Trigger Warnings: corporal punishment, physical & verbal abuse, homophobia, family death

Deming was the secondborn son, almost six years younger than his older brother, Lijun. Growing up, he knew that his dad didn't love him; he never said it out loud, but he was harder on Demin than his brothers. If he made a mistake while practicing on the piano, he got his hands caned. If he wasn't home when he was expected, regardless of the reason, he was caned. He'd only ever seen his older brother caned a couple of times, and their dad never caned their younger brother, Bin. Deming thought it was a big unfair, but he didn't realize how wrong it actually was until he was grown.

The worst beatings he ever got came in his early teens. When his dad caught him painting his nails, he took the bottle of nail polish and threw it against the wall so hard that it shattered. He caned Deming's hands (backs and palms) and then demanded Deming clean up the nail polish. He caned him again when he couldn't clean it all the way. Not long after, Deming got caught making out with a boy from school, and his father was so furious that he beat him naked until he was covered in bruises and bleeding welts. 

It was around this time that Deming started to notice that he was fundamentally different from other people. His eyes, which had always been a lighter brown than his family's, turned bright gold. His natural charm that had always got him out of trouble with adults and made him popular with his peers was dialed up to 13. Little things, but they all started to add up over the next couple of years. When he was 16, a stranger showed up at the house, demanding to see "the boy". His mom tried to keep the stranger out, but he shoved his way in and declared that he was there for what was his. That was the day Deming learned the truth: he was the son of a demon. 

The demon wanted to take Deming then and there, but Deming refused to go with him; he had no interest in being a monster. His demonic father didn't like this, but wanted him to come of his own free will, so he left that night, but started returning every few months to try to persuade Deming to come with him so he could "become what he was meant to be". Deming refused over and over for a year, and eventually, the demon grew tired of asking. Shortly after that, Deming, his mom, and brothers were in a car crash that killed everyone but him. 

Deming couldn't face his dad after that, so he disappeared; there was no one left who cared enough to look for him. He showed up again years later as Damien Zhang, and soon became a famous magician, illusionist, and psychic.