Chapter Text
If anybody were to ask Jisung what being an incubus is like, he’d say it’s the best and easiest job in all seven hundred universes.
Nobody has ever summoned him, so he gets to spend all of eternity doing whatever he wants! Well, almost whatever he wants. He can’t go to any other worlds, since, again, nobody has ever summoned him. Not that he cares about that stuff, he has everything he needs right here in Hell! He has an infinite supply of food and… uh…
He has Haechan and Jeno! They get summoned a lot , so they always have stories to tell him about other worlds and whoever summons them. Sometimes he wishes he could tell them something too. But it’s not something he dwells on. Not much, anyway. Just every few days. Or hours. Sometimes he’ll find himself practicing for his first summon, trying to figure out how to be as seductive and enticing as demonly possible, sifting through every physical form he can think of. Hey. Don’t judge. He gets bored sometimes.
Though, nowadays, he’s been spending more time in the lava pool at the peak of Hell’s tallest mountain. No one goes there, so it’s nice for when he wants to think without interruptions. Today is one of those days. Jeno just got back from Earth and of course he has a lot to share. Usually Jisung would listen; his stories tend to be pretty entertaining, after all. He’s not sure why he couldn’t stomach the thought of Jeno’s tales today. Maybe because he’s nearing his hundredth year living here. Maybe because of the constant reminder that people would rather summon a demon with confidence over one as meek as Jisung. It doesn’t help that he’s never had any experience with sex in the first place, being hellbent on the sentimentalities of having his first be whoever summons him first. Haechan thinks it’s stupid. Jeno thinks it’s cute. Jisung isn’t sure what to think of it anymore.
He sighs. Not even the comfortable warmth of the lava is enough to help with his sour mood. Maybe he should ask Haechan to hook him up with someone experienced just so he can get it over with. It’s probably better than moping around like this. He feels pathetic.
As if his thoughts were being broadcast, a flick to his forehead has his eyes dart up to see none other than Haechan himself.
“You’re thinking out loud.” He quips and Jisung feels his face burn up almost instantly.
“How did you know I was here?” Jisung asks and brings a hand up to his forehead. It still stings. Haechan never shows mercy when he wants attention.
Haechan shrugs. “If you’re not in the cave, you’re here.” He says simply.
“I never told you that.” Jisung points out with a frown. He never told anyone about that.
“You don’t need to tell me for me to notice you going up a whole mountain every week.” Haechan laughs and Jisung mentally slaps himself for not being sneaky enough about it. But why now? Haechan’s never followed him before.
“You seem upset.” Haechan says, voice unusually soft as he sits down criss-cross applesauce by the edge of the pool. “Jeno’s worried, but he thought you wouldn’t want to talk to him.” He continues, balancing himself on his palms as he leans back.
Of course Jeno would be worried. He always worries about Jisung, even when it doesn’t matter. Jisung doesn’t really mind it, but sometimes it makes him feel like Jeno sees him as a child. Then again, the gap between one hundred and four hundred is quite big.
“How old were you when you were first summoned?” Jisung asks after a minute of silence. Haechan chuckles.
“About twenty-two, I think?” He answers thoughtfully. Jisung lets out a long sigh and Haechan brings a hand up to pat the younger’s head. “Don’t be so sour. Jeno was over fifty when he first got summoned.”
“That’s not a hundred.” Jisung grumbles and Haechan laughs again.
“Maybe not, but I’m saying everyone lives differently. You’ll get summoned eventually.” He says with a final ruffle to Jisung’s hair before letting go. Jisung lets out a huff. He isn’t used to warmth like this from Haechan. It makes him feel weird. He watches as the older stands up, stretching before he speaks up again.
“By the way, I’m not letting you hook up with anybody.” He deadpans and Jisung almost melts from embarrassment. “You’ve gotten through almost a hundred years, I don’t want you to suddenly let go of yourself.” He adds before dropping off the edge of the mountain, flying off to Satan knows where.
Now what? Is he just gonna have to accept the reality of living as a virgin for all eternity? That might be a fate worse than being born an angel. He lets himself sink into the lava at the thought of it.
Drowning here would be a pleasant death, he thinks, though pitiful. He wishes it was possible regardless. Death is such a beautiful thing to Jisung. The idea of living a short — yet fulfilling — life until one day, when you’ve finished your task in the universe, being wrapped into a warmth you’ve never known until that very moment before everything else in the world fades away. It sounds perfect. It’s his ideal. But no demon will ever have the privilege to reach it. That’s just how things are, and Jisung has no intention to fight it. He already knows he would lose.
At least he can dream. It’s one of the privileges he cherishes.
His head is starting to hurt. Maybe he’s been moping too much or thinking too hard. Or maybe it’s the obnoxiously bright light piercing its way through the lava.
Huh?
Jisung looks up. That hurts. He shuts his eyes. It still hurts.
Maybe he should swim up to figure out what it is.
Or he could stay down here and wait for it to leave him alone.
It’s an easy choice really. Why follow the bright light that’s obviously gonna be brighter once he gets out of the lava? Really, there’s no reason at all. He can’t go blind before he gets laid. Hey, there’s something worse than staying an eternal virgin. He could be a blind eternal virgin.
So he waits.
And he waits.
And he… this is getting too much. And he’s getting too curious. He doesn’t even know how much time has passed, all he knows is that it’s been far too long. He can check, right? Curiosity killed the cat, but it can’t kill Jisung! He’d rather go blind than stay under the lava forever anyway. He swims up to the surface, or rather, he stops just short of it. Hesitating. He does that a lot.
Wow. No wonder he hasn’t gotten summoned yet. He’d probably hesitate during the act. That’s embarrassing. He’d rather not think about that. So he does the first thing he can think of to get his mind off of it and gets out of the lava, blinding light be damned.
It’s not that bright , is the first thing Jisung realizes. Did he just get punked?
It’s a portal , is the second thing Jisung realizes.
Huh.
That’s a portal , is the third thing Jisung realizes.
He looks around to see if there’s some other demon he never noticed by the pool before. There’s no one.
Is he getting summoned?
The portal shines brightly, but it doesn’t hurt his eyes anymore. Jisung feels his body tremble, hands itching to touch it. He peeks into the portal. He’s been summoned to Earth. It’s a nice place to start, he figures. His summoner is already asleep. How long was he under that pool? He leans in further.
His summoner is a human boy who seems to be somewhere in his twenties. His phone is halfway buried underneath his pillow, the dimly lit screen playing a video of some sort. The human’s brows are furrowed and his lips are turned down in a frown. Jisung wonders if he’s dreaming, or if he’s just like that.
He feels a little bad making the human wait so long. He really didn’t mean to. How was he supposed to know bright lights meant he was getting summoned? No one had ever mentioned such a thing to him. Jisung isn’t to blame for that. Haechan is.
Yeah. Haechan is definitely to blame.
Maybe he should go into the portal. But wouldn’t that be rude? He can’t just wake the poor guy in the middle of the night because he was late for his own summoning. Or could he? Maybe he wouldn’t mind it. Jeno has told stories about a fair share of people who are into that kind of stuff. But what are the chances of this guy being into it? Jisung groans in frustration and the human stirs.
Oops.
No going back now, he supposes. He reaches a leg in and Satan , that feels weird. It sends a tingle up his body and it throws him off so badly he trips into the portal and almost lands on his face, if not for his instinct to float right before hitting the floor. He hovers over to the bed, slowly lowering himself on top of the boy sleeping soundly underneath him to straddle him.
His body is still tingling, but it’s a more familiar tingle, one he recognizes from the countless hours he’s spent in front of his mirror. His physical form is shifting. He feels lucky as he realizes it's one of a human, one he feels most comfortable in. Maybe this won’t be so bad. His clothes don’t seem too flashy. Just a regular-degular black shirt and a black pair of dress pants to match. Wait. No socks? Strange fashion choice. But who is he to judge? He’s only here to please his summoner, and then he can get right back home and wear whatever he wants.
The only problem now is the fact that the human still hasn’t woken up, despite having the weight of another man on top of him. How come he stirred from such a small noise earlier?
Jisung lets out a long sigh. “Wakey wakey.” He says shakily.
That was awful. He already wants to flee back to Hell straight away. Maybe he shouldn’t have been summoned in the first place. Maybe he would be fine rotting away in Hell.
His thoughts are rudely interrupted when he feels the human stir underneath him. Jisung’s eyes immediately dart down to watch as the human finally opens his eyes. It takes him a moment before he notices Jisung, blinking rapidly as he seems to try and make sense of the figure on top of him. Jisung can’t help but find it cute and silently thanks him for summoning him. His tail starts to wag behind him as he anticipates the human’s reaction.
The human screams. Loud. It’s so loud he feels it pierce into his brain. Thank Satan he’s not human or that sound alone might’ve killed him if he was.
“Who are you!?” The human shouts.
Oh.
He should’ve figured. Demons usually appear as soon as they’re summoned and considering Jisung’s egregious amount of time spent underneath a lava pool, this guy probably thought he failed to summon any demon at all. Jisung must look like some random man who broke into his apartment. That’s not a good look. That’s an awful look, actually.
“I’m the demon you summoned!” He squawks, waving his hands in front of his face in a panic as he desperately tries to salvage the situation.
The human contorts his face into several different expressions until he lands on one of… realization, hopefully.
“How do you know that?” He asks. Hopes crushed.
“Know what?” Jisung shoots back.
“That I summoned a demon.”
Is this guy serious?
“Because I am the demon you summoned. I just told you.” Jisung deadpans. Maybe his portal led to the wrong human.
“But you don’t look like one.” The human frowns and Jisung responds with a bigger frown. That’s mean. “You look like a cosplayer.” Jisung doesn’t even know what that is. Before he can ask, the human reaches out to grab his horns and the demon lets out a pathetic mewl. The human’s eyes widen and he pulls away as if he’d just been burnt. Oh dear.
“Sorry—”
“I’m sorry!” The human squeaks out. “I really thought they were just props. Don’t hurt me.” He mumbles, curling in on himself. “Please.” He adds on. Cute. Wait a minute.
“Why would I hurt you?” Jisung asks, narrowing his eyes at the human.
The human gestures vaguely towards Jisung’s horns and the demon stands up to get closer. “Do you like them?” He asks with a small smile.
The human frowns, eyes darting between the horns and Jisung’s face. “Yes?” He sounds unsure. At least they’re getting somewhere. “Do you have a name?” He asks suddenly and Jisung is slightly taken aback. It didn’t occur to him that his summoner would ask for such a frivolous thing.
“I have plenty.” Jisung says, putting a hand to his hip as he recalls them in his head. “I like Jisung though. Rolls off the tongue just right.” He continues, shooting the human another smile.
“Jisung.” The human murmurs.
This conversation is going way too casually. If only Jeno was here. Or even Haechan. They’d know what to do.
“Uh, what about you?” Jisung starts off lamely and immediately cringes at himself. “What should I call you?” He tries again, leaning in further. He can feel the human’s breath on his face. His eyes are wide and his cheeks are flushed, if Jisung’s eyes aren’t playing tricks on him. It’s hard to tell in such a dark room.
He brings a hand to the human’s chin to get a better look at him. Oh, this is good. He can imagine Jeno giving him a thumbs up for this. “I can call you master… or I can call you baby—”
“Chenle’s fine.”
“Oh.” Jisung frowns and pulls away awkwardly, already feeling his palms get clammy. He can imagine Haechan snickering at him for this. “Um, so… what do you want me for?” Best to just get to the point.
“Alright, listen here.” Chenle scrambles for his phone and taps aggressively at it, nearly dropping it twice before shoving it into the demon’s face. “See this guy?”
Jisung squints. “I don’t see a thing. Back up a bit.”
“Oh, oops.” He pulls the phone back by only a few inches. How is that supposed to help!? Instead of complaining, Jisung decides to squint with all his might. On the screen is a picture of a boy with dark brown hair that reaches the tip of his nose, pink lips puckered in a small pout, and a gaze so soft Jisung can practically feel Heaven’s blessing on his skin. This guy looks ethereal!
“Do you want me to, like… turn into him, or something?” Jisung tries.
“What!? No! I need you to kill… wait, forget that. I need you to ruin his life.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ooh, I’ve got a good one. Destroy his vocal cords! He loves singing so much, it’ll absolutely crush him. Oh how I’d love to see the look on his face as he watches his entire future crumble right before his very eyes…” There’s a wicked smile on the human’s face as he blabbers on.
What the hell!? This guy is crazy!
Jisung swallows comically loud. “You, uh… you’re not serious, are you?” He asks, voice a little shaky.
“Of course I’m serious. Why else would I summon you?”
“For sex?”
“For…” Chenle starts, before furrowing his brows in what one can only call befuddlement. A deafening silence fills the room and Chenle has the nerve to look at Jisung like he’s the crazy one.
And then he laughs, high pitched and obnoxious. “For- for-” He can’t even finish before he bursts into another fit of laughter. “That’s a really good one. I like you. You’re funny.” He wipes a nonexistent tear from his eye. Well, this guy is weird. Jisung isn’t sure if he should thank him or tell him he’s being entirely serious. Seeing the smile on the human’s face, he decides the former is the more favorable option.
“Uh, thanks.” Jisung says as he sits back down, criss-cross applesauce on the floor. “So what now? Not to be a downer, but this is my first time being summoned.”
All he gets in response is an “Oh.” and then it’s silent again. It lasts a few seconds longer than last time. It messes with Jisung’s nerves. He gestures with his hands for Chenle to continue, if he even has anything else to say.
The human blinks. “Sorry, I just… I didn’t imagine first times were like… a thing… for demons.”
“What, you thought demons were just born upon being summoned?” Jisung retorts.
“I didn’t think anything!” Chenle defends, raising his hands in the air. “I don’t really care though. That this is your first time, I mean. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere, right? And I’m your starting point. Ooh, this could be like an inspirational quote or something.” He folds his arms, impressed by his own words.
“Uh.” Jisung stares dumbly, opening and closing his mouth trying to think of something to say in response.
Chenle takes it as an opportunity to keep talking. “But, um, I’m still wondering… why don’t you look scary? You just look like a normal human, except with horns.” He leans forward to look behind the demon, almost falling out of the bed with how far he’s leaning. “And a tail.” Jisung feels an urge to hide said tail underneath his butt.
“I mean my form does change based on your own desires.” Jisung states simply.
“My- wh- huh? I don’t think I desired that. I think you made that up.” Chenle argues.
Jisung furrows his brows. “Why would I make something like that up?”
“If you looked like what I desire then you’d look terrifying. Like with three heads and huge claws and stuff.” The human tries to emphasize what he’s talking about with vague hand motions that only really succeed in making him look silly.
“Clearly you don’t know your own desires.” Why is he arguing about this? Why would Chenle know more about demon anatomy than Jisung? Does he even know what an incubus is? Something rings in his head at that thought. Does Chenle know what an incubus is?
Chenle seems to be rambling about what a real demon should look like before Jisung interrupts. “Hey Chenle.” He only gets a hum in acknowledgement before he continues. “Do you know what an incubus is?”
“A what?”
No way.
Jisung swears his entire body might shatter into a thousand small pieces. He wanted to believe the human was just messing with him, but he really has been summoned entirely by accident. How is he even supposed to get back to Hell now? This guy clearly isn’t interested in getting laid, and if Jisung isn’t sated, he’ll be stuck on Earth for the rest of eternity, which is even worse than staying an eternal virgin! Oh the agony! He groans and folds over, letting his forehead hit the floor with a loud thud .
“Woe is me!” He wails and pounds his fist against the floor repeatedly, progressively getting faster as he starts to wonder if he could break the wood if he’s fast enough. Unfortunately for him, he’s stopped by a hand on his wrist. He looks up at a wide-eyed Chenle, who’s leaning so far off the bed it once again looks like he’s about to fall off.
“I thought my hand would get ripped off if I did that.” He admits, darting his eyes back and forth between Jisung’s face and wrist, that the human is still holding on to. It eventually seems to register in his head and he quickly lets go, scooching further into the bed. Jisung raises an eyebrow at him. Weirdo.
“Even if I’m strong enough to do that, my subconscious won’t let me wound you in any way that you don’t want.” Jisung explains while sitting back up.
“Why would I want you to…” Chenle starts but stops as Jisung loudly clears his throat. Chenle narrows his eyes at him but lets it go, deciding to move the conversation elsewhere. “Anyway little demon, I’m tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow?” He asks with a yawn.
“Hey! I’m not little. I’m taller than you.” Jisung defends as he conjures up a piece of paper showing off their respective heights next to each other. The action makes Chenle’s eyes widen comically before he huffs in annoyance.
“Little for a demon. Whatever. I’m going to bed.” He waves the demon off and lays back down, pulling the duvet all the way up to his neck. It somehow manages to make him look even smaller.
Little demon my butt, Jisung thinks bitterly to himself and then, having figured out the floor is not a comfortable resting spot, makes his way to the bed and plops down on top of the human.
“What the heck!?” Chenle squawks, thrashing about to get Jisung off. Much to his dismay, it doesn’t work.
“I don’t have a bed.” Jisung points out and the human gives him a frown in response. He looks oddly cute, though his demeanor lowers his cute factor.
“Fine, but don’t sleep on top of me. You’re heavy and you might kill me.” Chenle says and Jisung finally rolls off him, opting for the small space by the wall instead.
Jisung fears he might’ve gotten the worst first summon in the history of… everything, probably. There has to be some sort of saving grace to this situation, right? There’s light in even the darkest situations, right?
Right?
Before he knows it, he’s drifting off to sleep, dreaming of bright lights and laughter he can’t quite recognize yet.
Jisung wakes up with an arm thrown over his face, constricting his breathing. He groans loudly and pushes said arm off of his face and then groans again, effectively waking the arm’s owner, who groans back at him. Jisung shifts around in the bed to face the human.
His eyes are shut tightly. “Don’t be so loud.” He grumbles, pulling the duvet over his head, leaving nothing for Jisung. Stingy bastard.
“I couldn’t breathe under your arm. I had to do something about it.” Jisung retaliates and pulls the duvet back towards himself, Chenle getting pulled along with it. The human finally opens his eyes and furrows his brows.
“But you’re a demon. You can’t die.” He says and rolls over in an attempt to cocoon himself in the duvet. He rolls off the bed. “Ow!” Jisung has to hold back a giggle.
He sits up and crawls over to look down at the human’s pitiful state on the floor. “I can’t die, but I can still feel things. And not being able to breathe doesn’t feel good.”
There’s a moment of silence.
“Sorry.” Chenle murmurs but doesn’t even bother to turn around. Talk about disrespect!
“At least look at me when you apologize.” Jisung complains.
There’s a sigh before Chenle actually turns around. “I’m sorry.” He says with a pout. His hair is a hot mess thanks to him rolling around so much and his face is puffy from sleep and dear Satan . He looks so cute like this.
“Don’t call me that.” Chenle says and turns his back to the demon again. Pause. No way he just thought that out loud. He almost apologizes before a little Haechan on his shoulder screams at him to pretend he meant to say it.
“Why not?” He asks smugly and if his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him, he can see the human’s ears redden. Jackpot. Maybe this won’t be as hard as he thought. He watches as Chenle starts to wiggle around to get the duvet off before throwing it over the demon’s face. “I’m gonna get dressed.” He says, followed by frantic footsteps as he runs off to what Jisung assumes is the bathroom.
Wow. Okay. That didn’t work out as planned.
Jisung sighs and pulls the duvet off. It’s alright. Maybe they just need to get to know each other better. Maybe Chenle just needs to warm up to him. He listens to the muffled sound of water running beyond the walls and briefly wonders if it’d feel as nice as lava. He hopes it does. He needs something to comfort him if he’s gonna stay stuck here. Ugh. He really doesn’t want to be stuck here.
The sound of the water stops, soon followed by the door opening. “Do you want to go out?”
Go out?
Jisung looks up at the human who seems to be busying himself on his phone in the doorway. Who is he talking to? Chenle seems to sense the question because his eyes dart up to meet Jisung’s own and he raises a brow. Oh. Of course.
“Out where?” Jisung asks lamely.
“Out of the house.” Chenle responds, just as lame. “You know, if you want to see the town.” He continues, shifting a little. Jisung can’t tell if it’s because of nerves or if it’s just the air around them. He’s hard to read. Jisung almost wants to enter his mind just to find a semblance of emotion, but it’s one of the powers he’s vowed to never use. The inside of someone’s mind is something so personal and delicate. Breaching it would be something akin to pulling someone’s skin off their body. Or at least, that’s what Jisung thinks of it.
He seems to have taken too long to answer, because Chenle is already turning around to leave. “Alright then.” He says and Jisung panics, scrambling to get out of the bed. “Wait!” He yelps, nearly tripping as he makes his way towards the human. “I want to.”
Chenle stops and turns back around, looking Jisung up and down before grimacing. Rude? Jisung furrows his brows in confusion.
“Can’t you retract your demon parts?” Chenle asks. Oh, come on. That’s the one thing he can’t do!
“No.” Jisung answers simply and before he knows it, Chenle is already rushing back into his bedroom, rummaging through the drawers. There’s a few incoherent mumbles before he seems to find what he’s looking for. Jisung is about to open his mouth to ask what the human is doing when a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants are thrown into his face.
“Put these on.” Chenle says and pushes Jisung into the bathroom while the demon tries to pull the clothes out of his face. The door shuts behind him when he finally does. He looks down at the clothes. All black again. Still no socks.
Jisung decides not to think too hard about it and slips out of his clothes to change. Chenle could’ve just asked him to conjure up a new outfit, but he’s fine with this. Pulling the hoodie on, he can’t help but notice the scent of it. Anything demons create is scentless; a simple way to tell it’s fabricated, but this hoodie smells of something that’s been worn, something that’s real. This is new. Unfamiliar. It excites him.
He almost loses balance as he pulls the pants on, wobbling towards the door. He opens it and is met with Chenle pacing back and forth in the hallway. Must be deep in thought. “Your hoodie smells nice.” Jisung says matter-of-factly to pull the human out. It works and Chenle shoots him a glare. Why? It was a compliment. There isn’t much time to question it, because his expression suddenly shifts into one of surprise.
“Jisung! You’re supposed to hide the demon parts.” Chenle whines and rushes over to the demon’s side to throw the hoodie over his head. It covers a good chunk of Jisung’s vision. Chenle then moves behind him to grab his—
“Chenle!” Jisung squeaks out and the human quickly lets go of his tail, wide-eyed as he looks up at Jisung. He can feel his own face burn up. Wait. This could be the perfect chance. “Sorry, I’m just a little… sensitive there.” Jisung tries, making his voice sound as sultry as possible as he leans towards the human who stops him with a hand on his chest.
“No. I’m sorry. Again.” Chenle says and ducks his head in shame. It’s cute, but Jisung wishes the guy could take a hint. Unless he already knows what the demon is trying to do and is just torturing Jisung for fun. Oh, that would be awful. He hopes that’s not the case.
Jisung sighs. “It’s fine, really.” He slips his tail underneath the pants and wraps it around his leg. Chenle isn’t able to see it, but it’s a way to keep it from moving around. Jeno would praise him for thinking so cleverly. Chenle hums in thought as he looks Jisung up and down. “Okay,” is all he has to say before he turns on his heel, making his way to the door.
“Uh. Shoes?” Jisung asks, running to catch up with the human.
“We’re not the same size.” Chenle says bluntly.
“You haven’t even checked.” Jisung points out.
“We’re not the same size.” Chenle repeats stubbornly. Alright.
Jisung looks down at Chenle’s sneakers and conjures up a matching pair for himself. When he looks back up at the human he’s met with an unamused expression and red ears. Jisung raises a brow but he doesn’t say anything, lest he has something thrown at his face again. Chenle raises his brow back at the demon and reaches behind him to open the door, refusing to break eye contact. Jisung decides to be the first to back down, stepping out of the door. Chenle grabs a pair of sunglasses before following suit.
Going outside, he’s met with the most blinding sight he’s ever laid his eyes upon. Ah. He knows what that is. He’s heard many grueling tales of it before. The sun. He feels strangely drawn to it. The human places the palm of his hand onto the back of Jisung’s head to tilt it down. “Don’t look at it.”
Jisung flushes up. “I know.” He murmurs, humiliation sinking in. Everyone knows not to look at bright lights. He was just… entranced. The sun is not an everyday sight for a demon. But to a human who doesn’t know that he definitely just looks like an idiot! There’s a prolonged silence, neither of them seem to know what to say anymore.
“Do you want to get ice cream?” Chenle is the first to break the silence.
“Sure.” Jisung says, very nonchalantly, like a cool guy.
Wait.
“Get what?” He asks and Chenle shoots him a weird look. Whoa. Now he’s getting an attitude . So he doesn’t know what ‘ice cream’ is. Big deal. Why would a demon ever need to know what anything that involves ice is?
“Ice cream?” Chenle tries. “Like, the frozen treat that warms your heart?” He sighs when Jisung frowns at him. “I’ll just take you there.” He says and grabs Jisung’s hand, pulling him along the street. The demon doesn’t say anything, staring down at their hands. Chenle’s hands are a little smaller than Jisung’s, though his grip is firm, as if the demon is small enough to slip out of his hold if he walks too fast. Jisung feels his stomach twist at that. Weird.
It isn’t long before they’re in front of a huge, colorful truck. There’s a shady looking guy smiling at them from one of the windows. “Chenle!” The guy calls out and Jisung whips his head towards the human to see a huge grin plastered on his face.
“Jaemin!” He calls back and skips over to the truck, losing his grip on Jisung’s hand. The loss of warmth throws him off a little. He trails behind the human, hunched over in an attempt to make himself seem smaller. Maybe the scary guy in the truck won’t notice him.
“Who’s the new guy?” Nooooo!
Chenle glances at Jisung before returning his attention to the scary guy. “This is Jisung.” He says with a small smile. “We shared a class in high school. He’s just here to visit.” He lies and Jisung is a bit taken aback by how quickly he came up with it. He nudges Jisung and the demon manages to give the scary guy a small wave before hiding behind Chenle again. “He’s shy.”
The scary guy’s smile somehow gets even wider. So scary. “It’s nice meeting you, Jisung.” He says and Jisung gives him a small nod in return. “My name is Jaemin, but you can call me Nana.” He continues, voice sweet. Where in the world did he get Nana from? “It’s from my surname, Na.” Okay. He knows he didn’t think that one out loud. This guy is really scary.
Chenle seems to notice Jisung’s unease because he nudges him again. “He introduces himself that way to everybody. Word for word.” He whispers. The scary guy can clearly tell they’re whispering about him, gaze boring through both their skulls, but his smile is somehow just as bright as ever. So freaking scary! “It’s his way of breaking the ice.” Chenle continues. It does somewhat ease Jisung’s nerves, though he’s still put off by just how big the guy’s smile is.
“Tell me what you want.” Chenle says after a small pause, loud enough for the scary guy to hear it. “I’ll pay.”
Jisung looks up at the menu and frowns. He doesn’t recognize any of this stuff. “Can’t you decide?” He murmurs, boldly wrapping his arms around the human’s waist and propping his head onto his shoulder. He can feel Chenle flinch in his hold but oddly enough, he doesn’t say anything about it, other than a quiet “okay,” nor does he move away. Small wins, Jisung supposes.
This feels weird , he thinks to himself as it slowly dawns on him that he never dabbled in intimacy like this, even when he was in Hell. Neither Haechan or Jeno would get touchy with him other than headpats and the occasional boop of his nose, though only Haechan did that one.
Jisung slumps, digging his chin into the human’s shoulder. Not only is he a virgin sexually, he’s a virgin to any type of physical affection at all! He wants to cry, but that would make him seem even more pathetic than he already is.
“You’re heavy.” Chenle complains, pulling Jisung from his realm of thoughts and back into the real world.
“Oh. Sorry.” He says lamely, shuffling away from the human.
“You don’t have to get off, just… don’t lean on me like that.” The latter half of the sentence shifts into a mumble as a blush creeps up Chenle’s neck. “I can’t concentrate.”
Whoa. They might actually be getting somewhere. He reattaches himself to the human and his eyes dart up to the scary guy whose smile seems to be faltering a little. Or maybe he’s just imagining it. Chenle spends a good few seconds thinking to himself before he finally speaks up again.
“Let’s get the popsicles. Orange for me, blueberry for you.” He points at them just in case. The scary guy’s smile grows wider again ( how!? ) before he disappears into the truck.
He comes back with the popsicles in each hand, holding them out of the window for them. Chenle wriggles himself out of Jisung’s hold to scan his card before grabbing both of the popsicles. “Thank you!” He calls out as he skips back towards Jisung, holding the blueberry popsicle out for him.
Jisung gingerly takes it and inspects it. It’s already melting, defenseless against the cruel heat of the sun. While he watches a single bead trail downwards, Chenle grabs onto his free hand, pulling him towards a nearby bench. Chenle sits down on it and tugs at Jisung’s arm, looking up at him expectantly.
“Sit.” He demands, as if Jisung is some sort of dog. Jisung sits down anyway, seeing as there’s no reason not to. Chenle doesn’t let go of his hand, grip tightening as he bites into his popsicle. Weird . Jisung looks down at his own popsicle again, frowning at it. It doesn’t look particularly delectable. He bites into it anyway.
He’s immediately met with punishment he swears must’ve come from the Heavens, seeping into his teeth to eat at the insides. He screams and Chenle whips his head towards him, eyes so wide you can tell through the sunglasses. He swallows before bursting into laughter. It sounds just as obnoxious as it did the night before. Jisung frowns at him and the laughter slowly dies down. “You don’t have to bite it.” Chenle says, wrapping his lips around his popsicle and making a loud slurping sound before pulling off to prove a point. That’s just obscene.
He settles on giving the tip of his popsicle a few kitten licks. It doesn’t taste too bad when it’s not trying to fight back. He can feel Chenle’s eyes on him, obviously trying to gauge his reaction. Maybe he should play it up a little. He catches a bead dripping halfway down the popsicle with his tongue and drags it up before wrapping his lips around the tip, bobbing his head just slightly while he slurps at it.
He hums at the taste. It really isn’t bad at all. Chenle doesn’t say anything. So he keeps going, pushing the popsicle further down his throat and groaning lowly around it. He feels a small drop land on his hand and whines. Gross. He lifts the popsicle upside down above his head, letting it drip into his mouth instead.
Now the sun is shining directly into his eyes. He just can’t win. He shuts his eyes tightly and clumsily laps at the popsicle, groaning when he feels it dribble down from the corner of his mouth. A squeeze of his hand makes him pause. He lowers the popsicle and turns his head to face the human, who wears a grimace on his face. Oh dear.
“What?” He asks innocently.
“Did your demon peers not teach you any eating etiquette?” Chenle responds with a question of his own. The words hit like a dagger into the demon’s back. He totally went overboard!
The humiliation that fills him up is enough to kill a mortal man. Play it cool. Play it cooool .
“Sorry. It was really good.”
That wasn’t cool at all. Chenle doesn’t even respond, letting go of Jisung’s hand to throw the demon’s hood back over his head (must’ve slipped down while he was still focused on his popsicle) before turning his attention to eating the rest of his own popsicle. His ears are red again. Interesting.
They spend the next few minutes in silence, both busying themselves with finishing their popsicles. Chenle finishes first, thanks to his barbaric way of biting off chunks of the popsicle, and Jisung can tell he’s trying to sneakily steal glances while he waits for the demon, eyes darting to the side whenever Jisung looks back at him. Weird guy.
The human is quick to grab Jisung’s hand to pull him up from the bench once he finally finishes. “I should show you around.” Chenle says, swinging their arms back and forth. Cute.
“Sure.” Jisung responds with a smile and he almost melts at the bright smile he gets in return. That definitely counts as a win.
He lets himself get pulled around town by the human as he tells him whatever story he can think of. He tells Jisung about the drunkard that keeps trying to catch a dove for himself, about the kid that went missing for a week and came back with a net full of concerningly large fish that he said he ‘found somewhere’, about the florist who keeps trying to make moves on the single dad who’s painfully oblivious to all her attempts, about the band of kittens that showed up one day and took over the library.
Jisung learns that the human only moved here about three years ago. It makes sense to him then why Jaemin so easily believed the lie about Jisung being a past classmate. They’re sitting on the edge of a fountain and Chenle is attaching his sunglasses to the collar of his t-shirt when Jisung suddenly remembers something.
“What about that guy you wanted me to mess with?” He asks and Chenle visibly deflates. Oh no. That was a bad move, wasn’t it?
“Sorry. I forgot about him.” The human mumbles, shifting a little as he looks away.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
Chenle hums thoughtfully. “I guess so.” He looks down at his own feet as he swings them back and forth. “You’re fun to hang out with.” He adds after a few seconds of silence. Jisung doesn’t even register the words until another few seconds pass.
You’re fun to hang out with.
“Huh?”
Chenle looks up at Jisung with furrowed brows. It doesn’t take long before the human’s ears are burning up. Oh no! Did he just embarrass him? He was just surprised!
“I-I mean! You’re fun to hang out with too!” The demon splutters. He can save this. Easy peasy. “I like listening to you talk.” Lemon squeezy.
Chenle shoots him a grimace and his ears redden even more than before. His cheeks might be getting a little pink too now and Jisung can’t tell if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. “It’s nice having someone listen.” The human mumbles.
Jisung smiles and scooches closer. “Well, in that case, can’t I just… keep your mind off that guy?” He tries to sneakily lock their pinkies together as he talks. It works, sort of. Chenle doesn’t even react to it, so whether it can be counted as a win or not is unclear. “I mean, like, continue doing that.” He adds lamely. It makes Chenle giggle. It’s soft and sweet, much unlike his usual witch-like cackle. Jisung likes the sound of it. He wants to hear more of it.
But the world doesn’t seem to be on his side because it suddenly dies down and Jisung has to pull himself out of his trance to figure out why.
Whoa. When did he get so close? He stares at the human who’s looking back up at him with wide eyes. He can hear his breath from this distance. Or rather, the lack of breathing. Chenle seems frozen in place until his tongue darts out for just a split second and Jisung’s eyes flit down to catch the motion.
His next move should be obvious. Close the distance, get Chenle worked up over how good Jisung is kissing him, ask him if he wants to take it somewhere more private, and then—
There’s a rumble below them. Jisung whips his head down at the noise and finds nothing noteworthy. “What was that?” He asks, whipping his head back up to Chenle who looks at him with a frown and a red face, which, in Jisung’s opinion, is nothing noteworthy either at this point.
“I’m hungry.” The human grumbles, looking away.
“Are you serious?” Jisung whines. Their moment got interrupted because Chenle is hungry ? “We already ate.”
The look Chenle shoots him tells Jisung he’s far from amused by the demon’s words. “That was just ice cream!” Chenle whines back louder, as if he’s trying to compete over who can be more exasperating. Well, two can play that game. Jisung opens his mouth to retort but the human beats him to it. “An ice cream in the morning is not enough nourishment for an entire day! Are you crazy?”
Before Jisung can utter a word in self defense, he’s already being pulled around the streets while Chenle grumbles about how ‘absurd demons are’ and the ‘importance of a proper meal’. Or something along those lines. Jisung can’t quite catch his words with how low the human’s voice is and the speed they’re going in.
They eventually reach a place that Chenle claims serves the best hotpot (whatever that is) in town and as soon as they open the door, Jisung is hit by the most mouth-watering smell he’s ever had a whiff of in his entire near one hundred years of living.
“What is that?” He asks and receives a pinch to his wrist in response. “Ow!”
“Did you listen to anything I said on the way here?” Chenle asks with a pout. Jisung briefly considers kissing it away, though he’d probably just get a bigger frown instead. He almost develops a frown of his own at the thought. He had the perfect opportunity earlier and of course he flunked it. Curse him for being too slow. Actually, curse Chenle for feeling hunger!
“I did. Hotpot, right?” Jisung says in a totally-not-awkward way and Chenle finally loosens his grip, a smile making its way back to his face. He’s easy to please, Jisung notes. He lets the human lead him towards a table and they both sit down. It’s unusually quiet, with Chenle busying himself with the menu. Jisung tries to do the same but he has no idea what any of the options taste like, so he figures he should just let Chenle choose for him. He knows more of Earthly cuisine anyway.
So once he sees the waiter walk over, Jisung quickly leans over to Chenle, nearly knocking his elbow into the table before mumbling a request to get “whatever you think is good”. When the human gives him a quick glance and a nod he leans back, actually knocking his elbow into the table this time.
Chenle fails to stifle a snort when the waiter finally reaches their table, but it seems to go unnoticed. That, or it was ignored. Either way, he seems cheerful as he takes Chenle’s order. They must know each other. It wouldn’t surprise Jisung, the human seems to know everyone in this town. He almost sighs when he thinks about his non-existent social life in Hell. He’s nearing his one hundredth year of existing and he has a total of two friends? That’s depressing. That’s so depressing.
On the way out of his self-deprecating thoughts, he realizes that Chenle has been taking his sweet time ordering. Actually, now that he thinks about it, he hasn’t heard a single word that sounds like it came from the menu he looked at. He looks up to see the waiter leaning down with an elbow propped up against the back of Chenle’s seat. They’re awfully close. Chenle doesn’t seem to mind at all. The waiter whispers something and Chenle giggles. Jisung wonders what he said. He wonders why it had to be whispered. His eyes flit towards the waiter to see him already looking at him. Satan . That got a shudder out of him. He smiles as politely as he can and the waiter smiles back before turning back to Chenle. They share a few more laughs before the waiter finally skips off with the menus.
“Who was that?” Jisung asks as soon as the waiter is out of sight.
“Beomgyu.” Chenle answers cheerily, bouncing on his seat as he turns towards Jisung. “I come here pretty often so we’ve just naturally gotten close.” He explains and Jisung can’t respond with much more than an “Oh.”
Chenle tilts his head at Jisung’s reaction. “Do you want to get to know him too? If you like the food, we can start going together. I’ll introduce you guys.” He suggests. While that isn’t why he asked, Jisung can’t say he’s opposed to the idea. Making more friends can’t be a bad thing. Then again, he’ll have to return to Hell at some point, and then he’ll go right back to having only two friends.
“That sounds nice.” Jisung says softly and tries his best to smile properly. However proper it was, Chenle seems happy about it, smiling brightly in return. Jisung suddenly wonders if there’s ever been a demon that never returned to Hell after being summoned.
He still wonders about it when Beomgyu returns with their food and Chenle introduces them both.
He still wonders about it when he tastes what might be able to get an orgasm out of him if he eats enough of it.
He still wonders about it when Beomgyu leads the both of them out of the restaurant, going on about some song he heard recently but hasn't been able to find the name of.
He still wonders about it when they’re back at Chenle’s apartment and the human waves a hand in front of his face.
“Hello? Earth to Jisung?”
Jisung doesn’t even have a chance to respond before Chenle is clapping his hands right in front of his eyes, making him jump back. The cackle that comes after is almost instantaneous, like he was waiting for the perfect moment to scare the demon. Jisung just frowns, still too lost in his own head to be able to complain.
“What’s up with you? You didn’t react to anything I said on the way back. Not even my genius Mister Fantastic joke. Everyone laughs at that one.” Chenle whines, pulling at Jisung’s sleeve to get him out of the hallway.
Jisung looks away, feeling a little guilty as he lets himself get pulled into the bedroom.
It’s nice having someone listen.
That’s what Chenle told him earlier. And while Jisung isn’t here to make lifelong connections, he still feels a pull to make some sort of connection with this guy, even if he might never see him again after he finishes his job.
Never is a dreadful word. Jisung doesn’t like the sound of it at all. He frowns again. If he were an angel, he’d have the ability to travel through universes at will. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like this. He could stay here however long he felt like and still have an easy way home. And then he could come back to Earth without having to be summoned again. That’s one of the few things he envies about angels. But if he were an angel he wouldn’t have Jeno and Haechan by his side. Plus he probably wouldn’t come to Earth of all places, and then he would never have met Chenle.
In the end, there still isn’t much to envy about angels. When you already have everything you don’t seek anything out. You’ve already been robbed of an inconceivable amount of experiences in the second you were created. Jisung can’t imagine living like that.
He realizes he’s zoning out again and blinks a few times to get himself back. He’s immediately met with Chenle’s frowning face. Oh dear.
“Sorry. I was… thinking.” He excuses himself lamely. Way to go , he can hear Haechan drawl sarcastically in his head.
Chenle raises a brow. “About what?”
“You know. Stuff.” Jisung tries. He doesn’t really feel like telling Chenle he’s been thinking of ways to be able to stay on Earth with him on their first day of getting to know each other. What if it gets to his head? What if he thinks Jisung’s the type of guy to cling onto the first person he interacts with outside of Hell? Ugh. Jisung can’t be seen as easy ! There is no good outcome in telling him.
“Stuff.” Chenle repeats and Jisung nods, pressing his lips together in a thin line.
And then it’s silent again.
Should he have told him? He could’ve easily said he wanted to stay for the food and it wouldn’t even be a lie. Not even the best chef in Hell would be able to make anything that tastes even 5% as good, which might sound mean, but just a single bite into the meat was enough to make him realize just how dull and depressing devil cuisine really is. He’s not the mean one. Hell is mean for depriving him of good food!
He realizes it’s too late to reconsider when Chenle turns away to flop down onto his bed with a loud “oomph!” before fishing his phone out from his back pocket.
Staying cooped up in his own head would be pointless, so he follows the human to join him on the bed, only to stop in his tracks when his eyes land on the sky outside the window. The sun is gone. He didn’t even notice it go down when he was walking with Chenle, but when he thinks back, the streets were a lot darker when they got out of the restaurant than when they arrived.
Earlier when he looked up at the sky, he’d see remnants of Old Heaven slowly pass by him. But now when he looks outside the window, he sees spilt glitter all over it. The work of someone who knows no better. The work of someone who dreams more than anyone else.
“What are those?” He asks, a little quietly, not wanting to pull at the human’s attention too harshly.
Chenle hums in question before looking up from the screen towards Jisung to see where his gaze is. He twists his entire body to look outside the window and then huffs out a short laugh. “What, the stars?” He asks and looks back at Jisung who quickly turns away, already feeling his face burn up. Is it that trivial? He feels stupid for asking.
“Wait, you’ve never seen stars before?” Chenle asks after a moment of silence, followed by a loud thud. “We can go outside. You’ll see them better.” He suggests and Jisung finally turns back to see the human with an outstretched hand, making grabby motions. Jisung can’t help the smile that creeps up on his lips when he takes Chenle’s hand, letting himself get pulled around once again, out of the door to the balcony.
“I guess you can’t see that well here either.” Chenle grumbles, staring up at the tall wall behind them. It hides whatever the sky has to offer on the other side. Jisung offers the human a smile, despite standing behind him. “It’s fine, I can still see a lot from here.” He tries, only for Chenle to turn around with furrowed brows and a huge frown.
“But it’s such an underwhelming first time…” He sounds guilty, as if he’s to blame for them not being above the wall.
Huh. That just gave Jisung an idea.
“We could go on your roof.” He suggests.
Chenle’s frown doesn’t leave his face. “There’s no stairs up to the roof.”
“I could fly us up.”
Jisung barely gets any time to react before Chenle jumps onto him, and he ends up struggling for a few seconds to collect himself to properly carry the human. “Let’s do it.” Chenle demands and Jisung blinks before the gears turn in his head and he pops out a pair of wings. Not that he needs them to fly, he just figured Chenle would find them cool.
“Whoa, cool!”
Jisung should be considered something of a genius, he thinks to himself as he flies the both of them up to the rooftop. Chenle giggles as Jisung lets him down.
The sky really is huge. Back in Hell they don’t have such a thing, with the entire place being closed off by unbreakable gemstones. The more Jisung thinks about it, Hell kind of sucks. Aw man. He looks back at Chenle who’s squinting and whipping his head around.
“I can’t find Orion.” He complains.
“What?”
“The constellation. I wanted to tell you about them, but I only know Orion and I can’t find it.” Chenle explains as he slowly spins around himself and Jisung pouts in confusion.
“What’s a constellation?” He asks hesitantly.
“They’re like a formation of stars. They, uh, look like things, I guess. Oh!” Chenle stops and pulls Jisung in to point at a cluster of stars. “That’s the Pegasus! I know that one because Jaemin told me about it.” He exclaims excitedly.
Jisung squints at whatever Chenle is pointing at. It’s pretty, but… “How is it a pegasus?”
Chenle shrugs. “I don’t know. I always thought it looked like more of an octopus.”
Jisung hums affirmatively, not sure what else to say. He wants to know more about constellations. More about stars.
“Let’s lay down.” Chenle says and pulls at Jisung’s wrists as he sits down. Jisung quickly obeys and lays down on his back. He feels like he could drown in the view, with how it never seems to end.
“It’s so pretty.” He exhales and Chenle responds with a small hum.
It’s silent for a while. Comfortable. Jisung thinks he could stay up here forever.
“Let’s go to the library tomorrow. We can get you some books about stars and stuff.” Chenle says eventually and Jisung turns his head to find Chenle already looking at him.
“Can we really?” Jisung asks and the human laughs. “Well yeah, it’s free.” He answers and Jisung smiles before looking back up.
He doesn’t know how long they’ve been up here, but by the time he turns his head back to Chenle, the human is already asleep. He looks so peaceful. Jisung slowly stands up and taps Chenle’s head, making him float. He drags the human by the foot down to the balcony and inside the bedroom, tapping his head again when they’re by the bed to make him float down into it.
Jisung sighs as he crawls into the bed next to the somehow still sleeping form.
He doesn’t need to go back to Hell, does he?