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Hyukjae hissed in pain when his injured wing got slapped by a branch for the umpteenth time. He clenched his jaw to bite back the pain and cursed at himself for being so stubborn.

He should just conceal his wings and take a human form, really. It would be so much easier for him to walk in those woods without having his wings getting caught every few seconds by all the vegetation surrounding him. The demon had done it as soon as he had entered the forest, and he was now moving easily between the trees in his human disguise.

Hyukjae glared at Donghae’s back, upset, though he could only blame himself. He was the one being stubborn and refusing to conceal his wings. He was the one making it difficult for himself. He just didn’t want to feel vulnerable without his wings, and his pride told him not to copy the demon.
He wasn’t even sure himself what pride had to do with this, to be honest.

So, he stubbornly kept his wings unsealed and did his best to fight his way between the trees without getting himself more hurt. Yet, as another branch harshly scratched his sensitive feathers, he finally gave in with a frown and a dejected pout.
They were only heading deeper and further into the woods, he couldn’t keep it like this.

Carefully, he folded his large white wings and used a bit of his magic to conceal them, taking his human appearance instead. He slightly swayed at the loss, before he quickly found his balance back and got stable on his feet. He made his shoulders roll, feeling a nasty sting of pain in his ribs at the move but appreciating the physical relief of not having his wings hurting him anymore.

He glanced up at Donghae, almost expecting to find the demon smirking at him or whatever, but the ginger-haired male seemed to pay absolutely no attention to the angel’s actions. He was just moving forward, leaving Hyukjae behind.

The angel pursed his lips, relieved and yet somehow unhappy to be ignored by the other. He huffed in annoyance and proceeded to follow the demon.

He spent the next few hours like this, walking in silence, trying not to get distanced and enduring the demon’s indifference. He progressively grew tired and frustrated, and the pressure on his ribs only got worse with time, to the point he found himself sweating and panting in pain.

Sometimes, he had to jog a little to catch up with Donghae, because the demon was going faster than him, but the pain only grew more intense every time he did and he couldn’t keep up the pace. Luckily, Donghae regularly stopped his tracks to look around, and Hyukjae had the chance to close up the distance between them.

Sometimes, he had the feeling that Donghae was stopping on purpose, as if he was waiting for him to catch up with him, but he pushed this idea away. Why would the demon do that? It was already surprising enough that he didn’t react to Hyukjae following him.

The angel had to admit he was surprised. Even if Donghae had said he could do whatever he wanted, he had expected the demon to stop him from tagging along. At least to say something about it, but Donghae was just moving forward without a word, without sparing Hyukjae a single glance, as if he sincerely didn’t care to have the angel going after him.

“Bastard”, Hyukjae grumbled, flashing the devil another glare.

He knew he shouldn’t complain about it, because Donghae was letting him do as he pleased and that made things easy for him, but he hated how the demon’s indifference made him feel utterly insignificant. He clearly wasn’t taken seriously.

But then, Donghae stopped.

Hyukjae flinched and stopped too, wondering if the demon had heard his muffled insult and was mad about it. But the demon still paid him no attention. He walked to a tree a couple meters away and bent down to pick up something on the ground. Hyukjae narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure what the demon had found, and he held his breath as he spotted a little baby bird caught between the devil’s slender fingers.

He tensed, ready to see the small sparrow being crushed, eaten, or whatever the demon was going to do to him. But he was left dumbfounded when Donghae brought up a finger and gently patted the animal’s tiny head.

“Fell from your nest, didn’t you?” the demon softly uttered. The little bird chirped back.

Hyukjae could only stare, shocked, as Donghae delicately held the sparrow within his palm and used his other hand to climb up the tree. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It took less than a minute for the devil to reach the nest, settled inside a hollow dug in the tree trunk, and place the baby bird back to his home. The nestling’s mother landed on the branch, next to the demon, and observed as her chick was returned to her.

Hyukjae realized then that the birds weren’t afraid at all. Usually, animals weren’t scared of angels, for they knew the immortal creatures would never hurt them, but they dreadfully feared demons. They could sense the danger and always flew away from them. They should have been scared of Donghae, but they weren’t.
Hyukjae was left even more confused and intrigued.

He watched the demon climb down the tree and jump back to the ground gracefully. As he landed on the grass, the devil looked up and, for the first time in hours, Hyukjae met Donghae’s gaze. The devil looked back at him, his eyes soft yet still sad, and he cocked up an eyebrow, as if saying what are you looking at? Hyukjae shrugged defensively. Donghae spun around and resumed to walk away, breaking their eye contact.

It took a few seconds for Hyukjae to react. He suddenly jolted, snapping out of his confused state, and quickly moved forward to follow the demon. Donghae was ignoring him again, but this time he was too busy observing the demon to care.

He hadn’t realized it before, but he suddenly noticed that animals weren’t scared nor running away from him. They didn’t seem to react to the demon’s presence in their woods. On the other side, Donghae showed no sign of aggression and didn’t try to harm any of them. He was just peacefully crossing the forest, never trying to disturb its population.
Hyukjae grew more and more curious as he silently watched the demon. The more he looked at him, the more he was becoming aware of the demon’s abnormal behaviour.

They walked for another couple hours. Hyukjae slowly lost his focus on the strange devil walking before him. He was getting tired. His body was aching, his ribs burning with sharp pain, his legs were getting heavy and his breathing uneven. He had placed his hand over his wounded sides in a vain attempt to contain the pain, but he couldn’t ease his suffering.   

Eventually, feeling exhausted and panting from pain, he ended up stumbling. He was affected by the spell too, and his strength was already starting to fade. He cursed under his breath, using his free hand to support his weight against the closest trees. He quickly glanced at Donghae to see how far the demon had gone, but he was startled to find the ginger-haired devil not moving anymore, looking at him instead.

Hyukjae’s body stiffened and he gulped down nervously, not knowing what to expect next. The demon just heaved a deep sigh and averted his eyes. He turned away and silently walked away.

Hyukjae his lips nervously and forced his body to move forward. Despite being tired, he would never give up and let Donghae go wherever he wanted, do whatever he was planning to do.

They wandered through the woods for another hour. Hyukjae followed the demon, gritting his teeth and clenching his jaw as he bit back the pain and forced himself to keep walking. After what felt like an eternity, they eventually reached a small clearing and that’s when Donghae stopped.

He stood in the middle of the clearing, gaze scrutinizing the surroundings. Hyukjae stood a few meters away, on his guard, observing the demon’s actions. He raised a confused eyebrow when Donghae went to pick up some wood and gathered it at the centre of the clearing. It was quite obvious that he was planning to make some fire, and Hyukjae sighed in relief because that meant he was finally given the chance to take a break.

Donghae quickly brought enough wood to start the fire. He made a neat pile of branches and used his magic to put it on fire. Seeing the demon settling himself in front of the fire, Hyukjae exhaled deeply and let himself slid down to the ground, back resting again the thin trunk of a birch tree.

“Don’t be silly”, Donghae suddenly spoke. “Come and sit here. It’s getting dark and cold.”

“No thanks”, Hyukjae grunted in a breath.

Donghae sighed. He stood up and walked up to Hyukjae, who fiercely glared at him, daring him to try anything. The angel gasped and held back a yelp of pain as he was yanked back up on his feet and dragged towar