Minseok looked down and saw Kitty-Chen’s lip curled in annoyance and possibly disgust. He looked to his right and saw Luhan smiling as he tugged Minseok’s arm and pointed at various market stalls. He looked up to see Tao floating above them and to the side to see the border collie weaving in between people’s legs. Sometimes the demon dog would miss and just pass through someone’s calves, causing them to shudder.

What was he supposed to do in this kind of situation?

After Luhan woke up from being knocked out at the park, Minseok told him that he fell asleep in his car, so he just carried him into his house to stay for the night. The professor frowned at him, like he was waiting for something else, but then he stood in a T-pose and told Minseok to lift him and prove it. Luhan shrieked once he lifted him and immediately demanded to be put back down, and Chen let out a mocking ‘ha!’

And since Chen was camouflaged, the disembodied laugh just spooked another shriek from the professor.

The reason that they were walking down the open marketplace though was because Luhan insisted that they leave Minseok’s (haunted) house and destress through window shopping therapy. He got suspicious when he couldn’t find Jongdae the Cat anywhere, so while the professor was in the bathroom, Minseok convinced the demon to transform. It involved a lot of grumbling and kitty glares afterwards, but Luhan didn’t suspect anything after giving a few pats.

At least, that was what Minseok thought. Every now and then, he would catch worry setting on Luhan’s face, only for him to smile when he saw Minseok looking. By the time they stopped at a bench for a break, Minseok couldn’t take it anymore.

“Lu, is there something bothering you?”

The professor broke his gaze from the fountain spewing in the center.

“Uhm, no.”

“Oh, yes, you totally convinced me.”

He playfully pushed him before sighing.

“Okay, aside from the fact that I think your house is haunted, I think there’s something really weird going on with your coworkers.”

“Coworkers? Plural?”

“Yeah. Yesterday, I woke up—Or maybe it was a dream—but I woke up and didn’t know where I was, so I thought that I was kidnapped and put in a bedroom. Then I saw you there too and was going to see if there was a way out, but it ended up being your house and I heard people talking.”

“Who were they? What’d they say?”

“Your stalker coworker was there, and then some people named Tao, Luna, and Yixing. They were talking about a Hayong, angels, and demons, and it was just really weird.”

Chen lashed out his tail, and Minseok felt a vicarious alarm run through him. Chen told him about their meeting, and he heard the report from Yixing later that night. Luhan couldn’t have figured out anything out of context, right?

“That part was weird, but the part that bothers me the most is that they knew something about you that seemed deeply personal.”

“Like?”

The professor stared down at his knees.

“They talked about how your sibling passed away.”

The strength he had been using to hold Chen up froze and collapsed. The demon fell in his lap and pawed at him, but Minseok couldn’t look into those amber eyes. That scene he tried so hard to accept and bury showed itself in his mind, and he had to blink hard for the image to even waver.

“Minseok?”

Maybe Chen wasn’t really going to die or lose a hand from the first angel’s attack, but the danger had felt real. Even if it was just himself who was in the most danger, he didn’t want to see or experience a repeat of someone dying or getting hurt because of him. No one said anything specifically, but Minseok could figure it out—if the first angel was looking for a creature between human and demon, then, of course, his aura warnings would give him away.

“Minseok?”

He didn’t have the words to speak. The thin lines of the hospital tiles etched themselves into the concrete.

“I’m sorry for mentioning it. God—we’re in a public place. I’m really sorry. I can drive you back and then take a bus back to the pet park for my car.”

Minseok grabbed the professor’s shirt as he stood and pulled him back to the bench, shaking his head. He took a deep breath.

“Who said it?”

Luhan didn’t respond for a moment, probably thinking.

“Chen was the one who asked, but that’s because Tao had mentioned it earlier to… calm you down. The one named Yixing answered.”

Minseok let go of Luhan’s shirt when he realized that he was creasing the fabric, moving his arms to scratch at them instead. A brush of soft fur made him pause, but he didn’t look at Chen.

It made sense. Minseok knew that Yixing somehow knew, and while he never said anything specific that day he broke in front of the angel, his friend could’ve used that power to see into humans’ minds when they were troubled. That he could reason with. Chen asking about it too. The cat demon was curious, and Minseok had always tried to answer his questions, spoken and unspoken.

But the frenzy in his own mind had never been easy to diffuse. His regret and his reason fought bitterly against the other. Still, with the guilty look Luhan was giving him, he could imagine what expression Chen had, and an explanation was in order to them both. Not for his own sake, he told himself as those words in his brother’s voice accused him again.

“A serial killer was targeting people between high school and college age. My brother always wanted to go out and have fun, and I prohibited him from doing so. Not just when the killer was active but before that too, since I didn’t have the time to watch him…”

Minseok shook his head. No, that was just an excuse.

“What about your parents? Did you guys all live together?”

“Yeah, but they were busy. Minwoo had friends, but I didn’t trust them. They were the kinds to shame and taunt their friends into doing dangerous things.”

He in a breath trying to shove away all the times he found Minwoo in a hospital rolling his eyes at the nagging lecture, and the last time when his eyes never opened.

“Anyways, I… He—We had a fight about him going out. It was stupid. He snuck out of the house through the window, and I couldn’t get a hold of him until he called me. I was so mad, but he started crying into the phone. He told me that the killer had taken him to a warehouse out in the country. I went to the police, and they tracked the call long enough to figure out where. We got to there, then rushed to the hospital and… he didn’t make it.”

The memories stretched and rolled through his mind. He saw the depth of the E.R room, heard the yelling, smelled the blood and antiseptic, felt the cold and warm hands of officers and nurses holding his arm to guide him to a seat. When the border collie laid its muzzle on his knee, the flat cement of the ground collided with the hospital gurney his brother lied on in a horrible picture, and he flinched.

Something soft and something burning simultaneously ran along his arms. Minseok finally looked down. He was scratching at his arms again, but Chen also batted and butted his paws and head at Minseok’s fingers, interrupting their path of carving down his skin. Watching him flip left and right, almost frantic, Minseok stopped. He pulled his arms apart and gathered them back around the cat demon, waited until the light reflected Chen’s amber eyes as he looked up.

“Yixing told me before that it wasn’t my fault, but it feels like it. If I didn’t keep Minwoo in the house as a way to keep him away from danger and his friends, then maybe the situation wouldn’t have ended up like that.”

Chen’s ears fell, but he didn’t move other than that. Minseok wondered what that meant, but he rubbed a hand over his black coat and looked directly into the slits of his eyes, hoping that Chen understood.

“I’m not mad that you asked. It’s just… hard. You might not see it like I do, but if you’re there to listen, then I’ll tell you eventually. And you can be disgusted with my weak human feelings afterwards, okay?”

Chen’s ears shot back up, and he batted a paw into his arm. Curling into Minseok’s side, Chen had forced Minseok’s arm still by making him cradle the small body. He rubbed his cheek into the crook of Minseok's elbow, mewing.

I wouldn’t laugh or be disgusted.

Minseok froze. That—those were words. From Chen’s cat form. He wasn’t supposed to be able to understand the demon in that form, but the words translated in his head without his active participation. The shock from that instant and the taunting laughs that always accompanied the regret swirled in Minseok, and he gripped his head.

“Minseok?”

He looked to Luhan, who glanced from Chen to him. Did he find him strange for facing ‘his cat’ to talk?

“Thanks for telling me. I was worried that your coworkers intruded, but I guess that I did just that. I’ll be there to listen, and don’t worry—there’s nothing to be disgusted with when there’re weak human feelings.”

Minseok blinked in surprise, but as Luhan's response processed, he chuckled at the professor’s interpretation. The frenzy faded into his comforting presence, and Minseok could manage a small smile.

“Thanks.”

They sat for a little while longer before Luhan brought him back to the car. He drove him back even though Minseok was relatively okay and walked him inside, giving him a hug before waving bye. Seeing that the border collie was a free demon, Minseok asked it to go with Luhan and follow Tao’s orders. The dog barked, his hand, and bounded to Luhan’s side, circling his feet. Luhan was halfway down the inner street already, but Tao didn’t leave right away. The guardian angel picked at the strings of the gift bag with the shirt that Minseok had bought before.

“Minseok, thank you.”

“Hm? Oh, it’s no problem. I told you that I would get that to you the next time Luhan came over.”

“Well, yes, I appreciate the shirt, but I meant for last night. I didn’t get to thank you. I… didn’t expect for you to give me a choice. It meant much to me. And of what you said to Luhan earlier… I know that you said how you felt, but I stand by what I said before. A stranger with bad intentions cannot be your fault.”

He dipped his head and flew to catch up with Luhan and the doggie. Minseok stared at their retreating backs for a moment before he closed the door. Tao’s words ran in his head again, against the sneers in his brother’s voice. They, like Luhan's words, didn’t fade, and for once, Minseok grasped onto the hope within them despite the sneers. He wouldn't yet hold them close or believe them so easily, but he tucked them at his side.

Shuffling back into the house, he saw Chen back in his usual form, clothed, looking out onto the balcony from the slide screen. It was still afternoon, meaning they could get plenty of hours of training in, but when he opened his mouth to ask for some work time first, Chen beat him to it.

“I wouldn’t.”

Minseok waited for an elaboration but didn’t think he’d get it after a few beats of silence.

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Be disgusted by human feelings. Not like that anyway.”

He blinked at Chen’s back, not knowing what to say. On one hand, he had that impression from that moment of cat translation, but on the other hand, surprise took him by the shirt collar. Maybe that was why there was a little squeeze in his chest.

“Uhm, thanks.”

The demon huffed and turned around, narrowing his eyes at him.

“Do you think so little of me? I’m a demon, not a mannerless twit.”

“What’s the difference?”

Chen let out a squawk and marched over to him. Minseok snickered and waved a hand, passing him to his room.

“I’m kidding. I know. I’m going to do some work before we train. Shouldn’t be more than an hour.”

He decided to check his emails, notably for Horizon Malls (they finally gave him one representative to work with), and then create some data sheets that one of the other managers asked him for help on. Booting up his laptop, he had the paperwork he needed spread out on his bed—noting that he needed to have a laundry haul soon—when he saw Chen standing by his doorway. The demon hid everything but half his face behind it, peeking at Minseok with narrowed eyes. That was more than weird.

“Did you need something?”

Chen straightened, then in silence, padded over to the bedside opposite of where Minseok sat. Minseok still wondered how the demon did that when his feet weren’t muffled by socks, but then Chen crouched at the mattress so that only his arms, nose bridge, and eyes were visible, peering at his papers.

Okay, definitely never before seen Chen behavior. Maybe being a small cat for two days in a row affected the demon for a little while. But it’s not like he was a bother—Minseok actually thought that it was kinda cute—in a totally not-crushing-on-him kind of way!—so he just kept working. He responded to his emails, finally made some progress with Horizon Malls, and started inputting data into the spreadsheet when Chen shifted.

“Do you think little of me?”

Minseok’s fingers crashed into the keyboard, and ‘#ERR’ filled all the columns he needed, but all he could do was blink at the demon playing with the corner of the blanket.

“What?”

He glared at him, then sank deeper into his arms, deflated.

“Nevermind.”

“No, wait, I heard you. Why would you ask that?”

Chen glanced at him, then away, but he shifted to face him again.

“Earlier. You said that I could be disgusted with your feelings afterwards, but I wouldn’t be. And before. I don’t only care about keeping my record unblemished.”

“When did I say…”

Oh. He remembered. He didn’t think that Chen would though. Had the demon really been hanging onto those words? Then Minseok remembered his sudden confession that he didn’t hate him, and the pieces clicked into place.

“Uh, I said that, yeah. It’s because I still thought that you hated me, and, I don’t know, maybe I was trying to soften the blow.”

“What blow?”

“The fact that you have to guard me.”

Chen’s gaze scaled down to the blanket, blinking. He didn’t react any more than that, so Minseok shuffled his papers to the side and shut his laptop. When the demon still didn’t look up, he shifted and flattened himself against the sheets, prowling close and snickering at Chen’s widening eyes. He had his attention now.

“I know that you don’t hate me, so you don’t have to think so much about what I said. I definitely don’t think little of you. You’re very strong and quick-witted and more than capable of protecting me. I mean, you saved me from a giant metal whirring first angel. You’re also a cute little kitty when you want to be.”

Chen narrowed his eyes at him, irritated but a twinge of relief too, then blinked it blank.

“Why did you call yourself dumb?”

Oh, Minseok was not expecting that.

“Uh, that’s a habit. A bad habit, I know. My friend from university was always telling me to stop, said that I was too sly in belittling myself. It’s not anything of your doing. It’s not because I don’t believe in your power.”

“Then why?”

Minseok sighed, poking at the rolls made in the blanket.

“I wonder why too. I read some research saying that it’s a defence mechanism.”

“Defence from what?”

“Everything? If you beat yourself up, then no one else will be able to do it, or maybe you won’t make the same mistake again, or maybe if you suffer now then you’ll get good karma later.”

“That… sounds really stupid.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t work, but apparently, we evolved like that. Anyways, I’m sorry that I wasn’t clear with my words before and made you feel that way. You’re the best cat guard, okay?”

The demon ducked his face away from him, the same as when he had been caught kneading Minseok, and he cooed at this embarrassed Chen. He growled a little, but Minseok only laughed. Seeing the matter settled, he opened his laptop again and cleared out all the ‘#ERR,’ groaning a little at all the numbers he had to input in again. He got to work and managed to catch a few computational errors that the other manager had trouble with. At some point or another, he recognized the bed dipping beside him and the sun shining through the window, but he didn’t turn to look. When he finally finished, he stretched and plopped backwards.

He wriggled into the bed, getting comfortable, thinking it okay to lay in his day clothes since he was just going to wash the sheets anyway. Then he turned to stretch his neck, and all thoughts of laundry flew out of his head.

Chen’s face was so close. Minseok could actually count his eyelashes if he wanted to, but his attention strayed to the way the evening sun fell on the crest of his cheeks, glowing, and to all the curves of his features rounding so softly as he slept.

Well, Minseok wasn’t sure if he was sleeping. He hadn’t moved when Minseok leaned into the bed, but his eyes were closed and he was breathing peacefully.

But demons didn’t sleep unless they chose to… And Minseok didn’t know why a demon would choose to sleep. Yixing had said before that eating was like an extracurricular, so maybe sleeping was similar. Either way, Minseok chuckled under his hand so as to not disturb the demon. He might not have been allowed to sleep, but since Chen was resting, Minseok decided to watch over his guard for a change.

~~~~~

Capping the scroll case, Kai sighed and checked his phone. Chen usually sent the reports to their commander, but he asked Kai to write them since he started training Minseok. On one of his very first group missions, he asked if he could be the one to send the report. Chen had then forced him to write out all the details that their commander liked to see, and Kai had given up pretty quick. Now he wondered if Chen had done that on purpose so that he wouldn’t want to write reports in the future and question why his portal only opened to one place.

He sighed again and texted Chen if he could drop off the report with him. It was barely nighttime, and Minseok wouldn’t have to stop training if Kai just popped in for a moment. He got a reply a few minutes later, but it wasn’t what he was expecting.