The first thing Cale saw when he woke up was (sadly) a rather common sight: two kittens and a dragon bursting through the door and jumping onto his chest.
"Human is finally up!"
"You've woken up, nya~"
"Cale looks more alive awake, nya."
They shuffled around his body with their tails perked up and their eyes shining with unmasked glee. N̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶a̶s̶k̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶e̶m̶o̶t̶i̶o̶n̶.̶ ̶A̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶,̶ ̶O̶n̶,̶ ̶H̶o̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶R̶a̶o̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶h̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶.̶ ̶A̶n̶ ̶e̶m̶o̶t̶i̶o̶n̶l̶e̶s̶s̶,̶ ̶c̶r̶u̶e̶l̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶f̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶b̶a̶s̶t̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶—̶
He shook his head, prying the records out of his mind. Once his eyes were clear again, Cale couldn't help but chuckle at their antics, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. His (pale and skinny, not that he'd ever noticed) hands drifted towards the space between their ears and horns, respectively, to pat them.
Despite the chaos that seemed to follow him everywhere, moments like this made it all worth it. As Cale finally managed to sit up, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Little did he know, the events of the past few days were only the beginning of a much larger adventure—leading to the inevitable demise of his dear slacker life-chan.
Ron had entered the room after the kids and was holding a cup of lemon tea in his hand with his signature benign smile on his face. Cale's heart sank as he saw Ron's expression, knowing that his peaceful moment was about to be interrupted by the damned devil of a man holding the tears of a burned mortal betrayed by gods in his hands.
"Young master-nim is awake again," Ron said, his eyes twinkling. Obviously, it was because of his r̶e̶l̶i̶e̶f̶ joy in being able to torture Cale with lemon-fucking tea.
T̶h̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶f̶o̶r̶s̶e̶e̶n̶ t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶l̶e̶m̶o̶n̶ ̶f̶u̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶s̶e̶n̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶d̶e̶d̶ ̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶l̶o̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶e̶c̶k̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶v̶e̶r̶g̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶l̶u̶s̶h̶.̶ Consequently, the eyes of the children and one adult, who had been watching the redhead warily for any signs of discomfort or uneasiness, hardened in worry.
How could they not? In one sitting, their Cale shook his head with hazy eyes as if trying to forget something, and now his neck was flushing! With what? Another fever?!
These great and mighty children (+Ron) won't ever allow Cale to suffer like this!
On transformed into her human form so that she could put the back of her hand against h̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶'̶s̶ Cale's forehead to check his temperature. Cale just let her do whatever the girl wanted.
After feeling Cale's temperature, On turned with shaking eyes to telepathically communicate with the other three people(?) in the room.
Cale—forevermore ignorant of the downhill temperaments of his companions—nodded his head towards Ron in lieu of a greeting and started to pat and rub the kids consistently, like a mother to their children.
"I just fell asleep for a moment. Sorry for causing you trouble."
This was more directed at Ron. Cale really hoped the elderly assassin wouldn't decide to murder him in his sleep (or worse, after a torture session!) because he was acting too imperious with him.
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in sickness and in death (totcf)
Fanfiction"Are you satisfied?" "If you're really me, you should know that I don't want to die." Cale replied, raising his eyebrow at the robed man. Ghost Cale turned away from him and sat down by the hilltop's edge, hugging his knees. "Yes, we are 'dead' in a...
