Finally done with with April/May Doomsweeks Update Part 1! ˋ --\(˙<>˙)/--

Minseok leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. The email in front of him was one problem, and the one in his mind was another. Horizon Malls could fly out of the sun’s orbit for all he cared, but he had to care because it was his job to represent Alternatives in Disposal Solutions—even if they (Steve, Robin, Avery, Minseok was wondering if they were real people at this point) were once again trying to slither and blame their way out of ADS’ already LOW commission rate AND now they had been delaying and rescheduling meetings and even phone calls.

But that was Minseok’s job’s problem. The problem in his mind belonged to the supernatural world. Yixing told him that Kai and D.O were going to follow Minerva’s original trail, and Minseok didn’t know whether to hope that their trip to Juzhou would be uneventful or to hope that they would find some sort of clue to Hayong. He guessed that they could uneventfully find a clue but still.

Running his hand through his hair again, Minseok looked at his computer screen and in his peripherals saw eyes staring at him. He jumped a bit, and Chen raised an eyebrow.

“Are you doing that because of work or because of Kai and D.O’s duo section?”

“Ugh. Both.”

“Well, don’t. Whatever they find, they’ll report, and then you’ll know.”

“I know that. I’m just worried.”

“Why? They’re both strong demons.”

He looked up, searching for the words.

“I know. It’s just that I’ll still worry because I don’t want anything bad to happen to them.”

“They’re demons,” Chen deadpanned again, but then he sunk into the nest of his crossed arms on the desk with a sigh. “It takes a lot to kill a demon, let alone two of them as powerful as Kai and D.O, so stop doing that. Your hair will fall out, and you’re not full demon yet so it might not grow back.”

Minseok stopped, hand mid-run through his hair, and shifted a little at those words. He had avoided asking what would happen as the proxy sign advanced because fear always prowled along the edges of his mind. Yixing had asked him if he would be okay with becoming full demon, and Minseok didn’t have a clear answer for that. He glanced at Chen now playing with a few of his desk erasers and pens and breathed in a bit of courage.

“What’s it like? Being a demon?”

Chen flicked an eyebrow up at him, but his gaze leveled as he looked at him.

“I guess in comparison to a neutral human, it would feel powerful and dark. You’ll notice the world sharper, and you’ll probably feel like giving into your impulses and desires more, but since you’re as evil as a pansy, the worst you’d do is probably cuss someone out to your plants.”

Minseok gave him a look for the half-diss but supposed that he felt a little more reassured. Chen hummed though and leaned a bit closer.

“If you were a human who sinned more, than you’d probably be able to create and use your aura faster. Demonic aura is similar to the souls of humans who are as rotten as hell scum. The difference is that we can control our darker desires, but humans go crazy with the power. Or maybe it’s freedom.”

“Why?”

“We have ways to channel it out or train it to contain itself without growing restless. Human society is also very specific in what is an accepted method of catharsis and what isn’t. Demons are also connected to hell, so, in a way, we were made to handle and control that temptation. Humans aren’t.”

“How is it for angels?”

Chen shrugged. “Things are a little different between hell and heaven. You’d have to ask Yixing or Luna.”

“Oh, okay. How do you know this then? Do they teach it to every demon during demonic military school?”

“The basics, much less in-depth than what I told you. My commander taught most of it to me. He reads in his spare time and insists we learn about stuff like this too. He sends us a memo.”

Minseok imagined Suho hand-writing memos of, basically historical, alchemic, and anatomical lessons, and then mailing them to each of his demons, and he chuckled.

“That’s cute.”

“Did you just call my commander cute? I’m offended.”

“What, it’s a compliment! I think the way he cares and tries to keep you guys informed is very sweet. I’m guessing that him knowing and telling you how these kinds of things work helps you with your missions, right?”

Chen huffed and smooshed his cheek into a palm but nodded.

“Yeah. It’s saved me on occasion.” He frowned at someplace below Minseok’s face. “You too.”

“Me?”

A knock sounded on his office door, and Minseok moved to get it. He remembered right as he opened it that Chen wasn’t supposed to be there, but the thought flew out his mind when he saw the woman at his doorway.

Gu Dawae, his boss and the slightly eccentric CEO of ADS, always wore a sweater and jeans—sweater vest and shorter jeans in the summer—unless she was at a board meeting or some other special occasion. She kept her ginger hair tied up in a messy bun, stood at Minseok’s nose, and never drank coffee. He sometimes found that hard to believe when she would message him at four in the morning to freak out about missing paperwork or almost-forgotten courtesies, and she just needed someone to tell it to. She beamed a smile at him and tapped both his shoulders.

“Hello, Minseok!” she piped in her bubbly voice. “Mind if I come in?”

She was his boss, so he couldn’t refuse, and normally he wouldn’t have reason to, but the demon at his desk—

He glanced behind him and did a doubletake. Chen had vanished. No demon sat on the extra chair, but when he concentrated a little harder, Chen’s aura still flowed in the room, albeit faintly.

“Minseok?”

“Uh, sorry. Come in.”

He let her in and shut the door, but she walked back and threw it back open.

“Gosh, Minseok, I need to get you a new office. It’s so stuffy! There’re no windows or anything!”

“Uh, yeah, these are the older offices, before they put the windows in.”

“WHAT?! You mean all this time, MY dear employee has been working in these conditions! NO! I will not have it any longer.”

“But there’re a couple of other employees who are also in this wing—”

She smashed a booklet of memo paper over his lips (When did she pull that out?) and started scribbling on it while it was still on his lips.

“There. I will remember to look into this. Please endure for a bit longer, Minseok.”

“Yes, sure.” He learned long ago to not question her antics so much. “So what brings you here? I forwarded NC Tech’s latest report to you, and Horizon Malls… I’m still communicating our terms with them.”

“Difficult ones?”

“Yeah…”

“Just do your best with them. I actually came for a different reason though. Do you have a suit?”

“Uhm, not exactly.”

“Good, you can get one! As you know, the WCA holds its little get-together every winter, and this year I would like to invite you along.”

Minseok’s jaw dropped. The WCA? The Waste Collection Association? His boss wanted to invite him to the fancy official party of all the waste companies in the region? Where all the trustees and board members and other CEO people mingled??

“Yes, I know! Crazy boring stuff with all those uptight men and occasional woman—because glass ceiling and social expectation, I’m sure you know—but I thought that you could use a change of scenery, and you’ve been working so hard, and gosh! I hate your office. Nope—yup, you’re coming with me. And before you say it, you can work and party at the same time if you really need to, so don’t worry. The invitation comes with a plus one, so you can bring someone fun to accompany you while in the midst of drab men and occasional woman. I’ll send you the details of the hotel and place by the end of the day today. I just wanted to tell you this in person first.”

All comprehension jumped into overtime for Minseok. He was going where with who for why? His boss waved and started for the door, and he jumped to grab her sleeve and any way of understanding the situation that she had just dropped on him.

“Wait! CEO Gu, I can’t just go— I’m not qualified and your reputation—”

“Oh, Minseok, you’re such a worrywart. Just think about it. I’m only giving you the invitation. Whether you go or not is your choice, though I personally would like to have you there. You’re the most fun of all my managers.”

He heard a murmur of doubt somewhere above him, but he couldn’t ponder about it long. His boss took his hand from her sleeve and warmed it between her own, a smile on her face.

“You sell yourself short. I know that you are capable of much more than you think you are. And you’re more than qualified! You work with reputable humans all the time.”

“I guess that’s true…”

“It is, so relax, just think about it, and let me know when you make your decision.”

Patting his hand, CEO Gu waved again and danced out of his office. Minseok sighed and shut the door, scooting over enough to sit and plant his forehead into the desk. Somewhere through the chaos in his mind, he registered a demonic aura zipping itself into a concentrated form again.

“That’s your boss?”

“Mm hmm. Real nice person and fun, especially at drinking parties.”

“Hm. So are you going?”

“Ugh. I dunno.”

“Isn’t this a good thing? Getting to talk with people of high status in your work?”

“Ugh, yes.”

“Then why do you smell distressed?”

Minseok groaned into his hands because he knew exactly why. He should’ve been jumping at the chance to make contacts and going to someplace fancy and establishing a name for himself and ADS, but now, he couldn’t really see a point. He would socialize and build prestige and renown for himself and the company and then… fake his death at forty? Vanish into the countryside and turn into a missing person until his death was just as mysterious as his vanishment?

Living had its own complications with Minseok, but he never had to think about living forever before. He had resigned himself to making himself useful where he could, then let death take him when it came. But if death was basically never coming, and he had all the human paperwork and relationships to essentially and personally cut himself out of, and—

Would he have to learn how to be a demon? Well, no . But would he have to fight and be sorted into a legion and kill—

He shuddered. A wave of nausea sloshed in his stomach, and he covered his mouth, swallowing hard.

“Hey, what’s going on with you?”

Minseok looked up at Chen, a raised eyebrow pointed at him, and he flinched at what the demon might say. He shook his head and turned back to his computer. He had to deal with the headache brewing in his head and the headache that was Horizon Malls, but Chen swiveled his screen away.

“You look sick. Don’t work.”

“But I need to.”

Chen rolled his eyes and scoffed, and yeah, even Minseok had to admit that he sounded a bit whiny.

“I am your guard, and I have to protect you even if it’s from your own helldamn self. Do not work. You look like you’re about to drop on the spot.”

The demon pulled the keyboard and mouse away from him and swung Minseok’s chair around until he faced his file cabinet on the left, Chen scooting into the space between with his own chair. Minseok groaned at the sudden movement.

“So? You didn’t answer me.”

Minseok leaned back and covered his face with the crooks of his elbows because he actually started feeling sick. His head was swimming, and the sour beginnings of vomit churned in his stomach.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look it.”

He let out another groan, kneading his temples. “Okay, I’ll rest for a bit. Wake me in fifteen minutes.”

Taking a deep breath and several more, Minseok tried not to think so much. The pain in his head and stomach was a fine distractor but also annoying him, which just made his aches worse. But his mouth itched to move, to find something and someone else in the darkness he created. He never liked being alone when he felt sick.

“Chen?”

There was a moment of silence, and Minseok almost opened his eyes to see if the demon had left, but then the chair across from his creaked.

“What?”

“Oh, you didn’t leave.”

He scoffed. “I’m guarding you, so duh.”

“Right.” He tried to think of something to ask him and remembered his conversation with Kai. “Are you and Kai good friends?”

Quiet, and Chen’s response lowered too, a slight edge to it.

“Why’re you asking?”

“Because I asked him the same thing, and then I had to explain the concept of friends in the human definition to him because that was what I meant, and then he said that he was pretty sure that you and him were friends too.”

Chen shifted in the seat, and Minseok wondered about his expression. He was supposed to be resting though, and he didn’t want to hear the demon griping at him again, so he waited. When Chen spoke though, the answer and his tone wasn’t what Minseok expected—softer and weaved with nostalgia.

“Of the demons from our unit, I’m the one who knows Kai best. I know his habits, his inclinations, his skills, his weird- jokes.”

“Kai said that you guys usually have missions together too.”

“Yeah, but I knew all that before we ever went on a mission together. I was one of the ones who trained him.”

A noise squeaked out of his throat in surprise.

“Really? I thought demons went to demonic military school.”

“Most do. I did, but after Commander Suho recruited me, he asked me and a few others to train Kai. Satan gave him a special pass, so Kai didn’t go through the tournament or anything.”

Minseok rubbed an arm from the cover over his eyes. It was a little selfish, but he did want to know what he was getting into.

“Was… demonic military school hard?”

“It was survival, and not with paper and grades. It’s not like human university or boarding school.” He paused. “Are you worried about what it’s like?”

Minseok gripped his arm, guilt rising in his throat. He was exposed so easily.

“Yeah…”

Chen’s chair creaked again, and Minseok’s breath stopped when he felt a different huff caress his cheek and tingle warmth at his skin.

“Stop being afraid. I know my commander, and he would never let someone like you go through that place if he can help it.”

A touch to his arm made him freeze up, and the soft puffs of breath at his cheek and jaw didn’t stop. Minseok kept his eyes shut as Chen peeled his arms away from his face, but they sprung open on their own when two fingers jabbed into his stomach.

“I told you that killing yourself by holding your breath doesn’t work.”

He gasped, strangling the squeak in his throat, but Chen might've heard it anyway with how he had climbed up onto Minseok’s chair. Somehow balancing his knees on the edges of Minseok’s seat, Chen propped the rest of himself up by bracing his hands against the shoulders of the chair, trapping Minseok in the space between. They weren’t touching, but a shiver zipped down his spine at the warmth that clouded along his thighs and neck. All Minseok could recognize was how Chen hovered over him, at the way his gaze raked up and down his body, at the scent of incense and rain.

“Are you still afraid?”

“W-What?”

“You smell less distressed, but I was making sure.”

“By climbing onto my chair? You can smell me from across the room, and it’s a tiny office.”

“I can, but it’s fun to watch you squirm, and you always do when I do something like this.”

Whatever trance Chen had him under instantly broke after those words, and Minseok rolled his eyes.

“Okay, get off. I’m feeling okay enough to work again.”

“I’m serious about what I said though.”

“About?”

“About my commander taking you into his legion. You’d probably still have to train, but it wouldn’t be through demonic military school. You wouldn’t last a day there.”

“Gee, thanks.”

His smirk curled, and his words got Minseok thinking.

“Can you ask him for me?”

“To accept you into his legion?”

“Yeah. I…” He took a deep breath, bracing himself for whatever taunts and insults Chen had to say. “I’m actually kinda terrified of everything that’ll happen after I turn into a full demon. It’s hypocritical to ask but… if you and Kai and Suho are there, it might not be so bad.”

“What would be hypocritical?”

“Nothing. Can you ask him for me? Would I have to prove myself or something?”

Chen stared down at him, and Minseok shifted under his gaze, hoping he wouldn’t try to go back to that question.

“I can already tell you that he wouldn’t need you to prove anything.” He tilted his head. “If I ask for you, will that make you feel safe?”

“Uhm, yeah. I guess. It’d be nice to know that I’ll have somewhere to go after the proxy sign is done.”

“Why wouldn’t you have somewhere to go? You have your home, and I know that Yixing could pull strings to keep it unoccupied by other humans.”

That word made him squirm upon hearing it. He should’ve been used to people referring to his house that way, and he was. Almost. It was just that the question of people who would wait for him combined with ‘home’ always reminded him of the emptiness in that place and in his chest.

But Chen didn’t know that, and he was asking in the most literal terms possible, if his response was any indication. That narrow dodge, or maybe their strange misalignment of beliefs was what pulled a small chuckle from Minseok. Taking words at face value must’ve been a Legion of Tehom thing.

“Yeah, I would have a house, but I more mean… people to belong with. Eventually, I’d have to stop seeing Luhan and going to work. I wouldn’t even be able to interact with my neighbors. Yixing and D.O probably will change locations once this mission is over. Everyone will, and I don’t know what I could do for hell or Suho, but—”

He sighed as his brother’s voice laughed in mind, the one that pointed out all his ways to trap people with his hope. Yixing was his friend, and Kai seemed eager for that same relationship, but Minseok couldn't forget that maybe he unconsciously manipulated them to think that way. So he wouldn't assume the nature of his relationships with anyone else again... And definitely not with Chen either. He restructured his words.

“I got used to having friends again, so I’m not looking forward to being alone a second time.”

“Who said that you’d be alone?”

Minseok blinked up at Chen, processing what he just said and… not understanding.

“Because there’s no reason for anyone to come see me, so to speak. And if demons and angels are called to do missions—”

“Someone has to train you first, and someone has to keep your fresh demon from becoming a snack to hell’s creatures. What’s the point of guarding someone only for them to die as soon as they’re not being guarded anymore? That’s stupid.”

Chen narrowed his eyes and leaned in until Minseok could see that amber halo in his irises.

“Are you insulting me? Think that I can’t do a thorough job?”

“What? No, I’m not.”

“Not even as playful banter?”

He blinked, then chuckled that Chen remembered.

“No, not right now anyways. I’m sure that you do every task the best way possible so that there are no complaints, and I’ll try not to make it any harder for you since you probably don’t want a dumb human to mess up your record.”

Chen nodded then stopped. His mouth screwed together in distaste, a frown deflating the rest of his posture.

“Something wrong?”

“You’re not lying, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“What?”

A knock interrupted whatever Chen was about to say, but before either of them could move, the door swung open in a whirlwind of ginger hair and memo notes.

“Ah ha! I remember! I had Soyoung rearrange all the office assignments after the new wing… was…”

Her eyes darted from him to Chen and back to him, amusement filtering through her widened eyes, and Minseok let out a silent curse when he remembered what position they were in.

“Oh, I didn’t know that you had company, Minseok.”

“I—wait, it’s not what it looks like—”

“No