Not a warning, just an important psa lol: @1724uly on twitter made the amazing fanart for this chapter! Y'all should go Follow her and give her love <3

Chapter 16:

In the midst of the car ride to school, Seungcheol was sitting in the wide open space of the back seat, when something dawned on him.

You look good in my sweater, he had said. You, Woozi, my summoned demon from hell, look good in my sweater. Why? Well, because it was a bit baggy on him, which is endearing, and it’s reminiscent of the… dare he say: ‘boyfriend shirt’ effect. Part of him would wonder if Woozi realized what his comment had referenced… Woozi was, after all, kind of weird about human culture, he might just think it was an innocent compliment. Then again, why had he even said that in the first place? Why had he been thinking about that the entire morning? When did Woozi start to willingly wear his clothing? All these questions berated his mind, so he didn’t even notice they had arrived at their destination.

“Sorry about the noise yesterday, Wonwoo.” Mingyu gave a goofy smile to the boy across the gear shift, who shrugged as he put it into park.

“I had headphones in, It’s fine.” Honestly, Wonwoo was dying of curiosity. Who was that boy with the pink hair? Why did he sleep over? Why was Jeonghan in Mingyu’s bed? What was with all the screaming? Unfortunately, he’d never been all that close to Seungcheol, so asking when he was in the car was a little embarrassing.

“You coming, Coups?” Mingyu asked, tapping on his window.

He shook himself out of his thoughts, getting out of the car to join the others. “Ah, yeah, right.” He patted Wonwoo on the shoulder with a grin. “Thank’s for the ride, dude.”

Wonwoo smiled shyly. “It’s no problem.”

When Seungcheol sat down in class, he took no notice of the eyes that turned to him with judgement. He didn’t need them to remind him that he looked like crap. That’s just what happens when you wear the same clothes for 48 hours without getting the chance to take a shower. Honestly, There were way more important things for him to worry about other than public appearance. He thanked god that he only had one class today, or else he might die of curiosity before even getting the chance to sate it.

He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, mind overwhelmed with images of brown eyes and baggy clothing. Woozi had felt so soft when he hugged him, reminiscent of how it felt hugging a girl… At that thought, Seungcheol wondered briefly if thing’s would be different if Woozi Was a girl. Would he be able to accept these relentless feeling’s if that were the case?

No, that’s stupid, even if his gender wasn’t an issue, his species certainly is.

A hand slammed against his desk, and Seungcheol flung his eyes open in shock.

“Ready for Karaoke today?” his sharp-eyed friend exclaimed with an excited grin.

, right, karaoke. Why did he always make plans with Soonyoung at the worst times? “Was that… today?”

“Oh, come on, Hyung.” Soonyoung pouted. “You always forget! Do I mean nothing to you?”

Soonyoung feigned a sob, covering his eyes with his hands. Others turned to look with curious whispers.

“Don’t be like that, Soonyoung.” , well, he supposed he could go to karaoke after dealing with the whole Woozi situation, on the off-chance that it didn’t take all evening. He sighed. “Before we go tonight, I need to stop home and shower. I slept over at Mingyu’s, so I never got the chance to this morning.”

Soonyoung leaned over him, sniffing with a suspicious expression. Immediately, he grimaced. “Ugh, okay. I believe you.”

He calculated quickly in his head. This class ended at 12, so… “How about we meet around 5. At Chrystal mall?”

“Sure!” Soonyoung chirped. “Do you mind if I invite Seokmin and Seungkwan?”

Seungcheol chuckled. “Sure.”

He cheered, jumping a bit. Seungcheol never understood how this boy was always full of energy. After a short celebration, he pointed a finger, looming over Seungcheol. “You better not forget.”

“I wont, cross my heart.” After that, Soonyoung seemed to be satisfied, hopping over to his desk as class began. Seungcheol watched the clock, each tick of the hand made the world feel slow-motion.

~

Seungcheol was out of his seat before the professor even managed the ‘missed’ in ‘dismissed’. Mingyu still had another class after this, so Seungcheol could safely assume they would be alone when he got to Woozi.

When he arrived at the apartment, he knocked on the entrance with a little too much urgency.

Someone within scurried to the door, then after a few moments of clinking locks, Woozi was there, gazing up at Seungcheol with round eyes. He opened an arm to welcome him inside with an unsure look. It was odd for Seungcheol too, since Woozi generally hid whenever there was a knock at their door. Woozi was, as well, still wearing his sweater, but Seungcheol tried not to think about that as he shut the door behind him.

“Is that Mingyu guy with you?” Woozi sat on the couch, legs hiked up to his chest, tucking his knees behind the sweater. From this position, it looked like he didn’t have pants on, not that Seungcheol noticed.

Seungcheol sat down next to him. “No, he has class still. How’s Jeonghan?”

“Sleeping. His temperature has gone down a bit.”

Seungcheol smiled. “That’s good.”

For a moment they said nothing, neither looking at each other. Surprisingly, Woozi took the initiative, coughing to break the silence and turning to Seungcheol.

“I need to tell you something.”

Seungcheol’s mind raced as Woozi leaned closer, eyes wide with determination. A confession? A secret? What was that look!? “Yeah? What is it?”

“The ones who attacked me.” Oh, right, that’s important. “It was your parents.”

His thoughts halted.

Woozi pulled off the beanie hat that he’d worn in a hurry, scratching the hair near the base of his horns. “I know, it’s ing crazy. But, yeah, it was them.”

“Wha- how do you know?”

“I heard them when I was running away. And, you know, I heard their voices already, so I’m certain it was them.”

His parents…. Mr. and Mrs. Government boot-ers, his not-so-loving mom and dad. They’re the ones Seungcheol had been wishing curses upon since the moment he knew Woozi was in danger? It all made so much sense.

“I see...”

Woozi blinked, a bit confused. “You’re okay with it?”

He shrugged. “My parents are s, it makes sense.”

“Seungcheol, stop being a moron, this isn’t a joking matter.” He hissed, leaning closer in an attempt to evoke urgency.

The silence erupted again as Seungcheol gave it another thought. “Wait, , do they know about you? Holy , do they know about us?”

“No , genius. At least, that’s what we’re assuming. Have you talked to them since yesterday?”

He checked his phone for messages, there weren’t any, not from his parents at least. “No, they weren’t even there when I came home after school… Do you think they followed you?”

“I doubt it,” Woozi leaned back, letting out a breath. “If they did, they’re ing slow, ‘cause I managed to cripple away without much trouble. Anyway’s, I don’t think they actually saw me, so we might not have to panic just yet… Your parents are really powerful, huh?”

Seungcheol rolled his eyes. Yeah, they were, he’d been told plenty of times before, it was getting a little old. “Oh, really?” he enunciated sarcasm, though Woozi didn’t seem to notice.

“They knew I was in the house… Even if they didn’t know what I was exactly, or what I looked like, somehow the knew. And, the spell they used to expel me? It really almost killed me. If I hadn’t been near a window, they would have captured me. I’m one hundred percent sure about that.” Woozi looked a bit deflated, which was understandable. Seungcheol could also relate with feeling like garbage in comparison to his parents, so he knew it was a ty feeling.

He hated that Woozi always held that melancholy look on his face, like nothing in the world could make him happy. If he could change anything, it would be that.

“You know Woozi, you’re pretty amazing yourself.” He tried, looking at the demon with an expression that, he hoped, didn't look too obvious.

The shorter boy raised an eyebrow, not believing a word of it, so Seungcheol continued.

“Think about it! You broke multiple bones, could barely walk, but you just got up and kept going? That’s… Dude, that’s badass.” Seungcheol beamed at him, hoping Woozi would crack even a little twitch of a smile.

“If I was more powerful, I could have fought back… I just ran away.”

Seungcheol sighed, watching Woozi’s frown remain unmoved. “This is your problem, Woozi, you’re always putting yourself down. ‘I can’t do this’, or ‘if I had been stronger I could have done that.’ I mean, do you really think you’ll be able to do anything if you don’t give yourself a damn chance?”

Woozi didn’t look angry, like he’d expected him to be. Instead, he gave Seungcheol a little confused quirk of his head. “Aren’t you the same?”

“Huh?”

He was sitting cross-legged, facing Seungcheol fully. “You’re always saying ‘I hate magic! I at magic!’, aren’t you?”

Seungcheol chewed his cheek, wishing he had some sort of defense, but Woozi was right. “Oh, I guess I do do that.” He huffed as he thought about it, laughing. “We’re kind of similar, huh?”

The demon leaned back on the arm-rest of the couch, breaking away from Seungcheol’s face. “Except, you say like that, then turn around and perform a ing miracle.” He mumbled. “So not really.”

“Don’t say that, man…” God, making Woozi smile was even harder than he thought it would be. He checked his phone quickly, it was 2:30, so they still had some time. What could they do? Woozi couldn’t stay with Mingyu another night, every moment Seungcheol left him alone was another chance for their secret to be discovered. They would have to go back to his place. “Do you think Jeonghannie’s feeling up for the trip home?”

His expression flipped in a blink, eyes shaking. “, we’re going back? What if your parents are there?”

He really didn’t want to, but he supposed this was something they should figure out. “I’ll call them, ask where they are. Plus, if they don’t immediately try to perform an arrest, maybe it’ll mean they don’t know everything.”

“Okay, fine.”

Seungcheol dialed the number on his cell, lounging against the couch. The phone rung a few times, almost making him worry they wouldn’t answer. Finally, a chirpy voice greeted from the other end, in such a casual tone that Seungcheol felt his stomach turn.

“Hi honey! Anything you need?” Woozi scooted closer to Seungcheol’s side, one hand on his shoulder as he pressed his ear to the other side of the phone. Seungcheol put all his effort into keeping his voice from cracking as a result.

“Hey mom, just wondering where you are. I slept at Mingyu’s yesterday, but I didn’t see you before we left.” Was this kind of an attitude more suspicious than outright rage? Actually, considering their normal relationship, he doubted either would raise their alarms.

“Oh, I’m sorry Seungcheol. Your father and I got called back to work this morning, so we took off last night. I guess your father forgot to text you.” There you go Soonyoung, Seungcheol could pretty much tell the future.

“Oh, okay. I guess you’re at work, then. Bye.”

“Yup! Bye, I love you.” Seungcheol hung up, not bothering to respond. They come to his house, they eat his food, they almost kill his demon, and then they just leave? How could she act so innocent after doing something like that?

The hand on his shoulder brushed against his neck as Woozi sat back. “Does that mean we’re safe?”

“God, I guess? If not, I’m nominating my mom for an Emmy, because that was stellar ing acting.”

Woozi rolled his eyes. “Everything’s a joke to you, isn’t it?”

“It’s how I cope.” He got up, stretching. “Anyways, we gotta go.”

“Now?” Woozi trailed behind him as they entered the room where Jeonghan was sleeping.

The sight of him was… really something else. There was a cold patch on his forehead, two on either cheek, one peaking out from his chest, Ice water, a rag that looked like it had been used to wipe sweat, various medicine bottles scattered about. Had woozi raided the cupboards or something? Wonwoo definitely hadn’t left this much stuff. “Did you do this?”

“I was the only other one here, so duh.” He looked away’ scrunching his nose up in embarrassment. This guy was a little walnut. Hard shell on the outside, soft nutty, and sweet on the inside... Okay, maybe he shouldn’t think up anymore food-based metaphors for Woozi, because he definitely did not just wonder what he tasted like.

Instead of testing that metaphor out, he went for an encouraging grin and ran a hand over Woozi’s hair as thanks, brief enough that the demon couldn’t complain. He lifted Jeonghan up on his back without too much difficulty. Jeonghan was tall, but he was slender, so he wasn’t really heavy. The sleeping beauty flopped an arm over his shoulder and continued to snore while Seungcheol shifted him into a comfortable position.

Woozi, to the dismay of the 2-days-without-a-shower stickiness against his scalp, pulled on the same hat to hide his horns. As Seungcheol toed on his shoes, he took alarming attention to Woozi’s bare, dirty feet.

“You don’t have shoes.” He stated.

“Yeah, you never gave me any.”

Woozi never went outside, he was never supposed to leave the house in the first place. But fine, make him feel guilty about forgetting the shoes after he bought a lottery’s worth of brand-name clothing for him. Seungcheol pushed a sneaker towards him with his foot. “Here, wear Jeonghan’s for now.”

They were kind of big, but it was better than nothing.

The trip home was short, since they were already half-way there. Woozi stuck to Seungcheol’s side like glue whenever they passed a stranger, which was endearing, if not sad. This kid must have been scared out of his mind yesterday. He fumbled with the lock on the door, balancing Jeonghan, and letting out a yawn as he trudged inside. His back ached.

Seungcheol was already heading down the hallway when he felt a shock of pressure stop him in his tracks, a shocking pounding against his head. He spun to Woozi, who was lying down at the bottom step of the walkway, rubbing his nose in shock. “Holy , what happened?”

“There’s a wall.” His hand was over his nose, muffling his words.

Seungcheol cursed, side-eyeing Jeonghan. “Jesus. stay right there, okay?”

“What?!”

Seungcheol disappeared down the hallway without another word, and Woozi pulled himself off the ground with a pained grunt. He peered at the opening in the door, searching for some sign of a wall; it was completely invisible. So that’s it, huh? It wasn’t an expulsion spell, but a barrier? What bull.

“You okay?” Seungcheol stepped through the entrance with ease, holding Woozi’s face in his hands to check him for injury. His face was a bit red, but that was it.

Once again, he stood there finding the sensation of Seungcheol’s hands around him to be something oddly comforting. He pushed the human off of him before that thought could get too far. “ off, I’m fine.” He eyed the door with determination. “Let me try again.”

Seungcheol grabbed him by the arm before he could take another step. “Are you crazy?”

“I don’t know, Kind of lightheaded. Now Move.”

Seungcheol did not move. He did the opposite, holding onto Woozi’s wrists tightly before he could do something stupid. Woozi, despite his words, wasn’t really all that gung-ho about running into the wall of doom again, so he dropped his struggle with a huff. “Well, what do you suppose I do, ?”

He waved a hand through the entrance cautiously. “Why doesn’t it work on me?”

“Do you really need to ask? Obviously, it’s some kind of a demon barrier. Or a spiritual one, for blocking evil. It won’t affect you.”

Seungcheol rubbed his head where he’d felt a shock of pain. “I did feel something, though.”

“Huh?”

He brought his voice down, side-eyeing the neighbor’s houses to check for eavesdropping. “When you got hurt, I felt it.” He brushed a thumb over Woozi’s forehead, painfully red. “The same thing happened yesterday.”

His face flushed, feeling a bit… exposed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Woozi, we have a lot of stuff we need to talk about. It’s just been a little hectic, you know?” He peeked at the time on his phone, eyes bulging out. It was 4:00, they did not have time to be dealing with more magic bull! He turned around frantically, as if help would pop out of the bushes and solve his problems. He needed to shower, and change, but more importantly, what was he supposed to do about the demon standing on his front steps?

What a predicament. He took a breath and cupped his chin with his hand, looking Woozi up-and-down. He really did look human as long as all his ‘extra bits’ were covered. Plus, he couldn’t exactly leave him here, out in the open for an indefinite period of time.

“Stop staring, ! I know that look, you’re thinking of some stupid plan again, aren’t you?” The demon scowled with flushed cheeks, crossing his arms over. Seungcheol wouldn’t deny that seeing that face made him want to stare longer, provoke him.

“How do you feel about karaoke?”

~

Combining Seungcheol’s overzealous explanation of ‘karaoke,’ the frantic shower and outfit change, ensuring Jeonghan was tucked in comfortably with some necessities at his bed-side table, and standing watch while Woozi fumbled into a fresh change of clothes behind some shrubbery, it took exactly 45 minutes for Seungcheol and Woozi to get ready to leave.

Seungcheol acted nonchalant about the whole situation, but he wouldn’t lie to himself and say he wasn’t a little happy. Woozi couldn’t really choose for himself, so given free range of the demon’s closet, he took advantage. Seungcheol peeked to the side where Woozi walked beside him, one hand rubbing at his arm in a self-conscious manner. He really didn’t need to be embarrassed, he looked straight out of a magazine. Seungcheol had thought of a ‘schoolboy’ concept for todays look. A white button-up topped with a sweater-vest style over-shirt. The collar of the shirt was tall, and tied with a baby-blue lace, it masked the collar nicely. The grey beanie he had to wear kind of ruined the look, but Seungcheol could live with it.

“So, where is this place? The big sound-proof room where we sing?”

Seungcheol snickered. “It’s 10 minutes away, tops, we just gotta catch the bus.”

“Bus?”

“Right, uh… It’s a long car, that lot’s of different people use to get places.” He explained in a patronizing voice.

Woozi shuffled his feet, frustratingly confused. “Why? Do you know those people?”

As they made their way to their destination, Seungcheol quickly learned that Woozi’s outdated vocabulary was a much bigger issue than he’d thought. So, he took it upon himself to fulfill that promise from before. It was actually sort of fun to be able to teach Woozi the way around human society.

Woozi had an adorable thirst for knowledge, so given the chance, he would ask Seungcheol every little doubt on his mind. The look in his eyes as Seungcheol described a foreign term to him, the tug against his sleeve as the demon pointed towards strange new things. Woozi and Seungcheol sat side-by-side on the bus, playing this little game, and for once it felt like life was normal. Like Woozi was just another one of Seungcheol’s friends, just another human in his life.

For once, Seungcheol didn’t feel guilty about the thumping of his heart when Woozi looked up at him.

They arrived at the meeting spot only a few minutes late, yet there was Soonyoung, charging towards Seungcheol with a fierce gaze.

“You’re late! You’re the one who said 5. Everyone knows the person who made the plans should be the first one to arrive.” He complained, kindergarten logic spewing.

“Technically, you’re the one who made the plan. I just set a time.” Seungcheol grinned, patting a comforting hand on Woozi’s shoulder when he felt him shy away.

Soonyoung was about to continue, fully prepared to start a scene, when he spotted the boy standing hidden behind Seungcheol. “Who’s this, Coups?”

Before he could respond, Seokmin was bounding towards them at lightening speed, pushing Seungcheol aside to pull Woozi into a tight hug.

“Woozi! I Didn’t know you were coming!” Woozi had his arms hovering in the air in shock, curses muffled into the taller boys chest. Seokmin pulled him back by the shoulders, smiling down at him like a sunflower. “It’s been so long! My parents decided Seungcheol Hyung was a ‘bad influence’ on me, so I’ve been grounded from visiting for a while. What are you doing here? Oh my god, do you like singing, too?”

Recognizing Seokmin’s moronic grin, Woozi pulled away, flicking him in the forehead to distance their faces. “Do you ever stop talking?”

Seokmin rubbed his forehead, pouting for a moment, but his smile returned tenfold as his eyes spotted color rising to the ears of the object of his affection. Just as he’d day-dreamed about since last they parted, Woozi was ridiculously adorable. “God, I missed you.” He tugged him against his side, arm’s wrapped around narrow shoulder, daringly so.

Woozi didn’t say it, but he kind of missed him too. He could do without the hugging, though.

Seungcheol dug nails into his palms, clenching his fists to stop himself from prying the lovebirds apart. Seokmin was definitely a friendly guy, but that was way too close for comfort.

“Uh, who is that?” Soonyoung asked again, his confusion growing.

Seungcheol looked away with little regret as Woozi and Seokmin caught up with each other. “That’s uh, my friend Woozi. I hope you don’t mind that I brought him along.”

As Soonyoung watched those two, noticing the flush of Seokmins cheeks, his usually boundless energy felt drained. “No, its fine.” He coughed, bringing a smile back to his cheeks. “Introduce me, Coups!”

A little too gladly, Seungcheol pulled Woozi away from Seokmin by the arm, who whined and trailed next to them like a puppy. He held a hand over the small of Woozi’s back, a gesture that should mean nothing, but somehow Seungcheol felt the need to stake a claim, since Seokmin was beaming in on him like a honing missile. “Woozi, this is Soonyoung. Soonyoung,” he patted him forward, ushering Woozi to be friendly. “This is Woozi.”

Woozi’s face contorted in an ugly fashion, simultaneously scowling and embarrassed.

When no move was made by him to shake Soonyoung’s outstretched hand, he leaned down with a whistle. “Wow, Woozi, you’re really pretty.”

“Huh?” He spat. “Pretty? What the is that supposed to mean? I’m a man.”

Seungcheol slapped a hand against his own face. So much for acting friendly. Despite the harsh words, Soonyoung simply chuckled.

“Ah! Sorry, I just meant your skin is pretty. I didn't mean it to sound offensive.” Woozi shut his mouth into a thin line, taken back. “It’s nice to meet you, Woozi.” He held out his hand again, this time Woozi took it, giving a little tentative shake. It seemed to be enough to satisfy Soonyoung, who grinned.

“Boo Seungkwan has arrived! I know, I’m-…Who’s this?”

After all the necessary introductions had taken place, they piled into the karaoke building. They split the bill evenly, except-obviously-Seungcheol paid for Woozi’s part.

Seungcheol expected Woozi to be more shy in this situation, more aggressively unwilling with everyone else. After all, that was how he and Woozi were in the beginning; all tooth and nail, no lukewarm awkwardness. But, then again, they never had their ‘nice to meet you’s.’ They were just thrown into each others lives and forced to cope all this time. So, when Woozi nodded along to Seungkwan’s babbling with an overwhelmed expression, no swearing, no telling him to off, it felt a little bit like he’d missed a chance to have that with Woozi.  

Seungkwan picked up the mic, standing at the front of the karaoke room like an announcer. “Good afternoon ladies and gentleman, are you all ready to sing your hearts out?” He turned the microphone to the ‘audience,’ where Seokmin gave a solitary cheer of approval.

Seungcheol sat at the end of the couch, Woozi beside him, and Seokmin after that. He bit his tongue as Seokmin pressed up to the demon’s side with a song book, flipping through with joy. “What kind of music do you like, Woozi?”

Was this guy trying to blow their cover? Woozi probably only knew weird classical hell music! They didn’t even have rap in hell as far as he knew! Oh well, he couldn’t blame Seokmin, since he only knew half the story.

Woozi thought back to yesterday. He hadn’t looked at a lot of the titles, so he only remembered one. “I like ‘You and I.’”

Seungcheol gaped.

“By park Bom? Me too! Do you wanna sing that one?”

He thought about it for a moment. Watching this Seungkwan guy sing with so much passion, he couldn't help but think it looked kind of fun. He supposed he could go along with these humans. “Okay, yeah.”

To the utter disbelief of Seungcheol, Seokmin punched the song into the queue. He wanted to ask every question in the book. How did he know Park Bom? When had he introduced himself to Seungcheol’s favorite songs without him? He leaned into Woozi incredulously. “You sure?”

Under the low light of the karaoke room, spinning beams of color illuminated the unexpected sparkle in Woozi’s eyes. He nodded, lips drawn into a tight line, quirked up into a brief smile. “Yeah, I like singing.”

Seungcheol’s breath caught, Seungkwan’s honey-like vocals serenading the atmosphere. Woozi’s expression faded into something curious when Seungcheol continued to stare, mouth hanging open as if he meant to press on. It took Seokmin pushing a microphone in-between them to bring Seungcheol back to reality.

“Your turn’s up, Woozi!” There was something in his face that was so not Seokmin. There was something angry there, blocking the space between he and Woozi. Seokmin and Seungcheol exchanged a competitive look, while Woozi sat between them without a clue.

Seungkwan took a theatrical bow, before sitting down next to Soonyoung. When 'you and I' appeared on the screen, Woozi took the microphone from Seokmin, who ushered him to the front of the room with encouraging cheers.

He took a breath as the music began, eyes locked onto the screen. He’d only listened a few times, so he hadn’t memorized the lyrics perfectly, but Woozi was confident. He had taken singing lessons before, briefly. Even though they were just to test if he has siren abilities, he enjoyed them a lot, so even after he was cut off from that, he continued to sing in secret every chance he got. As the countdown before the lyrics came, Woozi steadied his breathing.

When he began to sing, Seungcheol felt chills. It started slow, only teasing his full potential. His voice was simultaneously soft and passionate, and in turn, Seungcheol felt himself melting. The demon squeezed his eyes shut with every drawn-out verse, expression shaking as notes rolled through his throat, pouring out and filling the room with petal-soft lulls. Even Seungkwan was a little surprised, and he was the king of vocals in their friend group. Seokmin, stuck with a permanently gaping mouth, actually appeared to have gone to heaven.

Then, there it was. Woozi fell into the flow of the song as passion rose. The melody grew stronger against the of the music, and Woozi began to smile. It was a shock for Seungcheol and Seokmin alike, though nobody else in the room paid much mind. His cheeks puffed out, high on his face as his lips stretched joyously. He was so innocently lost in his own singing that he had yet to notice the effect he had on Seungcheol, and , he had dimples? How was that even fair?

Seungcheol had been trying so hard to make him smile, to see Woozi show genuine happiness for once, yet here it was.

And god, now that it was right there? All Seungcheol wanted was to test what other expression’s Woozi could make for him. He wanted to see him cry, see him laugh, share with him those vital elements of humanity that had separated them all this time.

The room cheered when Woozi finished. Even he managed to break his fantasies and give the demon a round of applause. Woozi looked at Seungcheol, eyes curved up into crescent moons, cheek’s red, a little out of breath.

And for a moment, Seungcheol though; maybe it didn’t matter what Woozi was. Boy or girl, human or not, he just didn’t care.

He was falling either way.

~

Kyungsoo watched the group of familiar boys pile out of the Karaoke bar like a bunch of drunk men. Arms thrown over shoulders, toothy grins, disgustingly elated. Seungcheol had gone an unfamiliar route after class, so following after him had become an act too dangerous, even for him. Kyungsoo couldn’t risk getting caught, not now that everything was hanging by a thread. Overhearing their plans in class, he’d followed Soonyoung instead. A boy too helplessly caught up in his world of sunshine and butterflies to notice he was being watched. He never even spared a glance behind him on the way to meet Seungcheol.

He’d only followed them here to find an opening; Kyungsoo was desperate. If he could catch Seungcheol alone on his way home, he might have an opportunity to put his next plan into action. There was no room for failure this time around, so he’d need Seungcheol to be right in front of him when he attacked.

The group began to say their goodbyes, and watching from afar, an unfamiliar face was spotted among them. He didn’t pay much mind to the people at his school, but he was certain about his knowledge of Seungcheol’s friends. The boy; short, in an unfamiliar school uniform, and bright pink hair? He stood out like a sore thumb, so there was no way he could have missed him before.

Maybe he was friends with one of the others, he thought, until the group began to split directions, and Seungcheol, the short boy, and Seokmin remained side-by-side.

Kyungsoo, lost in curiosity, followed them.

At some point he expected them to part, for the unfamiliar boy to go one way, and Seungcheol to continue home. It never happened, they stuck to each other like gum the whole way back. It made sense for Seokmin to be with them, he lived only a few houses down. That boy, though? If he lived close, how did Kyungsoo not know?

He could tell they were close, too. From every brush of hand against the other, every exchange of glances, the light in Seungcheol’s eyes when the unfamiliar boy looked his way. Immediately, Kyungsoo heard alarms going off. If they were so close, why hadn’t he seen this guy before?  He didn’t follow him for ing nothing! How could he miss such an important detail?

But then, when Kyungsoo looked closer into the situation, a realization dawned on him. Seungcheol didn’t look at his other friends this way. This short guy? He was something special to Seungcheol. This much became obvious, when Seungcheol and the boy sat on the front steps of his house, staring at the stars with a wistful expression, fingers inching towards this boy’s hand, who sat obliviously distant. Seokmin was there, standing in front of them, but even Kyungsoo could see that the air around those two was different.

He’d seen all he needed to see. Staying much longer could become dangerous, since it didn’t seem like they were making a move to go inside any time soon. So, Kyungsoo left, slinking away through an alley-way without making a sound. Now this; This was an interesting turn of events. In all his years of stalking, Kyungsoo had never found someone in Seungcheol’s life who he could count as a ‘weakness.’ His many girlfriends had never lasted long enough to become important, and all his close friends were strong themselves, not people Kyungsoo could toy with lightly. This new kid seemed weak, in both appearance, and in the way he was fussed over by the people around him.

Specifically, by one Choi Seungcheol.

Was he angry that his current plan had gone nowhere? Not in the slightest. He had something else in mind, now. Something much more full-proof than that flimsy idea he’d conjured up in a panic. Thanks to that mysterious boy, Seungcheol was about to meet his maker.

A/N: I got twitter too cause I have nothing better to do than run social media accounts lmao. follow me if u want. I think twitters a lot better for posting updates and doing polls? SO if i grow a following there I'll use it for when I make fic decisions in the future. Hope you enjoyed this chapter <3 it's been one of my favorites to write cause stubborn cheol is starting to melt hhhhhhhhh (◕ᴗ◕✿)