IN A HEARTBEAT ⋮ nomin

𝟯𝟬: balance

It turns out that Asmodeus isn't the only demon Jaemin can see.

There's this one demon, who looks like a kid, roaming around the dorm. Jaemin tells Jeno a short story about how he thought the kid was a human and asked others if they saw him. They didn't, even when the kid stood right next to Jaemin.

"Could he be a demon?" Jaemin gasps.

The human brings Jeno outside to hunt the little demon. The half-demon doesn't feel any presence and learns that maybe there's no other demon around.

But the next day, he walks into his room and sees Jaemin with the little boy. He feels the smell of the demon right away even though the kid looks like a human. Well, apart from his fangs that he shows just as he notices Jeno.

The kid moves away from Jaemin and gets on his knees to bow. That surely surprises Jaemin, but Jeno gives a short explanation that Asmodeus is a high-rank demon which makes Jeno higher than some of the demons too.

"What brings you here?" Jeno asks the boy in Latin.

He has seen all kinds of demons. Their appearance is a risky thing. The ones who look like humans are usually the oldest. But this one looks young. At least 60 years old. And yeah, that means he's young.

"Humans have summoned me."

"Do you know who?"

"Human children."

Jeno frowns.

"There are no children in this building. All of us are adults here."

The demon sighs. "I confused places again."

"What language did those humans speak?"

"I don't know."

Jeno turns at Jaemin. "It looks like he's stuck here."

He looks back at the demon boy and frowns again, "Wait, how did you bring him here? He doesn't seem to know Korean."

"Sign language works too," Jaemin shrugs.

Anyway, the demon boy is stuck in the dorm until he finds out the place where he was summoned before. Jeno is working on that as he wants to help, but it can't be said the same about Jaemin.

The human is playing with the demon. He teaches him Korean and even helps him to move some objects. Jeno finds their relationship odd and he even starts getting jealous of the demon.

And what if the boy looks like a kid? He's sixty years old, a literal risk!

But soon, Jeno learns that his fears have no reason as Jaemin takes care of the demon as if he were a child. He even gives him the name, Nojae, which is Jeno and Jaemin's names added together.

It's like Jaemin has adopted the demon.

Jeno feels the same as days pass. He forgets that he wants to get the demon out of here and so does Nojae himself. They grow a bond that lasts for months, then for years.

Jaemin and Jeno have already graduated and have even started thinking about creating a family. They get a baby in a year, but they never forget Nojae.

The demon boy looks the same as they first saw him. His appearance triggers Jeno and Jaemin, who are way older now. Though, they think of a demon as their child too, even when he's older than them.

➷

"Don't you think it's interesting how other babies have angel guardians, but ours has a demon?" Jaemin points out.

And really, the newborn has a free nanny. Nojae protects the baby like his own. Maybe because he does think of the human baby as his sibling.

"It is," Jeno agrees. "But it's normal. His dad is a half-demon."

"It sounds like you're bragging," Jaemin laughs.

"Maybe I am. It's not that bad. You know it."

"Lust from you never ends. I don't even think that demisexual is the best term to explain my sexuality. It should be Jenosexual more."

Jeno laughs too.

"It's all thanks to Renjun. If not for him, you would be with some other person."

"Or maybe not. What if we're meant to be together?"

Jeno pauses.

Maybe Jaemin is right.

They're still together even when Jeno's darkest secrets came out. Maybe they were meant to be together from the very beginning when Jeno realized that his powers weren't working on Jaemin.

Maybe it was the sign that Jaemin was the one and only who'll stay with him for the rest of his life.

Because... When they're together, there's balance. Lust is balanced.

THE END

© minniemism 2022

IN A HEARTBEAT