He'd quietly pointed out: Hyukjae can't eat much. How will he eat this?

So here his friends are. Trying. Nomming. Slurping. Sharing. And feeding... Hyukjae.

"That bite's too big! He can't eat that! His mouth hurts!"

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Here. Is this better?"

Donghae's pretending. To be sleeping. He hears them. So occasionally opens an eye. Spies. To understand what's happening.

Sungmin feeds Hyukjae. It looks like a piece of chicken meat.

"Don't chew too fast, Hyukjae," Dr. Goi says. "And tell us if something hurts. Maybe we missed it."

"I think I'm better now..." Hyukjae mumbles. "I-I can try this one..."

"Is it spicy?" Ryeowook asks. "Dr. Goi, is this one spicy?"

"No, that one's not–”

"Okay, here you go, Hyukjae."

"This is spicy!" Kyuhyun says. "Why? Hyukkie can't eat it?"

"Hyukkie?" Ryeowook says.

"Yes," Kyuhyun says. "Heechul calls me that – calls him that."

Hyukjae's gasp is loud. He jerks forward. Then... moves back. Turns to Sungmin. Clings to his arm. Whispers to him.

"Oh, yes, of course I can ask him. Kyuhyun, how's–"

"Heechul? Yeah, uh... he's okay," Kyuhyun says. His eyes dart to Donghae. "He's just... annoyed because he's only doing surveillance and he finds it boring."

"Oh..." Hyukjae says. Pouts. But sits back. Accepts a bite from Dr. Goi.

"Boring is safe," Ryeowook says.

"Yeah, that's the point of it," Kyuhyun says. "Oh, Yesung, didn’t you get all those spicy ramen cups for Hyukkie?"

"Yeah…”

"And he can't even eat them?" Kyuhyun chuckles.

“Not yet," Dr. Goi says. "It's junk food, anyway. And no, Hyukkie -- I mean, Hyukjae. Sorry. That's also too spicy for you."

The boy's cheeks don't seem too full. He's chewing slowly. He seems to want it. The spice-covered red piece Kyuhyun's holding. The other puts it in his own mouth.

Donghae closes his eye. He could ask himself: what the is happening? Or ask them that. It's simply easier, however. To just close his eyes. Close his ears. Close his mind to it all–

"Ohh, Yesung, have you tried these? They are delicious! There's a place around Mouse Rabbit that sells them every evening!"

"No."

"Try it!"

"No."

"Hey, king! Come try this!"

Donghae's a demon. A king. He doesn't... eat.

"B-But he can't eat spicy though," Hyukjae mumbles. Gingerly. Because at least he's been seeing Yesung. Recently. But Kyuhyun's always been that mean one.

Kyuhyun laughs. Ryeowook chuckles. Donghae frowns to himself. There are shouts of, "What?" and "No way!"

Donghae resists. Taking a peek. Telling them to shut up. But he can imagine it. Dr. Goi's probably quietly laughing. Behind her hand. Sungmin's probably smiling too. Yesung's probably smirking.

Idiots. It's not that he can't. It's just that he shouldn't.

"He said..." Hyukjae's voice is whispering now. He must believe Donghae’s asleep. "He said he breathes out fire when the food's spicy..."

More laughter follows. Then Kyuhyun inhales sharply. There's a clatter. As if he jumped. From his chair.

"Wait! Is this it? Is this the great fire demon's weakness? Spicy food?"

"Weakness?" Ryeowook says. "How is it a weakness when he's breathing out fire? He'll just burn everyone around him."

"Okay, but what if he burns too?"

"That doesn't hurt him," Yesung says.

"How do you know? Hey, king! Brother!"

Donghae ignores Kyuhyun.

"Why... why do you want to find his weakness?"

"Huh?"

Donghae opens his eye a fraction. Hyukjae's brows are furrowed. He seems... concerned.

"You want to take over his throne?"

Donghae has to bite his lip. The others are silent. For a moment. Soon, they all start laughing.

"Yes, I do, actually," Kyuhyun says. "I bet I can defeat the undefeatable and take over."

"Oh, keep dreaming," Yesung mutters.

"W-Why do you want to take over?" Hyukjae asks.

"Huh?" Kyuhyun says.

It gets quiet again.

"I just do. It's time he retires. He doesn't do anything with his powers anyway. It's a waste."

“What’s he supposed to do with his powers?”

Donghae quickly closes his eye. The demons have looked over. Nobody answers.

“Is he really… undefeated?” Hyukjae hesitantly speaks. Again. Very quietly.

There’s a brief silence.

“Well, yes,” Sungmin says. “Because he’s still here, isn’t he?”

“W-What does it mean… if someone gets defeated?”

“They die.”

There's glee in Yesung's voice. No wonder Hyukjae’s scared of these idiots.

“Not always,” Ryeowook clarifies. “It’s just… if you want to defeat a ruler and take over, it usually means killing… because you can absorb the power of the one you killed, which is the only thing that could allow you take their place.”

“A-Absorb… the power?” Hyukjae breathes. “How?”

“It means, I kill Donghae," Kyuhyun explains. "So I get to take all his scary fire powers. Then I’ll be the great undefeated fire demon!”

“And it’ll burn you to death,” Sungmin says.

Donghae’s unwillingly opened his eye. Hyukjae’s hugging Dr. Goi's arm.

“Has anyone… tried?” he whispers.

“Tried what?”

“To… to kill him?”

Donghae shuts his eye. Why the are they talking about this?

"Um, I suppose, long time ago," Sungmin says. "It didn't end well. For them. Hyukkie, never mind that, here, eat this–"

"Do... demons often try?"

"Child," Yesung suddenly says. "Everyone's learned their lesson from last time. You don't try to kill Donghae. You can't. The normal methods don't work on him."

Donghae sends out his displeasure. To stop them. But Hyukjae has another whisper.

"What's... the normal method?"

"You cut off their head, and burn every part of them before they can regenerate. But Donghae can't be burnt -- he's on fire all the time."

“Okay, Yesung," Ryeowook says. “That's enough, I think. He doesn't need to know any of this. Hyukkie, how are you feeling now?”

"Wait..."

Kyuhyun's voice has changed. Donghae has to look. The other's gazing at Hyukjae. Inquisitively.

"How does he know about that?"