Archive of Our Own

He came to Minseok’s cafe one day when rain poured from the sky. Luhan was working away in the kitchen while he manned the counter, but there was only one young teenager sat at the furthest booth away from him, cramming study materials into his hooded head who had only ordered a mocha that had long gone empty, but there was no one else in the cafe anyways.


“Hot chocolate, please,” His voice was what attracted Minseok to actually look at his face, first. It was lilting, alluring, and the accent was not entirely Korean. It reminded Minseok a bit of Luhan’s own accent, but at the same time it didn’t quite sound the same. “Is there something on my face?” The young man frowned when Minseok stared for too long, bringing up a pale hand to touch his face.


“Ah, no,” Minseok mumbled, startled at being caught off guard like a teenage girl with her first crush, “Hot chocolate, right? Will that be all?”


“Yes, thank you!” The man gave him a brilliant smile, and Minseok was once again enraptured by the dimple on the right side of his face. As if on cue, the man brightened up even further, revealing another dimple on his left cheek. The man walked away from the counter after paying and Minseok’s gaze fell naturally on his tight jeans.


He made the chocolate through shaky hands, and wiped them down nervously on his apron. The man looked up from his book when Minseok put down the cup in front of him. He had removed his jacket and it draped carelessly on the chair next to him, revealing strong arms with a simple white wifebeater barely concealing tones abs. From where Minseok stood, he could see something that suspiciously looked like the man’s nipples from the wide openings of his clothes.


“Thank you!” The man said again, and his eyes fell on Minseok’s name-tag. “Thank you, Minseok-ah. Can I call you that?”


Minseok gulped and nodded. His eyes were drawn to the man’s pouty lips, and the way his brown hair was brushed to a side further accentuated his beautiful eyes, as if all the stars could be found amongst them. “I’m Yixing,” The man introduced, making no move to get his cup, “Can I pick you up after your shift?”


In a daze, Minseok nodded and watched as Yixing’s smile widened even further.


That night, he took Yixing home. His kisses tasted like fire, but his skin was always cold to touch. He normally didn’t do one night stands, but somehow Yixing was special. He just knew it. He woke up to Yixing cooking breakfast in the kitchen, pancakes and a sunny side up egg exactly how Minseok liked it.


Yixing followed Minseok back to his shift on the cafe and gave him a disorienting goodbye kiss, before promising to come find him again. Belatedly, Minseok realized it didn’t occur to him to ask for the other’s phone number. Still somewhat confused, he almost walked into the door if not for Luhan calling his name.


“Who’s that?” Luhan asked, handing Minseok his apron, “I called you a million times last night and you didn’t pick up. You didn’t even say bye to me when you went off shift yesterday.”


“Didn’t I?” Minseok asked, pulling his phone out. It didn’t respond to him except to flash the empty battery icon at him. “Dude, don’t tell me you got stoned during work,” Luhan teased, before pushing him to the counter. Minseok laughed but it was a hollow sound, and Luhan shot him a worried look but let it slide, instead turning to rant about this guy he met online who was into some sort of supernatural Illuminati business. Luhan always have had weird friends.


The rest of the day passed in a daze as all he could recall was Yixing’s dimpled smile, his gentle caresses and his slim hips, strong legs slung over Minseok’s own, the curves of his ass under his palms as Yixing rode him with vigour, eyes dark and lustful, long, slender fingers dragged along his chest seductively. Speaking of the devil, Yixing arrived right as the clock struck six, and Minseok’s heartbeat sped up involuntarily.


He had never felt like this before, these cliche reactions of attraction that threatened to overtake him.


“Don’t you have to say bye to your friend?” Yixing reminded. Nodding in gratitude, Minseok poked his head into the kitchen briefly before turning back to Yixing. “Where do you want to go?” Yixing asked, “What about some Italian?” Bewildered, Minseok just nodded along.


Yixing led him to a fancy restaurant that made Minseok feel vaguely out of place with his jeans and simple button down shirt, but Yixing seemed to fit right into it. Minseok didn’t even have to say it aloud as Yixing ordered his desired dish for him while Yixing himself settled with a risotto. “How was your day?” Yixing asked.


The innocent question seemed to open a flood within Minseok, and he began to recount every single little thing that happened in the cafe, from the annoying teenager who kept changing her order to the fact that Luhan got startled by a mosquito. Yixing nodded along amicably, giving little inputs every now and then when Minseok stopped to eat. Soon their stomachs were full and Minseok was apologizing for monopolizing the evening, but somehow he felt safe with Yixing. Safe. He could tell him anything, and the younger man would just listen to him.


“I like listening to you,” Yixing said charmingly, “But if you really want to make up to me, I’m not opposed to a late night drink.”


Somehow that translated into Minseok fucking Yixing into the mattress, like Yixing was a drug he couldn’t get enough of. When he woke up, Yixing was gone with a little note promising to come back.


Yixing didn’t come to the cafe for an entire week, but soon Luhan was able to pull Minseok out of his moping with a few movie nights, and somehow Minseok acclimated to the dull twang that settled on the bottom of his stomach, until it faded into nothing.


He woke up on a monday morning and there was something on his doorstep. He opened the plain cardboard box and pulled out a fluffy pink unicorn, smiling brightly up at him. To remind you of me >3<


He didn’t even have to see the polaroid to start grinning like an idiot in the middle of the hallway, Yixing hugging a black and white cat plushie with a cute look in his face, dimple in full view with the caption he keeps me from feeling lonely :’( but distance makes the heart fonder <3


He picked up the unicorn and made him a little space on his bed, next to his pillow. The polaroid went into an empty photo frame on his bookshelf. He never stopped to think how the box arrived at his doorstep.


Yixing returned a week later with another huge pink unicorn as a present, saying that he had been on a business trip. He kissed Minseok thoroughly in the hallway outside his apartment, uncaring of his neighbour’s pointed throat-clearing.


Minseok had told himself he was too old for romantic gestures such as these, but as always Yixing knew what he wanted before he himself did.


Yixing would wait for Minseok’s shift to end, before going on a date and somehow ending up in his bed. Yixing listened to Minseok more often than not, and Minseok had never fallen so fast before. Yixing was everything he looked for in a boyfriend - patient, loving, and a tad bit of romantic. He was addicted to Yixing.


The nights he stayed over had a certain quality to it, as if a veil had descended over the town Minseok calls home as Yixing kisses him. Soon Yixing stays the mornings, cooking Minseok breakfast and laughing over soap operas together, the younger cooking dinner and making Minseok try his new dishes, while Minseok force fed him coffee.


Even physically, Yixing was exactly Minseok’s type. The sway of his hips, dexterous fingers drumming across Minseok’s pectorals, the salacious sounds he makes when Minseok sucks on his sensitive neck, the quivering in his thighs as he pleasures Minseok, his plump and full lips wrapped around Minseok’s manhood.


Yixing was everything Minseok wanted to love.


Luhan came to know Yixing too, when he started to slot into their football games and movie outings. Sometimes Minseok just couldn’t help but be besotted by Yixing, until he realized he had neglected his best friend. Minseok sometimes felt guilty for making Luhan the third wheel, but Yixing quickly dissuaded his fears. Luhan and Minseok didn’t talk much during work anymore, but Minseok’s breaks were occupied with daydreaming about Yixing.


For their one-month anniversary Yixing treated Minseok to a high-class candlelight dinner in a five-star hotel, coupled with a suite for the night where they fucked on every single surface available. Minseok didn’t even know he had had that stamina before he met Yixing.


A late breakfast was coupled with a walk in the mall, hands clasped tightly together, Yixing chatting his ear off as soon as he saw something cute on display. Minseok had never really liked shopping before, but somehow, with Yixing he could see the appeal.


“Oh.” A strange sound made Minseok look at Yixing. His younger lover’s face had fallen, his hands idly playing with Minseok’s shirt sleeve. A good looking man clad in a business suit came to a stop in front of them. “Fancy seeing you here, Yixing,” The man greeted.


“This is Junmyeon, my cousin,” Yixing introduced, slinging a possessive arm around Minseok’s shoulder. Junmyeon smiled at Minseok and shook his hand, but his smile was clearly forced. None of them wanted to be here. There was something about Junmyeon that eerily reminded Minseok of Yixing, some ethereal quality that they both had, but he filed that away as he exchanged pleasantries with the other man.


“Xing, can I talk to you for a bit?” Junmyeon asked, and Minseok gave Yixing a slight nod when his boyfriend turned to him. “Look around and see what you like,” Yixing said, planting a chaste kiss on his mouth, “I’ll be back quickly.”


Agreeably Minseok turned to peruse the rack of clothes, finally spotting a sweater he thought would look good on Yixing. He could spot the two outside the shop, Yixing’s cousin leaning in close, their mouths barely moving. There was a certain curve to Yixing’s smile that Minseok found strange and unfamiliar.


The saleslady claimed his attention and he gave her Yixing’s approximate size, and she introduced him to a scarf that would look nice with the sweater. He turned around and Yixing was by his side again, looking out the window to watch as Junmyeon left. “Try these on,” He said, and Yixing acquiesced.


Soon Minseok had forgotten about his brief encounter with Kim Junmyeon, when Yixing seduced him into a quickie inside the changing room. He could barely meet anyone’s eye as Yixing dragged him out of the shop.


//


He sprung up in the middle of the night, and his bed was cold to touch. Minseok whipped his head around, but the entire house was silent. Making his way to the foyer, there was no note, and Yixing’s shoes were gone. The door was locked properly, and all Minseok could think of was whether or not he had accidentally angered his lover without noticing.


When he woke, he was momentarily confused by the remnants of body warmth next to him. Yixing poked his head into the bedroom- their bedroom, cheerfully greeting Minseok and running back into the kitchen, like nothing had happened the night before.


“Hurry up, or you’ll be late for your shift,” Yixing said, pushing a plate of pancakes to Minseok, “I’ll pick you up after work.” Nodding dumbly, Minseok practically inhaled the food as Yixing looked on indulgently, and the younger man couldn’t resist the urge to giggle and poke Minseok’s cheeks that were stuffed full of pancake.


Minseok loved him so much.


He barely spoke two words to Luhan before Yixing whisked him away in a romantic walk through the park, hands threaded tightly together. “You haven’t been sleeping too well,” Yixing pointed out absent-mindedly, “I think you might be having some weird dreams too, are you sure there’s nothing on your mind?” Minseok leaned onto Yixing’s arm, humming contemplatively. Was he having weird dreams? If Yixing said so, he probably was.


“Nothing much,” He replied, “Just thinking about how much I love you.”


The red flush and immediate stuttering was worth Yixing swatting at his arm embarrassedly, before huffing in faux anger and steering Minseok back home immediately, throwing him onto the couch and straddling him. They never made it to the bed that night.


They lay on the carpet since the couch wasn’t big enough to fit both of them comfortably, and Minseok listened to Yixing talk about all the interesting people he had seen that day on the streets. He didn’t stop to ask exactly what job Yixing did, where he spent his hours without Minseok. All he could focus on was Yixing’s sweet, sweet voice, the way his slender limbs wrapped around his own perfectly, the light aroma of his body wash, brown hair nestled under Minseok’s neck despite Yixing’s taller height. That was all he could focus on.


He stirred at midnight again. There was a note on the fridge, saying that Yixing would be out for a week or so. The living room was cold and stark naked. Rearranging the fallen cushions, Minseok threw the dirty clothes into the washing machine, before heading back to the bedroom. On his way there, he spared a cursory glance to the door. The safety latch was across it. He must have put it up when he had woken up.


//


Yixing was acting weird, lately. Or maybe he had always been this way, and Minseok hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t just Yixing, actually, it was his entire life. It was getting harder and harder to focus on things anymore, and Minseok swears that he has a fever right now, even though his forehead wasn’t hot and his nose wasn’t killing him. It had been an on and off thing, this fever. He’d actually turned his nose against bagels this morning, and Minseok had never done that. He hadn’t eaten much, actually, and he almost puked out his dinner a few nights ago.


He’d been noticing things, too. Things that seemed out of place; the flowers in the living room had been dying so very quickly now, but Yixing watered them every day. And he’d been waking up more in the middle of the night, sometimes to Yixing, sometimes not. The safety latch, too, he never seemed to recall putting it on when he returns home to Yixing but it’d been on for the past month everytime he looked.


(he hadn’t put it up, not once)


But Yixing kept telling him that nothing was wrong, that he didn’t need to go to the doctor.


Luhan tapped him on the back in the middle of the shift. “Wanna hang?” The chinese man asked, hopefully, tentatively. “You don’t even have to ask, Han,” Minseok said in response, and both of them called in their break time.


“How’s the boyfriend?” Luhan asked, “You’ve been seeing him a lot.”


“I suppose I have,” Minseok admitted with a straight face. What could he say? Yixing was practically living with him at this stage. His expression was broken with a yawn, and then Luhan was there by him. “What’s wrong, Min?” Luhan frowned, “You never let yourself get this tired.”


“I know,” Minseok laughed drily, reaching behind Luhan to grab himself a cup of coffee, “I’ve been so tired lately I think I’ve been seeing things.” He told Luhan about the strange occurrences in his life, the door, the things, the flowers, ever since Yixing walked into his life.


Luhan frowned cutely, smoothing down his oven mitts on his apron. “I know you don’t like me talking ill about Yixing,” He started hesitantly, “But you know awfully little about him.”


Minseko rolled his eyes. “What are you talking about? I know-”


“Do you even know where he lives?” Luhan asked worriedly. Minseok opened his mouth to answer, before closing it quickly. Yixing had told him about Qingdao, his birthplace, but obviously this was not the answer Luhan was looking for.


“Do you know who his parents are? Does he have any siblings? What about where he went to school? Do you know?” Luhan pressed on, “He knows everything about you, but you know nothing about him.”


“Can we not talk about this!” Minseok burst out, and Luhan stared. In their twenty odd years of friendship, Minseok had never, ever raised his voice against Luhan.


“I know you love coffee,” Luhan said offhandedly after a while of awkward silence, Minseok struggling to apologize, Luhan contemplative, “But recently you’ve been having 3 or 4 cups of it every day. It’s not healthy for your liver, you know.”


“Sorry,” Minseok yawned, pouring himself an Americano, “I’m just so tired right now.”


Luhan placed a hand over Minseok’s forehead, but his frown told Minseok that he wasn’t sick or anything. “You should get a day off,” Luhan advised, “A day just for yourself. No one else.”


Minseok hummed along, but he’d rather spend a day with Yixing instead.


“Minseok! Break’s over!”


Downing the rest of the coffee in one go, Minseok stood up from the little stool, leaving Luhan in the kitchen with his pastries. As soon as he walked into the front of the shop, the sky turned fuzzy and dark.


//


When Minseok came to, there was someone in the house, humming a song with his soothing voice. Minseok smiled up at Yixing as his boyfriend entered the bedroom, pressing a cold hand to his forehead with concern. “How are you feeling?” The younger man whispered, “I’ll get you some broth, okay?”


“Why you’re h’r?” Minseok croaked, blinking wearily at Yixing. His answering smile was blinding. “You can’t even talk properly.” His lover chuckled, “I went to the cafe and your friend told me you were sick, so here I am.”


Minseok sank into a grateful sleep after he drank most of the chicken soup, Yixing’s hands soothing him as he burrowed further into the sheets.


“I seem to sleep a lot when you’re around,” Minseok commented offhandedly later in the day. Yixing’s smile seemed to falter slightly, but Minseok signed it off as a trick of the light.


“You need to rest more,” Yixing said instead, petting his hair, “Want me to read you something?”


Minseok nodded gratefully and let Yixing’s lilting narration of Peter Rabbit carry him into his dreams.


//


“Where were you the past week?” Minseok asked.


“I was out with Junmyeon,” Yixing explained, “Family business.”


“Are you close?” Minseok asked, adding a pinch of salt into the soup.


“He’s taken care of me since I was born,” Yixing laughed, “He knows everything about me.”


“You didn’t seem happy when we met him in the mall,” Minseok hummed thoughtfully, “You didn’t actually introduce me to him.”


Then he spotted a red mark peeping out from Yixing’s shirt, one he instinctively knew he hadn’t left. His breathing quickened, and he grasped at the kitchen counter painfully. Yixing wouldn’t- Yixing wouldn’t-


“The mosquitoes there were horrid,” Yixing scrunched up his nose, affronted, “I kept begging Junmyeon to get me some repellent but he insisted on au naturel. I got bit so much! Look at this one!” Yixing yanked his own collar down, further exposing the red mark.


It’s just mosquito bites. Minseok relaxed.


Yixing stole a mouthful of his soup and in retaliation, Minseok hit him on the head with his spoon. Yixing gave him puppy dog eyes until Minseok fed him another mouthful, and his gaze fell onto where Yixing’s tongue darted out to lick the residue off his lips. “Let’s go to the park,” Yixing announced, and Minseok quickly agreed to his plans, as usual, quickly forgetting his first train of thought.


Now that Yixing was back, Minseok didn’t really leave the house anymore, except for work. He made sure to cover those mosquito bites with bites of his own, until Yixing was crying tears from overstimulation, begging for Minseok to do something, anything, to make Yixing his.


And Yixing is his, forever and ever.


//


It was near the end of the shift, when Luhan leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen, watching Minseok.


“You remember that guy I met online?” Luhan suddenly brought up. Minseok hummed affirmatively.


“Well, he’s the real deal,” Luhan said, “The things he could do, the things he showed me- he’s really a demon hunter.”


Minseok smiled at his cute friend. “Luhan, it’s probably just magic tricks and photoshop.”


Luhan shook his head vigorously. He didn’t seem excited, or anticipatory, the normal reactions Minseok would think Luhan should have when discovering his illuminati bullshit was real. He looked... troubled.


“Look, we were talking the other day and I showed him Zhang Yixing’s photo,” Luhan admitted, his face flushed. “He told me- he brought me this.”


Luhan threw a piece of paper with a newspaper cutting on it on the counter, of a report circling a carnival in the city centre. In the photo was a grainy, but recognizable Yixing, taking a leisure stroll with a girl hanging on his arms. The newspaper cutting was from the 7th of November, 1978.


“Look at the date, Minseok.” Luhan murmured.


“What are you trying to say?” Minseok spluttered. “This- this is just a coincidence. What you’re saying- what you want me to think, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Did you photoshop this?”


“It’s true!” Luhan growled, startling Minseok. He smoothed his sweaty palms nervously on his pants. “I went to my neighbour, he works at the government archives. He checked it up for me. The article, the photo, it’s real. He ran a facial recognition- he-”


Luhan took out a few other pieces of photocopied newspapers, almost all in different languages, but the commonality was apparent.


“What the fuck, Luhan?” Minseok demanded, “I know you don’t like him- did you seriously make all this shit up just to get me to- what? Break up with him?”


“I’m your best friend, dammit,” Luhan said angrily, “I can’t be the only one who’s noticed it. His visits. It’s like the guy reads minds, you can’t tell me that he guessed every single of your favourites correctly! The fact that you don’t even have his phone number, or the fact that he refuses to see your parents, or your little episodes of fatigue. The way you’ve changed, Minseok. No boyfriend, no matter how besotted you are, can reduce you to silence.”


“I don’t have to hear this,” Minseok fumed, standing up, “What do you want to say with this, Luhan? He’s some sort of demon?”


Luhan’s eyes softened. “Maybe he is, Minseok-ah,” He said. “You’re ridiculous,” Minseok repeated, but Luhan grasped his wrist. “At least do something for me, Min-ah,” He said, “Humour me.”


He pressed a necklace into Minseok’s hands. It was a simple silver chain with a crescent moon hanging at the edge of it. “Please keep it on you, always,” Luhan pleaded, “Please, just this, for me.”


For a split second Minseok considered pushing it away, stepping away from Luhan and just walking out of the door. But it was Luhan, right here in front of him, begging him. With an annoyed huff he took it and quickly chained it around his neck, letting it drop beneath his shirt. “You happy now?” Minseok said, perhaps a bit harshly than intended, “Yixing is waiting for me.”


Luhan’s brow creased, but he didn’t make a move to stop Minseok, even though Minseok’s shift wasn’t over.


Indeed, Yixing was bumbling around in Minseok’s apartment, and once Minseok stepped into the door he was met with a sweet smell of chocolate and cream. “You’re home early!” Yixing said happily, dragging him over to sit down on the kitchen counter. “What’s going on?” Minseok wondered aloud.


“I tried baking,” Yixing said excitedly, carrying a brown chocolate cake over to Minseok, “Try it?”


“Xing-ah, why don’t I have your phone number?” Minseok asked. Yixing cut a large piece of cake and transferred it onto a plate. “I’m still changing plans, remember?” Yixing said matter-of-factly, “I won’t have my new phone number until the end of the month, that’s why I didn’t give mine to you when we first met.”


The cake was as sweet as his boyfriend, and Minseok more than showed his gratitude in bed.


Minseok woke up at the middle of the night, once again, the sheets tangled between his legs. His phone was ringing - an unknown number. The other guy hung up as soon as Minseok picked it up. Yixing wasn’t there, but Minseok could hear sounds outside. He thought of Luhan and his questions, and decided to go out.


Keeping as quiet as possible, Minseok poked his head out into the living room. Yixing was standing in the foyer expressionlessly. That expression did not fit Yixing well, and Minseok was just about to call out when Yixing faced the door and vanished.


Yixing had just- smoke- that was- the lock was still across the door, but Yixing had just phased right through it. Minseok stumbled out and ran frantic fingers over the door, but this was no magic trick, no catch, no built-in mechanism. His boyfriend had just walked through a wall.


The world around him spun and he slid onto the floor, trying to dig his fingers into the wooden floorboards to anchor himself onto something, anything, but the world continued spinning and the house was slipping away from him, and he was a drowning man, searching for something, someone, to save him, to take him away, and he was the wilted narcissus flowers on the windowsill, and he was the black and white cat that had been kicked off the bed in the middle of his sleep.


Luhan seemed to be ready for him when Minseok stumbled to work, huddled in a corner with his face buried into his palms as he told the whole tale to Luhan. His best friend had faked a text to Yixing, saying that he was going to a friend’s house for a sleepover. Yixing asked to come along, but Luhan turned him down. Yixing pressed on then, asking if it was Luhan, but the man continued to shoot him down.


I want to meet your friends too (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)


Minseok shivered.


Luhan brought him to the outskirts of town after the end of their shift, where his friend, who was a professional demon hunter lived.


Funny, really. If you had tried to tell Minseok that supernatural beings existed a week ago, and someone actually lived off hunting them, he would have laughed in your face and recommended you to write a YA novel instead. Now he was all but relying on this man to have all the answers he needed.


Kim Jongdae looked much younger than Minseok and Luhan, with a youthful, kittenish mouth and eyes that almost sparkled. His house was remarkably normal, much like Minseok’s own, and he offered up a cup of camomile tea as Minseok, with the help of Luhan, told his story again, from the very beginning.


Jongdae didn’t say much, only asked follow up questions every now and then. What time was it? What were you talking about? What did it wear? Who was there?


“Sounds like a mid-to-low-level demon to me,” Jongdae finally said, “They’re after humans only one reason only. All demons need to devour human souls in order to gain power, either through establishing contracts to get the soul all at once, or subtly siphoning power over a long period. It’s likely that you own a very powerful soul, that’s why the demon is willing to stick with you for so long, and not attempt to reveal its true form and establish a contract with you. It can’t risk you refusing, and that explains your symptoms of illness and loss of energy.” Minseok felt sick to the stomach.


“What do we have to do?” Luhan asked determinedly, hugging Minseok even closer.


Jongdae pursed his lips. “There are easy ways to banish a demon, but to eradicate a demon entirely requires a ritual, which I can prepare, but there are some conditions that you will have to fulfill.”


“Can’t I do it for him?” Luhan asked, but Jongdae shook his head. “Minseok is the one being targeted by this demon,” He explained, “it’ll know if you suddenly want to become close with him, when it’s aware that you’ve never trusted him.”


“What do I have to do?” Minseok croaked. He was sick of all this, the constant warring of emotions inside him. He didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to know that the man he shared a bed with, the man he wanted to live the rest of his life with wasn’t even human anymore.


“I will plant a trap in your house, right here,” Jongdae said, “It’ll make it reveal its true form.”


Luhan made to speak, but Minseok stopped him. “It will be dangerous,” Jongdae gave Luhan a pointed look, “I doubt it’d want to kill you, however, after the effort it’s went to try to bait you into its lair. More likely it’ll try to entice you, give you false offers of making you immortal like it.


“The next step is to lure it directly on top of my trap,” Jongdae said, miming a pentagon onto the table surface, “Once it’s on top, I’ll take care of the rest.”


“I want to help too,” Luhan said desperately, “Please.” Jongdae fixed him with a weary gaze, one that suddenly made him look ancient to Minseok. “This is no easy matter, Luhan,” The demon hunter said. “Normally I would wait for my Teachers to come back before I would even consider tackling this one on my own, let alone involving civilians like you. Unfortunately, they’re hunting a high-level demon of their own.”


Minseok exhaled shakily. “I need some time,” He pleaded, and Luhan looked at him sadly. “I’ll always be here for you,” His childhood friend told him. Jongdae cocked his head to aside as he scrutinized Luhan. “Actually, you could do something for me,” Jongdae told him. He handed Luhan a list that looked remarkably like a shopping list. “I need these for my preparations.”


Once Luhan was out the door, however, the demon hunter turned to face Minseok.


“I’m not telling you this in front of Luhan because I know it’ll make him angry,” Jongdae said softly, “But I also need you to find out its real name.”


“Real name?” Minseok asked, confused.


Jongdae nodded. “Names have power in the otherworldly realm. The name it gave you, Yixing, won’t be the one it truly answers to. All the stories it’s told you are probably those taken from its previous victims. Nothing it has told you is real. Knowing a demon’s name voluntarily means earning the demon’s trust, and anyone who utters the demon’s true name enables a temporary link between the two. The demon will be able to see through your eyes, and teleport into your vicinity. Similarly, we need that tattoo to target the spell and link its essence to the spell, so that it can be destroyed.


“Their names appear as a birthmark, a tattoo, on their human bodies,” Jongdae continued, “And the only way you get to see it naked...”


“Is when we have sex,” Minseok said weakly.


“I’m truly sorry,” Jongdae mumbled, “It’s a bit more powerful than I told Luhan. It’s not super dangerous, but it’ll take a lot to fully kill it. You won’t be able to understand the language, so you’ll have to copy out the design for me. Under no circumstances should you make it aware that you’ve realized Yixing isn’t its real name, and absolutely do not let it know you know it’s not human.”


“But you said he is powerful,” Minseok pointed out, “You said he could just... read my thoughts.”


Jongdae pointed to the thin silver chain on his neck. “I gave that to Luhan and you ages ago,” He said, “It protects your secrets from the demon. It allows surface thoughts when it realizes you’re in the same room, so it shouldn’t notice anything amiss, and I’ve charmed it specifically to muddle over your conversations with Luhan, while completely hides my existence from it. However, it will notice if you have extended gaps in your surface thoughts, so do avoid thinking about us so much, or at least think about something else at the same time. If it finds out... well, if it uses his magic on you, it’ll ‘corrupt’ your soul, that’s why demons don’t just control humans into giving up their souls, so it’s likely that it won’t. But it can still manipulate Luhan, or even me into doing its bidding if it thinks our souls aren’t worth it.”


He returned home with a heavy heart, but he doesn’t have time to react when Yixing opens the door for him with a smile. Jongdae and Luhan’s words flit through his mind before Minseok catches himself.


Elephants. He said to himself, Don’t think about elephants. It apparently worked, as Yixing didn’t seem to notice Minseok’s unease, instead chirp on a mile a minute about the cute puppy that moved in with her owner across the street.


Now that Minseok knew, Yixing’s non-human tendencies were much easier to spot. The effortless way Yixing glided away across the room, the little things that occasionally slid across the table by an inch or two straight into Yixing’s hands. Minseok was more than thankful for the charm Jongdae has put on him.


“Breakfast, Min-ah!” Yixing said cheerily with the tray in his hands the next morning. Startled, Minseok could only nod shakily as his boyfriend, his demon boyfriend prance around the room with a frilly apron.


A week ago, he would be cooing at his boyfriend, calling him cute and pin him to the mattress as Yixing protested weakly with a blush on his face, but right now he just wanted to vomit. Shakily, he tried to take the tray off Yixing’s hands, but Yixing frowned and pouted. “Minseok, are you feeling alright? Are you sick again?”


“Wha-no! I’m fine, I’m fine.” Minseok reassured. Yixing shot him an odd glance. “Anyway, I was thinking about next week.”


“What about next week?” Minseok asked, trying to stuff the scrambled eggs into his mouth. It was exactly the same way Minseok liked it. “I’ll have to be out on Halloween,” Yixing said, “Junmyeon needs me for something. After that- the first of November- Can- Can we-”


Minseok wasn’t used to seeing Yixing so shy, and he put down the tray to a side for his boyfriend to climb into his lap, nuzzling into Minseok’s neck like a kitten. “Take your time,” he soothed instinctively, hugging Yixing close.


“Can we go visit your parents?” Yixing blurted out, “You’ve mentioned many times that you wanted to go back home- and- well, we can go in November.”


Yixing wanted to meet his parents! His boyfriend wanted to see his home!


“I love you, Minseok,” Yixing said, nervous, sincere. Minseok loved him so much. Then Yixing crawled in between of Minseok’s legs, fingers trailing across Minseok’s hips, and no matter what Yixing was, Minseok still loved him so, so much.


//


The day’s events crashed down on him when Luhan dragged him to pub after hours, telling him he needed to get away from the influence of the demon in his house.


“What if he’s going to hurt my parents?” Minseok groaned, “What was I doing?” He downed another shot quickly, beckoning for the next one. “Luhan, what am I doing?”


The lights were too dim and he was too drunk to properly observe Luhan’s reactions, so he scooted closer.

“What if he loves me, Luhan?” Minseok asked, taking another strong sip of his vodka, “He loves me, right?”


He was drunk, but sober enough to recognize the look of pity and clear evasion in Luhan’s eyes. “Yixing told me he loves me, Luhan, don’t you believe me?”


“Whatever makes you happy, Min-ah,” Luhan said, and there was clear sorrow in his eyes.


“I’m sorry,” Minseok hiccuped, “I didn’t trust you. Are you my fairy godmother?”


“You love him,” Luhan said in answer, and his voice echoed around and around and around.


//


Minseok gave the paper containing Yixing’s name to Jongdae. Halloween, and Yixing was long gone before Minseok awoke. The safety latch had been undone. Jongdae fingered the ink on the paper contemplatively.


Minseok had noticed the tattoo before, but he had dismissed it as an aesthetic and hadn’t really studied it. Now its very existence mocked him.


“Its name is Lay,” Jongdae said quietly, before tearing up the paper and stuffing it into a side pocket in his jacket, “I think you ought to know.”


Lay, Yixing, Yixing, Lay. Which one was Minseok dating? He sat there as Jongdae scuttled around the house, moving things and pouring things, muttering things under his breath, setting the room up for whatever happens tomorrow.


“Here,” Jongdae said, pointing at a spot near the foyer, “it will be pulled out of his true form here. Then you have to lead it to walk forward, just a few steps, and I will trigger the trap to destroy it.”


Destroy. Yixing was going to be destroyed.


Minseok nodded dumbly. Jongdae patted him on the back comfortingly, and he planted the bug under the coffee table. Yixing liked stretching his legs over the table, hugging the two throw pillows on his chest as he watched TV.


Yixing returned late afternoon, with takeaway. Jongdae was long gone, but Jongdae was also still here, listening to everything they said, watching them interact at the foyer. The house looked completely the same, but for once, Minseok knew exactly of the terrors that was hidden here. “Did you miss me?” Yixing nuzzled up at Minseok adorably in the foyer. Dependent, reliant, lovable Yixing.


Yixing walked around Minseok to put down his bag, and it was then did Minseok realize that he had stood on top of the trap Jongdae had lain. He stumbled backwards, but Yixing had already disappeared into the bathroom.


“Tomorrow,” Minseok said aloud. “Tomorrow.”


They had dinner together in their bedroom, Yixing saying that he was too tired to move to the table outside. His boyfriend looked extra cuddly and soft sitting on the bed, surrounded by the soft toys Yixing had given Minseok, curry staining his lips. Minseok couldn’t take his eyes away from Yixing.


The takeaway boxes lay haphazardly on the bedside table, and Yixing grabbed Minseok to lie down with him.


“Min-ah, you love me, right?” Yixing asked, trailing cold fingers against Minseok’s abdomen. The demon had a leg slung across Minseok’s own, bathed in sunlight filtered through the window.


“I do, Yixing,” He reassured weakly, “I love you, Yixing.”


Yixing smiled up at him, shy, vulnerable, “I love you, Min-ah,” He says, lacing their fingers together, “Forever and ever.”


It was days like these that made Minseok wish that Yixing was an angel.


//


Morning came, and Yixing was already waiting happily in the foyer, white suitcase leaning against the wall. Minseok wandered out of the bedroom with his hair in a mess.


“Minseok? Aren’t we catching the plane tonight?” Yixing asked, cocking his head to one side. “We won’t be,” Minseok said shakily, “Xing-ah, do you have something to tell me?”


Yixing’s eyes flashed.


Minseok’s hands were sweating and he rubbed them frantically on his pants. “What’s going on?” Yixing asked worriedly. Elephants, elephants, elephants. “Are you keeping something from me, Minseok?” Yixing pressed. Minseok didn’t know if it was because he now knew who Yixing was, but did his questions always carry such dangerous quality?


Yixing took a step forward, eyes wide and innocent. Orange fire rushed out from beneath his feet.


Minseok looked on in horror as Jongdae’s ritual took hold. He watched as his lover’s skin tear apart into nothingness, and a dark, dark creature emerged from the ashes. “Oh.” Lay said. Bright red eyes glowed like a lantern in light of its charcoal colouring, the skin of its face stretched so taut that it barely resembled a human anymore. Dark brown fur adorned the demon like a headdress, melded seamlessly into its limbs and body. Two spiraled horns stood to attention above its head, and a ridged, spiked tail flicked tauntingly from side to side. “Why did you have to do this, Min-ah?” Lay continued. Its voice was identical to Yixing’s, the chime-like quality that came with his Korean, yet it sounded much more raspier and grim.


Minseok’s heart sunk like a stone. Even with everything Luhan and Jongdae had said, in the depths of his heart he had begged that maybe, this is all one big misunderstanding, a sick joke. There was this little inkling in him that begged him to trust Yixing.


“Luhan must have put you up to this,” Lay continued, as if disappointed, “You wouldn’t do this on your own. He’s a bad influence on you. Why didn’t you trust me?” The thing in front of him asked, dark forked tongue flicking out briefly as it got closer and closer. “He’s just human. Why do you believe him over me? You didn’t have to do this, and we would have been together, forever, as Yixing and Minseok. We still can be. You can have everything in the world.”


The way it moved was reminiscent of Yixing, the briskness in his movements, the sway of his hips when he wanted something. Then it smiled at him, and its face split into two to reveal rows of sharp teeth, the opening of its mouth starting from the edge of one ear to the next.


Minseok let out an involuntary sob as Lay extended a clawed hand, the colouring of innards along with ridges that elongate into five sharp blades, tucked sparsely between tufts of dark brown fur. “I can give you the world,” Yixing breathed.


The demon fluctuated in front of him, and a pale, dexterous hand reached out for him, Yixing’s dimple blinking at him as his lover crouched in front of him. “I love you, Minseok-ah,” Yixing said, “Trust me.”


Lay’s eyes opened from its half-crescent moon shape and they were blaringly red, jarring against the pale skin and sweet smile that Minseok trusted so much.


“I’ll do anything for you, Min-ah,” Lay purred in Yixing’s skin. “I’ve already changed so much for you, can’t you see it? I can make you happy!” His hand waved enticingly and it pulled at Minseok’s heart, urging to take the hand of the man he loved and run away from here.


Yixing took another step forward, then the world burst around them as Jongdae’s pentagon took shape, a coil of energy lashing out at the demon’s facade. A dark swirl appeared beneath Lay and it collapsed backwards in it, Yixing shattering immediately to revert back to its demonic form. Small pillars of smoke emerged and undulated around the portal, dragging the demon backwards into the ground.


“What is this?” Lay hissed, its face contorted with rage. Before Minseok could react three sharp welts rose up in his arm, and he scrambled backwards to the couch, biting his lip to stop himself from screaming from the fire crawling up his limb.


“I am immortal!” The demon roared, “I will not be stopped here! I will not-!” It snapped at empty air, mouth opened impossibly large as it scrabbled for purchase, trying to haul himself up from the portal.


The wetness on Minseok’s cheeks startled himself and he cradled his arm closer, withering into a ball, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the monstrosity in front of him.


The image before him flickered and Yixing was crying, eyes wide with distress. “Min-ah, make it stop,” Yixing sobbed, “It hurts so much, Min-ah!” Silent tears sped down Minseok’s cheek as his lover cried to him, his usual dimpled smile replaced by snarling jaws before transforming back into pouty, trembling lips, a forked tongue thrashing in a dark abyss.


“No- Minseok-ah- Suho- save me-” Yixing- Lay’s clawed hand dug against the floorboards, the shadowy tendrils lashing out wildly as the portal continued to suck the demon down. A furred leg kicked out in vain as Lay tried to anchor itself into the world, its dark eyes wide and fearful. For a split second, Minseok saw Yixing again, the man who made him chicken broth when he was sick, the man who liked cute things and unicorns, the man who was always willing to offer Minseok a shoulder to cry on. Tears were leaking out of the demon’s eyes as he let out another blood-curdling scream, and Minseok closed his eyes. Yixing whined pathetically, his detached jaw tremoring with fear and pain.


“It hurts- Suho- please- it hurts so much- I don’t want to die-” Lay wailed, spiked tail disappearing into the void as the vortex continued to drag the demon under, and the wood splintered under Lay’s shadowed claws. “Minseok-ah- you said you loved me-” Yixing cried out, and Minseok hid further behind the table, hands clamped over his ears, but they did nothing to block out the demon’s pained screams.


“Suho- please- Suho- You promised! I was going to be good for you! Suho-!” Lay’s angry screeching filled the room, eyes dazed and unfocused as it was dragged further and further into the vortex.


Minseok, don’t you love me?


A roaring sound filled the room, and a bright light burst out before dying down, taking out the sound with it. All Minseok could hear was his own breathing, and he cracked an eyelid open.


The vortex was gone, the demon alongside with it, and the only hint that any supernatural occurrence had ever taken place was the overturned furniture and the splintered wood.


The door creaked open and Luhan and Jongdae stepped into the room delicately. “It’s over,” Jongdae breathed out, “We’ve killed him.” A strange look passed over the demon hunter’s face, and he began to smile, a radiant, borderline maniacal smile as he sank onto the floor, tracing the lines of the unseen pentagon with his finger. “I’ve killed my first demon,” Jongdae said in disbelief, “I killed it.”


Minseok crawled into Luhan’s warm embrace, and he sunk into the warmth his best friend gave him, like a lost puppy searching for a shelter. “We’re safe now,” Luhan breathed, running his hands over Minseok, “We’re safe.”


//


Jongdae left a few days later after reinforcing Minseok’s house against any demons, saying that his teachers had summoned him to help corner the demon they are hunting. Luhan helped Minseok clear away all the other things that didn’t belong in his house. Polaroids and clothes ended up in the fire, the wilted gardenias threw into the trashcan. New bedsheets and pillows were picked out.


The pink unicorn smiled innocently at him as he curled up in the bed, starchiness filling his nostrils. The black and white cat curled up next to the pink unicorn. Unicorns filled the space between Minseok and the wall, each with different colours and designs.


Something on the bed caught Minseok’s attention - it was something of Yixi- Lay’s that Luhan had found, but Minseok hadn’t seen it before. Jongdae had advised them to open it anyway. It was a plain cardboard box, but it was heavy.


There were some pink yarn inside, and artificial cotton stuffing. Two yarn needles, connected to a half-formed pink cat head. There were a few post-its pasted on the walls of the box with Yixing’s scrawly handwriting on it.


March 26th is the deadline!


Junmyeon said he can get me the yellow yarn! DON’T BUY THE YELLOW YARN!


DON’T FORGET THE CAKE!


DON’T FORGET TO INVITE LUHAN


Buy balloons x 4


I have to make him fall in love with me <3


DON’T FORGET TO WRITE THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARD


Minseok hugged the box to his chest and started to cry.