Title: Adapting to the Unforeseen
Prompt-#: 221
For: Anonymous
Pairing: Ontae (brief mention of Minkey)
Author: pearlaqualove @tumblr
Word count: 2541
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: cursing, Mentions of Heaven and Hell, Demons and Angels from someone with a very non-religious view so definitely not according to the bible.
Summary: Jinki didn't choose to have his life filled with the supernatural, but the supernatural kept choosing him

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Jinki couldn’t say with absolute honesty that he has gotten used to the cold draft that always lingers on the territories of the supernatural.

After all, he was the one dressed in a heavy hooded cloak since he has always been unbearably sensitive to the cold. The temperature was something he could adapt to - put on an extra layer or two before the job and that could easily be resolved. What he couldn’t adapt to were the horrible conditions the supernatural seemed to like living in. The broken ceiling boards, leaking pipes and unstable floorings, all seem a little hard to live with even if he tried to imagine himself as a ghost. More than once, Jinki finds himself pondering on the possibility of himself as a lingering ghost should his life end. If he would choose to continue roaming this Earth as a ghost, he’d rather go explore the world and take free plane rides across the globe unseen. Why would he want to stay in such a rundown place?

The wooden planks creaked beneath his sneakers. Jinki tested each step with his foot, making sure the boards were capable of holding his weight. The heavy front doors creaked and slammed shut behind him despite the surrounding air being so still it made it hard to breathe. Typical. Jinki didn't even flinch at the sound.

After being in this line for all these time, these antics just seemed so… unoriginal. Door slammings, whooshing wind noises, water dripping, sounds of laughter, glass shattering... It was all just so typical. The 3 munchkins residing in his very own house could do a worse job than that.

The landlady was in urgent need of the money, the house being passed down by will to her by her grandfather. Turns out, the demonic energy dominating the entire land made it impossible to stay in or sell away. Instead of being an asset, the house turned into a complete liability because of the demon residing within. The landlady had been completely desperate for his help. Jinki was used to customers like her. The people who came to him for his services were usually at their wits ends. People attribute all the strange happenings to coincidences and bad luck until reason can’t explain the happenings any longer. Approaching him for his unexplainable services was always their last resort.

Jinki surveyed the area carefully, pretending not to see the grayish-skinned creature smirking mischievously from where it stood right by the main electric circuit box. Jinki ignored the creature, taking his time to explore the place instead. Jinki pondered nonchalantly as the lights flickered on and off rapidly above his head. Ghosts and ghouls are usually the easiest jobs but demons were unpredictable creatures.

He found the master bedroom fairly easily, a photo frame falling off the shelves just as he enters thanks to a particularly irritated looking creature who pushed it off like a rebellious cat. The sheets were clawed and ripped apart, the marks digging deep into the mattress. Jinki sighed. Well, demons didn’t have to sleep but it would have been nice if it left him a proper place to rest. Looks like the sleeping bag will have to suffice for the duration of this job. The curtain trails collapsed from the walls, clanging loudly as it fell to hit the tarnished wooden flooring.

“Will you stop that already?” Jinki finally commented, folding his arms across his chest in exasperation as he stared the creature down sternly. The demon had taken the form of a young male - a very attractive young male with big dark eyes under deep double-lidded eyes, squishy cheeks that looked like they hadn't lost their baby days, and plush pink lips that stood out against their grayish hue - all of which suited the creature’s childish attitude to the T. The vase that falls and smashes to bits against the already damaged flooring this time around, wasn’t a deliberate attempt to scare anyone.

Jinki wasn’t quite sure what to make out of this demon. The moment he had made it clear that he could see the demon, the creature had gone into hiding. Jinki could still feel its presence close by, as if it were observing Jinki’s every move. While Jinki tried to acquaint himself with the building, he would casually ask the demon little questions. When he asked about the availability of utensils, just the right drawer would slide open for him. When he asked about cleaning supplies, an empty storage door would slam shut just so he’d investigate the sound to find the demon’s explanation that no, there were none. It was only when Jinki thought to ask for the demon’s name did it slither a hiss of “Francesco.”

“Can I call you Francis?” Jinki asked without thought. Bright blue flames bursts a couple feet before him, the demon finally showing himself in fury. “Casper the friendly ghost, Francis the helpful demon?” Jinki tried nervously at the demon’s apparent anger.

“Well Lee Jinki,” the demon fumed. “How would you like it if I called you Lee Stinky?”

“That’s not very fair…” Jinki answered. “Francis is a proper name, Stinky is a description.”

“You might as well be calling me Frankenstein!” the demon exploded, throwing his arms in the air frustratedly.

“You’d like to be called Frankenstein instead?”

“NO!”

“You’ve got some peculiar tastes, Franky.”

“IT’S FRANCESCO!”

“So Francis, why don’t you do me a favor and go home? Leave the poor destroyed house along and move along elsewhere?” Jinki asked between slurps of his instant cup noodles.

“It’s no fun elsewhere,” the demon had now taken to floating around lazily with his hands behind his head as he gazed at the broken ceiling boards, appeased now that it had fried Jinki’s hair into wiry strands. As a demon, he could - of course - do worse to the human. Strangely enough, he actually liked this one. “Plus, if I do that, you get an easy paycheck and you haven’t quite done anything to deserve it, Ricky.”

“How can it be any fun here?” Jinki probbed. “Living without any internet isn’t quite my idea of fun.”

“You make it sound as if I’d get internet anywhere else,” Francesco hmphed. “It’s nice and quiet here, and once in awhile I get to see frightened faces of pathetic cowards who bullies their peers into coming in here. What not to love?”

Jinki blinked in surprise. “You scare the bullies?”

“What fun is there to scare the bullied? It’s much more hilarious to watch the bullies running with dark patches in their pants,” Francesco giggled at the memories. Jinki set his plastic fork down and stared up at Francesco for a long moment. When Francesco finally noticed the brooding silence, he flipped around to float with his tummy down so he could look at the human beneath him.

“What kind of demon are you? First you help me to navigate around the house, and now you’re sticking up for the bullied? How did you even become a demon?” Jinki finally prodded. Francesco paused, then rolled his eyes nonchalantly.

“Not my fault that heaven didn’t understand the greatness that is moi,” Francesco sighed dramatically. “It really wasn’t my fault for setting the book of judgement on fire, I mean it was right there! Right next to the candles!”

“You got thrown into the depths of hell for burning the book of judgement? Wow, that’s harsh,” Jinki sympathized.

“Of course not, they threw me into Earth for guardian duties as punishment, and I may or may not have lost my human,” Francesco continued. “Apparently the silver thread was supposed to point me to the human, and the nagging feeling in my head was my human being in danger, but I was always told to stay still when I got lost, so I may or may not have abandoned my human since he didn’t come back for me.”

“You lost an entire human,” Jinki deadpanned in disbelief. “How does anyone even lose an entire human?”

“Heaven wouldn’t take me back since I had not fulfilled my duties and somewhere along the way I got bored,” Francesco somersaulted to land on the tabletop with grace, crossing his legs to sit in front of Jinki’s cup of noodles. “Someone was talking about throwing a revolt against heaven and of course I agreed with a ‘Hell yeah!’ and somehow here I am.”

Jinki blinked, stunned into silence.

“Yea,” Francesco affirmed the silent accusation. “Apparently I joined a demon’s revolt without knowing. No big deal.”

“I don’t know whether I want to pity you, or whether I want to personally murder you myself,” Jinki growled and Francesco flashed a bright chirpy smile sheepishly. “Get your back to heaven and explain yourself. The big man up there forgives, doesn’t he?!”

“But I don’t wanna,” Francesco hmphed childishly, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly. Jinki felt his patience waning.

“And why not?” he hissed through gritted teeth.

“I don’t like the other angels,” Francesco answered simply, once again flashing his charming smile. “Not that I like the other demons either, but you know as a demon it is socially acceptable for me to be here alone doing nothing. In heaven, they’ll call me out on committing the deadly sin of sloth, then I’ll just be thrown right back down here again.”

“What about the poor lady who is running into deficits because you’re living in her house?” Jinki prodded into the demon’s conscience seeing as how the creature wasn’t all evil after all. “And her two kids who probably gets bullied because they don’t have that console game everyone else is playing?” It seemed to work, since Francesco grew silent, looking down guiltily as he pondered deeply.

“Hey.” Jinki groaned, burying himself further into his sleeping bag. “Dinky, if you don’t wake up right now, I’ll take over your body to make you wake up; I’m sure you’d like that experience,” Francesco threatened in a sickeningly sweet tone. Jinki had experienced that before, and no, he didn’t like it one little bit. It left him disoriented and dizzy for days on end. So Jinki picked himself up grouchily.

“I was wrong, you are definitely a demon through and through, heaven wouldn’t take you back even if you asked nicely,” Jinki cursed, picking up his phone to look at the time. 3.20am. Jinki rubbed his eyes tiredly. “What do you want, did you set fire to something again?”

“I found a solution,” Francesco bounced excitedly on his knees next to Jinki. “I’ll move out of here, leave the poor lady alone.”

“Great,” Jinki yawned. “Does that mean I can go back home to sleep instead?”

“Sure! I’ll come with you,” Francesco beamed brightly.

“Awesome, so I can just-” Jinki paused, finally processing what the demon said. “Come with me where?”

“Your house of course!” Francesco announced, throwing his arms up in the air in excitement. “I’m stay there from now on! And hey, I’ll even get internet there! Best of both worlds!”

“Who said you could stay there? No! As the owner of the house, I do not permit you!” Jinki sat upright, protesting in alarm.

“Sweetheart, Vicky, I’m afraid that wasn’t a question,” Francesco smiled his sickeningly sweet smile, holding up Jinki’s identification between his long claws. “I’ll see you back at home. Don’t worry, I’ll make myself comfortable. Drive safe.”

Before Jinki could get another word in, all that was left of the demon was blue smoke dissipating away slowly. Jinki dropped his head into his palms, groaning in exasperation. Not again. The supernatural aura was gone from the house, the cold draft gradually escaping through the creaks of the damaged property, the demon no longe-

Then, just as soon as he was gone, Francesco was back, appearing in his usual blue flames.

“You didn’t say there were others!” Francesco bellowed as if Jinki was the one at fault.

“Well, you didn’t give me a chance to say anything!” Jinki screamed back.

“Are they nice?” Francesco asked anxiously. “Do you think they’ll like me?”

“You’re a demon! How would I know?!” Jinki cried out in exasperation. “Key’s a flipping grim reaper, and Minho, the ghost, refuses to leave me alone because apparently he fell in love with said grim reaper living in my goddamn house - will they like you? Who knows?! But one thing’s for sure - poor little Jjong, my guardian angel who is already regretting his entire existence for getting assigned to me, would definitely hate your guts. So please do me a favor, my house is crowded enough as it is, don’t move in, thank you very much.”

“What is it like staying with them?” Francesco asks curiously.

“Like a ridiculous sitcom that makes no sense, that’s how!” Jinki exclaimed.

“Sounds like fun,” Francesco mused.

“Jinki!” Jonghyun’s warm aura infiltrated the room vicinity as the angel fluttered his large wings into the room. “What have you got into again?! Who was that smoking up our kitchen in blue?!”

“Look, it wasn’t my fault this little demon decided to- where is he now?” The spot Francesco was standing at before was now barren, but when Jinki spins around, he finds the demon peeking over his shoulder at Jonghyun timidly. it took a long moment for Jinki’s brain to put the pieces together.

“Franky, when you said you didn’t like the other angels and demons, did you actually mean you were too shy to get to know them?” Jinki asked pointedly.

“Way to point out my shortcomings to a stranger!” Francesco hissed, gesturing wildly towards Jonghyun. “I wanted to make a good first impression!”

“So you didn’t get along with any angel nor demon because you were too socially inept but you’re fine with living with me? Why?” Jinki couldn’t help but feel a little honored despite circumstances. Francesco straightened, taking a moment to think over carefully.

“You weren’t offended by my pranks, called me out on my bull, then gave me a nickname - and did none of that small talk that I can’t do. Plus, no one gave me a nickname before - it felt kinda nice I guess,” Francesco shrugged. Jinki softened his eyes sympathetically, then in a switch of attitudes, he cursed as he watched Jonghyun form the same expression on his face.

“Jjong, no,” Jinki commanded sternly. “We are not going to have a demon in the house.”

“But Jinki, didn’t you hear him? He has no other friends!” Jonghyun whined sympathetically, eyes glassy and palms clasped together as if asking a parent for a puppy. “Please?”

Jinki can’t say with absolute honesty that he’s surprised he has a new addition to the household. As long as no one touches his wifi, and the condition of his house doesn’t fall to complete shambles, maybe he can adapt to this too.