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Chapter Text

"I—I'm baby?" The demon pointed at himself, confused. It was one of those moments where he was glad that he was no longer human because he was always bad at explaining his blushing cheeks. Yes, he was glad he could hide better now. "I mean," Jinu sighed. "How can I explain this?" Jinu mumbled. The purpose for Jinu's proposal honestly didn't matter to him, he was just glad that Jinu was talking to him. Jinu took a deep breath. "Ok so, there's this thing on Earth called Kpop boy groups. They're groups that have many fans," Jinu explained. "Fans? Like the ones that you use to beat the heat?" The demon tilted his head. Jinu lowered his head and huffed. "You need to forget, Jinu," He repeated this phrase like an incantation. "How can he be so cute even when he's speaking nonsense," The demon shook his head.

"Wait!" Jinu's eyes widened when he saw the demon shook his head. He latched onto the demon's arm and kneeled. "No! Don't say no please! You're one of the few attractive people here!" Jinu pouted as he summoned his best puppy dog eyes. "You," the demon looked down. "You think I'm attractive?" Again, the demon was thankful for his discrete skin. Jinu frowned, "of course I do. Who wouldn't?" The demon giggled. "Listen, I know it sounds ridiculous but I promise that it will make sense once I explain it to you," Jinu touched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "I'm all ears," the demon urged. Jinu's ears perked up; "he's even cuter than his cat and bird companion combined," The demon smiled. "Ok so, before I continue explaining I need to clarify something first. The fans that I was talking about were not the ones you use to cool yourself off with, the ones that I was talking about were admirers. Modern humans also call them fans now," Jinu clarified as the demon periodically nodded, feigning comprehension. "Ok so, Kpop boy bands are groups with many admirers. They sing and dance so…." The demon found it strange, Jinu was such a fascinating creature to him but his fellow demon's words had a tendency to melt in his ears.

But he welcomed the evasiveness of Jinu's words.

Ironically, Jinu's spoken prose would be replaced by his own sung verses. It was welcome and comforting change from Gwi-ma's controlling noise.

"So…. I need you to be…baby," Jinu said with his best salesman-like smile. "Baby," The demon whispered as he looked down. "Now, I know this is a lot to take in so I'll let—" Jinu was about to feign politeness but he was thankful that his fellow demon interrupted him. "I'll do it!" Baby answered a little too quickly and a little too loudly. "Yes!" Jinu pumped his fist. "Thank you, thank you so much! I promise you that you'll be fed for the rest of your days," Jinu promised but he didn't need to promise anything for Baby to commit himself to him.

As Jinu turned his back from Baby, the demon couldn't bring himself to do the same.

"I'm finally going to erase my memories," Jinu thought.

"I'm finally going to create more memories with you," Baby thought.

Chapter Text

"Dad! Dad!" The boy, no, the man giggled as he heard his son calling for him. "What is it, honey?" The man gently asked as he bent down to the child's level. "Can you tell me how you and papa met again?" The child pouted and gave his dad the best puppy dog eyes possible. "Again?" Both the man's son and him turned to see his husband. The man instinctively wrapped his arms around his husband's neck. He kissed his husband on the cheek and whispered, "did your performance go well?" His husband just smiled. The man was about to lean in for a kiss but someone interrupted them. "Ahem," the child said. "Story? Please!" He whined. "Okay, okay," The man's husband gently said as he placed their son on his lap. "It all started when I performed in the palace where your father worked as a cook," the man blushed and smiled as his husband told their story. "When I saw your father," the man lovingly looked at his husband. "I knew that I had to know his name," the man continued.

"How did you ask for papa's name, dad?"

Everything around the man spun as his son's question repeated. He tried to grasp his husband but he only felt air, so he tried to hug his son but he felt the same thing. As his world spun, a familiar surrounding replaced it. Soon, he was back in the place where he met his "husband." Soon, he was once again staring at the most handsome man he's ever seen; his husband. A man he planned on marrying without even knowing his name.

"Excuse me," he said to the woman next to him. "Do you happen to know the singer's name?" She nodded and answered, "that's Jinu, he's the new palace musician." The man looked at the singer once again. "Jinu? What's his last name?" The man asked. The woman mirrored his confused face as she tried to answer. "Actually, no one knows. Come to think of it, no one knows where he comes from." The woman giggled before she continued, "it seems like he just appeared out of thin air."

The man's gaze never left Jinu. "Looks like I have to be one to get to know you, Jinu," the man grinned.

Jinu left the stage as soon as he strung the last chord of his instrument. He tried to run to his bedroom but a voice stopped him in his tracks. "Jinu, what's it like to be fed so well?" The voice sounded like his mother but he knew who it really belonged to. "Do you know what it's like to sleep in the cold?" Jinu frantically around the hallway. Jinu rolled up his sleeves. "Jinu, do you still remember us?" The voices of his mother and sister asked, the markings on his arm throbbed with their every word.

"Jinu,"

"Jin—"

"Ji—"

Jinu clutched his ears as he tightly closed his eyes and kneeled. "Stop it! Leave me alone, Gwi-ma!" He yelled. Before he knew it, tears cascaded down his face. He only noticed it when he felt a hand caressed his cheek. "It's okay, Gwi-ma isn't here," Jinu opened his eyes and he saw a baby-faced man soothe him. Jinu immediately backed away. "Oh, I mean I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to comfort you," the man panicked. "Thank you for trying but I would like it if you just left me alone," Jinu stood up. "But you just seem so—," Jinu interrupted the man. "Exactly, 'I seem.' You just admitted that you don't know me," Jinu reasoned. "But what if I want to change that? What if I want to know you?" The man retorted. Jinu laughed.

"Trust me, you're better off forgetting me," Jinu said as he walked away. "How can I ever forget you, Jinu," the man countered. Jinu hoped that the man didn't see him flinch. The man smirked as he saw his effect on Jinu.