Hoseok reached up to nervously straighten his tie after ringing the doorbell a second time. He smoothed his hair, patted down his suit jacket, and looked up at the closed door.

Why am I so nervous? I shouldn’t be nervous. It’s just a date.

Hoseok had been entirely skeptical about the ad that popped up on his computer late one night the previous week. But it was forever ago since he’d met anyone knew, so he figured it couldn’t hurt as he clicked on the link. The website had seemed legitimate enough, so he signed up with the hope that he would at least get to talk to some interesting weirdos. To his surprise, however, the lonely boy had actually met a well-spoken, seemingly sane young man who was just a bit younger than him. After several pages of back-and-forth instant messaging, Hoseok had agreed to meet the other man for a dinner date the following Friday night.

That was what he was doing now, but as the door continued to stay firmly clamped shut, Hoseok thought that it might just be best to forget about the whole thing, and leave while he still had his dignity. He wouldn’t be able to definitively say that he had gotten stood up if he wasn’t there to see the door not open, so he his heels, and was about to walk down the stairs and back to his car when suddenly a noise came from behind him.

The wooden door flew ajar to reveal a bashful, shy-looking man, apologetic smile on his soft-featured face. He was just a little bit taller than Hoseok, and the latter looked up into his date’s dark brown eyes as his foot continued to hover just above the second step.

“Trying to escape?” he joked cheekily.

Hoseok felt his face blush as he turned around to face the charismatic man. His hair was bouncy and had a slight sandy tint to its otherwise light brown hue, and his grin had an oddly charming rectangular look to it.

“It’s okay. I get it - you’re nervous. Hey; so am I,” admitted the attractive young man. “Sorry that I took so long.”

“N-no problem,” Hoseok stuttered. “Nice to meet you; I’m Hoseok.”

“Taehyung.” The younger man shook Hoseok’s hand as he happily introduced himself. “Please, come inside.”

❧

Hoseok stepped into a lavishly furnished room, complete with potted plants framing the door and family photographs plastering the walls. His eyes scanned the pictures in Taehyung’s foyer, and the younger man gave him a short tour of the line of intricate frames.

“My father and all his old army buddies. My mother on holiday with her sisters.”

Hoseok couldn’t help but notice that Taehyung himself was not featured in any of the portraits. Even the one that he pointed out as a group photo of his own extended family had no one there that was discernibly Taehyung, and Hoseok asked the younger man which one of the children was him.

“Hm? Oh, that was taken before I was born,” Taehyung explained offhandedly. “I hate hanging up pictures of myself anyways; feels a bit too narcissistic.”

Hoseok studied the picture a bit more closely. Taehyung shared little resemblance with either one of his parents, but maybe he was just the black sheep of the family in terms of looks. It was even possible, Hoseok supposed, that the other man was adopted, but he didn’t want to start out the date with asking such a personal, unprompted question, so he kept his mouth shut as Taehyung ventured deeper into the house.

“So, dinner is on the stovetop already, but I thought we could break into a nice, cold bottle of wine before it’s done,” suggested Taehyung. “What do you say, Hoseok?”

“Oh! Um, that’s… uh, fine I guess.” Hoseok was stumbling over his words, and he took a moment to gather them into concise thoughts before continuing. “I thought… I thought we would be going out to eat somewhere.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened slightly, and Hoseok immediately regretted saying anything. He hadn’t wanted to insult the other man, but he had expected a setting that was slightly less… intimate for their first date together. He vaguely remembered reading somewhere that you should always go somewhere public first - surrounded by other people, preferably - when you were meeting someone in person that you had been introduced to over the internet. Hoseok had already broken that rule by agreeing to meet Taehyung at the younger man’s house, but he had assumed that he would just be picking the latter up so they could go out to a restaurant.

Taehyung bowed his neatly-combed head, and looked up at Hoseok with glistening eyes.

“Well, we can if you want,” he capitulated sadly. “I just thought it would be nice to get to know each other somewhere a bit more… private.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Hoseok assured him. “You already cooked dinner - and besides, you seem decently non-threatening enough.”

Taehyung’s laugh jingled as he headed toward the kitchen, and he waved for Hoseok to follow him.

“Stranger danger, right? Don’t worry; I won’t bite… as long as you try to not look too tasty.”

❧

Dinner was almost breathtakingly delicious, and Taehyung turned out to be quite the interesting conversation partner. Candlelight served to gently illuminate the younger man’s face as he asked Hoseok about his family life, as well as his work and education. He listened intently to the elder’s answers, and was always ready with a follow up question or a smooth segway into another topic. Hoseok informed him when he was uncomfortable answering a question, and Taehyung completely respected the older man’s limits - never pushing him to provide an answer about things he would rather not talk about.

By the end of their meal, Hoseok realized that although Taehyung had heard about everything from his job at the insurance office to the time he had broken his arm in the second grade, he knew virtually nothing about the younger man. Taehyung seemed to avoid talking about his personal life, and although Hoseok could understand that the other man didn’t want to be seen as self-centered, he was genuinely interested in getting to know the auburn-haired boy.

“Thank you for dinner,” said Hoseok as Taehyung cleared both their plates off the table. “It was really wonderful.”

“Oh, thank you, but honestly I can’t cook at all.” Taehyung chuckled, his voice sounding husky and deeper when contrasted by the high-pitched clink of ceramic plates. “The noodles were from a box and the sauce was from a jar.”

Hoseok joined in the younger man’s laughter as they both stayed seated at the mahogany-stained table, looking deeply into each other’s eyes.

“Well, you certainly know how to make it taste like a homemade meal.”

“Secret ingredient,” Taehyung winked. “Lots and lots of cracked black pepper.”

Hoseok laughed airily as his moment of fear subsided. He didn’t know why his heart skipped a beat when Taehyung had mentioned adding something to the dish, but for some reason Hoseok’s mind jumped to believing it to be a bit more nefarious than run-of-the-mill pepper.

Jeez; he’s not trying to poison you. Lighten up.

It was probably just date-night-induced nerves and jitters, and Hoseok’s breathing returned to normal as Taehyung got up to take the plates to the sink. Hoseok stopped him, placing a hand gently on the younger man’s arm.

“Dinner really was lovely,” he repeated, “but I feel like I haven’t gotten to know you at all. Is there anything you like to do for fun? Any hobbies?”

Taehyung pondered this for a brief moment before another wide smile spread across his face.

“Well, there is one thing I do that’s pretty interesting. Follow me.”

❧

The light in the living room was soft and  dim - “setting the mood” lighting Hoseok thought privately - and the couch that the young man directed him to was exceedingly lavish and plush. He wondered what kind of job Taehyung had to be able to afford his many luxuries even when he was still so young, but again refrained from actually posing any questions for fear of coming across as rude.

“Pick a card,” Taehyung instructed as he fanned out a deck in front of Hoseok, standing above the older man with the playing cards in one hand and a glass of brandy in the other.

“Magic tricks?” Hoseok giggled. “You do magic?”

“You better believe it,” advised Taehyung playfully. “And I’m pretty damn good, too, so get ready to be amazed.”

The younger man took a hearty sip of his drink, smirking at Hoseok from behind the glass. Hoseok himself was already feeling slightly too tipsy from the wine at dinner, as he usually didn’t drink at all, so he had refused the alcohol that Taehyung had offered him when they moved into the sitting room. Taehyung set his short glass down on a richly-colored end table, and turned toward Hoseok as he spread the deck farther.

“Okay,” Hoseok slurred, selecting his card. “I have it memorized; what should I do now?”

“Now I’ll shuffle the deck,” explained Taehyung softly. “And you tell me when to stop.”

“Okay, stop,” Hoseok commanded when Taehyung had cut the deck to just before the midway point.

He slipped his chosen card inside when Taehyung giddily instructed him to, and watched as the younger man shuffled the deck one more time, rapidly mixing the cards evenly together after splitting the whole deck in half once again. Taehyung tucked the cards away in his interior jacket pocket, and made a show of proving that there was nothing in his hands or sleeves before reaching into one of the cushions on the couch, and pulling out Hoseok’s card.

“Jack of Hearts. Impressive,” Hoseok praised. “Do you know any other tricks?”

“Boy do I,” smiled Taehyung droningly. “Here; I think you’ll like this one.”

He sat down on the sofa next to Hoseok, and took the magically conjured card out of the older man’s slender hand. Holding it so that the Jack’s sideways face was looking at the curious Hoseok, Taehyung held the card between his left thumb and forefinger in clear, open view.

“Get ready for this,” he teased. “It’s really cool.”

❧

Taehyung waved the hand that wasn’t holding onto the card directly in front of the laminated paper, passing over it so that the object was out of Hoseok’s view for no more than a split second. When his hand moved away to reveal the card once again, it had changed, and Hoseok leaned closer in disbelief.

The card itself was still the Jack of Hearts, but what had once been a crisp, white playing card now looked weathered and rotten. The corners were torn, the plastic was staining, and the Jack himself looked sickly and greenish. Even the hearts appeared as if they were in danger of crumbling and falling apart, as their surfaces were littered with a series of splintering cracks across the expanse of red shapes.

“Whoa,” gasped Hoseok, continuing to look at the muted colors and tarnished sheen of the once-healthy playing card.

“I can make it go back, too. Watch.”

Taehyung waved his hand in the opposite direction, sending the card back to its fresh, original self. The card was now perfectly intact, and showed no signs of its previous, dilapidated state.

“That’s amazing,” laughed Hoseok. “How do you do that?”

“A good magician never reveals his secrets,” denied Taehyung teasingly. “Especially for a trick this amazing.”

He waved his hand back and forth rapidly, each time giving Hoseok just enough of an instant to see that the card had once again changed. It shifted from bright and clean to soiled and crumpled faster than the young man could even keep up, and Taehyung did a little chant as he flicked his wrist, captivating Hoseok as the changing card hypnotized him.

“New. Old. New. Old. Life. Death. Life. Death.”

Taehyung stopped when the card was in its aged, dirt-creased state, and held it up for Hoseok to marvel at again. The older man reached out to touch the slip of yellowed paper, but Taehyung pulled his hand away, tossing the card behind him carelessly as he held up a gently wagging finger.

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you,” he warned.

Hoseok was about to ask what precisely he meant by that, but before he could utter a single word, Taehyung beat him to the punch.

“Do you believe in magic, Hoseok?”

❧

Hoseok’s mind flashed back to a moment during dinner when Taehyung had asked him a similar question, which was one of the ones he’d been uncomfortable answering.

“Are you religious at all, Hoseok? Do you believe in God? The Devil? Any of that sort of stuff?”

Hoseok had thought that theology was a touchy subject to discuss with a stranger on a casual date, so he’d given an appropriately vague answer, and told Taehyung that he didn’t really want to talk about it. Taehyung had accepted this, but Hoseok didn’t miss the small smirk that had fleetingly crossed the younger man’s face before he moved seamlessly on to the next question, asking Hoseok about his favorite flavor of ice cream.

“Well, do you?”

Taehyung was still just a bit taller than Hoseok when the two young men were sitting down, and he hovered slightly above the elder as he very eagerly awaited his answer.

Do I believe in magic?

“I, uh… I don’t know,” evaded Hoseok. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”

“‘Not sure?’” repeated Taehyung, musing over something. “Well then, maybe I can convince you.”

❧

Hoseok tried to stand up stealthily, but Taehyung was off of the couch first, standing directly in front of Hoseok so that the older man couldn’t move without smashing into the younger’s face. He leaned down to look at Hoseok with a smile in his gleaming eyes, and Hoseok glanced quickly away, suddenly uncomfortable being so close to the man.

“Taehyung, I’ve had a wonderful time,” began Hoseok tentatively. “But it’s getting really late, and I should be going. I promised a friend I’d meet up with him tomorrow. His younger sister has a field hockey game, and I said I’d be there, so-”

“Don’t you want to see my last trick?”

Taehyung cut off Hoseok’s rambling excuse with an innocent-sounding request, staring into the older man’s eyes as the latter tried futilely to look away.

“You can’t leave before the finale, Hoseok.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on; it’s the best one,” Taehyung pleaded with a small but surprisingly persuasive pout. “I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

“Okay. One more card trick,” Hoseok agreed. “Then I really have to get going.”

Taehyung backed off just a little bit, not far enough for Hoseok to try to escape, but enough to give him some breathing room. He held up his left hand as a smile spread creepingly across his dimly-lit face.

“Oh, this one isn’t a card trick,” he droned.

“Wait; what do you-?”

Taehyung’s fingers snapped, and the world went immediately black. For a second, Hoseok thought that the lights had gone out. But then he realized that the low, buzzing drone of the gloomy yellow light was still faintly audible in the otherwise-silent background. Hoseok blinked to make sure that his eyes were still open - which they were - and he scowled angrily as the realization dawned on him.

“You bastard,” he shouted. “What have you done to me? I’m blind!”

“I think you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head there, Hobi,” mocked Taehyung from somewhere in the darkness. “Pretty neat trick, though; don’t you think?”

“No!” shouted Hoseok. “Give me my sight back. I told you I want to go home.”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” taunted Taehyung softly. “I kind of like having you here. You’re an interesting person to talk to, Hoseok. Maybe I’ll just keep you forever, and then we can talk all the time.”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

Hoseok grabbed blindly at the air in front of him, but the younger man wasn’t there.

“Let me go! I am absolutely not staying here.”

“Well, what’s in it for me?” questioned Taehyung seriously. “I think I’d have a lot more to gain by keeping you here, if you ask me.”

“I’m not asking you what you think,” Hoseok growled. “I’m telling you to un-blind me now, and to let me out of this hell-house.”

“Fine,” Taehyung relented. “Have it your way.”

Hoseok heard another snap, and a second later, he was looking at Taehyung, who had his face pressed uncomfortably close to the older man’s nose as he gazed menacingly into Hoseok’s eyes.

“But I hope you learned your lesson,” the younger man threatened. “Next time, Hoseok, don’t you dare doubt me.”

Hoseok was barely listening anymore as he scrambled hastily off of the couch, pushing past his date and darting toward the door. He leapt down the steps and sprinted to his car, not looking back until he had started the engine and was taking his foot off the brake. As his car started off down the dark suburban street, Hoseok glanced back to see an imposingly tall Taehyung partially silhouetted by the light of the still-hanging-open door. The younger man waved at him with wiggling fingers, and raised his left hand as if preparing to snap.

I just couldn’t resist the pun in the title. ( ^_^)

Yet another Devil story, and I believe we are now more than halfway through all the members. I really liked this one, personally, but maybe that’s because of all the V-Hope I got to write, haha. I’m also an absolute er for magic tricks. Like, if I was on a date with a guy and he started whipping out card tricks, I’d marry him right then and there. Unless, of course, he turned out to be the Devil. Although if that devil was also my sweetheart Tae… I’d have to think about it.

Funnily enough, I wrote this a while ago, but just recently met a nice boy online. I hope it’s not a case of life imitating art, and that he doesn’t turn out to be some sort of creature from Hell XD  Poor Hoseok just wanted to go on a date, but you have to remember that you never know who it is that you’re meeting online! Stay safe, and there will be more Devil stories soon : )