It's their weekly off from work today and Yunho is spending it by starting what will be a tradition for him and Changmin- a monthly Harry Potter marathon, including Fantastic Beasts as they release.

"That is Voldemort. He's the bad guy." When Yunho looks down at the little demon in his lap, he flinches at the glimmering awe-filled eyes. Damn, even his palms are on his cheeks like a cartoon. He wasn't even this entranced when Yunho was waxing lyrical about Hermione. But he has stars in his eyes for this noseless creep! "Nononononono!" Yunho shakes Changmin out of his mesmerized state. "We do not like Voldemort. He's dumb and doesn't have a nose."

"Oh Hades! You're watching this drag again." Yunho yelps when Heechul appears on the couch near them. "I never liked them. They make magic seem so complicated when it's seriously easy. So unrealistic." Heechul clicks his tongue ignoring Yunho who's affronted on behalf of Potterheads and continuing hits rant. "I find it ridiculous they have a school to teach such basic magic. I mean we have schools in the demon realm too. But they're all weaklings who know nothing about survival. It's no wonder we haven't found anyone worthy of being the demon king. I personally believe in giving the student a target and letting the magic flow naturally. It's effective. Just look at how My Infernal Leige has become good at controlling things with his mind."

Yunho forgoes the urge to lecture Heechul on the dangers of doing magic in public and instead asks the question that has been nagging him since the first time he saw Heechul with cat ears and a tail. "I've been meaning to ask, why does our demon baby turn out to be the demon king? Don't you guys have a more democratic process like killing each other till only the strongest ergo the ultimate demon worthy to be the future overlord remains?"

"First of all, if the demon king kills all the demons, all he'd be is king of nothing. Secondly," Heechul points a sharp finger at the ceiling, "He who shall not be named came on earth as a human and it was a great marketing strategy."

Heechul glances at his little master who's imitating the wizards' actions on the TV. "It is a known fact of our realm that the one who'd be the demon king would be the strongest demon to ever live. Now a thousand years ago we were a competitive lot. Like you said we did the democratic process and our numbers reduced." He gestured at himself haughtily, "only self-taught hardcore and intelligent demons like me survived."

"Because you're hardcore or because you were lazy to participate?"

"So now we're more structured and smarter." Yunho smirks at how Heechul blatantly pretended to not hear his comment, "Anyway it was decided that raising the demon king to control power of cosmic proportions would be better. And you were the first time in forever to make a Faustian contract for a baby and not for revenge or money. So, you were it. Also, it's logistically convenient to spring an attack on the human race if the king and all demons are embedded among you."

"Gee, that's not freaky at all."

"You asked." Heechul shrugged and rolled off the chair with flair, "Anyway, I came here to say I'm going out with Hannie. So, don't freak out if I'm not here in two seconds if you call."

"We'll try not to disturb you on your date with your Hannie." Yunho mentally notes to tease Hankyung about that nickname later on.

 "Oh, I will be here if His Evilness needs me. You can watch all the Harry Potter you want, but it won't teach you what to do when someone is really cursed." Heechul says just as he's at the front door.

"Actually..."

"No!" He says with a tone of finality before opening the door and disappearing into a portal.

Yunho watches that scene feeling slightly nostalgic. He and Changmin look at each other, one of them drooling over the TV remote, before Yunho asks, "Can you do that too?" Yunho shouldn't really expect an intelligible response from Changmin but the baby babbles in gibberish before flinging the remote ahead into a baby-sized portal Yunho never saw appear. It slightly terrified him but it was more amazing. "You're good." Yunho tickles Changmin's pudgy belly eliciting giggles from the toddler.

"You're still a baby but you're quite perceptive aren't you? You understand everything we say. So why aren't you speaking yet? Are you waiting to surprise us?" Yunho lifts him so they're face to face. "Try saying 'Appa.' Ah-pah. Try it." But Changmin covers his face with his palms feigning shyness.

"Yun, the remote suddenly showed up in the sink." Jaejoong arrives holding the dripping wet remote away from himself. He passes it to Yunho so he could check if it's still in working condition. "I heard Heechul earlier. Did he have something to do with it?" Instead of answering Jaejoong's question, Yunho says

"He's off on a date with 'Hannie.'"

Changmin has meanwhile slipped out of Yunho's lap. He toddled to Jaejoong and hugged his leg, feeling happy to see him for the first time since he woke up. Even on his day off Jaejoong woke up before dawn and has been doing something in the kitchen without break. Jaejoong picks him up, balancing the plate he's holding. As Jaejoong passes the plate to Yunho, Changmin manages to steal a piece of whatever is in it.

"Taste this. It's my best batch yet."

"Is this what you've been doing all morning?" Yunho examines the log of a crumbly cake-like food on the plate. "It looks familiar."

"It's a dacquoise. Dara wants to make a layered hazelnut dacquoise pastry for the next season. But we can't nail the recipe."

"I've never made dacquoise and I've only eaten it once in my life." Yunho takes a bite and chews slowly, "I can tell you're having a problem with the oils released by the almonds. But it tastes great. Even our mini food critic likes it." Sure enough Changmin is happily nibbling on the piece of dacquoise.

"He's not a critic, he's a glutton. He likes food in general."

Yunho guffaws in agreement. "Alright, let's figure out the dacquoise together."  Yunho tries to turn off the TV but it looks like the remote has suffered from its supernatural travel. "This isn't working. Minnie turn off the TV."

Changmin obediently blinks once exaggeratedly, making Jaejoong flinch, and the TV turns off. Jaejoong laughs when Yunho is looking chuffed on behalf of Changmin. "Reminds me of Phoebe in that episode with all the rugby. But I'll be impressed when he can magically make a perfect dacquoise."

They head to the kitchen where Jaejoong deposits Changmin in the high chair and they get working on an Italian meringue. "Why isn't Dara working on her own recipe?" Asks Yunho. "Because I was the one who decided to make it layered and add hazelnuts into the meringue instead of making a cream. She had originally made a bed of dacquoise covered in white chocolate and raspberry cream."

"And how was her dacquoise?"

"The way it should be. It all went downhill coz I got a little ambitious."

They have a test batch made by Yunho in the oven and prepare lunch while it gets done. Well, more like Jaejoong is multitasking while Yunho stares into the oven lovingly. "I haven't had this feeling of trying a recipe for the first time in years." He gently caresses the glass wall of the oven. Jaejoong can swear there's a tear in Yunho's eye. "My first dacquoise."

"I'm embarrassed to admit it's my first dacquoise since I was introduced to it at pastry school." Jaejoong sighs feeling nostalgic of those days when he was an amateur chef. "At least that time I didn't screw up."

"So, you know how to make a regular dacquoise!" Yunho stood up with a start, "then why are you wasting time complicating this? I have lost count of the number of times I've told you to keep it simple on the plate."

Jaejoong winced as Yunho scolded him. To make it worse, the batch of dacquoise Yunho pulls out of the oven is a failure too. "Nevermind this. You should do four layers of almond dacquoise with Dara's raspberry mousse in between and glaze it with hazelnut chocolate cream." He takes one bar, his lips curling when it takes more effort to peel it off the paper, and breaks it in half. Giving Jaejoong one half and Changmin a bit part off his own to nibble on, Yunho eats the piece in one mouthful. "This is totally deflated. My first dacquoise ruined."

Jaejoong reaches for his arm and rubs it, somewhat invitingly. "It's okay. You did come up with a dessert after all."

Yunho would his arm around Jaejoong. "I did, Didn't I? I must be gifted. Do I get anything for that?" Jaejoong wrinkles his nose, leaning upwards to give Yunho that kiss he's asking for oh so subtly.

"Dacquoise!" Yunho and Jaejoong's heads jerk apart. They stare at each wide-eyed, telepathically asking each other if that tiny, yet very clear and demanding squeak was from either of them. Yet deep down they knew a voice like that could only be from one person.

They turn to where the high chair is, Changmin sitting on it like it's a royal throne despite the almond and meringue crumbs around his mouth and hands. He's looking at them expectantly before stuffing the four fingers of his right hand into his mouth, Changmin's own sign language when he demands to be fed.

It's very obvious now more than a minute ago that Changmin blurted 'dacquoise,' and quite clearly too. As the realization hits them, Yunho and Jaejoong can't resist chuckling.

"I can't believe that was his first word!" Gu