Jonghyun~

Jonghyun couldn’t help but buy about too many things for Rudolph. The little dog reminded him too much of Roo, and she was so adorable. He picked up the pace on the way home, suddenly reminded of Taeyeon.

By the time he got to his bedroom, she was already sleeping. The blanket was messed up and she was curled in a bundle, as if she had been having a spasm. Worried, Jonghyun began to make the sheets around her, freezing as he did so.

Why am I acting so concerned for her? Jonghyun stood straight, staring off into space in wonder. Rudolph had settled in the corner of his room, where he’d laid out her new bed, but started barking softly.

Taeyeon stirred, squinting up at Jonghyun and wrinkling her nose. He couldn’t help but notice how cute her expression was.

“Jjong . . .?” Taeyeon murmured, involuntarily using the nickname she’d heard Jinki use before. Jonghyun didn’t mind.

“Go back to sleep. You might’ve caught a cold from the fountain water or something,” he said hurriedly, placing his hand over her eyes. “Close. Now.”

“Mm,” Taeyeon yawned before falling silent. Jonghyun frowned when he saw that her eyebrows were drawn together, as if she were conflicting over something. He also felt weird about climbing into the bed now; it was different.

I’ll just sleep on the couch tonight, he decided, turning.

“Jjong?” Taeyeon said softly, suddenly. His inhaled sharply. “Can you stay by here again? Please?” Taeyeon continued after a pause of two beats, “I-I mean you don’t have to. But this is your bed, so I can move . . .”

“Just let me get ready for bed first, all right?” Jonghyun interrupted, grinning when Taeyeon immediately smiled. She nodded before tucking her head under the covers. Jonghyun sighed as he trudged to the bathroom and began brushing his teeth.

Kim Taeyeon . . . this human . . . He glanced in the mirror, to the open bedroom door. Is dangerous . . .

~~~~~~~

“I’m dying!”

Jonghyun shot out of bed, startled by the sound of Taeyeon’s hoarse voice loud in his ear. He glanced around frantically, only to see that Taeyeon was still in the same spot she was the night before.

Only her face was stuffed into the pillow and her arms were over her head.

“Taeyeon?” Jonghyun groaned, rubbing his face. He stopped when he noticed her heavy breathing. “Taeyeon?” he repeated.

She whimpered in reply, her fists punching the mattress.

“Headache. Hot.” Taeyeon turned her face partway to reveal her weary expression. Jonghyun’s eyes widened at the sweat that had accumulated on her skin. Jonghyun cupped his hand over her forehead.

“It’s a mild cold, not the flu. You’re lucky, it being November,” Jonghyun announced as he ran to the kitchen to wet a towel. He came back and dabbed her face, forcing Taeyeon to turn around on her back. “You need tissues?” Taeyeon nodded. “Let me get the thermometer. I had to deal with a lot of fevers when I first started turning demon,” Jonghyun clarified when Taeyeon gave him an awed look.

On the way back, Jonghyun put a bowl of food next to Rudolph, who had begun to wake up. The puppy glanced at the food for a millisecond before hopping onto the bed and Taeyeon’s hand. Jonghyun laughed and petted the dog gently.

“Mouth, open,” he commanded to Taeyeon. “Close.” He waited for the  beep. “101 degrees.” He shook his head. “You didn’t have to run through the water to catch Rudolph!” The pup glanced to them at her name. “Babo, babo, babo.” As he repeated the words, his finger prodded at her temple.

“You were in there way longer than me,” Taeyeon complained, sniffing. She took a tissue and let it simply lay on her face. “Why aren’t you sick?”

“Yah. Are you wishing disease upon me? I’m half demon! Cold water won’t affect me!” Jonghyun took the damp towel off her head and slapped her.

“Ah!”

Jonghyun stopped as his phone rang. He frowned at the unknown number. “Hello?”

“Oppa!”

“Who is this?”

“What, you don’t recognize my voice, oppa?”

Jonghyun massaged his temples. “Um, IU?” From the corner of his eye, he saw Taeyeon visibly sink into the bed. He turned more to grin at her pout.

“You got it right! Anyways, I saw that you’re late to work today, so I checked your profile to call you up. That’s not weird, right?”

“Um . . . no?” Jonghyun checked the time. He was only ten minutes late.

“That’s right, right?! So are coming to work today? We have a few check-ups today.”

Jonghyun’s eyes darted over to Taeyeon. “Can you tell Doctor Jung that I won’t be able to make it to work today? Taeyeon’s really sick right now, and I need to take care of her.” Jonghyun heard an indignant huff.

“Oh. Taeyeon? Oppa, you really should’ve called in at least. Doctor Jung will be so disappointed now . . .” Don’t you mean you’ll be disappointed? Jonghyun thought. He felt a tug at his wrist.

“Go ahead,” Taeyeon croaked. “You can’t just stay home without telling Doctor Jung.” She was doing a really bad job at hiding her disappointment. “I’ll call Jinki over. He’ll take care of me. Go, go.”

Jonghyun scowled at the mention of Jinki. “Fine. Guess you don’t need me taking care of you,” he mumbled as he  abruptly hung up on IU and dialed Jinki’s number.

“AAaagh,” Taeyeon whined, gripping her head as she buried her face in Jonghyun’s arm. “You know that’s not what I mean.” Flustered, Jonghyun stood up, letting Taeyeon’s head fall back on the bed. She grunted.

After telling Jinki what he needed to do, Jonghyun hung up and pursed his lips.

“He’ll be over soon enough. I’ll be back by lunch since I don’t have to worry about SM today.” Taeyeon made a muffled sound of acknowledgement before Jonghyun left. On the way to the vet, Jonghyun stopped in front of a random shop and glanced at the cheap yet comfy looking clothes.

Well. Since Taeyeon had gotten him a dog, he guessed he could buy her a shirt.

Jonghyun immediately pressed his face against the glass when he caught sight of the shirt that had “Demon Hunter” printed onto it.

“Perfect,” he told himself as he walked as confidently as possible into the store. “It’s not too cheesy. And it implies nothing except for the fact that she needs to find the demon.” Jonghyun nodded to himself as he took one small size off the rack. After a moment’s hesitation, he took one for himself, too.

Because he felt like it.

“Oh, oppa! You came!” IU exclaimed when Jonghyun walked into the clinic. He nodded at her. “I got worried when you hung up. I guess you were rushing?” He shook his head. “Oh. What’s in the bag?” Jonghyun sighed. Why was she so nosy?

“Clothes. Got it on the way.” To avoid further conversation, Jonghyun entered the backroom.

“Ah, Jonghyun,” Doctor Jung greeted. “Is Taeyeon alright?” The mention of her got Jonghyun all worried again, but he didn’t let it show with an indifferent shrug. “Is she home alone right now?”

“No,” Jonghyun grumbled as he began assisting the vet. “My good friend’s with her.”

“Aah,” Doctor Jung said, as if he just discovered something. “Jealousy.”

“Eh?! Of who?” Jonghyun demanded.

“Your good friend. For being with Taeyeon, right?”

“I don’t like Taeyeon!”

Doctor Jung smiled. “I never said you did.” Jonghyun slammed his head against the table.

Taeyeon~

The next time Taeyeon woke up, Jinki’s smiling face was over her.

“WAH!” she shouted,  floundering in shock until she fell off the bed.

“Oh, my gosh! Sorry! Are you okay?” Jinki exclaimed as he helped her up. Taeyeon rubbed her head and nodded. “Your fever has gone down to 99, and I’ve been changing the towel. The porridge Jonghyun left in the fridge is there”- he pointed to the bedisde table -“and you have to drink your medicine now.”

Taeyeon followed Jinki’s instructions and finally sat with the porridge in her lap.

“Um, you never gave me the chicken hand thing for my photos,” Jinki laughed nervously. “Really sorry about sneaking in . . .”

“You can tell it was a chicken?” Taeyeon inquired.

“Eh?”

“I could barely tell it was a bird. How’d you know it was a chicken?”

“It was pretty obvious to me,” Jinki said quietly.

“Oh.” Taeyeon was silent. “Jinki, I have a question.” He looked at her curiously. “Have you ever liked someone? As in like-liked. Love-liked.” Jinki shrugged before shaking his head no. “Ah. Well, I like Jonghyun.”

“What did you say?!” Jinki hollered. Taeyeon winced  and held her head. “Ah. Sorry. But are you being serious?” Taeyeon gave him a cold smile.

“No.”

“Oh,” Jinki breathed. Taeyeon picked up a pillow and smacked Jinki across the head.

“Yes, I’m being serious! Babo!” Taeyeon scolded loudly, ignoring her throbbing head as she whacked him.

“Seriously, though?!” Jinki shouted. “Ah! Ah! Stop! It hurts, I’m sorry!” Jinki shook his hair as Rudolph jumped on his lap. She sniffed at the newcomer curiously, then backed away a bit. She tilted her head curiously at Jinki. “Annyeong?” Rudolph sniffed once more before deciding Jinki was okay and  resting in Jinki’s lap again.

“I was wondering what to do,” Taeyeon whined. “This is ridiculous! I’m only here because he threatened to murder me if I didn’t help him find the demon. Now I like this stupid half-demon!” Taeyeon stared at her porridge. “It’s impossible for him to like me back, huh? Him being demon and me being human makes it worse.”

Taeyeon stuffed a spoonful of porridge into , swallowing harshly.

“And I don’t even know if the stupid dino is capable of feeling ‘like.’”

“Jonghyun can love. He’s just very sensitive to it, as I’m sure you can understand.” Jinki gave her a knowing raise of his eyebrows. Taeyeon thought about how Jonghyun’s past must’ve affected him, and she nodded slowly.

“What does Jonghyun like?” Taeyeon insisted, bursting forward with energy. “I’ll work really hard to find the demon! Then when he turns human, he’ll realize all the good deeds I’ve done for him, right?” Taeyeon grinned as she ate. “He’s done a lot for me, too.”

“Is that why you like him?” Jinki inquired.

“It’s not only that. It’s the way he’s genuinely kind, I suppose, but makes himself act like a  mean stud or something at the same time. Or maybe it’s his smile. Or maybe it’s his stupid dino-ness.” Taeyeon made a face of pure distress as she ate.

“I promise to text you a whole list of things about Jonghyun to help,” Jinki laughed. “And I won’t mention it to him.”

Taeyeon continued moping, back hunched over. “I’ll work super hard to find the demon and make Jonghyun human again.” She smiled widely as Jinki gave her an almost pitying smile. “What? Trust me!”

Jinki ruffled her hair. “I do.”

Jonghyun~

“I’m home!” Jonghyun announced as he dashed into the house. He had no idea why he was in such a rush. Jinki’s head poked out of his bedroom door, and Taeyeon’s under his. Jonghyun felt a tight squeeze in his chest before  he held up the bags in his hands. “Lunch.”

Jinki’s face immediately brightened.

“I smell chicken!”

Jonghyun shook his head as he placed the to-go boxes on the table.

“How are you feeling Taeyeon?” he asked as she slowly walked to the couch.  The boys sat on the carpet while she laid across the seat, blanket wrapped tightly around her.

“Just took medicine.” Jonghyun could clearly hear the stuffy nose she was struggling with and leaned close to her, placing his hand on her head.

“What’s her temp., Jinks?” he asked, oblivious to how close and uncomfortable he was making Taeyeon.

“It went down to 98 just a while ago. You sure have gotten close to Taeyeon noona.” Jinki gave Taeyeon a pointed smile, one that held a deeper meaning between the curves of his lips. Jonghyun didn’t like that they had some inside joke of some sort.

“What?” Jonghyun said  defensively. The space between his brows creased when Jinki shook his head, laughing. Jonghyun glanced back at Taeyeon, his hand still on her forehead. He hadn’t realized that their faces were merely centimeters apart until then, but he was more concerned about the heat under his palm. “Taeyeon! You’re burning hot again! Jinki, get me the thermometer. She’s turning red.”

Jinki cracked up as he stumbled toward Jonghyun’s room, running into the walls back and forth as he chortled.

“Do you want to die?!” Taeyeon called after him, coughing into the couch cushions as she did.

“No talking,” Jonghyun ordered sternly. Taeyeon looked up at him with wide eyes and promptly mimed zipping shut. He gave her a crooked smile. “Aigoo, are you the noona or am I the oppa?”

“Oppa?” Taeyeon wrinkled her nose at the term, whereas Jonghyun’s heart skipped a beat. He turned to the hall, where Jinki had stopped walking and was staring at Jonghyun curiously.

“W-What?” Jonghyun stammered. Jinki tilted his head to the side.

“Nothing. Here’s the thermometer.” He handed it to Jonghyun, who immediately went to work. Jinki sat down, shaking his head, but began to devour the fried chicken.

“Wah!” Taeyeon  praised  as she watched Jinki eat. “I’ve never seen Jinki bulldoze through food like Jonghyun, but he’s doing it now.” Jinki didn’t even look up from his box.

“Jinki loves chicken more than he loves me, I bet. It’s his infatuation. It has been since he was born, I believe,” Jonghyun explained.

Aah. No wonder he recognized the chicken on the hand, Taeyeon supposed. The thermometer beeped, and Jonghyun muttered to himself as he put another damp towel on Taeyeon’s head.

“Eat, eat,” she insisted. “I’m fine.” Jonghyun glowered down at her, and she glared right back.

“You’re not intimidating me,” he informed her.

“You’re annoying me,” she responded. He harrumphed and turned to the food. Suddenly, Jinki caught Taeyeon’s eyes. Jonghyun watched  as he winked at the girl  and mouthed something he couldn’t quite catch. Jonghyun looked from the corner of his eyes to see Taeyeon blush and hide her face in the blankets.

Angrily, Jonghyun grabbed a chicken from Jinki’s box. The latter immediately protested, grabbing one from Jonghyun’s.

“I bought it!” Jonghyun shouted, glaring daggers at his friend. Why was he feeling so irritated? He didn’t know.

He also didn’t know what Jinki had actually mouthed to Taeyeon.

Look at how much he cares for you.

~~~~~~~

After Jinki left, Jonghyun took out the shirts and showed them to Taeyeon.

“Yah. Look at this. Does it suit me?”

“Demon Hunter? That suits me better, doesn’t it?” Taeyeon sniffed as she ran her hands through Rudolph’s fur. When she stopped to take the shirt from Jonghyun, the puppy decided it was time to retire to its own bed. Agreeing, Jonghyun scooped Taeyeon up bridal style and carried her to the bed. “Yah! That’s a bit weird to do that!” Taeyeon protested as Jonghyun tossed her onto the mattress.

Understanding what she meant, Jonghyun blushed furiously. “Only if you have a erted mind! I didn’t know you were like that, noona!”

They both were surprised by the sudden casual term.

“This shirt is for you.” Jonghyun clarified, waving the smaller size in Taeyeon’s face. Bewildered, she accepted the gift. “It’s a thank you for getting me Rudolph. And I have one for myself because the font looked cool, okay? Don’t misunderstand!”

“What? You think I assumed they were couple tees?” Taeyeon snorted, although her cheeks dusted with pink. Jonghyun felt his face heating up, but he shook his head and forced Taeyeon to rest up again.

Dangerous human, he thought to himself again as he watched her eyes flutter closed. A danger to me . . .

A/N:

Fluffy fluff fluff

I don't know. Today felt like a fluffy kind of day

Fluff happens when I have a lack of ideas

Can't think of how to move on with the demon plot

So I'm moving on in the romance plot

Anyways, I'm going to go running five days a week

Running

Five days a week

Yep. I am ready to die. And cry.

Maybe both.

Most likely both.

Wish me luck, readers!

Thank you~