Magmanimously pt. 2
The tug is not entirely unexpected and yet it still breaks through his concentration, causing him to set his knight down on the wrong square and immediately growl at the failure, throwing the whole board to the floor.
"Charming," Changbin says from where he's sitting across from him, leaning down to pick up the fallen chess pieces and reassemble their earlier play with the kind of patience only a fire demon could bring to the table. "Really showing all the best versions of yourself here today, bud."
He snarls this time, his claws extending to swipe at the other demon, but Changbin's more than used to his foul mood and easily moves both himself and the chess board out of harm's way. Right when Minho's just about to phase out of this realm and go back home, the air pops with the arrival of other demons. He makes no effort to stifle his groan.
"Changbin," the demon lord himself says in that jovial tone of voice that gets on Minho's every last nerve. He still looks up to meet Seungmin's gaze, though, because no matter how powerful a demon may be, they all still fall under this specific daemon clan's rule. Seungmin's lips pull up into a smile when their eyes meet and Minho hates him a little more on principle alone. "The human is doing you good," the lord tells him. "I haven't ever seen a volcano clan interact with any others of our kind this much without even attempting to kill them."
He grumbles something undefinable and then pushes himself up from the chair that had served him so far, unwilling to remain in the demon lord's presence longer than he has to.
"He tried to kill me just now, though," Changbin says sagely from where he's putting the last few pieces back in their place, returning the chess board to exactly how it had been before Minho threw it onto the floor.
Seungmin's eyes don't leave him once while the lord replies to the fire demon's claim. "If that were really true, you'd be dead, Changbin of the fire clan. Your fire might be strong but it wouldn't win from this one."
Seungmin, Minho has learned, likes to caution his guards, to keep them from being too cocky, from thinking they're worthy of more just because they're part of the high guard. Somehow he seems to have no qualms about Minho's thoughts. But maybe that is because he knows the quick and easy way to Minho's demise; through the human he's tied to. Through Jisung.
The thought alone makes liquid fire burn hot in his veins, his skin steaming even in the warm summer air. He doesn't need to see himself to know the fiery glow to his eyes or the slow heating of his claws. He also doesn't need more of the high guard popping up because of a perceived threat to their lord, so he turns away and shakes his head trying to shake off the misplaced anger.
So far, the demon lord has made no attempts at harming his human in any way. Minho's pretty certain Jisung is protected by his friendship with Jeongin, considering how fond the demon lord and his entire guard seem to be of the witch. But then Seungmin hasn't made any attempts at anything, really. Changbin sought Minho out on his own after being told of the reason for the offer to join the high guard and the demon lord occasionally comes to fetch the fire clan demon from their meetups, but he never shows up to Minho's home, nor has he shown his face anywhere near his human yet. So Minho can't complain, not really.
Still.
"Goodbye," is what he leaves them both with, following the summons he has been ignoring so far and allowing the powers that be to disassemble him from one corner of the earth and reassemble him in the most disgusting time and place anyone has ever lived: winter season.
Jisung, seated on the couch right next to Yang Jeongin, summoning witch and demon lord's pet extraordinaire, blooms with both delight and smugness when Minho appears in his living room, promptly shoving an elbow into his friend's side.
"See!" He says, sounding too proud and way too smug for Minho's liking, immediately striving to further plummet his mood. What has he proven right this time? "I told you it wouldn't take more than five minutes! Pay up!"
The disappointment and following despair that rolls off the witch in waves does wonders for Minho's souring disposition, even more so when Jisung sticks out his face cheek first invitingly and Jeongin groans, whines and protests before eventually leaning in slowly. The peck is a quick thing, the briefest touch of lips to skin and Minho finds himself suddenly chortling when he realises what it is exactly that Jisung bet with the witch for.
"You should know better by now, Yang Jeongin," he says, playfully letting the syllables of the witch's full name slip through his lips, causing even more of that feeling of failure to bubble up in the mix of emotions the witch feels. "He's bathed in good fortune if you ask me.”
He wants to say it's Seungmin's fault that he's here before the five minutes were up, but he's incapable of speaking the demon lord's name aloud without his explicit permission, so that taunt remains silent. The wolfish grin on his face is enough humiliation, he thinks. Especially when the witch rolls his eyes but then quickly gets up to head to the bathroom, face alight with his embarrassment.
Once the click of the bathroom door signals their (relative) privacy, Minho turns to look at Jisung. "You're starting to get really annoying, Ernest," he says evenly, raising an eyebrow in silent reprimand. It does nothing to lessen Jisung's grin, of course, the human bright and undeterred.
"Aw, Carl, don't be mean. How else will you stay entertained during these long, boring years of your existence?"
Minho scoffs, rolling his eyes and shoving Jisung's legs off the armrest so he can take a seat there instead.
"I can think of many ways and none of them involve ever having to see your face again," he decides, leaning against the backrest of the couch and exhaling some of the tension out of his stance.
Just when Jisung opens his mouth and is about to voice his no doubt displeased retort, a roaring sound fills Minho's entire head and he lurches off the couch's armrest again, stumbling a few steps on his feet before catching himself with a hand on the armchair. It takes a few more seconds for his vision and hearing to clear, but then he suddenly realises there are hands on his arms, trying to shake him but failing miserably.
"Fucking hell, Jeongin please cover your ears I can't let you hear this next part. Promise me, okay? I need to-"
"I'm fine, Jisung," Minho interrupts the waterfall of words before Jisung can try and call him by name. "Don't say it out loud."
Jisung's mouth clicks shut, attention coming back to him fully, the hands on his arms curling around the fabric of his shirt tightly. "What the fuck happened?" The human demands, and Minho's gaze automatically moves to the witch standing between him and the bathroom door. "I could feel a tremble like an earthquake but only on the inside." Minho's eyes still don't move from the witch, fingers flexing as he takes in a very slow breath.
"The demon lord fell," he says, moving his gaze back to Jisung's, turning around in his hold and taking the human's hand off his arm. "A different demon must have taken his place because there's no chaos, no power vacuum to fill."
Something that isn't fear but only the thing closest to it he can feel surges up inside of him, caution wrapping up his spine and stiffening his limbs. "Don't leave the apartment for a while, Jisung," he says, commands almost, except they hold no sway over each other. Jisung still nods anyway, accepting his words. "Jeongin," he continues, turning his gaze back to the witch. "Yang Jeongin, you stay with him." This one is a command, one that can't be so easily ignored. "Don't go outside, it isn't safe for either of you right now. A change in leader means a change in policies."
He's still standing stiff and straight. "I have to go see what's up." Then another thought hits him. "Jeongin, you don't have a website anymore, do you?" The witch shakes his head and he relaxes ever so slightly, nodding. "Okay. Alright. Don't call for me, Jisung, I'll be back as soon as I can."
With those words, he lets the call of the new demon lord take him back to his home realm, to figure out what has changed now that there's a new leader at the top - but also to figure out what happened to Seungmin.
Time doesn't have the same meaning in the demon realm as it does in the human one, so it's much easier to lose track of it when he roams around his home. His connection to Jisung gives him some way of tracking the passing of time, but he still floats in the magma of his home far longer than a human might have perhaps found appropriate. It helps, though, because when he finally emerges from the pure heat, he feels much more relaxed.
His hunt for the truth brings him from one hellhole to the next; fruitless, aimless searching. No demon knows any more than he does, and the supposed new demon lord has yet to show their face to their subjects. He wonders what happened, what <i>could</i> have happened when he saw Seungmin not too long before, standing next to Changbin in the human realm. Where were Chan and Hyunjin when the demon lord needed protection? Where are they all now? Has the entire high guard been killed?
Eventually, Jisung's worried tugging on their bond wins over the caution that still curls around his spine and he slips between the folds of their realms, stepping out in the more than familiar living room once more. Jeongin is still there, pale and full of anger. Minho ignores him in favour of looking at Jisung first. The human looks fine, busy making dinner in his kitchen, seemingly not paying attention.
"My friend is not answering the phone," the witch says before he can speak. He briefly glances at him, but when he looks away again, suddenly Jeongin raises his voice. "Look at me! I'm talking to you! Let me go, you damn demon! I have to go figure out what happened to my friend!".
He turns his gaze back to Jeongin slowly, clenching his jaw and trying his very best to repress the anger that is bubbling beneath his skin, a pool of magma ready to explode. It takes a few moments in which the witch meets his gaze head-on, which does nothing to help his naturally born coarseness.
"I told you," he eventually says, and he knows his eyes are glowing when the witch suddenly blanches and takes a step back. "The demon lord fell. It isn't safe for you, Yang Jeongin of the witch's order. You made too many friends on the wrong side of whatever this is. Your friend won't answer because he's <i>gone</i>."
"Carl," the familiar voice cautions behind him and he whirls around to meet it. Jisung's looking at him a little wide-eyed as well this time, steaming pot of dinner now next to the stove. "You're melting the carpet, what's wrong?"
<i>What is going on?</i> that expression asks him, <i>You're acting unlike yourself. Why are you so sharp?</i>
But he's not acting unlike himself, is he? He's a demon. He's volcano clan. It's a miracle he's spent this much time in people's vicinity and has not lashed out at them so far. It's a miracle that Jisung is unscathed, let alone his annoying friends. He bares his teeth in annoyance and shakes his head, narrowing his eyes.
"Don't summon me again, Han Jisung, it's not safe."
The <i>for you</i> goes unspoken but not unheard. He makes pointed eye contact with the witch one more time before he slips out of the precarious hold Jisung has over him and disappears again, taking the melted carpet with him. It is consumed by magma the second it enters the demon realm, completely devoured until not a single scrap of it is left.
Once it's gone, he plunges himself into the magma lake as well, and lets its warmth soothe him. It takes very little time before the heat rises to a maximum and the volcano erupts.
–
Minho has been gone for weeks. It's been a month and a half, Jeongin growing ever more frustrated the longer he's stuck to Jisung's side. For the first few weeks, they ordered groceries to be delivered and heeded the demon's warning, but they've come to a point where staying inside is driving them both up the wall - especially Jeongin who hasn't been able to contact his best friend no matter how he tries. So Jisung is dressing in his best heat-resistant clothes, since his skin has been - according to Jeongin - 'burning hotter than your fucking stove, Jisung'. And he clearly wasn't wrong, proving his point by cracking an egg over Jisung's arm and watching it get fried to a crisp in a matter of seconds.
They head outside cautiously every time, making sure no one's outside and always making sure they're not followed before they head back to Jisung's apartment. Jeongin also mutters a protective spell every now and then to keep them safe from invisible foes as well. They visited Seungmin's home like this, but no one had opened the door. They also visited the grocery store, but Jisung had to put in too much effort to steer clear of others and keep his body heat unnoticed so they left that place soon enough as well.
By now they're going to all kinds of different places trying to find a trace of Jeongin's friend Seungmin or any of his other friends. They've been unlucky so far, and Jisung can see Jeongin grow more worried with every fruitless outing. He can feel himself grow more worried as well the more time passes with his bond to Minho remaining closed and unresponsive, the demon seemingly blocked off from him no matter what he tries.
"Innie," someone says suddenly, causing Jisung to whirl around instantly, a hand already grabbing hold of Jeongin's sleeve to tug him behind him protectively. His sharp, somehow angry gaze finds a young man with his hands raised and a cautious look on his face. "I mean no harm. I was sent by Jinnie."
Jisung feels the anger burn in his gut, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he takes in the stranger, but Jeongin shakes off the hold on his sleeve and takes a step forward, though he luckily remains behind Jisung, seeming to realise he's the most impervious to danger of the two of them.
"Why didn't Jin come himself?" Jeongin asks, and the stranger briefly seems to contemplate his answer before giving a nod of his head right at Jisung.
"He's too dangerous for Jin right now. This guy's demon's in defensive mode and we can't get through to him. He's trying to melt me as we speak. I'm a little more warded against the heat than Jin is. I'm Bin. Please, Sung, I swear I mean no harm, but we need to talk."
"What about my demon?" He hears himself demand harshly, posture tense. Does this man know Minho? Is he even a man? "Why do you know about that? Who are you?"
"I'd much rather not talk about this in the middle of the street. Innie, can we go to your house to discuss this? If your friend isn't around, Jin can come too."
Immediately Jisung feels his anger flare. He watches the man across from him wince, taking a small step back. "He's not going anywhere without me," Jisung states in what sounds more like a growl to him. He watches the man's expression sour.
"Aish," 'Bin' hisses through his teeth, followed by a mumbled: "Fucking volcano clan." Then he seems to shake off his annoyance, simply looking past Jisung's shoulder at where he presumes Jeongin to be. "Innie?" He pleads, and Jisung wants to look at his friend as well but he can't take his eyes off the stranger.
"Sorry, Bin, but Sungie's right. I'm not going anywhere without him. I'm name-bound to stay with him." Jeongin's voice is apologetic, a hint of bitterness in it too. Jisung feels the irrational urge to get angry at him rise up to his throat. He tries his best to swallow it down, suddenly wondering why he's so worked up. It's the surprise that seems to finally cut through whatever emotion had been driving him, leaving his head clearer and his posture less tense.
"We can go to my place," he says, still watching the unfamiliar man and therefore catching the softening of his gaze, the gentle awe in his expression over Jeongin's earlier revelation. Also catching the brief flash of surprise at his own words. "Even if he's been there, he won't find it again after, not without help."
He does manage to look away then, meeting Jeongin's eye, who frowns at him for a moment but then nods. "Alright. Let's go straight away. I'll make sure no one's following us."
"Innie," the stranger immediately cautions. "If you use your spells I'll lose you too. Don't worry, I'll make sure no one's following. I promise."
Suddenly, strikingly, Jisung becomes acutely aware that the man across from them is a demon, even though he already sort of knew that before. It’s his promise and the flash of <i>something</i> in his eyes that is all too familiar after almost a year of having Minho in his life. He pauses for a moment in his movements, eyes wide as he takes in the man and then he averts his gaze.
“Can you tell me if he’s alright?” He asks, feeling almost stupid for doing so. “My demon. I haven’t been able to reach him, is he doing well?”
The demon clearly pauses momentarily at his question, rubbing his palms down his thighs before shaking his head apologetically. "I can't say for sure. He's alive, at least, or you would have noticed. He's holed up in his home where not many dare tread, so he's probably safer than any of us. That's all I can tell you."
Jisung nods, accepting what he's been given and putting himself in motion properly, heading back to his house. Jeongin, as always, sticks close to his side, following him all the way home.
Usually coming home is a thing of relief; being able to relax in the comfort and safety of his four walls. Usually, when the door closes behind him, Jisung can almost feel his entire body slump a little as he relaxes. Usually.
The door isn't even fully closed yet or the demon slams into the wall, groaning at the impact that somehow doesn't actually dent his wall. It takes Jisung a full second to realise there's a fourth person in the apartment with them now, hands fisted in the Bin guy's clothes, which have already burst into flames.
"Carl," Jisung realises with a start, almost immediately reaching out.
"Sung!" Jeongin warns him, but his fingertips already touch burning hot skin. No burns appear on his hand, but he pulls back in surprise anyway at the sensation.
The demons are clearly fighting a battle of wills, because they aren't moving at all, but the waves of power are rolling off them so densely Jisung can almost feel them on his skin.
"Carl, what's happening? What's going on?" He asks, trying to get an explanation, because the other demon had been kind enough, didn't seem like a threat. There's no reaction, though, Minho not even looking up, and so he steps forward. "Carl?" He tries again, reaching inside for their bond that has become a more familiar companion than any other by now, but which is still as unresponsive as it has been for the last month and a half.
He notices then, the unknown demon's eyes flicking to him, something like a plea written in their depths when he meets the man's gaze. The welcome mat in front of his door is on fire as well now, as is his wallpaper, revealing a hint of the wards beneath.
"Carl!" He yells immediately, and this time reaches out his hand to slap it onto the demon's shoulder. When he pulls, Minho whirls around with eyes made of liquid fire, a snarl twisting his features into something dangerous and wild, one of his hands still holding the other demon in place against the wall, the other flat against Jisung's chest. Jisung feels his own body grow warmer, to a degree that becomes uncomfortable even to him, and he knows he has to do something right now.
He takes a breath, steels himself and faces the demon head on. "Stop," he orders in the most even tone he can manage. "Stop, breathe and think. You're destroying my home. Calm down." Minho. He throws the name into their bond, hoping it'll reach its target despite how empty it feels. "Talk to me." Minho. "Tell me what's going on."
The heat seems to lessen first, before Minho's snarl eases away. He's still frowning at the end and his eyes still burn with liquid fire - magma, Jisung realises - but he turns his head to look back at the other demon and then promptly pulls him away from the wall. Moments later, all the fire in his house goes out at once.
"What are you doing here?" Minho's voice is steely, but it still causes a tight knot of worry in Jisung's belly to uncoil, proving that the demon is really back with him.
"Jin wants to talk to Innie," the demon answers almost meekly to Minho's demand for an explanation. "He couldn't come himself because you were guarding, so I did. Still a close call."
"What happened?" Minho demands next and the stranger shrugs a little.
"Some higher level demons staged a coup. We're working on a way to fix it."
"Fix it?" Minho asks, incredulous. "What's there to fix? The demon lord fell. Seungmin's gone."
Jeongin gasps behind him and Jisung feels himself tense up at the familiar name, eyes wide as he stares at Minho's profile.
"What?" Jeongin asks, disbelieving, and Minho's head whips around to take him in, frowning deeply. His expression only smooths out the tiniest bit at the sight of Jisung's friend.
"Yang Jeongin of the witches' order," Minho says slowly, and then he finally loosens his hold on the few remaining threads of the other demon's shirt. "Your friend Seungmin does not reply because he was the demon lord and the demon lord fell."
Jisung doesn't need to see to know the way those words impact his friend, nor does he need to look at Minho's face to know he's feeding off Jeongin's desperation and disbelief. Perhaps he's feeding off Jisung's as well.
The other demon - Bin? - casually closes Jisung's front door. "Well if someone would let me get my actual words out, I could have told you he's relatively fine, just laying low."
"What?" Jeongin asks again, but this time he's echoed by Minho's just as incredulous voice.
"That's impossible," Minho adds, growing angrier again. "I felt the power shift. It doesn't happen unless the lord falls."
"Look, you could stop being so damn protective and let me take Innie to see Jin so we can explain everything, or you can keep threatening me with a good time and get nothing done." The unfamiliar demon looks and sounds rather done at this point, which Jisung can't really blame him for, even though it seems to make Minho's lips curl back into the snarl rather than have him calm down. The other demon looks surprisingly unimpressed, though. "Which one is it going to be?"
"Carl," Jisung says before a new fight can break out, reaching out and taking hold of Minho's hand. It's surprising that he's in a fully human shape considering how instinctually he seems to react, but when Jisung squeezes gently, Minho's attention returns to him almost immediately. They hold eye contact for a long while, Jisung looking into those fiery depths almost like in a trance, until Minho's shoulders drop and he looks away, seemingly annoyed but relenting.
"Fine. Where's the damn airwisp hanging out?"
"Maybe it's safer to make him come here?" Jisung suggests quietly. "The apartment's warded really well. Unless coming out of hiding is more dangerous than us going wherever this Jin person is?"
"If the wisp wants to talk to us he can move his ass over here whether he likes it or not," Minho grumbles, but his grip on Jisung's fingers is still light and when he looks at the other demon after, his expression softens a little as well. "What about…?"
"We're all fine," the other demon says, somewhat gruffly but reassuring at the same time. "We got injured but not killed and it's been long enough that we're all well again."
Minho nods at that, before finally turning to look back at Jisung once more. After a silent moment of just meeting each other's gaze, Jisung ventures a smile. "Hey Carl."
"Ernest," Minho acknowledges, effectively melting away the last bit of Jisung's stress by use of the nickname. He nearly stumbles forward into Minho's chest, but the looming presence of the unknown demon and the knowledge that Jeongin would still judge him for trusting the demon even after almost a full year of being tied to Minho keeps him standing. Not that Jeongin apparently has a lot to say, though, considering his best friend Seungmin was the lord of all demons.
"I would really like to know what the fuck is going on," Jeongin speaks up right then, his voice cold and angry. "And you, Carl, take this name binding off me, I want to go home after this."
Minho levels Jeongin with a clearly unimpressed look, before simply looking back at Jisung and then over at the other demon. "Well, go get the airwisp, don't dawdle in the doorway."
"He's got a name, you know," the demon huffs but Minho shrugs it off.
"A name which I'm sure he'll appreciate me not using in front of a witch and a practising human."
They hold eye contact for a moment longer and then the stranger shakes his head and redirects his attention. "Hey, could I borrow a shirt or sweater?"
Jisung sees Jeongin nod in his periphery, his friend grabbing one of Jisung's hoodies that's still hanging over the back of a chair. The demon puts it on with a grateful smile, before taking hold of the door handle.
"Innie, please come outside in half an hour, I won't be able to find this place otherwise," he asks politely, and then he's gone.
The door closes behind the demon, leaving a silence to fall heavily upon Jisung's hallway. Before anything else can be said, Jeongin huffs and stalks further inside the apartment, leaving them alone. Jisung waits until his bedroom door falls closed behind his friend before turning his full focus on the demon.
"Minho," he says as softly as possible, giving the fingers in his hold another little squeeze. "What happened? You were just gone. I couldn't reach you."
"Needed a break," Minho says with a shrug, but then he brings up his free hand and pats down Jisung's hair with gentle touches. "I'm okay, though, no worries. All good."
Surprisingly, Minho meets his gaze when he tries to look at him properly, and once again holds it steadily. Jisung tries his best not to let the relief overwhelm him, but he can't deny how happy he feels having Minho close again. How much safer he feels this way, too.
"Minho," he utters again, voice softer than ever. Even his renewed use of Minho's actual name does not earn him a scolding this time, only a single, questioningly raised eyebrow. "I missed you. I was worried. I'm glad you're back."
He watches the words hit the demon like they're an assault, Minho's body tensing and his expression closing off, but the hand in his still isn't pulled away. For a long while it's silent, then Minho breathes out an easy grin. "You're sentimental, Ernest. It's not sexy in a man," Minho jokes his honesty away, and he lets it go, trying to tell himself it's enough that he spoke the words at all. He huffs out a laugh instead.
“What can I say? I haven’t had a proper meal since you last made me some food. My sentimentality erupts from my suffering stomach,” he jibes back. Minho’s eyes zone in on him briefly, and then they’re put in motion as he’s dragged across his apartment over to the kitchen.
“Let’s get you something to eat then, Ernest Jisung,” Minho says so lightly it’s almost hard to imagine this is the same man who had another demon slammed up against his hallway wall just minutes ago. “We wouldn’t want your sentimentality to get in the way of your common sense.”
As Minho’s hand slips out of his, Jisung yearns to tighten his hold, to keep him close, but as always he lets the demon go, allowing him the freedom he so clearly is unwilling to give up on. Rather than hold on to him, he decides to keep his eyes on him instead, watching the demon move around his kitchen to make him food.
The longer he stands there, leaning against the counter and watching the demon cook, the more he relaxes, the tension inside of him easing away until he feels nothing but warm and content. It’s only when his bedroom door opens again at some point and Jeongin comes walking out again that he realises he’s just been watching Minho with a smile on his face for the last fifteen minutes.
“Jisung,” Jeongin says and he immediately looks over, startled by his friend’s still rather cold voice. When their eyes meet, Jeongin just looks at him for a moment in silence, before suddenly walking closer and hovering a hand over his skin. After a slight hesitation, his fingers touch Jisung’s skin and he realises that his temperature no longer seemingly burns his friend. “Ah,” Jeongin says with a half-smile. “I guess we can no longer use you to fry our eggs, huh?”
Minho’s head turns with a raised eyebrow, but Jisung only laughs and shrugs his shoulders. “Sorry, Innie. You’re going to have to use a frying pan like in ye olden days.”
Jeongin’s smile turns into a grin, though it falters again when his gaze shifts to the demon as well. “Hey Carl,” he says after a short moment, voice carefully polite. “Could you please end this name binding? I would like to be able to at least go home.”
Jisung almost expects Minho to ignore the witch again, but to his surprise, the demon turns slightly and looks at them. His gaze, with his eyes now back to the more normal brown, flicks between the two of them a few times, before he temporarily puts down the spoon he was cooking with and turns around fully.
“I cannot, Yang Jeongin of the witches’ order,” he says, sounding surprisingly solemn. “You are safer together. You should stay with Jisung and go outside as little as possible until this situation is resolved." Before Jeongin can fully breathe in, Minho's already continuing, cutting off his protests. "Getting angry at me won’t change this. I don’t like you much either so if I could make you leave, I would do it in a heartbeat. In fact, if you weren’t Seungmin’s favourite you’d be dead already."
Minho takes a step towards Jeongin, who must see something in him Jisung can't, because his friend immediately takes a step backwards. "It’s time for you to remember that I’m a demon. One of those who likes your kind the least, I should add. I have very little patience to begin with, stop testing its limits when Seungmin is not around to keep you safe."
Jeongin's expression turns stormy again, but though he glares angrily at the demon, he swallows whatever he had originally planned to say. Jisung watches his friend ball his trembling hands into fists and then abruptly stomp away again, slamming the bedroom door behind himself once more.
"Weren't you being a little too harsh?" Jisung asks after the clear sound of the bedroom door locking sounds up. Minho turns to look at him with a surprisingly serious face.
"Not harsh enough, maybe," he says slowly, his eyes roaming over Jisung's face as well. "I may like you, that doesn't mean I am obliged to play nice with everyone you associate yourself with."
Sudden heat flushes Jisung's entire body, eyes wide as he stares at his friend in surprise. "I- what?"
"I'm a demon, Jisung," Minho says with a clearly tired roll of his eyes as he turns to go back to the food he was preparing. "We don't do pretend niceties."
Jisung watches him stir the pot a few times before he manages to speak again. "No, I mean, yeah. I know. I just- You like me?"
Minho slowly turns his upper body around again, regarding him with slightly raised eyebrows. "Why else did you think I've been sticking around so long for? It sure as hell isn't your cooking skills."
"Hey!" He protests, face afire but at the same time so pleased by the knowledge. "My cooking isn't that bad! I just thought maybe the bond…" He pauses and pressed his lips together, watching the way Minho cuts up a spring onion like it's no big deal and adds it to what he's making. "I didn't know demons could like humans," he eventually admits to the simmering quiet of his kitchen.
"Neither did I," Minho replies without looking up, his voice that same brand of gentle Jisung remembers well from the days when he was incapable of doing anything himself and would summon Minho to help him out with so many basic things. "But we must, because I do. And so does Seungmin." Then Minho turns back to him, brandishing his spoon in a scolding manner. "Don't let it keep you up at night, Ernest," he warns. "This doesn't change anything. I'm still not washing your dirty laundry."
Quick as always to join in on a change of topic, Jisung immediately whines, stepping forward until he can grab hold of Minho's elbow and shake it a little. "But Carl!" He pleads. "There's so much of it and I'm but one, helpless, little human!"
Minho scoffs, but Jisung watches the corners of his lips tilt up lightly with the hint of a smile.
"I guess you best summon yourself a lesser laundry demon then," Minho deadpans, returning his full attention to the food.
Once the food is ready, Minho walks outside of the apartment to become the homing beacon for the other demon and his friends. Not five minutes later, three of them enter again. Jisung recognises Bin again, but the third one is unfamiliar. Tall and blond haired, he's of equal beauty as Minho himself, but Jisung doesn't think he could ever think of anyone else as attractive again with how deeply connected he feels to his own demon.
Not that Minho's really his, but that's something he'd rather not think about too much lest some of his thoughts get revealed to the demon.
"Jeongin," he calls instead, turning towards the bedroom as the front door closes. His friend peeks his head out grumpily at first, but upon spotting the three demons, his expression suddenly clears into one of relief.
"Hyunjin!" He gasps in relief, only to immediately slap a hand over his mouth in shock. The tall demon, who'd looked like he'd eaten something rotten just moments before, breaks out into a wide and clearly relieved smile.
"Innie!" He replies, and opens his arms as he steps forward. Jeongin immediately rushes out of the room, throwing himself into the demon's arms and hugging him tightly. Jisung wonders if he should go off grid for a couple of weeks as well if it means Jeongin will hug him so readily when he returns.
"Where have you been?" Jeongin asks as he pulls away, his hands resting on Hyunjin's shoulders, his expression filled with worry. "What happened? Where's Seungmin? Why is Jisung's demon saying that he's gone?"
Hyunjin's expression briefly tightens, eyes flicking to Minho and back, before he puts a hand on Jeongin's shoulder and casually starts leading him to the couch. "Come. Let's sit and I'll explain everything, okay?"
Jisung shares a look with Minho as the other three casually move to his living room couch like it's no big deal and they're right at home. He sees the annoyance seep into Minho's expression just as it starts filling up his own chest as well, and realises their bond hadn't been closed off at all. It seems that Minho's emotions had just been so tightly interwoven with his own he didn't even realise they weren't his at all.
He quickly steps forward, putting a hand on Minho's arm, just beneath his elbow. "Carl, hey," he says in a soft voice, hoping not to annoy the demon further. Minho's gaze immediately shifts to him and Jisung finds himself automatically smiling. "Did you make enough food to give Jeongin some too?"
Minho rolls his eyes, but luckily it's done in a good-natured way. "I made enough for all five of us. Let's listen to what the airwisp has to say first, though."
Jisung can only nod and follow Minho into the living room when he goes. They take a seat on the other couch, Minho's hand immediately coming to rest on his thigh. It doesn't feel like something soft, though, but more like an added layer of protection, an extra step between any possible threats and Jisung himself.
This time when his chest starts feeling warm, he's entirely sure it's not the heating of his skin causing it.
"Alright," the one Jeongin called Hyunjin says - Jisung is definitely storing that name away for a possible future need. "So. Seungmin is the demon lord, member of the daemon clan which rules all demons. Any time in the past when other demons took power, they only lasted until a daemon clan member stepped up again. A couple months ago, some higher level demons staged a coup, setting a trap for him. They took his most loyal guard captive and were planning on killing Seungmin then and there. He managed to get away, though he gave up his title as demon lord and faked his death so as to get to the bottom of it all. He's been lying low ever since, waiting for these demons to stop searching for the rest of the higher guard so that he can move freely around this realm again and plan his return."
The demon leaves a momentary pause, barely long enough for anyone to process anything, Jisung thinks, and then continues. "We've been trying to reach you from the start, but someone decided to go into protective mode and made it too dangerous for any of us to come close to you. Only now that we reunited with Bin did we have a chance to contact you."
This time the silence that follows seems to be permanent, and so Jisung looks from one demon to the next, before stopping at his friend. Jeongin's expression is serious, but also somewhat relieved, it seems. Jisung has no idea what half of Hyunjin's words meant, but he's hoping he'll figure it out from context clues later on, honestly. If not he'll just have to ask Minho when these guys are gone again. Minho, whose hand is still a warm and solid weight on his thigh.
"So Seungmin's fine?" Jeongin asks hopefully, and Hyunjin nods. "Can he come here too?"
At this question, the demon seems to pause, glancing sideways at the other demon before looking over at Jisung. With how close they are, it takes him a moment to realise it's not him being glared at but Minho.
"Four demons in one place wouldn't entirely be laying low," Hyunjin says eventually, returning his gaze to Jeongin. "But he asked me to tell you he's sorry and that he hopes he can see you again soon."
Jeongin nods, relaxing a little where he's sitting and Jisung's mouth opens on its own. "Wait, Jeongin-ah, are you just going to not pay any mind to the fact that two demons have now confirmed your best friend is the lord of all demons? Am I the only one who thinks that's insane?" He looks briefly at Minho to see if the demon also thinks it utterly normal, only to receive a smirk from his friend.
"Get with the program here, Ernest," Minho says lightly, clearly amused to be toying with him like this. "Seungmin's the demon lord, these two are both higher guard and Jeongin is their most beloved human pet."
"What about you?" He asks, a little worried. "What are you?"
"I'm volcano clan, Sungie," Minho says easily, his grin somehow looking smug and proud despite it being his usual one. "We don't have anything to do with any of this. The only reason we're involved is because you just had to make friends with the demon lord's pet."
"I'm not a pet!" Jeongin growls angrily, but Minho seems unaffected as he turns to grin at the witch.
"He's been teaching you some demon magic parlour tricks. You have weekly meetings for drinks and each other's number on speed dial probably, but he never bothered to tell you the truth. I'm pretty sure that's not friendship and you're just his fun human pet. No doubt if I hadn't made you stay with Ernest here, whoever staged the coup would've long killed you, too."
Jeongin looks like he's going to protest, but Bin speaks up before he can. "He's right, actually," the demon says with a small nod and an apologetic smile. "Though it was very annoying, you sticking close to Jisung and his many wards has definitely helped keep you safe and made it so Seungmin didn't have to worry about you."
"Then why show up at all?" Jisung inquires somewhat judgingly. "If he's safer when he's not linked to all of you, why try to talk to him at all?"
He's looking at the demon who last spoke, but it's Hyunjin who replies, instantly drawing his gaze. "Because Seungmin needs him to get his position back."
Jisung turns to look at Jeongin, who has his eyebrows now raised and is looking at the tall demon with clear disbelief. Minho seems to be of the same idea because he scoffs incredulously.
"Seungmin needs a witch to do his dirty work?" He asks, clearly disbelieving. "I knew there wasn’t much backbone to him, but doesn’t sacrificing a witch for his own needs go a bit far?”
Hyunjin snarls, though the other demon’s hand settling on his leg seems to keep him from physically lashing out at Minho. That and perhaps Jisung’s own presence as well, he’s not sure. “You better shut up about things you know nothing about, volcano. You can be turned into nothing but ashes just yet.”