T H E Y W H I S P E R I N T H E N I G H T

As a demon, Jeongguk's job description only contains four rules. One: be a demon. Two: do your responsibilities well. Three: your loyalties must lie to Hell. Four: don't mess with Satan's Pomeranian puppy named Lucifer. That's really all there is, until he was summoned by some weirdo human and now he's seriously considering a career change from being Hell's punisher to a full-fledged nanny.

a.k.a where jk is a tsundere and lisa can't stop crying

also a.k.a where jk's love language is acts of service

* * *

Jeongguk's used to humans summoning him at the most random times. Life is boring in Hell anyways; all he gets to do is to torture sinners and listen to their screams and pleas, and when he's lucky, he gets to play the most coveted PS4 that Asmodeus stole from Satan's game room a few months ago.

So, on one hellfull night, as he deals with another snotty human begging for his life, he hears a sound. A lullaby, almost, coming from the depths of his mind and it entices him. Having experienced it many times, though, he then eagerly gives another whip to the poor human soul's back and follows the sound like a sailor being lulled by a siren's song.

A wisp of black smoke engulfs him in an instant, a manifestation of his demon powers, and the ground suddenly disappears under his feet. When he opens his eyes, he's in an unfamiliar place. Gone was the bloody mist and rough brimstones of Hell, replaced by a small apartment and the sound of a sad song playing from somewhere.

This has happened far too many times for Jeongguk to be amazed by it, so all he does is summon his demon voice--the deep, dark, gravelly one that causes a tremble in the Earth and sends humans running away--and speaks.

"You have summoned me; I shall answer," he says, opening his arms wide and proud. Barely, he feels the ground shake with the volume of his voice. "The demons of Hell only answer to one master, but for you I shall make an exception. Ask away, human, and I will consider your wishes."

He prepares himself for the possibilities. Humans only make this once in a lifetime call when they're on the edge of desperation, and Jeongguk has had eons of experience to guess what this one would want. Money, maybe? Mortals are greedy like that; he knows as much. Perhaps a love spell... fame, knowledge of the world, inhuman abilities?

Yet, there's no response.

Jeongguk inwardly sighs and channels his demon-ness again. It's fine, he thinks, mortals usually get over their shock in 10 minutes or so. It's not everyday they see an 8-foot, alabaster-skinned demon with glowing red eyes that mirrored the depths of Hell once you look at them. "Desperation drove you into calling one of the creatures of deceit. I have come from the bowels of--"

Sniff, sniff.

In the first time since he was created, Jeongguk stutters over his words. Actually stutters. He's never been easily distracted, but he stumbles over his lines and makes the mistake of looking down, because he unceremoniously meets the teary eyes of a blonde-haired woman.

"What are you--"

"Crap, I'm sorry," she says in a wet voice, sniffling as she grabs a tissue from a nearby Kleenex box. "I didn't know the pizza delivery guy was here. Uh, how much is everything?"

Did she seriously just call him a fucking pizza delivery guy? Him, Jeongguk of the Lilim, the strongest among Hell's demons? Him, with his big eyes that human women seemed to adore and his body that has been honed since the beginning of time? He feels insulted. No human will ever--

A sob pierces through the air.

He involuntarily flinches as the woman flings herself into the arm of her couch again, sobs wracking her entire body as she undergoes into another Crying Session™. The demon watches, awkwardly, as droplets of tears start decorating the light gray couch with dark splotches, and he thinks he even sees a bit of snot in there somewhere.

"That--" she raises her head again and damn was he right. Snot was running down her nose and her eyes were so red it almost looks concerning. "That was our song, you know? He said-- argh, he said that song remind him of--" a tear falls down, "--of m-me."

As she buries herself under the mountains of pillows, Jeongguk strains his ears to listen to the forgotten Spotify playlist that's playing on the speakers. He cringes as he recognizes Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls.

Such a cliché, generic love song. Do they not know anything else?

"Um," he finally says after a long while of just hearing the woman's cries. She doesn't even budge at the sound. "I think... um. Here."

Out of a whim, he decides to just say fuck it and conjures a box of bacon and mushroom pizza, containing eight 12-inch slices with the juiciest bacon humans could ever taste. That's just the perks of being a demon: you get the best of the best whenever, whatever.

Carefully, he places the box at the coffee table--which, unsurprisingly, has a hundred or so tissues strewn around. He moves the ones that looks disgusting and drops it at the center. He doesn't wait for any words of thanks or anything; Jeongguk just simply disappears and goes back to Hell.

He'll come back soon enough, anyway.

* * *

The second time Jeongguk arrives at the woman's apartment, he was expecting some drastic change. Like, maybe she won't be crying anymore or maybe she won't be listening to that damn Iris song. Anything, just as long as it signifies progress.

Alas, human beings are disappointing creatures. He should've known better.

Of course, he's again proven wrong. Everything is still the same, and the bad thing is, it seems even worse. The tissues have made some sort of mountain atop the coffee table, the pizza box is across the room, that damn song is on repeat, and the woman hasn't changed out of her pajamas--which more likely smells like unwashed sweat and greasy skin. Gross.

Now, Jeongguk can't be blamed for his next course of action. He's had an extremely shitty day, what with how his recent human managed to escape his prison and is now roaming the pits of Hell, plus Asmodeus won't let him borrow the PS4 anymore, and the fact that this human woman won't. Just. Cooperate. With. Him.

"If you're going to mope, at least fucking clean yourself," he snaps, eyes going red. He doesn't even check if the woman hears him or not. "Damn humans. Filthy little shit."

With a low huff, he marches towards the table and snaps his fingers to make the tissues disappear. He then crosses the room to pick up the box as well as other stray tissues that's loitered around, blatantly ignoring the snot and all the other disgusting stuff in it.

Now that everything seems decent, his eyes land on the poor soul and holy Hell. She. Is. Still. Crying. What. The. Actual. Fuuuuuuu--

"You. Blondie," he mutters distastefully. "You need to get up and take a devildamn bath, you hear me?" The woman continues sobbing, what in the actual world. "Hello? Get your ass up and go to the bathroom. Now."

He growls the last word to send some sense into her, but no matter how threatening his voice sounds, there's no effect. Now, Jeongguk knows he can just force this person to do as he asked with a flick of his wrist, but he isn't that kind of demon. As much as demons are painted as merciless and downright evil, they still know their boundaries.

So, without any much choice, he hoists the woman up, snot and all, into his arms and leads them both to the bathroom. It's quite surprising how light she weighs, but Jeongguk finds that he doesn't care especially with how gross she smells like up close.

The bath was already prepared by the time they came to the bathroom, thanks to his devilish abilities, and all he has to do is to remove her clothes and wash her up. The first one is easy, Jeongguk has taken both men and women and demon to bed that the sight of a naked body doesn't surprise him, and now all he has to deal with is scrubbing off all the filth.

He places her in the water with no issue, some of it spilling over the floor, and he sits by the lip of the tub with a small shower head and a loofah.

(It's quite a funny sight: an 8-feet tall demon with horns protruding from his forehead bathing a small 5 feet something human. It's something out of a fantasy book.)

"Can you tilt your head back for me," he asks gruffly, and then realizes how scary he sounds. Clearing his throat, he adds a, "Please."

The woman does as asked, and this time Jeongguk could see what she looked like up close. Underneath all that tears and pizza grease, she's actually beautiful, with big, big eyes and long lashes, a cute nose, and soft, squishy lips. She's quiet as Jeongguk washes her hair, quiet as he shampoos it and rinses it off, quiet as he starts rubbing soap all over.

His demon siblings would probably laugh at his situation right now, but he finds that he doesn't care. He's had a horrible day so the least he could do is to make it less horrible by helping this human in need. As much as he doesn't like playing pretend nannies with mortals, he still needs to grant her wish so he could finally fulfill his mission and be free from the summon. He figures that a way to start this was to give her a bath.

When Jeongguk's done with draining the tub, the woman clears her throat. He looks up from the other end and meets her swollen eyes with his curious ones.

"Lisa," she says, rough due to the lack of use.

Jeongguk raises a brow.

"That's my name," she adds, fiddling with her fingers. "I'm, um. I'm sorry you had to do this. I'm just... going through a rough time."

"Clearly." He snorts and picks up a towel hanging from the door. "Up, blondie."

The woman--Blondie, Lisa, whatever--stands up without complaint, unabashed in her naked state. Jeongguk does all the job for her; he dries her off, forces a toothbrush to her mouth, and sprays perfume all over her body. He tells her to go pick out fresh clothes and heads to the living room by himself, ready to get this over with.

When she pads towards the couch with a new pair sweats moments later, he doesn't waste any time and claps his hands.

"So, we're all set and ready then. Fucking finally," he says out loud and stands up to look down at the human. She doesn't even show any reaction to his demon form, which is quite a surprise since a regular human would probably pee his pants right now. "You have summoned me; I shall--"

He stops, staring as Lisa's lips start to wobble again. It isn't long before tears start falling from her eyes and she's already gearing up for another of her Crying Sessions™. Great.

"Fuck, okay!" Jeongguk raises his voice in annoyance and pulls the woman down to sit on the couch with him. She yelps as she bounces on the foam, but he ignores it. "It seems like I can't get my job done when you're all--" he waves towards her face, "--crying and shit. Tell me, blondie, what's bothering you?"

Lisa's face crumples and once again, as expected, she curls in on herself and sobs.

"If you keep crying like that we won't be able to make progress," he warns, but Lisa doesn't stop. He sighs and tilts his head back to close his eyes. Why must everything be complicated?

Snapping his fingers, a spoon and a pint of ice cream appears in his hands, chocolate and hazelnuts flavored. The demon hands it to the human with an impassive face and watches as she takes the item without precaution.

"I see humans do this in movies sometimes," he explains, observing while Lisa takes a bite. "Ice cream is supposed to make you feel better or something. Honestly, that only fattens you up, but you believe what you believe. Eat that, and then we'll talk."

However, before she could even scoop a bite out, she mumbles, "My boyfriend cheated on me."

Jeongguk almost snorts at that. Humans and love. What a disastrous combination. "That's sad," he comments offhandedly. He hears her sniffle. "It's quite depressing how you mortals go through stuff like that. I can't imagine myself being in the same situation."

Lisa hums wetly. "Yeah."

"Imagine me being love. Gah." Jeongguk makes a barfing noise. The idea's disgusting. "Imagine me going on dates and feeding my date cotton candy and shit. Imagine me, in all my demon glory, getting married. Who would I choose as my best man... Satan? Fucking hell. He'd have me incinerated before stepping inside a church."

He notices she's gone quiet now. Jeongguk turns his head to see the edges of the human's lips upturned into an almost smile.

He frowns. "Hey. You're supposed to be sad. Don't smile."

The smile grows even wider. "I can't help it. You're funny when you're mad."

"Well you're annoying when you're happy, so," Jeongguk sneers. Somehow, seeing a hint of joy in her face brings some kind of annoyance to him. Was she making fun of him? "Anyway. More context, if you may. I'm trying to understand the situation here."

Instantly, the smile falls. "Oh, right. Cheating, um, I found out after logging into his Instagram account. Second Instagram account, rather. He had me blocked on that one so he could talk to girls and stuff. Had a second girlfriend on that one, too, I didn't know they were going out until I saw the photos in their DMs."

Jeongguk wolf whistles. "Damn, I work hard, but your ex works harder." Lisa's lower lip juts out. He thinks it's a little cute. "How long has this been going on?"

"A year now. We've been together for five. I just found out two days ago."

See, Jeongguk doesn't have any issues with human affairs. His job is to punish them once they die anyway, but he thinks this one is honestly just cruel. Pride, lust, greed, all three mortal sins are present and now he has a slight idea of what Lisa's ex will be facing in Hell once he dies.

"So where is he now?" He asks instead.

Lisa scoops out another mouthful of ice cream. "With his girl, I guess," she mutters sadly, and then sighs. "Honestly, I want him back so badly. Things ended very ugly that night and I think we may be able to fix it if I just, you know, fix myself."

His brows go up to his hairline. "Fix yourself? What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know." She shrugs and looks at her ice cream as if her ex is going to come out of it at any moment. "I just figured, well, if he's cheating then maybe something's wrong with me, you know? Like, maybe I'm lacking. Maybe I don't love him enough, maybe I don't satisfy him that much. Or that maybe I'm too thin, or I'm too busy to make time--"

"That is the shittiest thing I've ever heard," Jeongguk finally interrupts. "If there is one thing that I can tell you, blondie, it's that humans make their own choices. They choose which path they want to take. They choose if they want to commit sin or be good. Thing is, if your ex chose to be unfaithful to you, then it's his fault, not yours."

The human purses her lip.

Then something dawns upon him. "Is that why you summoned me, then? You want to take him back?"

It's downright ridiculous. Why would humans want to prolong their suffering? Fucking weirdos, Jeongguk thinks.

As expected, she nods meekly. "Yeah. I honestly thought you were the pizza guy at first, and it's kinda stupid--"

"Oh, no. You're wrong. It's extremely stupid. You're stupid."

Her face falls. "I know."

"You know what you should do?" As expected, she shakes her head. "You should stop crying in your disgusting couch and stop listening to that damn song starting right now. Instead of trying to fix yourself, fix your life."

"You don't understand!" She whines like a petulant child. "I love him! I can't live without him! He's my life!"

"Then die," Jeongguk snaps. It's a half-hearted comment, he doesn't want her to die-die, that'd just be bad.

Lisa's eyes widen for a moment, and then two beats later, she shakes her head. "Never mind. I don't--"

"Great. Now, let's start the Operation: Let's Fix Blondie's Life Because She's A Dependent Shit On Her Cheater Boyfriend So Jeongguk Could Go Back To Hell And Steal The PS4 From Asmodeus' Room. "

"Jeongguk?" Lisa wonders aloud. He raises a brow at that. "That's your name?"

"Yeah, got a problem with it?" He doesn't give her another look as he walks to the TV and grabs the remote. "First thing we need to do is to delete that Iris song from your playlist."

"What? Nooooo--"

In half a second, all the white in Jeongguk's eyes disappears, consumed by pure blackness that imitated the void, and then the next thing he knows is that he's glaring at the poor human. "Delete. It."

The look is enough to send a man running back to their parents but shockingly, the human doesn't back down. She glares at him with the same intensity and crosses her arms. "Dang it. Fine! Do what you want."

"Damn right I'll do what I want," he growls a little and heads to the abandoned Spotify playlist in the TV. He struggles with the remote, but he manages to remove the song from all of her playlists. "I've also set a spell in all of your devices so that whenever you try to search for or listen to Iris, it won't come up."

Yeah, demons are also techies like that.

"You are so--"

"Devilish? Demonic?" He asks, crossing his arms. "Tell me something I don't know."

Lisa sighs loudly, and Jeongguk rolls his eyes. At least she isn't crying anymore, thank Hell. "What's next?"

"What's next is that I'll leave you to your own devices until you figure your shit out, and I'll come back again in a few days time until you're ready to tell me what you truly wish for. The serious one this time."

"But I want to take back--"

Jeongguk pretends to not hear it. "I'm sorry, I think the Devil is calling for me. Gotta blast!"

And poof. He's gone.

* * *

Lisa, Jeongguk figures out, is not a good cook. It's evidenced by the amount of take-out boxes piling up atop her dining table when Jeongguk returns two nights later, along with bags of processed meat stuffed in the freezer. It's honestly nasty, how can humans eat all of this stuff and not suffer from stomachaches or cancer or tsunamis or something. He could never understand.

So, like a good little demon, he takes the matters into his own hands. He soon finds himself in said human's kitchen, cooking for her like some castle servant with a dumb apron (Kiss the Cook, it says) on. It deflates his pride with how he's acting like this for a mere mortal, to be honest. It messes with his demon-ish vibe.

"How can you even survive on frozen pizza!" He screams while struggling to hold the damn pan in his too big of a hand. Human tools... they're just too small for his size. Even the cupboard was leveled with his forehead.

Lisa hums from behind him. Thankfully, she hasn't listened to the song anymore, plus she only cried like, twelve times today. It's improvement. "Survival instincts."

It's a stupid answer. "Shit. Even Hell has better food than you guys in the mortal realm do. We have demon chefs and shit."

"Really? Who?"

"Duh. Who do you think. Gordon Ramsey is our head chef."

A gasp pierces through the sound of sizzling beef. "Gordon Ramsey's a demon?"

"Where do you think the name Hell's Kitchen came from?" He asks smugly, pouring the cooked beef into a bowl. With careful hands, he brings it to the kitchen counter, lining it up with the bowls of kimchi, onions, carrots, cucumbers, rice, and gochujang. "Here, blondie. Make your own bibimbap bowl. You're welcome."

Lisa, the little shit that she is, pouts. "Can you make it for me?"

Oh, yeah, he forgot. With the improvement came this show of attitude. Jeongguk first thought that this mortal was meek; she looked small and vulnerable when he met her the other day, but now that she has recovered just a little bit, it seems like her true colors are showing. Bratty attitude, big mouth, shrill laugh. Jeongguk sometimes wished that he'd just granted her wish and left her. Damn it.

"God gave humans arms for a reason, you idiot," he spits, but grabs Lisa's empty bowl and makes the bibimbap for her anyways. "Fucking hell. I gave you a bath once and now you're acting as if you're Kate Middleton's pampered child or something."

"Aww. Are you saying I'm a princess?"

See? "Yeah. The Princess of Bullshit."

"That's so sweet."

"Eat up, you little..." Jeongguk trails off, curling his lip in annoyance. "I hope you choke."

She only giggles.

At the end of their meal, Jeongguk's already posed to ask the question, sitting atop the countertop with his powers ready to spill out of his fingertips if Lisa so much as says her wish. She's finishing up the last of her food, stuffing rice to her mouth like a pig. It's a gross sight.

He leans back on his palms. "So, have you thought about your wish?"

"Hm. Let me think."

Jeongguk snorts. "That's a surprise." Lisa turns to him to shoot a snarky comment, but the small bit of rice on her upper lip catches his attention. "You have something on here." He points at the spot.

"Where?" She puts a finger up on her bottom lip, and he shakes her head. "Here?" Her finger goes to her upper lip, on the wrong side. Could she not feel it?

Huffing, Jeongguk leans closer to get it for her and absentmindedly puts the rice into his own mouth. He isn't aware of the reaction that Lisa shows--wide eyes and red ears and stuttering breaths--so he only raises his brow when she stares dumbly at him, their faces only inches apart.

"What?" He scrunches his brows.

Lisa pulls away, blinking. "N-nothing, uh, nothing. Yeah. Nothing."

"You're so weird," he comments and stands up. "Now, your wish? I have to go back to hell to whip another soul in 30 minutes so you better make this fast or else..."

"I..." she mumbles, "I honestly haven't decided on it yet."

At that moment, Jeongguk wants to scream into the void, but he hides it by clenching his jaw. "'Kay, then. Fine by me. But if you get frequent and insistent visits from a certain demon starting tomorrow, it's all your fault."

Jeongguk disappears then without any parting words, leaving a trail of black smoke in his wake.

* * *

"This isn't included in my job description."

A loud howl of laughter sounds from the bedroom door and Jeongguk begrudgingly attempts to fold a piece of Lisa's panties (PANTIES!!!) in his big ass demon hands. In his defense, he just couldn't help himself when he saw the state her bedroom was in.

There was a shit ton of clothes atop her bed, and then there's a whole lot of mess on the floor and the desk and everywhere that Jeongguk can't stop himself. It was like someone threw up EVERYWHERE (figuratively, not literally. That's nastier.)

"No one forced you to do this!" Lisa exclaims, snapping a picture that Jeongguk almost rips an Adventure Time underwear in two.

"You did," he snarls, moving to her sports bra that smells like sweat and other... substances.

"Yeah, well, sorry but I was in a slump, alright? I didn't think about anything else but my ex and what happened. Can't blame me." She shrugs while Jeongguk makes a face at her red lingerie. "You just waltzed in here and started fussing like a mom and then you began to fold my stuff. Thanks for the concern, by the way."

"I'm not concerned!" He says the same time he carefully places the folded clothes into the closet so they won't topple over.

"You are."

"No," he disagrees and sighs when he sees that he's already done folding all her stuff. His eyes then zero on the rumpled sheets and he scrunches his nose. "Do you have a washing machine?"

Lisa's snorts. "You definitely care."

"I'll only care when you finally tell me your wish."

"Next time," she says with a giggle and Jeongguk's nose flares angrily. "Oh, by the way, the washing machine is by the kitchen."

* * *

The next week is a blur. Jeongguk can't recall much, all he knows is that he somehow became Lisa's personal servant while the human laughed and made fun of him doing house chores. Her house chores that she's supposed to be doing.

Jeongguk thinks Hell is a lot better than this. Fuck this shit, honestly.

* * *

("Oh my gosh, you know how to sew?!" Lisa gasps as she sees Jeongguk sewing her ripped table cloth.

The demon snarls, "I also know how to sew your mouth shut if you don't fucking stop screeching in my ear.")

* * *

(Scenario: the demon is vacuuming her living room, all red eyes and pale skin and shit, while the human lounges on a nearby kitchen table, eating fucking ice cream.

"...since you're a demon, aren't you supposed to have red skin and all?" Lisa screams over the loud sound of the vacuum.

"I'm a demon, not Hellboy! Fucking--" He grumbles while lifting the couch with a fingertip to vacuum all the crumbs under it. "Do you ever shut up?!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU! WHAT?" She screams even louder.

Jeongguk has the sudden urge to throw the vacuum.)

* * *

("Can you tell me your wish now?"

"Haven't thought of it, sorry."

"Fuck you.")

* * *

("Argh! If you wanted a maid then you should've just hired one!"

"Why would I when you're doing all the work for me? Oh, look, there are stains on the carpet."

"Stains? Where?")

* * *

("Jeongguk. Can I touch your horns?"

"Blondie, that's like asking me if you can touch my dick. The answer is no, never, forever.")

* * *

("Holy f-- blondie, you cooked this shit?"

"Yeah! You like it?"

"Tastes like ass."

"How would you know?")

* * *

By the time the seventh day comes, Jeongguk isn't able to come by the mortal's apartment due to a few issues about his recent human, and the fact that he has to take care of the paperwork for all the tainted souls that just arrived the other day. Instead, he sends Taehyung, another demon to take his place in case Lisa finally says her wish.

When the demon came back, though, his face is uncomfortable, made obvious by the pull of his brows.

"What's wrong?" Jeongguk instantly asks when he sees the emotion over Taehyung's face. "Why do you look like you just ate Satan's ass?"

The demon shoves him off playfully. "Devil spawn," he curses. "Nothing's wrong... that human you sent me to? Lisa, I think? Well, nothing really happened, except for the fact that she just cried the entire time I was there."

Jeongguk straightens up. The last time Lisa cried was nearly four days ago, where she said she thought she finally got over her ex. He was there to witness her crying dissipate into nothing and for it to come back now... something must've happened.

"Yeah, yeah," he finds himself saying. "Thanks, man. I'll check in on her tomorrow."

Taehyung grunts an agreement. "You better. She looked like she just cried the entire ocean."

Oh crap.

* * *

The state of Lisa's apartment, in simple words, is utterly devastating. It's like a tsunami went through it a hundred times, and if Jeongguk's inner clean freak protested in the sight of it, he didn't let it show, far too concerned about the human in the heap of it.

"Hey, hey, blondie," he says as soon as he steps into the mortal realm, looking at Lisa's curled form by the couch. "What happened? Are you alright? What's going on?"

The sobs that Lisa let out were horrible. It's almost like the first time they met. "J-Jeongguk..." she hiccups, hands reaching out for him. Whether it's unconscious or not, Jeongguk takes them into his own. "H-he c-came back."

He doesn't even have to ask who it is because he already knows. "When?"

"Yes...yesterday morning. He--" she sniffles, clutching his fingers tighter. "He s-said... he said I'm so pathetic," she sobs again, "I told him I still love him and... and he s-said that I wasn't worth his time and that-- that he's tired of me." Jeongguk clenches his teeth. "It's so stupid, I know. You're probably going to say that to me, but seeing h-his face makes me feel so... so..."

His blood turns cold at the prospect of Lisa's ex returning to her as if nothing happened. He barely manages to stop the small growl that threatens to leave his lips, his heart feeling oddly protective of this human.

"I understand, don't worry," Jeongguk says. A plan is already forming in his head, all he needs now is to execute it. "Blondie, I gotta take care of something first, okay? I'll leave you this so you can feel better."

The demon waves his hand and a box of chocolate and hazelnut ice cream appears out of thin air. He hands it to Lisa, who gratefully takes it with a forced smile.

"Thanks," she mumbles. Jeongguk only nods.

That human scum of an ex will pay.

* * *

Finding the ex is actually easier than expected. The power of social media runs deep, and through Instagram, Jeongguk is able to find Ha Soohyun, a 26-year old surfer. The guy is packed with muscles and is definitely handsome, that, Jeongguk could admit, but once he reveals himself as a demon, the man screams louder than a girl would and scurries away.

Of course, Jeongguk doesn't let him. With his demon powers, he instills vicious nightmares into the ex's mind--nightmares that would haunt him 'til death, and gives him a sneak peek of what Hell looks like, causing another round of sobbing and screaming. Now, demons and angels can't kill humans, something that Satan and God agreed upon on, but they can still do other things.

So, for good measure, Jeongguk tears off one of his knees and leaves him bleeding by his bedroom. Just so he can't go back to Lisa's house and hurt her again or something. Whatever. Anyways, the guy can't surf now and he's probably on his way to the hospital, but Jeongguk is humming by the time he arrives back to Lisa's doorstep.

"Blondie, I'm back," he says casually as he steps into the living room, tossing the keys to the small bowl by the door. Lisa is slightly okay now, she's not crying, thankfully, and she's busy scrolling through her phone by the couch.

She sits up when she sees him. "Where'd you go?"

Jeongguk shrugs and sits at the other end of the couch. "Just took care of something. What's up?"

"Nothing," she replies. "I feel a lot better now. The ice cream totally helped."

"It better," he snorts. Internally, he's relieved that she finally feels well. Jeongguk's gotten used to her constant teasing and shrilly giggles these past few days that seeing her like that again makes him feel an emotion he couldn't quite point out.

A comfortable silence overtakes the room. Jeongguk doesn't mind it one bit, and he takes this time to observe the room that Lisa haphazardly fixed while he went away. It's a good attempt, but he could still see a few stains by the floor and he takes note of scrubbing it up later.

"Hey, Jeongguk."

The demon hums and turns to meet Lisa's eyes. "Yeah?"

She seems bashful, looking down on her hands and playing with them. "I, uh, I just want to thank you for taking care of me this week. I know I've been a handful, especially with the messy break up that I've been through but... yeah. Thank you so much for all the help, the cleaning, the food, everything... just-- thank you. So much."

Lisa looks nervous, he can tell. She doesn't meet his eyes as she says those words, but for the first time in his demonic existence, the corner of his lips turn up to form a small smile. A genuine one, and it's because of this mere mortal.

"No need to be so shy, blondie," he teases. Lisa shrinks into herself even further. "And yeah, it's no problem. If it wasn't because of me, you'd still be miserable."

"Shut up." Lisa weakly swats his arm, but she finally raises her head to look up at him, cheeks still flaming. "And I... I also think I'm ready to say my wish now."

Instantly, his smile falls.

Lisa finally saying her wish means as soon the words leave her lips, the spell binding them together would break and it would be time for Jeongguk to leave her. He knows that's how it always works, he has experienced it himself, but the idea of not seeing her for the rest of his life makes him feel somewhat disappointed.

His presence won't be needed anymore, and Lisa's life will go back to how it's used to, right before she summoned him.

The demon clears his throat and stands up. "Yes, yes, of course." With practiced ease, he raises both of his arms, pushing his feelings to the back of his head. "You have summoned me; I shall answer. Ask away, human, and I will consider your wishes."

His voice booms inside the apartment, but Lisa doesn't even seem afraid as he looks down at her with his demon eyes. Then, she speaks. "I wish..." she murmurs, "I want... I want you to stay."

Jeongguk's eyes widen at the wish. "What?"

Lisa's voice is firm when she speaks again. "I want you to stay."

He blinks. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"But--"

"Will you grant my wish or not?" She cuts off, looking impatient.

Again, for the first time in his life, Jeongguk is dumbfounded. No one has ever wished for something like this. Never has he heard someone wish for something like this. He's a demon, a creature of deceit and evil and all the bad things human beings thought they are. Why would she wish for something as atrocious as this?

The demon tries again. "Is this what you really want?" It couldn't be. No one wants to be with a demon. Eons of experiences has proven it to be so.

Lisa smiles. Slowly, she stands up and holds both of his hands in between hers. "Of course."

The first thing Jeongguk notices is that she's warm. In contrast to his cold, harsh skin, she's the heat that envelops his icy exterior. Jeongguk tries to look into her eyes, searching for something, for what, he doesn't know, but he feels the need to confirm if she's genuine.

"Alright," he finally says moments later, exhaling. He can basically feel Lisa's giddiness exuding right out of her. "I, Jeongguk of the Lilim, hereby grant your desire."

At first, there's nothing. Then, a bright light engulfs the room, momentarily blinding them both, and as soon as it recedes, Jeongguk discovers that he's still in the same place as he stood before, still in Lisa's apartment, and still holding Lisa's hands.

He's still here.

"Wow," he marvels, eyes travelling all over the room to see if this is truly real. "Normally, I'd be sent back to Hell as soon as I grant my human their wish but now I'm... holy shit."

Lisa rolls her eyes and nudges his shoulder, so he looks up and sees her grinning. "Hey," she says, "want to go on a date with me?"

"Hell yeah."

THE END.

* * *

a/n: this is like my halloween special ok happy halloween everyone!! hope u enjoyed this,,, whatever this is. anywho, if ur curious, in this au, humans can ask wishes from demons only ONCE, so as soon as their wish is granted, they wont ever see the demon again.

but ofc as uve read, lisa wished for jk to stay, so that means he can visit her from time to time. yanno. also yes everyone's aware that demons and angels are real ok this is like urban fantasy

whatever. what did u think abt this?

thanks for reading <333 caly