Jonghyun looked more nervous than she did. Key looked between the two of them before half tossing himself onto the couch. She had been sitting on the floor with books on her lap and Luna resting by her foot, but she had moved to take a seat in the large armchair when the boys took their seats. Being on the floor while they stood or sat above her made her uncomfortable. The wolf gracefully hopped into the chair and settled beside her, head and paws across the human's lap.

Key's eyes lingered on the fire demon before shifting away. "So...how was learning about that popsicle?" Key asked casually.

"Informative." The two demons came empty-handed, so she didn't know what they wanted to speak of.

"Can I just say...," Jonghyun started, "I'm really happy you're here." It was in a soft voice. If the room wasn't so silent, she might have had to ask him to repeat it. Then Jonghyun continued in his normal, chatty tone, "Minho told me he started to tell you abou the ice demons so makes sense that I tell you about their opposites then right?" He pushed Key a little. "Don't know why this kid is here though. He insisted that he come."

Key's eyes widened and he opened his mouth in protest, "Hey! Hold on a minute! You-"

"Whatever Key. I guess I will allow you to stay." Jonghyun punched Key's shoulder.

"Ow! What the-" Key then mumbled incoherently while glaring at his bandmate.

Luna looked bored and started chewing on her claws. She flattened her ears and squinted when the girl pat her head.

"I'm actually the second youngest of the fire demons. The youngest is a female born to my second cousin five years ago." Jonghyun started. "She spits up smoke and heats up like an oven every time she cries. Cute little thing she is."

"So how old are you then?" she asked.

"I'm 201." Jonghyun answered.

Her eyes bulged at the response, as expected.

"Huge right? The whole clan threw a party when little Min was born."

"Even if she is a little devilish brat," Key added.

"Aw...you don't like her? I think she has a crush on you," Jonghyun said with a smirk.

"No!!!!!!!" Key exclaimed in mock agony.

"Anyway," Jonghyun continued, "there are only about 12 fire demons you can ever possibly encounter. The other living 15 family members are in retirement homes in volcanoes or something. And 4 others aren't even fire demons but married into the family."

"Okay...," she trailed on. She wasn't planning on ever interacting with fire demons, or any demons for that matter, once she got out of this place.

"A characteristic of fire demons are our hot heads. We're prone to getting riled up easily." He took out his cell phone and slid it across the table to her. She looked at it and then looked at him. "Those photos are of the ones you should definitely avoid if you ever see them. It doesn't matter if they're just in front of you in a line for the bathroom. Hold it in and go somewhere else."

"Especially watch out for his sister. She's a real bi-" Key started but then stopped himself in case Jonghyun singed his nice hair.

"Actually, Key is right. If you ever encounter another fire demon, it would most likely be my sister since she looks closest to our age and lives in Seoul. And she really doesn't like any girls around me and especially pursuing me. She's super protective. She tied my last girlfriend to a stick and was roasting her like a pig over a campfire. Luckily, my girlfriend was a water demon, but she was very uncomfortable."

"I think your parents are people to watch out for too. They scare me," said Key with a shiver.

"That's your own fault." Jonghyun turned to the girl. "Key visited once and made the mistake of acting like he was my honey or something as a joke. He was all like, 'Darling! Angel! Sweety! Finally taking me to see your parents. It's about time Jongy. What a lovely home you have!'"

"Yeah....his parents don't take gay jokes nicely...," the mirror demon looked distant as he remembered the horrors of dodging fireballs from all sides, even from Jonghyun.

"My parents dream of having a bunch of grandkids. My older sister taking on a female tiger demon lover does not lend to that dream of theirs." Jonghyun explained.

"I want to make sure you are never in the situation of facing a fire demon," Jonghyun went on. "Stay out of the Gangnam district. My sister likes to shop there. Stay away from active and inactive volcanoes. Never visit Pompei. Sometimes we go there for vacation to see the devastation that the eruption caused. If you do find yourself against a fire demon, dousing us with liquid nitrogen will slow us down."

"Yeah, like she'll carry liquid nitrogen in her purse...," Key rolled his eyes.

Jonghyun smiled awkwardly, "Yeah...not practical. If you can make it dark, it gives you a slight chance too."

"What?" the girl was confused.

"We can throw around fire to brighten things up, but we really don't like the dark. I mean, that's why we throw the fire around. If you turn off the lights, it'll piss them off, but their accurancy at throwing flames will go down for a few seconds as they have to adjust. Use that time to run away. We thrive in the light and sunny areas. Either that, or really hot areas. There's only a few of us that can sense bodies of heat without touching them and they're all old and could care less about what humans are doing by now. If all else fails, you can try mentioning that you know me."

"Except to his sister," Key added.

Jonghyun went on, "The fact that a human knows that I'm a fire demon might make them pause in attacking you because they'll be confused. Use that time, again, to escape. Also, if you mention you're my.....friend, they MIGHT bring you to me and I'll just let you go. Or they'll let you go and come question me."

He glanced at his cell phone that was still in her hand. "You still have my number right? Hopefully... Keep it just in case you need me. I know you would rather just delete it and never speak to us again, but out in the dangerous world, if you ever need help....I don't want you to ever face fire again...."

Key's phone interrupted them and he read the text message. "I've been gone too long and Onew is freaking out now. Got to get to SNSD's concert and sing with Jessica-noona tonight," He explained. He stood up and pat invisible dirt off his clothes.

"You're leaving then?" Jonghyun stood and looked at his watch. He rambled on, "Oh no! I have a schedule to attend too! Some radio show with Taemin and Minho! Oh shoot! I got to go get my hair trimmed too! And call my manager. Look at the time! So busy!" He turned to her and scratched the back of his head, "Sorry that I have to go now. Umm....there's some old fire demon lore and history books that I put aside in the library on the table. It's all really boring, but if you wanna take a look at it....thanks for listening! Okay bye!" He left the room in a hurry.

Key just looked after him.

"You know, he feels really bad about that time he almost killed you. Jonghyun-hyung thinks you hate him the most. He asked me to come today to make sure he doesn't hurt you and he thought having someone else here with you might make you feel less nervous." Key whispered to her as if telling a secret. He stood to leave for a schedule. "I'm flattered that he picked me." He turned to face her. "I'll be back tomorrow and will probably be the only ones around. We'll talk then." Key started to walk away.

"Wait."

The boy froze, not really expecting her to respond. She was rather quiet so far.

"His cell phone....," she trailed off.

"Oh yeah. I'll take that." She meant to put it on the table and slide it over but he took it from her hand. His fingers were just a millimeter away from hers. The girl pulled her hand back and felt her face heat. Key didn't know if that was good or bad. He left without mentioning it but ended with, "See you tomorrow."

After Minho's bold moves, Key's phantom touch made her nervous in a non-fearful way. She shook her head at remembrance of both moments and then thought about what Key said and about how Jonghyun acted.

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THEA's Corner

Key's thing with Jessica is referring to when he performed "Barbie Girl" with her at SNSD's 1st Asia Tour. Onew also performed his duet with Jessica.

Unedited but whatever. I actually wanted to write and post this yesterday but ended up writing the next chapter yesterday. So I actually wrote the next chapter before this chapter. I even wrote that "THEA's Corner" before this one >.<
Well, that means next update will be super soon. I'll probably edit this chapter and post the next one up tomorrow.
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Posted 12 Jan 2013