Chapter 1.2.1

This chapter arc has two parts!

A date to the aquarium...

Warnings: Touchy feely but no , feels

“You’re telling me that humans keep all these fish just to look at them, pulling them out of their natural habitat and disrupting the environment while wasting water, which they’re running out of, and all these other resources they need to maintain the artificial habitats when the natural ones are right there?”

“Yup.”

Minseok laughed as Chen rolled his eyes and muttered about humans being stupid. When he had originally proposed the idea of visiting the aquarium (‘it’s like the zoo but with fish’), the lightning demon had bounced around in excitement before trying to port to his house for his zoo-going clothes again. Minseok luckily stopped him in time because they were going midday and there were definitely more people here who would’ve given a strange look to Chen’s clothes.

It wasn’t that he didn’t find his safari ranger clothes adorakable, but Minseok just wanted a casual date with casual clothes amongst casual humans. He had accepted that he was demon now—kinda hard to ignore when he saw his Alice-blue hair every morning and felt his aura shift around inside him regularly—but accepting the idea was entirely different from actually living and embodying it.

Sometimes, the realization would come across his mind as simple fact. Other times, it would crash into his head and Minseok’s efficiency-orientated mind would throw himself into a distillation of his skills, training, and what he needed to learn. Other times still, the idea seeped around the tiny cracks in his heart and taint it in despair of what he would lose. His suggestion to go to the aquarium was partly selfish in that he wanted to feel… normal and be normally disgustingly affectionate with his significant other for a little while, so he tugged his partner down the paths of the aquarium.

Of all things, Chen was most interested in the touch pool. The child-friendly pool that allowed people to touch some of the marine animals had a circle of kids and one adult demon poking and playing with the water. Rather than punching or jabbing stubby fingers onto starfishes and sponges, Chen moved his hand slowly, his fingers slinking around in the sand before reaching for an animal. And to Minseok’s surprise (and the kids next to him), the creatures always crept towards the demon on their own, touching or entwining with Chen’s fingers before he nudged their connection apart.

After they washed their hands, the kids were still staring at Chen like he was a magician, and apparently so was Minseok because the demon raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“How’d you get those animals to come to you instead?”

“Even if they’re used to being touched, they’re still animals. They need to be coaxed into doing something they would only do during a moment of indulgence. Clinging and being tangled in the sea is deadly, so, of course, they need to be convinced that I’m not a threat.”

Minseok looked at Chen, bewildered and impressed but mostly just gushing from his aura-out at how considerate and smart his demon was. Closing his mouth on his squeal, he wrapped Chen in hug and kissed the apple of his cheekbone.

“So this is why you really wanted me to be a cat of some sort—so we could be all touchy and feely without reserve?”

Chen tucked his chin down in a shy glance, but the purr rumbling their chests told him his answer. Minseok leaned his lips in and smirked at the way his proud lightning demon batted his fingertips across Minseok’s face in attempt to keep him away. Whenever they were in public, the demon always turned bashful. The amount of cute just made him want to twirl around with Chen in his arms, but deciding to spare him the embarrassment, Minseok just squeezed him once more and walked further into the exhibits.

They peered around in the prehistoric era and breezed past the crowded water shows. When they got to the luckily emptier underwater tanks and shark tube, Chen perked up again, walking back and forth, following fish with his eyes, and placing his hands against the figures of the creatures. The aqua light danced across his features like the soft parts of his lightning, and Minseok spent more time staring at those bangles of light drawing on his face than the massive sharks. And apparently he was obvious about it, because Chen hummed without turning around.

“I thought we came here to look at the fish.”

“We did, but I found something even more interesting.”

Chen smiled, the ends of his mouth curling sweetly, and Minseok so wanted to kiss those beautiful curves. He leaned in but didn’t, obviously, but what had him pausing was a pair of giggling across from them. They were quiet, but whether Minseok heard them because of the calm atmosphere or from his demon hearing didn’t matter so much when the two whispered to each other.

“Oh, the cheese. I can die happy.”

“They’re such a cute couple.”

Minseok looked to Chen and saw him perked in curiosity, not necessarily embarrassment, and Minseok had a brilliant idea. Whipping out his phone, he flicked the camera app open and approached the two.

“Hello, do you mind helping us take a picture?”

The first one sent him a sly smirk while the second giggled under her hand.

“Of course, we can. Do you want that coral?”

“That’d be great. Thank you.”

While ‘teaching’ them the button to press (they were young enough to have grown up with smartech), he flashed a three on his fingers, and the cheese-girl flashed him an okay sign back.

He turned back to Chen, pulled him over, and explained the picture. The demon raised an eyebrow at him but shuffled into position. He wrapped an arm around Minseok’s shoulders, while Minseok secured his waist.

“Alright, ready? One, two, three, smile!”

He turned his head and planted a big smooch on the unsuspecting demon’s cheek, holding tighter as he felt Chen’s muscles bunch tight enough to jump to the tube ceiling. His aura shot into the air and sparked like how Minseok imagined a spooked cat would suddenly bristle. When he pulled his lips off, Chen turned to him, his hand over his cheek, his scent curling in embarrassment but also happiness. His face screamed in internal meltdown, but his eyes lit in full amber, so Minseok knew he had succeeded.

“Oh, no, it came out blurry! I’m sorry. Let me try again. Okay, ready? One, two, three, smile!”

Minseok tipped Chen’s head back and pushed his nose into his neck, expertly multitasking with nuzzling, swiping his cheek down on his collarbone, and loudly breathing in a big whiff of rain, incense, and static. He had to hold Chen and his laughter as Chen let out an actual cat mrryah! before he wobbled and sank into Minseok’s embrace. His demon kitty curled his face into his shoulder, hiding in his neck and the arms hung over his shoulders, shaking a little. Minseok felt a little bit of guilt rising in his chest at maybe overstepping, but Chen didn’t smell affronted or anything of the sort. In fact, absolute contentment, joy, and love puffed out of him.

He waved the two ladies over, thanking them again as they giggled and gave him two thumbs-up. With his phone tucked safe, he rubbed a hand down Chen’s back and rotated so that the other visitors wouldn’t be able to see the demon’s face.

“Hey, Chen, are you okay? I’m sorry if I went too far.”

There was a little shake left and right, which probably meant he hadn’t overstepped or that it was okay.

“I know that you’re not really a PDA kind of person, but I just wanted to tease you a bit. Plus, we didn’t get any pictures of us with the underwater tanks.”

He gripped Minseok a little tighter, and Minseok felt a bit of panic rising with his guilt.

“I’m really sorry, Chen. We’ll go home. I won’t do that again, okay? I should’ve asked for your permission. , I’ll port us back—”

Chen suddenly lifted his head and landed his lips on top of Minseok’s, effectively shutting him up. It was a stiff-puckered two-second touch before Chen went back to his hiding spot.

“I liked it,” he whispered.

Minseok blinked himself back into function.

“You did?”

“Mm.”

“Was it too public? Too bold?”

“No. No.”

“Are you mad at me though? In any way?”

“No. Just… feeling a lot of things. I’m not used to it.”

Minseok needed half a second to process that, then a lot more seconds to keep himself from squeezing Chen tight, start making out with him, or opening a portal straight to his bedroom—or all three at once. He was just full of gushy, doting, fluffy, heart-shaped fuzziness—along with some righteous anger that such a person like his demon kitty wasn’t used to affection (blaming the angelic system on that one). But he held back for Chen’s sake and instead guided him to a nearby bench.

He still wasn’t ready to let go, so Minseok faced them away from the other aquarium-goers and supported him. It wasn’t too crowded since they went to one of the transition spaces between exhibits, and not too many hyperactive kids ran around screaming. One did, and Minseok normally had a soft spot for children, even the screaming ones, but one kid screamed right when they passed them, making Chen flinch and burrow further into Minseok’s neck. The glare he shot at the kid instantly made them silent, and the parent actually looked kind of grateful, so he felt zero regret on his part. About maybe twenty minutes passed before Chen nudged his thigh.

“Can you take us back?”

Nodding, he helped Chen up and directed them outdoors, behind some outdoor restrooms, opened the port, and thought of his living room, setting Chen down into the couch.

“Do you want anything?”

Though angelics didn’t need to eat or drink, Minseok found that food could still soothe and excite all the same. Chen especially liked meat and tea, of all things.

“Maybe some warm water.”

“Okay, sit here for a minute.”

Minseok fetched a glass and handed it to his demon. His expression looked a bit blank, but his eyes were still lit in amber. Glancing over, he sat next to Chen, who was warming his hands around the cup, and in the silence of the afternoon, Minseok felt his thoughts race closer and closer to a dark part of his mind.

He definitely overdid it. He took what was allowed of him but walked too far. He knew that Chen didn’t do PDA—hell, he didn’t even do PDA all the time when the P meant ‘private’—but Minseok kissed him and nuzzled him and just did what his heart wanted without thinking, in a direct audience of two strangers too! He shouldn’t have done it. He had allowed himself to love, not disrespect that person, but maybe he couldn’t do it. Maybe he couldn’t do one without doing the other and—

“Minseok.”

He jerked out of his thoughts as a warm hand laid on his arm. The temperature was striking, making him notice the contrast with the cold air that now floated in his living room. His aura had leaked out of him, enough to stir the nonexistent wind currents in the house in knocking down the remotes and some crossword puzzles he left on the table.

“It’s okay. Recall it back to you.”

The warm placation turned into a soft press alternating back and forth across his arm, and Minseok used those motions to ground himself from his thoughts and his aura. Concentrating, he felt the aura in the air, both Chen’s electricity and the overpowering cold of his own. He gathered the weaves and waves of it, like spiky half-formed pieces of hail and pulled them back, melting them back within himself. When he was done, he took a deep breath, and Chen smiled at him.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter