Woozi and Jeonghan sat within the living room across from each other. Seokmin had just left to sate his worried mothers suspicions of being away from school. Telling her that he had gotten injured practicing spells with Seungcheol would surely be enough to satisfy her, though it was bound to leave a scar on her ever-wavering trust over Seokmin’s mischievous friend. Jeonghan had arrived earlier that morning, obviously confused.

It took some team explaining between the two of them to get a proper story across, which turned out to be easy in the end. Jeonghan's personality was far too accepting, even if it worked out for them in the long-run.

He watched the quiet demon sitting before him now. The usually energetic loud-mouth was uncharacteristically nervous.

He cleared his throat to break the silence. “So in the short while I was gone, you managed to get cursed, get Seokmin involved, and break the curse… not to mention nearly die.”

The demon nodded sharply. Jeonghan took note of the bandage around his wrist, and cuts and bruises around his mouth; odd for a kid that always seems to be getting into trouble, but never had any injuries to show it.

“And of all people, Seungcheol was the one that performed the spell that fixed you, and then afterwards almost died, Seokmin mended his wound, and you performed a spell to help him heal?”

He looked away, a curious frown painting his lips. “Like Seokmin said I gave him my blood during a spell to help him replenish his blood supply and heal his wounds. It wasn’t a spell, though, I’m sure a scholar like you is aware of the rumors of demon blood and it’s healing qualities. I just… you know.”

“So does Seokmin know then? Everything?”

“He knows about the black magic book, that I was cursed… but not everything.”

“Not about you?”

He shook his head. “While I was still cursed Seungcheol told him that I was a human who'd been cursed, and my human parents brought me to Seungcheol for help. Seokmin bought it, so I think that’s fine.”

Jeonghan thought for a moment, clicking his tongue. “No… I don’t think so.”

“Huh?” Woozi looked to him with surprise, “Why the not?”

“You’re cured now, free of the curse.”

“…so?”

He sighed. “Seokmin is naïve, but not stupid. Now that you’re cured he will expect your parents to come and bring you away. When you continue to live with us even after being fixed, he’s going to question that story eventually.”

“… then what the hell do I do, leave? Or start hiding in that damn basement again?”

Jeonghan smiled. “No, of course not, Seokmin is bound to find out anyways, so why not just tell him the truth?”

“I don’t… look, I know you and Seungcheol are understanding of this situation, but not all humans are like you. He’s a good kid, but he overreacts like a …”

“We don’t have to tell him the truth that far, you know.” Jeonghan smiled again, somewhat mischievously, “just enough that he won’t question what we’re doing.”

He raised an eyebrow at the pretty-boys devilish smirk. “I don’t get… what you mean.”

“When it comes to it just follow what I say, alright? I have a good idea.”

“Whatever, I don’t really care either way.”

They sat silently for a good moment. Jeonghan took a small sip of the tea which had been steeping before him as he eyed the demon with a knowing look. It was obvious that something more had happened. Yeah there was a lot of questions about Seungcheol’s sudden ability to memorize spell verses, but that wasn’t all that important. What was really vexing him was this look on their little demons face. Since he had returned he had noticed. The cuts, the bruises, and the way he seemed to be on the verge of having an anxiety attack at any given moment.

or at least, every time they mentioned Seungcheol.

“Woozi?”

The demon peeked up at him through round brown eyes riddled with dark circles.

“Are you sure that’s all that happened?… last night, I mean.”

Jihoon felt a nervous twitch of his heart as he stared towards the wall. “Yeah.. Why?”

“Woozi, listen.” He leaned in and placed a comforting hand on the demons trembling shoulder. “You don’t need to keep things from me, whatever it is that’s eating away at you, you can tell me.”

He bit the sore on his lip.

“Tell me everything.”

~

Jeonghan cut in before Seungcheol could continue, looking at Seokmin seriously. “We’re sorry, Seokmin, for lying to you.” He bowed in apology towards the boy, who’s eyes went wide at his Hyung’s sudden act of respect.

Seungcheol watched Jeonghan with surprise as he continued.

“The thing about Woozi’s parents… that was a lie.”

Seokmin’s frown did not waver, but he listened, peeking up at Woozi for a moment.

“At the time we weren’t sure if we could tell you everything, you know? It’s a lot to take on in general. You have to understand why we might be nervous telling you… especially considering your background.”

Seokmin sulked. He hated to admit it, but they were right to not trust him. His parents were crazy religious and avidly ethic members of society, though at their school that was how the majority were. But even-so did they have to lie about Woozi?

Woozi cut in as if he had been reading the boys thoughts. “I didn’t lie to you directly, obviously… but yeah, sorry kid.” He didn’t look at Seokmin, characteristically tsundere, and the latter felt his anger fading just a bit.

Unfortunately, though, not enough. “So what’s the truth then, huh? You told me about the black magic so what could be worse?” He could feel himself growing anxious. Maybe part of him didn’t want to know, knowing full well that at this point, he was a part of this too.

“It’s-“

Jeonghan cut Seungcheol off before he could spill the truth. “Woozi isn’t from here, he’s uh… an runaway... From North Korea.” Seungcheol gaped.

“He’s… an illegal immigrant?”

Woozi could see where Jeonghan was going with this now. Technically, it wasn't too far from the truth. “Yes, it’s why Seungcheol and Jeonghan have been keeping me here secretly.”

Seungcheol continued to keep his mouth shut, confused. It would seem that these two had brewed a plan without him. Oh well, this wasn’t the time for his own complaints. He simply kept his head down and went along with whatever the was happening. Seokmin seemed to be buying it, anyways.

The boy turned to Woozi with a shocked expression? “How did you get across? They haven't opened the borders since the war..."

Jeonghan frowned. Damn, he hadn’t thought of that. Well one lie wasn’t all that-

“I was taken here against my will." Woozi stated, expression unwavering.

Woozi continued. “Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible… But, I was forced here, and iv'e been on the run since. Seungcheol and Jeonghan are housing-and hiding-me illegally, and trying to help me get back home.” Everyone was gaping now, Jeonghan included. The two who were supposed to be aware of these facts shook off their expressions, but their feelings remained. Who knew Woozi was so good at coming up with things on the spot. “Can you see why they were reluctant to tell you?”

Woozi feigned a sorrowful expression and Seokmin felt his fury melting like snow. “What do you mean? You were forced here..”

“I’m different, from both the people in my home country and the people here. I’m not exactly sure the reason I was brought here either, but I’m sure that is part of it.” Woozi tugged down on the beanie covering his horns a bit, feeling slightly self conscious about his story. Was this enough?  “They don't take kindly to people who go against the norm where i'm from difference, so I suppose I was a venerable target. How I managed to end up here because of it is a mystery to me, but I’m only trying to find my way back home now.”

“Then… What about the curse?”

Seungcheol found the chance to get his word in at this point and took it. He didn’t want Woozi to take on all of this by himself. “It’s just coincidence, really. That black magic book showed up without my knowledge one day and weird has been happening since.”

Seokmin sat silently for a moment to take in all he had just heard. Woozi was an illegal immigrant trying to get home without being caught by the authorities or his traffickers. Seungcheol was the unluckiest man alive, and Jeonghan just happened to live with him. It all sounded very action-drama rom-com-ish to him, something straight out of a fiction novel. After experiencing that fiasco days prior though, he supposed anything was possible.

“You could have just told me that in the beginning, you know.”

Seungcheol smiled in relief. “I don’t know, what sounds better to you? Help me reverse this persons curse, he’s an unsuspecting victim with worried parents, or the one about an illegal immigrant.” He chuckled, and Seokmin finally cracked a smile.

“Yeah, yeah, woopty-doo. Now that you’re caught up and can we get back to the problem at hand?” Seungcheol smiled at Woozi, feeling a bit of relief hearing something similar to his usual retorts. When the demon avoided his gaze, that relief vanished along with his smile.

“Basically,” Jeonghan began, “we think the owner of the black magic book Seungcheol has is out to get him.”

Seokmin nodded thoughtfully. “So when Woozi was cursed, it was actually supposed to be a curse for Seungcheol?”

“Exactly.”

He thought for a moment, but it didn’t add up to him. “If it was meant for Seungcheol then wouldn’t they have realized their mistake? They clearly casted the spell on Woozi, So unless it was a spell that could be casted without actually being with the target, it doesn’t make sense.”

“I didn’t see or hear the spell-caster, there was nobody else in the house at the time. I think that’s the most likely case.”

Seokmin scratched his head. “It still doesn’t make sense! How would they know it would only be Seungcheol in the house at that time then? Unless they were just guessing, which would be idiotic when they were using such a serious spell. Only someone close to you guys would know that Jeonghan goes to Jisoo’s house each weekend without fail, and that Seungcheol hardly left the house at all.” He chewed his thumb for a moment as he attempted to think up a logical possibility. “Seungcheol…. Do you have a stalker?”

A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. Yeah he was a bit infamous in this town, but why the hell would a black magic user go through the trouble of stalking him? All they wanted was the black magic book, right? Before this whole black-magic-demon-summoning mess, his life wasn't nearly interesting enough for someone to bother stalking him!

 Even if that person had been, between the time he had gotten his hands on the book up until now didn’t allow enough time for even the most thorough of stalkers to get all of that information.

How long had someone been watching him then?

“No no, there’s no way. I’ve never noticed anyone, and besides, why would someone bother to stalk me? Of all people!” In spite of his own words, he felt himself growing nervous at the idea.

Jeonghan sighed. “Seungcheol as boring as you may think you are, you’re famous for a reason. You keep getting involved in things that you shouldn’t and people remember you for it.”

Seungcheol pouted.

“Come on, I know you’re always saying that you have no talent in magic, but you can’t deny that you have a sense of heroism. You were bound to have made some enemies through all the stuff you’ve ‘accidentally’ gotten involved in.”

“Yeah but… All those other things were seriously wrong place at the wrong time scenarios though! And most of that ended badly because of me.”

“They could have ended worse without you..”

“Not the point! Okay, so maybe I have a stalker. Now that I’m aware we need to just figure out who it is, okay? Problem solved.” Seungcheol sighed. So much for this being a good day. “I’m done eating, I’m going to finish homework.”

“But you-“ He got up from the table ignoring Jeonghan’s protest and made his way to the basement, his steps loud.

“You barely ate any of it…” Jeonghan stared at the full bowl with a frown. Seungcheol disappeared down the basement stairs without another word. That was always his solution to being in a bad mood, hiding away in the basement and practicing spells he could never get right. Jeonghan never understood why, it always just left the boy feeling defeated at his own failures.

Jeonghan got up to clean his dish. Between the silence and running water, Seokmin’s phone rang, causing Woozi to jump in his seat. He answered it quickly with his good arm.

“Hello, mom? Yes I’m at…. Okay..” His expression dropped. “Yes okay, I’ll come home then… okay… love you, bye.” The call ended and Seokmin looked at Woozi solemnly.

“Your mother?” Jeonghan asked facing the sink.

“I need to leave, she’s mad that I didn’t go home after school. I’ll see you guys later, I guess." He grinned as he got up to leave. “Bye, Woozi!”

Woozi looked to him with a serious expression. Seriously adorable, Seokmin thought with a grin.

“Later, idiot.”

The door clicked shut behind him, and the demon sighed in relief. He pulled the beanie off swiftly to give his sweaty head a break. It was way too hot for him to be forced to wear heavy head-wear all day long. Not to mention the baggy sweaters to cover his collar and tail. It was practically torture… Okay so technically he had felt torture and it was far worse than winter clothing in the summer heat, but he should still be allowed this small complaint.

Jeonghan was busy with the dishes, Jihoon followed after him with his eyes as he walked past and made his way into his own bedroom. The more he got to know the long-haired human, the more he grew to like him. Yes, he was a bit more conniving than he had originally anticipated, but it was better for them all in the long-run that he knew his way around a lie.

He shut the door behind him and picked out some weather-friendly clothing. Seungcheol had really gone all out with the mass of clothes he had purchased, although he had a complaint or two about how much of it was pink.

“Stupid…” he rummaged through drawers for a short while until he came upon a grey t-shirt and black shorts. This would have to do.

He pulled the heavy sweater over his head and stared at his own reflection in the mirror with a disappointed tug of his lips. Burns littered his pale complexion, along with various other cuts and bruises. He couldn’t figure out for the life of himself why his rapid healing had slowed to this extent. These small injuries should be nothing but a memory haunting his mind by now. His gaze wandered up to the collar around his neck, ethereally untarnished and relaying a clear, though embarrassing message. He shook his head before throwing on his clothes.

Whether he liked it or not, at some point he really needed to get over what had happened that night. The more he acted like this, the more suspicious Seungcheol would grow, and making that dumb human aware of his mistake was far more frightening than his blood-thirst.

After changing, his collar regretfully on display, Jihoon walked back out into the living room. Jeonghan stood against the counter with a look in his eyes which he couldn’t place.

“Woozi, I think you should talk to Seungcheol.”

He blushed beyond his own control. After that entire pep-talk he had given himself in the mirror, the mere mention of it still made him want to bash his face against a wall. “I.. Yeah, but what do you expect me to say?”

Jeonghan quirked an eyebrow. “No, no..” Jeonghan chuckled and ruffled Woozi’s hair lovingly. His face was nearly the same shade as those soft pink locks. “I think he’s mad at me, and he’s probably going to be down there all night making a ruckus. He’ll probably listen to you, could you try to convince him to come upstairs?”

“I thought he was doing homework?” Woozi really wanted to crawl up inside a behemoths stomach to die about now.

“You really believe that? He’s going to spend the next five hours kicking himself around that stupid basement. He can never perform a spell properly when he’s angry like that.”

Woozi looked to the door of the basement with a shy expression. “Why me?”

“I know, I’m sorry, but he won’t listen to me; you’re my only hope.”

Plus you two seriously need an excuse to talk. Jeonghan wasn’t about to sit between another awkward session of avoided gazed and longing stares, it was almost sickening. He put his hands together in a pleading motion and looked down pitifully at the demon.

Of course he didn’t want to, but who could turn down a request from this beautiful human? He sighed… “Fine, you owe me, goddammit...”

“You’re a gift. I’m going to do some homework in my room so, good luck Woozi.” He patted the demon on the back gratefully and made his way towards his room.

Jihoon sat there dumbfounded for a moment with a nagging suspicion that he may have just been tricked, but pushed the thought aside as he opened the basement door with a squeak. Each step closer he got to confronting his problems made his heart race.

“Mom, I just had a cold today, I’m fine… No, I didn’t skip…”

He was talking to his parents? Either way he sounded more calm than before, maybe this was a good thing for him.

“I’m working on homework right now, I should get back to… No! I mean, you don’t have to worry. I’m staying caught up in my studies.”

Sounded a little dire, maybe he should just sneak away and talk to him later?

“Mom! Please, I’m fine, you don’t have to come. You and dad have work to handle don’t worry about…. Yes, I know its your ‘job’ to worry about me but there’s seriously nothing to worry about.” Woozi silently scooted down a step further to see what the human was up to, quietly. Seungcheol listened to the other end with his back turned to the eavesdropping demon. “Yes mother… Okay I promise you…. Sure…. I love you too.”

He hung up the phone and stood there silently for a moment. Jihoon took this chance to speak up, but was cut short, flinching back and shutting up when Seungcheol threw his cell phone down in anger, the small device breaking into several pieces upon the concrete floor.

“! I knew this would happen!” He kicked the wardrobe and ripped paper out of a stray book, which flew throughout the space in his flurry of anger. “What part of ‘don’t worry’ means ‘drop everything and fly the over’ to her??”He grabbed a chair and spun around facing Woozi with the intention of throwing the poor furniture across the room. “, Woozi!” He grasped the chair by the end of the leg just before it could slip out of his hand and dropped it on the floor. Woozi was curled up against the step with a fearful expression in his eyes.

“Damnit, sorry… I was just, my mom was being a little, you know.. and I..” He glanced up, hoping for an angry scowl and a scolding to match. Woozi bit his lip nervously and stared down and the floor. Seungcheol clenched his fists. “Why are you down here?”

The apologetic tone in his voice disappeared with the last of his patience, despite his desire to get to the bottom of Woozi’s behavior without snapping. Woozi made some small sounds of thought as he appeared to be trying to get the words out to explain. Why, after everything he had done, was Woozi doing this? Why the hell was he acting so scared of him?

“I just… I- Jeonghan.. uh.”

“Stop.” Woozi finally looked up, surprised. “Don’t bother. I don’t know why you’re acting like this, but just… not right now.”

The demon stood up now, off the stairs and a little closer to Seungcheol. “No I’m… , I don’t know.. I-”

Seungcheol sighed out heavily, taking a step towards the demon, who took a step back. Seungcheol continued forward, and it went on like this until the shorter boy was up against a cold grey wall with the taller human looming over him.

Seungcheol placed two hands on either side of the demon. With no more space to back up into he stood beneath him silently, knees shaking just enough for him to notice.

Jihoon was avoiding his gaze, all he could imagine was the blank stare he used to stare at him that night, or the anger he would display fully knowing what he did was sin. He knew it was cowardice to avoid this topic and was fully aware that his mistake was undoable, but he couldn’t bare facing Seungcheol’s disappointment.

He stopped for a moment, staring at his feet, reflecting on his last thought. Seungcheol’s disappointment? Was that what he was worried about? What was the point of someone like himself worrying about this stupid humans opinion! He saved his life, even if he had to throw morality out the window to do so. Woozi opened his mouth to finally speak his mind, cut off by Seungcheol’s outburst.

“You know, I’m really stressed right now! And not because I’m a University student with strict goddamn parents, okay? That should be my issue, but instead it’s black magic, and demons, and curses, and to top it all off you brush off my saving you to avoid me? Can’t you be grateful? Can’t I be appreciated just once for an accomplishment that I’m happy with?”

The demons mouth was hung open, surprised. “Are you kidding me?!” He pushed back at the human with enough force to get him out of his breathing space and stumble back. The shorter boy caught him by the collar. “Grateful? You’re not the only one who’s been saving people you know! Did I ask to be summoned by you? Your ignorance is the only reason to blame for your own problems, not me!”

Seungcheol lost sight of his own morals and pushed the demon back. Woozi’s back hit the wall again, choking out a startled breath. “Yeah right, you performed a spell to save me? From what I’ve seen you can’t use magic, so what? What actually happened? And if your inability to thank someone isn’t your reason for being so thankless, then why were you acting like that?”

The demon grabbed Seungcheol’s wrists to relieve the pressure on his chest and clutched the sore spot defensively. “I can’t tell you that!”

They pushed against each other like bulls butting heads, but the balance of sheer muscle strength was obviously off center as Woozi found himself backed up into a corner again, the back of his head throbbing against a concrete wall.

“Can’t tell me? What the did you do that you can’t tell me?”

“I… eugh” Woozi twisted until Seungcheol was off of him, inevitably causing the two to topple to the concrete floor, Seungcheol hit the ground with a painful thump. Jihoon pinned his wrists while the human was still startled, trying to explain. “I saved you! You were dying, so I did the only thing that would save you! I owe you nothing..”

“How! If you can’t tell me then it was obviously something bad, right?”

When Woozi shut his mouth, unable to speak, Seungcheol pulled the demon to the floor beside him roughly, and quickly occupied the air above him.

He slammed a fist against the concrete near the smaller boys face, causing the demon below him to flinch.

"tell me!"

“Blood!”

He leaned his face away. "Huh?"

“Demon blood!… it’s... healing for humans… I gave you my blood and it gave you temporary rapid healing so that your wounds would close and your blood supply would replenish quickly…” The demon wasn’t looking at him as he had been so intensely before. Seungcheol ignored the stinging of red upon his knuckles, staring into the boy's darting eyes.

“Your.. blood? That’s it?”

Woozi sighed in annoyance. “You don’t understand, … Its blasphemy to demons! And I thought that was just a matter of respect and demon rights but.. I.. I didn’t know…” Seungcheol watched a flush come to the demons face with wide eyes.. “I didn’t know what would happen! Among demons, sharing blood had hardly any effect for those close in power, but with a human I didn’t know!”

“What happened?” None of his current thoughts were running positive.

“I don’t know, you just… lost control.”

“…And??”

“And…” He scrunched his eyes shut in embarrassment “K-ki… drinking.. kept drinking and you.. to me… ki-“

"Oh my god just tell me, please." He was imagining up every awful scenario in his mind, and at this point he just needed to know.

“That part isn’t important! I just didn’t expect it, you were unconscious, so when you sat up I thought it was you! But it wasn’t, something about the blood drove you to keep drinking, and I couldn’t stop you. Seokmin was the one who made you stop of all people…. I just, I don’t know the long-term effects of this, and if anyone finds out, Seungcheol, They’ll ing kill me, okay? I’m allowed to be nervous about this, I did something unforgivable, I don’t know what’s going to happen to you! Or to me, for that matter.”

Woozi breathed heavily to catch himself from going overboard with this explanation.

Demon blood, that’s the reason why he didn’t have an injury to tell the tale, and why he was feeling so good this morning. Something like this couldn’t be that bad, it saved him. Its fine. Seungcheol turned his fist over and away the blood staining his knuckles. He stared wide-eyed at uninjured skin beneath fresh blood. This was… fine, its….

“…”