#also [[gives mammon his swearing at the wee hours of the morning license]]

[otome-on-the-side]

Comfort

Sanctuary

Mammon/GN!reader 

fluff with a smidge of angst to start 

ao3 mirror

[Part 2] [Part 3]

It always gave Mammon a fucking heart attack to find you curled up here or there when he wasn’t expecting it. He found you in his room, constantly, whenever you felt like you needed to hide.

You never tell him whenever you do it; you knew he wouldn’t be able to lie to any of his brothers if they came looking.

He knew full well why you were doing it. He could get that being in a house of scary demons could be too much to handle for their precious human, sometimes. Of course you’d tuck yourself into the safety of the Great Mammon’s room. He was the second eldest for a reason; if push came to shove, he could easily knock his little brothers heads together.

He really did love his brothers, but Father knew how much he wanted them to back off sometimes.

It was a dream. You’d walked these steps, you’d seen that gate, so, so many times. The end result was always the same- bones snapping, your neck bending at an angel it was never meant to bend. All as you looked into Belphegor’s joyful eyes.

Finally opening your eyes, gasping for breath, only to still see his looking into yours- It was enough to have your foot slamming into his gut, throwing yourself out of bed with Belphie as your launchpad.

Belphegor let you go, significantly more awake than he was moments prior. You hadn’t realized you were speaking, but the breathless chant of, “no no no no,” as you ran was enough to keep him from chasing your panicked ass down.

He didn’t mind scaring you a little at this point, every now and then- it was funny to see you jump out of your skin when he quietly stood behind you in the hall at school or around the house- but he didn’t want this. Not anymore. He’d had his fill- and this was part of the consequences of having it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The slam of Mammon’s car door and the chirp of its lock has him throwing on sweats, cursing in the dark when he stumbled over clutter- cursing again when his car lights blinded him.

Still blinking spots out of his eyes- stupid human looking shell- he tugged on the door handle. It didn’t budge.

That pushed whatever exhaustion he was feeling out of his head. Peering into the window, he could see you curled against the opposite door, back towards his door.

There was a distinct ‘click’, and Mammon was sliding into the car before you could look up. He closes the door behind him, but he doesn't quite sit down. It's more of an awkward hunch with him bending at the knees to shave off his height. It'd look almost comical if he wasn't as tensed like a spring and angry enough to have waves of it radiating off him.

“What’s wrong?” He tried to keep his voice even. Despite that, it still sounded loud in the quiet of the car.

“Um, uh,” That was weird; you could have sworn you’d gotten your breathing in control as you sniffled again. “Bad dream- woke up to Belphie.” You don't need to tell him what that bad dream was about.

“The fuck was he doing in your room?” Mammon barely spoke above a whisper, but he could feel his mouth starting to curl into a snarl.

“Uh, well,” you took a deep, shuttery breath, trying to get your voice under control. If only you could take a normal deep breath; you just couldn’t get enough air. “He w-wanted to s-spend more time with me, a-and he w-wanted t-to ha-ve”, you take a pause for another gasping breath, determined to finish your thought. “-to have the same relationship as I-I do with the r-rest of you.” Mammon’s stiff in his seat. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you as you tried, you tried so hard, to regain some amount of composure. Mammon remains still, utterly torn between tearing out of the car to rip Belphie a new one, and aggressively suppressing the urge to scoop you into his arms and comfort you- tucking you somewhere safe-

His bed, his traitorous thoughts whispered, wrapping you in his big plush comforter and holding you close to his heart, so you knew you’d be safe-

He tore his gaze away from your shaking form and turned, tugging at the door growling, “Well, he doesn’t. You can pretend ya don’t have survival instincts all you want, human, but that sadistic asshole knows damn well how you dirt sculptures rewire yourselves around scary shit.” The car’s still locked, and he doesn’t want to break the door down and scare you more. Mammon puts his hands up and grips at the car roof, taking a deep breath through his nostrils.

He hadn’t noticed he’d shifted- he wanted to give Belphegor a taste of Lucifer’s favorite punishments, bastard should have been nowhere near your room- until you made him practically jump out of his constructed skin by throwing yourself at him, arms wrapping around his shoulders.

Reflexively, he’s pulling you upward- trying to keep you from falling and managing to twist your ankle, or something- picking you up with a grunt of surprise. You’re shaking in his arms, wracked with unwanted sobs, but you hold on to Mammon firmly.

“Breathe.” He tries to sound firm, stern even, like Lucifer might, but it comes out so soft. “An’ unlock the car. I need ta talk to my little brother.”

You don’t do either of these things. Well, you’re still breathing, but you don’t take a moment to collect yourself. No, you cling to him a little harder, burying your face in his neck, saying “W-wait. Please, can we j-ust stay? …Like this?”

Even if your voice hadn’t broken, even if you weren’t shaking and gasping for breath through tears, that wasn’t a request Mammon had any hope of denying.

He slowly sinks down against the car door, one hand cradling the back of your head. Oh so carefully, he wraps his wings around you, tucking you even closer to his heart. Mammon’s almost thankful you’re too preoccupied to notice its hammering. Almost.

It isn’t until your breathing evens out and deepens that Mammon lets out a deep breath, content. He gives himself a bit of time to observe your sleeping face, relaxed, cute, sweet, before he joins you in sleep.