m not here to assassinate you. Didn’t we just go over this?”
Yixing froze, breath catching in his throat.
He turned slowly to the right, hands slightly shaking. His eyes slowly lifted from the ground to the (previously) empty bathtub that the voice from moments ago had sounded from, landing on an uncomfortably familiar form bunched in a ball with a angel-like innocence in his expression. Jongdae looked like a wounded puppy, but that didn’t change the fact that he had definitely locked the door.
A shriek erupted from Yixing, eyes flying back and forth between the demon and his still closed door. He scrambled off the toilet seat, walking backward to the door and blindly grabbing around for the doorknob. Jongdae looked overwhelmingly offended, and a split second later he was standing less than a foot away from Yixing and staring him down while resting his own hand on top of the brunette’s, effectively stopping him from opening the door.
Jongdae stared into the college student’s wide eyes with a small scoff. “What is your probl-”
Yixing’s vision had gone black before the other could finish his sentence.
-
Warm. Everything was warm. Why was everything so warm?
Yixing blinked his eyes open, an upcoming complaint about the heat caught in his throat when he realized he couldn’t move. At all. His arms felt hot-glued to his sides, emphasis on the hot, and his neck felt as stiff as a metal pole. He was sweating in places he didn’t even know could sweat, the feeling on his tongue was akin to a mouthful of cotton balls, and the worst part was he wasn’t really sure why.
Strange memories began to flood into his head, of purring cats and a cute boy with horns on his head with a knack for teleportation. It was rare for Yixing to have such vivid dreams, and he wondered with a small smile what Luhan would think when he told him about it. His friend always dreamt of the strangest things-maybe it had finally rubbed off on him.
Yixing wiggled around a bit more, initial disorientation rubbing off to reveal that he was just wrapped extremely tightly in the comforter from his bed. He squinted at the ceiling a bit more, recognizing it as the one in his living room after a few seconds. He squirmed for a few more moments, wiggling his arms out of the cocoon once it was loose enough. With his arms free he could pry the rest of the blanket off his body, and he sighed in relief when the cool breeze of the fan above his head hit his sweaty skin.
“What are you doing!?” A frantic, unfamiliar voice came from behind him. Yixing furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if Luhan had brought one of his friends over to visit him. Then again, why would a friend of Luhan be so concerned over Yixing unwrapping himself from an encasement of blankets? Not even Luhan himself would find it in himself to be concerned over such a thing, really.
Yixing stretched his arms above his head, letting out a yawn as he turned around. He kept one eye shut, not having adjusted of the bright lighting of the room yet. “Could you get me a glass of water?” he said sleepily, not yet having looked at the owner of the unfamiliar voice. “My mouth feels like a des-” Yixing stopped when he made eye contact with the boy standing across the room, standing frozen with an extra blanket in his arms. “Oh, god.”
Jongdae unfroze upon realizing Yixing was not, in fact, going to have another breakdown from seeing his face. “Actually, I’m from the other guy, but whatever suits your tastes.” He said lightly, advancing toward Yixing until he was close enough to put the blanket he’d been holding at the brunette’s feet.
Yixing just stared, completely blank expression on his face.
“Do you realize how long it took me to get you in that blanket?” Jongdae continued, unfolding the one he’d just brought in. “All that effort just...poof, gone. I appreciate that lots, Xingie. I even made soup, so if you aren’t better within an hour I’m going to just let you die.” After spreading out the blanket a bit on the ground in front of the sofa Yixing had been sleeping on, he sat himself down on the coffee table a few feet away from it. Like this they were face to face, only a few feet of space separating them.
Yixing continued to stare, deciding to just take this as a dream and go along. Because that was obviously what this was. A dream. Right.
“Okay,” He began slowly, clearing his throat a bit. He had to think a bit when speaking Korean. “Why did you wrap me in a blanket, exactly?”
“Because you’re sick? Obviously,” Jongdae said in a no-nonsense tone, propping one hand up on his hip.
“And how...” Yixing said, waving his hands around a bit to get his point across, “did you get that impression?”
“Oh. Well, you fainted earlier, I think. So I asked the person in your smartphone what it means when a human faints and she told me it means they’re sick. So then I asked how to help a human stop being sick, and she told me to keep them warm. So then I thought-”
“Okay, stop for a minute,” Yixing cut him off abruptly. “Person in my phone? What are you talking about exactly?”
“Oh, you know,” Jongdae said casually, pulling Yixing’s cell phone out of the pocket of his sweats and ignoring the glare he was on the receiving end of. “This, um- thing.”
Yixing watched curiously as Jongdae tapped around a bit on his phone before smiling widely, turning the screen back toward the brunette to showcase the screen that came up when using Siri.
“That’s not-” Yixing sighed. “Never mind. So you’re, um, a demon? Right?” He said carefully, glancing up at the small horns on top of the boy’s head.
It’s just a dream. Calm the heck down.
“Yep,” Jongdae replied with a smile, flicking his head a bit to get his bangs out of his eyes. “Believe it or not, this is actually my first time coming to the surface. For some reason no one likes to summon me...” he said, trailing off at the end. “But no worries! I’ve been studying for like, a billion years, so I’m not an uneducated animal or anyth- ah!” Jongdae flinched violently, looking down to see the small gray cat from before with it’s teeth locked around his ankle. He rolled his eyes. “What the hell, Minseok!”
Yixing watched the feline growl a bit before unhinging it’s jaw from Jongdae’s foot, briskly walking away with a few flicks of it’s tail. He aggressively ignored the fact that Jongdae spoke to the animal like a human friend. He managed to last a good twenty seconds before letting out a loud sneeze.
“See!” Jongdae said with raised eyebrows, motioning toward Yixing, “You are still sick! Now get back under the blankets and-”
“I’m allergic to cats,” Yixing deadpanned, rubbing at his nose absently.
The demon’s eyes widened. “Oh.” he glanced behind himself, trying to spot the kitty. “Minseok! He’s allergic!” Jongdae yelled across the house. Yixing rose one eyebrow. “Minseok!”
“Give me minute, you little brat! I’m putting clothes on!”
Just a dream. This is just a dream.
“So...” Yixing said casually, eyes glued in the direction the new voice had come from, “Who was that?” He was proud of himself for keeping the tremors out of his voice, considering he was on the verge of throwing up out of fear.
“Hm?” Jongdae voiced, turning back toward the brunette. “That was Minseok, silly. I’ve said his name like five times now. If I’d known you were allergic to cats I would’ve told him to change earlier, sorry ‘bout that. He’s what you might call...my bodyguard? Yes, that seems like a good term for it,” Jongdae finished, nodding a bit to himself.
A second later another man walked into the room, once again in Yixing’s clothing. He was a bit shorter than Jongdae, a bit more muscular, and far more intimidating. A scowl adorned his otherwise adorable features.
“Bodyguard?” he spit out, acid in his tone. “I’m assuming you meant baby sitter, little brat.”
Minseok rolled his shoulders with a grimace. The muscle tee he’d chosen to throw on was one of Yixing’s tighter fitting items, and the student was much more lanky, resulting in an almost laughable picture. It was quite a sight paired with the old pair of pants Yixing had cut to an uncomfortably short length for a halloween costume a few years back. Minseok squinted his eyes at Jongdae, who was very obviously restraining a smile. “Are you laughing at me right now?”
Jongdae’s smile dropped a bit, but it was quickly replaced with a mischievous smirk. “I’m not the one dressed like a stripper, Minseok,” he countered in a matter-of-fact tone, and Yixing shrunk back into his seat a bit more.
Minseok cracked his knuckles.
“You little-”
The end of his sentence was left a mystery, cut off abruptly by the slam of the front door of Yixing’s apartment. The loud bang was followed by the sight of a slightly rugged looking boy with blond, ruffled hair and labored breathing standing in the now open doorway. He was dressed in a mix of pajamas and casual clothes, sporting soccer ball covered pants and a ratty black t-shirt. On one foot was adorned with an untied white converse shoe, the other covered in nothing but a neon green sock, but the expression on his face was enough of a distraction to draw attention away from his clothing choices.
He looked positively murderous.
“Yixing,” he said slowly, speaking between labored breaths. “I just took two separate taxis and ran three blocks to get here under the impression you’d been viciously murdered. You better give me a damn good excuse for why I’m not looking at your dead body right now after that phone call earlier.”
Yixing stared at his friend in silence, swallowing heavily. This was a worryingly realistic dream.
“Who’re you,” Minseok spoke flatly, scanning the newcomer with his eyes a few times. He was completely tensed up, as if the blond could actually pose as a threat to anyone in the room. The fact that he still hadn’t caught his breath was enough of an indication he wasn’t at optimum fitness.
“Who’s asking?” The blond replied, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
“Luhan,” Yixing interrupted, glancing at Minseok out of the corner of his eye. “Hold on. Why are you here?”
“Why am I here?” Luhan mockingly repeated. “Oh, sorry, was your phone call earlier informing me that there was a stranger in your house that knew your name and may be here to kill you not an indication that I should show up?”
Yixing scrunched his eyebrows. “But-”
“Oh, and should I add the fact that shortly after telling me he may assassinate you the call abruptly ended with a scream and a crash? Sorry if I read the situation wrong, I’ll just go wait outside so you can entertain your guests some more.”
“Luhan, wait,” Yixing said quickly, rising from his spot on the sofa and pushing past a confused Jongdae to follow his friend out the door. He was stopped by a sturdy hand on his wrist, which was quickly shaken off with a sharp jerk of his arm. Jongdae made a small noise of disapproval at the action, but made no further attempts to stop him.
“Luhan,” he repeated, shutting the door behind him and following the blond down the hallway. “Look, just listen-”
Luhan turned toward the brunette abruptly, crossing his arms with an irritated expression on his face. “Okay, I’m listening. Tell me exactly what happened.”
Yixing gulped.
“Right. Uh,” he started unsurely, trying to decide on the most plausible excuse he could give his friend. “He’s a student?”
Luhan squinted. “A student?”
“Yes!” Yixing nodded enthusiastically. “From abroad! I applied to have him stay with me a few months ago, didn’t I tell you?”
“No, you didn’t,” Luhan replied suspiciously, still less than convinced.
“It had just completely slipped my mind earlier, to be honest. Like you said, the exam has been stressing me out and messing with my memory. That’s why I was so panicked when I called you. Yeah,” Yixing nodded while he spoke, as if reassuring himself that the story was completely plausible.
“Xing, you said he had horns.”
Yixing froze. “Yes! Um, he was trying to...be funny! Wearing fake horns when he met me! Haha, sure got me there, didn’t he?” the brunette continued, voice shaking slightly. “Anyway, no need to worry, I’ve got everything under control. Completely,” he finished, slowly beginning to nudge his friend towards the elevator at the end of the hall. He had slightly bigger problems to deal with at the moment.
“Wait,” Luhan spoke suddenly, stopping in his tracks. “If Jongdae is the student you’re housing, then who was the other guy?”
Yixing looked at his friend with wide eyes. “Oh, Minseok? He’s obviously Jongdae’s, uh,” he swallowed. “His cousin! He lives in the area, so he wanted to help Jongdae move in. Yeah.”
Luhan’s eyebrows furrowed. “Then why isn’t Jongdae staying with-”
“Ah!” Yixing cut his friend off abruptly. “I just remembered that I have a pizza in the oven that’s going to burn! I better get back to that. Seeya later, Lu!”
With that Yixing gave the blond a final shove into the elevator, jabbing the close-door button with his thumb and giving a friendly wave. Luhan responded with string of sentences full of colorful vocabulary.
The confirming sound of the two metal doors meeting each other in the middle finally allowed Yixing to release the breath he’d been holding. He was rather impressed with himself for how well he’d handled the situation, considering how smart his friend was. Luhan was known for his ability to see through lies like a they were polished piece of glass.
After a few more deep breaths to calm himself down, Yixing turned back toward the menacing sight of his closed apartment door. The urge to just nail a few wooden boards over the exit and make a run for it was overwhelming, but Yixing managed to convince himself to choose the more logical choice, which was apparently to go back inside the room housing two demons that were handicapped in the usage of technology. What an exciting notion.
He walked back toward the door with measured steps, counting a total of eighteen paces before he was back in front of the menacing piece of wood. Yixing’s shaking hand reached toward the doorknob, the student feeling like one of the stupid actors in a horror movie that just couldn’t mind their own business in order to live. He flinched. What a comforting thought.
The sight that greeted him on the other side of the door was also less than comforting. Jongdae had shifted over next to Minseok, the former wearing a pout on his face. Minseok looked vaguely confused and vaguely irritated.
Yixing cleared his throat loudly, immediately catching the attention of his guests. If you could call them that.
“So,” he spoke unsurely. “I think I deserve an explanation. I mean, I honestly need to be actually convinced this isn’t a dream first, but I’ll...deal with that later. So. Who’s gonna talk first.”