Sooyoung was bored. The problem with being a powerful demon was that, pretentious power-hungry warlocks aside, she found herself stuck in the demon realm more often than not. And there was nothing to do.

Perhaps that was why she decided to let the voice lead her away from her usual stomping grounds.

There was technically not enough power in the song to lure her. She could taste the thin, meager spread of magic in the melody. But it was beautiful and more than skillful enough to attempt to summon her if the warlock had wanted to.

But mostly she was bored and intrigued, and so she followed the song to the portal it described. Her presence scared away the lessor demons so she could claim the portal for herself. Without a second look at her bland surroundings, she drew her power in tight to squeeze through the tiny doorway.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting on the other side. Perhaps a basement studio with the typical dusty tomes and nasty spell casting paraphernalia that honestly Sooyoung wouldn’t come near if used. Sometimes she emerged in an airy attic, or even a field, circle laid down in paint. What she wasn’t expecting was to emerge in a neat, brightly lit living room on a sheet of plastic with a sharpied diagram.

She spun in a slow circle, taking in the quickly sketched diagram. It was neat, precise despite the… interesting choice of material. Moreover, it wasn’t easily disturbable, unlike chalk, which was definitely a point in the warlock’s favor.

“Oh, hi!” came a startled voice from somewhere behind her. Sooyoung turned to see the strangest warlock she’d ever encountered.

It was a girl, quite shorter than Sooyoung’s preferred form. She had short hair tied back hastily from her face and a flour spotted apron on over a hoodie. Her eyes were comically wide, and Sooyoung preened as she watched the small warlock’s eyes trail over her form. It was one she’d put together years ago and she was never disappointed by the reactions she got.

“I… really wasn’t expecting anyone like you,” the girl finally said with a frown. “No disrespect… I was just expecting someone, um… Smaller.”

“Well, it’s me you got,” Sooyoung said, peering around the room. It looked cozy, a worn but plush couch, a TV, a few scattered books. A very domestic setting for a demon summoning, all in all. “What do you need? Hopefully no one killed, because your carpet is very white, and I’d have to ask a bit more power from you to get that cleaned up.”

“What?” The look on her face was horrified and Sooyoung wanted to laugh. A warlock finding killing distasteful was a joke and a half. “No…”

“I mean, I could probably clean it for free,” Sooyoung continued, grin widening as the girl’s eyes did. “You’re cute.”

“Please don’t kill anyone. No, um. A much, uh, smaller task.”

“Boring.” Sooyoung sighed dramatically. “Alright, what is it.”

“I just need to clean up the kitchen. Would you help me with that?”

“You want me… to clean your kitchen.” She folded her arms across her chest with a scowl. (Although, if she were being honest, the nervous look on the warlock’s face was very amusing.) “I’m not some domestic brownie.”

“I mean, to be honest, I didn’t mean to summon you at all,” the warlock said, her voice perfectly contrite. “I thought I was summoning a sprite.”

“You need to keep a better leash on your voice,” she drawled, but finally had pity on the small warlock. “Alright, show me your kitchen, then.”

“Sure, um, over here...” The warlock scurried off in front of her, and Sooyoung followed behind. She gave a last look to the circle. The summoning circle was very obviously meant to hold a far weaker demon than her, but she was having far too much fun.

Sooyoung had expected at least a little ichor or slime. Something that would actually necessitate calling in a demon for the removal work. Maybe something growing.

“You summoned a demon to clean up flour?” She looked around the tiny kitchen. All she could see was a dusting of flour on the floor, some splatters of batter, and a few smears of red on the counter. For a moment she wondered if the warlock wasn’t telling her everything. But a second later she discovered the still uncapped food coloring. “Why didn’t you just magic it up?”

“It’s sticky and I can never get all the flour up out of the corners,” the warlock complained. “Plus, my roommate is allergic to magic.

“What, do you live with a fae?” Sooyoung huffed. She was really having a hard time getting a handle on this warlock.

“No, just a human. But Joohyun unnie starts sneezing if there’s too much magic residue. I don’t want to try to explain why I can’t just dust again.”

Sooyoung sighed, bringing a hand to her face. “So you live with a human. And you’re summoning demons?”

The girl simply shrugged. “I really wasn’t expecting you. I was expecting a far less powerful demon.” Sooyoung just grumbled, unwilling to reveal why the summoning had gone unexpectedly. “I’m sorry that all I have to offer you in return is cupcakes. And some tea, if you’d like some.”

“These better be some damn good cupcakes,” Sooyoung acquiesced. “And some green tea too.”

The warlock smiled, and Sooyoung thought she liked the sight quite a fair bit more than her frown. “Alright!”

The girl started filling her kettle as Sooyoung stepped into the middle of the kitchen. She turned around once taking in the flour splattered kitchen, then snapped. All of the mess disappeared immediately, even the open food coloring capping itself shut. She heard the warlock behind her gasp before starting to clap.

“Wow, that was so fast! The water isn’t even warm.”

“You’re used to some weak demons,” she drawled, though she had to admit it felt nice to impress with a simple party trick. She took the liberty of draping herself over a chair at the table as the warlock waited by the kettle. “So where are these cupcakes?”

“Well they haven’t cooled enough for me to frost them, but...”

Sooyoung watched as the girl bustled around the kitchen. A few minutes later she was presented with two cupcakes on a saucer with a side of frosting and a fork as well as the requested green tea.

“I hope you like them!”

For a moment Sooyoung simply contemplated the homey spread in front of her. But in the end, tea and homemade cupcakes wasn’t a bad offering for the minuscule amount of work she’d done and so she had no complaints. Cautiously, she dipped her fork into the frosting before getting a bite of the cupcake.

The warlock sat down at the table next to her, a single cupcake on her own plate. “How is it?”

Sooyoung didn’t want to dim the smile on the warlock’s face, but as it turned out, she didn’t need to; the cupcake was good. Excellent, even.  As a demon, she could feel every bit of the care that went into the pastry. It made her want to sink down to the floor in delight. Instead she simply devoured the two cupcakes greedily.

“How do I get more?” she said when she finished, the last bit of frosting from her fork. It seemed to be store-bought, and so not as good, but it was still sweet. She washed down the sugar with her tea, having forgotten it earlier in her gluttony.

“Well they’re for my friend’s birthday party tomorrow and I didn’t really make that many...” The girl frowned but Sooyoung didn’t have time for that.

“I can instantly clean the whole apartment building if you give me more,” Sooyoung offered. “For… a dozen.” She could do that with practically no more effort than the kitchen alone, but the warlock didn’t need to know that.

However, the warlock just laughed. She had lightened up considerably after finding out Sooyoung was willing to accept a payment of cupcakes. Normally Sooyoung liked her warlocks more frightened and in awe of her, but cheerful suited the girl. Sooyoung also liked cute girls.

“Well you could dust our apartment because Joohyun unnie is also allergic to dust. If you’re willing to stick around to clean up another flour mess, I can make a second batch of cupcakes.”

“Deal. Dust and flour for a dozen cupcakes,” Sooyoung said.

The girl stood up, moving to peer in the fridge. “Alright, a dozen cupcakes for dusting, cleaning up my baking mess... and your name.” She looked from the fridge to Sooyoung with a grin. “What can I call you?”

Sooyoung was thrown for a loop again. But the girl wasn’t asking her Name. Just a name to call her by. “Joy.”

“Call me Wendy,” the girl replied, and her smile was as sweet as her cupcakes.

--

They had chatted while Wendy had made the second batch of cupcakes. She found out that the warlock was a student studying music, which would explain why her spell casting was so skillful. But otherwise, she seemed to live a dull, typical human life. Sooyoung enjoyed her smile and enjoyed the cupcakes. But she took the last batch with her to go after filling her end of the bargain (and perhaps cleaned up a bit more of the apartment than promised— they were good cupcakes) and never expected to see Wendy again. It had been a brief, pleasant diversion.

She wasn’t expecting to end up right back in Wendy’s kitchen the next day.

A voice woke her from a bored doze, and she followed the melody without thought, glutting herself on the power wrapped up in the song. She didn’t realize it led her to a portal until a shriek and a splash of water startled her from her mindless snacking.

“Is everything alright?” called a voice from another room.

Sooyoung found herself staring at an obviously startled Wendy, breathing hard with a hand pressed against her heart dripping soapy water into her shirt.

“I’m fine! I just thought I saw a… a spider,” the startled warlock managed to choke out. It seemed to be enough of a cover.

“Get rid of it, unnie!”

There was a moment where they both paused, Wendy seeming to try to catch her breath, Sooyoung staring at her trying to pretend like she didn’t not know how the she ended up back in this kitchen. When no one entered the room, Sooyoung waved her hand, drying both the water splashed on her and the handprint Wendy had unwittingly soaked into her shirt.

“So why did you summon me this time?” Sooyoung said, leaning against a counter. She looked around again but didn’t see any obvious method of summoning. No circles, no spell foci. Not even the silly bit of plastic Wendy had used last time.

“I really didn’t, I’m sorry. I was just doing the dishes,” Wendy said, gesturing towards the sink full of water.

“There’s no other warlocks here, is there?” She made to peer into the next room, but saw Wendy move to grab her arm, only dropping her hand when she seemed to remember that Sooyoung wasn’t just another house guest but a powerful demon. Just one that happened to be easily amused by cute girls making her cupcakes.

“No, no warlocks. It’s just my friend’s birthday, so everyone’s here for the party.”

“Including your human roommate?”

Wendy frowned at her. “Yeah, Joohyun unnie is here.”

“And all your other guests, they’re human?” Sooyoung turned back towards the other room, although she heeded Wendy’s anxious fluttering and didn’t actually stick her head out.

“Of course. Why do you ask?”

“I mean, you said you didn’t just summon me, so who did?” Sooyoung stopped. Something seemed very off about the energy she sensed from the other room. It definitely wasn’t a group of only humans. “I can tell you that you have at least a succubus out there.”

“A succubus?” She looked alarmed by the news, which was strange. As a warlock, Wendy should be able to sense the demonic energy given off. Sooyoung wasn’t sure what to make of that piece of information, given that Wendy had also managed to catch her attention before with sheer skill.

“Yeah, I…” Wait… Sooyoung knew that energy signature. She turned the corner as Wendy sputtered behind her. “Seulgi unnie!” she shouted, alarming each of the three people in the room.

“Soo- Joy-ah!” Seulgi replied, barely managing to reign in her shock. The succubus glanced towards the other two girls with a worried look, and Sooyoung guessed they must not know anything.

“Unnie! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you! It’s…” She looked around the room, spotting the balloons with ‘Seulgi Happy Birthday’ helpfully printed on them. “It’s your birthday?” She hadn’t seen Seulgi for literal years. Apparently, she’d been in the human realm long enough to pretend to have a birthday. She’d suspect it Wendy’s doing, but Wendy seemed to be under the impression her friend was human and had a birthday. “I just… wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Wendy-ssi invited me over.”

She turned around to find Wendy had followed her into the room as she expected. She still had an alarmed expression on her face; Sooyoung would tell her that she was doing a bad job at keeping things under wraps, but she was too amused by the situation. Besides, it’s not as though she cared if she was revealed. As far as she could tell, no one here had the power to summon her, especially not with such ease- or without a circle which Sooyoung didn’t see anywhere in the room. It might for Wendy, but that wasn’t her problem.

“Hi,” she greeted the other two in the room. “I’m Joy.”

“I’m Joohyun,” one offered with a polite bow of the head. She was pretty—almost as pretty as Sooyoung. She was vaguely offended, but she supposed humans couldn’t help their looks.

“Hi, I’m Yerim,” the second girl said. She looked far younger than any of the other girls in the room. “Are you Seulgi unnie’s friend?”

“Yeah…”

“Weird,” Yerim said with a frown. “Unnie’s never mentioned you.”

Sooyoung simply shrugged, looking around the room again. Now that she knew it was Seulgi’s energy and could separate it out, she could still sense something unexpected for a room supposedly full of humans.

“We were going to play Monopoly after I finished the dishes,” Wendy spoke up, interrupting her scan.

“Monopoly?”

“Monopoly!” Seulgi repeated with a wide grin. She leaned over the side of the couch and picked up a wide thin box. Sooyoung could see ‘MONOPOLY’ emblazoned across the front. “Wendy got it for my birthday! This one’s in Korean so we can all understand it.” Sooyoung took that to mean ‘Joohyun and Yerim’ since Seulgi, and Wendy with spell assistance, would be able to read whatever script the game was written in. Sooyoung hadn’t even realized she was in Korea.

“Did you want to join us?” Joohyun asked. Sooyoung looked back at the girl. Then it clicked. The additional weird energy she was sensing--

She turned back to Wendy, who still looked very concerned despite the shaky smile she was trying to hide it with. “Is no one in this room actually human?”

“Wha-what do you mean?”

Sooyoung gestured widely to the room at large. “I don’t remember the last time I saw this many non-humans in one place. Save that one werewolf convention, but that doesn’t count.”

“You went to that?” Seulgi asked, but Sooyoung didn’t get to answer.

“What do you mean no one here is human?” Wendy exclaimed. The poor warlock looked quite put out by Sooyoung’s declaration. Joohyun held out an arm and Wendy absently followed the gesture, letting Joohyun settle her on the couch next to her. She didn’t notice a glamour stringing Wendy along, which was intriguing in itself.

“Warlock,” she said, pointing to Wendy. “Demons,” she continued, gesturing to herself and Seulgi, “and fae,” she said, waving to Joohyun and Yerim. Neither of them seemed perturbed by the announcement; in fact, Yerim had a sharp, toothy smile and Sooyoung had the impression that she could probably be good friends with the small fae.

“You should’ve let her know so she didn’t have to summon sprites to clean the kitchen,” she