#demon hours started early today apparently

[teddybeartoji]

toji fucking his fist while holding your panties to his face just bc he misses you sm:((((((((((((

[krispycreamcake]

Interview with a vampire:

A Sakamaki exposé, episode 2

We're going on air in.....3.....2......1!

Gooood morning everyone! And welcome back to Interview With a Vampire, with our host Claudia Bogdan!

So Claudia, our last episode was quite a spectacle- at least according to our viewers. Since then, apparently public outrage has increased by at least 10%. Ranging from social media posts to downright strikes. What do you have to say about that?

Honestly, I wish I knew more vocabulary so I could express what I want to say. I think that it's a good thing that people are finally waking up, and last night actually- I know it's a bit silly, but last night I teared up at the thought of how we're actually doing some good in this world.

That's nothing to be ashamed of! And a little bird told me actually that we're having another guest star on today's episode.

Ha! Well you heard right, today we have someone else that we will be interviewing. Hopefully this time a little more responsive than the last guy.

Well don't keep us shrouded in mystery, who is this ominous stranger?

Why don't we all find out together hm? Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our very own renowned videographer and journalist, Decima Amadeus!

Welcome Decima, it's so nice to see your face again!

Ahaha- please no flattery until I'm sure you can cover the expenses of both our dinners tonight.

So Decima, are you ready for another groundbreaking interview?

I myself wouldn't call it groundbreaking- ahem. But yes, let's get on with it then. Today we have Ayato Sakamaki, the one and only, Prince of the Underworld, here with us today!

Yours truly is sure you must be eternally grateful to have me here on your show at such an early hour, so let's cut the small talk and get straight into it!

Right.... Well then. Let's start off easy. I'm presuming you've watched our most recent episode with your older brother, Reiji Sakamaki?

Huh? Oh that- Yes I've seen it. If you ask me, Reiji's too uptight to be doing interviews. You'll never get anything outta that guy, unlike Ore-sama, I'll actually provide for your viewers.

Ah, I'm sure you will. Now, the reason I brought that up is, would you like to refute any statements he's made? Add on to anything in particular before moving on with things?

Like I said already, there's nothing you'll get from focusing on him. Let's just continue with today's interview, kay?

Right, my apologies. So now that you confirmed for us that you're all receiving a healthy, if not gluttonous, blood supply throughout the years while the rest of us are here fighting a pandemic-

W-Wha!? I never said that! What're ya putting words in my mouth for, huh?

I'm not. Earlier I asked if you'd like to refute any claims made by Mr. Sakamaki from our previous episode, and you said you'd pass on it and instead would prefer to, and I quote, "continue with today's interview."

And the last time I spoke to him, a very interesting topic of classism was brought up and I highlighted the fact that you Sakamakis have a personal blood blank as to which you can access at any time. That to which, your brother did not deny.

First of all, it's not a blood bank! Get your facts straight woman. Secondly, I believe my brother stated that our family matters are none of your concern.

Oh? Well according to my sources, they state otherwise. You have a blood reservoir and refuse to share with the rest of the Bat clan, barely contributing anything to our society, yet we are meant to call you "Princes of the demon realm."

Ha! Talk truly is cheap! What? Do you think we just go out of our way to build a secret blood facility in the human realm and just pump out the blood whenever we feel like it?

Is that not the case?

You and your fans wish! I've dealt with enough women throughout the years to know how you all think. You're trying to get me to slip up and say whether or not we have some fancy stash of blood and where it comes from right?

I never-

Well let me tell you somethin lady, you may have duped my pain in the ass brother, but I'm Ayato Sakamaki, the one, the only, the great, Ore-sama and I refuse to sit here and be manipulated by some three star journalist.

Hm, is it fine with you if I circle back for a moment?

Ah? Sure, do whatever.

You said you're accustomed to dealing with women from your past experiences throughout the years, correct?

Yeah so?

Can you just give us a time span to be exact? I just need to make sure I have the timeline correct.

Haah? Time span? I dunno, I guess maybe from the past couple hundred years or so? I haven't been seeing anyone for a while so it's hard to recall. Why? What's it to you?

Ah- well you see Mr. Sakamaki, from what I've gathered from today is that, not only are you hording some form of a blood supply in the human realm, via containment unit or not, you've also spent the last hundred years leisurely lazing around with women-

Oi! Now wait a-

Please Mr. Sakamaki, I'm far from done. While our society is on the brink of collapse, you're drinking a free, and presumably, infinite amount of blood whilst simultaneously having sex with all these women you claim to have been with.

And on our last episode, when I called out the Sakamakis for sitting on their pampered asses, I was criticized and ridiculed by those of the higher ups.

Well you have it here everyone, the world as we know it is ending and our lovely princes have been engaging in adultery and gluttony.

NO! That's not!-

Til next time dear viewers!

From author: The next one's gonna be so juicy god I love doing these. Anyways, TYSM for all your support! I love you all, byebye!!

[knockyasocksoff2022]

Dazai's a jerk when he's sick.

From last year's Sicktember prompts.

Chuuya's Perspective:

Something slams into me and I jolt awake. I sit up and look around but the room is dark and the only other person around is my partner, and he’s fast asleep. Damn brat must’ve kicked me!

The clock says there’s still an hour before I need to be awake, but once I’ve been woken I don’t fall easily asleep again so I might as well get ready, while I can still have my coffee in peace before Osamu wakes up.

Before I can finish it though my stomach starts growling fiercely. Normally as soon as we get up Osamu starts making breakfast, but today he’s still asleep.

Huffing I walk back into our bedroom to wake my husband, I do feel a little bit guilty for waking him early but I need food.

I shake his shoulders, but he stays perfectly still. I do it again, but still nothing. It’s strange, because of his insomnia, he’s always easy to wake up.

Finally, I resort to yanking the covers off. He wakes immediately. 

“WHAT?” His voice positively drips with annoyance and anger, he glares daggers at me. It catches me off guard and I don’t answer. “Oh, so you just woke me up for nothing, is that it?”  He takes the duvet from the floor and begins to lay back down.

At last, I unfreeze, whatever guilt I had before gone, “Hey! Asshole, wake up, I need breakfast, and you owe me because you kicked me out of bed!” The words come out harsh, my tone matching his.

“I don’t care.” is all he says his eyes not even open.

We go back and forth for a while before I end up dragging him out of bed and into the kitchen.

“I can’t cook, it’s too cold in here.”

“It is not! It’s 22 degrees, you’re fine, now please hurry up, I’m starving.”

“I’m not hungry, why should I cook if I’m not going to eat?”

“Osamu, stop being a lazy bastard, we’re going to be late.” The words are exasperated more than angry.

“Hmph!”

With a sigh that sounds suspiciously like the word slug, he starts cooking. Breakfast takes way longer than usual and is a little burnt but I’m hungry so it’ll do. True to his word, Osamu doesn’t eat with me, opting instead to go back to bed. Maybe whatever grumpy monster possessed him this morning will have left his body when I wake him up next.

While he sleeps I dress and ready myself for work, when I look presentable I go to poke the beast.

-

I thought he might be less of a demon after a bit more sleep but, apparently not.

When I shake him this time he wakes immediately.

“Can’t even a dumb Chibi like you see that I’m trying to sleep!”

“What did you just say?” annoyance boils under my skin, I don’t want to do this again.

“I said you’re dumb,” he says curling back up.

I yank away the duvet and extra blanket he added, “Say that again, I dare you?”

“Chibi is dumb, as in stupid, and clearly has hearing problems, now go away and let me sleep!” His voice is cold, it ticks me off.

“You have to wake up. You have a job you know. I mean I don’t know how they haven’t fired you yet, but you at least need to go in.” 

“Leave me alone, Chuuya.” his tone is the same one I use when I’m warning an enemy not to try me. What’s with him today? I mean, he’s always kind of a disrespectful dick but, damn.

I make my tone just as cutting, “Well I can’t leave you here, you’ll probably burn down the house and kill yourself or something. Now get up and get dressed, you’re late.”

“I said LEAVE ME ALONE, CHUUYA!!!” his voice sounds like a roar, so loud it scares me.

“Jesus, Osamu, what’s with you today, it’s unlike you to be this shitty? You know what, don’t answer, it’s fine. I don’t even care, go to sleep and die, that’ll make me really happy. I’m going to go to work like a contributing member of society.” and with that I walk out, locking the door behind me.

—

When I get back the house is completely silent, Osamu must be out in the river or wherever he plans to stage his latest attempt on his life. My words from this morning come back to me, I told him he should just die. . . . No, he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t take that seriously. He knows how much I love him, right? It’s fine, he knows I didn’t mean it. The self-assurance doesn’t work very well.

I start to get up to go look for him when I hear loud coughing and then a thud of something human-sized hitting the floor. I run towards the origin of the sound, our bedroom, and throw open the door.

Osamu lays on the floor, on his back, looking rather disoriented. He must’ve coughed so hard he fell.

“Huh?” he sees me, “Oh, Chuuya, how long have you been here, are you going to help me, or not?” His voice is still bitter but the scratchiness of it cuts down the intimidation factor. . . and then he breaks into a coughing fit, and it doesn’t stop the coughing continues and continues a seemingly endless supply of wet hacking coughs bursting out of him so quickly it even looks painful.

I rub his back, my anger long forgotten.

When the fit finally ends his nose is runny and he scrubs it on his sleeve. I can practically feel the heat from his pale body by just being next to him, but I put my hand on his forehead anyway. He’s burning. 

Guilt sweeps through me, when I shook him and when I yanked him out of bed he’d felt warm but I’d assumed that it was just from the blankets.

“You’re sick.”

“No, really?” he croaks

“Come on, let’s get you something for that cough.”

“No, I don’t wanna move.”

“Fine. What have you taken today? Have you even eaten anything today?”

“You think I’ve been able to get out of bed like this?” his sarcasm remains strong even as his voice slowly crackles out.

I ignore it, knowing an argument is the last thing he needs right now. “Okay, I’ll take it that’s a no. Well, you need medicine as quickly as possible so, I know it isn’t really ‘sick person food’ but can you eat some tonkatsu? It’s all we have in the fridge, and you gotta eat something before I give you medicine. Your stomach’s okay, right?”

He nods, I think his voice must be completely gone now.

He pokes at the breading of the pork, slightly soggy from being in the fridge, and pouts, shoving it away.

“Well, sorry, Your Royal Highness, shopping day is tomorrow and I didn’t have much to work with.” I huff, trying not to get annoyed.

With a scowl, he pulls the plate back towards him and begins to peel the breading off.

-

When he’s finally finished, (I swear he ate so slowly just to annoy me, his hatred for medicine aside) he pouts again.

“You’ve gotta take this. You’re warm as hell, this isn’t just something you can sleep off.”

He shakes his head. His voice is long gone, but I can read his lips: “Nu-uh.”

“Yuh-huh. Open up. And don’t you dare act like this is the most disgusting thing you’ve tasted, I‘ve seen you eat year-old canned crab.”

He narrows his eyes, testing me. At last, he huffs, nodding sharply and holding up a finger. One.

“Yeah, just one big sip. I’ll make coffee after, kay.”

He takes the cup, sniffs it then mock gags. 

“Arse.”

-

Five minutes of convincing later, the cup is empty. I groan, my anklebone sore from sitting on the hardwood floor like that for so long.

“You’re a jerk when you’re sick, you know that.”

He nods again, then waves me off towards the kitchen, muttering, “Coffee.”

-

When I return he’s fast asleep.

I can’t help but laugh. “Jerk,” I whisper to no one.

[cangrellesteponme]

NOVEMBER 2ND - FRIENDLY ADVICE

(read this on AO3 here)

dadbastian week day... five? yes yes five i can't count for shit

this is the end of the fluff. unlike my other pieces so far, it's canon compliant AND it's from ciel's pov so you know damn well there are some very depressing thoughts in there. but i swear it's funny at times

in which sebastian's inappropriate bouts of parental care are so uncanny ciel can't bear it.

enjoy!

Unusually enough, Ciel is pulled out of his self-imposed isolation not by darker business, but by bothersome social obligations.

Though it has become routine, a habit carved into him bone-deep by merciless, methodical hands, waking up early is unpleasant as ever. Today, especially, the usual shadows clinging to Ciel’s mood have morphed into both despondency and contrarianism, and it takes all of his self control not to throw his morning teacup against the wall only for the satisfaction of watching it shatter in his stead. The catharsis would be welcomed, but ultimately pointless. It would be neither rational nor worth the effort to lash out.

The day is only starting, and he will need all the energy he can get.

Ciel spends the better part of the two hours allocated to preparations for the day ahead staring out the window. The clouds, of exceptional darkness and volume for the season, make him feel some sense of contentment — Ciel’s soul will never truly know art, but he thinks of poets’ love for nature as a mirror of the self, something he has only known through boringly meticulous study, and almost catches a glimpse of that symbiosis in the skies.

However, Ciel is not his name, no matter how much he tries to convince himself that it fits him as well as an appointed title, and those clouds are to break soon and reform in an endless cycle of tides and rains, of buildup and release — while he himself is only bound to break, and never to reform after his premature destruction.

These are pointless musings, so he puts them aside for the time being.

“I believe you should wear the warmer ensemble, sir,” Sebastian says, his polite tone insufferably fake — intentionally so, Ciel knows, as the demon is fully capable of actually sounding nice.

Looking back at the clothes his butler apparently wants him to wear, Ciel strongly disagrees. Though they do fit his tastes as he favours high coverage, the thick, unpleasant-looking fabrics are clearly chosen to account for cold weather more than the comfort of the wearer — the bane of his existence, in summary, not that he would ever say so out loud.

“I don’t quite care, Sebastian.”

The butler looks annoyed, and makes no effort to hide it, like a scolding mother more than the servant he is supposed to pretend to be. Ciel wants to wipe that expression off his face, scratch it off until his nails are worn and bloody, but that won’t do. The only way to make him bend is an explicit order, and that would mean voicing his discomfort, and he knows Sebastian will push and question him, and of course see through any lie. He could simply not answer, but his silence would betray his turmoil. Ciel knows, deep down, that this is not a matter of distant disgust for the inappropriate liberties Sebastian takes with his role — it is a close kind of unease, as Sebastian’s fleeting bouts of unnatural fondness could almost be returned. The sight of him makes Ciel want to break.

(And on days like these, when the sound of his own ever so shallow breath makes him think of sorrow, the sight of him makes Ciel want to break, yes, and cry, and have someone comfort him lovingly enough to make the entire world go away. He never gives in to the urge, but sometimes his heart is still that of a sheltered child, and he wishes and prays he could be spared.)

“It would be… unfortunate for you to fall ill,” Sebastian eventually says, not letting him lose himself to his thoughts.

Ciel decides then and there that he would rather die of some illness than listen.

Later in the day, the clouds collapse into pouring rain.

Three days later, the consequences of Ciel’s actions come knocking, and the metaphorical impacts echo all around his ribcage and against his already fragile lungs.

That is a bit of an exaggeration. Bad colds do tend to make people more prone to theatrics.

(They don’t. But Ciel will sooner die than admit he’ll take any excuse to let himself be less uptight, at least in the confines of his head, where none can judge and no hands can reach.)

Sebastian, always the thorn in — and the shadow by — his side, sighs from his spot right by the bed.

“Aren’t I always right?”

“Not always,” Ciel replies, and immediately coughs for his words. “Not even most of the time.”

He coughs again, and keeps at it until he can almost visualise every inch of his constricted throat. Sebastian has the audacity to look concerned, and the sight is aggravating.

In times like these, Ciel intimately knows the source of his discomfort. It is something so painful it might be a form of torture Ciel has not yet faced, watching the one whose hands he knows will break him — whose hands he has imagined tearing him apart again and again, night after night — pose as a source of safety. Of warmth. Every single one of the demon’s kindnesses is an anticipated act of profound betrayal, and Ciel is almost rendered mad with anger at the unfairness of it all.

“Young master, you’ll do well to stop arguing and rest instead. Perhaps one day you will grow wise enough to listen to me…”

The worst part is he does not know if his rage is entirely for Sebastian to receive.

“I would not call it wise to listen to the advice of the beast whose stomach growls in my presence,” he still says, looking him in the eye with every bit of resentment he can bring up, because it is easier to go through the motions of hating him. “You are, after all, the reason I won't live long enough to grow into anything, really.”

Sebastian unflinchingly stares back. He does not look concerned anymore. Ciel is glad, for once, that only verbalised lies are prohibited by the contract.

[saph-writes]

Living Together (New Situations, Old Habits)

ao3 link:

Summary: A series of stories following Shidou and Sae living together for the first time. Along the way, they both begin to learn more about each other, and maybe a little about themselves.

Words: 2421

Sae should've thought twice before agreeing to move in with Ryusei. It's very rare that he finds himself thinking that. Usually, he makes every decision with careful consideration and thought. Mistakes are a rare occurrence, as that would require a lapse in judgement. Then again, he did end up giving Ryusei his number years ago, and regretted it immediately when he was awoken early the morning with a text asking for dick pics. He swore up and down later that it was just a joke (a flirty tease apparently) but that didn't make Sae any less irritated. Not to mention that once they started going out, Sae started to see more and more of how Ryusei is really like and to no surprise, he is just as much of a demon off the field than he is on it.

Despite all that, he had somehow been able to convince him to buy an apartment for the two of them, with Sae's money of course, and move in together.

If only he could travel back in time and warn his old self. Actually, maybe he should go back even earlier and make sure he never found out about the blue lock project in the first place, and Ryusei would've never become a problem. Or maybe before then, when he got his first ever offer to Spain. Blissful ignorance actually seems preferable right now.   Sae finds himself questioning everything that has led up to this point as he stands by the door in their new apartment, keys in hand, and stares with a deathly glare at a bobbing head in the kitchen. The kitchen that had been squeaky clean before he left, but now lays as a complete mess.

Everywhere is absolutely filled to the brim with dirty dishes and containers, trash, bits of food literally everywhere (how the fuck did he get some on the ceiling), and unopened bags. Sae shuts the door behind him and sets the keys on the table. The blonde head of hair standing in front of the stove pipes up and turns excitedly. "Sae-chan!" "What the fuck are you doing." Ryusei grins and playfully shakes the spatula in his hand around in the air. "Making dinner for a special someonee... You wouldn't know him though, he's super shy." The spatula throws a bit of dough onto the counter. Sae can feel his eyebrow begin to twitch. "I clean this entire kitchen before I left, how the fuck did you fuck it all up in a few hours?"

Ryusei seems to be feeling extra giddy today, because he just gives Sae a sly smile and shrugs, giggling to himself as he turns back to stir the pot. At least 3 others were piled beside it on the counter. "Dunnoo, maybe someone casted a spell here to curse us... should I put in soy sauce or tomato?"

Ryusei looks thoughtfully up and contemplates. He settles the dirty spoon down on the counter, the white counter, and begins opening the cabinets. His lips twists into a frown. 

"Saee, we don't have-"

"I already bought it. It's in one of those bags." Ryusei grins and Sae catches him moving to open the bags."-Wash your hands first. Disgusting."

Ryusei blinks and notices his hands, all dirty with dried sauces and spices stuck on. While he puts them under the sink, his head bops from side to side, and he's humming a joyful tune. It sounds vaguely familiar to that obscure music Sae always hears him listen to. He turns back to Sae. "All done~"

"Okay, now help me clean up."

"I need to finish our special meal first though." Sae is more than willing to eat takeout for the fifth time that week, but he complies nonetheless. 

"Alright. And how long will that take."

"Hmm.." Ryusei playfully taps his chin and closes his eyes, as if he was deep in thought (as if he had more than two braincells). "Welll.. if you're nice, maybe another hour. Then, as the chef, I can graciously welcome you to my kitchen for our special dinner."

"You mean my kitchen?"

"Our kitchen," Ryusei corrects, shooting him another toothy grin.  He grabs the soy sauce out of the bag and dumps some of it into the pot, splattering bits on the stove.

Sae was nearly fed up. "I'm going to kill you-" However, before he has the chance to strangle him (though he doubts Ryusei would count that as a punishment), his pocket starts vibrating and sending a obnoxiously loud ringtone. He grabs his phone out of his pocket and glances at the caller ID. Then, taking a deep breath, Sae calmly walks towards the door. "Oh? I thought you were going to kill me?" Ryusei says. He has a look of amusement, like he is excited to see he got a rise out of the usually calm and calculated Itoshi Sae. Sae gives him another death glare. "Clean this up before I come back in." "Will do~" Sae gets a final look at Ryusei turning back to the stove and jumping cautiously before he closes the door. Two days in, and he is already regretting moving in with someone with the mental intelligence of an 8-year old. But, he does do what he is told, and always seems weirdly happy about it, something that made Sae tolerate him a little bit more. At least more than other people his age. The phone is still ringing. Sae leans against the hallway of their apartment building, rests his head on the wall, and answers the call, discarding all those unnecessary thoughts and concerns that floated around in his head. ~ He ends up being out much longer than expected. The call lasted for about an hour, dealing with important matters from the club, and afterwards he was forced to help out an old lady move in some boxes. (He tried to get out of it, but this lady was tone-deaf or something because she kept insisted repeatedly. Sae was about to tell her to fuck off when he realized that Ryusei had locked the door with his keys inside, because of course he did.) By the time he finished, it had been nearly 2 hours, and Sae is ready to come in and see another mess even worse than the last. He is already mentally preparing to get the cleaning supplies he had brought a few days before just for this very occasion. Bracing himself, Sae violently shakes the doorknob to their apartment. The door flies open. There appears Ryusei, leaning against the doorframe with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. He even has the audacity to give him a wink. "Hey there, you come here often pretty boy?" "Let me in." As expected, Ryusei does as he was told. He has on the apron he had worn while cooking, even though it was technically Sae's, and his back hair is pulled back behind a headband. The apron is covered in dark stains and powder and so are parts of his sleeves and t-shirt appearing underneath. At least he has the decency to wear casual clothes beneath his apron. Sae steps into the apartment. However, as he looks around the place (their place), he raises an eyebrow.

The apartment isn't in shambles. The furniture is still standing, and nothing is on fire. The kitchen counters are perfectly clean, along with the stove and table. They look like they have been wiped down and the bits of trash that have been scattered all over have all been thrown away. Even the dishes and pots are washed, leaving the sink completely empty and organized. Sae moves towards their small dinner table for two that sits in between the kitchen and tv area. A skinny glass vase stands in the middle, perfectly distanced between the two chairs. In it, a single red rose. Sae didn't remember buying- Two arms wraps around his waist.

Sae jumps. His body goes on edge, tense, until he looks down and spots two familiar blond hair strands out of the corner of his eye. A head leans on top his shoulder gently, pressing a light weight on his back. "You've been gone all day," Ryusei whispers. "I thought we'd eat dinner together, just the two of us."  His voice is so uncharacteristically soft that Sae has to repeat his words again in his head to fully register it. For a moment, he wonders if Ryusei was acting this way because he wants something. It wouldn't be the first time it had happen. But something about the way he holds his arms loosely around him and his movement rocking them back and forth tells him he was being genuine. It would explain his giddiness from before, too.  Sae leans in against him. "That's because you decided to kick someone during practice and got yourself suspended for a week."  "What else what I supposed to do? I was getting bored, no one there could make my heart explode. Not in the way you can, Sae.."

Of course they couldn't.. Sae thinks, but doesn't say. Ryusei doesn't say anything either.

The two of them fall into a mellow silence.

Ryusei shifts to position his head, and begins to hum a rhythm, presumingly the same song he had been humming just a few hours earlier. Sae is able hear it clearly right against his ear, where Ryusei is leaning his head against Sae's neck.

It is so clearly out of tune, not following any beat whatsoever. Completely disorganized, appearing in absolute disarray. And yet, a richness lays beneath the melody, one that if Sae listens closely, he could feel the notes as if they are coming right off sheet music. Then it came to him that Ryusei probably isn't trying to imitate the song he has in his head, but is instead adapting it to his liking. Changing bits and pieces of it in his own, unique way. 

It is a rhythm made solely for him, one that he is sharing with Sae at this very moment. 

As if he knew what Sae is thinking, Ryusei holds him closer, and hums the rich tune just a bit softer.

This isn't the same kind of flirty touch Ryusei usually gave when they were alone. Sae could tell that there is no underlying desire in his embrace, but rather a kind of comfort and protective hold containing nothing but affection. It is a touch that lives for the moment, for the simple wish of having him in his arms. They could've been there, laced together, for a few minutes or hours, it doesn't seem to matter, only that his arms were around him. That is all the two of them needed.

It is a feeling that lingered even after Ryusei pulls away and steps in front of him. He has a large stupid smile on his face. "My, my, who do we have here? You want me to pull the chair out for you, pretty boy?" Sae bares no reaction to Ryusei's usual flirtatious antics, but a smile inevitably escapes him. And like that, it was enough for Ryusei.

Ryusei grabs his hand and tugs him towards the chair. Sae decides to play along and sits down. Now that he thinks about it, he actually curious to see what Ryusei has made. The last time he cooked their meal, it was nearly inedible. Sae held that over his head for ages while ignoring the fact that he can't cook either. After all, it had been amusing to see Ryusei try to disprove him.  Sae looks at the table's surface, which already has plastic utensils placed in each of their spots. He knows damn well that they had metal spoons and forks in one of drawers. But as he stands up to get them, he was pushed back down into his seat. "Hold on, I'm almost done."

Irritated, Sae taps his fingers impatiently against the table. There are sounds of shuffling occurring behind him and footsteps moving up and down. Eventually, a presence appears right behind his seat and he sees a plate come down from above his head to be settled before him. It is a white ceramic plate, and on it is golden-colored noodles, glistening with a sauce poured all over. It is complimented with the typical side of white rice and vegetables covered in soy sauce. It even contained mushrooms, which were one of his favorite foods. In fact, he realizes he greatly enjoys all of the foods Ryusei has picked for tonight, and Sae can only faintly recall a time where he has mentioned it at all to him. Perhaps around the time they had started texting, years ago, when Sae had told him about his particular notions towards food. Ryusei sits across from him with a very similar plate. He sets down two glasses filled with red wine for the two of them and takes a sip from his glass. His apron is gone and he has even somehow had the time to change into a cleaner shirt. Quiet, ambient music plays in the background. In the just the span of a few hours, Ryusei has been able to turn their bare apartment into a place Sae thinks he would never want to leave. 

He catches Sae's eye and shoots him a winning smile. 

"What, you too impressed to speak?" That flirty tone is back, and combined with the earlier realization still turning in his head, Sae looks away. He takes in a large forkful of noodles and swallows hastily. After all these years, Sae could still feel flustered from something Ryusei did or said. It was like magic, a spell casted upon him to make something that has never existed before blossom inside him, like the rose that sits between them. It's a feeling he doesn't think he's felt since he's been thrown into the world-stage as a young teen. As Ryusei and Sae comfortably sit and eat ("the rice's overcooked." "aw you love it~"), talking about their day one moment and sitting in peaceful silence in another, Sae finds that he no longer regrets his decision.

This progression of events that has led him up to this point feels like it has always been met to happen. It's as natural as the setting sun and rising moon, a seed taken away from its dying mother to be planted again, a slow but worthwhile act of something lost being found. In fact, he thinks it's the best one he's ever made.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

You know what's really cool about looking through the tag to see what other peoples are posting about your favorite bands?

It's kind of like Pokemon. (Hear me out!)

Every one is someone's favorite.

You see people just absolutely GUSHING about songs that you don't really connect to!

There are some songs for Every band in my Top 10 Favorite Artists Ever list that I could take or leave. But I love seeing people explain why the same songs I'd usually just brush right past mean so much to them!

(I Rambled, so I'll stick a cut here to spare your dashboards. :P )

My very top-favorite #1 Absolutely Love (nearly) Every Single Song band is Evanescence. But you know what's ironic about it? I don't really connect to their two most popular songs. Bring Me to Life is a good song and musically awesome, don't get me wrong! But I never felt it to my SOUL, you know?

And My Immortal? It's pretty, gosh the piano is gorgeous and so is hearing the entire crowd singing the entire song at a concert, but I've never really felt the deep tear-jerking personal connection to it so many of their fans have. Yes, I did almost cry to it ONCE, when grief was overwhelming me. But unless I'm in a Very Particular Mindset, it's kind of just... a regular pretty song to me.

(As an aside, the historian in me appreciates that it was one of their VERY very first songs, as in it's from when they were a garage band back in the 90's, EARLY stuff, and they're still playing it today! And the song has so many versions with so many evolutions it's gone through, and that's beautiful to me as a creator who has also watched xir creations grow and change as my art has grown and changed. But the song itself? It's Just Pretty to me.)

So enter Starset. I liked their music a LOT from the first time I heard it. (My Demons in a demonbirds AMV, because apparently all of my favorite bands have to be discovered that way. /j /j /j ) Pandora figured out very quickly that I like them-- though ironically, My Demons wasn't one of the songs it played for me! I think Antigravity was the first one Pandora played. And then I was head over heels for Ricochet. And I forget which ones were next, but they quickly became a staple of my rock station.

So for awhile, I only heard ones Pandora played via Music Genome matching... and then it started branching out into Other Starset Songs that didn't match the algorithm for song qualities, but matched because "you keep Thumbs Up-ing this artist".

So I started hearing ones that didn't have the same energy/style that I am apparently so predictable about. Because I started hearing some I didn't love Quite as much as the others.

And then eventually I figured out I could watch a long ad to get an hour of Pandora Premium, and then listen to their entire albums!

But even then, my favorites remained my favorites, and some songs didn't connect with me as strongly. I never thought they had a BAD song; musically and artistically, they're SO expressive and they all have such a neat progression, and don't even get me started on the STORIES they tell!

So then, enter this year and I'm using Spotify instead because a friend let me utilize a slot in a family plan, and Starset has the IMMERSION: THE FINAL CHAPTER playlist. I knew I'd be seeing that demonstration! So I listened to it, because when I have a New Favorite Band, I have a long-standing tradition: I learn all the songs on the setlist so I can sing during the show.

(Telekinetic and Frequency were not on that playlist, weren't my Very Favorites so they didn't end up on any of my personal playlist, and thus I didn't know their lyrics at the actual demonstration. {lD;; But I'd still heard them a couple times thanks to Pandora, and they did show the lyrics to the refrains, at least, so I could follow along!)

There were actually songs on the IMMERSION playlist that I didn't know I enjoyed as much as I did when I actually Understood the Lyrics! Like FAULTLINE and INFECTED. I listened to the whole playlist on repeat for like 5 weeks, and contrary to colloquial wisdom, absence ain't all that makes the heart grow fonder. Getting to know the songs gave me more of a feel for their progressions and actual lyrical stories, which are perhaps my favorite parts of Starset.

(Okay, I love so much about Starset's music that I can't really say what's my favorite part. They're very instrumental (ha!) to how much I enjoy them, though!)

Anyway, my point is, there are still some songs that I don't connect with. I like the line in DIVING BELL that goes something like, "there's no room for you in the solitude". I mostly listen to SOMETHING WICKED for DDD feels. Like, there's still Something to Enjoy in all the songs I've heard by them, but not all of them are my FAVORITE TIER. You know?

And in their defense, even Evanescence has songs that aren't my favorite. (Everybody's Fool has a good message, and My Last Breath has pretty imagery, but they don't ~*RESONATE*~ with me as much.)

I think The Phantom Agony by Epica may be a bit too slow and abstract for me.

Some of Shinedown's Sound of Madness album sounds a little same-y to me.

I can't even listen to a certain song by Xandria because it triggers my phobia.

Or Mr. Bright Side, for that matter.

There are actually a lot of songs in my favorite bands and albums and genres that just don't hit that magical sweet spot that stirs up frisson and that sparkly sort of delight that makes my whole soul soar! That reaction is Reserved for Special Occasions, apparently.

But there's beauty in the fact that they're THERE for me!

And I DELIGHT in knowing that other people find catharsis, or beauty, or agonies soothed, or relatability or reassurance or respite in songs that I don't.

Art's cool that way and music is no exception.

[asheewrites]

Annoyed Trek to Earth

The door clacked open and her ear twitched because the sound was not as smooth as usual. Not an urgent, fast opening and not a smooth slide of the mechanism in the lock. It was off and-

… she probably had spend too much time in those rooms to make such assessments.

She closed the book silently and took a careful look over the edge of the couch. Steps on this floor weren’t a real indicator for anything, but he was indeed alone.

But grumpy, judging by the scowl and the twitching corner of his mouth.

That was new?

Unfortunately, Asmodeus was on the way to the whiskey shelf - something she only knew from snooping. He had not yet resorted to that in her presence and…

“Welcome back home!” Raphael gathered her limbs – mostly feathery ones - and got off the couch.

He turned, annoyance still firmly lodged in his features until he recognized her – very fast, changed while stopped in his step and faced her - and put on his signature smirk: “Raphael, so pleasant to see you.”

Tilting her head, she pursed her lips and took a breath: “That… ah, thank you…”

He looked her  up and down, then grabbed her by the shoulders, turned her in the direction he came from and started walking, somehow maneuvering around her wings: “You’re presentable. And welcome. Now, lets go. I need some air. And company.”

Her feet followed the indicated direction with only a minimal amount of resistance: “I… certainly look less presentable than you?” Currently shorts and one of his shirts were the only pieces of clothing at her disposal.

“You are ideally dressed for being led out of my bedroom and being an angel.” He sing-songed, opened the door and slid an arm around her waist, walking at her side.

Even after the last five weeks, she had to try – and fail – to calm down her heart beat at that “I… not what I meant. You… you look official today.”

His hand slid lower down her waist: “I assure you, I am much more ‘officially’ me the way you are used to seeing me.” He said, carrying a more playful tone. They continued to walk.

“And I do not doubt that,” Raphael said, looking around – this was hell. She was walking through hell, and there were demons – even some sinners – staring at them. With a wide variety of expressions. They also did their hell proud.

She shook her head and continued: “Did you… by any chance… meet with Lucifer?”

When his hand twitched and his smile froze the tiniest bit, she nodded once. Some things did not change, after all.

“… the bastard had the gall to chew me out for ‘not making my quota’, can you even believe that?” Asmodeus hissed through his teeth, less than pleased.

Raphael blinked a few times. Being open about it did change, then. “Really! Well, ‘no’ on so many levels, but… uh… how ‘official’ are you two, then? Right now?” A bit of an awkward question, but… better to know, before this universes Lucifer got angry at her.

The uncomprehending stare that looked back at her might did nothing to help her, after a few more seconds – walking slower, too -, he did answer: “I… am… officially the king of lust in his hell? But you knew that?”

“Uhm. I. You see. At my place. You- you two. Lucifer and you… you were… an item. Actually.” – Asmodeus brows wandered higher up on his forehead – “An exclusive item, actually,”

“Hah!” He barked out. And could apparently not help a laugh. After he calmed down, he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye: “You… you can’t be serious,”

“… ahm… I… I am, though,” it was quite a significant thing, even.

“Aw, angel. I mean… the ‘item’ is… remembering his old charisma? Maybe not entirely impossible, but the ‘exclusive’? Come on.” At least the mirth was back in his eyes. So it really was that ridiculous to him?

“You two never had… a bond?” Was it just a secret here?

Asmodeus snorted: “Oh. Please. Sure, he ‘sought me out’ regularly in hell’s early hours. Once blew smoke in his face after he told me that he was ‘proud I finally stopped with the cigarettes’. He ‘had always said so’ with a smug grin. And then he ran off in a childish tantrum.” He rolled his eyes: “And the tantrum continued, so… I’m glad he isn’t as horrific with politics.”

“Uhm.” It didn’t sound entirely unlike the Lucifer she knew. “… you… took on the majority of politics in my home. Co-Ruler and all.”

“Sounds stressful.” He scrunched up his nose.

“It is. Really. You did a great job, though. Whole of hell was following you due to charisma and politics.”

“Mmmmh,” he made a thoughtful noise, then leaned over, kissed her temple und slipped his hand under the hem of the shirt; “Seems like I made all the right decisions, then.”

She opened and closed her mouth, looked at the hidden hand on her skin and back at him and said: “Ahm… don’t you want to know…?”

His fingers ran along the hem of her shorts and he smiled: “No. Sounds awful. The whole ‘exclusive’ business made me miss out on you, too. Terrible mistake. Don’t want to hear one more word.”

And even though it was just empty words, she did feel terribly flattered… and her face hot: “Also my choice.” He nosed along her neck with a hum. “… and this is for show on the trek through your hell, isn’t it?” She still tilted her head to give better access.

“Two birds, one stone and all that.” He looked over to the portal of his hell. Lust was one of the light sins, earth might actually not be that far. “Enjoy it juuuust fine.”

The doors swung open to show the passage. Actual dirt. It WAS rather earth adjacent. And when they swung closed… and no curious eyes were looking anymore, he did not stop and her neck received a light nibble. It was terribly difficult to concentrate on walking: “Ah… where are we… going, actually?”

“Mmmmh?” He placed one last kiss before he let the disheveled angel recover a little: “Told you, need some air. We can see where the wind tells us to go on earth. That’s your thing, isn’t it?”

“It. Well… it is. Yes.” She looked over at him. “You are stressed out. You don’t need to make sure I’m good.”

With pity in his eyes, he snorted and said: “Angel… don’t overthink it. Just enjoy the time. I’ll also enjoy it more that way.” And he booped her nose. “… you angels don’t have free will since that long, do you?”

“… well… I have it since 13 years.” But with so many more memories.

He ruffled her hair: “That’s not that long. You’ll learn soon enough. Explains the reluctance, anyway. You don’t have to hold back. But… I’ll reassure you as much as you need, promise,”

 And once again, it got way too close to her heart, so she said: “That’s a talent of yours, isn’t it? Saying exactly what a person needs to hear?”

“Well… after 6000 years, you have seen quite a lot, angel… 13 years don’t give you too much complexity. I could feel and do what I wanted the whole time. And… it’s not like I didn’t mean it.”

With the deepest blush yet, she accepted that she was terribly attracted to this… and shrugged: “Alright then. Thank you. And… how far along is it, still? I think a bit of air is good for both of us.” Even if he might get quite some amusement and distraction from the naïve angel already. Ah, it could not be helped.

“Just around the corner, now. One more portal and you can set foot on this universes’ earth. Welcome to a little bit less brimstone.”

She smiled. As much as she was used to being cooped up, it would be very nice to get a nose full of fresh air.

Almost without meaning to, she walked faster, somewhat dragging an amused hell lord with her.

For atmosphere – supposedly – he waited one more second before he snapped his fingers and the two wide doors opened themselves into a nondescript… tundra. From what it looked like, it should not exist, since there were no rock formations or something alike, it was simply… doors. In the middle of nowhere. Metaphysical things, surely: “Fun?” She pointed outside.

“It needs to be hidden somehow, humans can’t see the door.” Asmodeus shrugged. It was nothing special to him.

Glad to finally be able to feel the air around herself, she actually wriggled out of the slight hold her companion had on her and stepped eagerly toward the opening, all steady until she reached the actual limit and stepped into… light.

To turn into some unfeeling, blind, deaf and tasteless being without a sense of smell, only to be aware of everything a second later in a too intense fashion.

Raphael tried to blink the sensation away, which was not possible without eyes. Those… came back in the very next second. And these blinked. And the surroundings smelled of dry, sandy air (mixed with cologne. And musk. and the slightest bit of smoke.) Everything tasted new and coppery. The head felt full, but at least pain free. The last sense was hearing.

“Well, look at that.”  Asmodeus said. The voice could be pinpointed. The source of voice could even be felt, with a sense completely forgotten for the last five weeks.

Turning towards the strong – so very strong – but contained aura was still obligatory.

Asmodeus walked in circles, looking with open and appreciative eyes.

Raphael looked down on Asmodeus, to see this. And that meant… he looked down on himself. Ah. Right.

Looking at the situation, he was back in his original form. Tall. Willowy. White (unnaturally so). Long, braided hair. Currently wingless – he could feel them, though. Thankfully also no halo in sight. And apparently clad in a toga. It came into existence with this body. Might as well happen.

Suddenly irritated, he looked around for the loaned shirt and moved a hand to let the wind bring it up into his hand. He closed it around the fabric. Which was… more difficult than summoning a gust of wind.

With a weak sigh, he returned his attention to Asmodeus, who still circled him without judgement, or at least thinking about it, before he made one. He did stroke his chin. And leaned his head this way and that.

“Is this not your preferred form?” He asked at last, slowly reaching out to take the angel’s hand in his own, thumb grazing lightly across his knuckles.

“I… well… it’s useful in some cases. It’s my default?” Once again, he was too sensitive to his touch. Unfortunately, his complexion certainly allowed for an easier read this time around. “… ‘m a proper angel again. ‘She’ … touched me. It’s very effective, regarding communication.”

He looked a bit miserable, and his hand twitched around Asmodeus’. Everything was a bit too sensitive. And at the same time didn’t feel alive. He could see the point of sometimes forgetting you are an angel… a bit more.

"... at least there is air and it's... a bit entertaining?" Right?

[absolutepokemontrash]

MC’s Date With The Brothers Goes Terribly… Then it Starts to Rain.

Side Characters ver.

Hello my dearest degenerates, there’s nothing I love more than ridiculous crack fics, but I wanted to do some fluff, so here we go!

Lucifer

This just had to happen on Lucifer’s one day off… didn’t it? He had the entire day planned out, his brothers would be out doing their own thing, which left him and MC to have the entire day together.

The two of them would have gone to Ristorante 6, watched a movie, and simply enjoyed each other’s company. But no, Lucifer can’t have nice things.

It certainly started off that way, MC and Lucifer held hands as they made their way over to Ristorante 6, and the Avatar of Pride was reminded for the thousandth time exactly why he adored this human so much.

The human was both one of the most stress inducing parts of his life, and one of the few things that made him feel completely at peace. He would move mountains for them if they asked him too…

While Lucifer was in the middle of staring incredibly lovingly at his beloved MC, the human stopped suddenly and pointed ahead of them.

“I think Ristorante 6 may be… closed today.” “What do you mean, MC- oh.”

Apparently, two demons got into a very nasty fight inside, and one slammed the other through a wall. The restaurant was in the middle of scheduling repairs and would be closed until the hole in the wall was fixed. Lucifer developed the tiniest of tics in his right eye, but all MC had to do was squeeze his hand and give him that perfect smile of theirs… *sigh* they were right… there were other good places to eat.

Well, the cafe they wanted to go to was closed that day and they both walked over there for nothing… the second restaurant they went to was full on account of Ristorante 6 closing earlier…

Finally, the two practically trudged to Hell’s Kitchen, but Beel was there an hour earlier and cleared the entire place out…

Lucifer told MC not to fret, they’d just head to the movies and buy some snacks, sure it wasn’t the fancy dinner they planned but… at least it was food.

Oh… the movie they planned on seeing was… not running that night…

“Did you check online before we left?” “…damn.”

Their date was going decidedly terrible, MC and Lucifer were eating movie theatre popcorn outside, in outfits that were way too formal, and were rapidly becoming more and more convinced that the day was just… cursed.

Then… a crack of lightning, then it began to completely pour.

Lucifer winced the moment he heard the lightning, of course… of course it would start to rain… as the rain began to pour down on the two, he simply stared straight ahead, completely and utterly defeated.

The Morning Star, the right hand to the Crown Prince of The Devildom, The Avatar of Pride himself, was defeated by a simple thunderstorm. He took a deep breath in, prepared to shout, scream, throw a tantrum of the highest degree, then just visibly deflated. He turned to MC, who looked just as defeated and drained.

Lucifer wordlessly used his magic to put up a small shield above them, sheltering the two from the torrential downpour.

“You know,” MC mumbled, resting their head against Lucifer’s arm. “The movies make getting caught in the rain seem much more romantic…”

That comment elicited a quiet chuckle from Lucifer as he pulled MC into a hug. The two were already drenched, what did it matter if Lucifer got cheap popcorn butter all over the front of his outfit? Nothing else mattered when he was with the one person in the world who could make his heart swell with this much love and adoration.

“How about we head home, MC? I think I still have some of Barbatos’ cake hidden in the kitchen, we can enjoy that and listen to some music.”

Lucifer felt MC sigh against his front, then look up with that bright sparkling smile that never failed to make him blush.

“I’d like nothing more.”

Mammon

Okay, Mammon had this whole day planned, by the end of it, his human would be swooning! He had gotten paid big bucks from his latest modelling gigs, and he was going to treat MC to a full day with their first man.

First, they were going to spend the morning shopping, then they were going to eat lunch at this new restaurant that had just opened up, after lunch they were going to just kill time until dinner, then eat dinner at Hell’s Kitchen, then they were going to go home, get changed, then head out to The Fall, party, then head home again where MC would most definitely shower the Great Mammon with all the praise and affection he deserved!

Of course, MC would be given all the love and adoration they deserved and more! Mammon’s human was the best, and they deserved the best! The Avatar of Greed was ready!

Or so he thought. The day began with Mammon deciding that he was going to make himself and MC breakfast. It was going fine until Mammon got lost in an intense daydream and by the time he snapped out of it, Beel had eaten the pancake batter and there was no time to make anything else.

Mammon’s surprise breakfast ended up being toast and cut up fruit. It wasn’t so bad, but everyone knows that fruit is very unreliable. Sometimes it’s good… sometimes it’s squishy and unappetizing…

The morning shopping trip was ruined when Mammon went to withdraw money from his account and it turned out that the money from his shoot wasn’t in the account.

Apparently his paycheque was being held back because one of the modelling agencies was being sued.

“…MC?” “Come here, silly.”

After having his face peppered with kisses, Mammon was completely rejuvenated. His human had magic kisses, after all! They never failed to make him feel better!

The two decided that instead of a shopping spree they’d spend a couple hours of window shopping, after that when the two stopped for lunch at the new restaurant. Twenty minutes after eating there, Mammon was dry heaving over a trashcan while MC chugged a bottle of water to try and settle the awful nausea that had completely taken over. Perhaps a bad review would be necessary…

The time that was meant to be spent just wandering around the Devildom was completely ruined when those damn witches showed up! Mammon was not about to forfeit his time with MC to play servant to those three, so he grabbed his human and sprinted away.

That cat and mouse game with the witches lasted for literal hours and ended with Mammon and MC hiding behind a random alley dumpster…

Finally, Hell’s Kitchen, it turned out that they didn’t take too kindly to dine and dashers, so Mammon ended up spending the time he was supposed to be spending eating with MC waiting tables to pay off his tab.

After that, Mammon was too exhausted to even think about partying, so MC suggested that they just head home and watch some fun action movies.

The moment they began their walk home however…

A single drop of water tapped against Mammon’s sunglasses, he looked up and pointed a finger at the sky.

“No.”

Another drop of water hit the rim of his sunglasses.

“No!”

I’m a matter of seconds, it had begun to completely pour, Mammon dug his hands into his hair and shouted in frustration.

“NO! NO! NO! WHY RIGHT NOW?! Why… why right now..?” His outburst had quickly petered out into Mammon physically drooping and quietly taking off his jacket. He held it over MC so they would be spared the brunt of the rain and looked down at his now soaked shoes. “I… I’m sorry… MC…”

“Mammon, what are you sorry for?” MC said gently, lacing their fingers with his.

What kind of a question was that? Mammon had fucked up the date he had planned and made himself look like a complete idiot in front of the one person who showed him any amount of love and affection.

His heart sank as he managed to drag his gaze over to MC. They were worried about an idiot like him… maybe they’d be better off without needing to constantly babysit him…

“Today… everything… I dunno…” Mammon mumbled, MC looped their arms around him, being careful not to drop his jacket onto the wet ground.

“Are you kidding? You planned this entire nice day for the two of us,” when Mammon didn’t respond, MC took on a more firm tone. “Listen, sometimes dates don’t turn out good, that doesn’t mean you have to mope in the rain. Let’s go home, order some food, and watch a movie or some dumb show, whatever makes you happy.”

Though the constant patter of the rain made it difficult to hear, Mammon sniffled and finally returned the hug. His human really was the best.

“You’re too nice to me… ya know that?” Mammon whispered.

MC pressed a soft kiss to his lips and smiled. “Get used to it, because I don’t plan on stopping.”

Leviathan

Levi had to psyche himself up for months in order to do this… he had seen and swooned over cliche TV show dates thousands of times and now, he wanted to take MC on one.

Simply asking them was a Herculean task all on its own… Levi tried to kabedon them, and failed miserably and ended up head butting MC by accident. The Avatar of Envy could have shrivelled up and died of embarrassment right then and there, but MC let out the sweet laugh that never failed to make Levi’s heart swell. They accepted the date request.

When the day came, the two left the HOL, and Levi began his checklist of things that needed to happen to make this a perfect date. First! Dinner!

Dinner… did not pan out well to say the least. The place they had decided to go to was incredibly crowded and the two of them got seated in just the worst spot. They ended up needing to end their meal early and eat outside because Levi was getting hit with a bad case of sensory overload.

Eating outside wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the fact that it was cold and windy as hell… Levi was cold blooded… not figuratively, but mostly literally, he did not do well in overly cold environments. He ended up cuddling closer to MC, which would have been really romantic if he hadn’t accidentally spilled their drink all over them.

Okay… that didn’t turn out good… well, after dinner they were supposed to go do some karaoke! Levi loved karaoke! He could sing something cute and sappy for MC, that was a romance staple!

And the karaoke place was closed for renovations… ugh…

Levi wanted to just go home and abandon the whole date idea, but MC looped their arm around him and pulled him away from the closed karaoke place.

“Remember the arcade we went to a few months ago? I saw it on the way here, let’s go there instead.” “Are you sure you want to keep this date with me going..?” “Positive.”

The arcade was fun until Levi spotted the DDR (Devil Dance Revolution) game that he and MC got the high score on last time. Levi wanted to see what other noobs had tried and failed to beat him and MC.

It turned out… someone beat them…

It seemed like Baphomet and Azazel made a good DDR team because they had managed to knock Levi and MC down to second place by a lot, that wasn’t all, apparently someone was salty after not getting past Levi and MC and put “are dumb” under their names!

Levi was practically frothing at the mouth when he pulled MC to the DDR machine to restore their lost honour. They… did not restore their lost honour. Levi ended up getting so upset he tried to unplug the machine, which somehow ended up permanently freezing the high scores onto the screen. It seemed that the entire Devildom would know that Baphomet and Azazel were better than Levi and MC, and that they were both dumb…

There was still one more thing Levi had planned on doing during his date with MC, he wanted to take them to a cherry blossom tree and suavely kiss them under it. Sadly, there were no cherry blossom trees in the Devildom, but there was a pretty decent substitute that was in bloom during that time of year. Levi and MC made their way to a spot where Levi knew there was a tree, and stood under it.

That was when Levi suddenly realized he had no clue how to be suave and began to stutter-spiral. MC patiently waited for Levi to properly articulate what he wanted to say, when they spotted a unicorn in the distance! MC excitedly pointed it out to Levi, who immediately went pale. Apparently Devildom unicorns are very territorial and very aggressive. They are Satan’s familiar for a reason…

Booking it from a unicorn was not how Levi wanted to end the date… it really wasn’t… but the final straw that broke the camel’s back had arrived in the form of a single raindrop. Then another… then another…

“Levi, please get out of the pond…”

“Leave me, find someone better.”

After the rain had started, Levi had taken off his jacket, handed it to MC, then proceeded to float face down in full demon form in the middle of a pond. The Avatar of Envy was so tired and embarrassed that he just wanted the pond to consume him.

“Levi,” MC tutted. “You’re going to get struck by lightning.”

“Good.”

“Leviathan!”

MC’s sudden shout caused Levi to flail in the water for a brief moment before he was able to use his tail to stabilize himself as managed to tread water.

“Get out of the pond right now! The Lord of Shadows would never abandon Henry like this!”

“The Lord of Shadows is cool, I’m not…” Levi crossed his arms and sunk ever so slightly deeper into the water.

“What the hell are you talking about?” MC asked. “Did we watch the same show? The Lord of Shadows is a huge dork, like you, now get out of the pond so we can go home and not get struck by lightning.”

Defeated by the power of friendship/love/fandom brotherhood, Levi made his way back to shore and was given a quick whack to the back of the head.

“Ow!”

“That’s for being a sulky dummy!” MC then yanked Levi forward by the front of his shirt and kissed him. Levi nearly gasped and began to fanboy right then and there in the middle of the kiss. A rain kiss! A dramatic kiss in the rain! That was one of the best tropes ever! “And that, was for trying to take me on a sweet date.”

“M-marry me…” Levi whispered before he could stop himself. MC giggled and patted one of his now bright red cheeks.

“Maybe someday.”

Satan

Going on fun spontaneous dates really wasn’t Satan’s forte, he preferred a schedule, but both he and MC had the afternoon free and Satan didn’t feel like bumming around at home when the two of them could do that any other day.

Oh-so charmingly taking his beloved MC by the hand and leading them to the nearest cat-cafe was the first thing Satan could think to do. He loves cats, he loves MC, what could possibly ruin a nice afternoon with both?

When the two reached the cafe, they were met with an employee closing the place early, claiming that all the cats had actually gotten adopted and they were waiting for more rescues to come in.

Satan couldn’t decide whether to be upset about the lack of cats, or happy that the cats got adopted into loving homes like they deserved. Satan settled on being aggressively happy.

It was no big deal, there were other things they could do together, like go to a library, or bookstore, or a museum, the possibilities were endless!

Well, it would have been endless if it wasn’t for the world conspiring to make Satan loose his cool. First, the line for his favourite book store was looped around the block because of a new book release. Inconveniencing, sure, but nothing too awful, there was a nice park nearby, the two decided to relax on one of the benches.

Problem number two arose when some idiot threw a Fangol ball a little too far and it ended up hitting Satan, then bouncing off his head and hitting the tree that the bench was under, normally, this would be rude and annoying but nothing that would activate Satan’s volcanic temper, except for the tiny issue that there was a wasp nest in that tree that decided Satan’s drink was enemy #1.

After being stung approximately eight times in the hand, Satan wasn’t doing too good, MC could tell and offered to go to the doctor’s with him. As Satan led them out of the park and towards the sidewalk he assured MC that there was nothing to worry about…

But MC, holder of Satan’s heart, went to go get him ice anyway.

The third and final thing to make Satan blow his top, the rain… the cold… depressing… rain…

“Oh…” MC mumbled as they looked up at the rain, then at Satan, whose hands were balled into fists so tight that his palms began to bleed. “Satan are you-”

Completely silent, Satan strode toward a nearby dumpster and slammed his foot into the metal, sending the entire thing into the back of the dead-end alley. The entire dumpster practically compressed and folded in on itself from the sheer force of the kick.

“Do you want to go home?” MC asked gently, taking a few steps towards him, Satan slowly nodded.

“Y-yes. I think that’d be the smart thing to do.” Satan massaged his forehead and took the ice from MC. “It seems that spontaneity isn’t our strong suit as a couple.”

MC sighed and nodded. “Yeah, we should go back to planning this stuff beforehand, and… you know,” They gestured around the two of them. “check what’s open and what the weather’s going to be before we head out.”

Only MC could soothe Satan’s temper as quickly as it flared up, and MC was getting covered with rainwater. That just wouldn’t do. He turned to MC and offered them his jacket. “I don’t want you to get cold.”

“Isn’t your line supposed to be ‘here, take this, you might catch a cold’?” MC lightly teased as they took the jacket. “Like a classic romantic lead?”

Satan shook his head and laughed softly. “No, that’s a common misconception. You can’t actually get the common cold or flu from being out in the rain. The real danger is hypothermia or frostbite.”

“Ah,” MC looped their arm around Satan’s and held his non swollen hand. “So smart, tell me more about the dangers of hypothermia.”

“Don’t tease, dearest, or I’ll take back my jacket.”

Asmodeus

Asmo had just the most stressful day… and decided that he and his sweet MC just had to go on a nice date together to fix it!

Most dates with Asmo had a sort of three act structure, first they would coordinate their outfits together for the actual date activity, then they’d do whatever they set out to do, then they’d go home and either snuggle, or do the Devil’s tango, whichever MC was feeling up for.

But on this particular day, the three act structure was being ruined. It started with the outfit coordination, somehow everything Asmo had that would match with what MC was wearing was in the laundry, he had to be convinced by MC that this wasn’t that big of a deal and the two of them would look radiant whether they matched or not.

Since that was settled, Asmo and MC made their way to Asmo’s all time favourite spa, which was not closed, no no no, it was actively on fire.

“How… how did this happen?” “Well, there were a lot of candles burning in that place, I guess we’ll just have to save the spa trip for another date.”

Everyone was fine by the way

Oh well, it would take more than a raging inferno to ruin Asmo’s date, he was determined to have a good time, so he cheerily took MC’s hand and led them away from the fire. He also casually mentioned that being so close to danger was a total turn-on.

MC very quickly ended that comment with a kiss, Asmo can’t make inappropriate sex jokes when he’s kissing his favourite person. It was truly a testament to his complete and utter adoration of MC that Asmo was willing to share the top spot of his list of favourite people with them!

While on their merry way to find something else to do, Asmo’s fan club caught wind that he and MC were on a date and decided to make their appearance. Now Asmo’s groupies are normally very sweet, but they can also be incredibly unaware of boundaries.

Everywhere Asmo and MC looked, one or two of Asmo’s fans would be half hiding and half spying on how the date was going. It was common knowledge that Asmo x MC was the OTP of the entire club, and some of the members wanted to get a peak of their ship doing something romantic.

As much as Asmo loved attention, it was getting kind of… creepy. He began to usher MC away from certain areas and tried to find a suitably nice place to get away from prying eyes.

The pair ended up in this absolutely gorgeous public garden that was thankfully quite empty. Though, all it took was one awkward step with the kind of shoes he was wearing and Asmo fell straight into a rose bush.

MC had to quickly get to work kissing Asmo’s cut up face better before he started to cry and ruined his mascara. What was even worse was that the fall messed up Asmo’s shoe and he’d have to walk back to the house like an uncoordinated baby deer.

Everything was fine… just fine… no need to worry… everything was… cloudy…

The moment the first drop of rain landed in front of Asmo he stood completely stiff and still.

“Don’t.” He growled. “I just got my hair fixed.”

The rain didn’t listen, and began pouring down, absolutely drenching Asmo and MC in a matter of minutes. MC tried to pull Asmo towards an alcove or a covered patio so they could call a cab home, but the Avatar of Lust refused to move. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, smiled serenely to himself, then looked back up to the sky and screamed with the hatred of a thousand suns:

“FUCK YOU TOO FATHER!”

It was quite a scene for MC to witness, Asmo rarely fully lost his cool, especially not enough to swear like an ‘uncouth barbarian’, combine that with his running mascara, scratched up face, and dirty clothes, he looked more like a feral movie star that was just rescued from the woods than the solid ten out of ten MC normally knew him as.

“Momo?” MC gently patted his back. “Come on, we should go home.”

Asmo finally turned to look at his sweet MC, the poor thing shouldn’t have seen him act like this… the day had gone completely horribly and he just had to drag MC into this, didn’t he? He felt his heart drop right into his gut as he practically collapsed into his human’s arms.

“Oh MC, I’m so sorry I dragged you out today… we should have just stayed home…”

“Asmo,” MC weighed their options, before settling on just rubbing his back. “There there.”

The awkward sniffling and snorting continued for the next couple of minutes while MC called a ride service to come pick the two of them up.

“Thank you, MC,” Asmo sniffled. “You’re the sweetest thing in the universe…”

“You’re sweet too, Asmo. It’s a shame today didn’t work out.”

“Mhm…”

“We can still save this date, you know? When we get back home we can take a bath and snuggle.”

“That…” Asmo sniffed. “That sounds really nice, MC.”

“Anytime spent with you is nice, Asmo.” MC then rolled their eyes while Asmo giggled. “Man that was corny…”

Beelzebub

Beel had come back from one hell of a Fangol game, and he was in an amazing mood! He wanted to take MC out to celebrate!

Between-meal snacks were packed, and they set off to the carnival. Nothing could beat the nice smell of fried dough, Carmel apples, popcorn, and spending time with MC.

Of course, the food wasn’t the only thing Beel wanted to enjoy with MC, there were rides and games to try while they enjoyed their snacks. First they made their way to the teacup ride.

In theory, having big strong Beel to spin the big wheel in the middle to make the teacup move would be a good thing, but even though it was the first ride, MC had eaten quite a lot of carnival snacks.

Beel only had to spin the centre disc once for the disc to both break and make the teacup to whirl around at a speed that practically threw them into Beel’s side. MC then… well… vomited. Everywhere.

Since Beel accidentally ripped the centre disc off, he couldn’t slow the teacup down manually to stop the puke-tornado, so it took a little while before the ride operator realized that something was wrong and stopped the ride.

The walk off the ride was both embarrassing and completely nauseating, MC needed to stumble to the nearest trashcan and hurl. Beel did his best to comfort his poor human and mumbled quite a lot of apologies.

“I’m sorry MC…” “Beel, it’s okay… I’d uh, kiss you but the… vomit.”

Both Beel and MC decreed that maybe rides weren’t the best idea after that, and went over to check out the carnival games.

After a few unsuccessful tries at a few games, a plushie caught MC’s eye and they were absolutely smitten with it. Beel vowed to win it for them, and lined himself up to try the pitching game.

Well, something good came out of that… Beel threw so fast it may have broken a record, the bad thing was that the ball tore through the tent and caused the whole thing to collapse.

The tent then caught fire after landing on some of the candles that were set up… the plushie went up in flames…

Beel turned to MC, who wordlessly patted him on the back. At… at least they still had their snacks…

As Beel and MC made their way to the exit, a group of kids rushed past the pair, Beel, not wanting to step on or bump into any of them, awkwardly wobbled, then fell and dropped all of his emergency snacks.

And then came the rain…

“Oh…” Beel mumbled as he stared down his spilled food, MC quickly wrapped their arms around him, looking up at him with a half-hearted smile.

“We can buy some more, or wait until we get home, it’s okay, Beel.”

The Avatar of Gluttony slowly nodded, tearing his gaze away from the wasted snacks. Thunder sounded above the two and the cold rain began to beat against them.

When Beel looked down at MC, he felt his heart flutter in his chest, they weren’t upset at him, they weren’t angry… they just wanted to make him feel better… Beel nodded resolutely to himself, he was going to make MC feel better too! He picked MC up bridal-style and began to walk away from the rapidly emptying carnival.

“B-Beel?” MC sputtered.

“Let’s go home, MC, I have cookies hidden in one of the cabinets that we can share.”

MC looked up at their sweet cinnamon roll, then buried their face in his chest. Their shoulders shook slightly as they looped their arms around Beel’s neck.

“M-MC?” Beel asked, he tried to shift MC in his arms to see if they were crying, but MC looked up at him with a sweet smile.

“You’re just the best, Beel. Never forget that.”

Belphegor

The Avatar of Sloth doesn’t exactly “do” traditional dates, but even he could tell that MC wanted to do something a little more exciting than “lay in bed and make out until Belphie falls asleep”.

Since Belphie is a totally wonderful brat boyfriend, he decided to take MC out to the best possible place in the human world for some stargazing… and napping.

He even put together a picnic basket so he and MC could eat while watching the sunset before the stars came out!

The favourite blanket was packed, the picnic basket was ready, and Lucifer gave the two permission to visit the human world for the evening. Belphie took a mental note to avoid doing any pranks for a week as a thank-you to his older brother.

Well, the first problem came when the two spread out the blanket and opened up the basket to find… nothing. Belphie immediately thought that Beel must have eaten their food, but then the memory of the food clearly sitting in the fridge entered his mind. He had forgotten to put the food in the basket… and he was too lazy to check why the basket was so light…

Oh well… no big deal, MC had a big lunch. The second problem came in the form of a swarm of mosquitoes. Gross, bloodsucking mosquitos.

“MC?” “Yeah?” “Did you happen to pack bug spray before I took you out on this surprise picnic?” “No…”

Belphie’s solution was to use his tail to bat the bugs away, but that proved to be quite useless. It didn’t help that while both MC and Belphie were being eaten alive��, Belphie would end up accidentally thwacking MC with his tail.

Well, at least the sunset was nice, or it would have been if Belphie hadn’t slept through it by accident.

It was classic Belphie to manage to sleep through anything interesting, and apparently he also missed out on a shooting star which soured his mood even more.

The only little bright spot of the date so far was that MC did say that they wished for something for him on that shooting star… hopefully wish magic might salvage the date…

After being awoken by MC to look up at the sky, the two realized that something was… missing. Where were the stars?

MC and Belphie were laying on their backs facing the clouded over sky when they both had the dawning realization of what was to come.

Rain.

Of course… mosquitoes are extra active and crazy before a storm… that’s why they were coming at them…

Belphie let out a dejected sigh as the first raindrop of many hit the tip of his nose. MC scratched at their arms and began to pack up the blanket into the empty picnic basket. At least the blanket wouldn’t get too wet.

Well, he fucked this up royally. The Avatar of Sloth almost never put any actual work into something that didn’t benefit himself, but MC had managed to make themselves the exception. He wanted to make them happy, he wanted to see that cute little face they made when he’d crack a joke or make a quip about something, but now, lying flat on his back staring up at a coming rainstorm, Belphie had come to the crippling realization that all his work went to waste.

“You know, MC, the outdoors is going to lose my patronage.” Belphie murmured, blinking a few raindrops out of his eyes as the rain began to patter down with more ferocity. “I think the two of us should stick to indoor dates.”

“Couldn’t agree more.” MC sighed as they used the picnic basket as a makeshift umbrella.

“I’m um…” Belphie began, guilt twisting in his gut. “I’m sorry this turned out so shitty.”

“It’s okay, Belphie.” MC pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “If by some miracle the food that was supposed to be in the fridge hasn’t gotten eaten by the time we get back home, we’ll eat a late dinner, cuddle, and then sleep till noon.”

[beels-burger-babe]

Beelzebub's Very Bad No Good Day

***So this is the new format in which I'll be answering requests. In my experience, actual posts get spread further than asks do, so this will hopefully help with that. ANYWAY, I am crazy excited about this request as a major Beel simp and YES I will proudly do this request! Thank you @sinnoman for blessing me with it. -B*** Summary: Beel doesn't get anything to eat one day, and it doesn't go well for anybody.

From the moment Beelzebub woke up, he knew that today was going to be a terrible day. For starters, he had apparently raided the fridge in his sleep the night before, so there was not a crumb left in the house for anyone to make breakfast with. Most of the others had gone and grabbed something from Hell's Kitchen on their way to class, but poor Beel had slept through his alarm due to the food coma his nighttime snack had put him in and had to rush to RAD. The entire school was talking about the monster that they believed had awoken beneath the school. Teachers were on edge ready to evacuate the premises for the earthquake they believed to be happening. Beel avoided eye contact, blushing as his empty stomach continued to rumble and roar throughout the day. He ended up eating a few pencils just to get it to quiet down and even that didn't have much effect. The Avatar of Gluttony nearly cried tears of relief when the lunch bell rang. But it seemed that fate was not his friend that day. He was going to order a gargantuan-sized Little Devil mango slushy, a side of Hellfire curry rice, fried shadow bat, and 108 seed salad and the main course of at least twenty shadow hog burgers with three servings of caramel shadow tart for dessert. Beel was drooling at just the thought of it. He was almost at the ordering station when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Beel growled and turned around, baring his teeth at whoever dared to disturb him.

Belphegor narrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Woah. Beel, relax. It's just me. We've got a student council meeting, and Lucifer has threatened to take away supper from whoever skips out." Beelzebub scoffed as the air around him darkened at the mention of someone taking food away from him. "I'd like to see him try." Belphie raised an eyebrow at his twin's uncharacteristically grumpy behaviour. "Are you alright, Beel?" As though to answer his question, Beel's stomach let out another loud roar, causing several students to flinch and Beel to scowl in frustration. "I'm hungry." Belphie's frown deepened. Beel was always hungry, but he didn't usually let it get to him like this. The younger twin rifled through his own bag before pulling out an obviously full paper bag. "You can have my lunch if you want. I ate a little bit of it during class and swiped a bagel from Mammon during the first period, so I'm not all that-" Before he could finish Beel ripped the bag out of Belphie's hands and devoured it, bag and all. Belphie blinked at his now empty hand and chuckled as Beel chewed. "Man, you must be starving huh?"

Beelzebub merely grunted and continued to chew before swallowing down the small meal. He glanced back at the lineup in the cafeteria and put a hand on his stomach as he thought about the lunch he should be enjoying. Belphie nudged him. "Come on, big guy. We got to get to that meeting. The sooner we get it over with, the more likely it is that we'll end early and you might be able to grab something before class starts again." Only the meeting was not short and quick like Belphie had said it might be. Diavolo wanted everyone to come up with an idea for a school fundraiser, and Lucifer was arguing with Asmodeus on what was and was not appropriate. To make matters worse, you were unable to attend as, according to Mammon, your charms professor had asked you to stay behind afterwards to discuss your progress in the class. The bickering on top of the lack of food in his stomach was giving Beel a migraine and the longer he sat there, the more irritable he had become. Eventually, it became too much and he snapped. "ENOUGH!" he bellowed, flipping the table as he stood. "No one cares about the stupid fundraiser anyway and you're just wasting all of our time arguing over something that will inevitably fall apart and cause an even bigger mess, just like it always does!" "Beelzebub! Watch your tone in front of-" "Shut it, Lucifer!" his brother's gaped at him in shock as he snarled at their elder. "I am sick and tired of you pushing us all around and punishing us when the slightest thing goes wrong just because you-" Beel poked Lucifer's chest hard enough to make him take a step back, "won't take responsibility for your own mistakes!" "Oh shit," Mammon whispered under his breath, as Lucifer's eyes narrowed and his body tensed in defence. The second-born quickly squeezed his way between the two of them and spread his arms to try and create some distance. "Okay! Tensions are high. People are upset. But this is not the place to brawl it out." he glanced over at Lucifer who looked like he was a second away from stringing him up to the ceiling. "Might I remind ya Lord Diavolo is still in the room?" Lucifer looked over at Diavolo, who appeared to be both hurt and concerned by Beelzebub's words, before sighing and fixing his composure. He gave Beel a hard look. "Obviously something is upsetting you, but we can discuss this at home. For the time being, I recommend you work on calming yourself and clearing your head." Beel just growled at him before stomping out of the student council room. He had been about to re-enter the cafeteria again when the bell rang signalling the end of lunch hour. Beelzebub felt his eye twitch before his demon form burst into existence. He let out a deafening scream as he grabbed a table and threw it across the room (students still seated on it, included). Students were yelling and scrambling like mice as the large demon rampaged through the halls. He tore the locked grate off of the serving station and grabbed the nearest server by the scruff of the collar, causing them to squeak in fear. "I'm hungry," Beel rumbled lowly as the demon trembled in his hands. "Get me something to eat now or I will not hesitate to eat you." "R-R-Right away, Beelzeb-b-bub." Beel carelessly dropped the demon, who scattered off to gather as much food as they could. He began pacing like a caged animal. Having been alerted by all the noise, his brothers and Diavolo rushed into the nearly destroyed cafeteria. Diavolo's jaw dropped. "Beelzebub, what's the meaning of all this?" Beel's famished brain didn't acknowledge Diavolo as an authority at the moment. Instead, he was yet another person trying to keep him from eating. "I need food. NOW!" Lucifer's eyes widened in realization as he whispered something to Diavolo. The prince nodded and took a step back. "I'm sure the cooks are doing all they can to get you food right away. But I need you to control yourself before I am forced to take action." Satan had his phone out and was urgently texting someone, as Belphie moved forward.

"You'll get your food shortly Beel. You just need to wai-" "I don't want to wait!!" There was a part of Beelzebub's brain that was aware he was acting like a child. But his stomach physically hurt from how empty it was. He was tired. He was starving. He didn't have the patience for pleasantries. "I've barely eaten anything all day, and people keep staring and talking about me because my stomach just will not stop growling and I'm so hungry that I can barely think straight! I hate it! But I know it won't go away unless I eat, so I NEED TO EAT!" The brothers looked at Beel in shock. They knew that he ate a lot, but they always passed it off as just another quirk that made him Beel. They didn't know it bothered him like this. They thought back on all the instances where Beel had stated that he was hungry out of nowhere, always with a distressed look on his face. Every single time they had brushed him off. Before any of them could respond, you casually walked into the war zone that was the cafeteria. "Alright Satan, what's so urgent that you needed me so badly?" The room fell quiet as everyone's attention snapped over to you and you took in the situation. It didn't take long for you to connect the dots.

You immediately began to rush over to Beelzebub; Mammon stepped forward to stop you. "Woah, MC! I don't think that's a good idea right now!"

You ignored him and continued to make your way to Beel. Seeing you, the small human that you were, made Beel realize just how reckless he had been acting. He held out his hands to stop you and took a step away. "You should listen to Mammon, MC. I-I haven't eaten all day and I-" "You haven't eaten all day?! Oh god, this is worst than I thought." Beel watched as you slid the oversized backpack that he had seen you carry around RAD with you every day off your back and begin to dump out the contents. In a second, dozens of bags of chips, candy, fruits, and other snacks spilled across the floor in front of the two of you. Beel didn't waste a single moment. He instantly began consuming the snacks, causing you to smile happily. "Wha-What?! MC?! Why the hell do you have that much food on ya?!" Mammon sputtered as he cautiously began to approach you. You shrugged. "Beel gets upset when he's hungry, and I don't like it when he's upset. So I stocked up on some of his favourite snacks a while back and always keep them on me just in case," Beel paused his eating to look up at you in awe, "He can't help that he's always hungry. It's not like he asked to be the Avatar of Gluttony." Suddenly there were a pair of arms wrapped around your waist. Lucifer, Levi, and Mammon called out your name as Beel pulled you tightly against his chest. You just grinned and hugged the friendly giant back. "Thank you," he whispered softly into your hair, his arms tightening around you just a little more. "There's nothing to thank me for." As Beel finally began to calm down, the cooks came out with platters of food and shakily laid them out around you and Beel before taking cover back into the kitchen. Seeing that the threat had passed, the other brothers began to approach as well. "You know Beel, I didn't know you had that much pent-up anger inside of you. It was terrifying!" Asmodeus chirped as he plopped down beside the two of you.

"Yeah! You were just like the antagonist in My Boyfriend Turned Into a Cannabilistic Rage Monster, And Now I Have to Stop Him From Devouring The Whole City!!!" Levi began to ramble about specific scenes from the show that matched perfectly with Beel's rampage, causing Beel to blush as he munched on a burger. Belphie sighed and elbowed Beel as he took his seat at his side. "We'll have to make sure that MC's always around you. Just in case you know?" he smiled softly, before looking at his twin with a more serious expression. "You should've told me about all that stuff you said earlier. I had no idea you felt that away about your appetite." Beel looked away uncomfortably as he took another bite of his food and avoided the question. You snuggled closer to him, to provide him with some comfort. Satan tapped his chin as he watched the group. "I'm sure we could talk with Barbatos and come up with some sort of high-protein shake or bar that would better satisfy you. That way you wouldn't have to eat as much." Lucifer glanced over at Diavolo, silently asking if it was a possibility. The prince smiled warmly. "I'll have Barabatos begin working on something right away." Forgetting all about class and the anger that had previously consumed him, Beel looked around at his family. A warm feeling blossomed in his stomach as he felt content with the rare care and affection that they were openly showing. Maybe it had something to do with the thirty burgers he had already ate, but for just a second, Beel didn't feel so hungry anymore. ***Boy that got a little angsty there for a second, but I hope this was to your liking @sinnoman! I definitely enjoyed writing this one, and I think it made me fall in love with my boy Beel even more 🥰*** TAGLIST: @vampwiire @bunna-does-stuff

[myrulia]

Im a lil shy to ask in my og account so i will do it in anon! Can u do prompt 19? ( i hope im not breaking any of your rules!) your writing is delightful! 💖❤️ lots of love for u!

.｡.:*✧Prompt 19: "Are you falling in love? I have a feeling you are."

.｡.:*✧Warnings: Reverse hashira au, mentions of decapitation

╰╴⇢｡.:*✧A/N: I honestly had lots of fun with this so thank you! You deserve love as well!💜

`` The meeting shall now commence. ``

Muzan Kibutsuji, the leader of the Demon Slayer corpse, announced to the 9 hashira before him. They all kneeled in his presence out of pure respect, their heads hanging low but high enough to the point of seeing him.

`` Today we will discuss an important matter regarding our Moon pillar, `` said the male with such gentleness in his tone.

His words did cause them to raise their heads in confusion, knowing that the Moon pillar, or better known as Michikatsu Tsugikuni, was never one to involve himself too much in situations other than the purging of demons that wished to cause harm to humans. All eyes were on the spiky raven haired man for a split second before Kibutsuji spoke once more.

`` [Y/N], you may come out now. ``

You revealed yourself by coming from the shadows of the building you were inside, stepping onto the engawa just a few feet away from where Kibutsuji stood with his child close by. You fidget with your fingers out of pure nervousness, being in front of the 9 most powerful demon slayers you ever heard of in all your 19 years of living. The fact that they were in their presence alone made you want to poof out of existence.

`` This is [Y/N] [L/N], a very strong demon slayer who I believe has great potential. I wish to raise her ranking in sight of her power, so as of today, and for the rest of her time as a demon slayer, she will be a tsugoku taught under Michikatsu. ``

This brought shock to the pillars who now brought their heads up to get a better look at who you were. But the Ice pillar drew his eyes elsewhere, to Michikatsu. 

`` Our quiet Tsugikuni getting a cute tsugoku? It makes me quite jealous. ``

`` Mind your tongue around Kibutsuji, Douma, `` spoke the Shockwave pillar, or better known as Hakuji Soyama. The male always had a deep resentment towards Douma, and you had yet to learn the extent of it all. Michikatsu, who had been silent the entire time, took the chance to ponder his own thoughts and really process it all. A tsugoku? He did not have time to teach a student when he so desperately desired to get stronger to protect the weak.

Kibutsuji raised a finger to his mouth, causing the pillars to suddenly stop speaking. In your eyes, this was the utmost level of respect one can receive, truly shocking you at how much they devote their lives to this man.

`` Now then, how about we allow [Y/N] to introduce herself? ``

Your head snapped up in Kibutsuji's direction, your eyes wide with shock but all he gave you was a small nod, looking at the pillars again only to see that their eyes had locked onto yours. You cleared your throat before speaking, nervousness taking over your emotions.

`` As you have heard before, my name is [Y/N] [L/N]- but you may call me [Y/N]! My breathing style is the breath of moon, similar to Tsugikuni-san. I hope I meet your expectations of a demon slayer. ``

You bowed your head low in respect, hoping that your introduction was a decent one, but when you heard a hearty laugh erupt from the Ice pillar, worry started to set in that you made a fool of yourself.

`` She really is a cute one. Makes me upset that I do not have my own tsugoku. ``

`` That is because the last time you had a tsugoku, `` started Hantengu. `` You got the poor thing lost. ``

Lifting your head, you are met with the pillars now conversing amongst themselves, semi-arguing about the situation with Douma and his former tsugoku who apparently quit after multiple attempts of asking the latter out. You could not help but but let out a small snicker, bringing the attention back to you.

`` I was the one who made her laugh first!`` Said Douma, feeling triumphant at that moment.

`` No, it was just your stupidity, `` said a young girl with long white locks who got up and spoke with attitude in her tone, although her gaze was now directed to you. 

`` I apologize for them, I'm Ume pleasure to meet you. ``

The young girl bowed, but following right after was everyone else who also bowed in your direction. The whole ordeal painted obvious signs of shock onto your face because you always thought it was the pillars who deserved respect, not the other way around.

`` I apologize for my insolence as well, and my idiotic co-worker here, for our terrible first impression. ``

Hakuji held his head the lowest before raising it again, flashing you an attractive smile that would make any woman swoon immediately. You smiled in return at the 8 of them who decided to formally apologize, but the one who you assumed to be Michikatsu was silent and still. 

`` Now that we are all acquainted with [Y/N], the meeting will now come to a close, you are free to do as you so choose. ``

And with that, Kibutsuji went inside the building with his daughter holding his hand until they were no longer in sight, leaving you with the 9 pillars who went back to conversing with themselves, unlike another woman who you failed to truly notice. She had long brown hair, as well as long bangs covering her eyes and pale skin. You stared until suddenly you felt someone's presence behind you, a tall one at that.

Your small shriek of shock grabbed the attention of everyone still in front of you, looking to see Michikatsu appear behind you in a matter of seconds, a serious expression all over his face. 

`` How do you expect to be a good tsugoku if you scare easily? Always be on guard no matter who you are with. ``

The male left just as quickly as he appeared behind you, your nerves being left rattled and all over the place with how much he startled you. A look of concern was given to you by Hakuji, Douma, and Ume, the only three to really interact with you.

`` Dear [Y/N] got so scared, don't worry I'll protect you from Tsugikuni~ ``

`` More like he needs to be taught some manners, `` spoke Ume as she helped you up, flashing you a beautiful smile. You simply nodded, processing the turn of events. Was that same rude behavior something you'd have to endure during your time as a tsugoku?

                     ◆◇◆◇✧◇◆◇◆

Nightfall came quicker than expected, but it was much anticipated. Tonight would be the night you get to directly study under Michikatsu, following him under the moonlight as you study his movements and learn everything he teaches you.

You put on your haori, as well as sheathing your katana inside your saya and swiftly leaving your household to meet with your sensei at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters to discuss plans for the night.

You arrived there early and ahead of time so you can make a good first impression, only to see the spiky raven haired male leaning against a tree with his arms crossed impatiently.

`` You finally arrive. Good to see you have the mindset to be early on any occasion, that is the only decent trait you have so far. ``

You approached the male with your eyebrows furrowed, having enough of his attitude, but a voice within you stopped you before you could say anything that would make the man before you have a reason to dislike you.

`` Thank you sens- ``

`` Gratitude will get you nowhere. ``

Michikatsu suddenly leaped into the tree he was previously leaning against, standing on a sturdy branch and looking down at you below him. 

`` Tonight we shall practice your speed if Kibutsuji-sama has acknowledged you. So, try to keep up with me. ``

`` Wh- ``

Before you could voice out your opinion, Michikatsu already leaped from the branch and onto another tree. Your reflexes instantly kick in, causing you to run after him and jump into the tree where he previously was, only for him to leap to another tree. The process continued of you tailing him hopelessly throughout the night until you both were well into the forest beside the headquarters.

You managed to catch up to your teacher, but just before you could land beside him the male landed in a small clearing beside a pond with koi fish swimming about freely in the clear water. He suddenly stopped to catch his breath seeing as how you both have been playing this game of cat and mouse for quite a while.

You landed beside him, catching your own breath and watching as the fish continued to swim freely, the silence taking over between you. 

`` For a fresh student, you are fast, I'll give you that. ``

That was all he said, and even though so little was said, the semi-compliment made you smile with gratitude. Michikatsu side eyed you, looking down at your smaller form since you were distracted by the pond. This gave him a chance to study your physique. You had a smaller build, but he could easily tell that you were strong, after all, Kibutsuji did say you had great potential. You may have been quiet for the most part, but the male knew that you had much more to say than you let on. He truly was perspective. 

`` Tsugikuni-san, why have we stopped at a pond? ``

Your question caught him off guard, so he tore his gaze away from you and went back to the usually stoic and blunt person he is. 

`` To catch our breath, but our break is over. Stay close in pursuit. ``

The training continued again, going on for hours throughout the night with the same cat and mouse game you started with. Leaping from branch to branch at a fast pace staying hot on the pillar's trail. Although, at the end of the day, he has had much more experience than you have, for you struggled to keep up with him this time around.

Michikatsu suddenly stopped on a random branch of a tall tree, his back facing you but his head being turned so he can face you. 

`` This is where we will stop for the night. You started to stagger and slow down 4 trees before. ``

`` No. I can continu- ``

`` As your teacher I order you to stop. ``

You flinched at his sudden command, yet you kneeled down to catch your breath nonetheless. Michikatsu suddenly appeared beside you, the same way he did so when he first pulled off the seemingly difficult trick.

`` That is all, go home, your first night of training is over. ``

                     ◆◇◆◇✧◇◆◇◆

One night turned into two, two turned into thirteen, and thirteen turned into twenty-four. You had been training your physical strength for twenty-four straight nights in a row, refusing to give yourself a break to become the type of tsugoku Michikatsu can be proud of. Despite all your efforts, he still showed little to no sign of a significant reaction that expressed if he was impressed, proud, or disappointed with your abilities.

Tonight, you planned on changing that.

By Kibutsuji himself, you both were assigned to killing a demon who was sighted near a mountain not too far from the headquarters, and you both happily accepted the mission.

So now, here you are, standing beside your teacher at the foot of the mountain where the location was said to have been.

`` Let us deal with this demon quickly so we can return to training. ``

`` Are all we ever going to do is train? `` You spoke up, freely speaking your mind for the first time since you started studying under Michikatsu. This, however, made him turn around in an instant and loom above you, intimidating you fully.

`` Are you complaining? ``

Gulping a thick string of saliva, you shake your head no, which ultimately pleases your teacher. You could have sworn you saw him smirk out of the corner of your eye, but pushing that to the side, you both trek on your adventure up the mountain.

You followed closely behind until you sensed another, foreign presence near you - except it was not just one, it was multiple. You looked up at Michikatsu only to see him completely still, yet his hand gripped onto the handle of his katana. You shifted closer towards him so that you could watch your surroundings from another angle, but before you knew it a demon was now directly in front of you. 

`` [Y/N]! ``

Michikatsu yelled your name, signaling for you to go straight into battle mode. You did so by swinging your katana instantly, only missing its neck by a hair. 

`` There are 5 of them, you take care of 2 and I will do the rest. ``

`` Yes sensei. ``

You followed his plan, following the other two demons who decided to run away in the opposite direction from where you were chasing them, but by jumping and flipping above their head, landing in front of them, you were able to catch the creature off guard and successfully behead it in a timely manner. 

`` Don't think you won just yet girly- ``

Another demon tried to surprise you from behind, but it was too late for it as well, because you already swung your katana and successfully decapitating it as well, leaving it to wither away on the ground just as the other did. 

`` Both down. ``

With your success, you internally celebrated as you ran throughout the forest in search of your teacher, only to hear the swinging of a blade not too far from you. Following that sound, you see that the three demons he followed after ganged up on him and cornered him. You arrived just in time, seeing as how one of them was just about to attack Michikatsu when he was off guard and distracted by the other 2.

`` Breath of moon, first form: dark moon, evening palace. ``

You swung your katana in the direction of the demon's neck, being only able to sever halfway through before it dodged and managed to land an attack onto your teacher's abdomen, ripping his uniform and leaving bloody claw marks on his chest. The male gritted his teeth in slight pain, but not before he got rid of the other 2 demons in one single blow, leaving you truly astonished at his power level.

Although you could not stay distracted for long in view of the fact that the demon you tried to kill now had its attention on you, healing its neck at a visibly slow pace.

`` You got in the way, so now you'll take his place of death! ``

`` I think otherwise!, `` you shouted in return, using the second form of moon breathing, pearl flower moon-gazing that successfully sliced the demon's body into multiple pieces, including his head. It fell onto the ground and started the process of withering. With that, you ran to Michikatsu who covered the scars on his chest with his hand, sheathing his blade into his saya with the other. You kneeled down, ripping off a piece of your uniform and using that to stop the bleeding instead.

`` As a pillar I should deal with this mysel- ``

`` Stop acting all high and mighty. You are clearly injured so just let me help you. ``

Your stern tone made Michikatsu stop instantly, going silent instead and moving his hand out the way so you could tend to his needs. The fabric you ripped off only did so much, so helping the raven haired male stand up slowly, you drape his arm over your shoulder and escort him to your house, which was surprisingly not that far from where your mission just was.

Entering your home, you immediately set Michikatsu onto your futon, grabbing his hand and placing it onto his chest whilst still keeping that serious gaze in your eyes. The whole ordeal left him in utter shock that he was now in your home and in your care. He was never really one to speak his mind, so whenever he had a strong emotion of some sort it always showed on his face.

`` Keep that on your scars while I prepare everything I need to clean them. You're going to have to remove your uniform top for this. ``

Your words left him in even bigger shock, so much so that he was frozen for a good few seconds until he seemingly began slipping his haori off and unbuttoning the shirt of his uniform. He removed it with ease, now being bare enough for you to clean his wounds. Before Michikatsu, you never would have had the courage to speak up to him the way you did, but now with him being injured since you were too insolent to not kill the demon right away, you felt like you had to take responsibility.

Silently, you moved over to the male who sat bare before you, moving his hand out of your way so you could wipe away any blood that seeped anywhere else onto his body and in between the grooves of his abs. Your hand brushed against his skin ever so slightly, causing him to tense up in response.

`` Sorry if I hurt you in advance, `` you said, your voice cutting through the silence. He merely hummed in response, watching you work as he leaned back to get a better view. Michikatsu himself was appalled at how good you were at treating wounds, allowing you to actually do something he would never let anyone else do. But, over the course of your training, he had taken a liking to you. 

`` Have you done this before? ``

Both of your gazes met at a close proximity before you tore yours away in slight embarrassment, continuing the process of cleaning his scars. 

`` I have, yes. Why do you ask? ``

`` You seem to be rather skilled, that's all. ``

You finally finished cleaning his scars, setting down the wet cloth you used to do so, grabbing the bandages you had prepared and began wrapping them around his upper body, covering the scars effectively thus completing your task. Your skin had made contact so much that you were not able to discern when your face slowly began to heat up each time it did, but Michikatsu on the other hand had a pretty good view of your concentrated yet flustered expression.

You shifted to get up from your sitting position, only to feel a hand grab onto your wrist and pull you back down. You turn your head in disbelief, only to see that your noses were inches away from each other at the chain of events.

`` Thank you, [Y/N]. I mean it. ``

`` Well- you're welcome sensei… ``

Your bashful expression could not be hidden this time, and neither could Michikatsu's. The ends of his ears turned a bright red, thus letting you go at the realization of this because he was all too aware of his own emotions.

Hurriedly, you put your cleaning supplies away, moving so fast that you nearly tripped yourself. You could not help how you felt in that moment. Your emotions were all over the place and the only reason was because of him. Deep down you thought that yes he was attractive but his attitude was a bother. Even then, you still suppressed those feelings.

But not tonight.

`` Be careful, you might hurt yourself. There is no rush. ``

`` I apologize.. I am not used to having guests, my teacher being one no less. ``

He then suddenly patted the space beside him, signaling for you to sit down which you followed obediently, planting your hands in your lap and keeping keeping gaze low so as to not make eye contact. 

`` Will you look at me? You seem to be heating up by the passing second. ``

`` It could just be your inagination..- ``

A finger was brought to your chin, tilting it to the side and upwards to examine your face at a better angle, although the tip of your noses brushed against each other at the close proximity. You had to admit, with the moon light shining through your window and the way the luminosity shone on Michikatsu's features, it made him look ten times more attractive than he already did. 

`` Are you falling in love? I have a feeling you are. ``

You were ultimately taken aback by his sudden boldness even though he has mentioned that expressing how he feels just was not his thing. Your eyes widened ever so slightly while his expression stayed the same. Eyes partially lidded, mouth parted as his gaze glanced from your own irises to your lips. Your lips quivered to say something until you moved forward.

`` What if I say yes? What will you do about it. ``

`` Personally, I believe actions speak louder than words so.. ``

Just like that, you felt Michikatsu's lips press against your own yet pull away just as quickly, staring into your eyes once again until this time you moved forward, pressing your softer ones against his. The eagerness you felt in that moment showed with how you kept contact much longer than he previously did, but there were no complaints from neither of you. 

A large hand moved to the small of your back, hesitantly pulling you in closer contact with his bare chest until yours was leaning into his. Pulling away at the close contact, the redness at the end of his ears spread to his cheeks just barely, and this time you visibly saw an expression other than the one he usually sports.

`` So I take that as a yes? ``

`` It was most definitely a yes Michikatsu. ``

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

[ikeromantic]

Piano Lessons

An ObeyMe! Lucifer fic, approx. 1800 words. G/N MC, Fluff.

The infernal grand piano squatted in one shadowed corner of the music room. To any human, at first glance it looked no different from the version in the human world. A dangerous assumption, you knew. If an easy one to make. This instrument was capable of compositions that would drive a mortal listener mad, or even cause death.

You thought that would be reason enough to be given a pass on your Devilish Music I, but Lucifer didn’t agree. In fact, he considered your ignorance of the instrument and its compositions an opportunity. And that was how you found yourself in the House of Lamentation’s music room every afternoon when RAD let out.

Lucifer was already waiting on the bench. He looked up as you came in, lips compressed in an expression of near-constant disapproval. “You’re late.”

“I’m on time!” You glanced at the clock on the wall.

“If you aren’t five minutes early, that counts as late. Now come here and sit next to me.”

Arguing with Lucifer was futile. Besides, you did want to sit next to him. During your time in the Devildom, you’d developed a bit of a crush on the eldest brother. One that had you working hard to be on the receiving end of his rare smiles and sparse compliments.

Today you were hoping to impress Luci with your rendition from Certovski, Faust’s Mistake. It was one of the mortal-safe pieces you could attempt without risking your mind or your soul.

“Fingers on the keys.” Lucifer’s red eyes followed your hands as you tried for the appropriate position. “Elbows out. Move your left hand in.”

You did as instructed, but apparently you were still off. He reached for your hands, positioning them. Part of you wanted to fight him on it. The rest of you just enjoyed the feel of his hands on yours. His skin was always so warm and smooth.

He frowned. “Focus.”

“Sorry,” you mumbled. With your hands in place, you ran through the demonic scale. Some of the tones were too low or too high to hear. You could feel them though, shivering your bones and raising the hairs at the back of your neck.

Your warm-up didn’t get any objection from the Prince of Pride, which meant you were doing well. A quick glance showed he wasn’t frowning any more. Good.

Lucifer stood and began to pace behind you. “What are you going to play for me?”

“I’ve been practicing Faust’s Mistake.” As if he didn’t know.

“Then begin.”

You take a breath. This is it. You try to psych yourself up. All that practice will pay off. All those evenings you gave up gaming with Levi and Mammon, the weekends you stayed in instead of going out with Satan or Asmo. You could play this in your sleep.

Your hands float across the keys, the melody pouring from the hidden strings, describing the terrible bargain Faust made. The fast, tripping notes gave way to the long, slow sounds of regret, and finally, to the clashing finish.

Sweat beaded your forehead as you lowered your hands to your lap. The tension in your chest stopped your breath as you waited for Lucifer’s judgement.

“That was . . . not bad.”

From anyone else, you’d take this as a criticism but from Luci? It was a gold star. You smiled over your shoulder at him.

The left corner of his lip turned up in a slight half smile. “I’m impressed you memorized the whole piece in such a short time. I can tell you’ve worked hard.”

You felt like if he gave you one more compliment, you might completely melt.

“But -”

Your heart sank.

“I didn’t feel the tension, the passion of the moment in your rendition. You were too focused on technical mastery.” Lucifer sat down beside you, his hip brushing yours. “The Faustian epic is classic. It must evoke the emotion of the moment, the story, that birthed it. Let me show you what I mean.”

His hands went to the keys. “This is from earlier in the story. The Fall.” He began playing in a low octave, a heavy, slow rhythm that made your heart pound. Or perhaps that was just from sitting so close to him.

Lucifer kept that going as he began to layer higher, lighter notes atop it. These sounded almost playful, innocent. If not for the ominous beat beneath it. “Here we have naivete. The mortal at play, unaware of the trap laid for him.”

You nod.

“The music is the story, the story lives in the music. Now -” The lighter notes began to slow, creeping closer to the lower octave. “The mortal becomes aware of the nearness of death. The lingering, slow demise that comes to all men.”

Your breath slows in time to the music, and you can almost feel the weight of your years, few though they are. It is as if you lived a century and now your bones are heavy and your body is weary. Your eyelids drift half closed.

Lucifer continues to play, the ominous chords grow louder and the higher tones fade until both melodies close in on each other.

There is a subaudible component now, and though you can’t hear it, you can feel it move with the pulse of your blood. An arrhythmia that pulls you into the moment. The music surges beneath your eyelids, a spiral of red across a dark abyss. A false light.

“Here Faust decides his soul is worth less than his earthly pleasures, and denies Death its due. You can hear the strains of rage from Death’s denial beside the demon’s triumph. And there, Faust’s -”

The music stops but you can still feel it inside you. Something slick and warm slides down your cheek.

Lucifer’s voice, demanding. Trembling. “Wake up. Open your eyes this instant.”

You wish you could obey. You’d like to but the music holds you where you are. Limbo. A space bereft of everything but the music. Death and the demon, Faust’s lust and greed.

“Please.” Lucifer’s voice is gentler than you’ve ever heard it before.

You feel the pad of his thumb against your cheek. A sudden burst of magic like static on a distant radio. Then silence. Your mind slips under a dark, quiet ocean.

The water is warm. Peaceful. You can feel it cradling you. Stroking your hair, your cheeks. The touches become more insistent. Pushing you toward the surface. Toward wakefulness.

“I am sorry. Please. If you open your eyes, I will do . . . I will do anything, anything you want. I won’t make you practice anymore. I’ll give you a - a bigger room.”

The voice belongs to Lucifer, you’re sure of it. But it doesn’t sound like him. When has he ever pleaded, begged, for anything? You realize it is his hands on your skin, stroking your arms, your face. Then it hits you. The music. It wasn’t safe for your mind and now . . . was this real?

You open your eyes.

Lucifer’s face is the first thing you see. He is so close, you can feel his breath on your cheek. His eyes are wide and damp, and full of concern. You are held tight against him, like a child.

“Can you hear me? See me?” His fingertip slides along your jawline, a delicate touch.

“Yes.” Your voice comes out throaty and low. Rough as if you’d been screaming.

His relief is palpable. He squeezes you tighter, pressing your face to his chest. “I . . . I apologize. I got carried away with the music. And you’ve taken injury because of it - because of me.”

The words are halting, stiff. Hard for the proud eldest to say, and yet, for you, he does. “It’s okay,” you croak. “It was beautiful.” And it’s true. Some remnant of the cursed melodies still echo in the chambers of your heart. Haunting you with a promise that has no words.

“I will see you are fully recovered.” The briskness returns to Lucifer’s voice.

You try to push yourself up, off his chest. He doesn’t loosen his hold on you.

“Stop struggling. Are you uncomfortable?” Lucifer adjusts his grip, sliding your head to the crook of his arm. “Is that better?”

It isn’t, really. But at least you can see you aren’t in the music room anymore. Lucifer must have carried you to his chambers. He must have been worried, but you don’t know why. You feel alright. You try to sit up again.

With an exasperated look, Lucifer partially lifts you. He doesn’t release you. “Didn’t I say to stop struggling? You need to relax until you are . . . repaired.”

“I feel fine,” you tell him.

He frowns. “You are still bleeding from your ears.”

You lift a hand to the side of your head. It comes away red and wet. “Oh.”

“It will take a few days for the effects to wear off.” The concern in his scarlet gaze frightens you more than the blood.

“Will I be ok?”

“Mostly.” He looks away. “Until then, I will keep you here and see to your needs. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Does anything hurt?”

You shake your head. This, you discovered, was a mistake. The shadows of the room move with your vision, growing one direction and then the other. Wide swaths of darkness that catch your eye.

“Are you seeing things?” Lucifer looks back at you. His thumb caresses your cheek.

“N-no.”

“Rather, tell me what you are seeing. And don’t lie about it a second time.”

There is a flicker of warning in the crimson depths of his gaze. You tell him about the shadows, and the way the music still sings in you.

He frowns. “If the effects do not fade, I may have to keep you in my rooms forever.”

You note that he doesn’t sound annoyed at this prospect. But he didn’t ask you, and his assumptions don’t sit well. “You can’t lock me up, Lucifer.”

“I can.”

Wrong tactic to take. You amend. “It probably isn’t a good idea to burden yourself with caring for me. You have a lot to do. Diavolo needs you.”

Lucifer knows what you’re up to. He has millenniums on you, after all. He smiles and brushes the hair back from your forehead. “I have informed my brothers, and the Prince, that you fell ill yesterday afternoon. I’ve taken time off to care for you.”

Your mind takes a moment to catch up. “Yesterday?”

“Yes. I cast a spell to knock you unconscious when I realized what I’d done. It helped, briefly. But you started screaming some time in the night and . . .”

You realize he’s been sitting here, holding you, for hours. Warmth blossoms in your chest. A happiness completely out of place, all things considered. But despite the blood loss and possibly permanent madness, you feel loved. Cared for.

Lucifer seems to read your mind. He says nothing, just places a light kiss on your forehead.

Neither of you need to speak. He knows and you know and words just complicate things anyway.

He stands, still holding you, and carries you to bed. When you drift back to sleep, it’s with your head on his chest, his arm around your shoulders to pull you close.

[skellebonez]

You said you have yet to write something for winter's Actor au, so how about we fix that!? Maybe with promts 18 and 28? It could be with anyone, Shadowpeach, Freenoodles, even Ironbull, you choose

Disclaimer: I don’t really know all the ins and outs of how movie making works, I am winging it based on behind the scenes footage videos. This is probably not a 100% accurate representation of a studio lot. There are multiple mentioned ships but no focus here today, this is just a fun little gen fic idea I had! When does this take place? ..... UH... SO ANYWAY @winterpower98 CREATED THIS AU!

Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while./You call this luck? No, this is all skill.

No one was prepared when the crash of thunder shook the studio building and the lights flickered out. The cameras followed suit, along with all the other equipment, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief over the fact they hadn't been filming any stunts that day and none of the actors in need of the more labor intensive costumes had been fitted yet as it was still early in the day.

“IS EVERYONE OK!?” Niu Mowang yelled out, his voice carrying through the now quiet set easily without the noise of the electronic equipment (as expected for the actor of the Demon Bull King, he needed that stage presence and it seemed to be coming in useful). “SOUND OFF!”

“I’m ok!” “Me too!” “Whoever has a phone turn on your flashlight!” “IT’S FUCKIN DARK AS SHIT.”

The last one was said by Long Xiaojiao, earning a chorus of surprised and grateful laughter as multiple people did as requested by the director. The lights helped a bit, making it at least possible for those around the set to move to a slightly safer location. They all jumped as another thunder clasp struck closer, truly shaking the entire building this time and making even the most sturdy of them shake in worry.

After another moment of darkness there was a flicker and a low hum as the dim emergency lighting for the set building came to life.

“Alright everyone, that 'little storm' they called for today is apparently way more intense than they claimed it would be,” the director said with a frustrated and worried sigh, and everyone was thankful they had moved everything they needed inside the day prior in preparation. “Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while, given the emergency lighting. Hey!" He turned to another staff member, pulling out his phone in the process. "Can you and the new guy help me call the rest of the cast and tell em to stay put? Alright, thanks!"

“I'll call my dad,” Qi Xiaotian yelled back to the director, looking at his own phone and appearing grateful they still had some signal.

He had come in along with Xiaojiao and anothered cast member ahead of most others (aside from Mowang, who had come in early alone for his... own reasons) to apparently work on some last minute changes to the script that had been left with the young actor the night prior. He supposed that when the script writer was dating your father it made working on that kind of thing much faster (and boy was everyone happy they finally started outright dating, Mowang was starting to worry someone else would have to set them up with each other).

"Which one?" Xiaojiao asked with a chuckle and soft nudge to his shoulder, both jumping at another building shaking thunder clap. "Uh... maybe I should call my folks too... just to let them know what's up."

Mowang sighed, watching at the two youngest members of the cast that had already come in for filming that day moved around to another part of the set to sit and call their respective guardians. This was... odd. The storm was only supposed to last a short while and be no stronger than the normal thunderstorms they got in the area. By the time they were done filming inside the storm should have subsided... but the sounds outside made him second guess if they could even leave on time safely. Normal thunderstorms do not shake buildings this hard or come on this fast.

In the middle of his thoughts the large man felt the brush of a smaller hand on his arm as someone sumbled, startling him into looking over and reaching out a hand to steady them reflexively.

"Mr. Cheung?" Mowang raised a brow as he caught the clearly worried expression on his face. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah! Totally fine, peachy even!" Dicky Cheung, their very own Sun Wukong (and Mowang still wondered after all this time about what his full proper name was, given Dicky was apparently a stage name and Cheung was his family name, but he hadn’t found the right moment to ask), answered with an overly happy chuckle and a shake of his head. "Just, uh, tripped a bit!"

Well that was... odd. He normally was a lot more poised than this. And as far as any of the actors on set knew he wasn't particularly scared of storms.

"Are you sure you're OK? You seem agitated," Mowang raised an eyebrow, noting that the other man was watching Xiaotian and Xiaojiao. Maybe he was just worried about the younger cast members? "Have you had anything to eat this morning?"

"Huh?" Mr. Cheung looking up at him with a raised brow of his own, confusion lacing his features for a moment before he looked off into the distance and frowned. "... actually... I think I forgot breakfast..?"

"Well that won't do!" Mowang scowled with a sigh, placing a hand on Mr. Cheung's back and firmly leading him toward the refreshment table. "You get to tell me how I did then."

"How you what no-Oh!" His question was answered as quickly as it had been asked, and Mr. Cheung couldn't seem to help his laugh. "So that's why you came in early."

"I wanted it to be a surprise, but it looks like we got a bigger one," the larger man said with a chuckle, picking up a thick slice of one of the bread loafs himself. "It's my first time trying to make some of these."

"I bet Tie Shan would have been extremely impressed," Mr. Cheung said with a smile before grabbing a piece from a different loaf and taking a large bite, making a pleased sound in response. "There are peach chunks in this!"

"I, uh, thought you'd like that one... guess I got lucky," Mowang couldn't help bit stumble his words a bit and blush at the reaction and mention of Shan before eating his sweet potato bread. The batch had turned out good! A little heavy, but good. "You think the young-uns would feel a bit better if they had a snack?" He nodded his head to Xiaotian and Xiaojiao, watching as another clasp of thunder shook them again and the young man un particular held onto his friend like a lifeline.

"You call this luck?" Mr. Cheung seemed to have tensed again, but his tone was light and his smile was more relaxed. "No, this is all skill. You need to give yourself more credit off the stage. And I bet they would."

He flashed his signature bright smile before rushing over to the younger actors, saying something to Xiaotian after Xiaojiao rushed off to possibly tell everyone else about the snacks. Mowang could have sworn he heard something about someone "messing with and angering a demon who could control the weather", but that had to be a metaphor of some kind.

After an hour no one could figure out where Dicky Cheung had disappeared to until he reappeared after the storm finally let up. He looked fine but... Mowang could have sworn he had changed into similar but not identical clothes and his hair was wet...

Weird.

[five-rivers]

Danger First

Chapter 6

@pocketramblr another :)

.

Shouta trudged back to the staff break room. His counseling session with Midoriya had lasted a little over an hour, so while there were still teachers in the building, many of them had left. With the exception of semi-retired heroes like Recovery Girl, everyone working here had two full time jobs. Hizashi, despite his carefree air, had even more than that in the form of his radio show. Hizashi had probably left with the students.

But Hizashi wasn't either of the ones he wanted to talk to. Not today.

He opened the door. Three, no, four teachers were there, but Snipe didn't count, seeing as he was completely passed out on one of the couches with his gas mask half off. He must have had an early shift patrol today, poor sucker.

Nemuri was there, too, with most of her hero outfit on. She was applying her hero-grade makeup (water proof, resistant to three common contact poisons, and guaranteed not to react badly with mace).

More importantly, Kan and Yagi were both there, poring over papers on the same desk, no less. Shouta walked up to the table and looked down at sheets and sheets full of incomprehensible numbers.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"We-"

'Don't tell him!" said Kan, urgently. "This is going to be my class's leg up on Aizawa this time around."

"Haha! Good one!" Yagi slapped Kan's back, and apparently even in his skeletal form he could pack a punch, because Kan had the air knocked out of him. Before he could recover, Yagi continued, "I'm making personalized nutrition plans for his class!"

"What?"

"One of my undergraduate degrees was in nutritional and health sciences, after all!"

Wow, there was a lot to unpack there, but Shouta was more than happy to leave it in its box. He had other fish to fry and topics to interrogate. Small talk requirement fulfilled, he moved on.

"How well do you know Midoriya?"

Yagi blinked and put down his pencil. "Moderately so? We met about this time last year and have been meeting regularly since then."

So, so much to unpack.

"Why?"

"Ah, he... impressed me, I suppose? He was involved in the bodysnatcher incident last year."

That was an understatement.

"He had a lot of heroic spirit!" continued Yagi. "But... not so much in the, ah, body category. I thought it would be a shame, a waste, really, if he wasn't able to pursue his dream, and a hero school prep course wasn't really in the cards for him, considering his quirk status and the timing... And I did have this degree..." He waved his hands vaguely at the table. "I just gave him a little help."

"What brought all this on, anyway?" asked Nemuri. "Midoriya is the little green haired kid, right? One of Chibiida's new friends?"

"If you keep calling him that, I won't be held responsible for when he snaps and attempts murder. But, yes, that's Midoriya."

"So...?"

"He told me I was the best teacher he'd ever had."

Nemuri started laughing.

"Oh," said Yagi. "I'm glad the two of you are getting along so well."

"I think he's pulling your leg, Shouta," said Nemuri, coming over to pat him on his shoulder. "Man, I didn't think a friend of Chibiida's would have it in him. Such youth!"

"I cannot even begin to tell you how much he wasn't."

Nemuri's laughter died off.

"Judging from some comments he made today," said Shouta, "not to mention the discrepancies between his record and his observed behavior in the classroom, I'd say he's been the target of severe quirkism in the past, particularly from his teachers. Did he ever mention anything like that to you?"

Yagi's face darkened and the mood in the room grew much more somber. "Not in so many words, no. However... some of his comments about his teachers disturbed me enough to bring it to the attention of the Musutafu Educational Services District, but as an unrelated stranger without concrete proof..."

("You can use the acronym, you know," muttered Vlad.)

"You're telling me they ignored the number one hero."

Yagi made a face. "I didn't go to them as All Might. Can you imagine the media frenzy if I did that? I didn't want to paint that kind of target on young Midoriya's back."

That was fair, actually. If largely-anonymous Shouta had enemies, All Might had ten times as many. Not to mention supposed fans.

"Other avenues of inquiry were also fruitless," said All Might, countenance darkening. "I asked some of my police colleagues, but they don't have full discretion over the direction of their investigations, and, again, if I were to use my weight to move them... It would get out, and people would wonder why I was so concerned with an apparently normal middle school."

"Did you try talking to Nezu about it?"

"No? Why?"

Shouta reminded himself that although Yagi was an alumnus, he was also very new as a teacher, and was as of yet unfamiliar with Nezu's more interesting traits.

"I'm going to," said Shouta, "and you're going to come with me." He turned to Kan. "Have you heard anything from Bakugo about quirk discrimination?"

"All I've heard from him are explosions, threats, and some kind of complex I don't have nearly enough psychiatric training to- They're from the same school," he realized.

"Yeah."

Kan pinched his brow. "So, the sweet shy kid you keep gushing about-" Both Shouta and Yagi attempted to reassure Kan they weren't gushing, "-and the demon brat are from the same school."

"That is what their records say," agreed Shouta. "Did you know, Yagi?"

"Oh, that they knew each other? Yes. Actually, I was rather under the impression they were childhood friends, as Midoriya ran out to help him during the bodysnatcher incident."

Shouta grunted. It was possible. He hadn't seen the two of them interact, at any rate.

"I'm going to Nezu with you," said Kan, standing up. "No matter what else this hell school did, they deserve to suffer for inflicting Bakugo Katsuki on me with those recommendations full of lies."

"Why don't you just expell him if he's that bad?"

"Because he's talented, hardworking, and hasn't actually broken any rules except for the swearing. He's just a pain I wasn't prepared to deal with and will probably contribute more to my hearing loss than Yamada by the end of the year."

"Wait, wait," said Yagi. "What exactly are you expecting Nezu to do in this situation?"

"Well," said Nemuri, who still hadn't left yet, "let's just say there's a reason hid name is 'god' in the staff group chat."

.

Terrible did not even begin to describe how Izuku felt when he woke up. His skin was static. His mouth was dry in a way that hurt. It felt like a siren was going off in his brain, and also like it was too quiet. He wanted to both run all the way to the school and hide in his closet.

This, of course, left him paralyzed in bed.

He hadn't felt remotely like this since the first time someone had left spider lilies on his desk at school. What was wrong with him?

No, that was the wrong question. All signs pointed to him having Danger Sense. He was in danger. And also immobile in bed.

With a great deal of effort, he turned to his bedside table and grabbed his phone. The clock in the corner read 4:42. Far too early to call anyone. And yet...

With shaky fingers, he navigated to Mr. Yagi's contact information and pressed dial. To Izuku's surprise, it only rang once.

"Young Midoriya? Is something wrong?"

The sound of his voice loosened the terrible knot under Izuku's breastbone. "I- May-maybe? I don't- I don't know, I think so."

There were sounds of movement on the other side of the line. "What happened?"

"I just- just woke up, and I- I think it's Danger Sense. It- Something bad is going to happen."

"I'm on my way. Is your mother with you?"

"N-no. She's at a- at a tech conference in Tokyo. She won't be back until- until tomorrow. Mr. Yagi, I don't- I don't think it's something here. I think it's later... at the school."

There was a pause. "My boy, are you quite sure?"

Izuku's laugh was just a little hysterical. "I mean, I'm- I'm pretty new to this, but..." he'd like to think his flight or fight reflex would have a more constructive response to am immediate threat. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you up, I should have waited-"

"Nonsense! Forewarned is forearmed, and time is one of the most valuable resources a hero can have! I'm still picking you up, I'll just-" Mr. Yagi coughed, "-take the car instead."

"The car? You mean Hercules!?" The excitement was enough to free Izuku from his paralysis and propel him into a sitting position.

"Well, yes, but, my boy, how did you know? I don't think I've ever mentioned the name in my interviews..."

"But you did! In one of your American interviews. It was for a local station and you and Mr. Shield were on together."

"But those were in English."

"I know! When I found out about them, it really motivated me to work on my English! I think I could probably pass the Level Two fluency test..."

"Young Midoriya, have I ever told you how glad I am that you aren't a villain?"

.

"Hikage, did Danger Sense ever make you feel this bad?" asked Nana as Yoichi fussed in the background.

"Super Anxiety made me feel this bad all the time. Sometimes, it made me feel worse. I got used to it."

Nana let out a sigh of relief. It sucked to Ninth right now, but if it was normal for the quirk...

"That's good, then," said En. "Not for Ninth, obviously, but if that's just how the quirk works, he'll be able to figure it out. What did it usually mean, when you felt like this?"

"Generally, that someone was planning on killing me in the next few hours."

Dead(er than usual) silence.

"Ah," said En.

"You know," said Nana, "sometimes the kinds of lives we led slips my mind, but then the universe is always real happy to turn around and slap it back into me."

Yoichi started screeching.

.

"Do you feel any worse now that we're here?" asked Mr. Yagi after shutting Hercules down.

"Not really," said Izuku. He slumped down in his seat and looked away. "I'm sorry, I dragged you out of bed and this is probably just a stupid pointless meaningless panic attack..." He felt tears begin to prick at the edges of his eyes. He was so stupid. And selfish. All Might could be out helping people right now. Or taking care of himself (which, according to Recovery Girl's comments during their training sessions, he didn't do nearly enough of).

"Hey, hey, there's no need to cry, it's alright."

"Because you're here?" asked Izuku with a sniffle.

"Well, yes, but also, even if it was 'just' a panic attack, I'd still want to be here for you." He reached across the central console to pat Izuku on the shoulder. Then his face twisted into something rather sheepish. "But on the subject of panic attacks, something did occur to me on the way here."

Izuku looked back down at his knees. "What is it?"

"This is the anniversary of the day we met."

Izuku... had known that, actually. Waking up as he had had driven it from his mind, but the date was marked on his calendar. He'd even gotten All Might a gift, although he hadn't yet talked himself into being brave enough to give it to him, and with what happened today, it would most likely languish in his desk drawer for an indefinite period of time as the idea of giving it became progressively more awkward.

"My boy? I can't quite make out what you're saying. You're mumbling."

Izuku clapped his hands over his mouth. "Sorry."

"It's quite alright. I'm just an old man with hearing problems."

"You're not old! It's... I just- I just don't see how- how that's connected to this." He gestured at himself in all his vaguely-trembling glory.

"Young Midoriya... you almost died three separate times that day. That's traumatic. And sometimes anniversaries are... reminders."

"I only almost died once?"

"The first time with the sludge villain, grabbing on to my leg- and I don't think I ever apologized for telling you to let go, I was just so surprised- and then the sludge villain again."

"But I only almost died the first time..." He trailed off as Mr. Yagi gave him a look. He'd thought his mother was the only one who could give looks like that... "Do you really think this is connected to that?"

"I don't know," said Mr. Yagi. "Do you feel like it might be?"

"I don't know," said Izuku. He bent over and knotted his fingers in his hair.

"Do you think it might help to stay home today?"

"No!" yelped Izuku. "No," he repeated, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Alright, alright. Never fear, my boy." Mr. Yagi gave him another steadying shoulder pat. "In that case, let's go into this with the assumption that this is danger sense, and it is attempting to warn you of a real threat."

"Okay," said Izuku. He rubbed at his eyes. "What do we do first?"

Mr. Yagi tensed and looked up at the top floors of UA. "Well..."

.

"Hm!" said Nezu. "That is something of a conundrum! The extent of your quirk is unclear, and it is not properly registered, so we cannot go through the official routes we normally would for a warning given through a precognitive or clairvoyant quirk, even given that we are aware of One for All and the probable nature of Danger Sense."

Nezu knowing about One for All had been a bit of a surprise. In retrospect, maybe it shouldn't have been. All Might would have had to tell Nezu something so that Izuku was allowed on campus before he was really a student, and seeing as how All Might was originally teaching here to find a successor... well, it made sense. Izuku just wished he'd been told.

How many other people knew was a question for later, however.

"Your inexperience with the quirk and other circumstances further complicates the matter."

"Sorry," said Izuku.

"Whatever for? It isn't your fault." Nezu did not wait for an answer. "Then there is yesterday's incident to consider... You say you felt something with the reporters?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Hm. Yes. Toshinori, I so believe you have a contact who could clear this up much more efficiently."

"I know," said Mr. Yagi. "He isn't picking up his phone."

"You don't think-?" started Izuku.

"No, no, he just hasn't been speaking to me lately."

"Oh? I was under the impression you had been communicating with him regularly since returning to Musutafu."

"He thought I would change my mind about something I didn't change my mind about, apparently. It doesn't matter. What else can we do?"

"A good number of things, luckily. Midoriya, I am going to make a series of phone calls. I would like you to tell me if the sensation you are experiencing changes at all while I make them."

"Yes, sir."

Nezu began methodically going through Izuku's list of teachers, warning them that something 'like yesterday' might happened and going over lesson plans and safety procedures. Nothing really changed. Until Nezu called Thirteen.

(Oh, gosh, they were going to go to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint on a field trip today? That was so cool!)

But after Nezu talked to Thirteen about checking safety systems, a little bit of the tension he'd been holding onto leaked away.

"Interesting," said Nezu. "Perhaps we should reschedule rescue training until-"

Izuku dove for Nezu's garbage bin.

"-or perhaps not," mused Nezu as Izuku expelled the meager contents of his stomach.

It was a good thing he hadn't eaten breakfast.

.

"Hikage," said Banjo. "I'm sorry for calling you a dead-eyed emotionally stunted bastard with a warped sense of humor if this is what you had to put up with all the time."

"You called me a dead-eyed emotionally stunted bastard?"

"Not to your face, but yes."

"Well. It isn't as if those things aren't all true..."

.

"I'm okay," said Izuku. "That just... felt bad."

"No cancelations in that case," said Nezu as Mr. Yagi hovered.

"Y-yeah. Oh gosh, now I know how Uraraka feels..."

"Perhaps you should stay home-"

"No! I can't! That would be..."

Nezu held up his hands- paws? "It was merely a suggestion. Can I offer you some tea?"

"Yes, please," said Izuku, voice catching uncomfortably on his raw throat.

"I do have a few more calls to make. Do you feel up to staying, or would you prefer to head down to Recovery Girl? Or perhaps even the cafeteria? I imagine you haven't eaten breakfast."

"I'd like to stay."

"Very well." Nezu picked up his phone again. Izuku could just make out the click on the other end when it was picked up. "Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? One thing's for sure! I'm the principal!" There was laughter on the other end of the line. "No, not at all! I am in fact calling for you, Tensei. Or should I say, Ingenium? I'm aware this is last minute, and you were planning on taking the day off- How do I know? It was quite simple, really- but between the break-in yesterday and a tip I received this morning regarding a threat to the school, I would like a few more hands on deck than usual. Why, yes, you can stay with your brother's class. Do try not to tease Shouta too much. He has a reputation to maintain." After a few more pleasantries, Nezu hung up. "Midoriya?"

"I... think that's better? I'm sorry, it's hard to tell what could be the quirk and what's just me feeling bad."

Nezu nodded. "In that case, I do recommend that you head to Recovery Girl's office. My other calls will be similar, and the other heroes will not be with your class."

"Why not?" asked Mr. Yagi.

"Because Midoriya's reaction to the field trip being canceled suggests that the danger may not be limited to himself or his class. Oh! And one more thing. Midoriya, I noticed that you put in some costume alteration requests. Naturally, most of them will not be finished until some time next week, however, some of the support items you mentioned are fairly common. If you have time before the field trip, you should pay a visit to Power Loader."

.

Izuku hadn't expected it, but he did feel much better after eating, despite his continuing sense of impending doom. It was also about half an hour from the beginning of homeroom, so he had the time to go to the support department and check if they had anything he could take.

He hoped they had grappling hooks. Izuku had always wanted a grappling hook.

Mr. Yagi took him most of the way there, but students had started to arrive at this point, and Izuku convinced him to go prepare for classes (and hide in the staff area so that no one would wonder why he, a skeleton man not recognizable as a hero, was at the school). Before too long, Izuku stood in front of a rather sturdy-looking metal door. He hoped this was the right one.

He raised his hand to knock just as something crashed into him. Ah. This was it for sure. The way he would die. The danger he had foreseen.

No. Wait. Never mind. He was fine, just on the ground.

"Oh! There was a person there! You okay?"

"U-um," said Izuku, sitting up and rubbing his head. "I'm fine, just a little startled."

"What're you doing here, anyway?"

"I- I'm here for... support... gear?" He sort of trailed off as he looked up.

It was the intense pink haired girl from the other day. As he watched, her expression changed from one of mild concern to calculating interest.

"Support gear, you say?"

.

Shouta answered his phone as he walked down the hall. "Nezu, I've already done every security check I can think of that'll fit-"

"Not quite why I was calling, although I can see why you would think so. One of your students needs to be rescued from the support department."

Shouta changed direction without missing a beat. "It's Midoriya, isn't it?"

"Why, yes."

"Did you send him down there without warning him?"

"Yes, again. You know me so well!"

Shouta hung up.

[cheelduh]

How to strike your way into someone’s heart (Highschool AU)

Part 2 to this. Can be read alone!

Pairing: Childe x fem!reader

Warnings: A lot of swearing I mean what do you expect they’re all teenagers. Lots of brick slapping. Childe clowns Scaramouche. OH YES this isn’t edited at all lmfao have fun.

Synopsis: It’s your big date with Childe after you lost the bet miserably. You decide to pay the occult club a visit in hopes of finding something that can...ease your concerns. Childe on the other hand has Signora give him a friendly piece of advice, believe it or not. 

Note: SRY THIS TOOK ME LIKE A MONTH

For as long as you can remember, you've never believed in ghosts, demons, or souls that lose their way in the endless void, forced to roam the earth in repentance.

Believing in the unknown takes creativity, adventure, maybe even a little sense of fear. Scratch that—a shitton of fear, because humans love to weave in their insecurities and inability to explain something into something of a phenomenon.

Bad luck lies in this category. Bad luck is simply a way to justify the catastrophe that one cannot admit they have fabricated themselves. Everyone wants a reason as to why shit hits the fan, and it can be anything but their own fault.

Bad luck is nothing but a load of bull to you. That's totally why you're standing outside the calculus classroom during lunch break, which happens to be the official meet spot for the occult club.

You raise a fist to knock, but then falter, thinking over your options once again. Is this what it has come to? Putting your faith into the weird kids that once tried to summon Schrödinger's cat for the physics final.

Fischl kicks the door wide open, a smirk playing at her lips once she spots you. "One cannot refrain from the song of your cogitation. The feline for which thou dwell on—"

A squeak leaves your throat and you flinch back, cutting her off. "You can read my mind?"

"Fischl," An icy eyed boy shows up from behind her and points a thumb back. "Mona needs your help."

Fischl squints at you for a brief moment, and then spins onto her heel to go back into the room.

The blue haired lower class man, Chongyun you guess, narrows his eyes at you. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Finally you manage to speak, palms all sweaty. "Yeah uh, I need your help. You know, with occulty things." You use your hands to articulate your thoughts, but ultimately give up.

You're not sure if it's pity towards your pathetic explanation or simply annoyance, but Chongyun widens the opening. He silently gestures for you to follow.

Stumbling on your feet and putting on your big girl pants, you hurry inside of the room, hoping you aren't seen by Beidou. She wouldn't let you hear the end of this.

The temperature instantly drops, and you have to adjust your sight to navigate. There's heavy incense in the air as well as a a few lighted candles from the dollar store, you guess.

Sitting smack dab in the middle of all the demonic markings is Mona, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Chongyun has made his way next to her, crossing his arms with a sigh, and Fischl is busy cooing at her bird.

"Well well well..." Mona's amused, eyes almost twinkling as she gets up from the poor desk that had to suffer the wrath of her ass. "If it isn't Y/N."

Mona is a glorified dick wiper in your books. One time, she partnered up with you in chemistry last year and refused to do any work because apparently her "star sign" said she was incompatible with science. You haven't forgiven her since.

"I need your help." You barely manage to choke out the words, reigning yourself in by clenching your fists instead. It'll be unethical to claw her face, especially since you're the one who's come to her.

"Oh?" She smiles wickedly, revelling in every moment of this no doubt. "Why would the high and mighty Y/N need help from the 'Whoroscope whore'?"

Fischl nearly slips out a laugh, trying with her upmost ability to refrain from rolling all over the floor.

You blink away your tears of almost-laughter, casually sliding in twenty mora across the table dividing you two. If she's a whoroscope whore like you say she is, she'll definitely put it in her bra.

Mona raises a brow, but her eyes linger on the bill for a second too much. "What makes you think I'll do it for money?"

"That's simple," You say, rolling your eyes. "When you see mora, you cling to it like a baby clings to a tit. Now just take it and solve my issues."

She fumes a litany of curses but snatches the money up anyways.

"What do you want?"

You breathe in, then out. "I need a talisman."

Mona raises a brow, hand on her hip. "I'm sorry. Did I get that right?"

How dare she. You will your eye into not twitching, the beginnings of fire thrumming through your veins, scalding hot. How dare she make me repeat myself.

"You know, the thing to fend off evil spirits," Your statement hangs heavy in the air as the cogs in their brains click into place. "I need one that can remove the most evilest thing times ten to the power of twenty five on this planet."

Everyone immediately thinks of Hu Tao.

Chongyun is the first to speak from an area of expertise, seemingly shocked at your words. "Are you sure you want a talisman that powerful? How bad is the evil spirit you've come across?"

You glance out the window, through the semi-open blinds. The apprehension curls in your stomach once you spot Childe chasing Aether with safety scissors, and you've never been more sure of than anything in your life.

Gulping, you turn back to the exorcist. "I'm 110% sure."

He doesn't ask any more questions and goes to fetch the talisman.

Mona clears her throat. "So I hear you have a date with Childe today. Quite the character you've taken to."

"Oh please," You hiss through your teeth, your blood pressure going up tenfold, "you're the one that told him our star signs were intertwined and that we're fated lovers."

She shrugs innocently, stance casual unlike your own that is ready to lunge an attack.

"Here you are," Chongyun hands you a talisman, a colourful mix of some charms, some kind of liquid in a bottle, and about a shitton of other things. "You'll need these if you're going to face the most demonic of all evils."

You think of Childe's stupidly handsome smirk, the playful life of his eyes, and how gentle and considerate he is with you. You think about how cruel he is to others, but how loving he can be to you.

"Oh, I will be."

—

Childe is getting his ass handed to him by Scaramouche on the switch. It's just that he can't seem to focus, not with the forthcoming date all over his mind.

He hasn't experienced these kind of jitters in a long time. Has to endure that foolish smile that's about to plaster all over his face.

Scaramouche may be a son of a bitch with an agenda, but he doesn't appreciate his acquaintances safeguarding their personal crap when it starts to leak onto him. Especially when it comes to video games.

"Okay," The short boy sighs, stretching over the staff room sofa to drop his controller on the cushions. "Let's hear it." He can't even properly enjoy his victories when Childe isn't giving it his all.

"Hear what?" Childe lays his head back, relaxing from all the strain of endless gaming during the lunch hour. He seems too relaxed for someone who's broken into the teacher's lounge.

"Why you're so distracted." Scaramouche points out. "Not that I care—hey! I'm serious here!"

Childe's cracking up for absolutely no reason, rudely cutting him off. "I'm sorry—sorry it's just so hard to take you seriously when you're wearing that stupid fucking hat."

"Don't question the drip." The older moves his head to glare at him, but the thin stripe of silk on his hat swooshes with him, and it's enough to have Childe clutching his stomach in pain as he barks out in laughter.

"Grow the fuck up." Scaramouche says, no doubt exasperated from the constant shit he gets.

"Ok—ok I'm sorry."

There's a knock on the door before Scaramouche gets the chance to intimidate him again.

"Fuck shit fuck who is that? Wasn't there a staff meeting?" Childe whisper yells, panic clear in the ocean of his eyes.

Scaramouche shrugs and downs a can of soda with no care in the world.

Childe would be nonchalant too. If it were a normal day, he wouldn't give two shits about getting caught.

However, he's looking forward to that date he has with you today. Detention is going foil all his lecherous plans.

"It's me." The feminine sound of a threat calls out from the other side. "Open the door." The clicks and clacks of her toes tapping the floor indicating her impatience.

The two sigh in relief, Childe getting up to open the door. It's way too early in the afternoon to deal with this crap.

"Surprised to see me?" Signora greets sweetly, and if not for the murderous glint in her eyes, he would smile back.

"Yeah, I didn't say Bloody Mary three times." The ginger replies, keeping a steady eye on the upperclassman in case she pulls a fast one.

The blonde shoves him aside in offence, and prances in like she owns the goddamn place. Scaramouche greets her with the bird.

"There's this rumour going around—I'm sure you've heard..."

"Oh?" Childe pockets his keys, ready for an attack, not even remotely interested in the topic.

"Something about how Y/N gave Mona a visit today" Signora muses, elegantly taking a seat on the arm of the couch, "with your date and all, I just thought you should know."

"Hah!" Scaramouche bursts out in laughter, tears in the corner of his eyes. "I can't believe she went to get a horoscope reading on how shitty your date's gonna be."

"Get castrated." Childe growls, flipping him off on both hands.

"Now now boys," Signora's lips curl, and she clasps both manicured hands together, prepared to break the fight if it ever reaches its peak. "Settle down. You two are comrades."

"As if I'm comrades with this SIMP!" Scaramouche has to wheeze out the words.

The youngest clenches his fists, unclenches, and then lets a smirk grow. "Oh? I'm the simp? What about that time Mona pantsed you in-front of all the freshmen and you fell in love with her."

Scaramouche glares at him, a glare strong enough to have anyone shaking in their shoes. "I'm attracted at her sheer audacity of trying to fuck I, Scaramouche, the 8th harbinger, over. It takes balls."

"Mad respect." Signora leans forward to place her phone on the coffee table, then approaches Childe. "Moving on, the reason I've decided to bestow my precious intel on you is because I have a favour to ask of you."

"What?" He says blankly, confused that she has a request for him out of all people.

"I need you to let me get you ready for this date of yours." She gives him a gaze that is enough to wither away any arguments.

Childe shares a look with Scaramouche as if to say "am I fucking deaf because I sure as shit didn't just hear that."

"You sure as hell did, boys." Signora intercepts the connection of their two brainwaves with a dreaded sigh. "I hate Y/N. This is the only way I can get back at her."

"Hey!" Childe exclaims loudly, waving his hands in the air incessantly. "What makes you think I'll let you shit on my future girlfriend."

"I'll be doing nothing of the sorts." She points out, giving him a sly smile. "I just know she's terrified of what's coming. The better the date is, the more she's gonna hate herself. What more do I need but to sprinkle some inner conflict within her airtight resolve?"

As favorable as the proposal is, Childe  contemplates for a second. Signora...helping him? This could work to his advantage if he plays his cards right.

His inner turmoil takes him into the future, where you two are happily married with eight and a half kids. If you ever managed to find out Signora was the culprit that was finally able to set you two up, you'd never forgive him.

"Nah I'll take a hard pass." He doesn't want to think about divorce and custody battles this early on. He'd rather face the brunt of Signora's wrath.

Scaramouche chooses right then to make a tactical withdrawal out through the window since he doesn't want to be a witness to a murder he hasn't caused.

Surprisingly— "Fine then." Signora shrugs, unbothered when summoning out a minty juul from no where. She's disappointed nonetheless.

Childe tilts his head, perplexed, but decides against mulling over it for too long. Instead, he strides off to the door, wanting to get the last two periods over with so he can run home and freshen up for this date.

"Oh and Childe?" Signora calls out to him, but he barely acknowledges her, only pausing momentarily without looking back. "A piece of friendly advice. A diligent student like Y/N, there's no way she'd be into rash things like fighting. So try and control yourself, hmm?"

He flashes the senior a sheepish smile, the front row tickets to the illegal underground fight-club burning in the back pocket of his pants.

—

Childe conceals near the bushes by the gate, expertly hiding his shaking hands by pretending to look for something in his back. His goal isn't to seem desperate, even though he's raced out here at the speed of light after Havria's dismissal.

It's not like he's trying to eavesdrop or anything. He just wants a little insight on how you're feeling about this, in case the rumors of you visiting the occult club wasn't a farce.

From his peripheral, he spots you and a familiar figure that is Lisa, leisurely walking side by side as you approach the main side walk.

"Ready for your date, Y/N? You've been daydreaming all afternoon." Lisa winks, and dodges the shove you send her way with experience like no other.

"Yes, daydreaming about punching you in the face." Your left eye twitches in annoyance as you fix your hold on your skateboard.

"Well then, I'll be off—ah!"

The gorilla grip you have on her sleeve takes away all the time she has to get on the last bus she's about to miss.

Your utter strength is enough to make Childe's knees weak. How pathetic he thinks.

"Oh no you don't," You say in a sing-song voice, "you got me into this, so you're going to help."

"Help with what?" Lisa fakes a hard pout as she bats her lashes, trying to collect pity points.

"I—" You inhale, loosening your grip on her and averting your eyes nervously to see if anyone's watching. "Don't make me say it."

The older girl motions for you to continue, and you're sure you've suffered more for less at this point.

"I've never...been on a..." The sentence ends in a trailed murmur.

Childe doesn't think he's ever seen you so flustered. He's about to snap a picture for later, but decides against it. They'll be plenty of moments later on to see your cute expressions.

Lisa's grin is both seductive and terrifying, Childe notices. "You've never been on a date?"

"Shut up!" You hiss, dropping your board so you can cover her lips with your palm, eyes darting around your surroundings frantically. "Not so loud."

He has to bite at his fist to hide his amusement.

As if she has a sixth sense, Lisa's eyes somehow find Childe's through the abundance of leaves, and there's a glint in her eyes that nearly makes him shart his pants.

"Of course Y/N," She replies sweetly to you, who is currently unaware of the staring match going on. "I'll teach you everything you need to know...and more."

Childe doesn't know if that's a good or bad thing. Nor does he want to find out.

—

You ponder on what's taking him so long, more on edge than you usually are. Thankfully, Lisa basically pried your hair down from its usual up-do. Said something about how you can hide your lack of shits given as to not offend him.

Except you think you're giving more shits that you expected to. Why else would your heart be pounding so hard?

"What took you so long?" You sense him creeping up on you, ceasing his chance to pounce.

Childe groans playfully and slaps a hand over his face as he comes into view. "How'd you know?"

"You have a douche-styled gait." You reply as you remove your gaze off your phone to approach him.

He's prepared to shoot a witty reply, but it dies halfway through his throat when he procures a good look at you. Your hair frames your face elegantly, eyes shining despite the tiredness that's so clear, all complete with a cooling spring dress that hugs you just right.

Mouth going dry, he forgets how to speak the common tongue, unable to tear his gaze off your form.

You shift in place awkwardly. "Uh are you okay? Looking a little...blank."

"Sorry—sorry just thinking." Childe stumbles over his words like the complete idiot and a half he is, berating himself countlessly on the inside. He regains his confidence once he spots the light dust on your cheeks. "You ready for the best date ever?"

"The best date huh?" It's the first time you smile today, and he swears his heart leaps in his rib cage. You're the prettiest thing he's ever laid his eyes on. "I'm ready. I better not be disappointed."

"I wouldn't dare disappoint, girlie." He feigns mock offence as dramatically as possible. "I'll show you how to have some real fun. Cool keychain by the way, for good luck?"

It's one of the charms Chongyun urged you to carry with you at all times to keep all forms of evil away.

"Yeah...something like that."

The two of you ease into the walk in a relatively comfortable fashion, contributing with lively chatter and a few jabs here and there. It's not awkward at all, not like you thought it would be. Your nerves loosen up, mind diverting from the roots of the stress of high school.

"—And you won't believe what Kaeya did the other day. I'm telling you there's something wrong with him because that SoundCloud rapper wannabe Venti goaded him into birdboxing through the hallways at lunch."

"And the son of a bitch did it?"

"The son of a bitch did it." Childe confirmed, gasping through his laughs as the two of you converse in psychobabble. "And guess who he bumped into?"

You're choking in laughter, tears in your eyes as you hunch over and shake. "He didn't. Childe—no he didn't."

"Straightttt into Diluc. And he had the balls to feel him up because he thought he bumped into a hot bab—"

Childe crashes into a sturdy chest and stumbles backwards towards you, but manages to catch his balance midway. Both of you freeze when faced with a buff guy from another school, bandages on his fist and a crooked smirk on his face.

Fuck. You think. Classic high school cliché.

Realizing he can't risk the remainder of this date when it hasn't even begun, Childe raises a hand in apology, aiming to be the bigger person instead of socking the kid in the face.

"Sorry. I wasn't looking." He offers to the guy, but you can tell he isn't buying any of it. There are about four more kids who group, a setup that isn't going to end in your favour.

"Hey punk. You don't remember me?" The upperclassmen barks out, glaring holes into your date.

You deadpan towards Childe, but he's too is racking his brain to remember. Ends up shrugging with no recollection.

"I have a list of names but they're in my other pants." Shit, what an a-grade reply. Now you know you're done for. "Listen dude, I'm kind of on a date and the vibe is going great. Don't ruin it."

"It's a good thing she's here to watch then!" The guy yells, stomping so that he's right in-front of Childe, ready to pounce. "You humiliated me in front of my gang last week. I'm here to rip you a new one."

Childe blinks, tries to remember, and when he doesn't, he grabs a wad full of cash from the his Fanny pack and throws it at the guy's feet.

Everyone's eyes bulge out of their sockets, including yours at the amount of money placed there casually on the crack of the dirty sidewalk.

"Hopefully this is enough for the damages." Childe offers, aiming to not further escalate the situation albeit how pissed he is right now. If you weren't here...well that would be another, much more violent story.

With a soft tug, Childe brings you close and begins to pass the guy, until he's abruptly stopped by a hand gripping his shoulder tightly.

"I don't think so!" The guys barks, and his lackeys move to surround you two. "You gotta pay taxes too buddy." Oh he's getting way too comfortable now.

A feral smile grows on Childe's face as he looks over his shoulder. "Oh?"

"Yeah shithead." The guy seethes, puffing out his chest to size him up.

Childe itches for a fight. He can no longer keep in the urge and is just about ready to raise a heavy fist, but is beaten by the sound of a loud thwack, and then a painful groan following.

There you are, standing in front of the trembling asshole, spinning your crossbody bag in circles like it's a nunchuck in all it's glory. There's a deadly glint in your eyes, pure, unadulterated vexation in your features.

If Childe could fall for you any harder, it's probably happening now. In that exact moment, his heart beats in his ears uncontrollably, and there's nothing but raw adoration that piles up all at once.

You're an angel of destruction, a force not to be reckoned with, and shit, you're the eye of the fucking storm.

Fire courses through your veins as you pulverize the guy with your bag, swinging with such expertise it has Childe in awe. "He may be an absolute idiot for not remembering—"

"Hey girlie you're killing me here!" Your date snaps out of his astonishment temporarily.

"—but you don't get to call him a shithead, you asshole!" You snarl angrily, gripping the handle of your bag tightly, decking everyone that lunges at you, letting out strings of curses with every hit. Every hit sends a flock of them either stumbling back in pain, or knocked out completely.

Childe doesn't even get a chance to lift a finger by the time you're done violating them with your heavy ass pink bag. Stands there like an absolute loser.

"Apologize." You pant, prepared to send another flurry of attacks at the leader, who is crawling away with a battered face. "Apologize or I'll—I'll fucking Russian neck tie your ass."

"S-sorry!" The guy whimpers out and tries not to piss his pants at the threat.

Childe is still in too much shock at the whole ordeal to reply, short circuiting.

Another thirty seconds pass until he registers the smaller hand waving in front of his face. He catches your cold hand through his haze, brings it closer.

Running a free hand through his locks, he doesn't hide his astonishment. "You're fucking gorgeous, girlie." He whistles lowly, eyeing you with a new kind of regard.

"I-I uh." Your face is all shades of red by now, the adrenaline from kicking ass wearing down. "Let's go."

"How is that bag so heavy?" One of the fallen gasps out in pain, clutching his ribs as he trembles on the floor. "Like a buh-brick."

A part of your zipper in open, and Childe briefly peeks out of morbid curiosity. His jaw slackens. "Is that a...no, it can't be."

"It's a brick." You murmur guiltily, gnawing at your bottom lip. "Just in case." Fingers tentatively play with the straps.

Childe is head over heels by now, all smitten as a foreign warmth bubbles up in his throat, and he's just about sure he'll puke his heart out.

His next words are picked out carefully. "There's an underground fight club going on—"

You lock and aim for his right kidney.

Worth a try, Childe thinks.

"SIKE. Joking—joking. Just a joke." He insists, gloved hands raised by his ears in defence.

Clicking your tongue, you scowl and rush past him.

It hasn't even been an hour and it's been the most exciting date Childe's ever experienced. When he sees your lips twitch, he knows it's the same for you as well.

"Are we going or not?" You mumble, avoiding eye contact, a tinge of red still decorating your cheeks.

Childe crumbles into his hands at your deadly duality. One that comes for his enemies and one that comes straight for his heart.

[eddiemetalheadmunson]

i think i'm finally satisfied with this chapter. kinda. i think. 😬

possible tw: some inner dialogue from main character regarding addiction (alcoholism) in this chapter.

no other warnings that i can see. as always, please let me know if there's a trigger you need specified. i want you to feel safe and informed of what you're going to read.

hope you enjoy, darlings.

you showed up just how i had seen it /

in my dreams, speaking words i needed /

a violent crashing from the ceiling /

you reached out and caught me from the demons

listen to altar by machineheart here.

chapter III: running up to the altar

A warm ray of sunlight upon Lilith’s face wakes her the next morning. She cracks an eye open and surveys her surroundings, momentarily forgetting where she is, still trapped in that hazy world between asleep and awake. She sits up slowly with a long, drawn-out yawn, and pieces of the puzzle start slowly coming together.

Fuck. That’s right. I’m in Crockett. Got here yesterday and met Ms. Keane, and met –

Her inner dialogue chokes for a moment at the memory of Father Paul who, in hindsight, now seems like a bit of a fever dream in the early hours of morning.

A tingling jolt gently rattles through her body the moment her mind thinks of him and his sweet smile, accompanied by the mop of unruly hair on his head that practically begged to have a hand running through it. The way he spoke to her. The way he looked. The way he cared about her safety. The way he –

Stop. Stop it. This is a ridiculous, stupid, pointless situation.

She very well knows it. She’d hoped that after a full night’s rest, this jittery, disturbingly unbalanced feeling that the soft-spoken man had evoked within her would run its course and die upon the sunrise of a new day, like so many other things in her life that became more rational with the rising sun.

If anything, that trepidatious feeling had only grown stronger. She’d dreamed about him. Fucking dreamed about this man she’d exchanged only a few sentences with the night before. It wasn’t sexual in any way, but it set her aflame inside all the same, remembering being held in two strong arms and smelling a scent of forest and spice and warmth. Something inherently created in her mind for him, and him only.

She lets out a small whine of frustration and roughly shoves her long hair into a messy bun atop her head with a hair tie that basically lives on her wrist at this point. She walks over to her suitcase on the far edge of the room and lays it down, unzipping it to search for a new pair of clothes. A very strange, fleeting thought dances through her mind without her approval.

Look nice for him.

She blanches, ripping out a pair of leggings to wear under her big hoodie and an old pair of dirty, white converse shoes just to spite her own treacherous thoughts. She had a few things to do this morning before the service, which apparently, she was now resigned to attend. She’s not sure when she decided this – you know exactly when you decided this, you priest loving harlot – but apparently her mind had made itself up for her. She snorts and shakes her head at herself before grabbing her little coffin-shaped backpack and stepping out into the chilly morning air.

She began walking in the direction one of the ferrymen had pointed out to her the day before as to where she could find the Sheriff’s office and a store. She was starving and needed some groceries, at least to tide her over for the next couple days. Most of her things would arrive today that she’d ordered in advance; a blow-up bed, a little couch that she’d need to assemble, and an odd assortment of other essentials. There were plates and mugs, even some silverware, still residing in the kitchen. That much she felt she could handle seeing, as it wasn’t overly personal.

By the time she’d made it to the little general store, she’d passed by several friendly islanders that had made a point to introduce themselves and welcome her to the town. A ridiculously pretty woman named Erin, who was sitting on her porch, wrapped up in a cozy blanket with a book in her hands, a woman with a very sweet, cheery disposition named Mrs. Flynn, and a young boy riding his bike who had skidded to a halt when he saw her to say hello. He was a Flynn as well, Warren Flynn. Meeting them left a little pep in her step. She hoped that everyone would be this nice.

She finds the general store and as she makes her way to the door, she notices an adorable dog with a brindle coat and big brown eyes patiently waiting for his owner. She can’t restrain herself from crouching down next to him to give him some pets.

“Hi baby! You are so fuckin’ cute. And look at your pretty coat. I’ll have to pick up some doggie snacks so I can give you a treat the next time we run into each other because you seem like suchagoodboy – “

A light cough from behind her startles her, and when she whips her head around to see who it is, two men are staring down at her with barely suppressed grins.

She jokingly winces. “The baby-talk voice came out, didn’t it?”

The man with a beard and a friendly smile barks out a laugh at that, and the man next to him chuckles. She sees the little badge on his coat and realizes he must be the Sheriff.

“Maybe a little bit. We won’t tell anyone, though,” the Sheriff says with a smile, reaching out a hand to help her up. She’s momentarily distracted by how ridiculously good-looking he is – what’s up with this town and all the gorgeous men in it? – before taking his hand and standing up.

“I’ll hold you to that, Sheriff,” she replies with a light laugh. “I’m Lilith, by the way, but you can just call me Lily. Here to take care of some real estate on the island,” she says to them both, shoving her hands into her hoodie pocket.

As they exchanged names – which were Sheriff Hassan, Joe, and his dog Pike – the stern woman from the previous night comes strolling past them. Pike lets out a thunderous bark at her arrival that makes her jump rather comically, then turn to scowl at the men.

“You see? He snapped at me. Snapped right at me, just passing by.”

Joe reaches down to pet his faithful companion. “Pike doesn’t snap. Sometimes barks, mostly just to say hello. He’s just big, is all – sounds bigger than he means to.”

“Snapped. Thought he might have a go at my hand if I reached out. I’m telling you, Sheriff, it’s a menace,” she says indignantly, glaring at the dog peacefully resting by Joe.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Keane, he was just waiting for his dad,” Sheriff Hassan responds, trying to gently defuse the situation.

Ms. Keane begins to mumble something that sounds a lot like "speaking of menace" and sharply glares at Joe, but Lily cuts her off mid-insult.

“He.”

Ms. Keane looks up at her in mild confusion, followed by Sheriff Hassan and Joe.

“I’m sorry? ‘He’, what?” She enquires condescendingly, turning to face Lily now.

“A ‘he’. The dog. You called him ‘it’. I just assumed you didn’t know,” Lily says in a level voice that doesn’t even remotely match the annoyance stirring in the pit of her stomach.

Everyone goes quiet. Ms. Keane opens her mouth and closes it, not sure how to respond, as it wasn’t an outwardly aggressive comment on Lily’s part, but it definitely held an undercurrent of spite.

“Pike works, too. That’s his name,” Lily says with little smile, filling the silence. Ms. Keane’s face turns into something twisted and cruel, her true self rising to the surface rapidly, and then looks to the Sheriff again.

“A menace,” she hisses, then turns on her heel with her nose in the air and takes her leave.

Lily watches her in mild disgust as she walks down the road at a clipped pace, and when she turns to the men, they’re both staring at her with raised eyebrows. Joe has a wide grin on his face, and Sheriff Hassan looks at her in what she can only place as pleasant surprise.

“What? She’s a good Christian woman; she’d never call one of god’s creatures an ‘it’– she just didn’t know. So, I told her,” Lily replies, giving Pike another scritch on his head as he looks up at her with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth adorably.

“Y’know, dogs can sense evil. That’s what they say, anyway. Kinda’ funny that he doesn’t bark at anyone else, isn’t it?” She says with a chuckle, almost to herself, before remembering the whole reason she was there. “Oh! Sheriff Hassan, I actually came to talk to you. I was told you have a key for me? For the house that’s up for sale?”

Sheriff Hassan looks at her with mild amusement and curiosity, but nods and makes his way down the steps. “Follow me. I’ve got them in the office.”

“Awesome. It’s really nice to meet you, Joe. And you, big boy,” she says, giving Pike a gentle pat upon his head before departing with a smile and a wave. Joe is still looking at her with an openly humored expression, and waves back to her as she follows the Sheriff.

Sheriff Hassan enters a small building next to the general store, ushering her inside, and digs a little key from his pocket to unlock a drawer in his desk.

“Aha, there it is. Easy to remember this one,” he says, handing her a pair of keys that look like they belong to a dungeon door or some haunted castle. She takes them in her hand to study them, and all at once, she feels her heart being squeezed, thinking about how many times her grandfather's hands must’ve used these throughout his life to open that creaking door to that tiny house. Thousands of times. It looked like a skeleton key in a way, unique and old-fashioned, but sturdy and strong. Tears prick the corners of her eyes as she closes the keys in a tight fist. She instantly knows that these will be what she keeps to remember him by. She’ll have new ones made for a new lock before she sells the property.

“I’m – I know how hard it is to lose someone. I’m sorry for what you’re going through right now. I didn’t know him well, but he was always nice to everyone, including me. Never seemed to give a damn what others thought of him, either,” Sheriff Hassan says, smiling at her and resting his hands on his hips.

“They…. well, the people here, they didn’t like him very much, did they? He wasn’t religious. Spiritual without a doubt, but not religious,” She asks, calming herself down and looking up at the Sheriff. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly, averting his eyes, and his expression tells her everything she needs to know.

“Bastards. All of them. ‘God-loving Christians’, my ass,” she mumbles, sniffling a bit to stop her nose from running. “I bet you were nice to him. I’d put money on it. So, thank you for that. It means a lot,” she finishes, her voice cracking on the last few words. She cringes in humiliation, but before she can think too much on it, a warm hand comes to rest upon her shoulder.

When she looks up, she sees the compassion in the man’s eyes. She sees the pain. The loss. A tiny glimpse of the story that is Sheriff Hassan’s life and all that’s lead up to him settling on this isolated little island tucked away from the world.

“It never gets easier. When we lose someone, I mean. We just…get stronger. We have to. You’ll get there, too,” he says kindly, and the way he says it feels so genuine that she can’t help but believe him. She smiles up at him, and he smiles back. An understanding.

“Well, I should probably get going. Have to pick up some food and get ready for the church thingy,” she says while pocketing the keys.

He looks rather surprised but doesn’t say anything. Lily grins at his reaction. “It’s…it’s a long story. Well, not really. I got roped in by the Priest,” she chuckles, feeling her cheeks warm by merely bringing him up in conversation.

“All right. Well, be good, don’t start any brawls or you might end up in jail with only me for company,” he teases with an admittedly beautiful smile.

“We’ll see!” she replies with a laugh as she walks out the door and heads back to the little store beside them.

9 AM comes swiftly and sets her nerves on edge as she quickly realizes she has nothing even remotely appropriate to wear for a church service. She packed for comfort, so most of her shirts have either band names on them or something ironically satanic.

Yeah, that’ll go over smoothly.

She finally unearths a completely plain (hallelujah!) long sleeve black shirt that she’s had since high school that somehow survived the test of time, and a black pleated skirt that falls just above her knees. She yanks a pair of tights on and is relieved to see that they have no holes in them, then throws on her chunky black boots adorned with multiple silver buckles, almost losing her balance and falling in the process.

She runs to the bathroom mirror, swipes on some mascara, tidies up her brows and applies some blush on her rather corpse-like complexion. After a quick spritz of her favorite perfume, she’s raking a brush through her tangled hair and stumbling her way to the front door, her heart beating out of her chest.

This is so stupid. It’s just a church. It’s not a big deal.

She calms herself enough to put her hair in a quick, messy half-up, half-down look. She runs to check on it in the bathroom. Her hair is past her hipbones at this point and she grimaces at how damaged it looks from going so long without a trim, but shrugs and grabs her bag, rushing out the door.

To her horror, she sees that there’s no one left outside of the church, meaning the service had already begun. Meaning she was late. Meaning she’d have to direct every person’s attention towards her when she opened the doors to the tiny church.

Goddammit.

She was about to turn around and head back to her humble abode before the fleeting memory of Father Paul’s delighted smile stops her in her tracks. She might not have agreed to go, but he seemed so excited when she was considering it. He was kind. She could make it through one service, as a ‘thanks’ for his warm welcome.

Fuck it. They’re all just people. Like you. You’ve opened the door to scarier things.

She squares her shoulders and gently opens one of the doors, slipping her way inside without drawing any attention. They’re singing a pretty psalm; one she could swear she’d heard before in her childhood church long ago. There’s a two-person pew to her left, the furthest seats in the house, and she quietly slips her bag off of her shoulders and sits, a rush of relief coursing through her veins.

She grabs a hymnal book from its place in the back of the pew sitting in front of her and begins flipping through the pages. It would feel awkward to be the only person not singing along.

The song finishes and Father Paul takes front and center. Somehow the man has made one of those ridiculous blanket-like Catholic robes look…quite nice, actually. Regal, almost, the rich blue color bringing out his brown eyes and raven hair. If he hadn’t presented himself as such a nice guy, she would be annoyed. It’s hardly fair if he looks good in everything.

It takes him all of 60 seconds to place her in the crowd as he scans the room, almost as if he’s looking for her. He stumbles over a few words from his impassioned sermon when their eyes meet and it makes her heart stutter pleasantly in her chest. She offers him her signature, slightly crooked grin and a discreet nod. He responds with a little smile that warms her from head to toe before jumping back into his sermon with ease.

The end of the service comes quicker than she’d anticipated; it was rather easy to listen to him speak. He had a way of saying things that made even her feel a little spark of inspiration, which was quite a feat considering the topic. One more hymnal is announced before the end, several minutes after Father Paul has taken his leave through the back. As she frantically flips through the pages as the piano begins, a hand gently intervenes from her right and flips to the right page almost instantly.

She startles with a small squeak, barely restraining herself from flinging the book into the rafters, and turns to see Father Paul doing a very poor job of suppressing his amusement.

She tries to glare at him, she really does, but all she can manage to do is clap her hand over her own mouth so she doesn’t burst into laughter during the intro of the song. It’s an actual blessing when the congregation starts singing, giving her the opportunity to duck her head and let out a genuine string of giggles. She pulls it together quickly, taking a deep breath and smashing her lips together to disallow anymore maniac laughter from slipping through.

Father Paul is still singing along with a neutral expression, the only indicator of his own struggle not to lose it himself shown in the very obvious tension of his neck. He must've taken the little book before she'd had the chance to drop it in her laughter, so she gently takes hold of his wrist and guides the hand holding it a bit closer to her so she can sing along.

Her heart just about exits her body when he gently slides it towards her, his right hand completely enveloping hers beneath the book as he secures it in her grasp. He doesn’t instantly pull away and she pretends not to notice. So does he.

He probably doesn’t notice, you wanker.

When he pulls away, his fingertips gently brush across her knuckles, making her clench her jaw in an effort to not react. She scrambles to find where they’re at in the song, and joins in rather ungracefully, hoping her face isn’t reflecting the rush of feelings currently overwhelming her inside.

His singing voice is calm and soothing, much like his personality, but when she joins in, he abruptly stops. It takes her a moment to notice, but when she turns to look up at him in question, she meets him eye to eye. A look of gentle wonder shines within his gaze, momentarily knocking the breath from her lungs. He smiles kindly and nods his head towards the book, encouraging her to keep singing. So she does, despite her cheeks blushing red and her mouth going dry.

Her voice is a bit wobbly at first and her eyebrows crease in the effort to slip back into the song echoing across the little church. She manages to do so, but her hands shake every so often as she sings. She can feel his eyes on her now and again, and it takes an enormous amount of restraint not to drop the book and run. Run from his openly captivated gaze as he listens to her sing. Run from the feeling of pride that fills her at the thought of him liking her voice.

The song comes to a close and she, monumentally relieved it’s over, slaps the book shut crisply, sliding it back into the little shelf on the pew before her. When she turns to attempt a normal conversation with Father Paul, she finds that he’s gone. A wave of relief washes over her, but riding on its coattails is a small jab of betrayal as some members of the church stand and do a double take upon seeing her. She averts her eyes and sits down, feeling smaller and smaller by the minute.

Why did he have to ditch me now of all times?!

As she's debating whether or not to make a break for it while he's gone, he returns with a reassuring smile on his face. He extends his hand to help her up, then reaches behind her to softly press his large hand upon the small of her back, guiding her forward. The warmth of his touch and all of its tenderness, she quickly decides, is worth the glaring awkwardness of the entire situation.

He ushers them both gently to the stairs beneath the altar, as others follow suit without question or fuss. When he leaves her side and takes his place above her, she feels the absence of his touch like a ship's anchor being cut loose. He speaks of Ash Wednesday. She sees Ms. Keane appear to his left, offering him a small trinket containing what he will mark his congregation with. Then she sees a golden goblet, passed reverently into Beverly’s hands.

Panic seizes her heart in a vice grip as she puts two-and-two together.

Wine. It’s fucking wine. How could I forget this part?

Father Paul is already dipping both his pointer and middle finger lightly into the onyx powder, but faulters for a moment when he sees the visceral fear reflected in her green eyes. He gives her a reassuring smile, probably assuming that it’s just nerves causing her to clam up, and places a finger upon her forehead, gently making the sign of the cross.

“Lilith – remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” he murmurs, his fingers lingering upon her skin a beat too long as she stares up at him, eyes pleading for him to understand. Beverly holds the drink up and nods her head, summoning Lily to come forward, her lips pursed in obvious disapproval of an outsider taking part in this sacred ritual.

She looks Father Paul dead in the eye, glancing from him to the golden chalice holding a poison more lethal to her than any other, and desperately mouths two words:

I can’t.

He gives her a look of confusion, and it feels as if the church walls are beginning to close in on her. At a complete loss, she lowers her eyes apologetically, shaking her head in defeat.

"Sorry", she whispers so only he can hear her, not bothering to wait for a reply before side-stepping out of the line and making her way down the isle.

She pretends not to notice all of the eyes studying her as she passes by, and desperately hopes no one noticed the odd exchange that's just taken place. Tears tingle behind her eyelids and she, for what feels like the millionth time in her life, feels a stab of jealousy at just how easy it is for everyone else. How harmless.

She pushes the doors open, momentarily blinded by the sunlight illuminating the island, and jogs home, feeling anything but saved.

[we-dragons]

I'm from a different dimension actually Chapter 8 Damian x reader

The school is shut down for a week ironically because of an attack by The Joker and Two-Face, that Robin and his team took down. The teachers sent out a notice with homework attached and told us to stay inside. Nightmare came back somewhere in the morning I couldn't tell the time because I apparently fell asleep along with Boy Wonder before the end of season 1 of The Highlander. I gently placed him down on the couch, gotten dressed, and made some breakfast, I only had eggs so I made some scrambled and put them on a plate for him and me. Nightmare got the last of the bacon. I put a plate over Robins while I ate mine sitting at the small table in the kitchen going over my homework. Sadly I finished my homework before my eggs and they have gone cold. I silently morn my eggs eating the cold carcass. "You stare any harder at that screen and you might break it." I jump, my head shoots upwards and I sigh, but then my eyes drop on my cat. My jaw drops the furball is purring in the arms of a masked stranger who is petting his head. Robin was petting my cat holding him like a baby and the demon is purring. Robin still had his eyes, and limbs not even a bite mark was seen on his skin.

"You traitor, you barely know him." I playful scold the feline, he meows nuzzling his face in Robin's chest.

"Your monster seems friendly."

"Nightmare looks like he's been introduced to catnip."

"Just a few scratches here and there." He smirks taking a seat next to me."Thank you for breakfast."

"Mhm." I turn back to the screen, "Will you be going back today Robin?"

"I might."

"Hmm." I finish the last problem for today closing the device, "Well I have to go to work, your welcome to stay if you want." I smooth out my clothes tossing one last look at the melting ball of fur. I quirk an eyebrow but move out to the door. I stop Halfway through the doorway and look back putting on my meanest face. "If you break a single window in my home I will find where ever you are and break you. Bye Nightmare, love you, I'll be back in a few hours."

_____________________________________________________________

"Nightmare! I'm back!" my keys skitter across the floor but no black fur is seen. He's still in the arms of Robin though it's not Robin, Green eyes. My stomach sinks and my mouth goes dry. "Damian?" His is just as much shock as me, he puts down Nightmare and rushes to me the door slams behind me. And I'm being dragged then forced to sit, his hands grip my shoulders. "Your early, why did you arrive early, you not supposed to be back for another half hour." I hardly heard him, I scold myself now realizing the obvious. Why else would Nightmare feel comfortable around him he had been here before multiple times noticed how I treated Damian and that's why he was a purring mess in his arms. I said be nice to him when he was over not Robin, but of course, they smell the same Nightmare associated with both people. I should have spotted it sooner, the voice, the height, the tone of his speech. Dear God, I can mom telling how oblivious, like she did when she won Clue. It was right there, he asked the right question and baited me for answers. I don't know why this is a shock to me. Now that I think of it I have to stop myself from laughing

"What the hell," my voice quivers. "Damian, Damian Wayne. You help Gotham." I start snickering, pulling my hand over my face. I throw my head back laughing then fall over to the side. "Nightmare you knew didn't you! Haha, that's why you were you were melting like butter."

"Your laughing!"

"Did you assume I wouldn't!" I wheeze, my breath nearly coming out to form words. "I can imagine you fighting, but saving people that's something else entirely."

"Do you think so little of me?" He sounds disappointed.

"I don't mean it to offend you but what else can I say. I didn't expect this." I sit up, clearing my throat and looking him dead in the eye. "Can I just call you Damian now, or do I still have to you different names."

"Why aren't you more surprised?"I Smile sadly.

"I thought you would have read up on me, do you know who killed my parents that day at home." He stiffens, he opens his mouth but continues. "My Father's sister, my aunt, killed them both during dinner. All because my mother wouldn't let her see those journals you asked about. After that it many people took off their masks."

"That's all it took?"

"What should it take, she killed her own brother because she didn't get confidential knowledge. To be honest, I don't really care anymore."

"You need professional help." I shrug.

"Probably, but getting sessions is expensive and I don't enjoy answering "and how are you feeling?" questions. I had enough of that already from everyone else."

"Where's your brother, Emil?" I feel myself frown.

"He's with someone I trust, I can't tell you who, sorry."

"The file says you died, you also made a miraculous recovery, recovery from what?"

"I prefer not to answer that question, It's rather personal." I don't want to explain that either, I know the doctor was shocked to see me come back. They had to call the professor to have him take me and my brother. After that this entire fiasco.

"You know I'll find out either way."

"Listen, I don't know how I made it, I was tortured by my she who will not be named and left for dead. I prayed for anyone and everyone who would hear me, someone did, the police found me and I was rushed to the hospital. I decided to take a nap, and I woke up to the sound of Emil crying. He cried, even more, when I woke up, screaming even, the good doctor nearly fainted. I was plugged into wires of all sorts, and my uncle was holding a plug, I assume he pulled, tackled me. My body lit up in pain and felt like I was run over, the next I am separated from my family and rushed into a place where they check on me every three months. At least I got to choose the place, they pay for the school, and I cover everything else." I give in, it feels nice to tell someone, something even if it's not the whole truth. But it seems to shut him up. "Please don't go looking for Emil, they haven't caught my aunt yet. I don't know if she's looking for them next, I would prefer not to stand over another grave knowing she got them too." I stare at him gauging his reaction, his face is still stone, unmoving in the uncomfortable silence. I pick up Nightmare, who has been rubbing against my leg for a bit, and scratch his head as he wants.

"Fine, I won't push further but I have terms."

"Really?" What would he need terms for?

"1, you don't reveal my identity to anyone. 2, you will not acknowledge that you know my family’s identities. 3, I come whenever I like as Robin or as Damian. 4, I add terms whenever I please."

"Why would I agree to any of that? I'm the one who has your identity." He smiles.

"Because I will tell Batman this information, and he doesn't talk as kindly to people hiding something. You obviously still are, but for now, I'll let it slide I'm sure by now you've decided to watch the news, so you know what he does." I gulp, I did see his more recent victim and he looked traumatized.

"Alright fine, but I binge so if you fall asleep tough luck, I'm not going back."

"Fine," he reaches back and pulls out his mask which he puts back on, walking out to the kitchen. "I back in a bit, pull out your couch bed while I'm gone. I will be staying here a while." I get up after him.

"Hey, that offer is for when I thought you were some homeless bums who fights crime, gets money from villain's wallets. You have a perfectly good bed at home!" He turns back one foot on the railing and a grappling hook in hand. "Term 6, I will stay as long as I like." he jumps off like before, not giving me a chance to speak.

"Bastard! I need my alone time!" He's gone I don't even know if he heard me. I grumble pulling out the spare sheets and blankets to set up the bed. "He better be paying rent, smug rich kid."

"Meow." Nightmare looks over at the window Robin left of.

"Yes, he's coming back."

"Meow"

"No, I'm not going tell him, not until I have to."

"Merrow"

"Shut up." I kick the side of the couch holding the two large cushions that lay on it, the bed springs out and makes a satisfying thud on the floor. "Go and see if the data has finished downloading, then put it back in the box I'll make you something in a how you feel about tuna our downstairs grandparents gave me a can."

_____________________________________________________________

The sheets are made, the cat is fed and now I am going over how I was going to cover for another person. How much would he eat, can he survive on pastries, ramen, and eggs. How long was he staying, would his family come asking about him seeing as he was here before. At both times, when he broke my window, and when they came for coffee.

"Hey, open the door." The voice is cold but still recognizable. I get up slowly taking my time getting there along with opening the door. He hurries in, dressed in some normal-ish clothes that still look expensive, but he still dressed like he came out of a photo shoot. He not only has a suitcase but some grocery bags, I frown at those. He seems to notice because he forgets his suitcase and charges into the kitchen. "Hey!"

"Y/N I am not eating ramen and eggs for god knows how long. I will cook a decent meal and you will have something healthy."

"How did you know I only had eggs and ramen?"

"I went through your fridge," He places a bag of tomatoes in the bottom drawer where I see green onions and various other veggies.

"I make stir-fry once a month, you have bought enough greens and reds to make that for two weeks. I don't even have rice."

"You don't like it when people spend money on you, do you?"

"I don't need other people's money," He opens his mouth, but I stop him raising a finger cutting him off. "And before you mention Molly, she remains the exception. Not that me telling her not to stops her."

"And why is that." He stops putting the food in the fridge.

"Because I've been friends with her longer," I look back at his bags and frown. "How long do you plan on staying again."

"For as long as I please."

"Won't they come looking for you? Your family I mean, the Detective stops by almost every day."

"Grayson won't be a problem, I left them a trail that leads to several other places." He stuffs the last of the food in the fridge, getting up and looking out the balcony window. "Should take a long while." I can hear the smugness in his voice.

"Your happy you tricked your brothers aren't you." He turns around forcing himself to frown but the corners of his lips twitch.

"Ho, you're a bastard Wayne."

"You're really gonna curse me?"

"You didn't tell me I couldn't Damian." I grab my computer and open Hulu putting on Star Trek; Next-generation where I left off. "Hope you enjoy space adventure, because I'm not starting this over its seven seasons and 4 movies. I'm halfway through season 3, if you want context just ask." I glance up signaling that I am waiting for a response, he leans on the wall in front of my kitchen. I can't read his face, but his face of neutral displeasure wasn't much better. "So, your done feeling good about yourself, or is there something else you need."

"It's been something I've been wondering for a while now, those iridescent pieces you fed me."

"Part of my mother's work." Not a complete lie,

"Was that what those missing journals about?"

"No." More of a lie but not wrong. He groans anyway, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Man, you really like to cut in deep and waste time. Just come here and watch some Star Trek with me I need someone else to groan in pain about Counselor Troy's and Will Riker's on and off slow burn romance." Begrudgingly he walks over plopping down next to me.

"Your tastes in tv are odd."

"You have no idea, my tastes in something go everywhere, after this and Highlander I have several old cartoons next. First, I might have to gather what you know about the Quack pack, Goof troop, Ducktales, and all that pizazz. Though I have a feeling that you would like Darkwing Duck more, or it could possibly be too relatable." He gives me a look.

"How could I relate to a duck?"

"We are a long way from that now, at the moment we must bear witness to Captain Picard and his adventures commanding the USS Enterprise."

"Has anyone told you how unbelievably weird you are?"

"Sir, you have entered my life for what looks to be the long run. You will experience the kind of weirdness only Molly has ever seen. But now that you are basically my roommate you might see more." I pat his shoulder. "So, buckle up, because this is now you've got a seat on this roller-coaster, and you can't get off till the car reaches a complete stop. Now can we please get back to the show I want to see some cosmic action?"

_____________________________________________________________

"Was that a statement or a question?"

"He can achieve the perception of feeling with a chip that goes into his hyper-advanced brain, lets his brother take it but can't make his own."

"I lent you my computer to catch up to where I left off for one night and that's what you're hung upon."

"Yes," his eyes look serious while he shoves some oatmeal in his mouth. "You are the one who can't stand the slow burn."

"Touche."

Before we got to the last season, Damian had asked he could see the rest of the show before the finally. I didn't expect that he would binge because it was a weekend, he even made extensive notes on character weakness. He still went out on patrol every night but came back with no one tailing him. That's what he says at least. He looks tired, with bags under his eyes and just lacking energy altogether.

"While I'm at work please go to sleep, you look like you fought an energy vampire and lost."

"I wouldn’t have lost to a vampire, they’re not that hard to kill.”

“But they drink blood they need to get close; energy vampires are more psychic they don’t even have to be a real monster.” He stops eating/

“How so?”

“They could be emotionally, physically, and mentally draining people. You know like Deity Skimmer, the girl in our science class. You can’t kill the energy-sucking vibes she gives off, can you.” He snorts behind his hand.” I mean it, even creatures of the night need sleep.” I drop my dishes off in the sink. I walk off to the door putting on my boots, I hear the chair slide and I feel his judging eyes digging holes in the back of my skull.

“Once again your conditions said nothing about teasing you, suck it up.” He scoffs. “I’ll be back around 5, don’t break any more windows while I’m gone.” I close the door before I hear any remarks once more about the incident. Though I laugh to myself, I straighten out my outfit and head down to the wonderful smells of the coffee shop. I walk slowly down the stairs looking out to the crowd that had been seated in the lounge. My managers were out by the couches talking to one of the regulars. Pull me behind the counter and relieve my coworker Meg, she looks exhausted and excuses herself. She takes what I assume is her coffee and puts away her apron and rushes out the door. I finish out what she didn’t clean and wait for anyone to come up to the counter. *Ring* though it is loud I hear the bell for the door ring.

“I’ll be with you in just a moment, I need to clean the nozzle here.”

“That’s fine, I can wait.” I flinch but catch myself, so it looks like I flicked something. I turn around with the best smile I can pull off. The sleep-deprived brother of Damian, peers at me from under his hair a frown tugging on his face.

“Oh hey! You came here with detective Grayson last time. Is there anything you would like?”

“Coffee.”

“Any particular kind?”

“Anything that will keep me from sleeping on this counter.” He knocks on the surface twice.

“I Can recommend our D&D potion bottle, it’s a personal favorite of the owners.”

“Why not, how much?” He fumbles around for his pockets, I stop him.

“How about, I make get it for you, and then you pay.” He brings his hands back on the counter and nods.

“I will only be a few minutes, please make yourself comfortable.” I pull out the ingredients for our powerful concoction, the pho fried ice cream, a large potion bottle with a straw, and 20-sided dice. I place the potion bottle in front of him and the ice cream but hand him the dice. He stares at the shiny plastic unmoving.

“I would roll that.” He does what I say and lands on a nine. “Well, sir after this one you can either have another potion or chose two desserts of any kind from our display or menu.” He takes a sip from the straw rather slow; his eyes perk up a bit.

“How Much did you say this was?”

“Oh! That will be $9.23?” He pulls out the exact amount, and I put it away in the register, placing it in the compartment marked D&D.

“And I would like another one of these to go.”

“Sure, would you like it now or before you go?”

“Well now should be nice, I’m leaving in just a bit.” I pull out a cup that is relatively the same size as the potion bottle. I go to give him his cup and notice that he finished the bottle and ice cream. Confusion hits me, but I don’t stare too long to turn to clean the mess. “Have you seen Damian at all?” And there it was.

“No, not since the Gala? Did something happen?”

“There was a…disagreement so he ran out, but if you see him,” He handed me a piece of paper with a string of numbers and an email. “Tell me. That is my number and email.” He does not say anymore and walks out the door, the bell signaling his departure.

_____________________________________________________________

When I got back, I told Damian what happened, he isn’t pleased and is currently pacing the floor.

“My guess is that he knows.” I sigh over my tea and stare sadly at the replaced window.

“No doubt.”

“You know I was rather hoping not to be having another visit from the Batman. What will happen when they find out that I know about the caped crusader thing.”

“He’ll either force into secrecy, turn you into a child crusader, or confine you to the manor.”

“So in other words no privacy.”

“None.”

“As lovely as that would be you told me this was temporary, so why can’t you go back?”

“At the Gala I was supposed to keep you entertained at the table so that we could trap you into to talking about those journals.” I knew it.

“So, you lied to me.” I look at him, faking shock and betrayal.

“It was for the sake of the investigation; I didn’t think that I would end up-.” He examines my expression and face palms. “What’s wrong with you.”

“I like to call it “I laugh in the face of danger” Syndrome, in a moment of despair I crave comedy.”

“You're worse than Grayson.”

“I like him, so I’ll let this one slide.” I sip the warm liquid feeling soothed at the pumpkin spice. “What are you going to do now?” Nightmare jumps on the table noticing my concern and waiting for his answer from me. He walks to the corner where he put his bag then went to the closet pulling out my suitcase. He then grabs his outfit Robin outfit from the coat rack and his other materials. “Get packed, we’re leaving. I’ll grab Nightmare’s things gab whatever you need. And I mean need, don’t pick it up unless it’s necessary.”

“What? I can’t just leave, what about my job? School?!” He Pulls out my backpack and puts some food in it. “Damian!”

“Just trust me, I’ll take care of it! I don’t want you tangled up in my family’s nonsense.” He looks at me something odd swirling in his eyes. “Please.”

“Fine,” I grab my suitcase and pack my box and my compiece which hasn’t gotten back to me on its progress. I throw a few sets of clothes. I open the box to make sure the journals, the scales, and everything else, then I hide it under the clothing and my laptop in the front pocket. I thank myself for making sure to get a suitcase that has a double use as a backpack. In the living room, Damian is all packed the bag is strapped across his chest and he’s holding Nightmare.

“Let’s go.” He hands me Nightmare and pulls me to the balcony. He pulls out and belts with a ring pultruded out on one side swiftly put it around me connecting the loop to his belt. “Hold on tight, and don’t let go till I tell you.” I Sling an arm around him and grip on to Nightmare, he doesn’t hesitate and shoots across the balcony with his grappling gun. I screw my eyes shut. And wait to stop, my heart beats wildly in my chest Nightmare begins purring maybe in hopes to soothe me. I feel something wrong, but it would mean I was away from the Crows. I’m running again, even if it’s not me who chose this it still feels wrong. Because in the direction he’s going it seems that we were leaving Gotham. And for some reason, I feel like it would be a while before I returned.