Raise a Little Hell
SUMMARY: It's your first Halloween with Joshua and his friends, and you're more than excited to win their famous costume contest. Just when you think you're bound for the trophy, the secret your boyfriend has been keeping dashes your hopes. PAIRING: Incubus!Joshua Hong x afab!reader GENRE: fluff, suggestive, crack AU/TROPE: demon au, halloween party WORD COUNT: 2.4k WARNINGS: implied alcohol use, not beta read RATING: PG A/N: AHHHHH HE'S FINALLY HERE!! I wanted to post this on Halloween, but alas. It was not finished. This is my contribution to my Evil Twins Halloween collab with @justhere4kpop, who also made me this really pretty banner so we could twin!! Go check out their companion fic, "Oh, Nurse!!" featuring Jeonghan here. There will be two more installments to this universe; Fall from Grace, the smut scene I omitted from this one, and Silk & Spice, a filthy prequel featuring both of the evil twins in all their demonic glory. divs, as usual, from the lovely @cafekitsune masterlist | join my taglist | buy me a coffee?
“You’re leaving in thirty minutes and you’re not even dressed yet.”
Joshua chuckled quietly, smoothing invisible wrinkles in his jacket before meeting Jeonghan’s gaze in the mirror. “I am dressed, actually. I’m a devil.” He smirked, letting his eyes settle into their natural red.
“Every day of your miserable, eternal existence, sure,” the elder hummed, shoving his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat. He’d gone as a doctor for reasons none of the boys could comprehend, and he was judging Joshua?
“It’s not like you didn’t take most of your costume out of your closet, too,” Joshua sighed, turning to level his brother-in-arms with a playful glare. “And I think I look dashing, thank you very much.”
“Look dashing another night. I thought you wanted to win the costume contest, and you’re not going to do that without a costume.” Sighing, the younger shoved his hands in his pockets, watching the gears turn in Jeonghan’s head. He blinked hard when they clicked together, huffing a disbelieving laugh. “You’re serious.”
“Yes, I’m serious! Y/N wanted to do a couples costume, an angel and a devil, and… I figured, as cliche as it is, it might make telling them easier.” His gaze flickered down as he gnawed at his lip, wincing as his fang pierced the inside of it. “This way they can see I’m not lying.”
His friend flashed him a wary look, but nodded. “Be careful. You know the rules.”
Joshua’s expression steeled and he gave a single, curt nod. “She’ll know before she enters the house.”
A knock at the door of your apartment startled you, and you cursed quietly as you glimpsed the time. You knew you had been running late today, but you hadn’t realized just how late. Now, here you were, makeup only half applied and your dear, sweet boyfriend waiting patiently in the hall. Setting down your brush, you hurried to the door, giving Joshua a sheepish smile as you peered around it.
“I’m not quite ready yet, but—” you began, tongue twisting into knots as you caught the heated stare Joshua was giving you. His eyes raked over the near indecent dress hugging your figure, lingering on the curve of your cleavage and appreciating the innocent, glowy look your half-done makeup provided. He ran his tongue over his teeth hungrily as his ruby gaze fixed on your own, stepping into the space properly.
“That’s fine, I think they can wait on us,” he purred, crowding into your space to place his hands on your hips. You could have sworn, between the lust in his gaze and the abnormal red of his irises, that his eyes glowed. “Just for a little bit. I don’t mind missing the costume contest if you don’t.”
You breathed a laugh, reaching up to cup his cheek as you rolled your lip between your teeth. “I think you put too much work into this for us to miss it, honestly,” you hummed, stepping out of his embrace to drink him in. He started to protest, his grip tightening on your hips, but you gave him a firm shove back, humming appreciatively. “When did you have time to do all of this?” you questioned, reaching up for the horns perched atop his head.
Much to your surprise, he ducked away from your touch, gently catching your wrist as a flush color his cheeks. “I, uh… A couple of late nights, y’know?”
You frowned for only a moment before movement caught your eye, and Joshua cursed internally as you zeroed in on the tail behind him. Your furrowed brows shot up to your hairline, a grin taking over your features as you squealed in delight. Every spare shred of his attention went toward keeping the accursed appendage from twitching as you shuffled around him and cupped it in your palms. He sank his fangs into his bottom lip as your fingers wandered over it, tracing down the red gradient to the rounded little spade and back up to where it began to match his skin, finally disappearing under his clothes. By the time you pulled back, he had drawn blood, but he forced a smile onto his lips.
“Shua!” You beamed, and his heart swelled as you jumped up to wrap your arms around his neck. Sighing, he wrapped his arms around your middle, tucking his nose into your hair to breathe you in. “I know you weren’t too excited about this,” you muttered, “but thank you for taking it seriously for me. I can’t imagine how long this all took.”
“Years,” he huffed, chuckling at his own joke. If only you knew.
You stepped back to look at him once more, giggling with him. “I’m sure it felt like it. Now come on, I have to finish my makeup and we have to get there so we can win this thing and beat Jeonghan!”
He opened his mouth to stop you, but before he could, you dashed off toward your bedroom. Joshua sighed. He’d tell you on the way—he knew better than to interrupt your makeup time.
In general, Joshua Hong was one of the most laid-back people you’d met. He stressed himself out as much as any other college-aged guy, but that was insight only you and his closest friends held. He was an expert at keeping his emotions to himself, sometimes keeping even you from knowing how he felt. It made the way he was positively radiating nervous energy that much more noticeable. His fingers tapped out an absent-minded rhythm against the steering wheel, one small muscle in his jaw twitching as his eyes scanned the road, seemingly avoiding you. You frowned, picking at the feathers on the wings laying in your lap.
“Shua?” you called into the silence, and you swore you saw him jump, the tail twitching with the movement. He hummed acknowledgement, eyes still locked onto the road as you turned into a neighborhood. “Are you okay? You seem… Tense.”
“No, baby, I’m fine,” he replied quickly, the smile he flashed you not quite reaching his eyes.
You frowned, your own gaze shifting to the streets rolling by. “If you don’t want to tell me what it is, that’s okay, but don’t tell me you’re fine when you’re clearly not, Joshua,” you snapped.
Once again, he startled, bile rising in his throat. Heaving a sigh, he pulled up to the curb in front of his friends’ house. “It’s not that simple, baby.”
You scoffed, rolling your eyes as you moved to get out of the car. “I know you’re anxious about me meeting your friends, or whatever, but this is so unlike you. If you were this worried about it, you didn’t have to—”
“Y/N,” he sighed, running a hand over his face while the other reached for you, grabbing your wrist and successfully halting your escape. “It’s… I have to tell you something, before we go in. And it’s kind of both life and relationship changing, so… Forgive me for being nervous.”
His gaze dropped to his lap, hands fiddling with the hem of his jacket as you settled back in your seat, eyes fixed on him. The look on his face made your heart ache, anxiety creasing his brow as he gnawed at his lip. Reaching a hand out, you settled it on his thigh. And this time, when the tail behind him twitched with your touch, your heart jumped into your throat.
Your boyfriend seemed to realize immediately, wide eyes darting over his shoulder to where you were staring. His heart was pounding a mile a minute in his chest, throat tight with anxiety as seconds stretched like hours, and when the words finally left him, it was all at once.
“I’mademon.”
You blinked, slowly, pulling your hand back and tilting your head curiously. “I’m sorry… Slower?”
“I’m… I’m a demon. Like, from hell. The costume isn’t actually a costume. It’s just… Me.” He continued to avoid your gaze, tail flickering anxiously behind him. “I thought that the whole angel-devil thing would make it easier to tell you, because you can see that it’s all attached, but then you got all excited about me taking this seriously and that on top of the fact that ‘we’re demons’ is a lot to handle, I… It just made me more anxious.”
You blinked, processing his words silently. He was practically writhing in his seat, and if this weren’t his car, you’d be afraid he would bolt. Hell, maybe he still would.
Your brow furrowed as you mulled over his words. “Wait. We?”
Much to your surprise, he chuckled, and you watched the tension drain from his shoulders. “I tell you I’m a demon, and the we in that rambling is what you latch onto?”
“I mean… You’re still my Joshie, right?” you murmured, once again tugging at the pile of feathers in your lap. “You’re not going out and killing people or stealing their souls at night or stealing children, are you?”
Joshua laughed, reaching across to still your nervous hands. “No, baby, nothing like that. I’m still the same old Joshua I’ve always been. The only thing that changes is my appearance.”
“Okay,” you nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. “Then this changes nothing. Except, now, you can be yourself around me.”
He grinned, eyes creasing into crescents as he pulled your hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to your knuckles. “I love you, angel.”
His preferred nickname for you always sent heat rushing through your veins, but with this added context, it was all you could do to suppress a shudder as warmth pooled in your belly. “I love you too, Shua.”
“I, uh… There’s a reason I told you tonight. We… kind of have our Halloween parties in Hell.”
“Look at you, Y/N!” Seungkwan beamed as he greeted you, pulling you in for a quick hug. You giggled as he pulled back, spinning slowly to give your friend a full view of your angel costume, fluffy wings now looped over your shoulders. “Cute.” His eyes flicked to Joshua, giving him an unimpressed but amused look. “Angel and devil, hm? Very original. You could’ve put some effort in, hyung.”
Your boyfriend huffed a sigh as he slid in next to you, rolling his eyes slightly at the teasing. “I’ll have you know, this costume took me years to put together,” he hummed, reaching up to run a hand over his horns.
Seungkwan rolled his eyes heartily in return, pausing to take a long sip from his cup. “Bad joke.”
You pouted, crossing your arms. “You better be the only one to think that. I wanna win this famous costume contest!”
“Good luck with that,” he cooed, patting your hair underneath your halo, “rookies aren’t known to win. Jun and Minghao are in it to win it this year too, and there’s only so much Shua-hyung’s pretty face and your cute self can do when those two are determined.”
You frowned, shifting closer into Joshua’s side. He smiled down at you, giving your waist a reassuring squeeze. “You never know, Kwan,” he hummed. “It’s kind of a toss up, sometimes. I mean, Soonyoung won last year.”
He huffed a sigh and rolled his eyes, and you and your boyfriend shared an amused glance at his annoyance. “That was a fluke,” he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “And entirely Jeonghan’s fault. I will not be convinced otherwise.”
Joshua laughed quietly, nodding. “Okay, yeah. I’ll give you that. I really think we have a chance this year, though. Couples' costumes always do better, and we’ve made a joke.”
Glancing at his watch, the younger man grinned. “You’ll find out soon, hyung. It’s time to get started.”
Joshua had warned you, briefly, about how seriously he and his friends took their yearly costume contest, but it didn’t fully sink in until each party goer was parading in front of you, dressed to the nines. It became clear, as you and your boyfriend walked the dancefloor-turned-runway that few of his friends were impressed by his display, not too far off from his daily look. It was only when he stopped, gesturing back toward you with a flourish, that the crowd erupted into cheers. Flushed and giggling, you took the hand he offered and quickly disappeared back into the crowd.
“So?” he asked, tugging you back against his chest as he leaned against the wall. “Think we’ll win?”
Laughing softly, you shook your head. “Not a chance. I mean, look at Jun and Minghao. And honestly, Wonwoo and his partner as black cats are pretty cute, too.”
To your surprise, your boyfriend snorted, and you could hear in his voice the way he rolled his eyes. “Please. He can literally turn into a cat. He could’ve done what I did instead of buying cheap ass ears!”
You blinked, gears turning in your head for a moment as you recalled your conversation in the car. “Wait. When you said we, you meant—”
“Oh, yeah, all of the guys. Wonwoo can turn into a cat, Seungkwan and Dokyeom are kind of siren-esque…” he explained, eyes glancing over the room.
You frowned, looking up at your boyfriend. “What are you, then?”
He smirked, fangs flashing dangerously for a moment before your attention was pulled to Soonyoung, shouting over the din, “Time for the voting and rankings!”
You felt more than you saw Joshua’s smile as he leaned down to whisper in your ear, “I guess it remains a mystery.”
“Next year, you have to actually try,” you huffed, crossing your arms over your chest. It took all of Joshua’s willpower not to laugh, following your glare to where Minghao held his trophy. “Tell me we at least beat Jeonghan.” The apologetic look he gave you spoke volumes, and you groaned.
“I’m sorry, angel. I promise, he’d be insufferable if we won,” he hummed, wrapping his arms around your waist. A shudder lit down your spine at the sudden proximity, coupled with his warm breath next to your ear. “I can think of a few ways to make it up to you, though.” Pressing his lips to your pulse, he held you tighter when you jumped at the foreign feeling of his tail winding around your bare thigh.
You hummed, pleased as you melted back into his arms. He was intoxicating, taking over your senses when he got you like this, making you putty in his hands. “Can you? I don’t know if I believe you.”
“You should, sweetheart,” he purred, fingers dancing over your sides. “Unless you don’t want me to show you what kind of hell an incubus can raise.”
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