The sun was shining high in the sky as Raya brought the basket full of spices and other new things he bought inside the house, one that was... eerie quiet. He frowned and slowly placed the basket down onto the table.

"Lixian?" He called out and shuffled towards the only other room there was when he didn't hear anything.

He stopped in his tracks and breathed a chuckle when he saw the demon knocked out on his bed, his face burried into his pillow. He smiled and combed a hand through his hair before leaving, letting the demon sleep. He probably needed it.

He took everything out of the basket and started to work on his garden. It had been a long time since he last took care of it, but because spring was coming, he kind of had to start again.

•

Lixian grumbled softly when the sun shone in his eyes, waking him up from his peaceful nap. He turned his face the other way and inhaled the amazing scent of the pillow, making his body relax again. His ears, however, picked up a strange sound he didn't recognise, something that made his eyes shoot open instantly.

He sat up and frowned when he heard it again. With a suddenly fast beating heart he quietly stood up from the comfortable bed and walked out of the room. He softly tiptoed around as his eyes flickered to red, his demon side coming out for protection. Lixian didn't saw anyone in the house so he slowly walked towards the backdoor where the sound became louder. The old, wooden entrance creaking open as he peeked through the slit outside.

Raya looked up at the sound and held his breath in slight shock when he saw two red orbs stare back down at him. The demon frowned and within a second, his eyes were back to their normal color.

"A-are you ok?" The human stuttered. Not used to seeing such colourful, bright eyes.

Lixian looked back up at Raya and nodded, his heart slowly calming down again. There was no danger. He was safe.

Raya smiled and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, the bright sun warm on his tanned skin. Lixian's eyes scanned him up and down, now just noticing how dirty he actually was. "I heat up some water when I came back, it should be warm by now. You wanna shower after I'm done?"

The demon silently nodded again. Though the human didn't need more than that, he just smiled in return and cleaned up his gardening tools. He grabbed a towel from inside and went back outside to open the gate to the outdoor shower. He closed it behind him and stripped his body from his dirty clothes, hanging them over the edge of the wooden fence.

It was not much, but his shower was good enough for him. Not many people had a shower, always just using baths, but it was a quicker way of cleaning yourself Raya always thought. It didn't have a roof or anything, it was just a barrel full of rainwater and a wooden fence for some privacy. Even though nobody ever came here. It was nice, being one with nature. Feeling the fresh air around you and hearing the birds above you...

Raya closed the barrel after a few minutes of scrubbing and using his new soup, and dried himself off with the towel. Steam rose up from his damp skin as he wrapped it tightly around his hips. He grabbed his dirty clothes and quickly went back inside, not wanting to catch a cold with being out for too long. There he saw the demon on the floor by the fireplace, a book in his hands as he tried to read the words out loud. "You can shower now, if you want."

Lixian closed the book at hearing that, leaving it there as he stood up and followed the human outside.

"Just open the thing up like this and you have wa— Ah! —It's a bit slippery here, so look out." Raya laughed as he had grabbed the demon's arm before he'd fallen down. Lixian flinched at the touch, something Raya noticed, which made him retrace his hand quickly. "I'm sorry."

"I-It's fine." The demon breathed out as he tried to calm down his body from the sudden shock wave it had felt. He averted his eyes from the human and looked down at the wooden floor, feeling embarrassed.

Raya eyed him shortly, but decided to let him be and left the shower so he could do his thing. Lixian took a quick glance when he left and held his breath when his eyes fell onto the low hanging towel around the human's waist. He shook his head, trying to lose his stupid thoughts. "It is just a weak human." He mumbled annoyed with himself. "Stop being weird."

He stepped out of his clothes and opened up the barrel like Raya had instructed him. Warm water splashed onto him as he did and caused the corners if his mouth to pull up in satisfaction. He sighed in delight and closed his eyes, allowing his muscles to relax. Slowly forgetting about his stupid thoughts.

After cleaning his body, he closed up the barrel and dried himself down. He went back inside and saw Raya making some food by the fireplace. The human turned around when he heard Lixian come in and picked up a pile of clothes next to him, holding it out for him to take. "I thought you might want some clean ones."

Lixian took the clean clothes as Raya bounced happily on his place by the fire. "I made you a bigger shirt so you can actually fit in it!"

The quiet creature pulled everything on as the older looked away and examining the soft cloth around his torso with his hands, quite liking it.

"I got some new spices from the market today too." Raya continued to smile excitedly while facing the food, not knowing if he was already done with changing or not.

The demon put his dirty clothes on the table and sat down next to Raya by the fire, closer then he had been before which caused the boy to look up at him in surprise. Raya smiled that dazzling smile of his before looking back at the meat he was marinating, not wanting to scare him away with his excitement.

Lixian subtly leaned a little closer, nervous of being this close to the boy, but still wanting to. He didn't understand his feelings. Humans were supposed to be bad! Not sweet and caring or gentle. Let alone be this... handsome. It wasn't fair. It wasn't supposed to be like this and yet here he was, subtly inhaling that gorgeous scent he couldn't get enough of while looking at that little smile he began to adore.

"Isn't it amazing!" Raya exclaimed happily, causing the creature to snap out of his daze as the human suddenly shoved something into his mouth.

Lixian glared shortly at the exited boy before slowly chewing, trusting the human wouldn't kill him —Or more like he hoped. His eyes widened when he tasted the flavours. Actually surprised that it, indeed, tasted amazing.

"This is my new favorite spice." Raya giggled and took a bite himself.

•

Lixian was laying on his stomach as the human sat beside him. A cup with some sort of unknown drink in his left hand while the other pointed at a word he couldn't read.

"Interested." He mumbled after the human had explained it.

"Yes." Raya smiled and took a sip of his drink. "How do you say it in your language?"

"Esterne." He mumbled and placed his head down onto his arms, his eyes fixated on the boy next to him.

"Sounds beautiful." Raya smiled as he looked down at him.

Lixian eyed the cup when the human took another sip of it, curious to know what it was. He sat up slowly and pointed at the drink in his hand, his onyx eyes so innocent. "Can I try?"

"It's alcohol, you know what that is?"

"No?"

Raya smirked and gave him the cup, eager to see how he would react to it. Lixian sniffed the cup and scrunched up his nose at the smell, which found the human apparently hilarious as he burst out laughing. "It's not for everybody, I suppose."

The demon pursed his lips at that before taking a small sip anyway, but almost choked on the stuff when it went down his throat. He felt a burning sensation after he swallowed it and coughed softly, trying to ease his throat a bit.

A laughing Raya made his eyes flicker to his contagious smile. He frowned and licked his warm, tinteling lips. Tasting the liquid. It did taste nice, but the burn that was still in his throat was uncomfortable.

"I told you, it's not for everybody." Raya smiled and was about to take the cup back, but the demon couldn't help but feel irritated that the boy thought he couldn't handle such a stupid, human thing.

So he downed it all in one go.

Raya gasped and quickly grabbed the cup out of his hands, placing it down somewhere on the ground before turning back at him. "Are you crazy? That stuff is way to strong for you to drink it like that!" He hissed as he saw how Lixian struggled to swallow the liqueur.

He wanted him to spit it out, but the stubborn demon downed it quickly and shook his head in disgust. Raya sighed in defeat as he looked back at the slight smirk the demon was displaying on his face. "You know, it's your own fault if you throw up."

Lixian rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. He began to feel a little weird after a few minutes though. His stomach and cheeks feeling all warm as everything seemed to slow down. "I feel weird." He mumbled eventually.

"Alcohol does that to people, yes." Raya laughed, himself also a little tipsy.

He grinned when the demon touched his own arm, frowning in confusion. Raya laid down onto his back while leaning onto his elbows, never looking away from the tipsy creature next to him. It was quiet for a few minutes before Raya spoke his mind, not having a filter because of the alcohol that flowed through his system.

"What happened to you before I found you that day in the woods?"

Lixian glanced up from his lap and hesitated a second before answering. His own filter gone as well. "They call themselves The Venatores." He mumbled softly before letting himself fall down onto his back too, eyes fixated on the ceiling. "They had found me one day after I was being reckless flying around with my friends... So they um—" He swallowed the lump that had formed inside his throat by thinking back about that day and frowned sorrowfully.

"You don't have to say it." Raya whispered. "Maybe... I can see your wings instead?" He suggested.

Lixian rolled his head to the side to lock eyes with the human. Maybe it was the alcohol making his mind all fuzzy, but he didn't think this boy would ever hurt him. Or at least intentionally. He could've done that a thousand times by now, but he never has given him any reason to believe he would.

"Alright." He whispered after a few seconds and sat up while slowly pulling off his shirt. Lixian closed his eyes and forced his wings to come out. Softly groaned in pain when they pierced through his skin, stretching them out a bit after being locked up for so long.

Raya let his mouth fall open while he sat up too. Crawling closer towards the demon and sitting down onto his knees before him, eyes fixicated on the beautiful, black wings behind his back. "They are amazing." The human whispered excitedly, not noticing the eyes that were watching him curiously.

Lixian didn't know what to expect, but it definitely wasn't this. He moved his right wing a little closer and tilted his head. "You want to touch it?"

Raya's eyes widened at his words as his brown orbs flickered to the black ones in front of him. "Are you sure?"

Lixian nodded and shuffled a little closer. Raya smiled and lifted his hand, his fingers slowly grazing the wing as he felt the weird texture underneath his fingertips. The younger held his breath when he felt those little tingles again and glanced up at the human, his cheeks turning a rosy colour the longer he watched him up close like this.

He didn't know if it was the alcohol in his body causing it to react like that, or that it was something else...