Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was early in the morning. Jinu got up early, as he always did. He was always first to rise. It was nice, in a way. The house was quiet, save for Abby's obnoxious snoring, and there wasn’t much to do.

Derpy sat in the middle of the living room, clearly waiting to be fed. Sussie almost looked menacing with how impatient he was.

“I know, guys.”, Jinu said with a chuckle, opening the pantry and pulling out a bag of cat food.

The very moment the bag crinkled, Derpy dashed in. He had his tongue out, slobbering onto the floor below him.

“Here you go, Derpy.”

In just a few seconds, Derpy managed to eat his food in one single bite. He ended up swallowing the bowl too, making the demon sigh.

“I told you twice already… The bowl isn't part of the meal.”

Sussie, desperate to eat, loudly chirped and began to peck at Jinu's head.

“Ow! Ow! Sussie!”

The main demon quickly grabbed a bag of bird seed, which the magpie immediately pecked at next. Several holes were pierced into the bag, causing seed to pour all over the floor.

“Sussie! Look at what you did! Go clean that up!”

Suddenly, Derpy began to kick at the seed and lifted one of his legs up. Jinu nearly lost it.

“Don't even think about it!”

Through all of the commotion, a familiar maknae was woken up. Typical. One of his roommates was being too loud and he was forced out of his slumber. He hated when this happened.

Sleepily, Baby pushed his blanket away and forced himself out of bed. He softly yawned, clutching his stuffed raccoon dog tight. It was time to confront the one who disturbed him.

Jinu managed to get the bird seed cleaned up with help from Derpy. Of course, the most the tiger did was lick up the seed and spit it into a bowl. Sussie was disgusted by this.

“Thank you, Derpy…”, the main demon said with a sigh. “Now if you two excuse me, there’s a cup of coffee just waiting to be brewed.”

While Jinu was distracted, Baby sleepily walked into the living room. Derpy was so excited to see him that he rushed over. This caused Baby to trip over the large feline.

Baby hit the floor with a loud thump.

“Ow!”, he cried.

Jinu immediately appeared in front of the maknae.

“Sweet Baby! Are you okay?”, he asked, helping the boy up. “Oh! That looked like it hurt!”

“It did!”, Baby whined.

Before another word could be said, Jinu carried Baby into the kitchen and sat him at the table. He followed this by handing the boy a glass of water.

“You’re up early.”, the oldest demon stated.

“Yeah… You woke me up!”, Baby complained. “I’m tiiiired!”

Jinu smirked and ruffled Baby’s already messy hair. The maknae let out a grunt as this happened.

“Clearly someone’s a bit grumpy after staying up half the night playing video games with Abby.”, he declared, grabbing the leftover rice in the fridge and placing it into the microwave. “I bet I can brighten your mood, though.”

Baby stuck his tongue out, squinting his eyes and pulling on his ears.

“Oh dear… Is that your way of saying you don’t want to go to the park?”

The word park echoed through the maknae’s mind. He liked going there. No way he’d turn that down.

“But… What if someone sees us?”, Baby asked.

Jinu smiled and sat with Baby.

“We’ll wear disguises like when we go grocery shopping. We could wear those cute hoodies that Bobby gave us.”, he replied, putting his arm around the maknae.

The maknae knew damn well he loved his raccoon dog hoodie. He couldn’t miss an opportunity to wear it outside the house. He felt so comfy in it. Honestly, he owed Bobby one for gifting him such a wonderful article of clothing.

“I’ll look like Nuki!”, the maknae said excitedly.

Jinu chuckled and gave Baby a kiss on the side of the head. He loved seeing his maknae happy. It filled him with a deep comfort that was better than any soul he had ever consumed.

“So it’s a deal then?”, the older demon asked.

“Deal!”, the younger demon agreed, getting up.

To his confusion, he was held in place. Taking a look back, the maknae noticed Jinu was holding onto the waistband of his pajama pants.

“Jinuuuu!”

“Brush your teeth.”, Jinu commanded.

“Uuugh! We never had to when we were in the underworld!”, Baby complained.

“Well we weren’t eating food then.”, Jinu replied. “If you want nice teeth, you have to take care of them.”

“But-“

“Uh oh! I see a pouty face! Let me fix it!”, Jinu teased, grabbing the corners of Baby’s mouth and lifting them up. “There we go!”

Jinu was lucky that Baby found this funny, otherwise he would’ve been that close to pulling a Mystery and chomping onto him.

————————————————————————

7:20am

The others were still in bed, while Baby and Jinu ate their breakfast. Jinu had to hold his youngest roommate back from eating all of the food at once. Three issues could unfold. Baby gets a stomach ache, Baby chokes, or there’s nothing left for the others to eat. You did not want to get stuck between hungry Saja boys that haven’t eaten since last night’s dinner.

“I’m still seeing some egg in that bowl.”, Jinu declared as he caught Baby about to get up.

With a loud groan, the maknae sat back down and forced down the last of his gyeran bap. He scowled a bit as he did so.

“Oh come on. It’s not yucky. You always eat this.”

“Too much soy sauce…”, Baby complained.

“Oh… Sorry about that. Sussie nudged into my hand while I was pouring it.”, Jinu said sheepishly.

Not reacting, Baby picked up his bowl and brought it to the sink. Straight after, he dashed out of the kitchen to get dressed. The first thing Jinu noticed was that Baby left Nuki behind. So he gently picked the toy up and went to put it into his backpack. He knew how Baby was when he went to the park. He got all in his head and was very childlike. It was fun because it gave Jinu the opportunity to play with the maknae like a father would with their son. Of course, in the other Saja Boys case, a mother.

“Derpy, go fetch a few bottles of water from the basement’s storage unit.”

Obeying his master, Derpy rushed through the oversized cat door. Sussie, wanting to be useful too, let out a few chirps as he flew in place.

“I know. I know. Go check on Baby and make sure he’s actually getting ready and not back in bed.”

The magpie immediately flew off, a few feathers dropping from him. It was moments like these that Jinu was grateful for his pets. Even if they weren’t masters at their jobs, they got stuff done and that was what was important.

Down the hall, Sussie flew up to Baby’s bedroom door. He noticed it wasn’t shut all the way, so he squeezed himself inside. Hearing this, Baby pouted. How rude! He wasn’t even dressed yet.

“Stupid bird! I’m still naked!”, Baby spat, pulling his underwear up. “Jinu sent you, right? He thinks I’m gonna go back to sleep. Well he’s not wrong…”

Sussie was about to fly off to report the news to Jinu, only for the maknae to grab onto him. He looked worried as he did so.

“I’m gonna stay awake and go to the park with him! Honest!”

The magpie blinked its many eyes.

“I’m serious! I’m not even tired!”

Sussie perched himself onto Baby’s shoulder, nuzzling against the youngest demon’s cheek. Baby giggled and turned his head away.

“Come on, feather face. I need to put my shirt on.”

Quickly, the magpie flew off of Baby’s shoulder and landed on his bed. Relieved, Baby got himself dressed and eagerly rushed out of his bedroom.

“Jinu-hyung! I’m ready! Let’s go!”

“In a moment. I’m waiting for Derpy and I’m packing your bag.”, Jinu replied, trying his best to stuff the raccoon dog plush inside the tiny backpack.

Baby frowned and immediately took Nuki away from Jinu. He hugged the plushy tight, rubbing it against his cheek.

“I just assumed you’d want Nuki in your bag so you don’t have to carry him-“

“Nuki doesn’t want to be stuffed into a bag!”, Baby whined.

“Okay… Does the same go for your blanket?”, Jinu asked.

Baby blushed and smiled.

“Blanky-hyung can go into the bag.”, he uttered. “Promise you won’t go feral when I hold it, later?”

“What do you mean? I never go feral.”, Jinu stated.

“Last night…”, Baby stated, eyes half open.

~~~~~~~~

Baby was tucked into bed, Nuki cuddled in his arms. He was dressed in Huntrix themed pajamas, as cozy as can be. Jinu sat beside him, singing him to sleep. The main demon couldn’t resist such a thing.

“Sweet dreams, my little maknae.”, Jinu whispered after turning the light off.

Almost immediately, Baby turned his bedside lamp back on.

“Oh! Baby? What’s wrong?”

“I left my special blanket on the couch. Can you go get it?”, Baby asked, sleepily rubbing his eyes.

The older demon flashed into pink smoke so fast that Baby didn’t have time to get a breath in. When said breath did come in, Jinu managed to return with the blanket within seconds.

“Here you go, Sweet Baby! Blanky-hyung is here to cuddle all night long. Jinu knows how much you love it! Cause Jinu made it just for yooou! You know why?”, Jinu chirped as he handed the blanket to the younger demon.

Baby sighed and uttered a tired response.

“Because I’m your precious baby…”, he said with an eyeroll.

Tears began to flow out of Jinu’s eyes the very moment he saw Baby lay back down and cuddle up against his stuffed animal and blanket. His lips curled into a smile the moment he shut his eyes.

“SO CUTE! Look at yoooou!”, Jinu shouted with glee, startling Baby.

“Jinu-hyung, I’m tired.”, Baby groaned.

“Such a cute boy! My little maknae and his security blanket! I’m gonna burst! You like your blanky which means you like me! I’m your favorite hyung!”, Jinu squealed.

It was clear he was spending too much time with Huntrix. Zoey’s endless exposure to cute animal videos could make anyone behave about as identical as her.

“Don’t you forget, I’ll be right down the hall in case you have a bad dream. If you need me, just shout my name and I’ll come running in! Jinu promises that!”

“Jinuuu…”, Baby whined, covering his ears.

“Aaah! If cuteness caused cholesterol I’d have a heart attack by now!”, Jinu shouted, falling over and scrunching into a ball. “So cute! So cute! So cute!”

“Okay… I’m going to play video games with Abby.”, Baby sighed, getting out of bed and walking out of his room.

He had given up on sleeping.

~~~~~~~~

The main demon sheepishly smiled, then shook his head.

“Well can you blame me?”, he asked, looking at Baby lovingly.

Baby pouted and gave Nuki a tight hug. He didn’t wish to think further about this. He wanted to get going.

“Grab anything else you might need-“

Jinu was cut off when he heard scratching on the door. A bit confused, he opened it and was greeted by Derpy. The tiger casually trotted in, his cheeks puffed out.

“Umm… Why didn’t you use your door, Derpy?”

Suddenly, the tiger opened his mouth and four water bottles, coated in saliva, slowly slid down the feline’s tongue. They hit the carpet with a wet thump, causing Baby and Jinu to cringe.

“Thank you…”

Derpy nodded and began to scamper down the hall. His next task was to annoy Mystery.

“I’ll just go wash these off in the sink…”

“I don’t want water.”, Baby said with a frown.

“Well you need something to hydrate with.”, Jinu stated, taking the cat spit covered water bottles and dropping them into the sink.

Baby, ignoring Jinu, walked over to the fridge and pulled out a can of soda. He smiled for a moment. The can he chose was the one with his picture on it. Watermelon pink, it was.

“Jinu, look! It’s me!”, he chimed.

Jinu smiled and ruffled Baby’s hair.

“You’re bringing that to the park? It’s kind of early for soda.”, he asked.

“No shit I’m bringing it. You think I’m going to drink water covered in Derpy spit?”, Baby scoffed, shoving the can into the pocket of his hoodie. “Besides. Soda tastes better.”

Jinu sighed and pulled Baby’s hood over his head. He tightened it slightly, smiling at Baby’s round face resting in the middle.

“Aww… My little tanuki!”, he cooed.

Baby smirked, pulling up Jinu’s hood next. His hoodie was designed like a tiger, but in white.

“Ha! You look like Derpy!”, he said with a laugh.

Jinu smiled and let out a low growl. While not a good impression of his pet, it still made Baby laugh.

“I suppose we’re ready now.”, the main demon assumed. “Grab your backpack.”

Overjoyed, Baby rushed into the living room to grab his backpack. He followed this by placing it over his shoulders and tightening the straps. He then grabbed Nuki from the floor and held him tight.

“And away we go!”

As Jinu said this, he helped Baby climb onto his back. The Maknae let out a happy squeal as Jinu held him up.

————————————————————————

“Park! Park! Park! Park! Park!”, Baby and Jinu chanted in unison as they traveled down the sidewalk.

“We sound like Huntrix!”, Baby said with a giggle.

“I suppose we do, huh?”, Jinu agreed, walking over to the entrance of the park.

It was like a ghost town there. However, it was early. Most kids were in school and most adults were at work. That’s how Baby and Jinu preferred it. A whole park to themselves with no one to judge. Plus, Baby had the opportunity to regress without worrying he’d be seen by fans.

There was a difference between his baby act he put on for fans and his regression. When putting on a baby act, he could at least control himself and snap out of it when needed. When he regressed, he felt trapped in his mind and didn’t want to leave. It was a safe space.

“Down you go, your majesty.”

When the bottom of his shoes touched the sand below, Baby immediately began to dash towards the playground that was just beside the main area. Jinu sighed, knowing what this meant.

“Push me, Jinu-hyung! Come on!”, Baby begged as he got into a swing, Nuki sitting in a baby swing beside him.

“What do you say?”, Jinu asked.

Of course Jinu would say this. Baby let out a groan and leaned back. He leaned back so far the he fell off the swing. Before Jinu could panic, the maknae uttered a dull “please?”.

“Very good! Jinu will push you to the moon!”

“Yeah yeah…”, Baby grumbled as Jinu picked him up and placed him back into the swing.

With one big push, the swing began to move. Baby went from annoyed to amused. His feet kicked and he happily laughed. This was so much fun. He felt so free! If only he knew about the song Jinu and Rumi sang together.

“Higher!”

“Hold tight!”, Jinu commanded, pushing a bit harder.

Baby squealed and laughed harder, feeling his stomach jump anytime he looked down.

“I wanna go over the bar!”, he begged.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.”, Jinu denied, arms crossed and a smug smile on his face.

Baby blew a raspberry at his hyung, then went back to laughing. He absolutely loved how fast he was going. It was stimulating. Everything about it was perfect.

Of course, the maknae was guilty of being a bit daring. Maybe a little too daring. With a look of content, he let out a happy shout and leapt off of the swing.

“Baby!”

The maknae ended up slamming right into the sand below, which wasn’t what he had planned. He hoped to land on his feet.

“Oh my god! Are you okay?”

Jinu picked the boy up and hugged him tight.

“Baby, why would you do that? You could’ve broken your neck!”

Despite the panic, Baby only howled with laughter. Was this funny to him? What was he thinking?

“Ugh… You need to stop scaring me like that.”

“But it’s funny!”, Baby declared, cuddling against his hyung.

“Maybe for you…”, Jinu sighed, brushing sand off of Baby’s hoodie. “Even if you’re not hurt, you could’ve been.”

“Don’t be such a mom.”, Baby said with a smirk, brushing his nose against Jinu’s.

After the chaos from the swing, Baby found himself at the top of an extremely tall slide. Without hesitation, he slid right down. Jinu stood at the bottom, a bit nervous.

“Weee! Look, I’m like Huntrix on Play Games With Us! Except I’m not wearing leather!”

“Right…”, Jinu said with a shaky laugh, holding his arms out at the bottom.

Baby didn’t expect to slide into Jinu. So for a moment, he gasped and tried to freeze up. This didn’t work and he went right into Jinu’s arms. The older demon happily held him up, like a proud mother would with her child.

“Yay!”

It was moments like these that Baby knew he was spoiled. Maybe a little too spoiled. Not that this concerned the maknae. He deserved to be spoiled. He was perfect.

“Jinu, I has soda now?”, he asked, purposefully talking in a childlike tone.

Caught off guard, Jinu smiled and laughed a bit.

“Sure, buddy. Just try not to spill it all over yourself. We didn’t bring any extra clothes.”, the main demon replied, heading towards a bench.

For a moment, Baby felt off. He felt as if maybe he was forgetting something. As Jinu sat him onto the bench, brushing more sand off of him after, the maknae frowned.

Something was missing. What was it?

“Be careful opening that can. It's been shaken up in your pocket for a while now.”

Thinking harder, Baby put his finger on his chin. The moment he did this, he caught a glimpse of his sleeve. His sleeve reminded him of one thing.

“NUKI!”, he cried. “Where is he?”

Jinu looked around, then shrugged. Paranoid, the maknae rushed off of the bench. Fortunately, he saw his raccoon dog sitting in the same baby swing as before. Like lightning, he flashed over and pulled the toy out. A tight hug were all the words he needed.

Watching from the bench, Jinu smiled and shook his head. He loved the pure joy his little maknae brewed.

“Come on, buddy! Let's take a break!”, he called out.

Nuki held tight, Baby rushed back over to Jinu.

“Awfully harsh of you to leave me in the swing, Babe.”, Baby made Nuki scoff.

“Accident…”, Baby said meekly, brushing his nose against the stuffed animal once he sat down.

The oldest and youngest Saja boys sat side by side, happily admiring the beautiful morning. It was a warm fall day. Not too breezy, just how Baby liked it. The trees hadn't lost any leaves yet, but they were preparing to.

“It's nice to be alone and without fans crowding us.”, Jinu stated, laying back. “So nice and quiet. No screaming or arguing. Just a hyung and his maknae.”

“And Nuki!”, Baby declared, holding his toy up.

“Of course.” Jinu agreed, yawning and scooting closer to Baby. “Jinu, Baby, and Nuki. That’s how I like it.”

Baby smiled and wrapped his arms around his hyung. He thought alike to Jinu. While he loved his other hyungs, moments where it’s just him and Jinu were special.

As he felt cozy and safe, Baby took his soda out of his pocket and pulled the tab. The pop noise made him smile. There was something about the sound of a soda can popping that was so enjoyable.

Gleefully, the maknae took a big gulp of the watermelon flavored soda. It was perfect. The park was perfect. Jinu was perfect. Honestly, everything about this morning felt perfect.

“Jinu? Did you mean it when you said you like when it's just us?”, he asked.

“Cross my heart, buddy.”, Jinu agreed, reaching into Baby's backpack and pulling out his blanket. “You're my little one and nothing will ever change that.”

When the blanket was handed to him, Baby gave it a hug and smiled. This triggered something in Jinu. His patterns flashed across his neck and he was ever so slightly shaking. Baby looked at his hyung, catching onto what was happening.

“Jinu…”, he said with a glare.

The main demon felt himself tingle all over. He couldn't take it. Immediately he took his phone out.

“Let me take some pictures for the fans! Pleeeeease!”, he begged.

Since he wasn't tired, at the moment, perhaps Jinu spoiling Baby wouldn't be such an issue. The maknae knew he could take advantage of this. Ever so casually, he placed Nuki over his head and held his paws. He playfully stuck his tongue out as he did so.

Jinu squeaked, his lips tugging into a big smile as he snapped a few pictures. His heart was practically beating out of his chest.

“Get creative!”

Thinking for a moment, Baby held his blanket over his head next, almost making it resemble a bonnet.

“Hewwo Mama!”, Baby teased, talking in that obnoxious baby voice again. “I want baba pwease! And I needs to make tinkles!”

Anyone would find this talk cringe. Maybe even painful to listen to. A part of Baby was even cringing himself at how ridiculous he sounded. No way he'd ever talk this way in front of the fans. Being mute was what they preferred from him.

The maknae changed his expression from cute to sad. He sniffled, quivering his lip.

“Mama? I want baba now! No ignore Baby!”

The shelf holding all of Jinu's self control collapsed. A squeal escaped his lips and he immediately fell off the bench. He curled up into a little ball and started to babble a bunch of nonsense. Like Romance, hearts flowed off of him. He was too attached to his maknae.

“Um… Did I overdo it?”

Jinu laid on the ground, looking as if he passed out. Curiously, Baby pulled open one of his eyelids. His pupils were replaced by hearts. Drool poured out of his mouth.

“Whoops… Guess we'll have to wait until he wakes up, Nuki.”

Casually, Baby looked at all of the playground equipment that he hadn't gone on yet. So much to choose from…

“SEESAW!”

Baby flashed over, placing Nuki on one end and himself on the other. He roughly bounced in place, not succeeding in moving at all.

“Come on, Nuki! Use your legs!”

Like any plush toy would, Nuki just laid there and did absolutely nothing. Baby let out a groan.

“Fine! I have a better idea!”

The maknae grabbed his toy and dashed over to one of the spring riders. He was lucky he wasn't very heavy, compared to his hyungs, otherwise he'd for sure break it.

Happily, he climbed onto one that looked like a dragon and proceeded to rock back and forth. Loudly, he laughed and squealed as he moved. He had Nuki tucked into his hoodie, allowing the raccoon dog to adorably pop out of the neck hole. This was better than a dumb old seesaw. The only downside was the awful creaking sound. Baby didn’t like it very much, but he pushed himself to ignore it long enough to have fun.

“Faster! Faster! We have a village to burn with our fire! Rooooar!”

Baby got so into the mood that he found himself involuntarily regressing, as he tended to do when comfortable enough.

“Faster! Faster!”

Back at the bench, Jinu let out a groan as he got off of the ground.

“Ugh… I went overboard… again.”, he said to himself.

Clumsily, the older demon took a seat back onto the bench and brushed the sand off of his hoodie.

“Um… Excuse me?”, a voice asked.

Quickly, Jinu tightened his hood and tried to talk in a lower voice.

“Yes?”, he replied, noticing a middle aged woman behind the bench.

“What do you think you're doing here?”, she asked, sounding a bit rude.

Jinu looked a bit confused, then tried to act natural.

“I'm watching my… s-son play. I wanted to spend some time with him this morning.”, he responded, internally hoping he nailed it.

The woman glared.

“Okay… Where is he?”, she asked. “Is he behind the creepy grown man on the dragon?”

“Creepy grown man on the drag-”

Jinu looked ahead, seeing Baby rocking back and forth with a happy smile on his face.

“Oh! That is my son.”

“Your son? How old is he?”, the woman asked.

God this was an awkward question to ask. Jinu almost always had a different answer. However, he seemed to be doing well with labeling Baby as a young adult.

“He just turned twenty. Why?”, he responded.

The woman looked at the maknae the best she could. Seeing how he was dressed, compared to him having a stuffed animal and a blanket, she clearly had the wrong idea.

“Huh… So he's disabled, then?”, she assumed.

“What-”

“Regardless, it's creepy you'd even bring him here. No one should be exposed to someone behaving in such a manner.”, the woman scoffed. “What’s your plans? Waiting for children?”

“Listen, miss! I intentionally came here early so we wouldn't run into any kids! I have enough common sense to know it’s creepy to bring my child here if there were any minors running around. And he knows damn well he shouldn't be playing here with kids around. We're not stupid.”, Jinu explained, trying to defend Baby the best he could.

While understanding, the woman still found something to comment on.

“I just… I don't know. People like him just make me uncomfortable.”, she stated. “I mean, I know he didn’t choose to be helpless. He was just unfairly born into this lifestyle.”

Jinu's patterns flashed from under his hoodie and his eyes glowed gold. He proceeded to talk in a lower and menacing tone.

“Why are you watching him, then? Maybe you're the creep for choosing to watch my little one have fun. Do you have something against a father being there for his son?”, he hissed.

“Well no… But it would've done others a favor if you kept him at home.”, she declared.

“So you think because you're uncomfortable with my child having fun, he should leave?”, Jinu spat, trying to control himself.

“What I'm saying is that he's disturbing others. Control him before he scares someone. No one needs their morning spoiled by that.”, the woman added, immediately walking off with an entitled look.

Beyond being disgusted and angry, Jinu felt his patterns flash so violently that he screamed. He morphed into his demon form, tightly clutching the bench and gritting his teeth. He was pissed. But… also devastated. Tears streamed out of his eyes as he watched that entitled bitch walk away. How dare she talk about his Baby like that? While Jinu wasn't sure if his maknae had any disabilities, and even if he did, it wouldn't be a burden, he was still furious that someone would make such awful comments. Baby was a person with feelings. So were those with disabilities. Jinu had plenty of encounters with a neurodivergent fan and he never saw them as something that should be ‘kept at home’.

“BITCH!”, he screamed.

“Jinu-hyung?”, Baby uttered, sounding a bit scared.

Jinu looked back, seeing his maknae in tears.

“Sweet Baby? What happened? Did you fall?”, he asked, his tone gentle.

Even if he was in his demon form, he was still nurturing. Baby knew this well. Still, he hated seeing his hyung so angry.

“I hit my elbow on the dragon when I was climbing off. It doesn't hurt much but-”

Jinu quickly gave Baby's elbow a kiss.

“There you go, buddy.”, Jinu cooed.

Baby frowned, holding his blanket over his head and sniffling.

“I heard you yelling at that woman… What did she do?”, he asked, climbing onto the bench and cuddling up to Jinu.

The moment Baby's loving arms were around him, Jinu morphed back into his human form. He let out a soft sigh as he hugged the younger demon.

“She… She just said some rude things about us and I got mad. Don't worry about it.”, the older demon replied, swaying Baby.

“What did she say?”, Baby wondered, resting his head against Jinu's chest.

The harsh words from that woman was enough to make Jinu lose it again. However, he didn't want to scare Baby. So instead, he took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts.

“She said we made her uncomfortable and that you should be kept at home. I told her off. She can't control us.”, he explained, hugging Baby tight.

Understanding, Baby's eyes glowed and he looked at Jinu.

“Can we eat her soul?”, he asked.

Amused, Jinu smiled and shook his head.

“Those days are over, Sweet Baby.”, he replied.

“But she made you upset.”, Baby stated.

The desperation of the maknae was enough to make Jinu laugh a bit.

“Yeah… but if we want to live as humans, we have to react how humans would. That means being nice and ignoring assholes like her.”, the older demon explained, standing up and holding Baby close. “If she tried to threaten you, though… Maybe I wouldn't have let her off so easily.”

Baby chuckled and brushed his nose against Jinu's. Jinu followed this by kissing his cheek.

“Can we go home now? I'm hungry.”, the younger demon asked.

“When are you not hungry?”, Jinu laughed, holding the boy close as he walked out of the park. “You haven't even drank any of your water yet.”

“I don't want to drink Derpy spit.”, Baby declared, pulling on Jinu's hoodie strings.

Jinu stuck his tongue out, which made the young demon laugh out loud. He tried to grab Jinu's tongue, only for it to slip back into the older demon's mouth.

“My little boy… Nothing will change that. No one will say otherwise. And no one will tell me you can't run freely.”, the older demon thought, smiling as Baby started drifting off in his arms. “Just a hyung and his maknae. The perfect duo. And nothing can change that.”

As the sun was shining brightly in the sky, Baby and Jinu managed to shine brighter. They were together. Just how it should always be.