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No one knew much about Mystery. He’d been quiet since the day Jinu met him in the demon realm and offered him a place in his K-pop boy band. Silent when the other members were introduced to each other and silent in front of Gwi-Ma.
Everyone was silent in front of Gwi-Ma, so no one questioned it.
Still, no one knew much about Mystery. The name kinda said it all. Silent, mysterious, full of secrets. He hid his eyes behind a mop of lavender hair for crying out loud! The man was a mystery in every sense of the word.
There was one thing, however, that they all came to learn about this particular demon: Mystery was a cuddler.
Jinu was the first to learn this fact.
It was early in their scheme, just after their first-ever live performance on the street, showing themselves to the humans and hunters alike, that Jinu got a small insight into their silent member.
A quiet evening spent on the couch, as a change of scenery was needed to work on their strategy. Jinu had settled with a notepad, enjoying the brief reprieve from screaming fans. The others rested elsewhere in the apartment, most retreating to their rooms.
Except one.
Mystery entered the living room, feet dragging on the floor, and arms crossed over his narrow chest. Jinu glanced up and smiled, but allowed the demon to head for wherever he pleased undisturbed. Until it turned out to be the couch. Right beside Jinu. Practically in his lap if not for the notebook already resting there. A heavy body sagged against his side, head claiming his shoulder and lavender hair tickling his cheek.
Jinu blinked and looked down at the other demon.
“Can I help you?”
No answer.
“Is everything okay?”
Still nothing.
“Okay.” He dragged out the word, unsure but not uncomfortable, wondering at their close proximity since the large couch sat empty except for the two of them.
Mystery huffed a breath and snuggled closer. Snuggled!
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
A small nod. Mystery began to shake minutely. Jinu almost jumped, fearing he had somehow upset the other, until he heard it: Purring. It was low, more a feeling than true sound, Mystery’s whole body vibrating softly with the force of the purrs deep in his chest and throat.
Well. That was new.
For a few minutes, Jinu sat completely still, not wanting to disturb the other and end the surprisingly soothing sound. Carefully, he picked up the pencil. Mystery didn’t react. He moved his arm slightly to write. Mystery resettled to free the arm, but otherwise, stayed still. The sound didn’t stop.
Jinu smiled, small and luckily hidden from Mystery with the hair covering his face, and wrote another line on the paper.
The rest of the evening passed quickly after that, even if not much progress was made on their next song. A good night’s rest would help. Neither left the couch to find their beds, the purring a pleasant lullaby in Jinu’s ears.
Abby was the second to learn this fact.
Most of his free time was spent working out, keeping up the body their fans constantly screamed for a glimpse of. The hard work paid off, even if it meant long hours working up a sweat and almost as long cooling down again. His body didn’t regulate temperature well, always running hotter than normal, whether that was a trait developed from living in the cold demon realm for who knew how long, or a leftover from his time as human, he couldn’t tell you.
Abby ran hot. That was a fact. As was Mystery’s weird obsession with hunting him down after a workout. Sometimes, Abby managed to flee to the bathroom and at least shower before the other demon jumped him; other times, he felt the sticky sweat between them and cringed. Mystery never seemed to notice, only focused on wrapping as much of his colder body around Abby as possible.
And damn was that guy cold.
The first time it happened, Abby almost thought the other was carrying ice cubes in his hands, but no, that was just his temperature. Mystery had walked in just as Abby finished a set and sat down to drain his water bottle. Apparently, Jinu wanted them all in the living room. Abby had stood up and clapped Mystery on the shoulder, nothing but a friendly gesture, but the full-body jolt almost made him jump back, fearing a sudden outburst from the other demon. But Mystery had only tilted his head to pin Abby with a long look. Or so he thought; it was difficult to tell with all that hair.
He’d completely forgotten about the weird little incident until the next day, when Mystery once more interrupted his workout. He had been ready to complain, sending Mystery off to tell their leader that whatever he wanted to say could wait, when Mystery had walked behind him and plastered his whole body against Abby’s back. His sweaty back.
It had been surprisingly difficult to pull the nimble demon off his back, the cool body making the sweat feel worse against his skin. Mystery didn’t seem to care about the stains on his shirt, only trying to get closer to the taller demon’s heat.
When Abby had finally given up and leaned against the rack of weights, Mystery resettled and sighed deeply, a small vibration starting up in his chest. Abby was sure the other demon was laughing at him until he heard it. Not laughter but purring. And growing stronger the longer Abby allowed Mystery to rest against him.
The surprise had rooted Abby to the spot, not wanting to lose this new piece of information so soon after acquiring it.
The next time, when he lost the wrestling match once more, he offered a compromise: Let him shower first, and Mystery could cling all he wanted to Abby’s back afterwards.
Mystery agreed.
Abby refused to admit how comforting the purring was.
Romance was the third to learn this fact.
Being the second visual of the group, the member less hungered for but admired all the same, Romance knew the value of beauty sleep. Don’t ask him how; it just made sense. Which meant he was always the first to wish the other members goodnight and retreat to his room to sleep. It didn’t hurt that the bed was more comfortable than anything you could find in the demon realm, and the comforter offered glorious heat. Romance didn’t run particularly cold, but he wasn’t a furnace like Abby either.
When, one night, a few weeks into their stay in the human world, his door opened quietly, Romance prepared to unleash a tirade on whoever decided it was a good idea to disturb his beauty sleep.
In the dark, it was hard to make out the figure, but the size told him it was either Mystery or Baby. Jinu stood just slightly taller than the two, like himself, and Abby was a mountain of muscles and broad shoulders; impossible to miss.
The bed dipped, and Romance tensed. No words of explanation were offered; the body simply lay on top of the covers, as close to Romance as possible, and sighed.
Barely having the time to open his mouth, Romance clicked it shut again when the noise began. A purr. Someone was purring beside him. The head nuzzled closer, long hair tickling Romance’s nose where he lay on his side facing the mysterious arrival.
Well, it would make sense if it were Mystery. Baby would never do such a thing.
While it was strange and a bit weird to sneak in when the other person was sleeping—even if Romance was awake and could have stopped it—he couldn’t deny the cute sight of their silent band member purring in his bed.
He shifted to get more comfortable, and Mystery stiffened, the purring cutting off abruptly. Romance huffed and pulled the other closer, showing he did not mind the impromptu visit. Clearing his throat, he took it one step further and, haltingly, began to purr himself. It didn’t come out as smooth, a bit hoarse, but Mystery responded instantly, enthusiastically, and his own purring started anew, louder and deeper, head practically trying to burrow into Romance’s neck.
The pink-haired demon chuckled and closed his eyes, letting the soothing rumble wash over him. The rest of the night passed quickly.
Baby was the fourth to learn this fact.
He’d sat on the couch, letting the noise of the TV wash over him as he relaxed, when Mystery had come in. He’d expected the other demon to join him, yes, but still with space between them. The couch wasn’t exactly small. What he didn’t expect was for the other to sit right beside him and try to lie down on top of him. Baby had hissed and squirmed and fled the room before the cold hands—like ice, how was he that damn cold?—could get in contact with his skin. He expected that to be the end of it. Show his displeasure and escape. End of story.
It wasn’t.
Mystery was a damn octopus. And he learned.
No matter where Baby sat: the couch, the armchair, his own damn bed, Mystery would suddenly be there, jumping Baby before he could even blink and wrapping himself around the smaller demon.
Baby would yell and struggle, but Mystery was scarily strong when he wanted to be, and just to be a dick, he would begin to purr extremely loudly to drown out Baby’s protests. The other members would only laugh or simply leave if they were in the room—the traitors—and leave Baby to his fate.
Cold, purring, cuddly fate.
Zoey was the fifth to learn this fact.
A fact she never expected to learn, since she wasn’t part of the group and, you know, the whole demon boy band and hunter girl group. But there she was, crouched down beside a still Saja Boy, the quiet Mystery, as he lay motionless, face down on the floor backstage after an award show. Huntrix won this one, and Zoey was still giddy from the victory. Maybe that was why she felt concern fill her chest instead of annoyance or anger at the demon before her. Or maybe she truly did hope there was something good in them. Too many thoughts swirled in her head to linger on those particular ones for long.
She poked a finger into the back of his head. A small twitch answered her. He wasn’t dead then. Good. Or not. Oh well.
“Mystery? Hey, are you okay?” She spoke quietly, not wanting to alert anyone to the situation. Not that she knew what the situation was yet. Her hand moved to his shoulder, trying to rouse him with a shake.
That got a response.
Mystery almost arched his back to press into her palm, head whipping around to stare at her. Or so she assumed through the curtain of purple hair. So pretty purple hair.
Oh, wait, she should be focusing!
Mystery moved, head searching out her hand, then her thighs, so close to her still crouched position. As Mystery began to rest his weight against a leg, Zoey compensated by landing on her knees. Then, sitting on her legs as Mystery just kept moving closer, his head finally settled on her lap. She blinked down at him.
A demon, Mystery, lay with his head on her lap, subtle vibrations running from his cheek into her thighs.
Was he purring?
She bent slightly to move her ear closer.
He was totally purring! So adorable!
Unable to help herself, with the demon practically begging for it with his cheek squished against her thigh, Zoey let a hand run carefully through his hair. The purring grew stronger, as did the vibrations travelling from his throat. She grew bolder, scratching lightly against his scalp and caressing the soft strands of lavender. Arms came up to wrap around her waist, and she almost squealed from the cuteness emanating from the demon.
“Zoey?” The sound of Rumi calling her name pulled Zoey from the sense of peace born from their little cuddle session. Pouting, disappointed she would have to stop soon, Zoey allowed a few more strokes to the demon’s head before Rumi finally found her.
“There you are, we need to—” Her leader and best friend—right beside Mira—stopped abruptly when she noticed who filled Zoey’s lap. “What are you doing? That’s a demon!” she hissed the last words, as if Mystery wouldn’t be able to hear her with how close they were in the small corridor.
Offering her best puppy eyes, Zoey gestured at the resting Saja Boy on her lap. “But look at him, Rumi! He’s so cute!”
“How did this even happen?” Rumi massaged her temple, a clear sign she needed food and sleep. Zoey almost jumped up to insist they hurry home, but the way Mystery squeezed her hips lightly made her stall. How could she help both at once?
“I just found him lying on the floor. For a second, I thought he was dead, but he wasn’t, just sleeping, or resting, I’m not sure, but when I poked him, he just got up and lay down on my leg. Look at him! I couldn’t just push him off, that would have been horrible!” Her explanation rushed out, needing to get all her thoughts out before Rumi could spiral further. Nothing bad had happened! Mystery was just tired! She could relate.
“Still, it could have been a trick or— What is that sound?”
Zoey looked down, noticing Mystery had started purring again when she defended him and resumed the scratching.
“Purring,” she answered simply.
Rumi stared. “Purring.”
“Yep.”
“He is purring.”
“Yep.”
“On your lap.”
“Isn’t it cute?!”
Rumi covered her mouth, but a tick still jumped in her eyebrow. “It’s adorable,” she agreed reluctantly.
“It is!”
Rumi moved closer, crouching down like Zoey had initially done to get closer to them both. Mystery seemed uncaring for the close proximity to two hunters, purring contentedly in Zoey’s lap.
“They didn’t leave without him, right?” Rumi asked quietly.
Zoey hummed. She didn’t remember seeing them leave, but then again, they were slippery when they wanted to be. “I don’t know.”
As if on cue, Jinu’s voice called out further down the hall, “Mystery! Where are you? We’re leaving.”
The girls shared a look before glancing down at the demon. Mystery seemed to tense for a second before sighing and rising. Rumi moved back to give him space, tense and ready to act if he made any sudden moves. Zoey hid her pout, sad to end the cuddle session so soon. Who knew the quiet demon was a cuddler?
For a moment, they were at a standstill, all three waiting for someone to make the next move.
Another call of Mystery’s name decided for them.
The demon nodded at Zoey with a small, “Thanks,” and rose fluidly to head towards his band members. The girls watched him go with conflicted expressions.
“Do you think nice demons exist?” Zoey asked, repeating her earlier statement when they first encountered the Saja Boys.
Rumi bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head. “We can’t trust them. Come on.”
Casting one last glance at the retreating demon, Zoey followed her own band member to meet up with Mira and Bobby. None of the girls spoke of the incident, but Zoey liked to remember the look of peace on Mystery’s face late at night, when she needed to find her own for sleep.
No one noticed the pair of yellow eyes watching the whole incident.
Mystery knew he liked touch. The warmth of another person—how long had it been since he last got to hold someone? To be held?—their heartbeat and steady breath. In the demon realm, he could ignore it simply because of the isolation forced upon most demons who did not seek out the heat of Gwi-Ma’s flames. The fire burned with a painful hatred, like the flames themselves wanted to devour everything in their path.
Mystery suffered the freezing cold instead.
Then Jinu showed up, towing other demons with him and offered a way out: a group to belong to. How could Mystery refuse, when the payment was so small? When it barely felt like payment compared to the reward. Touch. Heat. Company. He may not speak much, if at all, but the presence of non-hostile demons was a foreign concept.
Baby didn’t count as hostile; he was more bark than bite, even if Mystery would never say so out loud.
He’d sought out the band members when his need grew too strong, his skin too cold and too tight, his chest too hollow and throat too clogged to do more than breathe shakily.
Some responded better than others, but no one had chased him away. No one had gotten angry or violent. Not even Baby, even if he liked to complain. But still, Mystery feared pushing too hard, wanting too much, so he spaced it out, waited until he was ready to explode. He couldn’t lose what he finally had. He wouldn’t. But that didn’t change the bad days. When the sudden need almost winded him like a physical blow. When he would curl up wherever he was and just force himself to be still instead of seeking out the others. He couldn’t push his luck. They might get rid of him if he became more of a nuisance than useful.
Which led him to now, curled up on the couch alone, hugging a pillow tightly to his chest in a mimicry of holding a person, face turned towards the cushions and ignoring the world around him.
It was only yesterday that he, in a moment of weakness, practically crawled into the lap of the shortest hunter to feel something. Her thigh had been warm, heat emanating from under the thin fabric, and her hand moved so gently through his hair, he almost fell asleep right there, if not for the other hunter showing up. While all three hunters scared him—even as a demon, you couldn’t lose the fear of death. No one knew what came after—the shortest seemed less likely to stab him on sight. Quickly proven when she allowed him to lay his head on her lap. For a few moments, he’d felt blissful peace. Then the illusion broke, and he had to return to his band members, pretending he wasn’t burning inside from the brief touch of warmth.
Movement in the room caught his attention, his body automatically preparing to jump whoever sat down beside him. He couldn’t, not so soon. He couldn’t give in to weakness so easily.
The prickling sense of being watched made him tense, slowly turning onto his back to survey the room.
He was surrounded. All four of his band members and fellow demons stood in a half circle around the couch. Around him. Feeling the looming dread of whatever they had planned, Mystery lifted the pillow higher to hide his face. An irritated sigh was the only warning he got before it was yanked away. Baby clicked his tongue and threw it on the floor.
“Baby, that’s not nice,” Jinu scolded, briefly glancing at the demon before focusing back on Mystery.
Baby only rolled his eyes. “How are we supposed to cuddle him with that thing between us?”
“Normally, you ask nicely,” Romance added, hand resting on his cheek.
“What, you think the giant cat doesn’t want to cuddle?” Baby’s tone stayed mocking, but his arms crossed defensively as he shifted his weight.
“Don’t act like this wasn’t your idea,” Abby said, already pulling his shirt off. Mystery could practically feel the body heat from where he lay.
Wait.
He blinked, not that any of the others would be able to see it, and finally registered the words spoken above him. They wanted to cuddle? It was Baby’s idea? Did he fall asleep? Was this a cruel prank as payback for him invading their space?
“Mystery.”
He looked up to see Jinu watching him closely.
“Do you want to? Cuddle, that is.”
Mystery said nothing, speechless and hardly daring to believe the offer.
“Did we break him?” Baby asked incredulously.
Romance looked slightly worried. “This might be too much.”
“Should some of us go?” Abby suggested, and Mystery surged up, hands desperate to stop them from leaving.
“No!” While it wasn’t loud by any means, it was still the loudest he had ever been, and all four stared in shock at his outburst. Feeling the embarrassment burn his cheeks, Mystery let his hands fall back into his lap. “Don’t go.”
“Okay,” Jinu said quietly. “We won’t go.”
“That couch is not gonna hold all of us,” Baby muttered.
Abby scoffed. “Not with that lack of faith.”
Baby hissed at the word.
Ignoring the youngest—not that any of them knew who the oldest and youngest demon truly was—Abby plopped down onto the couch beside Mystery, leaning back and resting both arms across the backrest.
“Well?”
Mystery snapped.
With a yelp, Abby tumbled onto the cushions, laid flat by the sheer force of the other demon’s tackle. Resting his head against the soft pectorals and tangling his legs with the taller demon’s, Mystery felt the beginnings of a purr vibrate in his throat. Squishing his cheek against the warm skin to look at the remaining three, he lifted a hand to beckon them closer.
“Please.”
Romance and Jinu crumbled instantly, the former sitting by Abby’s head to run his hand through lavender strands, and the latter lifting the tangle of legs to sit beneath. A strong hand began to knead Mystery’s thigh muscles, and he melted into the body below him.
Baby hesitated a moment before grunting in irritation and falling, not meanly, on top of Mystery to cover him from top to bottom. With the heat below and the weight on top, paired with the hands petting his body, Mystery felt his whole chest vibrate as his purring grew in volume, almost shaking the whole couch and its occupants with the sheer force of happiness and contentment radiating from his core. The others chuckled softly and settled into the couch. Slowly, one by one, their own distinct purring joined in, creating a melody that, while not beautiful, soothed something primal deep within where their souls should be resting.
Romance was the first to join in, having already felt the soothing vibrations in his own throat the night Mystery came to visit. Soothing and light, he let the sound mingle with Mystery.
Abby made a strangled sound, somewhere between a cough and a purr, like loosening something rusty. The next sound came smoother, clearer, a sonorous purr rumbling beneath Mystery’s cheek. He nuzzled closer to absorb every movement. Thick arms wrapped around him and Baby above, heat seeping into every pore of Mystery’s body.
Jinu joined in, quiet but melodious, a singing purr to harmonise with his group. The others rolled their eyes fondly as even there, he could not contain the music in his head.
Baby stayed quiet the longest. Mystery expected he either fell asleep or simply didn’t care to join in. Either was fine; the weight did wonders to his hollow chest. A small twitch above, a breathed growl, and Baby stuttered out a short burst of sound. His hands clenched where they rested on Mystery’s shoulders. Moving blindly, unwilling to lift his head from the rumble beneath, Mystery reached behind him to find Baby and squeeze whatever he touched comfortingly. An inhalation of surprise, and another short purr, this time stronger but still hesitant. Still trapped in the back of Baby’s throat instead of being released to travel through the body. Another squeeze, Jinu joining in to caress Baby’s tense back and a proper purr finally rumbled all the way from his chest.
The others only purred louder in response, so much joy radiating from the tangled group, a calm haze seemed to fall over the room. No one spoke, but no one needed to. Mystery felt his body settle, thoughts finally silent and muscles releasing centuries of tension.
He needed it. And he was allowed to have it.
“Thank you.”
The group jumped at his sudden words, but the purring continued, hands reaching for Mystery and caressing whatever they could get. He responded in turn, soaking in the heat and rumbling his contentment.
“Next time,” Jinu began, hand finding purple hair. “Just ask us. Okay?”
Mystery hid a smile and nodded. He could do that.