Work Text:
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
Repeat.
Deep breath in,
Don't let your anger get the best of you, Minghao,
Deep breath out.
Deep breath in-
Yeah, no. It wasn't working. Nothing could soothe the fury roiling around in his gut as he stared at the utter abomination in front of him.
"Lee Seokmin."
"Um, yes, Minghao?"
"Would you care to explain why there is a demon in our living room. "
And there was no way it was anything but a demon, with its sharp horns and worn armour, not to mention the fact that it was in an array that looked suspiciously like a summoning circle.
Seokmin had the gall to smile sheepishly, "Well, so Hansol gave me this book as a prank, right? And I figured it would be rude if I didn't at least try a spell…?"
Minghao grit his teeth and looked heavenward, praying for patience. He was this close to punching him in the gut, boyfriend or no.
He should probably also talk to Hansol about gifting Seokmin magical artifacts as pranks because the only thing funny in this situation was the fact that they hadn't all been eaten by the demon that was still sitting comfortably in the middle of the living room.
Well, contained in the summoning circle that was in the living room. But still, semantics.
“So now that you know it works, could you please send it back to wherever it came from?”
Seokmin eyed the demon in the circle and his angry boyfriend, cautiously venturing to suggest, “I think it’s a ‘he’, actually.”
“Um, if the both of you could stop talking about me like I’m not here, I’d very much appreciate it. Though, yes, I am male,” piped a voice from the still-glowing circle.
Both Seokmin and Minghao’s heads snapped up to face him. The demon had a hand raised in protest, though he still seemed to be peaceably seated on the ground rather than making a move to escape.
Might as well try for politeness since the demon seemed capable of human speech. “Right. Well, it looks like we have a bit of a misunderstanding here. We have no use for any of your… services . Could you kindly, uh, unsummon yourself?”
“No can do. I’m stuck here until you give me an order in exchange for an equal price. Or until I’m exorcised, but that way is kinda unpleasant, so let’s stick to the first, yeah?”
How lovely. At least it was still contained by the circle.
Of course the demon had to prove him wrong at that moment by sticking a hand out of the summoning circle to offer a handshake. “Sorry, I’ve been very rude. My name is a bit of a mouthful but you can call me Mingyu, I guess? It’s the closest approximation in human tongue. You guys are…Seokmin and Minghao, right?”
“How did you–” Minghao facepalmed. Right. They had called one another by name earlier in front of the demon. Ugh, they were both idiots.
He quickly swatted Seokmin’s arm away as he started to reach out to shake the demon’s hand.
“Look, we’re not interested in giving up our mortal souls for anything. Can’t you just, I don’t know, go home and pretend that the contract was completed or something?”
‘Mingyu’ shook his head and returned his glare with a flat unimpressed look that came off as more condescending than it had any right to. “It doesn’t have to be a human soul. I said equivalent exchange, right?"
At the two puzzled nods it received, the demon continued, "As long as I feel the payment is sufficient for the task you give me, it could be anything. I could walk your dog in exchange for a meal, clean your room for a new shirt, or push someone down the stairs for a day of your time. Anything you can think of.”
Minghao briefly pondered pointing out the fact that one of the examples was significantly less benign than the other two, but chose to keep his silence. Best not to antagonise the demon that was clearly only staying the circle out of courtesy rather than necessity.
Besides, he couldn't be absolutely certain this demon was telling the truth. What if it still ended up taking his soul for something as mundane as doing the laundry? Talk about a rip-off.
Unfortunately, while Minghao was busy weighing the value of his mortal soul, he hadn't noticed Seokmin start engaging with the demon.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, he was able to catch the tail end of their conversation, "...so in the meantime I guess you'll have to stay with us?"
What.
"Thanks, I appreciate it. I can take the couch or whatever until you decide what you want me to do."
What.
"Are you sure? Our couch is pretty small, and you're kinda…tall." Minghao snorted. That was one way to describe it, if a bit of an understatement.
Just by looking, he could tell that the demon was almost as tall as the doorway even without his horns. It was covered in a cloak that made its figure a lot more imposing, but Minghao could still see the muscular arms that flashed whenever it made large gestures.
All the better to crush you with, my dear, thought Minghao hysterically.
Watching his boyfriend show the demon around the apartment, Minghao resigned himself to his certain doom in the near future.
A sigh.
If they had just unleashed the beginning of the apocalypse, Minghao would like to go on record saying that this was entirely the fault of one Chwe Hansol.
Hansol plopped down in the open seat next to Minghao. "So, any luck getting rid of the demon?"
Minghao choked on his breath and attempted not to throttle the younger man.
Cautiously looking around the lecture hall and seeing that nobody was paying them any mind, Minghao hissed out a, "If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them, because short of divine intervention, I don't think it's going to leave."
"Why not just make a deal? I'd do it for you, it seems kinda cool."
Minghao reached out to pinch Hansol on the arm. He yelped.
"As much as I would love for you to take responsibility for this mess, Seokminnie used our hair when he drew the circle, so we're the only two who can make the requests." 'Mingyu' had spouted something about safeguards to avoid the systematic abuse of unwilling sacrifices, whatever that meant.
"You could always get an exorcist. He said it himself, it would work."
Yes, they could do that and be done with the problem completely. But.
The demon had said that it wouldn't be a pleasant experience. In one of its conversations with Seokmin, it let slip that exorcism felt much like being burnt alive.
And demon or no, Minghao couldn't bring himself to feel that it deserved it. Besides, an exorcist would probably make him pay out the nose for such a niche service, and his and Seokmin's poor college finances could hardly afford that.
Minghao nodded to himself. It was all about the financial considerations of course. No use burning a hole in his pocket.
"Well," pondered Hansol, "has he been causing you any trouble?"
Minghao grumbled, "Isn't its sheer presence trouble enough?" But deep down inside, he knew that the demon had been nothing but courteous.
Well, as courteous as an uninvited guest could hope to be, at least. It kept to a spot on the couch, never bothered him when he was in the middle of an art project and cleaned up after itself. It even did its share of the chores.
That had been a fun conversation.
It started with a sunshine smile and an offhand question from Seokmin, "Hey Mingyu, do you want to join us for dinner?"
"Nah, I don't really need to eat? I'm pretty much self-sustaining. Running on human desire and all that."
A thoughtful hum. "But you can eat human food?"
"Yup," Mingyu replied, popping the 'p', "I can cook too, though that's just a hobby."
Seokmin perked up at the new information. "Cool! Maybe you could cook for us sometime. We could take turns cooking and doing the dishes, except we don't let Hao anywhere near the stove."
Minghao shot his boyfriend a glare from the corner of the room, about to protest.
"I'll set up a roster for us then!" Seokmin grinned.
And that was that.
Hansol hummed thoughtfully. "Huh. That kinda sounds like-"
The rest of his words are lost to the scramble of students running to their seats as the professor walked in and began yelling instructions.
Caught up in the confusing history of 20th century Dadaism, Minghao forgets to ask.
Watching Seokmin and Mingyu sort the laundry together, Minghao sat aside and pondered to himself. Weren't demons supposed to corrupt humanity and plunge them into the depths of sin?
Because really, the most demonic thing that the demon had done since moving in was moving everything out of place when it cleaned the whole apartment.
And sure, it was a huge pain to locate the brushes he had left in a very specific part of the mess for later use, but he'd also never seen so much of the floor since he and Seokmin had first moved in.
It had been a few months now, and the demon still hadn't attempted to lure either of them into temptation or making a deal.
Maybe it was a different kind of demon?
Maybe 'Mingyu' was a demon of the incubus variety? It would explain the whole chiselled body and tall, dark and handsome thing it had going on.
Oh. Did he and Seokmin already tick the moral corruption boxes with being boyfriends and all?
Because really, the only kind of temptation that Minghao had been presented with thus far was the demon and his cute face. An overgrown demonic puppy that he really wanted to pet.
Hold that thought.
Crap. Maybe he had already been corrupted.
Jun studied his best friend's grouchy face over a steaming hotpot dinner.
"So, how's that little demon problem of yours?"
Choking on his mouthful of noodles, Minghao rasps, "How do you even know about that?"
"Hansol told me when we were eating jokbal together a few weeks ago. Still no luck?"
Of course. He should have known. Minghao sighed and admitted as much. He still couldn't find a way to send the demon back to where he came from.
Swallowing a lump in his throat, he tried to ignore a traitorous part of him that had stopped looking for one.
"Seokmin."
"Yes, Minghao?"
He glared at the lump currently under his favourite blanket. "Explain to me why the demon is on our bed."
Seokmin giggled nervously, "Well… you see… our couch is kind of hard and uncomfortable? And it's really small when you're as tall as Gyu is, so I felt bad for him…?"
Oh great. Nicknames. Seokmin had gotten attached to their visitor.
Minghao opened his mouth to remind Seokmin about personal boundaries with otherworldly beings, but promptly clicked it shut again at the puppy-eyed look he was getting from both of them.
He knew when to acknowledge defeat. With an exasperated exhale, Minghao makes a shooing motion that roughly conveyed 'go ahead and do whatever you want.
"But he stays on the left side, you hear me?"
He'd be dammed if he didn't at least try to retain some semblance of control.
"So, hyung, is he a good singer?" asked Seungkwan out of the blue.
"Is who– wait. Let me guess, Hansol told you?" Minghao huffed.
"Seokmin hyung did, actually. He was talking about replacing me as his karaoke buddy. So, can he sing or not?"
Ah. Of course. Buried neck deep in his most recent research project, Seungkwan had had less time to spend with his friends. That meant cutting back on karaoke nights out with Seokmin and Soonyoung, which Seokmin had been griping about for the last few weeks.
It made a strange sort of sense that he would opt to go with the demon who had nothing better to do than hang around him 24/7.
He's not sure what he expected when the demon first started humming along to songs on the radio as he did the dishes with them. Call it media influence, but Minghao was prepared for a hellish screech or a broken warble.
He was as surprised as Seokmin was to find that Mingyu could carry a tune. His voice was deep, with a little huskiness to it.
"I haven't gone deaf yet, I guess."
Minghao opens the door to find Seokmin and Mingyu on the couch, snickering at some comedy film.
Seokmin looks comfortably buried under a mound of throw pillows, a packet of chips within arm's reach. Beside him, Mingyu's lips are curled into a wide grin, the barest hint of his too-sharp fangs sticking out between them. A delighted shriek of laughter escapes him as a particularly funny scene plays out on screen.
At that moment, Mingyu turns and spots Minghao in the corner and waves cheerily, gesturing to the empty spot next to him on the couch.
Minghao isn't sure when "it" became "him", or when "the demon" became "Mingyu".
It's funny how quickly they've gotten used to Mingyu's presence in their little apartment. Sometimes, it feels like they've known him forever, instead of a few months.
It's even funnier how quickly Minghao drops into the seat beside Mingyu, quickly relaxing in his presence. He had been so adamantly against Mingyu in the beginning, and yet.
Here he is. Half curled into a demon who loves to cook and eat human food if only for the fun of it. A demon who was watching a comedy film right now because he's scared of horror (Minghao had snorted at the irony of that one).
A demon who had screeched in horror at the state of the apartment and nearly begged for them to make a deal so that he could clean up the mess because oh my god are those socks on the floor NEXT TO the laundry hamper how do you two live like this.
Minghao’s come to find that there isn't very much demon-like about the demon next to him –apart from the horns and fangs and his battle armour (that he doesn't wear most of the time anyway)– but he doesn't hate it. He's almost glad that he's been proven wrong.
Seokmin definitely was a lot happier for it. Considering that most of his friends (and boyfriend) were occupied with finals, he was starting to get a bit lonely. And yeah, Minghao had tried the best he could to spend time with Seokmin, cuddling in the morning on their late days and grabbing meals together on campus when their lunch periods lined up.
But sometimes he worried that it wasn't enough. As an art major, he was on a constant time crunch. Sometimes he'd stay overnight in the art faculty building, rushing to finish a piece before the deadline, with only a quick text to let Seokmin know.
With Mingyu around, though, he had someone to share the cooking load with and sing silly songs around the apartment as they did laundry. Seokmin could practice lines with him for his plays when Minghao wasn't around. Or when he was, Seokmin could now better rehearse parts that needed three or more actors.
And most importantly, Mingyu had never once attempted to bring harm to Seokmin. If he had, the demon would have been banished instantly, exorcist be damned.
He'd normally be worried that Mingyu was trying to steal Seokmin away; that this was his diabolical plan to wreak havoc all along.
Except, he wasn't just kind to Seokmin.
Mingyu brought art materials to his faculty building when he forgot them and packed meals that he could bring when he pulled all-nighters on campus.
He listened to Minghao's hour long rants about tea quality and remembered his favourite morning brews. He can't remember the last time he woke up without a steaming cup waiting for him at the dining table.
Mingyu would help him pick outfits for gallery outings and that one time he talked him down from a near breakdown when his work was selected for display at the local gallery when Minghao couldn't decide what to wear to make himself presentable enough for something as prestigious as that.
Even right now, he could see a bowl of his favourite spicy chips that nobody else ate next to Mingyu in anticipation for when he got home.
And really, he'd never admit this out loud even on the pain of death, but the demon was quite handsome.
He should really talk to Seokminnie about this.
Though, seeing how his boyfriend was draped over Mingyu's other side, the conversation wouldn't be too bad, probably. Maybe.
Ugh.
"Seokminnie."
"Um, yes, Hao?"
An awkward cough. "What do you think of the demon?"
"Minghao."
Another awkward cough. He could feel the tips of his ears turning warm.
"Yes, Seokminnie?"
"Don't take me for a fool. I've seen the way you look at him."
"Oh."
He had hoped he was a little more subtle than that.
"It's the same way I've caught myself looking at him too."
"Oh." And now that he actually dared to look up at his boyfriend, he could see that a flush was also crawling its way up Seokmin's cheeks, a smile threatening to curl up in the corner of his mouth.
It's a silent evening when Minghao decides to break the silence.
"I've decided on a request."
"...Oh."
Surely it was a crime for someone to look so sad. Mingyu was trying to hide it, but he had drooped so obviously when he heard those words.
"Well, if you're sure then I'll do my best to get it done, and then get out of your hair. Come to think of it, you're probably tired of putting up with me, huh?"
Minghao huffed and reached out to swat him on the head. "You're rambling. Let me finish first."
Catching Seokmin's gaze, he nods once and continues, "I request for you to stay with us and join our relationship."
Mingyu stares dumbly at him, mouth gaping open.
Seokmin chooses this moment to chime in, "The payment in exchange will be a kiss. Are these terms acceptable?"
The demon stares at them for a few seconds more, and then breaks out into raucous laughter.
"Of course not!"
Minghao blinks.
He continues when his laughing fit subsides, "That's not equivalent at all. You're kind of lowballing me, honestly. A kiss? Is that all I'm worth?"
The two mortals grin. "Well then, there's always room for negotiation, don't you say?" purrs Minghao as he drapes himself across Mingyu's lap.
"What would you consider a fair price for getting us both? We're quite the catch," teases Seokmin, leaning into Mingyu's side.
"Kisses, multiple. For the rest of your mortal lives. It's only fair."
They seal the deal with a kiss. Or multiple kisses. Who knows?
They don't kiss and tell.
Definitely a better deal than exchanging their souls, though.
"I guess you fell for my devilish charm , huh?"
Minghao gave him a flat look.
"You know what, I take that back. You're not welcome in our apartment, get out." Seokmin nodded solemnly.
"Ouch. Only days into this relationship and the honeymoon period is already over? I'm hurt, guys." Mingyu had flattened himself against the wall, hand dramatically held to his forehead in a poor mimicry of one of those sappy romance dramas he kept insisting on watching.
At the lack of response from either of his new boyfriends, he flopped dramatically on the ground.
Seokmin and Minghao stepped over his prone form and out of the room.
"YOU'RE SO MEAN TO MEEEEEEE-"
Hansol is, of course, the first person to hear of this development. Though once he knows, their other friends won't be far behind. He's not a gossip by any means, but he's friends with Boo Seungkwan.
Seungkwan will be happy for them for sure. He might even send a box of tangerines as an odd congratulations present. But he will also definitely be spreading this news all over the group chat at the earliest chance he gets.
They're having lunch when Hansol abruptly asks, "So, how does a trio work, anyway?"
Minghao is getting a little tired of choking on his food. Besides, the real answer is messily, with limbs everywhere, but he's not about to tell Hansol that.
"The same with any other relationship, just with more communication."
"Cool."
And Hansol blessedly returns to eating his food in silence.
Or so he thinks.
"I've been wondering, hyung, why Mingyu didn't leave before this. I mean, he's already fulfilled so many requests."
Minghao tilts his head in confusion, gesturing for Hansol to elaborate.
Hansol speaks around a mouthful of his rice, "He does chores, right? Didn't he already make an exchange with Seokmin hyung in the first week? A meal in exchange for doing the dishes and all…"
Huh. When put that way, it did make sense. He'd have to ask Mingyu about this.
"Yeah, I could have left then. It counted as a deal."
"So why didn't you?"
Mingyu hums thoughtfully as he tossed the television remote between his hands in a one-man game of hot potato. "Honestly, I was worried about the two of you. I mean really , this place was a complete hazard!"
"Hey, I resent that!" calls Seokmin from the next room as he paints some props for the upcoming student production, "We're not that bad!"
Mingyu opts not to reply to him.
"And then I got curious about the two of you, I guess? You guys were kinda fun to hang around, and it seemed like a shame to go so quickly."
Minghao shrugs. Fair enough.
It would have been a huge rip-off if Mingyu had left before becoming their boyfriend. Talk about bad deals.
He's glad the demon chose to stay.
CRASH.
Even if he's a bit clumsy most of the time.