Chapter Text
It was pretty late in the evening when Jongho finally stepped out of the Science building of his college. His virology lecture had run late due to another student asking three too many questions; questions that had been answered in the previous lecture. Jongho had simply rolled his eyes and stayed quiet in the back of the hall, he didn't really mind at the end of the day, he had nowhere else to be tonight.
But the professor had answered and explained calmly and with surprising efficiency before moving on. Once he exited the lecture hall, Sunwoo and Eric had spotted him passing the large open library and called him over with their open and friendly smiles. Jongho liked them, so he stopped to talk for a while.
It was nice catching up with them and he made a mental note to text one or both of them to hang out at some point soon. He waved and finally reached the doors, pushing through them into the dim, quiet parking lot.
It was cool outside, the early spring air bringing the sweet smell of flowers while still holding onto just the slightest touch of winter chill. He turned, heading down the sidewalk toward his dorm when his eyes caught on the familiar outline of a car.
He groaned and rolled his eyes, stopping in his tracks when he made full eye contact with his older brother.
Yunho gave him a grin that was half sheepish and half shit-eating. He nodded toward the car, waiting for Jongho to make a move.
Jongho stands on the sidewalk, not wanting to give into the sudden stand off of wills. Finally he groans again, stomping his feet in a perfect imitation of a toddler not getting his way, and climbs into the passenger seat of the Impala.
He forces his backpack onto the floor between his legs and buckles his seat belt before Yunho can even fully get into the car.
Yunho sighs but smiles anyway and slips into the driver's seat, quickly turning the car on, "Doesn't your class end at 8:30?"
Jongho sighs, of course after 6 months of radio silence, the first thing Yunho wants to do is to start nagging him about his schedule.
"It went late," Jongho mutters, "Why are you here?"
Yunho shrugs, mock offended when he opens his mouth again, "What? A guy can't visit his younger brother just to say hi?"
"You've never driven all the way out here to 'just say hi', Yunho," Jongho deadpans, eyeing Yunho as casually as he could. His brother looked okay. All his limbs were where they're supposed to be.
"Well since I did, can I stay the night? I don't feel like finding a motel," Yunho says cheerfully, "You have space right?"
Jongho groans again, but knows he can't say no to his big brother, "Fine, whatever. It's not like I had anyone coming over tonight anyway."
Yunho cackles, making a comment about Jongho finally getting some action. Jongho ignores him, they both know he's been trying to work out exactly where on the Ace spectrum he falls.
"Just don't be obnoxious, the dorms have thin walls and people talk," Jongho says quietly, grabbing the straps of his bag as Yunho parks the car in the lot across from his dorm building.
"I'll be good, don't worry little bro," Yunho insists, stepping to the back of the car to dig around in the hidden weapon compartment for longer than Jongho felt was necessary.
"Come on Yun, I'm tired. Hurry up or I'm gonna leave you out here," Jongho complains, stomping his way up the sidewalk to wave his key card in front of the door's lock pad.
Yunho caught up to him quickly, a dark wash denim jacket thrown over top of his sweater. He follows Jongho inside, and through the building, throwing smiles at exactly three other students, who give Jongho curious looks. The younger was well known to not have many guests in the dorms despite having many, many friends.
"It's small, you can take the floor," Jongho mutters, throwing his bag onto the cluttered desk.
His flippant attitude doesn't phase Yunho at all, as he starts to chat about anything and everything, telling Jongho things he didn't actually care about. First it was Hongjoong and his farm. Apparently the older man had been working on a full panic room with metal walls and salt built into the doorways.
Then it was a few of his last jobs across the country, a shapeshifter in Chicago, a witch in Montana, a possession in Arizona.
Jongho changes into sleep clothes while Yunho talks, and throws some extra shorts at his brother.
"I don't want to hear about your hunts, Yun," Jongho finally says, slumping down onto his bed. He had chosen this college to get as far away from Hongjoong and his farm in Oklahoma as possible. And Oregon was so pretty, all year round.
"Jongho..." Yunho trails off, clearly the old wounds and disagreement over Yunho's chosen profession was still fresh for them both.
"Sorry, I just... I don't understand how you want to keep doing this when it took mom and dad from us. It's gonna take you too and then I'll be alone, so just..." Jongho turns away from Yunho, arms crossed.
"Nows probably a bad time to ask you to help me with a job then, isn't it?" Yunho says with a self deprecating laugh.
"I'm not sure there would be a good time for that," Jongho mutters back, eyes rolling yet again.
"Jongho, I really need you," Yunho sits up straighter from his perch on the floor.
"I'm not going," Jongho insists, voice firm.
Yunho sighs, "I can't do this job alone, Jjong," He pulls out Jongho's childhood nickname, "I..."
The sudden quiet sets Jongho's nerves on edge and he turns back, glancing quickly at his older brother, "You what?"
"I went after a vamp in Arkansas," Yunho says, voice more serious and quiet, "The signs were that it was just one rogue, alone in a small town. I had everything prepped, Hongjoong said his preliminary searches didn't show much except for a few news headlines in the last few weeks. So I went, by myself, and... It wasn't just one."
Jongho is finally looking at his brother, "And what happened?"
"Well," Yunho tries for a laugh but it falls short, "I failed, number one. It's a coven. And I got injured," He lifts the hem of his shirt, a long but shallow gash healing across the left side of his stomach.
Jongho's eyes go wider and then fill with hurt, "You have to stop, Yun."
"You know I can't just quit, Jjong, this is my life," Yunho runs both hands through his dark hair, the strands longer and more shaggy than Jongho has ever seen them before.
"I can't.. I can't help you," Jongho answers, almost angry, "I don't want to constantly be putting my life in danger like you do."
Thirty minutes later he's sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala, watching the occasional streetlight whizz by on the dark road.
"I promise, if we have the three of us, we can take out the coven and I'll get you back to school before spring break ends," Yunho says, one hand on the wheel, the other adjusting the radio that he still insisted on using.
"You better, I can't fail this semester, I graduate in three months," Jongho grumbles, "Did you forget?"
"No, I didn't forget," Yunho insists, "I have it in my phone calendar. The ceremony date."
"Do you actually?" Jongho asks, eyeing him with suspicion. Yunho offers his phone, and after a quick check, Jongho hums softly, the date of the graduation actually was in the phone's calendar.
"See? I'm a good brother," Yunho says proudly, sitting up straighter in his seat. A song he likes comes on the radio and he starts to belt out the lyrics.
Jonho rolls his eyes yet again, and sets the phone down. He bundles an extra shirt into a makeshift pillow and leans against the window. It wasn't long until he was sound asleep, the rocking of the car and Yunho's familiar singing sending him to dream land.
When he wakes again, it's to Yunho throwing a gas station honey bun at his face, luckily missing him entirely.
"What the hell, Yun," He mutters, grabbing the packet before adjusting his position in the passenger seat.
"We're only 40 minutes from the house, just stopped for some gas," Yunho says cheerily, despite having been driving for the entire night with no sleep.
"And I needed to know that, why?" Jongho groans, opening the honey bun anyway, half of it quickly gone in one bite.
"You're grumpy in the morning, and I wanted to spare Hongjoong some of that mess," Yunho still sounds happy as can be, driving along familiar rural roads with not a care in the world.
"He knows we're coming, right?" Jongho asks around a mouthful of pastry.
"Course!" Yunho nods, "Well we're earlier than I told him, but it's fine."
Jongho nods, settling in for the last half hour of driving.
Hongjoong was, in fact, completely unprepared for the brothers practically breaking down his side door at 8am. They both froze just inside the kitchen, Hongjoong and another man sitting side by side at the table, barely three inches of space between them.
Jongho glances at Yunho, wondering if he had been aware of their old friend having a partner. He wondered exactly how long he had been gone for this to develop.
Hongjoong jumps up, stepping away from the other man, both of them sporting a slightly panicked look on their faces.
"You guys are-" Hongjoong clears his throat, "You're early!"
"Whose this?" Yunho asks, eyes narrowed at the man still sitting at the table. His hair was long and dark, eyes piercing despite the anxious look on his face.
Hongjoong starts to clear the plates off the table, "This is.. Um.. Seonghwa," He gestures, one of the plates falling out of his hand at the sharp movement.
Seonghwa's hand moves fast, darting out to grab the plate before it could fall and shatter.
Yunho's eyes narrow even further, one hand slowly, casually, moving toward his lower back.
"Hi," Jongho says with an awkward wave, eyeing the undeniably pretty man with a curious look.
"Hello," Seonghwa nods, beginning to stand from the chair.
Suddenly Yunho has a gun pointed at Seonghwa's face, "He's a demon, Jongho go back to the car."
Jongho looks closer at his face as the wind outside starts to randomly pick up speed. Soenghwa's eyes flash black for the briefest second, and Jongho gasps.
"Woah! Hongjoong Hyung! You have a demon in your house?" Jongho steps to the side, fishing a salt gun out of a drawer where he knew Hongjoong keeps it.
"No, guys wait," Hongjoong sighs, stepping between both guns and Seonghwa, "He's not here to hurt us."
Yunho all but growls, "Step aside, Hongjoong, I'm going to send this scum back to satan himself,"
Hongjoong stands firm, pulling his own gun out and to the shock of both brothers, points it at Jongho.
"Gun down, Kid," He says, eyes on Yunho's face.
Yunho lets out a slew of expletives, guns still trained on Hongjoong, "You cannot be serious right now!"
"Hongjoong, why is there a demon in your kitchen? And why are you eating breakfast with him? Them? Do demons have genders?" Jongho trails off, his gun lowered but not forgotten.
"I identify as a man," Seonghwa pokes his head out above Hongjong's head, the brothers both realizing the height difference at the same time.
Yunho points his gun higher and Seonghwa ducks back down again. Jongho nods, accepting this quietly.
"Answer the question, Hongjoong," Yunho's itching to shoot, his tone low and dangerous. Hongjoong splutters for several seconds.
"He's, Hwa, it's, he's my friend!" He finally spits out. Seonghwa rolls his eyes behind him and Jongho raises an eyebrow.
"Your friend?! You cannot be serious Hongjoong!" Yunho is incredulous, gun starting to wave around almost erratically as he goes on a rant of why that was the worst idea known to humans.
Hongjoong groans, putting his gun down to rub his face, tired. Seonghwa pokes his head out again, resting his chin on Hongjoong's shoulder to observe the brothers.
"And, AND, And you can't trust him!" Yunho ends his rant, aims, and shoots. Into empty air. Seonghwa had disappeared.
It takes over an hour to get through to Yunho. Hongjoong sits them both down at the table with plates full of leftover food that had been sitting on the stove top. Jongho eats heartily while still paying close attention to the conversation happening across him.
"I don't care if he's been helpful with your research, He's a DEMON! Hongjoong, you cannot have a demon in your house!" Yunho slams his fork down, eggs barely touched.
Hongjoong sighs, wilting slightly closer toward the table top, "He's not part of the demon pact anymore. He's not dangerous."
"All demons are dangerous, Hongjoong!" Yunho insists, "You can't trust any of them!"
Hongjoong sighs once more and finally sits up, "I've known him for almost two years, Yunho."
If it wasn't such a charged conversation, Jongho would have laughed at the look of pure disbelief and anger on Yunho's face.
"Two years?" Yunho gapes at him.
"Yes," Hongjoong answers, voice steady, "We were running the same job and he asked for my help. I shouldn't have trusted him that first time but he gave me.. Something personal to him and we did the job together. We were stronger together."
Yunho snorted, he had caught an attitude pretty quickly.
"I tried to give him his, um... item back and he told me no, asking for a place to stay for a few nights," Hongjoong gave Yunho a look, "Trust me, I know that was stupid. I know, I know, I know, You don't have to tell me."
This time Jongho does laugh, he doesn't even really want to be here in the first place and despite his own trepidation, he was willing to let Yunho be the one to interrogate their late fathers protege. He wanted to eat in peace.
"Anyway, he came here and stayed a few days, and then showed me another job he had come across through a specific demon communication channel. I still don't really know how it works but we did another few jobs together. And now we're... a team."
"Your hunting partner is a demon?" Yunho deadpans.
Hongjoong nods, "Yeah."
Yunho groans, leaning back in his chair. He looks like he's about to yell again when Hongjoong stands up.
"Yunho, I love you, and I promised your dad that I would do anything for you, for both of you, but I cannot have you trying to harm Seonghwa. I know what he is, I know I was foolish and I don't suggest leaving every demon you meet alive but he's... my partner- hunting partner. And if you lay a hand on a single hair of his head I will kick you out of my house."
Yunho's look of shock is even funnier than his earlier disbelief and Jongho has to stifle another laugh bubbling out of his throat.
Yunho's face quickly morphs back into anger and he stands abruptly, "I'm going to bed."
He storms out of the kitchen after his announcement and Jongho unintentionally counts each heavy footfall on the stairs and across the second floor until the house goes quiet.
"Well, that went swimmingly," Jongho says with a chuckle, turning back to his plate of food.
Hongjoong eyes him, "Haven't seen you in a long time, kid."
"You're only 8 years older than me, Joong," Jongho reminds him, lifting a fork full of hashbrowns off the plate.
"And I'm gonna call you 'kid' until I'm dead," Hongjoong says bluntly, watching Jongho finish his plate of food.
"So how long have you been dating the demon?" Jongho asks, clearly having picked up on more body language cues then Yunho had in his rage.
Hongjoong's entire face and neck turns bright red and he starts to stumble around a response, avoiding Jongho's eye contact the entire time.
"So you are dating him then?" Jongho asks once Hongjoong gives up trying to answer.
"No!" Hongjoong shakes his head and hands, "No, I'm not! He's just a friend!"
"Right," Jongho nods, "But you want to."
"Now I remember why I used to think you were such a pain in the ass," Hongjoong mutters, pulling a laugh from deep in Jongho's chest.
"Everyone needs an annoying younger brother," He stands to place his empty plate in the sink.
Hongjoong goes quiet until Jongho sits back down with two full glasses of water.
"Are you happy away at college?" He asks softly, eyes examining Jongho's face with invested interest.
Jongho nods, "It's... so nice. Peaceful. I don't have to worry about dying in any uncommon- unnatural way. Just car accidents or building fires and the like. I have normal friends, normal classes, an internship this summer..."
Hongjoong doesn't answer right away, mulling over the younger man's words, "But you're happy?"
"Yes, Hongjoong," Jongho nods, "I'm happy."
He waits for Hongjoong to try and object but he just sighs and nods, "As long as you are careful about things, keep an eye out for patterns and call us if anything pops up. I do wish you chose a school closer but... to each their own, I suppose."
Jongho raises an eyebrow, "You've gone soft, old man," He snickers but doesn't hide the grateful glance he gives Hongjoong.
Before either of them can say anything else, Seonghwa reappears in the chair next to Hongjoong. He looks between Hongjong's smile and Jongho's shocked expression and smiles sheepishly.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, Joong has gotten used to my teleporting," Seonghwa apologizes, "It's really nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you."
Jongho raises an eyebrow at Hongjoong, "You've been talking about me?"
Hongjoong crosses his arms, "No, I don't talk about anyone to anyone."
"He's really proud of you," Seonghwa offers with what can only be described as a sweet smile. It's at odds with his sharp features and what looks like dark eyeliner.
"He brags that he's going to have a scientist in his family soon and he's already planning a whole trip for the week of your graduation."
Hongjoong sinks as low as he possibly can into his chair, trying to hide his burning face from Jongho.
"Well, Well, Well," Jongho chuckles, "That's very interesting to learn, I think I like you," He nods at the demon.
Now it's Seonghwa's turn to adopt a few shades of pink in his skin.
"Oh, demons can blush," Jongho comments, filing that away for later.
"Ah, um... Yeah," Seonghwa nods, "I'm going to go gather some intel for a few hours, I'll be back for dinner."
Jongho watches with renewed interest as Hongjoong walks Seonghwa to the door. He swears he can hear a short, soft kiss among their whispered conversation, and files that away as well. There's a few thuds from one of the bedrooms above him and Jongho leans his head against the back of the chair, letting out a heavy sigh.
"What the hell have I been dragged into this time," He fiddles with the magazine on one of the guns to fill time.