Hello my little kittens! I'm sorry for not posting sooner, but the weather has been playing havoc with my joints this week and I could not sit at my computer. I'm feeling better now so here is another chapter! Thank you all for being so patient! KE

                Donghae was relieved. His little incubus had handled meeting everyone much better than he’d thought he’d be able to, and hadn’t even reacted to Yesung and Leeteuk as badly as he’d expected, and even managed to mostly feed himself despite being blind and the human suspected relatively unfamiliar with eating utensils. He wondered if Eunhyuk was older than everyone thought, or just braver because of everything he’d gone through to protect Hyukjae. It’s not that it actually mattered, he was just curious.

                Donghae hadn’t even realized he’d fallen asleep on his back with Eunhyuk burrowed into his side, until he felt a gentle poke and heard a timid voice asking him to wake up, that he needed to use the bathroom. It took the human a moment to orient himself before going to scoop up his incubus, only to be told he’d like to try walking if Donghae would hold their hands. Slowly and steadily they made their way, a hint of what the full human suspected was a beautiful gummy smile playing around their mouth as Eunhyuk made it all the way with only wobbling once or twice.

                Donghae had just finished helping Eunhyuk clean up afterwards when there was a knock on the bedroom door and Ryeowook asking if they were awake yet, that dinner was ready if Eunhyuk wanted to come out and eat with everyone again or if they would prefer a tray brought. To the human’s surprise, the blind little incubus took his arm and said he wanted to walk out to show Elder Leeteuk and Yesung or their human bondlings, as well as Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, and Heechul, who he didn’t seem to like much. Donghae couldn’t really blame Eunhyuk though. Chullie had been rather rude, the way he usually was when he was protective or didn’t understand something. The others probably didn’t know that though since he really only got that way about Donghae himself, whom he still thought of as a baby on occasion and didn’t always realize it.

                After calling to Ryeowook that they’d come out but it would take a couple of minutes, Donghae slowly led Eunhyuk out the door and down the hall to the dining room where everyone was already gathered, only to be greeted with several open mouths and the multi-natured demon dropping a carving knife on the floor and narrowing missing his hoof.

                Heechul recovered first. In a somewhat warmer tone than he used earlier, he commented that there might be hope for the monkeys yet, only to have Eunhyuk draw himself up to their full diminutive height and retort than he and his bondling weren’t monkeys. That made the others laugh, while Donghae scooped up his incubus who looked about ready to collapse and took his seat, Eunhyuk in his lap.

                “Well, that was something we hadn’t expected, seeing you walk already Youngling. Good for you! We were talking about your next stages of recovery now that you’re properly awake. Jungsoo and I have a friend with a pool, enclosed by a high fence so it’s private. Chullie tells us Donghae swims like a fish, so once you’re eating solid food and no longer have to be packed, what do you think about going there to walk the shallow end? You’d be out in the sun and the water would help hold you up as you worked on regaining your strength.”

                “Actually Elder Leeteuk, Hyukjae and I can swim though he’s much better than I am. His foster family got him lessons when he was a child, before he was kicked out of the house for being gay, and one of my batch’s carers had scales rather than fur or feathers so liked to take those of us who weren’t winged for dips in the pond. It was a lot of fun splashing with the others.”

                Donghae finally managed to get a word in, saying that he thought they were either already healed, or would be within another day or two, that he was seeing very little or no blood.

                Eunhyuk piped up. “Our bottom and insides feel fine now. Now that I think about it, it was actually more uncomfortable getting packed than not having it.”

                “Well Wookie, what do you think? Think the youngling is ready to go without?”

                “I don’t see why we can’t try it without the packing, as long as he agrees to the antibiotic cream for a few more days and Donghae promises to say something if he sees blood or feels something isn’t right and the little one promises to admit if he hurts, not overdo things, and eat well to help his recovery.”

                Donghae and Eunhyuk agreed readily. The human wanted his incubus to recover quickly and wondered when he’d get to meet Hyukjae, and suspected Eunhyuk didn’t want to do anything against what his elders told him. He didn’t know much about demon politics, but he was guessing the young always deferred to the older. Either that, or Eunhyuk’s attitude was leftover from their time with Master. Well, it wouldn’t hurt him to behave, and if it was because of Master it would probably be better for his sanity to break from those thought patterns gradually rather than trying to force it all at once.

                “Okay Little One, let’s see how you do with this. You didn’t seem to have any problems earlier swallowing, so this time your meat and veggies are shredded, not pureed. There’s plenty, so if you want more, just ask.” Ryeowook set down a large plate with raised sides in front of Eunhyuk and guided the blind little incubus’ hands to it and a spoon. Donghae privately thought there was way too much food for his lapful, but maybe it was the multi-natured demon’s way to gauge how much Eunhyuk could eat at one time. Now thoughtful, he picked up his own chopsticks and waited for everyone else to begin.

                To Donghae’s surprise, not only did Eunhyuk finish one plate with minimal assistance, but he plowed through a second huge helping of meat as well, drank his formula and a bottle of water, and even managed a good-sized piece of strawberry cake Ryeowook had moistened with milk so the little incubus wouldn’t choke on crumbs.

                “Don’t look so surprised Donghae” Leeteuk chuckled, obviously seeing the surprise on the human’s face. “Young incubi are good eaters anyway, and sick and injured ones even more so when they’re on their way to recovery. Since the younglings don’t have but still need lots of energy to grow and develop their powers and the carers can only give them so much, they have to get it from food and skinship and playing with others. Plus he has Hyukjae to care for. Now that they’re out of harm’s way, he’s just reverting to what is natural for a young incubus, eating and cuddling. Once they’re no longer blind, he’ll probably be running around playing games or whatever he likes as well.”

                Donghae snuggled Eunhyuk closer, who responded by humming and cuddling back against the human’s chest. The little incubus didn’t look tired, just content to be on Donghae’s lap with his arms loosely wrapped around him.

                “Is there some kind of manual or something? There seems to be so much to know, about injured incubi, young incubi, bonded incubi. I’m just afraid of doing something wrong. I want them to be able to recover as quickly as possible!”

                To Donghae’s surprise, it wasn’t Leeteuk or Ryeowook or even Heechul who responded to his near-whine, but Eunhyuk himself, who timidly reached up to touch the human’s cheek. “You’re doing it Hae. You picked us up off the street so we didn’t get squashed, got us to people who knew what to do, and you actually care. We may be blind, but I can feel it. Hopefully Hyukjae will soon realize it too. He’s awake now, but doesn’t want anything to do with strangers, and thinks I’m crazy for trusting either humans or demons we don’t know much about. Apparently he knew more about what Master and the others were doing to us than I thought. He might not have been awake for any of it, but partially figured it out the few times he was aware and probably would’ve smacked the back of my head if we didn’t share a body. He felt he had to remind me he was a street kid who sold himself before, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t familiar with how it felt afterward when someone was rough.”

                “Well, that answers a few questions we had Little One. The biggest one was how you managed a full bond when you were so young, but Hyukjae being involved in the trade explains it, like being attracted to like. A lost young demon with little experience would naturally be attracted to a vulnerable young worker who could use his help.”

                Donghae wondered at Ryeowook’s ability to be so blasé about the whole thing. Even before Eunhyuk and Hyukjae were mixed up with Master, it sounded as though their life . The human had been in foster care, only to get thrown out just for being gay? Having to bend over to anyone willing to pay him, just to eat? Eunhyuk wasn’t even meant to be having at his age?

                All of a sudden, Eunhyuk pulled away out of Donghae’s arms and sat up straight. The human was about to ask what was wrong, when the little incubus’ horn buds disappeared and his hair went from the muddy red color it had been, to black. In a slightly deeper voice than before that sounded nearly angry, he said,

                “That’s enough talk and we don’t need anyone’s pity. If you all really want to help, find the bastards.”

                “Hyukjae?”

                “Obviously. Why Eunhyuk trusts you all when he should know better I don’t know, but if he hasn’t made a terrible mistake, I have a clue as to who did this to us. I saw some English letters on a piece of mail the night Master brought us home, as well a photograph of him with a horse-faced woman and two teenage girls. I can’t read English, but the letters looked like this.”

                Slowly, Hyukjae began to draw in the air. Donghae had no idea what it meant, but Kyuhyun seemed to.

                “C-R-E-W-E, Crewe. That’s an English last name, but he’s Korean?”

                “Partly. He’s way too tall and has too much of a pot belly to be a full-blooded, not to mention too long and thick when he rammed our . Look for a mixed blood with an ugly wife, two daughters, an excellent taste in suits, no idea how to properly , and hung like the stereotype of a black man and you’ll probably find him. If you’re just going to send us back, you might as well give us a knife or a bottle of rat poison now. I’d rather kill both of us than have Eunhyuk go through that again.”

Dun dun dun! Several of you have said you were hoping Hyukjae would wake up soon. He's awake, and a lot less sweet than Eunhyuk, not that he doesn't have every reason to at best reluctantly trust the others.