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noonawriter · 4 years

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Delicious Rendezvous Chapter 3

WORD COUNT: 4151

WARNINGS: cursing, an attack of sorts (no bloodshed), thinly veiled protectiveness

DELICIOUS RENDEZVOUS

Chapter 3

“There,” Heechul told you, panting. “It is done.” He pulled away to lay beside you. For him having a cold touch, you still immediately missed what warmth he brought. The sensation of the spell spreading the rest of the way through you was half pins and needles, half a deep sort of pleasure that defied explanation or words, running up your spine. He turned on his side, one elbow bent, chin resting on his head. “I’m going to be quite busy - frankly, I’ve already taken a lot of time out of my day for you.”

His nonchalance came as a surprise after the intimacy he’d just shown. “You could be nice for one second,” you mumbled, the afterglow quickly fading, but he was apparently determined to ignore any and all feelings, including yours. You shook your head to hide your face and the look of disappointment.

“I’ll figure out a training schedule for you tomorrow. For now, go make friends and get some food. Order what you like.” He smiled as though he’d handed you the keys to the club. “I’ll let them know to expect you.” Heechul continued to make himself presentable when he added, “I didn’t take much blood, but you still need to replenish what was lost. Let Shindong know what you want at the bar and he’ll relay it from there.”

“...Wait, huh?”

Heechul let out a put-upon sigh. How were you supposed to learn anything from him, let alone stick around for the next three months? Was he really going to be able to help you? You rolled your eyes.

“Look, I thought you were pretty good at talking to strangers, but maybe I was wrong.” He huffed out a little almost-laugh through his nose. “Just start with,” he gestures with his chin towards the door, “Ryeowook’s little boyfriend, the kid at the piano. He should be wrapping up soon. He loves to eat and he’s a blank, so you aren’t in any danger from him and you won’t be alone for now.”

Your eyes widened, “Am I in danger from anyone else?”

Heechul raised his eyebrows once. “That depends on you, doesn’t it.” His grin is wide and knowing, one eyebrow cocked up. While you gaped as such an unhelpful response, he levitated himself to standing, summoned his pants and slipped his lean legs back into them. Though you couldn’t help but watch the movement of muscles beneath the skin for a moment, you were determined to not make a habit of it, forcing your eyes away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Nice to meet you!” Henry shook your hand enthusiastically, already a weird start. He didn’t look old enough to be in a bar in the first place, which the rosy tint perpetually blooming on his pale cheeks didn’t help. After the ritual, though, you probably didn’t look any better, so it was nice of him to not comment on that.

“Um, I was told Ryeowook-”

“Oh, yeah! He got me this job.” He looked over in the direction of the stage and back, though not before you caught the gleam in his eye, a particular one that left you aching with longing. Adoration couldn’t be written more plainly on his face. “It works out really well, you know? I didn’t actually know what I was going to do with my degree.”

“That’s really good.” You feigned politeness just long enough to ask the question you really wanted the answer to, leaning forward to speak more quietly. “How is it here really, though? Do they treat you well?”

“Yeah, everyone’s so nice here!” He beamed. “When Ryeowookie is busy,” the gleam of affection cropped up faintly again before fading, “Donghae makes sure I get lots to eat. My visa got processed so much faster here than my school one, and I got direct deposit since my first check. It’s great!” With a cute tilt of his head, he added, “I’m glad no one minds that I don’t really drink. I get all itchy. But Heechul’s never had a problem with it.” Sticking his hands into his pockets, he frowned. “To be honest, the only thing I’m worried about is that Ryeowook never eats breakfast. But everyone’s different, right?” He concluded his rambling with an easy, friendly smile, shrugging his shoulders, then rocking on his heels.

“...Right.” In your mind's eye, you could see clearly what Ryeowook would look like with his wings and claws out. And that the butler was actually over by the entrance to the club, his shoulders subtly widening and narrowing over and over again, his hair growing longer and then shorter. You realize what wasn't said. That made you mad as hell! Oh my god, you thought, this kid doesn’t know anything, does he. Heechul is a bastard.

Too bad you still needed his help.

“Oh yeah, you just got here, so you don’t know where anything is, huh.” Henry’s words drew your attention back to him and away from your thoughts of Heechul. “Come on, let me show you the break room.”

As the two of you made your way past the bar, Shindong came in from the back, carrying a nondescript box. He pointed at you, then immediately, his hair shot up and back as if by a gust of wind. His confused expression was so comically exaggerated that you couldn't help but laugh.

He patted it back down into place, looking confounded, then went on his way as if nothing happened without so much as a wave.

“He’s a weird one.”

Henry held his finger up to his lips, eyes that told you to be quiet. “Don’t let him hear you say that.” The rosy-cheeked man looked around, as though he was worried Shindong was watching at that very moment. He stepped closer. “Man is insufferable, at times. Even moreso if he likes you. At least you got some form of interaction from him being it's only your first day here. Took me a week to get anything out of him.”

All you could manage was a quiet “hmm”. Henry resorted back to indifference as he made sure you were following him as he continued to guide you to the much-needed food. Something about Shindong was intimidating, despite the brief comedy routine, so you decided to come back to the issue of ordering food a little later, when you’d had a chance to gather some courage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once he’d taken a bite off the corner of one sandwich, Henry exclaimed, “Alriiiiight! He remembered to salt them more this time like I asked.” Handing out the egg sandwiches, cut in two halves to form neat triangles, he added, “You’d think it wouldn’t need it when the bread has garlic butter on it, but there’s a lot of egg, you know?” One was placed in front of Donghae, and another in front of you.

“Oh, uh, thanks.” This only left you more determined to put off figuring out Heechul’s food. The kitchen you’d passed on the way was loud and looked extremely busy, so it just felt weird to add to that. And you hadn’t seen a menu anywhere, either...

“No problem! Ryeowook always makes extra anyway. I think he gets worried when our schedules don’t line up to eat together.”

Both men sharing the small round table with you stuffed practically a whole triangle in their mouths at once. You couldn’t help but giggle. “Oh, is he going to be on stage for a while?” You asked, trying to keep the conversation going. It was a fair trade - garlic butter was such a simple indulgence, yet oh so worthwhile. Had you missing home, all of a sudden... Missing it so bad that you couldn't bear to think about it.

The conversation turned out to be a welcome interruption.

“Nope,” Henry said, only half succeeding at covering his mouth. “That part's done for today. He’s got backstage appointments to get to.”

“...Technical work? I didn’t know he did both.”

He only stared at you for a moment. “No,” he said slowly, “backstage work.” Left utterly confused, you looked back and forth between them until Donghae’s lascivious smirk got the meaning across.

It slowly dawned on you that it was a euphemism, not to mention what was going on behind all those closed doors. “Oh.” Your eyes widened so much they nearly fell out of your head, and you had to force your mouth closed, because you were something like a guest here and it’s not polite, right? What if it seemed insulting or condescending, the longer you looked scandalized? You could feel your cheeks heat further at that thought, even if that had seemed impossible with how they’d burned immediately after Donghae’s hint got through. “Oh! Right. I see.” Well, you’d really rather not, but it appeared the rumors were true after all. Staring at the plastic container was the closest you could get to meeting anyone’s eyes for a little while after that kind of revelation. “That doesn’t bother you?”

But Henry only shrugged. “Nope.” He offered no details whatsoever. That was that; he and Donghae proceeded to bicker over who had to eat the carrot sticks hiding underneath the stack of sandwiches. (Donghae insisted that demons don’t eat carrots, which Henry reluctantly accepted, though not without a heaping spoonful of skepticism.)

The three of you chatted amiably for a few minutes between eating. That calmed you down enough to see about asking for a menu after all, making your way through the same corridor from earlier, the one with the framed drawings of urban wildlife with inspirational slogans under each one. You were pretty sure the kitchen was back this way-

Whatever just took you off your feet meant business. Your eyes opened to find the ceiling above you and the cool marble tile beneath your back. You sucked a deep breath in all while moving your hands and feet to make sure everything still worked correctly. What drew you out of your self-inspection was the groaning coming from a few feet away. The strange yet beautiful man from earlier was bent over with his hands braced on his knees. He looked wobbly, maybe just as hurt as you were.

Laying back and being still just made more sense at that moment. You closed your eyes as the back of your head met the ground

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He sensed the spell and honed in on it to take him there.

Of course, he’d already been attuned to security alerts for defensive spells. From his alcove, Heechul had watched as his apprentice stumbled back and fell, at the same time that the reflective force flung Sungmin just as far back. Luckily, the incubus had reflexively done one of those martial arts rolls, but now leaned heavily against the hallway wall where he was sitting slumped against it, his eyes glazed, one small hand pressed to his own cheek and temple.

While Henry ran over to him, Heechul shot a faint blue spark from his fingertips.

“You know being teleported makes me dizzy,” Jongwoon grumbled at Heechul in the next instant, but quickly softened when he spotted his patient. Dropping onto one knee next to her, resting his forearm on the other, he leaned forward the slightest bit. “Hey there. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” He asked in a soft, husky voice.

“M’dizzy,” she mumbled, “and I fell.”

Jongwoon turned to the vampire, already back to looking annoyed. “Did you set your shield to let healing through?”

“Of course I did,” Heechul scoffed.

“Then open up pain relief as well.”

Feeling a bit sheepish when he realized that that type was indeed still blocked, Heechul did just that, drawing a quick symbol on his palm with his fingertip. Admittedly, he hadn’t cast this sort of protection in quite a long time, and the last time... That wasn’t sexual in the least. So he’d asked Shindong to set up tests for it, making sure his friend wouldn’t tell him when or how. It was a mercy that he didn’t have to specify to not hurt her; the risk was too great, and the very thought stabbed fear through his heart.

An invisible anodyne cloud sprung up around Jongwoon, a sort of magic dandelion the doctor himself had developed. Caught in its radius, the ever-present ache in Heechul’s wrist dialed down to a faint hum.

The pained grooves marring her forehead eased at once, too.

She was in good hands. Heechul knew this, knew it with the knowledge of many decades, so he turned to check on Sungmin, but... It was more difficult to do so than he’d imagined. No matter how much he tried to make his eyes focus forward, he itched to do otherwise.

Worriedly looking back over at her, Heechul nonetheless made himself turn away once more to attend to Sungmin, where Henry was already murmuring to him while pressing the back of his hand to the incubus’ forehead. Logically, Heechul knew Sungmin must've gotten the brunt of it, but-

That was all he’d allow himself. He shook himself back into action. Heechul motioned Henry away with a small gesture of his head. The young, bright eyed man wanted to stick around and help, but Heechul’s eyes insisted, mouthing ‘thank you’. Henry, ever shocked by the silent but kind motion, nonetheless complied. He turned his sights back to the scene he’d turned away from. "You did a great job, Sungmin. We got the test data we needed." Sungmin nodded gingerly, only grimacing. "Thank you for helping again. Donghae should be back near the bar by now, or soon, that'll be kicking up some lust. Go soak that up until your head settles, then lie down for at least five minutes, alright? I'll send the doctor to check you over when he's done here."

"Yes, boss," Sungmin said, slowly standing up, one hand on a nearby wall the whole way up. Heechul lent his arm for support, only remembering to call out when Sungmin had made it a couple of feet away on his own, "And drink some water!" Sungmin merely threw up a thumbs up over his shoulder as he cautiously walked away.

Setting that aside, he hurried over to her. To his apprentice. That's all, he told himself. Just someone who needs my help. The shield held beautifully, though nothing could beat real world experience to be sure. Since every scan and both tests came up well...

Mostly well, he realized, watching Jongwoon shine a small light into her eyes, then asking her to follow his finger. Fuck, the stun shouldn’t have gotten through that strongly. That meant there were cracks, and right now... He didn’t know how to fix those.

There were no shortcuts. He couldn’t help but get close enough to squeeze her hand, needing to touch her even if only fleetingly, to feel that she’s alright, then immediately left to do a field reset on the room he’d set aside to start her training. She would need so much more than just this. No telling how soon she’d have to be able to protect herself.

Not for the first time, Heechul lamented that he couldn’t be in two places at once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hardly a minute or two later, belly full and mildly nauseous after whatever that stunt was, you felt a caress brush against the confines of your mind. It drew you in, past this door, that way down the hall, into a quiet carpeted room that contained only Heechul. His trademark smirk sat easy across his mouth.

“So you’ve properly met at least one of my kids now.”

“I did,” you said tartly, recalling what you’d realized, “and-”

“Hold on.” Holding one hand up, he stopped you with merely two words; you hated that you were going along with it. “If you’re looking to chew me out some more, save it for another time. Training requires dedication and concentration.”

“...Fine. But it’s only a delay.”

“Good enough,” he said, rolling his head side to side. “So, he’s a sweet kid, right?”

“Henry? Yeah...”

With that admission, Heechul’s smile turned genial. “Good. You have some basic sense.”

“Oh, so you get to insult me during training? What’s wrong, you can dish it out but you can’t take it?”

Though he rolled his eyes, his smile grew wider, too. “Some fires are unquenchable. We’ll work it out as we go. Now. Follow me. Deep breath in, then let it out slowly.”

Reluctantly, you did as he said, putting all other concerns into a box and setting it aside in your mind’s eye. “Okay, now what?”

He raised one eyebrow. “You really will have to learn some patience. Not an insult, darling!” He added with a laugh. “A simple fact required to progress.”

“Hmph.” You crossed your arms. Realizing how petulant that looked, though, you forced yourself to let them hang loose at your side instead. “I suppose. If you learn some manners.”

“Fair’s fair,” he answered with a shrug. “Now, back to the kid. Only pull up the image of him if it helps you; the essential part is whatever feeling of connection you can find. This works the same way an address on a building does.” He blinked slowly, tilting his head back, then forward again. “You feel it?”

The thread may have been thin, but you were able to strengthen it by kind of... latching onto Heechul’s connection as well. Were you supposed to do that? Who knows, but it felt like it was working. “Yes,” you answered distantly, almost having forgotten that you were asked a question at all.

“Good. Now imbue it with your magic.”

For some reason, this step scared you. Was it safe? Would it hurt anything? What if once you did it, that little bit was gone for good...

“You’re panicking.” But you weren’t- Oh, Heechul was right. Your breathing had gotten heavier, shallower, too quick. Before you’d noticed, he stepped closer, one fingertip tilting your chin up. “What is it?”

“I don’t wanna let it go!” You blurted out. Immediately, Heechul’s hand smoothed over your hair.

“It’s alright,” he said more gently than you’d thought possible of him. “You’ve done it before, and it’s always filled back up. You just didn’t know you were doing it.” But he stepped back, screwing up the corner of his mouth, and that also frightened you. You wanted his reassurance back. “This will be the only exercise for today. We’ll start you on foundational material next time.”

“Did I mess it up?” You croaked.

“No, everything’s alright,” he assured you, still in that too-gentle voice. “Let’s just try one more time, okay? The well will refill. You’re just taking a drop from it. Deep breaths. Two, three, four. There we go.”

Slowly, the whole thing feeling embarrassingly elementary, you made your way back to being calm and levelheaded. “Okay, I did it.”

“You found it? Good, well done. We’ll continue tomorrow.” Before you, far too close, Heechul visibly swallowed, then pressed his face to your neck for a long moment, taking a deep breath and leaving you feeling immensely calmer, strangely enough. When he wrenched himself away, his eyes held a faint tint of red, something gleaming in his mouth as well. “Forgive me,” he said. “A moment of weakness.” He looked at you intensely, his nostrils flaring. “All creatures hunger.”

Then he whirled away. “Please do not think me evil for it.”

You desperately wished you could see his face when he said that, but in a blink, he was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kamau’s treatise on diplomacy and oratory is a must,” Heechul muttered to himself, flipping through the pages absently before adding to the pile on the table at the center of the room. “Oracles are known to be inherently weak in persuasion, and Zhang’s research on complementary domains proved it..." Back at the shelf, he ran his finger over the spines of an entire row, hoping it would jog his memory. “Damnit, who wrote that particularly clear natureweaving introductory text a century ago? I know I have it here somewhere, I just can’t remember their name.”

Familiar footsteps accompanied by a click on the floor sprang up behind him, so he didn’t feel the need to turn around. It wasn’t long before strong hands alighted on his shoulders, that familiar moon-topped cane gleaming where it leaned against one of the shelves.

“You’ve been in here for hours, Master,” Siwon murmured, clearly doing his level best to forcibly massage the tension out of Heechul’s body through his shoulders.

Probably true, but the leader wasn’t going to admit it. He allowed himself to hum low in his throat, turning into a closed-mouth groan, but no more. “Why aren’t you finalizing the quarterly ledger?”

But Siwon only chuckled. “The computing machines handle nearly everything in the modern era, Master. Did you forget again?”

“I still don’t like that whole expense,” Heechul muttered. “They’re just little boxes and they don’t show their work!”

Moving down his back, his right-hand man told him in a strangely indulgent tone, “I can audit them any time you’d like. You need only say the word.”

Heechul sighed. “No, don’t bother. There are much more important uses of your time.”

“Like this?” The other man joked, digging his thumbs into a knot at Heechul’s lower back.

“You very well know I meant getting ready for that raid that I sense coming sometime next week,” Heechul said archly. “See if,” god his head hurt just pulling the info, but raids were always hard on his kids, “the same one’s still in the 223 precinct to cut a deal.” However, when he felt the loss of those strong hands, he failed to hide his laughter when he complained, “I didn’t say to stop!”

“Very well, just another minute, then, shall I?”

His head drooping forward, Heechul muttered, “Whatever happened to ‘Yes, Master’?”, though the words had no bite to them.

Suddenly, hovering next to Heechul was a grid without lines, each one holding what looked to be a title and author. “How about an index instead?”

“What would I do without you?” Heechul whirled around, the index following to his right, to squeeze Siwon’s hand. “I guess it was worth saving you after all, if you’re going to make yourself useful.”

In front of him, Siwon beamed as though Heechul had said something far more affectionate. “You might even like me, too,” he lobbed playfully, squeezing back. “Also, Whitman’s parlor tricks book got into your pile again,” he added, pointing to the table with his chin.

“Ugh.” Heechul ran his hand through his hair. “Goddamned cursed fucking book. You see?” He picked it up, waving it around. “This is why I tell everyone to not get me presents. Not everyone can sense what’s been cast on them, so I get stuck with a useless book that tries to follow me around like a lost puppy. Prestidigitation? Hardly a step above distracting children with a marionette,” he huffed.

Siwon held his hands behind his back, but he was visibly suppressing laughter; Heechul never could prove where the wretched tome came from, but he had his suspicions. “Your evening appointment grows near, Master. Are you going to be in here much longer?”

Flipping through the index with only half his mind on it, Heechul did a locate on a symbolism book. He’d have to review that one first before adding it to the curriculum - not to mention, there was something waiting its turn to be shown to him that left him feeling that he’d need to have it fresh in his mind.

“Return to me in half an hour. I’ll be ready then, but I need you to handle the nightly security review in my stead.” The flash of fear in the other man’s eyes had its answering echo in Heechul’s chest, and he hated being powerless to assuage it.

“May... May I ask why?” Siwon sounded hesitant when he asked. If Heechul took in any more information, though, he’d be completely overloaded, and thus useless for meeting with the ingredient supply broker. Still, he knew that Siwon had never done a security review without him, and didn’t know how to reassure him about what it could mean. There was just... too much to do. And no way to know what kind of attack could be coming next.

Of course, if that fact became known to his staff, it would bring nothing but panic. Leaving Siwon entirely in the dark was not a viable option, however. If only the damned visions would be more specific!

Once more, Heechul sighed. “I need to be prepared while I know not for what I prepare. Don’t make a Cassandra of me for saying so, hmm? But I have a feeling,” he said, shelving the gag book while pointedly not looking at Siwon, “that our troubles are far from over.”

Author’s note: again, a huge thanks to @thesirenandtheking for all the assistance in this piece. It would not be possible without the SuJu knowledge and effortless flow of the editing process.

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