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It's said that eyes are windows to the soul. If so, she wonders what it means, that when she punched him and his eyes shone as gold as the other demons, that she thought they were pretty. Demons weren't supposed to have souls. But then, Gwi-Ma had sucked up something from his hordes before blasting Rumi. But then also, the Saja Boys didn't get eaten like that, so maybe they didn't have souls after all-
Her eyes dart back to the way to the stage the moment his head begins to turn. She thinks of the fans too shy to meet her gaze even as they gushed to her or got her signature, and she has to admit- it's a lot harder making eye contact with your crush when not hopped up on enough adrenaline and Honmoon energy to fight a demon king.
You're just my type! she had said shamelessly, feeling on top of the world with Rumi and Mira by her side again, then promptly beheaded him.
There's an inkling of that energy now, but she can't very well kill him again, not when he's not even attacking, not on live television-
Somehow, she makes it through the weekly awards. She accepts the bouquet, smiles the proper way all sweet and humble, and gets to the dressing room without twisting the wrapping paper and flower stems to bits. She excuses herself to go to the restroom, just so her feet at least do something, and manages to convince Mira she's fine without mentioning anything about pretty demon boys and stupid crushes.
Zoey wrings her hands in front of the sink, resisting the urge to splash her face to cool down. They might still bump into other idols. She shouldn't wash off the makeup.
When breathing doesn't help, she enters a stall. She summons and unsummons a blunt dagger with a twirl of her fingers. The dull blade comes and goes with the ease of a card in a magician's hand, the feel of the Honmoon and the familiarity of the motion soothing. She leaves the stall much calmer after using what was likely the world's most mystical fidget spinner, leaves the restroom with fingers emptily echoing the motion-
And comes face to face with Mystery Saja. Only it's not quite Mystery Saja because half his trademark bangs are kept back by a hand so she's actually face to face and not face to hair which would have been far more merciful to her heart. Her fingers twitch, the dagger forms, his eye darts down-
She promptly steps backward and slams the door. The dagger, sharp, disappears into threads instead of sinking into anyone's chest. Zoey resists the urge to sink onto the bathroom floor because gross, and resists the urge to scream because the demon outside would definitely hear.
God, it wasn't even his actual face it was just his reflection in the giant wall mirror outside and it's not even his whole face and isn't a face reveal supposed to make someone less attractive and why why why did she have to summon something he probably thinks she wants to kill him again and okay maybe she does a little so he disappears but that's not his fault the Saja Boys have been pretty nice since the comeback and oh Rumi wanted them to get along with them now and she did too she offered her hand back then and Mystery was the only one to shake it because Jinu was shaking Rumi's and Baby didn't care and Mira didn't want to shake Abby's and was glaring murder at Romance for saying he wanted to kiss hers and what was she doing she should apologize-!
The hall and its mirror are empty save for her and her red-faced reflection. Makeup be damned, she washes her face to cool down, then returns to the dressing room with Mira and Rumi just about to look for her. She has a smile on her lips and the half-truth of a hot flash from anxiety on the stage earlier, and tight hug they give her is nice.
She still screams into her pillow later that night though, cringing at the memory and cursing whoever decided stupid souless symmetrical demon boys could have such pretty faces.
She means to apologize for the maybe-threat, but they don't bump into each other the next few times they're at the same shows. The most she manages is for her stare to net her a turn of his head that has her turning her own away. She doubts if any of the Saja Boys have separate accounts on any platform that she can dm, but she's not going to look for it even if they did. That's the kind of thing over-obssessed and deranged fans do, and she is superficially attracted to a certain Saja Boy only a normal amount and only wants to apologize a normal amount for very minor, totally-forgettable incident that definitely is not living in her head rent-free and joining the rotation of embarrassing memories from middle school. She is no sasaeng, and so, she's not going to start trying to find such an account that may not even exist, and she is not going to bring Rumi into this by intruding on the Huntrix leader's not-so-secret meetings with Jinu just to get contact info that may, once again, not even exist.
The only reasonable course of action is, of course, to try harder to find him the next time the Saja Boys and Huntrix are at the same event. Which happens to be at the very loud, very flashy birthday party of a chaebol idol where all the hottest stars and celebrities are in attendance. The girl had been nice since her debut with the rest of ADA, perfectly friendly and a good sport too, but Zoey can't help but think that the girl's taste in celebrations is a bit. . .much. She can't really focus on finding a lavender head of hair when the music pounds so loud and so many have pale locks dyed by lights pulsing blue and purple to the beat.
When she starts to find a migraine instead of the Saja Boy, she heads to the open garden in the back, passing Mira as she chats with ADA's choreographer by the tables and grabbing a bottle of water probably worth a whole week's worth of lunch from a uniformed server.
The garden's nice. Cool. Quiet, compared to the noise inside, though some music still bleeds out and people are scattered about the standing tables and hedges. She spots Rumi and Jinu talking special effects with a producer, passes some security guards that she tries to smile politely at, ignores the rustling shapes where other popular figures may be bravely doing things that are none of her business in earshot of the guards. Her apology surely delayed until the next event, whenever that is, she sips her water and lets her aimless steps take her to a fountain bubbling merrily for an audience of none.
It makes nice white noise. Its waters sparkle under moon and lamplight. She walks around it, admiring the carved cherubs and creatures holding up pitchers-
And stares.
Pale hair frames an ethereal face as a figure sits cross-legged on the cobbled stone. An eye black as night flickers up to her, flickers gold and purple and black and back as he stands, turning-
"Wait!"
She's fast even in heels but he's a demon-
He stops anyway, before she can reach him. He stays facing the way he meant to run.
Zoey bows anyway, fingers curling around her clutch, into her skirt.
"I'm- I just want to say I'm sorry about pulling a knife on you like a month ago! Total reflex, I swear I wasn't threatening you or anything!"
His head turns. He glances back, eye shifting hues-
"Your eye-"
A hand flies over it and stays there as she's left with his back.
Her brows furrow as she takes a cautious step forward. "Are you alright?"
Slowly, he speaks.
"Jinu said, don't scare the fans. Jinu said, get along with Huntrix. Jinu said, my eyes are fine."
Slowly, he turns to her, hand still over his eyes. "Baby, Abby, Romance all said, my eyes are fine."
He drops the hand, his eyes a demonic gold as he steps forward. She steps back-
His hand returns to his eyes, his breath like a sigh. "You look away when I look. You weren't scared the first time. I can't change the shape. The color must be wrong. I apologize."
Zoey stares at the demon facing away from her, shielding her from his eyes, and she can't help the little snort that comes out.
She quickly slaps a hand over her mouth and nose and coughs. "Sorry I-I'm not, I'm not scared."
She forces herself to not look away as those pretty eyes come into view. She gulps. "You're just um. . .you're really hot I mean handsome I mean um, your eyes are really nice and I er, I can't really look at you without thinking that and getting uh, nervous? A good kind of nervous, it's not your fault, I'm not like, scared of you or hate you, you haven't done anything bad since you came back right? I just. . .I'm just not used to it and that's on me."
She tries to meet that dumbfounded stare that bores into her with their steady pools of gold for a count of five before turning away, the garden feeling terribly warm despite the night and fountain.
She doesn't look at him, but she doesn't feel like it's right to walk off and leave. She's not scared of him. If she can't make eye contact like a normal person, the least she can do is show that she means it.
His shadow lingers on the stone for a long while, shifting only when the wind does. Then, he raises an arm.
"Is this better?"
His bangs are back over his eyes in their signature curtain. It makes the usual butterflies scatter ticklishly in her ribcage. She smiles a little more genuinely at the familiarity, focusing on the result and the act rather than how he looks and is likely looking at her dumb blushing face through it.
"Yeah," she says, looking where his eyes should be but not too hard, lest the gold beneath pierce her gaze and her heart. "Sorry for being rude."
He smiles softer than any magazine. Her stanning self melts a little and she swallows the giddy giggle threatening to burst from her throat like a firework. It thankfully settles as he looks away, smile fading.
"Something wrong?"
"Jinu's calling."
He was? If he is, she can't hear it over the fountain, over the faint thrum of the music. The demon bowed rather deep as he said goodbye, the hair sways and his ears peeked through-
"Does it hurt?"
He tilts his head.
"The music in there- it's, it's super loud right? I was kinda escaping it. . .it's how I ended up here." If they planned on leaving like normal people and not poofing into smoke like demons, they'd have to walk back through the main room and all its booming tunes.
". . .it's very loud."
Zoey smiled and opened her bag. "I have earplugs if you want. They'll help with the sound. Could you stay like that? They're kinda finnicky to put in."
He stays bowing, his head tipped down. She draws the foam pieces out. She talks as she maneuvers the disklike plugs into his ears so she's not thinking about the fact that she's touching his face to maneuver foam into his ears, or the way his eyes flicker up at her so brightly-
"The funny thing is I stocked a bunch of these big ones in my bag just in case because I thought I'd need them and I was right, but I realized in the car that with this hair, I couldn't really wear them without looking rude and I really didn't want to ruin the hair since I really wanted to wear these earrings but anyway, I think your hair will cover it, so you should be fine! There we go, and when you're done they're pretty easy to pull out!"
She steps back and he takes that as his cue to stand upright.
"Is that better?"
He turns to the main building and tilts his head. After a moment, he smiles in a way that's not good for her heart.
"Since um-"
He turns to her. She thinks she catches a glimpse of gold but stands her ground, keeps her head up, tries to look where his eyes should be.
"Since you're going, I should probably go too, Mira knows where I am but that was a while ago and I don't know if Rumi noticed me heading here but if Jinu's calling you then Rumi might be looking for me if she didn't see Mira so um. Bye!"
She bows, waves, and scurries off.
She thinks she hears a bye behind her, but it's hard to hear anything beyond her footsteps and heartbeat.