Chapter Text
The distinct sound of a bell could be heard as the door slid open, two people walking inside. A tall man walked inside first, holding a young girl's hand. A quiet happy mutter of "welcome" was given by the cashier, the taller nodding in affirmation at it.
The inside of the shop was interesting to say the least. The worn out wooden floorboards creaked with each step as the two made their way away from the door, going between the first set of bookshelves. Instead of books, there were all sorts of trinkets laid along on the shelves.
Letting go of the taller, the girl looked around, picking up one thing, placing down another.
The taller just gazed around, uncaring for what there was to offer. As the girl slipped between another pair of bookshelves with her pigtails bouncing as she moved, she crouched, looking at the lower shelves.
"Don't put your hands against the ground," the taller muttered, not being loud to disrupt other people, if there were any.
The girl just ignored him, standing up and turning around to look around more. She grabbed something, inspecting before turning towards the other.
"Oppa, hold this."
Without giving her brother a chance to say anything, she shoved what seemed to be a rather large cog into his grasps and ran to another shelf. A sigh left Yoo Joonghyuk as he followed.
Yoo Mia had a project to do for school, one that was quite strange in Yoo Joonghyuk's opinion. Apparently, she had to photograph three items for her art class, the pictures having to fit the theme they randomly got. She had gotten "steampunk", which would've been fine if they had anything related to that at home.
They did not.
Like a good brother, Yoo Joonghyuk brought her to an antique store. Since Yoo Mia was very passionate about school, he decided to support her in every way he could, even if it meant going to a shady looking store that smelled of sap.
Fiddling with the rusty cog in his hand, he turned his head around when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Holding a weirdly shaped key in front of him to take, she mumbled quietly.
"One more."
Yoo Joonghyuk took hold of the key, the state of it being the same as the cog—horrible. It could probably be someone's lost key, possibly even to a safe. Well, that person definitely wasn't alive anymore if that was the case, as the key read "186" the last number of the year too rusty to read.
Huffing, she turned around and walked to the other side of the store. Swiftly following, Yoo Joonghyuk heard her crumble something angrily. Seeing a jewellery box, she quickly opened it. Looking through the small box, she took and held a book towards her brother, one she got from
behind the box.
"Is that all?"
"No, the book is for the background," she said, shooting Yoo Joonghyuk a dirty glare like he was uncultured.
Taking the book, Yoo Joonghyuk placed the two items onto it. Looking back at his sister, Yoo Mka was already crouching again, squinting as she picked up different items with a small frown. She was really dedicated to this.
To pass the time, Yoo Joonghyuk let his gaze wonder around the store's interior. The walls, floor and ceiling were all equally made from wood, an old style chandelier changing from the rather tall ceiling. There were even some oil lamps here and there, but they weren't in use.
Looking around, his eyes got caught on something. Stepping closer, he noticed it was a small golden clock peeking out behind fake roses. A pocket watch to be exact. Yoo Joonghyuk picked it up, wiping off the thick layer of dust. It looked old, the gold completely dull and scratched.
Other than the horrible condition, and the fact that it didn't work, it was beautiful. You could tell the person was a master at this craft. There was a lot of effort put into it, small carvings on the inside and the outside. The clockwork inside seemed to be extremely complicated too, tiny roman numbers accompanied by a painting, but it was hard to tel what it was with all this dirt.
Yoo Joonghyuk tried to close it, but it wouldn't budge, too rusty. Busy inspecting the small clock, he was broken out of his thoughts by a paper coming in the way.
"Decoration," Yoo Mia said, holding a withered paper of a guide to an old air balloon.
Yoo Joonghyuk suspiciously took the paper, unsure of the stains on it. Yoo Mia seemed to be ignorant to that, but rather noticing what he was holding.
"What's that?"
"Pocket watch," he muttered, trying to hold all of the items.
"Are you taking it?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Yes."
"Can I take a picture of it? Clocks are a mayor part of steampunk. Besides, I couldn't find any clocks."
Thinking about it, Yoo Joonghyuk replied.
"Alright. Is that all?"
She nodded, looking up at him.
"Then let's go, otherwise we don't get to spend time together."
He walked them both back to the entrance, placing l the items on the cashier's counter to pay for them.
.
Flicking on the lights to his apartment, Yoo Joonghyuk stretched his limbs in his hallway. He had just gotten home from sending Yoo Mia onto the train. Taking off his coat and shoes, he walked into the living room, plopping down onto the couch.
It was hard to find a school which would accept a child without parents into it. Yoo Joonghyuk had applied to every single one and kept getting denied over the lack of guardians.
After some deep searching, he found a school in another city which was willing to let her study there. It was a strange all girls private boarding school, where children would spend the whole 5 days there, sleeping at the school and getting to go home only on the weekends.
Yoo Joonghyuk was very skeptical, since wasn't that a bit too much? Regardless, he gave it a chance as Yoo Mia really wanted to go to school and he couldn't teach her himself. Thankfully, everything went well and she loved the school. He was just glad she was safe and making friends.
Mulling over his thoughts, Yoo Joonghyuk snapped his eyes open when he heard a ding come from him phone. Taking it out of his pants, he saw it was a message from Yoo Mia. She was reminding him to take a picture.
Yoo Joonghyuk stared at his phone, eyes fond. Since he wanted to take the pocket watch to the clocksmith tomorrow, he promised to take a picture of it at home and send it to her. It took some negotiation, but she accepted, pulling out a piece of paper from the book they got so he could use it as background.
Groaning, he got up, taking the piece of paper out of his pocket. Unfolding it, he tried to smooth out the crease in the paper. Yoo Joonghyuk thought that the best place to take the picture in was the living room. It had the best lighting.
Sitting down on the floor, he looked at the paper. On one side, it had writings in cursive, but he couldn't understand any words. The other side was what his sister wanted him to take a picture with.
The upper half of the page was filled with text, but that wasn't important. What was important, was the lower half of it. There was a circle with a lot of different small symbols surrounding it. Inside the circle, was a flowery looking thing.
Yoo Joonghyuk placed the paper onto the floor, the picture side upwards. Taking the watch out his pocket, he recalled how Yoo Mia had instructed him to place it. Gently, he placed the clock on the edge of the circle, making them overlap like a venn diagram.
Pleased, he shuffled backwards, taking out his phone to capture the picture. After a few tries, he got a good enough picture and sent it to her. He was about to stand up when he was struck by an idea. Wouldn't it look nicer if the clock was placed in the middle?
Holding his phone up to take another picture with his left hand, he moved the clock in the middle of the circle with his right. As he leaned back, a puff of smoke burst from the picture, making him stumble. Fanning the smoke out of his face, his eyes went wide when the air became clear.
An elegantly dressed man quite literally popped out of thin air, falling against the floor with a loud thump. After him followed a book that hit him against the head. Eyes glazing over the figure quickly, Yoo Joonghyuk realised it was no man.
It was a demon. Large black feathery wings spread apart against the floor from behind the other's back, two equally black large horns sprouting out from the top of his head.
Panicking, Yoo Joonghyuk scrambled off the floor. He ran to his kitchen, glad that the two rooms weren't separated by a wall. Swinging his cabinet open, he took out a container of salt, cracking it open. Going back to the demon, he poured a thick circle of salt around it to make sure it couldn't move.
He could hear it grumble something lowly as he poured it, holding it's forehead with his hands.
As soon as he was done, he put the salt away, moving to the other side of the room to be as far away as possible. Opening his phone with shaky hands, he did what anyone would do: search on the internet for help.
Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he type in "how to get rid of demons" with so many spelling errors he would be disappointed in himself if he didn't have a whole person in his house!
The first result told him to burn a sage, throwing it towards the demon and say a prayer while doing so. Sage? He’s quite positive he doesn’t have any of it. To be honest, he doesn’t have any spices since he had lent them to his sister for her cooking class.
Still, he had pepper. Good enough. Stumbling his way to the kitchen, he grabbed his pepper shaker, shaking some onto his palm. Turning around, he almost got a heart attack as the demon had been silently watching him, sitting cross-legged.
Inching up to him, Yoo Joonghyuk whispered out a prayer before throwing the pepper on him. Taking a few steps backwards, he watched the other look at him with an unconcerned face. That face quickly scrunched up and he let out a loud sneeze.
...
What? That didn't seem to work.
Feeling himself stumble into the couch, Yoo Joonghyuk took another glance at the demon. He saw it move a bit, reaching a hand underneath himself. Shuffling a bit with a frown, the demon pulled the pocket watch from under him, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
This was absurd. Completely absurd. While the demon seemed to be looking at the watch in immense interest, Yoo Joonghyuk took a clearer look at the demon. He looked rather skinny, his complexion very pale which his pitch black hair didn't help.
The demon was dressed in a pair of black pleated pants and a dress shirt. On the shirt's collar, there was a pristine golden collar chain pinned to the front, dark red jewels imbedded in either side.
Looking at the outfit and the luxurious pair of oxford's the demon was wearing, you'd think he was some rich businessman man if you met him on the street.
...Expect, it was hard to think a rich businessman was sitting on his living room floor, cosplaying a demon.
The feathery wings were closed up now, pressed against his back. After a bit, the demon turned his attention back to him, holding the clock in his hand. He smiled crookedly.
"Who are you," Yoo Joonghyuk demanded angrily.
Instead of getting an answer, the demon tilted it's head, raising his eyebrows once again—this time in pure confusion.
"Who. Are. You," Yoo Joonghyuk said, punctuating each word, impatience growing by the second.
The other blinked at him, as if not even hearing him. A sigh left Yoo Joonghyuk. Does he not know his own name? Is it so difficult to understand what he's sayi—
Maybe it doesn't know english. It's a demon after all, what reason should it know english for. Getting a plan, he snapped his fingers, getting the attention of the demon who was letting his eyes roam around his house.
Yoo Joonghyuk held out his hand, pointing at the demon. The mentioned, looked behind himself, confused. Shouldn't he be the one confused.
"Yes. You," he said, nodding as the demon finally pointed at himself.
Smiling widely, the demon opened his mouth.
Yoo Joonghyuk expected to hear a name. What he didn't expect, was that the demon's speech was a growling slurred out mess, somehow said in an elegant manner.
He didn't even wanna try repeating those sounds, worried he'd lose his voice. It sounded demonic.
Running a hand through his hair, he let out a frustrated groan. No amount of fantasy games could have prepared him for this. Letting himself sit down on the couch next to him, he kept his eyes on the demon as he thought of what to do.
The internet obviously didn't work. Trying to call his friends obviously wouldn't work either. Unconsciously, he stared at the demon's face, the latter poking at the salt circle with his finger.
He didn't look bad, not at all. If anything, he looked kind of beautiful, like some ethereal god—which he very much could be. Not like Yoo Joonghyuk knew. His skin looked smooth, the paleness glowing in his living room's lighting. It looked as if he took great effort in looking his best.
What threw Yoo Joonghyuk off was the thick book the other had on his lap. It was a hard cover book, the pages looking quite old and a little yellowish. The paper look similar to his own page.
Thinking about it, shouldn't the demon recognise the paper if that was what summoned him?
Standing up, he was in the middle of taking a step to walk towards the demon when he saw him attempt to pocket his clock. Feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline, he walked up and yanked the clock out his hand, placing it on his coffee table.
"It's not yours," he said, jaw clenched.
He payed for that, he wasn't going to let some demon steal something from him.
Turning back towards the wide eyed demon, he pointed at it angrily and pointed at the sky. Slowly, the demon stood up, holding his book with both of his hands. Once he stood up fully, Yoo Joonghyuk felt uneasy.
He was tall.
You see, Yoo Joonghyuk was taller than the average man, standing at around 184cm. But this demon? He was nearly 2 meters, if not exactly that. The demon was a lot taller than him.
Craning his head backwards to look at the demon's face, Yoo Joonghyuk's confidence was nowhere to be found. Clearing his throat from the sudden lump, he pointed at the ground, taking a step back. He wasn't scared.
The demon looked under him, noticing the paper. Bending down and picking it up, he held it out towards Yoo Joonghyuk with a soft smile. The latter took it out of his hand, turning it around so the picture faced the demon.
He alternated between pointing at the picture and the demon a few times. The demon looked at him, the picture, and then at him again with shocked eyes. Instead of looking like he understood anything, the demon...blushed? Red dusted his ears and cheeks as he brought one of his hands up to cover his face.
Dropping his hands, Yoo Joonghyuk felt like he was going crazy it. Why was he blushing? There's nothing romantical about this situation! Hearing a ding, he instinctively pulled out his phone, checking to see what it was.
It was Yoo Mia, thanking him for the photo and telling him good night. He sent a quick good night text back, blatantly leaving out the fact that there was a demon in his house currently.
Slipping his phone back in his pocket, Yoo Joonghyuk raised his head to see the demon staring at the salt ring, hands on his hips. Carefully, he stepped over the salt, making his way out of the circle.
Even the salt didn't work.
Genuinely pissed off, Yoo Joonghyuk just grabbed a pillow from his couch, throwing it at the demon. The demon caught it, stumbling slightly. Taking a look at the pillow in his arms, he turned his gaze to Yoo Joonghyuk, smiling very happily as he hugged it close to his chest.
Slumping down on the couch, he buried his face in his hands. Yoo Joonghyuk wanted to cry.